invisible string ↝ ao'nung

XII ; Heart To Heart

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Know it seems so quick and easy
Sentimentally assumed
Walking parallels
Heart to heart
To all the days we were together
To all the time we played a part
In each other's lives
Heart to heart
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She turned to face him, trying to look as casual as she could. "Yes?"
"It is past eclipse." Oh, so he wasn't mad that she was out with a boy? Well, a win is a win. "Sorry, father, I did not realise." Her father sighed, then walked past her, beckoning for her to follow him. He led her to the beach, which was now empty. She recalled all the time she spent here with Neteyam. And Ao'nung. Jake sat down, and Sylwana sat next to him.

"I had a twin brother, you know," he began, catching her off guard. Her father didn't speak much of his time on earth. When they were younger, he once told Neteyam and Sylwana, who wanted to visit earth, that it was nothing like the forest, or the mountains. It wasn't even like the science labs. No, it was dark, dreary, and gloomy, and they would be glad to never see it with their own eyes. They stopped asking about it after that.

"His name was Tommy. Now, we weren't one soul in two bodies or anything, but we were brothers."
"Is he still on the star?" Sylwana asked. Her father stared at his hands, a hard, almost distant look on his face.
"Yeah, he is. But he isn't breathing its air."
It takes Sylwana a moment to understand the ominous words. Then she realised. "I'm sorry, dad." He suddenly takes her by the shoulders, looking into her eyes for the first time since Neteyam's death. "No. Do not apologise. Sylwana, I should apologise. I never wanted you to go through this pain." Sylwana had never seen her father so upset before. Frustrated, yes, but he always remained calm and never yelled at his family.

He wrapped her in his arms, squeezing her so tightly she wondered if he'd bruised her ribs. "I'm sorry," he whispered repeatedly, and they stayed there, with her father whispering reassurances, as she cried the last few tears left in her body. She felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, what with seeing Neteyam again, Ao'nung's confession, and her father's comfort, she found herself finally able to breathe properly again. It was still there, though, that dully painful emptiness right in the centre of her chest. The kind of pain that made you want to claw at it to get rid of it, but it was always just beyond reach, the feeling never going away.

Her father pulled back, his face puffy and swollen from crying.
"Yuey, when I arrived on this moon, I was broken. This avatar," he gestured to his body, "it was Tommy's. We had the same DNA so I could use it- or something like that, anyway, it worked- and every little thing reminded me of him. And then I met your mother." She tried not to look disappointed. This was just another story of their parents' meet cute.

"When I met your father, I was trying to kill him." "When I met your mother, I was being attacked by thanators."

"She brought me to your grandmother, and your grandfather, and they agreed to take me in. I told them I was a member of the Jarhead clan, and they believed me," he had a small smile on his face. "Neytiri was not kind, far from it. I do not blame her, I was terrible at everything she taught me. But she filled that void that was left by Tommy." Sylwana turned her head to him, shocked that she had described her pain perfectly. That he understood what she was going through. "I believe Eywa led me here, to her. That I was always meant to live here, live my life with your mother." He held her face gently, his eyes relaxed for the first since the Sky People returned. "You will find someone who will fill that void. Who will give you purpose again, who will always be by your side." He stroked her hair, which was slightly askew from the battle and she had not touched it since. She was suddenly embarrassed that Ao'nung had seen her in such a state. "Even if I do not like the thought of my little girl with someone else. If it helps you, if it heals you, then that is all that matters."

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A/N ; really short chapter i'm sorryyyy but i'm kind of struggling to put together a plot for this act 😭 i promise next week i'll have a proper chapter. ALSO i have a hermione fic and a hunger games (maybe x oc?) fic both outlined and started in my drafts if anyone would be interested in either please let me know !!!