*Disclaimer: I do not own the movie The Last of the Mohicans, the book by that name or the characters (except for the ones I created) and I'm not writing this for profit. It is purely for fun. Enjoy!

Second Chances

Chapter 1: Twins

Western Massachusetts Colony, June 1737

A gentle summer breeze rustled the leaves on the trees surrounding the Mohican village, which was nestled deep in the forest next to a beautiful lake. For most of the people it would be a typical day filled with the normal activities of village life. Men hunted and fished, women cooked or made clothing, children played and elders sat in small groups, speaking of tribal politics or remembering the days of their youth. But for one warrior and his young wife it was a most exciting and joyous day, for it was the day they would welcome the long awaited arrival of their first born.

At age thirty five, Chingachgook could not believe he was finally going to be a father as he stood outside of the birthing lodge that morning. His previous wife, who was his childhood love, had never been very strong and during their marriage she would suffer a miscarriage each time she became pregnant. Then one year during an unusually cold winter, his beloved wife died from pneumonia, leaving Chingachgook shattered with grief and convinced he would never find another woman to take her place. Doubling his loss was the fact that once his elderly father passed on to the spirit world, he would become the last surviving member of his family and his bloodline would one day die with him. Resigned to his fate, Chingachgook spent most of his time over the next two years hunting and trapping alone in the forests and mountains, avoiding his village whenever possible as living there only served to remind him of all that he had lost and could never regain.

It was during one of these hunting trips that he chanced to encounter two French trappers who had with them a Yengeese baby, who they had discovered in the burnt out remains of a colonial homestead that had been attacked by a raiding party. Along with the bodies of a white settler, his wife and two little girls, they found the infant boy, who was no more than a year old, alive and hidden behind a bed in a part of the cabin that hadn't burned, his cries alerting the men that he was there.

Also traveling with the trappers was a young Indian woman, who couldn't have been more than seventeen or eighteen. Instantly smitten by the pretty girl, Chingachgook studied her closely and noticed her facial features and clothing were unlike any he had seen before in the tribes he was familiar with. It was also obvious from the way she was holding the baby that she was quite fond of the little boy. Curious to know more about her but not wanting the trappers to become suspicious of his intentions, he casually asked what tribe she was from and how it was she came to be with them.

Eager to have someone new to talk to after having spent months in each other's company, the Frenchmen told Chingachgook of how they had won the girl in a card game with some Spaniards they had met in their travels. Told she was from a tribe called the Apache who lived in the mountains and deserts of New Spain, the trappers began their trip back to Canada thinking the girl would make one of them a good wife. It was not long afterward however, that the young woman turned out to be more trouble than she was worth. Clearly an unwilling captive, she did everything she could to make their lives miserable during their journey and the trappers instead decided to sell her once they returned to Quebec. Then, to add to their woes, they discovered the baby a week ago and the two Frenchmen complained they could not wait to unburden themselves of their unwanted traveling companions. Feeling himself falling in love with the girl, something he never thought would happen to him again, Chingachgook took advantage of the situation and offered to trade several good hides and some silver in exchange for both her and the baby. Only too happy to accept the offer, the trappers agreed to the trade and quickly departed, laughing at their good fortune as they went on their way.

Returning to his village with the baby and the young woman, who he had given the Yengeese name of Lila, Chingachgook treated her with respect and kindness and soon won her trust. It did not take long after that for him to also win her love and the two married and made their home together among his people. Adopting the Yengeese baby, who they named Nathaniel, as their own, they proudly watched him grow into a strong and active little boy who was eager to learn everything he could about being a Mohican warrior. Yet disappointment still plagued Chingachgook when, after four years of marriage, Lila had been unable to conceive a child of their own. Still, the happy couple never gave up hope that one day the Master of Life would bless them with a son, for as much as they loved Nathaniel he was not of their blood and would never be able to carry on the bloodline of Chingachgook's family. But today that was about to change.

