grinned. "You have not met my son, Kovu. He is Scar's son and heir. The RIGHTFUL king of the Pridelands." Simba growled at Kovu. He automatically hated the cub because of who his father was. Scar had killed his father, Zira tried to kill Nala, and now their child was going to grow up to be a killer as well. The glare from the king scared the young outsider to the point where he was shaking in his fur.
"Pfft! That's not a king! That's a fuzzy maraca!" Timon commented.
"I don't care if YOU think he is the rightful king! You know the penalty for returning to the Pridelands!" said Simba.
"How can one care for a cub properly if they are to forever dwell in the outlands, where there is little food or water?" Zira questioned. "How good of a 'king' would you be, sentencing a cub to startvation? You may as well use him as an example to others for disobeying your 'godly' rule." Kopa gasped as she pushed Kovu closer to Simba. Kovu was shaking worse than ever now. Would Simba really kill him?
Simba stared down at the pathetic child, who was staring up at him with merciful green eyes, very much like how Simba had seen Scar before he died. He noticed that he was looking at Kovu the same way Scar had looked at him. Only Simba had given Scar a chance to live, but he had betrayed him again. Even so, Kovu was only a cub. What harm could he do now? That question lead Simba to think, if he let Kovu live now, what harm could he do once he's grown? However, chances of Kovu growing strong in the outlands was unlikely. Zira was correct when it came to the outlands providing little nutrience. He figured most of the animals living there were malnourished. He would take this chance.
"Take him and get out. We're finished here." Simba turned around and picked up his son in his mouth.
"Oh, no, Simba, we've barely begun." Zira chuckled, smiling evilly at Kopa. Zira turned to Kovu and picked him up as well. The pridelanders and the outsiders left in opposite directions, leaving the two cubs confused as to why their parents hated each other.
"Bye," Kovu and Kopa whispered to each other, as their parents separated them.
Simba and his lionesses traveled home. The sun had almost set below the horizon, and the pride had almost reached Pride Rock. Simba stopped in his tracks, letting the others go on ahead without him, but Nala stopped and turned to her mate.
"Simba?" she whispered. He cleared his throat as a signal to ask her to leave, since his mouth was still full from carrying Kopa. She smiled, although a bit concerned, and took her leave. Once Nala was gone, Simba placed his son on the ground and gave him a very threatening look. Kopa smiled innocently, trying to get his father to do the same, but it did not work and the cub sunk down, knowing that he had done wrong.
"Kopa, what did you think you were doing?" Simba asked, quiet, but firm. "I know you're smarter than that! You could have been killed today!"
"But, Dad, I--"
"If something like that happened to you, I don't know WHAT I'd do," he continued. "I care about you so much, but one day I won't be here. You're part of the great circle of life, you and I are connected as one, everyone is connected, and you need to carry on as king, so that the circle will not be broken."
"I know," Kopa sighed.
"So you need to stop getting yourself in trouble."
"But, Dad, there's so much I don't understand about today,"
"You will understand some day." Simba turned around to start heading back towards Pride Rock. Kopa followed. The young cub looked up and saw the stars. They were extremely bright tonight. The stars made him think about how he and Kovu were separated. For some reason it did not feel right. His father said that they were connected. Could he somehow be connected with Kovu too? Such thoughts made Kopa suddenly feel lonely, but looking at the stars made him feel accompanied. "Are you looking up at the stars, Kopa?"
"...Yeah," he whispered. "There's just something about them, that makes me not feel lonely."
"I know why." Simba smirked, not really looking at Kopa, but knowing that he grabbed his attention.
"Really? What?"
"It's because the great kings of the past are looking down on us from those stars, making sure we're safe." Simba explained. "My father told me that when I was about your age. Just remember, that those kings will always be there to guide your way."
"Haha, Dad, that's silly," Kopa chuckled.
"And why's that?"
"Because there are hundreds of thousands of stars up there! How could there have been that many kings?"
"Haha, not all questions have answers, Kopa. You'll understand that some day too."
