Chapter XV

Nala spent the next ten minutes trying to argue herself out of her comment, furiously attempting to deny it. But all of the others except for Simba persisted, and would not let it go for the life of them. And after several awkward conversations, Nala finally gave up and reluctantly admitted that what she said was true, which made her blush out of control from embarrassment. All of the others snickered and sneered at her playfully, not really meaning anything of it.

After some even more awkward conversations, Simba suddenly said to Pumbaa angrily, "So you mean to tell me that you and Timon were watching us the whole time, and you were singing about it too?!"

Pumbaa cowered awkwardly as he replied quickly, "No, no! It was Timon's idea, I told him it was a bad idea!"

"So you never thought to, oh I don't know, just walk away at any time?" Kiara playfully asked, earning her a mortified glance from the warthog. Kovu snickered. Looking away from her, he said under his breath,

"Just don't ask what he was doing to himself while he watched."

"What was that?!" Nala asked angrily, which made Pumbaa shudder. Reluctantly he replied, "Uh, nothing, Nala. I... said nothing."

Holding back laughter, Kopa leaned in closer to Kiara and whispered into her ear, "Guess this is why I was born first."

Kiara snickered at his comment and shoved her brother playfully, but to her side, Kovu looked quite disgusted at his brother-in-law's comment. Then, Pumbaa looked up to Simba and said rather innocently, "You know, to be fair, Simba... it does explain why Nala said she was pregnant the day after you became king."

This earned several bursts of laughter from the others, making Simba's eyes widen suddenly. Blushing, Simba leaned into Pumbaa and said though gritted teeth, "You swore you'd keep that a secret! No one can ever know it happened so soon!"

The entire time everyone around them was laughing and making jokes about the situation, Simba and Nala had been blushing in embarrassment, having let one of their most personal secrets let loose for everyone to hear. Then, smacking her paw against her own face, Nala said tiredly and wishing to avoid any further humiliation,

"Can we just finish the damn fanfic already?"

Nodding, Pumbaa spoke up so all could hear. "Okay, okay that's it, settle down guys. Let's finish the story now."

Collecting themselves, and recovering from their rather immature laughter, sneering and snickering, the others calmed themselves and sat back down around the laptop once more, and a moment of silence passed. Pumbaa began reading once more, and almost immediately, the serious and solemn tone of the story had returned for them all once the reading started up again. In the story, Kiara had gotten a vision from Mufasa's spirit telling her that Kopa is alive, prompting her to leave Pride Rock and search for him in the middle of the night.

"And I know where I'm going how?" the real Kiara pointed out. Kovu shrugged.

"Beats me." Kovu said softly.

At the mention of Mufasa's spirit, Simba got a little teary-eyed at the memory of his father, especially when it came to him talking about Kopa.

"I've had it with this kid!" Timon declared, riding Pumbaa as the warthog followed the search party of lionesses. "First, it was those alligators when she was a cub…"

"Crocodiles," Pumbaa corrected, coming a stop and lifting a hoofed foot pointedly. "Alligators are only indigenous to North America and East Asia."

"Okay, I've gotta ask now... what the hell is up with you in this story, Pumbaa?" Vitani suddenly asked him, sounding as confused as ever. Pumbaa gave her a strange look before replying, "Like I said... the less you know, the better."

Vitani shrugged. She turned to Kopa and got an odd look from him. Softly, he said to her, "Why do I get the feeling he's hiding something?"

Timon glared down on his friend. "Fine," he hissed. "First, it was those crocodiles when she was a kid – then the brush fire, then the criminal boyfriend…"

"Hey," Kovu snapped, coming up behind them.

At the precise monent Pumbaa read that, Kovu's real-life counterpart said 'hey' in a defensive manner as well. Kovu raised an eyebrow at himself.

"Huh... guess whoever wrote this knows me better than I thought."

As the story progressed, Kovu was able to pick up Kiara's scent and follow it to the river, prompting Timon to make this comment:

"Hasn't anyone in your family learned to stay away from cliffs by now?" Timon shouted in exasperation.

At first, Simba opened his mouth to say sonething, but then decided against it as he really thought about it.

"Hey... now that you mention it", Kopa started, "We should stay the hell away from cliffs, shouldn't we?"

