Not So Perfect [Avatar The Way Of Water]

40

Aonung's pov:

I was peacefully asleep until I heard Mo'iki's voice call throughout my pod, slowly waking me up from my deep slumber.
"Have you seen Miyara?" He asked my parents and I smiled with my eyes still closed because Miyara was with me.
"No, not since the announcement of Yukrì," my father answered, "has she not returned home yet?"
"No, which is weird because ever since Niokä and Oimliän she always told me where she went," Mo'iki said which made me frown. She did the same to me, ever since Oimliän and Niokä hurt her she always told me where she went. I sighed and opened my eyes to tell Mo'iki she was with me but as soon as I opened them I realised she wasn't here. I shot up as I searched my room for her presence but all she left behind were the Tsahik supplies she used to heal my wound.
"Perhaps she's with her friends? Or maybe she decided to visit your parents?" My mother questioned, I scoffed at that, Miyara had no desire to see her shitty parents.
"I asked them," Mo'iki said, "nobody saw her since last night."
I quickly got up and winced in pain since I got up too fast, and walked out of my room so I could talk to Mo'iki. I suddenly remembered her telling me she'd go hunting for me but now I was doubting if it was real or if I dreamed it. I saw my spear missing, meaning that I didn't dream it.
"She went hunting last night," I said as everyone turned their gaze to me, "she said she went hunting, I told her to take my spear but I was tired so I fell asleep before she even left."
"And she never came back?" Mo'iki asked me as he grew more worried and so did I.
"No," I answered, "that was the last time I saw her."
"Nobody has seen her since," Mo'iki said as he ran a hand through his hair, "we should search for her, she wouldn't leave without telling me where she went.. she's still terrified of getting hurt."
I didn't wait for my father to answer him as I ran out of my pod to start searching for Miyara, assuming the worst.
"Aonung! You are not healed yet, come back!" My mother shouted with my baby brother in her arms, but I ignored her. I had to find my girlfriend, I had to make sure she was allright, but something told me that she wasn't. My heart was pumping in my chest as a new sense of worry took over me, all I could think of were the nightmares I had in which she got hurt or killed and it only made me more anxious for her wellbeing.
"Aonung?" Seyza asked me as she saw me frantically run around and calling Miyara's name, "I overhead Leykuzi saying that she knew where Miyara is."
Leykuzi. I grunted annoyed as I followed after Seyza without a second thought, if Leykuzi was involved that would mean that the two girls had probably gotten into a fight.. but I was certain that Miyara would win that fight.
"Oh, Aonung," Leykuzi said and immediatly placed her hands on my arm with a saddened look in her eyes, "how are you?"
"Where's Miyara?" I asked her stern as Leykuzi blinked a few tears away, making me frown.
"I'm afraid she left, she left you," Leykuzi said, "she was rambling about not being happy in Awa'atlu anymore, she said she wasn't happy with you anymore, she took and Ilu and left.. I don't know where she went but I'm sure she's long gone."
"She left?" Seyza questioned from behind me as I was still taking in Leykuzi's words, trying to make sense of them but they left me speechless. Miyara left? She was unhappy here, with me? It didn't make sense, I saw the way she looked at Yukrì yesterday, she was overjoyed to have brought life into this world, she was excited about us having a family one day, she even told me about some of the names she liked for our baby just before I left to go searching for pearls.. No, she wasn't unhappy here and she wasn't unhappy with me, I was sure of it. And even if she was she would never leave her nieces behind, she took care of them from the moment they were born, she was even more of a parent to Zuaia and Re'ylä than Mo'iki was sometimes. Miyara wouldn't do that, Miyara wasn't a quitter.
"That's what I heard her say," Leykuzi told Seyza, "she seemed really upset and I called after her but she ignored me."
"Did she have anything with her?" I asked Leykuzi as I saw Seyza shot me a confused look, Seyza might not know Miyara all that well yet but it was clear that she didn't believe Miyara would leave either.
"No, just her and an Ilu," Leykuzi said.
"Did you see her leave right away?" I asked Leykuzi as Seyza continued to shoot me confused looks, clearly not understanding where I was going with this.
"I saw her walk out of the village, to the beaches and leave on an Ilu," Leykuzi groaned, "is that so hard to understand? She left you Aonung, that means you'll need a new mate, right?"
"You're right," I said as Seyza scoffed, "if my girlfriend left me that means I'll need a new mate."
"Unbelievable," Seyza whispered under her breath as she held her hands up in defeat.
"I'll ask Teungyi," I lied as I watched Leykuzi's smile drop, I had no intrest in Teungyi and Teungyi had no intrest in me but Leykuzi hated Teungyi almost as much as Miyara, if not more since Teungyi was unbeatable. I believed Teungyi was the only girl that Leykuzi was truely afraid of.
"T-Teungyi?" Leykuzi stammered, "she's with Yrritsyo."
"For now, she'll leave him if I ask her," I said and faked a smile, "but you said it yourself, I need a new mate.. who else but Teungyi could do that?"
"I can, I am way better than Teungyi," Leykuzi said in disbelief, "we have something special Aonung, Miyara was simply in the way but now that she left you we can finally be together."
"Even if you were the last girl on Pandora I wouldn't want to be with you," I spat out as I watched Leykuzi's ears lower, "Miyara left with my spear to go hunting, so I'll give you one more change to tell me the truth."
"I swear, she left," Leykuzi lied once more, "but what does it matter? If I can't have you, no one can."
I wanted to open my mouth and protest but Seyza slapped Leykuzi harshly across her face, clearly done with her too.
"You whore," Seyza spat out, leaving me flabbergasted since Seyza was always calm, "you just need to have everyone's boyfriend, you went after Yrritsyo, Lo'ak, Neteyam, Aonung, Rotxo.. you even went after Mo'iki once who's a few years older than you, had already mated and was already a father.. you're pathetic and if you did anything to Miyara I can guarantee you that the entire village will want your head on a spike.. so spill."
"Fine, she went hunting," Leykuzi spoke and smirked as she looked at me, "but she was also being hunted, they'll probably be finished with her by now."
"They? Who's they?" I asked her worried, I had a hunch but I prayed to Eywa that it wasn't true.
"Exactly who you think," Leykuzi said, "good luck finding her."
My heart dropped as millions of thoughts rushed through my head, millions of ways they would've hurt Miyara. The way she screamed my name when they tried to rape her the first time rushed through my head, I was angry with myself, who knew what they had already done to her.. And I wasn't there to protect her, nobody was there to protect her.. she was all alone. A picture of her dead, limp body popped up in my head as I could feel tears pricking in the corners of my eyes. She could be dead for all I knew, she could've been dead for several hours. They could've taken her from me.
"Go look for her," Seyza told me, "I'll get the others and tell your father.."
I nodded at Seyza as my legs started moving before my brain could even command them to do so, I ran across the beaches as I searched for Miyara. Afraid.. no, terrified of what I might encounter. My wounds had opened up again and my shoulder was covered in blood but I did not care about my own wellbeing, I had to find my Miya.