Ok dears, I know it's been forever and I'm really sorry. I had the biggest case of writer's block in the history of writer's block; and then every time I had a breakthrough, a few of my dedicated readers would send me a message and tell me they wanted the exact opposite of what I had written. So I had to rewrite it about 5,000 times. But that's ok; I love you all anyway. Well here it is, the 3rd part of Love or Loss. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Lion King; all the characters and places belong to Disney.

Some characters are mine though and if you wanna use them, send me a message.

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"Adaeze!! Adaeze please!!" Zander begged the lioness' limp body.

"Zander…I think…" Simba couldn't bring himself to say it. They both looked up when Rafiki walked towards them. The shaman didn't say a word; he simply shook his walking stick over Adaeze's body. When he finished he had a saddened expression on his face.

"What is it?" Zander asked.

"She is alive…but not fer long." Rafiki said. "We must get her to my tree for healing. Hopefully it will work."

"It has to work." Zander said; the emotion showing in his voice. Together, Simba and Zander got Adaeze to Rafiki's tree.

"Why would Nala do something like this?" Simba thought aloud. They were currently sitting at the bottom of Rafiki's tree while the mandrill was busy at work healing Adaeze.

"I don't know Simba." Zander was pacing. "Maybe she just snapped."

"But its Nala…she's always the calm one though." Simba pondered. They were both silent for a few moments. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Zander raised a brow.

"I am in love with Adaeze." The king said guiltily. "I nearly acted upon it once…never again. I promise."

"It's ok Simba." Zander forced a smile.

"I should go…inform the kingdom to be on the lookout for Nala." Simba got up and began walking towards Pride Rock.

--

"Where could she be?" Simba muttered to himself. He had sent out the lionesses to look for the queen and had spread the word that if Nala is sighted she is to be brought to Pride Rock. The king continued walking; keeping his eyes peeled for Nala. Memories of the night he and Adaeze had first started talking drifted back to him.

xxxxxx

"She's just another lioness. She's just another lioness. She's just another lioness." Simba repeated out loud. 'No she's not. There's something about her…' He thought.

"Who's just another lioness?" The voice startled the lion.

"Oh…hey Adaeze." He mumbled, looking at his paws.

"That's not an answer." He felt her eyes burning a hole in his back.

"I was just thinking." He replied turning around to face her.

"About…?" She asked sitting down 2 feet away from him.

"Did you follow me?" He asked eyeing her suspiciously.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Answer my question first."

"Ya know, I wasn't lying when I said you were a very aggravating lioness. And to answer your question I was talking about you. You come here and after only a month you're the 2nd lead huntress, everyone loves you, and it feels like you were born and raised here. It's amazing." He rushed his words.

"Ummm, thank…you?" She said with a slightly worried face. "Oh and yes, I did follow you."

"Why?" He asked quickly with a scowl on his face.

"You have to be the most moody lion I've ever met." She giggled as he pinned his ears back. "I followed you because I wanted to get to know you. But if you want me to leave then I will."

"No, it's ok. We can talk. What do you want to know?" He asked.

"Well I already know all about your past. Tell me about your present. What's it like being king?" She asked; curious.

"It's a lot of responsibility. But that's a boring subject, besides you should know all about that, since you're a princess."

"You would think so, but a princess or queen in my pride was just a title. We were just there for looks." Adaeze sighed.

"Oh. Well from all that you've told me, your old pride didn't seem too…great."

"It wasn't." Adaeze laid down next to Simba who had already gotten comfortable on his stomach. "But it was still home. I didn't really enjoy all the responsibility though…I couldn't step out of line; ever. I was the perfect little princess."

"I know what you mean." Simba shifted a little. "Sometimes I wish I could just go back to the oasis; forget about all this responsibility."

"Well it must be a lot of pressure knowing that if you make one mistake; your entire kingdom could become nothing but a patch of dirt." Adaeze said.

"No…not at all." Simba muttered; sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Sorry." She gave him a sheepish grin. "Well you have your kingdom's respect and loyalty; my dad used to say that that was all a king could ever ask for."

"Yeah…my dad used to say the same thing." Simba smiled a little at the memory of Mufasa.

xxxxxx

"If we had never talked that night…none of this would've happened." He whispered. When he heard some bushes rustling he paused and looked around but didn't see anything; he continued walking. After a few moments he heard the rustling again; once again he paused and looked around. He pinned his ears back and readied himself to pounce. "Who's there?" He nearly roared.

"You're right; if you had never begun speaking to that whore your life wouldn't be so complicated." A voice hissed.

"Nala…" He breathed.

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And there it is; the first chapter of Love or Loss part 3. Sorry to leave you all on a cliffy but it just seemed like an awesome place to end. I know it was short, but that's how I start out my stories. You, my dedicated readers, should know that by now.

Review and tell me what you think and what you want to happen. I still have no idea how this is gonna turn out. Bye Loves!!