A/N Uggggh... Sorry about the wait, I lost my motivation for writing and such for about a month and I'm still kinda going through that tbh. :/

Anyway this update is not as long (or as good imo) as the first chapter but there are some things you might find interesting I think. I hope you enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a review on your way out if you can.

Chapter Word Count: 2,406 words 13,410 characters

Story Word Count: 7,285 words 39,989 characters

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Silence.

Violet eyes fluttered open to gaze out at the dark landscape of night. The ground was wet and muddy, puddles of skywater littered the land.

Serene yawned and stretched, resettling herself into a better position. Must've rained recently.

Strangely enough this was the best sleep she's gotten in months, she felt not a bit of exhaustion nor had she dreamed of any bad sleep stories, she felt neither cold nor wet from the skywater that passed. Despite feeling renewed, Serene found it too early to be getting up and thus decided to go back to sleep, gently nuzzling up against the warmth of her parents.

She opened her eyes, a bemused expression on her face.

Something's wrong.

She could feel her parents warmth but she could not feel them next to her.

A quick look revealed that they weren't here with her.

Serene shivered, now feeling cold all of a sudden as a slight worry came upon her, she shook the fleeing off.

That's ridiculous. They couldn't of left me behind.

"Mom? Dad?"

She called out but she received no answer back, another worry came to her. Her parents could hold their own out here but her son...?

Getting back to her feet she called out once more.

"Littlefoot...?"

The silence now felt heavy and grim, ominous.

She could only pray that Littlefoot hadn't been separated from his grandparents.

Serene craned her long neck around, scanning the landscape. Nothing but miles of dark damp rock and mud, any tracks made by her parents and son had long since been washed away by the skywater.

She froze.

Not far behind her lay a fallen longneck among crumbling rocks and mud. Her skin a blue hue, a decent cut marred her neck but the wound pailed in comparison to her ravaged back; a sickly sight of torn flesh and sinew. Her chest did not move, a clear indicator that she had passed on to the great beyond.

Serene stumbled back as the memories flooded in.

The Sleepstory...

The Vale Guardian...

And the Sharptooth too...

Deep down, Serene knew she was looking at herself but even with her faith she could not believe such a thing to be true, it was too far feched, too out there, too unbelievable. She reached out with her tail to touch the body, not trusting any other part of her to do it, and reared back in shock when her tail fazed right through the body in front of her.

What...What is going on here!?

"You've passed on."

Serene gazed down, an old clubtail stared up into her eyes. She blinked at the newcomer.

"What?"

The clubtail rolled his eyes, sighed in annoyance and moved his gaze back at the corpse in front of them. "You're dead, gone, went to the great beyond...or whatever you youngsters call it these days."

"I-I don't-"

"It's alright lass, this is just how things go," he said walking over to her corpse and inspecting it and it's brutal wounds, "Sharptooth I presume?

Serene didn't answer, she couldn't really, and instead chose to look away. Her silence seemed to answer his question at least. "I don't understand."

"You don't have to, lass. I'm here to help you move on to the next stage of life, the last one."

"You're the Silent Hunter!?" She blurted out in shock.

"Hey, now I'm no hunter," He grumbled indignantly, "Name's Rooter."

"Sorry...?"

The clubtail then moved to touch her leg and upon his touch Serene lifted her foot away from him.

"What are you-"

"You're different," Rooter said, his eyes narrowing.

"What...?"

"Something's wrong with you," his and brow raised up "Did you tamper with something you never should've messed with, hmm?"

Now the clubtail's voice seemed accusatory, Serene did not like his tone at all.

"Now don't tell me you made a sacrifice to the Great Circle," Rooter said, more of a complaint then anything.

That seemed to resonate with her, as she remembered that sleep story, she skewed her eyes shut as she fell deep in thought.

"It was a sleep story...A...terrible one...I made a deal with...someone."

"Who? Who'd you make a deal with?" Rooter demanded.

"It was...someone who looked like the hidden runner...He'd- I'd made a deal with him to become the..."

