If Neteyam knew his brother, he knew that he was going to warn Payakan.

The Omaticaya pushed his way through the village to their hut in search of Lo'ak. He forced the tears back into his eyes and shouldering away his heartbreak. His brother came first.

Just as he expected, he found Lo'ak outside their marui, grabbing an ilu saddle from the doorway and hurrying back toward the water's edge.

"No way you're going out there baby brother," he called out, jumping onto the platform and interrupting his brother's escape.

Lo'ak gave him a pleading look, turning to face Neteyam. "I have to warn him about the trackers."

Damn it. It was so dangerous out there already, especially now that the rain had started to fall. "No," he said, stepping forward to take the saddle from his brother's hands. "You have to keep your skxawng ass here."

Lo'ak pulled it out of his grasp and stepped back once more. "He's outcast!" his brother exclaimed desperately. "There is nobody to warn him but me."

Neteyam felt like groaning. Of course, there was always something to get his little brother in trouble. "Bro-'' he said in exasperation, placing a hand on top of Lo'ak's braids. He felt like his father. "Why do you always have to make things so hard?"

Angry disbelief flashed in his brother's eyes. His hand was slapped away and Lo'ak pushed him back, growling. "You mean why can't I be the perfect son like you?" he threw back, eyes flashing.

Annoyance pooled in Neteyam's stomach. His ears flattened as he turned away for a moment trying to regain his emotions. But Lo'ak continued. "A perfect little soldier! Well I'm not you!"

His words ricocheted into Neteyam's chest. He never fucking asked to be the 'golden child'. Never wanted to be raised a soldier. But that's what he was.

Braids swinging, he got up in his brother's face, forcing him to falter.

"I'm not you," Lo'ak repeated once more, though his eyes grew a little more helpless. But his little brother would not be swayed. Lo'ak took a forced inhale and steadied himself, that frustration reappearing. "He's my brother. I'm going."

"Oh he's your brother?" Neteyam questioned furiously, voice raising as Lo'ak took the saddle once more and turned back to the ilu.

Neteyam grabbed his arm forcefully and yanked his brother back so they were face to face. "No, I'm your brother."

"Lo'ak!"

Tsireya's voice cut through their argument as she approached on an ilu, followed by Rotxo and Kiri.

Sensing his distraction, Lo'ak ripped his arm out of Neteyam's grasp and dove into the water. "Lo'ak!" Neteyam yelled furiously, but it was too late. His brother had already made tsaheylu with the water mount and had disappeared beneath the waves.

"Damn it!"

"Where is he going?" Tsireya questioned helplessly, round eyes large and scared.

Neteyam wasted no time, he grabbed a saddle and clapped, signaling an ilu as quickly as he could. "He's going to Payakan," he shouted, slapping Rotxo's chest, trying to garner his friends support, "Come on!"

The group immediately followed, diving beneath the waves alongside him. Neteyam secured the reins on his ilu and made sure he was in place before beginning to ducking under the surface once more. He was in such a hurry he almost missed Tuk jumping in after them, grabbing onto Kiri's hand.

"Where are you going?" she pleaded.

"Kiri," he yelled, turning around. "Take her back to shore!"

"There is no time!" Kiri yelled back, doing her best to hold onto Tuk as the waves rolled into them. The storm was only getting worse.

"Fuck, ok. Keep her safe."

And with that they tore through the water, following Lo'ak to Payakan.

Rain started to pelt into them by the time they resurfaced. They were going to be in so much trouble, Neteyam realized.

Up ahead he saw Lo'ak resurface, not far behind a tulkun, his gray skin scared and fin missing. Payakan. Even from a distance Neteyam could see the tracker sticking out of his back. He cursed and sped up, trying to reach them.

His brother immediately hopped off the ilu and jumped onto the tulkun's back, signaling something in front of his large eyes.

"Shit!" he heard him yell out over the waves.

Neteyam followed his brother's gaze as the young Na'vi swore, only to see what caused him panic. A sky people ship, headed their way.

