Pridelands Savanah

Kion was a monster. That was the only thing the lion knew in this moment as tears began to fall from his eyes. He had, after all, just tried to kill his own sister and in-laws in cold blood.

"What have I done..." He said faintly, distantly.

Kiara could tell the emotional torment her brother was going through must be equal to the physical pain of her wounded mate, sprawled before her, wheezing from taking a direct hit from a depowered version of the Roar and then forcing himself to take leap in front of his mate to take the full force of the Roar meant for her.

Thank the Great Kings they stopped Kion's Roar when they did or Kovu would be dead, Kiara told herself. Now she had an opening with her brother.

"The Great Kings of the past have spoken, Kion, and declared Kovu's innocence. So let me tell you what the three of us have been able to work out together about what happened."

Kion was previously listless, in a mixture of shock and regret over what he had almost succeeded in doing. Really his mind was still on his own descent into darkness, but he forced himself to listen to his sister. If the Great Kings of the past had taken the Roar what his was about to say had to be the most important thing he had heard since his return to the Pridelands.

So he listened to everything the three renegades had pieced together: what Kiara had learned when she and Rani spoke to Dhaifu; what Kovu had seen when the albino crocodile had whispered to Simba, paralyzing him with shock, then clamping down on their father's neck with his powerful jaws; about the sting in Vitani's neck that made her dizzy and angry while Dhaifu taunted her guard and made her hit them with the Roar while aiming at them.

One thing was clear: Dhaifu was the author of all this trouble.

Kion turned his gaze from Kiara to Kovu as guilt overtook worry. He had almost killed yet another innocent lion due to Dhaifu's machinations, just like Vitani had. He remembered her words that she had failed him...maybe she had failed, but she had never betrayed the purpose of the Lion Guard. He had. He turned his head to face her and said, "You're more worthy of the Roar than I am..." a troubling thought broke into his sentence, "and now neither of us has it."

Everyone could read it in the air around Kion that his focus had shifted. His guilt would always be with him, but now they had a more immediate concern.

"Dhaifu...none of us can stop him now."

The old crocodile, while physically weakened by age, was far too crafty to take on by brute force. As the four lions each silently pondered a strategy, Kiara felt a sickening knot in her stomach.

"If he sent you primarily to deal with me, Kopa would never let me anywhere near the cubs, even if Kovu was dead. He'd only give them up if he thought all three of us were dead."

"Kiara, you're not suggesting what I think you are, are you?" Kion's face contorted in confusion.

"You mean pretend you did kill us?" Kiara said. "It will buy us time and get Dhaifu to lower his guard."

"But Rani would know! Even if I lied to her, she'd see right through it!"

Kiara saw Kion's point.

"Then don't lie. Speak the truth. Tell all of them how you lost the Roar of the Elders."

Kion glanced at the top of his foreleg, where the mark of the Guard used to be.

"Dhaifu and Kopa can't fight the whole of the Pridelands once the truth is known. I don't care if he is even more cunning than Scar!"

At the mention of their granduncle Kion recoiled. He had become him in many ways. Was his journey to the Tree of Life all for naught? No, that was how he met Rani—and nothing could make him regret that. Still the parallels between himself and that other leader of the Guard were a burden he could never forget. Yet it was his burden to bear and bear it he would.

"I'm sorry for everything, Kiara," Kion said, hanging his head low. He felt tears start to well up, but now was not the time for that. It was the time for action. Taking a noisy breath in through his nostrils, he looked to his sister.

"I will make this right."

And with that the former leader of the Guard set off toward Pride Rock.

Kiara watched her brother dash away, not knowing how to feel. He had in fact tried to kill her and her mate, but she could only blame him for part of that. Everything since Kopa arrived had been an intricate web of lies and treachery. The only reason Kiara herself had never doubted Kovu's innocence was the fact that she knew him inside and out as her lover, her partner, and the father of her cubs. Kion could not know her mate's character as she did, but he should have known hers. He should have trusted her. Instead, he tried to kill her. It was as if being raised together, playing together, and yes—even getting into fights with each other—should have told him something of her character and judgment. His doubting her she had more trouble forgiving. But forgiving him was not only what she had to do as Queen, it was what was right. She knew now why he had been in a listless daze after the Roar was taken. He had been thinking about their time as cubs together, and he still tried to kill her, believing their connection to be a thing of the past. That was just like Scar and Mufasa, for at one time the two brothers had loved each other. History may not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymed.

Pride Rock

Kion was surprised to see three squares of crocodiles—each three crocs wide and three deep—stationed at the base of Pride Rock staring across at his Lion Guard and Azad.

"We are your allies," one of the crocs insisted.

"Well, we never asked for you to come," Bunga said.

"Technically we did," Anga said.

"What is going on here?" Kion shouted, more as a voiced statement of bewilderment than an actual question.

"Kion!" Bunga exclaimed happily as he raced toward his friend. The other members of the Guard all smiled at their leader's arrival, expecting some sanity to return to the Pridelands with him.

