The Speed of Darkness
Chapter 36 – Emotion
THE NIGHT AIR WAS COOL.
Marlene felt it on her face as she emerged onto the deck of the boat. The fog that had plagued them since their departure a week ago had since disappeared, and the moon and the stars lit up the deck with a pale glow. Marlene looked up at them and felt a soft warmness inside – the fog had made her feel like she was trapped. The moonlight glowing on her salt-flecked fur was a welcome sight, and she took it in as if it was sunlight.
In the soft glow she saw Julien leaning over the side of the boat, staring out over the ocean. His figure was illuminated only by the moon's glow, creating sort of an eerie silhouette. From the way he slouched his shoulders and supported his weight on the railing, Marlene could tell he was tired. She walked over next to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Brought something for you," she said, holding up an open can of peaches. Julien smiled widely as he took the can.
"Finally, something worth eating around here," he exclaimed before shoving several of the peach slices into his mouth.
"Thought you might like those," said Marlene with a chuckle.
Julien nodded, and then swallowed loudly, "Its not that de king is not liking de fishy-food, its just dat I am watching my figure, you know."
"I guess it's an acquired taste," the Asian otter said with a smile. She knew darn well that Julien would have rather starved then continue trying to eat the tuna. Whether it was because he thought he was too good for it or he genuinely didn't like it, she didn't know.
"Where did you find dis, anyway?" asked Julien before munching on a few more peaches. The syrup they came in was dripping off his snout. He wiped it away with his free paw.
"There was a locked closet down in the cargo hold that Rico busted open," said Marlene and gestured to below the docks. "There were only a few cans of fruit in there, though, so I'd be careful not to eat it all in one night."
Julien looked at the half-empty can and then set it down on the planks near himself, obviously realizing he needed to conserve it. "Was der anything else in der?" he asked.
"Just a few jugs of water, which we really needed," explained the otter.
"Stupendous! Maybe now I can be washing dis salt out of my fur," said Julien as Marlene gave him a very stern look. "Only joking," he said, smiling awkwardly, then continued looking out over the ocean. Marlene tried to follow his eyes to see what he was looking at, but didn't find anything.
"Whatcha thinkin' about?" she asked him after a few moments of silence. He leaned over the side of the boat and pointed at something. Marlene also leaned over the railing and saw he was pointing at the name of the boat that had been painted on its side.
"De boat is called S.S. Sweet Revenge," he explained.
"Well that's," Marlene paused for a moment as she thought about it, "only fitting I suppose."
Julien nodded. "It is being Skipper's revenge, though. It is not being ours."
"Actually its not Skipper's revenge," corrected the otter, "It's Manfredi's."
"Dat psychotic robot?" Julien looked in the direction of the helm.
"Yeah. Skipper didn't tell me the full story, but apparently Sarge did a lot of horrible things to him. All I know for sure is that Sarge killed Johnson, who was Skipper and Manfredi's teammate."
Julien turned to look back at the brown otter. "So why are we being trapped on dis boat when its de robot's revenge? We are probably going to our dooms."
"Skipper obviously wants to help his teammate. They were close once," Marlene returned, "and there's the fact of this whole Sun thing going on. The whole planet may be in danger."
"And de other two fishy penguins... Rico and Private..."
"They're close to Skipper, so obviously they're going to stick with him to the end. They love him like family," Marlene interrupted. "And Kowalski too," she added.
Julien sighed, "It is not making sense."
"Why not?"
"Why would de other penguins risk der own tails for Skipper? I am not believing dat dis family love is being strong enough."
"But it is, Julien," offered Marlene, placing a hand on the lemur king's shoulder. "They want to help him confront Sarge and save the world. Do you have trouble seeing why?"
"Well," hesitated the gray lemur, "the answer is being yes."
"Why's that?" wondered Marlene. She had always felt committed to her parents and her brothers in a way that would make her jump off a cliff to save their lives. What made it hard for Julien to see that?
"Well," began Julien, "back on de Madagascar before de penguins came, I was a great king."
"Yeah?" Marlene urged Julien to continue. She had heard the stories of Julien's great endeavors before coming to the zoo, with the arrival of the four penguins on his island separating the two time periods. Julien continued speaking.
"I was de great king. It was amazing. We were having de crazy parties all de time, eating good fruit, and dancing every night. I was not seeing any problem with de other lemurs. De were seeing me as der king, and everyone was being happy.
