DJ: Did I say that he was in a Pride when he was younger? I can't remember...but he was. He had already gotten used to the wild.

5: He was never in an American zoo, he was always in Africa.

A Heart's New Beginning-Chapter 10, Maji and Hexa

It had been at least three or four months after Vitani had found out about being pregnant before she was about to give birth. It started to get annoying when she couldn't do anything anymore like go on hunts and such, and even Shegro had stopped doing things as he preferred to stay with her.

This annoyed Vitani even more, seeing that he was always there, by her side at every moment, waiting for something to 'happen'. When he had gone out however, you could walk in on Vitani in the cave panting hard, rolling all over the ground, or scratching her way across the floor. When Kiara asked what she was doing one day, she said that she was practically dying to move around or get out of the cave. It was harder being pregnant than she had ever imagined. Then again, those other lionesses she had watched didn't have as much energy as Vitani did...

And then on a particular starry night, she woke herself and the rest of the Pride with a huge yowl of pain. Her eyes filled with tears, and noticing this, a bunch of the lionesses gathered around her, Nala, Kiara, Nazari, and Dotty being in the front.

"Simba, please get the others out of here, mainly the guys," said Nala. Vitani didn't exactly appreciate this, she didn't want to give birth in front of anyone. But as she heard Simba gathering everyone, she was glad to hear Nala turn to Vitani's best friends and ask them to leave. Dotty would go, Vitani knew that, but Nazari wouldn't leave her best friend's side without putting up a good fight.

"I've got to stay! I'm just so excited!" she shouted, causing much disturbance to Vitani.

"Nazari, please, just this once, please leave," said Vitani.

"But-"

"NOW!" she screamed without meaning to. She didn't mean to be that rude, but of course, she was giving birth...

And then to make things worse, here came Shegro, bursting through the small group of lionesses and knocking over Nala and Kiara. He jumped back and forth over Vitani's over-large stomach, eyes wide as his paws, and mumbling loudly in her face.

Vitani jumped up at him, but fell over in agony.

"Shegro, leave me alone!" she yelled at him.

"Vitani, Vitnai, names, girls, boys, lions, Vitani," he muttered all together and Vitani looked at him puzzled. What was he even thinking to blurt all these random words out...?

"GET OUT, GET OUT, NOWWW!" She had finally lost the remainder of her patience. Shegro and Nazari realized how scared they both were of Vitani, and left loudly.

"Kiara, I guess you should go too," said Nala, getting up again.

"No, Kiara's fine," Vitani said, frustrated. Why couldn't everyone just read her mind and see what she wanted?

"Is it alright if Sarabi stays too, Vitani? We might need her..."

"Yes, she's okay too."

The three lionesses stood over her.

"Now how do you feel, Vitani?" asked Sarabi in her soothing, deepish voice. "Are you about to have the cub?"

"Yes, yes, I think so!" Her breaths were heavy now, she was barely able to breath.

"Okay Vitani, I know it's hard, but just try and calm yourself a little," said Sarabi slowly. Vitani usually would have bitten someone's head off if they told her to be calm, especially if they were saying it as she was experiencing the most painful thing a lioness could endure, but there was something about Sarabi's wise, old voice that soothed her. She began breathing deeply and relaxed her tensed shoulder muscles.

"Now, I'm going to place my paw on your stomach a small bit, and I need you to push," said Sarabi. She placed her ancient, soft paw on Vitani's lump of a stomach, and Vitani did all she could to do everything Sarabi told her to do.

It did not take long before the first small cub came.

"Is it...here?" asked Vitani in a small, quiet voice.

"Yes, it is!" said Kiara happily.

"Kiara, gently take it to Vitani," said Nala to her daughter, still looking concerned over Vitani's stomach and glancing up at Sarabi, eyebrows furrowed. "Gently."

Vitani lifted her head a bit to see Kiara clutching a small, furry bundle in her mouth. She set it down in front of Vitani's front legs. Vitani turned her head to the left a bit, inspecting it. She couldn't believe that she had produced something so small, so beautiful, another life. Vitani carefully wrapped a paw around it's shivering little body and pulled it close to her chest, and smiled. It was so pretty! She saw that it was a little girl, and that it looked half and half like it's parents. She was going to have Vitani's tomboyish looks and bangs, and look a lot like Vitani in the face, but with a great mixture of Shegro's face too. And his eyes...

