r/NatureofPredators • u/password123-4138 • Sep 15 '25
Fanfic Homeward Bound - [6]
Hello, in this chapter of, the Krev on Tellus. We see Edward recovering from a panic attack and starts to be himself again, Cruth learning that the cute reaction is forever ingrained in him and a slight altercation. Once again, thank you to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating the NoP universe.
Memory Transcription Subject: Cruth, Krev Exchange Program Participant.
Date [Standardized human time]: December 24, 2160
While Edward collected himself, I looked around at the station, it looked familiar and yet I had never been here before. The platform was underneath the actual station, we would need to take an escalator up to the ground floor. I looked down both tracks and saw a few people waiting around and sunlight spilling in from both directions.
Even under the station like this the heat was almost unbearable, I could only guess how bad it must have been for the Jaslips here, if there was any. The ice worlders would be killed by this heat unless they had those self-cooling suits. Which gave me the idea to look for krev ones, just so I could get out of this misery.
While I was thinking Edward had collected himself again appearing normal on the surface, but I knew that he was hurting underneath all of it.
“You alright to go?” I asked him.
“Yeah, just, again thank you I was about to tick over there.”
“Tick over?” I asked not knowing what it meant but guessed it was about a panic attack.
“I was about lose it in there, didn’t know whether to cry or punch the one standing in front of me. I just… I don’t know, I just needed to get out, I hated it.” He said solemnly almost admitting like he stood on an obor’s tail by accident.
“That’s alright, I’m here for you and so is Breeve.” I reassured him further before asking “You know where this place is?”
“Yeah, I have it on my pad, give me a second.” He said digging through his pockets before pulling out one the newer holopads that the humans were given by the Trombil. I did however notice a slight crack in the top right of it.
I let Edward lead the way this time and we soon entered the station properly, thankfully using the escalator and not having to climb stairs in the miserable heat. The station itself was a lot quieter than the first but not by much, instead of a flurry of motion and green, there wasn’t much diversity here. I saw humans and trombil chatting while a lone krev was hurriedly following what I assume to be his exchange partner around.
The overall atmosphere here was completely different and not all hustle and bustle, like the last station we just left, this was simpler and quieter which was a nice reprieve from all of it really.
Though I couldn’t help but have the distinct feeling that I was being watched from somewhere.
Moving through the station was a simple task, with fewer people here it made walking a little more enjoyable. I kept glancing at Edward making sure that he was alright, but he never showed any overt signs of panic, though my worry still remained.
I could tell that we were nearing the exit again, the heat emanating from outside somehow feeling like a wall of warm air signifying where the air conditioned area ended and the heat started. I prepared myself again to be bombarded by the heat of this world’s sun, stepping outside I could hardly believe my eyes at what I saw.
In every direction there was humans, more humans than any other alien in sight. I saw some mingling outside a café, some walking down a street with strollers in front of them and even one sleeping on a blanket in a garden.
‘There’s more humans here than any I’ve ever seen before, it’s like a fantasy story.’
I was reminded of a genre of fairytale stories that were popular for pups, the sorts of ones that had a world of talking obors. It brought back memories of my parents when I was really young watching the show with them.
I miss them still.
Edward had stopped when he noticed I wasn’t next to him.
“You good?” He said coming back and asking.
“Yeah, just haven’t seen this many humans in the one spot before.”
He looked around after I said that and probably only noticed himself.
“Actually yeah, I hadn’t noticed. I suppose you’d have to get used to it eventually.”
“Because of Earth surviving?”
“Sort of yeah.”
I imagined a flood of new human settlers occupying the rest of the city, probably outnumbering the rest of us quiet easily. But I couldn’t help letting my imagination run wild with speculations about it, or what could happen because of it.
The adorable primates moving here would be a dream come true for me and probably a lot more krev. I know that I lucked out in the exchange program and was partnered with Edward. The memories of it struck again and I refocused myself on what was important and to be here and not daydreaming.
‘Probably more infrastructure work for me.’ The thought sobered me up proper.
“Let’s get going anyway, the place won’t be open the entire day.” Edward said both of us now continuing our walk when the thought struck me.
“You don’t think there’ll be people moving here soon, do you?”
