Other Fan Fiction ❯ The Lion King 4: A Single Step ❯ Reunting ( Chapter 21 )

[ A - All Readers ]
Hey all. Well read on, and there are a couple important announcements at the bottom after the chapter.

Chapter 21: Reunited
Though the storm continued, the two young lions slept peacefully beneath the tree trough the whole night. Mani and Tempest curled up tightly together; her head was resting gently on his back.
Birds chirped loudly that morning to announce the rising sun. The storm had stopped sometime in the night, and now a thick fog was left behind. The sun emanated an almost eerie glow as it revealed itself through the fog.
Mani lifted his tired head and yawned. His movement caused Tempest's eyes to open. She rose her head and blinked away her sleepiness. Then she focused on the brown lion next to her and smiled, remembering their confessions the night before.
"Good morning." he said warmly, gazing into her eyes.
"Good morning." She giggled, "And what a morning! Look, it stopped storming. I hadn't noticed it all night, I slept so well. Did you?"
Mani stared at her for a moment, then brought his face close to hers, and gently licked her cheek.
"Very well." He replied. Tempest made an amused purr and nuzzled his neck. Although nothing adult happened that night, Tempest now felt intimately connected to Mani, as if they had been in love for a much longer time. Her heart felt elated and threatened to cause tears of happiness to form in her eyes. She held them back, however, as to not alarm Mani.
"The others must be really worried about us," Mani said, standing. "We should head back."
"They'll kill us for sure…" Tempest said, also standing. Then she laughed when she gazed at the older adolescent. "You're so muddy, Mani."
"Hey, at least it matches my fur color. Look at you."
"Grrr.. I'll be washing this out of my fur for days." She replied, and made a disgusted face. "Mani? Do you know which way is home?"
Mani sighed. "I was hoping I would be able to see better during the daytime, but not with all this fog about. I have no idea which direction to go in. I got turned around so many times in the storm last night that I completely lost my bearings."
"Same here…what do we do? Call out and hope someone hears us?"
"That might not be the best idea. What if predators hear us?" Mani suggested.
"Predators? Come on, what's out there bigger than us?"
"Well there's a lot out there that's bigger than you." Mani said. Tempest stuck out her tongue at him. Mani continued, "Packs of hyenas or wild dogs could take even me."
"Oh, even you? Never, Mani. Never." Tempest said with a smirk.
"Just come on. Let's start in one direction and see if anything gets familiar." Mani said, taking a few steps. Tempest followed.
After a few moments of quiet walking through the wet grass and mud, Mani stopped suddenly.
"Did you hear that?" he said with an almost grave tone. Tempest stopped to listen. His ears were lifted as he could hear the clear sounds of paw steps approaching them from in front.
"I can hear paw pads coming through the mud," Tempest whispered. "I can't see a thing!"
The two adolescents looked carefully through the fog. Soon a light outline of a large figure appeared, and it was walking right toward them.
"It's a lion! He must be huge!" Mani said, then stood in front of Tempest as to protect her. He planted his feet. The figure walked slowly and his giant shoulders rocked back and forth as he moved. Although the lion was moving closer, Mani could not make out his face. Mani realized he and Tempest could very well be intruding into another lion's territory. He had no idea how close or far he had gone from the Pride Lands. Seeing the lion's full size didn't encourage him. Mani's every instinct told him to run, but his pride told him he had to stand his ground, especially in front of the lioness he loved. He hoped with every fur on his body that the lion would not be aggressive.
Tempest had ducked her head slightly behind Mani's broad back. "Mani, I'm scared."
"Don't worry, I'll protect you." He said, baring his teeth at the figure that was almost in full view now. Surely he could see Mani by now.
The lion walked into view, and stopped.
"Who are you!" Mani demanded, once he could see the lion's face. To his relief, the lion had gentle and curious eyes. They didn't match his frightening build, and intimidating dark mane.
"Easy there, Young Man." The lion said.
Tempest quickly lifted her head once she heard the lion's voice, and looked at him for the first time.
"…DAD?"
Tempest leaped from behind her protector and ran toward the lion.
"Huh…? 'Dad'?" Mani muttered.
Tempest nuzzled the tall lion and he wrapped a paw around her back, holding her close.
"Tempest! Oh my dear Tempest." He said quietly.
"Oh Daddy, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to get separated; it's all my fault for wandering when you told me not to." Tears welled up in Tempest's eyes.
