A/N: This fic is based using a world created by two absolutely wonderful writers, AhrO and HellieAce, both of whom can be found on Fan Fic . Net. The world is from one of their current pieces "Of Song and Claw", and is used with permission, it also comes highly recommended for reading. I only hope I can do it some justice. Note, the 'Casaraptors' are very much like Hellie's 'Ostards' in the original fanfic, though a more tropical version. On that note, this is an Omega!verse prehistoric AU, so you can expect a few certain things to happen in later chapters. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or the world in general, both go to their original creators, I only own the plot line and a few rights to the casaraptors.
This is only a pilot chapter. If you guys like it, I'll write more. Please R&R, and drop me a PM if you feel like it. I always enjopy chatting to people. With that you may read!
Bright warm sun light flit down through wide green palm branches, casting streams of light trickling down onto the sand. It warmed the fine grains, and drove the lapping blue ocean back from its high tide. High, high up in the thick limbs of the many fruit barring trees were massive wooden structures, houses. They were carved of branches and trunks and filled in with drift and bamboo wood poles, and roofed with the tick waterproof palm leaves. Connected by strong vine and plank wood bridges, ladders, and wooden decks the entire community of Maykelo (May-kay-low) Island Tribe never had to look far to find companionship.
They were close knit, all held together not by completely by blood but by bond. Alpha, Omega, Beta, they were equal and respected here. But none were closer than the boys currently playing on the damp morning sands bellow the tree houses. Twins, rare and exceptionally blessed by the ocean spirits that watched over them. And yet, despite having shared their mother's womb for nine full moons and being born within minutes of each other they were very different.
"~Ve!~ You can't catch a me Lovi!" Shrieked the first little boy. He appeared no older than nine storm seasons old same as his brother. Neat wavy mahogany wood colored hair curled at the nape of his neck and his long bangs blew back in the ocean breeze revealing eyes the color of the rich sweet liquid they called honey. A single gravity defying curl bounced happily to the left side of his head, just in front of his ear. His thin lithe little body was wrapped in loose baggy white pants with a rare emerald green silk hemming, and a short vest of them same shade left open at the front. A bright smile graced his innocent face as his little feet left equally little prints in the stiff sand of the shore.
"I can too Feli!" The younger twin, Lovi, called chasing after his brother. He had the same basic looks at his brother, same curly wavy hair and wide innocent eyes. Though his hair was a much darker rich cocoa brown color with the same curl sticking up this time on the right side of his head, and his eyes, like the deep green of the jungles, flecked with sand grains. A playful smirk graced his face as he charged after his twin, kicking up lumps of sand with more grains sticking to his heels. He was dressed similarly to his twin, loose white cotton pants, cinched at the knee, but his were hemmed in rich dark burgundy silk, and his thin leather vest was dyed to match as well.
The last remaining differences between the two were personalities. While Feliciano was often an obliviously bright, energetic, and carefree happy-go-lucky child, Lovino proved to be more serious, mostly anti social, and lazily rebellious unless it was something that he wanted to do. This however, wasn't terribly surprising at all, for Feli was an Omega, and Lovi an Alpha. The two would lead very different lives the other tribes-people knew, but it wouldn't harm them to play together now, while they were still young.
"Look at them play Romulus, what fine young boys they are. You are truly blessed to have twin princes." Up in the trees, another Alpha, older and wiser in his age, and a much younger Beta stood in the middle of a long bridge over looking the beach. The alpha, Romulus the one addressed, bared a striking resemblance to the boys. With the same thick curling rich brown hair as Lovi, and the same honey amber eyes as Feli, one might mistake him for their father, but no he was in fact older than that, he was their grandfather.
The beta next to him had straight immaculately neat jet black hair that at times just brushed his jaw. Eyes of the same eternal black were always warm with kindness and wisdom far beyond his young years. Kiku was his name, clad in the long plain white linen robes declaring his Shaman status to the tribe. He had a small gentle smile turning up the corner of his thin lipped mouth as he fallowed the boys movement into the ankle deep rolling tide.
