Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age movies or any of their characters.

"Here, Scaley. I have something to show you." Sid said, a white pointed rock at hand. He clicked his tongue and waved at the reptile, who was glaring at him with its teeth bared. Diego stared at the sloth, not bothering to move away from his spot near the fire. He was sure it wouldn't be worth it.

"Sid, what're you doing?" the tiger asked. The sloth bounced over to a stone wall nearby and started to draw something on it.

"Remember, guys? We did this once." Sid mentioned. Manny shrugged.

"And?" he responded. It was obvious that Sid was getting more and more excited. Over what, the others didn't know. But he soon explained it to them.

"And...I think I found a way to communicate with Scaley. At least temporarily." He scribbled more stuff on the wall. "Who knows, maybe our pal here will understand the language of art." He stepped back to reveal a crappy drawing of himself. Not exactly art. However, his fellow mammals were still shocked by the concept of his plan. It was...ingenious!

"You thought of that?" Diego asked skeptically. There was no way that the sloth had discovered this all on his own.

"I have my moments." Sid told them with a snuff. Why did they always treat him like an idiot? He had thoughts! He can think up of ideas! He's perfectly capable of doing whatever he wanted to do! Forgetting the fact that he's always continuously being verbally (and sometimes physically) abused by his companions, he turned back to Scaley and tried again to beckon it over.

Cretaceous growled at Two-Legs, who continued to talk to him. Although he was sure it wanted him to come over for some reason, he glanced over at the Smaller-Long-Nose in the hopes of gaining some hint on what the annoying fur ball was doing. His favorite group member gave a nice smile and nodded towards the stone wall.

"Might as well get it done and over with." he muttered to himself with a sigh. Shifting his front paws, he dragged himself closer, trying to hide a wince of pain while doing so. After arriving at the wall, he looked at whatever was doodled there. It was a drawing of Two-Legs, somehow uglier than the real thing. He hadn't thought it possible.

Two-Legs pointed at the scribble.

"See that, Scaley? It's your best buddy, Sid." the sloth said with a smile. The reptile only grunted, staring at the picture with an unimpressed expression. Sid decided to continue. "I'm gonna show you a story of how we all met. It's actually pretty nice."

Sid scribbled another picture, this time of the two familiar rhinos the sloth hopes never to see again. In the picture, they looked very angry. Scaley watched as the story began to unfold. Sid drew out how Manny saved him from those two very angry rhinos and how they met Pinky. When he drew out Diego, the tiger stood up and wandered over.

"Am I really that ugly?" the feline muttered, subtly making fun of Sid's drawing skills. Of course, Sid didn't get it.

"Now, Diego. Don't be jealous of my good looks." the sloth joked while the tiger rolled his eyes.

Cretaceous stared at drawing after drawing. He knew that Two-Legs was telling him the story of their past adventures and he tried his best to follow along. So far, he could conclude that he liked those creature things with the horns on their snouts. He assumed they wanted to kill Two-Legs, just like him. And he also learned about Stubby-Tail's plan against Long-Nose and Two-Legs. He wondered what happened to change this fellow predator's mind.

He found out with the drawing of Long-Nose saving Stubby-Tail. He frowned at this before forcing his eyes to look at the next section. It was with more Stubby-Tails attacking the group. He learned how the group members won the battle and returned the weird mini creature back to its group. He then learned about the Smaller-Long-Nose and the Pink-Tails. He was excited about the flood part and when he showed up in the drawing. It was a crappy portrait of him, but he was too deep in the story to care.

Finally, he learned how the water drained and how the group came to his rescue. Then the drawings stopped.

The herd looked at Scaley for its reaction. The reptile seemed thoughtful and that was all Sid needed. He now wanted Scaley to tell its story and maybe they'll come to an even better understanding with each other. The sloth offered the drawing rock with a smile.

"Your turn." he said in anticipation. Scaley glanced at him and stared at the rock. Finally, it seemed to understand what was wanted and it looked hesitant.

