Chapter Text
Year 2169
“It’s okay, bro. we’ve got you” Lo’ak, his brother calls for him as he holds him in his arms. Neteyam coughs, blood trickling down his chest. “oh no” “Put pressure” “Put pressure on it” everyone around Neteyam scrambles to check on him. “Dad, I…” Neteyam grunts, Jake reassures him “it’s okay, I’m here” he holds Neteyam close “It’s okay, son. I gotcha” Neteyam can only gasp for air as Lo’ak comes closer to him “it’s okay” Lo’ak holds his older brother’s hand “I want to go home” Neteyam struggles to speak
“I know, I know. It’s okay, we’re going home” Jake can only reassure him helplessly “It’s okay”
“Dad, I…”
…
He sat up gasping for air, bright lights blinding him as people ran around to call for more people “baby, call a nurse” a woman says she comes closer to him. He blinks as he adjusts his eyes to the bright room “You’re alright, bud. Lie back down” A man gently pushes him back down to the bed “Where am I?!” As he asks those questions, the people surrounding him look worried “Neteyam, this isn’t the time for jokes” the man commanded “Jake, he’s probably confused from the accident” the woman slaps the man’s arm. “I’m going to get our other kids from school, I’ll come back with them to get you” he kissed the woman goodbye.
“Wait, i’m alive” Neteyam came to his senses, he quickly looked at the place where he was shot “Neteyam, are you alright?” the woman caresses his face to comfort him “does it still hurt? The doctors did everything they could to make the wound less noticeable” she added. He sees a scar and his own skin, he’s different. He’s human.
He looks at the woman beside him, her warm embrace reminds him of his mother, his real mother. “Mama” she looks down at him “yes, my child?” he paused as he buried his face in a hug “I want to go home” he sniffled, vision blurring, that’s all he ever wanted right now. “You'll get discharged as soon as the doctor gets here” she explained, not pulling away from his embrace.
As soon as Neteyam calmed down, Kiri got back with the doctor. “Good evening, I’m Dr. Norm Spellman, a good friend of your dad” he introduced himself to Neteyam "Hello" he replied back. “I’m assuming you want to go home now, and good news for you—you can do that once Jake gets back” he smiled as he ruffled Neteyam’s braided hair.
Minutes passed. Neteyam, Kiri and their mother have been waiting in the room for the others. Right on cue, they opened the door and ran up to them “Bro!” his ‘brother’ hugged him “Neteyam, you’re okay!” The little one joined in. He let them hug him, Neteyam doesn’t return the hug as he just sat there.
“Alright, now that Neteyam’s alright, we can go home. Let’s put this behind us, let’s not put the blame on anyone” he guides them to the front of the hospital parking lot.
They arrived at the front of the house. A modest, 2 storey house with brick exterior and a big front garden. Seeing as to how they don't have this back in Pandora, Neteyam wasn't sure how to react. He followed his ‘family’ inside. The inside of the house had a cozy vibe, big windows to let natural light in, yellow lamps, overall, he could get used to the vibe.
“It's late and you still have school tomorrow—except you, Neteyam, you'll be staying here to rest” his father explained, as his siblings groaned in annoyance. “Good night, Neteyam” Tuk hugged him “Good night to you too… Tuk Tuk” he smiled as they went upstairs.
His siblings all went into their room after saying their good night to rest for the night “where the hell do I go now?” He thought to himself. Seeing as to the only room available left was the nearest one to him, he opened that door and succeeded, it was ‘his’ room.
Looking around, curious of the life this body had lived, he saw pictures of the family, a sleeping place (a bed), a glowing box that's confusing to operate (a PC) and an ever weirder, smaller box that also glowed (a phone). He's gonna have to get used to this lifestyle, and have someone teach him how to use these things.
He finally settled and dropped down on the bed. This was weird, he thought. The moving box thing they were in, this house, this room. Everything here was weird. He missed his home—his true home, the forest, his ikran, most of all—his family.
He can only wish to get back home to them, but alas, Eywa cannot answer his wishes all the way from here. With nothing else to do, he drifts off to sleep, hoping to see familiar faces, even if it's just in a dream.
The Next day
Neteyam wakes in disappointment, seeing the reality of his situation. As he sat up, an abrupt ringing came from the small metal box. “Gah, what is this?” He puts the phone up to his face trying to comprehend what was on the screen. “Great, I cannot even read this human thing” he pressed on random buttons hoping for the sound to stop, and it did… eventually.
He gets up to go get something to eat as his stomach grumbles. His mom greeted him as he walked through the kitchen “good morning, Teyam. Did you not change clothes?” She asked as he looked at himself “Should I?” He tilts his head in confusion “of course, those clothes were on you for the whole day, yesterday” she calmly explained as she got back to cooking. "Take a bath after eating, we're going to see Ronal” she grabs a plate and places it in front of him.
