Lost Into the Past Chapter 13
#13 of Lost Into The Past || A Dinosaur Train Fanfiction
Here's the next chapter! It's somewhat shorter than previous chapters, but I still tried my best with it!
Chapter 13: The Choice
"Uncle Thurston! Uncle Thurston!" Nathan exclaimed as he hopped on the bed excitedly, trying to wake Thurston up. The sleeping Troodon stirred from his slumber, mumbling as he rubbed his eyes.
"Mm...? What...?" He muttered tiredly as he yawned and blinked a few times, his vision clearing up a bit. "Oh, good morning Nathan." He greeted, sitting up and stretching, the feathers on his head were quite unkempt, on account of just waking up.
"Good morning!" Nathan exclaimed with excitement. For some reason he had a lot of energy today, he felt like he could bounce around the room like a rubber ball!
Thurston chuckled upon seeing Nathan's mood. "You're in a good mood today." He commented, patting the young troodon's head as he got out of bed.
"Mhm!" Nathan gave a firm nod as he excitedly got out of bed too.
"Well it's good to hear that you're happy." Thurston replied as he stood up and gave a stretch, putting his conductor outfit on.
"Uncle Thurston? Why are you putting on your conductor outfit?" Nathan asked, tilting his head curiously.
"Well, I need to perform routine maintenance on the Rocket Train, I must ensure that it's running properly and such." He explained as he put his hat on and adjusted it slightly. "While I don't get many passengers, I still have to be a good conductor and make sure everything's in tip-top shape."
"Ooo! Cool!" Nathan exclaimed, giving a big smile. Thurston chuckled as he continued to speak.
"On top of that, I also have to..." He stopped for a moment, his expression falling a bit. "...Bring you back to Sonny boy." He said, seemingly a bit disappointed.
Nathan felt sorry for Thurston, he seemed pretty hesitant about saying goodbye to Nathan so soon. "Well, it's not like we won't see each other again!" He tried to reassure Thurston.
Thurston's smile came back to him as he nodded. "Right!" He exclaimed. "Tell you what, whenever the Dinosaur Train is stopped at Troodon Town Station, I'll always be there to greet you." Thurston said with a smile, placing a hand on Nathan's head and ruffling his feathers.
"Really?!" Nathan asked excitedly. Thurston nodded in response. "Okay! It's a promise then!" Nathan added with a bright smile.
Thurston chuckled at Nathan's enthusiasm. "Sounds good... Now come along, let's go eat something." He said as he walked off. Nathan followed him closely.
After the pair ate, Thurston had taken Nathan to the Rocket Train, deciding to let Nathan watch the maintenance being performed. It seemed to simply be a routine checklist. Make sure the engine is performing well, ensure that its functions such as starting and breaking were working, among other things. Any normal kid might get bored, but Nathan found the process interesting to watch.
Thurston glanced over to the young troodon as he worked. "You... Aren't bored watching this?" He asked, slightly confused.
"Uh-uh! I think it's cool!" Nathan replied with a smile.
"Cool, huh... Yeah, I guess it is pretty... Cool." He said with a laugh.
"Uncle Thurston? Whatcha wanna do after this?" Nathan asked m, tilting his head. Thurston hummed to himself as he thought about it.
"Well," He stood up straight and rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. "I'm all done with the maintenance, so what say we go for a walk? You can explore Troodon Town while we wait for Sonny boy. Sound good?" He asked. Nathan gasped and nodded excitedly.
"Yeah!" Nathan exclaimed. Thurston smiled and took the young troodon's hand before walking off.
"There's a nice view at the river cross by the station that we can go to." Thurston suggested. Nathan gave another excited nod as they walked towards the river cross.
It didn't take too long for them to get to the river cross. Nathan stared out at the view, he could see the train station, and several dinosaurs from all the way up there! There was also a waterfall behind them from where they stood. "This view is great!" Nathan exclaimed. "Thanks for taking me up here!" He said with a smile.
"Anytime, Nathan." Thurston replied, chuckling a bit. Although a frown soon occupied his once smiling face as he sighed. Nathan narrowed his eyes seeing this.
