Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I flicked on the kettle and grabbed a large mug from the cupboard. Plopping in a teabag and looking out the window, I took a minute to space out.

What the fuck had happened.

That was the only thought that seemed to echo in my mind. I tried to process everything that had happened.

Seeing my teammates, my friends, die. But that didn’t seem to encompass what had really happened to them.
They didn’t just die. They were butchered. The excitement of the discovery of the underground temple melted away into horror at what came along with that discovery: the existence of aliens.
But not just any kind of alien. Aliens that used humans as incubators for their young, and other aliens that hunted them in turn.
The sight of the snarling xenomorph drooling at me after I had impaled it still haunted my nightmares. Waking with my heart racing and in a pool of sweat, hair hitting my face as my head desperately whipped back and forth to scan my surroundings. After the first couple nights of having that nightmare the darkness had made waking up worse. Unable to see anything around me made me feel like I was in a liminal space. One time I jumped up from my bed and tried to run out of the room, tripping over the full laundry hamper I had sworn I’d deal with later and falling on my face.

I started leaving the fairy lights on at night after that.

The nightmares didn’t fade though. And the haunting images of the xenomorph were just the beginning. The mutilated corpses of my teammates, torn open from the babies ripping free from their bodies, plagued my nights.

Then there were those dreams. The dreams of him. The one who had helped me, and I him.

But I didn’t want to think about those dreams. They made me feel too much, an aching in my chest. They felt like a wound that would never heal.

The sound of the kettle clicking brought me out of my trance. It was time to get to work.

I had needed a change after I was rescued. Climbing back into the empty ship and using the radio to try and get someone, anyone to come and get me as far away from here as I could possibly get.

I figured that Canada was a safe bet. I set my sights on Nunavut and settled on a quaint one-story cabin in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees and the icy landscape in the distance. It was perfect.

I enrolled in the courses that I needed to take people through the area and talked with the local Indigenous groups in the area to further my knowledge about the geography.

As soon as I could I started leading scientists through the ice. It felt like riding a bike.

I poured the boiling water in my mug and carried it over to a little wooden table tucked into the kitchen that acted as my office when I was off the ice. The cabin was a two bedroom one-and-a-half bathroom. I claimed the biggest room as my bedroom and designated the smaller one as a reading room.

I had been too worked up to use the little reading room. Every time I tried to relax I saw their faces. Each day I tried to put my needs first I felt that survivor's guilt flowing through me.

Why was I the one that got to live? Why had I been the only one to escape? Maybe if I had run faster the xenomorph would have gotten me and Sebastian would have survived instead.

The silence was too much. Tea in hand, I turned on the radio on the kitchen counter and found the local news station, the radio casters voice droning in the background as I opened my laptop and set my mug down on the table again.

Winter was soon approaching, and my schedule was as busy as ever. With the winter brought more challenges, having to watch the weather more closely and watching for snowstorms.

“Heavy rains expected late this afternoon and going into the evening, a weather advisory has been issued for…”

My focus stayed on my work, every now and then tuning into what the radio was talking about. This celebrity was getting a divorce, a child was missing from this province, war was being raged in this country. I continued to focus on my work.

Hours later a catchy tune that had been playing was interrupted by the abrupt sounds of an amber alert. Looking up from my laptop my eyes found the radio and listened in.

“An amber alert has been issued for all of North America. The national guard from Gunnison Colorado has warned of a mass contagion spreading through the state. Individuals are warned to stay in their houses and to not engage with any strange slimy creatures.”

My breath caught in my throat. No. It wasn’t an alien. I had just been thinking about the xenomorphs and that’s why my brain had made that association, but that didn’t mean anything. I had to think rationally about this. They were gone.

But then again, rationally had a whole new meaning now that I knew aliens existed.

The radio continued.

“While we don’t know much at this moment we have been given a description of the creatures. They are black with elongated heads have long tails and sharp teeth. If you or anyone you know has been in contact with these creatures, call your local hospital immediately. Thank you for your attention and we will be providing continuous updates as we get more information.”

No.

It was happening again.

…They were back.

Chapter Text

It had been four months since the amber alert. The world has gone to shit again. Well, my world anyways.

The contagion as the news was calling it, the xenomorphs as I was referring to it, were thought to have been eradicated from Gunnison. But some of them must have escaped the blast. Not a week later they had reached the Canadian border, now they were slowly spreading up into Canada and down through Mexico. It was a mess.

I’ve given up on trying not to think about him. I didn’t even know his name.

I started calling him Scar in my head. Too scared to say the name out loud lest I finally lose what is left of my sanity and give in to the madness that threatens to consume me.

I miss him.

Since the xenomorphs had spread I felt like I kept reliving a nightmare. It was getting harder to keep my day-to-day routine.

