Chapter 6

Alright everyone, the sixth chapter is finally here. I know I said it last chapter, but this isn't the last chapter, while writing, this chapter got so long that I had to write the ending of this story as for sure one final chapter, I even wrote it all out to make sure and this had a good breaking off point. So, other than right now, if I say a story has one final chapter left, don't take my word for it and just wait to see if the chapter is labeled as epilogue or has 'The End' next to it. Alright everyone, enjoy the chapter and don't forget to leave a review afterwards.


Asante stood amongst her friends, staring completely dumbfounded at the two marked graves of her birth parents in front of the tree. Asante wanted to say something, but she couldn't find the words to say at the moment. Around Asante, Nirmala looked on at the grave with a mournful look while her friends look at her wearily. Feeling concerned for her, Gozi took a few steps closer to his stripped hyena cousin.

"Uh, Asante," Gozi began cautiously. "You, okay?"

Gozi reached out and placed a paw on her shoulder, but soon after he did, Asante began to slowly walk towards the graves. Gozi, Umoja, and Busara tried to walk after her, but Nirmala shot her paw around them and shook her head when they looked back at her. The three understood and stood back as they watched Asante slowly make her way towards the graves.

"There they are kid." the four suddenly heard a gruff voice say.

The children and Nirmala flinched a little bit in startlement and looked back to see where the voice came from. When they looked back, they saw Mbio who was standing with a white furred creature with amber eyes that look kind of like a hyena but exactly wasn't and a bird with black feathers perched on a branch next to them.

"Thanks for your help." Mbio thanked the creature.

"Your welcome kid, farewell." the creature said before walking off with the bird flying behind it.

Mbio than jogged over to his friends and Nirmala.

"Looks like I finally found you guys." Mbio said.

"Who were those two, you were with?" Busara asked.

"And what kind of animals were they?" Umoja asked.

"Oh, that was Gerald and his friend, Jennefer. They're a white wolf and a raven and said they were from somewhere called Poland. Didn't find you guys at the river or anywhere around there when I came back. I ran into Gerald and Jen and they helped me find you guys." Mbio said. "What I miss?"

"Well, soon after you left and we caught our fish, we met this animal called a kangaroo, and then we met up with Nirmala and met this animal called an alligator that looks exactly like a crocodile, but is not a crocodile." Umoja said.

"Huh? But how can something look exactly like a crocodile, but not be a crocodile?" Mbio question.

"That's what we said." Umoja said.

"Hmmm?" Mbio mused. "Well guys, we should be heading for the Tree of Life for the funeral, I heard Kion roar a bunch of times and he's starting to sound mad."

"Uh, we were heading there, but we kinda ran into something Mbio?" Gozi said.

"And what's that?" Mbio asked.

Gozi and the others looked towards the graves and Asante and Mbio looked.

"Two graves? Whose are they? Why's Asante walking towards them?" Mbio asked.

"They're Asante's birth parents' graves." Busara said.

Mbio went wide eyed after Busara said that.

"Her birth parents?" Mbio questioned.

Nirmala nodded, which confirmed it for Mbio. Mbio than along with the rest of his friends and Nirmala, looked at Asante, feeling concerned for her. Asante hadn't noticed Mbio's arrival, as she was still completely mesmerized by the graves of her birth parents. When she finally stepped up to the graves, she looked at them. Asante hadn't expected to find her birth parents buried here.

Asante knew they had died here or at least her mother did as her father had evidently been killed by a clan of hyenas, who had showed violent prejudice towards them for having stripes instead of spots like them, protecting her mother, never even making it to the Tree of Life, she just hadn't expected to find one of them buried though. In the Pride Lands and Outlands, there were sometimes burials of the dead, but most times the dead were left where they laid or were moved to a more out of the way spot to decompose, it being seen as the traditional and more proper way for bodies to be given back to the Circle of Life and just having shrines made to honor them afterwards and she had thought that was what the Night Pride had done with her mother. She looked at the paintings that the large rocks that acted as headstones had painted on them. The one with the undisturbed earth had four separate paintings on it; a painting of two stripped hyenas one looking fatter than the other, running from a depiction of strange creatures that seemed to walk up right on two legs, underneath it was a painting of the stripped hyenas traveling together and underneath that one was one of them surrounded by spotted hyenas, the last one was the fat stripped hyena, which was wounded, running away while the other one fought off the spotted hyenas. As for the other headstone, Asante looked at it to see what the paintings were of.

One painting was of the fat stripped hyena arriving at the Tree of Life with four brown lions, which Asante correctly assumed was Baliyo, Nirmala, Surak, and Rani, awaiting her. The second painting was of a lioness with a pink spot near her head, which Asante knew was Nirmala, seen caring for the fat stripped hyena. The third painting showed the fat stripped hyena, now skinnier with a younger stripped hyena. The fourth painting showed the stripped hyena with her cub being looked after by the painting of Nirmala with the rest of the Night Pride behind her. The fifth and final painting on the stone, showed the Night Pride gathered around a painting depicting the shine itself.

Asante knew what the paintings on both those headstones represented, they represented her parents. they represented how they, like many animals here, were forced to flee their original home, wherever it was, and to journey to the Tree of Life for a better, safer life, for themselves and that they also represented that not all those who journeyed to the Tree of Life were guaranteed safety and happiness. Suddenly, Asante felt something, a lump in her throat and she breathed sharply, trying to hold back something, but it wasn't working. Starting to breathe heavily, Asante looked back at the paintings and then down at the undisturbed ground in front of the first headstone and then at the undisturbed ground in front of the second. Her throat, chest, and stomach now hurting and her eyes starting to burn, Asante began to cry.


"Oh, what's taking those kids so long?" Kion said out loud to no one in particular as he paced back and forth.

Kion was in front of the Tree of Life with Jasiri, Baliyo, Kiara, Kovu, his parents, and Surak, all waiting for Asante and her friends and Nirmala as well to arrive. Not too far off, everyone else along with a large group of Tree of Life animals were standing in front of the area where rulers were buried, waiting for the funeral to begin. The funeral however wouldn't begin without Nirmala and the children being here. Asante and her friends hadn't gotten back before they were about to begin like Kion had hoped, so he had roared, signaling his daughter and her friends that it was time to come back to the tree. They however hadn't arrived back within a reasonable amount of time, which caused Kion to roar again, but the children still hadn't shown up. Kion roared several more times to let the children know it was time to return, but still, they hadn't shown up and Kion was starting to get angry and inpatient about it.

