"(Why did you have to join me again?)" I asked Kiri, still annoyed by her demanding to come with me, even going as far as threatening to tell our parents again. The wind whipped against my naked upper body, which was only protected by a tool belt, similar to the ones filled to the brim with ammunition, which were in some of the old films the laboratory's people had saved. Having an exopack was sometimes a blessing in disguise. Especially now, as the air couldn't cut out my eyes like the sound of it whipping around my ears would let me believe.
"(You know exactly why, skxawng.)" Was Kiri's response after giggling to herself and pushing herself closer onto my back, her petite breasts, only protected by her ever so skimpy leaf and string breast holder. She really pushed the boundaries of body contact, using the speed of flight as an excuse. She didn't need to put her arms around my waist. I am sure of that.
"(At least stop rubbing yourself off on me. Do that when I am not around, please.)" I yelled back hoping the method of teasing would get her to stop. I did seem to work to some degree, as she loosened her grip a little bit, leaning back.
"(Hey!)" the younger, but taller na'vi female exclaimed. "(Don't get the wrong idea, flyboy, I am only keeping myself from falling.)" A screech from Lu'un stopped the two of us from continuing with our argument.
"(Yeah, yeah. We'll stop.)" I said, one last glance being sent over my shoulder, before focusing on our surroundings again. Kiri also kept her mouth shut, making the journey rather quiet from here on out. I am sure she threw all her insults at me mentally, but I was lucky not to have to listen to those, as the verbal ones were enough already. Soon enough, did the start of the kill zone of Bridgehead City appear on the horizon. I started flying closer to the treetops, so as not to stick out too much. As often as I had been here, you could think that it would be safe to approach the settlement, but you would be wrong, it was still dangerous. If you weren't careful, they would send you to Eywa as soon as they laid their eyes upon you and that should be avoided. I shook my head to break away from these thoughts, as I mentally commanded Lu'un to enter the jungle below us through the treetops. A screech from him later and we were now seeing the ancient tree and other flora that had survived the arrival of the humans from earth.
"(Let's walk the rest!)" Yelled Kiri into my ear, making me flinch for a second. It felt like being back in the ikran hatchery, with how loud my step-sister could be. I nodded over my shoulder toward her, letting her know that I understood her assignment. Lu'un grappled onto some rope-like plants, which draped the side of a tree and practically shook us off. I can understand since he isn't used to carrying two people at the same time and needs some time before we can fly back with him. Both Kiri and I started our descent until we reached a thick branch, with many of which to be found on the old trees around us, from where we continued our path closer to the human settlement.
A few minutes passed, but we still cautiously treaded through the dense jungle, our steps muffled by the thick undergrowth. Not too long after did we finally reach the death zone and were now able to see Bridgehead City through the few trees that divided the jungle and the area seeded with automatic turrets. Dark smoke from the machinery inside clouded the sky above the settlement, giving everything an eerie feel, as it even blinded out the sun. Kiri's tail swished from side to side in a hurried fashion, a clear sign of her irritation as I had learned over the years. I couldn't blame her; the sudden transition from the lush, vibrant forest to the desolate expanse of the death zone was jarring, even for me who ignored it for the most part. Kiri's voice was filled with awe and dismay.
"(By Eywa, look at this barren wasteland!)" Her eyes darted around the dry, flat land to our side, before turning back to me and speaking with hurried words. "(This place is cursed, Firin.)" I turned to face her, my expression rather annoyed at the obvious comment.
"(You don't have to come with me, you know? I can handle it on my own.)" I looked away, wanting to come off as distant and cold. She would find a way to ruin this, I was sure, hence I didn't want her to come with me in the first place. Kiri, however, scoffed and I turned back around to continue our hike. I could feel her gaze staring holes into the back of my head but didn't feel like looking back at her.
"(Handle it on your own? Are you listening to yourself? Something's not right with this Louise girl, and I won't let you get captured as well, Spider was enough.)" I shook my head, unable to comprehend her way of seeing this.
