"Please hold on Belle," I croaked, limping like a wounded deer through the thickets of the crimson forest, "Just hold on."

"It hurts still..."

"I know," I whimpered back, feeling my morality sink ever so deeper into my gut, "I know."

"I'm hurt," whimpered the girl, rubbing her soft face against my rough scales as if it were a tissue or a blanket that she could cry upon, "I want Mommy."

I felt a cold shudder rush over me as the memories flooded in, when the ground shook and the sky reeked of smoke and blood.

A sight that I created of course. And even still it haunted me. I nuzzled against her hold, feeling her snout press against my scales and drool out her sorrows. And I didn't mind her passion to weep upon my shoulders -- I was her friend, and as a friend, I promised to protect her. I simply wished that her parents had survived the explosion. I wished that I wasn't there to begin with, let alone intervene. 

I wished a lot of things.

And being so young, especially for her, it was heartbreaking enough to hide the truth of their deaths and the cruelty of the natural world from something born from a bittersweet past flowing of rainbows and joy.

How much unfortune must I bear? How can I live with the tranquil fact that it was I who had torn her apart, and all the same opened up my heart to her? Any other creature, dinosaur or human, could've done the same, but perhaps they'd gained luck and hope, and flourish like flowers, trekking the sacred earth untouched by evil. For me, it was I who was carrying evil and guilt on my spine, and it was this magnetic that has brought nothing but misery and grief into her life.

But no matter, I have a quest to fulfill. A quest, not of blood or of vengeance. Now I had a human to return to her kind.

The darkness had awakened quite suddenly across and above the tall tainted forest we were partially sheltered in. Another cloudy night rolled in from the east, covering the last of the twilight skies as if the blackness had failed to come fast enough. Each subtle cloud blanketed the windy heavens, hiding the moon in its full glory behind them. Yet the moon fought, oh how it fought an eternity to shine its light on the earth, although despite how much power it held the clouds still hung and stretched over the transparent sky, providing a hazy, ominous feel. Besides swallowing the moon whole, the rolling grey rapidly became as invisible as the stars it concealed, though the air still felt rather humid against our scales. The low sky imparted a claustrophobic tension and the only thing we figured to do is pray that we got to the location in time before seeking shelter from what may appear to be a midnight storm.

While there were certain times the clouds moved just enough to reveal the full moon, for the most part, the night would undoubtedly be without the benefit of the rock's silvery radiance.

Me, Blue, and Belle trekked endlessly through the wide and quiet forest, sniffing the air and watching the skies twist and shift from the light of the human world. The canopy let no light filter through the torches of trees, there was no sound. As I walked under the dark tresses of the trees my claws caressed the velvet flesh of the forest ground, bumping grass and crushing colorless flowers to the ground where I walked. It was surely beautiful despite the blackness, and while this was a matter of life and death, I nonetheless enjoyed the walk.

"We're here," Blue muttered upon the appearance of one small sized house. I lifted my head from my sightseeing tour and gazed in her direction at the light in the distance, glowing ever so steady as the leaves fluttered between its rays. Neither of my eyes were filled with fear or the sign of doubt, perhaps from being used to gunshots and the pain I've endured. I had no worry that another inflicted wound could be any worse than what I've already experienced; that is if I was prepared.

"Okay," I turned to Blue, inhaling deeply, "Stay here, I'll bring her in the house. Hopefully, I don't get shot...again."

"If you think like that you will. But be careful now," The raptor clicked after me, a slight sway of her tail pushing away her growing fear. But I didn't notice her flicker, my eyes were swollen by something else. For a few seconds, I just blinked and stared back at the female, a bit dazzled for her eccentric statement concerning my safety and clicked back.

"You care? About me?"

"You mean for you?" Blue bobbled her head from side to side, then blinked back to her senses after emitting a low purr, "Well....um, I-I just,... I just don't want another friend to...die again."

