After Simba had tossed aside the hyena, he had turned his attention to Vitani. Thanks to the tunnel-vision he had by now developed, he was pretty much oblivious to the fact that a genuine wave of hyenas was coming his way: he only focused on Vitani, who was putting up quite the fight. One should of course expect no less of her: she had been trained from infancy to fight not hyenas, cheetahs or leopards, but other lions, and she had gathered a lot of experience at the Battle of the Reunion. Plus, she was extremely agile, young and in better condition than the aging Sima. But she would soon find out all those qualities would not be enough, for she faced no ordinary lioness, but Simba, the Lion King. Apart from being much stronger and heavier built because he was a lion and not a lioness, Simba too possessed an incredible amount of lion versus lion combat-experience: he had fought and defeated Scar, he had fought his way out of an ambush involving the entire Outlander pride and he had also faced Zira, Vitani’s mother and tutor. And although Simba was older than Vitani, his short-term condition was vastly superior to hers: the lioness still felt the effects of her exhausting journey she had been on with Vincent. In short: she was no match for Simba (even though one of his fore-paws was so mangled by Vincent’s bite it was a miracle it hadn’t come of yet).
After he created some distance in between them by kicking  Vitani in the abdomen with his back-paws, Simba viciously lashed out with his paw that still worked. As Vitani had taken a serious blow when she had been hit in the stomach, she was unable to shield her face from the next hit. She yelled in agony as Simba’s claws penetrated deep into her flesh. Then, in a sudden upwards sweep, his claw moved up, ripping through the tissue above Vitani’s left eye-socket. As the pain became unbearable, all turned black before Vitani’s eyes, and she imagined she had fainted. She was wrong, however, as she lost consciousness moments later, when Simba, having to make up for his useless left-paw, knocked Vitani out with a violent head-but. Vitani’s now limp body flew backwards, leaving behind her a trail of falling blood drops in the air as her severely bleeding head fell down. As Simba bowed towards the frail Vitani who lay in the tussled, red and brownish discolored sands, he doubted whether he should strike at her defenseless and feeble body yet again to finish her. In suppressing his instincts and adrenaline rush, however, he decided not to: he had never been a killer, and wasn’t planning on starting now. He’d spare the rebellious lioness. But then, suddenly, as he still stood bent over Vitani, he was once again jumped at, albeit with limited success this time. It was the hyena: he had somehow managed to get up again! But Vincent’s attempt at stopping Simba, whom he presumed had been on the verge of killing Vitani, was more of a symbolic act aimed at distracting Simba until anyone else were to show up than an actual effort to disable Simba: even now, as he tried snapping at Simba, the hyena coughed up entire pints of blood out of his rib-punctured lung. Aware of the pathetic state his foe was in, Simba wasted little time at finishing him: one well-aimed punch at the hyena’s throat shattered his windpipe. With smothered, spastic gulps, Vincent collapsed, able to take in air nor cough up blood. Left as is, his death would be a slow and terrible one, Simba considered, and although he was facing a hated enemy, it was also a living creature that deserved no such suffering. But Simba’s attempt at ending the hyena’s suffering was brutally cut short, for Shetani and her company had just arrived on the scene… too late.

*

Realizing all those hyenas were headed towards her father, Kiara turned back to Kovu, more desperate than ever.

“Kovu, what is this? Do something!”

But Kovu just bowed his head in silence for a second, after which he lift it back up an finally looked Kiara in the eyes. That was a face she hadn’t seen anyone make ever before: Kovu’s eyes were cold as stone yet gleaming with tears, his stare utterly desperate yet determined. Kiara needed no further explanation, and neither did any of the other Pridelanders: Kovu had betrayed and abandoned their king.

“No! Dad!” Kiara screamed just before running towards the Golden River in a poorly conceived and desperate attempt to safe her father. But before she had even taken two steps, Enyi’s weight already pressed her to the ground. All lions around them watched in shock as their princes was being pinned down by two Outlanders. Despite her screams and struggling, none came to free Kiara from the protection against herself she was experiencing. Now that it became clear the Outlanders weren’t planning on providing Simba with any help, the Pridelanders didn’t waste any more time and collectively tried surging forward. The three Pridelanders that had been stationed with the Outlanders and thus hadn’t taken part in the Battle of Priderock were the first to rush forward, and despite some decent attempts, the Outlanders were unable to stop them. The former prisoners, however, were not able to break to the Outlandish cordon surrounding them, mostly because of the bad shape they were in after having been wounded at Priderock.

One lioness, however, proved determined enough to reach the Golden River. As with most Pridelanders, Kovu didn’t know her name or even recognized her. Al he could see was that it was a young lioness that rushed towards the Golden River, a young, limping lioness with the most elegant figure, despite several fresh wounds that covered her body, and a bitterly determined stare. Incredibly fast despite her wounds, the lioness slipped past Kovu before he even realized she was there, and jumped of the riverbank into the Golden River.

“My king!” was all Kovu could hear her yell as she was about to make her way towards Simba. It seemed no-one would be able to stop her from reaching Simba – and a certain doom; noble and courageous… but a certain death nonetheless. Suddenly, however, one of the Outlanders broke the ranks and started pursuing the runaway Pridelander. Kovu immediately recognized her lean, typically Outlandish appearance: Anana. Halfway to where the fight in which Simba was involved in was taking place, Anana caught up with the other lioness. With one swoop, she knocked away the other lioness’ back-paws, causing her to trip and come to a sliding stop in the sand.  Before the lioness got the chance to get up again, Anana already had her paws on the lioness’ back, pushing her onto the ground. And even though the lioness struggled and yelled to be released, Anana did not yield, but in stead kept the Pridelander firmly pressed to the ground.

“Aah! Let me go! Get of me, I’ve got too…”

“No! It’s no use, I’m not letting you throw your life away in vain!”

“You!” the lioness gasped in anger as she recognized the other lioness’ voice, “How dare you, backstabbing rat! Does your treason know no boundaries? Let me go, I have to help my king!”

But as she was yelling at Anana, it became apparent the lioness was starting to realize she was going nowhere. No-one would be saving her king. The mere thought of it made her voice turn from enraged to filled with sorrow.

“Let me go, I have to help my king! Let me help him… why doesn’t anyone help him…” she wailed desperately, as her gleaming eyes stared at the still struggling Simba “No! My king… Simba…”

As Nala was the only one to immediately recognize both lionesses, both the bold Pridelander and the Outlander that tried keeping her from harm, only she could actually realize the absurdity of the situation to the fullest, for the runaway Pridelanders was no other than Kani. The same Kani that had viciously terrorized Anana for hours on end had just been saved the very lioness she had insulted so. And the most awkward part was she didn’t want to be saved at all. And meanwhile, all Outlanders around Nala still stood idle as Simba fought for his life…

“Oh my poor Simba… this is madness!” Nala cried out in tears, “Kovu, please, I’m begging you, help him! Help your king!”

But Kovu didn’t even do as much as turn around to respond to the desperate queen’s plea; he had already declined one request from Kiara, why not decline this one as well? The queen had had a point though: this whole situation was indeed utter madness, his own inertia most of all. Kovu was perfectly aware of the seemingly cruel and cowardly nature of what his actions (or non-actions); how else could one describe what Kovu was doing? What other words could fit him as he sat there, silently staring at the tragedy taking place right under his very eyes?
For that was what Kovu did: he just stared at the events unfolding. He stared as Simba hit Vitani’s hyena on the throat. He stared when the other hyenas reached Simba and immediately engaged him, the first wave counting no less than ten adversaries. Six years ago, at the first Battle of