Chapter 39:
Sly ran after Rafiki through the desert for a good five or ten minutes until he noticed Rafiki had stopped running and had gotten into a meditation pose. He panted and dropped from exhaustion. "Could I... get a lift next time?"
"I do not carry passengers," Rafiki replied in monotone.
Sly grimaced at the baboon, and then he noticed a figure standing over him. "It's about time you got back here, Sly. I was about to fall asleep," Jina said with a yawn.
Sly forced himself to sit up and swallowed. "Jina?" He took a moment to realize where they had been running. He noticed they had returned to Timon's former tunnel system. As he looked around, he noticed that he, Rafiki, and Jina were the only ones present. "Where's Timon at?"
"He asks so many questions for such a small creature," Rafiki said to himself.
Sly grimaced and stood, furrowing his brow at Rafiki. "OK, so I ask a lot of questions! When I was growing up people told me that was a good thing!" He rubbed his forehead and sighed. "And no one's been answering the questions, so I'm getting such a migraine." He looked to Jina and pointed at Rafiki. "Please tell me you know who this guy is."
Jina glanced over at Rafiki and nervously smiled, nodding. "Um, yeah. That's Rafiki, the baboon shaman of the Pride Lands."
Sly squinted one eye and glanced at the baboon in question. "That's Rafiki? Hmm. I guess I was expecting him to be a little more muscular and having a mystic aura surrounding him 24-7."
"Look beyond what you see," Rafiki opened an eye and smiled.
"And answering your previous question, Sly, Timon headed back towards the Outlands to talk to Zuri about some things," Jina continued.
Rafiki opened his other eye and furrowed his brow. "So he did leave again? Stubborn boy, that son of Fearless Buzz."
That caught Sly off-guard. "Son of who?"
"Oy," Jina slapped a hoof over her eyes. "That's not the way I would've told him, Mr. Rafiki."
"But effective, no?" Rafiki smiled as he stood.
Sly rubbed his forehead, feeling another migraine coming on. "Timon's the son of Fearless Buzz? That-That can't be right. I've seen portraits of Buzz and they don't look anything alike!"
"Apparently there have not been very good artists to create Fearless Buzz's portraits, or you have not looked carefully at the face enough. Either way, it is true..." Rafiki motioned to the grave set next to the large rock. "Timon is the eldest son of Fearless Buzz."
Sly squinted his eyes slightly, still trying to believe it. "Fearless Buzz?"
"If it makes you feel any better, a lot of us didn't believe that he was Buzz's son when we first met him either," Jina said with a nervous grin.
"I knew Timon and Zuri were lying about some things, and maybe that's why they kept shutting Sudi up, but I didn't know why until now. Geez, if Pop knew-"
"Pop? Who is this 'Pop' you speak of?" Rafiki asked with an innocent smile.
"You know, that's what I call my father Sengbe, Pop. I mean, geez, isn't it obvious?"
Rafiki paused a moment to listen to the rattling fruit attached to his staff as the wind blew. "Very well then." He nodded and then cleared his throat. "When one boy has two different fathers, no, it is not obvious." Sly's eyebrows jumped, and then wrinkled, confused once more. Jina blinked. "But then when you do not know about the first father, I suppose I do not blame you. Even the second father is unaware."
"What are you talking about, chimp?"
"You mean you know, too, Mr. Rafiki?" Jina spoke up.
"I only know because his birth father told me himself," Rafiki motioned to the wind lightly rattling the fruit on his staff.
"Birth father?" Sly then clicked his tongue and began to walk away from the two. "Oh. Yeah. Right. I get it now. My 'birth' father is made of fruit. Good one, chimp! I know who my birth father is, so if you're not going to tell me the truth, then I'm going home." He blinked suddenly when Jina jumped in front of him.
"Sly, don't you understand? You are home! Your family lived here once! You lived here once!" she said in a near-desperate tone. "Besides, you haven't looked everywhere in your dream yet! You still have to look at the grass where you were with the other pup!"
"Grass is all the same to me, Jina. Not like I'll remember anything there," Sly said as he began to walk under Jina's belly. "Ooo, dead leaves. Special. Tch."
