Kovu's Passage
By TK Tiger

As the four lions (Simba, Nala, Kovu and Kiara) stood at the tip of Pride Rock growling at the crowd below they weren't to know what was going to happen in the next few days. With the apparent death of Zira and the disbanding of her followers it seemed that all would be well in the Pride lands. Kovu looked up in to bright afternoon sun and looked forward to the day he would be King and rule by Kiara's side, being able to look up at the stars for guidance from the great Kings of the past, including Simba.

The next day Kovu and Simba were out hunting for antelope when Kovu spotted a herd grazing by the river.
"First one to get a kill" murmured Kovu.
"You're on" replied Simba, slightly worried about Kovu's want to kill.
It was more of a game than a hunt, mainly for Simba to get to know Kovu better.
As the pair stalked the antelope Simba noticed Kovu's stealth and hunting skill, and when they pounced on the antelope, Kovu's kill was much faster than Simba's.
"You hunt well!" commented Simba.
"I was well trained, Zira taught me everything I know about hunting." answered Kovu.
"Why?" asked Simba.
"Zira had a plot...and she wanted me to be part of it, so she trained me to hunt and taught me how to kill anything, including...." Kovu then stopped, checked himself and then quietly said "I can't tell you any more, it's too painful!"
Kovu almost kicked himself, he nearly had said too much. Had he gone on with his sentence there would be no telling what Simba just might do.

Simba and Kovu started to drag the dead antelope back to Pride Rock for all the lionesses to enjoy. While they walked Simba couldn't help noticing Kovu's quietness, almost like he was deep in thought. This unnerved Simba slightly for it less then a fortnight since the ambush but since Zira had been swept down stream and to probable death there seemed no reason to worry.

However Kovu was deep in thought. He knew that if he slipped up again like he had done earlier then Kiara may find out the truth, which may turn her against him. Although at the time he had been sent to kill Simba his love for Kiara prevented him from doing so. He began to wonder if she did have a right to know the truth about his past. Although he has never lied about it, he had never volunteered any information either.

Meanwhile Zazu had been flying around the Pride lands, keeping an eye on things when he noticed a figure lying by the side of a river just outside the boundaries of the Pride lands. Leaving the safety of his home lands to look at this washed up creature put Zazu in mortal danger and he knew this. Cautiously he got closer to the creature, which be now he could tell was a lioness, he landed nearby and slowly crept up on the lioness until he was able to touch her.
Close examination of the face revealed who the lion was. It was a very alive Zira.
"I must warn Simba!" Zazu exclaimed.
As he tuned to fly away Zira got up pounced on Zazu.
"Somehow I don't think you'll be warning anyone today!" said Zira, with an exhausted but evil look in her eye.
"But, but, you're meant to be dead!" cried Zazu
"Am I?" cackled Zira "If I were dead could I do this?"
With that Zira shone her oldish but deadly teeth and that was the last thing Zazu ever saw as Zira bit into his neck, almost taking his head off.

As night fell and the lions had just finished their meaty feast Simba couldn't help wondering where Zazu was but since Nala wanted some attention Simba thought nothing of Zazu's absence. However when morning came and Zazu didn't show up with the morning report as he normally did Simba got worried. Zazu was the king's major-domo and diplomat, without Zazu Simba would have no way of reaching other prides (should he ever have to).

"Have you seen Zazu, Timon?" Asked Simba when Timon and Pumbaa arrived.
"No, you mean the domo's done a dodo?" Joked Timon.
"A what?" Asked Pumbaa
"Yeesh, never mind!"
"Uh!" grunted Pumbaa.
"Anyway, Timon, have you seen him?"
"No, Sorry Simba."

As Simba worried about Zazu, Zira was wondering about her next Meal. A dead Zazu at her feet and feathers round her mouth meant that she had at least got some food, but a bird just wasn't enough, not to sustain a lioness of her stature and although she now was rather thin she still demanded a larger fill than a bird. Zira looked around and saw a small flock of buzzards circling over something.
That something turned out to be a dying young antelope, a much better meal. One bite of it's neck from Zira's teeth meant the antelope died quicker than it would have done if left alone, but with a lot more pain.
And Zira got a decent meal. However Zira never questioned WHY the antelope had be dying as she tucked in to her meal!

