King Julien walked alone through the jungle. It was a clear night, a canopy of stars blanketing the sky and the moonlight streaming through the trees, giving his gray fur a silver shine. Besides the occasional hum of insects or call of a bird, it was quiet as well. Peaceful.
Inside the king's mind, it was anything but.
He missed Clover. He missed her enthusiasm, how she put a thousand and ten percent into everything. He missed her creativeness, whether it was coming up with elaborate traps or the characters she brought to life with her writing. He missed the way her brilliant green eyes sparkled when she got an especially out there idea. He missed her laugh, her crazy, wild, wonderful laugh. He missed having her around and there was a part of him that wanted her back oh so bad but not in the way his subjects wanted. Not dragging her away from the man she loved and forcing her to protect a bunch of lemurs who thought she was some kind of monster.
Which was totally untrue. What was true was that she had believed along with everyone else that they would all be fine, that Mary Ann would keep them safe from her fellow fossa, that the lemurs would be able to protect themselves.
How could they have been so foolish? King Julien and his subjects tried to stop the band of fossa who had rebelled against Mary Ann themselves but the net they made to trap the predators was easily broken out of and Mary Ann was the one who had ended up chasing her kind away that day. Why had the lemurs treated it as proof that they were capable of defending themselves when that clearly wasn't the case? If anything, it showed how incapable they were, how helpless they were without someone else to protect them. Like they were during the wedding reception attack.
King Julien and his subjects needed someone else to fight for them but the New York freaks didn't want to keep that job permanently. They wanted to go home.
Julien knew that he could keep them stranded on Madagascar for the rest of their lives if he really wanted to. Forbidding Timo from ever helping them build a boat or plane or whatever off the island. Order his subjects to stop any escape attempts. Locking the freaks away as prisoners, only being let out during fossa attacks. Yeah, that all sounded pretty messed up and he really didn't want to do that.
Except, he kinda was doing that. Not stopping escape plans and locking them away but forcing the freaks to protect the kingdom while withholding Timo's help, withholding a way back to their home. In a way, Julien already was holding them prisoner.
Ugh, he had only been trying to find a way so that everyone would be happy but instead, he had only made them all miserable. Except Clover and Sage, they were happy but everyone else sure wasn't. He had to find a way to fix things but how?
King Julien looked up to the heavens, to the trillions of the stars dotting the inky night sky. He clasped his paws together and said, "Frank, it's me, King Julien. Please, if you can hear me, I need your help real bad man. My peoples are in trouble and they're getting hurt and they're scared and none of my ideas are working and everyone wants me to force Clover to come back and protect them but that would hurt Clover but the peoples are already hurting and the New York freaks are hurting cause they just want to go home and it's all seriously messed up and I don't know how to fix it and...!" King Julien paused, took a shaky deep breath and continued with, "Please, I have to find a way to keep everyone safe. There must be a way without tearing Clover or the freaks from their homes. Please, please tell me there's a way."
The stars gave no answer.
Julien threw his hands in the air and shouted to the starry heavens above, "Come on, man! I really need your help on this one! Show me a sign!"
The stars remained silent as ever.
"Anything!"
No response.
"Please?" King Julien said pitifully, falling down to his knees. "Please?", covering his face with his paws. The stars showed no pity towards his desperate groveling.
"Julie..."
A sad voice suddenly came out of the night and Julien's hopes started to rise like a balloon. He quickly got up and looked about. "Frank, is that you? And why do you sound like Nurse Phantom?", the mysterious voice sounding exactly like that of his kingdom's nurse.
"Because I am Nurse Phantom."
Julien turned and saw that standing a short distance away was in fact, Nurse Phantom.
"Oh." Julien said, hopes deflating like a popped balloon. He didn't know why Nurse Phantom was out in the jungle at that time of night nor was he in the mood to care.
"Are you okay?" Nurse Phantom asked. He had been out for a breather and had stumbled upon King Julien calling for Frank's help.