Kiara nodded. "Yeah, what is it with us and cliffs? Mufasa, Zira... you. You're right. Everyone gets killed around there!"

"Don't forget about Nuka." Vitani said reluctantly. Kiara said to her after a moment of silence,

"Yep. I rest my case."

Kovu nodded beside her before shooting Simba a quick look. He appeared to agree based on how his expression was.

Next in the story, Kovu, Zazu, Timon and Pumbaa went on their own to look for Kiara down the river, following her scent the whole way, while Kiara went on ahead and didn't eat for three days.

Kiara's real-life counterpart said playfully to her mate, "And you said I wouldn't last three days on my own..."

Meanwhile, there were two lions named Mheetu and Chaka living alongside that river. They had saved Kiara after she fell in, and she was just waking up from that. She slept in their home that night. At that same time, Kovu and the others found a cave to sleep in as well, but the skeletal remains of a lioness were in it, making Pumbaa shudder as he read.

Kovu ignored his companions and approached the skeleton, observing the leathery scraps that were once its skin. As he examined the skull, he let out a horrified gasp. "It's my mother," he said.

Timon and Pumbaa's jaws dropped to the floor.

"Whoa, whoa backup there! Zira? We really had to bring her into this?" Kovu barked suddenly. "How would I even know it was her just by the skeleton?"

Pumbaa said, "Just be patient, Kovu."

"How do you know?" Zazu asked.

Kovu gestured to the skull. One of its leathery ears was still intact, a familiar notch still evident in the rim.

Laughing nervously, Timon said, "A lot of lions have notches in their ears. That doesn't necessarily mean…"

"I can also tell by the scent," Kovu insisted. "It's her. I'm sure of it." He sat down heavily. "Part of me didn't really think she was dead, you know. I guess I was just being naive."

Pumbaa edged closer and patted Kovu's side.

"She must have survived the river. Then, she pulled herself in here," Zazu suggested, "only to die later from her injuries."

"Gosh, I'm really sorry, Kid," Timon explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

Kovu shook his head. "Kiara tried to save her but my mother refused her help. Zira chose her fate. I'm not going to grieve over her a second time."

"Uh yeah, Kovu, they were there. I think they know what happened." Vitani sneered. Kovu gave her a nasty look for a moment. "Oh shut up." He said playfully. "Just be glad I'm only talking to them and not having sex with them or something for a change!" he added, referring to the horrors of the dirty art that were still firmly burned into his mind.

Vitani gave her brother a blank stare before replying, "Touche, Kovu... toche."

In the story, Kiara was getting to know Chaka and Mheetu when they talked of a rogue on the loose out in the wild. Pumbaa read this out:

"I wouldn't say that," Chaka disagreed. "She should consider herself lucky I found her and not that other rogue. Haven't seen him but from what I've heard, guy's a complete psycho. Doesn't just kill and eat his prey. He tortures them – mutilates them while they're still alive."

"Oh, so basically he's Simba from the time Kiara asked him if she can have cubs with Kovu." snickered Kopa, holding back smug laughter at his own joke. Upon hearing this comment, Simba growled at his son surprisingly loudly, making him scoot back a bit. He resisted the urge to roar as his growl grew ever louder, remembering just how he really did react.

"Alright, geeze, it was just a joke dad. But you know you still lost it when she asked." Kopa added. Hearing this, Kiara said defensively to her brother, "Hey at least I asked at all, unlike you!"

Kopa and Vitani both gasped, and the others suddenly gaped at Kiara's comment, completely caught off guard by it. Seeing the looks she was getting, the lioness went on, "What? Rafiki didn't tell you yet?"

Simba and Nala both shook their heads as an answer. Nala looked down next to her at her son intently. She asked in an awkward tone, "Uhh... Kopa? Is... there something you and Vitani would like to tell us?"

Kopa blushed suddenly, and Vitani just looked away from the queen. Simba's eyes widened all of a sudden, and he took a step closer to Kopa. He had just figured it out.

"Look dad, I was going to tell you, I swear." His son said suddenly. Turning his attention to Vitani, Simba began, "You... you mean to actually tell me that you're-"

"Yes! Okay, yes, are you happy now? I'm pregnant!" She interrupted, making all except for Kiara gasp.