As quick as he could, he slid off the ilu and joined his brother, pulling on the tracker, trying to dislodge it. From behind him Rotxo, Kiri, and Tsireya emerged, climbing onto the tulkun's back. Tuk held onto his finn, eyes wide and scared.

"Call dad!" Neteyam instructed, eyeing the COM on Lo'ak's neck.

Lo'ak shook his head forcefully and continued to pull on the orange device.

The oldest brother shoved him away, ignoring the teeth bared his direction. "I got this," he said, taking Lo'ak's place. "Call Dad. Just do it!"

With a final nod, Lo'ak stepped aside and brought his hand to the button on his neck, keeping a panicked eye on the fast approaching ship.

"TSIREYA!"

The teal girl's voice was shouted out over the waves and Neteyam swiveled around in time to see another ilu diving through the water. "Sister what are you doing?!"

A spike of pain shot through Neteyam's heart as Aonung hopped off the ilu and swam towards them.

But the chief's daughter wasted no time, still desperately trying to pull on the tracker. "Aonung grab it," she instructed desperately, pulling him up onto Payakan's back. "Quickly! There is a ship coming."

Aonung twisted his head at the sound of loud mechanical propellers and his eyes grew wide. He cursed and took his sister's place, grabbing onto the device.

From behind him Neteyam heard Lo'ak trying to reach his dad. "Dad, I need help, do you read me?"

Neteyam prayed to Ewya as a short staticy silence filled the air. Then it crackled and Jake's voice came through. "Hey, Lo'ak?"

Oh thank goodness.

Lo'ak's voice came out rushed and panicky. "We're with a tulkun, under attack. Kill ships inbound, two clicks out."

Neteyam could hear the desperation rising in his brother's tone. He pulled harder on the tracker but it wouldn't budge.

"Who's with you?"

Suddenly he was filled with a sense of deja vu. His mind went back to the forest near Base Camp, flying with his parents. When all of this had started, Lo'ak had signaled them from the old shack when Quaritch had found them, reluctantly explaining who he was with at the time.

"It's all of us. Aonung and Tsireya too."

Neteyam heard Neytiri gasp through the COMs on his father's end and a hiss that most certainly belonged to Ronal.

"We are at Three Brothers Rocks," Lo'ak repeated, constantly looking between Payakan and the sky ship. "Please hurry!"

His father's next instructions were clear, voice sharp as though commanding a squadron. "Get to cover. Do not engage, do you hear me? Do not engage . We are coming."

"Yes sir!" Lo'ak responded before dropping his hand and turning back towards the group.

"It's getting closer," Tsireya panicked, grasping at the sharp end of the plastic. "Pull!"

It was no use, the spike wasn't coming out of Payakan's thick skin and Neteyam could hear the weapons of the ship readying up. The sound of metal being loaded and prepared was deafening across the storm. They needed a new strategy.

Leaping away, Neteyam took his knife and sliced the rein's off his ilu, gathering the coils of leather. "Aonung!" he shouted, throwing one end at the boy before turning back around. This had to be done quickly.

Tsireya slapped her brother to attention and helped to tie their end around the tracker as Rotxo continued to pull with a strained scream.

With quick and sharp movements, Neteyam wrapped the cord around the ilu's broad chest and fastened it to the saddle, ignoring its chips of protest and grabbing the kuru.

"Go, go, go" he heard Aonung call from behind him.

Smaller, hand driven ships, were disembarking from the large sky people machine and began to tear through the water headed their way.

"Everyone, together!" Tsireya cried out, giving one final tug on the tracker, which was now rapidly beeping.

Neteyam shot a command through the bond and his ilu swam forward, pulling against the strength of the rope. The creature flapped desperately as all the kids took one final tug on the rope. With a pop, the device came undone and dislodged itself from Payakan's back. The Na'vi children fell back into the water and Neteyam lurched forward as the rope went slack.

"Kiri, it's coming!" Tuk sobbed out, pointing toward the large ship.

Shit. Neteyam wrapped the tracker firmly around his arm. "Kiri take Tuk. NOW. Keep her safe."

His sister nodded and pulled the youngest Sully onto an ilu, securing her around the waist.

