A/N: This is an experimental fic I started writing a few days ago. It's rather different from the type of writing I'm used to, so it's a bit outside of my comfort zone. But, with that being said, I'm pretty sure this is a unique idea for a Lion King story. Hopefully, if I've done everything correctly, it should put a slight twist on what you might expect.

Emancipation

A gray, stormy sky lingered over the Pridelands, blocking out any trace of direct sunlight with its thick, expansive coat of mesh. The dark thunderheads festered all across the horizon, and rumbles of fury ignited in the upper atmosphere.

"Heh," Shenzi exhaled heavily. The hyena's ears perked up at the sound of thunder, before she stood up on her forepaws. Mildly interested, she stepped up onto a rock, and glanced down at a dark and dry horizon below. "Well, you look at that."

Banzai tilted his head. "What?" he asked, in his usual raspy voice. "See anything?"

"There ain't nothin' out here," Shenzi answered with a loud sigh. "Just dead stuff, dust, and clouds. Y'know... the usual."

"Oh yeah?" Banzai argued. He scratched the back of his neck with his hindpaw, relieving himself of a persisting itch in the process. "Then what do you want me to look at?"

Shenzi remained silent for a moment. Her eyes wandered upward, and she could almost feel a faint splash of a raindrop fall on the tip of her rounded nose. It was probably just her imagination, of course, but she had practically given up any hope of rain, long ago.

The same hyena slid and twisted one of her forepaws across the rock on which she stood, hoping it would help her bring her thoughts to full fruition. "Oh, nothing..." she finally answered. "It's just that... heh, we never get to have anything nice."

It was their place in life to be the scum of the Earth, and not much else. Shenzi once denied it, but she could no longer hide from the obvious truth, while it stood right before her eyes.

Suddenly, Shenzi turned around, closed her eyes, and stepped down from the rock. She couldn't bear to look at the Pridelands anymore. It was simply too depressing of a sight—even more so than life in the underworld.

She began to walk back toward her companion, carrying a distinct scowl across her face. "Them lions got all that green grass and clear water, with all those zebra, wildebeest, and trees... and we ain't got squat! Scar promised us!"

"Man, I hate Scar!" Banzai added.

Shenzi paused before a moment, before sitting back down in her previous resting position. "Oh, tell me about it," she replied. "I just hear that name and I quiver. He's almost as bad as Mufasa."

"Scar!" Banzai spat.

"Ooooh," Shenzi started to jitter. She rolled over onto her back and kicked her paws around erratically, while a giggle emerged from her muzzle. "It tingles me."

"Scar Scar Scar Scar Scar!"

"Ooooh," Shenzi shared a hearty laugh with her companion. "I'd just love to sink my teeth into his neck."

"So, let's kill Scar!" Banzai replied. His voice started to fill with both anger and hope, while his ambition increased notably with volume. "Death to Scar! Death to Scar!"

"Oh-oh-oooh!" Shenzi rolled over with uncontrolled laughter. "I like that!"

"DEATH TO SCAR!" Banzai repeated himself, this time even louder than before. The grunges of his voice even pierced through the mountainside, all the way to the promontory of Pride Rock itself.

In consequence, Shenzi immediately stood up, reverting her mindset back to a more serious perspective. "Shhh! Not so loud!"

"What? It doesn't matter," Banzai immediately argued. "There's nobody lion around."

"Them lionesses down there can hear us, alright," Shenzi explained with a quick, authoritative, and persuasive hiss in her voice. "They just look for any reason to start fightin' us."

"Did you see 'em up there?" Banzai asked.

"Yea," Shenzi replied. "They're down there at Pride Rock. They're lickin' their paws... rubbin' their heads... prancin' around..."

Banzai lifted his head up, and a few unkempt strands of hair rose upward in the wind. "Huh?"

"Oh, you know," the female hyena clarified. "They're doin' all that lioness stuff they do."

Shenzi then clenched her teeth, as she briefly rolled her eyes up at the stormclouds above. "They don't do nothin' around here. They just laze around in the sun, while we have to work for our food."

"And they blame it all on us!" Banzai added. "I hate lionesses!"

"Yeah," Shenzi agreed. A few strengthening gusts of wind started to blow across the Pridelands, and they immediately carried the hyena's words with them.

For several more seconds, silence persisted in the air surrounding the two, while clouds of sand flew off the ground and expanded into the air. What was once a dull, lifeless tone of gray that covered the horizon in blankets had now developed into something much more sinister in appearance, unlike anything that had swept across the Pridelands. It was largely unlike anything a lion had ever seen; not since the great drought during Mohatu's time.

