Chapter Text
Isla Nublar lay surrounded by a lulling ocean womb misted in ocean spray that lapped upon the cliffs and shores of the isle, causing the scent of salt to waft upon the wind and be carried adrift towards the tropical forests. It was just three years ago when Nublar witnessed the last drop of human blood soak her fertile soil. It was just three years ago when the Indominus Rex raged across her sacred lands, and turned Isla Nublar from an isle of peace, to an isle of death.
A characteristic fitting for one of the Five Deaths to dot the tropical seas-to house a creature so efficient as to harbinger death with such reckless and merciless gaiety, that it did not realize the swift abadement of its own life.
It was just three years ago when Blue and her siblings faced The White One.
It was just three years ago when the sisters flanked and slashed and overwhelmed the beast, and made its white scales turn red.
In the end, it was Echo that struck with such feral zeal that her killing claw gored out the beast's eye, and then gutted its throat open wide.
Delta watched with caution as The White One sputtered, faltered in stride, and fell to the ground, gasping and reeling for breath. It was as if she expected the Indominus to make a move, or to have one last plan of strike. But when she hit the ground, Delta realized she was wrong. The Indominus had nothing left to give. She had no more strength.
Charlie chittered anxiously, nervously, head warbling and claws tapping upon the ruined stone walkway of Jurassic World. She looked to her sisters for guidance-or perhaps reassurance. Her body was tense, and her posture unsure-perhaps even fearful. She did not know so much blood could escape such a large beast so quickly, hot and tasting of iron as it pooled around the pack's taloned feet. Charlie did not know there was so much blood in the Indominus. The scent of iron and the taste of metal upon her tongue in such large quantities was making her stomach churn and lurch. The green striped female wondered if her sisters were beginning to feel as ill as her?
Echo watched with golden eyes, scarred maw twisted into a sneer as she watched the aftermath of her strike. Her chest was puffed with pride, claws and talons flexing, as if to display her battle won trophy in the glistening of the moonlight. The female released a call in triumph, drunk on victory and pride as the yellow raptor began to trot around, claws clacking against the stone walkway of the park, silently gloating.
Blue looked upon the Indominus Rex, breath returning to her lungs and recovering from the heat of battle. She knew she shouldn't feel sorry for this beast. The White One tried to kill her. Kill her sisters. Kill her alpha. But Blue saw the look in the Indominus' remaining eye. She saw terror, and fear. And her heart ached upon hearing the gargled, desperate plea of The White One calling for help. Begging for help.
Blue knew she shouldn't have, but she did. Her sisters ignored the plea causing her, alone, to approach.
Blue approached, and shortly after, the Indominus slipped from the world, her blood soaking the soil of Nublar, as her victims' did before her.
That night was just three years ago. To Blue, it seemed even longer, for that was the last time she saw her alpha. Her human alpha.
It was hard to remember him. Remember Owen. Sometimes she did, but most of the times, she didn't.
Owen may as well have been from another lifetime ago.
Because in this lifetime, Blue and her sisters had a new alpha.
Amethyst.
Her mate.
Their mate.
And the father of the developing eggs within Charlie's swollen belly.
Indeed, the youngest was gravid, belly swollen and having gained weight due to her condition. The green striped female was carefully-if clumsily-making her nest, claws digging into the ground, tilling the soil of the pack's nesting site, making a bed to harbor her future young. Charlie paused in her tilling, head warbling slightly, as if judging the hole in the ground. The youngest judged the latest nest not good enough, for she shifted, and began to dig another.
Blue pattered out from the dense foliage surrounding their thicket, light trot slowing to a stop as she neared her youngest sister. Ferns and various soft plant matter were held within her jaws, which the grey female lowered to the ground, and set near Charlie. The green striped female craned her head towards Blue, neck twisting. Upon seeing the gift before her, Charlie ushered a soft chirp in appreciation, before returning to her nest building.
Blue warbled her head, responding with a quiet chitter as she attempted to get a better view of Charlie's nest, before pattering off to get her sister more nest materials.
This was the third nest Charlie attempted to build. Whatever her definition of a good nest was, it was beyond her sisters-even if Blue was the designated nest helper builder, she did not seem to mind.
Echo's golden eyes lingered upon Charlie, scarred maw twisted in a sneer.
