It's just too hard, Mother. I tried... but it's just too hard.
He felt coarse ragged salt collect in his eyes. Too much crying and too little water. He wiped the pale crystals away with a shivering frail tail and trudged forward.
Always forward. Always. Never go back, never give up, never stop. The only exceptions were for the others.
They still made him smile now. Petrie and Ducky were arm in arm on his back, sharing soft secretive whispers that he pretended not to hear. Spike and Cera were... Spike and Cera...
More crying. Too much crying. Keep going. We have to keep going. Up and over the next rise. Up and down the next mountain. Gasp in a shaking breath of too-thin mountain air and... oh, you fell. Clumsy. Pick up Petrie and Ducky and keep going.
A dull numbing buzz in his ears. How long had he been down? The fly was... the fly had landed. And it wasn't alone. Flick it away with your tail... oh, you're too tired.
"Spike," he rasped. "Cera... please..."
I need help, he wanted to say. I always help you, now you need to help me or we'll never... never make it...
Blurred gray gave way to a stark piercing light. Slowly a curtain of brightness washed over the horizon and there it was. A land of green leaves and life. There were waterfalls, grassy meadows, enough treestars to feast on forever.
And Ducky and Petrie and Cera and Spike. Spike, even though... was it that long ago when Sharptooth had crushed him into the dust? And Cera... hadn't she perished in the teeth of the beast?
No. Nightmare. Not real. Not true. The Great Valley was here and they had made it. They had made it together. All of them.
A quivering smile as the ash and the dust of Ducky and Petrie tumbled down the knobs of bone protruding through his skin. These were then swept away by a ragged gust of wind and the Great Valley was here and they had made it. They had made it together.
Petrie was a flier and Ducky was a swimmer. Spike was a new brother and Cera was Cera was Cera was Cera. So tired, Mother. So hungry. Mother was here too and Mother... and Mother...
Mother... I can see it... even though I can't see it with my eyes... Mother...