Before Clover could even blink, Campion slammed into her, sending them both to the ground where they were instantly locked into a thrashing frenzy of fur, both bellowing out red hot battle cries.
Shadow let out a terror stricken shriek and rushed towards Clover when another hawk barreled into her side, sending Shadow sliding, gripping the ground with her talons to stay upright. She skidded to a halt and saw the same hawk with his head bowed, yellow feathers ruffled on his arched back, looking ready to pounce as he glared blazing daggers aimed for her throat. It was Campion's hawk and when he let out a shriek and lunged towards her, Shadow sprang right back at him. The two birds collided and proceeded to thrash, flap and snap at each other in their own quarrel.
But it was the one between queen and captain that truly caught the crowd's attention, all watching in shock and horror as that battle waged on. As teeth and claws dug deep into skin, blood oozing out of broken flesh, the red warm liquid clinging to fur and splattered out unto the grass. As red, black and white fur was shed and tossed to the breeze, just as training, comradeship and caution were as well with every bite, kick and scratch. As hopes, fears, and regrets all fueled Clover and Campion's fury, propelled them to keep going, to refuse surrender.
And it was all Clover's friends, allies and husband could do at first but watch along with everyone, desperately wanting to help but they too paralyzed by panic. Then finally, King Julien was able to break free of his petrified state, rushing to grab Sage by the arm, furiously shaking the larger lemur as he desperately begged him to him, "Do something, Sage! Please, before Clover gets really hurt! You're big and strong, you can stop this! Please!"
Sage slowly started to come out of his paralyzed panic, in a daze at first as he looked from King Julien looking up at him with pleading eyes to Clover and Campion. Then the clouds parted in his mind, his expression brightened and he declared with confidence, "I will stop this!"
Sage then stepped forward and began to beseech his wife and captain, earnestly telling them that, "Vengeance and shame clouds are blocking out the sun beams of your minds. I beseech thee, take a breath. Blow away those dark clouds with the breeze of forgiveness towards one's self and others." Sage closed his eyes, balanced himself on his tail, crossed his legs and held his paws out in a meditating position. "Only then can the sunshine of your soul truly shine. Please, bring your sunshine out."
One of King Julien's eyes twitched and his fists balled up tight and trembled at his sides. In that moment, he could have bashed Sage's thick skull in and he wasn't the only one, others having their own scathing remarks for Clover's husband but it was King Julien who beat them to the punch.
"I meant pulling them apart, you stupid bastard!" Julien snapped. Sage didn't pay any mind to the insult but carried on reciting greeting card like phrases while Clover and Campion carried on without hearing a single word. "Ugh! You're useless! Somebody, actually do something!" Julien demanded with desperate exasperation, frantically looking about for someone, anyone who would help his dear friend.
"I'll save you, Clover!" Mort declared as he valiantly rushed towards his friend and Campion but when he got within range, Clover's foot struck his tiny body, sending him flying backwards at high speed before slamming into a tree, bouncing off that and slamming face first down unto the ground and skidding a distance before coming to a halt.
"Mort!" Maurice cried out in grave concern. He, King Julien, Rob and Dr. S rushed over to Mort's side. King Julien then picked Mort up, flipping him over and held him in his arms.
Mort let out a pained groan and opened his eyes to slits. "I'm sorry, Clover." He apologized, his voice weak. Then he lost consciousness.
The others looked at each other helplessly, no one knowing what to do. Maurice then frantically looked about, searching for some way to help Clover, when he spotted Minerva still cowering by her hawk, watching her queen and captain's violent struggle in wide eyed horror. Maurice rushed over towards her with the others following suit.
"Hey! Hey, you!" Maurice called to Minerva. She turned to him, surprised and confused. "What's your name again?"
"Minerva." Minerva told him, now wary and confused.
"Minerva, you've got to stop Clover and Campion! Please, you're strong, you can pull them apart!" Maurice begged her.
"Are you nuts?! You just saw what happened to your friend!" Minerva said incredulously, briefing looking at Mort still in King Julien's arms. "That's what gonna happen to me if I get anywhere near them!" She anxiously argued. Maurice opened his mouth to argue back but Minerva went on to say, "Campion will not stop until he stops Clover! And Clover won't stop until she stops Campion! Even if I am able to grab one of them, they'll pummel me until I let them go and the other will be helping them so the two of them can go right back to fighting!
