I don't own the rights they belong to their rightful owners, oc's belong to me.

Chapter 6:journey to the canyon

Seagulls squawked above the beaches of Madagascar, the noise of the birds were enough to wake the sleeping Marty, opening his eyes he shut them again upon seeing the morning sun through his ceiling. Opening his eyes fully he slowly slid off the sand couch and onto his four hooves, he stretched to get all the muscles stretched and blood flowing through his body. It was then realization came to the zebra, he didn't have a single nightmare haunting him, for the first time since he had a peaceful sleep, smiling with a spring in his step he went to wake his lion friend. Shaking the lion's shoulder, the feline swatted the air and mumbled for "five more minutes mom".

Smiling at this followed by a light chuckle the zebra pretended he was Alex's mother "get up Alex or you'll be late for school, remember it's three steak Monday.". The sound of three steak Monday jolted the lion awake, only to find out there was no steak, nor school. A laughing zebra brought Alex out of his stupor, he watched as Marty tried to breath through the laugh, rubbing his eyes. He sighed knowing full well he wasn't back in New-York, on the other hand though he did get a chuckle out of Marty's joke by mocking his dream, the zebra must be in a good mood.

Chuckle "you must be in a good mood today Marty" Alex replied and watched the zebra smile his usual optimistic smile.

"I'm great man, I'm crack o lakin, i finally got some sleep and no nightmares to boot" he replied walking over to Gloria and Melman who began to stir themselves awake.

Gloria upon seeing a smiling Marty was ecstatic to see the zebra back to his usual self, and when Melman noticed he was glad himself to see the chipper steed.

"Marty, you're smiling, that's great did you finally sleep well?" the giraffe asked who then got a nod from the equine.

"That's great Marty!". Gloria cheered after hearing about the zebra's rest, however not all were enthused.

"Yes good for him, good for Marty!" Alex chided, Marty looked at him with a bewildered expression, just this morning Alex was happy for him and now he's acting like a total asshole.

"What gives man? I thought you were glad to have my nightmares gone?" Marty's question grew curiosity in both Gloria and Melman after hearing that the lion wasn't so enthused.

"Oh i was glad. glad before you got the nightmares, because i was sure we would get home! That is until the boat (shipping freighter) ran out of gas thanks to the penguins and now your nightmares are messing up our chances of getting home!". Alex was furious, he was down right angry, but his rant soon stirred a beast in Marty and boy was it nasty.

"Well i didn't ask you to follow me, if you didn't want to be here you should've just stayed in New-York, but no you chased after me and now you're complaining about my nightmares! You even tried to eat me, you are so selfish Alex!" his ears were back Marty was livid, he couldn't believe his friend was acting like this and after saving him nonetheless. What hurt the zebra the most though, was how Alex is solely focused and downright obsessed on getting back to the zoo, but when he thought about it, the lions demeanor wasn't the same as before, 'what's wrong with him?'.

Alex shook his head and chuckled "no Marty, you're the ones that's selfish, you were the one that followed your birthday wish, the same wish that brought us here in the first place!". He saw the zebra scoff at his accusation, but before it could get any worse Melman stepped in.

"Actually Alex, Marty wasn't selfish at all-"

Alex, and Gloria "WHAT!"

The giraffe continued "-i said he wasn't selfish, Marty is ten years old correct which is middle age for the zebra, so technically Marty was having a midlife crisis. He wasn't selfish Alex, he was just following his instincts.".

The lion scoffed "and you know this how!?"

"My mother told me-" he put it simply "-one of her friends was a zebra, i was born in the Bronx, remember.". Marty was surprised the giraffe knew this as well as Gloria, but Alex, his demeanor changed from bad to worse. Fortunately before the lion could even make a move the penguins interrupted the further impending argument.

"Well well, I see you're awake now, Velen needs us asap and get an early march to this portal" Skipper informed, though the zoosters looked at him in confusion.

"I thought we were leaving at noon" Marty replied, confused at the change of plans. Clearly it was still morning at around seven and the zoosters haven't even eaten yet, so the reason clearly means that something bad is or is about to happen.

"Your correct stripes, but Velen came running towards the boat in a panic, saying that king Julien left without them.". The lead penguin informed, though he did find the ringtail to be quite annoying, he did care a bit, he was the king after all and a very reckless one at that. This in turn elicited gasps from the zoo animals, their faces worried for the king's safety, but Alex on the other hand took this as an advantage, knowing that if they get this done and over with early they get to get back to New-York faster.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go save the little fuzz bucket" with heightened enthusiasm, he and his friends, along with the penguins went out to both save the king and stop the portal.

