Not So Perfect [Avatar The Way Of Water]

30

This is it people, the moment of truth! Mwahahhahahahaha. Enjoy

Neteyam's pov:

"My spirit sister and her child have been murdered by the sky people!" Ronal shouted enraged as the entire clan rallied behind their Tsahik. I found the faces they made to be rather odd as they made war cries, sticking out their tongues as they did so, I looked over my shoulder and saw Aonung joining in on them, the sadness having vanished from his face and replaced with a vengeful one whilst Miyara stood next to him with an unreadable expression upon her face, her eyes landed on me but for some reason the feeling I used to get whenever she looked at me had faded, I knew that I loved her but I was no longer in love with her and it made me wonder if the feelings I had towards her was the love my parents always spoke about. But still I had gotten so used to feeling a certain way about her that not feeling that anymore made me feel like something was missing. My father walked past me and stepped forward, pleading for the clan to listen to him and I knew I had to stand with my father, I'd talk to Miyara when all of this was over, but something told me that she felt the same. I could see it in her eyes.
"You have to understand how the sky people think," my father said as Ronal stared at him in disbelief, "they don't care about the balance of life. They destroy everything! You must tell the Tulkun to leave, tell them to escape!"
"Escape?" Ronal repeated in disbelief as she looked at my father almost offended, "you have lived among us but you have learned nothing!"
"No, listen to him!" I said as the clan began their war cries again.
"We will fight for our brothers and sisters!" A clan member whose name I couldn't remember exclaimed followed by the rest of the clan agreeing with him. I looked over my shoulder once more as I saw Lo'ak frown upon what our father was saying, I saw Aonung and Rotxo agreeing with the clan member and Miyara was now comforting Tsireya who looked at the scene with tears in her eyes. I noticed my sister was missing but I assumed she went to tell mother and look after Tuk.
"If you attack them they will wipe you out," my father said stern as he turned around in a circle to face the entire clan, "they will kill everything you hold dear."
I saw Ronal reach for her babybelly when my father spoke those words as she instinctively grabbed onto her mate's arm with her other hand in fear. My heart was pounding in my chest with fear but I had to help my father and make the clan listen to him in any way I could.
"Hear my words!" My father shouted as he held the tracker harpoon up that the sky people used for the hunting of a Tulkun, but the clan didn't listen.
"Listen to my father," I said as I turned around the group my eyes landing on Miyara who had a concerned look on her face as she held Tsireya in her arms, "he speaks the truth."
Miyara's ears lowered as she quickly looked to my father before looking back at me and gave me a small nod, signaling that she believed my father.
"Tell the Tulkun's that if they are hit by one of these, they are marked for death," my father said, "summon me and I'll silence it. Saving their lives is the only thing that matters, right?"
Tonowari locked his jaw and swallowed his saliva as he pondered on what my father said, trying to get to a decision as the clan awaited for their Olo'eyktan to speak, Aonung staring at his father intensely.
"Tell the Tulkun to leave," Tonowari spoke, "tell the Tulkun!"
I looked back around and noticed that Lo'ak had left, I frowned before widening my eyes in realisation. He was going to Payakan.

***

"You're not going anywhere, little brother," I spoke as I saw him get his saddle for an Ilu, he sighed when he saw me approach.
"I have to warn Payakan," he said stubbornly as he locked his eyes with mine.
"No, you're going to keep your skxawng ass here," I spoke as I saw my little brother get frustrated with me as I told him to stay put.
"He's an outcast," Lo'ak said with pleading eyes, "no one else will warn him."
"Bro," I groaned getting slightly irritated with his stubborness, as I placed my hand on top of his head and looked down at him, "why do you have to make things so hard?"
I saw Lo'ak's eyes widen in disbelief as he took a step backwards and glared at me, his voice loud and angry.
"You mean why can't I be a perfect son like you? The perfect little soldier," he said, making something in my heart snap as his words struck a nerve, "I'm not you! He's my brother, I'm going!"
"Oh, he's your brother?" I said as I grabbed onto his arm, "no, I'm your brother!"
I groaned annoyed as I realised that I would have to force him to stay here, he wasn't going to let this go.
"Lo'ak!" Tsireya exclaimed worried as she jumped off her Ilu followed by Aonung, Rotxo and Miyara, who had the bow I had given her strapped around her shoulder, almost like she was already prepared for this.
"Let go!" Lo'ak shouted as he freed himself from my grasp and dove into the water, leaving on another Ilu.
"Lo'ak!" I shouted irritated as I watched my brother dissappear in the water, before turning to the others, "come on, he's going to Payakan."
