Title: I Found

Author: snowflakexx

Rating: K+ (T in some chapters).

Disclaimer: TLK is owned by Disney! I own nothing but my OC's.

...

I Found | Prologue.

...

"If you talk enough sense then you'll lose your mind."

...

"You really should stop doing that, Meya," the old lioness remarked as they allowed themselves to be engulfed by the dry savanna turf of the new territory they were in. Like always, whatever she would say would be over her shoulder, in a forced or desperate whisper. She didn't want to risk being caught by any lurking pride males or females, who'd easily chase them off with a fight to the death. And Desta was a little too old to be battling younger lionesses who'd knock her right off the spot.

Desta wanted to live to see her grandchildren, if she'd even have any.

The younger, khaki-beige lioness behind her rolled her eyes shrewdly, ceasing her amble and letting some distance grow between her and her mother. "I told you, I'm not doing anything," she frustratedly reminded her mother. "It's your paranoia that's kicking in again."

"It's my instinct that is kicking in again." the elder corrected, obviously slightly disgusted by the informal term used in her daughter's sentence. "I'd like for you to start treading lightly on the grass- if you don't, it'll stir some attention."

Meya trusted herself to not say anything else, for she was far too irked to spit something . . . more appreciated out. Instead, she decided to pick up the pace and fill in the gap between her and her bickering mother.

It had already been several days since the last time they had left their pride. And they fled to find a new one, abandoning the life and family they had; mothers, cousins, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts. . . Father. But it was all for a good reason- and nobody could blame them after what Meya's father had tried to do to them both.

It was bad enough that he had purposely injured Meya's mother, eternally blinding her left eye. However, to say he accidentally killed Meya's younger siblings, betrayed them all by dethroning Desta and assuming a cub with her sister as well as sending several African Wild Dogs to ambush Desta's mother, was an understatement. He had purposely done this all, to refresh the pride (as he had called it). So getting rid of his own weak cubs under the age of one, and the cubs of other rogues, was his first step to bearing a pride with more skills and stats.

Desta left five nights ago, without saying another word to her family. And she took her eldest, and last living daughter, with her to start a new life. Meya was nearing the age of two, and it was best to bring her out into exile with her mother than for her to age into the beautifully young lioness that she was, and be forced to bear the cubs of her own father- who was also an elder.

Both mother and daughter were enveloped by silence, only African nightlife seemed to flash to their senses. They had barely gotten enough sleep, but that wouldn't stop them from finding their new home. Once they had found a pride, they could rest all they wanted. Though it wasn't until Desta suddenly tripped and subsided to her paws that she realised they had been ambling far too much since they'd left.

As a normal daughter would, the adolescent hurried towards her mother- comforting her by licking her ears and nuzzling her. "You should really be careful next time," she lectured worriedly. "Don't you remember? You're blind . . . You can't see from your left eye which is why you need to focus." It had killed her to remind her mother of what had occurred, simply because she knew that the elder didn't like to talk about it. She saw her blindness as a permanent reminder of the tyrant who destroyed her family, and an embarrassment which accentuated weakness.

Desta was exasperated; she had to bite her own tongue in order to not snap at the younger lioness comforting her. "Do not fret." she commanded in a thick tone. "I'll be fine, but please do try to not rub my blindness in. I can still see from my right eye."

Meya nodded sadly. "I'm just keeping an eye out for you," said the khaki-beige female lion, "like any daughter would."

Her mother smiled weakly. "I'm honoured. But my eye still pains me- it's still fresh. I'm not likely to forget about it any time soon."

"You're right," Meya agreed, nodding her head as she aided her mother to her own two paws again. "But I think you can also agree that it's time we find some rest?"

The older lioness didn't reply. Instead, she pressed on through the tall savanna grasses, ignoring the harsh coldness that beat on her back. It wasn't normally cold in the Serengeti, but today seemed to be awfully different. This territory was different. Both Desta and Meya were at least expecting to find some herds, impala or antelope. But there was nothing. Not even any giraffes, rhinoceros or elephant. What they did notice was a wounded cape buffalo, who strained every time she tried to erect to her hooves. It was useless. She'd stay there.

This was the perfect opportunity for an ambush, but it'd bring too much attention on unfamiliar territory. Not to mention, cape buffalo were still dangerous for two exhausted lionesses even when wounded.

Meya was leading now. They both rounded the corner of the vacant- but very large- landscape. Still no other animals in sight. Actually, there was a clan of hyenas not too far from where they were heading, snickering and giggling hysterically over what seemed to be nothing. The land was deserted; there was nothing to laugh at. What was so amusing?

Allowing her cat curiosity to corrupt her, Meya held her mother back and stalked to investigate. Her vivid emerald eyes followed each and every movement of the hyenas. For every limb they held up, Meya's muscles tensed. It was this way that she'd hunt back at home with her pridemates. But this time was different. She wasn't hunting, but stalking.

