Painful Memories:
It had baffled her at first. How she could have gone for so long without realizing she was, well, NOT a possum. Given the huge difference between a possum and a mammoth it was a bit hard to miss, but somehow see did.
Over the days that followed her discovery, however, she began to remember more and more about her life before Crash, Eddie, and their mother had found her, and it all began to make sense. What she found she wasn't happy with though. In fact, she really didn't know what to do with it except keep it to herself. There was no telling how the others would react especially…him.
But as days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, questions and insecurities gnawed at her. At first she tried to ignore them, and for a while it worked, but as time went on it only grew, driving her crazy to the point that he was starting to notice. She'd managed to play it off, but she knew she wouldn't be able to do that forever, and it terrified her.
This night, it was worse than ever. Though the memories she'd uncovered bothered her throughout the day, she had been able to escape in sleep. But that night, they'd invaded her dreams.
Gasping for breath she awakened from the nightmare, trembling. It only took a few moments for her to quiet down her breathing. Glancing about timidly, she sighed in relief at the revelation she hadn't woken anyone up, not even Manny, which was sleeping right beneath where she hung in the tree. As she stared at him, though, she could see that he was sound asleep, looking perfectly peaceful. The only sounds cutting through the night's silence was Sid's normal sleepy gibberish.
Her body still trembling slightly from the nightmare, Ellie carefully climbed down from her perch as quietly as possible, and slowly snuck off, leaving the dimming heat and light of the embers left behind by that night's fire behind. She wandered along until she found a clearing that was far enough off that none from the camp could hear her, and collapsed to the ground.
Images from this night, and that night all those years ago plagued her mind. Tears stung her eyes, as she squeezed them shut.
"Come on," she whispered to herself. "You gotta get a grip. You can't let them see you like this."
She shook her head, trying to shake the tears and nightmares away. "This shouldn't be hurting you that bad, anyway. It happened years ago."
She stood up and began to brush herself off. A twinge of fear shot through her. "But what if-no, stop it!"
She groaned, frustrated at herself. The thoughts that were all too familiar began to inch their way into her mind, in spite of herself. She stamped her foot angrily and put her trunk to her forehead. A sigh escaped her lips, as she shook her head. She was a wreck. At least no one-
"Ellie?" a deep, familiar voice came from behind her.
Oh, crap! Ellie whirled around and found Manny standing behind her, a concerned look on his face that only deepened when he saw her face.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked as he stepped closer to her.
"Nothing," Ellie tried to smile, but the look Manny gave her told her that trick wasn't going to work this time.
"Ellie, come on, just tell me what's going on."
"Nothing, I'm fine."
"No you're not, you've been crying."
"No I haven't."
"Ellie, your face is wet."
Ellie put her trunk to her face, and was greeted by a dampness she hadn't even noticed until then .
"Dang it," she murmured under her breath as she began to wipe the tears away.
Manny smirked slightly in victory, only to have Ellie shoot him a death glare. His concern quickly returned as he stepped even closer to her and setting his trunk on her shoulder.
"Seriously, though, what's going on," he asked.
"Nothing, I just had a nightmare, that's all," Ellie replied.
"Okay, what was it about?"
"Nothing."
"Well, I'd like to know what 'nothing' is since it's been bothering you for over a month now."
Ellie looked up at him in shock. "How-"
"Ellie, I'm your mate. You really think I'm not gonna notice when something's bothering you?"
Ellie hung her head in defeat as fear crept up in her. She'd been caught, and there was no getting out of it.
A gentle touch brushed across her face as Manny coaxed her to look up at him.
"Ellie?"
She slowly glanced up at him. He smiled gently at her.
"You can tell me anything, you know that?"
Ellie nodded slowly, though she was still afraid.
"So, what's going on?"
Ellie sighed as she shifted uncomfortably. She knew there was no getting out of this, but she still hesitated.
"Come on, Beautiful, you can tell me," Manny further encouraged her.
