The king lay in his bed, exhausted from lack of sleep. He noticed that Mort was also present, curled up on his feet.
Instinctively, he raised his foot to kick the mouse lemur away, but remembering how things went last time, he just sighed and slumped forward.
So, this is it, huh?
He thought, rubbing his eyes and putting on his crown.
The day when Clover finally leaves...
The king sat down on the bed and drummed his fingers against its frame thoughtfully.
Was it wrong of him to want her to stay so badly? Or should he just... let go of her entirely?
No. That cannot happen.
But shouldn't Clover be free to decide whether she wants to leave or not?
The ringtail grabbed his head in his paws in agony.
Why were decisions like these so hard to make?
Of course, he already knew the answer.
Sometimes there was no "right thing" or "wrong thing". Sometimes you could only do the great thing.
Letting go of Clover and letting her achieve happiness at her wedding would be the great thing.
But sometimes, even the "great thing" might not be the best decision to make. At least, that's what Julien told himself.
To him, the best decision was for Clover to stay. He needed her.
The kingdom needed her.
But then again, Clover was her own person, with her own dreams and ambitions.
Was it moral to do this?
Was it moral to even think about denying one of his closest friends happiness for his own selfish needs?
But, then again, King Julien was never a thinker.
...
"MAURICE!" He shouted.
"WHERE IS THE WATER YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BRINGING??? THE ROYAL THROAT IS GETTING PARCHED!!" The king yelled for his caretaker, waking Mort up in the process.
"A water coming right up, Your majesty!" Maurice said cheerfully, from the sidelines.
"Well be hurrying up then! The king needs to look refreshed for the royal wedding!"
As if on cue, Maurice sauntered in, carrying the water and the breakfast smoothie in one hand.
"Royal wedding, hm?" Maurice said cheekily, causing the king to blush slightly, as certain images ran through his mind.
"Maurice! You know what the king is talking about!" He said, slightly affronted.
"Whatever you say, your majesty... wait- what's Mort doing here??" Maurice said, startled as he cast his eyes on the mouse lemur.
"Hi, Maurice!" Mort said cutely.
"Ooh, is that breakfast for me??" He said excitedly, eyeing the smoothie hungrily.
"No, Mort, it's for the king. And what are you doing on King Julien's bed anyway? Wait, don't tell me- is this one of his "sleep hugs"?" Maurice crossed his arms, and gave Mort a patronising look.
"Leave him, Mo-Mo... the little gremlin came to me yesterday and I was high or something and now he's here. Yeesh, what can you do?" King Julien shrugged with a bored expression.
"Yay, King Julien called me a gremlin!" The mouse lemur smiled, and Maurice's Mort opened in shock.
Since when is the king so lenient with Mort???
"Well, hurry up Mo-Mo! That breakfast won't serve itself! Chop chop!" The ringtail snapped his fingers authoritatively, and the adviser complied.
"Coming right up, your majesty!" He passed the king his smoothie, and King Julien drank it in one gulp.
"Ahhh... that's the stuff... Alright then, let's go get this party started!" The king announced, pushing Maurice outside and walking out of the hut, before turning back to his adviser.
"Uh, Mo-Mo?" He said.
"What is it, Julien?" Maurice asked, awaiting something ridiculous and high-risk to be asked- and preparing answers in advance for debunking it.
"While I'm gone, go tell Clo-Clo I wish her luck at her wedding thingy. I gotta go... I wanna prepare a... surprise party for her." King Julien ran off without waiting for a reply.
The aye-aye watched him fondly.
"Same old King Julien..." Maurice muttered, smiling as he stacked the dishes.
Oh well. Since he was going to do the same anyway- so why not follow through on Julien's request?
Maurice hummed a cheery tune to himself, before skipping out of the house.
Today is a very special day for my friend.
He thought, before grinning with pride.
And I'm going to be happy. For her.
...
Meanwhile, Julien ran. He ran. Ran away. He didn't know what from or where to.
