Hey, everyone! Sorry it took so long. I realized that Pterano and Britta needed another chapter before things would fall into place with any of the other characters. This chapter covers a lot of information done in summary, but it is really worth a read. I hope you enjoy the chapter; I will say it has a tragic beginning and a very happy end I think you guys will like.

So we see how Pterano and Britta are doing, then next we will continue with Chomper's family and their journey to the valley (or Hyp, whoever seems to fit). I would really appreciate feedback on this chapter and would love to hear from you. Hope you enjoy and have a great week!

Chapter 17 Happily Ever After?

Britta

Britta flew in, exhausted as anything and worried for Hyp and his father. She had never seen Hyp in such a vulnerable state; his father was all he had. Britta felt helpless in that there was almost nothing she could do for Nicolas. There was nothing to control strokes. And most of the time, if a creature has one stroke; it is likely that they will occur again. The best advice she could give was to rest, and avoid strenuous activities. It also sounded like Nicolas could be overly tired, so she made sure to let Hyp know there was hope if his father got the rest he needed. And if it was a stroke, they were lucky it was minor and Nicolas was strong enough to recover almost immediately.

She feared Hyp would come apart for a while, and was relieved that Hyp had his aunt, his cousin, and (he would never admit this) his crush. She also found that Lexie was not in very good shape, and decided to treat her as good as she could for now. By the time she got back to where Tess and Pterano lived, the sun was already beginning to set. But neither Pterano nor Tess was out. Only Petrie. How odd.

"Petrie? Hey."

Her little nephew startled before he realized who she was. "Oh, hi Britta."

He sounded down, so Britta approached. "Mind if I sit?"

"Sure!" said Petrie sweetly.

Britta stretched out on the grass beside him. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah…"

"Did Chomper and Ruby leave?"

"Yeah, right after you leave with Hyp and his friends."

"I see…" There was a hesitation. "Is something wrong, Petrie? You seem down."

"Hmm? Oh, me just thinking about Uncle Pterano… me no understand why other grown-ups so mean to him. Everything fine just the other day."

Britta rubbed her nephew's back with her finger. "Did something happen? Where is he now?"

Petrie pointed up to the home Pterano had made for himself. "He get real sad when Mr. Threehorn say he still a… criminal. And he fly into his home."

Now Britta understood exactly what happened with no further need for explanation. "Where was your mom?"

"She tell Mr. Threehorn to leave, but Uncle Pterano not come down."

"Hmm… Well, I will go talk to him."

Petrie perked up in hope. "Make him come down?"

"I'll try." She returned the hug Petrie gave her with a smile and sent him back up to Tess. She sighed and flew up the quiet cave that was now Pterano's nest. Everything was absolutely still for a living creature to be there. She found Pterano leaning heavily on his hands, which where both pressed against the rock wall. It was like he needed to hold onto something to cope with whatever he was feeling, but the sight was unbearable. Pterano should live his life as an intelligent, cheerful flyer. Not like this.

Britta approached quietly and gently touched his upper arm. "Pterano?"

Pterano did not startle, he simply turned his head to reveal sad eyes, then turned away again.

After a moment's hesitation, Britta wrapped her wings around him from behind. "Do you want to talk about it? Petrie is worried about you."

Pterano's voice came out quietly, thick, like someone who was holding back tears. "Old Threehorn is right. They are always going to think of me as a criminal. And now I fear you shall, too."

"I don't think you're a criminal," Britta answered quietly.

Pterano turned slowly to look her in the face. "You don't know what I've done, Britta."

"I know what you did… at least from Tess and Mr. Longneck's point of view," she admitted.

Pterano's eyes widened in surprise. "They've told you, then."

"A little. They told me the basic story when I first came here and met Tess. The two of them told me you were still alive, and what had become of you."

Pterano jerked his wing away as he turned his back, so she held onto him so she could explain. "I believed you all to be dead before, Pterano. I was overjoyed you and Tess were still alive, and wanted you to have the chance for a good life when you returned."

Pterano scoffed. "Good life… Good life! Well, that's turning out well. Isn't it, Britta?"

He slid down to the ground with his back against the rock wall. "No matter what I do, I'm deemed a criminal. Right in front of my family. How could you ever love me again?"

