A.N: At last, the conclusion! Thank you everyone for reading, and until the next adventure!

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"Here I am, a bundle of past recollections and future dreams, knotted up in a reasonably attractive bundle of flesh. I remember what this flesh has gone through; I dream of what it may go through."
―Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

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With my long strides it was easy to catch up to the young yautja. Did I feel some sort of interest in his well-being because I freed him? Just curious to see how far he'd make it? I didn't know. Maybe I was still reeling from the realization of everything and didn't want to be alone. So when he whirled on me, snarling, I didn't know how to react.

He stood with his masked head lowered like a bull about to charge. When he roared, I pulled in a breath and roared back. In the ringing silence we sized each other up, as if waiting to see who'd make the first move. I shook off a sudden sense of déjà vu, trying to focus. Was he taught not to retreat from a Queen? Or was there dishonor in retreating? I didn't mind waiting. Hell, after one hundred and fifty-four years, I was used to it.

After an undetermined stretch of time, the yautja finally spun around and stalked off.

I resumed following. At first he kept looking over his shoulder and growling his displeasure. When it became clear I would neither leave nor attack, he ignored me. Sheer grit kept him upright, but persistence could only carry so far. When he sat down heavily at the base of a ginormous rock formation hours later, I guessed there'd be no traveling for awhile. I kept my distance. The yautja wanted nothing to do with me, but I could hear how sluggish his blood flowed in his veins. He would get weaker if he didn't get fluids.

What are you doing? Leave the damn thing alone, a small voice said. Just let him die. You've done enough.

I left the rocks and loped away, scanning the electromagnetic fields around for other life. Despite the world's barrenness I'd seen creatures scampering in the canyons and cliffs. They appeared a cross between rodent and mountain goat and were far too nimble to catch, their big ears twitching whenever they saw me. I bet they tasted delicious.

Luck was on my side that night when I caught wind of blood. I followed the scent and found some six-legged dog things harrowing a newly-killed rodent goat. That would do. I bulled my way on the scene and a few snarls scared the reluctant predators off.

The young hunter was still there when I returned. He rose to his feet as I neared with a mean-sounding growl. When I was close enough I threw the animal at his feet. He didn't touch it, snarl tapering to a rattle. He looked tempted to throw it back. I half wanted him to. Then I'd eat it myself. When the yautja remained a stubborn bastard and wouldn't touch the meat, I let him be, moving to the other side of the the rock formation. I lowered my body, grunting. The numerous bullet wounds stung like phantom wasps, more annoying than anything else. I wasn't worried about the actual bullets. By now they'd been disintegrated. I gingerly leaned my head against the rocks, careful of the grenade wounds.

I was still settling when I heard twin pressurized hisses. I went quiet, concentrating. I saw through the rock to watch the yautja remove the bio-mask. There was a period of silence as he surveyed the landscape, tusks clacking. Pleased with what he saw—or didn't see—he crouched down and brought the animal close. After examining it, he pressed his face into the soft belly, mandibles latching. He drank as much as he ate, slurping and crunching until only bones, pelt, and unwanted viscera remained.

Satisfied, I stopped watching. The blood would help, but he'd still need to drink water. I found a few clean puddles scattered about the canyons, but the geothermic nature of the planet rendered most of the drinking water into sulfuric pools. Yautja taken care of, I turned my thoughts inward.

One hundred and fifty-four years. The more I repeated the number, the more insane it sounded. A century and a half. Had I truly been a prisoner that long? I examined my four un-aging hands in front of me, tasting the movement of their electrons. I must've read that date wrong. Must've switched a number. I hung onto the thought for a moment before dropping it. I could play sudoku all I wanted, but it wouldn't change reality. Neither could I change the fact everyone I'd ever known was long dead.

Wasn't that what we always said, Sarah? New year, new me? I thought. When I smiled, nothing was funny. Or maybe everything was.

