Morning came, and the children gathered around a map spread across the weathered table. The ink markings were faded, but still legible. "This is the way off the island," Owen said, his calloused finger pointing to a symbol by the harbor. His jaw was tight with worry.

"It will take you off the island, unless Mitch and Tiff have already taken it," Claire said, rubbing her forehead. Dark circles shadowed her eyes—she hadn't slept in days. "Wait, wait, us? What about you two?" Gray asked, looking at his aunt with wide, fearful eyes.

Claire smiled and crouched down next to the boys, her knees cracking. "Owen and I can't go with you," she said, looking sternly at Zach. Her hand gripped his shoulder. "Take care of your brother, you hear?"

Zach nodded, trying to look brave even as his throat tightened.

Darius frowned, his mind racing. He couldn't shake the image of Y/N from his thoughts—the way her scales had shimmered in the moonlight, the intelligence still burning in those reptilian eyes. "Why can't you come with us? We're all leaving this island."

"Yes, but we're leaving later. We have to find Y/N," Owen said, cocking the hammer of his pistol with a sharp click. His voice was rough with determination. "There's no way I'm leaving the island without her." The words came out fierce, protective. He'd made a promise to himself—to her—and Owen Grady didn't break promises.

Kenji sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I know she's cool and all that, but she's a monster now. We can't reason with her." Even as he said it, his chest ached. He remembered her laugh, the way she'd roll her eyes at his jokes. "And anyway, she has that raptor as a friend. It's impossible to get her away now."

"We can always try," said Yaz, straightening up. Her athletic frame was tense, ready for action. "She knows us, and we know her. Let's try, Owen." There was something in her voice—a desperate hope that the girl they'd known at camp was still in there, somewhere beneath the scales and fangs.

Sammy nodded, his usual cheerful demeanor replaced with grim resolve. "Yeah, she was at camp with us, so we know her better than you two." His mind flashed back to campfires and shared stories, before everything had gone so terribly wrong.

"We can let them try," Claire said, nudging Owen. She could see the conflict in his face—the need to protect the kids warring with his need to find Y/N. "Come on, then. Change of plans. We have to get Zach and Gray out of here, or their mother will kill me."

They led the children away through the dense jungle undergrowth, and left the others in the camp alone. The air felt heavy, charged with unspoken fear and determination.

"Are we really going to do this?" Ben asked nervously, his voice cracking. His hands trembled slightly. The thought of facing Y/N—now a towering hybrid of dragon and T-Rex, with obsidian scales and razor-sharp teeth—made his stomach churn with equal parts terror and longing.

"We can't leave her here to rot," Sammy said, crossing his arms. His voice was steady, but his heart hammered against his ribs. "She's our friend." More than a friend, if he was being honest with himself. They all felt it—that inexplicable pull toward her, even now.

Darius nodded, his expression set with fierce determination. He couldn't stop thinking about her—wouldn't stop. The image of her hybrid form was burned into his mind: powerful, majestic, dangerous. But underneath all that, she was still Y/N. Still the girl who'd stood by them through everything. "Let's move out."

They hurried into the forest, branches whipping at their faces as they pushed deeper into the unknown. Each of them carried the same thought, the same desperate hope: that they could reach her, save her, bring her back. That the girl they cared about—maybe even loved—was still in there, waiting to be found.

Deep in the forest, Y/N lifted her massive head, her obsidian scales catching fragments of sunlight that filtered through the canopy. A low, rumbling growl emanated from her chest—a sound that vibrated through the earth itself. Beside her, Blue raised her head as well, her intelligent eyes scanning the treeline with predatory focus.

"What's wrong?" the raptor asked, her voice a series of clicks and chirps that Y/N understood perfectly in this form.

Y/N exhaled heavily through her large nostrils, twin plumes of hot air disturbing the fallen leaves around them. They're coming. I can smell them. Why can't they just leave me alone? Her enhanced senses picked up their scent on the wind—sweat, fear, and something else. That maddening devotion that clung to them like a second skin.

"Nothing," she finally said, her voice a deep, resonant growl. "Let's just go to your territory."

She spread her enormous wings—leathery membranes stretched between elongated fingers, casting shadows across the forest floor. With surprising gentleness for a creature of her size, she grabbed Blue in her powerful foreclaws, careful not to pierce the raptor's hide with her razor-sharp talons. Then she launched skyward, her wings beating with thunderous force as they soared above the canopy toward the old Jurassic Park building.

