Welcome!

To You, From Me by Naethan Apollo is a rocorro song

Read the first chapter of “From sky to sea” , a fanfic written by @eirianerisdar , I got inspired to make a tiny AU. I present Metkayina!Spider ✨

In this AU, Tonowari, while visiting in the Omatekaya, had found young Spider in the area and after growing attached to him, decided that he had to take the boy and so, without much resistance, he did. Years later, the blonde blossoms into a fine young man, famous for his physical strength and industriousness (or more like stubbornness), but his past comes back to haunt him when the Sully family begs for refuge in Awa’atlu. He reconnects with his old friends and eventually faces the clone of his biological father. What will happen then…?..

Who knows! Headcannon time 😎

Deep inside, Spider is afraid that if he doesn’t do his damn best and work hard, he might loose his place among the people. He often pulls way more than his weight and exhausts himself, so the rest of the fam make sure to reassure him about it.

He’s a very chill older sibling. While fairly responsible, he’s still quite playful and is known as the “village jester”. Very good with little kids and loves entertaining them. Will not stop his siblings from getting themselves into trouble but will tell them that whatever they’re about to do is stupid af.

He and Aonung bully each other CONSTANTLY. Aonung is a little shit, but Spider had learned to fire back. Hates it when he and his gang of jocks pester people and bluntly calls him out on it. They fight a lot because of that, especially when the Sullys arrive.

Aonung may or may not be jealous that the sully siblings get along with Spider so well. He wishes he could have a relationship as open as they do and hates Kiri the most because of that. That girl and the blonde become practically inseparable when they reunite and it rubs him the wrong way.

With Tsierya, Spider turns into the biggest hype-man. He supports and complements her constantly, as well as does her hair. Their relationship pisses Aonung off as well.

When the Sullys arrive and Spider reconnects with them, she begins feeling a bit insecure. She knows that her big bro comes from the forest and often misses it, so in her darkest moments she gets scared that the boy might leave with them when the threat blows over. She doesn’t voice her concerns though, as she does not want to ruin her sibling’s fun.

Ronal was initially wary of the demon boy, but he grew on her, especially when she heard of all the neglect he’s endured. It did not feel right to leave such a sweet kid up to fate and now he is her son as much as Aonung. He helps her with the chores a lot and even opts to tag along with her and Tsireya when they cook. It makes for good bonding time.

It is more difficult with Tonowari, though. On one hand, this man saw Spider at his worst, his rock bottom, when he was an abandoned nobody, but on the other, he’s still a chief and The blonde wants to make him proud and show that he did not make a mistake when adopting him. Tonowari tries not to let his son spiral though, and reassured him that all he wants for him is to be happy, as he wants that for all of his children.

“What happened to his chest tho?”

A skimming incident 😐 I will not elaborate

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(Please do not repost my artwork on any other platform, with or without credit. I do NOT give my consent to do so and I will find it🥰)

Miles Jr Socorro sketches

(don't really like my recent sketch, but ppl've already reposted it💦💦💦)

hope yall doing fine, luv u 🎀🦢

Love languages

Spiders love languages are acts of service and quality time

He spent a large amount of time alone and figuring things out for and by himself so having people put the attention on him is his weakness

He's embarrassed to admit it but he loves attention. Kiri is the only sibling to realize how much he'll preen under it and teases him for it relentlessly

Similarly, he's one to show his love by trying to help them and give them his time, however, the favor is only ever returned by his siblings. Hence, it gets him flustered to be the target of help or focus

Lucky for him, Rotxo is exactly this type

Rotxo's love language is also acts of service but also gift giving. He loves to make things for those he loves and puts his time towards them to show it

Much like Spider, reversing this onto him will fluster him to oblivion

Hence, their courting is the bane of all the kids existences

They're both usually in the background and so neither can handle it when they're brought to attention

Spider will go hunting for coastal animals for Rotxo since it's a rarer event in the Metkayina meals to have land food

He and his brothers take it upon themselves to help change that, but Spider will specifically snag cuts of meat for Rotxo since he loves to cook

He also makes Kiri help him find herbs and such similar to what they had a home which he helps Rotxo explore when he cooks

There's a lot of nights they end up eating scraps cause Spider isn't exactly the best one to show him how to cook. A, he has little talent for it and B, he couldn't eat half of what he grew up around

