Loss

by Quazie89

Butch tells Arlo the sad story of what could've happened to Nash and Ramsey' s mother.

Hello, everybody! I have something a little different for you guys today. This fic will probably come as much as a surprise to you as it did to me. I never thought I would write a Good Dinosaur fic, mostly because I didn't care too much for the movie when I first saw it. I thought it was okay, but judging by Pixar's other standards, I thought it could've been better. I never thought I would watch it again, but just recently, I have fallen in love with Sam Elliott and his voice, and he does the voice of Butch in the film, so naturally I got the very strong urge to write a story about Butch. I bought the movie on Blu-Ray and decided to watch it again to refresh my memory of I noticed in the movie we never see Nash and Ramsey' s Mom, and we never learn where she is or what happened to her. The movie never explains it, so it kind of made me think something bad had happened to her, and I wrote this story to kind of explore what could've happened to her. It takes place during the movie, when Arlo and Spot are still traveling with Butch, Ramsey, and Nash. I hope you enjoy it! A little warning before we begin the story, though, it does contain a little bit of blood and violence, but not too much.

It was a dark, cloudy night, and a storm was brewing.

Arlo could hear thunder rumbling in the distance, and tilted his head toward it, growing weary of the approaching storm.

It had already been raining with ferocious intensity off and on for the past several days, causing all of the rivers to flood, with no end to the rain in sight. Some dinosours and other creatures had even moved to higher ground to escape the flooding. Things were letting very grim indeed, for everybody.

Arlo shook his head to try to clear his thoughts, then turned and ran, fleeing into the darkness of a deep, pitch-black ravine, gasping for breath, struggling to keep up with his father, which was hard to do with the lame leg he had heavily injured in a fall on the wet rocks just moments earlier.

They were running across a path of slippery rocks trailing along a raging river, chasing after the human that had escaped the trap they had set up to capture other animals and keep them from stealing the food from their silo back at the farm. They didn't know where he had went, or how far he had gotten, but they could follow his trail until they found him, which was what they were doing, until the unthinkable happened.

Almost in a split second later, Arlo saw his father lose his footing on the slick rocks, watching in horror and disbelief as he fell from the slippery rocks and slipped over the edge.

It had all happend so fast, Arlo hadn't had time to react, but it was almost as if it all happened in slow motion, even though Arlo knew it had only happened in a few brief seconds.

"Papa!" Arlo cried, running over to the river's edge, and reached out a foot to pull him back out of the unforgiving waters, but it was all in vain. He just hadn't been quick or fast enough, the lame leg slowing him down. His older brother back home, Buck, who always enjoyed picking on him for being so scared all the time, was right. He was nothing but a useless coward.

He could only watch, helplessly, as his father disappeared into the raging waters below.

He never saw his father alive again.

Arlo woke up gasping for breath, finding himself lying underneath a thick blanket of stars, having been disturbed from his fretful sleep by the same nightmare he had been having everyday ever since his father had died and he had started out on this adventure with Spot.

Feeling tears of hurt, anger and frustration prick at his eyes, Arlo began to hyperventilate, and took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down, having to remind himself he was in the presence of three very large t-rexes who could easily gobble him whole if they were hungry enough or ever felt the need to.

Two of the t-rexes were still very young, and not as big as the very massive and very old t-rex lying in between them, keeping a close, watchful guard over them, but they were still very big, much bigger than Arlo, even though they were probably close to the same age. Their names, Arlo had learned earlier, were Nash and Ramsey, and the colossal, mountain-like t-rex lying in the middle of them, who was their father, was named Butch. Nash and Ramsey were both half the size of Butch, and he had to have been bigger than the biggest mountain Arlo had ever seen. He had never seen a dinosaur so vast before. His size was incredible, and Arlo was envious of it. He would never have to worry about being bullied ever again if he was as big as him.

Once he had somehow managed to compose himself, the young Apatosaurous looked from Butch, to Nash, glancing quickly at Ramsey, then back to Butch again, and realized something was missing.

