It started off as a regular walk for Maurice and King Julien. Just another stroll along another path through the jungle to where the pair would conduct the elder Julien's daily job assessment. Though it was to be the last one before the latter lemur's wedding. So that was buzzing about the young men's minds like nagging flies that were swatted aside by something that made Maurice stop suddenly in his tracks.
"Hmm? Maurice?" King Julien asked as he stopped walking as well and turned back to his friend.
"I thought I heard someone." Maurice replied as he quizzically looked this way and that while his large perked ears swiveled in search of the mystery voice.
To which Julien joined him for a moment or two, alternating between cupping a paw around one ear to the other as he leaned this way and that, then stopped and said, "...I don't hear anybody."
"Yeah, I don't either now. Maybe it was just a couple of Clover's butterfly spies. Let's keep going." Maurice concluded with a nonchalant shrug, having grown accustomed to catching glimpses of his friend's tiny allies as they scouted about the kingdom as of late, but just as he and Julien started to turn back towards their destination, both suddenly heard the unmistakeable rustling of nearby leaves. At which the pair promptly stopped and whipped around towards where twigs swiftly snapped, brush briskly bristled and an orange blur bolted through it and in and out of the men's sights within a blink of their wide sunrise eyes.
"What the-Dr. S, is that you!? Is this part of training!? Cause if it is, me and Maurice didn't agree to it! Hello!?" Julien was the first to snap out of his stunned state and he walked towards the now motionless foliage as he called out his bewildered and increasingly irked inquiry, reaching the nearest bush and parting it aside to peer into the now silent jungle by it's end.
"Uh, your majesty? Dr. S is working at the hospital today, remember?" Maurice pointed out as he came to stand beside his friend.
"Oh. Right." Julien said, his paw frozen mid shove as he too recalled both the snake doctor and Rob telling him the exact same thing, then quickly got over his slight embarrassment when two new people came to mind. At which he then called into the jungle, "Becca, Abner, is that you guys?", but didn't receive so much as a hushed whisper in reply. Which irritated Julien all the more and he gave a tight lipped growl as he shoved aside bush after bush in search of the couple.
"Come on, your majesty, let's go. Whoever it was obviously didn't wanna talk to us and is probably gone by now anyway." Was Maurice's annoyed argument.
At which Julien pulled his head out of the bushes as he let out a begrudging sigh, then conceded in kind, "You're right. Let's go." And so, the men carried on along their path once more while hidden amid the flanking thicket, a couple lemur lengths from where Julien had stood, eyes like their own miniature jungles remained locked on king and advisor until the pair strolled out of sight.
.
.
.
Soon after that, the elder Julien's evaluation went on as planned, with his nephew and Maurice asking if the working royal was doing as he was told, how he was carrying out his duties, how he was treating his supervisor for that day, et cetera. To which the tyrant turned servant received his standard critique of being an ornery old man who never passed up the chance to complain about anything and everything but as long as he wasn't asked to cook, got his work done without incident. Just as his latest supervisor had been told to expect.
"If he does give you trouble, any trouble, feel free to tell me o-or Dr. S, okay? It's no biggie." King Julien told said supervisor in the same awkward manner that she had been warned about as well as he and Maurice exited her hut after finishing the assessment.
"I know. I will." She assured him, a bit annoyed but also admittedly a tad touched by the king's concern.
"Okay, cool, cool. See ya around. Hopefully not here. Not today, heh, heh...Bye." Said king gave his awkward reply with an equally awkward smile and hand wave that the receiving supervisor returned in kind before closing her door. At which time Julien and Maurice looked to the former's uncle, who had stopped raking the front yard to watch the pair with an interest that seemed different that day to the advisor and slightly unnerved him as well.
"So, uh, big day tomorrow, huh? Guess we'll see you then. Bye." King Julien awkwardly bid farewell to his elder with an another matching smile and hand wave but just as he and Maurice turned their backs on the groom to be, the pair heard him call out urgency,
"Wait!"
To which the young men stopped and turned back around to stare in surprise at the older lemur as he dropped his rake and trotted to them.
"Uh, about that. I actually wanna talk to you two about that." The groom nervously resumed as he proceeded to rub the back of his neck while barely keeping eye contact with the pair.
"O-kay. What exactly do you wanna talk about?" Maurice asked warily, with both his and King Julien's interests now piqued.
"Well, uh, ya see, there's this...this thing that…do you guys happen to remember...burying Sage alive the night before his and Clover's wedding!?" The elder Julien started off sheepishly before briskly blurting out the rest of his anxious inquiry.
Well, this certainly got the attention of advisor and king, with the latter's stunned shock swiftly giving way to irate ranting. "Do we-of course we remember! That ungrateful, uncaring bastard begged us to help him with that...that stupid ritual…!"
"It's not stupid! It is sacred and I wanna do it, you jackass!" The other Julien's swift scorching retort stunned his junior into incredulous silence and made Maurice say in kind,
"Y-you wanna do what now!?"
"I want the two of you to help me perform the sacred mountain lemur pre wedding burial ritual, okay!?" The elder Julien explained slowly and carefully, with his annoyance somewhat composed behind bared teeth. To which King Julien snapped out his stunned state and exclaimed in confusion,
"What!? But-but you're not a mountain lemur!"
"But Zora is and she thinks that the ceremony is so sweet and so romantic and it would mean so much to her if I did it! But I can't do it alone! I need help! Please, help me for her!" The groom to be's snappish reply swiftly softened into a humble plea that stunned his junior all the more, with one word in particular sticking out like a rose sprouting from concrete. Please. A word so alien coming from his kin's tongue to where King Julien wondered if this was the first time he had ever heard him say it and made words evade his own for a long moment in which he gazed into his elder's imploring campfire eyes until he solemnly said,
"Okay. Okay, I'll help you."
King Julien was then taken aback even more when his uncle's face lit up like the rising sun and a smile spread across the elder lemur's lips as he said in stunned relief, "Really!?"
