Nuka
Mother had told him not to go out there, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He wanted to know where daddy had gone. He trotted out of the cave for the first time in days and looked around curiously. Something red and hot was shimmering over the edge of the rocks, fire his mother had called it. He sniffed the air. Something yucky and thick filled his lungs. Smoke. He coughed it out and continued up the path he had seen his father take. When he reached the top he stopped confused. A big yellow lion Nuka had never seen before was hitting his father. Why was he being so mean to daddy? What had he done to make the yellow lion angry? Nuka watched as his father hit the other so hard he landed on his back. This was just like the games he played with his friends! Nuka watched fascinated as his father leapt over more of the fire to land on the yellow lion. Nuka cheered him on as he sailed through the air. But his happiness turned to confusion as the yellow lion kicked daddy's belly and sent him over the edge. Mother would never let him do that. The yellow lion watched as the other disappeared over the edge with a yowl of fear. Seconds passed, then the stranger turned his back on Nuka's father and began to stalk away, a small smile sneaking onto his face. Nuka felt kinda frightened as the new lion drew closer to his hiding place. Nuka darted quickly away, not caring if he was seen or not. He just needed to get back to his mother now! He skidded back into his den to find his mother waiting for him.
"Nuka what on earth were you doing! The whole place is on fire!" Zira flicked her tail with worry.
"Mum, the big yellow lion just pushed daddy off the rocks" Nuka told her wide eyed. Zira's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"He did what!? Show me where this lion is!" She snarled in Nuka's face. He nodded, slightly scared o the look in his mother's eyes. Nuka ran back to the spot he had last seen the lion, only to find him gone. Nuka sniffed around hopefully, but all he could smell was the grey smoke from the fire. He turned to find his mother running in the direction they just came from. She must have seen him, Nuka thought as he watched her go. He was about to follow her when a scream erupted from the rocky cliff face. That was dad! Nuka ran to the edge and took a peek. Nearly thirty hyena's were swarming something brown, biting and tearing into the thing. But...that was defiantly daddy's voice he had heard...where was he? A small gap in the fighting allowed Nuka a glimpse of a silky black mane. Nuka's eyes bulged out of his skull with fear. That was daddy down there with them. But...they were hurting him!
"Dad?" Nuka yelled down at the mass of moving fur. Scar didn't hear his son's cries over the noise of the barking and snarling. Nuka began to pace the rocky ledge, brain a whirlwind of emotions. What was he going to do? Should he go down there? Should he go with his mother? Before he could decide white light exploded over his vision. The sound of a billion rocks falling smashed across Nuka, knocking him back with the sheer force of it. The wall of sound and light roared in Nuka's ears, ten times more powerful than anything he had ever felt in his life. His head felt like it was about to explode. Then, everything just stopped. No noise, no movement, just him and the fading white vision. Nuka stumbled backwards, trying to escape the blindness, and felt the rock beneath his paws crumble and give way. With a little squeak he fell. Nuka couldn't see where he was going, his eyes still burning white, and didn't see the rock until it was too late. Nuka felt a sharp pain in the back of his head before the world turned black.
The first thing Nuka was aware of was a dull throb in the back of his head. Owww, what happened? Memories flooded back into Nuka's mind like a hurricane of information. Where's dad! Nuka's eyes snapped open. He almost expected to be blind, that when his eyes opened they would be blank, but he actually had to blink away the harsh lights of the dying fire burning his eyes. He let his eyes slowly adjust, then wish he hadn't. What he saw made his heart stop. Black charred shapes littered the ground, the smell of burnt fur and meat filled Nuka's lungs, heat radiated from the dying embers around him and rain splattered his fur. Black rivers of soot ran from between every burnt crevasse, making a sticky dark mess that clung to Nuka's pelt like glue. The whole place smelt of death. The sickening stench of burning flesh was enough to make Nuka feel weak and nauseated. But none of this was what made Nuka's heart stop dead.
A shape, far too big to be just a hyena was drapsed about three tail lengths from him. The blackened mass was still smouldering even in the down pour. Nuka slowly stepped towards it, trying to tell himself he was imagining it. He hovered over the thing trembling. No, not even he could imagine something like this. Black hair. Familiar black silky hair. Hair he knew better than his own. Sticking out of the crispy shape. Roughly where the head could be. Nuka, fighting every urge not to do this, sniffed it. Through the burning and the dying, one thing stood out. His father's scent.
