The clouds had gathered, casting an eerie darkness over the scene before a pride of lions in the Jungle. The green foliage of the jungle was stained with blood in one spot, as a brown maned and brown furred lion had his paws over a deceased lion of similar characteristics. "I am the new king!" The lion declared with a roar. Lionesses of different fur and eye color variety roared in triumph in the dark of the night. Soft drizzles of rain began to spill over the jungle. The new king stepped from the corpse and looked to two pale lionesses. "Eliminate this garbage...I'll be waiting in the den." The king growled as he slowly made his way to a medium sized cavern nearby.
The king smirked as he passed by sleeping lionesses, and cubs. He looked around in the deeper part of the den, his amber eyes glowing in the darkness of the moist cave. "Baya! Show yourself!"
"King Maju" A voice cooed from beside the king, within the darkness. The king quickly jumped aside, and glared at the spot the voice had come from. On that spot, two glowing blue eyes opened and the black maned slender lion stepped out. "Your personal assailant. At your service. Who do you need me to kill?" Baya asked with a smirk on his face at the prospect of sinking his claws and teeth into another creature.
King Maju cleared his throat as he held his head high. "You will speak to me in a more civilized manner Baya! Your king demands it of -"
The King coughed as he was quickly grabbed by the throat by Baya. Some lionesses turned their heads to the scuffle within the den. "You are not my king. Nobody is my king. I simply work for you until you cannot provide for me. Then comes the decision of whether I feel like killing you for the hell of it. Now tell me. Who do you need me to kill, before I do some free lance?" Baya said with a maniacal cackle. The King gazed into the rogue's eyes and figured doing as he was told was the best option.
"The former Queen escaped with her son. I need you to track them down. I need you to kill them." The King explained. Baya released the king quickly.
"Now was that so hard, my king" Baya said with sarcasm dripping from his last two words as he quickly made his way out of the den. When the rogue was out of ear shot, the King looked to the females.
"What will we do about him my king? Kill him when we are done with his help?" One of the females in the den asked.
The King thought about it for a moment. Could they kill the demon of the desert? He had taken on so many lions and lionesses at once. He was a creature of experience. "We will have to think on that. There is no definite answer right now..." King Maju stated.
//
Meanwhile in the jungle, a cream colored lioness with brown eyes was making her way through the dense foliage as quickly as possibly. Hanging from her mouth was a young golden brown furred cub. He was fast asleep, so there was no problems with him fidgeting about. The soft drizzle from earlier had turned into a full on rain fall. The lioness became soaked in the hard rain, beginning to run faster. Soon enough she was near a river. There was a floating log not too far from where she was,and she extended her paw out to drag it over to herself. It took awhile and alot of effort, but she did it. She placed her cub on the log and prepared to go into the shallow river herself in order to guide the piece of wood.
Once the cub was placed upon the log, she felt a sharp pain at her tail. Soon after she felt her paws give away from under her, and she was on her side. "No!" She cried out, reaching out for the log desperately, but to no avail. Her child was already floating down stream. Her eyes filled with tears as she turned to see who had done this. Her eyes widened in horror as she was restrained by the throat.
"They grow up so fast, don't they? One day they are nursing from you, the next...they are floating down a river! Hah! Hahahah!" Baya hollered in laughter.
"Y-You are a monster! A hateful, mindless demon! Why would you do this? I was going to run away with him! Never return! Never pose any threat!" She sobbed, almost choking on her words. Baya rolled his eyes.
"This is politics my dear, now accept your fate..." Baya purred into her ear as he prepared to end it with a simple flick of his wrist. However, the former queen bit down on his arm and kicked him in his stomach. She then sprawled up on her feet and prepared to go into the river. Baya snarled in pain, but a grin spread along his muzzle. He slashed at the back of her right leg.
"Enjoy the ride dear queen! If there is any comfort in saying this, you will probably see your cub again! In the after life! Hahahahaha!" Baya hollered with laughter as blood ran down his arm from the queen's bite.
//
The Pridelands had not changed much since the death of Zira only two days ago. The outlanders proved to be efficient hunters and gatherers as well as guards to the royal family. Kovu and Kiara were now married,and Kovu had appointed Vitani as his head captain of the new royal guards. They consisted of both pride landers and outlanders willing to be trained by Vitani in order to be prepared for unpredictable events like war or territory defense.
The sun began to rise, prompting many of the animals to awaken as was the usual routine for the pridelands. The night before, there was heavy rainfall so the ground was a bit damp. The smell of mildew and fresh fallen rain was strong in the air. Kovu was the first to awaken among the pride landers. He stretched the best he could in the condensed space of the den before slowly tip toeing past Kiara, Simba and Nala. He walked out to the edge of pride rock, and sat there. He looked at the beautiful purple and orange clouds during the rise of the sun.
A smile broke along his muzzle, him being glad all of this war and conflict were over. What remained of his family was with him, and now he could only look to a better future. Then it hit him, something was missing from earlier. It was Vitani. She wasn't sleeping in the den. Kovu's ears perked as he looked behind, and saw his older half-sister slowly making her way back up pride rock.
"Morning Tani. What were you doing up so early?" Kovu asked with a look of amusement. In the outlands, their mother would make them wake up early to do some border patrol. He wondered if that's what she was up to.