Tsireya looked between him and the beeping tracker. "Neteyam what are you doing?" she asked frantically. Aonung's gaze shot towards him immediately but Neteyam couldn't bear to look at the other boy.

"I'm leading them away," he said definitively, ignoring their pleas of protest. "GO, now!"

Before it was too late, he ducked under the water, holding the tracker close to his side and took off. He turned back just in time to see Payakan sink down with Lo'ak holding onto his fin. Beneath the waves, the other kids grabbed onto their ilu's and started to swim.

Neteyam's focus remained solely on creating as much distance between his siblings and the sky people as he possibly could. Under his fingertips he could feel the metal vibrating with each beep, a glowing orange light emitting in pulses from a small screen. He was running out of time.

From behind him, he could feel the waves lurch as dozens of ships trailed his wake. A large explosion echoed in the water off to his right, nearly throwing him off the ilu. The creature squawked in fear but Neteyam calmed it through the bond, urging it forward again. The ships were following him.

A few more charges dropped near him as he dodged through the coral, speeding as fast as he possibly could. Finally Neteyam deposited the tracker, ensuring that he was a far enough from he siblings, and let it sink into the depths below him.

Once he was satisfied that it had been submerged into the deep, he spun around and took off in the opposite direction, fleeing from the fast approaching ships.

By the time he caught up with his siblings they were tearing through a large forest of kelp, dodging crab-like submarines that had been dispersed into the water. Their long metallic claws ripped through the green leaves trying to grab at whatever they could find.

Up ahead he watched as one of them fired a large buoy at Tsireya. It struck her ilu and immediately began to inflate, drawing the screaming creature up to the surface. Its rider was thrown off and Tsireya flailed desperately in the water, trying to get a grasp as she was torn from tsaheylu. Immediately one of the machines sped toward her, claws outstretched. Neteyam was about to grab her but at the last second, Lo'ak sped by, hoisting her next to him before commanding the ilu to dart away as the metal claw grabbed at empty space.

Now the next target, Neteyam panicked and swam backward. He was running out of air. Quickly turned around, searching for some kind of escape when he saw Aonung and Kiri dismounted their ilus and swim rapidly to hide in the kelp leaves, kicking up into an air pocket. Tuk wasn't with them.

Neteyam broke from his ilu and dodged past the leaves, kicking his way up towards his sister. The second he broke the surface into the air bubble he took a deep gasping inhale.

"Brother!" Kiri cried, encircling her arms around his waist, supporting him as he caught his breath. Aonung's head shot up and the boy looked almost sick with relief at the sight of him. But Neteyam pushed forced himself to push it away, sure that he was mistaken. His body forced him to cough as his lungs reinflated with the stale air around them. Aonung's hand immediately shot out to steady the Na'vi.

"Where is Tuk?" Neteyam asked, still panting. He slipped out of the chief's son's grasp, not willing to be torn apart again. He wasn't sure he could bear it.

"She is in another pod, but Neteyam you have to stay here, it is not safe!" Kiri begged, already knowing what he was about to do.

Neteyam shook her off, instead placing his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to pacify his sister. "I have no choice, Kiri. I must go."

"Brother-" Kiri pleaded, eyes wide with tears.

"No," he cut her off, trying to be gentle. "Stay with Aonung. I need to get her."

Before she could grab him, he took a deep breath and ducked back into the water.

"Neteyam!" Aonung called out after him desperately, but he couldn't hear it under the waves.

The Omaticaya pushed away from the pod and looked around, trying to find his baby sister. The green of the kelp forest was clouding his vision.

Just as he began to call for an ilu, Neteyam spotted them up ahead. To his horror, Lo'ak, Tsireya, and Tuk were being yanked out of their leaf pod and swallowed up by a net. Their screams pierced the air as they were pulled out of the water.

He instantly made tsaheylu with the nearest mount and prepared to fight. Neteyam unsheathed his knife, about to take off after them, when one of the metal subs swung around his way. Shit ! He didn't have time for this.

Glancing around furiously, he guided the newly bonded ilu deeper into the kelp, hoping to lose the ship in its extensive leaves. He dodged back and forth rapidly as its metal arms reached out for him. All the while he could hear his siblings shouting from above.

