the delicate balance (of me and you) | tsireya x y/n

War (chapter sixteen)

notes: yes this is fast paced, but i have some major plot points coming up, so im trying to get to them :) be prepared!

'Why do you always have to make things so hard?' Neteyam says quietly, his hand on Lo'ak's head. 'You mean why can't I be the perfect son like you? The perfect little soldier?' Lo'ak yells, his voice breaking. 'Just keep your skxawng ass here,' Neteyam mumbles, and Lo'ak whips his head around furiously. 'He's my brother, I'm going to warn him,' Lo'ak shouts in anger. 'Oh, he's your brother? No, I'm your brother,' Neteyam snaps, finally breaking. Lo'ak glares at him, and you yell out, 'Lo'ak!' from behind Tsireya. Neteyam spins to look at you, and before you can say anything, Lo'ak jumps off the pier onto his ilu, taking advantage of the distraction. 'Shit!' you yell, and jump into the water after Neteyam, pulling Tsireya with you.

None of you can catch up to Lo'ak to stop him, and he soon reaches the outer reef a bit before everyone else. Kiri and Tuk tag along at the back - they saw the wild goose chase and decided to join. 'Payakan,' Lo'ak yells desperately, and after a second the massive tulkun comes up to the surface. You gape at the tulkun - you know that he's bonded to Lo'ak, Tsireya told you (she got in trouble because of it), but it's the first time you've seen Payakan. And after all of the rumours about him, it's a well anticipated meeting. You nod respectfully to Payakan, who lifts a fin. You think for a second he's lifting a fin at you, and smile, but your smile drops when you see the red blinking tracker sticking out of the fin. Shit. 'Shit!' Lo'ak yells, voicing your thoughts out loud. 'Quick!' you shout, Lo'ak already trying to heave the tracker out of Payakan's fin. Everyone crowds around the tracker, and suddenly you hear a loud noise that's getting louder and louder, building in intensity.

And then you look up to see a large metal ship coming your way. Towards Payakan. Towards all of you. 'There's a fucking ship!' you say loudly, and everyone turns to look at it. You see the fear spread through the group, in their raised ears, their wide eyes. 'Hurry up!' you yell. 'Tell dad,' Neteyam says bluntly, tossing Aonung (when did he get here?) a rope to wrap around the tracker, wrapping the other end around the handle on his ilu's saddle. Lo'ak curses under his breath, turning away from the group. You hear him relaying information to Jake, and see Tuk's scared eyes as she clings onto Kiri. Jake better get here quick, you think, worry forming a heavy stone in your stomach. 'Go, go, go!' Aonung yells, having wrapped the rope around the tracker. You glance at the ship quickly; it's getting closer. You rush forwards to help attempt to heave out the tracker. 'Pull!' Neteyam shouts, urging his ilu forwards. The tracker moves a little, but doesn't give way. 'Again!' he yells desperately, looking over his shoulder at the quickly approaching ship. You're pulling, Tsireya's pulling, even Tuk's pulling. You're about to give up when finally, the tracker pops free. 

'Let's go! Hide!' Neteyam shouts, ushering people past him. 'Neteyam...' you say as he grabs onto the tracker. He nods at you determinedly. 'I'm going to move the tracker to put them off.' You start to protest, but he holds up a hand. 'Don't worry about me, I'll be back in one second. Okay?' You nod as Tsireya pulls your hand, letting her drag you away from him. You look over your shoulder at him as he dives under the water on his ilu. Please, Eywa, let us all survive this.

You follow Tsireya as she leads you to a large forest of kelp, where everyone's hiding behind large leaves. This isn't a good idea, you think numbly. We should split up. It would make us harder to find. But you say nothing, knowing that being in a group is giving everyone a false sense of security. Especially Tuk. Oh, Tuk, you think as you watch her large eyes, full of fear. How did she end up getting dragged along? Suddenly, your thoughts are interrupted as you see metal shapes quickly approaching through the water. Submarines. 'Go, go!' you sign, and ride after Tsireya as everyone splits up. You dodge past large kelp leaves, knowing that there's a submarine right behind you.

Then there's a large splash right in front of you. Your ilu cries out, dodging the projectile. You frown. It didn't explode, so what's it's purpose? You learn quickly as it starts to omit an earsplitting sound. You scream, putting a hand up over your ear. But your ilu keeps going, so you hang on, hitting leaves head on as you forget to duck and dodge. Suddenly, the noise ceases, and you groan in relief, your head ringing. Tsireya looks back at you, checking that you're still there, and you nod with a grim smile. And then abruptly, she's knocked off her ilu as she collides with the stem of a large piece of kelp. Her ilu swims off as she rolls over the top of the submarine, narrowly avoiding being snatched up in its pincers. You loop back around, and grab her hand, pulling her up behind you. But then the submarine snaps at your ilu, and you both fall off, your hand only just slipping off of the handle on the ilu's saddle.

'Quick!' you sign, pulling Tsireya up into a large seaweed cave hidden from the submarine. You gasp in oxygen as you come up into it, and yell as you see Tuk, who screams at the sight of you, too. 'It's okay,' you say, calming your racing heartbeat. 'It's just us.' You pull her in for a hug, and she buries her face in your shoulder. And then lights illuminate the cave, and you know you've been found. 'We have to go,' you say, panicked. You pull Tuk down after you, and Tsireya follows you. You swim as fast as you can, but without an ilu, you can't outrun the submarines. And within seconds, you're trapped in a net with Tsireya and Tuk. 

You pull at the net, tearing cuts in your fingers as you snarl at the submarines, baring your teeth. But they ignore you, pulling the three of you along as they head back to the ship. And then Lo'ak's there, cutting away at the net with a small knife. You shake your head quickly. You know he won't get you out in time. 'Go! Leave us!' you sign desperately, but he ignores you, sawing away and hanging onto the net even as you're all dragged out of the water and lifted onto the ship. As you finally untangle yourself from the net, you bare your teeth and hiss at the humans and avatars standing in a circle around you. Lo'ak holds the knife out protectively. Even Tuk hisses. But it's to no avail; you're forced to surrender, and you hang your head as you're cuffed to the railing. 

'You okay, bro?' says a strange looking human boy as Lo'ak wrestles with one of the avatars, trying to avoid getting cuffed. 'Yeah, cuz, never been better,' he replies sarcastically as his face is shoved against the ground, hard. The wannabe na'vi boy is then escorted away. 'What the fuck?' you say to Lo'ak. 'Who's that? Why's he with the enemy? And if he's on our side, why's he so useless?' 'Just shut the fuck up, y/n,' Lo'ak says condescendingly, and you glare at him. Tsireya does the same. He ignores you both, and starts trying to break free of the cuffs. 'It's no use,' Tuk says forlornly. 'We're stuck here.'