In this longfic - and the others after it - there will be whump and there will be angst with doses of fluff and hurt/comfort in spades (becos Manny and Diego are fun to torture)! 😈

Here is the full summary (since parts of it didn't fit with the characters allowed here): "Continuation of my Cruel Intentions series, follows Lacrimosa and is the first book. Emphasis on Mango bromance/friendship and Diego & Peaches uncle/niece relationship are the focus as Roshan's return causes havoc for the herd and the Bredelands. Canon-divergent AU as of the latter Ice Age sequels of IA4/5, i.e. throwing back to IA1's tone/themes/atmosphere as much as possible, in this series; technically begins post-IA3."

In this series of longfics, beginning with this true 'first' book of the series, "Cruel Intentions", Manny and Diego, and their friendship, will be tested to the utmost limit…. Read on, if you dare (and please, please, don't forget to read and review!), for this series will be a heart-pounder, and filled with found family feels galore, and this first longfic that you are about to read now, is merely the tip of the iceberg! ;)

To catch all of the foreshadowing/setups within this story, my previous story, the prequel/foundation fic, "Cruel Intentions: Lacrimosa" is strongly encouraged to read before you start "Cruel Intentions" but it is not required. However, this is a series, so reading all the books in it - as detailed on my profile in their chronological timeline on ffn and on its series page on ao3 - are, again, encouraged, but up to the reader's choice.

This first chapter - featuring a soccer game - also tickles me pink becos World Cup 2022 was a few months ago so this felt fitting, on the heels of that! Oh, and Happy 21st Anniversary IA1! :) My thanks also to my beta ForTheKingdom for tightening these two-parter chapters up!


The interior of the cave was dark and cool, the sticky dampness of the fresh ice residing inside the gape lending a haven for relaxation from the more humid atmosphere just outside the entrance.

"Ah, this is the life," Manny sighed to himself as he slid his legs underneath him, looking forward to taking a nap. On an alcove next to him naturally hewn out of the rock wall, a lanky sabre eyed the mammoth as he lay, his mouth tilting in a crooked smile.

Manny was fully aware of the tiger's presence, but he continued talking to himself, knowing Diego wouldn't care.

"I mean, Sid is off hunting for chicks, Ellie's taking Peaches for a walk, the possums are who-knows-where, and best of all, I have this time to spend with my best buddy. You know, Diego, we could play more football. Get some practice in."

"Sleeping," Diego pointed out, seemingly not having heard Manny's mention of the game. "That's not exactly what I would call 'spending time' with me, buddy."

"Well, what would you have us do?" Manny grinned.

The sabre's mouth opened and closed but before he could say anything, a rapping sounded at the entrance of the cave. Diego rose to his feet quickly, shooting an excited glance at Manny.

Manny rolled his eyes dourly, the expression on his face the exact opposite of thrilled. Diego leapt down from his perch, his eyes glowing as he nodded at Manny before loping towards the opening.

The mammoth groaned as he pushed himself to his feet. He wondered why on earth someone would be calling for them. His gaze trailed the length of the rocks lining the edge of the cave's mouth until it fell upon a small grey bird, who favoured him with a slight smile.

"Who are you?" Manny demanded. The bird turned to stare at Diego inquisitively. "He's with me. Leave him alone."

The bird let out a tiny cheeping laugh.

"And top o' the morning to you, old chap!" she exclaimed before inclining her body towards Manny in a bow. Diego raised his eyebrows in surprise at the bird's gesture.

Manny's face turned downwards in a fierce scowl. Sensing she'd displeased the mammoth, the bird hurried to smooth matters over.

"My name is Noa, good sirs," she introduced herself to the mammoth and the sabre. The little bird tilted her head as her gaze met Diego's, a curious expression in her eyes. As they traded glances, Diego's green eyes lit up with a flash of recognition. He offered Noa a small smile.

Huh. Manny was puzzled. You'd think those two knew each other. Not sure how that can be, since I trained Noa alongside Kate. When we were kids.

Images of Catherine filled his mind, along with the constant empty ache they always came with. Memories of his little son overwhelmed him. He forced himself to pay attention to Diego's conversation with the little avian messenger.

