So yeah, enjoy, though I don't expect many people to see this at first.Chapter one:
Dusk fell and the Pridelands briefly glowed gold with the setting sun, before starting their slow plunge into darkness. Pride Rock stood strong and magnificent on the horizon, and one dark lion padded out of the cave, looking over the savannah with his green eyes filled with worry.
It was Kovu, and he spent several minutes thinking about what had happened and what was about to happen. Earlier on, soon after one of the hunting groups took advantage of the cooler weather and went out hunting, Kiara had gone into labour. They fetched Rafiki as quick as possible, and were now waiting for results.
"Kovu? Is everything ok?" Came a gentle voice from behind him. Kovu jumped and turned to see Simba coming calmly towards him, red mane blowing slightly in the breeze.
Kovu sighed. “No, not everything,” He replied. “Thing is, well, for almost all my life I’ve been trained to- you know, and take over the Pridelands, but I was never taught about how to actually rule a kingdom, or have a family. I mean, what do I do? What if I fail? How will the other animals see me, as an outlander? Will I be a good father?”
Simba listened wisely to his son in law’s problems, then nodded, giving him his answers.
“Kovu, you’re not an outlander, you’re one of us now. The animals will have suspicions at first, but soon, if you’re open minded, understand everyone’s point of view, and don’t use force most of the time, they’ll gain trust in you. Also, you’ve seen a family, and you’re part of one. You’ll know what to do when the time comes.”
These words and Simba’s ever calm and gentle way of saying them reassured Kovu, and a smile spread across his face. At that moment, a voice from inside the cave beckoned them in, but Simba and Kovu were too excited to realise the graveness of it.
“It’ll be fine.” said Simba cheerfully, his heart hammering as they walked into the cave.
But for once he wasn't entirely right.
As soon as the two lions walked in, they were hit by the atmosphere inside, then confused and bewildered by the sight in front of them. Kiara lay limp on the floor, sobbing slightly, with Rafiki kneeling down beside her, his back to the lions and his head bent low. Nala was also standing beside her daughter, trying to comfort her though her face was also tear-stained.
"What happened?" Asked Simba, concern flitting through his eyes.
"I'm sorry Simba, I don't know what went wrong, we lost two of the cubs." Replied Rafiki, turning to reveal that he was cradling what seemed like two un-moving bundles of fur. Silence fell like a blanket of snow.
"Is Kiara ok?" Asked Kovu, barely breaking the silence with his shaking voice.
"She's fine, but exhausted and miserable. I'm sorry, you two."
"Don't be, at least one survived." Replied Simba, nuzzling another tiny cub that was lying near Kiara, though he felt that the bad news hadn't ended yet.
"That's the thing, I'm afraid he's too weak. He can't even get up to his mother. I'm so sorry, but there is such a small chance that he'll survive much longer."
"Oh Simba...our grandchildren..." Whispered Nala, coming to Simba for comfort, as Kovu wordlessly took over from her the job of being by Kiara. She soon stopped sobbing, but everyone was grieving deeply inside.
"Are you sure?" Murmered Simba.
"It's a one in a thousand chance that he'll survive..." Replied Rafiki, wiping his forehead.
Nobody ate the meat that the hunting group had come back with. They felt like a bright light had been wiped away just before it reached them.
After a while, when most of the lionesses were asleep, the cub doomed to die sleeping next to his mother,(Rafiki had had to place him there himself.) Simba looked up to see Kovu creeping out of the cave. He hadn't seen that Simba had noticed him slip away. Sympathetic and not very sleepy himself, Simba quietly tiptoed out of the cave.
He found Kovu sitting on a rock not far from Pride Rock, gazing with un focused eyes at the sky. For the first time in a long time, Simba didn't know how to approach someone.
"Stars are hiding today, huh?" He said gently.
"Please, stop talking like that, everything's gone wrong. Everything. Already. What if it's a sign?" Replied the dark lion, not turning his head towards Simba. Once again he was asking questions, but it was clear he didn't want them answered.
"Sometimes...things like this happen. You just have to be strong. Are you ok?" Simba didn't know why he found himself asking such a silly question.
"Yeah, fine" He obviously wasn't telling the truth.
" 'Cos if you need any-"
"I SAID I WAS FINE, SIMBA!"
This took Simba by surprise, and for a few moments they stood staring at each other, both surprised of what had happened.
"Sorry," Muttered Kovu, walking away. "But I need some time alone."