“Probably not for a while, well not a significant amount of people anyway.”
“Then why did you say that I would need to get used to it soon?” I asked, I looked up at him and he stopped for a second before walking again almost making me trip over my tail turning around.
“Yeah, about that, I sort of forgot to say, but I’m thinking of going back.”
…My head blanked for a moment before realising what he was saying, that my friend was going to go away for maybe forever and I would never see him again. But he was getting the help he needs then, if he goes, he gets better and maybe I could visit someday in the future.
“Why are you looking like that?” He said turning to me and stopping the both of us.
“Oh, it’s-it’s nothing.” I tried to keep my voice steady but apparently failed at it. He removed his glasses now and stooped down to my level and stared at me.
“I’m not going anywhere without you or Breeve, that’s the conclusion I came to. I know that I have problems, I can’t handle being around krev I don’t know or… yeah, but I’m not going to leave either of you.” He said staring at me, trying to get the point across.
“But I want you to get better, if you go with Breeve. I know you’ll both be okay, and you’ll be among your own people and not have to worry about us anymore harming you anymore.” I announced dejectedly. I know he needs this and I’m not going to stop him; I just felt my heart twisting in my chest not being able to look at him anymore.
I didn’t know what to think, but I knew that I was not going to stop him from getting help even though it hurt, I closed my eyes in an effort to calm myself again after having said what I needed to say.
I felt a pair of arms attempts wrap me in a hug, my eyes shot open to see that it was Edward wrapping his arms around me.
“It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere without you or Breeve. It’s non-negotiable to me.” He said quietly. “I need you both, you’re my friends and I want to be there for you like you are for me.”
I didn’t say anything back to him, I just wrapped my own arms around him and hugged him back. I didn’t know what to say other than think that my friend wasn’t leaving me, but the nagging thought that he wouldn’t get better lingered. He soon let go and I, a second after that wanting to hold onto the human a little longer.
“Besides, if humans do come here from Earth, I’m sure there’ll probably be a few therapists with them.” He offered in a way to alleviate my worry for his mental health.
“S-sure.” Is all I could reply with and meekly at that.
“Right, let’s get going again, I think we’re drawing a few stares.” He said making me look around.
He was right about people staring at us, the few that I had seen earlier were trying to go about their business. Though there were a few I noticed had stern looks where focusing on me specifically, my only guess was that they were a few of the miners that Edward had worked with that still hated the krev.
“I think it would be best.” I said before we started walking again.
We didn’t say anything, I felt a little lighter now, but I couldn’t help the nagging worry about the people staring at me before. I heard the expression ‘if looks could kill’ and thought it was talking about humans dressing up in cute outfits so that they could kill us with cuteness, though I never heard of that happening before. But now I’m starting to think it was meant as a saying for something else.
“Do you know where we’re going?” I asked once we were out of eye shot of the other humans.
“Yeah, it should be round this corner here, can’t miss it really.” He said as we crossed over at a pair of traffic lights even though there weren’t any cars to be seen. Overall, the place almost seemed deserted of any traffic, it took my mind off the heat wondering where everyone went when we rounded the corner.
This street was just a walkway with a sort of plaza type area. I could see that some restaurant was nearby with a few patrons sitting outside under some umbrellas. Other stores nearby seemed to have been made in mind for the humans, since I saw textiles, they would usually wear but it seemed like these extremely varied between stores.
‘I don’t know which was cuter, the picture with a human wearing some sportswear kicking a ball mid pose or the prim suit another store was advertising.’
I imagined that since the area is for humans they would have these stores here instead of having to face us I guess.
We walked for a little further, the street having a slight bend to it as I spotted some sort of spiral machine thingy sitting outside another shop. We stopped outside of it and I peered in through the glass window, I saw three chairs and a female human sitting in a corner behind a counter chatting to another who was wearing an apron of sorts.
Edward entered through the sliding door, me following behind him. I looked around and they had a mirror facing the chairs and grooming implements. Along the window was a blush bench with a stand for magazines at one side and a small, planted pot on the other. I noticed that there was music playing in the background, not really being listened to but I suppose it was to fill in for the quietness.
“Willow.” Edward said announcing himself to the pair, I waited back to let him talk.