_Hm, what do I say to lift his spirits...? _Nathan pondered. It didn't take long before he came up with an idea... An idea that Mr. Conductor wouldn't like, but... "Uncle Thurston? What if you come with me and stay on the Dinosaur train for a bit? If you're not ready to say goodbye yet, then we can still spend time together." He suggested. Thurston's eyes widened upon hearing such a suggestion. "You wouldn't have to worry about running any trains or conducting either! You'd be a passenger!"
Thurston thought over this idea. It's true, he wouldn't have to worry about his conducting responsibilities, and he'd get to stay with Nathan longer, but... He knew Mr. Conductor wouldn't be too fond of that idea... Then again, it'll also take a lot off of Mr. Conductor's shoulders for a little longer... "Hmm, perhaps I'll run it by ol' Sonny boy and see what he thinks..." He said with a nod.
"Really?! Okay!" Nathan said with a bright smile. As if on cue, he heard the whistle of the Dinosaur train and saw it chugging down the tracks towards the roundhouse. "That's Mr. Conductor! Come on! Let's go greet him!" He exclaimed. Thurston smiled seeing Nathan so excited. He reached down and lifted Nathan up, deciding to give him a piggyback ride the whole way to the Dinosaur train.
"Onwards! Toooooo the Dinosaur train!" Thurston exclaimed. Honestly, it felt a bit weird saying that, but he continued on anyways.
Mr. Conductor left the train car and glanced around for Thurston and Nathan. "I'd imagine they'll be here soon..." He muttered. Mrs. Conductor walked out from behind him.
"I'm sure they will! I bet Nathan's just clamorin' to see ya again, Sonny boy!" She exclaimed with a laugh. Mr. Conductor laughed with her, nodding a bit.
"Yeah, I can imagine that." He said. As he stood waiting, he heard the familiar voice of Thurston calling out.
"Hello, Sonny boy!" He exclaimed cheerfully, a tone Mr. Conductor was not used to. Glancing around, he saw a scene that left him quite dumbfounded. Thurston was willingly giving Nathan a piggyback ride.
"Wh...erm, h-hello, Thurston...?" He greeted in shock. Mrs. Conductor was also a bit taken aback, albeit she was more impressed with Thurston though. "You seem... Different." Mr. Conductor commented. Not only was his attitude different, but the overall air about him had completely changed!
"Hi, Mr. Conductor!" Nathan exclaimed as Thurston approached with him, setting Nathan on the ground as the young troodon ran up to Mr. Conductor excitedly.
"O-Oh! Hello Nathan...! H-How was your time with Thurston...?" He asked, still shocked by everything.
"It was great! I missed you a lot, but I had tons of fun with Uncle Thurston too!" He replied. This comment absolutely floored Mr. Conductor.
"U...Uncle Thurston?!" He asked, his eyes widening further.
"Mhm! He even took care of me when I ended up getting sick!" Nathan added. Mr. Conductor slowly looked over to Thurston, completely speechless.
Mrs. Conductor soon butted in. "Well, Thurston, I'm impressed! You seemed to have learned a lot from this experience!" She praised him for a bit.
Thurston laughed a bit. "Thanks, but it wasn't that impressive. It was quite difficult grasping everything actually, but I managed." He said modestly, rubbing his head a bit.
_W...WHAT?! Thurston is never THIS modest about... ANYTHING! _Mr. Conductor thought to himself. Taking care of Nathan must've really changed him...
"Actually, I would like to ask if I would be able to accompany Nathan for a bit on the train..." He said, smiling nervously. "I'm... Honestly not quite ready to say goodbye to him yet." He added. "Plus, it could take a load off of Sonny boy if I'm there to watch Nathan "
"I... Wh... Huh...?!" Mr. Conductor finally spoke up, processing Thurston's request. Mrs. Conductor was quick to nod in response.
"That's fine with me, Thurston!" She exclaimed, looking over to Mr. Conductor. "Is it okay with you, Sonny boy?" She asked. Mr. Conductor blinked a few times and tried to regain composure somewhat.
