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Ettie has always been vaguely frightened of heights. She’s not sure who wouldn’t - looking down a drop that high, wind whipping at her hair, she imagines anyone would naturally feel a flicker of fear.The tips of her shoes creep over the edge, a stray pebble breaking off underneath her soles and plummeting down the abyss. Her breath comes sharp, but she swallows it down. She wanted this. She’d never been so sure of anything in her life. There are remnants of pain radiating through her entire body, patches of her skin dirty and bruised and lined with angry cuts.Dirty tear tracks line her cheeks from the smudged mascara, flimsy clothes torn and ragged on her body. Her fingers dig into her arms, enough to draw blood. Skin that she wishes she could just tear from her bones. Flesh that she feels tormented just having.Another wave of pain stabs at her stomach, and Ettie sobs again, the sounds being carried by the wind.Her breath is shallow, but she’s not as frightened as she thought she would be.Staring her death in its face, embracing the cold clutches with welcome arms. She had reminisced about the ability of taking back control in her life, her autonomy, her mind, and this, her death, was the last thing she had control over. Her options had ran dry and barren, leaving her with nothing but this.One last fall; Ettie swayed, inching further to the edge, until a sharp thud behind her sounded.She whipped around, her heart leaping up into her throat thinking it was one of them. And yet, she was greeted by the tall, imposing figure of a warrior - Yautja, she realised, with a sharp breath. They’d managed to crash land on a planet with a hunting Yautja, with one that was standing there in all of her glory, unmoving.Ettie stared at the mask with wide, bloodshot eyes. God, she probably looked a mess.But it was nothing compared to inside; the mess she couldn’t quite piece together anymore. It was useless to try.The Yautja tilted her head, as though she was scanning Ettie up and down from behind that mask; meticulously observing every little detail like a predator ready to snap at unknowing prey, drinking her in. Her feet were glued to the spot.“You are going to jump,” the warrior spoke, her voice brokering no argument; simply stating a fact. Ettie’s throat closed up like there was crushing pressure around her windpipe. Her lips opened and closed uselessly, mind blanking on a response to the blunt words.“I…” She clutched her arms harder. “What?”The Yautja’s voice went stern. “Hard of hearing?”Ettie sniffled, her eyes trailing down to her feet. If the Yautja had been hunting her, she would have been dead before she even knew she was there. It was almost a shame - at least her death would have served someone well. Could have been better than falling to her death, but the end of her torment would come either way. She just wanted the quickest route.Her expression twisted. She was going to cry again; she couldn’t do this. Ettie was so exhausted and in pain and she just wanted it all to end.“Go away,” she croaked.The Yautja’s chin tilted, as though offended by the demand. But upon Ettie’s fresh set of tears that slid down her face, the creature subtly shifted, as though rolling those eyes beneath the mask sealed tight to her face. Despite the muscular stature of the creature, she didn’t create a lot of noise as she approached, stopping beside Ettie. From here, she would have to crane her head back just to look up at her.Despite everything, and despite knowing that she should, Ettie didn’t feel so scared around the Yautja.Maybe it was because she knew she clearly had no interest in hunting her, likely having sought out the tracks she left behind and being quite disappointed upon finding an unarmed and injured female human instead. They had strict codes; avoid them, and you should be fine.Ettie barely watched out of the corner of her bloodshot eyes as the Yautja leaned over the edge, as if scanning the drop below.“There is nowhere for you to land,” the warrior informed, her head tilting from side to side periodically as she seemed to take in the cliff edge intently. When she leaned back, Ettie wasn’t looking, her expression solemn and her eyes hollow.“I’ll land,” she whispered.The Yautja huffed. “No place you will survive.”Ettie laughed. There was no humour in it, her fingers trembling. She dug them harder into the flesh of her arms just to get them to try and stop. That’s the idea, she wanted to say, but she highly doubted she could find the strength to. The Yautja’s were not stupid - they were clever enough that the female creature might understand what she was insinuating. Ettie was also clever enough to know that the Yautja would not care.“You were in the ship that crashed?” The Yautja prodded.“Yes.”“With the other ooman’s?”Not willingly. Her voice cracked. “Yes.”The wind blew a little bit harder, causing her injuries to flare from the cold blast. She sniffled, expression twisting in pain. It never stopped; no matter what she did, all she felt was pain, and she wanted to end it on her own terms for once.The Yautja let out a soft whicker, her form crouching on the edge of the cliff face and seemingly staring down at the drop again. Ettie couldn’t hold back an anguished sob, blood pooling underneath her nails and her knees wobbling slightly. More little pebbles broke off from under the soles of her feet and plummeted down the cliff like little irrelevant specks.