Author's Note: Another POV change…not much to say really, just enjoy the chappie please.
Warning: Javelin's POV, more with Xeira, a little heart-to-heart, implied soul mates and some background about what happened to Fisher.
Disclaimer: I own OCs; with only partial custody of Xeira (She and Javelin come in a pair, this chapter reveals why). Lex and Scar do not belong to me, nor do the ideas of Alien or Predator.
Haven
Xeira hissed as Javelin approached, but after many years of this the Predator elder had come to recognize it as a greeting. The old alien queen's tail waved back and forth, he was still a few noks from her when she barked at the other two queens who hissed at him in a less friendly manner.
"Xeira." Javelin called softly, hearing her given name the hard meat turned back to him and thumped her tail once on the ground, "Not playful today, hmm?"
Xeira rumbled at him. Some days the old queen was energetic and play attacked him while he fought to get close, other days she wouldn't let him get much further than two noks from the entrance to her cage, or, like today, Xeira simply stayed where she was and waited for Javelin to come to here.
That was something the elder had long noticed about Xeira; about all the queens they held in captivity, distinct personalities. Xeira was moody, sometimes wanting his attention, other times shying away from it and even reaching the point of violence, and recently, the Yautja had considered how she always fell for the same trick the scientist had him perform to get Xeira out for her tests, and he wondered if perhaps she was a little senile too. Javelin reached forward, Xeira's double jaws launched out, but not to harm him. The other queens snarled; Javelin glanced at them as Xeira silenced them with another shriek.
The smallest queen turned around and lay still in her cage. She was much meeker than Xeira, just short of being cowardly, but she was young and had not yet had the opportunity to hatch a brood. The middle queen rushed at her cage snarling and hissing ramming it, but only succeeded in hurting herself. This queen was bitter, probably from the loss of her children, but beyond that she was headstrong and hostile. She was a queen, and used to being the one with power among their kind, but Xeira was older, and that meant she was in charge of this small group.
Javelin's thoughts drifted back to his friend. Yes, Javelin had long begun to think of Xeira as his friend, it had taken so long to get to the point that she allowed him near he couldn't help but think of her with that fondness. In the beginning she wouldn't even let him get close to her cage, she'd been about the age of the middle sized queen back then, and she remembered him. She remembered he was responsible for the wound that had rendered her without the ability to lay eggs, unable to have children ever again, no longer able to serve her existence in life.
But as the years wore on, Javelin had thought only to try and get close, he had said nothing about it back then, but by now it was pretty common knowledge that he had regretted the injury he had inflicted on her. He knew the pain and sorrow that came from knowing that the family line ended with them. Javelin was said to have felt connected to her in that way, from the very moment he found out what he had done to her, and in these years he was trying to find some way to make up for it.
But one thing he had not mentioned to anyone was the existence of a bond previous to Xeira's attempted escape which had led to Javelin's fateful assault. "You sensed it too, didn't you?" He asked.
Xeira made a noise that wasn't quite a purr in response; her tail halted its waving and she butted her large head against the elder's body. Yes, she sensed it. A familiarity, like they had met before. At first Javelin had not understood it, and was completely confused by it, but as he grew elder and closer to the hard meat queen he had begun to think perhaps they'd met in an earlier life.
Or maybe…In another life they were soul mates…
It made sense to him. Despite how long they tried, none of the other Yautja could ever connect to one of the queens as he had connected to Xeira and the other queens- these two, and others before him, seemed almost insulted that Xeira would allow Javelin to be so close. In old stories told to him by his grandmother, Javelin remembered the tales of soul mates, who could spend lifetimes searching for each other and never meet, because most of the time soul mates lived as incompatible species until the proper time. But once they met, they were bound together forever. Supposedly, soul mates rarely met before they finally met in a life where the were the same genus, but the Yautja had visited many worlds, and found many creatures, it wouldn't have surprised Javelin at all if he and Xeira were soul mates, but they were not supposed to meet in this life.
Xeira bumped him again, almost as if to say she knew what he was thinking. Javelin shook his head. His grandmother had also said that soul mates did not have to be lovers, he hadn't understood her then, but he thought he did now. Javelin and Xeira were friends and that was all they needed if they were truly soul mates, they were bound together now, they would die together, and after death they would walk the hunter's trail into a new life.
Xeira continued her almost-purr and waved her tail again, but suddenly her purr became a snarl, and her body tensed. Javelin twirled at the sound of approaching feet, and turned to see Crusade approaching. Xeira lashed out with her tail, Crusade barely avoided it. The Queen began to rise, the other two began howling and Xeira did not stop them.
"Kru'saad!" Javelin roared, "Get to the door!" Xeira was going to charge after him, but Javelin moved between them, trying to protect his friend as Crusade made a wild dash for the entrance. Xeira snarled at him, angry that Javelin was letting the intruder get away; she snapped her double jaws furiously at him and struck with her tail. Now it was his turn to run towards the door.
He sealed it behind him as Xeira gave chase, ramming into the energy bars that held her prison. She roared from her side of the cage, and hissed smashing into the wall, trying to break through. The other queens shrieked and snarled, sounding to all the gods like they were applauding her for attacking the Yautja, but at last Xeira tired and slinked off to the far corner of her cage, curling up and growling angrily.
