Location: a brightly lit cave

Time: ?

OoooOoooOoooO

Lenka the Maiasaura prided herself on her ability to sense danger- especially when that danger involved young, injured hatchlings like the one she'd found.

Speaking of which….

This one didn't have a feeding tube like she and the others did. She should've already been dead by now. But…she smelled the same as that human- the one who had a feeding tube but couldn't feed from it.

Was this another human then? Surely not. She looked just like a normal hatchling!

There was a groan from the hatchling beside her, and suddenly Lenka felt glad she'd thought to pick up that strange carrying contraption she'd brought with her.

The maiasaura peered down, her clawed hands resting on the hatchling's forearms. Blue eyes fluttered open, and Lenka was taken aback by how similar they were to her own- like her own hatchling that'd been lost long ago.

"Len…nii…?"

That sounded awfully close to her own name, but it was also different. Len? Who was that? She decided to forego the answer in favor of tending to the injuries of the hatchling who looked like her.

"Sshhh, it's okay, hatchling," she crooned, "you're safe now…"

The hatchling sat up then, her eyes wide and panicked. Until they met hers. Then she seemed to settle down some.

"Who…who are you?"

Her voice seemed a little hoarse.

"You look like me…but you're not me, and you don't quite look like…"

Lenka idly stretched out on the floor of her cave.

"I am Lenka. A Maiasaura, so you don't need to worry about me feeding off of you, hatchling."

The golden-haired hatchling gave her a funny look.

"Feed? "Hatchling"? I don't understand…Humans don't eat other humans…."

Eeehhhhh?

Confused, Lenka sniffed the air again.

Sniff, sniff, snuuuuffff!

So she wasn't smelling things!

"A…human? Another one-like that purple-haired one! Then, I'm really glad I got to you when I did!"

Now the human looked worried.

"Purple hair? Oh no- was it a man or a woman?"

Lenka shrugged.

"It had a feeding tube, like the rest of us."

"A…'feeding tube'?"

"Yes. It didn't understand why we have them, though. Said that the one it had was only used for reproduction- females of that species don't have them…."

A red color came to the hatchling's cheeks, and Lenka almost asked if she was sick, before a more important question entered her mind.

"What's your name, human?"

"my…name? It's- Rin. Kagamine Rin."

Her cheeks were a little lighter. Lenka felt assured by that.

"Well then, Kagamine, why are you here? Are you looking for that missing human with the purple hair?"

She nodded.

"Yes. There are two of them- one of them is a male named Gakupo and the other is a female named Gakuko. They both look mostly the same- have you seen either of them?"

Lenka felt a pang of sadness as she heard the obvious worry coming from Rin.

"I have. The male. But he's dead now. Tei got him."

"Tei?"

Lenka nodded in affirmation.

"Yes. The only Tyrannosaurus in this area. She's awful- she loves causing pain, and when she feeds, she eats the body of her victim, too. But because she can feed off of humans without them dying right away, who knows what she's done to the human, Gakupo…"

She ended with a sober expression.

"But he's been with her for many suns now. He's dead."

Rin felt an icy fear grab at her.

"B-but…how do you know?"

Lenka sniffed.

"It's very faint, but I can smell blood. It doesn't smell quite like ours. Not as tangy."

"Oh…I see…then…then that means..I came here…for nothing? But-but-" She was starting to panic. "-but my CATT's broken! I can't get home-and this is-"

Rin cut herself off as she only just noticed her backpack wasn't on her shoulders.

"My backpack- the black thing that I had with me, with the straps- where is it?!" her voice rose an octave, and Lenka pointed to a darker part of the cave.

"That thing?"

Rin gave an audible sigh of relief.

"Oh thank god!"

She scooted over on her stomach to get it and quickly unzipped it before pulling out a container of water. She snapped the lid open and quickly began drinking it as if there wasn't going to be anymore. She burped a little afterwards and Lenka eyed her carefully.

"Your…CATT…what does it do?"

Rin paused before answering.

"It's a time-traveling thing. It's how I got to this time and how I'm supposed to get home. You probably don't have anything like it…" she trailed off sadly.

"Moving through time….? But how?"

"I…don't know enough to explain it to you…"

"Oh…" damn. She was curious, too!

"If…there was a way to fix it, but it was very dangerous, what would you do?"

Rin smiled grimly. "I'd do whatever it took to fix it!"

Lenka looked down.

"I see…well…maybe, if we went to Tei's cave and found your human companion, dead, then we could use his and you could go home…."

"Really? You think that'd work?"

Lenka nodded.

"Yes. But we'd have to be quick. She's very fast, and she can always smell when someone's in her cave. Always."

"Got it. So, we'll sneak in, grab the CATT, and leave."

"Yes. But it's a long trip to get there. Rest."

Rin lay back down and closed her eyes.

"Alright."

And Lenka started to sing. It was a song unfamiliar to Rin, and not in any language she'd heard, but it was nonetheless soothing, and she quickly drifted off to sleep.