Rotxo ends up tentatively approaching Neytiri (who actually terrifies him despite him growing up with Ronal) to get help in cooking Omaticaya foods

She's adopted Spider at this point, but their relationship is still not nearly as close as it is with her other children so it's one of the ways she starts to mend that bridge

Rotxo and Neytiri bond over feeding their families and sharing their cultures recipes

Rotxo also puts more effort into finding human-friendly foods. He refuses to accept that his mate can't have the good foods he loves just because of some measly poison

Spider has accidentally been poisoned several times but doesn't have the heart to tell Rotxo to stop trying or to deny trying his creations

If they cook together, Spider is on chopping and cutting since he has the best knife skills and the least cooking skills

Rotxo is a solid chef but has a questionable palette at time and has made some rather interesting meals that only pass by the questionable tastes of teenage boys

By the time they're young adults, Neteyam and Tsireya have to step in and help them make better decisions

While Spider brings gifts from land, Rotxo likes to bring Spider gifts from the water

Even with his mask, Spider isn't able to get but so deep before the pressure bothers his head

He's a strong swimmer and keeps up normally but there's certain limits his human body can't breach

So Rotxo will dive for him and bring him little gifts

Shells and rocks are common for his braids or the jewelry he's now covered in but Rotxo also brings him little bottom-feeders so he can see it all. He'll bring the little creatures to show Spider before he'll thank them and return them

Spider just sits on his ilu or whatever rocks they've found and grins, watching this giant race to and from to show him whatever it is he's found this time

On the note of jewelry, they're both covered in necklaces, beaded clothing pieces, and bracelets that they've made for one another. shells, stones, bone beads, and whatever else they find adorn them both. Rotxo can't always wear so many in the water so he'll wrap his spear and daggers in them and leave the rest to decorate their marui. Spider, on the other hand, has most of his on at all times

It reminds him that he's wanted, that someone loved him enough to make them

Spider grew up working with some of the elders and mothers making garments for the clan and so he gifts Rotxo with belts and shoulder-guards he made with his cultures skills and Rotxo's styles and resources.

Neytiri has to help a lot, women is keeping them both together in a lot of ways

Rotxo sorts through his clothes to try and wear them all, he loves the feeling of being loves and shown off when he wears what Spider has made him

Gift giving between the two is constant

They also are one of the best teams when they work together

While other couples (Lo'ak and Tsireya) work together and struggle to get through tasks, they play off of one another constantly

They meet in the middle very well and are just very in tune with one another

With their jobs, Spider working among the clan or on the coast and Rotxo being a diver and warrior, they don't get to work together as often as they like so when they do, it's a sight

They're the type to finish one another’s task without care or notice. Both grew up as someone's right hand and being in the background so hard work is nothing new

Similarly, they're deadly as a duo

Spider will literally use Rotxo as a spring board and combine strength and agility in a deadly combination

They have each other's back at the end of the day no matter what

Everything comes back to wanting the other to never feel alone or unwanted

They just love to take care of one another man

Spider + Kiri Platonic HCs

Platonic soulmates

Kiri claims him as her platonic partner when she's like 16 as a way to establish him as part of her family

At first it causes some raised eyebrows, people suspecting they are more than friends or something shady is happening until it is clear Spider is content with his respective partner and they are content with just having their brother at her side

They each have a little matching braid in their hair with beads for the other, it's a little reminder and a little claim when nothing in their lives are stable

They are also best friends with Lo'ak and act as a trio but he's more popular and less of a "village freak" so to speak and so their dynamic has always been a little bit different

Before she was born, Spider was always intrigued by Grace and her pregnancy. He would curl up by her tank with his toys or tablet, babbling to the tank and to the sister he didn't yet know was his

The occasional floating visitor kept Neytiri from separating him from Grace and later baby Kiri

They have about a 2 year age gap but it's not exact with Na'vi aging

Kiri was convinced braiding Spiders hair would create a tswin if they tried hard enough as a small child

Spider didn't really get it but let her play with his hair whenever she wanted, just liking the attention and the soft touches

Spider had a crush on her for about a year when they were 12 and 10 but later realized it was moreso just a lot of care he didn't know how to process

Kiri is the reason Spider learned what love is

Lo'ak and Kiri grew up tag teaming Jake and Neytiri with comments about their 'other brother' or 'Dads human kid' in attempts to get them to accept Spider as family

