Chapter 1

The Storm

Kion ran ahead of the group, Janja and his clan were attacking, and though Kion was more than happy to greet them, he couldn't ignore the pouring rain. He glanced over at Fuli, her fur was plastered to her.

"It just had to be today that the hyenas decided to raid the pridelands?" she questions.

"Relax Fuli, we'll be done with these mouse-brains in no time" Kion encouraged as he raced ahead. He glanced up to see Ono circling ahead. "Ono what's going on?"

"Stop!" Ono shouted. "Kion stop!"

Kion slammed to a halt, his paws skidding across the ground. Before him the river was raging wildly. The hyenas stood on the other side, their eyes panicked. Even Janja seemed afraid. It was rising too fast. The pridelands were going to flood.

"Ono fly to the herds we need to…" he started but was then cut off as he was knocked to the ground. Janja stood over him, his eyes blazing.

"Gotcha now Kion" he chuckled. "You thought the river would stop me from getting to you when your out in the open?"

"Not quite."

Suddenly Janja was knocked away from him, he glanced over to see Fuli helping Kion to his paws. He was about to pounce again when he spotted Beshte racing to their side, followed closely by Bunga.

"Your outnumbered Janja" Kion growled. "Go home."

Janja glanced over his shoulder to see Cheezi and Chungu standing across the river looking over at him worriedly. There was no way they were going to challenge the fierceness of the river.

"You haven't seen the last of us Kion" Janja said with a snap of his jaws. "As long as there's food in the pridelands, we will never stop coming."

Kion bared his teeth and Janja leapt back across the river with impressive force.

"Kion you okay?" Beshte asked as he finally reached him.

"I'm fine" he answered. "We have to get the herds to higher ground" he stated. He glanced down at his paws, the ground under him was becoming mushy. The waters were rising.

"What are we standing around for then?" Bunga questioned. "Let's go!"

Bunga charged forwards and the others followed, Kion and Fuli were soon in the lead again and upon reaching the zebras Kion was out of breath from the trek. He spotted Thurston, the leader of the zebras standing there. His herd was panicked already and were coming to him asking what to do.

"You need to move to higher ground" Kion interrupted with a pant. "The water is coming fast."

"Hold it Kion, I'm the leader here" Thurston said stubbornly.

"Okay then what do you suggest we do?" Fuli cut in.

"We need to get the herd to higher ground!" Thurston declared.

The guard all rolled there eyes and Kion glanced up at Ono. "Ono can you find a safe place? And lead them there? I need to get to the rest of the herds."

"Affirmative" Ono answered instantly. He narrowed his eyes and spotted a hill nearby. "Follow me!" Ono called.

Thurston cleared his throat. "Follow the bird!" he said loudly as if to cut him off. Ono sighed and shook his head as he zipped through the sky heading for the hill. The zebras all took off and Kion and Fuli raced to the others. Bunga and Beshte split up from them to reach other herds. They knew it would be faster this way.

As Kion went to warn the herds he heard a cry for further off and spotted a small gazelle being swept off into the river. His eyes widened as he raced towards it.

"Kion I can get there faster" Fuli interjected. "You need to lead the herd."

"Right" Kion agreed, feeling stupid for trying to outrace her. She was the fastest after all. As Kion led the herd of antelope he glanced over towards the river, something was wrong. He could sense it. And that's when he saw Fuli collapse under the weight of the gazelle, and her head disappear beneath the roaring current.

He spun around and headed towards her, the gazelles began to wander aimlessly. He threw himself into the water, grabbing Fuli by the scruff of her neck and pulling her towards the bank. He could hear the cries of the baby gazelle being swept off and he struggled back and forth between the two of them. But he knew he couldn't save them both. Kion squeezed his eyes shut in regret as he turned from the baby and dragged the unconscious Fuli to the edge of the riverbank. The water was still rising and he shook her to wake her up. When she finally opened her eyes Kion didn't say a word. He led her to the higher ground, along with the antelope and they all stood on the hillside as they watched the plains flood.

Fuli looked around at the group and her eyes widened as she realized she couldn't find the baby gazelle. "Where is she?" Fuli asked.

"Who?" Kion replied.

"The gazelle Kion!" Fuli said with agitation clear in her voice.

"I…" Kion started. "I had to let her go."

Fuli's mouth fell open. "Go? What do you mean you had to let her go?"

"It was either her or you Fuli" Kion replied. "There was no way I was going to just leave you to drown."

She glared at him, her face drawn into a scowl. "What were you thinking?" she demanded. "We're the Lion Guard Kion, it's our job to protect all the others."

"And it's my job to protect my friends!" he exclaimed. "Did you really expect me to just let you go?" Beshte and Bunga heard their voices rise and wandered over to try and understand what had their tails all in a knot.

"What happened?" Beshte asked, concern was lighting up his every feature.

"Kion here let a gazelle get killed today that's what!" she hissed.

"What?" Bunga and Beshte answered together, their eyes wide in confusion.

"Fuli was drowning!" Kion defended. "What was I supposed to do?"

"You were supposed to let me!" Fuli snapped before the others could say anything. "Its your job Kion!"

"Fuli I would have done the same thing" Beshte interjected. "Your one of the guard, our best friend, where would the pridelands be without the fastest?"

"Your all so selfish!" she snarled. She looked down at her paws as if the weight of what had happened was settling down on her. "I'm outta here." And then she was. She headed towards the higher plains and didn't look back.

"Should we go after her?" Bunga asked as he looked over at Kion.

"Let her rest" Kion answered. "We all could use it."

That night as Kion rested in the lair, he couldn't help but hope to see Fuli walk in and lie beside him where she usually slept. He went through the events of the day in his mind. How had Fuli gotten taken down so easily by the river? She'd gotten in it time after time and it had never gotten the best of her. He wondered if maybe he was pushing the guard too hard, making them do too much, and perhaps Fuli had collapsed out of exhaustion. He kept thinking of the moment he thought he had lost her. He knew if anything ever happened to her he would never forgive himself. If anything ever happened to any of them.

They were a team, and as leader, it was Kion's responsibility to keep them safe. He knew he'd sooner die than let anything happen to any of them. Little did he know that just a few short weeks later, one of them would be lost to them forever. And the guard would become forever changed.

This is my first TLG fanfic! Please review and let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions! Thanks so much!