It was then that Vitani realized there was still a small lump in her stomach.

"Vitani, there is another cub," whispered Nala into Vitani's ear. "We need you to do the same thing again."

Sarabi again placed her paw onto Vitani's stomach, and leaned onto it a little. Vitani felt the pain of labor again, and once more, it was not long before another cub came. Kiara brought it to her front paws again, and declared cheerfully that it was also a girl.

This cub was much smaller than the first one.

She was a brown color, just like Shegro. Well, actually everything about her was Shegro.

"Shegro," she murmered, not looking up from her new-born cubs. Sarabi nodded silently and left the cave, returning not half a second later with an extremely excited Shegro. He was actually jumped around, slowly making his way to Vitani with all his excitement.

"Shegro, calm down! You could step on one of them!" growled Vitani at Shegro and he immediately stopped jumped and remembered the reason why he was so happy.

"You could have married someone normal," muttered Sarabi into Vitani's ear as she passed, grinning.

"If only," Vitani replied, laughing.

"Kiara, let's go," said Nala as she turned to follow Sarabi back outside of the cave so that the new parents could be alone with their cubs.

"But mom, I want to-"

"Kiara, now!" she spit at her daughter. Kiara was already married and everything, yet so immature. She turned and left with the two older lionesses, pouting along the way and mumbling to herself.

Shegro got closer to them, and sniffed the new-born cubs warrily. Then he settled down next to Vitani and stared at them intently, his head on his paws. Vitani watched him too, and saw the love in his eyes.

"They're both girls," she told him after a long time of silence; the cubs had fallen asleep cuddled up to each other and still wrapped in Vitani's arms.

"They're...beautiful," said Shegro quietly, and for the first time, Vitani saw a different side of Shegro. Not just a serious side, but...she couldn't explain it. It was so loving though...

"I know," she whispered, still staring at Shegro. "They need names," she said when she finally took her eyes off her husband and replaced them on her cubs.

"Oh yeah. Anything in particular?"

"We can both name one," said Vitani.

"Hexa," said Shegro very quietly as he pointed with his large paw to the first golden cub. Vitani stared at him for a moment.

"It fits her," she said. Both lions were talking very quietly now for no good reason. They weren't exactly thinking the reason for this was to keep the cubs asleep and comfortable, they just both had in common that they liked the quiet.

"How about Maji?" asked Vitani as she looked down at the dark cub and up at Shegro again. "It means water. It sounds so...flowing."

"It's perfect," said Shegro, smiling, and Vitani grinned back at him. They both knew each others' and could see that they were the happiest two lions there had been, now with two new family members. They seemed...alone. None of their family members besides Kovu resided in the Pride, and it for some reason felt good that they were their independent little family.

Vitani placed her head down a little resting the gentlest possible on her two cubs, her bands falling into her eyes that she had shut. She felt a little nudge and knew that Shegro had placed his head leaning against hers and the cubs also.

The two now parent lions did not know how long they layed there together, their new family complete. It could have been an eternity, but every second passed slowly and was enjoyed by the two. They felt the happiest and most joyful as possible as they ever could have imagined, and didn't ever want the moment to pass, though they did in order to watch their cubs grow up into beautiful, independent, strong lions.

The couple felt like they needed to cherish these first moments together as much as they could because it would never be the same again, ever. They wanted to stay in this moment, though they knew they couldn't. They didn't want to get any older, they didn't want Hexa and Maji to grow up like them, they wanted to be like this forever in a way.

But they moment would end, and everything would change, and change was good. As Rafiki and Simba always told the Pride, change would hurt, but it would be good.

And it would change. Very abruptly.

"Do you hear that?" whispered Vitani, looking up at Shegro.

"Hear wh-"

"Shh! Listen!" she murmered, cutting off Shegro's sentence.

They both went quiet, and listened as hard as they possibly could to their surrounding. Vitani put an ear closer to her cubs. A small wheezing sound was coming from Maji. It turned into a gasping, and a bit of a cough. Her eyes were still closed and squinting, and she hadn't even tried to open them. The gasping became more, and the two realized she couldn't breath.

