Disclaimer…

I do not own anything Predator-related, nor do I profit from writing this. I do own my created characters though. Just credit where it's due I suppose.

…and all that other good stuff:

Hello, this is technically my first Predator fanfic. I did a little bit of research on terminology and a lot of it is really confusing/messed up so if any of what I utilize is inaccurate, forgive me. There will eventually be mature content, but I enjoy building the story up. If excessive detail or character progression bores you, feel free to back out now as there are plenty of other stories around to enjoy, I'm sure. Either way, I leave this here for your enjoyment so leave whatever input you wish. I am always up for encouragement or criticism.

Now on to the story…

Chapter One: Emerald

Cold, musty, massive headache and dry throat to boot.

These were the first few things to rush into Lilia's head as she struggled to sit up. Based on the gentle hum reverberating in her ears, she noted that she was being held in a place that contained technological devices of some sort. Gingerly running her scraped palms across the metal surface she was lying on, it suddenly became apparent that she was stark naked as more sensation began to register in her frazzled mind.

Where in the world was she?

The last series of events she vaguely remembered was being hurriedly ushered into the limousine her horrible foster parents had waiting outside the concert hall before the screams of other people filled the night air. Apparently some kind of monster attack happened at her performance and tall masked creatures were behind it. She heard the crunch of bones behind her and the gurgling death rattle of her foster father while her foster mother's piercing shriek rung in her ears. It wasn't long before she was violently pulled out of the car by some incredible force and felt herself collide with the cool asphalt beneath her.

Before she could further dwell on this fact, the strange telltale whoosh of a mechanical door opening followed by multiple heavy footsteps caught her attention. A series of clicks and guttural sounds made her freeze in fear. Whoever was in front of her was definitely not human. It wasn't until one loudly barked at her that she jumped a little and felt the hair on the back of her neck raise.

"Lou-dte kale."

Turning her head in its general direction, she kept her gaze relatively downcast to convey her submission. She could practically feel eyes scanning her and heard her captors communicate with each other. This realization suddenly made her feel extremely vulnerable at the lack of clothing but decidedly made no motion to cover herself. She didn't want any sudden movement to upset her captor and bring harm to herself if she could help it. Despite being frightened, Lilia tried to remain as rational as possible even though her mind was screaming at her to react.

One of her captors began speaking to her in a series of more clicks and strange words, but it made absolutely zero sense to her. What did it want? Annoyed with her lack of response, it growled before she heard it fiddling with something.

"Pauking oomans."

It was also in this moment that she sensed movement approaching her from her right side. The moment a large, rough, and scaly-like hand grabbed her forearm and pulled her off the table, she absolutely lost it. Flailing wildly in its grasp out of sheer terror, Lilia clawed at the hand that held her. After a moment of kicking and thrashing, she felt what might as well have been a brick strike her cheek. The pain that followed was immense as she felt blood pooling in her mouth before spitting out to the side. Pathetically slumping in the creature's grasp, she could only listen to whatever would come next.

'Please just kill me now if that's your intention…' she thought weakly.

"Ooman, lash out again and punishment will be worse."

Surprisingly, she could suddenly understand its words almost clearly. It was choppy, but it sounded like a translator was being utilized. Either way, she was almost relieved that there was finally some understanding in communication.

"Your life is no longer yours."

Feeling the blood drain from her face, she bit back the urge to cry out in frustration and sadness. When she thought about it, when was her life ever really her own? 'From one hellhole to the next…' She thought grimly before opening her mouth to speak, the taste of copper strong on her tongue.

"What do you want from me?" she forced out hoarsely. She really wished she had some water to drink. Hearing clicks and more strange words being exchanged between the two creatures, she felt herself being pulled across what she could only assume to be the room they were in. Feeling a warm gust of air hit her face, she noted the sudden transition in temperature. 'Looks like I'm not getting any answers for now.' She thought bitterly as she was dragged to a destination unknown.

The next 10 minutes felt like eternity as she went through the humiliating process of being roughly cleaned from head-to-toe. She briefly wondered if she looked as horrible as she felt and decided that this was one of those few times that her blindness was a gift.

'Ignorance is bliss they say…' She thought as she was shuffled to yet another area. This time, the atmosphere was much heavier and to her surprise, she could sense more bodies moving in the vicinity. Hearing various screaming and crying from what she assumed to be other people, she found that she wasn't the only one in this predicament. Not that it made her feel any better, but the more she heard and felt out, the more information she obtained about her surroundings.