Then, upon seeing his nephew's reaction to said relief, the groom to be promptly became self conscious, quickly cleared his throat and without meeting the younger man's eyes, awkwardly told him, "I mean, good. Thank you."
To which King Julien replied in kind, "You're welcome."
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.
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From there, the men discussed where they would meet that evening along with what needed to be done beforehand. To which the elder Julien assured that he would take care of the latter on his own, only asking the younger men where he might find a coffin, drill and long hollow pipe. For he planned to drill a hole in the coffin's lid, then stick a pipe through the hole so that the short end of said pipe would be inside the coffin while the longer end would stick out above ground all night as both a grave marker and air hole. Going on to say that taking that basic precaution was just plain common sense that most mountain lemur grooms followed and had no qualms with insulting those who didn't, i.e. guys like Sage. Which not only farther fueled King Julien and Maurice's ever growing contempt towards Clover's husband but also quelled the concerns that had plagued his ceremony.
Or at least, it made Maurice feel a bit better about the whole affair. As was the case with Rob, who insisted on accompanying his companions upon learning of their plans. But King Julien was a different matter. For while he didn't explicitly express it to either of them, both Maurice and Rob still felt the shroud of unease that clung to their friend for the reminder of the day and into the evening. When, as the sun set across the kingdom, the trio met with the elder Julien in an empty open clearing. Where, by the last lingering light of day, the men soon dug a hole in the earth large enough to place a wide lemur sized casket within. Save for the lid, which had a long pipe running through it that satisfied the older Julien but King Julien on the other hand...
"So, uh, the pipe, it really does work? It really will give you enough air for all night?" The king tried to calmly inquire of his kin but failed to fully hide the trepidation in his tone. Which earned him looks of concern from his friends as well as confusion from his uncle. Who replied,
"Yeah, it should."
"Cool, cool." King Julien said as his eyes wandered to said pipe, then to his elder's other grave marker. A typical stone one that read in big bold letters,
UNCLE KING JULIEN
An extra precaution that the young king had insisted upon. Even going as far as to carve out his elder's name himself about twenty or so times on twenty or so headstones before he was finally satisfied with the size, shape and clarity of each and every last letter. Or at least, he was when he first finished his final inscription, but as he looked at it again in the waning light, he now wondered if maybe the dot above the I in Julien was a little too small and that the e could be mistaken for a c. Either of which could make his uncle's name harder to read and if it was hard to read and something happened to the air hole and his uncle was left with no air and everybody would have rush in and dig him out super fast but they can't find him because they can't tell if the grave they're digging up is his or somebody else's because of the crappy handwriting on his headstone!?
"Julien!"
Rob's firm voice called King Julien back to reality and with a startled start, he turned to see not only the nurse but Maurice and his uncle all looking back at him with varying degrees of confusion, concern and frustration.
"You better not be thinking about carving out another headstone." Maurice said with the latter two emotions.
"Why would you do that? This one's fine." The elder Julien piped in, both annoyed and puzzled himself, as he didn't know about the slew of inscriptions prior to the one that he presently pointed out with an outstretched arm.
"N-no. No, I wasn't thinking about that at all. Why would I? Uncle's right. This headstone's fine." King Julien awkwardly told everyone, failing to hide his anxiety from anyone as he pointed out said headstone with both hands, then fidgeted with his fingers as he asked of his uncle, "So, uh, Uncle, anything else we can do for you before we get this show on the road?"
"No thanks, I'm good." His elder replied, then ordered of everyone, "Alright, people, let's get this ceremony started.", as he walked right up to the edge of the burial hole and looked down. At which King Julien watched as his elder's stern scowl swiftly crumbled as his eyes lingered on his temporary tomb and that accompanied by the groom gulping down a great lump in his throat painted a clear picture for his junior. Who wasted no time in walking up to his uncle's side and assuring him with composed enthusiasm lacing calculated gentleness,
"You know, Uncle, you can still bail out of this."
"What?" The groom said as he promptly turned to the younger lemur, his trepidation gone in an instant, his lips curled in the start of a snarl.
"I'm just saying that if you wanna bail out of the ceremony..."
"I'm not bailing!" The groom swiftly snapped, causing King Julien to recoil from his brusque bark as his palms flew up defensively. Upon seeing this scared display along with Maurice and Rob rushing over to stand protectively in front of their friend, the elder Julien then felt a twinge of guilt pitch his heart. At which he made a tight lipped growly groan before saying through clenched teeth at a more moderate volume, "I'm. Not. Bailing! Got it!?"
"Okay! Okay! Got it! Not bailing!" King Julien anxiously assured and after convincing his friends to stop shielding him with their battle ready bodies, the ceremony began. The groom stepped into his casket and after settling within his macabre mulling quarters, the younger men sealed it's lid into place and shoveled a mound of dirt over the temporary tomb until only the long end of it's air hole remained above ground. Once that was over and done with, the young trio then walked away from the site. Though King Julien briefly stopped and looked back over his shoulder at where his elder laid before following his friends out of the clearing and to the hospital. Where the companions proceeded to occupy themselves with food and small talk.
"So, uh, you fellas ever got the chance to see Clover this afternoon?" Rob asked with cautious optimism after finishing a pok pok on the waiting room couch. For not long after she suddenly showed up at the hospital and brought his morning with Dr. S to an abrupt end, the nurse recounted this occurrence to Maurice and King Julien. At which the queen's friends were both surprised that she had arrived a day early and disappointed that she had seeked out Dr. S before them. Though they and Rob rationalized that Clover had wanted to ensure that she had enough time to properly assess her successor and that she'd surely seek out her friends afterwards. But the expressions that presently flashed over his companion's faces and how both avoided his eyes told Rob that wasn't the case before either uttered a word.
