Kiburi didn't speak to him again after his outburst.
He wouldn't even turn to look at him.
Makuu knew perfectly how guilt over hurting someone felt, but never at this level. He had told him horrible things, accused him of never caring for his float, and then it turns out he wanted to starve himself to death out of the guilt for being unable to protect them from the two-legs. And adding insult to injury, it didn't look like Kiburi would forgive him for being so insensitive anytime soon.
The worst thing: Makuu realized he was right in some of those things he said. He only desired Akina after noticing how everyone else wanted her, he never thought of Kiburi's feelings for her when he challenged and defeated him in the Upenduwa, he was selfish.
The only thing that kept him from revaluating his life and some of the choices he had made was the urge to get out of this hell, and tear those damn two-legs apart.
Still, no matter how many times he and the other animals tried to find a way to get free from their prisons, there seemed to be no way to do so. The chains (as he heard the two-legs call the black rings keeping him and Kiburi attached to the wall) were too hard even for his crocodile jaws, and trying to pull against them choked him. The thick bars of the cages were as equally thick and unbreakable.
And much to his frustration, Kiburi didn't help in anything.
"Damn it!" Makuu growled, panting heavily as he glanced back at his chains. It didn't look any close to breaking. All he got was a reddened mark around his neck from the collar. "What is this thing made of?!"
"Tell that to me." Nurisha said, sighing sadly. "I can't even fit through the holes of my cage."
"It would be easier if you could figure out how the two-legs put that thing around your neck." Jafari pointed out. "It must have its trick."
"I wish I could, but this thing is on my neck and I can't take a look at it...!" Makuu spotted Kiburi a few feet away, indifferent and unmoving, but the collar-thing was visible. He glanced back at the chain, trying to calculate if it was long enough for him to approach.
Before Kiburi knew it, he was suddenly pinned to the ground by Makuu.
"What do you think you're doing?!" He asked irritably. It was the first sentence he had directed at Makuu for two days.
"Don't move, I'm trying to take a look at your collar!" Makuu snapped back.
"Get off me!"
"I just need to see something!"
Makuu examined the collar thoroughly as fast as he could before Kiburi snapped. It was very thick, the chain was attached to it from the back, and it was teeth-proof. Then however was it put around their necks in the first place?
Wait, on a closer inspection, he found a straight line in the collar, and a small hole on one side of it. It was similar to the holes in the 'padlocks' that keep the other cages shut. Then this thing could be opened.
"I said GET OFF!" Kiburi snarled, finally managing to push Makuu away with one whack on the head with his tail.
Makuu shook his head to get back on his senses, and for once decided to let that smack slip. Besides, he did deserve it. "There's a small hole on that collar, and it appears like it is opened into two parts."
"Congratulations, Sherlock." Kiburi muttered, turning away again.
"Then if you can somehow manage to open it, you could get us out." Usian said, leaning against the bars of his cage.
"The problem is I can't find where the hole is in mine." Makuu lamented. "Even if I did, I don't know how that hole makes this thing work."
"The two-legs insert a sort of stick in it and turn it." Kalere explained. "I've seen them do it a few times."
"You could have shared that little bit of info, you know!" Umoja growled at her.
The drongo defended herself. "I didn't know it also applied to those black collar things!"
Makuu rolled his eyes at the argument, and noticed Umoja's cage had a padlock keeping it shut. "Umoja, you have a padlock in your cage. Think your claw could fit in there?"
Umoja turned around in the little space, stretched his paw out of the cage and fit his claw in the tiny hole. "I think it does."
"See if you can manage to open it!"
As Umoja started turning his claw inside the padlock, the other animals (excluding Kiburi, who wasn't interested in the least) leaned in their heads and those that had ears prickled them in anticipation. Umoja winced, trying his best not to force his claw too much and risk breaking it.
After a few more endless seconds of struggling with the padlock, it clicked, and unlocked.
"It worked!" Umoja cried out in ecstasy, followed by the others.
"What are you waiting for?"Jafari said, stomping his hooves. "Get out of there and let us out!"
"Wait, not yet!" Makuu growled gently. "It's still daytime, the two-legs are still active at this time."
"Are you kidding? The sooner we get out of here, the better!" Usian stated.