They landed in the center of the crumbling structure with a ground-shaking impact that sent dust cascading from the rafters. Concrete cracked beneath Y/N's weight as she settled down on the floor, her long tail curling around her body. Blue curled up beside her, the raptor's smaller form fitting perfectly against Y/N's scaled flank. The raptor's golden eyes watched her larger friend closely, reading the tension in every muscle.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Blue asked, gently rubbing under Y/N's chin with her snout—a gesture of comfort and affection.

Y/N nodded, though her eyes remained distant. No, I'm not okay. I'm a monster now, and they still won't let me go. "I'll feel better once all the chaos has settled," she said aloud, trying to convince herself as much as Blue.

Then footsteps echoed through the building—multiple sets, moving with the clumsy urgency of humans trying to be stealthy. Y/N's pupils contracted to slits as she heard the familiar voices of the campers drifting through the ruins. Of course. Of course they came back.

She muttered a curse under her breath, the words coming out as a guttural snarl. "Hide," she told Blue sharply.

They both rose to their feet, Y/N's full height making her tower over the rusted machinery and broken walls. They stormed out into the open courtyard, and Y/N unleashed a roar directly into the campers' faces—a sound that combined the bone-rattling bellow of a T-Rex with the shrieking fury of a dragon. The force of it sent debris skittering across the ground.

The kids screamed and stumbled backward, nearly tripping over each other. Darius's eyes went wide, but Y/N could see something else there too—awe, wonder, that infuriating obsession that made her want to scream.

"I thought you said she'd be happy!" Kenji shouted at Darius, his voice cracking with panic even as his gaze remained locked on Y/N's form.

"Well, I thought she would be!" Darius shouted back, unable to tear his eyes away from her. She's magnificent, he thought, even as fear coursed through his veins.

"What are you doing here?" Y/N growled, lowering her enormous head until she was eye-level with them, her hot breath washing over their faces. Her eyes—still holding a flicker of humanity despite their reptilian appearance—glared into theirs with barely contained fury. "I told you to leave the island with Owen and Claire."

Ben swallowed hard, his legs threatening to give out beneath him. She's terrifying. She's beautiful. I can't look away. "We— uh— we were going to," he stammered, forcing the words out, "but then we decided we had to come back for you. If we didn't, Owen would have come back alone."

Y/N's massive form trembled, a mixture of rage and something deeper—pain, longing, confusion. Her scales rippled, catching the light like obsidian mirrors. For a moment, the monstrous exterior seemed to flicker, revealing glimpses of the girl they once knew.

"You shouldn't be here," she said, her voice a low rumble that seemed to vibrate through their bones. "I'm not safe. I'm not... me anymore."

Sammy stepped forward, her boots crunching against the scattered debris, and held out her trembling hand. The gesture was small, fragile against the backdrop of Y/N's towering form—a dragon's wings folded against her sides, a tyrannosaur's powerful legs planted firmly in the earth. She's still in there. I know she is, Sammy thought desperately.

"Please, Y/N... just let us help you come back home."

Darius felt his breath catch. God, even now, even like this, she's incredible. He couldn't stop staring at the way her hybrid form moved—predatory grace mixed with something almost ethereal.

Y/N pulled back sharply, her massive head snapping away from Sammy's outstretched hand. Her jaws parted, revealing rows of serrated teeth as she bared her fangs at the farm girl. A guttural snarl rumbled from deep within her chest, and the sound alone made the ground beneath them vibrate.

"Home? Home?" Her voice was a roar that echoed through the trees, sending birds scattering into the sky. "You think that pathetic human island is something for me? You've all gone mad." Her reptilian eyes—still holding that haunting trace of humanity—blazed with fury and anguish. "My home is here. With them. With the hunt. With the freedom you could never understand."

Ben's heart hammered against his ribs. She means it. She really means it. But even as terror gripped him, he couldn't deny the pull he felt toward her. What's wrong with me? She could kill us all, and I still—

Y/N turned her back on them, her massive tail lashing through the air with enough force to snap a tree trunk in half. The movement was deliberate, dismissive. Her wings rustled, leathery membranes catching the dappled sunlight filtering through the canopy.

"Leave now," she commanded, her voice dropping to a dangerous growl. "Leave, or I won't stop the others from hunting you down." She paused, her head tilting slightly, and when she spoke again, there was something cruel in her tone. "And I won't stop Blue either."

At her signal—a low, clicking vocalization that seemed to resonate in the boys' chests—the raptor emerged from the shadows. Blue's amber eyes gleamed with predatory intelligence as she nodded, understanding her alpha's command. She began circling the group, her sickle-shaped claws clicking against stone, her movements fluid and calculating.