As Bunga clinged to Kion's foreleg, Anga took flight and landed next to the lion and honey badger.

"Kion, while you were gone..." she gasped before continuing. "You don't have the mark of the Lion Guard anymore."

"No, I lost it," Kion said, squeezing his eyes shut, causing a collective gasp from his friends.

Bunga, Kion's closest friend, was the first to regain speech after a troubled moment of silence. "But, Kion...how?"

Kion hung his head low and said, "I tried to kill three innocent lions, including my own sister." He waited a minute for his words to sink in. After another moment of silence passed, still looking down with closed eyes, he said, "Guys...we're on the wrong side."

"Kopa!" Anga said in disgust. "After I told you about Kiara and Kovu, Kopa sent me to Nyembamba River. He said his dad still had some supporters in the Swamplands who had helped him to escape. After everything that happened there, he had them on constant lookout. Kopa wanted me to lead them here to augment our defenses in case you failed..." As Anga spoke the picture was becoming clear to them all.

"A Swamplands takeover of the Pridelands..." Beshte said what they were all thinking.

"Ridiculous," the crocodile who had spoken earlier said. "Kopa is King here, not Nguvu."

"A puppet king!" Fuli shouted at the croc.

"C'mon, Kion! Use the Roar and..." Bunga stopped himself, remembering what had happened, "Oh...sorry."

"They probably counted on that too." Kion said, still staring at the ground. "Have me kill Kiara and the others and lose my Roar, get rid of all of us at once." Kion opened his eyes and stared at the Crocodiles. He had to keep his next move hidden from his enemies but share it with his friends. "C'mon guys," he said to the Guard, "I need to see my mate, my mother, and my nephew and niece."

"Are you sure he said 'tried'," Dhaifu asked his Crocodilian subordinate in from his resting place in the watering hole.

"I'm certain, my prince."

Dhaifu bellowed, causing Kopa to look quizzically at his adopted father.

"What's wrong, Dad?"

"Your traitorous sister and her mate still live."

Kopa froze with terror the Outlander would try to claim the throne again, but then a new darker worry entered his mind, forcing him to knit his brows.

"Why would the Kings of the past even try to stop Kion from doing what had to be done?"

Dhaifu, who had been staring off in the distance as he thought of a way to handle the unfolding situation, found himself drawn with concern to his son. He turned his gaze toward Kopa and looked lovingly at him.

"Because I raised you." Kopa was now more confused than ever.

"Simba may have fathered you, Nala may have carried and given birth to you, but you are mine! As sure as if you were a crocodile, you are a scion of the house Kubwa, not of their house of Ahadi."

Kopa felt his heart sink. Even after trying to be a legitimate King of the Pridelands, the previous kings hated him because he was raised crocodilian.

Tears began welling up his son's eyes, melting Dhaifu's heart just a little.

"Son," he said warmly, "think of the character of the Kings of the past: Ahadi, Scar, even Ahadi's wife, Uru. Do you really want their acceptance?"

Kopa looked at his father as pleading hardened into resolve. Uru had overseen the execution of Shahamu, Dhaifu's brother.

"Uncle Shahamu was being reckless and wandered into the Pridelands in search of prey. Scar's Lion Guard, who were with Queen Uru at the time, caught him, just as you were coming to bring him home."

"That's right, Kopa." Dhaifu's eyes grew distant. "I pleaded for the Queen to show mercy, shouting for all to hear 'Long live Uru! Long live the house of Ahadi and his two sons!" Dhaifu's gaze returned to Kopa. "They killed him anyway. Two pinned him on his side, and two slit his belly. Scar later apologized to me, but only because he was angry with his father. A wicked bunch they were..." He let his eyes drift before focusing on Kopa. "...A wicked bunch they are...that's why I couldn't let them raise you. They'd rather have one who murders his predecessor as king than one raised in another kingdom by a non-lion. After, they have crowned at least two murderers and twice as many tyrants before."

Kopa felt his resolve strengthen. "I don't want the approval of the Kings of the past!"

"You are the first of a new kind of Lion King. Let the old order fall!" Dhaifu said.

"Yes!" Kopa exclaimed, getting swept away in the excitement...until a face appeared in his mind's eye.

"What about Kion?" Kopa knew that Kion wasn't evil and did not want to harm him.

"That is why we must deal with Kiara and Kovu before he devises a plan to help them. We have the numbers now, so we will win. Still, I'd hate for harm to come to your little brother if we could avoid it." Dhaifu's eyes shifted again.

"Is the hornbill loyal?"

"Zazu?" Kopa asked, "I think so."

"Have him locate the traitors, then lead our troops to crush them. We are twenty-seven crocodiles strong, plus one lion. The traitors will die before Kion drags himself into this."

Kopa felt a twinge of fear shivering down his spine.

"But Dad...who will protect you?"

"I don't need much protection so long as Kovu and Kiara are the focus, but we need to be fast."

Kopa tried to feel as confident as his father.

"All will be well if we act quickly," the albino crocodile said.