[Open] The King's Return

[DGFone]

Kovu narrowed his eyes. "Why do all of you compare me to Scar?" He demanded. "I am nothing like him! He's not even my dad!" He shouted. "Come on Kiara, you know better than that!" He stormed off a little bit.

After a little while, he finally came back. "I'm sorry, Kiara. I shouldn't be angry at you. But I really don't like being compared to Scar." He said. He looked at Kopa. "Don't worry about it."

Simba lead Sarabi and Sarafina back to Priderock. They ran until they spotted the others and slowed down to a walk. Simba hurried over to Nala. "Hey, did I miss anything?" He asked.

Sarabi went over to Kopa. She looked over him closely, trying to make sure that that it really was Kopa. This lion did have resemblance to Simba and Nala, and he also looked so happy next to Vitani. It has to be Kopa. Sarabi reached out and hugged him deeply. "Welcome back, Kopa," She breathed into him, feeling emotionally drained. "Welcome back!"

[Applejack]

Kiara looked after Kovu, her eyes sad and wide. "Kovu," she called after him with a sigh. "I'm sorry! You know I didn't mean to offend you!" She looked down, afraid that he wouldn't come back, and then her eyes lit back up as he came back a few minutes later. "No, my Kovu, I'm sorry. I forgot that it upsets you so much. I was just saying that you aren't anything like him. That theres no way in the world that you would attempt to kill a family member, cold blood or not." She curled up next to Kovu, pressing into his warm flank comfortingly. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

Kopa's eyes widened conciderably as he looked upon Sarabi. She seemed much older than she had been when he was born. He started padding up toward her and was suddenly taken to a half as she dashed up against him. He put a paw around her as well, embracing her tightly. "I'm back, Grandma Sarabi. It really is me." He smiled and nuzzled her back, inhaling her scent happily. "Its so good to be back with everyone!"

[DGFone]

Kovu nuzzled Kiara. "I know you didn't. But growing up being trained to take Scar's place as king... I don't like being compared to him. My entire childhood I was brought up to be like him, and now that I learned how bad he was," Kovu shook his head. "I still can't believe that my mom loved him so much."

He looked up at both Kiara and Kopa. "But you know what? While she may be my mom, she's not around anymore to tell me how to live my life anymore. I can start anew again, right? Like Simba did when he returned." He looked at Simba, who was just looking over them, smiling.


Simba smiled at Nala. "They all look so happy," he said, "All four of them together, it's amazing." He sighed in admiration at how things were going so well. "To think that Kopa was alive all this time..."

Sarabi let go of Kopa eventually. Her eyes were covered in tears of happiness, and she quickly blinked them back. She walked back to Simba, leaving the younger ones alone again. "The family is whole again, my son," she whispered to Simba, who smiled and nodded at her. "If only Mufasa was here to see this..."

[Applejack]

Kiara purred and leaned into Kovu, licking his muzzle a few times. "And that," she said caringly, "is why I love you so much! You are nothing like them. They say that love and devotion can do many things to a person. If the person they care so much for is evil, it corrupts the soul. Thank the Great Kings of the Past that I'm in love with the right lion. And, starting anew? I think you did that the moment we fell in love, my dear." She purred happily, nuzzling him dearly.

Nala smiled, all knowingly, and said, "Look, my dear. Our family, complete. This is how we should be." She purred a soft sigh of relief and looked up at Simba, a look of delight on her face. "To think that he was alive, indeed. And now, to think that he's returned to us; to the Circle of Life. He's back to take his place as future king. Its such a thrilling endeavor." She smirked softly. "And, I believe I know who he'll take as his queen, if she'll have her." She nodded quickly in Vitani's direction.

Kopa, meanwhile, was left standing there, leaning against Vitani's side. "Mufasa, my grandfather..." he trailed off and looked up at the sky. "Great Mufasa," he began, "Thank you. Thank you for helping to guide me back home on my journey of need. The path was hard, as you told me before I left, but, you were right. I was ready. It was finally time for me to come home." He looked down at Sarabi and smiled at her. "Grandfather helped me make my way home. He sent signs and guided me out of that barren wasteland, all the way back home! He still lives. He lives in you, as he does in me, and all of the living world around us, as does he in the night sky, with all of the Great Kings of the Past."

[DGFone]

Kovu leaned into Kiara, rubbing himself against her. "Hey, if I were anything like my mother wanted me to be, I would've... I err... Alright, I don't know what I would have done. But I am not like her, and in the end, that is all that matters." He said, smiling. "Am I right, Vitani?" Vitani knew what he went through growing up, so hearing what she would have to say would be interesting.

