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shu-box-puns · 1 year ago

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I would never have given you to them; not for anything.

(Tsu’tey x Reader)

Last Chapter <- Part 2 -> Next Chapter

If you prefer to read on Ao3, you can find the fic here!

Summary: The na'vi say, every person is born twice.

Word Count: 9035

Reader uses they/them pronouns.

NOTE: The term 'Zaza' is a gender neutral way to address a parental figure.

Mo’at allowed Tsu’tey to stew in her tent until eclipse. And for that, he was grateful.

He couldn’t stomach the idea of facing the clan right now. Or Jake for that matter. Eywa, he hadn’t lost his temper that badly in years. And now he was drained. His eyes stung and his shoulders heavy. All his thrashing had upset the carefully applied mourning paint weaving down his body, which he would have to fix soon. But only when he had the strength to move.

The demon wearing a warped replica of his mate’s face still taunted his most recent memories. Anger still curdled his stomach, but it was not as hot now. More subdued. More aimed at whatever unnatural methods the Sky People had used to create it.

Groaning to himself, the Olo’eyktan dropped his head back into his hands, fingers pushing at the pain between his eyes. Failing to relieve the ache.

Why was this happening to him? To his People? Had they not suffered enough the first time the Sky People had invaded?

First the stars fell and the Sky People returned, forcing the Omaticaya clan to leave their new village and retreat to the floating mountains. And now long dead ghosts were appearing in the forests, attempting to steal his son. The bastards.

Mo’at cleared her throat, the rustle of the curtain signalling her return from dinner. Jerking his head out of his hands, Tsu’tey frowned at the flakes of mourning paint that had come off from the rubbing. Absently, he wiped the evidence on his thigh, eyes straying to Mo’at as she strutted over to him. His ears pinned guiltily at the leaf of food she presented like a peace offering.

<”Thank you, Tsahik.”> He whispered, taking the food from her with shaking hands. Even that was draining.

The woman merely dipper her head in acknowledgement, choosing not to comment when he obediently lowered the food into his lap but did not dig in. Even the thought of eating at a time like this turned his stomach. He felt too raw to act like nothing had happened.

Mo’at seemed to know, she always did, and turned her back to him, relieving him of her usually piercing gaze. With the wisdom of her station, she kept her options to herself as Tsu’tey stewed, instead choosing to kneel beside the low fire. Sparks spat and hissed as she added more kindling, watching the tongues of fire leap and grow before she added some larger twigs.

There was that set to her shoulders, the tell she had passed down to Neytiri when she wanted to voice her opinion but did not want to force someone’s hand. When she wanted to allow them to figure it out first, or start the conversation. Mo’at was a good Tsahik because of it.

She had been kind in the years following his mate’s death. Supportive of Tsu’tey’s grief whilst practically taking over leading the people when he found it took hard to roll out of his hammock during those earlier days. She had practically adopted Spider on sight, and had taken to babysitting him whilst Tsu’tey got himself together. He knew he would not be where he was today without her guidance.

<”What is it?”> Tsu’tey finally asked, when Mo’at remained steady in her silence.

The Tsahik peered at him over her shoulder, her expression neutral even if her eyes swam with an untold grief and uncertainty.

<”Speak your mind Mo’at.”> Tsu’tey encouraged. She had never held her tongue before, he would hate for her to do it now.

Mo’at’s tail jumped, before she turned back to the fire, appearing busy. <”Eywa has blessed you with a beautiful gift, you know.”> She stated simply in a tone Tsu’tey could not decipher. A weight clutched Tsu’tey’s lungs in its unforgiving grasp, punching a sad snort from him. He could not disagree more.

Mo’at was not discouraged. <”The Great Mother has returned your mate to you. She is not usually so generous.”> <”That is NOT my mate!”> Tsu’tey growled through gritted teeth, the declaration punching through him with renewed fury. <”That is a puppet. Made unnaturally by the Sky People, not by Eywa!”>

Mo’at turned to him slowly, her knees still facing the fire, but her eyes glowing with a look that mirrored how Tsu’tey felt. <”Perhaps you are right.”> The Tsahik said in a tone that indicated she did not believe he was right at all. <”Or perhaps, this situation is not so black and white. Perhaps not every is as it seems.”>

<”It does not matter.”> Tsu’tey told her dismissively, <”the People would not welcome a Demon back into their ranks.”> He knew he was deflecting, trying to use the clan as an excuse instead of his won turmoil. Somehow, it felt safer; even if lying had always been a foreign concept to him.

<”The People thought they would never welcome a human into their ranks either.”> Mo’at narrated, eyes wistful with memories of a simpler time. <”But now we share camp with scientists. You yourself took a human mate and Jake-Sully walks freely among us. As a clan, we have changed.”>

<”What are you trying to say? Speak plainly.”>

There was a moment of stillness, only disrupted by the unpredictable sway of the flames.

<”I would kill to be in your position right now, Tsu’tey.”>

Any retort that might have been brewing on his tongue was immediately dashed. He could not respond. The tight vice of emotion in his throat choked the words from him.

Mo’at seemed to deflate, her usual spark dwindling. The beads of her shawl clinked softly as she picked up a stick and stoked the fire.

<”Eytukan, has been with the ancestors for fifteen years now.”> She said, and Tsu’tey listened as he always had. Like they always listened to one another when reminiscing on the people that had been lost or stolen from them. <”Eywa allows me time to hold and hear him, but he does not walk beside us. I miss him with everything I am.”>

Tsu’tey winced sympathetically. He shared this pain. And until a few hours ago, he had been in a similar mindset.

Carefully, he set his leaf down to the side and shuffled closer. Resting his hand lightly on Mo’at’s shoulder. She raised her face to the tent ceiling, leaning into his touch and gathering herself. Her back jumped under Tsu’tey’s fingers at her shaky inhale.

Then she turned to him, fully. Her expression was determined. Those wizened old hands clutching his own in their strong grasp.

<”The Great Mother has a reason for everything she does.”> Right now, it was the Tsahik addressing him, not Mo’at who had always been like a mother to him. <”She does not guide without reason. She does not create without intent. For whatever reason your mate walks again, it is of Her doing, and we must honour it.”> <”How?”> <”Return them to High Camp.”> The Tsahik instructed him. <”By whatever means, return them to us. Set aside your grief and be the hunter I know you to be.”>

Tsu’tey could feel himself nodding. It wasn’t acceptance of the situation, but it was an attempt at internal peace. A moment of reprieve, in which he could push aside his personal feelings and hide behind the mantle of Olo’eyktan again.

<”One step at a time, child. You have been angry for so long, it is time to start healing.”>

He was far from a child. The world had taken too much for him to be considered as such. Pandora had sculpted him into one of the best hunters of his clan, had supported him through his grief and grown him into a strong Olo’eyktan.

And yet, it still hurt. The dull pain that used to be background static in his mind had been yanked forward. The battle worn scar harshly slashed open to allow fresh waves of pain to hurt him as if nothing had changed. As if time had not dulled the pain and made him more resistant to it.

It felt like a betrayal when his eyes flickered down to his wrist. To the brown beaded bracelet that had once been worn as a choker, partially hidden by his wrist guard.

Tsu’tey’s ears rose tall as hurried footsteps rapidly approached the entrance to the Tsahik’s tent. The woman in question perked as Jake-Sully shoved his way into the tent, Neytiri piling in not a moment afterwards.

<”What is it?”> Mo’at demanded, rising to her feet before Tsu’tey could gather his barings.

<”It’s Neteyam.”> Jake-Sully blurted, his hand hovering at the communications collar as he swallowed loudly. <”The kids. All of them went with him to deliver the recom to a safe location-”> <”Spit it out!”>

<”The kids lost them. They slipped away.”>

Mo’at shifted uneasily, all earlier tenderness swept away in her agitation. <”And? Quickly now, I know that is not all. We know the recom did not intend the children harm.”> Jake-Sully was breathing too hard to continue, so Neytiri jumped in, her panic evident. <”There are more Demons in the forest. Sweeping the undergrowth.”>

Tsu’tey was on his feet before she had finished, in a heartbeat, his bow was in hand and he stepped out from behind Mo’at. His previously dormant anger was bubbling again, making it hard to speak as he rounded the fire and strode confidently for the tent’s entrance.

The Tsahik grabbed his arm before he could leave. <”I See your pain, child.”> She reassured him, <”but do not allow it to blind you. I trust you will return with everyone in one piece.”>

He nodded, words beyond his grasp, and she let him go.

Jake-Sully fell into step with him, Neytiri falling into a brief conversation with her mother before following them to the ikrans.

<”Is Spider with them?”> Tsu’tey croaked, to which Jake-Sully nodded glumly as he paused to check his ammunition for the gun slung off his shoulder.

<”What is the plan Olo’eyktan?”> <”Retrieve our children. Kill any of them that try to stop us.”> Judging by the dangerous grin Neytiri shot him, she whole-heartedly agreed with his plan.

>_<

The moment you got an opportunity, you slipped away.

With the shock of what had just transpired turning you numb, it was easy to slip into marine-mode as your old comrades used to refer to it.

Tuning out the bickering of the children - the children being all of Jake and Neytiri’s brood who had stealthily followed Neteyam’s ikran, much to the older boy’s annoyance and Spider - you made a swift and clean escape. Or at least, as clean as an escape can be when your wrists are bound and you’re trying to abseil down the side of a very tall tree using nothing but a vine and core strength.

<”I told you three to remain with the clan!”> Neteyam groaned in exasperation, to which Lo’ak immediately responded with something sarcastic and whitty that earned him another growl from Neteyam.

Their voices quickly grew muffled the lower you got, only their ikran paying you any attention with their weirdly intelligent eyes. Thankfully, none of the kids were still bonded to them, so the mounts noticing you didn’t automatically make the children notice you.

Within moments, your toes were touching down on soft grass, and you were another step free. Your chest twinged at the thought, as you reluctantly recalled the expressions of the People. The same People you had thought to be your salvation, only this morning. Many of their faces you recognised, despite the clear ways time had changed them, but many you did not. Regardless of all your training, your ears still rang from the volume of Tsu’tey’s tortured screams, your heart still hurt from the hatred in which he looked upon your new form. Stomach twisting, you thought of Neytiri’s harsh treatment, starkly contrasted by Mo’at’s weary questioning.

It was clear, they were not the people you had fought and died alongside, but mere phantoms of a past that felt like only yesterday. Despite having been back on Pandora for a little under a week, the events that led up to the burning of HomeTree felt vivid and recent. You could still see the colossal structure burning as your colleagues held their breaths. Could still feel the horrible ache for what the clan had lost.

The rage that had awakened in you only burned brighter as Quaritch threw Grace, Norm and Jake in jail, before turning his sights on the Tree of Souls. It festered behind your ribs as you helped Trudy free the trio. It clawed at the back of your throat as you watched their helicopter tear across the tarmac before soaring high into the stars and disappearing from view. The rage turned cold as you had turned your back and slipped back into the building and back into Quaritch’s good graces.

There, you had been called into the Colonel’s office and told - alongside your squad - about Project Phoenix. You had been hungry for knowledge that could aid the People then, and you had gladly signed the contract and slipped into the link unit, already planning on which coordinates to send Trudy to pick you up from.

And that was where your previous memories ceased.

The evidence of that decision manifested itself in your blue skin and sudden growth spurt. It reflected back at you from the anguished expressions of your loved ones.

What remained of that rage had finally spluttered and died between your ribs when Tsu’tey had raised his knife to you. Whatever spite had fueled your actions and encouraged you to flee Bridgehead had evaporated. Leaving your eyes vacant and your limbs heavy.

That was no longer your home. They were no longer your friends. Tsu’tey was not your mate. And whatever relationship you had had with Spider was not long dead and gone.

You were not the person they grieved, but a living phantom. A sick figure of the past who should have remained there.

<”Oi, you!”> Lo’ak’s voice echoed between the tree, startling you from your spiral. Stupidly, you turned your head skywards, to find all five children staring down at you in confusion. <”When did you get down there?”> <”Climbed.”> You very helpfully replied, whilst kicking yourself for getting caught in your head instead of running away.

Oh yeah, you were supposed to be escaping.

In a matter of breaths, you turned on your heels and threw yourself into a run.

<”Hey! Wait!”> One of the children yelled after you, but you were done waiting. You were finished with biding your time. In plotting and scheming just to live. Just this once, you were going to be obvious. You were going to put yourself first and get as much distance from the clan as you physically could.

You could hear them following you in the trees. Cursing and yelling to one another as you wove around plants and chose random intervals to change direction in an attempt to shake them off your trail. The uneven ground was hard to navigate, but your adrenaline high didn’t seem to care. Your body on autopilot.

Every panicked stride taking your cursed existence further and further from the hearts and minds of the Omaticaya. With any luck, you would disappear from their lives entirely.

Their reactions flashed behind your eyelids now, your stomach twisting into tight knots at their expressions. It had been foolish to expect acceptance. To think that you could salvage the wreckage of your old life as if time hadn’t marched on in your absence. These were not the people you once knew.

Jake and Neytiri had a family now. Kids you had never had the chance to watch grow.

Tsu’tey had adopted a child. A human child. He had moved on. Any interactions you had with him from here on out would only reopen old wounds. Best to get away now, before you become a permanent memory instead of a phantom of the past.

You didn’t know where you were going. Just that you couldn’t afford to stay here. For all you knew, you were blindly stumbling into the jaws of your second demise. Perhaps Eywa had a palulukan with your name on it.

You had no knife. No survival gear. No squad.

Even if you wanted to return to the RDA for some stupid reason, you couldn’t. You had seen too much. Walking back into that prison with the knowledge you possessed was as bad as storming into General Ardmore’s office and drawing her a detailed map with one of her fancy pens.

The Omaticaya may not be your family anymore, but you would not throw them to the wolves-

The ground abruptly disappeared from beneath your foot. Your stomach lurched as you pitched forward. Hands straining against their cuffs, you uselessly tore at thin ferns as the ground rolled out from under you and you found yourself hurtling down a cliff face. Grabbing at the undergrowth was futile. The roots were either too weak or the leafed vines slipping painfully through your fingers. It was futile, trying to grasp an overhanging vine or catch yourself on a rock, but you tried anyway, only for the ground to catch you before you could effectively slow your descent.

The impact knocked the wind from your lungs, leaving you to groan breathlessly as you stared blankly up at a cloudy sky.

God, what a day. What a horribly emotional, nightmare of a day. What you would give to go back a week and start over. Better yet, what would you give to go back fifteen years and never sign that stupid contract?

At least your bones were reinforced now, or you would surely have broken several ribs or at least the arm you landed weirdly on. Head thumping back into the moss, you stilled as your eyes caught on an unnatural purple glow emitting from the centre of the bowl of cliffs. Tilting your head back, your throat tightened at the sight of the Tree of Souls standing proudly on its earthy throne, its glowing, willow like vines swaying on a soft breeze.

You had never seen the Tree in person as a human. Only ever in images taken from the skies. Or on the screens of scientists greedily trying to learn everything they could about the tree that lay at the centre of na’vi culture. A site that was sacred to the People. And very much not somewhere you would want to be found, with a pissed off Olo’eyktan intent on landing you a fatal blow.

The thought of Tsu’tey somehow finding you and becoming even more murderous had you clumsily rolling onto your stomach and pushing yourself to your feet. The moss was spongy beneath your sore toes, glowing a magnificent turquoise when you relieved it of your weight.

Heart in your throat, you turned your back to the tree in hopes of finding the entrance to the Well of Souls. If you recall correctly, there was a sloped trail that meandered down into the bowl. Stumbling along the walls of the cliffs, you tried to ignore the unspoken beckoning of the tree. Your kuru tingled at the base of your skull. A current of electricity travelling down the sensitive cord as if someone were trailing a finger down the skin beneath the braided hair.

Some instinct that wasn’t your own, knew the sensation would be elevated if you connected to the Tree.

Of course, because you had common sense and knew nothing about what that would do to your mind, you continued to scan the cliff faces for an exit.

The tingling abruptly cut off when you stumbled across an uneven patch of earth dotted in blooming flowers. Your toes thrummed with something unnatural where they touched the disturbed earth, the moss thinner here, as if it had been disturbed some time ago but hadn’t quite managed to heal.

It was a grave, you realised with a tight bob of your throat.

No, it was a pair of graves. One fresher than the other. Too small to be the resting places of na’vi.

They were human graves. Neatly dug rectangles that the Well of Souls had begun to reclaim and conceal.

There were no headstones. Only names carved into the cliff face at the head of each plot of disturbed earth. The older one carried an inscription that was weather worn, with lichen growing in the grooves formed by a sharp blade.

‘Jake Sully’

Heart hammering, your gaze flicked to the fresher carving. Though old, it looked to have been cleaned recently, unlike Jake’s grave which was on the verge of disappearing like a bad memory.

Your name stared back at you.

It was odd really, to be looking down at your own grave. Knowing that beneath your feet lay the skeletal remains of your human form on a bed of soft brown earth with sun lilies waving about its head. It was weird to know that that version of you lay resting within Eywa’s embrace, finally at peace with no goal for tomorrow and no pinch of regret for yesterday. Ignorant to the fact that everything beyond laying down in the link unit fifteen years ago, every adventure and your glorious demise, was not lost to you.

Who had brought you here? Who had tended to your wound or ailment? Who had prepared your vulnerable body to return be sent Eywa, uncertain if the Great Mother would even take you? Had they laid you to rest beside Jake’s soulless form, under the false hope that it would keep you company even whilst in the cold embrace of death.

More importantly, what had put you here? What had killed you? It had not yet been long enough for time to have dealt you a mortal blow, nor did the diseases of Pandora threaten human forms.

Had your death been dramatic? Cradled in the loving embrace of someone who begged you not to depart. Or had you been alone? Gasping for breath but finding no relief, wishing for the pain to stop and for Eywa to take you already.

The snap of a twig had your ears perking and your mind snapping out of its self-pitying spiral. You stepped away from the graves, tail straightening as you became painfully aware of your vulnerable situation. Booted footsteps echoed around the bowl of cliffs as a lone figure messily descended the concealed slope that led into the heart of the Well of Souls. You expected one of Pandora’s horrors or an RDA machine to explode across the open space.

Instead, a single Recom stepped out from behind a wall of cliff, moving methodically across the moss, his gun loaded and angled in front of him. Your gaze caught on the sunglasses firmly sat upon his nose, leaving you to stare dumbly at him as pure relief washed over his expression. Mansk’s face lit up, ears wiggling as he unleashed a hysterical laugh.

You jumped as the sound echoed around the Well of Souls.

“We thought we lost you!” He exclaimed, picking up his pace as he approached. You tried your best to return his enthusiasm, forcing your tail to stiffly begin wagging as the man approached.

“I got lost.” You chuckled dryly. “Ended up losing half my gear on the way.”

He grinned, wide and toothy. “We thought the na’vi got you.”

“Almost.” You joked, lifting your bound wrists for him to focus on.

Mansk shook his head fondly. “You always were a slippery one.” He mused, allowing his gun to swing back on his strap as he pulled a utility knife from his belt. His movements were confident as his large, five fingered hand gripped your forearm before he effortlessly cut the vines binding you.

You nodded gratefully, immediately moving to rub the sensation back into them. Mansk’s expression was unreadable when his hand fell to your shoulder, squeezing encouragingly. “Let's get you home. I’ll radio the chopper and we’ll get you back to Bridgehead in time for dinner.” Mansk promised as he pulled back, expression still bright. It made your stomach twist with unimaginable guilt. “You’re filthy. Bet you can’t wait for a warm shower.”

You forced a laugh as your stomach twisted with indescribably guilt.

Your disloyalty towards the RDA had never been because of your colleagues, and strongly towards the company itself. Which only served to cover your tongue in something sour at Mansk’s easy acceptance of your presence. Unknowingly, he was attempting to lead a hornet straight back into the beehive, and you were half tempted to let him.

Anger was reigniting low in your belly. Similar to the rage you’d felt when HomeTree fell. The kind of fury that made you want to watch the world burn. To lead the facility to ruin from the inside before letting yourself join it in its destruction.

In truth, you didn’t want to return to Bridgehead with its low ceilings and loud equipment. But what choice did you have?

Na’vi lived in clans to survive. You were a marine, but you doubted you’d last long out here on your own, whereas the other forest clans would no doubt shoot you on sight for your attire.

Mansk unexpectedly went rigid in front of you, hand frozen on his ear piece. Your gaze snapped up to him, reading the tension in his face, the widening of his eyes behind his glasses.

“Na’vi.” He whispered.

“Mansk?”

“Na’vi!” He blurted, abruptly sweeping you aside with one enormous arch of his arm, effectively shoving you behind him before he dropped his utility knife and scrambled for his gun.

Instinctively, you snatched up his fallen knife, but fell short of plunging it into his turned back, by the sight of Lo’ak standing threateningly by the sloped entrance to the Well of Souls. The kid was tense, eyes snapping from Mansk to you, whilst he held his knife by his side, concealing it with his body.

“At ease.” You soothed, hoping to discourage the marine from firing on sight, but Mansk was already shaking his head.

“Fuck no. These things travel in packs, if there’s one, there’s bound to be a whole squad nearby.”

From the undergrowth, you heard Neteyam yell, <”LO’AK GET BACK HERE!”>

Mansk lurched at the order but did not fire. His hands shook but he tried to school his face into something more neutral as he stared down Lo’ak.

Lo’ak who easily said, <”no,”> to his older brother and took another, slow menacing step towards the armed recom. God, all you could see was Jake’s childish defiance in his every movement. The naivety of a child believing they were invincible. “The hell is it saying?” Mansk demanded, his hands shaking on his weapon.

Lo’ak tipped his head up defiantly at his words, before saying in broken English, “you should not be here.”

Mansk jumped at his accented words, body tensing further as he instinctively pressed down on the trigger. Lo’ak barely managed to duck back behind the wall of rock as bullets tore up the moss he’d previously been standing on.

Heart pounding in your chest, you instinctively swung your knife hand up, slamming the hilt hard into Mansk’s temple. He cried out, losing his balance from the strike and falling heavily to his knees and elbows. His gun remained close to his body by the strap over his shoulder.

“Are you out of your mind?” Mansk shrieked, voice kicking up several octaves. “They’re na’vi!” He yelled, as if that was supposed to make you falter. “They killed us.”

“You should not instigate violence here!” You snapped, bending at the waist with all your teeth bared. “This place is sacred.” Mansk opened and closed his mouth several times. His shades had slipped down his nose, revealing large, accusatory eyes. They flickered from your wild expression to the Tree of Souls looming over your shoulder.

“You can’t be serious.” He scoffed. “We thought you’d left all this treehugger crap behind.” “You assumed wrong.” You corrected him, “now put the gun down. Pandora will not take kindly to more ruin of its sacred sites.”

Mansk spluttered at that. “Are you even hearing yourself right now?” He demanded, “they’ve killed hundreds of us. Good soldiers. Good people. I’ve lost so many friends to these fuckers.” “And the na’vi have lost families, homes, territory. The humans aren’t the victims here!”

“Why do you say it like that?” “Like what?” “Like you’re something else.” Mansk blurted, “we’re still human Private.” He argued, tone bordering on hysterical. “Turning blue didn’t change that.” It was your turn to scoff. “Stop being delusional. We signed our humanity away the moment we touched pens to that blasted contract.”

Something seemed to click for him. “You’re one of them.” It didn’t sound like an accusation.

You straightened, knife still clutched tightly in your dominant hand. No words sprang to mind to protect yourself as you glared down at the marine sprawled in the moss at your bare feet. Even decked out in full military attire, he looked more na’vi than human. And you looked even more like one of the People, but not enough. Not enough to blend in with them. To be accepted.

“I am not.” You told him truthfully. “Well you’re sure as hell not one of us.”

“Is that so?” “You’re a traitor.” “Perhaps.”

He barked a short laugh. High pitched and hysterical. He was already shaking his head as he scrambled backwards, putting distance between you, as if your feeble knife would do anything against the monster of a gun currently nestled in his lap.

“How long?” He demanded. You tilted her head in confusion and he sucked in a desperate breath. “How long have you been working for them?” Against your better judgement, the corner of your mouth kicked up. “It was nothing personal.” “How long!” He cut in, still backing away, still trembling. “Have you been lying to me? To our entire squad? To the people who have laid down their lives to watch your back.” You breathed out a long breath. “Don’t think I can count back that far.” You admitted, watching the hope drain out of him at the admission. “I mean.” Another stolen moment to do the maths. “Since before Jake even set foot on Pandora.”

Mansk’s expression shuttered as his fear abruptly melted away. You were familiar with the sight of a neutral mask shutting off his emotions. You knew your own expression mirrored the marine in the dirt.

“Did you get that Colonel?” He asked the air.

You immediately tensed, expecting a bullet between the eyes or for Lo’ak to cry out in pain from where he was still cowering behind the rocks. But instead, Mansk waited in silence, the buzz of a voice over the comms. Jake’s kid was no doubt long gone by now, his curiosity sated by the danger of the situation.

Your gaze snapped to the ear piece still blinking a steady red. Still recording. The marine nodded, expression solemn. Then he reached up and turned the earpiece off.

Movement flickered by the entrance to the Well, but you dared not glance away from the dangerously calm marine. Your slick grip clutched tightly at the hilt of your stolen utility knife as the man adjusted his grip on his weapon.

“Well done on getting this far. You had us fooled” He praised you, voice tight. “I’m sorry.” He said, and you knew he meant it.

“Nothing personal.” You repeated. “I just found something much better beyond the compound.” “I understand.” Mansk promised as he swung the gun up so the mouth glared at your unprotected torso. “But I’m still pissed at you.”

And then he opened fire.

Pain ripped through your right side. Long fingers of liquid fire dragged their nails across your torso, tearing up your dirty tank top, splitting skin. Expression twisted in pain, you gasped as more bullets whizzed passed. You staggered in place, knife dropping uselessly from your hand as Mansk emptied a cartridge of bullets into your abdomen.

Every sound of pain that punched past your lips could not convey the fire that laced your side. It stole the breath from your lungs, causing you to crumble to your knees even as the marine paused to reload.

You hit the dirt hard, knees buckling and slamming down into the moss.

Distantly, you realised that this would be your finally resting place for both your human and recom bodies. Although you doubted anyone would bother to bury this one, you were internally grateful that someone had cared enough to carve your name into the stone of Pandora. A tiny fragment of yourself would remain.

The gun went off again. Firing one, two more bullets before the sound spluttered and died. There was a curse in English. Closely followed by a gurgling sound, as if someone was choking on blood. Then a second twang of a bowstring and the wet thud of an arrow landing.

>_<

Sunlight slid off of your face as you lay on your back, arms limp at your sides and your head lolled back. You could feel vines wrapped under your armpits, securing you to whatever you were leaning against whilst your shoeless feet dragged against damp moss.

<”Eywa, they’re fucking heavy.”> Lo’ak complained.

<”We wouldn’t have to be dragging them if Neteyam had let me kill the bastard earlier!”> Spider snipped harshly, to which Neteyam quickly reprimanded him.

