Warning: This chapter may include graphic content such as mild gore and childhood trauma.

Chapter 12: Understanding

Chomper fidgeted in place before walking over and sitting down next to Cera. "I, uh, just wanted to see if you were okay."

The young three-horn lay her chin on the ground. "I'm fine." She lied, her voice quiet.

Chomper glanced towards her. "No your not. I can tell."

Cera didn't reply, instead just burying her face into fore-paws, unable to look the little sharp-tooth in the eye.

Chomper said nothing, instead simply leaning on her side in a comforting way. Cera felt the little sharp-tooth leaning on her, feeling both surprised and confused. Why was he being so nice to her? Especially after everything she had done to him, talking down to him, bullying him, even insulting his and Littlefoot's mother by calling her a dumb long-neck.

She raised her head and looked towards Chomper, her face filled with confusion. To her further surprise, she saw Chomper had a tired but sad smile on his face.

"Sorry we scared you." He said softly.

Cera huffed as she her frown deepened. "Three-horns don't get scared." She replied, her voice bitter but her eyes shaking.

Chomper's soft expression still remained. "Cera, it's okay to be scared. Everyone gets scared at some point. How did you think I felt when Sharptooth first chased us, when we nearly fell off that cliff during the earth-shake, or when Sharptooth found us again?" He took in a breath. "To be honest, I was almost never more scared in my life."

The young three-horn remained silent, staring at him for a moment before turning away. Chomper gave a heavy sigh, knowing he probably wasn't getting to her. Still, it was worth a try.

"I get it, you hate me because I'm a sharp-tooth and-"

"I never said I hated you."

Chomper blinked in surprise at that reply as he looked to face Cera. Her expression had softened quite a bit, softer than any time she had ever looked at the sharp-tooth. To his further surprise, her eyes instead of being full of their usual pride and boast, were now filled with a clear shine of humility and humbleness.

"Then... how come you always kept being so mean to me?" He asked.

Cera looked away again and remaining silent before she finally said with a quiet voice. "It's because of my mom."

The little sharp-tooth's eyes widened. "Your mom?"

The young three-horn lightly nodded. "When I was... little, I used to have a mom and... three other sisters." She sighed heavily as she rubbed her eyes. "I don't even remember their names anymore because I was so little, but... I do remember that I loved them a lot." Cera took in a breath. She hadn't spoken about this time since it had happened, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to tell about it.

Chomper quickly seemed to notice this. "Y-you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No." Cera quickly replied with a breath. "You deserve to know." She took in one final breath before she started. "It was back when I was a hatchling..."

5 years earlier,

Little Cera playfully rammed one of her older sisters, laughing and squeaking playfully they began to wrestle.

"It was a long time ago, back when I still had my sisters and my mother,"

Her sisters tackled her to the ground, nuzzling her happily while little Cera nuzzled them back. Just then, Cera's mother, or Demetria as she was know, walked over to them with Cera's father, or Topps as his mate and everyone who knew him called him, a warm smile on her face as she gazed lovingly down at her children.

"We were happy together,"

It all didn't last long as suddenly they felt the ground begin to shake in a series of thunderous steps, the lake water they had been drinking from began rippling in small waves as a large shadow fell over the family of three-horns.

"untill Sharptooth came."

The monster let out a deafening roar as it blocked out the bright circle, like a scream from another world. Cera and her sisters were instantly afraid as they huddled together, slowly moving towards their parents.

Topps growled, scraping his foot on the ground and lowering his horns as he got ready to charge.

"My dad tried to fight him,"

The old three-horn charged forward, intent on impaling Sharptooth. He slammed into the giant monster, his horns missing the biter's stomach and chest by mere inches.

Sharptooth was pushed back, and forced himself to dig his clawed toes into the ground to steady himself as the three-horn kept pushing against him. He couldn't reach the neck since it was covered by the enormous frill, so instead, Sharptooth began pushing back.

Cera's father grunted as he could feel the monster pushing back against him and so he pushed harder, shoving with all his might in attempt to bring the sharp-tooth down. And while the monster was distracted, Demetria took the opportunity to gather her young and try to make a run for it. They rushed up a small hill before disappearing out of sight, running as fast as they could.