"No, he's right." Julisha said with a snort. "If they come in and see us free, they'll lock us again, or worse. They don't come in here at night at all, so it'll be better to wait."
"I agree." Nurisha and Kalere said.
"They never make sure those things are properly locked, anyway, so I doubt they'll notice." Umoja stated.
Makuu thought he saw Kiburi moving his head slightly to glance at the cheetah's cage with the faintest bit of interest, but soon he went back to his self-pity.
Saying goodbye to Jiji was perhaps one of the saddest moments in his life. He would never forget the cat, and hoped they'd see each other again someday, even though it wasn't likely. He'd also miss Jiji's human if only slightly, it was thanks to her that his wing healed, and he developed his wing muscles properly.
After saying his goodbyes, Kitwana asked Zumberi to take him to that building he saw, and the older ibis carried him through the clear skies and towards the area he last saw the place. It was the first time Kitwana saw how it felt to fly, and something inside him awakened, but he had no time to get lost in the ecstasy. He needed to concentrate.
After what felt like hours of flying, they came to a part of the land where green ended, and turned into some badlands that died into a seemingly endless desert.
In the middle of those badlands, Kitwana spotted a structure similar to the one he had been kept in, except this one was in a state of ruin, the walls were a sickly gray green splattered with red (he hoped it wasn't what he thought it was), and aside of this structure was yet another one, even larger.
"Could you land there?" he said, pointing to the larger building.
"Aye." Zumberi said, and started to descend, making sure there were no evil humans around. He landed in the shade of the run-down building, placing Kitwana down gently. "I'm afraid this is as far as I go, my friend." He said, apologizing.
"It's okay, you've done quite a lot for me already." Kitwana said, smiling a bit. "Besides, I know you must look after your flock before anything."
Zumberi nodded. "Indeed. If you make it out of here and back to your home, may we meet again. You'll always be welcome in my flock."
Kitwana nodded thankfully one more time, and watched as Zumberi took flight and flew away as silently as possible. Once he was alone, Kitwana crept around the structure, trying to find a way inside. There was an opening up above, but he had no way to reach it, and the smaller door used by the humans was way too risky. Kitwana realized there was a much more larger door-actually, it was two doors together-on the other side, probably this was the door used for big animals.
Kitwana walked all around the building, trying to look for a hole big enough for him to fit, but he quickly had to hide behind a rock when he saw one of the poachers coming out of the other building, and approaching the animal prison, carrying a bucket. He was heading towards the smaller door; with no other way in, Kitwana realized he'd have to take a risk.
When he was certain he'd be out of the poacher's range of vision, Kitwana quickly sped up to go behind him; he was so small he wouldn't hear his tiny talons, anyway. Like he expected, soon the poacher came to the door and opened it. Kitwana quickly hopped inside after him, then quickly went to hide in the darkness.
Kitwana watched as the poacher walked across the building to the other end of the room.
Kitwana peeked his head from behind the crate, and saw the human stomping his way towards two crocodiles, both chained to the wall. One of those crocodiles looked very familiar, but the darkness made it difficult to distinguish him. There were other animals captive too, but the crocodile was his main focus.
The poacher poured half the bucket of water on the first crocodile, but he didn't react. When he poured the rest of the water on the second, however, this one reacted like he expected. He tried to lunged at the poacher without success, for the chain kept him attached to the wall, snarling. The poacher merely snickered mockingly and went back the way he had come. Kitwana barely had time to hide back in the shadows when the human went out of the building, locking the rusty door behind him.
The crocodile growled. "The first thing I'm going to do once I'm out of here is to tear him apart."
That voice... It could not be! Kitwana rushed out of hiding and towards the crocodile; the closer he got, the more he was convinced this wasn't a trick his eyes played on him.
"Makuu?!"
Makuu immediately reacted to the little voice, and whipped his head around frantically to see if he had indeed heard it. He found himself staring at a familiar ibis fledgling. "Kitwana?!"
The other animals stared at the two in surprise; even Kiburi turned to see what was going on, and was surprised to find a small long-legged bird staring up at Makuu in shock, and the gaze was reciprocal. So that was his rival's foster son? He wasn't much impressive.
Makuu and Kitwana stared at each other in shock for what seemed like an eternity, with neither daring to take the first word; impatient, Umoja called out. "Well, what are you two waiting for? Say anything!"
