Cheetahs Never Prosper

Fuli had been in Blackrock Gorge once. She hoped today would be the only time she ever had to come back to the place.

Animals didn't come to Blackrock Gorge – nothing grew here. The Pride Lands were a verdant realm where balance was kept (most of the time), but Blackrock had always remained dead. It was a piece of the Outlands transported into the Pride Lands, like a scar upon the realm. No herbivores came into the gorge, because there was nothing to feed upon. No carnivores came into the gorge, because what was the point without food? Every so often a brave or foolish soul might come into the gorge, but then they'd either get bored with looking at rock and dirt and leave, or meet with a mishap, and become food for the buzzards. Or at least when the buzzards even bothered with this place.

And yet, she was here. And right now, she wasn't sure if that made her brave, foolish, or both. Certainly loyal at least, considering that she wasn't here on her own volition, but apart from that? She shivered as she made her way through the gorge, noticing the shadows on the eastern wall. The sun was low in the west, and the eastern side received what little light remained. Light that illuminated the way, but did nothing to warm her body or soul. What it did for those spying on her, she couldn't say. For indeed, yes, she knew she was being watched. Question was, did they know that she knew?

In the end, she supposed it didn't matter. Because she'd reached the end of the gorge, where a landslide had cut off any further passage north. Around the rocks were numerous entrances carved into the cliff walls – the results of millions of years of erosion. She'd explored them herself years ago, every nook and cranny, when life was simple enough for her to run above ground and below it. Right now however, she was under the light of the sun, and the gaze of the ones watching her. By her reckoning, at least ten of them. Her own kind. Cheetahs. All of them leading the eleventh, who lounged upon the rocks, looking down on her from on high. His eyes sharp, his claws sharper, and his whiskers twitching. She watched as he got up from the rock, stretching in the sun.

"Warm up there?" Fuli asked.

The cheetah grunted.

"I can come back later."

"No. You can't," he said. He sat there, looking down on her, as if he was the king of Pride Rock himself. "Question is though, is that because you never leave?"

Fuli glanced at the cheetahs – the ones that remained on the top of the gorge, and the ones that had climbed their way down. If it came to a fight, she knew she had no chance. If it came to a flight, she figured she had at least some.

"Well?" he asked.

Fuli, after a moment, murmured, "I'd like an outcome where we all leave here with our lives."

"Would you now?" The cheetah chuckled. "Well, I'd like a nice stringy antelope down here. Doesn't mean I'm expecting hoofbeats."

"And I think if you waste time with antelope, you're a fool," Fuli said. "Hippo's much better."

The cheetah frowned for a moment, before it turned into a smirk. "Did you tell Beshte that?"

A shadow covered Fuli's face, and not just because of the setting sun. And in the moment it took for the shadow to pass, that was the moment the cheetah before her bounded down from the rocks to meet her.

"I am T'Challa," he said. "And while I'm yet to bid you welcome, I will give you your due." He sniffed the air, and looked past Fuli, at the way she had come. "Were you followed?"

"I'd know if I was."

"Indeed." He began slinking around her, while the other cheetahs watched. She knew how the game work – she'd played it herself. So, by the rules of the game, she'd let T'Challa keep talking.

"You're an odd one," T'Challa murmured. "As a cub, you join the Lion Guard, or at least, King Simba's politically correct version of it. Give the lesser creatures places in the ranks so they forget that a lion still rules from up high." He kept circling her. "And now what? The Lion Guard is a guard of lions again…except you. The only one yet to be replaced." T'Challa stopped circling Fuli and stood in front of her, his brown eyes boring into her green ones. "I wonder why you stay, while the others left."

Fuli remained silent.

"Do you even wonder yourself? Are you like an ant, whose sole purpose in life is to serve a queen?"

"My purpose changes as I see fit," Fuli said.

"And is that why you're here?" T'Challa snapped. He took a step toward her, and out of the corners of her eyes, Fuli saw the other cheetahs do the same. "There's some among my forces who told me that this was a mistake. That a jackal remains a jackal, even if she appears to be a cheetah."

"Look at me closely T'Challa. Do I appear like a jackal to you?"

T'Challa looked at her closely. At her face, and for awhile, the mark upon her front left leg. The mark that branded her as a member of the Lion Guard. The mark that had been shared in recent times. A mark that in this day and age, made her question herself, and those around her.

"No," T'Challa said eventually. "You're not a jackal. But you are a cheetah that's changed her spots."

"Leopard," Fuli murmured.

