Carol knew from the very beginning that Max would be their savior. From the moment he silenced the mob at the fire, from the moment his thunderous "BE STILL!" echoed over the crackle of flames and the swirl of voices and the sounds that could not be quieted of the forest that Max would be the best king, the only real king, the wild things had ever known.
(Max, nia Savanto! Max, nia rêgo!)
They stand in the ocean long after Max's ship is a spot on the horizon, and Carol waits, his fur matted and salty, long after the others have retreated to shore.
Douglas, ever the defender, ever the protector, finds him when he doesn't come back.
"Carol?" he asks, his voice quiet and hesitant, scared that he'll get himself into a frenzy again. He always does when someone he loves leaves.
"He was supposed to be our savior," Carol whispers, and Douglas' heart breaks for his childlike mind.
"I told you. He was just a boy, Carol. He did what he could and it wasn't enough-"
"But it was! It was enough for a while! We were happy! K.W. was here, Judith was kinder, everything was fine! Why couldn't it have stayed that way?" Carol's voice thunders through the island, birds in the forefront of the forest taking flight by the hundreds.
"Carol," Douglas sighs, "Let it be. We let ourselves have fun and it's time to stop."
"I don't see why we have to stop."
(Kie vi iri? Kial vi forlasas nin?)
"You have to grow up, Carol. Please, just, come join us by the fire. It's gonna be okay. We're gonna be okay. Okay?"
(Kial vi mensogas al ni, reĝo?)
"Come back to the fire, Carol." Douglas prods. "You'll get sick or something out here."
It is judith's forced howled laughter that tears Carol's eyes away from the horizon that has since darkened and bled into the ocean, the black of the sky and the black of the waves meshing into nothing, the stars in the sea reflected back into the sky so that Carol can't tell if he's even right side up.
He turns to Douglas. "Okay. Okay. Let's go home."
Douglas smiles and touches the feathers of his remaining arm to Carols hulking stripes ones guiding the dazed wild thing to the fire.
The others sit around it and speak in hushed tones. It is Alexander who first notices their return.
"Welcome back, uh, Carol." he offers, timidly, and Carol has a hard time blaming him for being so uneasy.
(Max, nia tirano. Max, nia ekstermanto.)
Bernard sets a heavy black hoof on Carol's shoulder, and Ira nods to him.
"You're going to have to do something with the ruins." Judith says, without looking at him.
"I know." Carol says, because he really does know. He knows he has to grow up.
"We can help." Ira offers. "If you really need it."
"No." Carol says, his voice a rumble just fierce enough to vibrate in the ground beneath their large feet. "I have to. I gotta. You know. Fix what I broke. I gotta take responsibility for my own stuff." God knows nobody else will be responsible for you.
"That's very responsible of you, Carol." Douglas chimes patiently.
Carol nods and collapses in the grass beside Alexander. He tosses a stick into the fire and it crackles. Ira and Judith turn into themselves again.
There will be no king to save you, Carol thinks. You have to fix what you've broken on your own.
Maybe he did something good after all.
(Max, nia instruisto. Max, nia salvio.)
A/n
Translations! From Esperanto!
Max, our saviour, max, our king!
Where did you go? Why did you leave us?
Why did you lie, king?
Max, the Tyrant. Max, the destroyer.
Max, our teacher. Max, our sage.