Faith in You

Chapter 1 - Meeting an Outsider

She was born long before Simba's next heir, Kiara; though, she was, in fact Simba's daughter too. He was borne of King Simba and one of his lionesses, a pale brown female with bright blue eyes, brighter than Queen Nala's, and her name was Kawaida.

As Kawaida hugged her firstborn cub in her arms, she purred and smiled sweetly when it rubbed its eyes and looked up at her. Kawaida nearly burst into tears when she realized that it was not only a beautiful little girl, but that it also looked just like her.

"Oh, my little Imani…you're so beautiful, and I can already tell that you're going to grow up VERY happy," Kawaida softly sobbed with joy, as she nuzzled her cub, who mewed and pawed at her mother's muzzle.

As two weeks passed, little Imani proved to be an adorable and joyful cub, as she got along very well with the other lion cubs, and even though she wasn't the daughter of hi true mate, even King Simba had grown to love her, and he didn't mind when Imani wanted to cuddle or play with him.

"Isn't she just beautiful, Your Highness?" Kawaida asked the father of her firstborn, as Imani slept curled up in a ball in Simba's arms.

"Yes, she is. She looks just like you," Simba stated softly while smiling sweetly down at the cub, and then up at her mother.

"Which reminds me, when are you and Queen Nala going to have your own cubs, hmm?" Kawaida questioned with a smirk while lying down next to her king.

"Atually, we've been talking about that a lot lately, and we definitely want to have a cub of our own, but…" Simba began with excitement, but it soon drained and turned to worry.

"But what?" Kawaida asked with concern.

"But…we've just been waiting for the right time, is all…"

"Why?"

"I-I don't know…I-I guess it's just paranoia or intuition, or something…considering what problems we've hd with our family in the past, in case you forgot."

"No, I haven't forgotten. I'm sorry it had to be your uncle, out of all lions…whatever you think feels right, Your Majesty, I won't argue with you. And good luck with having a cub, too."

"Thanks, Kawaida." With that, the two lions nuzzled for a moment, before Simba had to get up and leave to go out on an afternoon patrol, and Kawaida took his place in cuddling Imani and keeping her warm.

But then Kawaida suddenly realized that her little one smelled rather badly, and that meant that she was in need of a bath. So, with one large lick up her back, Kawaida started to clean Imani, only to wake her up.

"Hi, Momma," Imani yawned while turning over onto her, allowing her mother to clean her under belly.

"If you promise not to get dirty again, I'll let you go play when I'm done. How's that sound?" Kawaida asked between licks.

"Ok! Thank you, Momma!" Imani cheered.

And soon, Kawaida finished giving Imani a tongue bath, and the cub laughed when she got up from her mom's grasp and ran out of Pride Rock to explore for the first time.

Imani chased bugs and rodents, pretended to hunt invisible antelope in the tall grass, and she even splashed around a little in the hallow waters of a small pond.

But Imani saw something absolutely amazing when she climbed up on a nearby rock to see over the tall grass; she saw what looked like a new land, a land with less plants and animals that that of the Pride Lands.

"Ooh, I wonder what that is," Imani pondered aloud, and she wasted no time in hopping down and heading towards the strange and new land.

And when she finally crossed into the land, with little to no vegetation or life at all, Imani almost felt pretty scared to explore there. She just had this aching feeling inside that made her think that something wasn't right.

And she nearly gasped when she swore she heard something growling in the distance

"Hello? Is anyone out there? My name is Imani, and I just wanted to say hello!" Imani called out, shrinking back a bit.

"What are YOU doing here?!" a young voice called back, and before Imani knew it, she was pounced on by another lion cub. Imani began to hyperventilate when she landed on her back.

"I said: What are YOU doing here?" the male cub repeated in a growl, and Imani stared fearfully into his eyes, as she was then able to get a full view of him. His coat was dark brown, his eyes were blood red, and he had a small tuft of a black mane already starting to sprout at the top of his head.

