Author's note: I just want to thank everyone for reviewing and coming back to my story, really means a lot. And also, just to inform some others who might be curious (I've been getting some PMs about this), I don't take commissions as I prefer to create my own story that I can really pour my heart into. Anyways, here's Chapter 4, hope you all like it. Peace!
CHAPTER FOUR: DISGRACE
The shelter was a small cave hidden among the trees not too far away from the Pride Rock, but far enough to be safe. It had just enough room for the whole pride to settle down. It was tight, but it had to do the job.
As Simba and Kovu managed to squeeze themselves through the entrance, the whole pride let out a sigh of relief with Kiara and Nala immediately running to their mates. Simba and Kovu's eyes were finally sparked with hope, but after a few seconds of nuzzling with Nala, Simba remained still. Nala took this as a sign for news and stepped a tiny bit away. Kiara still stood cuddled up with Kovu, but they were all looking at Simba.
"We are facing a dark period of our reign," Simba spoke out. "The pride that attacked you, there's more of them. They attacked us in the jungle."
"We fought the leader," Nala told Simba. "He's strong, but we can handle it together."
Simba shook his head. "Whoever it is you saw, that's not the leader."
"What are you saying?" asked Nala.
"Scar is still alive and the whole pride is his. I know it's him. We were face to face." The whole pride froze for a second, but no noise was made. Simba didn't finish speaking. He was staring into the ground, mentally preparing for whatever it was that he had to say before lifting his head again. "They killed Rafiki."
A half of the pride that's always known Rafiki collectively gasped. That's when the angry yelling of the lionesses started. Simba roared to calm them down.
"Silence!" yelled Simba even after the noise died out from his thunderous roar. "I know it's bad, but that's exactly why we have to stay focused. And we need to stick together, so we have a decent chance of beating them. Rafiki was a guide to all of us. But there comes a time when we have to guide ourselves. Because if we don't, who are we?"
Even in devastation, Simba was the lion king and he couldn't allow himself the luxury of proper mourning. His only option was keeping the pride together.
"Simba, there's one more thing you should know," Nala broke the silence.
"What is it?" asked Simba.
"We caught one of them. He's being guarded down there," Nala said while pointing her head towards a path in the cave leading deeper below.
"I'll go check on him."
The entire pride was squeezing among themselves to make way for Simba approaching at a steady pace, but with determination in his tired glance. Nala followed right behind.
As they got down the small descending path, they found Vitani keeping watch, with Imani and Gana once again. On the other side of a small cave-in, a lion was lying half-asleep, raising one eye when hearing someone approaching and not showing much interest at all. The crack in the stone covering them shone some pale moonlight on him.
"Finally," Vitani coldly said. "I was going to interrogate him, but I figured I'd wait for you."
"Thank you, Vitani," Simba replied.
"What happened? Is Kovu okay?"
"Kovu is fine. I suggest you get back up there; there are some things you should know. I'll take care of this."
"I can help," Vitani began to protest.
"You've done enough and you've done well. Rest now," Nala said.
"Come on, Vitani, let's go. We've done enough for today," Imani reassured her.
Vitani was going to say something, but in the end she just nodded. She didn't realize how tired she felt until she was off duty. She wanted to do as much as possible and was angry at her body not being able to sustain any more, but she needed to give herself a break while things were being taken care of.
Once Simba and Nala were left alone, Simba's gaze turned from calm to threatening as he slowly approached the lion, who still looked unbothered.
"Who are you and why did you come here?" Simba commanded.
The lion opened his eyes just to roll them and closed them again, not even lifting his head. Simba, immediately reminded of Scar, felt anger building up in him and he roared.
"Let me remind you, you're a prisoner here. I'll ask one more time. Are you one of them?"
The lion snorted and finally opened his eyes. "Sometimes I don't even know."
"Yes or no?" Nala srictly asked.
"Well, I'll just suppose that when you say 'one of them', you mean being dragged around or aimlessly following those who underestimate you because you've got nowhere else to go and say that I am," the lion said in a very sarcastic tone, but at least raising his head this time. "Oh, and my name is Damu, nice to meet you, how was your day?"
