Disclaimer: I do not own All Hail King Julien or any of its characters. I do own Emily, Patch, Weasel, Lilian, Elizabeth, and the fossa with names, and the idea for this story
The sun rose in the sky and it was almost at its highest point as the lemurs arrived at the tree where the plane was held up by the thick branches. The king jumped into his chair and turned to the others as they piled into the room. For a moment he remembered gathering here after the return of his brother and how excited he was. Now… everything changed from yesterday and they had to find a way to save their friends.
At once, everyone started talking to each other, and Julien strained to hear what each of them were saying.
"What are we going to do?" Lilian questioned fearfully.
"We need to rescue our friends!" Weasel insisted, appearing determined.
"Yes, but how?" Emily asked. She blinked up at King Julien. "The fossa will be on high alert. We can't just sneak into their camp and leave without being noticed."
Suddenly an deafening screech split through the air. "We're all gonna die!"
Everyone turned to Mort, who giggled innocently. "Willie's not here, so someone has to say it," he explained.
Julien rolled his eyes. "Look, we are safe here for the time being. The fossa don't know we're here."
"But they could find us," Weasel pointed out, a grave look on his face, and Julien watched as panic slowly entered his friends' eyes as if reality was just dawning on them.
Lilian's voice rose to a fearful squeak. "What are we going to do?"
The others started screeching in terror, too. Mort ran around the room, screaming. Meanwhile, Weasel stood protectively in front of Lilian. Emily appeared beside Julien, grabbing his arm.
"We need to hide you, Your Majesty— Somewhere nobody will ever look," she insisted.
Julien snatched his arm away from her, but before he could speak, Masikura appeared beside them.
About time! he thought, wondering where she had run off to after she disappeared in the jungle. "You can't hide forever, Your Highness," she said in a wise tone. "You must stand and fight."
"Fight?" Lilian looked like the chameleon just announced that she just grew wings and was about to take off.
"Yeah, fight?" Weasel agreed with Lilian. "How are we— a bunch of lemurs— supposed to fight the fossa? There wouldn't be a fight. It'd be us handing ourselves over to them, if we come out of hiding!"
Julien stood up. "No, Masikura is right," he declared. He glanced up at the top of the chair and hopped up there so he could look down at his subjects. "All our lives we've been running away from the fossa; we hide in the face of danger. We helplessly watch our friends and family get eaten by the things in the jungle. But no more!" he quickly went on when he saw the look of horror on their faces.
"No more!" Julien repeated with feeling. "No more running. No more hiding. No more deaths!"
He expected cheers to greet his final words, but instead they just stared up at him with round eyes. Julien sighed. Did any of that motivate them to rescue their friends?
"Look, you can all go into hiding if you want, but I'm going to save our friends, even if I have to go alone."
Secretly, he hoped they would call his bluff, but a scruffing from the end of the plane like the patter of paws distracted everyone. Weasel stood protectively in front of Lilian; Emily hid behind Julien, and the king made a decision to protect her even at the cost of his life; And Mort wrapped his tail around his small body as if he thought that'd turn him invisible.
They all stood there in tensed silence, waiting. The pawsteps came closer. Did the fossa find them already? Well, they were safe for a short time…
Julien jumped out of his chair and slowly walked toward the curtain that shielded the rest of the plane from sight. He listened. Footsteps; definitely footsteps. He gestured to Weasel to get on the other side of the entrance.
Julien listened again. He judged how far away the footsteps were by sound, and he started counting down on his fingers to show Weasel when to strike.
Three… Two… One… Now!
The same moment the curtains opened, Julien and Weasel jumped into action. At first it was too confusing to see what they were attacking, only that it was an animal with soft gray fur.
Suddenly a familiar voice hit his ears. "Stop! Ouch… Stop!"
Julien froze, paw in the air to land another blow. He blinked. "MoMo?"
The aye-aye widened his eyes. "King Julien?"
