A/N: At this point I would like to thank my reviewers for helping me make this thing more than it would have been. Salutes all around. Also, this is another chapter that sort of ended…early. Sorry but that's how it worked out. Oh, before I forget, there are more fan characters ahead. As well as one we've seen before. It's not that hard to figure out who it is. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. At least, nothing anybody cares about.

Never Forget Part 1: Surfacing

Chapter 12: Looking Back

Part 1: Losing One's Family

"If you ask for food one more time, I'm going to eat you myself!" Shenzi yelled at her brothers. Scar silently thanked the female hyena for saving him the trouble of yelling at the two males. The female cats chuckled when he sighed irritably.

"What?" He asked them, an eyebrow lifted at their laughter.

"Nothing Scar." Zira said with a wry smile. She nudged her shoulder against him, enticing a chuckle from the dark lion. Their friendly chatter faded as they thought over everything that had happened recently. Shenzi wondered if Scar would keep his end of the deal and help them get food. Banzai simply wished he had something to eat just then. Whatever thoughts rattled around Ed's head were a mystery, possibly even to the crazed hyena himself.

Zira was in absolute bliss. She had found her Taka, managed to survive near-starvation, and had even managed to make a friend. Admittedly she would not have been able to do either of the first two without Yewande. She smiled when she thought about the cheetah. Taka had taken to her quickly. Normally that would worry her but she knew neither Yewande nor Taka would betray her that way. They both put a large importance on trust. It did not once occur to her that being abandoned by one's family could completely change that.

The cheetah was uncharacteristically quiet as they sat under the dead branches of one of the scarce trees for shelter. Her thoughts kept drifting to Zira and the lioness' relationship with Scar. She could clearly understand why Zira felt attracted to the lion; he was strong, smart, and a charismatic leader. She hadn't questioned following him at first. Now however, now she began to wonder about her role in this…group. She honestly did not know how to cope with this many other beings around. Yewande had spent most of her life in solitude. She had a family once, but that was a long time ago. Then, there was the one other cat she had met since they were taken from her. The one she had come to call her second mother. Yewande wondered distantly what the lioness would think of her new companions.

Seven months before Taka's banishment…

The young cheetah cub pulled herself weakly along the river's bank. The rains had been heavy for the past few weeks, leaving destruction in their wake. It had finally stopped raining the day before, the sky unable to mask her tears with its any longer. She limped along carefully, favoring her left foreleg slightly. She had to pause in her journey every few steps to blink away the blurriness in her vision. She felt the incessant pain like a weight in her chest. She stumbled a bit but managed to catch herself. I can't keep this up. She thought bitterly, looking around for some place to sleep. She spotted a rocky overhang not far from where she stood. She made her way over to it, not caring if anything lived there. If she survived the night then she would continue on her way. If not, then her worries would be over. She lay down carefully, not wanting to hurt her leg any further. It was not long before she fell asleep, exhaustion and depression each wearing her down to her core. The sun had barely set when she felt a light prodding in her side. She ignored it, not caring if whatever was causing it planned on eating her.

"Are you dead?" A female voice asked her gently. The voice was raspy but not unpleasantly so. She finally cracked her eyes open to look into the face of a much older cat. One without any spots whatsoever. Odd. "I'll take that as a 'no.'" The cat chuckled, the sound harsh and dry. As she stepped back the cheetah noticed the reason for this. Her throat was badly scared, as though someone had tried to rip it out with their claws. It was a miracle she was even alive with an injury like that. "Thirsty?" The young cheetah blinked at her stupidly before nodding in agreement. "Come on." The older cat helped her up and guided her towards the opposite end of the overhang. There she discovered a shallow pool of water. It was mercifully clear of the dust that seemed to blanket everything. The younger cat drank greedily, the other more dignified and quietly. When she finished she looked up to see the other cat looking at her oddly.

"What?" Her blunt tone caused the other to laugh.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you are." Her tail twitched back and forth lazily, a ready distraction from the scars on her throat.

"I'm Yewande. I'm a cheetah." She gave the other cat a suspicious look. "And you are?"

"I'm a lioness." She said simply.

"What's your name?" The cheetah clarified.

"I don't have one." She looked out over the rocky landscape around the river. "If we don't move now the hyenas will find us."

"Hyenas?" Yewande swallowed audibly, confusion filling her eyes. She had heard stories about hyenas from her mother but she had never believed him. The old cheetah had a habit of telling fantastic stories. She once swore there was a kind of cat that lived entirely underground. Surely they were just stories. They weren't real. Were they?

"They're not that bad, they just don't like anyone sleeping in their den. They usually don't mind it if I stop in for a drink but I've never had company before." She stood and walked out from under the overhang, the cheetah following close behind. They traveled in silence, both thinking deeply. Yewande kept glancing over to the lioness, trying to figure her out. They soon came to the sight of a shallow recess in the cliff face they had started following. As the lioness lay down the silence finally grew too oppressive for the cheetah. By this point the sun had fallen quite some time ago, they had traveled far, leaving the hyena den far behind.

"What did you mean earlier? Everyone has a name." The lioness slowed to a stop and looked at the younger cat.

"I don't remember mine. Or where I came from." She looked into the distance, her eyes unfocused as she looked into her past. "I remember…my brother. I don't know his name. Or that of the other lion." Her face darkened dramatically at that. "I don't know who he was, but I-I think I hated him."

"And your brother?" She was almost afraid to ask, not wanting the mush larger cat angry with her. To her surprise a smile spread weakly over the lioness' face.

"I loved him. Whenever I think about him I'm filled with this warm feeling, like I'm safe." She shook her head, clearing the memories away forcefully. "What about you? What happened to your family?"