"Den de fishy penguins came with dose New York giants..."
Marlene had also heard stories about how the zoo's hippopotamus, zebra, lion, and giraffe had broken out of the zoo one night. They got caught by animal control, and then shipped off to Africa. They were shipwrecked on Madagascar, where they had met with Julien and the lemurs. Julien still referred to them as the New York giants, the nickname they had received on their first arrival.
"You see, all of us lemurs have a common enemy in the fossa. Great bloodthirsty beats with snarling and growling and eating of our flesh," he pointed to his own fur. "When de New York giants came onto de Madagascar, dey brought with dem a feeling of safeness.
"De New York giants kept away de fossa for us while we pampered dem and tried to make dem stay with us. On a normal day we would be hiding almost all of de time. With de giants to protect us we were able to have parties so much more. It was being wonderful."
"I bet," offered Marlene.
"Den de penguins came and flew de New York giants away by using our crashed aircraft. I am not needing to be saying it, but it was as if de fossa knew the exact minute they left. Without de giants, we were, again, being helpless to defend ourselves against dem.
"We went back into hiding for most of the our days, and after a few lemurs disappeared, some of de other lemurs were thinking of throwing a revolt. De did just dat, you know, with de revolting."
"That's terrible!"
"Yeah. I was knowing it was bound to happen as soon as de giants left. My subjects wanted greater protection from de fossa den I could be giving. It is just seeming like de abandoned me when it was being most important to be standing togeder. I don't know what getting rid of me accomplished, but de left me for dead by the fossa's territory."
"How'd you get out?" asked Marlene, intrigued by the lemur's story.
"My chunky-monkey and dat annoying Mort came to save me," returned the lemur, eyes glazed over in memory. "De were de only ones still being loyal to me. De rest of dem abandoned me."
"Is that when you came to the zoo?"
"We knew we were not being welcome on de Madagascar anymore, so we found our way to de nearest mail-sendy place, and boxed ourselves to de Central Park Zoo."
Marlene nodded.
"I am not understanding why de fishy penguins are so willing to stand up to de evil penguins when it would be being easier to just abandon Skipper."
Marlene placed a hand on Julien's back and gave him a pat. He looked up at her, and Marlene noticed his eyes were no longer glazed over as he reminisced, but a single tear streaked down his snout, mixing with the sticky syrup from the peaches.
"I am meaning, my subjects abandoned me so easily..." he continued. His eyes shimmered in the moonlight, and Marlene saw his lip trembling. The sight made Marlene want to cry as well. She had never seen the lemur king even express the slightest sadness before, so it was like she was looking at a completely new person. That mixed with Julien's matted fur and dirt-caked face to give him a unique look about him. Rather than his usually kingly air, he now looked like a peasant. A real person with real problems; not some fairy tale.
The otter felt compassion for her friend. Julien was typically annoying and sometimes mean, and she usually tried to avoid being around him. Now, however, she wanted nothing more than to cheer him up. He was broken, and needed mending. Mending that she knew only she could give.
"Maybe they did leave you for dead out in the wilderness," she began, trying to keep her voice from quavering with sadness. "But Mort and Maurice still came to save you, right? I mean, they had been your right-hand lemurs from the beginning, and they stuck with you even though that meant they would also be outcast from the lemur society, right?"
"That is being true," said Julien thoughtfully. He sniffled and wiped his nose with his arm.
"They even came all the way to Central Park zoo with you. And still today, they are your subjects. You don't even treat them all that great, and yet they still look up to you like you're the greatest thing ever. Don't forget that." Marlene managed a smile. Julien rubbed the tears out of his eyes and then did the same.
"Mort really likes my feet," said Julien simply.
"He sure does. And you know what? He probably wouldn't want to be the subject of any other lemur."
Julien still looked shaken, but his mouth was now upturned into a slight smile. Marlene walked up and pulled him into a hug. She felt him tense for a moment, but then he relaxed and wrapped his long arms around her. Marlene closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. They stayed this for what seemed like a long time before Julien finally pulled her away, but still held her shoulders.
"Thank you," he said. Marlene never thought she'd hear those words out of the lemur.
"It's what I do," offered the Asian otter back before gently brushing off the lemur's paws and redirecting her gaze out over the ocean.
