PROTECTOR

8

"Don't you dare thinking about life without us, I rather die than live a life without you Laia" said Neteyam. I hugged him back and gestured the rest to join us. We had our hearts placed close to each other. I could feel his rapid heartbeat; I wonder if he could feel mine too.

"I rather die than live a life without you" I kept repeating those words in my head, still processing the fact that he said them, to me.

I hugged him harder.

Neteyam, the man you are.

No one's POV

They all arrived back to the village. When they approached their tent the saw both Jake and Neytiri inside packing stuff.

"Good, you're here. We're having a family meeting now. Sit" said Jake. They all went inside and sat in a circle, but Laia stayed outside. She was going to walk away; in the end she was not a Sully.

"You too Laia, this involves you too" said Neytiri. Laia looked at her and nodded. She sat next to Kiri and began to look anywhere else but Jake's eyes.

"Due to the past events, your mother and I have made a decision of leaving the forest" Jake began, he looked at their eyes, trying to figure what they were thinking about at that moment. "We will go far from here, to a sea clan. Tomorrow I will give up on being Toruk Makto" he continued. This made their children's eyes go wide,

"But this is only temporary right? When we come back you will still rule right?" asked Laia, fully not believing what she was hearing.

"Don't say we Laia, you are going to stay here. You are a warrior, you have to fight for your people, plus you need time to find a mate and if you are always following us you will not find it. This is the best for you" Jake said.

"But dad, she our best friend, we cannot leave her here" said Kiri. "The decision is already made Kiri."

"Sir" began Laia to say. She was facing down, hands closed up into a fist and controlling her hard breath "With all my respect, I think I'm mature enough to make a decision" she said.

"As you said I'm a warrior and as you said too I have to protect my people; well, you are my people. I made a promise once and I will follow it until I die. I'm sorry sir but I don't want to stay here." She said in one breath. When she raised her head she saw all of them looking at her but she noticed the most the proud look on Neytiri's face.

"Laia, listen to me" Jake placed a hand on her shoulder as if trying to calm her down a bit "I need someone who I trust to lead this people, I need you to teach the new leader how it is done-" "I'm not a teacher Jake" "I was not done talking" he said, trying to gain back his authority.

"Also you know how to take care of injuries because Norm taught you. Laia you are indispensable for our clan. They need you here" He finished. "She is indispensable for us too dad" said Neteyam. Jake gave him a look, telling him that he was not part of that conversation.

Laia let out a long breath. "Jake" she began, Jake turned to her, kind of flustered, she only called him Jake when she was little and he taught her about the stars. "Just promise me you will not forget about me" she said, finally giving up on trying to change his mind.

"How could I forget about someone as special as you Laia" he said.

After this Jake and Neytiri went out for a while, leaving the rest in the tent.

"I can't believe this" began Kiri "you are just giving up" she said referring to Laia. "You know how your father is Kiri, plus it is the last order he was going to give as Toruk Makto and I'm grateful it was for me, he thinks this is the best so I'll do it" Laia answered. She looked around the room and noticed her friends faces.

"It's not the end of the world, we will see each other soon ok?" she tried to cheer them up, but failed. "Why don't we go to sleep; tomorrow is going to be a long day" they started to clean up the tent a bit so there was more space to sleep.

Laia grabbed Neteyam's hand, as he had been silent since his parents left. This touch made him look at her. She mouthed "it's ok" with a smile on her face. She refuses seeing him like this. His whole future changed in just a few hours, he needed her there.

He gave her a smile. It amused him how calm she looked like when he was freaking out in the inside knowing that he would not see her every day. He placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand and left to his bed.

Laia then turned to go to hers but remembered what she told Lo'ak before this all happened. He was already in his bed but turned around when he felt an arm hugging his waist.

"I thought we were going to sleep separately" he said while meeting her gaze. "Well I promised you last time and we didn't even get any sleep, so I'm making it up for you" she said while caressing his cheek.

"I guess this is the last time" Lo'ak said "No it's not, before you even noticed you'll be here again, this is just a see you later you know?" she answered.

"Yeah, that is what I thought" he said, bringing her closer by her waist, not wanting to let go.

"Laia" he began again "Mhmm" she answered, mesmerised by his eyes "I um, I, well, thank you for always being there, you are the best and um, I-I love you... as a friend of course" he finished, Laia could feel the heat coming up his cheeks.

"Thank you for being my friend, and I love you too, as a friend of course" she responded while trying to hold back her laugh but failing. She kissed his cheek gently.

"Good night Lo'ak"

"Good night Laia"