"Well, this is nice," said Fuli, letting her feline form droop along the gentle slope that made up the rear of Pride Rock. The flowering acacia's formed a roof that shielded them from the otherwise blistering sun, though on occasion a gust of wind would part the leaves just enough for a ray of light to pierce through and assault their senses. "Peace and quiet, for once."

"Yeah," said Kion, though in truth he would have preferred it to be a little less quiet. Scar and Simba had ventured off into the Outlands, taking most of the lionesses with them on their hunt for the hyenas while searching for Bunga and Ushari, both of whom were still missing. Shenzi and Janja were both injured and shouldn't pose much of a threat to them, especially with Scar himself leading the hunt, but still. There was something about the whole situation that bothered him immensely.

Fuli gave him a knowing look. "Oh no, I know that face you're making. You're wrapping yourself in knots worrying about others again, aren't you?"

"I'm not making a face," Kion protested. "I'm just looking to the future, that's all. You know, like a captain of the Guard is supposed to." It was a dereliction of his duties really, to even be out here with Fuli without telling anyone, but he had to allow himself at least that much to avoid going insane.

She let out a long sigh, the kind that heralded the return of an old and worn-out argument. "Kion, you only just got back from the dead after your last mission to the Outlands. Can't you let someone else get hurt on your behalf, for once?" Her lips twisted into a sly smile as she sidled up closer to him. "Although, I have to admit that your concern for others is very kingly. Have you ever considered convincing your father that it ought to be you who succeeds him as his heir? I could help you start a coup, if you like."

"Uh," said Kion. Fuli was brushing up against him very closely now, and the fuzzy softness of her fur was rubbing against his brain and rearranging his insides as a low purring sound emanated from her –

"Aha, I knew it!" The two leaped up in panic, only to find Kiara standing behind them. She clambered up onto the nearest rock and looked down at them with an imperial gaze. "Just as I thought, Fuli. While we watch you play the part of a loyal and cuddly kitten, but all the while you're working to corrupt my brother and turn him against me. Yet your efforts are in vain, vile vixen, for now that the king is gone I shall rule Pride Rock as queen of the dawn!"

Fuli crouched low, her tail beating the ground as a feral grin crept over her face. "Oh, a vixen, am I? Well, you're not queen yet, Kiara the Cruel. Have at you!" She pounced at Kiara, who shrieked and went down giggling, and was soon on her back and laughing as she begged for mercy.

Kion laughed along as he watched them roll down the hill, torn between wanting to join in on the fight and holding on to what remained of his dignity. He was saved from his indecision when a white egret swooped down next to him, causing him to jump in surprise.

"There you are, Kion!" Ono seemed to remember himself as he landed, because he quickly stumbled into some sort of winged salute. "I mean, uh, I would like to deliver a message to you, Prince Kion. Sir."

Kion rolled his eyes. "It's all right, Ono. I'm not mad at you anymore." Ono had been acting as his father's majordomo in the short time since Zazu died, and Kion could not find it in himself to be angry about him going behind his back anymore. The whole affair had turned out to be one of those things that felt dramatic at the time, but no longer seemed to matter after being put into perspective.

"Oh, good." Ono instantly reverted back to his normal self. "In that case, uh, remember when you told me to set up a network of aerial scouts to keep an eye on the border to the Outlands? Well, I just got word back from the vultures, and they told me that hyenas were seen entering the Pridelands. They lost track of them for a while, but then the hyenas went straight back in the direction they came from."

"Back to the Outlands? Without hunting any animals first?" Kion got up and started moving back up the hill, heading for the ledge that circled the side of Pride Rock. The others must have noticed the urgency in his movements, because they hurried to catch up with him. "Does my mother know about this?"

"Yes sir, I mean, Kion. I told the queen because I found her first, and not because… you know." Ono gave him a nervous look as he fluttered beside him, his wings beating rapidly to try and stay on eye-level with Kion. "She said that, ah… Since you're still injured from your last expedition, she said to tell you that she took the remainder of her huntresses with her to warn the king and your granduncle."

He froze. "She what?"

