WARNING:

rated this as super super high teen because i don't know if it lingers enough on M or T. i mean, someone got eaten in one of the Jurassic Parks, and there was blood and a crunch and everything, but thats still rated PG13, so, i just went with T for this.

ENJOY :D

Littlefoot's legs trembled as he walked with slow, painful steps. His breath came in laboring gasps, throaty and hoarse. Dry dust blew around him with hot, blistering wind. His head lowered in a long exhaustion. His stomach felt empty and gurgled with nearly every movement. It seemed hollow, as if nothing could fill him, or ever would.

Unable to stand, the little dinosaur sat himself down, looking behind his tracks grievously. Miles and miles of empty steps and footprints were all that showed and proved his existence. His mind flipped to his companions. Well. . . they were temporary companions.

After many long days and nights of walking with weeks devoid of any food, they all fell in heavy sleep in the middle of nowhere with no shelter from the elements. All were hungry and thirsty with no sign of food or water.

Five of them fell asleep that night, and only four woke up.

They all nudged the little one to awaken, crying, begging she would just blink open a tired eye and continue pressing on with their horrible, eternal journey.

She didn't. Her beak hung open, not a breath escaping, not a twitch of an eyelid. Her skin clung to her bones and despite everything, she was now at peace.

And of course, though none of the remaining voiced their thoughts, all were jealous of her escape. They wanted freedom, release from this tortuous walk. Their feet hurt and legs were painfully sore with every movement. How long would this go on?

The next one was Spike.

After his little sister's death, he changed. His movements were slow with grief, heart heavy from his loss. The starvation didn't help, as did the constant traveling.

A sharptooth found the group; he was the slowest, perhaps even the one with the smallest, most bleak will to live.

The others got away, hiding in a small cave with panting breathing and wide, terrified eyes. Cera was the first to clear her throat when she managed to choke out, "Wh-Where's Spike?"

All slipped into silence, trembling in fearful apprehension. They looked at each other, unable to find the words to escape what they experienced. The group sat in suspended, terrified quiet. Littlefoot prepared to say something, stopping on a choked gasp as a horrible scream pierced the empty, dry air. A cry, a terrible cry of agony laced with disgusting pain.

Even worse as they listened, there came a sudden silence.

A chill cast through the trio, forced to listen to the following crunches, the snapping of bones and the tearing of flesh. They held back their cries of grief as the swallows continued and the gurgles of satisfaction. A heavy scent of blood filled their small hideout; the survivors pressed to each other for comfort, listening as the steps retreated into the distance, and the retreating silence.

Life went on.

They peeked from their small cave, looking on in horror at the gruesome leftovers from the meal. Nothing more than bones and some slabs of meat hung from the now rotting carcass and blood stained bones. The thing remaining couldn't even be called a dinosaur. How could their friend now turn into this?

Shuddering, they pressed on.

The third one: the flier.

It became obvious after days from their last incident that something went wrong inside him. He blubbered, shuddered and trembled in fear, his eyes open but looking and staring into nothing. The other two watched him and took care of him as best as they could, getting him to respond to him in the best of their abilities. He was a shell of himself, unable to really respond, unable to comprehend what happened around him.

However, one day, he just stopped. They poked and prodded at him, trying to get a response from his trembling and shaking. They spoke his name, begged him to answer them, but he never did. His mind was broken, scattered into pieces. He could never recover.

So with broken hearts, they abandoned him, their stomachs' demands too loud to ignore.

Then the last one.

The pair walked for days after the loss of their previous friend. They didn't speak to each other, knowing it would be too hard when one of them finally did lose themselves. Their progress was slow, careful and filled with hunger.

On a particularly hot day under the baking sun, she collapsed.

Not a warning.

Not a sound.

Just a thud.

The long-neck stopped beside her, used to this. One would nudge the other, and after several seconds they would usually get up.

This time was different.

He nudged her, called her name and nudged her again.

She didn't respond.

The young long-neck seemed to know from the moment she collapsed that it would be the last time. Her lungs ceased breathing, her eyes open, gazing into the beyond, a beyond he couldn't see.

Broken, he considered laying down next to her, finding some comfort to mourn her. His stomach urged him on, though, and he could only abandon her corpse, trekking towards the land promised to him by so many.

After many paces from her body, he looked back now, staring at her figure in the distance. The young dinosaur sat himself down, resting for just several minutes, just waiting for some time to rest.

He walked on.

Miles may have passed before him until it came for his turn. He finally collapsed in a land of towering peaks of rocks. The small stones crumbled beneath his weight, shifting as he panted, staring at the sun beginning to slink below the horizon. His breathing labored, his skin trembling and muscles twitching in spasms as he heaved in another breath of oxygen. The heated rocks seared his skin as he gazed into the shifting clouds above him.

"Littlefoot," a celestial voice whispered.

"Mother?" he whispered, voice shaking as much as he was.

A single tear rolled down the rim of his eyes. "I tried mother, but it's just too hard."

The cloud looked on him, as if pitying him. The young dinosaur tried to cry in his defeat, thinking of his lost friends, dying in ways no one should die. His breath shook, and he gazed at the cloud as it shifted, moving away from him.

His eyes closed.

(**)

Moments later, he found his energy.

He stood to wobbling feet, finding the adrenaline as a cry escaped him, "Mother!" he called, running after her. "Mother wait!" he pleaded.

He chased after her, weaving through rocks. His legs were sore, his feet aching more than anything as he pursued the phantom which haunted his dreams and nightmares.

Skidding to a halt, Littlefoot stared over the outcropping of a rock, gazing down into the valley dipping and curving below him. Beautiful trees and a sparkling river glimmered as he stared at the herds of others, happily fed, living full and happy lives.

"I made it," he gasped, joy escaping him. "We did it! We made it to the Great Valley!"

He jumped, skidding down the slopes of rocks as he ran, practically falling. Water sloshed around his feet as he drank from the sweet and cool waters. New energy filled him as he looked around, smiling as his friends appeared on a hill above him, grinning. A glow seemed to fill them as all lined the hillside, looking to each other in excitement as they fixed their eyes on their returning friend.

"Littlefoot!" they called. "Come on!"

Joy flushed through him as the small long-neck ran after his friends, embracing them with relived laughs and cries of happiness.

"You're not dead!" he exclaimed, looking at them, eyes glimmering with wet tears.

"Of course not!" Cera huffed, her tone harsh, but obviously lined lightly. "We've been here the whole time."

Littlefoot smiled and fell into the arms of his friends, promising to never look back.

(**)

okay so i was inspired to write this based off the theory off the first movie that in reality, the group of kids all died at some point in the movie and made it to heaven (the Great Valley). And i'm not really taking a stand on whether i believe this theory is true or not, especially since it works very, very loosely and you totally need to disregard the sequels, but theories intrigue me when it comes to this kind of stuff, but i never really take a stand on it because they're just theories. :)