An uncomfortable quiet hung in the air as Shadow carried Mort and Clover across the island, with the smaller lemur sitting behind the hawk's head while the larger sat behind him, as one wore an embittered scowl while the other's expression was of pensive concern. It wasn't until the trio was fast approaching The Mountain Lemur King that Clover sliced through the silence by gently begging of Mort,
"Please, Mort. I really do think that you can help me here and King Julien. Can you just...give it a chance?"
But Mort's lips remained sealed and Clover let out a dishearten sigh.
This was swiftly followed by Shadow making a smooth landing next to one of the kingdom's larger sleeping tents and her passengers promptly climbing off her person. Once on solid ground, Mort walked a short distance while looking this way and that, then stopped and with his back turned to her, curtly commented,
"So, this is your kingdom, huh?"
"Yeah, this is it. Though I had hoped that your first visit would be a bit more...under better circumstances." Clover said and rubbed the back of her neck in an uncomfortably awkward manner.
"Yeah, you and me both." Mort grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest bitterly as he continued to glare at his surroundings.
"Queen Clover? Queen Clover!"
The pair's uneasy exchange was then interrupted by a nearby masculine voice calling out excitedly, to which they and Shadow turned to see a guy mountain lemur rushing out of the aforementioned tent and over to Clover.
"Queen Clover, you're back!" He happily said to her. Then, he noticed Mort, who came over to stand beside Clover while glaring up at him. "Uh, what's your little friend doing here?" He asked her in confusion.
"Mort's going to be staying with us for while. I'll explain everything after I talk to Sage but in the meantime, can you please watch Mort?" Clover curtly explained and spread out an arm towards Mort, the clear frustration in her words letting her subject know that it wasn't a request.
"Or, I'm just throwing it out there, maybe the three of us could go talk to Sage? Or if you'd rather that I don't talk to him, then somebody else could go with you or stay with me or...something...maybe?" Mort tried to suggest calm and composed like but couldn't hide the trepidation in his tone nor the pleading in his eyes, their grim glint gone, his concern for his friend's emotional well being having overpowered his offense at being treated like a child.
The mountain lemur was taken aback by this concern, as was Clover. But then, the latter's stunned expression swiftly turned into a scornful scowl and she snapped, "I can talk to my husband by myself, Mort!", to which Mort winced back from her harsh bark.
"I-I know, I just..." He started to explain frantically, then stopped and silently wilted ever farther under the scolding spotlight cast by her piercing jungle eyes.
Just then, the mountain lemur timidly piped in, "The little guy has a point, your majesty." And even when Clover turned to glare daggers at him, her feral eyes piercing through his heart causing a second of panic to pulse within, he still then furrowed his brow and went on to argue in vexed earnest, complete with bitterly mocking air quotes, "Ever since you've been gone, Sage has been going on and on about how he was right about Zora and Uncle King Julien's 'miracle of the universe' and how you must be so busy making amends to them and King Julien cause surely now, you've seen the 'error of your ways'…!"
"Which is all the more reason for me to stop dawdling here and start looking for Sage so I can set the record straight through his fat head!" Was Clover's snappy retort. Then, she snarled, "So I'm going to ask you one. More. Time! Can I trust you to watch Mort or not!?"
"...Yes, your majesty." The mountain lemur conceded solemnly, picked up Mort and protectively pulled him to his chest.
"Wha…!" Mort gave a startled squeak as he did but then he looked over at Clover and his brief offense swiftly turned back into sadness. An emotion shared with both the mountain lemur and Shadow as they all watched her leap out of sight.
Once she was gone, Mort bowed his head and whimpered, "I just...Sage is so...if Clover has someone on her side..."
"I know, buddy. Believe me, I know." The mountain lemur solemnly assured him.
.
.
.
It didn't take Clover long to find Sage. He was at the edge of their kingdom, alone beside a crystal clear lagoon overlooking the ocean, sitting cross-legged atop his tail with paws resting on his lap and his eyes closed within a placid expression. For a moment, Clover hung back at the border of jungle and sand as she considered walking away without a word but then, furrowed her brow into a determined scowl, marched up to her husband and said to him curtly,
"Sage?"
But Sage gave not a word in reply nor any indication that he had even heard his wife, to which Clover gave a closed lipped growl before she barked,
"Sage!"
At this, Sage's eyes flew open and he looked down upon this sudden disturbance with a start. Then, joyful recognition flashed across his face and he said with great enthusiasm, "Clover!", hopped off his tail and spread out his arms towards her. "You're back!"
