It seemed like a day like any other in the Cretaceous period. In the wilds, dinosaurs fought for survival, while in more civilized areas, predator and prey mingled without fear, exchanging stories and spending time together.
This day would end in a horrifying manner.
---
Mr. Conductor, the troodon, looked at himself in the standing mirror. He straightened his vest, brushed his feathers on his head before neatly placing his hat over them and straightening it. He then gave himself a sharp toothed smile and a thumbs up to looking sharp. He paused a moment to look at his hand. It was interesting; it was only a few generations ago that his species didn't have palms, much less a thumb of any sort. As he looked in the mirror, a brief thought of the time tunnels ran through his head. Did they happen to speed up evolution? Did they have any effect other than being a simple gateway? He knew that Buddy, the young T Rex, often felt sickly when going through the tunnel, as did a few others. Even Shiny, his sister, (who happened to be a pteranodon), was extremely scared any time they were in a tunnel. He knew his species could make time tunnels and went so far as to make a vehicle that could pass through them. Heck, they had made a great deal many inventions, from a zeppelin to a submarine. The very concept of predators and prey species being able to have safe areas where predation wasn't a threat, and they could in fact mingle peacefully (sometimes intimately) was incredible to think about. Towns and cities were made, it was mind boggling.
"Ready to go, uncle?" chirped a small voice, which made Mr. C jump a moment as he snapped out of his thoughts and looked over his shoulder to see his nephew Gilbert, dressed in a similar vest and cap. A smile crossed Mr. C's face; Gilbert was growing into a fine young conductor. Even if Mr. C didn't have any kids of his own to take over the position, he knew Gilbert would be a perfect candidate.
"Indeed I am, Gilbert! Lets get going, the trains aren't going to move themselves!" he said in a proud tone he was famous for.
He just had no idea what a rough ride he was in for.
---
The day was fairly typical at the start, though Mr. C felt something was "off". Just a hunch and nothing more than a passing thought, really, but it still pestered him now and then. Gilbert was quite the help with the tickets as there were a fair few families in the cretaceous who wanted to visit other time zones, either to see friends, family, or performances.
After picking up the passengers from one station in the cretaceous and starting the train forward, the entire atmosphere seemed to change, and everyone felt it. Mr. C was standing in the engine with the engineer when it happened. Despite it being mid day, there was a bright flash that lit up everything. Everyone only had a moment to look to the sky to see a ball of fire moving at absurd speeds before it slammed into the earth. It was at that point that Laura, the giganotosaurus in the observation car, started bellowing her warning roar. Looking out a window, Mr. C couldn't see any impact point, but he did see something equally as horrifying; the shockwave. Trees were ripped from the ground, hills and mountains alike were pulverized, and any poor soul caught in it was either tossed like a rag doll, vaporized in a flash of heat, or sometimes both. Cupping his hands around his face, he started yelling down the train.
"Everyone, get your limbs inside the cars and hang on tight!" he yelled as he turned to tell the engineer to speed the train up, when the wind preceding the shockwave hit the train, rocking it slightly and sending an intensely hot burst of air through the windows. Mr. C looked up to find that the engineer was now on the floor, a rock the size of a gourd having smashed his head, he never even knew what hit him. At that moment, Gilbert had entered the engine car, tears in his eyes, wide with panic as he sought his uncle, his best source of comfort, only to find the engineer dead on the floor. Gilbert froze as Mr. C looked at the controls then at Gilbert. If he didn't speed the train up, everyone would die, but his paternal instincts were screaming at him to protect Gilbert. Making the best choice he could, he dashed to the console, leaping over the body of the engineer, and cranked the lever, maximizing the train's speed. The steel wheels sparked and screeched on the tracks as they got closer and closer to the time tunnel. As they did so, he heard a shriek through the howling wind. He turned back to Gilbert, but only saw him laying in a pool of his own blood. Horrified, Mr. C leapt over to him and covered his body with his own. He didn't know what exactly happened, but if the ever increasing cuts and bashes to his own skin were any indication, he could guess. There was a sudden change in the atmosphere again as the train was surrounded by lights and the horrifying howling stopped.
