Chapter Text
"No,no no, no, no, LO'AK" Kiri screams.
She drops to her knees beside her brothers still form.
The blood. The blood. Coming from Lo'ak. Her baby brother, who is hurting, Huring so much that he would-
No. Kiri cannot think about that right now., The only thought in her mind is a memory of Dad showing her how to check pulses. Lo'ak needs to be breathing.
Her hands shake violently as she presses three long fingers against his throat. Kiri nearly cries with relief when she feels the steady throbbing against her fingers. Oh thank Eywa, he's alive. She wasn't too late.
She needs to assess his wounds. Hopefully she pushed the gun away enough so that it missed anything vital.
Kiri gently rearranges his body so she can get a cioser look at his face. "Dear Eywa" Kiri mutters. Thankfully the bullet missed Lo'ak's neck, but the bullet had not missed him completely. His ear was... mangled, to say the least, and bleeding profusely.
Her brother's body blurs before her as tears drip down her face.
How had she let this happen? What had she missed? She knew Lo'ak hasn't been okay since Netayam's death. But what could've happened to make Lo'ak do...this?
Probably something to do with Dad. He's very harsh -too harsh- with Lo'ak, before and especially after Netayam's death.
Lo'ak needs help. And although Kiri is strong, she cannot carry her brother back to the village. Kiri begins to panic. What can she do? She can't leave Lo'ak here alone, but she refuses to watch him bleed out.
A gasp behind her Interrupts Kiri's mental spiral. Tsireya. Kiri told her ahe was concerned about Lo'ak after the meeting and was going to find him. Tsireya must have followed her.
"L...Lo'ak?" Tsireya whispers, her eyes fixed on the unmoving figure in the sand.
Kiri stands up to face her, "Listen to me, Lo'ak is hurt. We both cannot carry him back to the village. So you must run as fast as you can. Get anyone, but especially my parents, your mother and anyone that can help carry him, okay? You need to run as fast as you can. Okay, Tsireya? Are you listening?"
Tsireya looks at her, dragging her eyes away from Lo'ak's still, silent form."Yes, I am. l'll get...I'II get help" she whispers, tears brimming her eyes.
"Go."
Tsireya turns and runs In the direction of the village.
Kiri goes back to her brothers side, whispering to him about childhood memorles in the forest and how it's all going to be alright.
"Come on, hurry up penis-face!" Lo'ak shouts back at Kiri.
"Lo'ak!" Kiri yells ahead, "Shut up. You know you're not allowed to say that!" Lo'ak doesn't reply, instead picking up his pace even more.
Kiri loves the forest. The tall green trees that grow higher than she ever will, all the animals that call this place home, the soft springy forest floor. But most of all, Kiri loves...
"The lake!" She cries out.
This is their hangout spot. Kiri and Lo'ak. They go here whenever they can. Netayam is hanging out wilth Dad a lot more, and Mom's pregnant. Kiri is excited to have a new baby in the family, but they won't be old enough to go here for a while. So for now it's just her and Lo'ak.
Perfect.
Lo'ak yells out as he leaps off the cliff "Whooo!"
Kiri rolls her eyes at her brother. Even though he's younger than her, he's much braver.
"Come on, penis face!" Lo'ak yells out, resurfacing from the water.
And much dumber.
Kiri squeals as she takes a big run and jumps off the cliff, sailing through the air, going down... down.. down...
And nearly lands on Lo'ak.
"Haha, that's what you get for calling me that!" Kiri smiling smugly when she resurfaces.
Lo'ak rolls his eyes, a smile forming on his lips.
When was the last time Kiri had seen her brother smile? Not in a long time, that's for sure. How could she have been so blind?
After what feels like an eterity, she starts to hear the pounding of feet approaching her. It's not long before someone kneels beside her. Dad.
"What happened? He asks.
"He... Lo'ak tried to.. hurt himself with the gun. I pushed it away but he had pulled the trigger. His ear, Dad." Kiri looks into her fathers eyes, begging him to help her baby brother.
Jake is frozen, eyes wide, staring down at his son's unmoving body "I... don't-"
"Out of the way, both of you " a voice orders. Ronal.
Kiri lets go of her brother, trusting the healer.
Ronal's hands go straight to Lo'aks head. "Is he hurt anywhere else beside this?" she asks Kiri.
"No.no I... don't think so. Can you just help him, please? His ear..." Kiri tralls of, a sob pushing its way out of her throat "Tell me he's going to be okay."
"I cannot find that out now" Ronal says, looking Into Kiri's eyes, "I need to bring him back to my hut and see what i can do."
"Brothers" she calls out, addressing the few strong Na'vi that Tsireya must have brought back with her, "Carry this child back to my hut and place him on one of the cots I have there, I will follow"
Kiri forces herself to stand up, as thay carry her brother back to the village, Ronal walks beside thom, Tsireya with her.
Kiri is about to follow, until she realises that Jake is still kneeling on the ground, eyes unblinking, staring at the dark crimson blood staining the sand, "Dad, come on," she says, trying to snap him out of his trance, "Lo'ak needs us right now."
"I didn't... I didn't know he was this bad, Kiri, I wouldn't have-"
Kiri was right, Dad had definitely said something to Lo'ak. She has to ignore this right now.
"Dad, do you think I care right now?" Kiri asks him.,"I don't care that you didn't realise how your son was feeling. I don't care that you feel something other than anger at Lo'ak right now. I don't even care thet you blame him for Neteyam's death, What I care about," Kiri says, her voice breaking,"is that my baby brother felt so bad in this life that he tried to move on to the next one. "
"Now you" , she says, jabbing a finger into her father's bicep " are going to get up, and we're going to follow Ronal back, and wa're going to ba thoro for Lo'ak, okay?
Jake slowly rises up out of the sand,"I don't really blame him, Kiri, I just... it just sllpped out. I didn't mean it"
"You can prove that to me by going to him now, okay Dad?" Kiri says gently, afraid to see her father shut down again.
"Okay", Jake breathes.
The two run in the direction back to the village.