The Land Before Time: Far Away Home

By: Caustizer

Act 3: The Black Dawn

Prologue:

"Our rescue attempt didn't work out so well," repeated adult Ruby with a bit of concern, "but of we didn't try… well… then nothing would have worked out well!"

The glowing cracks flicked slightly as the light danced off the bodies of the youngsters who were present, as well as Littlefoot who was present to listen to Ruby's version of the story as well as occasionally 'correct' her memory. Unlike the night when the story began, the sky was cloudy and dark with no stars revealing themselves to light the night-time. It might have alluded to the tone of the story, if the children were actually listening.

Despite her good will, Ruby had a tendency to repeat herself very often and occasionally explain things too much. On some occasions Littlefoot had to remind her to get back on topic, but by the end the children had lost their attention span and had started focusing on other things, like throwing pebbles at each other or (in Landar's case) eating. Even the young longneck Xavier, who was absorbing every detail like a sea sponge, was beginning to lose his patience.

"Sky has been gone all night," he exclaimed disheartedly, "is he even going to be here at all?"

"Yeah, so we can actually get a good story?" added Wayne.

Littlefoot cleared his throat loudly.

"Sky will be here as soon as he can children, but in the meantime you should be glad that Ruby has kindly agreed to step into his place," he commented with a fatherly smile, "after all, without her you wouldn't have found out about our past."

"Yes dad," replied the small blue longneck with a pout. At least if Sky was here, the story would be a lot more interesting.

"Look, it's Sky… he's here!" shouted Ducky's daughter Aura, prompting Kala to wake up suddenly.

"I see him, I see him!" the spiketail added with glee.

Sky had indeed arrived from his long absence, and the wingtail circled briefly before coming in to land near the glowing cracks. Notably, he did not do his usual loop in the air before he set down onto the ground. He brushed off his wings and folded them neatly before speaking.

"I apologise for my lack of punctuality children, but I had some… business… I needed to attend to this eve."

Sky turned to Ruby, who seemed to be in thought about what to say next about her marvellous adventures. It wasn't easy to tell a story when you had only been through half of it on your own. It was a good thing that Littlefoot was here, otherwise she would have never gotten it straight.

"Ah Ruby," addressed Sky, "you have been telling the story in my place I see. You have my gratitude."

The blue wingtail bowed slightly with respect.

"Not a problem Sky, I'm here whenever you need me to be here," replied Ruby with a smile. The fastrunner picked up her feet and departed.

"Wait a minute," interrupted Landar, "what really took you so long Sky? You've never ever been late for one of your stories before."

The other children were equally curious, and despite Sky's refusal to talk about it they insisted. With a sigh, the Great Valley's story speaker finally relented.

"I… had to meet an old friend."

"What friend… is he in your story too?" pushed Xavier.

"I suppose he is," responded Sky, "but I would prefer not to –"

"What's the matter Sky, trying to hide me underneath a rock like the rest of your bloody and treacherous past? How like you."

The young dinosaurs and the adults present looked around, trying to identify where the voice came from. Sky knew who it was, and hung his head as another wingtail emerged from the curtain of darkness into the neon light of the glowing cracks.

The cold black of Glide's feathers was matted by small streaks of grey, clear evidence of age. It was not a natural age though, as he was still only a few years older then sky. It was an aging of the soul. The seasons had not been kind to Sky's brother in law, and as the wingtail grew from an adolescent to an adult the venom and violence was replaced by a well of brooding and hate. Despite this fire inside, Glide had also been somewhat moderated by his experiences and was less arrogant then in times past. Maybe with the loss of his youth there came the temperament of experience and perhaps even a bit of a fatherly instinct he didn't know he had. Even as Glide revealed himself, Sky ignored his comment as if he hadn't been said at all.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your 'friends'," Glide said villainously, not hesitating to lower his tone on the word 'friends'. He was will wary of his brother in law's tendency to befriend other races who were clearly quite different from their own. Land-walkers and wingtails didn't belong together, in his opinion.

