Oh my Gosh! Could it be?
YES!
Em, well, I'm back, and raring to go.
"Wait a minute." I hear you say, "Wasn't this story supposed to be "returning July 2012"?"
Well, today is the last day of July, but here are my excuses:
in France without a computer or internet connection for two weeks.
involved in various "woop-de-doo the exams are over" get togethers.
USB stick broke (so I lost my almost complete chapter)
finally, possibly the biggest set back of all, MY SISTER HAS BEEN HOGGING THE COMPUTER ALL SUMMER. I can only write fanfiction if I'm alone. If there's even a possibility of someone reading over my shoulder I just can't do it. Even if I did manage to get the computer, she'd be watching the TV (which is in the same room) so I still couldn't do it. Luckily for you, I've found a pocket of solitude during which to re write this chapter.
!IN OTHER NEWS! "Captive" (which is less than a month shy of its first "birthday") was stolen and posted onto Fanpop! The perpetrator had copied and pasted the story, removed all my author's notes, changed the chapter titles and had deftly entitled the story "If Muffassa servived the stampeed". Naturally, I was livid, especially when I saw the comments that various people had left and then at the plagiarists responses. Where several people had written "OMGZZ ur soo creativ", the eejit had responded "thanks. I'm writin da nxt chappie nowww". Of course, that was a load of BS, so I confronted them with an extremely angry private message, demanding that they remove the story and admit they were a bare faced liar. Luckily for me, they obliged (well, apart from the whole "admitting they were a liar" thing), but the excuse they gave was pathetic. They claimed that they "didn't know it was my story" and that their "friend showed it to them". HELLO? If you take a story off a website called FANFICTION DOT NET and copy and paste the whole thing, pass it off as your own and accept compliments like you're the next Christ of course whoever worked hard on it is going to come at you and be angry. Whatever, in the words of Rafiki "it doesn't matter! It's in de past!"
"Yeah, but it still hurts!"
…Never mind.
Chapter Nine: The "King" has returned
The den was gripped by a petrifying silence. As before, only the sound of heavy breathing was audible, and not a soul dared to speak. Scar continued to project his icy stare at his brother with a gaze so dangerous that Mufasa felt a twang of fear to see it. Oh, how he longed to attack him, to finally seek revenge for all the pain and hurt and suffering he had caused, to finally make up for the chance he had previously let slip by him, to avenge Ni, to avenge Arianna's dead cubs, Simba's old demeanour…
He couldn't. Not only was he hopelessly outnumbered, but the cubs would be left wide open and unprotected. The three of them were still pressed up against the rear of his forelegs, and he could feel them, trembling violently, all while the terrible wailing of either Kobe or Shanni continued to echo around the walls. Sarabi was lost from sight behind a horde of rogues, and though he longed to cry out to her, he dared not to.
Scar took a step forward, causing the three frightened cubs to flinch backwards, and Mufasa's hackles to rise ever further.
"Are you sure," Scar hissed, in such a low tone it was barely audible, "that you don't want to reconsider that?"
Mufasa stared defiantly back at him, and said nothing, instead letting a low growl rumble in his throat, his way of showing that it wasn't even an option. Despite his aggressive demeanour, a mixture of hatred and overwhelming fear churned around him as he tried to think of a way out of this ever-more desperate situation.
Scar leapt onto a lowish rock that had fallen near the centre of the den.
"Let the pride be my witness," he cried out, "I henceforth name myself ruler of Pride rock and the Pride Lands."
A hushed murmuring fell over the shoved-together lionesses at the opposite end of the cave from where Mufasa and his family were now isolated. The fur along the rightful King's spine stood up on end, but what could he do? There was no way he could say or do anything against his brother, just watch silently as what was rightfully his was stripped away from him….
Scar gave a flick of his tail, while several rogues cried "Long Live the King!" as a sign of the ending to an inaugural speech Mufasa had not been paying attention to. With that, the males broke ranks, and while some just lay down and stretched out, most of them lunged straight for the females, unable to control their overwhelming desires any longer. This of course meant that Sarabi was able to finally get up and get back to her cubs. Wordlessly, she gathered the three of them close to her, and sobbed silently, Mufasa was helpless to try and comfort her. There were no actions, no words…
Before he could even think Scar was in front of him.
"Shut that cub up, will you?" he said, glowering towards the group at Sarabi's feet.
"Don't come any closer," Mufasa growled, trying to sound threatening, though his voice wobbled.
"Is that any way to speak to your king, Mufasa?"
"You're no king, Scar. Only a coward. Why else would you have brought these rogues with you?"
Before Scar could reply, someone cut ahead of him.
"Who's to say we didn't want to come here?"
Damu finally broke his silence, stepping delicately out of the shadows despite his hulking frame, to stand almost in the centre of the den. He continued.
"After all, there's plenty of prey, enough water, nice den… a godsend after the likes of you sent us to where we've come from."
He let the silence linger for a moment longer.
"And for me," he murmured, "it's personal."