"Lose the sarcasm, I bet he taught you all about who I am," Simba groaned.
"Oh, I'm sorry, great king Simba. Where is your throne, anyway?"
Simba smacked Damu across his face with his paw. Not too hard, but hard enough to threaten him.
Damu let out a short groan and proceeded to stare into space, eyes filled with hate.
"Look, I don't care who you are or what you want," Simba furiously whispered. "If you're a threat to my pride, I will end you. The only reason that I'm still keeping you alive is because you might prove useful."
A smirk showed up on Damu's face. "I deserved that. I suppose I should practice my courtesy," he said with just enough sarcasm to make rudeness nothing more than ambiguous. "Useful for what? For exchange? Are you going to threaten to kill me if they don't give up Pride Rock? Please, I thought you were at least smarter than that. You could brutally slaughter me right in front of them and they won't even blink."
"That doesn't have to mean you're a lost cause for us," Simba said.
"Oh, but maybe I am," Damu said while slowly, lazily getting up. "Actually, you might as well kill me right here, right now."
Simba growled quietly. "Don't get your hopes up."
Simba and Nala returned to the entrance, both eyeing Damu to see if he would try jumping them, but Damu just turned his back on them and lied back down, not even batting an eye at them.
...
Vitani was half-asleep when she heard a familiar voice whispering her name.
"Vitani..."
It was Kovu. She usually found it adorable how some habits never changed, like Kovu waking her up for late-night conversations when he didn't feel good about something. But she hated it in the moment of having her sleep interrupted. Sometimes she would do the same, but it changed over time since she was usually the more stoic one. Sometimes she felt like more of a mother to Kovu than Zira ever was.
"What do you want?" she muttered.
"Can we just go for a walk? It won't be long," he quietly said.
She smiled. He always said that it wouldn't be long and the outcome was usually different. But she couldn't say 'no' to him. Though, she did wantt to tease him a bit first.
"And what is Kiara doing, huh, lover boy?"
"I don't want to wake her up."
"So you come here to bother me," she said while slowly getting up and rolling her eyes. "Alright, let's go then."
...
Simba was fighting to keep his vision in focus, but everything got blurry once again. Maybe I can shut my eyes just a little, he thought, his look completely falling out of line and he hung his head down, falling asleep on his feet for the fourth time already. The call of the blissful blackness behind his eyes was too tempting. Damu was long asleep and Nala grew increasingly more frustrated.
She nudged Simba with her paw and gently called out his name. "Simba, Simba..."
"Ah, what?" he said as he quickly raised his head and tried to pretend he was awake all along.
"You're exhausted; you need to get some sleep. I may have had a rough day, but you barely stopped for a second."
"No, I can do this," he said, trying to sound assured, but he was too tired for that. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"Simba," Nala said in a calming voice. "The pride needs you, but it needs you capable. Get up there, send someone down here and get some sleep. I'll come right after someone gets here, okay?"
Simba wandered off in his thoughts, looking through Nala with a conflicted expression, but ultimately nodded.
"Okay," he muttered.
"Okay," Nala responded with a comforting smile.
...
"The problem is, I still don't know if what I did was right," Kovu said. "I love Kiara and I'm happy with her, but I can't help but feel like a disappointment."
"To who? Mom?" Vitani asked.
"I...maybe, I..." Kovu sighed and shrugged. "I don't know."
"She was filled with hate and that hate blinded us all because, really, what else could we do? She raised us and it's not easy to just turn against someone who raised you. That person should be a role model. But you opened our eyes. So did Kiara, but it was you that we listened."
Kovu nodded.
"To some, blood relation will mean nothing. I mean, look at what Scar did to his own brother and nephew. Just because someone is related to you, doesn't mean that person is right."
Kovu looked at Vitani and smiled. "Thanks."
Vitani nodded and smiled back at Kovu. "Anytime."
"I really didn't know how to say this to Kiara. I don't know, I just couldn't say that to her after everything that's happened."
"You're not obliged to say everything to everyone. It's your feelings and it's your choice."
"But she's my mate."
"And I'm your sister. Sometimes those are just more understanding."
