The Lion King: Dawn of the Nations
Episode 50: Ignition
On the next night, Kion and Emba were sitting on the edge of Pride Rock, waiting for Kovu and Kiara. "You're gonna vote in the Council, for the first and last time." Kion said.
"What?" Emba inquired while raising an eyebrow.
"The Council gets dissolved tonight." Kion answered. "I'll be the only king reigning our land until your day comes."
"Oh…alright." Emba replied.
On the meantime, Kovu and Kiara were walking up the path that led to Pride Rock in order to join the Council. "Are you voting against or for?" Kovu inquired, looking at her with a serious glare.
"You will know when I vote." Kiara responded coldly.
They arrived and sat down among Kion and Emba. "Sister…Kovu. Thank you for joining this deliberation." Kion said. "Back in the day, I proposed the creation of this Council in order to share my duty with my family, for the great love I've always felt for it, despite the orders of my father as he asked me to lead alone." He looked briefly into the sky. "I should've listen to him from the beginning, I did what I wanted, and that was a huge mistake."
"This is a bad idea." Kovu interrupted, getting a glare of disapproval from Kiara. Emba was just living the scene with no specific reaction.
Kion looked at him with a straight face. "I wasn't brave enough to face this alone, Kovu. This Council lightened the burden of ruling for me, but I should've carried all of it on my back from the beginning, this is what I have to do."
"You should be ruling the Tree of Life! Simba's place was meant for me…for, Kiara! You just decided to come back and take that away from us!" Kovu exclaimed.
"Kovu." Kiara said with a tone of warning.
"Why did you return? Rani would still be alive if it wasn't f…" Kovu got interrupted.
"Shut up, Kovu!" Kiara let out a growl while glaring at her mate with a frown on her face. Kovu stopped talking, looking away with a great rage inside him.
Kion was managing to contain his anger. "We must vote now." He took a step to the front. "Who is in favor of dissolving the Council permanently?"
Emba took a step at the front, hesitantly while looking into Kovu's eyes. "I…I vote in favor." He noticed Kovu's face of disapproval.
Kovu shook his head. "This is ridicu…"
"Vote, Kovu." Kion spoke with a firm tone.
Kovu grunted. "I vote against!" He glared at Kion with a frown. "And what for? You have the casting vote anyway, you've already imposed your will in thi…"
"I vote in favor too." Kiara interrupted, looking at Kovu while shaking her head with a frown of displeasure.
Kovu gasped. "Wh…what?" Kovu growled at her. "You were with him all this time?"
"I am always with my brother, Kovu." Kiara walked towards him in an imposing manner. "Always."
"It is done." Kion said.
Kovu walked past Kiara and began to approach Kion. "You just took everything away from them!" Zale, Keru and Ari sneaked into the concluded deliberation, hiding behind a pair of big rocks, a few steps away from Kovu, poking their heads out.
"That is your biggest problem, Kovu!" Kion got closer to him, looking at him with a gaze of authority. "Power means everything to you! I was always right, Scar still lives in you!" That last statement made Kovu growl with great rage.
"It's late." Kiara was feeling a great fear in her heart. "We should get inside already."
Kovu ignored his mate and after roaring with great anger, he threw a strong blow at Kion's face. "Argh!" Kion exclaimed with pain and fell to the ground, covering his bleeding snout with his paw.
"Dad!" Emba rushed towards him.
"Uncle Kion!" Zale exclaimed with great worry, going to see him with quick steps, followed by Ari and Keru.
"Ungh." Kion got onto his feet while groaning. "I'm fine, kids." He switched his gaze from the cubs to Kovu.
Kovu was looking at the scared faces of the cubs, focusing on Zale and Keru, who trembled and glared into his eyes with great confusion and fear. He then looked at the eyes of his mate, who had a gaze of sadness, fear and disappointment. "Kovu…" Kiara said in an inaudible tone, a tear ran down her face after so.