I moved closer to her, watching her tail droop and caught the scent of sorrow and salt swirling into my nostrils, "Again?"

"I...um..." Blue sighed, "I-I try not to think about it much. Some of them...well ...they lived with me on the island." I tilted my head and exhaled.

"The volcano killed them, did it?"

"No," Blue shook her head, gritting her jaws together, "The humans killed one of my sisters. And a hybrid, like yourself, slaughtered the rest of them."

"Is...is that's why you hated me?" I muttered in realization, my own eyes widening, "Not because I tried to kill Owen, or eat the girl, let alone come after you. You were angry. You wanted revenge because a monster like myself killed your kin."

Blue sniveled, then growled, "I never hated your personality, your future, or your hopes and dreams, Ripper. I hated you because you were one of them. You, the Indominus Rex, Wu, you're all just... monsters... in my eyes. And for so long I longed to kill you all... to bury that anger and rage out of your deaths but...I couldn't. Not after you came around and changed everything." 

She shuffled her feet side to side, looking at Belle, then bowed her head swallowing a glob of saliva, "I just fear you...and for you. I fear what you're doing, what your hiding, what you're really meant for other than...finding freedom. I fear you'll lose your goodness when Belle is gone-"

"I won't."

"Do you know that though?" Blue asked. I lowered my gaze to the ground, shaking my head with regret. Alas there was nothing more I could say to counter her statement. She knew me too well to even consider a neutralized threat to be calmed, let alone safe.

"Have you ever kept a promise before?" She asked sharply, snorting thereafter her sentence. I suddenly grew stiff, tail raised as my eyes watched Blue, then gritted my teeth with a slight flicker of my rear limb.

"I...never had a chance to give one."

"Well promise me this," Blue hissed, moving closer to me, "You promise me that when you fight, you fight for what's right. Not for greed, or bloodshed, or vengeance. Not even for mercy. You fight for a reason, because if there was none to begin with then there's no point in being alive. Just...promise me that."

"Blue-"

"You promise?"

"I..." I paused, repeating her promise within the walls of my skull and felt my heart quake endlessly. All those things she wished for me seemed almost impossible. I had not fought for anything besides bloodshed and excitement, never really for a purpose because there was none. But if I were to find Wu, perhaps her orders seemed ideal to follow.

"I promise."

Blue smiled during her nod, then lowered her neck and stared up at me, "Thank you. I just...don't want to lose you to their side again. Especially someone close."

"We're not that close."

"We are though," She whispered, sniffing my torso before stepping back, "We're filled with the same blood and beating of the same synced heartbeat. I realized now that we aren't so different, you and I. We just have different beliefs, for we're blind to see the truth inside ourselves, and the life we refuse to show."

"If that's what you think then..." I paused, looking at Belle with a heavy heart, before smiling down at Blue, "Then I believe you. And I'll keep your promise."

"Thank you."

"Now then," I huffed, nuzzling Belle again as she coughed, "I got to get her to safety. Stay here."

"I know. Be careful, Ripper."

I dipped my head, looking back at the shadowed house, then moved my claws to the nearest door, feeling a memory slither back into my mind. It reminded me of that dark era, a time when death was pleasurable, and eating the body of a little girl was bound to be my dessert for the night. It reminded me of the old stone mansion, the moment I stretched out my long limbs to the nearest window, unlocking the doorway to the clone's room in the thunderous skies above. I could remember the sound of whimpers and soft cries unfold in my ears, like screaming prey destined to be eaten, and as my pupils shrunk deep in the thought, I realized that the window of this new house had opened for me.

Memories surely have a strange way of working, I thought.

Even the darkest of ones, my mind crooned back with a dark chuckle.

I growled slightly with a hidden smile and slithered into the house head first with Belle. A musky and dusted aroma broke into my twin nostrils as I sniffed the air, and in disgust of the human scents, I contracted my nostrils closed.