"I can grab one and you can grab the other!" Dr. S volunteered without hesitation. Then everyone looked expectantly at Minerva for her response.
Minerva hesitated, mind frantically going over how things could go horribly wrong and the domino effect of increasingly horrible events happening because of that. But everyone's pleading expressions made her conscience progressively persistent, ringing louder and louder in her ears until she couldn't take it anymore. Until she begrudgingly conceded, telling Dr. S, "Ahhhh, fine! You grab Campion, I'll grab Clover!"
"Great, let's go!" Dr. S said with determination, starting to spring right into action but Minerva frantically told him to,
"Wait!"
The snake doctor stopped in his tracks and looked over his non existent shoulders to give her an annoyed look.
"We can't just go charging in!" Minerva anxiously told him.
"Why not!?" Was Dr. S's snippety question.
"Hello! Your friend just tried that and look what happened to him!" Was Minerva's snippety response.
"Mort's tiny! We're big and strong! We'll be fine!" Dr. S argued angrily.
"I'm not doing anything until there's a better plan!" Minerva snapped.
"Like what!?" Dr. S snapped back.
"Like...a distraction? Get Clover and Campion's attention long enough to give us an opening so we don't get clobbered!" Minerva frantically thought of on the spot, her last few words snappy.
"Fine! We'll...we'll throw rocks at them!" Dr. S declared, scanning the ground until he found a good size rock. Then he picked it up and aimed for Clover and Campion.
"No! Those could hurt Clover!" Maurice frantically warned, greatly concerned and stepping into his line of fire. Then he angrily added, "Or they'll get kicked like Mort and hurt somebody else!"
"So what are we supposed to throw? Leaves!?" Dr. S mockingly suggested, rapidly losing patience by this point.
"There's got to be a better way!" Maurice argued.
"There's no time! Clover needs our help now!" Dr. S argued back.
"We can't help her unless we have an actually plan!"
"I have a plan!"
"A good plan!" Maurice critically corrected.
While they argued, Rob looked over in great concern at King Julien, who was frantically racking his brain trying to think of something, anything to draw Clover and Campion's attentions without hurting anyone. Julien frantically looked every which a way, hoping against hope that something would pop out and give him an idea, when his eyes fell on his uncle and Zora.
The couple was watching this all happen while looking as shocked and horrified as everyone else, standing close together with one of his uncle's arms stretched out in front of Zora. Signaling her to stand back. Shielding her.
King Julien told himself that this was all his fault. It was all his idea to try and dump the couple on Clover, make her deal with his uncle so that he wouldn't have to, so that his people wouldn't. But also because Julien knew that he wouldn't be able to turn his uncle and Zora away if they had nowhere else to go and he was terrified that his people would never forgive him for taking in their abusive ex-king. But now, because of him, Clover was now in serious trouble with her own peoples.
King Julien looked back to Campion and Clover. Campion said that no one else besides Clover and Sage had agreed to his uncle living with them. How many lemurs were angry enough that they would follow the captain's example and rebel against the royal couple for that decision? If the issue wasn't resolved soon, would Clover and Sage have a kingdom wide uprising against them. If so, what would happen to then?
Sage would give up and walk away if given the chance but Clover wouldn't. She'd fight to get her and her husband's kingdom back but King Julien wouldn't be able to help her do that. He'd want to more then anything but he had to think of his own peoples. He couldn't just drag them into another kingdom's conflict especially since they were still recovering from their own recent problems. Not to mention that they were rightfully angry with Clover and Sage since they were two of the biggest reasons for said problems and most certainly would be against helping them. And Julien didn't want to force them to do it and neither would Clover. Julien also didn't want to put everybody's lives in danger and again, neither would Clover.
King Julien could and would give Clover and Sage sanctuary. He would beg Clover to give up, stay in his kingdom where she and Sage were safe and let Campion or somebody else rule the mountain lemurs. But Julien knew that wouldn't happen. That even if Campion and other mountain lemurs were angry enough to try and kill her for it, that Clover would never stop trying to get her kingdom back. And even if she did decide to throw in the towel and stay with Julien, there would still be lemurs who didn't have a safe place to stay.
