𝑭𝑰𝑿 𝒀𝑶𝑼. | 𝑱𝑨𝑲𝑬 𝑺𝑼𝑳𝑳𝒀. 🩹

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐗𝐈.

— 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄.

(Y/N) pushed the four behind a tree, Lo'ak and Kiri near one and Tuk with her. She could hear the stomping of the feet sprint past them, her head slowly peeking out to watch as the creature left in the distance.

With a breath of relief, she knew they managed to get away from the Avatars and lose their track from here to them, so she wasn't worried. "We are okay, we're okay." She said, her arms tightly around Tuk as the girl was trembling.

"I wanna go home." Tuk said, her bottom lip quivering as she looked up to (Y/N). Her heart pained as she nodded.

"Come on, go that way." She pointed off in a direction that was good enough to keep them hidden for awhile and out of sight, it was a maze to get through and luckily no one knew about but her.

"That creature." Lo'ak said, falling back to walk with (Y/N). "Its' head detached from its body and shot at one of them, eating their neck. What is that." Lo'ak was amazed and also terrified as he saw what happened, covering Tuks eyes too late.

"A slinger," (Y/N) started off. "Probably the most dangerous creature on land. I've only ever seen it once in my whole life, now twice. It snaps its neck back and will literally shoot its head off towards his prey. Then the body just follows it, they are connected. It's so weird." (Y/N) said, a shiver running down her spine.

"Is there only one?" Lo'ak asked, hoping she said yes.

"No, there is at least a dozen near us. Our brother tribe counted about twenty, our sister tribe said about ten for them. That's just on our islands, who is to say they aren't anywhere else."

The two gave a shared look to keep a close eye out while walking. The walk back was at least a hour and the pace they were going would sure double it, but they would arrive before sun down and since the slinger had been spotted, that means the village will go on lockdown.

"Can I ask you something." (Y/N) mumbled low to Lo'ak, her eyes watching Kiri and Tuk have a good time discovering new plants in this section of the island.

"Of course, anything."

"What was your mom like."

The question made Lo'ak stumble a bit, eyes blinking rapidly as he didn't expect to be asked it. "I haven't talked about her in such a long time, I.."

(Y/N) felt bad immediately, it was the worst time to ask. She went to go apologize but she was waved off.

"No, it's okay. It just took me by surprise. She was a warrior, I wasn't always her favorite at times but she cared a lot about us." His voice was slowly shaking, only when (Y/N) placed a hand on his shoulders did the shakiness disappear.

"She was kind and very smart, there isn't a enough words to describe her." Lo'ak reminiscent about her with a soft.

"I don't want you to think that I am trying to take her place, or even replace her as I know your mom meant a lot to you all." She with only truth lingering in her throat.

Lo'ak nodded in an understood tone, he knew the other meant well and was happy his dad was happy.

"Now, can I ask you a question?"

"Always."

"Why are you and Fawn at ends." He asked.

(Y/N) sucked in a harsh breath, eyes glancing at him before replying. "Awhile ago, there was a death close to us. They came back alive and Fawn knew them." Her words echoed against the trees.

"We take deaths serious. Yes, I do the killing. The slicing of ones queue, the hunting, the sacrifices. I do it all, but Fawn and I.. we knew what it was like to almost lose someone, so it struck a nerve to hear him say those things to you." Lo'ak took in everything she said before the asked the most obvious.

"Who was it?"

She smiled to herself before placing a hand on his back and continued walking.

They walked for over a hour until they finally got to the entrance, it was getting a bit dark and the sirens went off as they approached.

Jake was the first to rush out, his heart slowing down as he picked Tuk up into his arms, holding her close as he hugged his other two children.

(Y/N) slipped inside, not wanting to be bothered by anyone as she headed up to her hut. Her eyes heavy and mind clouded with everything that happened today.

She sat on her knees, hands lightly shaking as she took a deep breath, she knew the men wouldn't find her, they wouldn't find her home and they for sure wouldn't find her.

She never wanted to die by someone elses finger, she was stubborn and would go down with a fight.

The fire in her hut was lit as she stared into the flames, the heat burning her eyes as the tears stained her cheeks. She couldn't tell if it was caused by the fact since she hadn't blinked, or if it was genuine fear.

"It was you."

The voice behind her didn't startle her, it didn't cause her to flinch, she was just static. With a small movement of her head, she nodded to Lo'ak.

"How'd you guess."

Lo'ak moved to sit by the other, his eyes widen with almost a hint of surprise that the other kept this a secret for such a long time.

"You hold this grudge against him, you sacrifice them, it hurt you to hear. I went out a whim and guessed, but I didn't think it was you entirely."

(Y/N) only half smiled at the other before she gave the other a small nod.

"Yeah, it was me. I died, I came back and ever since then I take personal deaths seriously." Her eyes wandered around her hut before she closed them.

"What happened?"

She leaned back on her hands before she softly hummed.

"I was out hunting one night, it was super late and I was young. I was trying to prove to myself and my family I could be okay alone, I could hunt by myself. Ay'u and Fawn were across the stream, they could see me and I could see them." She took a deep breath.

"I saw this... I thought I saw something. So, I went to go kill it in the water, but when I stepped in the water, it took me under and I hit my head on a rock. Immediately knocked me out and I went under. I think I was under for at least thirty minutes. I was unconscious."

Lo'ak shuddered at the thought, drowning was never fun or easy and just to think of it happening to her made him uneasy.

"I died, I went through the whole process and now here I am." She lifted her arms out before finally meeting the others gaze.

"Was it hard?"

"Very."

"Scary?"

"Oh yeah.."

The two chuckled to themselves before Lo'ak spoke up once more. "My dad is sorry." Lo'ak knew that the two hadn't talked for awhile.

She turned her head back before resting her arms underneath for a better cushion. "I know. I'm just not ready to forgive him yet."

"So are you like a spirit but.. alive spirit?"

"Get out, Lo'ak."

Lo'ak chuckled before he moved to stand up, his back turned to her before his eyes widen at the figure in front of him.

Greeting the other, he lightly coughed to gets (Y/N)s' attention before he left.

"(Y/N), I need to talk with you." The voice low with authority.

She turned, greeted the other with no other emotion before she nodded.

"Go ahead."