I don’t care if it was a trauma bond, I would rather deal with the xenomorphs with him by my side than the alternative.

Unfortunately, the alternative was my reality. Scar was dead. I had watched him take his last breath. Bathed in his blood with my hands pressed into his chest to try and stop the bleeding. He had just looked at me. Holding my eye contact until he closed his eyes and I could no longer feel his faint heartbeat through the thick armour he wore.

The scene wouldn’t stop playing.

And I felt guilty.

Of course I missed my teammates, ones who I had heard of through the grapevine and shared many fond moments of excitement and discovery with. But my mind seemed to stay with Scar. A Yautja warrior who felt empathetic enough to team up with a human, scared out of her mind and caught in the middle of their war.

When he died it was like time stopped for me. Their war had ended, but my internal battle had just begun. And it seemed to have no end in sight. All I had to remember that any of it really happened was the trident-like spear the other Yautja had gifted me. Those first few weeks I kept it hidden at the back of my closet. Too scared to do anything with it but wanting the comfort its promise of protection brought.

Now, with the spread of xenomorphs, it leaned against my front door. Winter was soon approaching, and I needed to go into town for supplies. The government had recommended self isolation and to keep inside to try and stop the spread. It also helped keep the civilian casualties to a minimum if people were inside while the military raged war against the aliens. That was the answer the government had come up with to deal with an impossible situation.

So the rest of us did what we could to stay sane and survive. Living in the rural north had its perks. One of them being I was far as hell away from everyone. But I still needed to do the occasional supply run. And I had been putting it off for days already. It was time to go.

Each supply run brought its challenges. There hadn’t been a xenomorph spotted this far north, but it had also been a while since I was last in the company of people.

My reading room had been getting used, I no longer felt bad about indulging in a hobby, and it was one of the few fun things I could do to pass the time. Having the months to process things had somewhat helped. When I ignored that I was basically reliving my worst nightmare.

Maybe calling it a reading room was an exaggeration, it held a comfortable chair and a small side table that acted as a shelf. Books towering from it and threatening to tumble to the floor. Still, curling up on the chair and cracking open one of my dusty books brought more comfort than I could have dreamt of. Like I could get back to normal. Whatever that meant now.

Before heading out I grabbed the spear, pressed the button that compressed it to a more reasonable size, and walked out the door.

The leaves had started to turn and were an artwork of reds, yellows, and oranges. Trudging through a worn path in my backyard, I slowly made my way into town.

…

It was about mid day when I began the trip back to my cabin. The supply run had been successful, happy to say that the drug store had a lucky box of tampons left over that someone missed, score.
With the weight of that and the other materials I had picked up I walked slower with the heavy bag on my back. Not unlike when I would lead scientists through the ice, having to carry along all our equipment on our backs. But it had been months since the last expedition, and regardless of the training I did, the mental strain made me feel constantly fatigued.

That’s probably why I didn’t see it coming.

The crunch and shuffle of my own feet on the leaves masked those of the creature stalking behind me. I was made aware of its presence when the force of it slamming into my back knocked me off my feet flung me forward. Landing on my front with the wind knocked from my lungs I lifted my head from the forest floor, eyes desperately searching for the culprit while my hand white knuckled the spear.

The moment my eyes locked on to the black creature crawling toward me, teeth barred and tail waving back and forth, my heart caught in my throat.

Now I was living my worst nightmare.

They had made it this far north. I had just been in town and didn’t run into any of them, when had they gotten here? But I didn’t have time to think about that right now, or anything.

The only thought that ran through my head was survive.

I jumped to my feet as it lunged at me, arms stretched out and mouth already drooling. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I brought the spear up to my face right as the alien snapped its jaws at me, landing on the spear instead. Using as much strength as I could I used the spear to push the alien back away from me. It landed with a hiss on the ground, leaves rustling as its claws dug into the earth to ground itself.

I pointed the spear at the creature and pressed the button. As I did it extended and formed its trident shape. The creature growled at my display of aggression and lunged for me. I stabbed it in the shoulder, and it screeched with pain. I dislodged the spear and began to sprint in the direction of my cabin, hoping that I had bought myself some precious time with my attack. My backpack swayed frantically with my strides.

It wasn’t enough.

I turned my head behind me as the creature jumped, jaws open, and my world slowed as I watched it bite the top of my shoulder. A scream of pain left my lips as I thrust the spear behind me.

I heard another pained noise, unsure if it was me or the xenomorph, but it had let my shoulder go. Blood started to soak through the sleeve of my shirt, but I tried to pay it no mind. I had to end this.

The alien was on the forest floor again, I stabbed the spear into its elongated head and its movement seized once before the body went lax.

With the immediate threat gone, the adrenaline started to fade and I tuned into my heavy breathing. I tried to take deep breaths, breathing in through my nose, and out through my mouth, to calm me down. The last thing I needed was to have a panic attack in the woods.

