WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FROM AVATAR 2, "THE WAY OF WATER"
If you haven't seen the movie and decided to go ahead, please do not complain about spoilers. This fic is targeted at those who are up to date with the Avatar sequel.
Last chance to run.
Kay.
Warned ya.
Love u all.
PS: Unrevised, probably will edit later.
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Ao'Nung, son of the sea, born to the Metkayina Clan.
Neteyam, son of the forest, born to the Omaticaya Clan.
In the deepness of one or the other, land exists in water and water exists in land. To say one has lost the other means one must find the other, once again, for balance must persist.
How had the sea lost the land?
To mourn, to love.
Perhaps, to find that which has been lost.
· · ─────── · · ─────── · ·
It was a somber night in Pandora, suffocation could be felt in the air surrounding the Metkayina village as the Sully's and Tsireya came back from battle. Their spirits were dejected, their stares lost and hazy, their eyes mourned what their mouths wouldn't speak nor their souls would accept.
The word roamed wildly, 'the Sully's have arrived' was the one thing being whispered throughout the village.
Such words managed to meet Ao'nung and Rotxo's ears, and in the mere mention of that family name they both ran, and none would stop.
They ran through the pods, through the sand, and through the bridges.
They rushed, passing by dejected Metkayina people.
A strange eery sensation crawled through Ao'nung's body, for he hasn't yet found any of them.
Not Lo'ak, Kiri or Tuk.
Not Tsi, his sister.
Nor Neteyam...
Making his way through the crowd, his eyes could finally spot the entrance of the Sully's pod.
Though, one thing wasn't quite right.
Why was his mother walking to their pod...?
Why was no one moving— why was everyone still as stone, eyes fixated inside the Sully's home?
Making his way through the crowd, Ao'nung walked closer. Though with each step given, the air circulating his lungs was becoming shorter and shorter, as if breathing was not an option.
There was an overwhelming pressure on his chest, the first thing his eyes met were those big and beautiful eyes of his sister, Tsi.
One of the most lovely eyes, broken down to shreds.
Rivers flowed from her crystal clear eyes, her elegant hand covering her mouth as she tried to lean on against an unmoving, immutable, and lost Lo'ak.
Ao'Nung's eyes traveled faster than he could manage, following his sister's trail only to meet the sight of a breathless Neteyam being held tight by Neytiri.
His mother, Ronal, was behind Neytiri, silently staring at the boy.
His father, Tonowari, talked with Jake in a very low voice.
Ao'Nung couldn't quite understand— Was Neteyam injured? Why was no one aiding the eldest son of Toruk Makto? Why was everyone crying and anxious?
He tried finding Lo'Ak's eyes, searching for any kind of reaffirmation, searching for any sort of answer— only to be met with the same lost expression directly staring at the same spot.
Not only Tsi and Lo'ak were, but everyone.
Every single close na'vi stared at the same unmoving, breathless spot.
Neteyam's body, or rather Neteyam's corpse...
"Neteyam, Toruk Makto's eldest son has died in battle tonight." The chief of the Metkayina clan, Tonowari, announced to the rest of the clan. Ao'Nung held his breath as he stared at his father, who wouldn't stare back at him.
His gaze.
Ao'nung knew what that look in his father's eyes meant.
A death.
A burial.
"Neteyam fought alongside our own, and died just as we do; for his body and soul have gone back to the sea, now we must do our part and send him back to our ancestors, back to Eywa."
Neytiri wouldn't move an inch, not even when the chief had finished speaking.
A mother who was forced to fight despite her despair. A mother that turned that sorrow into rage. A true warrior she was, Neytiri daughter of Eytukan and Mo'at.
The clan fell into silence, mourning the loss of the young warrior.
The village knew what do to next, as everyone silently worked their way to prepare for what was coming at the Cave of The Ancestors: A funeral.
Ao'Nung however couldn't seem to understand such a simple thing.
He knew as he watched his mother, the Tsahik, and some other na'vi moving around Neteyam's body meant the beginning of the funerary preparations.
He knew what death meant, he knew what the rituals meant.
But still, he couldn't understand. Rooted to his spot, he watched the Sully children cry for the loss of his brother.
He saw as light blue hands gently touched Neteyam's body, ready to prepare him for the ceremony.
He saw and kept observing, watching, as Neytiri pulled her song cord and silently grabbed a pearl from Neteyam's hair, detaching it from him with such a gentle touch one would swear he was sleeping, and she touched him so gently as not to wake him up.
Tsireya slowly joined him, those big and beautiful eyes of hers filled with tears, her lovely face twisted with pain and overbearing sadness.
"He is dead, brother." Tsireya's broken voice echoed in his mind, but he wasn't sure he heard right.
How could Neteyam be dead? How could Teya be dead?
"I was there when his last breath came in..." Tsireya gently added, pausing a little as she tried to find his brother's eyes. "He said he wanted to go home."
Home?
Ao'Nung wanted to snap back with a remarkable answer, something insulting, anything would suffice... yet he couldn't find it in himself to speak.
Which made him more furious.