Simba stood there, shivering in the wind as he watched the departing black figure, getting lost in the darkness. Simba actually partly understood his son in law, for he had also lost a child many years ago. But Kopa wasn't as young when he died. He still had the chance to live, to give his parents happiness and the feeling of innocence again.
But now his daughter and son in law's chance to get that feeling was crushed, and just when they needed it, after the incident with Zira and all. But what about the other cub? What if he survived? Simba thought this over, thinking what joy it would bring, but then painfully remembered Rafiki's words. What did it feel like to know that your only surviving child is going to die too? Simba shivered at the thought. He couldn't imagine what they were going through.
But he could survive, Simba told himself, only to block out that hope again. Rafiki was barely ever wrong, the kid had only a one in a thousand chance of surviving.
But despite everyone's heavy doubts, Chaka won that chance.
Chapter 2:
“Mum! Hey mum!” yelled Chaka excitedly, running over to Kiara, who was sunning herself on a rock with Nala and Timira, her friend. “Mum! Guess what we did!”
“Hm, I wonder what?” Asked Kiara, propping herself up and nuzzling her son.
“We raced to the waterhole but we bumped into a leopard! Then he chased us all around but in the end he gave up ‘cos we were too fast! He said so himself!”
“Are you sure he didn’t just let you get away?” asked Timira, an amused glint in her eye.
“Well… I don’t think so…”
Nala smiled. “You must have had to ditch the dodo to do that!”
Chaka tried not to look guilty. “Well, we just thought he needed a break, you know…his feathers are turning all grey!”
The lionesses laughed, each knew Zazu as a cub.
“C’mere, you little smart-alic!” laughed Kiara, grabbing Chaka by the scruff on his neck. “Looks like after all that running around you got dirty!” And she began to lick him clean.
“Ok mum, but please hurry up! The others are waiting near the pond by that big boulder! And, is there any food? I’m hungry!”
“Not yet, sweetie, auntie Vitani and the rest haven’t come back yet.”
“Oh, ok. Ouch! Muuum! Watch the mane!”
Soon, Chaka was clean and he ran off to play with his friends: Tiza, (Daughter of Dotti, an ex-outlander) Koda, (Iza’s son, Iza was Dotti’s sister) Shana, (Kula’s youngest daughter. Kula was a friend of Nala’s since cubhood.) And Zara, (Daughter of Razina, a pridelander about Kiara’s age.)
For a moment the lionesses gazed after Chaka, not believing that he was the cub that everyone thought was going to die. He had stayed alive for a week, and then Rafiki announced that he was strong enough to live after all. The traditional presentation of the heir to the throne took place a little later than usual, but it was done nonetheless, and all the animals rejoiced over the young cub, as well as the pride, who felt as if the light that seemed to have left them was just blocked out by the clouds, and had now shone through again. Sadly, Sarafina and Sarabi died shortly after, but they knew that they were happy now, especially Sarabi, who was finally united with her mate. They all looked on proudly after Chaka.
“Hey guys! What ‘ya doing?” Said Chaka cheerfully, bounding over to the other cubs by the pond.
“Sh! What does it look like, genius?” Replied Koda, who was lying low to the floor, hidden by the tall grass. The others were doing the same, except Zara, who was chasing a bird up a tree a little further off. Then Chaka realised what they were doing; they were trying to catch a frog or two, as the large pond was full of them.
“Can I catch one?” He whispered, tiptoeing over next to Shana.
“Yeah, sure.” She replied. “But be very quiet!”
A hunter’s grin spreading across his face, Chaka found a large frog sitting on a small rock, right by the water’s edge. He crouched down in the grass, lay low to the ground, crept forward…and…
SNAP!
Everyone jumped as a branch on the tree above them snapped, and Zara fell, yelling as she toppled down and splashed into the pond, soaking everyone. The frogs yelped and jumped back into the pond.
“Nice work, Zara, look what you did!” Said Koda agitatedly, leaping to the edge of the pond as Zara surfaced, spitting out water.
“Oh come on, I just stepped on a slightly thinner branch!” groaned Zara, swimming back to shore.
“Couldn’t even climb a tree properly?” snickered Tiza, and they all burst out laughing.
“Very funny (!)” Said Zara sarcastically, coming out of the water and shaking her wet sides.
“Are you ok?” asked Chaka, even though he was giggling himself.
“I’m fine, ok? But it wasn’t funny!”
“No, you’re right,” Said Koda, forcing on a serious face. “It was VERY funny!” And everyone burst out into fits of laughter again. Even Zara smiled in spite of herself, but she wasn’t letting him get away that easily.
