Approved Kidnapping

 “Not to rush you or anything. But the eggs are hatching.” Apocrypha tilted her head up when she heard the statement. The black and gold Tropeo gliding down and spoke just as she was about to land on the back of the much larger Albertosaurus. Apocrypha’s eyes widened, heart racing at the news as she looked back down at the fresh kill she’d been feeding off of. Some poor cow that had wandered too far from the rest of her herd. She leaned down, picking up what was left of the carcass and started to trot off, Kallista taking flight again and making her way back to the nest.

The unlikely pair of dinosaurs had decided to oversee the two eggs that they had found abandoned on a farm. Neither knew what exactly happened to the parents of the clutch, but after a day of not seeing hide nor feather of any other Utahraptor, Apocrypha had made her move. The nest had been picked over by the time she found it weeks ago, some creature having already eaten one of the eggs, leaving just two that were relatively healthy looking. 

She and Kallista had taken turns watching over the eggs, though Kallista had been the one that did most of the work. She kept them warm, her size not a threat like Apocrypha’s would’ve been. The thought of simply leaving the eggs had never come up between the two. The right thing to do was what they had been doing, taking care of the abandoned eggs. Kallista and Apocrypha hadn’t fully thought out the rest, but they couldn’t sit around at let two eggs just die alone. 

Now, as Kallista landed and watched as both of the eggs rocked, chirps and cries being heard from inside, she wondered what exactly they were doing. Apocrypha and her were not Utahraptors, they couldn’t teach the hatchlings everything a Utahraptor might need to know. Would the hatchlings grow up sad that they couldn’t fly like her? Would they think something was wrong with them if they weren’t as big as Apocrypha?

The rhythmic thumping of the Albertosaur’s footsteps caught her ears after a while. Kalli glanced over at the barn door, seeing the shadow of Apocrypha before she pushed the door open and made her way inside and dropped the carcass of the cow nearby. The woman made her way over, plopping her rump down beside Kallista and joined her friend in watching as the eggs hatched. 

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Everything was so bright! And the sounds were so pure! The smell of clean air was amazing! Air in general was amazing, even as Frankie finally broke his shell and snorted to clear his nose from the egg-goop he had been so used to. This was it! This was the day he would actually get to see his sister, the day he’d see his mothers!

The little raptor tore away more of his egg, withdrawing his head back inside so he could work with his arms to rip and tear before finally laying against the back half of the shell and used his legs to kick out the rest of the eggshell in front of him. And suddenly, he was free.

He wasn’t even aware of just how confined he’d been in his egg until he was splayed out in front of it. There was so much space! He didn’t half to be curled in on himself, hugging his tail and legs. He blinked rapidly, eyes adjusting to the dim sunlight that filtered in from the cracks in the wooden boards around them. And then he spotted them.

His mothers.

They were nothing at all like he expected? Well, one was. The other…What was wrong with her arms? Her face?

The bigger one, that looked more like what he thought he looked like, got up quickly, making her way over to sniff at him, cooing down at him sweetly as she started to clean him with her tongue. Frankie chirped happily, turning his head to peek over at his sisters egg. The little Utah breaking free a few minutes later.

She was beautiful, with pristine white feathers that were wonderfully contrasted with the pitch black that marked some of her body.

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“We’ll call you, Frankie.” Apocrypha said, voice low so she wouldn’t disturb the hatchlings. The male that had hatched was…well. She had ever seen anything quite to…bright. Frankie was a fun name, given to a fun looking hatchling. The way he looked alone was enough for Apocrypha and Kallista to agree that they would need to stay and watch over the hatchlings and raise them until they were old enough to be on their own. There was no way something so bright would be able to live on its own for long at all.

“And your sister willed be called Cleric.” Kallista said, sitting beside the little white and black raptor who was already curled up and sleeping. Frankie didn’t last much longer either, the amount of energy he used to break shell wore him out completely. And after a small bite of the food that Apocrypha had provided, he made his way over to curl up and go back to sleep with Cleric. 

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“I’m just saying! What if they kidnapped us?” 

Cleric sighed, rolling her eyes at her brothers antics. Both of their mothers were out, Kallista was flying around somewhere to make sure the farm was still safe while Apocrypha was going to get food. That left them to sit in the barn by themselves. Or, rather, left Cleric to sit in the barn while Frankie climbed over everything and was determined to explore every single inch of the barn that they had called home. After their egg-down had molted off, both of their patterns had come in much more beautifully. Frankie was a beautiful little thing, shades of all sorts of colors with rosette spotting all over him, breaking up the rainbow of the rest of his hide nicely. 

