Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the two franchises, only how the story goes. The characters of the Land Before Time belongs to Universal and the theme music of the Justice League belongs to DC and Warner Bros. I apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something.
A/N: This chapter was and will be hard for me to write. I always cry in this scene. Make sure to have tissues on hand.
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Chapter Five: I'll Always be With You, All of You
The rain started to pour down for what felt like hours. Thunder boomed overhead after lightning struck the ground. The rain also cleared away the Goliath-sized dust cloud. When he began to see, Littlefoot immediately searched for his friends, but mostly for his mother. He climbed up a small rise and looked to the south before shouting, "Clark!" He looked to the east and shouted, "Diana!" When he turned his head to the north, "Bruce!" Then finally turning to the west, "John!"
When he couldn't see any signs or hear them shouting back, the little Longneck climbed onto an odd rock and then shouted, "Mother!"
But when he couldn't hear her as well, he jumped across a gap. He had to hang on when he didn't make it all the way and fought as he pulled himself up onto the other side. He cried out again, "Mother!"
"Littlefoot!" Diana cried out from above. Looking up, he saw the four young heroes descending down to him. Diana was holding onto Bruce as they flew through the air. Littlefoot then asked as they landed, "Where were you guys?"
"Just like everyone else that was hit," John then said, "lost."
"Where's your mother?" Diana asked as she looked about for the older Longneck. Littlefoot shook his head and told them, "I have no idea. I was looking for her and you guys."
"We'll help you find her, Littlefoot." Bruce promised, knowing very well what it was like. Bruce stayed on the ground with Littlefoot while Clark, Diana and John all searched from the air. As the two rounded a bend, Clark looked to a hill a small distance away and shouted to the others, "Over there! I see something!"
Littlefoot and Bruce both looked to where he was pointing and saw a shape laying on the hill. Littlefoot could hear his mother's breathing and saw her as she laid on a rocky outcrop. Their eyes went wide as Littlefoot ran to her and cried out, "Mother!"
"Oh, no." Bruce said as he followed after him. The other three weren't far behind as they flew overhead. Bruce stopped a short distance away and the other three landed next to him. They watched as Littlefoot ran up to his mother and looked worried as he asked, "Mother?"
She sighed in pain and exhaustion as she looked to her only son. Truly worried for her, Littlefoot asked, "Please get up."
"I'm not sure I can, Littlefoot." She said as she felt her strength fading. Not wanting to believe it, Littlefoot insisted, "Yes, you can." He could feel his heart breaking as he said, "Get up!"
Littlefoot's mother tried to find the strength as she fought to stand up, but both she and the rock underneath her gave way. But before she could fully hit the ground, a large green hand appeared underneath her to ease her fall. John kept one hand on his ring bearing arm while setting her down. Littlefoot looked to them and asked, "Can you help her?"
"I…" Clark tried to say. He looked to her wounds and saw that they were really bad looking. He didn't want to say anything that would hurt their new friend, but there was no easy way to go around the truth, "I'm not sure."
Littlefoot looked heart broken to this and turned to his mother. All four of their hearts broke as he laid down in front of her. She looked him in the eye and asked, "Dear, sweet Littlefoot, do you remember the way to the Great Valley?"
"I guess so," Littlefoot said as he was on the verge of tears, but then questioned, "but why do I have to know? You're going to be with me."
She smiled as he placed her head against his. Her attention turned on the four heroes behind her son and she asked, "May I ask something of you?"
"Yes, anything." Bruce said as they stepped closer. Littlefoot's mother smiled as she knew that she could count on them, "I please ask…" She took a moment to draw breath, "That you watch over my sweet Littlefoot."
"And we will." Diana promised as she knelt beside her head. Tears welled up in the Amazon's eyes as she gave her word, "I promise."
"Thank you." The Longneck said with a smile. Littlefoot then asked, "Please don't leave me."
"I'll always be with you," She reassured her son as her tail fell to the ground. She glanced to each of them and said, "I'll be with each and every one of you. Even if you can't see me."
"What do you mean if I can't see you?" Littlefoot asked, not fully knowing what was happening. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he said, "I can always see you."
"Littlefoot, let your heart guide you." His mother told him, "It whispers. So listen closely."
When he couldn't feel her breathing, and the four saw her eyes closed, most of them knew that she was gone. Littlefoot, not understanding, cried as his voice broke, "Mother?" He placed his forepaws on her snout and shook. But when she didn't stir he became frantic, "Mother!"
