[ Love Challenge ] Alkira

Lux smiled . "Come here big guy" he said gently taking Najara from alkira. Najara seemed to gro attached to Lux latly, the feline didn't mind. He felt like a big brother again

Votaru watched. "So I'm guessing his parents are still out their?" He asked alkira

Alkira's ears pivoted and drooped a little at his question. "I'm not so sure.." She admitted quietly. "I don't know who survived and who didn't.. He misses his mother, though, I know that for sure.. And I sure as hell don't know how to take care of a pup. I just hope that my sister is still alive.. And the rest of my family.." The female heaved a soft sigh, a small smile stretching onto her lips as she watched Lux and Najara.

The pup settled into Lux's arms, his small nose twitching as he looked up at what sky he could see between the leaves and branches above them. "The rain smells weird." He yawned loudly, lazily resting his chin on Lux's shoulder.

"It does kinda have a funny smell now doesn't it" lux chuckled. "Have any dreams kiddo?"

Votaru looked to Najara. "I wish I knew what the ghost bats did with my mother. I heard rumors that the ghost bat chief married one of his prisoners. I doubt it was her... But I hope she's alive.

~

Meanwhile at the ghost bat colony...

In the house of the chief a fruit bat stood cooking for her husband. "Darling had pach come home yet?"

Najara frowned, his face scrunching up a little as he seemed to be in thought. "I don't think so." He said. "Do old people still have dreams? Like you and Alkira?"

"You're just asking for a whopping, young man." Alkira grumbled, glaring over at the pup. She turned her attention back to Votaru as he spoke of his mother. "How long ago was she taken?" She asked, "I mean, if anyone should know the answer to that... It'd likely be, well.. Pach."

----

Her husband, who was washing his hands and claws clean of blood in the rain as it began to pour outside of their tree home, looked up as she spoke. "His hunting party should be returning sometime soon." He said, his voice a low grumbling. "Why, has he done something again?" The chief's icy blue eyes, the ones he shared with his son, narrowed out into the jungle, glaring into the rain.

The fruit bat walked over to him. "No I just worry he might run into those creatures again. They took out half the party he was in last time... But also... He look at me as if I'm not his mother anymore... And I worry he may run into his half brother" she looked down. "Sorry I I have so many worries. My little pach just hates me. My ex husband is dead and my children have been treated like criminals."

~

"You mean do adults have dreams. Yes we do. Some different than others"

Votaru sighed. "Pach... Every answer I seek pach always seems to have... I've been wondering who pach is really afraid of naturu or me"

The ghost bat exhaled softly, his breath escaping his lips in a thin fog as he stared at the rain for a moment longer before turning to his mate. His expression softened a little as he took in her pained expression and tone, and gently he brushed one of his hands along her cheek. "Worry not, my love. All things will be resolved with time. Pach does not hate you. He is just too stupid at the moment to realize how important you are to him. He is still a child, still foolish." He told her softly, placing his other hand under her chin to gently lift her head. "The gods will take care of it all. Just as they brought you to me.."

---

"Why's that?" Najara asked, rubbing gently at his eyes.

"That damned ghost bat is an idiot. Why are you so concerned about him, anyway?" Alkira grumbled. "If he wasn't such a coward, he'd probably be dead by now. Some real threat."

"May the gods be good to him... I don't want to lose anyone else" she said looking at her mate. "The gods told me my love would take me away. And he did but the gods made me leave my son behind"

~

"Strange as it is, he has something familiar in his look... I can't tell exactly what" Votaru sighed. "A coward he may be but he's cunning as well"

Lux smiled "well it's kinda hard to explain... Dreams are like magic. It comes and goes and is different in many ways. But the main seperation is good and bad."

"Simply because you are apart from them does not mean that they are gone from you forever." He told her simply, "They may be brought back to you. You will have to wait and see." His ears jerked up suddenly as Pach stepped in through the pulled curtain that was the door to their home, violently shaking his fur free of rainwater.
His father growled under his breath softly, "Where have you been?"
"Out hunting. The rain ruined the scent I was following." Unbeknownst to his parents, the ghost bat had been spending his time trying to find Alkira and Lux's new camp, and had returned home when he found that Votaru's old one was deserted.

---

"Those two things usually seem to go hand in hand, don't they..?" She grumbled, hugging her knees softly as she watched the other bat in thought. "I'm just hoping he'll give up soon."

"Ooh! Like nightmares!" Najara piped up.

"You had me worried you ran into those hard skinned creatures again" his mother said sighing in relief. "Breakfast is ready anyway eat up you two"

~

"Yes like nightmares. But like magic you have some control over what your dream shall be about"

Votaru nodded. "If he doesn't I'll put an end to him"

"I'm afraid I cannot join the two of you at the moment. I have some business to attend to with my advisors." The chief said, giving his mate a soft kiss on the forehead before heading toward the door. "I will eat when I return." With that, he spread his wings and was gone into the rain.
Pach huffed quietly, moving to sit on the floor once he had grabbed his breakfast. "Mother," he said between a mouthful of food. "Do you ever miss your old life?"

---

"Are you sure that's the wiser decision?" Alkira asked cautiously. "If the rest of his colony finds out that you had killed him... You have about a good thousand ghost bats pissed off at you.."

"The only thing I miss out of my old life was your half brother.... I wish you could have grown up with him pach. I don't know if that blasted shaman killed him or not...." His mother burst  into tears.  "No he has to be alive. Oh god let him please be somewhere safe."

