Author's Note: Kion/Rani? Fuli/Azaad? I'm sorry I can't hear you over the sound of my OTP :U

Literally just season 3 but everything happened beside Kion and Fuli getting with Rani and Azaad bc I'm bitter lmao also as someone recovering from PTSD and helping someone through a rough recovery, I've been in both Kion and Fuli's places. I wasn't really thrilled with how the latest season treated Kion's issues, they kind of just force Rani on him and then brush his mental scarring under the rug for plot convenience.

Plus I was disappointed in how Fuli was there for Kion all season as a trusted confidant and friend, to comfort and lean on and then suddenly she just… wasn't. It was like the show literally forgot how into Kion's wellness she was. Like tf? I really feel like the show missed a golden opportunity when it was so busy shoving hastily made romances at us [and yes I'm not really a fan of any of S3's couples, I like Rani as a character tho] So I decided to try correcting that with this little one shot. It goes against canon but fuck it, it's not like us Lion King fans ever follow it anyway lel Cover drawn by my good friend DragonWithAShotgun

And if you don't mind
Can you tell me
All your hopes and fears
And everything that you believe in
Would you make a difference in the world
I'd love for you to take me to a deeper conversation
Only you can make me
I've let my guard down for you
And in time you will too

They were watching the sunset as it slowly descended over the hills together. His presence was warm and solid beside her, uncharacteristic of a creature desiring solitude she felt the urge to lean against him, to rest her head on his shoulder and simply breathe him in. It would be so easy, so simple… just one subtle movement and she would have it, have him close…

Fuli felt herself sway in his direction, a subtle shift of her weight to the side. Self control kicked in and Fuli caught herself, instead draping her tail over her dainty paws before she could make a fool of the both of them. She did let herself the temporary luxury of looking at him, admiring the lion with soft green eyes. It wasn't often they got to enjoy being alone together like this, peace was rare. Their lives were eventful and they served the kingdom before their own wants and needs.

He must have felt her staring at him as he soon turned to her, curious of her blatant ogling. Quick as only a cheetah could be, she averted her sight away from him and rather pretended she was never staring in the first place. The sky was blazing like fire, clouds turning a beautiful shade of magenta. The Great Kings were watching them, the stars slowly fading onto the celestial tapestry that stretched out for miles above.

"Do I have something on my face?" The lion asked, arching a brow.

She smirked and spared him a passing glance. "Yeah, it's called a nose and two eyes, Kion."

He rolled his eyes at the quip, a smirk of his own tugging at the corners of his maw. Kion scoffed. "Aren't you in good spirits this evening."

Fuli couldn't complain, they did a lot of good today. She let her shoulders roll as she stretched leisurely, content to let the evening pass it was in a comfortable haze. "There's a lot to be happy about."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

Fuli knocked her shoulder into his, the Fiercest let himself be pushed over with a cheeky grin plastered on his face when he heard her scoff. "As if you even need to ask."

"I like when you take charge," he told her, doing a little wiggle as he sat himself back down more comfortably. "You are my second in command. It's your job now."

She rolled her eyes at him. "It's good to know I can retire from it soon, Nirmala says you are healing nicely."

Kion nodded his head, strangely seeming withdrawn. It was subtle, a glint to his golden eyes that wasn't there moments before. "Queen Janna thinks so too…"

"She seems confident in your recovery," Fuli added with a gentle inflection to her voice. She was always known for being so forward and never pulling back her sharp blows. Kion though brought out the softer side in her since the incident that began this whole mess. Her gaze focused on the snake bite over his eye. "We all are."

There was silence, more darkness ascending across the land. She could still see him clear as day as the moonlight traded for its thread where night began. His body was warm beside her but still she felt it trembling, she cast him concern as he faced her fully.

"...Fuli, can I talk to you about something?" His expression reminded her of a small hyena pup, eyes round in innocent fear and face struggling to keep steady.

"Of course." The candid companionship that had been there was gone, she could see the playful atmosphere disappeared alongside the final wisps of day. He looked away again, lifting his head to look at the stars shining over head.

He was gathering his thoughts, though she was the Fastest she wouldn't rush him. She'd been patient this long, she could wait until forever if that was what he needed.

There was a pause as he let his eyes drift towards her, silence so heavy that Fuli could feel it pressing against her like a heavy stone. She knew what he would say next was not going to be featherlight, and Fuli merely raised her chin to show he was free to tell her what was lingering in his mind. Persistent as a flea nibbling between his ears, Kion seemed to try gnawing at the thought.

"This scar, I think it's going to be permanent." He lifted his paw to ghost it over the wound, the skin there now puckered and a faded pink in color. "Nirmala says… it might not go away. Ever."

