A Couple Months Later

Mheetu had woken up early enough to see the sun rising, his mane flowing in the wind as his mind thought back on what happened on the past months. The rebellion he joined had been full of animals his family had once known. Apparent by his father's old friends; Fuli, Beshte, Ono, and Bunga.

The rebellion knew the leader needed to be someone the family wouldn't expected so he had been chosen. He was the leader of the rebellion. He needed to come up with the plans. Paka had been helpful in making plans with him for the rebellion.

The clearing of the throat made the light golden lion to move his eyes to the source to lock eyes with a growing younger prince who was getting taller as his brother grew as well.

"Hatari."

Hatari snarled before sitting down next to his older brother. "You're never around anymore."

Mheetu rolled his eyes with annoyance. "Is that such a bad thing for you? I thought you enjoyed the alone time with Uncle Kopa and mother, don't you? Your mane is coming in, much more so than when you were a cub, huh?"

Hatari grumbled in reply. Both brothers had been growing into handsome lions. "Mheetu..."

The older lion stood up and shook out his mane. He was handsome for an young adult. "What is it now? Go find Mpole and play with her."

Hatari shook his head before growling. "Mpole isn't into causing as such trouble as she was a cub. Says she needs to grow up if she wants to be a good fighter and hunter like her mother."

"Maybe you should follow her example." Mheetu growled.

The younger prince snarled and unleashed his claws. "Don't tell me what to do!"

Mheetu ducked as Hatari swung at him before unleashing his own claws and swung at his brother's face, hitting him. "Do not try and hit me!"

Hatari cried out with a bit of pain before Mheetu padded down the slope, ignoring his uncle called for him to come back with an angry tone as Kiara looked over the youngest prince while Kion stared at his son, wondering what had happened.

TLK: DOTNO

Paka looked up from the watering hole to see Mheetu coming towards them with a pissed off expression and sighed heavily. The others arched an eyebrow before allowing the two to be alone. Mheetu laid down on the ground while looking into the water before gazing at his best friend.

"I think I scarred Hatari." admitted Mheetu as he got a drink.

The sound of Paka laughing reached his ears and the prince smiled. He loved her laugh.

"If that doesn't teach him, then I dunno what will!"

The prince smiled before sitting up to nuzzle his friend in comfort before revealing he didn't stop to come back to Priderock when his uncle demanded to know what happened. There wasn't a doubt his family would believe Hatari's side. But he didn't care that much, he was so done with them all.

"I don't care what uncle thinks." Mheetu sighed heavily as he felt Paka nuzzle him back with ease. It brought joy to his heart. "I just care about when he's going to fall."

Other rebellion members began to come back when Mheetu laid down on top of a rock that they had came to know as their meeting place where the leader would sit and a meeting would take place.

"We can strike whenever you wish." Fuli told him with a smile. "You are our leader after all, Mheetu."

There was other nods of agreement but Mheetu didn't know to feel about those words. He just didn't know to feel about this in general. It still felt weird.

"But we don't harm Kion!" Bunga spoke up.

It made Mheetu smile knowing they didn't want to harm his father after all the things his family had done. But he couldn't help but feel there was something more to his family than what they led on. It was mainly about his parents and uncle that got him the weird feeling.

"Can someone fetch me Rafiki?" he asked kindly as he jumped down from the rock.

Fuli arched an eyebrow as she looked at her leader. "Why do you need him?"

Mheetu sighed heavily but didn't tell them. "I just need to speak with him." he mumbled and Paka nuzzled him comfortingly while Fuli ran off to find the Shaman. "When he comes, tell him to meet me in the den underneath Priderock. Where the Lion Guard would meet, you remember the stories, right?"

Bunga nodded and promised to send the shaman there and with that, Mheetu left for the cave underneath Priderock. It left the rebellion members alone and they all looked at each other with confusion.

It was Ono who broke the silence.

"Why does he need to meet Rafiki there?" he asked.

Bunga shrugged. "Dunno. But we should make sure he gets there without too much trouble. Rafiki, I mean."

TLK: DOTNO

Rafiki entered the cave after receiving the message that Mheetu wanted to meet him. He was sure it was because the prince didn't want his family to wonder what was happening. He saw the prince looking at some drawings and he sighed when he saw what pictures he was looking at, knowing the story would have to be shared.

Simba and Nala.

The prince looked at him before asking for the story as he sat down and waited as the Shaman sighed before sharing the tale of his grandparents. How Simba had been born to Mufasa and Sarabi, how Scar was jealous, how his grandparents were close as cubs. Everything little detail about his grandparents' childhood. What happened to Nala's father, the old Lion Guard before moving onto his family's tales and Mheetu sucked in a breath.

This wouldn't be good for him, and he knew it.

What surprised him most during the tale was the truth about his parents and uncle. They were siblings! Mheetu nearly gagged because he knew he was an incest cub but that also meant Hatari was one too. He thought it was odd how his family looked too much alike for his liking. But he kept quiet before the truth was revealed on what happened to his grandparents.

Murdered. They were murdered. By their own cubs. By his family! Mheetu almost threw up at the plans Rafiki knew about before they were put into action.

How could they have done such things? Didn't they know the Great Kings and Queens of the Past would be judging them on their death day? Mheetu winced when Rafiki told him how it was far too late for Kiara and Kopa, but there was some hope for Kion and the prince slowly nodded before explaining the rebellion he was apart of and Rafiki smiled.

"Do not give up da rebellion." Rafiki whispered to him before placing his hand on his back before moving on to the next tale about the crowning ceremony.

He wouldn't dream of it. They needed to be free. Then he was told about how his father refused the throne if his siblings didn't get crowned along with him, and Mheetu thought it was because of his father's undying loyalty to his siblings to go up against them. The prince winced about how close to home it hit.

He once thought his loyalty to his family was undying so he couldn't go up against them before knowing what to do. He and his father were truly similar when it came to loyalty but had different ideas on if it was worth it or not.

Then the prince stood up, hugged the shaman before moving towards the paintings and sighed heavily before placing his paw on them, whispering about how sorry he was for not knowing sooner. Mheetu, then, whispered about how guilty his father looked whenever he spoke about them.

Guilty for killing Simba and guilty for not getting there in time to save Nala.

"Rafiki, you need to look at Hatari before you go back. I might've accidentally lashed at him with my claws... yeah... I think I scarred him."

Rafiki couldn't help but outright laughing at how casual Mheetu had said that.