"When were you going to tell us this?" Simba asked suddenly, saying it more to Kopa than Vitani. Kopa took a deep breath before replying, "I was going to tell you yesterday, but then Timon and Pumbaa came in out of nowhere with the laptop!"

Simba sighed. Nala, even though she was still shocked by the revelation, smiled at her mate. "Oh Simba... we should be happy for him."

Simba replied, "Yeah, I know... but it still would've been nice if he told us sooner!"

Kovu turned to Kiara. "Wait, so you knew about it before they did?" She nodded.

"Rafiki told me three days ago."

"Well that's... weird." Kovu replied, before looking upon his sister intently. He said, "You know what? Let's... let's just finish this story here, and we'll worry about it later. Does that sound good?"

Everyone else nodded and vocally agreed. Kopa and Vitani looked at each other and nuzzled warmly. Kopa whispered to her, "Sorry about that, Vitani."

The lioness sighed. "No, it's alright, Kopa." She replied. "They were going to find out sooner or later."

Doing his best to ignore the firestorm of drama that almost just happened, Pumbaa took a deep breath before continuing the story. In it, Kovu and the others were moving down the cliff side to go directly alongside the river.

Kovu hopped from ledge to ledge, safely landing at the bottom of the cliff. The river flowed along to his right. He looked up to see Pumbaa and Timon staring over the edge apprehensively, Timon in his customary position on Pumbaa's head. "Come on, you two!" Kovu called.

"In the time we've known each other, what makes you think either of us is physically capable of doing – whatever the heck you just did?" Timon demanded.

"He couldn't have said jump off a cliff?" Simba asked playfully, which made Pumbaa groan in annoyance. Simba laughed. "Really, how hard is it to say that?"

Zazu landed on Kovu's shoulder and gave the comical pair a sardonic sigh.

"Hey, we don't need no stink eye from you, Banana Beak!" Timon declared.

"Just step where I stepped and you'll be fine," Kovu explained.

"There is no way in he…" Timon's words were interrupted when Pumbaa tentatively leapt to the first outcropping in the cliff face. Unprepared for the movement, Timon slipped from his perch between Pumbaa's tusks and plummeted towards the earth. "I hate cliffs!" he screamed on the way down.

Kovu rolled his eyes and quickly leapt up, catching the falling meerkat safely in his mouth.

"Well that was one hell of a lucky catch." Kiara commented.

"Shouldn't that have killed him?" Vitani asked.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Timon chanted. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly noticed that Kovu's jaws were curled precariously around his mid-section. "Uh, you can put me down now."

"Incoming!" Pumbaa's terrified voice screamed from above. The three other animals looked up just as Pumbaa's rear end blotted out the sun.

"This is going to be a really bad day," Timon sighed just before Pumbaa landed on them.

"Oh my God! That's horrible!" Kovu said loudly, making him shudder. "I don't want your ass up in my face like that!"

Kiara whispered to him, "Now you'll know what he did to me the day we met."

With the story, Kiara and Chaka were walking along a river until they heard something, and realized there was something out there. This is when everyone's interest in the story began to rise again, morbidly curious as to what was going to happen now. It turned out that another lion by the name of Kidonda made himself known, and alone he was not. Essentially, it turned out Kidonda was evil, and Chaka and Kiara were attacked by another lion who was working with Kidonda.

The lion before him was brown furred with a black mane. His right eye was emerald green and filled with terrifying insanity. His left eye was milky white and unseeing, bordered by hideously scarred flesh.

"Wait a second..." Simba said suspiciously, turning to Nala. "Doesn't that sound familiar to you at all?"

Nala nodded. "That sounds exactly the same as..."

The lioness's statement was abruptly cut off when Pumbaa started to read louder and faster this time, clearly trying to end their talking.

In fact, the entire left side of his face looked as if it had been mutilated, the twisted scar tissue a grotesque shade of purple. Patches of mutilated skin covered his entire body and he appeared to be missing both ears and a good section of his tail. The deformed lion gazed with hysterical rage at Chaka and spoke one word – "Simba!"

"No..." Simba said slowly, gasping. "They're not."

"Who?" Chaka replied lamely.

