His Angel Eyes {A Neteyam and Aonung Love Story}

Chapter Five

Neteyam yowled as he felt a familiar tug at his ear, quickly turning with a smile to meet Tuk.

She laughed, grabbing his hand and pulling to a different part of the beach.
Quickly, they were met with their siblings and the three Metkayina's that seemed to always be with them.

Neteyam sat down in between Lo'ak and Rotxo, Tuk finding her way on his lap, her back against his chest.
Tsireya sat by Lo'ak, Aonung by her, with Rotxo in between Kiri and Aonung. Completing the circle.

"What have you brought me here for, huh?" Neteyam asked as he ticked Tuks sides, laughing as she batted his hands away.

"We want to know more about the forest." Rotxo explained, smiling happily to Kiri.

"Lo'ak and Kiri lived there as well." Neteyam reminded, sending them all a questioning glance.

"Shut up, bro. We're all going to tell stories. Yeah?" Lo'ak asked, looking to Neteyam with a question in his eyes.

Neteyam sighed, shrugging his shoulders in agreement.
"What would you like to know?"

All at once, they asked questions. The Sully Siblings laughing at their eagerness while Tuk watched in simple confusion.

"One at a time!"
Kiri shouted, calming them with a motion of her hand. She looked to Rotxo, nodding to him.

"What was missions like?" Rotxo asked.

It was no secret the forest Na'vi engaged in many wars and missions. Everyone knew that.
So, they were not surprising at the general curiosity of it.

"Chaos." Kiri began, a small smile on her lips.
"We all had a role to play. Our father was leader, while my mother, myself, and our grandmother were to look after the wounded that would return. Lo'ak and Neteyam also fought in missions. Mostly as spotters or long-distance fighters."

"But mom would sometimes fight too! She was really cool!" Tuk added, clapping her hands.

They all laughed, nodding at the information they were receiving.

"What about free time? What did you all do?"
Tsireya was the next to ask. She wanted to lean the conversation away from war, towards their personal lives.
Though, she wasn't sure the line between fighting and home was ever truly drawn.

"Well," Lo'ak began, sitting back on his hands with a smile on his face.
"When we were younger, Kiri and I would play in the creek with others Na'vi."

Kiri laughed, covering her mouth before adding on.
"We would drag our father and.."

The conversation ceased as the Sully children frowned, their faces growing sad.

"Spider."
Lo'ak croaked, looking up to Kiri and giving her a sad smile.

"Who's spider?"
Aonung hesitantly asked, looking to Neteyam for answers rather than the other two.

"Spider was a sky-person, but he was left too young on our planet. So he was raised as a Na'vi and the other Sky-people took care of him. Actually, I don't think there was a single time he wasn't with us."

Rotxo swallowed, sensing a bad ending to this story.
"What happened to him?"

Kiri scratched her shoulder, sadness seeping through her.
"He was captured. We weren't able to save him."

There was silence for a few moments after, until Tuk laughed. Lightening the mood with whatever came to her mind.

"Oh! But sometimes Mom would take Kiri, Lo'ak, and I to the floating islands and let us drop from them on her Ikran."
Kiri and Lo'ak laughed at the memory, covering their faces as the other three laughed.

"What about you, forest boy? Where were you during these adventures?" Aonung asked, nodding his head in Neteyams direction.

"He was training." Lo'ak explain, still chuckling at the earlier stories.
"Or with Zímey."
Kiri commented, instantly closing her mouth.

Lo'ak pursed his lips, looking to his older brother.
The other three teens sense the change in the mood, looking towards Neteyam.

His ears were turned down, his tail flicking almost lifelessly, and his smile sad and almost guilty.

"Sorry- I didn't mean-" Kiri began before Neteyam shushed her with the shake of his head.

"It's okay. It's not a crime to speak of him." Neteyam mumbled, his eyes wondering.

He seemed to be lost in thought, his head running through every memory he shared with the boy he was once promised to love.

Lo'ak cleared his throat, looking at the confused faces of their friends.
"H-"

Neteyam carefully stood Tuk up, placing her in Kiri's lap. He carefully got up, smiling to the still sitting group.
"I'm gonna go help mom."

They all watched, some sympathetically, others in confusion as Neteyam walked off.

Lo'ak turned back to the group, tilting his head.
"Zímey was a Na'vi that lives in the forest."

"Who was he?" Rotxo asked, looking between Kiri and Lo'ak.

Aonung and Tsireya both leaned forward, sensing it to be a personal topic for the eldest Sully brother.

"Zímey, was Neteyams first love." Kiri slowly explained, watching carefully how the others faces dropped.

"Yeah, they were practically mates. In another year, they would have been." Lo'ak added, scratching the back of his neck.

It felt wrong to talk about Zímey without Neteyam's permission. But at the same time, they both knew one of them would ask if they didn't explain.

"Would have? Did something..happen to him?"
Aonung hesitantly asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked for more answers.

"Before we left, the forest was all buy destroyed. Some of the Na'vi blame Lo'ak but, Neteyam took all the blame."
Kiri began, her eyes darting to Lo'ak before she looked back to the ground.

"Zímey's family, they didn't trust Neteyam after that. They blamed him. So, when we left, all they had was a brief goodbye. We had to leave him behind, his Ikran was killed in battle, he had now way to travel with us."

"Wh...couldn't..couldn't he have rode with one of you?" Tsireya pleaded, her eyes wide as Lo'ak took her hand.

"Our mom and Neteyam we're switching off on holding Tuk. And we all had belongings with us. If we brought much more, we wouldn't have even made it a creek distance away."
Lo'ak stated in an almost broken whisper, rubbing a thumb along Tsireya's palm.

"So, if Zímey was supposed to be Neteyam's mate, but Neteyam was supposed to be Olo'eyktan, how would they have been mates?" Aonung wondered out loud.

Every Olo'eyktan was required to supply an heir. With this, it seemed impossible.

"Our demon-blood," Lo'ak groaned, holding up his hand, "also flows through Neteyam. We each have something different."

"Lo'ak and I have five fingers, Tuk has the similarities of a human child. Neteyam is, what the Sky-people call, Intersex. He had a genetic mutation on a DNA level, most likely from being the first born."
Kiri explained, rocking Tuk as she fell asleep peacefully against her.

"What is intersex?"
Tsireya questioned, slowing her mouth to correct the word.

"Neteyam has the anatomy of both male's and females while also having the anatomy of neither. We don't know for sure, as it hasn't been tested, obviously, but, there's a possibility Neteyam could get pregnant."
Lo'ak explained, his cheeks flushing as he explained something so personal.

"But Neteyam, so far, has shown no interest in children. He's been focused on the war for so long, I don't think he's truly put much thought into having a family."
Kiri divulged, sighing as she ran a hand down Tuks braids.

"So, Neteyam, could have kids.." Aonung repeated, his heart beating undeniably faster.

"Why am I so..happy?"

Kiri and Lo'ak both swallowed hard, their mouths suddenly feeling like sandpaper. They shared each other's gaze, each thinking the same thing.

"Neteyam, is going to kill us."