We all followed after Lo'ak, spotting Tuk and Kiri on an Ilu who followed after us as we tried to get Lo'ak back. As soon as we reached Lo'ak we saw him trying to pull out a tracker from Payakan's fin but couldn't get it done without help. Miyara shot past me as she jumped onto Payakan without a second thought and began to help Lo'ak with the tracker.
"I can't get it out," Lo'ak said with pleading eyes as I groaned and jumped onto Payakan, helping Tsireya, Aonung and Rotxo onto Payakan as well as Kiri and Tuk slowly approached us.
Everybody used their full weight to pull on the tracker but we couldn't get it out as I saw a sky people ship approaching us as well, a fear inside of me grew as I looked back at Lo'ak who had seen the ship as well. The others were too occupied with pulling the tracker out as I saw Miyara wenched inbetween Rotxo and Aonung, the two boys almost crushing her but she didn't budge, she continued to use all her strength on helping Payakan.
"Call dad," I told Lo'ak who looked back at me with a worried look, "just do it!"
Lo'ak sighed before stepping away and calling our father. I jumped into the water as I began to wrap a rope around an Ilu before tossing the other end of the rope to Aonung and tied it tightly around the tracker. I got onto the Ilu as we all continued, with the help of the Ilu, to pull the tracker out.
We managed to pull it out but since it came out with so much force everyone fell into the water and resurfaced as I had grabbed onto the tracker, I saw Lo'ak tell Payakan to leave and Payakan did as he was told, vanishing into the depths.
"I'll draw them away," I said holding onto the tracker, "you go that way!"
"Be careful," Miyara told me with a worried look in her eyes before Aonung forced her to swim along with him, a certain type of worry in her eyes that I couldn't explain.
I went the other way with the tracker but after a while I realised that the sky people already knew where the others went as I dropped the tracker and left to get the others but I soon realised it was too late. I reached Aonung and frowned when I didn't see the others, Aonung seemed livid and he didn't even seem to care that he was out in the open as the war party arrived, I saw my father riding his skimwing along with Ronal and Tonowari on the front.
"Where are the others?" I asked as Aonung was staring ahead, ignoring my words before he pointed at the boat and I saw Lo'ak, Tsireya, Tuk and Miyara strapped to the railing of the boat, little Tuk in between Miyara and Tsireya as the two girls defensively kept her close to them. Tsireya holding onto her as Miyara stared hatefully at Quaritch, making herself look bigger so Tuk could hide behind her.
"Where are Kiri and Rotxo?" I asked Aonung as he held his gaze on Tsireya and Miyara.
"Hiding," he simply said, "they're in one of those plants."
"We could get caught if we stay out here," I said but before Aonung could open his mouth to protest I heard Quaritch's voice through the throat microphone.
"Jake, tell your friends to back off," Quaritch said, my eyes widening as Aonung just looked at me dumbfounded not being able to hear what he was saying.
"If you want your children, you will come forward alone," Quaritch said as he got his gun out and pointed it at Lo'ak's head, Miyara and Tsireya shielding Tuk from seeing that as the two girls stared at Quaritch with fear in their eyes now, "I took you under my wing, Jake, and you betrayed me. You killed your comrades, I will not hesitate to execute your son."
"Wait!" My father spoke as he lifted his hands up in the air, before looking at Tonowari and Ronal, "stay here."
"They are Tulkun killers, they must die. Here, today," I heard Tonowari speak to my father.
"They are only after me," my father said, "that's why they hunted down the Tulkun's and took our children."
"This is your fault," Ronal said, "yours!"
I saw Mo'iki next to Ronal and even he seemed unhappy with what my father said as he saw his little sister defensively sit infront of my little sister and even Eyive was here but he simply looked at his daughter who was strapped to a boat like he was wondering how the fuck she even got there. I looked at Aonung who kept his jaw clenched shut, not even looking at me, I wasn't even sure if he was agreeing with what his mother had said or if he was just really worried about his sister and the love of his life.
"Therefor it is I who must do this," my father said, my heart dropping as I watched him surrender himself.
I tried to figure out how we could even fix this as my father got closer to the ship to surrender himself for his kids and their friends, I thought we'd lost until Payakan suddenly jumped out of the water and with full force dropped himself onto the boat and with that the battle emerged. Explosions were everywhere as the boat slowly got flooded after it flew into the air for a slim second before harshly landing on a rock, damaging it beyond repair.
Before I could even speak up Aonung left for the boat, to get Tsireya and Miyara back. I quickly followed after him as he jumped onto the boat before me.
"Neteyam!" Tuk exclaimed happy as Aonung quickly cut his sister loose before moving onto Miyara.
