Author's Note: I would like to put this story in special dedication to three particular authors for their help and support in getting this fanfic started. I would like to thank Autobot00001 and snheetah for helping me so well with the ideas and planning for this to the end, and I'd like to thank white pedal for helping me write/come up with the opening lines here. This fanfic would not have been possible without the help of these three, and I thank them dearly for each of their support.

I do not own The Lion King or its characters. They belong to Walt Disney Studios, and this is strictly for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

"Come, come! 'While there's life, there's hope!' as my father used to say, and 'Third time pays for all!'"

- Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit (1937)

Prologue

Within the vast landscapes of Africa was the dry, desolate and remote expanse that was the Outlands. The frigid winds of the early morning blew against the ground, stirring up dust where they went. The sun has not yet risen, and the sky was still dark-blue with only a faint glimpse of daylight visible on the horizon, far beyond the many termite-infested hills of the place.

Nearly everything there was dead. From the plants, to the dried out grass on the desiccated ground, to the animals that once lived there, where all that remained of them was their decaying skeletons lying around. There was virtually nothing at all to eat for any of the rouge lionesses of the single pride that inhabited these Outlands. There were no zebras, antelopes or hippos for them to feast upon, and there was very little water to drink from the drying riverbed. Only once in a long while would they ever find a stray animal to kill and share with one another. And more often than not, that would become extremely unpleasant extremely fast. Every single day was a hellish struggle for the pride of fourteen that lived here, even including their very queen.

Zira.

Standing against the frigid breeze of morning and upon the rocky, dusty ground that dust was stirring upon, the queen of the Outlands unceasingly stared off into the north, hardly ever blinking. She glared at what lay just at the edge of her sight, growling to herself at the mere thought of it: Pride Rock, silhouetted against the clouds and the faint rising sun in the east. Within just a mile or so of Zira's own boundaries lay one of the most prosperous, lush and peaceful kingdoms that these regions of Africa had ever known, and long ago, she herself once lived there with her leader at the time, named Scar. She was the only one he ever showed any kindness to while he was alive, she had been his queen for a time, and Scar had essentially saved her from starvation. (For a while, at least.) But after a long, bloody turn of events, Scar and many of his hyenas had been killed after the return of Simba, the rightful ruler of the Pride Lands. From Zira's point of view, her only true home had been utterly ripped away from under her paws by Simba, who she saw as a cold-blooded tyrant for exiling her and her three cubs shortly before the birth of princess Kiara.

Zira closed her eyes for a moment while she thought about all this, feeling as though her blood could boil just from thinking about Simba. She growled louder now.

"Scar's blood is on his paws… It's on his paws and he knows it…" She said to herself, her thoughts lingering on her former mate now. She ranted to herself, "Simba was never the rightful king. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have to be stuck in these dry, barren, disgusting, pathetic, termite-infested Outlands!"

Zira's gaze fell upon the lands around her as she said this, watching as the wind continued to pick up sand and dust from the ground and spew it through the air. She felt absolutely nothing even as it blew against her beige-colored fur and past her wide, amber eyes with pupils that shared the color of blood. The peckish queen sighed, bowing her head somewhat and catching her breath again after her little rant. Although she wouldn't admit it to herself, she knew living in these regions was slowly beginning to drive her to insanity.

Then, Zira turned her head around, and her gaze shifted to the large, decaying termite mound behind her, where her entire pride was forced to reside. (After her exile, Zira had scrapped together a group of ten lionesses to follow her since she knew it was going to take more than herself to avenge Scar.) The place looked like it was ready to collapse any day now, infested with termites, the walls eroding, and the cracks becoming wider every day. Taking one last look at Pride Rock in the distance, Zira scoffed and walked along the barren ground to the entrance of the termite mound. It was just as dark on the inside as it was on the outside right then. When the queen treaded past the opening and saw her pride sleeping rather restlessly on rocks and hanging flat spaces, her eyes darted from one spot to another, trying to spot a certain pride member within the dark. She took a few steps forward, and decided that it was better to rely on her sense of smell. She sniffed the air for a certain scent, and sure enough, it didn't take long to find it. Her eyes widened slightly as she followed where her nose led her, and in less than a minute, she came across a small space in a corner, between two rocks and upon a particularly dusty spot.

In it, Zira saw her young adopted son, Kovu, sleeping soundly with his head between his paws. His breathing seemed tame compared to usual, his black tuft of fur was tossed back against his left ear, and his brown-tinted pelt seemed scruffy and somewhat unkempt like normal. Zira stood there and looked at him in the dark for a second.

