Even Otter Things Have Happened
Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….
Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.
Rated Teen (T) for Mild/Fantasy Violence, and Minor Suggestive Themes
BIG THANKS to Panacea447 with King Julien, to the AWESOME Miztah Han, and to Kowalski4Evah! for all the support. Get well soon, D_Rookie, we miss you =(
Also BIG THANKS to great reviewers! To Poette O'Deal, once again, and to xxAznPenguin. This chapter is a little depressing, I cried myself while writing it. Well, almost. Here you go (tissues at the ready!) ~Triksterr206 of the DrunkenTavern
Chapter IV: To Break the Commando's Heart
Skipper watched as the one person he now hated more than anybody walked away with the love of his life. His heart felt wrenched out and trodden upon, and he slowly felt himself falling into an abyss, sadness his only companion. His vision faltered, surroundings blurred around him, and all he could see were the two, the larger of the two talking to the other. To him, it all sounded muffled and distant, like coming from deep underwater. He started to feel time slowing to a crawl, amplifying his despair a hundredfold, as he watched the hated squirrel open and close his mouth. He felt his body grow hot underneath his feathers, and felt it tear away from him, leaving him exposed, weak and vulnerable. He just wanted to wrench his gaze away from it all, to run, to leave it all behind, but his body continued to disobey him. The smaller one laughed at the last remark he made, the laughter cutting clear through his thoughts like a hot knife does through butter. Perhaps the only thing that dragged him back into reality was when he felt a presence in front of him, an irritating presence, something he wanted to rip away from him, tear it to pieces, and return to his bouts of despair.
Regret overwhelmed him that he didn't have the guts to ask Marlene out before Fred happened. It was all his fault, everything that happened was his fault. He deserved the feelings of despair he felt now, all the pain, anguish, everything. He would have sunk deep into his bouts of self-loathing, had not that annoyance he felt earlier strengthen, and cut clean swath through his thoughts:
"Hey silly penguin! Always look at da king when he is to be talking wid you!"
Despair quickly turned into rage, which was soon replaced with a deep desire to squash this insignificant speck like the pest it was. His beak curled into a snarl, and he felt his flippers lift themselves of their own accord, and lunge at the air. His vision turned red as he felt it latch on to something. Instinctively, he tightened his hold around it, and pushed it with all the might and anger he could muster until he felt what he was holding slam into a wall. His head lifted itself, and his vision narrowed to see the pest before its life was extinguished. And as his vision and the red haze cleared, he gazed into the big, round, yellow eyes of it.
"Uhhh, okey, now you are looking at me, but – uhhh – this is a little too close for me and my comfortiness."
"Wha - ! Julien?"
"What? Of course silly penguin! Who else is da King?" replied the lemur, his voice growing more forced, and raspier.
His vision returned to normal and the snarl replaced with shock, he glanced down to see his flippers wrapped around Julien's throat like a vice, and he felt it tighten involuntarily. Although he wanted nothing more in the world than to end the evening dance parties with the music blasting at full volume once and for all, it was against every law he had set for himself, and as much as he hated him, he would never strike down a civilian, no matter how misguided or irritable it was. He eased his hold and released the blue-faced lemur, who fell to the floor gasping and spluttering for breath.
"Okey," he gasped amid a series of heavy panting. "Maybe next time, I'll just go wid da handshaking. No more huggies okey?"
"Ringtail, I'm sorry. I just had no idea –" Skipper's voice faltered as he helped Julien up. His distress was replaced by suspicion as he grabbed Julien's arm when he was on his feet. "Wait, what are you doing here?"
"Uhhh, I wanted to have a little talk with the smarty penguin. The lovey potion he gave to me, was uneffective!" he said angrily, dusting himself off from Skipper's assault. He turned his head to look for Kowalski, when his eyes later fell on the depressing state of their home. "Whoa! Uhh, is dis a bad time?"
His eyes then fell on Kowalski, still whimpering in pain beneath the spiderweb-cracked wall. "Uhh, wer you doing dat too?", he said to Skipper, pointing at Kowalski. All Skipper could do was stare at it too, wondering how it even happened.
"Maybe I should come back later, you know, after you be fixing dis dump."
And with that, Julien left the habitat, murmuring things like 'crazy penguins' and 'shabby and silly'. Skipper continued to stare at the remains of his home, wondering how Fred smashed it to pieces and left with Marlene. A sharp pang resonated in his heart at the thought of it, and he busied himself instead.
He walked over to the cowering lump in his bunk and gave it a hard slap. Rubbing the side of his head, Rico fell out of the pillowcase he was taking refuge in. Upon seeing the glint in Skipper's eyes, he laughed nervously and kept glancing at the tunnel entrance, dreading the return of Marlene. Skipper walked over to Private, sighed, and shook him and patted the side of the penguin's beak. Slowly he came to, his eyes slowly opening and then widening at the sight of the tunnel. Private yelled and hid behind Skipper's back, still quaking. Sighing deeply to himself, he glanced over at Kowalski, who was slowly picking himself up by using the cracks on the wall for support. Skipper waddled over and placed Kowalski's flipper around his shoulders, and placed him on the bunk Rico was occupying earlier. Private shuddered in fear as he took a last glimpse at the tunnel.
