𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 • 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐲𝐚𝐦 𝐒𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲

i will find you¹²

chapter twelve
[ i will find you ]

Nakili pulled Neteyams arm, shaking her head. 'i will find you.' he signed to her. she didn't want to leave him, but he knew what he needed to do. 'i will find you.' he signed one last time.

eventually, Nakili nodded and Neteyam pressed his forehead against hers, connecting his lips to her temple. and Nakili watched him disappear into an abyss of darkness.

and soon enough, Nakili had lost Neteyam in his tracks and stuck close to Tsireya, and Lo'ak. they soon enough found an air pocket in a patch of the greenest seaweed. their heads reached the surface and Nakili couldn't her but gasp, her hands collapsing on her mouth as she met another.

"Tuk?" Tsireya watched the girl try to stay calm.

"Lo'ak!" Tuk immediately latched onto her brother, a sigh exiting as her body filled with relief. they all hoped they had lost the sky people.

"quiet." Nakili said quietly as the seed pod now lit up.

"it is coming." Tsireya latched onto her sisters arm, alarmed.

"we need to go." Lo'ak said. everyone then took a deep breathe and began underneath the water once again. they were going the fast they could possibly could, but the subs were faster. fast enough that eventually, a net was launched over their heads. they were swallowed in the green net, too deep that they could not pull themselves out. Lo'ak rips himself from the net.

he went to grab Nakili's hand to pull her out also, until two large Ikrans dove into the water and began to remove them, yet still in the net, from the water.

"Lo'ak." Nakili hissed as he winced, hanging off the side of the net.

"hold on. watch your head." Lo'ak, with one hand began to pull his knife from its holder on his waist and started to cut the net.

"hurry." Tsireya cried but there wasn't enough time. the hole in the net was big enough, but again... there wasn't enough time. the four were dropped the deck.

the people grabbed them from the net, Nakili first. Nakili tried to fight them off but simply breathed heavily as she then looked down to a sound when she heard a gunshot being fired into the air.

Nakili slowly looks up. a man was holding a gun to Lo'aks head. "you move, and the next one goes through the boys skull." Nakili half blinked, her eyes flickering from Lo'ak then to Tsireya, to Tuk, and then at her hands. all four had a gun pointed at their heads. suddenly, Nakili was thrown to the grown harshly, violently, and so was the others.

"hey, what are you doing? don't hurt them." Spiders voice erupted from... wherever the hell he came from.

"Spider?" Lo'ak asked in confusion. not that he was happy to see him or anything.

"bro, you alright?" Spider laughed as Nakili shook her head. quite obviously, they were not 'alright.'

"never better." Lo'ak laughed back.

"get back to the bridge," Spider flinched as Quaritch demanded he go. "and keep him here." he cursed the soldier and the soldier could only nod in reply. he bent down to Lo'ak who only glared at him. "yeah, i remember you. cuff-'em to the rail. all of them." he demanded the soldiers to do so and... they did.

a little-ole-tiny man grabbed Nakili's body and tried to drag her to the pole. she stood up with a scoff as she pushed the man off of her. "i can walk, piss-log." yanking her arm away, she gained towards the rail.

Nakili got down beside Tuk, the man pushing her harshly against the rail; he then tightly cuffed them to the metal. Nakili could only wince as she was sure her wrist were broken.

the four watched the Ilu near the ship and when they came into clear view, a smile of relief came onto Tuk's face. "dad!" Tuk cried. Nakili's posture straightened, but she knew it wasn't over yet.

Quaritch slowly stepped up the Lo'ak. he then harshly ripped the com off of Lo'ak's neck.

"Jake Sully. tell your friends to stand down, now. you want your kids back, you come out alone." he pulled his gun from his hip and held it against Lo'ak's head. "you know better than to test my resolve." her smirked, a face of disgust overcoming Nakili's face as she watched.

"no." Nakili muttered with a clenched jaw as she bit her cheek.

"Lo'ak." Tsireya cried, yanking on her cuffs.

"i took you under my wing Jake. you betrayed me. you killed your own. the good men. good women. i will not hesitate to execute your own." Quaritch explained. "the offers fixing to expire. so, what's it gonna be?" he asked, not removing the gun that was pointed at Lo'ak's skull.

"easy shot." one of the soldiers said only loud enough for everyone to hear. Nakili quickly turned her head to Lo'ak. he looked over at her, and he read her face as it might as well of said 'calm' then 'it will be okay' as she pressed her lips tightly together—large, frantic eyes, she expressed.

"you hit him now, they'll attack. we wait til he's on board." Quaritch said to his men.

and right down on the ship comes Payakan.

a/n
Kiri just disappeared bruh lmao.

okay. let's just take a moment and appreciate how beautiful Ao'nung is even though he isn't in this chapter. bro is literally gorgeous. (?)

xoxo-birdie