It sort of worked on Jake but scared Neytiri more

Kiri is the only one who can always find Spider when he runs off, but Spider is takes hours trying to find them when the rolls are reversed

It helps them both to know that someone always comes looking

Neytiri reluctantly lets it be that Kiri added a bead to her and their siblings songchords for Spider

Spider thinks Kiri is the strongest person he's ever met (though if you ask he'll say Jake)

She was who kept coming to mind when the RDA tried to search his mind and he had to blur her face and voice until he could barely remember them for fear of what it could mean for them

Their relationship is how Jake learned of platonic bonds in Na'vi culture and how valued they are in their society

It's also part of why he starts trying to bring Spider into the family more and more as the kids grow older

Spider thinks that Kiri will want him around less after Neteyam is shot but she leans on him tenfold

They're one anothers anchor

Kiri forgives Spider for saving Quaritch but its something they're never able to completely forget

On the same page, they never forgive Neytiri for pulling them away when Spider was taken and places blame on themself and their mother on bad days since they didn't go back

Kiri is the only one who really knows what humans can and cannot have of the Na'vi - she had to learn since Lo'ak and Spider kept daring one another to do stupid things

Kiri hates the dreads and ends up twisting and braiding his hair with Rotxo when they get to Awa'talu

Spider and Rotxo dye Kiri's tips red like her mothers with berries and paint - which almost got them killed by Neytiri but Kiri loved it

When Rotxo starts courting Spider, Kiri helps him by adding some of Rotxo's stripes to his paint (it's the first pattern that wasn't hers he ever wears)

Spider spends days with Kiri gathering gifts when Kiri tries to pursue their first real relationships

He also dyes the girls tail red with his hair dye knowledge when she breaks Kiri's heart

does klaus’s plotline actually have anything to do with…anything, or did they just not know what to do with him except make him the junkie fuck up who gets himself in messes and needs rescuing

As per my last post on their kids, I said they want a lot of kids hence the higher numbers. If you have specific ideas please tell me!

I really want something where Crystal and Charles see all of Edwins memories. Maybe Crystal is trying some new stuff with her powers and accidently drags Charles with her into Edwin's memories.

Some of it flashes by quick. His childhood, the years with Charles before they met Crystal, the cat king, Monty, a majority of Port Townsend.

Some of it drags by. His death, hell, meeting Charles, hell again, Esther, Niko.

She knows Charles kind of has an idea of what to expect but knowing and seeing are two different things.

Crystal can't even watch most of it. Crouching down and covering her eyes, crying and occasionally making a sound like she was going to be sick.

They can't make any changes, of course, and they can't talk to anyone. These things have already happened and they're just watching them but Charles breaks her heart.

He bounces between furious and devastated.

He walks around the boys holding Edwin down to sacrifice him like he's looking for an opening, around and around restlessly. He knows, even better than she does, that he can't do anything.

Hell is even worse. Charles is clearly upset but he's not surprised, a grim determination that has him trailing after Edwin like a shadow. He keeps up with Edwin, running with him through the hallways and making himself watch each time it all starts over. He runs back to find the new Edwin and sticks close again, right beside him or behind him. He doesn't get in the way or try to stop it, he can't do anything so he's trying to provide a comfort that Edwin can't feel.

He sits with Edwin when he finds a place to hide, just watching him. Sometimes he talks. She can't hear what he's saying but she can guess.

Sometimes the demon doesn't kill Edwin right away and he isn't hiding so much as trying to find a place to curl up and die. Charles follows, sometimes circling him like he had when they saw the boys who sacrificed him.

She doesn't understand why he's making himself watch it all. How can he watch it when Crystal can barely tolerate just the sounds?

She's never seen him so focused. She thinks he might have forgotten she's even here.

Ghosts bleed here, they can feel and, the last thing Edwin felt as a living being was hands holding him down and the last thing he truely felt while dead would have been the last time the demon ripped him apart before he escaped hell. No wonder he's less bothered by iron than Charles. Iron is nothing compared to this.

She wants to tell Charles to come over to her. Tell him to stop watching, god why is he watching?

She knows why though, because he needs to know. Usually the mind can conjure up things much worse than reality but she thinks that neither of them could have imagined something like this. She knows Charles saw some of it when he went to get Edwin the second time but it wasn't a lot. He and Edwin were both tight-lipped when it came to hell, other than Edwin mentioning it vaguely here and there, usually in arguments.