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It was early dawn when the yautja went on the move again. Rather than continuing towards the wrecked mothership, he veered deeper among the rocks. He seemed to understand dehydration would kill him faster than I would. I didn't go after him, content to listen from afar. His bio-mask must've helped, because it wasn't long before he found small, hidden pools of fresh water. He removed his mask to bring handfuls to his mouth. Even from my distance I could sense his relief.

As he quenched his thirst my mind wandered. What was I doing, waiting after a yautja pup? I needed to get my own shit together. Needed to figure a plan. But broaching the subject of my new world order seemed too enormous a task. It was too vast, too unknown. I didn't know how the hell to approach it.

I was so tangled in my own head I didn't realize the yautja was already loping away. Well, at least he knows what he wants, I thought as I heaved myself to my feet. Lucky bastard.

Like before, it took no time to reach him. The yautja glanced my way once before pretending I didn't exist. He didn't even growl. I supposed that was progress.

By mid-afternoon we neared the same rocky knoll I first climbed when escaping the yautja ship. The hunter stopped on the ledge, rattling almost too softly to hear. I reached the same ledge and peered out. The crashed mothership stretched like a whale carcass on an ocean floor, incongruous against its surroundings. In time sands would cover it all. Already my imprisonment felt like a nightmare that was never real.

I stole a glance at the hunter. We were the closest since I freed him from the lab, but unless he was pretending bravado, he didn't seem to care. I listened to his heartbeat. There was no need for me to follow anymore; I knew he could make it. Our short journey together was at an end. No more crutches, I thought, wheeling around. Get your head out your ass and stop feeling sorry for yourself. It was time to explore some canyons. Get lost. Maybe find myself.

I hadn't taken six steps when I heard a low rumble of wheels. At first I thought I was imagining things and kept going, but it soon the sound grew louder. I paused, lips curling. Had Weyland-Yutani already responded to the research lab's distress calls? No, that didn't make sense. The timeline was too short. And even if they did, why were they traveling to the crashed mothership?

It was about a quarter of a mile out before I sensed it. It was an LTV, but rougher built and open-concept. Humans perched along the sides like leeches, hooting. There were ten of them, all wearing mix-match clothing and covered in military gear. They seemed more like mercenaries than Company employees. Maybe they had a contract with the Company to aid the lab? It wasn't unheard of. Or maybe they were drawn into the fallen mothership like buzzards to a carcass. Not unheard of either.

Whatever the reason, they were coming our way.

The yautja behind me seemed to notice and growled deep in his chest. He tapped some buttons on his wrist computer and suddenly the electrons around him went haywire. To me he was wearing a buzzing coat, but he'd be invisible to anyone who saw in the visible spectrum. Smart move. There'd be no cover between him and the mothership, just wide open plains. I looked at the approaching LTV and its weapons. Unlike the guns I'd encountered at the lab, these looked nasty. I wanted nothing to do with them. I moved off.

At first I thought the humans would keep heading towards the mothership, but they soon swung in a large arc, coughing up grit and dust as they changed course. I kicked into a run, hoping to reach the canyons and rocks mazes, but it was foolish. I'd never reach them in time. Whoops and hollers filled the air as they closed in.

For its clunky design, the LTV was surprisingly nimble. It sidled sideways as I lunged forward, completely avoiding my snapping bite. I caught a mouthful of bullets as they wheeled away. I shook my head and charged. If they were looking to pick a fight, they had one. Suddenly they shot a bolas-type contraption at my legs. I kept my stance wide and the wire wrapped around only one. Even as I screeched at them, my thoughts went cold. There was a hundred reasons why they would want to capture me, and hundred reasons why I couldn't let them.

I launched myself in the air, jumping with all my force. I landed on the hood of the LTV, buckling it under my weight. Their whoops turned to shouts as I tore into the front row, ripping and crunching through bodies. I threw one as if he were a beanbag. A powerful bang! exploded and I fell back, howling. One of my thoracic limbs had been blown off. The chitin around was damaged as well, but I muscled through the pain. Their vehicle stuttered and belched smoke. It was dead.