"Y...Yeah, okay... Sure..." He said, letting Thurston and Nathan board the train. Mr. Conductor watched as they entered the train, before looking to Mrs. Conductor. "I... Nathan's really taken a liking to Thurston it seems..." He said.
"It's definitely surprising, but it's good that Thurston was able to handle Nathan!" Mrs. Conductor replied with a smile. Mr. Conductor was still unsure of how to process this.
"U-Um..." He stammered for a second, clearing his throat as he announced. "All aboard!" As the train soon began to chug along.
Thurston definitely felt... Weird being on the Dinosaur train like this. He was always used to racing the Dinosaur train, it was so strange just riding it normally as a passenger
Right now he was following Nathan around and keeping a close eye on the young one, Nathan had quite a bit of excess energy at the moment, so he was running around the train with tons of excitement because of that. It was a miracle Thurston could even keep up. Currently, he had followed the young troodon to one of the passenger cars.
Nathan ran up to Thurston excitedly, a bright smile on his face. "Uncle Thurston!" He called out. Thurston chuckled and knelt down to his height.
"Yes, Nathan?" He asked with a smile.
"You're enjoying yourself, right?" He asked curiously, tilting his head. This question genuinely surprised Thurston. He wasn't expecting that at all. He had to admit though, he was enjoying himself more than he expected.
"Well, yeah. I guess I am." He said. Nathan looked happy to hear him say that.
Mr. Conductor was watching them a little ways away, he looked a bit... Sad. Letting out a sigh, he slumped over and went back to work. He traveled between each train car, making sure that everything was in order, he had a lot on his mind though. Seeing Thurston getting along with Nathan this well was a bit strange to him. Not only that, Thurston was doing surprisingly well at being Nathan's caregiver. He learned how to take care of a child in only a few weeks, it certainly was hard to accept.
Regardless, he decided to focus on his conducting job for now. "As soon as I have time, I'm gonna spend it with Nathan." He said to himself, nodding silently to himself.
Things were quite busy on the train, so it was a miracle that Mr. Conductor was able to get any semblance of free time, he partially had his mother to thank, she could tell Mr. Conductor really wanted to spend some time with Nathan, so she helped lighten some of the load, although he only had a little bit of free time, so he didn't wanna waste any of it.
He was walking around and looking for wherever Nathan was as quick as he could. Unsurprisingly, he was with Thurston. The two were in the dining car, enjoying some food as Mr. Conductor approached. "Hello, you two!" He greeted in his usual tone.
Nathan was gnawing on some carrion when he saw Mr. Conductor. This naturally caused him to stop and look at him. "Hi, Mr. Conductor!" He greeted with a bright smile.
"Hello, Sonny boy!" Thurston greeted as well, giving him a wave as he enjoyed his own food.
Mr. Conductor decided to cut to the chase with Thurston. With how he was feeling, he'd rather not have to beat around the bush. "Thurston, I myself would like to spend time with Nathan, if you don't mind. I haven't done that in a while, after all." He explained.
Thurston's smile fell a bit, but he nodded in understanding. "R-Right, of course... You two haven't spoken lately, after all." He said hesitantly, getting up from the booth. "If you need me, just come find me..." He said as he walked off, leaving Nathan and Mr. Conductor to themselves.
Mr. Conductor smiled and sat down with Nathan. "So, Nathan! How are ya doing?" He asked cheerfully.
Nathan tilted his head for a brief moment. _You didn't have to push Thurston away just to spend time with me... _He thought to himself. He decided to keep it to himself for now, it was probably a one time thing. Looking back to Mr. Conductor, he gave a smile back. "I'm doing great, Mr. Conductor!" He exclaimed.
"That's wonderful, Nathan! I'm glad to hear it!" He replied.
"How about you, Mr. Conductor? Are you doing okay?" Nathan asked sincerely, narrowing his eyes a bit. Mr. Conductor did note how sincere Nathan sounded, especially when he asked. He seemed genuinely concerned for him.
