"I will never swear any loyalty to you and your pride!" Kion yelled. The time had come for him to swear his loyalty to the Sun Pride. Kion, being a very stubborn lion, refused. Jua, the white furred lioness, growled at him.
"Oh but you must," she said menacingly. "You have no choice." Kion was surrounded by lions on all sides to prevent him from escaping.
"Never!" Kion yelled once more. "And you can't make me!" He growled. Jua gave him a death glare. "If you don't..." She said. "Let's just assume you won't see the light of day again." Jua snarled at him. Kion growled.
"You'll kill me before you make me swear my loyalty to you," Kion said snarling. Jua curled her lips up in a smile. "Sounds pleasant," Kion heard her mutter. He snarled and growled at the lions surrounding him.
"This is your last chance," Jua warned him. Kion shook his head. "Never. Not on my life," he told her, growling furiously. "Alright then. Lions! Kill!" She shouted as the Pride closed in on Kion. Kion tried to fight back but it didn't work on so many lions. He tried to use the Roar but it came out as another squeak. The lions pinned him down and raked their claws all over his body. Kion screamed in agony. They were interrupted by a dark furred lion running up to them.
"Cheetahs!" He exclaimed. "Two of them spotted in our territory!" "What!?" Jua yelled. "Lions! Stop!" She ordered them and they stopped hurting Kion. He looked at the blood on his fur. Ugh! Is it my destiny to just keep getting hurt on this journey?! Isn't the scar enough?! He thought to himself. Jua shouted again.
"We must go after the cheetahs! Kujisifu! Maana! Mkorofi! Vurugu! You will go with me to capture the cheetahs! Dikteta! You're in charge of the pride while we're gone! Also, we'll take the new lion with us. He'll soon see there's no way out." Most of the lions Jua ordered to go capture the cheetahs raced out of the camp, but Kujisifu stayed behind and forced Kion out of the hills with them. (AN:The lions home/camp is in between five hills, so they refer to their home as "the hills")
The lions ran, with Kujisifu forcing Kion along. When they finally got there, Kion couldn't believe his eyes. It was Fuli next to a younger cheetah cub he didn't know. He ducked down, hiding behind a couple of big rocks. The lions moved in on Fuli and the cheetah cub. "Stay back!" Fuli warned them. The lion then raised his massive paw at Fuli. Fuli then lashed out her claws at the lion. The blood ran down the lions body, but it wasn't like any blood he had seen before. The blood looked almost like... fire?
Kion shook his head to clear it. Fuli and one of the lions were on a one-on-one fight. Kion was shocked as the lion landed a blow on Fuli's head, knocking her out. The lion went in for the death blow. Just before he could Kion jumped in the way. The blow landed on Kion instead of Fuli, and pain seared through his veins. Every bone on his body felt the pain of the hit. The lion narrowed his eyes.
"What a pathetic lion you are! Sacrificing yourself for a cheetah! Those ugly little savages! They think they can actually live anywhere near our territory." Jua said menacingly. Kion tried to get back up, but the lion who fought Fuli wouldn't let him.
"We'll take you and that cheetah," Jua spat the last word out in disgust. "Back to the hills. We will keep you both prisoner. I can tell by this cheetah's markings that she is the daughter of the leader of that group of cheetahs. She looks just like him. They'll do anything to get her back. Which means... they'll hand over their territory to me." Jua then let out an evil laugh. She then turned back to the younger cheetah cub that was with Fuli. Now he was frozen in fear.
"You, little cheetah, go back to your cave and tell Mwepesi that we have his daughter." Jua growled. The cheetah cub disappeared faster then a spooked gazelle as he ran as fast as he could away from Jua. Jua then picked up Fuli and carried her back to the hills. Kujisifu forced Kion along back to the hills. Wait, what? He thought to himself. Fuli's a group leader's daughter? Wouldn't that make her his successor?
