Before and Beyond the Beginning
By Breech Loader
Breech: This chapter is loosely based on a story in a book I've got that took place while Scar was trying to get rid of just Simba, a little more subtly. Only there's three hyenas, not two. And hey, look, termite mounds!
Also... incredibly depressing ending to the chapter.
Chapter Eleven: Splitting the Bill
The Termite Mounds were not a nice place to be. A few ashen skulls lay about here and there, and swarms of flies buzzed all around the place. Dotted around were termite mounds, most four or five meters tall, but a particularly large one being a full nine meters. The nature of termites could see them growing taller. Tall trees provided excellent shelter all around, blocking out much of the sunlight.
Shenzi wondered how Scar had ever persuaded his brat of a nephew to come here. The Termite Mounds were an awful place to be. Somehow even worse than the Graveyard, because the Elephant Graveyard had dead elephants, while the Termite Mounds had termites. Living termites. At least dead elephants couldn't crawl all over you. There were termites everywhere.
Ed was so preoccupied with the insects that he wasn't even laughing; even now he was rolling over and over to squash those crawling on him, scratching furiously at himself. He didn't even seem to notice that he was scratching at himself so hard, he had caused himself to bleed in places.
"Where is that damn lion brat?" Shenzi snarled at Banzai, scratching industriously behind one ear, "It's noon already and all we're catching is termites!"
Banzai tried to get rid of an itch in his ass, "If he doesn't turn up in two minutes, damn him, two minutes, I'm leaving and he can be the one catching the termites!"
"To hell with waterbuck! I prefer zebra anyway!" Shenzi agreed whole-heartedly.
Approximately two minutes passed, and Shenzi and Banzai were about to leave when they heard three voices approaching.
"This is where Punda must be." A young male voice. Their target - and their dinner.
"But why would he come here? It's an awful place." A young female voice. Their unexpected side-dish.
"Simba, I don't believe Punda is here," a bird spoke. Dessert, "Your parents will be worrying about you. You should be heading home right now."
"Okay, Zazu," Simba sounded disappointed, "There doesn't seem to be much here for us anyway."
Shenzi took her cue, "But there's something here for us," she grinned hugely, "Dinner, a side-dish and waddaya know... even dessert!"
Zazu gasped in shock as Shenzi and Banzai slunk forward. Ed was too busy trying to deal with his termites... but they didn't exactly need his help for this little buffet. The cubs turned to run away.
"Oh, don't go now," Banzai blocked the three of them, "We were just about to have dinner!" he told Zazu, and started to chuckle.
"You bullies had better leave us alone!" Simba told them loudly.
"Or what?" Shenzi asked them.
"Or my father, King Mufasa will get you both!" Simba shouted, "I'm the future king! You have to do what I tell you!"
"Ooooh," Banzai grinned, pretending this information was new to him, "So you're little prince Simba, huh? You'd think your daddy would teach you better manners than to leave in the middle of dinner!"
"Hey, I got another one!" Shenzi shouted, "Looks like we've got ourselves a meal fit for a king – or a king fit for a meal!" They both continued to laugh.
"Hey, mine's better!" Banzai snickered, "We're gonna have ourselves... a right royal banquet!" The hyenas burst into peals of laughter.
"Hey, what about this one?" Shenzi asked, all her focus on Banzai, "Why is it so important to eat lion cubs before they become lions?"
"Why?" Banzai asked, grinning widely at her.
"Because if you let them grow up it's a... MISSED STEAK!" Shenzi laughed at the terrible pun.
"Man oh man," Banzai laughed and grabbed Simba's tail, and he fell flat on his face before he could make a run for it, "I can't remember the last time I had lion cubs for dinner!"
Shenzi stopped laughing sharply, "Hey, who says you get to have the cubs?" she asked, "I'm the leader; if anybody should get the cubs, it should be me!"
As the hyenas argued over who should get to eat whom, Simba whispered to Nala and Zazu, "Run! Get out of here!"
"I can't leave you!" Nala whispered.
"You have to!" Simba insisted, "Otherwise they'll get us all!"
"I'll get help!" Nala promised her friend.
"It was my brother and dad what got wasted by lions, remember?" Banzai snapped, still holding Simba tightly by the tail, "You can have the bird!"
"You're not giving ME the bird!" Shenzi argued.
"Fine, we'll split the cubs," Banzai scowled, "But then I get the bird."
"Why should you have a cub AND the bird?" Shenzi snapped at him, before cooling down a little, "A moment ago you wanted me to have the bird."
"Fine," Banzai scowled, "We'll split the bird."