They were passing through an area of hustle and bustle. A market maybe? Clicks and that odd language was being thrown around as well as various animal sounds; sounds she was not familiar with. She pieced together that she was no longer on Earth, but this was merely an assumption. She could also hear the clinking of metal trailing somewhere near her and the shuffle of other footsteps in addition to her own. 'Other captives' she mused and wondered if the only reason they didn't bother chaining her up as well was because she was unable to see.

'How do they know that though…?'

Lilia bumped into her captor in an abrupt stop as she was so caught up in her train of thought. She also discovered that her captor was inhumanly tall. She gaged that it was at least 7 feet tall given that she bumped into what she guessed was its lower back.

This thing is muscular and freakishly tall…! She thought in wonder as she resisted the urge to map the creature out with her hands. Ever since she went blind from the trauma and shock of seeing her family slaughtered in front of her, she was taught to focus on other senses such as touch and hearing. It was how she managed to cope with the loss of her vision, but she still wished that she could one day be able to see again.

After moments of standing still, she heard her other captor from earlier speaking loudly away from her direction. Hearing multiple clicks, grunts, and sounds of what she guessed was excitement, the atmosphere changed again. Feeling herself being lifted and placed on what she could only assume was a stage or stand of some sorts, the roars coming from the crowd made her heart pound wildly in her chest. She was reminded once again of the situation she was in.

Someone please help me…

The Yautja black market was unusually busy this time around and the throngs of various hunters from different clans populating the vicinity was almost suffocating. They must have brought in new rare trophies or weapons to sell as he noticed some higher ranked Yautja were hovering around in the dark, quietly eyeing the wares displayed on the various stands set up. This particular black market always kept him coming back as it always seemed to carry what he desired or needed.

"A'thael!"

Turning his head to the familiar voice, the Yautja grunted in acknowledgement.

"Za-Ma'ji."

The two males proceeded to place one hand on the other's shoulder before shaking each other in their form of a greeting.

"How was your latest hunt? Did you obtain the beast you were searching for?" Za-Ma'ji cocked his head to one side, regarding A'thael with curiosity and excitement. He made a grave mistake on his chiva that cost the brethren with him on the hunt so he gave up on the blooded status for a while. A failure in Yautjan culture, but there were some hunters who were able to make a good comeback if they lived. For the time being Za-Ma'ji merely settled for being a merchant and considered training again one day, but that was in the distant future. It was difficult to find the assistance after word spread of his blunder.

"Sei'i, but it was no easy feat." A'thael responded before gesturing to a decent sized scar running along the length on his left thigh and couldn't help but puff his chest out in pride. It was estimated that the hunt would take around 7 months but he was able to halve the amount of time spent on the distant planet by keeping every move calculated in addition to staying ahead of his prey. He filled Za-Ma'ji on the exciting details and how he overcame the most trying moments.

"A fine victory indeed. What brings you to the market today? It is rare for you to stop by these days. You must be searching for something from ooman territory." Za-Ma'ji inquired, attempting to prod further as he trailed after the other yautja walking away from him.

A'thael paused after wandering a few feet down an alleyway and surveyed the area once more, noting that the crossway he had reached branched out into four different sections. He was looking for something in particular and perhaps Za-Ma'ji knew where he could find it.

"I am in search of something. I require a female ooman to interact with my pup. They are practicing the language so that they may be of use to me when we begin the next hunt. We are trying something different this time around."

Za-Ma'ji clicked his mandibles in distaste before gesturing to the commotion occurring down one of the sections. A lot of the regulars at the market knew of A'thael's infamous pup and many looked down on his decision to raise such a runt. "It looks like we arrived just in time, they just started displaying the finest treasures first today." As they approached the little auctioning square, A'thael scanned the naked humans chained in a line before his eyes settled on the present main attraction.

A young fragile looking female with thick long ebony tresses and creamy white skin that was painted with bruises of all sizes stood on the center stage. She had some meat on her bones, but she was neither overweight nor overly skinny. She seemed rather average overall, but what struck A'thael the most fascinating about her was her eyes. The female happened to be staring straight ahead at him with brilliant emerald colored orbs, but he immediately noticed that something was wrong with her; he just couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. Her gaze, while full of emotion, appeared to be absent at the same time. 'All trophies have their flaws.' He mused while tuning in to what the auctioneer had to say. He found himself quite interested in what this female had to offer.