He passes her again as he follows Edwin, again and again, and she goes to yell at him but she stops. His jaw is clenched the way he does it when he's truely furious, and his mouth is a thin line.

Charles can be scary when he's angry, especially when he's angry because someone has hurt Edwin. He would never hurt her but there's a cautiousness to how she speaks to him when he gets like this. Forget the cricket bat, he looks like he'd throw himself at the demon with just his nails and teeth if he could.

The memories go on and he's just as restless during Edwin's second trip to hell, only relaxing when he appeared in the memory.

Watching Esther is hard, Charles doesn't move during this one, just stands by the table Edwin is stuck on and stares.

This one is different and she thinks it because Charles was here for this one. She knows he's in the kitchen, kept in place with an iron collar and stuck listening to Edwin scream.

Crystal loses track of them as she sees Niko in the corner and sudden she needs to see it. She can feel Charles look over at them as Niko dies on the floor but he stays where he is until Edwin is up and next to Niko too.

More memories slip by until they're suddenly thrown back into the real world.

It's jarring, like something smacked them on the back of their heads. It takes them a minute for the world to stop spinning and their thoughts to reform. It's been seconds, maybe a minute, since they'd been thrown into the memories. Crystal feels like she's aged 10 years.

She does think she understands Charles a lot more now. She knows she's going to be reluctant to let Edwin off somewhere by himself, not that Charles would let him.

Edwin looks nervous, looking at them then the floor and back up to them again. He straightens the ends of his sleeves the way he does when he needs something to do with his hands and then he starts to press against each other. He must have a good idea of what happened and what they probably saw.

She remembers one of the deaths where he had ended up close to where she's been curled up. The way he laid on his side and just stared at the wall, quiet and accepting, the way tears rolled down his face and he just kept bleeding. Until he didn't anymore and Charles took off without a word to go find the new him again.

Niko is beside him and looks at both Charles and her with big eyes. She wonders what they look like, if they look any different to her and Edwin.

Charles makes a vague stangled noise beside her, makes a move towards Edwin, and she takes a deep breath.

Right. Okay, she and Niko need to leave. Like, right now. She has a feeling that the boys need to have a very long talk. And just cling to each other for awhile.

She grabs Niko, who looks at Edwin to see if he wants her to stay but he shakes his head just enough for her to let Crystal get them both out the door and away.

As they're leaving, she wonders what she'd do if someone had shown her Niko's death over and over. She looks at the other girl, who still looks worried but gives Crystal a little smile.

Maybe they need to have a talk too.

🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

Two side notes:

*Currently living for the idea of Charles and Crystal going feral over Edwin and Niko being hurt. And vice versa.

*You know when dogs/wolves circle something over and over, like they're trying to herd it or just watching from all sides? Idk for some for some reason I just picture that from Charles in certain situations. Especially when he can't do anything. Just circling it over and over like eventually he'll see something, find a way to do something.

Protective

The woods of their coast is unfamiliar territory even with his life spent on these beaches. Twigs and prickly grasses nip at this feet and crack beneath him but he knows avoiding them is a lost cause.

Rotxo is made for this island, is and always has been, but he can't help but feel displaced only a mile or two from his marui.

The RDA don't expect them here, though, only in the water. Ao'nung and Neteyam make excellent decoys back at the cove. While they provide a distraction in the water, an easy, unsuspecting target, Lo'ak, he, and Spider bring their numbers through the woods surrounding it. Soon, they will line the cliffs edge and, hopefully, interrupt an expected attack.

Lo'ak found scouts in hiding out in the caves lining the cliffs three days ago. The systems stretch through the cove and provide easy cover, just far enough from home to provide a sense of safety but so close that the intel they gather could prove dangerous. The potential heirs of two clans will be far too titillating to avoid, as such, it should be easy.

Should be.

Rotxo glances to the trees above him, not seeing him but knowing his mate is near.

This is a simple mission. Tonowari and the older warriors are dotted amongst them in case something goes wrong but they're here to prove themselves. To gain experience.

And not get shot.

Rotxo really doesn't want to get shot.

