The Mirror: Chapter 10

~Real World~

Private dashed after the reflection. Luckily the younger penguin was fast, and he was able to keep up.

Skipper and Rico fell in behind him, Skipper then got an idea. He and Rico stopped and turned different ways, "Private! Lead him to the entrance of the zoo!" Skipper called.

Private then slid on his belly and was able to get Kowalski to turn towards the zoo entrance by coming in on his right.

Skipper and Rico were waiting there.

Kowalski stopped and a cage fell on him, and trapped him.

Where do those cages come from? Private thought.

Skipper went up to the bars of the cage, "Where's the real Kowalski?" He questioned.

"Nowhere that you'll ever find him!" The reflection replied.

Rico growled and spit out his flamethrower.

The reflection smiled, "fine, you can hurt me however you like. But just remember, that if I go, you'll never see Kowalski again."

Rico hesitated and lowered his weapon. "Where's Kowalski?" He growled, repeating Skipper's question.

Private went up to the cage. "He was in the mirror when you smashed it, Where is he now?"

Kowalski narrowed his eyes, "Where else? In the mirror world. You'll never see him again. HE is the reflection now, not me! Like it or not like it, that's just the way life is, deal with it!"

Rico took an angry step foward, but Skipper held him back. "Is there anyway to get him back here?"

"Like I would ever tell you!"

Private put out his flipper, "Rico, Kowalski's invention please"

Rico put the gun in Private's flipper.

"Woah! Put that- put that away!" Kowalski trembled.

"Tell us how to get the real Kowalski back!" Private threatened the reflection with his flipper on the trigger.

Kowalski struggled to the back of the cage. "There is no way to get him back! The only way to get him back would be to go into Mirror World yourselves and go get him!"

"And how do we do that?" Skipper asked.

"You- You would have to shoot a broken mirror"

~Mirror World~

Skipper and Private had left the HQ, and Rico was supposed to make sure Kowalski stayed in the HQ while he talked to Julien.

"Kowalski I know they must have done horrible things to you but… please you have to believe me you're going to get out of this!"

Kowalski sighed, "Julien… why do you even care?"

"Because I care about the real world and the people there! Don't you! You've lived your entire life there! I only lived- I mean… I wish I had lived…."

"Did you just say you only lived?" Kowalski asked astonished.

Julien shook his head, "no… that… that was just a… slip of the tongue…"

Kowalski stared at him intently, "Julien…. I've got no secrets anymore. I was…. Beaten… injured…." Kowalski took a deep breath "violated…"

Julien's eyes widened, and he looked back at Rico. The penguins face got an evil smile on his face.

Julien looked back, "when that happened… was that when you…"

"lost hope? Yes… I… I believe so…" Kowalski whispered.

Julien sighed, "I… I should tell you… there are… a lot of time warps… every day involving this Mirror World…. Most of the people in the real world don't know about them… people… get… switched."

Kowalski gave him a confused look. "Switched?"

Julien paused for a while. "I never told anyone this… but… I am one of the few reflections… that did get switched. Or… should I say… people. That got switched"

Kowalski thought for a moment, "does… does that mean"

"Yeah… because of the time warps that sometimes happen in this world… when I was about… 8 years old or so… I switched with my reflection." Julien sighed again, "I'm not supposed to be here… it's too late for me to go back. It's been too long… but you. You still have a chance to go back and they… harmed you… because they knew that you had the strength to get out, but I know you can recover. You have friends that care about you, and I'm going to help you too! Because I know what it feels like to be separated from the people you love."

Kowalski took a moment to let it sink in. "but… what if I still fail… they'll…. They'll hurt me again…:"

Julien shook his head, "please Kowalski. I grew up for the better half of my life here, I got used to it, because I was so young and… I had time to grow, and recover. But you've lived the better half of you're life in the REAL world! You're going to be constantly hurt if you stay here. They lied to you Kowalski; they're going to do what they did to you every single day if you stay here."

Rico came up behind them. "You, go now!" He growled.

Julien narrowed his eyes, "Skipper never put a limit to how long I stay here!"

Rico picked him up by his neck fur, "well if you're staying here to talk to the slave, then I don't need Skipper's approval to get you out of here."

"I- I'm not a slave!" Kowalski shakily shouted.

Rico tossed Julien to the side like a rag doll, and the lemur looked in horror as Rico forced Kowalski to the floor. "So the lemur gave you some of you're lost hope back?" Rico mocked, "Looks like I'll just have to get rid of it again…"

"No!" Kowalski cried, struggling in the stronger penguin's grip.

Julien filled with anger, and let every reason why he needed to protect Kowalski fill his head. He thought of protecting his family he had left behind from what Kowalski's reflection would do to them… and how Kowalski had just risked himself to protect him. Julien leapt onto Rico's back, "Don't touch him!"