— 𝐭𝐬𝐲𝐮𝐥 —

𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗯𝘁𝘀

"𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆?" his father's words were echoing in the tent, his eyes making it impossible for the oldest boy to look back at them.

neteyam knew that he was screwed.

he knew when he had tried to fight back as they had dragged him away, he knew when they had took him back home in complete silence, when he had found his siblings with their head down not looking at him, when his parents had brought all four of them inside their house.

he knew.

and he was scared.

but even as he could see the anger in their eyes a side of his brain couldn't help but think about you, about where you had gone.

about if the tribe had found you or if they had hurted you.

"how could you drag your siblings into this?!" jake's voice rang trough his ears as he motioned to his three other children.

they were on either side of neteyam, tuk clutching his hand as she tried to bring him any sense of comfort.

they all wanted to scream at their parents.

they wanted to tell them how you were actually good, how you had took care of tuk, how you had never hurt them — except for the little cut on lo'ak troath... — how neteyam was the one thing that could hold you back, that could keep you calm.

tuk wanted to tell them about how your eyes were beautiful, and not scary like they had told her many times.

that when you used your arrows you never missed, but they were all still alive in front of them anyway.

she wanted to tell them that you always wore the little bracelet that she had made for you.

that you loved her brother.

but she couldn't, none of them could.

"you disappoint us neteyam" jake said those last words looking down, almost as he felt ashamed of his own son.

that was the one moment, the one were neteyam finally looked up.

how could he not?

he could face you, the so called killer, and he couldn't face his parents?

no, he wouldn't let that happen, especially when they thought that he would ever put his siblings into danger.

"i disappoint you?" neteyam let his sister's hand feel down as he took a small step towards his father.

kiri gasped, moving an hand to her chest as she looked at her brother.

she finally observed him, after months.

she took in how he was going against his parents for the first time in his whole life, how he didn't look scared.

how he was dead serious about what he was doing.

and for the first time after months she realised just how much good you had done to him.

she knew that she didn't know much.

she didn't know about all the small laughs that you had shared,

about all the breathtaking places that you had took him.

about how your eyes really did light up when you two were alone and you didn't feared being seen weak.

she didn't know a lot about you two.

but it didn't worried her.

because as she took in his brother's anger she realised that he had found something worth fighting for even against the thing he feared the most.

his parents' disappointment.

but before any of them could even try to say something a hiss was heard right behind them and they were reminded once again of the presence of their mother.

"neteyam" she scolded him with a stern tone, but he didn't back down.

"no" he talked back, his hand cutting trough the air.

"you don't know her, you haven't met her!" he tried to explain as jake brought a hand to his forehead.

he was almost hundred percent sure that his son had gone mad.

that could've been the only explanation, there was no way he had come face to face with a KILLER and he was still there trying to protect you.

"thank god we haven't" murmured jake under his breath but it arrived to his son's ear anyway.

"you talk? after what your people did to mom's home?" neteyam didn't know where all this attitude was coming from, all this bravery.

he didn't understand how he found all this courage.

and once again he couldn't help but think about what his siblings could be thinking about all of it.

lo'ak was never going to let that go, the oldest was sure of that, he could already hear his brother's teasing tone ringing un his ears — always if his mother didn't cut his heart out first.

kiri was probably begging him to stop, to shut up and let everything go, even thought she knew that he would've never do it.

and tuk?

he was afraid of tuk, of her mind.

you had always warned her about not being too curious and he had always been worried about being a bad influence.

and after everything he had made them went trough, he was sure that he was just that

a bad influence.

all that recklessness, all that anger, he couldn't let tuk think that this was right.

but he also couldn't let them talk about you like that.

"that's enough" said jake, a finger pointing directly into his son's face.

"-but she forgave you, right? and you're still here with the perfect family and all this shit"

"that's enough!" as neytiri repeated his husband's words the oldest sully fell silent.

the thing that was bubbling up inside of him finally stopped and he cooled down, finally realising what was happening, what he had just done — and said.

he suddenly became aware of his breath, of his silent siblings, of his mother's look.

and he forgot about the world outside.

not about you, he could've never forget about you.

but he forgot about whoever you needed to fight, about his missing supplies, about toruk, about all those beautiful places.

he forgot as the only think he could concentrate on were his feet touching the hard ground.

and his breath becoming more erratic as the second passed.

and then, almost as if he had called it, a screeching sound was heard.

was it animal? he couldn't be too sure about it.

another sound, a calling noise coming from the back of someone's throat.

his eyes widened, his head shoot up.

his siblings looked at each other asking the other if they were hearing that too, if they were all thinking about the same thing.

and his parents copied their actions but with hard glares on their face.

neytiri went to her bow and jake found his knife.

and while neteyam had done everything to bring peace in his family, his parents were already preparing for war.

and in their minds you had brought it to them.

ꕤꕤꕤ
a/n:
hi babess
i know this chapter is short and i'm sorry, promise i'll make the next chapter longer :)
next thing i'll do is explain some things so everything will become clear soon !!
but please let me know if you have questions about some things that i haven't explained so i'll make sure to explain everything :)
( ps. i haven't proof read it so i'll come back later for any mistakes )
thank you for all the love hope you are spending a good holiday <33

-sa