By now, the rain was heavy enough that curtains of water were falling over the entrance. Noah could see Bruton heavily limping across the way. But he didn't seem to be making any movement towards the cave itself. With a groan, he slowly collapsed on the ground.
She was instantly reminded of the Struthiomimus, falling dead on the dune. Before she realized it, her own feet took her out into the cold rain. She sniffed him over, shaking her head with a snort when water went up her nose. He growled at her, even as he was gasping for breath. But he didn't seem to be dying; he was just exhausted.
They both looked up at footsteps. Aladar stood in front of them. "You coming in, or what?" he asked, somehow both firm and gentle.
"What is it with you?" Bruton asked, sounding exasperated. "Both of you?"
"At least I know enough to get in out of the rain," Aladar countered with a smile. "Now, come on. On your feet."
With one final groan, Bruton pushed himself on his three good legs. Noah quickly walked around him so she was on his right side. When he stumbled on the first step forward, Aladar quickly moved his head so it was under his neck. But once he was stable, Bruton shoved him away. Despite this, both siblings stated close to him as he limped inside.
Everyone was staring in awe, as if they couldn't believe that Aladar and Noah had managed to convince him to come inside. Or maybe it was because they were used to seeing him so strong and stern. Nothing like how he was now.
"Uh, you can lie down with us. It's warmer," Aladar invited.
But Bruton turned away, brushing past Noah, and climbed up onto a taller ledge that was facing the entrance. As she watched him, she heard Plio call out, "Noah! Come look at this!"
She followed her voice until she found her in a corner of the cave. Her eyes widened at a familiar sight: green pods. There were hundreds of them, lining and scattering from where the wall met the floor. It made her heart ache, remembering them from the cave she was healing in. Had it really been almost two years since that happened?
In that instant, she realized her intent. And that she had to have called her over for a reason. "What do you need me to do?"
"Gather up as many as you can, and chew them into a paste," Plio said as she gathered an armful of the pods. "You'll be helping me to dress Bruton's wounds."
"Wh-but..." She trailed off with a sigh at Plio's stern look. She managed to gather a mouthful of the pods, and began to chew.
She nearly gagged at the disgusting taste on her tongue. Though she hadn't thought about it recently, she never forgot it. It was a mix of sour and bitter, and it made her whole mouth feel thick and sticky. Until she had completely chewed the pods into a thick paste, she was worried that she would never be able to move her mouth ever again.
Nodding, Plio hopped along the ridge until she was halfway up. She turned to Noah and said, "Stand on his left side, that is where the worst of it is. I'll be on his right."
In that instant, she realized what she wanted her to do. Her eyes widened, and she hummed in protest, shaking her head.
But Plio only had to stare sternly at her until she made the climb as well. She only paused when she heard Suri and Zini laugh. Url had rolled onto his back, evidentally ready to sleep.
Sleep sounded nice. But as far as her mother was concerned, she had a job to do first.
Bruton's right side wasn't nearly as torn apart as his left had been. He merely had what looked like bite wounds reaching down his shoulder from his neck. It made Noah shudder, wondering how big carnotaurs were. Especially seeing as Bruton was much bigger than Aladar, and even bigger than Kron; not to mention how tiny she herself was next to him.
Bruton didn't turn his head when Plio sat down next to where he had the most minor wounds, nor when Noah stepped around him to stand at his right. But she did notice him glaring down at Plio out of the corner of his eye. It reminded her of how he called them parasites. In that instant, she wanted to spit all of the paste into his eyes.
"These plants grew on our island," she heard Plio say. "They will make you feel better."
Instead of doing what she initially wanted, Noah began to lick the paste into Bruton's wounds, starting at the top of his shoulders. She felt him flinch harshly, and heard him groan. But he began to relax after only a few seconds.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he had the most relaxed expression she had ever seen on him. But he also looked reserved. Maybe even sad. His eyelids slid shut, but he didn't seem to go to sleep.
As she reached down his side towards his leg, she heard him ask gruffly, "Why is he doing this? Pushing them on with false hope?"
