A/N: Merry Xmas Eve everybody! Or if you don't celebrate xmas, Happy Holidays! Anyway, brownie points to . . . Custom stories and co, mayalewis16, Kailynn Yukariand Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967!
Buckrocks: thanks so much! :)
Custom stories and co: haha thanks :) happy to hear it!
Tigey Wigey: thank you! :)
CarminaxBuranax: thanks! I really appreciate the feedback :)
mayalewis16: I hope it is :) and i'm going to try and update as fast as possible! :)
Kailynn Yukari: thanks :) glad to hear it :)
ghostukine: here you go :)
Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967: haha enjoy :)
Chapter 2: Revelations
I woke up the next morning to the angry footfalls of Manny. Diego and I both jumped up immediately. "Where's the baby?" Manny glared suspiciously at us.
"You lost it!" Diego nearly growled back.
"How do you lose a freaking baby?" I yelled. We all looked at each other and came to the same realization. "Sid!"
Diego, Manny, and I went off in different directions, looking for Sid and Pinky. Actually, I just wanted to get a break from the three of them. Don't get me wrong, I had no problem travelling with them, but still, the only girl in a group of three guys? I think I deserve a little break. I was just walking along when Sid came barrelling around a corner.
"Oh thank goodness! Thank goodness!" he whispered when he saw me. "Oh no! A tiger! Help! Help!" he called back dramatically.
"Where's the baby?" I hissed.
"Oh, he's fine, Manfred has him," came Sid's whispered response. "Just put me in your mouth, hurry." He made a strangled noise and yelled, "Oh she got me, oh, help!"
"Get away from me," I said and turned to walk away. Until he kicked me. I growled and grabbed him by the neck. As the rhino's came in sight, Sid played dead.
"Oh, Carl, the tiger beat us to him!" one of them said.
"Wait a minute," the other said, walking forward to smell Sid. "Ugh! He's dead alright."
"Oh, carnivores have all the fun," his friend whined.
As they walked away, Sid sighed. "Oh gosh, I hate breaking their hearts like that. You know how it is." He tried to walk away, but I didn't budge since his head didn't fit through my clenched teeth. "Alright, you can let go now." I didn't move and merely looked at him. He panicked. "Manny! M-Manny!" he yelled as he struggled. Manny and Diego came walking towards us.
"Really, guys, I thought we were in a hurry!" he complained. "Dakota, spit that out."
"Yeah," Diego shuddered, "you don't know where it's been." I promptly dropped Sid.
"Boy," Sid said as he got up, "for a second there I actually thought you were going to eat me."
"Nah," I replied, walking away, "I don't eat junk food."
Sid laughed as he followed. "I thought you were going to- I thought you were- were you?" I just raised an eyebrow at him.
As we trekked through the snow, Sid fell behind several times. "Guys wait up!" was heard repeatedly. As we walked I spotted a geyser and chuckled darkly. Diego and Manny both looked at me and I nodded up at it. Diego's face lifted in an evil smirk that I knew matched mine. Manny just shook his head but let us have our fun. When Sid caught up to us, he reclined on the geyser as we all knew he would. "Thanks for waiting."
"3," Manny said.
" . . . 2," Diego.
". . . 1," me.
BOOM! Sid was sent flying into the air.
"Sure is faithful," Manny said as we walked away, not even waiting for Sid to hit solid ground again.
While we were walking, Sid and Pinky got into a poke war and Manny warned, "Don't make me reach back there."
"He started it," Sid said back.
"I don't care who started it, I'll finish it," I growled. It shut them up nicely.
Sid threw a snowball at Manny, and promptly accused Pinky. I rolled my eyes.
"Modern architecture," Manny said as we passed the stones.
"It'll never last," I said. He nodded in agreement.
As we walked, there was a human footprint in the snow. Diego showed us where they were heading using his oh-so-amazing tracking skills, but I knew that the humans didn't walk barefoot like we did and I started to get suspicious, wondering exactly what he was up to.
