The sun slowly rose over the Pridelands. The lion pride was still asleep inside the royal cave as the warm rays began to seep in through the entrance. King Kovu and Queen Kiara slept atop the elevated platform while three teenage cubs slept by Kiara's side. They were Kovu and Kiara's son Jesev, their son Zaranu, and their daugther Keari. Being the first-born cub made Jesev future king of the pridelands.
Vitani slept close to Nala, but she was a little uneasy. Ever since she had been told that Nala was her mother and that Zira wasn't, she hadn't been able to sleep well. Vague thoughts passed through her mind about her being just an infant cub at the time she was taken away from Nala and raised in the outlands.
Her real name was Nela, but Zira had renamed her Vitani. Nuka had also been a young cub at the time she had been adopted and she grew up believing that he was her brother. He was actually her half-brother because they both had the same father, Scar.
During the time that Scar had reigned as King of the pridelands he had forced all the lionesses to have new cubs, one of them was Nala. She had gotten pregnant and ran away to find a new home, but while she was out finding food she bumped into Simba and told him everything, even about her pregnancy. After Simba had become king, Nala had given birth to her and Simba acted as her father, but the two of them never got really close before the outlanders had been banished and Zira had Nuka kidnap her.
Shortly after that, Nala and Simba had Kiara and as the time passed, memories of Nela soon faded from Simba's and the other lionesses minds. All except Nala had forgotten. Vitani woke up and left the royal cave. She climbed to the summit of Pride Rock and looked out across her home. She could see everything from there even the shadowlands where the hyenas still occupied the elephant graveyard.
"Nela" A voice said from behind her and she turned to see Nala standing there. "It's Vitani" she replied and then continued to look out at the pridelands.
"What, but I thought you were going to start calling yourself Nela, the name I gave you." "I changed my mind." "Okay, well I like Vitani better than Nela anyway, but is something wrong?"
"No nothing is wrong, I was just thinking." "About what?" "What it would have been like to be Queen." "Now Vitani we've been through this many times before, Kiara is queen because she was born when you were gone."
"How come you didn't bother to come and get me or rescue me?" Vitani questioned. "There was a slight arguement going on with Zira at the time of your disappearance and by the time we knew anything of it, it was too late."
"Then how do you even know if I'm actually your lost daughter?" "Trust me Vitani, a mother knows."
"Hmmm..." Vitani responded and then she was silent. Nala decided to leave her alone and left as Vitani just stared off into the distance.
Nala returned to the royal cave and found that everyone except Jesev was still asleep. He had a darkly colored pelt, much like his father Kovu's, and he also had the beginnings of a dark brown mane. His brother Zaranu had a dark golden pelt justl like his grandfather Simba's. His mane would be reddish-brown as well when it was fully grown. Keari, their sister, was light tan and had all the same markings as her her mother, the only difference between Kiara and her was that while Kiara had rust-red eyes, Keari had light-violet colored eyes, a feature she inherited from her great-great-great grandmother Solana.
"Grandma Nala, are you alright?" Jesev asked as he could tell that something was bothering her. "No Jesev, everything is not alright, your Aunt Vitani is acting strange and I'm kind of concerned that she may turn against us." Nala replied with a worried voice.
"What's wrong with her?" "Oh I think that we'll be fine, but just for a little while we should keep an extra close watch on her."
Nala then went and laid down next to Simba and thought about what Vitani had said about being queen. She was right about it, it was rightfully her place, but now Kiara was queen and she had three teenage cubs, Jesev would take Kovu's place as soon as he became an adult which wasn't too far away and if Vitani were to become queen now, that would mean that a cub born by her would become the next ruler.
"Jesev, it's time for you lesson." said Kovu as he had woken up and was quietly listening to the conversation. "Ah dad, do I have to have a lesson today?" Jesev complained as he wasn't too thrilled about becoming king of the pridelands.
He just wanted to have fun and not have the responsibility of looking after everyone else. "Haha Zaranu, you'll never catch me!" Keari exclaimed as she ran past him, Zaranu quickly followed after her saying, "That wasn't fair Keari!"
Jesev watched his siblings run off to go play a game of tag and wanted badly to join them. He tried to follow, but Kovu quickly stopped him. "Come on son, you are future king and you must be taught well before it is your time to rule."
"Coming father!" Jesev said and slowly followed his father out of the royal cave and up to Pride Rock's summit. Vitani had long since left and she headed out towards the outlands. Keari had noticed her and got curious enough to follow so she ditched Zaranu by the water hole and ran to catch up with her aunt.
All characters related to The Lion King from the movie are all © Disney, characters like Simba, Nala, Zira, Scar, Tanabi, Kiara, Kovu, Zazu, Rafiki, Sarafina, Sarabi, and any others mentioned.
All characters that are not recognized to be the original disney characters like Jesev, Keari, Zaranu, Nakava, Kutuva, Tahini, Vutui (Scar Jr.), and all other are all © Mindy M. Mather and Sarah M. Mather
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