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, spear still clutched tightly in my hands.

I stood there for what felt like hours, for all I know it could have been. When I opened my eyes the sun was noticeably lower in the sky. That realization moved me into action and I turned in the direction of my cabin, my free arm coming up to clutch my shoulder and prevent any more blood loss.

As I took the first step I heard shuffling in the woods. I spun around and saw another xenomorph about three meters from me.

A whimper left me as I realized there were four more creeping up behind it.

I felt so defeated. They had made it to my safe place. What did the death of my teammates mean if the xenomorphs had reached the surface anyways.

I raised the spear.

This was as far as I could go. There was no way I could fend off five xenomorphs by myself.

But I could take some of them down with me. One less one on the planet. One less alien that could hurt a member of my community. I could make my death mean something. Meet the same fate as my teammates.

I took a step forward to confront the beasts when I caught a sliver of motion in my peripheral. Sparing a glance from the xenomorph I looked up at the tree branch and noticed a part of the forest that seemed to glimmer.

Glimmering in a way I had seen before…

The blood drained from my face.

A growl and the sound of pouncing dragged my attention back to the aliens in front of me. I looked back just in time to see the xenomorph pounce at me. I couldn’t react quick enough, and my body started to feel heavy with the blood loss.

The world seemed to slow, I watched the claws reach closer to me as I desperately willed my body to move and lift the spear.

Before I could react the xenomorph was slammed to the forest floor. Its legs seemed to lift themselves, followed by the rest of its body before it was swung into a nearby tree.

I sunk to the floor, spear held limply in my hand as I watched the scene unfold before me.

A metal spear appeared out of nowhere and impaled the head of the xenomorph, its toxic blood spilling on the floor and slowly dissolving the roots of the tree it lay beneath. The other aliens growled and lunged in the direction of their dead comrade. They all soon met the same fate.

I watched the scene unfold as the rest of the xenomorphs were thrown to the ground and impaled.

Suddenly the air before me rippled, I looked up at the figure as it came into view and revealed itself to me. In my sitting position my eyes met his thighs first.

The black fishnets led to his strong and muscular body, skin more tough and greenish than my own. My eyes raised on his chest, heaving through his armor from the exertion of taking on five xenomorphs, before they caught on his tendril-like locks. They then moved up to his helmet and my breath caught in my throat.

It was him.

His helmet bore the same mark. The one he had given to himself in the temple. The one that I shared on my cheekbone.

I started to stand leaning on the spear and the hunter didn’t move. My vision was darkening around my eyes, but I needed a visual confirmation to what my brain had jumped to deciding.

That he was alive.

Somehow, he had survived. But Rationally I knew it couldn’t be the case, and I need to see.

I leaned my weight on the staff and reached a shaky hand up to his helmet. He lifted a hand to remove the little tubes attached to his mask. Slowly, like he had in the temple, he used both hands to lift his helmet from his head.

I saw his mandibles first, framing another set of teeth set further back into his mouth. Then I saw his eyes, yellow and piercing. Finally, what I was waiting for. Standing against the pear colour of his skin, the dark scar tissue stood out. The two markings he had made after his kill signifying his entrance into adulthood.

The markings that we shared.

My breath hitched and a pained sound left my mouth as I tried to move closer to him. All these months of trying to process the trauma seemed to melt away at the sight of the one person who knew what I had seen.

I managed one step before the exhaustion settled deep into my bones and I collapsed. The last thing I saw before my world went black was his large arms reaching out to catch me before I fell on the floor.

Chapter Text

I woke in my cabin, draped over my couch with my shirt up over one shoulder and a woven blanket covering my lower half. My world spun as I leaned forward to sit up, wincing as I put pressure on my injured shoulder. Sitting up took all the energy out of me and I slumped into the side of the couch to catch my breath.

I lay there for a long time, trying to focus on my breathing to keep my mind off the pain. I remembered the bottle of Advil I had stashed in the bathroom. Desperate to alleviate the spinning in my head I tried to stand up.

The sound of clicking made my blood run cold. I swiveled my head around the living space of my cabin to look for the source. It was cozy, just having the couch I lay on and a wooden coffee table that worked in tandem with my kitchen table as my office.

The clicking had come from in front of me, I squinted and tried to get a better look as to whether something was there, but the pain from my side was too distracting.

I made a move to get up again. Gasping at the fire that burned through my skin. I noticed that my shoulder and abdomen were wrapped with bandages. The clicking continued as a warning. Spinning my head I still couldn’t see where it was coming from.

“Let me get my fucking painkillers.” I said to no-one in particular. My mind felt muddled, foggy and not quite remembering what happened and how I had gotten back to my cabin.

The world in front of me shifted, and out of nowhere the source of the clicking came into view. The creature was probably seven feet tall and dwarfed my small living space.

