A Late Night Swim with the Sully’s
A/N: hello, my lovelies! usually i write fanfiction on wattpad but it’s been a reallly long time since i last wrote anything for public consumption. recently a friend i met on YouTube recommended that i get back into it, so here i am and here’s the first thing i wrote (obviously inspired by said YouTube video where i met this awesome friend, so it’ll be linked below). Thank you so much for reading this post and if you’re reading this, thank you for the inspiration! Enjoy!
“Come on, you slowpokes!” Kiri called out over her shoulder, laughing as she sped ahead on her ilu.
Tuk, who was hitching a ride on Kiri’s back, playfully stuck her tongue out at you and her brothers.
Cool water lapped against your legs as you smiled and gripped the reins of your ilu a little tighter, gently commanding her to go faster. Behind you, the Sully boys, Neteyam and Lo’ak, laughed and called out for you to wait for them.
In response, you turned and smirked. “You heard her! Move your asses!”
With that, you raced off, cutting through the water like a knife. Air whipped past your skin as it did many times before when you had ridden your ikran, and for a moment, you felt as if you were back home in the forests of Pandora again.
A flash of piercing blue and vibrant green flashed through your mind- a brief, but beautiful reflection of what once was. An ache settled in your chest as you thought of her, Telisi, your fierce and adventurous ikran. Though she made the crossing to the Metkayina with you, you were no longer allowed to fly through the dense and colorful rainforests of your home. Your real home.
Homesickness tugged dully at your heart as if the forests were a gigantic magnet and you were nothing more than a piece of metal, longing to be one part of one whole again.
Your smile slipped, pulling into a subtle frown.
Without noticing, your speed gradually decreased until you had come to a stop in the ocean. Warm sunlight washed over your dark blue skin, making the droplets of water shine like tiny drops of the sun.
Your frown deepened, pulling at your usually bright and elegant features as you looked around you, suddenly reminded of your current surroundings. There wasn’t a tree in sight, neither tall nor low to the ground. Here, vines didn’t weave like an intricate work of art made to be navigated. Here the sea was all that stretched out before you for miles, seeming to touch the sky. The ache deepened.
The five of you had swam further from the Metkayina clan than you ever had since you first came there, obviously against Jake and Neytiri’s wishes, but what else was new? It had been Neteyam’s idea to take everyone’s mind off of the stress of moving to a new home, more specifically for the reason behind the move.
Dimly, you remembered the soldiers that were ruthlessly hunting you and your friends down, intent on not only taking your lives but stealing your land, your culture, and all that you loved. A shiver ran down your spine.
Again, as if they had a mind of their own, your thoughts drifted back to the depths of the Omatikaya’s rainforests- back to your home.
A tear slipped down your cheek just as the water around you stirred, announcing the arrival of the others. Reluctantly, you looked up and met their concerned eyes.
Kiri was the first to speak, gliding closer to you so she could touch your hand. “My heart hurts for you, Y/N. This was not your fault.”
Sniffling, you thoughtlessly wiped away your tears with your free hand, frown deepening when your wet hand only made matters worse. “I know. We all had our part to play that day. But it’s not that, sister. I just… I miss home, you know? And I know it’s only been a few months but-“
“But it feels like it’s been forever.” Neteyam nodded understandingly, reaching out to rest his hand on your shoulder. “But it hasn’t been ‘forever’ alone.”
You nodded your acknowledgment at Neteyam. You appreciated the gesture from him and Kiri. They were always the most rational and supportive of the Sully siblings, and overtime you had become gravitated to that and become closer than you could’ve ever imagined. Just the feeling of their hands on you not only showed their support, it grounded you.
Tuk reached as far as she could towards you from where she sat on Kiri’s ilu, struggling to cross the distance with her small arms. Kiri laughed and pushed her little sister closer to you, allowing her fingers to reach your leg.
“Sully’s stick together, Y/N. Remember?” Tuk said. Her smile, though genuine was oddly melancholic.