Ellie nodded, letting out a nervous sigh. "You know what I told you about what happened the night Crash and Eddie found me?"
Manny nodded, a concerned frown on his face. He wasn't sure what where this was going, but seeing how upset she was, he was sure he wasn't going to like it.
"Well, over the past few months I've been remembering more and more of that night, and what happened before that."
Manny nodded. "Okay, so like, you're birth family?"
Ellie flinched slightly. "Yeah, them."
Manny frowned. That wasn't the response he was expecting. "Okay…?"
"Well, it's still blurry, but I can remember a bit. I remember my father, my grandfather, and I guess my uncles, I'm not sure, and some cousins, boys. I remember all the males the most."
Manny stiffened. Yeah, he didn't like where this was going.
"There were other females, obviously. My grandmother, girl cousins, and my aunts, I know one of them had to be my mother, but I can't tell which one." She stopped, and bit her lip.
"Go on," Manny encouraged.
"The other females and girls they…didn't really do anything. They just hung out in the background and, did nothing. The younger girls would huddle together an play, but quietly. The grown women didn't do anything unless a man told them to do something.
"The males were an entirely different story. They were loud, rowdy, and rough. The boys, they did whatever they wanted, and the adults just let them, encouraged them even. But not the girls.
"But, you know me. I tried to rough house with the boys, and I'd get on their nerves, and when that happened, they'd push me away literally. And if that didn't work they…"
Ellie stopped for a moment, a shaky breath escaping her. Manny just waited on her to continue, even though he was scared of what he might hear.
"If that didn't work, they'd get one of the adult males to teach me a lesson. And the females, they did nothing."
She shuddered, hugging herself as he voice grew shakier.
"One day…I don't know what happened. I don't know what I did, but it must have been something bad, because my father started hitting me and…"
A small tear rolled down her cheek, she wiped it away, and continued, faster now, trying to get it all out as soon as possible.
"…and he wouldn't stop. The next thing I can remember is waking up and the adult females huddled around me, trying to patch me up as best as they could."
"I never wanted to hurt or bother anyone, but they still hurt me. I don't know what I did any of the times, and they never told them. Even if I didn't do anything, if I was just sitting there, they'd say things to me. They'd tell me I was a runt, or a weakling, or sickly, or that I was holding the group back, or that I was worthless. I was smaller than all the rest, I can remember that. I guess that's why they hated me."
"The night Crash and Eddie found me, we were travelling somewhere. I couldn't keep up, with them, they were going to fast. I kept asking them to slow down, but they didn't. Then my father got mad, came to the back and hit me. Hard enough to knock me over. My grandfather told him to not bother, if I couldn't keep up, I couldn't keep up, and that was my fault. The group would be better off anyways."
"I tried to keep up. I really did, but I couldn't. I was able to keep within sight of them, but I could never keep up with them. Then the storm hit, and it didn't take me long to get lost. And…well…you know how the rest of that story."
"I waited for a while. Hoping they'd come back to find me, but they never did. They just left me to die and they didn't care. And I don't even know what I did wrong. Annoyed them I guess? I know I was small, but…"
Her voice trailed off, tears were rolling heavily down her cheeks. Silence followed. They just stood there, his trunk still resting on her shoulder. Ellie timidly looked up at Manny.
He wasn't even looking at her. He was glancing off to the side, a look of slight bewilderment on his face. But the expression that dominated the majority of his face, and possessed his eyes could only be described as pure, unbridled rage.
Ellie's breath caught in her throat, as she fearfully took a step back. She had never, NEVER seen Manny that angry before.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, fear gripping her heart.
Manny turned to her, a confused look on his face, his eyes still filled with rage.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I didn't think I-"
The rage melted into a look of horror and sympathy. He lunged towards her. Ellie closed her eyes, waiting for the impact, but it never came. Manny snatched her to his chest, holding her as tightly as he could without hurting her.
A sob escaped her as confusion and slight relief overwhelmed her.
