Disclaimer: All characters mentioned belong to Disney.

Thanks to TweakerWolf for correcting the mistakes in my English in this story! Your advice for stylistic corrections was also very helpful! I hope my writing wasn't too confusing to read through :)

The sun went down in the Outlands, finally giving its inhabitants some rest from the heat. The lionesses trailed to the termite mound to get some sleep after another long day of training. Only one of them was missing: Zira; their leader spent hours away from home, spying on their enemy – Simba, the King of the Pridelands.

Even though this happened frequently, her eldest, Nuka, didn't take her absence very well. He was walking around their sleeping place, worried about what could happen if the Pridelanders noticed his mother in their domain. "Why isn't she back yet? It's already dark outside, they should've all gone to sleep by now… What if they attacked her? What if she gets hurt? No. No, no, no. That shouldn't happen," Nuka muttered quietly, unable to find a place for himself.

"Quit it", a voice near him said. His sister, Vitani, has been watching him pace back and forth with distaste. "Someone's trying to sleep here, y'know? If you're not going to do what Mother told you, at least don't irritate everyone else!"

"It's none of your business!" Nuka snapped. "And, you know what, if something happens, someone needs to be ready to help, while you're enjoying your sleep!"

"Pfft, yeah. Like you'd be much help if someone decides to attack us or, whatever your idea of something happening is… " Vitani said, turning to her side, now facing the wall.

"More help than you two!" exclaimed Nuka, looking at Kovu, who was silent with his eyes shut, but Nuka knew for sure he wasn't sleeping. Every time Nuka talked, that little pest pretended like he wasn't here – oh right, the "chosen one" was too high above any regular Outsider, even if it was his brother, and–

"If you're not planning to shut up, maybe you should actually start on Mother's task?" suggested Vitani.

Nuka sighed. If she thinks he's going to tell the little termite bedtime stories, than she doesn't know him too well! It's not like he even had any idea of what he should be telling. Their mother usually told Kovu long and exceptionally dramatic tales about Scar becoming the ruler of his kingdom, and how astonishingly smart his plan was, and how he got rid of his arrogant, undeservedly honored brother…

"Fine. I have a good story for you", Nuka said, coming up to Kovu's bed.

Kovu opened his eyes, feeling his brother approach. Pretending to be asleep wouldn't work with Nuka – he might be able to pull off faking deep unconsciousness when their mother's stories got long, or when she sang to him, but Nuka knew that parasite better than she did.

"Well, uh… Let's start…" said Nuka awkwardly, scratching his shoulder. "I'll tell you a story about a lion. He was a son of a king, but the king didn't make him his heir–"

"Is this one of the stories Mother likes telling? About Scar?" Kovu asked with a slightly annoyed expression.

"NO, that's not about Scar! And don't interrupt me!" Nuka yelled, waking up some of the lionesses in the mound. "Uh… Sorry", he uttered at them apologetically.

"Idiot", said one of them, accompanying her insult with a few words one shouldn't say around cubs.

"Where did I stop at– Ah. The king. He was cruel to his son, and for some reason decided his firstborn wasn't good enough to become his successor! Who knows why he did that – maybe because he was a terrible king and inflicted starvation on his land, and he knew his son would be so much better than him, and he should make someone else king so he'd be just as horrible."

"Wow, that king sounds even worse than Simba," Kovu said.

"Uh… probably," Nuka mumbled in confusion. "Anyway, that bad king was also bad father, so he told his queen he needed another cub for an heir! She went off and soon had two extremely annoy– I-I mean, adorable cubs, and the Cruel King announced one of them would take his place. The Real Prince was devastated. How could his father betray him like that? But then he remembered that his father was a jerk, and it all became clear."

Nuka heard Vitani laughing behind his back.

"Mind if I retell your story to Mother when she returns? It's pretty interesting, I'm sure she'd like it," she suggested.

"There is… No… Need for that," Nuka groaned, giving his sister an angry look. "It is an, um, old story, everybody knows it. You two are just too little to know stuff that older brothers know," he said, turning back to Kovu.

