Author's note: Hello, my lovelies! I am sorry about the wait, I am going through an obsession with Avatar so who knows how long this trip is going to go, so here is to hoping I'll ever finish a story! I do hope that y'all continue to enjoy!

Tuk made it to the Tsahik's marui in what felt like a single moment. She stops outside for a moment, face twisted in worry as her hands came together at her stomach, rubbing her fingertips together. What was she about to see? Her brother would be there, she trusted Tsireya. But... he was gone. She didn't get to see him when he died, but Kiri told her that he was shot in the chest. That the only thing that changed about him was that there was a hole where there shouldn't be. Tuk couldn't really imagine what that looked like, and she didn't want to.

But to learn that Neteyam's body had been claimed by the sea, yet he didn't return to Eywa? Tuk couldn't believe it. She would sit awake at night with Kiri wrapped around her, both daughters listening as their mother sobbed softly or would just silently leave the marui, taking her bow and knife with her. Their father would slip out after her and return before she did. They never spoke about it. They hardly spoke at all to one another. They would lay side-by-side, arms wrapped around each other, yet it felt distant. Neither laughed. Neither smiled.

Tuk missed when they would laugh. When they would joke and smile and goof around. She missed when her father would wrap his arms around her mother, whispering something sweet into her ear that would make her laugh or grin before kissing her cheek or forehead. She missed when her mother would walk up behind her father, wrapping her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek between his shoulders, saying something softly, making both of them sway back and forth as her father's face would nearly split in two with a bright toothy smile.

She missed when any of them used to be happy. Kiri had always been sullen, but even she seemed worn down, constantly tired. She would spend most of her time with her head buried in the water, but she rarely went further out, like the sea scared her now. Roxto would gently try to coax her out there, and a few times it worked, but most of the time she would shake her head and turn away.

Lo'ak always seemed angry. Every little thing seemed to trigger him. The slightest bit of friction and he would go racing off to see his tulkun friend. Neytiri would cry and beg him to come back before falling into a frightening silence. He blamed himself, Tuk knows, because she heard him arguing with their father about it. He blamed himself for Neteyam being there in the first place. Had he been better. Had he never met his spirit brother. Had he been more than the screw up they all knew he was. Had he been the one to die instead, then at least their family could be happy.

Tuk could barely see through her tears from where she eavesdropped behind some of the rocks her dad and brother were using to hide from the rest of the village. Tuk heard her father cry at that, pulling Lo'ak tightly against him as both of them cried.

"I don't," their father had said sharply, his voice wobbling as he fought with the terror shaking his body, hugging Lo'ak tightly. "I would never trade one of you for the other. If I had to choose, I would want all of you here. I want you, Lo'ak. I will never trade you. I will never think of it. Please don't ever think that you don't deserve to be alive. Please. Don't." No tears fell from Jake's eyes that day, but he fought a desperate battle to do so.

Tuk sank behind the rock, covering her face to cry. All these really scary things that she never had to think about before just keep popping up. She always knew that Lo'ak was sensitive but with Neteyam, he always seemed to be okay. Neteyam always made everything okay. Sometimes, still, Tuk will wake up in the middle of the night and search for the dark figure of her brother, curled up on his side. But he's not there anymore.

She used to be able to crawl into his arms when she couldn't sleep. He would curl around her, pressing his cheek against her head and whisper softly to her until she would fall back to sleep.

She missed him. She missed him more and more every day. So, the fact that she's slowly getting used to him being gone, she hasn't come to accept it. She never saw him die. Or dead. Not that she would ever want to see that. But a part of her always hoped that they were wrong. That they were all wrong. That Neteyam was alright. That he really was out there, getting better, so that he could return home.

And Tsireya... she said that Neteyam was here. He was back. But... he was dead. Her parents and brother were so sure that he was gone. But he wasn't with Eywa. Mom didn't know why. She couldn't think of a reason as to why. She heard her mom keep mumbling about wanting to go back to the forest. To see her own mom. Ronal didn't have an answer as to why Neteyam wasn't there. But maybe Tuk's grandmother would know.

But before her mom could take the plunge and head back to the forest... Neteyam came back.