"I'm not mad you," Manny assured her as he stroked her back and neck. "I'm furious with them. You did nothing wrong. You were just being a kid. They-"
From where she was snuggled against his chest under his chin, she could hear him take in an angry breath.
"I can think of quite a few things to say about them, but you're having a hard night, so I'm not going to make you mad."
Ellie chuckled softly and she snuggled closer against him. Manny nuzzled his face into her neck, and continued to rub her back. A small, happy sigh escaped her. The tension she'd been carrying the whole night began to slowly leave her. Tears rolled down her cheeks, taking the fear and anxiety that had plagued her for months with them. For the first time in a while she felt safe and accepted.
Manny let go of her, and pulled back, much to her disappointment. She was quickly satisfied, though, when he leaned his forehead against her, and intertwined his trunk with hers.
"I love you," he whispered. "And I would never hurt you. You know that right?"
Ellie nodded, closing her eyes and just enjoying their closeness. They pulled apart after a few moments, and Manny began wiping her tears away.
"Are you okay now?" he asked.
Ellie shrugged. "I guess."
"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"
Ellie hung her head, ashamed. "I don't know. I just didn't know what would happen if I did. I thought… I thought something would change between us if I did, or that you'd think less of me."
"Why would I do that?" Manny asked. "You did nothing wrong, and you're still the same Ellie I fell in love with."
Ellie shrugged again. "I guess I thought…that I must have done something wrong to deserve th-"
"Don't say that," Manny's voice was suddenly firm and urgent, and it caught Ellie off guard.
"Don't say that. You DIDN'T deserve that. Nobody does. They were sick to do that."
Ellie bit her bottom lip, feeling a bit embarrassed, and nodded.
Manny's face softened and he pulled her towards him again. "Even if you had theoretically done something wrong, do you think that would change the way I feel about you or treat you?"
Ellie smiled softly and shook her head.
"I love you," Manny continued. "No matter what. I would never even dream of doing that to you. And if anyone else tries to, I'll kill them."
Ellie chuckled softly. "Sure you will."
"Yeah, I will. I'll get Diego to help me. He's a predator, he knows how to hide a body."
"Yeah, I do."
Manny and Ellie turned to find said tiger coming out of the brush, followed by Crash, Eddie.
Manny sighed in slight annoyance. "Right on cue."
"So who are we whacking?" Crash asked as he and Eddie began to punch their palms.
"No one," Manny rolled his eyes.
"But you said-"
"Don't listen to what I say. I'm sarcastic. You should have figured that out-Oh, who am I kidding. I'm talking to the two of you."
"What are you guys doing here?" Ellie asked, snickering at her mate's annoyance.
"Sid slept walked into the fire and woke us up with his screaming," Diego explained. "And when we saw the two of you were gone we decided to look for you. So, everything okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Manny answered before turning to Ellie. "Right?"
It was a genuine question. Ellie smiled appreciatively at him as she answered. "Yeah, we're okay."
"But should we listen to him?" Eddie asked.
"He did just tell us not to listen to him."
"So theoretically we shouldn't believe him now."
"But wait, does that mean we shouldn't have listened to him we he said not to listen to him?"
Manny slapped his trunk to his face in annoyance. "Why me?"
Ellie laughed at the entire scene. "Seriously, we're fine guys."
"Are you sure?" Crash raised an eyebrow suspiciously.
"Alright, come on you miscreants," Diego sighed as he snatched the up by their tails and began to walk-off.
"We're not miscreants, we're-"
"-The awesome possum duo of Crash and Eddie. I've heard." As Diego began to walk off, Sid limped into the clearing, his foot smoking from his misstep with the fire.
"Sid, come on, nothing to see here," Diego called as he disappeared into the brush.
"Wait, what? But I just-! Aw, man!" Sid hung his head and began limping off.
Ellie shook her head in dismay at their comrades antics as she chuckled and leaned her head on Manny's shoulder.
"You gonna be okay, now?" Manny asked.
Ellie nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Thank you."
Manny smiled at her and nuzzled his face against hers again. "Just doing my job."