A/N: Lion King does not belong to me.
Leona and Kovu's walk towards Shuja's tree was short; they ended up at their destination quickly. Leona called up to Shuja and he came down, climbing onto Leona's back.
"So, how's the digging coming along?" He asked, his tail swishing back and forth.
"It's coming along well, I think we will be done with the hole by tomorrow," Leona answered.
"How are you going to hide the hole from Mr. R?" Shuja asked again.
"I put a bush into the hole to hide it from anyone who passes by," Kovu answered.
"Smart," Shuja replied, nodding his head. Kovu's face beamed with pride. The trio wandered aimlessly through the field avoiding the areas where Mr. Remington was because of the vicious glares that Kovu sent the man. They talked about anything that came to mind; mostly questions about Kovu's life came up. He answered the questions, leaving out some minor details, those dealing with Zira and him having to kill Simba.
"It sounds like you have a good life with your pride," Leona commented.
"I do and that's why I need to get back as soon as possible," Kovu said with determination. Shuja hopped off of Leona's back and walked next to Kovu.
"Don't worry you'll be with your pride in no time," He said as he patted Kovu's shoulder. Kovu turned his head to give Shuja a smile. The trio then walked to Betty's tree, they sat around the trunk of the tree in the shade watching the field and the animals occupying it. Betty flew down from her tree landing near Kovu.
"So, what brings you animals here?" She asked once she was on the ground. Leona looked towards Betty and smiled.
"We're just hanging out by your tree, also I need to ask you a question," Leona replied.
"Shoot."
"Would you be Kovu and my lookout tomorrow?" She asked receiving a glance from Kovu. Betty tilted her head in confusion.
"Why would you need me to be a lookout for?" Leona looked at Kovu, waiting for him to tell Betty why they needed her.
"I'm uh..." He trailed off, unsure if whether to tell the bird or not.
"Toma did say she could also be the lookout and I think that Kaz and Sahi should have a break tomorrow, 'cause the hole won't take that long to finish anyways and you know those two are inseparable, so come on you can tell her," Leona said to convince Kovu to tell Betty. Kovu nodded his head and continued talking.
"I'm trying to escape and I need you to be the lookout, that means while Leona and I am digging you need to come to us and tell us if anyone is coming," Kovu explained.
"Sure I'll be your lookout," Betty replied nodding her head. Both Kovu's and Leona's faces brightened at the answer.
"Thanks a bunch Betty, tomorrow when they let us out, come find me so I can show you where Kovu and I'm digging," Leona told Betty.
"Sure thing," Betty replied. The four animals rested under the tree, enjoying the shade on the hot day. Betty and Leona watched Mr. Remington play with the other animals while Shuja and Kovu were taking a nap. They stayed like that until all the animals had to go back in their cages.
Leona nudged Kovu awake easily while waking up Shuja was more difficult, he would just roll and turn in a different direction. She sighed, Kovu and Betty laughing at the scene, and grabbed Shuja by the back of his neck with her jaws. Once Leona had lifted Shuja from the ground his eyes snapped open and he let out a surprised yelp. She gently dropped him on the ground.
"If you needed to wake me up you could have just nudged me," He said.
"She did, you didn't wake up, so she picked you up causing you to scream," Betty told Shuja. He let out an embarrassed laugh before he said his goodbyes, walking towards his cage also excusing himself from further embarrassment. Leona and Kovu both as well said their goodbyes before walking to their cage.
The animals were fed once everyone was in their cage and then night time would come and sleep would overtake the animals. The next day, Kovu was one of the first animals to wake up, his eagerness to complete the hole and move on to the next step kept him from sleeping any longer. Kovu laid his head on his front paws, waiting though he became impatient and started to pace around the cage. Leona's ears twitched the sound of shuffling disrupting her sleep; she opened one eye to see that Kovu was the one making the noise. Leona rolled her eyes before standing up and stretching.
"Why are you up so early?" Leona asked, yawning. Kovu stopped mid step and turned to face Leona.
"I want to finish the hole and get on with the plan." Leona yawned again, teeth showing, her mouth came together with an audible click.
"Well, they aren't taking us outside for another several minutes, so why don't you talk to Zane," Leona suggested, as she laid her head on her paws preparing to go back to sleep.
