"It's just you and me now,
Standing alone.
The world is ours..."
"No, it isn't...
This isn't finished."
What if after Nuka's death Vitani followed Kovu? Basically going 'fuck this, let's just grab your girl and go start a pride somewhere else'. In this AU it would be Kovu who insists that they stay, though now it's because he wants revenge on their mother.
After seeing Simba and Kiara, he's seen some of how a parent is supposed to act. They're not supposed to beat lessons into their cubs, or send them into a war they can't win, or let them throw themselves into death for a chance at some SCRAP of maternal pride. Now his big brother is dead for nothing -
(for him, because of HIM, his mother's voice whispers in his head)
- and Kovu is thinking that maybe he can do something right to change things... And maybe it'll smother the anger burning in his heart.
-----
I tried my hand at doing a fake screenshot in the original movie's style. The setting is the gorge obviously, but I took the colors from the first movie.
Vitani is also my version of her adult form, which combines design elements from her cub and adult forms from both the movie and TLG.
The song is Interlude IV by Zach Collison!