Dinosaur Train: Buddy's Trials
#6 of Dinosaur Train: Catastrophe
Just what did Buddy see locked in that terrible wasteland?
Dinosaur Train: Buddy's Trials
Bonus chapter of the Cataclysm series
The day had started like any other at Pteranodon terrace; the sun rose high into the sky and the Pteranodon family woke soon after. Buddy, being warm blooded, woke first. His big green eyes fluttered open as he found himself snuggled firmly with Tiny, who was still asleep. He liked snuggling with her, and even if he liked playing with Don and Shiny, he always felt something special when he was with Tiny. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but he hypothesized that it was because he had spent the most amount of time with her. Only now, those feelings kept seeming to grow stronger. He'd started by laying closer to her, then he'd be hugging close to her, smelling her through the night. Now, he had a specific way he liked to wake her. He nuzzled her neck gently before he slowly started to lick her, soon earning a little giggle from her as she stirred awake. Still, he was a bit embarrassed about doing it and would close his eyes, pretending to sleep. Eventually she stirred awake and smiled at him before she gently shook his side, coaxing him to "wake up", and soon after, the rest of the family stirred and woke, though Dad often liked to sleep in. His wife would often affectionately nuzzled him and speak softly to him before he'd finally get up along with everyone else.
Mr. Pteranodon set off to go fishing for breakfast as Mrs. Pteranodon remained at the nest, mainly cleaning it up and repairing it from general wear and tear while the youngsters went off and began playing around. Buddy was a bit slower than usual as he was getting lost in thought a bit more often. He knew he was feeling "funny" around Tiny, but... it also felt personal, "private", something that was a bit scary to him since normally he could say anything to anyone. He normally could just brush it off by simply saying that he loved his sister, but this was different. He loved his Mother, Dad, Brother, and other sister, Shiny, but he felt different about Tiny. Despite the others playing and an occasional question from Tiny, Buddy still kept drifting off into his thoughts as he tried to figure out what he was feeling, his obliviousness causing him to completely miss out on the discussion that lead to the request his siblings came up with for seeing some plant that was most likely in the Jurassic. Around that time, there was a squawk at the nest from their mother, their father having returned and all of youngsters went there for breakfast.
Breakfast was noisy as always, but it was usually filled with lots of friendly chatting about what they would get up to. While Don, Tiny, and Shiny were relaying their request to their mother, Buddy was lost in his thoughts again. Who would be best to talk to about this? His mind ran through options; Don was about his age, but Don probably didn't know anything about it. He could ask his parents, but when he thought about asking his mother, it made him feel embarrassed for some reason. He soon settled on his Dad. He was grown up, he was friendly, and he was male, like Buddy. Maybe he would know. As soon as he thought that, there was a squawk from his mother as she wore a smile.
"All right, it'll be a little adventure! Lets head for the Dinosaur train!" she said as her three biological children cheered. They all took to the air for a moment before his mother stopped and turned around. "Buddy? Don't you want to come with?" she asked. Buddy looked at her, smiling and his tail wagging. He DID love the dinosaur train an awful lot, but this felt a lot more important to him.
"Actually, I want to spend some time with Dad. Is... is that okay?" he asked, never having actually remained behind when the offer of riding the train had cropped up. His mother looked at his father, a bit bewildered, though this was the second time he requested to remain home instead of choosing to go on the train, the first time they only "forced" him to get on the train due to the planned surprise Birthday party they were having for him. His mother looked back at him before she nodded.
"Sure Buddy." she said, growing a smile as she flapped in place. "You enjoy the day with your Dad." Mr. P stepped up behind Buddy, putting a hand on his shoulder as he waved at his wife.
"Bye hon! Have fun on the train!" he said as Mrs. P and her kids flew off towards the station, shouting together.
"Bye Dad!" before Mrs. P shouted back.
"We'll try to be back before sundown!" she said as they flew off, leaving the two males alone.
The two watched as the rest of their family flew off, a whistle of a train in the distance.
"Well, Son, what did you have in mind that you wanted to do with your dad?" he said in his seemingly perpetually cheerful tone. Buddy turned to face him and smiled before he nervously tapped his claws together.
"Well, umm... it's... it makes me feel shy... and it's confusing." he said, showing a certain uneasiness he normally didn't display. His father smiled and rubbed his head.
"Hey, it's okay. When I was your age, I had a lot of... shy and confusing moments too. How about we do some things you like doing and when you feel brave enough to talk about it, I'll be right here to listen?" he suggested, to which his son smiled and nodded.
"I like the sound of that. Can we play stick catch?" he asked, making his father chuckle.
"Oh you know it!" he said as he took to the air. Buddy hopped out of the nest, finding a nice stick. "Go for it, Buddy!"
"Here it comes, Dad!' he said as he wound up before hurling the stick as hard as his little arms would let him, the stick flipping end over end before his father swooped down and nabbed it out of the air in his beak. "Nice catch!" Buddy cheered as his father flicked the stick back to Buddy.
"Go for another one! Give me your best throw!" he encouraged. Buddy wound up and chucked the stick once more before his father caught it again.
They continued like this for a while until Buddy had tuckered out, his stomach gurgling as his father landed near him.
"Well, aren't you the hungry little carnivore." he said, petting the little theropod's head. "Guess we best go down to the seaside and do a little fishing, don't you agree?" Buddy's tail wagged as he hopped back up onto his feet.
"Yeah! Lets go!" he said as his father picked him up, flying him around the cliff area and down to the beachside before setting Buddy on a "scout" rock.
"All right Buddy, you just point 'em out and I'll grab 'em!" his father encouraged. Buddy was wearing a smile the whole while, his tail wagging in excitement as he scanned the water for movement, spotting little groupings of fish or especially big fish before pointing them out. His father took no time at all in diving like a spear into the water, pulling himself out and into the air with a splash and with a fish in his beak, which he tossed onto the shore. "Nice spotting, Buddy!" All the encouragement from his father kept Buddy in high spirits, but as Buddy remained on the rock by the waterside, he spotted a group of fish nearby and paused. He remembered the hunting trick that the Old Spinosaurus had taught him, and so he waited as the fish got closer. He singled one out, the closest one, then dove out into the water, splashing in and feeling his teeth close on something. He stood up, his feet touching the sand of the beach as he stood up in hip deep water.
"Hefff deeerd! I cufff a fshhhh!" he shouted, causing his circling father to fly down and land on the beach.
"Way to go, Buddy! Uhh... what did you say?" he asked, with a chuckle as Buddy walked up to his father and pulled the sizeable fish out of his mouth.
"I said "Hey Dad, I caught a fish!" but... uh, I guess you can see that." he said, giggling as his father rubbed his head.
"That you did. Way to go, Buddy!" he encouraged, smiling at his son and giving him a brief hug. "Now, lets have a little snack." he suggested.
Mr. P carried Buddy up to the nest area, then back down to grab the few nicely sized fish they had caught before they began eating in the nest. Buddy was feeling a lot better about himself and decided now would be a good time to ask his questions.
"Dad?"
"Yeah, son?" he said as he took his time in eating the few fish of his own.
"Umm... Did you ever feel... funny... when you looked at someone else?" his father give him a slight questioning look.
"Like... there is something weird about them?" he asked.
"Well, more like... they are your friend and... they have been your friend... but you feel like... like you want to be MORE than friends." he said, trying to piece together his emotions. His father was quiet for a while and when Buddy looked at him, he found that his Dad was smiling.
"Ohhh Buddy, you really like someone, don't you?" he said. "You like them and you feel special little twitches in your tummy and your chest that make you just want to... "do" something, but you don't know what, right?" he asked. Buddy's eyes widened and he nodded.
"Yeah! Yeah! That's it! What is that feeling?" he asked. His father chuckled again.
"That's your body trying to tell you that you want to be a mate to your friend." he said, downright beaming. Buddy blushed. Was THAT what he had been feeling?
"Like... you and mom, right?" he asked to clarify. His father nodded.
"Yeah, like your Mother and I." he said.
"And feeling funny is normal? Like, when you touch, you like it a lot and want to do more of it?" his father was trying hard not to laugh too loud and instead nodded a lot.
"Yeah, that's it, and it's perfectly normal. It means you're growing up. It happens to everyone." he said as he rubbed his chin, musing briefly over who could be the object of Buddy's desires that fit these specifications. It soon seemed to fit the description of someone Buddy was quite comfortable being in close physical proximity to. "And I'll say, it makes perfect sense, I mean, Annie IS another T Rex. It's only natural you'd like her, what with her pouncing on you all the time." Buddy was instantly confused as Annie was possibly the farthest person from his mind. He liked that he had another friend who was a T rex, but Annie REALLY was the only T Rex kid he knew of other than himself.
"Annie? But, what does-"
"LARRY!" Mr. P cut off his son as he spun around, finding Larry Lambeosaurus chowing down on a bush and a set of branches, the sound of it having been a dull white noise, but Buddy knew how protective of his favorite trees his father was.
"Heya, Neighbor!" he said, hardly slowing down as he grazed like ravenous fire on kindling.
"Larry! You KNOW that's my favorite tree AND you're over into OUR nesting grounds!" Larry paused long enough to give a smug look.
"Oh, I don't see anything here with your name on it. Besides, YOU don't eat leaves." he said as he returned to gorging himself. Mr. P shook with anger as he stomped out of the nest.
"Larry, get your fat herbivore butt out of my nesting grounds!" Buddy knew his father REALLY didn't like Larry, and it didn't help that Larry was often rude or unthinking in his actions. The rest of the Lambeosaur family was nice but Larry seemed to just go out of his way to make Mr. P angry.
"Oh I'm not fat. If I was, I wouldn't be so hungry!" he said, hardly pausing as he stuffed his mouth.
"Larry, so help me, I'll chase you off with my own two hands if I have to!" he said, growing madder by the moment. Larry seemed unfazed and rolled his eyes.
"No you won't, you never do." which was true. Mr. P had taken to the air, flapping angrily
"No, but THIS time my wife isn't here to STOP me, and if I have to I'll-" he suddenly stopped talking. There was a change in the atmosphere and everyone could feel it. There was a sudden bright flash in the sky. Everyone thinks an asteroid would be a dramatic, slow fireball streaming through the sky that you could watch. The cold truth is that it is moving so fast that it's merely a flash, like a bolt of lightning. There was a distant pop before the ground outright violently shook with a terrible explosive sound, the wind kicking up. Mr. P instantly forgot about his tree and his neighbor and flew over to his son, picking him up in his feet. As Buddy was lifted into the air, his keen eyes let him see over the treetops and he saw an incredibly horrific sight; He saw a burning shockwave that was pushing and slamming trees and larger dinosaurs around effortlessly who were caught in it. His keen hearing heard a loud noise that sounded familiar and he actually spotted something that worried him; the dinosaur train had left the station and was headed for the time tunnel, Laura bellowing her warning roar. However, that roar turned into a horrible shriek as the train was hit by the burning shockwave, rocks and debris now raining down everywhere, many glowing red hot. It was at that point that the smooth flight of his father suddenly turned unstable as his father suddenly rocked violently and he screamed out. Buddy looked on in fear as the ground came racing up to greet them before he felt pain, his world spiraling as his father crash landed. Buddy hurt and sniffled as he sat up, now seeing that his father was heading for the opening of the sea cave that Don had dug. He got up and started to run for it.
"Come on, Dad! The sea cave! We can make it!" he yelled before he looked over his shoulder and paused, still seeing his father in a crumpled heap on the ground. His father let out a groan and Buddy raced back to him, despite hot rocks raining down around them, making zipping sounds as they slammed into things and the wind grew worse. When he reached his father, he was rather horrified to see his right wing drenched in blood, but worse was that he wasn't following him. "Come on Dad! It's not far!" he said as he grabbed his father's left hand and started tugging on him, but his father was rather bigger than himself and he wasn't budging. Buddy fell to his rump as his hands slipped off of his father's.
"N-no... get to the cave..." his father weakly mumbled. "Leave me here and g-get safe..." Buddy looked up, hearing the wind getting worse as bigger and bigger stones were starting to crash to the ground. He was starting to feel weak and scared. Of all times, a lesson from The Conductor replayed in his head.
"When you feel scared, just feel your strength deep in you. It's always there, you just gotta bring it out. Go ahead, give a mighty roar!"
Buddy grabbed his father's left hand again and tugged. His dad needed help. He was going to help him.
"Come on, Dad... I can't go alone!" he said as he felt the dead-weight of his father, his bloody right wing completely limp. He managed to look up at his son, the little Rex's eyes wet with tears and wide with panic as he tugged and pulled and tugged, slowly pulling him closer and closer to that hole. They were soon to the hole as Mr. P weakly used his legs to help push himself as Buddy tugged. Right at the hole, Buddy re grasped his father's hand. "Come on, just a little more..." Mr. P looked at his adopted son fighting with all of his strength; tears streaming down his face as he lacked the ability to give up on his father. Amidst the pain, Mr. P squeezed his son's hands tighter.
"Come on, Buddy... I... know you can do it..." he said weakly as Buddy planted his feet on the rim of the hole and tugged, then he tugged again, then he tugged once more.
"RRRRRRAAAAAAAA!!" he yelled out as he leveraged his father far enough over the hole that the two of them tumbled down, landing and rolling into the dim light of the sea cave. Mr. P wound up on his back, as did Buddy. At first, Buddy thought they were safe, but several hot rocks came shooting into the hole. He grunted and got to his feet, still feeling pain all over his body as he grabbed his father's shoulders and tugged on him to get him out of the range of the hole. Shortly after that, a terrible, fierce wind began howling past it. Buddy could hear the crunching of trees and the slamming of rocks. Even the inside of the sea cave rocked and a few small stones fell, but otherwise, the inside was safe and the same as always. He sniffled and walked up to his Dad's face.
"Good job... Buddy..." his father weakly said as he raised his left hand and stroked Buddy's cheek, using a thumb to wipe away a tear. Buddy looked at the torn wing of his father that was still bleeding.
"You're really hurt... are you... going to be okay?" he asked. Mr. P looked at his wing, his expression falling as he winced before he looked at Buddy.
"Yes... I'll be fine... I just need a little nap, okay?" he said softly. Buddy wasn't sure that was the best thing to do, but his father knew best, right? Still, the little rex sat next to his father, watching him close his eyes and slowly breathe as the horrible wind howled outside.
Buddy had no real idea what happened, just that something... "blew up" and his body hurt all over. That, and his dad was really hurt and taking a nap. He tried to remember it, but all he knew was that there was a bright flash in the sky, then there was red in the sky, then that terrible wind and hot rocks fell. And they fell so fast and hard that they shredded his father's right wing. Buddy had heard and seen rocks get kicked or thrown and saw dinosaurs get hit and hurt by them, but he'd never seen a rock move so fast it ripped right through someone. He also hadn't seen his dad get so hurt.. Sure little mishaps happen such as stepping on something sharp, scuffing a leg, bashing a nose, but... this looked worse than those. He watched his dad laying there on the floor, breathing in slightly shaky breaths. Was he really asleep? Buddy wasn't sure, but he did know that his dad had a favorite seat in the cave. He wasn't completely sure why, but he felt compelled to move his father to it. He stood up, feeling the muscle aches in his legs, back, and arms, he put on a brave face and lifted his father's head up, grabbing him under his arms, and tugging him. He wasn't trying to flee from something, so he wasn't too worried about going particularly fast. One step... two steps... one at a time, he slowly moved closer and closer to that stone seat. The hard part came when he was trying to pull his dad up onto it. He had backed up onto it and tugged and yanked and pulled and finally roared again like The Conductor had told him to do, managing to get his father up onto those stones. He gently propped his father's back against the stone, the whole setup looking like a comfy lounge. Buddy sat down, winded from such exertion and leaned back, resting in the limp embrace of his seemingly dozing father's left arm. He suddenly felt his father shift and squeeze his tired, sore body close.
"You're such a good boy, Buddy..." his father said, weakly, Buddy looking up to see his father's half lidded, weak eyes looking down at him before he looked over at the hole, then the much farther away opening at the beachhead. There was a terrible howling of the wind from either side. "Buddy..." he said, holding his son a bit tighter. "Make sure that, no matter what, you stay inside this cave while the wind is like this. It's still throwing rocks and could throw you if you get into it."
"Okay, Dad." Buddy said simply as he hugged to his father's side.
"I mean it... this is so terrible..." his father said, drifting off in his words. "If you get hungry, remember that we have some fish and carrion stashed down here." Buddy nodded.
"Thank you, Dad... but... I'm pretty tired..." he said as he let out a sigh, trying to relax as all of his muscles ached.
"It's okay Buddy... You get some sleep. I'm right here with you." he said as he did his best to cradle his son in his arm.
"But... what about Mom? And Tiny? And Shiny? And Don?" he said in a very tired tone.
"Don't worry... they... will come here for us when it's safe. Then everything will be just fine." he said softly. Buddy was indeed exhausted and dozed off soon after he said that.
Mr. P felt horrible. His body was wracked with pain, he didn't even want to think about moving his right arm, the ripped membrane giving nothing but constant throbs of pain with every pulse of his heart. Moreover, he felt so terrible telling such lies to Buddy. He saw the ball of fire in that split second it was in the air. He knew what it meant. He saw the Dinosaur Train get hit by part of the shockwave and never saw if it even got to the time tunnel before he himself was knocked out of the sky. He knew this could destroy everything and that it was possible that he doomed himself and Buddy to a slow death in a vain hope of escape and rescue. But... the key word was Hope. Maybe if they waited long enough, someone would come and rescue them. Maybe? He had to hope that was the case. He looked down at the little rex in his arm and began weeping. No, it wasn't foolish. He knew he'd do anything to keep his son alive.
Anything.
Mr. P faded between consciousness and napping as his son slept next to him. He couldn't tell if that was good or not, but every time he did drift off, he wasn't aware of the pain. Every time he woke, he looked to the hole they fell through, seeing the dim light coming through and hearing the terrible howling. It looked like it was dusk. He took a look at his injured wing; his arm seemed to be mostly fine, even the extended wing bone seemed fine, but almost dead center of his wing was the injury. It looked to be a ragged circular hole that lead to a split, sheering the membrane into two distinct halves. The edges of the wound still bled slowly and stung with the faintest of breeze on it. He had heard of other Pteranodon suffering wing injuries, a common one being cuts that split the membrane. They would be grounded and needed to keep the cut halves pressed together to let them seal up and make the wind catching surface, but the more he looked at his wing, the more he noticed that the rock that hit him claimed a full chunk of wing that simply was no longer on his body. Depression hit him as he realized he'd need troodon medical abilities to hope to fly again, something that... he wasn't sure he'd ever have access to. Buddy stirring in his sleep moved his attention to his son. He was so brave, so determined. Had it not been for his willpower to keep his father safe, Mr. P was certain he'd have just remained on the ground and gotten smashed by more debris. But Buddy wouldn't allow that. That little face, tears spilling and fighting as hard as he could was the only thing that gave Mr. P the strength to try and move. Buddy stirred again and his eyes fluttered open and he stretched, wincing a bit.
"Ow... ooh... my whole body feels weak and sore..." he said, though his father just smiled and stroked his head.
