Good to know that you guys enjoyed that last chapter because this is nearing an end! Well, I don't want to take up your time so I'll just get right on it. This chapter delves back into the past and we get to see what'll happen. And after this, it will just be one more chapter and the epilogue and it'll all be over. Hope you enjoy this for now! And don't forget to leave a review.
-X-
Things had gone bad since they clashed; there was no chance for the princess to call their attention so that she could speak to them. As soon as the two opposing groups met, they immediately went into a frenzy of claws and teeth. She found herself separated from the others and face to face to a certain spiteful lioness.
Lightning flashed in the background, illuminating their coats for a moment. One was a sort of muddy color while the other's was a gorgeous pale gold. The rain that stuck to their fur glistened when the lightning had flashed though.
"Move aside, I want to talk to Renegade" Uru growled threateningly.
Sunrise cocked her head to the side with a sort of hissing sound, as if in disapproval. "What? Do you plan on passing yourself to our leader in hopes that he'll stop this invasion? I understand that you don't have any choice if you want that kind of release but he's not the desperate to fulfill his lustful desires."
"You're disgusting" Uru snapped. "I just want to settle this peacefully. There is no need for bloodshed."
"The great warrior princess wants to 'talk' things out?" Sunrise mocked. "Don't make me laugh! You're just a pathetic lioness who's clinging on to the tail of her daddy. But here's the hard truth honey, he's not your daddy at all. Your parents have been lying to you your entire life." Sunrise smirked triumphantly, thinking that this would leave Uru in complete shock but it didn't even faze the princess.
"Yeah, I know. Clearly, Ahadi or 'Midnight' as you call him didn't tell you that little fact about me." 'But that means Renegade is aware of who I am.'
Sunrise made some sort of undignified noise. "And that doesn't make you feel resentful towards your parents at all?"
"Unlike you, I don't blame my parents for something that was completely out of their control."
The golden lioness growled in frustration as she lunged forward, plowing into Uru before the princess even realized that their match had begun. The darker lioness was pinned down but when Sunrise raised a claw up, she rolled out of her grasp just as the claw came crashing down and into the wet dirt.
Uru lashed out as soon as she got back up, bucking like a zebra and letting her hind legs crash into Sunrise's skull. Uru sighed in relief when Sunrise got back up, it appeared that she had not broken her jaw at the very least.
"Fight seriously!" Sunrise snarled. "I'm not just a pretty face you know!"
"I don't want to fight" Uru shouted back. "I understand why you're like this and I'm so sorry because it is partially the blame of the Pride Lands and all our superstitions but it wasn't my father's choice to kick your parents out. They left on their own accord and now you're just listening to Renegade's exaggeration of what really happened."
"As if I'm going to listen to some pampered princess."
Sunrise leapt forward again and even though Uru dodged the attack, her foe was able to get a deep gash in by swinging her claw into Uru's left flank. The darker lioness roared in pain and instinctively sunk her teeth into Sunrise's hide in retaliation. Uru realized her mistake too late as Sunrise rolled forward and bashed Uru's head into the mud. Sunrise stood over the princess ready to bite into her windpipe.
"I didn't mean to bite you" Uru huffed. "I'm sorry! I just did it out of pure instinct."
"Pretty poor and pathetic excuse" Sunrise snapped angrily. "Well, I don't mean to bite you either; too bad you'll be dead before you can forgive me."
Uru stared back into Sunrise's eyes and it felt as if she could cut right into the lioness's eyes. "Panda, don't do this!"
Sunrise stopped midway in her final attack and got back up to stare down at Uru in complete shock. "What did you just call me?" she asked in wonder.
"I remember that I had heard one of your parents say that when I – we – were young. I remembered it because I thought it was a funny name. It was short for 'Kupanda' right, meaning 'Rise'?" Uru asked her with a smile. Not a sinister or manipulative smile but a sincere one. "I knew it was you because I admired that beautiful coat of yours, especially in comparison with my ugly one." Her expression grew serious as she continued. "Ahadi told me that you enjoyed yourself with the company of other lions and I'm assuming it's because it made you feel loved in a way. You were treated differently because both of your parents were dark colored and when they were gone, you found yourself being surrounded by lions that wanted to court you. You hated that so you chose to just play around with them instead and it stuck with you. But inside, you must've wanted more than anything was for someone to love, and I'm guessing Ahadi was that someone."
