It had been a while since Amadi's jealous attack on Dalia, and as she healed Amadi found himself diving deeper and deeper in a lake of depression, Ayo had betrayed him, and with his own sister of all lions, Dalia kept attempting to talk to him, which made him feel nothing but guilt and anger, and though his father had lightened up a bit with the training he found himself unable to enjoy the things he use to. A simple walk through the grass, which use to thrill him, was nothing more than a torturous walk down a lonely road. The watering hole filled with refreshing water was nothing but a toxic place that held painful memories.

It was times like this that Amadi really missed Sarabi. Whenever things went wrong, his Nana was always there for him. She was the only person he believed, even now, would have never betrayed him. But she was gone, so he was alone. Kiara and Kovu worried about their son. The once playful, chipper cub had grown very quiet and reserved. Kiara would try to talk to him, but he would answer with one-word sentences and then leave. Kovu blamed himself for Amadi's change, which it partially was. And as he tried to make amends it only made things worse.

Since Dalia was now loving Ayo, Kovu told Amadi that he was allowed to be with his old friend. Amadi only got angry with this, thinking his father was rubbing the fact that Ayo had left him in his face. Even Simba tried to reach out to the future king, and although Amadi was much more polite to him than anyone else, it was obvious that he was still holding back.

Holding back was the only thing Amadi could do. He felt that if he grew close to someone he would say something stupid, or bring up that he was the one who attacked Dalia. If he did that he would not only be opening up himself to possible hurt, he would also get into a world of trouble. He wished that Dalia had ratted him out, it would have been easier. He knew that if he came out about it now that he would get into even more trouble for hiding it for so long. He couldn't tell anyone about it… Not now.

Whenever Amadi wasn't in training he took long walks. As the days went by he would walk farther and father; eventually passing the boundaries of the pride lands; exploring unknown territories. Though this was very dangerous, and often was a very long walk back home, he found the unexplored land more fulfilling than the Pride Lands, which only accomplished smothering him.

One day, walking by himself, as usual, Amadi stumbled on a mini oasis a few miles out of the Pride Land boundaries. It was beautiful to him, which was unusual because he rarely found things beautiful anymore. There was luscious green grass, and beautiful trees surrounding the most pristine watering hole he had ever seen. Happy to rest, Amadi walked up to the water and slowly began to lap it up. It was cool, which was unusual and refreshing for an African watering hole. He figured it was because the trees offered so much shade. Laying down, he wished he had someone to share it with; someone to snuggle up against and talk about how beautiful it was to sit in the shade by the pool of blue.

Thoughts like this usually made him angry, but he was emotionally exhausted and the oasis, for the first time in a long time, offered him some peace. Yawning, he flopped on his side, the little tuft of mane his forehead had to over twitching in the wind. Closing his eyes, and letting out a much-needed sigh, Amadi fell asleep.

The sleep was not long lived, however, for Amadi was startled into waking by a growl, and the rustle of foliage. Jumping to his feet, his ears perked forward, he looked for whatever created the noise. Sniffing lightly at the air as he turned his head, he began to wonder if he had just had a bad dream. But right as he was about to lay back down, a large lion ran out of the bushes.

Unable to react in time, Amadi did the only thing he could do; he shrunk to the ground, ears back in a submissive manner. The lion looked confused and slowed to a ominous walk, still growling. As the larger male grew close, Amadi rolled onto his side, head low.

Strong and proud, the unknown male had a pale yellow fur tone, and a orange-red colored mane. Clawed paws, and armed jaws were a light brown color, and piercing blue eyes stared down at Amadi. It was obvious that the lion was confused about the way Amadi submitted himself as a lioness would before a male, but that didn't stop the aggressive stance.

"What are you doin' here?" The lion demanded in a deep tone, eyeing the startled Amadi.

"I…I was just taking a rest." Amadi said in a concerned tone. "Is this your territory? I-I'm sorry, I didn't pick up on the presence of a pride or anything. I didn't know."

"I'm a loner, but this is still my turf, and I don't like random lions strollin' on in here." He said, showing his teeth. Finally, he asked the question that had been bothering him since Amadi went down. "What the hell are you doin'?"

Amadi's eyes shifted slightly and he rolled onto his stomach, still keeping lower than the stranger. "W..What do you mean?"

"Why are you lying down like that? Don't you have any pride. I come chargin' in here thinking that some rouge lion is steppin' on my turf and I find a frightened lil' cub!" He said, laughing slightly as he looked down at Amadi.

"I am not a cub!" Amadi yelled, standing up now. It was true, he was around the same height of the other lion, only a few inches shorter. The only difference was his figure and his obvious lack of mane.

The lion chuckled again, and held his neck up high so that he towered over Amadi. "Then where's your mane, Mr. Lion?"

"My name is Amadi and I am not a cub!" He shouted again, before backing down slightly, feeling slightly embarrassed. "My mane just never really grew in…sorta. You know what, I'm sorry for trespassing, I'm going to get going."