Kovu walked to the walked towards the bars of the cage that were nearest to Zane the ostrich.
"Hey," Kovu greeted. Zane turned around and acknowledged Kovu with a nod of his head. Kovu sat down on his haunches near Zane.
"So, how were you captured?" Kovu asked. Zane lifted his head to look at Kovu.
"I wasn't captured," He started. Kovu had a confused expression on his face. Zane chuckled before continuing. "I came from a zoo in America, I was sick and the zoo I lived in couldn't pay for the medicine I needed at the time, so one day Mr. Remington came to the zoo and he bought me from them, nursing me back to health." Kovu just sat, staring at Zane speechless. The ostrich gave Kovu a smile and waited patiently for Kovu to speak.
"What is a zoo?"
"It's a place where different animals are kept and humans can observe them," Zane replied.
"Wouldn't that be like what this place is," Kovu said. Zane tilted his head, thinking, and then shook his head.
"No, they're not the same, here we don't have anyone watching us, and from my experience this place is a bit more comfortable," Zane explained. "So, tell me about you?"
Kovu cleared his throat before he explained to Zane about his life before he was captured. Once Kovu had finished talking to Zane, the ostrich blinked several times before replying.
"You're a prince, going to be a king!" He exclaimed quietly. Kovu gave Zane a sheepish grin.
"Does anyone else know you're a prince?" Kovu nodded his head in response to the answer. The two animals turned their heads when the sound of a door opening filled the air. Claire walked in, pushing a cart that held buckets of various sizes filled with different foods. She smiled at the animals that were awake and walked down the row of cages placing the correct food for the animal in the cage. She did this quickly, saying greetings to the animals that walked up to the cage bars.
"Hi Leo, hi Zane," Claire greeted when she reached their cages. She grabbed two containers and placed the food from them into the animals' cages. Once she had finished feeding all the animals she left with the cart in tow and left the animals to their food. The animals that were sleeping were now awake, the smell of food filling their noses. Leona walked over to Kovu and Zane, blinking the sleep from her eyes and greeting them with a nod of her head before she grabbed a chunk of meat in her mouth to eat. Both Kovu and Zane said their farewells before walking over to their food. Once all the animals have finished eating they were released into the field. Kovu walked next to Leona, using most of his will power to refrain from burst out running towards the hole. Betty flew to them before they went deeper into the field. She landed on Leona's back before she greeted them. When the three reached the hole, Kovu grabbed the bush and started to dig. Leona told Betty what to do before she went to help Kovu finish digging the hole. Kovu was just about to break through the surface on the other side of the fence when Leona glanced behind her and saw Toma and a bird facing each other. The bird flew off leaving Toma alone.
"I'm going to talk to Toma, okay," Leona informed Kovu. He lifted his head to briefly nod before he went back to finishing the hole. She quickly walked to where Toma was.
"Hey Toma, the hole is almost done," She told him. Toma lifted his head and murmured a quiet "Good", before he started walking in the direction of where the hole was. Leona walked by him, wondering what that bird told him. She thought it would be better to let him mope before asking any questions. They walked in silence for the short walk before Leona's curiosity got the better of her.
"Who was that bird?"
Toma lifted his head to look at Leona. "That is none of your business," He replied coldly. Leona rolled her and sighed. She walked ahead of Toma and saw that Kovu had already finished the hole. He grinned at her, his pride radiating. Toma walked up to the hole and inspected it; he crawled into it, his head popping out on the other end of it. He nodded his approval once he exited the hole.
"The next step will be to get the door to the cages to be opened without the humans noticing," Toma started. "It'll be harder with you lions since of how big the door will need to be opened, I was thinking when the door is coming down one of you could place a rock under it so it will be prevented from closing all the way and if you succeed in doing that then you will need to be quick and run towards the hole and escape."
"But when you were telling us about how you escaped didn't you say that they found out you were gone because they checked the cages," Leona questioned.
"Since they turn the lights off and it gets dark, you and Kovu can place some bushes in there and make them look like lions," Toma answered. Leona nodded her head in response.
"That means tonight, Kovu, you are getting out of here," Toma said.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews are welcomed and appreciated.