ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗖𝗖𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗧 with (Y/N), the brothers were keeping a watchful eye on her, even more than they usually do. With the thought of them almost losing her, had them on edge which lead to the even more protectiveness over her, including how the rest of the Sully family did this as well.

Currently, inside their Marui, the family was packing away some things as (Y/N) helped Lo'ak fold a rug up, and beside them was Kiri sitting down, placing stuff away also.

The sound of the familiar seashell horn blowing caught their attention, making the family stop what they were doing and move outside to see what was happening.

"What was that?" Tuk questioned her father, as they peered outside of their pod, seeing all the oceanic Na'vi up and about, more excited than usually.

A lot of the green Na'vi dived into the ocean off the Marui's edges, as Tsireya was on her ilu and swimming slowly around the area, announcing something to her people, "The Tulkun have returned! Everybody, our brothers and sisters have returned!"

...

In between the massive, round tree roots of the entrance to the oceanic Na'vis home, many Tulkun had appeared, and swimming through the gab towards where the people were, coming home to greet them.

Tonowari was on his skimwing, flying it above the water where one of the Tulkun was swimming. He makes a calling noise at it, and moves into a squatting position, holding onto it spear in his spare hand.

"In their endless cycle migration, the Tulkun come home."

The Tulkun he was flying next to, flips up out of the water and makes a noise of acknowledgement back, and Tonowair rises his spear above his head, yipping back at the creature, as he smiles brightly.

With many more of the beautiful creatures coming in, a lot more Metkayina's ended up joining them in the waters, either on their ilu's or skimwings to welcome the back.

"Look!" Tsireya exclaims happily, gaining (Y/N)'s and Lo'aks attention as the three of them were in the water, on their ilu's swimming towards the animals, "It's my spirit sister!"

(Y/N) follows where the girl was pointing, and sees a majestic Tulkun push its head out of the water, flapping its fins in greeting and makes a pulsed call, seeing her soul sister Tsireya.

The green and blue eyed Na'vi releases a amazed breath, never seeing something so incredible before. It was definitely a sight to behold. She turns her head back a little, as Sae clicks at her rider and (Y/N)'s lips turn into a toothy grin spotting Neteyam's expression just like hers.

...

Tsireya leads (Y/N), and Lo'ak underwater as they follow her ilu quickly, and they dived underneath with many more of the oceanic Na'vi.

(Y/N)'s eyes were wide and bright as she took in the scene in front of her. Up above the surface was amazing, but down here was even better. Many Tulkun were moving about, flipping or just floating as many smaller Tulkun followed close behind to their parent.

Some baby oceanic Na'vi were also playing around with the Tulkun, showing that everyone got involved with their return, and to greet them.

The three of them swam past Kiri and Tuk, who smiled happily at them in greeting, as the two were holding onto a Tulkun's flipper, and was directed by it swimming in the water.

(Y/N) and Lo'ak turn to each other, and share an equal thrilled grin, as their ilu's swim closer together and bring them side by side, feeling through their strong emotions flow through the bonds for each other.

The girl was still a bit shaking up from what happened to her before, but she never felt such peace and calmness witnessing the Tulkun's return.

...

"I met a girl!" Tsireya was telling her soul sister about (Y/N), signing to the wonderful creature, as the trio had split up to explore different places, "Do you wanna meet her? She's really beautiful." She gushed about her new friend, already excited for their friendship to grow.

"It was time for stories. Their season apart, deaths, births, old friends, and new loves."

Her soul sister makes a noise of agreement, its long tail flicking a little in excitement to meet the new face. Tsireya grins pleased at it's answer, and motions for the figure that had just swam up next to her on their ilu.

(Y/N)'s face pops out from behind Tsireya, and waves ecstatically to the Tulkun in front, who was watching her with its eye, and the soul sister flaps its front fin back in greeting to the young Na'vi, clicking loudly.

Tsierya giggles overjoyed at this, sharing a smile with (Y/N) as Sae nuzzled up to her riders face, making the two teens shoulders move like they were laughing.

The Tulkun in front of them goes to copy the two, when they slowly did a backflip under the water, and Sae also joined, copying her riders move joyously.