"Yes and now that I am, we need to discuss the matter of Uncle King Julien and Zora!" Clover said and crossed her arms over her chest sternly.
"I know what you're going to say and I just have to say that I am so proud of you, Clover! It takes true strength to blow away the toxic haze of hate with admissions of one's wrongs!" Sage sincerely praised in typical Sage fashion and Clover dug her claws into her skin a growl rumbled through her clenched teeth. She then swiftly uncrossed her arms and pointed an index finger at Sage, which was promptly followed by other hurried hand motions, as she snapped,
"Now you listen here! I don't know where you got the idea that I had stooped to your bleeding heart fantasy but I'm telling you here and now, that's all it is! A fantasy! And that I'd rather die then apologize for protecting my friend!"
To which all a stunned, wide eyed Sage could say to that was, "What?", causing one of Clover's eyes to twitch while her fists trembled all the more at her sides.
"I! Did! Not! Apologize! To Zora or Uncle King Julien!" She shrieked furiously while standing on her tiptoes to scream as close to Sage's face as possible, before she then lowered herself back down and said with scathing conviction, "And you wanna know why!? Cause just because you were right about the brat doesn't mean that their mommy and daddy are as innocent as you think!"
"Wh-what are you saying?" Sage asked with apprehension, as certain subject's latest accusations towards the couple rang in his ears.
"I'm saying that those fuckers made their hell spawn on purpose so that they can milk the innocent mommy act for all it's worth! Really make them look like the 'loving growing family' that can do no wrong!"
"No..." Sage said with mounting dread.
"Yes! And oh, oh, it gets better! Now they've invited King Julien to their wedding…!"
"Wait, what!? Wedding!? Uncle King Julien and Zora are getting married!?" Sage exclaimed incredulously.
"Yep and guess what!? I'm invited too! And Minerva and her sheep! All as part of the conniving bastard's plan! Which I thought at first might be to take me and Dr. S out during the ceremony, thus freeing them to then kill King Julien on the spot, or that this is just another step in whittling his majesty's guard down so that it'll be easier to kill him another day! But then, as the guest list grew, I realized just how moronic that first plan would be! Zora especially would know that if the super trap or whether failed, that she couldn't possibly take on so many people by herself, especially when most of them are warriors like herself and especially not in her...condition…!" Clover's frantic critique petered off into uncomfortable silence that lasted for a second or two before she then cleared her throat and resumed. "It's far too risky! No, no, it would wiser to wait until after the brat is born and that way too, if things go south, she and Uncle King Julien can always dump their spawn and make a clean getaway! But until then, they'll keep using them to rope in bleeding heart fools like you hook, line and sinker!"
"How can you...I can't believe you'd say something so horrible!" Sage said, with stunned incredulousness that swiftly turned irate.
"And I can't believe you thought that I had fallen for such bull!" Was Clover's scathing retort. "Gah! You're hopeless!" And with that, she turned her back on Sage and started to walk away.
"Wait!" Sage shouted to his wife in alarm but Clover just kept walking, so then he shouted even louder, "You forgot to give me my invitation!"
To which Clover stopped and turned back around to face him.
"Oh, did I now? Whoopsy! My bad! Hmm, let me see where I put it?" Clover said a sarcastically ditzy manner as she lightly bopped her forehead and put a finger to her lips in mock thought before then patting her body at imaginary pockets. "Oh, found it! Here ya go!" She proclaimed in mock triumph and held up a middle finger to her husband with a wide spurious smile.
"...Real mature, Clover. Really got me there." Sage said with irritated sarcasm, then held out his paw and sincerely demanded, "Now can you please give me my real invitation?"
"Ha! Hate to break it to ya, hun, but that's the only invitation you're gonna get! Cause guess what!? The fat bastard and his bitch in crime didn't invite you to their, oh, how would you phrase it? 'The blessed union of their two souls into one' ?" She informed him with gleeful mocking, topped off with a sarcastically dopey impression.
"No, that would be the creation of their child. Their wedding will be...hey, wait, what!?" Sage started to explain with composed frustration before he then fully processed the rest of his wife's words and incredulously exclaimed. "But...but why!? Why are you invited but not me!? With all your-your hatred!? Your toxic vibes!?" You're…!?"
"I was invited so that King Julien would go! Because Zora and his uncle know that he'll feel safer with me there! And the safer he feels, the easier it'll be to gain his trust!" Clover critically explained.