“Holy shit.”

The memories came flooding in, how he had killed the xenomorphs in the forest.

How he was alive.

Feeling defensive through my confusion I pointed at him, hoping that he couldn’t sense my panic. “How are you alive? I watched you die!”

His head tilted and his hands lifted to his helmet, similar to how he did in the temple. He removed it, staring at me without the divide of its cold metal exterior. The scar seemingly screaming at me from across the room, further confirmation that he was the same individual from that traumatic experience.

He took a step towards me and I froze, trying to stand up to move away and gain some control over the situation. Control that he had no interest in sparing as he took another step towards me and crowded my space.

He crouched at the food of my couch, mandibles twitching and clicking at my silence. He looked at me and I felt like there was no way for me to hide anything from his glaring stare.

I relaxed a little when I realized he wouldn’t attack me. He had been the one to bandage my wounds after all, and I figured that if he was going to kill me, he would have when I was in the woods and he could sneak up on me.

Revealing himself would have taken all the fun away from a potential hunt if that was his plan.

Seeing me visibly relax, he lifted his hand to brush my left cheek, my scar blazing under the slight graze of his clawed fingers.

“Alive.” He croaked, voice hoarse from disuse. It was the first time I had heard him talk, let alone in my language.

After the attack in Gunnison declassified files were released to aid public safety stating that these creatures could mimic human language and the voices of their kills.

His voice didn’t sound like anyone I had known, I chose to think of it as his own voice, not the echo of one of his hunts.

Focusing back to what he said I couldn’t tell if he was talking about himself or referring to me.

I blushed at the thought. At the thought of him caring about me, and being concerned about my wellbeing.

Something changed in his demeanor and I worried that he could sense the change in my heart rate as I desperately tried to have the train of thought stop in its tracks.

“How?” Was what I chose to say instead.

Instead of talking he lowered his hand, my cheek immediately feeling cold from the lack of his presence. He used his hand to press a few buttons on his wrist gauntlet. It looked different from the one I remembered, shinier. He pulled up a hologram.

It showed the inside of a ship, it looked similar to the one that I had seen when the other Yautja came to pick up his body. The room in the ship held a pyre-like structure that held another Yautja. I watched as the chest of it cracked open and revealed a baby xenomorph. The hologram continued to play until the ship crashed into Earth, the connection going dark and static.

“You survived your wounds?” I looked up to find him already looking at me. He slowly nodded and stood.

Lifting up his armour he revealed the large and ragged scar that ran over his abdomen. Right where I had seen him be impaled.

Slight panic at the memory and a warmer feeling at seeing his body flowed through me. I was probably tired.

As if he were reading my thoughts he rose and brought over another blanket. Draping it over me and encouraging me to lay back down. Too tired to argue and overwhelmed with what he had shown me, both his dead teammate and his body, I closed my eyes and tried to block the world out.

It worked until I heard impatient clicking. I opened my eyes and saw his hand in front of my face. In it lay two Advil pills.

“Thank you!” I all but lunged at him to grab the pills. Finally, some of the pain could be alleviated.

He brought a glass of water into my field of vision and I chugged it along with the pills, gasping for breath after I had emptied the glass.

“How did you find me?” I moved my legs to free up a space on the couch. Scar hesitantly sat in the now emptied space looking at me like I might run if he moved too quickly.

“Wanted to see you. To check if alive.” He leaned slightly forward as he spoke, the closeness emphasising his point. “After the serpent infestation.”

Tears prickled my eyes and I tried to turn away from him. He stood up at my reaction and backed away.

I don’t know what to do. The ghost that I had been pining for just saved my life and showed up in my house to tell me he cared enough to check up on me after an alien invasion.

It was too much. The tears, much to my dismay, started to flow down my face and I started to sniffle.

“I will let you be. Will check on wounds later.” He added before turning heel and walking out the door, cloaking himself in invisibility before the door had shut.

I didn’t have it in me to react, I just sat on the couch looking between the door and the spot on the couch he had just been sitting in. He had been in my house.

With the Advil starting to dull the pain, I lifted my legs back onto the couch and lay down, shutting my eyes and hoping to get a bit of rest.

I woke up some time later, the sun was setting and the cabin was cold. Deciding I didn’t want to freeze to death, I set out to start a fire in the stove. Opening the door to grab a chopped log from just outside the house I nearly tripped over something left on my front porch.

It was a small box, picking it up I realized it was a pack of gauze. Next to the box lay something wrapped in a beige cloth. Opening it revealed a dried meat of some kind, like jerky.

Looking out to the forest I looked for Scar, hoping to catch a glance of him.

I brought the gifts back into the cabin, forgetting the log and having to go back out to get it. Once the cabin had warmed I went back to the couch, nibbling on the jerky as I watched the flames dance.