Her eyes were jaded with envy, and jealousy.
Charlie may have been the first to have a nest, but she was not the first to lay eggs.
Echo and her sisters were inexperienced with breeding, and offspring.
Echo did not associate breeding with eggs, and she did not associate eggs with offspring.
Eggs with food, yes, but not young dinosaurs.
Not of her own kind.
When Echo became ill, and swollen, she and her pack did not know what was wrong with her.
When she developed the pains of labor, her sisters were distressed, and Amethyst, confused and anxious.
They thought something was killing their sister, and they were helpless.
And then Echo laid an egg.
The pack was confused as to how an egg came out of the scarred female.
They were even more confused when another egg appeared a day later, and then a third the day after that.
Five eggs were laid over the course of five days.
The eggs were then considered something of an oddity that the pack could not comprehend. Eggs were eaten. They ate eggs. But these eggs were from Echo...should they be eaten?
And thus, the pack simply ignored their instincts, and their hunger, and left the eggs be-if only because they came from the scarred raptor.
The eggs were then simply abandoned, and the pack paid little to no attention to them as if they were rocks within the earth.
Over a month later, the eggs began to do something in the darkness of the night.
They began to chirp, and make shrill, yet soft noises.
The eggs began to warble, and slowly crack and chip.
By the next night, they hatched.
Echo did not know what to make of them.
They were ugly, deformed little things with bulbous heads, thin, nigh useless limbs, pudgy bellies and round bulges of flesh that would be their eyes.
They called and chirped, and when Echo approached them, the deformed little creatures, still within the confines of their eggs, extended their skeletal neck upwards, and gaped their maws open wide-almost impossibly so.
It was an action that caused Echo to retract her head, a perplexed rasp escaping her. Her retraction caused the strange creatures to settle back down, chirping quietly among themselves.
When the scarred female went closer to sniff them, the little beasts shot their heads up once more, mouths agape.
Echo's nared flared, chest expanding as she breathed in the scent of yolk and egg fluids, her breath escaping her serrated maw in hot puffs. Her golden eyes narrowed upon the hapless creatures, instinct and hunger gnawing at the back of her mind.
After a brief moment of pause, she lunged, and devoured the creature whole.
She devoured them all, droplets of blood, yolk and cracked egg shells being all that was left by the time the sun rose in the early morn.
And with the birth of a new dawn, her sins were brought to light.
For it was in the rays of the early morn, that Echo saw something. She saw the tiny, half eaten remains of one of the dead deformed creatures from the night's feeding frenzy.
What she saw upon the tiny body, she knew well. She saw what resembled a tiny, broken version of her mate, the strange creature sporting a purple coloration, with black upon its belly. But it's back sported more yellowed, golden hued stripes with tinges of green.
Echo's colors.
It was Echo. A part of her, at least, from what she had seen of herself. It was also Amethyst.
It was both of them.
Echo's head cocked to the side, warbling with a quite, perplexed chitter, as if trying to make better sense of the creature that looked so unlike her, yet so familiar.
It was then realization hit her.
The thing came from one of the eggs she laid. One of the eggs that came from her. If the thing came from the egg that came from her, then that meant the little creature...
...It looked just like Charlie, when they were younger.
Echo barely remembered when they were hatchlings.
Barely remembered the now resurfacing memories of her youth.
She did not see Blue, or Delta when they were tiny and helpless. But she did see Charlie, when she was small.
Small like the offspring of the prey they sometimes hunted.
Small, helpless, like the little creature was that looked just like Charlie...
That came from an egg she laid...
...It was her offspring.
The realization struck Echo, and it made the female's breath hitch.
For a long time, it felt like she did not breathe. It felt like she couldn't.
She could still taste the blood of her offspring upon her tongue, feel the flesh stuck between her serrated teeth.
Her stomach lurched, and saliva coated and welled within her throat. Echo's body suddenly heaved, and she began to retch with such force her back arched and twisted, saliva dribbling from her gaping maw. She retched, and heaved until the contents of her stomach were expelled, and her belly now empty.
Echo resumed to heave and retch after, yet nothing else was expelled.
The remains of her hapless children lay in a pool of their own mother's saliva and bile.
