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The news of Dusty's death swept quickly among the valley. The reason for it spreading so quickly was not because it was a typical sharptooth attack. Most sharpteeth eat as much as they could without and then leave. But whatever sharptooth did this had swallowed her whole and spat up her entire skeleton in a different location. It was discovered by her old father, Big Daddy. The first to figure out what happened was Petrie. Then he told his friends, who told their folks, who told other dinosaurs in the Great Valley.

Cera was especially hard hit. She and Dusty had gotten close since the day they met. When she found out, she was heartbroken, and not even her father could help her. Littlefoot could only watch sadly as she would sit near the small opening where she had first met Dusty.

One day, Littlefoot decided to approach Cera. Perhaps a little talking will do her some good. It always worked for him, when his grandparents were still alive. But since their death, Littlefoot had grown much more responsible, and could easily look after himself.

As he approached Cera, he could hear her mumbling something as though she were asleep. As he got closer to her, a sudden breeze sent a dead leaf hurling into his face. He yelped in surprise, and the threehorn lifted her light tan head off the ground, and looked to face the young brown longneck.

"What do you want?" She asked huskily, turning her head away.

"I'm...sorry." He croaked.

Cera looked at him sharply. "You? Sorry? About what?"

Littlefoot hesitated. "About Dusty..."

Cera's eyes softened and her frown had disappeared. "Yeah, that's what everyone had told me." The mourning threehorn had gotten support from several other dinosaurs, including her father and Tria, who was now her father's new mate and her new mother. "I just wish I could've done something... I mean... sh-she was my-my best friend..." The threehorn made no attempt to hide the salty tears that now dripped from her green eyes.

"Oh, Cera..." The longneck whispered. "It wasn't your fault..."

"And what makes you think that!" The threehorn suddenly snapped, making the longneck back away a few inches. Littlefoot was startled by her temperature. "If I hadn't gone to that meeting, I could've...I could've saved her..." Cera lowered her head.

Littlefoot tried to approach her again, but Cera just turned around and charged at him. It was only a mock charge, but it was a warning for him to back away. Littlefoot sighed sadly. Cera really was taking this hard, even harder than he and the others were taking it. Littlefoot slowly turned around, and with one last look, he walked back into the forest.

Cera was left alone in the meadow. Her head rested on her front legs, and was tilted sideways. She closed her eyes and started to doze off. The soft grass that brushed against her skin served as a comfort for the inner pain that she was suffering.

About 2 days afterwards, during the middle of the night, Petrie was sitting back up in his nest. His mother, before she died from an illness, had showed him how to weave his own nest that he could sleep in. He was no expert, but it served him well. He laid on his back, wings outstretched to both sides of him, and his mouth was gaping open, tongue hanging out. He breathed in slowly, exhaling quietly.

His expression suddenly changed. Sweat starting dribbling down his face. His eyes were shut tightly suddenly, and his wings wrapped around his body as if trying to save him from some impending danger that could not be seen or heard, but only felt by the soul. "N-No.. No...no..." He stuttered in his sleep. "Me...no...me no... Me no wanna die..."

In his mind, he suddenly found himself in pitch darkness. He could not see anything except for a tall rock. Without thinking he started to fly over it. But as he did so, the rock suddenly dispersed into several large boulders. Screaming, he manuevered quickly to dodge each boulder, barely missing them all by a claw tip.

The boulders finally disappeared. The flyer seemed relieved. But it was short-lived. His mind was filled with horror and dread as he realized that he was flying straight into a sharptooth's mouth! "NO!" He did a backflip in the sky and the mouth snapped shut as he did so.

Petrie could see the grinning mouth of the sharptooth, and he gulped as he stared into the eyes. The red eyes with pupils that narrowed as they stared at him. There was a dribble of saliva that dripped down the predator's mouth. The sharptooth licked his chops and advanced forward.

"I love a snack." It chuckled, a steam of breath nearly causing Petrie to lose control of his flying.

"You no take me!" Petrie declared and he tried to escape.

"Oh, Petrie, you cannot escape me." Petrie's eyes widened with terror. How did he know his name? "None of you can escape..." The chilling haunting voice stuck to his mind and he was so frightened he couldn't even move. He could only watch as the sharptooth's jaws opened up and closed in around him, sentencing him to eternal darkness.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The flyer screamed at the top of his lungs, disturbing a few close neighbors. "Sorry!" He said sheepishly. He heaved in and out, the color drained from his face. He felt his face, making sure he was all there. He looked at his feet. He was still in the nest.

He smiled slightly. "It...it only a dream." He would have been relieved if such an incident did occur. Petrie had an encounter with the sharptooth just the previous day. If it weren't for Cera, he'd be a goner. Cera was extremely hostile towards the sharptooth and somehow managed to strike him in the face. Petrie smirked mentally. That would give him a few nasty scars.

