Kayto's journey: Revenge of the fallen

Chapter 5: Lions of the outlands

Chapter song: Feel better-Penelope Scott

Kayto wakes up to the warmth of the sun shining in her cage. It burns her eyes enough for her to roll over. Direct sunlight in the morning and afternoon and yet Kayto's world has never been darker. It has been a few days since she arrived but this land would never be home to her. Kayto could hardly sleep without noticing the absence of the waves crashing onto the shore and the sadness of never being able to go back again. A shadow stands in the doorway making itself known. Even though facing away, Kayto knows this isn't Kiara's shadow. She always comes in cheerful for whatever reason. "Kayto." Vitani calls. Kayto sighs. "...Yes?" "The king, Queen, and my brother will be gone most of the day. You'll be ok to wander around outside." Kiara must have told her what they have been doing. Kayto sighs and gets up from her position to leave. They walk to the watering hole together in silence. Kiara is already there, sunbathing with a group of other lionesses. Tiifu and Zuri are nowhere to be seen, but Kayto is still hesitant after the last incident at the watering hole. She travels to the other side as to not attract attention to herself. Kayto commits to her hunt trying not to pay attention to anyone enjoying the watering hole until she sees a skinny grey lioness watching her intensely. Kayto stops and stares for a moment. Here we go again. "...I'm a girl." She utters, disgruntled by the lionesses' presence. "I know. You're an outlander like us right?" Kayto turns to her startled. "What?" Kayto stammered, taken aback by this statement. "We were born after Zira took control of the outlands as leader." The lioness explains. "Oh." Kayto's adrenaline fades. No one else lived to see Kuchinjwa except her. Kayto returns to her routine like normal despite this development. It takes several fish for her to turn and realize an entire group of lionesses have gathered watching with the same intensity. "...what?" She enquires about the crowd. Vitani casually steps over. "So.....the girls have been wanting to know how you fish." She says, explaining their odd group behaviour. "Oh. Well it's quite simple really." Kayto turns to the water to show a demonstration. "Fish can see shadows decently well, so you have to stay low to the ground.." Kayto crouches low, spotting a new target. "It'll always be a little more to the right than how you see it in the water...When the time is right...." Kayto pounces up high, crashing down and creating a large splash. The fish is perfectly locked in her jaws but she does not grip it too tight to show the lionesses. "Hgmm?" Kayto confirms with the crowd, face full of fish. She drops it back into the water for it to jet away thankful for its life. The lionesses cheer for her effort and get up to go try out what they've learnt. The skinny grey lioness runs to the other side of the watering hole to try her luck. A muscular lioness sets herself beside a rock to disguise her shadow, hitting the water hard. A freckled lioness finds a shady tree and watches the water intently. A scruffy-looking one just jumps in for fun. Kayto watches the group for a bit before noticing particular matching markings on their shoulders. Each lioness has a uniform lion head on their right shoulder. Dunia had something similar, but not the same and Kayto had a marking in the same place from Mende. "Vitani..? What exactly is with those shoulder markings? They aren't natural are they?" Kayto asks. Vitani looks up from her sunning rock. Those are the marks of the guard. I have one too as the leader of the pridelands lion guard. She turns to show a faded burgundy marking of a roaring lion. "The lion guard? Like in the story of Askari?" She presses for answers. Vitani looks at her curiously. "Yes...How do you know this?" Kayto doesn't know how to express the truth. "I was told by someone wise and a bit crazy." Vitani laughs. "We all know someone like that dont we?" Kayto chuckles. "Yep." A silence goes over them both as they watch the lionesses having fun in the disturbed water. There were never days like this in the outlands in their childhoods. Everything was so incredibly dry and brittle you were lucky if there was a slight bit of rain at all. The reminiscence made Kayto remember more and more until- "...Vitani?...Where's Nuka?" Kayto asked, not sure if she'd like the answer. Vitani froze. Her pupils shrank and her muscles tensed. This was not a good question to ask apparently. "Kayto." Kiara walks over. "I have something to show you." She must have sensed something wrong. Kayto follows, looking back at a statue where Vitani used to be. Kiara takes her into a heavily plant-grown cave close to her own cage. The space is huge, full of resting spots and growth. Further in, smooth and dry walls with minimal