Don’t ya love the sunrise?
How boring…
Tell me, Scar...why are you so down all of the time?
I had everything in my lifetime stripped away. My power! MY kingdom! MY title! The sunrise is merely a reminder of my defeat.
I shrugged. I guess it makes sense if you think about it.
‘’Didn’t expect you to be up so early.’’ I heard Simba say from behind me, the father of Kiara sitting next to me. ‘’And watching the sunrise, no less.’’
‘’Where I come from, my mother used to make me go to bed early.’’ I smiled at the memory. Mom always telling me to be in bed by eleven other than on weekends. But since I had a reduced school schedule, that gave me time to sleep in. ‘
‘’Something wrong?’’ The worried king asked me. Blinking, I shook my head.
‘’No, Simba.’’ I assured the king. ‘’Just..memories.’’
‘’Ah..’’ Simba sighed and smiled. ‘’Good ones?’’
A chuckle. ‘’You bet...though I spent the rest of my childhood in The Outlands. I guess Kiara gave me a verbal whooping for that.’’
‘’She did seem a bit teary and emotional.’’ He rubbed his chin before putting his paw on my head, as I was slightly taller than Kiara, who was dwarfed by Kovu...who’s smaller than Simba….I feel short…’’I trust you have patched things up?’’
‘’More than expected..’’ I sighed before looking at him. ‘’Look, Simba..there’s more to me and Kiara coming to Pride Rock later than usual a couple of weeks ago.’’
The raised eyebrow of the king caused me to continue. ‘’I had agreed to watch the stars and constellations, since I felt it was a good time to try to get Kiara to calm down about the suddenness of me coming back. But during that, Rafiki interfered and made us feel...I dunno…’’
‘’Oh, so it happened to you too?’’ Hm? Simba chuckled in amusement. ‘’You two falling in love? It’s actually quite amusing because of the different paths we took. Nala and I were best fronts as cubs, but when I ran away after my father, Mufasa, was killed, I felt the guilt of what I thought was my doing get to me..’’
This fool…
‘’She helped me overcome this and return to these lands to claim the throne.’’ He continued, looking in the distance. ‘’And now, here I am..father of two, King of The Pridelands…’’
‘’Mhm…’’ I smiled, I too looking in the distance before the king spoke again.
‘’But with you two, it’s different.’’ Simba pointed out. ‘’When you arrived in The Pridelands, you two couldn’t stand each other, no matter what we did. When you first left, The Guard and Kiara panicked because of your absence. At first, it was amusing, but the more it went on, the searches ended up getting me worried myself.’’
‘’Well…’’ I snickered. ‘’I suppose I did stay there a bit longer.’’
‘’But the day of the fire, she actually told me that she wished ‘her idiot’, likely referring to you, was there in order to observe it.’’
‘’She probably would have failed even with my moral support.’’
‘’I guess..’’ He admitted. ‘’The girl never did like my overprotectiveness. Since you were gone and The Lion Guard went to help out in The Amanilands, I needed to boost security around her in order to make sure she doesn’t get herself hurt.’’
‘’And look where that got her.’’ I frowned. ‘’Your overprotectiveness is only harming her, not helping her. She met Kovu because of you, almost died in a fire because of your carelessness in sending Timon and Pumbaa after her.”
Looking down, the king then looked at the approaching Kiara. “Come, Kiara..”
“Something wrong, daddy?” She asked her father, who shook his head.
“No, of course not.” He answered. “Shujaa just made me think of something.”
Doing so, she left with Simba as I just stood there, watching them leave. Hearing Kovu approaching me, I sighed. “..I can't do this, Kovu.”
“Can't do what?” He asked before realizing what I meant. “My mother’s plan? Why not?”
“I never wanted to.” I told him. “I'm happy here, Kovu. If you want to try to carry out your mom’s great plan, fine. But if even one of them gets their claws on Kiara, I will show you more wrath than Zira ever could! Understand?”
He nodded before walking off. Looking down, I noticed Sarabi at The Waterhole and rubbed my chin...how about I spend time with the lioness I saw as a mother figure?
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Walking up to the aging lioness, I sat next to her. “Been a while since we privately talked to each other, Sarabi.”
Sarabi, now older than she was when I came to this world and now more frail, smiled at me. “Indeed. How have you been?”
“Babysitting Kiara.” I said jokingly. “That and trying to readjust to this kingdom after being away from it for so long.”
