"Littlefoot, it's me!"
He had no idea what was going on now. Just an instant before, he had been in paradise. In the Great Beyond, but now he was being forced out. Over him, there still loomed the same purple blur.
After a moment, this purple blur turned into a sharptooth! This caught the longneck off guard. Hy tried to get up to run away, acting purely out of instinct. He soon regretted that decision. Sharp pains shot throughout his broken body as it refused to get up. He yelled out in pain after the failed escape.
"Whoa, stop! Stop! Calm down! It's me!"
Littlefoot stopped moving. He had to rest there for a bit, as that sudden movement had made him light headed. His entire body was still throbbing.
"Littlefoot, You... remember me?
After awhile, the pain had finally dulled out enough for him to bring his head back up to take another look at the sharptooth, finally realizing who it was.
"Ch...Chomper?"
The sharptooth's face suddenly brightened up, a big smile stretched across his face, showing off a wall of sharpteeth.
"Yeah, it's Chomper, old friend!"
It was Chomper! His little friend from many years back, who had been forced away from him by a meeting he wasn't allowed to go to, or was even told was going on.
"I MUST still be in the Great Beyond. I thought I'd never see you again!"
a forced laugh emanated from the purple sharptooth. "You don't know how close you were to staying there for good!"
"So, I'm alive?"
He looked over to his right, to see two more sharpteeth. A female sharptooth, and a small male one, who was hiding behind it's mother's leg, staring at him, dumbfounded. The female looked dumbfounded, too.
"Oh, this is just my family, Littlefoot! My mate, Pearl, and my son, Rex."
"Well, nice to meet you two, I guess." "
He watched as his friend turned to his two family members, and started roaring and growling at them. They must have been talking to each other with that uniquely sharp tooth way of speaking, but he couldn't deny hearing all these roars and growls were making him uneasy. As they kept speaking, he got a little more used to it, and again noticed the other two sharpteeth's expressions.
"They look a little... spooked. Don't they?"
"They're just... surprised to see that you made it! I'm pretty surprised, myself!"
"I made it? Oh yeah. Still getting over that fact, heh! What... happened? Last thing I remember is.. getting attacked by some sharpteeth, then, I blacked out, I guess."
"Well, when I found you, You were passing out, with those other sharpteeth over you. I managed to get them away from you, then I had to drag you back here."
"Back here?"
"yeah, back to my nest! So I could nurse you back to health."
"So, I've been in this nest the whole time? How long?"
"Well, it's been a good several days that you've been out. I was really starting to get worried, there.
"Th... um... you're family's been eating, right?"
That was probably out of pace ,but he just couldn't shake the looks the sharpteeth semmed to give him.
"Yeah, We've been eating well. You don't have to worry about... that."
The longneck looked around his surroundings some more, this time taking a gander to the left, before fixing his eyes on a horrific sight. Another longneck, not far away from him. This one had probably been dead for awhile, as a lot of him was already... gone. One side of him had been torn into, and his entrails had been spread around the ground just in front of the downed creature, partially consumed. He jumped his head away quickly, trying to keep himself from hurling.
"I"m... sorry you had to see that."
Littlefoot looked back at his old friend, now looking very guilty.
"He... was he... you're dinner?"
"Yes, it.. well, he was. Wow, this is... awkward."
"I understand. I mean... you have to eat meat."
"He... I went out and killed him yesterday. I killed him... for you."
"For me!?"
"Yes. My mate had given me this ultimatum while you were here, healing. She told me I had to go out, and bring back a kill yesterday, to feed the family, or..."
"...Or, you would have eaten me?"
His friend's eyes watered up.
"...Yes."
"Br... Brack died... so I could live?" This shook the broken longneck to his very core. The very longneck he had seen enter the Great Beyond, He was entering the afterlife, so he himself could get a second chance. A second life.
He... didn't want to talk anymore after that. He closed himself out. What else could he do? Just moments before, he had been in paradise, before being kicked out, and thrust straight into... a graveyard. Literally. There wasn't just the carcase, left behind from his acquaintance in the Great Beyond, but several full on skeletons littered the area around him, with some more random bones littering the ground. How many dinosaurs now called ths their final resting place? All of their remains, seemingly left here as trophies. Trophies gotten from past hunts... his old friend's hunts. It was all too much for the poor longneck.
He couldn't get up and run away from this graveyard, either. His broken body wouldn't let him. He'd need a lot of time to heal from the attack. He was going to be stuck here for awhile, for better or for worse.
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The next day, he woke up to find a pile of leaves in front of him, left there by his friend. He laid there for awhile, contemplating if he even wanted it. He finally decided to eat his fill, still not saying a word. Having a little bit of his strength come back to him, he reluctantly decided to lift his head, and look around the nest again. The sight before him was surprising, to say the least.