He hears a purring chirp and ducks, alert and stiff in his bones. Unlike the Sully kids, he didn't grow up in war. He wasn't raised with bullets in his ears and fear is gripping him with icy hands.

There's no time to be scared though, Neteyam is warning them.

He ducks into the underbrush, scarcer that the tree people were used to but thick enough they taught him how to hide. The coastal trees are thin and so only the best climbers could take from above. Spider, of course, is with them. He mumbles a prayer to their mother and starts for the cliff face.

Ao'nung lets out a loud, barking laugh and he can hear the strain. his friend has never been the best actor and he's scared. A branch snaps next to him and he jerks up, Tsireya is kneeling half sprawled from a bush. She looks embarrassed and offers him a sheepish smile before Lo'ak is corralling her up and hidden again.

It makes him want to laugh, how clumsy she is, how clumsy she's always been -

A gun shot rings loud and clear through the forest and suddenly movement is all around him. Birds are taking off into the sky and his friends, his family, are rushing through the woods without fear.

Ewya, how are they not afraid?

He chokes but he grips his spear. It's time to be brave, they could hurt his Moms, his sisters, and everyone he cares about. They have to go and he has to do it. He can do it.

Ewya must have her arms around him because his legs are strong as he rushes forward, the branches and undergrowth whip past him but he doesn't feel it. The metkayina boy whoops and then there's a gun aimed at him.

The human is small, terrified, and looks so much frailer than Spider. Perhaps he would have hesitated before, but he saw Neteyam after 3 Brothers Rock. Before the thoughts can settle in his mind, he's throwing his spear and the man goes down with the hit.

His weapon stands taller than the full body of his kill. It's not the first life he has taken, but it is the first he won't pray over or thank. He rips his weapon from the corpse and lets it fall with a dull thud, taking the gun and cracking it against a tree. It's too small for his hands and he won't risk another enemy finding such a prize.

More gunshots ricochet behind him and he rushes forward, finding himself beside Tsireya at the cliffs edge. He scans her body, quick as he can, and finds her okay. She nods and then she's leaping into the water below.

He spares a glance, unsure why she would give up her high ground, and feels the blood drain from his face.

There must be a dozen men on the ground and Tsireya marks the 4th person he can see of his own. Another shot and screaming is sounding from behind him, if there's that many there, who is up here?

The estimation they had only predicted a half a dozen men, maybe a few spares but maybe a few less. He's never trusting Lo'ak to count again.

He turns, planning to jump, but then he's hitting the ground. Above him, the butt of a gun is slamming down. It hits his temple and his vision slurs around him. He swings his arm, heartbeat pounding in his throat, and tries to dislodge the marine across his lap. He lands a hit and feels the weight tip but then the gun is coming down again.

A bruise begins to bloom across his cheek as he fights, blue skin torn and bloody from the branches beneath him and the man currently using his rifle like a bat. He wobbles up, trying to sit up and gain back the favor his height offers.

The man is wide eyed and frantic but the enjoyment in his eyes is what makes Rotxo pause. There is blood on the mans pale skin, bruising and mud across his face, and more dogtags than should be his own across his neck. Still, he smiles, bloody lips and all, and raises his gun.

Raises his gun at him, oh fuck -

A blonde blur snarls and the man goes down with a choked off shout. The gun is lost from his hands and then he hears a shot and Rotxo surges forward. Panic is lacing through him but dies in his throat at the sight of his mate, gun in hand, and standing overtop the body of his attacker.

Blood and mud are caked across his knees and over his torso. Rotxo's own stripes are covered on the blondes skin by the mess but he's there and in one piece. Relief floods his system and he stumbles up, finding himself in the humans arms before he can make it the rest of the way up.

"Fuck, fuck! Spider, a-are you okay? I-Thank you, I.." The words are failing him. He doesn't know what to say in this, thank you for killing a man for me? Thank you for being okay? Are you okay? You're not shot but please don't die of internal injuries when we get home?

"Hey, hey, hey, Ro, I need you to look at me, okay? It's okay, Baby, we're both okay. You can't go now, gotta get home first." His mask is smeared and dirty but he manages to meet Spider's eyes through it. Rotxo barely can speak and the blonde is pulling him between a tree and the large lake rocks that dot the hill. Later, he'll mourn how calm he is. How the blood on his mask and the bruises on his skin are so okay, but for now, he just focuses on finding home behind the glass.