"Pleased to meet you, Noa," Diego said.

The bird twittered,

"A tiger! With manners! Well, I never!" Her tone was playful, and she winked at Diego.

"There are some of us," Diego added, with a sardonic chuckle. "What brings you here, Noa?"

Noa was all too happy to explain,

"Why, I'm one of the avian messengers employed by the mammoths. I was sent out from William, Elder of the Three Fjords herd, to find and bring a message to a mammoth called Manfred, son of Clovis. You wouldn't happen to know where he is?"

"The avians are still in use as messengers?" Manny grumbled to himself. He ignored Noa's question deliberately.

Diego glanced at Manny, who looked away from him, then back at Noa, who shrugged her feathered shoulders. The silence dragged on for several long minutes until Diego could bear it no longer.

"Ahem," Diego indicated Manny with his paw, "The mammoth you're looking for is right there. Name's Diego, by the way - but I think you knew that you morsel."

"He's my friend," Manny hurried to interject, staring at the little bird almost as if trying to determine what kind of message she had bottled up inside her.

Noa nodded her head briskly, obviously not willing to brook Manny's potential wrath if she objected. The mammoth finally realised, with a nudge from Diego, that he was putting the little bird on edge, so he lowered his gaze away from her as the bird's sigh of relief emitted from its miniscule form.

Noa chirped,

"I can see he's your friend. A bit of an unusual friend too, for these parts."

Manny struggled not to let his frustration show.

"Pshaw, he's half a mammoth, he's so close to me. Peaches was the one who first began saying that about him, but it's true," he insisted, unaware his words betrayed them. "Anyway, why are you here, Noa? Don't you have a message?"

Diego and Noa exchanged nervous glances as Manny realised he was almost shouting at her.

"Sorry," he muttered, recalling how she'd mentioned that Elder of the Three Fjords herd. He wondered if he was the same William…

"Yes, I do have a message!" Noa replied cheerfully. She seemed the kind of individual who could just brush off anything. "But before I repeat it to you verbatim as I've been trained, I must ask you a question, Manfred son of Clovis."

Manny exchanged a glance with Diego and saw the tiger's eyes were still wide; no doubt because of the irritatingly formal manner Noa kept addressing him.

I wanted to leave that life behind.

Aloud, he said,

"And what question is that, Noa?"

The bird fixed him with a hard grey stare.

"I come from a mammoth who claims to remember you from years past. Is the name William, son of Abelard, familiar to you in any way?"

Good old Will! It is him!

When he finally responded, he felt as if the answer was forcibly dragged from his mouth.

"…Yes."

Noa crossed her feathers in the air whilst remaining aloft on the wind.

"I would've thought you'd be more excited to hear from your old friend again," was her comment. "He misses you. He also has told me he'd like me to become the courier for your motley - his words - herd you've got going here."

Manny shot a glance at Diego, who was trailing his claws in the warm dirt outside the cave idly, seemingly paying no attention to Manny and Noa's conversation. Manny knew the sabre was just as curious as the messenger bird.

The mammoth let out a sigh, realising that the herd's relative obscurity was ending just as Peaches turned three. He'd been considering reintegrating their mixed-species herd into the Bredelands properly so Peaches could meet other calves around her own age. Manny worried what that might mean for Diego, which is why he kept putting it off. He tried to push the frightening thoughts aside.

"I am," he admitted, sounding weary. "And I miss him too… but I can't put Diego in danger just because I'd like to see him again. I know what this Valley was like years ago… the divisions and hatred against tigers and other predators probably still exist."

Noa's large grey eyes widened at his remark, but she said nothing, only nodded. His worst suspicions confirmed, he decided to hear what William's message was.

The tiny messenger bird was thrilled to replicate the message as Manny and Diego exchanged anxious glances. Manny was thankful Diego was somewhat familiar with the ways of the messenger birds, given that during their preteen years the avians had been sent to and fro various sabre and wolf packs to keep an eye on the packs whilst trying to broker truces between the carnivores and the herbivores. Unfortunately, the proposition ended badly.