"You fought harder than ever to get me down here. You're probably going to be sore for a while." he said. There was a gurgle from Buddy's belly and his father pat his back. "You napped for a long time, I think it's dinner time. Why don't you grab some carrion for yourself and just one fish for me?" he suggested. Buddy looked at his dad and nodded, hopping off the rock and into the "stash', which was a glorified hole. The meat and fish stored there generally was to be consumed and replaced once every three days, since there was no refrigerators, though this food was already near it's three day limit. Buddy came back with a single blob of meat on a bone and a modest sized fish as he came back onto the rock. His father took the fish and swallowed it down, trying to hide the shiver of slight disgust as the fish was already squishy. Buddy showed no issue eating the carrion, even eating the bone as he chewed it up and let out a little burp before he giggled. Still, after that, the two just remained there, sitting and listening to the terrible howling wind and clattering rocks. The hole grew darker and soon it was pitch black. Buddy nuzzled to his father's side, who pulled him close.
"Dad?" he asked in the darkness.
"Yes, son?"
"Shouldn't Mom and the others be back? It looks like sundown..."
"Maybe they just got caught up. You know your siblings can get pretty excited about stuff they find or new friends they meet." he said, knowing he was lying, but he kept a smile on his face. He would not tell Buddy how hopeless it was. He would not tell him that they would most likely die down here. "But until then, we better stay safe. Lets try to make the food down here last. We want that wind to go away before we try to get more." he said as he felt Buddy snuggle tighter to his side.
"It's so scary..." Buddy finally admitted, which made his father's heart break since he sounded so tiny and lost.
"Shhh... it will be all right... I've got you..." he said as he did his best to squeeze him tightly with one arm. The darkness left them unable to really focus on anything as they soon chose to sleep off more of their exhaustion.
The next several days passed just as slowly. Every time the sun raised, it only made everything "less dark", not bright or sunny. The wind was just as bad. Nothing much was talked about other than Buddy hoping that his mother and siblings would come back as his father kept telling him to just keep waiting. They tried to ration out the food, but the fish were getting to be disgusting by the third day down there, though Buddy still had no issue eating the carrion. Still, Buddy was hungrier than his father due to being warm blooded and a single meal a day was giving him stomach aches. He usually tried to nap when he got too hungry, but once the stashed food was gone, he suffered cramps more frequently. Many dreams he had, if he was asleep, were about food. Still, he tried to often sleep through it since the wind was still quite bad outside and thus, fishing was not an option.
As the father and son lay napping on the rocks, Buddy laying on his father's belly, Buddy's stomach gurgled, a fairly common sound now. Whenever it happened, it half awoke him, usually turning into restless sleep. He sighed as he felt himself partially wake up, but his nose picked up the smell of something good. He crawled towards it slowly, following his nose as his eyes only partially opened as he moved closer and closer to it in his half asleep state. Then he touched it with his nose. It smelled really good, and on reflex, he licked it. It was a different texture than he was familiar with. He licked something crusty and a little crunchy, then licked again, feeling something warmer and wetter, but it tasted even better.
His father grimaced in his sleep, slowly rocking his head side to side as something hurt. It was pulling him from his sleep and soon he fluttered his eyes, using his left hand to wipe them clean before he looked down and saw something that made him very worried; Buddy was down on all fours, lapping at the ragged edges of his wing in a half asleep state. He'd gotten about half of the wound "cleaned up" before his father noticed him.
"Buddy? BUDDY!" he shouted out. His son's mostly closed eyes gently blinked and he used a hand to rub them as he leaned up.
"Hmm? What is it, Dad?"
"What are you doing?" his father asked, rather confused. Buddy blinked a few more times before he looked around, his consciousness fully starting to kick in and he saw that he had been lapping at his father's wound.
"I... I..." Buddy suddenly couldn't form words. He had no idea he had been doing it and partially thought it was a dream. He suddenly just looked at his father with an expression of sadness. His father gently tugged him close with his good arm and held him by his side as Buddy sniffled and wept.
"Hey, it's all right... I'm not hurt." he said as he pet Buddy's head before he chuckled. "Guess those dreams about food are getting more and more real. Don't worry, I'm sure the wind will pass soon and we'll be able to fish, buuut I'd stay away from licking an open wound like that." he said with a fatherly smile, but Buddy looked up at him with wet eyes.
"I... It..." Buddy whimpered again as his father stroked his head.
"Shh, it's all right, I already told you that. Why are you so sad?" he asked. "Did it taste THAT bad?" he said with a small laugh, but Buddy was actually dripping tears down his cheeks as he swallowed and looked his father in the eyes.
"It... It tasted... good... REALLY good!" he said before he buried his face into his father's side and started crying loudly. Mr. P lost his happy expression and sighed as he slowly wrapped his good arm around his son. Sometimes Buddy took pride in being a T-Rex. This was not one of those times. Mr. P looked back at the two sea cave openings and sighed. They needed more food, and soon.
Another day had passed, the two resting together before they awoke to what the normal day was like, if one could call an extremely dim, overcast sky "day". However, this day had something different about it. Mr. P listened and he knew what it was; the wind had died down. He gently shook his dozing son awake.
"Buddy? Buddy, wake up." he said gently, his son groggily coming to before holding his stomach.
"What is it, Dad?"
"Listen... the wind..." he was quiet a while, the wind little more than a modest whistle. "It's died down! We can get outside now!" he said, smiling. "Come on, come help me catch some fish!" he said with a smile on his face. Despite his lack of food, Buddy hopped off of the rock and watched his father, who moved a fair bit slower, but under his own power, carefully slipping off of it. He spread his wings out, looking at the nice shape of his left arm, but as he looked to his right arm, his expression drooped as there was a massive "keyhole" shaped wound of a large ragged circle and a straight tear down it. Ever since Buddy licked it, it had stopped bleeding, but it didn't fuse together, much less replace the hole in it. Mr. P noticed his expression showed his downcast attitude to his visibly worried son and he quickly changed it to a happy one. "Oh this is nothing, why I'll just have to flap harder is all!" he said as he took two steps and jumped towards the seaside opening of the cave. He flapped his wings, feeling a stinging pain in his right arm as the membrane tried to catch the air but failed miserably. Moreso, his left wing caught the air just fine and sent him into a spiral before he crashed face first to the floor of the cave. There was the pitter patter of feet as Buddy ran up to his crumpled father.
"Dad! Are you all right?" he asked before his father stood up, holding his head and shaking it.
"Uhh, yeah! Sure!" he said. "I just need to get used to it. I AM the "Wing King", after all." he said as he ran towards the opening again, jumping, flapping, spiraling, then crashing to the floor again. Buddy ran up to him again, his father taking a little bit longer to get back up before he put on a smile again. "Don't you worry, Buddy, I'm just not high enough in the air to get a feel for it." he said as he jogged up to the actual cave opening, the edge of it having about an eight foot drop off to the sandy beach, which was now littered with burnt and crushed foliage. Buddy and Mr. P got a good look at the world; dark clouds as far as the eye could see, the light of the mid day still very dim, it looked like a bad dream.
"Dad, I'm not so sure-"
"All right, this is perfect, now..." his father cut him off, slapping his brave face on. He took two steps back before he ran and jumped forward, flapping his wings furiously. "PTERANODON!" he shouted with enthusiasm. Almost instantly he started spiraling, only this time he had a farther fall and spun that much faster and several more times before he slammed face and chest first down into the sand, digging a fairly long trench that stretched behind him. Worse yet, Buddy didn't see his father moving after that.
"DAD!" he shouted, looking around before he hopped almost carelessly off the ledge, falling onto the sand. His legs hurt from the impact but he ran anyway, weaving between the logs and branches before reaching his father. He slowed down, seeing his father shaking and trembling as he lay on his face. Buddy slowly moved around to his father's face and found the heartbreaking sight of his father sobbing. Buddy didn't know what to do, but he stepped closer. "Dad, are... are you okay?" he asked. His father opened his eyes and looked up at him.
"No..." he muttered. "Just leave the "Wing King" to lay here with the rest of the garbage on the beach..." Buddy wasn't ever used to seeing his father sad like this, much less self depreciating. He moved in and tried to coax his father to sit up, but he was not helping and remained dead weight. "No, no Buddy just leave me here..." he said as he sniffed. "I can't... I can't fly anymore!" he finally yelled out before he clenched his eyes shut and began sobbing anew. Buddy couldn't stand it, his eyes running with tears as he kept lifting and pressing on his father, trying to get him to a sitting position without his father helping him.
"I don't care!" Buddy yelled, his voice strained as he kept lifting and pushing against his father, finally getting under his chest. "You're my Dad!" he said as he pressed and pressed again before he roared out again, forcing his father into a sitting position. The strength he mustered made his father blink several times and look down at his son, his eyes fierce, determined, even when laden with tears. "You're my Dad... I'm not leaving you..." he said as he tried to hold his tears back. "Besides..." he said before he smiled and flapped his arms out to the side. "I can't fly either." His father finally smiled before he pulled his son in for a hug.
How foolish he felt. His son had never given up on him, yet he'd given up on himself twice. He slowly stroked his son's back, amazed at just how strong he was, in body and spirit.
"Thank you, Buddy... I guess I forgot." he said softly before he pulled back. "But, how are we going to fish if I can't fly?" he asked. Buddy looked at the water and thought for a bit.
"Oh! Remember when I caught the fish by myself?" he said and his father nodded and smiled.
"Yeah, and it was a big fish too." he said before he looked at his son. "You want to try and fish for both of us?" he asked before Buddy got a somber expression.
"I have to..." which was completely true as Mr. P looked at his wing again. "But... umm... how are we going to get back up to the cave?" he asked. Mr. P looked behind himself at the eight foot tall sheer wall. Normally he just flew Buddy there or up to the nest.
"Why don't you try fishing? I'll think of something." he said, rubbing his son's head as he put a smile on his face. Buddy nodded and jogged over to the water before finding a rock that was a little ways out in the water. He took a breath and just remained still, watching for movement and waiting for the fish to get closer. He could hear some noise from his father on the beach, but didn't want to break his attention away from his important job. That, and his stomach demanded food at this point. He could see the fish getting closer. Perhaps it was his more brightly colored body that was interesting, but it didn't take too long before he leapt out, teeth at the ready, and felt them clamp onto meat. He felt his feet touch the sand under the water and jogged back to the beach before he pulled the fish from his mouth.
"I got one!" he yelled, hefting it over his head. His father had been messing with the branches on the beach and looked towards his son with a smile on his face.
"Oh that's excellent! You go ahead and eat that fish right now. You're a growing dinosaur, after all!" his father said, proudly petting Buddy on the head. Buddy wasted no time in chewing and gulping down the fish before he looked at his father propping branches and such against the wall.
"What are you doing?" Buddy asked.
"I'm making a pathway for us to get back to the sea cave. I remember seeing Don make something like this. He was just playing around, but this looks like something we can use." he said as even a few modestly strong branches locked together in a cone shape could be fairly stable. "You go and catch some more fish for us. I'll finish this here." he said with another smile. He watched his son almost gleefully run towards the rock and stand on it again. Buddy was a survivor. He could handle changes in an environment. A sting in his right arm as he moved a log reminded Mr. P of his all too obvious problem and he knew that he didn't have such adaptable skills. He ate fish. Fish he would catch by flying. Flying was something he could no longer do. He heard Buddy dive into the water and looked out to see him catch another fish. Every time Buddy dove, Mr. P would watch him and make sure he came back to the shore, but once Buddy caught his fourth fish of the day, Mr. P could clearly see that his son was outright exhausted. Setting his project aside, Mr. P walked up to his winded son. "That's my boy. Come on, lets have lunch."
"Okay, Dad." Buddy said with a weak smile. Mr. P ate one fresh fish, happy to taste a fresh one for once in about a week. Buddy ate his second fish before he picked up the last one and handed it to his father. "Here you go, two for me and two for you." he said simply, but his father looked at the fish for a moment, then at his son. He knew that his son would NEED another meal in the day, but, being cold blooded, Mr. P knew he could go longer without food. The longer he hesitated to take the fish, the more Buddy's expression dropped. Mr. P finally smiled at his son and took the fish.
"Thank you, but I think I'll save it for later." he said as he picked it up and stood up. "Okay, time to get back to the cave." he said, looking at his mess of propped up branches and logs that made a sort of makeshift ladder. "You're going to want to be careful. If you fall, these branches could hurt." he said before he decided that he'd go first and test it out. He had a higher body weight and thus, if the mess was going to fall down, it'd do it with him. He tossed the fish up into the cave opening before he started the slow climb up the branches. Some of them wavered as he did so, but they held and soon he was up on the lip of the cave. He turned around and looked down. "All right , Buddy, come on up!" he said, the little Rex starting to climb up, though as he got to the lip of the cave, his father reached out his hand and helped Buddy up the rest of the way. "That's my boy." he said, petting him on the head as they went back into the cave with the lounge rock, fish in hand. He put it into the safe keeping spot before he climbed up into the seat, his son climbing next to him. Both let out a sigh as they finally had food in their systems, but the silence only lasted a short while before Buddy spoke.
"Dad?"
"Yeah, son?"
"What happened?" he asked.
"You mean the... big mess?" he said, not knowing how else to put it.
"Yeah... I saw fire... wind blowing things... dark skies... what happened? Did a volcano blow up?" he asked. His father sighed. He knew he had to tell him.
"No, Buddy... I saw what happened." he said, his tone dropping his feigned cheerfulness. "An asteroid hit the planet. It must have been far away, we only got hit with the shockwave over here." he said before he looked at his son and saw his eyes, wide and tears in the corners.
"But... but Mom said... Mom said it'd never happen!" he said, his tone coming off like he had been lied to.
"Buddy... I'm sorry, but that is what happened." his father said, but then Buddy turned from just sad, to angry.
"NO! Mom said it'd never happen! She said she'd never let it happen!" he yelled as he stood up, yelling back at his Dad, as if he was doing something to anger him.
"Buddy, settle down." his father said, narrowing his expression. "Your Mother would never have lied to you.
"But she did! She's not here! You keep saying she'll be here but she isn't!" Buddy said in a snapping tone before he ran for the rock wall that lead out of the cave and up onto the plateau that their nest was on and began climbing it. His father hopped off the rock he was on and started to follow him.
"Buddy, get back here!" his father said in a more commanding tone as he reached the wall, reflexively reaching his right hand up to grab his son, but Buddy knocked a rock loose as he was climbing that smacked his father's torn wing, making him recoil as Buddy slipped up out of the cave.
"Leave me alone!" was all he heard as his son vanished from sight. Mr. P looked up at the hole rather dumbfounded. His kids almost never did anything bad, especially Buddy. Usually a stern tone of voice diffused anything they might have been doing, but Buddy wasn't listening to anything. He sighed softly as he turned back. Was he a bad parent? He couldn't be sure. He loved his kids and often worried any time he couldn't see them, but was he an authority figure to them or just someone to play with? He wanted to ask his wife for advice on the matter but... He found himself at his lounge rock and placed his hand on the side of it, trying to imagine what she'd say before he spied something just behind his rock.
Buddy scrambled out of the hole and up into the nest area he was so familiar with. He felt his blood running hot and his face stinging from the tears he was shedding. He was angry, confused, and felt sick. A whirlwind of emotions flooded through him as he walked along the grounds. He felt himself slowly calm down, or at least, not be as angry as he looked at everything that was destroyed. He saw the tree containing Tiny's "tiny place", now busted over. He didn't know why, but he was compelled to walk up to it, and stick his head into the hole that his sister usually was residing in when she wanted to be alone. To his surprise, he found something; her Tiny Dolls. It took a bit of reaching, but he grasped them and pulled them out, the little stick and leaves dolls. He closed his eyes and hugged them to himself before he continued walking. He now found himself walking towards the area where Don kept his collection. Most of it was blown away or otherwise no longer there. Buddy slipped slightly as he nearly stepped into a hole, one of Don's holes. Inside was a golden glimmering rock. He pulled it out and looked at it, now identifying it as the amber that Don and Gilbert had exchanged. He hugged it to himself before he noted something shiny in the same hole, uncovering Shiny's favorite shell, the one they found the day Tiny lost her previous favorite shell. He sniffled as he held all the trinkets in his arms and began walking again, memories of where the items came from and the little adventures they had surrounding them making him miss his siblings all that much more. Before he knew it, he found himself at the nest, or what was left of it. Mostly a shell and a basic outline of burned branches, a few rocks in it that had been near molten and probably the cause of the burn damage. Buddy climbed over the side and lay the items down carefully. The Tiny Dolls, the Amber, and the Shiny Shell, all in their own place, before he sat down. He sniffled as he sat in the nest, recalling how his Mother had said that she'd never let this happen; an asteroid ruining everything they had known. He sat there and hugged himself as he thought it over again and again, and every time he did, he grew madder and madder. His anger twisted his views, he wanted to blame his mother for this mess. He wanted to blame her for his dad getting hurt. He wanted to blame her for the terrace being destroyed, for his constantly aching belly. He grit his teeth as, amidst his brooding, he thought he could feel his mother coming up behind him. He jumped to his feet and spun around before he bellowed as loud as he could.
"I HATE YOU!!!" he screamed out, but as soon as he did, the anger faded and tears streamed down his face. His mother wasn't there. No one was there, and deep down, Buddy was glad no one could hear him say that. He leaned on the side of the nest and cried, burying his face in his hands. He didn't REALLY hate her, but he was such a mess of emotions. Emotions without guidance. He sniffled and soon felt incredibly alone. He knew he should go back to his Dad. He gathered the trinkets in his arms and began walking back, not able to leave them behind. However, as he got closer and closer to the hole, he could hear something. It sounded pretty, and sad. Taking care, he carefully slid down the rock wall, the items spilling from his hands as he landed. His focus was on the items, gathering them and setting them in a safe little corner before he realized that his father was sitting on the rock, playing his guitar. A slow, sad melody, even his father spilled an occasional tear off the end of his beak. Buddy wanted to interrupt him, but he couldn't bring himself to say a word during the tune, and instead, sat on the floor of the cave and watched. It was slow, his father whistled in a talented way, but then the tone slowed and finally ended, making Buddy's heart skip a beat.
"Welcome back, Buddy..." his father said, smiling before he sniffled. "I completely forgot that I left my guitar down here." he said as Buddy looked on.
"That song is... so sad..." Buddy said, and his father nodded.
"It is... but it's sad because it's full of love." he said as he took a moment, tuning the strings. "Just like you." he said, looking his son in the face. Buddy blinked before his father continued. "Your mother loves you very much, she always has, and will come get you some day. None of this mess is her fault and you know that." he said softly. Buddy stood up and walked up to his father, climbing on the rock. His father put the guitar down as his son hugged him, and pulled him close as he felt the little Rex shiver and start crying.
"D-dad... I said... I said something bad..." he said, but his father just stroked the back of his head.
"Did you mean it when you said it?" he asked in a soft tone. Buddy sniffled as he thought.
"I... maybe... I don't know... I was so mad..." he said.
"Would you say it again?" his father asked, pulling him back and looking into his big green eyes. Those eyes filled with more tears.
"No... No I don't want to..." His father gently wiped his eyes clear with his thumbs and smiled.
"Then you didn't really mean it. We can do and say some mean things when we are angry. Things that hurt, but after we're done being mad, we don't mean it." he said, stroking his son's head as he hugged him close.
Father and son just remained in a gentle hug as the day drifted by. Soon the sky grew dark, signaling the approach of nightfall. Mr. P let go of Buddy and picked up his guitar before he began playing again.
"I always felt a little silly singing... never too confident in my lyrics, so I started practicing with just whistling." he said as he slowly plucked at the strings. "Even got a guitar from one of the times we visited the dinosaur big city so I could practice." He continued playing the song before Buddy spoke up.
"This song sounds so sad... Why is this song sad?" he asked. His father didn't stop playing as he sighed and hung his head.