"No. People's said they saw her and me and Maurice said we'll be waiting in the throne room or here or wherever...I guess she's still busy." Julien said with a solemn sadness that sent a wave of pangs pulsing through Rob's heart. Which were especially potent due to his part in his companion's pain. For Clover's recently waning contempt towards him had reignited with a vengeance ever since she figured out that his recent atonement for his heinous deeds had contributed to King Julien's belief that his uncle could truthfully be trying to make up for his. Which had created tension between not just Clover and her friends but between her and Dr. S as well, with Rob having witnessed the snake doctor's ire towards his teacher that very morning. To which Clover might have decided to cut down on the tension by avoiding her friends altogether until the wedding.
Rob, Julien and Maurice had discussed said strained situation among themselves before and one look at the former's present uneased expression told Maurice that it was on his mind once more. Which lead Maurice to the conclusion that his companion blamed himself for Clover's current absence. A belief that the advisor adamantly argued against, with Julien swiftly joining in assuring Rob that neither blamed him for the tumultuous state of affairs until the nurse begged the pair to drop the subject. A plea that Julien and Maurice reluctantly obliged to and the conversation switched to more idle chit chat that didn't keep Julien's attention for long before his mind wandered from thoughts of one friend to another to of his elder.
Of the groom to be packed as tightly as...as something that's packed really, really tight in a really, really tiny box totally surrounded by really, really thick dirt that would be really, really hard for his old man arms to dig through, with only a super thin air hole standing between him seeing another sunrise and suffocating to...An air hole that could so easily get clogged up or knocked over or...would anyone hear his strangled screams for help? Would even Maurice or Rob, with their freaking good hearing, hear his far away pleading for somebody, anybody to help him? Or would he go unheard to his last gasping breath all because...
"King Julien?"
Maurice's voice called Julien back to reality and with a startled start, the king realized that he was still in the hospital's dining room, sitting at a table with a barely touched plate of fruit in front of him along with Maurice and Rob. Who were both staring at him in concern.
"You okay there, buddy?" Maurice asked in kind as the candlelight on the table made his amber eyes glow like gentle campfires.
"I...yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Julien tried to assure him and Rob but failed to hide his unease from either. Which only concerned his friends even farther and both briefly looked to each other likewise before Rob gently pointed out,
"It's just that you seemed a little spaced out."
"Oh. That. I was just...what I mean is that I was thinking about...thinking that maybe I should...go check on my uncle? Yeah. Yeah, I should! I will! I'll go do that right now! Be right back!" Julien struggled for a reply before the obvious answer came to mind. Which he ever more eagerly babbled on about as he stood up from his seat.
"Wait, what?"
"King Julien, wait a se..."
Rob and Maurice each anxiously called out but Julien heeded neither as he sprinted across the room and out the door without another word. At which the pair promptly followed on their friend's heels through the hospital and out into the night, then through a tiny patch of jungle and out onto the clearing where they found Julien leaning over his elder's grave, firmly gripping it's pipe with his lips almost touching it's rim as he shouted frantically,
"Uncle!? Uncle!? Uncle!? Uncle!? Uncle!?"
"What the hell, your majesty!?"
"You couldn't wait two seconds for one of us to go with you!?"
"You promised you'd never ever be alone with your uncle and what do you do!? Run off to be alone with your uncle!"
"What the fuck are you thinking!?"
Maurice and Rob were swift to scold their friend as they came to stand beside him. At which Julien turned away from the pipe and promptly wilted under the pair's critical gazes.
"I-I know! I just...it's not like he can do anything to me right now!" The king first anxiously, then indignantly defended himself, with his eyes ping ponging between one friend to the other before settling on both as each crossed their arms over their chests while continuing to glare at him all the while.
"Ya got that right!"
The sudden sound of the elder Julien's curt voice instantly caught the young men's attentions, with two turning to the tube from which it came with scowls unwaning while King Julien's swiftly switched to a wide open grin as he exclaimed in relief,
"Uncle!"
"Yeah, it's me. Right where you left me. Why the hell are you here? It can't possibly be morning already." The elder Julien irritably pointed out.
"N-no, it's not. I just wanted to check on you, that's all." King Julien awkwardly answered, with a hint of not so subtle defensiveness that everyone else promptly picked up on. Including his elder, who went on to ask,
"Did you have to shriek at me though?"
"I didn't...I wanted to make sure you could hear me!" King Julien indignantly retorted.
"Well, hear this. I'm just fine. You can go..."
"No!" King Julien swiftly snapped, at which everyone else recoiled from his brusque bark. The sight of which stomped out the blaze in the young king's gaze and he sheepishly reiterated without meeting anyone else's, "N-no. No, I'm not going." He then meekly met his friend's as he told them, "But you guys don't have to. I-I'll be fine on my own."
"What!?" Maurice incredulously exclaimed.
"We just...we're not leaving you alone with your uncle!" Was Rob's vexed comment. At which Maurice demanded in kind,
"Damn right we're not! King Julien, what is this about, really!? You've been freaking over your uncle all day! Why!? This isn't like with Sage! Your uncle has an air hole and not one but two grave markers! What could possibly go wr…!?"
"Things can always go wrong!" King Julien shrieked, leaving everyone else in stunned silence as he went on to argue frantically, "The-the pipe could get knocked over or-or clogged and we wouldn't even know cause we're not here and by the time we do get here, it'll be morning and uncle would be without air for who knows how long and it won't matter how fast we dig him out because he's dead!" He then stopped to take one quivering breath after another, stopped waving his arms wildly about to drop them down to a stiff stand still at his sides and looked upon his frozen friends for a long moment before he turned his face away from their concerned expressions, crossed his arms over his chest and said with teeth and bitterness bared, "He's dead because I didn't do enough! I didn't care enough again!"
"Julien..."
"Julie..."
