Hi everyone! I hope you had a good week! I know I did! Ok, well, here is the next part of my story, so I hope that you thoroughly enjoy it, I definitely know that I enjoyed writing it Ok, I'm in a rush right now (things to do, people to see, you get the picture!) So I'll just get started.

Disclaimer: Ice Age doesn't belong to me Yadda Yadda Yadda; the characters' parents do Yadda Yadda Yadda, ok, read everyone!

Souls Connected Chapter 7:

Parental Bonds

Ellie:

Ellie hid behind a group of trees as she watched a kindly mama Aardvark play with her children. Ellie's eyes started to fill with tears as she remembered her own mother and how she had died on the way to the valley. She was immediately thrown into a flashback.

It was the first day of the journey and Ellie was traveling with her mom and brothers to the new valley.

"Mom…" Eddie asked, "Why do we have to go to this new valley… I really wanna stay here!"

"Because Edward," Her mom said "It's safer there, It has lots of mud for you to play in, it's an absolute paradise, and also, it's where you were born." She smiled up at Ellie as they continued walking, not noticing the frown Eddie had on his face upon being called 'Edward', which was one of his biggest pet-peeves. Ellie had all three of them on her back and was doing all the walking for her family. But she didn't really mind. They continued on, talking and walking as they went, until they decided to stop for a bite to eat. They forgot, however, that the spot at which they were staying was home to a very vile pack of Sabers.

Ellie's mom walked off to find some food, and about maybe 10 minutes later, gave a big yell and ran down the hillside towards the rest of her family.

"Eleanor, Crash, Edward… RUN!" She yelled as she kept on running. Ellie didn't like being called Eleanor, and wasn't sure what was going on either, but her mother had never lied to her and there was a sense of urgency in the way she talked. So she grabbed her brothers, put them on her back, and started to run. She then turned around to see if her mom was coming, and found that there was a Saber chasing her.

"MOM!" Ellie yelled, trying to urge her mother into jumping on her back. But she just looked Ellie straight in the eyes and yelled for her to keep going. Ellie started running, very scared, knowing that her mother was about 10 feet behind her with the Saber getting closer each time after about 10 minutes of continuous running, Ellie saw her mom trip over a rock and fall to the ground she immediately turned around and ran up to her.

"Mom" She told her, "Get up!"

"I – can't" the kind woman responded, "Too-weak." Ellie's hopes were diminished as she remembered that her mom had a relatively weak heart, and therefore couldn't run very far. She realized that her mom had just run for about 10 straight minutes, and wouldn't be able to walk again for a while. She kindly tried to pick her mom up in hopes that she could help her, but her mom pulled out of Ellie's grasp. "I'm sorry sweetheart." She told her, "But—I'm just, so tired, so exhausted, I won't be able to make it anyway, just—run, go, get out of here before the Saber catches up." Ellie noticed tears were starting to form in her mother's eyes. "I should be able to satisfy it anyway." At this Ellie's eyes overflowed with tears.

"Mom" She cried, "Please don't do this. We need you!"

"No you don't honey" Her mom responded, "You have each other, I want you to do something for me, ok?" Ellie's eyes continued to tear as she nodded, "Take care of your brothers for me, I'm not sure if they can make it all the way to the valley, but try to keep their hopes up." Ellie nodded once again. She hugged her mom, picked up her brothers, and then continued running off. Nothing could compare to Ellie's pain as she heard the Saber behind her give a roar of triumph… It had found its prey.

Ellie and her brothers spent that evening huddled up together and shared memories of their mother.

Ellie wiped the tears out of her eyes as she continued watching the mother with her kids 'If I ever have kids' she told herself 'I will spend as much time with them as I possibly can.' Her tears came even more once she saw the father Aardvark come in and start playing with the children. She was brought into yet another flashback, this one about her father.

"Dad!" Ellie yelled as she saw her father coming over the nearby hill. Her father had spent the entire weekend with his pals, which was hard for her since he usually spent the weekends with his children. When he saw her, he smiled.

"There's my Ell-Bell" He said as he ran up to her and hugged her trunk with his small Possum arms. He then looked happily up at her, "What do you say we go do something together, right now, some father-daughter time?" Ellie smiled down back at him.

"I'd love that dad." She replied as they started to walk off.