Hours passed as the large expedition consisting of the zoosters, chimps Phil and Mason, the penguins, Maurice and mort, along with twenty of the most elite lemur guards began to venture through the dense jungle towards the fossa side. The large group had been marching for three hours straight in the tropical heat, and tempers slowly began to rise and not only from the heat, but from hunger too. The zoosters haven't even eaten anything at all and hunger began to mount, which in turn bought many worried tensions regarding Alex and his carnivorous diet. Even though he hasn't touched steak in a few days and only ate fish, some of the lemurs weren't convinced he changed. The one who's most concerned in the group is Marty, not because he doesn't trust the lion to which he does, but the possibility of him going back to his 'wild side' and hurting someone. More concerning though is the encounter of this Molag Bal leaving Alex's body, or the fact that Alex is still going on about New-York and again blaming Marty for it. To the zebra it doesn't make any sense, 'why is Alex being this way and why is king Julien, so aggressive than ever it's not like him, but what concerned him more was why did Julien run off.'.

The group freaked out when they heard a scream from Melman, Gloria quickly rushed over to him "Melman, what's wrong are you okay?"

"A mosquito bit me Gloria, mosquito infected with malaria" he fearfully spoke, Gloria clearly saw the panic in his eyes and quickly began to rub his shoulder in an effort to calm him.

"It's just a mosquito!" Alex chimed in, he clearly didn't have time to dwell on the fact that Melman being a hypochondriac was bitten by a potentially dangerous bug, all he thought was to get back to the zoo and leave this place.

Gloria on the matter has had enough of this and asked Maurice to give everyone a break, to which he did, and once that was done she walked over to the lion so she could straighten him out. Grabbing him by the ear she pulled him through a bush, far enough so everyone couldn't hear, but not far enough to get lost.

"Alright Alex what the hell is your problem, Melman is your friend, he could be in danger at this moment!" she started scolding the lion, who in turn rolled his eyes at her, not taking that kindly she continued. "Don't you roll your eyes at me Alex, Marty may have gone off on the wrong foot in the past with you, but i noticed on the beach you started to become more of a jerk to him. Now I hear you do it to Melman and in front of everyone else no less, what has gotten into you!?". Her question gave her a quick answer from the lion.

"I want to go back to New-York." he replied, though it was in a way that was more of a pathetic response for his actions.

Gloria sighed at this "i want to go back to New-York too, but not in a way it would jeopardize our friendship, am i mad that the penguins took the boat and ran it out of gas. Yes I am, but i won't take it out on them or my friends, you know why?-" the lion shrugged "-because i get to spend more time with my friends than focusing on something that would drive me insane.".

The lion chuckled "sounds like Marty" he replied

Gloria chuckled herself "that's because Marty said that to me once.".

Alex sighed in defeat, he knew he messed up badly and had to make it up, starting with Gloria "i'm sorry Gloria, i'm sorry for being such a jerk"

Gloria shook her head, she was aware that Alex felt guilty and all, he was just homesick, she'd probably do the same, she embraced then ended it. "I know you're sorry Alex, but it's me you should apologize to, you nearly choked Marty to death, though that was mostly Molag Bal's doing. You did however be a jerk to Marty and Melman more than me.".

With all that said and done Alex knew what he had to do, leaving the bushes and getting back to the trail and group, they noticed that a few of the other members weren't present. Those being Marty, a few lemur guards and Maurice, Melman stood waiting for what they thought was them, but apparently must be waiting for Marty and the others too.

"Where's Marty?" Alex asked walking up next to the giraffe with Gloria in tow.

Melman nugged his head towards the bushes on the opposite side of the path "he had to go to the bathroom, saying something like drinking too much water and having to pee like a fountain."

"ok-"Alex clapped his hands patiently from what the giraffe said "- now we have to wait while Marty waters a bush" the lion replied in a joking manner.

Marty returned once he was done and when he did they began moving again and as they were walking Alex looked at the zebra, he mentally sighed. He's been such a jerk to Marty to the point he almost killed him again, even though it wasn't his fault being he was possessed, but just the thought made him sick. He just had to apologize, he just had to, just the thought of their argument made him question whether who was selfish or not, in truth it didn't matter.

"I-i'm sorry Marty, i'm sorry for being such a jerk and almost killing you a second time.". The change of scenery went from lush forest to jagged mountains, Marty stopped and turned to the lion.

"It's not your fault for trying to kill me a second time, you were unconscious when Molag Bal attacked and he was trying to kill all of us, not just me. You don't have to apologize Ali-Al, I know you didn't mean it, we're all a little on edge at the moment, now come on we need to catch up with the others."

Alex pondered Marty's words and he was right, he had no memory of the attack and the zebra along with the lemur kingdom was on edge after Vaermina's attack and Julien's disappearance. However something in his mind told him that Marty was hiding something and that something was what Molag Bal said to him: "he will betray you, the same way he did at the zoo." and ever since he said that Alex became more and more suspicious of Marty.