With all of their forces united in one place, there should be no difficulty in defeating the remaining hyenas, but something felt off about the whole situation. He could not explain why, but there was something terribly, terribly wrong.

Fuli looked no less shocked. "Ono, that's madness. The king and queen can't both be in the Outlands at the same time: If something happened to them, the regency would fall to–"

"Me," said Kiara. "As the eldest child, I am queen regent while the king and queen are away. Huh."

Kion and Fuli both stared at her for a second, before turning their attention back to Ono. "Look," he said, "did your scouts say where the hyenas were going exactly?"

"Yes sir," Ono said, not bothering to correct himself this time. "It looked like they were heading in the direction of the Outlands' western desert, the same place you ended up after using the Roar."

"Scar's old base," Kion said, cursing inwardly. He started running towards the entryway. "If Shenzi and Janja get their paws on Scar's crimson fruits, they can use them to create a whole army of enlightened warriors. Plus Bunga's parents still live there. We have to go stop them before it's too late!"

The trio was about to storm off when a voice called out behind them, forcing them to a halt. "Hold on," said Kiara. "Aren't you forgetting something? You can't leave without the queen's permission."

Fuli frowned at her. "Kiara, this isn't a game. If Shenzi gets her hands on those fruits, or worse, if they manage to kill the king and queen, it could spell the end for the entire kingdom. This is no time to be irresponsible."

"Oh, irresponsible, am I?" She lifted her paw and started carefully inspecting her nails. "I thought the queen had made it quite clear that she is to take care of matters while the rest of you stay here. If you go running off without permission, wouldn't that make you the irresponsible ones?"

"Kiara, you can't…" Kion opened his mouth, and then shut it again. "Requesting permission for an expedition into the Outlands to secure crucial resources and protect the king and queen. Your highness."

She grinned. "That's better." She sat down on a flat rock and neatly folded her tail around her forepaws. "All right then, please explain to me what is to prevent the enemy from sneaking around and attacking me while I'm alone at Pride Rock if you leave right now."

Kion exchanged a look with Fuli. "Ah…"

"My scouts would notice and get help," Ono said doubtfully. "It's pretty unlikely they'd manage to get here without being spotted."

"But you don't know that," Kiara said, leaning forward with an eager grin. "It's clear then: The only responsible thing to do is for me to come with you, so you can protect me."

"No," said Kion.

She shrugged. "Then you can't leave. Either take me with you or stay: Those are your options."

The three guardsmen huddled together. "We can drop her off with the hippos along the way," said Fuli. "Beshti will keep her safe while we're gone, and she'll have had her fun."

"I don't like it," said Kion. "But I also know it's pointless to try and argue with my sister." He turned around and sighed. "Fine. But while you're with me you follow my orders, got it?"

Kiara leaped up on the spot. "Yes! I mean, you've made a wise decision, Captain."

"Yeah, yeah." Kion shook his head but did not waste any more words. He leaped down the entryway with nearly the same lightness as Ono and hit the ground running. The knot in his stomach slowly untangled itself as he ran: The situation was no better than before, and he might even have made it worse, but somehow it still felt better to be doing something than to sit and wait. He closed his eyes and allowed his instincts to drive him forward, revelling in the freshness of the wind as it blew through his mane.

Mum, dad, I'm coming. Against whatever threat awaits... I am ready.

"A messenger," said Ono, and Kion cursed as he nearly tripped over his own paws. They had barely even left Pride Rock behind them. "It's an eagle. Looks like its coming to meet us."

Just as Ono had said, a bird was swooping down, though to Kion's less keen eyes it was no more than a black spot against the sun. Ono rushed up to meet it halfway so the rest of the group could keep running through the open savannah. After a while Ono swooped back down to their level.

"Jasiri found Bunga," he said, causing Kion to nearly trip and fall again. "She's back in the Pridelands and heading this way!"

"How are they? Is he all right? Did she find Ushari too?" The strange cobra was not a childhood friend of his like Bunga, but they had still all fought together, and that made him Kion's responsibility. Though technically Zazu had been in charge that mission, he considered. His mood darkened at the thought.

