CHAPTER 46

"Three, two - pull!" The teenagers chanted as they all took in a deep breath on two before using all their might to pull at the device.

Tuk remained standing next to Erìhe as she worked with the others. One hand rested on her shoulder to provide herself with a sense of safety while her head was turned in the direction of the ship - watching it draw closer.

"It's coming!" Erìhe called despite the fact that everyone was well aware and fighting against their own panic.

Suddenly Neteyam let go of the device, sliding into the water and swimming closer to his ilu. Erìhe could not spare him even a glance as he reached for a long rope from the animals saddle and hurried to tie it around the leather. "Ao'nung!" He threw the other end of the rope to the boy before resuming his job of fastening it around the loop in the saddle.

"Bro, hurry up!" Lo'ak called to his brother from over his shoulder.

Erìhe let go of the device momentarily as Ao'nung struggled to tie the rope around the device with shaky hands. "Hurry up!" She begged as her eyes inevitably strayed over the horizon to see the ship.

Finally, Ao'nung had managed to fasten the rope around the device and he looked up at Neteyam, "Go, go, go!" He urged while Neteyam slid onto the ilu's back.

"Take it off!" Neteyam yelled as he willed the ilu to take off. The animal struggled to set off as the rope tightened and they attempted to pull the device out.

"Everyone - together!" Tsireya called and placed her foot on the device to push it out. Lo'ak and Rotxo pulled on the rope and did their best to help Neteyam and the ilu with pulling the device out.

Erìhe's hands wrapped around the device as her jaw clenched. Together with the others they all strained and pulled at the harpoon with all the strength they had in them.

"All at the same time!"

"Hurry up!" Tuk said desperately as her hand tapped on Erìhe's shoulder uncontrollably with her eyes still glued on the ship. She could not do anything but hope the older teenagers would get the device out before the sky people were too near.

"Pull harder!" Tsireya said as she saw the ship.

"Pull!" Neteyam yelled.

Erìhe turned her attention back to the device and she could see it's resolve crumble. They weren't far from freeing Payakan from it. The group of teenagers strained once more, screwing their eyes shut as their jaws clenched.

With one last tug - the device was out.

The teenagers fell into the water with startled yells and gasps, all shocked that it has let out so suddenly.

When Erìhe emerged from the water - spluttering from having inhaled a mouthful of saltwater - she looked around to see everyone already swimming toward their ilu's.

"It's out! Erìhe, it's out!" Tuk screamed joyously as she jumped from Payakan's back into the water right beside her.

"Go - go, Tuk!" She said in response and started pushing the girl toward Kiri who was already getting onto their ilu.

"Come on! Get out of here!" Neteyam said as he gathered the rope in his hands, taking the device. He swam closer to Erìhe, who was helping Tuk get onto Kiri's ilu behind her. "Go that way!" He pointed far off, "I'll draw them out."

"Neteyam - no!" Erìhe's eyes were wide with fright and concern for the boy as she swam toward him.

Neteyam pushed her lightly away from him as she neared - he did not wish for her to get on his ilu and be put in the kind of danger he was placing himself in. "Go with Kiri and Tuk - I'll be fine," he told her calmly despite the urgency of the situation. His hand briefly cupped her cheek, brushing his thumb along her cheekbone. He wanted nothing more than to be able to wipe the scared look from her face but he knew he had to pull back. "Go, now!"

Erìhe frowned in frustration as she felt his hand retract from her skin.

"Erìhe, come!" Kiri said urgently.

Erìhe spared one last look at Neteyam before swimming toward the two girls. "Come on!" Tuk said as she slid off the ilu to let Erìhe get on behind Kiri.

Erìhe held onto Kiri before taking Tuk's hand and pulling her onto her back. "Let's go!" She told Kiri before the three of them took deep breaths and returned under the surface. There - she could see Neteyam headed off in another direction as the rest of the group was already off in the direction that Neteyam had pointed out to them.

Even if Erìhe wished to go after Neteyam - and she did - there was nothing she could do about it now. So instead she would stick with his sisters and do her best to make sure that they wouldn't end up in harms way.

The group followed Lo'ak into a forest of water plants and they waited there - no choice but to hold their breaths as they prayed that the leafs would give them enough cover to hide from the sky people.

The humans had lowered smaller submarines into the water and everyone in the group knew that they were out to get them.

They watched as the sky people drew nearer - the lights from their machines hitting the leaves before them. They could not allow the sky people to get any closer to them or else the game would be played.

Lo'ak looked around at his siblings and friends before beckoning for them to swim.

And so they did.

Erìhe tightened her grip around Kiri's waist as her other hand flew up to hold Tuk steady against her while they swam as fast as they could - ducking the leaves and circling around the plants. They weren't exactly in the lead, so Erìhe could easily see Lo'ak in the front, leading the way for the rest of them.

They headed deeper into the forest of aquatic plants - hoping that it would help camouflage them and confuse the sky people who were close on their tails.