He stopped when Rafiki held his staff out in front of him, blocking his path. "Is it, Sylvester?"
Sly cringed at his full name and then pushed the staff away. He growled, "I know where I came from, and it's not the Fearless Buzz colony!" He began to march away again.
"Sly, stop, please!" Sly did stop when he heard a choke in Jina's voice. He looked back at her to see her eyes tightly closed. "When you were still part of the colony, Zuri told me about you. She told me... no matter how much you were taught, you could never find hatred for Fearless Buzz. So why are you acting like you hate him now? Because you're afraid of the truth? Because you're afraid of what Zuri might know?"
"Jina, I..."
"Zuri came to me crying the other day, and I didn't know why! But I think it's because she found out the truth between you and Timon..." She swallowed hard before she shouted, "That you are the second son of Fearless Buzz!"
Sly was stunned at her words, so stunned that he couldn't reply for several minutes. "Where would you get a stupid idea like that? I mean, that's-"
Jina opened her eyes, now streaming with tears, and furrowed her brow. "Darn it, Sly, you are not that slow! If you paid attention to your dreams, put aside what you think you know and who you think you are, then it might all make sense!"
Rafiki stood to the side, listening to the two exchange words and also listening to the wind rattling the fruit on his staff. "Yes...? Really. Well, if you are certain it is still there..." A bit more rattling and Rafiki nodded. "Very well, I shall tell him." He called over to Sly, "Sylvester, go to this patch of grass you described in this dream of yours! You may find more answers!"
"Oh, yeah, uh-huh. Like I'm taking advice from a baboon that talks to fruit," Sly snorted and folded his arms in front of his chest. He felt the wind blow past, and his stubborn expression softened a bit. "Huh?" He stood there for a few moments as the wind continued to blow past his fur and ears. When the wind calmed, he looked towards the tall grass and walked towards it, past Jina and Rafiki.
Jina sniffled and wiped her face. "What's he doing?"
"He takes no advice from a silly baboon who talks to fruit, but he takes advice from wind," Rafiki replied with a smug grin.
Sly pushed some of the grass blades aside as he made his way to the small area he recognized from his dream. He mused, "Was so much bigger back then, wasn't it?" He knelt down to the ground and sighed deeply, suddenly at ease as the wind whistled through the blades of grass. He laid on the ground and closed his eyes, thinking. A nearby voice caught his attention.
"Don't stare at the sun, Timon. You'll get sunspots," the voice said.
Sly opened his eyes and sat up. "Timon?" He stood and pushed some blades of grass aside to look in the direction the voice was coming from, and softly gasped. He saw two meerkats set two meerkat pups to the ground and step to the side. Sly blinked. "Where did they come from? I thought these tunnels were abandoned." He took a few steps back as the two meerkat pups rolled over towards him behind the grass and onto a pile of leaves. They didn't notice Sly, who was standing to the side and watching them, rubbing his chin. "Something familiar about this..."
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone shout, "Eagle! Everyone take cover!" Sly looked up to the sky and gasped as a Martial eagle began to swoop down towards him and the two pups with its talons posed to grab.
He heard the other meerkats screaming and running. He could especially hear one female's voice, "No, we can't go back under! My babies are still out here! Timon! Titus!"
Sly looked at the two pups; one pup was throwing leaves up into the air while the other was standing on its back legs to grab one leaf that was dancing in the wind. He then looked up and saw the eagle was almost upon them. "Hey, kids, look out!" He dived to push them both out of the way... only to go straight through them and take a mouthful of dirt. He quickly spat it out and wondered what was going on. He looked towards the pups and blinked. When he heard the eagle screech he covered his head and clenched his teeth. The pup that was on its back legs fell onto his backside, evading the eagle's talons. The other was not as lucky and was scooped up and carried away. When the danger wasover Sly crawled over to the surviving pup and went to touch him, only to have his paw go straight through. "What's going on here?"
"Timon! Titus!" the earlier female voice cried.
Sly quickly rose to his feet and dusted himself off. He watched as two meerkats came towards him and the pup, who was smiling and reaching for them. "I-I tried to help them, ma'am, but for some reason I..." He paused a moment to look at the mother's eyes. "Why do you...?"