Sunrise was so shocked that someone could see right through her that she almost forgot that she was supposed to kill the princess. She was going to sing her jaws into Uru's windpipe when the princess pushed herself up and ended up pinning the brighter lioness to the ground. Sunrise struggled in Uru's surprisingly strong grasp but to no avail.
"What the hell do you think you know about me?" she growled up at her. "I suffered for so long and now you think you can give me my entire life story in such a pathetic dictation?" Tears of rage and frustration were leaking out of her eyes and they fell into the already wet grass around her. "Do you think telling me everything I already know is going to change my mind?!" she shrieked.
Uru let go of Sunrise and took a few steps back. "We're not so different."
"…What?"
"I was bullied for so long because of my dark fur color and when I joined the hunting party, which was when my importance as princess became clear to others and they started treating me like I was a respectful queen already. I acted out, lashing out at anybody coming close to me until I met Ahadi. I honestly thought that he liked me for me and not because I was the princess. The same way you love him because he saw you for you and not because you're beautiful."
Sunrise blinked and it was like she was seeing the color of Uru's coat for the first time. She was so focused on trivial things and the fact that Uru was the princess that she seemed to have forgotten why so many lions held resentment towards the Pride Lands.
"I forgot that your fur color was like that, you suffered as well." It must've been worse for her too since she was the princess and no one seemed to trust her all because of that one characteristic.
Uru shook her head to show that it didn't matter anymore. "After this, I don't know if I can truly love Ahadi but I don't think we necessarily need a male lion to make us feel good about ourselves. How about we love each other as friends?"
Sunrise, Kupanda, stared at Uru, speechless but she finally gave her a small smile. "I'd really like that."
-X-
Hondari wanted to speak out to the twins, he wanted to try one more time but in his condition, Rafiki wouldn't allow him. The shaman in-training had to forcefully drag his master away from the battle that was about to go down.
"I can't believe that you're actually betraying us Ahadi!" Hell snarled.
"At least we don't have to deal with that snarky shaman again" Heaven scoffed disdainfully.
Waztani growled defensively but Ahadi stopped her from getting any further than that. He wanted to try talking to the pair first at least; he didn't want to hurt them.
"Giza, Nuru, please listen to me" Ahadi said. "I understand how the two of you feel towards this pride but you need to know that you can't fully place the blame on King Mohatu. If there was anything he could do, he would've kept all of us together but it just wasn't possible, the dark-furred lions left on their own will due to hostilities not because of exile."
"Don't call us that!" Hell roared.
"And we're well aware that the Pride Lands didn't banish us" Heaven retorted. "We were adolescents when our father died; he told us all about it. He gave us a similar speech about not blaming the Pride Lands but those feelings lingered within us. They were feelings of betrayal, not just from the pride but from our unfaithful mother as well."
Waztani remembered what Hondari had said about the twins' mother and she was about to tell them but Hell beat her to it.
The black lion lunged forward, to impatient to tear into flesh to listen to a conversation let alone join in on one. He barreled into Ahadi and sunk his claws into his chest, tearing away skin and fur. Ahadi roared in agony but was able to push off his foe with his hind legs. But as soon as he staggered back to his feet, Hell crashed into him once more and sunk his fangs into Ahadi's forearm, causing another roar to ring out.
Waztani was so distracted by this sudden fight that she had forgotten there was a second one to keep an eye on. Heaven slinked towards her distracted opponent and swept her foe's legs from under her. The white lioness pinned down her tawny-furred enemy and slid one claw around Waztani's shoulder which sent waves of searing pain through her entire body.
Waztani was unable to lift that arm but she could still move other parts of her body, like her other arm. First, she clawed into Heaven's face, staining the white fur in red blood before using the same technique as Ahadi and kicking Heaven off with her hind legs.
By the time she got back up, she could see that Ahadi was pushing Hell back as well but not by much considering how tired out Ahadi was.
"We can't keep this up like this" Waztani huffed in exhaustion.
"Listen Waztani" Ahadi heaved. "I know you don't fully trust me, not after everything I've done but we have to work together to fight them. They're skilled fighters and they know exactly what the other will do so that they mesh well together. We won't be able to beat them separately, especially not with the wounds we've obtained from those few seconds of fighting."
"Sure, I don't mind working together" Waztani glowered. "But only as long as you don't mind working with a lioness with only three fully working legs."
"I can work with that."
Hell took a step forward, an obvious frown on his face. "What are you two blabbering about? Are you going to fight or have nice chat?"
"Is the second one really an option for us?" Ahadi mocked. His eyes then shifted over to his partner and dropped his voice down to a whisper so that only she could hear him. "Just follow my lead and don't take on one of them on your own."
