Lily grunted in frustration as she tried to keep Liam balanced on her shoulders.

"What's going on? Why are we moving so fast?" she cried.

Liam craned his neck.

"I think someone's chasing us . . . OH MY GOD!"

"What?"

"It's a bunch of raptors!"

"What do they look like?"

"Like raptors."

"Could you be more specific?"

"I dunno. It's hard to tell them apart. It's dark out."

He flinched.

"Okay, it's even darker now. We're in a tunnel."

Lily fell backwards suddenly, taking Liam with her.

"Ow!"

She rubbed her head.

"Liam, you said there were humans near the front of the train a few minutes ago. What did they look like?"

"Like humans."

"COULD YOU BE MORE SPECIFIC?"

He shrugged.

"I dunno. One of them had sandy hair and a beard. He was wearing a sweater . . ."

"That sounds like my dad!" Lily gasped, "Was he with someone else?"

"He was with a lot of people."

"Was my mother there?"

"I dunno. What does she look like?"

"She's green with a red-"

Lily caught herself.

"I mean . . . I don't know. She's human now. I don't know what she looks like."

Liam gave her a questioning look as she solemnly dragged herself to the corner of the room.

"Nevermind. That probably wasn't my dad. My parents wouldn't be driving a giant robot."

Liam twisted his mouth.

"Are you sure?"

Lily nodded.

"They barely even use the truck. Whoever is after us, it's not my family."

Without warning, a raptor head appeared in the window.

"Lily?"

She screamed and fell backwards.

"Wait! Wait! Don't be afraid!" the raptor screeched, "It's me. It's Charlie."

Lily's face lit up.

"Charlie! What are you doing on the train?"

"Trying not to get pummeled by the roof," she sassed, "The others are fighting circus people. I'm going to break you out while we still have a chance."

She began to claw at the window, tearing away splinters of wood. Liam helped from his side, but his claws were noticeably duller.

"How did you find me?" Lily asked.

"We had some help from Barry," she explained as she hacked into the window, "When you disappeared, Claire went crazy. We've been looking for you all this time."

Lily grinned.

"Mama's here? Where is she?"

"In the giant robot."

Lily squealed with delight.

"Oh my god! This is a rescue! She loves me! She loves me! She loves me!"

Liam pouted.

"Lucky you. You have someone who cares about your safety."

Charlie stopped clawing at the window to look at him. It seemed as though she had finally noticed the other raptor.

"Who's this?"

"My boyfriend," Lily stated.

Liam's eyes went wide.

"What-"

"We'll talk later," Lily said tersely.

Charlie grabbed one of the window's bars in her mouth and tore it out of its socket. She wrestled with the other one, but they were all blinded by the moon's pale fire.

"We're out in the open," Charlie announced, "It looks like your parents have caught up."

Lily could hear the sloshing footsteps of the robot. It was thundering through water, which meant that they were on another bridge. Charlie pulled out the second bar and reached for Liam's paw.

"Take my hand, Feathers. You're small enough to fit through."

"Feathers?" Liam echoed.

Lily rolled her eyes and boosted him up to the window. When he was out, she took a few steps back and gave Charlie a nod.

"Hang on. I got this."

She reared up on her hind legs and trumpeted valiantly. With a ferocious scowl, she charged forward-

-and banged her head against the wall. She rubbed her frill woozily, groaning in pain.

"I really thought that would work."

Charlie blinked.

"You know, you really are your father's daughter."

Lily snorted.

"Alright, enough fooling around. We need to make this hole big enough for me."

Charlie nodded.

"I'll call your parents."

Her face disappeared from view.

"CRAW! CRAW! CRAW!"

The noise made Lily jump. Somehow, a part of her was unsettled by raptors noises.

"They heard us!" Charlie trilled, "They're coming! They're-"

She gasped.

"Oh my god . . ."

"What is it?" Lily asked.

"I- I don't know!" Charlie whimpered, "It looks like- but it's- OH NO!"

Lily tossed her head in agitation.

"What? WHAT?"

Suddenly, something massive passed the window. Lily heard a terrible roar, then the sound of metal cracking under stress. Silhouetted against the full moon, she could make out the shape of the robot and an unidentified horned monster. The titans were locked together in combat, but it did not last long. The machine was thrown against the bridge, which collapsed in a massive explosion, taking the train with it.