It was only a few moments later that the young lioness came to realise the hyenas were snorting over several lionesses that approached them with a small scrap of meat. Most of the lionesses were adults, and there was only one elder. There were three lionesses, perhaps Meya's age or younger than Meya. She couldn't tell. They all seemed so malnourished, and she could only infer that the hyenas seemed to suppress them from any sort of a decent meal. In front of this small pride of lionesses was a heavily-built lioness, yet still famined and starved. Obviously, she was the dominant lioness in this little team.

Her beige coat had been matted with dust, and like the other lionesses- her paws were dotted with a tint of vermeil blood from the kill they had just made. Her rimmed ears were pinned, and her eyes were rimmed a pale vermellion themselves. Like her, the lionesses behind her struggled to stand and had now decided to rest on their haunches.

"There, we have brought you your kill," the lead lioness stated. "And now you must return the cub."

One of the hyenas moved, revealing a young grizzled cub that seemed to tremble in fear. He must have been related to the adult pale lioness that stood beside the lead lioness. The hyenas still continued to laugh like complete imbeciles, and the female hyena impudently snatched the kill from the lead lioness's paws before lumbering the cub over towards the anxious mother, who welcomed her cub with open arms.

"Mheetu!" she cried, tears rapidly rolling from her teal eyes. "Mheetu, are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

The poor cub still trembled, grasping his mother's forelegs with his small arms tightly as she pulled him closer to her warmth and her motherly scent. "They pushed me around a few times," he reported to her, as they all glared towards the mangy poachers that were now digging into their meal. "But I'm okay. I'm glad to be back."

"Hey, you! Lioness with the . . . weird ear rims thingy," one of the hyenas addressed, arriving from a different direction, and accompanied by another distracted hyena who wore an obnoxious smirk on his maw. "Scar wants ya'. He says it's important, an' you better go see him fast! Before we take another one of them cubs!"

"Sarabi, you shouldn't go," the mother of the younger cub warned, her paws still tightly wrapped around him. "It's too risky. He allowed the hyenas to take Mheetu, who knows what he'll do next?"

The lead lioness, now known as Sarabi, huffed in complete enervation. It was as if she was forced to visit this so-called Scar, whoever he was. And she didn't seem to want to go, neither did her friend want her to go.

"I have to, Sarafina. I need to know what he wants, otherwise he'll do something even worse than taking Mheetu," said Sarabi in a rough tone, but still keeping it low in order to not come out as harsh. Her expression explained it all- she despised these hyenas and Scar. And Scar didn't seem like a very friendly . . . dominant leader to this pride/clan. Meya didn't even know if this was a pride or a clan, for she had never seen hyenas live with lions without killing each other.

Sarafina arched her eyebrows. "Be careful. If you need anything, we're all here."

Sarabi nodded in respect, before escorting the two hyenas towards an immense kopje that seemed to take up the distance. Despite the barren, rocky and deserted landscape, the kopje was a beautiful- a great home for the pride. It was large, and appeared to be warm, with lots of space for several lionesses. However, Meya had seen enough. And this was not the right home for her and her mother. Her mother was blind, and if the lionesses here had to hunt and tire themselves out to get what they wanted, that was a problem.

Her mother wasn't capable of hunting all the time, she needed time to recover. And Meya, on the other paw, didn't want to be used as a tool for food.

Desperately, but quietly, Meya scurried back towards the boulder where her mother would be waiting for her. Luckily, she was. Desta had been bored to death waiting for her daughter's return, although she still remained alert like any intelligent felidae would. Her ears instinctively perked up once she had been triggered by her daughter's light paw steps, and she stood up.

"Well? What did you see?" inquired the old lioness with some curiosity, though her voice was clearly laced with distress.

She was a little anxious, seeing that her daughter hesitated to respond due to her constant sniffing. What Meya had just seen was quite disturbing, and the poor lionesses in this pride had no sort of dominance of others who weren't even part of the lion society in the land.

"It's awful." she started sadly. "The lionesses here have no power. They're dominated by several hyenas and this leader named . . . Scar."

Desta narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean dominated? How do they dominate these lionesses?"

"Well, I did see the hyenas had stolen one of the lionesses' cub. And the lionesses had to hunt to get him back," Meya elaborated, "Otherwise, they said Scar'd do something worse. I don't think this is the right place for us to stay in, especially since you-"

"Don't even say it." the older lioness warned in a strong tone, feeling slightly hurt that her daughter would constantly bring up her injury. "I told you, I'm not likely to forget about it soon."

She sighed, continuing. "If what you said is true, then it's not likely that we'd be treated any better in an ambient like so. Let's keep walking."

However, they didn't even get far before they were cornered by several hyenas. They had suppressed both Desta and Meya as they had done to Sarabi's group of lionesses, snickering and sniveling as they edged closer towards the intruders.

"Well, well," the matriarch of the hyenas commenced, swinging the three long strands of hair from her face. "Two lonely lionesses, all alone in the Pridelands . . . And what's the penalty for steppin' in on Scar's kingdom unannounced, Banzai?"

