A Friendship Ruined

Green Dragon

Rage.

Nothing but rage. Anger flowed through her blood. Fury pounded in her heart. How could he? How could he? All this time, Petrie had been insisting that no really, his uncle had learned his lesson. He was good now. No he certainly wasn't chasing legends, looking for power, how could anyone think such a thing?

Well now Cera knew the truth. All this time, Petrie had lied to their faces. All this time, he had the nerve to tell them off for judging his uncle. All this time...Petrie had been working with his uncle.

Suddenly it all made sense. Why he didn't come with them straight away when they left to save Ali. Why he wouldn't tell them the reason. And most of all? Why he abandoned them. That was what hurt the moment. She didn't believe in that stupid legend of course, she had a brain after all. But what mattered to her was the betrayal.

Cera was reasonable though, whatever Littlefoot might say about her. She would give Petrie one chance. One chance to explain himself. One chance to give a good reason for all the lies and betrayals. And if he couldn't think of one? Well then maybe she could stand to have one less friend in her life.

Nothing but rage.

As the Bright Circle rose higher in the sky, Littlefoot and Ali wearily trudged to his nest. His grandparents were off foraging for food, though they had quite firmly insisted that the young ones ought to take some time to rest.

Neither one of them was about to disagree.

Just as they finally approached the nest, but Littlefoot could not help noticing that Ali's limp appeared to be more pronounced than it had been the night before.

"How's the leg?" He asked, breaking what had been a long silence.

"Fine, fine." Ali said, though her wincing betrayed her. "I think it's getting better all the time."

"You don't have to pretend everything's okay." He said gently. "Walking so fast through the night didn't help, did it?"

"No." Ali sighed. "It's...just stiff, that's all. But it'll be alright after I've rested it, really."

Although nodding, Littlefoot privately could not help wondering if she was trying to convince herself more than him.

"Here." He said, pawing the ground where his nest lay. "You should rest it for a while."

"Where are you gonna sleep?"

"I'm not that tired." In truth, Littlefoot felt like he could sleep for days. Maybe he could take a nap on the ground once Ali was asleep, he thought. "You go ahead."

Ali smirked, not convinced for a moment. She lay down in the nest, but started to paw at the edge, scraping dirt aside.

"Y'know," she whispered, continuing to enlarge the nest, "I can never get to sleep when the Bright Circle is up. If only someone was next to me, blocking the light out."

"Um...I don't think having someone next to you would really block most of the light-" he broke off as he realised the nest was now large enough to fit two. "Ohhh."

In minutes, the two were fast asleep.

Petrie was in his nest. Pterano and the rest of the family were out, enjoying the sunshine and had left Petrie to catch up on his rest. Petrie still couldn't believe just how well Pterano had worked things out. He had covered for Petrie. He had worked out plausible excuses for Petrie's absence. Heck, he even convinced Littlefoot and the others to not speak to the grownups about his actions. There were still problems to work through of course but for now, Petrie was happy enough to put those problems aside and work on a far more pressing matter. Finding the exactly same comfortable spot he had been sleeping in earlier that morning.

After several minutes of rolling and stretching he suddenly found it! Success! He yawned, feeling the last of his troubles slipping away. All he needed to do now was let sleep overcome him and-

"Petrie, get down here right now!" A voice bellowed.

Jerked awake instantly, Petrie scrambled to the edge of the nest and peered down. It was Cera. Of course it was Cera. Of course she just couldn't leave it alone for one day, could she? Doing his best to beat his nervousness into submission, he flew down to the ground below. Well, not right down to the ground below. A tree branch ever so slightly out of the angry Threehorn's reach seemed altogether, much more sensible. As he reached his perch, he willed himself to look her in the eye. And then he wished he hadn't.

"You have got a lot of explaining to do!" Cera began. "What happened? Why did you leave? Did you know we almost got eaten by a Sharptooth because we were trying to look for you?"

As Cera fired question after question at him, Petrie felt his face begin to burn. He knew this conversation was coming. He knew he'd have to face the shame of what he had done. But how to explain things with giving away the secret? Cera would have to pick a moment where Pterano wasn't around to help, wouldn't she? Nevertheless, she seemed to be running out of breath and there was no sign of his uncle on the horizon, so it seemed the time had come for him to start racking his brains and come up with a good excuse.

"Me can explain, Cera!" He began. "Me was...me was...me...was...flying around while you and others were sleeping and...and big mean Sharptooth Flyer came flying out of nowhere and chased Petrie! It chase Petrie for ages and ages until me trick it by flying into cave and hiding! But by time it safe to leave cave, it so late and Petrie so far away from you guys, that me couldn't find you. So me decided to fly back to Great Valley and wait for you. Me so happy that you okay!"

Petrie was quietly impressed with himself. That had been pretty good for something he'd thought up on the spot. Honestly it was surprising that he hadn't thought of it sooner really. Pterano was always saying that he didn't give himself enough credit after all and that he really should-

"You really think I'm gonna believe that?"

Or maybe it wasn't that good.

"What you talking about?" Petrie asked innocently.

"I saw Pterano talking to his friend! They were talking about the lost souls!"

Petrie flinched. But he kept his cool.

"So?"

"So Ali was right all along! He was up to no good! He's been up to no good ever since he came back!"

Petrie flinched again. But this time was out of anger, not fear.

"Pterano not bad! He just trying-"

"And," Cera cut him off, "he just happened to mention that you were helping him! And that it's your job to distract the rest of us so we wouldn't know what he's up to!"

Suddenly, Petrie found he wasn't so good of thinking up things on the spot anymore.

"How could you?" Cera asked, taking advantage of Petrie's silence. "How could you?"