<”We had to make sure they weren’t going to hand over High Camp’s location.”> Spider muttered wordlessly under his breath, whilst Kiri jumped in. <”Stop whining Lo’ak and pull.”> <”I am pulling!”>

Neteyam spoke up, <”Spider is clearly pulling more than you are.”>

<”He is not!”> Lo’ak insisted, and whatever was dragging you along the forest floor abruptly jumped, sending your body into a world of pain.

You groaned. Low and guttural. Everything below your arms screaming in pain.

<”Shit.”> Lo’ak cursed, swiftly followed by the sound of a smack.

<”Idiot.”> Kiri spat, earning herself a half-hearted growl. <”I cannot effectively treat wounds that you continue to reopen.”>

<”It wasn’t on purpose.”>

“God, you kids are bloody loud.” You grumbled, vision swimming as you tried to rouse yourself further.

The sliding motion abruptly stopped as your words crawled their way out of your mouth. Gently, you were laid flat against the forest floor, and a shadow fell over your eyelids.

”You’re okay Zaza.” Spider soothed softly, and small hands pressed down on your forehead. <”They’re burning up.”> The boy reported, anxiety curdling his earlier reassurance.

<”They’ll never make it to the village like this.”> Neteyam whispered, to which Kiri jumped in.

<”We’ll get them stabilised using the Tree of Souls and I’ll clot those wounds.”> <”Can’t you call Dad? He’ll want to know if they’re dying.”> Spider asked.

<”Or help them pass faster.”> Lo’ak muttered, earning himself another smack.

Their bickering allowed you to drift for a while. Mind fluctuating between hearing the sound of your surroundings, to feeling like you had been submerged in a river. Time continued on as it had a tendency to do, even if you were not awake to appreciate it.

<”I’ve let Dad know we’re safe now.”> Neteyam said some time later, bringing you up from the tranquil bubble in which you had been floating. Distantly, you could feel little hands pushing your hair away from your sweaty forehead as pressure upset the wounds in your torso. <”But I think we should give Tsu’tey more time.”> Spider groaned. <”If he takes any longer-”> You drifted off again at Spider’s annoyed tone. The pain yanking you down beneath a sea of endless throbbing. Vaguely, you felt delicate hands fumbling with your kuru. The sensation was odd, ticklish almost as the braid was carefully attached to something that felt alive but not. You felt the tendrils wrap around something warm and pulsing as if it were your fingers knotting into a fist.

Then there was a bright tunnel of pulsing purple light behind your eyes, and you slipped away from Pandora, sinking into a comforting presence. It felt almost motherly, the way your sub conscience held you.

>_<

Slowly, a scene faded into view. In the back of your mind, you recognised it as the compound tucked in the Hallelujah Mountains. The one you’d spent three months sharing with Trudy whilst the three avatar drivers frollicked around the forest.

The compound was the same, but different somehow. The light pouring into the room was dappled instead of blinding like it was at that time of day perched upon the mountain. Grace’s belongings were missing, alongside Jake’s wheelchair and Trudy’s bunk was stripped, her jacket carefully folded and dusty at the foot of the elevated bed.

The scientific equipment had been rolled out to make room for kids toys and a cot. The link units had been ripped out, and in their place, a hammock as long as the room had been set up.

Curiously, you slid a hand along the material, stomach clenching at the sight of large, blue hands instead of the small, human ones you’d been expecting.

Behind you, there was a soft noise.

You turned, only for your stomach to drop at the sight of Tsu’tey sitting cross-legged against the far wall, a respirator hanging around his neck. He looked relaxed, almost content as he leaned against the wall, looking much too big for the small space and the streak of white paint running from his forehead to his chin. The hunter did not notice you watching him.

Smiling softly, he instead watched someone at his side.

You followed his gaze to a child happily messing around with the hunter’s tail. You recognised the kid immediately as Spider from his big eyes and shock of curly blond hair. He couldn’t have been any older than two, sitting beside Tsu’tey without an ounce of fear as he raked stubby little fingers through the hair adorning the tip of the tail.

Neither spoke as they sat in companionable silence. Tsu’tey watched the boy with a bittersweet expression of pure adoration, whilst Spider tested how far the tail could curl and stretch.

You took half a step closer and the scene evaporated.

>_<

This time, human you sat before you with their back to you. You were still in the compound, but it was decorated how you remembered, with the link beds all set out and your military jacket hung on the back of your door. Jake’s wheelchair was still missing, but some of Grace’s decorations still lingered. You could almost smell that ridiculously strong cherry blossom perfume she used to cake herself in, because she forgot to shower between driving her avatar and noting down her observations.

Human you was sat at their desk, pouring over a notebook in which they scribbled furiously. Curious, you inched closer. It was odd how you had to stoop in the familiar space to keep from hitting your head, but you pushed the thought away as you peered closer.

‘I see you.’

The page said. And written next to the English was Na’vi in bold italics.

‘Oel ngati kameie.’

Tsu’tey ducked into the room without warning, startling human you who immediately yanked another notebook over the page they were just writing on.

The hunter chuckled softly at their hurried motions, as he took his time approaching.

You stepped aside as he got closer, eyes catching on the lack of white painted down his face. How the bullet scars adoring his chest appeared more raw; newer. Which inevitably led your eyes to the baby shawl slung across his chest and a wiggling Spider cuddled up to his chest.

<”Your son is being difficult.”> Tsu’tey complained as he lowered himself to his knees beside human you’s chair. What little breath you had was abruptly punched from you, whilst human you simply turned in their seat to smile up at him. Tsu’tey was very clearly pouting, ears lowered playfully.

<”Defeated by a baby.”> Human you joked, leaning in to cup his cheek. <”I never thought I’d see the day.”> Tsu’tey tsked softly, large hands falling to their thighs and holding gently. <”You’re warmer than me.”> He said simply. <”And he sleeps better with you.”>

And that seemed to be that, because Tsu’tey withdrew his hands to carefully pull Spider from the baby shawl. The infant did not go easily. Clinging to everything within reach, from the shawl to Tsu’tey’s braids, which only served to make human you laugh at the pair, as Tsu’tey pouted whilst carefully untangling Spider’s little fists from him. But before long, they had Spider cradled in their arms, his little eyes drooping comically.

<”Lets go to bed.”> Tsu’tey suggested. Human you made to complain, but the hunter was already pulling them from the chair and against his chest.

>_<

The scene shifted to a na’vi village you had never visited before. Instinctively, you knew it was the new clan home, based on the familiar faces milling around. Hidden amongst the trees, you made out various tree houses nestled in the branches, with children swinging from home to home, whilst adults carried out their daily tasks.

Your attention was drawn by a hush that fell over the clan, and several heads turned towards the shadow of the trees at the far end of the clearing. As tall as you were in your recom body, you still had to strain to see na’vi you did not recognise emerging from the undergrowth.

Judging by their attire and spears instead of bows, you recognised them as a clan from a neighbouring territory. The small entourage was led by an older na’vi male adorned in vines of fiery red and gold. Clearly the Olo’eyktan, the man walked through the Omaticaya clan who parted easily for him. He nodded to any who met his gaze, speaking soft greetings.

Tsu’tey and Mo’at stepped forward to greet him, both decked out in their ceremonial attire. They touched their hands to their foreheads in greeting as the visiting Olo’eyktan mirrored the gesture. You noted the lack of white painted down Tsu’tey’s forehead as he greeted the man with an award winning smile. He stepped forward, Mo’at at his elbow as the visiting Olo’eyktan introduced himself.

The man tripped over his tongue as he caught sight of Spider wrapped securely in a shawl across Tsu’tey’s chest. Your eyes bugged at the sight of how small the child was in the open world of Pandora. How his exo-mask looked comically big over his little face, as he absently played with Tsu’tey’s kuru, which the man had pulled over his shoulder for the toddler to entertain himself with.

The visiting Olo’eyktan’s expression was pinched as he found his voice. <”You did not send word that you had adopted.”>

Tsu’tey took the poorly concealed accusation in his stride. <”I apologise, with rebuilding, many things have escaped my notice.”> The visiting Olo’eyktan nodded his head good naturedly, a sliver of his tension easing at Tsu’tey’s explanation. <”This is my son, Spider.”> He proudly explained, grinning when Spider glanced up at the mention of his name.

<”He is one of them.”> The visiting Olo’eyktan commented.

<”He is mine.”> Tsu’tey corrected simply, before stepping back and motioning to a fire that had been set up for the meeting. <”Come, you must be tired.”> The visiting Olo’eyktan nodded his head gratefully. <”It has been a long trip.”>

It was then that Spider began to fuss. Angrily, the toddler pushed away the kuru and began demanding to be held with grabby hands. His fussing picked up as Tsu’tey tried to keep a pleasant conversation going, whilst soothing the child with a hand rubbing up and down his back.

Spider was not amused.

Mo’at, seeing Tsu’tey struggle, decided to chip in with asking the visiting Olo’eyktan about his Tsahik. The man easily followed her change of conversation, explaining how his mate had fallen ill and wouldn’t have comfortably completed the journey in his current state.

Whilst the pair walked ahead to the fire and the clan and visitors disbursed to continue with their duties, your attention remained on Tsu’tey who was struggling to get Spider to settle. His tail thrashed in unease, hands checking the exo-mask to ensure it wasn’t rubbing.

His ears pricked cutely at the approach of someone half his size. Human you was dressed in a simple shirt and camo shorts to combat the heat, they wore a beaded choker at their neck. They padded barefoot across the clearing, an amused smirk tugging at the corner of their lips as they approached Tsu’tey, who was quick to drop to his knee and twist so that Spider could clearly see his other parent.

The effect was immediate as the toddler threw himself away from Tsu’tey, arms outstretched towards you. He only stopped fussing when human you lifted him out of the shawl and into their arms.

Tsu’tey remained on his knee for several more moments, softly watching his mate and child with a look that could melt even the hardest of hearts. Human you noticed him looking and were quick to press a kiss to his cheek and urge him back to his feet.

Dazed, Tsu’tey went willingly, but not before offering adorable words of endearment as a final parting gift.

>_<

The scene that followed was blurry as if someone had wiped grease across a camera lens.

This time, you were not experiencing the event from an out of body perspective, but instead, you appeared to be back in your human form. Every movement the body made was not your own. They were sluggish as if you were drunk or disconnected from your motions.

Beyond the warmth of a tea clutched between your hands, you could not figure out where your human body was. Whether you were in the compound, or within the new village. There was someone with you. A na’vi.

Their voice was smooth as honey, laced with the undertone of something malicious.

Every muscle in your body screamed danger as a large, four fingered hand took the tea from your grasp and helped you to your feet.

<”Why don’t we go on a walk?”> The voice suggested, to which the body you were in nodded jerkily. There was an amused huff, another hand on your shoulder; steering you.

You wanted to wiggle free. Every instinct you possessed screamed that this person meant you harm.

<”Very good.”> The voice cooed, <”Eywa, this will be easy.”>

>_<

The scene shifted. The world was still murky, but this time, your chest hurt. There was someone stood over you. That same honeyed tone. The glint of a blade.

Somehow, you knew you had been stabbed.

<”Now my brother can finally be free.”> Your murderer muttered.

Even as the world darkened before your eyes, your consciousness stalled. A name floated to the forefront of your mind. Knowledge that had seemed irrelevant at the time offered you a face to put to the statement.

>_<

For this memory, you were once again outside of a body. You stood back at your recom height, watching Tsu’tey stumble across your bloodied human form.

He wore no white paint, and was adorned in the ceremonial attire he’d welcomed the visiting Olo’eyktan in. Thankfully, Spider was nowhere in sight.

The hunter unleashed a gut wrenchingly, wounded sound as he collapsed to his knees before your dying form. His hands shook as he bundled them up in his arms, cradling them close. His hair braided with the red beads you remembered from before the war, and his Olo’eyktan necklace curled around his throat. You watched as he cradled the tiny form close to his chest, whispering in na’vi. His voice too low to hear.

Distracted, he unsteadily rose to his feet before taking off in the direction of the clan. Your phantom form easily kept pace, watching him weave through the trees. His head snapping down to human you every few paces.

<”We’re almost there Yawne.”> He promised, clutching them impossibly tighter.

They bled from a wound to their ribs. Not a bullet wound, but a long, deadly slice, deep and angry as it wept. Not the clean kill.

<”Did you kill him?”> They asked weakly.

Tsu’tey frowned, <”who Yawne?”>

Their brow furrowed at the question, but you could see the clarity slipping from their half lidded eyes. They were practically limp in his desperate grasp.

<”Slippery bastard.”> They said bitterly. <”Make sure you take good care of Spider. Gonna miss him.”>

Tsu’tey looked at them tightly. <”He will be back at the compound. You will see him shortly.”> <”Do not let him see me like this.”> They whispered. <”I don’t want him to remember me like this.”> By this, they meant bloody. Broken. A weak voice and a severe lack of strength in their arms. Tsu’tey seemed to understand.

<”Fine. I will wait until I have washed you of the blood.”>

<”Tsu’tey.”> They reprimanded weakly and the man bristled.

<”I am not going to lose you!”> He abruptly declared with the wrath of an Olo’eyktan fueling his words. <”I am going to take you home and you will be healed. And Spider and I will cuddle you until you are well again.”> <”That sounds nice.”> They whispered, voice somehow fainter. <”Can you keep holding me? Please?”> <”I am.”> Tsu’tey insisted, <”I’m holding you, Yawne. I’ve got you.”>

<”Can’t feel you.”> They told him, and Tsu’tey face twisted into something painful. <”Hurts.”> <“I know. I know.”> A sharp hiss through their teeth as a particularly unexpected jerk. <”Hurts!”> <”I know. I know. I know.”> Tsu’tey chanted, working himself up again to the point where panic laced his voice and brought tears to his eyes. He was still running, still returning to the clan with his dying mate in his arms. And even so, he called to Eywa for help. For some miracle. <”Please Great Mother, HELP ME!”>

No response.

Human you had gone deathly pale in his arms. Their fingers shaking as they tried to grab onto his arm guard to bring his attention back to them. Their voice was small when they next spoke. <”Thank you. For everything.”> <”Stop talking like this. You’re going to be fine. Mo’at will patch you up, and you will be running around giving me headaches like usual.”> They hummed and fell still.

Tsu’tey grew distraught before your eyes. Lower lip quivering as he shook them, ears falling flat when they didn’t hiss in pain. His hands shook as he crushed them to him, tail smacking against the nearby trees and he fell painfully to his knees.

The sound he let out shook the heavens. The grief that tore its way up his throat, bursting out of him as he clutched the corpse incredibly closer. Rocking them. Praying to Eywa. Begging her to give them back.

Before you could stop yourself, you moved towards him. He either didn’t notice your presence or didn’t care as the grief consumed him. It tore at your insides to watch him break. To listen to him bargain with a force beyond your understanding.

All you wanted was for the crying to stop. Your hand found his head, fingers slipping through immaculately kept braids. He fell still. Teary eyes slid up your form, catching on your face the most.

“Yawne?” He whispered, sounding distraught and broken.

“You’re okay.” You promise, and his face crumbled. Your human form has disappeared from his hands but the blood remained. And those bloodstained hands reached for you now, twisting into your torn shirt, clawing at you. He looked at you like you were a miracle. Like you were something precious. A stark contrast to the hatred and rage from before. He wound his arms around your thighs now, holding impossibly tight as he buried his tear stained face into your stomach.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered brokenly, hands clutching tighter. As if you’d disappear if he loosened his grip for even a heartbeat. Your hands remained in his braids, soothingly petting through them as he repeated it over and over again.

“Wasn’t your fault.” You assured him. He shook his head, pushing his nose hard into your stomach. Denying your forgiveness.

You urged him out of his hiding spot. Hands falling to cup his cheeks and rub away the tears that spilled down them. You stilled at the white paint that had suddenly appeared down his nose. It was a simple stroke, stretching from brow to chin.

“What does this mean?” You asked.

“It is how I show my grief.” He explained. “How I honour your spirit.”

“I thought the mourning period lasted for a season.” You wondered aloud, recalling the Tsu’tey of the current time, who wore his white line proudly.

“It does.” He confirmed, vulnerable and raw. It made you pull him into you again. Up off of his knees so he towered over you. His eyes were still shining, blood still all over him, but you didn’t care as you pulled him down so his face could tuck itself into the slope of your neck. He went willingly, pulling you to him, holding on tightly.

“I’m sorry.” “You do not need to be sorry.” “Couldn’t protect you.” “You did everything you could have.”

“Spider will be stuck with me. I cannot make him stop crying like you do.” The quiet admission has you pulling back in an instant. “That boy loves you with every fibre of his being. He looks up to and cherishes everything you do for him. He does not blame you for what happened to me. And nor do I.”

“But-” “Stop punishing yourself, Love.” You told him, “please. You can’t keep living like this.”

He stared at you. Blankly. Before suddenly coming back to life. His white paint was chipping before your eyes, flaking away to reveal shining little dots along his brow that trailed down the slope of his nose.

“I will find you.” He promised. And you believed that it wasn’t a threat, but a vow.

Last Chapter <- Part 2 -> Next Chapter

#Recom Reader #tsu'tey x reader #dad!tsu'tey #spider socorro #Son!Spider #when you accidentally find your own grave #betrayal #spiritual trees #grief #acceptance #minor injuries #rip mansk #today i sacrifice mansk to eywa #love you my boy but you further the plot #part 2 of 4

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be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie · 1 year ago

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Ghost Spider au where after he dies, be it from an incident or being kept in the Dr. X machine for too long, and the whole ghost part happens, he can just straight up manifest into the world. By that I mean that anyone will be able to see him. He's like one of those ghost that have unfinished business, but instead of wanting vengeance, he just wants to make sure the Sullys are ok.

Like, Lo'ak is about to get eaten by an akula? Spider guided Payakan there to smack it to death and become friends with his bro.

When Tuk, Lo'ak and Tsireya get captured? Hey look, a supposedly dead person appeared out of nowhere, look at him while Neteyam swoops in to get them out.

Neteyam is about to get shot? he gives him a little ghostly nudge, making sure the wound wasn't fatal.

When Kiri is held under the knife? Hey Quaritch, your dead son is right in front. How are you doing? Just the shock is enough for him to falter and for Kiri to get out, allowing Jack to finish the job (Yes, Quaritch blue, electric boogaloo is dead here).

The glow fish that Kiri used to find Tuk and Neytiri? That was him this time.

After that, he does his darndest to keep his incorporeal state a secret, while also giving them little hints so when it eventually does come to light, they'll be a bit prepared.

Also, I'm saying it now, Neytiri is the one to find out first.

This is lITERALLY TRAGIC, like, one of the saddest concepts I've ever read. It begs the question; are the ghost rules like most ghost unfinished business rules? When the Sully's are safe, and are okay, will he disappear and move on? It's a tragic thought.

Technically this can't be achieved until the RDA is gone or peace is reached, so he might be around for years. It might take like a decade or something. So if they eventually figure out he's a ghost, it might not even mean they have to accept his death. He's still there, he's just even more separate from the world he grew up in. Maybe he spends years learning to be able to touch things and to be touched with time, maybe he develops relationships and friends and family past how things were when he was alive. Everyone would be so relieved and excited when the war ended, but no one was ready for Spider to disappear?

God, I can't even handle Neytiri figuring it out first tho.

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ele-sme · 1 year ago

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She messed up the timeline!

sum: Au where Spider doesn't become friends with the sully kids, however, he becomes friends with another kid’s family, who treats him right.

Eywa did not like the future.

Being omnipotent meant that she could see and hear everything, and that meant the future too, she could see the future, she created the future, but it was the destiny to guide it. She could create it, not design it, she could only see the destiny do their work.

But she indeed doesn't like the future ahead of the child she was watching. He was a baby, a newborn, still in his mother’s arms crying because he just came into the world his mother offered him.

His cheeks were white (thanks to the fluids, although there was a bit of blood, and anyway they were beginning to be red) and he had his eyes closed, when he would have open them, they will be blue or grey, kinda like Eywa’s other children in the est cost.

His skin was still covered in the birth blood and fluids, and he was curled to his mother firmly, an assistant tried to remove him, for the washing routine, but as soon as her hands were on this baby, he cried even more lauder. The must-be father of this child, rolled his eyes and made a sharky comment, and then got out of the birthing room.

As the mother of the child handed over her baby to the assistant, tears were scrolling down her face. Humans were different from na’vis, they could do the act of mating with every person they wanted, and although they united their souls for all eternity in a promise, many times they break it. That is why Eywa dropped humanity, leaving themselves to solve their own problems, as revenge they now came to her new children’s world.

The baby stopped his crying, and he now was returned to his mother, who gave him a horrible name, Eywa did not like the sound of it, the baby curling on his birthing mother reminded the great Mother of an earth insect, araneon.

Poor child, both his parents would have died in the following months, and his future was full of horrible moments, all thanks to another set of kids that weren't even born yet, and a child who could not bring herself to watch behind the baby human skin.

But what could Eywa ever do? it was his destiny...

But...she is the great mother, she is Eywa! She can change his destiny!

The years flow, as always, he was now three years old, the humans give him the nickname Araneo but in English, he is such a beautiful baby, he gots blonde and curly hairs, brown eyes, and a contagious laughter. He could now run, and dance, and talk, and do so many things!

His adoptive parents weren't the ones that were destined to be, Eywa might or might have not killed the both of them during the great war.

it wasn't that much of a problem anyway, as the humans would have said, those two were “scum bags” or something like that.

Anyway, the couple who adopted him, was two very much nice womans, united to each other, they could not have a biological heir, and that was on Eywa, when she created humans, she didn't do them intersex like na’vis. At the time she didn't though it was the great idea it really was.

Oh well, anyway, the day that he was destined to meet Kiri, who would have then led him to her brothers, came.

Eywa had to get in the body of Abeni, one of the mothers of Spider.

it wasn’t complicated to spot him, he was playing ‘jumping’ in the hallway, not too far from the door.

As she picked him up, the door of the lab opened, Kiri was in Jake’s arms as he was coudicing her to Grace’s avatar body.

Luckily, Jake didn't know Abeni, so he simply ignored her. Altrought Kiri did everything in her power to see her, she was Kiri, she knew who she was under Abeni’s body.

Eywa needed to be careful with Spider, only a glimpse of Kiri’s tail could sabotage her plan.

“Manga Spider, kem si nga new-” she tried to say whispering, the fact that she could only speak na’vi wasn't a problem, all of her children could understand her, plus Spider knew a little of na’vi.

hey Spider, do you want-

“Yes, i want!” he said, even before she could finish her words, it was nap time so he would have accepted everything she would have said.

he was anyway trying to look behind Abeni’s shoulders, to look at Kiri, the destiny was doing this act, but Eywa was smarter, she could easily point him to the other way, there was no way he could turn his head all that way.

“who entered?” he asked with his tiny voice, but the mother was quick enough to enter, Abeni and jiā huì room.

The walls of the room were of a beige color, the only color on them were from Spider little drawings and scribbles.

The main bed was at the center of the room, a big comfortable bed designed for two adult humans. The covers were of a light yellow and the pillows were as white as clouds.

Next to it, at the first wall there was Spider crib, built with wood of the burden hometree of the Omatikaya clan. The covers were light yellow too and there was a pillow that was orange. All in the box, toys.

And a big yellow bear? With a red shirt. As soon as Spider saw it, he became fussy, wanting to be put into the crib.

Eywa placed him delicately on his tiny bed, and he immediately went to grab the toy, showing it to the mother.

"Winnie bo!" He said, handing it over to her, at the touch it was comfortable and his yellow fake fur was funny to look at, this was a funny bear.

Spider then pointed to the magic box that made imagines move, the name television.

"Winnie bo!" he repeats

You can't disobey a child’s request, so she had to search for a way to open the television.

For her sake, jiā huì entered the room.

"Everything okay?" She asked, looking at her wife body with worry.

And Eywa obligated the body to nod, she knew that possesing it for this long would have taken great energy. And she could feel the legs ready to give out, she only sitted in the bed and pointed at Spider.

jiā huì looked at her son, and a loving smile came on her face.

The love of a mother was something else, a too much dangerous power.

Only a glimpse of her son and jiā huì began to smile, and he wasn't even biologically hers.

It was too complicated to describe, and the body was too tired.

Eywa let the body lay down on the bed, meanwhile before letting it fall asleep, she watched attentively as jiā huì put the silly bear, and as the body’s eyes closed, she could hear Spider giggles when the silly bear appeared on the magic box.

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owlsdrawinglair · 1 year ago

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Hey yall would anyone be interested in my Avatar AU? It's basically Tsu'Tey adopting Spider AND Kiri and, well, the shenanigans of them trying to act like a normal family (despite Kiri being a literal spouse of their God, Spider trying to climb every high surface imaginable and Tsu'Tey constantly questioning his life choices) and such. So if anyone would be interested in the explanation of this concept please let me know!

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imeanwhynotbruv · 1 year ago

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Tuk & Spider

(Mowglie spider au)

First of all, I’m back!!!! Sorry for being away but I had stuff going on and now it’s done✨✨ also now I have a bunch of free time so expect updates again!!

Anyway, I think Tuk would definitely take to Spider very quickly because at first his is kind of just like a baby, very animalistic and doesn’t understand or care about what other ppl think / what’s expect of his age.

This means that, unlike her siblings, Spider doesn’t think she’s a baby and doesn’t want to hang out with her. Like Spiders not stupid, but because of his upbringing he’s not on the emotion level he should be, which means he relates more the Tuks childish attitude to things.

Tuk is also definitely one of Spiders favourite if not favourite, because she’s very straightforward in the way only a child can be and he really appreciates that (the poor baby defiantly has a hard time getting sarcasm social cues and subtext 😂😭)

Also like in he bites (the little short) Tuk is definitely willing to weaponise Spider😂 like she looks like an Angel but is totally mischievous and at the begging spider doesn’t even get what there doing is misbehaving.

Spider does warm up the the other sullys quickly, but even after he’s gotten used to things I think he’ll still see Tuk as a fav, maybe like a little Thanator cub that he wants to protect.

Spider defo likes to be around Tuk a lot

He likes her stories because they’re simple and more fun

He spend more time with her because it’s easier than trying to figure out what older ppl really mean

Her lessons are also easier for him because they’re generally childish

She doesn’t force him to try and use his words when he’s frustrated because she’s just content to do all the talking

He’s defiantly over protective and will stand like a threatening guard dog behind her even if he’s standing up to a navi adult (but don’t get me wrong he’s a sweet heart)

He definitely enjoys when she falls asleep on him bc it’s like when he was sleeping with the animals

Spider defiantly introduces her to all his animal friends even when it gives the rest of the sullys a heart attack

Eywa thinks it’s adorable

There will be more but I thought you might like this❤️ Asks are welcome and I hope you enjoyed

(Sorry again for being MIA😅)

#avatar 2 #spider socorro #avatar twow #Mowglie!SpiderAu #Eywa loves Spider #tukitrey #tuk sully #Tuk and Spider are besties #Tuk is an evil angel #but so so adorable

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meenawrites · 2 years ago

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THAT'S RIGHT

James you poetic bastard.