"The rain."

One week ago…

"Yewande, if you don't wake up I'm going without you." She awoke at the sound of her brother's voice. She ran to his side, her tail jerking in agitation.

"That's not even funny." She muttered grumpily. Laughing lightly he guided her to where their sister sat with their mother. She yelped when a rain drop fell on her nose, enticing more laughter from her brother. "Shut up Fengai." She muttered, giving him a dark look.

"Yewande." Folami said her daughter's name in a warning tone. Beside her, Nia giggled at her siblings', always enjoying their fights. Folami gave her a weary glance before shaking her head tiredly. She was getting far too old for parenthood. As the rain began to increase in intensity her frown deepened. It had been raining off and on for weeks, something that worried her deeply. The river near their home had swollen its banks, driving the nearby residents up into the hills on the opposite bank. This forced the family to cross the collapsed tree that bridged the river. The old cheetah grew more worried with each passing day she was forced to take her family across the small bridge.

"Mother?" Nia asked her, the other two having resorted to actually fighting each other, nipping playfully and trying not to truly hurt each other. Folami shook her head and cleared her throat, gaining the attention of all three of her cubs.

"Tomorrow is the last day we're crossing the river for a while. If the rain continues the way it has, the river will be too high to cross." She strode elegantly towards the river, hoping desperately that she wasn't making a mistake. "So make today count." The family came to the "bridge." Folami stepped onto it first, insuring herself that it was safe to cross. Nodding to herself she carefully made her way to the other side, followed by her cubs one by one. They made it safely, the younger cheetahs not really concerned by how dangerous crossing the river had become.

"Can we go now?" Yewande asked expectantly. The three waited for their mother to nod before running off in different directions, each, supposedly, responsible for their own meal. The day was not the most successful they had ever had. Fengai managed to trip while he and Yewande stalked the same gazelle. Nia had found nothing at all, eventually traveling a full circuit to the bridge. As the three siblings came to the river they found their mother waiting patiently, a good sized gazelle on the ground next to her.

"Hungry?" She asked her salivating offspring. Together the three of them tore into the gazelle. Soon they had eaten all they could, the gazelle stripped to the bone. They sat for a while, enjoying the feeling of full stomachs and their mother's strange, outlandish stories. "Hyenas," she began one of her favorites, "are terrifying. They eat everything in their path. They're like us but-"

"But they have big, misshapen bodies and they laugh maniacally as they chase down their prey." Fengai continued for her.

"They aren't afraid of anything, but everything fears them." Nia took up the tale in turn.

"So we should never go to the wasteland. The hyenas live there and will gobble us up as soon as look at us." Yewande finished, smiling smugly at her mother's annoyed expression. "You tell that one a lot."

"Since I'm so boring, I guess we should head back." She looked uncertainly at the river. The current had intensified as the rains bore on. "Before we're stuck on this side."

"With the hyenas?" Fengai snickered, causing his sisters to laugh. Ignoring them Folami stepped carefully onto the bridge. The cubs followed her, still joking amongst themselves. "Hey Yewande, what has four legs, spots and no brains?"

"I don't know. What?"

"Either Nia or-" He was cutoff by a huge cracking sound accompanied by the tree shuddering. All four cheetahs froze, as the front of the bridge dropped, brushing the surface of the river. They had time to look at each other in fear before the tree fully collapsed into the river, taking the family with it. Yewande watched in horror as first her mother, then Nia and finally Fengai were swept away into the violent torrent. She dug her claws into the tree desperately as it too was pulled along by the current. She held on as her young body was thrashed about by debris and the bank itself. Soon she was so battered and bruised that her claws slipped off the smooth wood of the tree. She lost consciousness as she was carried away from her home.

"And I woke up on the bank. I've been wandering around ever since." The cheetah finished her story. Neither she nor the lioness knew at what point they had lain next to each other. It simply felt right to them, the older cat's warmth reassuring to the young cheetah. "I'm sorry." Yewande scrubbed at her face, trying to wipe away the tears that had began falling down her face.

"Don't be." The lioness nuzzled the younger cat. They stayed that way for the rest of the night, neither needing nor wanting to leave the other's side. It was near midday when Yewande awoke to find the lioness sitting next to her. The older cat smiled and stretched her muscles with a yawn.

"Is there anything you do remember?" Yewande asked suddenly, hoping she would answer. That same distant look came into her eyes as she tried to remember.

"My brother…he had a black mane and gold fur. I remember another, not him but not my brother either. He…did this I think." She placed a paw against her throat tenderly. "I remember pain…"

"Weakling. Get away from him." A cold voice ordered her awake. Her eyes cracked open. Above her was a fearsome lion, starring into her eyes intently. She tried to speak only to cough violently, blood coming out of her mouth. "Stop that. Your wounds are far from fatal." The lion growled lowly, forcing her climb to her paws weakly. She noticed a furry mass next to her as she did so. Looking down she saw another lion, this one unconscious and bloody as well. Looking at him filled her with the exact opposite emotion as the other lion. Looking at this younger lion she felt…joy.

"Get out of here." She looked at the other lion confusedly. "You make him weak. If you leave he might become a worthy heir." He gave her a look that told her he would not hesitate to finish the damage that had been done to her throat. She backed quickly away from the old lion. She turned and moved away as fast as she could, hoping he wouldn't decide to come after her. She looked back once in time to see a lioness drag the body of another lion, one away as the old lion watched calmly. Upon seeing the third lion she felt revulsion. It was not from the state of the body, she knew that much, but from the dead lion's face. Then her gaze locked once again with his. She fled as fast as she could from his gaze, hoping she was running to a better place.