Chapter Nine

A month passed after Simba alerted the human government to the truth behind Tyber's family's murder. No reports were ever received detailing Jeff's capture, but Simba – and much to his surprise, Tyber – held onto the hope that Jeff would be caught. In the meantime, Tyber assembled a number of weapons for the Pridelands military forces – a collection of Mandalorian, Sangheili and Baragwin weapons. He personally instructed the lionesses and lions of the force in their proper use, repair, maintaining and cleaning. Even Tyber himself was impressed at how quickly they learned. "Even humans do not learn that fast," he once said. The Pridelands personnel continued to get better, until Tyber himself admitted there was nothing more he could teach them, even with all the technologies he had replicated. Simba was impressed with how he turned what had began as a security force into a true army.

As for Tyber... he took to wearing black armor beneath a black cloak, all protected by what he called a Baragwin Energy Shield, anytime he left Pride Rock – his way of continually mourning his family while at the same time reflecting he was a warrior not to be trifled with lightly. The denizens of the Pridelands, seeing how he wore that black-clad outfit and was dating Princess Vitani, all took to calling him – though he was in no way yet tied to the family – the Black Prince. Much to Tyber's surprise, however, the Pridelands Military forces hailed him by another title.

They called him Lord-Admiral. And it was a title Tyber wore proudly. Even so, the incident prior hung over Tyber. In spite of Vitani's comfort and the fact they were officially dating, he felt he owed her an apology for holding a gun to her head. Vitani insisted she knew he'd never willingly hurt her, but his guilt persisted. He insisted he wanted to make up for it, but admitted he didn't know how.

The Force, it seemed, had plans for exactly that...

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While Kion stocked up a six-wheeled, off-road military Jeep – which Tyber had called a Warthog, for some reason – that Tyber had replicated for the family, Vitani and Kovu had headed out for some brother-sister time, and Tyber was busy stocking up on ammo for his weapons, Simba was dealing with some matters that had cropped up regarding unidentified intruders clad in black, Nala and Zazu aided him in that regard, and Kiara cooked the family's lunch time meal. The whole family was busy.

And for once, that's the way Vitani had preferred it. She felt they all needed a break from recent events, and that Tyber needed some alone time to really think on how he was going to make up for what he did. She didn't condone in the slightest what he did – holding a gun to her head when she only was trying to help him. But she knew he'd never willingly hurt her, which was why she had been so bold that night. He may posture, he may threaten, he may look like he's ready to kill... but she knew that unless she had personally attacked or harmed him, he would never hurt her. She explained as much to Kovu, who was more understanding on the matter than Kion had been. Kovu's concern was similar to Kion's in that someone would accidentally provoke Tyber into a murderous rampage, but Vitani assured him she would do everything she could to keep that from happening – to pull him away from the Dark Side, as it were.

It was as they were passing by a canyon that Vitani spotted something – or thought she did. Black dots at the floor of the canyon. She looked to Kovu and asked, "Kovu, do you still have those binoculars Kiara gave you for your birthday last year?"

Kovu frowned. "Yeah, why?" he asked back.

"Can I borrow them?" Vitani requested. Kovu didn't quite understand, but he handed Vitani his binoculars, and she walked close to the edge of the cliff and peered down. On the canyon floor, she saw a black-cloaked lion conversing with a human with a...

Vitani's blood froze when she recognized this man. She was staring at the face of Tyber's assailant! Moreover, the black-cloaked lion turned to look at her, his eyes glowing yellow, and it was a face Vitani knew well. "Kovu... you'll want to see this," she said quietly to Kovu, handing the binoculars to him and pointing at the two in the canyon. Kovu peered through the binoculars and saw them. "Call it in, Kovu," Vitani told her brother. "Simba's gotta know about this." Before Kovu could go for his radio, they both heard a loud CRACK! Kovu backed up immediately, but Vitani didn't get the chance as the ground beneath her feet crumbled...

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Tyber had just finished storing the last of the 6.8mm rounds and was walking into the foyer, thinking about Vitani when he was hit with a sudden, very cold chill. He lost his balance and toppled over, colliding with a chair at the table but catching his fall with his hands when his vision went white and...

