Chapter Text
The midday sun reflected beautifully on the small shells. They lay heavily in his pink hands, heavier than they really are at least. Glittering Shells accompanied by small beads, bone fragments and even a small tooth. Each represented one important moment in his life.
Beginning with the small red bead for his birth, followed by the colorful beads for his siblings. Blue for Neteyam. A dark blue that had a similar shape his brother’s stripes once had. A small yellow bead that reflects light the same way Kiri’s eyes do in his memory. And of curse the small green bead of Lo’aks birth.
Once he had been overjoyed to sing his song during the eclipse. Like all Na’vi do. Now he had better things to do during the short period of darkness the eclipse brought. His life was left unsung. It was better that way. Still looking at them never failed to make him sad.
Their beads were followed by pain and betrayal. Portrayed by bone and Shells.
“Oh Eywa” he murmured sorrowfully, letting the lonely tear slide down his cheek without wishing it away. What point would there be, nobody would see it anyways. Except Demon he had nobody left. “How far have I gone.”
For sins he hadn’t committed. He for sure had paid for them.
A low growl ripped him out of his thoughts. “You’re right Demon, I shouldn’t think about it to much.” Sparing the old song cord one last glance he puts it back into its little spot reserved for it on his loincloth and straightened his back. The Na’vi had never accepted him, but he held on to this little fraction of his past. To remind him of his new way. That’s why he had ended his own song cord. Tying the end with a black shell, “Every song has to end, to have a last piece.”
Standing up he slowly balanced over the slippery armored skin beneath his feet. At first it had taken him a long time to get used to the feeling of the rough surface pressing into his sensitive bare feet. But now, after almost four years of living side by side with the Akula, or more accurately on its back, he could not imagine living any other way. Feeling more alien than ever when he had to restock his supplies on the small islands of the sheer endless sea.
Around them the sky turned darker and darker as Polyphemus slowly pushed himself in front of the sun. He could hear the frustrated growl of the Akula beneath him as it slowly began submerging itself. Hastily he began inspecting the five oxygen tanks that were loading in the sun. He had found them on one of his expeditions into a forgotten base his kind had abandoned after their defeat through the Navi. He was very lucky that he had found so many that still worked after all this time. A rare gift.
To aid him on his journey across the sea to find a new home.
‘His kind’ once he would have recoiled at the sheer idea of belonging to them. But he had accepted his place in this world. Or rather the lack there of.
Checking each one individually, he quickly read their battery status and the oxygen they had collected before packing them into a basket. Little waves slapped against his ancles. Turning around he yelled. “Give me a minute, I’m almost ready.”
The Akula, to his surprise, stopped his decent. Allowing him to safely secure the basket with ropes at the side of the Akula. Before climbing back to a higher part of the predator where he secured himself by lowering himself into a forward leaning position, binding a rope around his thighs and gripping a thick rope made from kelp in his left hand. With the other he picked up his harpoon. Insuring it was safely secured as well.
Bracing himself for the impact into the water he let out a loud whistle.
They submerged before he even finished. Rushing through the water with speed he could never have thought possible for such a large creature. But Demons powerful pointed tail propelled them like the string of his harpoon propelled an arrow.
Around them the bioluminescent world began to glow in the ever-growing darkness of the eclipse. Fish and coral, all sporting different types of blue, green and even a few tones of red and purple. Truly a sight he would never grow tired of. But again, he was the only one that didn’t glow. The only child that couldn’t display the light of the great mother’s creation.
Beneath him illuminated the many glowing spots and thin lines of bioluminescent yellow across the cracks of light brown and gray armor.
Reveling in this temporary beauty, Spider lowered his head on the Akula’s back. Feeling the rough surface, letting its warmth radiate through him. This was the closest they could be to each other. At first, he had been sad about it. Him missing a kuru made it impossible to form a Tsaheylu between them. Throughout the years however, he had learned that he and Demon still had a strong connection without it. They were closer than any Navi he knew was with his Ikran or Direhorse. No Tsaheylu needed for that. Even the name they were called by others was the same.
“Demon”
Granted, he was the one that gave the Akula that name.
Demon only slowed down after the sky began to brighten again, settling for a slower and more sustainable paste. There was no need to rush their journey. Having hunted and devoured a small Charybdis calve a few days ago it would take days for the Akula to seriously hunt again. What didn’t mean that they would not do it, just that there wasn’t really a need for it. And Spider had all the food he needed in his little baskets and waterproof metal boxes.
Spider let out a small yawn. Laying down completely he pushed the rope he normally used to hold on above his shoulders and closed his eyes. It was weird to sleep under water, in the ocean. At the beginning of their journey, he had relied on falling asleep on the creature’s back while they surfaced. Letting Demon judge how deep he slept before diving down and almost always suffering a small panic attack when he awoke in the depths of the reef. But again, he had adapted. Like he did with so many other things.
Now if anything, it was ironic, the safest place he had ever been being the back of the largest reef predator on pandora. His best and only friend.
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Sneaking up on unsuspecting prey required patience. He always thought of himself as patient but this required kind of patience he had to learn in many failed attempts of the two hunting together. Creeping through the reef, almost unmoving as to not scare prey away was close enough to the way they hunted in the forest. But doing it while riding a over thirty-meter-long giant of a fish was something else entirely. Adding to the fact that Demon, whilst incredibly fast wasn’t fast enough to actually catch any of the fast prey due to injuries of his childhood. Injuries who’s pain he could only guess by looking at the large scars that covered the streamlined body of his friend.
