King Julien awoke and sat straight up with a start, panting heavily to try and catch his panicked breath. He looked about and the dull lighting all around showed that he was in a small room lying on a twin bed with an identical one closer to the room's lone window. He was in one of the patient rooms in the hospital and he wasn't alone. For Maurice, Clover, Rob and Minerva were by his bedside while Mort stood on his bed, all looking to him with concern.
After being afraid of having them too close to Campion at the hospital, being reminded that Maurice's bed was too small, and being hesitant to ask anyone else for the favor, King Julien had ended up lending his own bed to Zora and his uncle and allowing them to spend the night in his hut. From there, king and advisor had gone to the hospital where they learned that Clover and Campion had been sedated for the night. For apparently, a few choice words were enough to anger both of them to the point where everyone else had feared that they would break their restraints and lunge for each other's throats. So both queen and captain were knocked out and needless to say, Clover didn't get to talk to King Julien and Maurice, who stayed at the hospital the rest of the night.
"Clover! Mort! You're awake!" Julien said, ecstatic.
"Your majesty, are you alright?" Maurice asked in concern. "You were screaming like crazy. Were you having a nightmare?"
"Yeah, a real freaky one." Julien told him, still unnerved and trying to make sense of it all.
"Forget that nightmare! How about the real one we're living in right now?!" Mort furiously argued. He then hopped unto Julien's chest, got right up in his face and grabbed his head, clenching his fists tightly around Julien's cheeks. "How could you do this?! How can you even suggest letting that demon stay here!? You can't him stay here! You have to take it back, tell everybody that you changed your mind and he can't stay here! He can't! He'll kill you! You hear me!? He'll kill you!" Mort shrieked in manic desperation.
"Mort, get off! You're hurting me!" Julien demeaned as he tried to pry Mort off himself but the smaller lemur held on with an iron grip.
"That monster will kill you if he stays here! Please don't let him! Pleeeease!" Mort beseeched Julien, now sobbing. This took Julien aback and he stopped pulling on Mort, who let go of his cheeks and hugged his head as he continued to sob. And Julien let him, his own heart aching from seeing his friend so upset.
"Mort is right, your majesty! You can't allow your uncle and Zora to live here!" Clover argued.
"It's not up to me! It's up to the peoples!" Julien pointed out.
"It shouldn't be up to the people!" Clover snapped. "They're not going to think this through! If they were going to vote your uncle and Zora out, they would have done so yesterday! But they didn't because of Campion! Because he had to ruin everything and make everyone feel bad for Zora! So now, the people are all going to listen to their bleeding hearts and let Zora and your uncle in and put your life on the line because you let a bunch of blithering idiots who can't think things through for shit govern themselves!"
Julien was shocked at first, then he was also appalled and scowled at Clover. "My people are not idiots! They are smart, they are going to think this enough and I trust them!" He snapped back, highly offended on their behalf.
"Argh! Will you listen to me?! If you go through with this, it's all going to end in disaster!" Clover argued in furious desperation.
"King Julien has faith in the people. I suggest you do the same." Was Sage's composed advice for his wife, suddenly appearing by her side.
"Wha the…!?" Clover exclaimed in startled surprise. Then she got over it and grumbled irritably, "Ugh, of course you would say that."
"We should all go forth now and heed their words. For in a short time, the sun shall rise." Sage pointed out the scheduled meeting and nearby window. Julien followed his gaze and saw the first light of dawn peeking over the horizon.
"Good grief, it's morning! The peoples! We need to go!" Julien jumped out of bed and headed towards the door with Mort still holding unto his head and the others on his heels. They followed him out the door, down the hall, out of the hospital and towards the high meeting rock with Clover and Mort continuing to beseech him. But Julien didn't heed their pleas, his mind on other matters.
Maurice and Rob had expressed to Julien their own foreboding feelings the previous night and combined with those of Clover and Mort, Julien himself was feeling pretty lousy. He hated making his friends so upset but he had to go through with his plan. He had to.
Maurice had proposed to him that maybe the aye-ayes or rats would let his uncle and Zora stay in their kingdoms. But then it was remembered that according to jungle gossip, since the fossa had been having so much trouble hunting lemurs as of late, they had switched to hunting the aye-ayes and rats more frequently. So both kingdoms were having their own problems because of the lemurs and were more dangerous and for those reasons, Julien refused to send Zora and his uncle to either kingdom. And it was also too dangerous to live with the crocodiles and the butterflies would be no help with a baby lemur. So besides The Mountain Lemur Kingdom, Julien's was the safest place and Zora and his uncle could be.