"Oh..." Sage said in stunned realization but then, he scowled once more and whined, "But why didn't they invite me!?"
"Got the answer for that too! Apparently, Zora and Uncle King Julien were 'really upset' when they found out that you banned them from our kingdom! That they're now 'afraid for their lives and their baby's' due to finding out that Dr. S has taken on my old job and have been 'seriously angry' with him, me, and you ever since! Which honestly makes perfect sense considering their 'just wants to live in the safest place for their growing family' image and they can't very well get all chummy with the guy barring them from said place if they want to keep that image, now can they!?"
"They're...afraid…? But...but Dr. S has been keeping King Julien a-and everyone else in his kingdom safe! They have to know that!" Sage said in stunned disbelief, then earnestly argued.
"Yeah, well, can you really blame them for being just a bit skeptical of a snake whose never had a problem with taking life on a whim before, now suddenly being passionate about preserving it!? Or at the very least, having doubts that he can keep it up in the long run, even if he is being sincere about it!?"
"But...but they know about the haters here…!"
"Well maybe they figured out that since you're, you know, their king, that you can tell those 'haters' where to stuff their complaints!? That what you say goes and if lemurs don't like it, too bad! And if they still won't comply, you'll make em!" Was Clover's scathing retort, slamming her fist into her palm for emphasis. To which after a stunned second, Sage scowled and snarled, then snapped back in kind,
"How many times do I have to tell you that would make us no better then Koto!?"
"How many times do I have to tell you that's a load of bull!? We would be protecting life, not taking it! Something that Koto never did!"
"King Julien doesn't need protecting! Not from his uncle or Zora or their child! It is they who need protecting from you and Campion spreading ha…!"
"I'm spreading common sense! Campion's the one telling lemurs to throw tantrums like overgrown children with no regard for anyone but themselves!"
"You're the one who has no regard! For any of our people! You just want to use fear and hate to get what you want out of them even though that's exactly the kind of cruelty they suffered under Koto! You know this but do you care!? No! You don't care if you putour peoplethrough that same pain, that same torture, all over again!"
And even when Sage stopped to huff and puff ragged breathes, his gaze remained just as bitterly bone chilling as he leered down upon Clover. Whose own scorching scowl had been stomped out and replaced with a wide eyed gaze brimming with horrified shame. For she had heard more terrible tales then she could count concerning Koto's cruelty towards the mountain lemurs. Of entire families being executed for one member speaking out of line. Of lemurs like Minerva and some of Clover's own allies having to hide their own grievances all the while, forced to watch or to do the killing themselves to avoid the same fate. How their pain remained Clover so much of what King Julien's people had suffered under his uncle's...and with that, her gaze narrowed to a glare that blazed like the jungle engulfed within a raging inferno.
"Yeah, well, whose fault is that that they had to go through that torture in the first place, huh!? You knew that Koto would be a blood thirsty tyrant that would rule your people with an iron fist the second he got the crown and yet, instead of stopping him and taking care of him like a man, you galavanted off to be a fucking color without giving a flying fuck for the people you abandoned with a monster! So I have to ask, whose really the one with no regard for anyone but himself!?" Clover rebuked, her words like scolding hot ash sprayed across Sage's face, and it was all he could but give her a stunned stare as she spoke. Then, as Clover caught her breath, one part of her critique stuck out to Sage like a gangrened thumb and his gaze froze to an ice cold glare once more.
"What do you mean by 'taking care of him like a man'?" He asked in a dangerously low snarl.
"I mean that you should have killed the bastard when you had the chance! Would have done the whole world a favor!"
"That's not true! The world is never better off for losing a life! Every last one is precious and that includes my brother's! Even if you can't see that!" Sage passionately, furiously proclaimed, his fists at his sides vibrating with barely contained rage as he glared down upon his wife with a frigid gaze ready to drown any heinous response that she may fling his way. But much to Sage's shock, Clover neither recoiled nor swiftly snapped back with yet another rancorous retort but instead only gave him a stunned stare that lasted for a silent second or two. Then, a huff of a laugh escaped her lips, followed by a low chuckle that swiftly rose to a throw her head back cackle. As Sage watched her in growing confusion until realization struck him and his blood swiftly came back to a boil that erupted into a furious,
"It's not funny!"