For a moment neither lemur moved. Then Julien threw his arms around Maurice. "Oh, MoMo, I was so worried about you! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Maurice insisted. "But what about you? We were sure you were… um…" He cleared his throat, then waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, nevermind! All that matters is that you're here!"
Julien blinked, confused. "We?" he asked.
Out of the shadows came three more lemurs: One large and muscular; another orange and female; the last looked exactly like Julien except for a black spot on his chest and had green eyes instead of yellow.
Julien narrowed his eyes. "Why did you bring him with you? He's a traitor!"
Patch hung his head, understanding his brother's anger. The last time they saw each other, Patch was handing Julien over to the fossa.
"I wanted to send him away," Clover told her king. "But Maurice—" She shot him a glare—" wouldn't let me."
Julien snapped his head to his adviser. "And why not, Maurice?" he demanded.
"I-I didn't think it was necessary. He feels really bad about everything. If it wasn't for him, none of us would have escaped the fossa. He came up with the plan to help us. He wants to make up for the mistakes he made. Please, Your Majesty, let him stay."
Patch stared at Maurice. Did he really feel that strong about me staying? he wondered. Yeah, he defended him in front of Clover and now Julien, but Patch didn't realize he was so passionate about his brother forgiving him.
Julien turned to Patch, his eyes still narrowed. "I'm going to give you one chance to show your loyalty. Got it? I'm going to keep a very close eye on you." As if to make his point, Julien leaned closer to him, eyeing him up and down.
Patch nodded eagerly, relief making him lightheaded.
Clover sniffed beside him, clearly unhappy about Julien's decision, but she didn't question her king. Turning away from Patch, her tail flicking angrily, she looked Julien in the eyes. "So what are we going to do about the fossa? They still have most of the kingdom."
"We were just discussing that," Julien responded. He hurried over to his chair and Maurice positioned himself on the floor beneath the throne. Clover stood guard by the door, while the rest of the lemurs- Emily, Weasel, Lilian, Mort, Patch, and Sage- settled down facing Julien.
Patch glanced around nervously, painfully aware that nobody here trusted him, and for good reason, too. He sighed inwardly and turned his focus on his brother, determined to show that his loyalty has changed.
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It was easy picking up on the scent trail, and Sander followed it. The rest of his patrol piled behind him, chatting and carelessly setting down their paws, stepping on twigs and rustling through bushes. Sander sighed and paused.
Turning sharply to them, he growled," Do you want the lemurs to hear us coming? Be more quiet!"
One of the fossa, Adain, sniffed. "Why are we even going after them? We have plenty of lemurs back in camp."
"Yeah," Heath agreed. "Maybe even enough that Mac wouldn't notice if one or two goes missing." He licked his lips hungrily.
"Yeah! Yeah!" Simon looked excited.
Sander thrust his muzzle close to Simon's. "You touch a hair on any of the lemurs, you'll have to answer to Mac."
Adain sighed. "Why are we keeping them hostage and not eating them?"
"Because Mac said so," Sander snarled.
"Mac says this; Mac wants that," Heath mocked. "Exactly when did he become leader? I don't remember voting for him."
Simon growled. "No leader."
Sander narrowed his eyes. "Since he found an alternative to eating than just lemurs. Before him, we were starving all the time, waiting around for the lemurs to let their guard down and then attacking the kingdom and still not getting enough to feed everyone."
The three fossa exchanged glances. "But still, none of what he's doing is making any sense," Heath insisted. "What he's doing isn't fossa behavior. Fossa eat, fossa sleep; we do not plot!"
"He's bringing a new era to fossa kind," Sander growled, hardly believing that they are saying such things about Mac. "You can either accept it or leave and never return."
Adain lashed his tail. "Now hold on. If Mac is the leader, you can't banish us!"
"I'm his second-in-command," Sander reminded him. "And I'm sure if Mac heard you talking like that, he'd agree with me."
The three fossa hung their heads and growled softly, but otherwise said nothing.
Sander turned his back to them. "Now come on. Let's keep going."
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