Bound to you (Neteyam x reader)

Chapter 2 - The Raid

As soon as it was only Neteyam left with you in the hut, your focus was quickly redirected to his wounds. Half of his back had been taken care of in silence, only cut by the scarce hiss of pain coming from the warrior in front of you. The silence was apparently not enough as the man in front of you decided to break it by asking a stupid question, a question you did not have an answer to.

"Where did the nickname "Teyam" come from?" he said, slightly turning around, a huge grin breaking through his face and showing his teeth. Fangs poking on the sides of his lips.

You froze for a few seconds, you did not know where it came from, you did not have an answer. You knew he did that to embarrass you. Feeling the heat rush to your face. Your tongue clicked in annoyance, trying to hide your fluster. You flickered at his ear, which made him let out a light chuckle before turning back.

You continued to work on his back, but you could feel your concentration slowly slip out of you through your fingers. Getting distracted by the way his shoulders shuddered slightly underneath your touch and the way his blue strips contoured the side of his body. You gulped before retracting your hands completely to fetch more preparation. As you got up, Neteyam looked at you intently, questions evident in his eyes.

"I'll be back." You told him before hurrying to find Mo'at or Kiri.

I swiftly made my way across the camp. A combination between running and walking, I took each step carefully, knees bouncing. When I arrived in the main tent where the injured were being taken care of, a smell of blood and metal reached me. It was so strong that it made my nose scrunch up and my eyes narrow involuntarily. I felt my ears flatten on the side of my head, the pained cries of the warriors assailing my ears. My tail was swatting left to right nervously behind me as my eyesight scanned the place in search of a familiar face.

My narrowed eyes quickly landed on Kiri, who was occupied applying pressure on a man from the clan, a piece of shrapnel sticking out of his side, blood sipping out of the wound. My heart ached at the sight.

As I readied myself to make my way over to her, a soft but strong hand gripped my shoulder in place, stopping me in my tracks.

"What do you need, y/n?" inquired the Tsahik who was now standing in front of me. "It's better not to stay too long around here, dear." She continued, holding my stare with her own, preventing me from looking anywhere else.

"I just need some of that healing paste Mo'at." I whispered, just loud enough for her to hear.

With a slight nod, she reached for a small cup similar to the one in my hands. She thrusted it strongly in my grip, grabbing the empty one in return. "Now go back, y/n" she said in a strong but delicate tone. I gave her a sharp nod and left at once without turning back.

Closing back the flap of the hut behind me, I let the fresh air hit my face, getting rid of the horrid smell which took a hold of my senses a few minutes prior. Taking a large inhale, I pushed my body forward the hut where Neteyam was waiting.

Making my way inside, I found him still sitting in the same place, sharpening his knife. His eyes briefly met mine before focusing back on his work. I sat back behind him in silence, resuming looking after his wounds which were already looking better.

"What happened back there?" He suddenly asked after a few minutes, breaking the silence. My golden eyes widened slightly, my hovering above the skin of his back. "What?" I asked, voice barely above a whisper, as if I would speak any louder something would break.

"Your face, I can see that something is bothering you. What is it?" He pressed; his eyes still focused on his task at hand.

"I saw all the injured people from today's raid." I started, a sigh escaping my lips. "I saw Meayko with this wound on his side." My hands fell in my lap in defeat. "He's only a few years older than us, Neteyam." At the sound of his name and the absence of my fingers on his back, he turned his whole body towards me, legs almost touching. My eyes were absorbed by the paste slowly drying on my fingers, picking at it with my other hand.

"We don't deserve what is happening to us. We can never be happy with them here." I continued. I could feel my eyes filling with tears. The salty water was threatening to spill any seconds.

As Neteyam's words escaped his lips, I felt the dam break.

"Mawey, ma y/n. Mawey." He reached for the back of my head with his four-fingered hands, bringing my head towards his collar bone. He let me cry in this position for as long as I needed to, whispering reassuring words in my ears.

When I felt the tears come to a halt, I finally pulled my head back. Neteyam's hands still remained strongly put on either side of my face.

"We can be happy even with the sky people here." He said, looking straight at me. "We may not deserve that, but we have to fight and do what is right. We have to protect our home, our nature, our animals. We have to protect Eywa, y/n. But most importantly we have to protect each other. If we stick together and we watch our backs, nothing can happen to us." He said in a strong tone, like any warrior would.

"I will never let anything happen to you y/n." He said the last sentence in a quiet tone, which was only answered by a nod from me and the resuming of our previous hug. This time I reached my hands behind his back, carefully avoiding the burns. His head held my head right as they did before.