✰
THE TWINS speed walk their way towards their youngest brother, both with the same intentions. To keep him safe.
"Lo'ak!" Ilyana raises her loud voice for the first time in a month or so. To which Lo'ak turns his body to the ilu saddles, clearly ignoring her. Neteyam walks past his sister and closer to the troublesome boy.
"No way you're rolling out of here, baby brother." Neteyam speaks up, looking his brother in the eye.
"I have to warn Payakan about the pingers." He says the two siblings stood in front of him.
"No," Neteyam states clearly. "You've got to keep your skxawng ass here."
"He's outcast. There's nobody to warn him but me." Lo'ak complains, looking deep into his sister's eyes, hoping for her to let him go.
"Lo'ak, you need to stay here. You know that." Ilyana replies to the boy, attempting not to escalate the situation. Lo'ak looks at her and shakes his head.
"Bro, why do you always have to make things so hard?" Neteyam asks Loak, placing a hand on his head. Lo'ak grabs his arm and yanks it off with a pained look on his face.
"No."
"Lo'ak, mom and dad would want us here." Ilyana tries to convince him.
"You mean, why can't I be the perfect son and daughter like you?" Neteyam's ears perk down at Lo'ak's comment as he faces the other way. "The perfect little soliders." He pauses before speaking again. "Well, I'm not either of you! Okay?"
"Lo'ak, you need to stop." Ilyana tries to reason yet again, looking at her brother with pleading eyes.
"No, Ilyana. I won't." He shouted back, causing the girl to stumble back a little.
"I'm not you." Lo'ak says, diverting his eyes back to Neteyam. "He's my brother. I'm going."
"Oh, he's your brother?" Neteyam's reasons for storming towards Lo'ak and grabbing his shoulder "No, I'm your brother.
Ilyana's eyes glide towards Tsireya, Aonung, and Roxto, who had only just arrived in their ilu's. She takes this as an opportunity to grab Lo'ak's arm.
"Don't be an idiot, Lo'ak." She insults him, looking into his green eyes. She shouldn't have called him that, but she really had tried everything to get her younger brother to stay.
"Get off me. He says he is walking off and diving into the water.
"Lo'ak!" Neteyam shouts.
"Shit." Ilyana mumbles in defeat.
"Come on." Neteyam tells the trio, knocking Aonung on the chest. "He's going to payakan."
With that, Neteyam calls his ilu and dives into the water a little like Lo'ak did seconds beforehand.
"Ilyana!" Aonung shouts, getting the girls attention, and pointing to her Ilu.
"Thanks." She's whispering in reply and looking back at the boy before diving into the sea.
"Come back!" Tsireya calls for the boy. Ilyana then notices Tuk and Kiri rise from the waters on the same Ilu.
"There's Lo'ak."
"Lo'ak!"
"Lo'ak's going to find Payakan. Neteyam informs the other two sully girls from beside Ilyana.
"Wait up, Kiri calls before Neteyam dives in again.
Eventually, the group saw Payakan and Lo'ak sitting on his back, attempting to pull on something.
"Lo'ak."
"Bro, sis, come on! Help me out!" Lo'ak begs his siblings. "Hurry, the ships are coming!"
"Shit." Ilyana mumbles at the sight.
"They're over there!"
Ilyana grabs Tsireya's hand, pulling her onto Payakan's back, followed by Roxto.
"Go, go, go." Ilyana panics, leaning over to pull the tracker out of Payakan's fin.
"Come on, bro."
"Hurry."
"Call it in!" Neteyam tells either Ilyana or Loak; he doesn't care who. "Call Dad!"
"Go, Ilyana. Do it!" He rushes her. At this point, Ilyana stood up, holding her thumb to her neck.
"All right, all right." She panics.
"Dad- Devil Dog. Do you read me?" She shouts into the comm. "This is Raging Rose. Do you copy?" Ilyana tries again.
"Yeah, Yana." She hears through the comm, letting out a short breath of relief.
"Dad! We're with a tulkun that's under attack. Killer ships inbound." She looks towards Lo'ak. "How far is it out?" She asks him desperately for a response, as she couldn't even think in the current situation.
"Two clicks." He tells her, panicked.
"Two clicks out." She confirms into the comm.
"Who's with you?" Jake asks through the comm, looking at Neytiri.
"It's all of us." Ilyana confirms. "Aonung, Tsireya, and Roxto too. We're at Three Brothers Rocks."
"You get to cover, and you do not engage. All right? You hear me? You hear me? Do not engage. We're comin'."
"All right." Ilyana takes her hand off her neck, rushing to help pull the tracker out.
"It's getting closer!" Tsireya panicked.
"Three, two, one, pull!"
"It's no use!" Ilyana complains as a rope gets thrown in her way.
"Hurry up! Come on!" Neteyam yells as he gets on his Ilu, tying a small knot.
"Go, go, go." Aonung rushes the group.
"Pull! Now!" Neteyam's orders to the group
"Everybody! Together!"
"Pull!"
"Pull! Harder!"
"It's getting closer!" Ilyana screams at the group. "Come on!"
With that, the tracker falls off, launching the group into the water. Ilyana catches the tracker and throws it to Neteyam.
"Go that way! I'll draw them off." He tells the group.
