Other Fan Fiction ❯ The Lion King 3: Royal Journey ❯ Gone ( Chapter 30 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter: 30 Gone
When Kiara opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the inside of the cave. She felt like she had been run over by an antelope. She moaned as she felt her head throb in immense pain.
"Kiara! Thank goodness you are alright!" It was her mother.
"Mom!" Kiara said excitedly, "You're back! You're safe!" Kiara tried to get up but couldn't. Her body was too tired.
"Don't get up Kiara, just rest." Nala said warmly. She smiled.
Kiara settled back down. "I'm so happy to see you. But, Mom, what happened?" Kiara said as she noticed the marks all over her face, and a rather large gash on her arm.
"Oh," Nala said looking at her arm wound, and then back at Kiara. "It's a long story. I'm just so glad that you are alright." Nala licked her daughter's forehead. Kiara closed her eyes and purred. Simba padded over.
"She's awake!" Simba said, nuzzling Kiara. She nuzzled back.
"Daddy…" she purred. After nuzzling Kiara, Simba nuzzled his wife. They both looked at her and smiled.
"Dad, there are scratches all over you too!"
"Yes. We had quite a battle…It's a miracle we're back at all." he replied quietly.
"Where's Kovu…he's alright…right?"
"Yes, Kiara. He's alright."
"I remember hearing his voice before everything went dark…" Kiara twisted up her face while trying to remember. Then she remembered everything. The fight with Death, Kanai getting hurt, Thresh dying. Her heart sank. The joy of seeing her family died.
"Thresh…he's dead…" Kiara lowered her head.
"Yes, I know. I saw his body. And another dead lion out there. Who is it? From what I could tell, a battle must have raged between them."
"Yeah, that's Death's body." Kiara said, feeling slightly better now that she remembered that Death was gone.
"Death!" Simba said. "He came back? Oh, I should have never left you here alone. I want to know more about what happened later."
"Dad, can we have a special ceremony for Thresh?" Usually when someone of royalty or the royalty's family died, they had a special ceremony for their death, like how they did for Sarabi. Any other lion were buried respectfully but no ceremony was held.
"Why, honey?" Nala asked.
"Thresh saved me. Many times…and now he's dead..." Kiara said. She closed her eyes and tried to recall the last words Thresh had told her. It was the only thing she couldn't remember. This only brought on a headache. She put her paw to her head and rubbed it. "Ohh." she muttered.
"Kiara, don't move around." Nala said. "We will have a ceremony for him if you want to," she turned to Simba, "Go get Kovu, I'm sure she wants to see him."
Kiara put her paw down. She really wanted to see Kovu. She had missed him so much.
Simba went to get him, and soon returned with the brown lion at his side.
"Kiara!" he said when she was in sight.
"Kovu!" Kiara said trying to get up again. She didn't care how much her body told her not to.
"Kiara, stay down!" Simba ordered.
"No," Kiara said stubbornly. She got up on her shaky paws and then went to Kovu. She put her body against his, and rested her head on his chest. He put an arm around her back and embraced her.
"I missed you more than anything. I thought about you a thousand times." he said sweetly into her ear. She pressed her face into his mane. Happy tears fell down her face.
"Why were you gone so long… You should have stayed here with me..." she said feeling dizzy again.
"I'm sorry. I'll never leave you again."
"Kiara," Simba said concerned. "You need to lay back down. You are not well."
Kiara closed her eyes. She loved the way Kovu smelled. She loved his warmth. He had finally come back to her.
Kiara woke up several hours later. It was dark and she could hear heavy snores. She lifted her head and looked around. Sleeping beside her was Kovu, and not too far away lay her mom and dad. She looked at the other lionesses who were spread out over the large cave. She couldn't tell if anyone was missing. She realized she should have asked her dad if everyone had made it back. She wondered how many were severely injured. She remembered Kanai, and how bad she had looked. Kiara couldn't tell which one of the darkened sleeping bodies was Kanai, so she decided to find out in the morning.
Kiara then remembered Toni and the kids. She hoped they had found their way back to the pride. Kovu, beside her, perked up his head.
"Kiara, you should be sleeping." he said.
"Forget that," Kiara whispered. "Is everyone okay?"
"Well, all of us returned if that's what you mean. I don't know if some of us will fully be okay…but we'll talk about that in the morning. Right now, we need to go back to sleep."
"But…"
Kovu leaned over and licked her forehead. And then put his head back down. As he did so he said, "Come on."
"Alright, fine." She put her head down on her paws, and went back to sleep.
Kiara woke up again, and this time it was morning. Kovu lay beside her already awake, waiting for her to wake up.
"Good morning. How are you feeling?"
She looked up at Kovu's green eyes.
"Great." she purred quietly. Kovu smiled and noted to himself how beautiful she looked. They both got up. Kiara didn't feel wobbly at all.
"Hey, my legs work." Kiara said very pleased. Kovu chuckled.
"Kiara you are just too cute." Kovu said. Kiara smiled and pressed close to him. She had taken being with Kovu for granted.
"I missed how you would just randomly hug me." Kovu said. "I thought about you every day."
She looked up at him. "You did?"
"Of course." He said nuzzling her shortly.
Oh Kovu, I love you so much.
"Kiara, I promise to never leave your side again."
"Good." she smiled, then looked around. A few lionesses were in the cave. They looked wounded, bloody, and tired. Kiara felt sorrow for her fellow lionesses. Kiara walked over to the closest lioness. It was Mairu.
"Mairu, are you alright?" Kiara asked her. She had many scratches and bites on her arms, back and legs. Some were grossly infected, it looked very painful.