There was a short silence.
"Vitani, do you think I'm capable of being a king?" Kovu asked the question he wanted to ask her all along.
Vitani sighed. "Listen, maybe not right now, in this moment, but no one is asking you to be one yet. But hey, is anyone ever ready for something like that? You're still very young. You don't have everything figured out, you're not even supposed to have everything figured out yet and that's completely fine. These things will come with experience, with more hardships that you will overcome. How do I know that? Because I know you and I know that no matter how tough things get, you make your way out because you don't really see another option. Do you get me?
Kovu smiled. "I guess I do. Thank you."
Vitani switched back to her sarcastic mode, but smiling back. "Yeah, you already said that. Now let me go to sleep."
Vitani was just about to enter the cave, when Kovu suddenly spoke out again: "Wait."
"What?"
"I might be onto something."
"What do you mean?"
"It's going to sound crazy, but hear me out," Kovu said. "What if I went to Scar's pride?"
"What do you mean by went to Scar's pride, like sneak..." Vitani drifted off mid-sentence, putting Kovu's plans together. "You don't mean..."
"I do mean," Kovu interrupted.
"It's dangerous, not to mention risky. What if Scar decide to kill you on the spot?"
"He won't. I'm too valuable. I already tried to cross Simba the same way when I was under Zira's control, might as well make up for it by using the same trick to his advantage right now."
"If this is all because of Simba..."
"It's not because of Simba. I might be this pride's only hope now. We're outnumbered and we need to gain the upper hand somehow and how else are we going to do that unless we deceive them?" Kovu explained.
"So you want to go to the Pride Rock, ask Scar to take you in and then somehow cross them so we can take them by surprise?"
"Yes."
"But how are you going to do that?"
"I'm still working on it."
Vitani nodded to herself, still piecing everything together. "Then I'm going with you."
"Why?"
"If you thought I'm letting you go there all by yourself, you are terribly wrong. Besides, it's even more likely that Scar will trust me than he will trust you, considering he probably knows a thing or two about what's been going on in the Pride Lands."
Kovu nodded, secretly glad that he won't be going alone. "Alright, if you must. So, when will we inform Simba?"
"In the morning," Vitani answered and yawned. "We need some rest."
...
The following morning, Simba, Nala and Zazu were standing opposite Kovu and Vitani, listening as Kovu and Vitani finished talking about their plan behind the cave, outside in the shadow of the thicket.
"That is pretty risky," Simba acknowledged.
"I know," Kovu said. "But is there really any other option left?"
Simba focused, trying to think about some other possible option, but to no avail. "I suppose not. But what exactly are you planning to do once you're there?"
"We left that part to you. What will you need us to do?" Vitani asked.
Simba stopped for a few seconds.
"You need to try to split them up," Nala said. "Otherwise I don't see any point in this whole thing."
"How about we just come with the information that you're at a specific place and you want them to surrender or you will kill Damu?" Kovu offered.
"I'm not sure," Simba said. "Scar is too power-hungry to just surrender like that."
"On top of that, Damu doesn't seem to be the most loved member of the pride," Nala added.
"You believe him?" Simba turned to Nala.
"He seems really bitter whenever you mention his pride. This whole situation seems like something he didn't want to get involved in, but was forced to because he had nowhere else to go," Nala suggested.
"He does seem angry at the whole world," Vitani remarked. "I just shrugged it off because being held hostage isn't exactly the most cheerful situation to end up in, but now that I think of it, he does seem to really hate his family."
"You talked to him as well?" Simba asked.
"And argued too," Zazu added bitterly.
"Yes, but I didn't manage to get him to talk much. Eventually he just stopped responding, pretending I wasn't there."
"Okay, sorry for interrupting, but we're getting off the subject here," said Kovu. "If we are going to split them up, how do we do it?"
Simba, who seemed to have zoned out a bit, stopped his glance at Zazu.
"Zazu?" he asked.
"Yes?" Zazu replied.
"Now this is just what I came up with on the spot, but what if you came, supposedly as a spy, you were 'caught' and you 'accidentally' blabber out that we are sneaking up on two areas, leading one half of the pride on a false trail and all of us attacking the others?"
