Okay, here's another chapter! I try to update daily, but I took a day off, so sue me! Anywho, I think you can guess which kind of chapter this is so I'm gonna stop yapping now

And here r the replies to ur super-licious reviews:

Shiego627: Bet ya didn't see that coming! XD Here's another update!

TimberPaw: Aw, thanks so much for dedicating ur time to write a review! :3 Well...maybe somewhere deep down he enjoyed it...but Taura just mainly used it to get payback, which btw I bet u didn't see comin! XD Yeh, I think they would've been friends, although Kraz might annoy Diego by eating his lunch or something...XD Here's another update!

Btw, Italics means telepathic

Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!

Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky

The four mammals were now able to see Half Peak far away in the distance, and ahead of it was Glacier Pass. Only this time, Taura didn't wince with guilt whenever she caught sight of Half Peak; back at the cave, she made a decision: to stick by Diego's. She remembered how Diego justified that it was the HUMANS who wrecked their lives and killed their family and friends. This might be their last chance for revenge and so she didn't want to mess it up just because two victims are caught in the process. Also, Diego has been there for Taura her entire life, the least she could do was stick by him on this, even if this was Manny and Sid that they might kill...she just hoped he knew what he was doing...

"Well, would you look at that!" Manny chuckled with a smile. It seemed that huge weight was lifted off his shoulders ever since they came across the cave paintings; he now seemed to be more cheerful since then. "The tigers actually did it! There's Half Peak, next stop, Glacier Pass." He then looked back at Diego and Taura with an amused smile "How could we have ever doubted you?"

"Did you hear that little fella?" Sid said excitedly while wagging his finger at Pinky (what Manny decided to nickname that baby) "You're almost home!"

Sid would've continued walking, until he suddenly felt a warm sensation under his feet. He looked down and lifted both of his feet one at a time to find red, heated paw prints underneath.

"My feet are sweating..." Sid stated with a panicked look in his eyes, looking at the trio in front of him for help. Taura heard Sid behind her back and turned around to look at him with concern, asking with her eyes 'are you okay?'. However Diego and Manny just kept walking, ignoring his random proclamation.

"Do we have to get a newsflash every time your body does something?" Diego drawled as he looked back at Sid with an annoyed roll of his eyes.

"He's doing it for attention, just ignore him." Manny told Diego, not bothered looking back at the sloth in question. Taura rolled her eyes at the two and motioned Sid with an encouraging smile to just keep walking, as if saying 'don't worry, its probably nothing'. Sid was about to follow until he felt the heat under his feet start to increase, nearly burning the pads underneath, causing him to hop about in panic as his eyes started to take a terrified look.

"Seriously!" Sid called out desperately to his companions "My feet are really hot! Ow...ooh, ouch!" Sid started to shuffle and hop towards them like mad, trying to get rid of the blistering heat beneath his feet. The trio in front of him would've continued forward, but a sudden loud rumbling caused them to pause. Diego looked around in suspicion while Taura glanced at him with worry.

"Diego...is it just me...or did it sound like it came from..." Taura muttered, starting to look panicked, but before she could finish her sentence, Manny beat her to it with his own assumption.

"Tell me that was your stomach?" Manny queried bemusedly, while Diego shushed him. Again he looked around, trying to hear that sound again to confirm his and Taura's suspicions of where it originated from...

"I'm sure it was just thunder..." Sid was about to finish his sentence jokingly, until the full meaning of his words got him worried, as he looked down. "From...under...ground?

BOOSH!

An entire current of lava blasted out from the ice behind the quartet and caused them to yell in panic and start running away, Manny in the lead. After the first blast, others soon followed after it, each one seeming to get closer to the group than the other. Soon, the entire ice block that the quartet were walking on was crumbled into nothing more than a narrow melting bridge, on either side was a wide chasm of a deadly,boiling lava river. As they ran forwards, parts of the bridge started to crumble behind them and sometimes some chunks would be sent flying up, only to be sent back down into the river or backwards.

Diego was running forwards behind the trio until the block of ice in front of him suddenly fell off, leaving a wide space between him and the other side of the bridge. Diego glanced at the gap and the others up front indecisively, until he saw Taura looking at him with panicked, worried eyes, waiting for him on the other side. Diego quickly lowered himself and leaped forwards, landing safely next to Taura. She let out a breath of relief before going up front to see what's holding them.

