Scar's Forgotten Cub
It was a few months after the celebration of Simba. And on that chilly morning, upon a ledge out of the way of the main cave of Pride Rock, walked a bitter lion. His inky black mane rustled in the wind as he kicked a bone off of the edge of the cliff. He had seen Mufasa with his little brat, Simba, up on the top of Pride Rock, and he had felt sick to his stomach. What right did that monster have to be able to spend time with his son like that? He slumped down onto his haunches and looked out over the horizon, where he saw the distant silhouettes of zebras, wildebeests and giraffes all drinking and grazing around the watering hole. It was quiet and still, only being disrupted by the occasional twittering of the birds above.
Scar's ears twitched as he heard the clicking of claws on rock, the sound galloping towards him, ready to ruin his quiet time of peace and serenity. When he could forget all that had happened over the many long years of his life. And yet here came that little furball to remind of everything.
'Hey, Uncle Scar!' Simba cried, skidding to a stop in front of the older lion.
With a heavy sigh, Scar looked down at the cub. 'What do you want?' he groused.
'My dad just showed me the whole kingdom!' the cub crowed, 'and I'm gonna ruuuule it all! Heh heh!'
'Yes,' Scar drawled, well, forgive me for not leaping with joy... bad back, you know.' And with a sigh, he slumped onto his side, moodily.
He heard a small giggle and then felt a dead weight drop itself over his neck. 'Hey, Uncle Scar?' he asked, his tone thoughtful and different to the gloating pride that he had spoken with earlier.
Scar grunted in answer, and felt Simba roll off of his neck before continuing with his question. The old lion raised his head to look at him.
'Why don't you have a cub?' he asked, tilting his head in curiosity.
Scar's face contorted with sadness. He heaved himself up onto his forelegs and Simba sat up to listen. Scar put a heavy paw on his nephew's head and ruffled the few strands of mane hair starting to sprout. Then he looked down at his paws and sighed heavily.
'It was a terrible tragedy,' he said, 'you see, I...'
It all started when Mufasa was crowned as king. A much younger Scar approached the edge of Pride Rock and peered over at the surrounded crowd of animals, from the largest elephant to the smallest mouse, gathered below in wait of their new king. Scar sighed and turned back to his brother. 'It's time,' he said with a smile.
Mufasa took a breath to try and calm the nerves broiling in his stomach, and then stood up. He smiled back at his brother, and then his mate and queen, Sarabi, who stepped up next to him and smiled back at Scar. Then the couple stood, as the lionesses of the pride all gathered together and watched as Mufasa and Sarabi walked up the incline of Pride Rock to its very tip, each of them bowing their heads as they passed. Scar followed his brother up the cliff and sat next to him as the king and queen roared out to the Pridelands, securing the new generation of royalty. The animals trumpeted and whinnied, scraping and stomping at the ground, in celebration of King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi.
A few months later, Scar was out hunting. He was crouching close to the ground, melting into the grass as though he wasn't there, his brown coat helping to camouflage him. Before him was a herd of antelope, unsuspecting of his presence. Just as he was about to run towards the herd and bring down one of the younger members of the herd, there was a loud rustling in the undergrowth and a stranger lioness leapt from the grass, startling the antelope herd and causing them to race away.
Scar straightened and groaned, raising his brows in surprise. The lioness ran after the herd for a few moments, but soon stopped as she realised that they were much too fast for her. Scar gasped as he found her beauty astonishing; she must have realised that a stranger was with her, as she turned around and looked him dead in the eye. She greeted him with enthusiasm, as Scar backed up a little, slightly daunted by her excitable nature. She bounced around him and then trotted off into the savannah. Scar smiled and followed her.
Her name was Unika, and her fur was a light cream with a brownish tint to it. Over many months, they grew close, and eventually fell in love with each other. They were from rival prides, and had meeting in secret under the cover of moonlight each night for almost a year now. Because of this, their love could never be accepted by either of the prides, and so could never be together.
One night, they were walking side by side, Unika's stomach swollen with cub, when she turned and licked the side of his muzzle. Scar grinned at her as she leapt away from him and flicked sand back at him with her paw. He chased her, the pair throwing sand at each other, before colliding and rolling over each other and laying in the grass. Scar sat up and licked Unika's cheek, before standing up.
'We should run away together!' he said.
Unika smiled and nuzzled him. 'Our place is with our pride,' she said.
Scar sighed and nuzzled her in return.
It was a few weeks later when Unika went into labour. She had a smooth birth and a healthy male cub was born. They named him Kamili, and he was perfect to the pair. As Unika licked her son clean, Scar smiled as he realised; he was a father. He would protect his son until his last breath, even if it killed him to do so.
