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LBT Fanfiction / Impossible Reach
« on: November 05, 2012, 12:55:48 PM »
((I have no excuse on the lack of update, especially as now at the next update things...well start coming to a head and conclusion. We're not there yet but, well I'll just update. The accusation of darker may be a bit true for this one though...))
XIII:Brought to A Point
Anxious as Harper was on the outcome of Pterano's talk and if he would get through, she caught how Petrie was even more on edge than her. Not over what she was anxious on, or even his usual worries on...everything in the Mysterious Beyond.
No, Petrie was only calm and sure on the one issue Harper wasn't. The outcome. He knew, just because anything else was impossible, that their Uncle Pterano would convince the runners they were wrong and should come back.
Ironically that was why he was poised to spring off the rock the two were watching from for any sign of their uncle. He wanted to be the first with the news.
After all she'd done without realizing she was, Harper figured her brother felt he had to catch back up; and while he wasn't directly jealous of the proud look from Pterano she had warranted, Petrie was going to re-prove his dedication.
Still, she saw Pterano with the runners first, and pointed. "Ooh, there he is!". With amusement she watched her brother shoot off from the rock.
"You're wasting your energy, I'm not even gonna try to race you to give the news first" she muttered to her brother, even if he couldn't hear it.
Then she darted over the other way, over to meet the trio. "You got them to come out!"
Pterano laughed, "Well what's with that surprise? Of course I did" a little of his old boasting was present, in the words only.
As the flyer hatching turned her bright smile to him, Veck avoided the gaze, "Alright, ya got us here"
"It'll be ok, you'll see" Harper went on with encouragement on the very things Veck wasn't so sure about. "and if you really meant it that your mom loves those groundsweets, I could go get some more for you, since the fast biters are gone. Do you want me to? To make it easier again?".
"You really think I'm gonna say yes to that with Mr. Protective Relative standing here?" Veck shot back as he raised a brow.
As Harper laughed, figuring a slight joke was a good sign, Pterano tried to figure out if an insult was intended. His still present ego had a feeling one was, but to back up Harper's mission of getting them to the Great Valley he would refrain from taking the runner too seriously.
"You did find them" Cera's sister commented as she walked up, following the small flyer hatchling to have delivered the news, "and here I was hoping Petrie was just mistaken".
Pterano sighed, "Why is everyone so shocked at my achieved aim?"
"Me not!" Petrie announced with a wide smile as he landed next to his uncle and received the recognition he'd been going for.
"So...everyone's ok with us going back with them..." Lar's gaze took in Ridge and the adult threehorn having escorted the kids and who he knew was the twin's mother.
"I...wouldn't have thought of this myself" Ridge admitted, "but I came out here to help Harper with it in the first place and...I can try...and give you the benefit of the doubt". Both runners nodded. Then their gaze met the adult threehorn.
Her face set hard, "I have my father's issue with forgiveness" she openly admitted, "but...for the sake of others here and at the Valley, I'll let you live to reach it" she then turned and began walking in the direction they would all have to take.
Veck and Lars had started back at her blunt reply and now just stood there unsure. Pterano gave a wry smile, "Trust me, from her lineage that's quite the honor" he whispered once Cera was out of earshot too. The other kids...tried not to giggle at this.
~~~~
For all her hope that had been proven right, Harper still wasn't satisfied with the pace Veck and Lars kept as they followed along at the very back of the returning herd. With another sigh, she went to flap down, but Pterano cut her off and then gave her a small smile, "Best let them figure out their first words to their parents after all this" he said.
Harper nodded, maybe he was right. She then turned to her uncle, "They...were still doing ok before you left...weren't they?" she asked. In everything else, she had never directly asked this yet.
Pterano wasn't sure how to tell her he hadn't exactly checked, not knowing when he left that the runners were what all of this hinged upon. "I...didn't hear bad news". Harper took this answer.
As they all continued on, Pterano glanced over Harper's way a few more times. Partly just mulling over all her surprising actions once again. Yet, also, he had to admit, he was more than a bit disappointed he hadn't warranted confiding in. It was one of those small emotions he had determined to keep to himself, yet now found his curiosity and need to know became too great.
"Harper" he called her attention to him again, "why....didn't you tell me you were planning all this? I could have come helped you children sooner".