The train had made it to the time tunnel. Next stop, the Jurassic period.
As the lights faded, Mr. C got up and slowed the train down as they approached a station. He knew they could get some medical attention there, as well as determine what exactly happened. There was a crackling of rock as he looked out from the train and saw that the time tunnel had collapsed inside, evidently the disaster on the other side strong enough to have destroyed it, or at least bury it. He looked back at Gilbert and gently knelt next to his unmoving body, tears in his eyes.
"We made it, little guy... we're safe..." he said, not knowing if he could be heard.
---
Mrs. Pteranodon had been on a nature walk in the Jurassic with her three biological children, Tiny, Shiny, and Don. They had come to learn about a few plants in this time. Buddy, the adopted T Rex, had wanted to pass up the opportunity to visit this time period, wanting instead to spend some 1 on 1 time playing with his "dad", Mr. Pteranodon.
Mrs. P's head snapped up as there was incredibly loud commotion near the train station. Getting a bad feeling, she gathered her kids and told them to follow her. Upon getting to the station, she found it in utter chaos; many dinosaurs were covered in soot and had small and large wounds from flying debris, they were talking in panicked, worried tones to one another, and the train it's self looked like it had partially been set on fire, so black and charred it was.
Several troodon were trying to get everyone to calm down, including the one they personally knew as Mr. Conductor. Mrs. P landed at the station and as soon as she did, Mr. C turned to her, his eyes widening as he ran to her and her kids before rushing them all to some foliage behind the back of the station.
Before anyone could speak, Mr. C hugged Mrs. P very tightly. She let out a surprised squawk as he held her before he let go and grabbed all three kids, hugging them all tightly, who in turn wriggled and squirmed uncomfortably before he set them down.
"Mister Conductor, would you PLEASE tell us what is going on?" Mrs. P said in a tone that was as worried as she was shocked. "Did the dinosaur train catch on fire or something?" she asked. Mr. C was breathing hard and unbuttoned the top button of his vest before he took off his hat.
"As much as it pains me to say this, I WISH that was what happened..." he said. The kids looked on with worried expressions while Mrs. P looked at him with an expecting gaze. "I wanted you away from the crowd to prevent panic from setting in, but I can't tell you how glad I am that you and your kids are in the Jurassic." he said, taking a deep breath to steady himself. "We troodon aren't completely certain but... We're starting to agree that an Asteroid impacted the earth in the late Cretaceous." The kids shivered slightly, not fully understanding what it would mean, but were scared. Mrs. P on the other hand grew very pale.
"What... what does that mean? What has happened to the time period? To our home?!" she asked, her voice raising as her own panic set in. Mr. C cringed and rubbed his arm.
"Think of it being like a forest fire, a tornado, a hurricane, and an earthquake all in one, but so big it covers the world..." he said as his tone dropped off. "Lots of dinosaurs didn't make it out of the time period in time. We're lucky we got the train out..." he said as he sniffled at the idea of so many faces he'd never see again, many being ones he worked with on a daily basis. The image of the driver standing one moment, then laying on the floor of the engine raced through his head for a moment.
Tiny, Shiny, and Don moved closer to their mother as Mrs. P's breathing got heavier and her eyes remained wide.
"We... we lost friends?" Tiny said, saying it in a simple yet completely true way. Mr. C nodded.
"We lost food and our home?" Don asked, Mr. C nodding again.
"Did... did we lose Gilbert?" Shiny asked. Mr. C didn't move. "... Mister Conductor?" she asked.
