CHAPTER 10

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

SWITCHBACK COVE FOREST. SOMEWHERE ON THE TRAIL.

TIME: SUNSET.

The herd had finally made it to the opening ground. By that time, they were all tired and felt the need to go to sleep at that moment if they weren't starving. Buck and Diego offered to find food while everyone else stayed to help set up camp.

Roshan was making the fire that night since Sid was tending to his wife. He sighed as he threw a few more sticks in the blazing warmth. He had the feeling that Ansiso returning was his fault. In his opinion, his father should've executed Ansiso for breaking a law, but according to the law, that was part of the first ten pages that since slaying a mammoth was only a minor rule, there was no reason for the man to be exiled. Plus, Ansiso was an Elder at the time and the laws of the second set of ten pages stated that an Elder must never be placed under execution unless he or she had broken a rule out of the laws of the fourth set of ten pages. Yes, there were that many rules. It wasn't easy living the life of a human.

Yet all those things that Ansiso said about Roshan being at fault for his own father's death struck his heart like a bolt of lightning. Roshan couldn't believe that. It was his own father's fault that made the young boy do what he did. Magstan wanted his son to kill a mammoth, but Roshan refused and almost attacked his father in the process.

Roshan shook his head. He needed to get the negative vibes out of his head. He couldn't let this take control of him. He needed to remember the good times he had with his father. All the great things he's done. He became distracted with thoughts of the past almost coming to him that he almost forgot about the fire. It was starting to die down so he threw some more sticks in it.

Kai looked to see his best friend trying to get the fire up and running. He walked over to him. "Need some help, buddy?"

Roshan looked up to see his best friend standing behind him. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I took care of it. I just got lost in thought."

"About what?" Kai asked.

Roshan sighed. "About everything."

"Roshan, we knew this whole time he wasn't dead. Nothing can kill Ansiso and get away with it. That old man is unstoppable."

"I wish he wasn't."

"We all do. But it seems as though you can't get everything you wish for, huh?" Kai still saw a hurt expression on Roshan's face. "Something else is bothering you. What is it?"

Roshan placed his head in his hands. "He said it was my fault."

"I don't understand what you mean by that. What's your fault?"

"That my dad is gone. Obliterated from this world. It's my fault that he's dead. If those mammals had never came into my life, then we wouldn't be in this situation right now."

"If they hadn't of saved your life, you would've been killed by sabers. Where would I be in the picture? Where would Elphina be? And Scarfy? And what about Cheril? If you hadn't of been saved, you would never have met any of us. Especially Cheril."

"Why do you keep bringing her up?"

"Isn't it obvious, Roshan? You care about her. You like her more than just being her best friend. You're all she has."

Roshan sighed, looking at his friends. "I figured you would go to saying that those mammals never existed. That they never found me."

"Well, I've been thinking about it and I know that your father wouldn't make those rules for his own health. He always had a reason to do things. Anyway, I figured that talk would be helpful. I'm sorry about the way I acted today. What that mammoth guy told me last night just put me on edge."

"Who? Manny?"

"No, not him. That guy's not giving me any trouble. It's Julian that's been causing problems."

"Well, you've been giving him a lot of problems, too."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"You've been making him mad by constantly going up and bothering him. You know some mammoths are short-tempered. I say some because not all of them are like that."

"Well, he got back at me pretty well. Told me I was a mistake and it set me off."

"Wait. He called you a mistake?"

"Yeah. Why should you feel any sympathy for me?"

"Because that's not the first time anyone's ever called you that. To be honest, your father was a horrible man. No wonder he was attacked and killed by bears. I know he didn't deserve to die that way, but he should've treated you better."

"Please. That guy wouldn't have treated a mouse any better. Just be lucky I had an income who cared."

"Of course he cared. He didn't like the way his brother-in-law was treating you. Plus, he always told me that his sister should've fallen in love with somebody else."

Kai sighed. "Well, you can't change the past. It is what it is. Like my grandmother used to tell me. Shut up and move on. Well, she actually said keep your lips sealed and keep moving along with life, but I'm pretty sure they both mean the same thing."

"Look, I'll talk to Julian for you."

"Don't waste your time, Roshan." Kai started walking away.

"Kai, I know what you're feeling on the inside. You're hurt. Mentally. You won't be table to hide it for long. I'm just trying to look out for you. You're my best friend, but you're also my brother."

"Good to know." Kai started climbing up in the trees, waving to his friend. "Goodnight, Roshan."

Roshan sighed. It wouldn't be too long before Kai finally just brought out his feelings. He couldn't bottle up his emotions forever.

