(A/N: Update! And thank you guys for reviewing! We're nearly at the end now!)

Kiara didn't feel quite right as thick tears stood in her eyes. The Asuma lying in front of her wasn't the Asuma she had known. It wasn't him. Couldn't be. Scrapes, bruises, and gashes covered her son- her poor young son, who'd been through experiences she never would've wanted him to go through.

Every sunrise to come will remind me of the night I failed to get to him. He fought to stay alive, and I-I just wish I could've helped him learn to be happy again. I wish I could bring him back… but that's impossible... about as impossible as Natin's resurrection.

Which Kovu had explained to Kiara in great detail.

Tanga wouldn't let them bury Asuma. Kovu had said, after all, that the Council wanted the young prince to be their king. Bron hadn't returned yet. Chaka and Tanga had struggled for some time to bring Asuma down from the tree before Chaka had carried Asuma for about a mile on his back when he'd stop, too exhausted to keep moving. Kiara knew there was no way to take Asuma home with them. Everyone agreed that they were too far away from the Pride Lands. Tanga was at Kiara's side, and so was Suki. They sniffed quietly while Chaka, Muna, and Kenyi sat opposite, forming a ring around Asuma.

Softly, Chaka cleared his throat. "I... I guess I'll say something..." He fell silent as he sat at Asuma's dusty feet.

"Chaka?" Suki spoke up. "Are you sure you want to speak?"

Chaka nodded.

"But Natin came back," Tanga said. "We don't know for sure if this is it."

The uncle of the deceased wrinkled his nose.

"Natin did come back..." Tanga went on. "Why wouldn't Asuma?"

They sat in silence, staring at Asuma's corpse.

Kiara swallowed. "How will we know he's not coming back? We have to return to the Pride Lands..."

Chaka broke his sad gaze away from his nephew before standing up. "Kiara, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Kiara got up, an unpleasant twinge throttling her belly, and walked with Chaka until they were out of earshot from the others.

Her brother dropped his voice and held his head close to hers. "We may not know Asuma's situation for a while... but Kovu's was certain. I have to know for sure."

Kiara raised a brow and frowned. "What- Isn't that why you sent Bron to follow Kovu? After you doubted his intentions?"

Chaka looked away. "I have to see it with my own eyes- eye."

"You're going to look for Kovu." Kiara wasn't especially surprised. She avoided rolling her eyes in irritation. Chaka was still fixated on Kovu.

Chaka nodded. "I need peace."

Kiara nodded. She looked down, knowing Chaka was going to do what Chaka wanted to do. "Okay... Please be careful."

Chaka only glanced at her. "If I don't come back by sunset, leave here. Bury Asuma and then leave. That's all the time you should spare."

She arched her brows. "If you're not back by... Leave without you?" Kiara felt a bit bewildered.

"Kovu told us not to linger, so you shouldn't. You're vulnerable out here."

She was skeptical. What bothered her was the way Chaka spoke- the way he wouldn't look at her. A thought came to her: was Chaka concerned that someone would run into the lionesses while he was searching, or was he thinking about leaving... permanently? Since they had started their search for Asuma, Chaka had only looked less and less happy, fitting in less and less with the group. It was clear he was struggling with the death of Asuma, the very lion who had helped Chaka return home to the Pride Lands.

Perfect… But, if that's what he wants... will I have to let go of him, too?

"Kiara, remember, leave by sunset," Chaka firmly repeated. He was halfway turned in the direction Kovu and the lionesses had gone.

Feeling her eyes begin to water again, she said, "Okay... Good luck, Chaka."

Chaka turned away and jogged off.

Suki asked, "Where is Chaka going?"

Kiara went back to the group and sat down, eyes on Asuma but not seeing him. "He's looking for Kovu."

Muna snorted. "And so Bron wasn't good enough?"

Tanga looked up sadly. "Mother? He's coming back, right?"

Any kind of response escaped Kiara. How could she know? What could she do about it even if her fears were true? Communication with her brother had always eluded her, though everything was telling her that he might not choose to return.

Tojo will be disappointed. All that effort for nothing.

Nobody spoke, taking Kiara's silence for what it was. Her eyes once again grew watery, blurring her vision. As she sat there, she started to think back to a time, back to when her children hadn't even been alive for a full moon...

Asuma and Tanga were sleeping near her warm belly. Tanga was curled up tightly and in a dead sleep, while Asuma, who had noticed that his mother was awake to check on them, had started to toddle and wobble towards Kiara's head.

Kiara smiled and whispered, "Asuma... Little cub. Assssuuuuma."

His eyes were bright and focused, his head freckled with soft, little brown spots. His ears were amazingly small still. Unsteadily, Asuma bumped against, rather than touched, her smiling muzzle with his nose.

"Well, aren't you sweet?" she quietly snickered. She nuzzled his little head and he mewled and grunted happily. She then watched amusedly as her son toddled carefully over to where Kovu was sleeping, almost as if he were investigating the lion who was next to his mother. After plopping down and batting at Kovu's muzzle, he mewled again.

