"One"
***
Y/N's POV
I close my eyes, not wanting to see whatever is gonna happen next. I'm preparing myself for a loud gunshot.
"NOW!" I hear a familiar voice shout.
I look up and see that the man who's holding a gun to Tuk's head is being pierced with an arrow. An arrow I know all too well.
Neteyam's arrow.
He jumps out of the bushes and shoots another one, making sure he kills the guy.
But before the man falls to the ground, he shoots.
"TUK!" I shout. But luckily the bullet didn't hit her head, it hit her arm.
"You fucking idiot! You missed!" Quaritch yells, but it's too late. The man is now laying on the ground, dead.
Neteyam runs up to Tuk with Kiri and Lo'ak following him. When he's with her, he turns his head around to face me.
"Y/N!" He says with worry in his eyes.
"It's okay Neteyam, go help Tuk, I'm okay" I reassure him.
He looks at me. He wants to help me, but then he nods. He knows his wounded sister needs his help more.
"I see your friends are busy with their little sister.. So it's you and me now, cupcake" Quaritch says threateningly in my ear.
He points his gun into my back.
This man's got nerve, he's playing with fire now. First he wants to kill Tuk and now he wants to kill me? Well, that's not gonna happen, not today. This man needs to die and if nobody is gonna kill him, I will.
"I'm not scared of you" I say, also threateningly. "It's you who should be scared of me now"
I feel my anger rise and that always means I'm about to do something stupid. But in this moment, I don't really care. If I don't kill this guy right now, no one will. Everyone is too afraid of him, I can feel it.
But I'm not. This man is the devil himself and there's only one place where he belongs: Hell.
"Now it's your turn, cupcake!" Quaritch says.
"Hey! Let go of my girlfriend!" Neteyam yells. He points his bow and arrow towards Quaritch.
But then Quaritch grabs my hair, pulling my head back. He leans to my ear. "Don't you dare threaten me, boy. Because I will kill you and your pretty girlfriend"
He points his weapon now into the direction of Neteyam and the rest. He loads it and is about to pull the trigger.
Excuse me? Kill Neteyam?
"You just made the biggest mistake you could've ever made, fucker. It's time for you to return back to where you belong!" I say with anger in my voice.
And then, I probably do the most stupidest thing I've ever done in my entire life: I transform myself into my lion form.
Right in front of everyone. Good job, Y/N, good job. You just revealed your deepest secret to them. I mean, it's not like I don't want them to know it, but I just don't want them to know so soon already. And I definitely would've told them another way, but unfortunately it's too late for that now.
When I'm done with transforming, I turn around and attack him. He starts screaming and shooting into the air. But it's too late for him. My mouth finds his neck and before I now it, my sharp teeth bite into his flesh. My paws are on his chest so I can dig into his skin with my nails. His torturing screams stop when I finally bite his neck through. I feel his pulse slow down fast and within seconds he's dead.
I let go of him, making him fall to the ground. His blood is dripping of my chin, but I'll clean that later.
Then, I hear loud heartbeats coming from behind me. Fuck..
I quickly transform myself back into my human form and slowly turn around.
There, right in front of me, are Neteyam, Kiri, Lo'ak and Tuk. All breathing heavily, sitting down on the ground and their eyes as wide as they can get.
We just stare at eachother. My breathing is also heavy and my adrenaline is still high. I decide to sit on the ground across from them, hoping it can calm me down.
My eyes never leave theirs, though. I just stay silent and let them process what just happened.
***
After 15 minutes of silence and just looking at eachother, Lo'ak finally breaks the silence.
"Couldn't you come sooner?" He asks.
Kiri slaps his head.
"Ouch!" He mumbles and carefully rubs the place.
I laugh a little. "What do you mean?"
"That guy has been targeting and attacking our family for as long as I can remember. And the problems he had with mom and dad go even more way back"
"How did you do that?" Tuk now comes in.
I look at her, her facial expressions are more calmer now then they were a few minutes ago.
"I've been aible to do that since I was born, I think. Ronal and Tonowari found me when I was a baby, so I don't know where I come from or who my parents are.. Or if I even have parents. The Metkayina people discovered my other side pretty soon after they took me in, but they still let me live there and grow up" I explain. "They accepted me.."
"So.. The whole time we were there, everybody knew about this?" Kiri asks.
I nod. Then it's silent again.
I look at Neteyam, who is awfully quiet. I feel so bad for him, he must be shocked. He just stares at the ground, probably still processing everything.
After two more minutes of looking at him, I break the silence.
"I'm sorry" I softly say.
He looks up at me.
"I'm sorry for not telling you, I just didn't know how. And you probably wouldn't have even believed me anyway"
"I just-" He starts. "I just don't know what to think of this, what to think of you"
I stand up and sit back down right in front of him. I take his hand and look him in the eyes.
"I understand, I really do. I just want you to know that I'm still the same person. This doesn't change a thing about me and about the feelings I have for you.." I say softly.
He looks at me and smiles a little. "I know.. I just need time to process this"
"Okay.." I smile.
I lean in and give him a hug, wich he returns gratefully. It feels nice to know that he's not scared of me or anything.
"Uhm, guys.. I don't wanna break your cute moment, but Tuk is still bleeding 'cause of the bullet that's still in her arm. I suggest we head back to the treehouse and let me fix her wound. I have some stuff there that can help" Kiri says.
"Oh shit, yeah you're right" I say while quickly breaking the hug.
We all stand up. Neteyam carries Tuk and we all walk back to the treehouse.
***
Neteyam's POV
When we're back, we climb up the tree and I put Tuk down in the middle of the treehouse. Kiri immediately starts healing the wound and Lo'ak, Y/N and I just sit next to eachother, watching her do her thing.
After she takes out the bullet, she puts on some sort of balm and some special leaves I've never seen before. But Kiri knows what she does, so I trust her.
"Is the pain fading?" She asks Tuk.
Tuk just nods.
"Good, that means that the leaves are doing their job"
She cleans up and sits next to us.
"I'll have to change that every morning and everytime you go to sleep"
"Okay" Tuk says.
It's silent again. This whole day was so.. I don't even know how to say it. I mean, my sister was almost killed and my human girlfriend, who by the way turns out to be not so human, can turn into a big and violent beast. An animal I've never seen before and it doesn't even look like the animals I've seen in my life. Maybe it's something from another planet..
Maybe dad's planet?
All I know is that I have some questions about her and..
Her other side.
What does this mean for us? Is she dangerous? Can she get dangerous?
Or is this maybe something positive? I mean, she could be very useful in fights. No one will ever see her coming, so the suprise effect will be on our side.
"We probably should stay up here the next two days. Then we need to find another place to stay. These soldiers were pretty close to our treehouse, so we need to move" Y/N says.
She's right.
Lo'ak furrows his brows. "Why two days? Wouldn't it be safer if we-"
"I know where you're going and yes, it would be safer if we move tomorrow. But we just got here and the events of today.. Tuk needs to rest. And to be honest, I'm pretty exhausted too. So we rest tomorrow and move the day after. Deal?"
Everyone nods.
"Let's all go sleep now" Kiri says.
Everyone gets up and get to their sleeping places.
I guess my questions have to wait until tomorrow..
***
Pffttt sooo the secret's out..
I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do, it's really something different. Anyway, I love writing it.
This one is a longer chapter, so you're welcome:)
Take good care of yourselves!
Lot's of love,
Jasmijn<3