"Asante, where the hell are you and the others?" Kion said to himself, staring at a section of the forest surrounding the Tree of Life, impatiently tapping his paw.

Kion gave a small, frustrated growl, which caused his father to step forwards.

"Easy their son, I'm sure Asante and the other kids will be arriving soon." Simba said to try and calm Kion.

"They were supposed to be here nearly half an hour ago. Even if they did arrive late, it shouldn't have taken them this long." Kion said.

"Nirmala to, she's the one I'd least expect to be late for this." Surak commented.

"Err. What's got them so caught up?" Baliyo wondered himself.

"I'm sure they've got a good reason that they'll fill us in on when they get here everyone." Kiara said.

"I agree with them Kiara, I'm starting to get worried." Kovu replied.

"Just give them a few more minutes everyone, I'm sure they'll be arriving any second." Jasiri assured.

Everyone waited a little longer, hoping the children would arrive soon, until five minutes later when Tiifu came over.

"Hay guys, everyone is wondering if the children and Nirmala have gotten back yet?" Tiifu asked.

"No Tiifu, I'm afraid they haven't yet." Nala said.

That was when Kion finally lost the rest of his patience.

"Okay, that's it." Kion said.

Kion than began walking towards the forest.

"Kion, where are you going?" Kiara asked.

"To find Nirmala and those kids and to figure out why they're running late for the funeral." Kion responded, looking back as he continued on towards the forest.

"Wait for me, Kion, I'll come help you find them." Jasiri said, getting up from where she had been laying down.

"But Kion, Jasiri, what if they arrive soon after you start looking for them?" Baliyo asked.

"Just do what you lions do best, roar." Jasiri replied with a small laugh.

"Oh, yeah, I guess we could do that." Baliyo awkwardly replied, not knowing why he hadn't thought of that.

Kion and Jasiri headed into the forest and began looking for Nirmala and the kids. Jasiri deeply sniffed all around as they searched, hoping to pick up someone's scent, but couldn't find her daughters, any of her friends, or Nirmala's.

"Ugh. No dice." Jasiri said after a couple minutes of sniffing around.

"Just keep sniffing, I'm sure you'll pick up something." Kion encouraged.

Kion and Jasiri continued searching, calling out Asante, Nirmala, and the other kids' names with Jasiri occasionally sniffing around. Much to their annoyance and worry, they weren't finding any of them. They were about to think about heading back to see if they found them along the way. However, before one of them could suggest so to the other, they heard some rustling in the foliage from not too far in front of them. Kion and Jasiri swiveled their heads in the direction, wondering who was there.

"Asante? Is that you?" Jasiri softly called to whatever was causing the rustling.

"Nirmala? Gozi?" Kion asked.

No reply came and Kion and Jasiri on instinct, got ready to fight if whoever was in the foliage wasn't friendly. Kion and Jasiri heard some huffing, like someone had been running until the one causing the rustling finally revealed themselves, it was a tiger. Kion lowered himself, ready to pounce for a moment until he noticed the tiger didn't look or act threatening, meaning it must have been one who lived at the Tree of Life.

"Oh, it's just one of the few tigers who live here." Kion said, easing up.

It was then that Kion noticed the tiger was looking at him in surprise.

"Kion?" the tiger said in surprise.

Kion was surprised himself at first until he recognized who the tiger was.

"Varya?" Kion asked.

Varya smiled at the sight of her former king.

"Kion, you're back, you've returned to the Tree of Life after so long." Varya said.

"Uh, it would appear so." Kion replied, still surprised at running into an old acquaintance from when he was still king.

"And look at you, you're even more grown up than you were when you left." Varya said, look at Kion, noting how much more he'd grown in his adult years.

"Yes, a lot has changed since than to say the least." Kion said with a small chuckle.

Kion than suddenly thought back to when he left and especially the night before after he found out about Rani's love towards him not being genuine. He ran into the woods afterwards and ran into Varya, who noticed his devastated look and tried to find out what was wrong and help, but he just cast her aside before she could get the chance. Kion had felt bad about that and that he never got the chance to apologize for that and now was as good a time as any.

"Uh, Varya, you remember the night before I left when I ran into you?" Kion asked.

"Oh, yeah, I do. Why?" Varya asked.

"It's just that, about running into you and growling and yelling at you when you were just trying to help. I was just too devastated from finding out Rani never loved me and that everything was always about my roar to her, that I didn't want to be around anyone or for anyone to touch me, but still that was no excuse. I just wanted to say sorry about it and for not apologizing about it before I left and for taking so long to come back and finally do so and for it to be during what's happening now." Kion apologized.

Varya smiled at Kion's apology for what happened between them nearly two years ago.

"Thank you for your apology Kion, I appreciate it." Varya replied.

Kion smiled back.

"You're welcome Varya and thank you to. I was hoping that there would be no hard feelings between us for it." Kion said.

"There was no reason for any, you had just found out that you were the victim of a very bad situation. So, there's no shame it acting the way you did, it's only natural." Varya explained.

"Yes, thank you again, Varya, but I'm still sorry about it." Kion replied.

"And thank you again, too. All that matters now is that things turned out for the better in the end." Varya said, look at both Kion and Jasiri, having heard their story from Baliyo when he first came back.

"Yes, indeed it did." Kion agreed, he and Jasiri smiling at each other.

Jasiri than turned back to Varya.

"Anyway, what are you doing out here?" Jasiri asked. "You seem to be in a hurry."

"Oh, yeah, it's Rani's funeral." Varya said, suddenly remembering. "I was on my way, but my neighbors were in a bit of trouble and needed my help. My children should already be there, I didn't mean to be so late. It, it hasn't started yet has it, the funeral?"

"Oh, no, no, no, it hasn't happened yet." Jasiri assured the tiger.

"Yeah, Nirmala hasn't arrived yet, nor has our daughter, nephews, or her friends." Kion said.

"Oh, Asante, she's here with you?" Varya replied.

"Yes, we were just looking for her before we ran into you. You haven't happened to see her, Nirmala, or any of her friends, have you?" Jasiri asked.

"No, sorry, haven't seen or heard them and I'm sure I would have noticed a stripped hyena if I had seen one." Varya said.

"Well, Jasiri and I better keep looking for her then." Kion said, walking off to continue looking for Asante.

"You want help?" Varya offered.

"No thank you, Varya, just go on to the funeral. We'll try to be there soon." Kion said.