Over with the mammoths, Peaches was starting to get comfortable. She closed her eyes and would've fallen asleep if a shadow hadn't of formed in front of her. Seeing that it was Julian, she gave him a stern look. "What do you want? I'm not in the mood to argue with you anymore."

"I know, but I just wanted to come say I'm sorry," Julian said, "I feel horrible for what I said to you. I was just angry and I ended up letting my anger out at you and I shouldn't have done that. I know you don't wanna sleep next to me tonight, but I thought I would just come by to tell you goodnight and whether we're sleeping together or not, that's not gonna stop me from loving you. You know that, right?"

Peaches sighed. "Of course I do."

"Well, sleep tight, Peaches." Julian turned to walk away, but looked at Peaches once more and said, "If you change your mind and start becoming lonely, you know where to find me." With that, the young male mammoth walked away. He looked to see Roshan walking over to him, a not-so-happy expression on his face. Julian waved at the human boy. "Hey, Roshan. What have you been up to?"

"Don't try doing all that nice small talk to me," Roshan said, "Do you realize how hurt Kai is right now?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you calling him a mistake. That is the worst thing you could ever call him."

"How is that a bad thing?"

"You don't know what he's been through with his own father. His father never cared about him. Never wanted to teach him how to be a man. Never wanted to help him when he needed him the most. Never wanted to do anything with him. Every time Kai asked him something, all his father would say is that he shouldn't bother learning because he was nothing but a mistake. Now you see why he's been acting the way he is now. All because you said that. What if your father did the same thing to you?"

"My father cared about me. Not once did he ever refer to me as a mistake." Julian sighed. "Okay, I'll go talk to him. Maybe just discussing this issue might help work things out between the two of us."

"Oh, he won't let you talk to him. Once you call him that, there's no way he'll ever forgive you. You're pretty much known as an enemy to him."

"Maybe if I apologize, he'll forgive me."

"You're out of luck, buddy. I think you just ruined your chances of ever trying to make amends with Kai." Roshan walked away, leaving Julian alone with his thoughts.

Meanwhile, the others are getting ready for bed. Ellie looked to see Julian walking inside a cave that was way too small for him. She gave him a sympathetic smile. "You okay over there, Julian?"

"Yeah!" Julian said, "I'm awesome! It's a bit of a squeeze, but I'll manage. Well, goodnight."

Ellie shook her head and sighed. She looked at her husband. "Manny, where's Peaches?"

"Over there," Manny said, pointing to his daughter underneath a set of trees.

"Those two haven't been married a year and they're already starting to have conflicts. I've never seen them have a fight like this."

"Ellie, marriage can be complicated. We had a few conflicts the first few months we were married and we settled our differences about it and let bygones be bygones."

"Manny, we've been married for twenty years. They haven't been married a year. We didn't go so far as to not sleeping in the same place together when we first got married. It's different, nowadays."

"How is it different?"

Ellie hesitated a moment before answering. "Some couple's don't know how to handle conflicts as well as we can. Before you know it, they won't be together anymore. That worries me."

"Just give Peaches and Julian some time. Let them think about and once they've seen what happened they'll talk about it and that'll be the end of it. They'll forgive each other and forget the whole thing ever happened."

"Don't you remember what Julian said about you? He said that you were going down there. Did that not even give you any kind of concern?"

"Well, I will admit that I am kind of ticked off about it. I will tell you this, though. The best way to handle somebody's outburst when they insult you is to simply take a deep breath and ignore it. That's what they taught me in my anger management class."

"I guess that class is doing wonders for you. Thank you for paying attention."

"You're welcome. And don't forget what I said."

"They'll forgive each other soon. Just give them some time. Got it, Manny. I'm gonna go check on Shira to see how she's holding up."

"Don't tell her I said this, but she looks like she's about to pop."

Ellie chuckled. "You're not the only one that has those thoughts." She walked over to the female saber, who was asleep on a soft padding of straw. Her father was lying next to her, stroking her head. Ellie smiled down at Alejandro. "How's she doing?"

"She seems to be doing fine," Alejandro said, "Once you laid her down on the ground, she slept in a wink."

Ellie had a thought come up in her head. She found out that it's been a couple of hours since Shira had eaten anything. "Alejandro, has Shira felt like eating anything since we got here?"

"No, she told me she wasn't hungry."

"I think that's a sign."

"A sign for what?"

"It won't be too long before she finally pops. If I were you, I'd let Diego know so he can keep an eye on her."

"Agreed."

Meanwhile, over with the sloths, Sid and Brooke were having a chat about the earlier incident that happened that day.