"But now, no training to kill anyone, no constant fear of war, death, or some other hardship. The ground actually has grass growing. It's great!" He looked at Simba. "And I though he was the bad one... Mom was very wrong."

Simba looked at Vitani. "Yeah, I think that she and Kopa will work well together. For them to like each other so much after such a long time of separation. Only love could merge them together so quickly again." He laughed a little.

Content to simply watch over his son, he heard what Kopa said about Mufasa. "He did that with me as well," he told his son. "If it wasn't for dad, I would have never returned back here, and Scar would have won." Simba looked up a the sky, half wishing that it was nighttime so that he could see the stars. "For a long time, I thought that that he lied to me. I didn't believe in him, and so he couldn't help me. But then Rafiki came along and helped me remember." He smiled at the memory of Rafiki hitting him with a stick. "I started to believe in dad again after that."

Sarabi walked back to Simba and Nala. "Mufasa always knew what to do," she told them, "I am so glad that he helps us even after his death." She smiled sadly. "Doesn't prevent me from still wishing that he was here with us instead of watching from above."

[Applejack]

Kiara nodded, pressing even deeper into Kovu's warm fur. It had only been last night since she had snuggled up against him, but it felt like ages. She half couldn't wait for tonight when she could happily and eagerly nuzzle into the warmth and protection that was his fur, no his entire being. She looked up at him, nodding slowly. "I couldn't agree more," she replied, starting at his deep eyes. "If you had turned out as Zira planned for you, we wouldn't be together at all, or, worse, we, the two prides, might both be dead or separated beyond repair. Could you imagine if Zira had succeeded, and Daddy was dead? I couldn't..." she trailed off, burying her face in Kovu's dark, soft fur. In her mind, she finished what she was saying. If Daddy was dead, then Zira would have won, Kovu would be a bloodthirsty ruler, and the pridelands would once again be destroyed. Just what Daddy and Kovu fought to defend in the end... She shuddered against Kovu's pelt as the images filled her head. Dead lions, blood-stained mud and the pridelands much as they had been while Simba had been gone, barren, practially a wasteland. She was thankful that they would never have to deal with that. Zira was dead, and the land was at peace. Suddenly an image of Zira falling from the cliff, so close that Kiara could have saved her. Kiara turned back again at once, jerked from the memory, and hid the tears that had mounted up in her eyes in Kovu's mane.

Kopa turned to look at his mother and father, a look of mixed feelings, mostly horror and and disbelief. How could his parents see through his feelings so easily? I mean, sure he had thought about here almost nonstop, along with his parents and sister, but, come on! His face flushed into a deep blush as he looked away. "Mom, Dad, c'mon! Don't talk like that!" The truth, however, was written in the air around him, as well as his face and his actions prior. He really had missed her, and not just a little. Vitani's sudden disappearance from his life had left him empty, feeling like a shell even more than losing his family at the same time had. She had been in his thoughts and dreams, in the water he drank from, and the air he breathed. There wasn't a moment that he lived that he had not thought about either Vitani, Simba, Nala, or Kiara. Using what his father had said as a crutch to escape the mix of rolling feelings and emotions inside him, he nodded.
"I see what you mean, Dad." Indeed, there had been a time while he had been in the wild that he had felt completely abandoned and lost faith in everything. "While I was out there," he began softly, "it was like nothing you could imagine. I mean, while you were out in the Jungle, you had Timon, and Puumba, but I was alone. All I had to keep me company were the memories of you two, Kiara, and Vitani. There were actually times that I felt so abandoned that I could have sworn that it had all been an elaborate hoax to run me out of the pridelands because I just wasn't good enough for any of you." He shook his head, now upset at himself for ever thinking anything like that. "But then... then, one night, while I was asleep, I had a vision. A vision of the pridelands in chaos. I woke up, sweating and panting, and walked to the small stream that I drank from out there. As I looked on in the water, a cool, soothing, calming feeling rolled over me. I stared harder at the water, and say the pridelands in chaos once again. Startled, I was unable to move. Then, slowly, the scene changed. The land became green, and all became healthy. I realized then it must be a sign. The signs continued on, small twinkles in the Realm of the Great Kings, shifts in winds, until finally I found my way home, and, well, here I am now!" He smiled and looked up at Simba from Vitani's side

Nala looked at her son, her heart almost breaking in two as she listened to him explain all of the hardships he had endured to get back home. She was relieved that he was home, and amazed that he had survived so much alone to come back home to them. It made her happy to know that her son had such brave qualities. She sighed, releasing a deep, amazed sigh. "You remind me so much of your father, and also of Mufasa..." she trailed off, lost in thought.