Kovu felt a great lump in his throat as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. He looked at Kion for a last time, then broke down crying and rushed away.
Kiara walked towards Kion. "I don't know what happened to him." She said with a broken voice. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Kion said as he glared away, in the direction in which Kovu had ran away from them.
There was a long silence between the six lions, then Zale broke it. "Dad!" Zale walked away from the others, looking around while taking small steps. "Dad!"
"He must have gone to Ungari, son." Kiara said.
"Should I go and bring him back?" Zale inquired.
"No, don't worry, he needs time and we should let him have it." Kiara gestured at the cave's inside. "Come on, it's time to sleep."
"But I'm not tired, I w…" Zale got interrupted.
"Come on, Zale." Kiara said with an imperative tone, then she looked at Keru and her nephews. "Get inside you all."
The cubs obeyed Kiara reluctantly and entered the cave one by one, then Kiara walked towards her brother. "Some rest will do us good as well, Kion."
Kion stood silent for a moment as he looked at the horizon. "I'm gonna take a walk, I need to think."
"Think on what?" Kiara inquired with worry. "You couldn't be thinking on exiling him."
"Not at all, Kiara." Kion looked at her with a straight face, a bit offended. "He needs time, as you just said." He turned and began to walk away from her. "Go to sleep, I'll join you later."
Kion went down Pride Rock and just kept walking casually, thinking about what had happened. "King of mine." Nyumbani approached him. "I heard a roar, is an…" She gasped when seeing his bleeding snout. "Are you al..?"
"I'm fine, Nyumbani, go back to sleep." Kion replied coldly.
"What happened?" Nyumbani got closer to him, starting to walk by his side.
Kion sighed. "Promise me you won't tell this to anyone."
"I promise." Nyumbani replied with a nod.
Kion thought on how to best phrase his reply before speaking. "I had a misunderstanding with Kovu, things got out of our paws. The Council has been dissolved."
Nyumbani's eyes widened briefly. "Oh, I see."
"I'll make the official announcement in the morning." Kion revealed, having his gaze on the grassy ground.
"But…are you alright, my king?" Nyumbani asked with worry.
"Yes." Kion intended to leave the answer like that, but his heart wanted to keep letting out his feelings. "I'm just disappointed, my father loved Kovu with all his heart, and I also care about him, but there's still a lot of darkness in his soul."
Nyumbani thought for a moment. "Your sister is the light he needs, as well as their two cubs." She smirked at him. "The only way to end with darkness is to bring light to it, you can also be a light for Kovu."
"I have tried." Kion said.
"For real?" Nyumbani inquired, getting in front of him, forcing him to stop his steps. "Have y..?" She sighed and shook her head. "Sorry my king, how insubordinate of me, forgive me."
"No." Kion expressed with benevolence. "Continue, please."
Nyumbani looked into his eyes once again, with a face of shame. "I…I was just asking you if you have really tried to be a family for him, maybe he feels he doesn't have your love yet."
"I care about him, I real…" Kion thought for a long moment, looking away with his gaze lost in the darkness of the night. "You're right." He lowered down his gaze. "I never wanted him in my family, and he knows it." A tear ran down his face. "Yet, my dad took him in, as if he was his own son."
Nyumbani got closer to him. "He's your family, Kion, the mate of your sister, the uncle of your children and the father of your nephews." Her words made Kion look at her deeply into her eyes. "He's your brother, and you have to be at his side no matter what, even if your relationship hasn't been the most…peaceful." Nyumbani placed a paw on his snout, cleaning a bit off blood from it, smiling at Kion with a hopeful grin. "Smile, my king, better times are ahead."
Kion sobbed. "Thanks." He began to nuzzle her face with his snout, then he stopped doing it right away. "Sorry…I…" He glared away with great shame.
Nyumbani started to stroke his neck with her head. "My king…it is my duty to help you." Kion cried while caressing her head with his lower jaw, feeling her warmth bringing a great sense of relief to his heart, but shame and nostalgia were also present.