"Hey Petrie?" The flyer yelped and turned around.

"Who's there!" He looked down. "Oh, it only you, Littlefoot."

"Yeah. Anyway, what happened?" He used his head to point south. "I was sleeping over there and I heard you scream. Anything wrong?"

Petrie smiled nervously. "Scream? Me no scream."

Littlefoot narrowed his eyes. "Petrie..."

Petrie's smile faded. "Oh, it only a nightmare, Littlefoot. Me dreamt sharptooth killed me." He hesitated, and then continued. "See, me encounter sharptooth yesterday and..."

"YESTERDAY!" Littlefoot screamed in shock. Petrie gulped, and nodded. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Me no want you to worry."

"A sharptooth has invaded our valley. How can I not worry?" Littlefoot growled softly, but regained his composure. Now was not a good time to get angry. "Well, I'm glad you're okay." As he stomped away back home, he looked back at Petrie. "But Petrie, next time you see that sharptooth, please tell someone about it."

"But Cera knew..." Petrie said sullenly.

"I know, but other dinosaurs have the right to know, Petrie."

"Me understand."

The longneck smiled. "Glad to hear it. Goodnight, buddy."

"Goodnight Littlefoot." Petrie waved Littlefoot goodbye as the longneck returned home to sleep for the rest of the night.

The flyer looked up at the night sky. The twinkling stars filled the skies, and the large moon shone brightly. Suddenly a shooting star whizzed by. Petrie smiled as he watched it go by so fast. He curled up in the middle of his nest, and went back to sleep.

A few hours later, a shadow descended upon the nest. Petrie was in deep sleep and was unaware of what was going on. A pair of eyes glared upon his tiny form.

"And this time...Cera won't be here to save you..." He chuckled, and opened his jaws wide.

As he lunged forward, Petrie turned in his sleep and smiled. "Oh thank you, mama..." He whispered, as a shadow seemed to engulf his body.

---

Far from there, on the edge of a cliff, a jade green fastbiter was looking at the night-starred sky. His turquoise-blue eyes full of a mix of anger and sadness. He didn't noticed the rainbow face aproaching him from behind him.

"Watching the stars again, old friend?" a gentle voice talked from behind him. He quickly turned around to face the silver-pupilled eyes of the rainbow face, an old know of him. "Hi Balcan."

The rainbow face sat by his side and joined him to watching the stars. they sat there in silence for a few minutes before the fastbiter broke the silence with a question. "Why?"

"Huh?" Balcan turned to him.

"Why you came here? Really?"

The aged dino just smiled "I thought that you may wanted a piece of this." he said showing a dead fish that seemed to have been catch very recently. In this moment the fastbiter's stomach growled quite loud, and he just stared back at the rainbow face.

"You already knew, didn't you?"

"You know very well the answer Salen." was all that Balcan answered.

"How can I choose if you already know?" asked the young fastbiter named Salen to the older dino.

"It isn't about making a choice, my dear friend." He wisely retorted "It is about having already made a choice, and now understanding it."

The fastbiter didn't understand the thing, but he just took the fish and started to eat it. Sometimes he thought that the old rainbow face only said things like this to confuse the others. They sat there in silence for a few minutes as the sharptooth ate the fish, when he finished, he turned to the rainbow face again.

"So, what happens now?"

"Well, I think you'll be here for a while, admiring the stars and-" Balcan answered silly but was quickly cut out by Salen. "NO, it wasn't what I meant. I mean, this whole situation, the things that are happening, all the one suffering and dying, and that we keep there without doing nothing." he busted out, then he took a deep breath and questioned again. "What happens now?"

Balcan only looked at his friend, asking himself how much he sold reveal to the young adult. After a few moments of contemplation, he finally spoke "I cannot tell everything to you, and you know this. But here what I can tell you: before the day becomes bright and clear the storm tends to be heavier, and the night is always darker before the dawn."

The fastbiter took a few moments to digest this information, and then spoke "Then, it is going to get worse?"

"The things many times tend to get worse before they actually start to get better. It depends on many things, specially in you, Salen"

The young fastbiter's eyes widened in this comment "ME!?"

"Yes young one, many things part from the choice resigned to you."

The fastbiter keep silence for a few moments then spoke again "So I will decide if things are going to be worse or better?"

"No my friend, you've already made this choice, now you must understand it." the rainbow face started to get up and said more "You can just be yourself and follow your heart, this way, maybe things get better. But, what do I know? I'm just an senile old-man who scares little children." and with this last commentary he walked away, leaving the fastbiter alone with his toughts.