… Tyber was greeted with a vision. Vitani and Kovu were staring at something in a canyon when the edge cracked and crumbled. Kovu was quick to back away, but Vitani wasn't so lucky; the ground beneath her feet crumbled and fell, taking her with it. Tyber rushed to her aid, but was too late. She had fallen beyond his reach, but managed to grab hold of a tiny outcropping growing out of the canyon wall. If she didn't get help soon...

… Tyber's mind returned to the present, and he was hit with a sickening, growing sense of dread. Kiara, who had witnessed Tyber's collapse, was at his side in an instant. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"No... No!" Tyber exclaimed. He scrambled up and dashed for the door, nearly running over Simba as he came through it.

"What is it?" Simba asked, never seeing Tyber so panicked.

"Vitani's in trouble!" Tyber called back.

"Wait, what?!" Simba exclaimed. "How do you know?!"

It was then that Kovu's voice came over the radio. "Simba, get help down to the Prideland Canyon! Vitani's in trouble! Ground caved beneath her and she fell in! She's holding on, but she won't last long without help!"

Simba was shocked. How did Tyber know...? Tyber, however, rushed for the Warthog and hopped in, much to the surprise of Kion, who was putting a large loop of rope on the back bed. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"No time!" Tyber exclaimed, "I have to get to Vitani! She needs help!" Kion didn't question – he leapt into the passenger seat as Tyber brought the vehicle to life and floored the accelerator. The Warthog lurched and drove off, Kion hanging on for dear life as Tyber pushed the vehicle to its limits. They were racing against the clock, and Tyber prayed he would get to Vitani in time...

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Situation was bad, getting worse. Vitani had taken a fall off the edge of a canyon wall that had crumbled. While she had caught herself on a small outcropping, that bit of rock was already crumbling. It wouldn't last much longer. Kovu looked around to find something to pull his sister back up, but had nothing. The strap on his binoculars wasn't nearly long enough to reach her.

"Kovu, Tyber's on his way! Find something to keep Vitani holding on!" Simba told Kovu over the radio.

"Hold on, Vitani!" Kovu called down to his sister. "Tyber's on his way!"

Vitani, holding on literally for dear life, was utterly terrified. This can't be the way she ended. It can't. So much would be left unsaid, so much not done. So many things she'd never get to experience. And so much she'd never get to show Tyber. Poor man... to lose her would destroy him, and, she feared, push him fully to the Dark Side.

"Tyber," she whimpered, "I... I'm so sorry."

"You're not gonna die, Vitani," she heard his voice in her head. "I won't let you. Not like this."

"I... can't hold-" Vitani began.

"Yes you can! Don't say that! Repeat after me – I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me!" Tyber commanded.

Vitani didn't understand how that would help, but she complied, repeating, "I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me..."

"Keep saying that. The Force can give you strength – listen to it! Let it keep you safe until I can get there!"

And that's exactly what Vitani did, repeating what Tyber had told her. It almost wasn't enough; the outcropping she was holding onto crumbled, and she fell a short distance before grabbing a thick vine. "Hurry, Tyber..." she whispered.

Up on the surface, Tyber arrived in the warthog and immediately peered over the edge, seeing Vitani – much to Vitani's relief – and began looking frantically around. "Rope," he said. "Alright we need rope, and something to tie it-" he looked to his right and spotted a thick, sturdy rock spike growing vertically out of the ground. Kion shouted to Tyber and tossed him the rope he'd been packing earlier. Tyber immediately set his hasty plan in motion, quickly tying a loop on the rope, draping it over the rock and tightening it, and looked over the edge, down to Vitani. "Vitani... do you trust me?"

Vitani, tears in her eyes, looked up at Tyber as though it were the last time she was going to see him. "Yes, Tyber... I trust you." It was all Tyber needed. He ran to his right, then leapt off the edge of the canyon wall, and, hanging on to the rope, plummeted down the canyon face, down toward Vitani. Vitani, feeling what Tyber was doing, looked up at Kovu, and released her grip.

