Countdown ✓

Lavender (4 days after)

    "I was fine," He shrugged, "We were lucky. Me and my family survived. It was weaker over here, and the firestorm died earlier before reaching us." Lucky. For some reason I felt proud that his life wasn't destroyed, even after the impact struck. He had some faith about survival, and some realization that he can restart even after the end. That gave me the thought that, yes, then end is always a new beginning. Then I saw something move from behind him and grew tense. It was a false alarm thankfully.

    "Dad!" A small little Pterodactyl wrapped his wings around the father's neck as a hug, "You're back!"

"Glad to be back my sweet Hope!" He rubbed beaks with the young one. The she-flyer giggled.

"Did you catch a fish?"

"Uh....no..not yet sweetie, but we're not going to give up okay? Okay?!" He began tickling her, and she flapped up to escape, giggling a bit.

"Hope," I whispered, then smiled, "That's a beautiful name." The little female pterosaur turned to look at me from in the air, then smiled back as she descended to the nest.

"Thanks."

"Yeah this is Hope," The father stated, "My little angel."

"Yeah, my dad always calls me that," She hugged herself shyly, "I'm special. And when I grow up, I'm going to be a better flyer than he ever was!"

"That's not true!" The father frowned, "I'm better!"

"He's just saying that because he flunked himself over catching fish," She cooed, before the father pulled her back.

"Maybe not such a little angel, but you know what I mean," He smiled, and I chuckled back. Another smaller child came in as well, along with what I presumed was the mother.

"Cal, who's this?" She immediately squawked. I didn't want to be some kind of threatening offender or stranger. So I did what's best: I waved with my wing towards her.

"Hi." She waved back, uncertain halfway through, then whispered,

"Who is she?"

"Just a new friend," He muttered.

"Daddy has no friends," Hope continued, "They all flew away."

"Hope, you're killing me!" The Father growled, and Hope giggled behind his back. The Mother gave her a hard stare, and she finally stopped.

"Honey, this is....ummm, darling I forgot your name."

"Lavender."

"Lav- yes! The sweet and very large Lavender."

"I'm not that large," I looked at my belly, "I'm fine."

"I meant tall," He corrected, "Tall indeed."

"Nice to meet you Lavender," The mother smiled, leaning close to me and shaking my claws, "I'm Trixie. And, you already know Hope, John and Amari."

"And I'm Cal,.......we already.....met," He swallowed. I chuckled, looking down with a smile.

"You guys are a really big family. And I wish I had one like this too. So I can imagine how tough it must be to care for all of your little ones."

"Oh it's easy," Cal stated, but in his eyes, I could tell that he was lying. But I played on with it. Suddenly, I felt something weird come across me. It was another flash of pain, but instead, my brain rolled around like a top, and I felt dehydrated, as well as dizzy. A strong flow of emotions rushed into my soul, making me wobble off balance.

"Woah," Cal flapped towards me, holding me upright, "You alright? Tired? Thirsty?"

"No, I....I just...." I could make out the words, "I just feel so weird..." I stumbled, until I laid down flat.

"What's wrong?" Trixie grew nervous, "Is she sick?"

"I thought she was fine!" Cal muttered, then checked my face again. Everything around me was spinning around, and pain rushed through my belly.

"She looks fine!" Cal called back, then felt my chest. At that moment, he went dead silent.

"What is it?" I moaned weakly. A few seconds later, he let out a puff of air in surprise and happiness, then responded.

"You're about to lay eggs..." He breathed. My eyes widened, before another stroke of pain rushed through.

"Are you....serious?" I wheezed, before he sat me down.

"I'm not kidding," He smiled, "You're stomach's round with a bunch of them.

"Oh my gosh," I swallowed, covering my beak with my wing, "They're fine? Every single one?"

"Round and fine!" He looked up at me, "Why you ask?"

"Because," I remembered the impact, and the fall. The memory of Major dying right in front of me, and the crash minutes later onto the ground vibrated my body. I crashed on my belly that day. While the eggs were developing.

"Because I fell...." I swallowed, staring at Cal, "I fell when the impact happened, when Major died. I fell on my stomach." Then sorrow rushed over me, "Oh gosh, oh no, no, no...."

"Hey, Lavender, it's okay."

"What if they're deformed?" I began to feel the tears rush down, "What if they're not alive? Oh no, no, no...."

"Lavender, they'll be fine!" Stella reassured me, but I shook my head.

"No you don't understand," I cried, "It was in mid-development when I crashed. I could've killed them..." Cal stared at Trixie, then back at me with worry.

"It's all my fault," I sobbed.

"It's not your fault!" Cal said.

"Oh the eggs!" I wailed, "I failed!"

"Listen to me Lavender," Cal's soothing voice echoed in my mind, bringing back my soul to the real world, "Listen to me. That's it, listen to my voice. You......are going to be fine. They....are going to be fine."

"But....what-t will h-happen if something b-bad occurs?" I choked. Trixie shrugged.

"There's only one way to find out," She smiled, "We wait. And hope for a miracle."