"His what?!" Fuli exclaimed in disbelief.
Mzingo looked up from the river, apparently confused. "His sister Jasiri. It is a family clan, after all."
Fuli's brow furrowed and she started looking at Mzingo with distrust. "Jasiri saved Kion's life. If she was part of Janja's clan, why would she do that? What has she got to gain from that?" Her stare intensified. "You know, there's a reason why we all stay away from the vultures..."
"You mean besides the fact that we're the last thing any of you see before you die?" Mzingo added with a smirk.
Fuli continued as if she hadn't heard him. "Because you take advantage of others. You wouldn't be trying to... lie to me now, would you Mzingo?"
"Of course I would." Mzingo said. "But there's a time and a place for everything. Right now, all I want is a nice, long rest from that ghastly mutt."
"Jasiri... did this to you?" Fuli asked, confused. From what little she knew of the hyena, she seemed like the peaceful sort. Perhaps too peaceful, but that wasn't exactly a crime.
Mzingo flailed around with his ragged, colorless wings. "Yes! She returned to the Outlands, furious beyond measure! I tried to soothe her, but... " he let out a small chuckle. "Hyenas."
"And she really is Janja's sister?"
Mzingo nodded, his pain seemingly gone now. "Oh yes. They're the descendants of a particularly... dominant breed of hyenas, more intelligent than others, to our grievous misfortune. Janja and Jasiri are the head of the clan. Often at odds, but never too far from one another."
"But then what is she doing here, messing with Kion, messing with all of us?"
"How should I know?!" Mzingo indignantly shouted, flapping into air. "I'm not their majordomo! They're probably... trying to win his trust or... or... lower your Guard's guard or something! Don't ask me!"
Fuli took a step back. "I'm sorry, Mzingo! I didn't mean to upset you!" Her mind was racing about as fast as she usually was
Mzingo snorted. "If you really want to know the truth behind this debacle, then you ought to stop hiding behind this veneer of compassion. You're a cheetah! Go hunt!"
Jasiri shuffled impatiently as she hid in the very ditch she'd used as rudimentary shelter after first leaving her clan. Cast out by her own brother. Bored out of her wits, she made figures in the dirt with her paws to pass the time. The ditch itself was very small. It had been quite a comfortable hiding place, when she was a little cub, but now, not so much.
She raised her head as much as she could, hoping to catch a glimpse of the returning vulture in the sky, but Mzingo was still nowhere to be seen. How long does it take to fly around and search for the Guard? It was probably his age, she figured.
To her surprise, she found that she was quite jittery. She'd never been nervous before. Angry, yes, afraid, certainly. She needed to know how Kion felt about her now that Fuli had dragged the dreck out in the open. Going to the Pride Lands herself was out of the question at the moment, so Mzingo had volunteered. Fuli felt her heart warm, thinking of the old creature.
Though Mzingo was old and irritable and made it clear that he always worked for himself, he was reliable enough and had been her only contact with the rest of her clan since her exile at Janja's paws. In exchange for the food she hunted, he would tell her everything that Janja planned, no matter what. Of course, with that in mind, Jasiri had asked him whether he delivered information about her back to Janja too...
But Janja had never cared enough to ask.
Finally! The ancient bird appeared in her eyesight, flying closer and closer until landing right above Jasiri's hiding place. She crawled and jumped out of the ditch to meet him. "Mzingo! What took you so long?"
Mzingo's head twitched. "First rule of the vultures. Learn all you can. And sadly... I have."
Jasiri felt a lump rising in her throat, but forced it down, keeping the chirpy facade on her face. "What is it?"
"Fuli... is, erm... organizing some kind of a strike, it seems. Not just the Lion Guard, but all the fastest and strongest and fiercest and what else... more like a Lion Army, if you asked me. I almost..." he coughed to punctuate his point. "didn't make it back myself." Mzingo presented his torn wings. "Don't worry, the lion prince is quite out of the picture. She's got him wrapped around her finger, searching for imaginary threats."
"No..." Jasiri said quietly, looking more forlorn than Mzingo had ever seen her in all the years. This only intensified his speech. "Might I provide a suggestion?"
Jasiri looked up, curious, but wary. "What?"
"Well, it seems to me that your troubles start and end with that cheetah... without her, your friendship with Kion would've remained undisturbed. Your, what was it called, "Sisi Ni Sawa"...? Might've been the motto of the Lion Guard. And that could still happen. If you just got her... out of the picture, if you know what I mean?"
Jasiri jumped back, in shock. "No! I'm not going to kill Kion's friend!"
"Friend is a relative term when it comes to the future of the Pride Lands, is it not?" Mzingo suggested. "Kion has something most animals, particularly scavengers, never get to touch... power. Power to change things for the better. After all, we all get eaten one way or another... the only thing that matters is if it's for a good cause. And you know that the cheetah's death would only benefit you... and by extension Kion... and by extension, the Pride Lands."
