"Mom, Mom, can we go play?" Asked Kovu, excited.
"Yes, you can…" Kovu and Vitani screamed happily, and were about to wander of when Zira added. "But Nuka has to go with you."
"Whyis it always me…" muttered Nuka, getting up and bumping the cubs as he walked. Kovu trippled and fel, and Zira growled to her older son, in disgust.
"But mother…" started Vitani.
"No buts, that is the deal." Cut Zira.
"Please say no…" muttered Nuka, as the cubs nodded an unhappy yes. "Shit…" murmured Nuka, walking off with his brother and sister.
After a bit of walking, Kovu perked up.
"I know how to cheer the place!" he said "how about a song?"
"Please don't" growled Nuka in disgust, rolling his eyes.
"I'm gonna be a mighty king, so enemies beware" started singing Kovu, with his claws out.
"Well, I've never seen a king or beast with quite so little hair" said Nuka rolling his eyes and plucking a hair of Kovu's head and laughing maniacally.
"I'm gonna be the main event, like no king was before." Replied Kovu, singing. "I'm brushing up on looking down,I'm working on my roar!" He got on a rock and tried to roar, but only a squeaky sound came out.
"Thus far, a rather uninspiring thing…" said Nuka to himself.
"Oh, I just can't wait to be king!" said both Kovu and Vitani, bolting away.
"You've rather a long way to go, damn termite, if you think!" shouted Nuka, getting on the way.
"No one saying, "do this"" said Kovu, stopping on his tracks, as Vitani got on Nuka's back. He bucked, not able to get her down.
"Now when I said that, I…" growled Nuka, still bucking. Kovu got on his back too.
"No one saying, "be there"" kept the song Vitani, as Kovu bit Nuka's tail.
"What I meant was…"growled Nuka, throwing Vitani from his back.
"No one saying, "stop that"" sang Kovu
"Look, what you don't realice…" growled Nuka, going to tell him he was going to be the king, but he was interrupted.
"No one saying, "see here"" sang the both of them, getting on a meerkat den.
"Now see here!" said Nuka, digging to get them out. They giggled, and poked out a hole on the other side, and started running.
"Free to run around all day!" shouted Lovu and Vitani.
"Well, that's definitely out" said Nuka to himself as he ran after the cubs.
"Free to do it all my way!" sang Kovu, before he saw Nuka standing in front of him, angrily.
"I think it's time that you and I, arranged a heart to heart…" said Nuka, getting his claws out and holding the smaller cub with a paw, and smiling sinisterly.
"Kings don't need advice from little termites for a start" said Vitani as she bit Nuka's leg. He yowled, and tried to catch her, but he fell in a cloud of dust with empty claws. Brother and sister were running around again.
"If this is where the monarchy is headed, count me out!"Out of service, out of Africa, I wouldn't hang about!" screamed Nuka, desesperate.
"This child is getting wildly out of wing…"said Mbawa, who flew up in the sky, to her daily search of food, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, I just can't wait to be king!" shouted Kovu, as the cubs arrived to a tree where some thick billed crows were resting.
"Hey, guys, let's have some fun!"cawed the leader. "I know that song!"
"Everybody look left! Everybody look right!" the crows did as Kovu said. Everywhere you look, I'm standin' in the spotlight!" sang Kovu, as he got on a branch in the middle of the crows.
"Not yet!" said Nuka, jumping on the branch, but Kovu dodged and it broke. The crows flew, startled.
"Now it's our turn, guys!" said the leader. "Let every creature go for broke and sing, let's hear it in the herd and on the wing,it's gonna be King Kovu's finest fling" sang the crows bothering Nuka, who tried to catch them.
"Oh, I just can't wait to be kiiiing!" ended Kovu and Vitani, running of Nuka's sight, as he was still being pestered by the crows. They scratched his skin with their sharp claws, and obe even pulled a tuft of his growing mane with his strong beak. They finally left him in peace, laughing and cawing. Nuka's skin showed some cuts, but the true pain was in his pride… He had let two cubs and a bunch of birds take over. Maybe he wasn't so good to be a king?
"You see, my idea worked!" said Kovu, nudging Vitani.
"Your idea?" asked Vitani, stopping on her tracks. "I was the one who suggested it, in case you don't remember. Kovu simply gorwled, and pounced on her. They squabbled a bit, until she pinned him, but she froze in place.