Zazu stopped for a moment, but eventually nodded, ready for anything the situation demanded. "You know I will do anything you ask from me, sire."
"What do the rest of you think?" Simba asked.
"Sounds like a plan," Kovu spoke out first. "Vitani?"
"I'm in," Vitani confirmed. "But when do we go?"
"Preferably tomorrow," Nala said. "The plan sounds good, but I feel like we need to sit on it."
"Every night brings new possible dangers," Vitani remarked. "I think it's better if we go tonight. It's only morning after all and there's plenty of time for us to digest this plan."
"I agree with Vitani. It's too dangerous to prolong all this," Simba said. "Kovu?"
"All the same to me. Both sides have their pros and cons."
"I suppose you're right," Nala agreed in the end. "It's not very safe, but the situation itself isn't safe either."
"Hold on," Zazu said. "When am I supposed to come in?"
"Definitely not immediately," Vitani answered. "At least wait out one day. It would be too suspicious if you showed up on the same night."
"So, I suppose it is tonight," Kovu said after a pause with a hint of worry, but mixed with determination.
"It is tonight," Simba affirmed.
...
After long periods of silence, some laughs could finally be heard around the cave, coming from Kiara and Kovu on the edge of the clearing, followed by amused shushing. The sun was already getting closer to the other side of the horizon and Kovu knew what was coming, so he decided to spend his remaining time with Kiara, knowing that was the only way for him to properly gather the strength. In those moments, he was forgetting about everything else. But when the silence finally settled and they were both lying down with their heads up, it was the time to get serious.
"Kovu, please be safe over there. Take care of yourself," Kiara pleaded.
"Hey, I have Vitani by my side, okay?" Kovu told Kiara as he turned to her with a reassuring smile. "You really think anything will happen to me while she's there?"
"I guess if anyone does attack you, you won't be the one getting killed," Kiara said and they both chuckled, but there was still a hidden layer of worry in those chuckles.
"You don't have to play a hero in order to get accepted, you know," Kiara continued. "I hope you're not doing this just because you feel you have something to prove."
Kovu shook his head. "I don't know, honestly. And that scares me. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing most of the time. Although, I also feel like maybe I will be less anxious when I confront Scar. This might help me figure things out a little."
Kiara nodded and warmly smiled. "Okay."
And so they continued to stare into the orange glow of the setting sun, merging into pink, then purple, then darker and darker blue, thinking of nothing but one another.
...
The sun has finally set and the stars came out to look down upon the Pride Lands. On top of the Pride Rock, Scar was looking right back, hoping for something. Some sort of a sign. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but coming back into the Pride Lands only made him feel even emptier than before. He had all the power he wanted now, but something was missing. And these thoughts only seemed to come at night.
"Must be strange," someone said from behind. Scar turned around to see Ushindani, his mate, slowly approaching him. "Seeing your youth's land again, with new eyes."
"It is," Scar replied. "I don't know how to feel."
"Feel proud. You managed to get all of us here, to our new home. They took Damu, but we will get him back. I am worried about him, but we have to keep a clear head. Though, Wafa still keeps beating himself up about it."
"I do feel proud. I always feel proud," Scar said more to himself than to her. He blinked as he realized that he had drifted off. "Leave me. I will be in there soon," he assertively said.
Ushindani's face turned worried. "Is it something I've said?"
"Just go." Scar slightly raised his voice and Ushindani obeyed, retreating back into the cave, taking a few glances at Scar on her way.
Scar continued to look at the stars. He felt being judged from up there, stripped away, vulnerable. So he looked up for any sort of a sign to know he wasn't going crazy. To assure him that there was some point to this sudden burst of feelings. That there was something more to gain than this. Maybe he has been living for too long? After all, even Simba was getting old at this point and Scar was a fully grown lion when Simba was born. Sometimes these unresolved thoughts would make him lose sleep. But as soon as it was necessary to step back into the action, he'd forget all about it.
And that's why he was more than happy to see a lion and a lioness approaching Pride Rock, whoever they were.