Mani stood dumbfounded at the scene before him. This was Tempest's father?
"We worried so much about you. Oh, your mother and I missed you so. We tried following your scent, but you had gone so fast." He nuzzled her neck.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She cried, and buried her face into her father's dark mane.
The lion broke their embrace and smiled at his daughter. "Your pride will be glad to see you again."
Tempest's eyes and ears lifted. "They're here too? Where?"
Suddenly 3 cubs came running out of the fog.
"Tempest!" They called.
"Koru! Jayden! Dayya!" She nuzzled her brother and sisters as they wrapped themselves around her legs. "I missed you guys so much."
"Good job getting lost, sis." Koru, the oldest of the cubs teased. He had a yellow orange pelt with a light brown hair tuft that was parted in the middle. Tempest playfully pushed him with her paw.
"We missed you, sis." The cub with dark brown fur and a bright red tail tuft—Jayden- said.
"Yes, we missed you!" Tempest's other sister said, while bouncing about. She was a shade of pale red, with a darker red stripe on her forehead.
Before Tempest could reply, two more lionesses walked from the fog. One was an older lioness, and the other was Vitani. Tempest immediately ran to her, and reunited with her mother. They embraced each other tightly, without speaking. Tempest cried quietly. Tome joined his daughter and mate. Mani watched all of this with a mixture of happiness and confusion. He awkwardly shifted from one paw to the other, when suddenly one of the young cubs, Dayya, noticed him.
"Who is this, Tempest?" The young cub said, staring up at Mani with a wide smile.
"Hi." Mani said warmly.
Tempest looked over, and called out, "Come over here, Mani."
He obeyed, feeling shy.
"Mom? Dad? This is Mani." Tempest said, and then rubbed her head under Mani's chin. Tome's expression reflected a father realizing a lion who was involved with his daughter. It was a look of mostly confusion, and slight aggression.
"Mani, this is my mom, Vitani, and my dad, Tome."
"It's good to meet you." Mani said sheepishly, then cleared his throat nervously.
"Oh my, Mani? My goodness, you have grown so much." Vitani looked carefully at the young lion with a grin.
"Vitani? You're Kivu's aunt." Mani said as he remembered the name. "Kivu told me about you. Well only what he heard from his dad."
"Kovu's had a son?" Vitani smiled. "My baby brother had a son."
Tempest looked at her mother, then at Mani. "You know my mom?"
"I barely remember her. I was young at the time, but she used to be in our pride." Mani said.
"That's the pride you used to be in?" Tempest gasped and stared at her mom. "I didn't know that! You had always mentioned Simba's Pride, but didn't say you were in it!"
"I didn't want you to wonder." Vitani said, and then turned back to Mani before Tempest could ask what she meant. "It's good to see you again. You're growing quite a mane there."
Mani turned red, and didn't know what to say.
"Oh Mom, you're embarrassing him!" Tempest said and rubbed her mom's neck with her head. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We were looking for you! Oh my baby, I have you back and you are safe." The pale yellow-ish lioness nuzzled her daughter. Tome pulled closer, and gently placed his paw on Tempest's back. Koru, Jayden and Dayya came to Tempest's paws.
"Our family is whole again." Tome said.
The other lionesess in Vitani's pride had been watching quietly. They smiled warmly at the reuniting family. After a moment, Mani cleared his throat loudly.
"Um.. Tempest? Shouldn't we be getting back?" he said.
The young light colored lioness looked her mother in the eyes.
"Well, Mom, are you ready to go back?"
Vitani smiled at her daughter, then turned to Tome. His expression was somber. Even though he was thrilled to have finally and safely found his daughter, Tome was feeling grim about the fate that he was sure awaited him at the Pride Lands. He was sure Simba would remember the crime he had committed about a year ago when he murdered Timon and Pumbaa. Vitani frowned when she saw her mate's fear. She returned her gaze to her eldest daughter.
"Yes, but I think your father and our pride should wait at the border while you, Mani and I will go see Simba."
Tempest felt a little confused as to why the whole pride couldn't just come in unannounced. She was unaware of Tome's dark deed. But Tempest chocked it up to the adult male's tendency to become aggressive in the presence of other adult males as to why Tome wouldn't be allowed into the Pride Lands until they had Simba and Kovu's permission.
Young Dayya stepped forward. "Are there other cubs in the pride?"
