No.

Wrong.

This isn't happening.

It's all a dream.

It's all a horrible nightmare that will soon be awaken from and everything will be back to normal.

The lights were turned back on and Leonard looked around at the faces of the other zoo animals. He was expecting shock, or anger, or maybe a combination of both. But instead he saw frightened expressions. All of them were afraid of him now? He thought about the amount of residue that showed up on his paws. How did that get there? It was impossible! How was that dog doing this? Once again the bunny hopped through his memory. He was small, so sneaking around the zoo wouldn't be difficult. He was gray, so making it seem like Marlene had seen him in her habitat wouldn't be difficult either. And he was fast. Getting in and out would be a cinch. But why? What had Leonard ever done to the little creature? Maybe the dog threatened him. It certainly would be a motive to do whatever he asked. But it also still doesn't explain how that residue ended up on his paws.

He looked at Private. He was definitely stuck. His eyes had fallen into a dead seriousness that he couldn't quite define. He had started to tap his side nervously. Leonard turned back to Skipper, who had an expression of uncertainty, as if he wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to say.

"Is there anything you'd like to say, Leonard?" Skipper said finally, breaking the silence.

Leonard looked at the zoosters with pleading eyes. He was going to beg them to believe him, but then decided that it would be useless. He looked down. "No." He answered closing his eyes in hopes of keeping himself from crying.

Skipper turned to the zoosters. "We'll continue this trial tomorrow evening. 1900 hours. Sharp." He ordered. Julien slowly raised his paw and Skipper rolled his eyes. "It means, 7pm. This court is adjourned."

With that, everyone began filing out of the Zoovenir Shop. Each and every one of them kept their eyes locked onto Leonard as they walked. Leonard wanted to put his face in his paws to shield his eyes, which were fighting back tears, but he couldn't bring himself to considering they were covered wrist-to-fingertip in blood residue. Instead he clenched his fists at his sides and closed his eyes. Private came to his side and placed a flipper on his shoulder.

"Come on, let's get you back to your habitat."

He couldn't really tell anything from his tone, but judging from his expression, he, too, was starting to doubt Leonard's innocence. He couldn't blame him. If Leonard were anyone else, he wouldn't believe himself either.

What if he really was guilty? Skipper mentioned that he may have started sleepwalking. What if he really did? He questioned why or how he would do something like that in his sleep, but he assumed that it wasn't impossible. He decided that staying awake was probably his best option. Maybe he could swipe some of Alice's coffee. He got up and followed Private out of the Zoovenir Shop, dragging his feet through each step. His heart had dropped into his stomach and sat heavily there, causing it to start hurting.

Was he really such a monster? Could he be a monster? Was it possible? He thought about how he woke up next to the chimp habitat yesterday, which was indeed the neighboring habitat of the lemurs. How on earth did he end up there unless by sleepwalking? On top of the stomachache, his head starting to throb. All he wanted to do was curl up in his habitat and sleep. And sleep. And sleep. Just to escape the hell-hole that was gradually becoming his life unless someone found something that could help him. He was losing-if he had not already lost-the trust of all of his friends. They didn't look at him the same way anymore.

When they arrived at his habitat, Private assumed that Leonard would continue on to his tree, but Leonard didn't want to walk any more than he had to. He stopped by his wall and planted himself on the ground as soon as he got there. Private sat down next to him. They sat in silence. Leonard's mind drifted into the way it was before any of this had happened; his life was so perfect. He'd wake up each evening to the luxury of his warm, cozy habitat, free to do whatever he wanted, which didn't include murderous thoughts or actions. It was wonderful. He'd almost lost himself in it before he realized he was in a daze.

Meanwhile, Private's mind wandered into the way he wanted it, into the way he thought it would be. The evidence and clues that he'd gathered would point toward Leonard's innocence, and the penguins would set out to hunt down the true culprit. He couldn't help but wonder what went wrong. Not trial-wise, but in Leonard's life. What had Leonard ever done to deserve such torture? He knew in his gut that it didn't add up. He knew that Leonard was innocent. It was just the matter of proving it to the others, knowing that he couldn't testify with his gut instinct as evidence. He was so deep in thought that he didn't even realize that Leonard had said something to him.

"Private?"

"Oh, sorry. What was that, then?"

"I was just saying...if you don't believe me anymore, I understand."

"Actually, Leonard, on the contrary. Despite any of the evidence, I still just can't believe that you're guilty. I just can't." Private assured him.

