I don't own Ice Age characters.

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The reddish-brown streak of fur on Diego's neck stood ruffled, every hair on its end. He was letting out a long, rumbling growl from the depth of his chest that he was barely aware of, though the threatening effect was considerably dampened with his obviously shallow, fast breathing.

Something was moving in those trees. Advancing on him. And he knew there was no running away.

They would never give up the chase. He was outnumbered and overpowered. He might as well keep whatever he could scrap up of his self- esteem and face them with some resemblance of pride.

Yep, they were very close now. From all four directions he could hear them, smell them. He dug his claws in the ground beneath him to prevent himself from bursting into an erratic escape attempt. His heart was beating against his ribcage so hard that it hurt.

And through the haze of utter horror, intense helplessness and stubborn denial, he wondered how the heck did he manage to get himself into this?

No, he corrected himself between growls and shaky breaths; how did I manage to let them get me into this? I fought with them. I betrayed my friends, my family. I became the shadow of my former self for them. I would have died for them. And this, this is how they thank me?

The trees before him shook and then parted, revealing the massive, brown form of one of his pursuers. On his left, another huge figure made its appearance. Diego's eyes darted wildly from one enormous mammal to another. Any rudimentary plan of escape was cut short when a clamp of bushes on his right revealed to have been hiding a much smaller, grayish animal, but probably the one that was going to be his final downfall.

"You promised", the grayish figure simpered.

Of course; playing on my sense of honor. "An extracted promise- "

"Knock it off, tracker. We're waiting. She's waiting," the largest one spoke quite gruffly.

"Manny…" Diego mouthed, trying to find some sign of understanding, some mute agreement in his friend's- friend's! – eyes.

No such luck. Manny's eyes were cold and unwavering.

"Please, Diego? She's so happy about it", Ellie tried a different approach. As if an experienced hunter couldn't see a deception when he smelled one!

"And you promised", Sid repeated from the right, making Diego's teeth grind. "Can't be that hard, now can it?"

Diego tried to speak, but with his throat completely dry, no words came out. His whole body was shaking; he couldn't say if he was freezing, or his skin was melting away.

"The sooner you start it, the sooner it's gonna be over", Sid added another grain of unexpected wisdom from his repertoire, and Diego reluctantly admitted to himself that he couldn't beat that. He could swear that he caught a glimpse of absolute delight in Sid's hazel eyes, no matter how sympathetic the sloth sounded.

"I'm not…" he managed to squeeze out a growl in spite of the tightness in his dry throat, "I'm not…"

"Damn it, Diego! We went through thick and thin together! You're not backing up from this!" Manny stepped out, adding a considerable amount of threat in his general disposition. Thanks to his size, it couldn't have been much of an effort. "I'm fairly tired of this! You've had plenty of time to prepare yourself! Now, tracker!"

"It's her birthday", Ellie added in her most molasses-dripping voice ever, batting her eyelashes with carefully calculated subtlety.

"And you promised", Sid sealed it.

"Damn it, Manny," Diego let out in a hoarse growl, clinging to a desperate hope that at least Manny would understand, "damn it, I know it's Peaches' birthday, I know, but, damn it, Manny, I'M NOT GOING TO PLAY TO BE HER BABY SISTER!!!!"