Here's chapter twenty and please review. Reminder that I don't own The Lion King or its characters, Disney does.
I'd like to thank thatcoyoteworlfgirl, Lady Papillion Rose, CrazyFairyTrailer, AMBER, J.A.M.B, Teddi 8347, gary2000, Radiant Celestial Aura, CSIMentalistTLK lover, Maua, Lisa Berg, Fluffy Hug, Raina and Random Pumpkin for reviewing the last chapter. I really appreciate it.
"Gone?" Kiara asked her voice cracking. "You…you mean…Mom's dead?"
Simba sighed and closed his eyes as tears threatened to form. "Yes sweetheart. She's dead."
"No!" Kiara cried, tears forming in her eyes. "She isn't dead! Daddy, it's not true! Tell me that she's not dead! It's not true!" Kopa was still staring at Simba in shock.
"I wish it was." Simba said, pulling her against him. "But it's not." He let Kiara latch onto him as she sobbed into his fur.
"Kopa?" Simba asked, looking at Kopa.
"No!" Kopa growled. "This can't be happening!"
"Kopa, I'm sorry." Simba said. "I wasn't fast enough."
"Because you're a fail!" Kopa roared. "All you know is how to run away from your problems! Now Mom's dead because you couldn't protect her!"
"Kopa, I know that-"
"Mom was the only thing I had left!" Kopa cried, tears forming in his amber red eyes. "Now she's gone, Scar's gone and I'm left with a coward!"
"Kopa!" Shinda and Alex came onto the scene along with Tojo and Shani. Sarafina, Runju and Sarabi were behind them. All of them had tear marks on their faces, clear evidence that they were mourning for Nala.
"Kopa," Alex said. "Calm down. The last thing we need is for you to lose control of yourself!"
"No!" Kopa snapped, despite the tears pouring down his eyes. "Don't tell me to calm down! Mom's gone! Nothing will ever be okay again!"
"Kopa," Sarafina stepped forward, trying to comfort him. Kopa growled, lashing out at her barely missed her face.
"Don't touch me!" Kopa hissed. "All you ever did to me was pushing me away! What's so different now?"
"Kopa," Sarafina said, tears choking her voice. "None of us knew that you weren't Scar's son. We all thought that Nala betrayed us and_"
Kopa glared at her. "Whether I was Scar's son or not, I was still Nala's son and your grandson. That clearly didn't change anything back then, did it? Well then it shouldn't change anything now!"
Simba stepped forward and grabbed hold on Kopa, who tried pushing him away but Alex and Tojo took hold of him as well. Kopa growled and thrashed out at all of them. Kiara watched the scene with wide eyes.
"Enough!" Simba ordered. Kopa stopped fighting them, and glared at him with burning eyes.
"You have to calm down." Simba said. "I know that you're hurting from your mother's death and I know that you blame me and I blame myself as well. But yelling at us won't do anything. You know that your mother wouldn't want you doing this if she was here."
"But she's not!" Kopa cried, tears streaming down his eyes. "She's not here! She's gone!" He collapsed on the ground sobbing, holding his stomach to try and dull the pain.
Simba squeezed his eyes shut trying to stop the tears from forming. Nala was gone. She was dead. How could she be dead?
"Simba," Sarabi stepped forward. "You have to go deal with Scar's Pride. We're trying to keep them under control but it's hard."
Simba sighed. He didn't want to deal with any of this. He wanted to mourn by himself for Nala and be there for his son and daughter. But he knew that he had to deal with the other problems as well.
"I'll go now." Simba sighed.
"I'll watch Kiara and Kopa." Sarabi volunteered.
"No!" Kopa barked. "Can I stay with Aunt Shani or Shinda?"
The adults exchanged a glance, all of them knowing very well that it would be difficult for the twins to accept Sarabi, Sarafina and Runju.
"I'll watch him." Shani said, stepping forward.
"Thank you," Simba nodded. He walked out of the den and into the main den. He watched as Rafiki treated wounds while everyone was still mourning for Nala. His stomach clenched and he swallowed hard to keep control of himself. At the arrival of the King, everyone stopped and stared.
