THE LION KING 3: LIGHT AND DARK MERGE TOGETHER

Intro:

The Pride Lands finally turn to a new generation of rulers. Kiara and Kovu are now in control and have planted the seeds of the future. They’re two very different seeds, both within Kiara’s womb with opposing appearances and personalities. It seemed like the dawning of a new era; two prides came together and became one, each ruler coming from a different pride; and now, the both of them, are expecting cubs of their own. It truly is the coming together of two very different worlds. The following characters belong to Disney: Simba, Nala, Kiara, Kovu, Timon, Pumbaa, Sarabi, and Sarafina. Send feedback, questions, comments, etc. to the6silent6one6@yahoo.com.

Characters:

From Disney:

Simba (7 Years)

Nala (7 Years)

Kiara (3 Years)

Kovu (3 Years)

Sarabi (13 Years)

Sarafina (11 Years)

Timon

Pumbaa

My Original Characters:

Epesi (Newborn)

Giza (Newborn)

Jujuhara (5 Years)

Imara (1 Month)

Ashi (4 Years)

Kara (Newborn)

Hofu (5 Months)

Royal Family Tree (simplified):

Mohatu

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Igunoi + Frehda Ahadi + Uru

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Sarafina + Xygolapo Sarabi + Mufasa Scar + Zira Veni + Trapa

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Nala + Simba Kimba Nuka Vitani ?

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------------ Phantooh + Kura

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Kopa Kiara + Kovu

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Giza Epesi

Chapter 1: The Beginning of Their Journey

Chapter 2: Birth

Chapter 3: Cubhood

Chapter 4: Another Collision of Worlds

Chapter 5: The End of a Long Way

Chapter 6: The Decision

Chapter 1: The Beginning of Their Journey

It all started in a massive colony; there were millions and millions of them everywhere. It was always warm, this location maintained an equilibrium temperature at all times. Although it was big enough to fit tens of millions inside of it, it was really no bigger than a typical stone. It was a carefree life, there was nothing but endless swimming; there was no pressure, no responsibility, no concern, and fear of dying. They couldn’t die, none of them could, for they had a mission to fulfill; they knew not what the mission was but it didn’t matter, once thrown into the forthcoming situation instinct would take over. But until that day they all remained there, all of the tens of millions of them, swimming, all day every day. They were all exact replicas, every single one of them carrying the exact same code of DNA in their single-celled bodies. The only problem that they faced was that there was nowhere for any of them to go from here; they couldn’t grow because they had no way of being nurtured, they were essentially ignored completely. But out of the one hundred million of them, only two would be given a chance at growing, only two of them would be nurtured, only two of them would actually live.

The one day finally came, the day that would sacrifice every single one of them to only bring two into life. Their journey began; it all started with violent shaking, it was an earthquake in their colony. They were being knocked back and forth faster than usual, they collided with each other frequently; some of them actually dying on impact. It was frightening for them; this continued until they were forcibly removed from their colony. No longer did they have the comforts of their previous existence; they were suddenly forced out, all at once, at the alarming speed of 35 MPH. Suddenly they found themselves inside of a long, narrow tube. Some wanted to retreat back to their original home but found themselves locked out, they were stuck in this unfamiliar territory scared. They could go nowhere but forward, those that tried to return to their previous home were left behind and suffered a huge disadvantage. In fact that’s how about ¼ of them were lost; the rest had been pressing forward, swimming for their lives. A lot of them found themselves stuck, there were traps all over the place; and so only ¼ of what was remaining made it to the next obstacle.

This was one of the last tests, only the most intelligent ones would ever make it this far; but no matter how intelligent you are it all comes down to chance; do they take the right path, or the left path? Nobody agreed, so they split in half, not even knowing what they were looking for, and once again more of them lost out on that chance at life. Whoever chose the right path still had many more trials ahead of them, the traps were even more intense; every quarter of a centimeter seeming to stretch on for miles. And still, not a single one of them knew what was waiting for them at the end. Their numbers dropped to one million, five-hundred thousand, one-hundred thousand, ten thousand, their numbers were being massively depleted; five thousand, one thousand, five hundred, two hundred, one hundred, fifty.