The five of them sat out in the rain, tears flowing as this had been a truly awful day. The rain continued to fall during the night.
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The next morning, after finding some shelter not too far away from Littlefoot's mother, the group awoke from a night of unfit rest. As they sat up, they could hear the sounds of crying coming from Littlefoot. They looked to where they had left him, but saw that he was gone. Diana ran out from their shelter and called out, "Littlefoot!"
"Littlefoot!" Clark shouted as he and John took to the air. Bruce ran about looking with Diana and questioned, "Where did he get off to?" He groaned and berated himself, "I knew that I should have been keeping watch."
"We all needed the rest, Bruce." Diana told him as she looked behind a tall rock pillar. She looked to him and said, "Yesterday was a hard day on us all. Him especially."
"We should have done more." Bruce scolded on how they handled the monster. In a fit of anger he punched at a pillar of rock. Diana looked to him and knew that he was feeling a little closer to the young Longneck because of the tragic experience. She took her hand into his and said, "I agree that we could have done more. But we can't hold on to what happened."
"Yeah, death is apart of life." Bruce scoffed and gently took his hand out of hers. Turning away he said, "I just really wish that it could have been different."
"Over here!" Clark shouted from a distance. Diana grabbed hold of Bruce and took off into the air. When she rose high enough, she saw Clark in the air as well. He was gesturing for them to follow and they quickly flew towards the Kryptonian. When they were close enough, he started to land. Once they were all on the ground he said, "He's this way, come on!"
They followed Clark to where they saw John waiting. When they reached the Green Lantern, John said, "He was where we should have checked first."
When they looked to where John was pointing, their gazes grew sympathetic. Littlefoot was currently laying up against the still form of his mother, softly crying for his loss. Walking over to him, Diana placed a comforting hand on the Longneck's back she said, "Littlefoot?"
The Longneck shuddered under her caring touch and lifted his head so he could look up to her. But when she looked into his eyes, her heart once again and she wrapped her arms around him to comfort him. Littlefoot in return buried his head into her shoulder and continued to cry. Clark came up and said, "I'm not sure how dinosaurs do it, but we'd like to honor her if we can."
Littlefoot looked up to the Kryptonian, thought only for a moment and then nodded. Clark then looked to Bruce and said, "Could you-"
"Say no more." The Dark Knight said. Then glancing to Littlefoot he said, "Come on. Let's take a walk and get some fresh air."
Very slowly, Littlefoot rose to his feet and started to follow after Bruce. But not before taking one final glance to his mother's face. The thought of never seeing her again was too much for him and he and Bruce quickly left the other three. When they were gone Clark looked to Diana and John as he said, "Let's get to work."
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It was about an hour or so later when Bruce and Littlefoot came back. When they arrived, they found themselves before a great stone mound where Littlefoot's mother once laid. A giant headstone was also placed at the head of the grave. Littlefoot looked to the three and was about to question when Clark said, "We know that you have questions about this, but we felt that this was the best way to honor your mother's memory."
"We tried to find some flowers, but…" Diana said as she held out a few small and dried looking flowers. She gently set them on the grave as a sign of respect. John then glanced to the headstone and said, "Though most dinosaurs won't really understand what this is for, we hope that it'll at least tell those who pass by it that she was a great dinosaur." He glanced to Littlefoot and said, "And a great mom."
Though still struck by grief, Littlefoot was able to let a small smile slip over his features. Clark then said, "We'll leave when you want to."
"Thank you." Littlefoot said as he turned to the headstone and looked up to what appeared to be an image of his mother, with what appeared to be a smaller Longneck. Tears once again flowed down Littlefoot's cheeks as he was both happy and sad.
The group watched him for a moment, until Bruce said, "Let's give him a moment."
The four friends moved away from the grave and Littlefoot to move behind a few dead trees. Once they were in a spot to see if they still had an eye on Littlefoot but still had some privacy, Bruce then said, "We need to talk about yesterday."
"I couldn't agree more." John said as he crossed his arms. Then he said, "Even though there were six of us and we're all kids plus with a fully grown Longneck, we still should have been able to take that monster down."
"But we're still only at half strength." Clark reminded. Bruce then added, "And I'm surprised at how persistent that Sharptooth kept coming back for more."