Nash and Ramsey, unlike him, appeared to not have a mother.

Realizing this for the first time, and growing more and more curious about the matter with each passing minute, even though he knew he shouldn't, he rose up on his trembling legs and cautiously crept up to Butch, knowing he was irritable and quick to anger, especially when he was disturbed from his sleep.

Arlo cleared his throat. "B-B-Butch?" he somehow managed to stammer out the old dinosaur's name, wincing at how whiny and squeaky his voice sounded. "A-Are you awake?"

Butch sputtered awake, swerving his enormous head around, and Arlo gasped, taking a step back, startled by how fast the boulder-like skull had whipped toward him. "What do you want, kid?" he asked, his deep, rumbling voice booming, and Arlo felt it vibrating deep within his chest. "Whatever it is, it better be worth getting me up just before the crack of dawn." He yawned, a thundering roar escaping his gaping, teeth-filled maw and echoing across the vast, desolate landscape stretching miles around them.

Arlo chuckled nervously. "U-U-Uh, never mind," he said, and began to back away, starting to have seconds thoughts about this not well-thought out venture.

Butch snorted. "You might as well go ahead and tell me," he said, and frowned, narrowing his eyelids at him. "I would have hated to have gotten woke up this early for nothing."

Arlo gulped. "Y-Y-Yeah, you're right," he said, and craned his lengthy neck in order to gaze up at Butch, giving him a sheepish grin. "I wouldn't want somebody waking me up this early in the morning for no reason, either." He took a deep shuddering breath, gathering up what little courage he could muster, feeling a little less brave then he had just moments before, if he had even been brave at all. Buck was right. He was nothing but a worthless coward.

"Where's Nash and Ramsey's Mom?" He looked back over at the two young dinosaurs in question to make sure they were still asleep, something telling him they didn't need to be awake for this conversation, which was the main reason why he had decided to wait to confront Butch about their mother at such an early hour in the morning. "Don't they have one?"

Arlo didn't know what he had expected Butch's reaction to be, anger, maybe, even rage, but he certainly hadn't been expecting the one he did give him.

Butch gaped at him in horror, and Arlo was shocked to see big drops of glistening tears welling up in his beady eyes, having never thought he would see such a large imposing creature as Butch cry, and it was a very strange sight to behold indeed. "What gives you the right to ask such a question, huh, kid?" he asked, quickly turning his head away to hide the tears from Arlo, and sniffed. "It's none of your business." His massive frame shaking from the force of his sobs, he slowly bent down to pick up a nearby leaf off the ground and blew his nostrils with it, making a loud honking sound as he did.

Trembling with fright, Arlo shook his head, and started to turn and walk away. "You're right, I'm sorry," he said, muttering the words his breath, and stared down at the ground in guilty shame. "I'll just go." He felt bad for having waking him up so early in the morning and making him cry.

"Wait!"

Surprised to hear Butch shout in protest, Arlo stopped in his tracks and turned back around to look at the old dinosour, blinking at him in bewilderment. "What?" he asked, puzzled, wondering what it was the old dinosaur could want.

Butch closed his eyes, only to open them again seconds later. "I'll tell you what happened to her," he said, and gave Arlo a stern look, narrowing his eyes at him. "You just got to promise me you won't breathe a word to this to Ramsey or Nash, because they don't know what happened to their mother, and I don't want them to know, not yet, anyway." He shook a rather sharp, deadly-looking, scolding claw at him. "I'll tell them when I think they're old enough to understand, and not until then, got that, kid?"

"Got it," Arlo said, and sat back down on his haunches, thinking he might as well make himself comfortable after Butch had just scared the living daylights out of him just for asking him to tell the story.