"Okay."
"Lo'ak, come." Tsireya calls.
Ilyana gets on her Ilu and rides in the other direction, with Kiri and Tuk following close behind her, trying to get away.
Ilyana dives under the water, weaving in and out of seaweed, in an attempt to lose sight of the people chasing them. She spots Tuk in the distance, attempting to swim away, meaning she most likely lost Kiri. Ilyana wastes no time grabbing the girl by the waist and positioning her in front of her.
The eldest girl points to the little bit of cover that she could see to signal to Tuk to get off the Ilu. She grabs her hand and swims up to the top.
The two reach the top and catch their breath. Ilyana held Tuk close glad she was safe. Their pants echoed in the small space they were in.
Then a large splash came from behind causing the young girl to shriek.
"Lo'ak!" Ilyana scolds looking to her brother.
"Yana, Tuk." He calls.
Tsireya then emerges from the depths of the water catching her own breath.
"It is coming." She tells the siblings.
"Oh, shit." Ilyana mumbles.
"We gotta go!" Lo'ak tells them as they all inhale before going under and swimming out. The group of four look all around them to figure out their surrounded making them the unlucky ones in this situation. Ilyana, Tsireya and Tuk get enveloped into a net as Lo'ak climbs outside trying to the get the girls out. Ilyana's gaze widens when she sees the man she only loathed approaching. Quaritch.
"Lo'ak! Cut it!" Ilyana screams in fear.
"Watch out!"
"Move your hand! Move your hand!"
"Cut it!" Tuk screams into Ilyana's shoulder.
Once they land on the ship, Ilyana tries her hardest to get out of the net and run but is pushed down by an avatar. She grabs her knife from her waist, attempting to stab the avatar, trying to put her down. Quaritch looks down at Loak, recognising him immediately.
"I remember you." He mumbles as Lo'ak hisses at him.
"Cuff 'em to the rail. All of 'em. Let's go."
The avatar holding Ilyana drags her to the rail, banging her head onto it in the process, causing the girl to wince in pain. Not only the injury caused Ilyana pain, but Tuk and Tsireya's screams, while Lo'ak stayed silent, assuming there was no way of escape from now.
"Watch 'em. They bite."
The same orange cuffs that they used back in the forest were bound around Ilyana's wrists, cuffing her to the rail.
"Be brave." Lo'ak mutters, his words directed at Tuk. He turns his head to face his older sister, her eyes closed and her face filled with distress.
"Na'vi inbound!" An avatar shouts. Ilyana looks up at this.
"Spread out. Weapons up."
"Dad!" Tuk screams
Quaritch grabs the comm from around Ilyana's neck and rips out the ear piece, placing it in his own.
"You ass." Ilyana says it aloud, letting the English slip off her tongue like sour fruit. He kept quiet and kneed the girl in the back to keep her quiet, causing her to wince in pain again.
"Jake, tell your friends to stand down. You want your kids back; you come out alone. You know better than to test my resolve." Quaritch spoke through the comm as he raised the gun in the air and placed it behind Ilyana's neck, causing her to wince and look at her brother.
"Yana!" Tuk panics and tugs against the railing as Tsireya does the same.
"I took you under my wing, Jake. You betrayed me. You killed your own. Good men. Good women. I will not hesitate to execute your eldest."
Ilyana flinched at those words, looking at her father in the distance who was looking at her.
"Offer's fixin' to expire. What's it goin' to be?"
She watches as her father inches closer to the boat and closes her eyes, only wishing it was a nightmare.
"Easy shot."
"You hit him now, they attack. Wait till he's on board."
Lo'ak hisses in frustration from beside Ilyana, causing her to shake her head. Then a tulkun launches itself on top of the ship, crushing most of the sky people on board.
"Payakan!" Tuk shouts.
The team begins shooting at Payakan as Lo'ak kicks a sky person towards the tulkun, allowing him to crush them.
"Sully's inbound. I want eyes out." Ilyana hears as she lets out a long breath as the gun is released from her neck. She rested her head on the railing, clearly tired and worn out. The ship lifted up into the air as it fled over some rocks.
"Is this what a rollercoaster feels like?" Ilyana screams at her brother.
"Shut up, Yana!" He shouts towards her, hoping she realises the seriousness of the situation.
"You okay?" He asks Tuk, who only nods her head.
Lo'ak kicks the railing in an attempt to break free clearly, knowing it was no use.
"Lo'ak, stop. It's not working." Ilyana mumbles under her breath.
"Neteyam!" Tuk calls for her eldest brother.
"Tey!" Ilyana calls.
"Hey, baby brother." He greets, cutting Tsireya's cuffs loose. "Need some help?"
"Okay, get Tuk out of here." He tells Tsireya.
"Bro, hurry up!" Lo'ak complains
"Quilt complaining, Lo'ak. At least you'll get free before me." Ilyana says from behind him, rolling her eyes.
"Who's the Mighty Warrior? Come on. Say it." Neteyam teases.
"Bro."
He then grabs the cuffs of his sister, slicing them off the rail.
"Come on. Let's go."
"I'll catch up with Tsireya and Tuk." Ilyana tells her brothers.
"They've got Spider. We've gotta go get him."
And that was the last thing Ilyana heard before diving into the water.