The Sully children were given a place amongst the Metkayina. He and his sister were forced to teach them the ways of their people— Hell, he even spent all those nights aiding the skxawng of Teya! Teaching him how to properly ride his ilu! Showing him the ways of his people! Sharing their customs and talking about—!
"I hear the phrase 'I see you' often... yet I have this feeling that no one truly does see me." Neteyam said, busy looking at the stars high up in the night sky, feet underwater and Ao'Nung by his side.
He said he wanted to go home? Back to the forest after all of that?
"Brother..." Tsireya called softly, hand on his shoulder, snapping Ao'Nung out of it. "Brother we must prepare to send Neteyam back to Eywa..."
Back to Eywa... That's right.
Teya— Neteyam is dead, and Ao'Nung couldn't understand what to make out of it. The foreigner from the land and forest died on the sea and waves. The foreigner who arrived on an Ikran, mighty and tired. The foreigner who had certainly made an impression on the villagers, the eldest son of Toruk Makto. A warrior in all its forms... yet still a skxawng.
A skxawng who had managed to ride his ilu in the middle of a random night, who laughed with such a mighty sound that made Ao'Nung surprised he didn't wake the whole village with such sound. A sound so full of joy and emotion that made Ao'Nung comply and laugh at his antics as well.
Walking by the side of his sister, Tsireya, they made their way through the Marui pods, away from the Sully family, away from Neteyam. Tsireya gave an undecipherable look to Ao'nung unbeknownst to her brother.
Though, his eyes were distant, troubled. There was something in his mind clouding him, the change so subtle only to be noticed by those who knew him well. Opting to ask about it later, the Metkayina brothers walked away, for they too had roles to perform.
· · ─────── · · ─────── · ·
The whole village was soon gathered at the Cove of the Ancestors, holding torches to lit the path of the darkest of nights as Neytiri and Jake Sully made their way into the water, holding the pod which contained Neteyam's body. His brother and sisters were by their side as well, and the smallest of them all held to the leaf pod so tightly you would see the way the leaf was beginning to tear.
Carefully, Neytiri and Jake carried his body away from the leaf pod which lead to flowers pouring from it as well, surrounding Neteyam's carefully wrapped body. His face was so calm one could say he was sleeping, except for the fact that there was a wound on the center of his upper back.
A wound from bullets sent by the evil people of the sky, the aliens.
Even though the rituals were meant to prepare him, they could not erase what had been done.
Another life was lost by the people of the sky.
Ao'Nung watched carefully as the mighty and valiant Neteyam floated surrounded by flowers and he found that image oddly fitting for him. He was a warrior with a virtuous soul, which made the flowers encircling his body suit him.
Ao'Nung watched as Jake and Neytiri pulled Neteyam's body underneath the surface, and he couldn't stop staring. Not even when the last inch of his dark blue skin sunk under the clear water, illuminated by a golden glow that soon embraced Neteyam with such gentleness it made something stir inside Ao'Nung.
He wasn't sure when did it happen, but at some point, wetness fell from his eyes and traveled through his cheeks. He cried silently, confused at what triggered such an emotion. Why was he feeling so heavy, watching the body of a foreigner buried with his ancestors?
This was it. The same confusing things Neteyam made him feel ever since he first landed his eyes on him. Ever since he walked down his Ikran, and spoke with an oddly alluring voice as he paid his respects...
"I see you..." Neteyam spoke as soon as he saw who appeared to be the chief's son, unable to look away as he met those light blue, aqua eyes.
Ao'Nung's face twitched with emotions too strong to decipher. Such emotions would demand a lot of energy, which he doesn't quite have the mind to do so. He watched as the burial took place, as the rituals were done. He watched as the Sully family walked away. He kept watching even when the village and his parents walked away.
He watched, even when Tsireya had gone away as well.
Rooted to his place he watched where Neteyam had floated surrounded by flowers. The same spot he and him once visited together, as Teya told him stories of his own spirit tree and Ao'Nung laughed about it, defending his as mightier, for it grew underwater.
He watched, as the golden glow encapsulated Teya's body, to the point where his entrancing dark blue skin had been completely gone.
All the time, as he watched and watched, there was only one thing itching in the back of his mind.
Why did he feel as if he lost something he never had in the first place?
· · ─────── · NOTES · ─────── · ·
I'm counting on Eywa as I write this fic, in which there may be slight divergences as the story flows. I just had this idea ever since I watched Avatar 2: The Way of Water and I couldn't get it out of my head, so I had to write it.
Also, I just rewatched the movie yesterday and I finally gave in.
Buckle up for a ride in which I strive for angst and confusion, love and thrill, and all that stuff.
Yeah, this is Neteyam x Ao'Nung. I just had this feeling in the back of my mind that they just fit. IDK there was something and now I'm writing about that something.
This is a small gift from me to my readers, as I hope you love this story as much as I'm loving it.
Yes, before anyone asks, I will continue with Symbiote, it's just I'm stuck with something I haven't quite resolved YET from the storyline.
Love you all, hope you're doing amazing.
In case I don't update before this year ends, Happy New Year!