The morning sun shone bright and it's heat made Zira think about water and since the river was rather nasty tasting after almost drowning in it she left Zazu's body and went off in search of liquid refreshment. After a short trek through the hot sands Zira thought she could hear voices coming from behind a rock formation.
"You know, if Scar hadn't become king we wouldn't have had to leave the elephant graveyard."
"Yea, Scar was a LOUSY king!"
This last sentence enraged Zira. With the energy from the antelope she pounced to where the voices were coming from, totally forgetting her plight for a drink.
"Scar was a great king!" Roared Zira "And those who disagree I will kill, Personally! Wait a minute, don't I know you?"
The anti Scar voices were Banzi's and Shenzi's. Zira had them backed up against a wall with Ed and they were petrified.
"Who? Us, no, never met! You won't know us!!" snivelled
the two speaking hyenas. "Ed?" Ed stupidly nods.
Zira backed down. "Banzi, Shenzi and Ed. You do know that I
should KILL you for what you did to Scar! Don't you?"
"Kill us?" asked Shenzi, slightly overconfidently. "Lady, you should be thanking us, we helped Scar become king!"
"You also turned against him when Simba was winning."
"Hey, he turned against us." said Banzi "He changed his tune when Simba was winning, he tried to frame us and we weren't having that! We have our dignity too!"
"Exactly!" roared Zira. "And now you shall pay for your crimes!"
"Crimes? Wha.." Shenzi began when Zira pounced on the three hyenas, pinning them. With pure evil in mind she decided to pause for a few seconds, just to let the hyenas suffer before killing them. However just before she went for the kill she felt a sharp pain grip her stomach. A sort of pain that no lion could withstand, a twisting, contorting pain that knotted her stomach, like intergestion but twice as painful. In an attempt to avoid the hyenas getting a waft of an idea that she was in pain, Zira decided to give them just 1 more chance.
"If you help me to overthrow Simba, I can promise you 2 things, first I'll let you live and second you'll get endless food."
"With YOU as queen?" asked Shenzi.
"No, my son, Kovu. He was chosen by Scar himself to be the next King. And when Simba returned it meant that Kovu could no longer be king. And since you managed to aid Scar in the killing of Mufasa you can aid me in the killing of Simba."
"As long as he is better than Scar...." started Shenzi
"You will help me ANYWAY!"

While Zira was encountering the hyenas Simba was organizing a search for Zazu.
"Kovu and Kiara, you go north, if you must go outside the
Pride Lands, only go a little way. Zazu would never go too far
over the boundary. Vitani, can you and the other lionesses cover what used to be the outlands and the South. You know the area better than I do and if you are attacked you and your party will be powerful enough to win any battle. Timon, Pumbaa take the west. If you see anything find me. Nala and Myself will go east. Be back here by nightfall. Go now, hurry!"

As everyone departed Simba looked up at the sky.
"Father, let Zazu be all right!" prayed Simba.
"Come on Simba." said Nala, muzzling Simba comfortingly.

Hours passed and no one had any luck. As the morning sun turned into an afternoon one Simba was getting more and more worried.
"Wait, who's waiting at Pride Rock?" he asked.
"No one, I think. Everybody is out searching." replied Nala.
"But what if Zazu returned?"
"I don't know."
"I must go back." said Simba "Are you capable of searching alone?"
"Wait, Simba, let's ask Rafiki, he'll know what to do."
"Nala, your words are always wise. Let's go."
Simba and Nala then went off to Rafiki's tree unaware that the whole conversation had been watched by a hyena, hiding in the long grass. spying for Zira.

"What?" laughed Zira when the hyena returned. "No one? Excellent! Now is the time to enact my revenge! Hunting for the bird were they?"
The hyena nodded
"Good." growled Zira, in a low deep growl.
"What now Zira?" asked Banzi.
"Now it is time Simba faces his demise! Ah ha ha ha!!!"
"And how are we going to do that?"
"Patience, Banzi, Patience. Go to the Pride Lands. remain undetected and surround Pride Rock. I'll join you shortly."
As the hyenas left in their droves Zira cackled "Now to collect the bait!"

By now the pain had left Zira but she still hadn't had a drink and was now very thirsty, deciding that the river would have to do after all she went started her short trek back to the river to collect Zazu's body and to have a drink.

As Shenzi, Banzi and Ed went with the other hyenas they decided to grab a snack, so the other hyenas went to Pride Rock while the threesome went to hunt some antelope. They found a herd grazing and thought one thing "lunch!". So they went on a wild attack, managing to single out one antelope. As they chased this one antelope they heard a scream. Suddenly Timon and Pumbaa popped their heads out of the long grass.
"ARRRRrrr!! Hyenas!!!" screamed Timon
"ARRRRrrr!! It's them again!!!" was the reply. Then both parties ran off in to the distance, in different directions.

