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Disclaimer: I do not own the Lion King but if I did I would so give Kovu his own movie.

Love or Loss Part 1

5 years ago – 1 year after the accident

Nala was crying in her usual spot by the waterhole that was slowing drying up at each passing day. It was their favorite spot to play.

Nala's and her best friend that is. Simba and her would play for hours everyday wrestling, playing hide and seek and all their favorite games together.

She was all alone these days though, ever since Simba had left her the year before. She had lost her very best friend and now she had no one to play with. It was actually quite dangerous for her to be outside too. Since Simba's uncle Scar took over the Pridelands, the hyenas were running wild. Nala's mother wouldn't allow her outside without someone with her at all times.

A rule she was breaking again.

She couldn't help it though, she couldn't spend the rest of her life inside. It reminded her that she was alone and she just couldn't handle the silence. It was deafening.

"Um…excuse me?" a nervous voice asked behind her.

Nala's head snapped up at the sound, startled at the sudden acknowledgment. A gray cub with a black thick tuft a year or two older than her was staring down at her from a distance.

"Nala?" he shyly called with a small hopeful smile.

She sighed. "Hi Zander."

Zander lit up at the sound of his name and took it as an invitation to approach her. He scampered excitedly towards until he was right in front of her. "Hey Nala! It's good to see you today! How are you doing? What are you doing here?"

Nala resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Sitting."

"Cool," he said excitedly before sipping some water. "I was just passing through and wanted to say hi."

"Oh really?" she asked uninterested. She turned her face away from him. Ever since they were children, Simba and Nala thought Zander was annoying. She had never really spoken to him before though. Simba's mother had always forced him to be nice to Zander because he never had anyone to play with.

"Yeah," he grinned sheepishly. "I know we've never really talked or anything but I wanted to check on you."

She stared at him.

"Just you know, to see what you were up to." He shifted awkwardly as he babbled but that friendly smile never went away. "See if you were busy."

She blinked.

"Just seeing how you are or um…something." He blushed as the moments seemed to tick by. She struggled to keep a straight face as he continued to stare at her waiting for her answer, with that sweet grin on his face.

"I'm fine," she finally replied after a few painful minutes.

He patiently stared.

She raised her eyebrows.

He then shook his head.

"You don't have to tell me, but you shouldn't lie to yourself about it."

She scowled.

"I know you miss him," he said softly. Nala looked away. What did he know? "I know we were never close friends but I've always wanted to come and say hi. I never had the guts though because you always were with Simba. But if you weren't busy though…" he blushed.

Was he asking her to play with him? She had never played without Simba before. She took this chance to take a look at Zander. Who does he think he is? He didn't know anything about her or her best friend so why was he acting like he did? It annoyed her to no end.

"Oh but if you are… I guess I'll just get going… it's fine. I'm sorry for bothering you Nala," he muttered dejectedly turning back towards Pride Rock.

"Wait," she called surprising herself. He froze and slowly looked back at her with a hope in his eyes. She quietly sighed at how excited he already was. She was peeved that he saw through her act but all the problem was still the same she knew. She just knew that when the silence was back, it was going to scream at her. She would be left to nothing but her loneliness. The haunting lonely that always kept her company mocking her and constantly reminding that Simba was gone. Was Zander really that bad?

She gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes.

"Zander, do you like… to play tag?"

Nala thought he was going break a tooth at how big he smiled.

Zander stared out to where he was once staring down at the most beautiful lioness he's known his whole life as his empty paw dropped back to the ground like a dead carcass. He cursed. I am such an idiot! I can't do anything without sounding like an idiot! She hates me!

Back in the cavern, Nala ran straight to her mother and collapsed into her with no lock on her loud hysteria. "Nala! Honey what's wrong?" Sarafina cooed softly to her only cub stroking her fur.

"Everything mother," Nala sobbed. "Everything is so wrong!" There was nothing in her life that made sense anymore. Right when she thought she understood something it all changed on her!

