Ah yes, the cubs... whatever became of them? Well... not much really: all in all, they had been the ones to get of easiest, surprisingly enough. It could have turned out otherwise too, of course, as there were a great deal of hyenas who were firm believers in the concept of extermination, and quite frankly, I wouldn't know whether they were but a minority within their clan. Luckily, Shenya, who was still the Matriarch after all, had (none too soon, that's for fact) eventually been struck by remorse, as the fate of the lion cubs had hung in the balance, thus prompting a less brutal approach towards the lion-problem. Though it is probable the lions would otherwise have been kept alive all the same, to be used as hostages if need be. But that wasn't the case: Shenya had decided to spare them (and the surviving lionesses) as a form of atonement as she now had serious doubts as to the necessity and morality of her previous actions against the pride. Her new, laxer attitude had met a lot of reluctance and even protest within her own clan. But she pushed through: for what Shenya was concerned, the killing was over (as was her hate, now replaced by doubt, sorrow and self-reproach), and the time to try and make up for the casualties already suffered was at hand. Of course, for security purposes, it had been impossible to keep the cubs and adult lionesses together, but Shenya had tried to compensate for that the best she could: every now and then, a lioness would be allowed to suckle the youngest of the cubs (the others were fed leftover meat, like their adult counterparts), while Shenya herself watched over the young lions the rest of the time. She had even considered putting the youngest lions together with the clan's own pups, but that had been deemed 'insane' by almost all hyena mothers. As a matter of fact, Shenya's sudden change for what concerned dealing with the lions was greeted mostly by distrust, anger and even disobedience within her own clan: the overall feeling was that her behavior wasn't how a strong leader was supposed to act, not in the wake of the greatest victory ever in the history of their clan. So, to get away from all the worries of day-to-day politics, Shenya had more or less sought refuge with the lion-cubs, spending more time gaining their trust and fooling around with them than with the management of her clan. Her impending motherhood had something to do with that as well, of course.
And thus, Shenya found herself playing around with the cubs that had come to trust her, when she suddenly heard the most awful of screams resounding outside. Both her and the young lions looked up in shock, at the cave entrance, from where the sound had come. Suddenly, Shetani appeared in the entrance. Before Shenya got the time to ask what the hell was going on outside, another figure appeared next to Shetani, much smaller than her. Shanya stared at him with disbelief. That couldn't be...

“Vincent? Is that you?”

“You look ridiculous,” the smaller hyena replied. Shenya suddenly realized one of the tiny lions was still sitting atop her neck, resting it's small head in the manes on her forehead; that must've indeed looked rather ridiculous. She gently allowed the cub to get off, but than ran straight to her brother, as she was now sure it was him. Forgetting all her former worries for a while, she was overjoyed at her brother's sudden reappearance, to such an extent she didn't even notice the cold stare in his dark eyes; Vincent lived! Her dear brother, for whom she had mourned and fought, now stood before her alive and well it seemed. But before she could reach him for an intimate hug coming from the very bottom of her hearth, Shetani and two of her henchmen stepped in front of Vincent, shielding him.

“Ma'am, please step back....”

“What? But... why...” Shenya stuttered in absolute confusion, oblivious to what was going on.

“Please, sis, don't play dumb, and don't take me for a fool,” Vincent replied coldly.

“Vincent? But... what are you talking about?”

“You know damn well, sis.”

“No, I don't!” Shenya exclaimed as two Graymanes tried pushing her back, “I though you were dead, what is going on here?”

“Yeah, you sure did, you sure did think I was dead, didn't you? And just in case I wasn't, you sent your despicable underlings after me so they could finish the job!”

“What are you talking about?” Shenya gasped, growing ever more confused and concerned, “I tried making sure you were safe! I even sent Seko to go look for you!”

“Gee, I didn't think you'd confess this easily...” Vincent smiled awkwardly, “So it was you who was pulling that rat Seko's strings!”

“But... what... Seko found you? Where is he then?” Shenya stuttered, understanding less and less as her conversation with Vincent went on.

