Chapter 14

"I can't believe you're just leaving," Sierra said. "You're just walking out on them, as though they don't mean a thing to you."

"Cut it out, Sierra. This was hard enough on me already. I did what I had to do."

"Did you even see Sid, Diego? Did you notice how upset he was? He loves you, Diego, which doesn't make the least bit of sense considering how mean you are to him. He doesn't understand you. You've hurt him. You tell him you like him, and then change your mind. That stings. He's just sitting there, wondering what he did wrong, why you've decided you don't care about him anymore. How can you be so cruel to him, Diego?"

"What, so now you can read sloths just like you can read tigers? Give it a rest, Sierra. This is difficult enough without you making it worse, all right?"

"No! It's not all right, and I'm not giving it a rest! I'm upset by what you did and I think you made the wrong choice."

"What do you want from me, Sierra? What's done is done. You shouldn't have let me come with you then anyway. Why did you let me?"

Sierra sighed, and looked at the ground. "You're right," she said. "Maybe I shouldn't have let you come with me. I decided to because I thought that if you were desperate enough to walk out on them, then that must be what you really wanted. To get out of there. I cared about you and wanted to help you."

"And now you don't anymore?"

"No, I still do. It's just…I don't know. I guess I was hoping you'd stay. I thought that would make you happier than coming with me, that's all. I like you and I'm trying to help you out."

"Thank you, Sierra, but you've done enough. You don't need to try and convince me to go back."

"I'll stop. I'm sorry." Then she sighed. "You wouldn't have made it anyway."

"What do you mean?" Diego asked.

"Diego, remember when you had a fear of water and Sid helped you overcome it?"

"Yeah," Diego muttered. He didn't like thinking about that because it was admitting that he had a weakness.

"Sid helps you out when you're scared of something."

"What's your point, Sierra?" Diego said crossly.

"You're scared of this. That's the vibe I've been getting from you. You're scared to talk to him. You're scared to tell him the truth. You're afraid of him finding out and of others finding out."

"Well can you blame me?" Diego said, annoyed that Sierra had discovered his 'other' fear. "Me. Sid. Yeah, right."

"Yeah," Sierra said. "You're afraid of it. And you can't face your fear because you can't do that by yourself. You need Sid to help you. But he can't help you because then you'd have to tell him, and you're scared of that. It's like a paradox or something. There's no way to solve it. So instead of trying to face it by yourself, you go and take the easy way out by running off. There you see the tough, brave tiger now. Running away from his fear instead of facing it."

"Sierra!" Diego wasn't just annoyed now; he was angry. "How can you say something like that! I'm not running away! It's not like that! Only cowards run away!"

"Well you're a coward then!" she yelled back. "That's what you are! You're afraid to talk to him so you're running away! You're not just a coward, Diego, you're a jerk! Can't you see that Sid loves you! He doesn't care that it's you, Diego! He was really upset back there and you're just going to leave him like that! I don't know why he even wants you! And it wasn't just Sid you were leaving, it was all your friends! You're just walking out on them, betraying them! Oh, wait," Sierra said, paused, and gave Diego a death glare. "But they've come to expect that from you, haven't they? First you almost lead them to their deaths—"

Sierra's words got cut off because Diego had jumped at her and pinned her to the ground. Sierra swiped at him, trying to get him off. The clouds above broke open and rain came pouring down on the tigers, who, after a few more swipes, ceased fighting and broke apart. The two stood there, doing nothing but breathing heavily for a few minutes before looking at each other. Sierra made an attempt at an apologetic smile.

"Sorry I scratched you," Diego muttered, a bit embarrassed at his outburst.

"Don't be," Sierra said, shaking her head. She looked at him. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going back," Diego muttered.

Delighted, Sierra ran to him and rubbed her head against his, as though he hadn't just attacked her a minute ago. "Good," she said. "I'm proud of you, Diego."