I think this might be there are like two other chapters left to this story. It's been running longer than I had been anticipating but it's been quite the adventure lately. I have a lot to be thankful for in this series, I got to know other TLK lovers and writers. I got to read some pretty great work. And I just feel happier knowing that I'm almost done with the third story in my first series. I've done other works while in the process of the series and I know I'll do more but I feel this one has a special place in my heart because it's something that comes so naturally for me and has been so fun. I thank all of my readers and here it is. I hope you all enjoy and don't forget to review!

-X-

Pumbaa sighed after a long day of wrapping up the wounds of all the injured lions that had returned. It wasn't just them either; troops that had been sent up north to deal with another division of Hasani's army also came back with a number of injured. The most difficult part was hearing the names off of a list of the casualties.

"I never would've believed that so much blood could be spilt and so many tears could be shed in one day" Pumbaa muttered to himself. He was remembered how those who had lost loved ones were crying and screaming, some were even in denial, saying that their mate or child would return at any minute.

It must've been so painful for them.

He walked into the den to find that all of the cubs were waiting for him to return. They were so solemn, none of them were able to utter a sound let alone a word.

"Pumbaa, you're back" Kito greeted grimly.

"Hey kiddo, what have all of you cubs been doing all day?" the warthog asked them.

"Nothing much" Amali replied. "Most of us have just been moping around, waiting for nightfall so you can continue the bedtime story."

Pumbaa inwardly smiled, knowing that they needed to get their minds off of current events. He took a look around and noticed that one particular golden cub was missing. "Where's Kianu? I don't see him anywhere in the den."

"He stormed off before we heard about what happened to dad" Kioni told him. "I think I saw him with his dad earlier though."

At that moment, they could hear someone lightly padding into the cave. His moonlight glistened off of his golden fur as he walked towards them, and like the other cubs, he didn't seem very happy either. "I'm here; I hope I didn't disturb anyone."

"Hey Kianu, what did you and Tau talk about?" Pumbaa asked him when the cub laid down away from the rest, as he always did.

Kianu hesitated. "Nothing much, just random stuff to get our minds off things."

"It seems that's what most animals around here are doing" Pumbaa grimaced. "Now that you're here, we can continue on with the bedtime story. Where were we again?"

"Uru and Ahadi returned to Pride Rock and told King Mohatu everything" Neo stated.

"Right, thank you…" Pumbaa paused as he looked to the entrance of the den to see Kiara standing there. The princess and shaman didn't say anything to each other; they just looked before the lioness padded off. "The ability to cut through even the deepest black prides huh."

-X-

"Hey, what are you doing over here?" Uru asked as she approached Ahadi.

The dark lion looked up from where he was sulking. "I don't belong there, Uru. If everything goes right and we drive out my old group, your dad is only going to end up kicking me out of the Pride Lands. I messed up and now, unnecessary violence is going to take place because of me."

The princess tilted her head to the side to show that he was acting stupid. "You're overreacting, I know for a fact that my dad doesn't blame you for any of this. You were just victim to their lies, it could've happened to anyone."

"But not all of them were liars" Ahadi huffed as he stood back up. "They were all driven out of the Pride Lands and now they seek revenge. It's Renegade who's pulling the strings, I don't want the innocent to get hurt."

"Do you think I do? Maybe we should talk to my dad about it then, about the innocent ones who are only driven by vengeance. Maybe we can settle the conflict with them by talking about it or something" Uru told him.

Hondari had overheard their conversation and walked over to them with the help of Rafiki since his leg was still broken. "I'm not sure that'll work, I tried talking to those twins, Heaven and Hell, but they wouldn't hear any of it. All they cared about was doing away with those they felt did them and their father wrong, including their mother."

"Heaven and Hell?" Uru questioned. "Why did they choose those names for themselves?"

"For some lame joke when they corner their prey" Hondari scoffed.

"That's just a bonus for them" Ahadi sighed. "Each and every one of the lions' little codenames all has a much deeper meaning to them. Heaven and Hell are supposed to be reminders for why they're doing what they're doing. Black fur color was the reason their lives were made into living Hell and the prejudice that states having light fur means your pure is symbolized with Heaven. The two of them, every time they look at each other, are reminded of what the Pride Lands did to them and frankly, what every creature in this world superstitiously believes."

"What about you?" Uru asked. "What does Midnight mean to you?"

"Midnight was when my resolve came to be" Ahadi admitted. "It was when every single one of Renegade's lies and each of the banished lions' stories sunk into my heart and made me honestly believe that destroying the Pride Lands. It was also the time I was found by Renegade."

"And Sunrise?"