"I am. The ocean and wind spirits were grateful to give me both of them. Though at the cost of their poor mother. And their father gone so soon after too. I only wish I could give them the family they dissever Kiku." Romulus answered as his golden gaze tracked with the splashing children lovingly. It was true the two were royalty among the tribe, after all Romulus was Chieftain. Alas it was also true that the two were orphans. Their mother, Helena, Romulus's only baby, had died in child birth, living only long enough to bless them with their names and hold them both for the first, and last time. Their father, Julius, had been the most brilliant fisherman the tribe had ever seen, but even he could not escape the massive sharp toothed fish that sometimes attacked the fishermen's boats. That had been when they were but months old, and neither boy remembered him either.
"I know, and you do. You love those boys with all your being Romulus, and that is all anyone can ask of an Alpha or their Chieftain." Kiku responded. Romulus smiled almost sadly and kept his sights on his precious grandsons. The two had abandoned their game of chase in the water in favorite of racing each other back into the cover of the trees. They continued under the bridge their onlookers stood on, and up the wide ladder onto the first deck level just bellow them. They caught their breath in front of a large square building with double sliding doors.
The peaceful morning was then shattered by the sharp trill like caw of an animal. Lovi and Feli looked up at each other sharply for an instant falling silent as scratching sounded. Identical excited grins crossed their faces and they both scrambled for the doors. Pulling the large orchid wood bar from its latch, they threw the doors to the sides with a strength exceeding their looks.
"Felicity!"
"Pele(pay-lay)!"
Two large bird like creatures sprang forward on powerful hind legs. They resembled a cross between the tiny green lizards the inhabited the trees, and the colorful birds of the skies. They were mostly scaled, with long elegant necks and even longer strong hind legs possessing three toes each with a wicked claw. Their angular heads came to fine rounded points with thick crowns of feathers that extended from the tops of their heads to the base of their necks, and then from their rumps all the way down into the long flares that dropped off of their almost whip like tails. Though bearing no actual wings or arms they did have a unique webbing between their large toes, allowing them to swim quite well. Small, deadly, sharp white teeth clicked close to either boys' head, but they would never harm the children. Casaraptors the tribesmen called them, and they were amongst their closest friends, and greatest allies.
Felicity belonged the Feli, and bore intense red scales, with multicolored red, blue, yellow, violet, and green feathers falling down her neck and back. She best resembled the birds that sometimes learned to repeat back human sounds, parrots. Though she herself did not have this ability, it sometimes sounded as if she did her best to.
Pele then belonged to Lovino. He however was a beautiful pearlescent white, with beautiful yellow feathers the color of the sulfur crystals that grew at the top of the mighty volcano on the other side of the island. The birds he looked like could also learn to talk, though he never tried like Felicity did. Both were young yet, having been presented to their masters at age four as eggs. They would be around to look after the twins much longer than Romulus would, and for that he was grateful.
"Feli! Lovi!" Romulus called as he made his way down from the bridge and onto the first deck level. The boys looked up at their grandfather from where they had been cuddling their casaraptors. Green and honey eyes lit up and they quickly ordered the bird like animals to stay while they ran and tackled the older alpha's legs in a hug.
"Good morning, Nonno!" They said to him. Romulus smiled as he ran his fingers through their hair with a brighter smile on his face.
"Come on, what do you say we go out riding today? Maybe down to the docks hm?" As if on a cue another much larger casaraptor stepped out of the shelter to stand behind the other two. This one was covered in fine striking storm gray scales, and deep red plumage. Being fully grown, he stood very nearly seven feet tall, at least a foot taller than even Felicity or Pele as of yet but they were still young. Leaving the boys for a moment, Romulus approached the large creature and ran a hand through his bloody colored fringe in greeting. The casaraptor pressed his head into his master's familiar touch.
"Hello Gladiator. How are you old boy?" In return Gladiator rumbled a trill deep in his chest. He was alright, though probably somewhat sleep deprived and annoyed with having to share a space with the two energetic, younger casaraptors. He had put up with them for five years, but they were still chicks in his eyes, and always would be.
"Can a we really Nonno?" Feli asked bouncing over to Felicity's side.
