CORALION

Pride Rock used to be a place of royalty, in the past. But that was such a long time ago. Now, there was nothing royal about it, except that it was a high, fine place to live. And that it was big. So big, in fact, that when a family chose it for a home, it was a split-up property, with other neighbors living on the other side of the house. Walls of rock were built between the flats.

Recently, a couple decided to move in to Pride Rock, along with their daughter, Kiara. Kiara's fur was a mix of gold and tan, with a sort of apricot color. Her eyes were mahogany. She was a normal little cub- with an adventurous streak.

Her family had just moved in and was already too busy for her. They had to get used to their new home to settle in, so her parents had to go around and talk to the locals. And when they weren't talking to the locals, they were working on adapting to hunting in appropriate areas. And when they weren't doing that, they were napping.

Kiara was bored to death. She was an only child and did not live in an extended pride like others did, so she had no one to wrestle or play with. She did not want to waste time sleeping her life away. Why did grownups sleep so much?

So, she went exploring. Outside to the great fields of tall, scratchy, dry grass she investigated, searching for something like maybe a river to swim in or a hill to climb and run around in. She found a pond and a fallen log over it as a bridge. She crossed it while looking around and up at the sky. It seemed like a more barren environment. The streams were murky and the grass was almost dead. The clouds gathered together in the sky to guarantee a storm to be germinated soon.

Suddenly, the log beneath her feet discontinued and because she wasn't watching where she was going, she tripped over and fell on the scorched dirt, bumping into another cub about her age.

She got back up to her feet and growled at the other cub. He had a darker, brown-toned fur that looked was so rugged that it looked like he played around dirt a lot, with a little bit of a messed-up, minor mane-to-be, sprouting only on the top of his head, colored with an even darker shade of brown. His eyes were a solid green, with darker tones of brown on the fur around them.

"Watch it!" Kiara snapped. "Didn't you see me coming?"

The other cub recovered quickly, also, and hopped back up on fours. "Geez, sorry. But you really should watch where you're going, too."

Kiara narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing out here all alone?"

The other cub answered, "Studying the dirt and looking for bugs."

Kiara thought this sounded weird. "Why bugs?"

"They're sort of fun to test things out on," the other cub shrugged. "What about you? What are you doing out here?"

"Exploring," Kiara replied. "I thought maybe it'd be nice to swim, or climb, or hunt for things."

"Curiosity killed the cat, you know."

"Whatever. Besides, you're curious about bugs."

"Fair enough. Well, you wouldn't want to swim in this pond," the other cub said.

"Why?" Kiara demanded. "Because it's a little dirty?" Who cared about a little bit of dirt in water? Or was he implying that she was too afraid to swim in it?

"No, because it's so unclear that you can't even see how deep it is, or how what's ahead of you," the other cub replied. "And a poisonous snake once died in it. They say its venom is spreading from the depths of it."

Kiara gasped and shuddered. She could have almost fallen in it! She backed away from water.

"I'm Kovu, by the way. It means 'scar'. I don't know why I was named that. I don't get scars at all because I don't even bruise or scratch that easily. My skin and fur's too tough for that. Well, wasn't my choice anyway, but at least it sounds tough. What were you saddled with?"

"I wasn't saddled with anything. It's Kiara."

"Kira?"

"No. Kiara."

"Kiara. Hmm…that means 'dark one' in one language. Your name has the weirdest meaning, no offense."

Kiara snarled at him, teeth slightly bared. What was his business in what her name meant in some foreign language? Besides, she was sure it meant other stuff, too.

"So, is your family living in Pride Rock now?" Kovu asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah. So?" Kiara said.

"Well, I heard that a royal family once lived there. Back when there were still kings and queens and all that stuff," Kovu said. "Ever heard about that?"

"Yeah," Kiara said. "But it's not that great anymore, anyway. And we only own a portion of it." Then she cocked her head in curiosity. "Wait, you live nearby, right? Before we even moved in? So why didn't you claim Pride Rock first?" That would have been the sensible thing to do, anyway.

