Chapter Ten: Can You Feel the Love Tonight
At noon, it's bug-hunting time for the Balkans duo. While hunting, the duo start singing The Lions Sleeps Tonight. Boris starting singing "A-wimoweh" in the background, while Vladimir start to sing fully
"In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lions sleep tonight"
A centipede scatters in front of Boris and walks off into the foliage, causing him to stop singing and follow the centipede.
"In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lions sleep to-I can't hear you, buddy. back me up!"
"A-wiii! Bor-wa-wa-waweh""
Vladimir stops singing as he notices his best friend is gone. He began searching for his Balkan best friend. "Boris? Boris?"
Meanwhile, Boris was still following the centipede, while still humming The Lion Sleeps Tonight. The centipede stopped at the log, toward the tall yellow grass. Boris begins sneaking, but the centipede hastily turned around to make sure it wasn't followed. Boris immediately hid behind the tall tree. Then the centipede turned around as a sign of safety, and decided to take a rest. Boris is ready to chow down on some delicious centipede, but a sound interrupts his meal.
He turned around to make sure he heard something. "Vladimir?" he asked, but nothing was there
He shrugged and walked to the sleeping centipede. He got on his hands and knees and crawled toward it. Then the sleeping centipede woke up and scattered away, and Boris saw something in the grass. An unknown figure crouching down in the grass, with amber eyes, ready to attack. It was a Leader! They finally caught him! Boris screamed in terror and ran when the female leader ran after him. Boris was running like crazy, while a female leader was hot on his tail.
"Boris" Vladimir heard cries for a certain balkan. While Boris was still being chased by a leader. Vladimir then rushes for Boris' aid.
"Boris? Boris! Boris! Boris!" he cries as he rush towards the forest
Boris nearly ran at his best friend, but he got stuck from the tree roots.
"Boris, what's going on?" Vladimir asked
Boris grabbed his coat with one hand and pointed behind him "SHE'S GONNA KILL ME!" Boris shouted.
Vladimir looked behind Boris as the female nation leader catching up to them. Vladimir let out a big "Whoa" as he began to free his best friend from the tree roots. But the tree roots were too strong enough to set Boris free.
"Jeez, why do I always have to save your…" said Vladimir, before he started screaming. It was too late, the female nation leader leaped through them, but Peter jumped in just in time and started attacking the female leader. The balkan duo were relieve
"Don't worry, Boris. I'm here for you. Everything's gonna be okay" he said as Boris was anxiously curious about what's happening.
"Get her! Go for the head! Give her a good old one-two!" Vladimir cries as Peter continues fighting. Then he turn to Boris, "See, I told you he'd comes in handy"
After the large quarrel, the female nations pinned Peter down. Peter's eyes widened: Only one person who can tackle him down like that, and also once a micronation.
He looked at the woman's face and the familiar appearances, and the realization struck. Then he spoke, "Lily?" he asked
The woman's eyes widened. She got off of him and they both got up. Peter approaches her, as they look at each other. "Is it really you Lily?" Peter asked
"Who are you?" the woman asking frowning
"It's me, Peter." He said
The woman flinched and squinted at Peter, "Peter?" she asked
Peter nodded, noticing the blonde hair, the blue eyes, and the eyebrows. The woman started to smile slowly.
"Peter!" she cried "WHOA!"
"Lily!" he cried
The two nation leaders ran to each other as they started jumping around with joy, holding each other's hands, flooding each other with questions, with a bewildered Vladimir and Boris watching in the back view.
"How did you..?" Peter and Lily asked the same question at the same time
"Where did you come from?" Lily asked
"This is gr..It's great to see you." Peter said
"It's great to see you, too" Lily said
Vladimir walked towards them as Boris was trying to set himself free from the roots, "What's going on here?" he asked, but the two leaders ignored him as they kept asking questions.
"What are you doing here?" Peter asked
"What do you mean "What am I doing here?" What are you doing here?" Lily asked
"HEY! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Vladimir yelled
"Vladimir, This is Lily, she's my best friend" Peter exclaimed
"Friend?" said Vladimir
Peter nodded "Yeah. Hey, Boris, Come over here!" he said as Boris was finally free from the roots. "Lily, this is Boris; Boris, Lily"
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance" said Boris as he bowed down with his knee, completely forgetting about the incident.