We had to cross a frozen lake. Sid skated around no problem; Manny fell down a few times; Diego and I had trouble moving forward, but managed to stay on four paws. . . well, except for one time. The two of us were inching forward, dangerously close to one another when Sid skated in a circle around us calling, "Hey Diego! Hey Dakota!" As he skated around, he pushed me into Diego even further and both of us lost our balance, me falling on top of him. I was thoroughly embarrassed as I looked at those emerald eyes that were absolutely to die for. Diego, on the other hand, just looked at me and said, "You're not as heavy as I thought you'd be."
"Are you calling me fat?" I asked with a smirk to let him know I was joking, my embarrassment gone now.
"No," he replied, smirking back. "You're too gorgeous to be fat." He looked almost like he was surprised that slipped out, but completely meant it. My embarrassment was back and I quickly got up and slowly made my way over to the bank. But I couldn't ignore the little flutter in the pit of my stomach when he said that.
As Diego, Manny, and I made our way off the bank, we passed a glacier with the backend of a familiar sloth sticking out of it and the three of us chorused, "Hey Sid!"
We got to a crossroad and Manny turned to Diego, "You're lost aren't you?"
"No," Diego replied stubbornly. "I know exactly where we are."
I sighed and pointed to a squirrel. "Ask him directions."
"I don't need directions," Diego said.
"What is it with men and asking directions?" I muttered under my breath. Then I turned to the squirrel, "Hey buddy, you see any humans go by here?" The squirrel shook his head then paused to think for a second.
"Ooo! I love this game, I love this game!" Sid said as the squirrel started to act out something. "Ok, ok. Three words. First word. Uh, stomp? Stamp?"
"Let me try," Manny said joining in. "Uh, pack!"
"Good one, Manny," Sid said as the squirrel nodded. "Pack of . . . long teeth? And claws." I froze and looked suspiciously at Diego. He avoided my gaze. Not good. "Pack of wolves? Pack of . . . ?"
"Pack of bears? Pack of fleas?" Fleas, Manny? Really!
"Pack of whiskers? Pack of noses?"
"Pachyderm?"
"Pack of lies? Pack of troubles? Pack-a-wallop? Pack of birds? Pack of flying fish?" The last two guesses from Sid were due to the fact that the squirrel went flying through the air over the glaciers. Courtesy of Diego flicking him. I sent Diego a very clear we-are-so-talking-later look.
We kept walking then, Diego convinced we weren't lost. Sid threw another snowball at Manny, but Pinky had caught on to his scheme and pointed at Sid before Sid could point at him. Manny promptly threw a huge ball of snow on top of Sid.
Diego was walking ahead of us when all of a sudden he came galloping back to us oddly excited. "Great news! I found a short-cut!"
"What do you mean 'short-cut'?" Manny asked suspiciously.
"I mean, faster than the long way around," was Diego's snarky reply.
"I know what a short-cut is!"
"Look," Diego explained. "Either we sneak through there," he nodded to a crevice in the cliff, "and beat the humans to Glacier Pass, or we take the long way and miss 'em."
"Through there?" Manny questioned incredulously. "What do you take me for?"
"This time tomorrow, you could be a free mammoth," Deigo said, quite convincingly. "Or a nanny. Personally, I never get tired of peek-a-boo."
Sid ran up, "Hey guys, hey guys, check this out!" He held half an icicle up to either side of his neck to make it look like it had gone through, then proceeded to stick his tongue out and make gurgling noises as if he was dying. That made up Manny's mind.
"Sid, the tiger found a short-cut," Manny interrupted.
Sid looked at the cliff, and then dropped the icicles. "No thanks, I choose life."
"Then I suggest you take the short-cut," Diego all but growled at him.
"Are you threatening me?" was Sid's genius response.
"MOVE, SLOTH!" Diego yelled. It echoed. And echoed. And then there was an avalanche. Oh, joy.
Sid patted Diego's head. "Way to go, tiger."