Miles Quaritch- almost killed the first day on Pandora. Leaving him scarred and angry.

Miles "Spider" Socorro- Embraced by Pandora and not a scratch on him.

Hey Neytiri, baby, Eywa welcomed the son. He's nothing like his father. Even Eywa sees that.

#Eywa loves Spider

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meenawrites · 2 years ago

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Eywa Loving Spider

I have to think that Eywa has been trying to give little hints that she likes/cares for Spider. I don't think him and Kiri would really have the connection they do or be as close as they are if that wasn't the case. We know that Kiri feels Eywa keenly, more than most Na'vi, so I have to imagine that if Eywa had negative feelings for Spider and his existence, she would feel it.

In my mind, Eywa has probably been signaling that she likes Spider either by the presence of some Atokirina or maybe some of Eywa's more hostile creatures not attacking him when they plainly could. But because people kind of dislike Spider, there's never really any adults around to actually see the signs.

But like they're all there! Maybe in the way he survives an encounter with a palulukan or the way the Sully family ikrans are okay with him touching them and riding them. The adults chalk it up to them having the same feelings as his friends do towards him through tsaheylu but it's actually more than that.

I don't know, I'm hoping Eywa gives some clear sign about Spider being special and being one of the people in the next movie. I honestly want some big gesture like somehow becoming soul siblings with a tulkun or my personal favorite, Eywa blessing him so that he can breath Pandoran air.

Spider just deserves to know he belongs there okay?!

#Eywa needs to bless Spider #Spider deserves love #spider socorro #Eywa's blessing #Avatar 2 #Avatar the way of water #Spider loving himself #Pandora loving Spider #Metkayina #Omaticaya

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normspellsman · 2 years ago

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Tidal Wave

part one | part two

pairing: lo’ak x fem!human!reader

genre: angst, more angst, comfort (from tsireya to lo’ak + from spider to reader + from kiri to reader), & fluff (at the very end)

word count: 14.4k+ (holy fuck)

warning(s): suggestive content, crying, yelling, familial arguments, secrets are spilled (😬), neytiri + lo’ak arguing, mentions of violence + self inflicted injury (reader rubs skin raw), mention of incident at ta’unui clan, slightest lo’ak x tsireya, reader having self-deprecating thoughts, lo’ak being lovesick for reader, mention of lo’ak being sad, major character death, sprinkle of miscommunication / misinterpretation of actions, blood, slightest spider x reader, kiri + reader are bffs!, heartbreak?, cursing, & mentions of having little appetite

taglist: @bewbz2110 @httpjiikook @aonungsmate @cheyehc @ihave500hubbiez @heart-an0n @omnifanfic @toomuchtime02 @bigdikzaddy @anxietydrogz @myh3artttt @ancientbeing10 @yourusername1 @dearstell @goodiesinthecloset21 @iwannahaveaprettyaesthetic @thatonegirlwiththebeanie367 @arminsgfloll @optimisticblazetrash @liyahsocorro @universal-s1ut @amortencjja @sweetirilly @blushhpeachh @alohastitch0626 @btsiguess-kpop @ithinkimaslutforharry @zootymcnooty @zeeader @reallysparklychaos @zeida @coffeehurricanes @manumanulau @pumpararapam @ipang @willowcxmilee @audigay @sagaonpandora

word bank: sa’nok — mother, sempul — father, eywa / great mother — goddess deity that the na’vi believe in, tawtute — human; sky person, ikran — four winged creature used for hunting + flying, kehe — no, palulukan — thanator, sìlpeytsyìp — little hope (idk if it’s an accurate translation since i just put the words hope + little together), tulkun — whale like creatures, ilu — sea creature used for hunting + riding, yawne — beloved, & nga yawne lu oer — i love you

songs that i drew inspo from: a match into water by pierce the veil, gilded lily (sped up version) by cults, mr. forgettable by david kushner, & reflections by the neighbourhood

note: huge shoutout to @neteyamslovrr for helping me proofread this! ilysm baby 😭🫶🏼🤍 mentions of readers birthday takes place around 3-4 months after her & spider were kidnapped (so reader, kiri, spider, & lo’ak are aged up to 17-18). i imagined the events of atwow happening over a couple of months due to the fact that ronal is more visibly pregnant towards the end than when we first see her. so, just for clarification :)

Lo’ak had begged his parents the morning after to save you.

He pleaded and begged, getting on his knees as he sobbed into his Sa’nok’s thigh, covering it in his warm tears and snot. But, Jake’s answer stayed persistent: “They are strong kids, son. They will be alright,”. Of course, Jake wasn’t aware that Lo’ak and his other siblings heard what he had to say about you and Spider the night before during he and Neytiri’s heated discussion.

( “The kids know everything! They know where we live! Spider knows our whole operation. We are not safe as long as they have those two. They both can lead him right here! We are no longer safe staying here.” )

Lo’ak knew that neither you or Spider would ever give up the location of High Camp or of the Sully family. The both of you were loyal to a fault. Perhaps too loyal for your own good. It hurt to hear that his own Sempul would ever think that you would betray the family you grew to think of as your own. Lo’ak knew you better than anyone else.

Having to leave the Omatikaya and not even attempt to save you made Lo’ak resent his parents, his heart completely breaking into two as he got farther and farther from his home and essentially you. It was days before he had spoken to his parents after arriving at Awa’atlu, but it wasn’t like his parents sought out to speak to him either.

The more time he spent on the island, the more time he found himself yearning to have you by his side. To experience all of this with you. There was a constant hole in his chest that never left, deepening every time he thought of you. He had no way of knowing if you were being tortured at the current moment or even alive. He didn’t trust the RDA to keep you alive, especially once they saw how loyal you were to Jake and his family, disposing of you like you were nothing. You are everything to Lo’ak and it pained him to not know how you were doing or what was happening to you during your time in the enemy’s hands.

He could only pray to Eywa every night to keep you safe and spare you, fully aware that if she answered his call, she’d need something in return. And he was fully prepared to pay the price with his own life.

��——

The torture they put you through was something you’d never would wish upon your greatest enemy.

They had ceased the torture on Spider, the orders being given to them by Quaritch. So, Ardmore turned to you and inflicted all kinds of pain and continuous torture onto you. The human boy begged Quaritch to put a stop to this, demanding him to let you go. But no matter how much Spider pleaded with the man or how many times he went over it with Ardmore, the woman didn’t budge. She was insistent on getting something out of you. But all she really got was memories and flashes of a tall Na’vi teen boy and nothing else. Things that were useless to her, so she punished you every time.

The first time you arrived at their base, their doctors had pulled you aside and assessed you. They deemed that you had multiple fractured ribs and a mild concussion, ordering Ardmore to let you heal before she decided to do anything. She agreed to it at first since she had Spider to get information out of, but once Quaritch told her that he was off limits and was going to comply with him and his team, she began to drag you out to the interrogation room and leave you in there for hours until you passed out.

It was the same routine for weeks. Wake up, get dragged to the interrogation room, receive endless amounts of torture for hours, pass out, repeat. Days began to blur together, not knowing where one began and the next stopped. It was all the same.

The first time you realized you had been in the RDA’s grasp for too long was the night Spider had snuck into your room and gently sang happy birthday to you. It must’ve been months then. Your seventeenth birthday was celebrated nearly a year before being taken hostage by Quaritch. Ardmore had deemed it best to separate Spider and you from each other, breaking down both of your support systems. That night, as you and the boy silently cried into the dark of your room, you lost all hope that Lo’ak was coming back for you.

It hurt too much to think about. But you knew, you knew that eventually, it was never going to work out. You were too different. Something was bound to happen sooner or later, ripping the two of you from each other and essentially ending the relationship you had with one another. You loved Lo’ak dearly but you knew that your love was never in the cards. It was something taboo, forbidden. You only hoped that Lo’ak was able to find comfort within someone else during this time. For you doubted that you’d ever see each other again. He needed someone like him. Not you.

———

Lo’ak had done everything he could to keep his mind off of you.

He needed to keep his mind off of you if he didn’t want to break down in the middle of the beach twenty-four-seven. So, he often spent more time training with Tsireya and got into meaningless fights whenever he could, angering his parents to no end. It worked at times, but often not, his mind always wandered back to you. Always.

“Lo’ak, what are you doing?” A soft voice asked, pulling the boy away from his never ending thoughts of the one person he desired to see.

“Moping,” he mumbled, crossed legged on the shoreline as he picked at the soft sand beneath him.

“I can tell,” she replied, taking a seat next to him. The boy next to her looked like a wounded puppy, ears drawn back as his tail laid limp beside him. Plus, he had a frown painted onto his face as he blankly stared at the sand below. “What is bothering you?” She asked, calmness etched into her voice.

Lo’ak hadn’t told her, or any other Metkayina for that matter, about you and the kind of relationship you shared. Sure he mentioned you and Spider and what happened before he and his family left to seek uturu from the reef people. But he never gave anyone the idea that he was in love with you. He didn’t know how any of them would react.

“Is it about the humans you mentioned earlier?” She added, filling in the silence that was growing between them as Lo’ak didn’t answer her previous question.

The boy only hummed, poking his fingers into the damp sand. He really didn’t want to talk to Tsireya about this. It risked the chance of his Sa’nok hearing or a stranger eavesdropping and telling everyone else in the village about how much he cared for a tawtute. It also hurt to talk about you. Because he knew once he started, he was never going to stop.

“I am sorry that they were taken. I know they meant a lot to you and your siblings,” Tsireya commented, truly feeling sorry for the young boy. She could tell that Lo’ak deeply cared for the humans and she couldn’t imagine losing someone that close to her like that.

A shrug from Lo’ak was his only response to the girl’s comfort, tears beginning to prick his eyes as he began to crave your touch and soothing lips against his. He began to forget what it was like to have your hands and lips on his own skin, making the hole in his chest increase in size.

“What were their names again?” She delicately asked, genuinely curious. Foreign things always interested the girl and she had never seen a tawtute before. So, befriending people that have, made her want to ask all of the questions she’s been dying to ask. The girl knew that her chance of meeting a human was extremely low before the Sully’s arrival, but that still didn’t stop her from wondering.

A small smile etched itself onto the corners of Lo’ak’s lips as he thought about you. Your name was probably his favorite thing to utter. It becoming a prayer during the darkest hours of the night, with you being the only one to answer his mumbled words. You were Lo’ak’s salvation and he never hesitated to remind you.

“(Y/N) and Spider,” he replied, fingers now fiddling with the anklet around his foot. You had made it for him for his fifteenth birthday. The poor boy had been so flustered while trying to tie it around his ankle that the woven material kept slipping through his fingers. You offered your help with a giggle, your soft fingertips causing fire to erupt against his skin as they trailed from his ankle bone to his calf in a teasing manner. If Lo’ak closed his eyes and tried hard enough, he could still feel the tingly sensation your fingers left behind in their wake.

“Those are…interesting names,” Tsireya giggled, testing out their names on her tongue, attempting to enunciate every letter and vowel to the best of her ability. “Humans have such weird names,” she comments, reflecting back on the time she briefly met Norm and Max when they came to visit after Kiri’s seizure.

Lo’ak only hummed in response, smile still on his face as he recalled all the memories he has of you. He missed you so much. He felt empty without you. He felt as if he had half a soul with you gone. His whole being ached to be with you, touch you, love you.

The Metkayina girl noticed Lo’ak’s almost blissful smile on his face, copying his actions. She could only assume that one of you meant more to him than the other. That the other held a special place in his heart. “Which one is it?” She asked, not trying to sound like she was prying. That was the last thing she wanted to do. She was just curious.

Lo’ak’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, “What do you mean?”.

“Which one has you wrapped around their finger?”.

The question itself made Lo’ak blush, bottom lip going in between his teeth in an attempt to stop an even wider smile from making its way onto his face. Damn, he thought, she can read me like a book. You got to be more subtle man.

The boy gave her his answer, tail perking up and swaying to and from at the mention of your name, his body betraying him at trying to hide his affection for you.

“Can you tell me about her?” Tsireya asked, enthralled at how just the mere mention of your name influenced such actions from the Omatikaya boy.

Lo’ak didn’t need to be asked twice before he began to talk about you, barely taking any breaths in between each word he uttered. If only his Mother and Father could see how much love Lo’ak held for you. If only.

———

“Ready kid?”.

You’d rather throw yourself off the highest floating mountain than go with Quaritch and his team on their mission to hunt down Jake and his family. But, alas, you had to go. You had to go unless you wanted to continue to be tortured by the old blonde Captain. You hated that woman with everything you had in you.

Quaritch had promptly requested Ardmore to cease her torturous treatment on you, stating that he finally got a lead on where the Sully’s might be and that you were crucial to the plan he and his team were putting together. He needed you to go with them and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He saw how Jake’s son had reacted when he was teasing the boy about you. The boy cared for you and Quaritch was going to use it as leverage somehow.

“Don’t have much of a choice, do I?” You replied, eyes narrowing at the man in front of you. You absolutely did not want to go wherever they were going, but you didn’t want to stay behind and be tortured to death. So, you took the lesser of two evils (if you could even call it that).

Quaritch chuckled at your response, shaking his head, motioning you to follow after him. The man had taken a liking to you, much like he did with Spider. You weren’t afraid to express how much you disliked the man nor did you hesitate to express your distaste for the whole situation he put you in. He liked your bluntness and admired your loyalty to the Na’vi, even if it was a major inconvenience for him and his team.

You had only ridden on an ikran a handful of times before, Lo’ak only being able to convince you with his little pout and big pleading eyes. You never were a fan of heights and having to spend Eywa knows how long on an ikran to the next base Quaritch was heading to made you want to cry. At least with Lo’ak, you knew that he’d always catch you if you began to slip. But with Quaritch, you were confident he wouldn’t give two shits if you slipped off the flying creature.

“I am not getting on an ikran with you,” you commented, hands on hips as you approached the RDA Avatar soldiers and their ikrans. You were very surprised that the whole group managed to, successfully, claim an ikran within only months of being on Pandora whereas native Na’vi trained their whole lives for this. It all left a bitter taste in your mouth when you thought about it.

“You’re not, sweetheart,” Quaritch answers, turning back towards you once he reached his bonded companion.

The ikran was probably the most beautiful you’ve seen, even with your limited experience with the creatures. The whole body of the animal was a deep navy blue, streaks of gold and orange decorating its wings. The animal itself was gorgeous. It was ironic how someone so evil and ugly had managed to tame something so beautiful.

“Spider’s riding with me. You’ll ride with Z-Dog,” he continued, clicking his tongue towards the tall Avatar woman, gently petting his ikran as he did so.

Your eyes were torn from the navy creature in front of you to the woman. Your blood went cold as you made eye contact, her hard stare boring into your eyes as she robotically chewed at the gum in her mouth. Great, you thought, I’m definitely going to die.

“We don’t have all day, kid,” Quaritch commented, already mounted on his ikran as Spider sat in front of him, eyes worriedly scanning your figure as you stood there frozen in place.

Your eyes then drifted from the woman to her bonded companion behind her, its face gently nuzzling into her side affectionately. Your heart clenched at the sight of the animal. It looked almost identical to that of your boyfriend's ikran. Lo’ak’s was an almost dark blue, gold swirling around its neck and wings. His companion shared many similarities to the one of his Father, the only difference being the black patch on his protruding lower jaw. Memories of when Lo’ak took you out for rides on his ikran flooded your mind, making the hole in your chest double in size.

“Let’s go,” the woman said, snatching your forearm in her grip as she placed you onto the creature, placing herself behind you as she made tshaleyu with the animal. The winged creature chirped in delight at the sensation and shrieked once it readied itself to take flight, wings twitching.

You braced yourself for the ride, both hands tightening around one of the ikrans queues, thighs tensing in anticipation. The rides you had with Lo’ak were much more smoother and gentler. Lo’ak made sure to put emphasis on how he dismounted from the ground, trying to make it as smooth as possible for you. His bonded animal always complied, never rushing when he pushed off the ground and into the skies above. You found yourself missing that process as you desperately tried not to slip off the poor animal as it ascended into the blue sky. It was rough, to say the least.

Once you reached an appropriate enough altitude, Z-Dog steadied and leveled out her ikran, halting the rough turbulence you experienced moments prior. The creature chirped once again, smoothly gliding through the wind.

You always loved the feeling you got whenever you were up in the sky with Lo’ak despite your anxiety regarding heights. He always made sure that you were okay throughout the ride as well as before and after the fact. But with the stranger you were assigned to, you found yourself wanting to hurl in anxiousness. You only hoped that this was going to be a quick and fast flight to wherever the hell you were heading to.

———

The minute you stepped into the small room the tulkun hunters had allowed you to occupy during your stay, you fell to your knees. Sobs racked your body as your mind replayed the scenes that you witnessed only minutes prior. Arriving at the Ta’unui village. The gathering of their people like they were sheep to slaughter. Quaritch threatening the Tsahik and Olo’eyktan of the clan. Lyle shooting and killing a sea creature on his Colonel’s order. The burning of the peoples homes. The killing of a Mother tulkun. It all kept replaying in your head, even when you moved to the even smaller shower.

You tried so hard to rid of the memories in your head, of the smell on your skin, of the guilt you felt. You rubbed at your skin until it was raw and hot and bleeding. The permanent reminder of just what your race is capable of slamming to the forefront of your mind. It all felt wrong. It feels wrong being here. Feels wrong to live on Pandora where its native species had to experience the pain and constant attempts of colonization from a different species. It all felt like you were contributing to whatever Quaritch had in mind. Even if he didn’t tell you any details, you still chose to come along. Maybe staying behind with Captain Ardmore would’ve been a better option. After all, it wouldn’t have mattered if you were alive or not at the end of it for you already felt dead inside. Nothing and no one would be able to bring you comfort from what you just saw and gone through.

“(Y/N)?” A familiar voice asked, it cracking from the amount of emotion the owner felt.

“Spider,” you whispered, curling in on yourself as you saw his figure standing in your doorway, tears streaming down his face.

The boy made his way to your bed, laying on it, facing you on his side. Not a word was uttered between you two, not needing any to communicate the type of comfort you both seeked from each other. And you stayed like that, facing each other and grasping onto each other's hands for comfort as you unknowingly fell asleep, slumber welcoming you into its embrace. But even your dreams weren’t a safe place. You dreamt of fire, of blood, and of death the whole night.

Maybe Neytiri was right. You should’ve never befriended the Sully children. You should’ve stuck to your own kind.

———

The second Lo’ak heard that a boy and a girl had been with Quaritch and his team during their attack on a nearby village, he began to ready his ilu for the trip. For getting you back.

The boy had paced back and forth from the edge of the mauri to his swimming companion, bending down to slip on the various of saddles the animal needed for riding. The creature chirped up at him every time Lo’ak bent down, seemingly encouraging him as he did so.

“What are you doing?” A voice asked, confusion laced in their tone. Lo’ak knew who it was before they even spoke. His Sa’nok had a bad habit of sneaking up on everyone, being too quiet for her own good. The hairs on the back of his head always stood up on end whenever he felt his Mothers presence behind him, alerting him of the potential rage he was going to face from the woman.

“To save them,” Lo’ak mumbled, too focused on saddling the right equipment on his companion, fiddling with the straps as he tightened them. The boy knew that his parents never really cared for either of your well-beings, it being evident in their body language and actions whenever he or Kiri talked about the things they did with the pair of you that particular day. If they weren’t willing to save you, then Lo’ak would take it upon himself to. He finally knew where you were after months of not knowing and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to have you in his arms again.

A growl emitted itself from his Mothers lips, her hand coming out to grip her son's bicep into her grasp, “Kehe!”.

Neytiri didn’t know why her son was so infatuated with you, a tawtute. She was always against her children from befriending you and Spider, glaring at your figures everytime you walked by at High Camp. Her son seemed to be closer with you than Spider. The fact always bothered her, making her skin crawl with anger. Angry that you were occupying her son's time when he could be doing other things, meeting other people, and talking to other appropriate women of the clan.

“You will not,” she continued, scowl painted onto her face as she glared down at her son. She knew that if Lo’ak were to continue with his plan and make it to wherever you were, that Quaritch wouldn’t hesitate to shoot or take him prisoner. She couldn’t have that. Neytiri needed all of her children within eyesight so she could look over them and make sure that they were safe. She wouldn’t be able to do that if her son went to you.

Lo’ak growled back at his Mother, ripping his arm out from her tight grip. The boy had his mind made up and nobody was going to stop him. He needed to get to you. He needed you.

“I will. Why do you even care? You haven’t bothered to talk to me the whole time here. The only time you talk to me is to yell or scold me for doing yet another thing wrong,” Lo’ak hissed out, teeth tightly clenched. “(Y/N) and Spider care about me more than you ever have!” He added, whole body shaking in anger.

Neytiri gasped at her sons exclaimation, lightly hissing at him, “How dare you think that? I love you, Lo’ak. But they, they do not! They are demons! They aren’t capable of such things as love.”

Lo’ak’s ears drew back to press up against his skull and his lips drew up to show off his pointed fangs, a very loud hiss escaping from between his teeth. The hiss sounded almost roar-like, drawing attention from inside the Sully mauri, ears and tails perking up in interest.

Another gasp escaped from Neytiri’s throat. Her son had never hissed at her like that. Sure he had hissed at her playfully when he was younger or out of annoyance whenever she tried to get him to open up to her. But he had never hissed at her so…possessively. The only time she had heard a roar like this was when her husband was fighting off Quaritch during the Great Battle and he threatened everything he worked so hard to build during his time in the Avatar program.

“They do! She loves me. She’s capable of it and so much more. But you are too stubborn and stuck in your ways to see her the way I do. She cares for me, loves me. That I know,” Lo’ak grumbled out, fangs seeming to get even longer as he brewed in his anger. “I see her and she sees me. Something you and Dad never do,” he finished, turning away from his Mother as he reached out to grab the final thing he needed for his ride to you.

“What do you mean, Lo’ak?” Neytiri asked, anger laced in her voice. She knew what he was insinuating, but she needed to hear it come from his mouth. To confirm her suspicions. To confirm or deny what she had been thinking for years.

“I mean that she is mine. She is the only thing that I was ever able to have. I see her. She has taken me heart, body, and soul,” he slightly hisses out, not daring to look at his Mother as he spoke. He knew that once the confession of his sins slipped from his lips, there was no telling what his Mother would do. He didn’t want to be in the crossfire once she decided to act upon whatever she was feeling, her not being a top priority in his life at the moment. You were the priority and he’d be damned if anyone stopped him from getting to you.

“No,” Neytiri whispers, “You did not. Tell me you didn’t!”.

There were many things that his Mother could be referring to, but he was pretty sure he knew what she was hinting at. It was something that he had planned on doing with you once he properly courted you and way further into the future. But, nothing ever goes according to plan in Lo’ak’s life. The first time you guys had engaged in such an act was months before you were taken hostage. You had never been to the Tree of Souls, it being nearly impossible for you to get to without proper assistance. Lo’ak had decided to take you to it as a surprise on your weekly date night. The two of you had been dating for a while but never went as far as kissing or wondering hands against skin. It all happened so fast. One minute Lo’ak was describing the connection to you, how it all worked and the next, you were under him squirming and calling out his name in pleasure. He knew that once such an act was done, he’d be tied to you forever. That in the eyes of the Great Mother you two were mates and forever bound to one another’s souls. After that, the two of you often found yourselves engaging to be together. Lo’ak felt as if it was another way he could feel connected to you without being able to perform tshaleyu. He never took the act for granted and always put your pleasure before his, worshiping every inch of your body before you could do the same to him.

Her sons silence was Neytiri’s answer resulting in her loudly hissing at her youngest son, almost matching Lo’ak’s moments prior. That was the final straw to have Jake interfere between his arguing son and wife.

“You gave yourself to her? To a demon? Agh! Shame! You have brought shame upon this family and yourself. You tainted yourself with a human. Someone who can’t give you a future!” She yelled out, angry tears running down the expanse of her cheeks. Intercourse before mating wasn’t something that was taboo in the Omatikaya culture, but it was expected of the Olo’eyktan and his family to save themselves before then, demonstrating their loyalty to the people and their future spouse. So to hear her son, the second born of the Olo’eyktan, engage in such an intimate act with a human nonetheless, made her want to pluck his eyes out from the sockets that held them.

“Woah! Woah! Hey!” Jake said, jumping in between his son and wife before either of them could jump at each other's throat. His front faced Neytiri while his back faced his son. “Hey! What’s going on?” He gently asked, bringing his wife’s face into his hands as he tried to get her to focus his attention on him and not Lo’ak.

“Your son has mated with a demon!” She spat out, disgust interlaced in her tone. The way she felt towards the situation was evident enough on her face. Her lips were drawn back to flash her fangs and her nose was scrunched as if she just smelt a pile of Palulukan dung.

Jake froze at the words his wife spat, eyes darting to his son behind him. Although he froze at the words, he wasn’t surprised. He had a feeling that you and Lo’ak were more than just friends. He often caught his son gently rubbing at the marks you left on his skin during dinner, a smirk dancing across his youngests lips. Jake’s not stupid. He was Lo’ak’s age once and understood the urges he faced. But, he was human then and the Na’vi have a completely different way of thinking and going about things like this.

Jake didn’t question Lo’ak about whether or not what Neytiri said was true, already knowing the answer. He only sighed in response and tried to coax his wife to calm down.

“Go back in the house, son. Now,” Jake demanded, shooting him a look that told him he wasn’t taking a no for an answer.

Lo’ak wanted to argue and continue with his plan on rescuing you, but he knew that his pleading would be worthless, especially after his confession. So, he begrudgingly desaddled his ilu and made his way into the pod, ignoring the looks of his siblings as he made his way to his side of the house, throwing something against the woven wall before settling down in the corner. Tears left his eyes as he sat there. He was frustrated. All he wanted to do was see and hold you, but it seemed as if Eywa wasn’t on his side once again.

Why Great Mother? Why do you do this to me?

His heart further broke at the fact that you, yet again, slipped through his fingers. It seemed as if the whole universe was against the two of you. But, the universe be damned. Lo’ak was going to get you back no matter what it took. He’d burn down villages for you, destroy planets for you. He’d do anything for you.

———

“They found out?” A soft voice asks, pulling Lo’ak out from his zoning out episode.

He only hummed in response, eyes puffy from all the crying he did that night. His Mother screamed and cried at him after she talked to Jake, calling him what everyone else does, a disappointment. He desperately tried to get her to understand how he felt about you and how much he cared for you. He wouldn’t fall in love with just anyone, so you had to be very special to be the one to hold his heart.

