Sun Rise Ch. 8

[WARNING: This chapter tends to deal with a real circle of life issue. Proceed with caution]

[I do not own the character Mimba, she is owned by Zoww the Plump Hyena]

Kiara caught Kion making his way back to lair. Kion always took a break from patrol at the same exact time. His routine always stayed the same. He would come back to the lair, relax for a little bit, go out and hunt, then go an patrol again. Kiara waited back at the lair for her brother to return, and sure enough, he did.

She paced back and forth. She wanted to ask if she could help join the Lion Guard's increasing alliance. Soon Kion came walking back into the lair, and Kiara's head popped up.

"Kion!"

She ran over to him. Despite being out and patrolling since the morning, he didn't seem tired at all.

"What do need?" He asked.

"I was wanting to know if Kovu and I could help with fighting Thimba?"

Kion was taken back by this. His head drew back, almost as though she had said something disgusting or offensive. Kion remembers when Simba had come with them, and how he got badly hurt.

"No" He immediately said without thinking any further on the subject.

"No?" Kiara responded.

"What do you mean No?"

"I mean No. You and Kovu can not help."

"Yes we can!"

Why would her brother say something like that?

"We can help if we want too!"

"Kiara, I don't know if you've noticed, but last time Simba had come with us, and look at him!"

"I don't know if you've noticed Kion, but you kinda need more help at the moment."

"We're about to get all the reinforcements I could ask for." He said with dignified body language. He walked passed Kiara as to try and show her that his mind was made up.

"Don't you turn your back on me Kion!" She said.

Kion swerved around and shoved his paw into her chest.

"Listen here sister. I don't think you understand this. You're kinda more important than you think you are, and we can not afford to loose you and Kovu. Now, go away."

She stepped closer.

"I am the future queen, I order you to let me join."

Kion's eyes squinted.

"You're not my boss, yet."

Kion decided she wasn't going to leave until she got her way, so he left instead. Kion walked past his sister, and left the lair to go and find something eat. Kiara watched as her brother had his way.

"What has gotten in to him." She whispered to herself.

She walked off to go find Kovu and tell him what happened.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Mzingo told his Parliament what the Lion Guard had offered them.

"Are you sure?" One of them had asked.

"I thought the Lion Guard was our enemies!" Another had yelled.

"Mzingo what are you thinking?" Another had asked.

Mzingo tried to calm them down before an uproar could.

"Now now, here me out! There saying if we help them, we could be let off the hook completely! And we could be allowed back into the Pridelands!"

"Allowed back in to the Pridelands?" One of them asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Yes! And think of all the food!" Mzingo told them.

"Food, glorious food… we're anxious to try it!"

"Three banquets a day, our favorite diet!"

"Just picture an elephant steak, fried, roasted or stewed!"

Then the crowd began an uproar with,

"Oh, food, wonderful food, marvelous food, glorious food!"

Suddenly though, Mzingo interrupted them.

"Guys, no time for singing! If we want to do this, we need to do this now! Let's vote on it!"

All the vultures had raised there wings for Mzingo's plan. It was settled, Mzingo's Parliament was joining Thimba's army to spy for the Lion Guard.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next morning, Mzingo and his Parliament went to Thimba's new territory. Mzingo and the rest found a large enough tree for them to perch on. He turned to them and said, "I'm going over there, does anyone want to come with me?"

There was silence.

He gulped.

"I guess I'm going over there by myself then."

He spread his wings and took off, entering enemy territory. The vulture flapped his way over the plains of grass, and to a massive watering hole in the center.

Around it was crowds of Zebra, and grouped to one area on the side. Mzingo scouted the area, and saw a couple massive rhinos patrolling the sides of the crowd, making sure no one gets in or out.

He saw a big hulking blue rhino laying under a tree close to the water. He had a couple Zebra working as his servants, almost like the rhinos were planning to use them as slaves.

"That must be him." Mzingo said to himself.