~

"Id take them all on if I could. They're the reason my mother isn't around anymore, the reason I don't know if she's dead or not. The reason that constantly tormented by that idiotic son of the chief!" He said  tears starting to flow down his cheeks.

Pach didn't seem phased by her sudden emotional turmoil, likely because he knew the truth. He kept eating in silence, staring forward now. He had no intention of telling his mother of his half-brother's whereabouts, not just yet, anyway. 

--- 

Alkira frowned, slowly lowering her ears back as Votaru burst into tears. Slowly, she rested her hand on his back, unsure of how to console the other bat. "..I'm sorry, Votaru.." She murmured. "...I wish there was a way I could help you find your mother."

Votaru looked to her. "Mom always told me one step at a time... First we take back my colony... The next will be to start looking for my mother." He blushed a little bit her hand on his back was soothing but at the same time he wasn't sure how to react

~

His mother sniffled. Walking to her son. "Pach if your father comes home before I get back tell him I was out for errands" she said flying out the door and to the one place where she would be at peace. The forest

Alkira nodded to him, a smile coming to her muzzle as his spirits seemed to have lifted ever so slightly. When she saw that he was blushing, she couldn't help but blush as well and quickly recoiled her hand. "So. Um.." She coughed softly, "What should we do now? Besides waiting out the rain?"

--- 

Pach watched her leave, eyeing his mother suspiciously as she disappeared into the jungle. Allowing a small buffer in time, he took off after her, following her curiously.

Votaru thought for a moment. "Hmmm I don't know"

Lux smirked. "Now what's to do on a rainy day. I could use a cat nap"

~

The fruit bat flew in the rain till she stopped on a very large tree landing on it's branches. Her ears twitched. "Pach I know your following me"

Alkira rolled her eyes, "Both you and Najara are far too lazy." She laughed, slowly standing and stretching her legs and wings. "We could go down to the river and bathe. Though it'd have to be with our clothes on.."

---

Pach grumbled softly, landing next to her once she made him aware that she knew of his presence. "What are you doing?" He huffed, raising a brow at her. "I thought you said you were running errands, mother?"

"An excuse so your father won't worry. I always come out here. It's the only place I actually feel peaceful." She explained to her son. "I get so emotionally stressed. And latly I can help but think the gods are trying to tell me something."

~

Lux smiled. "I have a simple solution if privacy is an issue."

"Let me guess some magic thing that can keep is from seeing eachother while seperating us?" Votaru said

"Close but it's not magic it's technology at work"

"I think your stress is starting to make you delusional, mother." Pach said bluntly. "You know father doesn't like you to leave the colony territory."

--- 

Alkira stared, "You are aware that you're speaking gibberish to us, correct?"

"Correction he doesn't want me out of colony territory with him or someone he trusts to watch me" she said. She smiled a little. " you know I lived out here a long time ago. Your father and I"

~

Lux sighed. "It's like a curtain for a door. You close it so you don't want to be seen. I have a device that can mimic that"

Votaru looked to alkira. "Is he always this crazy?"

"When?" Pach asked slowly, clearly confused. "Before dad was chief?"

---

Alkira nodded, "I'm afraid so." she murmured, flashing Lux a quick grin. "C'mon, cat. Why don't you just show us already?"

"He and I were orphans we never knew our parents." She said. "We went our seperate ways and were picked up by the colony's. I didn't know if your father was even alive... He stopped a weird shaman from taking me back then. I went to get help and collapsed. I thought he was gone. But the gods brought him back to me

~

Lux wasn't there well he was but he was behind the certain with Najara. "See"

Votaro looked shocked. "What sorcery is this!"

"Why haven't I ever heard this story before?" Pach huffed, folding his arms.

--

Alkira stared in surprise, but the expression was quickly replaced with one that seemed slightly irritated. "Wait a minute." She grumbled, stepping around to look over at him. "You mean you've had this thing the whole time? We could've used this to keep Pach at bay!"

"No I've been working on a device fore that.its close but I still need a few parts" lux said

Votaru looked to him. Just looking at lux confused him. "Your half hard skinned creature... Why is that"

"It's a long story... One I wish I could forget" he went silent.

~ 

"Because even as a child you wouldn't listen to me.... You never showed me any respect. You only saw your father. And he couldn't tell you because he was usually busy." She looked to her son leaning against the trunk of the tree. "You use to ask him 'when is mommy coming home?' I would be cooking in the kitchen. Listening to your father trying to explain that I was your mother. It broke my heart how my baby boy didn't think I was his mother..."

"It's not like we don't have time to kill." Alkira sighed, gently stretching her legs again as she took a seat once more. She remembered what he had told he before, about how his family was ripped apart by death, how he nearly died and was patched back together again. He didn't elaborate much on the last of it, though.

--

"And how could I?" A growl rose in his throat, and his icy eyes glared into hers. "You're the one who made me into this... hybrid! Only half a ghost bat.." Pach's fur bristled angrily, and he looked down at his claws. "It's shameful, having your blood running through me. Having damned fruit bat as a mother.."

His mother looked to him. " you shouldn't be ashamed of where you come from my son" she said walking past him. " Least of all who your family is. You and your father are my family. And I wouldn't trade that for the world." She  spread her wings. "Think about it pach family is all you have."

~

Lux sighed. "I'm gonna run and see what robots I can find. Try not to get into trouble" he said to Najara

Votaru looked at them quizzically. "Row bots? "

Naturu was just as confused