Well, mostly it was because he was trying to get Mort off his tail.
"Mort. I am having very important kingly business-y things I am needing to do! So be stopping following the king." He said, fuming.
"No, my king! I will never leave the feet! I looove you, king Julien!! Please let me help you!" Mort gave him his puppy eyes, and the king pinched his brow, sighing in frustration.
"No, Mort! This is private business! Be going back to your stump with your rotten mango core friends, you unwashed yeti!" King Julien made as if to kick Mort away.
"But King Julien...!" The clingy little lemur pleaded, and the king rolled his eyes.
"Mort! I already let you sleep with me, and I have kicked you only... a little bit. Don't play on my nerves, and be leaving already!"
"Please, my king! I only want to help you! And the feet!" Mort said, his voice gentle and soft.
How could King Julien say no?
"Fine, Mort. I'll tell you what I want. But first, bring me Ted, Dorothy, Pancho, Xixi and Masikura." The ringtail demanded.
Mort stared at him, confused.
"Now, Mort! Chop-chop! I will explain later!" To hurry up the mouse lemur's progress, King Julien kicked him away.
"Anything for you, my king!!!!!" Mort cried out, as King Julien sat down near a log to consider all options.
Time was running out.
And there was a wedding waiting to be crashed.
...
Meanwhile, at her tree-house, a certain someone was busy with pre-wedding preparations. The to-be queen was standing motionless in front of the mirror, glaring daggers at her reflection.
Clover couldn't even bare to look herself in her eyes.
She was a nervous wreck.
The bodyguard had never really considered herself pretty, and neither had she cared that much about her appearance either.
But now... now that she was getting married to the person she thought was the man of her dreams...
Now she understood why her twin sister had fussed over her appearance so much.
Her head was too flat, and her snout was far too long. Her arms were bony and hard.
It all seemed... imperfect for her dream wedding.
She sighed.
Let's get this over and done with...
Clover pulled her wedding dress from the wardrobe. Crimson had been good enough to lend hers.
Probably the first time she's ever done me any sort of favour...
Clover thought bitterly, glaring at the dress.
It was awful; large, and frilly. Just what her sister loved to wear and what she hated.
She wondered whether her sister had given that dress just to spite her, but pushed the thought aside.
Thinking about her sister would make her angry.
She needed to stay calm.
The to-be Queen picked up her attire and tried to manoeuvre herself into it.
How on earth does Crimson do it???
She found herself thinking.
Eventually, after a long struggle, she managed to pull it on.
Clover checked herself in the mirror, bracing herself for the worst.
She always felt ridiculous, when her sister had tried to force fashion onto her. And even worse, since she was the bride it was some sort of "tradition" to dress up pretty as a girl.
The groom could just wear a tuxedo, and it'd be fine, but the bride would always have to wear some idiotic fancy attire.
Clover had always been a lot more comfortable in male clothes: much easier to move around in, and not those moronic girly things.
The warrior sighed, and tried to calm herself, as she felt the pent-up sea of rage begin to boil within her.
Stay calm, you can punch some trees later, but at least for now stay calm...
She looked in the mirror.
Hey, I don't look half bad!
She found herself thinking, and even allowed herself a small smile.
Of course, she didn't look anywhere near as good as her sister always did- maybe Crimson was right, and she was the more beautiful one...
Clover sighed. Crimson, Crimson, Crimson...
Always there, always lurking in the shadows of her life- always taking what should've been rightfully hers, always skulking around.
A wild force; completely unpredictable.
Quite the opposite of her twin.
Clover was a calculated force; not calm by any means, but she was never stupid or irrational. She never took what wasn't rightfully hers.
But Crimson... Crimson had always unlawfully had it all. She was the one who was to be married to Sage; but for the first time, someone had chosen her.
Clover.
For the first time ever. Her mother had always favoured Crimson; no wonder, since the two of them were so alike.
Shallow. Self-absorbed. Selfish.
The two of them always hung around, gossiping about so-and-so...