"Well, my older brother Nuka said that it's cursed," Kovu said. "Not that I believe in that stuff anyway, but Nuka says we better stay clear of that property."

"Why would it be cursed?" Kiara asked.

"Because there's this legend that says that the last prince to live in it disappeared and never returned one day. I think his name was something like…Simba? Yeah, and no one knows what happened," Kovu explained. "It sounds kinda crazy, if you ask me."

"Strange story," Kiara commented. "But whatever. I don't think little stories will change anything. Pride Rock's still the same old boring giant rock it always was. Superstitions and fairy tales with a cliff hanger at the end are ridiculous." Although they maybe do make things more interesting.

"You know, it might be a coincidence, but I think there's more than one story about Pride Rock, and how someone disappeared in it…" Kovu added uneasily. "I don't really think I should talk about it…"

"Oh, you think you'll spook me?" Kiara challenged. "Try me."

"Well…um, I gotta go. My brother's calling me. Well, it was nice meeting a runaway princess"- here, maybe most girls would've been flattered or just slightly teased, but Kiara was irritated and insulted at this remark. She sensed mockery in his voice-"Watch out for any bad luck on your way home."

"I'm not scared of that," Kiara disputed. Did this Kovu seriously believe that she was the type of girl to be scared so easily of everything? The type of cub that would freak out over a little story? She stuck out her tongue at him as he turned and bounded away.

It looked like it would rain soon, so she carefully crossed the log-bridge on her way home. Looking down at the water, she thought about what Kovu had said about the poisonous snake that died there, and wondered if it was true. It was too filthy to really tell if there was anything even below that water. She broke her sight away from it and hurriedly rushed home. Soon enough, rain was pouring down, and it remained that way.

The next morning didn't even look or feel like a morning. The skies were still cloudy, causing everywhere to look dark as if the sun hadn't come out yet.

Inside Pride Rock, when her parents were still busy, Kiara was once again bored. She stared outside, which was just some feet away from the Pride Rock roof.

Casually, the little lion cub said, "I almost fell down a poisonous pond yesterday, Mom."

"Uh-huh…" mumbled her mother, who was busy tearing apart the raw, rough, leftover meat for lunch.

"I would've died," Kiara added, hoping to catch her mother's attention, but knowing it was pointless.

"That's nice," was all her mother said. "All right, lunch time."

"Ugh. Antelope again?" Kiara complained. "Mom, it's already rotten, I bet. It's lasted for days."

Because their family was smaller than the average lion pride, their food was saved longer, even though it never stayed fresh. Besides, Kiara was getting sick of antelope all the time.

"Dad, why couldn't you hunt something else besides antelope?" Kiara whined. "I think antelope rots faster."

She hated it when her father hunted. It was embarrassing. It was supposed to be a lioness's job. Her father didn't make good enough choices in hunting. He had hunted a rather sickly antelope, Kiara believed. Plus, he must have had dragged it over the dried blood of some other animals lying down, and it could have been picked on by vultures here and there, considering the gross flavor on the skin. Hunting wasn't really his strong suit. Because he hunted as a party of one, there could only be one animal hunted per meal, or most likely, per week.

"I will next time, but to save time, I think it's best to hunt where antelope are first. It's the place I'm most familiar with and it's the shortest distance."

"Why can't you hunt, Mom?" she groaned.

"Kiara, you should know that your father will hunt for us until we can settle in this place long enough," her mother said. "I am a lioness party of one, and it would be a big risk for me to hunt alone with no experience here. Your father will hunt for this family for now because he can handle new places better."

"That's not really a good enough reason," Kiara said. "And I am tired of always having antelope. It's not even healthy, I'll bet."

"Kiara, that's enough complaining. Be thankful you have something to eat, anyway. You should appreciate that your father would hunt while I handle some of the other problems at home. Now eat your lunch," her mother ordered.

"I lost my appetite already," Kiara said flatly, after swallowing a tiny, third bite. "I think I'm just gonna go to my room."