With trepidation, Tuk climbs the steps, bracing herself. She doesn't want to see her brother's dead body, but she knows that it will bring her mom some form of relief. They could have a proper ceremony to send his soul to Eywa and then her mom will be able to see him again in the Tree of Souls. And even if it wouldn't make things the way they were before, it would make them better than they are now. At least the void that fills the space around them won't be so daunting. So endless. So painful.

But... does Tuk really want to see her dead brother?

No.

But she does want to see her brother, even if it was only one last time.

Tuk steps into the marui and the first person her eyes find is Ao'nung. He's standing by the opening, arms crossed in a wide stance. His face is set in a look that Tuk can only describe as concerned but also closed off. She doesn't know Ao'nung as well as she knows Tsireya but Tuk did see how the Olo'eyktan's son would stare after her eldest brother. They were no doubt friends.

Slowly, tentatively, Tuk turns her head toward the middle of the room to see the Tsahik knelt down by the body of her older brother. A firelight providing light for the Tsahik to see what she's doing. She's mixing some herbs together, mumbling to herself under her breath as she works, completely focused on what she's doing. Tuk lets her eyes drag over to Neteyam, sucking in a deep breath, praying that whatever she sees, it won't be horrific.

And it wasn't.

It was her brother, laying silently on his back, hands flat at his side with his head tilted slightly toward the Tsahik, but his eyes were closed. Like he's sleeping. But isn't that how the dead are supposed to look? She doesn't know how her brother died, exactly, no one could bring themselves to tell her, and she never really asked or even wanted to know. If he was shot in the chest, surely it was because he lost all of the blood in his body. She's seen her grandmother tending to hunters that lost their lives to that exactly same thing. But they looked horrific, scary, covered in blood. But if she didn't know any better, he looked to be asleep.

Something about his color was off, though. There were patches of skin that were lighter than Tuk remembers. And his stripes appear... misshapen, somehow. She can't place it, and the firelight doesn't exactly help, either. The shadows from the fire dance across his body making it hard to really distinguish what about him appears so off. But he doesn't look like how she imagined someone who has been dead for a few weeks should look.

Then, she catches movement, something she hadn't noticed before in the earlier moments of observation. He's... breathing. She can barely tell the lift of his stomach, but she can see it sink below his ribs and hip bones, casting a shadow across his stomach that she originally just thought was the fire's movement. But it wasn't. It was... he was...

Tears well up in Tuk's eyes as she steps deeper into the marui, holding her hand out toward her eldest brother, unable to believe it. She has to know. She has to. There is no way her parents and brother were lying to her and Kiri. They believed what they said but... but... if Neteyam is breathing, and no one could see him in the Tree of Souls, then Tuk was right! Neteyam is alive!

Tuk drops down on the other side of her brother from the Tsahik, barely able to see through her blurred vision. She reaches out with a small hand and rests it on her brother's arm, expecting it to be cold and clammy from being out in the water for weeks, and while it was colder than her own, there was an undercurrent of warmth that she could feel. Proof that he wasn't dead. It had to be.

"Neteyam?" Tuk whispers, her voice wavering. "Big brother?"

Nothing. Neteyam doesn't react and Ronal only spares a brief glance at the girl before continuing with her work.

Tuk lowers her hand until it's wrapped around his fingers and scoots closer to his head, blinking away the tears sliding down her cheeks. She sucks in a trembling breath before leaning her forehead down to the side of her brother's, squeezing his fingers as tightly as she can, wishing more than anything that he would turn his head and nuzzle her back, as he always did when she came to him, seeking affection.

But he doesn't move. And now that she's this close, she can hear the faint sound of him breathing, even over the sound of the fire crackling.

"You're here, Neteyam," Tuk sobs, nuzzling the side of his head. "I knew it. I knew you wouldn't leave us. I knew you would come home. I missed you, Neteyam. I missed you so, so, so much."

Still no reaction, but Tuk wasn't dissuaded. Neteyam was back. He was home. Where he belonged. Not only were things going to get better than they are now, but they'll go back to the way they were before! They can all go back to being happy. Sullys stick together, forever.