"No!" Kovu shouted, as he watched his sister plummet down. But it was not what he thought – just as Kovu thought Vitani was doomed, Tyber flew by, using his momentum from his own fall tied to the rope to catch her mid-fall, and on the upward arc, threw Vitani over the edge, back to safety, then began his downward fall again, this time using his own weight to gain more momentum on the downward swing, and then again, and at the second upward peak, threw himself back onto the edge, spinning briefly before he landed in a kneeling position. He remained that way for a few moments before he rose to his feet, looking at Vitani with his eyes bright green and his face portraying relief. Vitani was still getting up, aided by Kovu, as she spoke with her body shaking from this experience,

"Tyber... you... you saved me... you saved my life... but how... how did you know I was in trouble?"

"The Force warned me you were in trouble," Tyber said, his voice soft, "And I moved quickly. I had to. I couldn't let anything happen to you. I could never live with myself if something happened to you before I got a chance to tell you... that I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Vitani asked, momentarily confused.

"For lashing out at you. For holding a gun to your head. For being so cynical and hostile all these months when you and your family did nothing but help me," Tyber responded. "Forgive a doubting, cynical fool. It was never my intent to cause any of you harm, and I am sorry for my hostility."

Vitani's comprehension dawned immediately, and she approached him and threw her arms around him. "There is nothing left to forgive, dear Tyber... and I'm not holding anything against you. You saved my life today, and that means a lot to me. It's proof that you are getting better, that you are not a monster... that you are not as consumed by the Dark Side as you had thought. It's evidence that you really do feel for me, and I..." Vitani paused, fighting back tears. "... I never thought you would do something like this for me." She buried her face in his shoulder. "You've given me a second chance to be what I had wanted from the start, and I thank you. Most of all, this incident... can be called your redemption. You deserve it. And after all we've been through, admittedly, I had begun to fear one of us would be left alone in the dark again... you gave me hope again, Tyber." Tyber said nothing, but instead wrapped his arms around Vitani and gently squeezed her.

"Nid fod alun kos alon, Vitani," Tyber whispered in her ear. It made her heart swell, as she fully knew what he had said, as she was also versed in that language. It was then that Kion approached the two.

"You!" He pointed a finger at Tyber. Tyber instinctively put himself between Kion and Vitani. "You are a dangerous man," Kion said in a much softer tone. "You are volatile, opinionated, and at times vicious... but it takes guts to pull a stunt like that, and save Vitani's life in the process. It takes... devotion. One of us would have done so in a heartbeat, but you're an outsider, and you didn't have to. Yet you did. You have no ties to this family, yet you came charging across the Pridelands to save one of us. That's what I call dedication." He paused, then thumped a fist on Tyber's arm. "You're alright, big guy. Seems Vitani finally found herself a worthy mate." This statement caused Vitani to blush, making her hide behind Tyber, who smiled and chuckled. He turned to Vitani, putting hands on her shoulders.

"I can sense there was a reason you ended up in that situation, but I'm not going to ask you what it was – not after what you went through," he said to her in a soft voice.

Vitani hugged him tightly, whispering, "Thank you," in his ear before putting a tender kiss on his cheek. After that, they all piled into the Jeep and headed back to Pride Rock...

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This time, on entering Pride Rock, Vitani was the one walking less heavy of step. She was seen walking into the foyer with her hand joined with Tyber's, and it brought a smile to Simba's face. He found himself thinking of the two of them together. In more ways than one, they already were, but Simba thought it would be good for both of them. For a time, Vitani was jealous of her brother after he married Kiara. It did not take long for Simba to ascertain why – she'd never known love, not in the way Kovu came to know it. After the Unification Incident, Simba had hoped other men would take an interest in Vitani, but somehow... they never did. Then Vitani had the visions of her soulmate, and now here they were. Simba mentally chuckled at how it all was coming together. He couldn't say he expected things to turn out the way they did, but it still had the desired effect, it seemed. They both seemed happier, now. There was still Jeff to deal with, and the mystery surrounding Tyber's arrival in the Pridelands that night... but Simba was confident they would get through it.

It was as Simba saw Kovu approaching him that he got the impression there was more than he immediately saw. "They look better," Simba said in an effort to diffuse the tension, however slight.

"That they do," Kovu admitted. "I don't think I've ever seen Vitani with a bounce like that in her steps. Think it'll go as far as we hope?"