And it was all Scar's fault.

Shenzi's eyes eventually landed back on the other hyena. "Anyway, you about ready to get back to work?"

"I guess," Banzai answered. "It's not like the lionesses are going to help us with anything."

"Heh, yea," Shenzi agreed. She sat down once again, and brushed her paw across the sand between her and her companion. She then scooted a small rock over, as well, placing it directly between the smooth, flattened plots of dirt.

A dried leaf blew into the side of Shenzi's face, causing her to twitch and rub her cheek with irritation, before she could continue. "They think they're better than everyone else—it's all part of that circle of life garbage," the matriarch added.

Next, Shenzi started to make a grid in the dirt below her paws, and she strategically placed several dyed blobs of clay in specific squares. The icons on her side were scattered around the grid, in what seemed to be a mostly random pattern.

Once she was done contemplating her moves, Shenzi looked back up over the rock. "Circle of life, my butt," she whined. "Those highfalutin creatures don't look after anyone but themselves."

"Idiots," Banzai mumbled, from his hunkered nest on the other side of the rock.

"Them lionesses are just blind, greedy, and stupid," Shenzi added. "I bet they couldn't even figure out how to play this game if they wanted to."

After a few more seconds of moving his paws around, behind the other side of the rock, Banzai looked back up. "I'm ready."

"Ah, right, right, right." Shenzi twitched her lips after she mumbled a response. Initially, she hesitated to make the first move, but the female hyena eventually came to a decision on where to call her attack. "Hmm... sierra four! Whatcha got there?"

"Nothing," Banzai answered. A smirk then appeared across his face. "I'm attacking india zero."

"Screw you!" Shenzi whined, picking up one of the clay pieces and tossing it away. "You killed my wildebeest already!"

Banzai let loose a giggle. "Your turn again."

"Alright, alright," Shenzi retorted, in a meager attempt to buy herself a few more seconds to think. This time, she was even more careful before calling out her move. "Okay... I'm going to mike niner."

"Miss," Banzai stated aloud.

"What?" Shenzi almost argued. She lifted her head up, and leaned forward with an enormous scowl. "Heh, well... I'd rather be lucky than good."

"So, whatcha got at bravo six?" Banzai asked.

Shenzi's eyes narrowed to slits of fury. "That's my freakin' impala! Are you cheatin' me? You gotta be cheatin!"

Banzai's only response was another giggle of satisfaction, while he watched Shenzi toss away yet another piece of clay. The winds picked up even more, but both carnivorans continued to lay in the sand, immersed in the world of their own little game for a little while longer.

"Alright, alright, alright," Shenzi muttered, in a final, meager attempt to regain her composure. "This time, I'm gonna get something. Alpha zero! You gotta have somethin' there!"

Banzai's grin only widened even farther. His eyes peeked over the rock, before he fell backward in full laughter. At the very instant he saw Shenzi's agitated face, he lost every ability to contain himself. Sparks of laughter ignited in his throat, and he began to spew saliva all across the grassland with his oddly powerful laugh.

"Will you knock it off?" Shenzi argued furiously. "This ain't no fun no more!"

For a few more seconds, Shenzi tried to focus her attention back to the game, but she soon lost all interest in playing. It was hardly any different from any other aspect of her life, she realized—any time she tried to succeed, she only lost miserably. Any taste of victory was purely a delusion; only defeat was ever possible, considering her luck.

And with that thought fresh in her mind, she stopped playing.

The hyena rose back onto her paws and began to stretch them out, while she sat back up. She took a quick glance around the horizon, and only one elusive question filled her mind. Why was she still in the Pridelands?

If she had just lost the game of life with Scar, why was she still playing? Why did she not chose to move on with her life, and try to live somewhere else? Those were all questions that she could not quite answer.

Suddenly, a harsh strike of lightning struck the ground in the distant field of Shenzi's vision. Only seconds later, half of the savannah started to go up in flames, with plumes of smoke literally rising and falling from the sky. Cinders churned upward, while ashes tumbled with liberation in the heavy, oddly powerful turbulence of the storm.

"Hey, Banzai..." Shenzi called quietly.

"Yeah? What do you want?"

A loud gulp passed through the matriarch's throat, suddenly exemplifying her melancholic hesitation. Eventually, however, she came to the decision to immediately voice her thoughts aloud. "Let's go find Ed and get outta here."