Maurice and Rob each said in tender sadness as they raked their brains for some soothing words for their friend but before either could utter another syllable, King Julien uncrossed his arms as he turned back to the perturbed pair and resumed in furious earnest,
"Just like with Sage! You know, the other guy who begged me to bury him before his wedding!? WhoI lost causeIcouldn't be bothered to come up with a better grave marker then a freaking leaf cause I wanted to get back to a freaking party!? And instead of telling Clover the truth and helping her look for her fiancé, I tried to trick her with a fake Sage that I was willing to let her marry all while I thought that the real Sage was trapped with no air or food or nothing cause I cared more about saving my own skin then saving him!? Even when Clover thought that he had died!? Which he really would have if he hadn't been able to dig himself out and it would have been all my fault!"
King Julien then stopped to huff and puff once more and as he continued to met his friend's saddened gazes, his own softened and he turned to his uncle's false final resting place. "That's why I can't leave you, Uncle! I won't! Until you are safely back up above ground, I am staying right here!" He earnestly swore and sat down next to where his relative laid, with his mournful gaze locking onto the pipe that supplied the older lemur with precious oxygen as if the steady stream would cease flowing the second it left the young king's sight. At which Maurice and Rob looked to each other before both sat down by their friend in sober silence for some time until...
"I'm sorry!"
...Rob suddenly softly said in solemn sadness. Which both surprised and confused Julien and Maurice to say the least, with the former asking likewise,
"For what?"
"For helping Dr. S and Timo make that damned fake Sage! For making things even more fucked up then they already were! For hurting Clover and you!" Rob ruefully, tenderly told Julien, with a gaze to match that made the king's heart ache all the more. Rob then turned that gaze onto Maurice, much to the latter's shock, that only increased when the nurse said to him, "And you too, Maurice! You were right all along! Making Fake Sage was wrong and it was wrong of me to dismiss you rightfully pointing that out and I'm sorry for that too! Maybe if I hadn't...maybe if you had someone backing you up in calling out the madness, maybe things wouldn't have gone as far as they did! Maybe..." Rob then trailed off and let a weary sigh before saying, "Maybe...", and shaking his head in kind.
Which gave Maurice pause as Julien said in gentle sadness, "Rob..."
"Or maybe things wouldn't have gotten so fucked if I hadn't let them!" Maurice bitterly blurted out. At which his flabbergasted friends were swift to point out,
"What the fuck are you talking about!? I literally just said that you said that Fake Sage was a bad idea from the beginning!"
"Not to mention all my other bad ideas that day and the night before!"
"And all it took was the slightest push back for me to give up and not bring up the grave marker again until after shit started hitting the fan! And as crap kept getting flung more and more and more, I kept saying that it was all fucking crazy but what did I do about it!? Did I, at any time, at least try to tell Clover the truth myself!? No! Even as my friend was at the altar about to be bamboozled into marrying a fucking robot, I did nothing but give feeble, pathetic, useless protests until there was no choice but to tell the truth! And none of that would have happened if I hadn't been so spineless the night before! If I had refused to leave Sage until somebody put down a god damn decent grave marker! Or better yet, if I had stayed even after that, I would have been there when the bastard dug himself out! Then, I would known that he was safe and sound above ground all along and told you and Clover and both of you would have one less thing to be traumatized about but I didn't!" Was Maurice's scathing retort that grew ever more furious as he spoke until he stopped to take one rattling breath after another and turned his glistening gaze away from his companions.
Who could only stare at his trembling bristling back, helplessly lost for words, with King Julien only able to murmur a soft, "Momo...", brimming with tender sorrow as he reached out a gentle paw to his friend.
"Uh...for what it's worth...what I mean is...it's not like any of you forced Sage to do the ritual like...that! He could have easily asked for an air hole or heavier grave marker or whatever before you buried him! Just as he could have told you that he bailed out on the sacred ceremony that he asked you to help him with before running off to pick up his fish friend! That's shit on him, not you!" The elder Julien suddenly piped in, bashfully at first but gained critical confidence as he spoke, as the young trio stared at his grave in startled, then stunned silence. At which time King Julien realized that he had been so wrapped up in his friend's lamenting that he had momentarily forgotten that his uncle was even there but before he could comment on that or his kin's unexpected assurance, Maurice stood up and walked right up to the tube sticking out of the groom's temporary tomb.
"And that's another thing! Why, why is sitting in a dark dank hole all night so damn sacred anyway!? Cause-cause it seems to me that it's just an elaborate way of acting out the old saying that a guy's life is 'over after he gets married'! How is that sacred!? Or romantic!? No, really, I wanna know! I wanna know right now!" The advisor critically inquired, making air quotes with his fingers as he mockingly recited said saying, much to everyone else's shock.
"Maurice..." King Julien said in stunned disbelief as he and Rob stared at their companion in kind, then turned to aforementioned air hole when the elder Julien gave his reply.
"Yeah, I didn't get it at first either, though at least you got it somewhat right. The ceremony really is meant to act out that saying but with a twist! That yeah, life as you know it is ending but a new one is also just beginning! One where you can't just think of you, you, you anymore! You gotta change your priorities! Change yourself! And staying in your hole all night symbolizes embracing that change, which will help make your marriage last! That's why the ceremony is sacred and romantic and why I'm finishing mine!"
"Uncle..." Simple, stunned and the only thing King Julien could say to his senior's solemn statement and indeed, it was all the young king and his friends could do but stare at the groom's grave in sober silence for a moment or two in which Rob was struck by a thought. Which he opened his mouth to share but then, sheepishly sealed back up and bit his bottom lip as he turned his face away from his friends. Who were confused by this change in demeanor until the nurse tentatively asked of their elder,
"What about grooms who don't finish the ceremony? That don't stay in their holes all night? What does that mean for their marriages?"
At which realization slammed into King Julien and Maurice like twin tidal waves and they promptly followed Rob's gaze to the present groom to be's grave and waited with bated breath for his answer as well.