“Are you going to kill me?” She sobbed, her shoulders hunched over slightly with ragged breaths. The Yautja did not look at her.“I do not kill females and their young,” she answered simply.A part of Ettie stuttered to a jarring stop. “What…?”The warrior tilted her head to look at her, and then her mask inched down to her stomach. She suddenly felt incredibly self conscious of her flimsy clothes, wrapping her arms around herself in complete disbelief. Those words were like ice water splashed over her, her blood running cold. Her lips stuttered over a flurry of noises.“I’m…pregnant?”Her eyes widened, a shuddering breath escaping her, like someone had punched it out of her lungs. Her feet instinctively backed up from the ledge a few inches, clutching her tummy harder.“I can’t be,” she breathed. “I…can’t be pregnant.”The Yautja followed her movements intensely, mask collecting data on her vitals since the moment she had seen her standing over that cliff edge; she tapped the side of her mask with a sharp claw.“I can see,” she hummed. “Two heartbeats.”Ettie sunk to her knees, choking on a shallow sob. She dug her fingers into her hair, the messy strands winding under her fingernails, until the rattling of her lungs came to a stop. Nausea punched at her gut, stinging the back of her throat. The sudden drop before her seemed so daunting that it was crippling; nothing like the god forsaken need and pull that she had been all too willing to take a step into. Because why did her countless years of violation suddenly produce an awful, debilitating clamp in her heart?The one thing that should have been hers, once again, ripped forcefully from her hands.Ettie’s hands balled into fists, a scream tearing from her throat. The winds carried it wordlessly off the cliffs.The Yautja observed silently, slowly rising to her feet. She had no business doing whatever it was she seemed to be doing, but the sight of the female human, standing over the cliff edge like that, made her stay. She cocked her head, effortlessly slotting pieces together from her errant behaviour.“The mating was not of your own consent?” She asked, slowly. Ettie hiccuped, the noise making the Yautja whicker in curiosity. She peered up at her, her tangled hair a mess of locks, sticking to her damp cheeks, eyes red and swollen. Her brown eyes glistened. The warrior thought, for a moment, she might scream again, or provide a lack of an answer.The girl jerkily shook her head.“They took me from my colony. They abused me for years.”Animals, the Yautja thought. The Bad Bloods of human civilisation.“The crash was the only reason I escaped,” Ettie cried, her bottom lip wobbling. The flesh there was torn, but the blood had long stopped bleeding, it seemed. Just a tangy reminder when her tears pooled over it. “He took everything from me. This was the one thing I had! He’s taken that from me too!”She could feel herself getting hysterical, the thought of carrying what he put there, after countless years of forcing himself on her and passing her around the crew, of beating her and enslaving her and murdering her family. Her death was meant to be hers, and he had even stripped that from her. She hugged her stomach tight when the Yautja knelt down close to her, crowding in her space. Ettie winced with a flicker of a thought she might hurt her, but was shocked to feel a gentle but firm grasp on her jaw, turning her head to meet that mask.“He has not taken your death from you,” the warrior spoke. Her voice was a low, a rumbling tingle reverberating down Ettie’s spine. “It is still yours. If you wish, go.”Her head jerked towards the cliff edge. The girl’s face paled. “What?”“You back down because that is your young.”“It is not my baby,” Ettie choked. “I never wanted…I never…”The Yautja shut her up with a sharp growl. “You harness the biology to create life.”The warrior released her jaw, the hand instead trailing down to her stomach. Ettie followed with teary eyes, shuddering at the feeling of those scaley hands touching her flesh. The creature grew momentarily quiet, as the pads of her fingers traced the shape of her tummy, as though she was thinking deeply on what lay underneath the flimsy flesh.“That male,” she hissed, the words sharp,” committed a savage atrocity. But it is your body that is making your young; not his. The child is here; not his seed.” She rubbed her hip tenderly. “If that did not mean anything, you would be at the bottom of this cliff.”Ettie squeezed her eyes shut, a fresh wave of tears falling down her cheeks. It was hard to unthink the sheer thought that this baby inside of her, likely no bigger than a pip, was not hers in any sort of way. That it wasn’t a cruel device to tear at her heart, to take away the last of her autonomy. But then she gently lifted her fingers to her stomach, following the lines that the Yautja had traced just moments before.Then she thought, he would never claim the baby. He would have never let her carry it to term, and never cared about its fate. It wasn’t his baby anymore than she thought it wasn’t hers. But right now, she was growing it. Not him; her biology. And he hadn’t taken it away from her. It was hers.“Different cultures,” the warrior suddenly spoke, as though sensing something inside of her head. Really, she had noticed the decrease in her heart rate. “I have no right to decide for you and what you will do with your young. Do whatever you want. But I will clean you, feed you, and heal you. By living, you take back what they took. Your life.”Ettie clumsily wiped her face, but the tears wouldn’t stop. It had been years since anyone had shown a semblance of kindness towards her, who hadn’t raised a hand or pulled down her pants and forced themselves between her legs. She was overwhelmed that it was coming from a race who truly see her kind as inferior.And yet, in such a brief moment, Ettie was made to feel like, for once, an equal.