King Julien tried to save face. Keyword try.
"What, me? I'm fine. I know everything will work out just fine. It always does. But the peoples…. they're worried. They can't sleep at night wondering if we're all going to die because they're afraid the New York freaks will get tried of waiting and find their own way home and leave us before we can find a way to protect ourselves without them because everything we've tried so far has failed horribly because we don't know anything about security because Clover always took care of that but now she's gone and and…." Julien's escalating panicky tone slowed down, heart aching as he spoke. "...And happily married to Sage and everyone wants me to make her leave him and come back here to protect us but I can't that, I just can't! Clover loves Sage and it would break her heart to leave him. She'd come back to us but she would be forever sad missing Sage and she doesn't deserve that. It wouldn't be right. It...it wouldn't be fair."
Julien paused for a moment, then continued. "Anyways, I've asked for some godly wisdom from Frank and he's taking his sweet time to respond!" Julien shouted and shook his fist towards the heavens.
Pause.
And in that pause, Nurse Phantom's ears picked up on something. Breathing. Deep, rumbling breathing.
"Yeah, I'm talking to you, Frank!" Julien kept yelling.
The breathing became heavier in Nurse Phantom's eardrums.
"Julie..."
Closer.
"Come on, man! It's me, KJ!"
Closer still.
"Julie..." Nurse Phantom repeated with more urgency and volume.
"Why won't you answer me!?"
"Julien!"
"Wha…?" Julien started to ask before Nurse Phantom covered his mouth with his paw. Julien removed it, "What th.."
Nurse Phantom once again silenced him, "Be quiet!"
Once again, Julien removed his paw, "Why?"
"Shush!" Nurse Phantom placed a finger on Julien's mouth, leaned an ear towards the sound and whispered. "Do you hear that?"
Now that he mentioned it, Julien could hear something. It sounded like growling. Close by growling. Then the growling stopped.
Then in a flash, Nurse Phantom dragged Julien to the side as a blur of fur leaped unto the spot where they just were.
The fossa turned and saw the lemurs. It looked at them, they looked at it, and for a few seconds they engaged in an age old staring contest between predator and prey. And then the lemurs proceeded to scream and run away with the fossa following close behind them.
"Okay, forget the sign! Just let us live!" King Julien shouted as they raced for their lives, practically feeling the fossa's jaws snapping at their heels, it's hot breath coursing down their backs.
"Clover, help!" Julien called out but knew she wouldn't coming to their rescue. Why? Why did she have to leave? The kingdom needed her. Julien needed her.
Julien felt his chest tighten, his ribcage closing in on his heart like a cage, which thrashed about trying to break free like a frightened bird. His leg muscles screamed, begging for rest that he knew would spell his end, the energy quickly draining out with each stride. The fossa's snarls roaring ever louder in his eardrums.
King Julien and Nurse Phantom couldn't keep running for much longer before they'd surely become the fossa's next meal.
"It's gonna take a miracle to save us!" King Julien thought to himself.
Suddenly, something slithered out of the darkness and appeared before the two lemurs and fossa, stopping them all in their tracks.
Tall and lean, wide hood adorning head, yellow and red eyes glowing like a blazing fire, stethoscope shining in the moonlight.
"Get behind me." Dr. S said, usual eccentrics nowhere to be found in his tone, a determined scowl set across his face. He didn't have to tell Julien and Nurse Phantom twice. They hurried right behind his large, coiled body, peeking slightly around it.
Meanwhile, Dr. S and the fossa didn't take their eyes off each other. The giant snake let out a hiss, the fossa responded with a snarl, two pairs of jaws pulled back to reveal rows of yellowed fangs. Dark pupils contracted to thin slits as red and green eyes reflected off one another. The fossa crouched, Dr. S coiled his body tighter. The fossa wiggled it's rump, Dr. S wiggled his body. The fossa pounced, Dr. S lunged. Time seemed to slow, the two lemurs watching as both predators made their way forward, each with clear goal in mind but only one would be achieved that night.
