The baboon took a few sidesteps forward using one knuckle to support him whilst holding the flame in the other. Shenzi and Banzai started to snarl but Simba was still struck by the sudden appearance of the stranger.
"I know you." He spoke softly. His voice was croaky, like it was barely used. He pointed a finger at Simba. "You are the one who banished us, condemned us to hell and damned our very soul." His eyes were little more than squinted black beads in a sea of milky white riddled with bloody veins.
"Hey, back off monkey. Go play in a tree." Shenzi barked.
"I did not speak to you, primal beast. I speak only to your king." The baboon's eyebrows rose as he glanced at her in disgust.
"My King?" She spluttered.
"Oh, boy." Banzai repeated. Simba took a few steps forward.
"I don't know who you are but just step aside, we mean no harm." Simba told the baboon but made sure to rear to his full impressive size.
"And now you don't even have the courtesy to remember my face. Paa the arrogance of your kind. Of course I remember you, Mufasa." He said craning his neck closer to Simba.
"I'm not Mufasa. He died a long while ago." Simba said solemnly.
"Do not lie to me." The baboon bared his dirty, yellow teeth. "You did this. We do not forgive our enemies."
"Look you can't do anything to us." Banzai said as he started to circle the baboon.
"yeah." Shenzi joined in. "What could a scrawny little chimp like you do against us?" With that the baboon thrust his fire at her but she easily avoided it, Banzai came from the right grabbing the stick with his mouth and threw it to the side. The baboon stumbled from another snap from Banzai's jaws and fell to the ground. The two hyenas cackled and leapt on their defeated attacker as he screamed. Simba stood in shock unsure what to do. Should he help the baboon and risk antagonising his already rocky relationship with the hyenas? Perhaps it was best to just leave them, the baboon clearly wasn't friendly and the hyenas were just defending themselves. Defending him. The baboon shook the hyenas off and attempted to run but he didn't get more than a few feet before Shenzi tackled him to ground again. No. Killing someone attempting to run is murder.
"Enough!" Simba roared with enough power to gain everyone's attention. He looked Shenzi in the eyes as she stood above the wheezing baboon. "Let him go."
"You can't…" She began but again Simba roared.
"Let him go or the deal is off." Simba and Shenzi stared each other out for a few moments while Banzai looked awkwardly between them.
"Go on, scram." Shenzi spat at the baboon who slowly rose to his feet. Covered in scratch marks and now having a limp he still managed to clamber up the nearest rock slope.
"You will pay." The baboon called back down when he reached the top. "Oh, you will pay, Mufasa, for all the injustices suffered by the faithful. You and your pets." The hyenas gave another bark. "Do not think this false kindness changes anything." And with that the baboon retreated from view.
"Why'd you make us do that for?" Shenzi snarled.
"No killing, not while I'm around." Simba firmly told her.
"Ohh, well ain't you the pure and just king." Shenzi replied. "Your morality has no place out here, look around you. Do you think this place is filled with civilised folk?"
"Killing a crazy old baboon trying to run off isn't the way we're going to work." Simba remained by his point.
"Creepy old baboon, though." Banzai muttered. "Who was that?"
"Who cares?" Shenzi turned around. "Let's just go before we get a lecture on the error of our ways."
It was morning at Priderock. Nala had returned from her search with no news, no trail and no clue. But it would not deter her. Sarabi had discouraged mentioning the disappearance to the other animals in the kingdom in case of inducing panic but it hadn't stopped her asking a few for any sightings. The loyalist crocodiles had been most inquisitive and despite Nala's attempts at hiding the true reason for the questioning eventually the chieftain, Ohin, wormed it out of her but she made him promise not to tell anyone else and that he would aid the search, a waterborne ally would be useful for finding someone who fell into a river. All the king's subjects had their own individual species leaders. They could decide on internal affairs within their species and whether or not they wished to belong to the lion's kingdom. During Scar's reign all the perks to being under the lion king for the other animals vanished as Scar became more and more power hungry so they disappeared until all he was left with were mutinous lionesses and increasingly disillusioned hyenas. Once Simba claimed the throne the animals flocked back in mass numbers. Now Nala was afraid they would leave again and the land would return to being a wasteland. Indeed it wasn't overhunting from the hyenas or anyone else that caused the heard to move on but they simply saw no benefit to staying and that could easily happen again. "Mom! Mom!" Came a cub's voice and Kiara came running out of the main cave. "Guess what? Mom, guess what? I almost caught a bug. It was in my mouth and everything but then it buzzed and it tickled and so I sneezed and it got away but I almost had it." Nala's ecstatic cub was bouncing around her paws.
