Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age though I wish I did.

Oh… and this chapter is kind of sad. It is funny at times but also a little more sad than originally intended. So be warned though it isn't too bad.

It was a quiet morning, the third since the earthquake had happened. Manny slowly roused himself and looked up just in time to see the early sunrise. But he was not interested in the beauty of the early morning. Something more important was on his mind. He turned and gazed at his mate, grinning slightly. Though the thought of Ellie giving birth worried him, he was proud as any parent would be. His mate was expecting any day now and he felt proud as well as uneasy that he would be a father again. He waited for his mate to wake up.

After only a moment, Ellie woke, yawned and slowly got up. "Morning honey."

Manny walked over to his mate and gave her trunk an affectionate squeeze. "Morning Ellie." he smiled. But right after that the mammoth sighed. "I've been thinking. We've been traveling now for three days and we still haven't found the end of the rock wall that huge earthquake created. And…" he said looking at Ellie's hopeful green eyes. "it doesn't look like we're going to find the end of it anytime soon. We need to find a different way to get across it."

"Manny, isn't it a little too early to be talkin' about this?" his mate asked.

"No. We need to find a way across it as soon as possible. We can't afford to waste anymore time."

Ellie smiled and decided to talk with her mate about it though it was really early and she was will waking up. "Well, we can climb it somehow can we?" she suggest.

"No." Manny replied.

"Well there must be some way we can get across. Maybe it's not as wide in some parts. We could break it apart. They don't call us mammoths for nothin'." she said, yawning for perhaps the third time.

"I don't think so Ellie. It looks really … solid. …. And it goes straight Northwest." Manny said scratching his head with his trunk. "It's too much of a coincidence." He put his trunk down. "As crazy as it sounds it's almost like someone made the cliff on purpose. It's too steep and the fact that it goes in a straight line is just plain unnatural."

"Nature still coulda made it. We saw a real earthquake create it didn't we?" Ellie said, waking up more.

"We did but a have this strange feeling that this was not an act of nature."

"But no one was there besides other animals and we don't have anything that could create such a thing."

The formation of the cliff defied nature and made no sense. He was perplexed. Manny took his head. "I don't know Ellie. I don't know."

The conversation ended after that and soon they began to head out for breakfast, hopefully something decent despite the damage from the earthquake.

They had traveled perhaps a few dozen feet from the area where they had slept before Ellie stopped suddenly and raised her trunk.

"What's wrong?" Manny said instantly, nervous for his pregnant mate. Manny also put his trunk in the air to pick up any sign of danger.

"I smell somethin'. A mammoth. A young one." She replied calmly. Manny smelled it too and judging by the scent, no more than a hundred meters away.

"So, maybe he or she will know where this wall ends. Let's go-" Manny was about to charge forward but Ellie's stopped him.

"Wait!" Ellie shouted holding him back with her trunk. "He's comin' in our direction."

The bull was about to protest but soon a young mammoth appeared but not just any mammoth. He was small, very small. He had tusks like a 15 year old yet he was the size of a mammoth of about 12. He had a huge scar across his right side amongst other scars and a few wounds. He was also noticeably thin. Manny cocked an eyebrow. Perhaps this was a lone survivor from the earthquake. But as he got closer, Manny could see him trembling as his light brown eyes nervously surveyed the landscape as if he expected some big and ferocious predator to attack him any second. Manny thought he must be on the edge of a nervous breakdown from trauma related to the earthquake.

Manfred glanced over at his mate. The look on her face was serious and worried and she stood as still as a stone. "Ellie?" he whispered. She ignored his comment and walked over to the young mammoth calmly and carefully. He was confused by her behavior. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he followed Ellie.

Ellie stopped a short distance from the young mammoth that froze instantly when he saw her. "Hi there. Are you ok honey?" she asked him with a friendly tone to her voice and as unthreateningly as possible.

The thin mammoth swallowed and he looked up and down Manny and Ellie nervously. He stared at them for a moment and then slowly cleared his throat as if he hadn't spoken in a long time. Manny's looked at the young mammoth in dismay as he began to realize how bad a condition he was in. He was covered in scars and had quite a few fresh wounds. His eyes were pale and he seemed very weak.