Leaning forward, he presses his forehead to the cool glass and cups his hand to the back of the others head. Spider huffs on a laugh. The sound is small and affectionate but laced with fear but Rotxo decides they'll spare a moment.

Just a moment.

He breathes in the wood, the salt of the sea, and the scent of pinewood that clings stubbornly to Spider's tan skin. He counts the moles on his shoulders and tries to skim over the scars he'll memorize later.

"I-I'm okay. 'm okay. Where are your brothers?" Spider takes a long breath and he gets a glimpse of the boy he's buried, the child he left back with his peoples home tree. "in the water, I-I think. We need to get down there."

He starts to pull away and Rotxo starts to stand. Just as he leaves the cover of their hiding place, he catches sight of dark blue skin. Comprehension takes a moment to set in before he realizes that the blue isn't one of his friends, that they're in the water or safe at home, and that they most certainly don't wear a military uniform.

"Sure you do, Kid. Only place your goin' is back to your Daddy." Spider looks at him and there's fear on his face, real, deep fear. He remembers holding the human in the weeks after his escape, waking him from the nightmares following for the past 3 years, and the scars that mar his back. Spider squawks and reaches back but the recombinant has a firm grip on the blondes hair.

Spider is kicking, fighting, but the man isn't letting go. He's tall, cocky in the way he stands, and appears unphased at the teenaged warrior he's choosing to ignore. Wainfleet is embroidered on a tag across his chest and the name is familiar. The mans hand moves, Spider surging forward for freedom, and then its around the boys neck. It's just to hold him in place but the mans hands are so big they wrap around nearly completely. Spider chokes, ducking his head, and tries to fight but his grip only tightens.

"He's been real patient with you, Kiddo, but you know he's not a patient man. C'mon, time to get you home. If you stop your kickin', maybe I'll even let you stay awake this time." The man looks away from Spider, looks to Rotxo, and reaches for his gun. This one is big, big enough for a na'vi, and fits in his hand like an extension of himself. He aims it straight to Rotxo and his finger goes to the trigger.

Except, Rotxo isn't afraid. He expects the white-hot panic to flood him again, to feel his limbs heavy and lagging behind with the will to run away, but instead all he feels is rage. Red hot, protective, rage.

Spider looks small in the mans hold and looks so, so afraid. Rotxo reaches down and grips his spear. Wainfleet pulls the trigger but Rotxo is faster, aimed low and charging for his hips. While he may not look small now, he was the smallest in their youth. He knows how to take down a bigger opponent.

He surges and tackles the mans waist. This one is trained far better than his previous kill and doesn't go down just yet, but his grip on Spider does loosen. He snarls, low and instinctual, and feels every bit the animal the RDA calls them. It feels strong.

With a knock of his spear, the gun is knocked askew from where it was aimed. He takes the moment where Wainfleet struggles with the surprise to take a sweep for his head. The instinct to block has the gun falling from his hand and then, with a strong kick from Spider, his mate hits the forest floor.

With his lover out the way, Rotxo throws himself at the larger man. He's taller, but Rotxo is stronger. "You don't get him. Not again."

The solider laughs, loud and wild, "Fuck, Miles, you really do take after Sully. Got yourself a feral little toy and all, huh?"

The gun is cast aside now but Wainfleet reaches down, pulling a knife from a holster on his hip, and cuts across Rotxo's shoulder. His aim is strong and lands true, cutting deep across his collarbone. He gasps, pain flaring across his chest, but swings down his arms anyway. He lands a hard punch to the mans face, then another, and reels back again only for his wrist to be caught. He pulls, trying to free himself, and catches a glimpse of Spider, red faced and wheezing. His hands are shaking frantically as he checks his mask and the adrenaline comes rushing back.

Wainfleet lands a good hit to his face again, then aims to stab his shoulder where he cut before, but Rotxo pulls from his grip and pulls him up by the shoulders. He lifts the recombinant and slams him down. He can't get Quaritch for what he's done, but he certainly can give Wainfleet a taste here.

Blood pools in the mans mouth and he chokes, shoving frantically and thrashing against his hold similar to how Spider did moments ago. The mirror makes bitterness flush through him and he lifts him again, slamming harder now and relishing in the dull thud of the mans skull on the rocks below.

