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( warnings from the sky )
"I'M TELLING THE truth, he really did!"
"that seems a little too rash, even for your brother."
letting a small laugh slip past your lips, you shook your head slightly, glancing toward the girl beside you as you swung your intertwined hands a bit higher through the air. "mmm, okay, you've caught me."
"i knew it," tsireya retorted with a grin, softly jabbing a finger into your side with her free hand. "you are not good at tricks."
"no, i'm good at them," you answered with a sly smile, lifting her fist to graze over your lips teasingly as you held her gaze. "you just know me too well."
she bit back a grin as you pressed a firm kiss to her knuckles, letting your hands fall back to your sides before a sudden drop of water landed on the exposed flesh of your shoulder. you glanced toward the liquid, your eyebrows furrowing as a few more drips accompanied it, soon transforming into an outright downpour.
"oh, shit!" you cursed, earning a giggle from the girl beside you as you grinned back at her and quickly dragged her along the coastline. "c'mon!"
tsireya follwed after you with a small laugh, the wet sand beneath your feet gliding a few inches above the ground as you hastily jogged across the shore and under an unoccupied marui.
"there goes our daily walk," you muttered as you looked out toward the watering sky, your lips pursing with a slight sadness at the realization that you wouldn't be able to complete one of your favorite pastimes that afternoon.
"well, there are a few other things that we may be able to do," the metkayina spoke up from behind you, eliciting a questioning hum of curiosity from you as you turned around to face her.
a smirk tugged it's way over your lips at her words, your hands moving to teasingly cross over your chest. "what did you have in mind, my vitra payoang?"
she smiled softly at the nickname, bashfully glancing toward the ground before inching forward to shorten the distance between your torsos. "well..."
you waited for tsireya to finish her sentence, your eyebrows ruffling confusedly as you watched her gaze travel from your eyes to something playing out in the distance. looking over your shoulder, your eyes widened slightly as a large crowd stationed underneath the meeting marui of the village suddenly entered your view.
"what's going on?" you questioned, tilting your head slightly as the na'vi beside you stepped further toward the commotion, her eyes narrowing to get a better look.
"i am not sure," she answered, her brows furrowing with uncertainty before she turned to you and quickly took your hand into her own. "come."
hurrying toward the gathering of metkayina through the torrential downpour, you and tsireya weaved your way through the chattering figures of villagers, spotting the leaders stationed atop a raised section of flooring.
you noticed your mother, older brother, and younger sisters a few paces away from your spot in the crowd, your eyes traveling along the faces of na'vi in search of the other other members of your family.
before you were able to come across their locations, ronal's abrupt exclamation drew your attention back toward the center of the area in a hurry.
"my spirit sister and her baby have been murdered by the sky people!" she shouted, her stare stuck to one specific point of the space of in front of her as gasps and other noises of mortified shock sounded out from the surrounding metkayina.
tsireya inhaled sharply from your side, her eyes growing wide at the information coming from her parents. you noticed her waterline buildup with the glossy liquid of tears and you quickly reached for her hand to intertwine your fingers in attempted comfort.
she looked down at the contact with watery eyes, a quiet sob pushing past her lips before you pulled her closer in to your side.
"this war has come to us!" tonowari began from his mate's side. "we knew about this hunting of our tulkun people, but it was over the horizon, far away."
drawing your attention away from the na'vi by your arms, you looked back over toward the olo'eyktan, able to spot the tall figure of a man standing in front of him. taking in the familiar dark blue coloring of his back, you realized it was your father, and you wondered if he had known anything about this before hand.
"now it is here!" tonowari finished off, slamming his spear on the material of the flooring as his tongue slipped from his mouth in a guttural warrior snarl, prompting the action to break out among the watching metkayina.
tsireya released another breathy sob from your side, looking around at the riled-up villagers with tears lacing the corners of her eyes. she stepped closer into your arm, sliding a hand around your bicep for support.
"no, you don't- you gotta understand how the sky people think!" your father explained from his spot in front of the village leaders. "they don't care about the great balance."
"we don't answer to sky people!" came the sudden shout of a reef man, a spear clasped tightly in his hand as he raised it with a raging vigor.
"listen, listen to him!" neteyam suddenly spoke from a few feet in front of your mother and sister, an exasperated glare painted over his face as his gaze traveled around the village.
"the sky people are not gonna stop, this is only the beginning," jake hastily continued."you gotta tell your tulkun to leave!"
he turned to the crowd with a stare full of fierceness, memories of the great war upon your home village you were merely told stories about presumably pulsating through his mind.
with a jabbing finger directed toward the horizon, he let out another exclamation. "you gotta tell 'em to go far away!"
for the first time in a very long time, you agreed with the words of your father. you knew what horrors humans were capable of when setting their mind on something, and if these people didn't listen, destruction would certainly be brought down upon the race of reef people.
tightly gripping tsireya's hand, you watched with narrowed eyes as her mother's voice cut through the murmurings of the villagers.
"leave?" ronal questioned incredulously with a scoff. "you live among us and you learn nothing!"
"we will fight to protect our brothers and sisters!" a stray metkayina voiced from behind the tsahìk, preforming a traditional movement that worked to amp up the crowd even more.
"no, no, no, no," the once-olo'eyktan of the omatikaya muttered. "if you attack, if you fight, then they will destroy you! they will destroy everything that you love!"
his words prompted angered shouts from the surrounding na'vi, the warning simply meaning nothing to their tenacious goals as your father shouted back at them. "hear my words!"
you could barely digest your own thoughts through the blazing ferociousness of the clan around you, your pupils whipping around hurriedly at the chaos ensuing.