"Timon, where's Titus?" the father asked.
"The eagle got him, sir! I..." Sly paused. "Timon? What's going on here?"
"You do realize whom you're asking, right?" the mother asked the father dryly as she bent over and picked the pup named Timon up.
Sly stepped in front of the two parents and waved a paw in front of their eyes. Neither reacted. "He couldn't have gotten far. Come on," the father said as he walked right through Sly. The mother followed. "Titus!"
"Titus!" the mother cried out.
Sly looked at his shaking paws, freaked out. "What happened? What's going on? Why can't I touch them? Why can't they hear me? They can't even see me." He looked after the parents. "And why do I feel like I used to know them?"
He gasped when the scenery around him suddenly melted away and grew into another territory. He was deeper into the desert and standing next to a tall tree. As he looked up at the tree he noticed a Martial eagle had begun to land in the tree. It had something in its talons. As the eagle landed it dropped what it was carrying in its talons. It was a small animal and it began to tumble down through the branches. It landed at the base of the tree in a pile of straw. As it began to cry Sly walked towards it, and gasped. It was the same pup that the eagle had taken from that colony. He went to say something, but then remembered he would only be hearing himself.
"Who's out there?" a voice from under the tree asked.
Sly gasped and took a few steps back. The voice was familiar. "Mom?"
A female meerkat poked her head out from a hole under the tree and caught sight of the pup. "Oh, you poor little thing! Where did you come from?" She quickly saw the eagle as it began to swoop down towards them, so she pulled the pup down under the tree with her. The eagle squawked and then took to the air once more.
Sly swallowed and poked his head into the hole. Inside were the mother, the pup, and three other pups. "Hey, those are my siblings. But where am I?"
"There, there, sweetie. I'll take care of you until your parents come find you. And if they don't..." The mother paused, and then sighed. "Sengbe wouldn't allow it, caring for another colony's pup. But you're such a sweet little thing." She brushed a paw over the pup's hair and softly sighed. "Of course, he's unaware how many pups I was suppose to have. If I don't tell him I found you rather than birthed you, then we'll all be fine. If I can't find your family, you can call me Mama." She chuckled softly and held the pup close. "And I think I'll call you... Sylvester."
"What?" Sly reached out towards her with a shaking paw. "That can't be true. Mom... tell me it's not true..." An abrupt change in the scenery happened once more. Sly now found himself back at that meerkat colony, but it was later as the sun began to set. He wiped the mist from his eyes and sighed. He noticed someone coming out of the tunnel. It was the father, and he was walking towards the tall grass. Sly followed him. He pushed the blades of grass aside to see the father kneeling down to the ground and digging where he saw pup-sized paw prints in the dirt. To the side of him was a small doll. Sly tilted his head to the side, walked towards him, and knelt down to see the doll better. It was made of straw, twigs, and stone tied together and had a face painted on. It appeared to look like a meerkat pup. He jumped slightly when the father took the doll and set it down into the small hole he had dug.
The father then piled dirt over it, and patted the top, sighing. "Good-bye, Titus. We'll keep you in our hearts until we meet again."
Sly watched as the father rose to his feet, and noticed a tear on his cheek. The father then walked away. Sly looked down at the ground where the doll was buried. "This is creeping me out again. I must've fallen asleep. This is all gotta be a bad dream."
"Some call it dreaming, but I prefer to call it a subconscious," a voice behind Sly said. Sly spun around to look at the source, and then blinked. Standing there was the father, with an older appearance. "You see, Sly, in a dream, you don't always have control of your actions. In a subconscious, you do."
"You mean you can see and hear me?"
"I can feel you, too."
"So who are you?"
"Isn't it obvious?" the father asked. "I'm Timon's father."
"But I thought Timon's father was Fearless Buzz."
"That's right."
Sly looked the meerkat over a bit, and then shook his head. "No, no, you couldn't be him. He's dead."
"I am, but that doesn't mean I can't talk to you in your subconscious. Better than trying to get through to you with wind."
