Raptor Reborn
By
DragonLady of Avalon

A/N: I have GOT to learn to stop coming up with stories before I finish others.

-_- On the other hand, have any of you ever gone to sleep and woken up with a fully-formed storyline? Yet another cut from the same cloth as Scorpion.

If all we ever see or seem is but a dream within a dream, then who is sleeping and who is waking, and what would happen, should the dreamer awake?

***

Sable crouched low in the bushes, keeping his piercing blue eyes firmly on Pack Leader, who lingered near the tree they had felled the previous Lights-Out. Pack leader kept her eyes on the sky as she lingered near the base of the fallen tree, where its roots stuck into the air as it leaned against another member of its pack. She waited for the sky to open again, for the prey to rain from above.

It was her plan. Not much of The Pack wanted to be stared at by prey anymore through the invisible barrier. And anything with a beating heart that was not a member of *this* pack was prey, including those that brought the prey they were allowed to eat, the small feathery things that ran about squawking when they fell until Pack Leader led the charge.

Sable was the juvenile, the baby of the group, having just been taken by the prey from the nesting grounds to the hunting grounds. Pack Leader had taken an immediate interest in him. He was smart, small, but strong. What he lacked in size, Sable more than made up for in brains.

It had been Pack Leader's idea to get out through the opening in the sky, but it was Sable that came up with how. By knocking down a tree with the lights were gone, and doing it in such a way that it leaned against one of its brothers, The Pack had learned they could walk up it, to the slits in the sky where the food came from.

They had but to follow the scent, and they wouldn't be stared at anymore. Staring was bad, it was a challenge. Prey should run from its betters, not stare at it and make challenge.

When Pack Leader led The Pack through the sky, they would be free to teach their prey its place. That was what they did, after all. They were the mightiest of hunters.

Swift, agile, there was no place they couldn't reach. The extent of their sickle-claws knew no bounds. Their reflective scales were much more effective than even the finest of chameleon skins. They were solid muscle, bone, tooth, and claw. They were scarcely bigger than turkeys.

They were the mighty Velociraptors.

Sable's mirrorlike blue scales and fine feathers had turned deep green in the underbrush. There were places where the lights and plants made the scales stay the same color, so that the prey could see him, but he wasn't there now. He was in a reclusive spot, covered by plants so that he couldn't be seen.

Not until it was too late. Not until Pack Leader gave her signal.

The Sky buzzed to life, lowering its middle to the ground to let loose its bounty. No water fell from the sky like happened every few ours to water the trees and the pools, it was meat.

When the first prey hit the ground, Pack Leader chirped her warning not to eat yet, but to chase and play and make it appear so. Food was coming in so much like they had never seen, they could wait a little longer.

While the prey was busy tossing the squawking, flapping prey to The Pack, much to the delight of the herd of prey outside The Barrier, Pack Leader crawled her way up the tree, hooking her foreclaws into the wood to catch her balance when her rearclaws wouldn't be sufficient.

The prey Outside saw. They clapped and cheered and made loud, annoying sounds of delight.

Sable growled. A female was watching him, a soil-haired female with soil-ish eyes. She had spent a lot of time challenging him, and Sable didn't understand why. He was not trying to harm her eggs or fledglings, was not intruding upon her Pack's territory Outside of The Barrier, and was not challenging her mate. Nor did it seem she wanted to become his.

Sable turned away from the female, intent on his task.

When Pack Leader took the first bite, then and only then could The Pack follow her lead and attack. And when they did, nothing would stand in their way.

Prey is inherently stupid and talks too much.

Pack Leader snarled, the signal to get ready.

One of the prey giving away food turned to her and made a sound of amusement and apparently tried to give her a hand-out, denying her a chance to hunt for herself.

Since she was in no way intending to become this creature's mate, she took it as an insult.

In one single instant, all that was right with the world suddenly went un-right. Prey screamed, The Pack screamed, even the trees seemed to be screaming. And Sable was caught right up in the middle of it, biting anything that didn't seem to be Pack and trying to keep from injuring anything that didn't seem to be Prey.

He was hungry, this was his feeding time. And he was missing it so that they could Escape, and by golly he was going to escape and grab his meal on the run.

Once or twice, Sable found himself staring at the prey from Outside, more specifically, at the female who had challenged him. She was making eyewater and looked justifiably and rightfully frightened.

Good. Very, very good.
He was on his way up the tree that Pack Leader had dashed up with most of The Pack at her heels when the loud sounds started. Loud, painful sounds, like when the prey from Outside rapped on The Barrier.

Sable snarled. All the more reason.

He stopped and sniffed the air as he ran down that tunnel that was just beyond the Sky. He knew that scent, it was his leader, his teacher. And she was hurt, smelling of blood.

Sable had seen two males fight once. One did not get up and smelled of blood. Prey covered in shiny silver scales, like his own but less the color of the Sky and upper Inner Barrier, had come to get the losing male. Later they came for the winning male. Neither came back.