"Well done, Kiara." Nala said as she affectionately rubbed her neck against her daughter.
"Mom? Why are you sad?" Kiara asked, she'd stopped jumping about and her ears and tail had dropped slightly.
"I'm not sad." She said giving Kiara another rub.
"Yes you are, you're sad." Kiara stared into her mother's eyes.
"Maybe I'm sad because the bug got away." She said but Kiara didn't look convinced.
"Where's Dad?" She asked looking around. Thankfully Timon and Pumbaa trotted up to them.
"We didn't find anything, Queen Nala." Pumbaa told her.
"Not in front of the princess, Pumbaa." Timon said as he pulled his friend's ears.
"Oh, right sorry." Said Pumbaa.
"What's going on?" Kiara asked them.
"Erm, well, I, we, it's just." They spluttered.
"We're looking for grubs." Pumbaa said.
"Yeah, big juicy, crunchy, slimy grubs." Timon nodded and they both held toothy grins.
"There's no sign of him, my lady." Zazu said as he landed next to Nala. She groaned and held her face in her paws. Zazu spotted Kiara and backtracked with more babbling. Nala gazed over the horizon, he was alive, she could feel it but he was still in terrible danger and she felt so helpless.
"What happened to you guys after I became king?" Simba asked his companions, trying to ease the mood after the incident with the baboon. "We searched for you but we've heard nothing for seasons, until now."
"Aw, you were looking for us?" Shenzi sneered and banzai chuckled with her.
"Yeah, you're wanted for murder and high treason, did you think we'd just let you go? That I'd just let you go?" Simba asked them.
"Exactly why we left." Banzai told him. "We had too many enemies and not enough friends."
"But why didn't you go with Zira and the others who still support Scar?" At this the two hyenas stopped in their tracks.
"What did you say?" Shenzi asked him.
"Wouldn't it have been safer to stay with Scar's supporters?" Simba asked tentatively. The two hyenas exchanged looks.
"How much do you know about Scar's death?" Shenzi asked.
"I… I killed him." Simba said unsure why the thought made him feel guilty. Scar had lunged at him and it was an accident but it still felt wrong. "I threw him into the fire." Simba held his head. "That's what I told everyone in the pride, that's why Zira and the outlanders hate me." Thankfully his friends and the majority of the pride understood what had happened and didn't blame Simba but the outlanders did, as did Simba himself. Again Simba noticed the hyenas exchange glances.
"Not exactly." Shenzi told him.
"What? What happened to him? He's dead, we found his bones, Rafiki said they were his." Simba's heart began to beat faster than it should.
"Oh, don't you worry about that, he is dead and those were his bones. It's just it wasn't the fall or the fire that killed him." Shenzi explained. "Just before Scar attacked you, when he was trying to worm out of it, Banzai, Ed and I were there, neither of you knew it but we were waiting in the shadows. We were gonna jump you but we heard what he said." Banzai began to growl.
"Yeah." Banzai continued. "Stinkin' coward tried to blame us for everything. Why would our idea make him king? It was the last draw after all those broken promises we just left him to you."
"Broken promises? I thought he let you do what you wanted?" Simba asked. They both shrugged.
"Only if it didn't interfere with what Scar wanted and believe me, Scar wanted direct control over everything." Shenzi told him. "You saw the Kingdom, Scar made all the other animals leave and did nothing about the biggest drought I've ever seen. We're used to having little food and water so I tried giving Scar advice but he wouldn't listen, said I was trying to take power from him and then he hit me." Simba's face must have shown surprise because she nodded and added "believe me; don't think we were any better off than your pride." There was a slight pause. "Worked out how he really died yet?" Shenzi asked him.
"Wait you?" Simba gasped. They nodded.
"I'd do it again." Banzai snarled. "You were just gonna let him go, that ain't justice."
"Some would say the same for you guys." Simba told them.
"Yeah, probably." Shenzi agreed. "Thing I don't get about lions, happy to hunt innocent zebra or antelope for food but when someone as foul as Scar comes along to kill him is wrong. I just do not get you." Shenzi shook her head.
"Something doesn't add up." Simba told them. "Timon says that you guys were with him."
"Who's that?" Banzai asked.
"He's my friend. Says he outsmarted you about the same time as Scar and I fought." Simba explained.
"Sounds like your friend likes to think he's more important than he is." Shenzi rolled her eyes.
"That… sounds about right actually." Simba admitted. "But why were you with Scar in the first place?"