Then suddenly, Zira leaned downward, raised her paw and swiftly swiped it across him, sending a bitter twinge of pain all across his right side. He immediately yelped as his mother struck him, his eyes shooting open and forcing himself to repress a loud, painful scream. Kovu moaned in discomfort, staggering where he now stood. His nightly dreams had just been ripped away from him, like they usually were on mornings like this. The cub reluctantly looked up to his mother, quivering.

"M-mother… Why did you do that?" He asked, sounding frightened.

"Get up, Kovu." Zira said sternly and immediately. "It's time to begin the day's training."

Kovu struggled to stand up on all fours. He noticed outside that the sun had not yet even risen. This was new even for him. Kovu had always been inured to such pain and being struck by his mother every morning like this, but never had she done it so early in the day.

"But it's not even morning, mother." He complained tiredly and innocently. "Please, just a few more minutes?"

Zira growled. "You will get up now, whether you think it's early or not!" She snarled at her son. "You need as much time as you can to learn how to hunt and survive on your own!"

Kovu's eyes twitched, trying their hardest to stay open. But as much of an effort as they did, the young cub just couldn't keep them extended for longer than a few seconds at a time.

"I said get up, now, Kovu!" Zira demanded.

Kovu said tiredly, "Please, mother? I… just want to sleep. I promise I'll-"

He never got a chance to finish that sentence. For as soon as Zira heard it, she impulsively roared fiercely and lunged down at him, opening her jaws. She bit down on his tail hard, making Kovu yelp again, only this time even louder. Now his eyes shot wide open, and he began to scream in protest now, his voice rising gradually. A few lionesses around the termite mound stirred and murmured uncomfortably, but none of them took any real notice. They were used to this routine by now.

"You insolent brat! No son of mine is going to defiant like this!" Zira shouted through gritted teeth. High pitched wails coming from the cub were sudden, putting him through extreme agony feeling the lioness's teeth abruptly pierce the skin of his tail. He was almost used to this type of discomfort by now, but it still pained him greatly every time. He couldn't tell if he was bleeding or not.

"S-stop, mother! Please!" Kovu screamed, nearing tears. "Oww, ah! T-that hurts s-so bad!"

Ignoring Kovu's painful pleas for her to stop, she rose her head up slightly and started walking towards the termite mound's entrance again, dragging Kovu along the ground. "You will hunt today whether you like it or not!"

Kovu unsheathed his developing claws and ripped them into the dirt, clawing the ground in an effort to break away from the grip of Zira's teeth. But it did no good. His body slid across the dirty, bug-infested soil as he futilely reached for his spot in the mound, squealing in pain the whole time. At that moment, Kovu felt nothing short of utterly miserable.

Soon enough, Zira had reached the outside, where it was still very early in the morning. Carelessly dragging her adopted son by his tail no longer, she let go of him and stood above the cub for just a moment, watching as he gripped his tail with his paws to try and ease the pain. She scoffed.

"You will come with me on a hunting lesson now, Kovu." She ordered sternly. "These lands are scarce in food. We need every bit of effort we can get if we are to survive."

Kovu looked up to her, trying to ignore the lone tear that ran from his left eye now. "But mother… " He started.

"No arguing!" She interrupted. "You are going to come with me and that's final!"

Kovu bowed his head. Then, just a few seconds later, Zira perked up at the sound of a voice coming from the termite mound.

"Mother? What's going on?"

It was Vitani; Kovu's sister, and his only trusted ally. She was older than him by several months, but she certainly didn't look it. To an untrained eye, one could've sworn that they were twins of the same age. Kovu turned around and watched as Vitani came over to them, rubbing her eyes with her right paw in the early dawn. She had a look of horror on her face when she saw the small trails of blood on Kovu's tail.

"What are you doing to him now?" She asked worriedly, glancing at her brother for a moment.

Zira glared at Kovu. "Your brother is being defiant, Vitani." She answered. "He refused to join me on the morning hunt, so I had to get him out here the hard way."

Vitani's mouth fell open in shock. "But that's not fair!" She protested. "No one's ever hunted this early before!"

Zira's eyes widened in anger, bringing her face down closer to the female cub. Vitani flinched in fear. "Are you going to defy me as well?!" Zira demanded. Vitani quivered. "N-no, mother, not at all! It's just not fair that-"

Vitani never got to finish that thought. For right at that moment, Zira unsheathed her claws again, brought her paw up and swung it upon Vitani with all her might, making her howl in pain as she was brutally shoved into the dirt. Kovu gasped when Zira struck her, taking a step back in fright. Zira struck Vitani hard enough for her to lose her footing and fall against the ground, stirring up more dust in the wind around her. She whimpered, trying not to scream.