"Okay, good luck you two." Varya said before running towards the tree for the funeral.

Kion and Jasiri continued to search around the forest for their daughter, her friends, and Nirmala. After ten minutes of searching, they were starting to get worried and were thinking of going back to the others to form search parties for them. However, once Jasiri hopped onto a rock and over a tiny stream of water, she caught sight of something through the trees and foliage. She called Kion over and they took a closer look and spotted Nirmala finally, noticing the bright, vibrant flower she always wore behind her ear and that the children were with her. Kion and Jasiri quickly made their way over to the group, calling out each of their names.

Nirmala and the children looked back at Kion and Jasiri making their way towards them.

"Uncle Kion? Aunt Jasiri?" Gozi exclaimed.

Jasiri smiled at finally finding the children while Kion's expression was stern. Kion's stern expression caused the children to cringe, seeing it as a sign that they were about to get scolded for being late.

"Finally, we found you all; we've been looking all over for you." Jasiri said once she and Kion got up to them.

"Where have you kids been?" Kion asked, his tone much sterner than Jasiri's was. "We told you to be back at the tree by midday or to come when I roared, that was over half an hour ago and we've been waiting since."

"But, Uncle Kion…" Gozi tried to explain.

"We were all getting worried and Jasiri and I were about to go back to form search parties to find you." Kion said.

"Kion." Jasiri cut in. "Go easy there for a moment, I'm sure they have a good explanation."

"Yes, it's my fault." Nirmala said, stepping forward.

Kion and Jasiri looked at Nirmala, confused by what she meant by it being her fault that they were late.

"They came across me at the River of Patience, I wanted to get a flower to place on Rani's grave, but no logs were coming." Nirmala explained.

Kion glanced down at Busara, recognizing the flower as being the ones that grew on the ridge across the River of Patience.

"They waited with me until one finally arrived and that was after you had already roared a few times Kion." Nirmala said.

"Yeah, it's true, we didn't mean to be so late." Gozi said.

"We were heading back before we decided to wait with Nirmala, honest." Umoja said.

Kion took a moment to look down at the kids, seeing the honesty of them having been on their way to not be late originally. He then gave them a reassuring smile to let them know that they weren't in trouble.

"Well, in that case, even though you weren't on time, you kids did good in trying to be back on time or when I roared and good work in helping Nirmala when she needed help." Kion said.

"Thank you, Uncle Kion." Gozi said, smiling with relief at not getting in trouble.

"Oh, what a relief, I was worried we were gonna get our butts whooped for being late." Busara whispered to Mbio.

"Has the funeral started?" Nirmala asked worriedly.

"No, we've been holding it off until you all arrived." Jasiri assured the Night Prider.

"Then we shouldn't keep everyone waiting any longer." Nirmala stated.

"I'll race you all back to the tree." Mbio said, walking past Kion and Jasiri and getting ready to run.

"Wait, what about Asante?" Gozi said.

That was when Kion and Jasiri realized they hadn't seen Asante among the others and cursed themselves for not noticing their daughter wasn't there.

"Where is Asante anyway?" Jasiri asked.

"She'sssss… over there." Gozi said, pointing into the clearing Asante was in.

Kion and Jasiri looked past Gozi and the others, seeing Asante with her back to everyone. When they saw her, they noticed she was slightly hunched over and her body looked like it was trembling. Feeling concerned for her, Kion and Jasiri looked at Nirmala and the other kids and noticed the concerned and somewhat downcast expressions, especially on Nirmala, which just made them more concerned.

"Everybody, what's going on, is Asante, okay?" Kion asked.

"And what's she doing in that clearing?" Jasiri asked.

"I, I think you two better go see for yourselves." Nirmala said.

Kion and Jasiri looked at each other, even more concerned before making their way towards Asante. As they got closer, they heard from her what sounded like sobbing, which caused their ears to perk up at the sound. Asante had never cried before or at least not in the way it sounded now, which further concerned them. Kion and Jasiri glanced at each other again and continued to walk over to Asante.

"Asante?" Kion said as he gently touched her back with his paw.

As soon as Kion touched her back, Asante turned around and looked up at him and Jasiri with tears in her eyes. Kion and Jasiri both looked down at Asante with concern, wondering why she would be crying.

"Asante, what's wrong?" Jasiri asked gently.

Asante didn't respond and just looked back at what she had been standing in front of. Kion and Jasiri looked and saw the shrines and the paintings on them and knew immediately what they meant. Kion took a couple more steps towards his daughter.

"Oh, Asante. Come here." Kion said gently, hugging Asante against his front leg.

Jasiri walked around Kion and rubbed her nose against Asante's face before starting to lick some of her tears away. The three stayed there for a little while before Kion and Jasiri gently encouraged Asante to come with them. As they made their way towards everyone, Kion and Jasiri noticed Nirmala talking softly with Busara. When they got to them, Busara handed Asante the flower she had gotten from the River of Patience. Asante blinked in confusion at it, looking at Busara and then to Nirmala.

"You're the one who got this flower and it seems like you need it more for something and I can always get another one for Rani another time." Nirmala explained.

Asante looked back at the flower and then at her parents, who gave an encouraging smile to her along with the rest of her friends. Asante was convinced and took the flower from Busara and began to walk towards the shrine again.

"Wait Asante." Nirmala suddenly said.

Asante looked back, seeing Nirmala taking out the flower from behind her ear and handing it to her.

"Here, take this to." Nirmala said.

Asante stared at the flower for a moment before taking it and looking back up at Nirmala, who smiled down at her. Asante was able to give the healer lioness a small smile back before resuming her walk back towards the shrines. Asante in silence placed the flower from behind Nirmala's ear on the shrine that represented her birth father, Kupigwa, and she placed the flower from the River of Patience on the mound of dirt in front of the shrine that represented her birth mother, Mstari. Asante than stepped back, looking at the graves for a moment before lowering her head, both in respect and sadness. She soon sensed her parents had come up and sat on both her sides.

"Hay, Asante." Kion said softly as he tapped Asante under the chin with his paw, which caused her to look up at him. "Look at those paintings."

Asante looked up at the paintings behind the shrines on the tree between them, realizing she had forgotten to look at those ones. One painting was of Baliyo with a younger Asante and her birth mother, talking. The second painting showed the Night Pride once again, sitting in front of a depiction of the shrine itself, Asante noticing that a younger version of herself was also in there at Baliyo's paws, like it was on the stone of her mother's shrine, which she hadn't noticed before. The third painting showed Baliyo leaving the Tree of Life with Asante and traveling towards the Pride Lands. The fourth painting showed Baliyo presenting Asante to Kion and Jasiri, which lead to the final painting.