Lo'ak saw the entire thing from just above the surface, heart bursting in adoration for the young green and eyed Na'vi, as continued to watch the girl with a loving expression.

...

Now, Lo'ak was in the vast ocean as he treads water, and had his face underneath the surface, trying to find his Tulkun buddy.

From the depths of the water, a familiar Tulkun came swimming out from some of the seaweed, as he spotted Lo'ak just above.

"I know how you feel," Lo'ak, who was laying on Payakan's flipper was signing to the creature, expression what he felt right now, "I feel all alone too. Tell me, why are you outcast?"

Payakan blinked slowly at his friend, making up his mind to tell him his heartbreaking backstory, the reason why he was an outcast.

...

Down below underneath the water, (Y/N), Neteyam, Rotxo, Aonung, and Tsireya were all swimming through some of the reefs, that had their ilus just above them. The group got concerned about Lo'ak, and followed him, as they watch from in between some seaweed.

They all spot Lo'ak with Payakan underneath the water as well, as the two float in the middle, and Lo'ak throws his hands up a little bit, confused as to what Payakan wanted him to do.

After a few more seconds of just floating there, Payakan slowly, but surely opened his massive mouth, growing in size as it opened. Lo'ak swallows a little bit at this, trusting his friend but was still nervous as he swims his way into the Tulkun's mouth.

From where the seaweed was, (Y/N), Neteyam and Tsireya shared a surprised look at this, going agitated as they saw him entering the Tulkun's mouth.

Once Lo'ak was inside Payakan's mouth, he shut it closed as the teen span around startled feeling the movement.

(Y/N)'s stomach dropped watching this occur, eyes going wide as she and Neteyam went to move, and go save him, but Tsireya's gentle hands touched their forearms, and showed a firm stop signal with her hand, once removed from the two.

From inside Payakan's massive mouth, it was pitch dark but the constellation of glowing dots scattered all over the top of his mouth, lit up the inside beautiful.

Lo'aks eyes moved to the purple glowing thing in the middle of Payakan's mouth, seeing how it lit up a more than the rest. He tilted his head interested at this, and swam closer to it, as the long slot opened up for him and out came Payakan's, long feathery queue.

The teen understood what this was, and what his friend wanted, so he grabbed his braid and attached his queue to one of the treads on Payakan's. As soon as they did connect, Lo'aks pupils went big and he was taking into a memory from the past.

Inside the fogy memory, was seen Payakan and another Tulkun trying to escape from the sky people's ships, as the Tulkun next to Payakan had some red floaty bags on its fins.

Another hit was brought upon it, causing it to wail out in pain, and some blood to escape from the hit. A lot more sky people ships had invaded underneath the water, and were trying to kill and capture to Tulkun.

Some Metkayina's had joined the fight for survival, as they were on their ilus and attacking right beside the Tulkun. However, even with greater numbers, they were not successful against the sky people's weaponry.

One of the sky people's aircrafts had ended up blowing off Tulkun's fin with their weapons, through the chaos of the fighting and many more surfed greater injuries. In the end, the Metkayina and Tulkun's were not the champions, as they were the ones to lose.

Payakan lost his mother, his fin, and gained the title of the outcasted Tulkun, all thanks to this fight with the sky people.

Once the memory was over, Lo'aks eyes opened up and had a sad expression shown, as he slowly removes his queue from Payakan's.

...

Lo'ak broke the ocean's surface with a big breath of air, splashing the water a little bit as he slides onto his friends flipper, who's head was above water now.

The teen Na'vi places a gentle hand on Payakan's wet skin, causing his eyes to close a little at the touch. "I'm sorry, so sorry." Lo'ak breathes out, frowning sadly at his buddy as he goes to hug Payakan's head, making the creature make a pulsed call and close his eyes.

...

Later that day, the teens were in big trouble as Ronal and Tonowair leads them into their main pod, all the teens heads down as the reminded quiet.

Ronal ushers the kids inside of the Marui, as they all go to circle around Tonowari, sometimes hearing Tsireya sniffle from her tears, fearing her fathers wrath.

"You allowed this!" Ronal hisses at her daugher, passing by her as she walks into the pod, going near her mate, "You allowed him to bond with the outcast!"