Neteyam had been the one to comfort him that night as Jake and Kiri consoled Neytiri, trying to get her to calm down so she didn’t disturb any other Metkayina trying to sleep or seek shelter from the storm. It had been the first time in years that Neteyam had held Lo’ak in his arms, turning him away from the sight of their Sa’nok as the elder practically held the younger in his lap. Neteyam felt bad that their Mother was acting like this. Like she too hadn’t fallen in love with a tawtute. No matter how long Jake stayed on the planet and mingled with the natives, he would always be a human at heart. It’s hard to break out of old habits and it seemed as if their Father began to fall back into his sky people ways as of recent.

( “It’s okay, tsmukan,” Neteyam had whispered, Lo’ak barely hearing over the dramatic wails of his Mother. The boy had long been done with his crying, just blankly staring at the anklet wrapped around his foot. The last remaining thing he had of you.

“She doesn’t understand,” the older brother continued, stroking Lo’ak’s braids with such a gentleness, he thought for a second that it was you who was holding him. He only ever experienced such a gentle touch with you. It felt wrong that it wasn’t. That it was coming from his brother and not you.

“She does not,” Lo’ak confirmed, burying himself further into his brothers body, actively seeking his warmth to combat the shaking of his own body. “She never will,” he continued, eyes hardened to a glare as he stared at the intricately woven floor. She will never understand, he thought to himself, anger and sadness erupting in his chest. )

“A lot of the people heard your Mother last night,” Tsireya spoke up, sitting next to the dark blue boy. She felt bad for the teen. To be in love with someone you could never have must be heart wrenching. “I am sorry she acted the way she did. I hope she soon comes to the realization that you do truly love her,” she continued, trying to offer up the best comfort she could.

“I don’t think my Dad cared. Probably already knew before I told them. But,” he croaked out, voice coming out coarse as a result from his crying the night prior, “He didn’t do anything to stop Mom from saying those things about her, about me.”.

Having his Father allow his wife to continually insult his lover and him had made Lo’ak bitter. How come he wasn’t able to defend the one he loved but it was alright for Neytiri to throw such hurtful words to her own son? It all seemed hypocritical, backwards.

Tsireya frowned at Lo’ak’s words. She truly felt bad for him. She didn’t think that it was fair for his own Mother to react that harshly to the news. Didn’t she too fall in love with a human? It didn’t make sense to her.

“Oh, Lo’ak, I’m so sorry,” she whispered out, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder in hopes to comfort him.

Nothing about this situation was ideal. Lo’ak wasn’t able to go and rescue you from the clutches of the RDA. Neytiri had scolded and reprimanded her youngest son for being in love, calling him all sorts of colorful names in the process. Jake hadn’t done anything to prevent his wife from her onslaught of scowls and hisses towards their son. The whole clan now probably knew about how Lo’ak was a sky demon lover. And Tsireya is the one comforting the boy when it should be his own family that we’re bringing him solace. It all became a mess so fast, everything crumbling down towards the ground within seconds.

Lo’ak only hummed in response to Tsireya’s sympathetic tone, too tired to give her an actual response. His eyes were bloodshot from all the tears he’s expelled over night. Lo’ak’s face was practically swollen from how hard he cried last night. He looked like a complete mess.

Eywa had to be punishing him for something for the deity that he grew up hearing about wouldn’t have allowed any of this to happen. Was it really that bad that Lo’ak loved you? That he loved a human? Surely the Great Mother held all of her children dear to her heart. So, why was she letting this happen? What was the bigger picture? What was the reason? Lo’ak wanted to know the answers to these questions so he could figure out why it was so wrong to love you when it felt so right to.

———

Pain spread throughout your lower back and hip, becoming warm as the nerve endings communicated with each other and the crushed blood cells came to the surface of your delicate skin. The minute Spider hijacked the ship and the vehicle surged forward, your body made harsh contact with the metal table in the middle of the room and the floor once it crashed amongst the jagged rocks.

“(Y/N)! You okay?” The human boy yelled out, scrambling up to his feet to get to your position against the floor.

A groan was your only answer, pulling yourself up the best you could before the soldiers and ship crew could grab you. You could feel the bruises already forming on your soft skin, heat spreading throughout the areas.

“Get them off the ship!” A voice demanded, catching your attention. Your heart dropped to your stomach upon hearing the words. They were going to take you somewhere farther from Lo’ak once more. Although you hadn’t gone down with Spider to see him and the others being held hostage at the front of the ship, you still didn’t want to be taken somewhere else where you most likely wouldn’t be able to see him again.

Hands wrapped themselves around your biceps, roughly pulling you up from where you kneeled, guiding you to the exit.

“Let go of me!” You hissed, ripping your arms from out of the strangers grip just in time to catch the mask being thrown at you by another.

“Put it on,” they demanded, putting on their own mask before looking at you as you put yours on, a scowl on your face as you did so.

The same person pushed you forward in front of them, urging you to walk forwards and down the metal stairs. You desperately wanted to push whoever was in front of you down the stairs and run towards wherever they were keeping Lo’ak and the rest. You only wanted to see him and make sure that he was okay. That he was still breathing.

“Make sure it’s tight,” a man commented, tugging on the side of your mask.

“She’s fine, dumbass,” Spider spat, pushing the man’s hand away from your masked face, putting himself between the man and you.

The man before you both scoffed and continued forward, leading the two of you somewhere on the ship where they kept their smaller boats.

Spider could sense your apprehension, grabbing your hand as the group of you continued to walk along the metal surface of the ship, shaking his head down at you as he dragged you besides him. He knew what you wanted to do, he wanted to do the same, but he knew that if you gave into that urge, they wouldn’t hesitate to shoot either of you on the spot. He needed to keep you safe not just for Lo’ak’s sake but for himself too. You were his lifeline throughout this whole awful experience. Your presence itself helped him in more ways than one whenever he felt himself start to slip through the cracks while with Quaritch and Ardmore. If the two of you were going to make it out this afternoon, he needed you safe and alive.

Another man had exclaimed for the group to hurry up before the last of the boats left without them, getting cut off at the end of his sentence with a sharp exhale and groan as his body was thrown up against the wall of the ship.

Two large blue bodies had dropped down from above, pushing and punching the human men surrounding you and Spider, effectively killing them as they jumped from body to body.

“Lo’ak,” you whispered out, Spider pulling your back into his chest, away from Neteyam and Lo’ak, being wary of their size and strength.

A smile painted itself across your lips once the familiar amber eyes you dearly missed made contact with your colorful ones, time seemingly coming to a halt as the both of you took in each other's presence.

Lo’ak seemed to have filled out a bit, his biceps and thighs much larger than they were the last time you saw them. His hair was pulled back, showing off his sharpened jawline and defined shoulders and collarbones. Back in the forest, he rarely ever had his hair up, preferring it down so your fingers could have easy access to them whenever you wanted to run your smaller hands through the braids. His midsection seemed slimmer and tighter, displaying his developing abs along his stomach. Lo’ak seemed more confident in his physique as he stood there in front of you. You could practically feel it oozing off of him. The reef clan must’ve prioritized his training during his stay, you concluded.

As you gawked at the significant changes to your boyfriend's physical body, he too had his eyes glued to your figure.

Although much hadn’t changed, you still looked beautiful as ever. You had your hair down, different from your typical braid or usual hairstyle. You deemed having your hair out of your face more practical during your time in the forest. It just made everything easier as you explored and ran about. Due to Ardmore’s negligence to your physical needs, you figured it was easier to have your hair down most of the time, having no energy to do it yourself when she gave you a break from her torturous pursuits. Your hair had gotten longer during your time away from each other, inches longer than it previously was. It framed your face beautifully Lo’ak thought, smiling at you.

But before either of you could run to each other and embrace, a soldier had begun to stir and get up, a gun clutched in his grasp.

Lo’ak whipped his head towards the noise, bringing up the gun in his right hand up without thinking, finger squeezing the trigger as multiple rounds of bullets penetrated the human in front of him. The man slumped back, falling dead to the floor.

The air then became tense, the moment processing in everyone’s head for a second. Then, Neteyam had gently grabbed Lo’ak’s forearm and urged him forward, walking backwards as Spider pushed you in front of him, following the Na’vi boy.

The two boys in front of you had effortlessly jumped down from the top of the stairs to the ground below, swiftly standing up from their crouch afterwards. Sensing your hesitation, Lo’ak wrapped his free arm around your waist and followed after his brother and Spider, holding you close to his side as he jumped down from the height. He only let go of your waist once you regained your bearings.

“Hello, ma sìlpeytsyìp,” Lo’ak whispers, free hand going up to your bare neck, softly grazing his thumb against the delicate skin.

“Hello, Lo’ak,” you whisper back, a smile on your face as you gazed at your lover. Oh how you wished you didn’t need this stupid mask so you could capture his lips with yours.

You missed the boy in front of you so much. It was hard to endure all those months away from each other. He consumed every single thought you had. So to have him in front of you, alive and breathing and not a figment of your imagination, made you want to crawl into his large arms and stay there forever.

Your small moment was interrupted by Spider, him exclaiming a thank you so much man as he turned towards the Na’vi teens.

Lo’ak had tore his eyes away from yours, staring at Spider as he thanked him and Neteyam for saving both of your asses back there. The blue boy smiled at his friend, going to express his welcome but his smile dropped as he saw the same Avatar soldiers from that night come into view, aiming their guns towards the group of teens.

As Lo’ak perked up to shoot at the familiar fake Avatars, Neteyam pulled him back just as quickly, ushering him and the lot of you to run and dodge the bullets as they fired and ricocheted off the railings and other obstacles between you and them.

“Go! Go!” Neteyam exclaimed, pushing the three of you towards a corner by the moonpool, snatching Lo’ak’s gun with a give me that!.

The older Na’vi began to shoot back at the soldiers shooting at you four, shouting at all of you to hurry and jump into the water beneath the opening in front of you. Before you could process Neteyam’s words, Lo’ak took you into his arms and rushed towards the moonpool, jumping over the railing and into the water. Cool water splashed against your body and sealed mask, making you involuntarily hold your breath as a reflex.

Upon breaching the surface, you exhaled the air you held, realizing that there was no need for you to hold it.

“That was insane cuz!” Lo’ak exclaimed, high-fiving Spider as he hollered back an excited hell yeah!. His arm around you had slipped from its grasp in order to hand out the high-five he gave Spider.

The three of you just narrowly escaped death and Lo’ak was hollering in delight from the adrenaline rush. Well, you thought, at least the sea didn’t change that about him.

The hairs on your skin stood on end once you heard the gurgle of Neteyam’s first gasp of breath after following you and the boys, diving into the water. Your body instinctively knew that something bad was bound to happen and you could only pray to Eywa that this wasn’t happening.

Everyone’s world stopped on its axis once Neteyam announced that he’d been shot, struggling to keep himself upright in the water. It was as if his own acknowledgment of being shot stripped him of his refined swimming skills, limbs not being able to keep up with the blood loss and shock of the event.

You were the first one by the boys side after the words fell from his lips, trying to help keep him afloat in the water. “It’s okay, Teyam,” you whispered, head barely above the water's surface as you kept the boy upright, “You’ll be okay.”.

You knew that your words were only empty promises. That realistically, Neteyam wasn’t going to make it. No amount of comforting whispers were going to cover up that fact or bring the boy some kind of solace from death's icy grip.

“Here! Get him up on here,” an unfamiliar voice exclaimed, drawing your attention from Neteyam to the owner.

A beautiful Na’vi girl had broke the surface of the water with a strange creature by her side. She gestured for you and the rest to get Neteyam up onto the animal so you could transport him somewhere where he could be helped.

The strange girls eyes fell on you, making your stomach drop and breath hitch in your throat. She must be of the clan that harbored the Sully family, you thought to yourself as you studied her much lighter blue skin and enchanting ocean blue eyes. Really pretty too.

“C’mon bro,” Lo’ak stuttered out, taking Neteyam out from your grip and into his, swimming towards the girl and her creature.

Spider had pulled you out from your stupor, tugging on your hand as he swam the both of you towards the group, grabbing the side of the creatures saddle as it readied itself to surge forward in the water. The boys hand had let go of your hand and went to grab your waist, pulling you flush to his side in preparation for the resistance of the water once the creature got the okay to take off. Your own hands wrapped themselves around Spider’s neck, muscles in your arms tightening in preparation as well.

Once Lo’ak situated Neteyam onto the creature behind him, he urged the animal to go forward through the bond, it hurriedly gliding through the water as it pushed against the current and new added weight on all sides.

You knew that once the five of you left the scene and headed towards somewhere else, everything was going to change. That it was all downhill from here.

———

Your hands were caked in blood. In Neteyam’s blood.

The red substance ran up your wrists and stopped at your mid forearm. The skin that was covered in it felt like it was on fire. It burned.

Your small hands that were desperately trying to slow down the blood pouring out of the boys chest were replaced by Lo’ak’s, his bigger body pushing you out of the way once Jake noticed your useless efforts and demanded his second son to replace your hands with his.

Tears spewed out from your waterline, falling down your cheeks and gathering at the bottom of your mask. Your throat burned from your suppression of sobs, desperately trying to escape from your sealed lips. You didn’t feel worthy crying and sobbing over the fatally injured boy in front of you. It was your fault he was shot. Indirectly or not, if Neteyam and Lo’ak didn’t come back for you and Spider, then he’d be fine and not bleeding out in front of his family. He wouldn't be laid dying in front of you.

You felt familiar, calloused hands wrapped themselves around your frame, bringing your body into their own.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Spider lowly whispered, bringing your face into his neck as you let out a quiet sob, leaning into his embrace. He knew that you were on the brink of breaking down and knew that you were keeping it in so as to not disturb the Sully family in their growing mourning. He saw the way Lo’ak pushed his way between you and Neteyam’s dying body, replacing your hands with his own against his brothers open chest. He knew that no one else around you would comfort you in the way that you needed, so he scurried to your side and brought you into his arms for the comfort that you craved.

You’ve never seen someone die. You’ve never seen someone die right in front of you. Your brain was scrambling to gather itself and process what was happening. But it was as if your brain couldn’t gather all the working pieces it needed and abandoned you in your own body, leaving you to pick up the pieces yourself and try to process what was happening.

Your body began to shiver as shock and adrenaline coursed through your veins, making your quiet sobs even harder to contain and actually keep silent.

The minute your ears picked up on Neytiri’s high pitched wails and screams, you knew that Neteyam had taken his last breath and finally joined Eywa in his afterlife. From that moment on, everything went by in a flash.

Neytiri, Jake, and Spider had left back towards the ship for a reason your ears didn’t pick up on, still ringing in the aftershocks of Neytiri’s screams. The Na’vi woman left on her ikran, it screeching as she made tshaleyu. The both of them took off in a blur from the speed of the animals ascent. Spider left you with a gentle kiss on the forehead and a promise that he’ll come back, smoothing down your damp hair before following after Jake. And Lo’ak. He only spared you a small glance before telling the reef Na’vi girl to stay with Neteyam’s body, gently patting her cheek before he hurried off to follow his Father and Spider.

Even though your mind struggled to process and piece together what just happened, it was still able to process the soft touch Lo’ak bestowed upon the girl in front of you and the sympathetic look he gave her before he left. How she reached out for him as he walked away and the look on her face as she watched. Oh.

Your heart broke at the realization. Lo’ak finally found someone that was suitable for him. Someone that was able to give him the future he deserved. Someone that was able to give him everything you couldn’t. And more tears fell from your eyes, heart crying out at the heartbreak.

Neytiri was right. You should’ve stayed with your own kind.

———

You didn’t stay long for Neteyam’s funeral. As soon as it ended, you treaded your way out of the water and walked somewhere secluded.

It was too much being there. It was hard watching Jake and Neytiri place their eldest son down onto the orange glowing tendrils. It was hard watching him be absorbed by them, disappearing into the glowing mass. Guilt riddled your consciousness, yelling at you that you shouldn’t be there. That it was your fault that he was with Eywa now. That you took away Jake and Neytiri’s firstborn son from their grasp too soon. You felt that your presence itself was a reminder as to why Neteyam was no longer breathing.

So, you sat yourself in a secluded area on the small island, situating yourself between the large rocks that perfectly hid your smaller frame. You didn’t want anyone disturbing you, especially Lo’ak. You didn’t think you’d be able to face him again after tonight.

“You suck at sneaking away, you know that right?” A soft voice spoke out, making you jump in response from its abrupt reveal. You had been sitting in silence for a couple of minutes before you were interrupted.

Turning your head, you saw Kiri standing there, face still painted in the white substance her Mother lathered onto her face before attending her elder brother's funeral. She held a small smile in your presence, leaning down to properly sit by your side.

You only hum and nod your head in response, turning your gaze back towards the lapping waves against the soft sand of the shoreline. You felt unworthy of the girl's presence. Like you shouldn’t stare at her for too long or else Eywa would strike you down with lightning for it. Unworthy of still being her friend even after what had occurred hours prior.

“I do not blame you, (Y/N),” she spoke up, large amber eyes glued to the side of your face. “None of us do. It was not your doing for what happened that night. You were not the one with the gun,” she continued, her blue five-fingered hand coming to rest up against your shoulder in comfort.

Growing up, Kiri always knew what you were feeling by just seeing the expression on your face. It was a bit weird growing up. She knew what you felt even before you could process it yourself. But, oftentimes, you were grateful for someone like Kiri. For someone who knew you so deeply that they didn’t need words to confirm how you felt. She just knew.

Kiri did truly mean the words she spoke. She did not think that Neteyam’s death was yours nor Spiders' doing. You two were just kids who were taken hostage and desperately needed saving. You are just kids. Your whole lives were a cause of an unfortunate event but that doesn’t mean that everything bad that happens to her family and to the other natives of Pandora were solely you and Spider's fault. The two of you shouldn’t carry that heavy burden.

“But, if Lo’ak and Neteyam didn’t come after us – ” you sputtered, tears already welling in your waterline as your throat began to tighten with emotion.

The Na’vi girl knew where you were coming from. What your thought process was and how you felt. A perk of being one of your good friends she supposed.

“But nothing, (Y/N),” she cut you off, voice firm and absolute. There was no way you were going to change her mind about the situation at hand. It wasn’t your fault. Period.

“Neteyam and Lo’ak chose to come after you and Spider. They both knew of the consequences that came with following after you. No one except Quaritch and his men are to blame,” she said with finality, not needing you to further intrude on what she said. No matter how hard you’d try to convince her that it was your fault, she wouldn’t believe you. Her mind had already been made up and you weren’t the one to blame.

Only more tears began to gather and spill from your eyes at your friend's words. It was nice to hear that she, and most likely everyone else, didn’t blame you for what happened. But it didn’t help ease the guilt you felt. Nothing could aid in the guilt you felt deep within. Perhaps with time it would go away, but even then, you highly doubted that.

“Lo’ak still loves you if that is what’s causing this worry,” Kiri whispered out, only loud enough for you to hear just in case anyone else was wandering around.

During their stay at Awa’atlu, Kiri could tell that your absence had deeply disturbed her younger brother. It was evident in everything he did. Lo’ak always had a frown on his face and found excuses to pick fights with Ao’nung and his gang of friends. It was like he didn’t have a reason to behave accordingly or live anymore. Like his sense of self was lost when you were taken by Quaritch and his soldiers. He desperately missed you and she could tell that the only thing he wanted to do was get you back and have you in his arms once again.

Your stomach turned in knots and your heart stopped at Kiri’s comment. Did he really? What about the girl that helped you that night?

“I – I’m not too sure about that. What about the girl?” You asked, face damp with tears. You saw how Lo’ak treated her that night. How he gently put his hand on her cheek and how she reached out for him with a call of his name before leaving the both of you on that rock with Neteyam’s body. How he barely spared you a glance before leaving.

You were confident that he had finally found the one the Great Mother had destined him to be with. You knew that your time together was limited, the clock starting the minute you confessed your feelings to the teen boy. It broke your heart seeing him act that way with her but you knew that he’d eventually come to his senses about you and want to pursue a Na’vi who could actually give him the future he deserved. If anything, you were pleased that he found someone like him. He would no longer be held back by you.

“What? What girl? What are you talking about?” Kiri asked, shock and concern laced within her voice. She knew that Lo’ak was too in love with you to look at anyone else the way he looked at you. So your words confused her immensely. Why did you think he no longer saw you?

The blue girl ransacked her brain for the girl you were insinuating Lo’ak was into. She kept drawing blanks, until her mind settled onto the one person that was a great comfort to Lo’ak during their stay.

“You mean Tsireya?” She asked, a barely audible giggle coming out of her mouth.

To be frank, Kiri found the situation a little funny. Lo’ak was such a lovesick puppy for you that he often refused to talk to anyone who wasn’t you. He continuously asked about you before the two of you got together, always bothering Kiri as she made her way back from the lab. He also handmade many jewelry pieces for you, even if he sucked at it and needed Tuk’s help. Why would you think his affections would change that fast?

“She’s pretty,” you hum, eyes still glued on the moving waves in the distance. Really pretty. “She’s good for him, Ri. She’d be able to give him the future he deserves. Plus, Neytiri would actually like her. It was never in the cards for us,” you finished, voice now eerily calm and void of the sadness you expressed earlier.

Kiri’s mouth fell agape at your words, eyes widening to the size of yovo fruit. What the fuck?

“(Y/N), you cannot mean that. Tsireya and Lo’ak are only friends. That’s all,” she began, trying her best to save you from your overwhelming thoughts before they consumed you whole. “He still loves you. Please believe that,” she pleaded.

You finally tore your gaze from the water and up towards the glowing amber orbs of your friend. “He left me there, Kiri. All alone with no goodbye. Barely even glanced my way before he followed after Spider and Jake,” you confessed, heart breaking all over again at the memory. It was hours before they all returned to the rock. Spider was the only one to comfort you as Lo’ak was too busy with Tsireya. The rest of the family barely even spared you a glance as they pulled each other into an embrace.

Oh, Kiri thought, ears pinning to the sides of her head. Did she interpret Lo’ak and Tsireya’s body language wrong? Were they more than friends?

Neither of you uttered another word, sitting peacefully side by side as the two of you listened to the soothing sound of the lapping waves against the shore. A war was occurring within your head and walls were built to protect you from the oncoming grenades you were sure would be thrown at you by your lover once he confessed that he was no longer in love with you. If you could even call him yours anymore.

From afar, the subject of your conversation was watching the two of you converse. He so desperately wanted to run to you and gather you into his arms and keep you there forever. But, he knew that you were no longer his. He saw how Spider treated you so gently. How he placed a kiss on the crown of your head before scurrying away to lead Jake to the ship. How he was the first one to comfort you when they arrived, beating him in embracing you and soothing you as you sobbed against his bleeding chest. And even though his heart was breaking at the possibility of you no longer loving him, he only wanted you to be happy and if that was with Spider, then he’d let you go.

———

Days had passed since your conversation with Kiri. She had never left your side since, wanting to be there for you as you navigated your grief and heartbreak. Your words still stunned the poor girl. She was sure that you were wrong but she would admit that it was awfully suspicious the amount of times she saw Lo’ak and Tsireya together. And always seeing them together, especially after you pointed it out, didn’t help. Kiri was so sure of her brothers love for you that she nearly laughed in your face once those words left your mouth. But, she too began to doubt the affections her younger brother held for you.

Kiri often spent most of her time around you, but during the times she wasn’t able to, Tuktirey had no problem keeping you company.

“No! You’re doing it wrong,” Tuk exclaimed, groaning over your lack of weaving skills.

The young girl had been attempting to teach you the new way of weaving she had learned during her time on the island. She was so excited to show you what she had learned over the months that she nearly crushed your smaller, human body in a tight hug upon hearing your agreement. The young girl profusely apologized when she heard your panicked wheeze against her collarbone, quickly getting to work after.

“I’m sorry, TukTuk. Weaving’s never really been my thing,” you apologize, gently smiling at the child next to you. She was so excited to show you how to weave the Metkayina way, her eyes practically glowed in excitement once you agreed.

“It’s not your fault, (Y/N). I struggled with it too for some time. It just takes practice,” she responded, a large gummy smile directed your way. “Plus, that just means I can make you more!” She added, trying to lift up your dampened mood.

It seemed as if everything bothered you these days. Like everything was a reminder as to why you’d never be good enough for the secondborn Omatikaya prince. A reminder of the things you couldn’t give Lo’ak. Of the things you couldn’t do to please your mate. Weaving was a huge part of the Omatikaya culture, allowing one to express their gratitude and affection towards their intended. Something that you lacked severe skill in. Sure you could make a few bracelets here and there but it was nothing compared to those of the native Omatikaya who put so much effort into their weaving, going as far as making their own unique weave pattern for their beloved. Even though you wanted to refuse Tuktirey’s plea, for it was another painful reminder that you could never have Lo’ak, you still accepted it and endured the emotional turmoil you experienced. You wouldn’t allow your own feelings to stump Tuk’s happiness and eagerness to share with you something new she learned.

“You can make me as many as you want, Tuk,” you replied, a small smile gracing your lips as you gently patted her head, ruffling her hair in the process. The young girl shrieked at your action, pushing your hand away from her freshly braided hair, giggling afterwards.

You desperately missed moments like these during your captivity. You missed playing around with the Sully children and hearing Tuk’s high pitched giggle as she ran away from your hands as you reached out to tickle her. You missed Kiri’s wise words as she spoke about whatever came to mind. You missed Lo’ak’s comforting embrace as he enveloped you into his arms whenever you needed it. You missed Neteyam’s kind nature, helping you out whenever you found yourself falling behind. You’d always miss Neteyam, his absence another reminder as to why you would never be enough for the one you loved.

A loud cough from the doorway of the marui pod broke you and Tuk out of your giggling fit, both of you whipping your heads to the figure standing in front of the opening. Your heart dropped at who was in front of you.

“Mom!” Tuktirey squealed, jumping up to her feet and towards her sa’nok.

You could tell that Neytiri wasn’t excited about your presence, her hardened glare never leaving your face even as she bent down to embrace her youngest child. Over the course of the days following Neteyam’s funeral, Neytiri was colder towards you and Spider. She rarely ever let her children see you and often fought with Jake on this matter. She always argued about the same thing. How you and Spider weren’t good for her children. How the both of you deserved to be with your people. How you bring nothing but pain to this family. That if Jake never took the both of you in, they wouldn’t be in the position. You heard most of what she was yelling about almost every night, your shared guilt with Spider growing evermore.

“I…uh…I think I should get going Tuk. I just remembered that Kiri wanted to show me around somewhere,” you awkwardly said, smiling at the young girl before quickly heading out, barely giving her enough time to say her goodbyes to you.

You sped walk out from the Sully’s pod and onto the soft sand of Awa’atlu. You knew that you were no longer welcomed in Neytiri’s presence and you respected her wishes by excusing yourself and making your way out. It was the least you could do considering all that she went through.

Hours passed by with you sitting in the same place Kiri found you days prior, just thinking. Something that you found yourself doing way too often. It was hard to get out of your head and even harder for others to help you out of it. Most days, Spider wasn’t even able to help you with your problem and he almost always was able to save you from your own mind. Today was no exception regarding getting yourself stuck in your head and going around in circles.

“(Y/N)?” A soft voice asked, effectively pulling you out from your stupor.