"Y-yes. I…. lost my herd…" he said looking at the ground. . "…. a long time ago." He finished after a long pause, his voice somewhat raspy.

"I'm sorry to hear that sweety. If you don't mind, would you like to come with us?" Ellie asked as she looked at him and judged by his appearance that he wouldn't last much longer on his own.

He nodded slightly and nearly shuttered when he laid eyes on the bigger, sterner mammoth next to her.

"Don't be afraid honey." She said reassuringly. "That is just my mate Manny. He won't hurt you." she said pointing to the bull beside her. Manny tried to not look as intimidating for a second by smiling slightly when Ellie said his name. "And I'm Ellie." she added.

The young mammoth's eyes widened slightly when the Ellie said her and her mate's names though they quickly lost their look of surprise.

"Hi. I-I'm Samson." he stuttered.

"Hi there Samson." she said in a friendly tone. "It is awfully nice to meet you honey." she said smiling. "My mate and I are tryin' to find the end of this long rock wall. But we can stay here for a while if you need to rest since you're comin' with us. …..Right Manny?" she said casting a serious look at her mate.

"Well. Um…" he said thinking for a moment as Ellie stared at him with an anxious look on her face. "Yeah that's fine." he said suddenly. Almost immediately, Ellie relaxed. "So… uh, we should probably get some breakfast." he said, catching on to his original train of thought. At that the group headed off to search for food with Samson following behind.

Meanwhile, the other group was on the East side of the wall. Diego noted with distaste that they had been traveling with two days with no sign of the wall ending. But on the bright side, food had been plentiful for Diego. Many bodies of animals that did not make it could be easily found though personally, Diego was not fond of carrion.

This morning, Diego had left the others sleeping, as usual to find an animal that hadn't survived the earthquake. In almost no time at all he smelled a dead start, a grey tapir-like animal. Trotting to the area where it lay, he caught the aroma of a female sloth that smelled like wildflowers and judging by the strength of the smell, like she had spent at least a few solid days rolling in a flower patch. The sloth's strong scent made him scrunch his nose and think that she must be the opposite of Sid. But he did his best to ignore it and started eating, that is until the she-sloth made her way out from behind a fallen rock and greeted him with a scowl and her claws on her hips. She came up to him and starred at him menacingly as if she had come to take his meal from him.

"This is mine." Diego growled, baring his teeth and standing over the carcass. Predatory instincts made him want to defend his meal from others even if there was nothing but a sloth standing in his way.

"But don't you think that is rude and barbaric mister? You should be hunting for yourself! You are a predator, not a useless scavenger!" she spat.

"Well if it's that much of your business miss, I could make you my next meal!" Diego hissed, surprised and annoyed at this sloth's way of talking in front of a predator that could easily tear her to bits.

"Oh really pussy!" she shrieked like a creepy aunt. "Hiya!"

Diego didn't see anything coming or what hit him at first. Something slid under him and punched him in the belly, making him wince and nearly roar in pain. Then at lightning fast speed, a claw made it into one of his eyes, blurring his vision and making it red and watery. And just as he was about to bite his attacker, a rock got thrown into his mouth. It happened so fast that he didn't notice it was in his mouth and not the crazy she-sloth. He bit down on the rock with all of his jaw strength, nearly breaking his teeth. He spit it out and a deep pain filled his jaws and face.

He turned around to lash out at the amazingly fast she-sloth only to find himself turning in circles as the sloth yanked at his tail. But he used this to his advantage. He wasn't losing a fight to a sloth of all creatures without a hard and long fight. He allowed her to make him fall over and onto his back, thrusting his hind legs at her with claws fully extended to hit her back. He almost got her but he missed by a hair. She took the opportunity to wheel around Diego as he got up and kick him in the belly once more, sending a sharp pain through his gut. The saber winced slightly but as he got up and stood on all fours, she was right in front of him and it gave him an opportunity to chase her.