"This female ooman is quite the catch. It appears she lacks the ability of vision, but do not be fooled. The female is gifted in another way that makes her quite the valuable living trophy." The auctioneer paused at this moment as one of his human servants hurriedly came from behind with an instrument in their grasp. They shoved the wooden piece into the startled girl's arms before quickly scurrying back into the dark of the tent set up behind them.

"It holds the ability to manipulate this strange wooden object into projecting celestial sounds that no Yautja is capable of. A sight and sound truly worthy of possessing in a collection."

A'thael studied her closely and vaguely recalled that humans valued the sounds emitted from handcrafted wooden instruments in their culture. It was a relatively trivial concept among Yautjas as their own culture was more focused on successful hunts, status, and clan dominance. Despite this, it wasn't uncommon for some Yautjas to be intrigued about things unknown to them as knowing the enemy (or unknown in general) could sometimes mean the difference between life and death.

The girl was visibly shaken at this point as his eyes zeroed in on her trembling frame. She seemed incredibly frightened, frustrated even. The auctioneer commanded her to play through using a translator that all Yautjas were standardly equipped with. It was really handy sometimes even if it was a pain in the ass to utilize. She hesitantly lifted the strange wooden object and nestled it in the crook of her neck before releasing a small breath that she was holding. Unceremoniously, she began clumsily running the stick with fine strings across the metal ones.

Most of the crowd that had been waiting with bated breath were sorely disappointed and unamused as the girl fumbled with instrument, the sounds screeching from it less than enjoyable. The melody that was emitted, if it could even be called one, was clunky and coarse sounding. The pitch overall was enough to upset the sensitive hearing of most of the Yautjas gathered there.

"Is this ooman really that valuable?"

"What value could this pathetic ooman hold to us? It's a mess!"

"Bring out the next treasure already, this one is worthless."

Far from impressed, the crowd grew impatient as the female struggled to regain her composure. Despite being visionless, she had enough sense to pick up on the rising tension around her; he was almost impressed by how sharp she was. A'thael had just found what he was looking for. He didn't know what it was, but her stunning emerald orbs stirred a memory from within him that made him believe he would regret leaving her behind. There was something about this human girl that sparked a peculiar curiosity within him and he needed to learn more about her once she was in his grasp. She would definitely be a valuable experience for his pup.

The auctioneer proceeded to bark another command at her before raising a hand to strike her when she simply cowered at his angered tone. It was truly a pathetic display in A'thael's opinion, but then again human females were typically infamous for being the weaker sex on Earth. Female Yautjas would not even tolerate a raised voice and would simply put their offender in their place should they ever be challenged or threatened. This is where the line was about to be crossed with A'thael and he raised his own voice before a hand could be set on the girl.

"You dare strike an unarmed prey? A valuable living trophy at that?"

And with that, the crowd suddenly settled down before turning their attention to him. The auctioneer paused mid-strike before glancing heatedly at A'thael, mandibles splayed wide in a display of anger.

"Valuable? She is going to end up costing me at this rate A'thael. She is lucky to be standing here in one piece after the trouble my hunters went through to claim her." He ground out impatiently in a series of guttural clicks.

"I will claim her then if no one is interested. I will even be fair and trade a portion of my recent hunt for this ooman if that will satisfy you."

His brethren began rapidly exchanging words amongst each other. They were aware where he had spent his time the past few months and despite being eccentric, A'thael had a respected reputation for being a skillful hunter known to most in this black market. The parts of the beast he had slain were very difficult to come by and its hide as well as bones provided a very good basis for some equipment. He knew that the auctioneer would have no choice but to trade him at this point.

"We have one bid on the ooman female by A'thael. Any challengers?"

Seeing that his chances at fetching a better exchange was shot once the silence hung heavy among the crowd, the auctioneer waited a moment before hesitantly nodding in A'thael's direction. No one generally challenged him unless they were a cocky newly blooded hunter on a power rush.

"With no opposition, the female is yours. Claim your trophy where it stands." The auctioneer stepped back and the crowd roared in excitement while stepping aside to create a small pathway for him, a custom they adopted from some foreign land to encourage a fellow hunter in the walk to claim his prize. It was always a rowdy display but amusing nonetheless to A'thael as he stepped forward through his brethren to the female in front of him.

