Manny stretched and walked out of his cave. The sun was starting to peak over the mountains shining on the fresh snow that had fallen overnight. Manny saw Ellie's footprints headed towards the little animal cemetery, which was totally empty, since Diego and his family dug up the dead bodies to feed themselves. Manny and Ellie were the only ones who knew about that, and they understood. Ellie stood at two small gravestones with pictures of Crash and Eddie drawn on them by Sid. Ellie set a few flowers at their graves and stroked the gravestones gently, crying softly. She heard Manny walk up to her.

"Hey. I thought I might find you here." Manny said gently.

Ellie wiped her eyes with her trunk. "I...I know possums don't live for very long, but...we grew up together, they saw me get married, have a baby...they saw their niece get married. I thought we'd grow old together."

Manny cradled her face in his trunk. "I know. They'll always be with you in your heart and in your mind. I'm sure they're in a better place watching over you and Peaches and Julian."

Ellie hugged him back. "Thanks. You're the best. But, I'd like to be alone right now."

"Okay. I understand." Manny replied. They locked trunks slightly, and Manny walked off.

XX

Diego crept out of his den while his family was still sleeping. He padded to the bushes where that familiar scent was. That scent was still there. It smelled like another saber tooth tiger, but who? Snow had fallen and covered the tiger's tracks. He looked around more and spotted a tuft of burnt orange fur stuck to a sharp low branch. He walked over to it, smelled it, and closed his eyes, trying to remember. His eyes snapped open in horror and his jaw dropped as he remembered who it was.

"No..." He whispered. It can't be. He's dead! How was this possible? He felt someone tap him on the shoulder, jumped, growled, and took a defensive stance.

"Whoa!" Manny exclaimed as Sid yelped. "Easy, Tiger, it's just us."

Diego exhaled sharply in relief. "Don't ever do that again!"

"What's got your tail in a knot?" Sid asked, putting his paws on his hips and raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry. I just picked up a familiar scent last night." Diego explained. "I came to investigate, and..." He sighed as he glanced at the tuft of fur.

Sid walked over to it and studied it. "Hmm. Looks like tiger's fur."

"It is. You guys are not gonna like it, but...it's Soto's." Diego announced.

Manny and Sid stared at Diego in shock. "That's not possible. I threw him against the wall pretty hard, and I saw those icicles pierce him."

"Clearly you didn't throw him hard enough." Diego growled. "If he's alive, he is going to come after us. After all of us."

Sid gasped in horror. Manny sighed. "I'm just wondering why now? After all this time?"

"I don't know. Maybe it took him years to recover and regain his full strength and more years to track us down." Diego replied. He started pacing.

Manny looked around as if looking for Soto. "Okay, here's what we need to do: we need to appoint sentries around the village just in case."

"Good idea." Diego replied, relaxing a little.

"We also need to tell our mates what's going on." Manny replied.

"I don't want to worry Shira." Diego shook his head.

"But shouldn't you tell her so she's prepared?" Manny asked.

Diego sighed. "Okay, good point. All right, let's appoint sentries and keep our eyes open."

"Uh, so are we actually going to tell them why we need sentries?" Sid asked.

"We'll just tell them there's a huge threat coming, and we need lookouts." Diego replied. "Problem solved."

"Okay, there's a few flaws in that plan, but it works." Manny nodded. "Let's go."

XXX

Meanwhile, the saber tooth tiger cubs bounded to the outskirts of the village.

"Wow, look at all that snow!" Arianna, or Ari for short exclaimed.

"Come on guys, let's go!" DJ said. The quadruplets bounded out into the forest. They stopped when they saw a giant, menacing looking bird scavenging for food. "Whoa. Check that out."

"That bird looks kind of scary." Ari said, inching back. "We should go back."

"We will, as soon as I get a closer look." DJ replied, walking towards it.

"DJ, what are you doing?" Jack asked, warily.

"I just want to get a closer look. Maybe chase it like Dad chased after things in his stories." DJ replied.

"Dad's a grownup. We're just kids!" Ari reasoned. DJ ignored Ari and continued walking towards it.

"Aaand, he's not listening." Lena deadpanned.

DJ quietly approached the titanis bird. The titanis had burnt orange feathers and a cobalt blue head shaped like an eagle. It noticed DJ and let out a loud screech. It looked at DJ hungrily and licked its' beak. DJ gulped and backed away.

"Run, DJ." Ari said, nervous.

The Titanis noticed the other cubs and started towards them. The girls whimpered.

"Lena, Ari, go get Mom and Dad." Jack whispered. The girls hesitated. "Now!"

The girls nodded and ran off.

XXX

Diego caught up with Shira near their cave. "Hey, babe, where've you been?"

