Through The Valley • Ao'nung

Chapter XXVII

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̶̶̶̶  «̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ 　Getaway　 ̶ ̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ »̶ ̶̶̶  

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"What was the one thing I asked?" 

The kids hadn't even made it through the entrance of their pod before their father commenced scolding them. "the one thing?!" he stood tall looking down at the youngest son in front of him.

"stay out of trouble." he answered "stay out of trouble, right!" the father exclaimed leading to Neteyam stepping forward. "it was my fault." 

"nah, I don't think so- you gotta stop taking the heat for this knucklehead." Jake gritted through his teeth and At'anua pulled the boy back by his wrist, agitated he kept painting himself as the scapegoat. The girl grew more irritated realising the brother would take the blame of starting a fight with the chief's son and his friends, but couldn't keep quiet on her going beyond the reef once. 

"Look dad," Lo'ak began "Ao'nung was picking on Kiri," he reasoned, stepping closer to the man "he called her a freak." and to that the father visibly redirected his anger, his heart feeling heavy for the girl and a second of silence passed before he spoke almost in embarrassment, but he hid it too well for the kids to notice. 

"Go apologise to Ao'nung." 

"what?" the man looked at the girl who still had dried blood under her nose and spoke up for the first time. The man was taken back as the daughter who'd usually nod and comply, rose her voice at the man in protest, but he understood. "He's the chief's son, you understand?" he reasoned with the kids who wore similar expressions

Neteyam composed his sister before she would open her mouth about the lack of morals the children were parented compared to them that could result in to receiving immense heat. 

Jake ignored his daughter by the shake of a head and turned to his youngest son. "I don't care how you do it just go make peace, go" he dismissed the boy and the girl did herself too, following the youngest out of the pod, but was stopped by her father holding on to her. 

He turned her face in his hands by her chin and scanned her for scratches and bruises which she didn't have plenty of, except her bleeding nose that had already healed. 

"So what the other guys look like?" he asked his son, releasing his daughter who still had to calm her temper. "Worse," he admitted to which the father nodded "that's good." he approved making Neteyam smile triumphantly "way worse." 

"Get outta here." he dismissed the two kids turning around to hide the satisfied grin and glint in his eyes. 

At'anau watched her brother follow Lo'ak steps and decided to take the chance and escape the other way, but the twin brother noticed. 

"Where you going?" 

"You go make peace for the both of us before I dislocate another limb." she spoke over her shoulder "I need a minute." she shrugged him off hoping the brother who knew her too well would look past this one sign of mischief, but she knew better as the boy followed the girl walking down the paths. 

"Dad told us to -"

"I said, I need a minute." At'anau knew she would be feeling guilty by the way she sneered in her brother's face, but she was known to be the irrational share of the two. "If asked about my whereabouts," she averted her sharp eyes to the water looking for an excuse "tell them I don't feel well." she shrugged before Neteyam watched her eyes turn colder "If it's not too much of a lie for you, that is."

The brother opened his mouth to protest but had nothing to say and swallowed his empty words as he watched his sister turn and install herself on the ilu that had heard her prior callings. 

At'anau didn't have to look back to know she left an unsettled brother behind with people who dominated them by their title. 

She felt with Lo'ak and the outcast he must have been feeling like even before the move to Metkayina. She obeyed many rules, many orders and justifications she didn't stand by, but watching her parents lose their voice within people who did nothing but take advantage of their weakness which were their children was reaching her limit. 

Even if it weren't their intentions, these were the damages being done. That was enough for her to point the finger. 

She wished she could be like her twin brother, rational and persistent enough to follow his mind, but one of them had to have the inferior traits, and she'd live by them proudly if it meant she could actually live. 

The girl was finding herself without realising she needed to be searched for. She stood by as an adviser to satisfy her father, but that was resulting of her understanding. These actions they had to participate in were too obscure for her to find the black and white in to even start to comprehend. 

Maybe it was the salt in the air or the pressure in her head of the clouds blocking her nights, or maybe it was the yearning for her home only across a sea from her. She reckoned a fast paced ride on an animal who could convert her intense emotions for her would take away a part of the burden the brick in her throat being forced down gave her. 

At'anau didn't need to call for the animal herself as it always roamed around her since their bond and the shrieking of the ilu above water made it clear it was time for the transfer. 

At'anau tied the ilu's gear around the Tsurak better, for the animal too feel less uncomfortable in as the last thing the girl wanted was to become a hypocrite, but the animal complied nonetheless and let the girl continue.  

The sun still high in the sky taunted her with the hours still free to fill with whatever, but it was like time knew what was on the girl's mind. And it knew once it had entered her head, the doors were sealed from both sides until she fed the hunger to achieve whatever was locked in. 

The burning light igniting the flame of desire in her heart growing only bigger. 

And so the girl followed the siren songs of the birds in the sky, across the reef in the sea with stranger tides and different winds, in search for a bite of home, the sister she had abandoned. 

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I won't be able to write for a day or two as i'm going to a concert sorryyyy but I've written it in my mind for y'all lmao

ATEEZ' discography >>

peep the edit I made with too much time on my hands 

I feel like my chapters are short..are they??

I'll post on Sunday :) 

mua mua x