“I don’t have anything,” she sobbed, scaley hands cupping hers from her arms when they instinctively reached for the bloody, crescent shaped indents there. “What’s the point?”The warrior’s chest vibrated with soft purrs; the Yautja had heard that humans domesticated an animal that made a similar sound. The girl’s response was immediate.“You have something now,” she told her. “Your freedom.”Freedom. Freedom, to her, had been long scrubbed clear from her mind like chalk on a chalkboard. A notion beaten and fucked out of her the moment it passed through her fleeting thoughts. Freedom so misconstrued that death had been her only viable option - it wasn’t just about the baby, she realised.Ettie leaned forward into the Yautja’s chest, crying softly into the thin fabric. The purring noise seemed to vibrate pleasantly to her brain, melting out her thoughts and evening the sickening feeling that had been plaguing her chest. Her legs were so weak that she’s mindlessly happy she wasn’t still standing. Clean you, feed you, heal you. Look after you. Take care of you. Help you.The Yautja’s spine straightened at the contact, but after a moment, she simply relented. She did not draw the human girl into any sort of embrace, but simply cupped the back of her skull in her hand, keeping her close. The scent of oomans on this planet had enticed the Yautja into a hunt, humans offering an enjoyable and worthy fight. Now, the warrior was not just on a hunt, but a quest to make their deaths as painful as she possibly could.“Na’dqall-mi,” the Yautja spoke.The girl sniffled. “Ettie.”Pretty, Na’dqall thought. Under all of that dirt and those bruises and tears, the warrior could easily imagine that she had a pretty face to match the pretty name. It made her boil at the thought of humans acting so uncivilised towards their own kind; it almost made her collection of human trophies feel soured by their savage behaviours. They were an undeserving race and inferior in almost every respect, but the destruction that they caused was so wide spread and downright brutal.She gently ran her fingers through the girls hair, intensifying her purrs. She had such a soft spot for motherhood.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Ettie found the composition of the cliff edge at the bottom was very beautiful. Where she might have landed had she taken that plunge was a luscious green patch of grass, and an assortment of peculiar flowers peeking from the fertile soil. The side of the cliff was carved out like a giant arch, providing a small crevice that blocked off any rain.Na’dqall took her down and gently settled her in the arch of the cliff, finding this a suitable spot to keep her for however long her incursion of helping her would take. The stone was dry, but the Yautja seemed content that it was only a temporary stop. She was more concerned with her injuries. The human wiggled as she was deposited from her arms, letting her back rest against the stone. With her legs spread out, she could reach the grass with her feet.The Yautja scraped Ettie’s hair back and tied it; she hadn’t had her hair up in so long. Although it was shantily done, she couldn’t help but feel warm.No words passed between them, and Ettie was okay with that. The breeze was gentler down here, softer and kinder, and she couldn’t help but take in how luscious the wildlife was down here. It reminded her of her colony, for a fleeting moment, and how near perfect that planet had been for their research and a potential human civilisation. But she swallowed down those aching thoughts as Na’dqall began to wipe her smudged mascara and dirt from her cheeks.It was pleasant.She found herself content to relax, to let those dangerous hands made for killing tend to her. It had been too long to do otherwise.Satisfied with the outward collection of dirt now rubbed off, the Yautja took her to a nearby water source to get the job done a little more thoroughly. The sun was bound to set soon, and the temperature drop, so Na’dqall intended to make sure she was clean and warm before then. Finding food would be no problem for a hunter like her, and she didn’t think the human would be picky. There was a moment of uncomfortable stiffness from Ettie as she pulled at her clothes, even if she didn’t mean to. Her fingers dug instinctively into the fabric, but as though conditioned for a beating soon after, quickly let go.Ettie started at her with wide, frightful eyes. And then guilt prodded at her belly. “I—”“Do it yourself.”The human bit the inside of her cheek, taking a short, steadying breath. She tried to remind herself where she was and who she was with, and it made her stomach settle. She gently pried off her clothes, stripping down to her skin, and slipped into the water. It wasn’t hot, but it wasn’t freezing. A warmth that didn’t quite reach her bones, but was enough not to make her chilled and uncomfortable. She sunk until the water hit her chin, and then settled where it splashed just under her collarbone. She turned to face Na’dqall, her expression twisted with guilt.