"I do," Britta slid down next to him and grabbed one of his hands in both of hers. Pterano focused benign, moist eyes on hers and waited.

Britta sighed. "But I need you to tell me what really happened. Why did you lead them away, Pterano? Why did you want more power than what you already had?"

Pterano let out a shaky sigh. "It's…complex."

Britta jerked her hands away because he knew that wasn't what she wanted to hear. He restrained her from leaving by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"When you… "died," per say… one thing just lead to another. We were left broken-hearted, Britta. All who were left alive."

Britta let him pull her back down so he could tell her the long-withheld story.

He was later told that the events of the herd's downfall took place within a matter of days, but it felt so much longer. Pterano flew in circles for what could have been hours or months for all he knew. Searching for his lost love, for any remaining sharptooth flyers, for anything. He wasn't quite sure when he dropped, and how he got home. He woke up sometime after in the middle of the day, thought of seeing Britta, and then slowly remembered the horrific events of the attack. He felt pain everywhere when he scrambled to his feet and tried to spread his wings to leap back into the air.

"Britta!" Before he could leap off the edge, something tackled him to the ground of their home. His father. For the first time in his life, Pterano struggled to get free of him, but to no avail. He coldly pinned Pterano to the floor by holding his wing-arms and keeping one knee on his stomach so that every move hurt.

"Stop it, Pterano! They're dead!"

Young Pterano stopped all at once, stricken by the cold content of the harsh words. What they meant. His father's cold, black eyes were nothing but intense dots as they stared into his. After a few moments, he got up and said the words once more. "They're dead."

Those words felt like a blow the heart. Pterano felt his heart swell until he had to turn over and sob to release the pressure. His mother pushed past his father and pulled his head into her lap, scolding him for the harsh words. Pterano wasn't sure when he stopped sobbing, all he remembered was that, at some point in the night, his father left them to tend to Tess, who apparently woke and let out a cry when she remembered the events that ended so many lives including Tim's.

Pterano wasn't sure exactly what day he started talking again. In fact, silence nearly killed them all for a while. All he remembered were motions. Staring at the sunset. Leaning against a wall as he watched his sister lie in her nest and stare out at the horizon. Going out and bringing anything she could use to build a sustainable nest for the eggs she was going to lay. Eating. Sleeping. Nodding. Motions.

At some other point in those days, he did a lot of listening. Mostly to the other surviving herd members who were still sane. His father. His mother. Rinkus. Mrs. Ria and her mate. Survivors of the attack who could confirm the events because they were there. He only needed to say one-worded questions, mostly a name.

"Leah?"

"Jen?"

"Britta and Tim's parents?"

"Sierra?"

"Rinkus?"

Any name. He usually got answers.

It was a miracle Jen survived the deep cut that ran from one of her shoulders to the bottom of the opposite hip. She eventually admitted that one of the sharptooth flyers ascended and nearly wounded her to the bone with his claw. He would have killed her, but Tim fought the flyer to the death. When a group of them got past him, they moved on to chase Britta away, leaving Jen wounded in the corner.

A frantic Sierra brought her home and tried to nurse her back to health with the little help Britta's mother tried so hard to offer. But there were too many wounded, and both her children were dead. Jen began to burn with fever from infection along with many others. The healers from the neighboring territories couldn't save much more than Britta's mother. The poor healer tried, but grief eventually got the better of her.

Pterano eventually started a new motion; helping them. He felt so heavy when he had to face Britta and Tim's parents. He barely got Tess to go. But when they did face them, they was nothing to say. Tim's father, so like him, held Tess as she cried while Pterano did the same for Britta's mother. Eventually, he and Tess helped care for a dying Jen.

While Tess and Sierra stayed with Jen every moment, Pterano was the most distant from the matter. He couldn't bear the sight of Jen shivering and struggling against infection. It wasn't fair; Jen was the most innocent creature with wings. He helped with others. Sat with Rinkus as he silently coped with the loss of Leah, helped Mrs. Ria find homes for the babies who had lost their young parents, but most of all helped his father manage a herd slowly turning against him.

Almost every family had lost someone, and Pterano could see the tension building up within the herd, the cold looks cast toward his father, accusing him of sending their loves ones to their deaths. Accusing him for something he could never have foretold (or so Pterano thought at the time). Several left the herd without a word instantly, but no one challenged his father at first. There was a reason he was the leader, after all.

