The night was dark and unusually cold. Over the past few weeks the days had been getting slightly warmer but the nights were still as freezing as ever. There was a slightly tense mood in the air tonight. Instead of sitting around Sid's crackling fire like he normally did, Manny had stalked off to be alone. He had become very moody lately and Diego thought he knew why.
"What's wrong with him?" Sid asked in a slightly worried voice, as he scooted closer to the blazing fire. Diego, who was resting with his head on his paws, rolled his eyes. The sloth was pretty clueless…no scratch that, the sloth was extremely clueless.
"He's a family guy…he wants to settle down, I guess," Diego muttered.
There was a silence. Sid could tell when Diego wasn't in a talkative mood…although it didn't normally stop him from badgering the saber with questions.
"How's your leg? Does it still hurt?" He asked. When Diego has been injured by Soto, he had hurt his leg pretty bad. The tiger had been forced to limp for the past few weeks. Manny had offered him a lift over and over but Diego had always refused.
"Its fine," Diego replied irritably.
"That's what you always say."
"Then why do you always ask?"
Diego sighed as Sid gave him a wounded puppy look. He hadn't meant to snap. He guessed Manny's mood was putting a strain on things.
"Sorry," he muttered, feeling embarrassed. Always easy to forgive, Sid grinned and patted the tiger lightly on the head.
"Kitty's just grumpy cause his leg hurts. Sid understands," he teased. Before, this remark would cost the sloth a slap around the head. Tonight, Diego didn't feel like it and just smirked instead.
Silence again. Of course it didn't last very long.
"You know when Soto knocked you out and we all thought you were gunna die…" Sid said casually, picking at the ground absent-mindedly. Diego glanced at him.
"That was the scariest moment of my life," the sloth finished. The tiger stared at him, feeling touched.
"What about you? What's been the scariest moment in your life?" Sid asked, grinning goofily.
Come on Diego; let's bring this mammoth down…
Scariest moment in his life? He'd had many…having to choose between his first true friend who had saved his life, and the leader of his pack, someone he'd known since he was a kid, his brother.
He remembered Soto's face when he stood in front of Manny to defend him. He looked confused at first than his face suddenly switched into hatred. His cold eyes glaring into his was the scariest thing he'd ever seen.
Or was it? Sid's words had sprung up memories from long ago that he'd much rather forget.
The time he came home from his first hunt empty-handed. He was young then and he remembered chasing down animals for the entire day and not having the heart to kill them. His father, Lazlo, had sent him a look of such utter disgust and Diego had never felt so worthless in his life.
"No son of mine is going to become a weak, gutless coward!" Lazlo had hissed bearing down on his small child. He remembered the rest of the pack crowding around them, staring at the spectacle. Soto had looked from his father to his young brother and looked very worried. He had been much nicer back then. He was always sticking out for Diego and standing up for him.
"If you don't earn your keep you're not worthy to stay in this pack anymore! You either toughen up or you get out!" His father commanded swiping at Diego ruthlessly. His claws slashed the young cub's cheek and he fell to the ground. Snorting contemptuously, his father left him there in the dirt, and stalked off. The rest of the pack followed…except for Soto. He crawled up to his little brother and licked his bloodied cheek. Diego desperately wanted to cry but he couldn't. He remembered feeling so humiliated as his brother comforted him.
The next day the two had went out to hunt. They trekked for the entire morning, not saying a word. Finally as Diego was starting to grow tired, Soto had spotted an antelope that had foolishly broken off from its group.
"Go on," Soto had muttered, giving him a light push on the shoulder. "Get it."
Diego remembered feeling a sick wave of nausea go through him. The antelope was munching at a patch of fernery, unaware of the tigers crouching near it. He didn't want to kill it. He didn't want to. He felt like kicking up a fuss for a few seconds and then he remembered his father's angry eyes glaring down at him.
The cub pounced, missing the antelope by a few inches. The animal gave a start of surprise and began to run for its life. Diego remembered making a big mess of his first kill, slaughtering the antelope chaotically and not doing as neat a job the older tigers managed. But he still did it. He still killed it and dragged it back to the pack.
"Did Soto kill it for you?" His father growled, narrowing his eyes at his son. Diego felt too scared to answer.
"No, Dad. He did it all himself," Soto had stepped in and his father smirked.