Forty-one of them reached their objective; there laid that mystical sphere in front of them. It was magical, but that wasn’t the best part; there were two of them, they were beautiful round objects made of a creamy white color. About twenty of them circled around each of the two objects; many tried ramming into it, they just couldn’t think of anything else to do, slowly the outer membrane began to crack. They had already proved their intelligence, now they needed to show their strength; it was survival of the fittest. They needed to not only be strong but also very quick; repeated, powerful rams seemed to be the key to getting inside. Only one lucky one was able to penetrate it and swim inside, and over at the other sphere only one of them entered.

What started off as around one-hundred million had dwindled to only two; there was so much possibility, so many chances, and only two were able to emerge victorious. These two lucky ones spent the next several weeks of their lives in a new home, one where they were actually nurtured. Now their DNA mixed together with another set of DNA, giving them each their own identity. These two sets of DNA contrasted with each other on immense levels. There was no room for compromise, there was no middle ground; it was either extreme in one sense or the other, it was either entirely their father’s gene or their mother’s gene. They got to experience some new things here, such as cellular mitosis which expanded their size, food which gave them nutrients, limbs and organs each serving their own function rather than everything crammed into one cell; there were now millions of cells each performing one specific function. They began to take shape, they started to look like the lions that they would emerge to be; they started to get a taste of survival by mooching off of their mother; they practiced moving around; they even communicated with each other; although there was less freedom here, they felt more alive than they had in their colony of one-hundred million. After they outgrew the eggs that they were residing in they were, yet again, forced into the next stage of life.

Chapter 2: Birth

It was late at night, the sun had been absent from the sky for several hours now. Kovu always found the night calming, he couldn’t explain it; the moon and the stars and the black night sky just seemed so soothing to him. He had been king for three months now; he knew that his in-laws were enjoying having some time to themselves. No matter what stresses the day seemed to bring him as king, he always awaited the night with a feeling of unexplainable joy; the calming peace that the darkness enveloped the environment in. Everything that he had to worry about; his kingdom, his family, his past, his fears, all of them melted away as the cool night breeze soothingly whished right by him; the wind’s cold, chilling touch always giving him that slight chilling shock, he loved it. Nothing affected him out here, not while he was in his element; this was what he lived for before he fell in love with Kiara. But also, had it not been for Kiara he would’ve never known the beauty that night brings to the world. Night marks the beginning and the end, when the day began it was dark and when the day would end it would be dark once more; just like Kiara, his life truly began when he fell in love with Kiara, and it would end with him still loving Kiara. No matter what obstacles they may have to overcome in their lives, he was confident that it would end just how it began, with love. He realized that he had changed but, he never truly thought that one lioness could invoke this kind a change within him. No longer was he the killer that his mom trained him to be; he found his true purpose in life, he needed to be with Kiara, and that’s all that there was to it. Simba understood, so why couldn’t his mother? Why did she have to go and do what she did? She only cared about herself, she didn’t really love him or she would’ve let him follow his heart. Maybe, just maybe, he didn’t really love her either.

At this moment he swore that he’d never do to his cubs what his “mother” had done to him. He wouldn’t force them to grow up and become something that they don’t want to be, as long as they were happy then so was he.

“She’s ready to see you now, sire.” Said a lioness who walked out of Pride Rock.

“Oh, okay.” Kovu shakily said.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, I’m just a little nervous, that’s all.”

Simba walked up to Kovu, actually Kovu hadn’t even noticed that Simba was out there at all; given the circumstances though, he must have been. “There’s nothing to be worried about, I know that my daughter would’ve only chosen the finest lion to father her cubs.” Simba said reassuringly.

“Thanks.” Said Kovu with a hint of relief.