Topps quickly felt himself tiring out, and the monster was now beginning to overpower him. Just then, Topps felt a searing pain his back and he felt warm blood trickle out of the open wound and drip onto the ground. And even though he couldn't see it, he knew Sharptooth had bitten into his back and the pain grew worse as Sharptooth tightened his grip.

"But Sharptooth was too much for him,"

With a mighty shove, Topps felt his strength leave him as he was pushed onto his back. He tried desperately to get up, but he was too tired and his body was too heavy, the pain was too great. He closed his eyes, awaiting the searing pain from the jaws that would seal his fate, but feeling peace knowing that he had hopefully bought his mate and children enough time to get away.

But strangely, no searing pain came. He felt the earth shake beneath him with each footstep that Sharptooth took. Instead of the footsteps coming closer to him, they were heading away from.

"Sharptooth could have killed him right there. But, for whatever reason, he didn't."

He opened his eyes to see Sharptooth walking away from him, sniffing the air. He took one last glance at the now helpless three-horn and let out a low, threatening growl that chilled even Topsy to the core. And with that, Sharptooth headed off in the direction where Topsy's mate and children had gone, much to his horror.

"Instead, he went after us."

Demetria, meanwhile, had gotten quite a distance away from the scene of the fight, tears were flowing down her cheeks as she believed she had lost her beloved mate. Her children were huddled closely to her, trembling with fear as they're eyes darted in every direction.

All was quiet, too quiet.

Just then, Cera and her family could hear the loud, thundering footsteps of the sharp-tooth, and they were immediately stricken with terror. Demetria looked around, scanning the area for where the monster could be. They were out a wide barren area of the landscape, it would be near impossible for Sharptooth to sneak up on them with being seen.

The sound of the thundering footsteps grew louder and louder, which meant that Sharptooth was coming closer and closer!

But strangely, Sharptooth was nowhere in sight.

The footsteps were now deafening at this point, now getting faster and faster, but they couldn't see him anywhere.

And then, there was silence.

Demetria almost sighed in relief, thinking it might be her imagination, when the monster seemed to materialize out of nowhere, lifting it's heavy foot and kicking her to the ground. He then placed his right foot on her side, pinning her to the ground.

Cera and her three sisters began to run, and much to their horror, Sharptooth was no long paying attention to their mother, but instead to them as his head whipped around to see them running away.

The sharp-tooth roared as he let go of the mother three-horn and began chasing the hatchling. This prompted Cera and her sisters to run faster, with Cera managing to pull ahead.

She didn't look back, even when she heard the screams of two of her sisters followed by a sickening 'crunch'.

That crunch was what caused her to look back only to see the remnants of one of her sister's tails in Sharptooth's mouth, blood dripping down his chin, before it disappeared. Her stomach churned and her heart twisted with grief, but Cera kept running along with her remaining sister.

Turning a sharp right, Cera quickly hid behind a large rock, hoping that Sharptooth wouldn't see her. Her remaining sister, however, was not so lucky as she tripped over her own feet and landed right next to the rock before she was quickly snatched up by the monster.

Before she could get up and run again, Sharptooth scooped her up in his jaws, his teeth closing and crushing her bones. She didn't even get to scream as she vanished behind the fangs.

Cera remained behind the rock as the monster paused. She was breathing loudly, tired from running so much. The biter sniffed the air for the final hatchling, quickly catching her scent.

The young three-horn still stayed behind the rock, still futilely hoping that Sharptooth wouldn't find her.

Drip.

Cera felt something wet fall onto her head. She was shaking fearfully as she tried curling herself in a ball.

Drip.

The second drop made Cera look up, only to be greeted with Sharptooth's open jaws, dripping with saliva. She screamed in terror and jumped away before the jaws could close in on her. She scrambled to get away, but the monster was too quick as he pinned her under his large foot.

Before Sharptooth could rip her head of, however, he was suddenly rammed in the side by Cera's mother, knocking him off of the little three-horn.

Cera looked up as she saw her mother stand protectively in front of her as Sharptooth got up from the ground. The large biter glared at the female three-horn as he growled.

