CHAPTER 26: Bombshell

As the sky was darkening for the end of the day, the citizens of Duloc had once again packed the crowd area near the entrance to the stadium. The President had an important announcement in regards to the summit that he's meant to be attending, face-to-face against Prince Charming with the intent of preventing whatever Charming himself has got in mind escalating, in which that will be accomplished by talks and negotiations between the two. Shrek and his family were preparing to leave, although Shrek still had that desire to somehow avenge Felicia for what she had gone through thanks to Charming, but ultimately, they came here for one purpose, and due to the generosity of the President, that purpose had been fulfilled, rendering their time in this place pointless. They didn't attend the President's important announcement, because despite Shrek genuinely wanting to give Prince Charming what he deserves, they wanted to distance themselves from that situation altogether and in particular, Fiona and Lillian. They didn't stop bragging Shrek about the fact he ignored the tiny dwarf in Rumpelstiltskin before, where he was clearly imprisoned harshly.

The President emerged from the far door at the governing castle, walking alongside his four cabinet members situated besides the bodyguards. Once the President arrived at the podium, his four cabinet members stood in even numbers on both sides; two on the President's left, and two on the President's right. He adjusted his thick coat before moving forwards with the declaration.

"I have just chaired a high-level meeting with my cabinet...where it was agreed that we will NOT be attending the proposed summit, and there are bright and clear reasons for our decision...when we look at our dignified nation, we embark upon the memories of how we transformed it into the glorious place it is today, and we're proud of what we've accomplished thus far. The People's Nation of Duloc believes in efficiency, not inefficiency, and we especially don't believe in appeasements. What you all saw today, in the form of who's supposedly referred to as 'Prince Charming', was nothing more than a gang of thugs who clearly have intentions of a dangerous nature. We want to use our armoury in times where we really need it, not in times where it is inefficient and ultimately, in useless conflicts. I intentionally claimed to him that I'd accept a summit, but in reality, I only said it to drive him off. However, my cabinet minister for the armoury, and myself had some specific discussions in regards to the prospects..."

The armoury minister for Duloc nodded, as he looked to the podium with the President.

"We will be strengthening up the entrance to our Duloc nation for the time being. We take these threats seriously, regardless of how minimal the source of the threats is, and it is in my cabinet's interest, alongside mine, to protect the people, which is why, for approximately two weeks following this announcement, knights will be armoured up with bigger weapons amongst many other equipment that'll be needed to tackle a potential, unlikely, certain occurrence..."

The President looked up to the citizens, as they all seemed to nod, and subsequently, they clapped; they didn't take Charming seriously either, despite the fact that there was a suffering prisoner attached to a chain.

"If it comes down to the point that we have to take action, as much as we don't want to, we will have no choice, but to totally destroy the supposed 'regime' of the man leading the knights down to our nation today. Should he attack us, he will be on a suicide mission for himself, and for his group of thugs. We are Duloc, and we will not back down from a threat, regardless of the weakness of him...thank you, very much..." the President said, ending his speech to a loud collection of claps and cheers as he waved at the crowd.

As the President watched the crowd of his own citizens cheer for his decision, two guys amongst the crowd, standing directly besides one another, had looked like pure statues in that they didn't move at all. All they did, and quite suspiciously, was stare at the President. One had a pony tail within his hair, wearing regular, yet somewhat-ripped civilian clothes, and the same was for the other one, except that his hair wasn't as long. They looked at each other, nodding, as it appeared as if they had gathered some information of some kind, but what, precisely? as their vacant movements distinguished their bodies, the President briefly looked at them, and he was surprised to find that their eyes have seemingly kept themselves on himself this entire time. He looked at them as if they were a far distance away, before ditching the suspicious mindset he was just getting. The two of them took for the tunnel exit.

