Chapter Text
"You skxawng…! I'm shot..!"
Lo'ak and Spider turned to him, their cheers towards one another quickly turned to dread as Neteyam wheezed, clutching his chest.
"Dad! Help! Neteyam–!!" Lo'ak screamed as their ilu reached an exposed rock.
Jake rushed to his sons' side, helping him get Neteyam to lay down. He checked the wound, thank God or Eywa or whatever higher being that it didn't go straight through.
"Put pressure on it!" He ordered, his breathing quickened, his heart banged in his ears.
"Dad…!" Neteyam cried, clinging tightly onto him. "I want to go home…! I want to go home…!"
Jake's voice shook as he held his son's face in his hands. "Yeah… we'll take you home. Hang in there buddy…! We'll take you home..!"
Spider jumped in with some bandages. They quickly wrapped it around him.
Neytiri finally made her landing. "No! No!" She screamed, seeing his poor state. She cradled him in her arms, stroking his head, shushing him as he shook in pain, tears pooling from his eyes. Her heart ached each whimper he uttered, tears trickling down her cheeks for her first born.
"What about the bullet?!" Lo'ak asked, his eyes wide.
"We can't take it out right now. He might just bleed himself to death." Jake placed a hand on Lo'ak's shoulder. "Bring him back to the village."
"Dad…!!" Neteyam tried to protest yet didn't even have the strength to sit up.
"That's an order!" He shouted to both of them.
"It didn't have to be this way Jake." A voice echoed in Jake's ear from the intercom, "Your boy didn't have to get hurt. You wouldn't want worse things to happen to the others, would you?"
Jake stilled, turning to Lo'ak. "Where are your sisters?"
"I… I don't know…" Lo'ak said meekly.
"Where are your sisters?!" He shouted. Neteyam flinched, horrors dawned on his face.
"Same deal as last time, your life for theirs."
"They're on the ship! I'll show you…!" Spider spoke up.
Jake turned to Neytiri, holding her shoulders in his arms. "I need you right now. I need you with me, present." She turned from her son, shaking like a leaf in her arms to him. His eyes bore into her with conviction. "I need you here for our daughters. Strong heart."
She wiped away her tears, gently, she settled Neteyam down in Lo'ak's arms as she grabbed her weapons once more. Before she took off, Neytiri gave a soft kiss to his head.
"You, bring Neteyam back." Jake said, leaving with Spider before Lo'ak could even say anything.
Just as Jake was out of earshot, Lo'ak turned to Tsireya. "Bring him home. Please" He called an ilu over, carefully putting Neteyam on it.
"Lo'ak…!"
"I can't leave them. Not after…" His brows furrowed looking at his brother, "I have to make this right." With that, he left despite Tsireya's calls.
Neteyam shook painfully as Tsireya rode her ilu with him in tow. Her arms, despite being built thicker, were not made for holding onto both an ilu and an injured person. She gasped every time Neteyam winced or even made a noise, her tears dripping with the winds as she yelled out apologises and pleaded for his life.
"Tsireya? Tsireya!!" She slowed down her ilu, catching sight of her brother. She openly sobbed as he swam towards her, hugging him tightly.
"I didn't know where you were! I was so afraid you'd be dead! I thought you were dead!!" She cried into his shoulders. All Ao'nung could do was hug her back.
"A…Ao'nung…?" Neteyam managed weakly.
"Neteyam!" Ao'nung called his name in shock as he caught sight of him, clutching onto the wound in his chest. "What happened?!" He clung to the side of the ilu as she continued to race back.
"The sky people…! Their weapons! They shot him! I… I'm not sure what it means but Lo'ak said a 'bullet'? Is stuck inside and they can't take it out yet or else he bleeds to death!" She explained as much as she could, her voice shook with every word.
With Ao'nung by her side, helping her keep Neteyam in place, she could focus on having control of the ilu as she rode them back.
"You still… have it…" Neteyam groaned out. His body was resting on the ilu, his leg dangled off its side while his rest rested on Ao'nung's shoulder.
The feather he had given Ao'nung a few nights ago flew in the wind by the side of his head. He couldn't describe it but it was the most beautiful sight.
"Of course I still have it, why wouldn't I? You gave it to me. I'd always have you with me." Ao'nung's eyes were focused on the path before them, worry etched on his features yet his words were gentle, full of warmth. He hates that Ao'nung is so hard to hate.
BOOM!
