Ao'nung x Neteyam slow burn

Day 40 Part 2

Ao'nung

Crying I looked down on the face of my boyfriend and told him again and again to stay awake. He was clearly doing the best he could, but it seemed to be overwhelmingly exhausting.
"You cannot leave me now, do you hear me? We have to get married first and.. and raise our children and be the leaders of the clan and grow old together and.. so much more. Do you understand?", I asked shakily. He formed a weak smile with his absolutely perfect lips and tried to nod.
"Can't we just bring him to the village?", I asked Jake desperately. "I fear that once we move him in his current state, he won't be able to make it."
Lo'ak grabbed the band around his collar. "Kiri? Can you hear me? Gather the best healers of the clan and tell them to come over to the shipwreck as quickly as possible. It's... it's Neteyam."

My heart broke seeing my love like this. "Do you hear that? Help is on the way. You have to keep fighting. Please." I was begging him until he gave in and nodded slightly.
I kissed his forehead and stabilized his head with my hands.
With shut eyes he leaned his cheek against my hand and I almost went crazy out of fear. A smile appeared on his lips and I dared to breathe again. Gently, I caressed his soft cheek and whispered promises and love declarations to him, until the help finally arrived.
A tiny bit of the whole stress went away and I let go of Neteyam in order to make place for the few na'vi trying to help him.
Lo'ak wrapped one arm around my shoulders and Neytiri and Jake were hugging both of us from behind. They had tears in their eyes, but tried to hide their pain.
It hurt so much seeing his family like this and i vowed to myself to do anything possible to prevent something like this from ever happening again.
Neteyam just had to survive.
Never before had I ever prayed this intensely to Eywa and I was begging her to let the love of my life live.

We watched the helping hands closely and waited impatiently for someone to say something.
Having to watch this and not being able to help was horrible.
After what felt like an eternity, the six na'vi let go of him and stood up. One of them spoke to Jake. "We did everything we could-"
My ears were ringing. I didn't quite catch the rest of what he said and I really couldn't care less.
"First of all, we have to bring him back to the village." That was the next thing I caught. Was he really gone? Judging by the look on Jake's face, he wasn't. "Thank you. So so much. We owe you." "Only thank us when he is alright again."
I took a deep breath. He wasn't dead. For a solid minute, I'd thought I lost him forever.
In this very moment, Lo'ak screamed.
"Spider!"
He ran down to the shore and fell to his knees next to the little human. He didn't seem to care about his knees bleeding due to the sharp edges of the rock underneath him. His parents followed him in a hurry and I joined them as they surrounded the boys.
As I got closer, I understood what must've happened and why Lo'ak was so sad.
The mask on his face was partially broken and a huge shard was missing. Another was still tangled in the blonde braids.
Jake stretched out his hand and searched for a pulse, but he shook his head after a while.
I didn't know that boy, but apparently he was quite the friend of the whole family. It hurt even more watching them grieve.
Together we slowly swam back to the clan; Lo'ak was sitting behind me on Rusu and we were pulling Spider on a floating mat.

Kiri was devastated as she learned about the death of her dear friend; Neteyam had once told me that she liked him very much.
My boy was currently in a coma and had a horrible fever.

It was slowly getting dark.
We were gathered around the Ranteng Utralti, the spirit tree, in the Cove of the Ancestors. Rotxo was standing next to me and my family while the Sullys carefully moved Spider's dead body through the water towards the tree.
Kiri and Lo'ak took a dive and in this beautiful, sad ceremony they softly placed his body on the wide golden area; the ground instantly swallowed him up.

Due to the 'victory' over the sky people and Spider's death, we were celebrating on the beach with a shared meal.
We were sitting together and talking about Spider.
Kiri seemed lost in the crowd and voices, so I decided to go sit with her.
"How is Neteyam?", she asked with a sad expression on her face. "Not good. All we can do is hope that he gets better soon. I wish I had happier news for you; I am sorry."
She shook her head. "It's not your fault and you know that." After that, we sat in silence and enjoyed each other's company.
She rested her head against my shoulder and I gently put one arm around her. "You liked Spider a lot, didn't you?"
She nodded. "I've practically known him my entire life. He was always there for ms and now... now he's gone. Forever. And he is never ever coming back to me."
"One day, you two will reunite. With Eywa." Kiri let out a sigh. "Thank you." Instead of answering, I just squeezed her softly.
A while later I noticed that she must've fallen asleep. Instead of waking her, I decided to just pick her up carefully and carey her home.

My heart was burning with sadness as I walked back to the beach and sat down next to Lo'ak, his parents, Tuk, Rotxo and my sister.
I already missed Neteyam so much.
In silence I sat tgere and listened to the others talking and just gave short answers whenever someone spoke with me.
Neytiri suddenly placed one hand on my shoulder. "For as long as you live, you're always welcome in our home." I tilted my head thankfully. "Kiri is asleep. I've brought her home earlier." She smiled gently and stroke my hair.
"You too should go get a rest. Tomorrow, everything will seem to be different. Don't worry too much about Neteyam; he is strong. I'm sure that he will push through all of this."
I nodded tired and stood up. She took my hand and pressed it softly and let me go afterwards.

Lost in thoughts I made my way back home. Once I arrived I checked if I was alone and went to my room. As soon as I sat down on the floor, tears started streaming down my face.
Sobbing I buried my head in my hands and simply cried until all the tears left my body and what whas left was numbness.
After what felt like an eternity, I finally fell asleep.