Chapter Text
Tsireya sobbed, eyes stinging as she felt her heart beat so fast she could practically hear it in her ears.
Her chest was heaving.
Her ears practically ringing as she caught a glimpse of Neteyam walking through those doors.
It was because of you.
You were the reason he was hurt.
Tsireya, don't you feel remorse?
No one would understand how she felt when she had walked into those doors earlier that day.
To see a boy so spirited and lively…
Laying on the bed, half-conscious and beaten.
His skin was tattered in bruises, ones that were hard to receive and even harder to get rid of.
From the arms, to his stomach…
The only reason she didn't cry inside was because she didn't want to inconvenience Mr Sully, to make him have to comfort her when he was already so clearly worried for his own son.
So she kept it in.
Just until Neteyam came.
And she could finally let out the emotions that plagued her.
You shouldn't have tried.
Look at what happened.
Your own brother hurt him.
“Reya-”
She snapped.
“Leave me alone, Aonung!”
Aonung.
She had never called him by his full name before.
It had always been NungNung, or Nung, or Nungie.
Never was it just Aonung.
“I- I can't see you right now.”
She turned away, pulling from the arms she once considered so warm and secure.
Now, it feels cold, harsh.
She felt trapped in those arms.
“Reya… please,” He was soft, hurt, as he tried to reach out to her, “I apologised. I admitted my fault.”
He stretched his arms.
She pulls back.
It wasn't fair.
She had always assumed that maybe Aonung had just- just hung around the wrong crowd.
She never cared to see his protectiveness as dangerous, it had never been dangerous for her. It had always been for her benefit.
When that one boy who claimed to like her had continued to pull her hair and even cut it with scissors once, all in the name of liking her…
Aonung helped.
When she was tired, some boys tried to force her to come to a party next door, some getting rather physical…
Aonung was there.
He had always been such a protective figure.
Someone she could trust.
When did his protectiveness turn irrational?
When did he become too much, to the point she could barely make male friends outside of his own friend circle?
When did it reach the point of him beating an innocent boy up, all in the name of protecting her, when it was her who initiated most of the conversations?
Why was he like this?
“Stop it, Aonung!” She screamed, thanking the Great Mother that the hallways were empty.
He flinches, eyes wide, unable to see why she reacted the way she did.
He was hurt.
Evidently.
His younger sister, the pearl of his eye, had just yelled at him.
Pulled away, looking at him as if he were a sinner.
“You don't get it, do you?” She mumbled, turning her head away from him.
“A sorry does not cut it.”
“Tsireya,” He frowned, not understanding what she meant, “What are you talking about?”
“Your words mean nothing, Brother.” She hissed, glaring at him in anger.
“You can apologise several times until you are thirsting, but it could never atone for what you have already done.”
He was stunned into silence.
Staring at her as she panted, having taken all her energy to say it out loud.
“You can't just- just say sorry, I learned from my mistake when you had harmed someone so cruelly.” Her voice broke, shame and sadness apparent in her voice.
“He passed out in the changing room, in the showers!"
“I didn't do that.” Aonung defended himself, before being shut down by the girl.
“Did you know about it?” She asked.
He was silent.
“Not… initially. I thought… they had all left.”
“So then, you knew he was bruised and you watched him get beaten up by those- those people you call friends?”
He pursed his lips.
“Aonung.”
“It was to protect you.” He spoke, teeth gritted as he admitted the truth.
“Koro told me-”
“Koro knows nothing about them!” She practically screamed in his face.
“He knows nothing about them, he knows nothing about me.”
“He told me Lo'ak had pulled advances on you at the cafeteria. I had warned the boy before not to do anything because of it.” He tried to explain, but it only made the girl more agitated.
“I initiated it, Aonung.” She seethed. “I held his hand, I brought him around the canteen. I was the one who did all those things.”
Aonung was on the verge of tears, frustrated at how this conversation was going.
“I know that now. But then- Koro blinded me-”
“You had let him, Brother.”
It was silent for a while, until Aonung let out a sniffle, silent tears falling from his cheek.