"Unless it's because of an actual emergency, a groom bailing out on his ceremony means that he's refusing to let his old self die and that's a thousand times worse then not doing the ceremony at all because it's not just the guy promising himself to change! He's promising his bride and if the bastard bails on that promise, then whose to say that he won't bail again and again and again after getting married!? Which will send the marriage straight down the crapper and before you ask, yes, Zora told me that both the good and badsymbolism is common knowledge among mountain lemurs! So it's safe to say that Sage probably knew about the bad when he got bored of being reborn!" The older lemur explained, with his scathing statement drumming ice cold claws of dread down everyone else's spines all the while as well as illuminating a memory in Maurice's mind. Of something else that had sent those same claws down his spine but like so much else at the time, had been foolishly shoved aside. Now, it prompted the advisor's brow to furrow and a critical question to flow from his lips.
"And how long has Zora known about the bad?"
This confused Rob and King Julien, who each looked to their companion with matching expressions as the latter asked, "Why is that important?"
"That's what I'd like to know," His elder added leerily.
To which Maurice sneered down at the tube to the groom's temporary tomb as he said, "Okay, let me rephrase the question. You just said, in Zora's own words, that the ritual and all of it's symbolism is common knowledge among mountain lemurs, right? So, would it be safe to assume then that Zora knew about said symbolism when Sage bailed out on his ceremony!?", with a snarl oozing with barely composed ire that erupted at the end of his critical inquiry.
At which realization wrenched a rattling gasp from Rob's lopsided lips, much to the growing vexation of King Julien. Who demanded of his friends, "Wait, now you know why he's so hung up on Zora!? Cause-cause I'd like to know why her knowing about the ritual is so important when she wasn't even at the wedding!?"
"She was at the wedding!" Maurice shrieked. To which Julien's eyes widened to twin suns and he stuttered a stunned,
"W-what?"
"It's true!" Rob said in dazed dismay, his own wide eyed gaze staring past his companions as if watching the unearthed memory play out all over again. "I remember now! I saw her and your uncle! They were both there! I can't believe I forgot that!"
"I can't believe I didn't see them there! Why in Frank's name were you two there!?" King Julien incredulously exclaimed to himself, then his elder.
"Because Sage invited us because he still thought that he and I were 'buddies' from his lackey days and I still thought that he was an annoying dumbass at worse and Zora still thought that he was a good guy and since neither of us knew that he was a fossa in hippie's clothing, she convinced me to accept the bastard's invitation!" The older lemur's bitter explanation rang all too familiar for all else present and was followed by a brief smothering silence that was shattered when Maurice scowled, looked to the groom's grave once more and said with the slightest of snarls,
"But Zorahas known the wedding ritual for exactly what it is for a whole lot longer, hasn't she?"
"Will you just say where the fuck you're going with this already!?" The elder Julien demanded curtly, his patience wearing thin for the advisor's secrecy.
To which Maurice grabbed the tube to the groom's tomb and leaned over it so close that his bared teeth almost touched it's tip as he said, "I'm saying that Sage symbolically flipped the fucking bird at Clover in front of fucking everybody while Zora sat by and said jack fuck!", snaring then screeching his rancorous rebuke that wrenched rattling gasps from his friends. Who promptly turned to where the elder Julien laid a moment before the groom to be berated back,
"Only because she was in fucking la la land like everyone else or she would have called out the fucker til she was blue in the face!"
"Or she didn't because she wanted Clover to suffer with that psychopath!"
At which King Julien and Rob gasped once more, their wide eyes darting from friend to elder, their breath held as they waited for the latter's reply. Which came as a scorching,
"Why the fuck would Zora want that!?"
"Because she fucking hates Clover!"
"She didn't hate Clover until after she found out about that gold digger fucking you guys over, you shit for brains! And even if she did, she still would have torn Sage a new one if she had been in her right mind!"
"You expect us to believe that load of…!?"
"Uncle! Maurice! Please!" King Julien implored as he swiftly stepped in between them, frantically looking from one to the other as he pleaded with the pair, "Please, let's all take a deep breath and talk about this calmly and rationally!"
"Calm? Calm!? This lying bastard's 'beautiful behemoth' stood by and let our friend marry a monster and you want me to be calm!?" Maurice snarled, then screeched, with King Julien wilting from his scorching scorn.
At which Rob's stunned brow furrowed and he came to stand beside Julien as he scolded, "Hey, lay off Maurice! Julien's just trying to help!"
"The kind of 'help' he's offering is the last thing Clover needs!" Was Maurice's contemptuous retort but before Rob could bark a scathing comeback, Julien snapped out of his meek state and gave his own.
"No, the last thing she needs is you going crazy over something that may not even be true!"
At which Maurice rolled his head and eyes as he exclaimed in exasperation, "Oh, don't you start…!"
"What!? Not jumping to conclusions!? Not making rash accusations!?"
"Not defending our friend from the bitch who keeps fucking her over!"
That all too familiar insult snatched King Julien's planned reply clean off his tongue and it was all he and Rob could do but swiftly shift their stunned gazes to where the elder Julien laid, with Maurice's ragged breathing as the only sound stuffing a seething second before the groom said in a slow and dangerously low snarl,
"Did you just call Zora…!?"
"A bitch? A brute? A sadist whose been making Clover's life a living hell and loving every minute of it just like every other mountain lemur pretending to be 'so over' Koto!? Yeah, I said it! Your beautiful behemoth's people denouncing that demon has all been an act but you already knew that, didn't ya!? Just as you've known that those two faced snakes don't care who they have to fuck over to keep it up! Clover or King Julien or any of us normal lemurs be damned! Cause a psychopath can always spot another psychopath! Isn't that right, your former majesty!?" Maurice said as he sneered down at the elder lemur's grave, with his rancorous ranting ending on a sardonic snarl.
All as Rob and King Julien stared at their companion as if he had grown another, nastier head until the former snapped out of his stunned state with a swift shake of his own skull, furrowed his brow into a stern scowl and rebuked, "Are you hearing yourself!? You sound insane!"
