(A/N: The final chapter! The longest chapter! The best chapter! And also, you don't have to press any extra buttons to get to it! It's right here. Enjoy!)
"Done!" stated Nala proudly, setting the last of many eggs that they had painted down. "How much longer until the cubs get here, do you think?" she asked her mate.
"Not much longer," came Simba's reply. "Probably ten, fifteen minutes at most."
Nala got up and smiled. "All things considered, I think we did well."
"I hear that," replied Simba. He held his paw out for Nala to shake. "Nice working with you."
Nala laughed lightly. "You too," she replied, shaking Simba's paw.
The two lions stopped shaking and then put their paws down. Neither of them could help but marvel at the fact that they had been able to keep their structure standing and every single egg intact with all that had happened in the past several days.
Slowly though, a beat was starting to arise.
The lions' hearts sank.
"Oh no…not now," whined Nala, "not when we're this close. Not when we've came this far…"
Far above in the air, a formation of what must have been about one hundred hornbills was making its way towards Simba and Nala's den. They approached in a giant triangle, with fifty of them flapping their wings downwards while the other fifty flapped their wings upwards. In order to keep them in beat, they had turned some music on and placed it on the ground below, with the bass as high up as it would go.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
"Another one bites the dust."
Boom. Boom. Boom.
"Another one bites the dust…"
Before Simba and Nala could listen to any more of the awesome song, the first wave of hornbills made their move. There were about ten individual hornbills in all that struck the structure from above.
Simba gently nudged the eggs as far back into the back cave as they would go while Nala ran up to Pride Rock…just in case.
A series of "bwa-bwaak!"s surrounded the atmosphere just before they all made impact simultaneously, and debris was sent flying everywhere. Simba moved away from the back cave and ran up to Nala to help her with Pride Rock.
Fortunately, Nala didn't need help yet. The log was still supporting the large rock.
That was before the second wave came in.
"Bwa-bwaak!" chorused the set of another ten hornbills as they struck from above and from the side.
Nala whimpered and clung onto her mate as more pieces of shattered wood and falling rocks fell around them. A huge rock was dislodged from the roof above and slammed down onto a plank right above Simba and Nala's heads, making them duck in order to avoid being hit as the plank almost snapped in half under the shock.
"Why are they torturing us?" asked Nala.
"They're not after us," explained Simba, "they're just attacking the tower. They probably think we're in the back cave. They don't know about Pride Rock."
A third wave was now sent swooping down. Upon impact, the log supporting Pride Rock finally snapped, and Nala and Simba both pushed their front legs up in order to support it.
"Simba!" shouted Nala, "I've got this! You need to hold that supporting beam in place!"
Simba nodded in acknowledgement and grabbed a hold of the beam.
"Bwa-bwaak!"
Here came the fourth wave.
As they made impact and the top of the tower fell apart, another huge rock fell from the roof above and slammed down onto the top of Pride Rock and the supporting beam. Nala buckled under the weight, but Simba had worse problems: the beam had slipped from his hands.
Nala had her eyes clenched tight, and so Simba had to shout to let her know.
"Nala, I've lost the beam! It's caving in, run back into the back cave, now!" and then Simba ran. Nala, however, stood in place, hoping the fact that she still had Pride Rock in her hands was worth something. She couldn't let the hornbills win…not after all this time.
A fifth wave came flying in and knocked down some of the final supporting logs and rocks from the top of the tower.
It wasn't until Simba had made his way to the back cave that he realized his mate wasn't with him. "Nala!" he called. "Get over here, now!"
A sixth wave flew in, striking from the top again.
Suddenly, Simba could hear a groan much deeper than any other groan before. He looked up, wondering what it could possibly be. He then remembered: the shield.
He had given that name, 'the shield,' to the biggest rock he could find. He had placed it at the very top of the tower in order to prevent attacks from above, but now it was toppling…and it was about to come down.
"Oh no," Simba said to himself. He backed up as far as he could inside the back cave, knowing that the shield was going to slam down right in front of him. He gathered all the eggs up and held them tightly to his chest, hoping that they would remain intact.
The shield crashed through the top of the back cave and sent much smaller fragments of shield and cave rock flying, and now the top of the structure was left completely exposed to the next wave of hornbills.
That wave came and took the opportunity. Planks and logs fell over as if the structure had been made of playing cards. Yet Nala still stood underneath Pride Rock, sweat rolling down her as she struggled to keep it up, standing on her hind legs.
Another wave came in and sent even more wood crashing down.
And then another.
And then another.
And then another.
Nala was still straining under the weight of Pride Rock when it had all gone silent. She still had her knees bent and eyes clenched tight as she pushed up against the rock that she knew supported the rest of the structure.
It was at that moment, however, when she heard her mate, much closer than he had been before.
"Nala," said Simba gently, "it's over."
Nala opened her eyes. Things now looked completely different in front of her. Fragments of broken wood and rocks all lied scattered across the floor, but beyond them there were no longer any walls. There was openness. Pure and utter openness. The sky was blue, the grass was green, and there was a breeze that blew and some birds chirping merrily in the air. Nala looked up. All she was holding now was Pride Rock. The rest of the structure had lost its support and was all turned into rubble beneath her. If Nala had checked behind her, she would have seen that the back cave had gone too. The lioness took a deep breath and sigh, and then settled Pride Rock down next to her.
No sooner after she had done this, and a bunch of hornbills flew down and circled the two lions. Some of them looked smug, but most of them just looked plain pissed.
Simba and Nala exchanged glances. What could they say?
Suddenly, however, some new characters entered the arena.
Coming from beside them, about thirty to forty lion cubs came running merrily with their mothers trying to keep up behind them.