The stench made Echo repulsed, but the female forced herself to lower towards her children, nudging the tiny remains of one, as if urging it to rise, to call.
She knew better.
But she still tried.
Echo did not understand what came over her. She did not understand what was happening, or how this happened. But these little creatures were a part of her. They couldn't die! She didn't know! She couldn't have a part of her die! She didn't know they were a part of her!
The yellowed female fought the impulse to pull away from the scent of bile to once more nudge a tiny body.
She knew better, now.
But she didn't know at the time.
Slowly, shakily, Echo pulled herself back, muscular legs quivering and breathing labored.
Echo didn't understand what was going on.
Why did she hurt?
Why did her chest hurt?
She wasn't injured!
Why was she in such pain?
The scarred raptor released a low, desperate call from her throat that barely sounded like a quiet rumble. She could not find her voice. Echo did not know what to do. The scarred raptor looked around for her pack, her sisters, her mate, desperation, grief and panic welling within her.
When she called, it was a broken, shaken, quivering beckon for help that turned into a harrowing wail of pain. When Echo attempted her second cry, she found her call was broken, and trembling. The female's pain grew, and her wails turned into violent thrashing, as if she were reacting to physical pain.
Echo did not understand this pain.
But it was far worse than the time her jaw was broken.
When her pack located her, they were startled, perplexed, and distressed. Echo was acting as if she were physically attacked, yet they could see no intruder, nor smell any foreign scent.
They did not understand what was going on.
Like before, they did not know how to help their sister.
All they saw was Echo, and the remains of the little creatures that looked like her, but didn't.
In the following days, Echo did little but lay around the pack's domain.
She did not join for hunts.
She did not eat.
She did not drink.
When Charlie would urge her sister to play, and nudge and poke her with her snout, Echo would just snarl in warning.
When Delta would urge her sister to rise for the hunt, Echo would move not.
When Blue would lay beside Echo, and preen her scales and nuzzle her sister, Echo would not respond.
When Amethyst would bring the scarred sister prey, he would nudge the flesh towards her snout, and urge her to eat. Echo would not feed.
It was then, one day, that Echo vanished.
Amethyst called for her, but she did not answer.
Her sisters searched for her, but they did not find her.
The sisters fell into a state of mourning, for they missed their sister.
Echo did not return until two weeks later.
Now, two months after Echo's return, things within the pack were beginning to fall into normalcy.
Only now, rather than Echo being gravid, it was Charlie.
The pack knew better now, all because Echo did not.
The scarred female's ever present sneer was dominating as she watched her green striped sister work upon her nest. Echo could not help but to have a frustrated, riveting hiss escape her scaled maw, taloned hands clenching and unclenching, killer claws twitching in a building fit of envy, jealously, and rage.
It was these subtle, minor actions that caught the attention of Delta, the pale green, almost grey toned female looking upon her more earthen toned sister, gaze sharp and alert. A low rumble of warning ruptured from Delta's throat. It was a warning Echo's gaze met, and the sisters fell into a silent war, a silent challenge, a silent dare.
Delta did not resume the preening of her scales, as much as she would desire to. No, she knew her sister well. Echo was prone to breaks in command. Fits of feral rage. Delta would not allow such actions of baser instincts to harm her younger sister. Charlie was not the reason Echo's young perished. Echo knew that. Delta knew that. And yet, Echo had no one to take out her smoldering rage upon-save for the object of her envy-their youngest sister.
The yellow hued female flexed her claws, which dug into the mossy ground and tore at the roots of grasses, tail flicking. With a huff of breath, Echo released a snort. She would relent, for now. Delta was not the one Echo needed to worry about. She could handle her sister. What she had to worry about was Blue. Blue, and their mate.
The sound of movement and crushed foliage could be heard from the outside borders of their thicket haven. Charlie paused in her nest building, a leaved branch between her scaled lips as she looked towards the source of the noise. The disturbance caused her older sisters to break their staring contest, Echo and Delta turning towards the approaching animal.
It was too large to be Blue.
That meant it was their mate.
From the dense thicket, a massive raptor like beast emerged from the darkness of the foliage, and entered into the faint rays that managed to cascade passed the canopy and soak the ground.
