"i- c-can't. 'm shot."
four words i never thought i'd say, yet here i was, surrounded by jake's kids and my niece, dying. they hauled me onto the ilu, spider holding me up at the back and lo'ak guiding the animal from the front. we swam as quickly as possible towards some rocks, hoping that we would find jake or even tonowari and ronal. as we got closer i heard lo'ak shout out, "dad!" with the strength i still had, i lifted my head to see jake, and surprisingly neteyam, running across the rocks to meet us. they were certainly a sight for my sore eyes.
"dad, help! it's ayla!" jake rushed over, neteyam hovering nearby, and crouched down on the edge of the rocks to help haul me up. "oh no." jake sounded like he was on the verge of crying but with all the water sloshing around us and my body feeling too heavy to hold up, i really couldn't tell what was happening. i felt myself being lifted up and then laid down on some rocks, and jake's worried face came into my line of sight. i was coughing more than i should, and my breathing sounded laboured, like something was caught in my throat.
i knew i was going to die.
——
𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝘃
all four kids surrounded ayla while jake was panicking, trying not to show it. he lifted ayla to one side, and saw the trickle of blood down her back. everything around him froze for a split second as the fact that his ayla, his mate, might just die. her laboured breathing continued and jake went into survival mode, trying everything to stem the bleeding. "put pressure! here, put pressure on it!" he grabbed lo'ak's hands and placed them were the bullet wound was oozing blood. "jake, i- i'm sorry." "it's okay, i'm here. no need to be sorry." tayala coughed again and more blood trickled down her chest. she knew she might not make it, and she wanted to talk to jake.
"i had to save your son. i'm s-sorry jake." he knew she meant spider and his heart loved her all the more for listening to his story and remembering what he said, but he really wished she didn't go. he wished she left the kid and was still alive. he loved spider, but tayala shouldn't have to die to get him back. "hey, it's okay. thankyou for saving him. i love you, okay." he tried his best to keep her awake but she was getting really tired and couldn't stay awake much longer. "i love you, jake. i'm so tired." and before jake could object she had closed her eyes and ceased breathing.
"no, no, no, no, ayla. ayla, please. wake up. layla, please wake up." jake tried desperately to revive her but nothing was working. he sat back and stared down at her lifeless body. the fight had left his body and small tears were forming in the corners of his eyes. he had lost so much, and after finding the smallest piece of happiness again, it had been ripped away. everything seemed to go quiet as lo'ak, neteyam, tsireya and spider all watched jake silently loose everything. a small crackle through the comms he was wearing brought him back.
"corporal, can you hear me?" it was quaritch. "yea i think you can. i've got your daughters. same deal as before; you for them." jake looked up and met neteyam's eyes, he had heard the threat through his own comms that he still wore. "where are your sisters?" jake's words found lo'ak. "i-i don't know." "they're on the ship. they're tied up on the ship." tsireya spoke before jake had a chance to get angry. her tears choked up her words but she still managed to speak. spider knew what she meant and piped up too.
"they're by the moon pool. in the middle, the well deck." jake had no clue what he meant. "what?" "here i'll show you." he grabbed jake's arm and pulled him towards the ocean, intent on taking them to the girls. jake caught neteyam's eyes again and his eldest son nodded, letting him know he would take care of the others. and with that jake dove into the water, with spider, to retrieve his daughters.
lo'ak and tsireya were sitting together then, just looking down at the woman they both felt a motherly connection towards. "we shouldn't leave her here." neteyam muttered. tsireya knew what he meant. "we can take her to mother. she will know what to do." the three of them called an ilu and worked together, slowly, to move ayla towards the animal. neteyam sat at the front, then tayala's body and lo'ak holding her steady. tsireya held the fin of the ilu and told them to go, even if ayla was gone, they still had to move her quickly.
they reached the village after what seemed to be ages, and thank eywa there were still people there. the kids made it to the shore and moved ayla onto the sand. "tsireya, see if ronal is here." neteyam took charge. she ran off, looking for her mother, while the two boys stayed with the body to stop anyone getting to close. to both the boys' relief, tsireya and ronal came running down the beach shortly after, with ronal holding her healing basket. "oh my eywa." ronal barley whispered as she saw tayala lying on the beach in front of her, lifeless.
it was a split second of vulnerability but ronal soon jumped in action, throwing orders to each of the kids. "neteyam, lo'ak bring her to my hut, tsireya, with me." they all traipsed towards the chiefs' marui, the boys lugging ayla's body with them. they finally made it and ayla was placed on the floor in the middle of the marui. ronal started setting up her healing tools and all three children migrated to one side of the room, so as to stay out of her way.
it was silent in the hut, save for the occasional humming of ronal. then suddenly ao'nung came running in, a couple of bruises littering his body after the battle that had occurred. neteyam immediately got up and met him where he was standing, hugging the boy with so much emotion. they had both just lost a mother. "is she really..?" ao'nung spoke quietly for the first time, in disbelief of what he saw. all neteyam could do was nod, unable to say that tayala was dead.
ao'nung joined the other lo'ak and tsireya, sitting down next to his sister and rubbed her hand in comfort. ronal was still humming, moving around the room and muttering small, incoherent words every so often. the now four children sat together in silence and watched on as time passed and nothing happened. it felt like it had been hours of sitting there, and waiting, but then ronal stopped her humming and muttering, she sat back with wide eyes.
"she is not dead."
