Diego loved the peaceful moments after dawn. Usually the first awake, he took the opportunity to hunt and fill his belly, his natural urges and diet unchanged despite the fact he was part of a herd, not Soto's pack, any more. He did a quick head count on the members of his herd before he left. Manny, slumbering at the foot of the tree where Ellie, Peaches, Crash and Eddie hung to sleep. Sid, snoring to his heart's content on a rock. Check and check. Diego shared a quick moment to wonder what his old friend Buck was up to in the subterranean world of the dinosaurs. It had been a few years since they had last paid the crazy weasel a visit, and Diego missed him, lunacy and all. Manny had his little family, Eddie and Crash had one another for company, and Sid - well, Sid never did think far beyond where the next meal was coming from. Sometimes Diego wished he had somebody to confide in, or just pass the time with.
Speaking of the next meal... Diego picked up the scent trial of a hare and began stalking. He usually ate away from the others so his carnivores habits wouldn't disturb them - although her wasn't above making the odd comment to Eddie and Crash that tigers considered possum meat a rare delicacy.
After tracking and dispatching the arctic hare Diego sat carefully grooming his short but dense fur clean again. His ear flickered as he picked up a faint yowl. Frowning, he paused, one forepaw raised. That had sounded a bit like...
The second call convinced him. It was the cry for help of a sabre-toothed tiger. Diego's head snapped up and he crouched down for a moment, focusing on the direction of the call. Then he made a huge leap and sprang off into a swift run, kicking up snow behind him. He soon realized the river was close by and instinctively he headed towards it. The third wail for help convinced him he was headed in the right direction.
He spotted the cub the moment he reached the riverbank. Clinging to a tangle of sticks and reeds, it was a tiny little thing, perhaps two moons old, if that. Diego didn't hesitate. He raced for the water and plunged in, paddling after the frightened cub as the current whirled her downriver.
He had practised his swimming - in true tiger fashion, he was not content to settle for his one swim when the valley flooded. Now he was glad for it as he struck out strongly, feeling the bumps of sticks and logs rebound off his side as he tried to catch the cub on her makeshift raft. It was falling apart in the turbulence of the water, one stick at a time, and was by now bobbing dangerously low, waves splashing over the little tiger. He could see her eyes stretched wide with terror, begging to be rescued.
Diego gasped in horror as they rounded a bend and a jagged rock loomed from the water. The cub was headed right for it! With a desperate slash of his hindpaws he kicked backwards and encountered another rock, which he pushed off with all his might, propelling himself from the water. "Gotcha!" He snatched the cub by her scruff and splashed heavily back to the water, but the rescue had cost him precious seconds. Diego flung his leg up to protect the cub in his jaws, twisting his body sideways in an attempt to swim around the pillar of rock. But he was too close. He smashed into the rock broadside and only with a supreme effort stopped himself from opening his mouth to roar as he felt the skin over his shoulder tear. The water helped pull him around the side and then they were past, Diego holding his head high to try and keep the cub out of the water. So much water splashed into his ears and eyes, and he was so numbed by the cold of the water and the pain of his shoulder, he wasn't even sure if she was okay.
He continued to swim, feeling exhaustion slow his paws. Then something caught his attention on the riverbank and he heard a surprised shout. A blur of silver fur, a feline figure, the familiar thud of paws hitting snow. Another tiger! A white tiger! And she was moving faster than Diego had ever see any other tiger move, keeping race with them and then drawing ahead as the river carried he and the cub along. Even Soto's mate, who had been renowned for her speed - at least before the human hunters killed her - hadn't moved like this tiger.
"There's a log up ahead, you'll see it in a minute!" Shouted the tigress over the sound of water rushing in his ears. "Head for that and I'll help!"
Diego felt a renewed surge of energy and paddled as hard as he could as the white tiger raced further ahead of them, giving him a target to follow. The cub swung limply in his jaws, the current buffeting her small body. Hang on kid, we'll get you out of here.
He saw the log, which had fallen and extended several feet into the water, the trunk arched diagonally, lowest closer to the bank, sticking up higher towards the middle of the river. Which meant there were rocks holding in place, which meant at any minute Diego might be driven into danger hidden by the churning white waters. He couldn't miss this chance. He didn't think the cub could live in the freezing water for much longer, and with his ripped up shoulder he was little better.
The white tiger appeared on the log and ran up to the far end, crouching down and calling encouragement as he drew closer. He was so near now he could see her eyes were a blue deeper than the sky, a blue that reminded him of the colour he sometimes saw in ice caves. Diego felt his heartbeat double, and told himself if was from the exertion of his river rescue. He lunged through the water and lashed out with both forepaws. His extended claws bit into the wood and he felt himself slow, then bang into the wood as the current tried to pull him free. He heard a whimper of fear from the cub and experienced a moment of relief; she was alive after all! The white tiger dug her own claws into the log and stretched down perilously far. "Give me your paw! I can't reach you!" She roared in frustration, her blue eyes frantic.
Diego let go of the log with one paw, his weight and the water dragging on his injured side, where a steady flow of crimson flowed off into the river. He almost lost his grip as sharp pains stabbed along his torn shoulder. Instead of grabbing for the white tiger's paw, he let go of the cub and at the same time shoved her with his free paw. "Save the cub!" He choked out, and felt a wave of relief wash over him when she caught the cub from the air and pulled her to safety. An instant later, the current ripped his single-pawed hold free and he was torn from the log.
A/N This is an idea I began writing after the third IC movie, when my concept of Diego's potential mate was a white tiger with a lightning-shaped marking I called Storm. I decided that Storm's backstory would work for Shira and their personalities were similair enough that I rewrote it. This story takes place as an alternate to Ice Age 4, where Shira never joins Gutt and his crew and like all normal sabres, has a healthy fear of water and cannot swim!