They rode away from the ship together until they spotted Jake on one of the rocky surfaces. "Dad! Help, it's Neteyam!" Lo'ak called out to his father. "He's hurt!"
"Hurry!" Nani'ite yelled, holding tightly onto his wound as Neteyam's breathing got heavy.
They turned Neteyam off of the Ilu, Nani gently carried his head as Lo'ak and Spider lifted him up.
"Oh no!" Jake's voice cracked as he grabbed his son.
"Hurry, please!" Lo'ak cried out as they tried their best to get him to the surface.
"Watch his head, watch his head!"
"Hurry! Come on!"
"Just watch his head!" Jake said, placing his eldest son down in front of him.
Neteyam's breath was shallow, coughing for air while his body shook uncontrollably. Nani could not stand to see him this way, she closed her eyes and grabbed his hand. "Shhh, it's okay. It's all okay." She tried her best to soothe him.
"It's okay bro, we got you!" Lo'ak called out as Jake looked at his wounds.
"Oh no." Jake said looking at his wound, "Pressure, keep pressure on it!" He told Lo'ak.
"Dad," Neteyam called out, "Nani."
"We're here." Jake said bringing a hand to caress his sons face, "We're right here."
"My Teyam." Nani cried looking up her lover, tears falling from her eyes uncontrollably as she held his hand to caress her face.
Just then, Neytiri flew in, approaching from the other side of Nani'ite. "No, no, no, no," She gasped, taking a knee by his side.
Neteyam was surrounded by them now, all looking down at him. "It's okay." Lo'ak reassured him.
"I want to go home." Neteyam breathed out, looking at his family and then down to Nani'ite with her face in the palm of his hand. He tried his best to wipe away her tears with his thumb, but he was too weak.
"I know, I know... we're going home." Jake responded, "We're going home. It's okay, it's okay."
Neteyam's flashed his eyes around once more, taking a look at each of his family members. His skxawng brother, his graceful mother, his admirable father and then down to his lover.
"I... I" He croaked out before he exhaled deeply.
The pupils in his eyes widened and his eyes turned dark. His once shaky lip was now still, the color from his face began to fade. His chest was no longer rising and falling, his body was no longer shaking in fear.
"Neteyam." Neytiri gently whispered to her son.
Nani shook her head, this is not real, please wake up this is not real.
"No, no, no, no" Neytiri cried out once she realized, "Neteyam! No!"
Jake's head dropped in sadness, confirming Nani's worst nightmare to be reality. Suddenly her heart broke into a million different pieces, it felt like glass shards ripping through her chest and up through her throat. She never felt so empty before, her world came crashing down on her in that moment.
"No great mother, no great mother please!" Neytiri cried out from a deep place of pain. "Oh, my son, please, my son."
Nani'ite sobbed still holding his hand, sobbing louder than ever before. Breathing heavily and hardly having the strength to inhale back in. "Wake up, please wake up!" She cried out, holding his hand up to her face just for it to keep falling down to his side limp.
Amongst the mourning and crying, Jake's face went cold as he looked back to the ship. "Where are your sisters?" Jake asked Lo'ak. "Your sisters, where are they?!"
"I don't know" Lo'ak whispered.
"Where are they?!"
"They're tied up on the ship, at the moon pool." Spider spoke up, "Come, I'll show you!"
Jake bent down to Neytiri, "Come on, let's go."
"No!" She cried out.
"Listen to me, they have our girls. I need you, with me. I need you to be strong, right now, strong heart." Jake grabbed her face.
Neytiri slowly grabbed her bow and stood up with a blank face, her tears being suppressed by her anger and the need to get her daughters back.
"Let's go get our daughters." He whispered to her, causing both of them to head off the rocky surface, "Stay with your brother!" Jake warned Lo'ak.
"Dad, I want to go with you." Lo'ak stood up to his father.
"You've done enough." Jake said before turning towards the ocean.
"No dad..." He whispered, it was now just him and Nani left with Neteyam on the rocks.
Nani'ite held Neteyam's head to her chest, running her hands through his hair and placing kisses on his forehead. Pulling his hand up to her face just for it to continuously fall down to his side. She just wanted this to be over, this bad dream to end.
"Nani..." Lo'ak whispered, but she didn't hear him, "Nani!" He grabbed her shoulder.
"No!" She snapped at him with anger in her eyes, suddenly her face softening once she realized who she was talking to. "Leave me alone, please." She cried and went back to caressing Neteyam's face.
"Nani, where..." He paused to speak through his tears, "Where is Tsireya?"
"What?" She turned to face Lo'ak.
"Tsireya." He repeated.
Nani looked around the ocean surrounding them. It was just them left with Neteyam, her sister was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly through the pain and chaos, she remembered they had left her on the ship tied up with the other two girls. Nani's tears slowly flowed down her face, and she began to slow her breathing down. Gasping softly for air and slowly trying to put together her thoughts.
"She is on the ship." Nani whispered, letting go of her lover's body and weakly standing up on her own. "She is tied up on the ship."
"We must-"
"You stay." Nani grabbed his shoulder and looked him in the eyes, "Stay with Neteyam."
"Where are you going?" He cried out after her.
"To get my sister." She said lowly and called her Ilu.
Nani'ite road out into the water just as eclipse hit, it was dark out now. On the other end she saw Jake creep up the side with Spider behind him. She quietly walked onto the ship, making her way to a human body with a Metkayina spear plunged into its back. She picked up the spear and jerked it out of the body, carrying it by her side as she crept around the ship quietly.