Amethyst was stocky, densely muscular, and thrice the size of the sisters. He was like them, but not. He called like them, he looked like them. But he was not entirely like the sisters. The hulking beast walked not upon his hind legs, but rather, upon all fours. His uncharacteristically muscular forearms allowed him to crawl upon the ground, clawed hands digging and grasping as he pulled himself along, powerful hind legs rippling with muscle and veins under his scales.
He was like them, but not. The male's arms pulsed with veins just under his vivid scales, solid muscle adorning his form. Far too much for a raptor's body to bare, for his stride and gait were not like the sisters.
He did not move like them, but he was like them. As close to them as he could get.
As Amethyst moved into the light, his golden eyes flicked from female to female, pupils small and round. His posture was erect, purposeful and regal, his scales amethyst in coloration. Black hued scales ran upon the sides of his neck, throat, inner forearms, thighs, hips and both sides of his tail. Within these black scaled patches, were two variations of golden scales, which appeared to have a high luster concentration, for they shimmered within the rays that the sun cast askew within their home. A vibrant, golden stripe ran down the black hued scales within each side of his neck, hips and tail. Fainter, softer flecks of gold dotted and shimmered upon his black throat, inner forearms and thighs.
Amethyst sported a mane of feathers atop his head that one would find akin to the Harpy's Eagle. The feathers were downy at the base of his crown, and were purple in hue. Mature feathers dominated further up the crown, and shifted black in coloration with golden flecks. The tips of the feathered crown turned gold.
Mature feathers of black coloration intermixed with golden flecks and gold tips run down his neck, flanked by soft, amethyst downy feathers. The feathers lessened, and faded upon reaching his shoulders, which briefly began again upon his tail.
His underbelly was black, with a golden inner coloration. The claws upon his built forearms were black with thick, overlapping scales running over his fingers and toes, the scales black in color.
Yes.
Amethyst was like the sisters. But he was not like them as well.
The massive male looked towards each one of his females, head cocking. He sensed something wrong. Why were they tense?
The feathered raptor moved himself along, lumbering form casting a shadow that skulked upon the ground as he moved. As the male moved closer, he released a soft chitter in greeting towards Echo. It was a response the yellow female begrudgingly replied to, her own greeting reluctant, and sounding almost forced.
Charlie chirped in greeting upon seeing her mate approach, her eyes bright as she shifted her weight from foot to foot, tail swaying. When Amethyst approached his gravid mate, the feathered male lowered his head, snout facing down towards the ground, and lightly booped the youngest sister with his head in greeting, a low purr escaping from his throat. Charlie nuzzled against her mate's larger head, crooning softly and producing a series of soft chirps in contentment. She nuzzled her snout into the male's feathered crown, nares flaring as the green striped female inhaled his scent.
Amethyst released a low grumble from his maw, tail swaying gently. The male, however, slowly pulled away. Charlie made a low, sad sounding whine. Until she lunged forth, and smooshed her snout with her mate's larger one.
Boop.
The action startled the male, and despite Charlie's playful nature, Amethyst pulled away, head cocking in confusion, a perplexed chitter escaping him.
Charlie merely barked in play, swollen belly wadding back and forth as her body shook in excitement.
Amethyst was about to respond, though his attention fell upon Blue returning, foliage in her maw once more. Charlie turned towards her sister, and chirped in greeting, as well as appreciation.
A rumble only escaped Blue as she set the leaves down.
Delta resumed the preening of her scales, though Echo's gaze remained transfixed upon the spectacle before her. The ground before her was churned and ruined, her claws caked in earth and root. It was killing her...that should be her!
Amethyst briefly greeted Blue with a nuzzle, to which the grey female gave a swift lick upon his jaw. She then pattered away towards Delta, her gaze briefly flicking upon Echo.
The male once more returned his attention towards Charlie-if only so he could regurgitate the contents of his stomach, the remains of a freshly killed and eaten herbivore calf now laying before the nest.
Gaping his maw in a yawn, the feathered raptor then made his way towards Echo. He noticed the ground around her. She was not happy. She should be. Perhaps he should not have bred with each female? Then he would not have had this headache and dealing with jealously. It was quite hard to divide his attention between four females, hunting, and patrolling his territory. Still, Amethyst knew one thing regrading Echo: They could always try again. There was always next time. They knew better, now.