Scar's ears pricked up; finally ready to hear the story he had been desperate to hear for so long.
"For those of you who don't know," Damu said, addressing the pride for the first time, "I had a brother. His name was Mkali. We came to these Pridelands about nine moons ago."
Mufasa stayed silent as the memories flooded back to him. He hadn't told anyone about that day, figuring it wasn't important. Oh gods, how wrong he was now.
"Mufasa heard tell that we were here, so naturally there was a confrontation… which led to a fight…"
The sheer hatred in Damu's multicoloured gaze meant that his face was completely twisted into a glare so sinister it seemed heart stopping.
"And then your great wonderful king tore out Mkali's throat," Damu waited as the den was plunged into an even more deafening silence, "so much for your precious "circle of life"."
He looked deep into Mufasa's eyes, and whispered, in an undertone, "I will destroy you."
He turned to leave, but found the entrance blocked by the silhouette of a lioness.
"Zira," he said, sounding half annoyed and half shocked, "where on earth were you?"
The lioness was very battered in appearance, with a large chunk missing from an ear, but the things that had most attracted the pride landers' attention were her face and paws. They were red and soaked in blood.
"Hunting," she said, casually, gazing around the den, "do you know how long it's been since I ate something fresh?"
"Shouldn't you have been here, helping us?"
Zira ignored him, instead approaching Scar, leaving a bloody trail of paw prints behind her, adding to the splatters which covered the floor.
"Nice home you have here," she said, quietly, before skulking into the shadows and out of sight.
As Scar's nerves were briefly set off with excitement, he snapped his gaze back to that of his brother. The two just glared at each other, until Scar broke the silence.
"Hand those cubs over," he said, quietly yet dangerously, "and I might just go easier on you."
"Do what you want, Scar," Mufasa replied, equally as threatening, "but I'm not going to let you win this time."
"Fine, but never forget, one way or another, I always get what I want…"
With that, he turned and slowly left the den, Mufasa and Sarabi watching him the entire time.
Scar followed Damu's retreating scent all the way to the waterhole. Upon seeing him from a distance, the adult lion lowered himself into a crouch and crept up silently behind him.
"I know you're there, Scar."
Scar sighed. He'd never been much of a hunter. He walked over, sat down beside him, and stole a glance at his face. For the first time since Scar had known him, Damu's face showed proper emotion. Deep within his scarred visage, although it wasn't obvious, his eyes showed sadness and grief.
"Now you know," Damu muttered.
"All the more reason to get rid of him," Scar replied, hoping to gain even more of Damu's trust.
"That bastard," Damu mumbled, "I'll gut him! Like a gazelle, I'll gut him, so help me!"
The anger had returned, and he began to pace backwards and forwards furiously, grunting and snorting his displeasure. He looked back at Scar.
"Let's get this done. Sooner rather than later."
Scar smiled, his teeth and eyes gleaming in the moonlight.
"I have a plan."
Back at Pride rock, the females reunited with their cubs, and tried to attend to each others' wounds. But for those without cubs, many had already been forced to submit to various rogues, some to more than one at a time. Mufasa and Sarabi had moved into one of the far corners of the den, so as to better defend the cubs from a threat should one present itself. Kobe and Shanni were now once again sleeping peacefully at Sarabi's feet, so innocent and unaware of the unimaginable danger they were now in. Simba, however, was wide awake, and was pressed up against the wall, eyes wide and staring, desperate to be conscious of any danger lurking ahead. No one had spoken for some time.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sarabi whispered suddenly, so as not to wake the cubs, "why didn't you tell anyone?"
"I didn't want to worry you."
"Worry me? You didn't think it would be good for the rest of us to know that there was going to be a vengeful rogue, who looks much stronger than you, by the way, after you and your children's blood?"
"I thought that-"
"And why did you have to kill him? Rogues come to the pride lands all the time and you've never killed any of them!"
"You really think I knew that this would happen?"
"No, but you could have used your imagination! If someone killed someone you care about you'd want revenge!"
"And that almost happened didn't it?"
"That's not what this is about!"
"Isn't it? That's why Scar brought those rogues here! That's why everything that's happened happened! That's why Ni died! That's why Simba's the way he is! That's why-"
Sarabi had had enough. Without another word, she rushed over to where Sarafina and another group of lionesses stood, speaking to them in hushed tones. It had been a long time since they'd had a fight like that.
Mufasa turned to Simba, who stared up at him with large eyes.
"I didn't mean it, Simba," he sighed. He looked at his son's leg, which had another fresh gash on it, "are you ok?"
The cub was too petrified to even speak, and he was still shaking. His father turned away again, wincing slightly at the pain in his shoulder, and fixated his gaze on the cave entrance once more.
They didn't know it yet, but things were about to get much, much worse.
Woo hoo! We're back in action! While you're here do me a couple of favours:
Go read/review my short story "The Flood", please? It's only half done, but it didn't seem to get very many reviews at all.
Go vote on the poll on my page!
Thanks, and see you soon! (Much sooner than last time, I promise!)