Chapter Text
Aounung
He followed Alice closely, slipping on the smooth rock of the floor every other step as they moved deeper down. The only comfort he found in this strange rock maze was the darkness. Alice looked over at him when he sidestepped another rock that was poking out of the ground. This place was damn near deadly.
“You’re doing much better than when neteyam tried to come down here by himself, he nearly broke his leg when he tripped over that rock. “ Alice said, leading me into a large section of the cave filled with artificial light.
There were a few things I recognized from their description in books, a TV, a bookshelf filled from the bottom up, and a table or two scattered around the place. It almost seemed like there used to be more people here once, with so many glasses placed in a broken cupboard.
The rest of the items were very familiar to me, from when Neteyam used to tell me all about the Omatikaya village. The beaded decorations all along the walls, the fireplace, all the salvaged tents and sleeping mats from the previous stronghold Lo’ak and I visited.
“ so, how do you know neteyam? “ I asked, feeling slightly awkward. She sat down on the edge of a table just ahead, “Well I noticed him when he flew in on Katniss, but we officially met when I saved him from the sky people. “ she said, her voice calm as if it were any normal day.
“ What! He came all the way here just to run straight back to the people that killed him! “ I shouted, the forest was crawling with sky people and avatars alike. Alice glared, “ Ao’nung, what do you really know about this war? You’ve seen what happens when we just let the sky people gain too much ground, too much influence, they’ve built more operations in the last 3 years than ever before. “ she said, her tone was years wiser than her face, Ao’nung felt a small pit form in his stomach.
“ And you’re telling me you and Neteyam are just gonna put an end to all of this? You’re mad! “ I said, my lungs tightening as my chest pulled in. “ You..won’t even explain anything, and he’s..he’s finally here, now he just..wants to keep fighting a losing battle. “ I said, looking down at the space between my knees, the deep cracks of the crystal-like rock calming my mind as my eyes traced the pattern. Alice was quiet, for a moment.
“ I know, and to be honest with you Ao’nung I…I don’t always know if we’ll survive this war, but what I do know is that there’s no chance for anyone if we don’t do anything. “ she said, I lifted my head, she was looking straight at me, and yet there wasn’t any anger in her voice. I..almost didn’t understand what she was fighting for. “ the last few years, you and neteyam were at the war front? “ I asked, she nodded her head,
“We were all over the place, as much as the sky people think we can’t crack their defence’s, Neteyam and I have done a great deal of damage. “ she said. But how? Alice was an excellent fighter, the strongest and fastest I’d ever seen. From what I can remember of the rumors back home, people claimed that some sky people's bases were disappearing.
“ But- “ I said, getting cut off by the sound of footsteps against the stone. I turned to it, but Alice kept looking at me. Her eyes squinted, running all over my body in a calculated stare. “ You can hear them, Neteyam and Lo’ak. They’re not even close yet…” she said, pushing herself off the table. “ I hope you have a flashlight light nete! “ she shouted, the sound carried down the tunnel. Neteyam and Lo’ak laughed, it was as faint a sound, they were still so deep in the tunnels.
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Lo’ak
“ So…I just have to ask since she’s not here…are you and her- “ “ A thing? No, never, Alice is like a sister to me. “Neteyam said, then his eyes narrowed, “ Why do you ask? I thought you and Tsireya were “ “ I…kinda messed that up..I think. “Lo’ak said quickly. Looking down at his hands. Neteyam leaned forward, a deep-rooted ache settled in his chest, his brother had grown up, and he chose not to be there to see it.
“ I won’t pry if you don’t want me to, “Neteyam said, trying to be understanding, Lo’ak just looked up at him, shocked with the smallest smile. “ Since when do you not pry, your official nickname was gossip girl when we were kids, “ he joked, neteyam rolled his eyes, “ I snitched to mom once and I’ll never hear the end of it, “ neteyam sighed, that finally brought a genuine smile to Lo’aks face.
“ well, it should be obvious that her parents hate me, so there’s that. “ Lo’ak said, neteyam…didn’t know why, did Lo’ak offend them? Probably. Did he disrespect them? Most definitely. But something was telling him he was off, the fog was all he could remember. “ Lo’ak, you didn’t do anything wrong? So…they weren’t the biggest fans of you…specifically. But Tsireya liked you a lot, wasn’t that enough? “ isn’t that enough? Neteyam could almost hear the echo of another voice, something so familiar yet blank in his memories all the same. Lo’ak was quiet for a moment.
“ I can’t lie to you, and before you hear it from Kiri instead of me. After..we took you to Ranteng Utralti. I just…I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but she just..kept trying to make me feel better, or trying to nudge me to let go..and be, normal? Again. I started seeing her less- I avoided her. It’s never been the same since then, “ Lo’ak said, neteyam was overjoyed that he wasn’t getting some passive-voiced bullshit excuses, but Neteyam also felt the guilt in his brother's voice.
He let Lo’ak lean his head on his shoulder, “ kiri said I’m a douche, “ Lo’ak said, neteyam chuckled lightly, “ there is some truth to that statement…but I think you just wanted some time, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when I should’ve been. “ neteyam said gently, letting out a small breath of relief when Lo’ak wrapped his arm over his shoulder in a gentle half hug.
They were moving towards the lounge now, or at least neteyam was, Lo’ak had no fucking clue which way was right. “ how do you navigate this maze anyway? “ Lo’ak asked him, pointing the flashlight at the smoky crystal walls. Neteyam chuckled softly, “ I feel the wind blowing from the entrance to the back of the cave, all the rooms are connected in some way, even if you can’t squeeze through the gaps it helps lead me to where I want to go. “Neteyam explained, Lo’ak looked even more confused with the explanation than without.