Noa opened her mouth but instead of her chirpy tone, a new voice emanated from her body, rich and warm.

"'Manny, how are you, old chap? The tales of your exploits have been spread out all over the Bredelands, about how you returned a human child and befriended a tiger and a sloth and became a herd in doing so! I never expected such a wonder to happen to you, of all mammoths! Upon your departure from the Bredelands, I became the Elder of the diocese, as you impressed upon me to do so, and everything has been fine for several years. However, the stories about you have awakened interest in me to see my old friend again. Would you please come to the high meadow to play a game of ball with me and several others? It's to be a spectator event, and I'd be so pleased to see you come! Brede be blessed, your friend William.'"

A brief silence fell over the group as Manny and Diego took in the words of Noa's message.

Diego nudged Manny, saying, with a chuckle,

"Tales of your exploits? Ah, you're famous, buddy!"

"We're famous," Manny corrected, his tone sombre and his brown eyes anxious. He hoped Diego wouldn't pick up on his emotions. Diego deserved fame, too, for the heroic, selfless actions he'd pulled during their journey on his behalf. Still, what if these stories being told put Diego in danger? Perish the thought! Manny scolded himself. Nothing bad will happen because of these stories to Diego, I swear it. I won't let it happen. "William meant there's now stories about the original three of us returning Pinky. He wouldn't mention them if it was just me being talked about."

"Oh," Diego said. His ears flattened against the back of his head and his green eyes dimmed pensively. His embarrassed reaction caused Manny to wonder if Diego was thinking of someone.

"I'll need to know your answer!" Noa chirruped. "Elder William expects me back at the high meadow soon. He says it's going to be a big game!"

Manny found Diego looking him in the eye, the barest hint of a smile on his face.

"Look, Manny, you can go," Diego urged him. "It's fine. I'll just wait for you back at the cave."

The sabre tried his best to conceal his disappointment, but it was written in the slump of his shoulders.

"I'm not going without you," Manny countered, knitting his eyebrows. Diego seemed about to protest but Manny held up his trunk. "Look, I know it might not be the safest idea," He paused. Desperation entered his voice when he spoke again. "Will's got to understand you mean no harm."

Diego offered Manny one of his crooked smiles before elbowing him. He held the mammoth's gaze as he said,

"Hey, I'm half a mammoth. What could go wrong?"


A lot, Diego thought as five pairs of hostile male eyes pinioned him. One glance at Manny confirmed he didn't know the mammoths standing in front of them either. Diego's gaze swept the high meadow, noting that one of the bulls was rolling a sun-hardened large clay ball under his front hoof impatiently.

He shot Diego a suspicious glare, making the tiger hurriedly look away. The cries of the spectators at the other side of the field of grass were a mixture of yells, boos, and hisses when the majority - mostly Imperial mammoths - caught sight of Diego.

Diego wondered if he would even be able to play alongside Manny in the game. Manny had explained the rules to him on their way over to the high meadow, not that he needed to hear them again, since he and Manny often passed the time by playing football together.

It was a simple game, involving a ball and six players on each side with one in the back to act as the keeper. Manny called it 'football.' He said it was one of the institutions of the mammoths throughout the ages and that they familiarly called it 'the beautiful game.'

"Hey, guys!" Manny called out to the group of Imperial bulls idling in the field that had been demarcated from the rest of the grasses with long sticks bordering the playing area. "I… erm… I'm here for Elder William. My friend and I are here for the game."

One of the larger mammoth bulls frowned at Manny,

"That's your friend?" he said, with a derisive laugh. "Hey, the lot of you, look at what the dog hauled in! One of the Woollies from Will's team and a mangy tiger."

The other bulls gathered around Diego, jostling Manny out of the way, their faces alight with devilish excitement as they began throwing insults at him. In the shuffle, Diego lost sight of Manny as the bulls' legs, oak-tree thick, surrounded him in a claustrophobic circle.

"Cat, enjoy eating flowers? I hear they're so good for you!"

"Get out of here, you mangy piece of filth, you're not good enough for us."