You couldn’t help but wonder when you looked at her whether she would one day grow to be more Metkayina than Omatikaya, given that she was so young when she was forced from her natural home.
“Well, Sully’s or not, it has been forever.” Lo’ak complained, rolling his eyes. “At least back home we had friends. I swear, if I have to see that skxawng’s smug face-“
“Or take more lectures from his father?” Neteyam interrupted with a teasing grin.
Lo’ak sucked his teeth and looked away from his older brother, staring at the water rippling against his ilu.
“You wouldn’t get it.” He huffed. “Tonowari- he’s a good Olo’eyktan and a good father- but the way he looks at us… the way Ronal treats us… it’s like they don’t see us.”
“That’s isn’t true, Lo’ak.” You argued.
Ronal could often be cold to your family at times and of course that made you naturally hostile towards her and her family, but she was also Tsahìk. You understood that she was just doing her job to protect her clan from perceived dangers, as all good Tsahìks are trained to do. Despite her harsh criticism, you respected her wisdom and her place in the clan as spiritual leader.
“Yes it is!” Lo’ak insisted. “We’re the sons and daughters of Toruk Makto- not some desperate refugees! They don’t even give us the honor of hunting with them.”
Neteyam sighed a long and drawn out sigh, clearly meant to be comical. He scratched his head, rattling the beads in his braids. “My brother the advocate! Since when did the opinions of the elders matter to you, huh?”
Lo’ak waved off Neteyam’s words with a sharp and feral hiss. “They don’t! You don’t get it, just forget it.”
Kiri and Neteyam locked eyes and smirked mischievously. Then they looked at you and you quickly caught on.
“Oh, I think we get it, Lo’ak.” You teased, slowly swimming closer to him.
Kiri grinned as Lo’ak eyed the two of you suspiciously.
“I think this has something to do with that skxwang’s sister, doesn’t it?” Kiri laughed and waggled her eyebrows.
“Tsireyaaa~” Neteyam sang teasingly, grinning widely.
Lo’ak immediately rolled his eyes again and slapped your hand away from him as you reached out to tickle him. The other Sully siblings laughed boisterously at Lo’ak’s embarrassed expression.
“Shut up!” Lo’ak snapped.
“Aw, don’t pout, water-boy. It’s nice that you have a crush, it keeps you busy! And focused too. Don’t think that I haven’t noticed how good of a diver you’ve become.” You praised, raising your eyebrows.
Lo’ak paused and looked up at you again, this time unfolding his arms and not pouting. “Really? You think I’m that good?”
“Sure! For a forest Na’vi, you’re not half bad!” You shrug off your compliment, not wanting his head to get too big.
Lo’ak nodded in appreciation at you as you smiled and did the same.
“Oel ngati kameie, brother.” You said, meaning it with every fiber of your body.
Smiling and seemingly less hurt than before, Lo’ak returned the gesture with three fingers, swimming closer so he could reach you too. All four of the Sully siblings’ hands were on you now, comforting you, grounding you, but most importantly reminding you that like Neteyam said, you were not alone.
As the eclipse began and the sun sank in the sky, the bioluminescence of the ocean flowed beneath your ilu, igniting the world around you. You couldn’t help but smile at its trademark beauty, ache in your heart giving way to something else- love and appreciation for your truest home. No matter where you were, Pandora would still always be your home. And you thanked Eywa for that.
“Thank you, guys. I really needed that. And you know something else?” You asked with a bright smile, gripping you ilu’s reins.
“I’m winning the race! HA HA!” You shouted, urging your ilu with a series of clicking sounds.
Without missing a beat, your ilu (oh how you loved her), dove deep into the water and shot off like a bullet. You could still vaguely hear the muffled voices of the Sully siblings, your chosen family, complaining and shouting behind you as they scrambled to chase after you.
The love in your heart deepened.
Being in a strange new land was never easy for anyone, but you knew that as long as you had the Sully’s at your side, you would never be far from home.