She gave an almost imperceptible nod just as the twins lunged forward with the intent to kill.
Ahadi leapt to the side and Waztani followed suit, easily dodging their attack. The twins landed a foot short but they recovered quickly and lunged at them again, this time, Ahadi stood his ground. Waztani recognized the pose to one of Uru's, a special double team attack of hers when out hunting prey. And it was Waztani she used it most with.
The lioness grinned a she ran up to Ahadi and the two of them swapped spots at the same time the twins struck the spot they were in only a second before. They're sudden switch momentarily confused them and it gave them a chance to barrel into Hell from both sides.
"Giza!" Heaven involuntarily shouted.
"He's all yours" Ahadi grinned as he used the black lion's back as a springboard. Ahadi pushed Hell into the ground and then fell on top of his sister, pinning her down using all of his weight. Waztani had already pinned down Hell by the time Heaven realized what they had done.
"Let go of me wench!" Hell snarled.
"Excuse me?" Waztani scoffed.
"If you're going to kill us then go ahead" he continued.
While Hell seemed rather accepting of his impending doom, Heaven was in the opposite state of mind. She was actually crying, and it didn't seem like a manipulative trick for Ahadi to let her go out of sympathy and pity.
"Giza, I don't want to die!" she sobbed.
"Don't call me that!" her brother replied angrily. "And show some backbone. You're pathetic!"
"Giza, enough!" Ahadi roared. "I'm not going to kill you nor do I want to. You guys were – and still are – my friends. I can't kill my friends." He looked back down to the white lioness underneath him. "Nuru, I'm going to let you go now but please, hear us out. Hondari wanted to tell you guys something earlier but you wouldn't let him."
He slowly got off of her and she got back up, she didn't do anything though, she didn't attack nor did she run away. She just stared at the grass in what appeared to be shame as the rain fell around them.
"What are you doing?" Hell snapped. "Attack or even better, get away and come back with reinforcements!"
"And what about you?" she shouted back. "I can't leave you, you're my brother…"
Hell stared back at her and it didn't even seem like he was able to comprehend what she was saying. He only turned away from her when he heard the shaman hobbling over to them with his student supporting him along the way.
"What do you want?"
Hondari stopped a few feet away. "To tell you that you guys are wrong about your mother. She was thinking about going with you that day, she really was. It's just, the rest of her family was here and she couldn't bear parting with them. But your father believed that when it came down to it, she would choose to stay so he left with you guys, not saying anything at all about his departure to anyone. He had hoped the goodbye would be less painful for his mate then. What he didn't know was that she had decided to go with you guys."
Heaven looked over to her brother who didn't say anything and it was clear he wasn't sure what to make of what the shaman was saying. So she decided to take over by looking back to the older lion. "Then what happened? How can we believe you? Where is she?"
"I don't expect you guys to believe me" Hondari admitted. "I just thought you guys should know. She ran off in search of you guys, she had hoped she'd catch up with you guys. One day, while Zuzu was heading to the Western Kingdom with negotiation affairs, she recognized the body of a lioness below her surrounded by buzzards. She flew close enough to identify the lioness, it was you mother. She had died on her search for her family."
Once the shaman finished his story, Waztani got off of Hell who was now crying. She winced as she moved her injured shoulder but still kept a close eye on what the brother of the pair would do next.
"Oh Great Spirit" he sobbed uncontrollably.
"I don't think I've ever seen Giza cry before" Ahadi remarked. "He must've held those tears in for a long time."
"He has" Heaven sighed as she walked over to her brother. "Please get up, it's okay. We all need to let go of our emotions once in a while." She helped him up and they embraced each other, both crying into each others' shoulders.
"Nuru…What were we doing?" he cried.
"Exactly what father told us not to do…" she muttered sadly. "But we can fix this if the king will give us a chance." She seemed to look over to the residents of the Pride Lands for the answer.
"I know he will" Hondari stated with a nod of affirmation from both Ahadi and Waztani.
-X-
Jolina helped the injured lioness get away from the rest of the bloody battlefield, followed by two others ordered by Mohatu to protect the queen. Jolina stopped when she found some cover in the forest, they could still hear the cries of pain and battle cries from nearby though. "Here, this should be far enough" Jolina sighed. "Can the two of you stay here to protect her?"
"No, my queen!" the injured lioness cried out. "You need to be protected more than I do! Our king would be lost without you."
"And King Mohatu instructed us to stay by your side" one of her guards added.