Just as she turned the corner of the ship she was face to face with an Avatar in full gear, she swiftly knocked the gun from their hands and slashed the spear through their chest. Killing them instantly, the commotion caught another Avatar's attention. They quickly drew there gun up at Nani as she tried to get the spear out of her last victim.
"AH!" She heard a yell come from her right and an arrow quickly struck the Avatar through the head, Neytiri landed right in front of Nani and looked down at her.
Neytiri's eyes we're full of pain and desperation, and so we're Nani's. The two shared a look with each other, a split second of shared grief, shared trauma, shared rage. Nani'ite pulled her spear from the avatar's body and nodded her head to Neytiri. The two made their way down the ship and ran into a group of sky people.
The humans were nearly too easy to kill. Neytiri flung their bodies with her bow, not even having to shoot them down. Nani threw her spear through one of the humans, pinning them against the wall and she grabbed a gun from the floor, shooting at the remaining sky people around them.
Nani'ite retrieved her spear and made her way with Neytiri down the ship, and they ran into Jake. "What are you doing here?!" Jake yelled out grabbing Nani'ite by the arm.
"They have my sister!" Nani yelled out back, "Look out!"
Jake turned at her warning, shooting the Avatar behind them and pushing Nani on the ground behind the metal blocking the gunfire.
Neytiri made her way down, fighting off the enemy one by one with Jake. Nani followed behind them, throwing her spear and shooting the gun she had picked up. She fought alongside with them, taking down the enemy one by one. Nani killed her victims with rage pumping through her body; they have killed tulkun, they killed her lover and now they have her sister. Nani'ite was willing to risk everything so that she did not have to face another loss today.
Just then, she turned the corner and was caught off guard, she drew her gun up and shot at the same time as her attacker. She shot them down and swiftly hid behind one of the walls, catching her breath as she felt stinging coming from her left abdominal.
"No," She looked down, placing her hand over a gunshot wound she suffered to her side. "No, no, no." She closed her eyes and threw her head back on the wall behind her, wincing in pain. She looked over to see Neytiri fighting off the last of them and looked off to see Jake, approaching both Tuk and Tsireya tied up.
"Neytiri!" She called out, "Neytiri!"
Neytiri was face to face with a sky person, screaming in their face as she killed them. She looked around once she heard her name, spotting Nani just around the corner.
"Oh no." Neytiri approached her with a worried expression, "no, not you."
"My sister..." Nani groaned out, "My sister is tied up!"
The two women stood there, sharing a look of desperation with each other once more. "Come, you are okay, come." Neytiri threw Nani's arm over her shoulder and helped her walk.
"We can't leave them!" Nani cried out, looking over at the girls tied up.
"Jake will get them, you do not worry." Neytiri spoke to her, leading her towards the edge of the ship. "Come, we must find your mother."
"Neytiri I-"
"Shh! No more!" Neytiri said sternly, calling for her ikran. "Jake will get them, do not worry child."
Nani'ite looked at the ship once more and hung her head low in disappointment, not being able to reach her sister. "Come, hurry." Neytiri helped her onto the Ikran and sat right behind her. She called out and the two began flying.
Flying, Nani thought. She closed her eyes, and not for the first time, let the wind dry up her tears and wash away her worries. Flying was peaceful. Flying was the first gift Neteyam ever gave her. Flying was something only she had done with him. In that moment, she wished it was all a dream. She wished that once they landed, she would awake, that the wind would wash away the whole day, that she could just start over again.
But it didn't. The two flew just a short distance before approaching the village, where many were outside. From the air Neytiri spotted Ronal working on the wounded warriors on the beach, Neytiri quickly dove and landed right there in front of them.
"Ronal!" Neytiri called out, "It is your daughter, it is Nani'ite!"
"What?" Ronal yelled, making her way over to Neytiri as she supported Nani's weight from falling off the ikran.
"Help!" Neytiri hissed at Ronal as she tried to pull her down. Ronal grabbed her daughters head and more villagers helped get her off the ikran, setting her down on the beach.
"Nani'ite!" She yelled out, assessing her wound to her abdomen, "What did she do?" Ronal asked Neytiri.
"She was saving your daughter, Ronal!" Neytiri replied with tears in her eyes.
"Mother!" Nani wept out, the pain was becoming unbearable, "Mother, it hurts!"
"I know my child; I know my baby." Ronal cried out, caressing her head with one hand and the other on her stomach where her grandchild would be.
"Get Tonowari!" Ronal yelled out at one of the villagers, "Bring me my basket! My basket right there! I need bandages!"
"Mother," Nani wept out in her mother's hand, "Mama."
"My dear," Ronal looked down at her daughter, regretting everything she has ever put her through. Regretting not being a more caring mother. Regretting being so tough on her children and ever shunning her away. She wished in that moment she could turn back time, to when Nani was a young girl who stilled called her 'mama' to fix all of the trauma.
"I see Eywa." Nani wept out, "She is so close."
"No! No, my daughter you must fight! Look at me!" Ronal wept. Neytiri covered her mouth and cried out at the scene in front of her.
"I see Eywa" Nani'ite smiled through the pain, using her last breath to say, "And... I see Neteyam."
Her body went limp, her last words being that of her true loves name. The two women sat there, sobbing over what they had lost today. Both losing their first borns, both losing their first expected grandchild. The two women's mourning became one, as did Neteyam and Nani'ite.