Nala's paws crunched through the dried vegetation on the ground, as she plowed her way through to the very darkest shadows of Pride Rock itself. Never before had the lioness walked with such a diligent fashion, carrying her tail behind her with blistering haste and determination.

Eventually, Nala made her way to the cavelike structure in the back of Pride Rock—the very same den Scar had once considered to be his place of residence. Although it was once a secret, quiet place, every lioness of the pride seemed to be there, seeking shelter from the legion of hyenas out front.

As she turned around the corner, Nala was greeted with a unified symphony of various expressions, most notably those of surprise. Although Nala's pride had hopes lower than ever, the lioness's mere presence seemed to immediately lighten the mood a bit.

Not to any lion's surprise, Sarafina was the first lioness to greet Nala formally. Her body rolled off the ground, and she quickly padded over to the returning huntress. "You're back... what happened out there? Did you find what you were looking for?"

Nala smiled uncontrollably. "I did," she answered simply.

Although her entire pride struggled to even believe that she had found a lion capable of challenging Scar, as she had promised during her leave, the entire situation was far more unbelievable than that. What she found in the jungle was nothing short of a miracle in the purest form, and she alone had the pleasure of breaking the news.

"You're not going to believe this," Nala began happily. Her grin only widened, while she closed her eyes for a moment, to hold in her feelings. "Simba is alive."

The entire pride of lionesses jumped back, loudly mumbling their initial reactions of disbelief.

Sarafina could only wonder if she had even heard her daughter correctly. Simply put, there was no way Simba could have been alive. After so many years, it was an impossibility. Sure, it was what Nala had said, but it didn't make any sense. Simba died in the stampede—she had to be delusional.

"He's here," Nala explained, planting her paw firmly onto the ground. "He's going to challenge Scar right now, and he needs our help."

Sarafina stepped back. "Nala, sweetie... are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"What?" Nala asked immediately. In all honesty, she was unsure of how to even answer such a question, at the time. "Mom! You guys... think! We thought Simba was dead... but what did we really see?" she asked rhetorically. "We never saw him because he ran away. He's been hiding in the jungle all this time, and I found him!"

Eventually, Nala's perseverance and determination managed to sink into her mother's mind. She was finally starting to see Simba's return as being a possibility, but it was still an unlikely, albeit pleasant, surprise.

"But Scar said..." Sarafina tried to argue.

"No!" Nala insisted forcefully. "Ugh! Don't you understand?" she added with a groan. "Since when has Scar ever told us the truth? That's only happened once... and that was when he said he doesn't care what happens to us!"

Eventually, one of the lionesses stood up and walked over beside Nala. Shortly after, the two were joined by a third, fourth, and fifth. In only a matter of seconds, the entire pride seemed to unite as a group, banding together in rebellion.

"Nala is right," one of the lionesses agreed.

"Come on, Mom," insisted Nala. Her eyelids folded down into a squint, while her brows lowered, revealing her ferocious nature underneath. "I'm not going to let Simba grab all the glory... this is our home too. If we don't fight for it, who will?"

A uniform roar of a battlecry erupted from the many lioness beside Nala. Needless to say, the answer to such a question wasn't all that elusive. No doubt, it was time to rise and fight, in the name of the one true king.

King Simba.

And, at that moment, his reign had unofficially begun.

Ed watched with his typical lifeless gaze, as the many lioness moved out and formed up into their positions around Pride Rock, ready to strike. His unique, cackling laughter nearly gave away his hiding position, but too much chaos brewed in the air for any lion to take notice.

It seemed as if every part of the environment was endogenously converging to a single point on the horizon—Pride Rock. On the magnificent structure stood two lions, both preparing for the ultimate fight of their life. On the surface, it was Simba versus Scar; the king's son versus the king's uncle.

But, as the fires erupted beneath, every creature knew that the confrontation was so much more than that. It was hardly a matter of superiority between the two, but instead, it was a fight in which the outcome would forever change the fate of the Pridelands and its royal bloodline.

The mangy, unkempt hyena licked his teeth with his tongue, holding his jaw open in the process. Various slurping sounds emerged, while the savory taste of violence filled his empty, lifeless mind.

"Ed?" Shenzi asked immediately. "Are you broken again?"

By some strange occurrence, the matriarch's sudden call seemed to bring the dumbest of the three back into reality.

"Heh, heh hah," Ed replied, placing his tongue back within the zone of his mouth. He then leaned his spine upward, in an odd attempt to act like a much more civilized creature. "Heheha haha."

Somehow or another, the other two hyenas knew that was his way of saying he was sorry. He had been watching the situation unfold before his eyes, and his laughs provided the trio with critical intelligence regarding every lion's movements.