Nuka's body went cold. The world seemed to darken, to such an extreme all Nuka could see was the dying embers and his father's body silhouetted against them. There was no sound; it had all been blotted out by the blood rushing in his ears. No... This can't be happening. As if to prove to himself it was real, Nuka stretched out a paw to touch the blackened body. The spot he touched began to crumble, turning into black dust that clung to his fur. A blood curdling scream shattered the air around him. Nuka jumped at the sound of it. After a long few seconds Nuka realised the screams were coming from him. His heart felt like it was being torn apart by the same teeth and claws the hyenas had used against his father. He could almost see them, ripping and tearing at his very soul, devouring it then spitting it out. His father was dead. His father was burnt to death centimeters away from him. Nuka felt something wet leaking across his face. He had to get away. Now.
All conscious thought had left Nuka as he scrambled backwards, desperate to get away from the-the-THING. He screamed as he tripped over something hard. With a thud he landed on another black object and actually went through it. The black object crunched underneath Nuka, concaving in on it's self and covering Nuka with chunks of hardened black flesh. Sharp bones dug into Nuka's flank from the rib cage he now sat in. Nuka gave a sob and scrambled out of the rib cage of the hyena. Nuka trembled as he stared down at the black face of the deceased hyena. Despite himself, looking down at the fire ravaged beast, Nuka felt something shift in his mind. This hyena, all these hyenas, they...they...deserved this. They had been mean and ruthless and cruel, not just to him but to his mother too. They had attacked the lions, destroyed their home and betrayed his father. Those creatures had attacked and killed his father.
A strange darkness began to flutter in the back of Nuka's mind. It clung to the edges of his thoughts, his idea's, his very breath. The sticky darkness felt strange and out of place in Nuka's brain, yet at the same time, a sick pleasure arose from it. Whatever this thing was, there was no pain there, no suffering, just this strange feeling of unexplainable goodness. Those hyenas deserve to die. He looked back to his father's corpse and felt his lips twitch. Anybody who crossed you deserves to die father. A weak whine broke the silence that had settled on Nuka. His ears pricked up as the sound came again. Letting his paws guide him, Nuka followed the whining until he fell upon the source On the ground below him was a hyena. A snivelling brown creature attempting to crawl to it's feet. It's legs wobbled as it tried to stand, began to sway, then collapsed back to the floor with a yelp. Nuka looked down on the mutt with contempt, more of the darkness trying to cling to his mind. The thing looked up and spotted him.
"Oh thank heavens, your just a cub. Hey, little help here bud?" The hyena said relieved. Nuka recognized the dogs voice.
"I know you" He spoke blankly, emotionless.
"Hey I think I've seen you 'round before. Aren't you Scar's kid?" The hyena asked.
"DON'T SAY HIS NAME MUTT!" Nuka snarled at the creature. "You're not worthy enough to speak his name, Banzai!"
"Hey hey calm down little guy we're all friends here right?" Banzai began to cringe away from Nuka.
"Is that what you told my dad? That he was your friend? Did you say this before or after you murdered him?" Nuka spat at the pathetic excuses for an animal as he began to stalk closer and closer.
"M-m-m-murder? I-I have no idea what you're talking about" The hyena lied. It was the weakest attempt at a lie Nuka had ever heard in his whole life, and he was nearly a teenager. Nuka had seen enough to know the only reason his father had been defeated was because he had talked to much. Instead of fighting he had tried to bluff and negotiate his way out of things. Not Nuka. Nuka let his claws slid free and waited for the right moment.
"I promise you little guy I had nothing to do with any of this. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Please believe me little guy I mean you no harm, absolutely none at all so, uh, if you can just help me get-" Banzai would never get to finish his pleas. The second the hyena had left his throat exposed Nuka had struck. With a yowl Nuka plunged his fangs deep into the soft tissue of the dogs neck. Banzai howled with pain and surprise as Nuka began to rake his claws across any patch of fur he could find. Nuka felt hot salty blood spill into his mouth as he bit down harder. Nuka felt a massive paw kick into his side. The force of it was nearly enough to send Nuka flying backward. With a growl he bit down again, feeling his teeth hit Banzai's windpipe. The hyena's cry was quickly turned into a gurgle as the blood and life poured from its body. This wasn't enough for Nuka though. Letting the sticky darkness guide his way, Nuka plunged a claw deep into the dying creature's chest. The brown dog wailed with pain as he pushed it deeper. Blood gushed forth and covered Nuka from the hole in the dog's chest. Banzai was on his last limb.
"This...isn't...gonna...bring...your...dad back...kid..." Banzai wheezed. A dark pleasure filled Nuka as he leaned in close and whispered in the worthless mutt's ear.