The inciting incident happened when his father snapped at Britta's mother for not being able to save her patients.

"I can't! I just can't right now…" Britta's mother abandoned her young patient under his father's watchful eye, hiding her face in her hands as she sobbed. Pterano held Tess tight to restrain her as she gasped, sensing the danger in their father's eyes.

His father, half crazed at the number of dying herd members, nearly struck her. "You have no choice! You're a healer, aren't you? That is your purpose in this herd."

His voice rose with every note, causing her to cower. Tim's father stepped forward and wrapped his wings around her, pulling her away from their father. Tim took after his father; therefore, his father spoke in a good-natured, but grave defense of his mate.

"She won't be treating anymore for now, sir. It's too much for her."

Pterano met his father's cold eyes, pleading him to understand. His father calmed down, but stood his ground, stunning everyone with his next few words.

"Then you are dismissed from the herd if you can't fulfill your duties."

Everyone around gasped, or simply stood by stunned. Britta's mother took a shaky breath, but Tim's father stood strong with acceptance, probably knowing they couldn't bear to remain with the herd anyway. Mrs. Ria, Tess, their mother, and a few others started to step forward, but were restrained by others. Sierra's response was the most heart-wrenching of all; those terrible yellow eyes filled with fear when he realized what that meant. Jen was limp in his lap at the time, drawing horrible sounding breaths. Britta's mother clasped her hands together and just happened to look in their direction.

At last, she turned to her leader. "May I try to stabilize Jen's condition? Before we go? She was my daughter's friend..."

Their father was silent for a moment, but even he had a soft spot for Jen. He gave permission quietly. "Yes, you may try to help Jen. Come Pterano, Tess."

Tess pulled away and placed her hands on her hips, her voice icy as she addressed their father. "I'm staying with Jen."

His father didn't have much of a reaction to that, just a cold "Come, Pterano."

Pterano wanted to stay, but couldn't risk angering his father any further. He gave Britta's old "lucky pebble," a pebble Britta held on to until she learned the basics of healing and later passed to him when he began training under his father, one last squeeze. He quickly slipped the pebble into her mother's hand, mouthed "goodbye" to both of them, and then flew after his father.

The next day was miserable. Pterano's father trained him even harder; Pterano could hardly take the training along with his grief. He felt numb as he carried out the sufficient tasks and words.

Sierra stayed with Jen until he couldn't stay awake anymore. Jen seemed to be improving before; so Pterano was still unsure exactly what happened to make her weaken so, and he never asked Tess.

They managed to wake Sierra just in time to hold Jen as she said her goodbyes to him. She passed away in his arms, leaving him grief stricken. He was never the same after her death. He and Rinkus soon disappeared, but not before Sierra blamed Pterano's father for the death in front of the herd.

Pterano held Tess' tiny hand as they watched Tim and Britta's mother and father depart from the herd. Not long after, Mrs. Ria and her mate peacefully left the herd along with a few others. It was a heart-wrenching few days for them. Some even dared to challenge his father, but the older leader won every challenge; each challenger was made to leave the herd. Soon after that, Pterano was forced to help his father move the few herd members left out of the area that had been their home all of his life. Though this idea was wise due to sightings of more sharptooth flyers hovering around, Pterano hated to move. Moving was like making a final prediction that Britta would not come back.

They did relocate to a small, horrible canyon until they could figure out where to go from there. Pterano and his family just managed to build a scrap nest in time for Tess to lay her eggs, meaning they would not be able to move for some time. The only thing Pterano could find to live for was the birth of his new nieces and nephews.

Their father never made it out of that canyon. Something weakened his body until it couldn't go on anymore. Pterano never could understand the cause; his father was not physically ill, nor was he a weak flyer up until that point. But he weakened, and died shortly before his grandchildren were to hatch.

Pterano felt some sorrow for the loss of his father at the time, and kept his last words of encouragement to become a strong leader to heart. His last few days were spent leaning against a rock, training Pterano harder than ever. Teaching him to become a fighter, a fearsome flyer, intelligent. Aside from that, he was strangely quiet up until his death.