"Everything the light touches will be hers one day; that was her dream. She left the Pride Lands because both her parents were dark-furred and they didn't want to leave her."

"Master Hondari mentioned someone by the name of 'Future' who was talking to Renegade, what does his name mean?" Rafiki asked.

Ahadi made some sort of grunting noise to show that he wasn't a very big fan of Future. "Future is just a name to show that he should only be looking forward, never back. And the light he sees at the end of his tunnel just so happens to be conquering the Pride Lands."

"I just can't believe that this happened" Hondari muttered. "I had heard that all the dark-furred lions that had chosen to leave their old prides came into the Eastern Kingdom to form a new pride, the Black Pride. I never would've believed that some actually wanted to take revenge on the Great Kingdoms though, at least this one."

"Well then we can't hurt them!" Uru stated. "It's our own fault they turned out this way."

"What are we supposed to do Uru? A battle can't be resolved without sacrifices."

"I know that! But we have to try. I mean, we succeeded in convincing Ahadi to stay on our side."

Rafiki wanted the same thing, but he knew that it was just idealism, realistically, it couldn't happen. "Princess, Ahadi was with us for months, he had time to change thanks to you, Master Hondari, and all of the good creatures of this kingdom. I'm afraid that we would need much more time to change the hearts of the dark-furred ones."

Uru paused but it didn't take long for her to come up with a response. "You're wrong." She looked to her cousin in the eye. "You told me all about the great King Simba of the Southern Kingdom who won a war without killing anyone. His words were all it took to settle them down. It was then said that anyone with Simba's blood running through their veins will also have those same abilities. His words can cut through even the deepest and darkest of black prides. I can do it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hondari huffed.

"I'm saying that I can do what our great grandfather did!" the princess said.

"But you're not his great granddaughter!" the shaman yelled in frustration.

They were lucky they had been so far from where the rest of the pride was conversing or they would've revealed their family secret. Although it did cause some heads to turn towards them but they just brushed it off as unimportant.

"Ahadi" Rafiki breathed.

"Uru…You all right?" Ahadi asked when she remained silent.

"I'm fine" she finally responded. She stared at Hondari dead in the eyes. "You're right, his blood and my father's do not run in my veins and I'm not even the rightful heir to the throne. My brother is but no one in this pride knows it except us and my parents. But you also told me that memories are stronger bonds than blood is. No matter what, I am King Mohatu's daughter and I always will be, and I know that I have the spirits of all of his ancestors watching out for me. That's how I know that I can do this and even if I can't, then you can. Are you not the great grandson of Simba?"

"I already told you, I tried to talk to them."

"Hondari!" she insisted. "We can do it, I know it!"

Mohatu approached them. "Are you guys ready to go? Some of our trackers already found out that our enemies are approaching us so we need to be ready for them. Uru, since they'll most likely be targeting you, I want you to stay away from the fight. Stay at Pride Rock where you'll be safe."

"Are you kidding me?" Uru blanched. "No! I'm going with you!"

"You can't! Renegade is Rogue's son, who knows what kind of evil he is capable of" Mohatu said.

"Then what am I?"

"…What?"

She was done pretending already, after all of these years. "You're saying that just because Renegade has Rogue's blood means he's some evil lion? Then what about me? I know that you're not my biological dad and I know who he really is."

Mohatu was struck speechless as his mate came over to them. "What's wrong?" Jolina asked them with a mixture of curiosity and concern.

"Jolina…She knows about the truth" Mohatu sighed.

The queen was unsure of what he mate spoke of at first. "The truth about what?"

"Mother…" Uru breathed. "I know that my real father is Rogue, the war criminal who sparked the first Pride War. And the two of you kept it a secret from me for all this time, from before I was even born you kept it a secret!"

"Oh Uru…" Jolina finally said after a moment of shock. "I am sorry we kept this from you. But…How long have you known about it?"

"When I was around three months old, I heard you guys talking about it" Uru admitted. "When were you two planning on telling me? Do you know how it feels like? To pretend I'm the princess when in truth, I'm the daughter of the biggest criminal in the world. To pretend that someday, I will take the throne as queen when in reality, that title belongs to Imani. I've lived this lie for so long and you guys thought not for a second that I already knew the truth?"

"Uru…" Jolina whispered. "I am so sorry you had to suffer like that. We never meant for any of that to happen. We had assumed that ignorance was bliss for you but you weren't the only one who felt bad about this you know. I'm not saying this in defense of anyone but we felt that we were betraying you by pretending you were our daughter."