The small family had a few moments of happiness before there was an almighty roar and Mufasa came crashing through the undergrowth, snarling at his brother and the newborn cub. Scar bared his teeth and roared back in return. He knew this would happen someday, although how his brother knew where to find him, he did not know.
'Who is she?' the king demanded.
'She is my mate, and the mother of my son,' Scar said placidly, 'she is of no harm to us, Mufasa.'
His brother did not see it that way. 'She is of a rival pride, you know better than this, Taka!' he shouted.
'She is just-'
'SILENCE!' Mufasa snapped, stepping towards his brother and backing him up in submission, 'she has deceived you, and now you have a cub with her?'
'She has not deceived anyone,' Scar replied, 'I willingly had a relationship with her.'
Mufasa growled and turned to Unika. 'You are banished.'
Unika stepped towards the king. 'Please, sir,' she said, 'let Taka take my son, I want him to grow up in a safe place.'
Mufasa looked at his brother in disgust.
'Please,' he said.
The king looked down at Kamili, the fusion of his own pride and a rival pride. His stomach filled with anger, but against all of his instincts, he nodded begrudgingly. 'Take it,' he said to Scar, and then walked away.
Scar hung his head in sadness. Unika nuzzled into his side and then stepped away. Scar turned to walk after his brother, but then looked back over his shoulder to look at Kamili. The cub was clearly terrified, but followed his father after a moment of hesitation.
Unika ran off, and was never seen or heard from again.
Back at Pride Rock, Scar would play with his son and teach him to hunt, their bond growing stronger by the day. They became inseparable to the point where you wouldn't be able to find Scar without spotting Kamili by his side.
A few more months passed and Scar heard news of the birth of the royal prince. His brother had a son. At first, Scar was happy with this; Kamili would have someone of only a few months younger than him to play with. And with this positive attitude, he attended the ceremony.
But his hopes were dashed when he saw the look on Mufasa's face when he saw Scar and Kamili. The hatred that had been so apparent at Mufasa and Kamili's first meeting was still very much alive, much to Scar's disappointment. Scar quickly left, his son trailing behind him.
He went to lay down away from the ceremony, where the noise couldn't disturb him. Kamili lay next to him, fighting with a bug on the grass.
Then there was a rustle in the undergrowth, and Scar's ears pricked up. He saw his brother in the distance, the look of murder on his face. The brown lion's stomach dropped. Mufasa charged towards them and snarled ferociously at Kamili.
'Don't you DARE touch my son!' Scar snarled, leaping at his brother to fight him off.
Without even thinking about it, Mufasa knocked him away, as though he was a mere fly coming to buzz in his ear. Scar was thrown into a rock and his senses were dazed.
While Scar was out of the picture, Mufasa advanced on Kamili, who backed up in terror. At this moment, Scar got back on his feet in time to see the king as he raised his paw and swung it down like a club upon the cub, knocking him backwards. Kamili had not been killed by the blow, but had been severely disorientated. Taking advantage of this, Mufasa picked up the cub and dropped him into a ravine full of water. Scar cried out for his cub but it was too late.
The dam had burst as the end of the ravine and water came crashing down like thunder, logs ready to strike. Kamili struggled to stay afloat, while his father skidded down the side of the ravine to try to save his son. But just as he was about to reach for Kimili's paw and scoop him out of the water, a log hit the cub, knocking him under the surface of the water. And he did not reappear.
Scar called and called for his son, but to no avail. the water eventually disappeared from the ravine, flowing into other rivers and leaving nothing but logs in its wake. Scar leapt down onto the floor of the ravine and looked for his son.
Kamili was lying, broken and bloodied, in a pile of logs, there was no hope of saving him. Scar stared at the body in shock; he had vowed to protect his son's life, and he couldn't even do that. He was a failure.
He heard paws hit the wet ground behind him, and he turned with anger flooding through his veins. Mufasa stood before him, looking as though he had done nothing wrong.
Scar wanted to scream. He wanted to yell at his brother for everything that he had done, for how much he was hurting. But he found nothing to say. Instead, he snarled and advanced as if to strike the king.
But before he could do that, Mufasa raised his paw and swung it down over Scar's face, claws cutting into the area around his eye. Scar roared in pain, and then looked back up at his brother, blood pouring from a cut across his left eye. From then on, Taka was dead, and Scar was born.
Simba was in tears as his uncle ended the sorry tale. He huddled into the older lion's leg, and sobbed. Scar put a paw on his nephew's back, providing a small amount of comfort. 'Ssshh, there, there,' he cooed, 'it's all in the past now.'
Simba looked up at his uncle and started to speak, but it was not the voice of Simba that Scar heard.
'I'll never forget you, daddy,' Kamili said.
Scar's eyes shot open, and he looked down at his nephew, his mouth open and tear-filled eyes wide. He took his paw off of his nephew and stared down at the cub. But Kamili was gone.