"Good job, kid," he said gruffly, patting Diego on the head. Diego tried not to beam with pride, but he couldn't help it. He had grinned for the whole day.
He knew how Soto had changed from the loving, protective brother to the vengeful tiger he had been a few weeks ago. Sometimes Diego blamed himself for it.
As Diego had grown older he remembered how he had suddenly become the object of attention from most of the females in his pack. It had made him feel extremely uncomfortable how the girls had trailed behind him, trying desperately to flirt with him.
"It's mating season Dee. Can I call you that? Dee? It's a pretty cute nickname don't you think? Just like you…you're pretty cute," a tiger called Katia giggled as she followed Diego around. He remembered her being a snooty, stuck-up snob when they were cubs. She had changed very suddenly and he didn't like it.
"Err…thanks. Um…do you mind? I'm trying to hunt here," he said pointedly easing away from her. She took a big step up to him and fluttered her eyelashes.
"Ooo, I've always wanted to see you hunt! A big manly tiger pouncing on his prey. That's hot, don't you think?"
Diego had sent her the most scathing look he could manage. She had blushed and turned away.
"Well, soorrrryyy Mister Misery! Just trying to be nice!" She snapped, storming off.
The boys had all teased him about it later on.
"You idiot, Diego! Katia's hot! You could have had her easy!" Zeke had snickered, twitching slightly. Zeke had been the runt of his litter and seemed to stay that way for his entire life. He never seemed to grow out of his scraggly, mangy look.
"She's not really my type…" he had muttered quietly and the rest of them had roared with laughter.
"Not you're type? None of them are you're type! No girl's good enough for you!" Lenny snorted, as the others howled with mirth.
"She's my type! Rawr!" Zeke giggled and that set everyone off again. Diego had slid off ignoring the yells of "cheer up Mister Misery!"
Katia had seemed to think the only way to get Diego jealous was to become Soto's mate. It caused a bit of a scandal within the pack. The females all whispered of how Soto was too old for little Katia and how she should stick with tigers her own age.
"Haven't you seen Soto hunt? He's a total savage beast! Can you think of him with our delicate, prissy little Katia?" An older female tiger gossiped.
"Yeah…at mating season we'll find her dead body…she's tiny compared to him," a vulgar old tiger said.
Katia had started to look like she had bitten off more then she could chew. Everyone knew when you mated with Soto you mated for life. She wasn't going to escape from his clutches too easy.
He doted on her, though. He brought her home the biggest kills and would only let her eat first. Diego remembered when Lenny had grabbed a chunk of meat before she did. Soto had sent him such an evil look he dropped it straight away.
He guessed her plan worked. He did feel jealous…but not of Soto. Of her, being showered with Soto's attention. That used to be him, who Soto was protective of. Then he felt stupid. He wasn't a cub anymore. Soto wasn't going to be his big, loving brother for the rest of his life. He had to adjust to being the new leader of the pack and protecting his mate.
So he got over his envy and blended into the background. He watched as the rest of the tigers got mates and had babies with disinterest. The females avoided him now. They didn't want to be knocked down.
"It sucks being a bachelor," Zeke had muttered one night. No-one wanted him as a mate because of his scrawny, unhealthy appearance and his crass jokes. Diego nodded half-heartedly.
He remembered Katia's frightened face as she told Soto she was pregnant. His brother's face had lit up with joy but Diego heard the whispers springing up about how Katia was too little and too young to give birth.
"If it's a boy we're naming it after Dad," Soto told him happily when they were hunting. Diego nodded.
"If it's a girl…I don't know that yet. Katia could name her if she wants…we've all got to look after her, Diego. She's very delicate."
So the months went by and the days grew colder. Katia had complained how she didn't want to have a baby yet to the other girls. They had rolled their eyes at her and said "we told you so."
One very cold week, the river that was the packs main source of water froze over. So they got up and left to find some more. Katia was very pregnant by then and Soto watched her every move like he was afraid she might kneel over and die the minute he turned away.
They trekked for days and days until they reached a valley that was near a huge waterfall and a river. Parts of it were frozen but most of it wasn't. Soto had watched carefully as Katia ate and drank her fill and he finally seemed content that she was okay.
It snowed that night and the next day it hailed. It seemed to be getting colder every minute.