The purple raptor sauntered around Echo, finally collapsing in a great exhale of breath besides her. She did not respond. Was she ignoring him?
Amethyst raised his head, and produced a quiet chitter, his feathered tail curling around the scarred female as his head booped and nuzzled into her form, purring gently, attempting to get a response from her.
Nothing.
She didn't even look at him.
But she didn't hiss or snap at him.
She was just ignoring him.
Amethyst kept his feathered head against Echo, his purrs and soft croons slowly dying, tail flicking in unease. It was then Amethyst heard something. Faintly, almost non existent. Echo was purring in a series of quiet, almost inaudible rumbles. She was just pretending she wasn't.
A quiet chitter escaped the male, which blended into a purr as he nuzzled the smaller raptor, serpentine tongue slipping passed his scaled lips to preen her scales. As much as Echo didn't want to admit, she was pleased, and content. As much as she wanted to be irritated and grumpy...she had her mate. Their mate. The yellow female turned her head towards the larger raptor, a soft rasp escaping her. Slowly, hesitantly, the scarred female pressed her form into Amethyst's more muscular form, his heat and scent calming her.
The feathered raptor released a low croon, and his tongue moved to clean Echo's clawed hands of dirt and root. Echo decided to at least return the favor, and craned her neck slightly to begin to groom her mate's feathered mane.
For the first time in a long time that Echo could remember, she was happy, and content. In this moment, her mate was hers. She knew better now. She knew he didn't hate her. Did not want to be mates with her, and just be mates with Charlie instead. He didn't blame her for killing their offspring.
Everything was-
Boop.
Echo paused in her preening to see the familiar green stripes of Charlie.
Booping her mate.
Booping.
Her.
Mate.
Amethyst paused in his cleaning of the scarred female to turn his attention towards Charlie, the gravid female now rubbing against the larger male akin to cat, her swollen belly rubbing and bumping against him. The youngest was cooing, and her throat was vibrating in a purr, her eyes closed.
Charlie's act was enough to throw Echo into a rage.
In a fit of explosive jealously-or perhaps envy-Echo rose in one sudden, feline leap, and knocked over her sister. Charlie shrieked in terror, muscular legs moving to protect her swollen belly as her scarred sister was poised over her, teeth bared and saliva spraying forth from her maw in her shrieking.
Before Charlie could make a move to escape or counter, she found that her offending sister was shoved off of her by a forceful strike of the head from Amethyst. Echo cried in shock as she was knocked to the ground, swiftly righting herself to her feet, a hiss in warning ringing out, claws bared. Her gaze met that of Delta's, the other female between Echo, herself, and their downed sister.
Delta's gaze was hard, teeth barely withheld behind scaled lips, talons flexing. A low rumble in warning riveted from her throat. She did not want to fight her sister, but she would, if she must. Echo was not going to harm Charlie.
Blue pattered towards Charlie, chittering quietly as she nuzzled her sister, and attempted to calm the gravid female as she righted herself.
Slowly, Echo's posture changed from that of an aggressive animal, to that of a shamed dog. They were all staring at her. All watching her. Echo's arms dropped, and hung limply, her head warbling ever so slightly, trying to see Charlie. Trying to see if her sister was okay.
What she saw, was something she never saw towards her in her youngest sister's eyes before. She saw fear, and hurt, and treason. Charlie was afraid of her.
Echo's gaze then fell upon Delta. She saw mistrust.
Echo chittered quietly, almost too softly for the others to hear. She craned her neck up towards Amethyst. She saw smoldering anger. Yet her alpha bared his teeth not.
What the scarred female attempted to call for-or to whom- was unknown. In a shameful downcast, eyes adverting her pack mates like an unwelcome stray, Echo suddenly turned upon her heels, and swiftly scurried away into the foliage.
Amethyst began to rise from his position, briefly raising upon his hind legs. The male called for her, a haunting wail of a trill that resounded through the forests.
She did not come back.
Blue looked upon the direction her sister fled, and briefly looking upon her alpha, gave a brief bark of attention, followed by a quiet series of clicks. The alpha looked down upon the blue striped female, and released a call in approval, head flicking in the direction their pack mate fled.
Blue wasted no time.
In three great bounds, she was at full sprint, her powerful legs pounding into the ground.
She was not going to lose her sister.
Not again.