~Episode twenty: Return To The Pridelands~

~Part Seven~

(AU; no Lion Guard competition; continued)

"What were you thinking, Vitani?!" Kion thundered, standing in a prowl beneath Pride Rock for when her tense eyes turned his way. "It's bad enough you've tried to interfere with our rescues.. but this is going too far!"

"Too Far?!" Vitani echoed, as the two guards gathered side by side to watch. "If you'd have just let me handle it we would've been fine."

"I don't believe this.." Kion snarled. "Even after you've put lives in danger, you still try to justify yourself."

"It doesn't need justification if it's true." Vitani shot back.

"But it's not YOUR JOB!" Kion quaked. "First you try to tell us how to do our job, then you try ordering MY team? And then you try to do it yourself?!"

"Look, we were doing just fine protecting the Pridelands before you and your friends came back." Vitani accused, prowling toward Kion with a boldness that just added fuel to the fire.

Kion growled asserting his fierce authority by lifting his head to her which only made her step back, but not back down.

"What's going on?" Kovu asked, as he and Kiara wandered down from Pride Rock, ending up next to the two Guards.

"You were told to back off!" Kion asserted, with a boiling growl. "And all you've done is make things worse! And what's even worse is that you put members of my team in danger.. JUST SO YOU COULD BE A HERO THAT YOU'RE NOT!"

"Kion!" Kiara gasped.

"Well, what does that make you, MUFASA?" Vitani countered. "All high and mighty because of that Roar that makes you so special? Or do you think so highly of yourself because you took down Scar."

"Vitani!" Kovu hissed.

"YOU CAN PUT YOUR OWN LIVES AT RISK.. BUT NOT MEMBERS OF THE REAL LION GUARD!" Kion thundered, his prowl deepening, and the hairs his neck standing on end with his unsheathing claws.

"Oh, so YOU CAN ONLY CARRY THE GLORY OF YOUR ROLE JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE IT?!" Vitani questioned, the two growing increasingly close to one another in more a of a battle-ready prowl than an assertive one. "WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO WHEN YOU FINALLY COME OUT OF THE SHADOW OF YOUR PRECIOUS GRANDFATHER?!"

And Kion's words couldn't not satisfy what his paws soon achieved..

Pouncing on Vitani, she caught him at the shoulders and threw him off her; stalking each other in a back and forth circle. With bared teeth, Kion impulsively shot toward her and lunged right for her neck, locking his jaws onto her with any strength he had to give.

Vitani pulled back, even reaching her paws up to bat Kion's head to hopefully make him let go. But when one paw unsheathed its claws, the mark it left across his nose finally did make him.

Flaring amber eyes searched out his target and when he lunged, he was already met with Vitani, who landed him on his back where she could snarl at him. Raising a paw, she landed another paw across his face. And he scratched blindly up at her, successfully making her back away.

Now each sporting wounds oozing with crimson the two lions seemed to pause a moment. But Kion seemed to get his second wind before Vitani, because his blitz forced her to act and after a fight between paws and claws, one lion hit the ground.. and it wasn't Kion.

The true leader of the Lion Guard snarled down on his pinned foe and she dared not advance even while she glared up at him. The skies grumbled while his amber eyes flared, and he would have finished this until..

"Kion?!" A voice cried and he instantly looked.

And to his horror the dumbfounded looks of his family and friends stared at him, the looks of his parents and sister biting into him deeper than anticipated when seeing them.

All of a sudden his actions became clear and his blood ran dead cold. He's gaze wandered down to Vitani, who still glared at him, and he quickly stepped back off her.

And it only took a few more steps back for him to turn and run, only leaving behind a small, crimson stain upon the dry earth.

Bunga stepped toward him as if to call out and stop him, but Fuli hopped in front of him with a solemn look; then turned to watch as Kion appeared on another hill, fleeing their midst.

And yet another soul felt compelled to watch more intently, with a growing thought that he felt needed to be acted upon.

xxxx

Why is this happening?! The young leader thought, his vision blurred by the glaze that fled from his eyes.

I should've been past this by now! His mind knew not where he was running to, nor did he seem to care.

