Welcome to chapter 16! I hope this series has been a lot of fun, with getting to know Marlene and Emily's parents, along with a bit of backstory on them as well. Now here comes a chapter I actually hinted at back in Pengotters: The Early Months. Of course, I was writing for that and Book 4 at the time, so this wasn't even an idea yet. Enough with the semantics, let's get started, shall we? We're now in late 2007 now.

CHAPTER 16 – The Original Prophecy

(P staying with Diana) It had been another great day at the aquarium. We had all performed in a family, as usual, making sure to show the guests we had fun. Performing was both great exercise and great fun. It easily tired us out, making sure we would get adequate sleep.

Of course, that didn't mean I couldn't stay awake if I wanted to. As I occasionally did, I was just swimming around in the pool, just not really thinking about anything in particular. It had been nearly 13 years since Sebastien and I had done anything dramatic. It felt like it had happened forever ago.

Our family was now our whole world. If anything bad happened to Marlene or Emily, Sebastien and I would be devastated. He and I were still keeping tabs on events through the humans who came to visit us, but since our battles had been hidden from them, they weren't a great source.

But they were still helpful. As the years were progressing, we were getting information faster and faster. Instead of something happening and us not knowing until days or weeks later, now we would know just a few hours later. Eventually we would probably know something instantaneously. *

As I was thinking to myself, I felt a ripple of water going across the pool. I looked to the direction it had come from and Sebastien had gotten into the pool. Our eyes met and we swam towards each other, kissing when we met up. "I love you," we said happily to each other, hugging for a quick moment before beginning to tread water.

"So why are you up honey? Just can't sleep?" I asked him. He chuckled. "Pretty much. I just decided to come out here, since I knew you would be out here," Sebastien said. "Well I'm afraid it's pretty boring out here. I'm just thinking about the past and how good our lives are together and with the children," I said happily. "We're almost at our 13-year anniversary Diana. Just a few more months, as it is now October," he said. We kissed, glad we were married.

Suddenly a thought popped into my head. "Hmm," I said, thinking about it. "What are you thinking about now?" Sebastien asked me. "I'm just wondering what our lives would be like if we hadn't lost our parents," I said. "What do you think they would be like?" he asked me curiously. "Well I think I still would have ended up with you as my husband. But I don't know about the children, as that's very time-dependent. But they would know their grandparents," I said sadly, tears falling off my face into the water.

Sebastien and I comforted each other, as we had since that moment had occurred. We had been peaceful, oblivious Otters, but that day had changed our lives forever. "Well we will always have our children. We have the skills to protect them from any physical threat whatsoever," Sebastien said. "Absolutely. No threat can take us from our children," I said happily, making us share a kiss.

Suddenly the lights began to flicker on and off, like lightning. ** "We should look into that," he said. "Darn, I was just getting comfortable," I said, blushing. He laughed and then we both jumped out of the water. After making sure the kids were asleep, we used our skills to get up to the lights and take a look at them.

There were a few loose, so we took turns tightening them back in. "There. That should fix the problem," Sebastien said. They then flickered again, dashing our hopes for that. "Time to check the wiring," I said, before we jumped into the vents. We traversed through them until we found the panels that let us access the wires. Strangely, they were all fine, so we closed the panels back up and dropped into the water to stay stealthy.

"Something's not right. I'm getting a weird vibe," Sebastien said. "You're getting it too? What the heck is going on?" I questioned aloud. A figure suddenly appeared and disappeared on the rocks near our cave. We jumped out of the water and prepared to block the cave and defend our children.

The speakers outside of the habitat started to go off, making it sound like thunder while the lights were flickering. When the figure appeared again, it stood still, observing us. It appeared to be an old Otter, observing us. "What do you want?" Sebastien and I questioned, not going to let any harm come to our children.

"I am here to tell you about the future. Specifically relating to you and your children," she said. "Sure you are," I said sarcastically. Sebastien and I charged, going to defend our little ones. Right before we hit the Otter, she vanished and reappeared behind us at the cave entrance. Sebastien and I used our momentum and launched ourselves back in front of the cave.

"You're not going anywhere," Sebastien said to her. "If I cannot talk to your children, then so be it. Though I can at least warn you," the mysterious Otter said. "What is our future?" I questioned, determined to make sure the children were in it.

"Your future is also because of your past. This world of ours is one of many. A few members in a parallel world have seized control of ours without knowing it. They have had control since 2005. *** And now, that control will be extended to your family, specifically your eldest daughter," the mysterious Otter said to us.