Now Julien just needed his people to feel bad enough for Zora and believe that she was really pregnant or at least give her the benefit of the doubt. Julien figured that Clover could be right about their decision but then again, she could also be wrong. The people could figure that his uncle and Zora were lying and vote them out and if that happened, then Julien would reluctantly respect their choice. But even then, he would think of another way to help Clover and Zora. Somehow, he would find a way.
As he neared the rock, Julien started to hear voices and the closer he got, the louder the voice became until he reached the surrounding clearing and saw that just about every citizen in the kingdom was already there. Then he was spotted, heads turned and the surrounding chatter dulled down to hushed whispers and when Julien started towards the rock along with his companions, lemurs parted ways to let them through. As he walked, Julien searched the faces of his people, hoping to find some clue as what they were thinking but found himself unable to read their expressions. Once the group got through the crowd, they parted ways with King Julien and Maurice heading for the rock where Uncle King Julien and Zora were waiting at it's base. The couple stood close together with Zora holding her head high with an expression of stone while the older Julien wore a scowl, red hot amber eyes directed at the crowd. Then their expressions softened every so slightly as the younger Julien, mirroring his own nervousness and uncertainly. He gave them a glance before climbing up the rock with Maurice following suit.
Once at the top, King Julien looked out among his people. The last of the murmurs died down and all waited for his words. King Julien swallowed a lump in his throat, took a shaky deep breath and spoke.
"My peoples. You all know why we're here so, let's cut to the chase, shall we? I haven't changed my mind and I still want to hear what's on your minds. So, what do you guys think? About my uncle and Zora staying here that is?" Julien anxiously asked his people, trying hard to hide the tremor in his voice.
"Well, thanks to you, a bunch of us couldn't sleep last night so we've already talked about it plenty." Was Hector's cranky comment. Then he became more hesitant as he went on to say, "And...we've already come to a decision." He stopped again, let out an annoyed sigh, crossed his arms and didn't meet King Julien's eyes as he begrudgingly grumbled, "Your uncle and Zora can stay here."
King Julien closed his eyes, let out a shaky breath, then re-opened his eyes. "I understand. It was a lot to ask of...wait, what?" He started to say, trying to remain calm and composed even as crushing disappointment and fear started to flood his mind, which took a moment to process Hector's actual words. And when it did, King Julien then stared at Hector in utter astonishment as did his uncle, Zora and most everyone else who was hearing this verdict for the first time.
"We've decided that your uncle and Zora can live here, okay?!" Hector repeated, louder and more exasperated this time. Then he quickly added, "But, with certain conditions."
"W-what conditions?" King Julien asked nervously and he wasn't the only one who felt that way, Zora and his uncle snapping out of their shock to give Hector their own wary looks.
"We'll let him stay if you take away your uncle's status as a royal. Take away all his power and privilege and knock him down so that he is no longer Uncle King Julien or even a regular old citizen but a lowest of the lowly servant. Who has to follow our orders like we had to follow his. We already have the basics figured out. Your uncle can put in a day's work for one of us and when he's done with that, he can be free to be with Zora or whatever. Then he works for somebody else the next day and so on and so on, rotated among everyone in the kingdom except for you because you've already have your servants. This way, your uncle can earn his keep and be punished for everything he's done to us all without punishing Zora." Was Hector's ornery ultimatum. Then, realizing what he had just said about Zora, snapped, "So take it or leave it!"
King Julien was taken aback both by the outburst and his people's brilliant plan. So it took him a moment before he could look to them and stammer, "A-and you guys are really okay with this?"
"As much as we'll ever be, if you agree to our terms." Tammy answered irritably, companied by murmurs of agreement from her fellow citizens.
"I'll do it." Uncle King Julien solemnly said.
Well, this certainly shocked most everyone else present including Hector, who stammered in his stupefied state, "Wh-wait, what!? That's it?! Y-you're gonna agree to being a man servant for the entire kingdom just like that!? You ain't gonna argue, at all!?"
"No."
