Littlefoot was sitting at the crest of a rocky hill with his feet folded in front of him. Lily didn't quite know how to approach him. She was nervous about meeting a figure from her childhood, but more importantly, she was afraid of what would happen after the fact. If she intervened, that would prevent the lost scenes from ever resurfacing, but it wouldn't necessarily destroy the movie. The only problem was that she would die anyway. She paused, then without really knowing why, she revealed herself as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Littlefoot lifted his head, and she walked towards him.

"Hello."

It just slipped off her tongue.

"Who are you?"

She couldn't think of a rational explanation for her presence, so she answered honestly.

"I'm Lily."

"I'm Littlefoot."

"I know."

She took a deep breath.

"Promise you won't mention me to anyone, not even your friends."

"They aren't my friends anymore . . ."

"They are. Trust me, they are. You'll be together again, and when you are, you'll go on many adventures . . . none as good as this one, in my opinion, but still . . ."

"How do you know?"

Tears brimmed in Lily's eyes.

"I can feel it in my heart. Listen, your friends are in danger. You have to find them."

He stood up quickly.

"Where are they?"

"In the mountains that burn. Hurry."

Without missing a beat, he scampered away. She thought that was the end of it, but he turned around briefly and called out to her.

"Thank you, Lily!"

She smiled.

"No problem."

He scrambled down the ridge and disappeared. Lily kept her eyes fixed on the horizon, then sat down. She was feeling tired, and something told her it wasn't just the climbing that had done her in. When she looked down, she noticed that her lower half was fading away.

'Well, you've done it.'

Lily nodded.

"I have."

'You're going to die, you know.'

"I know."

'Aren't you upset?'

"A little. But I'm happy I didn't take the Land Before Time with me. I'm suffering for my own mistakes."

'Yeah, but you're dying for nothing. We never found the lost footage.'

"Maybe not, but I don't think that's important anymore. The movie we grew up with may have been flawed, but we enjoyed it all the same. We never questioned what was missing from the story, because we loved it as it was. The version we got was what inspired us, for better or for worse. I'm glad I was able to experience it."

'Lily . . .'

"Tell Mama I'm sorry. I should have listened to her. Say goodbye to my friends and family . . . and tell Liam that I love him, even if he doesn't love me back."

'He loves you, Lily . . .'

"I wish I could have said goodbye in person, but I suppose I'm lucky I got to say goodbye at all. I was afraid I would explode or something . . ."

She was fading at the neck now. Her legs were barely visible.

"I thought the Great Valley was a perfect place. I thought I could get there if I tried hard enough. Well, I did, but my greatest adventure was what came before. Life isn't a perfect world filled with grass and leaves and people you get along with. Life is arguing with the friends you care about. Life is losing the things that are important to you. Life is getting dozens of sequels that never quite reach the quality of the original."

'On that, we can agree.'

"Life is the good, but it's also the bad. It's messy and confusing and full of moments you'd like to forget, but every once in a while, you're happy. Twenty years is not a long time to be alive, but I'm so grateful that I was lucky enough to meet the people I know now. I'm going to miss them, and I'm sure they'll miss me too, but the pain was worth it. I have so much to be grateful for. And I am. I really, really am."

Lily thought back to the moments of happiness in her life. She recalled the first time she'd opened her eyes, placing her tiny feet on the beak of her mother, who said she was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. She remembered how her father had cradled her, and how he never seemed to learn that he should keep his nose away from her teeth. She thought about how her mother licked her cheek when she cried, and how she comforted her in return when it was needed. She recalled her stuffed cow and the beetle she used to play with. She remembered meeting Liam, and how his smile frightened her away. She marvelled at the fact that they had later played in the same schoolyard and slept in the same train on a lonely adventure, thinking about the families they had left behind.

Her last thought was of her mother, who had crossed the globe just to find her, and who without hesitation wrapped her in a tight hug as they reunited. She didn't care that her daughter was a hybrid dinosaur, nor that she was less heroic than she'd like to admit. She loved Lily, and Lily loved her back.

There was more, so much more, that Lily could have recollected, but somehow, that one moment was enough. She faded into nothingness with these memories warming her heart, and she knew that even with her departure, she and her mother would be together, always.

Lily vanished as four dinosaurs climbed over the rift, and another shortly after.

***TSLBTFEW***

Back in her study, the dragon watched as light escaped the pages of her story, leaving golden text behind. She sighed and closed the book for good, then set it on her shelf, solemnly acknowledging that it would never be touched again.

As she glided out of the window, traveling in the direction of Lily's closest relatives, something landed on her face, blocking her view. She sputtered and tore it from her snout, then pulled her head back in surprise. She was holding a leaf with five points. Slowing to a stop, she gradually decreased her altitude until she touched down near a lake. She kicked over a sign that warned tourists of venomous snakes, then set the leaf on the rippling water, where it drifted away slowly. On its journey, white petals began to blossom from the center. They grew larger and larger, then unfolded one by one. Lying in the middle of the flower was Lily. She stood up and spread a pair of white wings, then batted her eyes.

"I'm back . . ."

The dragon's eye twitched, and after taking a deep breath, she let out the longest and loudest stream of curses that had ever been uttered, then followed it with:

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

"I was!" Lily protested, "But I'm back now. I guess this makes me just like Mom."

The dragon frowned.

"Brat. Don't ever do that again."

"I won't."

Lily bounded forward and hugged her. The dragon rolled her eyes.

"Alright, alright. I'm glad you're safe. I'm pretty sure your mother would have killed me if you died permanently."

Lily shrugged.

"Well, I guess I have more important things to do. I plan to stick around for a little while longer, at least."

The dragon rubbed her chin.

"Point taken. Say, if you're free, there's this thing I want to do with All Dogs Go To Heaven-"

"No."

She smiled sheepishly.

"Fair enough."

The End