She took him by surprise and knocked him straight into the water!
“HEY!” He yelled, pulling her down too. They then splashed each other happily in the pond, and the other three laughed and jumped in themselves.
Soon they all got hungry and crawled out of the pond, beginning their walk back home. The hunting group should have come back by now, and hopefully they were successful.
“What was that?” asked Zara, pausing suddenly and looking hard at a clump of trees, her ears twitching.
“I’m sure it was just a snapping branch. Maybe we should go and have a look; a lost cub may have fallen out!” chuckled Tiza, walking on with her cousin. In a second she was leapt on by Zara, and the two tumbled on together, pinning each other down playfully. The rest joined in too, and Chaka found himself against Koda. But Koda was older than him, and already had a tuft of mane growing on his head, and pinned him down easily.
Without noticing, they all tumbled through the bushes and down into a ditch, where they lay in a heap on top of each other.
“Oof, get off me!” Came a muffled voice from somewhere underneath. They all got up and began to climb up. Chaka may not be good at fighting, but he loved climbing, and quickly got to the top. But just as he parted the bushes, he saw something that made him freeze in surprise and fear.
“What is it?” asked Shana, getting up next to him.
“Shhh!” he whispered. “Look!”
They peered out to see a lion with golden fur and a red-ish brown mane. They could have mistaken him for Simba at first, but with a closer look they saw that the lion looked quite different. Infact, as the rest of the cubs poked their heads out a bit and stared, they realised that they had never seen this lion before, and a sudden fear took place inside them. After a while, he padded away, getting lost amongst the trees and bushes.
“Told you I’d heard something!” whispered Zara, but fell quiet again, thinking about what this all meant. All of the cubs had been told that unknown lions could be dangerous, and that they had to tell someone in the pride if they saw one.
After a while, the cubs crept out and then, once they were sure that the lion was gone, ran straight for Pride Rock. They were running so fast that they crashed straight into Tama and Kula, both friends of Nala since cubhood.
“There you are! Where were you?” said Kula, smiling at the sight of the cubs.
“At the pond, mama!” said Shana, relieved to see them. “But we’re not that late, why were you looking for us?”
“Well…” smiled Tama, turning to Chaka. “I’ve got some good news; you’re a big brother now, Chaka!”
For a moment, Chaka stood there, taking in this information as the other cubs stared at him. Then he jumped up. “A big brother?! Wow!! Why didn’t anyone tell me before?!” he cheered, as his friends congratulated him.
“Your parents wanted it to be a surprise.” Beamed Kula, though she and Tama knew that it was also because they didn’t want another disappointment, a sadness for the two cubs that died at birth still hung around. “Do you want to see them then?” she asked, starting to walk towards Pride Rock.
“Alright!” Said Chaka excitedly, running ahead of them with the other cubs.
As soon as they reached Pride Rock, Timira, who had been waiting outside the cave for them, bounded forward.
“Mum!” She yelled, coming up to Tama and nuzzling her. “They’re two girls! They’re beautiful! Come inside!”
This time the scene in the cave was as it should have been: the two proud parents and grandparents gazing at the new-borns, with the rest of the pride forming a circle around them, including Timon and Pumbaa, who were soaking Zazu with tears of happiness. Chaka bounded straight to them.
“Mummy! Daddy!”
“There you are, Chaka! Come and look at your sisters!” smiled Kiara, licking the tiny cubs. As the new arrivals looked at the cubs and wondered over names joyfully, Vitani came up to her half-brother.
“Congratulations Kovu, you’ve finally got some girls in your family!” She said, and Kovu answered with a smile, then asked Kiara something.
“So what are their names?”
Kiara beamed. “I’d like to call this one Arina, but what about this one?” She licked the other cub, that had a darker pelt than its siblings.
“Hmm…” Kovu wondered.
“What about Kazia?” asked Chaka, looking up at them with his green eyes.
“Kazia…I like it.”
“Kazia it is then.”
Chaka suddenly remembered another newcomer he had seen earlier.
“Grandpa?”
“Hm?”
“We saw a strange lion earlier on, he looked like you! Are there anymore lions in the Pridelands?”
Simba frowned. “No, are you sure you saw one?”
“Yeah, we saw him too, sir!” said Koda.
Simba looked towards Kovu. He thought that a rogue in the Pridelands was a great opportunity to train him to be ruler. “I’ll look around later, do you want to come, Kovu?” He knew that he may want to spend more time with his family at the moment.
