Two brothers in the crater of their own creation. One lying sprawled out beneath a symbol of his most recent cruelty. The other standing before him with spear in hand aimed at his kin's throat.
"Any last words? Something that might go on your tombstone or an inspirational poster?" Sage snarled as he glared ice cold daggers down at his quarry.
"Heh! You wouldn't kill me! You couldn't hurt a plant, let alone your own flesh and blood!" Koto sneered and gave his kin a contemptuous side eye.
"True but the journey that brought us here has shown me that sometimes it is the only option! Goodbye brother!" Sage proclaimed and lifted his weapon over his head for the killing strike when suddenly, his rancorous resolve dissolved. For within a blink, Koto's form changed from the monster of a man that he had become to the little boy he once was, just Sage knew him all those seasons ago.
"Babak, what are you doing!?" Little Koto pleaded as he looked up at his brother with wounded puppy eyes. "Why do you wanna hurt me!?"
"Wha-what!?" Sage stuttered, staggered by this sudden turn of events, by the return of the sweet little lemur he had missed so much. His gaze then swiftly softened and he slowly lowered his weapon to where it's tip tapped the ground while he tenderly tried to reassure his brother through quivering breathes, "N-no. No, I don't want to hurt you! I...I…!"
"Don't you love me anymore!?" Koto pitifully implored, his little voice brimming with hurt, his tiny body trembling as tears started to pool in his innocent eyes.
"Of course I love you! You're my brother! I'll always love you!" Sage swore with tender earnest. He then looked down at his hands still firmly grasped around the spear and that's when realization crashed down upon him like a tidal wave. "Oh gods, what am I doing!?" He cried, mortified, but when he tried to throw down his weapon, his hands remained clamped down upon it. Confused, Sage tried again and again to release his hold but his fingers only tightened their grip on the deadly instrument and then his arms began to raise it back up into the air.
"Wha-no. No! No, I don't want this! Stop! Let go! Please!" Sage beseeched, watching in mounting horror as he aimed the spear's razor sharp tip at Koto's heart as the little lemur lay trembling on the ground, gazing upon his brother with eyes brimming with a bitter cocktail of tears, terror and heart shattered betrayal. Stabbing Sage's own like a thousand spears, with the blood pouring out in his panicked plea.
"Koto, run!"
But Koto remained where he lay, his eyes locked with the spear's head as Sage thrust it forward, his mouth agape, his voice gone as a horrified howl escaped from his kin, but just as the weapon was a whisker away from the little lemur's heart, the world went black.
"Nnnnnnnnooooooooo!"
Sage's eyes flew open as he sat up swift as lightning and screamed out into the darkness. Howled into the black void that enveloped him body and soul until he faintly heard another voice muffled within his own. To which his screaming was replaced by heavy panting as he frantically looked this way and that and that's when he saw Clover's silhouette beside him.
"Sage, are you alright?" Sage heard his companion ask in concern and after a moment in which his eyes adjusted to the darkness shrouding them, saw that she was giving him a matching expression.
"I...I..." Sage gave a staggered stutter as he realized that he was sitting on some hard surface that he could only faintly see. So he reached down and when his fingertips brushed bark, he realized that himself and Clover were still in the croak of a thick tall tree where they had fallen asleep in each other's arms hours before. Then, his ears picked up a new sound faintly booming in the background and when he looked out into the night, he saw a dome of light flashing in the distance, illuminating the surrounding jungle in a kaleidoscope of colors. Signifying that animals were still celebrating their victory over the mountain lemurs. Over Koto.
"Sage?" Clover asked with gentle concern and Sage turned back to meet her matching gaze shining in a sliver of moonlight now peeking out from the clouds that must have been covering the night sky. "What the blazes were you screaming about? Did you have a nightmare?"
To which tears started to pool in Sage's eyes and he sucked in a quivering breath.
"Sage..." Clover said and reached out a gentle paw but before her fingertips could even brush his, Sage swiftly grabbed Clover, wrapped her in his arms and declared,
"I killed him!"
"What?" Clover asked, confused.