But after he'd been running for what seemed like ever, his paws finally slowed. And he found himself on a small hill with an immediate drop, allowing him to sit under a tree which cast its shade upon him; so he could gaze out at the ever peaceful existence of his homeland.

All of this I have earned.. His mind continued to think. His head lowered with his gaze, a drip of something thick made him brush a paw across his nose. But when he just happened to look down at it, the deep red stain was disheartening; and the sting of the wound wasn't the reason.

So why does it feel like I have to earn it all over again?

"You don't have to feel like you've lost something.." the voice that somehow debunked his biggest concerns turned out to be none other than the soft green eyes and dark complexion that he'd once thought of as an enemy.

The older young lion came alongside him and Kion almost refused to meet his gaze, which still ended up on the ground after a while.

"You don't have to say it.." Kion sighed, brushing a paw across his nose again, wincing at the sting once again.

"Say what?" Kovu asked innocently.

"That I went too far?.." Kion replied, almost questioning his own answer when setting his paw down again. "Not the first time I'm afraid.. wish it were the last.. I just don't understand why this keeps happening. Especially since my scar is now healed."

"Healed or not, you still have feelings." Kovu reminded him. "And no matter how hard you try, you can't mask them for long. Trust me,.. I know."

Kion's brow furrowed, as his eyes cocked over to him without even the slightest turn of his head.

"I'll bet you never had issues with others opposing you." Kion ventured flatly. "Seems like you had all the control."

"Not even close." Kovu lightly chuckled, then his gaze darkened slightly. "Zira led me to believe I had control of things.. but really she was just using that as an excuse to get me to do whatever she wanted."

"What?" His hearing was clear, but even so his thoughts couldn't seem to comprehend the truth of this fact.

"Let's just say you're not the only one to be swayed by Scar's influence." Kovu said and Kion's eyes flashed over to him.

"You can't think no one would notice?" Kovu answered his unasked question. "It's not hard to see an undecided mind with a choice of duty and heart."

"How do you know so much? I barely even know you?" Kion asked him directly.. and some would say he looked and sounded like his mother in the moment.

"Because I've been where you are." Kovu answered, sitting beside him as the water from a puddle way below them reflected their posture straight back at them.

"When I started spending more time with Kiara.. after rescuing her from the fire trap that Zira had us set, I realized that I didn't have a desire to kill and destroy like I was taught.. But at the same time,.. I felt I couldn't bring myself to tell her the truth of why I saved her to begin with." Kovu's green eyes turned on Kion and bore into his amber gaze.

"I was trained to manipulate and deceive everyone around me.. to hate Simba and all Royal Pridelanders and to hate them with such a passion that would help us finally take back what she believed was ours. That hatred,.. I realized,.. was what I feared would make me act just like Scar.." Kovu went on,.. and somehow the scar over his eye seemed to stand out more to Kion. "But I finally figured out.. that in my heart, I knew that wasn't right.. And for years I tried to ignore it,.. push away all these doubts I'd had about everything I've been taught.. and even tried to rationalize the questionable behaviors I had been told were that of a king.."

King? Kion's gaze dropped thoughtfully with this repeating word, which he'd held onto since the offer had been presented to him; as he vividly recalled.

"But when Simba told me about what Scar did.. I was initially surprised,.. but soon started to feel relieved that the doubts I'd been struggling with my whole life weren't something to ignore." The former Outsider told him, turning his gaze outward.

"What did he tell you about him?" Kion almost dreaded to ask.

"Probably what you've already figured out." Kovu shrugged, his eyes still fixed on the open plain of the savannah. "Scar was a cold-blooded killer.." Green eyes met amber ones for seemingly the hundredth time. "A lion who was willing to destroy anyone who stood in the way of what he wanted.. The leader of a darkness he chose.. and a slave to his own twisted illusions."

He's willing to say that?! Kion's thoughts gasped, his eyes slightly widened which Kovu didn't seem to notice.

"He was definitely not what I expected.." Kion thought aloud.

"Better?" Kovu wondered, hoping desperately to be right.

"Worse.." Kion sighed, lifting his gaze to him. "Far worse.." And for a moment he almost remembered the sting that made his eye socket burn, which made him close his eyes hard to shake his head out of the distraction. "Nothing could have prepared us for his return.. And nothing we could have done would have prevented him from coming after the Pridelands.. My only regret was not knowing about his return sooner."