"Right," Shenzi agreed, "But I get the wings."
"Oh, sure," Banzai grumbled, "Then I get stuck with the bill!"
"Okay, we'll split the bill!" Shenzi told him.
Shenzi and Banzai had finally ended their argument. They looked down to see Nala and Zazu fleeing as fast as they could back towards Pride Rock. Banzai was about to chase them, but Shenzi stopped him, "Don't bother. This is the important one anyway," she told him.
They began to snap at Simba with their sharp teeth. He realised that right now they were only playing... but when they got bored of their game, well, then it would be Game Over for him.
"You won't get away with this!" the little cub wailed, "My father will come and rescue me! And my Uncle Scar will get you, too!"
Shenzi and Banzai looked at each other. Then they burst into peals of uproarious laughter. It was one thing to expect daddy to come to save you. But when Scar had been the one to set up this plan... oh, it was just too much, "Oh, I'm quivering, I'm quivering," Banzai laughed sarcastically.
"We're SO scared!" Shenzi agreed, certain that Scar would be busy distracting Mufasa or any of the lionesses from coming to the rescue.
They snapped at Simba a few more times, before Banzai yawned widely with boredom, displaying sharp teeth, "I'm getting hungry," he declared.
"Gotcha," Shenzi agreed, holding up Simba, "Dinner is served!" Simba made a few pathetic little roars, sounding more like the mewls of a kitten.
Banzai laughed at that, "So, ya think you're tough, huh?" he sneered.
And then there was an earth-shaking, fully-grown lion's roar, so unexpected that Shenzi dropped Simba in terror. Mufasa himself bounded towards the hyenas, taking a heavy swipe at them. All their cockiness and jokes vanished in a flash.
"Move it, move it, MOVE IT!" Shenzi yelled. They passed by Ed, who was still scratching at himself, and grabbed him as they fled. Fortunately, Mufasa didn't bother to chase after them, but stayed with the right royal brat.
The three hyenas didn't stop running until they got back to the Graveyard. Shenzi and Banzai had a few bruises, but apart from that, they were fine. Ed had done more damage to himself trying to deal with the termites than they had taken from Mufasa.
Shenzi took a few breaths, nursing her bruises, while Ed finally managed to get the last of the termites out of his fur, and Banzai licked some blood from his split lip.
"Aw, we didn't get that cub, and now we're not gonna get that waterbuck!" Banzai whined as his stomach growled.
"Are you kidding me?" Shenzi asked him angrily, "We just got our butts kicked by Mufasa, and we could have been killed, and Scar's gonna be pissed off when he finds out the brat's still alive, and your big problem is that you're gonna miss a meal?" she growled.
"Well, I'm hungry!" Banzai whined again, "It's a problem for me!"
"Then let me give you a bite!" Shenzi barked, and pounced Banzai hard, starting to give him a good thrashing for being so damn annoying.
"Ow! Stoppit! Shenzi, OW! I'm SORRY!" Banzai yelped as he tried to dodge the punches and bites. He could hear Ed laughing like crazy behind him.
"You ignorant, incompetent idiots!" a voice shouted, splitting the two apart. They looked up. Scar was looking down at them, "I offered you cub-on-a-stick, and you utterly failed!"
"Yeah, about that-" Shenzi started.
"You let some of them escape! And they ran to tell Mufasa!" Scar snarled, leaping down.
"You didn't say there'd be others; we thought you just wanted the brat dead!" Banzai protested, backing away hastily.
"Just the same, there should be no witnesses!" Scar growled, "Didn't it occur to you for one moment that the other cub and the bird would go for help?"
"What do I know about lion cubs?" Shenzi pointed out rudely, "I'm a hyena."
Scar gave a roar of rage at the hyena's impudence, and bowled the three of them to the floor, leaving them cowering. Then he stopped, "No," he told them, "No, you're right. You are just hyenas; it's not your fault you're so incompetent..."
"Wh-what?" Shenzi asked, shocked and angry.
Scar stepped back, "You failed... but it's not your fault," he said benevolently, stepping back, "I'll just have to find better help. Maybe the jackals..."
"The JACKALS?!" Banzai shouted, "Those pathetic scroungers? They can't even hunt their own meat; what makes you think they could bring down a lion cub?"
"Yeah, all they do is chew on bones all day!" Shenzi agreed.
"Well, if you can't perform the simple tasks I set you, there's no point in me putting your lives in danger by asking you for aid," Scar grinned smoothly and turned away casually.
"Bullshit!" Shenzi snarled, and hurried after him, followed by Banzai and Ed, "You won't find anybody who can do the job like we can!"