"Ain't nobody got time for that!" Shenzi argued quite loudly. "Don't you see what's going on? We gotta get outta here."

Ed tilted his head aside. "Haheha!" He was not so sure. He knew that Simba had returned, and he knew that Scar's defeat was imminent.

Shenzi raised her paw, and placed it above Ed's ears. Rather quickly, she rubbed her claws back and fourth, aggressively shaking his fur from side to side. "What's wrong with you? Would you stop talkin' like that?" she asked. "You know, I almost liked it better when you never said anything. You been hanging around them lions too much."

Ed stepped back. "Heheaha hahaaaa!" he stated clearly. "Hahahaaa!"

"DEATH TO SCAR!" Banzai suddenly interjected, at the top of his lungs.

"Oh, jeez, you two!" Shenzi winced, covering her face with her paw. "It ain't gonna matter if we kill Scar or not, cos the rest of them lions will kill us for sure... especially Simba. I don't think he likes us too much."

Obviously not listening, Banzai turned around, only to find that the conflict had erupted in full force. Fires of devastation surrounded the entire horizon, while entire legions of lions and hyenas clashed in a ferocious battle.

Yet, among all the fighting creatures, one small streak of movement blurred through.

"Is that a... meerkat?" Banzai muttered.

Indeed, it was a meerkat. Without any further warning, the hyena lowered his head to the ground, and immediately ran off in pursuit of a delicious meal. Even despite the chaos of the situation, he never declined the opportunity to catch a bite of food.

"What are you...?" Shenzi asked furiously.

Eventually, giving up, she conceded to the demands of her two friends. With one final roll of her eyes, she shook her head in defeat. "Fine. We'll kill Scar... but after that, we're leaving."

Ed nodded, and for the first time in his life, managed to speak one complete sentence. "Death to Scar! Heh, heh, hshshkshh!"

It was not long until the hyenas in the trio found themselves lost amidst the many plumes of smoke and walls of fire. What was once a simple desire for vengeance had expounded into something far greater, and even more deadly.

"Banzai? Ed? Where you guys at?" Shenzi called. She swiveled her head to the left, only meeting yellow fire, orange fire, and yellowish-orange fire. On the opposite side, there was even more of the strange substance, which burnt her tail to a sweat.

"You guys! Get over here!" Shenzi ordered. Her call was no longer a request, but much more akin to a demand, given the circumstances of the situation. The temperatures were rising below Pride Rock, and time was running out.

After a few seconds, the other two hyenas formed up behind her, one on each side. After a long and chaotic battle, they were reunited once again, and right in the nick of time.

Death was falling from above. One of the two kings lunged through the air, aimed directly at the other with all his claws and teeth extended. For the fighting lions, all of time slowed down to a crawl, but from the perspective of the hyenas, it was all just a blur of motion.

Scar attacked, and Scar failed.

Instead of crashing into the ground, however, his body went back up. He started to tumble back through the air, and off the promontory. When he finally hit the ground, he landed right in front of the trio, completely disoriented, dazed, and stunned by the heat.

Ed licked his chops with satisfaction, while they all stepped closer. Meanwhile, the flames were spreading rapidly, and they were all about to be trapped.

Shenzi's eyes scanned the horizon one last time. There was one small section that remained unburned; it was a break in the walls of flames, barely wide enough for a hyena to leap through. More importantly, it was closing at a rapid rate.

Shenzi looked back over at Scar, and her blood began to boil. If she chose to kill Scar herself, she ran the risk of not being able to escape. If she escaped, then she would not have the satisfaction of killing Scar.

After all she had been through, the female hyena had never been more sure of a decision in her life.

Shenzi stepped away from the clearing in the fire, and approached Scar instead. She drew out her claws, and exposed her teeth to the harsh conditions she faced. There was no turning back now; this was the end of it, for her.

It was the end of a long life of suffering. As Shenzi scratched and bit into Scar's flesh, it was the end of all the unfairness she had once faced. Killing Scar herself was hardly an act of true vengeance, even as satisfying as it was to see him pay.

In the end, she was content for other reasons. She had accomplished her goal. For the very first time, she did what she thought was truly right, and she had succeeded. She didn't win, but neither did Scar. The lion's defeat was all that mattered.

It wasn't just gratifying. It wasn't just liberating. It was the great emancipation she had always dreamed of—even though it came at the consequence of her own death.

Although the fire eventually swept away her final breaths of air, she was far more than the nothing she had always been, by that point.