New story, yay! Enjoy! And I don't own Ice Age.
Louis and I were heading down to the beach for lunch, and no, it's not a date! Just a nice meal between two close friends. "Yeah, whatever you say." Crash and Eddie had said. Why did they have to assume that, just because he'd confessed to liking me, that we were dating? That wasn't true… at least, not yet. I'm still trying to decided where I want to go with that.
As we were gathering melons from the secret patch that only Louis and I knew about, a groaning caught our attention. "Oh krikey." A heavily accented voice said. "What happened? I feel like I've been run over by the ship." We walked over to peak over the sand dune that the voice was coming from. There, at the base of it, laying pretty close to the water, a slightly familiar looking kangaroo, although I wasn't sure where I'd seen her before.
As she sat up, ringing out her ears, her hazel eyes widened. Plunging her paws into her pouch, she said "Squint! Gupta! Get outta there! I ain't yer mum!" and she pulled out two other animals, a badger and a small gray rabbit, tossing them down on the sand with an annoyed expression.
As the badger sat up, her eyes widened again and she looked slightly taken aback. "What?" he asked.
"Is seemed you've taken a bit of a blow to the head there, mate." He tilted his head confusedly. She guided his paw to touch the apple sized bump on the side of his head and his intense brown eyes got big.
That accent… where had I heard it before. I knew it had been awhile ago, but where? I had definitely heard her voice before. "Well I'm outta here." The kangaroo announced, starting to hop away.
"What? Wait! Raz! You can't just leave us here!" the rabbit called.
"Watch me." She responded coolly without looking back. The two chased after her, the rabbit even jumping up on her shoulder, but she simply grabbed him and tossed him away with an angry expression. Alarmed as he crashed down in the trees, I ran up, looking for him, carrying Louis in my trunk.
We found the poor guy laying at the base of a tree, and I quickly checked for a heartbeat. Thankfully, there was one, but it was faint. He must've hit his head pretty hard. Putting Louis on my head and picking up the unconscious rabbit, I cradled him gently and headed back to our large clearing in the forest, where we lived. We'd dug out a bunch of caves in the side of the hill for shelter when it rained.
Arriving, I instantly headed for my mother and father, who were chatting with Diego and Shira, their three cubs playing by their feet. "Mom! Dad!" I cried, rushing towards them.
"What is it Peaches?" my dad asked, detecting the worry in my life.
"I found someone in the forest." It wasn't a lie, just not the whole truth. "He's hurt. What should I do?"
"Well let me see him sweetie, and we'll see what we can do." Mom said, and I gently unwrapped the little rabbit. At the sight of him, they all gasped and lurched back.
"Get rid of him!" Diego said.
"He's dangerous!" Shira agreed.
"What? This little guy?" I rocked him a little with a soft smile. "But he's so cute! Who could he ever hurt?"
"Don't you realize? That's Squint!" Shira said.
"Who?" Louis and I asked at the same time.
"Remember a few years back, when you were taken by pirates?" Daddy asked.
I shuddered. "How could I forget?" I'd been absolutely terrified.
"Well that's one of them!" Shira said.
"This little guy?" I asked again. But… but how could that be? He looked so sweet and innocent in his sleep, how could he have been one of those vicious pirates that had taken me to get back at my father for who-knows-what? "But he looks so… so…" I just couldn't believe it.
"Peaches, go put him back where you found him. Or better yet, put him back in the ocean." I gasped. How could my father expect me to do something so harsh.
"But daddy! He'll die if I leave him alone."
"Exactly." He muttered bitterly.
Frowning, I held little 'Squint' protectively to my chest. I wouldn't do that! Never! He may have helped kidnap me, but everyone deserved a second chance. And beside, while he was injured, I couldn't just leave him alone. It was too awful to even think about. "Oh please, daddy, let him stay! I can take care of him, and maybe he's changed. He could be part of our herd! Please?"
"Well… he doesn't have any weapons, does he?" Shira asked.
"Um… I don't think so." I looked him over gently. All he had was a sea weed sash, but that was it. "No, not that I see."
"Then he's harmless. Squint's nothing without his knife." Shira said confidently. She laughed slightly. "I remember when I took it away from him for the day and wouldn't give it back." As she caught us staring, she shrugged. "What? It's funny the way his nose twitches when he's mad." I tried to envision him with a knife, but I just couldn't.
"Please daddy… Shira would know best anyway, please? We never even gave him a chance. And I doubt that you were all best friend from the beginning." I said, nodding to him, and Diego and Sid.
"She has a point, Manny." Sid said.
"For the second time, he's actually right." Diego added.
Shira leaned over to "When was the first time?" he just shook his head.
"Fine… but if he does anything to hurt anyone, he's gone. Got it?" I nodded eagerly, glad he got to stay.
"Come on Louis." I said, wanting him there because his gentle, sweet nature usually calmed anyone he was near. "We've got a patient to help. Then we'll have to get him on our side." I said, walking off, still holding him in my trunk. I could do this, I was sure of it. Who wouldn't want a family where everyone was accepted, no matter what? I could help him see that he could be part of our family, be loved, be wanted, actually wanted for who he was, and not his ability to throw weapons with great accuracy. How hard could it be?
So, what'd you think? Good? Bad? Pointers? Reviews are always appreciated.