Category: Land before Time
Rating: T
Couples: none
Warnings: Blood, Character Death
Chapter: 10
Copyright: © characters and places by United Pictures; © Plot and OC by me
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He wanted to scream, he wanted to run forward and stop all this. But he couldn't…
Littlefoot could only stare as the Sharptooth landed on his grandfather's back, driving his teeth into the back of the other. The grey Longneck roared in pain as the Sharptooth used his powerful legs to thrust himself off of him.
The earth shook when Rec landed, but he didn't wait until he had properly regained his footing, instead shooting forward and ramming the Leaf-eater in the side.
That was all he did…
Rec distanced himself from the old Longneck, now protected by his son-in-law. He hissed as pain shot through one of his legs. He hated jumping SO much. How others had perfected it as a hunting-technique was beyond him.
The haunted look in Littlefoot's eyes surprised him. The young Longneck did not even move as his grandfather struggled to his feet again. It was only then he remembered what Grandma had once told them about her daughter's death.
"I have not killed a Valley-resident yet and I have no intention of ever starting," His deep voice tore the Longneck from his shock. "And I take no joy in any suffering, but I just have caused it."
"Why is that name so shocking?" Cera demanded softly, turning from watching the old Longneck to staring at the Sharptooth.
"Of what it means." Rec sighed in sadness. "Of whom I condemn with saying it."
"I do not know anyone by that name…" Ducky said.
"You are lying." Warped by nothing short of intense hate, Grandpa Longneck's voice silenced everything around them. "You. Are. Lying."
"I wish I were." Chomper's father breathed, voice permeated with enough grief to even alert the non-Sharptooth-speaking dinosaurs to it. "By the lives of my family, I wish I were, Longneck. But I am not: Tosa has killed today. And I cannot say why…"
It would have been more merciful to kill him outright. Grandpa Longneck collapsed, face blank of all emotions and his eyes staring into those of the Sharptooth towering over him.
The sun drew long shadows as the two looked at each other. Their eye-contact was only broken when Rec turned to leave the Valley, walking with a slight limp as he did so.
The pain in his chest was unbearable, perhaps even worse than the one he had had when he believed that Grandma had died. No… Nothing could top that pain, but this one came dangerously close.
"Papa Longneck?" Bron nudged him. "Who is Tosa?"
"You know her… you all do…" The old male pressed his eyes closed, praying that this would all just turn out to be a nightmare. "Merely under a different name: Grandma Longneck. Grandma killed that Clubtail."
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"You're not going to tell me why you did that, are you?" Tyra broke the silence, studying the Longneck she was walking beside.
"Not unless I am certain." It was the first thing Grandma had said since leaving the Valley. "You should go back."
"And have you run around here alone? I don't think so." Tyra shook her head. "Where you go, I will go."
"Even if that means never returning to the Valley?" The Longneck looked over her shoulder briefly. "I killed someone, Tyra, that is not something we can just forget. Precedents show that I would not be welcome in the Valley anymore for at least several Cold Times."
Tyra said nothing, clearly thinking. "Would that even count for you?"
"Yes. What are rules worth when we make exceptions?" Grandma sighed softly.
"Where are we going now then?" Tyra changed the subject, looking around her.
"The forest that burned down recently." Came the answer. "I need to check on something there."
"The 'I am certain'-part?" Tyra realized.
"Yes." That was the last they spoke, descending into silence afterwards. Even when the Great Circle went to sleep, they did not stop.
There was little left of those that had not survived the flames. As Tyra leaned down to inspect the remnants, Tosa walked on into the forest of burned trees. Ash whirled up at every step, coloring her legs black within moments. She looked around, searching.
When the Sharptooth looked up again, the Flattooth was climbing a narrow path up a mountain-side.
"What are we doing up here?" Tyra asked when she joined her friend on a plateau at the top of the path.
"Can you help me remove these?" Her friend counter-asked, gesturing to some trees that had fallen over. Unlike those down in the valley, these had been spared by the fire, but they carried no leaves: they had been dead and possibly rotting for quite some time now.
"Why do you want to move them?" Tyra studied them.
"Because of what I fear is underneath them." Grandma hooked her head behind one of them, starting to roll it away.
Tyra shrugged and helped, clamping her jaws around one of them and carried it over to an empty spot. After three more by each of them, Grandma looked into the hole they had made.
Her face turned into a fury-filled mask. That fury was quickly evaporated by grief and she turned away, unable to keep looking.
Tyra looked at her in worry, and then looked into the hole herself. She hissed in horror, her blood-red eyes widening to near impossible sizes. Then she turned to the Longneck.
"What in the name of everything that is good and important am I looking at here, Longneck?" She demanded, her voice slightly rising in sheer disbelief at the sight that had greeted her when she looked into the hole as she spoke. "What am I looking at?" She screamed.
"You're looking at the reason you wanted to know…" The Longneck answered, head low and eyes fastened on the ground. "My reason for starting to step on dinosaurs."