"Semantics." T'Challa nodded to his left and his right, and his followers backed away. "Very well. You heard my offer. You've accepted it."

"I've agreed to hear your proposal," Fuli said. "I never said I accepted anything."

"Indeed? You accept that those who lord on us from on high will lead us and all the Pride Lands to disaster?"

"I accept that…" Fuli took a breath. "I accept that you may be able to convince me to…change my spots." She glanced at the cheetahs around her. At the mark that still branded her. "Being on the inside looking out has given me a perspective. And if I should change it, then…"

"Then you join us in our rebellion," T'Challa said.

And there it was, Fuli reflected. The admission. Words out in the open, as wide as an elephant's backside, and as loud as a lion's roar. Question was, what did it entail for the cheetah in front of her? For all those around her?

"The Pride Lands need change," T'Challa said. "The old ways no longer serve us. In many ways, they never have. A hundred generations lions have lorded over us all. Well, to that I say, no more. History isn't a circle, no matter what the pretty words of so-called kings may claim. History is a line. Changes can occur along that line, and those fools on the rock have broken it too many times for our liking."

"Such as?" Fuli murmured.

T'Challa scowled. "Need I explain?" he asked.

"You're requesting I join a rebellion. I think that's a reasonable request," Fuli said.

"Fine." T'Challa began prowling back and forth in front of her – almost like the circle he claimed to despise. "Scar murders his brother. Scar lets the hyenas into the Pride Lands, and they kill everything in sight. Then King Scar, may his reign be forgotten, is overthrown by his nephew. A lion who ran away, came back at the last moment, and becomes king without any preparation for it."

Fuli couldn't help but frown. "King Simba overthrew Scar. Surely that's admirable in of itself?"

T'Challa glared at her. "If I broke your leg, little cub, and then bandaged it, do I deserve credit for fixing the wound I created?"

"But Simba didn't create the wound."

"No. But his father let it happen. Mufasa birthed a fool and a coward, and while the coward came back, the fool remained. Only a fool would let Scar's loyalists flee into the Outlands rather than killing them and be done with it." He spat. "How many lives were lost over those years, Fuli? Outlanders. Hyenas. We lost a tyrant, and gained a fool. The same fool who let those traitors back into the Pride Lands because of yet another change of heart. King Simba is like the grass he's so fond of running across while singing pretty songs. Wind blows, he bends. It blows the other way, he goes in the same direction. Now, as his mane grows grey, we can look forward to an Outlander as king, and a tyrant as queen. Attended to by a lion still poisoned by Scar's filth."

Fuli remained silent. T'Challa's words cut through her like stone through flesh. And yet, his words flowed like water – water that removed sand from her eyes, and allowed her to see clearly.

"Surely you can see it," T'Challa said. He stopped prowling around and looked at Fuli. "The Pride Lands are on course for disaster. The king breaks bone with former traitors, all because of the power of 'true love' that his daughter claims to have found. One of their kind turned this realm into a wasteland, and the king's head is so far up his mane that he can't see it."

"And you can," Fuli murmured. She glanced at T'Challa's forces. "You and your little rebellion?"

"Little, now. Big, later."

"And then what? We replace one monarchy with another."

"Maybe," T'Challa murmured.

Fuli looked into his eyes, and saw no falsehood in them.

"Cheetahs and lions have fought before," T'Challa continued. "Lions have always been our betters in strength, while we have always been their betters in speed." He began prowling around again. "We're both at the top of the food chain, but it's the lions who claim dominance over the Pride Lands. We bow to them, and lick their paws, and they give us the 'honour' of hunting as only they allow it."

Fuli frowned. "The Circle of Life-"

"Circle of Life, Circle of Life," T'Challa parroted. "It's not a circle Fuli, it's a triangle. Lions are on the top, with all 'lesser creatures' propping them up. The circle's inside the triangle, and they're content to let it spin as long as it suits them. Scar broke the circle, and his nephew never really fixed it. Now the circle's spinning out of control, and we're well past the pretension that we're connected. Or have you not listened to the tall tales of kings and queens looking down on us from on high? Or, if your ears have turned away, you yourself are testament to the way the circle's spinning now." He smirked. "Fuli. Only member of the Lion Guard who isn't even a lion. I wonder – how long after the once and future queen found her lair mate did that change? An expanded Lion Guard for a restless populace who don't wish to see Scar's bastard offspring on the throne? You think the animals that chased Prince Kovu away what him back?"

Fuli stood there. Stood, thought, and reflected.

