I stretched out on the grass, sighing happily. After the raid a few weeks back, giving almost everyone heart attacks, we decided to rest and recuperate for a while.
Lo'ak and Kiri were visiting Kiri's biological mother with Spider today. I think it really helped Kiri. Tuk was at home, as was Neteyam. Ralu was somewhere near me. I could hear him shout profanities at the butterflies as they landed on him.
I just couldn't stand relaxing in the stronghold right now. I needed to get out and feel dirt under my toes instead of rock.
I missed the swaynivi. I missed waking up and going to the river and hanging out in the sun. But mostly, I missed the Home Tree.
I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes.
This was nice.
-
I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I sprung to my feet, knife at the ready. I always kept weapons on me, especially after the unexpected attack on Home Tree by the SkyPeople.
It wasn't an enemy, though. It was just Neteyam. And Ralu.
Both boys jumped out of reach of my blade just as I slashed it forward.
"Aneya! It's me!"
"Great Mother, you almost slashed my perfect face!"
I quickly sheathed my knife, glaring at them.
"Well, that's what you get for waking me up from my beauty sleep." I grumped.
Neteyam rolled his eyes and helped me to my feet. Ralu gave me a small shove with his hip, ignoring my hiss of protest.
"Jake and Neytiri were wondering if you wanted to go flying with us?"
I nodded enthusiastically, forgetting my grumpiness, and grinned as I took off running into the forest.
"Last one, there is a rotten yovo fruit!" I called.
Neteyam growled playfully and gave chase. Ralu complained loudly before following behind.
I shrieked with laughter as Neteyam swiped at my sides, only missing by an inch.
He smirked and reached out to tickle me, tackling me to the forest floor.
"Who's the mighty warrior now? Come on, say it," He taunted as he pinned me to the ground. My ears flicked back, and I felt my cheeks redden. It wasn't the joke that was bothering me, though. The 'mighty warrior' joke has been repeated several times throughout our friendship, so why was I suddenly flustered?
"What the hell, guys?" Ralu asked, breathlessly. He had finally caught up to us. I glanced up at him.
Was it my imagination, or was the look Ralu was giving the back of Neteyam's head slightly darker than usual?
"Never," I said breathlessly, ignoring my flaming cheeks (and Ralu), I swiftly detangled my limbs from Neteyam's, before running off into the forest again.
"See you later, you rotten yovos!" I cackled.
I could hear twigs snapping behind me as the boys sprinted after me, which only made me run harder.
I called Aretha, connected the bond, and flew into the clouds.
I could hear the wingbeats of Neteyam's Ikran, Leontios, and Ralu's Ikran, Evren, behind me.
-
I touched down at the stronghold first, looking back and giving both boys a triumphant smirk.
Ralu shoved my shoulder with a small growl as all three of us went to find Jake and Neytiri to fly.
We found them quickly and were soon back in the sky.
Lo'ak and Kiri came back to collect Tuk right before we left to go Ewya knows where to do whatever entertained them.
I was sure they were probably going somewhere they weren't supposed to be, though.
-
We flew for a while, Jake making sure we remembered our formation flying. We did, so he let us off the hook to mess around a bit.
I flew my Ikran close to Neteyam's, so they brushed wings and slightly unbalanced the other rider.
I chuckled as I swooped away, Neteyam just smiled exasperatedly at my antics, not wanting to be seen messing around in front of his father.
Ralu flew up from underneath me, and I flipped upside down. He gave me a quizzical look as I was the only one who had flipped and my Ikran was still upright.
I laughed and settled myself back into place on Aretha's back.
I quickly moved Aretha back into formation, though, when I heard the comms crackle to life.
"Devil Dog? Devil Dog, this is Eagle Eye, over."
I rolled my eyes at the nicknames. Just name yourself something normal or something fitting to you like Trouble Starter.
My comm name was Huntress. I liked it because one, I got to pick it, and two, it didn't sound as ridiculous as the other names. Ralu's was Hunter. I had picked mine first and Ralu apparently wanted a similar one, so he picked Hunter. I found that gesture both endearing and slightly hilarious.
"Eagle Eye, send your traffic," Jake responded.
I almost rolled my eyes agian. It wasn't a fucking squad, it was a family! Why couldn't our clan leader get it through his thick skull?
"I've got eyes on some guys," Came Lo'ak's quiet response. "They look like avatars, but they're in full camo and carrying ARs. There are six of them. Over."