“It’s not that I thought you would—”“Soak off for a little while,” the Yautja interrupted, her voice a command. The bluntness didn’t really offend her, or make her think that she was mad, so Ettie complied wordlessly. She preferred a hotter soak, but she wasn’t exactly in any position to complain, leaning back with a soft sigh as she peered up at the sky. It was a soft grey, more than likely about to rain. Judging from the wildlife here, Ettie surmised it was quite a rainy planet, likely surviving with little sunshine and lots of water.Na’dqall had disappeared briefly, her absence giving Ettie the opportunity to gently bathe the rest of the dirt and sweat from her body without any prying eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she had just been able to sit in the comfort of a bath (in this case, not as accurate, but close enough) and relax. When had she ever had the privilege of feeling relaxed?When the warrior returned, she helped Ettie out of the water and dried her off with a big pelt of furs. It was enough to cover her body modestly, which she took every advantage off. Settling down along the cliff arch as the sun began to set, she curled the fluffy furs around her body by the fire, a crackling inferno that Na’dqall had crafted to keep her warm.Shadows danced across her face as she stared longingly into the fire, little flashy embers popping in the air and rising with the smoke. Her belly was full from the wildlife that the warrior had hunted and cooked over the fire, sitting next to her on a large leaf.Na’dqall had been quite picky on how much she should eat. Ettie found it endearing, despite being what she was so irrevocably used to. Other people feeding her, clothing her; it sometimes made her shudder with unforgivable memories, but she kept steeling herself, reminding herself that this was not his ship, and that she was not with him right now. Na’dqall did not have to do this; even when she had seen Ettie, she could have easily slid away without knowing that the Yautja was ever there.Their kind did not have a reason to intervene like a suicide watch. She didn’t have a reason to convince Ettie that her life was worth living, assure her that she was free in any capacity.She certainly didn’t have to do this - hunt food for her, take care of her injuries. Na’dqall had treated each wound with her medicine, lathering balms and gel onto her bruises and her cuts, assessing her bones to make sure that they were healthy and there was no internal damage. She’d even made a hydrating concoction that soothed the raw ache in her throat.The bruises in between her legs were taking the longest to disappear, but she had been pleasantly surprised by how fast acting the medicine was for her injuries. Having the Yautja between her legs was something that Ettie felt a little too shy to repeat, curling the furs tight around her after she was done treating her wounds and hoping they’d heal fast enough that she didn’t have to check.Ettie’s eyes flickered over to the warrior.She was diligently by the water source, wringing out the girls clothes after washing the dirt and blood off of them. She was knelt down on one knee, her form working with practised ease. They were such precise creatures, even for something so domestic. Na’dqall approached the fire not a moment later, leaving the damp clothes to dry.“They will be dry by morning,” she told her.Ettie smiled slightly. “Thank you.”“You do not need to.”She chuckled airily, the sound almost foreign to her. Even a smile felt nostalgic on her cheeks, the furs tickling the bottom of her chin as she shuffled a little closer to the fire.“Na’dqall,” she started, gaining the Yautja’s attention. “I am curious.”“As humans are.”“I was always taught that Yautja were strict and disciplined,” she started, not pondering too deeply over her words before she said them. It was a small mistake, and Na’dqall seemed to take offence to it, her whickers sharp in her throat. Ettie scrambled to rectify her mistake. “I mean, in the sense that I am just prey.”Na’dqall sat by the fire. “You are not prey.”“I’m human, though.”“You are female, and pregnant,” the warrior stated. The fact was just as jarring to the girl as when she had first heard it. Always a slap in the face until she swallowed it down. “That means you are not prey.”“Because of your code?”The Yautja’s voice almost softened. “Yes.”“I meant that,” she sighed in frustration. “You didn’t have to do that. Don’t have to do this.”Na’dqall tilted her head, digesting those words as a silence as thick as the plumes of smoke from the fire settled between them. Finally, she considered the right answer.“Would you prefer I do not?”Ettie’s head snapped up. “No.”“My code does not limit my compassion,” the warrior said, her tone surprisingly not as firm as the girl had anticipated. She didn’t want her to believe that she was not grateful nor did not seek her help. She almost craved it, in fact, a kind touch after years of painful ones. “As I said, you are not prey. My code is not entirely limited to hunting, but when allowed, I am not restrained. I wished to help, and I did. That is all.”Yautja were more complex than Ettie had originally fathomed, she supposed. After all, she had never met one in real life. Perhaps any other hunter might have turned away from her blight, but she was grateful this particular hunter gravitated towards helping her. If Na’dqall had been in the middle of a hunt, she might have turned a blind eye, her discipline outweighing her compassion. But she had been the first human she tracked, and it had not been prey.With a change of subject on questioning the warrior’s actions, Ettie offered a raised brow.