"Come on. You can do it." Ellie encouraged and the possums nodded as they hopped onto her tusks. Scaley looked at them and gave a very soft half-hearted growl before reaching out with a paw to take the rock. Leaning slightly on one side, it seeked out a good spot on the wall and proceeded to draw. It's artistic style was better than Sid's, that's for sure...

It drew what looked like a mound, and in the mound were circle-shaped things. The herd tried to interpret it as Scaley moved to another drawing. Diego was the first to get it.

"It hatched from an egg. The eggs were in a mound. Like a nest." he said with great certainty. He was good at this already.

Scaley finished its other drawing and they looked at that one as well. It was a creature that looked a lot like Scaley, with smaller creatures around it. This time, Eddie was the first to call the shot.

"That's probably its mom...or dad...or something."

In the next drawing, they learned of Scaley's parent leading the young ones to what looked like water. But there was something else in the drawing. It was a flying creature and Sid couldn't help but interrupt.

"Is that supposed to be a vulture?" He pointed at the picture, then at the vulture sleeping in a nearby tree. Scaley, though it looked angry at first, understood and shook its head in a no. It then continued to draw the other one. This time, it was of a giant something attacking Scaley's parent. The little babies looked panicked and were obviously retreating into the water, all the while being picked off by the flying thing. After a moment, Scaley replaced its parent's eyes with big X's. It was obvious what that implied.

But it was the attacking creature that made everyone pause, for they knew what it was. It was a dinosaur! They stared at the occupied Scaley in disbelief. It came from the times of dinosaurs?! That was incredible! Maybe it was a dinosaur itself! A survivor from the long past...right in front of them...It was almost too much to comprehend.

They didn't have time to be shocked for long before Scaley continued. It showed them how it separated from its siblings and found the green sea monster. As it drew what looked like its friend eating clams, Scaley grimaced in disgust before continuing. It drew them a picture that emphasized an increase of size. Ellie smiled.

"They grew up together. Isn't that sweet?"

Scaley drew another picture with a block of something. The sketch showed them of the reptile swimming in and Scaley looked at them for a moment before continuing. This time, it and the green creature were in a lake that seemed very familiar.

"Hey, that's the water park." Sid pointed out. Scaley doodled a rough sketch of what looked like a glyptodon about to get eaten by the predatory duo.

"Doesn't that look like Fast Tony's..." Manny started, but didn't bother to continue. Everyone already got the idea and they shuddered. At least now they knew what happened. Shaking their fears away, they watched as the story continued, all the way down to how Scaley struggled to free his friend from under the rock and how the vultures showed up.

It was then that Scaley stopped and stared at them again. It nodded for some reason and shifted more on its side. The herd startled at what they saw. Scaley's belly had this terrible gash...all this time, the purple sea lizard was injured and they never knew it. Looking horrified, Ellie stepped closer. She at least suspected it, but she never thought it was this bad.

"Oh, sweetie." was all she could say.

Cretaceous had to convince himself to show them such an injury. At first, he had no intention of letting them know anything, as they might've taken advantage of his weakness. But now, he changed his mind, certain that they meant him no harm whatsoever. And he wanted them to help him in some way to make the pain disappear. He didn't know how they'll do it, but he certainly felt better about it already. At least now, he didn't have to hide everything.

Feeling obligated to explain how he got it, he pointed at the gash, then at the Flier. They seemed to understand and Smaller-Long-Nose petted him on the head. Cretaceous was starting to get used to that, and he's actually starting to like it. It reminded him of the mother he lost so long ago...

Only one last thing to do: Tell them why he joined the group to begin with. Drawing on the wall again, he illustrated the beach and ocean as best he could. Trying his best to look beseeching, he pointed to the picture, then to himself. He repeated this until they nodded...

And he knew that his point was taken...

Now everything is starting to fall into place. Finally, Cretaceous could be led towards home...Please review if you want more!^^