"I'm so sorry I never told you about Marty, Sid," Brooke said, "I can assure you that he and I were never a thing and that the two of us have never even been seen together alone unless we were in a crowded room. I've pretty much hated his guts throughout the whole time I knew him. I hope you're not mad."

"Oh, Brooke, I could never be mad at you," Sid said, "I believe you when you say that you hate him. He looks like an idiot, anyway."

"And acts like one. He pretty much knows how to get his way."

"Well, I'm glad we could talk about this."

Brooke took a deep breath. She knew that the best time to tell Sid was now or never. "Sid, I need to tell you something. Do you remember when-"

Brooke was cut off by Buck. "Alright, everyone. No need to rush, but I think it's time we get some shut eye."

"But what about dinner?" Manny asked.

"Here you go." Buck threw a bunch of fruit in Manny's direction. "Now hurry up and eat so we can all get some sleep."

"Buck, what is going on with you?" Ellie asked.

Buck sighed. "I'm sorry, mammals. I hate to say this, but I believe our best option is to gather a bunch of food, find a boat big enough to fit all of us and search for another island."

"Wait a second," Cheril said, "Are you telling us that our only option is to give up?"

"That is our only option," Elphina said, "Even the Elders have told me so. There is no way to stop the storm. Once somebody has cursed the storm to happen, it is unstoppable. It will hit this island and cause it to flood until only the top of the mountain is showing from underwater."

"This is crazy," Eddie said.

"We're already having to deal with a bunch of mammals that want us dead," Crash said.

"What more does this world want from us?"

"Why do we have to be under such mayhem?"

"When is it supposed to happen, anyway?" Kai asked.

"In exactly two days, according to the Elders," Elphina said.

"Is there a reason why we still have to listen to the Elders?" Scarfy asked, "Don't they pretty much hate us by now?"

"Okay, look at it this way, guys," Cheril said, "Maybe there is a way to stop this storm. The Elders know there is, but they want us to figure it out ourselves. Why don't we all just think this through? We have two days, so there's plenty of time."

"Didn't you just hear what Elphina said?" Kai asked, "There is no way to stop the storm from happening."

"I'm just trying to look on the bright side of things."

"Okay, enough," Roshan said, "Cheril's right. There may be a way to stop this storm. You know how the Elders are. They want us to think for ourselves. They want us to figure out how to stop the catastrophe before it happens."

"Why is it that you stand up for Cheril and not me?" Kai asked.

"I'll be honest with you, Kai. You're not the greatest when it comes to making decisions or theories for that matter."

"Well, I guess that is true. Nobody likes hearing my opinions."

"Well, that's the only thing I can think of," Cheril said, yawning, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, everyone."

"Goodnight," Roshan said.

"Goodnight, animals of all kinds," Buck said, "Sleep tight while I keep watch."

Soon the herd had fallen asleep, resting peacefully through the night. Except for one person.

Roshan began tossing and turning in his sleeping cot, trying his best to sleep but kept opening his eyes. It was no use. He wasn't tired. Sleep just wouldn't come for him. He sat up, looking around to see everyone sleeping soundly. He was never sure how Kai was so comfortable sleeping in the trees, but he didn't have time to think about all that. He was having problems of his own. Standing up, he took one last look around before noticing that Cheril's sleeping cot was empty. He started wondering where she went and started making his way towards the small lake. He stopped when he hears shuffling from behind him. He looked up to see that it was Diego, staring at him as he was wide awake. Roshan smiled. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"That's okay," Diego said, "I wasn't even asleep, anyway. You know how males are when they're protective of their wife. I heard from Ellie that the cubs will be coming pretty soon. I need to be ready."

"I understand. Say, you wouldn't happen to know where Cheril walked off to, did you?"

"She went past those trees over there that go toward the lake." Diego pointed past some trees just a few feet away.

"Thanks." Roshan nodded his head and made his way over to the lake.

He walked over to the lake, looking at his reflection in the water. He sat down, placing his hand in the water and rotating it around. He thought that a vision of his father would show up, but it didn't. And he knew that it never will.

He looked out to see Cheril standing next to a wall frozen with ice. He had no idea what she could be seeing in there. A reflection of someone from her past was his theory. He didn't know much about her life before she became part of the tribe. She just became a part of her life when they were kids. If anything, the two would've been paired up by his father and Elphina. After all, arranged marriages were liable to happen.

Roshan actually smiled at that fact. If someone were to place him in an arranged marriage with anybody, he hoped that it would be Cheril who was a part of his life. After all, she was the only girl that understood him. The only girl that cared about him like nobody else did.

