Kion: Fall from Grace (A Dark Kion Story)

Chapter 8: No Choice

"Another day," Kion tells himself as he pushes himself to stand after what was a less than satisfying sleep. He looked around and saw that everyone was still sleeping, which wasn't unusual, he was almost always the first one up.

He walked down the steps of Pride Rock and headed towards the Lion Guards new temporary meeting place, Flat Ridge Rock. As he passed by the lair, he could hear shuffling coming from inside, but decided to mind his own business and keep walking.

"Kion," a female voice called out from behind him. He turns to see Rani and Baliyo, both wide awake. "Baliyo and I would like to help you and the Lion Guard today."

"You sure? There's a lot of things that are much more fun than patrolling all day," he replied.

"We want to help, it's the best way to help out, go sightseeing, and get to know you, the guard and the Pride Lands animals the best," Baliyo replied enthusiastically.

"Alright, we've been busy lately so we can use the help, let's go," Kion replied.

"Let's go," Baliyo says as he raises his paw for a high five. Instantly, Kion drops down and hides his head under his paws, and body tensed up, as if it was expecting to take a hit. His body even shivered a bit, he remembered last time it happened, it hurt, a lot.

After a few moments, he realized there was no present danger, and he picked himself back up, and looked around sheepishly.

"Is everything..." Rani began.

"I'm fine...let's just go," he said as he looked away, embarrassed. From the shadows of the den, Queen Janna has observed the entire exchange, even Kion's unusual behavior. But she recognized the symptoms, she had healed plenty of animals who fell victim to the forced conditioning, their body's only forced on self preservation in those very specific moments. She sighed, she knew how hard it was to break the mental conditioning that Kion was suffering from, and could only pray for his life to get better. She walked back in the den and quickly lost herself in thought.

————————————————————————-

"Alright guys, Rani and Baliyo will be helping us out today," Kion informed his guard.

"Alright, this is going to be unbungalievable," Bunga said enthusiastically.

"Wow, thanks guys," Fuli said with a smile.

"This is going to be fun, there are lots of friendly animals here in the Pride Lands," Beshte says with a quick ear flap and smile of his own.

"Thank you for your assistance, your highnesses," Ono says with a bow.

"Ono, you don't have to use formalities," Rani replied. "We are no different than any of you, think of use as just friends visiting." The Lion Guard nods in understanding, putting a smile on Rani and Baliyo

"Alright, lets get work," Kion said as he motioned for the group to follow him.

————————————————————————

"There's four of them Kion, they've all fallen into the river!" Ono called out from above as he led the guard to their next mission.

"Janja again?" Rani huffed as she continued to follow the egret above.

"Most likely," Kion replied. "Alright here's the plan, Bunga and Ono, you guys should be able to handle Janja, Cheezi, and Chungu. The rest of us are going to grab those antelopes and pull them out of the river. Beshte you get one, Rani and Baliyo get one, Fuli you'll get one, and I'll get the last one."