The raw emotion in his eyes made her heart sink, they burned a strange color under the cool blue hues of night time. "How do you feel on the inside, Kion?"

"I still don't feel like myself." He tucked his chin against his chest as he looked at his paws. "Everyone keeps saying it's just skin deep but it's not. Its ingrained inside me, like weed roots."

Fuli pressed her flank against his to comfort the tension out of him. She frowned. "Your healing will take time, it's not like Ono where they can give him something."

"If that tree is so magical why can't the queen just cure me?" His teeth were clenched and for a moment the angry self that had shadowed him this journey pushed its way through the emotional cracks.

"Kion—"

"You saw her cure him! She just closed her eyes and this… energy poured right out into Ono. What's so different about his injury than mine?"

"Kion!" She said his name with a sharp edge, making the Fiercest recoil as if she just slapped him. "Shawri." Fuli breathed the calming phrase to him, making him lower his eyes and glower as he reigned his temper in.

There was moisture to his eyes as he blinked. "I'm sorry. I want to get better and go home, to how things are supposed to be again."

She was quiet, letting him speak his mind. "I'm tired, Fuli."

"I know."

"I miss my mom, dad and sister."

"I know…" Fuli gently headbutted him, he returned it with a trembling breath. "We'll go home when you are fully healed, I promise."

"It's been so long though, how much more time do I need?"

"You said it yourself, Kion. Your scar isn't just skin deep." She paused, letting her eyes settled upon his. Making sure he was grounded, she pressed forward with her words. "Ushari and Scar hurt you on the inside too. They left you with warrior's heart, you are constantly fighting the past."

"I'm—"

"No, don't pretend. I can see it and so can everyone else. The only cure there is for this is time." Fuli could see he looked disheartened, shuffling away to glare down the hill that lead to the river weaving through the valley.

"I don't know who I am anymore."

"Of course you know who you are," Fuli stood up to stand in front of him again, long tail swishing at her elegant heels. Dainty as a ballerina, she turned to nudge him to his paws. "You're you."

Kion tightened his muzzle into a frown, unsure as he glanced up at her. "I'm not me with this scar. I yell at you and get mean."

"Sure, you're a bit moodier than you used to be but I can still see our Fiercest under all that… fireceness." Her smile was catty as she said the last part.

Kion jerked his head to the side in an attempt to avoid her face. He fought off a grin, she could see it in the way the corner of his lips trembled. Kion chuffed with a grimace like something tasted badly. "Augh, gross. That was awful, leave the bad jokes to Bunga."

"I know my sense of humor can be very spotty sometimes." His childish glower made her grin wider. "What?"

He sighed, standing up and pointing her with a look. "Fuli…"

Fuli composed herself, though she kept a softer sort of smile. She walked around him once, encircling before leading him down the grassy hill. There was no longer bright sunlight from the sunset but the moon's luminous glow provided plenty to see through the darkness with. "C'mon, I want to show you something."

Kion scrunched his eyebrows up but Fuli refused to give him time to think on it, to contemplate and turn away from this. Instead she kept walking, feeling the tall stalks of crisp green grass brush against her legs and belly with each stride. She twitched a delicately striped ear as she heard his paw steps from behind, padding down the slope after her.

She quickened her pace, loping forward as she glanced his way out of the corner of her eye. Fuli saw his slightly bewildered expression there, mouth set into a line and golden eyes widening with questioning. Fuli followed the river, recalling the way. This was not her homeland but she patrolled the Night PrideLands more than enough times to remember which way was what.

Soon, she found it. There in the moonlight the lake burned silver, stars filling the surface to it's very cusp. The Great Kings of the Past looked upon them from the waterfront, Kion caught up to her side to stare at it. His face was forlorn, scowling.

"Pratibimba," he said, eying Fuli over. "Nirmala and Rani have already taken me here more than enough times, Fuli."

"Have you ever really looked though?" Fuli stepped forward to dip her paws in the water, leaving the lake's bank to stand ankle deep. She ignored her repulsion for all things wet, meeting his eyes with a challenge.

"How can you look any harder?" Kion challenged back, shaking his head. "It's just a lake. I don't know what Queen Janna thinks I will find here."

"Kion, what do you see?" Fuli faced him, Kion taking a seat on the ground.

Kion was stubbornly silent as he studied his reflection, picking himself to the pieces of his very bones. Fuli walked forward, distorting the image in the water. He looked up sharply, aghast.

"I don't see anything." Kion didn't meet her eyes directly, instead looking down at the spotted duplicate under his shadow on the lake. "Just my reflection."