“You don’t see female humans as prey?”Sensing the playful accusation, the Yautja turned her head away, seemingly staring at the fire instead. “Any species injured, pregnant, and unarmed is not fair game. Male or female. There have been many stories of worthy human females, but they are less common. Your male species are more often stupid enough to challenge us.”That made Ettie giggle. She had a feeling she was still trying to cheer her up by insulting her male counterparts. She would be lying if she said it wasn’t helpful, even if she knew Yautja saw them as good sport.“So it depends,” she hummed, her gaze drifting to the fire too. “I see.”A pleasant silence arose between them. There was just the ambient sound of the fire crackling, and wood snapping and burning, eaten away by the ravenous flames like it was starving. Ettie understood the feeling. When she stifled a yawn on the tip of her tongue, the warrior noticed the darkening of the sky, and the droopiness in her eyelids she was fighting.“You should sleep,” she ordered.Ettie watched her as she rose to her feet, repositioning her so she was lay down, curled in the furs. Her eyes stared. “Will you sleep too?”“I will hunt for more food,” Na’dqall told her, nudging her cheek with her knuckle. “Sleep. Shout if you are in pain.”With her belly full, her skin clean and her body wrapped up in comforting warm furs, it wasn’t long before her exhaustion from the day hit her like a brick. She’d been in a terrifying crash, it being a complete miracle she didn’t break something on the way down, and fled for her life until sheer exhaustion forced her to a jarring stop. A symphony of painful emotions that had her stumbling to the edge of a cliff face. Ettie shivered, curling up into a tight ball.Sleep came easily, but it wasn’t so pleasant, as it had always been. Distorted shapes beneath the darkness of her eyelids, plagued with memories of years of humiliating violation and pain. Searing touches over her body, the cruel fingers digging into her flesh hard enough to leave bruises, followed by faces she had spent five years both resenting and fearing. The harrowing night her colony had been raided by him and his crew, everything they had done, pillaged, destroyed, everyone they had murdered and the women they’d forced themselves on before taking their leave with their new cargo.It occurred to her that all of that couldn’t be erased so easily.Ettie had woken up screaming and sobbing, curled into a shaking ball against Na’dqall in the middle of the night. The warrior had returned and remained increasingly concerned by the behaviour of the human’s vitals in her sleep, and sat against the wall of the cliff with the human’s head on her chest. She doubted anything she said would soften the blow of her dreams, so she said nothing at all, simply letting the human cry into her chest.It was a struggle to get her to sleep again after that, no matter how much she attempted to encourage her. Eventually, the human drifted off unwillingly, the exhaustion rearing its ugly head and sending her under.Na’dqall stayed where she was, that time, but it made little difference on the way she woke up.The days spent by the cliff were days vital to Ettie’s physically recovery; although her sleep was plagued with nightmares, and she often woke up disorientated and convinced she was still on the ship, her ability to calm down was improving. Even small hunts for the human’s food source gave Na’dqall satisfaction, as it was fulfilling an important thing. It gave the Yautja plenty of opportunity to pick up any human trails in their area, both to make sure that they did not prowl too close, and to seek our their location.Although not keen to bring back painful memories for the girl, Na’dqall had pried information on the human male responsible for her violation, and her chest broke out in pleasant purrs at the thought of making him suffer the most, in the cruellest ways that she could.Ettie began to look healthier - the bruises from her face were gone, and her cuts had healed until the skin was smooth and unmarked. That thought had even lightened her spirits; the warrior was keen for a healthy mother to help create a healthy baby. Ettie had decided that once she got off this planet, she was going to carry it to term. Na’dqall made sure to keep her even more well fed once she had admitted that revelation.Fresh tracks a mile from their location encouraged Na’dqall to make a move.“Do you think you could make the journey to my ship alone?” The Yautja asked, making sure the furs were snug around her shoulders and her clothes were set straight. She resisted the urge to rub the human’s belly again, her mask easily picking up the tiny little thing settled in her womb. It was an early pregnancy, so the human could push herself with little worry. Ettie’s eyes flickered up to look at her, eyebrows dipping in confusion.“You’re not coming with me?” She questioned softly.“I will. There is a band of humans I want to enjoy hunting first.”Ettie looked uncomfortable. “They’re still here?”“The crash must have damaged your ship enough to make it unsalvageable right away. It is good; I itch for a fight.”The human’s eyes softened, a flicker of understanding in her gut. She could imagine spending the days gathering food and resources only had her instincts aching for a worthy fight. Ettie nodded her head. She had no issues making her way to the ship by herself, as she had already been assured that it was not far enough for intense exercise.“Please make them hurt.”Her words were such a soft, submissive plea, that she even felt the tingle that reverberated through her in her tresses. The Yautja’s tone lowered. “I will make it agony.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