"Take Tuk out of here!" I said as soon as I cut my sister loose and Tsireya nodded, placing her hands on Tuk's shoulders and jumping into the water.
"Who's the mighty warrior?" I laughed at Lo'ak as I cut him loose, watching my baby brother roll his eyes at me but not being able to hide the smile that curled up on his face as he slightly shook his head. From the corner of my eye I saw Miyara grab onto her bow and arrows that the sky people had taken off before they strapped her to the boat. I heard Aonung plead for her to hurry up but she stubbornly stayed put for some reason.
I got up to leave as well but Lo'ak took a weapon in his hands and looked at me with a pleading look in his eyes.
"They have Spider," Lo'ak said and I grunted annoyed as I already knew what he wanted to do, "we can't leave him."
I groaned as I followed after my brother, expecting Miyara and Aonung to leave.
"Where are you going?" I heard Aonung ask in an angered manner.
"To help them," Miyara exclaimed and I looked over my shoulder to see her run after us, "I have to help them so just leave, Aonung. I'll see you in a bit."
"Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you, I promised I'd always protect you!" Aonung said with a lump in his throat but Miyara pushed him in the water with all of her might before running after us and disappearing from Aonung's sight. An annoyed grunt escaped the boy's lips before he dove away now that Miyara had vanished from him.
"What are you doing? Spider means nothing to you," I said confused as the girl appeared behind us, even Lo'ak shot her a confused look. Miyara never met Spider before and she knew nothing of him, I was confused why she'd risk her life for that.
"No, but he's important to you," she said looking from me to Lo'ak, "and you're both important to me, besides Lo'ak almost gets you killed at least once a week, those were your words."
"Thanks, bro," Lo'ak scoffed and I rolled my eyes.
"This is not your burden to bair," I spoke stern but she simply let out a breathy chuckle and took her bow into her hands, drawing an arrow.
"You take on too much responsibility," she said, "somebody has to look after you too, so stop arguing and let's move."
She walked past me and followed after Lo'ak, I grunted annoyed once more again as the girl was too stubborn for her own good and I followed after the two as we climbed up the railing. I was confused when Miyara perfectly climbed up the railing seeing as the last time she tried climbing she fell down the tree. I wanted to ask her how she was suddenly able to climb but couldn't because we reached Spider, who was being carried away by a few guards. Miyara drew her arrow and aimed at one of the guards as Lo'ak held onto his gun. I took my dagger out since I had nothing else with me and I saw Miyara nod at Lo'ak, the two being awfully good at communicating with each other without words, Lo'ak and I jumped down to attack the guards as Miyara let her arrow fly straight into the guards eye. I gasped in disbelief as she perfectly aimed the second one as well, all landing in their eyes, somehow have become a natural at archery even though she wasn't all that good the last time. I couldn't help but wonder if that's what she's been doing the last month because both her archery as her climbing had improved.
When we killed all the guards Miyara jumped down and received a confused look from Spider as the two shared an awkward nod with each other.
"Thanks guys," Spider said as he looked at the three of us as we left, we were about to jump off the ship when we saw another avatar soldier reach for his gun. Miyara pulled me back and for some reason hid me behind her just behind a wall as the avatar continued to shoot at us. Lo'ak and Spider hiding behind me as Miyara suddenly had taken the lead.
"I can't get a proper aim like this," she grunted as she lowered her bow and looked at us.
"Give me that," I told Lo'ak as I took the gun from his hands and stepped infront of Miyara to shoot the avatar with, missing every shot I took.
"Go, go go!" I shouted at the others as Spider quickly led Lo'ak off the ship. As I was shooting the avatar Miyara drew another arrow from behind me. My eyes widened in fear as she stepped in range of the avatar's gun.
"Miya!" I shouted angered but she let the arrow fly and didn't wait for it to land it's target as she grabbed me by my braids and threw me into the water forcing me off the ship.
I needed a second to realise what happened as I swam over to Spider and Lo'ak, looking back when I realised that Miyara didn't follow after me. My heart almost stopped beating and my eyes widened in fear as I swam back and saw her jump into the water, but something was wrong.
I grabbed onto her as I swam her away from the ship and resurfaced once Tsireya reached us with an Ilu, I frowned confused when I didn't see Tuk with her.
"What happened?" Tsireya asked as she saw how pale her friend was getting, clutching onto her shoulder.
"I've been shot," Miyara groaned as I now saw the bulletwound in her shoulder, blood flowing into the water as I could get seriously angry with her for even risking her life like that.