"This is a special song... For those special friends who are very far away. Some of those friends, you'll never see again, but you'll always remember them. This song tells them that you love them, no matter how far away they are." he said, going quiet as he played farther into the song. "That you'll always have those happy memories you made when you were together." He looked down at his son, his own eyes welled with tears. "The song is sad... because it IS sad when you can no longer see someone who left such good memories in your life." A few tears slipped off of his beak and fell onto his guitar as he slowly wrapped up his little performance. Buddy rubbed his eyes.
"Can... can you play it for me again, Dad? I... want to think about Mom when I sleep... and Tiny... and Shiny, and Don while I sleep." he said, a bit bashfully. His father just smiled and began playing again, feeling his son nuzzle into his side as he closed his eyes. Soon, he could feel his son breathing softly, even as his performance continued.
He kept playing, thinking of his wife and his other children. Snips and parts of their adventures together raced through his head, of the times they were together, anything from the exciting to the mundane. He continued playing the song until he was pouring tears from his eyes as the song came to a close and he was now in the present.
Alone with his adopted son in a wasteland. Unable to fly and forced to rely on him for help, unable to take care of him the way a parent should. He leaned his head back and sobbed quietly so as not to wake him.
Another week crawled by. The skies didn't get any brighter but the wind was not as prone to picking up harshly. Buddy was the only fisher, his father sitting on the lip of the sea cave, playing music, mostly cheerful or calming tunes as Buddy waited the long stretches of time before leaping for the fish that had moved close enough. The amount of fish he caught seemed to drop off as the days went on. Despite him catching four fish in one day only a week earlier, he had to wait and try for longer periods of time just to catch three. He'd then toss the fish up to his father before climbing back into the cave. His father still enforced that his son eat most of what was caught.
During one such brief lunch as the two relaxed on the rock and his father tuned his guitar, Buddy spoke up.
"Hey Dad?"
"Yeah?" he replied, not looking up from his tuning.
"Remember how we were talking about... umm mates?" he said, flushing a bit, even if they were the only ones around. Still, the topic made his father smile as he nodded.
"Yeah I do. Was there something else you wanted to know?" he said as he looked at his son, smiling and ready to answer any question that escaped his lips.
"Well... how... do you know that someone is able to be your mate?" he asked before he scratched his head. "I mean... umm... do you just see someone that gives you those funny feelings inside and say "that's my mate"?" he asked, really not sure how the process went. His father chuckled.
"It's funny, your sister, Tiny, had asked me the same topic only a few days before you did." he said. "I'll tell you what I told her, since it's how your mom and I got to be mates." he said as he set his guitar down. "A mate starts as a friend, maybe your best, closest friend in the whole world. You can tell them any secret and they will keep it, and they can tell you any secret, and you'll keep it, because you're friends. You can spend every day together and never get bored, and even if you get into a fight, you always make up afterwards, because you care for each other." he said as he smiled and looked off into nothingness, obviously lost in memories. "You'll hold each other whenever you can, you will say things to them because of how strong the feeling in your chest is..." his eyes grew moist as he blinked and looked down at Buddy. "You and Annie would be a pretty cute couple." he said with a chuckle, though Buddy bashfully looked away and rubbed his arm.
"It's not Annie..." he muttered. His father's smile changed to a more confused expression.
"It isn't?" he said, a bit unbelieving. Buddy shook his head. "Then... who?" why was he asking? Clearly this was Buddy's object of affection, why should it matter who it was?
"I... I don't know if I should tell you..." he said, but his father just pulled him closer and gave him a reassuring hug.
"Hey, it's all right. You don't have to tell me. Just remember what I told you, okay?" he said, to which Buddy nodded. Mr. P began tuning his guitar again before Buddy spoke.
"Hey Dad? Can you teach me how to play the guitar?" His father blinked at him before he smiled.
"Why of course!" he said cheerfully as he moved Buddy to sit in his lap, moving the guitar in front of them both, instructing Buddy to put one hand on the neck and the other ready to strum the strings.
A third week crawled by. Buddy was enjoying learning how to play guitar from his father, even if the model was a bit big for him, the practice letting him forget his tummy aches. He still had his father play music to sleep by; letting him dream of his mother and siblings. The problem came with the fishing. It was now an event that took all day; the water having grown darker and the fish even less plentiful, some days yielding only two fish, then soon only one in the span of an afternoon. Buddy was fine with the two fish, as it meant they both got one, but that changed when it was down to one fish.
Buddy crawled up the tree ladder as the sky grew dark during the onset of nightfall, his father sitting on his lounge, looking thinner and worn out, often being tired to the point of not getting out of his seat most days. He came up to his father with the single fish, a disappointed expression on his thinner looking face.
"I could only catch one today... Again..." he said, offering it to his dad. His father sighed, but smiled.
"Go ahead and eat it, Buddy. You caught it, so you deserve it." he said, but Buddy had heard the excuse before.
"But Dad, you haven't eaten anything for three days!" Buddy said, looking at the tempting fish in his hands, then back at his dad. His father looked back at the little Rex; his skin getting dark with the murk from the water, his belly slightly sunken in, and his features all appearing thin. The fish looked tempting and his stomach cramped, but he shook his head.
"I'll be fine. You're the warm blooded one, you're the growing dinosaur." he said. Buddy looked at the fish, then up at his dad again before he opened his mouth and bit into the fish, biting it in half, swallowing before offering the other half to his father. Mr. P wanted to smile at how generous his son was being, but he knew that half a fish a day would result in Buddy starving. Even one fish a day was resulting in Buddy losing more strength than he was gaining. "No, Buddy, eat it all." he said. Buddy's face crinkled up into a sad expression.
"But Dad..." his father shot him a glare which silenced him.
"Eat the whole fish, Buddy." he said. Buddy knew his father wasn't going to bend in regards to this and nodded, tossing the rest of the fish in his mouth and swallowing it, his stomach happy for the food, though his mind was less than happy. He crawled up onto the rock with his father and felt him wrap his arm around him, the limb seeming to be thinner by the day, yet it still gave him the comfort of his father's presence. He turned and lay his head against his father's chest, listening to his heartbeat before his father began playing his guitar again, though the pace of the music had continued to slow down. Still, it let Buddy doze off as his father softly spoke. "Don't worry, Buddy. Your mother will come for us."
He waited until his son had dozed off before he stopped playing and sighed. He missed her so badly. Was she all right? Was she going to come for them? He could only hope so. He looked down at his son, gently stroking his head as he knew that above all else, she needed to find her son, and find him alive. Surely he could make up for any self proclaimed failings as a parent by ensuring Buddy survived until that day, right?
Four more days passed, and each day yielded a single fish. Even that was beginning to exhaust Buddy more than before with his bodily reserves requiring more than just a single fish a day to keep him going.
He came out of the water, chewing up and swallowing the fish, not even bothering to bring it to the sea cave as the sky grew dark. He climbed up the set of branches leading into the cave and was greeted by an unnerving sound.
Silence.
He continued into the cave and approached the lounge rock to find his father laying flat on his back, laying sideways to the usual position he was in, his guitar resting on his lap. Buddy slowly crawled up next to his father, seeing his eyes closed. He gently touched his chest.
"Dad?" he said softly, getting no response. He pushed a little harder. "Dad?!" his father made a sound and his eyes fluttered open.
"Hey Sport..." he said, smirking though his voice was weak. "Did the fishing go well?"
"Yeah..." he replied as he looked at his father who seemed to clearly be withering away. "But it's hard... and takes so long... and I still get so hungry... and you're not eating, and..." he sniffled before he felt a soft hand stroke his face.
"Shh... Buddy? Listen very carefully to me..." he said, his voice soft and somber. Buddy wiped his eyes and looked at his father's face, looking into his faded blue eyes. "Son," he began. "soon, there will be a day where I stop moving... and stop breathing..." he said, still rubbing Buddy's cheek as his tired eyes leaked tears as he spoke. "When that day happens, remember that... you are a carnivore." Buddy blinked a few times as he looked at his father's weeping face. "I want you to eat me and stay alive." Buddy opened his mouth to protest, though his father cut him off. "For your Mother. You're young and have so much life ahead of you. She NEEDS to find you alive and well." He said as he felt his son pressing his face into his hand before he lay down next to him, nuzzling his chest.
"But... but that won't happen." Buddy said in denial. "Mom will come back... she'll help us and you'll get better..." he said, even as his father hugged him close.
"Buddy... My sweet son..." he said softly as he stroked his back. "Promise me... that no matter what happens, you know that your mother was never to blame." he said as he used a hand to tilt Buddy's chin up, making him look him in the eye. "Promise me that?" He sniffed before he nodded and squeezed himself to his father's chest.
"I promise..." he said quietly.
This night, he had no guitar music to sleep by, and instead, chose to listen to the sound of his father's slow breathing and beating heart. He now feared that he would not be able to do so for much longer.
Three more days passed. Mr. P didn't have the strength to play any songs, spending most of the day napping, or at least, what Buddy assumed was napping. Worse yet, Buddy didn't manage to catch any fish on the third day.
As the sky grew dark and Buddy went back to the cave, hungry, he heard something.
His father's guitar.
He raced in as fast as his little legs could carry him and saw his father sitting up, strumming his guitar very slowly and playing that distant, mournful tune. His eyes poured tears, even as he kept them clenched shut, every string pluck seeming to require a great deal of effort. Buddy knew the song so well that he knew when it was closing, even at the slower pace. He remained sitting on the floor of the cave as his father slowly finished playing, but then he saw him reach his hand out. Buddy looked in front of his father, but didn't see anything there. His father's hand then went to his chest, clenching at it and wincing before he shuddered, then let out a long sigh and collapsed back into the position he'd been laying in, his guitar slipping from his hand and landing on one of the many little rocks littered on the cave floor, breaking the neck from the base and rendering it useless. The sound made Buddy cringe before he ran up, climbing onto the rock. His father's mouth was slightly parted and his eyes were half lidded. He pushed on his father's chest.
"Dad?" he said softly, getting no response. He pushed a little harder. "Dad?!" Again, no response. "DAD!" he shouted, shaking him, his body rocking but his head remained in the same position with the same expression. Buddy sniffed and started to panic, but didn't know what to do. "Dad! Stop joking! It's not funny!" he yelled, but his father still showed no response. His eyes welled up as the panic faded into a cold sensation along his back. He swallowed and looked around as everything was growing darker as nightfall set in. "Y-you're just sleeping... Sorry..." he said as he still lay down and snuggled next to his father's side. He didn't feel the familiar arm embrace him, so he reached down and pulled it over him before he rest his head on his chest. "Good night, Dad..." he said as he closed his eyes.
It was just a bad dream, right? His dad didn't leave him, he was right here and he'd wake up in the morning, Buddy reasoned.
At least, he did until he found that there was no comforting breathing and no comforting heartbeat coming from his father. Buddy let out a pained squeak in his throat as he uselessly tried to hold back his crying before he began bawling out, loudly, into the night, now truly alone.
Buddy was awoken the next day by his stomach cramping. He stirred and slowly sat up before he rubbed his eyes, feeling his cheeks crusted with the tears he shed. He was greeted by silence as he opened his eyes, turning to see his father still in the same position he was in the night before. Buddy felt a wave of fresh tears start to assault him before he felt his stomach cramp again. At that point, his father's words rang through his head.
"Remember, Buddy, that you're a carnivore." he looked at his father's body, his hands holding his own sunken stomach as he tried to consider what he was looking at as food, not his father. He crawled to his father's stomach, sunken in but still soft. He slowly leaned down and touched his teeth to it. Suddenly a memory jumped into his head.
He recalled when they went to the dinosaur big city to see the theropod convention, all on behalf of Buddy. He remembered how his father got so worried but never gave up in searching for it.
He pulled his face away from his father's untouched belly and moved up his body before he leaned towards the torn wing. As soon as his teeth touched his arm, he recalled another memory.
A memory of his father being late home during one Winter Solstice, his family unsure where he could be, but his mother never giving up, saying that he would still show up. And show up he did.
Buddy pulled away again, leaving his arm untouched as he sniffed and rubbed his nose. He crawled farther up his father's body and leaned in at his father's neck. Once his teeth brushed the skin of his neck, a harsh warmth ran up his spine as a memory forcefully shoved it's self into his mind.
This was an old memory, perhaps his first one. He remembered being held in the air, his father smiling at him before pulling him close, letting him rest his face in the crook of his neck. The smell was so familiar, he would never forget it.
Buddy pulled back slowly and sniffed as he looked into the unblinking face of his father.
"I'm sorry, Dad... I can't do it..." he said, ignoring the cramps in his stomach as he hopped off the stone. He scooped up the guitar, now in two pieces, only held together by the strings, before he turned back to his father and placed it up onto the rock across his father's lap. He looked into his father's face and gently pressed his eyelids closed, but as soon as he let go, they opened again. It was hurting more inside his heart every time he looked to see his unblinking eyes, unfocused and still looking through the room. When Buddy held them closed, it looked like his father was sleeping. Buddy knew he wasn't sleeping, but, he was going to lie to himself for as long as he could. He pulled his father's eyelids shut and grabbed a nearby stone, placing it on his eyelid, which kept it closed. He then placed another on his other eye. He sniffed as this still didn't comfort him much. Any time he looked at the "resting" body of his father, his body tried to give up on everything and just make him cry in deep mourning. He needed to not-see his father, but how?
He sat on the floor of the cave, weeping and sniffling before he noticed all the little loose rocks on the cave floor. He didn't know what was driving him to do so, but he began to pick them up, one at a time, and place them over his father's body, determined to cover him in stones. The process gave him purpose, gave him something to focus on other than sadness. At least, until he reached his father's face. He looked at that sunken, soft face, eyelids held closed with two small stones. He sniffed as he slowly surrounded it with stones, before it would only take about two more to finish covering him. He looked into that face, knowing his father wasn't with him anymore. His breath hitched in his throat before he swallowed.
"Goodbye, Dad..." he said softly, the tears coming as he finished covering him in stones.
Buddy hopped off the stone lounge, but didn't land right, tumbling onto his face. This wasn't weakness due to starvation, this was weakness of emotion. He barely found the strength to move into a sitting position. He listened to the wind passing by, the faint sound of the ocean waves in the distance, but otherwise, nothing. Buddy hugged himself as he sat on the cold floor of the cave. He didn't want to go fishing, he didn't feel like it. He closed his eyes as he wept. He just wanted his father to not be gone. He just wanted his siblings to not be gone. He just wanted his Mother to not be gone. He sucked in a shaky breath, which came back out as a low mournful cry. He didn't move from his placement on the ground the whole day, his strength having been sucked from him by the crushing solitude.
Buddy lost track of how long he was sitting there on the cave floor. He occasionally stood up and stretched and moved around a little, but any time he thought about fishing, thought about doing anything, despite his stomach's protests, he sat back down and began crying softly. The outside world faded between dark and even darker as days and nights slipped passed, Buddy caught in the mental loop of knowing his family was not here for him and that he did not have the ability to find them.
He was alone, and he'd stay alone for the rest of his life. He placed his hands on his cramping, empty stomach and determined that it probably would not be much longer. Still, it was incredibly painful and it coaxed him into another bout of softly crying.
He thought he heard something behind him, but he didn't pay attention to it. It wasn't important anymore.
Then he heard a soft voice that sounded so familiar.
"Buddy?" the feminine voice said. No, it couldn't be. His mind was playing tricks on him. Buddy stood up and turned around, wiping his eyes as he saw a rather brightly colored figure in the cave. His eyes started to focus in the darkness and he found his mouth suddenly moved on it's own.
"... Mommy?" he said, barely above a whisper. It had to be a trick. It couldn't be real. The figure, however, came running towards him. The footsteps sounded real. The hands that grasped his sides and lifted him up were certainly real. His eyes widened in shock as they cleared, seeing the beautiful, smiling, comforting face of his mother before she pulled him tightly to her warm chest. He instantly heard her strong heart beating quickly in her chest. He was paralyzed for a moment before he found his arms grabbing at her body. His voice caught in his throat before he forced it to work. "MOMMY!" he screamed out with all of his strength as he felt her squeeze him tighter to her body as he pressed his head tighter to her chest.
"Mommy's here!" he heard his mother yell out, her comforting embrace encouraging him to clench his eyes shut. "Mommy's here now and I'll NEVER let you go..." he heard her say between her own shaky sobs. He felt another person hug the two of them firmly. He didn't want to open his eyes, but imagined that it was his father joining the hug. Whoever they were gave him more comfort, security, and smelled so familiar. He wanted to stay like this, to remain in the comfort of his mother and father.
He felt his "Dad" pull away from the embrace before he felt his mother release the hug, pulling him away from her body. He looked into her tear stained eyes, feeling her hand stroking his cheek.
""Buddy... oh my sweet Buddy... I've missed you so badly... Your brother and sisters too. I've been so worried." She said as she tried to hold back her own tears. Buddy's attention was pulled away as the third party spoke up.
"Don't forget me! I've been worried sick about you too." Said Mister Conductor. Buddy saw his mother smile at him before he smiled as well. The Conductor did make him feel more comfortable. After all, he knew so much. He felt his fear drying up and finally spoke.
"I was so scared, especially when Dad-" he started, but his mother quickly cut him off.
"Your Dad! Where is he? Did he make it down here?" she said quickly, obviously worried. His eyes welled up with tears as he now knew he had to answer her question.
"Y-yeah, he made it down here..." he said as he strained. How would he tell his mother what happened? How COULD he? His train of thought was interrupted by a gasp from Mr. C, making Buddy and his mother look at him. Buddy noticed that he'd gone over to the lounge rock and removed the last couple of rocks Buddy had used to cover his father.
"What is it?" his mother asked. Mr. C's expression of swallowing hard and looking at her, then back at his father mirrored the turmoil in Buddy's chest.
"I don't... I don't know if you're ready for this." he said, the tone of his voice trying to sound assured, but came out in a feeble manner, likely due to shock. Buddy felt his mother tense up before he watched as his mother gently set him on the cave floor and walked over to Mr. C. "Mrs. P, please wait!" he watched as his mother rather angrily pushed Mr. C out of the way, something he'd never seen her do. Buddy then watched in horror as her face shifted from irritated, to shock, then horror as a sharp gasp left her beak. He watched her pull more rocks free.
"Oh no... nononononoNONONONOOOOO!" Buddy's blood ran cold as her voice grew from a whisper into a shrill, horrifying shriek. It grew worse when she dropped to her knees and covered her face as every breath, her crying was combined with a bloodcurdling scream that Buddy had never heard the likes of in his life. It was terrifying to the little rex and made him whimper as she continued harshly shrieking amidst her shock and sorrow.
It wasn't until her screaming stopped and became slow crying that Buddy was no longer scared of the sounds his mother was making. He picked himself up and walked over to her, hugging himself to her shaking, sobbing body as he tried to hold back his own crying. Buddy felt her shift and saw Mr. C hugging her as well before his mother looked at him, then the Conductor, and hugged them both.
She slowly let go of both of them before she sat on the floor of the cave, picking Buddy up and setting him in her lap.
"Please... tell me what happened that day." she asked. Buddy blinked a few times at what she was asking before he nodded, and decided to start at the beginning.
Buddy wore as brave a face as he could as he told his mother of the time he and his father were in this wasteland, telling her what he tried to do and how they lived day to day. Buddy felt incredibly apologetic when he had to tell his mother than he was angry at her, if even for a short while, and that his father had to remind him that she was not at fault for anything that had happened. He also felt bad that he had to tell her what one of his father's final wishes was and how he could not follow through with it, the very idea making Buddy feel like he'd disobeyed a very important instruction and should be in a lot of trouble, but his mother just hugged him and let him continue speaking before she placed a farewell kiss on his father's head. Buddy took a moment to gather the trinkets he so thoughtfully saved, Mr. C stashing them in his hat before Mrs. P picked Buddy up and carried him to the handcar.
