Work Text:
Jake walked into their mauri, the fight with his son still fresh in his mind. Neytiri followed close behind, looking at him with concern.
"You should go after him. He looked very hurt when he left," Neytiri pushed, looking concerned for their... now eldest son.
He jerked away from the thought, his body recoiling from the entrance of their mauri. The idea of Neteyam no longer being by their side makes an ache so strong that it swallows his entire being. His children were supposed to grow up without war. They were supposed to live their lives without the constant fear and pain the Sky People brought with them. Jake made his family leave the only place they knew to protect them, and it failed. He had failed.
"He will be fine," Jake answered, looking over their stuff thrown around the mauri. Tuk's toys, Kiri's herbes, Lo'ak's... nothing. Jake looked around the mauri, panic rising in his chest. Panic laced his following words. "Where are Lo'aks's things?"
Neytiri gave him a look of confusion before looking around her. Her eyes widened when she couldn't spot them either.
"Ma'Jake..." She looked at him fear overriding every other emotion on her face. Jake was about to turn and start searching for Lo'ak when he suddenly found himself on the floor.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" The voice that haunted his dreams yelled. Jake whipped around and was met with the sight of Neteyam, standing over him with anger radiating off of him. "How could you say that to him? To your own son!"
Jake opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out. There stood Neteyam, looking just like he did before they lost him, except for the scar he now sported on his left shoulder. Jake's heart tightened at the sight, leaving behind a physical kind of pain. How could this be? Had he finally lost his mind?
The bewilderment must have been evident on his face, as Neteyam continued.
"What? You think you can push your own pain onto everybody else with no consequences?" Neteyam sneered, something he had never done to anyone before. Neteyam usually approached conflicts with a calm mind. He was never one to use anger or violence as his first approach, unless his younger brother was involved.
"Ma'itan?" He could hear Neytiri whisper from the side, and the call for her son only confirmed what Jake was too afraid to hope for. Neteyam was really here.
"How could you?!" Neteyam didn't let his eyes flicker towards his mother's call, another thing Jake had never seen him do before. Neteyam had always been close to his mother, seeking approval and comfort. Now his gaze was only on Jake.
"What are you talking about? How are you here?" Jake stuttered through his questions, disoriented by what was happening.
"Bro, wait!" Lo'ak suddenly burst through the door. "Please, it is not worth it."
Neteyam must have read something beneath those words, which made him hiss.
"Do not say that, Lo'ak. You are worth more than you can see." Neteyam turned to his brother, his eyes softening when their eyes met. "You are worth more than being used as Dad's mental punching bag. You are worth everything to me."
The last words were whispered, but Jake still caught them. He looked at Lo'ak and finally noticed his red and puffy eyes. Something other than Neteyam returning to them had happened while they were gone.
"Can someone explain what is going on?" Jake demanded, finally able to pull himself back together and off the floor. Neteyam turned back to him, no longer holding any softness from before, his gaze sharp and cold.
"I'll tell you what is going on. You almost killed your second son tonight." The words were said in a monotone, no anger or pain lacing his words. It was like a dead man told them.
His gaze jerked to Lo'ak, but he was no longer looking at them. His face was turned, but Jake could see the tears glistening on his cheeks.
"My son, what happened?" Neytiri was quick to envelop Lo'ak in a hug, which seemed to break him. Sobs rattled his chest as he cried into his mother's arms. His heart tightened more at the sight, making Jake try to move towards them. He was stopped when Neteyam stepped inbetween them.
"No, you will not go over there like you are not the cause of his pain." Neteyam sneered, his tail trashing behind him. "We have all tried to understand your pain and fear around the Sky People returning, but you have pushed away those who wanted to help. We followed your commands. We left our home because you told us that was the only way to be safe. Lo'ak has done nothing but try to make you see him as the warrior he is, but you have turned your sight from him. He follows what you tell him, but it is never enough."
Jake could only stare at his sons, shame and guilt surrounding him.
"Keep your siblings safe, is what you told me to do. That is what Lo'ak did the day we got into a fight with Ao'nung. He fought because they were bothering Kiri, but you only saw him looking for trouble. Then you told him to make friends with him, because he was the Olo'eyktan's son, and that is what he left to do. What happened? They left him outside the reef, and you blamed him. It was only when he acted like the child he IS, that you decided to open your eyes. Lo'ak has done everything in his power to make you see him for who he is, but you refuse to see. The day I was shot was not his fault." Neteyam continued, his voice calming more and more as he kept talking.
Neytiri made a whimper from where she stood, still holding their sobbing son.
"Ma'itan, is that what you think? That you got your brother killed?" She whimpred, tightening her hold. Lo'ak only sobbed harder, whimpering apologies whenever they got through his heavy sobs.
"It is a little hard not to blame yourself when your father is putting his own guilt on his son," Neteyam answered for him, betrayl coloring his features.
"What?" Neytiri snapped, looking at Jake in shock. "Jake, what did you say in your fight earlier?"
He couldn't form an answer. How could he? Neteyam was right, after all. He had pushed his guilt, his fear, onto Lo'ak.
"Do you not have an answer, Sir?" Neteyam sneered at the last part, narrowing his eyes while his ears were folded back. "Then let me answer for you. You told Lo'ak that had he just followed orders, then I wouldn't have died. You told your own son that he got his older brother killed."
Jake looked away from the three before him, not able to meet their gaze. He could hear Neytiri whimpering in the background, soothing her youngest son through her own tears. However, Neteyam wasn't done.
"My death was not anyone else's fault but the Sky People, but Lo'ak's death would be on your hands," Neteyam said calmly. He could hear Lo'ak whine at the words, as Jake whipped up to stare in horror at his sons.
"What?" He croaked, feeling his hands start to shake. His following words came out angrier than he intended to, but his fear began to take over once more. "What happened?!"
"I woke up to the words 'They need you' only a few hours ago. I did not know what they meant until I found Lo'ak with a gun to his chin." Neteyam's eyes started to tear up, his breath becoming uneven. "I did not know what they meant, until my baby brother told me he was better off dead, because the family I died to protect didn't love him."
"No, my son," Netyriri sobs, her legs giving out under her. She brought Lo'ak into her lap, just like she used to when he was little.
"I'm okay, Mom," Lo'ak whispered, tucking his face against her neck.
Jake stood there, stunned by the words he had just heard. He knew that his words were wrong. He knew that Lo'ak had nothing to do with Neteyam's death, that only his decisions brought this onto his family. Yet, he still uttered those words. He brought Lo'ak to a point where Lo'ak no longer felt loved. Where he only burdened his family.
"Now, you need to make this right." It was only then that Neteyam moved aside, opening the path to his son and mate. He stumbled his way towards them before falling to his knees to envelop them both in his arms.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. It was never your fault, my son. I pushed my pain and fear wrongfully onto you. I'm so sorry," Jake sobbed, holding onto his youngest son as his life depended on it.
Lo'ak whimpered, silent tears starting to run down his face once more. He reached out for Neteyam, bringing his older brother into the hug.
They sat there for a while, just holding each other, no one wanting to break the fragile bond starting to reform. Jake knew he had much to do to repair the bond he knew he had severed with Lo'ak. He had done awful things in his time of pain and grief, and he would do everything in his power to make up for those mistakes. Right now, he held his sons. Grateful that the Great Mother had found it in herself to save them both. To bring back his sons alive.
Well, at least until the high-pitched voice of Tuk came from outside the mauri.
"Neteyam!"