"Shh... it'll be alright baby girl." Sarafina tried to comfort her daughter, just to have her push away exasperatedly through her tears.

"Mother I'm not a cub anymore!" she proclaimed. She was 18, after all. She didn't want to be babied.

Sarafina was taken back a bit by her statement before pulling her close again patiently and held onto her shoulder. "Tell me…"

Nala sniffled through her tears and looked hopelessly to the ceiling of the cave. Everything felt so wrong and all the feelings that she had pushed aside for so long we're coming back. The overwhelming feeling of making a big decision was back in front of her. The same one she had to face only 3 years after her best friend's disappearance. "He proposed, mom." Nala sputtered.

Sarafina couldn't help feel shocked at the revelation of her daughter's words. "What?"

"Zander," Nala whispered, shaking her head downcast. "He wants me to be his wife. I don't know what to do."

Sarafina's motherly instinct was to shoot down the idea of her little cub accepting a mate then looking down at her in this state, crying and so lost but grown, she realized that Nala really wasn't a little cub anymore. She was entitled to decide something like this on her own and she had to be there for her. Sarafina knew that Nala had a crush on the prince but also didn't deny how attractive and funny Zander was. He would love her, that wasn't something she worried about. Sarafina smiled at the sniffling girl in her paws kissing her forehead.

"Nala look at me," Sarafina took her daughter by the chin focusing her attention on her. "You can tackle anything head on. You are beautiful, strong, and you are grown up now. This is for you to decide and whatever happens I am here to help you. What did you tell him?"

Nala calmed herself taking in her mother's words meeting her eyes. "Nothing, I didn't say anything. I ran. Oh kings I ran!" How humiliating. Nala could have died.

Sarafina grinned as the embarrassment settled on Nala like she had finally realized what she did. "Well why did you do that? You have been going out with Zander for almost three years now. "

"I just...all I can think about is Simba! I'm betrothed to Simba!" she yelled. It was an arrangement made when they were young cubs. How is that to be ignored now?

"No you are not, Nala." Sarafina said gently but sternly. "If your fiancé dies honey...you aren't engaged any longer."

"Simba is not dead though," Nala said her voice breaking. It wasn't the first time she's said that to her mother and Sarafina understood that the betrothal wasn't the actual cause of Nala's panic. The fact was that in Nala's heart her best friend still lived and she couldn't picture any other lion truly taking that spot; even an incredible lion like Zander.

Sarafina wished she could hug her baby and tell her that she was right and that her best friend was coming back... but he wasn't. "We all want to believe that he is still alive but the truth is Nala, he isn't."

She licked her forehead again trying not to cry. She had to be strong for Nala.

Nala was devastated yet again at her mother's words. Her best friend really was gone and he was not coming back. It was a hard revelation to come to terms with but in the end, that was her reality. She had been pushing it aside for so long pretending that it wasn't so.

In truth, Simba her best friend and first love, had died 6 years ago in a stampede accident with his father King Mufasa and nothing she did from then on could ever bring him back to her.

Nala woke up before the dawn sun and walked out of the cavern into the cool air of the Pridelands. There was a big gloom over the skies in their land that made the dead lands look even more depressing. The night Scar announced Mufasa's and Simba's deaths it had rained for the last time. There always clouds over the Pridelands but rain never fell. The sun's rays never shined down on the land. It was a dusty wasteland.

"It's Hell here," she sighed to herself.

"I'm sorry." a voice rang behind her.

Nala's head snapped up startled to see Zander coming next to her. He had been away for the week on a hunting assignment and they hadn't spoken since the proposal. At his sad expression, she realized what she actually said. "Oh my Kings, that wasn't about you Zander I promise."

"No, no I know," he smiled a bit, before sitting down a distance away from her.

"O-oh," Nala stuttered. "W-well w-w-what do you have to be sorry about?" Zander sighed deeply, before looking down at the ground looking guilty.