"Gilbert... got hurt." he said. It was at this point that the family noticed that Mr. C had a fair few cuts along his body, though he didn't react to them. "His... tail... and left leg got hit with flying debris... I tried to cover his body as best as I could as I made sure we got through the time tunnel." he said, looking up with tears in his eyes, but a smile. "His leg is broken and half his tail got cut off..." he said as he suddenly spilled what he knew. "Bled pretty bad but I bandaged him up... he's... alive and resting... but I don't know if he'll recover." he said. Shiny, for once, didn't seem so Shiny anymore as she paled.
There was silence for a moment before Mrs. P spoke.
"Where is Buddy and my husband?" she asked in a tone that was seemingly calm, but laced with stress. Suddenly the three siblings eyes shot wide as the rush of what happened suddenly reminded them that they were short two family members. Mr. C wouldn't lift his head or speak. All at once, Mrs. P's composure shattered as she grabbed Mr. C by the collar of his vest with enough strength to lift him off the ground before she slammed his back into the rear wall of the building connected to the train station. "WHERE IS MY HUSBAND AND MY SON?!" she shrieked at him with her blood on fire in a fit of rage. Mr. C's eyes were wide as he grimaced, looking into her sharp eyes as she very much possibly had murder on the mind if he didn't speak.
"I-I don't know! They weren't on the train when I came through the tunnel!" he yelped out. "They-they might have been on the train before I was conducting today, but I honestly don't know!" he said. Mrs. P kept glaring at him as she pressed on his collar against his neck, making him start to sputter and cough.
The very idea that her husband and son were gone snapped her mind. Her reasoning had fled her and she felt she needed to make someone... ANYONE, held accountable for it. She squeezed his neck tighter, her close proximity to him rendering his wriggling legs useless as his hands struggled, gripping on top of her own as the color was draining from his face as he continued sputtering as tears rolled down his cheeks.
It seemed that she was set on killing him right there when a small hand touched her side. She looked down at what it was, seeing Tiny, who looked back up into the narrow eyed, vengeful expression of her mother, shying away.
"S-stop please... he didn't do anything..." she said in her small, meek voice.
Seeing her own daughter terrified of her brought her back to her senses as she blinked a few times and looked back up into her hands, seeing Mr. C weakly still grabbing at her hands, most of the color having washed from his face. In a moment of shock, she let go of him and stepped back, Mr. C dropping to his hands and knees, coughing hard and taking in sharp breaths of air.
"I... I don't know what I... oh I'm so sorry!" she said as she stumbled over words, trying to assist Mr. C up to his feet, who actually put an arm around her as she helped lift him up.
"It *COUGH* it's all right! Y-you're a worried mother!" he sputtered, coughing as he slowly got to his feet with her help, slowly regaining his breath. "Honestly, I wanted to strangle me too when I saw how bad Gilbert was hurt..." he said. "But, for now, your family better get comfy in the Jurassic time period." he said as he managed to stand up the rest of the way on his own before putting his hat back on and straighten up his vest, looking at least a little presentable as the color slowly returned to his face.
"What's going to happen now?" Don asked.
"Well," Mr. C started. "We're probably going to make some accommodations for the dinosaurs not normally from this time... but there is also going to be a lot of hard work ahead... Troodon town was in the Cretaceous and most of my people and the technology we used is still on the other side..." he was quiet again. "if... if they were far enough from the impact point of the asteroid, they might be safe enough that they could try to open the time tunnels on their side... but we'll have to do our best from this side as well." he said
"Wait, where's Gilbert?" Shiny called out. It was no surprise to any of them; her adoration of the conductor's nephew was more than obvious, and he evidently shared the affection for Shiny, species differences be damned.
"Gilbert is inside the train station at the moment." he smiled slightly. "I'm sure he'd like to get a visit from you... all of you." he said. Shiny practically lit up and Mrs. P smiled slightly. "Just follow me."
The group followed the conductor back around to the front of the station as a handful of troodon were helping tend to injuries of the passengers while trying to quell the panic in several others. One who was laying down on her belly near the station was Laura, the giganotosaurus. The family gasped as they saw that the left side of her face was burned and her eye socket was bleeding, her eye badly damaged from burn and debris. She flinched every time the troodon attendee rubbed the leaf mixed ointment on her wounds. Mr. C caught the family staring.
