Confrontation of the Lovers
#53 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
Lily was walking back to her hiding place, being very careful with other sharpteeth that could see her and want her as midnight snack. She was indeed both happy and nervous. Happy because Nick had finally decided to runaway with her, search for a good place to raise their family, and nervous because if they were caught... She shuddered at the though. But se would worry about it in time, now she had to get ready for their departure.
Suddenly something appeared in her way coming from the sky, making her scream in surprise. She then saw that it was a sharptooth flyer and the color went away of her face. But then the sharptooth said "My name is Gorjak. Littlefoot send me here." Lily then calmed down, she had heard that the leader of the Great Valley; Littlefoot, was now regrouping the survivors with the help of some sharpteeth.
Gorjak seemed strangely serious when talking to her. "Please follow me". Lily hesitated a little, but tem followed the flyer.
The trip was kinda awkward. The flyer barely talked to her, only talking when she asked him something, an always gave quickly answers. Lily could have though more about the flyer's behavior, but she was busy enough trying to keep his track with the difficult terrain. The went like this for a few minutes when they finally arrived in a cave, so Gorjak landed and signed to Lily to follow him.
She followed him in the cave and then they arrived n the great center. She was surprised to see sharpteeth creatures that resembled longnecks. She had heard of them before and knew what they were. They were alimons, and she knew that they protected the Great Valley, but she had never actually believed them, even less when they didn't stopped the valley from being invaded by crazy sharpteeth.
But there they were, looking at her and whispering among them. Lily was beginning to have a bad feeling about this. She was guided by Gorjak until the center of the place, were there was a great rock. In the rock that was a young adult longneck with two sickleclaws, a longneck that she knew. It was Littlefoot himself. And he did not looked happy.
She stood right there in front of him. Then he lowered his head to her eye level and spoke in a controled voice. "Lily, right?"
She slowly nodded. That longneck's voice was very calm, but there was something in his tone that made she feel very uncomfortable. The longneck raised his heads and spoke to her. "Lily, I'm pretty sure you already know that our situation is delicate. It become like this because of sharpteeth who took our trust only to achieve their goals" he said in a very bittersweet tone "Sharpteeth can be deceitful, and most of them care for none other then their own kind. This is a lesson I learned the hard way."
Lily looked at him "What is your point?" Littlefoot sighed and decided to go straight to the point "Okay Lily, we know about Nick, and don't try to deny it, because we have a very good source." He finished gesturing towards Gorjak. Lily was taken back by this. It took a few moments to her to understand what Littlefoot meant by deceitful, and when she got it she become angry.
How could this longneck judge Nick? He never knew him or meet him before. Who was him to judge? Litlefoot proceeded with his talk.
"Do you have any idea of what you are getting yourself into?"
Lily talked back at him with ferocity "I'm know perfectly sir. I'm living my life with the one that I love." This made the whisper among the alimons grow stronger, but didn't made the longneck's tirade go down. "He is dangerous and surely a liar. He only care for himself like all the others on Chomper's troops..."
At this point Lily simply was to angry to keep quiet. She screamed at the longneck in a way and with an expression that made even the alimons back off a little. "I have been meeting with him for far too long before this war even started! We have been friends for years before we realized that we were in love! During all this time we meet outside the valley and he never ever tried to go inside! Even when the valley was taken he was still seeing me hidden from the others, protecting me, and he never tried to harm me in any way! How do you explain that Littlefoot?"
The Yu and Sandstorm looked at each other. This rainbow face knew how to stand her ground, and plus she had a point. Littlefoot couldn't explain why of this behavior that doesn't fit in Chomper's troops. But the longneck refused to see it and offered his own theory. "He is using you." He warned "He is trying to find out as much of us as he can. He is just trying to help his own kind and he will kill you when he doesn't need you anymore."
"NO! You're wrong!" She exclaimed with tears starting to perk in her eyes "You don't know Nick. He is kind and sweet. He cares for me and for others, and he would never do anything to hurt me."
"Just look at you." Littlefoot said "You are already under his charm."
"Yeah, I am." Lily said "And don't need to worry because we will not be here for your war." She saw the question in the longneck eyes and said "Yes, Nick and I will go away, for a place were we can live happy and in peace. We are going to find up. We will leave this valley, and don't worry because we not plan to come back."
At this point the alimons were all mumbling between them, and Yu and Sandstorm shared another look, this girl had real courage. Littlefoot intervened "Do you really belive him? It's a trap. He is probably waiting with the rest of his pack to have you for dinner."
"I'm leaving now." She said not giving attention at the longneck "Goodbye!"
"Grab her, now!"
At this command one alimon raced forward and took hold of her. "Let me go!" She struggled, but it was fruitless. "Take her to a safe place and keep an eye on her. We cannot afford to lose another of ours." The alimon dragged her as she kept trying to break free.
