Chapter X: A Last Alliance, Part II
Paradise was hardly a description at all for the place known as Hakuna Matata.
It was an enormous, astounding stone mountain that stretched up over a thousand feet high, where the misty clouds could scrape its summit with ease. Surrounding the mountain was partially flat land, but with an vast, majestic and breathtaking valley that had a clear, pure and fresh river flowing through it. On the valley's slopes were countless birch and palm trees in an huge jungle that grew greener than any trees known to anywhere in Middle Earth. Lush, vibrant jungle life dominated the area. Tall trees, low grazing plants, and hanging vines inhabited the place. All of them wet and warmly moist as any jungle would be. The air was also moist, yet extremely refreshing at just the slightest breath within it. It was warm, relaxing, and thick with the sounds of peaceful insects and small mammals that lived there. Thin layers of mist often covered the tops of all the trees, making a beautiful sight whenever night fell. And there were many lakes and ponds dotting the region, filled with some of the freshest water ever known. Save for the Pride Lands, they were the purest waters for miles.
In short, Hakuna Matata had its very namesake for truly good reason: a life without worry.
Plant life was not all that endured throughout the valley, however. For some time now, a vastly populated colony of meerkats resided here, ones who did not take the place for granted in the slightest. This was Timon's colony. Some time before Kopa's birth, Timon and Pumbaa had led the colony to the place in order to give them a better life, away from the barren desertlands they once resided in. And their efforts were not in vein. Since the colony's arrival here, the population had nearly doubled, since meerkats no longer had to die digging tunnels, or give their lives to save others from collapsing ones. Life throughout Hakuna Matata for the meerkats was nothing short of paradise, as Timon once hoped.
However, the colony who lived there was entirely unaware of what bloody, vicious event was going to go down that very day.
The sun was setting behind the enormous mountain in the middle of the place. Just beyond the edges where the jungle turned to desert, Nyota and her pack were quietly making their way to Hakuna Matata. Kiburi was alongside Nyota, with the rest of them following. Nyota had a bit of a concerned look on her face, not knowing at all if her plan was going to work.
"I've got a bad feeling about this, Nyota." Kiburi said quietly. "How do you know they'll do it?"
Noyta hesitated, and the replied, "They have to, Kiburi. They... they just have to."
Slowly, she went ahead of her pack, and looked back to them.
"Don't come any closer until I say so!" she said. "We can't have them scared off right away!"
Most of the other hyenas nodded in response. With that, Nyota went on forward, keeping low to the ground in the grass. She walked softly as not to make a sound crawling through the tall trees of the place. She was within the home of the meerkats now. Taking one last look back at her pack, Nyota stood up fully now, and she picked up speed just a bit. As she went across the moist ground, she admired deeply how beautiful the place was.
Nyota walked for several minutes, never once seeing any sign of meerkat life. She took a deep breath, and laid her body down against an especially large tree. Just getting to this place had made her and her pack incredibly weary an enervated, and she took a deep breath. Nyota rested for a moment with a worried look on her face, while she thought deeply about some things.
Was this idea of an alliance truly going to work? Would the meerkats listen to her, or would they run away in fear? Before her parents were slain, she remembered the stories of how, hundreds of years ago, the hyenas massacred Timon's ancestors entirely unjustly, and how the colony held a deep, passionate grudge towards her pack. Nyota also remembered something her father once said: That the meerkats didn't truly know the second half of the story. He said that at the time, the hyenas of the Pride Lands were enduring a terrible drought, not unlike the one Scar endured during his reign. The hyenas were on the verge of starvation, and had no choice but to either die or feed on the meerkats. And that was the part Timon and his colony never knew- the suffering of her ancestors went through that led them to cause such an event. It was known by Timon's colony as the Great Meerkat Massacre.
