A/N: This is a long chapter,read at your own expense.XP
I.
A young lioness awoke and found herself surrounded by the many sleeping bodies of lionesses.Accustomed to arousing to this,she almost allowed herself to drift back into a deep sleep when the form of her mother and a small dot caught her eyes.
She smiled and rose to all fours in order to visit the tiny,dark yellow-ish brown lump of fur suckling in it's sleep,it's lower lip making a little smacking noise like most young cubs would do.
Gently,she lowed her nose and nuzzled her baby brother for what felt like a final time before turning to exit the den's back.
x.x.x
Nala awoke with a start,the long passed image of her fleeing the Pridelands hot and heavy on her mind.But the final image of her brother's slumbering form fairly burned at her psyche.
Sarafina,her mother,had informed her that the night she left her brother had disappeared.It was the night after Scar had choosen Kovu for kingship and the other cubs were put aside.
She was heartbroken to find that her son was missing in the morning,but she could do nothing.As couldn't all of the other mothers who arose that mornig to find their children missing.
Once the lionesses most devoted to Scar had returned to the Pridelands after a hunt lead by Zira,all the lionesses who had remained loyal to Mufasa had suspected them all of foul play.
But of course,they could do nothing.
Scar's exclusive lionesses and hyneas had outnumbered them all,Scar had been the king,the lands were dying,no one would openly admit to immoral execution.They had to try moving on.
Nala still felt guilty to that day for little Mheetu's death.Worried for her daugther,she got up from beside Simba and very softly padded over to where Kiara and Kovu were near the opening.
Affectionately,Nala nuzzled the young lionesses on the cheek as golden dawn was on the brink of flourishing in everywhere.
She left to go check on the herds just as her daugther awoke to see the other lionesses also awakening and following suit.
x.x.x
Kovu and Kiara climbed up the nearly hill-like rock formation in search of Kovu's sister and the male lion known as Tu.Kiara's father had decided to leave while it was still cool out as dawn was fastly approaching and they needed Tu to give directions.
"You think if he were this bent on helping us like he seemed at the beginning,we wouldn't have to be looking for him like this."
"Maybe he overslept,"Kiara reasoned as she placed her paws onto a rock sheet and peered down into the crevice."It's early."
"Then why isn't this guy getting with the program."Kovu went on to further criticize."Everyone else is present except for him."
"And your sister..."She added slowly.
A rustling sound near the top of the outcropping caused both mates to look at one another.Several seconds passed and the two missing lions appeared together descending side by side.
"Vitani."Kovu greeted his sister in expectation.
"Little brother."she replied casually,indirectly reminding him of their age differences and her dismissal toward his disapproval.
"Kovu,"Tu acknowleded the lion smugly and turned to send an amiable wink to Kiara before continung on,where he left Vitani to approach the king and queen at the very bottom on the sand.
"I have a strange feeling about all of this."Kiara suddenly said.
"I've had it since the moment that lion arrived."Kovu confirmed to her."Come on,Kiara.We need to see where all this is going."
Feeling some conviction,he started down with Kiara.
x.x.x
Simba watched as the four young lions neared him.There was an eager glint in Tu's eyes he detected as the lion approached him and slowed to a meeker walk as he stopped a foot of him.
"I need you to help lead my kingdom now."The king informed him as all four arrived."You'll need to be at the front with us."
Nala stepped forward to emphasize importance."Many of the herds are older or have young,we also need to know where a source of water is by today's end.Are you able to do all of this?"
"Of course.There's a large glade a few miles away where you all can replenish.If we leave now we'll arrive by mid-day at least."
The two older lions looked at each other and than over at the merekat and warthog with knowing smiles,they remembed.It was then that the mood caught on and everyone caught on with ease.Simba caught his wife's eye and the two released a roar.
As the pride moved on,he allowed memories to fill his head.
II.
Kiara felt the perspiration on her underside beginning to drench and her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth in a stiff aridity.
"My paws are so hot with sweat I'm about to trip,"she mumbled over to Kovu,but than noticed his leering over at Tu."Oh,Kovu..."
"It's past mid-day."he stated,partly to himself."We should have arrived at this glade already.I think he's walking to our demise."
"Hey,don't worry kid."Timon suddenly appeared by them forever atop Pumbaa."It's not too much further,we lived there for years! I wonder how Ma will be though.We really haven't talked much."
"You can do all the talking you want after we quench our thirst." Pumbaa chided,adding wearily."My hooves are about to fall off."