"Lies," I said, slightly hissing. It wasn't like me to get that at all, but I was very angry. "It is all true. I have foreseen both of your children's futures, depending on how long the control lasts and if the timestream is uninterrupted," the Otter said. "We can stop those instances," Sebastien said, determined.

"You will only be helping to stop one of the disturbances after it has taken place. The other two will be solved by either of your daughters," the Otter said. "Our daughters are not trained to stop anything. They are cute and naïve," I said. ****

"They will be trained, by a select group of birds. They are being controlled by the other world, but will eventually be released from it, as will your eldest daughter. As to your youngest, she will also be trained, by your eldest," the Otter said. "We will not abandon our daughters," Sebastien said, as determined as I was.

"You don't have a choice. It is inevitable that they will be separated from you," the Otter said. That made Sebastien and I livid, and we punched towards them angrily. But we missed yet again, thanks to their weirdness. We sighed, annoyed, but calmed ourselves down.

"Will we ever see them again?" I asked, afraid that we would never see the children again. "Yes. You will see them during one of the timestream disturbances," the Otter said. "What about after?" Sebastien asked. "I cannot see that far. My range and details are limited," she said.

"How long do we have with the children?" I asked. "I do not know. That part is hazy to me, as I cannot see what changes will soon occur to this world and the other as a result of a loss of control. But spend all your time with your children," she said, before vanishing.

Sebastien and I just stood there for minutes on end, reflecting on what was just said to us. We didn't even know if it was real. Sebastien and I took our own paws to our own faces and we slapped ourselves to see if this was some weird dream or not, but it wasn't. This foretelling of the future was real.

I looked at Sebastien with pained eyes, terrified of the future. We were going to be separated from our daughters, our little babies, and we didn't even have a choice in the matter. We had just been happily remembering our lives since we had them and now we were about to lose them. Sure, multiple worlds sounded plausible, but how could one take over the other? Was it for torture, amusement, or did they not even know? *****

Sebastien gave me a big hug and I immediately reciprocated his action, embracing him too. I clung to him almost too tightly, needing the comfort of his embrace just as he needed mine. "Our babies," I said, tears beginning to run down my face. Sebastien gently wiped them away while continuing to comfort me.

After a few minutes, we finally had calmed down enough to speak. "Why is this happening to us?" I asked Sebastien. He kissed me. "I don't know honey. I wish I knew the answer to that question," he said. I sighed sadly. "Soon, we won't be with our children anymore. I wish this wasn't happening to us," I said, still sad.

Sebastien kissed me to try and help me feel better. "I with the same Diana. But while we will lost our children soon, we will see them again," he said. "Yes, at least we have that. But our children will hate us for seemingly abandoning them or not being able to help them," I said, fearful.

"Diana, I'm certain that won't be the case," Sebastien said to me. "How can you be so sure? I know we have to sweet little girls, but what's to say they won't resent us?" I asked him. "We will treat every day with our children as if it were our last honey. When the time comes, hopefully we will have done all we can to prevent that scenario," my loving husband said to me.

I sighed worriedly. "I hope you're right on that. Other than what was told to us, there's no telling what the future might bring. But I'll do anything to make sure the children still love us years from now," I said. "As will I Diana, as will I," he said. We kissed and then headed to bed, now tired. I dreamed of all of us four happily performing as a family in the aquarium, with no threat of them leaving.

What a rush, huh? As I said, I slightly hinted at this back in the second Pengotters book, even though I didn't really know it at the time. But hey, a throwaway line becoming its own thing is cool, I guess. Let me know if you thought so with a review, please. And before you leave, make sure to read the few notes I have today.

* Remember, this is late 2007. The original iPhone is just a few months old, Twitter and YouTube are barely off the ground, and Facebook is still only for college students. AIM and Myspace (remember those?) are still dominant, as are 2G (Edge) networks.

** As this is the same Otter for Sebastien and Diana as it was (will be, technically) for Skipper, Marlene, and Emily, same style of entrance.

*** The first Madagascar movie was released all the way back in 2005. Yep, this year the Madagascar franchise becomes 10 years old.

**** Couldn't resist throwing in that. After all, Skipper called Marlene cute and naïve in the show, and neither Marlene or Emily know about their parent's past.

***** Technically, it's for the 2nd two reasons out of the three. The reasons for change are the movies and TV show, which are for amusement. And in 2007, they (in my stories) have no idea their world exists outside of a screen.