If his uncle and Zora were telling the truth, then they needed a safe place for Zora and the baby or else the lives of both mother and child would be in danger. They needed other lemurs to help them and if not the mountain lemurs then...
"What if they stayed here?" King Julien blurted out loud, stunned and low, though Rob still heard him.
"What?" Rob asked, confused.
Julien faced him. "What if...what if Zora and my uncle stayed here, in this kingdom?" He reiterated, shocked and frightened by his own words but also saying them with slowly growing conviction.
Rob himself was deeply shocked and hung his mouth open in dumbfounded silence. But before he could speak, Julien passed Mort to him, then turned and walked a short distance towards Clover and Campion. Then he stopped, screwed every ounce of courage that he could and shouted in their direction,
"What if Zora and uncle stayed here?!"
His words didn't reach them, though they did reach Dr. S and Maurice, who dropped the rock they had been furiously tugging back and forth between each other and looked at King Julien as though he had just suggested inviting fossa over for dinner. Julien's words also reached Minerva and others and they too stared incredulously at the lemur king as he continued to scream.
"What if Zora and my uncle stayed here?!" King Julien shouted ever louder and although their intended targets still didn't hear them, other's ears picked up his words including those of Uncle King Julien and Zora. They along with an ever growing audience stared at the younger Julien, stupefied by his cries which he made with all his might, making as much as noise as his protesting lungs could muster until finally,
"What if Zora and my uncle stayed heeeeeeeeeere?!"
Clover and Campion heard his desperate call, pausing and pulling away from each other, both looking to King Julien and shouting an incredulous,
"What?!"
King Julien gasped at the ugly gash though Clover's forehead and the trail of blood trickling from it and down her face.
Then quick as lightning, Dr. S and Minerva bolted past King Julien and tackled Campion and Clover, Dr. S swiftly wrapping his coils around Campion and squeezing the resentful rebel in an iron grip.
"Hey! Let go of me!" Campion demanded as he squirmed like a worm caught on a hook but Dr. S kept his steadfast hold.
"Hmmm, let me think. No!" Dr. S told him, calmly at first as he pretended to think things over before switching to sincere fury, pulling Campion closer then showing him a wide contemptuous hiss. Campion kept his scowl as he faced rows of razor sharp fangs and amber eyes blazing like raging infernos ready to burn him to a crisp.
Meanwhile, Minerva wrapped her arms around Clover, pinning the queen's arms to her sides with one arm and pinning her legs with the other.
"Let me go this instant! That's an order, solider!" Clover barked as she furiously struggled to break free of her subject's iron hold.
"No!" Minerva shouted in defiance, sounding more confident then she felt, already fearing what sort of punishment she would receive for this insubordination. Still, fear for her queen's safety won over fear for her own self and she held on.
King Julien watched all this happening with both great relief that the fighting had stopped and concern over Clover's injuries. Then he heard hushed voices coming from behind him and turned around.
And Julien found that he had caught not only Clover and Campion's attentions but those of most everyone gathered there as well. That almost all eyes present had shifted to him, staring at him with great shock, disbelief and interest. Julien stared wide eyed back at the crowd, swallowing hard, feeling very small under so many eyes.
"King Julien!"
Clover's panic stricken cry stabbed through King Julien's heart and he quickly turned back towards his friend, the pain becoming agonizing from seeing her looking so scared and sounding so desperate as she pleaded with him,
"Please, please tell me you're not being serious! Please tell me you're not actually going to let your uncle live here?!"
"Of course not!" Dr. S tried to reassure her with confidence. "He just said that to distract you and Campion! Right Mister King Julien? Mister King Julien?" He became less confident when King Julien didn't respond right away.
For the lemur king was deep in thought, his companion's words making him realize that he could take back his proposal. That he could say that he was just kidding so as to stop the fighting. That he wasn't really considering letting his uncle and Zora live in his kingdom. That would make Clover and most everybody else feel better...for the moment but it wouldn't make any of the other problems go away, not really. It wouldn't change the fact there was possibly a growing family that needed a safe place to live. That Campion and possibly other mountain lemurs might rebel against Clover and Sage. Or that if something wasn't done sooner than later, then multiple lives (possibly including one that hadn't even begun yet) could all end up in grave danger.