The fossa aimed for Dr. S's head but a second too late realized that Dr. S had thought of the same thing, for a split second finding it's self staring down the snake's throat, head surrounded by the mad doctor's mouth.
Chomp
Crunch
The fossa's body spasmed, went stiff, then went limp, dangling from Dr. S's mouth for a few moments before being dropped down to the ground. Then the snake doctor turned to his assistant and king and said,
"Are you two alright?", The wild, primal look in his eyes replaced with concern.
"Ye-yeah, we're fine, thanks to you. You-you saved our lives, Dr. S." was Nurse Phantom's stunned response as he looked wide eyed at his friend, still trembling from the encounter.
"Of course, I couldn't let that fossa eat you, now could I?"
"Well, thank you, from both of us. Right Julie? Julie?" Nurse Phantom looked over to King Julien, who was staring at the now dead fossa. Then he started to walk towards it.
"Mr. King Julien?" Dr. S asked, confused.
Julien kept walking, almost as if in a trance, until he was standing right before the freshly made corpse.
Blood leaked out from Dr. S's bite marks, caking it's head and pooling onto the jungle floor. It's mouth mid snarl, eyes now looking more like cloudy green glass marbles instead of the eyes that had held since intense hunger but a few minutes ago, staring wide right back at King Julien. The king himself couldn't pry his own eyes away from the body of the once mighty predator.
"Julien?" Nurse Phantom asked in growing concern.
"You killed it." Julien said stunned, turning to doctor and nurse.
"I'm...surprised myself. I've never killed a fossa before." Dr. S had killed many creatures throughout his life of course, being both a giant carnivorous cobra and doctor who loved to do unethical experiments out a cave but fossa had never been on his prey and patient lists. Also, the circumstances surrounding it all was a whole new experience for him, leaving the snake doctor quite taken aback himself.
"You killed this one. You protected us, you saved our lives, you...you..." As he gazed upon Dr. S, the moonlight shone off his brown and white scales to where they almost seemed to glow. Julien could have sworn that he also heard almost angelic music carried on the wind. Then an idea started to form in his brain. "You could do it again."
"What?" Dr. S was confused.
"You could kill more fossa. You could protect not just me and Nurse Phantom but everybody else as well." King Julien's spirits were soaring ever higher.
"What?" Nurse Phantom thought that where he thought this was going couldn't possibly be true. It was crazy even by King Julien's standards.
"I asked Frank for a sign and he's given me one. It's you, Dr. S! You're the answer! You can take Clover's place protecting the kingdom!"
"What!?" Dr. S and Nurse Phantom shouted together in shock.
"King Julien, I already have a job as the kingdom's doctor, remember?" Dr. S pointed out.
"Oh…." Julien's face fell and Dr. S thought that would be the end on that matter. He was wrong, for Julien perked back up and went on to say,
"But you don't see patients all the time, right? And you don't have to do everything Clover used to do. Following me around all the time, you don't have to do that. That should free up loads of time. You just have to be big and-and scary and maybe kill a fossa or two when they come attacking. And you'll still have time to our doctor."
"But...but our CAVE!" Cue the random thunder and lighting magically appearing for two seconds before the night was once again clear and Dr. S continued, "is a ways away from the village. Too far to hear anybody call for help or to make it in time to do any good."
"...Then...then you won't live in the cave anymore! We can move you two and the hospital right in the middle of everything. So you'll be right there to hear us screaming for help and come to our rescue just like that." Julien snapped his fingers.
"But...but Mr. Julien, I...saving you and Nurse Phantom, I've never done anything like that before..." Dr. S killed to live, he killed for fun, he had never killed protecting another before that night. It was a new experience with new feelings that he couldn't even begin to describe.
"You did tonight and you could do it again. I know you can." King Julien kept at it, toning down the enthusiasm but not the determination.
