Reviewer Response time! :D
- can'thinkofacuitableusername: Thanks! And they sure are! Lmaoo.
- Jade: Thanks for reviewing! What parts were so emotional though? Cause it wasn't intentional. xD
Johnny2b: Thanks! I try. Lol.
Without further ado, here's the next chapter!
~13~
"Excuse me?" shot Isa furiously. "Show yourself!"
"Relax, doll." responded the mystery voice smugly.
"Are you that stupid hawk again? I'm not afraid of you!"
"Negative. Far from it actually,"
The source of that voice revealed itself—another hornbill chick just a little older than Isabis.
"You look a little scared, need some help?"
"No!"
"I'm just trying to help—."
"You barely know me! Why do you want to help so badly?"
"I just do, so can you stop being such a brat?"
"I am not a brat!" Isa retorted.
"Sssh, stop yelling! You'll wake the mambas!" the male hornbill shot back in a hushed voice. "Do you want to get us killed?"
"What's this us business? I'm just trying to find my way back home before my Dad flips his lid."
"Where do you live?"
"That's none of your business,"
"Just tell me."
"The Pridelands."
"The Pridelands? I've heard so much about that place. So bright and green and lavish. What brings you here?"
"I ran off…"
"Oh…well, do you want to come up with me, for the night?"
"I shouldn't. My dad will worry to death."
"Well you surely didn't care when you ran off, did you?"
"Well I didn't think I'd become hawk chow and have to hide in this crummy swamp to escape!"
"Ssssshhh! We have to go—now!"
"But why,"
"Just follow me, please!"
Isa reluctantly complied and she and her acquaintance flew away from the swamp's damp grounds into safety. They took refuge in a new but poorly built nest. Twigs jutted out in all sorts of directions, pricking Isa in all sorts of body parts. She looked down and saw that long black snakes began to linger around the tree where she and the other bird resided.
"Now do you believe me?" the male chided in a whisper.
"Yeah, sorry." Isa replied with guilt. "How'd you know they were coming? Did you live here for a while?"
"No…not really. I've just been moving around a lot by myself. So I kinda got used to these types of things. You know?"
"Yeah…I guess."
A brief silence came soon after.
"So…what's your name?" the second hornbill asked.
"Isabis," Isa said with a smile. "But you can just call me Isa for short."
"Well, people usually call me Bolt, but you can call me Tau. I gave you that privilege."
"Oh you!" scoffed Isa, causing Tau to laugh.
"So…umm…where are you from?"
"I don't like to tell anyone about my life—no offense."
"None taken. I shouldn't have asked..."
"Well you should get some sleep. You'll have to get up fresh and early to head back to the Pridelands."
"I suppose," Isa said faintly.
She looked at Tau as he flattened his space of the nest and fell asleep.
"Ummm, Tau." she uttered softly.
"Hmmm?" Tau muttered wearily.
"Have you considered err…moving to the Pridelands?"
"Nah, not my type of living, Isa."
He rested his head right on the rim of his nest.
"But…umm…you won't have to worry about all these predators in night and stuff. Give it a chance, you might really like it."
"I said no. Now good night."
Isa scoffed in disgust before she turned the opposite side and fell asleep.
ISA'S POV
"You have SOME NERVE showing up here with a straight face, Isabis." Dad ranted. "You deliberately disobey me, you leave all of us worrying all night about you, only to find you frolicking about—with a boy!"
"Daddy, it's not what it looks like!" I replied, shielding Tau from my father's wrath. "Tau merely saved me from the mambas in the swamp."
"Swamp? You were in the swamps? Is there anything else you want to tell me about your secret life?"
Oh, Great Kings.
"Oh, Zazu." my mom chided. "Stop blowing things out of proportion!"
My father's non-stop lecture finally ended. He was red like a beet and I thought he'd explode any minute.
"Let's just be happy that Isa is safe and sound," she said with a smile as she nuzzled me with her beak. "Things could've been much worse, but it's not…and it's all thanks to this young man."
Tau smiled sheepishly as he stood at the rim of the nest. He probably thinks I have the most dysfunctional family in all of Africa.
