𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐓, | lo'ak sully.

002.

STARS WERE VISIBLE JUST BARELY, PEAKING THROUGH THE BEAUTIFUL HAZE OF THE SUNSET.......

Ne'zula was sitting outside the entrance of her tent. She seemed to be in deep thought, or was probably zoning out.

*start of flashback*
Little Ne'zula was running around in the forest, she seemed to be running from someone.

"I'm gonna catch you zula!!" Ne'zula's adoptive father, Akari, cheekily said.

"No, you won't! I'm faster than you." Ne'zula
replied while giggling. She had been running for a while until she stopped to catch her breath.
She hid behind a tree, so she wouldn't be caught by her father and loose the game.
A couple hours went by and Ne'zula was till at that same spot. It didn't look like her father was coming back for her anytime soon. She walked back to the village, and found her mother, Meyaani, mounting her ikraan. Ne'zula hid behind a large leaf, and listened to their conversation.

"Ma Akari, hurry up. I'm sure Ne'zula will be back soon."

" Alright Mai." He said as he mounted his ikraan aswell. They both make tsaheylu with their ikraans and flew away. Ne'zula came running out and started crying.

"Mom, Dad!! Come back!" She shouted in a strained voice.

It seemed that someone had heard her, and approached her. It was little Neteyam and Lo'ak.

"What happened? Are you alright, zula?" Lo'ak
inquired, though zula didn't reply, she just continued sobbing. It seemed Lo'ak didn't know what to do. Neteyam shot a look towards Lo'ak and it was the "do something!!" one. Lo'ak pulled Ne'zula into an embrace and she stayed there, sobbing into his chest.

"It'll be alri—"

*end of flashback*

"Zula!" Neteyam called. His voice snapped Ne'zula out of her reverie.

"Huh?" She replied, confused.

"Are you alright, Zula?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah no, I'm fine. Did you need
something Teyam?"

"Dinners ready." Neteyam replied. He turned away from Ne'zula but then stopped, and faced her. "Are you sure?" He said while putting his hands on his hips.

"Sure of what?? Teyam, you're confusing me."

"Never mind, just, um, dinners ready." He
scratched his head and walked towards his family's tent. Ne'zula got up and followed him.

When the two teens entered the room, they greeted everyone.
"Hey Mr and Mrs Sully." Ne'zula greeted.

When she started speaking, Lo'ak's ears perked up. Neteyam looked at him with a cheeky grin plastered on his face and then turned to Kiri. She just rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. Ne'zula approached Kiri and sat next to her, with her plate in her hand and began eating like everyone else.

"Teyam, your hair looks bad" Tuk made it a routine to criticize Neteyam's hair so Neytiri would notice it and fix it.

"Tuk is right Neteyam. How do you manage to undo your braids every single day? Ewya."
Neytiri slightly scolded. Since she was sitting next to her son, she started tugging and pulling at the braids in attempt to fix them.

"Ow ma!" Neteyam exclaimed. "Thanks a lot Tuk!" In response to this, Tuk just giggled.

Meanwhile Lo'ak kept looking at Ne'zula every two minutes. She felt his eyes on her a couple times which made her slightly raise her eyebrows and smile while looking at her plate.
As they all finished their dinner, they got ready for bed. Ne'zula greeted everyone goodnight and left for her own tent.

(LO'AK POV)

We were all sitting down for dinner and Neteyam went to go get Ne'zula. It wasn't long until he came back with her, but when he entered the tent he shot me a worried glance. I was confused and made a mental note to talk to him after dinner.

"Hey Mr and Mrs Sully." Ne'zula said.

My ears immediately perked up. I don't know why, but Kiri and Neteyam looked at me with cheeky grins. I just rolled my eyes and ate my food. I kept glancing at Ne'zula. I know, I know, its weird, but I can't stop!

It was pretty quiet today. Usually everyone's talking but today it was just quiet.
Ne'zula left for her own tent and everyone got ready for bed. I was about to sleep until I remembered I had to ask Netayam something.

"Bro, BRO" I sort of whisper shouted while shaking him. His eyes were closed so I thought he fell asleep.

"bro shut up, what does your skxawng ass
want." He replied in an irritated tone.

"What did you want to tell me about Zula??"

"Ohhh zulaa. Bro I know you have a thing for her." To this I just rolled my eyes.

"bro, I'm serious."

"Okay fine, she just seemed super out of it today and when I went looking for her she was like, I don't know, zoned out or something, and when I was talking to her she was super jumpy. Maybe you should check up on her."

I wasted no time and sprinted out of our tent towards the direction of hers. To my surprise, she wasn't sleeping, but was sitting on the ledge which was the entrance to her tent.

"Zula?" I called out. She wiped her cheeks and looked towards me. Her eyes were watering, and it looked like she had been crying. i sat next to her, and hugged her.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked and in response she shook her head no.

We just sat there for a while in comfortable silence. I looked down and saw her asleep. She looked so peaceful. I carried her inside the tent and placed her on her bed. I went back to our tent and was met by my dad.

"Where were you?" He asked

"Nowhere." I replied coldly and approached my bed. I laid down and closed my eyes, still thinking of Ne'zula. How can I escape her when she's in my head?

_______________________________________

A/N
sorry for the absolute shit chapter, i felt like making one rn, but since it's the weekend Im gonna double update
Thank you for 30 reads!!!
🪷
word count: 1018