"What has gotten into you?" he asked, as he saw she didn't paid attention to his attempts to keep playing. She simply turned Kovu's head. His jaw dropped.
"A volcano…" he murmured. "Let's check it out!" both shouted, running for it. A thin column of smoke came from the top of the volcano, as the cubs ran and jumped happily between rivers of lava and geisers.
Meanwhile, Nuka had made back to her mother.
"M-m-mother?" he asked carefully.
"What do you want, Nuka?" she asked, not in a friendly way.
"It's… hummm… about…"
"About what?!" she snapped. "Come on, spit it out!"she said, as she saw him frozen in place.
"Kovu and Vitani escaped…" Nuka felt much better after having released it, but prepared for the shouting that was to come.
"How could you… again?!" she said. Nuka shrieked, and waited for another yell. But surprisingly, Zira only growled a bit, and without his response, she stormed off. Mbawa landed next to Nuka, and they both shared a stare of complicity, a result of spending so many time together. Then, without talking, they both went tp find some bones, it was the only thing to eat in that horrible, dry place.
Zira ran with her snout to the floor. She found Kovu's scent, and growled again, lowly. She knew wher they were heading, and she didn't liked it a bit. She ran again, angry, but above everything, scared for her adoptive children.
As she searched frantically, Kovu and Vitani had found how to enter the volcano. With a glare of complicity to each other, they ran into the volcano. They arrived to where the lava was. Their eyes shone with excitement, but the heat made it really uncomfortable to be there.
Kovu rubbed his eyes, panting from the heat. When he opened them, he saw a black column of smoke going up. It wasn't there before. He asked Vitani if she saw it too, and she simply nodded. The column grew wider, and slowly took the shape of a lion. Vitani and Kovu shook their heads, but it still resembled a lion's head, even more than before. A lion that they knew well. Black mane, shining eyes… and a scar over his left eye.
"Father?" asked Kovu, cautiously.
"Yes Kovu, I am." Scar smiled. "How have you been doing?" he asked.
"We are good." Said Vitani, not quite believing it.
"Why don't you come closer, so I can see you better?" said Scar. "The future king… he said, looking to Kovu and bowing. The rocks near the edge were loose, and they could drop to the dangerous lava at each moment. The cubs were anout to obbey, hpnotized, but another familiar voice snapped them back to reality.
"KOVU! VITANI!" roared Zira, her claws leaving marks against on the hard rock. "COME DOWN RIGHT NOW!" now they could see her face, but she still couldn't enter the volcano. The gap was too small, and she started scartching ot frantically to get the cubs out. She called them again. Vitani and Kovu looked back to the lava. Scar's face had sissapeared, turning back into the column of smoke. Both cubs didn't knew if they imagined it, or if the encounter with their adoptive father was real. They simply stood there, looking to the lava again, amazed.
"If you don't come back RIGHT NOW…"warned Zira from the hole. It had been made a bit bigger by her, but she still couldn't enter. The cubs came back to reality again, and this time they ran to their mother, with their tails tucked, heads down and looking defeated.
"Never, ever, do that again!" she shouted, tackilng them against the floor. They closed their eyes. Zira's claws dig on the rock and ash, showing how frustrated she was. Her tail flicked frim side to side, as a whip.
"So-sorry mother…" said both cubs.
"No sorry matters now." She growled. "When your brother, or me, say something, you DO IT!" she said, roughly picking Kovu up, and getting low to let Vitani climb on her. Both cubs were destroyed, no longer wanting to play or with their usually cheerful attitude. They didn't told anything about what they saw to anyone, their mother's reaction was more than enough to make them shut for good.
Thr truth was, Zira knew what happened if you stayed too many time in the volcano. The toxic gas messed with your head, making you see things that aren't there, and she wasn't going to let it happen again. Her mother had told her many, many timed the story of her childhood friend, that after going one time to the volcano, she never was the same, and ended up dying in the bubbling lava. Zira only hoped it wasn't too late for her two cubs.
After Zira had gone, Janja and their hyenas went to their den again. Ushari, the cobra showed up, slithering to Janja's feet. He stared at the cobra ininquiringly
"All isss ready." He said. Janja nodded and laughed, and so did the rest of the hyenas. Soon they would have all the power. Ushari laughed too, with the hyenas… after everyone stepped on him, now they would pay. For everything.