Harper got the oddest smile as she answered like one would to a child who should know the answer to what they asked, "Uncle Pterano" she laughed a bit, "if you're going to be changed and the kind of grown-up that's able to be trusted like our parents, then...you can't be the kind that would let us come out here in the first place. A good adult would stop us, like you did when you found us".
"Well yes, I stopped you then, but that doesn't mean I would have halted the entire trip" Pterano grinned, especially as Harper looked so confused. "No worries, we shall straighten out those upside down ideas of yours soon enough" he gave her a slight nudge, to which she giggled.
"Right Petrie?" he looked to his nephew for support.
Petrie nodded, "Uh huh!". As the two flapped up ahead, Harper looked after them perplexed a bit more.
"You don't even know what he just said!" she challenged her brother's defense as she flapped after them, "and what if I want my ideas not straightened!".
Pterano laughed.
~~~~
As they entered the Great Valley, Pterano realized that the opportunity to allow Veck and Lars to secretly sneak over to their parent's clearing was already right before him.
"Of course!" he grinned, "why, I merely draw out my bragging on bringing you children home safely, and we have our distraction which shall keep the others in place until the situation can be explained!".
"Ooh, yeah, that work!" Petrie agreed.
Cera rolled her eyes, "You're going to explain finding us without telling why we were out there?" she asked.
"Sounds a bit hard to do" her sister backed up, having figured she could at least see them all to the Great Valley before finding her herd.
"Not in the least" Pterano exclaimed. Yet, just as everyone but the runners turned to head towards the meeting circle, the sounds of commotion hit them.
"Spread out, but not too scattered!" Mr. Threehorn announced as he came rushing into view, directing this comment to Mrs. Swimmer and a few others of the Great Valley swimmers.
"Dad! What's going on?" his oldest rushed over.
Topsy got over any of his own shock or inquires of what she was doing here without her herd quickly, "Fast Biters have broken through, just now!" he delivered horrible news.
Pterano noticed his sister flap down, and the news just got better. "They're over by the far walking runners herd! Tria's already there!".
Veck and Lars weren't even aware they were moving before they had darted that way. Mr. Threehorn and the others followed, until Mrs. Flyer flew down to cut the children off.
"Chomper could maybe talk to them" Littlefoot politely tried for a very valid point.
"He's right Mom" Harper added, "you already know how helpful Chomper is, like when he helped us during the Time of Rising Waters, and Ducky and I wouldn't be back without Ruby's help".
Mrs. Flyer did seem to ponder this. Finally, she sighed. "Well, I suppose I can't really tell you two what to do...".
This wasn't fully saying yes, but it was enough, and Chomper and Ruby darted off after the other adults.
~~~~
As Mr. Threehorn rushed along with his daughter to attempt to aid his mate in aiding the runners, he took notice of a very interesting fact.
"Everyone else with us are individuals I hate!" he glanced over to his daughter after scowling towards the pompous flyer and kidnapping runners.
"I'll explain it all later dad!" his daughter shot back.
"It also sounds like your own personal problem, Sir" Pterano muttered.
"You make yourself my personal problem!" Mr. Threehorn grumbled.
Pterano sighed, "In case you failed to notice, I did bring the children all back with..."
"Later you two!" the female threehorn shouted at them.
Veck and Lars out ran everyone else to the scene, not surprisingly. Thankfully Tria seemed to have done it.
"Yeah you better run! And stop going after the already sick!" she shouted to the two fast biters making a hasty retreat.
"Come on!" Mr. Threehorn kept after the sharpteeth, "let's make sure they actually leave or they die trying!". His family continued on after him and Pterano only kept to their path to ensure he did know if the sharpteeth made it out or to where they were no longer an issue.
Chomper and Ruby had gone to follow, when they both paused between the direction to fast biters and threehorns had darted off in and herd of runners recollecting themselves from the attack.
"Chomper...do you smell what I am now noticing I can smell with my own sniffer?" Ruby asked. Waving at his nose, Chomoer nodded.
The two hatchlings went unnoticed by Veck and Lars as the two rushed over to where they could spot their mother, thankfully on her feet.
"Mom! Are you ok?!", Veck exclaimed.