Julien closed his eyes and took a shaky deep breath. Then he reopened his eyes and looked around at everyone, all having gone silent as they too waited with bated breath for his answer. Then he turned back to Clover and tried his best to control the tremor in his voice as he solemnly said,
"I am serious."
Clover let out a trembling gasp then slowly shook her head as she stared at her friend in frozen horror, hoping against hope that this was all just a horrible nightmare. As guilt gripped King Julien's heart, squeezing ever tighter as an avalanche of voices came from the crowd, slamming into him like a tidal wave.
"Please! Please, let me explain!" King Julien beseeched his people, desperately trying to make himself heard over the clamor of the crowd, frantically turning about until he spotted Zora and his uncle. The couple looked back at him with shock and fear and all their hopes and fears that they had spoken of that day came to the forefront of Julien's mind. New determination came over Julien, who then furrowed his brow, looked back to his people and commanded them to,
"Listen to me!" This was able to quiet the clamor down to murmurs. "Thank you." Julien thanked his people, then proceeded to earnestly plead with them, brief assertiveness quickly crumbling to reveal a frightened and compassionate heart.
"My uncle has hurt all of you so much and I'm not asking you to forget that. I'm not asking you to forgive him or let him live here for his sake at all. I'm asking you to do this for a little baby whose done nothing to nobody. I'm asking you to do this for Zora, whose only crime is being in love and starting a family and-and wanting to keep that family together. I...I'm begging you to let both Zora and my uncle stay here with their baby. Let all three of them stay here so they can be safe and together. Please, don't punish Zora for what my uncle has done. Don't let her suffer when she didn't do anything wrong."
There were some murmurs, whispers to one's neighbors among the crowd but no roaring responses. No 'How dare you' or 'You've gone mad' or 'Nope, not doing that'. No cries of outrage at all. Just hushed talking and looks among each other, at their current king, their former king and his lover, Clover and Campion. Taking their time to think over the lemur king's plea.
Meanwhile, Campion fumed until he couldn't take the crowd's pensiveness anymore, shouting at them in outrage, "Are you kidding me!? You can't actually be considering...I'm not trying to punish Zora or make her suffer! I'm trying to help her! Get her and her baby away from a monster whose nephew doesn't have the balls to stand up to! So I am!"
"Oh, will you cut the hero crap already?!" Zora snapped. "Help me? By being a brute and a bully and treating everyone like garbage? Including me, the one you're supposedly trying to help!?"
"I am trying to help you!" Campion was taken aback by Zora's outburst at first but snapped out of it to argue in defense.
"You've been beating and mocking everyone whose offered to help me, whose offered to take me and my Julien!" Zora argued, adding her lover with extra angry emphasis.
"King Julien and Sage are too blinded by their own bleeding hearts to see the truth and Clover doesn't give a flying fuck about you! She just wants to use you to appease this lot and keep tabs of your Julien!" Campion angrily argued back, repeating the affectionate name with an edge of mocking.
"At least Clover's honest about not respecting me!"
"What!?"
"At least Clover is honest about not respecting me, unlike you." Zora snarled, words dripping with venom, saying them slowly and carefully.
"What are you talking about!? I'm not the one who wants to use you for brownie points and to treat you like a criminal!" Campion argued, defensive and offended and referring to Clover wanting Zora to be under all hour surveillance along with Uncle King Julien.
"No, you're the one treating me like a child! A stupid child!" Zora snapped, then paused as she recalled something. Then she snarled, "Or a bitch willing to choose her boyfriend over her baby."
Of course Zora was referring to earlier when Campion said that she was choosing Uncle King Julien over their baby after refusing Campion's proposal to leave her boyfriend and raise the baby in The Mountain Lemur Kingdom without him. Everyone knew she was talking about that. Including Campion, who finally thought over his earlier words and as he did, the scowl melted off his face and was replaced by wide eyed horror.
"Zora, please I...I didn't mean...What I did mean...I..." Campion lamely offered, struggling to find the words as guilt gripped his heart.