"Koto! We were back at the other day when we...when he...except this time, you weren't there to stop me and Koto was a little lemur again! He was so scared and hurt and I killed him! My sweet little brother!" Sage continued his anguished explanation, his body rattling as he held onto Clover like a lifeline, digging his fingers through her beautiful orange fur as he let out wretched sobs bellowed from the bowels of his heart. While sharp pangs pulsed through Clover's, stabbing it all the more when Sage ruefully lamented, "If it weren't for you, I would have killed him! My own brother! What is wrong with me!?"
"You were trying to protect everyone! You thought it was the only option!" Clover argued with tender earnest.
"It wasn't!" Sage snapped, pulled Clover away from himself and held his stunned companion at arm's length as he croaked out a woeful, "It wasn't!" He then let Clover go and his voice rose once more as he went on in grief stricken shame, "I could have restrained him! I could have had him locked away safe and sound! Then, he'd still be alive and could still be saved! But I didn't! I killed him!"
"What!? You didn't kill Koto! King Julien did!"
"Koto wouldn't have been under the statue if I hadn't kept him there! If I hadn't been so angry and ready to throw away our brotherhood like meaningless junk! If I had just taken him alive then and there, he'd be alive now but I didn't and he's dead because of me! It's my fault!" Sage snapped, then huffed and puffed for a moment or two in which anger swiftly gave way to sorrow, his voice quivering as he then croaked a contrite, "It's my fault!", that gave way to pitiful whimpering, with Clover's own heart breaking as she helplessly listened all the while.
Then, as tears startled trickling down Sage's cheeks, Clover desperately racked her brain for some comforting words to ease her companion's misery until she silently scooted up against his side and gave him a tender hug instead. To which after a stunned second in which he sucked in a startled breath and swiftly looked to see what she was doing, Sage promptly pulled Clover to his chest where he enveloped her in his own tender embrace. Where Clover rested her head and listened to his heart let out rattled whimpers that swiftly gave way to wretched wails of sorrow, with rueful tears soon soaking the lady lemur's shoulder. To which Clover squeezed Sage ever more tender and tight and wept with him. For all the could have and should have dones and all that had been lost, the pair wept. As clouds slid across the patchy sky above, as Clover gently rubbed Sage's back and his sobs slowly simmered, they wept. Until after a while, Sage whispered softly and sincerely into Clover's ear,
"Thank you for showing me another way!"
"You're welcome." Clover said solemnly, not knowing what else to say. What else could be said? Then, Sage asked her in kind,
"Clover, can I ask you a favor?"
"Of course, anything." Clover tenderly told him.
"The next time you see Crimson, I want you to talk to her. To try to mend your relationship with her."
"What!?" Clover incredulously exclaimed and shoved herself away from Sage to give him a matching expression, to which Sage anxiously tried to explain,
"I know you two have a troubled relationship…!"
"That's putting it mildly!"
"Please!" Sage implored, stunning Clover into silence. "Please, just listen! I know that things are so messed up between you and her but you both came into this world together! Your souls are bound in an eternal bond that can never be broken! Now even when one of you is the first to leave this world for the next! But the absence of that soul will leave a terrible emptiness in the one left behind! A part of your own soul gone, withyour heart feeling like it's going to shatter at the very whisper of his name!"
Soon as those last syllables left his lips, Sage's eyes went wide and he sucked in a sharp rattling breath of realization, then self consciously looked over at Clover. Who looked back at him with her expression that of tender sorrow, with the moon reflecting her gentle meadow eyes as she patiently waited for her companion to continue. Which he did after he swallowed a lump in his throat and took a quivering deep breath.
"Koto is dead and there are so many things that I never got to tell him! So many regrets that I have to carry for the rest of my life! But Crimson is alive! You both are! You still have a chance to fix what's been broken! To be a family! Please, don't throw that away!" And even when he stopped speaking, Sage continued to beseech Clover with his eyes. Like two crystal clears pools shimmering in the moonlight, reflecting a lifetime of regret both to come and what could be. That gripped Clover's heart as she processed his anguished plea. That held her stunned gaze for some long moments until she let out a weary sigh and solemnly conceded.