"What's your pos? Over." Jake asked.
Also the 'over' thing. Why the hell did they have to do that?
I pulled myself out of my thoughts when I heard a small sigh on the other end.
"Uh...we're at the old shack."
Neteyam, Ralu, and I glanced sharply at each other and then at Jake and Neytiri.
"Who's 'we'?" I asked. Jake frowned but let me speak.
We're usually not allowed to speak when Jake is talking, but something was clearly wrong, and Kiri, Lo'ak, Spider, and Tuk could be in danger. I furiously hoped it was only Lo'ak, but something told me all of them were there.
"Me, Spider, Kiri," he paused. "And Tuk."
I was right.
Neytiri gasped softly, looking over at Jake.
His mouth was set in a firm line as he gave Lo'ak instructions.
"Son, you listen to me very carefully," he ordered. "You pull back right now. Do not make a sound. You get the hell out of there. You copy?"
There came a whispered "Yes, sir," from the other end and then silence.
Neteyam flew up beside Jake.
"Dad, I know a quick way!" He shouted.
Neytiri and I immediately looped around and followed him. Ralu pulled next to me as Jake brought up the rear.
-
It was around eclipse when we finally landed, our Ikrans gripping on the tree's trunk or branches as we dismounted, grabbing our weapons.
Neytiri soothed her Ikran before grabbing her bow.
"You three stay with the Ikran," Jake ordered.
"What?"
"But, Dad, we're warriors. All three of us." He gestured to himself, Ralu, and me. "We're supposed to fight like you two-"
"Neteyam," Neytiri warned.
Neteyam clenched his jaw, glaring at his father.
"Yes, sir." He said, finally. I bowed my head in assent. Ralu merely nodded.
Jake and Neytiri left, leaving us alone with our Ikran.
"I don't know about you two, but I am not staying here," I said, slinging my bow onto my back and sheathing a few extra knives, before beginning to walk away.
"Me neither," I heard Ralu say as he caught up with me.
I smiled at him and he smiled back.
Neteyam looked wary, glancing back at the Ikran before joining us, bow in hand.
"Let's go save those idiots," he grinned.
-
It started to rain as we tracked the two clan leaders.
It was difficult. Sort of.
Neytiri hid her tracks really well, while Jake, well, let's just say he never won hide n' seek whenever we played.
A human wouldn't be able to find him, but a trained Na'vi? Not even an expert, just trained? Piece of cake.
He did move pretty silently though, which made it easy for him to sneak up on us.
We had almost reached the old shack when we heard Neytiri's call.
I grinned at Neteyam through the wet darkness.
Those guys were about to meet hell.
We reached a clump of bushes and sank down behind them, soundlessly. I drew my bow and cocked an arrow, pointing it straight at the demon who had Kiri and Spider. Ralu sat on my left and drew his knife while Neteyam sat on my right and also pulled back his bow, ready to release an arrow I didn't notice he had already nocked.
I pricked my ears forward.
Neytiri's last call had come from close by and, if I wasn't mistaken, she was in a tree to our right with one of her neurotoxin arrows pointed at the alien who had Kiri.
I retrained my arrow on the guy who had Tuk and fired just as Neytiri fired her arrow straight and true through the head of the demon who was clutching Kiri by her hair.
"Contact rear!" The rest of them shouted. "Contact rear!"
They drew up their guns and started firing randomly at the trees.
I scoffed. No wonder their planet was dying. These creatures are so stupid.
"Lo'ak!" Neytiri shouted.
Lo'ak released the smoke bombs on the aliens' belts and sank his teeth into another one's arm. He grabbed Tuk and Spider and started dragging them away from the SkyPeople. Kiri quickly followed behind them.
"Go, go, go!" Lo'ak shouted.
Another one of the aliens grabbed Kiri by her tsaheylu. I leaped at the alien, sinking my knife in its neck while Neteyam drew his bow and defended me from behind.
"Aneya, move!" Neytiri yelled.
I darted out of the way, dragging Kiri with me as one of Neytiri's arrows went through the creature, killing it, the wound on its neck still bleeding. I didn't even feel bad.
We plunged into the forest, Neteyam and Ralu shooting arrows at the aliens until I shouted at them to just run. Spider followed quickly behind us, trying to keep up.
We climbed one of the thick trunks and continued running along its branches that were as wide as Ikrans. At least now we had a height advantage if the SkyPeople started to pursue us.
I heard Neytiri behind us yell something about killing a demon, but I ignored it and continued running.
