Suddenly, Nirmala entered the den, her jaws full of herbs. She dropped her herbs in shock and rushed over to Fuli when she saw her crying.
"Kion!" She cried like a pitiful cub that had lost it's mother. "Come back! Please come back!"
"Fuli, dear, what happened?" Nirmala's voice was filled with concern.
"Nirmala?!" Fuli gasped in shock. "Please help me stand up! I gotta go after him! Please!"
[FLASHBACK]
"Ki-Ki!" A young Fuli squeaked as she pounced on her new friend. Her friend, a lion named Kion, responded by trying to push her off of him, but to no avail.
"Fuli! Get offa me!" He protested, trying to wiggle out of her grip.
"Nope!" She giggled while Kion gave a cubish glower.
Then Kion pushed her off of him and tackled her playfully in the tall grass. She let out a squeak as she was pinned down. "Hey!" She giggled. "Get off!"
"Don't plan on it." Kion smirked and giggled.
"Okay then..." Fuli reached out her paws to his belly and started tickling him.
"Hahaha- F-Fuli...haha! Hah! Stop it...!" Kion protested in between laughs.
"Not till ya get off me!" Fuli told him.
"Ha.. Never.. haha!" Kion protested in-between giggles.
Suddenly, they heard rustling in the tall grass. Fuli's ears pricked in alarm and she got off Kion.
Kion shook himself and tilted his head in confusion. "Fuli? What's going on?" Ever since he had met her, Fuli was always on high alert. She had eventually loosened up a little, but alertness still remained whenever something unknown approached them or showed signs of being nearby.
Fuli ducked her head down in the tall grass and motioned for Kion to do the same.
The thing that was approaching them got closer, and closer...
Until...
Boom!
The sound of some sort of fruit dropping ringed in their ears. Out of the grass came a familiar honey badger struggling to carry a large green fruit - well, not too large to bigger animals, but large to the tiny cubs.
"Hiya guys! What's going on?" The honey badger asked.
"Oh," Fuli sighed in relief. "Bunga, it's just you."
"Bunga!" Kion leaped over to him. He saw the fruit that Bunga held in his head. "Waddya got there?"
"It's something that Beshte showed me! He called it... um... uh..." Bunga placed one of his claws on his forehead. "Um... it was something with 'ball'... um... a Baboa Ball? No, no, that's not right... uh... a Boabe Ball... ugh, no..."
Fuli approached the fruit. "Looks like a baobab fruit to me."
"Oh yeah yeah yeah!" Bunga exclaimed, bouncing up and down in the air for a few moments. "That's what it was! A Baobab Ball!"
"Cool! So.. what do we do with it?" Kion asked curiously.
"Play, duh!" Bunga told him, looking at him like he was silly to not know the answer.
"Oh okay! So... how do we play?"
"Like this!" Bunga rolled the ball away from Kion and ran off.
He looked at Fuli in confusion. "I think he wants us to chase him..?"
"Probably," Fuli answered. She then smiled fiercely. "And I'm one of the fastest chasers in the Pride Lands!" She dashed off after Bunga. "C'mon Kion! Keep up!" She called out over her shoulder.
"Oh I can and I will!" He told her and dashed after her and Bunga. The three then spent their afternoon playing the game that Bunga had called 'Baobab Ball'. They had fun, lots of fun. The day was filled with laughing and giggling - nothing but fun for the lion cub, honey badger kit, and cheetah cub.
[END OF FLASHBACK]
Kion sighed. He missed his old self. Everything about it. He missed fun, love, and laughter. Everything about them.
He struggled to walk to the cliff. His muscles ached and strained and his stomach hurt like heck as the blood trickled down his body, but he didn't care.
Once I die, I'll be free.
He didn't want to stay on the earth. The world wasn't right. Nothing felt right. It was all sorrow and sadness. Maybe it wasn't before, but it was now.
And once he died, he would be free.
Free from the chains that bound him to the cruel world.
But a little voice inside him rang in his head.
[Voice]
...Don't go...
...Don't leave...
...Please stay...
...I plead...
You have so much to live for
So don't throw it away
I know that you
Know that too
So please make the choice to choose another way
You are on the road to a happy life
But you won't get there if you don't face this strife...
So please
I plead
Stay with me
Please
Please
Please
I plead
Please
Please
Please
Don't you think Fuli will miss you?