"B-bu...why not!?" Hector demanded to know.
"Because staying here is the best chance that Zora and the baby have." Was Uncle King Julien's blunt answer, his concerned words taking Hector and others aback.
"Jules..." Zora lay a paw on her boyfriend's shoulder and spoke to him with gentle concern, causing him to turn towards her.
"You know as well as I do that shit with Campion is just starting and with the fossa hunting in other kingdoms, this is the safest place for both of you." Uncle King Julien firmly insisted with great concern, voice softening by the end. Then he gently reassured Zora that, "I'll be fine and this way, we can all be safe and together."
After a moment, Zora sighed. "Okay." She conceded, then looked to the younger Julien. "You have a deal."
"O-okay. Okay, if there's no objections then...okay." King Julien said, failing to hide just how astonished he was by this turn of events. A thousand thoughts and emotions swirling in his mind as he then was able to compose himself enough to proclaim, "Uncle, from this day forth, you are no longer a royal but a lower then dirt servant serving everybody in the kingdom. In exchange, you and Zora may stay as official citizens."
King Julien then looked over at Maurice, who gave him a nervous look back. Julien then looked out among the crowd and saw that Rob wasn't hiding his own anxiety and neither was Mort, who was sniveling beside him. On Mort's other side, Clover was looking right back at Julien with a deep scowl etched on her face while Julien couldn't read the neutral expression on Sage's.
"Um...y-you guys can figure what you're gonna call my uncle and his work schedule by yourselves. Meeting over." Was King Julien's distracted dismissal with eyes still on his friends, once more feeling a sharp pang in his heart. He then climbed down with Maurice right behind him and then the two of them walked over to the others.
"Guys, please, I..." King Julien started to say meekly.
"Come with me to the throne room this instant. You too, Maurice." Clover told her friends curtly, making it clear that it wasn't a request.
"I wanna come too!" Mort begged her.
"No, you won't!" Clover snapped, causing Mort to wince back. "Let's go!" She then barked at King Julien and Maurice before starting down the path towards the plane. Julien and Maurice gave each other anxious glances before following her with Mort and Rob reluctantly staying behind.
So soon, Clover, King Julien and Maurice were all gathered in the royal throne. Clover paced back and forth before her friends for some moments before stopping and getting down to business.
"Do you have any idea the gravity of what you've just done?" Was her critical opening line.
"Clover, I..." King Julien started to say meekly.
"Your uncle hasn't changed. He's still the same monster he's always been and Zora is working right along with him. She's not really pregnant. She's faking it as all of their plan to weasel their way so they can kill you! So they can be king and queen and that's why you can't let them stay here!" Clover started her explanation with simmering fury but it soon erupted, spewing forth words like burning ash, mixing with manic desperation and staying that way as she went on to say, "Please, let me take them to my kingdom! Where I can deal with them myself and you'll be safe! Please, let me handle this before it's too late!"
Neither Julien nor Maurice responded right away, both taken aback by the desperation in their friend's plea and within her eyes. Eyes which kept pleading as Clover caught her breath.
Finally, Julien tentatively asked her, "H-how do you know?"
Clover gave an angry and confused, "What?"
"I mean, how do you know that's what they're planning? Did you overhear them say something suspicious or see something?" Julien cautiously reiterated, both hoping and dreading that she would say yes, ready to take her at her word.
"I...No! Not yet! It doesn't matter!" Clover snapped, appalled and offended that he would question her.
"Yes, it does matter! How can you be so sure they want to kill me if you don't have any proof?!" Julien pressed angrily and with growing conviction.
"Oh, don't tell me you're buying Campion's crap about Zora being your uncle's helpless victim!?" Clover rolled her head and eyes in growing vexation.
"No!" Julien snapped. "I'm saying what if you and Campion are both wrong?! What if Zora and my uncle are both telling the truth?! And what if Zora's right and my uncle has changed!?"
Julien then stopped to catch his breath, panting heavily. As he did, he saw the wide eyed looks of shock and horror come over Clover and Maurice. This blew the blaze out of Julien's gaze, wiped the scowl off his brow and he helplessly stared back at his friends, scrambling to find the words that would make them understand.
"I...I'm just saying it's possible. You-you both have how sweet he acts with Zora." Julien tried to explain himself but his argument came out feeble, earlier confidence quickly draining.