"Okay. Okay. Next time I see Crimson, I'll try to talk to her."
To which Sage sighed in relief and said to Clover softly and sincerely, "Thank you!"
At which Clover told him with earnest concern, "Hey! I can't promise that we'll talk and everything will be all sunshine and rainbows between us from now on or that Crimson will even want to talk! What I can promise that I will try to have an adult conversation with her and will keep trying but even then, I can't guarantee success! You understand that, right?"
"Of course! You can't control Crimson's heart any more then you can control the stars! Regardless of the outcome, you putting in the effort is what means so much to me and it's for that I am grateful!" Sage told her with tender earnest and Clover was so taken aback by the warmth radiating from that statement, by the softness of his smile and crystal blue eyes, that it was all she could say in reply but a solemn and stunned,
"You're welcome."
.
.
.
Sage watched moonbeams dance across a dark throne room. Where he had spent much of his nights as of late when Clover wasn't scolding him like a child for hours on end, sometimes being able to catch a decent night's rest on the royal chamber's couch, sometimes not. He certainly wasn't catching many winks that night as what had transpired the previous day played back in his mind over and over again along with other memories. Including back to a time when he had known his wife. Of a plea and a broken promise.
For as fate would have it, it was Sage who ended up crossing paths with Crimson first. Of course, he had wasted no time in recounting his conversation with Clover concerning the sister's troubled relationship, wrapping up his tale with Clover's wish to reconcile with her kin. Which was promptly followed by his plea for Crimson to hear her out so that the two of them may mend their oh so special bond and that's when Crimson told him that she too yearned to fix that bond. That she had felt that way for some time but had been too afraid to face her sister. Too ashamed of her horrid crimes. She had then swiftly silenced Sage's elation by pointing out the very real possibility that while Clover may have honestly believed that she would be able to pardon her sister's wrong doings, that one wrong move from Crimson, no matter how small or it's intentions, could very well cause the thought of forgiveness to be shoved off a cliff. To which Sage was quick to defend Clover, bringing up not only the quest that had taught her to control her anger but also the fact that she had recently almost lost other lemurs of whom she loved. That the experience as a whole had taught her a valuable lesson in appreciating those she adorned but to ease Crimsons's fears, Sage suggested that they go see Clover together, with him acting as mediator. To which Crimson expressed gratitude for the offer but remained steadfast in her stance that she wasn't ready for that conversation just yet and while Sage was disappointed over what would certainly be a joyous reunion being delayed, he also understood just how complicated family matters could be. But he still insisted that Crimson stay with him in the meantime, to which she gladly agreed and that's how the pair found themselves spending a great deal of time together in the weeks that followed.
It was during this time too that Sage thought of Clover, his mind wandering back to when she had helped him in his search for a new home for himself and his people, during which time she told Campion that she was "just helping out a friend." With Sage obviously being that friend. To which Sage was completely and utterly blindsided by the sudden rejection. For he had thought that after things had settled down in their kingdoms, that he and Clover would go back to nurturing their newly rejuvenated feelings for each other. But that clearly wasn't on Clover's agenda and after some serious thinking, Sage figured that she had figured that in order for their relationship to truly last, one of them would have to leave their home for the other's. Obviously Sage couldn't leave his people and Clover certainly couldn't leave her friends for more reasons then the lemur king could count. So maybe she was trying to spare both of them from eventual heartache and with that deduced and through the stinging pangs in his heart, Sage vowed to respect her decision. And through all that soul searching, the jilted man realized just how much he yearned for romantic companionship. For someone to plant roots with. To walk beside as they navigated together that strange and wondrous road named life. He thought a great deal on the matter in the months that followed and as he reconnected with Crimson, old feelings started bubbling back to the surface and Sage wondered if maybe she was the companion he desired and that's how he found himself proposing marriage to the object of his supposed affections.