"We… We were friends as kids." Shenzi told him. "Mufasa was the favourite and Scar hated him for it. So he wouldn't play with the lions or his brother. Every day he would wander over to our side of the Pridelands, we weren't banished back then you see. Every day we would play together, me, Banzai, Ed and Scar. But as we got older he began to become distant, more… regal. Like he was no longer our equal, he was better than us, especially after the banishment." She said with distaste. "We thought that we still meant something to him but by the end he thought of us as tools, nothing more." She snorted.
"That sounds rough." Said Simba, not sure what else he could say.
"Rough? You had one of your best friends turn on you like that?" Shenzi asked him. Simba thought of if Nala or Timon or Pumbaa did that to him. It was impossible but then again it sounded like the hyenas thought this of Scar.
"He was my uncle though. I trusted him as a cub and even then it wasn't until I got back to Priderock that I realised how far he'd gone, what he'd done." Simba muttered. The hyenas nodded.
"It was while you were gone that Scar lost it." Shenzi told him. "Especially after what he tried to do to the girl." Shenzi shuddered.
"Wait, what girl?" Simba felt very cold all of a sudden.
"Er, Shenzi? Sure we want to mention this?" Banzai asked her.
"Can't not now. I think it was your friend, you know the girl. He tried to, erm, have his way with her." Shenzi didn't look him in the eye as she spoke.
"Nala." Simba whispered as his fur stood on end.
"Why'd you think she left?" Banzai asked him grimly. "Aren't you and her a thing now?" Simba nodded.
"You tried to kill her when we were cubs, why did you care about what Scar did to her?" Simba asked them.
"There are limits." Banzai told him a look of distaste fixed on his face. "So we let her go."
"What?"
"We let her go." Banzai repeated. "Nobody left the Pridelands without our knowing so, the clan was everywhere, saw everything and as leaders we got all the info. We just figured she was gonna run away not find you. We couldn't blame her for that."
"Yeah you couldn't." Simba said under his breath.
Chacha the elephant sharpened his tusks against the rock face. It was good to have them sharp enough to pierce the flesh of any other, then no one would dare challenge him. Wrapping his trunk around a nearby dead tree, he effortlessly pulled it from the ground and threw it into a pile of rocks, knocking them all into a heap. He snorted slightly as he took his rage out on the inanimate objects. A croaky chuckle echoed from above. He turned to the rocky ledge where the chuckle originated and saw the mad baboon.
"Maler, have you come to save my soul from eternal damnation?" Chacha asked the unhinged ape who had come to regard himself as a prophet.
"Why yes my child." The elephant rolled his eyes. "I fear you disregard my teachings yet I offer you redemption now. The one who condemned us has returned." He announced dramatically. Again the elephant snorted.
"You're even crazier than I thought. I guess you don't keep up with recent politics. Mufasa is dead. His son is king now, I think. I don't even care now." He said as he head-butted another dead tree.
"Oh no. No, my friend they were lies, lies I recognised from the moment I heard them. Yes. Mufasa is here, the spirits confirm it. He walks among us, here to taunt us with his presence. Why do you believe I lie to you, Chacha?" He almost screamed the last line as he jumped onto the elephant's back.
"Get off of me you freak." Chacha bellowed. Maler leaned over Chacha's front so they were eye to eye, although the baboon was upside down.
"Trust me. The king is here. I am not strong enough to kill neither him, nor his hyena minions but you are mighty. Trust me." He whispered. "With your help, he will pay for all we have suffered."
A/N: Names are important. As the only European name in the entire franchise (as far as I'm aware) is Ed they need to be African to fit in. Bonus points if they mean something in relation to the character such as Simba=lion or Rafiki=friend. For mine Aminah (the hyena left in charge of Shenzi's clan) means trustworthy. Ohin (the blink and miss him crocodile chieftain) means chief. Chacha the elephant means strong and Mala the baboon (Maler) means bitter. Of course this may not be completely accurate, if at all, due to my research being google but it's still good to at least try. By the way the baboon's name should be Mala but a simple typo would result in his name sometimes becoming 'Nala' and cause inevitable confusion. Also in this chapter is a slight crack at the Lion King 3 (or 1/2 for those in US or Canada). I like the film and I'll say that some parts did happen such as Timon leaving his family after the hyena attack or meeting Pumbaa or raising Simba but Timon and Pumbaa being involved in every major event in the first film I struggle with and chart it up to Timon's ego, especially heroically defeating the hyenas when they should be watching Simba vs. Scar at the time.
Please review if you can, it's nice to hear feedback that keeps me going, good or bad.
