Hey, once again, another 1-shot. This sort of describes how Manny first felt about losing his family, and how it felt choosing to be with Ellie. The names of his family, Millie and Wally, belong to Funkywatermelon. She wrote the first Manny/Ellie fic! YAY! Anyway, this may seem like a Manny/Millie fic, and it sortof is. But it is DEFINITLY a Manny/Ellie fic if you search way down deep inside yourself. Enjoy.
Ice Age and all its characters belong to 20th century fox. Not me...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Losing your family is hard. I should know. Millie and Wally left me in the cold clutch of death, and for a while… oh, how I wished I had joined them.
"Crotchety old mammoth." They would say, "He acts like he's the only one who's ever lost a mate."
But I was different, I thought. They didn't watch the life drain from their lover's eyes. They didn't see the tears of pain streaming down their young child's mutilated face, the tears causing even more pain themselves. Little did I think of the other ones who had seen worse, heard horrible things, and even somehow caused them to happen completely by accident. But then, I didn't care. I was the one in mourning. I was the one that they should feel sorry for. I had lost my true love, and I would never be okay again.
But deep inside, I knew I hadn't lost my true love. I hadn't even found her. Yes, I loved Millie very much, and I still do. But a while after her and Wally's passing, I started thinking. I had met Millie when I was very young. She was like a sister to me. I started to think… could it just be infatuation?
She was my first love, and I could never deny this. But, even before we were officially mates, I could feel the flame start to diminish. After the 22 months of extremely slowly shrinking flames, Wally was born. It was really more of a sense of duty and love for a child that kept me around, more than it was the absolutely true love of a mate. Don't get me wrong, I loved her so very much. But she was more like my sister, a sibling, someone who would just be there and still love me, than she was my lover.
But I refused to believe this after my family was gone. That sense of duty that kept me around for so long continued to keep me tethered to a family that wasn't there anymore.
And then I met Ellie. She had lost so much, gained so little, yet she was as happy as she could be. Yes, she thought she was a possum, but still. She showed me that life could go on even after something absolutely dreadful has happened to you. I love her. I truly, honest-to-goodness love her. This wasn't just a crush, a one-night stand. This was the real thing. And it still is.
But just right before I ran to Ellie to make her come back, I hesitated. How could I betray my family like this? TO love someone over my deceased mate? I looked at the sky, and saw a cloud shaped just like a pair of mammoths, the wind causing their heads to nod a silent "yes". I realized that I still loved Millie. But I loved Ellie too. I loved both of them, in separate ways. Millie was my sister, but Ellie was my love, my soul, and my mate. And Millie couldn't be happier for me.
Losing your family is hard. Accepting it is harder. But when you find someone that you love that loves you back, everything seems a lot easier.
And it's great when your first love encourages your decision, too.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do you like? Please R&R!