[Kopalover]

Vitani watched Kopa interact with his family once again, they all seemed so perfect compared to her. Yet, she was glad they accepted her for who she was and where she came from, also from what she lived through. The horrid, long days of training to take down a Kingdom, meanwhile there was plenty Kingdoms without a Pride they could go to. Their mothers evil stare and hell-brought laugh. Shuddering, she shook the evil thoughts from her clean mind and walked up to Kopa who was with his parents. "I have one question. Now that Kopa is back, what happens to Kovu?" Tilting her head slighty and looking into Nala's eyes. The same eyes that Kopa had, but she fell in love with Kopa's and not hers.

[Applejack]

Kopa purred softly and pressed his flank against Vitani's, then realized what he was doing and quickly pulled away, a blush brought to his cheeks. Thankfully his fur covered it. "I've been wondering that myself," he said, hoping to draw attention away from his small sign of affection. "Now that I'm back, will I be taking my place as next in line, or will Kovu stay as such? I bear no ill will to Kovu. I just want to know what my place in The Circle is to be." And if my place in The Circle will be next to Vitani or not, he thought to himself. He stole a glance over to Vitani's eyes, those deep, beautiful violet eyes, and turned his head quickly away again, trying to busy himself with an itch on his shoulder. Once it was relieved, he sighed and rolled his shoulders, settling down on his haunches lightly.

Nala returned the look and nodded softly at Vitani. "Well," she said, "Kopa, you are the first born son of the king, and though we love Kovu, you will be taking your seat as next in line for the throne, putting Kovu behind you. Knowing Kovu, I'm sure that he'll be accepting of this, and I'm sure that the two of you can come up with some plan that won't end up in bloodshed." She smiled and stepped up next to Vitani, her muzzle next to her ear. "You're lucky," she whispered. "You have the second best lion in the Pridelands looking after you." She stepped back and nodded again. I just pray that Kopa takes care of her if they ever do become.. attatched to each other, she thought.

[DGFone]

Simba looked at Kovu, hoping that the decision didn't offend him. He agreed with Nala, Kopa was the rightful heir after him, but Kovu might take it the wrong way. "But this will also mean that we will have to start preparing you for ruling right away." He laughed a little. "And my experience tells me that when you start late, learning is very stressful and rather painful." He sighed, remembering how hard it was to learn again.

Simba was referring to when he came back after his own exile. Having to take control right away, he was overwhelmed by the sudden onset of responsibility along with his own inexperience. If it wasn't for Zazu and the lionesses, he would have given up a long time ago. Timon and Pumbaa helped whenever they could, having grown up with him and knowing him better than the pride. But they knew about kingship just as much as he did. In other words, non at all. But Simba managed to get through and adapt. And now he had no trouble being king. Reentering back to the present, Simba smiled at Kopa. "Just warning you. It's going to be hard."


Kovu stared at the others in shock. "But what will that make of Kiara?" He asked. "She's the princess here." Becasue it only really dawned on him that he was going to be king now that Nala had mentioned it. And now he lost it just as quickly as he gained it.

[Applejack]

Kiara smiled softly and looked at Kovu, putting a paw gently up to his mouth to silence him. "Kovu, I know that with Kopa being here, You and I wont be the prominant ruling force, but I'm still the princess, and you are my love! That makes us powerful yet, and influential. As well as that, I dont believe that Kopa would do anything to hurt us." She looked deep into Kovu's eyes, trying to make him understand. Things were going to change now that Kopa was back, and they would just have to learn to deal with that. Besides she thought with another small smile, chance isn't always bad, is it? It brought me my Kovu. She leaned over and licked his cheek softly, trying to calm him. "There is nothing to worry about."

Kopa looked at Kovu and Kiara with an understanding, pained look. Would Kovu ever be able to accept him as his king? "Kovu," he said softly, padding up to the two of them, "I had kind of hoped that, instead of me ruling prominantly, or you ruling prominantly, we could both rule together, in harmony." He smiled, his head tilted a little. "Kiara knows much more about ruling than I do, I'm sure, and she's passed most of what she's been taught on to you. I won't be able to rule without the two of you to help me." He turned to Simba and bowed his head slightly. "There is nothing against the Law of the Pride that says brothers can not rule together, is there?"