Tsireya was shuffling in her spot at her mothers words, keeping her head a little bowed as her father strolls up to her, displeased written all over his face, "Tsireya, you disappoint me daughter."

Her faces falls at this, scrunching up also as her ears were flat against her head, and (Y/N) frowns sadly seeing her new friend like this.

"And you, son of a great warrior, who has been taught better." Tonowair now directs this at Lo'ak, as Jake and Ney'tiri come up behind the teens, hearing about them being brought here.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you don't know him." Lo'ak shakes his head, not agreeing with what the leader was saying about his friend.

Tonowari's lips go into a straight line, temper slowly rising at the situation, not him as he points a finger at the floor, "Sit." He repeats it once more, and Lo'ak does sit down slowly, with the other four still standing up.

"Sit down!" Tonowair now raises his voice at the other teens, pointing to the floor again as (Y/N)'s ears flatten against her head, and kneels down in between Neteyam and Lo'ak.

Tonowair takes a deep breath, and throws it away with his hands, recollecting himself, "Hear my words, boy," He starts off, voice low and serious, "In the days of the first songs, Tulkun fought amongst themselves for territory, and for revenge. But, they came to believe that killing no matter how justified, only brings more killing." He pauses for a second, letting those more sink in as he gestures with his hand, "So killing, was forbidden. This is the Tulkun way. Payakan is a killer, so he is outcast."

Lo'ak clenches his jaw a little, and looks the leader into the eyes, "I'm sorry, sir, but you're wrong."

"Lo'ak!" Ney'tiri hisses under her breath, gaining her sons attention, as he turns his head to her a little, "You speak to Olo'eyktan."

"I know, I know—" Lo'ak sighs as he mumbles this over and over again, but was stopped by his parents exclaiming for him to stop.

(Y/N)'s tail swishes behind her, making it touch Lo'aks gently and felt his do the same, as she stares at him and gave him a weary look, afraid for what his punishment would be if he kept this up.

Lo'ak ignored her silent plead to him, but stared confidently at the oceanic Na'vi in front of them, "I know what I know."

Ronal hisses a little a this, not pleased by his answer as the woman paced around the back of her husband.

Jake comes up to his youngest son, kneeling down slowly next to him and looked pissed off, as he as well releases a small growl, "That's enough." He warns him lowly, and turns to Tonowari, "I'll deal with this one."

And with that, Jake grabs Lo'aks arm roughly and tugs him away from the group as (Y/N) sighs heavily, watching them leave with a hand covering her forehead and shares a displeased look with Neteyam.

...

Later that day after the long, long lecture Lo'ak got from his parents, well mostly his father, the sky had now turned into a purple, hazy hue as the sun was going down.

(Y/N) was following Lo'ak through the forest near the water clan, as she was talking to him about what happened.

"The storm will pass." She assured him gently, as he moved a massive leaf aside so she and him could walk past, and they walked down onto the sandy beach near the shallows. "Everyone saw something today Lo'ak, a forest boy chosen by Tulkun."

(Y/N) moves to stand in front of him when they stopped, looking up at him with a warm smile, hand grazing his right forearm, "I am very proud of you."

However, her touch and sweet words didn't affect him that much this time, as he had a heavy frown on his face, "Payakan didn't kill them, I saw it all. The demon ship killed his mother right in front of him." Lo'ak explains to her, voice hoarse, "He gathered the young bulls and the reef boys together to attack the ship, and they were all killed. But from the sky people, not by him. He's not a killer."

She sighs deeply, shoulders dropping as she pursues her lips, "I believe you Lo'ak, but apparently by the Tulkun way, he is. He bares those sins."

"But does he have to pay for it, for the rest of his life?" Lo'ak argues back, voice rising a bit as he shakes his head from side to side, "He knows what he did was wrong, and he would never do it again."

(Y/N) squints her eyes a little at this, lips in a straight line as she gets an idea, but it most likely would not work out well for both parties, "We must tell Tsireya's father—" She grabs his forearm, and goes to pull him forward, but he gently grabs her arm holding his and stops her.

"No, no, I'm in enough trouble with my dad already." He reminds her, keeping his warm hold on her forearm.