"It's almost as if he were driven by something. More than just hunger." Diana added. She then recounted everything that they had against him, "He was outnumbered, not to mention that we all hit him with some pretty hard hits and all the rocks that he smashed into. He should have found that we weren't going to be easy pickings and gave up on fighting us."
"And yet he still came at us." Bruce stated. Then he remembered something, "But there might have been another factor in his persistence…"
They all looked to him before he said one word, "Revenge."
"Revenge?" John asked as he didn't understand. Bruce then elaborated, "When he was hunting us at the beginning, his right eye was shut for some reason. But when he was trying to get at us in the thorn bush, both his eyes were opened. Perhaps taking a thorn right to the eye might have blinded him."
"What exactly is your point?" John asked as he still didn't understand. Bruce then said, "He must have been a predator who valued his eye sight above all else and us two and Littlefoot," He said as he pointed between the three, "taking it away might have angered him for his judgement to be clouded."
"But he's gone now, right?" Diana asked. She looked to them and said, "We won't have to really worry about him coming after us."
"Though I doubt anything that fell down the chasm could have survived…" Clark said as he thought about Sharptooth's return, "we do need to be on the look out for others like him."
"That we can agree on." Bruce said. Then he looked back and saw that Littlefoot was starting to stand up. Without taking his eyes off of the Longneck he said, "Get ready to move."
Littlefoot walked over to them and he said, "I guess we'll go now."
"Okay then." Diana said with a kind smile. The five of them started to move to the east as the sun rose higher into the sky.
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The group had been walking for a while and came over a small hill. A rocky outcrop stood around them. As they continued to walk, Littlefoot's mind began to wonder back to his mother and he started to sniffle again. He walked to a too narrow section of the path and Clark warned, "Littlefoot, stop!"
But it was to late as Littlefoot lost his footing and slid down a steep slope. He slid down before crashing into a hard rock. But it was no rock as it began to move. Thinking that it could be something bad, Bruce slid down the side while the others floated down. Littlefoot tried to step off the odd rock, but it groaned and started to move. Littlefoot gasped as he when a voice said, "Hey."
The creature nudged him off and Littlefoot felt to the ground. Tears flowed from the young Longneck's eyes as the older dinosaur rose from the ground and turned to him. The heroes reached Littlefoot and stood protectively in front of him. The old dinosaur looked to Littlefoot and his friends before asking, "What's going on here?"
"It was an accident." Diana said in defense. The old dinosaur then said, "Never seen anything like you before little missy." He looked to see that Littlefoot was crying and questioned, "What's his problem?"
"Nothing that concerns you." John said as he ring started to glow. The dinosaur then said, "And yet he's not hurt. So there's no need to cry."
"Maybe he's not hurting on the outside." Diana retorted. Then the dinosaur asked, "So why is…"
"Because it's not fair." Littlefoot said with a glare. His face softened as he said, "She should have known better." He sounded somewhat angry as he said, "That was Sharptooth."
This somewhat caught his friends off guard and even more as he said, "It's all her fault."
"All whose fault?" The old dinosaur questioned. Littlefoot sniffled as he said, "Mother's."
The older dinosaur's gaze softened as he finally understood, "Oh…" Become more sympathetic to what Littlefoot has lost he said with a slight nod, "I see… I see."
"Why did I wander so far from home?" Littlefoot questioned of his actions. The old dinosaur shook his head and said as Littlefoot sobbed, "It's not your fault. It's not your mother's fault."
"He's right." Clark said as he kneeled down to the young Longneck. Then he said, "Believe it or not, me and my friends have all lost something."
"Now, you all pay attention to old Rooter." The dinosaur said. Littlefoot, Clark, Bruce, Diana and John all looked to Rooter as he said, "It's nobody's fault. The great Circle of Life has begun, but you see, not all of us arrive together at the end."
"It's a journey on its own." Diana added. Rooter chuckled and said, "You can say that. But in the end, we will see each other."
"What'll I do?" Littlefoot questioned as more tears flowed down his cheeks. He looked down as he said, "I miss her so much."
"You'll always miss her," Rooter said as he knew the pain, but he shook his head as he assured with a smile, "but she'll always be with you…" He took a deep breath before saying, "as long as you remember the things she taught you."
He glanced to the four and said, "Plus, you have your friends here to help guide you on your way." He started to think about it, "In a way, you'll never really be apart, for you're still apart of each other."
"My tummy hurts." Littlefoot said as he could still feel the pain. Rooter said, "Well, that too will go in time little fella…"
Rooter turned to take his leave and looked back to say, "only in time."