Your eyes shifted from where they were glued to onto the person standing next to you, making your whole body tense and stomach churn in anxiety. Tsireya.

The light blue Na’vi girl stood in front of you with a look of concern etched on her face. Her skin was covered in a thin line of droplets, a clear sign she had just came back from a swim. You wondered if she felt bad for you and approached you out of pity. If Lo’ak had told her about your past together and if she was approaching you to inform you about their new union. If she was here to tell you about what her and the other Metkayina thought of you, preparing yourself for harsh insults and words.

“Are you okay?” She asks, sitting on her knees as she leaned forward a bit, big blue eyes practically staring into your soul.

Your eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. You were usually very careful in how your body reacted whenever you got stuck in thought. Always giving yourself time to release the tension in your body and relax before returning back to the thought you put on pause. So you were very confused as to why Tsireya was concerned with if you were okay or not.

“You just…seemed lost in thought.” She says, hands gently folding together in her lap. “I’ve noticed that your hair,” she points to your eyebrows, “come together when you’re thinking. Lo’ak does the same thing.”.

Your heart sped up at the mention of Lo’ak’s name, only for it to drop again once you realize who’s talking to you. Keep yourself in check (Y/N), you thought to yourself, you’re in the prescence of Lo’ak’s mate. Of course she knows things like that about him. You shouldn’t act like this.

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine!” You reply, a half assed smile creeping up on your lips, not quite reaching your eyes like it usually does. There was no way in hell that you’d tell Tsireya what was going on inside your head. That wasn’t a burden she needed on her shoulders.

The girl didn’t look too convinced at your response but didn’t push it further. She only nodded and continued to look at you, big eyes studying your human features. Tsireya had rarely seen you around and when she did, it was very brief before you disappeared out of sight again. So she couldn’t help but look at you as you sat there. You were very pretty, she noted. No wonder Lo’ak fell so helplessly in love with her, she thought. Your beauty was something Tsireya had never seen before.

“Tsireya!” A gruff and deep voice shouted, catching the girls attention as she turned her back towards the voice. It was her Father.

“Oh. I’m sorry (Y/N), but I have to go. I do hope you feel better soon,” she quickly said before walking away, her tail swinging gently from side to side as she strides away.

The whole encounter you had with the girl made you even more confused and sad. She was so nice to you. She gave you no reason to hate her. But you couldn’t help but feel it as she left you there, longing for the life you could never have.

———

“You’re being so sulky,” Spider murmured, arms crossed as he watched you stare at your food in front of you.

Norm and Max had cooked dinner nearly two hours ago and you were the only one who hadn’t finished your plate. You didn’t have much of an appetite these days either. You were too occupied with thinking or trying to avoid Lo’ak at all costs to properly eat. You knew it wasn’t something you should be doing but you found yourself doing it anyway.

“You haven’t even talked to him! You don’t know if it’s true or not,” he continued, sick of seeing both you and Lo’ak moping around and avoiding each other at every turn. He’s told the both of you multiple times to just talk about it but the both of you were too stubborn for your own good.

You ignored Spider’s comment, rolling your eyes at the boy besides you. You really didn’t need him meddling in your business.

Your silence was Spider’s last straw as he slammed his hands against the metal table, surprising you and making you jump back at the action. Your plate shifted and jumped in its place, the fork clattering onto the floor.

“Fine. If neither of you want to talk this out on your own, then I’ll do it for you,” he exclaimed, jumping up from his seat and hauling you up from yours by your arm.

“Are you fucking crazy?” You screamed, trying to pry Spider’s fingers off of your bicep.

He only scoffed at your response and shook his head, leading you to the entrance of the lab that sat in the secluded parts of the island, tossing you a mask before shoving you out of the metal lab and out into the Pandora air.

Shortly after the events with Quaritch and the tulkun hunters, Norm and Max had decided that it would be best if they put one of their smaller labs on Awa’atlu for the two of you. It was definitely smaller than the lab you lived in at High Camp, but you didn’t complain. At least you had somewhere to go and hide whenever you didn’t want to see Lo’ak that particular day.

“You fucker!” You shouted, banging the flat of your palm up against the glass of the door. Spider only ignored your calls from the inside, eating your untouched food. You groaned in frustration as you watched the boy simply devour your cold food.

Rustling of leaves were heard from your right, making your heart stop in its confines in anxiety. Your breath hitched in your throat as you slowly turned your head to see who or what caused the noise, especially this late at night. Your stomach dropped to the floor once you saw those familiar amber eyes peek out from behind a shrub.

“Lo’ak?” You whispered, not trusting your voice at the moment.

Upon hearing your voice, the culprit perked up, completely revealing themselves to you.

“Yawne?” He asked, unsure if he should move closer to you or stay where he was. Lo’ak had been craving to be in your presence ever since his brothers funeral. He only wanted you in his arms again and even though he had you back, he didn’t completely have you.

The two of you stood there, in front of each other for a while, neither of you daring to move closer or speak up first.

It was strange to see you after not having seen you for months. You looked the same but didn’t at the same time. Lo’ak didn’t know how he didn’t notice the first time he saw you on that ship. You looked more mature. Like you had seen or experienced something you shouldn’t have.

“How are you?” Lo’ak asks, finally breaking the awkward silence between the two of you.

You internally scoffed at that question, shaking your head as you did so. Yeah, I’m totally fine. Leaving me with your dead brother for hours didn’t do anything to me at all.

“Fine,” you answer, beginning to try to open the lab door with all your might, shaking the lock. Spider must’ve locked it from the inside or something, you thought, promising yourself that you would choke the boy out once you got back into the lab.

Lo’ak flinched at your rough voice and repetitive shaking of the door, ears drawing downwards as he watched. He’s never seen you act so violent before. Never seen you so desperate to get back into the lab. Usually, back in the forest, you’d do anything and everything to stay out of the lab for as long as you could. So to see you act the opposite made Lo’ak frown, especially since it was because he was out with you.

“Yawne,” Lo’ak tried again, taking a step closer to you before quickly drawing back as you scowled at him to stay where he was. “What is wrong? Talk to me, please,” the boy pleaded, tail falling limp between his legs.

“I told you. Nothing. Nothing is wrong,” you replied, eyes never leaving the stupid handle of the door you were trying to pry open.

Lo’ak knew you were lying. Something was most definitely wrong. He could see it in your eyes. How badly you wanted to share whatever was bothering you but something withheld you from uttering the words. It made him ever the more desperate to get you to talk to him.

The boy knew that showing up at the lab unannounced wasn’t going to get you to talk to him, especially since he too was also ignoring your existence. That he’d have to try harder in order to get you to speak with him.

“Yawne –”.

“Stop! Stop calling me that! I am not your yawne!” You shouted, ceasing your prying of the locked metal door. Hearing that term come out of his mouth made you want to cry. It made you want to scream, kick, and hit him for calling you that when you knew that he called another it. He had Tsireya to be his yawne. That was no longer a title you held.

Confusion and hurt spread itself across Lo’ak’s face, brows furrowing together in confusion. What did you mean? Why were you no longer his beloved?

“Why? Why not?” He shouted back, anger quickly arising within the teen boy. “What have I done to make you angry with me?” He asked, ears drawing further downward and pressing harder against the side of his skull.

You wanted to pull at your hair in frustration and anger. You just wanted to go inside and pass out before having to face the Sully family again. You wanted Lo’ak to leave you alone in your heartbreak. To stop haunting your dreams. To stop reminding you of the life you longed to have with him.

“Nothing and everything, Lo’ak!” You screamed, finally fed up, “You have done nothing and yet have done everything to upset me. First, you leave me with Neteyam for hours. You left me alone with the body of someone who I loved. You left me alone in my grieving. I had to wash away the blood and grime from his body as you did what? Fight Quaritch? Get Spider nearly killed? Then…then you touched her so lovingly. So gently. When you barely even spared me a glance. You comforted her and hugged her so tight to yourself that I couldn’t tell where you started and she ended.”.

“I only wanted you to comfort me. To hold me as I cried. But you were too busy with her. And I understand, Lo’ak. I do. As much as it pains me to realize and say it. I know that you and Tsireya are together, a thing. It’s as obvious as the mask that I need. And it’s okay. Really. I knew that whatever this was, it wasn’t going to last. I am human and you deserve so much more than what I can give you. I cannot give you children, make the bond with you, or even be properly considered one of the People. You deserve someone who could give you that. Give you everything and more. I mean, Tsireya is Tsakarem for crying out loud! She is much more suited to be your mate than I am, Lo’ak.”.

By the time you were finished with your speech, your chest was rising up and down dramatically, trying to gulp down air as quickly as the mask would let you. You knew that once you expressed your feelings and how you felt, it would change everything. So in order to ignore Lo’ak’s intense gaze and to prevent yourself from succumbing to the need to cry, you began your attempts at trying to open up the locked door or at least trying to get someone’s attention so they’d save you.

Your hands began to hit the door again, switching to messing with the door handle after a couple of beats pass with no one coming to your rescue.

“I confessed.” Lo’ak blurted out, desperation covered his face. His ears were fully up in alert, twitching at the sound of your hands stopping against the hard metal of the lab.

You stopped your movements, standing on the stairs of the lab in shock, trying to process the words that just came out of the boy's mouth. Confessed? What did he mean by confessed?

He needed you to know that what you were saying wasn’t true. That he wasn’t seeing Tsireya and that he’ll never see her in that light as he sees you. That his heart only held love for you and no one else. That your entire being consumed him heart, body, and soul.

“I told my Mother about us. About our relationship. About how much I love you. About how much I adore and see you. About that night at the Tree of Souls. I told her everything,” he rambled, tears clinging to his waterline as he tried to hurriedly blink them away. “She wasn’t happy about it, obviously. But, I didn’t care. I still don’t. Tsireya and I have never and will never be a thing. My heart only beats for you. My lungs only breathe for you. My body and soul only long for you. Everything is only ever for you, ma yawne. I hold so much love for you that it hurts. Did you know that the afternoon I heard of a young boy and girl being held captive at the Ta’unui clan, I almost immediately took off on my ilu to get you back? That I fought with my Sa’nok over you? That’s when I told her. Everyone heard and I don’t care that they did. I would scream out my love for you on the highest floating mountain if you asked me to. I’d do anything for you, (Y/N). Please, please believe that.”.

Lo’ak took in deep breaths once he finished his speech, desperately trying to fill his lungs with air after depriving them of it. He hoped that what he said was enough to get you to see how he felt about you, how he still felt about you. And if you didn’t, then he’d try again and again and again until he ran out of air to breathe. He needed you in his life. He didn’t care that you couldn’t bare him children or make tshaleyu with him. All he needed was you and that would be enough for all of his lifetimes.

“Lo’ak,” you croaked out, hot tears running down your cheeks and gathering at the bottom of your mask. You had no idea that he felt that strongly for you. Sure he mentioned some things from time to time but he never seemed this serious about it. You could feel the emotions of his words as they hit you square in the face.

“I don’t care if you can’t carry my children or that you can’t make the bond with me. I don’t. I only care that you’re in my life and that you love me just as much. You have been such a big part of my life for so long that I can’t imagine you not in it. Nga yawne lu oer,” Lo’ak finally finishes, kneeling on his two knees to get to your height, gently taking your softer hands in his rougher one’s.

All of the doubts you had about yourself and the relationship you had with the boy in front of you vanished the moment he touched you. Like everything else disappeared and it was only you two in the world.

“I am so sorry if it seemed like I had any interest in Tsireya, my love,” Lo’ak whispered, bringing your hands up to his lips as he pecked them with a kiss, “To be honest, I thought Spider and you were a thing as well.”.

At his confession, you bursted out laughing, not being able to hold in your reaction to the ridiculous thought.

“I know, I know,” Lo’ak tsked, shaking his head, “I had asked Spider about it and he had the same exact reaction. He wouldn’t shut up about it either, telling me how ridiculous I was for thinking such a thing. As well as how much of an idiot I was too.”.

“Well,” you hummed, taking your hands out of your boyfriends and placed them onto his blue cheeks, “I guess we’re both idiots then.”.

Lo’ak chuckled at your response, shaking his head as he finally brought you into his arms, immediately burying his head into the crook of your neck as he got a sniff of your dearly missed scent. Your arms wrapped themselves around his neck as he held you close, almost completely enveloping you in his body.

“I’m sorry for assuming,” you speak up, fingers running through Lo’ak’s braids. You felt bad for immediately assuming Lo’ak would move on that fast and get with Tsireya. You knew it wasn’t something he’d do but your overwhelming insecurities took over.

The Na’vi boy only hums, burying his head farther into your neck. “It’s okay,” he said, “I did the same. Nothing to stress about now. I got you back and that’s all that matters”.

The two of you sat there for what felt like only minutes but was hours in reality. The sun had begun to poke through the horizon, sunrise vastly approaching.

“Wanna go inside? We could spend the morning sleeping and cuddling if you want,” you suggest, eyelids getting droopy as your lack of last nights sleep began to catch up with you. You shifted your head so it laid on Lo’ak’s shoulder, yawning as you did so.

Your lover only nodded in agreement, delicately moving into the small lab and removing your mask from your face, placing a kiss on your forehead as you began to snore in Lo’ak’s arms. He smiled down at you before making his way to your established room, content with how the night turned out.

As he gently laid you in the soft bed and tucked the both of you in, he knew that he’d gladly spend the rest of his life with you so as long as you pleased. That there was no one else but you that he truly saw himself with. The teen would do anything for you, no matter what it entailed.

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akoyaxs · 1 year ago

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˚༄ Tunutu ✮ Meaning: object of desire, crush ✮ Pairing: Aonung x fem!human reader ✮ Meaning: object of desire, crush ✮ Warnings: Reader POV, smutty smut smut,seemingly unrequited love, misunderstandings, size kink, oral sex, p in v, aftercare, fluffy fluff fluff, ✮ Word Count: 12.9k

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To be fair, the reef was different.

At least in the Omatikaya village, the na'vi knew you weren't RDA, that you were only fascinated with their culture and wanting to help. The trouble was, what could one small human do to aid the massive, muscular na'vi who, at every turn, always seemed to be the ones to help you out. Which is why when Norm received a help call from Jake Sully, you automatically offered yourself up for the job.

You had grown up alongside the Sully kids, always growing smaller and smaller in their eyes. Now in adulthood, you were still trying to overcome their teasing that you were still barely above their hips in their more muscular, lithe bodies,

And since the absence of the Sullys and Spider, you hardly had a reason to come around the Omatikaya village anymore. Although the science compound was tedious and cagey at times, you had traded your beautifully beaded na'vi style tops and tewngs for more "appropriate clothing". It was probably more suitable too; the older you got, the less the na'vi clothes fit your stubbornly human body. At least you were larger than na'vi in one particular place.

But as you watched the science labs fade away through the perilously open side of the helicopter, the forest too replaced by a vast stretch of ever-deepening glistening ocean, you felt a small pang inside you. It's not like you were leaving any family or friend, they were not so quite waiting for you at the reef.

Which is when it happened. You saw him.

You were always much more interested in na'vi than humans, how could you not be when they were so much more muscular, smoother, and well, bigger. But you had never seen a reef na'vi before, and on the very off chance you had carelessly thought of the Metkayina, you had forgotten to factor in their physique.

He was taller than any other na'vi you'd ever seen, his whole body broad and muscular and massive, his very toned stomach tapering into a sluttily slim waist for such a broad man and a slight x shape to where his very prominent abs met his ribcage.

As the helicopter settled on the sand, surrounded by a crowd of extremely confused and intrigued Metkayina, he was helping Neteyam keep them back. You shook your head- this was hardly the time to be drooling over handsome new boys when Kiri needed help.

Jake was running over, shouting at Norm and pulling him into a quick hug before he spotted you. He looked tired and strained and stressed, yet still managed to smile and pull you into a hug, clearly forgetting that you're a human and half-crushing you to death.

"Good to see you kid," he grins. "Well, you're hardly a kid anymore."

You had tried to help carry some of the boxes in, yet they were sized for Jake and Norm, and you were quickly left aone by the helicopter, surrounded by curious na'vi. You could tell no one saw you as a threat by the way they stared, as though you were something exotic and adorable and even amusing.

Moreover, you could feel his eyes on you, more weary and suspicious and almost taunting than his people, and you swallowed heavily before nervously making your way through the crowd and following the shapes of Jake and Norm ahead.

So maybe you hadn't had a great start with the mystery guy from the way he was staring, but you soon met him again when Ronal pulled you aside and into a marui.

There he was, standing between who was clearly Tonowari and a sweet-looking shorter girl.

"Oel ngati kameie," you said nervously, apprehensively gesturing and praying to Eywa that your voice didn't actually sound as timid and squeaky as it seemed to yourself.

The Olo'eyktan and the girl looked pleased, but he just continued to blankly and shamelessly stare at you, until your throat felt dry and the silence was starting to make you want to cry. But you refused to play into either of the roles na'vi assume of humans; the evil, power-hungry, trigger-happy demons, or the tiny timid pushovers.

"Jake Sully has requested you stay with us," Ronal finally said. "He believes you could be useful to the Metkayina."

"Well," you say, throat dry and desperately trying to keep your voice steady under the eyes of the four Metkayina. "I'm good at healing- I learnt much from the Omatikaya Tsahìk."

"This is my daughter Tsireya," Tonowari said, looking pleased with you. "She will help accustom you to our village, as well as my son, Aonung."

Instantly Aonung's eyes narrowed, and you feel your heart thud a little at the annoyance on his face at the instruction of him spending time with you.

"Father, first the Sullys and now a tawtute-"

"It is decided," Tonowari cut his son off. "The Sullys may assist you as well, and Toruk Makto tells me you are to have a human home on the edge of the village."

And that was that, apparently. No one asked you if you wanted to suddenly live in the reef, yet you had the Sullys and that was all that mattered. The small human area was hidden in the small forest beside a river and behind the Metkayina village, which was fair given the aesthetic monstrocity of it.

It was another horribly shiny metal demountable shared between you and Spider, each of you owning your own small room with a tiny cupboard, rickety bed and nothing more, and sharing a small space between.

Soon after you moved in, you could hardly get Lo'ak to move out, him and Spider always playing stupid video games and eating the shitty food you had hoarded, yet you took every chance to get outside.

It's not like you ever did much, you even managed to go the first few months without swimming or being in swimmers in front of all these beautiful na'vi, but you were determined to prove yourself.

So day after day, you worked endlessly on anything you could find to be helpful. You quickly learnt the new herbs for healing and how to navigate the bouncy village suspended over the water. You also found out the na'vi women loved your weavings and beadings, your "tiny hands" able to create very intricate works in proportion to their larger bodies.

And you found that Metkayina men were extremely intrigued by you.

You wondered if maybe Spider had blabbed to someone about you, about your greater attraction to na'vi than humans, because you suddenly found the healing marui that you often worked in when Ronal couldn't strangely often occupied by men with injuries that could have easily been healed at home or better treated by Ronal herself.

You also didn't miss their comments about the coverage of your clothing, about how small you were and the softness of your tawtute skin.

Okay so yes, maybe you were secretly crushing hard on Aonung, but the Olo'eyktans son treated you with amusement and cockiness when you happened to interact with him every now and then. So of course you were flattered by the attention of the broad strong Metkayina, and a woman has needs.

All the sexual interactions you share with the Metkayina range from adequate to somewhat satisfying, but the longer you stay in Awa'atlu and the more female friends you make, the more you hear.

All the village girls seem to talk about is Aonung, the prince of the clan. He's not exactly selective about the women he spends his time with, but his precious company is so apparently mind-blowing and pleasurable that it seems to be the most valued thing on the island.

Which is fine.

He obviously doesn't like you that much, and you'd probably have to fight off fifty village girls for that attention from him anyway. He never bothered to accustom you to the village, rather staring and glaring from the back or side as Tsireya befriended you.

And you definitely didn't make an effort to get him to look at you. No, your increasingly smaller outfits are a reflection of your growing comfort in the village and the hot temperatures of the reef. The other villagers liked your outfits though, even if they did find it strange, often asking why you wore such large clothing. So you started to phase out the cargos and massive jumpers with flowy skirts and tighter tops.

Besides, you have options, even if all your admirers are only seeking the thrill and adventure and tightness of being with a tawtute.

A shout of laughter from outside brings you back to attention, and you set down the paste you had been mixing on a small table before quietly moving over to peek out. Just as you stick your small head out, you find yourself suddenly bumped backwards as several figures walk into the healing marui.

Folding your arms and frowning at the rowdy boys, you watch them as they comfortably space out around the marui. You recognise them instantly- the three skxawngs that Aonung always seemed to hang out with.

"Can I help you?" you ask, trying not to raise your brows when Koro laughs and shoves Nashvi forward to speak to you.

"Yeah," Nashvi grins stupidly. "Us and Aonung were out by the reef when an akula attacked, and we got a few injuries."

You can't help raising your brows at this. There are only several small scratches across the boys bodies, the worst only looking five inches long on Ongu's leg. But you have a job, and you aren't about to refuse to help Aonung's friends.

"Alright, sit down," you say tiredly, reaching up to lightly lead Nashvi to the woven mat you heal on.

As you turn to gather some more ointment, you can hear the three boys chuckling stupidly behind you, but when you turn, their smiles are quickly hidden and they don't make eye contact with each other. Shrugging off your discomfort and annoyance, you lift up Nashvi's hair to apply the ointment to the scratches on his back.

They are not easy patients. They're whiny when you touch their miniscule, pointless little scratches, and they chuckle and grin shiftily at each other every time you move. It's an awkward interaction with each, and finally you can't take the silence anymore.

"What were you doing out by the reef?" you ask, in a desperate attempt to make conversation.

"Aonung wanted to hunt," Koro shrugs.

"Where is Aonung?"

They all grin again at your question, and you straighten up and frown.

"Missing your boyfriend are you?" Ongu leers.

You straighten up instantly, a frown fixed on your small face and your fist clenched slightly around the bowl.

"What are you talking about?" you say coolly, turning away from the boys under the pretence of collecting more herbs to add to the ointment.

"You're pining after him," Koro grins. "It's so obvious, all the little looks you shoot him, batting your eyelashes whenever he's around. You're so cool and all with other guys, but as soon as Aonung's around you're acting like a little lovestruck prolemuris."

"I do not," you say hotly, forgetting to act cool and hide the deep flush across your cheeks.

"Please," Nashvi scoffs. "You couldn't be more obvious if you tried."

Your face is growing hotter and hotter, and when you turn around, you find that the three boys have crept slightly closer, so now you're stuck between them.

"I don't have a crush on Aonung," you lie, knowing full well that you aren't convincing anyone. "I don't even like him."

"These little outfits say otherwise," Koro grins, reaching out to pinch your hip.

You jerk away from the contact, the bare skin of your hip between your top and low skirt burning slightly from his touch and the accusation of his words.

"Fuck off," you grumble, pushing at his hands as he reaches towards you again.

"What happened to the sweet little girl whenever he's around?"

"She's about to do worse than those little scratches if you don't stop touching me," you growl, hoping you sound braver than you feel. Hot mortification is spreading through your body. Had you really been that obvious? Koro, Ongu and Nashvi are just laughing stupidly, watching you grow more and more flustered as you try to figure out what to say, or at least how to get away.

"You are rude skxawngs," you snap. "I helped you out, now leave me alone."

"Why?" Nashvi grins. "We're just having a little fun with you, tawtute."

"Why do you wear such big clothes anyway?" Ongu leers. "I know they're getting smaller for Aonung, but if you want his attention you should just take it all off."

You growl as they reach for your clothes again.

"Tell Aonung that-"

"Tell me what?" a deep voice says from the entrance.

Immediately, all four of your gazes flick to see Aonung leaning against the entrance, a small frown pinching between his brows as he stares at his friends.

"That you need to find better friends," you huff, reaching to flatten your hair and pull your skirt down.

"She's just being grumpy," Koro laughs. "We were having a fun conversation with her."

"Yeah, it was real fun," you snap, flushing crimson as Aonung's gaze flicks back to you. "Especially when you kept touching me."

Aonung's frown deepens when you feel his gaze pass over the redness their pinches left over your hip, and you brush your hair out of your face.

"Okay, I fixed up your little scratches," you scowl to Koro, Ongu and Nashvi, as Aonung just stares dully at you. "You can fuck off now."

"Careful with your mouth," Nashvi grins. "You aren't as attractive when you aren't smiling, tawtute."

"Get out," you growl, straightening to your full height, but still shorter than their crouched figures.

They just laugh stupidly, and you're growing more and more flustered and annoyed. You are torn between wanting to shout and curl up in a ball and cry until they get uncomfortable and leave, when Koro pulls the last straw.

"It's a shame that such a pretty little thing has no humour," he grins to his friends. "You know I'd-"

"Out," you shout.

They don't look at all as though they're going to leave, but then Aonung shoots them a certain sort of look you miss, because your heart is pounding fast and angry tears are stinging your eyes.

You're mortified, that they knew about your crush, that they managed to get so far under your skin, that everyone had so little respect for you that they only listen when Aonung tells them to do something.

As they file out, you can hear them snickering to each other, and their gazes blazing on your bowed head as they walk away.

"You can leave too," you say off-handedly, turning away so your back is to Aonung.

"Oh?" Aonung asks, his voice deep and amused. "You're going to kick me out of my own mum's marui?"

"Yes," you grumble, sitting down and glaring at him. "You're a grown man Aonung, you can fuck off out of your mummies hut."

"Also your Olo'eyktan," he points out.

"Not yet," you seethe.

Aonung just laughs, his massive body still leaning against the entrance as he stares down at you, blue eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Are you alright?" he asks, once he stops laughing. You frown at the slight concern in his voice before glaring up at him.

"Yes I'm fine," you snap. "Now are you done?"

Aonung just stares for a few more seconds before he pushes off the wall and walks over to you.

Oh Eywa's just playing a fucking game with you right now. Aonung reaches out, lightly taking your small head in his hand and gently tilting your face up towards him with a soft hand.

"Is what they said true?" he asks quietly.

"Aren't you the one that finds my crush obvious as fuck?" you snap.

But you don't pull away, and you both know it. Instead, you just stay put little a stupid good girl and stare up at him, waiting for what he's about to do.

"I'm fucking pathetic, I know," you whisper. "I have to work my ass off just to get the tiniest bit of recognition, and this is the longest we've ever spoken. All you do is glare at me from other sides of the village, and I still liked you."

"You're not," Aonung says. "Pathetic, I mean. They're just skxawngs."

"They're your friends," you point out. "They're the ones that knew I liked you, that just come and fucking taunt me and touch me and-"

"Let me see," Aonung cuts you off.

You scowl at him and try to push him away, but he just easily grabs your wrist and peers around you to see your hips, where the mark is still red against your skin.

"It's not a big deal," you growl. "I just don't need shit for having a stupid crush. No one ever needed to know and it wasn't hurting anyone. If I knew what skxawngs you and your friends are, I'd never like you."

"This skirt is thin," is all Aonung says. "And short. Tawtute clothing is strange, but this one is small compared-"

"It was for you!" you snap. "All the stupid dressing up and acting nice and being sweet and trying to be pretty just so you would stop glaring and look at me for ONCE!"