"So, the Cruel King's heir now was a little cub who couldn't even say two words. The Real Prince didn't know what to do, and he thought he'd just wait until his father realized he was a lot better than that mewling thing. But fate didn't spare the prince, and soon his father was killed!"

"How sad!" exclaimed Kovu.

"Yes, very sad!" Nuka nodded. "But it gets even sadder! The Real Prince and his mother, and these two other cubs, they had to leave their home because the killer made himself king of their land!"

"That happened to someone else, too?" Kovu asked with surprise.

"Hmm, yeah, that happens sometimes. But their Brave Mother didn't give up! She assembled her loyal lionesses and told them that they would reclaim their kingdom someday! But unfortunately, she loved the Cruel King too much, that was why she decided his heir will rule, not she herself. The Real Prince was desperate. Everyone loved the Cruel King's heir, no one even noticed him anymore! By that time he had grown into a young handsome lion with a good portion of strength, and a brilliant mind too. And he waited for a chance to let his Brave Mother see what he could do for her."

"Sounds like that lion was a total loser," Vitani chuckled.

"What? No! He waited for the right moment to show his mother what he was really worth! What kind of loser does that?"

"The pathetic kind."

"That's it! You two, stop interrupting me! You're ruining my story! Uh… Sorry again," Nuka noticed one of the lionesses lifting her head. "Anyway… When it was time for the Cruel King's heir to reclaim the throne, he left home, and everyone was exulting, thinking he'd soon be their ruler. But the Real Prince knew what the heir was really like. The heir was so pampered and spoiled that he didn't care about what his family was going through."

Kovu raised his eyebrows and looked up at Nuka. "But why didn't he care? They were his family!" he asked in shock.

"He didn't care because he was always given everything, while the rest of his family was starving!" Nuka whispered loudly, as if stating the obvious. "He didn't understand how horrible their life was! And he was making things even worse without realizing it! That's why when he went off to claim the kingdom, you know what he did?"

Kovu shook his head, staring at his brother with wide eyes.

"He betrayed them!" declared Nuka dramatically.

Nuka heard some motion from behind – Vitani was shaking from silent laughter.

"That's not funny! If you were the one betrayed, you'd realize!" hissed Nuka in her direction with resentment.

"What happened next? Does the story end well?" inquired Kovu, who now was sitting on his bed with his ears raised up, waiting for Nuka to continue with genuine interest.

"You want to know? Fine." Nuka inwardly congratulated himself; even their mother couldn't always make that bratty cub listen. "Soon, everyone realized something went wrong. The Spoiled Heir was jumping around in their Enemy's kingdom, having fun and doing nothing, as usual! That was when the Real Prince realized it was time to take action, otherwise they would never return home to the prosperous land, and their Brave Mother would never be happy again!"

"Let me guess, his action was yelling about how he could make everything right?" suggested Vitani with a smug sarcastic smile.

"It wasn't!" proclaimed Nuka victoriously. "What it was, instead, was him asking their mother to give the traitor some time".

"What a smart decision!" commented Vitani. "I'm sure that solved their problem fast and effectively."

Nuka let out a slight growl. "You wanted me to tell the story, so please listen! Or I can stop telling it!"

"No, I want to know how it ends!" protested Kovu, looking at Vitani disapprovingly.

"Fine. I'll just sit in the corner. Quietly." said Vitani, rolling her eyes.

Nuka opened his mouth. Vitani, however irritating, was his support. And now he was one on one with Kovu; one of the last things he wanted to happen. He almost considered asking his sister to come back, but then decided to not give her an extra reason to ridicule him.

"When… When the traitor betrayed…" he recollected himself, eyeing Kovu, who was leaning towards him. "Well, the Real Prince asked his family to wait – wait for an opportunity to see whose side their so-called savior was really on, because their Brave Mother didn't want to believe she put so much hope in this guy only for him to betray them! But the Spoiled Heir really was that ungrateful, and once his mother and siblings caught him chatting with the Enemy, one on one, about how naïve his family was and how he could forget about them now and live his life happily!"

