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i looked at you like the stars that shine
in the sky, the pretty lights
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"HEY, CAN'T SLEEP EITHER?" Lo'ak asked A'leyra as he approached her. She was lying in the sand, staring at the night sky. The air was cold, but something about it felt like home. After the events that had occurred the past few days, all they wanted to do was rest in each other's presence.
"Mhm...I was just thinking." She looked up into his eyes, shining brightly right back at her. He could just stay there forever and be completely content with his life.
"About what?"
"Us."
"How we were when we were kids. When life was more carefree. All we did was just run around and annoy everyone else." He laughed at her sentence softly, reminiscing all his fond memories with her.
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5 years ago
age thirteen
Lo'ak felt himself drifting in and out of reality. He had screwed up a mission, again, and now he had to pay for it. Listening to his father constantly talking was draining him mentally. It was always the same.
"Lo'ak, you've disappointed me."
"Why can't you be more like your brother? He never caused us this much trouble!"
After listening to absolutely nothing his father said, he ended the conversation promptly with a small 'yes, sir' and walked away, blinking away small tears threatening to fall from his eyes. Tending to the rest of the ikran, he felt Spider pat his back pathetically, then walking away hurriedly. Lo'ak knew that he was reckless, but how else was he supposed to get his father's attention on him, for once? All he talked about was how great of a warrior Neteyam was, and how much shame Lo'ak had brought to his name. Sometimes, he didn't even feel like he deserved carrying the same surname as his family. They'd all done things that Jake had acknowledged and praised them for it. Lo'ak, on the other hand, only got scoldings and shallow praises.
"Lo'ak, well done." He would quickly mumble, before immediately rushing to Neteyam to tell him about how he had never let him down. Not even once.
Lo'ak felt his eyes becoming more moist by the second, until immediately stopping when he felt a soft hand rub his shoulder gently.
"What happened, ma Lo'ak?" She whispered softly, placing both her hands on his arms as she pulled him closer. He looked down, in awe of the girl in front of her. After he had that talk with Spider the week before, he looked at her differently.
"Same thing that happens every time." He looked to the ground in shame, ready for her to scold him just like his father. Instead, she pulled him into an intimate hug. He felt like he needed to tell her more, so they walked to an empty healing hut and talked.
"I just feel like I can't prove myself to him. He just thinks I'm reckless."
"You're not reckless, you're fearless."
All this time, Lo'ak and A'leyra lied. The kiss they had a few chapters before was not their first.
This was.
But they would never tell anyone. It was a secret they would cherish forever
That wasn't really a carefree memory. Think further back.
10 years ago
age eight
Laughter filled the family's marui. Both the Sully's and A'leyra's family was gathered there to have a small dinner. Just them. Except the laughter was just coming from A'leyra. She was giggling the entire time as Lo'ak told her jokes after jokes. The parents playfully rolled their eyes at the sight of the two, used to it by now.
"You know, one day they will realise why they spent so much time with the other." Tsan'tey started the topic, making the other parents chuckle as they watched the young kids sit across the room from them.
"I won't be surprised. I mean, when Lo'ak was just introduced to her she was practically already all over him. Never leaving his side. Well, him too." Jake smiled softly while he recalled that memory. The rest of the night was filled with smiles and laughter.
What the parents had not known, was that Lo'ak and A'leyra had heard what they said. And they were extremely confused.
"What are they talking about?" A'leyra made a disgusted face, Lo'ak imitating her after.
"I don't know, and I don't care. Wanna race to our tree?"
"Yes!"
How her parents had thought she was in love with Neteyam a few days before was a mystery. Even past them was smarter than them now, honestly. (nothing against neteyam)
3 years ago
age fifteen
Lo'ak was pacing around his marui, about to tell his sister about his feelings that he'd been harbouring for A'leyra.
"Can I tell you something?" He stuttered a little, making him curse himself out.
"Uh yeah sure. What do you need?"
Kiri was then told some 'jaw dropping news'
It was not at all jaw dropping, she had seen it coming from miles away. How her brother had just realised it was appalling to her. Kiri laughed and teased his brother the whole night. He enjoyed it secretly, but he would never admit it to Kiri.
Just as A'leyra was about to confess to Lo'ak, she heard laughter coming from his marui, followed by a string of sentences.
"I can't believe you finally just realised that you liked her!"
"Stop it, Kiri!"
Her pounding heart came to an abrupt stop. She thought that Lo'ak might've reciprocated some feelings towards her, but all hope of that was thrown out of the window. She had even prepared a speech that she was going to say wholeheartedly. I guess she just had to wait a few more years.
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"I can't believe you thought I was talking about Akiho. I hated her. She kept tryna get in my space like back off!" He flung his arms in the air to show his fake annoyance. She snickered at his angry face.
"I know, but I was fifteen! How was I supposed to know?"
There was a pause of silence after their laughter.
He smiled at her lovingly, glancing between her eyes and her lips while pulling her into a sweet but long kiss.
"nga yawne lu oer, Leyra." She felt like she was already with Ewya, or as the sky people would say it, she felt like she was in heaven.
"nga yawne lu oer, ma Lo'ak"
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i'll be eighty seven ; you'll be eighty nine
i'll still look at you like the stars that shine
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authors note:
tysm for 2.7k reads! this is the last official chapter of fearless before the epilogue. I really hoped u enjoyed it as much as i loved writing it!
my next book, 'gorgeous | lo'ak x tsireya' will be coming out in may!
thanks for all of the votes and comments <3
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