Aonung's frown deepens slightly, like he's confused, like you aren't making any sense. Stupid alien boys, so oblivious to everything around them.

"I am looking at you," he says quietly.

"No," you hiss. "You're looking down on me like always, just because I'm a human-"

Your voice dies in your throat when Aonung instantly sits beside you, his hands picking you up as though you weigh nothing and placing you gently in his massive lap.

Your faces are a foot apart, your hands immediately falling to his shoulder to steady yourself, an unnecessary action given that he's easily holding you by your waist.

"Better?" he asks sincerely, as though he genuinely thought this would help.

You can hardly breathe over the pounding of your heart. You are nervous and pissed and terrified and also fucking horny.

Oh Eywa, how is he doing this- just instantly making you forget everything that happened by placing you on his lap and staring at you with those large blue eyes.

"What are you doing here Aonung?" you say tiredly.

His ears prick up at the sound of his name, the first time he's heard you speak it. You can hardly miss the sway of his tail behind you.

"Injury," he shrugs.

You scoff, and he turns to frown at you.

"I am injured," he frowns. "I went to my mother and she told me to come to you."

"She did?" you ask, confused. "If you're hurt, why would she tell you to come to me?"

"So I could hear your great love confession?" Aonung shrugs, eyes sparkling with amusement.

You growl and make to stand up, but his hands keep you firmly planted in his lap.

"Trying to leave now?" he asks. "Don't you want to help me paksalin?"

"Don't call me that," you hiss.

"You don't like it?" Aonung asks, looking confused.

"You're being mean," you say finally. "Everyone was right about you- you're a skxawng playboy."

"Playboy?" Aonung asks, sounding out the human word with confusion.

"Yeah," you say. "Like a slut."

Aonung laughs in surprise, brows raising at your annoyance with him.

"I thought you were all meek and sweet," he says finally.

"Not anymore," you grumble. "Cat's out of the bag sweetie, so I can go back to being a bitch again. Now let me go so I can help you out."

To your surprise, he instantly obeys, letting his arms drop to his sides so you can clamber out of his lap and collect your paste again. When you turn back, you notice the injury.

"You're hurt."

It's a blunt statement, and you're pointing out the obvious. Aonung has a no shit sort of look on his face, before he notices your concern.

"It's alright," he says gently. "I just got a little scraped by the akula."

"Aonung, there's an akula tooth stuck in your arm," you say, instantly kneeling beside him.

"There is?" he says, sounding interested. "Huh."

"Huh?" you hiss incredulously. "There is a three inch tooth stuck in your arm and you say HUH?"

Aonung just shrugs, and you crouch down to study it, before gently cleaning it up. He hisses a little when you first wipe over the wound, but he just grits his teeth and sits still with patience his skxawng friends could never possess.

"I should probably take this out," you say, once you've wiped all the blood that you can manage to, and placing a comforting, steady hand on the strong muscles of his shoulder.

"Fine," he grumbles.

"I'll be gentle," you promise. "It'll come nice and easy."

"That's what I want to hear," he says, smirking.

Your mouth parts in amused incredulity, and you lightly smack his shoulder as he turns his head to grin cheekily at you.

"Stay still," you instruct. "Straighten up like this, and try not to move too much. Now, just breathe."

Trying to ignore the very persistent flow of blood as you gently grab the top of the tooth, you start to very slowly pull it out.

"Ow," he hisses, his hand instantly jumping to take yours.

"Sorry," you say, giving his own hand a reassuring squeeze, and he quickly shakes his head and swallows.

"I'm all good, just pull it out fast."

"That's what I want to hear," you ask teasingly, and he laughs a little.

His laugh quickly turns into a groan of pain as you use his amusement as a distraction and yank the tooth out.

"Fuck," he hisses under his breath.

"Good job," you say, as though you're treating a child and patting his head like a good boy. "Here, you can keep the tooth as a souvenir."

"Tawtute," he says gently, before you can leave.

"Yeah?"

"You aren't pathetic, liking me-"

"Yeah, you're very handsome and cool and hot, I get it," you say, rolling your eyes. "Listen Aonung."

And he does, looking up at you like a little puppy sitting on the woven floor, waiting patiently for you to speak.

"I never thought anything would come out of my crush, and I don't expect anything to come out of it. I'll get over it, just please, forget about it."

Aonung's slowly frowning.

"Tawtute, then what about the others?"

"What others?" you sigh, eager to get away and just disappear into your bed forever.

"I hear stuff too," Aonung shrugs. "From other guys."

"Like who?" you snap, growing more and more impatient.

It's like he's a little child sometimes, trying to figure out what he wants to say and then actually speaking the words, as though every sentence is taking every fibre of his being to utter.

"Ta'ru, Moy'ka, Khalo," Aonung shrugs. At that, your eyes widen and your face flushes. Those names are extremely familiar, ones that may be found at the bottom of my little black book.

"Oh my god," you groan, covering your face so he won't see your desperate flush.

"They seemed to really like you as well," Aonung grins. "Heard that you can be a feisty little-"

You glower at him and he cuts himself off with a shameless shrug, as though he knows you can't be mad at him.

"Fuck off Aonung," you snarl. "Just because I had a crush on you doesn't mean I'm gonna take shit from you."

"I'm just saying," the Metkayina shrugs. "You have excellent taste in men, but why are you messing around with the likes of Ta'ru and Moy'ka?"

"Well I don't have too many options, do I?" you growl. "How do you think it feels to be someone who's only options are only seeking the thrill and adventure and tightness of being with a tawtute?"

Aonung pauses, like he hadn't thought about it like that. You know he didn't mean to offend, just tease and taunt you just as he had with Lo'ak and Kiri when they first arrived in Awa'atlu, but his words stung deep.

You couldn't just mess around with anyone you liked, because really you only liked him and he knew that, and that pissed you off more than anything else.

"Just pull your massive head out of your skxawng ass for two seconds and see that not everyone has admirers falling out of the sky and at their fucking feet all the time, that I have to work tirelessly to prove myself and that the only release I can scrounge up is with the likes of Ta'ru and Moy'ka!"

You sigh heavily, not exactly regretting raising your voice at Aonung, yet it didn't bode well that you just insulted and shouted at the future Olo'eyktan.

Aonung is just watching you, his large blue eyes flicking over your agitated face, flushed deep pink and your smaller, duller eyes stinging with furious, mortifying tears.

You can't bear the pity in his eyes, can't bring yourself to listen to whatever he's about to say when he opens his mouth.

"I have worked enough today," you say stiffly, careful to act with appropriate respect, "tell your mother I went home and I'll need more pearls and shells for the beadings."

"Tawtute-"

You quickly turn, hating yourself for your timid, cowardly retreat from the hut with his ocean eyes fixed directly onto you, and slip off through the village.

For a moment, you think he might have tried to follow you by the creaking of the woven village pathway behind you, but you quickly manage to slip between maruis and bustling Metkayina and leave the village.

You can feel your heart pounding loudly, everything so awkwardly silent as you run towards your monstrocity of a home that you feel completely alone in the forest.

Spider isn't there when you fling open your door and bury your face in your pillow.

You just sit in silence, face-down and not bothering to take off your expopack yet.

Fuck, you messed up.

You confessed your crush, then flirted with him, then shouted at him, then ran away like the tiny coward the na'vi assume of humans.

Fuck Aonung.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

So maybe you actually were a tiny coward. Yes, you were a fiesty, flaming bitch at heart, but when it came down to the mortification you had faced in that marui with Aonung, not even your sheer stubbornness and determination to shout down anyone in your path could make you leave your home.

So, shamefully, the next days passed with you cooped up in your tiny home, back to wearing your massive ass jumpers over your lazy loungewear. Spider and Lo'ak didn't question your state - you suspect they know exactly what happened - they just moved over on the worn, already cramped sofa and passed you another remote.

The days were considerably shorter than normal when you're self isolating in what is basically a small tin shack, eating shitty food and binging hours of trashy television in the discomfort of your rickety bed.

Which is why, on the fourth morning away from the Metkayina village, you weren't at all surprised to hear the shouts of Spider and Lo'ak's familiar laugh from outside.

You had lazily woken up late in your bra and comfy, heart-patterned boy-short pyjamas that barely covered half your ass and thrown on your massive jumper, which hung a third of the way to your knees, grumbling to yourself that there were the boys outside and you couldn't just spend the rest of the day in your underwear.

When you finally left your room and stomped out to make a coffee in the tiny, tinny kitchen, you were too tired and uninterested to notice the suspiciously gleeful looks shot in your direction.

"Morning," Spider finally chirps.

"Is it?" you grumble, not looking up at your roommate as you slump into the creaky chair by the bench and dully watch the coffee drip monotonously into your chipped, yellowed mug.

Lo'ak snickers at your slumped back as you don't bother turn around to look in their direction.

"Someone's here for you," Spider grins, and you can hear the barely concealed amusement in his voice as you roll your eyes.

"I don't feel being squashed between your and Lo'ak's fat asses and playing video games right now," you sigh. "I can't be fucked for another day spent moping on that old, shitty sofa."

"Aw, is the little tawtute still upset about her little crush on the Metkayina prince?"

"Hardly," you scoff.

You snatch your chipped mug from the machine and just resigning yourself as the coffee continues to drip down onto the tinny bench, no longer having the patience for the infuriatingly slow drip of your greatest necessity before continuing.

"I should have realised what a cocky, brainless, dull, oblivious, pestering, rude, taunting, tiny-dick skxawng-"

"Hey," a deep voice protests from the sofa.

A very familiar voice.

With a surge of horror and a deep desire to strangle and castrate Lo'ak and Spider, you see Aonung grinning at you.

Fuck, how can he manage to look good here, cramped in this ridiculously small shack that barely even fits you, in the horribly white light that flickered every five damn minutes and sprawled casually on that worn old couch?

His large blue eyes are glittering with amusement, looking large and more muscular than ever in the tiny living room.

"What are you doing here?" you breathe, torn between annoyance with the three skxawngs grinning at you, a desire to storm back into your room with your coffee and slam the door in their faces, and a conflicted delight and slight surge of desire at Aonung here in your house.

"Lo'ak asked me if I wanted to play video games," Aonung shrugs.

Lo'ak just rolls his eyes and says, "No, I said you'd been in your room for the last few days playing video games with us when he asked me why you hadn't been coming around the village. Then he said he'd never played video games, and I said I was coming here again, and then the skxawng just decided to come along."

"Right," Aonung concludes, shooting Lo'ak a scathing look.

"Right," you say too, unimpressed and unconvinced. "Well it's a bit cramped in here. Maybe you should leave."

"No, we'll go," Spider grins, nudging Lo'ak, who also smirks. "You guys have fun, and make good choices!"

"Spider!" you hiss, but your two ridiculously infuriating friends had already extricated themselces from the demountable and disappeared between the sparse forest that hid your human home. You can hear their snickers as they move towards the village and away from the situation they left you in.

Some friends.

You huff an annoyed sigh before lifting your coffee to your lips and taking a small sip. You are staring directly at Aonung, who's shifting slightly on the couch, but you're determing to not back down this time.

Mostly because there's nowhere left your you to run away and hide, now that Aonung has invaded your home.

There's a few moments of tense silence where you continue to sip your coffee and coldly study him.

"I brought you shells pearls," Aonung blurts, nose scrunching slightly.

You raise your brows at him, surprised that he caved to your silent coldness so fast. When you don't reply, he continues.

"Like you asked. Before you left. You told me that you needed more pearls and shells for your beading... so I thought... maybe..."

At your continued cool silence, Aonung trails off. You're surprised to see a faint purple tinge to his handsome face.

Is he blushing? Is he nervous?

At this realisation, that the cocky prince of the clan in front of you was nervous because of you, an idea clunks into place.

A risky idea for sure, but it was hardly like you could get any more mortified, and an opportunity like this, to have Aonung like this, didn't come every day.

"Why are you here?" you ask dully, finally setting your coffee down with a decisive chink and pinning him under the full attention of your gaze.

"I - um - brought you the shells and pearls-" he starts to say.

"Not because of the shells and pearls."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. An obvious statement, at that.

"Or the video games," you add, eyes narrowing slightly. "Why are you here, Aonung?"

"You haven't been coming around the village," he swallows.

"I've been busy,"you shrug.

You're horribly aware that your hair is a mess, that you are wearing nothing but a bra and practically underwear under your massive jumper.

Aonung also seems to notice your sloppy and careless appearance, or at least your hair (you pray to Eywa he doesn't notice your clothing, or lack thereof) but he doesn't point your laziness out, which is wise of him.

He reaches for the mask Lo'ak often uses and takes a deep inhale.

"My mother wishes you come back soon," Aonung mutters.

"And you?" you ask coolly. "Ronal would have told me herself- she has no qualms with coming to visit me here by the river. So what do you want?"

A heartbeat of silence. Aonung blinks. You raise your brows.

"I'm sorry."

The words hang in the air for a moment, trapped, no doubt, between the stifling walls of the ridiculously small room, between you seated at the rickety table and Aonung's much larger, stronger body seated at the peeling sofa.

"It's probably good you weren't around the village lately," Aonung says offhandedly, his voice growing somewhat stronger as you don't yell at him again. "Koro, Ongu and Nashvi were in need of some healing."

"From what?" you roll your eyes. "A prolemuris bite? A stubbed toe?"

"Well," Aonung says, looking more encouraged now, "someone may have beat them up a little for teasing and taunting and being skxawngs."

You look up at that, and find an adorably self-pleased expression on Aonung's face.

"And why would someone do that?" you ask.

"Maybe they wanted to show they were sorry?" Aonung grins. "And they knew it would take more than shells and pearls for forgiveness."

"Why do you want forgiveness?" you sigh, leaning forward on the table to stare better at him.

Aonung sits up and shifts on the sofa, clearly making room for you.

You aren't sure you want to, unsure what will happen if you're that close to him, but you can't help it.

Despite your pretences of confidence and annoyance with him that veneered your facade of sweetness and kindness you had hoped would gain his attention and even affection, you were just a people pleaser.

And all you really wanted was to please Aonung.

So you picked yourself off, leaving your coffee to grow cold and doubtless forgotten about on the creaky table.

You settled into the sofa besides Aonung, trying to ignore how annoyingly, incredibly, deliciously massive he is as he blinks down at you.

"You are small," he says. "And meek yet furious at the same time. I can't figure you out at all, and you intrigue me, tawtute."

"How flattering," you say dully, and Aonung frowns, as though that was not the reaction he was expecting. "If you fought Ongu and Nashvi and Koro then why aren't you injured?"

"I'm a good fighter?" Aonung shrugs, looking pleased with himself.

You know that well- the Metkayina training grounds for warriors were across from the village, and the closest marui to it was the healing one you often occupied, given that most injuries came from the warriors.

So when you could get away with it, you would peek out the entrance of the healing marui to watch the warriors train. All large muscular men and lithe beautiful women. But no matter who you distracted yourself with, your eyes would always drift back to Aonung.

The way his jokey demeanour vanished the instant he had an opponent, the swiftness of each of his calculated movements, the way you knew, even though you could never hear, that he was taunting and glaring and ridiculing his opponent between powerful blows.

It attracted you more than you'd like to admit, the way he was effortlessly than the others, the ease with which he could toss his opponents around. And when he won, his muscles gleaming with laborious perspiration and a grin fixed on his handsome face...

It was all very attractive.

"Yes yes," you say instead, biting your cheek to stop from rolling your eyes. "You're very strong and incredible."

"You don't sound convinced," Aonung narrows his eyes at you.

You squint back. He really is brainless, just a pretty hunk.

You said what you said and you meant it - and now you don't need him acting all confused when you don't fawn all over him, batting you eyelashes and twirling your hair and practically sucking his dick.

It really is a cocky, brainless, dull, oblivious, pestering, rude, taunting, tiny-dick skxawng thing for him to do - finally speaking to you, looking at you, even trying to flirt with you just as you decide to let it go, set your sights away from him.

So you straighten up to your full height, still several feel smaller even sitting down, and wait as he opens his mouth.

"You confuse me tawtute," Aonung admits.

"No shit, given that you have as many braincells as men I can pull," you mutter, raising your brows at him.

Aonung huffs in annoyance, and you fold your arms further.

"Bold of you," you scowl. "To act like you're the annoyed one after the other day."

"Well," Aonung huffs, blinking furiously, looking torn between confusion and continued, unjust annoyance.

"Well what?" you snap. "Whenever I'm around the village I'm just the tawtute, and now you come into my house, the only place I can just relax-"

"This is my village," Aonung says stiffly.

You blink.

"Oh," you seethe. "So that's what this is about."

"What?"

"That the entitled Olo'eyktan's son is shocked to have someone tell him how it is, to not be beloved and cherished all the fucking time, to not have someone sucking his dick every-"

"I wouldn't protest," Aonung shrugs, smirking down at you before taking another breath from the mask.

You blink again. Just as you think you've called him out, that maybe a word you say will manage to penetrate through that perfect hair and gorgeous head of his- he manages to prove you wrong.

You just growl in irritation and stand back up, storming back towards your room and not bothering to turn back to him.

As you predicted, your coffee lies cold and dreary and lonesome, forgotten on that creaky table in your irritation with him and his stupid damn confusion with you.

"You can let yourself out."

But he doesn't, he just follows you into your room as you flop down onto your bed.

You glare at him, shocked that he has that much nerve to follow you into your room when you clearly don't want to see him.

Spider definitely wouldn't be brave enough to bother you right now, and Lo'ak or Neteyam probably would also be apprehensive.

But cocky, stubborn Aonung just ducks his massive frame through the doorway - a tight squeeze but he somehow manages - and peers hazily around your room.

Of course, the demountable you and Spider call home was built with Jake and Norm in mind, yet Aonung's head was taller than both other men, his braided bun inches away from scraping the ceiling.

From the bed you continue to glare at him, silent and glowering as he raises his eyebrows at the underwhelming room.

"So this is your room?" he asks, eyes darting back to you. "I always imagined it more..."

There's apparently no words his five brain cells can find, and you roll your eyes again.

"Not everyone can live in the nicest marui in the village," you point out. "Not everyone can live in the village at all.

Aonung sighs again, before his eyes light up and he spots something.

"Don't touch my stuff," you grumble, but he's already stooping his massive body to something.

"What is this?" he asks earnestly.

"What is what-" you snap, before your eyes widen in horror and your mouth parts in silent mortification.

Looking comically small in his ridiculously large hands is your underwear. And to your absolute fucking horror, it just has to be your smallest thong, black and delicate and a little lacy.

"Give that here," you huff, instantly leaping up and trying to snatch it back. Aonung's grin only widens when he realises what it is, and you think you could die of mortification right then and there on your bedroom floor in front of the metkayina prince.

"How come you never wore this around the village?" Aonung chuckles, easily holding it up from your limited reach. "I can promise you, this would grab much more attention than your other tawtute clothing."

You attempt to snatch it back again, face flushed to a deep red now, and he just laughs again.

He looks down at you and frowns at the massive jumper hanging halfway to your knees.

"And why are you back to wearing those cloaks and blankets?"

"It's a jumper," you say hotly, feeling your face flush that the realising that Aonung had noticed you, or at least the difference between short skirts and tanks and your oversized "blankets".

"And it's comfy, much more so then all the little stuff I tried before."

Aonung just huffs slightly, eyes trailing shamelessly over you again.

"Spider wears a tewng," Aonung reasons. "Besides, these things are much smaller than out clothing anyway."

You gape and shove at him. Predicably, his massive body doesn't move in the slightest. Aonung frowns, and you can guess what he's thinking.

Na'vi are completely comfortable in their bodies- which is easy when they're all slim and muscular and tall and perfect.

You on the other hand, are not. You aren't big by human standards by any means, yet the love and affection you harboured for your body when with the humans had slightly dissipated when surrounded by gorgeous na'vi all the time.

So even though you have put in the efforts to dress for attention, you were always careful not to show too much, which is what stirred the attention of the other male na'vi.

What lay below the strange tawtute clothing- what is so much softer and curvier than na'vi women that you keep teasing them with, yet keep tantalisingly hidden.

But then a thought occurs to you, and it makes you... more interested, or so to speak.

Aonung is curious about you- and you know what you want. It's not like you're expecting anything beyond sex- even that is a stretch -with the handsome, desirable na'vi man.

It's not every day you have this opportunity, to have Aonung like this, all curious about you for the first time since you arrived in the reef, despite months of hoping desperately he'd at least look at you.

So the idea forms in your head, the way you can finally get the Metkayina princes attention.

He is intrigued by you, and you have no hesitation to assume that means in the same lustful, experimentative way other na'vi men have been.

"Why?" you grin. "Do you want to see me in it?"

Aonung freezes. His eyes gaze from the tiny thong to you and back to the skimpy, lacy black material.

"I- if you'd like," he says off-handedly, and you smile to yourself.

He's right where you'd like him. Tantalised by the offer you pose, intrigued by what you've hinted but hidden since you've arrived in the reef.

So slowly, he sinks onto your bed and you slide away the little boy-short pyjamas you had been wearing under the jumper.

"Do you-"

You cut Aonung off with a sly grin, slowly lifting your the sides of your large jumper.

"No need sweetheart," you grin. "I'm already wearing some."

Aonung's ears flatten instantly at the word sweetheart, one you know he doesn't understand judging from his expression trying to interpret if that's a good or bad thing.

But then his eyes fall onto you, and you automatically find his hands on your hips and tugging you closer.

And you know you didn't make a mistake.

He lets out a small hiss, as though he didn't even notice he did, at the sight of your body from underneath your massive jumper.

None of the na'vi - besides your casual partners - had ever seen you in something this small before.

None had seen the squidge of your ass and thighs, the smooth supple skin cloaking your curves.

The men had said it all before- how soft you are, how small you are, just how much give you have.

Na'vi women are all lean muscle, yet the pure humanity of your body lies in the squishiness of it, in your ass and thighs and chest and stomach in ways na'vi would never have.

And then Aonung's hands are on you, kneading your ass, eyes staring down at the way your body moves and jiggles with his slightest touch, pupils blown wide as they are when na'vi make tsaheylu.

It's something that never ceases to send a shiver through you - the awe and delight and worship with which na'vi seem to find in your strange squishy body,

Then he's looking at you, and his usually baby blue eyes are dark and rough like the deep oceans. It's exactly what you were hoping for, the hunger and desire in his handsome face as he stares, seated but still slightly taller on your bed.

"Take this off."

It isn't a question or a request, it's a fucking order. For the first time, it strikes you that he really is going to be Olo'eyktan, just by the forceful defiance in his deep voice fuelled by his sudden interest.

Hook, line, and sinker.

You push away slightly and he's frowning like drawing away from him is a goddamn dereliction.

Aonung's impatient, no sooner have you lifted up your jumper over your waist when he's tearing it up and over your shoulders and tossing it into the corner of the room.

"Pxasìk," he mutters, staring straight at you.

It's in no means meant to be a sexy outfit, just a simple thong and bra, but the way Aonung just stares at you is like he's seeing something completely new.

He's not foreign to females- you'd heard quite enough tales about his various exploits, but he looks like a teenage boy seeing his first pair as his gaze flicks up to your face, then he reaches out.

His hands are just this side of too rough, and you can almost feel yourself melting away in his hands that are larger than your head.

You let out a small whimper as he squeezes, and you feel the last strings of his restraint snaps.

Aonung finally picks you up, one hand holding you up by the waist. His casual display of strength is fucking dizzying, and you feel yourself getting wet before he crashes his lips onto yours and drops you in the nest of his lap.

Kissing is not something you are accustomed to when you need to wear your expopack all the fucking time, and you're half terrified about how the last time you kissed someone was a human scientist at least a year ago.

But it's hard to think, so you just lean into him.

The kiss is messy and airless and hardly graceful, but you wouldn't have it any other fucking way. You're all greedy and breathless, desperate for anything, his soft lips against your own, his amber and sea-salt scent, his warm that you nearly forget about everything else and get lost in the kiss.

You've never kissed like this, been kissed like this.

He's just as hungry as you are, but kissing a na'vi is different.

He's just so fucking... big.

His hands are holding you everywhere- your waist, your ass, your tits, your thighs. He's tilting you this way and that and opening you up to deepen the kiss. His face is so large, the force and hunger and ferocity with which he's kissing you practically about to send you bending backwards if it wasn't for him clutching you tight to him.

It's hot and hungry, almost animalistic as his fangs lightly sink into your lip. You moan like a fucking whore into his mouth, and his textured, massive tongue lightly licks the blood away as he shifts.

It's just a warm, horny mess between the two of you, full of teeth and tongue and your tiny whimpers at each movement of his hands over your skin.

And suddenly it's all getting to much, the sudden emptiness in you that only he can fill, and you're gasping for breath and pulling away to stare at him.

Aonung too is breathless, head automatically following yours but you place a hand on his chest to stop him.

"Aonung breathe."

He grunts his objection to your words.

"I can hold my breath underwater for-"

"I can't have the future Olo'eyktan dying on my bed," you say, smiling at his indignation to stop kissing you.

"I'm fine," he grumbles.

"Well I won't be able to drag your massive body out if you do pass out," you point out.

"Aw, are you going to try and rescue me?"

"No, I need to hide the evidence," you quip.

Aonung wrinkles his nose at you, but you just thrust the mask at him. With a childish eye-roll, he takes a deep inhale before disregarding his very vital possession and crashing his lips back onto yours.

You find yourself growing more comfortable. Aonung is hungry for anything, his muscles tensing when you make certain movements, and you find yourself doing them again.

Tugging him closer by his necklace. Lightly brushing your nails up his back. Threading your fingers into his braided bun.

When you lightly tug on his soft braided hair, he growls a little and shifts you closer. When you trace your tongue gently across his fangs, his grip tightens suddenly around your ass.

"You're so soft syulang," he whispers.

The sound of his voice all deep and gravelly, his breath all hot and heavy on your neck, his hands roving over every single inch of your skin, it's all just so.... much.

You miss his mouth on yours, but soon enough it's kissing its way down your neck. Each shaky breath of yours is met with him on your neck and collar, lips pressing, tongue lightly licking at your skin, sucking and kissing.

You were familiar enough with this- na'vi men were territorial creatures. But you had never seen any girls from Aonung's little black book walking around with hickeys, and at the rate he was going, your whole neck would just be one fat love bite.

And you'd be fine with that.

You feel his nose nudging lightly against you, breathing you in as his lips brush over your collar. Scenting you.

His sudden gentleness with you doesn't quite create the friction you so desperately need right now, but his hands trailing and squeezing and exploring your smaller body satiate you. For now.

Then the ferocity is suddenly back, and he's nipping at your body again. A moment later, you realise that he must have only been satisfied because now you smell faintly like him, like amber and sea-salt, yet you know to another na'vi, his mark on you would be almost overwhelming.