He swooped down to the rhino, and made a swift landing on the ground in front of him. The rhino lifted his head in acknowledgment of the buzzard. He looked at Mzingo, his eyes fierce and piercing. Yellow with orange pupils. They looked like blazes of fire.

"What are you doing here little man?"

"Um..." Mzingo cleared his throat.

"I'm here to join."

Thimba raised an eyebrow.

"I heard you were recruiting, and I'd like to join."

"We needed some air reinforcements..."

The rhino pondered.

"Do you have any experience?"

Mzingo told him, "Yes, I do actually! I was part of an old army a while back that attacked the Pridelands. Sadly though it failed. I'd like to get my revenge."

Mzingo thought it best to leave out that it was Scar who he served, remembering how Thimba hated lions.

"You must be friends with the others who joined then... alright, you're in."

Mzingo immediately shot up into the air, ready to get out of there as soon as he possibly could. He soared through the air, ready to get back to his Parliament. He flew over to the tree, and sure enough, they were still there. He landed, and passed on the good news.

"We're in!"

"So what do we do now?" One asked.

Another turned to him and said, "We go over there, then I suppose we look for anything the Guard could exploit to destroy them."

"Good thinking!" Mzingo told him.

"When we put our heads together, no one can stop us!"

They all flew up into the air, and made their way over to Thimba's territory.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

That afternoon, Kion could have never expected what would happen next. No amount of preparation in the world could have prepared Simba for it either. It had to be a nightmare, it couldn't be real. The day started off great. There was a glint of hope in the air. They were going to hit Thimba hard right at the start, and hopefully end this war sooner than they had all expected. Hope's were uncrushabley high, and there were laughs to be had and smiles to be shared.

While Simba still wasn't doing to well, his hope and determination never ceased. Beshte was better than he was than before the attack. Kion had a newfound will to succeed, finally getting out of his dark period, or so he thought. The Outlands was joining the cause this time as friends, and everything was going as planned.

That was until, somehow the least expected thing and the most expected thing happened.

Makini had run all the way to Priderock. She got there in a hast, no one had ever seen a monkey move that fast before. She came up to the main den, and what she said next startled everyone.

"Rafiki is in trouble!"

Simba's head shot up.

"What's happening to him?!"

Makini's face was pleading for help. Begging for someone to make the misery end.

"We're loosing him."

Suddenly, Simba stood up, the pain in his chest returning in full force. He grunted in main. Nala came over and said, "Simba don't hurt yourself!"

"I've got to see my friend!" He yelled.

Simba walked out of the den, not being able to run. Kion bolted out the front though, and ran down the side of Priderock. The first thing that popped into his head was to round the Guard. He ran through the Pridelands yelling the news. The lion ran past fields of grass, rock formations, patches of dense trees and bushes, and massive watering holes with groups of animals alike.

"RAFIKI IS IN TROUBLE!" He would yell.

Fuli sprung her head up at the news, and immediately bolted towards the tree of life.

Beshte did something similar, and made his way for the tree as soon as he heard what Kion was yelling.

Ono flew up into the air, and flew like he never flew before to the tree.

Bunga jumped on to Kion's back, hitching a ride on him.

Once the Guard was being assembled, Kion made his way for the tree with Bunga.

When Kion had arrived there, everyone, including Makini and even Mimba with the Moth, was there. Rafiki laid on a smooth rock beside the tree, so that way everyone could talk to him.

He coughed and hacked his lungs out. Kion ran over to join the others, some of them in tears.

Kovu and Kiara joined the crowd as well, along with Timon and Pumbaa. Slowly but surely, Simba and Nala joined in. The crowd opened up, making a way for Simba to come through. Simba, limping with his broken chest, crawled his way over.

Rafiki turned his head to him and said, "S-Simba. You're ch-chest is hurt. You d-didn't have to c-come here."

Simba said, straining his voice, "Yes I did. I need to see my friend before he goes."

Rafiki smiled.

"You always were a fighter."