"It's hope that's gotten us this far," Plio answered.
"But why doesn't he let them accept their fate? I've accepted mine."
"And what is your fate?"
"To die here. It's the way things are."
Noah froze at that statement. Even when they found him injured and calling out for the herd, she never once thought about him dying. Though he wasn't her favorite person, she didn't want him to die. Not even he deserved death. Did he think he deserved it, now that he was injured and slow, and couldn't keep up with the herd? Because he dared to warn them, even as the monsters were following his trail? He even sounded regretful, as well as resolved, to his apparent fate.
The thought of Bruton laying dead, like that Struthiomimus, made her heart hurt.
As she continued onto his thigh, she heard Plio counter, "Only if you give up, Bruton. It's your choice, not your fate."
Bruton didn't seem to have an answer for that. "Well, the plants will help." She heard Plio hop back down the ledge, and saw her down below, joining the rest of the lemurs and Aladar.
By then, Noah had covered all of his wounds with the paste. But she stayed where she was, trying to work the remaining stickiness out of her mouth and off of her tongue. She smiled when she saw him pull the pods closer to him with a front foot. He picked them all up with his beak, and tossed them back into his mouth. She waited for a few seconds as he chewed before saying, "I know how bad it tastes. I've had to eat them before." She glanced down at her bad foreleg.
He didn't answer, still chewing, and then swallowing. She saw a hint of a disgusted grimace before it disappeared. No doubt out of pride rather than tolerance.
Now is my chance! "Um, Bruton? I... I wanted to apologize."
He quickly turned his head to her, looking both shocked and confused. She explained, "For the way I had been acting these last several days. I'm sorry that I called you a 'big ugly brute', and for hitting you with my tail when you were trying to help me up the dune. And for being angry at you when you convinced Kron to let the herd take a break." She nearly stated that she had been badly embarrassed that he told him she was sleep-walking, but bit her tongue. It wouldn't do good to add excuses as she was apologizing, even if it was the truth.
For a moment, he said nothing. He simply looked at her as if she had suddenly began to sprout fur. She blinked at him before standing up and turning to walk back around him.
But then he finally spoke. "Why are you so odd? Both of you?"
She turned back, cocking her head. "What do you mean?"
"You and your brother. Why are you both so concerned with the weak? It's better to let the strong survive."
"That's not how we were raised. We were taught that everyone deserved a chance, and that there was no shame in helping them. We take care of our family." Even if they might not completely deserve it.
"How did you even end up with them?"
"Our egg fell on their island. They raised us like one of their own. They're our family, and we love each other." Her pensive expression turned to a dark glare. She felt a sense of pride when she saw him flinch. "Even if they're parasites." With that, she turned away, swung her hip to the side, and walked down onto the ground.
Just when she thought he was starting to come around, he fooled her.
A/N Someone commented on the previous chapter on AO3 about how you could see the size difference between Aladar and Bruton during the overhead shot in the rain. Noah is smaller than Aladar (I think I have her just a bit tinier than Neera) so you can reasonably imagine how little she is compared to Bruton XD The reasoning behind that is because she's a twin, therefore one of them will be smaller to make room in the egg. I know in birds and reptiles the females are usually bigger than males, but they already have Neera smaller than Aladar (that would be an interesting AU for someone to draw, Neera being bigger than Aladar XD)
Plio referencing the pods growing on their island was another reasoning behind Noah's injury: to add to the continuity. In the movie, she only used one pod on a tiny portion of Bruton's body, and left him the rest to... I honestly don't know. So, it made more sense that she would ask Noah to help her by chewing them into a paste to spread over his other wounds, and to leave him several to eat-that was also why I stated Noah ate them when she was getting looked after when she had her injuries.
I was initially going to have Noah give her apology later, but it made much more sense for her to do it now, AND it helped spread things out so there aren't just clumps of story points, if that makes sense. And it gives her the opportunity to bring up his 'parasite' remark (which I'm surprised Aladar never found offense to or brought up later on)