"Hey, you can't know that you could've known any sooner." Kovu countered. "From what I've heard you and your team figured it out rather quickly.. And you had no reason to believe he would ever return. Or that anyone would know how to bring him back.."

"We still fell right into the Outlanders' trap.." Kion sighed once again. "I fell into their trap.. I let Janja bait me into an angry roar.. I allowed Scar to return.. And what's worse is that I lost so much to him,.. and because of him.. I don't think I can ever get that back.."

"Sounds to me like you've already started to.." Kovu reasoned.

"How can you tell?" Kion wondered, lifting his gaze over to him.

"You're here in one piece aren't you?" Kovu returned. "And that's something to be proud of.. Especially after the rough journey you had,.. according to your friends.. Sounds to me like you've earned a lot of it back, already."

Looking down, Kion's own reflection made him frown once more,.. becoming more of a soft glare; due to the scar over his eye and the fresh wounds across the bridge of his nose.

"Listen.." Kovu began again, catching his distasteful look. "Don't hate the mark.. hate the things you're letting it do to you.."

"Letting it?!" Kion gasped, facing him more directly. "You think I wanna be like this?"

"Nope.. but you don't seem to have done anything to stop it.." Kovu answered, shaking his head, "..other than ignore it."

"What?! I..-" Kovu stepping back from Kion's stiff, dominant stance reminded him to back off, and step back himself.

"I'm sorry.." he apologized, letting down his guard.. "I guess I've just had a lot on my mind.."

"Sounds to me, like far more than a lot." Kovu guessed. "Life can be stressful.. especially if you have obligations and desires.. the trick is always how to balance that.. or how to choose which one to go after."

"You guys probably had it pretty tough out there in the Outlands, though." Kion thought earnestly. "'Can't imagine what it would've been like to grow up like that."

"Let's just say it's not the way lions should live." Kovu shrugged, even while their gazes still searched the vast landscape with ease. "But survival is only half the battle." Kion's eyes turned back to him and he waited for him to continue. Kovu finally dared himself to meet Kion eyes directly and they bore into him once more. And as he looked a reflection of something like a distant memory faded across the other lion's green eyes.

"What I was taught to do?.." Kovu went on slowly, as his eyes remained fixed on Kion's. "Who I was continually told to be?.. made me wonder, and even fear, that if, even though Scar was not my father,.. I might still be destined to become like him. Like.. some part of me would actually make me like him.. and that that would be my downfall into becoming something I didn't want to be.."

"What kinds of things have you heard about him?" Kion asked, having been standing back from him this whole time.. like he were afraid coming too close would make himself lash out at any moment.

"In Simba's way of putting it?.. Scar couldn't let go of his hate,.. and in the end.. It destroyed him.." Kovu's soft eyes caught Kion's once again.. "And then you took care of him.."

"You may have felt like you came close to becoming just like him.." The former Outsider continued, as the Lion Guard leader dropped his gaze. "But you're certainly not the only one who's afraid of becoming like Scar.."

Kion's eyes flashed and he looked up, but Kovu had already turned away from him. And as Kovu wandered away, he had to think on this.. His own fears bubbling back up to him in a new way that shed light on some things.. And the more he thought into them,.. the deeper he began to understand them.. And the more he realized the power which it'd all had on him, and he noticed just how long he'd been deceived by this fact.

Yet still a thought remained with him,.. wrapping him like a blanket, but it seemed to possess a chill that made him shudder. And while he wished the words of his new friend would debunk the feelings he still felt.. He couldn't seem to escape this one question, which still came back to him no matter how he rationalized against it. Though some of his life-long questions had finally been answered,.. this one,.. still remained..

But what does that make now?..

~To be continued..~

Hello everyone, it's me.. Finally.. Ugh, I know, I know.. Late again! But.. this was a fun chapter to write.. The interaction between Kion and Kovu was great. And honestly,.. when I was making plans for this scene it made me realize just how similar Kion and Kovu are;.. despite their vastly different upbringings..

But what do YOU think? Leave your thoughts in the comments.. I would LOVE to hear your take on this matter. And as always enjoy! And I'll see you next time! Thx!