Prologue

Shenzi, the young hyena pup, sat between her two best friends, Banzai and Ed. This is how they spent most of their afternoons, just sitting and talking; or in Ed's case, laughing and making gestures. Neither hyena was sure of what happened to him, but they never questioned the fact that their friend couldn't speak like they could.

However, today there was nothing but silence and misery. No joyful noise could be heard from the trio, not even from Ed. Ahadi, the king of the Pridelands had just brutally murdered Shenzi's parents for trespassing. The trio was in mourning not only because Shenzi was now an orphan but also because they had lost the leaders of their clan.

"I think I'm gonna go take a walk," Shenzi said quietly, her ears drooping. She loved her friends, but she needed some time to be alone with her thoughts.

"Yeah, okay," Banzai replied. He knew Shenzi better than anyone. He could read her emotions easily, and he knew when it was better to leave her alone.

Shenzi stood up and walked out of the elephant skull. As soon as she was out of sight, she broke into a run. Running around sometimes helped her escape from her troubles, even if it was only for a little while. She could pretend like everything was back to normal, and her mind would be focused on running, not the death of her parents.

But out of nowhere, something orange flew at her and rammed into her small body. She went flying with the force and skidded to a stop a few feet away. She blinked in shock as she stood up. She shook the dirt off her body and turned to face the creature who'd run into her. It was a small lion cub. A sea of fear swept through her, but it ebbed as quickly as it came, replaced by fear.

She narrowed her eyes and growled. She bristled as he stood, for he'd fallen as well. His kind had killed her parents, and now he had the nerve to trespass in Shenzi's territory? She didn't think so.

"What do you want?" she challenged, ice coating every word.

"Nothing!" he said, looking almost shocked to see her, "I'm…umm…sorry for running into you."

"What's your name, Pridelander?"

"Um…Taka. What's yours?"

"Get out of my land," snapped Shenzi, ignoring the lion cub's question.

Suddenly, Taka narrowed his eyes in return.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" he shot back.

"Yes, I will."

Without warning, he pounced at her, knocking her back into the ground.

Pinned under his paw, Shenzi growled, "Let me up, you son of a-."

"-king?" he offered.

Shenzi's eyes grew wide with involuntary fear.

"Your dad is the king?" she whispered, swallowing hard.

"Yep. So think twice before you threaten me. I'm the future king, so it's not very wise for you to get on my bad side, is it?"

"I'm sorry," mumbled Shenzi.

"What's your name?" Taka asked again, this time with more authority in his young voice.

"Shenzi."

"Hmm…pretty," he replied with a smirk.

Shenzi felt her cheeks heat as Taka lifted his paw off of her chest. In an instant, she was on her feet, backing away from him.

"Hey, Shenzi!" a voice sounded.

Banzai rounded the corner to find Shenzi with the orange lion cub. He ran to Shenzi's side and growled at Taka, who lifted one eyebrow and glanced at Shenzi.

"Hey, cut it out man," she told Banzai, but he ignored her. She threw her elbow into him, "Dude, cut it out. This guy is the future king."

"I'm not scared by no future king," he said, but he still stopped growling, "Your aunt told me to come and get you. She's taking a party hunting for dinner, and since your mom…well, she says you should start training to take her place."

The smirk on Taka's face faded slightly.

"Tell her I'll be there in a minute."

"But-."

"Go!"

Banzai scampered off, leaving Shenzi alone with Taka.

"You should leave too. I may not be able to kill you, but a clan of full-grown hyenas can."

"You care about my well-being?" Taka teased, his tail flicking back and forth.

Shenzi scoffed in return before turning and following after Banzai. Taka turned to go home. He was smiling all the way back to Pride Rock.

It was a couple months later when Mufasa tackled his brother in the middle of the large field in the Pridelands.

"Say it!" he snapped at Taka.

"No. Stop it, Mufasa!"

"Say it, or I'll claw you!"

"No!"

With open claws, Mufasa smacked his brother across the face. Taka cried out in pain as one of the claws ripped open his flesh. The blood dripped into his eye as he glared at Mufasa.

"I can do much worse than that," he threatened, "Say it."

"Long live the king," Taka spat before running off through the field.

Shenzi walked by one of the elephant skulls with a dead meerkat dangling from her teeth. She'd learned how to hunt pretty well, but she could still only kill smaller things. Suddenly, she heard sniffling coming from inside the skull. She paused and set the meerkat on the ground before going to investigate.

When she walked in, she saw a ball of familiar, orange fur that now had a little bit of black fur sprouting from the top of its head. The ball of fur was trembling and making sobbing sounds.

"Um…Taka?" Shenzi spoke softly.

"No. Not anymore."

"W-what?"

Taka glanced over his shoulder at Shenzi. She gasped as her eyes landed on the fur around his eyes, matted by blood.

"What happened to you, Taka?" she hissed, horrified.

"Stop calling me that! I don't want to be that lion anymore. He's weak."

"Then what should I call you?"

"Scar."

"Scar?"

"Well, it's fitting, isn't it?"

"I guess," she answered, walking deeper into the elephant skull.

She laid down next to him and tentatively stuck out her tongue.

"What are you doing?" asked Scar.

"Close your eyes."

He hesitated but complied. As soon as he did, Shenzi began licking the wound over his eye. He winced in pain, but he didn't try to stop her. He knew the wound would have to be cleaned anyway. Once all the dry blood had been licked away, Shenzi laid back down next to Scar.

They stayed like that for a long time, sitting in the silence. Together, they could escape from all of their worries.