— 𝐒𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐒.
The room was silent, not a single word was uttered as Ay'u and Fawn stayed close to another, their eyes watching (Y/N)s every movement incase she needed them. Iwa was repainting her face a darker color. Dipping his fingers in the ashy cup, he placed three fingers on her forehead and softly moved them down an inch and across her eyes to settle on her cheeks. Across her cheek bones and over her nose was a small word that read 'Death', Ay'u having 'War' and Fawn having 'Plague'. In the center of her forehead was a crescent moon, the small dots on her were perfectly outlined with it to make it stand out. The three siblings all had the same head piece which consisted of antlers that were molded to fit on their head.
"There, all done." Iwa said as he did a few final touches. (Y/N) stood up and turned to face her two brothers, both who widened their eyes when they saw how darkened her eyes were from crying. "(Y/N).." Ay'u started off as he reached a hand out for the other to hold. "Please, don't." She said through a breathy sigh, "I need to get through this." The two nodded before they motioned her to lead the way.
Down below, the lights were all gone as the only light source was the torches lit and moving with each hunter as everyone fell in line to stay on the path to the volcanoes. Adults had masks that were made from animal bones and sometimes Na'vis, it was like the wind shifted in the atmosphere and everyone was so excited to get a taste of what was to happen soon.
Kiri opted out with Tuk to stay back, promising and apologizing to (Y/N) earlier that night they didn't want to see it. She understood and promised to not speak of it when she came back, but Lo'ak wanted to come and she couldn't say no to her best friend.
Children ran next to the line as they knew the way, mini bone masks were on their faces as they all laughed sadistically; and up above, the three siblings flew overtop as the dragons let out a roar of fire across the grounds marking their territory for the sacrifices.
The three landed against the side of the mountain, lava dripping down as the siblings maneuvered their way up the mountain to avoid being scorched by the heat from the liquid. As they made it to the top, their mother was the first to greet them as she looked over their appearances, granting them permission to come forward and towards their father.
When they reached Äoa, he placed a finger first on Fawn and said a blessing from Eywa before doing the same to his other two children, asking for safety for them. Everyone finally arrived, as they took a step across the outskirts of the top of the volcano, the ground below them was lighting up with different colors. Each step and jumped would send a lighting look across the ground as if the volcanoes knew they were about to be fed.
In front of the siblings were na'vis who were tied up, their ankles and wrists wrapped in a rope as their mouths were covered to prevent them from speaking. Covering their heads was a cloth so no one could tell who it was just yet. Across the ledge of the volcano was a boardwalk, the blood and scratches were left there to show how many sacrifices they had done; the whole thing was covered.
Fawn took a step with his arms raised out to his people, all who had been cheering for him to make his grand appearance. "My people," he started off with a yell so everyone could hear, using his native tongue to assert more dominance. "You all know why we are here, we are here to sacrifice for Eywa. To bless her with these.. traitors." The crowd yelled out at the covered Na'vis in shame. "But I must inform you, I won't be the one doing it as I am about to be picked by a dragon and sent to bond with them." They all let out a cry. "I know, I know! But do not worry, you all know my sister (Y/N). She loves sacrificing them, she loves blessing our brothers down below and feeding them." (Y/N) held her knife in her hand as she moved back and forth, hyping the crowd up as she looked similar to a butcher.
"Let's get this going. That's why we came here, right?" His parents stood behind him as they sat quietly, observing and watching what his next move would be. As Fawn moved behind the others and vanished by the group of dragons, it was now (Y/N)s turn to speak and the clan loved it.
"My brothers and sisters, in front of us today we have traitors and bad men who went against our values." Ay'u gripped the first Na'vis cloth and ripped it off to reveal Eyye, shaking and crying as he looked around for anyone to see. "He tried to murder an innocent boy," the crowd gasped. "Left him for dead and he tried to lie. The values we have here, only eywa can do that. Am I right?" The crowd agreed. She wouldn't say Lo'aks name out of his protection, but she would look over at the boy who just had a curious look on his face.
Everyone was getting antsy, waiting for the first boy to be thrown into the pit so they could feel it against their skin and listen to their screams. "My mother and father, they usually like to just push them in there but I am feeling a bit.. nice." Her words were dripping with venom as her eyes roamed to find him, wanting him to watch.
When she found Jake, her heart started beating fast and anger fueled her body as she moved over to the next boy. "And this," the cloth was removed to show Aw'ita. "This boy was also there as he left a boy to almost die." Slicing the rope off their ankles so they could stand, she pushed the two closer to the edge of the volcano as they turned to face everyone.