"Wow, I wish I could jump like that!" Sid complimented while looking at Diego from his position on the floor ("How did he even fall down anyways?...Ah well, he isn't the most coordinated of creatures..."). An idea flashed itself on Taura's head from what Sid said, making her grumble in reluctance. She quickly grabbed Sid's neck within her mouth and lowered herself on her haunches, eyeing the distance from the bridge to the other side, assessing the risk.

"Taura! What are you doing?" Manny yelled at her over the roaring sounds of explosions and gas. When Diego heard what he said, he started to get panicked at what she was doing and tried to look over Manny's large form to see her up front. Taura didn't reply but sent him a reassuring tight-lipped smile before leaping with all her might, dragging Sid along with her. Diego heard both bodies tumble and slide before a final 'thud' was heard, assuring him that they were both safe.

"Come on! Move faster!" Diego shouted at Manny, urging him to hurry up.

"Have you noticed the river of lava?!" Manny yelled back, looking at the said river below melting away their bridge at a deadly pace. Manny glanced at the baby in his trunk worriedly; Pinky looked up at Manny in panic before clutching on to his trunk while whimpering in fear. Finally, Manny clenched his jaw and jumped forwards, just as a part of the bridge collapsed behind him. One of his feet slipped on the ledge behind him, but he made it on the other side safely, walking towards Sid to give him the baby.

Diego was about to jump after him, but a sudden explosion of gas and smoke shot up in front of him, causing him to cringe back. Now, there was no bridge. There was only the ice block that Diego stood on and the ledge leaning out towards him, but still a far distance away. Taura hurriedly stood up and stared at him, waiting for him to jump. "I swear to god if he doesn't make it..." She growled inwardly, when really she was terrified that he wouldn't make the jump.

Finally, Diego leaped forwards and grabbed onto the ledge, his legs slipping behind him. Taura called out his name in panic inwardly, as she saw him clinging to the edge desperately. Taura thought she heard Manny yell something, but she was too busy trying to carefully make her way towards Diego within cracking the ice. "Maybe if I can get to him I can pull him up..." She thought as she gritted her teeth in worry as she saw him slip even further. She was just about to reach him when Manny's trunk pushed her back, causing her to tumble back to where she started. She roared at Manny in fury as if saying 'what the hell?'

"You're not strong enough to lift him up, you might fall in!" Manny yelled back at her as he made his way towards Diego, "Just stay back, I'll get him!"

Manny reached out his trunk as far as it would stretch towards Diego, who was stumbling and scratching away at the slippery ice as he tried not to fall. As Manny inched closer and closer, the ice was getting thinner and thinner beneath them. Manny narrowed his eyes in frustration as he leaned forward even more, his trunk now merely an inch away from Diego's paw, as he was now also reaching out towards Manny.

Suddenly, the ice Diego was holding onto finally collapsed, causing him to fall down and yell out in fear. Diego clenched his eyes shut, waiting for the searing pain of the lava until he felt Manny's trunk grab hold of one of his paws. Diego looked back up at Manny in shock, but that lasted only for a second until he had to hide back away from the ice block that shot up again with an explosion of gas. Diego used his other paw to grip himself further up Manny's trunk using his claws, making Manny wince and shut his eyes in pain. When Manny heard the ice crack behind him, he quickly acted by flinging Diego behind him and making him let go.

Taura quickly stepped aside as Diego tumbled next to her, making her smile in relief, until she noticed that Manny didn't come back yet. She looked forward only for her eyes to widen as she noticed the ice beneath Manny start to crack and slip.

"Manny!" Sid called out to the mammoth just as he tumbled down, all three of them hearing him trumpet out in fear as he fell. Diego looked on with shock as he lay there, while Taura felt her jaw slacken and her eyes still wide with horror. "No...this can't be happening..." She mumbled, until sure enough, she was proven correct.

Suddenly, another explosion of gas sent the block of ice that Manny was on soaring into the air, until he came back falling towards the ground in front of them and finally landed with a big BOOM!

"Manny, Manny, are you okay!?" Sid called out to him worriedly as he shuffled towards him and placed the baby down next to him. Sid was followed by Taura as she ran towards Manny while examining him, looking up and down his body for any wounds. "Come on, come on, say something, anything!" Sid pleaded, looking at Manny like he was about to cry.

"Yeeeohmanyoo..." Manny mumbled faintly, his voice sounding funny as if his nose was pressed. "Wait a minute..." Taura wondered, she looked towards Manny's trunk to find Sid stepping on it, causing her to slap her forehead in annoyance.