When he finally reaches your bra - you could tell he'd been savouring this moment, kissing his way down to it - you can see the hungry gleam in his glittering blue eyes, his tail flicking excitedly behind him and an insatiable smile on his handsome face, fangs poking lightly through his soft lips.

And like you'd thought, he's impatient and greedy and ravenous. He doesn't bother with the delicate clasp, no doubt guessing the struggles na'vi endured with their massive fingers against the small clinch, simply ripping it straight off your body.

"You ass," you gasp, looking helplessly at the pieces of what was once your bra tossed carelessly from the bed. "We live on a fucking island, where am I meant to get another br-"

"I'll make you more," Aonung promises. "I'll make you ten tops."

You highly doubt that- Aonung doesn't seem, or at least what you'd heard about his playboy experiences, like the sort for after care let alone gift giving.

But your half-hearted annoyance and indignance dies in your damn throat when his hands enclose your tits.

"You're - fuck- you're so small, syulang," he grunts, staring wide-eyed down at you.

Indeed, you'd never felt smaller against a na'vi then right now. Held in his warm lap, one of his hands big enough to hold both your breasts, both large enough to wrap around your whole body.

The thought of that makes you moan unconsciously, and Aonung blinks at you in surprise. You don't bother to play anything cool; with his hands where they are, he can feel how hot and nervous and hungry you are.

And when he meets your eyes again, you can see he feels the same.

Suddenly you're being laid back against your bed and Aonung's comfortingly heavy figure is over you, hands holding you tightly as his lips brush against your breasts.

It's an unexpected movement, one that has you arching in surprise, pushing your chest up and opening it all up to him

He goes on without hesitation, licking over your tit gently, grinning a little at your whine, the stark contrast of your smooth supple skin against his rough tongue just driving you fucking crazy.

He wraps his lips around your nipple and suckles at it, before he nips lightly at the underside of your tit.

And then you're arching and whining and tangling your fingers in his hair, and then he's kissing down your stomach and sliding away your thong before you even know what's fucking happening.

"Wait!" you gasp, cupping his face away from your cunt to get him to look at you.

"Yes, syulang?"

"This is your first time," you say, trying to swallow heavily. "With a human."

Aonung just blinks, looking confused and slightly offended that you're stopping him from doing as he was going to.

"Don't... um... I should be making this good for you," you breathe shakily. "I want to make you feel good- to... um..."

Aonung just laughs as though you're being hilarious, and reaches up to pat your hair with one massive, warm hand.

"Mawey tawtute," he grins. "I want to make you feel good too."

"But-" you say, face twisted with worry, but once fucking again, he manages to kill your words.

He kisses the soft, squishiness of your thigh, inches away from your bare pussy, and you gasp lightly as he sucks a sweet purple bruise into the soft skin.

Then, eyes looking carefully up at you to see your reaction, he lightly sinks his fangs into your leg. You gasp so loudly you think they might hear you in the village, hands instantly leaping to find balance in his braided hair.

The sting is a welcome, warm pain, especially when he lightly licks away the droplet of blood and brushes your clit with a large turquoise finger.

You can't speak, just scrunch your nose tightly, grip onto his braids for dear life as he muscles his way in between your thighs and goes to fucking town.

His mouth is fucking massive- his hands are massive, pinning your hips down.

You're squirming from the moment he gets onto you, sucking lightly at your clit, a delighted, puppy-playful glint in his large blue eyes, tossing your legs over his shoulders so his face is pressed even closer to you.

He suckles at you so eagerly, tongue stroking over your hole, over and over and over. You can't help it, the way you're simultaneously squirming away from the overwhelming pleasure of it all and the way you're rutting your hips into his face.

"Fu- fuck, Aonung."

It's all messy, you're so wet, his face is shining with your slick and his spit, and he slides a finger back and dips it in.

Instantly you gasp, jolting upwards and arching your back high to the ceiling. Aonung's about to grumble at your squirming when you tug at his hair and he groans.

"Sorry, sorry," you whisper, flushed with mortification.

Aonung just looks up at you and grins, kissing your hip lightly and mumbling against your lips,

"Go ahead syulang."

He slides a second finger in beside the first one, easing them together, fuelled by your breathless moans and groaning into your clit as you tug at his braids with each helpless squirm, his deep rumbles vibrating warmly against you.

He has a look on his face that tells you plainly- he's enjoying this as much as you do. It's in the glint of his eyes and his wide smile.

And the way his tail is thumping happily behind him, unrestrained and untethered, telling you one thing.

He's fucking hard.

You notice it by the way his hips are tilted, rutting slightly against the mattress, but he seems unwilling to take his hands away from you, from the curve of your ass and your slick.

And you want to help, so you squirm a little more to slide down to reach him.

"Aonung, don't you want to just-"

"Just one," he pleads, looking up at you.

It's crazy, how someone that's twice your size and has no fucking idea what it is can look as an adorable as a puppy when he wants to.

And who are you to deny the Metkayina Prince?

So you just accept your fate and hope to eywa you don't black out too fast, clinging to his braids and trying to muffle your moans into your hand.

Your legs begin to shake around his head, eyes rolling all the way back as you moan louder and claw at your rickety brass bed head.

Then, when you accidentally jerk and squeeze your legs around his face, he moans shamelessly against you and that's all it takes.

With a hand clasped tight over your mouth to muffle your moans of pleasure, coming undone on his tongue, clamping down on his fingers and leaping head first off the edge you'd been teetering on.

You have no idea what to do, just know you're rocking aimlessly against his face, crying out and holding onto him for dear life.

He continues through it all, licking and kissing and nipping and sucking with such fervour that you think he might just pull your soul out of your pussy, eyes watching you with desperate lust yet also with sweet curiousity.

Whether you're conscious or unconscious you don't know, all you can sense is the overwhelming waves of pleasure crashing again and again over you.

"Holy shit," you breathe, finally coming down and lightly tugging at his braids. "Aonung come on, let's find something for you."

Aonung frowns, clearly wanting to keep going, but he obliges when you grin and brush your fingers over his face.

He's all dopey and messy and gorgeous, face shining like the fucking ocean, but he just wipes it carelessly and moves back up your body to shower your chest and neck with more kisses and light nips.

"Aonung," you say gently, squirming slightly underneath him.

He just grunts to show he's listening, flicking your nipple lightly with his large, rough tongue. You fight back your broken moans so you can speak.

"I want to fuck you," you whisper.

That gets his attention fast. You nearly laugh at the way his head snaps up, eyes wide with surprise, and he tilts his head.

"Syulang, we have time, we don't have to-"

"No," you growl, frowning and trying to get him to understand. "You can kiss any girl anytime, see any tits any time, but this is the only time I'm ever going to have you and I want to do everything."

Aonung blinks, looking surprised, before bursting into deep, rumbly laughter that makes you scowl.

"What?" you grumble, annoyed and reaching to cover your tits.

That makes him grumpy, and he easily just pushes your arms away so he can pillow his chin between the cleavage and rest his face to look up your body at you.

His massive body, double the proportions of everything you have, is a comfortable weight over your smaller body, his hands absentmindedly stroking your soft skin.

"I'm not going to see any tits any time," Aonung says simply. "These are my favourites."

"You-" you wrinkle your nose at him to hide your annoyed smile as he licks lightly over your breast, then sucks a little hickey into the underside of the soft cleavage.

"Tawtute, you're all soft and smooth and squishy."

You let out a breathless little laugh, amused by the childish simplicity with which he expresses himself, stroking his large face fondly.

"But I don't want to waste our time when this is the only-"

"It doesn't have to be the only time," Aonung shrugs, blinking at you. "You can come to me whenever you like."

That's a layered statement. Whilst that has you reeling with delight and satisfaction, you can't help wishing that maybe he would come to you, that maybe he'd ever want this more than you do. Want you more than you want him.

"Or I'll come to you," Aonung amends. "But if I come to you whenever I'd like, you'd be getting sick and tired of having me around."

"Why don't you find out," you whisper. "Just how tired you can make me."

And with that, you're in agreement.

Placing you in control, he rolls over onto his back, careful not to crush you, and lifts you lightly to rest on his chest.

You reach out to tug at the band of his loincloth, your fingers quick and desperate and practically scrabbling at the knot, and Aonung watches with amusement and curiousity.

Finally, it's untied and you draw it away. And fuck. He's naked.

The prince of the clan is naked in the bed, straddled under you, staring up at you like he's never seen something so... precious.

So yes, maybe you've imagined this a million times. Thought about him naked, here, in the reef, in the river, in the marui, in every possible place.

For a human, you can be a horny little thing sometimes, and the thing that fuelled that most was your little crush.

But now he's here, and you're eager to see him.

All na'vi are big compared to you, every na'vi cock you've ever seen and felt and took is just large and beautiful and big, but Aonung just seems obsene.

Never once, in all your filthy imaginations, had you truly dared to factor in the sheer size of him. Just by looking at his massive muscular body, one could guess, but they'd still have their fucking minds blown.

He’s big. So fucking big it has your eyes bulging and heart thumping and mouth almost watering. His cock is just as beautiful as him, just as smooth pale blue with the delicate darker stripes and glowing tahnì.

When you reach out and touch it, his hips jerk slightly and his pupils widen as your smaller hand closes gently around it.

Fuck, you need two hands to hold it. It's heavy and hot and obscene in your small, smooth hands, and you look up at him with amazement.

He's just staring back, waiting for you to do what you want with him. Whatever you want.

You shift your hand down, too small to hold all of him but he groans anyway, feeling warm and sticky precome gushing from the tip to coat your fingers.

"Fuck, syulang, so good," he grunts, seemingly mindlessly rocking his hips up into your hand.

You just want to be good for him. To make him feel good, in any way near the way he made you feel, to repay him.

But at the same time, the heavy weight of his cock, let alone the sheer damn size of it, has your head spinning and mouth watering. You want it stretching everything inside you, bullying its way into you, fucking its mark deep into you until you're ruined for anyone else.

You just want everything.

It's greedy of you, you know that, to be lusting after what might quite literally be the most unattainable man in the clan, but you can't help it. From the moment you set eyes on him, that's all you wanted, him as yours.

But since you can't have that, you'll just have to make this time worth it, get him to fuck you enough to last a lifetime without him.

"Come on," you grin. "All this for me?"

Aonung grunts as you tighten your hand slightly around his painfully hard cock, eyes studying the way the tahnì's light flickers and shimmers with each of your movements, the way he pulses in your hand.

"You have me now syulang," he mutters. "You don't need all those big, stupid guys."

"You are literally the stupidest guy ever," you point out. "But also the biggest."

At the last word, you lick a stripe up his length, and his hand jumps into your hair and he chokes out a groan.

"Even your tongue is smooth tawtute," he mutters, almost to himself.

"I'll try my best," you say, pulling back a few inches to study his dick. "I've never done this with a na'vi before-"

"It's alright," he whispers, trying to pull you closer, and you frown.

"I want to do this," you pout. "Please- it just might not be very tidy."

Aonung tries to pull you away, tries to hide the way his cock is pulsing, but you can feel each heartbeat through the heavy weight in your hand.

"Come syulang, we have time later," he pleads. "You wished to fuck."

"I don't want this to be over too soo-"

"I will come every day if that's what you'd like," Aonung huffs. "Just let me make you feel good."

So you oblige, pushing hard at his shoulders, and he lies back onto the pillows as you lift yourself up and straddle him.

"Are you sure?" Aonung asks, furrowing his brows at you. "You are small and-"

This time you're the one to cut him off, rolling your hips fluidly over his much larger ones, feeling your whole body tighten at the new friction of your slick and throbbing clit sliding up along his hardened length.

He doesn't protest again. He just lets his hands fall to rest on your hips, sliding your smaller body on his before bringing you down to grind harder.

You moan and he lets out a small noise in his chest, and it takes you a moment to realise he's purring.

Surprisingly, he doesn't seem abashed by the sounds he makes, instead he just rests his head back against the pillows to watch your movements with eyes darkened with lust.

You can feel that familiar heat growing rapidly, too rapidly, between your legs straddled either side of him, so you quickly lift off his hips. Thankfully, Aonung seems to understand, or maybe the teasing is just too much for him too, because he helps you line him up with your entrance.

At the slightest movement, your legs stretching further to lower yourself onto his cock, you know it's going to be a stretch. More than any fingers, any cock, anything you've ever taken, and you think he knows it too, by the way he's staring so avidly at you.

But you're impatient, hardly caring how much you get hurt, just wanting him inside you, stretching you, marking you, ruining you, and you drop further down so the head of his cock starts to press into you.

And then you're dropping further, hair cascading messily all over you, lips bit tight to hide your pain before the massive hardness of him slides past the ring of resistance and starts to smoothly sink into you.

You cry out and Aonung hisses.

"You're- fuck, you're so tight syulang," he groans. "The others did not lie."

You can't answer, sinking further down, head lolling back at the overwhelming stretch of it all, hands resting firmly on his chest to anchor yourself.

Aonung's breathing heavily, his eyes blown wide to black moons ringed in a thin line of pale blue, and you can see he's trying to control yourself as you grit your teeth and sink further onto him.

You're whining and whimpering and he half-looks like he wants to stop out of concern for you, but you shake your head at him. Instead, he sits up, cradling your small figure against his massive chest and takes control, sliding in.

And in. And in.

Just when you think there's no more left for him to go, he keeps going. He lets you sink your teeth into his shoulder to muffle your sharp cries, gently smoothing your hair and whispering comforts and praise to you while his other hand reaches down to rub circles on your throbbing clit.

The stretch in you feels so tight that you doubt you can move, and Aonung hisses again as you clench around him.

"Just a little more, paskalin," he whispers, biting back a groan as he rocks another inch into you, your silent tears streaking his chest, your whimpers and whines practically injected into him through your mouth on his shoulder.

"You're so big," you choke out, gritting your teeth as he pushes in another inch, which seems literally fucking impossible.

And fuck, he's still got a few inches left and there's just simply no more space. You frown with frustration, but then he's dropping your remaining weight onto him and buries himself deep inside you.

You cry out, face twisted in the delicious mix of blunt pain and sharp pleasure, and Aonung just remains there, holding you close and sheathed within you, letting you adjust and clench and breathe heavily.

"Holy shit," you groan. "You're right here."

The bulge of his dick is evident in your body, and you lay a breathless hand over it. A sick part of you wishes it'll remain there forever, his mark fucked into you long after you can't fuck him anymore.

He too takes a breath, lazily and careless from his mask, before laying it back down and finally starting to move.

The stretch is a delicious burn as Aonung rocks his hips deeper, until he's as far in as he's going to get, before he pulls out an inch and makes his first, experimental thrust. To his delight, it has your eyes rolling back and you arching your tits right into him.

His lips find his way on your neck, your nails digging into his broad back as he rolls his hips and thrusts deep into you. You can't hold it back anymore, moaning shamelessly like a whore into his ear all the while scratching your mark into his back.

He, in turn, is moaning and cursing against your neck, his mouth all messy, nipping and kissing along your neck and collar and chest.

It's all just a test, really. Sensing out each others bodies, learning what you like; there's nothing about this you dislike.

You love the squeeze of his hands on your curves, knowing he loves your curves just as much- judging the way he's pinching your ass, kneading your tits and tracing the little squidge of your belly.

"So good syulang," he whispers when you clench around him again. "You're doing so well."

He's whispering nearly unintelligible things against your neck, words of worship, mutters of how tight you are, little praise of how well you're doing.

You just cling onto him, moaning shamelessly into his ear, arching further and further with every deep, forceful thrust, feeling as though he's fucking your soul straight out of your body.

If he hadn't been holding you up, you think you may have just turned to jelly and flopped backwards, yet his hands are warm and present on your back.

You shift slightly, up and down, trying your best to meet each of his thrusts, and there it is. The start of the knot, the one you begin to pull, to unravel.

And then he knows it, because all of a sudden he's speeding up and thrusting deeper and rubbing circles on your clit, and you're a moaning mess, hands raking through his hair and over his back, gently caressing his face and digging sharply into his waist.

All it finally takes is the nip at your neck, the soft whispered shower of desperately spoken words you can't even hear, and then you've tipped over the edge.

Aonung just fucks you through it all, cradling you body and still muttering those words you can't make out. You're making a fucking mess, your sharp cries and moans and whines tearing through the home so loudly you'd thank Eywa forever that Spider's far away in the village.

And then when you still, the change that goes through Aonung is surprising. He had been rough by human standards, but it never seemed to strike you just how gentle he had been until he just loses all vestages of control.

He's moving at animalistic paces, and you're unravelling into a moaning, trembling mess under him, teeth sunk into his shoulder to try and quiet your sounds, because you sure as fuck can't hold them in.

You yelp as he speeds up now, brutal and animalistic as the last tenterhooks of his strained restraint snaps and he buries himself deep inside you. He's hissing a million unintelligible words against your skin as he spills himself inside you, rocking his hips the whole time until he finally comes to a shaky stop.

It's all just quiet. And still.

No words are spoken, just your faint moans every now and then in the aftershock of your earth-shattering orgasm.

After a moment, when you finally start to return to yourself somewhat, you realise he's layed back against the bed, you curled lightly on his chest. His arm is tented protectively over you, your own wrapped tight around his own chest, your hair spilling over your shoulders onto both your spent, slightly sweaty bodies.

Then he finally moves, a small shift to pull you even closer, gently slide you up his body you you're in his view, when he can nuzzle lightly into your neck.

You whimper at the sudden cold emptiness inside you as he lifts you off him and closer to his face, but he lightly kisses all over your flushed face, once, twice, again and again, soft, gentle brushes of his lips over your shining skin.

"Are you alright, syulang?"

You can't answer. Aonung, the prince of the clan, the guy you've been crushing on since you came to the reef, the one that was the most unattainable man in the reef, had just fucked every morsel of animation out of your body, and is now cuddling you close.

"Why are you doing this," you manage to say weakly.

"You do not like having me here?" Aonung asks, brows furrowing in confusion, looking slightly hurt.

"No," you say quickly. "But you don't have to stay here with me- you're free to go if you wish. Don't feel like you have to take care of me."

Aonung's frown deepens, but he just nuzzles closer, his face pillowed with your soft, raw breasts.

"I will stay," he says decisively.

"But you don't," you say quietly. "I've- I've heard things, that you are just... well... slutty. We both wanted sex Aonung, you don't have to feel obligated to help me, especially when you never did with others before me."

"I will stay," he says again. "I want to stay with you, syulang."

It's strange. You don't feel uneasy, but you're not used to cuddling after intimacy, not with men only being with you for the experience of fucking a tawtute, not when you're wearing your expopack.

But now, for the first time, you're just spent the fuck out, collapsed on top of the future Olo'eyktan, being praised and kissed and cared for by the elusive, unattainable Aonung.

And then there's the problem. The fact that Aonung has lit a flame no others will be able to fuel, the fact that he's made you come harder than any other ever will, the fact he's stretched you to the point no other will ever be able to fill.

"I think you've fucking ruined me," you mumble sleepily into his neck.

"Have I?" he asks, sounding slightly pleased with himself.

"For anyone and everyone."

So there's just the question left, the one that's been ringing in your brain since he kissed you, since he touched you, since you came so hard your vision went fuzzy.

And you know there's never going to be another chance to ask it. So here fucking goes. But then he answers it before it even leaves your raw lips.

"You will not need others syulang," he growls. "I will take care of you."

And you think you could melt away. All you wanted.

It seems impossible that this is happening- maybe he fucked you so well you simply passed away, and your heaven was just him caring for you. Maybe you're still fucking dreaming, and you haven't woken up, and Lo'ak and Spider will be playing video games outside on that shitty old sofa.

But then you reach out to tentatively touch his face, and you know it's real.

He's still breathing raggedly, and you pass him the mask.

"Breathe, Aonung."

"I-"

"I don't want you passing out before you can finish what you were trying to say," you reprimand him.

Aonung laughs slightly and obliges, before setting his mask back down.

"I liked you too, tawtute," he whispers.

"Fucking hypocrite," you hiss, your supposed annoyance at complete odds with your uncontrollable, delighted grin.

"I liked your sweetness," he grins, kissing your nose. "And kindness and determination. You asked why I did not speak to you- I was ashamed."

You blink in surprise, and pull back a few inches.

"Not of liking you," Aonung continues. "Ashamed that for the first time in my life, I was nervous. You made me nervous, with all your perseverance and tawtute clothing and cuteness."

You shut him up, crashing your lips onto his and snake your hands around his neck.You kissed him.

You can feel his heartbeat picking up against your chest as he shifts, one of his hands on your waist and holding you up so your faces are closer, the other tangling in your long hair.

He smells good, like amber and sea-salt, and his lips are so soft and warm that you nearly forget about everything else and get lost in the kiss.

And it means everything that you don't need to speak. Who needs tsaheylu to read each other when you can kiss him like this?

"I will make you those tops I promised," Aonung says, pulling away. "And I can order a new hut. If you prefer your tawtute clothing, teach me to make you more."

Fuck.

This is better than anything you could have dreamed of, imagined in those long afternoons in the healing hut staring lustfully at Aonung from afar.

And now he's here, cuddling you, offering to make you gifts and asking what you like.

"My little tunutu," he whispers.

The words send a shiver through you.

The same way you'd felt this whole time, wanting all of him with everything you have, desperately willing to give whatever you have to offer.

And now he feels the same.

Tunutu.

My little desire.

#aonung #avatar #avatar the way of water #avatar fandom #aonung fanfiction #aonung x reader #aonung x female reader #avatar smut #avatar fanfiction #aonung fic #aonung x y/n #aonung x you #aonung smut #aonung x human #aonung x human reader

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meenawrites · 2 years ago

Text

Excellent points all around!

Also, I would like to remind everyone that he is SIXTEEN and not a child soldier. Perhaps the logical, warfare-minded thing to do would have been to let Quarritch die, but Spider isn't a soldier, he's a human kid with severe abandonment and neglect issues, and yet he STILL has a good heart.

I've said it before and l'll say it again, Spider isn't a killer, he couldn't just sit and knowingly leave someone to drown, no matter who it was. Additionally, like OP said, Quarritch treated him better than any adult has in Spider's life, which is the bare fucking minimum. How fucked up is that that the clone of a literal genocidal maniac was better to Spider than any of the scientists, foster parents, or Na'vi around him? It's truly fucked up, but also frankly goes to show how deeply trauma can change a person (aka Neytiri who frankly would never have treated a child like that no matter what if she hadn't gone through what she did, which is NOT to justify her behavior, just an explanation).

And what have Neytiri and Jake really done for Spider to be honest? Let him live and play with their kids, as if that was a huge favor? They left him to be captured even though he was literally protecting their children, and like OP said, didn't think at all about what they would DO to Spider to get information, only that he has it. I mean they didn't even go back for him out of consideration for their own KIDS and their relationship with them.

Spider, like no kid should ever have to, essentially raised himself, took care of himself, survived by himself. No one ever really looked out for him beyond his baby stage, and that was because they didn't really have a choice. What makes this even more heartbreaking is that again DESPITE all of that, he has always been kind and fun and compassionate and LOYAL to the Na'vi and to Eywa.

SO YEAH FINAL THOUGHTS, SPIDER IS A GOOD PERSON AND DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE LOT HE GOT IN LIFE! Hence my Trudy lives and is Spider's mama AU thank you very much.

The thing people hating on Spider don't want to understand is that he did *that* choice at the end because he'a a good, compassionate soul.

Also, I'm hoping that even if the Sullys distantiate/get angry at him for his choice at the end of Atwow they'll eventually understand why he did that choice - and Jake/Neytiri learn how badly they've treated him all his life by outright neglecting him (Neytiri) and silently staying aside not doing anything for him (Jake) so all knots can be unwrapped and he becomes one of the people

Like, I can't find it but I *swear* to you I read an interview in which Cameron states he was held prisoner for *MONTHS*

And we've only seen the tip of the iceberg of what they did to him

That would mean Spider having a breakdown over his torture at the hands of the RDA during those months he was held captive

Yes, I want them to feel guilty

Leaving Quaritch to die would equal being just as cruel as him/the people that tortured him, and he doesn't want to

He wants to be someone that makes choices he won't regret (and there's also the factor of Quaritch giving him a sliver of humanity and goodness he didn't receive from either Jake or Neytiri who where supposed to be his tarea sa'sem (spirit parents), so there's the psychological issue as well.

Jake:

•Calls him a stray cat

•Doesn't teach him basic survival things for living on Pandora

•Constantly goes along with Neytiri's distasteful behavior towards him

•DOESN'T TRY TO SAVE HIM WHEN HE IS CAPTURED

•Worries NOT on wether he is safe or being hurt by their enemies but on Spider givin up information on them to be released

Wtf

He was going to let himself be stabbed by Neytiri if she did for through with it just so Kiri could be safe, I just *know* it 😭

#Spider Socorro #Spider Avatar #Spider is a child #Spider deserves love #Eywa loves Spider #Avatar 2 #Avatar the way of water #Neytiri #Jake Sully #Sully family #Quarritch

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patheticblorbloscholar · 1 year ago

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I want a scene that parellels the moment Jake is saved by Eywa. Neytiri doesn't shoot her bow because the seeds are following Jake. Just follow me here, what if she finds out Quaritch is still alive because Spider confesses he saved him from the wreckage. He couldn't let the man die even after everything and she reacts terribly. Horrified he runs, seeking safety through the forest he knows so well and Eywa[in all her mysterious glory] sends a storm of seeds and covers Spider. For the only force Neytiri has ever listened to is her.

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neteyamsilly · 2 years ago

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i will soften every edge, hold the world to its best | 3

summary ;; Sullys stick together. You learn the hard way what happens when you don't. PART 2 | PART 4 pairings ;; dad!jake sully x reader, mom!neytiri x reader, sully family x reader genre ;; pure angst and family feels notes / explanations ;; descriptions of blood and violence incoming, beware! shout out to the ppl who predicted the stuff in this chapter LMAO so um... i couldnt tag everybody who asked when i said i would... there's apparently a limit to how many people you can tag. please forgive me 😭 im not taking any tagging requests anymore since i cant do it. so sorry about that,,,, seriously also, thank you so much for 1160 followers! i still cant fucking believe it... daddy issues solidarity 🤙🏻🤙🏻

“Hi there Corporal, you hear me? Yeah, I know you do. As much as I’m charmed by the fatherly love I could give you a big old sloppy wet kiss, we have unfinished business.”

Rain covered the rustling of clothes and the click-clacks of readjusted weapons as concentrated silence hung in the air, thick and heavy like the morning mist swallowing up the forest.

No answer.

What face could your parents be making right now? Heartbeat in your ears, you tried to hide your shame by looking down, but a jerk on your queue set you straight. the avatar holding you digging his gun sharper in your neck.

“What, cat got your tongue all of a sudden?” The leader’s stare found yours. “Let me give you a quick remedy.”

They’d linked your device into another for the sound to be relayed outside and the voice detection range could be wider, in other words, they wanted your father to hear what was happening to you. Your braid was yanked as if the one pulling it wanted to snap it right off your skull, no amount of training could stop the scream torn out of you — all the show just for him.