A woman climbed to the top railing of the LTV and aimed a weapon I'd never seen before. I ducked and showed her my flank, thinking it was another grenade or souped-up smartgun. What blasted me was terrifyingly cold. I shrieked as it coated my length with freezing force. I stumbled, gasping at the biting chill. Weaponized liquid nitrogen. When I was at the Company it'd been nothing but a theory, a working concept. I heard her fire again, this time aiming for my legs. She struck true and I crashed to the ground, joints frozen and unable to move.

I went to rip out my throat with my claws, but hesitated. In that moment of indecision, the remaining humans blasted every inch of my body with more weaponized nitrogen until I was frozen. I couldn't move, could barely sense more than a few dozen feet around me. The pain from the cold settled into a bone-numbing chill. I couldn't decide if I was burning or not. This was worse than when I was with the yautja. In the moment I'd vowed and prepared for, I'd been too weak to do it.

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A ship eventually arrived. I listened as I was hooked by cables and winched into the loading dock. The little I could sense showed a dark, messy interior. Empty glass bottles and discarded food packs bounced against my carapace as the ship took off. Like the LTV, this ship had a rough, paramilitary feel. How the hell did these people get their hands on weaponized liquid nitrogen? Or knew where to look for me? I closed my inner vision. I just needed to focus on getting out of this mess.

Humans came and went, routinely re-administering the nitrogen to keep me locked in place. One in particular lingered in her visits. My senses were limited, but I could tell it was the woman who first brought me down. She normally stayed above on the catwalk, but now she moved on the lower level.

She crouched by my head. She didn't touch me, but then again, my carapace was so cold it would've seared her skin.

"You beautiful monster," she said. "Sorry things ended up like this between us."

A man who overheard laughed. "Don't get attached, Kira," he said, moving closer.

"I'm not," the woman replied, but she didn't sound convincing. "It's just sad, that's all."

"Why? It's never stopped you before. Hell, you fired first."

The woman shrugged. "That's what I'm paid for, aren't I?"

"Damn straight." There was a pause as the man stood besides her. "Though I don't know how much we'll get. I don't think many pit bosses will want her all broken up like this."

"That wound on her tail looks old, but it looks like a grenade did that to her crest. Recently, too."

The man grunted. "Did you see the lab? Bet you a thousand credits they did that to her."

"Speaking of credits, she's made us pay, too. Fang and Rodrìguez bought it, and it doesn't look like Adams is gonna make it either."

"That's for sure."

They both fell quiet, maybe thinking of the deaths I'd caused. Who knew. I couldn't read minds.

"Don't get attached," he suddenly repeated, moving away. "She's supposed to be our meal ticket for the next quarter."

Then he was gone. After awhile, the woman left as well.

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The mercenaries must've found a buyer, because strong vibrations signaled atmospheric entry. As the ship jostled and shuddered I replayed all the decisions leading me to this point. It was a useless exercise in self-pity. What was done was done. The next time I was free, I was either killing myself or everyone else around.

The ship gave one last shake before falling quiet. We'd landed.

Eventually I was dragged outside. I couldn't sense much beyond my frozen form, but what I could gave the impression of a military base. I didn't think it was the Company's. This place felt unkempt, smaller. Maybe some rogue government was looking for a foothold in the defense contract sector and I was their way in. An underground fighting pit sounded better. When I was human they'd been illegal, destroyed whenever located. At least there I could've had a chance to escape, or fight my way out. Instead, now I'll probably be chopped in tiny pieces in some backwater two-bit scientist's lab. My thoughts shifted. Maybe they would forget to kill me and take me apart until blood loss and agony did me in. Maybe I'd wake up in a floating jar, forever flash-frozen and trapped until I went mad. Hoo-rah.

I was pulled into a makeshift building and left in a small alcove. The ceiling was a kind of metal sheeting. The floors, old concrete. Industrial fans whirled lazily overhead. A generator kept several guns of liquid nitrogen misting over me in regular bursts. But unlike on the mercenary ship, there wasn't a constant flow of humans. If anything, I felt like an afterthought.