"I'm reasonably certain it will," Simba responded. He looked to Kovu. "You and I both know a man like that wouldn't tear across the Pridelands to someone's rescue like that unless they truly felt for them." He paused, then asked, "Still, I have to ask, just what was Vitani doing that close to the edge?"

"That's what I wanted to tell you," Kovu murmured. "We saw him."

"You saw who?" Simba asked quietly.

"Tyber's assailant, Jeff. He's here, in the Pridelands," Kovu told Simba. Simba's heart slowed. Jeff? In the Pridelands? How did he get here, and without alerting the Humans or the Prideland Military Forces?

"Does he know?" Simba asked.

"I think he suspects it, though he may not know the details," Kovu said. "If he did, I don't think he'd be as relaxed as he is now."

"Either way, I think he deserves to know," Simba said. "But what I don't get is, why would he come here?"

"I think, to finish what he started," Kovu suggested. "You heard Tyber – he's the only one who can put Jeff at the scene of his family's murder. He saw him there. However-"

"It's a hell of a risk," Simba commented. "If any of us saw him, he'd never be able to escape if he tried, especially now."

"Simba, I don't think a simple hit-and-run assassination is at play here. Not anymore," Kovu said.

"How so?" Simba inquired.

"When Vitani and I spotted Jeff, we spotted a lion in a black cloak, but we can't be sure who he is," Kovu answered. "But he seemed to be the one giving orders to Jeff, given how he was nodding."

"Did you see his face?" Simba queried.

Kovu nodded slowly. "And that's what scares me the most – Vitani and I saw Nuka down there. At least that's what we're thinking."

"Nuka?" Simba asked in disbelief. "But... he's dead, isn't he?"

"That's what makes it so scary; he died during the Unification Incident; yet, somehow... we saw him down in that canyon, talking to Jeff," Kovu said. With a worried sigh, he added, "I don't like where this is going. Not one bit."

"I don't, either," Simba agreed. "But still, Tyber must be warned. After everything that happened today, he deserves that much."

"What about those black-clad intruders you were investigating? Anything there?" Kovu asked.

"Another reason I want to talk to Tyber," Simba answered. He took a scrap of black cloth with an odd, hexagonal snowflake symbol out of his pocket. "One of the intruders was wearing this. I don't recognize the emblem, but I'm thinking Tyber might."

"Why?" Kovu queried.

"Because these intruders were armed with laser weapons – similar to what Tyber had developed for us, if less advanced," Simba responded. "I'm thinking Tyber might be able to tell me who they are." He wordlessly headed for Vitani's domicile with that, finding Tyber with Vitani in his room before his computer. Before he could think, Simba heard his voice saying, "Tyber... there's something you need to know."

"Jeff's here in the Pridelands," Tyber said before Simba could. Simba frowned.

"How did you know?" he asked. Tyber chuckled, almost as though he were amused.

"For one, Vitani told me, because she felt I deserved to know; for another, I sensed his presence," Tyber said. "He has come to finish what he started, but also because he seems under orders."

"Maybe this will tell you who," Simba suggested, handing Tyber the cloth with the symbol. Tyber examined the symbol briefly, then closed his eyes and sighed. He then went for his Tricorder, scanned the cloth, and shook his head.

"Then it is as I feared," he said.

"Who is it?" Kovu asked.

"We're likely dealing with Sith forces under the command of a rogue Sith Lord, and from another timeline, to boot," Tyber responded.

"There was a lion at the canyon we saw with Jeff-" Kovu began.

"I know," Tyber interrupted. "Vitani hit me with that, too; all I can say is, either Nuka was alive in whatever timeline he came from, or the Sith we face is using Nuka's appearance as a Force Disguise."

"Is that possible? To use the Force to disguise yourself as someone else?" Simba queried.

"It's been done before," Tyber affirmed. "The Force can be used fore a great many things. The Dark Side, especially, despite its dangers, often proves a source of many abilities some consider to be unnatural."

"What about Jeff? We can't let him run around," Kovu said. "And if he's after you..."

"I know; and it's something I intend to use to my advantage," Tyber said.

Simba's frown deepened. "Something tells me I'm not gonna like this," he said. Tyber gathered his breath, then laid out the details of his plan...