At which Maurice glared at the nurse, then King Julien when he piped in with his own piqued, "You have gone way too far, Maurice!", and spread out his arms to emphasize his point.
Criticisms that gave Maurice pause for a seething second before he gave a contemptuous tsst and said to Rob in kind, "You know what? I'm not surprised with you! Cause all you really care about is keeping in King Julien's good graces! You don't give a damn about Clover! But you!" He swiftly snapped the last two words at King Julien just as the latter opened his mouth to defend Rob. "You say that you love Clover! That you would do anything to make her suffering stop and yet, you're mad at me for calling out the bastards making her suffer!?"
Those withering words felt like scalding claws slapped across King Julien's face and before Rob could, the young king gave his own scathing retort. "I'm mad because you're throwing around accusations like...like something you throw when you don't have any real proof that what you're saying is really true!"
"Open your eyes, Julien! Don't you think that it's a little weird that all of the mountain lemurs were so quick to accept Sage as their king!? Yeah, he's the rightful heir to the throne but he's also one of the people responsible for Koto's death! You know, Koto!? The mountain lemur's previous king!? Who most of them happily followed for seasons!? And yet, as quickly as flipping a switch, suddenly none of them give a flying fuck about him and all of themare totally fine with being lead by a guy who not only helped get him killed but is also a pacifist,someone who hates fighting, on top of that!? Cause I don't buy it! No! The only reason those beasts didn't kill Sage the second they got the chance is because they knew that Clover and you and everybody else on the island would have avenged the bastard and as we all know, we had already beaten them once! Whose to say that we couldn't do it again and maybe even make them our slaves so they can't leave and conquer somebody else!? So the brutes decided to let Sage live and stewed in their anger instead until...until they found the perfect opportunity for revenge..." Maurice's scorching statement suddenly petered off into a pensive pause as the gears of his mind mulled over the spark of a thought that swiftly grew into a raging inferno.
Which confused his companions to say the least and it was Rob who asked likewise, "Maurice, what are you…?"
"Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that Zora and Uncle King Julien showed up when they did. Maybe we've had Campion and the other mountain lemur's feelings towards them all wrong." Maurice resumed, calm and eerily composed like, with a sliver of a snarl that spiked ever so slightly as he looked from his friends to said groom's grave.
"What the fuck are you…?" The elder Julien demanded until the tip of his piqued inquiry died on his tongue to be swiftly replaced by a scorching, "You motherfucker! You think…!?"
"I know you fuckers have been working together this whole time!"
"What!?" King Julien and Rob exclaimed incredulously, with the former hoping against hope that he had heard his friend wrong.
"It all makes sense now! Campion fighting Clover!? Him acting like an ass to Zora so that people would pity her so that they'd let her and you stay here!? The mountain lemurs making Sage's life a living hell so that he won't let you stay with them so that you can make our lives hell!? You bastards have had it all planned out all along!" Maurice's scathing ranting and raving dug it's cruel claws ever deeper into King Julien's heart, squeezing out plea after plea that refused to leave his tongue, too tied by his friend's twisted narrative. But his uncle's wasn't.
"You son of a bitch! You think that Campion making Zora cry was an act!? That she and I are working with that bastard!? Why the fuck would we do that!?"
"Because he and Zora and all the other mountain lemurs all wanna avenge Koto and what better way to do that then with somebody else who wants revenge on the very same people responsible for his death!? Especially when that same somebody wants to kill the very most the very same guy who struck the killing blow!" At the final few words of his rancorous retort, Maurice whipped around and pointed a sharp finger at King Julien, who could only stutter a stunned, "Wh-what?", in reply.
"You! Killed! Koto! You crushed him to death with his own statue! People saw you topple it over! I saw you! Deny it til you're blue in the face but that won't change the truth! That you killed him! I know it! Dozens of witnesses know it and guess what!? The mountain lemurs know it too! Including Zora! And that's what brought her and your uncle together! They both want you dead!" Maurice explained in irate exasperation as he prodded an ever increasingly uneased King Julien in the chest until he stopped and dropped his voice to say with a snarl, "And they've been playing their part to make that happen! The last scheme your uncle pulled, with the cameras? The 'love' letters he sent Zora? Their 'first' meeting, where he swore that 'true love had made him see what really matters'!? That wasn't an isolated act! It was all part of this!", before shouting the final syllables of his scorching statement, swinging around to face the elder Julien's grave and spreading out his arms towards it.
To which King Julien incredulously exclaimed, "Wait, now you're saying that the mountain lemurs were in on thattoo!?"
"Yes! Just as they're in on this part of the plot!" Maurice snapped as he whipped around to face his friend and pointed a thumb over his shoulder at his elder. "To farther build him up as a great guy!" At which the advisor began pacing about before his companion as he went on to say with bitterly blatant sarcasm, "That he won't bail on the ceremony! That he won't run off to pick up his buddy without telling anybody! That he won't make us run around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to find him or let his bride believe that he had died! And isn't that such a relief after the bull Sage pulled!? Doesn't that make your uncle all the more kind and caring and considerate and a billion times better then that bubble brained bastard and oh, how can you not trust him!?", before coming to stand toe to toe with Julien as he finished.
At which the young king could only utter, "I-I...", too stunned for words as he mulled over Maurice's. Of how citizens of The Lemur Kingdom weren't the least bit shy about comparing Sage's actions leading up to his and Clover's wedding to big bright flashing red flags that could be seen from space and how they all felt like idiots for not seeing them sooner. So it wasn't hard to believe that Zora and his uncle probably knew about this kingdom wide regret and if so...At which King Julien's thoughtful expression furrowed all the more and he cautiously conceded, "...Finishing the ceremony could help my uncle seem...a little better then Sage..."