"What? What?! I can't hear you!" Sid yelled as he placed his paw next to his ear to hear his friend better. Taura made her way towards him and shoved foot away from his trunk, causing Sid to yelp out in surprise and Manny to take in a big gulp of air in.

"Oh you're okay! You're okay!" Sid called out excitedly with a big relieved grin.

"Why did you do that?"

The three of them looked back to find Diego still lying there in shock, staring at Manny. "You could've..died, trying to save me..." Diego muttered as he looked at the ground guiltily.

"That's what you do in a herd," Manny said with a faint smile as he looked back at Sid and the baby and then back at the saber "We look out for each other."

"Well...thanks..." Diego mumbled with a small grateful smile at the mammoth.

Manny looked in front of him to find Taura still staring at him with wide eyes, standing directly in front of his face.

"What?" Manny asked faintly with a raised eyebrow, unable to read the expression on the female saber's face. Suddenly, the corners of Taura's mouth started to curl until they formed the most biggest smile the three mammal's had ever seen her wear, causing them to stare at her in surprise, but what she did next made their eyes widen even further. She abruptly launched herself at the poor mammoth and hugged him, her arms encircling his trunk as she shut her eyes tightly.

Sid and Diego felt themselves grin as they saw the awkward and panicked expression on the mammoth's face as he shifted around worriedly, unsure what to do. Manny felt himself stiffen when he felt something wet dampen his fur...she was crying...Taura was actually crying with gratitude..! He then felt her lips move against his trunk silently to form these words:

"Thank you...thank you...so much..."

"Guys! We've gotta get this kid outta the wind!" Manny yelled over the howling of the storm.

After an amusing scene of Taura coddling and mothering Diego for any injuries, Manny eventually healed from the fall and decided that they needed to start walking again as soon as possible. While they were walking however, a snow storm suddenly came on them when night fell, making it harder for them to walk as the layers of snow piled even deeper and deeper. Half Peak seemed closer to them and yet it seemed that they still had a long distance to go.

"How much further?" Manny asked Diego as he narrowed his eyes at their destination, trying to see past the blowing snow.

"Three miles!" Diego replied back, causing Taura to groan in pain. They had been walking all afternoon and now half of the night, she wasn't looking forward to another three miles!

"Ugh, I'm beat," Manny moaned, "We'll get there in the morning..."

Taura let out a breath of relief as she sat down, relieving her aching paws. The trio suddenly heard a sharp, scraping noise behind them and turned around to find Sid drawing something on a cliff wall behind them.

"What are you doing?" Diego asked him, not looking very interested at all on what he was doing.

"I'm putting sloths on the map!" Sid proclaimed proudly before stepping back and letting the three look at his piece of art. It was a wonky drawing of a sloth with stick arms, buckteeth and a circle on each side of the head for eyes. Diego frowned and titled his head at the drawing with a face that said 'really?'. Taura stepped forward to get a close-up look at the drawing while placing her paw on her chin as she pursed her lips. "It's actually not a bad likeness!" Taura grinned, making Diego snort at her.

"Yeah, why don't you make it more realistic and draw him lying down?" Manny drawled, eyeing the drawing with a deadpanned look while Sid scowled at them disdainfully.

"And make him rounder." Diego smirked, while Manny snatched the rock from Sid and drew a large circle around the body of the sloth, making him look ridiculously fat.

"Perfect!" Diego congratulated, smirking even more widely. Taura narrowed her eyes at the two while shaking her head disapprovingly. "Okay, come on guys, that's just mean!" Taura tisked at them while rubbing Sid's shoulder comfortingly, making him grin at her gratefully.

"Ha-ha! I forgot how to laugh!" Sid drawled sarcastically while glaring at them, snatching the rock back from Manny and tried to scribble out the giant body of the sloth. Suddenly, a small orange spark ignited from Sid's scratching and the embers fell on a random pile of rocks and sticks, causing them to light up and start to smoke. The trio looked at him with shocked eyes and slacked jaws..."Oh..my...god...did Sid actually do something RIGHT for once?!" Taura exclaimed inwardly as she looked round worriedly, waiting for the apocalypse to commence.

Sid looked from the smoking pile and back to the chalk in his hand, now smiling very widely. "I'm a genius!" He exclaimed as he kissed the piece of rock in his hand.

They eventually managed to get a larger fire started by grabbing some bigger piles of firewood and timber. The snow around the fireplace soon melted leaving the warm stone floor for them to sleep on. The baby was now sitting next to the fire in front of Manny, who was lying down for some well earned rest, while Diego and Taura sat next to the fire.