Don't you think she needs you too?
And now you're leaving
And I'm pleading
For you
To
Make another choice
[Kion]
No I can't!
You think you know me better than I do
Well I say
No way
That's not true
I think I should end my life just to keep her safe from me
And all the damage I've learned I can do
[Voice]
...No...
..Don't go...
...Don't leave...
...Please stay...
...I plead...
I know you have so much to live for
So don't throw it away
I know that you
Know that too
So please make the choice to choose another way
You are on the road to a happy life
But you won't get there if you don't face this strife...
So please
I plead
Stay with me
Please
Please
Please
I plead
Please
Please
Please
Don't you know Fuli will miss you?
Don't you know she needs you right now too?
And now you're leaving
And I'm pleading
For you
To
Make another choice
[Kion]
NO WAY
[Voice]
And I know
This is your decision
So go
If you think you know
The right choice
But you don't
And it looks like you won't listen to me
So say your goodbyes...
And end your life...
But just, right now, keep what I said in mind...
"No," he said in defiance to the little voice inside his head. "I can't." He continued limping towards where he remembered the cliff was. "This is what's best..."
The cliff was then in sight. Tears ran down his cheeks as he limped towards the cliff.
When he stood there on the edge, his paws shook with fear.
Can I really do this? He asked himself as he peered down at the drop. Fear squirmed in his belly. Yes, I have to. But something else squirmed in his belly - guilt. Guilt as he remembered when he said to Fuli he'd always be there for her. I broke my promise...
Looking down at the cliff, regret formed inside Kion. I shouldn't have been born... I hate myself... If I weren't alive everything would be okay... I wish... I wish I had died long ago... I wish I was stillborn... that I had died as soon as I was born...
He shuddered as a cool breeze blew through his fur. But what about Fuli? She needs someone to be there for her... He shook his head. Definitely not me.
He backed up, bunching his shoulders. Three... two...
But then he froze. Can I really do this? Really, really do this?
Yes, he answered himself. I have to.
But Fuli... the took on her face when I limped out of the Tree... she looked so... devastated... so hurt...
The lion then asked himself one question; Can I really leave her?
However, that was a question he could not answer. He loved Fuli, he really did. That was why he was doing this. To keep her safe...
But he remembered how hurt she was when she saw him walking out of the Tree to go kill himself. She looked like her whole world had come crashing down onto her.
He couldn't decide. He didn't know what to do... think... say...
He was lost.
"Help me... someone... anyone..." Kion cried out, hopelessly silently begging for an answer to his cries.
But something told him that this decision was for him and him only to make.
More blood trickled down his wounds which still hurt a lot, and he felt a slight sting in his eye. This only made him feel more guilty. Who was the one who comforted him whenever his scar hurt?
Fuli.
And she was always there for him, never asking for anything in return other than a good friend.
He couldn't just... leave her. He couldn't. These were going to be her darkest moments - she couldn't walk or run anymore... couldn't do the thing she loves anymore...
He couldn't just leave her to suffer through that alone. She was always there for him whenever he was sad. She always listened to him whenever he felt he needed to get something off his chest. She always offered a shoulder to lean on. He knew he had to do the same for her.
I can't just kill myself, I have to be there for her, he decided. Just like she was there for me...
But just as he was about to make the first step back to the Tree, a voice rang beside him.
"How about... no."
He froze and looked behind him. Standing before him was the worst animal he ever expected to see at that moment.
"Jua," he snarled, trying to mask his fear with fury.
"Kion," she snickered. There seemed to be a malicious aura around her. "What brings you out here? Too weak to live? Heh, I knew this moment would come eventually."
"No!" Kion quickly protested. "That's not true!"
"It isn't true?" Jua asked mockingly. "Hm... wonder why your at a cliff, alone. You look likeyou're about to jump off."
"No I'm not!" Kion protested.
"Liar."
"I'm not a liar!"
"Yes you are. Didn't you tell Fuli you'd always be there for her? Huh, and now you're abandoning her."
"I'm gonna go back... I know...!"
"Not before I do." Jua's words words alarmed Kion. No!
"No. You. WON'T! I won't let you hurt her!" He told her somewhat fiercely.
"Ha, try to stop me." Jua suddenly made a dash, but not before Kion knocked her aside.
