A very rough draft of Kiara's nightmare and the Nixulu\Zira\Ki'Lani relationship. Still working out the "kinks". This dream may or may not predict the future, so just hang in there!

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Nixulu passed by the sleeping king and queen on her way to sleep towards the back of the cave. She did this not because she was forced to, but because she liked it. Most of the other lionesses slept near the front of the cave or grouped at a respectful distance around the king and queen. Only some of the weaker or more reserved animals slept in the back.

"Sleep, my precious queen. Sleep, oh great king." she hissed under her breath. "Oh, yesss...you'll sleep soon...very well...you too, Luneia."

As the teenaged lioness spoke to herself, Kiara stirred next to Kovu. She suddenly clawed the air as if having a bad dream, but did not wake up. However, she started tossing and turning, murmuring to herself and seeming to reach for nothing. None of the other pride members woke up, however. Kiara wrestled with her nightmares by herself, unable to wake up.

Kiara was standing on Pride Rock with her son and daughter as adults. Kovu stood next to her and Mufasa, Sarabi, Nala, and Simba gazed down on them from the sky. Then, suddenly, the sky grew dark and the forms dissapeared. Lightning flared out of a black sky, and beneath the feet of the living lions, Pride Rock crumbled. Nukoy stepped back onto a firmer part of the rock and smirked, then glanced backwards. Kiara slipped, but she caught herself.

Luneia wasn't so lucky.

"Luneia!" her mother screamed, but suddenly, Nixulu came and shoved Kovu from the cliff, too. Kiara screamed for her son, but Nukoy cackled evily.

"Goodnight, mother!" he hissed, and tried to push her off.

"No!" Kiara screamed. She scrambled frantically to regain her footing. She finally found herself laying, weak, on what remained of Pride Rock. She panted in exhaustion as her son and his conniving girlfriend whispered to each other. Kiara gasped for air, but was only met with a choking cloud of dust. Gazing at her son's evil face and Nixxi's cruel eyes, she almost wanted to let go. The world seemed to be caving in...

For there was darkness. Pure and utter pain, without the faintest glint of hope. Such a darkness as had never been seen before. To be sure, the Pridelands were bathed in an eerie orange glow. But the darkness was in all of them. It existed as evil in Nixxi and Nukoy and as a horrible fear in Kiara.

This is permanent darkness, Kiara thought in her dream. It cannot be reversed.

And the darkness stood.

Lionesses, dozens of them, prepared to hunt, black shilhouettes against a blood-red sky. And Zira watched them, Nixulu at her side. From what remained of Pride Rock, Nukoy roared.

"Well done, my daughter!" Zira cackled.

"Daughter!" Kiara screeched, stepping forward as the hunting lionesses trudged, miserable, towards the hunting grounds.

"Why aren't you HUNTING?" Nixxi roared.

"Tell me how you are her daughter..."

"Fine." Nixxi snarled. "But don't expect favors. I am only telling you because I know you'll be jawing until I tell you."

"You never killed Zira. She climbed up onshore many miles downstream and was nursed back to health by a roving bachelor lion. He was handsome. He was much younger than her, but Zira wanted to fulfil her dreams of a worthy heir...or heiress. They mated one night, and exactly a weak before your Nukoy was born, I was born. Ki'Lani took pity, and I lied about my background. She was ashamed--she's never been able to have a cub--and called me her own. Ahh, the folly of pity and emotion!Now I will claim the true throne for Zira!"

Nixxulu laughed, her pale fur glowing in a brilliant red and orange fire that had suddenly sprung up before her. The older lioness stood back, prepared to fend off an attack. The pale lioness watched Kiara cooly, however, making no move. Kiara, her brown eyes reflecting the fire that blazed, watched even more suspiciously. And then--the younger lioness struck. Kiara had been so tense, waiting, she hadn't been prepared to leap out of harm's way.

She clung to the edge of the rock, which was now shaped like a sharp claw. A pit of fire and molten rock opened up beneath her, swimming in the spirits of the Evil Ones of the past. "Drop, drop, drop!" they chanted.

And then Kiara awoke.