Erìhe could feel her heart rate pick up as the lights from the machines shone on them clearly. That could only mean that they were close. She hated to think about how Tuk was feeling in that moment. She wasn't stupid - Erìhe knew that Tuk had been through a lot but it seemed as though everyone forgot that she was just a child.

Dragging her in all these dangerous situations was not ideal for her childhood. The poor kid had already grown up surrounded by war and it seemed the circumstances were not going to change any time soon.

The sky people seemed to only be drawing nearer despite the group doing their best to get away as fast as possible. Kiri, Tuk and Erìhe wove through the leaves - not even being able to think about the fact that they were being separated from the group as one of the submarines chased them down through the water.

They had machines - engines - while the Na'vi only had animals who had a limit. They could not go on like this forever whereas their machines seemed like they would never tire.

Erìhe felt Tuk slipping and immediately her hand found the little girls wrist. She looked over her shoulder, eyes wide and terrified as Tuk met her eyes while doing her very best to hold right onto her hand.

Erìhe saw the machine so close that it could almost grab Tuk if it really wished to, and her brows pulled down into a desperate frown. She knew that if it would come down to it, she had no choice but to let go of Kiri and stick with Tuk.

Kiri was older - she could take care of herself - but Tuk was just a terrified child.

She could not leave her.

So when Erìhe turned her head to look forward and a leaf suddenly appeared in her vision, Kiri and her were able to duck but Tuk was caught by the leaf. The girls hand was wrenched from Erìhe's grip and she let out a startled cry that was muffled by the water as she flew backwards, back hitting the glass of the machine before she floated off.

Kiri met Erìhe's panic stricken eyes as the girls momentarily glanced away from Tuk to look at each other.

Not even thinking it through, Erìhe let go of Kiri - feeling her side collide painfully with the machine before she was flung off to the side by the sudden current.

Everywhere she looked, Erìhe was only able to see her friends being ambushed by the machines. They all ducked and swerved the leaves, trying to get as far from the sky people as their ilu carried them. Even if they had seen Erìhe and Tuk falling off their ilu there was nothing they could have done.

Tuk swam toward Erìhe who had stupidly remained floating in place, watching the chaos around her. She felt the burn in her thigh which told her she would have a massive bruise there - where she hit the machine.

It wasn't until the little girls hand closed around Erìhe's wrist that she snapped out of her daze. Her eyes found Tuk's and she shook her head to rid herself from the dark thoughts that had taken over her.

Erìhe held Tuk's hand and kicked off, swimming toward the leaves and headed right toward a plant that they knew worked as an air pocket. When they neared, Erìhe pushed Tuk ahead so that she could quickly break surface and draw in a deep breath.

When Erìhe followed suit and her head finally came above the water, she drew in a deep breath, pulling herself closer to the wall of the plant besides Tuk. "Tuk," she said breathlessly while still trying to draw enough oxygen in her lungs, "Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.

Tuk nodded determinedly while still taking in deep breaths. "I'm fine," she said as Erìhe's placed her hand on her back to help her stay above water.

A silence fell upon the two as they held onto the wall of the plant, huddled close to each other as they fought to calm their overworking hearts. Their peace was disrupted when suddenly a head broke surface - causing Tuk to emit a shrill scream while Erìhe let out a startled cry.

The two girls whirled around to see Lo'ak holding onto the wall, already looking at the two. "Tuk!" He said in relief upon seeing his little sister. When his eyes fell on Erìhe behind her, he let out a sigh, "Bro, I'm so glad you're fine."

Erìhe only nodded breathlessly before looking down at the water. She saw Tsireya swimming toward the surface and smiled slightly when she managed to reach the air.

Her relief did not last long, as Tsireya poked her head back into the water to see where the sky people were at. "It is coming!"

Erìhe's eyes filled with despair once again as she looked back at Tuk.

-
A/n:
I can't believe so many people are hoping that Neteyam returns for the next movie.. I think that's very much false hope and I would actually be pretty fucking pissed if James brought him back

And those saying Kiri should use her Jesus powers to bring him back (ik those people are joking - or I fucking hope they are) like be so fr 😭 that's so unrealistic I would actually cry if that would happen. It's just so y/n IDK OKAY just too weird 

Also y'all the glowing plant that Neteyam was buried in is actually a carnivorous plant so he's gone gone - even if it weren't carnivorous, that bitch would be decomposing so how would he even be brought back

And don't say a tulkun or Ronals baby - seems too weird and bro chances are slim to none that they would even realize it's him LMAO and the pain that Neytiri would be in if Ronal had her son..

ALSO I have a theory that Jake is gonna die in the next movie or at last in the fourth one and I have great reasoning behind this okay

If Neteyam is actually brought back I will actually eat my hat and cry my eyes out because that's just wrong

Unless they make it happen in a way that doesn't seem unrealistic, I don't want to see it <33 and I'm well aware that they are blue aliens in this made up world but James has a way to make everything seem believable enough and ‼️that💯would🤞not💥be💯believable😱

Yeah idfk what that was - love you if you actually read that and feel free to comment your thoughts bc I would love to talk or argue about this 🤭🤭

And updates are going to come so slow in the future I'm so sorry - I love you all so much 💗💗