Italicize - someone's thoughts, a story from the past, or a dream
Bold - sign language
Marali's eyes frantically moved behind her eyelids, and her breathing grew fast and shallow. She was having a nightmare.
Blood.
Death.
Fire.
Everywhere those three things surround her vision in her dreams. Marali is watching everything happen from an outsider's perspective. The dream constantly switched from Jake to Neytiri to the Sully children in that order.
At first, the dream started with the Sully children and the Metkayina children helping save Payakan, but then it turned into them getting away from the Sky people. Neteyam left with the device in Payakan's fin, and the rest of the kids tried to get away. It was hard because the machines the Sky People were using were faster than their ilus.
Lo'ak, Tsireya, and Tuk get caught and are flown onto the ship.
The vision switches to Jake, and Marali can't hear what's being said, but she knows it's bad from the way Jake reacts. Marali watches in horror as Jake moves forward on his akula to move towards the ship.
As Jake leaves the Metkayina people, everything happens in slow motion. Payakan leaps out of the air and attacks the demon ship, giving the people the distraction they need to fight.
Jake kills.
Neytiri kills.
Jake protects Neytiri.
Neytiri protects Jake.
But when it gets to Neteyam saving Lo'ak, Tuk, and Tsireya, Marali's vision no longer changes to someone else. It stays on the children as if this is the part of the dream she needs to focus on.
"Neteyam!" Tuk yells.
"Hey baby brother, need some help?" Neteyam asks as he gets his knife out and cuts off Tuk's cuffs, then Tsireya's, and lastly Lo'ak's. Tsireya quickly gets Tuk away from the ship as that's what Neteyam asks of her, and Marali silently pleads for the boys to leave as well as she helplessly watches.
Neteyam prepares to leave, but when he turns around he sees the hesitation in Lo'ak's eyes. "Lo'ak!" Neteyam calls out.
"They've got Spider. I have to save him." Lo'ak says firmly.
Marali watched as both boys silently moved through the ship and began to climb so they were not spotted.
Suddenly, there was talking, and six guards and Spider made an appearance. Neteyam jumps down and attacks the guards first, followed by Lo'ak, then Spider. A guard appears behind Neteyam, ready to kill him, but Lo'ak grabs the gun and shoots the human, killing him instantly.
"Bro, come on." Spider urged.
"Let's go!" Neteyam says as he taps his brother on the shoulder to pull him out of his dissociation.
Spider directs the teens to jump down to a lower level, and they are spotted by an Avatar who has a gun. Lo'ak goes to shoot the Avatar, but Neteyam slaps the gun down and pushes Lo'ak out of the way.
All the teens run to take cover as the Avatar shoots at them. "Go, go, go!" Spider yells.
Soon, they find a place to take cover, and Neteyam rips the gun out of Lo'ak's hand. "Go, go, go! I'll cover you!" Neteyam says as he points to the pool they could jump into to escape.
Lo'ak shoots Neteyam a worried look but quickly obeys Neteyam as he follows closely behind Spider. Neteyam uses the gun as a distraction as he shoots at the one Avatar targeting his brother and his friend. Once the teen sees Lo'ak and Spider are safe, he throws the gun down and quickly runs to escape as well.
As he jumps into the pool, Marali's vision changes once again.
She's no longer on the ship. Now she's on some rocks and sees the Sully family surrounding someone.
When her dream first started, she was watching from above, but now it's like she was in her body watching the scene before her. The girl slowly walks towards the family and freezes when she sees who they have gathered around.
Neytiri was pleading with Great Mother as Jake sat there and looked at his son, who was no longer breathing.
Neteyam was dead.
Marali's eyes shot open, and she quickly sat up as she looked around, pleading for it to only be a dream. When her eyes settled on the sleeping boy from across the pod, she felt like she could finally breathe again.
Tears pricked at the back of her eyes when the images of Neteyam being dead flooded her mind. She looked outside to see that the Sun wouldn't come up for another few hours, and she silently groaned in frustration. The girl knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, but she didn't want to leave the pod either.
So, she got up as quietly as she could and walked over to Neteyam.
"Neteyam," She whispered, not receiving a reaction from him. "Neteyam," She murmured as she pushed his shoulder slightly.
"What?" The boy mumbled as he kept his eyes closed.
"Can I sleep with you?" Marali asked, and the boy's eyes snapped open as he looked at the girl's face. "What?" He said as his voice cracked.
"Can I sleep with you? You know, lay down beside you?" She says frustrated. The boy visibly relaxed when she only meant that she wanted to sleep beside him. "Yeah, of course. Come here." Neteyam said as he rolled over onto his back and opened his arms for the girl to lay on his chest.
Marali quickly laid down beside him and placed her head on his chest. As she felt her breathing calm down, she closed her eyes and focused on Neteyam's heartbeat. It was strong and healthy. Neteyam was alive. He was here. It was just a dream.