To which Clover ceased her howling and looked back to Sage with her own scornful gaze. "Oh-oh but you don't understand! Trust me, you're-you're gonna love this! King Julien said the exact same thing about his uncle last night! Yeah! And honestly, at this rate, I wouldn't even be shocked if he started singing your brother's praises soon, so you got that to look forward to!" Clover told him with teeth and bitterness bared through a snide smile.
To which Sage was momentarily taken aback by this information, then re-furrowed his brow and said with a snide snarl, "...You know, you could stan to follow Julien's example!"
"Oh, you want me to start sprouting crap like 'But Clover, how do you know that my uncle is lying this time? How do you know that he still wants to kill me? I just think it's possible that he's changed! That he's going to be the best husband and daddy and...and...aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Sincere ire laced more and more of Clover's sarcastically dopey impression until it ended in an enraged scream and she continued to let out her bitter bellow as she rushed over to the nearest palm tree. Where she promptly slammed her fist into it's trunk, causing the plant to tremble and release some of it's coconuts onto the grass and sand below.
This was followed promptly by a sharp yelp from within the surrounding vegetation, then an immediate muffled cry from the same spot. At this, Clover's blood froze and she wasted no time in shoving aside the foliage to reveal none other then Minerva among it. She was kneeling on the ground no more then a few feet from Clover, hunched over with her paws clamped over her mouth, that remained there as she slowly looked up at her queen with wide eyed horror.
"How much did you hear!?" Clover asked her in a dangerously low snarl, her eyes narrowed to a seething glare as she loomed over Minerva, whose own gaze remained that of stunned panic as she stuttered likewise,
"I-I-I…"
"Answer me!" Clover shrieked with ear splitting ire, to which Minerva recoiled from her blaring bark and could only repeat,
"I-I-I….!"
For words escaped the petrified lemur as she cowered under Clover's scorching gaze that remained her so much of the jungle in those moments, with no qualms of tearing her limb by limb if she dared to so much as take one wrong breath.
"Clover, that's enough!" Sage scolded and took a step towards subject and wife while glaring daggers at the latter but before Clover could give a ratty retort, Minerva managed to frantically blurt out,
"I know!"
To which the couple looked to their subject and with all eyes on her, Minerva pushed through the mounting dread hammering her heart to timidly tell them, "I know about the wedding and...and about how..." She then froze for a trepedious second before frantically blurting out, "About King Julien defending his uncle!"
Swift as lightning, Clover grabbed Minerva by the neck with both paws and yanked the larger lemur towards her until they were almost to nose to nose, meeting Minerva's petrified stare with her feral glare, her voice low and slow as she snarled, "If you know what's good for you, you will keep your fucking mouth shut or I swear to the gods I will…!"
"That's enough, Clover!" Sage snapped, swiftly grabbed Clover by the torso and yanked both her and Minerva upward. And in a flash, he was standing up straight while holding Clover underneath her armpits as she held onto Minerva, with their subject uncomfortably crouched before both of them.
"What the-Sage!? Let go of me!" Clover demanded, squirmed and swung her legs furiously, shaking Minerva as a result, her captive giving out startled sounds as a response.
"Not until you release Minerva!" Sage responded with the same forceful commanding as his wife, who stopped squirming and looked over her shoulder to meet his scolding scowl with her own. Their gazes remained locked for a long moment until Clover begrudgingly released Minerva, who fell to her hands and knees, then frantically propelled herself off the ground and some feet of distance between herself and the couple. Sage then let go of Clover, who landed on her feet and whipped around to face her husband.
"Not cool, Clover!" Sage scolded her with a snarl and Clover responded in kind,
"King Julien can't afford to have some nosy bitch running her mouth!"
"Can you refrain from using vile names for one minute!? And why does it matter if Minerva tells others of what she has just heard!?" Sage critically inquired.
"Why!?" Clover shouted with irate incredulousness. "If word got out and reached Zora and Uncle King Julien…!"
"What? They'll use the fact that King Julien believes in love's redeeming power to kill him!? Is that it!?" Was Sage's snide rebuke and the scornful bite in Clover's own tone remained unwavering as she gave him a firm,
"Yes!"
"Of course!" Sage bitterly grumbled as he rolled his eyes and head.
"Well, someone has to be the realist here and that sure as fuck ain't you!" Was Clover's critical comeback, to which Sage's scathing retort to that was,
"You want real? How's this for real!? You have no regard for Zora or Uncle King Julien or their love! You don't deserve to be apart of a beautiful ceremony celebrating it! You'll taint their joyous occasion with your callousness and hatred and I'm not going to stand by and let that happen! I'm banning you from the wedding!"
