MAN, these chapters are getting harder and harder to make LOL. Hopefully I don't run out of ideas just yet. My outline itself is struggling, so if this chapter seems a bit weak, its because I didn't know how to make it...suspenseful yet. It actually wasn't supposed to be completed like this, so another chapter is coming thereafter this one!

Another thing, I have a TON of story ideas that I never got to make in my past. I might just make a short story that explains some story ideas that people could take if they like!

Anyways, enjoy!

"Whiteclaw!!" I roared with the heaviest heart possible, weakly dragging all four paws across the hot sandy surface. I coughed hard as smoke slipped their way through my nostrils, slowly suffocating my lungs and my soul as I fought my own dying body. Fires raged all over the world from my perspective, and glowed brighter than the stars that birthed them in the beginning of time. Each flickered their own way, dancing with other sparks in the distance.

Surely they knew how to survive. How to adapt.

How to live.

We were the total opposite.

My eyes lowered as I followed the Deinonychus's footprints through a burning hell, brushing past some dead ferns and bushes. Hunger was beyond control as of now, and despite the fact that I could ignore my own hunger, it wouldn't last forever. I've been collapsing constantly, falling apart before my very eyes, crumbling by my bones and deteriorating muscles. But I had to keep going.

Just to see another day.

Just to survive this world.

The ground shook again, forcing me to stop. Rocks and plants jerked and jiggled around, while my knees bent and straightened on the quaking earth, until finally it stopped.

I've started to adapt to earthquakes too.

But I knew, and I think everybody else knew, that it would only get worse.

That death was only a few days away.

Perhaps even less.

I found myself in a smoke-filled forest, scraping my scales on some dead trees and burning plants. The footprints grew fresh after a while, until quickly, they led right to a tree. My eyes lifted from the ground slowly, and cleared the hot heated watered eyes that protected my baked eyeballs.

Where an albino deinonychus laid.

A breath of relief flooded my veins, and with a slight smile, I twisted my head, motioning it towards the cave.

"C'mon Whiteclaw....you can't stay here forever y'know."

But the carnivore never stirred.

"Whiteclaw? We got to go..."

Again, he didn't move.

A huge explosion rocked the terrain to my left, knocking down the corpses of evergreens, to fall ugly like rocks to the earth. I spun my frill to the side to watch the light die into fresh sparks of fire, then steam up as darkness fell over their fiery souls with ease.

"Let's go! Everybody's worried!" That was a lie. I think everybody hates him right now. Or maybe they were slightly worried. But then again, the Deinonychus never stirred, just laid on his knees, staring downwards to the roots of the huge tree. Another loud blast and quake rumbled through my toes, and worry flooded my heart.

"Whiteclaw?" I muttered, tilting my head to the side as if I was searching for his face. But as the silence dawned on my body, I knew that he wouldn't dare turn around. The ground thundered again, wobbling the earth, and I had to plant my feet into the soil to not fall.

"It's all my fault," he whispered to me, "Isn't it?"

I was quiet behind him, just listening to his deathly words ring in the air. But I had to shake my head.

"No....No it's not-"

"Don't lie to me Stella," He whispered.

"I'm not lying!" I muttered with a slight hiss, "Do you blame yourself for everything now?"

"Everything has happened Stella has been because of me. Because of my mistakes. I......I see that now. I killed them all without even knowing."

Another blast wave rocketed through my feet, and I knew silently speaking to Whiteclaw wasn't going to make anything different. If we both didn't get out of here, or just sit here waiting like waterfowl, we're going to die.

"Blaming yourself isn't going to make a difference Deinonychus. Your sorrow on your mistakes won't change anything. What possible gain is it going to give to you?"

Silence.

"I know this is not you Whiteclaw. You wouldn't dare turn away from a fight. From a chance of life! From anything or anyone. You're stronger than you know, and I know that!"

Though, from the corner of my eyes, his balled fists turned to drooping claws that hung over his hips and barely touched the earth.

So something did happen. And I continued with it.

"Look," I sighed softly, thinking hard, "I'm no carnivore. So I can't understand or 'feel' what your feeling right now. But I can tell you this; unless you let go of your own past, unless you just forgive yourself, or at least forgive all of this, you can't move forward."

"You'd sort of be.....trapped in the dark,........just fighting yourself over and over. Your fears and your past aren't what make you who you are, you do. They just guide you.....or ruin your life. It's what you do to get over all of this, to at least get a grip on hope. Like I said before...." I smiled a bit, "it's not over Whiteclaw. There's still time."