This was long ago, when the Pride Lands were just newly settled by lions at all. The hyenas once lived in peace with them, but after the massacre, the lions of the time were so outraged, every hyena there was exiled to the Elephant Graveyard. And out of fear that the lions would do the same, the meerkats migrated as far away as they could, to the barren desert that Timon spent his childhood.
Nyota sighed. She laid there on her stomach by the tree, trying to figure out how she would word this. She looked up to the trees, watching their leaves blow softly in the wind.
"I wish you were here, mom. You too, dad." she said softly. But before she could think any further, she heard a twig snap behind her. She quickly got up on all fours again and spun around to where she heard it. And to her shock, she saw a lone meerkat, standing in front of her now. The meerkat looked nothing short of terrified. The two looked at each other for a moment until the meerkat took a few steps back from Nyota. Nyota, after a moment of awkward hesitation, finally said,
"Uh... hi?"
The meerkat was not idle for another second. In an instant, he took off screaming in fear, no doubt going off to warn the others. Nyota quickly became distressed, realizing that any hope for an alliance was fading.
"Wait! Wait a second!" she shouted to him, starting to run after him. "I-I just need to talk to you!" She continued. From there, Nyota and the meerkat ran rapidly through the thick jungle, dodging trees and tripping over roots. At one point, Nyota harshly stubbed her paw against a large rock, sending her sliding to the ground, scraping her chest badly. She lay there for only a second, observing the blood beginning to emerge from her front right paw, and looking down to the new large red mark across her chest. She took little notice of it as she got back up and went on. She'd lost sight of the meerkat now, and her paw was beginning to throb with pain now. But ignoring it, she went on to where she saw him run to.
Eventually, she cut through some particularly tall ferns and grasses, and saw the other side of them. There, she saw where the meerkat was going- the center of where the colony was, surrounding a large lake at the base of a waterfall, with the setting sun behind the tall mountain in the distance. And in an instant, there was panic.
At the sight of Nyota emerging from the plants, the entire colony scattered in nothing short of a panic. They ran in all directions, screaming, bolting for cover in the depths of the jungle. Nyota could make out just a few things that some of them said. Things like,
"Run for your life!', "Everyone for themselves!". and "No, not here! Not again!"
Nyota took a few steps up.
"W-wait, everyone!" she said. "Listen! Listen, I need-"
Before she could finish, she lost her footing suddenly and tumbled off the edge of a rock ledge she didn't see, leading into the lake. She flipped forward in the air, striking the surface of the water headfirst. Nyota went under, painfully struggling to get her head back up to the surface. For a moment, she could barely see a thing with all the bubbles around her, but eventually she managed to get her head up again. Recovering from that unexpected plunge, she coughed and hacked briefly before she could breathe again. Hyenas were never known to be good swimmers, but she managed.
Struggling, she went over to her left, and weakly crawled onto dry ground. Completely ignoring her dripping wet fur now, she looked around. Panic was still fresh in the air, but she noticed that almost none of them were around now. Most of the meerkats were now hidden within the bushes, or scurried up trees. Nyota sighed and remembered something that he mother once said:
When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose.
"Please, everyone listen!" She said, walking around searching for anyone. "Listen! I-...we need your help!"
Her words did little. By now, the panic had died down entirely, and the only sound that could be heard was that of the graceful waterfall in the distance. At first, Nyota thought this meant they were listening, but then she realized this wasn't the case.
"Please, we need your help!" Nyota shouted louder now. "There is an army of Uruk Hai orcs from Isengard marching to the Pride Lands as we speak! We need your help to stop them! If we don't, the Pride Lands are going to be destroyed!"
The silence persisted for a moment. Nyota could hear the sounds of the nighttime insects and birds in the distance. The sun was nearly done setting, and the very first of the stars could be seen now.
"Please", Nyota went on, beginning to become severely dismayed at the silence. "My name is Nyota. My pack and I want to save the Pride Lands... but we can't do it without you all. If my pack is ready to give their lives for those who never even cared about us, couldn't you too?"