“Hey, trust me, you’ll do fine. It can be scary at times, but being a dad is very fun.”

“Really?”
“Yes, now go, I’m sure that she wants to see you.” Kovu walked into Pride Rock’s den and saw Kiara sitting in the center of a circle of lionesses. He couldn’t see anything other than his mate’s forehead, he noticed her look up at him. “Kovu!” she cheerfully said. A section of the lioness circle had been broken to allow Kovu access to his family. He smiled at Kiara and she smiled back, they nuzzled affectionately and Kiara purred soothingly. Kovu looked down and saw his offspring buried between Kiara’s chest and forepaws. They were the most adorable things that either of them had ever seen in their lives; they were so small, and so innocent. They hobbled around the floor with their eyes closed as they meowed frantically for any kind of physical contact by another.

Kovu studied his cubs, he was happy that there were two of them but also a little worried. “What if I mess up two lives instead of one now?” he wondered, but conversely he thought “That’s twice the happiness.” It was confusing; he didn’t really know how to feel about it. It didn’t take long for him to choose to be happy, watching them getting acquainted with the world around them; he couldn’t help but smile and laugh.

“It’s funny…” Kiara started.

“What?” Kovu asked.

“Look at them, our daughter takes after you and our son takes after me.”

Kovu looked closer, she was right. Their son has golden yellow fur with a lightly cream colored underbelly. Their daughter has brown fur, not reddish-brown like Kovu’s but actually brown; almost like Pumbaa. The fluff on her tail is red, but the fluff on the other cub’s tail is black; just like Scar’s mane. Their son has a very distinguishing feature that wouldn’t be visible for a few weeks, his eyes. His eyes are of two different colors, his right eye is red just like his mother and her father and her father’s father; but his left eye is green. His green eye, the left one, Scar and Kovu both have their scars over their left eye; it was a little unnerving for Kovu, Kiara never seemed to mind.

“So, what are you guys naming them?” asked Nala with a smile.

Kiara looked over at Kovu, he gave a nod. “Well…” Kiara began, “our son’s name is going to be Epesi.” She looked over at Kovu once more and smiled, he smiled right back. “And our daughter’s name is going to be Giza.” He said.

“Interesting…” began Sarabi who was standing in the circle of lionesses. “Light and dark; very interesting.”

Chapter 3: Cubhood

It was dawn a few months later, the two cubs are six months old now; Epesi was sitting on the edge of Pride Rock, he looked down from where he was standing, “This is where Simba almost fell and died…” he thought to himself. “I wonder what great uncle Scar was even like, was he really as evil as everyone says that he was? What about grandma and uncle Nuka? Were they really evil too?” it wasn’t that he didn’t believe his family, he often wondered what an evil person was actually like. He’d never met anyone “evil” and often pondered how they could do the things that they did; to live without remorse, it seemed nice to live without guilt always hanging over your conscience. He could never do what they did, he was always too critical of himself, he knew that if he ever did anything terrible he’d never let himself live it down. He wished that he could do something to make his conscience just shut up for once, all of the smallest things made him feel terrible. One time he accidentally stepped on a bug that he didn’t see, so he watched it hobbling across the savannah into a small hole, it was in obvious pain; and yet, he couldn’t help but cry for the pain that he caused that bug, he felt that what he had done was unforgivable, so he never told anyone about it.

“Five…” Giza whispered to herself as she crouched down behind Epesi, obviously getting ready to pounce. “four… three… two… one…” she jumped into the air towards her brother, “HA!” she cried the instant before she made contact. Epesi had to tighten his muscles to avoid falling over the edge; luckily she wasn’t able to push him very far. “Ah!” he cried as they scrambled around, he rolled away from the edge and pushed his sister off of him. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Didn’t you see that I was standing right at the edge? You could’ve knocked me off.”

“Sorry.” Giza said.

“What if I died, huh?! Would you be happy then? I don’t think you’d be very happy if you killed your own brother, how would you like to be like Scar?!”
Giza was crying now, “I’m sorry.” She repeated, “I really am, I’m not anything like Scar and I never will be!”

