Kion, Kiara and the others had gotten surprisingly far, without running into any other outlanders, which they greatly appreciated. But they didn't encounter any pridelanders either, which they didn't like as much.

Kion looked around. The pridelands had turned into a wasteland. How could he have let that happen? It was his duty, to protect the pridelands at all costs. And now everything had been turned into ash, his parents were dead, two members of the guard were dead and he didn't even want to imagine, how many other pridelanders had died. Maybe that's why he had lost the roar. Because he had failed to protect the pridelands.

"This is my fault", he said, while looking forward. They had reached the outer parts of the pridelands. The fires had been focused in the center, so this area was mostly fine, though this could still change.
"No, it's not!", Kiara immediately responded. "And this is not the time to talk about this. When we get out of here, we can take a look, at what went wrong, but right now, we just need to get away and for this to happen, we need to be quiet."

The others took her words to heart and didn't say anything. They kept a sharp eye on their surroundings. They had been surprised enough times already and did not need more encounters with outlanders.

"Look, tracks", Tiifu whispered and pointed to the ground.
"Looks like we aren't the only ones, who try to escape the pridelands that way", Zuri stated.
"I told some lionesses and the rest of the guard to escape to the backlands", Kion mentioned and shifted on Kiaras back, to get a better look at the tracks. "We should try to find them there. Hopefully, there will be some other pridelanders as well."
"Sounds good", Kiara said. "We should be quiet again though." She didn't question Kion's use of the term 'rest of the guard'. Apparently, he had lost some good friends, beside his parents, which could explain, why he was currently taking the situation worse, than Kiara was. But then again, he had been out there for most of the night and had probably seen, what the outlanders had done, while Kiara had spent most of her time inside the cave.

Kiara was right about that conclusion. As they kept walking, Kion's thoughts kept going back to all deaths, that had been caused that night. Kiara did tell him, that it wasn't his fault. But it was. He had resurrected Scar and now, that the attack finally came, he had failed to stop it. The pridelands had been lost and so many animals had died.

Kion couldn't allow this to stay that way. It was to late, to stop Scar and the outlanders, but he could make sure, that they couldn't enjoy their victory. As soon as he could, he would gather the rest of the pridelanders and take back the pridelands. Scar would never win and all deaths would be avenged.

Kion was so lost in thought, that he didn't notice Tiifu walking up to Kiara and looking at his shoulder. She gasped and everyone looked at her.
"Your lion guard mark has disappeared as well", she said, which caused everyone to look at Kions shoulder.
"What the...", Kion said startled and accidentally almost fell off of Kiara.
"Careful, Kion", she said and shifted him back into a better position. She looked at his shoulder. "Why did it disappear?", she asked.
"I don't know", Kion said, then looked at Tiifu. "What do you mean with, it disappeared as well?" Tiifu showed him her shoulder.
"Zuri's mark and mine as well just were suddenly gone", she explained.

"Well, as Kiara said, we should focus on getting out of here first", Kion said. "We can worry about that later." As much as the disappearance of the marks of the guard confused everyone, they had to agree with him.

As they came closer to the border to the backlands, they started to walk faster.
"Guys, when Mo-...", Tiifu started, then abruptly stopped, before continuing. "When Mom and I heard the outlanders, they did talk about some of them staying at the border, to prevent pridelanders from escaping that way. We need to be careful about that."
"Do you know, how many outlanders?", Kiara asked her and Tiifu nodded.
"I think it's just two of them, they seemed to be lions though", she said.
"We must try to avoid them. We aren't in any shape to fight right now", Kiara decided. "If it is just two of them, we should be able to manage that."

They stuck close to the brush, in order to stay hidden. This caused them to move slower, but they were at less risk of being spotted yet again. Kiara suddenly stopped and gestured to the others to be quiet.
"Somebody is nearby", she whispered and then listened, trying to hear a clue, about where this animal was. She didn't hear anything, but she was certain, that her feelings were correct.

Suddenly she was thrown to the side and out in the open, with Kion falling off of her. She let out a surprised yelp and hurried to get back up. Her opponent growled at her and bared his teeth, before widening his eyes and staring at her surprised.

"Kiara?", he asked her, not having expected to see her.
"Kovu?", Kiara asked right back at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I'm here, because I have to stop everyone trying to escape and...", he stopped and looked at her, realising, who he was talking to. "Oh,... I... I...", he stuttered, not knowing, what to say to her. His pride was attacking the pridelands with the other outlanders right now. They were enemies.

"Kiara, are you alright?", Tiifu asked, who jumped out of the cover and towards her, followed by Zuri, who looked nervous, but also kind of annoyed, that they had encountered yet another outlander.
"I'm okay, I think", Kiara responded and looked towards Kion, who was trying to get up, but wasn't succesful. "Go and get Kion", she told her and Tiifu nodded, walking towards him.

"I'm glad, you're alright", Kovu said hesitantly.
"No thanks to your family and the other outlanders", Kiara replied coldly and Kovu flinched and looked away.
"I didn't have any say in this. I'm sorry."
"Both of my parents died, my father killed by Zira and this is all you have to say?", Kiara growled at him quietly.
"He did kill my father. I guess it's even now", Kovu stated, but he didn't look at her. He couldn't look her in the eye.
"The hyenas killed him, not my father. And he only fought Scar, because he had killed Mufasa, my grandfather, to gain the throne", Kiara answered angrily and Kovu looked at her surprised.

"Wait, what?", he asked and tried to take the information in, he had just received. Kiara huffed.
"I guess Zira didn't tell you this part of the story", she said and looked back towards Pride Rock.
"Kiara, we should leave", Kion said, now on Tiifu's back. Kiara looked at Kovu again, who currently looked like he was struggling with himself. Then he pointed towards a direction.
"Go that way. Nuka earlier went after a cheetah and should be somewhere else, so you won't encounter him."

Kiara nodded and looked to the others.
"Go, I'll be right behind you."
"Are you sure, shouldn't we wait?", Tiifu asked and Kiara shook her head.
"It won't take long", she responded and watched the others hesitantly leave, before she turned back to Kovu. "Why do our families have to be so complicated?", she asked and started crying.
"Woah, easy there, Kiara. Easy there", Kovu said and rushed over to her. She put her head onto his shoulder and her tears stained his fur.
"Why Kovu? Why?", she repeated between two sobs. Kovu inhaled deeply, before he replied.
"I don't know. I wish it wasn't that way." He hesitated, before asking. "What you said about my father... is it true?"
"I think. At least that's the way everyone tells it in the pridelands", Kiara responded.

She swallowed hardly and took a few steps back.
"I should go, I don't want the others to get worried", she said and looked away, before turning her gaze back to Kovu. He nodded.
"Be careful", he replied. "Maybe we can see each other again. During better circumstances, I mean." Kiara looked at him, an old, but also kind of unfamiliar feeling in her chest. Why was she feeling that in his presence. Shouldn't she hate him, for what his family had done to her?
"Maybe", she replied and ran off, after the others.

The thoughts of the two stayed on the other and the conversation, they had just had. Both weren't exactly sure, what to make of it. But what was sure, was, that they would be thinking about it, for a long time.

03.08.21

Kiara and Kovu met each other again. It probably went different, as they would have imagined it.

So, this was the last of the chapters, that I wrote. I'll try to upload more often again, but again, I won't make any promises. How did you like the chapters? Were they good? Any writing errors?

Until the next time