The final painting depicted Kion and Jasiri together with Asante with smaller paintings Kion's family and members of Jasiri's clan surrounding them and clouds above them all with two stripped hyenas in them. This caused Asante to look back at the paintings on her parents' shrines and back to the paintings on the tree and she understood now. These paintings did represent that her parents' journey to the Tree of Life didn't end in the way they hoped it would, but that in the end, everything turned out well for her, probably better than they could have asked for as she now had more family than ever in Madoa, Cheezi and Chungu as surrogate uncles, Wema and Tunu as surrogate cousins, the rest of the clan, her lion cousins Gozi and Umoja, the rest of the lion pride back in the Pride Lands and all her friends, and that her birth parents were still looking after her. Asante found herself smiling at the thought, finding it comforting. Asante suddenly let out an exclaim of surprise when she suddenly felt her lower body and then the rest of her body being lifted up.

Asante looked and noticed that it was her dad, Kion having scooped her up from behind, onto his head. Kion glanced up at Asante and smiled at her and she smiled back down at him. Jasiri than stood up on her hind legs and pressed her paws against Kion's shoulder so that she could reach up towards Asante, Kion lowering his head a little to help her. Jasiri and Asante rubbed their noses together and smiled at each other, Jasiri opening her mouth so that she could lick Asante's cheek, making sure it tickled her so that she could hear her laugh. The three than went back to Nirmala and the other children.

"Come on everyone, we should get back to the Tree of Life for the funeral, everyone's been waiting for almost an hour now, we shouldn't keep them waiting any longer." Kion said.

Everyone agreed and began walking off towards the Tree of Life. As they did, Asante from atop Kion's head, took one last look back at the shrines to her parents, noticing some leaves blowing in the wind in front of them.


When everyone got back to the funeral, Gozi, Umoja, Busara, and Mbio's parents ran up to them, asking them where they were. Nirmala explained to them why they were late before the children could try to do so themselves. Baliyo and Surak noticed Nirmala was missing her flower and asked where it was, Nirmala saying she put it to better use than just for fashion and that she'd tell them later and that they should begin the funeral. When they went to join everyone, they noticed that some groups of animals that lived at the Tree of Life before and during Kion's reign was here, but that it was mostly animals that had arrived after he left. As Asante looked around at the animals, she saw a few animals that her father had told her about that she hadn't seen yet when she and her friends were exploring.

She spotted the moose, Buck from earlier who seemed to be trying to get friendly with another animal that looked similar to him, but was different. Asante assumed that was Rain, the animal known as a 'reindeer' he mentioned when they met him and she seemed unimpressed with whatever he was saying to her. Asante also spotted Maia the kangaroo and her son, Joey, both of which noticed and waved at her and she waved back. Asante also saw with them another kangaroo along with two other animals she had never seen before, who must have been Maia's friends, Jim and Benjamin, the kola bear and dingo. Asante also spotted many other unique animals that she wouldn't find out what they are until later, like Gerald the white wolf and Jennefer the raven who helped Mbio find them earlier, some other wolves, coyotes, otters, seals, walruses, camels, lynx, dholes, bison, beavers, raccoons and a type of animal called a raccoon dog, a few types of small wild cats, a formally domesticated wolfdog that looked like a husky, an animal that as far as she knew was a zebra, but was actually a shire horse with a grey coat.

There were many more animals that Asante wanted to get to know, but held back from jumping down and running to them, knowing they had a funeral to do first. Everyone began to gather up more formally as Surak, Nirmala, Baliyo, and Kion gathered in front of them. The Night Pride, mostly Surak, spoke for a bit, thanking those who had been willing to come for the funeral and then spoke about Rani, explaining how they found Rani mysteriously dead at the frozen lake months ago and of Baliyo going to bring Kion for the funeral, which he and the other Pride Landers were thanked for and they nodded in response. The Night Pride then addressed the elephant in the room, Rani's manipulations of Kion, saying that they knew what she did was wrong and never knew about it in any way until it was revealed and didn't support it, but stated that Rani was still their family, their queen, and someone who was always willing to protect the Tree of Life and the animals who lived there and any animal who respected the Circle of Life and for that, she still deserved to have a funeral. Everyone nodded in agreement and understanding to what the Night Pride said.

The Night Pride and Kion than walked towards the group of animals and grabbed some flowers. All the animals who had come had brought flowers to put on Rani's grave, the Night Pride went first, followed by Kion, Jasiri, Asante, and all those who came with them from the Pride Lands. After they put their flowers on Rani's grave, the animals of the Tree of Life went next and as they did, some of the Night Priders and Pride Landers talked to each other. Simba and Nala looked over at Nirmala and Surak, who had his head bowed with clear mourning on his face and decided to walk over to them.

"Surak. Nirmala." Simba said as they walked over to them.

Surak and Nirmala looked over at the rulers of the Pride Lands in response.

"Oh, hello Simba, hello Nala." Surak replied.

"Mind if we sit with you two?" Nala asked.

Surak and Nirmala nodded immediately and Simba and Nala sat down next to the two Night Priders. The four lions watched as animals continued to place flowers where the Night Pride buried Rani. Some animals had neutral expressions on their face, making it hard to read their thoughts while others did show a bit of pity for what happened to Rani despite knowing her story. After a little bit, Simba looked towards Surak and Nirmala.

"Nala and I are sorry this happened to your niece." Simba said.

"Yes, it's a horrible thing." Nala said.

"Thank you both for your condolences." Surak replied. "And thank you for coming for the funeral. You two had as much reason as your son not to come after what Rani did to him, it was just as much as a wrong towards you, your family, your ancestors, and your entire kingdom as it was to him."

"Yes. I won't lie, we were beyond infuriated after we heard about what happened with Rani, especially with how it affected Kion for more than half a year." Simba said.

"But we had to come, no matter what happened, your all still family through Kion and Rani's marriage and coming was the respectable thing to do." Nala said.

"Not that we came only to show respect or that we felt like we had to, we came freely of our own volition to show you our support, like Kion has." Simba said.

"And we deeply appreciate that." Nirmala said.

