Unraveled Prince

[Kopa]

March 18, Night

Kopa was shaken. He wasn't the person he was before. Before he had a family, friends, his pride. But it was all unraveled because of his arrogance because he was so intent on knowing everything. He winced. He forgot where he was for a few moments. But a torrent of wind blew through his fur, and it reminded him where he was. Canada. In all honesty, he hated Canada. It was cold and unforgiving, with creatures he was very unfamiliar with. He was used to the humid climate of Africa and adapted to it. But this place was colder, harsher, and he didn't know what animals lurked. 

The former prince was walking behind the barn, away from prying eyes. He strutted through the snow, making a clear path behind him. He took little notice of it. He stopped a few meters away from the barn and burst out into tears. It was the first time Kopa actually cried in a long time since he found his father. Dead in a gorge, mutilated, deep claw marks in his fur and skin. Kopa cried at the thought that his mother was deranged and long gone. He cried at the fact that his family was torn apart. He blamed... everyone and no one. He still had anger in him. A deep anger. A hatred. A hatred for the Blackblood Legion, for murdering his father. He was mad at his mother and Jasper and Shani, who all hid the fact of who was a part of his father's death. 

He was angry at himself, for not seeing what his father was becoming. He felt ashamed he couldn't help him. He wanted to help him. But he was denied this, and left in the dark. Kopa stomped his paws in the snow angrily. Why didn't they tell him? Why had they left him in the dark for so long? Until he was driving himself to the point of insanity trying to figure out what the cause of Simba's death was. 

His blue eyes stared angrily at the snow, tears dripping from his eyes and slowing falling onto the snowy ground. He stared up at the sky and glared at the stars twinkling above, glimmering in the night sky. "Why wouldn't they tell me?" Kopa yelled out in anguish. "Why did they leave me in the dark?" He tried holding back a new wave of tears. 

Kopa was unraveled. 

[Afua]

The familar warmth beside him was gone and that ment Kopa was gone. Afua lifted his head and looks around the dimly lite barn, the lionesses sleeping in a pile on closet to him, Mega sleeping softly in his pile of straw and hay mixture, still bandaged and medicated up from the blaster wound to his shoulder. The older male hadn't said much if anything since they had arrived. Afua rose himself to his feet, sniffing the air catching scent of his best friend and followed them soon finding pawprints in the snow leading behind the barn.

"Why wouldn't they tell me?"

"Why did they leave me in the dark?"

Kopa's harsh snarl reached the teenagers ears and he watches from behind Kopa in silent before softly moving towards him.

"I'm not sure if the great kings of the past even know Kopa?" Afua said softly.

[Kopa]

Kopa heard a voice. It was a soft voice. A... comforting one even. He slowly turned to find Afua standing there. Kopa finally heard his words as the reached his ears. He growled.

"They should know! They know everything!" he said with unrelenting anger. Not towards Afua, but towards himself. He didn't know if they knew everything for certain, but he wanted to believe it so badly.

"Aren't you angry that we were left in the dark for so long? They knew it was tearing me up inside, and they let it happen!" he said, shaky with anger. Anger toward The Kings of the Past. Anger towards Jasper and Nala and Shani. They hid it from him for so long.

[Kion]

    Kion could not sleep for the life of him. He was afraid to do so because of what nightmares would plague him, and he also wanted to somehow believe that this all was some sort of twisted nightmare that he was going to wake up from at any moment. But it wasn't, and all of this and everything before coming to this snowy place was all reality, as much he wanted it to not be. Kion knew that he wasn't the only one dealing with all of the trauma though, and he wanted at least some sort of familiarity and he was about to get it. 

    Even as he padded through the snow and breathed out a shivery breath, he faintly heard his elder brother's voice, and that of Afua. Kopa definitely sounded angry, and while it made Kion a bit afraid, he didn't blame his brother. He was a bit angry too, but the depression weighed that out more at that moment. Plus the determination to keep going not for himself but for his friends and family, but that was neither here nor there.

    The young teen followed the trail and caught sight of both Kopa and Afua, and Kopa was definitely mad. His ear fell back and he cowered a bit, but summoned the courage to go forward, and speak.

    "...Big brother?"

[Kopa]

Kopa went rigid. A small voice pierced through the silence. Kopa looked behind Afua and saw his little brother standing there, looking fearful. Kopa was confused. Why was Kion scared of him? Kion had done nothing wrong. He walked past Afua and sat near his younger brother Kion. "Hey, bud, it's alright," he said, his attitude completely changed.

There was no way he was going to be angry toward Kion. There wasn't a chance. His voice calm and soft. It was very unusual for him to act like this, but he was still angry. Very angry. But he kept it at bay through force of will and to not expose his brother further to his anger.