"Please Nonno please?" Lovi asked as he reached up to wrap his arms around Pele's neck. The two smaller casaraptors trilled bright and pleadingly, mimicking their young masters. Between the bright eyes of the casaraptors, and the pooking bottom lips of his grandsons, not to mention he had all but said they already would, he just couldn't say...
"Yes, we're going. Now, go get their harnesses, and we'll go." He said with a laugh. The boys cheered a 'yes' and made a mad dash for the shelter. Romulus fallowed at a slower pace and entered the small stable with a roll of his eyes at their enthusiasm. What he wouldn't give for half of that energy again. Feli and Lovi quickly shook a pair of tough shark hide harnesses from hooks on the wall above a large bed of dried fern and palm leaves. The harness was simple in design, being little more than a loop around the neck and shoulders of the animal a small one seat saddle and straps connecting the two that also served as perches for once feet. But they were functional and easy to slip on and off.
Retrieving his own bigger, well worn gear he whistled for Gladiator as he stepped back outside and easily hefted the light crafted saddle over his head. The main loop settled easily into place just bellow his feather line and Romulus easily swung up onto his casaraptor's back. The higher perch felt just as natural to him as breathing the salty air. With a content sigh he watched as his boys climbed almost clumsily up into their own harnesses. The natural grace with which he did it would find its way into their muscles after a few years a top their own beloved partners.
"The beginning of something wonderful happens today, Romulus. I have heard it in the spirits' voices. It may take years to show itself, but it starts today." Kiku said as he stood before the three.
"Really Shaman? Well then, lets go meet it." The old alpha smirked as he leaned over in his harness taking a tight hold of the hand loops on either side of the saddle. The boys copied him and a gentle tap to Gladiator's side, the casaraptor leaped forward off of the deck and hit the sand running. Felicity's trill of joy echoed as she and Pele fallowed eagerly behind him.
The entirety of the island belong to Maykelo Island Tribe, and a good five miles of the southeastern most beach front to almost four miles back into the jungle housed its people. Romulus and his grandsons lived at the far southern edge of the tree top village, and the docks for the fishing boats were located at the northern end. But five miles on a sprinting casaraptor is nothing. It was but ten minutes before they arrived.
The docks were the center of life in the tribe, having been made of massive palm beams, and planking they extended far into the shallows and were anchored deep in the rough boulders and rocks of the north beach. It was ever and always alive and busy with fisherman coming and going, young omega girls and a few boys repaired torn nets and broken spear heads. Others cleaned and gutted the variety of fish and crustaceans that were brought in with knives made of the sharp black obsidian glass the volcano made for them.
"Feli!" A young child broke away from the crowd. A little omega girl, with short scruffy brown hair and sparkling happy green eyes dashed toward them with the ling hem of her white and palest blue cotton dress caught up in her little hands. She was just older than the boys, ten season old, and already bore the omega mark of three flames swirling together in the hallow of her neck with the single unbroken band around.
"Lizzy!" Feli jerked Felicity to a complete stop at which the casaraptor snorted in slight discomfort but consented any way. Lizzy, as Feli had called her, was actually Elizaveta Hedervey, a good friend of his. The two often met at the docks and played together until the sun set. One time their playing had even led to Feli coming home in her dress and her in his pants and vest, and neither had seemed to mind at all. They were an inseparable pair.
"Felicity think a you can take one more girl?" Feli addressed the creature gently. She chirped affirmatively and clicked her teeth together. Lowering her head she very gently gripped the back of the girl's dress in his mouth and lifted her off the rocky shore. With even more care she twisted around and settled Eliza on her back just behind her boy.
"Thank you Felicity. Come on there's this really cool little cove up ahead, just past the docks, is it alright of we go Chieftain Romulus?" She asked excitedly looking to her leader before the princes. He smiled warmly. He knew the place she spoke of, The Turtle Cove, he had taken Helena there as a child. It was somewhat hidden away, and had many large tide pools where the huge sea turtles liked to lay their eggs and raise the young, making it ideal for children of all sorts. It was where Casaraptor chicks were taught to swim, the large black jungle cats learned to fish, and even human infants were given their first taste of the sea. Though hopefully, the only things they would run into there would be a few trigger fish and some small crabs and spiky urchins lurking around.