"Shut up! Just shut up! Just do us all a favor and shut the fuck up!" Zora snapped.
Campion didn't say another word but continued to look pitifully at Zora, who went right on glaring back at him with pure contempt along with Uncle King Julien by her side. They stayed like that, everyone staying in that smothering silence that felt like it went on for an eternity as a million different thoughts and emotions filled their minds.
Hector turned his attention from his own troubled thoughts to the thickening darkness on the ground and in the sky overhead. By then, the sun had dipped into the horizon, leaving the inky night to spill out over the sky where it was in the process of blanketing the remaining light of day. Then Hector looked back down to King Julien. Then to Uncle King Julien and Zora. Then back to King Julien. Then he let out a tired, defeated sigh before speaking.
"Look, it's getting late. Some of us have been here for hours and some should probably get patched already." Hector irritably pointed out and referred to Campion, Clover, and Mort (who was still passed out). "I say, Uncle King Julien and Zora spend the night and we all get back to this in the morning. Fair enough?" Hector looked around at his fellow citizens before his gaze landed on King Julien.
"Uh...y-yes! Yes, that's fair! That's totally fair!" King Julien's response to Hector went from stunned to enthusiastic. Then he nervously asked his other subjects, "That sound fair to you guys?" No one protested, at least not out loud, with a few voicing their compliance.
"Okay. Okay then." King Julien said, stunned and relieved. Then he proclaimed, "We'll all meet back up at the high rock first thing tomorrow morning!"
At that, lemurs started to leave the clearing and as they did, King Julien looked back to Clover. She was now looking down at the ground and slowly shaking her head in disbelief. Julien's brief relief changed into great concern and he went over to Clover. Maurice felt the same way and he too walked over to his injured friend.
"Clover, I..." Julien started to say to Clover in gentle concern.
"Not here. I have plenty of things to say to you but not here." Clover firmly told him, looking up with a determined scowl on her face. Then she spoke to Minerva, irritably ordering her to, "Will you let me down already so I can talk to my friends in private?"
"Queen Clover, I really think that I should take you to the hospital." Minerva advised her while trying not to sound too anxious. For she too was worried about Clover's injuries, trying not to stare too much at the ugly gash on her queen's forehead and swearing that she could feel Clover's blood seeping unto her own fur.
"I don't need to go to the hospital! I need to stop Julien before he gets himself killed! Now let me go!" Clover barked and furiously flailed in Minerva's arms.
"No!" Minerva protested.
"Clover, please! You need to go to the hospital!" Julien begged.
"Clover, please stop! You're gonna hurt yourself even more!" Maurice pleaded.
"You're in really bad shape, Clover! You need to let me and Dr. S look you over!" Rob piped in, greatly concerned as well and walking over to join the group.
"No, I-Mort!" Clover started to object, looking around the group then stopping to stare at Mort lying unconscious in Rob's arms and crying out in alarm."Mort! What happened to him? Why is he unconscious?"
"Um...he tried to stop you and Campion by himself but one of you...accidentally...kicked him. Into a tree. Really hard." Rob reluctantly recounted.
"Oh." Clover said, stunned.
"Clover, we know you didn't mean..." Maurice started to try and reassure her.
"Alright, I'll go to the hospital. I'll let you patch me up. I wanna be there when Mort wakes up, so I can apologize." Clover conceded, ashamed and worried. Then she firmly told Julien and Maurice, "And you two are coming with us. We can talk there."
"O-of course! Absolutely. Julien said with Maurice nodding in agreement. They were planning to go there anyways but were relived that Clover had accepted help and also worried about her guilt over Mort.
So the group started to head towards the hospital with Sage, Dr. S and Campion joining them but they didn't cover much distance before Sage suddenly stopped and said,
"Wait."
"What, Sage?" King Julien asked irritably.
"I just thought of something. Where are you housing your uncle and Zora for the night?" Sage calmly inquired, unaffected by his fellow king's tone.
"I, uh…" Julien had absolutely no idea where his uncle and Zora were staying that night. He was tempted to snap at Sage, telling him that he would take care of that later but something deep inside stopped him. Instead, Julien looked over and saw that while his people were slowly and surely leaving the area, his uncle and Zora hadn't moved, both looking anxious and unsure as they watched lemur after lemur past them.
