Well, hello there. This here is my first Lion King Fanfiction. I really enjoy writing it and I hope that you will enjoy it, too.
I do not own The Lion King and I make no money writing this.
General Warnings: 1. This story includes forms of child abuse, both mental and physical, because Zira's training simply cannot have been her sitting there and cheering her kids on to do better than an imaginary foe, I will try to keep it down as much as possible, but it will be there - if you cannot handle that please do yourself the favour and do not read this fanfiction.
2. Nuka has been gender swaped for this story, because the story would play out very differently and be much darker than I want it to be if I kept him as he was and would probalbly not have the ending I have in mind for this story. - Perhaps I will one day write that story but right now I do not think I can do it justice.
Please note that english is not my mother tounge so please know that should you find any errors I would be happy to correct them.
Chapter 1
It was still dark when the young cub woke up. The pain in his paws and muscles had prevented him from falling into a deep sleep and actually woke him up now. He looked around tiredly wishing not for the first time that his mother wasn't so obsessed with his training. Spotting his oldest sister near the middle of the cave, right next to the old King, he gave a silent sigh.
Oh, how he wished he could have her life. No training – well no physical training, old King Scar was making sure his sister learned how to hunt and behave like the princess she was, which was something both he and Vitani still had problems with wrapping their heads around.
The King had once said that Aushi might be the oldest but that she was a female and as such not eligible for the throne, but as she was his daughter and therefore a princess she had to be taught how to act.
Vitani was the middle child and a female, too, but strangely enough the old King excluded her from the training Aushi was getting, despite her being another princess. He did remember the looks his mother and his father had exchanged over this decision, his mother had looked strangely cowed.
He, Kovu, was the last one of the former King's children. A male and therefore the next in line for the throne once they had won back the Pridelands. However King Scar was not teaching him right now. Not how to run a kingdom, not even stories that told him how the old King had once ruled with an iron-paw. No, the old King had delegated the task of preparing him for his eventual takeover to his mother.
When he had asked the old King why he taught Aushi the old lion had actually laughed into his face. What he taught his daughter was all that peaceful, useless Circle of Life crap. He told the young cub that he taught Aushi how to walk, talk and think like a Pridelander lioness, because she was an ugly reminder of his mother and his grand-mother.
Afterwards the old lion had started to ramble about some lions called Ahadi and Mufasa... Kovu didn't understand the old lion but thought that he might be going insane and thus left him to talk to himself. He hadn't spoken to the former King since then.
His mother was simply accepting what King Scar was ordering. That was another thing that bothered him greatly, his mother kept accepting and complying no matter what the mad lion said or what he ordered her to do. Like when he organized the hunting party to his eldest daughter's needs – Aushi was a surprisingly large, muscular lioness for her age and needed to be accompanied by swifter, more agile lionesses. His father made it so that Haraka, Kucha and Jua were always on hunting duty with her. Before his return his mother would have pitched a fit and ordered Aushi to lion up and deal with whatever other huntresses she saw fit to accompany her. It also would usually mean that Aushi had to hunt with a group of lionesses that didn't balance each other out resulting in enormous hunting failures which would then be blamed on Aushi alone.
But no, his mother had nodded her head like an obedient little servant and had not interfered with anything. The very same way she had later accepted that old Hazina was now of a higher rank than her and that Aushi would be the one to lead the hunting parties once they returned to the Pridelands. Seeing his mother so silent and obedient, even if this happened only in the old King's presence, was strange and unsettling.
He sighed again and tried to get into a more comfortable position. He would never admit it out loud but he missed his tree-stump, that thing was very comfortable and warmed easier that the ground he was now sleeping on, sadly he had gotten too big for it.
Shifting onto his other side he could see Vitani snoring away peacefully between Madoa and Pua. He both envied her and he didn't. On one paw she was off of their father's radar, there was absolutely no training necessary for her, her father was allowing her to play, to explore, to just be a cub so long as she didn't disturb him. On the other paw she now had to bear the brunt of their mother's ill attitude. Whatever grudges she didn't express with their father, Hazina or her eldest daughter, she now took out on Vitani. It had gone so far that his sister refused to sleep next to her. Their father didn't do anything about the situation and simply let it play out.
And he, himself? Well, he wasn't sleeping anywhere near their mother either anymore, he had lied to her and told her that the King had told him that a strong king was able to sleep by himself. He hadn't seen her smile that brightly in moons and had almost felt guilty of lying to her when she had practically bragged to Taarifu about how their beloved King had finally given her little darling Kovu his first titbit of advice on how to be a mighty king. Almost.
Kovu gave a final sigh, feeling that the exhaustion would now be able to outweigh the pain he was in from all the training he had done earlier, and curled in on himself. There had been so many changes since his father had come back to them: Aushi and Hazina had risen in rank tremendously, Vitani had practically been disowned by their father, his training had been delegated to his mother completely – the pride wasn't allowed to help her in any capacity – and his mother had apparently lost her status as the Queen. She had been booted to the lowest rank this pride had to offer and he had the feeling that the longer his father lived the less likely it would be for his mother to rise to power again and he still didn't know why.
Shortly before falling asleep a sudden thought entered his foggy mind and he strained his neck to take another look at where his father lay and his two favourite lionesses: Hazina and his eldest daughter Aushi. With everything that had occurred recently... the small lion swallowed, he could only hope that Hazina was too old for cubs now and that his sister didn't find a rogue to mate with, otherwise his own position as the crown-prince might not be as safe and sure as he had thought so far.
His head fell back down, he was too tired to hold it up anymore and he finally closed his tired eyes falling asleep easily. There would be no dreams for him tonight.
And done. I hope you liked it so far.
Please give me your thoughts.
BlueNightOwl out.