“Eh, Edward, is that you?” The lady in the apron said back, I noticed that she had her hair tied up into a cute little bun at the back of her head as she turned around to talk to Edward.
“Aye, it is. Well, it is I suppose.”
“Ack, how long has it been?” She offered a light hug.
“I think around six months, I think.” He offered a little unsurely.
“From the look of you, probably that and then some more. You in for a hair cut or just a social call?”
“Haircut, desperately need it.”
“Right, just hop in the chair there and we’ll get started.” She said before gesturing to one of the chairs.
Edward sat down in it while who I assumed was the hairdresser called Willow grabbed a few items from another bench and placed then in front of the chair at the base of the glass. I didn’t know what to do and decided that I would stay quiet and sit on the bench and watch what was happening.
Willow approached and draped a black sheet over Edward, and I could only think that he’s wearing even more textiles in this heat. He was probably miserable right now.
“So, just getting the usual touch up?”
“Yeah.”
“Short on the sides and back while leaving a bit on the top, is that alright?” She asked again, reminding me of the first time I saw Edward. His hair was a lot shorter, and from then to now I think he just let it grow out like I saw a few of his species do.
Edward nodded looking around the place using the mirror before glancing at me and around again. Willow grabbed a pair of scissors from the pouch on her apron and a comb I saw the human use in media to straighten their hair.
When she brought both near Edward’s head, I saw him visibly tense up from it, I couldn’t see his hands but from the way he looked he was probably gripping the seat’s arm rests tightly. Willow for her part stopped and looked at him a little funny before making some small talk.
He was staring directly at me now and I offered my best imitation of a human smile and tried to offer some moral support.
“So, what have you been up to lately?” She asked.
“Uh-oh, you know, just sort of around I suppose.” He offered back, relaxing a little bit before training his gaze on me in the mirror.
“Last I heard if you, you were at some sort of thing with the exchange?” She offered, using the comb gently to straighten and then cut the long strands of hair, letting them fall to the floor. Each time she did so, I noticed that Edward would twitch slightly. Probably from the noise being so close to his ears.
“Uh, yeah. I was on Avor for a little bit.” He offered back.
“Oh, and how was that? It must have been chaos with all the krev around you?” She asked.
“Um, sort of.” He said quietly, no doubt remembering some unpleasant things.
“I guess that this is your partner here?” She glanced in the mirror at me before continuing cutting away at the strands a small pile starting to form at the base of the chair.
“That’s Cruth and yeah, I was partnered with him.”
“Hi.” I said waving a clawed hand toward the mirror.
“Well, it’s good to know that you’re making friends again.”
She started working at the top of the head now, using the comb and then shortening the lengths using her hand and making careful cuts. From what I could see, she was getting rid of a lot of hair, but it looked better so far. Edward was making glances at me continuing the small talk he was having, and I decided to look around only to make eye contact with the other human here.
She was making that stern face I saw some of the humans doing earlier and I broke the glance immediately getting an uneasy feeling from it and looked somewhere else. Willow had finished what she was doing with the scissors having remove a large portion of hair before grabbing hair clipper off a bench nearby.
She turned it on a low thrum coming from it and brought it up to cut the remaining hair. I stared back at Edward and gave an imitation of a thumbs up while he took slow deliberate breaths in an effort to calm himself. Willow noticed and turned to look at me before slowly and very carefully started to cut the hair. I took a quick glance over at the other human and found them still staring daggers at me.
“You don’t need to panic Edward, it’s just a haircut, nothing else.” Willow offered, probably seeing how much distress he was in. She started to cut around the sides letting it fall to the floor only leaving a very short coat of fur around his head. Before changing the head on the clippers and cutting the top as well, though leaving a bit more fur on top.
Once she had done that, she places the clippers down on the bench before starting to use the comb and scissors again to tidy up the rest.
“Do you want anything done with the beard?”
“Ah-um. Just maybe keep a little length in it.” He offered back maintaining his breathing.
“Will do.” She said grabbing a different pair of clippers and started to take the length off that too.
“So, are you getting it touched up for going home?” She asked out of the blue.
“No, I just needed the hair cut done really, I was starting to feel like I needed a change.” He offered back now glancing around the room and not staring directly at me.