"You stay out of this, Vitani!" Zira shouted, her paw still in the air. "You don't decide what's fair and what's not fair here, I am the pride leader! Me, I decide what's right! And I say Kovu needs to learn now so he can hunt and we don't starve to death!"

Vitani started to cry.

"Do you want all of us to die of starvation, Vitani?! Do you?!"

The cub just barely managed to shake her head 'no' against the ground, putting her paws over her face and burying her head into them, not even caring about the fresh slash marks on her shoulder now as they bled onto her body. "No..."

"Good!" Zira shouted, turning back to Kovu, who had his mouth hanging open in shock. He turned away from Vitani and shut his eyes tightly, not wanting to see his sister in such agony. He cringed at the sounds of her sobbing.

"Now we'll have no more of this defiance from either of you!" Zira went on. "Kovu! Let's go now before the sun rises."

She started to walk off, expecting her adopted son to follow. The young, brown-pelted lion was in utter shock and dismay. He was used to his mother being hard on him and Vitani, but never like this. This was the first time he ever saw Zira hurt Vitani this badly right in front of him, and now there she was, sobbing like her life was already over. And in some respects, he felt the same way. Zira didn't even hit him terribly often, and when she did, it was never that hard before. His eyes opened to see her once more. So far, this was already turning out to be the worst day of his short life.

"Come on, there's no time for delay!" Zira said again, snapping Kovu out of his thoughts. She stopped walking and looked back to him to see that he didn't follow. He looked up to her and stared into her red, amber eyes for a moment. Suddenly, however, he grew an infuriated look on his face, surprising Zira somewhat.

"No." He said firmly, making both his mother and his sister gasp suddenly.

"Kovu…"

"No!" He shouted again, this time louder. "I don't want to! Vitani needs my help!"

He darted over to his older sister and gently put a paw over Vitani's bleeding slash marks, trying to wipe away some of the blood. "Are you okay, Vitani?" He asked fearfully. The cub looked up to her brother, her eyes already bloodshot. "Y-yeah. Thank you, K-… Kovu…" She stuttered through tears.

Zira snarled loudly, coming back up to him. "All right then, if that's how you're going to be to the one who loved and raised you, Kovu, then perhaps it's time for a lesson of a different sort today!"

The lioness forcefully came over to him and raised her paw and claws again, this time fully prepared to strike them both together. She roared.

"Zira, what are you doing?! Stop!" Suddenly cried another voice.

Startled, Zira's claws retracted and looked back over to the termite mound with wide eyes, this time seeing her only other son, Nuka, running over to them at full speed. His dull, grey-brown fur was greasy and scruffy-looking like usual, and his developing black mane was still a mess like always. But still he ran, his eyes focused on his two younger adopted siblings. He cried out again,

"Stop it! Stop it, now!"

He darted up to his mother and grabbed onto her raised paw, stopping her from moving it downwards. He forced it away with his teeth barred, making Zira roar at him now. Nuka stepped away from her, ignoring the fact that Zira looked like she was ready to kill him now.

"What do you want?" She asked carelessly. Nuka gave his mother a stern look.

"Mother, this is going too far!" He said firmly. "You can't expect them to hunt this early! They're kids!"

Zira scoffed. "Don't be a fool, Nuka, I was only asking Kovu to hunt! Not Vitani."

"You know what I mean!" He argued. "This whole thing is going way too far! How could you hit your own cubs like that, adopted or not?! No mother of anyone should be allowed to do that!"

From nearby, Kovu and Vitani watched this go on with their eyes wide, feeling absolutely dumbfounded. Neither one of them had ever seen Nuka act like this before. Usually he never paid much mind to either of them, and Kovu knew for a fact that his adopted brother was deathly jealous of him for being chosen to be Scar's heir, despite not being his son. But now here Nuka was, calling Zira out on their suffering for the first time. When that happened, that was when Kovu officially knew that today was going to be a very different day than usual indeed.

"They must learn, Nuka!" Zira argued back. "How else is our pride to survive?"

"Not like this!" Nuka protested again, glancing at Vitani as she stopped sobbing for a moment. "Here, why don't I handle them for now?"

Zira raised an eyebrow at her oldest son now. "What? You?"

"You go on your hunt, and I'll take care of them until you get back, okay? I can watch them."

There was a long moment of silence that came to pass after this, broken only at first by the soft breeze of dawn. Nuka noticed that the sun was starting to rise in the east, lighting the lands around them at last as the dark blue skies and clouds gradually turned to that of light pink and red. Nuka could tell that Zira was in deep thought about something, most likely involving either Scar or Simba. Kovu and Vitani both decided to stay quiet just to avoid starting any more trouble, feeling absolutely terrified for what could happen to their older brother now.