When Timon and Pumbaa recovered from the shock they started to think about what to do.
"You know Pumbaa, hyenas can only spell trouble."
"I can spell more than that!" piped up Pumbaa.
"No, no Pumbaa. I mean that something bad is going to happen."
"We should tell Simba!"
"Yea, we should tell Simba. Pumbaa, I'm glad I thought of it!"
"Ah?" grunted Pumbaa.
"You know Pumbaa, with ideas like that it's no wonder I'm the brains around here! Anyway, on Pumbaa.." said Timon, jumping on Pumbaa's back. "we need to find Simba!".

When Shenzi and friends got to Pride Rock they realized that they should have killed Timon and Pumbaa instead of running away.
"Zira doesn't need to know we were seen, she'll kill us for sure." said a very worried Banzi.
"Relax, that stupid meerkat and that fat, juicy warthog won't know us from any other hyena!" said Shenzi, in a more relaxed state. "Now we just wait for Zira."
"Well I hope she hurries, it'll be dark soon and I bet everyone will return before the night. And anyway, I'm hungry."

While all this was happening Simba and Nala were speaking with Rafiki. Rafiki consulted his plants, mixed some odd potions and came to the conclusion that Zazu was in fact dead.
The news devastated Simba.
"It's all my fault. If I had gone to look for him during the night instead of waiting for day Zazu may still be alive."
"It's not your fault, Simba" Said Rafiki. "If I'm not mistaken Zazu died long before nightfall."
"How can you tell?" asked Nala
"You'd never understand, you are just going to have to trust me! But I can't believe you have left Pride Rock unattended, what were you thinking?" Rafiki shouted the last bit, jumping up and down and getting a bit over excited.
"Calm down Rafiki, wha.." started Simba.
"Calm down??" shrieked Rafiki. "You never know what may happen. You could be invaded or anything!"
"By who?" Nala asked, in a disbelieving tone of voice.
"I dunno! But I know something's not right, and it's connected to Zazu's death. You must go to Pride Rock NOW!!!"

Zira arrived at Pride Rock with the body of Zazu in her mouth. She walked to the tip of the rock and laid down, with her back to the world and her tail dangling over the edge. Carefully placing Zazu down in front of her as she laid down she prepared to rest.
"It's a good job I didn't eat him." Zira commented, looking at Zazu. "However his little feathered friend made a tasty snack."

A short while later Simba and Nala arrived. The hyenas saw Simba and hid in the cave before Simba saw the hyenas. However Simba had seen the tail waving over the side of Pride Rock.
Just then Pumbaa run up, with Timon on his back.
"Who's that?" Pumbaa asked, referring to the tail.
"Maybe Vitani's back!" replied Timon.
"That doesn't look like Vitani's back."
"No, I mean she's returned."
"Oh!"
"Anyway, if it was Vitani there would be other lionesses around, enjoying the sunshine." said Simba.
"So who is it?" questioned Nala.
"I have no idea!" replied Simba. "And there's only one way
to find out!"

Simba jumped up on to the base of Pride Rock, and looked up to the tip. A look of confusion suddenly turned to shock, horror then anger as he saw who owned the tail and what the owner had brought back.

"Zira!" growled Simba
"Simba." laughed Zira "What a pleasant surprise!"
"What are you doing here!"
"Why, I'm here to reclaim what rightfully belongs to Scar!"
"Nothing belongs to Scar, or you!"
"On the contrary, everything belongs to Scar."
Simba looked at Zazu laying dead on the ground. He then looked at a very satisfied Zira.
"Murderer!" muttered Simba.
"As are you, remember Scar? You killed him, and now I'm going to kill you in the same way."

With that all the hyenas came out of hiding and jumped on Simba, taking him by surprise and catching him off guard. As Simba rolled on the ground trying to shake off the hyenas Nala ran up the rock, only to be thrown off by the attacking hyenas.
"YES!!" shouted Zira, seeing Nala's fall "Kill them, make it painful, make it hurt, destroy them!!!"
Timon and Pumbaa looked on in horror.
"We gotta go and help!" Said Pumbaa.
"You're right buddy, lets go and face all those hyenas
without any help from anyone. YEA!! GREAT IDEA!!!!!" shouted Timon in Pumbaa's ear. "If you want to SURVIVE then I suggest we go and find Kovu, Vitani and the other lionesses, before it's too late!"
Pumbaa then turned tail and fled with Timon on his back, leaving the battlefield.

