Kion slowly opened his eyes. The pain in his head, in particular his scar, felt even worse than ever.
Awake, are we? sneered an all-too familiar voice in his head.
"SHUT UP!" Kion roared, furiously bolting upright. All too late, he caught sight of his dad standing next to him, looking at him with a concerned look on his face. Panicking, Kion immediately laid back down onto the floor of the den.
"Are you alright?" Simba inquired, walking over to the shaking cub. Fear plagued the older lion's heart.
"Bad dream," Kion mumbled. But something in his body language wasn't adding up. Simba remembered when Kion was only several months old and quite often would have nightmares. As soon as he'd woken up, Kion would come rushing into his and Nala's bed, and usually would wind up sleeping the rest of the night snuggled up between his parents. But now, Kion leaned away from him, as if he were trying to push him away. Simba knew his only son was starting to grow up, and wanted his own space from his parents more than ever. However, this felt different. Kion's reasons for pushing Simba away didn't feel like the usual desire for personal space. In fact, as Kion's chest rapidly rose and fell as he leaned away, it seemed like he was… afraid of what might happen if Simba got too close.
It is like someone is slowly corrupting that impressionable mind of his. Rafiki's words rang out in Simba's head. The king of Pride Rock had never been able to shake those terrible words out of his head since the wise old mandrill had uttered them. But who could possibly be behind this?
Sitting down next to Kion, making sure not to get uncomfortably close to him lest he scare him even more, Simba whispered, "You can talk to me, son."
Kion lifted his head, wishing he could tell his father what had happened. But he couldn't. Not when he had no evidence other than an unlikely tale. "I'm fine," he said.
An awkward silence fell between the two. Simba was very unsure of how to broach the topic of corruption, especially with how reluctant Kion was to talk to him. But he had to know. "Has - has anyone been saying anything to you lately?"
"What do you mean?" The cub tried to keep his tone nonchalant, but his insides lurched.
Well, this could get interesting, Scar's voice sneered, the thinly veiled threat making Kion's blood run cold.
"Well," Honestly Simba, you know how to run a kingdom but not how to talk to your own son? He admonished himself, "I know that sometimes… animals talk. Maybe not necessarily out of hatred, but sometimes out of fear, misunderstanding of a situation, or ignorance. Maybe they heard some silly rumour or conspiracy, and let their imagination do the rest."
Scar scoffed audibly.
"What are you getting at?" There was no mistake, Kion's eyes were the size of saucers by now and his muscles were taut.
Well, this was it. "Rafiki believes you may have been corrupted by someone."
So Rafiki noticed? Kion's heart gave a joyful leap. Maybe there was hope -
You haven't answered your father's question, Scar sneered menacingly.
"I - I don't know what he is talking about," Kion stammered. Apparently his great-uncle didn't deem that a convincing answer, as he felt a stab of pain in his right foreleg, and he had to bite back a yelp of pain.
However, Simba seemed to buy it. He nodded. "I suppose Rafiki might be getting a little old, and dare I say, a little senile. That being said, you need to get plenty of rest. Here, why don't you lie down and have another nap, while I go off to run an errand."
Kion sighed, though he wasn't sure if it was from relief or disappointment. On one hand, at least Scar might be appeased for now - he seemed to be anyway, given his silence on this issue - but on the other, he had no way to communicate or even give hints to what happened without being tortured. Besides, if his Dad left, he had no idea if Scar would punish him even worse for his failure now that there were no witnesses. Putting on a brave face, Kion said, "OK Dad, I will."