when the wolves call

the lost heir

*Kopa pov*
My life has had a lot of ups and downs when I was a year old (shortly after Kion was born). I was attacked by Zira and thrown in a river. Everyone assumed I was dead, but I survived and met King, who helped me.

When I got washed up on the river bank, I was unconscious, so he pulled me to a cave, bandaged my wounds, and took care of me till I woke up.

When I woke up, I was terrified until I saw him smile at me. The first thing he said was, "Hey, I'm King." I nod, and he says, "Do you have a name." I try and talk but can't, so he says, "Don't worry about it... does it start with.... a K?" I was taken back by his guess, but I nod. He chuckles and says, "Really?" I nod again, and he says, "Then that's what I'll call you till you can talk." I smile, and he says, "Are you hungry?" I nod, and he gives me some food.

Once I was strong enough to walk, we started to look around. It turns out he got lost also. So we look around and find rivers, caves, plains, everything around us. I still can't talk, but I laugh at his jokes and learn a lot about him. He's a fun lion. He makes jokes and does pranks, but he's also pretty responsible.

It takes a few weeks for me to regain my voice, but once I do, I decide not to tell King about being a prince. So when I wake up first, I walk out of our cave and get a drink. When I'm done, I hear a twig snap then get pounced on. I freak out before realizing it was King, so I say, "Jeez, don't do that, bro." He laughs and says, "You can talk!" I say, "Yeah, my name's Kopa." He says, "Kopa... nice." I say, "So what are we doing today." He shrugs and says, "For now... absolutely nothing." I smile and say, "I like it."

Over the next few years, we grew up, and we didn't talk much about our past or families. But every once in a while, though, when we couldn't sleep, we'd talk about our families. We didn't go into detail, but I talked about missing my siblings and parents. And he talked about how he idolized his father. They apparently got separated during a fight, and he hasn't seen or heard from him since.

I don't know how long we were there, but I know I'm at least 17 because my mane has come in a lot. I like it with King in our jungle, but eventually we both get bored, and one late night King says, "Kopa, let's go find your home." I say, "Ha, good one." He says, 'I'm serious. You shouldn't be stuck here with me forever." I say, "What? I like having you around." He says, 'Then I'll go with you. But we're finding your home." I say, "Okay, fine." He smiles and says, "First thing tomorrow, we leave." I say, "Sounds good. So let's get some sleep." He nods and rolls over as I fall asleep.

At sunrise the next day, we walked down to the river and started walking upstream. It took us a few hours, but we eventually found the pridelands but decided to stay out for a few days because a lot of attacks have been happening, but we eventually decide to walk in. Where King just has to mess with the Zebras and we meet the lion guard.

But when Simba and I are in private, he explains that Kion went crazy and was banished then killed by wolves. I'm taken aback as I absorb the news. I say, "He went crazy? What does that mean?" He says, "He was convinced he was the son of Scar and wanted to kill me." I say, "Little Kion did... I can't believe that." He says, "He changed a lot after you disappeared."I say, "He's dead?" Simba nods and says, "I tried to help him, but he endangered all of us." I nod and say, "Is Kiara okay?" He says, "She's fine, but she's out with her mother right now." I ask, "How did she take it?" Simba says, "He started to scare her with how he acted, so she was okay with his banishment, but his death hurt her." I nod, and he pats me on the back.

A few minutes later, he says, "Kopa, can you bring King here, just him, though?" I nod and say, "Yeah." I walk out and tell King to go to Simba.

Over the next week, Simba tries to convince me to lead the lion guard, and I eventually cave. So he tells Fuli, and I'm happy to take this role, but Fuli isn't. So I let her lead them in fights cause she knows what she's doing. I don't. So everything goes well even after we find out about Scar's army.

It's never good knowing Scar's back, but what's worse is the outlanders are all working with him, so we are severely outnumbered. We decide to raise an army of pridelanders, but King doesn't fight. I don't ask why, but I can tell something's off.

It takes a few months to gather and train the army, but on the day of the battle, I'm confident we can win. And it goes surprisingly well until we reach his HQ. We take it slow, but they still got the jump on us. I'm immediately bit by a cobra across the eyes as the others fight off the hyenas. I toss the cobra into a rock. Then, out the corner of my eye, I see him in the flesh... Scar.

I immediately pounce onto him, and Bunga says, "Kill him Kopa end this." I get ready to, but I look into his eyes it's not fear or anger it's happiness, so I say, "What you so happy about!?" He says, "What, aren't you gonna kill me?"I say, 'No, that's what you want me to do." I drag him outside and point him east towards a desert, "What's gonna happen is you're gonna go due east 10,000 paces and live there." He says, "10,000 that's awful close." I say, "Fine make it 100,000." He says, "Fine, but I'll be back... and before I go tell [the] King, I said hi." I say, "Ha. Get outta here."

He walks away, and we watch him fade into the sunset. But Fuli asks, "How does he know King?" I say, "I think he meant Simba." She says, "Why would he say King then?" I say, "He sayed the king, right?" I look around, and Ono, Fuli, and Anga hear King, and the rest heard the king, so I shrug it off and start walking towards the pridelands.

We return to the pridelands as heroes. We celebrate all throughout the night, but never once did I see King. And the whole night, I could tell something was wrong with me. So I go to rafiki and learn about Ushari's poison, and the only cure is the tree of life's healing. So we head off the next morning all of us, but again King doesn't.

Something is clearly wrong with him, but I guess he's just worried. So the guard and I leave for the tree of life that morning. The scar hurt so bad, and it was controlling my mind, making me yell and lose control, but we made it to the tree in just a few days with the help of a traveler. When we get there, Kion and the Prince meet us, and you know the rest.

Hey guys, Jedi here, and I hope you enjoyed this it was weird to write, trying to balance King's idiocy (no offense) and responsibility, but I like how it was handled and if you want more of King and Kopa I might make a mini-series later on (I need to know if I should though). But anyways, have a good day/night, Jedi out!!!

Fun fact: I got that message, and this one does less than 900 words through writing.

And more shout outs (join Wills Discord for a shout out and to talk with me King, Will, Crystal, Lioness, Belle, etc)
Lycan8D