paintings of animals everywhere. Kiara stops in front of a vaguely familiar looking painting. Kiara crosses in front of Kayto coming back with Rafiki's Bakora staff. "I'm not normally allowed to do this...but I think it's necessary." She taps the wall and the paintings light up and move, showing a divide between two groups of lions. Simba and his pride and the lions of the outlands. "You don't know how we resolved the fight between us." Kiara explained. "...Resolved...?" Kayto growls through her teeth. "Please just listen." Kiara urges. Kayto stays silent, already not impressed. "You see.." Kiara continues. " Zira wanted Kovu to kill dad by getting through me. But instead he- and the outlanders- realized that there was no point to fighting because we...are one." The painting ends with an image of the royal family including Kovu and Vitani on pride rock. "...Why are you even showing me this???" Kayto asks, trying not to explode. She did not need to know her people had forgiven such a monster. "Kayto." Kiara sighs. "My cubs are not supposed to be due for a few months. You can't keep sneaking out to get food, it's just not realistic. This all has to end... revenge won't be worth it...You cannot keep dwelling in the past like this-" "You think I'm just dwelling in the past?!" Kayto interrupts her, yelling. "I've had to live with the fact that your father slaughtered everyone I ever loved. This is FAR from just the past. I will continue to relive it every single day I'm here until that treacherous beast dies." Kayto turns away from Kiara, too angry to face her. "Zira thought the same way and it destroyed her in the end.."Kiara tries to reach out. " I don't want-" "Zira was right." Kayto cuts her off again. "YOUR father followed a baseless claim and destroyed everything I ever knew. He is a MURDERER." Kayto begins to walk out but Kiara runs in front of her. "...I have another painting I want to show you." Kayto is angry but lets her continue. Maybe she has some more to explain. Kiara leads Kayto to another wall full of paintings. She taps the dusty stone to bring them to life once more. A large lion and a twisted lion stand by each other. The legendary Mufasa...and Kayto's potential father Scar. She simply assumed who Scar was to her at this point considering his commitment to producing an heir to the throne. Most of the other cubs besides Zira's litter were her cousins. "Scar betrayed his brother and left my father to die as a cub." Kiara interprets the message. "He hardly made it alive out there-" Kayto interrupts already. "I hardly survived either. I was forced to jump into a river full of the bodies of my aunts and cousins because of HIM. " Kiara looks confused. "...he never told me about that-" "OF COURSE HE DIDN'T!" Kayto roars. "He'd never tell innocent little Kiara about anything that shows his true self! Not even what happened to dumb Kopa and how he can't control his tendencies to kill innocent lionesses and cubs because of his horrible traumatic childhood- WHAT ABOUT MY CHILDHOOD?" Kayto yells pacing from the audacity Kiara showed towards her problem. "We are NOT comparable. We are NOT the same. I never want to see you again until the mashindano. Don't even bother Kiara." Kayto growls. Kiara is softly crying and Kayto wishes she had the energy to care. She leaves Kiara alone and walks far into the tall dry grass of the pridelands. Kiara was right about one thing. She couldn't possibly keep doing this. A month is too long to be sneaking around. "If only all of this could happen sooner..." Kayto thinks to herself, head hurting from the emotions and loudness. As Kayto walks far away, the grass starts thinning and becomes distantly familiar dry dirt. Only, the soil in the outlands was a burnt orange. This was dark and burntish. It doesn't take long for Kayto to find the skeletons of ancient and massive tusked creatures. Although she had never been here before, it was...familiar. As if someone had talked about it. "The Mchawi....of the elephant graveyard." Rafiki's voice brings itself out of Kayto's consciousness. The Mchawi. Now that's an idea. She came to Kayto within her dream claiming she could grant what she desired. "...I guess it wouldn't hurt." She says to herself. Maniacal laughing echoes through the bones getting louder. Oh no. A large cackle of hyenas spills through the piles of large bones. Their leader, a blue hyena with a distinctive yellow tooth and goatee, hops on top of the giant skull to assess Kayto. "Well, well, well. Fresh meat everybody!!" The hyenas cheer and Kayto gets ready to fight for her life when: "Malum. She's a client." A calm voice silences the entire group to levels Kayto didn't even think was possible. Out of the mouth of the skull walks a thin lavender lioness with a black muzzle and shadowed eyes. It's her. She looks at Kayto and smiles slyly.

"Hello Kayto."