Golden Hour

IX - Akula

I sat in the hut while Neteyam helped me out the paste on my nose to help heal it.

"Ow! You're going to hard!" I shouted at my brother as he rubbed the last little bit paste onto my face. He rolled his eyes at me. Kiri snickered from the corner of the hut at our twin banter. Dad hit her on the back of the head slightly, Kiri rolling her eyes.

"There, done. It wasn't too bad now was it?" Neteyam teased me. I hissed at h and stuck my tongue out. He just pushed my face away and walked out of the hut.

"Y/n, can you help me with the fish for tonight?" Mom asked me as she walked into the hut, her hands full of supplies and a basket of fish. I nodded quickly getting up and taking the basket from her. She thanked me, going to sit down in the center of the hut. She must have noticed that something was wrong because she spoke up.

"Baby what's wrong?" She asked me. I sighed before talking.

"Nothing." I spoke. I heard my mother scoff at me.

"Bullshit." Dad spoke. My eyes widened at his words. He rarely spoke the dirty language of the sky people.

"Alright fine, I don't belong here. I didn't belong back in the forest either. Everyone sees me as an outcast. The boys at home made fun of me and so do the boys here. All they see me as is a freak, Mom! I try to put on a smile for everyone but I don't know how much longer I keep the act up." I spoke, my voice getting quiet at the end.

Mom reached her hand up to my face, caressing my cheek.

"Don't talk like that. You are not a freak. You do belong here. Just like the rest of us." Mom spoke with a smile at the end. I gave her a small smile in return, going back to descaling the fish.

"Hey where is your brother? I haven't seen him all day." Dad spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Neteyam was just here helping me put the ointment on my nose." I told him.

"No. No, I saw him walk out. Where is Lo'ak?" He asked again. I thought for a moment.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since this morning either." I spoke, getting worried for my little brother. Suddenly we heard a hiss of pain, looking up to see Neteyam holding Ao'nung by his queue. Dad stood up quickly, hearing Neteyam talk.

"Tell me what you told me." Neteyam sneered. Neteyam's face held an angry look while Ao'nung's face shower guilt.

"We went outside the reef with Lo'ak..." Ao'nung started, my ears pressing against her head. "...And he's still out there."  He finished. I quickly stood up, and started to walk over to Ao'nung. Dad caught me by the waist to stop me from assaulting the boy.

"Calm down baby girl. Lo'ak will be fine." Jake reassured me as he let go of me, but kept on hand on me shoulder to keep me in place.

"If my brother is hurt in any way, you're dead Ao'nung." I hissed at him as I walked out of the hut, and slammed my shoulder into Ao'nung on the way out. He groaned in pain. I called for my ilu, the sea creature swimming up making a clicking noise.

"Hello boy." I smiled as pet Teko on his head. The Ikran pushed his face into my hands. I pulled my braid over my shoulder, my tendrils connecting with the Ilus'. We swam fast my to the edge of the reef, swimming through a small cave into the open ocean.

We swam to the surface of the water, breaking the top. I gasped for air before calling out of my brother.

"Lo'ak!" She shouted, hoping to hear a response. Nothing. I told my ilu to dive back under the water, Teko doing as I said. I scanned the area around, looking for Lo'ak again.

My eyes widened as I turned my head, seeing a large sea creature with its mouth wide open swimming towards us. Teko bolted, flipping me off. The large creature swerved after him, clamping his jaws down. Thankfully he didn't hurt Teko, but his attention then turned back to me. I cursed in my head, swimming as fast as I could to escape.

'Shit. Shit. Shit.' I thought as I swam in the coral reef. The shark like creature swam after me, totally demolishing the area. As it bit down onto the coral, prices snapped off. One hit me in the face, and another slammed into my side, creating a stinging feeling. Just my luck.

I was slowly losing air. I needed to get back up to the surface. While I was focusing on saving my breath, I didn't realize that the creature had stopped trying to eat me.

I poked my head out of the reef, not seeing the shark. I saw a trail of blood leading down to the ocean floor, my eyes following it. That's when I gasped. The shark was floating down to the bottom of the ocean. Dead. Nothing was around me that could have killed it though which is what confused me.

I swam up to the surface, calling Teko back to me. He chirped happily when he saw me, thankful that I was not dead. I created the bond with him, hopping onto his back and swimming back into the reef. I brought my hand up to my face, wincing when it stung. I pulled my hand back quickly, seeing a red residue left on it. I gleaned, looking at my side. It wasn't bleeding like my head was, but it was scraped up with a bruise already starting to form.

Teko stopped swimming when we reached the villlage, seeing a crowd formed near one of the pathways. I pulled myself from Teko's back onto the pathway, making my way over to the crowd.

"He is fine. Just a few scratches..." I heard Dad say. I shoved Na'vi out of my way, seeing my little brother standing there with my Dad's hand on one of his shoulders.

"Y/n!" Neteyam spoke as his eyes met my bruised and bloodied body. "Jesus what happened to you sister?" He questioned as he rushed over to me, pulling my into a hug. I winced, my brother releasing me immediately.

"I went past the reef to find our idiot of a brother." I spoke as I walked over to Lo'ak. His face showed guilt as he looked at me. I pulled him into a quickly hug, whispering to him that I was glad that he was okay.

"Why did you go past the reef. Are you stupid?!" Dad scolded me as he walked over. He placed a hand on my jaw, moving my face to the side to get a look at the cut from the coral. He hissed slightly when he saw it, upset that he couldn't have done anything to prevent it.

"I'm fine." I spoke, swatting my fathers hand away from my face. He rolled his eyes, making an annoyed sound.

"I pray for the strength that I will not pluck the eyeballs out of my youngest son!" Mom seethed. She put her hand up to Lo'ak's face and made a grabbing motion. Lo'ak simply moved his head out of the way, an annoyed expression on his face.

"No. My son knows better than to take him outside of the reef..." Tonowari said as he grabbed Ao'nung's arm. "...the blame is his." He finished. Jake nodded, a relieved look on his face that his youngest son was finally not the one to blame.

"Let's go." Jake said as everyone got up, staring to walk out of the hut. We were all almost out of the door when Lo'ak's voice stopped us.

"No. This is not Ao'nung's fault, it was my idea. I begged to see what was outside of the reef. Ao'nung tried to talk me out of it. Really." Lo'ak told Tonowari.

"Come on." Jake snarled. Now he was angry. Dad grabbed both mine and Lo'aks arms, dragging us to the hut. Once we were there and away from the crowd, he started yelling.

"Why are you both so stupid sometimes?" Jake yelled at his two kids.

"Dad you told me to go make friends. I thought that they would actually be nicer." Lo'ak spoke.

1426 words, proofread. Uh oh- Y/n got attacked.....