I don't own any canon characters.
Kovu wasn't expecting the charge, but neither was he slow to react to it. A moment after Nuka charged, so did he. They met about halfway between the prides, and began to fight.
The fight itself was short-lived, as Vitani quickly raced in and broke it up, helped somewhat by the fact that Kovu was exercising considerable restraint, though she still received scratches, because Nuka wasn't.
"What are you doing," Nuka asked Vitani, indicating Kovu, "I was about to finish him off."
"No," Vitani said, "we need him alive, much as I hate to say it, we need him alive."
"Why," Nuka asked, "he..."
At this point, Zira arrived, grinning, turned to Kovu, and said, "I've got you now, traitor." The rest of the Outlanders hadn't followed her, confused as to what to do.
Back with the Pridelanders, Kiara had wanted to follow Kovu, but Simba her back, and said, "No."
"But father," Kiara said, "look, they outnumber him, they'll kill him."
"Don't be too sure," said Simba, as he watched one of the Outlander lionesses break up the fight. He did begin to worry a little, when Zira approached the now threesome, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Something wasn't right, Vitani thought, but she couldn't place it right at the moment. "Well, Kovu," Zira asked, "any last words?"
"Not for a few years, no," Kovu replied. It was then that Vitani realised what wasn't right, he wasn't scared, facing off against a brother bent on murder, and a mother bent on vengeance, he wasn't scared.
"Okay then," Zira said, "silent it is." Without further delay, she slashed Kovu's face, leaving four scratches seeping blood. She might have given more, had not, at that moment, Vitani leaned forward and retaliated.
Silence and stillness descended of both prides. Vitani seemed transfixed for a moment, staring at the blood on her claws, then looked up. Zira, simultaneously, raised a paw, and brushed at her face, then looked at the blood on the paws. She then raised her head, and met her daughter's eyes, and her expression hardened, unreadable.
Slowly, silently, Zira began to back Vitani up. As the pair moved away, both Kovu and Nuka, differences forgotten, turned to watch.
Zira continued to back Vitani up, until one of the latter's paws caught on a cleft of rock poking out of the ground, and she was shocked out of her trance. Her eyes narrowed, and she glared at her mother's approach, though the older lioness didn't seem to notice, until she bumped into her own daughter, nose-to-nose.
"So," Zira said, coming out of her trance, "in the end, even my own daughter would betray me."
"Who betrays who mother," Vitani asked levelly, "if even half of what Kovu said is true, I'm not the traitor."
"It was lies," Zira replied, "all of it."
"If that be so," Vitani said, "how did Scar come to power?"
"As I told you," Zira said, "Scar became king when his brother was killed in a stampede."
"And how did he die," Vitani asked, "did Simba really kill him?"
"Yes, yes he did," Zira replied.
"Were you there," Vitani asked, "did you see it happen?"
"Simba was at the top of the cliff," Zira replied, "and Scar's body was at the bottom, what remained of it."
"But did you see it," Vitani asked, persistent, "did you see Simba kill Scar."
"Simba was at the top of the cliff," Zira replied, "Scar was at the bottom, that could only have happened one way."
"Did you see it," Vitani asked again, "did you see Simba kill Scar?"
"No," Zira replied, "no I didn't, but..."
"You didn't see it," Vitani asked, "you, you taught me, us, to kill and hate, because of an uncertainty?"
"I, ther..." Zira began, but was cut off.
"I cannot believe you mother," Vitani said, "all my life I trained to help you kill a lion for what you'd told me he, and now I find out you're not even certain if he did anything."
"Simba was at the top of the cliff, and scar was at the bottom," Zira said, "there's only one possible way that could happen."
"I'm not so sure," Vitani said, "and come to think about it, why would the hyenas turn on Scar, after all, he let them into the Pridelands." She watched Zira's expression for a few moments, then waked past her in the direction of the Pridelanders, and specifically, Simba.
"So this is it, daughter of mine," Zira called after Vitani, "you're really going to betray us?"
"Betray who mother," Vitani called back, "you just admitted you can't be sure if Simba killed Scar." No-one else said anything, or moved, as she made her way over to the king and princess, and took up station to the side and in front of Kiara, facing the Outlanders. Kovu and Nuka, meanwhile, hadn't moved, except that the former had to turn his body as well as his head, to look at what had been behind him.
Slowly, hesitantly, a few of the Outlanders made their way over to the Pridelanders, being careful to appear non-threatening. At this, Zira raced over to the Outlanders, just as more started to move, and asked, "what, what are you doing?" The lionesses didn't speak, and didn't stop either.
As her pride started to disappear around her, Zira was shocked. All this work, all this planning, waiting, and now it was going to waste. Beginning to panic, she looked around for something to steady her mind, and found it, when the looked at Simba. It was all his fault, her mind said, he was the one who'd killed Scar, and now he'd corrupted Kovu, and even Vitani...
As the last of her former pride approached the Pridelanders, Zira felt the last vestiges of sanity slip away with them. One look at Simba, and her anger and hatred congealed. I'm sorry my love, she though, as though Scar were standing beside her, I tried my best, but it wasn't enough.
But even as defeat looked imminent, there was one more thing she could do, one last promise she, Zira, could keep. "This is for you, Scar," she shouted, and charged, straight at Simba.