Chapter 2 – Planning the Future

Scar was sick. He'd been injured and weak since his defeat at Pride Rock, and his present home, the Outlands, did not provide the proper environment for him to heal. The whole situation put his nerves to such a test that some of the lionesses loyal to him even started to hint that maybe his weaknesses included not only bodily terms... No one was really surprised by it though, as the lack of food and water, to which they all had to get used living in the Outlands, really got on everyone's nerves.

The dethroned king revealed to his subjects what had happened on the next day after their exile. Of course, in his own version of the events, some elements were missing, while others were a little bit 'different'. Scar told the lionesses that Simba, his nephew, who'd until recently been thought to be long dead, created a plot along with his mother Sarabi's hunting party. With their help, Simba attacked him and his hyenas. But the army of carrion eaters, even though quite large in terms of numbers, was too cowardly and far too stupid to stand a chance against half a pride of lions. All in all, abandoned by his outer guard, Scar ended up barely surviving, pursued by more than a dozen of former pridemembers lead by his crazed nephew who breathed with the lust for the overthrown king's blood. Picturing Simba as a vicious invader came quite easy, as only few of his lionesses were old enough to remember that he had ever even existed.

After a few months, the Outlanders got pretty much used to their new home, as uncomfortable as it was. Having to feed on rodents and the corpses of animals that died of dehydration was really a test of their endurance. The constant search for water strained their patience, making them stern and ruthless, similar in character to their ruling pair- Scar, the wounded king without a kingdom, and Zira, his power-hungry and easily infuriating mate. Her underling pridesisters could clearly see that Zira wasn't very happy about shifting her position of queen to that of a full-time nurse, stuck with having to provide Scar with food he couldn't possibly obtain on his own. But as humiliated as she was, she stayed loyal to him. The king had a sort of knowledge about Zira's delicate psyche, and he was good at soothing her nerves with visions of vengeance and recapturing the Pridelands. As long as she believed him, she kept her balance and control.

Of course, there were still things Scar had to solve using his crafty intellect and political experience. The Outlanders were a smaller pride than the one who dwelled around Pride Rock. No one thought about that at first, but when mating season began, some of the females came to Scar with problematic yet very serious demands. They said that in order to defeat the Pridelanders someday, they needed new blood. Cubs, that is. And with Scar being the only adult male around, it was perfectly clear that they wanted him to be the father- an eventuality they normally wouldn't even think of, but in those circumstances, they considered it a necessity.

Even though he didn't show it, Scar never felt more awkward in his life. Until then he was always more interested in ruling than in reproduction, but after considering the whole situation, he had no other choice but to agree that the females were actually right. Unfortunately, as humiliating as it was, the lion was simply unable to carry out what was expected of him. Scar was still far too weak- his injuries rendered him barely capable of walking, not speaking any harder physical activity...

As he was effortlessly trying to explain that to his lionesses, slowly becoming irritated with their stubbornness in demanding the impossible, suddenly Zira appeared on the stage. Having overheard what everyone was talking about, she did not enjoy any of it. Scar had to be really, really convincing in order to prevent a bloody inner conflict. Zira considered the demands of her pridesisters, of whom most were younger than her, as a personal attack on her specific position as the one and only mate of king Scar. After she calmed down enough to think reasonably, she gave her friends a proposition. It concerned her two young sons, Nuka and Kovu. Zira had them back at the Pridelands before Scar even let her become his mate. The king had no idea who the father was, and he didn't give any interest to that whatsoever. The fact was that he saw potential in the younger one of the brothers, considering it a good idea to choose Kovu to be his successor. So now Zira, wanting to keep the whole power over the pride in the family, decided that her younger cubless pridesisters had no other choice but to wait for her sons to become adults. And she strongly insisted on them to listen, instead of attempting to seduce her sick mate.

The perspective of having cubs with Nuka wasn't very satisfying for the lionesses, but Zira had her 'special' ways to convince them to follow her will. They only hoped that they would live long enough to see what becomes of the little Kovu- the king's chosen heir.

As for the royal pair, in order to soothe his mate's suspicions, Scar had to make a solemn pledge that he didn't even think of submitting to the lionesses' proposal. And that if he would ever be able to father a cub, the only one to be his mother would be Zira.

AN: So this is basically what happened after Zira's pride got exiled to the Outlands, only that here Scar is still with them. Is his presence going to make the situation better or worse? I'm not going to tell you that, but you can be sure that it's going to be surprisingly different.