New Angles

Return To The Pridelands: pt. 10

~Episode twenty: Return To The Pridelands~

~Part Ten~

(AU; no Lion Guard competition; continued)

Kion led his team with his head up, but not quite held high, yet it was still an encouragement just the same. His step was fresher, and his stride was forward, and he seemed to move with less restraint.

He paused for a moment to look back at them when another presence addressed him.

"Kion."

As soon as he heard this voice, it seemed to sting him right in the heart as he braced himself.. But when he dared himself to look up, he found softer eyes than he'd first anticipated.

"Lion Guard,.." Simba addressed the group surrounding Kion. "Can you.. give us a moment?"

"Of course,.. your majesty." Fuli complied, nodding for her friends to follow her forward to stroll right on past their king; catching glances with Kion on the way by, as if to leave with him the sense of a 'you got this' mentality that he soon acquired with very minimal doubt but quite a bit of dread.

As soon as they had gone, Simba turned to Kion, and the young lion happened to notice his mother appear over the ridge to join his father.

Willing himself to approach them, he stepped with a careful poise as he made his way toward them slowing to a stop about a foot or two from them. The open wound across his nose had long since dried with blood, which stained the gold of his coat.. and the scar across his left eye and the grizz of his mane gave him a ruffed up look that appeared worse than it truly was.

Simba acquired a strong brow over his crimson eyes.. and his jaw tightened which Kion could almost feel in his bones. Simba stepped forward, and Kion's head lowered, almost bracing in waiting for what was to come next.

He was shocked however when a great warmth laid over his shoulders and his mother's head came up under his. Lifting it so she could lay a kiss across his cheek, even more to his surprise as both his parents hugged him close between them.

xxxx

A splash of clear blue water made him grunt, the sting setting in with a bite he could do without. But the warm cleanse of his mother's tongue seemed to appease it while cleaning his face at the same time. A couple long slow strokes across his nose seemed to suffice, and another splash over his head, made him shake till most of the water was scattered to the rich soil beneath him. Kion hardly dared to meet their gaze, agonizing over the biggest question in all of this..

"Why?" He finally spoke aloud earning both his parents direct gaze. "Why aren't you reprimanding me right now?"

"Did you really expect your father to reprimand you right when you were already down?" Nala shot back, which earned her a confused look.

"I would never be able to 'reprimand' you." Simba told him earnestly. "Not after all you've done for the Pridelands.. and all you've suffered in protecting it."

Kion wanted to start a response, but his father beat him to speaking the thoughts on his mind.

"Don't even think for a moment.. that I don't realize the kind of pressure this role has put on you over the years.." Simba said. "And all you've had to endure since receiving it."

"What?" Kion vocalized, somewhere between surprised and curious of the statement he'd just made.

"Your scar.. and the war you fought to receive it, only begins to explain your struggle." Simba said. "One I should've paid closer attention to." His troubled gaze fell from Kion's firmly.