The Lion King: War Hero the passing of time
The original basis for the story
Song: Hero of War by Rise Against
AN: hey everybody, I'm still alive! This oneshot is for the people who have read my story and for the people who have yet too.
He said "son, have you seen the world?
Well what would you say if said that you could?
Just carry this gun and you'll even get paid."
"I said that sounds pretty good."
Kovu stared at the lion who called himself "Slash" in wonder as he spoke of the Askari and offered him the chance to join them. His young cub mind saw only the adventure and excitement in Slash's tales of war… The stories of blood and fear and loss and hardship were lost on him. With his mother Zira urging him on, he signed up and along with his sister Vitani; marched away with the Askari three days later.
All too late he would learn that those stories of pain and suffering were what were true, not those of adventure…
Black leather boots
Spit-shined so bright
They cut of my hair but it looked alright
We marched and we sang
We all became friends
As we learned how to fight
Training filled his days, consumed every waking hour of his life. The brief moments of respite he spent with his fellow recruits. He learned their names; their likes and dislikes; their myriad reasons for joining the Askari. Most, like Cutter and Scorch had fled dangerous past lives or grinding famine. A handful were born to the life like Wound. The rest were animals like him, ones who had joined of their own free will with no reason to force them. They all passed miraculously. They had all earned their Kono-Tojo. Their Paw-Tattoo. All were soldiers now. All were friends with a symbol bonding them together. A common flag they united under.
Something worth fighting for. Something worth dying for.
A hero of war
Yeah that's what I'll be
And when I come home
They'll be damn proud of me
I'll carry this flag
To the grave if I must
Because it's a flag that I love
And a flag that I trust
His first combat operation, he forgot the details of why and when long ago. All he remembers now is gore caked everywhere; on the ground; on his claws. Bodies and bits of bodies everywhere; Cannibal manically tearing chunks off a hyena; Kovu and Cutter fighting back-to-back. Slash fighting six hyenas single-pawed and viciously clawing out eyes and throats. It took him years to find out why he hated them so much.
But most important of all; that day, he lost a friend… And he has never forgotten her. Even to this day.
I kicked in the door
I yelled my commands
The children they cried, but I got my man
We took him away
A bag over his face
From his family and his friends
His first torture op. the job was simple and two-fold. Capture the target, "interrogate" him to find out about his pride's capabilities, and then release him back to his pride to send a message. The poor sod was with his mate and cubs when they came for him. They rushed him and his mate, pinning them both down. One of the cubs tried to pounce on Scorch holding down the lioness and Grim caught him out of the air before dropping him and reaching towards his throat. Kovu grabbed his foreleg and reminded him that they weren't here to kill anyone. Hopper, an ape, carried the target away while he and Cutter blocked the entrance to the cave. Inside, the target's mate and cubs cried, begging them not to take him away.
Only then did Kovu start to learn that everyone, even your enemies are still living things with lives and hopes and dreams. He finally learned this in full after the assault on the Tai pride. This realization came far too late for the target of this mission though… far too late.
They took off his clothes
They pissed in his hands
I told them to stop
But then I joined in
We beat him with guns
And batons not just once
But again and again
The target strained frantically against the vines holding him down as they approached; feral grins on their faces. They started with his claws. One by one Grim and Hopper carefully pulled them out from the base. Kovu flinched each time one was pulled from its paw, accompanied by a short spray of blood and blood-curdling scream from the target. That's what he was taught to call them, his "targets," nothing else. Not "enemy," not "hostile" as some thought. Simply "target."
Only too late would he learn what he should have called them… Victims.
A hero of war
Yeah that's what I'll be
And when I come home
They'll be damn proud of me
I'll carry this flag
To the grave if I must
Because it's a flag that I love
And a flag that I trust
Demon's Gorge, the greatest single battle in the history of Africa. It was his last battle. He fought now not for adventure or excitement or for the Askari or his "client," although their reason for fighting was better than most, but for his fellow Askari. His brothers and sisters that he had fought with, joked with, lived with, bled with and almost died with. It was for these animals that he would march into the hell that was Demon's Gorge, and for them he would do it gladly.
Until he found out just what kind of animal one of them was…
She walked through bullets and haze
I asked her to stop
I begged her to stay
But she pressed on
So I lifted my gun
And I fired away
His leg was on fire. Pain ripped through it as the cut bled profusely. He limped back to the medic who gave him what seemed to be the normal painkilling herbs. As Kovu lay there waiting for them to take effect his vision blurred, and his mind clouded. Through the haze of battle-rage and the herbs effects he heard a voice ordering him to clear a cave in the cliffs. Instinct overtook him and he obeyed the voice of authority. He leapt into the cave and saw only targets through the haze of the herbs. None survived. He stood outside, waiting for orders. Then the herbs cleared, he turned. Looked inside and saw what he had truly done.
And in that moment… he changed forever.
A hero of war
Is that what they see?
Just medals and scars
So damn proud of me
And I brought home that flag
Now it gathers dust
But it's a flag that I love
It's the only flag I trust
The two of them stood in front of him grinning. "Now you are like us," they had said. Was he? He did not mean to… it-it was their fault! They had drugged him! All to prove to him that he was like them! The two turned towards the next cave, claws unsheathing. This was something he couldn't allow them to do, he wouldn't! He stepped in front of them and said simply, "I won't let you do that." Unsheathing his claws he prepared to do the unthinkable.
He prepared to kill what was worth fighting for… for he had realized what was worth dying for.
He said "son, have you seen the world?
Well what would you say if said that you could?"