The Final Tale Ch. 3

Forgive me for not adding this in past chapters, but Rookus belongs to http://aminoapps.com/p/vvpxua as does the pic

Being so close to Badili as he was exploded at by Scar Snout had caused both Rookus and Barbatus' back furs to stand on end. Their ears twitched as they stopped walking as they entered a quiet clearing. where the midday sun shone brightly.

"What a day, huh?" Rookus have a chuckle as she caught her breath. She turned her head to Barbatus, hoping he would laugh as she had. But the male had not moved his mouth an inch.

"We sure went pretty fast for a couple spotties, huh?"

There came no response.

"I mean, that Fuli Cheetah should he jealous of us, am I right?"

Nothing.

"Chickens crossing roads?"

Nada.

Rookus tilted her head as she walked over to him. If ever there were a time to get to know her crush, now would be the time. "Alright, Barbatus. I wanna know something."

"Hm." Came the only response from Jasiri's enforcer, keeping his head turned the other way.

"Where's your sense of humor?"

Now this question was something that appeared to get Barbatus' attention, as his ears perked up.

"I mean, ever since I met you, you haven't even cracked so much as a grin. All the other Hyena's could be in a whole uproar of laughter, and you'd just stand there with that hard expression in your face. You always act like you don't have any feeling, but I know you do."

"No you don't." Barbatus shook his head. His tone was making clear that he was taking this defensively. "You don't know anything about me. Ok? You have no idea what it's like to be different."

"Different?"

"You hear me." Barbatus narrowed his eyes at her. "Different. You're right. I don't laugh, I don't smile, and do you know why?"

No response.

"It's because of my parents. While all the other cubs were out playing hide and seek or who knows what, I was always left behind. Do you think I want to he this way? Well I don't. My parents always told me 'Laughter is the first step on the way to being a failure.'"

At this point, it may have been Rookus' imagination, but she could've sworn that she had spotted tears forming in Barbatus' eyes.

"I always wanted to be happy, but I was a fool. I listened to my folks." His ended his explanation in a stony kind of tone.

Of all the things that she had heard in her years of being a leader, Rookis had never heard of anything as hard to swallow as what Barbatus had spilled out. No wonder Barbatus was such a sourpuss! He had such a messy childhood it left an unremovable stain on the rest of his life. She took a few steps closer to Barbatus and tried her best to cheer him up.

"Listen, Barbatus. I may not be able to change what happened to your childhood. And I'm sorry for everything that happened to you, but that was all in the past. Your parents aren't here now. Who cares if you loosen up a little bit? If no one else does, I will."

Barbatus' eyes softened as he turned them in her direction. Although he did not even raise his mouth an inch, it was clear his expression was not as angered and emotionally strained as it was.

"You know, I've been wanting to tell you this joke I made up."

Surprisingly enough, it was not Rookus who said this.

Rookus eyebrows raised. "You..... made up a joke?" She asked him.

"Yeah yeah." Barbatus quickly nodded before going on with his poorly written joke. "So there's these two hares, see? And they're in a field of carrots. The one of them says, 'Hey, did you ever see so much carrots?' The other says 'Yeah." The first one's all like 'Really? Where?' The. the second says 'On your front lawn!'"

Even though it was day, the crickets began their chirping. Rookus jist stood there after the joke was over. Although she knew her own jokes were bad, this one seemed to top her own. "Um... what exactly was the punchline to that?"

Barbatus' cheeks began to glow red as he scratched the back of his head. "Um, I'm not to sure you wanna hear it."

"Yeah, I do."

"It's not so good."

"I wanna hear it."

"It kinda stinks."

"Barbatus, come on, how bad could it be?"

Barbatus' ears lowered in a defeated fashion. He knew that this argument could not be won by him since Rookus was so persistent on hearing the punchline to his senseless joke. He knew what it was, but he believed that she would shun it and never talk to him again. Then again, maybe she would reciprocate his punchline. At this point, he had no choice but to deliver the punchline.

"I love you."

She may have heard many a punchline in her life as a jokester, but this one really seemed to shock Rookus. Her ears bent back as her eyes widened. She knew Barbatus tolerated her presence, but she never knew he actually felt this way.

"You're right." She said as her cheeks went deep red. She had gotten close enough to him to land a lick on his face.

"That's a horrible punchline."

With nothing else said, she buried her face in his chest.

Barbatus' eyes widened at the acts Rookus had just performed. He felt something he had never felt before. It was a warm feeling that came from inside of him that rose up to his face.

Could it be?

It was.

Barbatus was smiling.

--

One minute, Kion was in the Outlands, fiercely battling Zira. He could still feel the claw marks she had inflicted on him. Her piercing red stare. Her sick, twisted grin. Those horrible fangs baring his terrified reflection. He could also feel them sinking his shoulder, piercing the bone within.

Along with these injuries, the piercing daggers of guilt.

Jasiri's emotionally Injured face.

The cold voice of the Komodo King as he added insult to injury.

The disappointed faces of his closest friends and teammates.

His head still buzzed with the thoughts of the whole world against him. The jury made up of the thousands of peers standing against him.

And as he opened his eyes, it only added the lemon juice to the ulcer.

--

Simba watched as his only son slowly opened his eyes. He was very worried for his son's health ever since they left the ambush in the Gorge, but he kept it very hidden. He glared at his sin with cold, unforgiving eyes. He wanted to know why his son would have the odasity to even say something kind to those mangy scavengers that took over the Pridelands years ago.

"Well, this should be good."