Chapter 45:
Unaware of the happenings in the Outlands, Sly wanted to get some sleep in the old abandoned tunnels, but he'd only toss and turn in the abandoned nest. He sighed and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Lousy, stinkin'... even when I finally understand that stupid dream I'm never gonna get to sleep," he said to himself. He eyed the meerkat pup doll that was lying next to him and exhaled through his nose. "Well, as long as I'm up..." He bent over to the side of the nest to some freshly picked vines and carefully lifted the doll up. He carefully removed the old vine that held the doll together and began to replace it with the new. As he repaired the doll his mind drifted to earlier, when he was not alone.
Earlier that night...
Jina and Rafiki were sitting to the side, waiting for Sly to reemerge from the tall grass he disappeared into. Rafiki was drumming his fingers on his staff, and Jina was tapping a hoof.
"How long do you think until he snaps out of it?" Jina asked Rafiki.
"I would not push it, Jina. He has just been told he was born to another mother and father. It is all a big shock to him," Rafiki said.
"I don't have time for him to recover." Jina stood and stretched. "We should get back to the Outlands, straighten things out with the others, and then maybe head home. Pumbaa was half-asleep when I told him where I was going, so I doubt he'll be able to replay the message." She walked over into the tall grass, stopping when she saw Sly, whose back was facing her. "Sly, we should get going. The sun'll be up soon and everyone will wonder what happened to us if Pumbaa didn't remember my message."
"I'm not going anywhere. I'm not ready to face them yet," Sly replied, staring at the pup doll in his paws.
Rafiki walked up next to Jina. "What do you mean, Sylvester?" he asked.
"I don't know how I'll tell the colony I'm not who they think I am. I don't even know this real family of mine. If I went, it'd be like... I'm replacing the family I grew up with. And Pop..." He sighed and lowered his head slightly. "Sengbe gave me this whole 'like father, like son' speech earlier, and he doesn't even know we're not related."
Jina tilted her head to the side. "If he loves you, he'll understand. You were always a son of Fearless Buzz, but now you finally know it. Nothing else changed."
"Look, just go on without me. I can't face them yet."
"But..."
"Just leave me alone!" Jina softly gasped at the harshness in his voice, taking a step back. "... Please."
Jina's shoulders sunk, and then she sighed. "All right, Sly. But you shouldn't be afraid to face them. If they love you, they'll understand. I know it." She then turned and ran off. Rafiki watched after her, and then took a step closer to Sly.
"That goes for you, too, chimp."
"We are not finished..." Rafiki began.
"Well, I'm finished with you! Beat it!"
Rafiki furrowed his brow and was about to smack him over the head with his staff, but the wind blowing past stopped him. He listened to the wind, sighed and began to walk away. "As you wish." He stopped and glanced over his shoulder to look at Sly. "Like father, like son, eh? I do not know this Sengbe, but I can see which father you do not take after, Sylvester." Sly winced, and Rafiki left. Soon, Sly was alone.
Present...
Sly shook his head to try and clear it. He noticed he had finished repairing the doll and held it out to admire his work. "Not too shabby, if I do say so myself." He set it down and stretched, releasing a few cricks. He looked down the tunnel hall, looking a bit unsure. "I can't do it. I can't face them. Not yet." He laid back in the nest and closed his eyes, trying to get to sleep. He turned onto his side and absentmindedly pulled the doll close to him. "I'm not ready..." Suddenly he felt water splashing on him, and he sat up, coughing. "But I am ready to kill someone! You are so dead, pal!" he growled as he turned to the attacker and rolled up his soaking furry sleeves. He then blinked.
"Tsk tsk. Temper, temper." Buzz stood outside of the nest with half of a nutshell that was dripping the last few drops of water it used to contain. Buzz smirked and tossed him the shell saying, "And you'd be correct, pup. I'll be dead six years this year."
"Oh, not you again," Sly said as he slapped a paw over his eyes and lying back down into the nest. "We're in my subconscious again, aren't we?"
"Nothing gets past you, Sly."
Sly sighed and pulled the shell over his face. "Whatever. Look, could you leave me alone so I can actually go into full unconsciousness and get some sleep? I'm exhausted."
Buzz grimaced and kicked the shell off Sly's face. "You're lazier than Timon." Sly sat up, rubbed his nose, and looked at Buzz with an irritated face. "But I'll let it slide since you've had trouble sleeping lately." He then tossed Sly a leaf. "Shake it off. We're going on another little trip, so pack up your doll and let's go."
Sly swung his legs around to the other side of the nest and hopped out, using the leaf like a towel. "You mean I gotta take the doll?" He grabbed the doll and glowered, "This is so humiliating."
"Oh, quit your whining. I'll be the only one who sees you with it, and I'm dead. Who am I going to tell?" Buzz asked with a furrowed brow.