The fact that Petrie wasn't saying anything confirmed everything more than any spoken confession ever could. Suddenly all the feelings bubbled in her again. The lies. The abandonment. The betrayal. She had been right all along. She had known it. But she just had to listen to the others, hadn't she?

"I knew it!" She continued, Petrie still struck dumb. "I knew he was up to no good! I told Littlefoot and Ducky, but no they were so sure that he'd turned good!"

Although still unable to speak, something about Cera's words changed something in Petrie. He suddenly felt his shame burning away.

"I said he was no good!" Cera continued. "I said that, legend or not, Pterano was a bad person through and through! How could you be siding with that no good slime ball instead of us?"

That was it. That was the last of his shame leaving. Her words had taken it and replaced it with something else. Petrie was beginning to leave the sparks of an anger of his own.

"No say those things about Pterano." His voice was surprisingly clam and steady. Yet more surprising, it had a tone of firmness to it.

"Excuse me?" Cera replied, taken aback.

"You no say bad things about me uncle!" Petrie's voice was rising.

It was one thing for her to be angry at him. That was understandable. It was even...fair. But he would not let her say anything against Pterano. Not against the one who always understood. Not the one who had nothing but a kind voice at all times. He would not allow it.

""I'll say whatever I want!" Cera shot back, her voice rising too. "Especially when what I'm saying is true!"

She was not going to stand he and be told off by him for badmouthing the Flyer who had been the cause of everything that had gone wrong.

"You take that back!"

He would not allow a bad word to be said against the Flyer who had given him everything.

"Your uncle is the most selfish, greedy, uncaring, horrible dinosaur I've ever met!"

Silence. Petrie's eyes widened. His beak opened slightly. His arms, previously waving above his head in rage, were now dropped to his sides. For a fleeting moment, Cera wondered if she had gone too far.

He wanted to hit her. Attack her. Hurt her. He wanted to do...something. He knew there was no chance of that though. There was no way that someone of his size could possibly do anything to someone of her size. He couldn't hurt her with his fists. But he could with words.

"Me could same the same about your dad." He whispered.

Now it was Cera's eyes that widened. But before she could say anything, he had already leapt off the branch and taken to the air, flying away from her as fast as he could. Her breathing started to quicken as she took in what he had said. She pounded the ground with her foot. That was it. He was not her friend anymore.

He flew faster and faster. Tears filled his eyes, blurring his vision, but he told himself that it was just the wind. He didn't really mean what he said about her father, but he didn't care. He just wanted her to feel the same pain she had caused him. With every beat of his wings, his speed increased. He could feel the blood pumping in his ears. She was not his friend anymore.

It took several hours, but he finally found Pterano sitting in a tree. Petrie was still breathing hard, the blood still thundering in his ears, but he didn't care. He had to talk to Pterano. Pterano would make everything better.

"Uncle!" He called, as he landed on a branch.

"Why Petrie." Pterano looked up in surprise. "Whatever is the matter?"

"Me...me don't...me can't..." Try as he might, Petrie couldn't form the words. His breath was harsh and burned his own throat as he panted from his flight.

"Steady Petrie." Pterano spoke softly, gently placing a hand on Petrie's shoulder. "Take a moment to breath."

Petrie did so, feeling his heartbeat slow down and his breathing return to normal. He could feel the emotion of the argument welling up inside. He had to get it all out before he burst into tears.

"Me think...me think friends not want to be friend with me anymore."

Pterano raised an eyebrow.

"Why on earth would you think that?"

"They...they know. They know all about lost souls. They know me helping you." Petrie's voice went quiet. "They say mean things about you."

For a moment, he found Pterano's expression cold and harsh. But a second later, his features softened and a soothing, sympathetic smile took shape.

"It's alright Petrie." He whispered gently. ""They are simply...jealous."

"Jealous?" Petrie looked up at him in surprise.

"Yes. If it's true that they know about the lost souls and they know what we are going to do, why wouldn't they be? How many of them can say that they have put the souls of those who were wrongly imprisoned, to rest? What have any of them ever done that can compare to such an act of kindness?"

Petrie thought hard for a moment. His friends had done many things to help others before. They had saved each other more times than he could count. They had restored water to the Great Valley. Found a cure for Littlefoot's Grandpa. Saved the Valley from the curse of Saurus Rock. Helped Moe find his way home. But...what could come even close to this? What had Cera done specifically? Could it really be that she was jealous of him?

One way or the other, it didn't change anything. He wouldn't forgive her for what she had said. She had no right to speak of his family that way. But maybe once they had completed their task...maybe then she would be so humbled that she would apologise. A mental image bubbled up of her, bowing her head down to him in shame and desperate apology. The others cheering for him as he graciously accepted it. It was an interesting concept.

"Pterano!" A voice called out, shaking Petrie from his thoughts.

"What is it, Rax?" Pterano asked, as the other Flyer perched alongside them.

"It's nearly done." Rax responded, breathing heavily. "We're almost through. The fire-water will rise soon, but if we go right now, we can dig through the last of the rock and reach the cave!"

Petrie and Pterano bolted upright is shock. Pterano took a moment to compose himself. Childish excitement may be acceptable for his nephew, but he had to maintain certain standards after all.

"Very well then." He said. "Let us go and meet our destiny."

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: Okay, okay, okay, I know that this has been a loooooooooong time coming and for that I deeply apologise. I could make every excuse under the sun, including writer's block, personal troubles, not sure how to come up with a satisfying ending to a story that's already been delayed so long and just pure laziness, but I know that's not what really matters.

Suffice to say, I think I've finally hit upon a way to bring this story to a close at last. I figure this should only take two or three more chapters and while I don't want to make promises I can't keep about future updates, I have found in the past that I tend to speed up and power through writer's block when I'm almost done with a story, so hopefully, we'll reach the conclusion soon.