"I have a strong feeling he will understand, this time Lo'ak." (Y/N) assures him, lips in a small smile as she understood where he was coming from. It was hard being the younger brother, the outcast at that.

"No, he won't. He doesn't understand anything." He shakes his head, as he motions to where his father would be and lets go of the girls arm, "The whole clan hates me. Demon blood, alien, that's all they see." He holds his five fingered hand directly in front of her.

(Y/N)'s green and blue eyes glance at his hand, biting down on her bottom lip nervously as she goes to touch his hand softly, and pushes away any second guesses.

She gently intertwined their fingers together, seeing how her purple stripes stood out the most from their hands as she holds them up for both of them to see, "I see you." She breathes out, holding his hand close to her heart, which was beating rapidly.

Lo'ak looks up from their intertwined hands, his yellow eyes intensely staring into hers with such strong emotion it almost made her knees buckle.

"You shouldn't care what people think of you, of us." (Y/N) squeezes his hand at the last bit, and moved closer to him so their chests were grazing each others, "It doesn't matter, none of it does." She now whispered, heart fluttering as Lo'ak tips his head closer to hers, and holds their conjoint hands tighter.

Her breath hitches when he leans the rest of the way, and presses his forehead against hers, releasing a heavy exhale that hits her lips, "Thank you, yawntu."

( Translation : beloved/loved one/lover. )

(Y/N) smiles warmly at this, and brushes her fingers across Lo'aks cheek with her free hand, as he gently rubs his nose against hers, causing her to flush embarrassed.

Lo'ak chuckles seeing her reaction, grinning like a dork and wraps her in a loving hug against his chest.

She was in deep, she knew that much. And it wasn't just for one brother as well. (Y/N) knew she cared about both more than she liked to admit.

...

The sky was now dark, grey and gloomy as a depressing aura had surrounded a specific spot in the ocean. Tonowari, Ronal, Jake and Ney'tiri were in the waters on their skimwings, as many Tulkuns had circled around one that floated above water.

Ronal approached the Tulkun, praying to Eywa that it wasn't who she thought it was. The closer to got, she knew her answer. It was her spirit sister.

The woman hopped off her creature, releasing strangled breaths as she touches Roa's head, looking over the Tulkun who was now dead. She jumps up onto Roa's flipper, and glances more around with tears building up fast, "She was spirit sister." She told the new incomers, crying out incoherent noises.

Behind her watching the scene, Jake and Ney'tiri bowed their heads to respect the fallen, and also with guilt as they knew the humans did this.

"She was the composer of songs!" Ronal cried out, sobbing for the loss of her spirit sister, "We would sing together." She looked to her side, and spotted Roa's young child, crying out even more seeing this.

"She had waited many breeding cycles to have his calf." She explains to the two Sully's, lips trembling as her breathing was labour with sobs, "The whole clan was happy for her."

Ronal kept releasing cries, as her hand had not move from Roa's head, "What is this Tonowari?" She briefly looked back at her mate and Jake, "What is this!"

Tonowair felt his mates pain, and exhaled shakily as he looked to the side, trying to keep his emotions calm.

Jake moved the sea creature him, and Ney'tiri were on as he now notices the bright red bags, and a beeping tracking device on Roa's flipper. Instantly they knew what this was. The sky people were back, and closer than ever.

...

The rain was pelting down on the environment of Pandora, as thunder was heard and loud, but wasn't as loud as the everyone gathered under the main area.

"My spirit sister, and her baby have been murdered by the sky people!" Ronal told everyone gathered, gaining noises back from them and a hiss from Tonowari.

"This war has come to us!" He looked at everyone in the crowd, holding his spear up high in one hand, "We knew about this hunting of our Tulkun people, way over the horizon, far away! Now, it is here!" He declared yelling, slamming his spear down onto the ground as him, and the people of the clan started to hiss and hold our their tongues.

(Y/N) was standing next to Neteyam, her ears and tail flickering at all the oceanic Na'vi yells. The girl also tried to find Lo'ak, but could not after their recent encounter, which made her second guess everything. Though, now it wasn't the time for this and she placed her focus on this terrible situation.