"Maybe...maybe we could give it a try." Nurse Phantom spoke up, looking expectantly at his scaly friend.
"Nurse Phantom..." Dr. S couldn't believe what his friend was saying.
"Just give the arrangement a chance. A trial run if you will and if it doesn't work out, then we can always go back to the cave."
"Yes, yes of course. If it doesn't work out, you two can go back and live out your creepy lives in your creepy cave. But we won't know if we don't try, so what do you say?" Julien asked, he and Nurse Phantom looking expectantly at Dr. S. For a few moments, it was all Dr. S could do but look back and forward between each set of pleading eyes, Julien's were wide and eager while Nurse Phantom's were more subdued and it was they that had the more powerful pull, the snake doctor lingering longer on them.
Dr. S heaved a defeated sigh. "Fine, I guess we can give it a shot." This got a smile out of both lemurs.
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Julien shouted, pumping his fists and jumping for joy. He hugged Dr. S as he said, "Thank you! You won't regret this, I promise you won't!"
"We'll see." was Dr. S's response, not sharing the enthusiasm.
"Come on, let's go and tell everybody right now!" Julien said, waving his arm and practically skipping towards the kingdom, with Dr. S and Nurse Phantom following behind at a slower pace.
….
"Great, what hair brained scheme has he cooked up now?" Hector complained to the lemur closest to him.
He along with most of the kingdom were gathered around the high rock waiting for King Julien to make an announcement. Standing on the rock along with the king was Maurice with Dr. S and Nurse Phantom standing below them at the rock's base. When Maurice had asked Julien what was going on, his friend had only told him with glee to wait and see.
"What are you up to now?" Maurice thought to himself, both nervous and disappointed. After the latest disastrous plan and accusations thrown, he had hoped King Julien would take time for quiet reflection, not jump right back into yet another crazy scheme. Especially not one involving Dr. S. Maurice shuddered at the memory of the last time his majesty had called upon the mad doctor's help. "Please don't let it be a FrankenClover."
"My peoples!" King Julien made himself heard and the crowd settled down, interests peaked. Not just by the surprise appearance of their reclusive doctor and nurse team but also by the king's demeanor as well. King Julien seemed to be in much better spirits then he was a few hours before, looking to be almost dancing in place he was so excited to tell them all...something. "I have the most super fantastic news!"
"It couldn't have waited until morning, man? I gotta go to work early." Butterfish told him.
"Trust me, this is gonna be worth it. Tonight, a miracle happened! A fossa attacked me and Nurse Phantom and was about ready to eat us when who should come along but this big beautiful snake." Julien spread out his hands at Dr. S, "Who sprang in, got between us and the fossa and then, bam! Killed it!" Julien made a motion with his arm and paw to imitate Dr. S, grabbing his other paw to demonstrate the killing blow. Then he threw his paws in the air. "Saving our lives!"
"Wait, Dr. S? Our Dr. S, saved your lives?" Maurice asked incredulously.
"I know, crazy, right? But it's true and that's why we're here!" Julien once again faced the crowd. "For the past few weeks, we've been searching for a way to keep ourselves safe without Clover, without the New York Giants. Tonight, Frank showed me a way in the form of a sign. That sign was Dr. S saving mine and Nurse Phantom's lives. Dr. S will protect the kingdom!"
.
.
.
Almost all eyes stared up at King Julien. A distant bird call was the lone sound ringing in that clearing as animals stood silently dumbfounded, trying to process the lemur king's words. Meanwhile, Dr. S and Nurse Phantom looked at each other, each wearing a worried expression.
"Snap! Everyone must be so blown away by this ingenious plan, it's left them speechless!" King Julien thought to himself.
Out loud he said, "You heard me right, peoples. Our troubles are over! Dr. S will protect us from the fossa and the New York Freaks can finally go home!" He looked over to the back of the crowd, where the New Yorker's expressions matched everyone else's. Even in their short amount of time staying in the lemur kingdom, they had heard plenty about the eccentric doctor.