"The pleasure's all mine" said Lily shaking his hand
"How are you doing?" Vlad couldn't hold it anymore, he then called a timeout "Whoa, whoa, whoa, timeout!" Vladimir said, then breaking them apart. "Let me get this straight, You know her, she knows you, but she wants to kill him," said Vladimir gesturing to Boris."and everyone's okay with this? DID I MISS SOMETHING?!" He yelled
"Relax, Vladimir" Peter said placing a hand on his shoulder
"Wait till everyone finds out that you've been here all this time!" Lily exclaimed and her eyes widened as she thought of something else, "And Tino, what will he think? (Yeah, I found Tino to be an somewhat-mother figure to Peter, of course he still a man)
Peter's eyes widened and his smile turned into a slight frown when a certain soviet man told him the exact same thing he told as a little micronation. "He doesn't have to know, no one has to know" he said quickly
Lily smiled, "Of course they do! Everyone think you dead"
"They do?" Peter asked
Lily nodded, "Yeah, Ivan told us about the stampede"
"He did? What else did he tell you?" Peter asked
'What else matters? You're alive!," Lily said, "and that means…you're the nation leader"
"King? Him? Pfft!" Vladimir scoffed, "You lady have got your hair crossed." Lily only gives him an angry stare with her arm crossed.
Boris looked at Peter with awe, "The leader? Your majesty! May I gravel at your feet." Boris said while kissing his feet.
"Okay, you can stop now" Peter command
Vladimir grabbed Boris at the collar. "First of all, It's not "gravel " it's grovel. So, don't do that again. Second of all, He's not the king, are ya?" He asked Peter
"No!" Peter answered
"Peter!" Lily said, Peter shook his head
"No, I'm not the leader. Maybe I was gonna be, but that was a long time ago"
"So let me get this straight. You're the leader? And you never told us? Vladimir asked
"Look, I'm still a same guy" said Peter
"But with power" Vladimir said, showing his muscles
Lily looked at Vladimir and Boris, "Could you guys excuse us for a few minutes?"
"Hey, whatever she has to say, she can say in front of us," Vladimir said, nudging Boris to get a point. He turned to Peter, "Right, Peter?"
Peter smiled apologetically, "Maybe you'd better go". Vladimir stares at consternation, he then holds his arms up in surrender.
"Începe. You think you know a guy." said Vladimir before walking away, along with Boris who just groaned. He looked at Peter for a few seconds before following Vladimir.
"Vladimir and Boris, you learn to love them," said Peter. Then he saw Lily looking sad with her head down. Peter walked to her to see what the problem was.
"What? What is it?" Peter asked
"It's like you're back from the dead," Rachel sighs and looks at Peter, "You don't know how much this will mean to everyone…what it means to me."
Peter smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey it's okay."
"I've really missed you," Lily said wrapping her arms around him
"I've missed you too," Peter said hugging her back
Meanwhile, The balkan duo (Vladimir and Boris) was hiding and watching them from a nearby bush. "I tell you, Boris, this stinks"
"What does?" Boris asked
"Think about it; him, her, alone" He simply said
"What's wrong with that?" asked the questioning Bulgarian
"I can see what's happening"
"What?"
"And they don't have a clue"
"Who?"
"They'll fall in love, and here's the bottom line: Our trio's down to two"
"Oh"
"The sweet caress of twilight, There's magic everywhere. And with all this romantic atmosphere, disaster's in the air!"
"Can you feel the love tonight? The peace the evening brings. The world for once in perfect harmony with all its living things."
The song continue with both voiceovers
"So many things to tell her, but how to make her see, The truth about my past? Impossible. She turn away from me"
"He's holding back, he's hiding. But what? I can't decide. Why won't he be the king I know he is the king I see inside?"
Peter then makes a big splash at the waterfall. Lily then scouting for Peter, but Peter grabbed her and dragged her into the water. Suddenly, Both Peter and Lily emerge from the water, with Lily gasping for air as she quickly leaves the water. Peter leaves the water, soaking wet, he's grinning while Lily just smiles at him, and knocks him back at the pool. The two nations frolic around and play fighting, until they came tumbling down, while the songs continued
"Can you feel the love tonight? The peace the evening brings. The world for once in perfect harmony with all its living things."
Lily kisses Peter on the cheek, which surprises Peter as he looks at Lily. Lily stares seductively at Peter. Peter smiles at Lily as they're eyes meet together, and hug each other tightly
"Can you feel the love tonight? You needn't look too far. Stealing through the night's uncertainties, love is where they are"
The two teary-eyed Balkans finishing the last verses
"And if he falls in love tonight, it can be assumed"
"His carefree days with us are history"
"In short, our pal is doomed"
Then they start crying and sobbing
A/N: I love writing romance songs, I was originally gonna do either a live-action version or a Broadway version. But I quickly made it more faithful for the original, because I just love the charm they have
Translation Word:
- Începe means "Begin, or in Timon's case "It starts" in Romanian
Stay Tuned for Chapter 11