Chapter 11: Nightmares:

Everything was dark and it had terrified Kion.

He had never been so afraid of the dark unlike Kiara's friend, Tiifu, is. Kion had found out she was afraid of the dark, but she had promised to keep his crush on Zuri a secret if he refused to tell Kiara and Zuri.

Kion didn't need a negotiation as he wasn't going to do it one way or another. He didn't like bullying people, he just likes to be alone.

But this was outright terrifying as it had reminded him of his cell that Mheetu kept him in for months. He had put him through it that he had a few moments where he would literally believe that he is supposed to return to that cage.

To his horror, Kion felt himself falling, his world spinning around him before he was falling into an endless abyss.

Soon, it all stopped, and Kion's endless world came to a stop as well, and he continues his stride.

The sudden echo of a new, yet darkly familiar voice hit Kion's ears like a rush of the wind.

Spinning on his heel, Kion flexed his claws at the monster before him, ready to defend himself as the figure of a towering lion approached, his claws on the ground, but they were not flexed.

"Mheetu" Kion growled under his breath as the monster lion sneered in response, his golden eyes focused entirely on Kion, and he was secretly terrified not that he would ever admit it.

'Mheetu' however, clearly did not realize that.

"Ha! Look how the mighty Prince Kion falls! No wonder your grandfather was slaughtered with ease. Not to mention those your precious 'family' and 'friends' hold so dearly!"

It was then that something else caught Kion's eye, something behind Mheetu.

A pile of corpses, limbs twisted and bent in unnatural directions, some missing limbs altogether, sat behind Mheetu, claw marks evident on each body. Judging by the dark smirk on Mheetu's face, it was clear that the lion had killed them, and had enjoyed doing so.

"No… dad…" Kion's voice was soft as his own eyes moved to the pile of bodies, knowing his fur. "Dad, dad, get up, please." Kion whimpered, rubbing up against his father. "Dad, we gotta go home." A lump in his voice this time. "Help! Somebody! Anybody! Help." Kion sniffled, feeling the tears falling from his eyes.

Kion's eyes widened as he saw more familiar animals amongst the pile of bodies, and each one only made the growing bit of despair in his stomach grow larger.

Rafiki was there, as was Makini. Tiifu and Zuri as well. Everybody was broken and mutilated, a clear demonstration of Mheetu's brutality.

Ono was there... and so was Bunga and Fuli and... there was another body there… a body that wasn't another species.

Mheetu's smirk widened suddenly as he turned to the pile of corpses, reaching a large hand down to remove one.

Kion watched with dread, praying that the body wasn't who he thought it was.

Seconds later, his worst nightmare became a reality.

Kiara. It was Kiara. Kion reached down, his large hands grasping the cream coloured robes of Kion's sister, before rolling her over to reveal a heavily scarred body.

"Kiara!" Kion could help but cry out in anger at seeing his sister, his dear sister, sweet, innocent, and playful sister dead.

There was no way one could survive such a wound to the face.

"Oooh Kion, if this death upsets you, I wonder what the next one will make you feel?" Mheetu spoke with dark glee as his paw moved through the corpse pile once again. Kion hadn't realized when Mheetu's claws had been flexed, but judging by the black blur, the black lion was swamped in, it had happened at some point when Kion had been lost staring at the bodies of his friends. Any attempts to blindside this monster would only result in defeat. He had obviously been expecting him.

But how was he here? He was not allowed back in the Pride Lands… wasn't he? Is it possible he killed the guards who kept watch and is in the Pride Lands?

"Tell me, sweet prince, how does this make you feel?" Mheetu spoke as he finally found what he was looking for, his hand retracting from the pile with a severed head grasped in his paws.

At that moment, Kion's entire world collapsed. Every negative emotion that could possibly exist rushed into his head, fuelling him with rage and anger and hatred and despair, as he looked into the vacant eyes of Queen Nala's head.

"You thought you can escape me, brat?" The lion growled, glaring directly at the cub, who immediately begins backing up. Him, one of the strongest cubs in the Pride Lands, were afraid of his uncle steal after all of the torture; he had nearly forgotten who he was, but the son of Simba, the last sheer of Prince Kion, was able to fight for his family and friends.

"She... she was your sister! You are a disgusting and despicable lion!" Kion stammered out, lunging forward, but was genuinely caught off-guard as two jackals lunged towards him, however, that proven to be a mistake as the lion cub growled and advanced on one jackal, biting into his neck and suffocating the life out of him like a lion to a zebra.

The other jackals advanced, but Kion swiped his claw across his neck, leaving a big wound before advancing onto the jackal and raising his claw and swiping him across the neck, watching in dark satisfaction as the creature failed.

Kion then lungs at Mheetu, beginning to swipe away at him madly, but felt himself being pinned, causing him to growled and squirmed free but he couldn't as he turns to see a few lionesses down.

A feminine voice was heard.

"Kion! Wake up!"

Quickly, he woke up and came eye-to-eye contact with his mother, and then to his sister and Tiifu and Zuri who was watching him with concern before he felt an extra weight on him and looked up to see three lionesses constraining him though not too tough or firmly.