"I don't know," said Ono. "About Ushari, I mean. I know that Bunga's unconscious, but that doesn't tell us much. He was apparently still in one piece though."

Fuli shook her head in wry disbelief. "Leave it to Bunga to somehow escape an erupting volcano while unconscious. I swear, that boy is made of vines and thorns and leadwood, held together by poorly made decisions that you still regret years after."

"And bad lunch decisions that you regret an hour later," said Ono. "He definitely reminds me of those."

Kiara watched them bemusedly. "You have some mightily odd friends, little brother."

"You don't know the half of it," said Kion. They picked up the pace, adjusting their movement in the direction that the messenger had indicated. The vegetation slowly grew greener and denser as they ran, and their exertions were rewarded when a dark shape appeared from between the acacia's. Kion breathed a sigh of relief. "Jasiri!"

"Hi Kion." The large hyena was carrying Bunga on her back, and looking none too enthused about it. She grunted as they approached, and sagged through her hind legs until the grey honey badger slid off and landed none-too-gently on the soil. "Fuli, Ono." She squinted her eyes. "Lioness."

"Oh wow, an actual hyena," said Kiara, breaking out into a grin. "My name is Kiara, and you find yourself within my realm. Please, make yourself at home."

Kion ignored them. "What's wrong with Bunga? He doesn't look too badly injured." Aside from the scorched fur and flesh which made him smell somehow even worse than usual. And the bitemarks.

"He was bitten by a venomous snake," said Jasiri, not taking her eyes off Kiara.

Fuli frowned. "I thought honey badgers were immune to–"

"Twenty-seven times."

Kion's heart caught in his chest. Venomous bites, and no sign of Ushari. He realized at last what had been bothering him that entire time. "Jasiri, are you telling me that he…"

"Betrayed us? Yeah."

Ono stared blankly at them. "Bunga betrayed us?"

"Not Bunga," said Kion. "Ushari." That was why Shenzi had beaten Zazu so easily – Kion had left him alone with Bunga against not three but four powerful enemies. That was how Shenzi had known to find them there in the first place. Kion gritted his teeth. "He must have planned it all right from the start. He never even pretended to be on our side, even when he was talking to me… I'm such an idiot!"

Fuli looked at him in alarm. "But that means–"

"I have to warn the others," he said, sitting down and doing his best to calm his warring thoughts.

Kiara seemed utterly lost. "I thought we were already trying to catch up to the others."

"No, he's doing his thing," said Jasiri. "You know, his whole 'I am so special I can talk to the gods and have them wait in line to answer' thing. Best to let him focus, or else he gets real grouchy."

Kion closed his eyes, doing his best to block them all out. He reached out, concentrating on his connection to Scar, on everything they had gone through together and on the conflicting emotions that welled up whenever he thought about the curmudgeonly old lion. He thought about their time spent training together, his frustration at being thrown around having his beliefs so casually mocked. He thought about trying to save Zazu only to learn that it was hopeless, and the subsequent fight they'd had.

When the familiar line from his stomach snapped taut, he was at a loss for a moment as to what he should even try to communicate. He could radiate a raw sense of danger, but then Scar might interpret that as Kion himself being in danger and run back while Simba and Nala kept going by themselves. In the end, there was nothing to it but to communicate exactly the way he genuinely felt: Worry. Panic. Fear.

"There," he said at last. "I think Scar got the message. I only hope he knows what to do with it."

Kiara looked at him oddly. "Scar? Why not send the message directly to father? Or mother?"

"It's easier to make a connection to Scar," he mumbled.

"Oh,"she said. "Oohhhh. Wow, he's not going to like it when Scar tells him, huh? He's gonna be all…" she took a deep breath and spoke in as booming a voice as she could: "Why does my son like you better than me, Scar? You have been corrupting him again, haven't you?"

"Hold on," said Jasiri, before anyone could react. "You're saying the king of the Pridelands is that insecure about himself? And you – you're the leader while he's away? You're the queen?"

Kiara grinned. "Sure am."

"We find it pretty hard to believe too," said Fuli. She shared a look with Ono, who only shrugged.