"It only makes sense that she got pretty badly hurt. Since she's so big and her head sits higher than the car she's in." he said as he guided the family over to the right side of her head. Her eye was open, but she blinked several times as the pteranodon family walked close.
"Mrs. Pteranodon! Pteranodon family! I'm so glad you're safe!" she said, her thick argentine accent warbling slightly. Tiny, Shiny, and Don all waddled up and hugged the good part of her face, to which she leaned against them slightly before pulling back. "Where is Buddy?" she asked.
"He's... probably... still at home..." Mrs. P said, rubbing a wing as she looked down. "With his father..." she choked out as she sniffled and a few tears rolled down her beak. Mr. C put an arm around her as she turned and buried her face in his vest as she shook with sobs that she tried to keep silent. Laura's eye and lips quivered.
"At least you have your other children with you... I don't think any of my family or fellow giganotosaurus are here..." she said, sniffling before she grunted loudly as the attendee on the other side worked closer to her eye socket, the pain burying her sadness for the moment. "But I am still glad to see you are here and unhurt." she said before she settled down and let the attendee continue his work.
"Come on..." Mr. C said as he tugged on Mrs. P's shoulder. "Lets go meet Gilbert." he said as she pulled away, nodding.
The trio of siblings were not used to ever seeing their mother get so sad, or so mad as she was earlier. Everything happened so fast, none of them really knew how to feel; Buddy, their brother, gone? Forever? Their Dad gone forever? It seemed too impossible to be real, yet the wounds on Laura and Mr. C seemed to make it sink in. But they were adults. Adults dealing with adult things, right?
This view changed when they got to see their friend.
Inside the train station were beds for the troodon employees, though many were turned into medical beds. Had the troodon people not been so smart as to outright make time travel technology, they wouldn't have had the medical abilities to help the more willingly peaceful dinosaurs with their injuries. Wounds and broken bones of various dinosaurs who could fit in the beds were being tended to, the group surrounded by panicked voices and groans of pain. Mr. C took the group to the back of the facility turned medical ward and stepped past a curtain, pulling it aside to show a bed with a small figure in it. Shiny instantly jumped up onto the foot of it and was making to run towards him, but stopped when her eyes fully saw him. Don and Tiny climbed up as well before pausing. Gilbert was laying atop the covers on his right side, his eyes closed with his head propped on a pillow while his left leg was held up with a makeshift stirrup of small vines, a large bruise in the middle of it as it was held in a splint. What bothered the kids more was how his tail suddenly stopped, covered in raggy bandages that were white at one point but had soaked with red.
"G-Gilbert?" Shiny choked out. The sight of their friend, someone who they were familiar with and was around their age, having been so physically beaten, hit home for them. Don and Tiny sat at the foot of the bed, starting to sniffle. Mrs. P stepped over to them, wrapping her wings around them. Shiny, however, lowered onto all fours and crawled closer to Gilbert's face. Mrs. P motioned to call her back, but Mr. C put a hand up, letting her know it was all right for her to get close.
"Can... you hear me?" Shiny asked as she crawled up to him, looking at his face. He had a bit of blackness on his body and he wasn't sporting that familiar smile she adored. Her heart thumped harder in her chest as she felt her eyes starting to burn, knowing that he might not wake up. She continued looking into his face and gently stroked his cheek with a hand. "Gilbert?" she warbled. "Gilbert... you... you gotta wake up... you can't be gone." a few tears rolled down her beak, dripping onto his face, which she still stroked. Mr. C said nothing, but took his hat off as his eyes welled up with tears. Mrs. P looked up from Shiny to him, her eyes widening as she recognized what that gesture meant before she looked back at Shiny, still talking to Gilbert and slowly stroking his cheek. "Y-you see, we still gotta go walk along the beach and collect shiny things... W-we still need to sit and stare at the sky at night and count the shiny stars... S-so it'd be rude if you m-m-missed out on that." she said, though the longer she stroked his cheek, the faster the tears came, and soon she couldn't talk anymore. Only pained squawks came from her beak as she kept trying to talk, but her sobbing strangled the words.