Jolina stood up and took a few steps away from them so that she could speak to them properly. "My life is not worth more than any of yours no matter what title I am given! However, since I am queen, I order the two of you to protect this lioness! I will be fine on my own."
"But the king-!"
"Mohatu will understand" Jolina told them. "In a war, the battle does not end when the leader is killed. What matters is that someone stays alive to carry on the will of the pride. If I were to die out there, then it would not be the end of our kingdom, my daughter can take my place or even one of you. So don't you dare act as if one life is more important than other, life in itself is valuable and should be cherished. Do you three understand?"
They nodded in response. "Thank you my queen, for having such a gentle heart" the injured lioness smiled.
Jolina smiled back but it vanished quickly when she heard a twig break from behind her. The four of them turned their attention to a muddy-colored lioness staring at them, her emerald green eyes reflecting sadness about them.
"Who are you?" the guard that had not spoken yet growled.
"State your name and business!" the other added.
"Both of you; stand down" Jolina instructed them softly. She turned to the unfamiliar lioness when the guards slowly loosened up their crouched stances. "I don't know you so I can only assume that you are the enemy but I cannot bring myself to see you as one. Who are you?"
The lioness stared back at the queen and took a few steps forward, causing the guards to tighten their muscles a little. "…I don't really know my name or my origins so I call myself, Mystery. I followed Renegade because he told me stories of the cruelty and horrors of the Pride Lands. But what Ahadi has found here and seeing what you have done for that lioness, I can see now that he was lying. I don't know any queen kind enough to risk her own life for her subjects the way you are."
"So you are a friend of Ahadi's?" Jolina laughed lightly. "That's good; it means I can trust you."
"You don't mistrust Ahadi after knowing that he almost betrayed you?"
The queen shook her head. "As strange as this might sound, I don't. I've seen how Ahadi looks at my daughter and I know how he acts when he's around here, those are things someone can't feign no matter how good of an actor you are."
"I see…"
One of the guards went up to Jolina and lowered her voice so that only they and the other two lionesses could hear. "Are you sure about this? How do you know you can trust her?"
"I don't but it's not good to live your life not trusting others all the time" Jolina replied.
"If the queen thinks we can trust her then I think so too" the injured lioness chimed. "There is no one with a better sense of character than our Queen Jolina."
"Well, we trust her judgment too but we're just not too sure about this one. She even states herself that she is an enigma."
The queen raised an eyebrow. "And that means we can't trust her? If you remember, I was an enigma as well, I showed up at the Pride Lands' border, hungry and beaten down by the forces of nature. But Mohatu took me in and I ended up as your queen."
The guard sheepishly apologized as if she had committed some terrible sin and backed away. Jolina then turned back to Mystery who had gotten even closer to them.
"Queen Jolina, I need you to come with me" Mystery pleaded.
"Why?" the queen asked. But she could see the urgency in Mystery's eyes.
"It's about your mate, King Mohatu. He is in grave danger."
Jolina's eyes widened and her heart began beating in fear for her mate's life. It didn't matter how strong a lion was, there will always be a force capable of knocking him down. "Where is he? What's going to happen to him?" she inquired.
"Renegade plans on taking his life in front of everybody and it's not that I think he will lose in a fight between the two of them but they have a plan on taking him down" Mystery told them. "So please, come with me and I can take to them!"
Jolina nodded; her conviction showing in her eyes. "Of course."
"We'll go with you!" one of the guards stated.
"No, you need to stay here to take care of her" the queen gestured towards the lioness lying on the floor. "Just believe me when I tell you that I will come out of this okay. There is absolutely no need to worry."
There was a moment's hesitation but then the guard bowed down to the queen. "Of course, your majesty. I will be sure to fulfill my promise to you as long as you promise me this. Come back safely, not just you but the king and the princess."
"I will, on my honor as the queen of the Eastern Kingdom. I promise to come back with my mate and daughter."
Mystery waited patiently as the queen collected her nerves and the two of them set off.
-X-
So what do you guys think? I think I did better on it than I had expected it to be. Anyway, what do you think of Sunrise's, Heaven's, and Hell's real names? In case you've forgotten, they are Kupanda, Nuru, and Giza respectively. Tell me how you think this turned out, if I could've done better if it's okay or whatever it is! Also, what do you guys think of Mystery? Do you think that Jolina is right to trust her? Well, you'll just have to find out in the next chapter which will also be the last chapter, not including the epilogue, I think. So I hope you all enjoyed this rather speedy update and I hope you guys will be able to join me next time. Don't forget to leave a review for me!