"Mom and Dad missed you so much. Kiri and Lo'ak too. I missed you a lot, too. It hasn't been the same, Neteyam. Everyone has been so sad. So very sad, Neteyam. But now that you're here, everything is going to be okay again. No one has to be sad anymore. We can all be happy again. We don't have to cry anymore. We can be happy again. We can be," Tuk sobs, tears streaming down her face. "We can always be together. Forever. We're Sullys. And Sullys always stick together."

Ronal spreads her goopy mixture down his center chest all the way to his naval. She reaches into a bowl after cleaning her hands and drags her fingers through a more liquid-like substance that she smears across his forehead and his temples when Tuk finally moves her face out of the way. Tuk grabs her brother's hand in both of her own, pulling it to her lap. She stares at Neteyam's sleeping face, watching for even the most miniscule of movement.

"I can't wait for you to wake up," Tuk says, rubbing her cheeks on her shoulders trying to stop the tears. "Tsireya sh-showed us a really pretty cove further down the island. Lots of pretty shells and fish and a really cool underwater cave! There is a bunch of mu-mushrooms inside! You're going to love it! We still have so much m-more to explore! You're going to be so excited! It'll be just like back in the forest. Wandering around, looking for things we can find."

Silence. Not so much as a twitch.

"It'll be fun, Neteyam," Tuk says softly, cradling his hand. "We're going to have so much fun." She glances over at Ao'nung, standing still by the entrance to the marui. She turns back toward Neteyam. "Ao'nung can come too. You would like that right, big brother? Ao'nung is your best friend."

Ao'nung jolts in the corner of her vision but before she can fully look at him, her mother and father appear, hand-in-hand. Both of their eyes flicker around the room, taking it all in.

Jake's entire body goes rigid. The latent panic that has been burrowing in his gut since the last engagement with the Sky people in the forest presses down on his lungs, stopping his breathing. A deep, throbbing pain in his chest echoes through the roaring of his blood in his ears, eyes landing on the unmoving body of his son, taking in just the ghastly paleness of his body before turning away, looking at the hard set to Ronal's face.

Neytiri's land on Neteyam and Tuk a moment after Jake looks away. She takes in her youngest holding the limp hand of her eldest. The tears staining the younger Na'vi's little face. And then her eyes turn to just her son. To the shadows dancing across his miscolored skin. To his face calm and serene, his long lashes pressed against his cheekbones. To his very being. To everything he is - was.

In her mind's eye, she can see him. The twinkle in his eyes. The crinkle of his nose. Flashing his fangs all the way up to his gums. The life. The vibrancy. Neteyam. Neytiri's special, sweet boy.

Neytiri's world comes to a stop. Her breath catches in her throat, and it feels like she's teleported back in time. Not to the last time she saw her son, bleeding out on that blasted rock in the middle of the ocean. She feels this deep, white-hot stab to her heart at the sight of it in her mind's eye. But further back. She's that teenager again. Standing over the body of her father, the horror, the agony, the disbelief. And then she's further back still. She's outside the school that the Sky People managed to convince her sister to persuade her parents for.

But here, at this moment, she's holding her older sister in her arms. She can hear the screams of the children in the school, the false Na'vi, Grace Augustine, trying to protect them while also trying to send away the Sky People who came to hurt them. Neytiri shakes her sister's lifeless body, screaming in her own agony, tears sliding down her cheeks. Her sisters usually bright golden eyes are dull, staring blankly upward, unseeing. The light that used to radiate from her is gone. And despite the blinding pain in Neytiri's heart, deep within, she feels rage.

Then she jolts forward again and she's back with her father. She can hear the screams of pain and anguish from her people all around as she stares down at the pained face of her father as he bleeds to death in her arms. Blood trickles from the corner of his mouth as he stares at her, passing his last remaining daughter his bow and binding her in place with a promise before he too dies. She could barely hear Jake calling out to her through her agony, yet in the cracks in her chest left behind by the death of her sister, breaks open more and all she feels is rage.

And then she's there. Back on that stupid, fucking rock. And her baby boy dies. The light fades from his beautiful eyes and the last thing he says is that he wished to go home, echoing her sentiment for so long that she was finally starting to move past it, but then that desire hits her full force once more. Once again, for the third time in her life, she holds a dead family member in her arms. First her sister, then her father, and now, her precious baby boy. All taken from her by Sky People.

