tossing this up, finally, even though i wrote it waaaay back in april during thesis hell

weep for yourself, my man
you know that you have seen this all before
tremble, little lion man, you'll never settle any of your scores

Riku is about to open his mouth and say that they had run for half the night until their paws were numb to find Kovu before the Outsiders could attack Pride Rock, that the moon had long set and dawn might break soon, that if he wants to prevent war in the Pride Lands he needs to act immediately - but Kovu is already shaking his head. This place, a shallow chasm in a gorge, lets in the dim starlight only in patches. Riku can barely make out Kovu's outline. "What can I do?" Kovu asks mournfully. It isn't really a question. "Simba's pride doesn't trust me. I've been banished from the Pride Lands." He pauses like he might stop there, but then goes on: "Zira was right - it's my fault Nuka fell! I'm the one who's caused all of this! Maybe…"

(Riku can sense it already: a cold sensation in his gut and the tips of his fing—er, paws. The darkness senses Kovu's guilt and despair. It's moving, he thinks, and he feels himself tensing.)

"Kovu, it wasn't your fault," Kairi says, stepping forward beside Riku. "Nuka couldn't free himself from the darkness before it was too late, but you -"

"What about me?" Kovu snarls. He steps forward into a patch of starlight. Kairi gasps and Riku can't figure out why for a second until he sees it - a white, half-moon scar down Kovu's right eye. "Zira's made it visible to everyone now. That I'm Scar's heir - that I'm his - his…" Kovu turns his head to hide his right side. (Riku can practically taste the darkness in the air, and Kairi lowers her body next to him, near-prepared to pounce.) "…Maybe I should just go back to the Outsiders." Kovu begins to turn away. "Where I belong."

Then it happens.

Riku sees a tawny blur flash past him and for a second he thinks Kairi has leapt at Kovu, but her fur is lighter and she's on his other side so - that's Lea, who has been uncharacteristically quiet for so long that Riku forgot he was there - "What are you doing?!" Riku shouts, but it is drowned out by Lea's roar, a roar so loud and deep and angry that the sound of it seems to make its own wind. Chips of rock chitter against the stone beneath their paws. Nighttime and daytime birds alike are startled above them in the gorge, screeching and flapping away in a cacophony that only prolongs the sound of the roar itself, a volley of echoes that build on their own momentum. That clammy feeling from the gathering darkness has dissipated - the sound is so loud that as it dies, it seems to leave behind a vacuum.

Lea had pounced and pinned Kovu prone for a second - Kovu rallies now and kicks his hind legs up into Lea's chest and flings them apart, and the two of them circle one another, hissing. Riku and Kairi (it seems) are paralyzed. Lea's huge red mane seems even huger - it's practically standing on end. (Not that Riku is slightly jealous and feels a little inadequate in comparison or anything.)

They circle and circle and their growling dies slowly into silence. Kovu is defensive, bewildered but angry, threatened. "So you give up," Lea finally snarls.

Kovu snaps his jaws. "Try me."

Lea shakes his head and bares his fangs to the gums. This has the side effect of calling more attention to his mane, making him look a lot bigger than Kovu. "You're gonna go crawling back to mommy. And her den of hate. That hate that's turning your brothers and sisters into Heartless one by one because you all just can't let it go."

"I'm not - "

"Nuka made a choice!" Lea roars again, not quite as impressively as the first time. "And if you go back, you're making a choice, too! Do you think that's what Kiara wants? Think about that!"

Kovu flinches when he hears Kiara's name. "She's…" - faltering - "She's better off without me. Look at me. I don't have a choice."

Lea pounces again. Riku leaps to catch him in midair and misses by a hair's-breadth (he is still not used to four legs and the dim light in the gorge makes it tough to judge distance and timing). Kovu dodges but pins himself against the wall when he ducks the wrong way - Lea slams down close by, whirls, and lashes out with a front paw to smack Kovu's head against the stone. Kovu stumbles, dazed, and although Lea doesn't pin him again, he is crouching so close that Kovu has no chance to run.

"Don't!" Riku cries.

There is a moment of thick, blank silence.

"You always have a choice," Lea whispers.

(Riku can see Kairi suddenly start up, as if she has realized something.)

Kovu shakes his head slowly, trying to clear it. Riku can see he didn't mean it as an answer. Lea apparently can't. "YOU ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE!" he roars again. The sustained roaring has already weakened his voice. It keeps cracking. "Are you gonna let a - a scar on your face determine your destiny?"

"Lea…" Kairi says softly.

"Are you gonna let it drag you to hel—"

This time Kairi says it loud enough to carry. "Lea."

Lea stops pacing in front of Kovu. Turns back towards Kairi, who shakes her head slowly, her eyes on his. He seems to deflate slowly. Backs up a few paces, although Kovu is clearly not going anywhere for at least another minute. "Do whatever you want," he mutters, turning away. "But whatever you do, it's on you. No one else."

He springs suddenly to a shelf of rock, across to another, and up and out of the chasm into the gorge proper. Only Kairi chases after him.