"Get on," I said as I pushed her up the Ilu by her waist and seated myself behind her, making the bond with the Ilu as Tsireya hung onto Miyara's legs with tears in her eyes, Lo'ak and Spider hung onto the sides of the Ilu as I swam away from the boat, Miyara's head in the nape of my neck as I saw her struggle to maintain consciousness.
"Stay with me, Miya," I whispered and her eyes opened, "you don't get to die on me."
"I saved you now, didn't I? That's all that matters," she said in a low voice, "you would've died if I didn't."
"You're talking gibberish," I said and she coughed a little.
"No, Eywa showed me what would happen if I didn't come along," she said, "I saw you die in my vision."
"Well, I'm not dead yet," I said and she chuckled.
"You better not die now, otherwise I would've done this for no reason," she said as we reached a rock and I layed her down on her back as I applied pressure to the wound. I sighed relieved as I could tell that the wound on her shoulder would most likely not be fatal but she had to be taken to Ronal for further healing or else she could bleed out.
"I love you, you know that?" She whispered probably having forgotten that Lo'ak, Tsireya and Spider were here too. My ears shot up ad I felt a pain in my heart when she spoke those words because I knew I could no longer return them.
"You love me?" I asked her, "I thought we couldn't fall in love?"
"Oh, Teyam," she said as a tear rolled down her cheek and I could tell she felt guilty, "I've come to realise that I do love you but.."
"But what?" I whispered as I saw Aonung and Rotxo get on the rock as well, their eyes widening in fear as they saw Miyara bleeding. It was hard for me to admit but Miyara wasn't the only one who had done some soul searching the last month and I realised that I was not in love with her, as the four months, now five, had passed since I met her so had the romantic feelings I once had for her. I loved her but I was no longer in love with her, not like Aonung was as he heard what she said as she said she loved me.. I could see his heart break into a million pieces probably thinking that he had truely lost her forever, trembling as he stared at the girl he loved with his entire heart and soul.
"But what, Miya?" I asked as she opened her eyes once more, clearly falling in and out of consciousness, a tear rolling down her cheek as she was now finally able to admit it to not only herself but also to me.
"But I love Aonung more," she said not even realising he was standing right behind her, his eyes widening like he didn't understand a word she had just said as his ears shot up.
"I know," I said with a soft smile upon my face as I looked up at Aonung, "it's always going to be Aonung, right?" I looked back down at her and watched her chuckle, "those were your words."
"Hey, only I can use other people's words against them," she chuckled, managing to stay awake because of this.
"Hm, but those were your words, were they not?" I asked as I saw Aonung look rather scared, like he thought she was joking, like she would say 'sike' any moment now.
"Yeah," she said softly looking into my eyes, "those are my words, it will always be him. I'm sorry, Teyam. You deserve the world but I'm just not in love with you like that."
"Don't be," I said, "just do me a favour and get better, Aonung will get you out of here."
"Are you sure I'm the one that got shot because he's not even here skxawng," Miyara exclaimed as all of us softly chuckled, "you're delusional."
"He is right behind you," I said softly as she frowned and turned her head around, "he heard everything you said, skxawng." I enjoyed that even though we just admitted to not get together we still got along like friends, after all I think she might be my best friend here.
"Oh," she whispered and suddenly got shy when she saw Aonung, their eyes locking with each other, "well this just got awkward."
"Apply pressure to the wound," I told Aonung and frowned as I realised something, "where's Kiri?"
"She and Tuk got captured, your parents are getting them now," Rotxo told me as I saw Aonung silently take Miyara from me, I watched how quickly she sunk into his embrace, I saw how comfortable she was in his arms as he carried her like a princess, holding her with one arm, using his other hand to apply pressure to the wound as he clicked his tongue for the Ilu to come. I grunted as I looked over at the ship, averting my gaze from the two lovers. I knew Aonung would keep her safe.
"Come on, I know how to get them," Spider said as he got up. I grunted as I watched Aonung take off with Miyara to look for his mother, the rest of the clan left as soon as they had won the battle. Only Tsireya and Miyara were the ones who stayed back to help my family and Miyara even got shot because of it.
"Keep Tsireya here," I told Rotxo and he nodded as I followed after Lo'ak and Spider to get my sisters back. When we reached the pool in the middle of the ship I saw Tuk being the only one strapped to the railing as Quaritch held a knife to Kiri's throat. I told Lo'ak and Spider to leave and go the other way as I quietly got up and freed Tuk, helping her into the water as I saw Spider hide behind my mother in the distance as he stepped forward.
"Please, please don't hurt her!" Spider said walking past my mother, which was a big mistake because as soon as he stepped infront of her she grabbed onto his hair and placed her dagger against his throat, never having seen my mother in this state before even I got chills.