But working as a team they had adapted to the unique problem. Leading to their current situation.
Spider swimming in a circle making weird chocking noises and flailing his arms and legs like a drowning bug. Spear on his back and knives at hand. There had been many moments when he had been embarrassed during his life in the forest. Mostly in attempts to make others laugh. But he could confidentially confirm that he had never felt as stupid as now.
“Ugh”
“Ugh”
It took a while but after some time he finally managed to catch the attention of a large Skimwing. Norm had once told him that the Ikran and the Skimwing were distant evolutionary relatives. Back then he had not believed him but now where he had seen his fair share of them, he couldn’t deny the similarity. Both elegant and truly beautiful hunters. But also, overconfident and arrogant.
Spider slowly let himself sink to the bottom, careful as to not make the Skimwing suspicious of his plan. The flying fish didn’t even hesitate. Coming closer and closer.
Like an arrow it approached with a speed Spider could simply dream about. Mouth wide open revealing many sharp teeth meant to catch and slice apart fish. They were perfect at that, and they would be used for that purpose in the future, just not by the flying fish anymore.
Spider could see the white in his eyes. The back of his throat and more importantly the horror of realizing what was happening.
Out of the coral heap to spiders right emerged a large three parted jaw, shoot forward and sunk its enormous, serrated teeth into the poor Skimwing. Crushing the body of the animal with a loud crunch. The final squeal that escaped the Skimwing’s mouth felt like a stab in Spiders heart. It was gruesome to witness and having done it for so long Sider would have assumed that he would harden up to it, but he never did. He couldn’t help the sympathy for the poor thing that rose in his chest.
No matter how tough he thought himself to be he never got tough enough to close his heart completely.
Demon on the other hand didn’t display any signs of guilt his rider showed. Shaking the body against the sharp corals until he successfully tore its head off. Allowing Spider to sweep in and collect the teeth while he swallowed the rest. Acting quickly, Spider collected the largest and sharpest of the teeth before leaving the rest behind for the Akula. An offering the large predator quickly accepted.
Demon’s yellow eyes bored themselves into his own as the Akula slowly approached him. A truly terrifying appearance. Undone by the gentle nudge of his head once it reached the Human. Allowing Spider to cling on to him. Holding on to one of the many ropes that secured him and his stuff on the Akulas back, they emerged from the depths of the reef.
Furiously blinking Spider climbed onto his friend’s back, sun effectively blinding him. He stored the Teeth in one of the many non-waterproofed baskets he had woven himself from kelp and seaweed before pulling out one freshwater pouch and a little bag of dried fruit he had collected at their last island stop.
It wasn’t exactly delicious but it did the job.
---
It wasn’t rare for them to see a couple of glow fish illuminate the dark around them. But this was unprecedented. Hundreds of glow fish swarmed them whilst they were drifting on the surface. Watching the stars. Teaching Demon the stars, their names and how to navigate through them always made Spider happy. It was a part of his world he could give to the Akula who shared so much of his world with him. It were always quiet nights. They did it often enough, just not with an audience like this. Their light transformed the water into a golden mess of waves. Matching the markings of the Akula.
“How cool” leaning over the edge of the dry back Spider reached one hand out into the water where a bunch of glow fish began to swirl around them. “What do you think, buddy?”
It wasn’t hard to read the thought of the large yellow eyes that darted from the fish to Spider and back. Wearily and yet so obviously excited.
A blessing from Eywa. It had to be one.
Not much discussion was needed after that. Slowly they began to follow the sheer endless stream of golden light. Turning more and more east.
For hours they swam, still on the surface. Only as the first golden sunrays on the horizon copied their light did the glow fish disperse until they were alone again.
“Here is nothing.” Spider watched disappointed as the fish slowly split up and vanished into all directions.
The snapping sound of Demons jaw snapped Spiders attention back into the direction they were swimming. And in the distance, he could just about make out the silhouette of a large island. It was hard to see them against the rising sun, but he believed to recognize the outlines of giant mangrove trees reaching out into the sky.
“Come on, Let’s check it out,” he couldn’t and wouldn’t hide the excitement of this discovery. It was one of the biggest joys he had left in his life. The exploration of islands. And islands where rare, especially large ones like this one promised to be. So, he wasn’t going to pass on this opportunity after being let her by Eywa herself.
A low grumbling was the only answer he got before they slid under the waves. Letting the ocean swallow them. The Akula was right, they had to move carefully. Rushing in would only put them in danger. They would observe first, treat with caution.
They had all the time in the world after all.
And maybe their search for a home would finally be over.
s check it out,” he couldn’t and wouldn’t hide the excitement of this discovery. It was one of the biggest joys he had left in his life. The exploration of islands. And islands where rare, especially large ones like this one promised to be. So, he wasn’t going to pass on this opportunity after being let her by Eywa herself.
A low grumbling was the only answer he got before they slid under the waves. Letting the ocean swallow them. The Akula was right, they had to move carefully. Rushing in would only put them in danger. They would observe first, treat with caution.
They had all the time in the world after all.
And maybe their search for a home would finally be over.