Hope and Pride

(A Lion King 2 AU Story)

By: Siyana

Disclaimer: I don't own The Lion King/Simba's Pride characters-they are Copyright Disney.

Background: (Revised from the original 2004 version by my then-17-year-old self under the pen name "Ceci1".) This is an AU story that takes place right after the "We Are One" song sequence in TLK2. It explores the question of what would have happened if things had taken a different turn in the cub-hood of Kovu and Kiara? Disney did leave out the entirety of their adolescence and rest of their cub-hood in the film. Judging by the way Kiara's final cub scene ends (where she is looking at the bird flying away, with a vexed expression), the audience knows her mind is filled with lots of questions and uncertainty about her identity. This is right where my story picks up.

Note to those readers who are curious: I love both TLK and TLK2 movies, but I'll never forget watching Simba's Pride for the first time and feeling disappointed that we never got to see more of Kovu and Kiara's cubhood aside from Kiara escaping Timon and Pumbaa and her and Kovu bumping into each other, Kovu ridiculing her, them running from the crocodiles, and an attempt at playing tag. It felt very…lacking to my then-11-year-old self and still feels lacking to my current 35 year-old-self, haha!

Chapter 1: Princess Ponderings

Young Princess Kiara sat on the smooth, flat rock that jutted out towards the horizon. A baby bird had just learned to fly and had fluttered around her in a circle before taking off freely toward the horizon with its newfound freedom. Kiara's gaze followed the bird envious of its apparent freedom to explore its surroundings. Defeated, she hung her head, thinking about her father's talk that they had just had regarding her adventure in the Outlands with her newfound friend, Kovu. His words echoed in her mind: We are more than we are…we are one!

Kiara furrowed her brow once again and frowned. "What in the world does that even mean? We are more than…lions? More than…royalty?" she gasped. "Am I more than just a princess after all?! Ugh, I just have to be! A princess is only half of who I am! The other half of me is, well…" Kiara trailed off, trying once again to answer the question that was posed to her earlier that day by Pumbaa after "rescuing" her from the creek.

Her golden-orange orbs welled up with tears. "I wish I could see Kovu again. We barely got to play together at all! He's so cool-he gets to do what he wants when he wants and takes care of himself! I wish I could be like that…" Kiara sighed, wiping away tears.

She wondered if she would ever see her Outlander friend again. Kiara just couldn't understand why her father was so upset with her for playing with Kovu. Why couldn't they be friends? Why did their prides have to be enemies-why couldn't they just get along?

Then suddenly, another phrase from her father popped into her head.

As long as you live here, it's who you are.

Kiara's eyes widened as she thought of her home, which so often held her prison from the rest of the world around her and thought of the impending punishment and increased supervision that was bound to be waiting for her the next day and for the foreseeable future.

"Well, if being a princess who isn't allowed to do anything on her own is who I am while I live here, then I don't wanna live here anymore!" Kiara growled, digging her claws into the large rock beneath her, though barely making a dent. Then suddenly, the young cub gasped as eyes widened and her ears shot up. She shifted her gaze towards the forbidden Outlands. "That's it! If I can't be myself here in the Pridelands, then I'll run away to somewhere where I can be myself! I can go to the Outlands and then I can be friends with Kovu!" Kiara jumped up from her place on the rock and giggled. "Daddy won't be able to stop me there or those annoying babysitters, Timon and Pumbaa! Ha!" Kiara laughed harshly. Just then, a gust of wind blew around Kiara, causing her to stumble forward and tumble off the rock.

"Oof! Where did that wind come from?" the young lioness stood up and shook the dirt off of herself. A feeling of guilt arose within the small cub's chest at her vengeful laughter. Her ears wilted and she hung her head. No, I shouldn't do that to get back at Daddy for being mad at him. I guess that's not something a princess would do…or something Kiara would do. Then, a mature thought dawned upon her. Kiara's ears shot up and she gasped and clapped a paw over her mouth. "What if…I can find Kovu and show his mom and all of the Outsiders and Daddy and all of the Pridelanders that Kovu and I can be friends?! Then, they will realize that we can all be friends!"

Kiara looked out determinedly at the horizon as the sun began setting. Little did the young princess know that her child-like idea was in fact, the key to bringing about peace to both prides. However, how that idea would come to fruition, or, if it would come to fruition, well, that was yet to be revealed.