"The only good tiger is a dead tiger."

"Hahahaha, his friend? Why didn't you die when you tried to save him?"

Diego tried not to let it show how much their taunts hurt. He bit his lip, holding back tears.

"Enough!" a familiar voice roared, deafening the other's voices. Manny lowered his tusks aggressively towards the five other bulls. They stepped back, opening a gap in their circle around Diego, wary of the Woolly's unexpected ferocity. Diego took the reprieve as a chance to slip back next to Manny's side. "Leave him alone. I don't know any of you. I haven't seen William the Elder of this herd, but I know he's more of a mammoth than any of you!"

"We aren't of this herd, idiot," the leader retorted.

Manny was so furious, it seemed like, at any moment, he might thrust himself at the bulls. Even so, Diego couldn't help but notice the embarrassment that spread over Manny's broad face.

"I had a feeling you would bring your friend." Diego turned sharply to the side, recognising the warm rich voice of the speaker from the days of his youth. Manny and the five other bulls pivoted as well. Manny's face brightened as his gaze fell upon the light tan mammoth bull who stepped into the playing field, flanked by his own group of five Woolly bulls. Diego assumed they were part of his team.

William shot a glare at the five mammoths on the other team who had been heckling Diego. Their heads drooped as they realised that they'd offended the leader of the challenging team. They turned away, shooting annoyed glances at the sabre and Manny as they punted the ball to the other end of the field.

"So, this is the one reported to nearly die in your stead," William said to Manny as they walked over to where Diego stood alone. He inclined his head towards Diego respectfully, giving Manny and the tiger a sudden shock. Elders didn't do that, especially not those like him. "I thank you for saving my friend, brave tiger. You shall always be welcome here."

Aware the Elder was grasping for his name, Diego hurried to supply it.

"Erm, name's Diego. Sorry, but the welcome I just got wasn't the greatest."

"You have my sincere apologies, Diego," William replied. "Once the game is over - which you will be allowed to play - I will have a word with the bulls who were harassing you."

Diego managed a tiny smile for the Elder, already finding himself liking the bull. Manny had talked about William fondly on their walk to the high meadow, and it seemed William still retained the sweetness and conviction of his youth into his adult years.

"Thanks," Diego said laconically.

Relief flooded out of him in one breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw William directing the newcomers to their places, ordering two of them to stand with them in the field whilst the other three rumbled over to the side opposite the spectators to wait for their turn. The five bulls accompanying William nodded their heads at Diego respectfully and gave him welcoming smiles. The treatment from the Woolly bulls was night and day compared to the Imperial bull team making up the opposition.

After a moment, William returned to Manny and Diego, standing awkwardly in the middle of the field, to give them a brief run-through of how to play the game, indicating with his trunk where the two should move to so playing could begin.

"Those bulls will be our subs," William explained to Diego. "Manny, do you remember this game?"

"Well enough." Manny grimaced. "Just don't put me in forward, Will."

Will sent Manny a grin spelt with disaster.

"All right, you can be the sweeper," he agreed. "Diego, you go stand on the left next to those branches over there and I'll be the centre forward."

Diego noticed Manny's gaze sweep the field anxiously as he felt the mammoth's eyes probe him and then angle out across the field to their opponents.

"Will," Manny muttered under his breath, "are you sure this is safe for-"

His words were swallowed up when one of the cows standing on the sidelines trumpeted loudly, signalling the game was beginning.

The quintet of bulls on the opposite half of the field exchanged subtle looks as their forward kicked the ball ahead, sending it into the half of the field where Manny and Diego waited. William's footsteps made the ground tremble as he stampeded after the ball, propelling it into the other division of the field. Diego hurried after him, loping hot on his heels as the Elder and the tiger zoned in on the ball.

Diego's claws brushed against it, giving him enough traction to lob it over to William. The pass was successful, lending Will enough impetus to launch it through the posts.

William raised his trunk high in celebration as his teammates trumpeted enthusiastically, Manny included. Diego looked over at his friend and saw the concern painted on his face.