Cleric, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly as bright as he was. Her hide had started off as a yellow-white, but over time her extremities had started to darken into a deeper gold, broken up only by tiger-like stripes here and there. And then there was the black that marred her hide. She liked it, however! Her brother poked fun at her since she wasn’t nearly as brightly marked as he was, but at least the dark spots on her hide allowed her to blend into shadows slightly. Frankie wasn’t able to hide at all, anywhere.

“They’re too nice. I don’t think they would’ve kidnapped us.” Cleric replied, sitting in their nest with her tail tucked neatly around her as she watched her brother up in the upper rafters. 

“The hatchlings from down in the meadow think so. After all, neither of them are like us! Kallista is a bird-thing! And Big Mom? Well, I heard that normally her type eats things like us…what if they’re raising us just to eat us!” Frankie said, his little purple and pink head poking out from the side of the catwalk to peer down at Cleric with wide eyes.

“That sounds stupid.” Cleric replied.

“You’re stupid.” Frankie shot back, making Cleric hiss up at him and bare her teeth.

“I’m telling mom you called me stupid! And then she’ll eat YOU!” Cleric snapped.

Frankie hissed back at her, jumping down from the rafters and landed on his sister hard, the pair descending into a flurry of snarls and hisses as they wrestled with each other and only stopped when they heard the door to the barn creaking open. Instantly they looked over, for a split second horrified that maybe they had been found out. That maybe someone was there to actually eat them. Instead, it was just Apocrypha with Kallista on her back, bringing in the remains of a deer that she brought over and dropped beside the two.

“Why are you both fighting? That’s not nice.” Kallista said, chittering her beak together quickly as she glided down from Apocrypha’s back and landed beside the two who quickly broke up. 

“Frankie said you guys kidnapped us and thought you were raising us just to eat us.” Cleric blurted, scrambling to her feet and ran over to the deer and started to rip into it. 

Frankie gasped as he stood up, rearing his head back and looked downright appalled that Cleric had narked so easily on him. Apocrypha just tilted her head, raising a crested eyebrow as she looked down at Frankie when he approached the food as well.

“Well. You guys aren’t like us! Bird Mom is a bird. And you are big! And not as pretty as we are. But I don’t mean you’re not pretty marking wise. You’re just not…uh.” Frankie started to say, looking down after a moment when he became aware he was being rude to one of his mothers. 

Apocrypha just smiled and laughed a bit. 

“I’m big and bulky. Whereas you both are small, and very agile! Some of that comes from you both just being children. But you are also correct. I’m not built to do the stuff you’re both able to do. You both are raptors. The hatchling down in the meadow that I know has been talking to you both, he’s a Cryolophosaurus. Bird Mom there is a Tropeognathus.” Apocrypha said and leaned down, nuzzling Frankie and moved him closer to give him a small hug as she laid down.

“Those are big words. How do you know what those words mean? Where did you learn them. I thought we were all just…us! And everyone looked different.” Cleric asked after she swallowed a shred of meat and looked up at the pair of adults. 

Apocrypha opened her mouth to reply but stopped, tilting her head a bit. How did she know the names of the different dinosaurs that inhabited the isles? Had it been her mother that had told her? Not that she could remember. It just felt right. Inherent. Like breathing air, except she knew the names of the different dinosaurs. 

“Because that’s what everyone has decided they are called. All of us are different, you don’t look like your brother! But you are the same thing as your brother. And our parents told us the names of the species that live with us. And now we tell you all. It’s no different then having a name for a ‘nose’.” Kallista said, reaching up with a clawed wing-finger to tap on the snout of Cleric and laughed as the hatchling scrunched her nose up. 

“So, you’re not going to eat us?” Frankie asked and looked up at Apocrypha. 

“Of course not! Since you’re asking, then I think you both should know. We don’t know where the two raptors are that helped in your creation. I struggle to call them your parents because they’re not. We are. We have been the ones to keep your eggs safe since we found you, and to raise you. But we did not kidnap you. And if we wanted to eat you, we would’ve done it when you both were plump little babies!” Apocrypha said, baring her teeth before smiling and just showered the pair of kids in little kisses that made Frankie screech, attempting to fight her off. 

“And you’ll always be our parents?” Cleric asked, looking over at Kallista while Frankie and Apocrypha played.

“Always. That will never change. No matter where you both go, what you both do. We are with you and you can find us if you need us.” Kallista replied, getting up to position herself over Cleric and sat down so the little Utah was between her wing-arms. She looked down, rubbing her beak against the girl before pushing her gently back towards the food in front of them. “Eat up, though! I can’t have my future snacks being skin and bones!” Kallista joked and gave Cleric a careful boop on her head with her beak before laying down.