"I want you to look again."

He closed his eyes, jaw set tight. "What is this supposed to prove?"

"That you can remember who you are." Fuli saw his muscles tighten, his stance stiff as a petrified tree. "Because I still remember, so does everyone else on the Lion Guard."

He said nothing, his throat trembled as he swallowed down a lump. His paws shoved their way into the water aggressively with a growl. Covered in mud up to his elbows, Kion rubbed them over his eye. He reached down again for more sodden clad soil, repeating the process until the entire half of his face was coated in the stuff. Fuli frowned at the sight of it, Kion peeking his eyes slowly to look at the water. Still despite his efforts, he looked disappointed.

"We've known you forever but you need to know you too." She watched him lift his head, braving himself up to look at her even though she knew he really didn't want to. Like the water beneath her paws, she could see herself in his eyes as they grew misty. "Remember what makes you you, Kion."

"And what if I can't?"

"Then we'll stay here with you until you can remember it on your own." Fuli smiled at him, lifting a paw to touch the surface of the lake, dampening it before washing the mud from his face with gentle strokes. The water rippled, making Kion direct his attention back to the young prince looking back at him. "He's right there, I can see him."

Kion's hard face slackened in its rough contours, the gentle slopes returning. He still looked unconvinced, looking at the lake water and back up at her multiple times. Fuli didn't push him, just was quiet as he tried to process everything. It took tremendous courage, she could tell by the shift of his broad shoulders.

A strong wind carried leaves and flowers upon its invisible thread, pushing with a powerful force against the Fastest and Fiercest. Clouds rolled in overhead, an abrupt storm with no rain. Fuli glanced up behind her with a surprised face, struggling just to keep herself standing in the water. It pressed hard against her back, shoving her until she was forced to tuck her head under Kion's chin and keep steady against his solid form.

Kion's face was directed heavenward, eyes enraptured by something she could not see. His mane, red as flame, buffeted about wildly. By some divine intervention, being Fuli's only guesstimate, kept Kion from feeling the force of these godly winds. He stood as if nothing could knock him back. Fuli didn't understand what was happening but it seemed the Ndona PrideLands prince did.

As quickly as it came, it was gone. She took in a breath, disentangling herself from her leader to stare in bemusement from the sky to Kion. "Hevi kabisa! What was that!" She let out a laugh as he glanced down at her at the sound."The weather, mighty peculiar, don't you think?"

"Seems the winds are changing," Kion said, pulling away from Fuli to wade his way into the lake water. Fuli watched him do so, flicking her tail. The water rode up to his chest and elbows, the young lion glancing down again.

"I think they've been changing for a long time," Fuli told him, gentle.

"I'm not sure I'm ready still," he confessed, shaking his head as he once more lifted his chin to gaze heaven bound.

Fuli followed him, fighting the urge to shudder as the lake water rose to soak her soft underbelly and legs. She stood next to him, bumping his shoulder fondly. "Ready or not, I'm with you stride for stride."

He gave her a slow smile, something she couldn't identify in his eyes. "I know." His attention once again this evening zeroed in on his reflection, now intermingled in hers among the starlit waters. The tears he'd been fighting off all night fell down his cheeks, it wasn't a painful kind of cry though.

She pressed her head beneath his chin, softly grinning as she nuzzled him. Fuli wasn't one to get sappy and over emotional but she could feel something pricking at the corner of her eyes. She rubbed it into his shoulder to save face, Kion needed support.

He returned the nuzzle, sighing into the fur between her ears. He was warm and gentle despite his wet fur. "I think I'm going to stay here a bit longer to reflect some more." Kion pulled away with some reluctance but knew he needed to else he lose his nerve.

Fuli let him go but not before reaching for him again to lathe her tongue across his eye. He stiffened in surprise. "The venom has passed," she said. "Its been gone a long time, now you just need to see the rest of it go too. See what's you and true."

He said nothing but the way his eyes shimmered in the twilight showed he was taking her words in. Kion was never one to disregard anything or anyone, especially her. Not only as his second in command and teammate but as his trusted confidant and dearest friend.

"I'm staying nearby if you need me, I mean it. You are not alone, Kion." Her back faced him now as she began to make it back to the lake's bed, pausing on the sand and stones to give him one last look.

Though she could not see his face, something inside her knew what they spoke tonight left an impact. He stayed in the water, peering at his reflection with intent. Meditative, he breathed in deeply. He was far from healed but Fuli was determined to see him to its end. No matter what.

"I'll be okay, because I know that no matter how bad it gets, you're on my side."

"Always."

"I'll be by his side, walk with him stride for stride."