Simba looked at the corner of the den where Scar's pride had gathered. To his surprise, Zira was there.
"What is she doing there?" Shinda growled. "I thought that Nala and I killed her!"
"You can't get rid of me that easily Shinda," Zira sneered. Shinda looked like she wanted to lunge at her but Alex stepped in front of his mate, making sure that she couldn't get to Zira.
Simba turned to face Scar's Pride. "As we all know, Scar…he killed Nala and that will not go overlooked. I want him brought back to me where I will decide his punishment. As for the rest of you, I'm giving you a choice. Your children have grown up as my son and daughter's siblings and losing them would be hard for both of them. Therefore you have the choice to pledge your loyalty to our Pride or leave."
There were murmurs from both Pride's as they took in Simba's words.
"Leave!" Nuka stepped forward. "We're leaving."
"Nuka," Sarabi said, stepping forward. "I would suggest that you make the best use of this offer we gave you. It's your best chance to-"
"I was hand chosen by Scar to become King and I could never live here. This land is nothing anyway. I and my siblings will find a land of our own and rule it. But we still not stay here."
Eisha looked at her brother with wide eyes. Nuka wanted to leave? How about their father? Would he come back? She felt Vitani at her side trembling. Eisha looked at her mother and Shanti could only shake her head, telling her that she didn't know what to do.
"Simba!" Came a voice. Amri hurried into the den.
"What's wrong?" Simba asked.
"We found Scar!" Amri announced. "Moraan, Tonal and Chumvi are dragging him back to Priderock."
A minute later, an exhausted looking Chumvi, Moraan and Tonal dragged Scar in. Scar was growling and from the wounds on him it was obvious he had put up a fight with them.
"Daddy!" Eisha tried making her way forward to Scar followed by Vitani but Shanti pulled both of them back.
"Mother," Eisha struggled against her. "Let go! Please!"
"Stay still." Shanti hissed.
"Kill him Simba!" Tojo growled, looking at Scar. "He took Nala away from us!" Simba's Pride echoed him, all of them looking at Scar like they wanted to rip him into pieces.
Simba glared at his uncle, feeling a hate that he never felt before. He had taken his father away from him and now his mate! But he wouldn't let Scar hurt anyone again.
"What you did Scar," Simba growled. "Is high treason. You killed my father and now my mate. That will be punished by death!"
Eisha gasped and tears began forming in her eyes, realizing that they were going to kill Scar. But she reminded herself that her father was the true King and he was better and powerful than Simba. Scar would find a way. He always did.
"Murder him!" Moraan growled.
"Tear him into pieces!" Alex snarled.
"Let me kill him!" Runju growled stepping forward. "I won't let him get away for murdering my own daughter!"
"Runju…" Sarafina whispered but Runju didn't hear him. Beside her, Hofu had his face buried into her legs as he mourned for his sister.
Simba nodded at Runju and Runju turned to Scar who was being held down by Ishan, Aran, Rohan and Chumvi.
"This," Runju growled, raising his paw. "Is for Nala!"
Before Scar could react, Runju struck his claws down into Scar's throat, digging into his flesh. Scar could only let out a roar of pain before he went still.
There were roars of anger from Scar's pride but they knew that a battle here would be suicide.
"We're leaving!" Nuka roared. "Right now!" With tears streaming down her eyes, Eisha followed her older brother out of the den. She looked back at Akila and Tanabi who were still staring at the sight in shock.
"Tanabi," Kana pulled at her son. "Let's go."
"I'm staying here." Tanabi said, shaking his head, and squeezing his eyes shut to prevent tears.
"What?" Kana and Nuka asked at the same time.
"No," Tanabi sighed. "I'm not going to leave. Even though Scar was my father, he did the wrong thing and followed in his paw prints this whole time. Now I want to right my wrong, if I can stay." Tanabi looked at Simba who nodded. He knew how Tanabi had kept his innocence.
