Chapter 1: Loneliness and the impending Cold Time

It was only late afternoon when Ducky was finally devoid of any tears to shed, lying flat on the hard, cold ground, her breath going slow and heavy, disrupted by the occasional hiccup - a reminder of the hours of mourning. To an outsider, it looked as if the swimmer was simply sleeping - Ducky wished nothing more than to do so lest she had to suffer like this any longer, but sleep would not come that easily. There was still a good hour of daylight left before the cold night would befall her world, causing her to turn around and head back home. Until then, she would stay where she was.

After all the mourning for her friend, all that was left was an empty, hollow feeling, numbness having taken hold of her body and mind equally. She was freezing, all warmth seemingly taken from her heart as the hopelessness of not seeing Petrie again was beginning to claim her body, the icy cold wind blowing from the mountains ever so forcefully, doing their part of the deal. Ducky was severely undercooled but it did not bother the swimmer just slightly. After the sadness, after the mourning came indifference about everything that didn't involve her friend in some way or another. If anything, the freeze seemed strangely welcoming, matching her mindstate and, additionally, the numbness caused by her hypothermia helped eliminating the pain as well as the constant longing for the flyer. Now, she just felt... nothing, neither sad nor lonely, nor did she have any thoughts on her mind. Simply lying on the ground without caring about anything around her, time slowly passed. Slower than usual for sure.


"It sure is lonesome without Petrie, you know?"

"Yeah... it is..." Littlefoot dropped to the ground in sadness as the threehorn reminded him once more of the huge changes that his circle of friends had had to go through as of late. The two friends were hanging out in a secluded forest at the edge of the valley, not particularly feeling up to holding any conversations with curious residents who'd already heard the news, wondering whether the rumours were true.

"He could have told us first though..." Cera grumbled weakly, not even feeling the bravado to get all worked up as she usually would. Petrie had permanently left their circle of friends with little warning to live a life of his own. Even if she did enter full vent mode, it would do little more than upset Littlefoot even more thus she refused to.

"Do you blame him?" Littlefoot responded after some moments of mutual silence, both caught in their own cascade of thoughts.

"Course I do!" Cera retorted though it was of short-lived nature. "I mean... isn't there some other way to fix it?"

"I don't know, Cera," Littlefoot sighed. "We've never even had a friendship like that so how are we supposed to know? How it feels like to like another dinosaur with all your heart, to be lovelings..."

"Oh what about Ali?" Cera remarked with her usual sarcasm. "Don't tell me you don't like her like that too!"

"Ali lives far far away though..." Littlefoot spoke sadly. The longneck had been able to meet his childhood crush for a few days in the Warm Time when her herd came for their annual visit and, while his crush still hadn't faded, there was simply no point in dating her when they wouldn't be together anyway.

"What about it, Littlefoot?" Cera wondered, starting to pace around in order to keep warm as gusts of wind found their way into the forest. "Now they live far away from each other too!"

"It hurts not being able to see someone you love," Littlefoot spoke distant-mindedly, thoughts of his long-gone mother flooding his mind for a moment. "And... it hurts not being able to love someone... that you do love..."

"Oh come on, Ducky and Petrie were doing just fine before that beakbrain decided to leave her alone!" Cera reasoned fiercely, ultimately going on a rant after all.

"But, Cera, I think Petrie has finally realised that it's not working that way," the longneck explained, getting back to his feet as the cold wind began chilling him as well. "You know you can't lie to yourself about your feelings forever, no matter if they're right or wrong. Their mutual feelings are true, Cera, you are right but... it's not that easy... They used to be very similar but the Time of Great Growing changed us all. They're no longer the same size and their instincts tell them to do some things unique to their kind. At least that's what my folks said when they told me about this stuff..." Littlefoot sighed. "Petrie must have felt the natural call to fly to one of the places flyer go to when they..."

"Alright alright, I get it!" Cera snorted in annoyance. "It's kind of stupid anyway... who would mate with another kind?!"

"We don't know why Ducky and Petrie developed such affection for each other. We just know they did," the adolescent Longneck sighed as he took a glimpse at the skies above them.

"Looking like the Cold Time has arrived already..." he noted, seeing that a snow storm was brewing beyond the walls. It would be another rough night for him though this time not because of his friend's departure.

