𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐇 | Neteyam

08

You were sure that everybody down in the ship has either lost their breathe and is beginning to drown, or has a tiny air bubble that they can breathe in a little bit longer before you save them.

You hoped it was the second one, but you doubted it very much. All the debris from the ship was floating up to the surface and you had to be extra careful to dodge it, you didn't want another accident, did you know?

You also had to keep yourself from making sharp turns like you used to do, which was extremely hard due to force of habit. The first time you did it under the water, it felt like a million knives were going into you.

You even lost your breath and had to go back to the surface while sucking your teeth in.

"Hey," you turned to see Neteyam, he probably saw you coming up. "Are you alright?"

"Never been better," you smiled but he could see straight through that and sighed.

"Its hurting so much isn't it?" he asked riding closer to you.

You had to push away your mask for a second and slightly slouch "yes..."

"We should have stayed back, i don't want you to hurt yourself more, the recovery time is gonna be longer and its gonna be more painful."

You raised your hands in protest "no, no! I just did a sharp turn and it twisted my body the wrong way."

You heard him say something along the lines of "your crazy," which was understandable since you literally just got shot and got up like nothing happened.

Neteyam looked at your dad's cloak that was covered in blood and grazed his fingers over it, you groaned and pushed his hand away.

"See, lightly touching it like that made you feel in pain... ride with me instead," he told you as you stared at him with a confused look.

"What would that do to stop the pain?"

"I don't have the habit of going quick and making sharp turns, i'll be careful," you slowly nodded as you got off your Ilu and went to him, he grabbed your waist and made sure not to touch the wound while helping you on.

You wrapped your arms around his chest "are you ready?" he asked while you got into a comfortable position.

"Yep," you nodded as he went under again.

You saw kiri swim down to one of the creatures that give you air and she swiftly put it on her back, she then moved her hands in a swaying order which attracted the glow squid, you watched, mesmerised, you have never seen anything like it.

Neteyam continued to ride, trying hard to find his dad which under all these, most likely would have drowned already. But then again, Jake was a strong warrior, the worst that could have happened to him was lose consciousness. Hopefully...

Neteyam got a reminder that he should be more careful whenever you instinctively tighten your grip around his waist, you didn't know you were doing it but he sure did.

You saw Lo'ak struggle to bring his 10 ft dad to an air bubble which was reasonable, you tapped Neteyams shoulder and pointed, he followed your finger and his eyes widened. He slowly tuned to Lo'ak and rode to him.

Lo'ak seemed to understand what Neteyam was doing and grabbed onto the fin of his Ilu. neteyam dragged the two boys up to the air pocket with ease.

Jake took a giant breath of air, desperately trying to fill the lost air back into his lungs as he panted. His face looked bloody and swollen.

"They must of had a big fight," you thought to yourself.

"Dad we're in an air pocket, c'mon we gotta move," Lo'ak said.

Jake groaned and puffed as he bleeded, "do you know the way out?"

Neteyam spoke up, "its going to be a long way away, can you hold your breath that long?"

The lights then flickered out as Jake sounded like he was ready to give up then and there "i cant, you can, go right now-"

"no, i don't want to lose you dad, please," Lo'ak pleated.

"Slow your heart down, try to be calm," you told him as he tried but failed.

"Breathe form here," Lo'ak put his hand on his dad's belly, he then started to do breathing exercises with him as Jake tried to catch up. Lo'ak started to speak again, "the way of water has no beginning and no end. The sea is around you and in you. The sea is your home before your birth, and after your death."

Jake started to calm down and get his composure back, you smiled at how Lo'ak quotes Tsireya, assuming she told him that. The saying was passed down from generations, it was the first thing you'd learn.

Lo'ak continued "it gives, and it takes. Water connects all things. Life to death. Darkness to light."

The water was starting to rise, you had to get off Neteyams Ilu to save some more air for you to breathe, but you never left Neteyams side, if you were going to die, it would be together. You were glued to his side as he gently held you in his arms. Though the Ilu did circle around you guys, waiting to be called.

"Last breath," Lo'ak told everyone as you all went underwater, Neteyam immediately took this chance to grab your arm and pull you back into the ilu softly.

Lo'ak and Jake grabbed onto the fin as Neteyam found his way out and did it quick and efficiently,

The whole ship was like a maze, as soon as you came in, you immediately didn't know where the way out was, it made it even worse when it was in complete darkness too.

Suddenly you saw a spot of yellow lighting and recognised them, they were the glowing squid that Kiri was attracting, there were so much more know and they were guiding you all to the exit.

It looked beautiful, like a million stars in the night sky, you were captivated by it, and what was even more impressive was that Kiri did all of this.

You could feel the Ilu running out of energy so with no either way, you had to abandon it, you could almost see the surface behind the dark cloud of the sea.

You heard someone running out of air and turned to see Jake, losing air and energy while trying to swim to the surface.

All of a sudden, a fin came out in front of you, offering help. it was Payakan, you all grabbed onto his fin and rose to the surface, you gasped and leaned your head on the fin, you felt an arm wrap around your back, you didn't need to see to know whos warm touch that was.

Lo'ak hugged payakan, muttering thank-yous to him, Jake reached out for Lo'aks head and held it softly.

"I see you, my son."

Your heart clenched and the heartwarming scene, for the first time in a long time, Lo'ak didn't feel like an outcast.

And finally, you cried, you were so exhausted and in pain that you couldn't take it anymore. Neteyam held your head on his shoulder as you cried into it.

He then took your head in his hands and wiped the tears away, "we made it."

You smiled and laughed "yea, we did."

—--------

A/N

everything is so angsty its so sad but its fine bc i got happy stuff planned for this book

--------

1223 WORDS