“I know I can't just- apologise for it. I'm trying, Reya. I'm- I'm trying my best-”
“You are only trying because you were caught. Because you took it too far.”
“I'm still trying to be better, isn't that enough?”
“It will never be enough Aonung, not when you aren't actively getting better. Not when you still try to push the blame on someone else for something you did.”
She stared at him long and hard. “It's not enough to just say you're sorry so that everyone forgives you. You actually have to work for it.”
He watched as the girl wrapped her arms tightly around herself, head turned away so he couldn't even see her face.
“I need to go.”
“Tsireya wait-”
She left.
Just like that.
She was gone, and he was the reason.
She was right to leave him there.
He didn't want to admit it.
Still blaming Koro for his manipulative nature, or the way Koro had lied to him every time to antagonise the Sullies who only wanted to get through school peacefully.
He didn't know about the fact that Tsireya initiated it.
That his sister wanted Lo'ak to be close.
He had assumed Lo'ak was being rude.
Disregarding their truce because he wanted to have a bit of fun, or because he felt like he should be able to hang around Tsireya without the strict rules enforced by Aonung.
And anyone would say it was a valid statement, Lo'ak did have a history of being a rule breaker.
But then he thought…
That doesn't align with the boy.
It realty didn't.
He knew how much Lo'ak cared for personal space.
He didn't touch Kiri, even as his sister, if she didn't want him to.
Spider and Lo'ak were a pair known for their happy-go-lucky attitude.
And even they never touched unless it was explicitly requested.
The only person who ever touched without warning was Neteyam, and that was probably because they knew he showed his love through touch and affectionate gestures.
Aonung was willfully blind.
He couldn't deny that anymore.
How he saw Tsireya being comfortable with Lo'ak patting her back.
Or the way that Lo'ak tried to be responsible and willingly put a distance between them, which was always crossed by Tsireya.
He hurt an innocent boy because of his own twisted perspective.
It wasn't eye-opening in any way.
It was just too much.
He didn't know how to feel.
In the end, he just walked away, wiping his tears in the bathroom as he felt utterly disappointed in himself.
Shame overtook him, and he was just… disappointed.
This was your doing Aonung.
It's your fault.
This wouldn't have escalated if you made sure Koro left before you.
No.
This wouldn't have happened at all if you just let Tsireya handle herself.
Why did you have to be involved?
They weren't doing any harm. They were just kids who wanted to be close.
And you took it too far.
Now look, he was in the clinic.
Because of your negligence.
Because of your overprotectiveness.
He hid.
It was better this way.
He didn't know if he could handle going back to class, even if he was pardoned by the Principal for being the first to report their bullying.
It didn't feel enough.
So he went back.
Since he was trying to be better…
He'll start with telling the Principal who else was responsible for that incident.
It'll be one way to get his redemption.
His heart froze over.
I hope I would be able to do enough so that Tsireya and Neteyam forgive me.
Meanwhile, at the clinic, Jake was being the fun parent for once.
“Let's skip classes.”
The children slow-blinked.
“I have Science.” Kiri spoke up, while Spider raised his hand.
“Do I get grounded if I skip by your orders?”
"No,” Jake gave him a look, “Who else would ground you if not me?”
“Mom.” Lo'ak said, shaking his head side to side as if to convey something.
It worked.
Because Jake looked at the ceiling, eyes wide before he nodded as well.
“Yeah. You're right. I'll go call her. Her son got beaten up, it should be fine if we get out of here and buy some ice cream.”
The kids looked at each other before cheering anyway.
“I should get beat up more often.” Lo'ak joked, only to get his head whacked by Neteyam.
He whimpered while his older brother just glared.
“Do not even think about it.”
Lo'ak frowned, the anesthesia having worn off during the small brawl with Kiri.
“Party pooper.” He mumbled, while Spider pointed at him with a laugh.
“Deserved- OW DAD LO'AK BIT MY FINGER!”
“It doesn't hurt as bad. Chill out.”
“You are the responsible adult here, Jake Sully.” Neteyam gave him a hard glare that made the man wince.