Nervously waiting outside of the birthing hut while the old midwives attended to his wife, Chingachgook vividly remembered the night nine months ago when Lila excitedly woke him and announced that she'd just had a powerful medicine dream. In the dream, she was sitting by the lake next to their village with her long since deceased grandmother, who told Lila that she was with child and would give birth to twin sons who would be identical in appearance, so much so that it would be impossible to tell them apart. Her grandmother proceeded to inform her that she must make a special necklace for each baby in the shape of the animal they would be named after and to place the necklaces on the infants as soon as each was born, thus insuring it would always be possible to identify each child as long as the necklaces were not removed. After asking her grandmother what those animals would be, Lila found herself inside the lodge she shared with her husband with a wolf and a fox sitting in front of her. When first the wolf, then the fox rose and respectively left through the door of the lodge, they revealed two infant boys who had been laying behind them on a large robe made of rabbit fur. Looking closely at the babies, she saw each was an exact duplicate of the other in every detail.

Believing in the power of medicine dreams, Chingachgook was elated at the prospect of finally becoming a father to his own blood and over the next nine months as he watched his wife's belly swell with the new lives growing within it, he would gently rub his hand on it each night while softly singing a Mohican lullaby.

As they prepared for the new arrivals, the happy couple followed what had been revealed to them in the dream. Agreeing that the babies would be given the Mohican names of their spirit animals, it was decided that Teme, the Wolf, would be the name given to the first born and that the second born would be named Uncas, the Fox. Using a technique she learned from a Zuni captive when she still lived with her people, Lila proceeded to make a special necklace for each baby by carving two small stone fetishes out of a piece of mottled sky blue Lazulite that Chingachgook had procured from a trader. Fashioning the fetishes into the shape of a wolf and a fox, she strung each one on a small leather cord and wrapped the necklaces in the rabbit fur robe she had sewn, to await the day when these items would be needed.

Now, as Chingachgook paced back and forth outside of the birthing lodge listening to his wife's cries from within, he fingered each of the necklaces he held in his hand, eagerly waiting to place them on the babies as soon as each one arrived. Suddenly, above the cries of his wife, a new sound filled the air. It was the sound of a new life that had just entered the world, the strong cry of a son…his son.

With a wide, toothless smile on her face, an old midwife emerged from the birthing hut carrying the newborn and a proud Chingachgook barely had a chance to take the infant in his arms and place the wolf necklace on him when another cry was heard as his second son arrived not more than a few minutes after his brother. After another smiling midwife left the birthing lodge, he entered and found Lila cradling their other new son in her arms. Giving her husband a beautiful smile as he placed the fox necklace around his second born, they then laid the identical twins beside each other on the rabbit fur robe, amazed at how each was an exact duplicate of the other. Upon being laid on the robe, the babies' cries immediately ceased as the two infants grasped each other's hand, thus assuring each of his brother's presence and it was obvious that even at this young age there was a very strong bond between them.

As the day went on, Chingachgook and Lila got to know the little ones and were mystified when they soon discovered that as long as the twins were in physical contact with each other they were happy and content, but as soon as they were separated they cried inconsolably, only to stop crying the instant they were reunited. Sitting with his new grandsons cradled in his arms, Chingachgook's father explained to the puzzled parents why this was happening.

"It is because they are each one half of the same person and one half of the same spirit. They were born together….and they will die together."

Listening closely to his father's words, Chingachgook felt a chill go down his spine when the old man said that the twins would die as one. Looking at the tiny infants as their grandfather held them, he suddenly felt very afraid. The life of a warrior was a dangerous one and the thought of losing even one of his precious sons was unbearable, let alone losing both at the same time.

Later that night, unable to sleep, Chingachgook slipped quietly out of his sleeping robes so as not to wake his wife and sat down beside the twins. As he lovingly looked down at his peacefully sleeping sons, he knew his father was right. Bundled up snuggly in their rabbit fur robe, each infant was lying with his forehead touching his brothers and with their little fingers clasped together. Instinctively, he knew they would always look out for one another and that they would share everything in their lives.

'There is a strong bond between these two that can never be broken.' he thought to himself.

He had no way of knowing just how strong and far reaching that bond would prove to be.

Author's Note: I hope you will enjoy this revised version of "Second Chances". The original version was the very first fanfiction story I had ever written and when I recently took time out from writing my last story, I reread this one and was appalled at the raw form it was in. Still enjoying the basic storyline it followed, I knew it had the potential to be so much more and so I am rewriting the entire tale, making the necessary grammar corrections and embellishing the storyline while keeping the basic plot intact.

Again, I hope you enjoy reading this updated version and I look forward to hearing what you all think of it. Thank you! MohawkWoman :)