Simba tried to shake off the hyenas but as soon as he got some off some more just jumped on, biting and scratching Simba, and sapping all his energy. Eventually Simba didn't have any more energy left to fight with.
"Stop!" commanded Zira when Simba was almost dead. "I want this pleasure. I have looked forward to this day for years!"
Zira then walked up to the weak figure of Simba and looked over him with an evil smile. As Simba looked up in terror he saw the glint of Zira's teeth.
"You may have managed to defeat me but you will never win the battle!" gasped Simba
"Oh, but I already have!!"
As she said that Zira bit in to the side of Simba's neck. His vision faded to nothing as Zira bit, killing him slowly. The last thing Simba herd was the victorious voice of Zira calling to the hyenas.

"Yess!! We've WON!! Victory is ours!"

Just then Timon, Pumbaa, Kovu and Kiara returned, just in time to watch Zira push Simba's dead body off the tip of Pride Rock falling to the ground below.

"FATHER!" cried Kiara as she ran to her fathers dead body. Kovu looked up to see the laughing figure of Zira looking down.
Suddenly the gripping pain that Zira had earlier griped her again, however this time it was much worse. It felt like someone was trying to turn her gut inside out and pull it out through her back. Unable to stand because of the pain she fell, right on the tip of Pride Rock. However Zira fell awkwardly and rolled, of the edge.
"NOOOOOooooooo!!" yelled Zira as she fell to the ground.
"Mother!!" called Kovu as he watched Zira fall.
The two voices came together as Zira landed with a sickening crunch, just a short distance away from Simba. As the dust around her settled Kovu ran up to his mothers body.
"Mother, say something."
Zira lifted her head, looked at Kovu and smiled.
"Long.....live....king.....Kovu." she whispered, with her dying breath. She then slumped to the ground, dead.
Both Kiara and Kovu stood over their parents bodies, crying, as the afternoon sun faded to evening.

It was dark by the time Vitani and her hunting party arrived back. The hunting party chased off the hyenas while Kovu and Nala took Vitani aside. She wept when she heard the news.
"I don't care how evil she was." sobbed Vitani "there is still a bond between mother and offspring that will last through thick and thin."
"I understand." said Kovu "When I looked up and saw her laughing I felt nothing but pure hate towards her, but when she fell...Well, I just can't describe."
"When she fell in to the river I thought she was gone, but there was always that thought, what if she HAD survived. But now I know she really is dead.....I.."
"Hush, now." said Kovu. "There is nothing more to be said."

Kiara said nothing. She hadn't spoken since Simba's death. She just laid in silence. Nala limped over and muzzled her.
"Come on Kiara, you knew this day would come. Don't be too sad, it's just a part of the circle of life. Death happens to all of us and we can't sit in sorrow when it happens to those we love."
"Knowing it's going to happen doesn't make it any easier." Kiara cried.
"I know dear, I'm feeling the same way you are. Simba was a loving, kind mate and a wonderful King. But life goes on and we have to learn to accept the fact that Simba is gone. And that means Kovu is the new King!"

With the timing that only he can master Rafiki appeared.
"I'm sorry about Simba." he said, hugging Nala. He then looked at Kovu and stated "But Nala is right, it is time to declare the new king. At first light the proceedings shall
begin. King Kovu and Queen Kiara, a beautiful pairing."
"But Nala is the Queen." said Kovu.
"Not any more, not now Simba is gone. I am stepping down to make way for my daughter. Simba would've wanted it that way."
"Thank you mother." wept Kiara.

That morning Rafiki addressed the crowd of animals, who had gathered under Pride Rock. Then as he walked down to the base he signalled for Kovu and Kiara to walk to the tip. As they walked Kiara whispered something in to Kovu's ear, something that filled Kovu with joy and happiness.
As they got to the top and roared at the crowd Timon looked on at the happy couple and asked Pumbaa.
"I wonder what Kiara just said to Kovu?"
"I dunno, I didn't hear."
"I guess we'll never know, will we!"

Kovu's Passage was made by Andrew "TK Tiger" House © 1999 All Rights Reserved. The unauthorized copying or editing of this story either in part or in whole is prohibited. Character names are owned by Disney, used without their permission or knowledge.