"From now on, you'll have to refer to me as: 'Sid, Lord of the Flame'!" Sid proclaimed as he swaggered about while stretching his arms at the title with a smug grin.

"Hey, Lord of the Flame!" Manny called out while humorously smiling at Sid "Your tail's on fire."

Sid's eyes widened in panic as he looked back to find his tail, true to Manny's word, starting to smoke at the tip. He then started to yell in panic while running around the fire in circles, while Manny just sat back with a smile and enjoyed the show. Heck, even the baby was giggling at the funny scene playing before him! Just as Sid ran by Diego, he grabbed the sloth by his back and snuffed out the fire by making him sit on a pile of snow in between him and Taura, making Sid sigh in relief.

"Thank you! From now on, I'm gonna call you Diego!" Sid thanked him as he touched his shoulder gratefully. Taura felt one of her eyebrows quirk in humor as she thought about what he said: "Come to think of it...he never actually called Diego by his name..." Taura shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'huh, what do ya know?'.

Diego looked down at Sid and growled at him with narrowed eyes "Lord of Touch Me and You're Dead!" making Sid flinch and retract his hand before Diego chuckled goodnaturedly and started to give his favorite sloth a noogie "Ah, I'm just kidding ya little knucklehead!" Taura giggled at the sight as she shook her head at the two; if she didn't know any better, she would've thought they were pals or something.

"Hey lovebirds, look at this." Manny called out, causing the playing trio to look back at the mammoth. They felt their eyes widen in surprise as they saw the baby standing up and trying to walk by shuffling his feet forward clumsily one at a time, Manny's trunk supporting him by his back.

"I don't believe it!" Sid whispered incredulously, looking at the two sabers with a proud grin, to which they smiled back. The baby continued to shuffle forwards and soon enough, he was walking by himself without Manny's help! He was making his way towards Sid, making him widen his arms in a welcoming gesture.

"C'mere you little cutie!" Sid cooed at the baby, encouraging him to come forwards as his fingers pointed at himself. "C'mere you little wormie worm! Come to Uncle Sid!"

The baby then looked towards Diego, causing him and Taura to widen their eyes in surprise as he moved towards them. Taura felt herself smirk as she saw Diego awkwardly order the kid to turn back to his 'uncle sid', she moved back to give the kid more access to Diego, making him heatedly glare at her which only caused her amused smirk to widen even more. "I mean, come on! An embarrassed Diego getting a kid cuddling onto his leg? This is a ONCE IN A FRIGGIN LIFETIME opportunity!" She giggled inwardly as she saw the baby collapse onto Diego's paws. The baby looked up at his favorite tiger with a toothless grin as if expecting a compliment.

"Umm...okay?" Diego mumbled with a sheepish grin, trying to not look directly at the adorable smile on the baby's face as he gurgled back a gibberish reply. "Good job...um, keep practicing..." Diego congratulated him as he pushed him back up gently onto his feet with his paw before turning him back around to Manny. He finally sat down again,but then looked back to find Taura grinning at him cheekily. "Aw, you really ARE a softy on the inside!" She teased as she bumped her shoulders with his. Diego narrowed his eyes at her with an annoyed frown before turning back to the fire, trying to ignore her comment as he lay down, Taura laying next to him.

"Look at that, our little guy's grown up." Sid chuckled as the baby finally collapsed with an adorable sneeze. Pinky then started to yawn while his fists rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Alright, come on, sleep time Pinky," Manny said as he picked up the baby with his trunk and placed him by his side as he lay down next to the fire, leaning against the wall.

"Look at that little pushover," Sid shook his head at Manny while taking a seat next to Diego. "Y'know Diego," Sid pondered out loud, catching said saber's attention "I never had a friend who would risk his life for me..."

"Yeah, Manny's...he's a good guy." Diego muttered, nodding his head in agreement while looking at Manny.

"Yeah he is..." Sid agreed, before finally yawning "Well, goodnight!" The sloth lay back onto the ground, curling up and quickly falling asleep. Diego lay his head on top of his paws, but looked out worriedly at Half Peak. He then looked at Taura, only to find her fast asleep. Diego thought about what Sid said and couldn't help but think about what they were going to do when they were finally going to reach Half Peak...He thought he had an idea of what would happen, he just hoped that Taura would stick by his decision, no matter what...