When they got back to the hills, Jua and Kujisifu threw Kion and Fuli into a small, guarded cave. They then said to each other: "I'm tired of guarding this cave. What do ya say about pushing some rocks over the entrance?" "You know, why not?" They then started pushing big rocks in front of the entrance to the cave. Many long hours after they were done, Kion lay on the cold, hard ground. He started whining. He looked up at a very small hole at the top of the cave, so small that even Ono would have trouble flying through it. If he was even here. Kion thought to himself. He looked up at the moon. It was a full moon.
When someone tells you, you're not alone
It feels like it's all a lie
When you're very far from your home
And sometimes
It feels like you've been abandoned
Even though you're family's with you
You just feel isolated, alone
To tell the truth
Sometimes
You're standing next to someone
But in your heart you're alone
When the darkness creeps in
I wish I could just disappear
Hide behind something, anything
Hide from my darkest fear
When you think everyone's abandoned you
The best thing you can do
Is try
To survive
When the sun in blocked by the rain clouds
When you're just feeling blue and down
You comfort yourself
Don't let anybody help
Just when you trust and love someone
They get snatched away
By death
Before you can barely even take a breath
When you feel the heavens abandoned you
And your family and friends are gone
Then best thing you can do
Is just keep moving on
I've felt the sorrow and I've felt the pain
But she was wrong
We don't all recover again...
And I believe what I'm saying is true
I'll have to live my life forever scarred
And I don't know what to do
When you feel abandoned
When you're feeling blue
Comfort yourself
Don't let anybody help
And I know what I'm saying is true
It's my fault this happened to you
Kion looked back at Fuli, still unconscious. Good thing she wasn't injured very badly, unlike he was. Just a non serious blow to the head and that was it. Kion laid on the ground, miserable. Kion bent down to lick and clean his wounds. He went to lick his shoulder, but he then saw the scratch mark, and he was horrified.
A voice whispered in his mind. When water and flames meet, scars and secrets will bleed, and the trees will blaze with fire.
He couldn't believe it. The Mark of Evil - right there on his shoulder! Kion shook his head to clear it. The Mark of Evil was gone and he now had normal scratch marks.
(Sorry for the really lousy image lol. Drawing and editing isn't really my specialty)
Was I hallucinating? Kion asked himself. He then continued to clean his wounds. It hurt, bad. He winced. Why? He asked himself. Why did this have to happen to me? Kion knew he shouldn't be wallowing in self pity, but he just couldn't help it. Why did Ushari have to bite me? Why couldn't I stay in the Pride Lands with my mom, dad, and Kiara? Kion then frowned. It's me against the world, I guess. He thought to himself. He then looked at Fuli, now beginning to stir. Kion ran over to her.
"Fuli! Fuli wake up!" He said, trying not to shout. He could barely contain his excitement. She's going to be okay!
The Lion Guard were currently taking the snow monkeys to a hot spring Anga had spotted. The hot spring had everything they listed when Fuli asked what they want in a new home. Except of course, the ice slide. The hot spring also had many trees nearby. They were scared that if there were trees nearby, large birds would make their homes in them. But other than that, the hot spring had everything they needed.
Fuli stopped suddenly. She felt a sudden sharp pain in her scar. Wait what? Why do I have a scar? Dizziness overcame her. A nauseous feeling creeped it's way into her gut. She felt miserable. But she was determined not to show the rest of the Guard any weakness, so she carried on. Fuli saw herself glance back at her. Wait what? Apparently she saw that something was bothering her, because she came to check on her.
"Kion, are you okay?" She asked her, her voice filled with worry. Fuli was confused. Why is she calling me Kion? A realization then hit her. That's what I asked Kion when we were taking the snow monkeys to their new home! She then glanced ahead for a second and sure enough the snow monkeys were there.
"I'm fine Fuli!" She snarled, not loud enough for the others to hear. Wait what? Why did I snarl at her? Then another realization hit her. That's exactly how Kion responded! Fuli thought she saw the other Fuli flinch, but she must have imagined it. The other Fuli turned back around and carried on with the Guard. Fuli didn't think she would convince her so easily. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw her whisper something into Makini's ear, though Fuli couldn't hear what they were saying, she knew it was about her. She then looked down at her fur. She saw the fur didn't look like hers. It looked like Kion's.