Who wholeheartedly accepted his offer and Sage's own heart soared when she told him that Clover was to know of their coming union. For he knew that once the sisters finally came face to face that everything would be alright…but he ended up being so very wrong. And yet, the wayward romeo got so caught up in realizing that he was in love with Clover and breaking up with Crimson and all that came after, that he actually forgot about his dreams of joyous reconciliation between the sisters. Forgot! The thought banished to the very back recesses of his mind until Clover dragged it back to the forefront on their wedding night, when she told Sage that he was right. That family was more important then petty rivalries.
At the time, those words were the most beautiful music to Sage's ears and he had been so proud of his beloved for choosing love over hate but now, as he laid alone in the dark, he thought of his queen giving into those petty feelings that last time. Of her not giving a single thought towards being cordial with Crimson before doing her damnest to one up her sister in their damned game, with Sage as the damned prize after explicitly voicing her desire for a platonic relationship between herself and the lemur king and never giving Sage any indication otherwise before his engagement! Of his bride finally choosing civil conversation with her kin but not for Crimson nor Sage's sakes but because of Grandma Rose's intervention. Of the elder having to travel between the realms of the living and dead to talk sense into her pig headed granddaughter who had gone on to never apologize for breaking her promise to the man of whom she was supposed to love nor even acknowledge the fact that she had tossed his heartfelt plea aside like it was nothing and of himself letting her get away with it all with a big stupid smile on his face!
He tried to be patient. He tried to be understanding. He tried so hard! He hated it when Clover brought back the more violent parts of the mountain lemur warrior regimen and yet, although he expressed his disapproval towards the practice, he had still allowed his wife to lead their people back onto that road of violence that he had tried so hard to pull them off of and look where that had lead them all! Where allowing Clover to treat his feelings like meaningless junk had lead Sage!
How dare she!? How dare she be so cruel!? How dare she keep stabbing him in the heart over and over and over again!? How dare she…!?
Swift as lightning, Sage sat up, grabbed a pillow off the couch and flung it at a red ceramic bowl sitting atop a skinny stone pillar standing close by. To which the projectile slammed into it's target, sent the décor flying to the floor, where the smaller piece shattered to bits upon impact. Then, for a long moment after, Sage stared at the tiny fragments scattered about the stone before he swung his legs over the side of the sofa and grabbed his face with an aggravated groan.
How dare Clover make him so angry!?
Sage then let in and out one ragged breath after another in an attempt to calm down. He had to calm down. He needed...he needed to be around a friendly soul. Someone who wouldn't dismiss his pain. Who knew what he was going through, with the very first lemur that came to mind being Campion. For Sage knew that Koto still meant a great deal to the former captain no matter fiercely he had gone on to deny it since his friend's death. To everyone, including Sage. And that was before recent unfortunate events that made the king's blood boil before he brought those unpleasant thoughts to a screeching halt with another rattling breath. No, he would have to search elsewhere for an empathetic ear.
That's when Sage thought of another man who had once been close to Koto and who had shown copious compassion as of late. To which the king sprung from the sofa and out into the night. Bolted down the stone stairs and across his divided kingdom until he reached his destination. A tent smaller in size compared to others set up about the clearing but brimming with kindness and understanding. Where Sage thrust his head through it's door flap and desperately called out for,
"Benson!"
Which was swiftly followed by the sound of shuffling and squeaking of bed frames from within the dark abode and when Sage opened it's door wider, the stream of moonbeams that flowed around him showed a multitude of eyes all turned towards his person. Including those belonging to Minerva and it didn't take long for them to narrow nor for their master to demand of her king,
"What the hell are you doing here!?"
"I'm sorry for disturbing your rest but I have to talk to Benson!" Sage anxiously explained as he looked about likewise for the former lackey, whose own vexed question for him was,
"And you couldn't wait until morning!?"
"No!" Sage snapped, taking Benson and everyone else aback. Then, upon realizing how harsh he sounded, the king self consciously softened his voice to plead, "Please, I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't urgent!"
To which after some hesitant seconds of watching the moonlight reflect off his pleading puppy eyes, Benson sighed and said begrudgingly, "Fine." And so he got out of bed and followed Sage outside, where he curtly inquired of his king, "What do you want, Sage?"