The line was deadly still, save for some rustling, crackling static that you could have easily mistaken for hissing.

A ghost of a smile shadowed the man’s face, he extended his rifle to tip your chin up. “Guess we’re gonna have to be louder than that to wake daddy up sweetheart.”

“Stop!” Father yelled, the unexpected timing of it made you jump. That earned him a group chuckle from the avatars around you. “Stop.”

He talked. He didn’t leave you to fend for yourself in this. Thank Eywa!

“That was fast,” the captor behind you said.

“Thought you’d have forgotten English by now, playing native.”

“...Quaritch?”

Quaritch. That awful, awful man from the stories your mother killed? Spider’s father? But… But he was dead. How could sky people know how to cheat death?

“In the flesh.”

Father’s voice wavered, you’d think he was scared if you didn’t know any better. “That’s impossible.”

“Back from the grave just for you, Jake.”

“Then I’ll just have to put you right back where you belong.”

The squad of avatars openly laughed at that, boisterous, confident, arrogant.

This was Toruk Makto they were openly mocking. None of them would last for one minute in front of him and yet—

“Quite the teary lovers reunion we’re havin’ here, but you got busy while I was gone, huh?” He looked down at you again, yellow eyes filled with mirth. “I have this tiny bird here we plucked right out of the air. Imagine my surprise to learn she’s yours. Is this the only one, or you got yourself a litter now?”

Silence again.

“What do you want?”

“Straight to the point as always.” The smug smile momentarily twitched into an unamused, withheld resentment. This man was nearing the end of his capacity to keep taunting. “I don’t think I’ll tell yet. You know I love to be a tease.”

Your ears rotated upwards in treacherous hope at your father's next words. “If you touch one hair on my daughter’s head I swear to god—”

“You exchanged your god for this shithole, Jake. Let’s not kid ourselves now.” Any hint of playing around was gone, now, eyes fixated on something on the ground ahead. “Your daughter will be my guest for a while. Think of it as summer vacation. Don’t worry, unlike the Na’vi, we’re very hospitable.” His thumb brushed over a button. “Until next time.”

“Fucking bastard—”

With one beep, the call was over. Quaritch was touching the band around his neck this time. “Iron Sky, Blue on Actual. We are standing by for extract, over.”

You began to tussle against the avatar behind your back. “No! No! Let me go!”

“Be advised. We're bringing in a high value prisoner.”

“Dad’s really gonna flay her alive this time, I can’t wait.” Lo’ak, positioned just behind the flap of the tent to not be seen from the outside as he peeked with one eyeball just in case, was watching his parents vehemently yell at each other in whispers that started out loud, but got hushed probably to not reach him and his siblings. Aggressive limb gestures were flying in the air, and at one point, his mom had tried to run off somewhere and was forcefully stopped.

Dad was currently pacing around like a wild animal with one hand permanently stuck rubbing his face, and mom turned away from him, holding her forehead. “They’re really going at it, huh?

Kiri was not amused with his insistence to breach their privacy. “What’s so interesting about watching this kind of thing?”

“Catharsis?” He remarked in English, feeling sophisticated. “You remember Spider talking about it? Purification and emotional cleansing through relief that you’re not going through the horrible tragedy, the character on stage is.”

“You’re normally so dumb.” Lo’ak bore his fangs at her matter-of-fact tone of voice. “Your brain only comes back on when it’s about chaos.”

“I’m petty, and what about it?” A tilt of his head to dare Kiri to ask for her point, then his attention was thwarted by an incomprehensible cry from his mother. She was pushing dad from his arms, furious like Lo’ak had never seen before as the upset man tried to hold her more. “Look at mom and dad breathing fire at each other! You think they’re discussing how to punish her?”

“Stop spying already skxawng, mom will be angry if she sees you. We’re supposed to be in bed.”

“Shut up, I’m trying to listen here!” His ears were tilting at every angle to make out any words that reached to him as nothing but a cluster of broken sounds. “Why did they have to go far?”

“Because they wanted to be away from peeping toms like you?”

“And you’re still here too, so?” Lo’ak gave his sister a meaningful look. “I know you wanna see too.”

“Ugh!” Kiri shoved out her tongue at him, eyes dead. “And it’s not funny, by the way! They are fighting. Stop being happy about it.”

He knew they were fighting about his older sister, and that she’d get all the heat and fallout from it the moment she was back. Lo’ak’s head was full of what he could get out of it, or what to ask her for in return for helping her out in her detention. So satisfying to be the sibling who wasn’t in trouble. He should do it more, actually. “It is funny when it’s not about me.”

“You’re sick for taking joy in another’s suffering.”

“Oh, I’m doomed, then.” Kiri took whatever fat was on his thin arm between her thumb and forefinger, and twisted. Lo’ak had to blink away the tears that rushed to his eyes, snatching his limb away from the displeased girl and pushing her away in return — he was annoyed at how much that hurt, why was that so damaging for no reason? “Yeouch! What the hell?”

“Will it kill you to practice mindfulness once in a while?”

He raised his voice’s pitch to mock the wobbly, ear-scratching whine of yours, and exaggerated his body movements to match, too. “I hate you!”

“Gross.” She tried to shove him, he caught her hands in the air, pushing her back and getting the spiteful annoyance of his sister as a result. “Dad was actually hurt by that.” Lo’ak’s eyes could roll down the hills by themselves the way that sounded, but Kiri, as always, was bothered so inexplicably. “I don’t like this. I have a bad feeling.”

That bad feeling was the herald of dad’s upcoming cranky ill-temper and what would follow after you inevitably had to come crawling back home with tail between your legs, Neteyam dragging you from the scruff of your neck. Lo’ak was refusing to sleep so he could enjoy the fight.

“Me personally, am over the moon, ikran duty is so gonna be off my hands. For months.” He halted at the idea that just went off in his head, tail swishing with the hype. “I wanna tell Spider. I’ll go get him.”

“Absolutely not. You sneak off now and they’ll laser-focus all the anger on you!” Kiri was pointing a warning hand at him, but slowly lowered it, one corner of her mouth twitching up. She was holding back amusement. “Hey, you know what? Nevermind, you can go. I want you to go. I have to see this.”

“Ha-ha.” Lo’ak’s tail stuttered, losing enthusiasm. “Attempted murder, much?”

“Guys, what’s going on…”

Upon the unexpected voice that wobbled its way into their conversation, they both looked down to see Tuk gripping her weaved blanket with one hand and dragging it on the floor as she made her way to them, the other rubbing her eyes one by one so sleep dripping from them would fly away.

“See, you woke her up! What do we do now?”

“You woke her up by yelling, why is it my fault now?”

“I didn’t, you—”

“Did too.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Did n—”

“Guys…” Tuk pulled on Kiri’s hand, and the foreign object she was clutching the whole time distracted Lo’ak. It must have dug into the older one’s skin that she carefully picked it up to inspect. The ear pieces they took off before they went to sleep. This one was Kiri’s. “Neteyam’s calling. You didn’t hear…”

Grinning, Lo’ak snatched it up and skipped backwards and put it in his own ear, ignoring Kiri’s hushed yells to give it back now and the groans about ruining it with his stinky, cheesy earwax. He had to keep bouncing around, the girl was chasing him around the tent. “Bro! Tell her she’s sooo dead. Dad’s literally keeping guard in front of the tent—”

“Lo’ak, quit it.” Neteyam’s tremulous answer was harsh. Lo’ak’s smile wavered as he dodged Kiri’s arm and jumped over discarded cups on the floor, knocking over wooden spoons. “I need you to tell me what’s happening over there.”

“Aw, baby’s so scared to come back she needs to make a game plan first?” He laughed, slapping Kiri’s hands away. “I’ll only tell if she gives back my karambit knife.”

His older brother sighed, a bit too exasperated.

“Yeah, I’m not letting that one go and I’m also making it your problem—”

“Lo’ak, she isn’t here.”

He stopped dead in his tracks. “What?”

“She isn’t here. I couldn’t find her.” Kiri bumped into him, unable to stop herself at the right time to hit the brakes due to how abruptly Lo’ak had stilled. They’d almost tumbled over. “Dad told me to wait until he contacts her and I’ve been waiting for minutes. Now tell me what’s going on over there.”

“Bro, you’re serious?”

“Why wouldn’t I be serious, skxawng!”

He turned to Kiri in disgusted discomfort, who had damn-near glued her own ear to his to hear better. “Forget months, I’ll be free for years. Dad’s not gonna let her take one step off the camp anymore.”

The girl would stomp her foot if she was a couple years younger. “What’s this about?”

And Neteyam would shake Lo’ak from the neck for ignoring him this long while he was fussing. “Tell me already you—!”

“They’re having a fight bro.” He leaned better to peep outside the tent. “Yeah.”

“She came back? Why didn’t you tell me?”

It was uncommon for Neteyam to completely disregard the previous input he’d been given. Lo’ak didn’t understand this level of anxiety. “Are you having a brain fart? Would we be having this conversation if she was here? It’s mom and dad who are fighting.”

It wasn’t that serious — on the contrary, his sister was quite simple to understand. She didn’t want to be found and had changed her place of hiding. End of story. The golden boy’s worrywart nature was keeping him from reasoning.

“Don’t be a smartass.” Lo’ak practically felt Neteyam’s want to land a loud smack on his back. “Were they only able to reach her, then? Is that why they’re fighting?”

“You’re asking me?—”

The older boy began to grumble under his breath. “This is why I called Kiri.”

Said girl’s ears perked up over picking her name from the static-surrounded line. Lo’ak snorted. “Ouch, bro.”

Kiri shook him from the elbow. “Me? What about me?”

“Great title for your autobiography.”

Kiri raised her arms to give him a beating and Lo’ak was already bolting away from anywhere near her vicinity. The siblings didn’t even take notice of the line with Neteyam going dark as they focused on their own play-scuffle for a while.

Until Lo’ak bumped into someone.

It wasn’t Tuk.

Shoulders pulled into himself, he turned around torturously freaked out to find dad standing there like a ghost, his tactical vest packed to the brim and gun hanging from his back the way they wore their bows.

The blue of his skin had faded into an ashier tone, amber eyes wide and bloodshot, the veins on the normally put together Olo’eyktan’s forehead were bulging, even a socially clueless person would pick up something was seriously wrong. He commanded cold authority of the battlefield simply by the way he stood, immediately triggering Lo’ak into soldier mode.

He took a few steps back, chin hanging low at the lightless, unblinking stare his father pushed down on him. “Sir.”

All the sleepiness that had Tuk unresponsive and nodding off through Lo’ak and Kiri’s push-and-pull was knocked out of her at the sight, she was now unnerved and frightened. “Dad?”

The man’s intensity was somehow eased by his youngest’s reaction, but he held back from taking her in his arms like he normally would to comfort her, didn’t even care to remark on how they were supposed to be sleeping — how they’d woken their little sister up, instead focusing on Lo’ak. “I want you all to listen well. Your mother and I are heading out for a minute and your grandmother will be with you soon — Neteyam is Oscar-Mike to come back here. Stay put and don’t go anywhere, understand?” His finger pointed accusingly at him. “Don’t cause trouble. Looking at you boy, what I’m saying here is Marine proof. I’m at the end of my wits here, don’t even think about slipping a tail out of this tent.”

The potent severity of whatever the hell was making him this agitated to the point of a voice so hoarse it was unrecognizable got the wheels in Lo’ak’s head whirring. “What’s happening, dad?”

“One child!” The thundering shout came down on him with the force of a falling mountain, making Lo’ak jump out of his skin. “I need one child of mine to listen to me without asking any questions today!” Dad’s voice broke when Tuk whined, he shut his eyes as if he was in physical pain, and flexed his jaw, shaking his head and pulling the girl in from her shoulders to soothe her. Still no direct hugging. “Jesus Christ.”

“I’m sorry sir,” Lo’ak said immediately, distraught by the over-the-top reaction, hands unknowingly curling into fists by his sides. Whenever that sky people word ‘Jesus’ slipped from dad not having any control between the border of his two languages, the boy knew it was demanding gravitas. “I heard you CFB.”

“Good.” He thinned his lips. “Kiri, please.”

Lo’ak frowned at dad basically asking for her to play her brother’s keeper in Neteyam’s absence in two simple words.

She nodded. “I know dad.”

He caught a glimpse of his mother running in the distance, her father’s bow in her hand.

Just what was happening? What had you done?

Eywa, it had to be sky people.

Dad saw the realization in his face. “Stay,” he emphasized, one final time before he was also gone with the wind.

Lo’ak wouldn’t have obeyed if it wasn’t for his grandmother arriving just in time, keeping them busy with a story about the arrival of a wounded ikran with no rider.

You realized the gunshot wound puncturing your upper abdomen was there the whole time when the avatars put first aid and later slapped a rectangular sky people bandage on it that helped clotting or whatever it was called, the pain simply not being there had played a big factor in it with the body running on pure adrenaline.

(Crouching close to you, Quaritch had bragged, “We aren’t so bad after all, huh, sweetheart? It’s called civilization. Your daddy ever taught you about that?”

Civilization, your ass. They needed you. There was nothing well-meaning about what they were doing.

And the nickname had ticked you off, sullying the good memories of father, your head slammed into his nose in full power after a hiss.

“Now my daddy taught me that!” you spat in English as other avatars had tackled you. The man claiming to be Quaritch was smiling as he wiped away the blood trickling down his nose.

What was the point in trying to patch you up if they were going to do this, then?)

You were now a part of an elaborate trap to lure your father in. Bait. The worst position to be in. This was the kind of trouble Lo’ak would get himself in. It was too late to go back now, the mess you’d gotten yourself into had made itself known.

Think, think! How could you get out of this?

Within the unsleeping forest’s nightly noises chirping all around you, a specific call in the air halted your train of thought.

It was mom.

Your parents were here. But how? How did they know where you were, exactly? Dread and expectation pooled in your heart, coexisting in a nauseating mix.

Father must be thinking that you already caused so much trouble, they couldn’t know you were also hurt, you’d never hear the end of it.

But there was no time to think, the pain you should have been feeling was ebbing its way into your body, and she was calling in the night to inform you to get ready.

All hell broke loose when the man who held you tight from your queue was shot right from the back of his head with an arrow, collapsing right on top of you.

You couldn’t get away in time to not be crushed by his dead body and promptly got squished between the mossy soil and him, his gun was hurting you, the wound on your stomach getting in the way of you using your core to push the body off.

How many minutes had passed with you struggling to get him off as a hurricane of bullets roared, you didn’t know (it hurt, pain was climbing towards the threshold) — mom was able to break free from the weight of a whole AMP suit, as you’d heard as a child, a Na’vi was naturally strong, but you couldn’t even crawl out. Panic was a rope tightening around your ribcage as your breathing picked up

All of a sudden, the weight was gone, and the only remaining thing from it was the big gun left from the avatar you found yourself hugging for dear life, eyes wide as saucers. Before you could see whoever had done that, you got hoisted up right back on your feet and tried to run, only to be held tighter and pulled behind the trunk of a tree.

“Hey, it’s me, it’s me!” Clumsy, overwrought hands were cupping your cheeks and — and oh, it was your father.

You didn’t know whether to be afraid or cry from happiness.

Once he was sure you registered it was him by staring intently in your eyes with that edge of the softness you’d missed so much, his hold shifted to your neck and around your shoulders, and he gave you a look-over, checking for any wounds. Too bad what he was searching for was behind the gun you were holding. “Are you hurt?” He shook you when you were too stunned to answer. “Are you hurt at all?”

“No,” you shook your head automatically, it was weak against the explosions of bullets raining down all around you, but father had picked it up regardless, only focusing on you for the moment.

In the darkness, nobody could see the blood running down your body, that bandage had come out at one point.

“On my mark, we’re gonna run, okay?” He nodded to you, tomahawk axe in hand coated in a dark substance, commanding your full attention. “Follow me. Ready? Ready?”

You weren’t ready at all, stomach feeling like it was being stabbed at every heartbeat, but you couldn’t tell him that.

Instead, you ran like hell, moored by father’s taut clutch on your forearm pulling you forward to match his incredible speed dodging roots, bushes and branches.

Things stopped moving only when you were enveloped in mom’s embrace, consciousness almost flying off from the relief that washed over you. Kisses were peppered along your hairline and forehead, her mumbling your name in gratitude blending with your panting. Tears burned bitter in your eyes, but you couldn’t cry, not when father was looking at you like that, chest rising and falling. You instantaneously remembered why you were holding that gun at the intensity he was radiating, tail escaping between your legs and letting mom hold you.

At least this way he wasn’t able to objurgate you.

Over her shoulder, you saw three ikrans instead of two. Heart soaring, you were skipping towards him in pure astonishment in a heartbeat. “Hey buddy!”

His head lowered down towards you in bird-like movements. In this angle, it looked like he was giving you a razor sharp-toothed big grin.

“He brought us here,” your mother said. The hand you were going to pet the ikran with stopped midway at her dejected tone. “You have passed Iknimaya, I take it. On your own.”

You didn’t know what to say, feeling immense guilt at having made her this disappointed over it. If this was any normal situation, any normal fight at all, you would have shot back with, ‘Well father told me to do it.’

But you were tired.

Your pain threshold was being threatened, and you needed to get to your grandmother before any of your parents saw the situation you were in and this escalated into the worst fight you were going to get into in your entire life.

Father’s only response was a dead cold, “C’mon, we gotta get outta here.”

He didn’t talk to you after that. Not one word.

Squatting on an ikran’s back on a flight with an abdominal gunshot wound you were trying to hide was not an option unless you wanted to pass out midair and was looking for a free dive, so you were all but hugging the poor thing’s neck like a monkey, trusting him to follow your parents while you concentrated on mentally fighting to level out the pain.

Nonsensical as it was to believe the gun stuck between your ikran’s neck and your stomach was acting as a tampon to lessen the bleeding, you were concerned with how dumb it must have looked to father and mom, how incompetent they must think of you that their daughter didn’t even know how to ride right.

Got an ikran for nothing.

Would they be less proud of you seeing how funny it appeared, nevermind that it was to contain your pain all the while not trying to faint?

But no words were exchanged about it.

Father clamping up right after he’d made sure you weren’t hurt (yikes) had resulted in this awkward trip succumbing in total silence. They had sandwiched you between them, only necessary space for the ikrans to beat their wings freely left, so close that you could discern the scariest look on father yet, deepening the lines of age in his face while simultaneously expressing his barely contained desire to kill someone.

A ticking time bomb.

Forget speaking at all, but not only did he never address you until now, he didn’t even look in your direction for once. You knew because staring at him for five minutes straight for him to just acknowledge your existence had proven to be unfruitful.

And the tears involuntarily streamed down your cheeks with how utterly worthless and alone that made you feel, trapped in this agony you couldn’t help but hide because he’d think you didn’t deserve to complain after bringing it upon yourself. You would rather bite your tongue and bear the pain than stay dreading his reaction.

Yeah, no, he couldn’t know.

Mom was looking over at you every one minute to make sure you were okay after her ears picked up on your sniffles, arrows of worry shot from her side sinking down your skin every single time, and you hated to make her this way.

Your ikran kept comforting you through tsaheylu until you landed.

Father had promptly jumped down, agile and making haste away somewhere, passing you by and giving the cold shoulder. You all but slid off your own ikran, managing to make the gun stay where it should be, as you couldn’t help but weakly call out to him for one drop of consolation. “Father…”

He didn’t stop for you, quickening his steps, but his ears twitched, the tail beating the air ferociously halting and lowering before it returned to the previous motions, and those were the only indications that he’d heard it Lima Charlie.

The man just didn’t want to talk to you.

And you had to make yourself believe it wasn’t the emotional devastation that had you falling down, but the wound sucking out all your energy now that you had gotten to safety.

“Ma’ite?” Mom rushed to you. “Ma’ite, what’s wrong? What is it?”

“I’m okay, mom, it’s okay.” You were sitting on the floor, cross-legged. Thank goodness you still had the unbreakable willpower (and not the fear of Eywa put into you by father) to hold your shit together. “I’m okay. Just tired. My knees buckled. Weak, you know?” You swallowed, smiling. “I’m just… Just resting.”

Her gaze full of concern studied you, zeroing in on the gun you clung on for dear life against your stomach. Her hands lovingly brushed your hair, gripped your shoulders and elbows even though you were disgustingly clammy all over. It was grounding, anchoring within the ocean of pain washing over you in waves.

“Oh, why are you sweating so much? You’re freezing.” You clutched the gun harder in a panic when she grasped it, most likely to put it away. It was the wrong reaction to have, but you weren’t exactly in the position to function healthily.

Mom, as any other person would, got suspicious from it, her eyes flying up to your owlish ones — blanked out like a frightened animal. “You’re fine now,” she whispered, thankfully attributing it to how disturbed you must be, still not out of survival mode. “You are safe, my daughter. Mom is here.” She cupped your cheek, but every touch to your body hurt now, even when it was away from the gaping wound, still gushing blood, trickling down your hips and getting you scared that it’d be discovered once you stood up. “I’m here.” She searched your soul to know just why you were grimacing at her attempts of comforting. “I will take this now, you do not need it anymore.”

You snapped out of the gradually darkening gray haze mom’s lulling was laying you down gingerly into. “No, please don’t,” your breathing hitched. She was going to see. She couldn’t see. You had to avoid this somehow, as long as you could. Grandmother’s tent. You would make it, you had to. “I’ll… I’ll just sit here for a while, okay? I need to just… take a small break, and then I’ll… Can you go back? I’ll follow later. Father is angry, I don’t—”

“Nonsense.” Incredulous and enraged suddenly about something you couldn’t put a finger on, and before you could stop her, she tried to haul you up with her by gripping your upper arms — colors exploded behind your eyelids, getting you you to lose consciousness for two seconds, your vision flooding back in a starry kaleidoscope. When mom’s voice reached your ears, it was in staccato exclaims your ears were ringing too much to discern. She was shaking you.

You weren’t able to sit up straight anymore, leaning forward — mom had caught you, utterly confused and panicked at the same time. And then your head was lying on the crook of her elbow resting on her legs she’d tucked under herself. The moment you’d switched from sitting to straight up lying down was missing from your memories.

A baby being cradled. Yes, this is exactly what it was like. Gentle arms surrounded you amidst the pulsating sea of agony.

Your body was letting go, but your arms were vices around the gun, still holding that last line. Don’t let go. Don’t let go. They can’t know. Father will be so mad if he learns. “‘m okay… ‘st restin’…”

When your eyes cleared enough for the surroundings to be only a bit blurry, your mom was looking at the hand she’d just tried to take away the gun with, caked with your blood that had stained it, out of it and perplexed like she didn’t want to believe it.

Her gut-wrenchingly stunned numbness sent the misery clawing its way inside into overdrive, pulling your consciousness down to the earth from the clouds it was ascending to. “Not mine,” you forced out, but it came out as begging. Everything was falling apart. The plan was so simple, why couldn’t you do anything right? “Not mine. Please. Mom, it’s okay.”

“No…” Mumbling, she started sharply swaying back and forth, and with one brutally vigorous attack, she ripped the gun away from your arms, and hurled it away — then it was over. Your sob wasn’t due to the motion hurting you, it was all entirely for the broken wail of your mother at seeing the bloodied mess, tears spilling from her eyes as she reached down to press down at the pouring liquid. “No! No! Oh Great Mother! Why did you hide this! Oh, my daughter!”

“No, mom, I’m fine, it’s nothing. Not my blood. Not my blood, okay?” You reached up weakly and wiped at her cheeks with trembling fingers, your heart got crushed worse than the pain could beat you down at her grief — lungs constricting. Where was all the air? “I’ll get up. I’ll go to grandmother, don’t cry. Just resting.”

Frantically looking around, she yelled, “Jake!—” but her voice didn’t quite come out, breathy as if she’d been punched in the ribcage seconds prior.

A heartbeat’s worth of nothingness, after which you were full-on freaking out. Only one thought: Father will be angry.

“No!” You shrieked, and blood swelled in one strong pump against mom’s fingers. She looked down at you in anguish, pupils blown wide, arm tightening around you as if you were a flailing bird. “Don’t tell him! Don’t tell father! He’ll really kill me for this—”

“No, no no no,” she shook her head, frenzied, tone cracked from beginning to end. “Do not say that. Don’t you ever say that—”

But you were struggling in her arms, wanting nothing but to crawl away into a hole, no reason registering whatsoever, only instinct. “He’ll be so angry,” you begged, pleading, pink spit bubbling at the corners of your mouth. The sound of gurgling accompanying the words you forced your whole body to form. “You can’t tell him — you can’t! He already hates me!”

The more you thrashed around and kicked your legs, the more you bled.

“Please, Great Mother!” The more mom lost her mind, hissing and howling hysterically, crazed, hugging you tighter and rocking. “Jake! Jake! Ma’Jake!” She put her temple against yours. “Not my daughter, please, Eywa…”

Why was she being like this? It wasn’t that serious! You were okay!

Delirium claimed you hot as she kept calling his name and her unbreakable hold on you kept you in a cage of a mother’s despair. In your feverish mind, a threat to your life was coming. Weakness spread like wildfire around your body and chipped away at the pain, slowly picking it apart to replace it with drowsiness. “Don’t call ‘im,” you continued to repeat, over and over again. “I’m just taking a break. Don’t call him over. He’s gonna be angry. He’ll hate me. He hates me. Please, mom.”

The sentences slurred together, shortened, wilted away pitifully, your voice died down, tongue deteriorating into only echoing, “He hates me.” A withered away, old flute.

Your ikran was bellowing in the distance and you looked. The torches on cave walls were illuminating him and finally revealing to you his beautiful color scheme.

And then your father was here, falling to his knees right beside you, his glistening wide eyes flying everywhere around your body — tracing all the blood, hands hovering above you as if he didn’t know where to start piecing a shattered vase back together.

It was over.

Fully expecting the chastising you were about to receive to shake the floating mountains so bad the enemy would be able to spot you, you began to apologize — pride be damned, this battle be lost, you’d failed anyway. “Please don’t be mad,” you shuddered, meek and unsteady, tunnel vision flickering at the edges only perceiving him. “It’s my fault—I’m sorry—please don’t be angry—”

“Stop talking,” he ordered, rough and harsh, eyebrows knitted tightly, and out of breath — probably because of how hard he was trying to hold the anger back. You knew. That had to be it. “Don’t speak.”

Ah of course. This was only natural when he had refused to utter a single word at you the whole way, denying you the temporary comfort of a simple glance.

Even the hand he pressed down so ruthlessly firm on your stomach it might as well be a boulder pinning you down was meant to be punishment, the whines your unbreathing lungs couldn’t stop turned into yowls — you hadn’t even noticed your hands were wrapped around father’s wrist in an effort to push him away, scratching him, but he only added his other hand on top of the other in return.

“Hang on, sweetheart, I got you, please hang on a little longer,” he pleaded, but you were already too far gone, Eywa was cruel to have plugged your ears to the endearment you’d been dying to hear from him for so long, making the last things you were aware father said to you the fact that he didn’t even want to hear you talking.

And you fulfilled his wish.

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