twisted fate

the truth

NIGHT 15 continued...

hearing neteyam express his true feelings made ki'ara blush like she never had before. she always knew she felt pulled to him more than their other friends growing up, but she never knew what that meant. it wasn't until neteyam began telling her how he felt that she realized the feelings were mutual. she was in love with him too.

feeling an indescribable relief after spilling, neteyam began word vomiting every situation he could think of where he felt flutters in his chest around her. it had been so long since he allowed himself to be completely honest with her, and he missed it so much. each moment that passed by he felt more and more at ease, almost like he did when they were kids and had no other worries but each other.

still sitting across from each other on her large bed, ki'ara listened intently to each of his words to her.
"and during that one summer when you and spider basically lived with all of us, i would wake up early every morning to make sure i looked presentable, knowing you'd be sitting across from me at breakfast. any time during training if i give the guys a random ten minute break, it was because i couldn't focus on their training, i couldn't stop thinking about you and imagining unrealistic scenarios-" his voice contained a tone of excitement, as if telling her all of this was going to make it all come true. "what kind of scenarios?" she asked him softly, curious to know the kinds of things he's thought about her. he shook his head with a smile, as if embarrassed to explain further. but, once he looked back at those beautiful two toned eyes, he could almost see his scenarios coming true.

"uhhmm, hmm. i mean there's definitely a few different things i've thought of, but the most common had to be our wedding." she smiled big when she could tell that neteyam was blushing before he could get all of his words out. "our wedding??" she responded in a surprised manner. "well tell me more. what did you picture our wedding being like?" she immediately wanted to know more, because unknown to him, she has had dreams in the past of the same thing. before continuing, neteyam stood up with a deep inhale and reached his hand out for hers, guiding her up out of her bed and onto her feet. "well..." he held onto her hand and led her out of her room and into her seating area which was warm and well lit from the fire he had started before she arrived home. "for one, it would vary between you being human and you being na'vi." he exhaled loudly as he sat, leaning back onto a pile of bean bags, pulling her on top of him into his lap. "ever since my parents told me about your true parents, i snooped the labs and had found your grow tanks. yours and spiders. so i guess i always had a feeling that one day you'd be as blue as me." they giggled together. "but ki'ara you've always been so beautiful to me one way or another." she stared into his eyes smiling. they were glowing from the fire in front of them and she couldn't help herself from leaning in and placing a soft kiss on his lips before allowing him to continue telling his dreams.

neteyam's left arm draped comfortably over ki'ara's thighs, holding her in place over his growing lap. meanwhile, his right hand hugged her hips and his fingers slowly danced across her skin, soft enough that she almost wouldn't notice them traveling from the crease in her thigh to the softness below her breast.
"anyways. i always pictured you in a long flowing skirt that matched with a top that had long flowing sleeves that are see through. i've pictured both of our families sitting together with tears in their eyes, and the whole clan gathered to watch our love story finally come true." his left hand had abandoned her thighs and began tangling with her fingers. "i imagine it would be near water, with the sun shining off of it and tall trees surrounding us...what do you think?"

ki'ara slowly slid herself off of his lap and sat by his feet, resting her arms on his knees and her chin on her arms. she looked up at him in awe. "i think it sounds wonderful." her half smile didn't satisfy him. "what's wrong? obviously if you have any ideas we could make it all work right?" he laughed, she half smiled again. "ki tell me." closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she turned her upper body to look upon the blazing fireplace before asking the question she really wanted answered. "why have you never told me any of this before? i just don't fully understand why you removed yourself when you realized you were feeling this way." his head tilted back with slight frustration, unsure of how to answer. "teyam tell me." he scooted his body back, folding his legs leaving the two of them separate. ki'ara sat comfortably on her carpet on the floor, waiting impatiently to know the real reasons behind her best friend's avoidance of her for the past couple years, for months at a time. 

"well, the truth is ki, i knew deep down that even if you felt the same way about me, we could never be together." her shoulders dropped in disappointment. "w- what do you mean?" her voice cracked when she tried to speak. "never in all of our history has a na'vi ever had relations with a human. when my feelings for you grew, a big part inside me knew that it was wrong, that my family would never approve, the clan would disown me probably. i tried whatever i could to make it stop, but i couldn't. the closer we came together, and the more that i watched you from a distance, interacting with my family and the rest of the clan, the harder it became to stop falling in love with you." his eyes shifted around the room, then landed on the floor space between them. "that's why i had to stop seeing you. i hated myself for a while for doing that to you. we've been friends since birth and i couldn't imagine the way that you were feeling, how confused you must've been. but, it was for the best. in order to keep our friendship from falling apart... i had to. im so sorry ki'ara."

before responding, neteyam could tell from her face that ki'ara wanted to know more. "i forgive you neteyam. and more than that, im glad you told me the truth, i understand now why you did what you did." he dipped his head lower to try to get her to look at him again, "buuuut?" he said, knowing there was something else on the tip of her tongue. "but," she began again, finally looking back up at him. "none of that explains the way you reacted when i came to see you at the stream behind your tent. the way you stared at me in disbelief and then lied to get away, then avoiding me again for another week. you just said so yourself, the clan wouldn't accept us together since i was human. AND you said you've known about the grow tanks. so why were you not more happy about me deciding to change? that part i still don't understand."

neteyam became visibly uncomfortable when she brought this up again. the reason why this night started with them bickering was because of his actions on that night. he stood up from his bean bag and walked over to the fire to add another couple logs, thinking about how to explain the rest of this to the love of his life. the last few hours of bliss had made him completely forget all about why he was really upset that night....the night he got back from the council meeting...