Like Water and Rain (Chapter 16)

“Alright, so we have two hours until Zira strikes.” I explained to the pride, Kiara and Nala next to me. “The older pride members, like Sarabi and Sarafina, will sit this out. It'll be too risky for them. Reasoning being is that at their age, them living through the reign of Ahadi and their physical erosion would not give them a chance on this level of fighting….not after what they went through with Scar.”

You make me sound completely and utterly evil.

I'm only JUST managing to chance you, old man.

“Although I do agree with your reasoning.” The mother of Nala interjected. “Are you certain the younger ones alone would be able to fight efficiently, especially after what you said about their training methods.”

“Always have faith, Sarafina.” I smiled. “And hope.”

“And tonight, we need that more than ever.” Nala said from beside me.

“Or we'll fail.” Kiara then added from the other side.

Connor…

‘’Even if we do fail, we can go down knowing we fought to protect our home! Our families! Our friends!’’ I said.

Connor….

Not now, old man. ‘’We are marching with the drums of war into a battle that we MUST.NOT.LOSE.’’

LISTEN TO ME, YOU BUFFOON!

WHAT?!

‘’Steve, is it me or is that Connor’s voice?’’

The familiar voice of my mother caused my horrified look. They weren’t even supposed to be here NOW!

Must have been closer than I expected…

I slowly turned my head to my approaching family, the smallest one being my sister, the tallest my father and the slightly smaller one my mother.

I chuckled. ‘’Uh..hi..mom..’’

Her eyes widened at my voice and instantly bolted towards me, tackling me down and kissing my cheek repeatedly. ‘’Oh, my baby!’’

‘’Mom, stop!’’

‘’Where have you been?!’’

‘’I’ve been where you are now! In The Pridelands!’’

At that, my mom’s head perked up. ‘’The Pridelands? From The Li-’'

‘’Yes! Yes! Let’s not get too carried away!’’

‘’Connor, who are they…?’’ Kiara asked me when she raised her eyebrow at my laying frame.

‘’Nice way to introduce yourself to my friends, mother..’’ I said as I got up, rubbing my cheek, then looking at Kiara. ‘’My family, Princess.’’

She blinked repeatedly before looking at them, amused. ‘’They must embarrass you.’’

‘’Oh, that’s an understatement.’’

‘’Is it?’’ She winked. ‘’I do recall me embarrassing you in front of The Guard, telling them stories of our time together in the past few days.’’

‘’Kiara, don’t…!’’

‘’Do you have a GIRLFRIEND!?’’ My dad said teasingly. ‘’And I thought you were against having a full blown relationship!’’

‘’Dad....’’

‘’Let’s just not get too in the zone and have you married.’’

‘’Dad, it’s not like tha-’’

‘’Your father is just teasing you, Connor.’’ My mom said. ‘’Though the fact that you’re with a Princess is amazing!’’

‘’Mom, we’re not-! Kiara, help me out here!’’

The lioness sheepishly approached my parents. ‘’Hello…’’

‘’Nice help there, Princess.’’

‘’I don’t see you doing anything!’’

‘’They’ll embarrass me further!’’

‘’They’re YOUR parents!’’

‘’But here you are, royalty, and yet you’re sheepishly walking up to my family.’’

‘’Because i’ve never seen them before!’’

A giggle from my mother. ‘’I see you’ve found yourself quite a partner, Connor.’’

‘’You have no idea…’’

An elbow to my shoulder, inciting my yelp as Kiara rolled her eyes affectionately. ‘’But he’s right. We aren’t datin-’’

‘’Yet.’’

‘’DAD!!’’ I cried to my smirking father.

My sister walked up to us, looking straight in my face as I raised an eyebrow.

‘’Hello, Jenna.’’ I said flatly.

‘’Is this where you’ve been?’’ My sister coughed. ‘’I knew you’d do something dumb like this.’’

‘’I didn’t DO anything!’’

‘’Except give me the best time of my life!’’ Kiara said, causing me to blush.