And all she can feel is rage.

Seeing her son here again brings all those memories, and the feelings that accompany them surge through her when a soft, wavering voice pulls her back from that darkness that itches like blackened fingers of rage and death cloud her vision. Fill her mind. Fill her body until it's full to burs-

"Momma," Tuk's soft voice lances through the rage, using the name that all of her children used for her while they were young. A name that she always loved. A name that brought her a sense of fulfillment. Of love. "Momma, Neteyam is alive!"

All the rage, all the blackness in her vision clears up in an instant. She feels Jake's grip on her hand squeeze almost too painful, but her entire focus is on her daughter. Tuk's little face is flushed, eyes glistening. And for the first time in weeks, real, vibrant life shines in her pretty golden eyes.

"Momma," she says again, making Neytiri flinch despite how soft it is. "Momma, come see."

For a moment, Neytiri was paralyzed as she and Jake stare down at their son, hope daring to fill her chest. But she's scared. She can't put into words the agony that she's been feeling since the day he died. Nothing can console her. Nothing helps her sleep. Or feel connected to Eywa. She has felt so lost this entire time, and while she's been trying as hard as she can for her children, for her mate, she has never felt so alone. So hopeless. She thought losing her father and Hometree was the end of the road, but she managed to claw her way back.

But this felt so different. Jake and her mother were there to help her, and while Jake was still there, they never felt so far apart.

"I'm with you," Jake says, his voice hoarse, soft, vulnerable. But she felt strength. She always felt strong with him. And when she turned her eyes to him, his stared back. He needed her to be strong, just like she needed him to be strong. They needed each other. No matter how distant these last few weeks felt, they were able to still love one another. No matter the screaming or yelling. The crying and the silence. They always ended up in each other's arms. Their love never for a moment flickered or faded. In time, no doubt, they would find a way to survive the gaping hole in their lives, but it just took time to get there.

But they would. Their love for one another and their family would get them there.

"I'm with you," she whispers back to her mate. To the strongest, bravest man she's ever known. And she sees that great strength in the shimmering of his eyes. With her, for her, he can bend and break, because he will always put himself back together for her. As she will for him. And for those times that feel like their impossible to get through, he'll carry her through. As she will do the same for him. Equals in all ways.

If Tuk is wrong, it will be pain beyond imagining. But they will survive. Together, they will find a way. Two halves of the same soul. One being separated only by flesh and bone.

Together, Jake and Neytiri slink closer as Ronal is digging around in her belongings, forehead creased in concentration. Almost like she hardly noticed them even being there, if she even noticed at all. As the two lower to the ground beside Tuk, Jake placing himself closest to the fire yet staying out of the way of its light as to not obstruct Ronal's work. Neytiri places her bow back and out of the way before reaching out to touch Neteyam's perfectly preserved face. She expected both the chill of death and the heat of the fire, but as soon as she touched it, it was in between the two.

He shouldn't look this way. Dead for weeks as well as lost at sea? Neytiri knows what happens to bodies left in water for prolonged periods of time. Especially dead ones.

Neytiri cups Neteyam's cheek, running her thumb over his chin, up to his lips, still surprised by how good he looks, but still not daring to hope. That is, until she feels the soft whoosh of air against her thumb. Neytiri recoils, yanking her hand back, as if burned. Her big golden eyes flicker back and forth across his face, unable to fight the hope that slams into her breast plate as she finally releases Jake's hand and leans over her oldest son, reaching out to cradle his face. She stares down at his sleeping face, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Neteyam," she whispers, voice raspy. "My sweet boy. My son."

She caresses his face before leaning down and kissing his cheeks and his eyes, unable to believe it. She nuzzles the side of his face, sobbing in happiness, despite the joy in her heart she still can't stop herself from dreading the bad that has to follow. Her son was gone, he can't be back for no reason. She was certain he was gone. But... she wants desperately to be happy. She wants to forget the bad and scary, even if for just a moment and relish in the fact that her son is with her again.