"Why, I'm feeling pretty good right now!" He said, chuckling a bit. "All that time I spent focusing on conducting really helped me out! Although, I uhh, I still missed ya."
Nathan giggled when he heard that. "I missed you too, Mr. Conductor! Uncle Thurston did a great job keeping me company though!" He exclaimed with a bright smile.
"R-Right, I'm glad to hear that." Mr. Conductor replied. "So, is there anything you'd like to do, Nathan?" He asked, smiling softly as the young troodon.
"I'm fine just talking with you! I always enjoyed talking before!" He exclaimed with a bright smile. Mr. Conductor just laughed and nodded.
"All right then, we can talk." He said, the two then started chatting about various things and just enjoying themselves.
It was quite fun talking to Mr. Conductor again, but it unfortunately didn't last too long since he had a job to do, so Nathan was with Thurston again soon enough. Which the young troodon didn't mind too much.
Right now, Thurston was hanging out in the caboose with Nathan. Thurston never liked dealing with exceptionally large crowds all at once sometimes, so he staying in the caboose away from everyone seemed like the better option to him.
Nathan was currently staring off into space, lost in thought. He honestly completely forgot about a lot of his worries during everything that happened, but he still needed to think about all that, he needed to figure out how to get home... But...
On one hand, it'd suck leaving all this behind... Paleontology was his childhood, and it's his passion... And pursuing paleontology in the prehistoric era sounds like a dream come true! He could learn so many things! Especially since every creature could talk!
On the other hand though... Could he really abandon his old life and start anew here? His old life wasn't exactly the best, after all... He went through so much, dealt with a lot of bad... And his family...
He shuddered when the thought of his family came up... His mother was never super supportive of his career choice, hell she never really showed that she cared at all. And he's also had to deal with...
His thoughts came to a halt when he tried thinking further, everything inside him was telling him to stop... He felt his breathing falter a moment, his pupils going small for a moment.
"Nathan? Is everything okay?" Thurston asked in concern.
"I'm... I'm fine." Nathan replied, cringing a bit. His anxiety was already going crazy, he had to seriously try and keep himself from having a panic attack now...
Thurston wasn't really buying Nathan's reply. "You sure? You look quite pale... You aren't getting sick again, are you?" He asked.
"n..." Nathan couldn't get a word out. He started hugging himself and shaking. "I-I..." His breathing started picking up as he stared at the floor. Thurston's eyes went wide as he stood up and went over to Nathan.
"N-Nathan?" He called out, but got no response. The young troodon was clearly having some sort of panic attack. "O-Oh my, w-what do I do here...?!" He said in a panic. He never expected someone as young as Nathan to be having some panic attack. "I-I gotta get Mr. Conductor...!" He said quickly. "Stay right here, Nathan! I-I'll be right back!" He exclaimed as he rushed off to try and find Mr. Conductor.
He rushed from train-car to train-car, desperately looking for Mr. Conductor. Of course, he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ran _right _into someone. "A-Ack...!" Sorry, I-..." He cut himself off, seeing that it was the Troodon he was looking for. "O-Oh!" He said.
"Hnn, Thurston, watch where you're going. You could seriously hurt someone...!" He scolded lightly.
"N-Now's not the time! I need your help, Sonny!" He exclaimed, using Mr. Conductor's _real _name.
Seeing the panicked look on Thurston's face, along with hearing him use Mr. Conductor's actual name on it's own instead of "Sonny boy" or "Mr. Conductor" was enough to get him listening. "W-What is it, Thurston...?!" He asked, his eyes widening.
"I-It's Nathan...!" Thurston replied. Before he could even explain the situation, Mr. Conductor grabbed Thurston's shoulders and pulled him up to his face.
"W-What about Nathan?! What's going on, Thurston?! Tell me!" He shouted, panic filling him.
"J-Just come on!" Thurston exclaimed as he yanked Mr. Conductor to the caboose. When they arrived, Mr. Conductor saw the state Nathan was on and immediately rushed to his side.
"B-Bless my scales and feathers! He's having a panic attack!" He shouted in concern.
