Roar of Manipulation

Chapter 2: Confrontation

Hay everyone, sorry for the long wait in uploading the next chapter, but here it is now.
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Running, the was all that Kion was doing, all he could do, running. Running faster than Fuli, running away from the Tree of Life and away from Rani. He ran for what felt like hours, which was actually less than twenty minutes, his broken heart and mind just unable to process anything right. Finally, he stopped and flopped onto the ground, his shaking legs unable to support of the rest of his body. Now that he had stopped running, Kion's mind began to process what he had just overheard.

Rani, his queen, his friend, his mate had just admitted that she never actually loved him, but not to his face, she had admitted it to her brother, who she guilt-tripped into not telling him. The real sting though was that her whole fake romance for him was all for his roar, his roar, his damn roar, HIS GOD DAMNED MAGICAL ROAR. After thinking back to that, he screamed, he screamed in anguish, he screamed in heartbroken anguish. Kion put his face into his paws and cried. He couldn't believe this was happening, his mate saying she didn't actually love him for who he was as a person, but for a rare quality he had; this had to be some cruel bad dream it had to be, it had to.

In denial, Kion got and hold of himself and convinced himself that he was dreaming all this and that he was sleeping in the Tree of Life while Rani and the rest of the Night Pride were on their nightly routes. Kion pinched the most tender spot on his foreleg with the mark of the Tree of Life to make sure it hurt enough to wake himself up. To Kion's horror, it didn't work. Kion tried slapping himself awake, it didn't work either. Kion even tried slamming his face into the ground, but that still didn't work.

Kion, becoming very desperate and starting to freak out even more and not caring how much minimal or extensive bodily damage he did to himself to wake himself up from his nonexistent nightmare, he unsheathed his claws. He brought them to the same foreleg he had pinched and slowly dragged them down the leg, leaving scratches. Like the rest of his attempts, it didn't work and reality started to set itself back into Kion's mind as he stared at the bloody scratches with wide eyes.

"No, no, no, no!" Kion lamented as he got back down and started to cry and wail again.

After about twenty minutes, there were no more tears coming out of Kion's eyes, his tear ducts having become dryer than the Outlands in the long dry season. He looked around with his red puffy eyes to finally see where he was at. He was at the edge of the lands of the Tree of Life, at the pass where he and his friends had first encountered the Night Pride after Baliyo had attacked them, mistaking them for enemies, the fight ending with Rani pinning him. His thoughts now more focused on Rani, Kion growled. How could she do this to him after all he had done for her and the Tree of Life.

His love was genuine and in the end, she decided to just spit in his face. She had manipulated him, and not just him, she manipulated his friends, his family back home, her own family, and all the animals of the Tree of Life, she had lied to them all. Kion got back to his paws, wondering what he was going to do and how was he going to tell his friends this.

"Kion?" a voice suddenly addressed him from behind.

Startled, Kion jumped around to face whoever had addressed him. The Night Pride was in front of him, Rani leading them from the forefront. Kion's eyes slightly narrowed at the sight of her and his knees shook. The four brown lions were all looking at the yellow lion with concern, wondering why he was all the way out here alone.

"Kion, what are you doing out here." Nirmala asked, stepping forward.

Kion opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly a gasp escaped from Rani's mouth. She had noticed where Kion scratched himself. She began to walk towards him, never taking her eyes of the wound. Kion took a step back as she came towards him.