King Julien continued to be met with silence. Dr. S and Nurse Phantom once again looked each other's way, each saying silently to the other that they had a bad feeling about where this was going. Meanwhile, King Julien was starting to get a little uncomfortable.
"Uh, hello? We're saved, people! This is great news, come on!" He declared, desperate for someone, anyone to answer him.
It was Hector who finally answered. "Great news? Great news? This isn't great news, This. Is. Madness!"
Well, that got the ball rolling, the once quiet clearing was now a buzz with clamor, a flurry of conversation as each voice wanted to say their piece.
"It's bad enough that he gets to mess with our bodies, now you wanna give him more power!?" was Pancho's comment.
"There's no way, not no how I'm letting that demon guard my Todd!" Tammy held her son close.
"It's finally happened. The pressure's finally made him crack!" Ted deduced.
"He's gone mad!" Horst declared.
"The king's gone crazy and we're all gonna die!" Willie cried, throwing his hands up in the air.
"Your majesty, just what the hell are you thinking!?" Maurice demanded, anger and disappointment and confusion all mixed and muddled all together.
"I'm thinking that EVERYONE NEEDS TO CALM THE FREAK DOWN!" King Julien screamed over the crowd.
"Calm down?" Hector shouted back. "Calm down!? When you want us to trust that guy with our lives?", pointing out Dr. S, who looked very much lost. "Nope, no way, Not doing that!"
"But why?" Julien whined.
"Why? Oh, I don't know, maybe because this is Dr. S we're talking about here! You know, the guy who sucks at the job he already has?"
"Like diagnosing a lemur with Mad Horse Disease." Maurice grumbled, remembering the time that King Julien thought that he was dying thanks to the doctor's bogus diagnose and all the trouble that had caused.
"Maurice!" King Julien turned on him.
"Or trying to cut your head off and sew it unto a shark's body? Cause he tried that with me once." Horst volunteered.
"Horst!"
"Not to mention the unholy experiments! Don't think we don't know about those!" Tammy said, "Especially the undead ones!"
"Hey, Hans was my idea!" Julien pointed out, remembering when he wanted the star athlete lemur brought back to life to compete in the jungle games against his uncle.
"And the others? Were they all your idea as well?" Tammy pressed on.
"Uh...no. Okay, yes, Dr. S has done some….questionable stuff but come on, haven't we all? Pancho?"
Heads turned to Pancho. "Oh sure, single me out, why don't ya?" He said with great offense.
"This isn't about the messed up junk Pancho has done." Hector continued, earning him an offended "Hey!" from Pancho. "It's the fact that Dr. S treats the job he already has like a game! You really expect him to protect all of us and take it seriously?"
"He was pretty serious tonight." Julien crossed his arms, thinking back to the look in the snake doctor's face as he told himself and Nurse Phantom to get behind him. That almost familiar fire blazing within his eyes.
"Fine, he was a hero tonight but what about tomorrow and beyond?" Hector looked right at Dr. S. "Are you sure you're up to the task?"
"Uh..." Dr. S looked around at all the expectant eyes boring down on his person, including those of King Julien and Nurse Phantom.
"Uh...I'm only here because King Julien asked me! And it was only for a trial run but if no one wants me then...then maybe it'd be better to call it off?" Dr. S looked expectantly towards King Julien.
"No way! You promised you'd give this a chance! You can't just bail!" King Julien said, wounded. Nurse Phantom too gave the snake doctor a wounded look. Dr. S was trying to find the right words when Hector said,
"See, even he agrees this is a bad idea! If we go through with this, it's just gonna end up like all the other cockamamie schemes we've tried to replace Clover with! Well, riddle me this, do we really need to replace her or maybe our king just needs to do his duty and tell our security guard to come back where she belongs?"
"She belongs with Sage!" Julien shoot back.
"No, she belongs with us!"
"Sage!"
"Us!"
"Sage!"
"Us!"
"Sage!"
"Us!"