Butch rose up and sat back on his own hindquarters, causing the ground to shake as he did, wincing at some kind of pain when he fell back on his bulging legs. Arlo suspected some old wound must've been bothering him. The ancient dinosaur had been in lot of fights in the many years he had been walking on the face of the earth, and he had the scars and bruises to prove it. There was even one big nasty one running down the side of his face, trailing almost from his eye all the way down to his jawline, and it made him look even more menacing then what he already did, if that was even possible. "Good, so listen up, because I'm only going to tell you this once," he said, and yawed, still half-asleep. "You're probably never going to see me again, anyway, so I might as well go ahead and tell ya the sad tale, seeing as your here already and ya went to all the trouble to wake me up just to hear it." A wide, leering, toothy grin crossed his muzzle, making Arlo shiver at the sight of it. "That took a lot of guts kid, and I actually admire you for it." He chuckled, sounding pleased, and Arlo relaxed, feeling all of the tension leave his body, Butch's unexpected but much welcome compliment putting him more at ease with being in the intimating dinosaur's looming, larger-than-life presence. "I know grown adults who would've been afraid to pull off a stunt like that, and I couldn't imagine what it took for a young dinosaur like you to do it." He gave one of his flanks a playful nudge.

"Why, thank you," Arlo said, feeling proud of himself for once in his life, but he didn't get to bask in his rare, brief moment of glory for long, for Butch shattered all his hopes and dreams of ever being brave seconds afterwards.

"Just don't get cocky kid," Butch said, his mood quickly turning sour. "It was a one-time thing, so don't get used to it."

Arlo cringed from him. "Yes, sir," he said, suddenly feeling very small and insignificant again. Butch really knew how to make a dinosaur feel useless.

Butch gave him a playful wink, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Don't take it too personally kid," he said, shaking his head, and gave him a reassuring smile. "It's all in good fun." Then, all of a sudden, his whole entire demeanor changed, and his expression turned mournful. He tilted his head up and peered up at the night sky, a sad, distant look of longing in his eyes, and was quiet for a few minutes before he looked back down at Arlo, who was quite caught off guard by the grief and pain of loss he saw in the dinosaur's weary, rheumy eyes. "Now let's get this over with."

Arlo nodded wordlessly, too stunned to speak.

"Long ago, long before you were born, I fell in love," Butch said, and Arlo couldn't help but giggle, finding it hard to believe that this brute of a dinosaur could ever love anyone.

"What's so funny?" Butch asked, and frowned at Arlo, raising a questioning eyelid at Arlo.

"Nothing," Arlo said, and shook his head, trying hard to wipe the smile off of his face. "Please, continue on with your story. I'm sorry I interrupted."

"You better be," Butch said, his voice a low menacing growl, and Arlo felt his blood run cold.

Butch softened his hardened, darkened expression, which lightened. "Just messing with ya, kid," he said, his voice becoming less deadly and serious, and closed his eyes in deep thought. "Anyway, getting back to where I was…" He muttered the words under his breath, trailing off into a low, grumbling tangent for the next few minutes, but realization soon dawned in his wise, ancient eyes. "Ah, yes, I fell in love, but my love was taken from me, not long afterwards."

"What happened to her?" Arlo asked, and suddenly became very sad, feeling bad for having laughed at Butch earlier.

"If you'll give me a minute and quit interrupting me, I'll get to that part soon," Butch said, barring his fangs at him, the corners of his mouth pulling back in a rather unpleasant, malevolent snarl.

Arlo shivered. "Okay," he said, and frantically nodded his head, eager for Butch to continue with the story.

"Remember that croc I told you about earlier?" Butch asked, and Arlo leaned forward in anticipation, wondering where Butch was going with this story and eager to hear the rest of it. "The one I told you gave me this scar?"

"Yes," Arlo said, nodding his head in understanding.

"Well, I was kind of fibbing about that," Butch said, grimacing, and hung his head down in shame. "That's just a little white lie I tell Nash and Ramsey, because I don't really want them to know the real truth of what happened, but I have my reasons, and I think they're good ones, so I hope you won't think too badly of me for keeping the truth from them."

Arlo shook his head frantically. "Oh, I won't," he said, giving Butch a reassuring smile.

