Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age or this idea (prompt from DiegoRedeemedLover)
AN: So, since I decided NOT to do a whole story, I'm going to do drabbles. This first one is more for me to try and get in the mood. The second is already written, so it'll be posted soon.
Basically, this is what I think could happen if Diego was crippled in the first movie - prompt: Diego has lost the full use of one leg, how does he cope with it?...Essentially, Diego is crippled because of fracturing a bone in his leg during the battle with Soto, and since the sequels pretty much magically made him better, this is a new tack to take.
I'll try and cover all movies. Title is from the quote: Please understand I have a disability, not a disease. You can't catch it. I may walk, talk and move differently than you do, but on the inside I'm not so different.
"How're you doing?" Manny asks, looking down at Diego. Diego doesn't respond for some time, taking his own time to respond. Manny wonders if he heard Manny the first time, and opens his mouth to repeat the question before Diego's quiet voice interrupt his thoughts.
"My leg."
Just two words. Manny glances at the leg, the one which had been struck when Soto had tried to go for the killing shot. Manny doesn't say anything. He knows, through rumours, about the brutality of pack life. The pack works together, using every member to their fullest potential. The second one of them faltered, they were killed and eaten by their own pack.
I'm sorry. Manny thinks, but he doesn't say it because he knows Diego doesn't like sympathy, always shrugging any pity shown by either Sid or Manny off. Manny swallows, not sure what to say. He feels guilty. Soto was trying to kill him. Not Diego. Diego risked everything for him. And Sid. If they had failed, Diego would have had to face the penalty for his crime against his pack.
Sid's 'playground' enters his line of sight, and he pauses, surprised at the children voices coming out of it. Huh. He never pegged Sid for a successful type.
Diego's brilliant green eyes narrow as he runs forward, as well as he can with a limp hind-leg. "Are they…are they tying him up?"
There is a hint of laughter in his tone, and Manny frowns. Not again. He sighs and lumbers into the playground. He swears Sid will be the death of him. Diego follows at a more sedate pace, clearly enjoying this. The thought makes a smile tug at Manny's lips, before he remembers that he's not supposed to smile, and stops outside a group of children, who were currently…burying him?
Kids just got more and more creative as time wore on.
He sighs. He knows he would be expected to defend the pathetic creature looking up from his burial site, so he reluctantly intervenes. "Hey, hey, whoa. Who said you kids could torture the sloth?"
"Manny, don't squash their creativity." Diego, barely concealing his smirk, limps up. Manny shoots him a look. Now was not the time to be divided over the sloth's fate.
And then Sid pokes his head out, opens his mouth, and effectively quashes Manny's tiny willingness to help him. "Hey Manny! Diego! My bad manly mammals! Wanna give a sloth a hand?"
Manny lets out another sigh as he uses his trunk to yank Sid out of the hole. He briefly contemplates throwing Sid far far away (for some strange reason, the voice that tells him to do that sounds remarkably like Diego), but logic won out and Manny sets Sid in front of him and Diego.
"I opened my camp! Campo de Sid." Sid seems exuberant at this. Manny only shoots him an unimpressed look. Diego looks even more unimpressed, his green eyes glaring at the sky. "It means 'Camp of Sid'."
"Congratulations." Diego's tone is sarcastic. "You are now an idiot in two languages."
Manny tries very hard not to laugh, because that is just the witty scathing response he expects from Diego. At least one of them isn't letting him down today. He tries very hard not to sigh again as Sid motions for Diego to keep quiet.
"Not in front of the k-i-d-z." Not only are you an idiot in two languages, Sid, you are also a butcher of the English language. The voice in his head that sounds like Diego drawls out the words. "These little guys love me, right, Philly?" Sid asks one of them. Manny has a sudden unexplained urge to pick Sid up and throw him away, like his earlier instincts told him to. Well…it did sound a lot like Diego's voice. Diego must be rubbing off of him. By the time he snaps back into the present, he sees Diego grimacing as Sid gives a goofy smile, waving a paw in his face.
The children are laughing.
He should probably nip this one in the bud before Sid gets too hyped up about the idea to argue with them about it.
"Sid, you're not qualified to run a camp."
"These kids look up to me. I'm their role model."
Manny was wrong. Sid was already hyped up. Which will make this even harder. Which gives him a headache. Which is why he only looks down, frowning, as Sid lands at their feet.
Thankfully, Diego's still sarcastic tone soothes his frustration. "I can see that." Maybe because it's that tone of voice and those words that finally snap Sid out of whatever godly-persona he had decided to adorn that day.
Sid starts rambling on about something to do with respect, but Manny doesn't bother listening. He looks at Diego, sees the slight wince as he moves his paws restlessly. He had only recovered a few days ago. Standing around for so long must be taking a toll on him. He knows that Diego would never admit it, so he prepares to turn around and get Diego to a more secluded place where he can rest in peace.
Sid's finishing his monologue as he hops away, and Manny rolls his eyes because he had to give the sloth credit - without him and his constant failings, he and Diego probably wouldn't have anything to bond over. "C'mon, Sid."
"Sid." Diego calls out.
Sid continues to hop away.
Manny's attention is taken again by the beaver child, who's probably the instigator and leader of all Sid-suffering related 'pranks'. "Hey, why don't we play pin the tail on the mammoth?"
Alarm floods Manny and he and Diego turn simultaneously towards Sid's retreating back. "SID!"