"(You're overreacting, Kiri. Louise wouldn't betray me. Besides, don't bring Spider into this.)" With an accepting sigh, Kiri relented, and we continued our journey, albeit in tense silence. Every now and then, I caught glimpses of her movements when looking around. She seemed to want to show her frustration to me with every step she took. This continued on for a few more minutes until suddenly, Kiri halted, her ears perking up, alert to a distant sound. She turned me around by grabbing my arm and signaling for silence, not that I was talking previously. Her gaze filled with some sort of confusion, curiosity, and concern. I ignored her inner turmoil for the better of the situation and strained my ears to catch any hint of the commotion she had detected.
"(Stay quiet, Firin. I heard something,)" Kiri whispered, her voice barely audible. Obviously, did she hear something, and I didn't, her ears were way better than mine, a perk that came from being na'vi amongst many others, like being tolerated by clan members. We moved forward cautiously, careful not to make a sound that would give away our presence, my sister taking the lead. Gradually, the voices grew clearer from not even audible to some sort of arguing. We stayed up top over the jungle floor as we crawled the last few meters on our stomachs like some sort of caterpillar and stayed perched down on a rather thick branch from which we glanced down with only our head being visible.
"(What the fuck?)" I exclaimed in shock, still keeping down my voice as much as possible. I felt Kiri's eyes on me, but I was frozen solid by the commotion that played out below the two of us. Louise engaged in a heated argument with a group of soldiers, who stood half covered by some plant. Why did Kiri have to be right again?
"What do you mean hide?" One of the soldiers in the front of the small squad asked the young female with confusion in his voice. He looked at the others behind him. "Do you guys think we should?" They laughed. Louise yelled to get their attention back.
"Hey!" Heads turned in her direction. "I am telling you. He is smart enough to not approach when you lot are just flashing around your armed asses like that." She looked around, stalling her preaching. All eyes were still glued on her, mine and Kiri's included. Why did she look sort of sad? I asked myself before she shook it off and turned back to her companions, crossing her arms. "I don't like repeating myself, get into cover and wait for me to give you the signal to ambush him." Another one scoffed, scratching the back of his head with his rifle before adding his opinion into the mix.
"You should count yourself lucky that we were told to follow your lead." Just like his comrade, he looked around the soldiers, as if hoping for acceptance for his words. If that was his plan, then it worked, as most of the nodded. My girlfriend scoffed but was beat to saying the next sentence, as yet another new voice spoke up.
"I don't think that hiding is that bad of an idea." The turmoil of disagreement rose before he asserted himself. "Just think about it. I heard he killed like 4 people once before." This made all others silent. "I personally don't intend to kick the bucket just yet." Now Louise finally spoke up.
"Exactly." She put her flowing brunette hair behind her ears, pulling strains of it free from the Exo pack straps. "I mean, he nearly kicked away mine." The short-figured teen was interrupted.
"And you still 'went out' with him." The soldiers laughed.
"Shut up you lot!" she cleared her throat before continuing "Now, do as you're told for once. I would expect Firin to come somewhere around here in the next few minutes, so get going." Some still groaned but vanished in the thickest of the jungle and were now nowhere to be seen or heard, for me anyways. "Fucking military." She mumbled to herself.
"(You included, bitch.)" Whispered my younger sister next to me. This whole argument distracted me from the main point. Louise, the only girl, or person in general for that matter, I was able to trust in the last few months since meeting her, had betrayed me. Everything suddenly crashed. All the emotions and memories came flooding into my mind. My breath hiked, not being able to comprehend something so vile. The few last days were a fucking train wreck. Spider, the fights, and now this. Everything in this world was turned against me. Nothing and nobody accepted me, even the one I thought was there for me apparently not. She just stood there waiting for a few seconds before starting her fucking hike in search of me. Yeah, no chance, you will never see me again. Never. My vision blurred. Only one thing came to my mind. Eywa, are you here to finally take me with you? Go ahead, I don't even want to do this anymore. A quiet voice brought me out of my thoughts.