"That was almost too easy," he mouthed at the tiger, nodding at the aggressive bulls on the other team. "Watch your back around those bulls. If it keeps up like this, they might try to hurt you."

Diego smirked at Manny, already too heady with the joy of the game and William's friendliness that was so welcome and that he just wasn't used to it that he deliberately ignored his friend's warning.

The trumpet sounded again, this time with the ball on Will's side of the field. The Elder narrowed his eyes at his opponents before sending the ball across to the rangy bull across from him, who then punted it over to Diego. However, before Diego could feel it beneath his claws, one of the massive bulls on the opposite team stole it from him. Diego grimaced, racing after the ball. He had to backtrack because the ball was now going in the direction of his posts. Manny grunted, kicking the ball away from the mammoth in front of him, calling out Diego's name as he tossed it away from Will's posts.

"Got it!" Diego said, dribbling the ball down the field. William thundered past him, shouting Diego's name for him to pass, and Diego quickly pushed the ball in the Elder's direction.

"You really are half a mammoth, just like Manny said!" Will exclaimed, his voice sailing on the wind over to spectators, who had been watching the game and making a variety of cheers, taunts, or ground-stomps depending on the situation.

He was riding high as he ran down the field following William, but within the next moment, he found himself flat on his face with the breath knocked out of him from a blow to his chest. He looked up to see the bull who'd made the remark about him having should have died when protecting Manny standing over him, his beady eyes alive with hate.

Diego struggled to breathe. The cheers from the spectators indicated that William had scored another successful goal, but Diego could barely hear them.

The cow's trumpet changed to three short bursts. He felt the ground tremble underneath his legs as Manny rushed over to him, thrusting himself between the fallen tiger and the arrogant bull. Diego noticed through his pain that the five mammoths on the other team were all Imperials.

He began inhaling and exhaling slowly to regain some composure whilst Manny stood next to him, murmuring words of comfort and asking if he wanted to take a break, but Diego shook his head 'no' quickly. William called for a foul given against the Imperial who had kicked him, ensuring that he was sent out of the game.

Manny's trunk landed on his shoulders as the Woolly mammoth knelt beside him, helping him get to his feet. As Diego's paws made contact with the smooth grass, cheers erupted from the spectators' area on the side belonging to Will's team. Cries of "Huzzah!" and "Good going!" revived Diego's heart. The opposing team tried to overwhelm the cheers with boos, hisses, and jeers, but the supporters of the Imperials couldn't drown out the joy of the Woollies.

They don't mind me too much, Diego thought, relief flowing through his veins.

"Diego, you'll take Manny's place as the sweeper now so that you have time to rest," William directed. He nodded his head, indicating for Manny to move into Diego's former position on the field.

"Good idea," Manny agreed, narrowing his eyes as he stepped into place, fixating the members of the other team with a hostile stare. Diego bit back a groan as he saw them return glares that matched his friend's, and a sense of unease settled over his heart.

He hoped Manny wouldn't get tripped or hurt by the opposing team, since he wasn't sure if he'd be able to bear it if he had to watch Manny's own kind turn on him during what should've been only a simple game.

The cow trumpeted again. William sent the ball rolling forward into the centre of the field, but it landed right between the hoofs of the largest Imperial on that team. The Imperial granted William a menacing smile before he punted the ball over to his teammate, a dark brown bull with fearsome tusks.

They charged down the field in unison, tossing the ball back and forth with their feet. Manny moved to intercept them, but the ball shot through his legs and into the hoofs of the massive Imperial as Manny and the Elder hurried to backtrack after their opponents.

Diego was left alone in the position of sweeper as the two Imperials barreled toward him, their eyes glinting with mutual satisfaction. The sheer presence of the massive Imperials' proximity to him made bile combined with fear to rattle through Diego.

The sabre squared his shoulders defiantly, hoping to block their way, but the sounds of the winds caused by the mammoths' stampeding and the roar of their names as they directed each other was his only impression of what happened.

The ball swung through the posts, bringing the Imperials' team's score up to one. Diego's shoulders slumped as his gaze trailed over to the spectators. The scowls etched on most of the Woollies' faces confirmed his suspicions: he was failing the team.

