The Herd's Growing Family (Ice Age)

Nightly Enemies or Future Friends?

(A/N: A very loooooooong chapter with a lot of dialogue in this one. Hope you all don't mind.

I'm not going to lie, I was struggling on what to write during all of this and the more I rewrote it, the more I thought it was trash. I really think I could have executed this better with all the time I was given between this and the previous chapter. But hey, at least it's summer and I don't have to worry about that stuff now; especially because this girl (me) is now a confirmed graduate heading to college soon)

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The sun eventually set over the island and the night soon began. Shira was still trapped inside the tree that the herd stuck her in and seemed to be resting. As for Coral, she was sitting on the floor while her arms were tied to a tree. The herd kept her far away from Shira just in case they tried to team up and find a way to escape. But they were still close enough so the herd wouldn't lose track of them.

As Shira was about to drift off to sleep, she heard a branch break and angrily growled to scare off whoever was there. As it turns out, it was only Diego, who brought over some water in a wooden bowl. "Easy, kitty. Water. You need it". He pushed it into the tree to offer her some.

Shira pushed it back out, however. "I don't need anything from you". She said bitterly.

"Fine, die of thirst. That'll really show me". Diego sarcastically says. Before he could walk away, Shira called after him.

"Wait! ...I'll take it". She reluctantly told him. After Diego pushed the water back, Shira tried thanking him, though her tone was aggressive. "Thank you!"

"You know, you have a way of saying 'thank you' that makes it sound like 'drop dead'," Diego mentioned.

"It's a gift". Shira remarked. "Well, you're pretty soft, for a saber".

"Excuse me, I am not soft, okay. I happen to be a remorseless assassin".

Right after he says that, Sid comes skipping towards the two sabers and tosses a necklace over Diego's head, embarrassing him and making his previous statement seem inaccurate.

"Diego-poo! Hey, I made you another coral necklace. He keeps losing them". Sid snickers while telling Shira the last bit before skipping away again.

Shira just smirks at this. "Yeah, I think I'm starting to get why you're not in a pack".

"Listen, I chose to leave my pack, all right?" Diego states.

"Congratulations, warrior princess. So did I".

"Really?"

"What?"

"Nothing, I just... I know how hard that is; Walking away from everything you know". Diego tries relating to her, but Shira doesn't seem to care.

"Oh, great, what? Are we going to braid each other's fur now?"

"Funny. Really funny. Can I tell you the difference between you and me?" Diego asks.

"I wouldn't still be wearing that necklace?" Shira smirks.

Diego looks down and irritably yanks the necklace off. "No! We both might have wanted out of pack life, but at least I didn't trade one pack for another. I got something more".

"Oh, yeah. What's that?" Shira questions.

"A herd".

"What's the difference?"

"We have each other's backs", Diego explains.

"Gutt has my back! I'm his first mate". Shira argues.

"Really? Because I don't see Gutt sending out any search parties for you or Coral". Diego points out.