The Lion King: Broken Life
Prologue
The fading sun's rays dimly lit up the magnificent rock formation, casting an orange tint over the entire congregation of animals that waited impatiently below the great structure. Every creature imaginable in the savannah was gathered underneath it, creatures from elephants to gazelles to cheetahs, all staring up at one point: the peak, the giant slab of stone that juts out of the base of the structure, being supported underneath by a long piece of rock that was rooted into the ground. The animals were all waiting for the same thing: the introduction of the new heir to the throne; the heir to the new king. The king that struck down the tyrant that was destroying their homes, and who killed the previous king, his brother, Mufasa, and then drove away the prince, his nephew, and claimed the throne as his own, completely justified by the fact that he was the only male member of the royal family left to rule. And it was under his rule that the grasslands became empty of any life that wasn't lion or hyena (The king's first decree being that hyenas and lions try to coexist together). It also wasn't helped by the fact that a drought hit as soon as his rule began, destroying the lands even further.
The lionesses starved; the hyenas starved; the cubs starved, the youngest even dying from the lack of nourishment when their mothers couldn't produce any milk. The only one who ever seemed to be fed was the king himself. Talk of rebellion was prevalent among the ranks of the lionesses, but there was only a few of them, and the king had plenty of support from the hyenas and even some of the lionesses. The few remaining lionesses who had young also didn't want to fight, because they still had little ones to worry about, leaving such talks of rebellion to never come to fruition.
Then he arrived.
The prince, whom the king thought was dead, came back under the assistance of his childhood friend, Nala, bringing with him his two other friends: a warthog and a meerkat. This, however, wasn't enough to incite a rebellion. Until the king revealed the secret that he had been keeping all along that he had, in fact, murdered the king, this was enough to start a full rebellion against him and dispose of him. With the prince now in command, the hyenas were exodus from the Pridelands and the rains came back, rejuvenating the grasslands once more. Soon the other creatures came back and everything was like it was when Mufasa ruled.
And now, only what appeared to be a short time into the rightful rule of King Simba, that Nala, his mate now, has given birth to his heir, a son. That was why all the creatures were waiting impatiently underneath the rock formation known as Pride Rock, the home to the lions. They were all waiting for his presentation to the creatures that, in due time, he could be ruling over.
All of the animals bowed their heads at the sight of the king and his queen appearing at the tip of the peak, looking down at the assembled crowd, a smile on both their faces. They moved on the opposite site of the peak, allowing an old mandrill, the royal advisor, to take the middle of it. He had the heir cradled in his arms, it resting peacefully, leading some of the assembled animals to think he was sleeping, but the slight jiggling of his legs proved that he was indeed quite awake. He suddenly quickly raised the cub, showing it to everyone in the clearing.
The animals all let out a great cry of long contained excitement: the elephants trumpeting with all their might, as well as raising up on their back legs and coming back down, the gazelles excitedly shaking their horned heads and bellowing, and the zebras rising on their back legs, as well.
The cub looked almost indifferently at the - to him - strange display that was being exhibited before him. However, his parents were both smiling, looking at each other first, then him with deep love in their eyes.
However, not everyone was happy about the presentation of the heir. Laying on the other side of Pride Rock in a curved out section of the rock where none of the sun's fainting rays could reach, laid a lioness with pale dark fur, blood red eyes and a dark stripe that ran along her back before being cut off between her eyes. She perked her eyes as she heard the cheering of the animals. She turned her head towards the sounds, letting out a menacing growl.
"They never did that for Scar!" She snarled, her blood red eyes painting out her anger. "All they ever did was jeer at him behind his back!" Flicking out one of her claws, "Of course, they never did again when I was through with them!" She laughed.
"Mom?" Came a tiny voice from the corner.
"What is it, Nuka?" She snapped, glaring at her eldest.
Obviously startled at his mother's reaction, Nuka flinched slightly, but kept his composure, "I was just wondering if I could go see the new cub?"
"The cub!" She snarled, sending Nuka jumping suddenly backwards in fright. "The good-for-nothing cub of a murderer?"
"It- It was just a-a suggestion, mom." Nuka quickly replied frighten, trying to stop his dark greyish furred frame from shaking. His red eyes, similar to his mother's, radiated fear strongly from them. "I-I could just always stay here?"
"No!" She growled, "Get out of my sight! I won't have no son of mine talking about the 'rightful king's' son in my presence." She continued.
"Bu-but, mom-"
"Now!" Nuka sprinted quickly out of sight, leaving a trail of tears behind, if his mother cared at all to notice. "Disgraceful!" She said disgustedly when he was gone. "No wonder Scar didn't pick him to be his heir. He's too stupid and soft to ever be a strong king." She muttered.
A sharp cry rang from between her paws, moving her attention to the two cubs that, up to this point, had remained quiet and unnoticeable. They had been sleeping peacefully, bundled up softly, lying next to their mother's gray cream chest, but her yelling at Nuka had obviously led to them waking up. They cried disapprovingly at the way they had been woken and shuffled almost angrily.
Their mother smiled down at them, "Ahhh, but you two are fighters, unlike your brother. And you," She said looking down at a cub that had reddish-brown fur, who was mewling disapprovingly. "You'll bring honor to the throne again one day; something this current imbecile of a king is destroying day by day, Kovu!" The other cub, a female with light tan-colored fur, meowed angrily, like she knew that her mother was forgetting about her. "And you'll be his prized hunter and fighter, Vitani, the one he can always rely on."
The cubs finally settled down and began to fall back into their slumber. Their calm slumber calmly lulling their mother into a need for sleep, and as she rested her head on her foreleg, just gently nestling them, she said, "And you'll never, ever, betray your mother. You'll always be there for, Zira!"