I overheard some workers as they tweaked the equipment.

". . . fuckin creepy. I hate how it looks at you."

"The hell you talkin bout? It got no eyes."

"Y'mean you can't feel it lookin at you? 'Cause I can!"

The other grunted. "Just hurry up. It'll be dead soon anyway."

Stupid little minds in stupid little bodies. I hated them.

I waited to die, wishing they'd get on with it. The nitrogen was just a new discomfort in a long line of pain; at this point death was preferable. I tried to retreat inward as I'd done on the yautja ship, but couldn't concentrate enough to float away. When the workers left, I fantasized eating them.

I was still wondering how they'd taste when there was a thud of a heavy body striking the ground. Clicking footsteps approached. The generator continued to hum, but the gun nozzles were suddenly directed away from me, hitting the walls instead. I listened to the buzzing electrons in disbelief.

The young yautja from before crept forward, vicious blade in hand. He must've been a stowaway on the mercenary ship, waiting for the perfect moment. Even as I sensed him use the knife to slice the netting around me, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The yautja were many things, but never saviors. There was a sudden rush of anger. Even if he was invisible to humans, what he was doing was still suicidal. He should be planets away, trying to find a way home. Not here, not with me, doing whatever the fuck this was. Even if this was a life for a life, it wasn't worth it.

When he was finished cutting through the netting, he crouched by my head, tresses slithering against his shoulders. You idiot, now you're going to die too, I thought. He made an aggressive motion with his hand and growled, as if he wanted to hit me. He didn't, as if knowing I was still too cold to touch. But not for long, I was probably all in my head, but I already felt warmer. I tried moving. I could snap something if I wasn't thawed enough, but I couldn't wait until humans returned and noticed something was wrong. We were fortunate we weren't escaping a Weyland-Yutani facility. There'd be camera and sensors everywhere there. This facility didn't seem to have any, or if they did, someone was taking a long coffee break.

With a colossal effort, I cracked upright. One of my dorsal spikes splintered, but the pain was inconsequential. I kept to large motions, not wanting to accidentally shatter my wrists or other joints. The ambient warmth helped, and before long I was confident I wasn't going to break anything important. I was in the middle of climbing to my legs when there was a gasp. I swung my head towards the entrance. A human stood there, eyes wide.

She fumbled for a moment before pressing a radio to her mouth. "Harvey, get in here! The Que—!"

She fell with a choking gurgle, the yautja's knife buried in her throat. She was dead before she hit the ground. The radio rolled away, chattering.

". . . zzt . . . -ain? Say again? Wha-zzt-happen . . ."

I forced my body into motion, crashing through the walls. They folded like tin cans, crumpling under my feet. Sunlight blazed. People gaped as I thundered past, one man dropping his coffee. I ignored them all, making a blind break for the perimeter. I soon skidded to a stop in front of a tall fence. The air sizzled with electricity. It made my vision dance in flashes of white, near blinding. One touch would fry even me. The thick jungle was just outside the high voltage fence, just out of reach.

"Goddammit!" I whirled around and extended my inner mouth. The fence sounded like it continued on, probably surrounding the whole compound. Unless the electricity was turned off, there was no way out.

A raging howl towards the main base snatched my attention. It was the yautja. He was surrounded. Somehow he'd lost function of his invisibility cloak and was now fighting the crowd, a beast among men. He used several humans as meat shields whenever a marine sprayed his direction with bullets. When the firing stopped he used punches and kicks to break a wide swath of destruction around him. Everyone was shouting orders but no one was following anything. It was chaos.

There was no thought as I rushed in, roaring. Humans scattered like minnows as I entered the fray. I bit and tore whatever I could reach, aiming to sow maximum damage. Bullets peppered my sides, tearing up still-healing wounds until it felt I was wearing a shawl of pain. Someone brought out a smartgun and blasted my way. Pain ignited like a grassfire and I choked, stumbling as one of my legs became swiss cheese. I lurched and found myself by the yautja's side.