Julien let out a defeated sigh. Then he turned to Clover. "Clover, I need to talk to my uncle and Zora, figure out where they're going to sleep tonight. After I'm done with that, I promise that I'll come straight to the hospital and we can talk then." He promised, reluctant to leave her but not wanting to leave the couple to wait for who knows how long without somewhere to rest.
"Clover...I really should go and help him." Maurice told her, reluctant to leave her too but not wanting to leave King Julien to deal with his uncle and Zora by himself.
"You should. Go ahead, I'll be fine." Clover reassured both of her friends. She figured it was best to get that business over and down with and didn't want King Julien alone with his uncle and Zora.
And so the group split apart to go about their respective tasks.
….
"Abner, you awake?"
"Yeah."
That night, Abner and Becca lay in their bed but while their bodies were ready for sleep, their minds kept them awake. Both flipped over to face each other and the moonlight coming through the bedroom window shone down on them, helping them to see each other's matching troubled expressions.
"Can't sleep. Keep thinkin about Uncle King Julien and Zora." Abner admitted. "You?"
"Yeah..." Becca admitted, her voice low and her mind pensive. Then she became nervous as she asked, "Abner?"
"Yeah?"
"How...how that Campion fella treated Zora today...It-it ain't right...it-it was wrong. It's wrong!" Becca was hesitant at first but by the last word, her rage had come through and she slammed his fist down unto the bed. Then she continued on with furious passion. "And he dares go on about how he cares, how he's only 'trying to help'!" She said the last few words with bitter mocking then switched back to sincere bitterness. "But then she doesn't agree with his crap and suddenly she's the bad guy! And he can do no wrong treating her like trash! Just...just stupid trash...that no one wants..." Becca trailed off and Abner lay a concerned paw on hers as memories flooded back to both of them.
Memories of Becca desperately working to save Abner from the flaming wreckage of their former home with Abner beseeching her to leave him behind. Of helplessly watching as machine after machine tore the kingdom apart and not knowing if one would tear or burn it to the ground or blow them all to bits. Of not knowing if the freaks would keep their promise or if they would find a way off the island without Timo and leave them all for dead like they had tried to before. Of Abner once again beseeching Becca to save her own skin and she once again refusing to leave him. Of knowing that all of this was happening because Clover abandoned them, the freaks wanted to abandon them and King Julien kept taking their sides, doing all he could to make them happy while dismissing the pain of his own people. Saying that he cared for them while simultaneously stabbing them in the back over and over again.
Like Campion had done to Zora.
"Aaaaaaugh! What's wrong with me?!" Becca lamented angrily, flipping unto her back. "I'm supposed to be all about fighting the tyranny and yet here I am, feeling sorry for someone in love with a tyrant! And not just any tyrant! Our own psychopath of an ex tyrant who I have the gall to consider letting back into our lives! Yeah! I'm really considering agreeing with our current tyrant to let our former tyrant staying here all cause I feel that bad for a tyrant lover! Who ain't really pregnant! I just know it! I know Uncle King Julien and Zora are lying! That it's all part of their plot to get in and steal the throne and be our tyrant king and queen! I know it and I still wanna let them in and I'm sorry!"
Becca flipped back unto her side to face Abner as she earnestly apologized. "I'm sorry, Abner! I've betrayed you! Betrayed our cause! Everything we stand for!"
"Becca, please! You haven't betrayed me! I..." Abner started trying to reassure her but Becca kept insisting that,
"Yes I have! I'm siding with the enemy!"
"So am I! I feel bad for Zora! I wanna let her and Uncle King Julien stay when I know they're lying! You didn't betray me! I've betrayed you!" Abner passionately admitted, the guilt having been eating away at him as well.
Becca listened to her husband's confession in stunned silence but then got over her shock to try and reassure him, arguing that, "No! You ain't the traitor here, I am!"
"No, I'm the traitor!" Abner argued back.
"No, I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
Then the couple went quiet, their argument at a stand still. Their anger faded and they both let out tired sighs. Then they flipped unto their backs and silently stared up at the ceiling for a moment or two.