The vision then faded and was replaced by a burning tree. The flames engulfed it so much that she could barely see the tree. Then a voice spoke to her.
"You must help him before it's too late." The voice said. Then a dark furred lioness with green eyes walked into sight. The lioness spoke to her.
"When water and flames meet, scars and secrets will bleed, and the trees will blaze with fire," the lioness said. Then faster then Fuli could blink, the lioness vanished.
Fuli blinked open her eyes. I must have been dreaming. She saw Kion standing in front of her. Fuli saw that he was injured, cuts and bruises all over him. But despite his wounds he looked like the happiest lion she had ever seen.
"Fuli!" He exclaimed. "You're awake!" Fuli realized that he was trying to contain his excitement, but he was failing miserably. She looked around. "Where am I?" She asked. Kion frowned at this.
"'Where am I?'" He repeated flatly. "You're in a place where they captured me, held me prisoner, and took my Roar so I can't escape so easily. And now they're going to keep me here forever. As for you, they're going to keep you prisoner so your dad will hand over all of his territory to this lion pride, the Sun Pride." Fuli was shocked.
"Kion," she began. She sat up, having no problem because the wounds the lion gave her weren't so serious, just a few claw marks here and there. "Tell me everything about how the white lioness took your Roar-" She cut herself off, realizing what she just said. Kion is going to be so confused. But instead of being confused, Kion looked shocked.
"H-how did you know about that?" He asked her. Fuli then started to explain. "You might think this is really crazy, but I had a dream." Kion leaned forward out of curiosity.
"I dreamt I was you," Fuli explained, then continued. "I felt what you were feeling. I felt determined to escape but knowing that I couldn't. I felt fear." Fuli hoped she wouldn't offend Kion with those words, as on their journey to the Tree of Life he took offense to things way more easily than he used to.
"I saw a white lioness in the dream. She put her paw up to my heart and chanted something. I started to feel dizzy after she did that. She then put her paw up to her own heart and started chanting again. She then said that 'the power is mine now' and snickered. Then she ordered two lions to take me back to a prison. I felt fear as they forced me against my will into a place I barely even know. I then felt a sudden pain in and near my eye, a very strong one. Then I woke up." Fuli finished as she looked at Kion with concern. If I was feeling what Kion was feeling, than his pain is worse then I thought.
"Fuli... that dream was real," he told her. Fuli's eyes widened.
"What?! You can't be serious!" She exclaimed. Kion nodded. Fuli then heard him whimper in pain very quietly as he tried not to show any weakness. Fuli then looked down at his body, littered with cuts and bruises. His eyes glimmered with pain as Fuli's heard him mutter; "I wish things were different. I wish I'd never got my scar. Then we could all still be in the Pride Lands, at peace finally." Fuli felt bad for him. Kion then raised his gaze to match hers.
"Fuli, there's something I want to say to you." Fuli was curious. "Okay," she responded.
"I-I'm really sorry for taking you on this journey. We all know I won't make it. It's my fault you were injured, and that you all were struggling on this journey." He said. Fuli was shocked that Kion knew the truth about his scar. As if Kion could read her mind, he explained.
"I overheard you and Makini," Kion said. He lowered his head in defeat. "By now I accept my fate." Fuli was shocked.
"Kion, you can't give up so easily. You're the fiercest in the Pride Lands," she reminded him.
"I can and I will," Kion declared. "It's not like there's any hope anymore. You should just abandon me for your own sake, it's better for all of us."
"Kion," she began. "I will never abandon you." Kion looked doubtful.
"Through despair and hope, I will always be by your side. Now and forever." Fuli truly meant the words she told him.
Kion looked up at Fuli. She thought he had trouble believing the words she told him. He then looked back up at Fuli to return her gaze.
"We'll see how much you care about me when I turn my back on you," Kion said darkly. "I don't have control anymore." He then walked towards the back of the small cave they were in and laid down to sleep.