As he spoke, a deep scowl formed on Clover's brow and her fists trembled as she snapped, "Have you gone mad!?", causing Julien to wince back. "Your uncle acting 'sweet' is an act! A lie! That's what he does, he lies! He and Zora are lying and you've fallen for it cause you're listening to your bleeding heart instead of your brain and if you keep doing that, you're going to get yourself killed!"
Julien had been wilting under Clover's sharp words but when she got to the part about his heart, he straightened, glared back at her and furiously argued that, "Fine, yes, I am listening to my heart and do you wanna know what it's telling me!? That maybe Zora and my uncle are not lying! That maybe all they really want is a safe place to have their baby! And maybe Zora's right about not judging my uncle only by his past!"
"Only? Only!?" Clover incredulously snapped. "How can you…we're still talking about Uncle King Julien, right? The same Uncle King Julien who gladly tortured and killed countless animals for years?! Whose tried to kill you more times then I can count?! Whose proven time and again to be a sociopath devoid of any compassion or remorse and you're telling me you honestly believe he's changed!?"
"Y-you don't know for sure that he hasn't..." Julien stuttered, his confidence weaning.
"And you don't know for sure that he won't have Zora snap your neck!" Clover fired back.
"Fine, yes, you're right, I don't know! I don't know what they're gonna do but what am I supposed to do!? I can't just throw them out with no proof of them doing anything wrong and nowhere to go!" Was Julien's anguished argument.
"They can go to my kingdom!" Clover argued back.
"But what they can't!? What if your peoples still don't agree to that!? What if more of them fight you like Campion!? What if Campion...!?"
"I'll handle Campion! I'll handle him so good, he'll never defy me again! Everyone else will back off!" Clover argued with furious conviction, having already thought of several methods in which to make a lasting example out of her rebellious subject.
"But what they don't back off!?"
"They will!"
"But what if they don't!?"
"They will!"
Suddenly, a sharp whistle pierced through the air, causing Julien and Clover to stop and turn towards the source. Which was Maurice, who pulled his fingers out of his mouth to speak.
"Can I say something?!" He demanded, then let out a tired sigh and said with more composed frustration, "Look, like it or not, Uncle King Julien and Zora are here. I say, let them stay here for a few days!" He said the last few words quickly as Clover opened her mouth to argue. Then he slowed back down. "Just for a few days Clover, while you're here at the same time. You can keep an eye on them while you recover and it'll also give you time to figure out what you're going to say to your people. Then you can go back and if they concede to it, then Uncle King Julien and Zora can move in with you. But if they don't, then..." He became apprehensive and blurted out in a quick burst, "Then I think they should stay here!"
"What!?" Clover snarled as she glared down at Maurice, who cowered under her feral jungle eyes.
"N-now Clover, l-let me explain..." Maurice stuttered while holding up his paws defensively.
"Don't you dare tell you believe this love redeems crap!?"
"I don't! Not with Uncle King Julien! But if he can't stay in your kingdom, it would be better for him to stay here where we can keep an eye on him! Where Dr. S can!" Maurice furiously argued with growing conviction.
"Dr. S isn't ready for that kind of work!" Clover snapped.
"He has to! Because Campion! Is! Pissed!" Maurice snapped back. "I know some of your people will be agreeable like Minerva but there will also has to be others who'll wanna fight back like Campion and if they outnumber the agreeable ones and are pushed too far, then you and Sage could wind up in a whole heap of trouble! And don't you say that they'll back off if you stop Campion cause if they are anywhere near of angry as he is, they won't and you know it!"
As Maurice huffed and puffed to catch his breath, Clover opened her mouth to argue but then closed it and looked away, begrudgingly mulling over her friend's warning.
Maurice's expression softened and so did his tone, gently imploring Clover that, "Yes, it would be ideal for Uncle King Julien and Zora to live in your kingdom and you should keep trying to make that happen but we still need another plan in case that one doesn't work out. We do have a plan and it's better then Uncle King Julien and Zora being left with nowhere to go and no supervision. At least here, the people can watch him while he works and Dr. S can watch Zora at the same time and then both of them and we'll help him! We'll help any way we can, right King Julien?" He turned towards King Julien, looking expectantly at him.
"Of course we will!" Was Julien's earnest answer.