And her father: a weaker man she didn't know. Weak to his impulses, prone to fits of rage. Needy.
Grandma Rose was right. Like father, like daughter. Crimson resembled her parents fully.
And Clover? She had chosen a different path. The path she favoured. The harder path, but the more successful one.
And now, her expectations were getting filled, and she was marrying her very own Norge Grendlefist.
Yet something didn't feel right.
It was a feeling of emptiness; of not quite belonging.
She forlornly eyed the photograph on her mantlepiece. It was an old one, but the only one she had left from her grandmother, other than her second-favourite pair of brass knuckles, and, well... the baby brawler mixtape.
That goddam-franking mixtape. The one that had saved her life, and the "good luck charm" that had failed her grandmother.
Clover picked up the photograph, memories of her childhood building up, as she gazed at her predecessor with a certain mixture of longing and pride.
"I wish you were here, Grandma Rose. I hope you're proud of me."
She whispered, hugging the photograph to her chest as a lone tear steamed down her cheek.
The crowned lemur put the photograph back, face down so that she didn't have to face it.
Clover took some deep breaths to calm herself.
Lemur up, Clover! Today is the day of your dreams. Don't compromise it for yourself.
"On it." She said to herself- her voice as hard as steel.
She was ready.
...
The royal adviser was standing at the wedding pavilion, gathered with the usual helpers.
Maurice rubbed his hands together awkwardly, eyeing King Julien's subjects nervously.
"So..." Maurice didn't know what to say.
Why in the name of Gladys did I even agree to this madness in the first place?
Technically, he wasn't even supposed to have been planning the wedding; given that Julien was hosting the Mountain Lemur Kingdom, he should've been the one to plan the wedding, but, Julien being Julien had naturally handed the responsibility to Maurice, which Maurice was fine with at the time.
But now- now he was under extreme pressure. He had been too preoccupied with everything else to notice or care about the wedding. He was behind in his duties, and he couldn't afford to mess up his friends wedding.
To make matters worse, Ted and Dorothy, the village entrepreneurs were nowhere to be seen, so Maurice decided to keep the wedding simple: Clover wouldn't mind, not as long as he didn't totally mess it up: and Sage, despite being a royal, didn't really seem to care about complexity and all that. It wasn't like Koto's wedding...
He shuddered at the thought.
Post the war, Clover had told them all about Koto's horrific plan: marry the Crocodile Princess in exchange for the survival of the Crocodiles and their army... and then he would kill her off and marry his "one true love".
Clover had told once privately him that she often wondered how long it would take before Koto got bored of his "one true love" and disposed of her too... if Koto's plan wasn't foiled, that was.
He also recollected Ted complaining about how much work planning Amy's wedding was. Apparently, it was so bad that she had hired and fired around 6-7 wedding planners.
Or maybe that's just because Amy was a selfish, entitled brat.
But either way, Maurice had wanted to keep it simple. But it seemed that now even that wasn't possible.
Ted and Dorothy and Pancho were missing: they were the ones who usually did all the work.
He sighed.
Alright, Maurice. We have the premises.
He looked around, before shaking his head.
The last time these premises had been used was during the wedding of Buck and Eloise. And, Julien being Julien had forgotten all about the renovation plans.
I could get Timo to fix them up...
Maurice assessed the options.
Sure, Timo could probably just about do it but... Wouldn't it be easier to relocate entirely? Sure, a royal wedding would be nice, but Clover wouldn't mind if he used a commoner's wedding premises.
She wasn't picky like that.
Maurice cleared his throat, diverting the attention of the workers.
"Alright, everybody! This place... is a dump. We gotta go somewhere else. Any ideas, people?" Maurice said with thinly veiled anxiety.
Willie tentatively raised his hand.
"Uhh... well, I think Horton has one that we could rent..." He mumbled.
"Excellent, Willie! Butterfish: can you go ask Horton if we can rent his place for today?" the aye-aye commanded as the workers turned to him, awaiting further instruction.