"Go back to the barn, it's late," he said softly, his blue eyes trained on his younger brother. "You should go to sleep." he added.

[Kion]

    Kion held his ground, still afraid of his big brother's anger but also to let his brother to be the one to come closer, to which the older teenager did. His entire demeanor and attitude had done a complete 180 which had... unsettled the golden teen a bit. He just watched his brother sit next to him and spoke to him rather quietly. 

    "I can't sleep," Kion replied to his brother, looking towards him with orange eyes. "The nightmares are... bad when I sleep." Kion then lowered his eyes to the snowy ground, and frowned. He didn't want to go into his nightmares too deeply, because they scared him greatly. They were worse then before, and always involved some twisted version of a fiery Scar, his mother, and other dead family members in scenes of blood and death as the Pridelands burned. They also began to involved their new home, to which the nightmares would shift from a fiery hell to a cold and dark abyss of snow and frozen trees with all of his alive family members being disappointed or even angry with him. 

    His eyes then clenched shut from remembering those nightmares. He didn't like them at all.

[Kopa]

Kopa stared at his brother, "Nightmares?" he asked, his voice quiet and soft. He was staring at the ground. Nightmares? he thought again. He had nightmares. Horrifying nightmares. But, what nightmares was Kion referring to?

Kopa looked at his brother once again, his blue eyes trained on Kion's orange ones. "What nightmares?" he questioned, his head tilted to the side. He was worried. It was not a feature that was common with Kopa. He didn't want to push his brother, but he felt he had to. He prodded Kion's shoulder softly.

"What were the nightmares about?" he said, his voice serious, and for once in his entire life, deadly calm. Kopa was worried and calm, both features that were uncommon to see on the ex-prince. He gave a quick glance to Afua, his eyes searching his best friend's eyes to see if he was following the conversation.

[Afua]

The young male allowed his friend to rant, to scream.

"Aren't you angry that we were left in the dark for so long? They knew it was tearing me up inside, and they let it happen!"

“I am Kopa but you can’t change what has happened now. No matter how much you beg the great kings” he glances skyward at the stars.

“Kion” Afua greeted with a soft murmur of his name then allows the brother’s to talk. Blue eyes met orangish red as Afua meets the young prince’s gaze giving a soft nod.

“You can sleep with us if you want?” Afua offers Kion a warm smile on his muzzle.

[Kopa]

Kopa let his gaze slide from Kion to Afua, and his gaze hardened slightly. "But I want to change what has happened," he said sadly. He wanted to help his dad from whatever craziness had taken hold of him. His tone shifted from angry to worried and sad in a matter of seconds.

"Stupid Blackblood Legion, I hate them," he snarled, his tone switching from sad to angry. This was all their fault. He didn't blame Jasper (at least not really, but he still held a small grudge) and Nala, well he thought she was a lunatic turned mad. But it was the Blackblood Legion who had physically killed his father.

He wanted nothing more than to get revenge on them alone, but he stood no chance and knew that he would be easily killed or captured. His thoughts returned to the topic at hand, and his attention returned to Kion and his gaze softened again. He nodded at Afua's words. "Yes, how about you sleep with us? You're sleeping either way and that's final, you need your energy," he stated firmly.

Kopa was a bit surprised at his own words. Where had that come from? Kopa wasn't known to be firm or be very strict. This was an exception.

[Kion]

    Kion looked back at his brother when he asked about the nightmares, pain and sorrow in his eyes. He didn't want to tell his big brother what his nightmares were, as he didn't want him to worry, and he didn't want to seem scared or in need. It was stupid, the lion guard leader knew that, but he felt like he needed to look like he was strong and could bounce back from this. So many people would be counting on him and some of those closest to him he felt like already were. Plus... it hurt to even think of his nightmares. He didn't want to give him.

    "The nightmares... were about what happened, that's all." Kion told Kopa with a downtrodden glance. It wasn't a total lie, as the things that happened were a part of it, but everything else could be left out. "I don't want to talk about it anymore then."

    The golden teen did look at his brother in surprise at his strict tone about going to sleep. Kopa was never all too strict or firm about anything, and he... didn't like being ordered around like he was a newborn cub or something. Afua at least offered it in a way that he could regret it without consequence. An annoyed growl left Kion's throat as he stood up firm and looked towards Kopa, orange eyes looking into blue ones.

    "You can't just order me around like that, Kopa!" He halfheartedly yelled at Kopa. He was expecting to end up being yelled at by Kopa by excuse of being the eldest around, to which Kion would have usually agreed with. But things were different now. "I'm not a baby anymore, you know."