"Release my daughter or I cut," she said staring coldly into Quaritch's eyes.
"What makes you think I care about him?" Quaritch spat out, "he's not my son. We're not even the same species."
I saw Lo'ak get Tuk away, getting her to the rock where Tsireya and Rotxo were as I quietly hid behind Quaritch, holding my dagger in my hand in case I needed to attack but for now his grip on my sister was to tightly and if I attacked him now he would definitely cut Kiri's throat.
My mother lifted her dagger and made a long cut on Spider's chest before she looked back at Quaritch who was obviously afraid of my mother. Only a fool wouldn't be afraid of my mother.
"I cut," she spoke as Quaritch remained quiet. She cried out and lifted her dagger, ready to kill Spider, shocking all of us at how far she was willing to go for her children. Even my father stared at her like he had never seen her like this before, before he spotted me.
"Okay, stop!" Quaritch said before she could stab Spider, "just stop.. I'll let her go, but you let him go, allright?"
I saw Quaritch loosen his grip on Kiri as I looked over at my father for his clearance since he was the only one who had seen me arrive, my father nodded and as soon as Quaritch lowered his blade I jumped up, grabbed onto his shoulder and cut his throat open. Kiri quickly ran to Spider and fell into his arms as my mother gaped at me for killing Quaritch. I watched the man who had hunted down my family and hurt us over and over again fall dead to the ground in a pool of his own blood. Spider stared at me in shock, I knew he was his father but I had to protect my siblings and they came first, I felt no regret for killing him because now we were safe.
"Get him another mask," I said as my father came to hug me and drag me off the sinking ship, "they probably put a tracker on that one, knowing how sky people work."
My father frowned and looked up at the mask Spider was wearing, "I can shut the tracker off," he spoke as we jumped into the water and left for the rock where Tsireya, Rotxo, Tuk and Lo'ak were waiting for us.
I saw the jealous look on Rotxo's face when Kiri held onto Spider's hand, never having him seen so angry before.
"You're back!" Tsireya said excited as she hugged each and everyone of us, "I'm so glad it's over now, I do hope Miya gets better."
"What's with Miya?" Kiri asked Tsireya shocked, caring about her friend as I cleared my throat.
"She took a bullet for me," I said knowing that Miyara cared enough about me to take a bullet for me was somewhat soothing, a month ago I would've been devastated if she told me that she loved Aonung more than me but now after I could do some thinking it was always clear that he was the one for her. She had this special look in her eyes that she had reserved for him and only him, I even saw it on her face after they broke up, she never looked at me that way. I'm sure that we both had feelings for each other but they both faded overtime, all we had was simply a crush and a crush will pass within a few months, loves sticks and now we both knew that what we had was a different kind of love. I can still understand why I fell for her, but I was no longer falling for her. It was like I moved on, she left for a month and in the beginning it hurt me a lot but I slowly got adjusted to not having her around all the time... even when she returned after a month my heart didn't flutter like it used to and I could tell she felt the same, because her eyes lingered on Aonung and not me. I thought their love was forced because they were always intended to end up together but the longer I thought about it the more it made sense they fell for each other.. they didn't force it because there was a time where they didn't get along and slowly they build up that relationship. They already had a history before I came into the picture and I disturbed that picture but in the end they found their way back to each other.
I sighed as I felt relieved, a part of me would always love her but I moved on from what we were or could've been.
For a moment I wondered if we could now return home to the Omatikaya but I knew it was impossible.. as long as there are sky people on this planet we will never be safe. The Metkayina were our home now and we might as well start living it. It was over.

I'm so sorry for all the Neteyam voters but the decision has been made after 30 chapters 😂 I had such a difficult time choosing on how she would come to the conclusion, on how she would come to her decision and who it would be.. I had the most trouble with choosing who.. but now there's no turning back, it's Aonung. Congratulations. Be happy because my other option was killing her off.. but I'm no George R. R. Martin.
Fun fact I thought about killing off Spider too but then I was like why would I do that? I gave Aonung a redemption arc so why not him?
Anyway I hoped you liked this chapter and please let me know what you think of this chapter, of how she told Neteyam that she chooses Aonung and just tell me what you think of it, I'd love to read your opinions and be honest because I'm dutch and we like honesty.
And no worries this is NOT the last chapter, I still have many ideas and I want to stir up some drama with Rotxo/Kiri/Spider.. by the way, how will Spider even live with the Metkayina? Like doesn't that mask have limited air supply or am I saying something stupid? And.. how will he eat with that mask on? Doesn't he like have to return to somewhere he can normally breathe for that?? I don't know.. what do you think I should do with Spider?