A fight for the right

The two lions circled each other, low growls coming from deep in their throats. The rest of the pride was watching, excitement and anxiety alight in their eyes.

Kion had to win this fight or else he would lose his pride.

His family.

But the problem was that he had to fight his older, three-year-old brother Kopa.

They had been inseparable from day one. They had played together, hunted together, caused trouble together.

But that all changed when their father Magnar died.

Magnar being the king of the pride, it was right for one of his heirs to become king after he died. Kion wanted to become king so he could take care of his family. But Kopa had always dreamed of becoming king to have power.

And he wasn't going to let anything stand in his way.

With a roar, Kopa lunged at Kion, barreling him onto his side. Kion struggled under his older brother's weight, his sheer size one of his many advantages over Kion.

Not only was he bigger, but he was stronger, faster, and more skilled at fighting than Kion, giving him the upper paw.

Kopa sank his teeth into Kion's shoulder, a painful bellow escaping Kion's jaws.

I'm not going win!

But then, the weight lifted off of him.

Panting, Kion scrambled into a sitting position and stared in disbelief at what he saw.

His mother, Kira, was onto top of Kopa's, digging her claws into his brother's back, her teeth biting his spine. Kopa let out a blood curdling howl and bucked her off of him.

Rounding on Kira, who was already on her paws, Kopa growled, "What are you doing?! This is not your fight!"

"It is when you know that from day one one of your cubs is power hungry!" She tried taking a step towards Kopa but was surrounded by some of the pride's snarling females.

Kion couldn't do anything but silently agree. Kopa had always shown signs of wanting power. He had always showed kindness to Kion, but never to other lions around their age. He had always bossed them around: telling them to do this, or telling them to do that.

"Well," Kopa snarled back, "that's how life works out here!" Yowling, he leapt at their mother, but before he reached her, Kion flung himself at his brother, knocking him to the side. Landing on his paws in front of Kira, Kion was shocked by his courage. But quickly snapping back into focus, he faced Kopa who was rising to his paws.

Looking at him with hungry amber eyes, Kopa snarled, "So that's how it's gonna be? Little Kion saving the day."

"I'll never let you hurt Kira," Kion said ignoring the thick sneer that laced his brother's voice. "Not while I'm still breathing."

"Then I'll make sure you stop."

Time seemed to slow as Kion and Kopa leapt at each other, claws extended and maws gaping ready to rip their opponents throat out. Time went back to normal as adrenaline surged through Kion as he met his brother in midair, the two falling to the sandy ground in a heap of snarling, clawing fury.

Satisfaction itched at Kion as he felt his claws rip through pelt, a howl sounding seconds after. But then one came from him as Kopa sank his teeth in his hind leg, severing muscle and hitting bone. Kopa drug Kion off of him and tossed him away, Kion slamming into the ground with a bone crunching jar and rolling a few times before coming to a painful stop.

His vision flickered: black, bright, then something dusty brown approaching him slowly. When he was finally able to put his eyes into focus, to his horror, Kopa was slowly padding towards him, blood rolling down his chin from when he had bit his brother in the leg. Kion tried to push himself up, but couldn't.

Coming to a stop before Kion, Kopa put a massive paw on his head and leaned on it, Kion grunting in pain.

"This is where you die, brother," Kopa said over Kira's pleas of cessation of this violence.

Kion didn't know where it came from, but at that moment, a burning flame of sheer will seared in his belly, making his confidence soar.

"No," he said through gritted teeth. "This is where you die!" And with a roar, he swung his good hind leg up and kicked Kopa in the face, slashing his right cheek and sending him reeling. Shoving himself up, he hobbled on three legs as fast as he could and tackled Kopa, sinking his teeth into the back of his neck. Gripping harder than he ever had, he bit down and jerked his head to the side, a loud snap piercing the deathly silence of the savannah. Dropping his dead brother on the ground, he stood there, panting.

I did it he thought. I'm the king.