"The Vale Guardian," Rooter finished for her, horrified at this revelation. "Do you have 'any' idea what you just agreed to?"

"I knew the risks-"

"No," he interrupted her, "No you don't. You don't understand what you just got yourself into."

"Do you?" Serene retorted, she didn't have time for this truly. Deciding that this conversation was over, she turned and walked away from the old clubtail and, not even bothering to look back, she added sternly,

"I need to find my son."

...

This is hopeless.

She searched all night till the early hours of morning and she still haven't found Littlefoot yet. Serene was more fustrated then anything, any bad thoughts she had she did not entertain as she found mild annoyance to be a better emotion then anything else she could've felt at the moment.

Craning her neck around she saw a strange looking bolder next to the bottom of the cliff, she squinted her eyes at it then she sighed, irritated.

Out of all the people she could run into again why did it have to be Rooter?

Thankfully he was asleep and thus she did not have to deal with him again, however this did not help her in the grand scheme of things as she still haven't found her son. Serene took a deep breath and walked away with her head hung low, dejected and doubting she would ever find her dear sweet Littlefoot again.

She paused upon hearing something, a barely audible sound of something skidding on rocks then someone cried out in alarm. Looking over her shoulder she saw a little longneck sliding down the steep embankment from the cliff and land roughly on the back of the Silent Hunter.

Is that?

It is...

For a second Littlefoot layed flat on the clubtail's back, then he tried to push himself up only to fall back down. He put his feet on the shell and started to push himself up again but it didn't seem like he had much willpower to do so.

"Hey!"

The Silent Hunter shot up to his feet, the force knocking Littlefoot off of his back as a result.

"What's going on here?" Rooter sniffed her son.

Sensing the old clubtail's crankiness, Serene started to approach them to intervene if need be but she froze in her tracks as she heard her son give a whine that broke her heart all over again.

"What's your problem you're not hurt?"

"It's not fair," Littlefoot snapped, tears trailing down his face, "She should've known better. That was sharptooth...

It's all her fault."

That sentence resonated in her mind, her heart. She knew exactly who he was talking about.

"All who's fault?" Rooter asked.

"Mother's."

I'm sorry, Littlefoot...

"Oh," The Silent Hunter's expression softened, as he realizing who this young longneck belonged to, "I see...I see..."

"Why did I wander so far from home?" Littlefoot sobbed.

"Ohhh, it's not your fault. It's not your mother's fault. Now, you pay attention to ol Rooter," he said, his rough voice gentle but firm in demand of attention.

"Yeah...but-" Littlefoot croaked.

"It is nobody's fault."

The Great Circle Of Life has begun...but ya' see not all of us arrive at the end together."

"What will I do," Littlefoot asked, "I miss her so much."

"And you'll always miss her, but she'll always be with you as long as you remember the things she taught you.

In a way...you'll never be apart...for you are still apart of each other."

"My tummy hurts."

Serene chuckled, her son's subtle complaint lighting the mood only slightly. Oh Littlefoot.

"Well...that too will only go in time little fella. Only in time," Rooter said, then he slowly walked off leaving her son alone again.

She felt a little annoyed that he would just up and leave him like that in the middle of the desert, but most of that was momentarily replaced with shock as Rooter completely disappeared out of thin air, Littlefoot none the wiser to his disappearance.

Mysterious.

"Littlefoot, I'm right here..." Serene said to her son as he got to his feet, "Can't you see me?"

He did not react to her words or presence at all, it was as if she didn't exist at all...

She craned her neck down low to lovingly lick her son only for her tongue to faze right though him, with shock she watched as he walked through her foot, her expression softening with her hope of ever truly getting close to her son ever again.

You will not be seen, felt or heard without great effort, you will be considered gone to everyone.

...

Serene absentmindedly watched a flock of young flyers fight over a solitary sweet bubble, the innocent silliness of the fight and chase was almost enough to lighten the mood.

Well...almost.

She craned her head to look at Littlefoot lying next to her. Her son had a blank almost numb looking expression like he was lost in thought. Not even a sweet bubble offered by one of the flyers broke his depressive streak.