This can't be happening, Darius thought, even as his eyes remained fixed on Y/N's retreating form. We came all this way, and she's choosing this? Choosing to be a monster?

But deep down, watching her move with such raw power and terrible beauty, he wondered if she'd ever really had a choice at all.

Just then, a gunshot cracked through the air—sharp and violent, shattering the tense standoff like glass.

Blue shrieked, a sound so piercing and anguished it made Owen's blood run cold. The raptor stumbled, her sleek body twisting as crimson bloomed across her scaled flank. She collapsed onto her side, claws scrabbling against the dirt, her amber eyes wide with shock and pain.

"NO!" Y/N's roar shook the very ground beneath their feet, a sound that was equal parts dragon's fury and T-Rex's primal rage. Her massive head whipped toward the source of the shot, pupils contracting to slits.

Her wings exploded outward—thirty feet of leathery membrane and bone—and she slammed them forward with devastating force. The air itself seemed to crack. The man holding the rifle didn't even have time to scream before the impact sent him flying backward, his body ragdolling through the underbrush. The gun clattered uselessly across the stones.

"Run! NOW!" A woman in a khaki safari outfit burst from the treeline, her face pale with terror. She grabbed Sammy and Darius by their arms, her grip bruising in its desperation. "Move, move, MOVE!"

No, we can't leave her— Owen's thoughts fractured as his legs betrayed him, instinct overriding everything else. His feet pounded against the earth, branches whipping at his face.

Behind them, Blue's cries grew weaker, more desperate. The raptor dragged herself across the ground, leaving a dark trail, her vocalizations shifting into something heartbreaking—a plea, a call for help directed at the only one who could save her.

Y/N...

The hybrid's head snapped toward her fallen companion, and something in her expression shifted. The cruel dismissiveness evaporated, replaced by something raw and protective. Fury—pure, incandescent fury—surged through every fiber of her being.

Y/N reared back, her chest expanding, scales glowing with an inner heat that made the air shimmer. She unleashed a torrent of fire at the woman, a roaring column of flame that turned the humid jungle air into a furnace. The woman screamed, diving behind a boulder as the vegetation around her ignited, flames licking hungrily at the canopy.

She's magnificent, Darius thought even as he ran, even as terror clawed at his throat. Terrifying and magnificent and—

"Don't stop!" the woman shrieked at them, her voice hoarse from smoke. "Keep running!"

The kids sprinted deeper into the jungle, their lungs burning, legs pumping. Behind them, the sounds of destruction continued—trees splintering, earth shaking, Y/N's roars echoing like thunder.

Y/N turned back toward the man with the gun, her massive form coiled with lethal intent. Her tail swept low, her wings folded tight against her body. Every muscle rippled beneath her scales as she stalked toward him, ready to face him head-on.

You hurt what's mine, her eyes promised. Now you pay.

The kids reached the docks, their shoes pounding against weathered wood that groaned under their frantic footfalls. Owen and the others were already waiting by the boat, silhouetted against the orange glow of distant fires.

"Move! Move!" Zach shouted, waving them forward frantically, his voice cracking with urgency.

The kids pushed their legs harder, muscles screaming in protest, lungs burning with each ragged breath.

But above them, the sky erupted in flame. Another fireball—massive, incandescent—streaked through the air like a meteor, trailing smoke and embers.

Y/N swooped down with terrifying grace, her enormous wings creating a thunderous downdraft that sent waves crashing against the dock pilings. She landed between the kids and the boat with earth-shaking force, wooden planks splintering beneath her talons. Her wings flared wide—leathery membranes backlit by firelight, creating a living barrier of scale and sinew.

God, she's protecting them, Darius thought, his heart hammering against his ribs. Even now. Even like this.

Owen raised his hands slowly, palms out, his voice steady despite the tremor Darius could see in his shoulders. "Y/N, listen to me. Please." His eyes never left hers—those reptilian eyes that still held something achingly human. "It wasn't us! Neither Claire nor I would ever shoot at the kids—or at Blue. I would never hurt her. You know me. You know me."

He's talking to her like she's still human, Kenji whispered to himself, mesmerized. Like she can still understand.

Y/N's massive head tilted, nostrils flaring as she scented the air. Her tail lashed behind her, sending crates tumbling into the water.

Before she could respond—before that terrible maw could open—two figures stepped out from behind a stack of supply crates, their movements cautious, calculated.