"So I wasn't crazy. I did hear a voice in the wind!" Sly paused, and then rubbed his forehead. "OK, that's just creeping me out again. I'm standing here talking to a dead guy. Can you do me a favor and wake me up, pal? I'd like to get back to reality."
Buzz lowered his head and grinned. "Hmm. No matter who raised you, stubbornness seems to run in the family." He raised his head up again and walked towards Sly. "Didn't anything you just watched ring any bells?"
"Uh..." Sly began to say something different, but then some thoughts came up. "Well... some of those did seem familiar. It was like I was watching a dream from a different point of view." His eyes widened. "Wait a second. That was the dream I've been having!"
"That's right. Your dream was actually a memory trying to resurface. Because you were a pup in the dream you weren't fully aware of everything. Doing it this way you could see and understand everything as an adult." Buzz noticed Sly was looking away from him, so he put a paw under his chin and turned to face him. "Do you understand?"
Sly was silent for a few moments. "You're trying to say that I am your son."
Buzz smiled, "That's right."
Sly took a few steps away from him. "But how do I know this isn't just another dream? How do I know you didn't just fabricate that memory with my mom to confuse me? How can I be sure any of this ever happened? How can I be sure that my name is really Titus and that you're my birth father?" Buzz arched an eyebrow, to which Sly cleared his throat. "I mean, besides the fact that you kinda look like me. If this is a dream, it's not real solid evidence that I'm not Sengbe's son."
Buzz looked at him for a moment, and then took a few steps closer and put a paw on Sly's head and ruffled his hair. "If you can't trust me... then trust your heart."
Sly's eyes snapped opened and he sat up. He found himself back in the tall grass at night, alone. He rubbed his eyes, "So I did fall asleep." He stretched and yawned. "So much for sure-fire answers. It's been a very long night." He was about to stand to stretch some more when he noticed the wind was circling around a small spot in front of him, shifting the dirt around. Sly shook his head and then rubbed it, "I don't know why I'm worrying about the wind so much. It's just wind, right? So what if it's circling me like a vulture?" He chuckled and began to stand again, but stopped when the wind past his ears.
"I thought you weren't afraid of learning the truth," Buzz's voice in his head said.
Sly spun around, trying to find the source of the voice. "What? Where are you?"
"Do you trust your own eyes?" the voice asked, ignoring the question.
"I..." Sly sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'm not sure what to trust anymore."
"Then dig."
Sly looked at the spot of ground in front of him where the dirt had been circling and began to dig in the center of it. It was only after a moment that he hit something. He brushed some dirt out of the way and paused. With lightly shaking paws he reached in and pulled out the thing that was buried. It was the doll that Buzz had buried in his dream... or was it a dream? The piece of vine that was holding the doll together was all but worn out from the years underground and neglect. But Sly felt some kind of connection and affection towards it. He held it close to him and closed his eyes.
"So that's it. You're saying everything I thought, everything I am... is a lie."
"Your words, Sly. Not mine," Buzz's voice said. "Your mother, the one you grew up calling mother, was the only one who knew the truth, at least until she told Shomari at her deathbed." Sly felt the wind gently brush up against him. "Now that you know the truth, what change is there in you now? From the colony of your birth father or the colony of Sengbe you are the same meerkat. The same paws, the same arms, the same face that was yours a moment ago. The only change was the name from Titus is Sylvester."
"I'm not fond of that name either," Sly snorted slightly.
"Titus means 'Defender,' and I gave you that name because that's what I thought you would become one day. Tell me I was kidding myself when I gave you that name."
"I'll tell you what's changed... I thought Sengbe was my father, the only blood I had. But now I know he isn't, and I am alone," Sly bowed his head and clutched the doll he was holding. "And if the colony found out... Where do I belong? I'm still figuring that out."
"When you determine your true family, you'll find where you belong."
"Tch. What family?"
"Timon is your full-blood brother, and your birth mother still lives. Besides..." Sly raised his head up when he felt the wind ruffle his hair in the same manner Buzz did in his subconscious. "Blood is not what makes family. It's the love you have for the ones you care for. The question is... are you going to abandon them?"
Sly blinked once, and then exhaled, looking down at the doll in his paws.
To be continued...