She'd noticed. How couldn't she? The changes Kiara had driven. The Guard getting bigger. The Guard going back to its roots. The Guard incorporating Pride Landers and Outlanders together, to signal the dawn of a new era. Still led by Kion. Still led by a lion who remained at his sister's side rather than leaving to form his own pride – his father making the same choice Ahadi had, in allowing Taka and Mufasa to remain together in the pride. And Kion himself? She winced. She didn't want to think about Kion right now.

"You know I'm right," T'Challa whispered. "I'm from the outside looking in, you're from the inside looking out. You can see the poison that's taken Pride Rock – the roots are sick, the tree is dying, and it has to fall before the ground can be renewed." He sighed, and looked at Fuli. "You can see it," he said. "Join me. Please. You serve a fool king and a tyrant daughter who sups poison, but you, I…we can change it. We can save the Pride Lands before it's too late."

Fuli sighed. "You're committed then. To this rebellion."

T'Challa nodded. "I am. We all are."

Fuli nodded. "Then I can only do this." She took a breath, and let out a roar.

The roar was one of a cheetah, but also more. It was a roar far louder than what the lungs of a normal animal would provide. It was a roar that echoed from one end of Blackrock Canyon to the next. It was a roar that touched the sky itself. And it was a roar that, most importantly of all, acted as a signal for fifteen lions to come charging out of the adjacent cave system.

"Form up! Surround them!"

Lions led by Kion. Lions both Pride Lander and Outlander. The lions of the Lion Guard.

The cheetahs hissed and snarled, but as fast as they were, the element of surprise had been well used by the Lion Guard, and they had them surrounded. A circle of death, designed to uphold the Circle of Life.

A circle with lions still at the top.

Fuli shook her head – T'Challa was a smooth talker. That didn't necessarily make him correct.

"Traitor!" T'Challa yelled at her.

Though, she reflected sorrowfully, him being the actual traitor didn't necessarily make him wrong, either.

"Traitor." The eyes of Fuli, T'Challa, and most of the lions and cheetahs present turned to Kion. He of lush mane, branded leg, and scarred eye, speaking to T'Challa in a low growl. "Perhaps my eyes are not as good as yours T'Challa, but I see only one traitor here." He glanced at the other cheetahs. "Or more, I suppose."

T'Challa hissed, then looked at Fuli. "Liar. You said that you weren't followed."

"No. I said I knew if I had been followed. I didn't lie."

T'Challa fell silent for a moment, and she glanced at Kion. Her commander, whom she'd informed as soon as T'Challa had come to her. The one whom she'd explained the cave network to so that the Lion Guard could get the jump on the cheetahs. The one who, after hours of pleading, had agreed to let her see T'Challa alone in a bid to gauge his true intentions.

"T'Challa, it's over," Fuli said. "Bow now, and you won't lose your heads."

"Hyenas take you, jackal!"

Kion growled. "Obey the lady T'Challa. My father is merciful enough to allow exile."

T'Challa didn't even look at him, and instead glared at Fuli. "You walk like them," he whispered. "You talk like them, you eat like them, and you run alongside them when you could run ahead." He turned his gaze back to Kion. "But you will never be one of them. They'll always see you as inferior. A subordinate. A small cat with small claws who thinks she's worthy of the presence of kings."

"That's not true," Fuli whispered. She looked at Kion, waiting for affirmation of that fact. That even after the Lion Guard had changed, that she was still one of them. That they were still friends.

He didn't give any of it. Because when he spoke, it was to T'Challa, not giving Fuli a second glance.

"T'Challa, this has gone on long enough. Bend the knee, and I'll let you live."

"To feed on what little the hyenas leave for us? I'd die first."

Kion's gaze narrowed. "Those are terms that can easily be provided for."

Fuli knew he was bluffing, but nevertheless intervened. "T'Challa," she said. "Kion is offering a-"

"Fuli, know your place and stay quiet," Kion snapped.

She blinked, unable to believe what she'd just heard.

T'Challa laughed. "True spots showing, eh Prince Kion?"

Kion smirked. "Don't do this T'Challa," he said. "You know how it ends."

"I know how your sister's rule will end. Tell me, with her new mate, has the whore-"

Kion roared, as only the leader of the Lion Guard could. It echoed off rock, it echoed off dirt, it echoed to the sky. But even as Fuli recoiled, T'Challa stood his ground.

"My father restored peace to the Pride Lands," Kion whispered. "And this is how you repay him? With rebellion? Have you forgotten, T'Challa? Cheaters never prosper."