"Say your good-bye's now, Isabis. Because this will be the last time you see the light of day in a long time."
"Ummm…see you later, Isa." Tau said with a smile.
"See ya." I replied with this goofy look on my face.
He quickly slipped out of our nest and out back into the Pridelands. The morning sun brought out his scars even more. The little pink gashes were everywhere on his olive green body. Despite all the pain he's probably been through, he was so charming and nice, even though my father was acting like a complete maniac.
"That hooligan!" Dad went on again. "He thinks he can parade around with my daughter all hours of the night? Imbecile!"
"Zazu, he saved Isa's life. Aren't you grateful for that?" Mom scolded.
After storming back and forth around the nest, he finally agreed with my mother. I was glad she was around. If she wasn't around, Dad'd probably worry himself crazy until he spontaneously combusted or something.
"You always know what to do," he smiled. "That's why I love you so much."
My mother giggled girlishly as my father continued to shower her with his cliché romantic sayings. God, I wish they wouldn't do this mushy stuff in front of me.
"Get comfortable, Isabis." he insisted jokingly as he and Zula got ready to take off from the nest. "You'll be in the nest for a very long time."
I didn't respond. Something else was already on my mind. It was really weird, but I couldn't get Tau out of my head for the life of me. It seems that spending the night in that nest with him was forever embedded in my memories. Heck, if I didn't know any better, I'd say I loved the kid. I shrugged it off and curled into a comfortable position to sleep in. Whatever, I had enough time to get over this silly schoolgirl crush anyway, as I'll be spending the rest of my life in this stupid tree.
THID PERSON NARRATIVE
Soon, night fell onto the Pridelands. Kovu paced outside constantly. It seemed like he was waiting for something. Kiara padded towards him.
"Will you be okay with all of them by yourself?" she asked him.
"I'll be fine." Kovu sighed. "I owe it to them for acting like such an idiot."
Kiara gave her mate an affectionate nuzzle before she turned back into the cave. As soon as she disappeared, the three young cubs, overcome with laughter and giggling, scampered playfully out of the den to meet their father.
KOVU'S POV
"So where are you taking us, Dad?" Diallo asked me as he trailed behind me along with Ashanti and Iman.
"We'll be there in a little while." I responded warmly. "I just feel awful about yesterday, and I just want to make it up to you three."
The cubs buzzed with excitement. I loved to see them so happy, especially with one another.
"I wonder what it could be…" Ashanti whispered loud enough for me to hear.
"Maybe it's a hidden valley or something." Diallo suggested.
"And it has all the antelope you can eat." Iman added hungrily.
"Come on, Dad, tell us!"
"Why? We're already here!" I said as cubs and I came to a sudden stop.
"What's so surprising about this?" Diallo scoffed. "We're just in the Pridelands."
"Yeah, but I just wanna have a talk with you guys."
"Now, I'm really sorry for snapping at you kids yesterday," I must've said for the millionth time already. "I was just in a bad mood and I took it out on you three—which was wrong."
"It's alright, Daddy." Ashanti said with a smile. "You didn't mean it after all."
Her teal eyes darted from left to right as she peered at the stars in the clear, beautiful sky. Ashanti was such a sweet girl. She reminded me so much of her mother at that age, but she was a bit smarter and wasn't as much of a ditz.
"Yeah, we forgive you too, Dad." Iman added. "We shouldn't have gone to those dumb caves."
"Well I'm glad you learned your lesson," I said proudly to my youngest son. "Those two aren't the ones to mess with."
Diallo didn't protest this time, instead, he rolled onto his stomach and stared at the ground. I felt bad seeing him so down in the dumps, but it was for his own good.
"Why the long face, kiddo?" I asked him with a grin, trying to rouse him out of his melancholy.
"Nothing," he scoffed as he jerked his head out of my grip.
"Diallo," I said with a sigh. "I'm not doing this to hurt you, I'm doing this because I love you, and I don't want to lose you, kid."
"I know," he muttered back at me.