Clover looked back and forth between her friends, between their pleading eyes. Then she let out defeated sigh. "...Fine." She begrudgingly conceded.
Julien and Maurice let out sighs of relief.
"We need to tell Dr. S." Clover told them.
He had remained at the hospital along with Campion, so the three friends headed that way. When they arrived, they found Mort, Rob, Minerva and Sage gathered around the waiting room, having already informed Dr. S and Campion on how the meeting went. There Clover informed her friends that she wished to speak with Dr. S just the two of them and while there was some reluctance, her friends yielded to her wish. Clover also wished to speak somewhere extra private, so that's how she and Dr. S ended up in the operating room. It was standard with it's operating table, various medical machines and all that. What the room lacked was windows, so passerby outside wouldn't be able to easily ease drop on their conversation. Once the door was shut and Clover had surveyed the room to ensure they were alone, she faced Dr. S and opened with,
"So, you've already heard about the people's decision, then?"
"Yeah and here I was, so sure they were gonna say no. Imagine my shock. Crazy!" Was Dr. S astonished response.
"Utterly insane." Clover grumbled darkly. Then she spoke up, firm and serious. "And that's where you come in. Until I can sort things out in my kingdom, I need you to keep tabs on Uncle King Julien and Zora. While he's busying with chores, keep your eyes glued on her. I mean it, every move she makes, every breath she takes, you watch her and do the same thing with Uncle King Julien when they're together. Keep your eyes peeled for any slip ups, any signs of their true natures which King Julien is too blinded by his bleeding heart to see for himself!" She furiously screamed the last few words.
"Wait, what do you mean by 'true natures' and 'blinded by his bleeding heart'?" Dr. S asked, confused and a little unnerved.
"I mean that Uncle King Julien and Zora are lying!" Clover snapped in response, the sheer volume and forcefulness startling Dr. S, who leaned his upper body back and stared at Clover in wide eyed shock as she went on to rant, "Zora's not really pregnant! I know it! Every despicable thing that Uncle King Julien has ever done is all the proof I need to know it! To know that it's all part of their ruse in order to weasel their way in! Make lemurs drop their guards and feel bad for Zora, so they'll let her and Uncle King Julien into the kingdom and close to King Julien so that when the time is right, Bam! Julien's dead! And it'll be that much earlier to kill him because he's fallen for their lies hook, line and sinker! King Julien doesn't just feel bad for Zora, oh no! He actually believes all this love redeems bullshit she's sprouting about his uncle! That he's sweet and loving and a changed lemur and that's why Julien won't be watching his back around him or Zora and that's why we have to do it for him before he gets himself killed!"
"…Oh." Simple and stunned, it was the only response that Dr. S could think of at that moment as he tried to process it all.
Meanwhile, Clover had stopped to catch her breath and as she did, Dr. S could have sworn that the shadows over Clover's face, case by the surrounding candlelight, darkened. When she spoke next, her voice was dangerously low as she carefully pronounced her cold, calculated and deadly serious command. "That's why, if he stays here long enough and you're the one to expose him for the monster he is, you have to kill Uncle King Julien."
"Oh…." Dr. S repeated in a stunned fashion as the gravity of all hit like a tidal wave. "...I guessing the last part wasn't King Julien's idea?" He asked while already knowing the answer, proven right when Clover responded with,
"No. It's not. We didn't discuss punishment for when the old bastard is caught at all. King Julien knows that you'll be keeping tabs on his uncle and I know, I just know that his idea of punishment is just to lock that monster away and I'm telling you now, that will never work! Uncle King Julien will find a way out no matter what and then go right back to plotting King Julien's demise! That's why you have to kill him! It is the only way to ensure that he never hurts King Julien or anyone ever again! Promise that you'll do what you have to do to stop that monster! Promise me that you will protect King Julien no matter what! Promise me!" She spoke with the same deadly seriousness but no longer cold and composed with desperation now in the mix and ringing ever louder, booming by the end.
Dr. S didn't respond right away but continued to stare at Clover, so taken aback he was by the anger, fear and desperation radiating off her as she looked ready to fight him into submission if he dared defy her. But he wasn't afraid. He knew what he had to do.
"Okay, I'll do it." Dr. S solemnly said.