She said I should make it to the ship quite easily before nightfall, Ettie thought quietly to herself, letting her feet take her through a bright lot of land. Smooth grass stretched out around her, the vibrant colours a peculiar attribute for such a rainy planet. Even though travel across the galaxy was becoming a much more frequent thing for humans, it still startled her how little she really knew about the world.It was why she was part of the colony, after all. To explore new planets for humans to expand to, to make sure they’re suitable for long periods of time.Ettie grew saddened at the thoughts of the colonists. There had been families there, innocent men, women and children that she had grown close to; how could they not, working in civilised unity and taking care of each other? She remembered the day he and his crew of scavengers had dropped on them unknowingly, a sleuth of slaughter following in their wake. Blood beneath her fingertips and choked screams cutting through the air - she had tried to hide, tried to hide others, but it had got her caught.She was lucky enough to be taken to the privacy of their ship before he forced her over the closest surface and fucked her. The feel of his fingers digging into her skin, the pain splitting her apart, was something she could never forget. It pained her to think about.Most of the women in her colony had been raped by the rest of the crew in broad daylight and shortly killed afterwards. She didn’t know what it was that made her different, but she was devastated she hadn’t died that day.I got to meet Na’dqall-mi, she thought to herself softly, a sad sigh escaping her lips.A flicker of undeniable warmth coursed through her at the thought of the warrior. The Yautja had really escaped all her expectations of their race. Rarely were Yautja seen anywhere but when they were hunting, and likely if you crossed paths with a hunting Yautja, you wouldn’t live to tell the tale.She’d had nothing stopping her from leaving Ettie to her fate, and yet she had compassionately helped a stranger in need. Five years in that hellhole had made the girl forget that there were people out there that were kind, and harboured no ill intent. It was something she was struggling to come to terms with again, but it was there.The assurance that Na’dqall was tracking the scavengers right now to put an end to their wrongdoings pleased her greatly. She was happy they couldn’t hurt her anymore - happy they couldn’t hurt anyone else.
“You have nothing to fear,” Na’dqall had said, her voice sure, and possibly a little smug. “No one will bother you while I am by your side.”
They’d been discussing the possibility of getting her some new clothes once the hunting was over, the ones she was currently wearing a reminder that she was all too happy to get rid of. Ettie was leaning comfortably against the Yautja’s side, easily slotting there with the furs wrapped tight around her. The fire crackled before them, lighting up the darkness that surrounded them.
“I’ve never been to an inter species port before,” the human mumbled under her breath, tilting her head back to look at Na’dqall with wide eyes.
“Neither,” she told her. “They do have some human things there. Clothes, I predict. We will find something and anything you wish purchase.”
“They sell human stuff?” Ettie blinked.
“Humans are expanding more than before,” the Yautja huffed. “Things for humans are being more frequently sought after. But lots of species have abducted humans from Earth and needed supplies for them.”
When she noticed Ettie was pulling a frightened face, she seemed to ponder on her words for a few seconds. She heard her mandibles click. “Perhaps I will make you some clothes instead.”
The human eased up, pressing herself closer to Na’dqall and seeking comfort. The Yautja complied, shifting so she was tucked tighter against her. “I want to see the port.”
“As you wish.”
Ettie had dozed off only moments later, and not been accompanied by such a harrowing night terror that night. Parting from Na’dqall left her teetering over the edge of uncertainty, spiralling back into hopeless despair, but she remained strong, knowing she would see her again before the day was over.
Faint voices perked Ettie’s ears up, glancing to her left in curiosity at the sound. Across the grass and towards the encroaching treeline emerged a small group of painstakingly familiar faces - ones that had her lungs seizing in her chest, a nauseating stab of terror in her gut. He wasn’t there, but they were part of his crew. Crew he’d sometimes toss her to when she misbehaved, and when he wasn’t in the mood to beat her.Her wide, terrified eyes met one of theirs, a flash of recognition in those depths.She couldn’t break out of the grip of fright until it was too late, bolting for the treeline in the direction of the ship. They’d already closed the distance between them, one seizing her arm and twisting her back in a way that had a cry of pain escaping her lips. Dirt flew up around her heels, wanting to dig them in, but it was like all of the fight had drained out of her.
Wasn’t Na’dqall supposed to be hunting them? The scavengers must have split up!