"Skipper? What happened?"
"I don't know young Private. I just don't know."
*Later On*
A few hours had passed since Fred and Marlene had left their HQ, and they were able to repair most of their home. After cleaning up and repairing both walls in which Kowalski and Julien were slammed against, it looked even better than before. They were able to extract Mort, although without no great effort, from the destroyed television, and later replaced it with Alice's TV. It was nearly nightfall, and all of them felt tired. Kowalski still lay unconscious, and Rico kept jumping into the air at the slightest noises. Deciding it was good enough, Skipper approached the only penguin who knew what to do in these matters. He walked over to Private and walked him into the lab, and locked the door behind him.
"Skipper? What's going on? Why do you look so depressed?"
Skipper recounted every detail he could from what he felt earlier when he saw Marlene with Fred. All the emptiness he felt inside, all the self-loathing, even the part where he was so depressed he almost crushed Julien's windpipe. He also admitted to Private that he had had feelings for Marlene ever since the two had met on that fateful day she arrived from California, but he never had the guts to tell her what he truly felt.
"So I just hid behind this front: the unstoppable, unafraid, paranoid commando penguin just because I couldn't tell her what I felt. I'm such a coward!" he finished, breaking down into tears.
"Wow, Skipper. I didn't know you liked Marlene around that much." Private said, patting his leader's backside as he sobbed into Private's belly. "But you're still that unstoppable, unafraid, paranoid commando penguin that I admire, and you are no coward. Don't worry Skipper, we'll find a way to solve this. All we need are some options, and a big plan that has almost no chance of working."
"Thank you so much Private!" he continued to cry, hugging Private so tightly it almost crushed the young penguin's chest.
"Happy to be of help Skipper" he squealed, still in a death grip. "So you're not going to leave the zoo?"
Skipper stood up, wiped his tears and said "No, this madness ends now."
Skipper walked over to Marlene's habitat so he could finally tell her what he wanted to tell her so long ago. He puffed himself up, ready to tell her what he wanted – no – needed to tell her. Skipper stopped as he heard voices coming of inside her cave-home. It was Marlene, and Fred, who still had not left. He edged closer, and leaned against the rock wall of her cave, wanting to hear more.
"You know Fred, you've really changed! I'm so happy now that you're - well – you're different now."
"Yeah" came the boring drawl from Fred, to which Marlene paid no heed.
"You know? This might actually work now. It's great I met you Fred. You'll come by tomorrow again will you BooBoo?"
"Yeah."
Skipper broke down into tears again as he spied on Fred and Marlene's date. He shrunk into the shadows so Fred won't see him, he edged closer and peeked behind the corner. Through tear filled eyes, he caught Marlene hug Fred and then kiss him on the cheek. Now, he didn't have the guts to actually execute his plan.
Skipper imagined the possibilities of Fred beating him up in different ways if he dared to stand up to him, not to mention in front of Marlene. He went home, nothing more he could do at Marlene's, so he went to Private for more advice on love. Ever the helpful penguin, Private planned to give him therapeutic advice. However, during his session with Private which lasted over an hour, he just cried on the chair in different positions and continued sobbing as he recounted what happened when he went over to her habitat and saying how much he regretted letting Marlene go. After their session, Private couldn't help but be amazed at Skipper's vulnerability.
"Wow, Skipper. I didn't know that you were this sensitive."
Kowalski had finally awoken, and he listened closely to their discussion. Even Rico couldn't help but look up every once in a while brushing Miss Perky's already thin hair, his face mirroring the sadness of his leader. Kowalski felt sad for Skipper, interrupted his crying and finally told him of their plan to trick Fred into drinking the antidote, but in doing so they brought him right to Marlene. To his amazement, Skipper didn't blame Kowalski, but rather thanked him for it for making Marlene so happy to be with Fred.
"You know Skipper, it would actually just be easier if we trick Fred into drinking it again." Said a surprised Kowalski.
Skipper snapped and shouted "No! Taking away Marlene's happiness is not an option!"
"But Skipper, what will you do now?" whispered Private, his eyes too starting to cry.
"I'm letting her go. Since there's no way I can take away her happiness without taking away mine, I'm letting her go."
"Oh Skipper!" said Private, finally bursting into tears and hugging his leader more gently this time. "That's the most noble and romantic thing I've ever seen you do!"
Even Rico and Kowalski started to cry, all feeling the sadness Skipper felt.
"Yes, young Private.", sighed Skipper, returning the hug. "And when you grow up, you'll be facing the same decisions I'll have to make, except I won't be there with you."
"Wait!" Private pulled away from Skipper, surprise replacing sadness, "What are you saying Skipper?"
"Men," Skipper announced, wiping the tears away. "I'm leaving the zoo."