Her best friend had been brave and smart. He'd been cocky and arrogant, but her mother said you should never remember your friends by their bad qualities. Nala wasn't so sure she agreed with that. Cocky and arrogant was part of him, should she try to remember him in such an incomplete way?
She remembered running with him, quietly admiring his golden pelt and sometimes, secretly, his eyes. She hadn't even realized she'd admired him so much until he was gone. She hadn't realized how she liked so much about him, like his mischievous grin, the way he always managed to get in trouble, how he'd do his best to get them out of trouble. One of her last memories of him stood out so strongly. He'd come back for her, when she was in trouble. The hyena could have killed her. But he came back. And when they'd been cornered he tried to protect her. Nala realized she'd never even been able to say thank you. Just a small, whispered bye…
Sometimes, she wondered if she loved him.
The cub licked her paw thoughtfully, and stared down into the gorge. She'd slipped past guards, snuck away from her mother. Sarafina had given her plenty space lately, as her daughter seemed lost in thought. At this point, Scar was only a minor inconvenience, as he seemed to be trying to make the pride strong, even with the overpopulation of hyenas.
She peered down at the broken tree that marked the place where Mufasa's body had been. Her best friend had no such luxury, he hadn't even been found. There was no mark to say "This is where my best friend died." She simply had to satisfy herself with the tree, that said "Here died a great king, my best friend's father."
Nala had other friends, but she didn't miss them. She didn't miss curling up in the shade next to them to take a nap. She didn't itch to pounce and attack them, the way she had with him. There wasn't anymore plotting, tricks, silly games. Maybe there would be in time, but right now, perhaps never, no one could substitute…
"Simba," She squeaked and lied down, allowing her paws to dangle over the edge of the gorge. She looked down, but some fuzziness in her eyes turned the tree into a dark smudge. "I miss you."
She swiped a paw across her face so she could see the sky more clearly. The stars were not out yet, but she could see them anyways. Nala wondered if her friend was up there. He'd never managed to become a king. She knew he would have made a great one, and he'd wanted it so much…
Sometimes, she even let herself toy with the idea that Simba was alive. That he was hiding, or, in an extreme situation, that nothing had happened. That she could just run over to Pride Rock in the morning and wake him up, laugh at his groggy, grumpy face then hurry away so he could chase her and try to pin her down. Then she'd turn it all around and end up on top, like she always did.
But afterwards everything would just hurt more, like she lost him all over again.
The best days, she barely even thought about him. The best days, she'd go play with those other cubs, and she'd even laugh and for a moment be having fun. Sometimes, it didn't even occur to her to call him to join them.
"I need to forget you." She confessed, and for what seemed like a long time she wanted to cry. "I don't want to. I really don't. But… I need to be strong. You understand that, right? You were so strong…" She sniffed, closed her eyes and felt something run down her cheek.
Nala sighed, after what seemed like eternity, and opened her eyes again. It had grown so much darker. "I'll have to be strong, in your place. Okay? I'll try to…" She swallowed, and said, "Not think about you anymore. But you'll always be with me, right?" Nala frowned up at the first star she saw. Had she really been out this long? "So I won't really forget you. Ever. I don't think."
The cub forced herself to stand paws, and briefly, heard her name on the wind. She pretended it was him for a moment, then accepted that her mother had come out to find her. "We'll always be best friends, right?" The star didn't react, and a small, insane part of her mind wondered if that was a good thing. If he wasn't up there, maybe…
She even managed to smile a little, before turning away from the gorge to meet her mother.
I decided to pretend I could write, because I had this floating around in my head. I don't know if I'll ever even post again. xD But I actually got a little teary writing this, maybe. I certainly felt sad, anyways. Review/comment/whatever, if you like. 3
As for timeframe on this, I imagined this to have happened maybe three months after Mufasa's death. And here I don't think Scar was too terrible a ruler, with only a few guards loosely positioned to keep everyone in check. After all, he just took over and probably –is- trying to be a great king, which was his ambition. I think the terrible state of Prideland we see in TLK happens later on, as the responsibilities and pressures of such a gigantic, hungry hyena clan start to take their toll.