“Enough you two!” cried Kiara who was running up to them. “Epesi, I don’t want you EVER saying that your sister is anything like Scar again, do you understand me?!”

“Yes.” Epesi said weakly.

“And Giza, you shouldn’t have tackled your brother like that. He really could’ve fallen off you know.”

“Yeah, I know.” Giza said as she started to calm down a little bit.

“Good, now you two go off and play.”

“I think I’ll stay here, I have some thinking to do.” Epesi said.

“Ah, Epesi, you’re no fun!” Giza whined.

“Ah, yeah Epesi, you’re no fun!” Kiara said derisively to her son.

“Mom!”

“Sorry dear, I couldn’t help it. Alright, you can stay here if you want.” She smiled and then nuzzled him, he purred in response.

“Mom, can I go play with Kara and Imara today?” Giza asked cheerfully.

“Of course you can. Just make sure that you have an adult watching you three.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Giza whined.

“Come here.” Giza ran up to her mom and they nuzzled each other. Kiara watched as her daughter scampered off.

“I’m going back inside, do you want to come with me?”

“No, I’ll stay out here.” Epesi said.

Kiara walked into the den and sat beside her family. “I’m worried about Epesi.” She said with a sigh.

“What do you mean?” asked Nala.

“Look at him, all that he ever wants to do is sit around and think. He doesn’t play much with the other cubs. I’m worried that he’s sad all of the time.”

“Now what would he have to be sad about?” asked Sarafina.

“I don’t know, grandma. That’s what worries me the most.” Kiara sat there watching Epesi; he was just sitting there, lost in his own thoughts.

“Oh, Imara! Kara! Are you guys home?!” Giza was calling out. Four lions came out; two were Imara and Kara, and the other two were their mothers. Imara is one month older than Giza; his fur is an off-red color with some orange and yellow thrown in. Just imagine a mix of; a small amount of red, a large amount of yellow, and a medium amount of orange. He has sky blue eyes and very light tan underbelly (it almost looks white). He always tries to prove himself, especially around Giza, and is seen as the lion that overdoes things. He stood beside his mother, Jujuhara. She has red fur and blue eyes as well, though her fur doesn’t have any yellow or much orange; and her eyes are darker than her son’s, they resemble more of a cerulean blue than sky blue. She did, however, have a very short tail; it was maybe about three-quarters of the size of a normal tail, everyone always asked her about it but she says that there’s no story behind it, it’s just the way she was born.

Kara stood beside her mother, Ashi. Kara and Ashi are both the typical tan color that most lionesses are. Kara’s eyes are brownish-red while Ashi’s eyes are grayish-blue. Both of them are rather skinny, not dangerously skinny, just slightly under the average weight for their ages. Not only was Kara skinny but she was also small, although she was the runt of her litter she was the only one that survived through the first week. Kara is the same age as Giza. Kara, Giza, and Imara have known each other since before any of them could remember; although Kara and Imara didn’t have fathers they didn’t seem to mind. In fact nobody knew what happened to them, Jujuhara never talked about it and Ashi just pretended that she never heard anyone when they mentioned her ex-mate.

“Ooh, mom, can I? Please, pretty please, can I play with Giza and Imara?” Kara pleaded.

“Of course dear.” Ashi replied.

“Yay!” Kara cried as she happily scampered up to Giza.

“Mom…” Imara began.
“Yes dear.” Jujuhara said.

“Awesome!” Imara casually walked up to Giza and Imara.

Ashi and Jujuhara exchanged glances, “I’ll watch them today.” said Timon who was happily riding on Pumbaa’s back.

“Are you sure you want to do that? I’ve heard how much trouble you guys had just watching one cub.” Ashi said.

“Ah, don’t worry about us, everything always turned out okay in the end, right?”

