Xion the Author: And the update arrives! Time to give you guys a glimpse of what this story is supposed to be about! :D

ICE AGE JOURNEYS: RAISING A CUB

Chapter XVI: The Aurora Lights

"Hey, look over here!" shouted little Eli from a distance in front of Diego.

"Don't walk too fast!" Diego shouted back. He tried picking up the pace as his adopted son just normally ignored his warnings. Eli tried walking across a log bridge when he slipped from the frigid bark. He almost fell a meter down when Diego caught him by the scruff just in time.

"I would've been fine," Eli said as he dangled in mid-air, seeing the short distance that was only below him.

Diego brought him back down on the other side of the log. "You would've wasted more time"

"We wouldn't be late if you just wouldn't walk so slowly," Eli pouted. "Besides, where are we going?"

"You really don't remember, don't you…" Diego shook his head.

"Why won't you just tell me?" Eli asked.

"You'll find out when we get there," Diego answered. "Now come on, we might miss it."

Eli wanted to ask more, but he knew it was pointless. He followed his adoptive father's paw prints left in the snow, stepping on them as he raised his legs high to reach each one, or at least hop every once in a while.

Diego noticed his playfulness behind him, but he thought that maybe it was best to leave him acting like that for now, since he might just look for something else to do. Though he knew it wouldn't last long since after just a few minutes, Eli had grown bored again. Eli tried to look around the unfamiliar scenery. All the trees really look the same to him; there weren't any big giant trees anywhere like the peach tree back at village. He then noticed the sun dying down amidst the silhouettes of the trees, but he couldn't really picture the beauty of it and instead yawned in disinterest.

The little white wolf cub felt like entertaining himself. He wagged his tail left and right for no reason before noticing Diego's tail wagging around in a less excited manner. He tried mimicking the motion with his own tail, which kept him reasonably entertained for a few minutes or so.

The saber tooth didn't notice. He was too preoccupied with trying to remember the Manny's directions. Sid's were a bit… strange, so he tried following the mammoths instead. He had difficulty, but he was managing pretty nicely. Diego brought Eli to a bit of hunting earlier that morning, and it was around that time of day he would meet them at the rendezvous point. He hoped they didn't arrive earlier than planned, since he realized that they might be a bit late.

A few more minutes and a couple more attempts to entertain himself, Eli and his father reached a hill where a flat rock overlooked upon the wide landscape. The large horizon piqued with a wall of ice in the distance.

"You're here!" Peaches shouted excitedly, revealing her presence from on top of the rock. Diego led little Eli towards the giant rock to meet the rest of the herd.

"What took you guys so long?" Crash moaned as finally saw the two in close view.

"Sorry," Diego apologized, who didn't seem to have any intent of adding an excuse.

"It's okay, it'll take a bit longer before it starts," said Manny.

"We're still gonna have to wait?" Eddie groaned loudly.

Eli listened to their conversation before asking Diego, "Wait for what?"

"You'll see," Diego said with a joyful tone, keeping the young wolf cub anticipating in suspense.

"Hey, hey, it's not like we've been here that early," said Sid.

"We've been here for almost an hour," Eddie replied.

"That long?" Diego replied.

"We were just really early, it's not your fault," said Ellie, which relieved Diego a bit of the blame. Minutes passed, and the sky was covered with a blanket of shadows with not a single light in its midst.

Diego attentively watched the sky. The others also anticipated the event to unfold knowing it drew closer by the second. Eli saw them looking towards the sky, and he stared at it. "What was so great that got them this excited?"Eli thought.

"Wait for it…" Diego whispered, like in a hunt of some sort. Eli watched the sky tentatively. Nothing but darkness consumed the sky, but what looked like a pigment of light in the distance took his notice. Suddenly, the light started to stretch and bend, stirring and shining in the heavens.

The lights danced in the sky. Large streams looked as if they flowed like water, like the sky cracked in a gentle and beautiful manner; heaven revealing itself in grandeur and magnitude. Eli was mesmerized by shimmering lights, his smile widening in awe. Everyone, though apparently looked like it wasn't their first time to see it, was amazed just as they he was.

