Chapter 5

I do not own 'Ice Age'. I only own the characters you don't recognize from the movies.

"I… I don't understand" Roshan stuttered, "I mean, I-"

"Think about it, kid" Diego said, "Think hard. You knew us when you were a baby and have always known us! You just refused to believe it, didn't you?"

"Diego, stop." Ellie said but Diego didn't seem to hear her.

"After all we did for you; you decide not to believe it even happened!"

"I'm sorry!" Roshan cried, "What do you want from me? I was just a baby, how do you expect me to remember all that had happened back then?"

"Alright, that's enough!" Manny practically shouted, stomping his foot as he stepped in between Roshan and Diego. "Both of you calm down. Especially you, Diego, it's not his fault."

Diego quietly growled under his breath but backed off as Roshan stood unmoving, not sure whether he should say something or just remain silent. Manny gave Diego a look and Diego growled one last time before turning as he walked out of the cave and ran into the woods and Manny sighed.

"I'll talk to him as soon as I find him." Manny said as he began heading for the cave entrance hoping to catch up to Diego. As Manny left the cave, Roshan still hadn't moved from where he was standing as he slightly looked down and no one knew what to say or do about the argument between the boy and the tiger.

Finally, Roshan spoke, "I-I'm sorry, I… I need some air, excuse me." he said as he turned and walked out of the cave and the others watched him go. Roshan headed straight forward for a few moments before stopping near the edge of the creek that was near the cave as he brought his hand up to his head and rubbed his forehead.

I can't believe this is happening to me! Roshan thought as he began to pace back and forth. Why didn't father tell me anything? Or Emele? Somebody had to know something!

Roshan then stopped pacing as he began to remember Emele. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small container that Emele had given him during the attack. There was still about half of the mysterious liquid in the small container as Roshan turned the container over in his hand. Why did Emele give this to him? What was it for anyways? Roshan thought about what Emele had said about the mysterious liquid.

It will last you so long as you remain in the wilderness she had said.

What was that supposed to mean? Emele was very handy with her remedies and herbs but this one was by far the strangest Roshan had ever come across. Whatever it was, Roshan knew that Emele must have known something that gave her the reason to give the mysterious liquid to him and it obviously had something to do with Roshan suddenly being able to understand animals all of a sudden.

Roshan sighed as he returned the small container to his pocket and kneeled down by the creeks edge. He looked at his reflection in the water and found that he was in fact extremely filthy from falling down that hill. His face was practically half covered with dirt and there was a small twig stuck in his tangled mess of hair. Roshan reached up and pulled the twig out of his hair and he then realized that a few corners of his clothes were torn as well. Roshan sighed as he put both of his hands into the water, filling them as Roshan brought his hands up to his face and washed all of the dirt off. With that done, Roshan dried his face with his sleeve as he stood back up. Roshan heard someone behind him and he turned to see Peaches as she walked up to stand next to him.

"Hey" Peaches said, "Are you okay?"

"Uh… yeah" Roshan answered, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You don't look a lot like it."

"No really, I'm fine." Peaches gave Roshan a look and Roshan sighed, "I don't know anymore. It's just… I don't know."

Peaches nodded in understanding, "its okay, I'm sure Diego didn't mean anything he said."

"Thanks, but it's not really that I'm concerned about. I just never expected to think that almost all of those dreams were real… why didn't my father tell me anything? He must have known something about this."

"I'm sure he must have had his reasons. It's not every day when a human gets to be with a herd of animals like us."

Roshan nodded, "Maybe, but it still doesn't make a lot of sense."

"At least you know something now, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

There was a silence between the two as Roshan took a small deep breath and moved to sit on the ground as he pressed his back against a tree. Peaches sat down as well as she sat next to Roshan as he looked out at the view of the creek.

"How did you all end up together like this?" Roshan suddenly asked as he turned to Peaches.

"What do you mean?" Peaches said.

"I mean, how did you and your parents end up being together with a sloth, possums, and a tiger? A lot of people would think that would be a little odd."