The five watched as he walked into the wilds of the world. Littlefoot then stood up and said, "Let's get going, you guys."
"You sure you don't want to take a minute?" Clark asked. Littlefoot shook his head and said, "I can keep going."
As he started to walk away, John looked to Bruce and said, "The Circle of Life. Are we sure that we didn't end up closer to the Lion King?"
"Shut up." Bruce said with an annoyed look before walking after the others.
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The clouds had moved on later that day and now more rain fell for the next few days. The group stopped by a berry tree grove and had picked most of the little red berries off. John looked to Bruce and asked, "Are you sure that these are safe to eat?"
"I've looked at it thoroughly and found that it's like some kind of prehistoric blue berry." Bruce assured. Diana then said, "If Wally were here he'd probably call them red berries, a more angry version of the blue berries."
Two of the three boys slightly chuckled at it. Clark then said, "I wonder how he, Shayera and Cera all are doing?"
"To bad are comms aren't working." John slightly wished. Clark had a few berries in hand and was about to take them over to Littlefoot when he saw something. Looking back for a second he said, "Hey guys, check this out."
Though Littlefoot stayed put where he was, and Bruce stayed back to watch over him, Diana and John all came up to see a little blue baby Pteranodon flapping up to a single berry. The little creature flapped around it and licked its lips for something sweet. Flapping around the berry once more, it grabbed it with its beak and hung on before breaking it off. It peeped as it fell to the ground and the berry plopped into its mouth. From behind, one of the little Pteranodon's siblings came up, wanting the berry as well. It grabbed onto the other side and the two started a slight tug of war with it. The red one was able to pull it away for a second, but the blue one quickly grabbed it again. After pulling with all its might, the blue one was able to pull it out from his sibling's beak and fell onto his back. A grey sibling popped out from one of the holes in the tree and grabbed the red berry. Another tug of war was engaged and the berry popped out of both of their beaks. The two tried to grab it, but ended up fighting amongst themselves while a brown sibling grabbed the berry with their beak. They dived into a hole and was chased by a purple sibling. The purple sibling peaked into the hole while the brown one poked his head out of another. They flapped out of the hole as the purple one appeared out of the same one and disappeared into another. The purple one disappeared into the tree and a green one poked their head out of the holes one by one to see if their sibling was close. When they thought the cost was clear, he started to climb backwards out of the hole, unaware that the purple sibling had appeared from a hole closest to him. With a flap of his wings, the purple flew up and nipped his green sibling in the tail, causing the little fellow to peep in pain and let the berry fly into the air. The purple made a grab for it and dove back into the tree. The purple one flew out of the tree with the green and the brown close behind him. The purple was tackled by red, brown and green before breaking free and flapping up to the branch where the berry once hung. One by one, the siblings grabbed onto each other to pull the purple sibling down. They all peeped as if they were arguing amongst themselves. The green sibling reached to take the berry from his sibling before a lighter blue sibling swooped in and took the berry while breaking the branch. All five of the sibling's fell to the ground into a heap while the lighter blue Pteranodon walked off with his prize held high above his head. But his sibling's glared at them before following after him. The red sibling grabbed it from the light blue before it too was taken and passed down the line. The other siblings fell down into a knot hole while the darker blue Pteranodon looked at his prize. But a sudden swipe of an odd turtle's long tongue took the berry and knocked him into the knot hole as well. They all looked to the odd turtle with sad face and peeps before their father came up to them with a stick with enough berries for each of them on a leaf plate. He tilted the plate, allowing each one to take a berry to eat into their beak. Throwing the leaf plate away, the father watched as each of the little Pteranodons marched off. Then flapping his wings, he took off into the skies to watch after them.
The three heroes laughed at this before turning back to Bruce and Littlefoot. John then said, "Wow, what a dinner show."
Diana chuckled to this before moving to eat their findings. They looked back to see the dark blue Pteranodon coming up with the berry still in their mouth. The little flier came right up to a sad Littlefoot and placed the berry before him.
Narrator: At first, Littlefoot could only think about his mother. Not even his friends could bring him out of his saddened mind. He hardly noticed his hunger and forgot that he must reach the Great Valley.
When Littlefoot didn't touch the berry, the little flier came up and pushed it closer. Littlefoot still didn't touch it and the little Pteranodon moved it closer. Littlefoot moved his head to the side and caused the little blue flier to look down in sadness. Kneeling down, Diana said, "You need to keep up your strength, Littlefoot. You must eat."