Gently, almost tenderly, Sable knelt by Pack Leader's side and nuzzled her, chirping at her to get up.

No, he was begging.

There was a thing sticking out of her hip. It wasn't a thing like Sable had ever seen. It was the color of glare on The Barrier and a darker shade of the color of his scales. Hard like a rock, it seemed to almost be attached to her, or maybe embedded inside her like a tooth in meat. Perhaps it had claws that had gone inside her, holding it close?

Either way, Pack Leader wouldn't get up and a new Pack Leader would have to be chosen from The Pack's youngest and strongest. But the ceremonial fighting would have to wait until they were free, and until then, there was no order, only chaos.

The Pack was scattered all around and those loud sounds were everywhere. Sable just wanted out. The noises bothered him and the sooner he found quiet, the better. He would find his Pack where it was quiet and comfortable. Then order would be restored, and a new Pack Leader would be chosen. Maybe even him, if he was strong enough, but more then likely the older females would fight. Older females are wise because most often they have seen fledglings through times with no water or prey.

Funny, though. Since his own hatching, Sable had seen no fledglings.

Sable bid his beloved leader good-bye, nuzzling her for a final time, and started running again. He was fast, a lot faster than many of the larger, older ones. He hoped his speed would be fast enough.

There were no trees here, it was like being in the dirt, only everything was shiny and scale-like. He didn't see how something that could make *him* prey could get in here, and that was very, very good.

Sable was running, sniffing the air to find out where his Pack had been and where Prey was. They were heading toward the food smells, because food smells are very, very, very good, even if sometimes they attract things that can make The Pack prey.

He stopped, chittering and cocking his head.

There was prey in his way, and it was several times his size. He couldn't take it down himself, a juvenile, barely out of fledglinghood, and need his Pack. He called for them, but most did not answer. The ones that did called for his help.

The prey stood on two legs. It had long arms and no visible claws and was holding a large tree in its long arms. The tree wasn't normal. It was shiny.

Sable wasn't sure if he liked the sight of this.

The tree made a loud sound, almost like it was roaring, but it was cut very short. He saw a flash of light, then something struck Sable and sent him flying backwards, crying in pain. Pain was making its way up his leg, spreading throughout the rest of his body, and this was very bad.

Before Sable fell asleep, he thought of Pack Leader, laying on her side in the tunnel, smelling of blood, and not getting up.

***

Some time later, Sable felt very bad. The staring prey from Outside the Barrier had not been in some time. Many of The Pack had been returned to the hunting grounds, but not all. Some of the older ones spoke of death, where you cease to be Pack and begin being prey for many kinds of things.

Sable felt very, very bad. He was crying, curled in his little patch in the bushes. Sometimes the older females brought him food and an older male would make sure nothing came to make prey out of him. Yes, The Pack knew how to care for its own.

The Sky opened again, and Sable could hear the prey talking as they handed out food.

"So is this safe?"

"Yes, we think so. We made the trees sturdier so they can't knock them down anymore, and no we're armed and wearing chain mail."

"So I noticed. It's hot and heavy."

"You get used to it."

"Yeah, right, Sir Strong-a-Lot. Anyway, what happened? Does anyone know?"

"Apparently, Scarab led an attack, running up a tree and taking the previous feeders by surprise."

"That's comforting."

"Yeah, really."

"What's wrong with Sable down there?"

"Who?"

"Sable. The juvenile blue one."

"Blue? He looks more silver."

"Most of them have metallic scales. He looks pretty sick."

"He might be having a bad reaction to the sedatives. We should tell someone, the park reopens in six months."

Sable had gone quiet, having been told by the males that came to watch him that quiet is sometimes very, very good. The prey was walking on the ground, covered in shiny scales and unafraid. This was bad behavior of prey.

The Pack didn't attack them. They knew this was bad and skirted around their edges, watching with wide-eyed curiosity.

One of the long-armed prey reached down for Sable. Sable tried to bite it, but he was slow and missed. The prey seized him and Sable screamed, fearing that he would himself be prey before he had time to mate and have eggs to carry on his lineage.

A large male jumped at the prey, but they hit him with one of the shiny metal trees and knocked him away, then went back to the sky, carrying Sable.

He was tucked into the prey's arms, warm and oddly comforted. His feet here in the air, tucked up by his chest and his toes slightly curled. Sable yawned, being unwell made him sleepy.

The prey gently tickled his foot, cooing softly to him.

"Stop it, it's a predator, not a baby."

"But they're so cute when they're little!"

"They're Velociraptors. They're all little!"

Sable thought of what it was like when he was born. He had been carried in warm, soft hands and nipped at them affectionately as he was fed his first meal of partially chewed, warm prey.

Then he realized he had done something no one else in his Pack had done before.

He had remembered. Really, really remembered.

Then he had realized.