Heaven Waited For His Queen

I decided to do another piece on Lion King. This time with Sarabi and Mufasa! :D I always pictured Mufasa being the overly romantic one who would do anything for his mate, so I wanted to show it off in this piece.

I do not own Lion King, or any characters associated with it. The only thing I own is this story.

Sarabi had done well for herself. Through her years she had met the love of her life, seen her son grow up to become a strong and successful king just as his father, and now she had the best time of her life looking after her grand children. The delighted ruby hues of the old queen danced with the bodies of her family members as they all played and enjoyed each other. But she knew her time was coming to an end... as did her son.

Quietly, Sarabi lifted her old body from the ground with little pieces of dirt and sand coming off of her and back to the earth. The cracking sounds of her bones were enough to catch the king's attention as he turned to watch his mother leave. Simba excused himself from the play time he had with his mate Nala, and his son and daughter, Kopa and Kiara, trotting after the old lioness.

"Mother?" Simba sounded concerned, his tone catching Sarabi's attention more than her name. "Are you alright?" She could tell he was hesitant to get an answer but she knew he was old enough to comprehend that things went on, despite the arguments of some, to join the Great Circle of Life.

She turned back to face her mate's splitting image. She was reminded of how sad she was go leave, but also how joyful she would be to arrive in a new part of her afterlife. "Oh Simba," she walked over to him and placed her head under his chin, "you and I both know I am not going to be here much longer". It was hard for her to say as she was sure it was hard for him to hear. The boy had already lost his father, but he had grown up into this strong king without Mufasa and he turned out just fine.

His mother rose her paw to his mane, combing it affectionately with her claws and staring into his glossy eyes. "You're really leaving?" Simba's chocked tone made even the great queen squint her own orbs and stifle a gulp thanks to the sting in her nose.

"I'm afraid so, my dear," she looked at him and wished so badly that he didn't feel so upset, "but you know just as well as I do that you're going to be fine. You have Nala, that sweet young girl who has been with you for all this time. And even your son Kopa is starting to turn out like his old man, meanwhile Kiara is going to be such a beautiful young lioness."

It didn't matter how much Sarabi tried to sugar coat it, Simba heard right through her pretty words and knew it too well: His mother was going to be dead by the end of today if not sooner, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He might have been king of the Pridelands, but he wasn't a God who could stop time for his own gain.

Bending his head down with his mane falling to his cheeks, Simba started to weep. The only thing Sarabi knew she could do was comfort him for as long as she could, and so she did. Despite her own pain and body aches, she remained a sturdy shoulder for her boy to cry on and confide his weakness in her tender heart. "I love you, mother...," slowly, he wrapped his paw around her back and brought her closer to him, "I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Simba" the queen sadly smiled over his shoulder and was now finding it hard to keep her own sobs inaudible. It was quite the moment they had created with each other, as they both knew as much as they wanted this to last that Sarabi's choice, nor Simba's, had any ruling over what nature was telling the old lioness. She would soon have to move on from being the queen, and allow Nala to fully take it over.

It was painful for her to stay the way she was with his body collapsing onto hers, but the pain was hardest to bear when she lifted herself away from him and looked back into his eyes. They were blood shot as she was sure hers were as well, but she put on a smile as if no tears were ever escaping. "I have to go," she looked back to where the prince and princess were with their mother, "I'm sure your mate and children are wondering where you are."

"They can see me any time," Simba swallowed back his desperate need to bawl some more, "I can't see you for much longer. Please, just let me stay with you until you're gone."

"Simba, I-"

"Mother, please. I know father would want you to pass here with your family rather than being alone out in the grass lands". He made a good point, as she knew her mate and ex-king would have told her if he was there with them.

She gave in without a single word after that. Almost without her even knowing it, her large son was next to her and keeping her safe and warm at his side. The lioness rested her head on his back and kept her paw between his, feeling the sensation of Simba's larger paw rubbing hers affectionately. They were silent as Sarabi knew there was nothing she could say to make this moment any easier and Simba didn't want to risk his mother stopping in mid-sentence. He couldn't handle it.