No one dared move.
Shiny sniffled and rubbed her eyes, forcing a smile onto her face as she held back the sobbing long enough to speak.
"B-but most of all..." she swallowed as she leaned her head down, her face reddened from the tears. "Wh-when we are done counting the shiny things... and we're together... I h-have to give you th-this..." her beak parted as she closed her eyes and tilted her head. She slowly leaned in, locking her beak around his lips as she ran her tongue along them, kissing him the pteranodon way. Don and Tiny didn't know what to make of it, choosing to look away in the middle of their tears. Mrs. P and Mr. C's eyes welled up more as they watched her give what had to be her first real kiss to Gilbert. Shiny remained locked with him for a while, her eyes squeezing shut tighter, trying to stop the tears and let her enjoy this one more moment, before her heart finally sunk to the bottom of her chest.
She slowly started to pull back, but suddenly found herself stuck for a moment, her tongue caught between his lips. She went to pull it back again, but again it was stuck. She was confused at first, until a small hand stroked the side of her face. Her eyes sprung open, her vision still blurry, but soon clearing as she felt a warm tongue rubbing her own tongue as the hand still stroked her cheek. Soon the lips let go of her and she slid back from the kiss to look at his face, seeing his pretty eyes looking back up at her from a half lidded expression.
"Gooooood afternoon little lady..." he said, his voice notably weak as he tried to say his usual greeting, though he smiled as his hand kept stroking Shiny's face. "I'm so glad that the first thing I see when I wake up is something so beautiful..." he said, which made Shiny's heart throb hard enough that she thought it'd rupture out of her chest. "I'll be sure to get lots better for you... I want to walk along that beach with you..." he said. "Though, I think I found my favorite shiny-thing." he said, letting out a little chuckle at his corny line, but Shiny took it to heart as a new wave of tears assaulted her face and she hugged him as best as she could without bumping his leg. Gilbert tried his best to return it with one hand, doing his best to hold her tightly.
Mrs. P turned to Mr. C and spoke softly.
"Is... is he going to make it?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"Well, troodon have made a lot of scientific advancements. The main danger is blood loss from his tail being cut. We couldn't risk a blood transfusion with the other predators around who may go a little nutty if they smell too strong a scent of blood in this time of stress." he said, trying to keep his tone down. "but Gilbert woke up..." he wiped a tear from his face as he smiled. "he got past the hard part... it'll be dangerous for a while and he'll need lots of care. He'll also need better medical treatment, but this is some of the best right now... mainly, we're short on hands." he said as he cupped his hat in his hands and fidgeted with it. Mrs. P looked at the two youngsters, smiling and hugging each other, terrified to let go.
"I think you found a volunteer." Mrs. P said with a smile. "Think you could take a break from train duty and teach Shiny about medicine?" Mr. C blinked several times at the proposition before he smiled widely.
"Why, I certainly can!" he said with enthusiasm he'd been lacking since he saw the family earlier that day. He looked over at the two young lovebirds and flushed a little before chuckling. "But... I think they can use a few minutes alone." he said. Mrs. P agreed as she scooped up Tiny and Don and Mr. C pulled the curtain.
--
When they stepped from the makeshift medical area, she set Tiny and Don down and looked at Mr. C.
"Well... I guess the main thing we need to do is find a place to make a home." she said, letting out a stressed breath. "We can't go looking for Buddy and Dad until the time tunnels are fixed, so we will need to find a place where we can stay that is safe and has plenty of fish for us to catch." she said to her kids before looking up at Mr. C to see if he had a suggestion.