He sunk his teeth into her flesh. She swiftly turned and flipped him over, surprising him. She bit down on his stomach even more. He could then feel pain - lots of it. It all came back, hitting him in the face.
Seeing only one option, he gathered all his strength to knock Jua off of him and towards the cliff. Jus glared at him in fury before flipping in over, sending him flying in the direction of the cliff.
He couldn't stop himself in time. He rolled off the cliff and plummeted who knows how many pawsteps down...
His belly churned as he fell. He knew this would be the end of his life.
I'll miss you, Mom, Dad, Kiara, Bunga, Beshte, Ono, Anga, Makini, Timon, Pumbaa... and... Fuli.
XXXX
"He went this way," Fuli told Nirmala as the lioness carried her. "And please hurry. We have to stop him before it's too late!"
"I'm going as fast as I can without hurting you," Nirmala replied, fastly jogging. "The cliff's just up ahead!"
When the cliff came in sight, Fuli gasped in horror. She saw pawsteps leading off the cliff.
Kion was nowhere to be found.
"KION! NO!" Fuli screamed.
Nirmala just gasped in horror. How could this have happened?
"C'mon Nirmala!" Fuli sobbed. "We have to look for him!"
"Fuli..." Nirmala told her gently, but trailed off.
"We have to find his body," Fuli protested. "We can't just leave him there!"
Nirmala nodded. She couldn't argue with the cheetah. "Of all my years in the Night Pride, I know this land. There's a way down this cliff." She started walking with Fuli on her back.
They found the trail down the cliff. They walked down it -more like Nirmala walked down it while carrying Fuli- and searched for Kion's body.
"Nirmala!" Fuli said. "I see something!" She lightly motioned with her head to a motionless animal splayed out on the ground. It was covered in dirt and laid there motionless.
Nirmala walked closer and they both gasped when she did. There Kion was.
He was dead.
"No... no... Kion...!" Fuli gasped in horror. She and Nirmala ran to his body. Nirmala crouched down and let Fuli side off her. The cheetah scrambled closer to Kion's body. Pain shot through her leg but she didn't care. She reached out a paw, stroking the lion's face that was covered in dust. "No.. no... Kion, come back... you can't be dead... you can't be..."
She recalled all their adventures together... all the times they laughed... all the times they cried... Her gaze drifted over to his stomach. The sight alone made her feel sick. It was completely torn open and you could see where the organ got ripped apart. She then saw his foreleg and gasped. It was bleeding, bruised, and twisted in a direction it definitely shouldn't have been.
She then looked at his scar. She could tell it had been bleeding. Dried blood caked his eye. His eyes were open but glazed over. She started into his empty and hollow gaze. There was a hint of sadness and longing in it.
"No, Kion..." She stroked his cheek, damp with what looked like tears. She lightly brushed the dust off of it. "Come back to me... Please, Ki-Ki... my little Ki-Ki..." She looked into his eyes once more, hoping to find any trace of the familiar warmth and light. But the eyes of the lion she knew were no longer joyful and bright like they used to be before they started their journey. They were cloudy, miserable... dead.
Regret and guilt washed over her as she once again recalled the secret. "And I never got to tell you... sweet Ki-Ki..." She nuzzled him. "I wish I could've told you..."
"Tell him what?" Nirmala gently asked.
"Nothing!" Fuli answered a little too quickly.
Nirmala nodded. "It's personal, isn't it?"
"Yeah..." She gently cradled Kion's head in her paws. "It's something that I don't wanna talk about... it's something that was lost.. that he lost..."
Nirmala nodded, a look of sadness in her eyes. "I know how you feel," the lioness told her. "I once..." She trailed off and looked away.
"Once what?" Fuli asked, though her mind could already guess the answer.
"I once fell in love," Nirmala said shakily. "I was forced to leave my lover, but not before I was pregnant with a cub. I had to leave my cub... he couldn't stay with me. A close friend took him in, and for that I am forever grateful." Tears pricked Nirmala's eyes. "And wherever my lost cub is, I hope he's safe..."
A pang of guilt struck Fuli. Nirmala didn't know... didn't know that the dead lion lying before them was her son. The lioness was still clinging onto that one strand of hope that her cub was okay.
"I loved him with all my heart," Fuli murmured. Nirmala didn't know that who Fuli was talking about was her son. "I tried my best to help him... he was loved by a lot of animals..." Fuli looked at Nirmala. "He was sweet, kind, caring, fun, helpful, smart, strong, brave..."