Soon, Zira chortled, her face loosening up at last. She took a deep breath. "Under your care, they'd probably be dead before the sun fully comes up."

Nuka persisted. "I can take care of them, mother! Trust me! Just because dad didn't choose me to be heir doesn't mean I can't do anything!"

He took a moment to catch his breath. "And besides, you said it yourself: Someone needs to hunt before the sun comes up. It might as well be you since you're out here."

Following another moment of quietness, Zira bowed her head.

"Very well, Nuka." She said reluctantly, her tone softening. "Never let them out of your sight, and be certain to teach Kovu his fighting techniques for the day."

Nuka nodded, even though he had absolutely no intention of doing that last part. "Yes, mother."

"Good." She said, moving her face in closer to his now. Her tone slowly got more and more tense again as she finished. "I will be hunting in the grasses near the river. If you lose either Kovu or Vitani… I may very well reunite you with Scar like you wanted…"

With a last heavy breath and her eyes wide at Nuka's terrified look, Zira turned around and gave an utterly malevolent look to Kovu and Vitani, who were still quivering in fear as she walked past them. Heading in the direction of the drying river that marked their boundaries, she soon disappeared from their presence at last. Nuka watched her walk off with scorn apparent on his face. Sighing, he closed his eyes for a moment and walked over to Kovu and Vitani, who both carefully stood up and looked up to him with absolutely shocked looks on their faces.

"Nuka…" Vitani started. The lion interrupted.

"Are you guys okay?" He asked them earnestly. Kovu shook his head as his sister's posture drooped in pain. "Vitani's hurt real bad." He answered. Nuka nodded.

"Yeah, I know, little termite." He said to Kovu. Vitani put her paw over the slash marks on her shoulder, pressing her arm against her chest in addition. She cringed.

"I'll take care of her."

Then, as Vitani moved her paw again to wipe away the tears from her eyes, Kovu turned to her, glancing at her slash marks. They didn't seem as deep as he thought they were.

"Vitani?" He said, getting her attention. "Why does mother hate us?"

Vitani bowed her head. "She doesn't hate us, Kovu. She's just mad."

"Yes she does." Kovu replied, his voice sounding soar from the screams he uttered earlier. "She hurt us real bad, how can she love us? She made you act weird too, Nuka!"

They could hear that the child was near tears, his words sounding heavier with each one. This time, both Nuka and Vitani came up to the cub to comfort him as best as they could. Vitani put her paw on his back, while the older lion kneeled down to face him eye-to-eye.

"Listen, Kovu" Nuka started. "I… I know I'm not usually like this. You're probably just used to hearing me call you names and pushing you around like I do. But… even I can't let her go this far you. Mother doesn't hate you, Kovu, I promise. This is just how things work with her."

The young cub nodded, still uncertain about the subject matter. Vitani then began in a comforting voice, trying to ignore the pain in her shoulder, "Hey Kovu?"

He turned to his sister, trying his best not to burst into tears of sadness. She said, "It… it was really cool of you to stand up for me like… like that earlier."

Kovu reluctantly and slowly nodded. "Thanks, Vitani." He replied sadly.

Then, bowing his head in despair with his ears drooping, Kovu sighed. "I want to go for a walk now." He muttered. Nuka looked over to him again. "W-well sure, Kovu. Where do-?"

Kovu cut him off. "No… I want to go by myself. I want to think about some things on my own."

It took a moment for either of them to respond, and the wind was the only thing keeping this moment from being both silent and motionless. "But… but Kovu, mother said I can't let you go." Nuka finally said. "What if you-?"

"I won't go far." Kovu cut him off, his tone sounding sad. "I… I just want to be alone right now."

Nuka and Vitani exchanged uncomfortable glances. "You promise you won't go too far off, Kovu?" Nuka asked concernedly. The cub nodded, and the teenaged lion sighed.

"Okay then… go ahead, little termite."

And with a sigh, he turned away with a deepening heart, and no more words to say. Vitani felt as though she wanted to say one last thing to him before he was to depart, but she decided against it seeing as though he wanted to be alone. He went off into the northward direction, heading for the river. As Kovu walked away from his two siblings, he started to feel his eyes moisten, and soon enough, he began to sob to himself quietly.

From behind, Nuka simply looked down to Vitani, sighed, and whispered to himself,

"Poor kid…"

Kovu treaded into the unknown (To him, at least) for quite some time, feeling as though he were walking in circles at one point. As he wandered aimlessly around the edges of the Outlands, he thought many things to himself as he tried his best to stop crying. Zira had always told him that crying was a sign of weakness, but at that moment, he didn't care. All his life, the cub had known almost nothing but cruelty. The feeling of pain inflicted by Zira was something he was becoming inured to, but never to the extent that he had seen that morning.