The two then began to circle each other, they're eyes fixed on each other. Cera remained behind her mother, trying to stay out of Sharptooth's view. The mother three-horn glared back as Sharptooth let out an intimidating roar, which nearly made Cera deaf due to how loud it was. Her mother then charged forward, aiming her horns for the monster's wicked heart.

Demetria clashed with Sharptooth, her right horn stabbing into his thigh, causing the beast to roar out in pain. The monster then bit into her neck, forcing Demetria to pull back before he could choke her.

She then attempted to ram him again, but this time Sharptooth managed to clamp his jaws down on one of her horns. But still, Demetria pushed with all her might, her other horn managing to pierce his ribs.

But then a sickening snap was heard, like a branch snapping off of a tree, and Demetria stumbled back as she felt a wave of pain coming from her left horn. She looked to Sharptooth with shaking eyes and she saw that monster had a large horn in his jaws. And with horror, she suddenly knew that it her own horn in his teeth. Sharptooth had ripped her horn out with just pure strength.

Then without warning, Sharptooth let the broken horn fall to the ground as he charged towards Demetria, who was still in a state of shock, catching her off guard as he rammed into her side, knocking her over. Before Demetria had a chance to get up, she felt a new pain around her neck, the pain grew worse. And as she was pinned to the ground by a large foot, she knew Sharptooth had her neck in his jaws. She began finding it hard to breathe as his grip began to tighten. And then, with a loud snap, she felt her neck being twisted in an uncomfortable way before Sharptooth finally released her. Her head fell limply to the ground, but she no longer felt any pain. Instead she felt rather sleepy, her eyes began to close as her final thoughts were on her mate and her remaining daughter. Then, just blackness, nothing.

Cera watched from behind a nearby rock in horror, tears now leaking from her wide eyes as Sharptooth let out a deafening roar of triumph. She was frozen on the spot for a split-second before she turned around and began to run as Sharptooth began feasting on the carcass.

She didn't know how long she had been running, her lungs were on fire, her eyes stung with tears, her legs ached, but she kept going. Right now, she wanted to get as far away as she could from that monster.

As she looked over her shoulder to see if the monster was following her, she bumped into a large mass that knocked her on her back. As she sat up, she saw the worried face of her father looking down at her.

"Daddy!" She cried as she got up and flung herself at her father, nuzzling his leg.

"Where are your sisters?" He asked in a concerned but stern voice. "Where is Demetria?"

Upon hearing those names again, Cera stopped nuzzling and looked to her father, tears flowing down her cheeks in grief. And it the look in her eyes that helped Topps realize that the rest of their family was gone, foever.

Topps said nothing as he heard the loud roar of Sharptooth in the distance. He scowled deeply, his eyes burning with an intense fury. But he knew that he couldn't avenge his mate, not while he was still injured.

So, with a short glance at Cera, he softly said, "Come, my daughter. We must go."

And so Cera went with her father, knowing she would never see her mother or any of her sisters ever again.

Chomper felt tears falling down his own cheeks as Cera finished her story. Memories of Mother Longneck's death came flooding back into his mind, making his heart ache.

"Cera, I... I'm so sorry." He finally said, his voice shaking.

The young three-horn felt a single tear go down her face as she forced herself to banish that horrible memory from her mind.

"Is that why you were so mean to me?" Chomper asked.

"Mostly." Cera replied, her voice still low and quiet. "I guess just seeing you kind of brought back that memory, making me see you as... as a monster."

"Because I'm a sharp-tooth?"

Cera winced, though it was hardly noticeable. "Yes." She admitted.

Chomper looked down sadly. "So do you really hate all sharp-teeth?"

The young three-horn shrugged. "Well, yes, I did. I suppose I still do. But... I will admit that your not like other sharp-teeth, Chomper." She said, much to his surprise. "Your really brave, kind, and smart even. I didn't want to admit it before because I guess I always just sort of saw you as a rival, an enemy."

"But I don't want to be your enemy, Cera," Chomper said. "I just want to be your friend."

Cera didn't immediately reply, instead looking down at the ground. "My father always told me that different herds couldn't get along because we're all so different." She said, remembering her father's rather harsh talkings after she was caught playing with Littlefoot and Chomper. "He also told me I could never be friends with a sharp-tooth."