"He was very special to you," Nirmala acknowledged. "He seemed like he could have been a bright spirit before he was broken..."
"He wasn't broken...!" Fuli protested but trailed off. Nirmala was right. "Fine... You're right, he was broken... and I'd do anything to mend that break in his spirit."
"It was clear you two would have had a bright future together." It was obvious Nirmala's words were meant to comfort Fuli, but it only reminded Fuli of what could have happened had he not went through what he did. Suddenly Nirmala gasped. "Fuli!" Fuli looked up and saw the lioness pressing her ear to Kion's chest. She then got up and motioned with her paws to his chest. "He's not breathing, but I can feel a faint heartbeat."
Fuli's heart skipped a beat. "He's still..."
"Hear for yourself."
Fuli leaned down placed her ear to Kion's chest. Sure enough, no breathing. She sighed and was about to lift her head back up. But suddenly...
She heard it. Nirmala was right! There was a faint heartbeat!
"We have to get him back to the Tree of Life as soon as possible," Nirmala told her. "If we don't get him back now he'll die."
"Okay, let's go."
Nirmala used all her strength to lift Kion and Fuli on her back. She started walking to the Tree. The journey was fairly short compared to some other places, but it felt like forever due to the amount of stress. Fuli was constantly asking how long it would take to get there, with Nirmala trying to reassure her it wouldn't be long.
"Guys we're almost there, don't worry," Nirmala tried to reassure the cheetah once more after she had asked againhow long it would take.
"Hurry, please!" Fuli begged.
"I'm tryin- There it is! The Tree's over there!" Nirmala's gaze drifted to a giant tree barely a few dozen pawsteps away.
"Thank the Bright Stars," Fuli breathed a sigh of relief.
When they got inside, Nirmala set Kion down. "We have to stay with him. I don't have all the nessecary things to treat him at the moment. But right now we have to get him breathing again."
"Okay." Fuli nodded. "Who's gonna do the-?"
"I'll do it," Nirmala told her. "Then I'll get the herbs."
Fuli looked at Kion. She knew that her embarrassment didn't matter at that point. "No, you need to get the herbs as fast as you can. I'll do it."
"Okay." Without arguing, Nirmala nodded and dashed out of the Tree. She would have used the herbs she gathered before but they were all out.
Fuli quickly used her front paws to tilt his head back a little, then did the 'mouth to mouth' procedure, originally taught to her by Rafiki.
Still not breathing on his own... Fuli thought worriedly as she continued with the procedure. C'mon Kion, start breathing, she silently encouraged. Suddenly, she saw his chest rise and fall without her assistance. Thank the Bright Stars Above the Savanna!
"I'm back!" Said a muffled voice. It was Nirmala bursting through the entrance with herbs and other things in her jaws.
"Thank the Bright Stars Above the Savanna," Fuli sighed in relief.
While Nirmala tried to treat Kion, Fuli couldn't take her gaze off him. It broke her seeing him like this. It was painful seeing him like this. It hurt seeing him like this.
"Fuli... he has some real damage done to the brain and stomach... I don't know if he'll be able to function right in day to day life if he survives.
For a moment Fuli tried to cut out the sadness and pity that swamped her heart. But she couldn't help feeling very concerned for him. Damage to his brain? That could be trouble... Fuli was already imagining all the worst things that could happen. She began thinking out loud. "Will he be able to think right? Or... will he even remember? What if he gets amnesia or other memory problems? Will he be able to still do things he would need to do in day-to-day life? Will he be able to take care of himself or will he always need someone to guide him? What if the damage is too much for him to handle? Will he be able to walk with his front leg like that?" Or will he be like me... and never walk again. Even though she tried to stop it, self pity swept over her. I won't walk again...
"Those are sadly all possible," Nirmala confirmed. "His stomach is another problem however. Most of the organ is ripped out and destroyed and I don't know if, even if he survives, if he'll be able to eat or drink."
Oh no, Fuli thought worriedly. Another big problem.
She laid down by his side. She knew it was unlikely he'd survive, as he was very injured and his body was damaged.
But don't worry, Ki. I'll be here if- no, not if, WHEN you wake up...
But doubt squirmed inside her. That is... if you even want me here...