"Veck! Lars!" she glanced between her sons in shock, "Y-yes, the shock of having to defend your father...", she looked drained after her rush of adrenaline due to worry though.
Lars helped her as she sank back on a nearby rock, "It is good to see you boys though" she added. That fact alone seemed to help the color stay in her cheeks most of all.
Veck, for once, did look guilty as he gave a small smile, "I...I'm sorry Mom, for everything Harper said we were causing". He then glanced about, "Y-you said Dad was attacked? Where is he?".
Some of the herd members were fanning out from their own grouping up, and Veck now saw why they had all gathered in the first place.
It...it wasn't possible. "Dad...", he walked forward towards the prone figure of the patriarch and slowly knelt.
From where he could see now too, Lars stood up, stunned, and then knelt back down to be beside his mother and hugged her tighter as she turned her head away.
Veck still just stared, at where his father lay with what looked to be horrific wounds. He didn't move. He wouldn't even know they'd come back. After everything else Veck had done to his father, this seemed the worst.
Sobbing, Veck finally broke, crumpling over his father. "Oh dad, I'm so sorry...I...I..." but there were no more excuses, and all his previous one's actually made him sick to his stomach now. How had he said any of what he'd said? Selfish, Arrogant Fool!
He'd had to be so stubborn that nothing short of this broke through his wall! Veck didn't blame Lars, his brother had just been following him. He'd been the ring leader and instigator of the pride that had kept them away.
When he'd been a hatchling, to be from his father's side two seconds would have been torture. The male was everything in young Veck's life rolled into one. It was of course why the banishment had stung so deep and produced such defensive statements.
He'd have grieved his mother's loss, of course, had the flyer hatchling's prediction come true or things gone even worse, but at the loss of his father and mentor, Veck felt not only guilt but the utter bottom of how far one could fail a loved one.
The rest of the herd began to move off, so as to give the young runner his privacy. Herd politics and whether or not the two should be here didn't seem to mater at the moment.
It was Lars, farther back, who thought he noticed the slightest bit of a hope.
"Veck..." as the older of the runners was huddled over his father in utter dejection, Lar's whisper was barely heard as he gently left his mother's side to walk over.
Veck shook his head, "Whatever excuses you have on my account won't help this time, Lars" he said. Then he heard his father's own weak whisper. "B-Boys...?".
XIII:Brought to A Point
Anxious as Harper was on the outcome of Pterano's talk and if he would get through, she caught how Petrie was even more on edge than her. Not over what she was anxious on, or even his usual worries on...everything in the Mysterious Beyond.
No, Petrie was only calm and sure on the one issue Harper wasn't. The outcome. He knew, just because anything else was impossible, that their Uncle Pterano would convince the runners they were wrong and should come back.
Ironically that was why he was poised to spring off the rock the two were watching from for any sign of their uncle. He wanted to be the first with the news.
After all she'd done without realizing she was, Harper figured her brother felt he had to catch back up; and while he wasn't directly jealous of the proud look from Pterano she had warranted, Petrie was going to re-prove his dedication.
Still, she saw Pterano with the runners first, and pointed. "Ooh, there he is!". With amusement she watched her brother shoot off from the rock.
"You're wasting your energy, I'm not even gonna try to race you to give the news first" she muttered to her brother, even if he couldn't hear it.
Then she darted over the other way, over to meet the trio. "You got them to come out!"
Pterano laughed, "Well what's with that surprise? Of course I did" a little of his old boasting was present, in the words only.
As the flyer hatching turned her bright smile to him, Veck avoided the gaze, "Alright, ya got us here"
"It'll be ok, you'll see" Harper went on with encouragement on the very things Veck wasn't so sure about. "and if you really meant it that your mom loves those groundsweets, I could go get some more for you, since the fast biters are gone. Do you want me to? To make it easier again?".
"You really think I'm gonna say yes to that with Mr. Protective Relative standing here?" Veck shot back as he raised a brow.
As Harper laughed, figuring a slight joke was a good sign, Pterano tried to figure out if an insult was intended. His still present ego had a feeling one was, but to back up Harper's mission of getting them to the Great Valley he would refrain from taking the runner too seriously.
"You did find them" Cera's sister commented as she walked up, following the small flyer hatchling to have delivered the news, "and here I was hoping Petrie was just mistaken".
