Ice Age human! AU, College university setting in the 1950s. Everything remains the same except the characters are humans and instead are trying to return Pinky to his family after the gang war that Diego's band started.
And yes, I wrote a humanisation! fic! Averting the tired old cliche in this fandom of "High School AU" (which I've always seen as making no sense since it regresses the characters' ages and removes the core story of the Original etc etc; if anything, a College AU for this fandom makes more sense since the majority of these characters - in the Original - start out as early/late twenties, at best!) for this series and this also functions as a sort of missing scene as well, since the Original movie never showed us how Manny and co reacted after Diego pleads with them to let him help them.
This is the scene after Diego's confessed to his sin. How will Manny react? (I was inspired to write this after we watched a video at church some months ago that explained repentance is basically throwing everything you have down to the ground and then opening your arms to the person, and since I see Manny as very much a Christ-figure [especially to *cough* Diego *cough*] I just had to write this.)
Diego stands rooted to the ground, his yellow hair blowing in the brisk wind picking up, his hands in his pockets; watching as his two companions wander further into danger – the danger he's led them to.
Diego grimaces, his feet stuck to the mounds of snow heaped up around the lot, his gaze focusing on Manfred as the big man breaks the path for Sid to follow in so that it's easier for him to carry Pinky.
Recalling the baby and the fact that he's orphaned the little mite by robbing him of his mother and then bringing him to his cruel boss so that he can kill and eat Pinky makes a new wave of remorse course through Diego's bones, to the extent that he feels he can't move. His hands tighten around his knives desperately.
"Hey, Diego," Manny calls back to him. He looks up at the man who's saved him, who went so far to sacrifice himself to make sure Diego got to safety, his expression stricken. "You frozen back there?"
His kind words – something he's sure Soto would never ask – ignite a reaction from Diego. He throws himself into a run, bringing him up next between Manfred and Sid.
"Get down." He orders as he runs up next to them.
"What?" Manfred asks, wheeling around to face him.
"Get down and follow me," Diego repeats, hearing Sid murmur next to him,
"What's goin' on?"
Diego glances up at Manny before hiding his head in shame. He inhales, gritting himself for his confession. A painful confession, because it's his sin and the agony of it keens through him strongly, but there's no more running from it now.
"At the bottom of Half Peak," he says, his breathing laboured from the effort of forcing the truth into the open, "there's an ambush, waiting for you." That I put into effect.
Manny's face darkens and his eyes grow wide with surprise. In that moment, Diego realises that Manfred never had suspected anything of him – although he's sure that he was still seen as a filthy gang member – but had trusted him implicitly, making his heart lurch.
"What?" Manfred mutters, seemingly not able to believe it. His brow knits into a formidable scowl. "What do you mean, 'ambush'?" Diego watches as the large man works to his own conclusions. "You set us up."
"It was my job," Diego fumbles for an excuse, but even he knows how hollow his words sound. "I was supposed to get the baby, but then-"
"You brought us home for your own selfish benefit to get us killed so you'd be in good favour with your boss," Manfred says, his face a storm-cloud of quiet anger. Diego can see that he's already thinking of Sid and Pinky, so he's not even focussing on Diego's betrayal at the moment internally.
"That's it!" Sid exclaims, pointing a long, tapered finger at him as he balances the baby on his hip. "You're out of the herd!"
"I'm sorry," Diego pleads, closing his eyes, sincerely meaning everything in those two words as Manfred draws himself up next to him, grabbing him by the neck, his large brown eyes livid with rage.
"No, you're not." Manfred grumbles, his hand tightening. "Not yet."
If Manfred killed him then and there, Diego would've accepted it. At that point, it was the only justice he felt due him for his crimes.
However, Manfred's grip slackens enough on him so that he can talk.
"Listen," he rasps, struggling to breathe. "I can help you-"
Manfred ignores him, although he feels sure that the mammoth-sized man heard him.
"Stay close, Sid." Manfred addresses their younger, smaller companion. "We can fight our way out."
His words strike daggers of icy fear into Diego's heart.
"You can't!" he protests, his fingers clutching at the knives he carries in his hands, although he doesn't fight against Manfred's grip on him. "The pack's too strong, they'll take you down in an instant, Soto's been planning for this. You have to trust me."
"Trust you?" Manfred turns his own words back on him. "Why in the world would we trust you?"
Diego stares deeply into the deep brown eyes of the man he regards as his saviour.
"Because I'm your only chance," he whispers.
At his words, Manfred's hold around his neck slackens completely. Diego falls to the snowy ground, panting for breath. For a moment he's still not able to grasp that Manfred has given him mercy again, in spite of his crimes against him.
"No," Manfred responds, kneeling to the ground beside Diego, who barely registers his presence. "I was yours."
He places his hands around Diego's thin shoulders. After a moment his hands guide Diego to tilt his head upwards in a gesture that was both brotherly and fatherly so that Diego's gaze is holding his, but Diego ducks his head, too overcome with shame to stare into Manfred's now gentle eyes.
Manfred rises to his feet, leaving Diego still lying on the ground, his fingers clutched around his knives. He faintly hears Manfred explain to Sid that they'll need some kind of plan to infiltrate the Half Peak warehouse, but the words sound as if they echo from miles away.
Diego shakily stands up, and finds that Manfred is looking at him, a kind smile on his face. Diego remembers the knives he is holding, clutching them for sheer life. He allows the blades to drop from his hands before crossing over to Manfred as the big man opens his arms to him, knowing that he'll need to return for them in a moment.
He falls into them, tears freezing on his cheeks, never expecting the words that Manfred says next to him.
"It's okay, Diego, it's okay. You're forgiven. Totally, completely, forgiven."
Fin
and yes, the quote at the end is deliberately inspired by Eleven saying something similar to River Song on Doctor Who, for those of you who caught the reference ;)
review?