Fossil-Sized Dilemma - Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs

A Northern sabre was crouched, unseen as its soft gray coat blended with the fresh snow. An antelope was grazing, digging for plants and grass to feast on. The feline went to move closer but the antelope raised its head and so it froze. Now more cautious, the antelope went back to grazing, its body tense and ready to run. The sabre lunged with a roar, the noise stunning the antelope momentarily. The prey struggled under the predator, narrowly missing the killing bite. A swift kick to the sabre's flank triggered its escape and it was off, tearing through the trees, snow and ice. The sabre was close behind it but the antelope was still in front.

It was gaining courage, slight reassurance that it would escape when a larger sabre jumped out of the bushes, pelt a pure white. It was as faster as it was larger and that's when the fear crept in. He faltered, losing his footing briefly but it was enough to seal his death sentence. A paw struck out and claws sunk into his calf, ripping open flesh. He tripped, falling to the ground at the pain of fangs sinking into his other calf and ripping mercilessly. He was writhing in agony, struggling to stand back up and run when the killing blow was delivered.

The smaller but more built sabre immediately dug in and the larger and slim sabre raised her eyebrow. "Leave some for us, Perce, jeez."

The smaller sabre gave a sheepish look, though, the innocence in it was conflicted by the blood coating his maw. "Sorry, mom."

Akira smiled softly at this. Percy had taken up the habit of calling her mom half a year after being with her and it was fitting with how much she babied him. How could she not when he was so young and got into so much trouble with the possums? Sid too, occasionally when the sloth was blindly roped into their shenanigans.

"Where's Uncle Diego?"

The white tiger shrugged. "Somewhere," She murmured and no sooner had the words left her mouth did a tan blur lunge from the corner of her eye. Akira leapt out of the way with incredible grace and Diego tackled Percy instead. She grinned as the sabres were busy untangling themselves, helping herself to her share. "It almost worked—keep trying."

Diego glared, helping Percy up by his scruff. The cub mewled in protest. "How did you even know I was there?" Akira nudged the remaining third of the kill towards Diego, "A lady never tells her secrets."

The sabre grunted, helping himself to the rest. Akira was cleaning her bloodied paws when she saw the contrast of silver and red on Percy's pelt. The cub was gnawing on a leg bone, careless of his coat.

Akira grimaced, walking over to him. "You know you'd give them a heart attack going back like this."

She pulled the smaller sabre over, licking the blood from his fur. "Mom!" He groaned but didn't fuss much, instead, sulking as he held still. Diego snickered at the cub's expense and Percy growled at him, scowling. "Why don't you clean Diego?" The younger of the three demanded and said sabre snorted as he returned to his meal.

Akira leaned over to look Percy in the eyes, "Because he remembers the last time he forgot to clean up." She gave the Southern sabre a pointed look at this.

He managed to look a little sheepish when his eyes, a fusion of green, brown and yellow, flickered up from the heap of lukewarm meat. The first and hopefully, in his favour, the last time he missed a spot when cleaning his pelt and paws stained from his last kill. The possums and Sid had been incredibly wary around him for a whole week and for two weeks Manny wouldn't let him anywhere near Ellie who had been halfway into her pregnancy then.

It was a little extreme in Akira's opinion—it wasn't as if Diego was suddenly going to pounce and devour them but Manny's protective father instincts had been in overdrive as of late. His and Ellie's baby was due any day now and the mammoth was twitchy, constantly checking on Ellie. He was more worried than Ellie.

Akira finished grooming Percy, moving to her own fur. She snickered as Percy scrambled away from her when she released her grip on him. "We should head back. We probably missed Manny's big surprise for Ellie."

As she stood, she flexed her back leg; specifically, the one she had injured a few years ago. It had healed nicely and there was rarely anything that surfaced with it anymore. Turning, she missed the hesitance of Diego as he stepped over the remaining bones of their last kill for the next couple of days and she missed Percy glaring at the sabre, mouthing 'Tell her'.

Akira was talking with Ellie who was telling her everything the baby had done in her absence when Manny came storming up to them. The two females exchanged worried glances.

"This is why guys don't talk to guys." The mammoth grunted, his voice low and annoyed.

"Why? What happened?" The females questioned.

"Diego's leaving." Ellie immediately looked to Akira who instantly frowned, baffled. The sabress looked to Percy who was standing there looking the most guilty she had ever seen him in the past three years. "You knew," She merely stated, her voice devoid of any emotion and the cub averted his gaze to the ground, his form practically radiating his guilt.

Akira didn't wait for a response from Percy, Manny or Ellie as she bounded off in the direction Diego's scent laced with Sid was the strongest—most recent. "This should be the best time of our lives. We're having a baby!" She heard the sloth's voice exclaim as she was hidden in the cover of the trees.

"No, Sid. They're having a baby." The Southern sabre snapped.

"Yeah, but we're a herd—a family." Sid insisted.

"Look, things have changed. Manny has other priorities now. Face it, Sid. We had a great run, but now it's time to move on."

The sloth frowned before nodding despite the downcast expression. "So it's just the two of us."

"No, Sid, it's not the two of us." Diego shot down.

Sid winced as he seemed to be losing hope. "Akira, Perce, Crash and Eddie are coming with us?"

Diego didn't answer, Sid looking even more crushed as a result. "Just Akira, Perce, and Crash?" Silence.

"Akira and Perce?" The sabre winced at that, walking away from the sloth, neither aware of the Northern sabre hidden in the snow.

"Bye, Sid."

Akira watched as the two parted different ways and she wasn't sure what hurt more—the absolutely crushed and betrayed look on Sid's face or the fact that Diego was leaving without so much as a goodbye. Deciding to find the sloth later, she bounded after the sabre who had become one of the most important mammals to her.

Diego stiffened, continuing his pace as he heard the sound of paws hitting the snow at a steady rhythm. "You were just going to leave?" He heard the soft voice question behind him and he stopped midstep, keeping his gaze ahead of him.

He didn't want to turn and see the utter look of betrayal on the face of the sabre. "There's no reason for us to stay, Akira. Manny and Ellie are settling down and starting a family. Are we just going to stick around and be at the beck and call of their kid? Don't you want to find other sabres, Akira? Your pack?" The sabress flinched at this but he didn't see.

Akira averted her eyes momentarily, blinking back tears that threatened to come forth and suppressed the surfacing feelings. "Of course I do," She whispered softly, answering Diego's question.

"Then come with me and wherever you go, Perce is willing to follow. We could find your pack and join them, be with actual sabres—hunt as a pack and never have to worry about slipping up. Worry about walking on nails around them like we do now." It was convincing and Akira trusted Diego enough to follow him blindly in search of a sabre pack, specifically hers, but. . . Perce was attached to the possums and Sid and had bonded with Ellie—the shemmoth like a second mother to him.

And Akira. . . she adored Sid, Crash and Eddie and Manny and Ellie filled the place of her parents and she loved them for it—even if Manny could be a little overbearing at times—but Diego was just as important as they were to her. Maybe even a little more than she'd care to admit. Sighing shakily, she walked forward to stand beside the sabre who didn't turn his head to look at her.

Gingerly, she rested her head on the shoulder of Diego, sighing sadly. "Visit every once in a while, will you?"

The sabre released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He brushed off the sensations bubbling at the feel of the sabress touching him and nuzzled her back, shoving away his displeasure at her reluctance to join him. "Yeah."

Akira's heart ached as she watched the sabre bound away, slowly disappearing from her vision with each passing second. Soon, he was gone and for the second time, Akira wondered if she would ever see Diego again.