Ocean Skies - Loreya

Plastic Hearts Are Bleeding

The words fall from her lips like a sacred whisper among the shuffles of wind-shaken leaves: weak and unsure, barely holding on. Her world feels like it's falling apart, crumbling right under her two feet as she stands, knocking fallen leaves from the rock she had been sitting on. Everything she's ever known is suddenly ripped away from her all over again. She doesn't even notice the drops of rain breaking through the crown of the forest, pattering softly. Her hair sticks to her face, so young and yet aged by faint lines all the same. She heaves a shaky breath, the words not something she doesn't know, though spoken in English. Stepping closer, she reaches a hand out to touch her eldest again, cold fingers against the heated skin of his face.

"What did you just say?"

Neteyam gulps, feeling small and unsure. They do not have this concept in their culture, yet he somehow understands it perfectly. It seeps into his soul like the very blood into his veins that he's inhetired from the Dying Star. "Dad abuses Lo'ak."

Lo'ak dissociates again, mind foggy, like a nest of wild hornets had been dropped right onto his brain. His head hurts. She isn't going to believe them. She won't. She loves Jake too much. Distantly, he realises that he's never used this word to describe the situation. It's always been just simple little hurt. He's not hurt — he's burning in anguish. They feel very different.

"Your father wouldn't—" She covers her mouth with a slender, threefingered hand and stares ahead at Neteyam, eyes wide and clouded with disbelief and confusion.

She doesn't believe them. Lo'ak never should have told anyone. He sways, and Neteyam places a reassuring hand on his lower back, grounding him somewhat.

"He's still... he's still from the sky people. He can spend so many years with us but he cannot unlearn everything they taught him, mom." Neteyam stands his ground, feeling a protective flame ignite deep within his core at the sight of his pale-faced, trembling brother.

Neytiri opens her mouth, then closes it again, shaking her head with pursed lips — she is yet to reveal what she really thinks. It's driving Lo'ak insane. The mere few minutes feel like long hours; she needs to take a moment to let it all sink in, but Lo'ak cannot wait so long without losing his mind or blacking out in a fit of nerves and terror.

"Maybe he learnt it from his own father."

"Kiri?! What are you doing here?" Lo'ak gapes, snapping back to the present.

She looks sheepish, averting her gaze as she balances on a branch high above them all. "Sorry. Something seemed off. I was worried."

Neytiri swallows, throat bobbing loudly; Neteyam furrows his brows, jaw tense as he watches her, calculating. Had she really not noticed? But then again, had he?

Kiri jumps down from the branch, hair sticking to her face from the rain. She immediately begins fussing over Lo'ak. They're all standing now. Her fingers ghost over his skin, searching for wounds and bruises before deeming him alright. At least physically. She cups his cheeks and touches her forehead to his, smiling gently.

Neytiri hugs herself, staring long and hard at the ground — something is shimmering in her firecracker gaze, Neteyam can tell. He's the only one paying attention to her. He's the first to notice the switch.

She straightens her back and inhales silently through her nose, jaw set and eyes burning. Her fists clench by her sides and she turns swiftly on her heals, leaving a little hole in the ground under the spot her weight had once been. It feels like going to war all over again, and she isn't sure what the outcome will be.

"Mom?! Where are you going?" Neteyam calls after her, but she shakes her head.

Not turning back, she hisses into the rain, words hot on her lips. "To your father."