Their mother was never the same after that; she couldn't handle the grief over her mate's death. Couldn't handle not knowing why. Their only sense of joy was when Tess' children hatched. Pterano held onto his mother as he watched his sister scoop up the first hatchling in her hands and give him the name Tim requested; Petrie. His heart melted when Tess finally handed Petrie to him to bond with her other hatchlings, but deep down inside he longed for Britta.

Their mother's condition kept them from moving, so they passed the time teaching his nieces and nephews all about surviving in the world. As they tried to figure out where to go, Pterano found himself forming a strong bond with little Petrie, who seemed to want to follow him everywhere.

Their mother passed away peacefully one morning, and Pterano found himself in a challenge with the son of the last family in their herd. Pterano won with little effort, but that left him and Tess alone with her children. As they watched the last family leave, Tess sighed.

"Well, that's the last of the families. Nice work, Pterano. Guess that just leaves us," she said icily, pointing her finger to herself, then to him.

Pterano, still huffing from the fight, raised his voice. "Oh really now, Tess, how else was I supposed to handle it? He didn't come to reason. I left him alive, didn't I? And don't you mean 'us'?" He made a circling motion with his finger to include his nieces and nephews.

"Us," the hatchlings repeated in unison. Their way of learning to speak. Petrie was the only one to try to comprehend what that meant.

Tess scoffed with at least a hint of a smile, but still angry. "Yeah. Two adults and six babies."

Pterano smiled optimistically as he sat Petrie on his shoulder and gestured to the other hatchlings. "Well, they're alive."

Tess sighed, still unsure of the situation. Pterano sighed and solemnly sat Petrie amongst his siblings. "I know, Tess. I miss them, too. This wasn't my choice."

"I know," Tess responded gently. They sat in silence for a few moments before she asked the inevitable. "So where do we go? The babies aren't near old enough to fly, and we can't stay here. There's no food."

Pterano sighed. This was going to be a long shot. "Why not travel in the direction of the other herds?"

Tess dropped the tree star she had been tearing apart to divide among the children, resulting in a mess of hatchlings fighting for one tree star. Pterano snatched the tree star up with six hatchlings dangling from the edge. "Good lord, Tess!"

He gently shook the children from the now-hideous tree star and what was left into six pieces, quickly handing each hatchling their piece so they wouldn't fight.

When he turned around, he had to face Tess. She spoke with her wings crossed in front of her. "You want to take my newborn children across the world to find a place we aren't even sure exists?"

Knowing there was no easy way to argue, Pterano spread his arms in frustration as a gesture for her to look around. "What have we got to lose, woman?! Look at these hatchlings!"

Both he and Tess took a look at the children, who had long finished their portions and were begging for more. Three pulled on the end of Pterano's wing, three pulled on their mother's. Neither group got anything no matter how often they chirped.

There wasn't much Tess could say to that, so they began traveling the next day. All hatchlings rode on their uncle's back, with Tess close by in case one should fall. Those were some of the most tiresome days of their lives. They only stopped when they found a suitable place to rest, and on the rare occasion they found food.

They managed to stay together until the morning of that horrible earthshake. They had just found what looked like a reliable herd to follow and were woken up to a loud crack, followed by violent shaking. It didn't take long to realize that the earth was dividing almost right where the herds were resting. All Pterano could remember was just managing to get the last of the children on his back before the rock above them split and fell. They just barely escaped the impact.

Pterano and Tess remained airborne with the children until the shaking ceased, forced to witness the worst tragedy they had ever seen. All he could remember thinking was how most families were divided forever.

He and Tess landed amongst the others to make sure all the hatchlings were still there. Members of various kinds of herds were huddled in the same area, devastated, injured, crying for their loved ones. Pterano struggled to block it out long enough to check to be sure his nieces and nephews were safe.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked Tess, or anyone in particular since she was barreling through the children and counting.

She moved each hatchling to one side as she counted. "One, two, three, four, five…."

Pterano froze when there was no sixth and cringed when Tess screeched as a scream.

"Oh, my…" Tess was already beginning to cry. Pterano took her arm as he scanned the bunch.

"Who is missing?"

Tess couldn't answer, so all hatchlings scanned their siblings. Finally, his little niece that resembled Tess tilted her head and asked a question.

"Petrie?"

Pterano went blank because that one innocent question revealed all. "NO!"