"I-I shouldn't have asked you to marry me like that. Not when I saw you so upset an-and how lost you were about Simba," he said quickly yet apologetically. He looked so ashamed, that it made Nala feel so bad for him. That wasn't his fault at all.

"Z-Zander-"

"And I know you still care for him and I shouldn't rush you into things you aren't ready for," he cut her off.

"But Zander-" she tried desperately.

"I don't know what came over me; I get crazy when I'm around you. But I promise I won't push you into anything you don't want to do, I just care about you so much and I don't want to lose you." he cut off her again with eyes full of pleading pain. Oh Kings if he ever lost her…

"Ok but Zander-"

"I would wait forever for you Nals," he said lovingly before she grasped his face with both paws forcing him to stop talking.

"Zander stop," she said breathlessly with a touched smile across her lips. Her face alone made him shut up and focus. "You didn't do anything wrong. Nothing you could ever do would push me away. I had to come to terms with the fact that… Simba is gone now. I know it's taken me a long time to acknowledge it properly but I have now. And even though it makes me sad that he isn't here, I am so happy that you are here with me. Without you, I don't know how I would have made it to this point. You are my blessing, Zander."

He was so touched by her words and so happy in that moment. He never thought she thought of that way. To know, she really thought so deeply of him made him feel that all the effort was definitely worthwhile. She was worthwhile. She smiled at him.

"I'm sorry I've held you back with my conflicting feelings. I guess there was apart of me also that is truly terrified of losing you somehow but that shouldn't keep me from telling you how I feel about you. I never got to say this back to you last week but I love you too."

She planted a soft kiss on his unexpectant lips, still grasping his face. He drove her crazy and she knew he loved her. She meant what she said and decided that it was indeed a good idea to tell him then. Zander returned her kiss with great gratitude from her words.

When she pulled back, he had the biggest smile on his face. He looked so happy in that moment and it made her heart swell. His smile dropped from his lips slightly though. "Still I shouldn't have asked you to marry me."

"So...you don't want to marry me?" Nala smirked suddenly. Zander was confused at first before grinning, playing along with her game. He looked down at her smugly.

"Oh no, I definitely want to marry you," he whispered down in her ear, making her shiver. She was so damn glad he got out of that shy stage in his life. His boldness was smirking down at her in a very seductive matter. She loved it.

She fought fire with fire walking slowly past him rubbing her head under his chin. She decided, "Ask me again then."

Zander's face broke out in a huge smile as he looked down at the lioness he loved. He grasped her paw in both of his. "Nala, will you marry me?"

Nala couldn't help but well up with tears a bit but this time, they were happy tears. She nodded.

"Yes."

Zander sighed in deep relief before he pulled her in close nuzzling her head as she returned it just as affectionately. "I love you Nala. I love you so much."

"I love you too," she said taking in his scent as she snuggled deeper into his thick mane. "Zander."

"That Zander lion is getting in the way of my plans," the dark lion said to himself as he paced in his large dark and eerie den.

"Oh? And what plan is that?" the king's majordomo asked half-interested. Scar gritted his teeth.

"I was NOT talking to you!"

"Oh sire, were you talking to the little voices in your head again," Zazu provoked under his breath. Scar was practically boiling at the wisecrack.

"Either you start being a good majordomo, or I'll feed you to the hyenas." Scar said giving Zazu a devilish grin. He already had put the damn bird in a cage.

"Of course sire," Zazu gulped turning in his cage of bones. Scar stalked away from the bird sighing as he peered down at the irritatingly happy couple below. Nala had placed a passionate kiss on Zander's expecting lips. He smirked back at her. "You will be mine Nala, and soon... Zander won't be a factor." He started chuckling evilly.

Zazu shuddered.

"I'd better get back; the hunting party is going out early today and I'm leading," Zander said untangling himself from her. He sighed exasperatedly as her warmth left his side.