"I know cheetahs never have," T'Challa whispered, emphasising the ah. "And your father? A liberator? My father fought Scar and his hyena army, and died for it. Yours hid in the jungle eating grubs!"

"Last chance, T'Challa."

"T'Challa, please," Fuli said. "We can-"

"If I am to die, then I will-"

Kion sighed and looked at the Lion Guard. "Kill them."

The lions roared. Outlanders and Pride Landers alike. They charged, they roared, and battle was joined. All bit and clawed in the dust, only Fuli standing aside.

"Kion, what are you doing?!" she yelled.

Kion wasn't listening. He was busy attacking T'Challa.

"What are you doing?!"

She stared in horror as the Lion Guard butchered the cheetahs. Many of them were Outlanders. Many of them had once pledged allegiance to Zira. She'd had years to nurture the hatred within them, and when they'd had a chance to let it loose, the war had ended before it had even started. What better way to bring their peoples together, Kiara had reasoned, then to bring Zira's followers into the Guard? Where their skills at killing could be put to good use?

The cheetahs never stood a chance. They had speed, the lions had strength, plus numbers. Fuli stared on in horror as she saw her kindred butchered, by fang and claw. Only T'Challa had managed to stand his ground, and even now, she could see that Kion had the advantage.

"Kion, enough!" she yelled.

Kion roared, his teeth barred as he tried to sink them into T'Challa's neck.

"Kion, you're better than this!" She glanced at the other lions. "We're better than this!"

Kion wasn't listening. If he couldn't bite T'Challa, he could tear him apart with his claws. Letting out the anger Scar had put inside him – the anger and hatred that the Tree of Life had never been able to fully remove.

"Kion, please," Fuli begged. She tried to grab him and pull him away. "We're not-"

"Fuli, shut up!"

He tried to swat her away with his paw, which hit her cheek. But as painful as that was, that was nothing compared to the feeling of his claw tearing through her right eye. She screamed and fell back into the dirt, crying. Crying for herself. Crying for her friend. Crying even for T'Challa as through her right eye, she saw Prince Kion bring his claws around the cheetah's neck and break it.

Blood poured from the cheetahs' bodies, as surely as it did her eye. Trembling, weeping, she removed her paw for a moment, which made her cry out all the more. She was blind. In her left eye, she had no vision at all.

"Cheaters never prosper," Kion whispered. He looked back at the Lion Guard, their teeth and claws stained with the blood of their foes. "That's the way of the Pride Lands." He started to turn around. "Cheetahs who remember their loyalty on the other hand remember…" He trailed off. Through her right eye, Fuli could see Kion's widen in horror, as he looked at her. Or specifically, the bloody mess that had used to be her righteye.

"Fuli!"

He began to come over, but she swiped at him. "Get away from me!"

Kion stopped. The other members of the Guard formed around him, looking at the cheetah with wariness in their eyes.

"Fuli, what's wrong?" Kion started coming over again. "Did T'Challa do this to you? Can you see?"

Fuli let out a soft, bitter laugh. She cast her good eye over the bodies of her people. The bodies of those the Lion Guard had slaughtered. "I can see clearly now," she whispered.

"Oh good. I thought that-"

"Stay away!" Fuli yelled.

Kion, whose face had once been caught in sympathy and shock, was now hardening. "Watch your place Fuli," he whispered. "You know what happens to those who don't."

He began advancing on her, and Fuli didn't swipe at him. Instead, she started backing away. Through her right eye, she saw Kion coming towards her, and the Guard following him. Through her left eye, she saw nothing.

"You're just like him," Fuli whispered. She glanced at the other lions. "You're all like him."

"Who? T'Challa?"

Scar, you idiot!

"Come on Fuli, you're not like those other cheetahs," Kion said. "You're not a traitor or a monster, or anything like that. You're nearly as good as a lion."

She sighed, and faced the ground. "No," she whispered. "I'm not." She looked up into the face of her former friend. The one inflicted with the same poison that had inflicted all of the pride. The poison that Scar's reign had cemented into the very fabric of the earth. "But I'm not like you."

"Fuli?"

She blinked away the tears in her right. "Goodbye Kion."

She turned and ran.

"Fuli?"

Ran as only a cheetah could.

"Fuli, wait!"

Ran, and ran, and ran. Eyes ever forward. An eye which saw the world for what it was, and an eye that would ever remind her of that truth. She kept running, under the light of the setting sun.

She never looked back.

A/N

In case you're wondering, yes, this is me taking Zazu's "cheaters never prosper" pun from the first film and somehow making a oneshot out of it. How it came to this, I'll let you speculate.