Madagascar and OC! REWRITE!

Her Scars

Someone plants themselves beside Marty, a resigned look on their face, and Marty turned his head almost expectedly to see it.

Knowing Ayana, she'll wait for someone she knows to speak up and then talk.

"I'm still going no matter what."

There was a daring, determined look in his teal eyes. His thoughts would soon become reality.

Ayana's face softened. "...I know."

She opened her mouth to tell him about her thoughts of going with him to the wild but Marty interrupted.

"And I thought at least Alex would change his mind. So you know? Win-win." He confessed sheepishly as Ayana stared at him with her brows knitted together in possible concentration.

"Well, we are like a huge family of five here," Ayana spoke after a moment. "It makes sense."

Marty snickers. "Don't be pulling no family card on me! You and Alex have been brewing some chemistry with each other ever since you guys met." Ayana felt heat rise from her face to the tip of her ears. "But yeah, it makes perfect sense on why he doesn't wanna leave."

"But we'll have the time of our lives and we'll make plenty of memories."

Marty snorts. "What's with you and that defense? Can't think of a better reason to get our friends on board?"

"No- wait- yes...! Remember when I first arrived? And I had loads of 'weird markings' as Melman called them?" Ayana pauses, waiting for the zebra to nod.

"These aren't just markings! Their scars! Their memories..." She trails off, finding the rails of Marty's enclosure interesting. "I got these in the wild and I've never regretted them for one second."

The leopard's body had more scars than anyone in the zoo, though they're a bit less obvious, which makes sense since she was only a teenager and a very young one at that.

Ayana pointed to a pair of scars on her left forearm; now faint and muttered up by makeup pancaked on by the zookeepers.

"I got this and this when I was a cub,"- Ayana motioned to her other forearm- "arguing with a hot-headed lion for a scrap of meat."

Marty leaned in as she points to the inside of her right elbow. "Pack of wild birds."

Ayana twisted her body around, a mark not as old as the others near her shoulder blades. "First night at the zoo, trying to rest over the edge of my bed right before it stabs me."

The wild was exciting; yes, but having someone to share that excitement with was all that mattered.

Marty echoed those words in his mind.

Now they just needed to leave the zoo.

-/-

Back at her pen, Ayana hastily rearranged her things to what she wants to see a soon as she came back from Connecticut.

Africa was too far and she didn't want to spend another night at the zoo.

Alex walks closer to hear Ayana talking from behind, leaning closer slowly. A smile etched on his face, his ears pricked themselves up in interest and his ocean blue eyes lit up.