A while passed before Julien spoke again. Marlene was listening to the waves lapping up against the side of the boat and thinking about what it must have been like to be left for dead by your own society when his voice cut through he cool air.
"Marlene," he said, "Do you remember when we left de zoo on dat adventure, shortly after you got there... why did you pretend dat you were loving me?"
Marlene's eyes went wide at the comment and she blushed slightly. Her mind raced to come up with an answer. Composing herself, she responded, "I don't really know Julien. I can't remember anything that happened that day."
"Oh..."
She knew that he was referring to the first and last time the penguins had invited her to come along on a mission. As soon as she had left the gates, she had blacked out. When she woke up, she was sitting in a cage and Julien was insisting that she had kidnapped him out of love. It was the first time that had ever happened, and the only time before she had followed the penguins to the docks only a week ago. She still didn't remember attacking that lady...
"I mean, I heard the stories that you guys told me, and I distinctly remember waking up in that cage," she continued, "Its only proof that I actually did go crazy. Kowalski told me once that it was some sort of cabin fever disorder. It's like I hate being confined, but I can't handle the feeling of freedom when I finally get out."
"I see. So it was not really being you who fell in love with me? It was like a different Marlene was der at the time?" said Julien thoughtfully.
"Pretty much. Honestly, I don't know why I haven't flipped out again since I attacked that lady in the park. You think I'd have done something stupid by now, right?"
"Yeah."
Silence passed again. Marlene couldn't stop the thoughts that were bouncing around in her head, though, and had to ask.
"Is this about..." she paused, "what happened the other night, in the cabin?"
Julien nodded, then looked away from her. He looked sad again. Marlene could tell he had made some sort of connection with her from that point on, even though she had been insane at the time. He had honestly thought that she had feelings for him. She felt a fluttery feeling in her stomach and wondered if she did too.
"I didn't mean to just barge out of the room like I did," she said, trying to console the ring-tail. "It was just a lot to take in at one time, you know? I hope I didn't hurt you."
"We had a saying on Madagascar. If you are wanting de sweetest of fruits, you must be climbing de tallest of trees, and you might get hurt. You were dat sweet fruit to me, Marlene. I am seeing now, though, dat de Marlene I'm in love with is not de real Marlene. Just being like a figment of my imagination. Dats okay, dough... I have fought with gravity before."
Marlene grabbed Julien's hands and their gaze met. "You can always try to climb that tree again, though," she said. "You showed me a different side of yourself tonight, Julien. A really down to earth side. Even though you can be a jerk sometimes, I think you're a pretty cool guy. It was just a lot for me to take in for one night, you know? When you told me you loved me, I didn't even know how to react. I didn't even have a chance to think about it."
Julien's yellow eyes glowed. "Is time being de issue?"
Marlene nodded. "You know," she said after a bit, "I never said I didn't love you..."
At that, Julien pulled the otter into a tight bear hug. He nuzzled his snout down into her neck, rubbing off some of the peach syrup on her fur. She didn't care though, and wrapped her arms tightly around him, resting her own head on his. She felt the warmness of his body on hers, his aroma in her nostrils, his breathing in her ear. She felt a tingle go down her spine and like she never wanted to break the hug. She didn't even hear the sound of the hatch opening.
"D'aww," cooed Rico suddenly startling the two mammals Immediately, they threw their arms into the air and took a few steps away from each other. Julien pretended to still be looking out at the moon, and Marlene folded her arms behind her back, her cheeks glowing.
"What's up Rico," she said awkardly, her voice quavering. Rico only chuckled and then proceeded to the helm. She thought she heard him wolf-whistle as he disappeared behind the door to the operating room. Marlene looked back towards Julien.
"Hope you enjoyed the peaches," she said. Julien looked down at the can that was still sitting on the planks.
"Dey were delicious," returned the lemur, making Marlene chuckle.
"Have a good night," Marlene offered. Julien nodded. She started making her way back towards the hatch to go to the cabins.
"Oh, and Julien," she added as she walked away. Julien turned to look at her. "Thank you."
Julien smiled.
~Author's Note~ There's my take on how and why Julien came to the zoo in the first place. Hope Julien didn't seem too OOC here; his normal, bossy self had to give way to some emotion at some point for this pairing to work. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, as I think its one of the best so far (that considering I hate writing dialog-filled chapters!)