The tears started up again for the king, but the queen was too tired to find the energy to let anything slip from her. The only slipping being done was her life until finally...

"Mother?" Simba looked over his shoulder to see if he could get a good look at her face but she didn't respond. "Mom?" With a sudden jerk of his body in the desperate need to see if his mother was still alive, Sarabi's head slid down the golden shoulder and was enveloped in red mane around her face. Finally, her paw fell from the grasp of her son's.

The queen was dead.

Sarabi's eyes fluttered open and she groaned, feeling as though she had been in a wrong position for hours on end. She pushed herself up with her front feet, shaking her head and looked around. Surprisingly the dull sensation in her neck faded as did the ache in her legs. "What happened?" She had to question herself aloud.

The lioness looked over to her side and spotted the royal family, as well as the followers. Looking closely with her surprisingly improved vision, the lion and lionesses didn't seem to be moving. Almost like they were frozen and kept on pause, such as a framed picture. "Simba?" Sarabi's confused voice was starting to mix with pain when she realized she probably wasn't going to get his attention. Was this some kind of cruel joke? To force her to look at what she was leaving behind? "Why is this happening to me?" Perhaps she was just going crazy?

She couldn't accept that! Her strides became stronger with her depressing anguish pushing deeper into her heart, weeping to be heard by her family once more. Sarabi approached her son and his mate, both of them bending their heads in sadness, the two cubs not sure what was going on at all. "Simba! Son, please, can you hear me?" Sarabi pleaded for some kind of movement from the king but he didn't turn his look or anything. Neither did Nala, Kopa, or Kiara. All they did was stay put. Sarabi found herself growing anxious- what was going on, and would this always be what she would live in? Complete stop in time, was that her fate?

Once again, Sarabi waited to see her grand children move, but they stayed put. Not a single movement from either of the lions.

Finally, from grown annoyance and hopelessness, the ex-queen roared powerfully and wished for something to happen. "Do not show me a cruel end such as this!" She furiously snarled, converting into a roar of sadness.

Suddenly, it was as though Sarabi had been ripped out from under her feet as she was sent tumbling down a black hole that ripped into the grass beneath her. Her eyes raised upward to where she had been before, seeing her family rapidly flying past her reach and away from her sight. "No! Simba, Kopa, Kiara, Nala!" She slammed her claws in front of her in hopes that in the darkness would be a wall of some sort that she could grab onto but nothing but cold rushes of air.

As though she were still with her grieving son, the lioness started to cry. She didn't know what was happening, and in the back of her mind she thought there was the slight chance that she was being sent down to Hell. In the time she used to let herself fall down to what seemed like a never coming end, her mind drifted back to the thoughts of her life. What had she done to deserve this? She was a devoted queen, a loving mother, a caring grand mother, noble daughter... where had she gone wrong?

But now was not the time for thinking so harshly upon herself. If it was her end, she would use it to think of the things in her life that were worth sending her up to the clouds. Where the Great Kings of the Past were. Then her thoughts trailed to the one thing she thought about every day, dead and alive: Mufasa. Her mate; her love; her sweet hearted king. And at the single thought of just his smile, the fall seemed to stop itself. Sarabi landed gracefully on her paws and felt the instant sensation through her nose of how he smelled. He had a freshness to his mane, mixed in with the scent of honey. She felt the tingle amongst her body when she remembered how energetic he made her feel after even the quickest nuzzle, or a lick to the cheek because she knew it was always filled with adoration for her.

"I could never move on after you, Mufasa," she stared to speak as though her late love was standing right in front of her, "we were meant to be ever since the day I gave your brother that scar". She thought back to it all, remembering that they were all teenagers, confronting each other when things slightly altered themselves out of paw and Sarabi rose her paw to Taka for the first time. "Maybe that is why I'm being sent to Hell. Why I'm never going to see you again..." she chuckled at herself, "I was the reason Taka became Scar, after all".