"I am your daughter" Uru stated. "It doesn't matter whose blood is in my veins, you're the ones who raised me to become who I am. And I think only I am capable of reasoning with the lions, not just the lions but with my half-brother as well."

The princess nuzzled both her parents as if to show that she still loved them just as much as she's always have. As she was walking past them to join the rest of the pride which was getting ready to move out, Mohatu stopped her.

"Uru…You've grown up so much and I've watched you become this mature and honorable lioness" the king told her proudly. "And you're right; we were the ones to raise you. So it fills with pride to know that I played a part in making you the lioness you are today. To both your mother and I, there would be no other lion more fit to stand at the peak of Pride Rock when we pass."

Uru paused and then ran back to her father, giving him another nuzzle. "Thank you daddy. I love you so much."

"I love you too." He then turned and faced Ahadi. "Uru told me what you confessed to her earlier."

Ahadi's shoulders slumped as he gave a nervous gulp. It was just now that he realized how his size dwarfed in comparison to the king's. "Yes, King Mohatu?"

"When this is all over and she chooses to accept your love, then I will leave my kingdom in your paws when the time comes" Mohatu told him, surprising him. "Besides, the two of you were betrothed to begin with so all the better. But I still need to see that I can trust you as well."

Once Ahadi had recovered from his initial shock, he bowed to the king. "Of course, my liege, I'll prove it to you and Uru if it's the last thing I do."

"Please don't say that right before a battle" Uru smiled.

-X-

Timon stared from out of sight as his brother painted a portrait on the wall of the tunnel. The younger of the two brothers always remembered how the elder would paint away his worries. Inside this room, which he had discovered when following his brother out of the main tunnel system of the colony, was full of paintings. Most of them, Timon could recognize were of his family, Max, Ma, Trisha, himself, and even Twitch.

"So you found it too."

Timon almost yelped loudly in surprise but a hand moved over his mouth to prevent that from happening. "Trisha, what are you doing here?" he hissed furiously. "You almost scared the life out of me."

"Sorry" she shrugged. "Come on; let's go outside where we won't get his attention."

The siblings climbed out of the tunnel and made their way into the grass and closer to the entrance to the colony tunnels. "I don't get it" Timon sighed. "He seemed to be leading a perfectly happy life here, so why is he still bugging? I mean, I thought for sure that everyone here would accept him for him and not as Fearless Buzz's son."

"Timon, think for a bit" Trisha huffed. "How can they accept him for him if all they see if that smiling façade?"

"True, but why is he still acting like that then?" Timon asked. "Doesn't he realize he can just be himself."

"I think that's the problem, he doesn't know what his real personality is."

"What? That's ludicrous."

Trisha put all her weight on one foot and bit her lower lip to show that she wasn't lying but she wished she was. "Thank about it Timon. Manny has spent a large majority of his life smiling so that others will at least think he has the same happy-go-lucky personality of dad. He's spent the last couple years pretending to be someone else so he doesn't know how he really is and neither do we. Timon, if I asked you to describe the really Manny, then how would you do it?"

"Well…" Timon trailed off. "I guess you can say that he's…"

"You can only see him as this smiling meerkat, right? It hurts me so much that I don't even know who he is but it probably hurts Ma more."

Timon nodded. "She already lost dad and now she has to see him all the time in her oldest son whom she barely knows let alone realizes is even her own offspring. But maybe, if he showed his real emotions just once, he'd finally let go of that façade."

"I don't know if that will ever happen, Timon."

"Neither do I." Timon opened his mouth to say something else but a rustling in the grass took his attention. "Did you hear that?"

Trisha nervously glanced around, one thing was for sure; the noise had not come from where they had just left. "Who or what do you think it is?"

"Hopefully just the wind."

Trisha got out of her nervous position to give Timon a disbelieving look. "The wind doesn't usually move just one patch of grass."

"Is this really a time to point something like that out to me?"

"Good point" Trisha nodded as she hid herself behind her brother.

This time, Timon gave her a disbelieving expression. "Um, I'm the younger meerkat, why are you the one hiding behind me?"

"Um, you're the male in this duo and you lived with the fighting champ, Tamina, is it my fault I think you're tougher than I am?" she shot back.

"Okay…Um…" Timon turned back to where the rustling came from. "Who's there?"

There was no response at first and Timon was about to raise his voice but someone called back. "Timon, is that you?"

"Oh thank the Great Spirit" both of the sibling sighed in relief. "It's only Twitch."

The chief of the Eastern colony came out from the cover of the tall grass and sighed in relief as well. "I thought you two were predators when I heard you guys talking" he said. "What are you guys doing out here? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"We could say the same thing about you" Trisha pointed out.