"Actually, I know of a place. It's near a land locked lake for fresh water to drink, but isn't too far from a beach with shallow ocean fish to catch." he said before pointing up a finger. "And there are some nice high ground spots to build a nest that predators can't get to." he said. Tiny and Don smiled at the prospect of a new area as Mrs. P stroked their heads.
"Lead the way, Mister Conductor." Mrs. P said with a wide smile.
---
The trip wasn't too far and true to his word, there was a rather expansive lake surrounded by trees. There was also a rather steep ridge that overlooked it, the only walk able pathway up it being a series of very narrow ledges that were prone to collapsing should anything bigger than Tiny try to use them. From the ridge, there was a clear view over the trees to the ocean on the opposite side of the lake. It was much farther than their old home but it would be something to get used to while they remained there. Mrs. P set to work gathering branches and setting them on the ridge, coaxing Tiny and Don to do their best in building a nest (which she'd improve later anyway) while she went to catch some fish for dinner. Mr. C, after seeing the family set about making their home, went back to the station, no doubt he was still needed.
Several hours later, a nest had been built and Mrs. P had collected a fair few fish, different from the ones they were used to, but still delicious to them. She had made sure there was extra for Shiny when she came home. Mrs. P looked to see the sun slowly setting, casting a warm orange glow over the forest before she looked down at Tiny and Don.
"All right, I'm going to go bring Shiny home from the station, so I'll be gone for a bit." she said as she had been fiddling with some sticks and leaves before she handed something to Tiny. "And this can keep you company for now. I know it's not as good as your old one, but maybe this Tiny-doll could find a place to rest with you?" she said as she handed the doll to her smallest offspring, who hugged it close. Don was having fun looking at the bugs that were around, but pulled him close for a hug, along with Tiny. "Okay you two, don't wait for me, try to get some sleep, all right?"
"Okay Mom." the two siblings said in unison, Tiny playing and cuddling with her new doll as Don looked back at the bugs. With a small hop, she flapped her wings and took to the station.
---
Upon arriving, much of the chaos had died down, a lot of the folks who were injured were patched up, though the sounds of sobbing and crying were plentiful, if not in physical pain, then pain due to the loss of home and/or loved ones. She did her best to focus on getting into the station and working her way to the back where Gilbert's bed was. Once she reached it, she found Mr. C sitting not too far away on a stool, looking fairly worn out and with a couple bandages on his body, while Shiny was laying on her back next to Gilbert, who seemed to be more chipper. Upon looking closer, she noted some sort of tube going to Gilbert's thigh connected to a bag of red fluid that hung up on a rack near the bed. She also noticed that the bandages on his tail had been changed as they were a lot more white with only a few black and reddish spots on it, as opposed to being soaked as it was earlier that day. She gently nudged Mr. C and he jumped slightly before he looked up at her.
"Oh, Mrs. P!" he said, clearing his throat and standing up, upon which Shiny sat up and smiled, running down the bed to hug her mother, which was returned.
"Mom, mom! Gilbert is going to be fine! He just needs to rest! And I get to help him get better!" she said, incredibly proud of herself.
"Well, I'm so glad it's going so well." she gave her a slightly tighter squeeze before letting go. "You make mama very proud." she said with a large smile before turning to Mr. C. "So, I assume things are going well?"
"That they are." he said, rolling an arm. "Gilbert was a little touch and go there, but any time he seemed to get too far away ,Shiny was right there calling him back. The carnivores were finally moved outside after that chaos and we were able to start a-"
"A transfusion!" Shiny interrupted, very proud of the new word she learned, to which Mr. C gave her a thumbs up.
"Right you are! That helped bring him back really fast." he said, rolling his arm again before rubbing it with a hand. "Though it did kinda tucker me out, he needed quite a bit, but thankfully I matched his blood type and he's doing fine now." he said as Mrs. P touched her chest and sighed.
"That's a relief. Well, I'm here to take you to our new home for the time being, Shiny." she said, though Shiny didn't seem too happy and fidgeted.