"I'm sure," Scar wrapped a foreleg around Shenzi and dragged her close, "But I don't want my dear friends to get hurt again," he smiled and hugged Banzai to him as well, "I can't really keep bringing you meat when you can't return the favour."
"Oh, you can keep bringing us meat if you want," Banzai pointed out.
Scar shook his head, "No, if you're incapable of doing the job, so be it. I'll have to find somebody else to do your job."
"We can so do the job!" Shenzi snarled, squirming slightly, "We're absolutely capable! Don't you trust us?"
"Of course, I'd love to be able to trust you," Scar told her, "It would be wonderful if I could trust you to be capable of following a few simple commands, and we could all be such good friends..."
"Aw, look at you, Scar," Shenzi untangled herself, "Angular, dark colourings, and good sharp claws... you belong with us! We're great friends! You're practically a hyena!"
"That's wonderful news," Scar told her, containing his contempt. That wasn't much of a compliment for him.
"Aw, come ON!" Banzai whined, "If you bring us dinner, we can do anything!"
Scar sighed theatrically, "Well... I do have a few more plans in mind," he said coolly. He had anticipated that implying the hyenas COULDN'T do a job would make them want to do it, "But for now... I'll just drop off this present that you really don't deserve..." he dumped a leg of waterbuck in front of them, which the three of them rapidly began to devour. Then he walked away calmly.
The three of them finished the meat rapidly. Banzai's stomach growled again, "Wish we'd caught those cubs," he grunted, disappointed, "I'm still hungry. I could have used that whole waterbuck..."
"Don't you think I'm hungry too?" Shenzi growled, "That's all you ever talk about! We barely escaped a major ass-whupping by Scar, and he thinks we're losers, and you're still complaining about your stomach?"
"But I'm so hungry!" Banzai whined, and his stomach gave another growl, "I'm so hungry my gut hurts!"
"I'll put something in your stomach!" Shenzi snarled. She leapt at Banzai and started punching him in the gut, "You won't be hungry when I'm done!"
"OW!" Banzai wailed, "Shenzi, I'm sorry! Stoppit, I'm sorry okay!" he wailed as Ed started to laugh all over again, possibly at his brother's misfortune, and possibly at something else.
Banzai was still yelping when Fisadi wandered along. He watched the confrontation for almost a full minute. But eventually Fisadi stopped grinning at Banzai getting his ass handed to him by Shenzi, and put on his 'solemn' face.
"Ahem... Shenzi?" he approached carefully from behind.
Shenzi looked up briefly, "What is it, Fisadi?" she snapped at him as Banzai cowered under her punches, "Can't you see I'm busy?!"
Fisadi sighed, "Where have you been?" he asked her, "I've been looking all over the Graveyard and I couldn't find you anywhere."
"That's because I wasn't IN the Graveyard," Shenzi replied rudely, "I was out hunting, and thanks to this bozo right here, it was all fouled up. Not that it's any of your business anyway."
"That's a shame," Fisadi told her, "I had something really important to tell you, but it's too late now..."
"Too late for what?" Shenzi asked, confused.
"It's just that... I've got bad news," he said as sadly as he could muster.
"What?" Shenzi scowled.
"It's too dreadful," Fisadi said, wiping a fake tear from one eye, "I wish I didn't have to tell you..."
"What is it?" Shenzi asked, her temper calming and being replaced with concern.
"But I thought it would be best if you heard it from me, as your friend," Fisadi continued.
"Pft, yeah, friend," Banzai sneered under Shenzi, and got a whack to the nose for it, "OW!"
"It's just awful... I can hardly bring myself to tell you-" Fisadi saw the irritated expression returning to Shenzi's face, "It's about your mother Kiruu," he finished quickly.
"My mother?" Shenzi backed up off Banzai quickly, feeling a chill go down her spine, "What about my mother? What's wrong? Did she go on a hunt and get hurt? Has she gotten worse?"
"No, she's not sick or hurt," Fisadi told her.
"Then what's WRONG with her?" Shenzi demanded.
Fisadi paused, his heart singing. He'd treasure this moment. He'd like to press this moment and put it carefully in a big book of wonderful moments of his life, so that when he was old he could take it out occasionally, and remember it in every exquisite detail, "Well if you want it in its most basic form," Fisadi sighed, leaving a long pause for emphasis, "She's dead."
Shenzi's face froze up, leaving her speechless with shock. Banzai rolled to his feet, speaking for her, "Kiruu's dead? What do you mean, dead? She's the Matriarch; she can't be dead!"