“Well yeah, but…”

“But nothing, Pumbaa and I were actually heading out that way today anyway. We need to get some more bugs.”

“Okay, if you insist.”

“Alright you little guys-wait a minute! One… two… where’s Imara?”

“We don’t know.” said Giza as she tried to not crack up laughing.

“Oh no, Imara! Where are you?”

“Rawrrr!” yelled Imara as he leapt out of some bushes and tackled Timon to the ground.

“Oy! This is going to be a long day.” Timon said as he got up and started brushing all of the dirt off of his chest. All three cubs were laughing, but the two lionesses gave them sharp looks making them stop.

“Don’t you make things hard on them Imara!” Jujuhara yelled out as her son was running off with his friends.

“Okay, mom.” He said, annoyed.

Timon and Pumbaa led the three cubs onto the savannah.

“Epesi!” Kiara was calling out to her son, “Epesi! Can I speak with you for a moment?!”

“Coming, mom!” Epesi called back. Once he entered the den he noticed all of the lionesses staring at him intently. He felt very uncomfortable, “Why are they all looking at me like this, what did I do?” He looked around; his father and his grandfather still weren’t back from their official business. This made the situation all the more uncomfortable; everyone staring at him was female, at least he expected his father to get mad over the smallest things, but not his mother. This had to be something big, every lioness had their eyes fixed on his; many looked concerned, some looked sad, and others just stood in monotone. “What’s going on here?” Epesi finally asked.

“Dear,” Kiara began, “We’re very worried about you.”

“What?”

“Why don’t you ever want to go and play or have fun? You spend almost all day just hanging around here. Are you feeling okay?”

“Is that what this about?” Epesi started thinking to himself, “What are they, crazy. I just don’t want to go and play; I like thinking and telling stories to everyone. What’s wrong with not wanting to play all of the time like every other cub? What does she mean, ‘why don’t I ever go out and have fun?’ I do have fun; I have fun coming up with stories to tell to my sister and her friends. What’s wrong with that? They love my stories. I’m just not like them, I can’t have fun playing all day. I can’t choose which activities are fun for me and which ones aren’t. I like things this way, I enjoy being on my own; it’s who I am.”

“Epesi! Say something.” Kiara pleaded, almost in tears.
Epesi didn’t know what to say, he was only a cub; he can’t fully communicate his inner thoughts and feeling that well yet, those skills don’t come until later. He stood there dumbstruck; trying to get some thought, any thought, through the wall separating his brain and his vocal cord. Nothing broke through, he just continued to stand there; he needed more time, he started to stammer a little bit, “Um… well… you see… it’s just that… I… um… well…” but he could only keep this up for so long. He needed to say something logical; so he shut his eyes, he stopped thinking so hard, and he just let his jaw act on reflex. “Come on, mom!” were the first words to escape his mouth. “I don’t know, I just don’t know! Why are you making such a big deal out of this?! So I don’t want to play, so what?! I don’t see why that’s some major dysfunction! I’m happy with what I want to do, and that’s why I do it!” he stopped talking, turned his brain back on, and opened his eyes. He saw his mother standing right in front of him, her mouth agape. “What did I just say?” he thought to himself. Kiara just stood there in shock, she didn’t expect this; but, what happened next nobody could’ve seen coming. Epesi suddenly burst into tears and ran out of the den, off of Pride Rock, and into the savannah. Kiara tried running after him but couldn’t keep up.

“Hey, come on you guys, this isn’t funny!” Timon cried out in fear. He and Pumbaa were looking around through all of the shrubbery and rocks, but they didn’t see the cubs anywhere. “What is it with you lions anyway? Both your mother and your grandfather used to do this kind of stuff to me. What’s so funny about scaring the heebie-jeebies out of a defenseless animal like me?” Timon still looked around nervously, twitching and jumping as he looked through the tufts of grass, he expected the cubs to jump out at him any moment now. Pumbaa spotted a small object running way off in the distance, he squinted to try and get a better view of it.

“Timon, I think that’s Epesi over there.”