Everything was gone! Brack, the skeletons, and the other bones were all missing!
"Um.. Morning, friend. I tried to... clean up around here all I could. I'm... still sorry you had to see all that."
His friend was doing what he could to not make him feel so uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry Chomper. I know you saved my life out there, and I thank you for that. I really do. It's just... This is just so... I don't know."
"Disturbing?"
"Yeah, that starts to describe all of this."
His friend shifted in his place, still looking concenred
"I was so worried about you coming to... I wasn't really thinking about what would happen if you did woke up. I should have had that... mess out of your sight."
"Hey, where's everyone else?"
"You mean my mate and son? Well, they're... they're out today."
"Out? Doing what?"
"Look, you don't need to concern yourself with all of that. You've been through so much, just get some more rest, please."
Littlefoot considered his friend's words. He was still so shaken from his reawakening yesterday. He already knew what the two other sharpteeth were out there doing, but he really did not want to think about it. His old friend was right. He... needed some more time alone in his thoughts. When he laid his neck back down for a nap, a loud yell hit his ears.
"Hey! HEY! Fast biters! Fast biters trying to get at the longneck!"
Littlefoot's head whipped back up, at the sudden exclamation from an unknown source. His sharptoothed friend suddenly got up, running after the screaming voice. He only turned his head back for a moment to yell back to the longneck.
"Sorry, Littlefoot. This shouldn't take long!"
What was going on? Was Chomper having to chase some fast biters away from him? He was kind of confused right now. His confusion only got worse, as the voice from before yelled out again.
Oh, hey! I heard you had come around recently!"
That voice. Where was that voice coming from!? He had never heard it before. Was it Chomper's son?
"Wow. Really had to get oughta there. Hopefully Rex's daddy can take care of those fast biters. I wasn't gonna get anywhere near em, hell no!"
No, this wasn't Rex. This was some new face, apparently. Someone he had probably never seen before. But who?
"Hey! Down here, big guy!"
Littlefoot finally looked down to see a little iguanodon staring up at him.
What's going on around here!?"Wh...what...who...you...huh!?"
"Wow. You still not thinking straight or something? I can't understand ya!"
"What...the...hell is a little leafeater kid doing in a sharptooth nest!?"
"well, what the hell you doing here, big guy?"
"I asked first! Mind your elders, dammit! you... you...Hmm, what's you're name?"
"The names Guaro. What's yours? Or should I just call you mountain!"
He couldn't even think of what was up with this little runt. He was already pissing the longneck off. He was hanging around sharpteeth, apparently, so he obviously didn't know what was really good for him. He seemed like a real trouble maker, too. He started to wonder if this little iguanodon had pissed Chomper off as much as he did him just now.
"Look. I was just trying to get back to sleep, kid. and now you're freaking me out by just being here."
"Well, you don't have to be freaked out by me. I'm just Rex's friend!"
"Well, okay, Rex's friend. Could you like... run off and play in Chomper's mouth or something? I'd really like to get some more rest.
"I wouldn't say no to that!"
The purple sharptooth had returned from chasing the fast biters off. He didn't really know what the other sharpteeth were after, as he never got to see them.
"Hey, Guaro, could you leave my friend alone for a little while?"
"Aww, do I have to? I was having so much fun talking to your old friend!"
"You even know what you're talking to, little guy? Littlefoot's got a lot a resting to do! Leave him alone!"
"Rex wouldn't like it if somethign happened to me."
"You wanna try me, kid?"
The still healing longneck was watching this other worldy little exchange, before hearing a roar emanating from the distance.
"Ah, Pearl and Rex are coming back! I wonder how it went?" Chomper was the one who had spoken up, with an... unreadable expression on his face.
Guaro had already gotten up, and run off towards the nearby woods. He seemed to already know what was coming, and didn't seem too keen on witnessing it.
Chomper roared out to his mate, when she replied back, his face still remained unreadable, as if he was unsure of how to even feel about the news.
"So... He did it. My son finally did it."
"What did he do? Is he okay" Littlefoot didn't have to wait for long to get his answer. As the two came close to them, Rex looked horrifying. He was caked in dried blood, covering his teeth and his claws. More revealing, however, were his eyes. They were full of sadness, horror, and disgust. The longneck now knew what had happened.
Chomper greeted the other two sharpteeth in their own language. The two larger sharpteeth tried to comfort the little one, who broke down crying. Chomper nuzzled the little one, before speaking to his mate again, and leaving the other two to walk up to the sauropod. Littlefoot spoke up before Chomper could.
"Did he do what I think he did?"