Whether by accident or by design, a ring now formed around the yautja and me. There were now at least thirty humans left, all in various states of dress and weaponry. Groans of the dying filled the air. Sheer stubbornness kept me upright as I took in the grim reality. The math wasn't in our favor. There was simply too many and I was weakened, less than before. I looked down at the yautja. He was sporting his own array of bullet wounds, blood running down his abdomen and thighs in rivulets. He seemed to survey the scene and arrive to the same conclusion I had. After a guttural sound, he began taping at his wrist computer.

There was moment of understanding of what he was about to do. I pressed claws to my neck, prepared this time.

Before I could rip my own throat out, a sudden energy blast tore the air and turned two humans into meat chunks. Everyone stared, shocked, as viscera fell like obscene rain. It wasn't until another was eviscerated before the humans devolved into chaos. Three new yautja removed their camouflage and threw themselves in the panicking mob, weapons flashing. The young yautja stopped the countdown and joined in the fight with renewed vigor. Putting pressure on my mangled leg hurt like hell, but I did my part, snapping at people who ran too near.

Who knew how long the bloodbath lasted. Seconds? Minutes? It wasn't long before the four yautja and I were the only creatures left alive standing in carnage. Blood covered the ground. Flies were already starting to buzz around dismembered limbs. I eyed the new yautja. They were all clearly older, experienced hunters, covered in skulls and intricate armor. They could kill or capture me if they wanted.

Except they weren't interested in me at all. The lead yautja strode over the the young one and punched him in the face, causing the bio-mask to fly off. The younger staggered but kept his footing, blinking hard. Then the larger yautja pulled him close and they embraced. When they pulled apart the larger cuffed him again, chattering behind his own bio-mask. They exchanged guttural words before the leader pushed him towards the three others. The older yautja took turns shoving and roughing up the youth, but the abuse lacked malice.

Then the lead yautja turned to me. There was something familiar about him, something I couldn't define. I tensed, unsure what to expect. What use could they have with a broken old Queen? I prepared for one last attack when he reached up and wrote the letters of a name long past in the air.

I stared at the impossibility, unsure if I believed.

The yautja didn't move when I leaned closer. There was more to him now, decked in more skulls and carrying fancier armor. His tresses were longer. But his electrons became clear, and when he removed his bio-mask, I recognized that catlike gaze. His tusks were longer, almost curving. A fierce old scar scrawled across his forehead, the mark of an old opponent. You've grown, I thought. When he moved, others now gave ground.

He repeated the motions in the air, intention unmistakable.

I shook my head even before I realized what I was doing. "No," I said, my conviction surprising me. "Not anymore."

His hand dropped. He didn't understand. Or maybe he did.

I nodded towards the direction of the young yautja. "Your son's an idiot," I said.

He glanced at the youth and chittered. I had once thought to kill one of his sons before turning on him. Now we had saved each other lives. The world's all gone mad, I thought.

"What are you going to do now? I'm no use to you," I said, tensing. It didn't matter if he didn't understand my screeching hisses; my hunter or not, I would never be a slave again.

One of the yautja barked something, perhaps a similar question. My hunter responded with a string of growls. The other quieted. My hunter studied me, mandibles flexing. Then he lifted an arm and shot a blast of energy at the fence. It short-circuited, sending a cascade of explosions through the stands until the whole thing turned dark. It was dead.

Freedom. Suddenly my mangled leg didn't hurt as much, my sides, not as pained. I instantly lumbered my way to the perimeter. I pushed my way through the wiring and found myself standing before wilderness. It wasn't a dream, or a joke. This was real. It was a panorama of life, unknown and vast. I could hide here for years untold. Find peace. Eventually build a hive if I wanted to. I paused and looked back. Only my hunter and his son watched, the others more interested in the dead bodies around them.

My hunter raised his hand, perhaps in farewell.

Thank you, I thought, then disappeared into the jungle and was gone. There was no tragedy in that.

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-fin-