"I'll tell you when we have more distance from other ears." Sage said solemnly, with a nervous edge lacing his words as he looked this way and that as if scouting for unseen enemies. With his interest now piqued, Benson followed him into the center of the clearing, where Sage cupped a paw around his mouth, leaned close to his subject's ear and whispered into it, "I need to talk to you about Koto."
"What about him?" Benson said and leaned away from him leerily.
To which that same pitiful sadness returned upon Sage's face and although his response was softly spoken, the heartache within rang like a thousand bells that blared in Benson's ears as the rueful royal implored,
"I need someone who values his lost life! Who understands that there was good in him!"
"What!?" Benson incredulously exclaimed and stared at him as he had just said there was good within the fossa.
"Benson..."
"No! No way! Nuh uh! No!" Benson firmly, frantically refused as he held out his palms towards Sage while taking one backwards step away from him after another.
"I know you miss him too!" Sage argued in desperate earnest as he tried to close the gap between them.
"No, I don't!"
"Yes, you do! He was your friend!"
"He was a monster and I'm not going to stand here and talk about the good in him when there was nothing good about him! Now leave me alone!" Benson furiously proclaimed and whipped around to head back towards his tent.
"Benson, please!" Sage beseeched as he lunged forward and grabbed Benson's arm.
"Let go of me!" Benson demanded and pulled against Sage's steady hold without looking back.
"No!" Sage firmly refused as he continued to yank the other man's appendage towards his person.
"Let go or I'll rip your arm off!" Benson snapped over his shoulder, with a scorching blaze in his gaze and his teeth bared if prepared to enact the gruesome threat, to which Sage met with another adamant,
"No!"
And so with an enraged shriek, Benson's fist collided with Sage's jaw. Which released both the king's hold and his footing, with the wind sucker punched from his lungs when he swiftly slammed down onto his side like a sack of stones. He then laid groaning in the dirt for a dazed moment or two before he reopened his eyes and looked up to be greeted by Benson glaring down upon him.
"And there's more where that came from if you ever try talking to me about that bastard again!" Benson snarled as he held out his fist before Sage, then turned around and started to walk away. To which a fresh wave of panic slammed into Sage and he racked his brain as he swiftly sat up and flipped himself onto his behind. Scrambled for the words that would stop his subject from leaving him alone in his misery until he finally found them and with that, furrowed his brow into a determined scowl and declared with teeth and bitterness bared,
"Clover told me I should have killed Koto!"
At which Benson froze in his tracks and Sage went on to say,
"She has no regard for life! She-wait!" The royal's rancorous rant came to a screeching halt when Benson suddenly bolted for his tent, then swiftly turned into a desperate cry that went unheeded as the former lackey hurried to his home and disappeared into it's fold without a word, leaving Sage alone.
In the seconds that followed, it was all Sage could do but stare at where his subject had left his sight, too stunned for anything else. Then, he heard voices from within the tent that were swiftly silenced by Benson's stern call for quiet that sliced through the crisp night air like razor sharp claws, just as his embittered words that came after hacked through Sage's heart.
"You heard me! Koto was nothing but pure evil! End of story!"
They rang in the king's ears as he remained where he sat for some time after that. Just sat and stared for some silent minutes or maybe an hour or two (he neither cared nor knew) until he finally stood up and left the scene too.
He trudged back the path of which he came until he stopped before a stone building of which he hadn't dared to enter before. Of which was one story tall with a wide wooden door that served as both it's one and only entrance while the structure as a whole served as the kingdom's one and only dungeon. Of which Sage had wished to tear down from the moment he first found out it's intended purpose but had reluctantly left it be on the insistence of...and hadn't set a foot inside since and in those moments, could feel his toes bouncing in place, ready to carry him away from the wretched blight plaguing his home. But Sage instead forced them to cease in their restlessness, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, opened his eyes and made his way forward.
When he made it inside the building, the flickering torches that clung to the walls guided his way through the hall until he reached the trapdoor within the floor. When Sage opened it, he was greeted by new light coming from the darkness below and when he came down the stone stairs that lead into another hallway, saw that same light peeking out from underneath another door. By then, he could make out voices flowing from that direction as well including one that was all too familiar. At which Sage steeled himself for another moment or two, then opened the door and stepped into the room beyond.