"Promise."

"Good," Butch said, and Arlo was relieved to hear satisfaction in his voice "We can get on with the story then."

"Yes," Arlo said, encouraging Butch to continue.

Butch cleared his throat. "Anyway, back to the story," he said, and begin an unimaginable, heartbreaking tale of love, loss and death Arlo knew he would never forget, his warm, gravel-like drawl transporting him to a different time and place, somehow, oddly enough, making him feel safe now that he felt more relaxed in his presence. "I fell in love, and my love was taken from me."

"What was her name?" Arlo asked, without thinking, unable to help himself.

"Amber," Butch said, looking slightly annoyed, and Arlo could tell right then and there he had irritated the old dinosaur by interrupting his story and Arlo cringed, expecting a scolding rebuke from Butch, but, thankfully, none came, and Arlo said nothing more, not wanting to press his luck with the old dinosaur. "She was the most beautiful t-rex in the whole heard, and everyone was head over hills in love with her, including me." A regretful look crossed his expression, and Arlo looked up at him, curiously, wondering what had caused it. "Unfortunately, there was another dinosaur, another t-rex much more ferocious and terrifying then I ever was or ever will be, who had his sights set on her, too, and he was willing to fight me for her." Butch either noticed Arlo's inquisitive look and had no desire to comment on it whatsoever, or chose to ignore it all together, Arlo couldn't tell which, but he thought it would be best not to question him on it.

"What did you do?" Arlo asked in a breathless whisper, already cought up in the excitement of the story.

"I fought him of course," Butch said, chuckling, and grinned at him. "I fought him tooth and nail, to the death, because it was a fight for survival, as well as for love."

"Whoa," Arlo said, his eyes winding in awe. "Sounded like it was intense."

"It was," Butch sad, nodding. "Times were tough back then, much tougher then what they are now, and if you didn't have what it took to survive back then, you didn't last long."

Arlo gulped, knowing he would've never survived. "What was the T-Rex's name?" he asked, trying to change the subject a little bit.

"Everyone called him Swift Shadow, and for good reason," Butch said, resuming the story. "He was said to have clawed out a dromiceiomimus' eye while it was running, and everybody knows dromiceiomimus are some of the fastest dinosaurs on the planet, but I had almost forgotten this one crucial fact, and it almost cost me my life."

"How did you survive?" Arlo asked, feeling as if he had all kinds of questions to ask Butch.

"If you hold on a minute, kid, I'll tell you when we get to that part but we're not there, yet," Butch said, sounding very annoyed this time, and wasn't afraid to let Arlo know it. "I'll let you know when we are, though, got it?"

Arlo nodded, wordlessly, not wanting to test Butch's already thin patience even further.

"The fight took place on a warm, peaceful summer day, on the least likely day you would expect," Butch said, and hearing the fondness in his voice, Arlo could tell he enjoyed telling stories just as much as Arlo enjoyed listening to them, judging by the way he got so irirated whenever he interrupted him, even though he knew this particular story had to be quite painful for him to tell. "I was lying next to the love of my life, when he came."

Arlo closed his eyes, able to picture the scene in his mind so clearly, Butch painted such a vivid picture with his wonderful, storytelling voice.

Lying in the middle of a forest clearing, curled around a nest of eggs, the tyrannsous rex stirred awake, feeling the warmth from the humid rays extending down from the high early morning sun beaming down on his back, illuminating his lengthy, rather large body, in a light, orange glow. He could already tell it was going to be a hot day today.

"How was your night, Butch, dear?"

Butch glanced over at his side, toward the sound of the soft, pleasant voice, which belonged to the attractive, young female t-rex lying next to him. "Good," he said, and smiled at her, rubbing his nuzzle against hers. "I slept well." He rested his head on top of hers, and closed his eyes, sighing with great content. "How was your night, Amber, honey?"