‘’Kiara, stop, you’re embarrassing me!’’

The lioness’ giggling incited a playful growl. ‘’Oh, it’s not so bad! At least now, both of our families will be in the same den!’’

‘’That’s...actually worse.’’

‘’Any better than being WITHOUT your family?’’

‘’....’’

‘’Thought so.’’

‘’By the way.’’ My mom decided to say. ‘’My name is Rebecca, my husband’s name is Steve and that’s our daughter, Jenna.’’

The last of which she put her paw on my spoiled sister. ‘’Sup.’’

I hesitantly looked up at them. ‘’I wish you could have been brought here at a better time, guys.’’

‘’Something wrong, sweet pea?’’ I heard my mom ask and I blushed again.

‘’Please don’t call me that again..’’ I groaned. ‘’But yes, there is. Zira is planning on launching her attack in two hours, so Kiara and I have been preparing the lionesses for her invasion.’’

‘’Do you need help?’’

‘’Mom, I think the others are enough help.’’

‘’But you’re my son.’’

‘’I know, but I don’t want to risk losing you all after all this ti-’’

‘’Trust us, we’ll be fine…’’

I scanned the eyes of my mother, who was smiling with love that any mother would have for their child. ‘’Mom, please…’’

‘’I raised you, Connor. You obviously helped them defend this place.’’ She gestured to the smiling Kiara and the rest of the lionesses. ‘’Now it’s time for your family to help you defend it again.’’

‘’But…’’

‘’We’ll do this….as a family.’’

The last one, she embraced me, rubbing my back as I looked at my dad, who nodded. ‘’....Alright.’’

Kiara came over to my parents and looked at me affectionately. ‘’Well, at least I can say that you did something that wouldn’t have future consequences.’’

‘’Kiara…’’

--

With 20 minutes remaining, Kiara and I were with my family and  The Pridelanders, walking towards the location I said Zira would attack from. My sister was told to stay at Pride Rock of course, since she’s too young to really do much.

‘’You sure you want to do this..?’’ The Princess asked, unsure. ‘’I mean...if you end up dying in this, I don’t know what your family or I will d-’’

‘’Kiara.’’ I said, wiping a tear off her face as we walked. ‘’We stepped up for leadership. I won’t leave you guys hanging just because we’re going off to fight in a war to defend our home.’’

‘’But this isn’t your real home…’’ She pointed out. ‘’Your real home is with the humans..’’

‘’No, it’s not.’’ I smiled at her confused expression. ‘’It’s not with the humans. It’s not just with my family...but you too.’’

At her widened eyes, I chuckled and kept moving. Kiara looked down, lost in thought as we moved onto what could be the final threat The Pridelands would ever have...well...the last major one, at least.

‘’Your mom and dad are fighting this.’’ She reminded me. ‘’Are you concerned about this?’’

‘’Oh, of course I am.’’ I sighed. ‘’I’ve always wanted to keep my family out of this kind of danger..but evidently, I failed. Guess familial bonds overcome all in the end?’’

‘’That and love.’’ She said while nuzzling me. ‘’Even if we’re different species entirely, from different worlds and different lifestyles, we’ll always do the seemingly impossible together.’’

‘’Same could be said about family.’’

‘’Yep.’’

Looking to the side, I thought of the possibilities. Life? Death? They mean nothing to someone like Zira. She’s more concerned about getting Kovu on the throne and killing all in her way to do so, even attacking Kiara to get me riled up and guilty in order to get me out of her way. This has gone on long enough.

This time, I won’t allow Zira to make it out.

She has harmed too many animals for me to give a damn anymore. While I do cherish all life, the scum of the Earth are heading towards my home, ready to take it over. I won’t allow them to do so…

I won’t allow her to do so.

'''Next: Season 2 finale! The battle with Zira commences, Shujaa focusing on stopping the mad lioness. However, with Kovu constantly getting in the way, will The Pridelands be saved by our heroes? Will the prides successfully be reunited? Or will both crumble into a heap comparable to The Elephant Graveyard?'''