Clover let a shaky breath, body shuddering and relaxing as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Thank you." She said, soft and sincere, words coming out breathlessly as she was overcome with relief and gratitude among a thousand other emotions.
"Y-you're welcome." Dr. S said, stunned to be receiving this genuine expression of gratitude, still getting used to receiving them from anyone other then Nurse Phantom. Then he thought of something and asked, genuinely curious, "Wait, what about Zora? What am I supposed to do when I expose her?"
"Don't hurt her!" Clover shouted quick as lighting, words booming like thunder as panic flashed across her face. Dr. S was slightly startled by this force of this command but it was enough for Clover to notice, to become conscious of her own reaction. Panic coursed through her veins and she quickly tried to save face. Keyword try.
"Just, don't. Don't hurt Zora. Apprehend and lock her up without hurting her. Got it?!" Clover tried to tell Dr. S calm and composed like but failed miserably, her words coming out tight and tense, snapping the last couple. In those moments, her eyes reminded Dr. S of the jungle, feral and ready to tear him apart if he dare try and defy her, dared to even think about harming the possibly expectant mother.
"I...I mean...of course she's not really pregnant but Julien and Sage, they believe it wholeheartedly and Maurice, who don't know, I feel like he at least is considering it to be true, I don't know. But I do know that if they found out that I ordered you to hurt her...they'd never forgive me..." Was Clover's explanation, anxiety somewhat composed while still evident, trailing off as she became lost in pensive thought.
Dr. S knew that wasn't the real reason. Or at the very least, not the most important one. But he also knew that it was wiser not to press Clover on the matter then and there. So he didn't.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt Zora. I'll catch her and lock her up without a scratch, I promise." Dr. S solemnly swore, gentle and reassuring.
Clover didn't respond right away but silently searched his face through critical eyes as she mulled over his words.
"...You swear?" She asked firmly and with no room for nonsense.
"Yes." Was Dr. S's earnest and firm answer.
"...Good. Hopefully it won't come to that. Sage and I and the others, we're heading back to our kingdom today, get things settled there as soon as possible." Clover told him in a point blank manner before heading towards the door.
"Oh, okay…Wait, what!?" It took Dr. S a moment to fully process Clover's statement before exclaiming in shock, then he rushed to try and get between her and the door. Unfortunately, Clover had enough of a head start that she had already gone through said door and had just closed it behind her, so Dr. S ended slamming into it head on. Momentarily paralyzed by stabbing pain, Dr. S clenched his teeth tightly and briefly touched his tail to his now throbbing forehead before pulling it away and heading out the door. When he got out into the hall, the double doors leading into the waiting room were swinging back and forth, so he headed that way.
"Clover, I don't think that's such a good idea." Dr. S anxiously told her as he slithered into the waiting room.
"What's not a good idea?" Maurice warily asked Clover, the others looking expectantly at her as well.
"Sage, Campion, Minerva and I all have to go back to our kingdom today, okay?!" Was Clover's snippity response.
"What!?" Everyone except for Clover and Dr. S exclaimed in shock and concern.
"But-but you're hurt! I mean, come on, look at yourself!" King Julien anxiously pointed out, spreading out his arms towards Clover and the bandages wrapped around various parts of her body. Around the stapled shut wound on her forehead, the multiple bite and scratch marks craved into her arms and the wrappings around her chest splinting her several broken ribs.
"Yeah, even I think you shouldn't travel for at least a day or two. Give yourself more time to rest and heal." Dr. S cautioned with his own concern.
"I'll rest when we get home!" Clover furiously argued. "Our people are expecting us to come back today and the longer that Sage and I are away, the longer they have to stew over how pissed off they are! And speaking of pissed off, it's far too dangerous for Campion to be here! You all won't let me guard him and I believe you've have figured out that Sage and Minerva both make for terrible guards! So that only leaves Dr. S, who already has more than enough responsibilities as is!" She then turned to Dr. S. "And the last thing that any of us needs is for you to be stretched out too thin and someone taking advance of that! That's why the sooner that Campion is back in our kingdom, the better!" She then turned to Sage and Minerva. "The sooner we're back, the better!"
This gave most everyone cause for pensive pause, having to admit that Clover had a good point. Campion was angry and Dr. S did have a lot on his plate and that could be a dangerous combination, especially with Uncle King Julien, Zora and Clover in the mix.