"Hold it!" Pancho's voice rang out. When all eyes were on him, he continued. "Mind if I cut in? King Julien, KJ, you really wanna give Dr. S a chance at guarding the kingdom, right?"
"Uh, duh, that's the whole reason why we're here."
"And we all want the schemes to stop and the kingdom to be safe, correct?" Pancho said to the crowd.
"Where are you going with this, Pancho?" Hector asked impatiently.
"What I'm trying to say is, I think there's a simple solution to this dispute. I say, let's give Dr. S a chance to prove himself." He said, the wheels in his head turning.
"Really?" Was King Julien's surprised and happy response.
"What?" Was Hector's.
"Let me finish." Pancho quickly said and looked to Hector. "If Dr. S succeeds in protecting us and continues to do a good job, then I say we trust him." Then he looked up at King Julien. "But if he fails, then I say no more. No more robots. No more walls. No more schemes to try and replace Clover, period. King Julien admits that we need the real Clover back and tells her as such." Now Pancho looked back and forth at each of them. "Now, does that sound fair to both of yas?"
"It sure does!" King Julien said enthusiastically, with a shocked Maurice beside him saying, "What!?"
"You best be ready to eat some humble pie, cause Dr. S is bout to blow you all away with all his fossa fighting skills!" Julien punched the air with both fists to illustrate.
Maurice grabbed Julien and leaned into his ear. "King Julien, are you sure about this?"
"Absolutely, Momo. We got this."
"But if Dr. S fails then..."
"He won't fail!"
"But Clover..."
"We're doing this!" King Julien proclaimed for all to hear.
Maurice heaved a defeated sigh. The king had made up his mind and there was no going back.
Hector let out a groan. "...Fine but don't you dare go back on this."
"Hector, I promise, you have my word." King Julien put a hand to his heart.
"….Nope, I need more then that."
"What, you want it in writing?"
He wanted it in writing.
And so a contract was written up, which read.
We as a kingdom do hereby swear that as long as Dr. S is successful in guarding the kingdom, we will put our faith in him and not ask Clover to return to her old job as Captain of The Ringtail Guard.
I, King Julien do hereby swear that if Dr. S is unable to preform his duties guarding the kingdom, then I must demand Clover return to her old job as Captain of The Ringtail Guard.
With King Julien signing for himself, Hector signing for the rest of the kingdom, and the rest of the kingdom plus the New Yorkers as witnesses.
"King Julien, you know that everyone has only agreed to this plan because they expect Dr. S to fail, right?" Maurice asked Julien afterwards on their way back to their respective homes. "That's got to be why Pancho thought of the deal in the first place. He along with everyone is counting on Dr. S to fail."
"Oh, I know that, Momo. Which is why it's gonna be so awesome seeing the look on Hector's hating old man face when he's proven wrong." King Julien rubbed his hands together and smiled mischievously as the image of a wide eyed, so taken aback he wouldn't be able to speak Hector played out in the king's mind.
"But what if he's right?"
"He's wrong! Dr. S will protect us!"
"But what if he can't?" Maurice sighed. "Look, I admit that every once in a while, Dr. S can have his moments of being almost a decent doctor but those are just moments. And it's not like I'm ungrateful that he protected you and Nurse Phantom, I am but, you have to realize that it may have been one of his rare moments. It doesn't mean that he's suddenly capable of protecting the entire kingdom all the time. You need to prepare yourself for the possibly that he might not be up for the task and if that happens, then….then you're gonna have to ask Clover to come back."
King Julien didn't say anything at first, silently malling over his friend's words. Slowly and surely, Maurice could see the confidence begin to crumble.
"But… Frank, I...asked for a sign and I swear, Dr. S seemed to be glowing and…." Julien tried to reassure himself.
"Maybe, you believed it was Frank talking to you because you wanted to believe." Maurice said gently.
"I believe Maurice is right, your majesty." Masikura said, suddenly manifesting beside King Julien, causing him to jump up in alarm and let out a short yelp.