Kovu opened his eyes sleepily, and smiled when their son nosed his muzzle, too...

Chaka had been patrolling the Pride Land's border one afternoon, a good many moons before Kovu and Asuma's deaths, and he had heard a foreign roar rumble across the savannah.

Who- I don't recognize that roar... It's rogues- or what if Kovu's back?

Chaka had quickly gone running, certain he was headed towards a fight. But, he had only found Asuma by himself, testing out his roar, standing with his head up, chest out, and limbs confidently placed. Asuma's mane was starting to come in thicker on the top of his head, the back of his neck, and in the middle of his chest. His face was becoming more angular. The young lion was totally oblivious to Chaka's presence, and continued to roar, each one stronger than the last.

It was nothing... I got worked up for nothing...

Feeling relieved, Chaka smirked at the sight and remarked from behind Asuma, "Not bad..."

Asuma had spun around, his eyes wide before he averted his gaze and lowered his head slightly. "I was just practicing." His tail lashed back and forth behind him.

Chaka smiled and came closer. "How long? Your roar?"

A shrug. "Maybe a couple moons, I'm not sure."

Chaka wasn't very surprised since Tanga had been using her roar often. Very. Often. Kiara had actually been wondering if Asuma was able to roar yet, and this would be one less thing for her to worry about. But this made Chaka wonder why Asuma had kept his roar a secret.

He's probably just embarrassed...

"Y'know," Chaka had then ventured, "you'd surprise your mother if you let one of those off for her to hear."

Asuma shrugged again. "I don't think she'd want to hear it. It sounds too much like Kovu's."

Chaka raised a brow. It was true that the roar he'd heard while on patrol had reminded him of the boy's father. Chaka looked at Asuma closer, noting that the youngster had said 'Kovu' and not 'my father'. Asuma's passive, almost bored and irritated expression gave little clues to the questions Chaka wanted to ask: was Asuma thinking of his mother, how he didn't want to remind her of his 'dead' father, or was he thinking of himself, how the rogue had tried to abandon him to die for supposedly knowing the secrets of Simba's murder?

But he didn't ask. He couldn't... and he left Asuma to his practice.

Alone, Chaka searched for Kovu, smelling the air carefully, listening for anything, and squinting into the empty scrubland. Dusk was falling now. When Chaka was starting to feel defeated, an offensive scent filled his nose... and he started to follow it.

Vultures marked the spot. Excitedly feeding, they bounced around in a clump of noisy, slapping wings and clapping beaks. Chaka stood there for a moment, squinting his eyes, before he charged them with a roar, sending them in every direction. A few vultures skipped a good length away and stood glaring at him with their beady eyes. Their beaks hung open with their tongues thrusting in their mouths.

With the vultures cleared away, Chaka walked up to the corpse and stared down at what had been Kovu. The corners of Chaka's mouth drew long. There were clumps of brown fur and mane scattered around. He knew the breeze would eventually take the clumps away. The tail was completely gone, and most of the middle had been reduced to bones. A flush of cold came over Chaka when he saw there was a leg missing. The lionesses had gone for the throat, he could tell, though Kovu's face was torn to hell...

"Why...?" Chaka looked out and around him. The lionesses were long gone. They'd just needed to take their revenge.

Kovu had been killed, scrubbed from the land by his enemies- something that Chaka should have been celebrating, considering he'd wanted just that for so long.

I could be dancing in Kovu's blood.

Chaka felt an inkling of shame that, in Kovu's last moments, he had cast doubt on Kovu's intentions. There was still much that he did not understand about Kovu, and now never would. If he'd only been allowed to speak with Fola, maybe he could have prevented this?

No, it wouldn't have made a difference. The risk was too great, and Kovu saw the situation for what it was and made his move.

Chaka wasn't entirely sure what to think. What to feel. Kovu had been his enemy, but he'd also died trying to save his own son, even if the act had turned out to be pointless. Kovu's whole life felt a little bit pointless.

But I could say the same about myself...

Chaka then muttered to Kovu, "I can forgive you for being so distrusting and rash... I can forgive that much... For now..." He sighed through his nose.

Then there was the next matter. He looked around, feeling uneasy. He shifted his weight on his paws.

The land was cold and unwelcoming. Not like the Pride Lands. He didn't have the courage to become a rogue again, but he feared what it would take for him to adjust to life in the Pride Lands. He couldn't stand it, and wanted the feeling to go away... but what if it didn't go away? Logically, he knew becoming a rogue would just be a way to avoid the feelings of isolation and anger, and then those feelings would most likely multiply and be joined by regret and longing. His days would be numbered if he set out alone. A harsh guarantee... Would he always be a victim of his upbringing in the warrior pride, slowly heading towards destruction? Would he only be able to imitate happiness, but not actually believe such a thing existed? All this came from a dim corner in his mind that harbored these shadows that he couldn't seem to give up.