He took off at full speed and in his anger, didn't notice when the highly mobile sloth slid under a fallen pine tree which hid a steep incline. Diego was going so fast, he couldn't stop and as he ducked under the log in pursuit of his supposed prey, he found himself falling down head over heels into a crevice with sharp rocks and a bee's nest. He roared in pain as the rocks cut hard and deep into his chest, back, and legs. But he didn't sit it there for long. A swarm of bees chased after him, outraged at him for bumping into a log they had their nest in. Diego ran like the wind despite his wound, up the incline, past the start carcass and several hundred meters more to a river to displace the bees from him. He lay in the water panting, enjoying the soothing water relax his tense body and wash out his fresh wounds. He lay in the cool stream for who knows how long but a sound suddenly interrupted him.

"Ahem!"

Slowly Diego turned his head fearing the worst and he got it when he saw his new nightmare standing on the side of the riverbank.

"I was right! You are useless! Nothing but a useless scavenger like I thought! You can't even take down a sloth!" she said laughing as she crossed her arms. "You are a pitiful excuse for a predator!" Diego would have hissed back a degrading insult if this had been someone else but this wise-cracking female sloth sloth's actions and words dug deep.

Diego slowly walked out of the water, his entire body throbbing. "What is your name missy?" he growled despite feeling pathetic like she had just said.

"Sheba! Sheba Slothenberg!" she yelled assertively with noticeable happiness in her tone. She was clearly conceited and loved her name.

"And who are you to-" Diego began to say in a snarl.

"Shut up saber or I will attack you again!" she yelled, pointing out one of her blunt claws at Diego angrily.

Diego again looked like he wanted to say something and likely degrading.

"Shut your trap scavenger!" she demanded, eyeing some sharp rocks she might throw at him next.

Emitting a low growl from his throat, half to hold back a cry of agony and half to hold back a roar of frustration and rage, he hunched down so his belly touched the ground and laid his ear back as if he was a cornered savage wildcat. He hoped to protect himself if possible. This sloth was beyond rough and deep inside he was furious. He had a strong urge to kill her though at this point he doubted it was possible.

She looked down at the saber now with his ears laid back in fear and body lowered in submission. She grinned at him almost evilly as if she had more in store for him.

"What do you want sloth?" be breathed as he crouched, the pain he was feeling now obviously showing in his voice.

"Hmm. I would like you to-"

Suddenly a nicer and much more pleasant (though annoying) voice cut through the air.

"Diego. What on Earth…" he said looking at Diego's wounds and numerous bee stings. "-happened to you?" he finished. It was Sid. For once Diego was thankful.

"It's like he got mange and then mosquitoes finished him off." Crash half laughed, half scowled because his predatory friend was in pretty bad shape.

"More like he fell of a cliff and into a swarm of bees." Eddie said grinning. Both possums stared at Diego, silently asking for an explanation of what happened.

One of Diego's legs gave way as he tried to stand up fully and he weakly pointed to the sloth. "Sheba... Sheba did it." he said wincing.

"Her?" Eddie said shocked. "She's nothing but a sloth? How could a stupid sloth like that do that to you?" he laughed.

"That's Miss Stupid Sheba Slothenberg to you tree rat!" he yelled taking two steps forward. The reality began to sink in for the possums and Eddie took a step back.

"Don't mess with my brother or you will pay fungus!" Crash yelled, defending his brother.

She glared down at the two possums. "Don't test me or I'll-"

But a familiar lisp cut her off as Sid wined. "But why? Why would you do that to him?" Sid asked pleadingly, who was by Diego's side.

"He scavenged off… a START!" Sheba yelled as if Diego had committed a heinous act.

(A/N: A start is what they seem to call the tapir-like creatures when I read books about the Ice Age movie so that is what I am referring them to say. Just as a heads up…)

"But we eat dead things all the time." Eddie said glaring. "And dung beetles!" he said grinning and thinking about lunch for a second instead of the nasty sloth in front of them.

"But he is a predator, a useless one! He couldn't catch SINGLE thing even if he wanted to!" She smiled conceitedly and crossed her arms again.

"Useless my rear end!" Eddie yelled. "C'mon Crash, let's get Diego out of here."