Buddy hadn't felt the wind on him or the sensation of moving through the air in quite a long time. He was prevented from speaking by the view of the world, seeing how it was razed and charred and gray. He hung his head at how dead the world looked before his mother landed at the ruined train station. He looked up at her, her face trying to smile, but she was clearly still sad before she hugged him again, a warm, comforting feeling. Buddy's stomach cramped and gurgled before his mother pulled back and smiled.
"When we get to our new home, first thing I'm going to do is get you some big fish." The idea of fresh food appealed to him greatly and he found himself wagging his tail happily and smiling. Mr. C came out of the bushes near the track and Mrs. P set Buddy on the handcar before Mr. C handed him the hat with the trinkets in it.
"Think you can hang onto these just a bit longer? I know the rest of your family is waiting just on the other side of that tunnel." Buddy happily grabbed the hat and nodded, keeping it close as his mother and Mr. C started up the handcar. The idea that his brother and sisters were on the other side and waiting for him brought a sliver of happiness to his dark life. He looked up at the gray, ruined world as they moved away from it. He sighed as he left his home, and father, behind. He soon felt the somewhat nauseating sensation of the time tunnel and watched the swirling lights before they came out the other side.
Buddy winced as the world was bright, much brighter than his eyes had been used to over the course of the last month. He squinted his eyes for a while before he felt his mother pick him up, his little hands hanging onto the hat, before he felt warm wood panels under him.
"Buddy?!" was the first thing he heard as he waited for his eyes to adjust, but he knew that squeaky voice anywhere and his heart soared. He blinked his eyes as they slowly focused, letting him see his sisters, brother, and even good friend.
"Tiny? Shiny? Don? Gilbert?" he exclaimed in higher and higher stages of excitement before Tiny bolted over to him, bowling him over and making him drop the hat as she hugged him. He hugged her back firmly, feeling her warm, sun soaked body trembling against his. He could hear her crying, but it was mixed with happy laughter as tears ran from her eyes, soon coaxing him to join her in happily sobbing as he held her close. At that, everyone at the station erupted into cheering. When Tiny finally let him go, he sat up and picked up the hat. He pulled out the amber and handed it to Don, who brought it to Gilbert as they exclaimed their surprise. Buddy then handed Shiny her shell, earning a happy squawk. He then grabbed the two Tiny Dolls their father had made and handed them to Tiny, these being the most special of the trinkets, not just because of who they were for, but because of who made them. He smiled as Tiny hugged them close before his eyes cleared a bit more and he noted Gilbert was walking funny and his tail looked wrong. "Wow, Gilbert... What happened to your tail?"
"Well, it's kinda a long story." he mused and chuckled. Buddy felt Tiny nuzzle his side again, making him lean back against her before he heard her direct the dreadful question towards his mother.
"So where is Dad?!" she said in that happy, perked up tone. He could see her looking around, along with his other siblings and his heart sunk as he sat there, knowing the answer. He then heard his mother start to sniffle and talk.
"Y-your Dad is..." he watched her breathing stutter as she tried to say what Buddy knew. "Your Dad is..." He listened to the incredibly sad little squawk she let slip from her beak before Mr. C placed a hand on her and gave her a mournful look. He watched as his mother looked Buddy right in the eyes, Buddy thinking so hard on what they knew and had to say that he grew even sadder just as she looked at him. "N-not... coming back..." he watched her finish. Just that simple statement made Buddy's heart ache, feeling himself drop into the despair that he thought he was free from. He watched his siblings and Gilbert look at each other, confused, then with wide eyes. Buddy determined it needed to be said. He could at least do that for his mom and dad, right? He sucked in a breath.
"No..." he said softly as he wiped his nose. "Dad laid down and..." he sniffed and then swallowed the lump in his throat. "He's not moving anymore..." Buddy thought that he was strong enough to say it, but saying it out loud like that was painful, making him clench his eyes shut as he grit his teeth from the cold pain in his chest. He soon heard his mother crying again, a terrible sound that made him feel helpless. He felt Tiny, dolls in hands and sobbing, grip him tightly, hugging him with a firmness as she cried with her head over his shoulder. He hugged her in return, squeezing her as close as his little arms could. He could hear Shiny crying and the soft words that Gilbert was trying to say to her to help her. Between all of that, he suddenly heard Don start crying very loudly. He could feel Tiny shift to look at her crying brother, though her own sadness wasn't alleviated. Buddy then heard an older female speak. It sounded like Misses Conductor, but he wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. Buddy rubbed his eyes, finally opening them as he looked to see his mother set Don down.
"And someone get some carrion and water ready, Buddy is starving." he heard her call out. The offer of food, and carrion, no less, was extremely appetizing to him, enough so that his stomach started churning loudly, making Tiny giggle as she sniffled. Buddy looked up to see Mrs. C grasp his hand, helping him to his feet before walking him into the train station. It was at this point that he noticed so many troodon around, and even Laura wearing an eye patch. He briefly remembered hearing her scream as that wall of heat and rocks hit the train, but he smiled, knowing she was alive. He was brought into the back of the station to where there was a standard bed and helped up onto it. Tiny followed him along, Tiny Dolls in hands, before she watched her brother get picked up by Mr. C and sat on the bed. Buddy sighed happily as he sat on the first soft material he'd felt in a month. He looked up to see Mr. C, without his hat, walking up to him and gently petting his head.
"There's my Buddy... You're so lucky. Your mother NEVER gave up on you." he said with a happy smile. "Do you remember exactly how long you went without eating? You're so thin..." He asked. Buddy, lowered his eyes.
"I don't know... I was only eating one fish a day and then I... I couldn't catch them... then Dad left and... I don't know how long passed..." he said sadly. Mr. C nodded slowly as he stroked Buddy's head.
"All right, food and water for the brave Buddy." he said before he stepped away, coming back with a plate holding a modest little supply of meat on the bone and a cup of water in one hand, and an odd bag in his other hand with what looked like water in it. "Here you go, eat up." Buddy looked at the food, his belly gurgling as he licked his lips.
"I'm so hungry, I could eat a whole lot more than this!" he said, almost excitedly, making Tiny chuckle as she stood by the side of the bed, watching as he picked up a piece of the meat and bit into it before pulling it off the bone and into his mouth. He paused a moment to savor the taste, something he didn't think he'd ever get to taste again, before he swallowed it down.
"I'd give you more, but sometimes your body gets messed up when you don't eat for a long time. We don't want you to get sick." Mr. C warned him. Suddenly, Buddy's nose burned as he smelled something terrible.
"Ugh, what is that?" he asked as his hands reached up and plugged his nose in reflex as Mr. C soaked a rag in some stinky fluid and started rubbing his leg with the rag, clearing the dirt and grime off of his skin.
"Just some special fluid to get you clean. You need some special help since you didn't have good food and water for so long." Mr. C said. Buddy then noticed that the bag was hanging up on some sort of rack next to the bed with a tube coming from it that ended in a needle. "Now hold still, Buddy." he said as he leaned the needle in close. Buddy noticed that it looked something like a really small stegosaur tail spike. He was about to make a comment about it before he felt it press against his skin and felt the sharp sensation, then a MUCH sharper sensation as Mr. C pressed it harder and stabbed it through his skin and getting a vein.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOWWWWW!" Buddy yelped out, partly in surprise and partly in sharp pain as he flailed slightly as the needle was eased through his flesh. Tiny wanted to help, but Mr. C quickly pressed Buddy down as his flailing nearly pulled the IV out.
"I'm sorry, Buddy!" Mr. C called out. "You need some water in you and this will get it right where your body needs it. Now hold still please." he said as he reached over to a roll of bandages and made a simple couple of wrapping passes on his leg, once the little rex calmed down. While he was doing so, Buddy could hear some commotion as his mother came running around the corner, her face panicked, but calming right away as she saw Mr. C attending to him. Buddy noticed that the needle in his leg didn't hurt anymore and watched as it seemed to drip water from the bag, through the tube, where it vanished into him. Tiny crawled up onto the bed and sat next to her brother, giving him a hug before she snuck a quick little kiss on his cheek. Buddy flushed instantly at that gentle touch, memories of what his father had said and his growing affection for his sister flooding to the surface. He slowly turned his head, seeing her blushing and almost ashamed expression before he smiled widely, which calmed Tiny down. He was about to talk to her before Buddy's stomach remembered that it was hungry and rumbled loudly.
"It's okay." Tiny said, giggling before she whispered into his ear. "We can talk about it later. You should eat your food." she said. He gave her another smile before he returned to the food, eating the portions he was given before drinking down the water and letting out a pleased burp before he chuckled with Tiny. It was shortly after he finished his food and pushed the plate away that he noticed that Mr. C and his mother were... Arguing? Soon their voices raised as they yelled at each other, Mr. C pointing out that Buddy couldn't fish because he was so sad and pointing out how the injuries happened to Gilbert but he and Shiny helped him. The whole situation was so alien to Buddy. Then their voices got quieter to the point that Buddy couldn't hear them and saw them hugging and smiling before Tiny suddenly spoke to him in a hushed tone. "Mister Conductor has been helping Mom and us the whole time you were gone..." she said, making her brother look at her and smile before she looked at the two hugging again. "Mom really likes him, too. He's been a very good Dad..." she said, rather downcast as her face drooped. Buddy looked at her, processing her statement and not knowing if it was treacherous or innocent as his insides fluttered. Still, he saw her clutching her Tiny Dolls. He reached over and grasped them, gently taking them from her hands and holding onto them.
"Tiny... I saved these because... I missed you and... and Dad made them. Now... he's gone and he can't ever make another." he said before setting them on his other side looking back at her, his eyes moist. "Mister Conductor is really nice... but..." he looked up as his mother and Mr. C were exchanging quiet speech and gently hand touching. "I... I don't think I could call him that..." he said. He soon felt Tiny hugging his side, a warm, comfortable action that he returned as he let out a shaky sigh, wanting to cry, but just being too tired to. He looked up when he felt a soft hand stroking his face, looking to see his mother sitting by his bed and stroking his head, a comforting feeling as he lay back, sister snuggling him as he soon drifted to sleep.
He was woken up briefly in the dead of night, his mother sleeping with her head on the bed while Tiny was still next to him, a wing draped over his chest. However, he saw the eyes of Mr. C over him, gently undoing the bandages around his leg and slowly pulling the needle out of him, a painless, though weird sensation. Mr. C placed a sort of bandage over his leg, just for the pinprick to heal and smiled at him, rubbing his head. Buddy smiled back and closed his eyes.
The hand felt so soft and warm... For a moment, he imagined he was in the arms of his father once more as he drifted to sleep.
Eventually, sunlight woke the kids, Buddy stirring from his sleep and sitting up with a yawn along with Tiny. Their mother wasn't nearby, though there wasn't exactly a bed for her to sleep in, the only two nearby beds being the one that Buddy and Tiny were in, and the other shared by Shiny, Don, and Gilbert. Buddy wasn't really sure what to do, so instead, he just lay back down. Tiny looked at him and lay down next to him, a hand on his chest.
"You feeling okay, Buddy?" she asked in that soft, cute voice.
"Yeah... I guess. My body feels... puffy?" he said. "I hypothesize it's because of the water Mister Conductor put in me." he said.
"You don't look Puffy." Tiny replied as she stroked his chest before she leaned in and kissed the nape of his neck Buddy turned to look at her and found her flushing softly. "I'm sorry... I really missed you... we all did..." Buddy smiled at her as he felt a pleasing warmth in his chest. Being close to her often made him feel comfortable, but now it was making him feel really warm and "wanting to do something". He responded by giving her a soft kiss on the side of her beak, which made her give a surprised squawk before she flushed darkly.
"I missed all of you too and I'm so glad to see you all..." he said, but his eyes grew downcast. "I just wish Dad was here to see you all too..." he said. He heard a sniffle from the other bed as Don rubbed his beak. He saw Shiny quivering while Gilbert rubbed her back, trying to calm her down. "He wanted to see all of you so badly..." he said, rubbing his face.
They all got a distraction as Ms. P and Mr. C showed up and brought up escorting Buddy to their new home. Everyone was happy with that idea, except Buddy who lowered his head. Tiny saw this and leaned over to him, hugging him before she whispered into his ear.
"It's all right. I'll be right next to you, and we'll have new fish for breakfast." she said softly. Her enthusiasm about it was what made him smile before he stood up and joined the others as they walked to the new home.
Buddy had to stop twice during the walk to "use the bushes", but Mr. C said that it was a very good thing since his body was processing the water and helping him get healthy. He had some idle talk with Gilbert, Don, and Shiny, namely about what happened to Gilbert, a story that Shiny and Gilbert seemed to enjoy telling. Don reflected to Buddy about how he "put his sadness into holes", though this downcast Buddy again.
"I put a lot of sadness into a hole back in our old home... it... isn't helping..." he said, sniffling as Tiny hugged him, tiny dolls in her hands.
When they got to the new home, his siblings flew up to the nest while Gilbert sat on the ground. Buddy felt his mother pick him up, cradling him in her arm before she walked into the water of the lake. She walked until Buddy was submerged to his neck and began gently stroking her hand along his body, plucking free small dirt clods and rubbing off the soot and grime from the darkening waters of the ruined home, soon revealing his blue stripes and spots and bright orange skin. The bath felt wonderful and coaxed him to smile at his mother, who smiled back and hugged him close before she returned to the shore where a hatless Mr. C was sitting. She set buddy down, who proceeded to sit with them.
"Are you sure he'll be all right?" his mother asked.
"Yes. I've seen dinosaurs get more starved than him and pull through, but it required a lot of medical help." he said, rubbing Buddy's head. Buddy felt that odd comfort again from that hand and still couldn't place it. "But all Buddy needs now is regular water to drink and a good supply of food." he said, to which Buddy's tummy gurgled, his hands grabbing his sunken little belly before he chuckled and smiled.
"Yeah, I am pretty hungry." he said, his brother, sisters, and Gilbert all having wandered up to the trio at that time. Mister C. suggested it was breakfast time and that he'd watch the youngsters before all of Buddy's siblings exclaimed that they wanted to join the fishing with their mother. With the approval of their mother, they flew off, leaving Buddy with The Conductor and Gilbert.
The three males were quiet for a bit, which let Buddy start processing the events that took place, namely that this place was now his new home. It wasn't ugly, far from it. It was rather beautiful and the clean water felt so good on him. Still, it wasn't the home he was born in, the home he grew up in. Gilbert seemed to be along a similar mindset as he spoke up.
"Uncle Conductor." Mr. C looked at him. "Will we be living here for good?" he asked, to which Mr. C just shrugged.
"I'm not sure, Gilbert, though..." Buddy saw him smile at his nephew. "The company we share is certainly not offensive." he said, making that tongue click and thumbs up that he often made when a secret or wordless agreement was implied. Gilbert blushed and looked away, but he still smiled.
Buddy recalled that Gilbert and Shiny were stuck to each other ever since he came back, the two of them snuggling and cuddling at any opportunity. Buddy knew they liked each other, they just happened to show it more now. The idea of that made him chuckle, but he grew a sad expression as his thoughts turned. Namely, how Mr. C was reacting around Ms. P. He saw them argue, but also hug, hold hands, talk softly. All things that his mother and father would do together, but... it was Mr. C, not his father. He swallowed before he finally decided to voice his displeasure.
"It won't be the same without Dad..." he said in a soft tone before he felt a soft, warm, comforting hand stroke his head. The sensation felt familiar in a way; the comfort of an older male.
"No it won't... But you got to spend the last bit of time he had with him. You got to know him and know that he loved you." Buddy raised his head and looked into Mr. C's eyes and saw something he didn't expect to see for some reason; Sadness. It took Buddy a moment to connect the dots; that his father and Mr. C were very good friends and, while Mr. C was doing a good job of hiding it, he too was hurting at the loss of his good friend. Buddy couldn't stand it, seeing Mr. C so sad, so somber. Filled with pain, the same sort of pain that he saw in his father's eyes when he felt he'd failed Buddy. Buddy climbed to his feet, and while he didn't roar, he felt the strength well up in him that Mr. C had taught him to dig deep inside for. Using it, he ran up to the Conductor and hugged him tightly, burying his face into his vest and clearly catching him off guard for a moment, though Buddy soon felt Mr. C's arms slowly wrap around him and give him a firm, secure hug. Buddy sniffled and tried not to cry.
"Shhhh... it will be all right." he heard the Conductor say. Something about those words were unsure and made Buddy think back on his father again. Buddy felt him shift and soon Gilbert was wrapped up in the hug as well. Buddy pressed the side of his head to Mr. C's chest, hearing his heartbeat and his slow breathing. "Don't worry... I've got you..." he heard Mr. C say. It all sounded so familiar, and despite his tears, Buddy felt comforted and secure.
Maybe... Maybe Tiny was right?
When Ms. P and Buddy's siblings got back, they set down the satchels of fish they used. Shiny seemed to have put all her fishing effort into getting food specifically for Gilbert while Don and his mother doled out portions for themselves and Mr. C. Tiny and Ms. P had a surprise, however, as they dumped the majority of the fish they had caught in front of Buddy. His stomach gurgled and he salivated as he practically dove into the pile of fish, eating full mouthfuls of them. He could hear some distant laughter but didn't think too much on it. He then felt Tiny's hand on his side.
"Woah, slow down, Buddy. You don't want to get a tummy ache." she warned him. He stopped eating a moment, wiping his mouth off and smiling at her.
"Hehe, yeah. I already spent so much time with an empty sore tummy, I don't want to feel a full sore tummy." his tone lowered and his smile faded. "I'm tired of having a sore tummy..." he said as he was losing himself back into the sadness of his time with their father. Tiny reached her hand over and touched her brother before his head perked up and he looked at his mother and Mr. C in the ground level nest, overhearing them talking. He walked closer, hearing Mr. C detail how it was only their time, their home, that was destroyed. He watched his mother start crying and pounding in a futile manner on Mr. C's chest and Buddy felt the same deep, sad frustration. He saw the other youngsters also having walked up to the nest, but he decided instead to vault over the side of the nest and join the hug with his mother and Mr. C, feeling the both of them lend an arm to bring him into the hug. Despite the sadness of the moment, Buddy was starting to feel secure again. He felt a shift as the other youngsters also climbed into the nest and joined the hug. He wasn't listening to anything anyone was saying until he felt Mr. C loosen his grip and pull back slightly.
"I hate to break up this moment... but this is what I was worried about." He said. Buddy looked at him and saw him pointing to the various piles of fish that were still not eaten. "The sadness, the grief... it robs you of your ability to do the things you need to do to live." Buddy looked up at him as he felt that comforting hand of Mr. C's stroking his head again. "But if we sit here and cry the whole time... then who's going to eat all the fish?" Buddy saw him force a smile onto his face, despite the fact that he clearly didn't want to be smiling; forcing his displeasure away to focus on what needed to be done. Buddy was starting to understand just how tough it was for Mr. C. to do the things he was doing for his family; knowing he had to be "digging deep" for that strength inside. Buddy rubbed his eyes and saw his mother also forcing a smile.
"Yes, we don't want the fish to go to waste. Please, lets get back to eating." she said. Buddy sniffed as he pulled back from the group hug along with the other youngsters, and moved back to his food, beginning to eat again at a much more tame pace as he thought. He wouldn't deny that he was incredibly depressed, but he was still going to try to do what was needed of him. It's what he did for his father, it would be unfair if he didn't do the same for the rest of his family.