"It couldn't be helped, remember? I had gone to the pride to get an update of what was going on and I was returning. But as I was coming back, a hawk flew in from overhead, frightening me into digging a hole and hiding in there. I had fallen asleep before the pesky bird flew off and I hadn't woken up until a few minutes ago" Twitch told them. "But what about you two?"

"Our brother" Timon said simply. "He's been painting."

Twitch wasn't sure what to say after that so he deiced it was best for them to get inside at least. "come on, let's go down into the main tunnel, we can talk in there." The three of them climbed down the hole and walked over to Twitch's chamber which was generally filled with other meerkats from his colony.

"I'm amazed that we can fit two colonies in one tunnel system" Trisha muttered offhandedly before Timon brought her back to their original topic.

"I figured this would happen" Twitch sighed. "I just wish Manny would realize how great he is without having to be someone else."

"Except we've established that not even Manny knows who he really is" Timon said.

Twitch shook his head. "I think it's more like he's afraid to reveal it. Don't you guys remember how he was before he started smiling like that?"

"Yeah, he was sort of crybaby really" Trisha stated. "He was also a loner, he never allowed anyone to get close to him. He was always with Ma and preferred the more creative activities of the colony over the manual labor ones."

Timon nodded when he remembered as well. "Yeah, I remember he didn't like our colony labor song, Dig a Tunnel, and changed all the lyrics into his version of the song, Lift Me Higher. Admittedly, it sounds much better than the original."

"But he was shunned and ridiculed because of it" Trisha reminded him. "Not to mention when he took up painting. He covered all the main tunnels with his works of art overnight and they were all concerning things he felt needed to be said but everyone was afraid to. Uncle Max didn't like it so he and a couple of other meerkats covered them all up before the rest of the colony even woke up."

"Exactly" Twitch nodded. "Manny is creative and he's expressive but because he feels no one likes it and he will only get treated unfairly because of it, he keeps it hidden. But sometimes, I wish I could just hear him sing one more time. He always did have the best vocals out of every other member in the colony." His smile dropped and he leaned back against the wall. "It's such a shame that nearly no one actually appreciated him."

"No one appreciates him in this new persona he's put up either" Trisha sighed.

"What do you mean?" asked Timon.

Since she had been there longer, she had seen how some of the other meerkats saw their colony chief and she knew that Manny knew as well, he just pretended not to care. "They think he's too happy-go-lucky. I imagine that it must hurt since no one accepted the real him back home and now, no one will accept the real him either."

"Well, I wouldn't say 'no one'."

"She was exaggerating" Twitch told him exasperatedly.

"I want to do something for him, get him out of his shell" Trisha resolved.

"So do I" Timon nodded firmly. "What about you Twitch?"

To Twitch, they were his family, he grew up with them, they were his siblings too. "Of course, I always thought of Manny as my brother anyway."

"Funny, he always said that you were also our brother" Trisha grinned.

"Then it's settled, we're going to find away to bring out the real Manny!" Timon almost shouted but the other two quickly shushed him. "Whoops! Heh, heh, sorry, my bad."

"Yeah, no kidding, you almost woke up the entire colony and you know how meerkats are, they're going to get into a huge panic thinking that a hungry predator has come to eat us up" Trisha huffed. "Although this colony is much more laid-back when it comes to predators in comparison to our old one."

Timon stretched and gave a big yawn. "We should turn in for the night. No point in depriving ourselves of sleep."

Right before they had split up, Twitch stopped them. "Wait, before you guys go, I just remembered something I had to tell you guys" he sighed grimly. "It's pretty bad news."

"Hakuna Matata" Timon chuckled lightheartedly. "As long as its not about Hasani taking over the Southern Kingdom then it's not bad at all."

Twitch took a deep breath to prep himself although there was no real point since neither of them though it would be that bad. "The group led by Kovu and Vitani returned from their mission but they left quite a number behind. One of them included the prince of the Pride Lands, Kovu." Noticing Timon's mortified expression, he quickly added, "But he only disappeared, we don't know if he is dead or alive just yet."

"His cubs…" Timon muttered. "Kiara, I've got to go see them tomorrow! They must be hurting something real bad."

Trisha looked between the two disheartened meerkats and sighed heavily herself. "I don't suppose that 'Hakuna Matata' would be appropriate in this moment, huh."

"No, it isn't."

-X-

I think there are possibly two more chapters left but I cannot be sure. But as a heads up, I'd like to remind you all that I am quite awful with action scenes so be prepared if the writing quality seemingly drops. Well, I hope you all enjoyed and please leave a review, I'd appreciate it and I'll see you next time!