Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.
They looked at the geysers in front of them, which were practically screaming 'DANGER'! Sid chuckled nervously, looking at the herd. "Oh, it's just a little hot water and steam, right guys?" They watched on as a turkey walked across, and got shot by one of the rising hot water. The strong burst of water shot up, and the turkey squawked in surprise, before landing again, now a freshly roasted turkey.
Manny still looked forward in determination, but Diego spoke. "Manny, it's practically a minefield! We'll get killed."
"No. We go straight through."
"Nu-uh." Ellie protested. "Look, it's easy. We can head back and go around." The possums were nodding whole-heartedly at her statement, but Manny wouldn't budge so easily.
"We have no time. The dam will burst before we make it through if we go back!"
Ellie gestured ahead. "But if we go there, we'll get blown to bits! We go back!"
"Forward!"
"Back!"
"Forward!"
"Can I say something?" Diego piped up, but both glared at him, snapping simultaneously.
"No!"
"You are so stubborn!" Manny burst out, his frustration evident.
"Well," Ellie snorted. "I suppose it proves that I am a mammoth."
Diego then snarled, causing all of them to look at him, startled. "We don't have time to argue! Look!" He gestured backwards, and all of them turned, seeing the rock start to shift dangerously. "If we stand here arguing, we'll have no time at all to get to the boat."
Manny nodded emphatically. "Which is why we should go there." He pointed to the geysers. "We have a much greater chance of making to the boat in time before the dam fully bursts. If we go back, we'll get killed."
Ellie opened her mouth to protest, but Diego beat her to it. "Ellie, if we go back, the earthquake will send those boulders crashing on us. Manny's right. We're going through the geysers." After a few seconds of hesitance, Ellie finally nodded, and the possums got onto her. Manny looked at her in determination once again, before nodding at her as well, and then charging through the 'minefield'.
There was running and screaming, before something hit Manny. He only faintly registered it, his blurry head unable to take in the sounds around him. Diego and Sid entered his vision, but Ellie was nowhere in sight. Both were shouting something at him - well, Diego was. Sid was screaming to the other side of the 'minefield'. Finally, his words became clear.
"Manny, come on! We have to go now!" Manny stumbled up, nearly crashing into Ellie, who happened to run into his way. Both continued running, Ellie taking the lead, surprisingly. Manny continued running, following her, but was shoved to the right by Diego, who narrowly avoided the exploding geysers, yelling at him. "That way!"
Obeying Diego's instructions, Manny moved on, blurry registering the geysers around them, and Sid, along with the possums, screaming at the top of their lungs as they ran to and fro, having dropped from Ellie's back, and currently following Ellie's maniac footsteps, trying to get out yet stay safe. Suddenly, Manny felt something shove him to his left, and then winced as a geyser exploded right next to him.
When they were reaching the end, it was only there that Manny noticed something wrong, and looked around. "Wait." All of them turned, though only briefly. Manny's mind now registered what, or, rather who was missing. "Where's Diego?"
Everyone look around, not seeing anything but geysers. "I can't see him!" Ellie shouted over the noise.
"Let's just leave! He's probably already made it!" Eddie screamed as another geyser erupted.
"No!" Manny had a sinking feeling in his gut. Something that was telling him to look around. Sid suddenly called out.
"There!" Without thinking, Manny charged in that direction, avoiding the geysers, before his heart sank. He froze, staring down.
"No." He murmured. "No. No. Diego." Diego was on his side, his hazel green eyes open, glassy, and unseeing. His fur was wet, but it didn't take much to realise in that split second. Manny understood immediately.
He remembered the push to the left. The one that had him narrowly missing the geyser…but what about the one who pushed him away?
Manny tenderly lay a trunk on the still flank of Diego, desperately hoping for some sort of miracle, some sort of sign that he was alive. But no. He stayed cold. Manny took away his trunk, now slightly damp, and stared ahead.
It was all too simple.
And that was what made it all the worse to his death.
Diego had been hit by a geyser.
A deep shuddered breath came from Manny, before he turned, hearing his name called out. He quickly grabbed Diego, shoving him on his back. He had time to mourn later. But now, he had no time. He had to get himself and Diego away. That was the least he could do for Diego.
He hurried to the sound of the voice, noticing how Ellie and the others seemed to not be able to notice how Diego still wasn't beside him, beside him living, breathing, running, shouting.
Instead, he swallowed it all down, and followed Ellie and the others to the end of the minefield, where they all stopped for a few second, unaware of the events that were about to trigger.
Scrat scrambled on the side of the ice, trying to properly grab his nut, which was trapped in the ice. He started to crawl up, using his nut as a sort of ledge/equipment in order to get up to the very ledge.
At that moment, a crack came from his nut. Scrat groaned. Not again. However, the crack would prove to be helpful to the other animals. The ice split in half, and grabbed the nut, trying desperately to keep the ice together, unaware of the water that was seeping into the crack, finally being released, like a crack in the basin of water.
They looked around in amazement as the water started subsiding. "The water's going down!" Sid shouted in joy.
Eddie rolled his eyes. "Well done, Captain Obvious." But Ellie turned to Manny, now noticing the absence of a member.
"Manny? Where's Diego?" At this, everyone turned to Manny, who remained silent. "Manny?" Ellie asked, in concern. "Where's Diego?" With a resigned sigh, Manny slowly reached up and gently settled Diego on the ground.