"Go ahead, Lovi and I will catch up with you soon." Romulus said with smile. With a swift thank you Feli and Elizaveta took off with Felicity leaping lightly across the rocks and boulders. Lovi stayed atop Pele and looked to his grandfather curiously.
"So what are we a going to do Nonno?" He asked turning his head to the side slightly. Pele mimicked the movement, but turned his head too far so that he was looking upside down. A deep chuckle left the older alpha's chest and he smiled affectionately at both boy and beast.
"I am going to teach you how to throw a fishing spear properly." A wide grin spread across Lovi's round innocent face. He had been pestering the older alpha to teach him how to use one the long deadly spears for almost a year now. The two set off at trot to find someone who could craft a spear small enough for him to use.
On the other side of the docks Feli and Elizaveta were quite happily splashing rummaging around in the largest central tore pool of the cove looking for treasures. The thirty foot cliffs around them were ragged from generation of abuse, making many natural paths to the jungle above. Rock walls twisted around separating the pools giving each a little shelf where one could lay on dry rocks and sit and sun themselves for hours. Nearby, Felicity had lain down in a smaller tide pool, resting her head on the warm rocks while her tail feathers floated and drifted lazily in the water as it lapped at her sides occasionally spilling over her back. The harness was ment to get wet, so there was no worry about that.
"Look I found an oyster Lizzy!" Feli cheered pulling the long curved shell up from the sand and water. It was dark around its rim and a dull chalky white down the rest of the cover.
"Try and break it open, there might be a pearl inside!" Eliza said happily as she paused in her shuffle through the silky sands to watch. Feli eagerly dug his small fingered into the crack and began pulling at it to get the muscle open. It budges, and tore, bit by bit falling slowly open. And then quite suddenly it ripped completely, flying open as the dead muscle inside fell limp. Indeed a small thumb size pearl popped up from the shell, and sailed threw the air while Feli scrambled after to catch it. With a tiny spelunk, it fell back into the shallow water of a pool near the cliff.
"I'll a go get it!" Feli cried as he leaped over the short stone wall and waded through the waters as quickly as he could. What neither child noticed was the rather large, night black cat that had settled just a few rock shelves above where Feli was headed. Its bright yellow eyes fallowed the small boy with a deadly intent shining in them. Feli slowed as he approached the area where the pearl had fallen. He didn't want to disturb the sand and burry the little gem so that he would never find it. He gently sifted through the fine grains in search of his treasure.
Romulus and Lovi were just rounding the bend into the cove when they both spotted the jungle cat poised to strike at the little omega boy. And Felicity and Eliza were only just noticing its lashing tail dangling over the rock edge as well. Just then Feli lurched up from the water with his fist curled tightly.
"I got it Lizzy!" He called happily oblivious once again.
"Feli!" Lovi cried. Elizaveta screamed.
"Feli, run!" Romulus yelled just as the cat sprang with an ear piercing shriek, claws out stretched and teeth bared to kill. Felicity sprang to her feet in a rush of water and ruffled plumage, and leaped forward to the defense of her boy. But before the casaraptor could reach her charge or the cat could land its strike a long three pointed hunting spear flew from the cliff tops. Two of its deadly obsidian points sunk deep into the flesh and fur of the cat's neck and shoulder with a resounding thunk. The force of the blow threw the cat off its mark and into the water, effectively pinning its head under the surface, and drowning it. Though from the placement of the spear Romulus suspected that it would have been dead before it hit the water anyway.
Still this did nothing to stop Felicity from snatching boy up in her teeth and dragging him away from the dead predator with a hiss. Nor did it stop Romulus from springing from Gladiator's back and rushing to his grandson's side. The little parrot like casaraptor pulled a shaking Feli into the curl of her feathered tail and pressed her head to his chest chirping and trilling worriedly. When Romulus reached them he was quick to begin checking the omega over for any injuries.