"I-I didn't know what to do, so I thought I'd find you, since you tend to be better around kids, a-and you seem always know what to do as well, a-and... Well, I panicked!" Thurston exclaimed as he stared at Nathan.
Mr. Conductor gently grabbed Nathan's shoulder. "Nathan, look at me." He said calmly. The young troodon slowly looked up at Mr. Conductor, there were tears streaking down the young ones face. "Take deep breathes, okay? Everything's just fine." He spoke soft words to him.
Thurston bit his lip, he felt so useless just standing and watching. After a moment, he walked over to the other side of Nathan in an attempt to help him calm down. He took the young troodon's small hand in his own and held it tightly. "Nathan, just... Just take a deep breath, okay?" He said, trying his hardest to keep calm. Nathan looked over to Thurston, his breathing started to slow down hearing the two Troodon comforting him and seeing them there. It made him feel safer.
"M-Mr. Conductor... U-Uncle Thurston..." He called out, sniffling as tears kept falling.
"We're here, Nathan..." Mr. Conductor said as he glanced at Thurston. "Both of us." He added. Nathan nodded as he looked at Mr. Conductor and outstretched his arms, Mr. Conductor wrapped his arms around Nathan and held him close before standing up with the young one in his arms. He glanced at Thurston as he held the young troodon. "Did you really mean that Thurston? About me seeming like I always know what to do?" He asked curiously.
"U-Umm, well..." Thurston blushed a bit and looked away, seemingly a bit embarrassed. "Y...Yeah, I did mean that..." He rubbed his arm sheepishly.
"Thurston, you're giving me too much credit, you know." Mr. Conductor replied. "I don't always know what to do. Heck, when it came to handling Nathan, well, it was a mix of experience with other kids, and winging it." He explained with a chuckle.
"Huh... That's surprising..." Thurston replied, folding his arms as he looked at Mr. Conductor with a surprised expression.
"Y'know..." Mr. Conductor began, smiling softly at Thurston. "Taking care of Nathan really _did _change you..." Thurston never really thought about it before, honestly, but...
"I... Guess you're right..." He said, smiling softly at Mr. Conductor.
Mr. Conductor glanced down at Nathan. "Are you okay?" He asked the young troodon.
Nathan wanted to reassure Mr. Conductor that he was fine... But he didn't want to lie. Nathan shook his head as he buried his face into Mr. Conductor's chest, holding back tears. "n-no..." He said, sniffling as he was trying to compose himself.
"Nathan..." Mr. Conductor said softly as he tried his best to calm the young one down.
"Try rocking him." Thurston suggested out of the blue, causing Mr. Conductor to stare at him in shock. "What? I read a few parenting books, I have somewhat of a grasp on taking care of kids now." He added, folding his arms. Mr. Conductor quickly recovered from his shock and tried what Thurston suggested. And as he said, it seemed to work fairly well. "Has this happened before, Sonny...?" Thurston asked in concern.
"It's sad to say, but yes... And I'm still unsure what's causing them... It's really worrying seeing someone this young having panic attacks like this..." Mr. Conductor said, narrowing his eyes as he held Nathan close.
"Y-Yeah..." Thurston said. "What do you think happened?" He couldn't help but ask.
Mr. Conductor shrugged slightly. "Wish I knew..." He said, looking back down at Nathan. "I think for now, my best option is to help him feel better, and make sure he stays that way." He added. Mr. Conductor noticed that Nathan was sleeping at this point. Slowly, he handed Nathan off to Thurston. "I'll need someone to keep an eye on him while I work, so here..." He said.
Thurston slowly took Nathan into his arms, smiling a bit. "Will do." He said.
As Nathan's mind cleared, he was certain of one thing... He had to make a choice, and he had to make it soon... He couldn't just keep thinking about it and holding it off... He needed to stop being indecisive...
This may very well be the hardest choice he's ever had to make...
And that's it for this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this one! It's a teensy bit shorter than the other chapters, but I still did my best here! We're pretty much nearing the end of this story, it's exciting, but also a bit sad.
Anywho, thanks so much for reading! I'll see you guys in the next chapter!