"Again?" Nala said tiredly following him. "A squad just came back 3 nights ago from the North and you just got back last night."

Zander sighed. "Scar is sending another party to East toward the Elephant Graveyard. Then we have another follow up to do in the Outlands. We should be back in about 3 or 4 days."

"Do you have to go? Can't you get another lioness to do it?" Nala pouted. He just got back and now she had to say goodbye again.

"Not this time," he grinned at her silly cub behavior. He kissed her head. "Besides Desta has been badgering me about it all week; she was put on as second in command along with your mother."

"Ew, Desta's going?" Nala scowled, disgusted. Desta always had a thing for Zander since they were cubs and now that they were older, she shamelessly flirted with him to Nala's disgust. She wasn't even jealous… Desta was just gross.

He laughed knowing about his fiancee's clear distaste for the other lioness.

"Yeah, I know. But I have to. Especially with those disgusting devil hyenas eating everything, we have to, if we're going to survive," he said sneering at the passing hyenas.

"I hate Scar for letting them in," she added glaring hatefully at them. "They're a bunch of poachers."

"I just hate Scar," Zander said staring at the King who was standing at the mouth of his cave. "One day, I swear it, he's going to pay." Nala noticed the threatening glint that sparked in Zander's eye when he said that and the way that he tensed whenever the wicked king was brought up.

"He will." Nala felt the same way towards the wicked king. Scar had given her the creeps since she was little.

Zander's face had a flash of realization at what she had said. "Maybe we could finally do something about it."

"What do you mean?" Nala raised her eyebrows. They had been over this before. There were endless nights they had shared together complaining about the conditions of the Pridelands before coming up with ideas that could make change. Until this point though, they were just ideas.

"Nala think about it," Zander began with a new conviction in his eyes. "We couldn't do much before alone but Nals-"

He trailed off but Nala understood. She gasped as she got what he was getting at. They couldn't achieve taking over the kingdom because neither of them were in a position to take the hyenas, Scar's lionesses, and in the end take charge as King or Queen. The Pridelands always had a King and Nala couldn't rule on her own. It wasn't until recently when she accepted that she may not have to be alone forever. Was he really saying what she thought he saying?

"Zander would you really become the King of the Pridelands?" Nala asked incredulously. If he was willing to take that responsibility on, it could mean the end of Scar's tyranny and finally an end to the nightmare.

Zander took a breath as he mauled over her question before he slowly nodded. "Nala we need a change. If I could have even a small part to bring that change on, I would do it."

Did he know what this means? Nala thought. She was shocked that Zander was really thinking about this. The hope of the lands had died over time and to think that there was a chance that there may actually be an end to the struggles, it brought tears to her eyes.

"Nala we can do this," Zander said brushing away the tears off her cheeks. He placed his paw under her chin. "But only if you're by my side."

This was really it. He was going to it. They really were going to it.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," she hugged him tightly.

Why can't the trees talk? Because they will tell all of your secrets if you gave them a mouth.

That evening, Nala kissed her mother and Zander goodbye, which left him with a goofy smirk on his face. She turned to follow Sarabi and the other remaining lionesses to see the party off to their hunting grounds, disappearing into the sunset. It was then when a shadow approached her in the dark stopping her. "Nala."

Nala rolled her eyes, glaring at the hyena. "What do you want, Shenzi?"

"King Scar would like to see you," Shenzi smirked evilly. There was always something so smug about Shenzi and her brothers. It was like they enjoyed holding it over Nala's head that they invaded her home where they were once never allowed to enter. Nala would give her right paw if it meant smacking that smug look off Shenzi's nasty face.

"What does he want?" Nala asked getting annoyed, not dropping her stare.