After the food was gone, normally the youngsters would play, but Shiny was nearly inconsolable, despite Gilbert doing everything in his power to try and comfort her and only just keeping her from exploding into a shower of tears. Don had wordlessly dug a hole and was sitting in it as he sniffled, completely ignoring everything else. As Buddy sat and thought, Tiny was right there with him. She gently hugged his side, giving little pecking kisses to her downcast brother.
"I know this home isn't the same as before... But it's a good home, isn't it?" she asked, trying to change the subject. Buddy glanced at her. He knew he should be happy that she loved him, happy that he was with the rest of his family, but the fate of his father was so vivid in his head and his absence was strongly felt to the point it overpowered everything else he was feeling.
"It's a good home, but it won't be as good without Dad..." he said. Tiny lowered her head, letting out a soft shaky breath before she spoke again.
"You got to eat a lot of fish, a whole huge mountain of fish. I can't imagine anything better than a whole mountain of fish." she said, smiling, though it was strained.
"I can... Fishing with Dad..." Buddy continued with his head lowered. "I'll never get to spot fish for him again..." he trailed off. There was a sniffle, but this time it came from Tiny as she rubbed her eyes.
"I know..." she started, her cute little voice cracking. "I just wanted to look at the good things we DO have..." she said as her breath hiccupped. Buddy was seemingly ruthless in what he said next.
"One good thing we don't have is-" he was cut off.
"WE DON'T HAVE DAD!" Tiny yelled out, startling Buddy slightly, her tone seemingly being angry, but her expression soon dropped as she started crying. Buddy finally realized that Tiny hadn't been trying to brush off the loss of their father, but that she was simply trying to avoid the truth of it. He saw her breaking down and crying and knew that it was no different than when he was lying to himself a few days ago; pretending his father was just sleeping or even covering him so as to not think about him. Tiny had only learned of the loss of their father the previous day, it was only natural that she had been in a state of denial about it. Buddy's expression dropped farther as his own tears spilled from his eyes and he found himself grabbing a hold of Tiny, pulling her into a tight hug as she embraced him in return; the two of them crying at the loss of their father, though Buddy also shed tears at the guilt of robbing Tiny of her ability to go a while longer still thinking things were all right and normal. They remained together for a while until they heard their mother and Mr. C calling them over. Wiping their faces, they approached and soon were all seated in a circle, Buddy sitting with his Mother to his left and Tiny on his right. Buddy smiled slightly every time he felt his mother gently rub his head.
He watched and listened as Mr. C started off, telling a story of Mr. P that he was fond of before it turned to Gilbert to also tell a story, reviving Mr. P through the power of memory. They kept going, on next to Shiny, then Don, then Tiny, Buddy quipping in on some of the memories as he fondly recalled them. Tiny had specifically mentioned the day they had gone to get gifts for their mother and had found a log with big red flowers growing out of it.
"Yeah, so we took that one home!" Buddy said as he smiled. "Dad was pretty proud of us for doing that." he said before eyes were on him for his memory. "My favorite memory of Dad..." He started, but he slowly drifted off, his eyes looking downcast as the more recent, troubling memories were pestering him. He did recall a couple of memories that were good just from the cave, such as how Buddy now knew how to play that special song on a guitar. His train of thought was derailed when he felt Tiny hug his side, then his Mother hug him on the other.
"Shhh... take your time, Buddy." His Mother said as she pulled back and stroked his head. He could feel her soft skin, the gentle way her hands touched him brought a sense of great comfort to him as he took a breath and thought firmly.
"Well..." he was quiet as he thought before he remembered a game he shared with him and his siblings, but his Dad was clearly better. "I remember playing Stick Catch with him. I could throw the stick as hard as I could and he'd catch it no matter what or where I threw it." he said. Another memory jumped into his head and he couldn't stop himself from mentioning it. "I also remember when I got worried I'd miss out on the theropod convention; he couldn't stand to see me so worried and set aside all of his own worries and tried to get everyone to hurry up and find it no matter what, but he didn't know we were right next to it." he said, laughing a bit as everyone joined in for a chuckle. Buddy's laughter faded first as he realized just how much his father really didn't like the Big City. It was crowded, noisy, and the water tasted bad. He also knew that his father would lie to him, but only to make him think things were not as bad, all in the name to prevent Buddy from worrying. "He really loved me..." He added on, drooping his head as he felt the whole situation in the cave come back as his mind tried to make him recall it all in detail. However, he felt Tiny clutch his side a bit tighter and he looked at her. He then felt his Mother slowly stroking his head again, gently chasing his sorrow away before she too began to speak.
"I remember..." she started and Buddy was rooted in place as she spoke. "How he reacted the day he first saw all of you. He was so upset his fishing trip made him miss seeing you hatch, but that didn't stop him from being the happiest father ever. Oh, I remember him picking each of you up, tickling you and making you giggle." she said, placing a hand over her chest. Buddy's eyes widened as she told the story and he recalled the memory that flashed back at him; the vision of being held up in the air by his father as he smiled so happily before pulling him tightly for a warm, comfortable hug. "Oh he loved all of you so very much..." Buddy could tell that his mother was holding her tears in despite her smile. He then listened as she shared a more intimate story, about the date she and her husband went on while Buddy and his siblings had another playdate with Kyera, their babysitter. As she went on about the romantic night, he could feel Tiny shivering and slowly stroking one hand along his chest as she leaned against him, a dreamy sigh escaping her beak as she looked up at him. Her expression REALLY made Buddy "feel funny" and "that he had to DO something", but before he could think longer on it, something his mother said caught his attention. "Then as we looked at the stars, he said he had a special gift for me. I never would have guessed that he learned to play guitar, much less such good songs, all without me knowing he was even taking lessons." she said. Buddy smiled up at her as he recalled all the times he was comforted, every day, every night, by the sound of his father playing the guitar.
"Dad was really good..." he said. He wanted to tell her how he was taught how to play, that he knew a special song as well, but for some reason, he felt himself feeling bashful about it. He looked up and saw Mr. C pulling his mother close, hugging her as she was clearly trying to hold back tears and Buddy felt confused. He wanted to object, yet at the same time, he saw how he was comforting his mother, how she sought his comfort, just as she would have sought his father. A squeeze on his side reminded him that Tiny was still there, giving a slightly worried expression. Somehow, she seemed to be giving the impression that he shouldn't interrupt the two adults. Obeying her silent request, he smiled at her and hugged her in return before he heard Mr. C speak up.
"I think this is good for now. We all have happy memories of him and that is how we should try to remember him. So next time you start to feel sad, just try to think "what would Dad do?" or "what would Dad say?" if he saw you sitting there, being sad and not eating or not playing?" Buddy, along with the rest of the youngsters, went silent. He thought about that and thought on what would be going on right now if he saw everyone just sitting around on such a nice, sunny day. He knew in an instant, and apparently, so did Tiny. He looked her in the face and chuckled as she jumped up.
"Come on, Dad wouldn't want us wasting all this warm sun!" she said before she began running for the water of the lake. "Last one in is a rotten dinosaur egg!" she shouted. Seeing her run sparked Buddy into action as he leapt to his feet and ran after her. His reserves were a bit low, so his energy wasn't that high, but he knew the others would understand if he was a bit tired.
For now, it was time to play.
The day went a lot more smoothly, much more happiness around than sitting and being somber. Buddy did well, but he was prone to pushing himself into continuing to play despite being tired. His mother and Tiny had to make him stop and take breaks when he was breathing so hard he could hardly speak, his body overtaxed with just trying to recover from the lack of food and energy stores he had. Everything eventually cooled off and a few more meals were had as the sun lowered and nightfall came. Shiny and Don went up into the nest on the ridge, Gilbert being brought up by Ms. P. She came back down and found Tiny standing next to Buddy.
"Well, I think that, since you're still recovering, you should sleep with Mister Conductor and myself so we can keep an eye on you." his mother said. Buddy looked at her and, while he missed his mother and the idea of snuggling with the two adults seemed tempting, the idea was that Mr. C was in the same nest as his mother... And he didn't have a father anymore. It wasn't that it was offensive or even that he disliked Mr. C, he just didn't know how to process that very thought. It was so... alien. Thankfully, he didn't need to say anything as Tiny evidently read the look of turmoil on his face and spoke up.
"Hey Mom? I'd like Buddy to sleep up in the ridge with Shiny, Don, Gilbert, and I." she said. Ms. P looked at Tiny and was about to start talking, but Tiny cut her off. "Mom... I REALLY would like to have Buddy up in the nest with me..." she said, though she flushed slightly and her hands went behind her back. Buddy couldn't quite read her or his mother's expression at the moment, but eventually his mother smiled.
"All right, Buddy, you want to sleep with your brother and sisters?" she asked. Buddy nodded and smiled before his mother took hold of him in her feet and carried him up to the nest, setting him down in it, Tiny landing next to him. Shiny was snuggled up tightly next to Gilbert and Don had moved to the hole (again). As Buddy felt the soft leaves and lining of the nest, he smiled as his mother stroked his head and gave him a kiss on his nose.
"Good night, Buddy. Everyone, please keep an eye on him. If anything goes wrong, let me know, all right?" she asked, the youngsters agreeing together before Tiny hugged Buddy, laying next to him.
"Of course, Mom." Tiny said before their mother flapped her wings and flew down to the ground nest.
Buddy lay on his back for a while, Tiny hugging his right side with a hand on his chest. He was just looking at the stars, something he hadn't been able to do for over a month. His eyes slowly closed and opened as muddled thoughts danced around before he woke up a bit more as he felt Tiny's hand start to move, slowly stroking his chest in circles. He turned is head to look at her and saw her eyes half lidded, a small smile on her beak.
"Buddy?" she asked in a soft tone, keeping her volume down.
"Yes, Tiny?" he asked. She slowly dropped the smile, looking away from him as she took a breath before looking him in the eyes.
"Do you remember the promise you made to me?" she asked. Buddy blinked a moment. Promise? To Tiny? He only needed to look back into her eyes before he could feel a smile crossing his face and he nodded.
"Of course. I promised that I would always look out for you, even when I'm a full grown T Rex." he said. Don picked this moment to quip up.
"And I get to ride on your head." Buddy and Tiny looked at him, seeing just his hand waving from the hole before vanishing, making them both quietly giggle before Buddy looked at her again.
"Yeah, of course I remember it. Why do you ask?"
"Well... you were gone a long time and... and I didn't know if I'd ever see you again." she said, her tone growing somber. "There was something I needed to ask you, but I was too shy... and now..." she looked him in the eyes. "There is something I need to know." Buddy reached his hand up, gently stroking her cheek to wipe the tears away that she was starting to spill. In the middle of touching her, she leaned her head over into his hand and nuzzled it. The simple action of that made his heart flutter as those funny emotions came up. She took a breath, calming down before she looked him in the face. "Do you love me, Buddy?" he blinked a few times.
"Of course, Tiny. I've always loved you." he said, but Tiny shook her head.
"No, not like family. Like... like..." she sniffled as she really wanted to ask, she really wanted to say, but was it right? Was it okay? Would he reject her? She decided on simply saying it. "You said you would look out for me, even when you're a full grown T Rex..." she grabbed both of his hands and looked him in the face. "Would you stay with me the whole time?" she asked. Her grip was tight and her hands shook as her wide eyes were waiting for an answer. Stay with her? He wasn't quite sure what she meant, but when he squeezed her hands in return, he felt the fluttering in his chest turn into a warmth as he remembered what the fluttering feelings meant. Now that he remembered the fluttering feelings, he could ask her.
"You mean... like as mates?" he asked. Tiny made a cute little sound and nodded her head, her expression still worried. Buddy felt his heart thud against his rib cage and he felt so fully of energy. He couldn't help but smile, but he had to tell her something first. "Tiny, I had a talk with Dad the day you all left." he started and Tiny deflated somewhat, but was still paying attention. "When I would lay with you, I was starting to feel funny. In my chest and in my tummy, it would just feel... well... funny. I really like laying with you and your smell and... umm... I started to lick you... when I was pretending to be asleep." he said, blushing and giggling. Tiny giggled as well, but remained otherwise quiet. "I felt so bashful about these feelings and I knew I needed to ask Dad what they meant, but... it had to be with no one else around." he said. "And then I asked him... and he told me..." Buddy looked her in the eyes, those soft little blue eyes staring right back at him. "that my body wanted you as my mate... and..." he smiled. "I think I would like that. A lot." he said. Tiny vibrated in place before she let out a squeak and firmly hugged Buddy as he hugged her in return. He could feel her claws gently digging into his back, her body shivering as she cried, but this wasn't sad crying, these were tears of relief. He nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, smelling her so familiar smell, feeling her holding him and giving him a renewed urge to uphold his promise to her.
Yes, he could do that for her.
The seven days that passed after his reunion with his family slowly went by as rather peaceful days. Buddy ate regularly and got to play with his siblings. He was occasionally taught a few things by Mr. C and each day, there was a time set aside to remember Mr. P and share fond memories of him.
With each nightfall, Buddy preferred to sleep in the nest and showed to be quite happy about it, though the truth was that he was growing rather addicted to the time he was spending with Tiny. While the days were spent playing and talking more-or-less like normal, night time was where he could be close to her. He loved the sensation of her hands holding him and her body pressed to him as she snuggled close, and it was clear she liked it when he did the same in return, especially since, over the week, he had managed to put on a bit more weight.
On the night leading into the seventh day, Buddy woke up a little early. He hadn't done this due to the natural exhaustion his starvation had left him with, but with a more natural routine of eating, his body was starting to get used to it. He awoke to a still dim sky, but the traces of an oncoming morning were showing in the sky. He smiled as he found himself hugging Tiny from behind and pondered giving her neck a lick, when he heard a soft giggling, then a low groan, coming from nearby. He moved slowly and quietly, pretending to be asleep as he rolled over before he noticed the sounds were coming from Gilbert and Shiny, and from the looks of things, they were far from asleep.
Buddy could see Shiny laying on her back while Gilbert lay on his side. He was dotting little nibbling kisses along her neck, making her shiver before she'd open up her beak and he'd open his mouth, the two of them interlocking and humming what sounded to be a rather pleased sound. He then watched as his friend had his hand on his sister's chest, slowly rubbing it in circles before sliding it along her belly, the surface of it twitching as Buddy could make out the sound of her giggling from their joined mouths, which slowly parted. Another thing that parted was Shiny's legs as she lay with a dark blush on her face as Gilbert's hand slid down and his palm pressed between them, making her shiver. Buddy was naturally curious as to what exactly they were doing, after all, this couldn't be mating, you don't do that with your hands. He watched as Gilbert kept rubbing his palm in circles along that soft, and evidently sensitive, place between Shiny's legs, causing her to shiver and groan, her hips occasionally lifting off the floor of the nest as her legs flexed and clenched. She was soon breathing harder as her eyes were getting glassy and she started to make some soft groans that sounded somewhat like she was in pain. The sound of that triggered something in the back of Buddy's head; he REALLY felt like he wanted to do something, but he was in a mishmash of wanting to protect her, but also... something else. Whatever the "something else" was, it kept him rooted to the spot as he watched as she suddenly shuddered, her legs clamping around Gilbert's hand as she writhed and held her breath for several seconds before she suddenly relaxed, letting out a low gasp and breathing hard with one of the most honest, yet tired smiles he'd ever seen on her face. Whatever Gilbert was doing, she obviously liked it, especially with how she quickly lunged at him and wrapped him in a hug before locking mouths into another deep kiss. Buddy could smell a strong smell coming from them, a smell that was mostly identified to his sharp nose as "Shiny", but it had something to it that made his nose burn.
Buddy slowly rolled back over and hugged Tiny close to him, the simple contact making him shiver gently, especially when she wriggled back against him. He smiled as he slowly slipped out his tongue and gently licked her neck, making her groan, a sound Buddy really liked. He felt her shift and let her roll over to face him, but he didn't pretend to be asleep this time, after all, he'd told her he wasn't sleeping those times he did that. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him before she stuck out her narrow little tongue and licked the tip of his snout before she giggled, making him giggle as well before he gave her another lick with his thick tongue, running from her chest, up along her neck, and flicking away from her beak. The sensation made Tiny shudder and let out a groan, similar to what Shiny had done just a little while ago. When she looked him in the face again, she had a deep blush and slowly lifted a hand up to stroke Buddy's cheek. She slowly moved her face closer and parted her beak, tilting her head. Buddy's heart thumped hard in his chest as he watched her move to kiss him. It was so new, so unexpected, but, did he like it? His thudding heart and the fact that, while he felt unsure, he felt excited, like any adventure into the unknown he'd taken. He started to open his mouth, but was interrupted as everyone in the nest heart a familiar sound.
The Train Whistle.
Tiny blushed and abandoned her approach to kiss Buddy, instead, making an overly loud yawning sound before she raced to the edge of the nest and saw their mother and Mr. C already getting up. She coaxed Don out of his hole, getting him to help assist her in bringing Buddy back down to the ground while Shiny brought Gilbert down by herself.
"The train is back!" Tiny exclaimed as they landed and soon the youngsters were talking among each other. What would they see? What kind of train would it be? What were they going to do?
"It sure is. Lets all walk the Conductor to the station and say good bye." Ms. P said, but Tiny could clearly tell that she didn't like the fact she said that.
"All right everyone, lets go to the station." Mr. C said in a cheerful tone, coaxing everyone to cheer, except Tiny. Buddy watched her out of the corner of his eye and saw her vision glued to their mother. As the group made their way to the train, Buddy knew he'd want to talk to Tiny about what exactly was going on with their Mother and Mr. C.
As they walked and flew, Tiny remained on the ground with Buddy. They lingered behind Gilbert, Shiny, and Mr. C. Buddy noticed that Tiny was fidgeting the whole while before he decided to ask her outright.
"Tiny? What is the matter?" She looked at him, her expression obviously not too happy.
"Mom knows Mr. C is gonna leave to go help more dinosaurs in... our old home... but she doesn't REALLY want him to leave." she said. Buddy hadn't asked her much about the living situation, he mostly was just trying to focus on day to day living without crying about his father, but after the week had passed and he was more at terms with things, he did notice that his mother and Mr. C were together a lot.
"Tiny... You said Mr. Conductor has been with Mom this whole time, and he's been sleeping in a special nest just with Mom..." Buddy rubbed his arm as he watched his feet for a moment before looking back at her. "How... how much does Mom like The Conductor?" he finally asked. Tiny looked back at her brother, her expression a bit plain before she spoke up.
"She doesn't giggle about it, but she likes him a lot... like how Gilbert likes Shiny. Buddy furrowed his brow a bit at that statement. "She likes him, but... they are just... they are too stubborn and won't say it." she said, a bit of frustration in her voice.
"Maybe they shouldn't." Buddy said, perhaps a bit more harshly than he intended, which made her look back at him with a mixture of sadness and anger.
"Buddy! That's a terrible thing to say!" she nearly shouted before she lowered her voice. "You know that Shiny almost didn't get to tell Gilbert she loved him..." she sniffled as tears came to her eyes. "And I almost didn't get to tell you that I love you." Buddy now started to feel bad. "Now Mom has lost Dad, but there is someone else now... He's a different species, but he's kind, he's smart... and he does a good job at being a Dad... he's not THE Dad... but..." she looked up at the mature male walking before them, Gilbert walking next to him and keeping pace rather well. "I want to call him Dad some day..." she hung her head. "And I want to see Mom smile again because she's really happy... not because she is hiding something painful." she said before she suddenly felt an arm around her back.