Jake now tried calming them down, knowing if they didn't do something soon, more Tulkun would die, "You gotta understand how the sky people think! They don't care about the great balance!"

Ney'tiri glanced around the aggressive Metkayian with a heavy frown, keeping Kiri close to her side with Tuk.

Neteyam also tried getting people to quiet down, and hear his fathers words as he pulled (Y/N) by the arm away from the aggressive Na'vi, "Listen! Listen to him!"

"The sky people are not gonna stop!" Jake motions with his hands, and brings them down slowly, "This is only the beginning. You guys gotta tell your Tulkun to leave!" He turns around to them all, rising his voice, "You gotta tell them to go far away!"

"Leave?" Ronal hisses her question to him, staring at him in disbelief, "You live among us, and you learn nothing!"

A Metkayina Na'vi behind Ronal now shouted, holding up his spear also, "We will fight to protect our brothers and sister!" He yips out noises, and sticks his tongue out, as the rest of his clan copy him.

Jake become more alarmed at this, and span around to everyone quickly, "No! No- if you attack, if you fight, then they will destroy you!" He yelled his plead, "They will destroy everything that you love!" His voice cracked a little, continuing his pleading as he motions this to Ronal, who automatically places a hand over her pregnant stomach.

The oceanic Na'vi clan once again ignored his words, and yelled out some more, causing Jake to scream pleads to them all.

"Listen to him!" (Y/N) now tried yelling to the overhyped group, not wanting more death on this clan as Neteyam helps her with shouting out as well, "He speaks the truth!"

Jake, having enough of no one hearing him out, he quickly grabs the red tracker that Neteyam was holding, and jumped up to the highest point in front of them all, showing the tracked as they quieted down. "You tell the Tulkun that if they're hit by one of these, they're marked for death."

Ronal looked to her mate, face full of sorrow and sadness took over their features hearing this.

"A call for me. I'll silence it." Jake tolds the massive group, and took some deep breaths before talking again, "Saving their lives, that's all that matters. Right? Saving your family." He finished, eyes landing on the leaders last as all the Metkayina clan takes in his words.

Tonowari looked down at his mate, who was holding onto his arm, and she nods her answer to him. He turns back to Jake and his people, motioning out to sea with his spear, "Tell the Tulkun."

"Go." Ronal orders, voice on the edge of cracking with her emotions all over the place from all these recent events. Her people listened to her, and all started to rush off towards the water, going to find their Tulkuns.

Lo'ak, who was hiding in the crowd looks around, and immediately span around to run to the ports. Neteyam noticed his brother doing this, and grabs (Y/N)'s wrist, causing her to yelp as he drags her along fastly towards where Lo'ak went.

...

Lo'ak was walking across the edge of the Marui, as he clicks his tongue and calls for his ilu. His ilu sees him, and greets his rider, diving underneath and reapers near the edge.

The male Na'vi knew he shouldn't be doing this, but he had no choice as his friend was in trouble. He just hoped (Y/N), and his family understood what he was doing, was right.

He goes to grab a saddle of the hanger, unclipping it and clicks at his ilu, who chirps back as he slips on the saddle, patting under its mouth. He goes to turn back, and grab something, but stopped as he saw Neteyam walking up to him, and (Y/N) trailing behind.

"Now way you're running off baby brother." Neteyam says to him, his beads swinging around as he walks closer, "We've got to keep your skxawng ass here."

(Y/N)'s tail straightens out at this, hearing his voice and words made her shuffle in her spot, as she had arrived behind them. Why was that... She thought to herself, smacking her head at her own thoughts.

Lo'ak scoffs at his brother, "He's outcast. There's nobody to warn him but me." He gestured to himself, as he held something in his hands.

"Bro," Neteyam chuckled a little bit, and placed a hand on top of his head, "Why do you always have to make things so hard?" He questioned, amusement hinted in his tone.

Lo'ak pushed Neteyam's hand off him, and glared up at his older brother, "No, you mean why can't I be the perfect son like you?"

Neteyam's lips went into a straight line, nodding his head tightly as he moves back a little with a clenched jaw. (Y/N) went to intervene between them, hoping to ease out the fighting but Neteyam just grabbed her hips, and stopped her in place.