"(Firin, are you crying?)" My sister whispered next to me. I turned to her and saw that she had sat up. So it wasn't Eywa, only my weak side showing. Great, now she will push me away too. I scrambled to my feet her concerned green eyes following my unsteady movement. "(Firin?)" Yeah, nice try faking your compassion, I can see right through it.
"(Go away.)" I turned and began walking, my tears now flowing. Maybe I could finally kick Louise's bucket like I should have done back on that god-forsaken night.
"(Firin, where are you going?)" A big hand with slim fingers weakly grabbed my arm, in hopes of stopping me from running. Not that it normally worked. Running was always something I was good at, driven away from playing with the other kids, driven away from eating with the clan, driven away from happiness. Even though my entire body told me to go, I stopped. I turned around, facing the blue-skinned girl, who had tears in her eyes, just like the boy in front of her.
"(Do you think I will fall for your tricks?)" I briefly laughed to myself "(Why yes, I would love to go home with you.)" She looked at me, confusion written over her face. "(Skip to the end. You just want to hurt me like everyone else, right?)" I ripped my arm away from her, which she was still holding up until this point. In the most emotionless voice I could muster I spoke the next words. "(Find someone else to bother.)" And walked, ignoring her pleas for me to come back. Walked, until I could hear the voice of someone else, never looking back. That bitch was singing to herself like she hadn't just betrayed her 'boyfriend'. My hands went to the transmission device on my neck.
"Cute plan. Too bad it didn't work." The girl that I once called girlfriend jumped at my sudden, hoarse voice in her ear. She activated her transmission device and spoke. Good that my voice in her ears should be louder than the one coming from me.
"Firin? Where are you?" She looked around and after not seeing me continued. "And what do you mean 'plan'?" I scoffed to myself at her attempt to fool me and took a step away from the abyss below me, still in the treetops.
"Figure that out yourself. We're done. Never talk to me again." The device around my neck made some sort of 'crack' sound in my ears as I turned it off. Only Louise's desperate cries for an answer from below reached my ears, slowly fading in the background.
"Listen, I was forced to do this!" No answer.
"Firin, please answer!" No. Even though she was maybe a good hundred meters away I could hear the pain-filled cry she gave off. I winced. No, don't show weakness, don't give in. It's exactly what they want. Other voices filled the air and made me stop for a moment to listen in.
"Are you okay?" Presumably one of the soldiers asked, maybe the one who took her side.
"Why didn't you tell us he spoke to you?" Another one.
"Fucking bitch can't even complete simple missions." That bastard. A wave of rage washed over me for a second. He wasn't allowed to speak to her like that. But it passed as soon as it came, and I continued my depressing walk. Maybe flying on Lu'un could take my mind off of things. I ignored the tears coming out of my eyes, ever slowly filling the lower part of my Exo pack with the salty-tasting liquid. How many minutes passed before I heard the familiar cries of my ikran wasn't a question I had an answer for. Wait. Why were there sounds of someone else crying?
"(Kiri?)" The teenage girl looked up at me from her sitting position, her arms around her knees. Freezing. "(What are you doing here?)" She looked perplexed at my question, even with her teary eyes. She sniffed, before answering my question, unlike I did to Louise.
"(Waiting for you.)" I raised an eyebrow. "(Lu'un is your ikran, I didn't bring mine.)" I nodded to myself. That made sense. Before I was able to say something, she took the word again. "(Did you calm down enough to fly?)" I sighed. Maybe I was a bit harsh back there.
"(Yeah.)" We both stayed still, me standing and her sitting, waiting for the other to speak up. "(Sorry for earlier.)" She sniffed again and wiped her eyes clear.
"(It's okay. I can understand that you weren't in the right mind. The least people would be.)" I smiled weakly as she looked down again. I guess there was still someone there for me.
"(Kiri?)" She looked up again. "(Thank you.)"
Only two weeks to write a chapter this time? I am a beast. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter.
I was looking for a way to end the 'Louise arc' before Firin and family make their way of water to the Metkayina clan, or however, you spell them.
Feedback in the comments would be appreciated, as well would be votes.
Bye-bye, and take care.