"I can't believe I'm giving you up to these filthy animals," I snarled, looking up to Belle. But the little girl just hugged me against my cranium, deepening my sorrows of returning Belle to her kind. It didn't seem too hard of a task to return the little human, but to my sudden realization did I notice it would be much more difficult than planned.

It was dead silent.

Still and quiet, like frozen twigs trapped upon a chain of decaying trees in the midsts of winter.

Even my own breath seemed to die as soon as it left my maw. It was an eerie sort of tranquility, so instead of being soothed-- my senses became greatly heightened. I felt like the prey, even though no predator could be detected. It was as if the world were encased in a cocoon, a bubble so to speak, and there was no way out.

I know tensing against the shaking of my limbs was completely useless and meaningless but I did it instinctively, trying to suppress my fears for a few more moments what I know I couldn't. This kind of thick silence would normally chill me, especially on an inky night devoid of even moonlight or stars, but tonight it worked like a salve. I felt it. The more absolute it was, the stronger its medicinal effect. Owen and the others must've gone away for the moment, they had to be gone, or at least very far away. My nostrils weren't working so much as my ears now ringing due to the nothingness around me. I realized too late that I've misjudged the rapid onset of the shaking, my limbs are no longer taking directions from my mind.

Each step I took followed with a creek from the ground. Each swish of my tail sounded like a hurricane barricaded through the house, and each foul breath that escaped my jaws were loud enough to make me pause and twitch my claws.

But then again, nothing could ever be so quiet, not even humans.

"Would you like some tea?" A familiar girl's voice entered my ear lobes, but rather than fill me with curiosity and wonder, my ears throbbed. Anger suddenly boiled deep in my system, as hot as molten lava. It churned within my despaired stomach, hungry for destruction, and I knew it's too much for me to handle.

"Tastes good?" The girl smiled, but showed no exact emotion, and petted the red-haired and button-eyed doll like a dog, "Hmm, you must be starving. I have extras if you'd like!"

"Maisie freaking Lockwood," I snarled angrily, bumping my snout on the door that opened a bit wider to the brightly lit room she lived in. The pressure of this raging sea of fire would indeed force me to kill or attack her without mercy, but doing so would once again endanger Belle. I couldn't take the risk, no matter how my body throbbed with the fiery desire to watch her corpse spill blood all over her neon pink floor mat.

However, I still needed to silence her. She was a human alarm, and from all my encounters into her she'd screamed and cry and wail like a poisoned siren, signaling help in mere moments. If I were to return Belle without getting killed, I had to do it when she was quiet, but not entirely dead.

I was glad Belle saved her breath and words as I slithered into the room, wincing as the spinning light nearby her innocent tea party flickered into my visage. A dark shadowy glow of myself began to carve its way against the nearest colored wall, but it was far enough that Maisie couldn't see it. Like that of a snake, I crouched low, using my length to edge closer to Maisie, enough that even a sniff of the clone could drag her hair into the darkness of my snout.

I watched her as any bystander would, silent and steady around the victim, but I was focusing on my breathing for I was prone to become a solid witness to her eccentric and rather 'dead' party. She only had two dolls, one that she fed earlier with air, and another with resembled a colorful dinosaur with a string that I knew would undoubtedly make noise. Maisie caressed them both with plastic pizza and more teacups, and honestly, I felt sick and bad for these dolls, frozen in their places and enslaved to do what the human says.

And the mere image of the reality of this memory of enslavement made me snort.

Maisie froze still, and the red-haired doll she played with accidentally fell on its flank with a 'poof' and turned its head to me.

Everything Maisie saw was through the eyes of the doll's button's themselves, two black voids that watched, unblinking at the monster that, one would say, revealed itself from the horrors beneath her bed. The clone herself just stared at the doll, and I was a bit uncertain as to what her reaction was for I could only see her hair, which trembled uncontrollably. She set her tea set down with a shaky hand, forcing another growl to rumble out my throat and quake the nearest windows.