She took that as a sign to stay out, and hopefully wait for him to short it out with Lo'ak.

"The perfect little soldier!" Lo'ak exclaimed angrily, turning a blind eye to (Y/N) right now as he was to pissed off. "Well I'm not you! Okay?"

Neteyam let go of (Y/N)'s hips, and approached his brother with a scowling, angry face as he gets up into his face, causing Lo'ak to backup a little.

"I'm not you." Lo'aks voice drops to a lower one, as he pauses and gestured out to the water, "He's my brother. I'm going!" He went to turn away, but his brother stopped him.

"Oh? He's your brother?" Neteyam says to him, and grabs Lo'aks arm to spin him around, "No, I'm your brother." He points to himself, as they stare at one another.

Tsireya, Ao'nung, and Rotxo all arrived at the same time on their ilus, as they jumped onto the platform, hopping off their ilus.

"Lo'ak! Please!" (Y/N) now calls, stepping forward to touch his arm, but he avoids her hand and takes a step back, making her ears go flat as he dives into the water, quickly grabbing into his ilu.

"No!" Neteyam yelled out, hissing under his breath as slaps Ao'nungs chest, gaining the threes attention, "C'mon! He's going to Payakan!"

(Y/N) also acts and moves to the edge, as she calls out to her ilu, seeing a familiar head poke out of the water with a happy chirp, "Good girl, Sae!" She calls to her friend, and dives into the cold water, grabbing onto her ilu as the others quickly joined her moves.

They all followed after Lo'ak, who was much ahead of them in front. (Y/N) makes a clicking noise in her throat, ushering Sae faster as she was in front of the group, with Neteyam right behind her.

Lo'ak broke the surface with a exhale, and looked over his shoulder at the people following. He felt bad for leaving (Y/N), and the others, but this had to be done. He looked to his left, and saw his two sisters riding an ilu, and hearing Tuk cheering out.

Tuk brightened up seeing her brother, and waved at him, "Lo'ak! Hey!" The poor girl was ignored by her brother, as he dived back into the water.

"Lo'ak!" Kiri yelled to her brother, wondering what was happening, as she spots (Y/N), and the others following behind hurriedly.

"Lo'aks going to find Payakan!" Neteyam explained shortly to the confused girl, before diving back into the water with (Y/N).

"Wait up then!" Kiri shouted her call, watching them go under the water, "Hold on!" She told Tuk, wrapping an arm around Tuk, as she held on tightly to her older sister, and followed the group of teens.

...

Lo'ak eventually had swam to where him and Payakan first originally met, and found the happy Tulkun, "Payakan!" He waved his hand, and saw him flipping out of the water, before he went back under and formed a splash.

Behind him he saw the now six group members following him, jumping out of the water and calling out for him to wait and stop.

"Wait! Lo'ak!" (Y/N) yelled to her beloved, urging Sae to move faster as she clicked in response, and did so.

He did look at her this time, but turned away quicker and ignored their screams. Instead, he swam up to Payakan who made a noise at him, and showed Lo'ak the blinking red tracker stuck in his head.

"Shit!" Lo'ak exclaimed with wide eyes seeing it, and jumped off his ilu, and onto Payakans back, "Stay calm! Stay calm! I got this!" He reassures his friend with a hand sign, and made his way to the beeping object.

He tries to grasp the thing, and pull it out but it was stuck in Payakan's skin too tightly. However, at the sound of Payakan's pulsed calls, Lo'ak lifts his head up and sees a ship coming towards them.

The sky people are here.

NOTE;; it's literally 4am rn and i'm posing this. welp. my wrists are so sore again omg.. 😭😭 i was supposed to stop at 3k words but now i went to 5k so yeah anyways here's another long chapter for you all

what would you guys do if i kill off neteyam??? 😋 its closer now and i have angst coming along with that (mainly because of it) but idk yet guess you guys will have to wait and see ;)

also this chapter is dedicated to aesthetics-zoned ,, happy (late) birthday lovely! i hope you had a great day and got spoiled like you deserve 🫶🫶

i hope you guys enjoyed this (lame) chapter and i'll see you all in the next one very soon mwah ily <3

( gif by : -ANNIESBBY <3 )