"I found this really nice watering hole" Her father told her, "There's a human camp somewhat close to it, but I don't imagine that they'd find us there." Ellie smiled at him as they reached the hole. It was very nice. After about an hour of splashing in the water, and eating from the nearby trees they decided to walk home. It was dark, and neither could see very well. Unfortunately, they went the wrong way, and ended up right in the middle of the humans' camp. The humans were sitting around a fire, cooking their evening meal when they turned around and saw the Mammoth and Possum standing there. Ellie's dad turned to her.

"I think we should probably run." He told her as a matter of factly; Ellie had turned around and started to run when she saw a long stick hit the ground next to her.

"THEY'RE THROWING SPEARS AT US DAD!" She yelled, terrified.

"KEEP RUNNING!" He responded from the spot on her back where he was sitting. Ellie did what he said and kept running, dodging any low-lying branches in her way. Unfortunately, she didn't notice one and ran right into it. She shook her head and was ok, but her father had been flung off her back and upon his decent hit his head on a rock. He was unconscious... Ellie reached down to pick him up, but when a spear landed right next to her, she was frightened and continued running. She heard them turn around, and went back to where her father was, in the spot where he was, was a single bloody spear…Ellie realized what had happened and ran home, tears in her eyes, To tell the rest of her family the sad news.

Ellie shook these thoughts out of her head as she noticed her brothers coming out of the forest next to her.

"ELLIE!" Crash called. "Come on! I thought we were going to have a mud fight!" Ellie smiled and followed them, looking warily at the family behind her. 'Maybe someday I'll have a family of my own, a REAL family, one that I can REALLY take care of!' she thought, and continued on her way to play with her brothers. Leaving the family and upsetting thoughts about her deceased parents behind her.

Manny:

Manny yawned as he lay down on the ground next to Diego. He was tired, and didn't want to spend yet ANOTHER night awake, worrying about what could be outside. Luckily, Sid was also quite tired, and fell asleep almost immediately. Diego was tired as well, and fell asleep after about 30 minutes. Manny stayed awake after them, and found himself drifting off into a flashback.

It had been about 2 months since Millie and Wallace's deaths, and Manfred was starting to get a little better. His parents had generously let him live with them until he was completely able to live on his own again. They were now spending a nice summer afternoon eating in the fields. Manfred was in his own little universe, thinking about the world around him when he heard his mother give a trumpet of alarm. It took him about 10 seconds to realize that a group of humans had found the happy trio and had decided to hunt them. Manfred immediately started to run at top speed, his father right next to him. Manfred looked behind him and saw his mother running as fast as she could, but still about 20 feet behind them.

You see, Manfred's mother had broken her legs when she was young, they had healed. But they were now, as a result, very weak and she was an extremely slow runner.

"Emily!" Manfred's dad yelled at his mate as she fell to the ground finally exhausted. He immediately turned around and ran over to help her up.

"DAD!" Manfred yelled frantically, "Hurry up! They're coming!" His father however, helped Manfred's mother up and helped her run via catching her when she fell and pushing her back upright. After this happened about 8 times, the humans caught up to them. Manfred was a good deal ahead, so when he heard his dad give a trumpet of alarm, he turned around terrified, not wanting to see what was inevitable, but still watched all the same. The humans took a large spear and threw it at Manfred's mother, His father ran in front of her, taking the impact of the spear himself. The humans, having killed off the tough elder male of the group, took their last spear and threw it at the female. Manfred's mother did not have anyone to block her this time and the spear hit her as it was supposed too. The humans happily took the bodies of the two dead Mammoths and started to walk back towards their camp. Manfred sadly turned around with tears in his eyes and slowly walked away…not sure of what to do next.

Manny gave a big sigh as his flashback ended. How hard it was to loose his parents like that. 'If I EVER get a family again' he told himself 'I am going to protect it with all the power that I can, I will NEVER let them die because I was too scared to help them. I will do all that I can to make sure that they are safe in the face of danger.' Having made this drastic decision, he finally fell asleep. Thankful not to have any dreams that might leave him with any bad memories.

There you go! Chapter 7! Whew! I'll tell you; this story has been such an adventure! Either way. I hope you enjoyed learning about the character's parents… I know I did! They are really wonderful parents and I find it sad that they had to die like that. Of course, I made that happen to them, to add to the drama of the story. I'll see you guys all later, remember…. The Eviscerator is NOT for children!