The hyena blinked, trying to grasp Mzingo's insane logic. "But he'd hate me... and he'd be right to do so! This is exactly the sort of thinking that led Scar to murder!"
Mzingo smiled. "Yes, it is. And Scar became King! An incompetent and greedy one yes, but... those are qualities he does not share with Kion. The plan itself... is foolproof!"
Kion rubbed his face as he regained consciousness, a panging pain in his head reminding him of why he was here.
"Ooh." The familiar oily voice said. Despite his fatigue, he turned furiously to see Mzingo sitting in the dark, in the upper alcove of the same cave they'd met in. How did he get here again? His memories were still slightly fuzzy.
"That's gonna leave a mark, I should say." Mzingo gloated.
"What did you do?" Kion asked, fearing the answer.
The vulture replied enigmatically: "Oh, this and that." He then let out an uncharacteristic laugh. "My, my, how awful of me. Do forgive me, I've been spending far too much time around Janja. But I simply could not contain my glee, you see!"
"I don't see. What. Did. You. Do?!" Kion shouted.
"My plan! Meticulous, perfect in every possible way, save one detail which I will add soon. Would you like me to tell you about it?" He continued before Kion had a chance to reply. "Well, of course you would. You see, me and my vultures, we get... hungry, a lot. And sometimes we do rather tire of Janja's continued incompetence at removing your annoying Guard. So when your little spat with your girlfriends..."
"They're not my girlfriends!" Kion protested.
"Ah, I see the cliche of the blind male rings true in your case. Well, it doesn't matter, they'll be dead anyway." Mzingo said victoriously.
Kion growled. "Not if I use the Roar to get out of here and get to them before something happens!"
"No point now, they're far, far, faaaar away, probably tearing each other apart as we speak. You see, here's the thing... Fuli, well, she comes from a long family of intellectuals. A family that she may not particularly connect to, but which would take notice of her death... let's just say the consequences would be severe. And then there is Jasiri, sister of your long-running best friend Janja. You didn't know, did you?"
"It doesn't matter! She's my friend and I'm going to help her! You're only trying to slow me down!" Kion ran out of the cave and jumped into one of the long roads of the canyon with Mzingo right behind him, continuing as if nothing had happened.
"Anyway, Janja might act like he doesn't care, but every hyena has a heart undernearth all that crawling hunger and I'd wager the death of his sister at the hands of a Lion Guard member just might motivate him to go out and seek out some family connections... the resulting conflict would tear the Pride Lands into pieces! Even your magic Roar couldn't fight it and certainly not your father's comfortable lionesses!"
Kion only ran faster.
Author's Note: To those of you who might be concerned about Mzingo's increased presence, he's really just adding fuel to the pre-existing fire. Who knows, the situation might've led to the Jasiri-Fuli conflict regardless of Mzingo's actions. He's taking advantage of what he already saw, bringing out the worst in both of them.
*Kion the Lion - Kion was grabbing onto him, yes. Mzingo knocked him out whilst trying to get free.
*AlphaWolf97100 - Tastes like cardboard to me lol...
*I'm a Jesus Freak - Mzingo is a little devil. But you'll see his actions may yet have a positive outcome... :D
*pinksakura271 - Fuli isn't entirely falling for it, but she will listen... sadly, that's all Mzingo needs. He's so good, he's making people listen despite outright saying that he's a villain. Also, if we're talking about roasted bird here, I want the leg.
*Juria - Mzingo has a lot of potential, which I feel the show isn't using so I made him the star for a few chapters! Thanks for the support!
*cherry12 - He was just trolling Kion hard... and yes, the love is growing. They still need to figure it out, but it's there.
*DragoonSensei - Nope.
*Anonymous13 B - I don't think I should be giving myself praise, but I'm really happy with how things went with Scar's backstory. I'm a huge fan of Machiavellian plots, so I thought I'd twist the knife a bit and make Scar responsible for the conflict in the first place. I hope you enjoyed seeing more of Mzingo!
*the6thranger - There can never be enough sass in the world, lol.
*Hoping 4 a Dream - Okay.
*Guest - Woo-hoo.
*v.t.7(Chapter 6) - I'm actually a bit uncertain about how I wrote that chapter, it might've been a bit rushed, but I'm so glad you found the heart in it!
*v.t.7(Chapter 7) - One thing I can vouch for is that teenagers think a LOT. Far more than adults give them credit for, actually. Kion, Fuli and Jasiri have a lot of emotions going through them, which they don't yet understand.
*v.t.7(Chapter 8) - Why would I be disappointed, lol? I love to see you guys guessing! I feel like the readers are getting themselves involved, which is terrific. I really think Jasiri and Janja might be siblings too, I definitely got a bit of that vibe when watching their interactions.