"Sure, baby. Gotta go to work, man." Butterfish said, heading off presumably to Horton, the one Maurice remembered had his diaper famously stolen.
He smiled at the memory.
Clover had relentlessly hunted down the diaper thief, to find that it was Mort. And then the whole case got a whole lot more complicated, as it turned out that Mort had actually instead purchased impostor KJ diapers, which lead to Clover figuring out his suppliers; the island #1 most successful businessmen Ted and Dorothy, which then led to the most historic fashion showdown ever seen by the kingdom...
Ahh, those were good times.
"Um, Maurice? What exactly are we supposed to be doing...?" Willie asked, rubbing the back of his head timidly, as Maurice blinked back into reality.
"Hm? Oh, right. Just gimme a minute. You guys can... uh, go with Butterfish. Yeah." The lemurs mumbled murmurs of assent and walked away.
Maurice sighed, rubbing the back of his head, as he tried to brainstorm ideas.
Think, Maurice man! What is always present in a wedding...?
The adviser scrunched your his face, before suddenly lighting up.
Decorations! Rosie Periwinkles would be nice...
He laughed slightly as he remembered how many of them had been wasted over King Julien and Crimson's wedding, and even after that the future Queen had rejected them all.
Then the music. I would get musicians, but we have none in the kingdom, so I'm going to borrow King Julien's boom box for this. What else?
Maurice scribbled down all this on his clipboard.
Ah, of course. We need a flower girl, a best man, a ring bearer, an officiator and a bridesmaid.
I would give Mort the flower girl job, but he's also nowhere to be seen, so I'll ask Benson. He's pretty eager- and might help. Then a best man and a bridesmaid- I'll have to ask Clover and Sage about that. Officiator's gonna be Masikura.
And the ring bearer... Willie was the ring bearer in the last wedding when Buck was marrying Eloise, so I suppose he's up for the job.
Maurice planned it all out, before heading over to Horton's wedding pavilion to share his ideas with everyone.
He also found Benson on the way, the the latter seemed incredibly eager when offered the opportunity to be the flower girl.
Maurice hoped- nay, prayed to Frank- he wasn't as clumsy as he looked.
Willie was just glad to have a distraction from dying, and agreed to be the ring bearer.
Maurice had also confronted Sage about who he had wanted to be his best man, and the latter gave a confusing answer about a memory of his soul which lived in the sole of a clown's shoe, so the aye-aye had pegged down his advisor and head of military: Captain, and asked him to be his best man.
All that was left now was to confront Clover.
Hopefully, she was in...
...
Everyone was gathered in the airplane in the baobab tree.
Julien, Mort, Ted, Dorothy, Pancho, Masikura and Xixi.
An awkward silence stretched between the 7 of them.
"So, you want us to... uh, lemme double check I got this right: you want us to crash Clover's wedding?" Pancho asked, looking incredibly confused.
"Yes Pancho!" King Julien said, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"That's what I've been saying this entire time!"
"But.. but I thought she was FAMILY!" Pancho shouted the last bit, and the king glared at him.
"You're right, Pancho, she is family, and that's why she's gotta stay."
"Yeah, Pancho!" Mort said, glaring at the crowned lemur, accusation in his tone of voice.
"Okay, sheesh! I was just being thorough!" Pancho raised his hands defensively.
"So, what's the plan?" He asked, leaning in, his voice lowered to a whisper.
"There is no plan! Yet..-" King Julien started, but was cut off by an excitable Ted.
"Um, sorry King J, but logic police here! I've got you all surrounded- but seriously, if you have no idea what to do, why'd you call us here?" Ted said, as Dorothy facepalmed in embarrassment.
Her husband could be so silly sometimes: with his "logic police". But she couldn't deny that he made a good point.
"That's right, Ted, I don't have a plan, I have many plans." King Julien said.
"Listen up, you lot. Ted, Dorothy, first thing we're trying is you guys."