***TSJWFEW***

Owen coughed up water when he awoke. The stars and clouds were doubling in his vision, and his ears were ringing. When the sound faded, it was replaced by distant crackling. Fire. There was fire nearby. He let his head drop to the side. Part of the train was lying beside him. Small tongues of fire danced across the surface. He remembered that the train had fallen from the bridge. It was like a heavy snake, or maybe a rope. And then what? It fell with the robot, and he was inside of the robot, and Lily was inside the train . . .

He coughed and sat up, his hands slipping in the shallow water. Whatever had attacked him caused significant damage to the bridge, the robot, and the train. Parts of said objects were scattered as far as he could see, all the way on the other side of the lake. To make matters worse, he could feel his head bleeding. He was sure that this was the case because the fluid soaking his hair was warm. If he was injured, there was a good chance that the others were too. He could only hope that they were no worse off than him.

"Claire? . . ." he rasped, "Lily? . . ."

He stumbled as he tried to stand upright, then grabbed his shoulder in pain.

"CLAIRE? ANYONE?"

"I'm here!" a weak voice chirped from behind a fallen box car.

Owen sloshed through the icy water until he had circled the nearest wreckage completely. There was oil in the water, and it was soaking his pants. If the fire were to reach him, he was in big trouble. But there was a more pressing issue. Foxtrot was pinned between two heaps of metal.

"Fox!"

She looked up at him with frightened eyes.

"Owen, I don't think I can get out."

He fell to his knees and began to dig her out of the muck. When he lifted her from the putrid water, his heart dropped. There was a piece of shrapnel stuck in her belly, and the wound was bleeding profusely.

"Fox . . ."

"I think it came from the explosion. Something is broken inside of me-"

She coughed up blood.

"I'm sorry, Owen."

He held her against his chest.

"Don't apologize, Fox. This wasn't your fault."

She sniffled.

"I just wanted to find Lily. Claire was so nice to me, and now she's made a pair of slippers for nothing."

"She made them because she loves you . . ."

"But I'm going to die."

Owen gulped and stroked her hair.

"Don't say that. We'll get you out of here. I've seen people recover from worse."

Foxtrot shook her head.

"I'm done for. Leave me here and find Lily. Make sure she isn't dying too."

Owen's heart was racing.

"No . . . No, don't give up on me, Fox. The others are counting on you."

"They'll understand," she whispered, "I think we always knew that we wouldn't die together. But hardly anyone does. In a way, I'm glad they aren't here, because I'd rather have them remember what it was like when I was living than be sad about my death."

She closed her eyes and shuddered.

"You can leave too."

Owen took a deep breath.

"I'm not going anywhere."

She pressed her forehead against his chest.

"I know you want to be here for me, but it may take a while. Lily needs you more than I do."

Owen did not move. He sat stroking her hair as her breaths grew shallow. She almost seemed to be sleeping at one point, but she opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder, smiling faintly.

"I don't believe it . . ."

"What?" Owen asked.

"I've changed back. I'm a raptor again."

He gave her a sad smile.

"You know, you never told me what you look like, Foxtrot."

Her smile grew.

"I'm yellow," she began, "Indian yellow, like painted beads. I have stripes like a tiger. They're red and long. My belly is a little bit pale, and my eyes are emerald green. I can see them when I look at myself in the mirror. I'm sleek and thin, but my biggest claws aren't all that sharp. I've always been ashamed of that. But I like everything else about my body. I like the way my scales shine and I like the feeling of my tail. I think that's not too bad, for a raptor."

Owen nodded.

"I can kind of see that."

Foxtrot closed her eyes and smiled.

"Good. That's all I've ever wanted: someone to see what I see . . . feel what I feel . . . and now I'm happy. I'm happy because you've seen it too, which makes it real . . . and that's all I need."

She went limp after this, but Owen refused to believe that she'd died. Even as he laid her body in the shallow lake, he couldn't bring himself to admit that this corpse had once been Foxtrot. In a way, it hadn't, because although no one knew it, she was a raptor all along. She had always been that Indian yellow creature with crimson stripes, and Owen would never forget it as long as he lived.

He owed her that much, at least.