After struggling to put on clothes after his bath, he bolts to the door to the car. Still not knowing how to work things in this new world he taps the window to get his mother’s attention “mother, how to open this?” he points to the door “just pull the handle, son” Neytiri can’t help but giggle at her son. He finally gets it to open. The ride to Ronal’s was interesting to say the least. Neteyam kept asking how to use certain things, Neytiri found this strange as her son was always the one who had to teach her, but she brushed it off as a cause of the accident.
After a 45 minute drive, they arrive at the front gates of the Tsika'u Residence "Alright, you know the drill, Behave” she reminds him as he nods, they get out of the car, Neteyam follows behind as they are led inside the big house. Neteyam, once again, can only look around to familiarize the place.
“Sullys, take a seat” Ronal greets them as she sits down on the couch “I brought Neteyam, I didn’t wanna leave him after the accident” Neytiri explained “it’s quite alright, we’re only here for gossip and tea, you can stay if that interests you, Neteyam” Ronal replied “and if it’s not of my interest, Ma’am?” he asked “Well then, I’ll call Ao’nung down” Ronal spoke before she called for Ao’nung by the stairs.
“You can go to his room if you’d like” she said as she sat back down “Excuse me, I’ll head up now, mother, ma’am” he bowed as he walked up to the room. As Neteyam reached the top of the steps, he was greeted by a taller boy “this is probably Ao’nung in this world” he thought as he stared at the boy in front of him now turning a shade of red “will you stop staring, it’s getting weird. Acting like you’ve never seen me before” Ao’nung complained “sorry about that” Neteyam can only apologize.
“Just go in the room will you” Ao’nung said as he led the other boy inside “I saved the level we were supposed to continue the other day” he said as he handed Neteyam a controller, sitting on his bed he patted the space right next to him, signaling Neteyam to sit down.
Ao’nung stares at the screen as Neteyam pushes random buttons, struggling to keep up “uh do you wanna take a break?” asked Ao’nung as he set his controller down, Neteyam looked up at him and nodded.
They sat there in silence with Neteyam daydreaming and Ao’nung on his phone, secretly watching the other.
“Are you okay?” Ao’nung asks, breaking the awkward silence
“Yeah, why should I not be?” Neteyam insisted, still looking at the ceiling.
Ao’nung stood up and looked down at him “You know you’re not. You can tell me what’s bothering you, I won’t tell” he assured “What would you do if you woke up in another person’s body?” The other boy asked blankly.
Ao’nung crosses his arms as he thought of an answer “hmm, I think I’d do the things I won’t be able to in my body” he answered “I guess that’s one way of enjoying things huh” Neteyam chuckled, Ao’nung smiled at this “Why’d you ask thought? That was so random” he wondered.
Neteyam sat up and looked straight into his eyes “You won’t believe me if I told you”
“Yeah, I probably won’t”
Neteyam sighs as he plopped back down on the bed “Then I won’t tell you” Ao’nung lied on the bed getting closer to him “oh come on, I thought we were friends” Neteyam’s body stiffened as he lightly pushed Ao’nung “Like you said, you won’t believe me even if I told you”
“If you won’t tell, I won’t stop bugging you. Do you really want that?” Ao’nung asks him as he gives him a ‘sad’ look
“Promise you won’t laugh, or tell anyone” Neteyam says as Ao’nung raises his pinky finger
“I promise” Neteyam looks at him with confusion as he also raises his hand. Ao’nung looked and grabbed the other’s hand, making a pinky promise.
“Now, tell” Ao’nung demanded as he got closer to Neteyam
“okay… I’m not from here. I live on a moon called Pandora. I'm Na'vi, well—was. I found myself lying on a hospital bed after I was shot and now I’m here”
“Haha, wow—that’s a lot to take in” Ao’nung laughed. Neteyam grabbed him by the collar and asked
“you believe me, right?” Ao’nung nodded “woah, calm down. I believe you, kinda. Please don’t beat me up again” he replied.
Neteyam breathed a sigh of relief “that was good to get it off my chest” taking a deep breath, he thanked Ao’nung.
“Ao’nung, can you teach me how to read and write this human thing? My Dad back home only teached us a few phrases” he asked
“yeah, man. You’re gonna have to pay me a teaching fee” Ao’nung joked
“Also, these weird gadgets” Neteyam added as he pulled out his phone. Ao'nung could only hold his laughter but agreed to do so anyway.
This was nice, in a way. No pressure into being the perfect warrior, no dad putting the blame on you for things you didn’t do.
Maybe this won’t be so bad.