Chuckling a bit, Sarabi continued to drink the water from The Waterhole. ‘’I bet. How was your time in The Outlands?’’
‘’Could have been better.’’ I shrugged. ‘’The residents aren’t exactly keen on hospitality. Plus, the harsh conditions made me feel less comfortable, but they’re at least survivable.’’
‘’You were in the termite mounds, were you?’’ She asked as I looked at her. ‘’Only that area of The Outlands fits the description. Zira has never been one to welcome other lions with fully open arms until they prove loyalty.’’
‘’But i’m not loyal to her.’’ I reminded the former queen. ‘’Sarabi. Something bad is being planned and it’s been planned to happen soon.’’
Blinking, Sarabi frowned. ‘’So you say.’’
‘’Zira is planning an attack on The Pridelands. When, I do not recall, but she told Kovu, Nuka, Vitani and I about some kind of plan to get Kovu as king.’’ I explained. ‘’How they do it is what worries me.’’
‘’What do you mean?’’ She asked and I gritted my teeth with closed eyes.
‘’Zira sent Kovu and I to use Kiara as a stepping stone to kill Simba.’’ I revealed to her, causing her to gasp. ‘’After a while, I was starting to follow this plan...but after seeing Kiara again and helping her, I...just couldn’t…’’
Nuzzling me, the aging lioness smiled. ‘’Sometimes, the paths we choose aren’t based on simple orders, Shujaa. You should know this better than most lions. Our paths can either can be listening to basic orders...or following our heart.’’
Walking off, Sarabi smiled again before turning to her direction and going on her merry way, leaving me there, taking that in.mind.
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Okay, i’m starting to get worried here.
Pacing back and forth on Pride Rock doesn’t help. Simba and Kiara should have been back by now, they left four hours ago!
I’ll, hesitantly, scan the kingdom for their location.
Thanks, Scar, you’re a pal.
Don’t mention it…
I closed my eyes. No, there’s no way Zira could have gotten to them...is there?
‘’Something wrong, Shujaa?’’ I heard Nala come next to me. At my shrug, she frowned. ‘’There must be.’’
‘’This morning, I was talking to Simba when he took Kiara away from Pride Rock for something. It’s been four hours and they haven’t returned yet, so something has to be wrong.’’ I explained. ‘’I just don’t get it...true, Simba and Kiara aren’t exactly the fastest lions, but still..’’
‘’Now that you mention it..’’ Nala rubbed her chin. ‘’They have been gone for a rather long time.’’
Turning to Kion, who was coming out of The Lair of The Lion Guard, I frowned. ‘’Kion, can I borrow Ono for a minute?’’
‘’Huh?’’ Kion blinked. ‘’Why?’’
‘’Something’s wrong.’’ I said, slightly panicking. ‘’Just let me borrow him!’’
‘’...The Guard will come with you.’’ Kion frowned. ‘’If it’s trouble in The Pridelands, our role is to defend it and protect the circle of life.
‘’Well, if that’s the case, might want to do it faster!’’ I shouted. ‘’Simba and Kiara might be in trouble!’’
Eyes widening, Kion turned to his team. ‘’Lion Guard, let’s go!’’
With his friends following him, Kion ran off to find his father and sister, followed by myself.
‘’Til The Pridelands end..’’ Kion said, then his entire team said the next one. ‘’LION GUARD DEFEND!’’
God bless it, please be alright, guys…
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Oh no…
Both me and Kion gasped at the sight. In the middle of the gore laid Simba and Kiara, not moving. The two of us instantly went into panic mode as Kion looked at his friends. ‘’Come on, we have to make sure they’re alright!’’
With The Guard running towards the entrance of the gorge, I straight up slid down it, tears slightly coming. If they’re dead, I will have Zira’s HEAD!
No, no, no, no, no, no!
Reaching, the two, I looked at both of them. Scratch marks on Kiara and some other wounds on Simba. Anger boiling inside, I nudged Kiara, who coughed.
‘’Kiara..?’’
‘’Ugh…’’ She groaned, trying to get up before collapsing again. ‘’Ambush..dad injured…’’
‘’Who? Who ambushed you!?’’ I gritted my teeth in anger as she coughed again.
‘’Zira came over, we were in the middle of the smoke-filled burned forest.’’ She started to explain weakly. ‘’But they attacked my father first. I tried to help, but was swatted away and scratched.’’