"For the less intelligent among us, it simply means that she's not alive any more," Fisadi hung his head, hiding his smirk, "She died in her sleep, while you were out on your hunt," he told Shenzi, "It was a very peaceful death."
The look on Shenzi's face was one Fisadi knew he would treasure forever. It was priceless. Her absolute speechlessness was a sight to behold. Finally her expression managed to change into another, which was harsh anger, "You're a lying sack of shit," she said with difficulty.
"No, really," Fisadi said regretfully, "She really is-"
Shenzi bolted away from him and Banzai before he could finish, running for her mother's den with all her speed, "MOTHER! MOTHER!" she barked even as she ran. The den was surrounded by quiet, unusually sombre, high-ranking females, whom she shoved aside roughly, "Mother! Mother!"
Banzai caught up, blocking her way, "Shenzi, you probably don't want to-" she slammed a paw into the side of his head and knocked him out of her way, "Okay then..." he winced from the ground.
Shenzi ran into the den, still barking, "Mother! Mother! Mo-" she stopped, her heart freezing up. It was as if ice had been poured through her body; it froze up her body, her mouth, and even her very emotions. She felt as if her heart could have stopped beating.
Kiruu was lying very still in her sleeping area. Too still. Shenzi approached her mother; her heart in her mouth, "Mom?" she asked, and nudged the sleeping Kiruu. The old female was cold and stiff, "Mom, this... this isn't funny..." she managed, "Stop messing around... you're too old for that... You gotta get up... you got a pack to run..."
She nudged Kiruu again, harder. The old matriarch rolled slightly, and then slumped back, "You gotta keep training me to be the next Matriarch..." Shenzi managed, nudging her again, "You gotta... you gotta..." she stepped back, her head hanging, "You gotta be... my mom..." she whispered.
She felt the sobs rising in her throat, and hung her head further. Tears began to roll down her cheeks. But she didn't break into hysterics. Despite everything, the tears coursing down her face rolled without ceremony, and she remained silent. Because her mother had told her that a Matriarch didn't go into hysterics, or lose her temper. They would remain composed and calm and most of all, in control of the situation, at all times.
She's dead, Shenzi thought, the tears rolling silently down her face, She's really dead, and you never got to say goodbye, because you went out to make sure that Banzai didn't do anything stupid... and that was all fouled up anyway...
"Shenzi?" And then Banzai was standing next to her, looking at the body of her mother.
"I never got to say goodbye..." Shenzi whispered. Her throat felt so dry, as if she'd been eating sand all day. A single, soft sob escaped her.
"Shenzi..." Banzai saw the tears rolling down her face. She was so sad... he'd never seen her like this. Angry, excited, and ecstatic, yes, but never sad. Her tears alone were almost breaking his heart.
"Fisadi was telling the truth..." Shenzi whispered, tears rolling slowly down her face, "She's dead. She really is dead. And I never got to say goodbye... And now I'm going to have to fight to be the next Matriarch, like she wanted me to be. Like I want to be."
"Shenzi..." Banzai repeated softly, expecting her accusations at any moment. For her to blame him, and start screaming at how it was all his fault that she hadn't been here. To his relief, she didn't. But he couldn't stand her tears for one moment longer. He reached up with one paw to wipe them away, even though they kept coming, "I know you can do it."
Shenzi butted his paw away gently and looked up at him, the tears still streaking down her face, "So you'll be there?" she asked.
"Believe me, Shenzi," Banzai grinned, "I wouldn't miss your inevitable moment of glory for the Pride Lands themselves." He nudged her cheek gently with his nose; the equivalent of a kiss on the cheek.
To his delight, Shenzi didn't protest. Maybe she was too occupied with her mother's dead body. She took a deep breath, composing herself and straightening up – at least as much as it was possible for a hyena to do – before wiping her eyes again herself. She took another deep breath, and turned her back on the body, walking to the entrance of the den.
Banzai watched her leave, concerned. Shenzi was perfectly calm and collected. And since Shenzi was the best friend he'd ever loved, he knew that when she was calm and collected like that, she was almost certainly under massive emotional stress. Well, her mother had just died. Of course she was.
Shenzi faced the crowd outside the den, which was rapidly growing, and spoke, "Matriarch Kiruu is dead," she stated, only the slightest tremor in her voice, "Tonight will be spent in mourning. The trials for the next Matriarch will be held tomorrow in the meeting area, beginning at dawn. I will be competing."
The crowd parted respectfully for her as she walked past them silently, not looking back.
Fisadi followed her, smirking.
Breech: Where's my millions of reviews?! I want them right now!