"...Yes. It was his first time. He's...really having difficulty dealing with it, but he had to learn this lesson sooner or later." He lowered his head, a few tears coming from his own eyes. "I'm sorry, son. I'm sorry all of this... stuff had to happen before your first kill."
He returned to the other sharpteeth, and they all got up to leave him. The poor longneck was still dealing with his own situation, but he also felt sorry for the poor little sharptooth. He had just done what all sharpteeth must do, and he wasn't taking it very well. He laid there, in the nest for awhile longer, before drifting off to sleep again.
---------------------
A couple of days later. Things had quieted down around the sharptooth nest again. Littlefoot still rested at his same spot. His strength was returning to him, but his healing was not done yet. His physical healing, at least. He had built up the strength of his spirit, at least enough to have an important chat with his old friend. The next time Chomper came by the nest, he decided to have that chat.
"hmm, so is this how it makes you feel?"
The purple sharptooth jumped up, staring at him, confused as to what Littlefoot was getting at.
"I mean... Does it make you feel like this... Chomper... whenever someone has to die for you to live?"
"Yes. It did a long time ago, and it kind of still does even today."
"It's still affecting you?"
"Kind of. I can do what I need to to survive, but I still have an appreciation."
"An appreciation?"
"Yeah. Every time I take a life, I feel... grateful for it. It's... horrible it has to be this way, but if it does, I'll at least... thank them for it, if only in my thoughts. Those who lives I have to take, to save my own, I make sure their death aren't in vain, in a way. I make sure I live my life to the fullest. I don't squander the gift that they give me."
Littlefoot had never thought of it that way before. His friend had to be a sharptooth now, but he was still Chomper, his old friend. He didn't lose himself when he turned into a killer.
"Hmm, I wonder how my son's going to get through this?"
"You were hoping it wouldn't be as hard for him as it was for you, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but everything's that happened. With you, and with Guaro, didn't make it easy on him."
"Well, you made it through, didn't you? I know he'll be able to get through this. He has such great parents, I'm sure he'll be okay!"
"Thanks friend."
"So, when you first woke up, you said something about knowing that longneck?"
"Knowing him? No, I didn't really know him, but I met him once."
The sharptooth just sat there, looking away for a moment. He gazed back at the longneck, ready to hear about the dinner he and his family had been having over the past few days.
"I met him... up there. I was there, to greet him, and welcome him into the Great Beyond. He told me a little bit of his story. He'd been kicked out of his herd, by Shorty, no less. And then he met you, and it didn't end too well for him."
"You were in the Great Beyond? Really?"
"Yeah, I was there for awhile." Littlefoot expected Chomper to look at him like a looney right there, but he wasn't. "I got to meet so many up there. My grandparents, Topsy, Ruby..."
"Ruby!? Ruby died!?"
He had let that slip, absentmindedly. The mighty sharptooth stared at him, bewildered.
I guess I had better break the news to him, then."Yeah. If you remember, she didn't get to leave the valley with you, out of all of the confusion. She had went out into the Beyond for awhile, trying to look for you, but she couldn't find you. She came back to the valley, to live with us again. She was sorry that she couldn't be with you, but there wasn't really much she could do about it. Then one day... Oh, it happened so fast..."
He stopped there, not knowing if he could continue with the story. Both of the dinosaurs looked at eachother again, Chomper giving him a sad nod.
"...One day, she got trampled to death by the grownups."
"WHAT!?"
"Apparently, they had caught her eating some meat. I think it was probably fish, or something, but they were getting worked up over it, anyway. They just... killed her. They didn't even ask any questions. They were just..."
He couldn't say any more. He had tried to forget about it a long time ago, but his past was haunting him again. He felt a claw on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw that Chomper was in tears, just like he was. He came over to hug him, and they just embraced each other for a bit.
"It was a good thing that I left when I did, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, it was. At least she's in a better place now. I'm sure she's still looking out for you."
"I'm know she is."
The two let out of their embrace. After they had spent some time settling down, Littlefoot decided he had an announcement to make. He and Chomper had come to an understanding tonight, now having something they had in common. Littlefoot did already have this, from back when his mother died saving him, but these recent events just cemented it. He had to let his friend know.
"So, with the ones you have to kill. you said you make sure their deaths aren't in vain? I should do the same. I have to make sure Brack's death isn't in vain. So, I've decided, Chomper. I'm not going to waste this second chance. This second life!"
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I still have another part coming, guys. I know I said this would be the last part, but I'm just having to devote so much time to Littlefoot dealing with his situation. I didn't realize before how hard all of this would really end up being for him, and what it would take to get him through it in a believable way. I hope you still enjoyed this, and that you guys aren't sore at having to read another part!
