AN: Okay, I know this story falls under my name. But after AquilaTempastes decided that she didn't want to continue it, she wanted me to adopt it for her. Sto that's what I'm doing. Enjoy.

Disclaimer

The rights to Ice Age do not belong to me unfortunately

Title

A Sabre's Life

Summary

Diego is haunted by troubling dreams ever since making the decision to leave the herd to raise his cubs with Shira. Diego begins to fear for the lives of his first cubs as the dreams begin to worsen.

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Prologue: Troubling Dreams

The sounds of snarling predators caught Diego's attention. He lowered his head, sniffed the ground and detected the scent of sabre. He couldn't believe Max had run off! "Little scoundrel," Diego muttered, following the scent. But he wasn't upset – he was scared. Max was alone in a big world. Anything could happen to a tiny cub. He sniffed the ground again, frowning. Sabres. In this territory? How odd.

He ventured further into the forest, continuing to follow the scent. He now detected three sabres... three adult male sabres in fact. And the smell was familiar... litter brothers. That meant Oscar and his cronies were around scouting for some unknown reason. Were they searching for Shira? Breeding season hadn't ended yet. A worrying thought occurred to him. What if Max had encountered them? Diego hadn't exactly departed on good terms with them.

Spurred on my concern, Diego charged forward gaining speed with each sprint. The closer he got to his destination, the more worried he felt. Was Max still alive? "Max!" Diego called out. No response. He tried emitting a roar, but still his sensitive hearing could not detect Max's shrill cries. He continued to run forward until he reached a clearing. Blood filled his nostrils. "Max!" he shouted.

That's when he found what he was looking for.

There on the snow-covered grass lay the body of a young male sabre drenched in blood. He wanted to cry, to roar with fury, but no sound would escape his throat. A forbidden tear rolled down his cheek, as he stood above the cub. His stomach tightened, his blood froze. He dropped to his belly beside the dead cub. The cub lay in a pool of blood, with eyes wide open. Bite marks lined his neck and a deep gash trailed from his left hind leg to the left foreleg. His death had been a quick one. Quick, painful and bloody. "...No... this isn't real..."

"Welcome to the real world, Diego." The sabre turned around sharply, eyes burning with malice. Another male sabre glanced at him smirking. He was big; equal in size with Diego, but thicker around the body. "I'm sorry... was that pathetic thing yours?" The smirk widened, revealing bloodied teeth. Two other sabre-toothed cats joined his side; one with a robust figure and another with a fragile build.

"Oscar," Diego said calmly.

"You remember."

Anger slowly started to rise. "What are you doing here?"

The smirk on Oscar's face faded, replaced by a scowl. "Searching for you!" he growled. "We've been searching for you for three damned years and you didn't have the heart to find us! We're litter brothers are we not or have you forgotten what it means to be a family?" he added, his voice deepening. He took a step forward, his eyes trained on Diego as if he were stalking prey. "I haven't forgotten... Lenny, Zeke. Find his mate. I'll handle Diego."

Diego held his ground, planting his paws firmly into the snow. He wasn't going to leave his dead cub alone to be eaten by marauding scavengers. "We might share the same blood, but we're not family," he snarled in response, lowering his body to the ground in preparation to charge...

"NO!" Diego roared, jolting up from his sleep.

Shira jumped up, alarmed. "What's happening? Are we under attack?" It took several moments until Diego realized he was in the cave with his mate, Shira sleeping beside him. Four cubs slept in between the two, cuddling up to their mother. "Did you have that dream again?" she asked, nuzzling her mate.

Diego welcomed her affectionately. "It's that same dream over and over again. Ever since we left the herd... I've been haunted by these dreams..." He laid down his head.

"We're not going to be away from the herd for too long, another few months and the cubs will be strong enough to travel long distances," Shira replied, in between licks.

"I can't force these dreams aside. I'm worried they'll become a reality," he confessed.

Shira shook her head. "No one will ever come in between our family. I won't let them. After everything we've been through, no one will ruin our happiness." One of the cubs, a sole male, purred softly. "I'm surprised your roar didn't awaken the cubs," Shira remarked.

He nodded. "The little scoundrel can sleep through anything," he said with a soft chuckle.

Shira smiled. "That's good, you're smiling again. Don't let these dreams trouble you; they're dreams after all and they can't hurt you." She licked him again on the nose. "Get some sleep we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Tomorrow was the day the cubs finally had the chance to leave the cave after remaining inside for a month. It was going to be a difficult task; although they were in a safe territory, cubs could always find a way to get themselves into trouble. Getting stung by strange coloured bugs, getting lost in the long grass and getting into vicious play fights. When winter came around, their troubles would increase. The cubs were so small and weak they would sink in the snow or get stuck on ice. "Yeah, you're right. You're always rights," Diego commented, closing his eyes.