As Alex and Marty were catching up to the group Maurice eyed Velen with distrust, seeing this Melman wondered why Maurice was eyeing the one armed lemur. Tapping Gloria's shoulder he pointed to the aye-ayes distrust, seeing it for herself she just had a feeling that something was up, finally she asked him in a hushed tone.

"Maurice is something wrong? What's wrong with Velen?" the advisor didn't look at her but he knew she was concerned, in the same hushed tone he spoke.

"It all happened fifteen years ago, mind you Julien was just a young prince at the time and his mother and father were currently ruling at the time, while i was a younger advisor for them. During those ten years things were, to say the least, odd and not in a good way, Velen just got married and was soon to be mated with his wife, it was a beautiful reception. To start it wasn't the wedding that was the bad part, it was what happened the day after that things started going south, to this day i still remember what truly happened.-"

-FLASHBACK-

A younger Maurice walked over to the newborn king Julien, who rested peacefully in his bassinet and wrapped in a small palm leaf. The aye-aye was instructed by the king and queen, who were currently away on business, to take care of their son while the king's brother, Julien's uncle, ruled in their absence. They chose Maurice and not any other lemur soley out of trust, since they didn't trust any of the maids the king's brother sent, out of fear of them being assassins. The young Julien wasn't currently hungry, nor did he need a change, it was mostly Maurice's fear that something bad might happen and wanted to protect the young prince from danger. Shaking his head Maurice was worrying about nothing, he knows the king's brother wouldn't do anything foolish now, would he? It was just too much, he needed some air to think, as he was about to walk out-BOOM-the whole island shook, screams came from below followed by their cries along with Julien's. He rushed over to comfort the young lemur right as a lemur guard rushed in.

"Maurice sir, are you and the young prince okay?" the advisor nodded and confirmed to the guard they were okay, which made the lemur sigh in relief. He then stood at attention when Maurice spoke.

"Sergeant get to the ground level and inform me what in the star's name happened!". The sergeant gave a firm nod and quickly left to do his task, all the while Maurice tried to calm the young Julien. He sighed in relief when the young lemur stopped crying, but a sense of dread came to him when he heard footsteps entering the room, the uncle's footsteps.

"Why aren't you down there consoling my subjects!?" he glared, demanding why his advisor is up here with the child and not with his subjects.

"The young prince was crying, so I came here to calm and check on him" Maurice told both a lie and a truth to the uncle king, who in a surprising factor bought it, he wasn't so bright after all. Uncle king Julien shrugged, he knew Maurice was tasked with taking care of his wretched nephew while the king and queen were away, but he hoped to see his nephew in a high place.

Hours passed, the kingdom no longer panicking, but the worry in the air still lingered, Maurice walked down the planes wrecked hull (crashed Madagascar tour plane), he left young Julien in his bassinet after he was fast asleep upon hearing that the uncle king wanted to see him. He pulled back the red curtain separating the cockpit from the hull, the uncle king or uncle king julien sat glaringly at his advisor, Maurice most likely knew why and he stood by his actions to make sure the young prince was safe.

Uncle julien cleared his throat and began to speak "do you know why i called you?!"

Maurice nodded "it's about prince Julien your majesty and why i was there earlier".

To the aye-aye's surprise the king shook his head, if he wasn't upset with him, then why is he mad, Uncle Julien explained. "No, it's not about the prince, it's about the fact that the king and queen have abandoned us and not only that reports of mountain lemur assassins trying to off the prince!"

Maurice stood there shocked, the king and queen wouldn't abandon them, would they? He didn't believe it and soon asked uncle Julien "sir, the king and queen would never abandon us, they love their subjects.".

The uncle king sighed sadly "I couldn't believe it at first, but they sent a messenger with a leaf letter and well. Just read it for yourself.". Handing the advisor the letter Maurice began to read.

'To uncle Julien of the lemur kingdom

We regret to inform you that my wife and I grow tired of all the constant complaints of our subjects and fossa attacks, so we have decided to leave permanently. We'll be heading north to establish our kingdom estate and rule a much smaller kingdom, we do hope you look after our son, for he'll grow into a fine king one day.

Sincerely the king and queen of Madagascar.'

Slowly he lowered the letter, he could scarcely believe it, both the king and queen had abandoned them, but something was fishy with the writing. As he read it he noticed the penmanship was not that of the kings, neither the queens, the letter was fake, then that makes the uncle a usurper.

Five months passed, since the king and queen had left, he received the queen's authentic letter yesterday, to which it informed the two will be back at weeks end. Thrilled to hear about their return Maurice walked along the forest floor at the base of the tree, ever since the large explosion months ago, the kingdom slowly began to get back to normal. Normalcy however could only go so far, due to the one question everyone had on their mind, 'what caused that explosion' and 'where did it come from'.