He was also slightly bigger, and seemed to me many months older than Imani, as she struggled to find her voice while he stood over her and kept her immobile with fear.

"I-I…I-I…"

"Not talkin', huh Pridelander?" he snarled while bringing hi face closer to hers, and he bared his teeth.

"Wh-who a-are you?" Imani whimpered when she finally found her voice.

"Me? Oh, I'm an Outsider—your enemy—and you'll NEVER escape my clutches, now!" the male cub chuckled darkly, but much to his surprise, Imani's face suddenly lit up.

"Oh, is this a game? Ok, I'll be the scary lion, and you be the evil hyena!" Imani laughed.

"Wha-?" the male cub questioned, but he was thrown off guard when Imani surprisingly jumped up and grabbed one of his ears in her teeth, playfully growling and pulling at it while balancing herself on his back.

"Get off me, Pridelander!" the male cub snapped and whipped his head around until he finally threw Imani off, and she tumbled and looked at him in surprise.

"Why? Don't you wanna to play?"

"I don't play. I fight."

"Well, my mom says that playing can help make you happy."

"You always do what your mommy tells ya?" the male cub mocked.

"Y-yeah…don't you?" Imani replied softly, making the male cub's glare suddenly soften into sadness.

"Yeah…I do," he replied sadly while sitting and turning away. But Imani was curious as to why he acted that way, so she went up to him and sat next to him.

"So…why don't you like to play, anyway?" Imani began, and the male cub looked down at her with a quirked eyebrow.

"Why do you care? I'm just an Outsider."

"Why?"

"Oh, like you don't know," the male cub scoffed, making Imani's ear droop and her head hang in confusion and shame, but that's also when the male cub stood back up and walked away.

"Wait!" Imani called and attempted to follow him, but she stopped herself when she remembered that she still didn't know what this place was. And it became awkward when the male cub stopped and looked back at her with an expectant look.

"U-um…what's your name?" Imani finally spoke.

"Nuka," the male cub replied while rolling his eyes, and he then left without another word.

And as Nuka disappeared into the barren land, Imani watched and wondered what he was talking about. Why doesn't he like to play? What exactly is an 'Outsider'? she pondered.

But before she could think any further, Imani suddenly heard the loud roaring call of King Simba all the way from Pride Rock. So, with no other choice, Imani ran back home, still unable to shake the thought of that strange cub, Nuka.

That night, Imani curled up into a ball next to her mom, as Kawaida licked herself clean before bed. Imani glanced around the den at all of the other lionesses, lion cub nearly her age, and even at the king.

And as she looked at them, it made her wonder why Nuka wasn't there too.

"Momma?" Imani began meekly.

"Yes?" asked Kawaida.

"What…what's an 'Outsider'?" Kawaida immediately looked at her daughter with wide eyes.

"Where ever did you hear something like that, Imani?"

"From a nice boy cub I met today. He told me he was an Outsider, and that he fights instead of playing."

"Imani, did you go to the Outlands?"

"U-um…I-I think so."

"Darling, you must NEVER go there. Promise me you'll never go there alone again, or talk to anymore strangers, ok?"

"O-ok," Imani replied with shame.

"Oh, it's ok, Dear. It's not all your fault, you didn't know. And I'm not mad at you," Kawaida reassured while pulling Imani close.

"You're not?"

"No. I could get mad at you. Now, Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Momma."

But as Imani fell asleep, Kawaida couldn't for a while, not with the thought of her precious daughter in the clutches of some horrible Outsider. She looked at Imani one last time, hoping she would never cross paths with such monsters ever again, and she closed her eyes to try and sleep.

Two things. One: obviously, this story takes place a little while before Kiara is born. And two: this is going to be a some-what alternate version of The Lion King 2...for Nuka, at least. As we all know, Nuka sadly dies in the movie, but(SPOILER ALERT), he will not die in this story. But instead, he will get a much happier ending.

I hope you enjoyed chapter one because the story is not over yet!

Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!