"What!?" Both women exclaimed incredulously, then Clover swiftly got over her shock to snap,
"You can't do that!"
"Oh but I can! I am the king after all, right? What I say goes and if you don't like it, too bad!?" Bitter venom oozed from Sage's snide echo, the contempt within drenching Clover's ears, and she was quick to critically point out,
"Yeah, that would be true if I was your subject and not your wife! The queen! You have no authority over me!"
"True but Campion's followers have been more inclined to follow my orders then yours and I know that they too will wish for Zora's special day to go without a hitch." Sage argued calm and composed like, though everyone else could still hear the edge lacing his words. Though that didn't stop a sneer from spreading across Clover's lips nor a harsh, fleeting guffaw from escaping them.
"Ha! You think they'll want Zora's 'special day' to go without a hitch!? For her to marry the man that they believe is 'manipulating' her!? Fat chance! The second you tell those prats, they'll start thinking up some big scheme to stop the whole thing and my 'callousness' will be the last thing you or the 'happy couple' will have to worry about!" Was Clover's contemptuous critique, complete with mocking air quotes.
Of which Sage didn't respond to right away but stood in stunned silence for some seconds as Clover's words swirled through his mind while Clover herself watched him with smug satisfaction, a matching smirk dancing across her lips as she did. But then, she too started to think about what she had just said. Of mountain lemurs storming the wedding, shouting at the top of their lungs imploring Zora not to go through with it. Or the much more likely scenario of the warriors devising an even more drastic method of stopping the ceremony, one that would culminate in ridding the world of Uncle King Julien once and for all and while that thought was undeniably appealing to Clover, the consequences of such a deed made her blood run cold. For she knew that if such a plan failed and King Julien found out about it, then his uncle and Zora would become victims all the more in his eyes, strengthening the hold that the pair already had on his majesty's soft heart. Or if the elder Julien was successfully killed, then Zora would play the victim card tenfold and the surviving Julien would fall for that hook, line and sinker until the day that she stabs him in the back and uses the royal spawn inside of her as her claim to the throne. And with these sobering thoughts in mind, Clover said solemnly,
"They may even try to kill Uncle King Julien…!"
"They wouldn't dare!" Sage furiously exclaimed.
"You know damn well they would and I think 'protecting' Zora from her 'bastard boyfriend' is more then enough reason to do it! So if you truly believe that the fat fuck's life is 'so precious', then you will help me ensure that Campion and his sheep don't find out about this!" Was Clover's critical retort, then she was swiftly struck by another thought. "Or anyone from finding out about King Julien's bloody bleeding heart feelings towards his uncle! Cause King Julien being manipulated is as a good motivator for anyone to kill the bastard, so you better keep your fucking gob shut about that too! Do I make myself clear!?" She sternly commanded, standing on her tiptoes and jabbing Sage with her finger as she did and after Sage turned his face away for a pained moment of closed lipped growling, he begrudgingly met his wife's gaze once more and said with a snarl, "...Fine! I won't tell anyone!"
"You better not! I'm holding you to that!" Clover then lowered herself back down and looked to Minerva, who had been listening all the while with ever increasing unease. "And the same goes for you! You will not speak of anything you have just heard to anyone! Not even your followers! The less people know about his majesty's latest insanity or the wedding, the better! Got it!?"
"Y-yes, your majesty! I-I swear, I won't tell a soul! I get it! B-believe me, I do! The more people know a secret, the-the harder it is to keep it from spreading and I don't want these secrets spreading and getting to the wrong lemurs anymore then you do! Honest!" Minerva frantically, earnestly swore, then immediately regretted saying so much and anxiously awaited Clover's response.
Which was giving her subject a scrutinizing scowl for a silent moment more before saying firmly, "Good!"
Sage then blurted out in frustration, "But what about Clover and the toxic vibes she'll bring to the wedding!?"
"Zora and Uncle King Julien know how Clover feels about them! They know what to expect from her and I doubt they're griping about it! Now with a million other matters to worry about! And knowing Clover, they'll probably barely even see her, she'll be so busy going over every little thing within a mile radius with a fine tooth comb and hiding away in the shadows literally watching King Julien's back ninety nine percent of the time she's there! Am I right, Clover?" Was Minerva's critical retort, which she made in a more composed manner then the one Clover had almost shrieked, and that she ended with an expectant look of cautious hope towards her queen. Who stared back at her for a stunned moment before she said solemnly to Sage,
"She's right. And also, I want Uncle King Julien and Zora to let their guards down and that's not going to happen if they see me giving them the evil eye the entire time."