Simba and Nala gave Nirmala and Surak a respectable nod in response. The four continued with watching the animals continuing to place flowers on Rani's grave. As they did, Surak sighed.

"I still can't believe this happened and I still feel ashamed of what happened before it did." Surak said.

"What do you mean?" Nala asked.

"I'm sure Baliyo or at least Kion has told you of what happened before we found Rani dead?" Surak questioned.

Simba and Nala grimly nodded, knowing of the fight they had with Rani before she ran off and was found dead later.

"I still can't believe I hit her." Surak said.

"It's alright Surak, we know you didn't mean to." Simba said.

"But I did, she was showing no remorse for the things she had done and was being disrespectful to Baliyo. I knew I had to do something to make her listen to us and I hit her. I had never done so before, but I couldn't think of anything else to make her do so." Surak said.

"It was a mistake Surak, we all make mistakes like that." Nala said.

"But it was the last interaction between us before she died. It was what caused her to run away to be alone and for us to find her dead later." Surak said, tears starting to stream down his face. "I feel like her death was somehow my fault."

Simba looked at Nala and at Nirmala, feeling pity for how Surak felt, knowing exactly how it felt.

"After her parents and my mother died, it was up to me to look after her and help guide her, my mother said so before she died. I promised her, I would and I made the same vow on her parents' graves, but that was all only for her to end up manipulating Kion into thinking she had feelings for him and for her to end up dead not even two years later." Surak vented. "I failed them, I failed her, I failed all of them."

"Some things are beyond our control and Rani's actions were her own, not yours. You shouldn't blame yourself." Nala tried to consol.

"I know, but still, I feel like I could have done better by her, by everyone, but I didn't." Surak said. "I'm going to carry all that on my shoulders until the day I die."

Simba looked at where Rani was buried and up at the sky, his mane blowing in the wind.

"I, I know the feeling Surak." Simba said. "When my father died, I felt like it was my fault for years until I found out the truth. Even when I did and made peace with it however, I still felt like I failed the Pride Lands for not returning sooner to stop Scar and his hyenas from destroying them."

Simba than looked over at Kiara and Kion.

"I also sometimes look back on the times I've fought with Kiara and Kion. When I found out Kion asked his friends to join the Lion Guard, I thought he wasn't taking it seriously and told him that it wasn't a game and that it was supposed to be made up of lions, not other animals. I hurt him in saying so and he ran off and the next thing I know, he gets into a fight with hyenas amongst a herd of stampeding gazelles. Then there's Kiara, back when Kovu was joining us and Zira tricked me into thinking he led me into that ambush, I arrogantly refused to let him explain that he wasn't part of it and had no idea it was going to happen and I unfairly banished him for it and it deeply hurt Kiara, especially when I tried to keep her on or shorter leash than I ever have before and then we go into battle with Zira's pride hours later." Simba explained. "I think back to what could have happened after those fights, we had. What if Kion died during the fight with Janja's clan or what if I died during the battle with Zira and the last interaction between me and them was us fighting and that was the last thing remembered between us. I've worked hard for years to try and make up for all of those many things, but still, nothing can ever take them away and all I, all we can do is just go on living."

Surak sighed, closing his eyes and nodding.

"Yes, that's all anyone can do." Surak said.

"And you know, I can't help but wonder if there was more going on in Rani's mind than we thought." Simba said.

"What do you mean Simba?" Nirmala asked.

"I was young when my father died, younger than Kion was when he started the Lion Guard. Thanks to Timon and Pumbaa, I still had a childhood, but still, that day changed me forever and Rani was young when her parents died to." Simba said.

"Yes, the spots on her coat were only just starting to fade when her parents died and she got her scar. She took it hard for a while and she always forced the statement that she didn't want to talk about the topic whenever it was brought up, wanting to train hard and patrol afterwards." Surak said.

"Yes, Rani was usually one to try for suppressing any feelings of grief she had, but it was clear to us that it affected her. It's not good to keep emotions like that bottled up inside." Nirmala said.

Simba nodded in agreement.

"Her parents dying at such a young age and her getting a scar on her foreleg in that situation makes me wonder how the trauma might have affected her." Simba said. "Everything I did for Kiara and Kion was from the trauma I gained from my own childhood experiences, the things I did to make sure they had a safe and happy childhood and even the things I did that hurt them."

Surak and Nirmala looked at each other, knowing what Simba was getting at. The trauma Rani gained from losing her parents at a young age and getting a scar on her foreleg for letting the wrong animals into the Tree of Life might have caused her to gain the mentality to protect the Tree of Life at any cost no matter what it took, even if that meant manipulating Kion into marrying her so that the Roar of Elders would stay at the Tree of Life. They looked at Simba and nodded.

"Yes, you and Rani had others to relay on and talk about your traumas. You did so Simba and learned not to let it completely control you and you moved past it, your family and friends helping you do so." Surak said.

"And Rani sadly didn't do the same." Nirmala said, sadly shaking her head.

"It doesn't excuse any of her actions, but if that's so, it's sad that it turned her into who she secretly was." Nala said.

"And that at least she's at peace now and hopefully the Great Spirit finds it in his heart to forgive." Simba said.

Surak and Nirmala nodded in agreement.

"And maybe she was still too young to be queen, she was still just a cub, she was a teen, but still only a cub." Nirmala said.

"Yes, we put too much pressure on her. If we allowed her to mature more, maybe she would have opened up more about her traumas and moved past them and everything that happened wouldn't have happened." Surak said with a sigh. "But we'll never know."

"It's best not to think on what ifs. Like I said, the best thing to do is to go on living." Simba said.

Surak and Nirmala nodded in agreement again and the four lions watched the rest of the Tree of Life animals lay flowers on Rani's grave in silence. Meanwhile, as the four lions had been talking, over with Baliyo, the young Night Prider had been sitting by himself, watching the bushels of flowers being placed on his sister's grave and the animals that did so, those who lived here before and after Kion left. Even though he wished everyone who lived at the Tree of Life had come, he was least thankful there were those that came, whether it be genuine or just feeling like they had to. As Bunga, Binga, and Busara were walking back from placing their flowers on the grave, Binga took a quick detour to her old friend and asked if he was doing alright. Baliyo told her, he was doing fine beyond the obvious and thanked her for her concern.

There were now only the animals who lived at the Tree of Life before Kion left, who needed to put flowers on the grave. At this point, the pain in Baliyo's chest and stomach had turned into a throbbing feeling in his throat, causing him to choke and nearly cough more than once. He tried to hold it back, but eventually, he broke and began quietly sobbing.