"What in Frank's name has gotten over us, Abner?" Becca wondered out loud in a daze, disoriented by this strange and frightening bout of compassion towards their enemies.
"Maybe all the recent trauma we've had has driven us to madness." Abner sadly offered.
To which Becca let out a short bitter chuckle and said with bitter woefulness, "You know what? I think you're right. Oh good gods, you're right and next thing ya know, we're gonna be inviting them over for tea and wanting to be best friends!"
"Well, if it does come to that, at least we'll snap out of it soon enough." Abner meekly tried to reassure Becca, who gave him a puzzled look. He added with confidence, "I mean, it'll be pretty obvious soon enough that Zora ain't pregnant, exposing her and Uncle King Julien in their lie and when that happens, surely we'll be snapped out of our crazy then."
Slowly, a wicked grin spread on Becca's face. "Yeah...yeah! And I say we do the exposing! I say before the sun comes up, we go around and convince folks to let those lying snakes in the grass live here so when they're exposed, we get to punish them! We the people get to have our revenge for everything that bastard's done to us! And when it's all said and done, things will make sense again and we'll be snapped out of our crazy! Ha ha, thank you, baby!" Becca proclaimed with wild triumph, flipping over partly unto Abner to hug him.
Abner was taken aback at first, happy to have made Becca feel better and also shocked by how well that had worked. How excited she now was at the idea of agreeing with their enemies. Even if it was part of a brilliant plan. Dear gods, Becca was brilliant. Abner then got over his shock and gladly hugged her back.
They lay content in each other's embrace, silently listening to their partner's soothing breathing for a while. Then after a time, they got up and out into the night to carry out Becca's plan.
…
Some time later, King Julien found himself in the dark.
"Hello? Hellooo?" Julien called out, puzzled as he turned his head this way and that but saw nothing but pure black all around. He held his hands right up to his face but still couldn't see even them. "Maurice? Clover? Somebody? Where am I? And why is it so dark here?!" He demanded from the darkness, growing anxious and annoyed.
Julien started to walk forward and felt a cool, hard surface beneath his feet as he continued to call out with increasingly vexation, "Can't really see where I'm going. It would great if somebody turned on the lights!...Anybody!...Seriously, if this is some of kind of joke, it's not-oof!"
He had bumped into something but before he could reach out to touch it, a bright blinding light suddenly pierced through the darkness, causing him to shield his eyes with his arm. After a moment or two, he pulled his arm away and after blinking a few more times, saw that there was a spotlight before him, shining down on none other then Clover.
"Clover!" Julien cried out in relief, rushing over towards his friend and grabbing her shoulders as he eagerly told her, "Oh thank Frank, am I glad to see you! Can you tell me just what the heck is going on here?...Or where here is?" He became unnerved again as he looked around at the darkness surrounding them and their sole source of light. When she didn't respond right away, he asked, "Clover?"
"Believe me when I say we are telling the truth. That we need your help." Clover finally spoke and Julien was taken aback by how vulnerable she sounded, the fear on her face and within her eyes. Eyes begging him to listen.
"What the…? What are you talking about?" Julien asked, confused.
Then suddenly another spotlight appeared next to Clover's, this one shining down on Zora.
"Zora?" Julien expressed his surprise.
"I don't need a dad, I need a friend who will trust me to make my own choices." Zora calmly told him while clearly showing her hurt.
"A dad? I-I don't understand. Why are you...and why do I feel like I've heard this before already?" Julien asked as he grew increasingly confused, swearing that Zora and Clover's words felt familiar somehow. And then it hit him. Clover had said the same thing about needing a friend, not an overprotective dad after Julien apologized for being a horrible jerk back when she wanted to talk things through with Sage and Zora had just asked him for help and to believe her that very day. Or the previous day, Julien wasn't sure what time or day it was but he was certain that Clover and Zora were repeating each other.
"O-kay, why are you guys repeating each other?" Julien asked both lemurs but got no response.
Instead, two more spotlights appeared close by with his uncle and Rob standing in their light.
Rob slurped up some excess spit before speaking, sounding more anxious then ornery as he told King Julien, "We can't live in Feartopia by ourselves. Neither of us know...if something happens..." Fear flashed in his eyes just as it had for Uncle King Julien. Then Rob went on to say with more confidence, "The point is that we need to live with other lemurs and on this island, there are two options. The Mountain Lemur Kingdom...and your's."