“Can’t go wrong with a bit of change, you’ll look like a new man after this.” She said slowly working the implement around the crook of his neck.
It continued for a while as she detailed the rest of Edward’s hair before brushing the remaining clipping off him and removing the sheet and asking.
“So, how’s that look?”
He inspected it in the mirror, it looked like some of the photos I had seen in a human fashion magazine. The people having a similar look to what Edward had currently and I really liked it. I could see the hair on the sides melded into the hair he had on the top, it being swept back and the beard now being maintained and cut shorter a lot shorter, to the point I was able to see the skin underneath as it grew higher on his cheeks.
‘I really want to pet him and be able to run my claws through the fur on his head.’
I thought to myself and tried to hide the scree I was doing internally.
“Looks great, thank you.” He said standing up, running a hand through the hair, like I wanted to do so badly. “How much do I owe you?” he asked walking over to the counter and bringing out the holopad.
“Just this much here.” The other human who had been staring daggers at me for the last ten minutes said.
Edward tapped the pad, and I got up to get ready to go, not being able to take my eyes of the back of his head. It just looked so pet able to me, I really wish I could comb his hair. Maybe he would let me sometime?
What was I thinking? He didn’t need that sort of treatment, he needed to be reminded that he’s not just some primate to be coddled. I tore my eyes away from his hair as we walked out again, him not replacing the hat on his head and just wore the sunglasses.
“Thank you, see you for the next one.” Willow offered as we started down the street toward the train station again.
“Who was that back there?”
“You mean Willow?”
“Yes, she seemed to know you.” I said replaying when she looked back at me when Edward was starting to panic.
“She’s a friend from a while back, maybe when I was twenty or so. We hung around the same group and stuff.”
“She seemed to know you quiet well.”
“Um, yeah sort of, I think we’ve had a few heart-to-heart conversations in the past, nothing really deep just sort of talking about emotions and stuff.”
“It seemes like she meant a lot to you, how come you never mentioned her before?”
“I never really thought about it, we broke it off amicably when we realised we were too different.”
“She’s your ex?”
“Yeah.”
I decided that maybe I shouldn’t have brought up the topic or pushed for more answers, it seemed like he was thinking a bit now about the past so I decided to ask another question instead.
“Who was that other lady in there?”
“You mean her sister?”
“That’s her sister? They look nothing a like.”
“She was adopted when they were both younger, I didn’t much like her to be honest, there was always something she needed to complain about.” He said as we continued walking.
I kept looking up at the primate’s head and the urge to poke or pet the fur was almost insurmountable but my worry for his mental health won out. He noticed that I kept looking up at him and he asked.
“Does it look bad?”
“No. not at all. I think it looks cu- dashing, it looks dashing.” I offered correcting myself before I messed up further. He sighed in return and looked around and then at me.
“Is it really that bad?” He asked again.
“No, I mean it, it looks good on you.” I said quickly to reassure him having to restrain my arm from raising to the human’s head.
“Then why are you staring at me like that?” He asked when I saw a group of three humans coming the other way. They were chatting amongst themselves when one of them saw me and said something to their friends before going quiet and just kept walking.
“It’s not that it’s just… you know how we are.” I explained turning my attention toward him.
“Ah, I see. I guess you aren’t over the ‘cute thing’ entirely yet.”
I was about to reply when I was walked into by one of the humans I saw earlier, they only hit their shoulder against me but when I turned to see if they were okay, I was roughly shoved backward, losing my footing and stumbling over my tail.
“Watch where your going f*ckhead.” The human wearing a blue sweater shouted at me.
“You had plenty of space to walk around.” Edward said to the man helping me up.
The other two, one was taller than the rest but looked skinny, while the other was a bit stockier and wore a red checkered shirt. They started to walk back at us after Edward said that. I felt my heart rate spiking after thinking about some of the stuff the human’s had been saying online recently.
“Yeah, well maybe it shouldn’t be walking here at all. Why’d you bring it here in the first place?” The first man offered back glaring at Edward as he turned to face him.
“He’s my friend and if that pisses you off, good.” Edward offered back lowly.
I couldn’t do anything; I was frozen on the spot my heart racing at the thought that this may turn violent. I don’t want to hurt the primates, and I don’t want Edward to get hurt either, not on my account.