Sarabi's paws pushed to the ground nervously, thinking about what was going to happen to her now. She didn't know if she was going to stay in his black abyss or if something was either going to put her straight into Hell. The choice though became very obvious when Sarabi's heart clenched in her chest, hurdling her downwards again. Frantically swatting for something to hold on to, the old lioness closed her eyes and curled herself into a ball. "MUFASA!" She screamed in horror, feeling herself finally hit something.

Though her eyes were shut tight and her muscles were tense, she felt a radiance from the outside of her closed lids and the courage to do anything... and a smell of honey.

The queen's eyes blasted open and rested upon a figure before shunning away. The blackness was defeated in the light of what seemed like an angel. No, a king. Her king. Through tense lids, the lioness spied a golden glowing figure with a brawny frame and ruby red mane. Soon her eyes were adjusted and happily filled to the rim with tears when she saw the closer view of her one and only love. "Sarabi" Mufasa's strong, protective voice tore the darkness from around them and replaced it with lightness. All that stood behind, in front, and around was white.

Sarabi hesitantly poached forward, her mate's eyes following her every move. He was aware that she was cautious in such a large stroke of disaster coming to an end. "It's you," her paw gently placed upon his chest being drowned in a sea of red, "it's really you". His paw moved over top of hers and he smiled brightly as the aura around him.

"It's really me, my love" his reassurance was just enough for her crown to push securely into his neck. With her paw still in his mane, her ear placed itself to his throat and listened for a pulse meanwhile Mufasa held her back in his paw. There wasn't a sound coming from him except his gentle purring. Mufasa kept his cheek to her head for a while longer before lifting off of hers and looking down at her, "what is it?"

"You don't have a pulse..." she replied low in her throat. Surely she knew by now that they were both dead, but she was expecting to hear it. It's what she had become accustomed to when they were together, and now that they were... it wasn't there anymore.

"Love," he eased off of her a little more enough to look into her eyes, "we're dead. We don't have blood pumping through us anymore".

The lioness looked up at her mate before looking back down and nodding once. She knew she was probably looking a lot more depressed than she actually was, but she was just... missing her life. Seeing Mufasa here reminded her heavily of how she was reunited with him but also that she was separated from others. Sarafina, her best friend... Simba, Nala, her grandchildren... and all her pride sisters who were still longer for the world.

As Mufasa saw her heavily but slowly nod in examined understanding, the lion grew heartfelt for his mate. He had been dealing with this for a few years now, and she had just come to this stage in her life. The lion looked to his side, crimson mane blocking his view, until he looked back down at her and smiled. His large paw grew over hers once more and slid it a little further down his chest, catching Sarabi's confused expression which made him chuckle.

"Close your eyes," she did, "relax yourself," her shoulders slumped and her head bent, "and focus on your paw." Mufasa watched her carefully.

Sarabi's mind was racing through her relaxed state. What was he trying to reveal to her? The lioness wanted so badly to just look at her mate and forget about what had happened to her a short while ago. He was always able to sooth- ...what was that? Sarabi's eyes darted open, shooting her sights to her paw on Mufasa's chest. Underneath her own she felt a light thumping, causing her to twitch her ear in utter clutter. Mufasa, on the other paw, didn't seem to be astonished at all what she was feeling or even how she was repaying his small act of shocking discovery.

Finally, his queen spoke. "Your heart beat...?" Mufasa nodded down at her with the same glorious smile he had always looked upon her with. He then picked her paw from off the ground to make her sit up on her crouched back legs and feel her own chest. The lioness hadn't noticed it before but she too had a heart beat. "My heart beat? But how...?"

The lioness was cut short when her mate offered her paw to his mouth, pressing his mouth against the pad of it while the other remained on his chest. "Just because you and I no longer live doesn't mean our hearts have to stop for each other, do they?"