Jake watches in silence, lips pressed together tightly. He reaches out and runs his fingers through Neteyam's loosening braids. He takes a slow, deep breath trying to bottle up all of the waves of emotion slamming into his chest. His eyes flicker up to the opening of the tent to see Ao'nung, Tsireya, Lo'ak and Kiri standing there silently, eyes wide taking in the scene in front of them.

He watches as Kiri folds her hands together in front of her, face twisting in a mixture of pain and happiness, her own lips pressing together tightly. Her eyes are focused on Neteyam's face, flickering back and forth. After a beat, she brings her hands up to grip at her necklace - Grace's, once upon a time. The action seems to ground her a bit as she closes her eyes, and her shoulders loosen slightly.

While Lo'ak's chin falls to his chest, his own shoulders hunching up. He takes a deep, shuttering breath before lowering down to the balls of his feet and pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes. Not a sound escapes him, and his body is held together so tensely that it doesn't shake, but Tsireya whispers his name and drops with him, wrapping an arm across his back and resting her cheek on his shoulder. She whispers something soft and soothing to him, making him nod but he doesn't pull his hands from his face.

Ao'nung stays where he was when they initially walked in. His arms crossed, posture defensive. Jake has been around the Na'vi enough to recognize a very human trait when he sees it. Na'vi don't tend to cross their arms in the way that humans do. But Jake also knows that his children do that a lot - especially Neteyam and Kiri. But all of them do it, something they picked up from him. Jake... defensively crosses his arms more than he cares to admit. And he knows because Neytiri will always clock the movement. At first not fully understanding what it means. Not until Jake admitted to it. The more common defensive gesture for Na'vi is to hunch over at the waist and stare up at their perceived threat, protecting their vital organs.

Ao'nung doing this just shows Jake how close he was to Jake's children, and judging by his age, no doubt it was probably Neteyam that he picked up the trait from.

Hi face is set, forehead crease, making him look so much like his mother, yet his eyes are trained on Neteyam. Focused, barely blinking. As if simply blinking would be enough to make Jake's oldest son vanish. Yes, he imagines that he won't be able to look away from Neteyam for a while for fear of the same thing.

Jake looks back to his son before saying, softly, "How? What happened?" It was a broad, open question. He has no idea what happened, or what any of them knew. Someone had to know something, and he needed to know.

A beat of silence, before Tsireya says, from her spot on the floor, still comforting Lo'ak. "Rotxo found him. He appeared during the event at the Tree of Souls."

Neytiri looks over at Tsireya, eyes blown wide. "What..? Why would..?" She glances over at Jake, but his focus is still on Neteyam. He still can't believe what he's seeing. He's fighting himself. He wants so badly to just be happy about Neteyam being here, but he feels as if he's standing at the edge of a precipice. That foreboding feeling like something bad is about to happen. It clenches tightly at his chest, but he tries to push down the feeling.

Neytiri stares at Jake for a long moment, aching to ease the stoic look on her mate's face, knowing the pain that lurks beneath. Her eyes lower to the hand he has lightly, delicately petting down his eldest son's braids. Then her eyes follow the length of his arm down to his other hand, resting on his thigh, the pads of his fingers rub together in anxiety.

Neytiri reaches out with one hand and presses her hand over his own to still the movement. Jake doesn't look at her, but his eyelashes flutter a bit, but the other hand doesn't stop its gentle ministrations in Neteyam's hair.

"Ma Jake..?" Neytiri says softly, giving his hand a little squeeze.

"What's wrong with him? Is he... is he going to wake up, or...?" Jake asks instead, turning his eyes toward the blue of Ronal's as she glances up at him. "What happened?" He asks lamely. "What's happening?"

"Eywa has brought him back," Ronal finally speaks. "But what has been done to him is terrible. His body is weak and his connection to Eywa is exhausted. But I feel life in him. I feel strength. He will return. He needs to rest. He needs to recover. I will see to him here."

"But why?" Lo'ak asks, voice hoarse as he straightens up, running a hand over his suspiciously damp face, Tsireya rising with him. "The Sky People killed him. His body was dragged to sea. What happened? Why did it happen?"

Ronal shakes her head. "I don't know. The Great Mother saw fit to bring him back to us. For now, that should be enough."

