To Save Those Once Lost.

Chapter I

Three years.

It had been three years since their fight with the sky people.

It had been three years since they were taken in by the Metkayina clan, taught their ways and how to survive, and accepted as one of their own

It had been three years since Lo'ak, Kiri, and Tuk had to watch their older brother, their dear Neteyam, be laid to rest with the ancestors and rejoin Eywa.

It had been three years since Jake Sully finally saw his sons for who they were.

And nothing had ever been the same since.

Lo'ak, Kiri, and Tuk all continued their free-diving training, continuing to learn further about how to ride the Ilu.

Neteyiri and Ronal surprisingly grew to become close friends, bonding in a way sisters would.

And Jake Sully and Tonowari unsurprisingly grew to be good friends, Jake learning the ways of hunting and other things of the Metkayina clan.

But none of them had been the same since they lost Neteyam.

Kiri, secluded as she always had been, had become the oldest sibling, she was always underwater, connecting with the life under the sea and with the spirit tree when she wasn't under the watchful eye of her parents or siblings, and while she never snapped at her siblings, it was clear her patience with them about doing reckless things, was far less than Lo'ak especially could muster to stay at.

Tuk did not accept it quickly, for months she'd wake up each morning searching for the comfort of her older brother. Sleepily trying to find him or the small nest he used to build for her in their Marui, only to cry when she found no sign of him, and Neytiri would awaken and soothe her daughter, cooing to her as she cried with her over the loss. And even as the years had passed, and the little girl grew, there were still nights when she would attempt to find Neteyam in a sleepy haze, only to whimper at the remembrance and slowly make her way over to Lo'ak, curling into her second oldest brother's side for comfort.

That was another thing that kept the wound so fresh, whenever they would cry for him, even as the years passed and on the quiet nights when the laughter of all of the siblings had once filled their hearts came into their memories, it was as though it reopened the wound and poured salt water into it. But it only made the family miss him more.

Spider had been welcomed to the clan as one of the Sullys, though that never meant the guilt he felt ever left. The guilt he felt for his dear friend's death. But despite his guilt, he did his best to help out as much as possible, pulling more than his weight. Even when he would have to return to the Omatikaya stronghold with the other humans, his oxygen supply ran low every now and then. But he'd return every now and then to visit and let the family know how the people were doing.

Jake Sully no longer could hold someone else responsible for the guidance of his children just as he entrusted Neteyam with such a position as the oldest son. Instead, he came more protective, almost too protective. Which no one blamed him for, but for goodness sake at times Neytiri even had to get onto him for it.

But that wasn't to say Neytiri hadn't faced something similar. Instead, she hid her protectiveness by constantly being sure that her children were uninjured after their training or anything else that they would do in their daily lives without their parents, checking if they had eaten, and listening closely to any sound that they would make when they were around her. Constantly on edge and prepared to defend her children.

And Lo'ak, well he had taken it the hardest. He never once stopped blaming himself for his brother's fate. At night, he'd toss and turn, his eyes always searching for Neteyam's sleeping form, only to find his spot in the Marui empty, untouched.