“Oh, the bastard found me all right. But I'm afraid he won't be returning here to enjoy his accomplishments.”

“What?” Shenya gasped, “Where's Seko? What did you do to him?”

“I gave him three kisses, a warning and than sent him away, awarding him a small present,” Vincent sighed, “What do you think I did?”

For a moment, Shenya just sat there flabbergasted: this was all going way too fast for her, and she didn't get any of it too, which could be read on her face. Vincent didn't fail to notice.

“You don't have any clue as to what is going on, do you?”

“No, quite frankly, I don't!” Shenya exclaimed angrily, “What the hell has gotten into you? You suddenly appear out of nowhere, alive and well after I thought of you as dead for days on end, and in stead of letting me welcome you back you treat me like some kind of a criminal, blabbering nothing but incoherent nonsense! Now where's Seko?”

“Look, dear sister, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a lot of things to attend to. I suggest you talk things over with my new advisor,” Vincent grinned malignly, “Tiko? Get over here.”

On Vincent's signal, a green hornbill cautiously entered the cave, much to Shenya's surprise.

“Shenya, meet Tiko. Tiko, meet Shenya. She's supposed to be our Matriarch.”

“Pleased to meet you, ma'am,” Tiko smiled cautiously but still politely.

“Just to make things clear: not you, or anyone else touches as much as a feather on his head, or you're dealing with me, got it?” Vincent added, “I'll leave you two to get acquainted. Tiko, make sure you tell her everything I told you, and everything you told me. I trust you'll prove intelligent enough to keep it all coherent enough, just so my sister here doesn't loose track...”

“Okay...” Tiko sighed, reluctantly accepting his new task, feeling not all to happy at the prospect of being locked in a cave with a bunch of strange hyenas. Shenya, however, didn't seem satisfied either.

“Hey, what's that all about? You get back here!” She shouted as Vincent turned his back on her and walked out. She tried following her, but the two Graymanes to have accompanied Shetani blocked her path, and something told her she'd better not try to get past them. Having nowhere else to turn, she addressed Tiko, who now sat uncomfortably next to her.

“What the hell is going on?”

“Well...”

Meanwhile, Vincent had already made his way back out with Shetani. The hyenas they passed while walking, who had been guarding the cave with the Matriarch and the lion-cubs, looked at him with a mixture of awe, confusion but also fear as he walked by. That wasn't the Vincent they remembered at all; the hyena to have appeared out of nowhere seemed in stead a reincarnation of Vincent's late (and infamous) father Mikhail. But none had the courage to address him, not with the fearsome Shetani at his side, and the screams of Kiuma still echoing through their minds. And besides, most hyenas weren't looking at Vincent but in stead at the scene unfolding in the middle of the plaza under the Rock. All but one, who came racing towards Vincent. Having only one eye, he was easily recognizable. Shetani attempted to block him from reaching Vincent, but was ordered to stand down as Vincent immediately recognized Banzaï, one of his most trusted friends within the clan.

“Vincent? Is that you? Thank the Spirits, it is you!”

“Hey, Banzaï! Good to see you, comrade,” Vincent smiled as he moved closer for a brief hug.

“But how... what... I thought you were...”

“Yeah, I get that a lot lately,” Vincent interrupted grinningly, “But I should be the one asking the questions; seems like you guys haven't been fooling around either!”

“Man, when I heard them say you were back I immediately race here!” Banzaï enthusiastically replied, ignoring Vincent's question “I just couldn't believe it, but here you are! You sure got a lot of explaining to do, you know.”

“I guess, but...” Vincent wanted to reply, when he was cut short by an increasing noise arising from the plaza below them. Both hyenas took a peak down the path leading towards the plaza, to see what all the fuzz was about, although Vincent could already guess what it was all about.  It probably had to do with the orders he had issued to Shetani and her henchmen prior to entering the Priderock-complex: fearing the reaction of the remaining traitors, Vincent had decided to first gather a force of loyals around Shatani, who had then started cracking down on all possible treacherous elements, as Vincent made his way towards Shenya. What was happening on the plaza was the