"Tanabi." Kana looked at her son with tears in her eyes. "You can't…"
"I'm sorry Mom." Tanabi said. "But I'm doing what's right."
Squeezing her eyes shut, Kana walked away and her friends flanked her for support. Nuka glared at Tanabi before all of them left the den.
After a few hours, Scar's body had been disposed of. Everyone had gotten their wounds tended to and now all that everyone wanted to do was rest and mourn for Nala.
Runju and Sarafina settled down in their corner of the den with Hofu asleep besides them.
"She's gone." Sarafina whispered. "We'll never be able to tell her that we're sorry. The last thing that we ever told her was that we didn't love her. She died thinking that."
Tears formed in Runju's eyes. Nala was gone and the guilt suffocated him to the point where he felt that he couldn't breathe. He would never be able to apologize to her. She would never know how sorry he was.
"We have to look out for Kiara and Kopa." Runju said. "That's the best way we can make it up to Nala…but I doubt we can ever truly make up for what we did."
Sarafina began to shake with her crying and Runju pulled her in closer, holding onto her as they mourned for the daughter they had lost.
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Simba walked into his den. His heart was aching and all he wanted to do was curl up and mourn for Nala. He saw Shani with Kiara asleep at her side and he bent down and licked his daughter's forehead.
"Where's Kopa?" Simba asked.
"He left a while ago. Ten minutes at the most. He said he needed some time alone." Shani said. "Don't worry. He's been out by himself later than this and there are no hyenas around either. He'll be fine and he knows better than to leave Priderock by himself."
Simba nodded. "Thanks for watching them. Without Nala I…"
Tears sprung up in Shani's emerald green eyes and she nodded. "I know. It'll take a while." She got up and after bidding him goodnight she headed into the main den as Simba settled down next to Kiara.
Simba sighed and closed his eyes. He wanted to feel Nala next to him. He wanted to let her bury himself into his mane and hold her close to him. But that would never happen again. Nala was gone.
"We should have just stayed in the jungle." Simba closed his eyes as sobs began to shake his body. His mind felt like it was burning with heat, knowing that he had failed at protecting Nala.
Nothing could be done for the grieving King for all that could mend his broken heart was the return of his mate.
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Panting heavily, Kopa continued heading towards the border. He had told his aunt that he needed some time alone and he felt guilty that he had broken her trust with him but he had to leave
He felt anger burning up in him as he thought of Simba! He had failed his mother and had taken away the only real father he had known! Scar might have killed his mother but he figured it was to take his anger out on Simba. No matter what, Simba was a fail. He wouldn't let the Pridelands be ruled by a bug eating coward.
At the border he began to look for Scar's pride. After a while, he saw Eisha and Vitani and ahead of them was the rest of Scar's Pride.
"Eisha!" Kopa called. "Vitani!"
Both of them turned around and looked shocked when they saw Kopa running to them.
"What are you doing here?" Vitani asked. "Nuka's going to kill-"
"Kopa!" Came a shout. Nuka ran over to him.
"Kill him Nuka!" Zira sneered. "We can get rid of Nala's son!"
"No!" Kopa exclaimed. "I want to help you take down Simba's Pride."
"What?" Akila asked. "I thought that Simba was your true father."
"I don't accept him as my father. He's just a bug eating coward who doesn't deserve the throne. Scar is my true father. He was the one who shaped me into who I am today. Let me join you and we can take down Simba's Pride." Kopa said.
"How about Kiara?" Vitani asked.
Kopa sighed. "She's willing to accept Simba and act like Scar was nothing to her! I don't need her."
Nuka nodded. Kopa, no matter what he still felt a bond towards him. And Kopa had superior fighting sills and Simba would have a soft spot for him. They could use that for their advantage.
"Very well then." Nuka nodded. "Welcome back little brother."
Hope you enjoyed and please review. Kopa was warming up to Simba but unfortunately after the news of his mother's death, he shut Simba out again. Now he's angry enough to join forces with Scar's pride. Stay tuned to find out what happens next.