"Look, I'm sorry if I'm too hard on you guys, but you have to realize that I'm new to this fatherhood thing," I said on my last whim. "And it doesn't help that my only father was a vicious tyrant."
"You never knew your dad?" Diallo inquired with a cocked eyebrow.
"Afraid not," I replied with a hint of sadness. "Your great-uncle Scar kind of took me in but he died when your Aunt Tani and I were just young cubs—younger than you guys in fact. I don't know anything about my father at all."
Ashanti, Iman, and even Diallo all seemed a bit guilty for their trek to the caves the other day.
"When Doli told me you guys ran off into the caverns, I was worried sick." I admitted. "I kept thinking to myself, 'Well good going, Kovu. Your kids are probably leopard meat right about now, and it's all your fault. What a crummy father you must be.'"
"Your not a crummy father." Ashanti insisted as she buried her slender golden body into my black mane.
"Yeah, you're the best dad we've ever had!" Iman said resting his chin on my back.
"Pssh, Iman. He's the only dad we've ever had!" Diallo scoffed in a laughing matter as he playfully swiped at Iman.
I figured now would be the perfect time to tell them the real reason I brought them out here.
"You guys, look up in the sky," I said calmly.
The cubs immediately did the same. Diallo and Iman were in awe as their childish eyes whizzed in all sorts of directions, examining the countless stars in the sky. This was their first night out of Pride Rock and they were in amazement at the tranquil beauty the nighttime sky had to offer.
"Do you know what those stars are?" I asked them.
"Uncle Timon told me they were fireflies." Ashanti beamed proudly. "…but they got stuck up in that big black sky thing."
Timon was always coming in on special occasions with Pumbaa. The visits became less frequent as they aged though. It seems that some of their facts of life rubbed onto the cubs.
"Well, actually, I'm gonna tell you something your mother and your grandfather told me. Those stars are the Great Kings of the Past."
"Really?" the cubs asked enthusiastically.
"That's a lot of kings…" Diallo said dreamily as he looked off into the sky. "Just imagine! I'm gonna be up there one day with all of them!"
I swallowed my words. I didn't want to crush his dreams. Instead, I chuckled warmly as I lightly tussled with the black tuft of fur that hung on top of his head.
"If the Great Kings of the past are up there, where do the queens go?" Ashanti questioned.
"They're right up there with the kings," I said, a bit unsure myself.
"I knew there couldn't be that many kings!"
She looked smugly at Diallo and Iman, who made faces at her.
"Those Great Kings and Queens continue to watch over us and offer us guidance in time of need. So anything you need, you can always ask them for help."
"Maybe you'll need a little help from the Kings of the Past." Diallo insisted slyly as he backed away.
I got up, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh really, Future King?" I scoffed playfully. "And why's that?"
"Cause you're in for a heck of a pummeling!" he said as he leapt from the ground and tackled me to the ground.
Ashanti and Iman mimicked him and soon, I was attacked by a trio of giggling cubs that were nipping and tucking at my ears and other loose body parts. They overwhelmed me, and soon enough, we were all on the floor laughing uncontrollably.
"Come on, guys. Let's go." I said as I guided the cubs in front of me and we all headed back to Pride Rock.
THIRD PERSON NARRATIVE
"Shani, come on. It's getting late!" ordered Doli as she trotted into the den. "You need to sleep now."
"I'm coming," Shani sighed miserably.
She took once last glance at the father and cubs at play before she finally listened to her sister and headed into the den. Efia was sprawled into her spot of the den and Doli slept a few inches from her. Shani squeezed in between, fitting herself into the small crevice created between the two. Efia's limp paw slung over her body and she buried her chest into her mother's pelt. She loved her mother and her sister, but she still felt that her family was empty. She wanted her family to be like Ashanti's or Isa's. Without that one essential figure, she felt like there was a puzzle piece missing that hindered her from living the perfect life she craved for.
"Why don't I have a father like them?" she thought to herself before she curled into a ball and fell asleep.
Well, hope you liked it! Sorry it took so long to come out. I had Writer's Block for a while! Review!