Shrek and his family were at the opening of Duloc, realising that the sky was getting dark. Dragon had returned, and Donkey was already on her, waiting to fly. The dronkeys had remained with her all of this time, because they were frankly petrified of the things they had seen. Lillian and Fiona still didn't get off of Shrek's back about that little guy chained up with Prince Charming's forces.

"Shrek, you were standing a couple of steps away, and if you really wanted to get back at Charming, you'd have saved him. Why did you do that?" Fiona asked.

"Come on baby, let's head on back!" Donkey said, with Dragon smiling at her husband as he steadily remained on her back to prepare for the flight.

Everybody, including the Three Little pigs and Pinocchio, were all going to be given a flight back; it was the normal for her, though, and one of the benefits of being a big dragon is that this really isn't a hard task for her at all.

"Fiona, what do you want me to say?"

"You left him with Charming, when you knew full well that he was in-"

"Listen, I've had my doubts about that, but you have no idea what he did to me, and what he nearly did to me ultimately...I DID want to get him out of there, secretly, but how can I trust somebody who's not only deceiving, but contains the capability to wipe out my entire existence?!"

"I uh, w-what?" Fiona struggled.

"Exactly. I can't explain it to you, Fiona, it's something you wouldn't understand, despite me telling you on numerous occasions. Let's drop it, anyways, I don't wanna argue in front of Felicia after the experience she's just gone through with Charming..."

"Well Shrek, would it not have been...generous of you to at least try and let the past slip, whatever he may have done?" Lillian asked, as the entire group began boarding Dragon.

Shrek simply sighed, and didn't respond.

"But uh, what's the plan anyways?"

"I don't know, Fiona, but given that we're now aware of what's surrounding the swamp, is it honestly a good idea for us to go back? I wa-"

"Why don't we visit Far-Far away, Fiona and Shrek?" Lillian suggested.

"You've gotta be kiddi-" Shrek was interrupted as he was still ensuring that his kids were on Dragon before boarding her himself.

"Why not, Shrek? I think it'd be a good time to catch up with Artie, see how he's settled in with running the kingdom?"

"Fiona, it's a big stretch to go from saving our daughter from a maniac, to suddenly wanting to visit another kingdom as if nothing had happened...it's out of the blue, isn't it?"

"Okay, genius, what do you propose we do? you said it yourself; Charming's clearly got some activity going on around the swamp, so surely we'd be smart in at least going to Far-Far away to let everything around here cool off...or at least, let time run it's course?"

"But what about Felicia, Fiona? she can't be expected to...forget it, you wanna go to Far-Far away? we'll go to Far-Far away, but I have no idea if Artie will allow us to temporarily get somewhere to stay..."

"Don't be such a drama queen, Shrek, he'll allow us..."

"Ooo, you hear that, baby? we're gonna go to Far-Far away instead, is that okay?" Donkey asked, with Dragon surprisingly smiling and nodding.

Granted, they could stay at Duloc, but given that Charming's now targeted the nation, Shrek and the family felt like it wasn't safe enough. Plus, as mentioned before, they've already got what they needed from the nation; it's assistance in rescuing Felicia, precisely what they had accomplished, so what was the use in remaining, especially since it's now in the eyes of Charming?

Shrek walked towards Dragon's gigantic wing as he was the last one to board her. As he walked, Pinocchio, Puss, and pretty much everybody on Dragon had looked directly ahead of Shrek's body, caught by surprise. Fiona looked confused, Lillian looked concerned, and Donkey kept looking back at whatever it was they were seeing from Shrek. That was the same for the rest on Dragon. Shrek looked up, as he noticed their expressions. Dragon also looked at them, and it caught her by surprise at the vacancy of the sight.

"What're you all looking at?" Shrek said, turning around to what was a chilling sight.

Two guys, wearing ripped civilian clothes, were standing directly adjacent to Shrek, albeit a distance away. It was almost as if they were spies, just watching Shrek and the group without them being aware of being watched. Shrek noticed their stances, and he walked off of Dragon's wing to stand directly behind it. They just...stood there, not moving a single bit, as their expressions were also straight. Fiona and the kids were skeptical.