The hideous lion flew at Chaka, who tried to meet the attack with his own offensive strike but his claw was quickly blocked and the attacker threw his full weight against Chaka, knocking him on his back. Chaka felt rushing water hitting the back of his mane and realized his head was leaning off the edge of the bank. The other lion dug his paw against Chaka's neck and pressed the younger lion's head below the water.

Kiara needed no coaxing to act. She charged down the hill and leapt on the attacker's back, digging her claws into his shoulders.

Letting out a surprised roar of pain, the attacker jerked himself sideways, falling off Chaka but at the same time knocking Kiara aside. As she fell to the ground, she looked up and took in the deformed lion's full appearance, and felt her courage vanish in an instant. The attacker growled at Kiara.

Chaka rolled away from the water and coughed his lungs dry before swinging his back leg around and kicking the attacker in the side, knocking him off the bank and into the rapids.

Kiara moved to Chaka and they watched the lion as it was swept away and disappeared beneath the currents.

"What the hell was that?" Chaka gasped, still catching his breath. Water dripped from his mane down his shoulders. He stood up and shook himself dry. Finally taking in Kiara's terrified expression, he moved close and nuzzled her cheek. "Kiara, what's the matter?"

Kiara's eyes remained locked on the river, sure the monster was about to burst forth to attack them once again. She'd heard the stories, listened to the descriptions of this beast.

"They're really not!" Simba said louder, his eyes widening.

It was supposed to be gone – supposed to be dead!

"That was Scar," Kiara whispered.

In that second in time, Simba stood up, gagged worryingly loud, and shouted in the laptop's direction, "No! No! Hell no! No, never, no! I refu-No!"

That last part he actually cut himself off. Growling now, Simba said, "Not him! Anyone but him!"

As hyperactive as Simba was getting now, none of the others could really blame him. Everyone else was as shocked as he was, gaping and gasping suddenly, staring blankly at the text in front of them.

"Scar? Really? Scar?" Nala exclaimed. "How the hell is he alive?! At least with the last one, there was... some chance Nuka could've lived, but Scar was eaten alive by the hyenas! I was there to see it, even!"

Kopa nodded. "She's right, that does seem kind of random."

Kovu shook his head, saying, "Aww,what? That's just..."

He couldn't even finish, for it took Simba a while to calm down his angry growls. Placing a paw on his shoulder, Nala said calmly, "It's just a story, Simba... it's not real. You saw Scar die, you know this can't really happen."

Simba took deep breaths as he sat down slowly next to Nala again, prompting her to nuzzle him again for comfort. Pumbaa added, "Yeah, Simba. Remember what Timon said? Not everyone is an expert on you."

The king's eyes returned to normal after Kiara had gotten up and rubbed her head against his with Nala, calming him down.

"It's okay, father." said Kiara. "It's only a story."

After a moment of tense silence that almost seemed to dislike being broken, Simba said, "You're right. It's just... you know how hard it is for me to think about Scar."

Nala smiled. "Let's just get through this." She said in a friendly way. Collecting himself, Simba rested his chin on Nala's head comfortably, and Kiara walked back over next to Kovu.

To himself, Pumbaa thought, Geeze, if this is how he gets around Scar in a story, I'm really glad I wasn't here to see Kiara ask about the cubs.

After that affair, Pumbaa read on all the way through without any further interruptions. Whether this was because they wanted to avoid any more drama or because they were so engrossed in the story, they never did know. Eventually, after much denial and doubt, it was revealed that Chaka was indeed Kopa himself, who had forgotten who he was from the attack. Mheetu had saved him when he was a cub. And although it took some time for them all to accept the fact that Scar was alive there, they were sooner or later content with it.

Kiara led Kopa back to the Pride Lands, meeting up with Kovu, Zazu, Timon and Pumbaa on the way. Being on guard for Scar, Chaka was constantly in denial that he was Kopa, with Kovu and Kiara trying to convinve him otherwise. Upon returning to Pride Rock, Chaka tried to deny that he was Kopa, but Simba and Nala recognized him, as any parents like themselves would. And this was the point in the story where everyone's attention was perhaps at its pinnacle. Everyone had been anticipating this moment for some time now, and now it was playing out right into their ears, even if Pumbaa was the one reading.