"Urgh!" Cera gave the nearest tree a formidable headbutt, shaking the last remaining leaves that hadn't been gathered and stored yet to the ground. "This makes me so mad! Why can't they just stick to their own kind?!"

Littlefoot gave his friend an understanding glance, non-verbally urging her to calm down.

"What?!" She puffed.

"Cera... it's actually not unheard of that dinosaurs had such feelings towards a dinosaur of a different kind," the longneck began uneasily, unsure about how the threehorn would react to the information he was about to share. "While it is frowned upon by most dinosaurs there are stories and rumours about dinosaurs who decided to live with a mate of another kind. And one thing even more common which is just as weird is dinosaurs mating with dinosaurs their own gender."

"Eww, that's so wrong!" Cera exclaimed as soon as her friend had finished talking, responding just as expected by the boy.

"Yes it is but isn't that somewhat similar to Ducky and Petrie? It's just as unnormal but it exists in some."

"Wait a second, Littlefoot!" Cera demanded, staring up at the longneck. "How can I tell you're not telling nonsense?! Sure don't believe you..."

"Well, that was to be expected…" Littlefoot sighed as he tried to explain.

"Those are stories and rumours my grandpa told me back when I was asking him about Ducky and Petrie when they... became lovers."

The threehorn rolled her eyes as he said this.

"Well, I found it hard to believe but I know now that he's right! Not everything is always black or white, you see? When Ali's herd visited back then, I decided to investigate a little, knowing there are very few males in that herd. Turns out some females live with other females... and others shared males. There's more than just the common same-kind female-male relationship in this world, you see?"

"And your point is?" Cera asked, sounding annoyed and bored.

"Well, that's why Ducky and Petrie ended up loving each other," the longneck shrugged.

"But MY point is how do we fix it? How do we get that stupid flyer back here into the valley!?" Cera gave another tree a rather rough push to release her frustration.

"Well, there is one way to get Petrie back but..." Littlefoot hesitated as his glance once more met the stormy sky that was only getting less and less inviting by the minute. "Not while there's this type of weather around though..."

A particularly strong gust of wind suddenly tore through the barren trees, blowing dried leaves and small branches into their faces.

"Good point..." Cera sighed, rolling her eyes. "Even if we were to retrieve him again though, that wouldn't fix the situation at all! We need to make sure he stays with us!"

"Don't be too hopeful, Cera..." Littlefoot advised downheartedly, as the first small White Sparkles were blown into their faces. "There's nothing we can do about his relationship with Ducky. My grandpa told me that not many of these inter-kind relationships worked out in the long run. Maybe it's better for both of them after all..."

"Oh whatever!" Cera screamed in a sudden outburst, finally knocking a small tree down completely. Only after her breath had somewhat calmed, she piped up meekly.

"I miss him, you know?"

Littlefoot did the first reasonable thing that came to his mind - nuzzling Cera to which his friend didn't object.

"So do I, Cera..." he said quietly, in need of consolation just as well though the threehorn made sure to keep the moment of weakness short.

"Well, have you seen Ducky recently?" Cera eventually spoke up in clear annoyance, maybe also in order to change the topic, though she did not succeed at hiding her concern.

"I haven't," the boy responded truthfully. "Can't really blame her if she needs some time to get over the parting though I do wonder where she is as well..."

"Wherever she is, she'd better be home before dark because of that blizzard about to hit the Valley!" As if on cue, a gust of wind blew another branch right into Cera's face.

"Yeah, let's get going home before the White Sparkles start falling in masses," Littlefoot agreed.


Well, here's the next chapter guys! Trying to update weekly!

All of the gang already miss Petrie and he's barely left! Meanwhile, the Cold Time is about to start so rescue missions are suicide missions. I didn't even end this on a cliffhanger, that's rare :D

Where is Ducky though? In the next chapter, the gang is gonna go search for her but... ;)


The Rhombus chapter 1 . Jun 17

"This is an excellent introduction to what is proving to me, even at this early juncture, an emotional story. We can feel the anguish of both the young swimmer and flyer as the realities of their situation come crashing down upon their romantic feelings. Additionally, the act that Petrie has taken on - to prematurely leave the valley to spare his loved one unnecessary pain - is a very touching one. I will keep my eye on this one to see where it goes from here."

Thank you for the review! I like to write emotional stories, don't I? :P I hope that I do not disappoint, yep yep yep :)