"You all are my neighbors, this is my home and if there's a chance to protect it, to protect everyone, then why not go for it, no matter how crazy that method might be?" Uncle King Julien spoke earnestly, repeating Rob's words about how he did care for his fellow citizens and that's why he had agreed with King Julien about Dr. S protecting the kingdom.
Then another spotlight came on by the older Julien and Rob, this one shining down on Dr. S, who passionately argued that, "You shut your fucking mouth! Zora has been doing everything she can for the baby, doing everything possible so that they'll be okay! She cares about them so much, don't you fucking dare say that she doesn't!"
"But most of all, I'm doing it for Nurse Phantom." Uncle King Julien told his nephew, humble and sincere. The same way Dr. S had when he told Clover that he was taking his new security job seriously because he cared for his friend that much.
"...Would somebody please tell me what the heck is going on here?! Why are you all repeating each other and how are you two even doing that?!" King Julien cried out in exasperation and pointed to his uncle and Zora. "How are you repeating Clover or Rob or Dr. S when you weren't around to hear them say any of that stuff!?"
He was answered by yet another spotlight, this one shining down on Campion.
"You!" King Julien snarled and started towards him but then found himself suddenly bathed in light. "What the…?!"
"You heard me! Sage doesn't deserve you!" Campion started arguing with Zora. "You should have dumped his not sorry butt instead of marrying him but I get it! You were under the same stupid fog that we were but the fog has cleared and you're in your right mind again and you can see that Sage is horrible and you need to dump him!" King Julien felt familiar shame crawling under his skin, knowing that Campion was repeating his argument with Clover about dumping Sage.
"Wasn't in my right mind? Are you serious!?" Zora responded with offense and disbelief.
"You said yourself you regretted marrying him!"
"I said I regret marrying him so fast, not that we got married period!"
"Oh please, you so regret marrying that self-centered jerk, you just won't admit it." King Julien felt more and more disgusted with himself as Campion continued to parrot his words in the same patronizing manner in which he had spoken to Clover.
"Campion, please." Clover was suddenly next to King Julien, causing him to practically jump out of his skin in alarm and to let out a short yelp. Then he stared at his friend as she went to earnestly implore him. "Yes, Julien did terrible, terrible things but believe me when I say that he's not the lemur that he was. He's different now. He's changed, for the better. Please, if you would just give him a chance to prove it."
"Oh wow, why didn't you just say so? That changes everything! Of course he can stay with us! Let's give him a big welcome party with punch and cookies and while we're at it, Clover can make him top royal advisor! No, even better, Clover and Sage should step down and let him be king! Wouldn't that be just swell!" King Julien found himself parroting Campion's over the top, blatantly mocking, sarcastically happy words.
"Wait, what?! No! Why did I say that!? I didn't wanna say that!" King Julien said with shock and horror.
"Okay, I get it, you don't believe me." Clover said to him with a bitter snarl.
King Julien pressed his lips tightly together and covered them with both hands but something yanked them away and made his lips fly open so they could parrot Campion's response in the same cynical and dismissive tone, "You're right, I don't and why should I? Cause you say so? Cause he says so?"
Julien slapped his hands over his mouth and felt his heart sink upon seeing the wounded expression on Clover's face. He pulled his hands away and earnestly told her, "Clover, please. That wasn't me, it was Campion! I...I...I was wrong! Campion's wrong! It's wrong to dismiss everything that you and Zora have to say about Sage and my uncle! It's wrong to dismiss it as you two being love struck idiots who don't know what's good for you! To dismiss your feelings on the matter like they don't matter! They matter! They matter the most and you deserve to be heard!" Julien looked from Clover to Zora, tenderly telling them that, "You both deserve to be heard."
"King Julien, wake up!" Maurice's voice was suddenly booming from all around.
"Maurice? Where are you!?" King Julien called out, looking this way and that but seeing no sign of his friend.
"King Julien, wake up!" Maurice voice answered with greater urgency.
"Momo?!"
"Wake up!"
Then King Julien woke up.