By then, both women could see Sage's rancorous resolve beginning to crumble, to which Minerva then critically inquired, "And what about King Julien? I mean, this is his uncle for fuck's sake! I don't care if he's literally singing the bastard's praises! There is no way, no how he's now just one hundred and ten percent totally okay with the guy! I mean...did he tell you that he was!?", at which she turned to Clover.
Who was at first taken aback by this question, then swiftly became offended and almost opened her mouth to make that known but, whether it was Minerva's critical gaze or Sage's or both, Clover instead kept her mouth shut for a moment more before she begrudgingly admitted, without meeting either pair of expectant eyes, "No. He hasn't told me that exactly. It's been 'it's possible' this and 'how do you know that'."
"So maybe it's possible that King Julien is afraid of Zora and his uncle!" Minerva argued in earnest, looking from Clover to Sage. "That he's powering through that fear to do what he believes is right!"
"I know!" Sage passionately proclaimed.
"What!?" Both Minerva and Clover incredulously exclaimed.
"I know King Julien's afraid! One can open one's heart while still feeling the festering pains of the past, the fears of tomorrow with the drowning doubt of the here and now and I know that what's happened to King Julien! That he's opened his own heart in spite of that fear and doubt! That's what makes his compassionate deed especially noble!" Sage explained, with the piqued edge to his tone softened by sincere reverence as he spoke, his answer stunning his audience to say the least. But then soon enough, both women furrowed their brows back into scowls, each with scolding rebukes in mind, though it was Minerva who got to give hers.
"And you want to deny him a way to make that deed more bearable!?"
"I don't want to but…!"
"But nothing! You sing Julien's praises day in and day out! Now show him that regard! Let him have a friend by his side when he needs her the most!" Minerva interrupted Sage's lame defense and even when she stopped speaking, her amber eyes remained just as scolding as her sharp tongue that had left both Sage and Clover stunned. Then, the latter of the couple turned to the former with her own expectant scowl and Sage looked from one pair to the other, from subject to wife, before he closed his own eyes and let out a weary sigh, then opened his eyes and faced Minerva once more as he solemnly conceded.
"You're right! It would be cruel of me to deny Julien that most precious lifeline of a friend during his troubled times! Though I am still wary of the impact she might have on the occasion, I won't stop Clover from attending the wedding!"
"Wow! Thanks for the permission!" Clover snarked bitterly, which earned her a glare from Sage and an approving smirk from Minerva in spite of herself. Though Clover didn't see the latter reply as she met her husband's scolding scowl with her own for a brief moment before she then rolled her eyes with a contemptuous tsst, turned her back on her unwanted company and walked away. Though she wasn't entirely out of ear shot when Sage turned to Minerva, with his sneer flipped to a warm smile as he said to her, softly and sincerely,
"It's good to know that at least some lemurs around here are allowing compassion to steer their hearts! Thank you for showing that today!" He then laid a gentle paw on Minerva's shoulder and the lady lemur's skin crawled beneath his touch, though she tried to hide her discomfort. Keyword try.
"Sure. Happy to help." She said through a clenched false smile.
.
.
.
Some time later, Clover found herself standing atop a small hill at the edge of a wide open clearing, with a light breeze ruffling the grass by her feet along with her orange fur while white fluffy clouds leisurely roamed above her head like contented sheep wadding across a tranquil pool in the sky. While back on the ground, a great big crowd of lemurs were gathered before her, the backs of their various coats like dozens of patches making up a massive quilt spread out on the grass. Everyone was sitting down facing what stood before a picturesque waterfall, a white arch adorned with dozens of orange and purple flowers, but their beauty was no match for the ugliness that stood beneath. Uncle King Julien. Who had his chest proudly puffed out and his arms behind his back, with a smug smile dancing across his lips as he looked out over the crowd, dressed in a white bib with a black bowtie over his chest and the Julien crown resting atop his head.
"What the fuck!?" Clover incredulously exclaimed, to which the sea of lemurs shifted and a multitude of eyes looked to her, including those of the elder Julien, whose own widened in initial surprise before swiftly settling back into a gleeful gaze.
"Clover! So nice of you to join us!" He said with a sleazy sneer.
