"All of 'em?" Donkey asked eagerly.
"No, I still couldn't find Mom."
Donkey shook his head in wonder. "Where the hell she at?" he muttered. "Well, you all fly on ahead to the castle. And it would be sure appreciated if there was some kinda roasted animal on the..." His words abruptly ran out and his eyes widened in horror as the remaining triplets began to sob. "Oh-no, no, no...I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry!"
"Here, we'll take them," a hybrid said, and two of the siblings came forward and took a kid.
"Thanks," Donkey muttered with a sigh. He looked up at the loft and jumped up onto the ladder. "Puss! Come on, man, we leavin!'"
"He's not up there."
Donkey looked at Coco, pushing himself off the steps. "What?"
"He's probably catching mice," Debbie said dismissively.
"Yeah, you go on ahead. Imma just take a minute and look for 'im."
The hybrids left the hut, flying away together; Farkle and Felicia each riding one. Donkey clopped down the steps and began searching around the hut. "Puss!" he called. "Time to go, man!"
When all was quiet, he walked away from Farquaad's castle, searching the ground and peering up into the trees. "Come on, you pain in the ass!"
But the only voice he heard was his own, echoing throughout the glade. Raising his voice, he gave it one last shot. "Alright, fine, you do your thing! You know where we'll be!"
Waiting a few more seconds to no avail, he turned and broke into a gallop after the children.
Farquaad's castle was not as quiet as Bananas had promised; of course, to be fair, Donkey arrived last. "I never thought I'd say this, but I missed ya," Shrek said.
"Really?"
"Really, really," Shrek assured him.
"Aw, man, I missed you too," Donkey said, as Fiona knelt to hug him.
When she pulled away, she framed his head in her hands. "Donkey, what happened?"
"Uh..." Donkey folded his ears, averting his eyes. He looked at the hybrids. "You know what, it's chilly out here; why don't you take the kids inside? Explore the place."
As the hybrids loaded up two of the three children, Shrek's eyes narrowed in realization. Predicting his son's demise, he waited until his other kids were out of earshot before beginning the interrogation. "Donkey?"
"Yeah."
"Where's Fergus?"
"And where's Puss?" Fiona added, showing off the hat.
Donkey sighed, sitting down and watching Shrek as he pulled the blue rope into his hands. "Well, basically it's a whole long ugly mess, but-"
"Shorten it," Shrek demanded.
"Okay. Okay." Donkey looked down at the ground, unable to look at them. "Well, Puss and I were watchin' yer son; he was doing some cute stuff..." He scraped a hoof over the cement. "And we heard this noise, this big crash; and your other son screamed. So I was running towards him and I saw this big fire. I couldn't get past it."
"How did it start?" Fiona asked.
"I'll tell ya how it started," Shrek told her, "It was one of his kids."
Fiona barely looked at him. "I was talking to Donkey," she said coldly.
Donkey looked at her briefly before returning his eyes to the sidewalk. "Actually, Shrek, it-it wasn't so much one of my kids, as it was one of your four-legged...furry companions."
Fiona withdrew in horror. For a long time, nobody spoke; and when Fiona broke the silence, her words frightened him. "You? It was you? You did this to us?"
"No! No, not me; it was your...other four-legged, furry companion. The one who ain't here."
Shrek looked down at the rope, wanting to wrap it around his scrawny little neck. Meeting Donkey's eyes, he began to advance. "I tell ya, you have got some nerve blaming him. Do you really expect me to believe he's the one who did something so irresponsible?"
Donkey glared at him. "Shrek, I ain't lyin', okay? You can go ask him. Oh, wait-no, he's not here!"
Shrek hoisted the bulky rope into one arm, then grabbed Donkey by an ear and pulled him into the castle. "Hey, man-owie! Lemme go! Come on, Shrek..."
Fiona followed them, grimacing.
"It wasn't me! It was Puss-he's the one-ow! He lit a candle; you think I could do that?"
"No, but you could lie to me!"
"I ain't lyin'! Shrek, I ain't lyin'!"
Shrek never let go of his ear, pulling him all the way past the trees that divided the lanes, through the tunnel and into the courtyard; where two of the hybrids had gotten into the pen and were play-fighting. However, when they saw their father being dragged in by a body part, the fun was over. They clambered from the pen as the other hybrids joined them, and the ogre children turned on the ground to face their furious father.
"Which of you knows what happened?" Shrek thundered, finally releasing Donkey, who gave his head a shake.
"We all know," Eclair volunteered. "I mean, we were outside; but Puss explained how the fire started."
"Explain it to me!"
Fiona stopped beside Shrek, looking on in quiet concern.
"Puss lit a candle, to see why Fiona likes them," Coco chipped in.
Shrek sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He looked at Fiona. "I should have seen it," he began, his voice rising as he spoke. "Of course they're going to use the same cover story."
"Man, when will you start to trust me?" Donkey asked.
"Donkey, you married a fire-breathing dragon and you had fire-breathing kids! Now, you can't seriously expect me to believe they're harmless. They burned my face; they put a hole in Fiona's blanket..."
"Shrek," Fiona murmured.
"No, I tried, okay? I tried to live with them and put up with them and this is what I get! Well, you know something, Donkey?" Shrek continued, as he dropped the rope and began to advance. "I'm sick of you, I'm sick of your kids, and I'm sick of living together. All I wanted when I got home was my home. I didn't want to leave in the first place and you destroyed everything!"
Donkey had withdrawn as he was being yelled at. Looking over at his kids, he slowly stood up straight, glaring at Shrek. "I didn't destroy nothing," he bit. "And you...you are just too self-involved to see that. If I were guilty, I'da left. Just like he did."
Shrek still glowered at him.
"I ain't lyin' and neither is all'a my kids. But if you wanna be ignorant and alone, well then you just go on ahead."
Donkey moved past them and walked away, sparing one last look over his shoulder. As the hybrids flew after him, he looked at Fiona instead, and his face softened when he saw the apology on her face.
Looking ahead, he broke into a gallop and followed his kids.
Shrek threw the rope into the nearest wheelbarrow and began gathering the rope fence that constructed the pen in which he had wrestled the knights. Walking to the wheelbarrow, he dumped it in and grabbed the handles.
"So that's it?" Fiona demanded. "You won't even go after them?"
"Why would you want me to after he killed Fergus?"
She walked hesitantly toward him. "Okay. I know you're angry. You're in shock, and grieving...But you don't know that he's guilty. You weren't here."
"Yeah, because of you! If I'd stayed, none of this would have happened! The first time we leave him alone with them-" He was cut off by the sound of a crying child.
Fiona bent and placed Puss' hat on Farkle's head. Then she picked up both children and stood up, meeting Shrek's eyes. "Shrek...whatever you're doing, don't."
"Don't? Don't be mad? Don't grieve?"
"No. Don't spread rumors. You don't have a side to this story."
They held eye contact for several uncomfortable seconds further; then she began to carry the kids toward the pale, pristine castle, and Shrek began to pull the wheelbarrow through the courtyard.