Odalys stood tall against the wind, her white hair being blown every way behind her. She tightened her grip on the glaive she used as a walking stick and smirked when she saw the telltale shimmer in the reflection of the metal that meant Ancient Chaser was trying to sneak up on her. Instead of humor the old hunter, Odalys turned to him, chuckling. "You're getting sloppy in your old age," Odalys taunted. Of course, this was a lie; anyone with a trained eye could spot the shimmer.
Ancient Chaser had been living with Odalys for years, every year becoming more and more agitated. His ship had been torn apart by a Bad Blood and while he'd sent out his distress signal it seemed that no one was coming for him. What could stop them from picking him up? He was only stranded on Earth, unless of course, he suspected, his signal was never broadcasted in the first place because it was broken. He had no way to fix it though, as the technology available to him was old and useless.
Odalys hadn't minded him hunting when he finally did, being an immigrant from Mexico, she loved that Ancient Chaser hunted Marines and other well-trained personnel. It's one of the reasons she let him stay on her property. Odalys tsked when he remained cloaked and shrugged, turning her back to him just to enrage him. She was old and ready to die. Her children didn't visit anyway. "What's got you in a bad mood today?" Odalys wondered, looking back at the sunset over the mountains when he didn't ram the glaive into her heart for her insolence, though they both knew it was more painful for her to live than it was to die.
Ancient Chaser decloaked and clicked in agitation, not saying anything. Together they watched the sunset and said nothing. "You're dying," Ancient Chaser clicked, making Odalys' eyes widen.
"That's your problem?" She laughed, shaking his arm. "We all die, no need to cry about it." Odalys teased, watching in amusement as he spread his lower mandibles. She knew what he meant: he'd be lonely. But she couldn't help to want to tease him a little, she liked being a pain in his ass. "Besides, I'm ready to die." Odalys sighed. "Wish you'd actually fight me, though. It's more thrilling to die from a battle than in my sleep."
"I only fight warriors worthy of a challenge." Ancient Chaser denied for the thousandth time. Odalys wished he'd just end her life already. "Where will I go? No ship, no land. I'll again be alone," he said, facing Odalys. "You've been a generous host, while not an honorable warrior, your death won't be forgotten."
"Yeah, okay, tell that to my kids who don't visit," Odalys says, rolling her eyes. "I'm going to bed. This house will be yours as long as you want it. Though I hope something changes for you, I know being here must drive you mad." Odalys squeezed his shoulder sympathetically before turning and walking back to her house.
Ancient Chaser followed Odalys to the house, her humble three bed two bath ranch nestled gently between the barn and the cliff face. "I will be leaving for another hunt, I plan to be back in a few days."
Odalys didn't even acknowledge him as she walked to her fireplace and stared at the pictures of her husband and children. Somehow, she felt it now that he'd mentioned it. Walking back into her house Odalys' bones ached to be rid of their living burden and even the glaive wasn't a good enough support. She tripped on the carpet and caught herself, the boom of the glaive like a final warning. "I think it's going to happen tonight, Ancient Chaser," Odalys whispered, straightening. She picked up the most recent picture of her daughter and studied it with misty eyes.
She wished she could hold her baby in her arms again, even if just one last time, but knew it wasn't going to happen. Not after Alice felt she'd caused her father's death. She couldn't stand the house and neither could any of her siblings. So Odalys lived alone; abandoned. Alice was travelling the world and sometimes would send postcards, though. The only child who still kept semi-contact even though Odalys sent letters to all of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The picture Odalys held was from the Himalayas from two years ago when Alice had climbed halfway. She said she'd wanted to make it to the top someday, but that she'd train harder the next year. Odalys figured since she never got another postcard Alice ended up abandoning the goal.
"Do I call them?" Odalys wondered out loud, knowing Ancient Chaser was still lingering in the doorway. Though he tried to hide his presence, Odalys was accustomed to the creaks in the wood that meant he was there. Odalys shook her head, setting the picture down. "No. I want you to have this house. You've lived with me for twenty years now." Odalys turned to Ancient Chaser, his erect body no different now than when he'd crashed down all those years ago and slain the other just outside her home.
Her green eyes looked at the long gash down his green and yellow molt patterned chest where he'd been hurt and chuckled fondly, remembering how she'd played nurse. Her once black hair and thin body now gray and fat made her annoyed. She chuckled and shook her head at him, though, dismissing her inner jealousy of his abled body. It wasn't his fault he was of a different species.
Odalys realized this would be her last interaction with him and cleared her throat. With a straightened back, she pushed her fear of the unknown aside and with the help of the glaive walked over to him. She bowed her head in respect. "Thank you for keeping an old croon like me company. I'm 88 years old and yet I've got nothing to show for it. I wish you honor and good travels. I know you'll figure out some way to get off of this shit hole and so before you leave I need you to do two things. One, I want to be buried under the oak tree next to my husband and our dog Ruffles. Will you do that, Ancient Chaser?"