The pack was aware of the human camp that was situated over the hill and they stayed as far away from them as possible. Humans, the tigers whispered, were cunning, savage beasts who made weapons out of sticks and stones. Humans were a predator every animal should be worried about, even saber-tooth tigers.
Diego didn't know why he didn't see it coming sooner. It seemed that humans couldn't stand the freezing temperatures at all. They would do absolutely anything to stay warm. They would even start killing to stay warm.
Diego didn't understand that. He killed to eat and he ate to stay alive. Humans killed because they were hungry, cause they were cold, cause they were bored cause there was nothing else to do. It scared him alot.
So when some of the guys went out hunting and only one came back alive the pack grew worried. As one by one tigers were being killed, Soto decided to hold a meeting.
He suggested moving away from the humans and not attacking them. He didn't want to fight them when he was already worrying about Katia. So they got up and moved again, further away from the humans. They all thought this was a perfect and simple way of getting the humans off their backs. None of the tigers expected to be hunted down by them, no matter how far they moved.
Diego remembered the paranoia that grew as the humans tracked them down. Soto was accused of being a bad leader and they begged him to form an attack against the humans.
"I don't know how Dad did it so well," Soto confided in Diego after a week of his pack blaming him for all the deaths. Diego could tell he was breaking under the pressure of looking after his pack and taking care of his pregnant mate.
"I'm going to have to attack the humans. The others might plan a mutiny against me if I don't act soon," he muttered as the two walked besides the frozen river, searching for prey.
Diego didn't like to think about the battle that took place. He hated remembering all the blood and bodies. The tigers killed many humans but the humans killed more. The murderous rampage lasted only a few minutes but they left only five tigers alive.
The memory of the head of the human tribe flashed in his mind. He was aiming a spear at him, his face twisted up in hate. Diego had no time to react…the spear was racing towards him and for a moment he knew he was going to die.
"Dee!" Screamed a voice from far off. Then a swollen furry body was pushing him to the side and he was sprayed in hot sticky blood that wasn't his own.
The head of the human tribe looked horrified and Diego looked to see Katia's dead body with a spear sticking out of her neck. She had saved him. His vision had gone fuzzy and he had trouble standing straight. This couldn't be happening.
He heard an agonized scream from his left and he was knocked over to the ground. He saw his brother shaking the body helplessly and he felt sick.
"C'mon, wake-up! Wake up!"
The human was still standing there and Diego recognized the look on its face. Guilt. The fighting had ceased suddenly as humans and tigers stood and watched as Soto shook and begged his dead mate to stay alive.
He turned to look at the head of the tribe and the maniacal loathing in his face terrified Diego. He didn't need to say a thing. It was there, written in his features. The human dropped his weapons and fled. The rest followed. Soto didn't bother to get up. He just stared after the retreating figures with a cold, blank expression on his face.
It was the expression Diego remembered as he travelled with Manny and Sid. He knew if he failed his brother he would certainly die, no question. Soto couldn't feel anymore. He could only kill.
So the scariest thing that ever happened in his life? Realizing that he couldn't betray Manny…but realizing he had to betray his vengeful brother instead. Being stuck in the middle between his brother and one of the best friends he's ever had.
It was too cold. The crackling fire was not helping one little bit. Diego stared into the orange flames and he felt his muscles clench. Sid was looking at him and his goofy expression had disappeared. Hesitantly, he placed a paw on Diego's shoulder.
"Sorry…I didn't mean to bring up bad memories or anything…" he stuttered and quickly took his paw away as if afraid the tiger would rip it off. Diego turned his gaze away from the fire and onto the sloth's face. Had he made the right decision, sticking by Manny and Sid? Should he have stayed with the pack?
The pack, where he was scared, jealous and alone?
Or here where he was the happiest he'd ever been in his life?
Yes…he had made the right decision…it would stay with him to the day he died…but it was still the right one.
"C'mere," he demanded, reaching for the sloth. Sid looked very confused as the tiger slung an arm around him and drew him into a hug.
"What's with you?" He asked, a little disturbed by this sudden display of affection.
"It's cold," Diego replied simply.
It's cold, he thought. But it's warmer now.
I'm not 100 per cent happy with this story but I'll post it anyway. I'd like to see more stories about Soto so that's the main reason I wrote this. Yeah...constructive critisism please...I think I need it bad.