He leapt into the air and scanned the crowd, but it was impossible to find one baby flyer among all the types of dinosaurs running about in chaos. He scanned along the deepest part of the crack the earthshake had made, along the other side that was desolate of any other living creatures as far as he could see, and even around the area where the rock had fallen on their resting place. No sign of Petrie.

His tired eyes darted to the large boulder, too big for even a threehorn to budge. Pterano covered his eyes with his hands. "Oh, Petrie…Tim…Petrie. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

He flew back, and reported his findings (nothing) to Tess and a few mothers with lost children huddled together. Tess bowed her head; his nieces and nephews began crying when they sensed something was wrong. Before long, he was crowded with families begging him to go seek out their children. This went on for a while until an old couple of longnecks intervened, the male speaking. Pterano noticed that he seemed almost too sad to speak, while his mate stood slightly behind him with her head hanging low.

"Please, everyone…" the old longneck spoke kindly, but loud enough for all to hear. "You can't expect the poor flyer to seek out your children. I noticed he's already made a round. I think…" he drew a shaky breath, "we all have to face that our loved ones are gone."

There was a series of gasps throughout the crowd, but Pterano thanked the old longneck with his eyes. Who did you lose? He wondered, but never asked. Suddenly, a large threehorn stepped out of nowhere and started yelling.

"Well, my daughter's still alive. I heard her myself after the earth divided." He narrowed his eyes at Pterano and lowered his voice to a loud grumble. "How good could your skills be if you didn't see her?"

Pterano noticed that Tess looked up for confirmation, and spread his hands in an attempt to explain. "I…I don't know, I…"

"Humph!" The old threehorn had already drawn his conclusions, and nothing Pterano could say would change that. And quite frankly, Pterano didn't care. He only kept eye contact with Tess.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Tess didn't respond, but didn't show any signs of hostility either. Just deep sadness. And that was the worst thing Pterano could ever have imagined.

The old longneck and a few other members from broken herds all formed an agreement to travel together and make all decisions as a group. Their destination was common to all the herds: The Great Valley. Their only chance of survival was still far from their grasp. And now, their only chance of reaching it was to stay in a group.

A few of the bigger dinosaurs allowed Tess and the children to ride on their backs, allowing Pterano to fly independently for a while. Finally, he had much needed time to think. Soon it was too much time. Being in the air meant having no one to talk to since most flyers flew independently. And Tess wasn't really talking much at all. Soon, heat gave way to frustration. The group wasn't getting anywhere. Oftentimes, they found they had lost their way and were forced to backtrack.

Pterano began to feel he could get to the Great Valley faster if the herd would only listen to him. He could fly into the air and find their path, couldn't he? He was trained to be a leader; trained to speak, trained to fight. Maybe this was what he was meant for.

Finally, he gathered his words when the herd stopped for a drink and flew atop a ledge above everyone else. His speech was charismatic and so eloquent. He wasn't surprised that a large number decided to follow him.

Angered by Tess' silence and hostility from the others, he led his followers away in hopes of finding a better way to the Great Valley. Everything felt just right at first; everyone was optimistic, and he had a herd again. But he had just barely begun to know the herd members before one dreadful stop to rest put an end to it all.

Britta sat in silence with a heavy heart as she watched Pterano, so strong as he told this horrid story, break down right in front of her. She grabbed one of his fists when he slammed in against the rock wall and held it as he finished.

"And, you know what happened from there." His voice was shaky, unsteady as he continued.

"I was forced to watch my trapped herd…be torn limb from limb by those fast-biters! The people of the valley think I feel no remorse; but Britta, I see those images every day. In my dreams, in flash memories, in everything! But what they don't realize is that I loved each member of that herd, Britta! I…"

When he broke down, Britta tried to tell him he didn't need to continue. "Pterano-"

He interrupted as if he never heard her, speaking through racking sobs. "I still see that duckbill staring at me as he fell from the cliff, I…"

He couldn't keep doing this, so Britta wrapped her wings around him. "Pterano! It's alright, it's okay…"

She sat in silence as Pterano calmed down, then asked a question to get his mind off that horrible memory. "It was an accident, dear. But what happened after that? When you went back to the herd? With the Stone of Cold Fire? With everything? That doesn't sound like an accident, Pterano."