He nodded and relief flooded Odalys' body, making her life her head to smile genuinely at the old timer. "Thank you. Second, I want you to gift you the glaive you gave me. It's been an honor to possess such a weapon and I'm thankful for your generosity. Besides, we both know it's much cooler to carry around a sword than a walking stick." The two of them shared a fond chuckle, Ancient Chaser accepting her gift.
"It has been an honor. Peaceful travels." Ancient Chaser said, gently shaking her shoulder. The two shared a nod then he turned and left, the heavy glaive resting easy in his hands.
Odalys chuckled and looked back at her bedroom, taking the picture of her dead husband with her from her side table as she walked back to her room. She knew the old guy had grown fond of her, even if only a little, and figured he'd have more to say during their final goodbye, but like her husband, he was a man of few words.
"I can feel that tonight is the night, Bernard. We got 34 years before you died in the accident. Now I can't wait to see you in Heaven and tell you all about my life. I have so much to share with you. I lived with an alien, Bernard, can you believe that? You were always so interested in aliens but I was the one who actually got to meet them. Kind of ironic if you think about it."
Odalys laid down and sighed happily, petting Bernard's face. She closed her eyes and drifted off, content. Ancient Chaser crouched under her window and listened in silently. He sighed when his mask showed her heartbeat stop and looked up at the stars, now completely alone again. While he'd never admit it out loud he had grown fond of her, though he felt it was more proximity based than actual enjoyment of a shared space with the old human. Either way, he was disappointed he hadn't met her when she was in her prime and able to get an honorable death.
"Where are you?" He wondered, wishing he'd see a ship entering the atmosphere to pick him up. 20 years. Twenty long, boring years stranded on this planet with an old and lonely woman kind enough to extend her home and food to him. This was not an honorable way to end, living out his life stuck on a planet full of humans. While they made good prey, he was bored with their presence. He wanted something new, something bigger. Next time he was thinking of going for a r'ka. As soon as he got off this planet that's what he would do.
When the morning sun rose he stood and looked in the window at his dead companion, her brittle arms wrapped around a picture frame. He sighed and got to work digging her grave. When the last touch was done, Ancient Chaser nodded, moving away from the fresh dirt and the piece of granite countertop he'd used as a headstone. He simply carved in her name, unsure of the exact dates and not sentimental enough to write anything else.
Then he hunted.
Months went by alone and he again grew used to the solitude. No one visited Odalys in the years he'd been there except three times. Once her son showed up for money, the second was a group of robbers who thought Odalys had passed, and the third was her daughter and grandson with the news that they were moving across the world to continue her research.
Any more visitation than that he didn't know, mostly because there were long periods of time where he went on hunts. His favorite being his targeting of a US military base. He'd hoped to find high tech ships that he could jerry-rig for his, but had only found disappointment. Humans weren't advanced enough, though they were quickly getting there it seemed. Thinking about it now, he realized that another raid would be necessary to check and see if the humans had cracked the technology barriers, but as of right how he was satisfied with hunting.
Coming back from his hunt with new skulls, Ancient Chaser did what he normally did and put them away in his ever-growing trophy room on his ship before habitually going to the house. When he entered and didn't hear the news playing he was confused until through the window he looked at the oak tree and remembered his friend was dead.
He clicked his mandibles and stood there, stumped. What would he do now? He figured he could train and so that's what he did. For the next period of time, he trained, the Spring melting into Summer he trained and hunted for food and trained, sometimes checking the signal on his ship. Another year slipped by and finally, a car pulled up the driveway.
Ancient Chaser instantly cloaked himself and scampered up the tree when he heard the engine getting closer instead of taking the bend like normal, the Jeep Wrangler hitting a potted plant and shattering it making him growl lowly. That had been Odalys' favorite plant. "What the hell! Watch where you're going, you toad!" Luciana barked, smacking her fiance's shoulder. "That's my great grandma Odalys' pot you just ruined!"
The brown-eyed boy chuckled and threw the car into park. "Oops. Lo siento, Luciana. I guess you'll just have to forgive me."
Luciana rolled her green eyes at the charming boy and threw her brown hair over her shoulder. "Ugh, shut up, Marco. I haven't seen mi bisabuela Odalys outside of letters and this is not the first impression I want to make. She didn't write me a card this Christmas and I'm worried about her. That's why we're here. So can you, like, behave?" Luciana got out of the car and grabbed the bags of food she'd prepared in the hotel last night for her great grandma, knowing from her father that bisabuela Odalys was always happy when the family brought food over.