Kovu shrugged. “Fine, ok.”
Not yet though, thought Simba, bending down to see the cubs again. They need to enjoy their family first. After all, their first time didn’t go exactly to plan.
Chapter 3:
Two days later, Simba and Kovu went for a patrol around the Prideland borders, searching for the lion that the cubs had seen. After a few hours of searching, they stopped at a large tree.
“There’s no sign of any lion, do you think that Chaka made a mistake?” Asked Kovu, but Simba shook his head.
“No, the other cubs saw a lion too. We should call it a day.”
“Ok then, we’ll search again tomorrow.”
“No, let him go in peace. We’ll tell the animals to inform us if they see anyone”
So after a brief rest, the two lions got up and informed the animals of the possibility of a rogue. Quite a lot of them were uneasy around Kovu for obvious reasons, and Simba had to reassure the dark lion of their coming to trust him in the future.
There were no more sightings of any lions, so the event was forgotten. Kazia and Arina grew into sturdy cubs, and Chaka spent more time playing and looking after them. Arina was very playful and bright, always asking questions and willing to learn more, while Kazia was quiet and hot-tempered, often moaning if Chaka or Arina pounced on her. Koda and company had begun their climb into adolescence. Koda and Zara had become particularly good friends.
Kovu and Kiara continued their training to be king and queen, but Simba always made sure they had time to spend with their cubs. Nala was a very good grandmother, even Kazia smiled and went into a playful mood when out with her.
Many happy times passed, but one day, as Kiara was playing with Arina and Chaka, (Kazia was licking herself further off on a rock) Vitani sprinted up Pride Rock and back down again.
“Hey Vitani, what’s the rush?” asked Kiara, slightly concerned by her frantic eyes.
“Have you seen Simba and Kovu?” She asked quickly, looking around.
“They went out together again, why?”
“We saw three lions near the waterhole! Which way did they go?”
Kiara looked stunned, three lions? What were they doing here? Was one of them the lion they had searched for months ago? She shook herself before answering. “Th-That way, towards the large hollow tree.”
“Thanks,” Rasped Vitani before bolting off that way.
“Anything I could do to help?” yelled Kiara after her.
“Alert the others!” shouted Vitani, running through the plain.
“I’ll get the cubs back too!”
As soon as Vitani was out of sight, Kiara dashed around Pride Rock to alert the other lionesses. She, Timira, Nala and a couple of lionesses went after Vitani to join Simba and Kovu, while others stayed at Pride Rock with Chaka, Kazia and Arina or went searching for the other cubs.
When they found Vitani, she had just finished telling Simba and Kovu about the rogues, and they all started towards the waterhole. With the help of some animal witnesses, they found the tracks of the lions, and didn’t need to follow them long to find their owners. Well, the lions found them.
Just as they were about to lose the paw prints and scent again, a voice came from on top of a rock.
“Hey,”
Everyone turned to see a lion with golden fur and a red-ish brown mane standing on the rock, looking down on them almost timidly. Two more lions came up from behind him, and some of the lionesses braced themselves for any violence. One lion had a black mane, brown tail tuft, peachy coloured fur and tufts of mane on his ears, though they were hard to spot. He looked as old as Simba, and had amber-red eyes. The other was darker than the others, but not as dark as Kovu, and he had dark brown eyes.
Simba stepped forward with the usual pridelander pose of pride, strength and wisdom. The other lions recoiled slightly. “Good day, and to who am I speaking? I’m afraid that rogues have to ask permission from the resident pride for passage through the lands.” He said, firmly but without any threat in his voice.
“We’ve come a long way, in mind more than distance, and we do not wish to simply pass through these lands.” said the black-maned lion, being as polite as he could to the king, though his statement still aroused some disturbance among the lionesses.
“What do you want to do with the Pridelands then?” asked Kovu, obviously raising his guard a bit. He hadn’t said it as kingly and grand as Simba did, and the rogue that looked a bit like Simba eyed him slightly, almost suspicious and confused. Then he lifted his head high, climbed down and looked Simba straight in the eye. “We wish to come home, father.”
These few words caused such amazement amongst the pridelanders that many shook their heads and wondered if they’d heard wrong. But Nala held her gaze and stared at the lion, who smiled back at her. Something about that smile and those adventurous eyes seemed familiar… so familiar…and then it clicked. She gasped and stared harder, her blue eyes set only on the lion, ignoring everyone’s eyes turning towards her.