"Seriously?" Jasiri faced Kion with none of her usual smirks and easy laughter. "This is the mighty monarchy you couldn't stop bragging about? This is where all your talk of honour, tradition, and responsibility is coming from?"

"Ah…"

She waved her paw angrily at Kiara, who seemed only mildly put-off by the insult. "This is the circle of life we've been fighting to protect? This is what I fought my own kind for to preserve?"

"Janja was threatening your clan too," Kion protested. "You're not being fair."

"That's not the point," she snarled. "You tried to get us to come to the Pridelands because everything is so much better over here. You told my sister to bring her children here so they'd be safe. And all the while the person responsible for protecting the Pridelands is this, this lioness?"

Fuli blinked. "Wait, aren't you female? I'll admit it's pretty hard to tell, but…"

"It's different with hyenas," Ono explained. "Their females have an, uh…" He coughed. "A thingy."

"Ohh," said Kiara, her eyes gleaming with delight. "So then you're actually more like… a boy-girl hybrid?"

"No!" Jasiri growled at her. "I am a perfectly ordinary female – it's the rest of you who are the freaks!"

"Enough," said Kion, wishing his claws were long enough to stab out his own eardrums. "We don't have time for this, and even if we did I still wouldn't want to hear about it. Ono, my mother is in danger. Can you catch up with her and warn her about Ushari? And convince her to come back to me if you can."

"On it," said Ono, already taking flight.

He turned towards the others. No point in asking Fuli if she was with him, so that just left…

"Jasiri." He took a deep breath. "Listen, I know you're upset about everything that's happened, and for what it's worth, I'm truly sorry about us having to fight Shenzi. And I get it if you're not really sure whose side you're supposed to be on right now. But my mum and dad are in danger, and I need your help."

Jasiri stared back at him for what felt like a long a time, but then she let out a sigh as her features slowly softened. "All right, but only because it is you asking, Kion. After all, I suppose you're not so bad, all things considered…. for someone who's a lion, a male and a Pridelander."

He grinned. "That's the spirit. Come on, guys, let's go save the day!" A lone cheer went up behind him. "Except Kiara, that is. We're still dropping her and Bunga off with the hippos."

"Aw."

The four of them hurried on, Jasiri once more carrying Bunga on her back even though nobody had asked her to. After running for a while, a vulture swooped down and headed straight towards them.

"Oh come on," groaned Kion. "Now what?"

The vulture brushed down atop a branch of the nearest acacia, moving with a certain elegance that belied its gangly, long-necked form. He stared down his beak, examining each of them in turn. "Where is Ono?"

"I sent Ono on a mission," said Kion, speaking up before any of the others had the chance to say something undiplomatic. "You may deliver your message directly to me." It was Mzingo, he realized – the leader of the vultures himself.

"Very well." Mzingo shifted position on his branch, causing the leaves to rustle softly. "My parliament and I spotted a cackle of hyenas moving swiftly in the direction of the ravine in the eastmost part of the Outlands." He peered down at Jasiri, whose eyes widened in alarm. "I seem to recall there is an oasis located in that general area?"

"My clan!" Jasiri half turned to run, but stopped to face Kion with a pleading expression. "We have to go help them."

"Jasiri, stop. Janja has no reason to attack your clan right now; this is obviously a trap!" Kion once again felt that growing panic in his chest, as if everything were about to go horribly wrong. "Besides, I thought you said you trusted your family to take care of themselves."

"If it's a trap then he has every reason to attack them," she said. "And I said that when it was just Janja and his clan. They don't stand the slightest chance against Shenzi!" She was looking him in the eye with a fiery desperation, begging him to understand. "Please, Kion. I need your help."

"I – I can't," he said, mirroring her expression. "My mum and dad are in danger. Jasiri, please…"

For just one second he could see the disappointment on her face as her expression fell, but then she turned and ran without saying another word.

"Jasiri," he called after her, way too softly for her to hear. "Don't–"

"Let her go," said Fuli, moving closer as she watched the hyena go alongside him. "She's got her problems, and we've got ours. Let her deal with her own kind."