What was it that made mother so mad? He thought. She's never been that angry before.

Kovu took deep breaths while he walked, looking around him to see all of the dead trees, decaying skeletons and distant mountain ridges that surrounded the place. From above, the sun was rising quickly, and soon, the sky was turning to that of a pleasant blue like it normally was. But it didn't help much to mask the barren lands he lived in.

Then, the cub had reached the river that marked the boundary between the Outlands and the Pride Lands. He didn't come here very often, so he took little notice of the fact that he had wandered into the heart of a bog. Feeling weary, Kovu sat down beside a fallen tree that spanned the shallow, murky river, and heaved a heavy sigh.

Although his brutal lifestyle had always been etched firmly into his mind by then, Kovu was certain that the way Zira did things was wrong. He knew it couldn't be right. She had always talked about how king Simba was a heartless killer across the river, but each day that passed, it seemed more and more like Zira was in fact the very thing she described Simba as. The cub remembered that, not a week before, he was trying to get a drink from this very same river, or at least what remained of it. Zira had demanded that he stop so he doesn't take more than what he was told to, but he insisted to his mother that he drink for just a little longer. As a result, Zira had actually gripped onto his head and forced it under the water, nearly drowning him. All because he drank more water than he was supposed to, when really, it was far less than that. And that wasn't the first time she had nearly killed him over something minor either, as he recalled.

Then, upon remembering this particular act of cruelty, it happened. Something in Kovu's mind snapped. His tears ceased, and his face changed from sadness to that of infuriation. It was clear to him that if Zira was willing to almost kill him just to teach him a "lesson", she really didn't love him. Not to mention after the display she had put on this morning, he knew that was the last straw.

This can't be right… He thought. None of it can.

His teeth became barred. He was sick of it. Sick of Zira's abuse. Sick of watching his sister and his brother be tortured all their lives. He was sick of his mother glorifying Scar every day, he was sick of the blazing hot grounds he had to walk on, he was sick of having almost nothing to eat and nothing to drink, and most of all, he was sick of being forced to put up with such cruelty day in and day out, all because he had been the chosen heir of someone he had never even met in person. For all he knew, Zira could've been lying about Scar ever doing that at all, and she just wanted him to be a killer herself. And he would've been willing to bet his very life right then that Simba wasn't even the tyrant that she said he was. Even if he was a bad king like she said, his kingdom had to have been better to live in than his.

"At least the Pride Lands have green growing in them!" He said aloud to himself, his voice echoing to the dead trees around him.

Then, the cub sighed heavily, trying to calm his nerves. "I've had it with everything." He said to himself. "I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want to be a killer."

He wondered exactly what the Pride Lands looked like beyond this river. He had never seen any of the savannas, trees or kopjes that lay ahead, so naturally, he grew suddenly curious. Kovu turned and looked to his right, staring off into what he could see of the tall, green grasses from there with his eyes wide. He gazed on in wonder. Even from there, the place looked like heaven compared to where he and his pride lived; So full of life and so full of hope. How could the Pride Lands look like that if Simba was anything like the tyrant Zira made him out to be? Silently, Kovu wished with all of his heart and all of his soul that he could just have one chance to see what the Pride Lands were really like. He just desired a chance to live away from the brutal lifestyle he was so inured to. He didn't want it to be like that. The cub had always wanted to live a life where he didn't have to be mean to earn his mother's love, didn't have to train to kill every morning, or put up with watching his loved ones suffer like he did that morning. And to him, it looked like the Pride Lands could very possibly offer that. He prayed for a chance to live a kind, peaceful life. Just a single sign and a single chance. That was all he wanted.

Just one chance.

Then, without warning, he abruptly felt someone or something knock into him from the left, off of the fallen tree he was sitting near. Startled from the sudden jolt, he tumbled across the ground and fell flat on his stomach from the impact, knocking him off-guard. He softly yelped when he did. After taking a moment to recover and moan in minor pain, he immediately stood up and growled at the one who had knocked into him. It was on impulse since he was accustomed to doing that to anyone who hit him like that. In front of him now stood another cub, most likely from the Pride Lands. It was a female one, with a light tan pelt, brownish-red eyes, and a red-tinted tail tip. She looked scared of him since he growled at her. Having his stance etched into his mind thanks to Zira, Kovu took a few steps up to her and said as intimidatingly as he could,

"Who are you, Pride Lander?"