It makes it harder knowing it. Simba was standing right by his mate, having a sad expression, and gazing down at his paws. Hadn't it been a while now? He was told he had two cubs, a boy and a girl. But, the thing was, his son wasn't going to make it. His daughter was perfectly fine while her brother was not. It was something about an illness his son was born with, and it was almost the something his Uncle had when born.

A sigh escaped his lips as he could only hear his mate try and keep her tears from falling down anymore than they were already doing. Rafiki was doing all he could to try and keep his son from dying but the king didn't know what to think anymore. Apparently hearing his son would die was making him all the more nervous to be a father to his only cub left.

"I did all I could."

The voice came from the den entrance. Simba's heart dropped instantly, making Rafiki feel bad. However, it's not like this hadn't happened before, during many rules of the Great Kings and Queens cubs had died, and this wasn't new. But it just felt so horrible! Just the other day they were talking about names for their little ones. Right away Nala gazed down to the cub in her paws and nuzzle her to have some sort of comfort. Simba only gazed at the wise man before giving out to his tears.

Rafiki had let them see their son one last time before he went to bury the young cub who never got to live. He looked so much like Simba to the point where it hurt to see the cub. The small tiny cub who looked so peaceful instead of in pain.

"Send the word out, Rafiki. They should know of their prince who never saw the daylight."

Another sob came from the brokenhearted queen as Simba nuzzled his queen. His eyes landed on his daughter. The only living heir left and he bite his lip. A queen on his throne instead of his son. He swore his daughter would be living her life without any harm coming her way.

"I want him back badly, Simba. It's not fair he had to go."

"Nala, I want that too. But we have to move on, even if we had just gotten the news of his passing. I'm sorry you had to go through this."

The sadness didn't fade from them, both were sure it wouldn't be the same since the young prince's passing. It was Nala who whispered the name they had chosen for their little fighter. Kion. Simba almost winced at the name now.

The queen merely kept whispering it under her breath to help her. As if he was right there along side them. Sleeping next to his sister. Like he was batting at his paws softly at Kiara's muzzle to get more warmth from their mother, like a sibling fight had already went down.

But that wouldn't happen now.

"You're going through this as much as I am, Simba. You don't need to say sorry."

With that said, Simba took a deep breath. Trying not to cry was his biggest thing he could always fail at. Crying. Crying when his father died, and now, he had to keep himself from crying at his son's death. Again. He failed.

Their crying had woken the young princess up but it seemed like she was staring at something that wasn't there. She even batted her paws at the air, and her parents gave a small purr followed by more tears coming down their faces.

"What's is she batting at?"

It came from a lioness coming into the den. Followed by more lionesses. Sarabi and Sarafina shared a look before going to nuzzle and comfort their respective cubs. They had heard of their grandson's passing but the rest of the pride hadn't.

"Perhaps she's just moving her paws around, most cubs do that." Sarabi explained while nuzzling her son.

The king and queen never responded to any questions the pride had. The ex-queen and her friend tried to answer the best they could about what they were crying about until the pride got the message clear. A second cub hadn't lived on and it was even hard for the pride.

Such an innocent life taken away. What were the Great Kings and Queens thinking? Surely they would get over the death the best they could without making too much of a scene. Hopefully they wouldn't have the Outsiders learn of this news.

They would take it as the perfect time to attack while they were still grieving.

"They'll move on and go back to their duties soon. They need time to grieve for their young one, and try to figure out how they'll tell Kiara once she's older."

Simba froze, the words his mother spoke sank into his mind. Slowly, he lifted his head and gave a frown. He knew it wouldn't be fair but there was no way his daughter could learn about her brother and how it all played out at the start.

"She'll never know of Kion."

The pride stared at him. Along with Nala, with her eyes clouded with sadness and almost red. At one point, they all swore Simba had lost his mind while explaining why she would never know of Kion. At the very end of his speech, Nala looked away from him.

Muttering something under her breath.

"I just want what's best for my little girl, even if that means keeping her brother a secret from her."

At the end of the day, they could only agree to go along with the plan. Have Kiara never know of her brother, and try to keep their sadness in check. Once the animals had heard about Kion's passing, a huge sadness hung around the Pride Lands.

While trying to sleep for Kiara's presentation, Nala couldn't close her eyes. Afraid she might see her son in her dreams. Simba was quick to catch onto his queen's thoughts about it.

"It'll be fine. Just go to sleep."

"I hope your right, Simba."

If there was one thing they never wanted to do at the moment, it would be having a presentation for their daughter. Nala had been trying to keep it together from yesterday, despite her heart hurting more than ever. Simba was trying to make sure Nala still knew she had another cub and it wasn't going to end the world.

They would try again for another cub.

That was something Nala didn't want to hear from her husband's mouth. It got her fear of another dying cub to raise up and come into her life. Simba knew right away if they wanted another cub, then the best bet would be to adopt a stray cub.

And maybe be able to have a cub of their own once more.

Waiting for Rafiki to arrive, it gave them time to clean Kiara up but all she did was stare at some empty space and begin to swat at it. They passed it off as trying to learn how to walk and such. They weren't going to think of it as anything else.

"Are you ready?"

It was Rafiki standing there at the entrance, ready to explain what would happen. Simba had asked if they could bring Kiara out herself before handing her to Rafiki. He had agreed, moving out to the peak of Pride Rock while waiting for the royal couple.

Simba had made sure Nala took deep breaths before picking up her daughter and moving towards Rafiki. Kiara could only stare at the ground like something was there. Moving with her all the way and she smiled and gave a giggle.

Her parents smiled brightly before handing her off to Rafiki.

She blinked when something was put onto her forehead and when she was held up to the Pride, Kiara gave a smile and flipped her arms up and down.

The sun shining down onto her before she was taken down and given back to her parents. Her gaze went back to the ground, trying to get closer to the ground, wanting to play with something there. Rafiki assured Simba and Nala it would pass.

"I feel like she's seeing something we're not."

"As do I, Nala. But we don't know for sure. She's a baby, just like Rafiki said, it'll pass when she's older."

For once Nala couldn't agree with her mate. Something was very off, and she wanted to know what it was. When it was time for Kiara's nap, she gave her to Sarabi and headed off somewhere.

Rafiki's tree.

However, when she came back from the tree, she was gazing at her daughter. Not even Rafiki knew what was wrong, and he had been trying to figure it out from seeing her the other day. They would need to keep their eyes on her for sure.

Simba had greeted his mate with a nuzzle.

"Where did you go?"

"Rafiki's tree, I needed to ask him something."

The king gave her a look, but didn't question her.

"Alright. You're just in time, Kiara's hungry and wants her mother. I tried holding her to get her to calm down, but it just won't do."

"That's because she's closer to her mother."

All was perfect in that moment.