Don't you dare, I hissed in my thoughts, feeling my muffling claws begin to twitch for I knew her intentions.

And my guess was indeed correct. Any prey, innocent and fragile as nature has made them, would make a noise to alert the others of the danger that has approached. Prey knows predator, and if it can't escape its fate, it might as well prevent the fate of one's clan.

Maisie spun around and jerked her mouth open wide. Fear snagged at my heart, and with one swift lunge, I slammed my skull deep within her torso in a successful headbutt, watching the clone fall heavily on her back with a pained gasp. Accidentally while I did so, all the set-up objects that surrounded the tea set spilled over, and toys, plastics, and wood splattered against the ground in sudden clangs and clashes.

Sounds, that had given me away.

Regardless of this fact, I continued to silence the clone, slamming my claws into the ground like a prison to entrap her, while my palm covered Maisie's maw, molding it closed completely.

And in pride for what I did, I felt her screech, scream, and wail in my palm, but all that was heard was pure muffles.

"Hello, vermin," I snarled angrily, baring my teeth at her as the girl whimpered and squinted her eyes, tears already spilling from the sides of her own orbs.

But I didn't care. She did that too much anyway.

"Please..." Her muffled whimper vibrated in my earholes, and I squeezed harder into her torso, feeling her writhing beneath my claws. All of this felt good, surreal almost, and the more I pushed, the more dominant I felt. It was a primal feeling too, my maw salivating, my eyes dilating. Unlike my promise I was craving the need to shred this clone apart. Alas, they could always make a new one.

But knowing of other tasks at hand, my grip relaxed, enough to keep her muffling stagnant. 

"Quiet," I sneered to her, tilting my head while my nostrils flared wide, "You're so lucky I've changed. And I'm not here to feast on your flesh, despite how...desperate...I want....to-"

A sudden flare of pain erupted in my side in the same location that made me limp earlier in the day, and in agony I growled and hissed, pulling my claw away. I grated my teeth together, twitching and jolting as I crouched low, beginning to emit my own soft whimpers.

But to my surprise, Maisie didn't scream when freed from my grasp. She simply just laid there, wide-eyed and frozen in fear, but she didn't alert the others as I would've guessed.

"Mrawr," I groaned, scratching my skull and splaying out my injury, noticing more blood dripping from the old impaled area. The vision around me became fogged and slow, and as I turned my head to the area where the ceratopsian had stabbed me, the outside had once again crusted of an oily black liquid.

I sniffed the area, and the first image that rose to my mind were bullets. But not that of bullets being present, it was the smell that reminded me of them. As if copper poison in my veins.

I grimaced again and grunted, and felt my back arch. But my back felt lightweight. That was because curious little Belle had dragged her way to one of the two dolls, and picked up the one that made noise.

I couldn't warn her. All I could do was watch her pull the string.

And from the soft plush toy erupted the sounds an electronic radio.

"The dinosaur goes ROAR!" The toy belched.

"Belle no!" I snapped, hearing the sound of patting feet against the wooden tiles in the hallway. Maisie saw Belle with another shocked expression as I picked up the injured human and placed her on my back. But when I whirled back around, there stood yet another one of my arch nemesis, a gun folded on his back, and his eyes swollen with surprise.

"You..." I snarled, eyes baring at the male. Owen, as I recalled his name, stared at me in pure horror, and even his own skin turned pure white as if he saw a ghost.

And he wasn't wrong.

"Maisie, go!" Owen's voice called as he equipped himself with the gun and pointed it at me, biting his curled lip while trying to remain calm. Claire dashed away to retrieve her own, but she wasn't there to witness her boyfriend get tail whipped off the two-story house into a bunch of tables below, snapping on impact. I growled, suddenly realizing the purpose of coming into this house and began stumbling down the stairs to Owen. But before I could even insist my purpose of coming here, Claire arrived in a rescue attempt to save Owen, coming from behind and fired two more shots, one that skimmed my tail and another that skimmed my skull.

