Sullys Stick Together

Chapter 6

The following day, I decided to go exploring on my own. Neteyam, Lo'ak, Kiri, and Tuk were all out practicing with their Swimwings. I ventured out to shallow water and laid down face-first in the water and watched the sand as it shifted with the water. I lost track of time until a shadow came up over me, darkening the sand in front of me. Snapping out of my trance I stood up and rubbed my eyes getting the water out of them, "Sorry, what was that?" I asked once I was up. 

"Are you a freak? You're just staring at the sand," Ao'nung asked in a snarky tone, as Rotxo cheered him on. I shook my head looking at my feet as I started to walk away, "No. I'm not a freak." 

"Sure you are! I mean, look at your hands!" Rotxo yelled out as he grabbed my hand and held it up. "You're not even real Na'vi!"

"Yes, I am!" I yelled back. Right as I stopped walking, Ao'nung grabbed my tail as if he was inspecting it again. "What is this tail even for... You can't swim with it, it's pointless." 

"Just leave me alone," I pulled away from them both and went to walk away, only to be met again by Rotxo. "Hey hey, don't run away." Before anything else could happen, I heard a familiar voice. "HEY! Leave her alone, fish lips!" I turned my head quickly to see Lo'ak walking in our direction. Once he reached us, he stood in between me and the two Metkayina boys. "Leave us alone," I tried again. 

"Oh look. She needs someone to fight for her," Ao'nung and Rotxo laughed together as they started pulling at Lo'ak's tail and hands the same way they did me. "Don't touch me!" Lo'ak pushed Rotxo away from him, and as he turned to push away Ao'nung, Neteyam came from behind and took care of Ao'nung himself. 

"You heard my sister. Back. Off," Neteyam spat to the boys. As Rotxo was about to say something more, Ao'nung held up his hand stopping him. "From now on, I need you to respect my sister," He said firmly. The two Metkayina boys held up their hands in defeat. Neteyam turned and grabbed Lo'ak's arm pulling him away as he walked closer to me, "Come on." As we were walking away I could hear the two boys starting to talk again, mocking us. As Neteyam and I continued walking, I heard Lo'ak's footsteps stop. We turned around to see that he had turned around and was walking back toward the two. "Lo'ak," Neteyam called out to our brother, he just held up his hand and said that he could handle it. 

Once he reached the boys he held his hand up, "I know this hand is weird. Alien. But it can do something really cool. First, I ball it up like this... and then," before he said anything else, he punched Ao'nung straight in the face. Rotxo quickly jumped in to help his friend, throwing punches to knock him onto the ground. Neteyam hesitantly jumped in to help our brother. I couldn't tell who was winning, but when I heard Neteyam scream, "Let go of my tail," I decided it was time to step in myself. I ran over and jumped onto Rotxo's back and threw him off of Neteyam. Then I ran over to Ao'nung and kicked the back of his leg making him fall into the sand. 

Soon enough, we were all being dragged off of each other and dragged away. Mom had a death grip on my arm, while dad took Neteyam and Lo'ak. "Oww, mom!" I yelped as we made it back to our hut. Dad let go of my brothers at the same time as mom let go of me. I looked at my arm, inspecting the print that her hand left. "What the hell were you all thinking? What's the one thing I asked? The one thing?!" 

"Stay out of trouble," Neteyam said softly looking up at our father. "Stay out of trouble, exactly," Dad spat out looking at us all. "Dad," I tried but he cut me off, saying that he didn't want to hear it. I rolled my eyes and threw my hands up in defeat. "It's my fault," As always Neteyam tried to take the heat, even though the fight really wasn't any of our faults. "No, I don't think so. You've got to stop taking the heat for this knucklehead." I gave up trying to argue at this point. 

"But dad they were picking on Nelyia! They called her a freak," Lo'ak said as I felt a tear finally run down my face. I heard mom and dad let out a soft breath as they looked at me. "Look, just go apologize to Ao'nung."

"What?"

"He is the chief's son. Understand? I don't care how you do it, just go make peace," Dad was talking more calmly now. I shook my head and walked out behind our hut and stuck my feet back in the water, looking back at my reflection and seeing the black eye I got during the fight. It wasn't long before dad joined me, "Can I take a look at you? Are you alright?" I shook my head slowly out of frustration, "Would it matter if I wasn't? All you care about is impressing Tonowari." 

"Baby girl, that's not it. You know that. But we have nowhere else to go. We have to make friends here."

"They won't be friends with us, dad. They hate us. They only see us as outcasts. As aliens." I sighed finally looking at him so he could see the black eye. He took in a sharp breath before he took his hand and placed it on the side of my face, gently running his thumb over the bruise. "I know this is hard. But you just have to give them a chance. Things will change. They'll come around, baby." He gently pulled me back into his side. "Don't be mad at Lo'ak and Neteyam... they were just protecting me." I felt him nod as he kissed the top of my head quickly. "Alright. I'll let them know they aren't in trouble."

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A.N.

Hey y, all! Hope you all had a good Christmas! Once again, THANK YOU for all of the love you have shown this series! Just a heads up, I don't think I will have time to upload another chapter tomorrow. I will try to get one up as soon as I can! Hope you enjoy this chapter for now though!