Everyone thought about this except for Sage, who after a moment piped in with, "Campion is caught in the tuna net of his own ego. Be careful, Clover, not to allow yours to get tangled with his. For..."
"We'll go!" Minerva curtly conceded while glaring at Sage. For she was in no mood for one of his stupid spiels, especially not one criticizing Clover by comparing her to the brute who attacked her the day prior.
And that wasn't the only reason. For truth be truth, Minerva was still skeptical that Dr. S could go from being a knife happy, mad scientist/doctor to a security guard who actually cared about those he had previously tortured without giving a shit. And she was afraid of what Campion might do under such lackluster security. That was a more pressing matter to Minerva then her anxiety over how her fellow mountain lemurs might react once they got back.
Momentarily pushing aside their own anger at Sage, Dr. S, Rob and Clover's friends reluctantly conceded as well. Sage said no more but just stared at Clover with that disappointed look on his face that she knew all too well.
Whatever, she didn't need his approval. The big baby would just have to get over it, Clover thought to herself with bitter contempt.
Before departing, Julien wished to speak with Clover in private. She agreed and was soon back in the operating room along with her friend, who got right to the point.
"Clover...you shouldn't use scare tactics on your peoples!" Julien hesitated at first but then blurted out his disapproval of Clover's plan to punish Campion in order to scare her other subjects into obeying her.
"What?" Clover snarled.
"You need to talk, really talk and listen to them!" Julien proposed with great conviction. "Let them say what they need to say and talk things through so you all can reach a compromise! You can suggest using the same punishment for my uncle that my peoples came up with! It's a really great plan, your peoples might like it and...!"
"Shut up! Just shut up and back off! I will handle my subjects my way, got it?!" Clover snapped, greatly offended. This stunned Julien for a moment before he furrowed his brow in determination.
"I just literally talked things out with my peoples…!" Julien snapped back.
"I said shut up!" Clover snarled.
"And that worked out fantastic! Maybe it would work with yours too!"
"No. It. Won't!"
"How do you know that if you don't try!?" Julien demanded to know.
"Because they hate me!" Clover proclaimed in furious dismay.
Well, this certainly gave Julien pause, staring at Clover in stunned silence as she continued to speak.
"They hate me because of the contract." Clover reluctantly woefully admitted. "They think that because I'm not trying to get out of it, then I must not care about possibly leaving them! That I care more about you and everyone here then I do about them! So now they hate me and this whole...shit show with Zora and your uncle has them hating me even more!" Then she took a shaky deep breath and lowered her volume, saying with both sadness and anger, "Don't you see? That's why just talking to them will never work. They'll never listen to me. So I have to make them listen."
"But then they'll hate you even more." Julien sadly pointed out, pleading with her.
Clover stiffened and she turned away without a response.
"I'm sorry." Julien told her, low and rueful.
Clover turned back to him and gave a confused, "What?"
"It's my fault that you're in this mess. I'm the one who forced you into the contract! I'm the one who tried to dump my uncle and Zora on you! It's my fault your peoples are angry! It's my fault that Campion attacked you!" Was Julien's passionate and repentant argument.
"Hey! I would be doing everything possible to get your uncle and Zora away from you whether you wanted me to take them or not and as for the contract...it's my own fault it exists." Clover's counter argument started off boiling but soon simmered, her words keeping their anger and conviction with shame and regret poured into the mix as they once more gripped her heart. "My carelessness, it created that contract. I drove Pancho, everyone to hate you."
"I drove my peoples to hate me! I dismissed their feelings like they didn't matter! I refused to listen to anybody! I put everybody in danger trying to make them feel wrong for being skeptical of a crazy snake doctor! I made my own peoples feel abandoned and unloved." Julien insisted, ruefully recounting his loathsome actions. But then, he remembered something else and cautious optimism started to find it's way into his words. "But then, I stopped dismissing and started listening. I let my peoples know that their feelings did matter to me. I let them feel heard and now, they're not so angry anymore. I mean, yes, things aren't perfect. Some lemurs still hate me for everything and some don't hate me anymore but haven't fully forgiven me either but things are getting better..."
"Where are you going with this, your majesty?" Clover impatiently interrupted.