"Rafiki, I just want you to know, ever since the time we had first met, you've been so impactful on my life. I just want to thank you for that. Well, maybe not hitting me in the head, but you know what I mean."

The both chuckled, which lead to the monkey coughing up a storm again. Once the coughing had stopped, Simba started to tear up, and so did Kion.

"Why do you have to go?" Simba asked him.

Rafiki spoke to Simba again, his voice getting weaker and weaker, quieter and quieter.

"T-this is j-just a natural p-part of life... t-this is sup-posed to hap-pen."

"I don't want it to happen." Simba said.

Rafiki touched Simba's face with his hand, and said, "Don't be s-sad bec-cause it's over. S-smile, because it happened."

Simba smiled, but only a little bit.

"Remember, who you are."

Rafiki, slowly slipping away, looked up at the sun light glimmering and sparkling through the leaves in the tree above him.

"Have you guys, ever watched the leaves blow in the wind?" He asked.

His eyes slowly drifted shut. His hand fell down, hanging limp.

That was it. He had left, forever.

Simba's head drooped as he fell to the ground. He was crying, and so was Kion. They felt Rafiki's presence leave, like a part of them had been ripped out. Simba felt empty inside, like poachers had captured him and skinned him, leaving nothing but his limp empty flesh as a rug for someone's home.

Kion tried his best to hold back the tears, but he couldn't. The waterworks gave way, and he closed his eyes as the salt water trickled down his face.

Everyone was devastated. No one knew what to do next. It had seemed like the whole world had stopped without Rafiki. This was the end of the story. No more chapters. This was it. The End.

How could life continue without him?

Mimba spoke up, tears running down her cheeks too.

"It's ok to cry, crying is natural. It's ok to let your emotions out, don't try to hold them back."

Kion didn't listen. He wanted to stay strong. He wanted to roar.

Kiara and Kovu didn't know what to think. They held each other, as Kiara cried on to Kovu's chest.

The rest of the Lion Guard didn't know how to react either.

Mstari flew over to Makini and told her, "He had a lot of faith in you. He believed in you so much."

Kion's head hurt. A throbbing pain had sprung up in his brain, he felt like he was the one hit by Thimba and not Beshte. His skull felt like it was going to explode right then and there. He wanted it to stop. He wanted the pain to stop. Out of all the things that could happen? Why this? Why now? Was this some kind of cruel game that the kings of old were playing on him? Were they angry at him for something?

Kion ran off, trying to escape the pain, but no matter how far he ran, he could not hide from it. He collapsed to the ground and started crying.

The rest of the Guard came rushing over to him.

"Are you ok Kion?" Bunga asked.

"No I'm not." He said, his eyes clenched.

They all sat down beside him, trying to comfort the hurting lion.

"It'll be ok Kion." Fuli told him.

"Rafiki would want us to move on."

"How can I move on!?" Kion yelled.

"Kion, you are the bravest person we know. We're all devastated by this, and we'll be here for you when you need us." Beshte told him.

"Rafiki had a lot of faith in you, faith in us."

Ono continued what Beshte was saying.

"He trusted us to protect the Pridelands, and the thing we need to do right now, is not fail him."

Bunga walked over to him.

"We gotta make him proud of us. He's still up there, watching over us."

Kion looked up in the sky. He saw the puffy white clouds swirling about against the bright blue sky, almost looking surreal. He looked back down. Rafiki's words never having left his mind.

"Do the best you can for the Pridelands."

Kion smiled, and wiped the tears from his face.

"I'll be alright guys." He told them.

They all smiled.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rafiki's passing had invoked a new sense of determination within the Pridelanders. They all held a funeral for him later that evening. As the sun slowly dipped over the horizon, the Pridelands threw a big festival in honor of their lost monkey friend. Word eventually had reached the Outlands, who gave their sentiment about the loss of Rafiki. There were speeches made about him, where everyone told stories about there experiences with him. There was singing done in his honor. The Pridelands did everything they could to show their appreciation for the monkey, and to show how much he meant to them.