"W-What are you doing here?!" Makuu was the first to speak, his tone between worried, shocked and... happy.
"I could ask you the same thing!" Kitwana stated. "I thought you were back in the Pride Lands!"
"I was, but Dalila said you were probably captured by the two-legs and I went to try to save you. Unfortunately, I fell into one of those traps and ended up here."
Kitwana felt a squirming in his little heart; Makuu had... He had tried to go rescue him? Did this mean he did care for him?
"How cute," Kiburi said sarcastically, staring at Kitwana uninterested. "Sincerely, I thought he'd be... smaller."
Makuu ignored him, and snapped. "Where have you been?! You had me worried, boy! The others said you were not here, and I assumed you had been eaten by anything!" he didn't care if he sounded like a softie, he had the chick in front of him and wanted to know what had really happened.
"Long story." Kitwana said, sighing.
"Well, we have plenty of time before sundown to execute our escape." Usian said, sitting down.
Kitwana told Makuu-and by indirect extension, the rest of the animals-what had happened to him. His time with the 'healing she-man' and Jiji, everything he had learned about humans, and overall, he pointed out everything he learned about the guns and bullets.
Like he said, it was such a long story that by the time he was done, the sky outside had already darkened; the accorded time to make their escape.
"You mean to say the... humans are actually weaklings?" Kiburi asked, not really believing him.
"If they don't have their weapons, they are," Kitwana explained. "In fact, those weapons are in part to defend themselves from us."
"So they are going to send us somewhere far away to a zoo or who knows where?" Julisha asked, shivering at the idea of being taken to an unknown place for the rest of her life.
"That's one option, there are many others I don't think you'll want to hear while we are here. Jiji taught me how to open padlocks, so I came to free you."
"You could start by getting this thing off me." Makuu said. "It's chocking me!"
Kitwana hopped into Makuu's back and towards the collar, looking for the keyhole. Once he found it, he carefully inserted the tip of his beak and turned it like Jiji taught him.
A few seconds later, there was a click and the collar opened.
Makuu felt instantly relieved when the pressure of the collar loosened considerably, and didn't feel it as tight anymore. The other animals stared at the fallen collar in awe.
"You must teach me how to do that!" Kalere chirped excitedly.
Makuu finally stepped forward, fully releasing himself from the collar, and shook to loosen the stiffness in his neck. Then he glanced at Kitwana with a grin. "You surely have been busy, kiddo."
Kitwana couldn't help but feel complimented. "I nearly broke my beak but it was worth it."
Jafari coughed impatiently. "You can catch up when we're out of here."
"You take care of the cages, I'll break down those things." Makuu told the fledling as he went over towards the zebra and gazelle's prisons.
Kitwana nodded eagerly and went to free Kiburi next as his foster father started to strike the doors of Julisha's stable with his tail; Umoja also finally removed the padlock and opened the door of his cage, stepping out of it and climbed on top of Usian's cage to free Kalere. Kiburi said nothing, merely letting the chick hop unto his back and open his collar. He couldn't deny he felt a great relief, even more than Makuu, when that thing was removed off his neck. But as Kitwana went over to free the little elephant, Kiburi started going towards the door.
Makuu was the first to notice once be managed to break open Julisha's stall. "Kiburi, where are you going?"
"I'll make those bastards pay for what they did to my float." Kiburi said darkly as he headed towards the entrance.
Julisha acted quickly, galloping forward and standing between Kiburi and the door. "No, you'll alert them of our escape!"
"Out of my way, zebra! Do not forget I'm starving!" Kiburi threatened, baring his fangs. "And now that I think of it, I'll need some energy if I want to deal with the humans at my best."
"Didn't you hear Kitwana?!" Umoja snapped. "They'll have their weapons with them and will probably kill you!"
"So what? Maybe you have something to go back to or someone waiting for you in the Pride Lands, but I don't, so I don't care if I die if it means I'll have avenged my float."
"You'll put the rest of us in risk, that's the issue!" Kalere said once she was free of her confinement.
"When I open the door, you'll be able to run away from here and I'll go look for those humans!"
"Kiburi, stop!" Makuu snapped as he stomped his way towards his fellow crocodile. "I know you're angry and hurt over your loss, but this won't bring them back!"
