I remember the day. I remember when my pride, my home was destroyed. Me and my mom were the only survivors. The lightning storm struck within my father's territory. Lightning stuck the dry grass and set it ablaze. My father, the leader of our pride took action and tried to guide everyone to safety. Yet in the end, the other lionesses and my father were swallowed by the smoke and flames.

Flames scare me. Dry seasons are what I dread the most from that day on. My mother, Sadiki and I decided to search for my father when rain calmed the flames leaving nothing but ash.

"Dad!" My voice broke the silence in the air. Ash in the burned grass kicked up as I stomped my small paws through it.

The air and sky were polluted with smoke, it was hard to see and I couldn't pick up any scent of any kind not even my Dad's through the smell of smoke as well as the rain. I grunted in frustration as I sneezed from all the smoke and ash that was flying around.

"Jabali!" I heard Mom call out Dad's name. Hearing her voice quiver in worry made my heart race.

'Dad can't be dead, right? He's strong. A fire can't be enough to kill him, right?' I had to ask myself those questions to reassure myself that Dad's not gone.

"Jabali," My mom called again. "Roar if you can hear me! Jabali!" She roared.

I flinched at my mom's desperate roar. I wish I could help her, but my roar is too small to make any noise. I doubt it could have scared a mouse.

"Come on, Una. Let's keep looking." Mom said nudging my cheek with hers.

"Okay." I replied softly, following close behind her in search of Dad elsewhere.

Hours went by and my mom started to lose hope in finding Dad. I was always trying to reassure her that we could find him and we just had to keep up the search but the last time I tried when she questioned looking for him, it didn't work.

"Una, we should leave this place." She said to me, turning around to look at me.

My eyes widened as she said those words. What does she mean leave? We can't leave without Dad.

"Why?" I whined. "We haven't found Dad yet, Mom. So, we can't leave. Not yet." I said.

I heard Mom sigh. "Una, your father isn't coming back. I'm afraid he isn't with us anymore. He would have found us by now if he was." She said.

I frowned, yet I couldn't bring myself to argue with her. Mom was right. Dad would have found us by now if he was looking for us. So, Dad's gone.

My eyes began to water and tears streamed down my cheeks as I ran into Mom, hiding myself in soft fur. Mom cooed and comforted me patting her paw against me. Dad's gone and he's not coming back.

It broke me. Dad was strong and brave and he didn't fear a single thing. He protected us when we need him to. So why... why is he gone?

Mom's voice broke me from my thoughts. "Come on, Una. Let's get going." She said as she moved away from me.

I sniffed and looked up at her confused. "Go?" My voice cracked. "Go where, Mom?" I asked.

"Well, I have a friend who lives in a land called the Pridelands, a huge territory ruled over by a king," Mom smiled softly, it looked like she was playing through memories in her head. "I used to live there myself." Mom said.

I was curious. She used to live there? Why didn't we stay there? I needed to know so I asked. "Why did you leave?" I tilted my head.

Mom just chuckled at my question. "And that's a story for another time, my dear," She said, I pouted slouching my shoulders over. "Now, Una don't pout I'll tell you some day. Now, let's get a move on, shall we?" She said as she turned to walk the other direction.

"Okay, Mom." I replied, turning to follow after taking one last look at my home that didn't look like home anymore.

'Well, to the Pridelands we go.'

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A/n: lol, hello! I fooled ya didn't I. I was thinking of re-writing this for a long time now. I was going to stall honestly changing up some things like giving you more backstory on Una. I also changed a few characters names too and I finally gave Una's bio dad a name so that's great. I hope Una is a better written character this time around and I hope to better Kion and Una's relationship too. It's still going to be a slow burn romance like I originally wrote it to be. I hope I see readers that really loved my first original writing of this book and hope to see new readers too.

Prideland High might make more sense if you read this book but that doesn't matter since it's an AU, ya know. Hope to catch you in chapter one of this book, coming soon.

~Trashy 🦝

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Edited~