𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐒; neteyam

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

FIFTEEN

"if you close your eyes, that's where you'll find me."
-devil's advocate, the neighbourhood

WHILE NAMAOYI WAS watching her parents bleed out in the ocean before her innocent, nine-year-old body, Neteyam was watching her panic beneath the water. He'd pulled his own queue off the trees branch only seconds ago, instantly looking towards the girl to see if she had too. However, when he caught sight of her tightly shut eyes and squirming body, he knew something was wrong.

He moves towards her, detaching her queue from the branch to immediately watch her squirming stop. She widened her eyes, blinking away her shock and surprise to see the boys face so close to hers, before she started kicking to the surface. Neteyam held both her hands in assistance, kicking alongside her as he helped drag her up. The others stayed down the bottom, having seen Kiri convulsing against the branch worse than Namaoyi had.

They broke the surface with harsh gulps of air, the girl beside Neteyam gasping as she sucked in the fresh cove air. "Hey, hey, you okay?" Neteyam asked as he swam closer to her, holding his hands by her waist as her pounding heart slowly calmed to its usual level.

She nodded. "I am fine, I just saw-" she gulped, looking into his eyes. "I saw my parents die."

Neteyam widened his eyes, coughing out a splutter of surprise as he quickly glanced to the side. He looked back up soon after, meeting her worried and unforgetting eyes with his comforting and reassuring smile. "It's okay," he whispered, reaching forward to hold the back of her head. He pushed the crown of his own against hers, closing his eyes as he inhaled her scent. She refused to look away, looking at the front of his closed eyelids with a shy smile. "They're in a better place."

"I love you," she whispered. He opened his eyes, meeting her sight with a smirk. He tilted his chin, pressing his lips to hers.

"I love you," he mumbled back after he'd pulled away, separating their foreheads with a ghost of his touch. He glanced up, his thumb running over the fading bruise on her hairline. "It's going away." He pouted. "It makes you look tough."

She laughed. "Yeah, because I am so tough," she joked, hand on his shoulder. From beside them, breaking the two apart, Tuk and Tsireya broke the surface with an unconscious Kiri in their hands. Neteyam instantly moved forward, helping Tsireya pull her onto the back of her ilu.

"Uh-" Neteyam spluttered.

"Breath into her mouth, Teyam! She needs help," Namaoyi shouted as she swam to their feet, looking up at him from the calm water. He nodded before looking down at his sister, trying to bring her back to life. Thankfully, she did, so as soon as she coughed up the water trapped in her body, the group swam away. Kiri needed all the help she could get.

"Tuk! Hurry!" Namaoyi shouted behind her, helping the young girl onto the back of her ilu before speeding away. She followed the strong current after a stressing Neteyam, his eyes constantly flicking down to his fading sister with anxiety upon her safety. He could see her falling to her demise, not that he wanted to believe it. He knew they had to hurry, or she was a goner.

As soon as they hit the beach, Kiri slung in Neteyams arms, people were hurrying to help her. Jake and Neytiri helped their son carry her into the tent, Namaoyi hurrying behind them with a crying Tuk in her arms. Tsireya waited by the door, watching the family and Namaoyi try resuscitate the girl lying limp on the floor. They piled rug after rug behind her head, tapping her face and chest to try and find any sign of the life she was once filled with. Jake decided all they could do was wait for the sky-people to arrive and help, as they had the technology.

Neteyam held Namaoyi in the corner as they filed in, dropping bags on the ground as they crouched by the younger girl. Lo'ak had arrived, standing by the door with Tsireya as Tuk held onto her mothers hand. The older boys arm was slung around the girls, his blue skin contrasting deeply against the green tinge of her own. When everyone turned away, he pressed a kiss to the edge of her cheek. They weren't a secret, everyone knew it was bound to happen, they just hadn't got around to telling anyone just yet.

"Will she be okay?" Namaoyi asked him meekly, sparing him a glance. Her head was resting on his shoulder, cheek pushed against his skin as she let out a sad breath of air. She hoped, prayed to Eywa and all the planets above, that Kiri would live and be okay. She was her friend, one of the best - she couldn't imagine life without her, like the rest of the Sully family.

"She will always be okay," he said once he looked down, a soft smile growing to plaster itself across his soft lips. "She will wake up soon."

"I hope so, I miss her already," she whispered before looking away, her hopeful eyes returning to Kiris struggling body as she tried to imagine the girls fighting presence within her. Her hand unknowingly found Neteyams, the boy watching as her fingers curled around his own. He smiled, giving it a light squeeze, before letting his head fall against her own.

They shared the pain, splitting it between the two with broken yet full hearts.

Two people, two hearts. Broken and empty, trying to mend the two holes eating away at themselves.