“Told you she was still running around,” the one who had grabbed her, a raven haired man who she had seen a handful of times in maintenance, sneered. They all seemed worse for wear, their clothes torn from the crash and a lot of them suffering much worse injuries than her, like angry looking burn marks from the exploding fire that ravaged the ship on the way down. “You owe me.”The second leered, his eyes raking up and down her form in a way that made her shiver down to her toes. “There ain’t a scratch on her. How the hell’d that happen?”When curious, grubby fingers came at her shirt, Ettie shrieked instinctively. Her body seemed to finally rip her from her frozen, cowering state, her hand flinging widely and raking her nails down flesh. A pained roar erupted from the raven haired mechanic, flinging out a fist that sank into her stomach with enough strength to send spittle down her chin.She hit the ground in a tumble of limbs, the air yanked entirely from her lungs. Throbbing pain had her arms cradling her stomach and wheezing for breath, while the mechanic drew back in a fit of rage, hand clamped over his eyes. Blood seeped between his fingers, practically shaking from the rage building in his core.Ettie gasped, staggering to her feet, her mind too haywire to care about how debilitating the pain was for her. She took off before they could grab her again. She heard them shouting, their voices causing tears to sting her eyes.“Grab her!”Even from the powerful blow to her stomach, Ettie was small and agile. She was fast enough, and fuelled with enough fear, that she managed to lose sight of them. She spat the saliva from her chin and pressed on with shaking legs until she reached the unmistakable ship belonging to Na’dqall. It was visible, likely done from that gauntlet she was always tapping on, and gave a hum of warning as she approached.Quickly, it went quiet, and she threw herself into the safety of the ship as the door sealed shut behind her. Ettie stared at where she’d been with wide, watery eyes. She realised she was could barely even breathe, her arms clutching the throbbing, nauseating pain in her stomach. The nights she had spent, safe and alone with Na’dqall had made her complacent to peace, that at the first moment of seeing them, she was struck with emotions too unstable to keep at bay.She curled into a ball on the cold floor and sobbed. She didn’t know how long she lay there, but the eventual pain in her stomach began to grow to the point where she couldn’t bear it anymore - something had to be wrong.Shaking hands pawed at her pants, tugging them down with her underwear. The small spots of blood on her panties caused another breath-stealing blow to her lungs.The baby! She cried, fingers clawing at her chest. Her sobs grew unstable as she began to hyperventilate, panties bunched in her white knuckle grip. Spittle and tears dampened her face, until familiar hands pressed against her shoulders. Ettie panicked, flailing widely in her grip.Her pleas could barely get out with such a lack of air, and Na’dqall was becoming increasingly concerned with the human’s wailing. She was hardly breathing, at this rate. The very faint scent of human blood - not Ettie’s own, caught her nose. She knew the human males were not travelling in one group since the crash, but she hadn’t thought they would cross paths with Ettie. Foolish mistake.“I’m bleeding,” she howled, and Na’dqall’s mandibles twisted in concern. “The baby! The baby!”“You need to breathe,” the Yautja ordered, smoothing a hand against her chest in some sort of way to get her to stretch her lungs and start to get herself under control. She was considerably pale. She wasn’t listening to anything Na’dqall was saying. Dammit.She scooped her up, a dizzying mess of sobs and tears and tiny, panicked breaths. By the time she had pressed a mask over her tiny mouth and nose to help her breathing, her eyes had already rolled to the back of her skull.. . .When Ettie woke up on a ship, she had thought fate dealt her back into their hands. But the unfamiliar markings and the unfamiliar bed she was curled up in stopped the initial racing of her heart. Clumsily, she manoeuvred her gangly limbs against the pelt of furs, hissing softly at the stiffness in her belly. As if sensing her awareness, Na’dqall entered her quarters with a composed air. Her calm nature instinctively soothed her troubled thoughts.“Your baby is okay,” was the first thing that the Yautja told her. Ettie’s eyes widened in realisation, a flurry of memories passing over her eyes. Her hand automatically pressed against her flesh, her chest tight.“I was bleeding,” she whispered, remembering the red spots in her panties. “He hit me.”“I did some research while you rested,” Na’dqall said slowly, and it seemed like she was looking anywhere but Ettie. Was she embarrassed? “Red spots during early pregnancy for humans is normal. The human male may have just accelerated its arrival. I scanned the baby; it is not injured.”She took a deliberate step closer. A knuckle gently ran over her tummy, and the Yautja whickered in thought. “It bruised you.”Ettie blinked owlishly. The hit had been harder than she expected, but then again, these were the same males who could toss her around and roughly manhandle her how they pleased. Her throat bobbed as she thought about what might have happened if she hadn’t got away. I got too complacent, she thought miserably. Until they’re dead, I’m never truly safe.“He winded me,” she explained quietly, her lips curving into a sad frown. “I couldn’t breathe very well, and then thinking that the baby might be…” She bit the inside of her cheek. “It shook me. I couldn’t handle seeing them again.”“You passed out.”Ettie’s eyes watered. “I’m sorry.”The Yautja leaned close, her forehead nuzzling hers softly. Gentle purrs arose in her chest once more, and the girl felt herself practically melting. Na’dqall stroked her cheek tenderly.