“Geez ok, yeah, Lo'ak get off your brother.” He told his son, glancing at his eldest before whispering “You act too much like your mother sometimes. It's scary.”
“What did you say?”
“Ah, nothing. Come on kids, let's skip. Your mother will be fine with it since I picked you up anyway.”
Spider quickly stood up, loud and proud as he proclaimed.
“I'm riding shotgun with Neteyam!”
“I'm riding shotgun with Dad!”
“Awh man, come on! I'm the one who got beat up. I deserve to ride shotgun!”
“The rules are rules, Lo’ak, you're getting the back seat.”
“I hate you all.”
In the end, Neteyam had to pull his father to Security Office to sign the early dismissal waiver.
“Tedious.” His father mumbled as he filled out 3 forms.
“Why do they need to know where we're going? I'm their dad, what other proof do they need for me to give so they let y'all out?”
“Your ID.” Neteyam deadpanned. “It's so they're sure the kids aren't kidnapped or snuck out.”
Jake was about to lecture him before he stopped himself, realizing there's truth in his words.
“You're right. I better leave them my ID so Spider doesn't get kidnapped by Quaritch or something.” He mumbled, pulling out a copy of his military ID that he took everywhere.
“Neteyam, hand this to the Principal for me, will ya?”
“Gotcha.”
He went to the reception of the Principal's office, a rather stout woman excitedly walked over to him.
“Hello, you must be Neteyam, yes? The tier 1 scholar?”
“Oh, yes that's me.” He straightened out, ears twitching reflexively as he looked around, wondering why he was being spoken to.
The woman smiled, kind and graceful, “Well, I'm the Principal's assistant. I heard that your brother was in an accident involving a few students, my apologies for that. By the way, I hope he's doing well, it sounded terrible.”
She was genuine, making him smile a tad bit.
“Yes, he's well. Thank you for the well wishes.”
“Well,” she cleared her throat, looking at the paper, “We found out the other boys responsible for the incident. Apparently, there were 3 others, not 2 like we previously assumed.”
Neteyam nearly snarled.
So it was a 5 v 1.
It was a miracle Neteyam wasn't there or else the boys would have faced more than just school suspension.
Still…
He was glad his brother was relatively unscathed, even if he was a bit black and blue.
“An Orzu, Rua, and Peyan. It was reported by Aonung, once again.”
He paused.
“Aonung? Tsireya's brother?”
The woman nodded, and she didn't seem to be lying.
“Yes, he had come here a few minutes ago to report the other people who had been involved. He also went the extra mile to report a few incidents done by Koro.” She sighed.
She seemed rather displeased, a bit disappointed.
“I never thought these types of activities could be happening here, the children had all grown up together so…”
He nodded, understanding her sadness and feeling a pang of guilt himself, a bit embarrassed his family had been the reason why the peace in Awa'atlu seemed to shift.
But still, he knew it wasn't really his fault.
Koro had always been a bully, it just never came to light because it had never been this serious.
Aonung had probably hidden it all because of their friendship, now that Koro had been exposed to being a terrible friend and someone exploiting the boy's short temper, it was understandable that all of it came to light now.
Still… he was a bit guilty.
“It's alright, Ma'am.” He spoke softly, “Children have their own way of seeing the world. Sometimes… we can only watch and let them learn the consequences.”
She nodded, fixing her face to be more presentable. “Yes, you're right. Anyhow, why are you here again?”
He remembered why he came in the first place.
He pulled out the small rumpled piece of paper of his father's military ID.
“My adoptive brother, Miles Socorro Sully? We had a few problems regarding his biological father sometimes picking him up on school days without informing us, could you perhaps keep this as a record under his guardian?” He asked respectfully.
She took the paper and nodded, a smile on her face.
“Of course! I'll process it right away.”
“Thank you, have a good day Ma'am!”
“Have a good day as well, Neteyam.”
So then, he went back to the security office only to see his father looking relieved.
“Oh thank Eywa you're here. What's Kiri's middle name again?”
He groaned.
“Dad, Augustine. Kiri Augustine Sully. Come on.”
“Sorry! I just- I forgot Grace's last name ok. It's been a while since we visited her grave.”