At the realization of it only being a dream, Marali felt her eyelids grow heavy as she listened to Neteyam's slow and steady heartbeat, signaling that he had already drifted back asleep. After a couple more minutes of listening to his heartbeat, Marali drifted back asleep.
~~~~
Out of everyone in the pod, Jake was the first one awake. It wasn't unusual for him to be up first. Neytiri and he always took turns of who was the first to wake up. When Jake heard Neytiri sigh, he knew that she was also awake.
"Morning." He whispered as Neytiri hummed in agreement.
The two parents silently lay with each other before they decide to sit up and wake up their children. Neytiri looks over to her two daughters and notices that Marali isn't there. "Where's Marali?" Neytiri whispers, and Jake's head snaps in the direction of Kiri and Tuk.
Please don't tell me those two snuck out again. Jake thought to himself.
However, his eyebrows knitted in confusion when he saw Neteyam still in the pod silently asleep. "I don't know. We'll look for her after we wake the kids up." Jake said, and Neytiri nodded her head as she went over to wake up the girls.
Kiri and Tuk had both been relatively easy to wake up that morning, and Jake grumbled to himself as he walked over to his youngest son, who consistently tried to give him gray hair before he turned 40.
Jake looked down at Lo'ak and snorted when he saw how he was sleeping. The youngest boy slept quite similarly to Jake, and it brought a smile to his face when he saw how his son was sleeping. Jake whispered to his son that it was time to get up, and Lo'ak pried his eyes open as he looked at his father.
It surprised Jake that Lo'ak woke up so easily, but he wouldn't say anything about it because he was glad that, for once, he didn't have to yell at him to get up.
When Jake turned around to see if Neteyam was up, he saw Neytiri, Kiri, and Tuk all standing above the boy as they looked down at him. "What's wrong?" Jake asked in concern as he got up and walked over to his eldest child. Jake froze when he saw what his mate was looking at.
Lo'ak yawned as he walked over to his family to see what they were looking at. As his eyes lay on his brother, he smirked at what he saw.
Neteyam and Marali were cuddled up to each other, with Neteyam's arm wrapped around the girl's waist and Marali's face buried in the crook of his neck.
They all watched the two teens sleep as they watched with either side eyes or smirks.
After a couple more minutes, Marali started to stir in her sleep, and she slowly opened her eyes. When she saw all of the Sully family looking at her, she gasped and pushed Neteyam away from her.
"Ow! Mari, why did you do that?" Neteyam groaned as he shot a glare at the girl. He saw that Marali's attention wasn't on him, and turned his head to see what she was looking at. Neteyam's eyes widened as he awkwardly coughed and slowly moved away from the girl.
"Hey, Dad." He said nervously.
"Hey, Jake," Marali said sitting up.
Jake had been looking at the two of them with an eyebrow raised and his arms crossed over his chest. He did not look happy with them at all. "Mind explaining why you two were sleeping with each other?" He asked.
Marali and Neteyam looked at each other gulping. "Well, you see - it's a really funny story," Marali said nervously laughing.
"I do love a good storytime," Lo'ak said with a smirk.
Both Marali and Neteyam shot the boy a glare before they looked back at Jake who had been eyeing them, waiting for an explanation.
"I don't remember. All I know is Marali asked to sleep here, and I was too tired to argue." Neteyam said throwing the girl under the bus. Marali gaped at him in betrayal knowing all of the attention was on her.
He's so gonna pay for that. The girl thought to herself.
"I uh, I had a bad dream," Marali said.
"You slept with Neteyam because you had a bad dream?" Jake asked, and Marali cringed at the wording of his question.
"Yeah. Sometimes I would do it when I was little because it helped me fall back asleep. I figured I would try it again this time instead of leaving the pod." Marali said quickly coming up with an excuse.
Jake looked at her and studied her face to see if she was telling the truth. It wasn't a lie. Marali did sometimes sneak into their tent to sleep beside Neteyam when they were little. She would have these horrifying nightmares, and when they happened she was never able to fall back asleep.
It also brought the question to Jake's mind of what the nightmare was about. He never wanted to worry Neytiri with the details, but sometimes Marali's nightmares would come true. The father knew that he would have to find some time to talk to her alone to coax what the dream was about out of her.
"Okay," Jake sighed, and both teens visibly relaxed.
"Aren't they in trouble?" Lo'ak questioned, and Marali got up to slap his arm. "Come on, Dad. If that was me and Tsireya, you would ground me for a month." Lo'ak complained.
Neytiri looked at her youngest son in shock. "What do you mean 'you and Tsireya'?" Neytiri asked, and Lo'ak rubbed the back of his neck knowing that he exposed himself to his parents. Marali looked at the boy with a smirk.
"Lolo here has himself a girlfriend." She teased.
"I do not!" Lo'ak defended.
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"No, I don't!"
"Yes, you do!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
Lo'ak glared at the older girl, who cheekily smiled at him. "What about you and Neteyam then?" The boy said.