She felt the tears start to swell up in her eyes once again, but this time it was a happy type of weeping. Softly the tears streaked dark rivers down her cheeks as she nodded to him. "No. Never, Mufasa" she smiled and felt him overtake her body in his with the beautiful smell of honey surrounding her once more.

"Did you notice?" She eased away from him and looked up to his ruby orbs, "after all this time, our hearts are still beating in the same pattern?" Sarabi looked back down to where her paw was, where she felt his existance further beyond his death and remembered when they were younger. That night they spent together as the first night of the rest of their lives devoted to each other, they discovered that their heart beats were the same as the other's. It was almost like they were re-living that night.

"I remember," she closed her eyes with a youthful smile, "you and I were running away from the pride for some time on our own. When we fell over on each other as we tripped over that silly hill, I fell on top of you and we found out that our hearts were beating the same as each others." Suddenly when Sarabi opened her eyes, she was blanketed with a veil of stars over head and the soft grass easing her pads of any kind of hard surface. She still couldn't fathom what was happening to her in this strange universe, but it seemed as though she was in good care if she was with her mate.

She looked up at Mufasa, who seemed to enjoy looking at the same scenery as she did. His chest was still pressed against her and looking above them until he brought his crown back down to her sights and smiled. "We were never that far apart" he said. Sarabi could only nod her head, feeling a huge lump in her throat from all the happiness welled up inside bursting at the seems.

Finally she had to ask, "what is this place?"

Mufasa looked at her, interested. "What do you mean?"

"This place," she swivelled her head to look around as her example, "we're dead, so shouldn't we be in the sky? I thought you were in the clouds with the Great Kings of the Past, like you told me so much about. As did your father" she reminded him, partially curious to see if death really brought him closer to the others who had passed and watched over their lands.

"Ah, yes. I see what you mean now," Mufasa backed away from Sarabi only a few short steps, the grass voicing its dislike of being stepped on while Mufasa ignored it and looked up. Sarabi followed his gaze to see a group of stars that made up one of the constellations merge together, a sparkling path of orbs shining like jewels in the sun travelling down to the two lions' paws, inviting them to go into the sky. Mufasa knew he wouldn't have to convince his mate to follow him as he took a step on the seemingly unsteady path up into the night time clouds, his mate following, breath taken away and eager to see what this different world had to offer her. She wasn't scared really but more focused and loyal in her king's paw prints to where he lead her would be a place of calming and happiness.

As the two of them reached the end of the pathway, a cloud cushioned their bodies and gently started to glide across and past the shining lights. Whilst Mufasa laid himself down for the short journey ahead, Sarabi remained on her feet and took in the feel of the air running through her fur. Silently the mates took their ride but Sarabi's ears were perked when she heard the gathered laughs and purring off in the distance. Coming closer and closer into view, the lioness spotted lions and lionesses, some of whom she knew and some she had yet to meet.

They all looked at her, smiling brightly for what the night time background lacked. From the side of her vision she could see her golden mate leap off the cloud, and as though he had wings swiftly and gracefully slid himself down to the cloud with the gathered cats, landing smoothly on the cotton cloud. Sarabi did the same and fell beside her mate. When she readjusted her eyes, she looked over everyone. She recognized king Ahadi and queen Uru, and judging from the looks of some of the other males and females there, they were the kings and queens of past Pridelands.

"Sarabi," Uru walked forward and met the stance of Sarabi's own, "we're so proud of you" she said, nuzzling the lioness lovingly.

Ahadi walked over to his mate and daughter in law, placing his paw on her back. "It's finally your time to join us here. You have proven yourself to be a true queen," he looked up at his son, "being loyal to your king and knowing his loyalty was always and will forever be to you." Mufasa smiled at his father, then his mother, and then looked back down at his entangled mate in his parents' love.

"Thank you" she smiled at the two royals before her, and then turned to look at Mufasa. "And I am forever to him".