"Hay, Baliyo." someone suddenly said.

At first Baliyo thought it might have been Kion, but it wasn't his voice or Jasiri's or Asante's. Baliyo looked next to him to see that it was one of Kiara's two friends, the cream colored one with green eyes. Baliyo couldn't remember which one she was, Tiifu or Zuri.

"Oh, uh, hay. You're one of Kiara's friends." Baliyo said, trying to be polite in covering up that he didn't remember her name.

"Yes, if you don't remember, I'm Tiifu." Tiifu confirmed.

"Oh, uh, um, no, no, I remembered." Baliyo awkwardly fibbed, relieved he didn't have to come up with some sort of excuse for not remembering her name. "Why'd you come over here, you need anything?"

"Me? Oh, no, I don't need anything. I just saw you over here sitting with nobody and thought I might come over to give you some company." Tiifu said.

"Oh, thank you." Baliyo replied.

"You're welcome." Tiifu replied back.

Tiifu sat next to Baliyo and they watched the animals together in silence for a few seconds before Tiifu spoke up again.

"You and I never talked much, even back than when I first came here, but Kion and his friends told me about you and you seemed nice." Tiifu said.

"Oh, thank you." Baliyo replied. "Kion's told me about you to."

"Really, what has he said?" Tiifu asked.

"Well, he told me that your Kiara's best friend along with your friend, Zuri and kinda act as advisors to her. He also said that you two are kinda like family." Baliyo explained. "He, uh, he also said you two kinda bullied him a little bit when you were younger."

"Oh, yeah, we kinda did tease and treat him like a toddler from time to time." Tiifu admitted with a smile.

"He also said that before he ever met Rani that you and Zuri also had secret crushes on him." Baliyo revealed.

Tiifu went wide eyed at Baliyo revealing that before smiling at laughing it off a little.

"Oh yeah, yeah we did a little bit, but Zuri more than me though. He has told you the story about saving Zuri from Makuu and his float, right?" Tiifu asked.

"Yeah, he did. He got her out safely before taking care of the crocodiles. Baliyo said, actually starting to smile a bit. "He also said he preferred it when Zuri tended not to notice him."

"Yeah, she still tended to tease him afterwards, but her thoughts on him did change that day." Tiifu said. "Though I do wonder what would have happened if Kion had tried to get rid of the crocodiles first. I bet she would have gotten really muddy and unappreciatively complained that Kion could have done a better job."

"Even if that did happen, she still would have been saved and should show at least a little gratitude. What's a little muddy fur compared to ending up in a croc's belly?" Baliyo said.

Tiifu laughed at that.

"You don't know Zuri. Easily upset and overdramatic." Tiifu said.

Baliyo nodded, taking Tiifu's words for it, unable to make his own opinion, never having really experienced anything like that with Zuri himself.

"Kion also told me that you told him that Zuri was pretty upset when he decided to marry Rani and then Jasiri and that she tried to go for him a few times when he returned to the Pride Lands the second time." Baliyo said.

Tiifu nodded.

"Yeah, she sulked and complained about Kion not choosing her both times, saying that she never got a real good chance at him, but like the first time, she mostly got over it eventually though. She'll occasionally complain about it not being her sometimes still and try to flirt with Kion when she thinks she can get away with it or when no one's looking, but she's not one to cause major trouble or conflict about it." Tiifu said.

"Well… that's good… I guess?" Baliyo replied.

Baliyo thought about Tiifu and Zuri for a moment before deciding to say something about them that's been on his mind for a little while.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm surprised you and Zuri came for the funeral." Baliyo said carefully.

"Really, why?" Tiifu asked.

Baliyo suddenly got very nervous, regretting saying that. Tiifu didn't seem insulted, just curious, but it still worried Baliyo with the possibility of insulting her.

"It, it's just, it's just that you two had a crush on Kion before he met and married Rani and had a second chance at him when they broke up, until he went for Jasiri. I've never experienced the feeling myself, but I can at least try to understand probably feeling at least a small hint of resentment towards the one who ended up with the one you had a crush on. So, I would understand you and Zuri not wanting to come for Rani's funeral in the first place for that as well as her manipulations." Baliyo explained.

Tiifu just stared at Baliyo and blinked. Baliyo cringed a bit, wishing he had just kept his mouth shut.

"Errr. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry." Baliyo apologized.

"Oh, no, it's okay, I get it. Who knows, I'd probably feel the same way to if you and I were in opposite positions." Tiifu assured.

"Trust me, you would not want to be in my position, but still, thank you." Baliyo replied, relieved that Tiifu didn't feel insulted. "And also, thank you for coming with everyone else who did."

"You're welcome. I'll admit, maybe when they first got married, maybe I did hold some small resentment towards Rani since it wasn't me, but I didn't hold onto it any longer than like an hour or two, a day at most; I'm not that petty. That's probably why I'm surprised that Zuri came." Tiifu said, shrugging. "Sometimes you never know with her."

"I'm glad to hear." Baliyo said.

Tiifu than frowned.

"But the only resentment I have for her now is what her marriage to Kion was all truly for." Tiifu said.

"Yeah, I get you." Baliyo said, sadly turning his head away.

Tiifu noticed and looked at Baliyo with an apologetic look.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. No matter what they've done, it's disrespectful to speak ill of the dead at their funeral and especially in front of their loved ones." Tiifu apologized.

"No, it's okay. Me and my family appreciate you all for coming to Rani's funeral, but we know it still doesn't change your thoughts on her for what she did to Kion. It's like I told him when I asked him to come, we don't expect any of you to just instantly forgive her for it now that she's dead." Baliyo explained.

Tiifu nodded in agreement.

"Still, I shouldn't say things like that at an inappropriate time and no matter how I felt about her, I'm still sorry for your loss." Tiifu said.

"Thank you." Baliyo replied.

Baliyo looked back at the grave and animals, the flower placing was almost done, the last few groups of animals lining up to do so. Baliyo gave out a sad sigh.

"I still can't believe it, any of this. I still can't believe that Rani's 'love' for Kion was all a lie and that she just recently mysteriously ends up dead and we have no idea how it happened or what or who did it. Baliyo said.

Tiifu just nodded in response.

"I lost the sister that I thought I knew when she revealed the truth to me and I've lost her forever now." Baliyo said. "I just wish that if she was meant to die that at least she would become the sister I once knew her as before she started manipulating Kion, again, even if it was just for one day."