"I'm sorry..." Buddy said softly. "I know what it's like to keep hiding something painful... and... to be lonely." he said, his voice full of regret as he looked forward. "Mom has probably had a very hard time... she deserves to be happy... but... I don't know if I could call Mr. Conductor "Dad" just yet..." he said softly. Tiny just hugged him in return as they continued on their way to the station.
As they all reached the station and were in a slight bit of awe at how long and large the train was for this operation, Buddy remained next to Tiny as they stood on the deck. Buddy watched as Misses Conductor stepped off the train, full of life as always, and was ready to bring her son on the mission, but Mr. C didn't reply right away, something that struck Buddy as VERY different from the Conductor he once knew. He then saw Mrs. C ask Gilbert if he wanted to go with. He to seemed to want to go, but when Mrs. C said Shiny couldn't go with him, Gilbert turned down the offer. While Buddy could understand that Gilbert might want to stay because he was injured, the injury wasn't hindering him much anymore and this was strictly because he wanted to be with Shiny. Again, Buddy was rather flabbergasted.
Did Mr. C not want to answer his mother because he wanted to stay with Mom? Was he really getting so fond of Ms. P that he'd miss out on getting back on the train? When Buddy saw her ask Mr. C again, he saw him pause and look at Ms. P, a sad, longing look in his eyes, before he turned and accepted his mother's offer, but he didn't sound happy when he did. He instead sounded rather sad. A glance over at Ms. P showed she was unhappy too, but looked like she was trying to say something. Buddy's thoughts were interrupted as Tiny suddenly shouted.
"Mom!" she yelled out before she pulled Buddy into a firm hug, startling him, but he hugged back, holding her close in that protective way. He glanced up and saw his mother lunge and grab Mr. C's arm. The exchange between the two adults from there seemed quite sad. It was obvious that, despite what they were saying, they really didn't want to leave each other alone. Buddy's heart skipped a beat when he saw his mother plant a kiss on Mr. C's lips, making The Conductor smile in a dopey manner before he blushed and ran onto the train. Weirder still, he saw Mrs. C congratulate his mother for being so bold and "Moving forward with her life". However, just before Mrs. C got on the train, she said something that stuck in Buddy's mind.
"Remember... Your husband lives on through your kids. Always remember that." Those words seemed to hit his Mom pretty hard as well. As the train pulled away, he could see Mr. C waving from a window. He also watched his mother run across the deck of the station, waving back at him as the train vanished.
"I'm gonna go talk to mom, wait here!" Tiny suddenly said as she ran over to their mother, leaving Buddy next to Gilbert, Shiny, and Don. He turned to look at them and shrugged.
"So... I guess they will be back in a few days?" Buddy said before he looked at Gilbert. "I can't believe you didn't want to go, Gilbert. Why did you stay?" he asked, though he was sure he knew the answer, he needed to hear what Gilbert would say.
"Well... I don't know if you noticed, but... uh... Shiny and I are... pretty close and... well... I love Shiny more than I love trains." he said as he leaned against her, coaxing her to nuzzle his neck.
"You really love my sister more than trains? Wow..." Buddy echoed. Don shrugged and shook his head.
"You're so weird. Trains are the greatest! Well, besides holes. Besides, Shiny isn't a troodon and Gilbert isn't a Pteranodon." Don said, rather plainly. Buddy just gave a curious look at Don while Gilbert looked a bit guilty. Shiny, on the other hand, shot Don a dirty look.
"No, what's WEIRD is liking holes so much." she said in a sharp tone. "You do nothing but keep making holes. Holes when you're sad, holes when you're happy, holes holes HOLES! If you keep making those stupid holes, you'll never find ANYONE who likes you." she said, turning back to Gilbert, who was a little uneasy after Shiny tore into her brother. Buddy, on the other hand, looked at Don. He looked ready to snap back, but he didn't say anything and instead hung his head. He muttered something that Shiny and Gilbert didn't hear, but Buddy did.
"Yes I have, but she wasn't a Pteranodon..." he said under his breath. Buddy knew Don didn't really want to say it, so he didn't pry, but he did decide he'd remember what he said.
Eventually, Tiny came back with their Mother and they returned to the nesting grounds.
The rest of the day passed fairly simply, albeit without an adult male on the grounds. Due to this, Buddy was being left up in the upper nest with Gilbert as the rest of the fliers went off to fish. Gilbert was lounging in part of the nest, hands behind his head as he soaked in a bit of sun while Buddy did the same. They didn't discuss much at first, but Buddy had a prying subject that he needed to ask the troodon.
"Gilbert?"
"Yeah, Buddy?"
"It's only been recently that I've felt those... happy... weird feelings when I'm around..." he was about to say "a Pteranodon", but he didn't want to say it so blatantly. "... around someone else that I like, and my Dad told me it was because I wanted them as a Mate." he said. Gilbert didn't say anything yet. "I wanted to ask; what sort of things do you and Shiny do when you're alone?" he asked. He knew what he saw that night, but again, needed to know what Gilbert would actually say. Gilbert sprang up into a sitting position.
"W-who told you we do anything? We just hug and kiss a lot." he said, but he was obviously flustered. Buddy sat up as well.
"Gilbert, there isn't anyone else around." he said, looking over at his family still flying in circles and diving in the distance. "And my family won't be back for a while, so it's just us here." Gilbert still looked around before he spoke.
"You promise not to tell your Mom?" Buddy thought on what he saw the other night. He kept it quiet this long and he had no desire to blab it to her.
"Well yeah. I don't see why I would anyway. It's a private thing." he said, though Gilbert gave Buddy a slightly wide eyed, accusing look.
"... You know something..." he pried, before Buddy caught onto his mistake and chuckled, rubbing his head.
"Yeah, I, uh... Kinda saw you and Shiny this morning... and smelled it." he said. Gilbert flushed brightly before he hung his head in defeat.
"Y-yeah... we... umm... well we really like doing that..." he said, though Buddy pried.
"What exactly were you doing? I know it wasn't mating, you don't mate with your hands and you didn't even have your phallus out." he said simply. Gilbert let out a sigh.
"Shiny and I... well... we WANT to mate some day, but we don't... well.. We don't want to be interrupted. We've only been together in the train station and the nest and we have to try and be very sneaky." he said, lowering his voice. "We just started to touch each other and we found out that when I touched her in the right spots, she REALLY liked it. It made her really squishy near her vent and wet and she really liked it when I rubbed her there, so, we started doing it that way." he said, tapping his fingers together. Buddy thought back on what he was seeing that morning and it seemed to match up.
"Well, do you think you and Shiny could show me and Tiny how to do it right?" Buddy then slapped his hands over his mouth as Gilbert gave him a very confused look. Aside from the fact that he just asked for Gilbert and Shiny to put on a "show", he ALSO blabbed the object of his affection.
"Did you say Tiny? As in... your sister?" he asked, but it was more out of disbelief. Buddy now had his turn to blush as he realized he was caught. He swallowed before he sighed and looked down.
"Yes... my sister..." he trailed off a moment before he looked up at Gilbert with rather defiant eyes, startling the troodon. "But I don't care. I'm not a Pteranodon, I'm a T Rex, so I'm not REALLY her brother." he said, crossing his arms. Gilbert now knew that Buddy was going to stick up for Tiny, the same way he knew that he himself would stick up for Shiny, and decided it best not to anger his host by saying something stupid.
"Well..." Gilbert scratched the back of his head as he thought it over. "I'll have to talk with Shiny tonight... so... I guess... maybe?" he said, hoping it would appease the tyrannosaur. Buddy's expression had softened a lot and he actually smiled.
"Thanks Gilbert." he said simply before he noticed his family was flying back and turned his attention to them as food was on the way.
Two mostly uneventful days had passed since the Conductor left to help with the rescue operation. Buddy had continued his snuggling with Tiny and informed her that they were going to try something new on one of these mornings. He had woken up early both mornings to see if Gilbert and Shiny had talked yet. The first morning resulted in Shiny completely rejecting the idea, though Gilbert was skilled enough to coax her to at least think it over. Come the morning of the second day, Buddy had awoken to see Gilbert and Shiny gently kissing and doing some rather innocent body rubbing. Buddy knew to keep his voice down and gently licked Tiny's neck to wake her up, soon seeing her own fluttering and pretty blue eyes in the dim light of the morning before she gave him a smile and a kiss in return before they turned their attention to Gilbert and Shiny.
Gilbert looked over at the two and gave a blushing smile before he coaxed Shiny onto her back, a position she was eager to get into. Buddy followed this and gently pushed on Tiny, who lay on her back as well, but looked down her body at the way Gilbert was touching her sister. Buddy watched Gilbert's hand slowly stroking her belly, making Shiny giggle before it slid between her legs to her delicate loins, the giggle turning into a soft groan. Buddy followed Gilbert almost exactly as he started by slowly stroking Tiny's round belly, enjoying the feeling of it and liking the way it made her giggle before he started to slide his hand down. She tensed up and closed her legs at first, making Buddy look at her with a worried expression. She looked back at him, just as worried before they both heard a low groan and looked to see Gilbert stroking Shiny's vent in slow passes, one of his fingers seeming to slightly vanish between her glistening lips, which made Shiny shudder and make those noises that excited Buddy. He turned back to Tiny and gave her a soft kiss on the end of her beak.
"It's all right... I'm right here..." he said softly. This coaxed a smile from the blushing Tiny as she gently let her legs sag apart before his two fingers slowly slipped lower. Buddy could feel how her loins were softer, more malleable the lower he went, and he soon came across a very soft place that felt very pleasing to the touch. As he touched her soft vent, she shuddered.
"Oooh... Buddy..." she said softly. He paused, not removing his hand, and looked at her face, expecting her to be worried, but instead, he was greeted with half lidded eyes and a smile. "It feels nice... You touching me there..." she said. There was a slight commotion in the nest as Shiny made a muffled sound. Buddy and Tiny looked and saw her holding her beak shut with her hands as her body shuddered and writhed rather severely before she collapsed, her legs fully sagging apart as Gilbert slowly slipped his now quite moist hand from her loins as he smiled at her, Shiny looking to be tired, but VERY happy, if her firm kiss to Gilbert and fierce hug were any indication as she nearly bowled him over. Buddy looked back at Tiny and started to slowly started to move his hand up and down her lips. She was still at first, but Buddy was able to feel her start to wiggle and soon he could feel the same sort of wetness on his hand that he saw on Gilbert, only this smelled strongly of Tiny and tickled strong emotions in the back of his head. He saw her wiggling and her face flushing as she lidded her eyes as the fluid made his movements easier. She looked so helpless as he touched her and something about that spurred him on to keep going. She was small, vulnerable, but he wanted her. He felt a strong need to place his body over her own, and so he did, pressing his chest to her chest. She shuddered and he felt her arms wrap around his sides, keeping him close. It was Buddy's turn to shudder as he felt his phallus slip free of his body and press against Tiny's leg, the smooth skin making his hips shudder.
"B-Buddy? Is that..." she asked softly, making him look into her questioning face before he flushed himself and nodded.
"Y-yeah..." he said, starting to pull away, but paused when he felt her hand slowly stroke along his chest and slide down towards his belly.
Suddenly, the flapping of wings and the landing sound of their mother in the nest made everyone panic, squeaking and pulling apart, the shock of it being plenty enough to coax Buddy's body into hiding his "shame" as they looked up at her.
The whole conversation with her was very awkward and embarrassing. At least, until Buddy decided he'd let his love for his sister be known properly to their mother, who not only approved of it, but even gave them guidelines that "touching" was okay for now, but mating would require them to learn more about each other's species unless they risked hurting each other, especially when they grew older.
The tenseness of it all finally passed when their mother declared that it was time for breakfast and the three fliers joined her for the morning fishing.
However, one part of it all that now struck Buddy as odd was that Don had to have been awake during these morning "private times", especially if he was responding to the conversations. He put that together with what had been going on with his conversation with Shiny a few days back and wondered what Don actually thought of all this, especially since his statements almost seemed to contradict one another.
Buddy sat in the nest with Gilbert again. Part of him wanted to discuss the private time they had in the morning, but Buddy could also tell Gilbert didn't really want to talk about it just yet, so he left that topic as is. Instead, Buddy was focusing on Don's viewpoints. Despite the fact that Don was his brother, and that they normally played all the time, he'd not been all that social with him since he was rescued. He noted that Don was being fairly secluded and was mostly spending his time being alone, something that, while not that odd, was odd for how long and often he was doing it. Buddy decided he'd like to talk with him when he got back.
Some time passed and eventually, his mother and siblings came back. Buddy was happy for the food, but upon seeing Don, saw that his face was tear stained and a very upset expression was plastered to his face, as if he'd been crying hard.
"Don! Are you all right?" Buddy asked, to which the little Pteranodon sniffled and nodded as he sat in the nest and slowly began eating his fish. His mother spoke up.
"Don will be fine. Just... let him be sad and try not to pester him." she said, though her own expression was somber. Buddy looked back at Don and how sad he was. Something had to have happened while they were out and he needed to know what.
The family and Gilbert sat and enjoyed the morning meal of fish, though Buddy was trying to find the time to get to talk with Don. Don's sadness had dialed back, but Buddy could clearly tell he was still upset. Buddy looked at Tiny and she looked right back into his eyes, giving him a rather wordless understanding and deciding to distract their mother while Buddy got close to Don and spoke softly to him.
"Don?" he said, getting his brother's attention by touching his back, making him twitch a little before he looked up from his fish. Buddy noted how his eyes were red and his face had little stains on it, stains he made no effort to wipe away. "Don..." Buddy said softly. "I... I don't know what is bothering you, but..." Buddy took a breath and looked him in the eyes. "I've... seen some harsh things... and... if talking to Mom... or asking Dad what to do isn't enough... you can always talk to me." he said as he rubbed his brother's back. Don stared at him for a while, then down at his fish before he swallowed.
"Thank you, Buddy... but..." he tapped his claws together before looking at his brother. "can we talk about it tonight?" Buddy smiled.
"Of course, Don." he said simply, to which Don showed some relief and Buddy gave him a bit more space as they continued eating, though Buddy overheard what Tiny had distracted their mother with; having mentioned that today was when Mister Conductor was supposed to have returned. The fact that he hadn't returned yet visibly bothered their mother. He watched Tiny touch their mother's hand and startle her.
"It's all right... He'll be back, I know it." Tiny said, giving their mother one of those sweet, heartwarming smiles that Buddy had especially grown to love in a special way. He watched their mother smile back at her.
"Yeah, he'll be all right." she said before she returned to her food.
Buddy and the other youngsters spent the rest of the day playing games and doing small bouts of exploring, though never going too far away from the nests. Don had pretended to be his more chipper self, but the only person he was fooling was Gilbert as Buddy and his sisters could plainly see it was forced and not natural. Something really was weighing on him and Buddy was hoping he'd tell him.
Eventually, nightfall came. Gilbert was snuggled next to Shiny and while Buddy initially was snuggled with Tiny, he waited until Don crawled into his hole and their mother had gone to the ground nest to sleep, then spoke to Tiny.
"Okay, I'm going to talk to Don..." he said in a whisper. "Mom said it was private and Don said he wanted to talk tonight so... I might not be able to tell you what it is, and I have to go alone." Tiny looked a bit downcast, but nodded.
"All right. Maybe you can cheer him up." she said as she hugged Buddy. He returned the hug, but gave her neck a parting lick, making her giggle before he let go and crawled out of the nest to the hole Don kept sleeping in. Don was notorious for crashing asleep at the drop of a stone, but when Buddy got up to the edge of the hole, he found Don sitting up in it with his back against a wall of it. It was about as deep as Don was tall and the bottom was covered with leaves, though Buddy couldn't tell if that was something Don did or if it was from the ambient trees that occasionally dropped leaves. He leaned to the edge of the hole, but had hardly made a noise as Don looked up at him.
"Come on in..." he invited, though he wasn't happy at all. Buddy followed the request and hopped into the hole, finding the leaves to be soft under foot and rump as he sat by Don. Yeah, he had to have padded this himself.
"Okay Don..." Buddy said as he moved next to him. "I'm here, so... umm, I guess..." Buddy really didn't know how to break the subject of a topic that he didn't know anything of, and instead let his words linger in the air uncomfortably. Don's eyes were never more than half lidded and he often blinked slowly, looking down and holding back a sniffle or two.
"Do you remember our neighbors? The Lambeosaurus family?" Don said softly.
"Yeah I do." Buddy replied, chuckling a moment. "Dad was arguing with Larry for eating one of his trees. Wow, Dad was really mad at him. But... that was when the rocks started falling..." There was a brief moment of silence between them as Buddy trailed off.
"Buddy... Did you see anything of the Lambeosaurus family while you were there?" Don suddenly asked. Buddy blinked before he set out thinking with his hand on his chin.
"I remember seeing Larry in the morning of... THAT day... Then... I found some of your holes, which is where I found the Amber and the Shiny Shell... I also found the tree with Tiny's Tiny Place and Cindy's home knocked over and her Tiny Dolls inside of it. I didn't see Cindy though..." Buddy hung his head. "I... I didn't see anyone except Dad..." Buddy's voice caught in his throat as he tried to hold back the urge of his tears trying to get to the surface as his wonderful memory played all the harsh lonely memories back. He closed his eyes and took a few breaths before he suddenly felt a hand on his side. He looked over and saw Don, still sporting the somber expression, but obviously not wanting Buddy to be sad as well. Buddy forced a smile, but then Don started talking.
"I remember that we would play with the Lambeosaurus family. Mom would talk to Mrs. Lambeosaurus and you and Shiny and Tiny would be playing with Leroy." he got little quieter. "Lily liked to play with me..." Buddy simply looked at Don for a while. "She didn't feel like she fit in playing with you and the others, but she liked being with me. I was just playing with my collection and she reeealy liked it!" he said, growing some happiness on his face. "She also liked my holes. She felt bad because she had tiny hands, but she liked digging. We got along really well and I really liked her..." he drifted off and his voice grew quieter. "I'd pair up with her or she'd pair up with me when we would be out, especially during our Nature Tracking and the Conductor school." he said as he hung his head and swallowed. "Then... well... I started to... feel funny around her... She liked to be close to me. She liked to hold my hand. At first I just thought she was being friendly, but then I saw Shiny and Gilbert holding hands and how Shiny was so... interested in Gilbert." he said, trying to say that statement as tactfully as possible. "I knew then that my body was telling me that I wanted her as a mate, but... she wasn't a Pteranodon." Buddy blinked and interrupted for a moment.
"Wait, how did YOU know that the funny feeling and the hand holding meant you wanted a mate?" he asked, perplexed.
"Mom and Dad were talking about it, talking about how we were growing up and would need to learn about mating and how our bodies make us feel funny." Buddy was still giving Don an interrogating stare before Don replied. "I was in a hole. They didn't know I was there." Buddy nearly laughed, snorting before he covered his mouth. He saw that Don had the corner of his beak turned up into a smirk, but it soon passed as he hung his head again.
"Sorry... please, keep going." Buddy said. Don was quiet for a while longer before he started up again.