"Children," began Sky as he made a slight wing gesture of recognition, "this is Glide."

Their reactions were mixed, but all echoed the shock of the revelation. Aura screamed and jumped behind Kala, who covered her head and started shaking. Xavier backed up a step closer to his father, while Landar dropped the bug he had been about to eat and stood up. Wayne, on the other hand, was pretty impartial.

"Hah, you're the Glide we've been hearing about? You don't look so tough," Wayne commented with a bit of a snub.

"Is that a challenge, threehorn?" threatened Glide, and he cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

A bead of sweat began to run down the back of Wayne's neck. He didn't expect the black wingtail to respond like that. Coming face to face with a villain from the story speaker's tales, it was clear he was outmatched.

"I was just kidding, no need to get mad or anything," replied Wayne, trying to keep some of his dignity intact without getting pummelled. Landar looked highly excited, which was very unusual for him.

"Wow this is so awesome," he commented, "you mean you actually beat the snot out of Sky… twice!?!"

"Can we not discuss this here, please?" interrupted Sky politely as he could.

"Oh it was more then that… but that's not why I'm here," responded Glide as he crossed his arms and talked to Sky's back, "am I to believe that you, Sky, are telling these children our story… the one where you sold out our kind and stole a piece of our past?"

Xavier looked ready to defend his favourite teacher, but decided it wasn't the smart thing to do. It was safer just to watch, as unlike for the previous few hours the story seemed more interesting then ever.

"As much respect as I have for you Glide, your business here with me is done. Could you please leave in peace?"

Littlefoot opened his mouth to step in, but at the last moment decided not to. As long as these two didn't threaten the children with their fighting, they would have to resolve their differences on their own.

"And let you poison their minds with your lies, I think not!" countered Glide aggressively. They began to growl at each other. Littlefoot eased the tension with a thoughtful response.

"You know Sky, maybe it's better to let him take over for a while. Like Ruby said earlier, 'you can't tell the whole story without the whole story to tell'… we all lived through these things, so perhaps it might be wise to get a different perspective?"

Glide looked just as repulsed by the idea as Sky was, but for an entirely different reason.

"Longneck, what makes you think I'm going to waste my time bragging about my previous exploits to your land-walker children that I couldn't care –"

The black wingtail stopped mid sentence. Telling his story to a group of wide eyed youngsters who would have usually avoided him was an idea that appealed to him on some level. Nobody in the Feral Forest really cared for him that much, so this could be a good opportunity to pass along the things he had done and look good in the process.

"Alright, I accept," answered Glide with a satisfied grin.

"Littlefoot, I don't think this is a good idea," mentioned Sky with a bit of annoyance, "there are parts of my past that I don't…"

"Your afraid of what I might say aren't you?" shot Glide with a smirk. Sky snorted with anger. He was too smart to get involved in a pointless mud-sling like this, so naturally came up with a better angle.

"No… of course not," responded Sky with indignity, "… children, is that what you want?"

The responses were divided, but nobody was about to talk down about Glide since he was standing right there. There was a general consensus though, and that was 'anyone but Ruby'. In the end the blue wingtail listened to Littlefoot and stepped aside.

"Alright Glide, it looks like I am beaten. Please don't be too brutal in your recounts; they are only young ones you know."

Sky took to the air, and circled a few times while Glide and the others watched him intently. He landed in a branch next to Littlefoot, and whispered something into his ear nobody could hear. The longneck nodded and soon Sky was gone into the air once more.

"Alright… where did the fastrunner leave off?" grunted Glide with displeasure.

"Umm…" answered Wayne with uncertainty, "you were lying on your back coughing up your insides."

Glides eyes narrowed.

"I can see that I need to create a bit of a different picture… one of how things truly were back in that time. In those days, there was blood everywhere and you didn't know who you could trust. Enter Eybron, the worst wingtail of them all."

As the children engrossed themselves in Glide's tail, Littlefoot pondered Sky's words with a bit of weight on his mind…

"Don't let them judge me."