Finally after much patience, a single meerkat appeared from the ferns around the lake. He appeared to be very old, and his fur was mostly grey with age. He twitched in fear at the sight of Nyota.
"W-what do you want?" He asked.
"We need your help. To... to form an alliance." Said Nyota. "The Uruk Hai are going to get there by tonight."
"W-why would we have an alliance with hyenas?" The scared meerkat said, sounding afraid and angry at the same time. Nyota hesitated.
"I know this isn't going to be easy." she said. "But I know you care about the Pride Lands. And I know that you wouldn't want them to be destroyed by Isengard."
"Since when do you care about the Pride Lands?!" A female voice called out, sounding mad. Then, another meerkat emerged next to the old one. She appeared to be old aged as well, but nearly so as the male.
"They've always hated you! Why do you want to save them?" She asked. Nyota took a deep breath, and her tone became solemn and much more sincere.
"Because I know you're Timon's colony."
The meerkats still hiding in the bushes all around her gasped at the mention of Timon. Then, some light chatter began to emerge from them. The old female took a few steps closer to Nyota with a sad look on her face.
"How do you know about my son?" She asked. Then it hit Nyota- this was Timon's mother. She sighed.
"My parents told me about him. My parents and my uncle used to attack your colony just for fun, back before king Simba was even born."
"What did they say?" the old male asked. Nyota replied, with her tone becoming just a bit more humorous, "Well, it was kind of weird, actually. They... said that he proposed to my mother right before Scar died."
"Yep, that's Timon alright." The old male said to himself. Nyota realized that he must've been Timon's Uncle Max.
"How do we know you're not lying about this, and there is no army?" asked Timon's mother, sounding extremely suspicious. Nyota spoke again, her tone becoming sincere again.
"Alright, I think we got off on the wrong paw here. Let me start over- my name is Nyota. My parents names were Shenzi and Banzai, and my uncle's name was Ed. You know them. Recently, all three of them were slain mercilessly along with many others in my pack by the Nazgul of Mordor, ordered by Saruman himself. And ever since then, I've had a deep hatred for anything having to do with Mordor or Isengard. And if the army's coming from there, I'll do anything to get back at them... no matter who they're attacking."
"And why do you want to help the Pride Landers? What've they ever done for you?" Timon's mother asked, this time sounding much less suspicious. Nyota took a long, deep breath.
"Well... they've never really done anything to make me... like them. But think about this: My parents' entire pack was tortured by Scar under his reign, completely neglected. When Simba returned, many of them died in the Battle of Pride Rock. But we know for sure that they're in danger. If we just leave them to die, we'd be no better than Scar or Zira. The one my parents hated, the one who drove so many hyenas to starvation, we'd be the same as him- neglecting those who need help."
Nyota then turned away and sat down in the grass, looking away from them. As she did, Nyota could see that some of the fearful meerkats were beginning to emerge from the jungle depths, becoming sincerely curious about Nyota's words. Darkness and stars were befalling Hakuna Matata now, but the colony took little notice of it.
"And... I know about the Great Meerkat Massacre." Nyota said softly. The mention of the event was enough for some fierce conversation and talk to start up from those coming out of hiding. Timon's mother took a few steps closer to Nyota, who was looking extremely sad at the moment. She could tell even with the stars beginning to emerge.
"What they did to our ancestors was unforgivable, Nyota." said Timon's mother. "They murdered nearly every meerkat in the Pride Lands. If they'd gotten just a few more, half of us wouldn't be here!"
"I know", said Nyota, who was holding back tears at this point. "My... my father once told me that they did... what they did because the Pride Lands were going through a drought. It was either die of starvation, or..."
A single tear began to emerge from Nyota's eye. Even though she was turned away from them, this did not go unnoticed by some of the colony.
"And you have every right to have a prejudice against us because of it, but..."
She paused, beginning to sincerely sob. Ma and Uncle Max were near tears themselves, even.