"I'm not just doing this for him...I'm doing this for me" Nuka twisted his claw deep into the creatures heart. It gave a feeble yowl of pain, then it no longer had the strength to even do this. It just began to whine softly as its life ebbed away. Nuka wasn't happy. The creature hadn't nearly suffered enough for what it had done; it deserved nothing less than the most agonising death imaginable. But it was too late. Banzai was no longer moving, his whining stopped short. He was dead.
Nuka stared down at the body. Nuka didn't know what to feel. He had just killed someone. Sure the hyena had been a murderous mutt, but by killing him...didn't that make Nuka a murderer too? That strange darkness brushed his mind again. No. He was no murderer. He had brought about a great justice to not just him, but all the lions. He had righted a great wrong, not murdered.
Nuka's lips curled back as a little laugh escaped them. He allowed the madness to come forth instead of lying in wait as it had been. He let it guide him, consume him, take control of him. An ember had found its way into Banzai's limp fur. With a small spark, the worthless mutt began to burn like the dog it was. The madness told him to laugh, so Nuka did.
A hysterical laugh began to erupt from Nuka. He had done this! The fire was turning the hyena's corpse black and hard like all the other bodies around Nuka. He laughed at it. Time had ceased to exist. He could have been there for only seconds or maybe even hours had past when he heard voices. The madness wanted to ignore it and continue to rule Nuka. He probably would have let it to were it not for the fact he recognized the voice as his mothers.
"Scar? Nuka? Where are you?" His mother's worried voice echoed across the barren rocks. Nuka pushed the darkness, the insanity, far away into the corner of his minds. Suddenly he began to feel scared. Without the madness he suddenly felt alone and insignificant. He was painfully aware of the dark sticky mess clinging to his pelt like mud, except it was red. His mother had come around to find her son, covered in blood, standing over a dead body.
"Nuka thank god, I've been looking everywhere for you! Have you seen your father around...Nuka? What the hell happened to you!" Nuka's mother rushed over to him and began to nuzzle him feverishly, sniffing him to find a wound.
"I'm alright mother...the blood's not mine" Nuka blinked at her confused face.
"Well then what..." That's when she noticed the near charred remains of the traitor.
"Oh my...What the...you know what, I'll ask later. Where is Sca- I mean, your father have you found him yet. I've been looking and looking but I can't" Zira stopped at the look on her son's face. Nuka found himself looking blankly at his mother. He no longer knew the right reaction he should be having anymore. Should he be crying again, screaming? Or was this alright too? He then slowly shifted his gaze to the large blackened mess behind her. His mother followed his gaze. For a few seconds they stood in complete silence, Zira staring blankly at the thing that was once her mate as if it didn't exist. Then the silence broke.
"No...NO!" Zira voice rose as she ran to the blackened corpse. Nuka slowly followed her at a snail's pace.
"Scar please no, please! That's not you, please this isn't you! Oh god no Scar!" Nuka's mother sobbed over and over again. Nuka had to close his eyes; the scene was too hard for him to watch. He hated seeing mother cry. Once again that black pit of hatred opened up inside him. How dare those pieces of filth make his mother cry.
"You will pay for this" Zira growled, red eyes almost a mirror of what happening inside Nuka.
"You mean the hyenas?" Nuka snarled.
"No" She stood shakily. A triumphant roar cracked across the sky, as loud as the lightening from before, echoing across the barren plains. Nuka looked up and saw a golden figure of a lion perched atop the peak of Pride Rock.
"I mean him...Simba" Zira's face was a mask of pure loathing as she stared at the golden lion. Simba? That must have been the lion who pushed his dad off the edge. Nuka looked back at the figure, just in time to hear the chorus of the lioness' yowls of support.
"I will get him for this! I swear I will kill him! I promise you Scar I will make him suffer" She buried her face back in the charred corpse. Nuka nuzzled into his mother's side, trying to offer some sort of comfort. If it was this Simba lion that had made mother upset like this, then it must have really been his fault that his father had died, not just the hyena's. Well, if mother wanted him to suffer he would help. He would always help mother. Nuka felt strange, almost empty inside. It was like he was now physically missing a part of himself. The old Nuka was gone, but what had he been replaced with?
The two lions mourned long into the night before they were found by the others. Nuka went without question, where as Zira had to be dragged away from the supposed body. They spent the night in shock, neither one knowing all of this was needless. For that was not Scar's body they had seen. It wasn't even a lion. Both eyes of the lions were too clouded with grief to realise it was two hyenas skeletons burnt on top of each other with Scar's hair in one of their mouths.