"RAGH!" I snarled, whipping my head to face her, despite the agony I was in.

"Hey!" Claire roared, firing again and began stalking closer. But as she began to approach, I realized the location of my stance, the same exact scenario of which killed me on the Lockwood Mansion. I snarled and whipped my body around, snarling and hissing, allowing Owen to painfully reset his position with his own rifle raised. But it was then when I realized Belle was upon me, and before Claire or Owen could even dare fire, I grabbed Belle from my back with my jaw and showed it to Owen.

"Crap," Owen gasped, "Don't!"

Claire didn't listen. She just fired anyway, and another shockwave of pain struck my shoulder, producing another poisoned flesh wound. I squealed and yelled, squeezing my teeth tighter on Belle who also cried out alongside me. My skull suddenly whipped around to Claire, forcing a powerful roar to vibrate the house. She met my eyes, then felt them fall on Owen. As if instructed by the mind, the female dropped her weapon with a loud thud, allowing me to approach her, rage boiling in my eyes.

"You shot me," I wheezed, struggling to keep my eyes upon her. I took another step, trying to rise above my prey to exert dominance, but even if I could, I felt weakened. Very weakened. I groaned and allowed my legs to crumble like paper, crashing onto my underbelly like a fallen building, losing all the power inside me to pain.

My deadliest enemy.

Owen lowered his own gun moments after I had fallen and moved toward my head with caution, but when he noticed my wounds and the extent of my injuries, he didn't seem fazed by my fearful appearance, he just looked at me as he would look at any other animal, almost as if he didn't care about what I had become, but what I had done.

"I thought you were dead," Owen growled slightly, a bit of hatred also flaring in his eyes. I studied Owen in silence as I held my gaze to his eyes, but rather than seeing eyes from the warmth of a kind man, his eyes were glowing with loss and icy hostility. Each human was frozen for maybe three whole seconds before the corners of Maisie's mouth, who had appeared nearby Owen, resumed its usual softness and her eyes quit staring, pulling the gaze up to Belle now.

"Here," I grunted, still enveloped in sorrow despite my condition, and raised my jaw with the dangling girl in my teeth, "She's hurt."

Of course the humans couldn't understand me, but they clearly understood my physical motions rather easily. And it was the dinosaur expert who seemed to figure this out first.

Owen was hesitant to approach me but as the intensity of time passed by he approached Belle's injured body and held her in his arms, even more surprised when he discovered the girl was very much alive in his arms.

"It's proof," I snorted, nostrils flaring, "If you could understand."

"She's alive," Maisie whispered, turning to face me, "He must have saved her."

"The indoraptor?!" Claire growled, still staring hungrily at the weapon on the floor, "I doubt that very much."

"Try me," I hissed, my jaws shuddering and drooling as I faced his level. Owen kept his eyes locked upon me, even moving back a bit as I kept growling, but upon noticing Belle's injury and the fact that I kept her protected made his mind change rather quickly.

"He did. And even he's injured...badly," He muttered, moving his body near the deep slashes against my side. But I didn't want him to doctor me. I didn't want to be beside another human family. With one heavy inhale, I made my snout perpendicular to the ground and pushed with my claws, shakily moving to my true height.

"Woah, Woah, easy."

"I'm fine," I snarled, which sounded more like a hiss to the humans, forcing Owen to back up. I turned to all of them, but all of them seemed rather confused as they looked at me, unsure what my purpose was to be here, or why I was even alive.

But I wasn't there to explain my life. I was here to give Belle to her kind.

I swallowed heavily and moved my snout to Owen, and even he backed up in terror. But my snout hit Belle first, pressing against the little human before it pressed Owen's heart. Owen looked up at me with a gaped jaw and blinked.

"I uh...umm..." He turned to Claire, frowning from my motion, then turned back, his eyes gazing at the child, "You want us to hold...her."