And we all ran into the short-cut. The entrance filled with snow behind us. "Ok, I vote short-cut," I said. We all started through the passage.
"Come on, guys. Stick together. It's easy to get lost in here," Diego cautioned.
Sid dropped back for a moment, looking at something in the ice. "Will you keep up please?" Manny asked, rather abruptly. "It's hard enough to keep track of one baby." Said baby then came sliding passed all of us on an ice slide, before disappearing over the side. The boys all screamed when they lost sight of the baby, but I was already on the slide chasing after him.
All of a sudden, I felt Manny plough into my back. Man, those tusks hurt like hell! Sid promptly landed on the two of us as Diego fell from the sky and landed on Manny's back. We all slid down screaming. Sid took Manny's trunk and spoke into it. "Captain, iceberg ahead!" We slid safely up the 'iceberg' and as we were near the top it started to crack. Suddenly, we were on a toboggan.
"Oh, no," was Diego's only comment before we were sliding after the kid again. We all jumped off the toboggan onto the slide which seemed to have lanes built for each of us. I immediately crouched down and felt myself speed up. I quickly saw Diego and Manny follow my lead. Sid nearly had the kid, but it was promptly launched into the air by a jump. Sid then slid into the snow, Diego following close behind, then I hit Diego. Manny slowed down enough to grab the kid in his trunk and THEN slam into us.
"Woo hoo!" Diego yelled as he burst out of the snow.
"Yeah! Who's up for round two?" I laughed. That was awesome! I then calmed down at Manny's look. "T-tell the kid to be more careful."
Manny gave Pinky to Sid then, as we started walking through a cave covered in drawings. "Look, tigers! Yeesh," Sid said to Pinky. The baby started to whine. "No, no, look, it's okay. The tigers are just playing tag with the antelope . . . with their teeth."
Diego and I both got those evil smirks on our faces again as we walked up to Sid. "C'mon Sid," I said, walking around him in a circle, Diego doing the same as he added, "Let's play tag." "You're it," I finished.
Sid let out a half-hearted chuckle before running away. I looked over to give my partner in crime a congratulatory grin to find those gorgeous eyes staring back at me and I was struck at how damn amazing he was. I was startlingly reminded of that moment at the lake and I had a burst of courage as I licked his cheek before turning and walking away. I didn't miss his look of surprise though.
"Ok, ok, ok, where are the sloths?" came Sid's voice. I rolled my eyes. "You know, you never see any sloths in these things, you noticed? Oh look, Manny, a mammoth!"
"Ooo, somebody pinch me," Manny said sarcastically, not even turning to look.
"This fat one looks just like you!" Sid exclaimed. Diego and I came to join him and I was startled at exactly how much this mammoth looked like Manny. "Aww, he's got a family!" Manny paused at that. "Oh, and he's happy! Look, he's playing with his kid!" Manny had come over to join us now, and I was keeping a close eye on him. "That's your problem, that's what mammoths are supposed to do!"
"Sid," I warned through my teeth, never taking my eyes off Manny as he looked at the picture.
Clearly not hearing, Sid kept going. "Find a she-moth, have little baby mammoths and-and"
"Sid," Diego cut him off, a little louder.
"What?"
"Shut up."
As Manny was lost in his memories, I moved a little closer to him from where I was sitting beside him and leaned my head against his leg, just so he knew I was there. He touched the picture on the wall of the kid, trailing his trunk along it until it hit Pinky's hand. Manny seemed a little surprised that it was there, but he picked Pinky up and hugged him before putting Pinky up on his back again. He looked down at me and gave me the slightest upward twitch of his mouth to say thanks and I gave him a small smile back. Then he started walking again. Sid ran up to follow him, but Diego hesitated. Before he could turn to walk though, I was there.
"Diego, what are you really doing? Why did your pack travel this way?" I asked, not really sure whether I wanted to know the answer.
He didn't look like he wanted to give me the answer either. "I was only supposed to get the kid and give it to Soto at Half Peak."
"But?" I urged, not really wanting to know the rest.