"Yay! Easter eggs!" shouted one of the cubs. The rest of the cubs seemed to share this degree of delight as they ran and cheered up to the brightly colored eggs.
The hornbills forgot about Simba and Nala and flew up to where the lion cubs and their mothers were now surrounding the eggs.
"Now come on guys, those eggs are not for you," said Zazu, trying to butt in.
"Mommy look, this one is green!"
"Mine is yellow."
"Now come on, that egg belongs to Emilia there…"
"This one's mine too," said one of the female hornbills.
"This one's red!" exclaimed one of the cubs.
"Now come on son, be gentle with that," said one of the lionesses.
"I like the circles on this one."
"I bet mine tastes better than yours."
"I'm sorry, cub, but I gave birth to this egg."
"Mommy look, this one's hatching!"
Everyone fell silent.
"Hey...that's my egg," said Emilia, walking up to it slowly. Everyone crowded around as slowly but surely, the top of the egg was beginning to crack off, as the young chick worked its way out.
"Aw, isn't that lovely," said one of the lionesses. She was the mother of the cub that had claimed the hatching egg as 'his.' "Look, son, it's a baby hornbill."
The top of the egg fell off and the chick found Emilia.
"Momma!" it called.
Emilia wrapped her wings around the chick, but then another cracking sound was heard.
"Oh look, that one's hatching too!"
"Oh, and so is that one!"
"That one too!"
"They're all hatching!"
A bunch of cracking sounds, followed by a 'pop' as the top of each egg fell off, followed by a "Momma!" as each chick recognized the hornbill that had given birth to it, surrounded the area.
Meanwhile, about five feet away from all of the births and embracing, stood two jaw-dropped, flabbergasted, amazed, astounded, stupended, shell-shocked, goggle-eyed, did-that-really-just-happen lions who really didn't know what to think.
Simba looked at Nala and then elbowed her in the side to grab her attention.
Nala looked at Simba, still with her jaw hung open.
Very, very quietly, in something that could barely be registered as a whisper, Simba said to Nala: "This would be a fantastic time to back away, real slow-like."
Nala nodded in agreement without hesitation.
As the two lions began to walk slowly backwards, Nala suddenly stepped onto the tail of a mouse that just happened to be making its way by.
The mouse let out a loud "squeak!" and then ran off.
The sound grabbed the attention of every hornbill, lion cub and lioness in attendance, as well as everybody else, towards Simba and Nala.
The former King and Queen now found themselves victims of angry glares.
Nala gulped, but then took a step forwards, chuckling nervously. "I…I guess we owe everyone an apology," she began, smiling. However, nobody else smiled, and Nala's mouth fell.
"Now come on guys," Simba joined in, "yeah…sure…Nala and I screwed up…but we really didn't think those eggs were fertilized. But…but now you think about it, and, well, aren't we all glad that those eggs were fertilized in the end? Without it, I mean, the cubs would have just gotten to eat some tasty eggs…at best. But now, they've gotten to witness what the true meaning of Easter: birth. New and innocent lives being brought into the world, their hearts empty of sin. Isn't that what this is all about?"
"No," replied one of the angry mother hornbills, "Easter is about the death of Jesus, and how his sacrifice allows us to be forgiven for our sins."
"Exactly!" replied Simba, in the same gentle tone as before, "and Nala and I sinned…and now, because of Easter, you get to forgive us, right?"
No reply came. If anything, the hornbills just looked even angrier. Simba's cheapish smile disappeared.
"You just blew it. You know that, don't you?" asked Nala to her mate.
"You know guys," said Timon, joining in the scene. "I kind of agree with Simba. I mean, these two were just trying to do good things. And they were doing it in terrible living conditions mind you. I just had some of their water from that water bottle, and it was absolutely terrible!"
Nala bit her lip.
"Could any of you do what these guys have done?" asked Timon.
For the first time in many days, the hornbills were beginning to feel a bit of guilt. Yes, it was true; Simba and Nala had been trying to do good things. And after all, if it wasn't for the stuffiness of the den that they had been living in, their eggs may never have survived.
"Look," said Nala, "all we're asking for is forgiveness. We've learned our lesson."
The hornbills were beginning to consider it.
"Well that," added Simba, "but also we'd like our jobs back."
Everyone frowned, including Nala.
"You just don't know when to shut your trap, do you?" she whispered angrily to her mate.
Zazu sighed, and then flew up to his former King and Queen. "You know," he began, "this has been an Easter miracle…and I guess we all did wrong, but we've all learned our lesson. And if there is one lesson to be taken from Easter, it is remembering why we should forgive. Which is why I will make sure that Julia gives you back your positions."
Simba and Nala both gave out huge sighs of relief.
"Thank you Zazu," they both said, one after the other.
"However," added Zazu, holding one of his wings up for emphasis, "what you did was unforgivable. And that is why we must emphasize that we will only grant forgiveness on one condition…"
Simba and Nala lie shaking in their beds, dreading what would occur in less than sixty seconds time.
Their clock read 5:59.
"Well," said Simba, "it was nice of Zazu and Julia to give our jobs back."
"Yeah," replied Nala, "and I'm glad all the mothers found their rightful chicks."
"But I still don't like this end of the compromise…"
6:00
"BWA-BWAAK! BWA-BWAAK! BWA-BWAAK! BWA-BWAAK!"
"Aargh!" they both screamed.
"Turn it off! Turn it off!" yelled Nala.
"It's not turning off!" exclaimed Simba.
"Hit the snooze button!"
"I can't find it! Hammer! Hammer! Hammer!"
"Got it."
…
"IT WON'T BREAK!"
"Aargh!"
"BWA-BWAAK! BWA-BWAAK! BWA-BWAAK! HOO-HOOT!"
(A/N: That's all folks! Happy Easter!)