A Dark Secret

Chapter 9

"NO!" Kion screamed just as the crashing waves brought her underneath the water.

His eyes searched for her wildly as the wave hit, but to no avail. The rain poured and the waves raged, but Fuli's body didn't resurface. He looked at the flood, tempted to jump in after her. She did the same for me! He sprung off the land he was on, but instead of a long jump like Fuli had made, he ended up tumbling down the ravineside before eventually hitting the water. The flood had begun to slow as he swam, looking for her desperately. The water got lower as the flood drowned out through the ravine's opening somewhere.

Fuli!" he called. There was no reply. "Fuli!" He looked around the ravine, hoping to find her. "Fuli!" His voice echoed throughout the ravine.

Then there she was. Her golden spotted tail was visible from behind a rock. He rushed over, relived. He then passed the rock and she was revealed to be laying in was a pool of blood. Her body was motionless.

A jolt of horror struck him. "Fuli?" He nudged her. "Fuli, wake up." His plea wasn't answered. "C'mon, wake up. Please! We have to go! We have to go to the Tree of Life. Fuli please wake up." A wave of realization hit Kion harder than any enemy ever had. "Fuli? No! No this can't be happening!" Kion wailed in denial. "Fuli, please wake up. Please." By then, he knew it was hopeless but he couldn't admit it. "Y-you promised you'd stay by my side forever! You have to wake up!" Kion said through tears while continuously nudging her. "Y-you can't be gone! You're just... sleeping..!" Kion sobbed. But by this moment he knew Fuli was gone.

She completed her journey through the Circle of Life saving him.

"No..." he whispered silently, voice trembling. Tears ran down his face. He never in his entire life imagined that Fuli would ever... "I'm... so sorry..." he murmured in between sobs. His tears fell from his cheeks onto her blood stained pelt.

Kion suddenly heard a low growl. It came from another cheetah. It gasped at the sight of Fuli's body.

"It killed her!" The cheetah exclaimed. Then more cheetahs appeared. "It killed her!" it exclaimed again before it started barreling towards Kion, fury in its blue gaze. Kion summoned up all his remaining strength and ran as fast as he could out of the ravine. Kion ran and ran and ran up the rocks until he reached the top. The sky was clearing and small pockets of blue were now visible. He wasn't looking where he was going and he bumped into something. He then looked up and saw Beshte. Bunga, Anga, and Makini were with him, Ono riding on Beshte's head.

They all looked surprised and relieved to see Kion.

"Kion, you're okay!" Bunga immediately threw his arms around him.

Kion couldn't return the embrace; just stare out into space with trembling breaths. "Kion...?" Beshte asked. "Your face. You're..."

Kion felt his chest beginning to close in.

"Now we gotta find Fuli," Anga said before spreading her wings.

"FULI'S GONE!" Kion screamed. All eyes fell on him, shocked.

"W-what do you mean?" Beshte asked as tears were starting to pour down Kion's cheeks.

"I-I got caught in the... f-flood and... F-Fuli jumped in to... s-save me... a-and she shoved me up to dry land before the land we were on fell into the flood and... she fell in too... and I went down to the ravine and... and saw..." Kion couldn't finish as he burst into tears, the image replaying again and against in his mind. It was his fault. She had been saving him.

Fuli... I'm so... so sorry...