With one last twist, he broke the surface and inhaled hastily, searching the water for his brother and sister.

A boat, larger than the last one, had arrived, containing weaponry and missiles. A string of curses left his mouth. He ducked under the water and retreated to the kelp, knowing he needed a plan.

He wouldn't get far. Not with the subs chasing him. As he submerged himself deeper into the underwater forest he tried to clear his head of fog. The ilu chirped uncomfortably at their held position but he gave it a calming pat, trying to impart their need for stillness as the subs searched the water for him. Eventually the whirl of the machines faded and the headlights dimmed as they turned away.

His shoulders dipped down in relief but he wasted no time getting back up to the surface. The second he neared the ship he could see more clearly what was going on. Lo'ak, Tuk, and Tsireya were chained to the side rail. They twisted around desperately trying to get free of their binds but it was no use. Fury coursed through him as he watched the youngest sully bare her teeth in fear at the approaching Avatars.

He knew he had to get to them but he was far outnumbered. Neteyam forced himself to take a moment and survey his surroundings. There was an outcrop of rocks not far from his current location where he could take cover from the missiles that were positioned at the side of the ship.

Just as he was about to move, a large commotion drew his attention. The loud flap of many wings filled his ears and he swung his ilu back around to face the horizon.

Dozens of tsuraks approached, inbound with Metkayina warriors, spears at the ready. From above, Neteyam watched as his mother swooped down on her ikran, bow already poised over her shoulder.

Eclipse was nearing as the Metkayina readied themselves for war. Neteyam did not realize how much time had passed since this morning. The darker shadows of the waves were slowly starting to creep up.

He turned his gaze back to Lo'ak only to see Quaritch's large form approach and rip the COM from his neck. Neteyam let out an involuntary snarl as his brother's head jerked down from the force.

The Avatar said something into the neck piece before taking the second half of the device and attaching it to his own ear.

His heart clenched and Quaritch unholstered the gun from his belt and set it against his brother's temple.

Neteyam watched helplessly as his father paused immediately in his approach.

Jake rapidly swung his hand up, signaling for the other warriors to pause. He could not hear their voices but he watched as Tonowari let out a snarl, his blue eyes focusing immediately on his young daughter chained to the side of the boat. Ronal looked like she was moments away from tearing someone's head off as she darted between looking at her daughter and glaring at Jake.

More words were exchanged and then to Neteyam's horror, Jake set his gun aside and moved forward, arms outstretched and face empty. It was a trade, Neteyam realized. His life for the kids.

Before he could even think, he was diving forward, instantly yelling for his dad to stop. Jake's head spun to the noise. At the sight of his eldest son he shouted. "Do not! You hear me, Neteyam? That is a direct order, don't you dare."

The Omaticaya paused as his father glared at him. His words were harsh and full of furry. "You stay there boy. I won't tell you again."

Neteyam sat powerless, unable to defy a direct order, as he watched his father turn back toward the ship.

A loud booming voice sounded over the waves. The Colonel held a device to his mouth, amplifying his words. "You don't want any bloodshed Sully. Your life for the kids. Get over here."

His mother began to yell from the sky. He could clearly make out her words even without an earpiece. "JAKE! Ma Jake what is happening?"

His father said nothing. Only continuing his solemn approach, the tsurak moving anxiously towards the metal ship on the command of its rider. He could see his father move subtly towards his gun but a loud clicking noise stopped his hand immediately. Quaritch cocked the gun and pressed it further into his brother's temple. The Avatar's eyes narrow, almost begging Jake to try him.

Jake looked defeated. His head was bent down in sorrow as the waves moved past him. He was about to surrender himself completely when the water stirred.

A dark shadow moved beneath the boat, sending ripples against the metal. Neteyam watched in confusion before the giant hulking form of Payakan sprang from the water, crashing itself into the boat.

The dark metal groaned and gave way, denting the ship as the tulkun's massive body destroyed its surface. Men screamed as the giant whale took out their guns with his large fins.

Everything set into motion.