The Lost Rogue: Nothing Like The Rest

Arc 1: Ingqumbo ye Intlekele (The Wrath Of Intlekele)

*TRIGGER WARNING: HEAVY description of violence and sexual assault. Read at your own risk.*

IF YOU ARE UNDER 13, DO NOT READ THE SECOND HALF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A figure slowly crossed the snow-covered surface of the land. With every step he took, the life around him began to decay and fade away. It was as if this figure was a plague, sweeping all over the land. And whatever this figure was, it had a destination, and its motives were most definitely of malice.

Kiara was still cuddled up against Kovu, who was gently rubbing her back as soothingly as possible. However, it seemed to have no effect on her at all. Kovu sighed sadly as he gently kissed her cheek with a type of care he had never known until he met the old Kiara. The Kiara who made anyone laugh and could always brighten even the darkest of days. He would give his very so to bring that side of her back now. But that would be cruel to her. Kiara needed to grieve. She had just been through the most traumatic times in her life. She was broken.

"Kovu?" A voice broke through the tense air. Kovu turned his head towards the source of the voice and found Nala standing in the entrance. No words needed to be said. Kovu slowly got up and let Kiara sit on her own for a quick second before Nala took Kovu's spot and let her daughter rest on her.

"Kiara?" Nala broke the tense silence and got Kiara's attention. Nala broke down crying when her daughter's hollow eyes stared into her own. It was the same look that her son Kion had. Hollow and empty. Even though she has had to deal with this look from many loved ones in her life, she still doesn't have any resistance to it. What came out of her daughter's mouth drove a spike through her heart.

"Mommy....why did daddy have to die and leave us?" Kiara managed to whimper out before bursting into the most heart wrenching sobbing Nala had ever heard. The sobs were a combination of many emotions. There was anger, sadness, confusion, and pain. Kiara buried her muzzle into her mother's shoulder, pleading to whatever god or gods existed to please just let this be one bad nightmare that she can wake up from. She wanted the reality that allowed her to see her father again. The reality where she could wake up early and pull her signature pranks on him.

Nala just sat there and held her daughter, letting her fur get soaked once again but she didn't care. She would do anything to lift some of the pain from her daughter's mind. "I know it hurts, baby. I know. But you won't go through this alone. You will have all the support of me, Kovu, your grandmother, and your little brother. You will have us all to help you through this." Nala paused before holding her daughter closer, letting her own tears flow.

"I am sorry baby...I am...so sorry that I wasn't here for you over the past few weeks. I have failed you as your mother and I can't take any of that back. But I am here now...and I won't leave you alone again." Kiara let the words sink in but at the same time, she hated them. She didn't want to live in a world where her father would be there. Not in a world empty of his presence.

She felt her claws slowly sheave out, pushing through her paw instinctively. Kiara was about to raise her claws to her neck when Nala gently pushed the paw back down to the ground. Nala now had tears flowing down her face and shook her head side to side. She knew what her daughter attempted to do. That wasn't that way. Suicide wouldn't bring Simba back.

Just as she placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead, she felt a spark in her spine. No....this wasn't a spark. What she felt was a full lighting bolt of pressure coursing through her body. Nala felt her body slump to the ground, as if she was being crushed from the inside. Strangely enough, Kiara was following her mother's movements to an exact T. Whatever pressure took over Nala had also overcome Kiara. This pressure was covered in malice and wrath. Then, after what felt like an eternity of suffering, the pressure stopped. Nala and Kiara were breathing heavily. And it wasn't just them.