Littlefoot sighed before finally taking the berry into his mouth and ate it. This caused the little flier to perk up and Diana smiled down at him. Taking one of the berries from her hand she said, "Here you go."
The little flier flapped in happiness to the gift and took it into his back. Then waddling off to catch up with his family, the blue Pteranodon looked back and waved goodbye.
Soon, all five of them had at least a little something in their bellies. When they were finished, they all set out again.
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The group now passed by a huge assortment of rock formations and walked across a plain. As they walked by a series of giant footprints, Clark thought he heard a voice whisper, "Littlefoot. Children."
He looked around for the source, but couldn't see anything. Bruce happened to look back and asked, "What is it?"
"I'm not sure." Clark said as he looked once more. When they looked back, they saw that Littlefoot was once again depressed as he crawled into one of the giant footprints.
By the smell of the footprint, Littlefoot could tell that it belonged to his mother. He rubbed his head against it to try and feel as if some part of his mother was still with him. He rubbed all over the print, but still couldn't help but feel sad.
From a few feet away, the four heroes looked to the sad dinosaurs. John then asked, "We need to get moving."
"Hey, don't say that." Diana said with a stern gaze. Gesturing to the Longneck she said, "Littlefoot'll get ready in his own time."
It seemed as if he were ready to go as Littlefoot stepped out of the footprint. Before he fully looked away, Littlefoot cast one glance more to it. Suddenly, a soft light appeared over the print, causing them all to look up into sky. Floating down was Littlefoot's tree star gift. Another whisper came to all of their ears, "Littlefoot. Children."
The tree star landed in the middle of the footprint and the light faded. All five friends looked down into the tree star as the dew started to pool in the middle. The pool was big enough to where they all could see their reflections. A voice could be heard within their hearts, "Dear Littlefoot, Bruce, Clark, Diana and John…"
They all became shocked as they recognized the voice as Littlefoot's mother. They heard her speak again as she said, "Do you all remember the way to the Great Valley?"
To be fair, none of them remembered after what had happened the last few days and shook their heads. But they listened closely as she said, "Follow the bright circle past the great rock that looks like a Longneck and past the mountains that burn."
They all nodded in understanding, now knowing exactly where to go. Each of them looked down in a mixture of sadness while she said, "I'll be in your hearts, children. Especially you, Littlefoot." Then she instructed, "Let your hearts guide you."
Now feeling a little bit better, Littlefoot picked up the tree star leaf with his mouth. The pool of dew flowed out of leaf and into the print as Littlefoot placed it on his back. The five set out for the setting sun once more.
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It was nearing twilight as the group found a spot to rest. Littlefoot had climbed onto a rocky pillar and laid down to rest. Clark, Diana and John all moved to look about for something to start a fire. Bruce stayed behind to watch over the little Longneck. Littlefoot raised his head from where he laid and saw something on a rock wall. He became truly happy as he shouted, "Mother!"
Bruce looked back to what he was seeing and saw that it was only a shadow being cast from the light to the west. As Littlefoot jumped off the rock, a hand on his shoulders stopped him from going any further. Littlefoot looked to Bruce as he said with a saddened expression, "You'll only hurt yourself."
Littlefoot looked to what Bruce meant and saw that he was right. Littlefoot raised a leg and his shadow did the same. The harsh truth of reality came down upon him as he finally and truly understood that she was gone. Bruce kneeled down and told him, "I know exactly what you're going through."
"You do?" Littlefoot asked as he was confused. Bruce nodded and said, "I experienced an event just like that. It hit me so hard that it helped me to become what I am today."
"And what's that?" Littlefoot asked as he stood tall once more. Bruce took off his cowl, revealing his true face and said, "A hero who fights for the justice of others."
Though he was initially surprised and curious about how Bruce did that, he focused more on Bruce's word. He paid close attention when Bruce said, "We just have to remember those we love as we continue on."
Littlefoot nodded and took the Dark Knight's words to heart. Then he asked, "How did you do that?"
This caused Bruce to sigh before he began to explain a few things.
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Author's Note: This was really painful for me to write. I always tear up when Littlefoot spends his final moments with his mother. But hopefully I will still be able to make the rest of the story just as good, yet heart touching. We get to see some new faces in the next chapter. I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong or if you want something specifically to happen. See you next time.
