the Lost Panther Prince (on Permenent Hold)

1

It was exactly midnight in the Pride lands. A solitary figure stalked through the tall grass of the savanna on his way to pride rock. This figure was a panther, one of the few panthers in the Pride lands and this particular one, was on a mission.

His sleek black fur gleamed in the moonlight as he reached the majestic monument, his eyes caught the bright glow of the full moon and stars, shining like stars themselves. They were his most intriguing and beautiful features. The eyes themselves were pitch black with a ring of sterling silver iris's. He looked like a living shadow, unearthly and mysterious.

Tonight as many nights before the panther was going up to pride rock. He had a fire lily, a flower that was colored to appear to be made out of flames (hence the name) clutched in his mouth as he stalked past lions and lionesses, sound asleep, completely unaware of the intruder in their midst.

He crept to the top of pride rock to the royal den. King Simba, Queen Nala, Prince Kion and the beautiful Princess Kiara were all sound asleep. Kion was sleeping with his mate Fuli the cheetah, whilst Kiara was curled up, sleeping with her parents. The panther looked at her with loving eyes as he watched her sleep peacefully, carefully watching the rise and fall of her chest and stomach as she slept blissfully unaware of his presence. He hated having to do this. Visiting her at night when he had no right to. But this was the only way he could show his love for her without being punished. So that's what he did.  

 He slowly and carefully placed the fire lily behind her ear and, using his teeth and fore paws to gently tied it around her ear. After that was done he bent down and started softly nuzzling her head. He savored the sweet scent of her fur.

Finally, after a few minutes of nuzzling he carefully lowered his head and before he could second guess himself he kissed her forehead.

"I did it," he thought, blood roaring in his ears as he stood there for a second stunned and frozen by his own actions, before he heard Kiara roll over onto her back, stomach up, with her beautiful, regal face staring sightlessly up at the ceiling.

The panther smirked as he thought for a second then grinned mischievously thinking of waking her like this but quickly rejected the idea. He would have left in high spirits if Kiara hadn't started talking in her sleep. Saying things like "Kovu stop," and "Kuvo come back here" which was quiet enough that it didn't wake any of the royal family.

Kuvo, he knew the name, heck everyone in the Pride lands knew the name. It was the name of Kiara's on-again, off-again boyfriend. The luckiest lion in the Pride lands in his opinion. "Of course," he thought angrily as he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Of course she would dream of Kuvo," He thought "She doesn't like me like that, she's just a friend, he chided himself in his head " she only knows me as her friend Jax-the-panther not some strange shadowy beast. The creature now known as Jax shook his head sadly as he stopped staring at Kiara's stunning beauty and walked out of the den, as silent as a shadow. "That's all I am isn't it?" He thought miserably as he remembered his brothers and sister. They all outshined him. Their father was exceedingly proud of all of them except for him. He was the shadow.

His oldest brother Dhoruba or Storm was exceedingly stronger than him, almost as strong as a hippo and was a hot head, his second oldest brother Umeme or Lightning was faster than him by far, as fast as a cheetah and competitive to the extreme, and his third oldest brother Ngurumo or Thunder, who despite his name was the sneakiest and quietest animal in all the Pride lands, he was also the quietest and the wisest of the siblings. His last sibling Joini or Twilight, his older and only sister, was the best tracker and huntress out of all of them, her skills rivalled their fathers and he was one of the best trackers in the Pride lands, she was by far the kindest, and mostly took after their mother but simultaneously she was no pushover. She was the only one of them that really understood him and his crush on Kiara. She was the only one he had told about it and he had sworn her to secrecy.

Jax was different from his family. Even in his appearance. His silver eyes were a marked contrast to his family's range of blue and violet. His father said they were defective. His brothers said they made him a freak. Kiara said they were beautiful. But more important than that Jax's personality was different. Jax was a talker, a storyteller. While his brothers and even Twilight prefered to fight tooth and claw, Jax prefered to talk his way out of fights, and find a solution that didn't involve being hurt or fighting. This rarely worked with his brothers though. In fact they usually laughed when he tried to talk them into not hurting him. Twilight and Thunder were the only ones that tried not to deliberately hurt him, but he always ended up battered and bruised because of Storm and Lightning. And Jua of course.

Their father had wanted his cubs to be named after forces of nature, so of course Jax was the odd one out. His name didn't mean anything, unlike the others and his brothers never let him forget he wasn't as good as them.

Their mother on the other hand had named Jax simply because she liked the name. But his mother was always sleeping or too sick to do much as of late. His father wouldn't let Rafiki come near his mate to help, so her only visitor was Jax, who always tried to buoy her spirits by telling her his stories. Mwezi was always a good listener and she adored her youngest son to no end. She seemed to be getting sicker by the day. Jax often worried about her and often wondered if he would wake up one day and find his mother dead in her cave.