"I'll try sweetheart, but you know you drive me crazy," Marco teased, grabbing her ass.
Luciana shrieked happily and smacked his arm, giggling as she skipped inside. "Bisabuela!" She called, stepping into the worn ranch, taking off her shoes at the door. "Take your shoes off, pig," Luciana snapped, stopping Marco from dragging his muddy shoes into the house. "Will you please behave?" Luciana snapped as her eyes roved over the clean and very Hispanic looking ranch.
Her great grandma definitely took a lot of pride in her home. Though a little dusty, it smelled clean and a window was open, letting in the sounds of birds and the sweet smell of her flowers on her windowsill making Luciana smile. The thin curtains fluttered gently in the wind and the large box TV sat playing the news. It was a sunny, clear day and it felt like it in the house, though the air conditioning worked fine when you stepped away from the door.
Marco chuckled and kicked his shoes off, looking around the humble abode. "Alright, sweet pea. I'll be on my best behavior until we get back to the hotel tonight."
Luciana smirked and rolled her eyes, turning back to her search for her great grandma. "Bisabuela?" Luciana called again, walking into the living room and looking into the kitchen. "She must be remodelling," Luciana said loftily when she noticed the missing granite on the countertop, looking jagged like it had been smacked off. When she didn't see Odalys she frowned. Checking the rooms and the basement proved futile as well and now she was worried. "Do... do you think she takes strolls through the forest?"
Marco's eyes caught a glint of something through the window and gasped. "Oh no, baby, look outside."
"What?" Luciana asked, peeking out of the window. Luciana's eyes found the granite slab sticking out of the dirt and she gasped in horror. "No!" Luciana wailed, her sob catching in her throat. She ran outside barefoot and to the grave, falling on it. "Great Grandma nooo!"
Marco rushed out behind her and hugged her, kissing her head and rubbing her back. "Shh," he soothed, tears welling in his eyes as Luciana's tears soaked into his shirt. He hated to hear her cry, it broke his heart.
Luciana clung to Marco until she calmed down, her pain fading into acceptance. Odalys had been old, it only made sense. Then the two sat in silence, Luciana taking comfort in Marco's embrace while he kissed her head and whispered sweet nothings to her hair. Finally, Luciana wiped her tears, anger pressing forth. "Someone buried my great grandmother and didn't tell anyone."
"Or maybe-"
"No, Marco. La casa es limpia. There is grass growing over her grave and the flowers... someone's been laying flowers," Luciana snarled, baring her teeth in rage. She snatched the flowers and threw them over the cliff edge. "We're staying here. They may be gone for right now, but I want to know who's been living in Odalys' home as if it were there's. Ohh," Luciana moaned, her anger puttering back into sorrow. "Did they kill her to syphon off her resources?" Luciana sobbed again and pushed Marco away as he tried to smother her in another hug. "I need to eat," she said quickly at his hurt look, grabbing his hand and rubbing his knuckles.
"Okay," Marco agreed, standing and following behind Luciana. He understood her rage and sorrow and couldn't even imagine the same happening to his great grandmother.
Luciana walked back to the main bedroom and Marco watched her enter the room, deciding it best to make her food and then help her deal with her grief. He wasn't very sure about what to do, but right now he knew the food was the priority. Heating up the food, he scoffed at the fact the microwave still worked. How could someone bury the owner and not report this? Horrible.
Food heated, he moved into the dining room to eat and stopped dead when he saw Luciana holding a weapon. "What are you doing?" He rushed, worry overcoming him. He knew for a fact the worst thing for her right now was a weapon. Was she going to kill herself?!
"I... found this in the closet..." Luciana said softly, twirling the metal rod with a blade on one end and tiny spikes on the other easily. Luciana hummed and then slammed the smooth bottom of the rod down, creating a deep and authoritative boom that rattled them both, though Luciana giggled in amusement after a seconds pause. "Cool." She'd enjoyed color guard in high school and forgot how much fun drop spins were, especially when you had something as well crafted as this. It seemed to slice through the air with only a fraction of resistance, the weight not impeding its grace.
"I don't think you should be handling weapons right now, Luci," Marco spoke up, gulping. He loved Luciana, but he knew her to be wild and irrational, especially when in a mood. A weapon was dangerous right now, for both him and her. "You don't know who that belongs to anyway, so I'd just put it back. That's pretty intense for a weapon, so let's continue carefully. We don't know who's been here before us but we know they buried you grandma... that could be the murder weapon. Do you really want your prints on that?"
Marco was right about one thing: they didn't know who it belonged to and that's all Luciana gave him credit for as she rolled her eyes and set it against the wall, and instead took the plate of food offered to her. "Alright," she agreed. She gratefully kissed his cheek and started to eat, happy that he was here with her.