"Uh, Shrek, you might wanna-"

"No, hang on, Fiona, they want something..."

It was strange, because the citizens back at Duloc were quieting down for the night, so not only did Shrek have to cope with seeing two statue-like figures staring at him, but the breeze of the air also added to the mysterious atmosphere due to how quiet the citizens were. Shrek began walking closer and closer to them, before suddenly, and both at the same time, they had took off like two cheetahs for the direction of the sunflower fields. Shrek briefly chased after them.

"HEY! HEY!" he yelled, but to no use; they had ran through the sunflower fields already.

Shrek walked back towards Dragon with everyone on her.

"Something tells me that Charming's got eyes beyond the back of his head..." Fiona said.

"If they were truly apart of his little group or whatever, I would of loved to be told where he is at the minute. How weird was that, though?"

"Look, I think we oughta get outta here before we get ourselves in more trouble..." Donkey said.

Were the two guys just now apart of Charming's rising regime movement? was the question running through Shrek's head; if he's became that sly and slithery, then Charming has definitely evolved into a bigger threat than he once was. Granted, Dragon could easily track them down, or she could just fly to Charming's little camp and end it all, but they didn't want to risk it, especially now that Felicia's only just returned from being in the grasp of Charming. Shrek took one final glance at the direction of the swaying sunflowers, boarding Dragon entirely. They were gone; nothing could be heard in those sunflowers, which made it creepy. Next stop, though, Far-Far away.

Rumpelstiltskin was chained against a tree trunk, closer to Prince Charming after returning from Duloc. He was writing something else on paper, with a struggling Rumpelstiltskin trying to plea with him to let him go.

"Why do you want me here, Charming? it doesn't have to be this way..."

"Keep pestering me, and I'll decrease the time you'll be waiting for when you meet what I've had planned for you all of this time..."

Rumpelstiltskin had grown a small dose of confidence, but not enough to fully protest against Charming physically, and he couldn't anyways, due to the fact that he's chained up.

"You know what? maybe Shrek wasn't so bad after all, huh? I can admit my wrongs...I saved that little orge from YOU, but you seem intent on using your plastic knights here to accomplish something that'll spell out your doom..." the dwarf said, with his heart pumping faster after saying that.

"Oh Rumpel, please, do you think this is about THEM? I've got that President right in my hands, when I let him think that I truly mean business, haha, he never will have guessed just how wrong he was. And as for your little claim, let me remind you..." he moved away from the carriage, holding a piece of paper in his hand. "You think I WANT to have these guys in my position when I accomplish what I HAVE to do?"

"W-What're you saying?"

"Come on Rumpel, you're obnoxious, but you're not obnoxious enough to get my point, right? I need these guys right now, until I'm powerful enough that I can, one-by-one, eliminate them so absolutely nobody can threaten my position...or my mother's position..."

"T-Threaten y-you-"

"I'd add more, but you're a prisoner, I've already said too much. Listen, when the time comes, you'll be glad that I killed you. Like I said, the wrath of my PERSONAL regime will be unbearable, to the point that you'll beg for your killing to take you away, haha..."

Prince Charming lifted up the paper to show what was written on it to Rumpelstiltskin; it was very brief, but the dwarf's eyes were laid on it for a long enough duration to get what the words were. Of course, Charming had no intent on showing this letter to the President when he gets here, (even though he isn't actually coming for a summit after all) but rather, a few days from now, delivered by one of his undercover knights to check the possible routes when it comes to the Invasion of Duloc. The words sent a chill in Rumpel's spine despite standing up to Charming briefly. And what's more, by the time the letter is shown to the governors of Duloc, the invasion would be moments away from starting, so they wouldn't have time to react physically.

The Empire of Charming has formally declared war on the PND. We're coming for you.

And by god, chilling, it was.