"Umm... Can... Can I stay with Gilbert? Just for tonight?" she asked, looking back at him, who finally waved at Mrs. P, though it was obvious he was still tired.
"Actually..." Mrs. P thought a moment before smiling. "I think that would be a good idea." she said. "You stay here and make sure he's all right. I'll be sure to bring a fish or two for you in the morning for breakfast." she said. Shiny nearly exploded as she squawked and wriggled, hugging her before crawling over the bed to lay back next to Gilbert. Mrs. P touched her chest as she watched how the two of them looked at each other and felt her heart melt.
"All right you two, if anything goes wrong, be sure to give a shout, there are a fair few more hands and claws here if you need help." he said as the two youngsters nodded and Mr. C pulled the curtain on them, walking with Mrs. P back outside.
"Mister Conductor, would you walk to my new home with me?" she asked, out of the blue.
"Sure thing, Mrs. P. I've got no home in this time and I'd be glad to accompany you." he said, smiling in a cheerful manner.
---
It was a while into the walk, the sun dipping lower into the sky and the stars coming out. Neither one had said much, but finally Mrs. P spoke up.
"Shiny really likes Gilbert... And Gilbert seems pretty fond of her."
"I'll say. Gilbert often puts on a nice brave face now and then, but he REALLY perks up when he knows he's going to be seeing Shiny. I thought it was kinda just a young crush but... after what happened earlier today..." he left his sentence unfinished as they both remembered the kiss and how utterly crushed Shiny was before Gilbert woke up. Mrs. P knew that all her kids were growing up, slowly but steadily, but she never was ready for when that growth would spike and they would seemingly mature in a matter of days, if not moments.
"I saw the way they looked at each other as we were leaving." she giggled a bit. "Reminds me of when you and Erma Eoraptor get a moment alone." she said, smirking a bit as Mr. C flushed darkly and pulled at his collar. He started to sputter out some excuse but Mrs. P cut him off. "Oh don't fret, I'm not going to tease you over it. I'm happy you found someone who you're interested in. Just that spark of seeing into the eyes of someone you just "know" sees you the same way..." she trailed off, making Mr. C look at her. He could see her eyes glistening in the moonlight and a tear roll off her face. He put an arm around her and wiped off her cheek, his own expression melancholy.
"I'm sorry..." he trailed off, unsure what else to say before they continued walking in silence.
They finally reached the lake and the ridge and Mrs. P hopped up, flying over to the nest quietly and found Tiny asleep, clutching her doll, though Don wasn't in the nest, instead he was several feet from it in a hole in the ground, snoozing loudly. She shook her head and chuckled softly before she scooped up the caught fish from earlier in the day, cupping them in the leaf satchel she used to carry them en mass in her feet and flew to the ground where Mr. C was still standing.
"Here you go, I caught these for Shiny, but I'm sure you could enjoy them." she said, though she could see Mr. C's expression was still fairly down. He gently reached for the satchel but when he grabbed her hand, he held still.
"Thank you... I'm just... I've been so worried about everyone else today that... I never thought about myself." he said as he looked into her face, then up at the stars, as if looking for an answer. He gently took the satchel before walking next to the edge of the lake and sitting down, finally taking his hat off and setting it next to him, his modest little plume of feathers hanging down. Soon there was a sound as Mrs. P sat next to him.
"I suppose that's what makes you so special. Putting others importance before your own. Much like a parent in that aspect, and I'm sure Gilbert sees you like that at times." she said as she stared out over the lake. Mr. C looked at her. "The way he looked at Shiny... it reminds me of when I met my husband." she curled her legs in close as she hugged them. "He was a coach for gourd ball games, kid games, and was so proud of his whistling and cheering ability. I thought he was the best thing since fresh fish." she said with a chuckle. "I kept seeing him any chance I got, and it was amazing just being able to look into his eyes... I could see that spark of how he felt the same way..." she said, rubbing her wings together. "I just thought it'd last forever... Then we made a nest and we had a family... not a lot of time for romance when that's going on. We cherished our kids, but the time we spent just one on one was vastly diminished. Thank goodness we found a babysitter." she said as she smiled. "I remember that he somehow found time to take guitar lessons in order to serenade me on our last date... That sly reptile." she said, straining to keep smiling, but her eyes were welling up with tears as she shivered. She suddenly found Mr. C pressed up next to her, an arm around her and squeezing her to his warm body, however she continued what she as saying.