Feli, while shaking and whining and soaking wet from head to toe appeared mostly fine. Though his usually tan pallor had gone entirely pale and a he couldn't say a coherent word. His right hand was clutched tightly around something in a fist, what ever he had found for little Eliza. The little omega girl wasn't much better than her friend, though she was babbling nonsense apologies and questions.
Finding both children okay, Romulus turned his sights to the cliff top where the trident spear that had killed the cat had come from. He might have expected another hunter, alpha, omega, beta didn't matter, but someone older than the two boys and the young casaraptor that were hurriedly climbing down the cliff face. They were both young alphas by the scent that clung to them and by the single black ring and shark tooth symbol tattooed around their necks. That made them both at least ten seasons old.
The oldest though appeared to be somewhere between thirteen and twelve season old. He had unusual silveren hair and blazingly worried ruby eyes that caught garnet and crimson, an albino child. He wore simple dark blue cotton pants, but no vest, leaving his chest bare. Though this was not uncommon in the tribes, it showed off a ring of fine oceanic swirls around his heart, marking him as promised to an omega. Already Romulus could see strong lean muscle building under his almost deathly pale skin, he would be a fine hunter in the future.
Yet he still carried his hunting spear, so that left the other boy to be the killer of the cat. This one had short sunshine blond hair pulled back from his face revealing eyes so blue they made the ocean itself look pale in comparison. Worry etched across his young face as he leaped from the wall, splashing down near dead animal and soaking his own dark green breeches and loose black animal skin vest. The casaraptor fallowed closest to him, making the old alpha think that it belonged to him rather than the oldest boy. It was a wonderful bright watery blue, with green, and yellow fringe falling slightly to the left.
"Is- is he okay?" The oldest boy was first to speak as he caught up with the younger. They were well out of breath and panting, but still the worry for his grandson's safety was commendable. Romulus held Feli close and nodded with a soft smile on his face.
"Yes he's alright. Thank you, for saving my grandson." He said with a relieved sigh brushing past his lips. The other two let out similar sounds.
"That's good. We've been tracking that cat all morning, I'm just glad we got it when we did." The youngest sighed as relief clouded his sparkling blue eyes. Feli looked up from where he had hurried his face in his Nonno's chest, just peaking out at the new people around him. Felicity, though still edgy from the cat attack, loosened her tail around her boy and allowed him shuffle forward in the water toward the boy who had thrown the spear that saved him.
"Y-you th-thr-ew a the s-s-spear right?" He stuttered out, bowing his head and looking up through vaguely damp bangs.
"I did. My name is Ludwig, and this is my older brother Gilbert, Bielschmidt house. And my casaraptor, Berlitz." The blue macaw colored casaraptor chirped at the sound of his name. Romulus knew that house. Actually one his closest companions lived there. And he knew he had children, but he had never met them
"Aldrich's boys?" He asked curiously.
"Grandsons. Vati is out fishing right now so we're staying with our awesome grandfather." Gilbert said somewhat smugly. Though he had every right. Aldrich Bielschmidt was one of the most renowned hunters that Maykelo Tribe had seen. He and Romulus had often hunted and fished together as boys and young men, felling every kind of beast the islands had to offer. They were unstoppable, the best of all the island tribes.
"Then, here's m-my thanks to y-you. Lizzy and I f-found it in an oyster." Feli uncurled his little fist and held out the small pearl he had recovered. A few stray grains of sand clung to its smooth surface but they did nothing to dampen the beauty of the piece. It shimmered in cream and white, with the faintest pink and blue hues swirling just beneath its surface. A pearl for a life wasn't much but Feli thought it fitting enough.
Ludwig plucked the small round bauble from his hand and let roll into his own palm. It was really no bigger than his thumb print, but it was a kind gesture none the less.
"Thank you." All he could do was smile and let a dusting of faintest pink touch his cheeks. Feli let a small smile touch his face in return. Lovi who had been unusually silent this whole time, sneered at the older alpha. He didn't like how his brother was looking at him, with too wide, too affectionately innocent eyes. But he kept silent on the matter.