Peaches thought for a moment, "I don't know the whole thing but my mom met my dad when he already knew Diego and Sid and Crash and Eddie are my mom's brothers… somehow. I never really understood that part."

"So, you just all ended up living with each other in the end?"

"Pretty much."

Roshan nodded in understanding as he returned his gaze to the view of the creek.

Meanwhile in the woods, Manny walked through the woods looking for Diego hoping to catch up to him and talk to him about the small argument he had with Roshan.

"Diego?" Manny called, "Diego! Where are you?"

Manny eventually found him sitting near a cliff's edge staring out at the view in front of him and Manny sighed as he walked up to him.

"Hey" Manny said, "nice view?"

Diego sighed, "what do you want, Manny?" he asked.

"I want to know what that was back there. You know better than any of us that the kid wouldn't remember much let alone getting the chance to even see him again."

"I just hoped that he would have remembered something about us. I mean, c'mon Manny, the kid thought all of the things we did for him were dreams."

"What do you expect from a baby, Diego? Do you even remember anything that happened when you were a little cub?"

Diego thought for a moment and then realized that Manny was right, "No, not really… I guess I gave the kid a pretty hard time about all of this, huh?"

"A little. But you're not the only one who wanted him to remember, all three of us did. You just expressed it the most."

Diego nodded as he turned to Manny, "I guess I owe the kid an apology."

Manny nodded as Diego stood and the two headed back to their cave. When they returned, they found Roshan and Peaches both sitting by the edge of the creek and they turned and spotted Manny and Diego. Roshan and Peaches stood as Manny and Diego made their way over to them.

"Roshan" Manny said, "I think Diego would like to say something to you."

Roshan nodded and Manny indicated for Peaches to come with him and Peaches looked at Roshan once more before following her father back to the cave. When they made it back to the cave, Diego finally spoke.

"I'm, uh, sorry for blowing up at you earlier" Diego said, "I guess I just got my hopes up thinking that you would remember us more clearly than I thought."

Roshan nodded, "I understand, and… I'm sorry for getting mad too."

Diego slightly smiled, "What do you say we just start over, huh?"

"That sounds like a good idea."

Diego lifted his paw and held it out to Roshan and Roshan hesitated for a short moment before holding out his hand and shaking Diego's paw. The two let their hand and paw drop as they smiled at each other and headed back to the cave. The two walked inside to find the others seated inside as Crash and Eddie threw an occasional berry at Sid making him look around for the berry-throwing culprit. Manny and Ellie were seated on one side of the cave talking as Peaches walked up to Roshan and Diego. Diego moved to sit near Manny and Ellie as Peaches spoke.

"So… is everything okay?" Peaches asked.

"Yeah" Roshan replied, "Everything's fine."

"C'mon, we got berries and apples to eat."

Roshan smiled as Peaches led him over to the leaf basket full of berries and apples. Roshan picked up an apple as he and Peaches sat down and Roshan took a bite out of the apple. The rest of the day went on casually as Crash and Eddie continued to prank Sid any way they could, making the others laugh. By the end of the day, it was beginning to get dark out and everyone was beginning to get comfortable for sleep. Roshan had found where his belongings were placed as he pulled the fur cloak from inside his bag and gathered up the rest in the bag to use as a pillow. As the night drew darker, it proved to be a slightly cold night as Manny and Ellie settled themselves close to each other with Crash and Eddie sleeping on Ellie's trunks. Peaches and Roshan ended up sleeping next to each other as Roshan lay on the cave floor with his bag under his head and his fur cloak pulled over him. Ellie smiled as she looked at Peaches and Roshan and Manny followed her gaze.

"What?" Manny asked.

"Just look at them" Ellie replied, "She's growing up so fast and I don't know how it must be for you to see Roshan again."

"It's amazing having him back with us and he's growing up pretty fast too."

Ellie quietly laughed, "Let's get some sleep, they'll both still be there in the morning."

Manny nodded and the two settled down as they closed their eyes and everyone in the cave was soon fast asleep.