"Investigating something." Diego explained. "Where are the kids?"

"Out playing." Shira explained. "What were you investigating?"

Diego was about to respond, when their daughters came bounding towards them. "Mom! Dad!"

"Girls, what is it?" Shira asked, concerned.

Ari tried catching her breath. "DJ and Jack- they're being attacked by a giant, mean looking bird!"

"Where?" Diego asked.

"In the forest. It took us five minutes to run here." Ari explained.

Diego bounded off in the direction the girls came from. Shira looked around and spotted Ellie. "Ellie! Will you please watch the girls for a few minutes?"

"Sure." Ellie replied.

"Thanks." Shira turned to her daughters. "Stay with Aunt Ellie." She bounded off after her husband.

XX

The titanis had the boys trapped in a hollow tree. The boys tried clawing their way out the back, but the tree was too thick. The titanis tried squeezing through the hole and snipped at the boys, who scrambled to one side.

"Help! Somebody help!" Jack yelled.

The bird was about to bite him when they heard a loud roar. The bird screeched in pain as it was dragged out of the tree. Jack and DJ sighed in relief and walked out of the tree to see their father fighting the bird. They turned to see their mother running towards them.

"Boys! Oh, thank goodness." Shira caught her breath and nuzzled her sons. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

The boys shook their heads. "No."

They heard bones crunch and turned to see Diego panting for breath as the bird lay dead at his paws. He wiped the blood off his chin and turned back to his family.

"What happened?" Diego asked with controlled anger.

"I-I saw that bird and thought it might be fun to chase it." DJ admitted. "Just like you did in your stories."

"DJ, those stories are just that- stories. They're meant to entertain you!" Diego snapped.

DJ was confused. "You mean that stuff never happened?"

"That is not the point! The point is that you shouldn't put yourself and your brother and sisters in danger just because you heard some stories!" Diego snapped, angrily. "You were incredibly reckless today and-"

"Diego, take it down a notch." Shira admonished.

Diego exhaled sharply. "You are grounded for a week, young man. You hear me?"

DJ nodded. "I'm sorry, Dad."

"Let's go home." Diego just turned around and started back to the village. Shira and the boys followed.

Shira waited until the boys were in the den before confronting her mate. "Okay...I agree that DJ was reckless, but you were a bit over the top."

Diego sighed and sat down. "I know."

"There's something more to it, wasn't there?" Shira asked, sitting in front of him. "What's going on?"

Diego peeked into the den to make sure the kids weren't listening. "Do you remember me telling you about my old pack and Soto?"

"Yes." Shira replied. "You said Manny killed him in self-defense."

"We thought he was dead, but...I caught his scent last night." Diego explained. "I wasn't sure who it was at first, so I went to investigate this morning."

"And did you find anything?"

"Yeah. A tuft of Soto's fur." Diego replied.

Shira was getting nervous, though she didn't show it. From what Diego was saying, it didn't sound good. "Diego, are we in danger?"

"No. And we won't be." Diego assured her. He placed a paw over hers. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you or our cubs."

"I think you mean 'we' won't let anything happen to us or our cubs." Shira smiled slightly.

Diego chuckled softly. "We won't, then."

XXX

DJ padded to his sleeping area, lay down, and sighed. His siblings padded up to him.

"DJ, are you okay?" Ari asked.

"I'm starting to think Dad just made all his adventures up." DJ admitted. "I told him I wanted to chase things like in his stories and he basically told me he made those up."

"Are you sure he wasn't just mad that you got all of us in trouble?" Jack asked.

"I don't think so." DJ replied, sullenly. "It just makes me wonder...how many more lies has he told us?"

XXX

By the time Diego and Shira returned to the cave, their kids were already fast asleep for the night. They gently nuzzled the quadruplets and went to sleep themselves.

The next morning, the cubs woke up before their parents. DJ slowly and quietly walked out of the cave and his siblings followed.

"Where you going?" Asked Jack.

"Just needed some air." DJ replied. They walked for a bit, then almost ran into another adult saber. DJ gasped slightly, then calmed down. "Oh. Hello."

"Hello, little cub. What's your name?" The tiger asked.

"Um...DJ. It stands for Diego Junior." DJ replied.

"Diego? Well, what a coincidence! We were just looking for him." The tiger replied. "We're old friends of your father's."

Three more tigers padded out from behind him. Ari gasped uneasily. DJ swallowed nervously. "Oh. Well, he and our mom should be up in about an hour, so you're welcome to hang out until they do."

"Hmm...that is generous of you, but...we can't wait that long." The tiger replied. The four sabers scooped each of the cubs in their jaws. The cubs screamed and yelled for help.