Thanatophobia | Ao'nung

⋆˚✿˖°ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟚𝟛⋆˚✿˖°

The Sully children rushed to the Metkayina teens as all of their training would be resuming. Kiri and Ni'la had been given a couple of weeks off to rest, but now that they were fully healed, their parents felt it would be best to get them out of the pod.

At first, Ni'la had been excited to continue her training, but when she heard from her siblings that Ao'nung had also been joining the training sessions, her panic grew, especially after that dream she had.

Heat pooled in her stomach as flashes from that dream invaded her mind, and as she continued to walk with her siblings, she knew that her initial idea of being only Ao'nung's friend was going to be a pain in her ass. Why did he have to be such a good kisser? And why did she dream about him in the first place?

It didn't make any sense to her.

Of course, she admitted, at least to herself, that she found him attractive, but was that all it was? She didn't like him, did she?

No, of course, she didn't. He just made her extremely sexually frustrated.

Ni'la pushed those thoughts away from her mind as she saw Tsireya and Rotxo up ahead, and it seemed that Ao'nung wouldn't be joining them for the day.

Good. At least I won't have to relive that dream. The girl thought to herself.

"Hey, guys," Rotxo greeted, and all the Sully children returned his greeting.

"Hey, Rotxo. I feel like I haven't seen you in a while," Ni'la teased, and the boy playfully rolled his eyes at her. "I've been too busy helping with your sibling's training," He informed, causing Ni'la to raise an eyebrow.

"And hanging out with Kiri," She added, and both teens looked down as they flushed in embarrassment. Ni'la smirked to herself as both of her brothers looked at the Metkayina boy accusingly. Neither of them knew about Rotxo hanging out with Kiri, otherwise, he would have gotten the protective brothers' talk.

However, Ni'la couldn't blame her brothers for not realizing it because she didn't notice it at first either. She'd been too busy with whatever she and Ao'nung had going on to see that Kiri would sometimes sneak out of the pod for hours at a time. It wasn't until Ni'la had accidentally seen the two teens walking alongside the beach with each other that she put two and two together.

"Do you like my sister?" Lo'ak asked, crossing his arms over her chest, only to groan in pain as Ni'la slapped his chest. "Leave them alone. It's none of your business," She gave her brother a pointed look.

"But she's my sister."

"She's my sister too. I'm pretty sure Kiri can handle herself just fine," Ni'la rolled her eyes, resulting in her brothers glaring at her.

"I know she can! But Rotxo has to know that I'm going to kick his ass if he hurts her!" Lo'ak argued.

"And I'm going to kick your ass if you keep meddling in Kiri's business," Ni'la fired back before adding, "Isn't it enough that you two have already meddled in my love life?"

"What love life?" Tuk asked, and Ni'la's eyes widened as she realized what she said.

Neteyam narrowed his eyes at his sister. He knew her better than any of his other siblings. He also knew that the only thing he and Lo'ak had meddled in was her 'friendship' with Ao'nung, which he still didn't approve of. There was nothing the Metkayina boy could ever do to change Neteyam's mind that he was a nice person.

Why would Ni'la claim that he and Lo'ak had meddled in her love life when he wasn't aware that she had one?

And that's when it hit him.