"You know, Nick told me somethings about Chomper!" Lily screamed as she was dragged "He told me a lot of how he acts. And you know Littlefoot? If you weren't before you are becoming exactly like him now." By hearing this Littlefoot let out a savage roar that made everyone back off "Take her out of my sight right now." Lily was taken away as Littlefoot took his breath again, trying to calm down. No one was trying to get close to him right now. But everyone shared a common though: that maybe Littlefoot was really starting to get more like Chomper.
Nick was walking back at the place ha had come out. The news of a hatchling were a shock to him. He had long discharged the idea of having a child with Lily because they were just too different. It was a great joy to him, but also a real worry. What kind of child it would be? Would be a rainbow face like the mother or a sickleclaw like him? Or a mix of both? What would life be like to this child? What would even happen if anyone discovered of it? All those worries made his head swing.
But he needed to think about one thing at time. Now he had to worry about the trip in front of him. After hearing of the child he finally decided that was better to leave the war right now. He was going back to eat as much as he could to get ready for the long road ahead. He was arriving back late. So no one was suppose to be up until that late.
No one was suppose to be up.
He was greatly surprised when he arrived and faced Red and Jackel right in front of him. Both with a very serious expression. "General Chomper wants to see you." Red said outspoken and in a stern tone "Now!" And with that they went walking through the place.
In several places there were still sharpteeth up. Talking among them. They quickly silenced when Nick passed. Some looked straight at him accusingly, some were still mumbling and pointing to him, some looked at him like he was a being from another world. It went for almost one minute when he finally arrived at a place Chomper was standing with Dark Rex at is side. In his face a nice smile.
"Nick!" He greeted him "One of my most ranked man. How nice that you found time to see me in your life so stirred." His face denoted a happiness, but his tone made a shiver run down Nick' spine.
"What do you mean Sir?" Nick asked "Oh, Nick." Chomper talked "You have a wild life, so full of things to do and dinos to see." Every alarm at Nick's head was ringing now, telling him to turn back and run as fast as he could. Then Chomper continued, turning his back to him "But, after all, you can find a way to do everything, Right? After all..." He turned again to look straight at Nick and finished in a darker tone "Tomorrow can wait for some other day to be."
The alarms stopped, along with Nick's heart. They knew.
Before Nick could run he felt something hit his leg, making him go on his knees, it was Jackel who had kicked him. He barely had time to register it because Red had headbutted him, making he fall flat on the ground. Then the two sickleclaws took hold of his arms, forcing him to get up and to face Chomper again. The smile had leaved the General's face, being replaced by an angry and, why not say, outraged expression.
"Like Sandstorm, Yu and Gorjak weren't bad enough." He talked as he give some steps, closing the distance between him and Nick "Like a few who betray their species for a bunch of leaf eaters weren't already enough, now we have you." He looked at Nick like he was a cockroach that made the place dirtier only with his presence. "You have surpassed all the limits! Having a romance with one of the leaf eaters! Not even the others would go so down! Bravo!" He clapped his hands mocking at the sickleclaw, who only stared back at him.
Chomper then stopped his mocking and come closer, puting his own face a foot from Nick. "But, you could have taken information from her." He talk in a calmer voice "Could it be your plan right? Fooling the sap sucker into giving you things that could be valuable for us." When Nick heard Chomper call Lily of that his eyes burned with anger, but Chomper ignored it "So, you are not a traitor, but a valorous soldier. Now, why don't you prove it and tell us what do you got from the garden gorging?"
After the words "Garden gorging" leaved Chomper's mouth, Nick made the unthinkable to any sharpteeth in the army: He spat in his General. All the sharpteeth around, even the ones holding him gasped as he spat on Chomper's face, hitting his right eye. Dark Rex only raised an eyebrow. The big horned sharptooth tilted his head backwards, hissing angry. There was a dead silence while he used his hand to clean the best he could the spit of his eye. Then he looked back at Nick with a murder look, wich Nick rettributed with anger.
"So." Chomper hissed "You ARE a traitor after all." He looked him straight in the eyes, but didn't saw any sign of fear, which was common when he was angry "And this all for a rainbow face?"
Nick stared back at him "I love her." Was his answer "I love her with all my heart. Do you know what is to love someone more than anything in your life? More than your own life?" He didn't expect an answer "No. I don't think so. Someone like you, so tainted by hate and greed will never understand things like friendship and true love." He finished looking defiantly at the big horned sharptooth "You are incapable of loving Chomper. And for that, I pity you."