There were so many ways to look at his situation. He needed his family, he knew, but they didn't really need him there to cause trouble, did they? He knew he hadn't been able to disguise his indecision from Kiara when he spoken to her earlier that day. She hadn't stopped him from coming to that spot, but he'd seen in her eyes that... she didn't want him to go.

Grudgingly, he looked down again at Kovu.

Our lives might be pointless, but I'm the one who's still alive. And your daughter is still alive. And my sister. And Suki.

Chaka turned back the way he'd come, knowing he had news to deliver.

It was time to go back to the Pride Lands.

Kovu stumbled just when the morning sun was tinting the horizon a pale peachy pink color. The ground was hard, and his shoulder slid across the dry grass. The rogue lionesses surrounded him quickly, and over the pounding of his heart in his ears and his labored breathing he heard them cackling.

Someone hissed gutturally into his ear, "You're gonna die. You're gonna die. Thought you could run-"

Kovu snarled and swiped fiercely at the lioness before the others pinned him on his stomach. Several lionesses jumped on his back, crushing his chest to the ground. His mane was in his face, but he saw a set of paws walk calmly to stand in front of him. He tried to lift his head, but it was difficult with the lionesses sitting on him.

He grunted when a set of claws pulled at his mane, craning his neck back. He tried to swallow, but he coughed on his saliva. Gritting his teeth, he looked up at Fola.

With a deadpan expression, she stared back at him, well composed- her breathing was calm, her gaze steady. Shadows gathered beneath her eyes. Dawn light shone on the fur around her tilted head and ears.

"You killed our sister Sauda, did you not?"

He saw no reason for her to let him live. Despite the fact that they'd wronged Vitani, he had in turn wronged them when he'd quickly dispatched Sauda. He was sorry he'd been so careless.

"Yes, or no. It's a simple question." She dug a claw into his scalp.

"Yehhs." Kovu winced and coughed. "Yes, I-I did it."

"Did you know that we've got your son?"

The lionesses chuckled.

He feigned shock and tried to swallow again. "Murderers."

Fola stared down at him. "He's suffered a lot for what you've done to him."

His eyes started to mist.

"Any last words?" Fola asked. The others giggled, but her face lacked even a hint of a smile of triumph. Kovu even thought she looked tired.

"I w-whish I hhhadn't been so rehckless," Kovu choked out. "Ss-horry."

Fola nodded.

His neck was on fire and he gasped and sucked for air, but this made his lungs burn. Kovu heard noises he could have gone without hearing for his whole life, down to the bare threads. His vision blurred and everything around him backed away from his body, and at the same time he felt like he was being split into two parts. His ears rang. His pulse rattled in his head like a strong, gusty wind shaking down a tree. The lionesses sunk their teeth into his flesh, rocked their heads back and forth. He knew where he would go next. His permanent destination. There was no doubt. Getting there was agonizing.

Then all that followed was blackness.

Vitani was waiting for her brother in the familiar, watery landscape that belonged to the Council. The stars shone above their heads, but Kovu could feel dawn creeping in.

"I'm dead."

Vitani merely nodded. Her expression was disappointingly unreadable.

He nodded, too. There wasn't much to it. He looked to the side. "Is Asuma somewhere safe? D'you know?"

"I know that he's speaking with the Council now."

Kovu raised his ears and widened his eyes. Pain wracked his body. "Why? What's happening? Why are they speaking to him?"

Vitani lowered her ears and sighed. "Kovu, he didn't make it. He died before Chaka and Tanga could pull him from the tree he was in." With her next words, her expression became angry. "They're ordering him to go back. Like Natin."

Kovu blinked, stunned.

For nothing...

Vitani shook her head. "I'm sorry, Kovu. Prepare yourself for an argument. He's being difficult." She started to walk towards the small light on the very distant horizon.

"Difficult?" Kovu narrowed his eyes."Does he... not want to go back?"

"No, he's refused. He's refused several times over. I'm sure they expect you to persuade him to go back and play king."

Kovu sunk his teeth into the inside of his cheek. He followed Vitani as they made their way to the Council.

He doesn't want to go back?

Kovu had no right to be surprised, but he still felt stunned. He imagined that his son no longer wanted to deal with the pain that came with the pleasure of living.

But the Council was so entirely adamant about him being King. Something is going to happen to the pride.

Would Kovu side with the Council...

...or with my own son?

(A/N: One more chapter to go! (and also an epilogue, which I don't know what that is going to be yet). I'm one chapter away from the ending and I don't even know yet if Asuma is going to stick to his guns- I'm excited, though! But, on that note, I can't promise a speedy update. I have a good chunk of the ending written, but I'm still going back and forth on what I should make Asuma do that would be most effective for his character development and the tone of the story. Until then, thanks for going on this journey with me. c: )