Which had a row of three jail cells lining one side of the moderately lit space, each with a tiny window to the outside world that was held up by tiny iron bars while bigger and thicker ones separated the holding quarters from the other side of the room. Where two mountain lemurs leapt from their chairs (knocking those over as well as dropping the cards they had been holding in the process) whipped around and came face to face with their king much to the pair's shared shock.
"King Sage!?" One guard incredulously exclaimed as she gave Sage a matching stare.
"What are you doing here!? In the middle of the night!?" The other inquired, just as confused, with his expression matching that of his companion.
"I wish to speak with Campion." Sage said solemnly as he walked past one cell, then another, then stopped to face the last one in the room. Where the former captain himself leaned against the other side of it's bars and said to Sage with a snarly sneer,
"Bit of an odd time to finally pay me a visit, don't ya think?"
"I'm here to discuss an important matter with you, Campion."
"So important you couldn't wait until morning?"
"No! Wait, no! I mean yes! Yes, it is that important!" Sage barked, then frantically shook his head and corrected himself in kind. "And I wish for us to converse alone." He went on with more composed command, looking to the two guards as he spoke.
To which Campion let out a contemptuous tsst and said likewise, "Fine. Might as well get this over with." He then turned to his confused companions and assured them in a more civil manner that they may, "Go on. This won't take long."
"Uh, sure. We'll wait upstairs." One guard said and turned to the other, briefly sharing matching befuddled glances with her companion before both then made their leave. While Sage and Campion watched them go until the door shut behind them, at which the remaining pair turned back to each other. That's when Sage found that a deeper scowl had etched itself onto Campion's face and the shadows that had been dancing across it had darkened while the malevolent mist that hung about the former captain had thickened to a frigid fog.
"Before you start, let me just say that I know about Zora's pregnancy musk and that you've so sure that Clover ran off to apologize to her and Uncle King Julien and that Clover just got back here this morning. Let me guess, you got right to prattling on about being so proud of her for 'learning the error of her ways' and she got right to telling you off for being a bleeding heart buffoon that don't know jack fuck? Told ya she'd rather die then apologize and you're here cause no one else wants to listen to your bitching about her but you think that I will cause of course I would love to hear you shit talk about your wife for the thousandth time, right? Or am I wrong? Go on, tell me!" Campion critically inquired with ever increasingly contempt, to which Sage struggled to say in defense,
"You're wrong, that's not...I'm not...I haven't been...Clover's just so…!"
"Ha! I fucking knew it! Well, hate to break it to ya, your majesty, but I ain't up for one of your 'lovely lectures' either! So why don't you make like a fart and blow out of this 'delightful shithole fore you waste any more of my time!?" Campion told him, with bitterly biting sarcasm sprinkled throughout his sincere scorn. Which made Sage's blood boil all the more beneath his bristling skin and his teeth to gnash into a tighter snarl as his fists continued to tremble at his sides until they flew to the cell bars and gripped them in an iron hold as their master furiously proclaimed between them,
"She said that I should have killed Koto!"
Which slapped the scornful scowl clean off Campion's face and it was all he could do but stare at Sage for a stunned second or two. Then, just as swiftly as it had vanished, his contemptuous grimace returned along with more critical words for his king.
"She's right, you know! You were stupidly lucky that King Julien did the bastard in before he could do that to you or Clover!"
"No! Clover thinks that I should have killed him before! Before the war! Before he invaded this or any land! Before he became king!" Sage snapped and once again, Campion's face fell.
"What!?" Campion uttered in stunned increduousness, with his mouth agape and his eye like a wide open field as Sage continued in contempt,
"She believes that I should have dealt with the darkness in his heart back then like a man! That his death would have done the world a favor!" He snarled with teeth and bitterness bared, with venom oozing from every single syllable. Then, stopped to take one ragged breath after another and as he did, his demeanor changed before Campion's eye. His snarl flipped to a soft smile and his gaze became that of tender sadness and he went on to passionately plead in kind, "That's why I'm here! Because I know that you still care for Koto! That you too weep for his lost life! So please, let us weep together!"