It was concerning at best.

Littlefoot didn't seem to care about much of anything, if this kept on...

Serene realized that she could not remember when he had last ate, it must've been a few days at the least.

He needed some food and hopefully she could help find him some.

She got to her feet and tapped her son with her tail, even if her tail went right through him and he could not feel her she felt it could help somehow.

"We should get going."

Littlefoot did not hear her but his body seemed move on it's own as he got to his feet and walked with his head hung low.

"Yes...that's it."

Serene stood towards The Great Circle waiting for him to follow but much to her dismay he went in the wrong direction, heading away from the sun and the Great Valley as a result. She grimaced as she followed her son.

...

Being a Vale Guardian gives you abilities that many do not possess.

What abilities did she have and to what extent could she do them? She wished she had pressed further for more details but that was in the past and she could not do a thing about it now.

There was no green food around for miles, not an edible tree nor a turf of grass.

Could she make some food?

The thought would've seemed incredulous before but now...

"Littlefoot."

Serene's voice traveled across the wind, fleeting and gentle yet unheard to everyone.

She thought of something green, succulent and tasty, a Treestar she thought. She sighed deeply, feeling weak and winded all of a sudden but to her surprise a Treestar gently fluttered through the breeze down towards the land.

"Littlefoot."

Her son sorrowfully nuzzled into longneck footprint indented in the sand for a moment. As he went to leave, she thought of a light shining down on the footprint as a sort of test, and yet again it happened.

"Littlefoot..."

But her strength faded farther, her legs bucking underneath herself sending her crashing to the ground.

The Treestar landed softy into the illuminated footprint.

Littlefoot slowly approached and stared with awe into pooling water in the middle of the Treestar.

"Dear Littlefoot..." She barely managed, Littlefoot flinched back. This surprised her as it was like he could hear her this time. "Do you remember the way to the Great Valley?"

He shook his head.

"Follow the bright circle pass the great rock that looks like a longneck...

and pass the mountains that burn."

Littlefoot slowly nodded along as he listened.

"I'll be in your heart littlefoot, let your heart guide you..."

With a deep sigh, Serene watched as her son grabbed his Treestar and headed towards the bright circle. She laid there curled around the footprint for a while, momentarily resting before she had to move again.

You will not be seen, felt or heard without great effort on your part.

That was true, definitely.

She didn't think she could do stuff like this very often, if divine intervention took it's toll this much then perhaps it should be saved for more critical moments.

Serene sighed as she slowly got to her feet, her limbs groaning in protest. She wanted nothing more then to sleep for a long time but she could not lose her son again. On tired trembling legs, she followed Littlefoot's trail of small footprints in the sand, trying her best to catch up with him.

...

"Mother."

Serene's head perked up as she walked, it was quiet and barely audible but she recognized her son's voice anywhere.

Littlefoot stood on top of a small perch of rocks over looking the landscape, he stared at something off in the distance.

"Mother!" he giggled in glee before running down the spire and towards what he saw.

Serene looked in the direction he ran to, seeing a large shadow of a longneck on the cliff wall.

"Mother it's you!"

The shadow bucked and ran matching littlefoot's movement perfectly, the shadow growing smaller as he approached.

"Wait mother, wait!"

Oh dear...

A small groan left her as she drawled in hollow struggling breaths, she didn't know if it was the exhaustion she was feeling or the knowledge of the upcoming sad realization her son was soon to come to.

Littlefoot ran up to the wall face staring at the shadow with a excited expression, he stood on his back legs and licked the shadow on the wall once, twice and thrice. Then he stopped, expression falling, neck and tail drooping as he realized.

It was only his shadow.

Littlefoot let go of wall planting his front legs land back on the ground, his head hung low.

His mother wasn't there for him anymore.

Serene slowly approached, stood next to him and wrapped her neck around him. They stood there for who knows how long, mother and son embraced against one another yet both unable to comfort either.

She was there but neither felt like that was the case.

Sometime later, with two heavy hearts they moved on, both never feeling more alone in their lives.