"Paws,hooves...boy,you quadrupeds know how to complain!I'm the one who's really suffering.It's 100 degrees out and there is zero shade out."He suddenly plucked a dead fern from the sand.
Surrounding animals frowned at him as he fanned himself in his new shady canopy.Sighing contently and looking quite pleased.
"Hey!"The merekat turned frantic when a giraffe nipped it away.
"Were near."Kiara's attention diverted away from the antics and to her father's annoucement.A distant dot lie out in the horizon.
As per usual,news of this travelled fast.She could hear all of the animal's voices grow in excitement.Slowly at first and then out in full cheering of jubilancy.Suddenly,there was a great wave that streamlined over everything before rising up and swallowing up.
Strong,powerful emotion surged;mingled with a growing pringle of impatience,fear and competitiveness overtook many.She had to move quickly aside,along with the smarter ones,as they went.
A clan of hippopotamus tanked their way across the desert in a determined shuffle that sent up a thick cloud while cheetahs and some rather greedy zeebras plodded along warily at their heels.
"We need to stop them!"Kiara's mother said urgently."We don't know what's over there or if the locuses have affected it or not."
She turned to look at her father upon sensing him about to talk.
x.x.x
"Go."Simba nodded his large head at them and the lionesses all attempted to halt the renegade animals"It just has to be there."
"It will Dad."His daugther said,coming up beside him assuringly.
He gave Kiara a warm look and released a roar to go forward.
III.
The closer they got,the more nervous Nala began to feel even as she lead with the others taking the rear to try and barricade all the restless animals together.Dust filled her eyes and nose in an near suffocation,beginning to clog her lungs in great rushes.
"Take the rear fully!Box them all in."
Nala felt pure adrenline spiking in her legs,cording the muscles within her triceps as when she were younger and more agile.A memory of her wishing to see her brother that was resurfaced.
She tried to ignore it,but the image blinded her now more even then the makeshift dust bowels.The grimness that she had kept at bay for all these years came forward in a big flooding of tears.
Mheetu..."Nala!"Her mother's elder voice called.Mheetu,brother...
"NALA!"More lionesses voices cried in unison.Cried desperately.
The ground suddenly turned to air as her blue eyes opened,she turned to see the other lionesses had halted by a large,open pit with mouths agape.Sarafina stood by,eyes widened with horror.
"Nala,"She mouthed a silent scream.
And than the mysterious messanger lion,Tu,also stood by near where the lionesses crowded.He seemed befuddled in a way,as if he were recognizing her and realization stunned his features.
She turned to look downwards and saw point of a chipped ivory horn belonging to an elephant below.No doubt among the other crumpled animals.There was no escaping what was happening,a fate parallel to this pachyderms was going to be Nala's as well.
A crypt lied buried beneath the shadows of the lush glade.
x.x.x
In mourning and in great fear of venturing very far into the oasis even at the expense of drinking,the Pridelanders choose to only stay under the thick green trees for shade while the lions and all the other families went off to grieve privately that woeful night.
Kovu had held Kiara against him some distance from the others until she had finally expressed a need to be alone only with her father only.Respectfully,he allowed her to leave without protest.
The lionesses had returned and consoled her momentarily just as she went in search of her father.They then went to be with Nala's mother in private.And,predictably,there were two missing.
Vitani and Tu.
Kovu lie watching the fitfully sleeping herds from his perch on a log.For as many as there were,they'd all refused to go back near the enormous pit or go any further to where the water was at.
If there was any there,it would probably be there tommorow.
As he looked at this kingdom,he realized he had adapted a sort of fondness for them.One day,he felt this deeply,it would be his and Kiara's.Things looked bleak but they would all have a home.
Kovu believed they had a future,somewhere.
IIV.
In the morning Zazu met the just awakening animals as golden sun shifted in through the greenary as gently as if parted by the rays themselves.The hornbill turned to them all,he was very old.
And he could feel that his age was holding him under,this along with that fact that Queen Kiara wouldn't come forward served to only weaken him further.Nevertheless,it had to be made known.
"Early this morning before dawn..."his voice cracked a bit from a lack of water,from a lack of back-up."Our King passed away last night in an unsurmountable grief for the loss of our late Queen."
Kovu approached him."Where's Kiara?"
"She has resigned all royalites,young master."He said grimly.
"No..."
"The throne is without occupance at this time."
To be continued...