Heavy is the Head [Kion] ✔️

[10]

CHAPTER TEN
the broken hearted

Kovu could remember the time before his life turned upside down, long before Kiara and even Zira came into his life. They were merely fuzzy memories now, but Kovu could distinctly remember their warmth, so different from the cold he felt now.

His and Vitani's parents had been murdered by Scar during his reign, just a few short days after their births. He couldn't remember what they looked like or even their names. All he knew was that they were traitors.

That's what he'd been told.

Zira was all Kovu ever had in a mother. He'd looked up to her, even loved her despite that all Kovu's existence meant to Zira was revenge. She had taken them in and raised them as her henchmen, prepared them to destroy Simba and his family. That was all Kovu had ever known.

Until Kiara came along.

It was never Kovu's intention to meet her, much less fall in love with her and especially not so deeply. Somehow over the weeks they spent together talking and playing in the fields, hunting and watching the stars, Kiara had ensnared his heart and even long after her death, it remained in its prison. It ached with her absence and with her memory alike, like needles were being poked through his chest and he couldn't breathe.

"Do you ever wonder what the future will be like?" Kiara asked as they watched the sun set.

Kovu turned to her. "No," he admitted after a minute. "Zira... my life was always set in stone: what I would do, what I would become. I never thought about anything else."

Kiara frowned, her face pulling into an expression of sadness. "That sucks."

Kovu huffed a laugh, ignoring the pang of guilt in his chest. "It doesn't matter."

"It does though," Kiara said, rolling over onto her side to face him. "What do you want, Kovu? What do you want to be? What do you want to do?"

Kovu watched her carefully. Her expression didn't flinch, eyes set in a determined stare. Finally, he sighed. "I suppose you have an idea, princess?"

Kiara rolled her eyes and lay back down. She looked... downtrodden. "I guess I'm not one to talk. My path has been laid out too. I dream though... dream about freedom."

This time it was Kovu who frowned. "Freedom? What would you need to be free from?"

"Responsibility," Kiara said. "The crown. Leadership. Being queen."

"What's so bad about royalty?" Kovu wondered. "You're at the top of the food chain - literally."

"It's a prison," Kiara said with a tone of bitterness. "An inescapable prison. I can't do what I want or be who I want — so I dream."

Kovu frowned. "You really don't want to be queen?"

"No," Kiara whispered, looking around for prying ears as though what she was saying was against the law, "but if I don't lead, who will?"

"Your brother?"

Kiara chuckled. "Kion? King? Sure. Besides, I don't want that for him. He should be able to choose what he wants to do with his life, who he wants to marry, everything."

Kovu blanched. "Marry?"

"Yep," she scoffed softly, "I've never even met my betrothed."

"What?!"

"Right!" Kiara laughed.

They fell into silence as Kovu processed Kiara's words. He couldn't believe that she was betrothed!