Eddie and Crash stared in shock at the corpse. Ellie backed away slightly, eyes wide in shock and horror. Sid swallowed slowly, before exhaling shakily. "Manny?"
Manny was silent, now finally letting the emotions wash over him. Blood was now trickling at the edge of Diego's mouth, making it's way down one of Diego's canine teeth, slowly making a puddle of blood beneath Diego's head. Manny could only stare, breath shuddering.
"Manny." He looked at Ellie, who looked at horror-stricken as he was.
Diego, out of all people, did not deserve this. He had killed, though indirectly, his pack leader, betrayed his pack to save his new 'herd', and had risked his life to safe Manny's.
Another shuddering breath, and Manny looked up at the sun shining brightly. Gently lifting Diego up, he brought Diego with him to the water, where he gently layer him down. He could sense Ellie place a comforting trunk on his shoulder, and turned around, expression forlorn.
He looked back at Diego. He looked so serene.
What a good way to feel after death.
Manny looked at Sid, emotions hurling themselves one after another at him. After Diego's death, Manny finally gained the courage to ask Ellie to be his mate, which she happily agreed to - or, at least, how happily one could be when one of their friends had died recently. The possums had gone with them, while Sid had left to be some 'fire king' for some sloths, or mini-sloths.
They had taken to following the mammoths, but after quickly becoming bored with their presence, had left to be a herd once again on their own, travelling with the animals wherever their instincts took them to…until they reached the place where they had lost Diego, and had also let Sid leave.
And now, after all this time, Sid had somehow located them and wished to rejoin their herd. Of course, Ellie was the first to speak. "Sure, Sid. It's good to have you back."
"Ellie!" Manny hissed at her, but she gave him a 'look', and he knew that he was hopeless to argue. After some grumbling, he had to admit that Sid's presence was now comforting, something familiar, even original. The only other one…no. End there. But if he had been there, he would have stopped Sid from joining, and the regret to well up in Manny's chest until today. "Fine. Stay. Welcome back, Sid."
A grin from the former 'Fire-King', and he happily rejoined them, looked around as Eddie and Crash came swinging by, landing perfectly on the floor.
"I want in again." Sid smiled. "I'm back!"
Eddie and Crash looked at one another, eyebrow raised, before Eddie spoke. "Brush your teeth, and we'll let you back in."
"Eddie!" Ellie scolded her younger brother.
Manny laughed as Peaches tacked Sid. "Ha! I'm still faster than you, Uncle Sid!"
"Not fair. I'm not that old! I lost any of my looks." Eddie and Crash immediately pretended to gag behind him, and even Peaches backed away, her disgust clear (though it was slightly joking. The rest of the disgust was real).
"Ewww. Sid!"
Ellie chuckled as well as she joined them, smiling brightly at Manny, before looking as Buck joined them. The crazed, maybe even deranged, weasel had joined them after the herd had landed in the dinosaur world.
After they killed Rudy, Buck had joined them, and then they had returned to the world, the Ice Age when Peaches was born.
At that moment, a rustle to the side caught their attention. Shira emerged, looking satisfied with herself for some reason. Probably chased off some odd animal or other off, or won an argument with Dominic. After the adventure in the Dinosaur World, the continents had split, and the herd had been separated, finding the Pirate crew. After some persuading, Buck somehow managed to convince Shira to help them.
Manny had no idea how he did it: maybe with his skills with his blade, or whatever, but Shira joined them, single. That was, until a handsome saber-tooth tiger, Dominic, had joined the herd, and had stolen her heart…or at least, he had. Now, they were on mutual terms. He followed, looking sulky and confirming Manny's hypothesis that Shira had won an argument with Dominic
"Shira." Peaches beamed. "Tell Sid that he's old, and not attractive."
Shira smirked. "I'll do even better, Peaches. Sid, you're old, ugly and single." Sid huffed, looking extremely offended.
"It's not that surprising, is it?" A voice rasped from behind them, and Sid froze, staring at the animal that had appeared behind Manny and Ellie. Crash and Eddie stared, wide-eyed at the animal, Eddie stuttering, pointing as well. Buck, Peaches and Shira merely looked confused at the animal.
Manny turned slowly, with Ellie, both looking at the sabre. There was no mistaking who it was.
The saber-tooth tiger was thinner than the usual saber. His teeth, however, kept sharp and white. The last time Manny saw it, one of them had had blood trickling down it. His right ear had a large inch in it, but Manny didn't doubt that the saber hearing had gotten worse. His voice held sarcasm, and was one that Manny had been terrified of forgetting, which he had started to do.
But his eyes. His eyes were as bright as always, yet there was a new weariness in them that indicated that he had gotten older. His eyes were still the hazel-green that they had been, but they were now a darker green.
His trademark smirk adorned his features.
No. No. This had to be a dream. Had to, had to, had to. "Manny? Who's this?" Dominic asked, ready to attack if necessary.
The word was dazed and fell off his lips naturally. "Diego."
AN: I know I'm supposed to be on hiatus and try and catch up on the different stories, but this one nagged at me until I just thought: FINE. I'll post it, and that's hopefully it until the end of the holidays (I know I'm the opposite of the usual writer, who will take the opportunity to publish more stories/chapters etc. I forgot which story this was based on, but many thanks to that story...
This is a one-shot for now, may turn into a series of one-shots about the stories in between this one, after and possibly before as well. Tell me what you think, and reviews are always welcome!