"Oh, liquorice lollipops, he picked us! What an honour, KJ!" Ted said excitedly.
"Let the king finish, Ted!" King Julien frowned at him.
"Anyway, as I was saying, you're going to be... kidnapping the groom." The ringtail said the last part in a more ominous tone.
"You've already had experience in this field-"
Ted opened his mouth, presumably to say "I do not, sir!" But Julien got ahead of him.
"You do. Remember that time when you tried to kidnap my parents?"
"Oh yeah!"
-FLASHBACK-
"Alright, first things first: I'm in charge here. Got it?" Clover said commandingly.
"Well, I'm not sure what you know about acting-" Ted started, tiddling his thumb nervously.
"I'm in charge. Got it?" Clover said menacingly.
"Oh, golly, you're a natural!" Ted said quickly, not wanting to get on her bad side.
"Good, now, here's what we're going to do..." The bodyguard leaned in, briefing the three to-be failure fake-nappers.
-END OF FLASHBACK-
"Ah, good times those were..." Ted wiped a fake tear.
"True that, Ted, true that... back in those days it was Clover who handled all the fake kidnapping around here..." King Julien said wistfully, before regaining his composure.
"Anyway, this time, it's a real kidnapping. Are you two up for the challenge?" The king asked.
"Well,-" Dorothy started.
"We're in, King J! You just say the word." Ted said, and Dorothy shot him a look of annoyance.
Why couldn't her husband think anything through? Did they even want Clover to stay? And what if the plan backfired and they got caught? King Julien had a reputation for shifting the blame...
"Alright. Now that's done. You two, chop chop! No time to waste!" The ringtail clapped his hands.
"On it, your majesty!" The bamboo lemur saluted his superior, before bowing out of the room.
"Alright, now that he's gone... Pancho, you know what to do." King Julien winked at the crowned lemur.
"Ah, don't you worry KJ, I've got your back. That wedding is gonna be a blast, if you get my drift." Pancho smirked.
"Excellent. At least somebody's got their head screwed on right! You go do your crazy now." The king said, as Pancho left.
"Masikura, you're our back up option here. Since you're officiating the wedding, and if Sage shows up, and if Pancho doesn't work his magic with the dynamite, then you... I dunno, come up with an excuse as to why you can't let them get hitched or something. I don't care."
"Your majesty, I'm afraid I cannot participate in such an unethical activity, this goes against all my principles-" the chameleon started, before getting interrupted by the impatient king.
"Do it, Masikura. I'm not asking." The king said, growling, as the fortune-teller flinched.
"Now go!" He said commandingly, waving her away.
"You will regret your decision!" Masikura proclaimed ominously.
""You will regret this decision wah wah"" King Julien mocked, as Masikura sent him a seething glare.
"Go get the wedding started you annoying tree frog!" He said, exasperated, and the indignant chameleon blinked out.
"Ooh, King Julien! What should I do? I can't believe I'm gonna crash a wedding! This is gonna be so great for my ratings-" The toucan started, before the ringtail put a hand on her beak, effectively shutting her up.
"Uhh, Xixi, bring it down a notch. We're not going public: got it? This is all strictly between us. No one has ever got to know." Julien whispered the last part.
Xixi gulped, before pressing on.
"But then... why did you call me? I'm a TV personality? I'm bound to spread the word: I mean, it's literally in my job description!"
She had a point.
"You, Xixi, are going to be helping me. You and I are gonna stall Clover, in case things go to plan. We're gonna give her an interview about the wedding." He said.
"But King Julien, if things don't go to plan... then don't you think it'd be better to come up with a backup plan rather than stall?"
"Oh, believe me, Xixi, I've got one of those... Mort!" The king said, as the mouse lemur scurried over to him.
"It's time for Emergency Plan F, buddy." King Julien winked, and Mort nodded in understanding.
It was time.
Time for everything to go wrong.
Between Clover's pre-wedding jitters, Maurice's nerves and King Julien's wedding envy, it wasn't going to end well for all three of them.