"She would always pick me as a partner and would always try to be close to me, but... after that day, I stopped picking her. I'd let her hold my hand, but I wouldn't hold her's. I'd still be nice to her but..." he sniffled. "I didn't let those funny feelings make me hold her hand or h-hug her... b-because she wasn't a Pteranodon and... and I thought..." he sniffled harder. Buddy watched as Don's eyes welled up with tears of frustration and deep regret. "Then all of this happened... And Shiny got with Gilbert and that was fine!" he said, raising his voice a little. "And, and you got with Tiny and that was fine too!" he said, his body shivering as he put his hands over his eyes, getting a little more control of his emotions before he swallowed. "Then this morning, Mom told you all that it was okay... That it was just fine to have a mate that wasn't your species..." he took a moment to breathe and then continued. "Then... when we went fishing, I asked Mom if it was really okay... if we could just choose someone that we really really like as a mate, even if they weren't a Pteranodon... and she said yes... and that they would have to adopt kids, but could still be a happy family..." he said, shuddering again. Buddy leaned over to him, wrapping an arm around Don's back. Don instantly leaned into Buddy, hugging him as he tried to keep his sorrow quiet. "I never got to tell Lily how much I liked her..." he said, shuddering again before he buried his eyes into his brother's chest. Buddy kept a firm grip on him and kept him close, knowing just how horrible such a situation could be, but it didn't stop Buddy from shedding tears as he could hear Don softly crying out his pain, all the while as Buddy slowly stroked his back.
Buddy felt a mix of things; sadness, surprise, but also, anger. He was angry that this happened to them, that so many good things were just... taken away from their family. Home, friends, loved ones, Dad... Even the Big Pond would most likely be desolate since it was only a modest train ride through the same time period from their home. Still, being angry or sad would not fix things. Don wasn't crying as hard, so Buddy took the time to speak up.
"If it makes you feel any better, as I said, I didn't see anyone else. She could still be around... Maybe even The Conductor and the other Troodon rescued their family." he said, speaking extremely optimistically. Don pulled back from the hug, wiping his eyes.
"Buddy... I know you're trying to make me feel better but... They weren't able to save Dad..." he said. Buddy frowned.
"They saved me." he stated, trying not to get angry, but the pessimism in Don's voice was becoming all too familiar to a temper tantrum he had that he regrets to this moment. "We will see when they get back, all right?" he said, giving a few more pats to Don's back. Don slowly sat up and rubbed his face, sniffing one more time before he sighed.
"Yeah... I guess..." he was quiet a moment, looking at his feet before he looked at Buddy. "Thank you... For talking to me..." he said, smiling a little reluctantly. Buddy smiled back and gave Don another hug.
"We're brothers. I may have made a promise to always be there for Tiny, but if you ever need to talk to someone, I'll be around, even when I'm a huge adult." he said, happily. Don chuckled.
"And I'll get to ride on your head!" he said, making them both chuckle before they covered their mouths. Don soon yawned after that and Buddy silently agreed that sleep was the best course of action. "Good night, Buddy."
"Good night, Don." Buddy said, requiring a brief boost from Don to help him out of the hole before he crawled back to the nest. Shiny and Gilbert were quite asleep, snuggled up together. Tiny looked to be asleep, though seeing her alone and curled up made her look so small, frail. After his talk with Don, Buddy was forced to revisit his memories of being apart from Tiny and being trapped with his father. He was so worried for her, even though he was the one in most danger while Tiny was... just fine, but the fact that he wanted to protect her, despite he being the one in trouble, only further told him just how much he loved her. Buddy quietly crawled into the nest and lay down behind her, hugging her to his chest possessively. He shivered slightly as he felt her lukewarm skin touching his own warm skin. He wanted to always hold her, proudly defend her in the face of any danger. He heard her coo before she pressed back into him, stirring awake just enough to let him know she knew it was him before she fell back asleep. He shivered lightly as he felt her little tail press up between his legs, prompting him to act on reflex and press tighter to her. Yes, he'd certainly defend her from any threat, no matter if it was a bully, a dangerous predator, or even a disaster. He chuckled silently at the image he got in his head of him trying to bravely defend Tiny as a huge adult, but then having Don land on his face. The whole idea was so silly. He'd have to tell everyone that tomorrow. For now, though, he nuzzled into the nape of Tiny's neck and slowly drifted to sleep.
Two more days passed. Don had become more sociable and not faking quite as much since his talk with Buddy. However, a new concern was weighing on Buddy and Tiny. Their mother was getting twitchy and wasn't sleeping too deeply, anticipating the return of The Conductor, who was now two days late. Tiny was more worried about it than Buddy as she'd seen how their mother had grown close to The Conductor and was growing to be as fond of him as their Dad. Buddy was having a hard time coming to terms with that idea, but he'd seen how everyone here had changed, how everyone was broken in some way over the horrible events that happened; Gilbert had been seriously injured, Shiny was glued to him and was reluctant to let him out of her sight, Tiny missed their father badly and had missed Buddy, but had also taken up her own role of watcher of their mother, who was also so stressed over everything that some of her decisions needed some help. Mister Conductor was normally always so cheerful but Buddy had seen him get so sad, he'd even seen him get into an argument with his mother and that was just on the day he was rescued. The worst one off though had to be Don; he was burying his sorrow in constant holes, sorrow from not only his home being destroyed and the death of their father, but the incredibly tragic fact that he'd denied the affection of someone who honestly loved him, just because he didn't know any better, and now may never be able to see them again.
All of this made Buddy wonder how he'd been changed, how he was appearing to everyone else. How was he broken? He grew scared to even think about becoming someone different.
Buddy mulled these facts over as he snuggled Tiny's body as the sun slowly crested the ridge. He was waking up, but he was going to just stay here and hold her. That is, until there was a loud, distinct sound.
The Train whistle.
"KIDS!" Everyone on the ridge jumped up and awake before looking down at Ms. P. "The train is back! Lets hurry and see!" she said as she wasted no time in picking Buddy up and flying towards the station with the other youngsters in tow.
The trip didn't take long and as Buddy felt his feet touch the wood planks of the station, he had to rub his eyes. He only saw the handcar and the industrial structured train that was for the rescue, but this was the first time in over a long, painful month that he saw the familiar engine and cars of the traditional Dinosaur Train. He almost started crying as he smiled while Mrs. Conductor stepped off the train and smiled at the kids.
"Well hello there Pteranodon family! Hello there, Gilbert." she said in that screechy, happy tone. Buddy and Tiny clung an arm around each other's shoulder as all of the youngsters chimed together, as if they had rehearsed.
"Hello Mrs. Conductor!" they said. Buddy looked back at the train and smiled as he squeezed Tiny in his arm. They may not get to go home, but this was a comfort that they didn't have access to before and had now returned. It was like seeing an old friend. Amid his musings, Buddy suddenly started paying attention to what Mrs. C was telling their mother. Something about survivors, which prompted their mother to speak up.
"Survivors? You mean you found others who survived that... wasteland?" Buddy watched as Mrs. C nodded.
"Sure did. They are mostly in troodon town, like I said, but... one of them insisted they come along here when they found out about your family." Mrs. C continued as she stepped up to the observation car and opened the door. Buddy had to blink a few times, as did the rest of the youngsters when they saw who was standing in the doorway. Buddy saw so many things happen that he recalled it in slow motion for a moment; seeing Don's jaw fall open, his eyes wide as the edges ran with tears. The little Lambeosaurus shivered softly as her eyes widened; her body having scuffs that were cleaned up and her frame a little thinner than normal, but the energy which she used for her next action denied the idea that she'd been malnourished.
"DON!" she screeched out, her voice cracking as she started to run at them. Buddy and Tiny stepped aside, as did Shiny and Gilbert while Don just remained where he was.
"LILY!" he yelled back with his arms open as she tackled him into a hug with enough force to bowl them both over. Buddy was about to laugh, but instead swallowed and nearly started weeping as he saw the two of them clumsily kissing each other over and over again as tears ran down their faces. Buddy knew that feeling and he wouldn't dare laugh at it. Don finally spoke up and asked the question everyone wanted to know. "How did you make it?" he said in a simple but straightforward question.
"Holes! Your holes, Don!" she said between squeezing hugs. "I hid in one when the hot rocks started falling from the sky, but you also had a bunch of leaves and things in many of the other holes that my dad didn't eat." she said. Don tilted his head and asked the next obvious question.
"And... your family?" it was to no one's surprise that she looked downcast.
"They hid in some trees and went deeper into the surrounding forest. They avoided the big boom and the fire, but they had a hard time getting food since Dad kept eating all of it anytime he found it. Mom didn't like that... They argued a lot, then the rescue team found them." She said, letting out a small sigh. "They didn't know I survived until the rescue team found me, they kept looking for me but... I didn't know, I just kept hiding in the holes you made. I did it, with your help." she said as she smiled and hugged Don closely again, a hug he returned happily as Buddy watched him shiver before she pulled back and helped him to his feet.
"Daww, young love." Mrs. C said as she gave a quick wipe of her face as more of a gesture than actually wiping tears away. Buddy could see that Mrs. C seemed to be antsy about something, distracted, before she suddenly spoke to all of the smaller dinosaurs. "Okay kids, lemme tell you all what happened." she said as she ushered all the youngsters towards the station. Buddy remained next to Tiny and Shiny remained with Gilbert, but all four were happy to see Don holding Lily's small hand nice and tightly and leaning against her side. Don often showed joy outwardly any chance he got, but this was more of a reserved joy as he wore a smile and small tears rolled off of his face, but was mostly quiet.
Buddy realized that they were all inside the station, but Mrs. C wasn't saying anything. He gave Tiny a questioning look then stepped up to her and tapped her leg. He was replied to by her looking down at him and holding a finger to her mouth.
"Shhhh... Look..." she said before she pointed out the doorway. All of the youngsters looked silently and Tiny suddenly glued herself next to Buddy, hugging him tightly as she watched The Conductor present a flower to their mother. More surprising was when Mister Conductor insisted he be called Sonny. Buddy noticed Mrs. C was chewing on her finger as their mother spoke to Sonny. Then, the words that came out of his mother's mouth, her request to be the mate of Sonny, finally hit Buddy's ears. Aside from Tiny tensing up, Buddy felt extremely uneasy. Sonny would be his new Dad? Mom being with the Conductor of the train? And what about Erma?
However, when Sonny rejected their mother's advances, Buddy felt his blood run cold, and now understood his feelings. Yes, Sonny was "not their father"... but Buddy would rather have a father than go without. The idea that he rejected her was painful, as was how Tiny clenched her claws into Buddy's skin as her eyes started to water. However, he started to get mad. Why wouldn't he accept their mother? Wasn't she good enough for him? She's the best mom in the world!
"Sonny Boy, what are you doing?" Mrs. P hissed under her breath, her chewing of her finger getting harsher and leaving marks in her skin.
Then Sonny started to explain; explaining that his life on the train gave no solitude and only brief breaks, explaining that the reason he and Erma weren't together was because of his job as the conductor. The most painful part, was that Buddy could understand that, and his excuse made sense.
However, the unthinkable happened as Sonny tossed his conductor hat aside and knelt before their mother, requesting to join THEIR family, and giving up his life as conductor. Buddy was downright befuddled at that statement; the conductor... no longer the conductor? But then it rang with him why he stated his desire to be called Sonny, now knowing it was his plan all along to be with her INSTEAD of the trains, despite his love for them.
Love... Buddy knew how much Sonny loved trains. To give that up, to love their mother MORE... Buddy looked up at their silent mother, still feeling Tiny clenching tightly onto him and swallowed.
"Come on, Mom..." he muttered softly. There was a tense several seconds before their mother finally shouted out.
"Yes... yes of course!" before the two of them embraced and wept. Buddy could feel happy tears in his eyes before he started cheering, Tiny joining him before all the youngsters were hopping up and down. Mrs. C had a hand on her chest, tears pouring from her eyes, and a smile on her face as she stepped forwards and announced them formally.
"My Sonny Boy... and Misses Pteranodon." The announcement brought Buddy down from his cloud of cheering as he now felt a great deal of mixed emotions, now knowing that Sonny was his Dad. He hardly had time to process them as Mrs. C announced that she had a formal home for their family in Troodon Town and even offered to be the sitter while Sonny and their mother would have a date night. Buddy mostly just went with the play out of events as he didn't have much input, nor was he really sure of what he should do other than just follow along with his feelings so mixed up. A squeeze from his side brought him out of his thoughts as Tiny hugged him, then tugged on his hand, the family now heading back to the nests to get the kid's trinkets before riding the dinosaur train.
At the nests, Tiny brought her three Tiny Dolls down, though Buddy chuckled as he took two of them.
"Here, let me carry these two. I want to show you how I can be really gentle with a... Tiny Pteranodon." he said, making her giggle as he held a doll in each hand. A quick glance let him see Shiny holding her favorite shell and Don with his amber, showing it to Lily, before he heard Mrs. C mention that the train would come by tomorrow to pick up the newly paired couple. Buddy looked at their Mother and Sonny; the smiles on their faces, that happy glimmer in their eyes. He knew this was how it should be. With one more good bye for the night, the youngsters followed Mrs. C back to the train.
While Shiny and Gilbert were as adorable as always, and Lily and Don were bringing up a close second, Buddy was distracted from Tiny's affections. He was trying to process all that happened; his mother and The Conductor... no, ex-conductor, were now a couple, and now that troodon was officially his new Dad. The fact just kept ringing over and over again in his head as they walked to the station. Tiny, despite snuggling him and saying sweet things as they walked, caught on and used her free hand to gently rub his back before she kissed his cheek, finally snapping him out of his daze.
"Buddy? We're at the station..." she trailed off, letting the little rex blink a few times and look around.
"Oh... right... sorry..." Tiny didn't need an explanation as to why he was distracted and simply hugged him closely, giving him a firm squeeze. He returned it, being careful of the little dolls in his hands, before he stepped back. Tiny gently grasped his hands and coaxed him to hand the dolls over to her.
"I think you need to just think more... I'll take care of my dolls right now." she said, no malicious words intended, but Buddy did feel slightly deflated at the request. He handed the dolls over with no argument. Mrs. C was by the passenger car door and had already guided Gilbert, Shiny, Don, and Lily onto it, but saw Tiny standing, arms full of her dolls, watching Buddy, who had his head hung and wandered aimlessly on the deck. She didn't like how he was reacting to all of this and wore concerned look upon her face. This was clearly more than Tiny knew how to help with, the little Pteranodon looking up at Mrs. C with a worried expression.
Buddy didn't know what he was doing; his thoughts were cycling as were his emotions. He was happy, yet sad, yet angry, yet overall, mostly confused. He finally snapped out of his thoughts on his own when he felt his foot kick something and looked down, finding Sonny's hat. He quickly picked it up, looking at the official Dinosaur Train Industries badge that was on the front. Buddy's mind now presented the situation that he had regained a father figure, but now, there was no longer that friend who conducted the train. He hugged the hat closely, squeezing it tightly before crying, his eyes clenched shut as he began letting out frustrated tears.
He barely registered the footsteps behind him, but he certainly noticed the sensation of being lifted up by his hips before he was hugged to a warm chest. He didn't bother opening his eyes and instead, pressed his face into that warmth, listening to the strong heartbeat.
"Come on, Tiny. I've got him..." Mrs. C said, carrying Buddy onto the train car, as Tiny followed and Mrs. C shut the door, the train starting up shortly afterwards, whistle blowing. Shiny and Gilbert shared a seat to themselves, as did Don and Lily. Mrs. C sat in a seat, Tiny jumping up next to her as the older female slowly stroked Buddy's head, his crying slowing down. Tiny normally was helpful when it came to their mother and to Buddy, but she simply had reached her limit of what she could do for him. Thankfully, the experienced older female was there to provide that additional support. She pulled him away from her chest, sitting him on her lap as she slowly stroked his head. "Aww, little Buddy... Why don't you tell ol' mama conductor what's bothering you."
He looked into her face. The simple presence of an older, experienced female helped calm him down as his sniffling stopped.
"It's..." he looked at the hat in his arms. "It's that... well... I have a Dad now... but I'm not sure I can call him Dad..." Tiny's expression grew distraught, but she remained quiet. "And... and now, he's not The Conductor anymore, s-so..." Mrs. C silenced him with a slow stroke of her hand across his head.
"Shhhh..." she uttered softly, silencing Buddy's whimpers. "I know he's not your real dad, and I know you see him more like a good friend... Especially after you saw your real dad... leave." she said, continuing to hush Buddy's emotions by slowly stroking his head. "But you need to understand that just like your dad was there for you, keeping you safe, my Sonny Boy was doing the same thing for your mother." she said as he looked up at her with his big green eyes. "Your mother was so worried, so broken up over not having you or your father with her, my Sonny Boy was the only thing keeping her together, making sure she took care of your brother and sisters." Buddy blinked slowly, then looked down at the hat in his hands. Mrs. C was quick on the draw. "And don't you worry about him not Conducting. He loves his trains, and while right now, he's showing your mother that he'll put her before trains, I know he'll want to keep doing things associated with the trains. So, every once in a while, he'll be permitted to be a conductor again, especially at the junior academy." she said with a wink. Buddy felt like she somehow just pulled a heavy weight off of him. He wasn't "cured" of his emotional distraught, but she had helped him organize those scrambled thoughts. She stroked his head again and smiled at him. "Just relax. You don't have to call him Dad if you don't want to, I'm sure he'll understand, but don't be upset at him for just doing what is right in his heart." she said as she gently set him next to Tiny, who quickly hugged him. "Just like you doing what your heart feels is right." she said with a smirk. Buddy looked at Tiny hugging him, the dolls on the seat next to her, before he looked up at Mrs. C.
"Thank you, Misses Conductor." he said as he leaned to give her a hug before she stopped him with a single finger.
"Oh what's this "Misses Conductor" stuff?" she said in a much more lively tone. "Call me Grandma!" Buddy was caught off guard and even Tiny blinked a few times before Buddy laughed.
"Thank you, Grandma Conductor!" he said, laughing before she pulled him in for a hug, laughing as well. They parted with smiled on their faces before she pointed to the hat he still had in his hand.
"I think you can keep the hat. Who knows, maybe you'll wear it yourself one day as an official Conductor." she said, giving Buddy a wink. He looked down at it and smiled before he blinked and remembered something Sonny had done, overturning the hat before reaching across Tiny's lap to grab the dolls and setting them in it.
"There, now they can't get lost." he said, making Tiny giggle.
The ride on the train took a while and went through several time tunnels before they finally arrived in Troodon Town. Mrs. C was the first to step off the train while the youngsters stepped off in their pairs. Buddy had the hat's chin strap slung on one arm while he held Tiny's hand with the other as they stepped onto the deck of the station, which was a fair bit more fancy than the other ones. He could see a few troodon wandering around, but noted that Trisha and Thurston were among the ones they were walking towards; a group of about a dozen workers. Mrs. C spoke up first.
"Okay, take the train into the roundhouse and make sure she's all tuned up for tomorrow afternoon. I want the BEST for my Sonny Boy!" Mrs. C declared. Several of the workers, Trisha among them, gave her a little salute as Laura hopped out of the observation car and began pushing the train. Thurston was among the group who hadn't left.
"My, is that your Sonny Boy's hat that the little rex there is holding?" he inquired. Mrs. C glanced down at it before looking back at Thurston with a somewhat expecting gaze.
"Yes it is, what of it?" she asked, her hands on her hips.
"It's against worker code to be on the job without a hat. Am I to take it that Sonny Boy has actually resigned from his position?" he asked, a smirk on his face.
"You'd be correct, Thurston. He's no longer your work rival, he's a happily mated dinosaur to a lovely lady." she said as professionally as she could in the face of Thurston's growing glee.