"Masikura, how long have you...and come on, not you too?" Julien asked her.
"Yes, I have to agree with Maurice on this matter."
"But, you're always going on about the gods and prophecies and the future and all that!" King Julien argued, trying to imitate the chameleon's usual manner of saying future.
"Yes but that doesn't mean I can't be realistic, especially when you are trusting your subject's safety with a snake who loves to preform autopsies on living lemurs!"
"Tried that with me once!" Everyone turned to see Willie nearby.
"Stay out of this Willie!" Julien yelled.
"Fine, okay, you don't have to yell, I know where I'm not wanted." Willie said offended, walking away.
Masikura continued, "As I was saying. Yes, I am all about the gods and signs but that doesn't mean I can't agree with Maurice, that maybe you just thought Frank was speaking to you because you wanted him to, because you don't want to have to force Clover to come back."
"But that's the thing, your majesty. You may have to." Maurice reiterated sadly.
More of the confidence crumbled and realization finally fully hit Julien like waves crashing against sand. Then he grabbed Maurice by the shoulders, shaking and screaming in his face, "Maurice, what did you let me do?!"
"What I...I tried to stop you but you wouldn't listen to me!"
"Well, you should have tried harder to stop me from betting Clover's happiness on our insane doctor!" King Julien let go of Maurice and started to pace around. "If Dr. S isn't able to protect everyone then...oh dear Frank, Clover's life will be ruined!"
"King Julien..."
"She's gonna hate me forever!"
"Not when she finds out what's happened! Not when she realizes how much everyone still needs her!
"So what, we're just supposed to ignore her feelings like they don't matter?"
"Of course they matter but so do those of the people! And what they're feeling is afraid. Afraid that they're all gonna die, that their king cares more about a bunch of animals that he just met and a...a..." Maurice really didn't want to finish Hector's words.
"A traitor who left them to die?" King Julien finished for him, hugging himself. Even though he didn't believe them himself, he still felt sick to his stomach repeating those words. That disgusting description thrown at one of the most magnificent lemurs he'd ever had the pleasure of knowing. "Do you believe that too?"
"No! I know Clover didn't mean any harm, that she thought like the rest of us that Mary Ann would keep the other fossa away, that we could defend ourselves! Though I can't fathom why we thought so, Mary Ann was the one who saved the day against those rebels...why did we treat it like we were the ones who drove the fossa away?"
"I...I have no idea. Momo...how we could be so stupid!?"
"I don't know! Why didn't Clover train a replacement or follow up on Mary Ann?" Maurice threw back.
"So you do blame her?!" King Julien accused.
"Maybe I do! And Sage and you and me and everyone else! Why did Clover and Sage have to get married so quickly? Maybe, if we had all waited a little longer, maybe the fossa would have attacked when Clover was still around and we would have realized that no, Mary Ann wasn't going to protect us, we can't protect ourselves and that we needed another plan. Then we could have taken the time to figure things out and when we made sure the kingdom was safe, Clover and Sage then could have gotten married and we wouldn't be in this mess!" Maurice had to stop his frantic and passionate rant to catch his breath, all while Julien and Masikura could only stare. "And you know what else? Maybe you're right about one thing. Maybe I didn't fight you much on the contract because Hector is right, the schemes need to stop!"
King Julien shook his head in shock and disgust. "I...I can't believe this. How could you...Clover is your friend, how could you stand by and let her suffer?!"
"You think I want this?!" Maurice shot back. "You think I want Clover to be torn from a life of love and happiness to be forced to serve lemurs who want nothing but pain and misery for her? I don't! I wish there was another way but things have gone too far and animals have suffered for too long and this madness can't on any longer!"
"And I can't go on listening to this any longer!" was Julien's furious response before storming off.
Maurice watched him go, let out a cry of frustration, then went on home.
Masikura was left alone. She let out a tried sigh, and then she disappeared into the night.