Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age or Night at the Museum.
AN: Just watched Night at the Museum - when I saw the mammoths, thought of Ice Age, especially since Keke Palmer (Peaches) and Rebel Wilson (Raz)...so yeah. First thing I thought of when I saw Teddy and Sacajawea - Sacajawea/Diego. Weird, since I normally ship Dira...eh. Dunno if I should continue.
And, as expected, takes place after Ice Age 4, but right after Night at the Museum I. Apologies if characters seem OOC. Title comes from 'Alone Together' by Fall Out Boy.
Larry grinned as he entered the Museum once more. Nick, his son, beamed up at him as they entered the Museum. But something was wrong. The inhabitants of the Museum were silent, tense. The atmosphere wasn't the lighthearted one that Larry had gotten used to.
"Dad?" Nick asked, voice quiet.
"Sh." Larry shushed him, making his way to Roosevelt, who was also walking towards him.
"Ah, Larry! Good of you to have finally arrived."
"Teddy, what's going on?" Larry asked.
Roosevelt seemed uncomfortable. "Well…the Museum had some new displays ordered, for a new requested section by the public."
Larry nodded slowly. He had gotten a sharp scolding from his boss, that these were priceless and genuine animals. Should anything happen to them, the Museum could be sued millions of dollars. They had arrived today, and had been positioned near the 'Africa' location.
But he hadn't thought much of it…the Museum had been getting more and more displays due to public attention and demand. In fact, he could see a female that he didn't recognise ("Pochantus" Nick whispered to him - dammit, why could he remember her name) standing awfully close to Roosevelt. And if he focused his gaze on Sacajawea, he could note that she was looking slightly dejected as she looked at the couple.
Well…and here he thought that Teddy and Sacajawea would be a perfect couple. Seems like he was wrong.
"They…well, one of them…isn't very friendly." Roosevelt gestured to Attila the Hun, who was sporting a half-broken wax arm that Sacagawea was currently mending with fire, the Neanderthals watching excitedly.
"What do you mean one?" Larry followed Roosevelt deeper into the Museum, the inhabitants parting and letting them enter. Jedediah and Octavius followed them carefully, weapons already out.
They arrived at the section.
Larry had to admit, they had done a good job. The ice was realistic, and so were the cliffs surrounding them. His eyes fell on a group of statues, frozen in time, and a…what was that thing? Was it-?
"Is that a sabre tooth tiger?" Nick asked, his voice filled with reverence.
"Indeed." Roosevelt nodded. "You might be careful not to get too close to it."
Larry examined the animals. The sabre tooth tiger had his teeth bared, and boy weren't they threatening. They stretched down past his jaws, and his hazel-green eyes flashed as Larry moved one step closer. His muscles tensed, and Larry understood the gesture. He was preparing to lunge on moment's notice.
"Hey there, big guy." Larry stated slowly, watching the other animals. He quickly turned. "Teddy, why aren't the others moving?"
Roosevelt shook his head. "We aren't too sure ourselves. The fact that one of them can come alive but the others can't…it's beyond our understanding of the tablet. Akmenrah is currently trying to find an explanation."
"What do you mean, come alive?" they jumped, startled. The group whipped their heads to the sabre tooth tiger, who was frowning slightly.
"Did you just speak?" Larry demanded, currently freaked out.
"No, I'm just the voice inside your head." there was no doubt. The voice had distinctly come from the sabre tooth tiger's mouth. He was staring at them, his tone dry and sarcastic.
"Ok…" Larry took a deep breath. "So…I'm Larry. And I'm from Brooklyn."
The tiger blinked. "Never heard of it."
"Uh…we're millions of years away from where you originally came from. And you are?"
"Diego." Larry hadn't really expected the tiger to have a name, and he jumped.
He covered it up with a nervous smile. "Ok, so…Diego. You're new here?"
"Obviously."
"Which Museum do you hail from?" Octavius demanded.
"What?"
"Museum? Where you are now?" Larry tried to explain.
Diego shook his head. "Sorry. Last place I remember was something like this." he looked around the exhibit. "Just real."
Larry looked at the others behind him. They included a white sabre tooth tiger - possibly female, three mammoths - one male and the other two female, two sloths - one of which was ugly, and two opossums.
"Are they your…family?" he gestured to them.
"They're my herd."
Larry frowned. "Ok?" he looked at the silver sabre tooth tiger. "And that's your…wife?"
"What?"
"Mate." Nick supplied helpfully.
"Right. Mate." Larry corrected.
Diego nodded slowly.
"What's her name?"
"Shira."
Larry blinked. This was weird, and he talked to living statues of past periods of time every night. "Ok then."
Another deep breath. "And…" he looked at the sabre. "Ok. We can work with this. C'mon."
Diego cautiously followed him out, eyes still narrowed. But something strange happened as soon as they left the Ice Age exhibition.
"Dad…" Nick tugged on Larry's sleeve. Larry turned, eyes wide as he noticed Diego…human?
"Diego?" Larry choked out.
"Still me." Diego seemed as stunned as they were. He currently reminded Larry of Sacajawea. He had coppery tanned skin, but light brown hair. Large hazel-green eyes stared back at him. He was wearing a sort of tunic that attached itself to his arms, before become loose and flowing. Along with that, he wore long trousers, but no shoes were in sight. All his clothes were made of tiger-skin. Around his neck was a loose necklace that had two sabre's teeth attached to it.