I'm failing Manny, he thought. He turned away from the crowd to seek out Manny and William. The two old friends stood together laughing with and jostling each other. He couldn't help noticing how their tusks linked together, although it mostly seemed to haphazardly result from the melee, he'd been unable to prevent.

"Hey, Will!" One of the Imperials called as they sauntered past the Elder's team as the two groups began to move over to take over the first team's field. "Might as well put that tiger on the sidelines whilst you can or you're going to lose this game! And won't that disappoint our Regent Elder, eh?"

Diego grimaced, his gaze tracing the sticks on the ground that laid out the parameters of the field, swamped by tiredness and regret. He didn't even want to know what William - or far be it, Manny - might say in response to the gibe.

"Shut up!"

Diego raised his head, recognising Manny's shout. His ears perked up and he straightened himself proudly.

"He's not going on the sidelines, and you'd better stop mocking him. Don't you see how easily he's taken to our game? He's half a mammoth!"

Diego exchanged a glance with Manny, grateful the mammoth was supporting him and even going so far as to reassert the term his daughter, Peaches, and himself had developed for the sabre that had originated from his interest in mammothian life. It had become the symbol of their friendship.

"Half a mammoth? Really, you mean that?" The Imperial retorted. "He's nothing but a mangy tiger who'd probably be better off on his own."

Living alone for a sabre only spells certain death, Diego thought at the Imperial, his eyebrows bunching together. A lascivious desire bubbled inside him to rush over, throw himself on the mammoth, and try to bring it down, but he knew such a thought was suicide. He hurried to dispel it from his mind, wishing they could just return to the game.

"He is half a mammoth," Manny insisted. He drew himself up to his full height of ten plus feet. "He's like a brother to me."

Manny's declaration was loud enough that both the Imperial team and the spectators on the left half of the field heard it. Gasps and murmurs of talk exploded from the crowd whilst the Imperials glared at Manny. Diego could guess that they were weighing his friend in their minds to see if he was found wanting. The mutters and quiet talk that the Imperial team huddled into didn't soothe his mind.

He wasn't aware Manny had come up next to him until the mammoth's heavy sigh hit him from the side.

"Look, Diego, I'm sorry about this," Manny said. "I didn't think it would happen like this."

"Ah, it's fine, Manny," Diego responded, glancing away from his friend. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does," Manny retorted, stomping the ground so hard Diego felt his body trembling from Manny's rage. "Diego… to make it up to you… I sent Noa to get the herd. Peaches is gonna be cheering for you!"

Diego heard the smile in Manny's voice. He snuck a glance at the mammoth, baring his teeth in the tiniest smile possible, already growing happier by the idea.

"Really?" he asked. He loved that Manny had sent for the herd to come support them, especially little Peaches.

The little calf and the sabre shared a close relationship that mirrored his own with her father's. On the good days, at least.

She'd even hugged him first. Not Sid or the possums. Him. *

She always wanted to spend time with him, always made him play games with her (he never minded her insistent clamours for it), always sought to emulate him in as many things as she could. In fact, she even insisted on accompanying him on his hunts, much to his and Manny's bemusement.

She was the apple of his eye. A smile began to crinkle the sides of his face.

"Really," Manny said. His trunk landed on Diego's shoulder, gripping it meaningfully. "You'll do great, buddy."


* You can find this incident in Vignette Three of my series of vignettes about Manny and Diego's friendship in the fic "Five Times Manny Hugged Diego." Vignette Three is based on an official Ice Age comic book and shows the bond between Diego & Peaches. Vignettes Three, Four, and One tie into my CI-verse series, fragments and glimpses of the strong family circle of love between Manny, Diego, and Peaches, that fleshes them out more in little one-shots since "Cruel Intentions" as a series and within this fanfic novel, won't hold much room for the fluffy, cutesy moments shown in those previous one-shots…

Thoughts? Reactions? Where do you think this story will go next? Please tell me how you feel in that little box down below, because any comments - short, long, questions, etc - are much appreciated and I get excited to see each and every new review/comment and will respond! :)