It seemed she could sense him approaching her as she gripped the wooden object tightly to her chest, as if it would shield her from harm. As he closed in on her, his keen sense of smell picked up on her scent laced heavily with fear and another emotion he could not describe. Past the fear, he discovered that she smelled earthy and mild which was surprising to him. The few human females he had come across in his time always smelled sickeningly sweeter, almost too artificial for his liking. He could actually grow to appreciate this scent as it was not overpowering at all.

Coming to a stop in front of her, he wrapped his right arm around the cusp between her ass and thighs before pulling her to him. She yelped in surprise before suddenly going limp in his grasp, pressing the wooden object almost uncomfortably against his shoulder as she slumped over. She must have been enduring a considerable amount of stress if her consciousness shut down the way it did. Even though this action revalidated his opinion of human females, he could not entirely blame her as she could not see the world around her. Without further delay, he began to walk away from the square with Za-Ma'ji trailing behind him once more.

"That was excessive on your end A'thael. What interest do you find about this one?" Za-Ma'ji commented as he eyed the human girl. He could not even begin to fathom what was so special about her, but this was A'thael he was questioning. Receiving no explanation on the other's end, Za-Ma'ji huffed and decided that there was no point in wasting his breath. Their encounters were always relatively short-lived unless A'thael required his services. 'Business as always.' he thought.

"Give the auctioneer his cut of the hunt." A'thael commanded as they reached his docked ship and without question Za-Ma'ji complied. He always managed to get a small cut of A'thael's hunts himself, so he did not mind being bossed around as much.

"Until next time, brother. I will be around." Za-Ma'ji said as he eyed his share of A'thael's spoils.

"Sei'i. Until we next meet."

And with that he watched the seasoned hunter's ship take off back into the black void before going about his own business.

Lilia could only listen on helplessly as her captor riled the crowd. Whatever he was saying was giving the atmosphere life and excitement. She wondered what he could be saying about her that would garner such enthusiasm. There was nothing spectacular about a blind girl in her personal opinion and what use was she to an alien being? Before she could ponder further, she felt something approach her quickly, catching her off-guard as they hurriedly shoved something into her chest.

Curling her fingers around the familiar shape of her beloved violin, it clicked almost instantly that she was expected to play. 'What is it with exploiting this so-called "gift" of mine?' she thought exasperatedly, reflecting on the multiple times she was forced to play for various galas, charities, and concerts in general. Lilia's violin was initially an escape from reality until it became a source of exploitation from her abusive foster family. Though she truly did love music, she sometimes felt bitter as she was never truly allowed to just simply enjoy herself.

She briefly reflected on a time where she was punished harshly for being unable to play at a celebration for her foster mother's friend. For some odd reason, the music just wouldn't come to her properly; it just wasn't flowing through her fingers as it normally would. Such was the case whenever she was placed in a situation of extreme stress or lack of enthusiasm.

"Use your power ooman." Her captor commanded.

With little surprise, this was exactly one of those moments where her fingers would fail her.

Despite being able to clearly see the notes in her mind, her fingers and strokes were not in sync. Even she couldn't help but cringe at the poor performance and internally screamed at herself to get it together lest she be punished for it. No matter how hard she tried though, the melody failed to come to life and she felt an anxiety attack welling in the pit of her chest. 'Please…! Out of all times just let me get this over with…!' she begged mentally, struggling to keep her tears in check as her petite frame trembled. The crowd was audibly displeased and with plenty of good reason too. She was an absolute train wreck.

Her captor suddenly yelled at her and she could sense, practically visualize what was going to happen next. Based on the abrupt change in the nearby air, Lilia mentally and physically braced herself for the impact. To her surprise, however, it never came. Another voice boomed throughout the vicinity and stilled the atmosphere completely. Clicks and words were exchanged between her captor and someone in the crowd.

Everything was happening so fast for Lilia she was beginning to feel somewhat faint. At this point, she willed herself to stay conscious for as long as she could. 'Keep it together Lilia!' she mentally cheered herself on as the crowd became animated with various chatter once more. She did not like the constant changing in the environment and she struggled to keep up with the crushing amount of stress that was placed on her. When she felt something heading in her general direction again, she clutched onto her violin for dear life. She was definitely a goner at this rate. If only she could see and fight back! Before she knew it, the presence stopped in front of her and a muscular yet scaly arm wrapped itself around her legs causing her to yelp. It was then that her world came crashing down around her and her consciousness faded to a fuzzy white.

Someone please help me…

Lou-dte kale: child-maker (female)

Pauking oomans: fucking humans