"What were you thinking!?" Javelin snarled at Crusade, noting at least that the chief had the good sense to leave Glaive somewhere else, probably with one of his older brothers, or maybe his sister before he had entered Xeira's confinement.
"I…I need….I needed to talk to you..." Crusade looked him in the eye, "Just for a moment?"
Javelin's anger calmed as he recognized Crusade's concerned tone. Crusade was only the chief elder on technicality. Wrath was too argumentative, even in his old age, to be a good leader. But Javelin would have been chief, had it not been for the flaw in his genetic structure that made it impossible to have children, because he was the strongest and the wisest. In a way, the chief actually looked at Javelin as if he were the true leader, and if there was ever a problem in the tribe Crusade turned to Javelin for advice.
But this was different, personal, "What's wrong?"
Crusade looked at the ground, "It's Sckeahr" he said, "I think…"
Javelin cocked his head, "You think…?"
"I…I think he's…falling in love with Lhrueckz." The chief sighed.
Javelin didn't flinch, "And? What's wrong with that?"
"She's ooman!" Crusade blurted, "What isn't wrong with it!?"
"Kru'saad…You should be happy for Sckeahr if he's in love at that age. It usually takes years for love to develop, even among bonded pairs, don't you remember? How long did it take you to love your mate?"
"Jaev'len, you don't understand!" He barked "She'll only break his heart!"
"No, I think you don't understand." At this accusation Crusade's eyes drifted from the floor to the other elder's face, "Is…Is this about what happed to Fii'shur?"
Guilt flashed through the chief's eyes even as he tried to hide it. "…I…" He looked away again, eyes on his hands as he clenched them into fists.
"Mi'hiyk…" Crusade froze at the sound of his real name, Javelin only used it when they spoke of this, "That wasn't your fault."
"I marked him!" He blurted, angry and hurt, "I insisted he come with us." He shuddered violently, "And with these hands I…!" He clenched his fists tighter, burying his claws into his flesh, luminescent blood dripped to the floor.
Javelin clasped his hand, "Fii'shur knew the law, and he chose to come with us. He just got…homesick… The law forbids runaways to live…It was what he wanted."
"I…" Crusade tore his hand away from Javelin, "I don't want that to happen to Sckeahr!" He declared.
"I'm sure you do, you're his father, you only want him to be happy, and grow into an honored warrior. I assure you, what happened to you and Fii'shur will not happen to Sckeahr and Lhrueckz." Javelin promised.
"How can you say that? How can you know?" Crusade snarled.
Javelin sighed; he was not able to have children of his own, but in the brief time he had known Lex, he had come to think of her as a child he never had. He recognized feelings in her that she may not have even realized herself, "Like I said, Fii'shur was homesick, and Lhrueckz will probably be someday too, but there is a difference between them that will make me confident that she won't leave." He paused a moment, thinking about the idea of soul mates again, perhaps he and Xeira were not the only ones that had met a lifetime early "Unlike Fii'shur, she has a reason to stay." He finished
Crusade's eyes opened a little wider, "You don't think that she'll-"
"-I think she already has." Javelin interjected, "She probably hasn't realized it yet."
"But..." The chief thought for a moment, "What if-"
"-Father!" This time Crusade was interrupted by the arrival of his eldest son.
"What is it Sai-th?" he growled irritably, Crusade didn't like being interrupted in the middle of conversations, Javelin prayed that this was an emergency, otherwise Scythe was in for his lecture of a lifetime of the week.
Scythe had a very worried look on his face as he pulled something out from behind his back, "I just let him off for a second…" It was Glaive's leash, attached to it was nothing. Crusade snarled, rushing off and pushing Scythe out of the way, as he began the search for his youngest son.
Javelin approached the Yautja, shaking his head while trilling amusedly, "You have to be careful, your brother does that." He warned.
"It was just a second." The warrior repeated,Javelin laughed again, looked like Scythe was going to get that lecture anyway. What had Crusade done to deserve such troublemakers?
Author's end note: Again, quick summery if you didn't understand (I know sometimes I'm a little abstract with my writing). Javelin and Xeira get along because they are soul mates, so are Lex and Scar, keep this in mind, it may be important later. Crusade is the chief, but he looks to Javelin every time he needs help with anything, and he's a good daddy who cares about his children's' happiness. He expresses concern about the budding relationship between Lex and Scar because the circumstances of their meeting are very reminiscent of Fisher. Fisher, yes, proved himself worthy of the mark, and stayed with the Yautja and was good friends with Crusade, Javelin, Wrath and other Yautja who don't have names cause they're dead now so names are irrelevant (BTW if you couldn't guess the whole having names like human words were for Fisher's benefit). But Fisher got homesick and ran away back to Earth, and because runaways aren't tolerated, he was hunted down. Crusade was the one who had to kill him because he was the one to mark him him, he probably keeps Fisher's skull on the ship somewhere. I tagged that last part about Glaive at a spur of the moment to get Crusade away from Javelin because where that was going was once again out of my area of expertise, sorry, I don't do man-talk that well...
Editor's note:Sorry, I do not have much to add on to that. Please note that I need a new prescription for my glasses so I may have missed a few errors, if you catch any please report it. See ya'll next chapter.
Nok- Unit of measurement, according to the site I found this at, a nok is about thirteen inches.