"Her problems are our problems," Kion snapped. Sisi ni Sawa: We're the same. He rounded on Mzingo, who was still perched on his branch, watching silently. "What the hell are you still doing here?"

The vulture raised one eyebrow, looking none too impressed. "There is still the small matter of reimbursement left to be discussed. Young Ono promised us that that our services would be rewarded with the king's gratitude. I was hoping to find out in what exact terms this gratitude might be expressed."

Kion let out a low growl, finding his patience approaching rock bottom. "I'm sure some kind of arrangement can be made between my father and the vultures, after he returns."

"I see," said Mzingo, his expression perfectly neutral. "Well then, I shall convey your message to the others." He lifted one black wing as if to bid them goodbye, and then took off, vanishing through the leaves.

"Strange guy," Kiara mused.

"I guess I just attract them," Kion bit out. He squeezed his eyes shut and breathed deeply. "Let's just go to the hippo's and get this over with." He picked up Bunga by the scruff of his neck and tossed the honeybadger over his shoulders. He did not weigh much, but it was difficult to stop him from sliding off.

"I'll go after her," said Fuli.

Kion blinked. "What?"

"I'm the fastest in the Pridelands, and I already know where her clan lives," she said. "If it really is a trap, I'll be able to spring it, escape, and still get back to you in time."

"But, I thought you said…"

"No, you're right," she said. "Her problems are our problems too. We're all fighting the same enemy, and we need every bit of help we can get right now." She smiled wryly. "You're not gonna tell me you can't go on without me, are you? I'll smack you if you do."

"I won't," he said, not quite able to hide his own grin. "Go on then, soldier. Don't get yourself killed."

She smirked. "Please. Death's not fast enough to catch up with me."

She vanished in a blur of wind and feline grace, and then it was just Kion and his sister that remained, with Bunga still being carried on his back. The two of them resumed their run through the savannah, keeping a calm but steady pace. Kiara seemed quieter than before, which probably had something to do with his earlier outburst. He would have to apologize to her and Fuli for losing his patience, later.

Then again, they'd probably just tease me by saying I should yell at people more often, he thought dryly.

"So, I guess it's just us now," Kiara said, breaking the silence. "Kind of funny though, isn't it?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, the whole reason I came with you is because it was too dangerous for us to all be split up," she said. "And yet now it's just the two of us left. It's funny how things turn out sometimes."

He stared at her for one second, and then another. She stared back at him, blankly.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, the realization of what had been bothering him that entire time finally clicked into place. The way events had been shaping up, coincidence piling onto coincidence with no sign of stopping: Shenzi showing up at the worst possible time to attack them, right before Ushari told him to chase after Jasiri and just after convincing them to go in the cave in the first place. Or rather, allowed himself to be convinced by the others, after making sure to be the first to point out that it might be trap.

The way Ushari had snapped at him back at Scar's cave, always apologizing for his short temper. "He never even pretended to be on our side even when I talked to him," he remembered thinking. It had almost been reassuring to think that his enemy had at least not been smart enough to hide his foul temperament.

He could once again hear that one rock falling back at the ravine, so much like the thoughts that were finally falling into place. That sense of being followed, being spied on the whole time. "Guys, I found an evil-doer," Bunga had shouted triumphantly, as he held the red snake aloft. "You could say he is the spymaster of our group," Zazu had informed them. "You have some mighty odd friends there, Ushari," Jasiri had remarked as the skinks left to inform Shenzi and prepare the ambush.

All of it, all the things he already knew added up to something which he should have long ago realized:

The situation has changed.

I'm not fighting Janja anymore.

The enemy is smart.

He dove for Kiara right as he heard the rustling of wind behind him. He raised a wall of earth around them with his will only for it to burst apart as something crashed into it from outside, hurling the two of them through the tall grass and into the dirt with an unseen force. He looked up, dazed, and found himself gazing up at a dozen grey and tattered shapes that stared down at them from the trees. Mzingo was foremost amongst them, looking down his beak with harsh and coldly neutral eyes.

"King Ushari sends his regards," he said, as the grass and trees ignited all around him.