"I'll be fine, it's not as bad as it looks. Though I wish we had some medicine."
Then Kiara remembered the medicine. It brought back the realization thatTthresh was dead, but she had to push that aside for now.
"Actually, I do have some medicine! I was preparing for you guys to come home and assumed there would be wounds, so I ordered some medicine to be made."
"Great thinking, Kiara! And I suppose that dead antelope was also your idea for our return?"
Kiara nodded with a huge smile. Mairu looked proud.
"I knew you would be a great queen."
Kiara dipped her head as thanks and felt a little blush. "I'll go get the medicine, I think Thresh was trying to get it here to me...but...umm I'll just go get it, I'll be right back." Kiara walked away from Mairu and glanced at the other lionesses in the den. Kanai was among them, along with Tima, Omaru, Sanu and Tamani. She had to remember to see if Kanai was okay when she returned with the medicine. She had a horrible fight with Death, and surely had horrible wounds.
Thinking of Death gave Kiara a shudder, but she ran out of the cave anyway.
Let's see…I told Thresh to run and get the medicine, and Kanai was hunting… And I went to tell Kanai to come back for a rest, and that's when I was attacked. That gave Thresh enough time at least to get the medicine ready. I should go see Rafiki.
Before she could run too far, she realized Rafiki was walking toward her. She met him. He was carrying the large leaf with the orange medicine in it. He looked kind of sad.
"Hello, Rafiki, I was just coming to see you."
"I know. Let me take dis to de cave for you." he said without emotion.
"Oh okay, thanks."
They walked the rest of the way back to the cave in silence. When they arrived, they went in the cave and Rafiki sat the medicine down by the nearest wounded lioness. It was Tamani. She was sleeping. Kiara didn't know if she should dismiss Rafiki, or what to do because he wasn't leaving. He was just staring seemingly nowhere. Kiara looked at him. He took a deep breath and then dipped his hand, with his long skinny digits, into the medicine.
"I knew it would happen. I just didn't know in time." he muttered just loud enough for Kiara to hear.
"Know what…?"
Rafiki rubbed the orange medicine onto the sleeping lioness's wounds.
"That something bad would happen. When Thresh came up to ask for medicine, I was busy, but something told me to make it. I was busy because there was a strange wind blowing dis way and I was trying to figure out what it meant." Rafiki paused to walk over to Tima to put medicine on her. She was also sleeping. Kiara followed an listened closely to what Rafiki had to say. He continued talking quietly as he rubbed on the medicine.
"It was a dark wind, and smelled strange. It promised something bad would happen, and it did. As I sent Thresh away, he went into battle…that killed him. I was completely unaware. I could have warned you all to take cover when I first got the bad wind.
"Rafiki…" Kiara said after a bit of silence. She didn't really know what to say. She never thought Rafiki would ever feel guilty about what fate did. "It's not your fault."
Kiara wasn't sure he heard her.
"I'm just getting old, huh Kiara? Well I'll let you finish up here." He then quickly and quietly took his leave.
That was weird. But I feel guilty about Thresh's death too…
Kovu walked into the cave a little later, and noticed Kiara starting to put medicine on Mairu now. He walked over to her.
"Need some help?" he offered.
"Yeah!"
He dipped his paw in the medicine and put it on Mairu's back. It was a deep gash.
"Thank you, you two. I feel so old with all these wounds." Mairu said.
"Mairu, I haven't heard the story of your journey yet! I really want to know some details."
"Well…" Mairu said solemnly, "I think your father should tell you."
"Yeah, Kiara, Simba will tell you." Kovu said with a bit of sad darkness in his voice.
"Oh…" Kiara said. "Okay."
What was so forbidden that Daddy has to tell me? It doesn't look like anyone wants to talk about it. Why? No one has died. Everyone is just a little hurt and tired, and that's it.
Kiara and Kovu finished up on Mairu, and then moved on to Kanai. She was breathing hard with her eyes closed, in a deep sleep. She had bad wounds from the fight with Death. There were bite marks on her shoulder, dangerously close to her neck. Scratches were everywhere else. She looked like the worse out of the wounded. It truly was a miracle that she was alive…but would she survive the blood loss? Kiara realized she should have asked Rafiki.
She dipped her paw in the medicine and pressed some on her wounds. She wondered if she could feel the sting in her sleep. Kiara knew Kanai was strong, and that she would be alright. She had to be for her cubs. A slight wonder of where the kids and Toni were came creeping up in Kiara's mind, but was quickly forgotten when Kovu toughed Kiara's cheek with a paw dabbed in medicine.
"Hey!" she protested. "Thanks." she said sarcastically. She put her paw in the medicine and wiped it on his mane. "There's something for you."
"Why thank you, dear!" he said as he was about to re-dip his paw, no doubt about to start a war with her but Sanu, laying near by, said,
"Stop wasting it! If you're going to throw it around, you might as well get over here and throw some on these scratches. They sting!"
Kovu and Kiara quit playing and with a giggle went to Sanu to apply the medicine. She had a very nasty-looking wound on her shoulder. It was wide and deep. Kiara bet it hurt a lot. Sanu flinched and closed her eyes when Kiara put medicine into it. Just then, Simba stepped into the cave. Tali was with him, and she looked very scared.
"Tali! Dad, what happened?" Kiara said as she briskly walked to them.
"Kiara, where's Mani?" Simba asked with urgency. "And Toni too. Have you seen them?"
"Oh my God, no! I assumed they made it back!"
"Tali just came back. Alone."