"What about Neteyam and I?" Marali asked innocently. Neteyam looked at his brother and Marali with a slight smile on his lips. The rest of the Sully family, besides Jake, watched the argument in amusement. Those two always argued like siblings. Jake listened, confused by his son's words. Was something going on between Marali and Neteyam? His head spun with questions before he gave up because he was giving himself a headache.
"Stop trying to change the subject away from you and Tsireya!" Marali yelled.
"If I have to be in the spotlight, so do you!" Lo'ak fired back.
The two continued to argue before Jake had had enough. "Enough!" Jake shouted, causing the two teens to look at him.
"What is wrong with you two?" He asked.
"Tsireya and Lo'ak kissed."
"Neteyam and Marali kissed."
Both teens spoke at the same time, and Jake's jaw dropped as he looked at Marali and Lo'ak in disbelief. Jake opened his mouth to say something but closed it as he couldn't think of what to say.
Suddenly, Marali's old words popped back into his head.
I thought she liked someone else. Jake thought to himself.
"I thought you liked someone else, Mara," Jake said, and the girl looked at him with wide eyes.
"I-. Psssh, I never said that." She said, denying Jake's claim. "Tell them I never said that, Neteyam."
"You did say that," Neteyam shrugged his shoulders as the girl gaped at him.
Neytiri watched her husband question the girl with a knowing smile on her lips. Of course, Jake knew that Marali liked Neteyam, but when the girl said she liked someone else, it genuinely confused him. He had never been the brightest crayon in the box.
"Why would you kiss Neteyam?" Jake finally questioned, and Marali gulped.
She looked over to Neteyam for help, but he watched her in amusement, and she knew that he wouldn't do her any good anyway. "I like him." She mumbled quietly so that no one could hear her.
"What was that?" Jake asked, causing the girl to groan.
"I like him, okay?!." Marali said, and everyone's eyes widened.
They had never expected her to come right out and say that she liked Neteyam; they were merely teasing her.
A few moments passed, and now all the attention was on Neteyam. "What?" He asked, confused.
"Bro, Marali just told everyone that she likes you. Aren't you going to say something?" Lo'ak questioned.
"I like her too." He said, nonchalantly. Jake blankly stared at his son.
Neteyam lied. Jake saw it in the way that he slightly hesitated before he said that he liked Marali. When Jake looked at his son, he saw the way he looked at the teen girl. No, Neteyam didn't like Marali. He loved her, and Jake knew his son had to of recently become aware of his feelings. The father looked over to his mate to see her already giving him a look that meant she also knew about Neteyam's true feelings.
Then, it dawned on Jake that Marali had said Lo'ak kissed someone too. "Wait, you kissed Tsireya, Lo'ak?" Jake asked, and Marali snorted.
The rest of the morning was essentially spent with Jake interrogating Lo'ak about his feelings for Tsireya. The interrogation came to an end when Tonowari came to the pod and asked Neytiri and Jake to follow him, but asked the teens to stay behind.
Jake and Neytiri quickly left the pod, leaving the teens confused. "What's wrong?" Tuk asked, worried.
"I'm sure it's nothing," Marali assured.
"Do you think Kiri and I can still go swimming?" Tuk asked.
"I don't see why not just be careful, okay?" Marali said as she looked over to Neteyam to get him to agree with her. The boy smiled at his little sister and smiled in agreement.
After Neteyam and Marali agreed that Kiri and Tuk could go swimming, both of them quickly left and jumped into the water. The rest of the teens sat in silence before Marali glared at Lo'ak. "I can't believe you told your Dad that I kissed Neteyam," She scoffed.
"You told him that I kissed Tsireya!" Lo'ak exclaimed, and Marali narrowed her eyes at him before directing her attention to Neteyam. "And you," She said, pointing a finger accusingly at the boy, "You didn't defend me,"
"How was I supposed to defend you?" He asked in disbelief.
"I don't know, but you could have done something." She grumbled.
The three teens sat in silence for the most part after that, except for the occasional conversation that would be started. They had never had this much quiet time since they arrived in the Metkayina clan, and it was nice. The silence felt well deserved until Neytiri and Jake came back into the pod, looking frazzled as they urged the teens to follow them.
Everyone hastily followed behind the two parents as they walked to the crowd. Marali had no idea what was happening besides the fact that a tulkun was dead.
And for some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was just the beginning.
Unedited. 06/04/23
Edited. 08/06/23
Word Count: 2,835
Hey everyone!
Hopefully you enjoyed - Last chapter was by far my favorite. This chapter is cute too, though.
If there is anything you would like to see in upcoming chapters, please comment ideas! I would love to hear from all of you.
If anyone would like to make a cover for the book, please feel free to reach out. The one on the book is generic because I have no artistic skills.
Be on the lookout for another chapter later today, probably in the evening.
Have an amazing day!