She stood next to Eyye first, never liking him and never caring for him at all. "Tell my people why you should live." She could feel him shaking next to her, reaching up to remove the cloth that restricted him from talking, he started crying out a prayer to Eywa to stop this. "Awh.. wrong answer." She said with a fake pout.
Her hands moved to his back before she pushed the boy off the edge, listening as he screamed all the way down and immediately swallowed by the lava. She moved to Aw'ita now, popping up next to him as he was emotionless. "Aw'ita, tell my people why I shouldn't kill you next."
Aw'ita said nothing nothing despite the cloth being removed from his mouth, but his eyes said more than anything. (Y/N) was tense, agitated even as she watched the boys lips form into a small 'o' and spit directly into her face.
The crowd gasped.
Ay'u hissed and moved to kill him first but was stopped by (Y/N) who just chuckled. "I must be mistaken, I was offering to spare your life and you spit in my face?" She pushed the boy onto his knees before turning to grab her knife, his queue now in her hands as she placed the knife directly underneath it.
Eyes finding Jakes now, she kept his eye contact as the older man was stunned at the shift of her aura. The girl who was shy and hid beneath her hands whenever she smiled too deeply, would stutter when asking to ride his Ikran, would take Tuk out and watch his other two kids, was killing her own people as if it was normal.
"You could always cut your arm off for forgiveness, right?" Ay'u whispered to the other with his sadistic look, tongue licking his lips as his people went even more wild as the youngest sibling finally spoke after minutes of silence.
"You all are crazy." Aw'ita said with a hiss to the two siblings. "Not even close." (Y/N) said before slicing the others queue off, kicking him off the ledge and watching as he fell, his screams echoing off of the walls as the clan screamed with such joy.
(Y/N) passed the queue off to Ay'u to hold on to as she moved over to the last Na'vi, her hands resting on his shoulders as she sliced the ties on his ankles to walk across the boardwalk now before she pushed him back onto his knees. "My people, we have one more!"
Jake couldn't understand what the thought process this was, he didn't understand why they were all excited to kill, he knew they did this, but he never thought he would be seeing it. "What are the values?" He asked one of the people.
"No one can kill another person, only Eywa can bring that death. Do not betray your people, and the last one is very important to us. Never and we mean never, harm a child as they are too young to defend themselves." The Na'vi said as his eyes were glued to the scene.
Jake nodded slowly, a sick feeling in his stomach as everytime he would turn to look at the scene, she was staring at him with sad and angry eyes. He wondered if she didn't find out tonight, would the two boys be alive.
"This man right here has broken one of our values and you know I hate that." (Y/N) was practically dripping with blood from when she ripped the queue off, the clouds above had moved together as a storm picked up. It meant two things to the people, either Fawn had successfully bonded with a dragon or it was just coincidence; everyone hopped for the other.
As she ripped the cloth off of the na'vi, his screams could be heard as he looked over the edge to the lava down below, the corpses from the two boys could be seen if you squinted hard enough. Many of the Na'vis were hanging off of the sides, some sitting on the branches and rocks that were stuck and molded into the inner side of the volcanoes. They liked to taunt and pretend to reach out to grab anyone who was falling from the sacrifice.
"The third value." The was all she needed to say before the crowd went even crazier. You would think they were watching a performance of their favorite person; not a sacrifice. "No, no you are wrong!" The older na'vi had turned his head to stare at (Y/N), his eyes widen as her eyes seemed to flicker with darkness and no emotion. "Stop talking."
She turned to look back at Ay'u who got the hint of what she wanted, the queue. As he walked across the platform and handed it off, she gripped at the older na'vis jaw before opening his mouth; smiling. "Are you telling me a child is lying about what you did to them?" Her voice a whisper so no one could hear the two, just them as he nodded again. "Yes, yes I promise." She stared at him, eyes widening as she felt her eye twitch. She had a killer look in her eyes.
"Wrong response."
Shoving the queue into the others mouth, she pushed him directly off of the boardwalk and watched as he plummeted into the lava. "Now, we feast!" She said loudly, everyone immediately running back to the village to celebrate. It ended just as fast as it started.
(Y/N) stayed in place on the boardwalk and watched the corpses disappear beneath the lava, as her parents and brother left with their people.
"(Y/N)" a voice snapped her out of her thoughts as she slowly turned to stare at Vamï, he didn't need to ask what was wrong as he could see she was on the verge of a break down. "Come on, you'll fall." He said.
She nodded and moved off the boardwalk, moving towards the pathway back to her village. "Do you want me to kill him?" Vamï said with a chuckle. "What—?"
"The man you like. Do you want me to kill him for you?" She gave the other a look before a soft smile appeared on her lips before shaking her head. "No, I don't want that." She admitted truthfully.
"Then smile, you have a show to put on."