“What? Ah!” suddenly Imara jumped out of the grass that Timon was checking. “You almost gave me a heart attack!!!” Imara just laughed.

“Timon, Epesi’s over there.” Pumbaa once more said. Giza’s head emerged from behind a rock and Kara’s emerged from inside of a tree.

“What’s Epesi doing out here, all alone?” Giza said with concern.

Chapter 4: Another Collision of Worlds

“I-I-What happened? Could somebody please explain to me what just happened?” Kiara asked in tears.

“Dear, I don’t think that any of us know.” Nala said, comfortingly.

“But, my son… where did he go?”

“Don’t worry, he won’t go too far. He’s too small, besides Simba and Kovu are bound to see him on their way back home; he did run off in that direction after all.”

“But, what if they don’t? My baby’s gone, what if he gets hungry, or thirsty, or tired, or-”

“Stop worrying.” Nala said, “If it’ll make you feel any better I’ll look for him.”

“Please, would you?” Kiara asked in desperation.

“Don’t worry, now who’s coming with me?” Several lionesses nodded their heads and left with her. Others stayed behind to help comfort Kiara, and still there were others who needed to go hunting for the day. Kiara continued to sit and cry, she didn’t know what else to do; everyone around her was trying to tell her that everything was going to be okay, but she couldn’t believe them until Epesi was safely returned to her.

“Where is he going?” asked Giza who was running with Timon, Pumbaa, Imara, and Kara several hundred yards behind Epesi. “EPESI!!!” she called out, he didn’t hear her. Timon was riding on Pumbaa’s back, but Pumbaa started slowing down. “Come on Pumbaa!” cried Giza.

“What do you expect?” Pumbaa puffed, “I can’t keep up with a lion, especially not one as agile as a cub.”

“But, he’s getting away!” Giza cried.

“Don’t worry!” Imara bravely said. “You four stay here, I’ll run ahead and get him.”

“No, Imara! Are you nuts?! You’ll get in trouble for leaving Timon and Pumbaa’s sight, besides, who knows what’s out there anyway? You may get hurt.”

“I’ll be fine, just wait here for me, okay.”

“Imara, be reasonable. There’s no reason for you to do this. If anybody’s going after him then it’s me.” Giza said.

“No, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“But you might get hurt.”

“Don’t worry about me; I can take care of myself.”

“But-”

“I’m off.” Imara ran ahead, Giza tried chasing after him but was stopped by Timon.

“Where am I even going?” Epesi thought to himself. “I can’t believe they thought that I wasn’t normal, that I wasn’t happy. I was happy, but now I’m not. I’m not happy doing this, all that I’m doing is making my mom worry and tiring myself out. I can’t believe what I’ve done, what I’m still doing. Why am I doing this? What am I trying to prove, and to who? This is so pointless, I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. Why do I do these things? I’m such a terrible cub; I made my sister cry earlier today and now my mom is probably at home crying. I hate this! Why am I like this?! Why don’t I just turn around right now and go back?! Come on legs, stop moving, STOP MOVING!!!” but his legs continued pushing him forward.

“I hope Imara’s all right.” Kara said as she looked at the horizon, neither him nor Epesi were visible any longer.

“Why did you guys let him go?!” Giza cried, “What if something happens to him?!”

“We didn’t let him go.” Timon said, frustrated, “He just went. We couldn’t stop him.”

“Then let’s go after him.”

“We can’t; it’s bad enough that we got you two dragged into this, but we need to return you two home before this gets out of hand.”
“Out of hand?! We see my brother running out into the middle of nowhere, we chase him, and then my friend runs after him leaving us behind; and you say things aren’t out of hand?! Are you serious, Timon?!”

“There’s nothing we can do.” Timon pleaded.

“Yeah, they’re already way too far ahead.” Pumbaa quietly said.

“But-but-there’s gotta be something that we can do. Come on, anything!”