As The Guard arrived, Kion bolted to us.
‘’Dad! Kiara!’’ Kion shouted in horror at their conditions. Going up to his dad first and nudging him, he noticed that Simba was alive...thank christ…
It was Zira alright..
And you didn’t tell me?!
I noticed it as they were leaving…
Where were they heading?
Back to The Outlands.
Looking down, I turned to Kion. ‘’Kion, stay here.’’
‘’Why?’’ He blinked.
‘’I’m going to pay Zira a little visit.’’ I growled before running off to give Zira a piece of my mind.
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‘’You said you weren’t going to attack her!’’ I yelled at Zira, who just smirked at my outburst. Walking closer, my growl deepened, which caused even some of Zira’s lionesses to step back in fear. ‘’That was your plan, get me and Kovu close to Kiara, then attack Simba so Kovu could claim the throne.’’
‘’I did what was needed to make sure he paid for what he did to Scar.’’ Zira shrugged. ‘’If you don’t like it, I don’t really care.’’
Not even I would have wanted that…
My eyes moved to the observing Kovu. ‘’And you…’’
Blinking, Kovu’s eyes widened as I approached him as well.
‘’You told us to get close to Kiara, not ATTACK her!!’’ I shouted at the black lion….only for my eyes to widen at his cold expression. ‘’You...always intended to…’’
‘’After I found out about what happened between you and Kiara, I shifted my my goals a bit. It was originally me who was supposed to be with Kiara, not you. I told my mother about it and here we are.’’ Kovu explained and I backed away.
‘’So...this was out of jealousy?’’ I blinked in shock. ‘’You adjusted your plans to harm both Kiara and Simba. But for what?’’
‘’I knew you’d react to their injuries.’’ He shrugged. ‘’Besides, it’s no big deal.’’
''No big de-''
I suggest we leave. I sense an attack coming.
Good idea.
Quickly dodging a pounce from a lioness, I bolted towards the exit of The Outlands, jumping on another lioness, then kicking her towards Kovu, who fell backwards in surprise. Growling, I ran faster than my own lungs and legs could take, going so fast that I managed to jump across the entire gorge, tumbling when I reached the other side, rolling repeatedly before I skidded to a halt.
Slowly getting up, I looked back at Zira, who was madly grinning on the other side. As I breathed heavily, I gave Zira a sharp look before walking off.
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Arriving at Pride Rock, I saw Rafiki and Makini tending to the two injured royals, who were wincing at the stuff they put on in order to help with their wounds. Walking up to the awake Kiara, I nuzzled her before sitting down.
‘’You knew about it all along…’’ Kiara breathed. ‘’About my father’s ambush. You knew it was going to happen…’’
Blood going cold, I looked at the slightly tearing up lioness. ‘’Kiara, I can expl-’’
‘’This entire time...you must have had a role in this.’’ Kiara accurately said. ‘’I heard Zira say ‘Shujaa was too weak. He was supposed to help Kovu get to Kiara.’...i-is that true?’’
Looking down, I sighed. ‘’Yes...it is…’’
At her horrified and heartbroken look, I continued. ‘’I was originally going to help Kovu, but after I saw who ‘the daughter was’, I began questioning it.’’
‘’But..this entire time..’’ She teared up more. ‘’You were..lying to me..’’
‘’No, it’s more complicated than that!’’
‘’Then WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!’’ Kiara yelled at me, wincing at the pain it caused her. The yelling caused everyone but Rafiki and Makini, who were too focused on the two royals, to freeze in place.
Gulping. ‘’I didn’t know you were going to be attacked. The plan was for only Simba to do so, I had no idea that you were going to.’’
‘’So you DID know about it in advance!’’ She continued, tears flowing. ‘’I can’t believe you! Were you just using me to get to my father after all this time?’’
‘’No, of course no-’’
‘’Whatever…’’ Kiara sighed. ‘’Just...get away from me.’’
...What?
This is unfortunate.
Kiara rolled over, crying. ‘’Just get away...I just can’t trust you anymore..’’
That stung. I worked so hard for so long to get her to trust me and now I screwed it up.
Walking off slowly, I turned back at Kiara...only for me to look forward and walk off in shame and guilt.
NEXT: With Kiara’s trust lost, a guilty Shujaa shuts himself away from the rest of Pride Rock. But when a familiar mandrill appears, can they mend fences?