"So maybe, just maybe, your uncle and Zora and the other mountain lemurs are using that to their advantage? Using the same ceremony that helped flip your entire view of Sageupside down to make you question if maybe you got your uncle all wrong too!? You think that's possible!?" Maurice resumed at a somewhat more moderate volume, with his words brimming with exasperated earnest as King Julien yielded to them ever farther with each passing syllable until the final few flowed through Maurice's curled lips, spoken in a tone that rang all too familiar to Julien. And with that, the king's pensive expression hardened and his paws curled into tight fists that trembled at his bristling sides as he snapped,
"As possibleas you being a jackass throwing around accusations like confetti!"
At which Maurice recoiled from his brusque bark in wide eyed shock. Which he then promptly got over to snap back, "Are you kidding me!? You were just agreeing with me two seconds ago!"
"I changed my mind!"
"What the fuck changed your mind that fa…!?" Maurice's furious demand came to a screeching halt when an all too familiar phrase shoved it's way back to the forefront of his mind. A short seemingly innocent string of words that had laid coiled around his heart like a sleeping snake for weeks, waiting for all hell to break loose to strike. "Of course." He grumbled.
"Of course what!?" Julien curtly inquired, confused.
"Of course you don't like your 'I think it's possible' line thrown back at you! Of course it makes perfect sense when you say it but when somebody else uses the same logic in a way you don't like, then it's just crazy talk! Especially when I'm the somebody!" Maurice's scathing retort took King Julien aback and it was all the latter could say in reply,
"What are you talking about!?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about! It never matters what I say about any of the stupid, dangerous, shortsighted bullshit youalways pull! I'm always being a worry wort or a meanie or too stupid to understand your genius! But your uncle!? You're always happy to listen to him! 'Wager your kingdom in a bet with me, nephew!' 'Okie dokey, uncle!' 'Let me go free cause love has changed me!' 'Absolutely uncle!' 'Let me stay with your peoples who are still reeling from being fuckedover by Sage! You know, the same peoples I used to fuck over day in and day out for years!?' 'Sure! Why the fuck not!? Come on in, uncle! The more trauma for the peoples, the merrier!' And last but not least this!" At which Maurice stopped his animated mockingly rancorous rebuke to turn around and spread out his arms towards said groom's grave once more. Then, dropped them stiff at his sides, with his fists balled up tight as he huffed and puffed one ragged breath after another.
All as King Julien listened in shell shocked silence, his friend's words like vines wrapping themselves ever tighter around his heart, digging their serrated thorns ever deeper with each sardonic syllable, carving out a whimpering, "Ma-Maurice, I...I didn't...I didn't mean...p-please...please understand..."
"I understand completely!" Maurice swiftly snapped as he whipped around to face him. "I understand that nothingI say is gonna make a damn difference! So I should just keep my stupid mouth shut and let you do whatever the fuck you want! Have fun with your precious uncle and Sir Kiss Ass! I'm done!" Maurice declared and started stomping away from Julien.
Who followed at his friend's side as he implored, "Maurice, wait, please! Let's talk about this!"
"I'm done talking!" Maurice swiftly stopped and shrieked. At which Julien winced from his brusque bark as his heart was squeezed ever tighter.
Which made Rob all the angrier and he marched to Julien's side as he rebuked, "For Frank's sake, Maurice, you're acting like a child! This...tantrum needs to stop!"
"Oh, that's rich coming from you! But sure, I'm the child throwing a tantrum! Well, if I'm such a child, then don't ya think I should leave you grown ups to your grown up conversation and take my tantrum elsewhere!?" Maurice retorted with bitterly blatant sarcasm that Rob met with an exasperated snarl before snapping back,
"If that's how you're gonna be, then you should leave!"
"Rob!?" Julien exclaimed incredulously at the nurse. Who met Maurice's fiery gaze with his blistering blue one as the advisor barked back,
"Gladly!"
"Maurice!" Julien cried out desperately as Maurice started walking away once more, lunged forward and grabbed his friend's arm. To which Maurice stopped and looked back at Julien with a scorching scowl that burned the king's planned plea to a crisp. And so, with words seared off his tongue and his heart held hostage, Julien released his hold and watched helplessly as Maurice made his way across the clearing and into the night.
While Rob watched him vanish from sight with a scalding glare that was swiftly slapped off his face when Julien turned to him with one of his own.
"What the hell, Rob!? Why did you tell Maurice to leave!? What were you thinking!?" The king demanded of his friend. Who swiftly got over his shock to critically reply,
"I'm thinking that since nothing we were saying was getting through to him, that maybe Maurice needs some time alone to calm down and figure out that he's being a jackass on his own!"
"Or he'll get even more mad and...ah! Just...ah!" Julien argued back and threw up his hands in a huff, then started stomping towards the patch of jungle that Maurice had marched into.
To which Rob snarled and snapped, "Fine! If you wanna go after the big baby, be my guest! But count me out!"
"Fi…!" Julien started to bark back before both his comeback and himself came to a sudden stop.
Which both surprised and confused Rob to say the least and he asked of his now frozen friend likewise, "Uh, Julien?", but when Julien turned around, he stared right past Rob without a word. To which Rob followed his wide eyed gaze straight to his uncle's grave and that's when understanding struck like a tidal wave. "Oh."
"I...I can't! I can't leave him!" Julien proclaimed as he raced back towards where his relative laid, with a jolt of panic that shoot sharp pangs through Rob's heart and gave him pensive pause as he followed on his friend's heels to the groom's tomb. Where from there, as Julien hunched over it's headstone with his paws firmly clasping it's cool, solid surface, Rob gently said to him,
"I could stay with him."
At which Julien stood straight back up, whipped around and stared at his friend in shock as he went on to solemnly swear, "I promise I wouldn't leave his side.", with his one good eye like a dark gentle pool shimmering softly in the moonlight, and Julien was tempted to accept his offer. Keyword tempted.