Tsireya screamed. The shock wave from the explosion sent them all quickly ahead, almost slamming them onto a nearby rock had she not quickly yanked for a turn.
"What… happened…?" Neteyam struggled. From where he was, all he could see was distant smoke.
Ao'nung and Tsireya whispered among one another. She had a horrified look on her face, tears streaming down her eyes, he had a determined look on his face, hand pressing on her mouth, shaking his head. It took her only a few moments before she finally nodded. She gave him a mournful look before they moved again, quicker this time.
"Hey, look at me." Ao'nung nudged Neteyam's head to face him. He was so close. "Hey, it's all going to be alright, okay? Focus on me only."
"I am…" He wheezed out. A certain hard current hit. He groaned in pain, biting onto his lip.
"Don't hurt yourself! You're in bad enough shape! Bite me, instead." Ao'nung said. It sounded so ridiculous at the time. Right now, it still does. Yet his mind was so hazy and cloudy, every inch of his being hurt so bad at that point, the only thing his mind could get him to do was follow Ao'nung's words.
So he bit him. Every time the ilu rocked, he'd wheezed out in pain, his teeth would sink in Ao'nung shoulder. Sometimes the current hit harder than usual, the ilu slammed into his wound accidentally, his teeth would sink in deeper, tears pooled out. He'd whimpered, Tsireya would sob out a tearful apology, Ao'nung would soothe them both.
"It's okay, it's going to be okay. We're all going to be okay. We got this. Focus."
Neteyam tried to stay awake, despite how much he whimpered, he tried his best to stay unconscious. His family was still out there, his sisters were still held captive, Lo'ak definitely would get himself in trouble again, Tuk would cry but always do the right thing, Kiri would protect her even at the cost of herself, Spider would rather risk himself than put Kiri in harm, his mom and dad would risk everything for them. He needed to stay conscious, get fully patched up and get back out there. He couldn't give up, not yet, not now.
That was when opened his eyes and turned, finally looking beyond Ao'nung. Where the ship was, all that was left was fire. The ship had fully turned itself upside now.
His heart dropped.
"No… No…!" He screamed despite himself. His lungs felt like it was being stabbed by a thousand needles. "No!!!" He struggled out of Ao'nung's grasp. "I have to go back!! Let go!! No!!!!"
Neteyam screamed and struggled. He rocked their balance, scratched at his friends, kicked his way out, trying to crawl back to the ship in the far distant. His eyes felt so horribly dry yet his tears wouldn't stop pooling out.
"Neteyam! Neteyam stop this! You're going to get yourself killed!" Ao'nung screamed, trying to take a hold of him.
"No!! They're all I have! Let go!! Dad!! Lo'ak!!" He sobbed, calling everyone one by one as if praying to Eywa herself for them to call back, for anything to happen, for a sign that they were alive. His nails dug into Ao'nung back when he was yanked back onto Tsireya's ilu.
"Stop it! Neteyam! Snap out of it!" Ao'nung grabbed him by the sides of his face. Seeing Neteyam sobbing openly, his body shaking from grief and pain, the harshness in Ao'nung's voice slipped away. "Your father is Toruk Makto, you said it yourself. He is a living legend, taming a Toruk, which only 4 had successfully done before him. Your mother is a warrior who protected her people even after great losses and hardships. Your crazy brother made friends with Payakan! And your freaky sister? I saw her control a coral! With her mind! And none of them would ever let anything happen to Tuk."
"But what if they're not okay?" He sobbed, "What if they never come back? What if this is the last battle they fought? What am I going to do? I don't want them to die…! I can't…! I can't lose them…!" He wept, his hands clutching tightly onto Ao'nung as he sobbed. His body felt almost too weak to even do that.
"And they won't! You don't need to be there all the time to make sure they're okay! They are going to be okay! You need to worry about you! You always need to watch Lo'ak, always make sure Tuk is alright, make sure Kiri is safe, get them all out of trouble. What about Neteyam? Who makes sure if Neteyam is okay?"
Neteyam whimpered, too weak to form words. All he could do was cry. He clung onto Ao'nung as they rode back to the village.
The moment he heard people's voices, his eyes became heavier. As Ao'nung carried him from water to land, he could feel himself losing grip with himself. Everything started to feel far away. He could see Ao'nung saying things. He couldn't hear them. He tried saying something too. He didn't know if anything came out. Things got darker. Darker.. Darker…
Darker…