Jedediah was staring in amazement. "Well I never!"
Larry swallowed…once…twice…ok. "How?"
Nick was the one that offered an explanation. "Maybe it's because you talk?"
Diego raised one eyebrow. "I hate to use the same word more than twice in an hour, but what?"
"The other animals in the exhibition…they can't talk. But you can. Maybe it's so that it doesn't seem strange? I dunno."
"That could make sense." Roosevelt noted thoughtfully.
Now, they were entering the main lobby, where everyone was gathered. As Diego stepped out, Attila the Hun apparently recognised him. He started screaming in his odd language, but Diego replied by snarling. Attila was now completely healed, but the Neanderthals seemed upset at the smoking pile of Museum maps as Sacajawea stood up.
The snarl evidently surprised them, as everyone immediately jumped or stepped back.
Larry looked at Diego, whose face was contorted in a scowl. This seemed familiar to him. Well…he does hang out around a group of his supposedly prey, so how many looks would he have received?
"Ok…ok." Larry tried to take control of the situation. "Diego, apologise to Attila, and we're good…right?"
Attila seemed smug as Diego's scowl deepened.
Maybe not the best course of action, seeing Diego tense. Even though he was a human now, Larry had no doubt that Diego would be able to do massive damage to him before anyone could even intervene.
"Me? He was the one who took one look at me and tried to ram his godforsaken spear at me!"
"Ok, then." Another deep breath. "Attila, apologise, and Diego, you apologise."
Attila let out a snort. He mumbled something under his breath, but Diego stepped up to him. Even though Diego was physically smaller, Attila seemed to shrink in front of him. "Look here, I didn't ask to get put here. You either apologise or we'll be glaring at each other the whole night. You're the one who first threw the spear, so just apologise!"
Looking slightly terrified of the smaller man now, Attila mumbled something else.
Diego seemed to understand it. "Sorry." he turned to Larry, eyes not amused as he crossed his arms. "Happy?"
"Yeah." Larry offered a weak smile. He turned to everyone else. This had happened the last few times when new exhibitions had been introduced. "Ok…so…everyone, this is Diego. He's the sabre tooth tiger from the Ice Age exhibit, Diego, this is…everyone."
Diego looked at him expectantly.
"Please tell me you're joking." Larry realised what Diego was expecting him to do.
A glare.
"Fine!" Larry threw his hands up. "That's President Theodore Roosevelt, um, Jedediah, Octavius, T-Rex, Attila the Hun - though both of you have already met, Pochahantus, the Union and Confederate soldiers, Akmenrah - who holds the tablet that keeps you alive each night, Dexter," Larry scowled at him. "Sacajawea, the Neanderthals and…" he gestured at Columbus. He thought hard, waving his hand, before getting it. "Columbus?" the statue nodded excitedly, pleased that Larry finally remembered his name. "Columbus!"
"I'll figure the rest out myself." Diego's interruption was short and curt.
"Oh good." Larry breathed a sigh of relief.
"On second thought, this is fun. Who's next?"
Larry glared at him as laughter burst out around him. "You love tormenting people, don't you?"
"I won't say this isn't fun." was the casual reply.
Another glare. Diego smirked, before waving him away. The Museum inhabitants scattered, with only Pochahantus, Sacajawea and Akmenrah remaining with the original group of Roosevelt, Jedediah and Octavius.
Akmenrah started talking, holding his tablet in his hands. "I've examined this, but I don't think that there's any way to bring your friends to life if they aren't alive yet."
"Oh." Diego seemed slightly dejected, but he hid it well.
"Is there anything different?" Roosevelt asked him. "Anything at all. What you ate, what you did?"
Diego shook his head. "I've been in the herd for as long as Manny and Sid. Shira does the exact same things that I did. Unless you're suggesting that I was a sabre who joined earlier, there's nothing-" he paused.
"Diego?" Roosevelt prompted.
The intense green eyes fixed on the American President. "I died before any of them. That's all I know."
Larry frowned. "Well, my boss did say that the other exhibitions are genuine. Maybe something happened, and you ended up separated. When something big hit, the others got frozen…permanently. You could be made of wax?"
"That doesn't explain how he can speak, though." Pochahantus pointed out. She had proved herself both a capable and intelligent woman.
"Can we just…drop it, for now?" Diego demanded. There was something in his tone that didn't sit right with the others.
Silently, they dispersed to do their nighttime activities.
Sacajawea stayed. She didn't know why, but she felt connected to Diego. She didn't know him as well as he had known Teddy…and he had got together with Pochahantus. "Are you ok?" her voice was soft as she asked him.
He looked at her, eyes discernible for a moment. "I'm fine."
"That is a lie." Sacajawea didn't know whether this courage was coming from, but she gladly used it.
Diego stared at her for a moment. "I came alive, tonight, a few million years from the date I died. I didn't know what happened after I died. What my herd did. If they mourned. And then, while I can come alive and thought that I could talk with them, I'm the only one who can come alive."
Sacajawea looked at him. She understood how he had felt - that was how she felt when she had been sold to the French-Canadian hunters. But she had had her friend there. Diego had no one.
As he looked up, she smiled comfortingly, and reached for his hand.
He looked at their linked hands as she squeezed his hand.
A faint smile back, before it was gone. But it was progress.