Chaka attempted to leave out of fear because he was still in denial, but on the borders he was encountered by Rafiki. There, many emotional and powerful things were said, which were all affecting everyone emotionally. The real Kopa rested his head upon Vitani's neck, trying his best not to cry. Kiara and Kovu leaned in closer to hear better, extremely interested in the situation. And as for Simba and Nala, both of them were on the verge of tears with the surprisingly well done drama going down. All of them were deathly silent.

At last, the moment came where Rafiki's guidance had gotten through to Chaka. He was Kopa without a doubt now, and Simba came along to be with him now. But suddenly, Mheetu had come in and warned them all of Scar, while simultaneously finding out Nala was his long lost sister, earning a few joyous tears from the real Nala. Then in the story's climax, Scar came and attacked the Pride Landers. Everyone's eyes widened as these words were read, and their breathing grew heavier from the apparent tension of the scene.. Climactically, Kopa fought Scar by himself, and in the end, had him killed upon a cliffside, which made everyone around the laptop sigh heavily in relief.

In the long run, Kopa was made King, it was hinted that he had feelings for Vitani, which was no surprise to anyone, and surprisingly Simba and Nala had a third cub on the way. The ending was almost wholly satisfying for them all.

Pumbaa took a deep breath and slumped lazily to his side, his voice sounding strained now. He waited a second to turn around and face the others. When he did, he saw something he never could've expected- all six of them were crying softly to themselves. Kiara, Nala and Vitani were subtly sobbing into their mates' manes, while the lions had their heads perched against their mates' necks. Even Vitani could hold her tears back no longer, which was shocking for Pumbaa. The amount of times she had ever cried in her life could've been counted on one hand, and most of them involving Kopa in some way.

"So... what'd you think?" He finally asked, catching his breath.

Simba was the first to respond. "That... that was so beautiful."

Nala nodded as Simba's head was upon her own. "Wonderful... so emotional." She sobbed.

Pumbaa turned to Kopa and Vitani, who were the first ones to collect themselves. Wiping away the tears from his eyes, Kopa said, "Even though this isn't how it happened... that was awesome."

Vitani nodded approvingly. "The parts with Scar were a bit overdone, but... it was extraordinary."

Kopa whispered to her, "Be glad you weren't the villain this time." Vitani chuckled.

Looking over to Kiara and Kovu now, Pumbaa watched as Kovu said, "The ending was incredible. I loved it."

Kiara took a few deep breaths before saying, "That was so beautiful. I... I can't believe how well written that all was."

Pumbaa smiled. Clearly he had made the right choice in what fanfic to read to them, for unlike the last one, this one was accepted by all six of them. In fact, all of them had seemed to completely forget Vitani's comment about being pregnant.

Good, he thought. We've already got enough drama here now.

He sighed. Just then, he saw Timon enter Pride Rock from the outside, with a dumbfounded expression. Pumbaa motioned for him to come in. When he did, the others barely noticed.

"What took you so long?" The warthog questioned. Timon walked up to him in front of the keyboard and replied, "What? I had a long drink, what's wrong with that?"

Pumbaa shook his head as Timon got a good look at the lions and lionesses behind him, watching them recover and wipe away their tears of happiness.

"You read them The Lion King III: The Lost Prince, didn't ya?" He asked, although he already knew the answer. Pumbaa nodded.

"Yep, that'll do it all right."

Cracking his fingers, Timon said to him, "Alrighty then, settle down you guys. We're moving on here."

Upon realizing that Timon had returned, everyone managed to collect themselves and calm down rather quick. They stopped sobbing and stood upright once more behind Timon, Pumbaa and the laptop.

"Okay then, now that I'm back, it looks like we can start again."

A moment of silence passed before Simba asked his friend, "What'd you have in mind, Timon?"

The meerkat chuckled as he began to type in something once more, prompting Pumbaa to move over and give him room. The last of the lions' and lionesses' tears had been wiped away now. Timon said,

"Well Simba, let's just say that one does not simply walk into this next fanfic."

Simba gave him a confused look. Silence passed for a second more.

"Oh like you'd even know what that's from." Timon said softly to him.

Author's Note: I apologize if this seemed to end too abruptly, but I don't want to spend more than two chapters on a single story from here on out, and also I do not wish to give away the story entirely, for it's just too good for me to do something like that. So with that said, go on and read The Lion King III: The Lost Prince. Credit goes to Asante, and once again I wish to thank him for his permission here!