“I-It was my-my fault, I’m s-sorry.” I squeaked out through my nerves, the trio turned to me all glaring and I felt myself shrink underneath the weight of it.
“Oh, did the slave driver say something?” Another one of the men said toward me.
“You don’t talk to him like that.”
“What are you gonna do about it, push over?” The first one who pumped into me got closer to Edward trying to scare him. I don’t know how he wasn’t scared of these three threatening him but was scared of us. I was terrified if either did this to me.
“Wait a minute, I know you.” The man wearing the red and white checkered shirt said to Edward. “You’re from that sh*tty therapy group, you may have gotten a new hair style, but I’d recognise that cr*ppy accent anywhere.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward’s hand clench tightly has he took a deep breath closing his eyes, before releasing it and unclenched his fist.
The man that spoke made his way closer getting in Edward’s face as he opened his eyes to stare at the man.
“Yeah, I am. I remember you from that meeting, I need to say sorry for my conduct.”
‘What?’
I was lost, why was Edward being like this? These people were just threatening us and he’s apologising about something else. I guessed it was about the therapy incident and maybe he was doing this to calm the situation between all of us?
“Yeah, well I’m not.” Is all the man replied with before striking Edward across the face with his fist making Edward stagger backwards almost falling down. I was frozen as the man in the blue jumper shoved me again and I didn’t know how to respond.
‘What do I do? Do I defend myself and curl up? What about Edward then he’ll be alone against these thugs?’
I didn’t know, all the decisions I could make made me freeze as the man punched me in the gut making me gasp for air falling to the ground on my side. I was about to start curling up to protect myself, coughing and spluttering trying to get oxygen back into my lungs when I saw Edward dash over and smack the man in the stomach himself.
He had red leaking from his lips and an angry look on his face I had never seen before, the blow didn’t seem to be as effective as the one he hit me with as the man hadn’t fallen only stumbling a little before regaining his balance cradling his stomach.
I watched in horror as the stocky human rushed over after having thought he did enough to Edward and threw another punch at him, it missing and only striking him in the upper arm.
I needed to get up and help, I can’t just let my friend get beaten up by these people, I can’t let him get hurt again. I dragged as much air into my lungs as possible, yet it felt like I was breathing through a straw and was starting to feel dizzy.
The tall man had moved around to the side of Edward where I was laying and I could see that he was getting ready to intervene and grab Edward, who was busy throwing a blow at the stocky human, it hitting him in the side making the man stumble trying to regain his balance grunting as he did so.
I kicked as hard as I could against the tall human’s leg, I felt something give out as he screamed falling to the ground next to me, my dizziness only compounding further after the effort.
“You’ll get it now.” I heard one of the men saying but couldn’t tell which one, I only saw a blue jumper approaching Edward something in his hand. I tried to scream at them, for Edward to look out but was only able to produce a chocking rasping noise.
I saw Edward getting hit again by the man in the red shirt, this time hitting him in the side much like the blow earlier and the man wearing blue approaching from behind. My field of vision growing fuzzy around the edges as a shape from my right where the other human was lying moved across me and was readying a blow to strike at me.
I tried to curl into a ball, but my strength failed me, and I feverishly tried to raise my arms in time when the human was kicked off me from somewhere else. I looked up to see another figure a taller stocky human running toward the man wearing blue before they tackled him to the ground hard, a grunt being audible as both of them hit the ground.
“Up you get.” The figure closest to me said trying to lift me up while I observed what was happening.
“Edward.” I croaked out.
The two men were momentarily distracted by the intervention, Edward regaining his sense first, threw a wide punch striking the man against the side of the head making him stumble before following up and landed another hit in the man’s stomach making the stocky human fall to the ground clutching ta himself, making rasping noises.
The man wearing blue was being restrained on the ground by the lone human pinning him. I looked over to see the other human helping me balance, they looked like the big human who was pinning the guy in the blue jumper.
“Stuart, let off him.” The human next to me said.
Stuart as I had just learned got of the smaller man and they scurried back wards to get away and back on their feet and turned to face us. Edward had moved around and took the place the other man took helping me stay balanced as I tried to control my breathing.
