II. Past Choices

As Manny, Sid, Pinky, and Diego ventured during the snowstorm, Half Peak was within sight. Sid cradled the baby with his right arm, keeping it close to his body. Despite Sid's height, it was still tall enough to shield the infant from the bitter cold and biting snow. A few speckles of dirt on the baby's face caused Sid to disregard the weather and worry about cleaning.

"We don't want your parents to see you all ugly and stinky like this, do we?" Sid stuck his right forefinger and middle finger in his mouth and gently rubbed Pinky's face. The baby started to laugh before trying to push Sid's fingers away.

Manny lightly wrapped his trunk around Sid's hand to pull it away from the baby's face.

"Pinky's clean enough, let's keep moving so he can see his father again."

After taking a few paces forward, Sid held up the baby in Diego's direction.

"I think he looks like me, what do you think?" Diego stood silent and kept walking forward, looking at the upper rock pillars contained within Half Peak. Oscar, a member of Soto's tiger pack, was watching from above. As their eyes met for a moment, Oscar turned around and disappeared from sight. Diego held still as the other members of the herd slowly continued forward.

Manny realized that Diego hadn't been following behind.

"Diego, everything alright?" Diego remained motionless. His face had turned into a distinct frown, not one out of sadness, but out of guilt. His conscience momentarily took hold of him as he thought about the mammoth who saved his life, but he shook it off almost instantly.

Instincts over emotions. "I'm fine. Let's move – I'm freezing my tail off." Diego's face returned to its near emotionless expression as he led Manny and Sid past a stone pillar, marking the entrance to Half Peak.

The snow on the stone pillar partially blew off as the wind picked up. Manny took the baby from Sid and put it on his back so that he could ride without feeling the painful wind. Visibility began to diminish with every passing step.

"Half Peak is giving us a pretty...full, snowstorm, don't you think?" Sid squinted his eyes and began to wince in pain as the snow started to whip in his direction. Even Manny's enormous build wasn't enough to prevent the stinging sensation from the extreme weather conditions. Diego, also in pain, remained unfazed.

"How much longer until we reach the pass?" Manny asked impatiently, willing to do just about anything to rid himself from the harsh conditions.

"We're just about there." Diego replied, with an abnormally deeper, almost sinister voice. Almost on cue, four more tigers were in sight.

"...Diego...who are they?" Manny's voice started to show fear, and the other tigers were well aware of it. Diego continued to walk in the direction of the tiger pack, until he was directly in front of them. Then, he turned toward Manny, Sid, and the baby.

"...So?" Manny was confused.

Diego crouched into an attack position, and the tiger pack behind him followed his motion. The pack leader, Soto, stepped to the right of Diego.

"Now!"

Soto and Diego simultaneously leaped from their crouch positions towards Manny and Sid. They both flinched and retreated a few steps backward. Zeke, Oscar, and Lenny, the other three members of the tiger pack, began to swipe at the mammoth as he retreated. Pinky broke his silence with very loud cries of fear as Sid began to yell into the wind while also taking a few steps back.

As a feeble attempt to defend himself, Manny used his trunk to swing at the attacking tiger pack. Soto and Diego began to advance quicker as the frequency of the swipes by the other three tigers began to increase. It wasn't long before Manny, Sid, and the baby were backed into a pillar.

"Diego! Why!?" Manny was still in utter shock as Diego continued to step forward, emerald eyes glistening, sharp teeth showing.

"A short lesson that you, a naive mammal, will never appreciate...never trust a saber." Soto had spoken before taking a single swipe at the mammoth's leg. The pain was enough for Manny to lose his balance, and Pinky as well.

The painful impact with the heavy snow caused Pinky to cry once more, and it was only mere moments before Soto had grabbed the baby.

"Diego – finish the job." Soto charged out of sight with the baby, who was presumably going to be his fresh lunch. Diego crouched once more, and readied himself for his next jump.

"Goodbye...Sid. You...were a good friend." A tear had fallen out of Manny's left eye, knowing full well that this could be his final time to witness what life really was. Diego's growling became more audible, even through the heavy winds.

"Diego...you...were a really good guy." Another tear had fallen out of Manny's left eye, as he stared helplessly at his former friend. Diego stood up for a moment as if to ease from his attacking position. His conscience took over for a moment as he recalled the same mammoth saving his life the night before. Manny noticed the daze and took a second attempt at Diego by swinging his trunk. Diego's agility was too much for Manny, as he easily avoided the strike. He reset himself to the attack position, hesitating once more.

Instincts over emotions. He launched himself into the air and guided himself right to the mammoth's throat.

Diego let out a very loud snarl. All of the smaller animals around him jumped and fled out of fear. He realized that he was no longer attacking Manny, or even anywhere near Manny. His breathing was quite heavy, and he noticed that his heart was racing. The sky was a somewhat bright gray. To his surprise, he was still laying directly in front of the tree.

"Diego...you...were a really good guy."

"...a really good guy."

"Did I just...?"

Diego was in complete shock – he was able to recall what just happened, but unable to control it. Diego was drenched. Unsure as to whether it was him sweating profusely during the night, or him getting soaked by a heavy shower, he stood up and shook himself clean before noticing the carcass of a dead gazelle a few paces away from the tree. Diego took the few paces forward and examined the body. His paw landed in a small pile of blood – it wasn't dry. He put a paw on the gazelle's corpse to see, aside from the wound, that it was dry.

The gazelle is dry, but the blood is still wet. Who would...? Diego looked around for a quick moment to see patches of mud. One of them had distinct footprints.

What else would be fast enough to chase down a young gazelle? Even I wasn't able to do that.

Pondering the situation, Diego looked at the small area of mud and lifted his paw. After a quick comparison, he was in awe.

Other...sabers?