Lo'ak looks down at his feet for a moment while Tsireya looks around the room, fingers running along the accessories hanging off her neck. After another beat, her eyes turn to the Tsahik. "Mother?" Ronal glances at her. "I'm going to go let father know what happened so he can call off the search. The clan will have a long day in the morning and he'll want to know what happened."

The dip of Ronal's chin doubles as both a nod and a dismissal. Tsireya turns, making a mental note to herself to also go see if Rotxo made it back to his marui, before leaving the reunited family, her brother and her mother behind.

"Mom," Ao'nung says, his voice even but his posture still tight and defensive. Ronal looks over at him, tilting her head slightly. "Will he be alright?"

All the conscious Sully members turn their gazes toward the Tsahik as she stares down at the slumbering boy for a long moment, creases forming still between her eyes as she finally says, softly, "Someday, perhaps."

It didn't take long for Tsireya and her father to return to the marui as the clan was dismissed to return to bed, as by now it was very late into the night, and they would rise with the sun in the morning. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day for all of them. Tonowari didn't kick the Sully family out of his home when he returned, opting to sit next to Jake and keep quiet.

As much as no one wanted to leave Neteyam's side, Jake's eyes turned to Tuk, with her head resting on Neytiri's lap, drifting between completely asleep while still holding Neteyam's hand, and consciousness, to Lo'ak sitting cross-legged by the marui opening next to Tsireya, who yawn for the seventh time in the last few minutes, to Kiri with her cheek resting on the knees she had pulled up to her chest on the other side of her brother. Ao'nung, though, kept standing as if rooted in place the Sully family got there. Barely moving, hardly blinking. Even Ronal and Tonowari were finally showing signs of exhaustion from the long day they already had to the one awaiting them in the morning.

"Okay," Jake says, Neytiri's wide, alert eyes darting to him after his prolonged silence. They had been sitting in almost complete silence for well over an hour at this point, maybe even two, while they watch the Tsahik work. No one wanting to be the one to leave first. All eyes in the room except for Tuk's turn to him as Jake finally pushes himself to his feet, wiggling blood back into them after spending so much time sitting on them. "Time for bed."

Immediately all the kids start complaining, which is enough to jar Tuk away.

"Huh? What?" Tuk says, looking around, dazed.

"We can't do anything more for now," Jake says, evenly, his voice taking a very familiar stern tone that silences the Sully children right away. Ao'nung and Tsireya recognize it in an image of their own father and keep quiet. "Everyone needs their sleep. When Neteyam wakes up he's going to need a lot of help so we have to be at our best, alright? So, everyone, off to bed."

Lo'ak lets out the deepest sigh before pushing himself up to his feet and holding his hand out for Kiri to take. Kiri unfolds herself and takes it, letting him help her to her feet and the two shuffle out, grumbling in compliance while Neytiri scoops Tuk up in her arms as the little girl already starts to slip back to sleep. Neytiri, while balancing Tuk, leans down and kisses Neteyam's cheek, the heat from the fire having now warmed his skin to a familiar, comforting temperature.

"I will be back in the morning, sweet boy," Neytiri whispers, kissing his cheek once more before straightening up and carrying Tuk out. She casts a long look back a her son, still lying unmoving, before her eyes flicker to her husband, offering a shallow nod before disappearing into the darkness.

Jake leans down and picks up Neytiri's bow and turns to look between Tonowari and Ronal. "We'll let you get some rest. Sorry for keeping you awake so long." His eyes flicker down toward Neteyam, face still scary stoic. "Let me know if anything happens, or if you need anything. We'll back sometime in the morning."

"Of course," Tonowari says evenly, a look of worry flickering across his face.

"Sleep well," Tsireya says softly. Jake offers them all a look before heading for the entrance to their marui, stopping only when he is beside the silent Ao'nung. The Olo'eyktan's son finally turns sharp blue eyes, bright and alert, towards Jake and they both stare at each other. For a long moment, they stayed like that before Jake finally uses the hand unoccupied by Neytiri's bow to place his hand on Ao'nung's shoulder.

"Thank you," Jake says, making Ao'nung's face twist in confusion, ears perking in surprise but Jake doesn't elaborate. He offers a nod and then stalks off into the darkness of the village following after his family.