I forgot to mention, I got the idea for Scar's training from Aggregate Dragon's story What really happened in Lion King. It hasn't been updated in quite a while, but it was a nice read for a little bit. Without further ado, next chapter!
I had kept sitting, staring at the dead body of the antelope. I know that, for lions it's normal, but for me, it was the murder of a living being that hadn't been aware of my presence. Scar...he's more of a monster than I thought he was. I looked back the way he left, and an idea popped into my head. I could sneak up on him, get Simba, and have him become king instead of me. The idea was pushed back as soon as it came in. I could never kill Scar, not while I'm still a cub anyway.
After a few more minutes, I realized I was hungry, and the thought of eating the antelope chilled my bones. However, the debate in my mind lost, and I finally bent down, and I took a small nibble. The taste...it was better than the zebra I had the first time I came here. Without controlling myself, I had devoured the antelope in no time flat. When I finished, I could feel the blood seeping down my face, and I hurriedly wiped it off, ashamed of myself. I couldn't think of the poor mother who'd learn their child was dead, killed by my paws.
I left then, heading back to Pride Rock, when I spotted a familiar figure heading my way. I ducked down, and soon enough, I saw Nala, looking around. I get up, and she jumps back, surprised. "Jeez, Athari, don't do that. Ever." She wipes her forehead, "What are you doing out here? I was coming to get you." I notice she's a bit nervous, like she's got something on her mind. "Are you okay, Nala? You look kinda nervous." She shuffles her paws around, and I don't know why, but I feel like I should run, far...and fast.
"Oh, it's nothing, just...I wanted to ask you if you, maybe, wanted to…" she takes a deep, long breath,"wanted to go to the cool spot we talked about a while back with…" she starts to cry, and my kindness kicks in, and I'm suddenly hugging her, with her head in my shoulder. 'It's okay, I miss him too." I know Simba's alive, but I can't reveal that. It's way too early for that. All this knowledge really gives me trouble.
She looks up at me, and gives me a grateful smile. "Athari, how do you do it? Not showing your emotions, but admitting them at the same time." I'm caught off guard at the question, but I didn't have to think about my response. "Well, I try not to focus on it, and...I only show it when nobody's looking." To be honest, I'm not really the kind of person to cry easily, or openly, but I'm not dead inside.
She thinks about that, and she gives another slight smile, "Well, you can show it to me. Now, come on, let's get there before it's dark." We start walking the way we went that day, a month back. It seems like a lifetime ago, but the pain is still fresh. "Hey Nala, how are you, and the other lionesses?" I ask, actually curious. She sighs, "Mom says that we're overhunting, and if we keep it up, eventually there'll be no animals left to hunt." I nod, it's not the beginning of the drought yet, but it should start in a year, maybe 2, I think.
Eventually, we reached the place Nala was talking about, and it just so happened to be the same patch of trees with a rock I found the one of the times I went exploring. "Hey, Nala, I've already found this place." She looks at me with shock, "What? Me and...Simba found this one time, but we never told anyone, except for you." She lies down on the rock, and I lie down next to it. "Man, this place is so relaxing, like it was made just for us." Nala says, with such a peaceful look, you could say the stampede never happened. "Yeah, it's really nice to come to, when I'm not being prince, of course."
I say, but then Nala rolls over, and looks at me upside down. "What is it you do as prince? Simba never really told me, except for being tought how to be king." Nala asks, with a bit of a haughty tone, making me chuckle. "Well, that's pretty much it, but I also train my body by…" I stop, not wanting to tell Nala about what I do every day, every morning since I became prince. Nala rolls back over, and quirks one of her eyebrows. "You train your body by, what? Wait, don't tell me, you run from hyenas." she says, laughing a bit. I tense up a bit, "What? Nooo, I...run around the Pridelands. It helps strengthen my legs." I respond, showing them to make my point.
She frowns, "Really, that's it? I thought you'd do something, like, lifting up rocks, or something. Running doesn't seem that fun." Then, she get's a mischievous smile, "Of course, it would be if you had someone with you. How about it? We can run together, talk together, play together." She went on a bit, but my heart was beating, I'd say, twice as fast as normal. I don't want to refuse her, but then she'd be in danger of being eaten. If I do, she might not be happy, but she'd be safe. I noticed she had stopped talking, and was staring at me. "What? I don't have something in my teeth do I?" I ask, mainly to drop the subject. Luckily, it works, making her laugh.
"No, it's just that, I never noticed how nice your eyes are. They're like the sky." she responds, making me blush. "Well, your eyes are like the ocean." I say, but earning a confused glare. "What's an ocean?" Nala asks, obviously never hearing about it, and I can't blame her, we live in the savannah. "It's this large body of water, but it's on the edge of Africa." I respond, trying to make it simple. Nala frowns, "How could there be so much water, but it doesn't rain a lot?" My head begins to hurt, I don't like questions all that much. "Well, it's not hot, for starters, so the water never disappears. The land around us is very old, after all." I say, although I'm not sure Nala understands, but she nods, accepting my answer.
"Well, I guess that makes sense." she looks around, "It's starting to get dark, we should head home." I look, and it's almost dusk, so we get up to go back. As we walk, I suddenly hear a roar, and to our left a male lion lands in front of us. "Well, what do we have here? Two cubs who wander out before it's dark, tsk tsk, it's shameful." He starts eyeing Nala, and I quickly move in front of her. "Yeah, it is really, so I guess we should be going." My paw hasn't even touched the ground, when he gets in my face. "Cubs like that should be punished, but I have a better idea. You'll stay with me, and when you get older…" he looks at Nala and me, with a look I don't like, "you'll help me take over this pride, and we'll start our own little family."
He reaches his paw out for Nala, but before that, something inside me snaps, and my claws rake across his eye, with him roaring in pain. He looks at me, with his left eye covered in blood and darting daggers, "You know, I tried to make this easy, but it seems I'll have to make an example out of you." He pounces me, and his open maw is right above my face, when I hear another roar, and the rogue flies away, with a large, dark brown blob. I look up, and I see Scar biting the rogue's mane, but he's quickly on the ground, with the rogue lifting a paw to strike. I get up, and with all the strength I have, I tackle the lion, and I scratch wherever I can, until something hits me, and I see nothing but darkness.
Yay! Athari and Nala happy moments, but it's interrupted by...whoever (stupid whoever). Looks like Nala/Athari romance is in sight, but don't tell Simba. Now, I know I don't upload as much as I used to (2 chapters a day), but with them getting longer, it takes longer to write, I have family, they annoy me, yada yada. Now, if you still want to do that fanart I talked about last chapter (which it's your choice, not forcing you), you may want to hurry, as I have someone working on it (I sound like such a douche, don't I?). If you want to send it to me, my email is (lonewolfgamer56 at symbol gmail . com) . I'm using spaces because Fanfiction won't show links, but anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Remember to follow and review, I'll see you next chapter.