Instead of frowning, Chomper simply gave a soft, lopsided smile.

"Cera," He began. "I've said this before but I'll say it again. A herd doesn't always mean being the same kind of dinosaur, it means being a family. And a family isn't just something your born into, it's also the friends you've gained and care about. That's why me and Littlefoot came back to help you and the others, because we're family. And no one gets left behind in a family, not even you."

Cera looked towards the little sharp-tooth, fresh tears in her eyes. She then slowly moved her head and lightly nuzzled Chomper. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "For everything."

A few stray tears dripped from Chomper's eyes as he lightly hugged her. "We're sorry for scaring you earlier."

After a little while, Cera finally pulled away, softly smiling at him. "Thanks, Chomper. You really are different from other sharp-teeth."

Chomper in return smiled and nodded. But then another thought crossed his mind. "Cera," He said, getting her attention. "this may not be very comfortable for me or Littlefoot even, but do you know why me and Littlefoot were so angry when you insulted our mother?"

Cera looked confused, but still shook her head anyways.

"Mother died trying to save us from Sharptooth." Chomper said. Cera's eyes widened as she remembered the fight clearly, as if had happened yesterday. "Littlefoot and I were there when she... died." He whimpered, wiping away more tears that threatened to fall as the memories of her death were overflowing.

Cera bit the bottom of her lip as she looked down. "I-I didn't know."

Chomper looked towards the young three-horn, expression filled with compassion and gentleness unlike anyone Cera had ever seen. "It's not too late, you know." He said. "You can still say sorry."

The young three-horn only looked away, the expression on her face was that of hesitance, something the little biter noticed. "I get that your hesitant," He said. "But... I know Littlefoot will forgive. After all, I forgive you."

Cera looked to him in surprise. He was already willing to forgive her, even after insulting his mother?

"C'mon," Chomper encouraged as he stood up. "Let's get back to the others."

Smiling slightly, Cera nodded and stood up, following Chomper away from the falling water. She was still quite confused as to how he was so quick to forgive her, but if he truly believed Littlefoot would too... well, then it was worth a shot.

The two new friends walked back up the slope and headed through the narrow cave. Chomper followed the scent of the others, using it to guide him and Cera through the caves before they soon managed to find the exit to the cave, which was laid out in a large, deep pond.

Just ahead of them at the shore at the other end of the pond, they saw others swimming and playing around, now all having washed the black goo off of them and enjoying the calm coolness of the fresh water.

Littlefoot, Ruby, and Spike remained in the shallows near the shore while Ducky swam through the deeper part of the pond where the shallows dipped straight down into darkness. Petrie, however, was not so joyful as he stayed at the edge of the shore, too nervous to go in.

Littlefoot looked up and saw Chomper, but surprised to see Cera with him. "Chomper! Cera!" He called out.

Cera jumped into the water, swimming to the other side of the pond while Chomper simply went around the water to the other side (again, curse these tiny arms for not letting him swim well), meeting their friends on the shore. Before anyone said anything, however, Cera immediately walked up to Littlefoot, much to his surprise and nervousness.

"Littlefoot," She started, her voice surprising sincere. "Chomper talked to me and... he told me what happened to your mother that day when Sharptooth attacked. I... I didn't know that happened to your mother and... w-what I'm trying to say is... I... I'm sorry about what said about her being a stupid long-neck and I take back everything I said."

Everyone, with the exception of Chomper, looked at Cera completely shocked. Practically none of them expected a three-horn of all dinosaurs to ever apologize. Littlefoot especially was astonished as that was the last thing he ever expected Cera to say to him.

He looked to Chomper, who simply smiled with a gleeful nod. Before he knew it, Littlefoot smiled as well.

"It's okay, Cera." He said. "I forgive you."

Now it was Cera's turn to once again be surprised as she looked up at Littlefoot with hopeful. Her lips then curved into a happy smile, she never thought forgiveness would feel so good.

Feeling a great sense of joy, relief, and unity, the group crowded together in a comforting group hug. Once again, they were a herd. Only now, they were truly a herd, a herd that cared and looked out for each other.