"Sarabi!" yelled Vitani, panicking loudly and nudging Maji. Hexa still slept. "Sarabi, hurry!"

Sarabi hurried as fast as the old lioness could run, Nala and Kiara right behind her. Nala turned back to Kiara, skidding to a halt.

"Kiara, go back!" growled Nala.

"But, Mom-"

"I said to leave! I'm not only your mother, but the Queen of the Pride! Do as I saw!" shouted Nala at her daughter. Kiara opened her mouth like she was about to protest, but turned and began to walk out of the cave. Vitani heard Simba call her name at the same time.

"What is it?" said Sarabi, out of breath and next to her, Nala making her way to the two also.

"She's breathing funny, it sounds wrong," said Shegro, worriedly, not knowing what to do.

Sarabi listened to the cub for a fraction of a second before lifting her head from her tiny chest. She then placed an ancient paw on Maji's stomach gently and pushed down a little. She repeated many times, but nothing changed. Sarabi took her paw away.

"I don't know," Sarabi whispered in a barely audible voice. "I'm so sorry..."

Maji's breathing slowed down abruptly, slower and slower every second. And then it stopped.

"Maji," Vitani whispered, the blood drained from her face. Everyone stopped moving. "Maji, baby..." She nudged her carefully. Hexa woke up and tried to snuggle close to Maji's body. "Wake up."

Tears formed in Vitani's eyes for the third time in her entire life, and closed her mouth tight. Shegro was on his feet, looking down on the scene with a grim face, not knowing what to do. Nala's mouth was open, her sad eyes looking at Vitani, her head tilted to the side. Sarabi's face was stone and it stared at Maji, her jaw locked tight, wondering why she had failed and what had been wrong, though more sad at the loss of one of her favorite lionesse's cub. Hexa began wailing and pushing against her sister.

All of the lions inside the cave stood this way for an unknowable amount of time. Even the rest of the Pride outside could sense it, could tell that something had gone wrong, that someone was no longer alive.

Finally, Vitani rose to her feet, not looking Maji anymore, only completely ignoring her. She nudged Hexa a little harder than she should have. "Be quiet," she said harshly. Then she turned and sprinted out of the cave so quickly that no one knew she was gone.

Before she knew how far she had ran, she was past the watering hole and through the Pridelands and across the border into the Outlands. She and Shegro had come here before Vitani had begun liking him, she had lived here earlier in life with her horrid mother and brothers...

She found the biggest, old temite mound that the Outlanders used to take shelter in and looked around cautiously. She wished her mother was here. She wished Dotty and Nazari and Nuka and Kovu and Digger and all of the other Outlanders were here again. She wished she was just a little cub again, coming inside from a long and tiring day of training that her mother had damanded of her. That she had come in and found her mother and curled up against her.

She made herself see all of this in her mind. She saw the lionesses and lions cuddle up with each other to protect themselves from the cold and her mother at the top of a mound inside the larger one. Kovu was next to her, about ready to sleep. Zira looked down and spotted her young cub.

"Vitani, come," she said to her cub in a what the Outlanders would call a friendly voice. It the friendliest kind she knew. Vitani followed it and scrambled up the side of the mound gracefully for such a young cub.

"Hello, Mother," she greeted as she smiled.

"Vitani, we were just wondering when you would get back."

"I'm sorry, Mother. I had to finish my training and eat," she told her, curling next to Zira. Her mother took a paw, placed it on her head, and smoothed her bangs down.

"We missed you," Kovu said, greeting her also. "Wanna fight?"

And Vitani imagined herself fighting with her little cub brother and smiled, forgetting everything of the day. She realized now how sore she actually was, she had pushed herself to speed across the Pridelands after giving birth to two cubs, but she must have been so desperate to get away that she hadn't noticed this until she had arrived to her old home.

After the cubs' little fight, Vitani settled down to her mother, noticing now that she wasn't really there. A flash of memories of the day raced past her mind.

"I'm not going back," she whispered. "I don't want Hexa. I lost my baby. I'm not going back."

And meaning these things, she fell asleep, silently crying.

Author's Note: Bleh, I know it's been forever, but there's SO much stuff going on lately! For example, I'm even in a play tonight. But anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! If it could be enjoyable...but stick around for the next, Kopa'll be back.