Soon before the pridelanders made it to Pride Rock, Nuka was scoffing about Kovu to himself. He had just gotten through the day with his entire pride talking about Kovu in some glorious way. It was becoming very irritating that his youngest sibling was getting more attention and credit, even if Nuka was the eldest, strongest male in the pride.
"Kovu, Kovu, Kovu..." Nuka mumbled. "Just because Scar was his father, doesn't mean he's going to be a good king either..." He spotted Vitani chewing on a rotting root sticking out of the ground. "Oh hey, Vitani, where's that little termite, Kovu? The 'chosen one'." he mocked. He cut the branch with his claw, making it snap, and his sister flying across the ground. He laughed as his sister tumbled.
"Nuka, what do you mean 'where's Kovu'?!" she exclaimed. "You left him on his own again, didn't you!"
"Hey, it's every lion for himself out here!" he said, scratching himself. "That little runt's gotta learn to be on his own, anyway!"
"Mother's gonna be mad, she TOLD you to watch him!"
"Oh, who cares?!" Nuka growled, scratching himself vigorously. "I could be a leader, if she'd just give me a chance!"
"Yeah, right!" Vitani scoffed. "Tell HER that."
"I will!"
"Here's your chance, then." Vitani smirked as she saw their mother approaching them.
"Huh?" Nuka looked back, hoping that Zira didn't hear what he said. "Oh, mother, hi!" he exclaimed, happily. He jumped by her side. "Mother, I caught some fieldmice for your dinner, I left them by the--" She ignored him and just walked right past him, dropping Kovu to the ground, looking very irritated. "Uh...nevermind."
"I ordered you to WATCH HIM!" Zira roared. Nuka gasped and sunk back, awaiting a punishment.
"It's not his fault, I ran away!" Kovu explained.
"And what exactly did you think you were you doing?!"
"N-Nothing!" Kovu wimpered.
"What have I told you about THEM?!" Zira roared, referring to the pridelanders. "What's wrong with you?!"
"I-I'm sorry, mother!" Kovu gulped. "But h-he didn't see so bad to me...! I didn't think it'd be a bad idea if we were--"
"What? FRIENDS? I can't believe you'd try to BEFRIEND his son, so soon! As if Simba would just WELCOME you!" Zira paused. "Just stick to the plan, Kovu! And we will have a glorious return to power. Tomorrow your training intensifies."
Kovu went to sleep that night, worried about his intensified training the next day. He didn't know what to do. His normal training was hard enough as it is. But he did not want to disappoint his mother, no matter what. His siblings felt the same way and so did the rest of his pride.
Zira woke Kovu before the sun rose the next morning. Kovu was exhausted from his lack of sleep, but pretended his tiredness didn't faze him. Every day Zira would make Kovu and Vitani fight each other to improve their fighting skills. Sometimes Kovu won, but Vitani won more often because she was bigger. In Vitani's place, however, was Nuka awake and ready to go.
"I know that you usually fight Vitani, Kovu," Zira said as if it was their choice. "But now if you want to get stronger, you'll need a stronger oponent. You will fight Nuka for the rest of your training."
Kovu did not object because if he did he would be punished for it. After many times of being struck for objecting to his mother, Kovu finally knew better than to question anything about her. Zira gave the two the okay to fight (she had told Nuka ahead of time that he would be training Kovu to fight) and she watched her children duke it out.
Kovu made the first move and tried biting Nuka's feet, but he was always too slow and ended up being knocked to the ground after every attempt. It went on like that all day, day after day, and towards the evening, collapsed from exhaustion, Kovu was carried by his mother to the only source of clean water in the outlands. She laid him in the shallow water for him to drink and refresh himself for the next day, and that would be the only time of the day he got to drink. After a few weeks of the same training of endurance, Kovu began to defeat Nuka in their fights as he grew older, but he would often lose. There were times when he thought he was going to die. But he didn't.
Time passed and Rafiki was reflecting the past few years by himself in his tree, by painting the events that happened. He was currently painting a mane on Kopa.
"Oh, Mufasa," Rafiki sighed happily. "Kopa is growing into a king that will someday make us all very proud." His mood changed as he faced Kovu's portrait. "But Kovu grows stronger, and Zira fills his heart
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