Disclaimer:I do not own anything belonging to the creators of "Ice Age" other than my OC which will make an appearance in later chapters.

Note: After seeing the latest film of Ice Age, 'Dawn of the Dinosaurs', I was touched that Buck sacrificed his chance to become part of the herd and chose to stay with his fellow dinos. Diego's terrible fatigue hadn't all been explained properly; we didn't know if he was sick or was just losing his touch because of aging and I'd like to expand on that a bit more, especially since Diego is a favourite of mine ;)

Also, this is my first Ice Age story, and I might be very rusty at the characterization.

Enjoy, and happy reading.

It wasn't that his spot near the extinguished campfire was uncomfortable, Diego couldn't sleep is all. He should be, since his ongoing fatigue kept kicking in frequently every time a hunt came; but he had a strange feeling of anxiety whenever he tried to get some rest. Unfortunately, dawn was at it's peak, and he hadn't gotten a chance at sleep. Instead, he had kept watch of any possible dangers.

Yawning, Diego got up and stretched. Shaking his head to try and rid of his tired hazel eyes. It wasn't until then that two cunning petite opossums who had already been awake long ago and had snuck off, would grant him his wish of permanent wake for the day.

The skittering of two feet faded near the smilodon tiger alerting the saber. Diego swiftly turned, to suddenly cry out when two opossums started shooting him with tiny pebbles from their straws. Every morning they would surprise him, and they'd never run out of ideas. He growled as the twins landed on their two feet giving a high-five to each other. Smirking, Diego playfully swiped at the two pranksters while they were distracted, earning a surprise yelp from both opossums before they retreated behind their awoken niece.

"Ah you two," Diego waved them off, "I was only joking with you."

"You could've killed us!" Crash cried defensively, "Like last time."

"That was on purpose," replied Diego, with a smirk, "Because you two wouldn't stop pestering me."

Peaches giggled, "What did they do, Uncle Diego?" She yawned.

"I'll tell you what he did," Eddie jumped in, "He ate us!"

An awkward silence. Diego rolled his eyes, "If I ate you, you wouldn't be here."

Crash waved a lone finger at him, "Uh uh uh! Eddie and I got out before you could swallow us because we had our straws."

"You mean twigs that break so easily?" Diego replied sarcastically, "Do you know how unrealistic that is? It's not even true."

"But it's adventurous!" Peaches giggled. The twins began cuddling her, petting her soft fur.

"Aw, that's right, Uncle Crash and Eddie are your heroes!" cooed Eddie. The trio snuggled together.

It wasn't before the whole herd was awake is when they rejoined with the other mammals alike. Manfred had been able to fix the damaged playground for Peaches, and he and Ellie stayed there, along with a few neighbor kids; while the others had gotten bored and decided to do something else. Sid had gone off to annoy some of his fellow mammals, while the twins followed along to watch the sloth humiliate himself, and Diego had went to hunt.

Ellie stood beside her husband, keeping watch of the kids as Manfred did the same; especially with Peaches. She sighed, and this caught Manny's attention. He looked at his wife worriedly.

"Hey, is something wrong Ellie?"

She looked at him, "It's just... have you noticed something about Diego?"

Manny was relieved, "He looks fine to me."

"No, he looks weak, and he always seems tired. Manny, I think you should talk to him." she said.

"What?!" exclaimed the mammoth, "Don't you remember what happened last time?"

"But that was different, Manny." Ellie replied with a hint of worry in her voice.

Manny debated, "I just don't want the same thing to happen again like last time. Diego's my friend, and I don't want him to go."

"Oh but Manny, what if he's suffering here?" the she-mammoth explained, "There's not enough food here for a tiger."

"But Ellie..."

"Sometimes you just have to let go, I'm sure he'll come back." Ellie smiled softly, and Manny followed with a nod and a smile of his own.

Perfect. A lone deer took another bite of the grass that had been growing around a boulder beside a tree, Diego was lucky to have spotted the very same deer that had out run him far too many times. It was time for payback; he promised himself he'd get the deer this time. Crouching, the smilodon tiger stalked his prey cunningly, carefully avoiding anything that would make a sound and scare his prey away. Once he was close enough, Diego waited, and then launched at the deer; kicking his hind legs off the ground and growling as he did so.

A twig broke off in the distance, and the startled deer ran. It was too late for Diego and he hit the hard rock with a cry of pain. Whoever it was that broke that twig, they were in for some big trouble. The saber flickered his eyes to rid of the blur in his vision. Instead, everything turned black.