"I slept just fine, honey," Amber said, licking his snout, and smiled at him, her bronze scales gleaming just as golden as her name under the bright sun. "I'm glad to hear you slept well, too."

Butch chuckled. 'Yeah, I did," he said, smiling back at her. "I always sleep well, when you're by my side."

"I'm glad to hear that -" Amber said, cutting off the sentence, and fell silent when a large shadow fell over them.

"She's mine."

Butch slowly looked up at the sound of the booming baritone voice, knowing it could've only belonged to one dinosaur and one dinosaur only. "Swift," he said, ruefully, recognizing the dinosaur by his black, gleaming scales. He was the only dinosaur in the heard who had been born with scales of that color, and it was another reason why everybody called him Swift Shadow. "Haven't seen you in awhile." He rose to his feet, bracing himself for the fight he knew was coming, knowing Swift liked to fight. "She isn't yours, Swift, and you know it." He began to circle Swift, seizing him up, daring him to make the first move. "She chose me, fair and square, in a mating ceremony."

"You took her from me, and I want her back," Swift said, and stomped up to Butch, pressing his muzzle against his.

"Now, you know that's true," Amber said, glancing from Butch to Swift, then quickly back to Butch again, her eyes wide with fright. "I fell in love with Butch, and gave him my heart on my own free will."

"I never believed that," Swift said, angry smoke rings billowing out of his nostrils. "I think that's just a lie to tell everbody to make yourselves look good." He leered hungrily at Beth, and lunged at her, starting to run afyer her. "You're mine."

"Run, Amber!" Butch shouted at her, and rammed himself into, knocking him to the ground.

"Butch, no – " Amber began to shout in protest, but Butch interrupted her.

"I said run, Amber!" He roared out the warning this time, and ducked his head just in time to avoid a swipe from lethal claws, letting out a pained grunt when Swift barreled into his chest, sending him tumbling to the gound, which shook when he fell. "He intends to fight me to the death for ye, and I don't want ya caught in the middle of it!"

"Oh, Butch," Amber said, tears glistening in her eyes, but she could already tell Butch had his mind set on the matter and wasn't going to change it. "Don't die, all right?" Seeing there was going to be little she could do, and knowing she wasn't going to have much else of a choice, she turned and ran, hoping and praying Butch would be all right.

Still lying on the ground, Butch helplessly watched Amber as she ran into the surrounding forest nearby and roared in pain when Swift bit into one of his flanks, tearing out a large chunk of flesh from the leg. In a desperate act of survival, Butch struggled to rise, but to no avail. Swift had pressed one of his feet on his stomach, and had him pinned down to the ground good, making it just about impossible for him to get back up to his feet.

"Amber isn't yours," Butch said, struggling to breathe, finding it was hard to do so with Swift's foot on his stomach. "She isn't mine." With a mighty heave, he pushed himself off the ground, crying out at the excruciating pain pulling off this little stunt had caused him. "She isn't something you can just own." He tried taking a couple of deep, shakey breaths, wheezing, hearing his breath ratting in his throat. "She's her own dinosour."

Swift swiped at him again, and this time he didn't miss, his claws catching the side of his muzzle and digging into the skin, dragging them down his mouth, reminding Butch how he had gotten his name. He felt blood fill his mouth, and knew then that the grievous wound Swift had given him was going to leave a permanent scar he was going to have for the rest of his life, a grim souvenir to remind him of this day.

Blinded by the burning, searing pain he felt running down the side of his mouth, Butch felt tears well up in his eyes, and in a fit of rage swiped back at Swift, letting out a cry of triumph when his claws raked across one of his eyes, wounding him very much the same way he had the dromiceiomimus so very long ago in a beautiful twist of irony.

Distracted by the unbearable pain the humiliating blow Butch had dealt him must've caused him, Swift clawed at his eye, having completely forgotten about Butch. Seeing this as an golden opportunity to escape, Butch ran, fleeing into the forest Amber had disappeared into, feeling very much like a coward, but wanting very much to get back to Amber. He had to make sure she was safe. Her safety came first. Always.

