Calm Before The Storm, Jake Sully

048, Blood.

♯┆calm before the storm .ᐟ
━━━━━━━━━━

     The three of them had to be quiet. Swift and careful movements. Denahi placed a finger on her lips, hushing them, pointing at the demons walking below. Neteyam held onto the fresh-carved knife, Denahi holding tight onto her bow. With the following orders, all three of them jumped down and killed the following humans tracing their tracks to the escape. Spider took off one of their masks, Lo'ak hitting one, Neteyam pushing one into the water.

Denahi looked at the three of them. Pure shock written across her face. But, the final one, the one she should have shot with her arrow held a gun towards her youngest son. Lo'ak turned around, immediately putting bullets into the demons chest.

Denahi let out a breath. A heavy one. A hand moved to his cheek, "Are you okay?" It was his first kill. A first demon kill. Perhaps his first time using a gun against one of them.

Denahi remembered her first kill. How her stomach twisted into nausea, her heart beating harder than it was in this moment. Lo'ak nodded his head, but his eyes stayed blank. He couldn't believe it either. "Come," Denahi mentioned to them all.

The four of them jumped down a level. Finding the spot to be safe. "Thanks, guys," Spider thanked them all. Without the three, he would still be captured. And when Denahi turned her head to respond, she set her sight on the man standing far behind.

Lyle. He found the four of them, Denahi immediately pushing them behind a wall. "Give me that!" Neteyam exclaimed to Lo'ak before grabbing the gun and shooting out.

Denahi growled before landing her arrow into one of them. "Mom, go! Go, go!" Neteyam repeated, moving his hand to make her run behind him. Her stomach twisted as she jumped into the water, the three boys following close behind. Once breaking the surface, Denahi looked for her children.

Noticing Neteyam could not be found. "Neteyam!" She shouted out for him. Her head dug beneath the surface, noticing the clear water began to turn red. Raising her head back up, Neteyam was floating as his palm held onto his gushing chest.

"No, no," Denahi whispered as she swam towards him. Tsireya swam up on her Ilu, the little ones no where to be found. "You skxawng, I'm shot..." Neteyam announced.

He was calm. Too calm. Neteyam didn't want to worry his brother, or mother. Denahi immediately held onto his chest, pushing pressure down onto his wound. She wasn't going to lose him. She had lost too much.

The ripples of calm water surrounded them, moving Neteyam onto a rock. The water was too calm for the situation. It should be raining, thundering. Replicating what Denahi was feeling as she carried her injured son onto the slippy surface of the rock, "Careful! Be careful with him!"

Jake found them, helping them to carry Neteyam. He lifted his son up, checking his back to see if the bullet had gone through. If his wound was more lethal than before. "Oh, no," Jake said to himself. Neteyam gripped onto Denahi's hand, soothing his mother.

"I am here, I am here," Denahi told him before Jake forced Lo'ak to keep pressure on the bleeding wound. Denahi pressed her head against Neteyam's chest, listening to his heartbeat growing weak. "It is okay," She whispered, smoothing her hand down his long braids— smiling down at him.

What else could she do but soothe him? "I want to go home..." Neteyam managed to speak. His breathing grew heavier, his grip grew looser. "I know, I know. It's okay. We're going home," Jake mentioned to him.

Home. The first time Neteyam had complained since moving to Awa'atlu. Her ears fell down, her face attempting to stay strong but the tears began to fall. Neteyam looked at her with so much love in his eyes, squeezing tight onto her hand, "Do not cry."

He was too strong. Too mighty. Her son should not have to be telling her not to cry over him. "We're going home, it's okay," Jake soothed his soon. Neteyam flicked his sight towards Jake, Denahi leaning back down to heart his heartbeat again. Slowing down.

"Dad, I—" And then it stopped. His voice stopped. His heart stopped. Denahi lifted her head to notice his pupils had dilated, his fighting breath had stopped. The colour washed from his flesh, the bioluminescent freckles stopped their white glow. "Teyam?" Denahi asked him, the hand once squeezing her fingers not so tight anymore.

He didn't respond. His hand fell from hers, landing harsh onto the rock. Denahi picked his hand up again, squeezing his fingers. "Come on, sweet one, wake up..." He can't be gone. He couldn't be gone.

Denahi would not allow it. Not her son. Not her first born son. Her first taste at being a parent, her first ever child and son.

Lost to the same way she had lost her brother. Shot and killed by those demons. No. She wouldn't allow it. "Mom..." Lo'ak called out to her, realising the trance she had gone into— believing her son was still there with them. Still alive. Still breathing. Lo'ak hold onto her arm, Neteyam's blood transferring onto the azure flesh. "No. No, not my son. No..." Denahi cried out.

She screamed. Screamed as loud as she could. Holding onto the hope that Neteyam would come back at the sound. Jake pressed his hands onto her head, pushing her into his chest to soothe her sobbing.

Jake didn't know what to do. All he could do was practice what he had been trained. "Where are your sisters? Yours sisters! Where are they?" Jake asked the dazed Lo'ak. Lo'ak looked up at his father shouting at him, like he didn't just lose his brother.

"I don't know..." Lo'ak replied. "Where are they?" Jake shouted back at him. Tsireya turned her head, ears perching up at the sudden sound of yelling.

Tsireya turned her head up, "They are on the ship. They're tied up on the ship." Lo'ak continued to look down at his hands. Hands covered in blood— his brothers blood. He then looked over at Denahi, she was covered in Neteyam's blood. And from the way she hugged herself, it spread further.

All words went blurted within her head. Nothing about the conversation happening around her seemed to stick. Her mind was full with the fact she had lost her son.

Her shoulder crashed to the ground when Jake moved, but she didn't care. Her sight was set on the sight of her sons deceased figure on the floor. The pain consuming her greater than anything before. Her first child.

Jake looked down at her on the ground, pulling her body up to his chest. "Listen to me..." He said, but Denahi couldn't listen. She simply cried more. Her eyesight blurred, ears deafening with a high-tone pitch. Denani couldn't concentrate. "They have our daughters! They have our daughters."

The words snapped Denahi back into focus. She looked up at Jake, nothing but blind rage filling her eyes. Ones that was once filled with innocence, a purity that made Jake fall in love with her for the first time. "I need you here with me. I need my girl back with me," Jake mentioned as he brushed her cheeks with the thumbs of his hands, "We need to get our daughters back."

Denahi stood without a word. Without a single breath. She called for Riti, mounting on her back. Flying to the gunships.