"You do the subconscious thing; you can tell anyone you want," Sly replied has he grabbed an extra piece of vine and used it to tie the doll around his waist like a belt.
Buzz grimaced, bent over, grabbed Sly by the end of the tail, and began to pull him along. "Quit stalling and let's go, Junior."
"Hey, I can walk, you know!" Sly protested as he snatched his tail back.
Buzz looked at Sly with a bit of amusement as he replied, "Yeah, and your feet must be made of lead at the rate you're going." Sly growled as he watched Buzz walk ahead of him, and then he followed. They climbed to the surface and inhaled the fresh air and felt the warm sunlight. Buzz took a few steps out and stretched. "Ahh... a guy can breathe out here."
Sly rolled his eyes. "A dead guy can breathe out here. Give me a break," he said under his breath. "OK, Pop, where are you taking me this time?"
"You're not ready to meet your real family, right? I'm going to help you see what you missed out. Watch." Buzz put his arm around Sly's shoulders and pointed towards the large rock where his body rests. Suddenly a meerkat sentry materialized on the rock and the sky changed from morning to near night. "After the eagle took you most of the colony males went out to find you. Of course we didn't find you and we considered you dead."
Sly watched as most of the returning meerkats returned to the tunnel, and noticed the sentry drop down from the rock to go to the last lingering male. "I take it the one dragging his feet is you?"
Buzz nodded. "And that's one of my best friends. His name's Pete. He's usually the first one to offer advice and make sure I get the important things done. He kept insisting that just because we never found you it doesn't mean you died that day." He smirked as he turned to Sly. "Who knew he was actually right?"
Sly watched as the younger Buzz dropped down into the tunnel. The younger Pete shook his head and then followed. "Sounds like a nice guy."
"Mm. He's been like a brother to me, and maybe even like a second father to Timon. He's got a nice scar on his back now."
"Hmm. So I'll know it's him from the back then, eh?"
Buzz looked amused as he walked towards the tunnel and motioned for Sly to follow. "C'mon, there are some more people I'd like you to meet." He dropped down.
Sly followed, calling, "Funny definition of meet you got there, Pop! I can't meet a person who can't even meet me!" He caught up with Buzz. "I can't say 'Hi, nice to meet you' and expect a reply because they can't see, hear, or feel me, remember?"
Buzz rolled his eyes. "OK, fine. I'd like you to see some more people. Whether you actually meet them or not is up to you." Buzz lead him down the tunnel, and stopped. Sly looked over his shoulder to see why he stopped. Ahead was the younger Buzz sitting in a nest with a female holding a doll. The younger Buzz was holding a sleeping meerkat pup. "That female is Panya... your birth mother."
Sly's expression softened. "My mother...?"
"Beautiful, isn't she? Your previous mother was thinner, I know, but Panya's got a big heart." Buzz noticed Sly's stares and jerked his head towards the scene. "Go ahead. They can't see or feel you, remember." Sly looked at him, and then walked closer towards the scene.
"Look at him, Buzz," Panya said. "So unaware, so innocent. I don't want to see him anything other than that. I just want him to be happy. If he doesn't remember having a brother, then he's none the wiser."
"He'll be wiser when he gets older. He'll be aware of other emotions, so he won't always be happy," the younger Buzz said.
Panya took the pup that was in the younger Buzz's arms and gave him the doll she was holding. Sly recognized the doll as the one he found and repaired. He took it off his belt to compare. "Maybe not, but he won't be sad about Titus if he doesn't know about him." Sly's eyebrows rose slightly. "Start by keeping this away from him."
"This isn't the answer."
"I don't want to see it anymore... please, find a place for it, where I'll never find it," Panya said in a shaky voice. The younger Buzz lowered his eyes and rose from the nest, walking away past Sly and Buzz.
"I buried that doll in your place. We had a funeral for you a few days later," Buzz said as he noticed Sly watching after the younger Buzz. "To this day your mother doesn't even know where I buried that doll."
"So where did you have the funeral?"
"At the spot where you disappeared. I didn't tell your mother I buried the doll there. I didn't leave a pile of dirt there." He grinned slightly. "You had a good turn-out."
"Should I be glad to hear that?"
Their attention turned to the crying pup Panya was holding. She smiled weakly, "Don't cry, Timmy. I'm here... I'm here..." She began to hum softly as she held her son close.
"That's Timon," Sly said. Buzz nodded. "Did she... did you ever tell him about me?"
Buzz was silent for a moment. "We'll get back to that later. Come on... there's plenty more I want you to see."
Buzz began to walk away, but Sly lingered behind. He knelt down to see Panya's face and tilted his head to the side. "I do have her eyes..."
"Sly?"
Sly quickly gathered himself up and stood. "I'm coming!" He took one more look at Panya and the pup she was holding before he ran to catch up to Buzz.
To be continued...