After Butch had stumbled into the forest, staggering, he found a river and began to follow it, his instincts telling him if Amber was ever seriously injured, she would try to find a place where water was first, because every dinosour knew if you followed a river it would lead you back home.They were taught this almost from the day they were born, and Butch knew Amber would remember this lesson well and heed it. She would go to the place where she felt the most safe.

"Amber?"

He followed the river until it trailed off into a lake deep within the forest, practically dragging himself now, his flanks heaving and bloody, his breathing raspy. "Amber?" He desperately called out her name, and collapsed at the edge of the lake in a broken heap, a great lump of fear rising in his throat when he saw the shadow of the great, slightly moving, boulder-like shape lying nearby him a little further down the lake's shore, thinking he had a pretty good idea of what it was and hoping he was wrong, but somehow knowing he was right and not wanting to be.

"Amber!" After he had somehow managed to drag himself closer to the great boulder-like shape and gotten a better look at it, Butch realized with mounting horror his suspicions were proven correct, wishing he was wrong but knowing there was no denying what he was seeing before him.

He was peering down at a bloodied, unrecognizable Amber, looking around in horror at all of the arrows and spearheads lying all around her, and knew at once who was responsible for bringing such harm to his beloved Amber.

Humans.

Humans had did this. Humans were responsible. Humans didn't deserve to walk the earth. They should be forced to have to pay for what they had done to his beloved Amber.

Butch began to sob, taking Amber's claws gently in his his, and leaned protectively over her, as if Swift would come back to take her from him at any minute, even though there was no one else around. "Amber, my love, speak to me," he said, pressing his muzzle against hers, much in the same way they had did earlier, only in a more solemn way this time, knowing it would probably be the last time they would ever share such an intimate touch again.

Having very title strength left, Amber titled her head slightly to look up at him, wincing at the pain even this small movement must've had caused her. "I'm here, honey," she said, giving him a sad, shaky smile, her breathing coming out in fast, shallow pants. "Not for much longer, though, I'm afraid."

"No, no, no," Butch said, beginning to sob, his voice starting to crack, and he let out a pitiful, mournful wail. "You can't leave me, please, don't."

"Go back and watch the eggs for me, honey, keep them safe," Amber said, and said the last words she would ever speak. "I love you." Then her eyes closed for everlasting eternity.

His shoulders quaking from his sobs, Butch clutched Amber to his chest, resting his head against hers, feeling as if his world had been turned upside down and taken from him.

"Humans killed Amber?" Arlo asked, realizing this could mean serious complications and consequences for his and Spot's relationship if Spot ever got older and grew up, but he knew he would, eventually, if Butch's story was true, and Arlo believed him. He had no reason to doubt him. You only had to look in his eyes and see the look of loss and woe in them when he told the story to know every bit of it was true.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Butch said, and hearing an odd catch in his voice, Arlo looked up at the old dinosaur, shocked and dismayed to see tears running down Butch's muzzle. "You see, Arlo, not all humans are like your bumbling, innocent little friend Spot over there," He indicated Spot with a tilt of his head, and turned back to Arlo. "They all start out that way, sure, but they all grow up, eventually, and when they do, some of them become mean, real mean."

Arlo looked over at Spot, fear and uncertainty crossing his face, an overwhelming sense of dread filling every inch of his being. "But Spot won't grow up to be like that," he said, knowing he was in denial but not caring. "He'll always stay bumbling…and innocent… like that"

Butch shook his head. "You don't know that," he said, giving him a deadly look. "Don't kid yourself, kid. Those humans who killed my Amber sure as heck weren't bumbling and innocent. They knew what they were doing when they killed her. They wanted her dead."

"No," Arlo said, feeling tears running his snout.

"Yes," Butch said, a dark shadow falling across his muzzle. "By the time the fight was over, and I somehow managed to get back on my feet and drag myself back to her she was as good as dead."