"It's awesome!" Eli bellowed to the top of his lungs.

Diego looked at him though his son continued watching the auroras form and dance. He placed his paw on his petite head, and realized his head had grown a bit larger than before. Know he could carry him with just one paw clenched around his head.

"Happy birthday, son," Diego said, and the little white wolf cub turned towards him.

"But today's not my birthday," Eli said. "Well… I don't know for sure when my birthday is but, I'm pretty sure it's not today"

"It is for me," Diego said, sitting beside his son as the light brightened the snow around them, causing it to sparkle glimmeringly. "Today was the day I found you, remember?"

Eli did remember. He smiled, but his eyes looked like they were about to cry. He joyfully leaped towards the saber tooth and hugged him as hard as he possibly could.

"I love you, dad"

Eli woke up inside a large cavern. After inspecting it for a few seconds, he recognized it as immediately as the cavern where the Bloodwings resided. Noticing the familiar crowd of animals decked outside the cave, he stepped out only to notice an eerie sight. Light prancing beautifully bright in the sky, threads of heaven that swirled and stretched from the horizon.

"It's beautiful, just like back home," Peaches said.

"Even more beautiful actually," said Eli as he approached them, still staring at the bright nostalgic lights.

"You're awake!" shouted Eddie.

"Can't believe you actually passed out on us," worried Peaches.

"Sorry," Eli replied. "I haven't slept for over two days, and it was really encumbering"

"Well, anyways, I'm just glad we've gold the old troop back together!" Crash jeered.

The four took a family hug for a moment before Eli felt like someone was missing. "Hey! Where's Flik?" he asked.

"He's over there," Peaches with her trunk pointed at the osprey a few meters below talking with some old acquaintances. Flik noticed them immediately from the corner of his eye and flew right up to meet them.

"Glad you are all fine," said Flik before facing Peaches. "I hope I didn't cause you enough trouble leaving you in the cave for a almost a day"

"Nah, it was no big deal really," Peaches winked.

"And I'm glad you two miscreants are reunited again," Flik continued, facing towards the twin possums.

"Reunited sounds pretty weird," Crash said.

"Yeah, we prefer the term collide," Eddie added.

"That doesn't even make any sense," said a female voice from behind. Leah walked towards them with a cheerful smile on her face.

"And I'm glad that you found other wolves just as you had wanted," Flik finished after facing towards Eli and Leah.

"And it's all thanks to you, Flik," thanked Eli. "We couldn't have done this without you"

"You wouldn't have been through all this trouble if it weren't for me," Flik replied.

"Still, we wouldn't have gone anywhere," Peaches mentioned.

Flik smiled, perhaps for the first time from the gratitude of others. Had it been so long the feeling of helping someone for no reason, and he was glad he was able to finally feel it again.

"Flik-" Leah muttered before the osprey cut her off.

"You've grown quite a lot since the last time I saw you," Flik said.

Eli and Eddie raised their eyebrows in surprise. "You two know each other?" they asked in unison.

"Ah yes, quite well in fact," Flik answered. "I remember the time I met her, just as lost as you were Eli"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault dad was moving so fast," Leah said. "I could barely keep up then!"

"And I haven't turned my eye on her once since then," Nathan said as he walked towards them from the shadows.

"You got left behind?" Eli asked Leah.

"Almost," she answered. "That is, until Flik came and rescued me. I still wonder though… where have you been all these years?"

Flik frowned a bit, but it was time he let the rest of the truth out. "I… ran away. Since Ricardo had changed, I thought it was best I took a fresh start at another kind of breeze somewhere else, but I was always drawn back to this place," he explained. "It was… the magic of the aurora lights that had tied me here, and every time I see it, I am reminded of this place. Home"

"And when you decided to come back, you met us, didn't you?" Peaches said.

"Yes. The strangest group I had ever seen," Flik chuckled.

"Wait till he sees the rest of the herd," Crash whispered towards Eddie's ear.

"By the way Flik" Eli said. "Before Ricardo… fell, why didn't you use the power of the feather to stop him?" The feather glimmered amidst his wings, and Flik took it out and shown it to them.