And she was still bored, just lying there, listening to the ongoing beatings of the rain against the stone roof over her head. She wasn't the least bit tired, because the day had just started. But she was so bored there was nothing else to do. And in the boredom she fell asleep anyway, hoping that at least her dreams could have been exciting.

But it was a dreamless sleep. When she woke from it, she found that outside it was still raining, but not as hard. I can handle going out in the rain, she thought.

Later on, she got up and went to her mother, who was in the middle of a conference with a leopard.

"Hey, isn't it the perfect weather to go out to play?" Kiara said.

Her mother didn't even look up. "No, I don't think so, Kiara. It's still drizzling, and it could rain again soon. Rain makes it cold, cold temperatures affect your health. And don't forget mud. I'm not gonna lick you clean from mud. "

"It's just a drizzle!" Kiara protested. "It's just water. The same thing you drink."

"No, it's not, Kiara. Comparing playing in the rain to the drinking out of the water hole is like comparing an elephant shrew to a natural elephant. There's no way you're going out in that rain."

Kiara scoffed and looked away in impatience.

"Besides, you have claw sharpening to do. And later it's time for your bath. And you better catch up on your sleep."

Kiara rolled her eyes. "That sounds exciting," she muttered in sarcasm.

"Oh, somebody left this outside. I think you should get a look at it." Her mother pushed aside a wooden board.

It was covered in dirt, so Kiara had to brush it off to see what was on it. It was artwork. It was a drawing of a cub, with the same fur color as her, and it even got, as she looked closely, the little spot beneath her paw that was scarred when she was little, and the barely noticeable-at-first-glance birthmark she had. It was an almost invisible discoloring across her forehead. It was very complex.

There was only one cub that could have gotten this: Kovu. After all, the piece was speckled with dirt. He was the only one around this place so far that hung around her long enough to spot such specific details, though it was still a bewildering miracle how he could catch such little details. And it was also questionable why, when he just met her and since they didn't get off to a good start, he would make such a thing.

"So, you know who sent this?" her mother asked.

"Yeah. This weirdo named Kovu. He thinks he's so cool to just hang around dirt all the time, and because his name means 'scar'. It's lame that he'd make a portrait of someone he just met."

She kicked the board aside until it stopped at a rock.

"Mom, I'm bored," she grumbled.

"Then find something to do," her mother said simply, wanting her to leave her alone.

"Like what?" Kiara said.

"Ask your father," her mother said.

Kiara bounded over to the den where her father was sleeping.

"Dad, what should I do now?" Kiara inquired.

No reply.

She kept repeating herself, annoyed, until at last her father mumbled a response.

"Well what do you want to do?" her father said, not opening his eyes. It was obvious that he didn't want her hanging around here, judging by the tired tone in his voice.

"I want to go outside. It's only drizzling," Kiara said.

"And what does your mother say about that?"

"She said, 'There's no way you're going out in the rain, Kiara!'"

"Then no."

"But I want to keep exploring," Kiara whined.

Her dad seemed not to be listening.

Kiara brought out her claws and scratched the stone walls, making an irritating screech that surely would get her father to listen.

And he did. He groaned, trying to sleep.

At last, her father suggested, "Then explore Pride Rock. Dig for buried treasure or something. Maybe you'll find something of royalty. Just let me rest!"

"Yeah, sure."

So yeah, you guessed it- Kovu will stand in for Wybie. Kiara will stand in for Coraline.

Pride Rock stands in for Pink Palace Apartments. So you have to kinda imagine it split up into different "apartments" (dens).

Character changes include: Zira is not the mother of Kovu or Nuka. Kovu lives in the neighboring Outlands with his older brother Nuka. Just a broken family, pretty much. The Outlands are not a place of banishment, and aren't that flea-bitten. Because of this, Nuka wouldn't be as scrawny or ragged as you know him. And remember- there are no Outsiders anymore...also, in case you're confused, don't forget that Kiara's parents aren't Simba and Nala. Oh, and rather obviously, Kiara it not royalty.

Any questions? Ask me. Comments are much appreciated. I don't want you to fave this or add this to story alerts without commenting. Thanks!