“Giza,” Giza turned around and saw Kara looking at her sadly, “We need to go back and tell everyone what happened. That’s the best that we can do.”

“But-”

“Wow, he sure runs fast.” Imara thought to himself, “I’m just barely able to keep up with his speed. How much longer is he going to run for?” Imara turned around, “Oh no! I can’t even see Pride Rock anymore.”

“Huh, I never knew all of that.” Kovu said.

“It’s amazing what secrets life has to offer.” Simba said.

“Yeah.” Kovu turned and looked over his left shoulder, “Is that… Giza? What’s she doing out here, what are Timon and Pumbaa thinking?!” Simba looked over to the left and gasped in concern.
“Timon, Pumbaa, what are you guys doing now?” Simba thought to himself. He and Kovu sprinted over to them.

“Any sign of him anywhere?” Nala asked to the crowd of lionesses who were examining every square millimeter of the savannah. Everyone shook their heads. “Keep looking, he’s got to be somewhere around here.”

“Who is that running towards me? He’s not even looking; I hope he, at least I think that’s a he, stops before running into me. Nope, it doesn’t look like he’s going to stop any time soon; maybe I should stop him, he looks pretty sad. Wait a minute… there’s someone chasing him! Oh no! I’ll save you mister!”

Epesi faced forward and noticed a lioness looking at him. She had to be almost a year old, she was in her adolescence. He heard her yell something that was inaudible to him.

“What?!!!” he yelled back.

“I… pa… you!!!” She yelled.

“What?!!!” he yelled once more, now he was finally close enough to understand her.

“I said, I’ll help you!!!”

“Help me what?!” All that she did was point behind him. He looked and saw Imara running after him. “Imara? What’s he doing out here?” He gradually slowed to a stop as he reached the lioness.

“Don’t worry.” She said.

“No, don’t! He’s my friend.”

“Why is your friend chasing you?”

“I don’t know… but I think I’ll wait here for him.”

“So, what’s your name?”

“Me, I’m Epesi; and that guy over there is Imara.”

“I’m Hofu.”

“Hofu, do you live out here?”

“Yes, but why are you out here?”

“Well, that’s kind of a long story…”

“Giza, what do you think your doing out here?” Kovu asked in concern.

“It’s Epesi.” She replied.

“Epesi? What does he have to do with this?”

“We were playing, Imara too, and Pumbaa saw Epesi running out that way.” She pointed a paw in the direction that Epesi ran. “So we started to run after him. But Pumbaa got tired so we had to stop, but Imara ran ahead to stop Epesi, so now they’re both gone. We were just about to return home.”

“No!” Simba gasped.

“What?” Kovu asked, frightened, “What’s out there Simba?”

“Kovu, take them home.”

“But-”

“Go, now!!!” Kovu led everyone back to Pride Rock except for Simba who ran off into the wilderness.

“…and that’s about it.” Epesi said.

“Whoa, I can’t believe it, you poor thing.” Hofu said.

“I think I’m g-”

“Epesi…” Imara said out of breath, “What… are… you… doing?!”

Epesi sighed, “I don’t know.”

“Well, well, well,” began Hofu.

Kiara was the first to hear footsteps approaching the den, they sounded like cub footsteps accompanied by an adult’s. She lifted up her eyes and stopped crying, she saw Kovu enter; she was happier, “He found him!” she thought. But the cub walking in with him wasn’t Epesi, it was Giza; she lowered her head and started crying some more.

“Kiara, what happened here?” Kovu said with concern.

“Oh, Kovu…” she ran up to him and gently nuzzled her neck against his chest. “I made Epesi run away.”

“What?!” Giza gasped.

“You did not make him run away.” Said Sarabi.

“Yes I did, Kovu listen, I…”

“I don’t know what else to do.” Nala said. “I guess that we have to go back and tell her that we couldn’t find him, don’t be so glum though. We did our best, and we’ll search for him everyday until we find him.”

“Yeah!” cried out several lionesses.