"Cut the crap, you fat fuck! What have you done with King Julien!?" Clover furiously demanded as she marched towards the arch, then stopped when she reached the back row of lemurs and glared out among them. "And what the bloody hell are you lot doing!? Shouldn't you be killing the bastard!?"
"Uh, yeah, we would be if it wasn't for..." Willie told her timidly, then trailed off and looked to the surrounding jungle, with his eyes like two wide open fields as he proceeded to swallow a lump in his throat before squeaking out a terrified, "Them!"
"What are you…!?" Clover's ratty retort died on her tongue when she followed his gaze and saw dozens of green eyes staring back from within the darkness shrouding the jungle floor, to which her own widened in stunned horror. She then whipped around to find dozens more on the other side of the jungle flanking the clearing and that's when her ears picked up all too familiar rumbling radiating from all around her. Then, one by one, fossa stepped out of the shadows, stalking shoulder to shoulder as they made a great big ring around the sea of lemurs, with some stopping but a few whisker lengths from the nearest petrified primates and even more letting out wicked giggles all the while.
"Wha-where's Dr. S!?" Clover demanded as she frantically looked this way and that for the sizable serpent but saw not a trace of him.
"Ha! You're not going to find that useless bastard here! Soon as he saw my army, he bounced! Took Sir Drools-A-Lot with him!" The elder Julien explained with cruel glee.
"He-they didn't!" Clover explained incredulously.
"They did! Just the latest bunch to leave us for dead!" Hector declared with teeth and bitterness bared, digging his claws into his crossed arms as he gave Clover a scorching glare, of which the pain and hatred within clamped down upon Clover's heart like razor sharp jaws that pierced through to her raw remorse. As well as her rage.
"Those back stabbing...I knew it! I knew they couldn't be trusted! I knew King Julien should have never…!" Clover furiously proclaimed, then stopped and looked back to the elder Julien to demand of him, "Where is he!? Where's King Julien!? Where's Maurice and Mort!? What have you done to them!?"
"Now that I can tell you! But first...!" Julien paused his eager answer to leisurely stroll on over to a small table with a white cloth draped over it and a single coconut cup sitting atop, all of which Clover hadn't noticed before and from where the elder lemur picked up said cup and rose it out before his person as he turned back to her with a sleazy smirk. "A toast! To Clover! For her big fat mouth ruining mine and my beautiful behemoth's first wedding, securing our place in my nephew's good graces! Thanks Clo-Clo! You almost made it too easy!" He said with smug satisfaction, the affectionate nickname drenched in gleeful mocking. He then looked to the edge of the fossa noose with a devilish giggle escaping from a matching grin, to which Clover followed his gaze and felt her heart stop.
For staring back at her were three pairs of empty eye sockets within three lemur skulls sitting on a silver platter held in a fossa's sneering jaws. Three empty gazes devoid of the life and warmth that they had once held, that Clover loved so much, and were now gone forever more. Her friends.
"They're going to look wonderful in our throne room!" Zora's pleased purr suddenly sounded from the other side of the arch and that's when the lady lemur stepped forth onto the scene wearing a white dress and veil while cradling a small matching blanket in her arms.
"I couldn't agree more, my beautiful behemoth!" Julien purred back at his beloved as she came to stand before him, as they gave each other matching adoring gazes.
Clover couldn't breathe. No matter how much or how fast she took it in, she still couldn't get enough oxygen and her head grew lighter and lighter the harder she tried and she clenched it and dug her claws into her scalp as she tried harder still. As her vision blurred and her ears rang with the panic stricken cries of her friends in their final moments, cries for her blaring in her brain as if they were being torn to pieces before her eyes. Drowning out the surviving Julien and Zora's sickening cooing, drowning out all other sound as Clover knelt to the ground, curled in on herself and hugged her rattling body as she continued to let out strangled gasps until, the elder Julien's muffled voice reached her ears as if from a fog. Then, it sounded and this time, Clover heard the words within loud and clear.
"Now there's just one more thing to take care of before our kingdom can be perfect!"
At which Clover lifted her head to see both betrothed looming over her, with smug sneers dancing across their lips as Julien turned to the fossa and asked them with cruel glee,
"Wanna do the honors?"
