Akira slinked through the remaining trunks, wary of her leg and managed to catch up with Diego and Sid after limping a bit clumsily as she descended from her platform high above. Upon seeing her on her feet, Sid was horrified and Diego frowned. "What do you think you're doing walking around, young lady?" The sloth took some time to lecture her on the dangers of walking around on her leg so soon after the wound had been dealt and after nearly ten minutes had passed of Sid's reprimanding, he finally questioned where Manny was.
"With Ellie." Akira felt a bit smug as she revealed such information and the feeling only grew as Sid stared open-mouthed at her, Diego raising his eyebrows in surprise. "What did you say to him?" The sabress shrugged, glancing pointedly at Sid, "A more understanding version of what you did." The sloth, despite his small role, looked proud as if he had been the one to accomplish the feat and Akira let him have his moment.
Akira watched as the sloth turned and practically skipped up the hill, possibly to their next resting point, but she grimaced at the sight of the incline. The sabress knew well enough from the agonizing ache in her leg from her mobility already that climbing the hill would be a feat that would possibly render her immobile and stunt to the healing of her leg from overexertion.
"You should've stayed with Manny—your leg won't heal if you keep walking on it." Diego appeared by her side, his body warm against hers as he gave silent approval for her to use him as support. Akira was more than grateful and took full advantage. "Didn't feel like third-wheeling." She muttered as they made their way up the incline at a leisure pace—actually, it was a bit slower than leisure and much slower than Diego's usual pace but the sabre didn't complain once.
When they made it to the summit of the hill, Sid was waiting for them in a clearing off to the side and there was a glimpse of Manny and Ellie as they disappeared into the forest of willow trees. The moment the sabres reached Sid and their temporary camp, Akira fell unceremoniously to the ground, heaving a heavy sigh and stifling a groan. Though it had been a bit unavoidable, leaving Manny's back had been a mistake.
"Boy, Manny sure took a big leap with Ellie today," Sid broke the silence as he poked his head into a bush and examined its oddly-shaped leaves, a grin on his lips as he plucked the largest one with the deepest dip. The sloth waddled over to her with a skip in his step, setting the leaf before her. "He sure did," Diego murmured, settling back on his haunches.
Akira felt that spike of warmth again as she realized the leaf had gathered enough dew inside, serving as a natural cup for water and easily accessible. Before the sloth could completely walk away, she nuzzled him, thankful. Sid's grin got impossibly wider as he ruffled the fur on her back as she dipped her head to drink from the leaf. As she drank, the sabress noticed the gradual increase and warmth as night fell and the air grew cooler and raised her head, acknowledging the blazing fire with an impressed, raised brow.
"Yup. He stood on the shore of uncertainty, and dove right in. . . splash! Kind of brave, huh?" Akira made herself as comfortable as she could get on the bare forest floor, encased by warmth and surrounded by idle chatter. It numbed her into a partial slumber and made it easier to push the pain to the back of her mind. "The way he faced his fear."
Diego rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what Sid was getting at though choosing to ignore it. From what she could decipher, Akira thought the conversation was taking an amusing turn. "I wouldn't know, sabres don't feel fear." Akira held back a scoff of laughter though she cracked an eye open, interested to see how Sid would get the sabre inclined to conquer his fear. "It may surprise you to know that I too have experienced fear."
Diego dramatically widened his eyes. "No! You?" Akira's eyes fell shut as they glowed with amusement behind closed lids.
It seemed Sid didn't get sarcasm as of yet. "Oh, yes! As impossible as it seems, the sloth has natural enemies that would like to, harm, or otherwise, kill us!"
Diego scowled, "I wonder why."
Sid continued, undeterred. "Oh, jealousy mostly. But the point is, that fear is natural." Sid had Diego's best interests in mind, which was obvious but Akira wondered if the sloth was aware of the insane or otherwise unhealthy amounts of pride male sabres could carry. It was crippling—Akira would know considering she had her father and brothers in her life. Or, well, she did, at one point.
"Fear is for prey!" The sabre hissed. Sid beamed. "Well then, you're letting the water make you its prey!" The sloth disappeared into the bushes. "Just jump in and trust your instincts!" He appeared on the logs, crawling along them, "You know, most animals can swim as babies, and for a tiger, it's like crawling on your belly to stalk helpless prey."
Sid then fell from the trees, vines keeping him inches above the ground as he moved along, "Put that hunt on, okay? Now, claw, kick, claw, kick, I'm stalking the prey! Claw, kick! Now, I look back over my shoulder, to see if I am being followed, and I'm breathing and I'm stalking and I'm stalking."
Diego suddenly reached up and cut the vines with a claw, fed up with Sid moving in circles around him and the point he was trying to get across. Akira winced at the thud. "I am falling."
The sabre looked down at the sloth. "Correction! You're sinking, kind of like a rock." Sloths will be sloths; sabres will be sabres.
The pair of mammals settled eventually, the crackle of the fire filling the silence. Akira was nearly asleep, teetering precariously on the edge when rushed footsteps startled her awake. Drowsily, the sabress raised her head, the sabre and sloth glancing up as well to see who had disturbed their peace. Manny. "So, how did it go?" The mammoth gave an awkward smile, "Hmm! Not bad."
The sabress knew there was immediately more to that when Ellie rushed past them, an angry expression on her face. "Okay, let's go! We travelled with you all day, now you're coming with us at night!"