"It's not fair... To have that taken from me..." she said, finally letting the sobbing inhibit her voice. "But... poor Buddy!" she said, taking a shaky breath. "He's so young, so smart... what did he do to deserve this?" she said as she shuddered and sucked a breath in. "Do you remember one of the times we took the zeppelin?"
"Indeed I do, I remember each time we did... The high mountains, the ecosystem by the waterfall..." he said.
"The Crater." she said. Mr. C cringed. He knew what was coming, and even the thought of what she was going to say made his eyes well up with fresh tears.
"I said I'd never let that happen to him... he was so scared, he was up several nights because of it, and every night I told him it'd never happen..." she started rocking and Mr. C hugged her tighter. "I told him I'd protect him and I wasn't there!" she shrieked before finally bowing her head into her hands and bawling loudly.
Mr. C held onto her, his own tears running freely down his face as he recalled those words with flawless memory. He remembered how Buddy sounded so lost and hopeless when he mentioned the idea of an asteroid hitting the planet, so scared and small, and the idea that Mrs. P had comforted him with the idea that it would never happen had to be about the most painful thing he could think of.
He soon felt his vest growing damp as her loud bawling and sobbing slowly faded off and he just held her. He slowly rubbed her back with a hand as he started to speak in his own fragmented voice.
"You had no way of knowing. You were just being a parent, doing what you knew how to do. You can't be blamed for simply not knowing the unexpected to happen." he said, unsure if his words were making a difference, but he still only heard sobbing mixed with the occasional mournful squawk.
He continued holding onto her as the night fully set in, the moon and stars bright as ever. Her sobbing had slowed and quieted down. He slowly undid his hug from around her and looked at her tear stained face, which looked back at him as she sniffled.
"I'm sorry, I just..." she didn't know what else to say, thought Mr. C gave a soft smile and nodded.
"It's all right." he said in a hushed tone before he grabbed his hat, placing it on his head and reaching for the satchel.
"Wait, where are you going?" Mrs. P asked, perhaps a bit more urgently than she intended.
"Well I was gonna go back to the station and try to find a place to rest for the night." he said, looking back at her.
"Stay here?" she pleaded. "I just... I'm..." she fumbled over words as she tried to get her meaning across, though Mr. C understood what she meant and smiled, removing his hat and undoing and removing his vest, showing a fair few more bandaged up cuts on his torso before he hugged her again, earning a rather surprised squawk from Mrs. P before she relaxed and leaned against him.
"Gladly..." he said as he looked over the lake, happy to be close to someone, anyone, but especially someone he knew as well as Mrs. P in this trying time. "I promise you; we'll get the time tunnels open if I have to dig them with my own hands." he said.
---
Up in on the ridge, Tiny and Don were woken up by loud crying. Peering over the edge of the ridge, they looked down at their mother and Mr. C at the edge of the lake, their mother crying a lot and Mr. C trying to comfort her. The two of them looked back at each other, getting back into the nest and hole respectively.
"This is so weird..." Don said. "I've never seen Mom cry so much... Do you really think Dad and Buddy are gone forever?" he asked, his fingers fidgeting.
"I don't know..." Tiny replied, clutching her doll. "I miss Buddy and Dad a lot... but if mom is crying..." they were both quiet for a moment as they lay down before Tiny spoke up once more. "Things are changing..." she said before sleep overtook them and they drifted to sleep
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End Chapter 1