"they will die," you muttered to yourself, your free hand moving to tighten into a fist as you looked out toward the na'vi around you, deciding to try and tone down the clamoring. "stay calm, please! you must heed his warnings!"
though your father wasn't one for actively listening to others, his children especially, you knew how essential it was for these villagers who had never before battled the sky people knew the impending dangers to come: they needed to listen to him.
drawing your attention back toward the center of the circle, you noticed jake pull something from your older brother's hands, a bright orange object clasped between in fist as he rushed up onto the raised section of flooring.
lifting the item— which you could now identify as a spearing tracking device of some kind no doubt belonging to the sky people— up above his head, the previous olo'eyktan of the omatikaya was met with a bellowing silence.
the metkayina stared at the foreign equipment with malicious eyes, hints of fear regarding the unknown origin lacing their gazes as your father's eyes trailed around the now-soundless villagers.
"you tell the tulkun," he started, moving to display the tracking device toward another section of reef people, "that if they're hit by one of these, they're marked for death."
the leaders of the village stared at the object, tonowari releasing a somber sigh as he exchanged a glance with his wife.
"and call for me, i'll silence it," jake proclaimed. "saving their lives, that's all that matters... right? saving your family."
tsireya's grip on your hand tightening slightly and you squeezed it back, making it known that you were there for her and her spirit sister, and would continue being there for them through everything.
with a final gaze casted toward the olo'eyktan and tsahìk of the reef, your father stepped aside as tonowari moved to stand in his previous spot, gesturing a spear-holding arm out toward the ocean.
"tell the tulkun," he ordered, ronal adding a commanding "go," just before the villagers began their journeys, yips and cries of battle bubbling past their throats as they ran off.
"we must warn your spirit sister," you suddenly spoke, turning to the girl by your side with brows ruffled in determination as you gripped her hand, turing to pull her along down a pathway toward a docking station before a certain figure caught your eye.
squinting through your gaze, you watched as your twin brother hurriedly split through the crowd and took off. you knew what he was up to, and you could vividly sense the worst possible outcomes that were bound to come true.
turning back to tsireya, you met her glossy eyes with a narrowed stare, taking her hands into your own. "i will meet you at your ilu, go."
"where are you going?" she questioned, the shining pacific of her irises almost drawing you away from your intended goal as you hurriedly began trudging away.
"your ilu," you repeated to avoid the ask, glancing over your shoulder at the dissipating na'vi around you. "go!"
casting a final stare toward your reef girl, you broke
out into a light jog, speeding after your twin toward the familiar docking station you knew he was making his way toward.
it seemed you weren't the only one with the daunting sense to follow lo'ak off as you arrived at a saddling area, lulling to a quiet stop behind neteyam and your twin.
"bro," your older brother spoke in reply to something lo'ak said that you weren't able to catch, resting a hand atop the boy's head. "why do you always have to make things so hard?"
lo'ak harshly shoved his brother's hand away, a glare settled over his features as he stared back up at the teen. "no."
he caught your gaze after muttering his rebuttal, his eyebrows pinching even deeper toward the center of his face as you slowly made your way to stand a bit closer to the two, still stationed behind neteyam.
"you mean why can't i be the perfect son like you?" your twin accused, meeting your eyes once again with a patronized stare. "or the sensible twin like you?"
you stepped back slightly in a familiar hurt, knowing that your brother usually took his anger out on the differing views your parents held of the two of you. that was only in trivial arguments, yet this time felt harsher, as if he really did believe what he was saying.
"lo'ak—" you started, barely managing to get a few words out before the boy interrupted.
"the perfect little soldiers," he continued, watching as neteyam released a scoff and stepped away from his younger brother, glancing over at your voiceless figure. "well, i'm not you!"
trudging back to tower over the younger omatikaya, your older brother glared down at lo'ak, and you could see the slightest hint of hurt laced behind his irises.
"okay?" your twin offered, his pupils traveling between his siblings. "i'm not either of you!"
glancing out toward the sea to avoid his pained stare, you crossed your arms over your chest, clenching your jaw to bite back the petty rebuttals that were itching to escape your throat.
"he's my brother," lo'ak proclaimed as he gestured an arm out to the water. "i'm going."
casting one last fierce gaze toward you, your twin began to walk off toward his ilu, yet neteyam was quick to follow along behind him.
"oh, he's your brother?" the older na'vi retorted, reaching forward to snatch the boy's wrist into his grip and force him back around. "no, i am your brother."
"lo'ak!"
your eyes traveled toward the ocean at the distinctive voice behind the shout, your eyebrows furrowing as tsireya, aonung, and rotxo came sliding toward your section of the docks atop their ilu.
they made their way onto the weaved flooring, hurrying to your side just as your twin harshly shook his wrist form neteyam's grasp. "get off me."
before your older brother was able to inhibit him from leaving once more, lo'ak quickly took to the sea, diving in to mount his ilu and hurry off toward the direction of his spirit brother.
"lo'ak!" you exclaimed, rushing toward the edge of the flooring as neteyam followed behind you.
"come back!" tsireya called out from a little ways behind you.
"come on!" your brother urged, slapping a hand into aonung's chest before patting your shoulder. "he's going to payakan!"
with a loud yip of beckoning, you called out for your ilu and dashed toward the water. "let's go!"
diving into the sea, your animal's back smoothly met the skin of your torso as you skillfully attached your queues and gripped the bridge of his tendrils, hurrying off to follow behind your twin in what you prayed to eywa would be a quick and painless retrieval.
༄
a / n :
OKAY SO last week i saw
mutant mayhem and fell
in love with leo so like...
fic? maybe?? perhaps???
lmk if you're interested😋
—also, i might go back and
edit this later? i kinda don't
love it but i can't figure out
what's bugging me about it.
so come back and reread this
in like two days just to see if
there are any changes LMAO