Akira couldn't help the reaction as her eyes widened in horror at the idea of walking on her injured leg. A mere minutes-long walk had taken her down for the count and rest, even though it had been double the time, was not enough. "But we can't see at night and Akira's leg. . ." The sloth, sabres and mammoth looked at Ellie expectantly but the female merely snapped back at them, "Then enjoy the flood!"
Wordlessly, Diego and Sid were by her side.
A thin layer of fog covered the ground of the rocky terrain and made it slightly difficult to see but Akira's night vision never failed her. The most prominent difficulty was avoiding the rocks, dips and sudden tiny drops with her injury. The injured leg itself was bearable to walk on with Diego's support, Sid's as well though his support was a mere paw on her back. Akira, to the best of her ability, hopped to avoid a rock in the way and Manny and Sid did as well, counting on her partially to avoid minor injuries moving through the terrain.
Another rock stump was coming up and she issued a warning but Sid missed it and paid the price. She winced as the sloth walked right into the stump, an unfortunately perfect height that could've rendered him unable to have children in the future had he been going any faster. The possums spitefully called out the stump after the sloth's accident.
With Manny attempting the talk to Ellie, the sabres and sloth hung behind, carrying the rear of the group and, as always, Crash and Eddie ran ahead. What was unexpected was the grinding of stone against stone and the terrified screams that followed. The rock surface suddenly disappeared from underneath her and she was falling for a few petrifying seconds before she collided with a rock slab. She roared in agony, her leg throbbing with pain that spread throughout her body momentarily before the flare was only in her wounded limb. Shifting, she saw the possum brothers clinging to each other as they stared with wide eyes.
The platform suddenly lurched and Akira's paw shot out and grabbed Crash and Eddie before they could go off the edge, her claws of her other two digging themselves into the hard surface.
"Stop moving!" Came Diego's yell and as the brothers scrambled onto her for safety, she spared a look to see the sabre dangling from the edge of a rock, Manny and Ellie on top of it with Sid holding onto Diego. "Thank you." Diego sighed as the lurching stopped.
No sooner had the words left his mouth did a rock from their balancing beam broke and they fell a few notches, Sid losing his grip on Diego. With her heart in her throat, Akira peered over the edge and was beyond relieved to see the sloth had caught himself on another ledge below. The rock holding Manny, Ellie and partially Diego cracked in the middle, threatening to break completely under the weight.
"Manny, Ellie! Lock trunks!" The two mammoths turned to each other with a glare.
Akira growled low in her throat for today was not the day she planned to die. She hadn't come this far to fall to her death because of two stubborn mammoths. "Now!" The sabres snarled and the two reluctantly complied. Akira turned around to look at the ledge of stable ground a foot away. "Crash, Eddie, I need you to grab that ledge, okay?"
The possums scrambled onto her head and peered down at her, "Funny! And now, what's your real plan?"
She flashed her fangs at them with a low snarl, impatient, and they yelped, sliding off her and going to the edge as asked. Manny and Ellie shifted slightly, swinging their section of rock to the ledge which allowed Eddie to grab on, stabilized by Crash.
"I'm sorry, if what l said before offended you!" Manny suddenly exclaimed.
Akira gasped, sinking her claws further into the rock as the balance was again uneven and the rocks all jerked, nearly dislodging Eddie from his hold on the ledge.
"What do you mean if it offended me?"
Akira and the possums cried up to the mammoths, "That it offended her! That it offended her!" Now, she wasn't going to lose her life because Manny had offended Ellie.
The larger mammoth was quick to correct himself, seeing their lives were at risk. "I mean that, that it offended you. You just overreacted, that's all."
Akira winced as she couldn't help but agree. "Take it back!" Yet she couldn't help but agree with that as well. "There are other lives at stake here!" And that.
As Akira pulled the possums dangling over the edge back onto the rock, Sid decided to add his input. "Wait a minute! He's got a point!" It didn't help their situation in the slightest. "He's got nothing!" Eddie cried, clutching his brother and the sabress. "It was a misunderstanding!" Sid countered and the possums glared. "It was insensitive!"
"Apologize!" Diego shouted.
"Why me? She overreacted!" Manny called back.
Akira was starting to lose her grip, will and strength to hold on and her patience. "Just apologize!"
Manny stayed defiant, "No!"
"Do it!" The sabres cried, both just wanting the tension to be relieved so they could get out of the situation alive, one at genuine risk. If the fight went on for any longer, by the time they found a solution for their dilemma, she wouldn't have the strength to get out of it.
"Okay, I'm sorry!"
The apologizing voice was feminine and caught them all off-guard. "What?!"
"He's right. I overreacted." The quarrel ended there as none of them wanted to anger either of the mammoths and risk their lives even more. Sid's ledge shifted and he moved to grab a hold on the edge but missed it completely, falling off instead. The sloth was safe, thankfully but for them. . . they were in a bit of danger. "Run!" Akira's eyes widened as the offset was unbalanced. Her rock slab was passing the ledge and she needed to jump to get there and far. It had been too long.
Under any other circumstances, she could've made it but this wasn't any other circumstances. She was at a disadvantage and there was no one to save her this time. Without a second thought, she gathered Eddie and Crash in her mouth and reared back before swinging her head, tossing them through the air where they skidded across the rocky terrain, safe on tethered land.
"Akira!" Her rock slab fell abruptly but was still standing and swinging wildly.
"Jump!" Sid cried in a panic, a paw outstretched and desperately grabbing. The possums were perched on his shoulders, expressions despairing as were those behind them. She was the last still on the tower, everyone else safe on the firm, motionless ground. Akira gave a resigned smile as her slab finally collapsed, taking her with it.