"But it turned into something a bit more than that. That was before I got to know Manny though," he rushed on before I could interrupt, "and I'm not sure how I'm going to fix it yet, but nobody's going to get hurt." He paused, waiting for my response.
I still wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do, but I could tell he wanted to fix it really badly, so I figured I'd let him fix it and find out later. So I just nodded and turned to go. Before I could though, Diego did the thing that surprised me the most. He licked my cheek. I looked at him absolutely shocked. Of course there was the signature smirk on his face. "Thanks for understanding." Then he was gone. I stayed for a second, looking at the picture of the happy family and wondering—never mind. I shook my head getting rid of those thoughts. Then I caught up to the rest of the herd.
"Well, well, would you look at that," Manny said. "The tiger actually did it. There's half peak. Next stop, Glacier Pass. How could I ever have doubted you."
"You hear that, little fella," Sid said to Pinky, "you're almost home. . . My feet are sweating."
"Do we have to get a news flash every time your body does something?" I snarled.
"It's only for attention. Just ignore him," Manny advised.
"If it were that easy to ignore Sid, we would've been home free a long time ago," Diego said.
"Seriously! My feet are really hot!" Then we heard a very thunder-like sound.
I turned to Manny, "Tell me that was your stomach."
"Shh," Diego said.
"I'm sure that it was just thunder from . . . underground?" Sid's statement came out as more of a question.
And then lava exploded behind us. And we ran. And then the ice melted all around us leaving only a thin ice-bridge. Of course, the piece in front of Diego and I broke off. "Jump!" I yelled as I shot across.
Sid looked back as Diego jumped across. "Wow, I wish I could jump like that."
"Wish granted!" Manny yelled as he kicked Sid. And Sid went FAR.
"Come on, move faster," I said to Manny.
"Have you noticed the river of lava?" he replied. The ice started to melt in front of us and Manny jumped just as it broke off. As he jumped I latched onto him making it safely across.
Diego, however wasn't so lucky. I looked back as he tried to jump it and found him hanging off the ledge. "Diego!" I yelled desperately.
As I tried to make my way back to him Manny got in my way, shoving Pinky at me. "Hold this!" I took it in my mouth (softly), and watched as Manny tried to get to Diego without breaking the ice. As the ice broke underneath Diego, Manny grabbed him and I let out a breath of relief. And then the ice started to break underneath Manny's feet. Manny threw Diego safely to us, but couldn't get back to us in time. The ice broke, taking Manny with it.
"Manny!" all of us cried out. Of course we forgot about the huge geyser down there that blasted Manny up on the piece of ice. He landed with a huge trumpet sound, followed by a massive BOOM! Sid rushed to his side as I stayed by Diego. "Manny, are you ok? C'mon say something! Anything!"
"Mr mdning mn mm trmp." What?
"I can't hear you," Sid said, leaning closer.
"You're standing on my trunk," came Manny's nasally voice. Sid lifted his foot and it was immediately followed by a huge gasping sound.
"You're ok! You're ok!" Sid yelled excitedly.
"Why'd you do that?" Diego asked, clearly confused. He hadn't moved from where Manny had thrown him. "You could've died trying to save me." I was wondering too, but I assumed it was just a Manny thing. In a pack, if you couldn't save yourself you were done for. You didn't risk yourself for others.
At least that's what I thought, until Manny answered, "That's what you do in a herd. You look out for each other."
"Well . . . Thanks."
"I don't know about you guys," I said after putting the kid down, "but we are the weirdest herd I've ever seen." I looked over at Diego only to get caught in his gaze again. That seemed to be happening a lot lately, but I didn't care anymore. When he was hanging off that ledge, it had nearly scared me to death. I thought he was going to die and I couldn't do anything about it. But, what scared me the most was that he would die without me being able to tell him how I really felt. Cause, you see, when he was hanging on that ledge having his life flash before his eyes, I had been having a little epiphany. I loved Diego.
A/N: Hope it was up to standards! Review . . . ?