Tempest looked at her little sister, "No but I'll let you meet my friends. They're more my age. But they are very fun."
Both Dayya and Jayden looked pleased. Koru looked antsy to be moving again. The journey must have been taxing on the younger lions.
Not to be forgotten,  one of the other lionesses in Vitani's pride stepped forward. She was light gray, old and very thin. "Let us be off." She suggested.
Tempest quickly introduced the older lioness who spoke called Larne to Mani. Mani nodded and said hello. The other lionesses were two older lionesses, one greyish and one brown. Tempest introduced Larna, the grey one, and Nyaa, the brown one. Four other younger lionesses were one peach, Tirana, one light brown, Lori, one cream yellow, Lari and the last one was a medium grey color called Kora. The pride was still small but big at the same time.
Then they were off to return to Pride Rock. Vitani took the lead, as she was the only one who knew the way. Tempest admitted to her that they had gotten lost during the storm. It turns out Mani and Tempest had only crossed the border by about half a mile. Once the adolescents scented the Pride Land border line did they recognize where they were. The ground was very muddy as the group approached the border. Here, Tome, his younger kids, and Larne stopped to wait for Vitani's return after gaining Simba and Kovu's permission for them to come in.
Vitani, Mani and Tempest headed quickly for Pride Rock, causing mud to fly onto their underbellies. Soon, the Great Rock came into view, although far away and Mani heard Vitani murmur, "Kovu…"
The Three ran faster. Mani and Tempest found they had to stretch their legs to extremes to keep up with Vitani's pace. As they got closer, they noticed several Pride Land lionesses—who were likely serving as a search party—perk their heads up and stare at them. The watching lioness' expressions brightened once they realized that not only were the adolescents safe, but their long lost friend, Vitani had not been dead after all. They smiled and called Vitani's name, then came racing after her. She didn't stop as she raced closed to Pride Rock. She suddenly spotted a large brown lion with an almost black mane. He was different than she remembered, but somehow the same.
Kovu had been giving instructions to a small group of lionesses when he noticed the lioness sprinting toward him, and he stopped mid-sentence. His heart leaped with joy as he realized it was his sister, and that Tempest and Mani were following close behind her. Once he locked his eyes with Vitani's he almost couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Vitani, Mani and Tempest quickly closed the distance between them and the King, and slowed to a trot several yards away from him. Mani and Tempest panted for air. Vitani only stared at her brother, while he stared at her. The lionesses beside Kovu were very surprised to see her.
Then Vitani's smile grew. "Hey Brother. I brought some of your cubs back." She said with a smirk.
Kovu instantly saw the resemblance in Tempest and Vitani, and realized for the first time why Tempest looked so familiar. They even had the same smirk.
"Or do you mean your cub! Vitani!" Kovu lunged and nuzzled his sister. She purred and embraced him.
They parted and smiled. "You're home; you came back." he said.
"You didn't think I would? I promised you didn't I?" she said, then continued. "I came to ask you and the rest of the pride for help to find my daughter… but it looks like I've helped you to find her! And the young man attached to her at the hip." She threw a smirk at Tempest and Mani who were now standing close to each other smiling. Mani blushed a little when Vitani hinted at their relationship.
"Yes, we've been worried sick. Especially Mani's mother." Kovu sighed with deep relief as he looked Mani and Tempest over. The two seemed pleased, especially Tempest.
The lionesses who were formally on the searching party arrived at the scene. Some reunited with Vitani and welcomed her back. More lionesses arrived coming from Pride Rock who had heard the commotion and came to see what the cause was. Vitani was happy to return and reacquaint with old friends. But there was still a sour pit in her stomach. She couldn't celebrate just yet, not knowing what was going to happen to Tome.
Vitani flinched when Simba finally approached. He said nothing yet, but he didn't need to when his eyes did all the talking as they did now. When he looked at her, she could tell he was thinking about the same lion that she was. The same lion who had murdered Timon and Pumbaa.

A little announcement: I have decided to WRITE A CONTINUATION to this story. I knew I said I wouldn't… but I started drawing ideas for new cubs, and I really like the drawings, so I started thinking of personalities and stories for them.. So at this time, I have decided once I finish with this story, I will write a SHORT continuation. It will not be a TLK 5 story, since it's going to be short. Short as in 10-15 chapters. No complaining, just deal. So you get to put up with me for another few years ;) I enjoy writing so much.
















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