“Please tell me it’s not too late, please tell me it’s not too late, please tell me it’s not too late…” Simba thought to himself.

“Mommy, mommy, something terrible happened.” cried Kara.

“Kara, dear, what’s wrong? Where’re Imara and Giza.” Jujuhara looked concerned after that statement was uttered.

“Giza is back home, Imara ran off.”

“What?!” cried Jujuhara, her eyes started welling up.

“Kara, this is not the kind of thing to joke about!” Ashi said sharply.

“No mom, I’m serious, I don’t know where he is.” Ashi looked into her daughter’s eyes, she could tell that she wasn’t lying.

“Oh my goodness, what happened?!”

“Well, we saw Epesi and…”

“Oh my gosh!!!” Hofu shrieked, “Are you two all right?”

Epesi and Imara both slowly got up, they had deep gashes up and down their backs. Epesi was infuriated, “Are you kidding me?!!!” he yelled. “I-I-I can’t believe what just happened!!! And now you’re asking me if I’m all right?!!!”

“What’s going on here?!” Simba roared.

Hofu looked over at him, “Do you know these two?” she asked.

“Yes, that’s my grandson and his sister’s friend. Now answer my question.” Simba said sternly.

“A hyena attacked, I tried to fight it off but it got to the cubs. I’m sorry, I tried my best.” She bowed her head in shame, she noticed the two cubs standing there in bewilderment.

“Huh?” asked Imara. Hofu glared at him with hissing eyes that wiped the stupid look right off of his face.

“Come on guys, the three of us are going home.” Simba said quietly and sternly. He led them off towards Pride Rock. Hofu watched them walk off in the distance, “I almost had it too.” she said with a sigh. She turned around and walked to her home.

Chapter 5: The End of a Long Day

“Mom…” said a voice weakly.

“Huh! Epesi!!!” Kiara was ecstatic. She immediately rushed up to him and nuzzled him for several minutes; she licked him at least five times on the cheek.

“Okay, okay mom, that’s enough.” Epesi said a little annoyed.

“I missed you so much, I didn’t know where you went or even if you were okay.”

“I know, I’m really sorry. I’ll try and make it up to you somehow.”

“Oh Epesi, you’ve returned; that’s all that I could’ve asked for.”

“No mom! I made you worry, I made you cry; I have to do something, anything, to make up for it.”

“Please Epesi. You don’t have to do anything.”
“Then punish me. I know that I deserve it.”
“Epesi, come on now. Let’s just let it go.”

“No! I need to do something to show that I really do love you guys. Please, think of something.”

Kovu sighed, “Is this really what you want?”

“Yes, dad.” Kovu and Kiara exchanged worried glances, Giza just stood in shock.

“Why are you asking to be punished? You could’ve just gotten away with it.” Giza whispered to her brother.

Epesi sighed, “You wouldn’t understand…” he whispered back.

“Well, if you really want to be punished… then come and see your mother and I tomorrow. For now, let’s just enjoy everybody’s company.” Kovu said.

“…Alright, if you insist that is.”

Kovu left the den that night, he needed to be outside in the twilight. He needed to be at ease once more, he needed to let all of his problems melt away. He needed to put the past behind him; he sat outside until almost midnight before returning to the den for sleep.

Chapter 6: The Decision

A few months passed, Epesi decided to let his actions that day go; his parents seemed grateful enough when he returned to them. All of the cubs now in their adolescence things started heating up. There was still one major question floating around in the air; who would be the one to carry on the family name? Who would take over the throne? What would happen to the other cub? Epesi grew more distant while Giza grew to be the lioness of everyone’s dreams. It was a tough decision, and it still hasn’t been decided yet; Kovu and Kiara were running out of time very quickly. That ends this story, this was written as an intro to the two cubs; and to show that Kovu and Kiara did carry on the family bloodline. Light and Dark have mixed together, this part of the story has been told. I hope that you enjoyed reading this and I’ll get the sequel to this posted as soon as possible.