Baliyo sadly sighed, mournfully lowering his head.

"I'd give anything to have that version of her back." Baliyo lamented.

Tiifu thought for a moment, shifting her weight from paw to paw.

"You know Baliyo, despite who Rani turned out to be and what she did, I think you were still lucky to have even had a sister and just a family in general." Tiifu said.

Baliyo looked up at Tiifu curiously.

"What do you mean by that?" Baliyo asked.

Tiifu looked at Baliyo, before looking away a little sadly herself.

"Oh, it, it's just that Zuri and I, we never knew who our fathers were or even our mothers. Our fathers were just passing rogues and our mothers kinda like Asante's birth mother, died when we were pretty young before we could even remember them." Tiifu explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Baliyo replied.

"Yes, thank you. After they died, Zuri and I were never fully taken under the care of a single lioness and it wasn't because no one wanted to adopt us, it's just that the entire pride cared for and looked after us, like we were each of their own daughters together, especially Simba and Nala." Tiifu explained. "They were the two we looked up to the most as a surrogate mother and father. Because we did, we also treated Kiara as a sort of big sister and Kion as a little brother by extension. That was why we always hung out together with Kiara, even when she thought we were being difficult and it's probably why we teasingly bullied Kion a lot since it's what big sisters do to their little brothers or just older siblings in general, because what's the fun in being one if you don't do so every once in a while."

"Rani never bullied me… unless you count her calling me little brother instead of younger brother like I always asked since I'm taller than her." Baliyo said awkwardly.

"It's just a saying." Tiifu pointed out. "So, you get what I'm trying to say Baliyo? It might not help much, but at least for as long as it lasted, the good times at least, you had a sister and you still have family left and they all care about you and they'll still be here for you."

Baliyo looked at Tiifu, thinking about what she said. He looked at Rani's grave and then over at his uncle and Nirmala and Kion and his family. He was fortunate enough to have had family and still have family despite all that happened. Baliyo smiled and looked back at Tiifu.

"Yeah, Tiifu, I think I do get it. Thank you." Baliyo said.

"You're welcome." Tiifu said.

Tiifu looked forward to watch the last few animals place flowers on Rani's grave. As she was watching however, Tiifu suddenly felt something press against her cheek, startling her. She looked to see it was Baliyo, nuzzling his face against her cheek. Tiifu glanced at Baliyo in surprise as he continued doing so before she smiled, closed her eyes and began nuzzling him back. They eventually pulled away, smiling at each other and looked back to see the last animal place the last of the flowers on Rani's grave.

That was when Surak and Nirmala stepped forward and thanked everyone for bringing so many flowers to lay on Rani's grave. Surak than asked everyone that they all bow their heads in respectful silence for the dead, which was done so for a minute. When everyone brought their heads back up, Surak spoke.

"Thank you for your silence everyone. Now, moving forward, I'd like to give everyone if they want, the opportunity to come up and say anything about Rani, weather you want to share it with everyone or say it privately to her directly." Surak said.

Tiifu instantly looked to Baliyo when Surak said that.

"You should go up and say something." Tiifu encouraged.

"Huh? But, what would I say?" Baliyo asked.

"I don't know, just say whatever you feel, anything you want to get off your chest, something about Rani, how you feel about her." Tiifu suggested.

Baliyo thought about it for a second before nodding and walking up, everyone looking at him as he did.

"Uncle Surak, I'd like to say something." Baliyo said.

"Yes, of course, Baliyo." Surak said.

Surak stepped aside and walked back to sit with Nirmala, Simba, and Nala, giving Baliyo the floor. Baliyo stood in front of everyone, looking on him to hear what he had to saw. The young Night Prider looked around at everyone nervously, trying to think of exactly what to say. He looked to Kion and Tiifu for support, both of which gave him a look of encouragement. Baliyo gave a small nod to both of them before clearing his throat so that he could speak more clearly.

"I just want to start off saying everybody, I and my family know the things Rani did were wrong, but that there's a difference between selfishness and misguidedness. What Rani did, I personally don't think it was selfish, just greatly misguided, because she did it because she wanted to protect the animals of the Tree of Life, but the way she went about it was still very, very wrong and is something I'd never agree with or condone. Despite all that however, she was still my family, she was still my sister, and I still loved her as so and forgave her long ago, only wanting to just be a family again like we use to. She had told me, my uncle, and Nirmala personally that it's what she wanted to and I like to think that if whatever happened to her, hadn't happened to her, in time, maybe that could have happened." Baliyo said. "I have no idea whoever killed her or whatever killed her and I honestly don't think we'll ever figure either one of those questions out, but I don't care about that, all I care about is that she's hopefully at peace now and that the Great Spirit and the spirits of the ancestors of the Night Pride find it in their hearts to forgive her for what she's done and we're not asking any of you to forgive her, but I hope all of you, even those who aren't here right now can find it in your hearts to forgive her enough to at least wish her spirit peace in the afterlife as well to."

Baliyo took a moment to wipe the tears from his eyes.

"Thank you, everyone, that's all I wanted to say." Baliyo said.

Baliyo than quickly walked back over to where he had been sitting with Tiifu. As Baliyo did so, Surak and Nirmala walked back in front of everyone to give others the opportunity to speak.

"Thank you, Baliyo, that was well done." Nirmala told Baliyo.

Baliyo just nodded to Nirmala. Tiifu placed a paw on Baliyo's shoulder, which caused him to look at her.

"Nirmala's right Baliyo, that was really well done. I don't think you could have said anything better." Tiifu complemented.

Baliyo smiled at Tiifu.

"And to let you know, even though I can't fully, I think, I can forgive Rani just enough to hope she's found peace." Tiifu said.

"Thanks, Tiifu, I really appreciate that." Baliyo said.

Tiifu just smiled and rubbed her head against his neck, which he was actually starting to enjoy. As this was happening, Kion had broken away from where he had been sitting with Jasiri and Asante and walked over towards Baliyo and Tiifu.

"Um, excuse me, Baliyo." Kion said from behind them.

Tiifu stopped rubbing her head against Baliyo and the two lions looked back at Kion.

"Yes, Kion?" Baliyo asked.

Kion suddenly began awkwardly looking between Baliyo and Tiifu, having not noticed Tiifu there with him.

"Uh, Tiifu, mind if I steal Baliyo away for a minute?" Kion asked.

