Golden Hour

XVI - Neteyam

I quickly walked through the slowly sinking ship, hoping to find a way out or at least someone I knew. I spotted Jake in the distance, stumbling around.

"Dad!" I shouted. He turned around at the sound of my voice, running towards me.

"Neteyam?" He questioned. My ears dropped down almost immediately. He must have thought I was Neteyam. From my distance we do look and sound the same.

"No Dad, its me. Y/n." I spoke softly as he stopped in front of me.

"Oh thank god." He spoke as he grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hut. I winced lightly because of the wound on my stomach, but brushed it off.

"Quaritch is dead." He spoke in a tough voice. My eyes went wide, looking around the ship to see the man's body laying on the ground.

"That's good, but the water is coming in." I told Dad, wearily looking at the water. He nodded, grabbing my hand and walking through the rising water.

"Alright, let's go." Dad spoke. He looked around looking for a possible exit, his eyes landing on my wound. It had stopped bleeding from Tsireya's seaweed wrap, but it fell off when I was fighting Lyle.

We ran through the ship, the water now filling the ship fast. A cracking noise filled the air, the ship starting to tilt to the side. I slipped on the floor, my hand leaving Dad's grasp, my body sliding into a crate.

I cried out in pain, the side of the crate hitting my opened wound. Dad walked over to me, grabbing my body and placing me back onto the floor.

"Thanks." I muttered, following Dad as he continued to walk. The water was now up to my waist, making it harder and harder for me to keep moving. My wound had started bleeding again, exhaustion consuming my body.

"I'm scared Dad." I spoke, my voice wavering slightly. He stopped walking and turned around so he faced me.

"Hey we'll be fine Baby Girl. We're going to get out of here." He spoke as he placed his hands on the side of my face and pressed a light kiss onto my forehead.

The lights went off, surrounding my Dad and I in darkness. I shouted out, looking around for some source of light. There was nothing.

The water was now rising at a fast pace, stopping at our necks. We had been floating in the water, trying to stay above the surface.

A splash could be heard next to me as I turned my head. Dad did the same.

"Lo'ak!" I exclaimed as I wrapped my arms around my little brother.

"We have to get out of here." He spoke, now seeing that the water was rising even higher. Dad was struggling to keep above the water, both me and Lo'ak helping him.

"I can't do it. Go ahead." Dad spoke, his voice breaking at the end. Lo'ak turned to his father, swimming close to him.

"Deep breaths. The way of the water has no beginning and no end." Lo'ak spoke to his father, reciting Tsireya's words. "The sea is around you and in you. The sea is your home, before your birth and after you death." Lo'ak finished. Dad nodded, his heat rate calming down.

"You've got this Dad, deep breaths. We'll do this together." I spoke in a reassuring tone. If I could do this with an open wound, he would be able to do it too.

Dad nodded, taking a deep breath, submerging his head under the water. We followed his actions, swimming through the sinking ship.

We swam in the dark for a while, reaching out in front of them to make sure that they didn't run into anything.

'What is that?' Y/n signed to Lo'ak who was right next to me. A single glowing fish saw around them, thousands more following.

'I think it's our way out.' He signed, taking my hand and swimming through the glowing fish. We followed the fish through the hallways, looking back every once in a while to make sure that Jake was still alive.