"Rob, I...I know. Believe me, I believe you. I..." The king sincerely assured, then took a pause stuffed with a thousand tangled up thoughts as he scrambled to pin down one. "But I...I promised!" He blurted out in earnest, then avoided his friend's concerned gaze as he softly repeated, "I promised.", with an all familiar sorrow that blared loud and clear to Rob. Who watched with an aching heart as Julien then briefly pitifully looked back at him before he sat down next to his elder's grave and hugged his knees to his chest as his shimmering eyes once again locked onto the faux final resting place.
Now, Rob knew that he could have offered to go search for Maurice by himself but that would require leaving the two Juliens by themselves and while he wasn't fearful of the elder Julien causing any physical harm in his current position, he was leery of what the older lemur might say to King Julien with only the two of them around. What sinister thoughts the two faced fossa might try to plant in his junior's head. What sadistic things he might call the young king that the latter might be too afraid to share least it lead to his kin getting his ass kicked to hell and back. Or the fucker could try to trick his traumatized nephew into digging him out of his temporary tomb early so then he could try to kill him. Okay, so Rob was afraid of King Julien getting killed in his absence after all and it was with this in mind and more that he sat down by his friend's side and stayed there in that solemn silence instead.
.
.
.
One moment, King Julien was being dragged down ever deeper through a scarlet sea by a wailing mass of faceless lemurs. Then, within a blink, the swarm's soul shattering song came to a screeching stop and Julien found himself staring up at a different dark expanse. Inky blue with a pawful of tiny bright dots sprinkled about it. That's when he noticed that thick scalding blood was no longer stuffing his lungs but light cool air and the serrated claws that had been drilling ever deeper into his skin had been replaced by duller ones now gently brushing against him. Which he promptly pat down with his paws and realized that they weren't claws at all but blades of grass. At which Julien sat up and saw a dark jungle silhouetted by a sliver of soft light skirting it's roots while the moon hung just above it's treetops. It was almost dawn. His uncle was getting married that day and would soon have to be dug of his pre-wedding ritual hole. Which Julien spotted within paw's reach to his right, then Rob to his left, laying on his side fast asleep. But when the young king looked around for Maurice, he found no sign of his other friend and that's when he remembered what had happened hours before between them.
Oh. Right.
With that recollection, Maurice's withering words once again clenched Julien's heart within their cruel claws. How could he say such horrible things? What had gotten into his sweet, understanding Momo?
"You did, you asshole! Cause he's right! No matter how many times he's begged you not to wager the kingdom in a bet or sneak into the fossa's kingdom for 'immortality' or go to the wedding of two peoples who may be trying to kill you or any of the other stupid shit you always do, you never listen to him! No, you'd rather listen to your selfish, cruel, horrible, evil uncle whose hurt you and your peoples more times then anybody can count then your kind, caring best friend whose always been there for you even when nobody else has! It's no wonder he's angry, you stupid, selfish bastard!" Was Julien's scathing critique to himself.
"I-I..." He feebly uttered out loud. Then, with a startled start, flew his paws to his mouth and swiftly looked to Rob. Who twitched ever slightly and mumbled ever so briefly before settling back down. At which Julien let out a silent sigh of relief and allowed his paws to float back to his lap. He did not envy his friend for being such a light sleeper and with everything he had to do those days, a guy needed all the sleep he could get.
"You deserve all the sleep you can get." Julien thought to himself, softly and sincerely, as he continued to gaze upon his slumbering companion. Watched the steady rise and fall of his chest as dawn's light began to graze it. Listened to the gentle rhythm of his breaths as they flowed from his droopy lips along side a sliver of saliva as it trickled into a tiny pool beside them. Which reminded Julien of the night that the two of them became friends again, coaxing out a tender smile onto his own lips. Until he then recalled the connection that Clover had made between the pair's reconciliation and Uncle King Julien.
Which stomped out the fuzzy warmth that had been gently enveloping King Julien's heart and encased it in a tomb of ice cold dread as he looked to his relative's. "Please! Please tell me that you're telling the truth! That you and Zora really were as stupid as everyone else at the wedding! That you guys didn't let Clover marry someone so horrible on purpose! Please!" He silently implored of the groom but received only the dawn's first birdsongs as a reply.
To which Julien swallowed down an ear shattering scream as he crossed his arms over his chest and furrowed his brow into a seething scowl. "Why do I keep doing this!? Why do I keep defending you two when all it does is drive away everybody I actually care about!?" Was the king's bitterly vexed question for himself. Which then sent a jolt of panic coursing down his spine and he swiftly looked back to where Rob still peacefully laid on his side. Clover and Mort had always been against him defending the couple and even Maurice's patience for his latest bout of crazy had run out. How much longer would Rob's last? How long before he too grew tired of waiting for Julien to realize that his uncle was never, ever going to change? That he and Zora were evil people who were only using him and that everybody in the kingdom would be better off without them, end of story?
"I wouldn't blame you!" Julien thought to himself ruefully, hugged his knees and buried his head. Who would want to be around anyone who defended Uncle King Freaken Julien over and over and over again even before there was any baby!? That wouldn't even exist if he had just locked away the bastard after his last evil scheme! Then, the peoples wouldn't have to deal with the monster who had brought them nothing but misery! Clover wouldn't have to deal with her peoples rebelling or Sage's never ending abuse against her desperate quest to save Julien from himself! And maybe, just maybe, his dear sweet friend would have given up on trying to reason with her bastard husband altogether by then and left his not sorry ass if only Julien hadn't been so stupid! If only he hadn't been so shallow to think that Zora's love would be punishment enough for his uncle because she's 'weird' and 'gross' and 'no guy in his right mind would ever find her beautiful' and that his uncle would soon be just as miserable as Mort had been with her!
Dear gods, what was wrong with him!?
And then came a wave of woeful tears that streamed down Julien's face as he curled in on himself ever tighter until he heard something that made his breaking heart stop.
"Fossa!"