The stranger sighed, feeling bad now that he had upset the lion. "Look, usually I wouldn't do this, but you can stay for a while if you want." The lion grumbled, feeling he had to make up for the torment he had given the young lion.

The lion walked a few feet away from Amadi then lay by the water, watching Amadi with slight curiosity. Amadi thought this behavior weird; he knew that usually lions would chase other males off their land. But truth be told this stranger was a loner, he didn't have a pride, and he never really had anyone to talk to; he didn't mind the company at all. Now that he figured that Amadi wasn't a threat, and realistically Amadi couldn't be a threat even if he wanted to be, he was happy to have him there.

The lion watched Amadi tensely watch him. "Well, make yourself at home, don't just stand there like a moron." The lion said with a chuckle.

Amadi nodded and resumed his laying position, never turning his back on the stranger. Bravely, Amadi spoke. "What's your name?" He asked in a quiet voice.

The lion smiled, flicking the long bit of mane he had out of his face. "I'm Taj." He said with a smile. "I left my pride when I became of age, I've been a longer ever since. I stumbled upon this place a month or two back, stayed here ever since."

Amadi smiled, slowly becoming a bit more comfortable. "Well, I can see why, it's lovely." He said, unable to stop himself before he realized how silly he must sound to such a masculine lion.

Taj chuckled slightly, shaking his head a bit at Amadi's sentence. "So, I told ya mine, what's your story? You a loner?"

Amadi was unsure what to say, but considering Taj was being friendly, and he actually had someone new to talk to, he figured he would give it to him straight. "Well, I'm from The Pride Lands. My father and mother are the future rulers." He said, watching Taj's reactions in case he said anything the other didn't like.

"Then what are you doin' way out here?" Taj asked, very curious about this prince cub.

"I'm different from the others, I guess, so they kinda treat me different. I just got so sick of it. I started to explore, going farther each day. I just don't like to be home if I don't have to be." Amadi tried to explain.

"Well aren't you the little emo-lion?" Taj teased, chuckling slightly.

"What?!" Amadi growled, his ears going back. "I open up to you and you call me emo?"

"Well, you are. You are different, that is obvious, but rather than embracing your differences you chose to mope and care too much about how others view you." He said with a shrug. "I'm sure they might not understand you, but you shouldn't let that get to you. No matter how much you try to be like them, you never will be. So you might as well get over it and accept who you are. You may find out that being different isn't such a bad thing."

Amadi was taken a back, his ears folded back, a pout on his face. No one had said it to him like that before, but it made a lot of sense; even if that wasn't what he wanted to hear. "I tried to be who I am once…And it only made things worse."

"Things will always get bad before they get better." Taj spoke with wisdom beyond his years, and Amadi found it slightly refreshing.

"But don't I weird you out? Don't I make you uncomfortable or crap like that?" Amadi asked. Most of the times his own pride felt uncomfortable around the strange Amadi; and that was before they found out about his sexuality.

"Kid, I'm not going to lie, you're the weirdest lion I've met so far, but honestly I could care less." He said with a chuckle, rolling onto his side. "I mean, look at me for example. I'm a normal lion, but I'm a looser. I live on my own, I don't have a pride, and I lazy about a water hole all day. Your weird, and your already off to a better start than I am. Your gonna be king some day, kid; no matter how weird you might be your already living life way better than I am."

Amadi smiled, and even managed a bit of a chuckle. "I guess… That is if they don't de-thrown me first." He said, actually taking the chance to laugh at himself.

"Man, you must be a huge freak if they are thinking about breaking all laws of tradition to dump you from your thrown." Taj said, joking of course, and laughing along with Amadi.

"Yeah, I guess so!" Amadi could have taken that with great offence, but all he could do was laugh.

And that's how Amadi spent his afternoon, in the oasis with Taj, the loner, looser lion; or so he called himself. They talked, laughed, even took a break to swim; which Amadi found really weird, at least, until Taj pushed him in. Amadi had to admit, this was the most amount of fun he had had in a very long time….

When Amadi returned home he returned with a sense of happiness. Taj had told him he could return any time he wanted to, which Amadi defiantly planned on doing. For the first time in months, Amadi hopped up onto Pride Rock with a skip in his step and a smile on his face.

Kiara was out on Pride Rock, and quirked a brow when she saw how happy Amadi looked. "Have a good day, Sweety?" Was all she could ask as she tried to recall the last time she saw that smile.

Amadi looked at his mother, locking eyes with her. He nodded. "Yeah, I did." He said honestly, still smiling. He wouldn't mention Taj, he knew he would get into trouble for wandering off of the Pride Lands, but he didn't let that worry him too much.

"What did you get up to?" She asked curiously, wondering what on earth could make her cub smile when one here was able to.

He shrugged. "I just went for a walk, a really nice long walk. Got to think about things; that's all." He said, walking up and nuzzling her. "Love ya mum." And with that he walked into the den, still smiling.