"Alright, lets get you two home. Thank you again, know that you have my deepest regard for saving my grandson." Romulus said lifting Feli into his arms. The two nodded curtly, and then turned to take care of their kill. Feli was deposited on Felicity's back and he couldn't help but watch after the alpha as Eliza was settled I to place behind him. She too looked back at the pair, though her eyes fallowed Gilbert rather than Ludwig while her left hand strayed to clutch her wet dress at her right hip.
Romulus took to Gladiator's back once more and silently lead the princes and their friend away while Ludwig, Gilbert, and Berlitz were left with the task of getting the monstrous cat up the cliff side. Lovi kept his glaring green eyes ahead rather than think about how his brother had looked back at the other alpha. He didn't like him, not one little bit.
Feli on the other hand couldn't get the blond alpha off of his little mind. He had only briefly met him, but there was something about him that had instantly caught his attention. It wasn't just that he had saved his life, it was the concern for his safety that Ludwig had freely expressed for him, and the way he smiled back at him when he accepted his gift of the pearl.
Romulus too couldn't help bit give one last glance at the two other alphas. Gilbert was already promised, but Ludwig had only just been given his own alpha markings, and probably had yet to even look at an omega. But they way he had looked at his little Feli made him wonder about their possible futures. Could this have been what Kiku was talking about this morning?
They dropped Lizzy at her home with her parents, who were very happy to see her safe and sound despite the trouble. She thanked them again and hugged Feli good bye tightly before disappearing up the steps and across two bridges into her home.
At their own home Romulus allowed Felicity into the house like he did on rare occasions and left her to guard Feli while he took Lovi to the beach to finally give him his first real spear fishing lesson. The casaraptor carried her boy to his room at south side of the house by the back of his vest. It was simple, with a pile of soft cat skins and other animal furs littered with her own molted feathers, in front of the window that overlooked the ocean and beyond, and a large hammock in the middle that hung from the ceiling. Tanned jungle deer hides and cups and pots of pigments, paint, and paint brushes littered the floor from his multiple finished and unfinished paintings.
Abandoning the comfortable swinging bed for now Felicity opted for depositing him in the nest of furs and her old stray feathers. As she laid down to curl around him Feli wrapped his arms around her neck and rested his head where her shoulder blade should have been. She rumbled a trill in her chest and ruffled his hair with her breath gently while he ran his little hands through her multicolored feathers. A sigh left him as he stared out the window to spy another island in the southern distance. Kilowe (Kil-uh-way) Island, home to Kilowe Island Tribe and to the east would lie the littlest of the three islands, Tiberi (Tie-beer-ee) and its small tribe.
Every spring at the beginning of Storm Season the three tribes gathered at one of the islands to call on their gods and spirits to bless the season with good fishing and hunting and the strength to whether the raging storms that drove the giant sharks away for a time. They also held marking ceremonies, for the children having reached their first decade of life. Each would receive his or her tribes' tattoo for either alpha, beta, or omega. It was also when young alpha and omega pairs, or beta pairings with either or another beta, of at least ten seasons old could ask to be promised to each other, like Gilbert had apparently done. Not many did right away, but the few that chose so early, often became the most inseparable and affectionate of mated pairs.
"What do a you think Felicity? Ludwig seemed very nice. Do you think, if we got to know him and Berlitz a bit better, we might a promise to him next year?" He asked glancing up at his beloved partner longingly. Her warm intelligent amber eyes watched him for a moment with all the affection of a mother. She cooed quietly at him and tossed her head quickly, loosing another old golden feather in the process.
The universal casaraptor sign for, yes.
Feli smiled and curled up close to the big bird like lizard, pulling one of the thicker pelts up around him. He thought so too. He would have to find him again first. Though that shouldn't be too hard, he knew where Aldrich lived because if his Nonno, so he could find him there if need be. And you could find almost anyone at the docks at the right time of day. Yes, Feli felt confident he would see Ludwig again, soon. And he hoped with all his little heart, sending up a silent plea to he gods above and spirits around him, that Ludwig would accept his advances, and him, and promise.
So what do ya think? Is it worth continuing? Let me know please!