"Want me to test you?"

"Yes." Sid said interrupting the possums' and Sheba's conversation. "But not unless you explain some things first." Sid said naively.

"Sid!" Crash and Eddie snapped at the same time.

Sid nodded "Oh… right." He turned to Sheba. "Not so nice meeting you oh strange feisty one. Hopefully we will not cross paths on another day."

Diego got up with a groan and limped to Sid. Diego sighed. "For once… I am grateful." But immediately after he had said those words, he scrunched his nose disgusted at what he had just said.

"No problem tigey wigey. You're coming with us." Sid said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, and away from that crazy weirdo!" Crash added giving Sheba the evil eye. Sheba just stared at them and they quickly departed.

Diego limped away with them. Now Sheba was by herself. The sloth crossed her arms. In a huff, she marched off to follow them.

Meanwhile, Samson was in Manny and Ellie's care. After they ate, Ellie helped Samson wash out and patch his wounds with mud and moss as Manny watched.

For some reason, the young bull really seemed to have caught his interest.

"You know. You must have gone through an awful lot to get into the shape you are in."

Samson sighed. "You have no idea." He said as Ellie touched a sore spot on his hide making him wince.

"If it doesn't get me on your bad side by asking, how did this happen to you?"

Samson looked down sadly. "It's a long story." He paused for so long that Manny thought he would say no more but then he started up again. "I lost my herd when humans chased them over a cliff. I fell too… and that's how I got…." Samson fell silent and pointed to his crooked left leg Manny had not noticed before.

"Humans did this to you?" Manny asked shocked, pointing to the scar on the youngster's right side. He thought he already knew the answer though he was about to be corrected.

"No…." The small mammoth said looking down farther. "A rogue male attacked me." he gestured to the wound on his right side. "And well, there was someone after who took care of me… but he is no longer with us." he finished looking down in sorrow.

Ellie's expression melted and a single tear fell down her cheek. She looked at the young bull with great sympathy.

"I…I'm sorry." Manny said at a loss for words of what terrible things the kid must have gone through. Manny took a deep breath and decided to share something he rarely told anyone. "I… I lost my first mate and child to humans." Manfred sighed, though he kept most of his composure.

The young male's eyes widened and he gave Manfred a long, slow nod.

Elle got an overwhelming feeling that the two needed some time alone. "Want me to leave you two for a bit?" Ellie offered, finishing up on Samson's wounds.

"No. We're fine." Manfred answered. "We've… talked long enough. We'll let him rest and then we'll get going for the day."

That morning, somewhere out in the distance among the ruins of the earthquake, a Scrat made his way among some sharp broken rock and into a hollow in a fallen tree he had stashed the winter before the momentous event.

Making his way into the hole, Scrat squeaked and just as he was about to snatch his prize, he discovered he was stuck. He had indeed grown fatter since the winter. He squeaked, squirmed, yelled, yelped, and grunted, trying to make his way to the acorn and get out of the hole but it was no use. The saber tooth squirrel tried to get out until he had no choice but to just sit there and wait to shed a few pounds before he got out.

Perking up after a number of hours of being stuck, he finally got the idea to use his saber teeth to tear into the wound and free himself. Why it hadn't occurred to him before, he didn't know. Squirming and grunting as he worked, he used his saber teeth to make a circle around the wood where he was stuck. With a final heave, he freed himself but a circular slab of wood still was stuck around his body. Ignoring it, he grabbed his acorn now in reach and hugged it longingly. But suddenly a rock fell from a cliff nearby, ripping it from his paws. Scrat squeaked in surprise and lifted the rock to see that it was crushed into pieces too tiny to eat. He sighed in dismay. Then Scrat noticed that the wood around his body was way too tight and highly uncomfortable. He sighed and realized that he would also have to use his now worn teeth to free himself from that. The sun was already low in the sky meaning it was already late afternoon. This was indeed, going to a long day for Scrat…

The second chapter is done! Yay! *does mini sloth dance* Sort of a tearjerker I know. Tell me what you thought! I need reviews for motivation to keep writing.