At one point, Netayam broke off from the group, Kiri pleading for him to stay with us. He ignored her and disappeared into the shadows.
"Aneya! We have to go back, Neteyam-!"
I stopped and cut her off. "Neteyam has enough sense not to be killed. We need to find somewhere to regroup. If we go back, we all die."
Kiri glared at me while Spider gave me an appraising look. I snarled at him. My tail lashed, almost uprooting a fern behind me.
"What were you guys thinking anyway? You know the old shack is off-limits! I'm looking at you, Spider."
Spider opened his mouth to argue.
"But-"
"Unfortunately, Lo'ak isn't here, so I just get to yell at you." I snapped.
Kiri moved in front of Spider. "Aneya, don't be too hard-"
I ignored her.
Ralu was about to follow Neteyam but my hand on his forearm stopped him.
"Don't," I turned back to Spider. "How could you? Lead them into danger like that when you KNEW that the shack was off limits and you guys are NEVER supposed to go anywhere near it!"
Spider swallowed.
"Aneya, I'm sorry, I-i didn't know they'd be there,"
"You should be! You weren't even supposed to be there in the first place," I fumed. "Never do that again, or I will skin you alive!"
Kiri's nose flared. She looked livid.
"Don't. Touch him."
I scoffed abruptly, turning away, my hair swinging behind me. Ralu tried to put a hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off. I wasn't in the mood for pity or whatever soft emotion he was feeling right now. And I wouldn't actually touch Spider, I was just so angry because he thought it'd be a good idea to be in the most off-limits place ever. And I know it was his and Lo'ak's idea. They were always the ringleaders, getting everyone else in trouble.
"Let's get going," I said gruffly. "We need to find everyone else."
-
We could hear gunfire as we raced through the branches, getting closer even as we ran further away.
I pumped my legs and ran faster.
I heard a popping sound before an explosion knocked all four of us off our feet.
Spider was knocked out of the tree.
"Spider!" Kiri screamed.
Neytiri dropped down next to us, tugging on my arm.
"Girls! Ralu! We need to move! We need to move now!"
We were being pulled along, Kiri only stopping to see what they were doing with Spider.
She whimpered as they picked him up and took him on their ship.
I put my hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off.
"Leave me alone, Aneya," She hissed. "This is your fault."
"No, it isn't," Ralu said shortly. Kiri glared at him but didn't reply.
Despite Ralu sticking up for me, the words still stung.
Yes, I did yell at him, but no, I didn't launch the grenade that eventually led him to be taken.
I growled lowly and decided to just focus on running.
"We need to go! Come! Come!" Neytiri was saying.
"No! Spider-!" Kiri started.
"He's gone. Now we need to get out of here!" Ralu said harshly.
Kiri glowered at him through her tears before putting her head down and allowing herself to be led by Neytiri, who had taken her hand in an effort to get her moving. Kiri avoided my eyes as we went. I ignored her and ran as fast as I could, not realizing I left her and Neytiri behind. Only Ralu kept up with me as I focused on running and not the tears threatening to spill.
I almost screamed when I ran into Jake as he dropped out of a tree with Neteyam.
I sighed, relieved at the sight of them, and sank to the ground as my legs gave out, not realizing how exhausted I was. Ralu sat at my side and we leaned against each other.
Jake came over to check on us, putting a hand on my cheek and resting his hand on Ralu's head, before folding Tuk in his arms and clutching onto her, whispering in her ear. I was so tired, I didn't even realize Tuk and Lo'ak were there.
Neytiri and Kiri arrived quickly behind us, and Tuk dove into her arms.
I turned and buried my head in Ralu's shoulder as Jake hugged Neteyam and Lo'ak close. Ralu hesitated before wrapping his arms around me.
Neytiri clutched Tuk and Kiri, thanking the Great Mother for our survival, almost crying in relief.
"It's okay, we're okay," she said breathlessly, trying to comfort us.
"Where's Spider?" Lo'ak asked suddenly, looking around.
I buried my head farther into Ralu's shoulder as he stroked my hair.
"They took him," Kiri cried. "They took him!"
Jake let go of Neteyam and Lo'ak so he could cradle Kiri as she sobbed, whispering reassurances in her ear.
"It's gonna be okay," he said. "We're all going to be okay."
A tear slipped down my cheek as he said that, joining the raindrops as they splashed down on the forest floor. I didn't know if I could believe that anymore.