Kiburi glared at him with hate. "Why do you even care? As far as I know, you wish to see me dead!"
"That's not true, I've never wanted your death!"
"Oh, please! You perfectly knew that banishment to the Outlands for a crocodile is a death sentence! Besides, you never cared about me before, so don't start acting like you do now just because you feel guilty!"
Kiburi managed to get past Julisha, but before he could even try to break down the door Makuu galloped forward and stood in his way. "Out of my way!"
"I will not let you kill yourself!"
Kiburi lost his patience and tried to push Makuu out of the way, but the latter was in a better condition, and gave him fierce resistance while trying to push him back. Kitwana interrupted his task with the little elephant's shackle when he saw the crocodiles tussled against each other, trying to subdue the other. Finally, Makuu managed to push Kiburi back.
"Kiburi, STOP!" he roared in anger and concern. "This isn't taking us anywhere!"
"You don't understand!" Kiburi snapped in reply, his voice echoing with sorrowful wrath. "What if I die?! I have nothing left to fight for!"
"That's not true-!"
"Oh, really? Tell me one thing I could have worth living for!"
Makuu couldn't respond. The other animals glanced at Kiburi sadly.
"See? At least you have your float, and you have her back in the Pride Lands..." Kiburi said bitterly, looking down. "What do I have?"
"A future."
Makuu and Kiburi looked back in surprise when they saw Kitwana approaching, flanked by the newly-freed baby elephant, Usian, Jafari and Nurisha.
"You have a future." Kitwana said seriously. "I'm very sorry about your loss, but think about what they would have wanted for you. Think your float would have been happy to see you throw your life away for some petty revenge? Who would it help? Even if you miraculously survived and didmanage to kill the poachers, it won't bring them back. Nothing ever will. In the end, you only will have stooped down to their level."
"I know what you did, mister Kiburi. I heard you tried to kill King Simba, and that's why you were banished. Then you tried to kill Makuu, even though he used to be your friend. That's in the past, but right now you must look forward to the future. Who knows? Perhaps someday it will bring you good times... which you will never get to see if you forfeit your life."
Silence.
Makuu was staring agape at the chick; when had he gained such level of wisdom in so little time? Even more surprising was the fact that Kiburi seemed to have listened, when he rarely listened to anybody.
Kiburi snorted and looked away. "Even if what you said is true... Where is this future you talk about? You said it yourself, I was banished from the Pride Lands. What will I do in the Outlands completely alone, except but to grow mad from the loneliness and despair? I won't last long there."
Suddenly, Makuu spoke without thinking. "I can tell King Simba to let you back into the Pride Lands!" he quickly regretted this choice of words when Kiburi glared at him.
"In case you didn't listen properly, I tried to kill the King. You really think he's going to forget about that just because you ask him?"
"It's still worth a try. Given that technically we survived the humans, maybe he'd be more willing to listen."
Before Kiburi could reply, suddenly the door opened and the poacher came in, looking like he had just woken up from hibernation, but he stopped in his tracks when he noticed all the animals were out of confinement, only a few steps away from him, and he had not brought his weapon.
A few seconds of silence transpired, and Makuu was the first to notice the human's behavior was very different from his previous behavior when they were imprisoned and restrained; he was tense, and his whole body language irradiated fear. In fact, in this state, he didn't look like a threat anymore; rather he looked like any potential prey. Maybe Kitwana was right, and they were more fragile than they looked.
This was confirmed when he snarled loudly, and the human immediately reacted with fear and scrambled to get away from the place.
"Freedom!" Umoja cried out in delight, and was the first to dart out of the building. The rest of the animals soon followed, though Kiburi hesitated, still torn between his vengeance or accepting Makuu's offer.
Knowing they probably had little time before the rest of the poachers, Makuu glanced back at Kiburi. "Well, are you coming or not?"
He had the feeling he'd regret this, but after a few seconds Kiburi stepped out of the building, muttering. "Lead the way, then, before I regret it."
Although relieved they had talked Kiburi out of it, Makuu couldn't help but worry about what he had told him. He didn't know what he was thinking, he only wanted to convince him to relent, but he wasn't really sure if Simba would actually accept. He said nothing else as they went after the rest of the animals, leaving their dark prison behind.