"So it's agreed then," Littlefoot spoke up as they ended the group hug. "We'll find the Great Valley... together."

"Yes." Ruby replied.

"Definitely." Cera added.

Spike nodded in agreement.

"Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky cheered, clapping her hands happily.

"Of course we find Great Valley." Petrie said.

"Together." Chomper smiled.

The group of children were now all smiling together, now they finally understood each other. They were ready to find a place of wonder and safety from the rest of this horrible world. Now they were ready to find a place to call home.

But the sweet moment, however, was soon interrupted by a blood-curdling roar echoing in the distance near them, one that they all recognized as their faces went pale.

"SHARPTOOTH!" Petrie shrieked.

Now filled with a sudden panic, the group quickly rushed behind a large boulder out of pure fear. Once they were sure they were out of sight, Littlefoot and Ruby slowly and carefully peeked out from behind the corner.

Far above them on a large cliff was Sharptooth himself. The bright-circle remained high in the sky, casting an eerie glow on the cliff, making his outline all the more terrifying.

"It is Sharptooth, Sharptooth it is." Ruby whispered to the others.

Just then, Sharptooth raised his head up, sniffing the air intently, trying to catch the scent of the children.

"He must have followed us." Littlefoot whispered. He then scowled. "I say let's get rid of him once and for all."

Everyone looked towards the young long-neck, and they could all tell he was serious judging by the determined expression on his face.

Inspired by his conviction, Chomper's eyes narrowed as he nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm getting tired of him hunting us all the time."

"Are you guys crazy?!" Cera said, trying not speak too loudly. "We can't take on Sharptooth! We were lucky to survive those last few times! We should just find a way to avoid him!"

"But if we do try to avoid him, he'll just keep chasing us even when we get to the Great Valley." Ruby argued.

"But what'll we do?" Ducky asked. "We are too small, yep, yep, yep!"

Littlefoot walked out, scanning the environment around them, the rocks, the slopes, the pond, all of it. Once he had a good view of everything, an idea popped into his head.

"Look," He said, "we'll coax him over to the deep end of the pond. He can't swim with those scrawny arms." He then looked up to see a large rock sitting at the edge of a tall ledge. "Cera, Spike, and I will go up there and push that big rock on top of his head. And then he'll fall into the water."

"So when he's in the deep water, he won't be able to get out." Chomper said. "Petrie, you give a loud whistle when he's at the right spot, where the water gets dark."

Petrie nodded sharply. "You can count on Petrie."

"What about Chomper?" Cera asked.

"I'll be up there on that rock up there to distract him." Chomper said, pointing to a lower ledge above the pond. "Since I can understand sharp-teeth, I might be able to speak it too and keep him distracted long enough."

"Good idea." Littlefoot agreed. "But you be careful, okay?"

"Don't worry, I will." Chomper replied, giving him a reassuring nuzzle.

"Great." Littlefoot said. "Now we just need some bait."

Then, as if they were sharing a hive mind, the group looked directly towards Ducky and Ruby.

"US?" Ducky squeaked fearfully. "Oh no! No, no, no, no, no!"

"Why us?" Ruby asked, more confused than fearful.

"Well, Ducky is admittedly the loudest out of all of us, so she should be able to get Sharptooth's attention." Littlefoot replied, earning a slight glare from the little swimmer. "And your the fastest out of all of us, Ruby. You should be able to get Ducky back her quick enough."

"Yeah, relax." Cera said, grinning impishly. "All you have to do is lure him out and we'll take care of the rest."

The group then all looked up to see Sharptooth climbing higher towards the peak of a small mountain. They watched intently as he headed for a large cave opening in the side of the mount.

"Well, if this is going to work, we'd be better hurry." Littlefoot stated.

And with that, the group set their trap.

So yeah, looks like Sharptooth's gonna have a nasty surprise for him the next chapter. I decided to name Cera's mother Demetria in the flashback as it was kind of the first name that came to mind (and I also couldn't just keep calling her Cera's mother as that is incredibly tedious.) I hope you liked this chapter and I will release the next one as soon as I can. Peace out!