The male beside her, who seemed to be currently drooling, took a space beside her, shoving his face into Meya's. "Death, of course!" he giggled dumbly. "We get ta' kill them, huh Shenzi?"

"But first, we oughta take ya to Scar! C'mon, kitties, let's move it!" Shenzi struggled to barge Desta despite her age.

"We are not going anywhere," Desta stated firmly, stepping in front of Meya. "The only place we're going is away from here."

"You're on our land! You beta do what we tell ya' to!" Shenzi shouted, baring her teeth.

Both Meya and Desta lowered into a fighting stance, saving their energy to propel if they needed to. They also bared their teeth and all eight claws, and growled as any felidae would do in moment of danger. The mother and daughter made eye contact- a way of preparing themselves to protect themselves if it was needed, whilst Shenzi and the rest of the clan also prepared to leap and fight for their (and Scar's) victory.

"If you ain't gonna listen, we have no other choice but to attack and send y'all to Scar! ATTACK!" the female hyena barked, triggering more than seven hyenas to strike the two rebellious intruders that seemed to put up the fight.

Meya wasn't very experienced, but the hyena's movements seemed frantic and made without thought, which made it easier for her to tackle and pin them all. One of the hyenas lunged at her, though she managed to manipulate his tactic and roll him down to pin him. However, just as she had managed to pin the first hyena, another hyena came to its defense, lumbering onto Meya's back and biting into it.

Just as soon as she could react, another older hyena came and suppressed her forelegs from any sort of movement, allowing the pinned hyena to scramble and help them bring Meya down. The lioness was panicked on the inside, but she refrained this effect from completely taking her out. She used all of her saved energy to kick on of the hyenas in the faces, enough to distract them all- and used this to her advantage to ram them into one another and knock them out, causing them to flee and whimper like cowards.

Unfortunately, Desta's old age was weighing her down. It was only her outwitted trait that managed to tip the balance for her in her own battle. At least three hyenas grabbed her tail, leg and her forelegs and Shenzi was awaiting the final moment for her to collapse and knock her out so she could take them to Scar. What she didn't know was that Meya was finally free from those pesky hyenas, and was on the rampage to save her mother.

Her incoming smack wasn't noticed, which allowed her to send two hyenas across the floor in agony.

"Don't let go! Keep holding on, we've gotta get 'em!" Shenzi commanded to the last hyena as she ran towards him, who was struggling to keep his grip.

"Meya!" Desta yelled in shock. "Don't come over here! It's too dangerous!"

Meya, being the stubborn lioness she was, couldn't stand seeing her half-blind mother cry in pain whilst two hyenas bit into her flesh, and so she galloped over towards them, knocking the male hyena that accompanied Shenzi during the attack off of her mother.

Now, though, she felt stuck. Something kept her from trying to save her mother.

"Well, well, well," came a rather deep, masculine voice. "What do we have here?"

Meya spun around to find that a haggard, skinny brown lion was holding her down, with a look of wry. His eyes were a vivid green, like hers, and his jet black mane swayed in the wind. Not to mention, he seemed to have an execrable scar that streaked his left eye. But he wasn't blind like Desta was. Despite all the frantic commotion, he remained perfectly calm and ran his sheathed paws down Meya's body. She shivered in disgust.

"Scar!" Shenzi gasped in shock, accidentally releasing Desta from her grip. But it didn't matter anyway- the lioness was far too weak to stand. "I-I . . . We tried to bring them to you but-!"

"Quiet Shenzi," his voice suddenly lowered. "Once again, you have failed to follow orders!"

Shenzi cowered back for the first time, tail between her legs.

Scar sighed. "Nevermind. Seems Baako came and found me at the right moment." Out of nowhere, the addressed hyena popped up behind him.

"Hyenas, surrender these two and take them back to Pride Rock." he commanded. "These two will be of good use to the pride. And please do make sure you do not let them out of your sight again!"

"Sure, Scar," Banzai nodded happily, watching him go. "But . . . Where're you goin'?"

"Off to run some errands," Scar's answer was worryingly unclear. "I'll be back soon. Oh, and keep a close eye on those lionesses, will you? Sarabi and Nala in particular."

"So much work." Shenzi sighed once Scar was out of earshot. She and Baako dragged the now unconscious Desta against the rocky hard Pridelandian ground whilst Meya ambled, surrounded by hyenas. "I'm wonderin' when we're gonna get our prize like he said."

"Ah, Shenzi," the male hyena huffed, "He said he's gonna give us our lifefull of food, so we gotta trust him! After all, there're many more of us than there're of him- he'll stand no chance if he lies."

"Don't you talk like that so loudly!" Shenzi barked. "Those lionesses could be anywhere here, eavesdroppin' on our conversation! And when they tell Scar, we'll be the ones who'll have no chance! Have you forgotten he's the king?"

Banzai scratched his chin in confusion. "Eh, maybe so. Look, can we go now? I'm hungry!"

A/N: Finally the end of the prologue! I wrote less than I anticipated, but oh well. I was inspired to write a new story and I'm not really sure where this is going yet... but I do have a few ideas! 8)