"But what?" asked Max. Nyota wiped the tears away from her eyes with her bloodied paw before she continued.
"But... I just want things to go back to peace with us."
Wanting them all to get the full message, Nyota turned back around, facing the many watchful eyes upon her now. Some were still skeptical, but most of them seemed to sincerely believe her. A few of the younger ones in the colony sat down beside the edge of the lake, resting their feet in the cool waters. Even at their age, even they seemed to get what Nyota was saying.
"I've always hated the tension between the hyenas and you guys. You never did anything to us. When I was a pup, I always wanted to be friends with a meerkat. And... ever since my parents and uncle died, I've just felt so bad for every kill, and for every catch that we've got. I know we need meat to survive, but..."
Nyota began to weep sincerely now. She hardly knew why, but her thoughts were drifting towards many painful places and memories that she never wanted to relive within her mind.
"Some of my pack might call me a pushover because of that, and some of them argue that I'm only leader because my parents were, but..."
The female hyena looked up further, identifying the many sad looks she was getting. Even Ma and Uncle Max were near tears.
"Look, what I'm trying to say is... the Pride Landers are in danger. They'll be killed, maybe not right away because they're strong, but... claws and teeth against the swords and spears of Isengard? I want to make amends between them and my pack. You guys too, if we can."
There was a long moment of silence as Nyota sighed deeply, breathing heavily trying to catch her breath. During the silence, Uncle Max walked up to Nyota. He looked at her injured paw and the scrape against her chest. Max was never one to show very much of his sad side, but in this moment he was. The old meerkat looked up and spoke softly.
"Well... what would you want us to do, Nyota? We can't carry the same weapons they do. We're so much smaller than them."
Nyota hesitated, and wiped away some more tears. "I was... no, if I say, you'll never do it."
Uncle Max replied sincerely, "Well... if Timon or Zuri were here, they would want us to save the Pride Lands. And if they'd want us to do it, then we won't back down. Even if it means... putting the past behind us."
Timon's mother came up to him now, and placed her hand on his shoulder. "The past is the past, Max. We can't change it... but I think we can forgive the hyenas."
She looked up to the female hyena. "It was generations ago. We've held that prejudice for so long now... it's about time we move on. It was a tragic thing, sure, but... you don't sound like a typical hyena, Nyota. If you're willing to risk your life to save those that hate you... there must be some good in hyenas then."
Nyota smiled warmly at her words, and her tears ceased. "Thanks." She said.
"Now just tell us what we've gotta do to help, and we won't back down."
Nyota, feeling better about the reason she was there, wiped away the last of her tears and cleared her throat.
"Alright. We were hoping to make our way to the Pride Lands. Anybody who was fast enough would distract the orcs while we and the lionesses fight them. I don't know if we'll be able to save them... but I'd rather die trying and failing to make amends than not trying at all."
There was a long moment of reticence throughout the colony now. A few of them talked between one another, and others were still taking in Nyota's words. The hyena looked around. The colony looked inquisitive, but far from doubtful. She waited for someone to say something to her, but the talking continued for what seemed like an hour. Then she began to hear things from them, like "That's what Timon would do", or "We'll do it for Timon!".
Finally, after much careful thought, a large portion of the colony began to step forth in front of Nyota. Many meerkats walked out of their hiding places and into the open around her. They all had firm, but hopeful looks on their faces. They were tense, ready to die for those who needed them to. Nyota smiled. She only wished her parents could be there.
The crowd consisting of much of the colony stood in front of her. One of them within the crowd said,
"Lead the way, Nyota!"
Her smile grew warmer when they said this. "Thanks, guys." She said sincerely. She looked up to the stars. They all shone beautifully and vibrantly against the purple dusk of night. There were some clouds emerging from one side, but it did not at all perturb her. She looked upon them all again, proud and determined.
Timons' mother said, "Well Nyota... you've got yourself an alliance."
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review for more! A major battle is coming up, and I'll only write it if you review!