Tiifu and Baliyo looked at each other for a moment, Tiifu smiling.

"Sure, but no longer than a minute, okay?" Tiifu said with a laugh.

"Don't worry, I'll make it quick." Kion said.

Kion than led Baliyo through the funeral attending animals to back behind them.

"What is it you wanted to talk about Kion?" Baliyo asked.

"Baliyo, it's just when you said there that you didn't know who or what might have killed Rani and thinking that we'd never find an answer to those questions." Kion said.

"What about them?" Baliyo asked.

"Well, it got me thinking back to when we talked about it and asked you the same questions and if you looked around. You really didn't look around?" Kion asked.

"No, we didn't. Like I said Kion, we were so distraught by the whole situation that we couldn't think straight and only thought about it late the next day. Even when we did, there wasn't much point as whatever, whoever did it was most likely long gone by then and we'd never catch up with them to deal with." Baliyo explained.

"But surely there had to have been some tracks there you could have followed, some sort of clue to tell you whatever killed her?" Kion suggested.

Baliyo just shook his head.

"No, there was no clues to investigate Kion." Baliyo said.

Kion just sighed disappointingly, hoping there was something he could have used to bring some sort of closure to Baliyo and his family.

"Well, could you at least tell me more about the scene you found Rani in, anything else you could remember?" Kion asked.

"Yes, like I said, her throat was torn out, which meant it had to be some kind of predator animal, but there were no other wounds on her body, the snow around Rani wasn't unsettled, and there was no other blood than the blood that pooled around her from her throat, which meant there hadn't been a fight." Baliyo said.

"Which means she was either sneaked up on or whatever killed her must've acted friendly and unthreatening towards her enough to get close and catch her off guard." Kion deduced.

Baliyo nodded, agreeing with Kion's hypothesis of what might have happened.

"And you said she had no other wounds on her body, so none of her was eaten like whatever killed her, killed her for food?" Kion asked.

"Yes, none of her looked like she had been eaten." Baliyo said, nodding.

Kion nodded back and thought those facts over. Rani's throat was torn out, which meant it had to be something with sharp teeth, something like another lion or a hyena or some other animal that could go toe-to-toe with a lion and there had been no signs of a fight and none of Rani had been eaten, meaning she wasn't killed for food, unless whatever killed her had noticed the Night Pride coming and was scared off before it could start eating her. That wasn't much to go on and it was impossible to guess what kind of predator could have killed her without any more evidence.

"Wait a second!" Baliyo suddenly said.

Kion looked and Baliyo in surprise at the tone of his voice, like he was excited about something.

"There was actually something that I noticed a few days after we found Rani, there were some tracks." Baliyo said.

"There were?" Kion questioned.

"Yes, there were." Baliyo said, nodding.

"Did you follow them?" Kion asked.

"Yes, I did." Baliyo said before frowning. "But it was snowing that day and they quickly disappeared, so I was only able to follow them for about a minute."

"Damn." Kion cursed. "Well, what did they look like, like a lion's?"

Baliyo thought for a moment, trying to remember.

"No actually, they didn't look lionish, more doggish actually." Baliyo said.

"Doggish?" Kion questioned.

"Yeah, doggish. They looked like they could belong to something like a hyena." Baliyo revealed.

Kion's face changed to one of shock at Baliyo's assumption of the tracks he saw belonging to a hyena.

"A hyena? You think those tracks might have belonged to a hyena?" Kion questioned.

Baliyo shrugged.

"I don't know they could have belonged to a hyena, they have doggish looking paws, but so do other animals like jackals, or painted dogs, or wolves. It could have been any one of those things or something similar, I never really made up my mind on which they could've belong to." Baliyo said.

Kion backed up a step and tore his gaze away from Baliyo, thinking that thought over among his own thoughts racing through his head.

"Kion?" Baliyo said, noticing.

Kion didn't respond, still thinking it over and as he did, he suddenly thought about his nightmare the other night and the demonic laugh from that shadow creature in it. He could hear it in his mind and it was slowly changing, growing less deep and higher pitched. Very soon, Kion heard an eerily familiar evil and mocking laughter that he knew all too well in his mind.

"Kion, are you alright?" Baliyo asked, gently shaking Kion by the shoulder with his paw.

This caused Kion to look at Baliyo, who looked concerned about what he was thinking. Kion shook his head and pulled away from Baliyo.

"I'm sorry, Baliyo, but please excuse me." Kion said.

Kion than began walking away from the funeral and towards the pass that led out of the Tree of Life. Baliyo watched as Kion wandered off towards there, wondering what was on the Pride Lander's mind. As he did, he didn't notice Jasiri walking next to him.

"Where's Kion going, what's he doing?" Jasiri asked him.

Baliyo, jolted, startled by Jasiri and looked down at her.

"I don't know?" Baliyo said, shaking his head.

"What did you guys talk about?" Jasiri asked.

"We tried to deduce what might have killed Rani." Baliyo said.

"And did you come up with something?" Jasiri asked.

"I'm not entirely sure?" Baliyo said.

Jasiri looked from Baliyo to Kion walking towards the pass.

"Do you think Kion has?" Jasiri asked.

"I'm not entirely sure of that either?" Baliyo said.

Jasiri continued to watch as Kion walked towards the pass, wondering if he has come up with something. She had noticed the look on his face as she was watching them talking and why else would he be leaving the funeral if not to go and think about it. Jasiri wanting to find out, followed after Kion, Baliyo watching her as she did, confused as to what was going on and what the two were thinking about right now that involved Rani's mysterious death. Baliyo almost followed them himself, but just decided to turn back and rejoin the funeral with Tiifu and find out what Kion and Jasiri were thinking of later.


Six chapters done, one more to go everyone! Mbio finally catches up with his friends thanks to the help of a couple new cool animals, but in the middle of Asante finding something related to her birth parents that gets to her. When I announced this story and that Kion would temporarily return to the Tree of Life, people wanted Kion to have a scene with Varya and apologize to her, well, ask and you shall receive. Asante gets some support from everyone. The funeral finally start with Simba and Nala having some heart to heart with Surak and Nirmala and hello, a certain two somebodies are getting a little friendly, and for Kion and Baliyo, oh yeah, it's all coming together.

Well, everyone, I'll see you all in the last chapter in a few days, but until I upload it, please don't forget to leave me a review, have a good day and night, if you haven't, go check out my other stories if you haven't before when you get a chance, try to continue staying healthy out there, and God bless.