Promise me

12 •is this it?

I woke up to someone shaking me. I kept going in and out of consciousness so I couldn't quite tell who. I felt a sharp pain in my thigh as I hissed.

I could see visions of my mother and brother in the fire. They were holding eachother in a hug, tightly. I could see tears being built up in their closed eyes as they burned.

I heard screams of pain and mourns of others. I had to connect myself to reality. I couldn't live in this vision anymore. I had tried and tried but I was stuck here.

I eventually started moving my fingers around trying to reconnect.

I felt useless. I was stuck here forever and I couldn't get out. I wasn't even strong enough to connect again. Would I be able to see the sullys again? What happened? Am I dying?

I cried as my groans echoed through the abyss. I tried reconnecting to my tail but I could only move my fingers.

Just then I saw a very beautiful woman.. looked to be Kori's mother Grace.

"Are you alright Ralu?" She asked me. She had her hair in a hat with two braids hanging down, a tank top and a button up shirt with green shorts and what looked to be hiker boots like how Jake described them when we were little.

"I can't connect to my body, am I dying?" I ask. My eyes are filled with tears as I wept.

"Sadly, yes you are dying but you must connect more with eywa to reconnect to your body. You have been unconscious for a few days and it is starting to worry people." She hugs me as I wept into her shoulder.

"How do I do that??" I ask looking up at her.

I could see Kiri in her. The eyes and nose were the same. The spirit and the connection with eywa. They had such a spiritual personality that would come out when they were curious.

"Feel her, you must close your eyes and feel her. There's not much I can do for you." She says.

I pull away from the hug as I try to reconnect with my body. My eyes are closed when I take deep breathes, I can slowly feel more of my body. I pray to eywa that I can come back. I'm on the verge of dying but I cannot leave my people.

Eywa has seemed to answer as I feel more and more until I'm laying down with my eyes closed.

I can feel the presence of one person as they hold my hand. I can feel 3 fingers wrap around my hand, they have a very strong grip.

I finally can open my eyes to hear weeping and groaning. I can hear a deep voice praying and whispering quietly.

When I do open my eyes I see Aonung beside me. He's crying, a lot and I don't know what to say.

"Hi.." I manage to get out. He looks at me with hope and disbelief. His mouth flings open as if he wanted to say something but just couldn't get anything out.

I can see a grin building up on his face as he sets a hand on my cheek.

"Hey..." he gets out. His voice breaks from him crying, probably from a few days of crying. I attempt to sit up and when I do, he just hugs me. He wraps tightly around my torso as I cling into him as well.

I haven't felt more comfort since I last hugged Neteyam. Neteyam.. I wonder what happened with the war. I must not think about that as I pull away to look Aonung in the eyes.

He refuses to make eye contact, trying to hide the fact that he's been crying.

"Hey hey, it's okay you can cry.." I say.

"I'm so sorry for what I said to you... I was harsh and mean and I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen. I had no right to say that to you and I thought I lost you. I couldn't ju-"

I cut him off by closing the air between us kissing him on the lips. Both hands cup his cheeks as he kisses me back. I can feel his hand on my back bringing me closer to him.

I pull away setting our foreheads together.

"Don't worry Ao.. I knew you didn't mean it." I say.

He lets out a chuckle of relief as he finally looks into my eyes. His ocean blue eyes matches the bracelet I made him. I see the rest of the sully family walk in as they heard the news of me waking up.

Aonung steps back to let them have their moments. I look around, not seeing Neteyam with them.

The family all looks in mourning and I wonder if something happened to him. Could I not save him? I start to get really worried.

I look at their bodies and how they react. I hug Tuk first as she clings onto me. She hugs tightly spilling her heart out.

"Shhh shhh mawey ma tuk.." I say patting her head.

Then Kiri comes up besides me and lays her head on my shoulder as Loak crawls around to my other side doing the same thing.

Jake pats my leg as I notice the bloody tissue on my thigh.

"What happened?" I asked

"You got shot in the thigh and passed out." Loak says. From his voice I could tell he was crying. I used one hand to hold Kiris hand as I rubbed Loaks leg.

"Where's Neteyam" I ask.

"He..-" just then Neytiri was cut off.

"Right here" Neteyam says walking in with a basket of fruits and fish.

"I got you food since you've been unconscious for a few days. I was in here with you for a bit but I healed quicker then we thought." He says

"You got shot?" I asked and my eyes roamed his body til I saw the bandage across his chest. I also had red stains as the blood had bled through.

I smiled as I had the 4 sully kids around me. I could see the rest of Aonungs family walk in. They took Aonung into a hug as I watched in awe.. this was forever my happy place.