Pterano ran a hand over his beak and sighed. "Well, the rest is practically legend. I was banished from the herd, but found Rinkus and Sierra, and a new herd to migrate with. I…found myself back here. I only meant to see Tess, you see. But I heard of the Stone and…"

Britta finished for him. "You wanted to set everything right again. Under your rule."

Pterano hesitantly nodded. When Britta sighed, he took her hand. "I never meant for the whole thing to spiral out of control, Britta. Please don't think that. Why, Sierra practically left me no choice but to take Ducky. I never wanted to hurt that poor little thing. She is Petrie's dearest friend."

"I know," Britta interjected. When Pterano just waited, she asked her next question.

"What did you want from the Stone, Pterano? Whatever could have made you so…"

Now Pterano took one of her hands in both of his. "I wanted things, in a way, back to the way they were."

Britta froze, not fully sure what that meant, and listened as he continued. "I wanted acceptance, I wanted my herd back…but above all, I had hoped to bring you back, Britta. I did want to rule, but I thought it was…."

"For the best." Britta finished when he couldn't. She placed both hands on both sides of his face and wiped away a stray tear. Pterano wasn't a good liar, and she could tell he was completely honest with her. No amount of therapy could undo what he went through. He might be able to suppress it, but in the end he and he alone would have to deal with the memories that emerge. That meant that…this was all she could do for him right now, sadly. But still….

"Pterano, you were completely honest and took full responsibility for…everything. Thank you." She folded her wings in front of her as she knelt. "I can…release you before the Council as soon as you are ready. You're improving as you socialize and…are just as fit to live here as anyone. But I must ask, Pterano. No more tricks?"

She nearly slapped him when his eyes darted to the side for a moment, as if he were considering this. She sighed and prepared to fly from the cave, but he pulled her back down by the hand with a gentle smile.

"Are there any tricks to win you back, dear?"

Britta's heart seemed to burst as she giggled; mostly because she couldn't deny it anymore. She still loved him. She knew it now that he was honest with her. And she was sure nothing could stop it after all this time.

She caressed his face in her hands when he ducked his head with a smile, preparing to surrender. "No need for tricks, Pterano."

Pterano's eyes widened in surprise for a long moment before he slowly reached up and rested his hands on hers.

"Britta…" he whispered wondrously, like he was asking for a confirmation.

Britta sobbed with a smile and breathed "yes" just in time for him to stand and scoop her into a strong embrace that swept her off her feet.

Britta nuzzled his shoulder and pulled back. "Promise me, Pterano. No more tricks."

Pterano touched her cheek with one hand.

"None to offer," he said with a kind, sincere whisper.

Britta sobbed and nuzzled him before pulling him back into a hug.

After a few more seconds, they both startled at the sound of a tiny, gleeful giggle coming from the entrance of the cave. Britta slipped from Pterano's arms as they both turned to the entrance with beaks agape, horrified.

There stood little Petrie, unable to suppress his giggles anymore and looking embarrassed because of it. Tess stood beside him with a quiet smile on her face and an armful of leaves (probably meant to cheer Pterano up).

Pterano's eyes darted to Britta before he managed to clear his throat and speak.

"How..much…did you hear…?"

Tess smiled and showered them with leaves in a way that said everything was okay, and that everything had turned out the way she'd hoped. She finally believed her brother.

"Enough," she stated before backing away.

Pterano and Britta laughed as they brushed the tree stars away. Petrie, nearly in tears of joy, latched onto his uncle's beak.

"Uncle Pterano! You sorry! You really, really sorry! Me and Ducky knew you still good inside!"

Pterano laughed, but Petrie surprised Britta by doing the same to her. She returned the hug and listened.

"And Britta! Me knew you be me new Aunt!"

Everyone froze, shocked that Petrie had made that assumption on his own and knowing Britta was his aunt whether she chose to be Pterano's mate or not. But there was no way Petrie could know that yet.

Young Petrie looked around the silent cave a moment with a big smile, then flew into action.

"I tell brothers and sisters!" He proceeded to exit the cave.

"Hey! We have new-" Pterano was able to snatch him back inside before he could finish. They all huddled around with smiles, in agreement that he should be the one to explain that this should be kept quiet. At least for a few days…

Britta sighed. Even though they still had a way to go, they might finally get their long lost happily ever after.