"Where I'm going is that maybe, maybe all your peoples really want is to feel heard. Maybe they just wanna know that even if you don't agree with them, that you still respect their feelings. Maybe if you just listen to them, they'll listen to you." Julien proposed, irritably at first but his tone soon softened, gently speaking with cautious hope.
Clover curled her lip in contempt. "You don't know that." Was her cynical critical comment. This snapped Julien's patience like a twig.
"Fine, yes, you're right, I don't know! But what I do know is that from what I've seen, that talking and listening has been a whole lot better then getting mad and demanding my way or nothing!" Was his vexed answer.
Clover turned away, crossing her arms and deepening her scowl.
Julien growled while his fists trembled. "Fine! Be a stubborn jerk! I'm sure that will work great!" He sarcastically snapped before storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
…
When told that his group would be departing that day, Campion neither commented nor protested, allowing himself to be lead outside and unto Sage's hawk without issue. Then the gag in his mouth was readjusted while the binds on his arms and legs were reinforced with one end securely tied around one of the hawk's legs. Sage then got on his hawk as well and held Campion from behind where they would stay that way for the journey home. While all this was happening, Campion kept his head high and his expression unreadable as he staring off towards a place that no one else could see.
After getting checked over by Dr. S and Rob one last time, Clover came out in front of the hospital where her friends were waiting. She knelt down to one knee, picked up Mort and hugged him to her chest and he hugged her in return.
"Please be careful. Especially with...you know who." Mort gently pleaded before a dark edge crept it's way in by the end as he glared over at Campion, who didn't give him so much as a brief glance.
"Yeah, please watch you back." Was Maurice's worried warning before he too glared daggers aimed at Campion's throat.
"I will. You can count on that." Clover solemnly swore to her friends, she too briefly scowling in Campion's direction before turning back to Mort and Maurice.
Maurice then gave Clover his own tender embrace, trying not to squeeze too hard on her sensitive ribs. Clover gladly hugged him back with one arm while still holding Mort up to her heart with the other.
"Promise me that you'll both watch King Julien's back. And you yourselves be careful around Uncle King Julien and Zora, you hear?" Clover whispered in her friend's ear's, tenderly imploring them.
"Of course we will." Maurice told her with tender conviction.
'Yeah. We promise." Mort earnestly added.
"Thank you." Clover said, soft and sincere.
After a hug that felt not nearly long enough, the friends pulled apart. After putting Mort back on the ground and standing back up, Clover then turned to King Julien. Who was standing off to the side where he had enviously watched the hug which he had been too afraid to join, feeling that he wouldn't have been welcomed. The two friends faced each other at a stand still for a moment or two, each gazing with longing concern while anger held them back.
"What they said. About watching your back and being careful, I mean. You better do that." Julien ordered, trying to sound nonchalant but failing, his concern shining through bright and clear for Clover.
"And you better do the same, your majesty." Clover commanded while trying to keep her own composer but Julien could still hear her fear loud and clear.
"I will." Julien solemnly said.
"I mean it. Don't turn your back on your uncle or Zora, no matter how nice they seem." Clover warned, pleaded, firm and frightened.
"I-I won't, I promise." Julien tenderly swore to her, shaken by just how vulnerable she sounded.
Clover returned Julien's gentle gaze with her own determined one and gave him a firm, "Good."
Clover then hesitated for a moment before suddenly closing the gap between her and Julien, wrapping her arms around him and giving a tight squeeze. Taken aback at first, Julien returned the hug, giving his own gentler squeeze so as not to farther hurt Clover's ribs.
Then all too soon, they pulled apart. "Well, I guess I better get going then." Clover said to Julien and the others, sounding unsure. Then she added with more revolve, "I'll write as soon as I can, let you know what my people say."
"Please do and we'll update you on stuff here too." Julien awkwardly told her, still angry at the thought of Clover scaring her people into doing what she wanted and scared of her people's reactions to such a tactic.
"You better. If there's any trouble, let me know. I will come back." Clover promised with great conviction.
Then she became hesitate again but turned around and got on Minerva's hawk in front of Minerva. Once securely seated, Clover gave one last glance at her friends and allies before the hawk leapt up and into the sky. Sage's hawk took off as well with his passengers while the remaining two hawks in the group followed suit. And everyone who remained on the ground watched their retreating forms grow ever smaller until they disappeared into the morning sky.