When I finished, my eyes looked upon his own, red and wet, boiling hot and sharp on my own self. I saw horror and sadness swallow his heart just by looking at him, yet I couldn't imagine how much pain he had to suffer, only to fail this one time.

Whiteclaw just shuddered once, before lifting his claw to wipe away the saliva on his nostril, and sniffed another second later. But doubt still rang in the air.

"I don't know how to stop the clock..." he swallowed, "I don't know how to get Shadow back, or get all of us out, I'm....just.....I'm just...." He bowed his head, gripping the soil in a bundle.

"You're scared," I finished his sentence, nodding. Just by looking deep into his eyes was enough to tell me the truth. Yet in my heart as well, I felt a similar gut feeling, like your stomach lurching in its own heartbeat, and your lungs pump faster. I did have a confession of my own, "But you're not the only one who is." He glanced up at me with charismatic eyes, suddenly surprised to see me out of all dinosaurs state my own fear in the situation. I sensed anger and pride surge into my soul, and I knew that even motivating Whiteclaw would motivate me too. I took a step forward to him as I continued, and he slowly backed away from the tree, though on the earth more so than standing. I noticed something strange going on with the earth too, as if the shaking was growing wilder and stronger.

As if it was coming...

"Mistakes are part of life Whiteclaw,........but you can turn them into more than negativity. You're strong. And if I were you, I'd go back in that clock and continue that damn fight even if it kills me! 'Cause you have something inside yourself that not even it has," I moved towards him as the quakes raged on, bobbing my head, "And you gotta start believing in it, right now."

"What?" Whiteclaw frowned. Though from his insecurity, I could see a bit of faith in his eyes. A bit of what we all inherit.

"Hope, Whiteclaw," I spoke, "It's Hope. It's the only thing stronger than Fear-"

Then something horrifying happened. At first, it was a bump. Like some fellow Triceratops accidentally rammed his horns into the side of a cliff. And next came a jolt. The trees all around split sideways, falling down simultaneously, while equally me and Whiteclaw shared surprised and horrified faces among ourselves.

And then suddenly, then entire forest went oblique.

And rose upwards.

I bellowed in fear as the world dropped, along with my twisted stomach, then bounced imperfectly upon its landing.

That's when I lost my footing.

Whiteclaw was lucky, bounding up from the earth to catch the tree he bawled upon so much with the tip of his claw, then hauled himself up.

Me....I wasn't so lucky.

Much rather, no luck came to me at all.

My claws slipped from the earth, allowing gravity to drag me by my tail towards the newborn trench that swiftly swallowed up tumbling trees like a monster out of hell. My body rolled downhill, slamming into trucks and rock, until finally, it was thankfully caught by a small rocky ledge in the earth.

But that wasn't even the end of it.

The entire land was going vertical, then began to slope in another direction.

And then it fell downwards.

I easily slipped off the ledge, slamming painfully into the quaking earth below me on my belly. Ignoring the sudden stars that danced between my eyes, they both went up in horror as I watched a huge chunk of land, larger than anything I've ever seen flip itself over and tumble to the earth, like some sort of avalanche. The ground shook violently as I froze in fear, then

Whiteclaw was way ahead of me, sprinting like there was no tomorrow...

Well, there actually is no tomorrow...

Stop with the jokes! My mind screeched, Run!

I growled as I strained myself to stand, but instantly, I knew something was wrong.

I couldn't move my left leg!

It was broken!

Panicking, I began to limp faster and faster, but nothing was able to help me avoid the falling land above me.

"C'mon!" I screeched, now lumbering across the land, with dust raining upon my tail. Rocks were falling all over, from right to left, until suddenly, one struck me upon my injured side, tossing me into a flip onto my back, and painful crash that spiralled me onto the ground.

And my body went silent.

A painful ringing noise flowered in my mind when I came too seconds later, and my eyes weakly opened themselves to the sight of a closing in piece of land, only seconds away from smushing me whole.

There was nowhere left to go now.

As the tower began to crumble upon me, I heard some strange noise off the side of my body, like some sort of hiss.

Or a growl.

Or a roar.

I closed my eyes at the last second, when out of nowhere, a soft body slammed right into my side, barrelling me somewhere in the darkness. My body flimsily tumbled around, until it slid to a stop on my side in some dark cavern. The world shook harder and harder, following with the noise of ripping earth and collapsing structures. I couldn't tell if I was the one screaming, but in the end, everything went dark and quiet.

And nothing moved.