"That's horrible!" Kovu exclaimed. "I mean, this heir was kinda evil, wasn't he?"

"He was! The Cruel King chose him for a reason. But luckily, his evil deeds didn't ruin his family's life: he wasn't just treacherous, he was a coward! So when he saw his family approaching, he winced and ran away while they were having a battle with their Enemy." Nuka made a tense pause. "And so, they fought fiercely against the usurper. But something went wrong during the fight. The Enemy almost escaped! Luckily, the Real Prince knew what he had to do. He bravely risked his life to get him!"

"Oh no! Did he survive?" Kovu was now standing on his bed, and looked so concerned, that Nuka could nearly believe the termite was capable of caring about anyone but himself. That was almost… Touching? Nuka brushed off this thought and continued.

"The Real Prince not only survived, he brought victory to his pride! His Brave Mother was so proud of him, and… so was his sister!" Nuka added less loudly with a quick look to the dark corner of the mound. "His mother realized she'd made a mistake, but she saw how loyal her son was, and she loved him again."

"Phew!" Kovu exhaled with a smile. "But… what about that evil heir? Did he come back to disturb them?"

"Oh, he did come back," nodded Nuka, now smiling widely. He was getting to the most satisfying part of his narration. "And his mother disowned him. She said she wanted nothing to do with him anymore, and that the Real Prince was a much better son to her! She almost exiled him, but the Real Prince asked her to let him stay."

Kovu looked at Nuka with an expression that read "now that is weird". Nuka closed his eyes and lifted his paw, making a gesture for Kovu to wait.

"They let him stay in their kingdom, but they had rules for him. He was to keep away from their mother, because she would never forgive him, and he shouldn't disappoint her more! Oh, and also, he was to give his brother a zebra leg every day, otherwise he'd get chased away for good! The end."

"That's all?" Kovu asked, looking somewhat dissatisfied. "Do you have another story? Did the Real Prince have cubs? Did the Spoiled Heir still plot against them? Did the prince become the king, or was his mother queen and her ruled after her?"

"Mm, I guess that's all for today…" said Nuka confusedly. One story he could pull off, but making up more stuff to entertain that insufferable cub?

His thoughts were interrupted by a shadowy figure entering the mound. Nuka flinched, thinking for a moment that was an intruder – not that it ever happened, but they had been warned someone might try to steal their food... But as the figure got closer, he happily recognized it was Zira.

"M-Mother! You're back!" Nuka leapt towards her, but stumbled against a root and fell on his back while landing.

"Mom! You've been away for a long while! Did you see something important?" asked Vitani, getting to her paws and walking closer to Zira. She stepped on Nuka's tail while doing so.

"Nothing I hoped for. Simba and his daughter were lying on the grass senselessly staring at the stars," Zira said tiredly with slight disappointment in her voice. "How's Kovu?" She immediately inquired, now looking at her youngest son's bed.

Nuka flinched again. Kovu wasn't sleeping. The story he told him kept him awake the whole time.

"Ah, my little conqueror. Dreaming about getting us out of this hellhole," Zira said proudly, watching a ball of fur softly breathing on a stump.

Nuka blinked. 'I'm lucky he's good at pretending,' he thought. Otherwise, Nuka would get yelled at on top of being ignored. Or even hit on the head.

"I'm so tired." Zira suppressed a yawn. "You two should be sleeping as well," she told to her eldest cubs while strolling to her sleeping place.

Vitani turned back to her corner, and Nuka followed her.

"You won't… You're not gonna tell Mother which story I told him, right?" Nuka whispered nervously in Vitani's ear.

Vitani rolled her eyes.

"We'll see," she replied, and added, seeing Nuka's horrified face, "If you behave well."

Nuka breathed out.

"But now it's time for the Real Prince and his pride of fleas to go sleep," Vitani murmured with a smile.