Chomper got closer to him in a blink of an eye, to the point where his snout and Nicks were almost touching, he was snarling and all his teeth were bared, like he wanted Nick to see every last of them. But the sickleclaw didn't show any sign of fear, like Chomper was nothing that could really do the bad to him, while the two holding him almost lost their footing by the scare. Chomper was impressed. He really seemed to be very brave in relation with that leaf eater... Then a though crossed his mind. And his bared teeth became a dark grin.
"So. The rainbow face is really important to you? This Leila must be interesting." Chomper said turning away from him. Nick corrected "Lily. Her name is Lily."
Chomper only chuckled while walked away from him "Lily. I want to know her." Nick's eyes went wide "I wanna see what on her called your attention. I can invite her to come have a dinner with me. As main plate."
Nick snarled furiously. He headbutted Red and threw Jackel on the ground, freeing himself from them. Then he went to Chomper claws stretched and teeth bared for fight. But before he could make contact with the General, Dark Rex put himself in the middle, headbutting him and sending him reeling in the ground. Nick spat some blood, the attack had fractured two, maybe three of his ribs. Chomper only chuckled at his attempt to attack him.
As Nick was picked up by Red and Jackel again, then Chomper said "Take him out of my sight. He is yours for now, but don't kill him, I want him alive to see me rip out the guts of his precious rainbow face." Nick snarled again at Chomper, struggling as he was dragged "Don't you dare touching Lily you bastard!" Nick screamed at Chomper "If you lay one claw on her you will regret for the rest of your short, miserable life! Are you hearing me!?".
As Nick was taken Chomper only sighed. "I work hard, hard and hard to make everything works and I get disappointment as reward." He then looked at Rex "It seems that you have to be careful by chosing who to trust." Dark Rex only nodded "Okay, but we have the problem now of the information lost." Chomper knew he was talking about the information that Nick must had given to the leaf eater "We have no real way to know how much he told her, so we must first presume that they know everything."
Chomper knew this, but he only laughed "Yeah, and so? We should presume this as well when Yu showed his true colors. But now we have such an advantage that this don't make any difference." He turned to his troops "It doesn't matter how much the enemy knows, because we have already won this war. This valley will be ours!" He was greeted with many roars of approval from the sharpteeth.
Between then were Blueye and Sylvia, both looked since the beginning the whole scene. Blueye had a very revolted look. "Bah. Having a romance with an enemy. Nick was worse than the other traitors. I must say that he could be even worse than your father, Sylvia." Once again, like many other times in the past, Blueye failed in notice the heavy expression of her daughter.
Lily was now in a rock room. It was large enough o her to walk around a little. the entrance was sealed with a rock. In the ceiling was a rustic window that let the air and the moonlight in. Lily could try to climb to go through it, but if she fall it could damage the egg inside of her, and it was a risk she was not willing to take. She was now sitting in the ground, moonlight shinning over her. In her hands there were two white and red flowers, that she found growing in the ground of the room when she was pushed in.
(The song here is Love Will Find a Way, from Lion King 2; Disney)
She looked at the two flowers in her hands. Identical to the flower that Nick gave to her in the day he told her his feelings. Her thoughts went to him. Wondering why the others couldn't see the beauty of their union. Then she sang "In a perfect world, one we've never know, we would never need to face the world alone." She looked through the opening, to the moonlight, and sang with all her heart, like somehow her voice could go to Nick "They can have the world, we will create our own. I may not be brave or strong or smart, but somewhere in my secret heart."
She was not in the room anymore, now she was on an open field, with the moon and the stars over her "I know love will find a way. Anywhere I go I'm home if you're beside me." She sang with all her heart, with all her feelings "Like dark turning into day. Somehow we will come through, now that I found you. Love will find a way."
Back on the sharpteeth terrain, inside a cave, was Nick. His hands and legs had been tied to a boulder, making him unable to move or escape. He had gashes and bruises all over his body due to have been Red and Jackel's personal punching bag in the last hour. His head was lowered, but his spirit was not broken yet. His thoughts went to Lily. Her memory gave him strength, he raised his heads and sang "I was so afraid. Now I realize: love is never wrong, so it never dies"
Then suddenly he wasn't on the cave anymore, he was in an open field with the night sky over his head, right in front of him, a few feet away, was Lily. He smiled and sang "There is a perfect world shining in your eyes." And as they walked to one another they sang together "And if only they could feel it too, the happiness I feel with you."
They reached for one another and took their hands together, Nick taking hold of one of the flowers Lily had as they sang "They'd know love will find a way. Anywhere we go we are home, if we're there together." They looked deep inside one another eyes as they sang their heart's out "Like dark turning into day, somehow we will come through. Now that I found you love will find a way."
They shared the last moments together as they sang "I know love will find a way."
Lily opened her eyes again, she was back in the rock room. In her and there was only one flower.
Nick opened his eyes to find that he was once more tied to the boulder. His head fell from fatigue. In his right hand was one of the white and red flowers Lily was holding.