“Kopa…?” she whispered, and at the nod of the lion’s head she threw herself at him, hugging him and crying with joy and emotion. He hugged her back, licking her with affection and on the verge of tears too. She broke away from him for a moment to look at Simba, a long lost happiness finally being restored to her eyes. “Simba, he’s alive…our baby…!”
Simba grinned, completely astounded and unable to believe his eyes. Their Kopa, whom they thought Zira had killed…
He jumped up and joined in the hug, followed by Kiara (Who could only vaguely remember having a brother, but could clearly remember her parent’s grief.) and the pridelander lionesses that had known Kopa, including Timira, who was good friends with him. More than that, they were betrothed. Kovu and Vitani stood awkwardly to the side, puzzled.
“But how can it be..? Zira confessed that she’d killed you!” cried Simba, though part of him had already accepted the fact that Kopa was alive. After all, didn’t everyone think he was dead when he ran away?
“It’s a very long story, dad. It’s not important right now.”
“So, who are your friends?” asked Nala, looking at the other two lions that had just climbed down too.
“I think you’ll remember them,” smiled Kopa, stepping aside.
“Yeah, I do…” muttered Simba, trying to think of who they might resemble.
The black-maned lion stepped forward, then spoke as if he’d known Simba and Nala since forever. “Hey you two, we haven’t seen each other in a while… I can’t remember the last time I came to visit you!”
“Malka?!” cried the king and queen. “It’s been ages! What happened? We could never contact you since Scar took over, and then...when he was defeated…your pride had gone somewhere!” Malka was their cubhood friend, who lived with the pride next door. They met when he got lost into the Pridelands, and Mufasa let him stay until they found his pride. Even though Simba was jealous of him at first, they soon became friends, and after he got picked up by his mum, Malka often came to visit. However, when Scar came to the throne, he didn’t want the two prides communicating with each other, kept Zazu in a cage and made sure that hyenas patrolled the borders as much as possible.
“Well,” said Malka, a sad smile on his face. “I think I’ll explain that afterwards, when the whole story is told.”
“It’s good to see you again, Malka!” beamed Simba, then turned to the last lion, which had been staying back a bit until now. “And who may you be?”
“Well, I-er…” stammered the lion, then pulled himself together. “Is Kula here?” he asked, glancing around.
“No, and how do you know her?” asked Nala, though she was pretty sure she knew the answer by now.
“Just thought it would be nice to greet my mum, y’ know…”
“Afua…?” breathed Timira. “Wow! I thought I’d never see you again!” She was about to jump up on him with joy, but restrained herself shyly.
“It’s good to be back, I suppose,” He beamed.
Then almost all the lions gathered in a group, greeting each other, laughing, smiling, great losses lifted from their shoulders. Vitani also ventured in a bit, she was unusually intrigued by the golden lion, interested in who he was and what his past was like. Kovu stood circling the crowd, confusion showing in his eyes. Suddenly he caught Kopa’s eye, and they both stared at each other, each with the same weariness and uncertainty. Soon the crowd started to break up.
“Sorry Simba, but I’m still not quite sure about who they are… who’s Kopa?” questioned Kovu uncertainly, almost taking the same question out of Kopa’s mind. Simba chuckled, then moved out the way so that Kovu and Kopa could see each other face to face.
“Sorry, Kovu! I forgot all about explanations! Kopa’s my son, he was born before Kiara, but a long time ago he disappeared.” He cringed slightly at the memory. “We found Zira, with blood on her paws… she confessed that she had killed Kopa…We thought he was dead…” Kovu sighed, another terrible deed his own mother had done! Simba remembered the devastation, the anger, the grief. He now knew what Nala had felt like when she found him in the jungle.
He then explained who Malka was, then Afua. He had also disappeared at the same time as Kopa. Though Zira said she didn’t know where he was and didn’t care, everyone had assumed that he was dead too. Then Simba remembered that Kopa also had no idea who Kovu was.
“This is Kovu, Kiara’s mate. They’ve also got a story of their own, but that should wait until later. Come on, we’ll head back to Pride Rock. There we can share our tales.”
So with one last hug, the lions and lionesses headed back to Pride Rock, where Afua was reunited with his mother, Malka met Tama and Kula (Whom he had also played with as a cub.) And Kopa was reunited with the pride, and met all the others he didn’t already know.
As soon as this was finished, the whole pride sat down to listen to the story the three lions had to say.
So...I'll be adding more!
!