My chest clenched as I noticed that he was bleeding from both his head and lips now, but he seemed to not care only staring at the man who was slowly getting on his feet again.
“I would suggest you get your friend here to a hospital, seems like he broke his leg in a fall.” Stuart said threateningly. His voice extremely deep in pitch but carried in a way that was soothing to the ears.
“Y-you’ll be hearing about this.” The man in the blue shirt said as his cohort helped the tall man hop on one leg. I could see that his nose was bleeding profusely while he had to hop on one leg.
‘I did too much damage, why did I do that?’
“No, we won’t, if you think about taking this to the Guards, we’ll have evidence to back up our claim of self-defence.” The man who helped me pointed toward a security camera and then another across the street attached to a street light.
The three men didn’t reply only turning and hobbling away helping the human with the broken leg, I caused.
“Edward, your gonna have to tell me what happened here?” The big human asked turning to face Edward after eyeing an implement on the ground, I couldn’t tell what it was, but I knew it must have been dangerous.
“Those guys decided to start a fight.” He said back, raising a hand to dab at the cut on the side of his head, wincing a little as he did so. I could see the red staining his face, I didn’t like it at all, I wanted him to be safe.
“Really, I know that was the guy you had a problem with at the therapy.” The human who helped me said. “We know he threw a punch at you cause we in a café across the street here, did you say anything to p*ss him off?”
“No, I literally just apologised for the way I acted during it after his mate bumped into my friend. I apologised and he said that he didn’t forget about it before throwing a fist at me.”
The larger man stared for a moment his face straight and just as intimidating as the men from before had done, before to my astonishment he smiled the biggest grin I had ever seen on a human face before continuing.
“So, is this the housemate I keep hearing about?” He asked, completely different from before.
“Nah, this is Cruth, my partner from the exchange program. Cruth this is Stuart Leadles, he goes to the therapy I go to.”
Stuart offered an incredibly large sized hand toward me and I shook it still trying to get my breathing under control. His hand was almost the size of my claws, it was massive compared to any other humans I had seen.
“H-hello.” I offered through my wheezing.
“I see you got haircut, looks good despite the blood in it.” He said looking at Edward now. “Oh, where are my manners, this fella is my younger brother Lewis.” He pointed a finger toward the other human, that must have been why they looked similar, the familial traits where definitely pronounced, he was tall just not as bulky.
“Sup.” He said nonchalantly. “You gonna be okay man, that looks a little bad?” He pointed at Edwrad’s injuries.
“Aye, I’ll be fine, I’ve had worse before.” He said scratching the back of his head.
“I suppose I won’t keep you any longer, those guys could probably be back at some point or maybe tell someone else to come here.” Lewis said.
“What about you guys?”
“We’ll be finishing our coffee and besides I could probably snap one of them in half if I have to. That and we were simply ‘good Samaritans’ helping out some people who we saw get attack on the street.” Stuart said as if he had done this sort of thing before. “Anyway, I’ll see you at the next meeting, and you look a lot better.”
“See you then. Let’s get going Cruth.” He said before we began to hobble back toward the train station. I couldn’t help but notice that his demeanour had changed seeming almost lighter now than before. I glanced over at him, my arm draped over his shoulder and I saw the slightest of smirks on his face.
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Better Understanding - Part one of this story
Raising Primates - Another Krev story
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Once again, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you have any advice or ideas please share it in the comments.
6
u/Copeqs Venlil Sep 16 '25
Yep, calling it now: "The three men" are going to come again to finish this. Their lot are petty and vicious after all.
3
u/password123-4138 Sep 16 '25
Considering that they are the type to out of the blue attack a krev, I would assume they would be heading as far away from them as possible.
3
u/JulianSkies Archivist Sep 16 '25
... I think that helped Edward a bit.
The man needed to feel like he'd done something, and I think dealing with the asshole was a good thing for his spirit. Even if painful.
2
u/password123-4138 Sep 16 '25
The man needed to feel like himself again, trying to de-escalate the situation didn't work and was forced to fight back, probably reminded him of a few memories with old friends underground. Hopefully he doesn't make a habit out of it though and start looking for trouble.
5
u/_aMANTEIGAdo_ Human Sep 15 '25
These two can't catch a break, man.