Just after his thoughts questioned the events several months ago, cheering could be heard in front of him in a way that could only be one thing :excitement. Velen, a long time friend of Maurice, ran up to the advisor all the while saying "it's here, it's here, i'm going to be a father", the aye-aye looked at him in excitement upon hearing the news. Velen and his mate for the last year and a half desperately tried to conceive a child and when he found out his wife was finally pregnant, he was more hyper and ecstatic than ever. Now the wait was finally over, he knew that in a few hours he would be a father to either a boy, or girl.

Ten years past, the kingdom forgetting the thunderous boom overheard by the jungle all those years ago, have now settled back into relative peace, and order thanks to the king and queen. However the thunderous boom may have been forgotten by most, to some they clearly remember what happened and set off to find out what really happened. Maurice was concerned on the matter of a small lemur band heading to who knows where and brought the matter up to the king and queen, who in turn just shrugged it off, to them it was most likely an earthquake. Sadly that all changed when one lemur went looking for her mate only to find him torn to pieces, many believed it to be a fossa attack, but others knew better, they know what a fossa attack looks like and the fossa would most likely have eaten the corpse. The body that was found was not eaten, no, the body was torn to shreds and eviscerated, blood, organs and limbs strewn the place where the body was and the face of the lemur had the look of pure terror on its face, it was almost as if he saw death itself.

Maurice walked along the forest floor, he was headed to see Velen and to check up on his family, he was happy for Velen, happy to see him smiling again and enjoying time with his wife. Something however didn't feel right as he got close to the leaf hut, he usually saw Velen outside with his son, but it was just him and he looked panicked. Quickening his pace he rushed over to his friend, seeing him coming, a look of relief formed on his face, only to turn to concern.

"Velen by the stars, what's wrong!?" the named lemur paced back and forth he was panicking beyond belief.

"He's gone-" the lemur replied "-my son is gone, he wasn't in the hut when I got back from willy's home. I thought he was over at his friends house, but my wife said he just left with his friends, all she heard him say was 'he was going to dare desolation'"

Maurice's heart froze upon hearing that fraze "yo-you don't mean the desolate canyon, also known as the forbidden canyon, do you!?" Velen looked at him as if he saw a ghost.

"He wouldn't, no, no, i have to stop him, he's going to get himself killed" the lemur rushed past Maurice before the advisor could say anything, he watched his friend soon disappear into the woods, he just hoped he wasn't too late.

Hours passed and Maurice sat with Velen's wife, she paced back and forth hoping they would return home soon and safely, by now the whole kingdom heard about what happened and were deathly worried for those who dared the canyon. Maurice waited and waited until he heard "they're back" come from the outside, rushing out time stood still, as the only lemur that came back was a now one armed Velen. The look on the lemurs face told the aye-aye what happened, he was too late, and all that Velen did was look at the ground stewing over what happened, his wife rushed out pleading to him where their son was and all that Maurice heard were the cries of grief.

-END FLASHBACK-

"- ever since then Velen waited for the opportune moment to return to the canyon, and avenge the deaths of those who died there. Though what made it hard for him to do so was the fact that he watched his son die to those monsters, he told me he held onto his son's hand until his arm was severed. He crawled out just as he watched his son get butchered and survived on sheer will power alone to make it back to the kingdom." Maurice finished his story of what happened and all he saw were the shocked and distubed faces of the zoosters, penguins and chimps, while the zoosters were saddened after hearing that Velen's son was butchered, Skipper was determined to destroy what these creatures are and put a stop to them.

"Tragic as it is-" skipper replied cynically "- it still doesn't tell us why you don't trust Velen" true tragic is his past, the penguin did have a point, Maurice still hasn't told them why he doesn't trust him.

The aye-aye finally explained "it was only after Velens son died did things get nasty with his wife and it was on one day he found her, he found her lying in a pool of her own blood with her wrists slashed. I've seen lemurs get crazed by grief, but I've never seen anything like what he did next, for after his mate died, he went insane to the point others were worried for the king's safety. It was on a normal day like any other did things go south, I was there when I saw Velen charge into the throne room with a spear in his hand, with a look I would never forget, he had a look of despair and hate. The image of him barging in was not the only part burned in my mind but what he spoke next chilled me to the core. 'You sit up here doing nothing, my son and mate are dead while you do nothing about the danger this island is in, are you that stupid or just plain arrogant and believing that everything is fine!'".

Everyone just listened, everyone besides Velen who was out of earshot, they listed as to why Maurice didn't trust the one armed lemur and was worried that he might be too obsessive about this canyon. However as the many eyes went from looking to Velen or to something else all they saw in the lemur was a crazed lunatic, but if one looked closely, they would see his pain from the tears streaming down his cheeks.

Another chapter is up, so what do you think of it, is this Velen a crazed lunatic or just someone in deep pain, i'd love to hear what you think in the comments.