A gun cocks off to the side and his gaze flies to his mate, now on his feet and scrambling to the bushes they hid in before. He grabs the spear he's now left discarded at his side and throws it with practiced aim. It's lower than needed to be but the soldier falls with a spear through his gut. It'll be a painful death but Rotxo can't find himself to care.

"You don't get to hurt him." He growls and reaches for the gun before he hesitates. The man is groaning beneath him, incoherent and bloody, and Rotxo decides he chose his grave. He stands, legs shaking and tired, and pulls the man up. A birds cry fills the air and he hunches, an arrow flying past his curls, and he feels strong. His mate is safe, his family is fighting beside him, and he proved himself today. He feels strong when he lifts the man beneath him, pulling his weight onto himself, and walks to the edge. With a long breath, he drops the bloodied man over the edge and into the water below.

He stand, still and tired, but satisfied. The man hits the water below and he notices the movements in the woods have gone. It's calm, undisturbed as if nothing happened here at all.

He breathes in the salty air, tanged with blood, and lets his shoulders drop. A muted sort of pride lays in his chest knowing he defended his home but there's sadness there that knows he just kissed what was left of his peaceful life goodbye. War has met them here and it's clear his time is up.

"Rotxo? We did it...They're gone, only a few are injured. But..." A pause, "Well, we lost two. Menang and Eleora are with the mother but, it-it's time to go home." A soft hand grabs his elbow and he jerks back to reality.

Tsireya is gentle, safe, and he leans down to kiss her forehead. He turns and Spider is there, red faced and looking stricken, no doubt somewhere else. But he's safe, wrapped against his brother's side.

He walks forward, checking his lover for injuries, and nods to Lo'ak who lets him take his brothers weight while his own lover slips back to his arms.

"C'mon, lets go home."

Look I know we’re not getting shit with the episode count now a days but obsessed with flashbacks to the people the ghosts loved in life. Like let them haunt the narrative PLEASE

Janet whose father spirals, always thinking of how he could have saved her if he forced her to stop. Getting worse and worse, doubling down on his beliefs even as he crumbles. Her brother, forced into the role she dreamed of. Knowing that every step he takes leaves her bloody footprints behind him. How she feels so forgettable but her shadow has been at every one of her family’s shoulder for decades. Her father dying at the hand of incompetence and feeling her fingers dig into his flesh knowing she would have been great. That his faith in a twisted falsity won’t forgive him. The eyes in the fire burn their skin and scorch their pride.

Rhonda who so clearly left love behind. Her best friend seeing her in every blur in her peripheral. How the lyrics turn acidic in her mouth, how she hears a snort and “seriously, cherry pop?” every time but her voice is so, so hoarse. How the gravel in her own burns like hands on her own skin. Rhonda who stuck her classmates to the core. It had to be her fault, had to be, or else it could be them. Or it could be theirs. Rhonda who is swept away but holds an iron grip on their shoulders. Who watches over every failure with the surety that she would have been better. Her parents, crushed under the loss of the only good thing they ever did. Marjorie’s voice lingers and generations feel her fingers over their throat; a lost mystery that drags them forward.

Wally being the fragility of their own lives. Untouchable and above it all, dying in an instant with a broken neck and the promises he was made. The future they were so sure he had, the way he could have made it. But no one knew him. Every story is empty, every memory wrong, he’s forgotten even with a thousand retellings and a blaring stadium named after him. His mother standing in the moment he had. Lost in a split second loop even as decades move past her. How he moves on before they do, haunting because of what they lost in him and no one remembering what he lost for himself. A life lived and mourned for others.

Charley who was swept under the rug. Who no one wants to think of. Who makes them consider their cruelty, they humanity. Who died surrounded by people, knowing they coaxed him into death with kicks and laughs. How an accidental death with no murderer is still a trial of human cruelty. Emilio, aching for years at his own naivety, trying to be better, to make it better for the next Charley. Except Charley is always there (actually this time) and he still can’t hold on. Moving on and feeling every breath stolen from someone else’s lungs. How one boy meant nothing and said so much about people who never saw him. His parents, asked the question of would they rather a dead or gay son but knowing there was never a choice cause they were one and the same and maybe that’s their fault. Emilio holding his husband, seeing baby Charlie on the monitor, knowing a part of him will never not be 17.

Idk if any of this made sense but just give me the people left behind, let them have an impact. I’m losing my mind