"With pleasure!" Was one fossa's enthusiastic reply, his rows of razor sharp fangs displayed within a wicked grin as he started stalking towards Clover. Who watched with wide eyed horror as a great number of his brethren joined him but no matter how her brain screamed for her to fight or run or do something, anything, her feet remained firmly planted to the ground as she watched the predators come ever closer until they stopped and knelt down, then pounced as one. At which a horrified scream escaped Clover's lips as she braced herself for the onslaught of teeth and claws to come but just as they were a whisker away from her flesh, the world went black.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah"
Clover's eyes flew open as she bolted upright and screamed out into the darkness. Screamed out into the black void until she faintly heard another voice muffled within her own. To which she stopped screaming and panted heavily as she looked frantically this way and that but found not a soul in sight.
"Clover!"
Clover heard Mort's distressed cry from her right side, looked down in that direction and after allowing her eyes a moment to adjust, saw a small shape sitting beside her.
"Clover, are you okay!?" Mort asked her with great concern.
"I..." Words escaped Clover as she stared down at her friend, who placed a gentle paw on her own, which Clover realized was currently clamped down onto the sides of her mattress, her fingers gripping the bedding with an iron hold.
"You're shaking!" Was Mort's anxious observation and indeed, Clover could feel herself quaking from head to toes as she took one rattling breath after another. Then suddenly, she stopped and swift as lightning, swept Mort off his feet and to her chest with one paw, with the other promptly joining in on cradling her companion.
"Clover..." Mort said with tender sadness as his friend held him to her hammering heart.
"Y-you-you're okay! You're okay-ay-ay!" Clover cried out in relief, her ragged breathes rattling Mort's bones.
"Of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be!?" Mort inquired, both concerned and confused.
But Clover didn't respond right away and instead looked towards the entrance to her yurt. For when she had gotten back from her latest clash with Sage hours before, she had given her awaiting subjects minimal answers to their inquires. The lemur queen had then taken Mort up into the highest branches of the tallest tree she could find that was a good distance from others of it's kind before asking her friend if he had told her supporters about the wedding. To which Mort admitted that they had all been so engrossed in sharing their grievances with Sage that he hadn't gotten around to even mentioning the upcoming occasion, much to Clover's relief. Which she shared with Mort along with her reasoning as to why it was better to keep the aforementioned event a secret from all her subjects, even the ones still loyal to her. Then, Clover had proceeded to berate herself for not thinking of taking said precaution sooner and although Mort tried to reassure his friend by pointing out that none of their allies in King Julien's kingdom had thought about that either, Clover still kept kicking herself for being so careless. And it was because of that same shame that she withheld the part about herself disclosing the King Julien believing in his uncle's redemption secret with Sage and Minerva. That along with the fear of her friend's wrath towards, not just herself, but her husband and subject and the grave risk that posed of exposing everything to everyone in her kingdom. And she wasn't about to let the cat out of the bag now, even as she could feel Mort's gentle gaze on her person as he anxiously awaited an answer.
After receiving not a syllable for some more silent seconds, Mort was just about to suggest that if Clover was worried about eavesdroppers, then they could climb back up the lone tree to talk there when suddenly, another voice made itself known within the darkness.
"Queen Clover? Queen Clover?"
At this familiar man's voice, Clover sucked in a startled gasp and gave Mort a tight squeeze.
"Queen Clover, are you there? Hello?" The man repeated his anxious inquiry and after another stunned second, while still holding Mort to her heart with one arm, Clover stood up and walked over to pull aside the curtain that served as her front door with the other. Which revealed several of her subjects standing at her threshold, including the owner of the voice, Jake, with the moonlight revealing the captain's concerned expression along with everyone else's.
"My queen, are you alright?" Jake anxiously asked.
"I...yes. Yes, I'm fine. What are you lot doing here and at this hour?" Clover irritably inquired.
"Your screaming woke us up and we came to see what was wrong. What happened? You look terrible." Jake fretted, noticing his queen's perturbed demeanor, then Mort's uneased expression. "You don't look too hot yourself, little man."
"It's nothing. We're fine. Go back to bed." Clover insisted, growing more agitated by the moment.
"Are you su…?"
"Go to bed!" Clover snapped and swiftly closed the curtain in the stunned captain's face, then silently stood in the dark until Mort said with gentle sadness,
"Clover..."
To which Clover's face softened, her frustration melting away as she looked at her friend and saw the shine in his tender gaze caught in a stray sliver of moonlight.
"Mort...can you please...please just let me hold you for a bit?" Was her pitiful plea that made Mort's heart ache all the more.
"Of course, Clover." He tenderly told her, then rested his head on her heart and hugged her, holding onto her tight as she knelt to the floor and wept. As she held onto him like a lifeline in solemn silence.