"The power of the feather could only inspire a bird to join you if and only if," Flik answered. "The cause you have does not coincide against with their own"

"So that's why you couldn't control the rest of the Bloodwings then" Eli said. "Since they were all loyal to Don Ricardo"

"Exactly," Flik said. "Whether out of fear or trust, their loyalty remained true to him to the very end"

"But… right now…" Peaches said. "You're not using its powers are you?"

Flik raised an eyebrow. "Are you joking? I would never do that!" Flik jeered. The rest of the group laughed for the last time before noticing the aurora lights fade away, the darkness consuming the sky once again, but not a single shadow could abrupt their joyous spirits.

Eli had within him the answers to almost everything but the last question Matthias had told him. What one last thing remained that he couldn't be let in the pack? But for now, the desire of wanting to be in the pack right now didn't seem as appealing as seeing a part of his old family back together.

"I love you too son"

Diego woke up to see the world of dinosaurs bright than it once looked. It was not lava flaring out of the ground, nor was it the due to glowing giant caterpillars. He stared up towards the ice ceiling to see its bluish white crystals reflect an effervescent shower of colors. He couldn't see it clearly, but he knew exactly what was happening above the ice.

"Beautiful, ain't it?" Buck said when noticed Diego had woken up. He was fashioning a nice spear made from a sharp flint stone tied to a strong durable wooden stick. "It's a wondah 'ow mesmerizin' it looks from he-ah" he whispered. Diego noticed that everyone else seemed to have taken a rest just like him.

"How long have you last seen the aurora lights?" Diego asked him.

"Don't remember," he replied plainly. "Wha' about you?"

"Last time? Well…" Diego told Buck a story, one that was reminded to him by a dream he had a little while ago. It was almost 12 years ago. Strange how time passed so quickly, when it felt like it was just yesterday he had picked him up from a landslide. And strange it was that Eli was around five years old when he found him.

"Well, I guess that answers why ya 'ave such a big smile on yah face when you wuz sleepin'" Buck said.

"What about you, Buck?" said Diego before asking the strangest thing he would've ever said to date. "Ever thought about having kids?"

"Heh, not my type of adventure realleh," Buck answered. "As you can see, I prefer the outdoor, woodsy type"

"Right" Diego uttered.

"Well, I guess there's no point blamin' ya'. It's what you wanted from what I could remembah" Buck said. "Back when were at the bridge between this world and up there, you picked the latter"

"I guess it was because I had family there" Diego replied.

"Hmm… good point, family is a good thing…" Buck rubbed his goatee in intrigue to the idea.

Diego pondered about what he meant and went along and asked him, "Did you ever have a family, Buck? Or at least ever tried to have one?"

"Who? Me?" Buck said. "I don't need one. And just so you'd know, I'm single by choice. All those 'mate' things just took away freedom and stuff. Unless you could find a girl as crazy as I am, I'll stick with nothin' but my wits down he-ah"

"You're insane you know that?" Diego chuckled.

"And you probably want to get some rest," Buck replied. "Unless you'd want to end up insane as I am"

Diego rolled his eyes before dozing off back to sleep. Something was telling him that the rest won't be that easy just yet. But he was determined to getting his son back in the end.

Xion the Author: Okay! Spanning from probably all the previous chapters I have finally clarified the age of Peaches and Eli, and put back a scene I forgot to put which was the Aurora Lights in a way better than I expected. I'm actually thankful I forgot to put it in, since the way I have now is incredibly more dynamic than it had been originally as planned. One last thing I might not be able to explain is the seemingly impossible events you may have encountered. Though as much as I love to stick close to the reality of things and having almost everything explained in a manner of events or dialogues, I can't explain everything lol. Furthermore, the story is nearing the end! Oh noes!

Eli: But, last time you said that it kind-of took four of five more chapters to actually end… and then there was suddenly some sort of epilogue...

Xion the Author: *Ahem* Yeah, I guess. But all I can say is that from here, I have an idea of what to write. Whenever I think of a plot, it starts with a beginning and an ending, and I just try to go along and fill in the middle. The middle is done, so at least I won't have to do much brainstorming from here on out.