I nodded in response before approaching Belle in his hands, nuzzling the little human a bit. Her eyes opened weakly as she stared at me, pressing her small hands on my snout.

"Hi, Pokey."

"Hi," I smiled, my nostrils contracting as I sniffed her, "Listen to me, Belle, please try to if you can. These people,...they're going to take care of you now. Better than I ever had. They'll protect you...from things I know I cannot save you from. I'm certain you'll never understand me...and I don't think you ever will. But if you can...I...I love you."

Belle, to my sorrows, just simply stared at me with her normal smile, unsure what the clicks and growls meant to her. But I continued to try and speak, no matter what, not even when a delicate tear spilled down my cheek.

"I...I need to go now Belle. I have something I need to do."

"Pokey?" She croaked, rubbing my snout after noticing a tear tumble down my face, "What's wrong?"

"Be a warrior here," I whispered, "Be the flower, be the sparkle in the world. Be kind and pure, as you have been to me. You're everything I've ever wanted to become, and you're all I've ever wanted. That's what makes you so special."

"Pokey?" She began to whimper when two more rivers drenched my cheek, "Don't cry."

"I love you Belle," I whispered, knowing that it would sincerely be the last time I'd ever see her again. Belle began whimpering and hugging my snout, and in pain I closed my eyes, feeling the tears fumble down my eyes. I stared at her orbs for a moment, absorbing the round soft eyes that were bestowed upon her and felt more horror grip me. 

I can't let her go.

But I must. 

I couldn't let her interfere with the mission I had chosen to accept, nor did I want to see her injured again. I felt her hands grip me, not truly understanding what I meant, but she did realize my intentions to leave. She began sobbing and tugging at my snout and tried to cry out for my name.

"Pokey don't leave. Pokey don't go! Pokey..."

"I have to," I whispered, pulling away slowly, "But I'll never forget you. And don't forget me now. Your heart is as magical as the sun, and I know it'll bloom like a flower just as you will when you grow up. Your soul will always be apart of me. And I'll never...let you go...Belle." I began to back up, tears still dripping from my eyes and I lifted my head to stare at Owen and Claire, both who had been watching this surprising scene unfold. My jaw widened through a violent exhale as I continued to back out, wondering how else they would react. But ultimately they relaxed their tensed muscles, picking up Belle and watched me disappear from their sights into the dark.

Maisie and Belle were the last two I saw before I parted from their sight. But it was Maisie's sad eyes that spoke the truth about her, and her mouth parted to speak to me, for the first and final time.

"I'll tell her."

And as I had vanished from their sights, so did they from my own.

I broke down not long after Blue had found me, sobbing uncontrollably against the blue velociraptor. I laid in the darkness, wrapping my tail against hers for comfort, but even still I was shaken as if an earthquake had ripped my heart in two. I bowed my head, feeling weakened as all the pain and grief spilled from my eyes and drench the ground beneath me, and a sea of loss flooded at the basin of my claws.

"You did the right thing," Blue muttered, nuzzling my neck to express more comfort, "She is safe with them."

"I never thought giving something up would hurt so much," I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut into the shadows of my own eyelids, "It was like pain...but I've never felt it so powerful before."

"It's sadness Ripper," She clicked, "And it's normal because it happens all the time. In truth, even the darkest of creatures like yourself has a soft spot somewhere, something that makes them seize or fall. Belle was yours. That's why it was hard to let her go."

"But not Wu," I hissed, turning my voice into a growl, "The mission stays with me. I have to kill him before he does something else with my blood."

"If that's the plan then," Blue muttered, still unsure about eradicating the Asian monster, "I'm in. I wouldn't abandon a friend."

"We're friends?" I croaked in surprise as she nodded.

"We are," She cooed, purring slightly, then motioned her head into the darkness, "And more. So where to?"

"The INGEN facility," I growled, narrowing my eyes as I stared into the darkness. "Palo Alto, California."