"Really? Because I'm honestly debating my innocence." Leonard admitted.

"Leonard, I believe you. Even if you don't believe in yourself. There's got to be another explanation for this. There has to be something we're missing, something we're not seeing. I just don't know where to look for it."

"Well, I appreciate the effort. But I don't think the verdict is going to end up innocent."

"But there's still time. And as long as there is, I'm not giving up." Private got to his feet and turned to him. "Promise me you won't, too."

Leonard kept his gaze fixed on the ground in front of him and sighed. "Alright. But I still don't see the point."

"I don't either. But I'm not letting that stop me." Private replied with a slight smile. "I've got to get back to HQ. I'll see you tomorrow evening." Private then turned and left him.

Leonard looked at the clock across the zoo. It read 11:53. He'd been in the 'courtroom' for almost three hours. He once again felt that feeling of the need to sleep, but he tried his best to ignore it. He didn't sleep much during the day, so it was difficult to just shrug it off. He thought once again about Alice's coffee. It couldn't hurt, could it? He wasn't even sure if he'd even like it, but it was worth a shot. He didn't want to sleep. He was afraid that sleeping would just make things worse, whether it be another murder victim, having bad dreams, or waking up several habitat's away from where he'd laid his head for the day.

Leonard made up his mind. He got to his feet and slowly peeked over the wall of his habitat. Everyone had gone to sleep. After climbing out of his habitat, he went to Alice's office and turned on the lights before he climbed onto the counter and approached the coffee machine. How hard could it be to make coffee? Luckily, the coffee pot was still half full. He'd seen Alice make coffee before. First, he had to heat it up. He located the on button and pressed it. After several minutes, he gently touched the outside of the glass coffee pot to find that it had warmed to an appropriate temperature. He turned off the machine and took the pot from it, pouring it into a mug that he'd found. He remembered Alice pouring sugar and some sort of cream into it, so that's what he did. Two scoops of sugar, and a spritz of cream. After mixing it, he carefully took a small sip, not knowing what to expect for the taste.

He quickly realized that he liked it. It tasted good, and it made his insides feel warm. He finished his first cup and made more, and more, and more. Eventually he'd finished off the rest of the pot. It wasn't his intention, but there wasn't any taking it back now. He was satisfied to see that it had worked. He was much more awake now. He sat on the edge of the counter to let the coffee settle. Ten minutes had passed and he started to feel weird.

It was so sudden, and he couldn't explain why he started to feel this way. His head felt fuzzy, and he tried to get to his feet, but the room began to sway. Back and forth, back and forth. His vision became black around the edges and his muscles became heavy, yet relaxed. He fell to his side and tried to prop himself up by his arm, but it slipped and he rolled onto his back. He could hear his breathing, it had became heavy and in quick motions. He could hear his heart in his throat. He couldn't think. Only feel.

Finally everything went black.

**************************************************************

"I'm sorry things ended up like this, Private." Skipper said. "But...I'm afraid I just don't think I want you hanging around Leonard by yourself anymore."

"What?" Private asked, astounded.

"It's just that...if Leonard is guilty, which is what the evidence has so far suggested, I don't want him to hurt you. Understand?"

"No! I don't understand! Leonard is innocent! And I'm going to prove it!" Private insisted. He turned and climbed into his bunk. He couldn't bring himself to believe that Leonard could be capable of such evil.

"Private, I-"

"Save it! I'm going to sleep." Private turned his back on them. Though he couldn't sleep for most of the night. Neither could the others.

**************************************************************

The smell of grass filled his nose. He could feel the greenery beneath him. A smile crossed his face as he felt the earth under his paw, but it faded when he felt something thin and moist.

Leonard opened his eyes. Above him was sky. How did he get outside? He was afraid to look at his surroundings, but he pushed himself up anyway. In front of him was grass that ended a few feet away into a dirt plane. He was in Roy's habitat. He turned his head to his left, where he'd felt the object in his sleep. It was bone. He jumped and got to his feet, backing away. His breathing and his heartrate accelerated. His eyes were wide with fear and shock. What happened last night?

"Oh my God..." Leonard turned around at the sound of Roy's voice. Roy looked him up and down. Leonard looked down at himself. He was covered in blood, as was the ground and pile of bones behind him.

"Roy...I don't...I didn't...I..." Leonard didn't know what to say.

This time he was caught red-handed.