He stood up, looking at her from afar. The sky sprinkled snow upon the land they were standing on. Looking up, he began to sing a tune.

Roshan: As the cold wind passes through

The weather is harsh during the night

The snow clashes to the blanketed ground

As the stars and moon are the only source of light

My hopes and dreams have vanished

All I loved once has disappeared

But once you entered my view

My feelings reappeared

(Chorus)

When a cold night lasts forever

On a cold night, we're together

As the moonlight shines thick and through

That's when I know that I'm with you

Over at the other side of the lake, Cheril looked through the mirrored image of herself. She saw herself as a little girl and saw the saber next to her that saved her life and brought her to the tribe. To the place where she could call home. To a place where she could start a family. To a place where she met Roshan.

She looked over at the other side of the lake and saw Roshan looking out at the horizon. She smiled. Some days, she didn't really understand why she was a part of the world. She felt as though people had shunned her away. That nobody didn't want her around.

There was one person that did. Roshan. She felt as though she were brought here to bring him happiness. To be a part of his life. If anything, that was the best reason to be part of the world. Seeing the snow falling, she began singing.

Cheril: Since the day I entered this world

I knew I would never belong

I had doubts and fears about life

How have I survived for so long?

I never believed in emotions

I thought they were beliefs from the sky

Now here I am in your view

A different world with a good guy

(Chorus)

When a cold night last forever

On a cold night, we're together

As the moonlight shines thick and through

That's when I know that I'm with you

The two finally see each other and walked through the lake, which was only ankle deep. Smiling and looking into each other's eyes, they placed their hands in one another's as they sang together.

Roshan and Cheril: When a cold night last forever

On a cold night, we're together

As the moonlight shines thick and through

That's when I know that I'm with you

Roshan: When a cold night last forever

Cheril: On a cold night, we're together

Roshan and Cheril: As the moonlight shines thick and through

That's when I know that I'm with you

Roshan: When a cold night

Cheril: On a cold night

Roshan and Cheril: That's when I know that I'm with you

The two embraced each other before suddenly looking into each other's eyes. Knowing that it was real, that their feelings for each other was bigger than the world they were placed on, they finally revealed their feelings by placing their lips together, kissing under the moonlight on a cold night. They smiled, knowing that they were finally happy that one knew the truth about the other. They were in love.

SWITCHBACK COVE FOREST. A SMALL CAVE CLOSE TO A LARGE MOUNTAIN.

TIME: NIGHTFALL.

Inside a mountain in a small cave, the Mammal Gang were sitting around a fire that Ansiso made for them. They all sat there, trying to figure out what to do. Their plan didn't work and failed automatically. Now another plan would have to be made before the storm hit or they would never get their revenge on the mammals who had ruined everything for them in their lives.

Marty gasped. "I have an idea. What if we set a trap and once we tell them off, we throw them over a cliff, killing them on impact?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Chippy said, chuckling like an idiot.

"Everything sounds like a good plan to you, Chippy," Randolph said, "That doesn't sound like a good plan at all. I want them to be tortured before I watch them die."

"That is true," Ansiso said, "I'd like to see the same thing. We need to think of something else."

"I think I have an idea," Soto said, "What if we make sure they don't stop the storm?"

"What are you getting at?" Ansiso sat up straighter.

"Before they even make it to where the eye of the storm is, we destroy the only way to stop it. At that point, we can distract them and make sure they don't try to escape from the island."

"So you suggest that we keep following them?" Marty asked.

"Exactly," Soto said.

"That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard."

"I support it well," Ansiso said.

"I'll stick with whatever plans you stick with," Chippy said.

"That's actually a pretty good plan, Soto," Randolph said.

"I'm glad you think so," Soto said.

"It's settled," Ansiso said, "We shall continue following the herd until we make our way to the end of the line." He chuckled. "For them."

They all started laughing. A plan was made. They know that nothing could go wrong with something so thought out sounded brilliant.


HEY, GUYS. IT'S ME BRINGING YOU ANOTHER AWESOME CHAPTER.

NOTE: THE SONG ABOVE BELONGS TO ME. I WROTE THE SONG. LET ME KNOW IF YOU LIKE IT.

ALSO, I HAVE A POLL ON MY PROFILE FOR THE 25TH EPISODE OF ICE AGE NEW LIFE. WHAT SHOULD THAT EPISODE BE ABOUT SINCE IT WILL BE CELEBRATING 25 EPISODES. I KNOW I'M PLANNING AHEAD, BUT THAT'S WHAT I DO.

WELL, UNTIL THE NEXT CHAPTER.

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