Gone, But Not Alone (A KionxRani AU)

The Queen of My Heart

Time came and went. First, Kion was explaining who he was. Then, Kion and Rani explained how they got to the Tree. Afterward, Baliyo was sharing embarrassing stories about Rani with Kion, which made her blush. At the end of each story, Rani made a vow to get all embarrassing stories about Kion possible.

"Alrighty, then. It's getting pretty late, I think we should call it a night," Baliyo announced.

Rani nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Where is Kion going to sleep?"

"Well, I would feel rude making an injured guest sleep in a faraway tree. Plus, that look on your face tells me you want him to stay here," Baliyo chuckled at Rani's begging face expression.

Rani grinned. "Good, because I was going to have him here. You may be king, but I am still older."

Baliyo glared at Rani before Kion broke it.

"Wait a second," Kion interrupted, "if you're older, Rani, then why did Baliyo become king?"

"Well..." Rani began, "we both got trained to be rulers of the Tree."

"Technically, Rani should be the Queen, but we all thought she was dead," Baliyo announced. "Rani, I mean, if you want to be Queen..."

"No no no," Rani rejected, "you said Uncle has already been helping you. Anyway, you did better in the training than me."

"Speaking of Surak," Baliyo looked around, "I wonder where he and Nirmala are. I'm gonna go check real quick."

Baliyo excused himself as Kion and Rani were alone in the Tree.

"You know what, Rani?" Kion smiled. "You may not be the Queen of the Tree, but you're still my Queen."

Rani smiled at Kion. "You have such a way with words."

"Because of you, Rani," Kion sighed. "Because of you."

"You're the Prince of the Pridelands, but there's no immediate rush to get home from you. What about that?"

"My sister," Kion answered. "She's the future Queen."

"I'll love to meet her one day. That way, I can get embarrassing stories about you."

"Then come with me," Kion offered.

Rani looked over at Kion, and Kion nodded his head. "I'm not saying to live with me, but come visit them with me when I'm healed."

"I'll love to."

After 10 minutes passed, Rani was starting to get a little worried. Where is Baliyo?

"Hey, Kion?" Rani asked, gaining his attention.

"I'm gonna go check on Baliyo," she announced. "Ummm...you can sleep anywhere here. Just not the rock, that's Baliyo's place."

"Okay. Sorry, I would offer to come with you, but I'm afraid I'll only slow you down."

She smiled at her boyfriend. "Don't worry about it, Kion."

With that, Rani took off in hopes of finding Baliyo.

Kion laid down and began to hum again. Hakuna Matata.

Rani, on the other hand, noticed Baliyo, Surak, and Nirmala by a river not to far away from the Tree.

"Have you guys gotten the agent?" Rani asked once she got to the trio.

The second she said that, however, she noticed pale faces on all three of the lions.

"What's wrong?" she changed her question to.

"We have a problem," Nirmala announced. "We can't get the flower for Kion."

"Is it too late?" Rani questioned. "Then we can just get it tomorrow."

"That's not the problem," Surak spoke up.

Rani looked between the three of them. "Then what exactly is the problem?"

Baliyo sighed, and it wasn't a good one. "It's on a mountain."

"Okay..."

Baliyo shook his head. "No...the mountain."

It suddenly hit Rani. "The mountain that if it's there, we're doomed mountain?"

They all shook there head yes.

Snow...lots of snow. Avalanches...lots of avalanches. Cold...lots of cold. Hell...lots of hell.

"How in the world does a flower grow there?" Rani angrily questioned.

"It's called a winter honeysuckle. They may be able to grow in warm land also, but I've only heard that they grow there," Nirmala stated.

Rani shot her eyes open. "We don't even know for sure if it's there?"

Nirmala shook her head. "I've only heard rumors."

"Is there another flower we can use?" Rani desperately asked.

"No," Nirmala rejected. "When ground up and mixed with water, the agent provides the perfect tension relief for the paw to heal naturally."

"Kion's paw will heal on its own," she added, "but who knows how long that will take. Plus, it probably won't heal properly. It's very hurt from constant usage. Appearently, Kion said that it's beginning to hurt all time time, even when he's still."

"He didn't tell me that?"

Nirmala shrugged. "Maybe he didn't want to worry you."

Too kind of a heart for his own good.

Rani looked around. "Okay then, three questions. Who's coming with me? When are we going? And what's the plan?"

"You're going?"

"Of course I am. Kion did so much for me, I have to help him."

"What if we go get it, and you keep him company? I'm sure he'll rather be with you than us," Baliyo reasoned.

"Maybe, but I'm not going to sit around while my boyfriend is hurting!"

Baliyo looked at Rani for a moment before accepting that his sister was head over heels in love. "Okay...let's tell go then Kion then."

"No," Rani rejected matter-of-factly.

Baliyo looked at his sister with a confused expression. "What do you mean?"

"The last thing I want is Kion to worry about us," Rani stayed. "No, I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning, before Kion gets up, and bring back the flower before he knows where I went."

Baliyo, seeing as Rani wouldn't be convinced otherwise, shook his okay. "Okay, I'll come with you. Nirmala, Surak, you'll stay here."

Surak gave him an unsure look. "Baliyo, you can't go. If something...bad...were to happen, we would have no King and no one to take over as Queen."

Rani looked at her brother. "He's right, Baliyo. I'm not saying we are probably go to die; no definitely not. What I'm saying is that it's very hard to navigate the mountains. If we were to get lost, who would run the Tree?"

"You stay here," Surak offered, "and I'll go with Rani."

Baliyo was unsure, but ultimately gave in. "Okay guys, stay safe."

"Surak, meet me here a little before sunrise?" Rani asked.

Surak nodded his head.

"That's it then," Rani finished, "let's get some rest."