"Let him up," Nala commanded to the lionesses, who did as ordered without hesitation, knowing that their queen wasn't too happy with what's happening to her son, but he was too scarred with the tortures of her own brother who supported Scar. She had thought he was going to leave the Pride Lands in peace so he would find a pride of his own, but now, he is a threat to the Pride Lands, had tortured her son to the point where he partly became a monster.

Kion's eyes fallen onto other directions as he stood up slowly, and that's when he saw his father laying with a few scars but still standing up, staring at him with saddening eyes.

"What happened?" The lion cub asked his mother and father, hoping that this wasn't who he think it is.

"You attacked daddy," Kiara spoke up, causing Kion to gasped before literally pushing his mother out of the way and checking on his father with horror, surprised to see long scratches and look down, only to see his claws extended outwards from their pals and quickly retracted them.

Kion had been having nightmares more lately. But this was horrible! This-this was sick! He felt his head pounding against him.

Kion felt himself vomiting and ran over to the edge of Pride Rock, literally throwing up, causing Tiifu and Zuri to cough up and gag, Kiara felt vomit on her lip but she had resisted the urge to vomit like her brother, and a few other lionesses to different reactions; some had taken their cubs to assure they won't witness something disgusting while others had stayed obviously concerned about their Prince but they didn't have any orders so they couldn't do anything, and Simba to immediately call for Zazu who came in just the nick of time to bring Rafiki and Makini.

"Mom, I can't leave him! Allow me to stay!" Kiara pleaded, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she had wanted to stay with her little brother instead of potentially allowing him to feel pain.

She could hear him throwing up and she had wanted to be next to him, but her mother was blocking her path.

"No, dear, you have to leave. This could be a symptom of something. I highly doubt he would want you in harm's way." Nala stated sternly, but her expression broke when she heard the other sound of him throwing up. "I promise you, Kiara, you can talk to him when things get better, but right now, he is a danger to himself and others. You saw, he'd attacked your father. Your father and I consider the possibility of sending him away with Rafiki for a while."

"What?! No! Mom! You can't-" Kiara screeched, having just gotten her brother back and not wanting to lose him again. It had heavily scarred her after her own brother was cubnapped by her own uncle.

She still blames herself for what happened to her brother, despite the fact that Kion had told her it wasn't her fault, and so did Simba, Nala, and even Tiifu and Zuri... hell, even Fuli and each of Kion's old friends had told Kiara it wasn't her fault; but of course, she is like her father and likes to place responsibility onto herself. She felt like she could have done something more, but she was just a little cub, and if she had only known, if only Mheetu left the Pride Lands without hopes of vengeance, and if only things could have been peaceful.

First, it was Zira.

Second, it was Mheetu.

Nala had felt horrible for two of them being manipulated by Scar, but then again, Scar uses to keep those fucking hyenas near him and they continued to rub an influence off of him. If only she had kept him away from those creatures...

There is also the fact that Scar almost had Mheetu assassinated with the other male cubs since he was born in an era of Mufasa and thus he had hated him. But instead of doing so, he had twisted him into a monster, and although there was still some goodness in him, he was irredeemable after capturing his own nephew and morphing him into this... this cub in front of her.

Now, it was up to her and Simba to help their son so he won't become a complete monster. Kiara had told her about how Kion been so close to killing Janja, and although the hyena continues to disturb the Pride Lands, it isn't justifiable to kill a defenseless prisoner.

"Dear, if you stay here, you might slow progress down. I promise, but leave this to me and your father." Nala's voice was soft, having remembered when her mother uses to speak to her and her brother softly whenever something happens. Mheetu use to get sick a lot so it was fairly hard for him to remain strong, and in fact, he nearly didn't survive his first year, and as much as she loved her brother, she kinda wish he didn't survive so her son could have become as great as his father and rule the Lion Guard, but that didn't happen of course so they would have to wait and assist in his recovery.

The worse part about this is that he's getting older, and his teenager transportation shall come in 2 or 3 months as time has been traveling so fast ever since he returns to the Pride Lands. As much as she hadn't been there for half of his cubhood life, Nala had vowed to be the best mother she can do, and they didn't even talk about betrothal yet for him because they wanted their son to have his own marriage.

At least, he turns down half of the lioness cubs unmistakably attempting to form a friendship for him so they can get married to the prince when they get older fairly decently unlike his sister who would chase any males away. She had even bribe Kion somehow to keep the males away from her. It nearly caused her to chuckle as Kion is very overprotective.

"Fine!" Kiara raged, turning and storming off, obviously intended to come back later, causing Nala to roll her eyes, but she had to address her daughter as she couldn't be talked to with such disrespect.

"Kiara, drop the attitude. I understand you are angry with what's happening but you don't talk to me like that, young lioness. You have been providing attitude to a lot of the lions lately and we are going to have to talk about it." Nala scolded, causing her daughter to turn to her fearfully but she sighed and walked off, her head lowered to the ground.

Now, it was time to help her son, and oh think of a way where she could have someone keep watch of her son whenever he sleeps.

Oh, this will be fun.

Arthur's note: Okay, another few weeks. I am regaining my motivation in writing Lion King, but as I said before, it will take time because I am trying to think of ideas and I also don't want to make a rushed chapter.

Have a good day or night wherever you guys are at, have a great day, and stay safe, everyone.