Pterano sighed, "Why is everyone so shocked at my achieved aim?"
"Me not!" Petrie announced with a wide smile as he landed next to his uncle and received the recognition he'd been going for.
"So...everyone's ok with us going back with them..." Lar's gaze took in Ridge and the adult threehorn having escorted the kids and who he knew was the twin's mother.
"I...wouldn't have thought of this myself" Ridge admitted, "but I came out here to help Harper with it in the first place and...I can try...and give you the benefit of the doubt". Both runners nodded. Then their gaze met the adult threehorn.
Her face set hard, "I have my father's issue with forgiveness" she openly admitted, "but...for the sake of others here and at the Valley, I'll let you live to reach it" she then turned and began walking in the direction they would all have to take.
Veck and Lars had started back at her blunt reply and now just stood there unsure. Pterano gave a wry smile, "Trust me, from her lineage that's quite the honor" he whispered once Cera was out of earshot too. The other kids...tried not to giggle at this.
~~~~
For all her hope that had been proven right, Harper still wasn't satisfied with the pace Veck and Lars kept as they followed along at the very back of the returning herd. With another sigh, she went to flap down, but Pterano cut her off and then gave her a small smile, "Best let them figure out their first words to their parents after all this" he said.
Harper nodded, maybe he was right. She then turned to her uncle, "They...were still doing ok before you left...weren't they?" she asked. In everything else, she had never directly asked this yet.
Pterano wasn't sure how to tell her he hadn't exactly checked, not knowing when he left that the runners were what all of this hinged upon. "I...didn't hear bad news". Harper took this answer.
As they all continued on, Pterano glanced over Harper's way a few more times. Partly just mulling over all her surprising actions once again. Yet, also, he had to admit, he was more than a bit disappointed he hadn't warranted confiding in. It was one of those small emotions he had determined to keep to himself, yet now found his curiosity and need to know became too great.
"Harper" he called her attention to him again, "why....didn't you tell me you were planning all this? I could have come helped you children sooner".
Harper got the oddest smile as she answered like one would to a child who should know the answer to what they asked, "Uncle Pterano" she laughed a bit, "if you're going to be changed and the kind of grown-up that's able to be trusted like our parents, then...you can't be the kind that would let us come out here in the first place. A good adult would stop us, like you did when you found us".
"Well yes, I stopped you then, but that doesn't mean I would have halted the entire trip" Pterano grinned, especially as Harper looked so confused. "No worries, we shall straighten out those upside down ideas of yours soon enough" he gave her a slight nudge, to which she giggled.
"Right Petrie?" he looked to his nephew for support.
Petrie nodded, "Uh huh!". As the two flapped up ahead, Harper looked after them perplexed a bit more.
"You don't even know what he just said!" she challenged her brother's defense as she flapped after them, "and what if I want my ideas not straightened!".
Pterano laughed.
~~~~
As they entered the Great Valley, Pterano realized that the opportunity to allow Veck and Lars to secretly sneak over to their parent's clearing was already right before him.
"Of course!" he grinned, "why, I merely draw out my bragging on bringing you children home safely, and we have our distraction which shall keep the others in place until the situation can be explained!".
"Ooh, yeah, that work!" Petrie agreed.
Cera rolled her eyes, "You're going to explain finding us without telling why we were out there?" she asked.
"Sounds a bit hard to do" her sister backed up, having figured she could at least see them all to the Great Valley before finding her herd.
"Not in the least" Pterano exclaimed. Yet, just as everyone but the runners turned to head towards the meeting circle, the sounds of commotion hit them.
"Spread out, but not too scattered!" Mr. Threehorn announced as he came rushing into view, directing this comment to Mrs. Swimmer and a few others of the Great Valley swimmers.
"Dad! What's going on?" his oldest rushed over.
Topsy got over any of his own shock or inquires of what she was doing here without her herd quickly, "Fast Biters have broken through, just now!" he delivered horrible news.
Pterano noticed his sister flap down, and the news just got better. "They're over by the far walking runners herd! Tria's already there!".
Veck and Lars weren't even aware they were moving before they had darted that way. Mr. Threehorn and the others followed, until Mrs. Flyer flew down to cut the children off.
"Chomper could maybe talk to them" Littlefoot politely tried for a very valid point.