"I don't know, he just told me to come get you. So unless you want him to come get you himself, you better go." Shenzi warned with a grin. Nala didn't have to think about the consequences that would come if she didn't listen before she just followed. She followed Shenzi to the dark, eerie den where she spotted Scar lounging about on the King's resting spot. When he saw her enter he got him and stalked over to her.

"Hello Nala, my dear," he said so slippery.

"Yes Scar?" Nala asked trying to hide the shudder from his comment and cut to the chase. He smirked down at her as he slicked passed her, dismissing her escort with a nod of his head. He said nothing but continued to circle her slowly with his eyes staring. After a moment, her skin began to crawl, "Did you want something?"

He stopped circling when he reached her face to face again where he daintily sat on the ground. He grinned.

"Well, I never knew it was against the law to ask the most gorgeous lioness in the Savannah to be in my presence," Scar said with a noticeably fake disappointed look. Nala simply sighed not trying to hide her annoyance. "Is something wrong, my dear?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact there is something I have been meaning to talk to you about," Nala said feigning concern.

"Whatever about?" He asked with a feigned shocked look on his face that made her want to smack him.

"Well for starters we could talk about the way you've made a mockery of the crown and sent our lands to be perished," she spat sarcastically.

His lip twitched as his eyes glared, before he grinned once more. "I haven't the slightest idea of what you mean."

"Scar, don't play coy with me! There is no food and no water. We're starving while those disgusting hyenas eat everything in sight yet you do absolutely nothing!" Nala yelled heatedly.

"Oh Nala, you're just not looking hard enough, the herds have just moved further out," Scar explained stupidly, making her blood boil.

"No, they haven't. They left. Every single herd is gone." Nala countered trying to keep calm; she didn't want to give Scar the pleasure of watching her squirm. "And if we were wise, we would leave too."

"Oh my sweet Nala," he said getting closer to her. "You're so young and naive."

"If that is the only reason you called me up here to tell me, then I'm leaving."

Nala turned to leave but Scar jumped in front of her. "Well actually Nala, there is something I want from you." he said gazing into her eyes. It wasn't like when Zander did it, it was like he like he was staring at a potential caress. They were filled with hatred and evil.

"What do you want?" She asked feeling very uncomfortable under his stare as he moved in almost nose to nose with her.

"Well, as a king, Nala, the only way to continue royals through generations of successful ruler ship starts with an heir. Correct?"

Nala struggled to keep her composure as he was way too close for comfort. "Correct, that is why Zira gave you your son, Nuka."

At the sound of his son's name, he gritted his teeth. "That filth is nothing short of trash that will never see the throne."

She gasped at his cruelty. Zira had struggled through her pregnancy and delivered Nuka early with great difficulty. There was nothing wrong with the cub except he took a few more weeks than usual to get to walking. Scar disowned him. He deemed him unworthy to be the Prince and also declared that he would never be a suitable son either. Zira treated the poor thing like he was nothing, so he spent much time with the other lionesses that were in agreement with Scar.

"Your son is beautiful," she said sharply, a fire visible in her eye. How could he treat a cub like that? It wasn't his fault he was born early but it was definitely Scar's fault on why he was neglected.

Scar chuckled. "If that worthless excuse of a son is beautiful in your eyes, then you'll swoon over having your own."

"Excuse me?" Nala was confused. Where the hell was this coming from? "What do you want, Scar?"

"Let's just say, without a proper heir, my bloodline and throne will cease," Scar stated with a flash of lust surging into his eyes.

"What. Do. You want, Scar?" Nala repeated more firmly.

"Just think my dear," he smirked. "We'll make a whole host of little Scars."

End

Author's Note: Thank you again to my first reviewer and new followers of this story. Keep up with my story by putting on your notifications!

Jestalnaker94000 - I think you may be right.

Have you gotten the chance to read the original Love or Loss by Danielle 134? If not, I highly recommend it! No it is not necessary but it will bring a whole new appreciation to this edition.

Also, what do you think about Nala and Zander together?

Reviews are love. See you soon!