Y/N's head snapped toward them, her body coiling like a spring. A guttural snarl ripped from her throat as she reared up, her chest beginning to glow with building heat. The air around her shimmered, distorting like a mirage.

"Stop! Y/N—" Claire rushed forward, her hands outstretched, positioning herself between Y/N and the newcomers. Her voice was firm but pleading. "These are Mitch and Tiff. They're with us! They're on our side!"

Mitch scoffed loudly, his face twisted with disgust and something else—fear, barely concealed. He glared at Claire, then at the massive hybrid looming before them. "Yeah? Then maybe you should've mentioned you've got a damn hybrid fighting for your side!" His hand drifted toward his belt. "What the hell were you thinking, Claire?"

Don't, Ben thought desperately, watching Mitch's hand. Don't make any sudden moves. Please.

Y/N's gaze locked onto Mitch, her eyes narrowing to slits. Her sides heaved with every breath, each exhale releasing wisps of smoke that curled into the humid air. A deep, resonant growl rumbled from her chest—a sound that vibrated through the dock, through their bones, primal and full of promise.

She's going to kill him, Sammy thought, frozen in place. She's going to burn him alive and there's nothing we can do to stop her.

He had hurt Blue.

He had hurt the only dinosaur Y/N truly cared about—the velociraptor who had been her companion, her pack, her family when her humanity had been stripped away.

And she remembers, Darius realized, watching the intelligence burning in those draconic eyes. She remembers everything.

Y/N stepped forward, deliberate and predatory. The wooden dock trembled beneath her weight, water sloshing between the planks. Her claws gouged deep furrows into the wood with each step.

"Y/N, please—" Owen's voice cut through the tension, desperate now. "Don't do this. Not like this."

But would it be so wrong? Kenji thought, surprising himself. After everything they've done? After what they did to Blue?

The hybrid's muscles bunched beneath her scales, firelight dancing across her form—part dragon, part Tyrannosaurus rex, wholly magnificent and terrifying. Her wings spread slightly, casting massive shadows across the dock.

She's beautiful, Darius thought, the realization hitting him like a physical blow. Even now. Especially now. God help me, but she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

Her jaws parted, revealing rows of serrated teeth that gleamed like daggers in the firelight. When she spoke, her voice emerged as a guttural rumble—ancient, powerful, and cold as winter frost. "My name is no longer Y/N." The words reverberated through the air, making the dock shudder. "I am Rex."

No, Darius thought desperately, his heart clenching. Don't say that. You're still you. You're still—

Her molten gold eyes swept across them—Owen, the kids, and finally settled on Mitch and Tiff with predatory focus. "Leave," she commanded, her voice carrying the weight of absolute authority. "All of you. Now."

"Y/N—Rex—please, we can—" Owen started, taking a half-step forward.

She's magnificent even when she's terrifying us, Kenji thought, unable to tear his eyes away from her powerful form. How is that possible?

Mitch and Tiff exchanged a quick glance, something unspoken passing between them. Tiff's hand moved toward the tranquilizer gun at her belt.

The movement was subtle, but Rex saw it.

Her massive tail whipped around with devastating speed—a blur of scaled muscle and raw power. The impact caught Tiff square in the back with a sickening crack, launching her off the pier like a ragdoll. She sailed through the air, arms windmilling uselessly, before crashing into the dark water below with an enormous splash.

"TIFF!" Mitch's scream tore through the night, raw and anguished.

Oh God, Ben thought, his legs threatening to give out beneath him. This is really happening. She's really—

Rex's head swiveled toward Mitch with reptilian precision, her pupils contracting to slits. A low, rumbling growl emanated from deep within her chest—the sound of an apex predator claiming its prey.

"No—wait—please—" Mitch stumbled backward, his face draining of color, hands raised in a futile gesture of surrender.

Rex lunged.

Her massive form descended upon him with terrifying speed, all muscle and fury and ancient rage. Mitch went down beneath her weight, his screams piercing the air—high-pitched, desperate, inhuman sounds of pure terror. He flailed beneath her, his fists beating uselessly against her armored scales.

I should look away, Darius thought, but he couldn't. I should run. I should do something. But I can't stop watching her. Even now. Especially now.

"Darius!" Sammy's voice cut through his paralysis.

Darius gasped and finally tore his gaze away from the grisly scene, turning his back on the carnage. His stomach churned, but beneath the horror, beneath the fear, a traitorous part of his mind whispered: She's never been more powerful. Never been more herself.

Mitch's screams grew weaker, then stopped altogether.