All as a thousand emotions swirled within Campion's heart as a thousand memories of recent and old played out within his mind as he stared at Sage for some time. Stared without a word after the latter finished speaking, into pleading blue eyes like crystal clear pools begging him to jump into their desperate depths until Campion finally turned his face away. Turned to another wall of his cell, where he saw the shadows of it's bars slicing through the torchlight illuminating the room. Dark against light. And with that, Campion's scornful scowl returned and without meeting Sage's gentle gaze, snarled,
"No."
"Wh-what?" Sage stuttered his stunned response, certain he had heard him wrong, as the warmth within his gaze flickered. To which Campion turned to face him once more and Sage swore that the shadows shrouding his face were darker then before and became even darker when the former captain proclaimed with anger galore,
"You heard me! I'm not shredding a tear for that bastard!"
To which Sage said with stunned incredulousness, "Y-you can't be serious..."
"I am serious! Koto brought the world nothing but misery but of course you don't give a damn about that, do you!? After all, you're the one who gave that demon everything he needed to fuck over any and everyone he wanted because you wanted to be a fucking color because you don't give a flying fuck about anyone besides yourself!" Campion's scathing retort initially caused Sage to recoil but as the prisoner spoke, the king's own resolve returned so that by the time the former was finished, the latter was swift to passionately reply,
"You're wrong! I do care about the suffering Koto inflicted! I care so much, it scorches my soul!"
"Bull! If you really cared, you'd agree with your wife! That the world would have been better off if you had just killed the bastard when you had the chance!"
And in that moment, Sage felt his heart stop. Felt searing pain stabbing it like a thousand swords. Felt the air punched from his lungs to where he could only utter barely above a strangled whisper, "You don't mean that..."
"I do mean it! It's at least one thing the bitch and I can agree on!" Campion continued in contempt, his withering words like scolding ash sprayed into Sage's face, with their cruel claws clenching the king's heart as Campion wrapped up his blistering bitterness with, "Now get the fuck out of my sight! You're not getting your shoulder to cry on here!", then turned his back on Sage but only took one step farther into his cell before a paw clamped down upon his arm.
"Let go of me!" Campion snarled but the paw remained in place, to which he whipped around and snapped, "I said let go!" That's when his jungle eye locked with Sage's bitter blues.
"Shut up!" Campion barely heard Sage snarl and didn't have time to blink before the king grabbed his other arm and yanked him to the cell bars.
"Fuck!" Campion cursed when his nose slammed against the iron, at the searing pain that swiftly coursed from the spot upon impact. "Mother fucker!" He wailed as his paws tried to fly to the injured appendage but couldn't due to Sage's iron hold that kept him in place.
"How can you say that!? You-you're lying! You have to be! You…!" The rest of Sage's frantic and furious ranting died on his tongue as his rancorous resolve crumbled before Campion's eye, much to the latter's confusion. And he was even farther perplexed when he suddenly felt warm liquid on his upper lip but then, he touched it with his tongue and recognized the metallic taste of blood instantly.
At which Campion's own rage was replaced by shock, though the former returned just as swiftly as it had vanished, but before a single scathing syllable could escape from his lips, Sage rasped, "Oh my gods!", released him and backed away from the cell in horrified panic. To which Campion promptly bolted backwards farther into the cell until his back hit a wall, then covered his nose with his paws and it took but mere seconds for him to feel the blood soaking his palms and when he held one out before his person, saw that it was splattered scarlet.
"Mother fucking bastard! You broke it! You broke my fucking nose!" Campion furiously proclaimed while Sage gave him a petrified stare for a long second more before he shoot off from the spot, swift as lighting as Campion's blistering bellows followed him out the room and down the hall, then up the stairs and onto the ground floor. Where the two guards from before were waiting by the front door, their confused inquiries going unheeded as Sage dashed past them and out into the night, with Campion's voice echoing in his ears long after leaving the pair's sight.