"I'm sorry," Arlo said, able to picture Butch, broken, bloody and beaten and his torn flanks heaving, in his mind all too well, and wishing he couldn't. He shook his head to clear it, but didn't have much success. Arlo had felt as if he had been there. Butch was such a great story-teller. "I know what it's like to lose someone close to you, and I know's it hard, but I don't think all humans are like that."

"Oh?" Butch raised a questioning eyelid at him, giving him a quizzical look. "Who did you lose kid, if you don't mind me asking?"

"My Dad," Arlo said, and left it at that, not wanting to having to retale the story and go through the whole horrible ordeal again. He also didn't want to let Butch know how he had wanted blame Spot for it at first when knowing, deep down, he really felt responsible for his Father's death and blamed himself for it, not wanting to give Butch another reason to hate Spot and other humans like him.

"Ah, I'm sorry, kid," Butch said, and gave him a sympatric look. "I know loosing anybody is hard, but losing your dad at an age like that, when you're still young, I bet it's even harder. I haven't had easy life, true, but I must admit, I couldn't imagine going through something like that."

"Yeah, it's not been an easy thing to deal with," Arlo said, and looked away from the old dinosaur, unable to meet him in the eye. "I understand now why you didn't want to tell Nash and Ramsey about their Mother."

"No problem, kid," Butch said, giving Arlo a reassuring smile. "If you can go through something like that, and come out all right, you got what it takes to survive this harsh world. Trust me, I know from experience." He chuckled wryly.

"I guess you're right," Arlo said, and without thinking, let his eyes drift over to Butch's scar, which would always serve as a constant reminder of what had happened that day and what he had lost. "Thank you." He quickly looked away from Butch, hoping he hadn't noticed him staring at his scar, thinking it was rude to stare at it so blindly and that Butch wouldn't appreciate him making such a big deal about it. "You just made me feel a whole lot better about myself."

"Loss is tough to deal with true, but it's a part of life all of us must go through at one point or another, and it makes you a tougher dinosaur in the end," Butch said, sounding as if he knew what he was talking about it, so Arlo decided to listen to his advice. "You're going to be glad it did, too."

"I hope so," Arlo said, sighing. "I've went through my whole life, with people calling me a failure, and it's nice to hear someone tell me I'm not for a change –" He stopped, hearing a low growl from somewhere behind him, and swerved around toward the direction in which he heard it, already having a pretty good idea of who had made the sound.

Arlo grinned when his eyes landed on Spot, kicking and scratching himself with his feet in his sleep, rolling over on his side. He was snarling, making soft little growling noise, as if he was fighting something in a dream.

"Whelp, looks like story time's over with, kid,' Butch said, realizing the same thing Arlo had.

"Yeah," Arlo said, chuckling, and smiled at Spot. "I guess so."

"If you don't mind, kid, I think I'm going to catch a little bit more shut-eye, if I can," Butch said, yawning, and collapsed to the ground in complete exhaustion. "It's only a few more hours until dawn, and I want to catch up a bit on my beauty rest before we set out again because I'm beat."

"Sure thing Butch," Arlo said, feeling a little tired himself, but couldn't but laugh at the idea of Butch needing beauty rest. "Thank you, for everything."

"Don't mention it, kid," Butch said, before his eyelids fluttered shut, and he began to seconds later.

Arlo smiled at him, and walked over to Spot, curling up next to him. "Go back to sleep, big guy," he said, laughing. "We only have a few more hours until we have to set out again, and you better get all of the sleep while you can, because you're not going to be able to get much while we're goin'."

Spot just looked at him and grinned, licking him in the face, too young to be able to comprehend and grasp the enormity of the vast adventure they were undertaking, letting out a soft, excited yelp.

"All right, then," Arlo said, and rested his head on his feet, letting his eyes flutter close. "As long as you're ready for it, I guess I'am, too!" His eyes widened in surprise, shocked to hear himself say this, and even more shocked to realize he meant it. He might just be a brave dinosour after all!

The End