“They are dead now,” she assured her, and a breath of relief escaped her lungs. She couldn’t help but sniffle, digesting the information with bitter sweetness. As long as they’re gone, she told herself. As long as he’s dead. Maybe being complacent won’t be so bad. “And,” the Yautja enticed, drawing back with a slither of smugness to her tone. “I have a surprise for you.”Firm hands drew her onto her feet, making sure she was steady, as Ettie tilted her head in curiosity. She followed the Yautja eagerly, blinking up at her occasionally to try and gauge what the surprise was; it made her heart race. Was it a gift? No one had gifted Ettie anything in years. Her stomach fluttered with butterflies at the thought of a gift; she considered asking, but then again, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if she told her.When they entered another area of the ship, Ettie gasped in shock.She immediately went to back up, but Na’dqall placed a comforting hand on her back.“He is restrained,” she assured, motioning to the male tied down to the table, bloody rag stuffed so roughly in his mouth it looked as though a few of his teeth might have been knocked out. “Did I get the right one?”It would be an understatement to say that Ettie was surprised.The source of all of her pain, bloodied and beaten in front of her, in no position to hurt her like he had done for so many years. His pained moans were muffled against the rag, and Ettie did not want to imagine all the ways Na’dqall might have made him bleed inside, or cracked a bone. Or, maybe I do, she thought selfishly. Wordlessly, she nodded her head.“I wanted you to have the final strike,” Na’dqall announced, but turned her gaze from the writhing male. “If you prefer not to, I will. You can watch. Or not.”Brandishing a sharp, jilted blade from her thigh, Na’dqall tossed it flashily before holding it out for the human to take. The edge glimmered under the bright lights, a reflection of the flash of desire that rushed through her bones for a moment. Then, her stomach twisted uneasily. Should she?Her eyes landed back on him. Five years; that’s all it took to convince her. She took the knife from Na’dqall, and the Yautja remained where she was standing, finding it respectful to allow Ettie to deal with this without her hovering over her shoulder like a shadow. Giving up the kill of her hunt was a struggle for her, but her affection outweighed one victim. It felt foreign to Ettie to hold a knife like this, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. But then, she thought about all the times she’d fantasied about taking a knife and driving it through his throat like butter.She thought about the baby growing inside her belly, one that was born from the worst moments of her life, but what she had decided to now make the best. Ettie didn’t dare live in a world with the possibility of this man sharing the same air as her child. And she’d never let him hurt another woman as long as she lived.She drove the knife, hard, into his chest, rewarding a muffled moan of agony from his throat. The sound elicited a tingle down Ettie’s spine, her thrusts finding a rhythm the more the knife slashed into the flesh of his belly.“Fuck you,” she growled, the knife sinking easily into warm flesh. Her abuser choked against the gag, limbs struggling uselessly against the restraints. “Fuck you! Fuck you, you piece of shit!”She punctuated each word with a hard drive of the knife, swinging her arms and pushing all of the strength she could muster into it. Warm specks of blood sprayed against her cheek, and her face, and her arms, but she found she didn’t care. Even long after he had convulsed and gone still, his eyes glassy and blood bubbling under the rag, Ettie kept going.“I hate you!” She screamed, screaming all the things she wished she could have. Things she’s put in a bottle and shoved deep inside of her. Her breathing was almost a craze-like ragged afterwards, unable to find the little strength in her body to lift the knife from his punctuated flesh anymore. She wobbled a little, and felt Na’dqall steady her from behind. A pleasant whicker was in her throat, her eyes softened with affection - truly, the pinnacle of motherhood. Na’dqall lived for it, and Ettie looked the most beautiful she had since she found her on that cliff.“I think I need… air,” Ettie gasped, rubbing her hands together with a shaken breath. She didn’t seem particularly upset, just drained from the ordeal, and Na’dqall granted her that. While the human basked in the sun to marinate on her adventurous endeavour, the Yautja swiftly got to work in prying that skull from the human’s head, clearing off the flesh and blood that accompanied it. She worked meticulously to make pretty carvings into the bone, until it was a level of quality that she was satisfied with.She even put those flowers Ettie had been so interested in in the eye sockets to give it a more flowery, human feel. It was worth it to see the way her eyes brightened like a seasoned star at the sight of it, her face cleaned of any left over blood from the ordeal. She seemed to have taken well to it, Na’dqall thought, pleased. Some humans have an ingrained complex about taking a life. It didn’t seem to shake Ettie’s resolve at all, only made her stronger.“Is this a—”“Yes,” the Yautja hummed quietly. “You may say no, if you wish.”Ettie, in fact, did not say no. She accepted the courting gift eagerly, overwhelmingly emotional from the shocking turn of events that had erected in her life, just from an unfortunate crash, and the right planet at the right time. The girl knew navigating a new life would not be easy, but with Na’dqall here, a part of her felt invincible to the challenges fast approaching.Many people first arrived on the planet; only three left happily.