"I love you too." She said, her voice trailing off, a brow still quirked. It sounded like he meant it that time… What had gotten into that cub? She decided not to question it incase she were to jinx it.

Kiara wasn't the only one who noticed the difference; Simba, Nala and Kovu all walked out to talk to Kiara. "What is that all about?" Kovu asked.

"What?" Kiara asked, looking at all of them, sitting down. "You mean Amadi? I'm not sure. I saw him walk home, and he looked….Happy."

"That's strange." Simba said, not afraid to say it. They all looked at him strangly. "What, you all know it is true. Yes, its good that he seems happy again, but this morning he was his usual mopey self. I wonder what happened this afternoon."

Nala nodded slightly, thinking about it. "It is strange. I do not think I've seen him that happy in a while."

"Maybe I should talk to him?" Kovu suggested, looking back at the den.

Kiara shook her head. "No, he's happy, leave him be." She said to her mate. She knew that Kovu was one of the main reason's that Amadi was always so upset. Not that she loved Kovu any less, but she just wanted to give Amadi the chance to sort things out.

Kovu looked at her, quirking a brow. But he nodded silently, understanding why she suggested that.

Simba had his concerns, they started when Amadi was a cub and grew worse the day that Dalia came back wounded. He knew that the hyenas were long gone from the Pride Lands; they had not been seen since Scar's time. So what attacked Dalia? The way Dalia hesitantly answered that question had made Simba very suspicious. Why would she lie? Was she protecting someone? Was that someone Amadi? He wouldn't bring this up now, he had no proof, and he didn't want to spoil Kiara's excitement about Amadi's happiness.

After some more talk, and some idle chit-chat, they went into the den to rest up for the day to come.

During the weeks to come, Amadi went back to visit Taj every day after his training. And every day he would come home smiling. After his rejuvenating talks with the other lion, who he now considered his friends, nothing in the world seemed to be able to bring him down… All except Dalia. Now that he was happier, Amadi felt horribly guilty for what he did to his sister. What use to not bother him made him loose sleep. He decided he would talk to Taj about it, he seemed to have a lot of good advice.

"Well, I don't really know how to explain this." Amadi said, breaking eye contact with Taj as he dipped his front paws in the pool of blue water. "I…Don't like lionesses…" He paused, looking at Taj, then looking back at the water. "I had this friend named Ayo… Well, he was a bit more than a friend, to say the least. I know that's hard to understand, but I feel how I feel… Anyway, my father found out, and told me I couldn't see Ayo. He made every precaution to make sure I didn't see him…So time went by, Ayo grew out of it…I never did. Long story short, he ended up with my sister."

Amadi paused, looking at Taj. Taj looked a bit curious, but didn't seem to phased by it. "Ouch." He said with a slight smirk. "I don't care how weird this all sounds, that had to hurt."

Amadi smiled slightly, thankful that Taj was at least trying to understand. "Yeah, it did…I got really angry, and I guess I was really jealous, which was wrong." He hesitated slightly and looked away, hanging his head in shame. "Taj, I attacked my sister."

Taj's eyebrows rose in surprise; he really couldn't see Amadi attacking anyone, let alone a family member. Amadi heard his silence, so continued. "I didn't really feel guilt at the time; before I met you I felt very unhappy. She covered for me, and still didn't feel guilt. But now I am happy, I'm back to my old self…and I feel horribly guilty. I told her she was dead to me, Taj. How can someone forgive that?"

"Well….Why don't you tell her everything you have told me?" he said, thinking about it for a moment. "If she covered for you it means she wasn't too upset by the whole thing. Now, telling your parents, that's a completely different story."

Amadi nodded, he hadn't even thought about that the entire time he was talking about his sister. "I don't know what they will do…." He said, letting out a sigh. "I have a feeling that if my brother, Dumaka, was still around they would kick me out and pick him to be king in a heart beat."

"Well, he's not around, so you don't have to worry about that. Just tell them, how much can you loose? You'll loose more if you let it eat away at you." Taj smiled as he stretched and stood up. Walking to Amadi he smiled, putting a paw on his shoulder. "You're a good kid, and a smart one at that. You'll know what to say and when to say it."

Amadi nodded and smiled, feeling a happy warm feeling when Taj touched him. "You don't think I'm some freak monster lion?"

"How could I? So what, you like lions. Yea, its kinda messed up that you attacked your own sister, but I still like you. You're my friend, the only one I have." He said with a smile. "Now, its getting dark, scamper on home, you weirdo."

Amadi chuckled and stood up. "Alright alright…" He turned to leave and then looked back at Taj. He turned back around and nuzzled him, then turned away and ran towards home. "Thanks!"

Taj's eyebrows rose in slight surprise to the display of affection. But he smiled, and watched Amadi run off. He sighed and lay back down when the figure finally disappeared; he was growing really attached to Amadi… He actually looked forward to seeing him every day. Whenever there was a day that Amadi didn't come he always felt really sad and alone. He had gotten use to that kid being around. He made him feel…Not so alone…