"He's right Mom" Harper added, "you already know how helpful Chomper is, like when he helped us during the Time of Rising Waters, and Ducky and I wouldn't be back without Ruby's help".
Mrs. Flyer did seem to ponder this. Finally, she sighed. "Well, I suppose I can't really tell you two what to do...".
This wasn't fully saying yes, but it was enough, and Chomper and Ruby darted off after the other adults.
~~~~
As Mr. Threehorn rushed along with his daughter to attempt to aid his mate in aiding the runners, he took notice of a very interesting fact.
"Everyone else with us are individuals I hate!" he glanced over to his daughter after scowling towards the pompous flyer and kidnapping runners.
"I'll explain it all later dad!" his daughter shot back.
"It also sounds like your own personal problem, Sir" Pterano muttered.
"You make yourself my personal problem!" Mr. Threehorn grumbled.
Pterano sighed, "In case you failed to notice, I did bring the children all back with..."
"Later you two!" the female threehorn shouted at them.
Veck and Lars out ran everyone else to the scene, not surprisingly. Thankfully Tria seemed to have done it.
"Yeah you better run! And stop going after the already sick!" she shouted to the two fast biters making a hasty retreat.
"Come on!" Mr. Threehorn kept after the sharpteeth, "let's make sure they actually leave or they die trying!". His family continued on after him and Pterano only kept to their path to ensure he did know if the sharpteeth made it out or to where they were no longer an issue.
Chomper and Ruby had gone to follow, when they both paused between the direction to fast biters and threehorns had darted off in and herd of runners recollecting themselves from the attack.
"Chomper...do you smell what I am now noticing I can smell with my own sniffer?" Ruby asked. Waving at his nose, Chomoer nodded.
The two hatchlings went unnoticed by Veck and Lars as the two rushed over to where they could spot their mother, thankfully on her feet.
"Mom! Are you ok?!", Veck exclaimed.
"Veck! Lars!" she glanced between her sons in shock, "Y-yes, the shock of having to defend your father...", she looked drained after her rush of adrenaline due to worry though.
Lars helped her as she sank back on a nearby rock, "It is good to see you boys though" she added. That fact alone seemed to help the color stay in her cheeks most of all.
Veck, for once, did look guilty as he gave a small smile, "I...I'm sorry Mom, for everything Harper said we were causing". He then glanced about, "Y-you said Dad was attacked? Where is he?".
Some of the herd members were fanning out from their own grouping up, and Veck now saw why they had all gathered in the first place.
It...it wasn't possible. "Dad...", he walked forward towards the prone figure of the patriarch and slowly knelt.
From where he could see now too, Lars stood up, stunned, and then knelt back down to be beside his mother and hugged her tighter as she turned her head away.
Veck still just stared, at where his father lay with what looked to be horrific wounds. He didn't move. He wouldn't even know they'd come back. After everything else Veck had done to his father, this seemed the worst.
Sobbing, Veck finally broke, crumpling over his father. "Oh dad, I'm so sorry...I...I..." but there were no more excuses, and all his previous one's actually made him sick to his stomach now. How had he said any of what he'd said? Selfish, Arrogant Fool!
He'd had to be so stubborn that nothing short of this broke through his wall! Veck didn't blame Lars, his brother had just been following him. He'd been the ring leader and instigator of the pride that had kept them away.
When he'd been a hatchling, to be from his father's side two seconds would have been torture. The male was everything in young Veck's life rolled into one. It was of course why the banishment had stung so deep and produced such defensive statements.
He'd have grieved his mother's loss, of course, had the flyer hatchling's prediction come true or things gone even worse, but at the loss of his father and mentor, Veck felt not only guilt but the utter bottom of how far one could fail a loved one.
The rest of the herd began to move off, so as to give the young runner his privacy. Herd politics and whether or not the two should be here didn't seem to mater at the moment.
It was Lars, farther back, who thought he noticed the slightest bit of a hope.
"Veck..." as the older of the runners was huddled over his father in utter dejection, Lar's whisper was barely heard as he gently left his mother's side to walk over.
Veck shook his head, "Whatever excuses you have on my account won't help this time, Lars" he said. Then he heard his father's own weak whisper. "B-Boys...?".