"Oh excellent!" Thurston said with a great deal of enthusiasm. "Simply excellent! Now that he's off making dummy eggs with some reptile, I should be in line for a-" there was a sick crunch. Thurston's world wobbled as searing pain shook his face. His blurred eyes focused long enough to catch a glimpse of an infuriated troodon delivering a rage filled left hook to his face, sending him staggering to the side before collapsing, his hat tumbling off as he quickly raised his hands up in defense. Buddy cowered back as Mrs. C had fire in her eyes and a nasty sharp toothed scowl on her face.
"He may not be an employee, but that is my SON and my daughter in law you're speaking of! You WILL treat them with respect!" she shrieked at him, making him cower away with each emphasized word.
"Y-yes! Yes, M'am! I'm sorry!" he quickly spoke up, his memory of Sonny's savage beating rather fresh in his mind and not wanting anymore ire from the mature female.
"Oh no, you're not getting off that easy." she said, her snarl turning into a wicked grin. "CHANGE OF PLANS!" she announced, getting the attention of anyone who didn't see her knock Thurston down with her one-two punches. "My Sonny boy and his bride will be riding the Rocket train back to Troodon town. Thurston will be attending them and will be on his best behavior." she said. Thurston seemed confused as he slowly stood up, grabbing his hat and rubbing his bloody nose with the back of his hand, even as his right eye was swelling.
"I don't understand..." he said, sniffling and holding his nose.
"You see, your job is now on the line." Mrs. C said with a grin. "You are to pick them up and are to recite your OFFICIAL greeting upon reaching them." Thurston was still confused.
"How... is this... a punishment?" he asked, wondering where the catch was.
"You see, if you get so much as one complaint, one little iota of disagreement in your conduct from your passengers, you're FIRED." she said in a snappy tone. Thurston winced. "And since you've gotten plenty of complaints about your sociable conduct with your passengers in the past, I'm going to have you recite and practice the official passenger greeting." Thurston swallowed as she continued. "All. Night. Long."
"All night?! You want me to do that all night AND be sociable and kind?! I haven't been to bed since yesterday!" he complained, still holding his nose. Mrs. C lifted her hands up and put one fist inside of her palm, cracking her knuckles.
"That sounded like an objection, Thurston. Was that an objection?" she asked, glaring at him. He gave a hard swallow.
"N-no M'am..." he said, feebly.
"Good. Now get out of here and get to work." she said in a low tone. Thurston nodded and ran off. "And I want eyes on Thurston the whole time. He slacks off for ONE MINUTE and I'll have him strapped to the front of the train!" she called out, hearing a distressed whimpering from Thurston as she shook her left hand out, evidently sore. She then turned to the youngsters, all who were more than a little scared at seeing what just happened. Mrs. C's features instantly softened and she crouched down. "Ohh, I'm so sorry... He... well... he had that coming." she said, glaring in the direction Thurston went before she turned back to the youngsters. Tiny and the others seemed to understand, though Buddy was a little worried still. Mrs. C gently rubbed his head and smiled at him. "Come on, I'll show you were you're gonna stay for the night, and tomorrow, you'll get to be part of the big celebration when they come here." she said as she lead the group of youngsters into the station.
Upon walking into the station, Buddy realized that he'd not been in too many of the stations, one being the one at the northern pole, and the other when he'd been rescued. He had never been inside this one.
The ceiling was much higher and all the furniture was very nice looking. There were dinosaurs and non dinosaurs all around. A sudden deep voice called out from the crowd.
"Buddy!" The little rex had time to look up before his vision was obscured with a big blue face that nearly ran into him, the bulky triceratops coming to a cumbersome stop.
"Tank?!" he exclaimed, seeing the rotund herbivore, before all the other youngsters chimed in.
"Tank!" they all yelled before they ran up and gave the other youngster a hug. He smiled and let out a slightly dopey chuckle.
"It's good to see you all. The word has been spreading about that big asteroid that hit your time period." he said, growing a somber expression. "It's so sad, the big pond was in that time too, but I'm glad to see all of your are okay!" he said, his attitude sometimes being a bit more simple in his speech. Buddy put on a smile, hiding any feelings besides happiness he may have had.
"I'm glad to see you too. I wonder how many more friends of ours are all right?" He asked, looking at Tiny, who shrugged, then looked back at Tank.
"I dunno, there are a lot of dinosaurs here. A lot of them are talking about where to get food and where to live. Apparently that time period was pretty popular." Tank said. "But I'll keep an eye out for more of our friends!" he said with a smile before his gut gurgled. "Oops, time for lunch!" he said, making everyone chuckle before he turned away. "Bye everyone!"
"Bye!" all the youngsters chimed in as Tank vanished into the crowd. Mrs. C then spoke up, her voice at just the perfect tone to cut through white noise of all the dinosaurs talking.
"This way. Come on, kids." she said, getting their attention and soon, they fell in line and were following her again.
They made their way through the crowds and back towards a door, which Mrs. C opened. She invited the youngsters inside and shut the door, instantly silencing them from the incessant white noise. The room they were in was a little crowded, but not with dinosaurs, but beds. There were a few desks in the room, but most of the walls had a bed next to them, and not like the ones in the Jurassic station, but larger, fluffier, and sporting solid frames, many adorned with carvings of dinosaurs on the bedposts. The center of the room had several desks but also some large open spaces of floor that was just carpet.
"Here we are. This is a special back room for employees of Dinosaur Train Industries. We work here, we sleep here, we eat lunches here, all while being close to our work." she said, the youngsters walking into the room with a look of wonderment on their faces. All of them had aspirations of working on the train some day, or helping with the company in some way, but any time they got to see parts of the real "gears" that made everything work, they were always eager to know more. She guided them farther into the room before she stopped them. "Now lets see... you're not going to want to carry your things around all day so... Lets put them on the bed you'll be sleeping on." she said as a single one of these beds could easily hold all six of the youngsters, but she paused and looked at how they were pared off, all of them holding hands, aside from her grandson Gilbert and Shiny, who were hugging closely. "Sorry, I mean, bedS" she said, emphasizing the S at the end. She picked them seemingly at random, but it was every other bed, giving them space to themselves. Don and Lily placed the amber upon one, Gilbert and Shiny placed the shell on another, and Buddy placed the hat and the dolls on the one that he and Tiny would share. "There we go. Now, how about we have some lunch and I can tell you all some stories about when I was a young conductor?" she said, getting a reply of a room full of cheering youths.
Mrs. C had a few workers bring trays of food to herself and the youngsters as they sat in a circle on the floor while she told story after story, each one met with laughs, oohs of interest, and questions the whole while.
" ... and that's the time I took care of the train all by myself while all the other workers were sick!" Mrs. C concluded as the youths cheered. She smiled; she hadn't had the opportunity to tell stories like this in a long time, and the fact that these youngsters were now inlaws and could call her Grandma lit an old fire in her chest that she'd almost forgotten about.
"Misses Grandma The Conductor," Don said, getting her attention before a yawn overtook his beak and he lost track of what he was going to say, making Lily giggle. His yawn prompted her to look at one of the clocks in the room, then at a window.
"Goodness me, we've spent the whole day in here." she said, climbing to her feet. "You all best get some shut eye. We want to make sure that everything goes smoothly tomorrow, since my Sonny Boy and his new bride will be coming here and we want them to feel welcome." she said, giving Buddy's head a gentle rub, making him chuckle a little as he climbed to his feet. As they all paired off to the beds they were going to rest in, Mrs. C activated a crank on a wall that dimmed all the lights, her eyes adjusting rather quickly as she watched the youngsters snuggle into the beds. Still, she felt a little uneasy about Buddy. She stepped through the room, finding him laying next to Tiny and hugging her to his chest. Mrs. C gently stroked his head, coaxing his eyes to open up before she spoke softly to him and Tiny. "If you feel uneasy or have any questions, I'll be right in the other room. You just walk right in and call for me." she said, making Buddy and Tiny smile.
"Thank you... Grandma Conductor." he said softly, smiling up at her. She gently pulled the covers of the bed up and placed it on the pair, beaming at Buddy for calling her that outside of a moment of humor before she leaned in and kissed his forehead, then quietly walked away, leaving through a different door than the one they entered the room from before closing it, leaving them in a mostly silent room.
Buddy sighed as he nuzzled into Tiny's neck, who giggled.
"I'm so glad you're calling her Grandma." Tiny said softly. Buddy thought on that comment, but didn't reply. He didn't need to as he soon felt Tiny fall asleep in his arms.
Buddy didn't fall asleep right away and instead thought on why he was comfortable calling Mrs. C his grandmother. Perhaps it was because he was used to seeing her once in a while and always held respect for her, much like his grandparents on his father's side. There was a cold sensation in his chest as he now realized that those same grandparents were in that ruined time zone, but worse yet, they wouldn't know that their son had died, being so far from the impact point. He felt like he needed to do something, but he honestly didn't know what, and instead, settled on whimpering quietly. Despite his sadness, he didn't cry for long as his full belly and the strangely comfortable sensation of the blankets and soft bed began to lull him to sleep. He was used to sleeping with no covers, but he had a hard time objecting to them. They were soft and warm... and reminded him of something... He didn't have much time to think on it as he finally dozed off.
His body felt weightless, floating softly through the air of his dreamscape. He flexed his hands and found them holding Tiny, her back to his chest. He smiled as he pulled her close, feeling a deep sense of pride as he desired to protect her. However, there was a small revelation in his mind as he thought about that.
"If I'm protecting you, who's protecting me?" he asked in his dream. He shifted slightly and felt a light material holding onto him. His eyes shot open, knowing that feeling anywhere. He looked over his shoulder and saw those big blue eyes of his father smiling back at him, his wing draped over Buddy. The little rex didn't need to say anything as his father simply held him close. He wanted to speak, he had so many things he wanted to tell him, so many things to ask him, but no words would come out. That was when his father started speaking.
"It's all right, Buddy." he shuddered as he heard those simple words from his father and felt his body slowly relax. "I know you're worried. I know you're scared." he said, suddenly shifting in front of Buddy. "But you are strong..." He watched his father slowly reach out a hand and gently stroke his head, that soft hand being so familiar to the touch. "So much stronger than you know..." he grew a smile on his beak and Buddy couldn't help but smile back. "But if you ever feel like you're not strong enough, just remember that you have a whole family who will be there for you." he said as he waved his wing. Suddenly, visions of his Mother, Don, Shiny, Gilbert, Tiny, Sonny, and Mrs. C appeared before him. Buddy smiled, but looked back at his father's smiling face and finally asked.
"But... what if I need you?" he said. His father smiled and reached out, gently stroking his face once more before he placed his palm gently against Buddy's chest.
"I'm right here, Buddy... I'll always be right here with you..." he said. Buddy could feel an intense warmth from where his father's hand was, a bright glow appearing on Buddy's chest. He reached to touch his father's hand, but to his surprise, he touched only air. He looked up at his father, who slowly started to fade away. He could see a smile still on his father's face as he slowly vanished. "Be a good boy, Buddy... For me... For everyone." he said, his voice growing distant before he finally faded away completely.
Buddy awoke with a start. In his sleep, he'd rolled onto his back and part of the covers were tossed off of him, leaving only his legs covered. He still had his eyes closed and could tell he was waking up, but that warm feeling where his father was touching him was still there. He sniffled; the sensation of seeing his father, even in a dream, was so relieving, but also brought a lot of pain back. He slowly opened his eyes, looking down at his chest, but his heart nearly stopped as he saw a bright glow of light on his chest. He swallowed and reached a hand to touch the warm light, but found his hand casting a shadow on himself. He blinked a few times before he found that the light was sunlight coming through a small opening in a curtain over the bed. A curtain that hadn't been shut all the way, or perhaps opened slightly by someone. He slowly sat up, the sun glinting his eyes as he did so, making him wince them shut before he stood up, feeling himself drawn to the window. He pulled the curtain open and looked outside, seeing the morning rays of the sun peering through a partly cloudy sky. The dream he had was vivid and fresh in his mind and the warm touch felt so special. As he thought about it and watched the clouds slowly go by, he wasn't sure if it was due to seeing what he wanted to see or not, but one of those clouds looked an awful lot like a Pteranodon... He placed a small hand on his chest, his eyes gently weeping, yet he smiled.
"Thank you, Dad..."
The silence was broken by a door being opened and the incredibly loud hooting of Mrs. C echoed in the room.
"BLUUUUUUOH! Hey sleepy heads, it's time to get up!" The sudden noise and intrusion made all the youngsters wake up and jump, Don falling completely out of the bed and Lily looking over the edge, only to see a laughing Pteranodon on the floor while all the others got up as well, giggling at the fact that Don was laughing. Tiny stretched and stood up in the bed before she turned to look at Buddy, who was smiling, but still had tears on his face.
"Buddy? Are you all right?" she asked. At about the same time, Mrs. C had walked by the other youngsters, evidently spotting the same thing as Tiny. Buddy looked at Tiny, then at Mrs. C.
"Yeah, I'm all right." he said, wiping his eyes. Tiny was still concerned and stepped up to him, giving him a firm hug before she pulled back and looked at him.
"Well... If something DOES bother you, you can always tell me... I want to help you." she said, making Buddy smile at her.
"That goes the same for me!" Mrs. C spoke up, giving Buddy's head an affectionate rubbing and making him chuckle.
"Thank you, Grandma Conductor." he said, making the mature female smile softly before he looked at the Pteranodon still in his arms. "Thank you, Tiny." he said, giving the tip of her beak a quick kiss, earning a giggle and a happy squawk from her. Mrs. C chuckled and reached over the bed, grasping the hat with the dolls in it before she walked over to the other beds, picking up the trinkets before she set them all on a desk.
"Just going to keep these here for now so we don't lose them." she explained as the youngsters hopped out of bed and onto the floor. Don suddenly spoke up.
"Hey, Misses Grandma The Conductor, if you're our Grandma now, and you're also Gilbert's Grandma, does that mean he's our brother?" he asked, tapping his beak. Shiny and Gilbert looked at him in a slight bit of shock before they looked at each other, then up at Mrs. C, waiting for a reply. They got one in the form of the mature female laughing before she took a moment to calm herself.
"Goodness no. He's not the son of my Sonny Boy, he's his nephew; the offspring of my Sonny Boy's sibling. With Misses Pteranodon and my Sonny Boy being a pair, this would make him your... cousin!" she said, grinning a toothy grin. Shiny looked at Gilbert and pulled her face back from him as she released him from her hug.
"Yuck... cousin germs..." she said. Gilbert's eyes grew as wide as saucers. She'd never dared do anything to pull herself away from him in any manner. Did this revelation really bother her that much? Just as his eyes started to feel that slight sting of tears beginning to well up, Shiny smiled at him and kissed his nose. "Gilbert, I was only joking." she said, pulling him into a hug. Mrs. C watched Gilbert visibly shudder and let out a sigh before he gripped her tightly.
"You scared me there..." he said softly. She pulled back from the hug long enough to poke his nose with a finger.
"Now we're even." she said with a smile. Gilbert tilted his head, confused, before she spoke again. "What? You scared me so bad when you weren't waking up after you got hurt..." she said, trying to showcase it as a joke, but as she explained it, she didn't feel like it was very funny anymore, and her face and tone of voice showed it. Gilbert now smiled and gave her nose a little kiss.
"Shhh... I think we'll just not try to scare each other like that anymore." he said, to which Shiny nodded and hugged him. Mrs. C cleared her throat, reminding them that they were in quite a bit of company, though Lilly and Tiny were snuggled closely to their respective partners, who were chuckling at Mrs. C.
"SO!" Mrs. C started, getting everyone's attention. "The plan is that Thurston is already on his way to pick up your folks. When they get back, everyone around the boarding platform is going to shout "Congratulations!" as they step off the train. Buddy, Tiny, Shiny, and Don, you are to go on up to them and stand with them. Laura will then sketch a lovely picture of them. After that, I'll be personally taking all of you to a wonderful place for a lovely meal and then I'll be showing you your new home." she said, laying out the plans rather formally. "Any questions?" she asked. Tiny raised her hand and Mrs. C looked at her.
"Will there be fish?" she asked, making Buddy roll his eyes and Mrs. C chuckle.
"Of course there will be fish!" she said happily.
"Hurray! I love fish." Tiny concluded, making Buddy finally laugh. There was a dinging sound and Mrs. C looked up at a clock.
"Oop! That means the Rocket Train is nearly here. Come with me!" she waved as she opened the door and lead the group of youngsters out to the platform.
As Mrs. C lead the youngsters through the station, she also would bark instructions out to the other dinosaurs and non dinosaurs in the station as to where everyone should be standing, mostly with the smaller species out in front with the larger species in back to look over them. As the youngsters kept moving, Tiny was giggling to herself. Buddy looked over at her before finally asking her.
"Tiny? What's so funny?" he said simply. She uncovered her beak and smiled at him.
"Oh, I just thought of something to tell Sonny to surprise him with when they get back." she said, giggling again. Buddy wasn't sure what she could be referring to, but decided to let her plan her own little surprise.
Everyone was set behind the doors of the station and simply waited, leaving the platform clear. Mrs. C had a cloth in one hand as she looked up at a wall mounted clock. There was another chime before she shouted out.
"Okay everyone, here they come! Remember, wait until they step off the train!" Any rabble was silenced as all the troodon, assorted dinosaurs and non dinosaurs waited. The sound of the train on the tracks was rumbling closer and closer before there was the electrical winding down and the screeching of the brakes as the Rocket train pulled into the station. Thurston opened the door to the car as he stepped off, holding it open for the couple who stepped off the train, Sonny with his arm wrapped around Mrs. P as she leaned against him.
"NOW!" Mrs. C shouted. At once, all the doors and windows on the station flew open, fliers jumping through open windows while sauropods reached their heads through them while nearly everyone else ran out of the doors and onto the platform. Laura herself had been hiding behind the station and had run around to the front of it as everyone shouted at once.
"CONGRATULATIONS!" before they devolved into a large cheering crowd. Buddy watched as Mrs. C, wiping her eyes with her little cloth as she sniffled, formally hugged her Son, then her daughter-in-law.
"It's so nice seeing you two together. I can still hardly believe it." she said, her voice cracking as she tried to remain composed, but just couldn't as she watched the couple holding each other. Mrs. C made a gesture with her hand. This was the cue for the four youngsters to step out of the crowd, running up to Sonny and their mother. Mrs. P knelt down and hugged both Shiny and Don while Sonny knelt to hug Buddy, then Tiny. Tiny gripped him a bit harder, prompting him to lift her up in his hands and smile at her, before Buddy heard her finally speak what she wanted to say.
"Welcome home, Dad!" Buddy's heart throbbed hard as things seemed to slow down. She just called him Dad... but, was that okay? Was that right? He looked over at Sonny's face and saw those eyes of his stretched wide with surprise and disbelief. He saw tears starting to run down his face freely and Buddy could clearly tell that she'd just made him incredibly happy, as if something had happened that he never thought WOULD happen. Buddy glanced over at his mother and saw her smiling and shedding tears over Tiny's declaration. Buddy wondered, could he too call him Dad? Sonny looked down at him, those eyes of his filled with such happiness that Buddy could only smile and wag his tail. He watched as Sonny set Tiny down, then pulled him into a hug, the warmth of his chest and the firm grip he had felt comforting, safe, and he had to hug him back, even if the hug was brief before Sonny set him down and hugged Shiny and Don the same way.
"Thank you... Thank you so much..." he said as he scooped Buddy up into his right arm and Tiny into his left, holding them both. Buddy leaned his head against Sonny's vest, still feeling his warmth and that secure comfort. He could hear Mrs. C saying something about holding still, but Buddy had no plans on moving, he just wanted to keep feeling this warm, secure sensation.
Could he call him Dad?
To see him as happy as he was today, Buddy knew he could.
Happy End