The Tale of Simba and Nala

by SimbaAndNala

As cubs, Simba and Nala must overcome the tragedy of their entire family and pride dying at the hands of Scar. As they grow older, they form a new regime, called The Pride, with one purpose: To take back Pride Rock! A Simba/Nala action/romance.

14. The Final Battle

Chapter 14: The Final Battle

Nala didn't want to open her eyes. She knew what lay beyond her eyelids: a terrible sight. A sight that she could only imagine to be worse than anything she had ever seen. But she needed to stop imagining such things. It wasn't healthy to imagine one's own mother, rotting to death, covered in flies; the flies that she heard buzzing throughout the den; the flies right next to her, hovering over her mother's body. She whined.

How could they do that? What must have gone through their minds, to convince themselves that it was a good idea to leave the bodies of their victims in the den? She could never comprehend evil. And that's exactly what she was a victim of.

Evil.

Evil was why she lay in terror, crying her eyes out, in that hell-hole. Evil was why her mother was dead, why her whole Pride was dead, why her mate was gone, why all happiness seemed so distant, so impossible to reach, to possess, to even imagine. And it was all caused by the evil within her father. Her own father!

"ROOOOOAAARRR!"

Her entire life had been filled with misfortune, but one thing masked it all. One thing held her together. One thing put her above every animal out there.

Love…

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

"Hey Simba! Hey Simba! Hey Simba! Hey Simba!"

"What what what what..."

Nala giggled. "Wake up silly. Guess what?"

Simba eyed his friend, who has jumping up and down with excitement. He replied groggily, "What?"

"Noooooo. You have to guess."

Simba sighed. "Hmmm." The cub opposite him looked ready to explode. He smiled, "You found another flower to talk to?"

The smile on Nala's face turned into an expression of shock. Then she sat down. Embarrassed, she replied to the floor, "No." Apparently Simba had caught her the previous day, talking to the flower that she frequently confided in.

Simba had made a huge mistake. He leaned forward towards Nala. "I'm sorry Nala. That was mean."

She kept her head facing the floor, but brought her eyes up to meet his. She had no idea how cute she looked at that moment, but it was definitely enough to make Simba gasp. Nala replied, "It's ok."

Simba attempted to reverse his actions. "You want to know something about me?" He waited, but received no response. "I have a pet rock that I talk to a lot. It knows all my secrets."

Nala smiled again. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. It's kind of dumb."

She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "Well what secrets would you have to tell a rock? I know everything about you."

"Well, what secrets do you tell the flower?"

The light-furred cub opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it, and laughed.

Simba teased his friend. "Nala's got a secret!"

"Shut up! So do you!" She had pounced on his paw to keep him from embarrassing her any more. Ironically, the action just embarrassed them both as they noticed that their paws were touching. Nala quickly relinquished the hold. "Anyway, back to my original reason for waking you up, I need to tell you the news."

"The anticipation is killing me."

Nala punched Simba for his sarcasm. "I'm... Going... To have..." She stopped and smiled. She was obviously waiting to elicit an emotion from Simba.

Simba looked at her, annoyed.

"A little sister!"

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

The memory shot through Nala like an arrow. She had forgotten about her proposed little sister. How could she have forgotten? It must have been because everything from her past was masked by the death of her mother. Her new sister who didn't even have a name: completely forgotten. She almost vomited in agony for her negligence.

She whined. She wanted to die.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

"Heh heh. Look what we got here."

"Didja hear that roar? She's a feisty one!"

Nala realized that she had no control over her senses at the moment. The smell of the den overcame all else, and she would never open her eyes to what she knew surrounded her. "Who are you? Go away!"

"Ooh hoo hoOo! She wants us leave."

"Well I don't think she has any power over that, does she?"

"I swear, if you even touch me, I will claw your face apart!" At this point, she couldn't even tell where her visitors were coming from. All noise echoed throughout the den. "Don't do it!" Her eyes begun to water, she couldn't accept the inevitable.

"Don't worry. We plan on doing much more than touch you." The pair of hyenas laughed maniacally.

One of the hyenas jumped on top of her and pinned her to the ground. Surprisingly, she couldn't throw him off. As effortless as such an action was during previous battles, she was too incredibly weak. "Noooo!" Her shriek could be heard for miles.

"Stop!"

The hyenas' advances ceased and they slowly made their way to the booming voice. "Leave her for me."

Nala's sobs could be heard over the hyenas' retreating grumbles.

The familiar voice of her father filled Nala's ears. "Nala, Nala, Nala... That was quite a trick you tried to play during our little fiasco. It's a shame I have Karkass, huh? He knew exactly what you were going to do." Scar laughed at her misery.

Nala spoke to the ground through clenched teeth, "Go away..."

"I'm sorry, what was that? One more time please, sweet, sweet, Nala."

"GO AWAY! I hate you!" She spat in her father's face as her words rang throughout the den. Her eyes had opened on accident and she saw the silhouette of a lion carcass. She immediately closed her eyes and hid her face, sobbing.

"Oh," Scar circled his daughter, "do those bother you?"

Nala heard the smash and resounding echo of a bone as it collided with the wall, at the mercy of Scar's playful mood. "You should thank me. I saved you from a rather undesirable situation a second ago." He sighed. "I'm sure Simba would have been angry, too. In fact," his voice rose excitedly, "I bet he's seething with anger right now. Oh, what will he do without his precious... Little... Nala?" Upon his last word, he brought a claw to Nala's chin and lifted it up. Nala sent her paw flying towards her father's face and dug her claws deep into the side of his head, opening up the wound that now took the place of his ear. Screaming in pain, Scar stepped back and growled. "You have no right-"

"YOU have no right! Pride Rock belongs to Simba!" Nala felt her confidence come back as she opened her eyes and began to step towards Scar, forcing him to retreat back to the entrance of the den. "And you know what? He'll be back! I have no doubt in my mind that he will kill you, and all you're hyenas! You're stuck here! You have nowhere to go! You will die!"

"Stay back!" Scar bounded out of the den, and Nala's snarling face followed him. "Stop her!"

A multitude of hyenas landed on Nala's back and held her down. She fought and tore at them, but she was in no condition to fight. The hyenas forced her back into the den and returned to the entrance. Scar commanded the hyenas to stay and guard his prisoner as he began to slink away. "But sir, why don't we just kill her?"

The tyrant slowly turned around and smiled. "It's a little thing I like to call mental warfare. I'm sure Simba won't feel as strong when his mate is murdered right before his eyes."

Nala's eyes were shut tight again, but they couldn't stop the steady stream of rage filled tears. "Simba. Where are you? You know I hate the dark..."

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The king of the Pridelands was no longer playful and hesitant. He now embodied the meaning of stoicism. Explanations and speeches were a thing of the past. The Pride adjusted to his curt manor and quick speech. They did as they were told, not out of fear, but because of the respect they had gained for their unstoppable leader. Simba stood at the front of The Cave, with all manner of grim-faced warmongers behind him. The loss of the beautiful queen was not Simba's sole burden; every Pridelander had a place in their heart for her, leaving a hole, filled with a hatred for their oppressor: Scar.

He lifted his paw, and pointed it in the direction of Pride Rock, and the whole company slowly marched forward. No songs were sung, no words were said. The only sound was that of their paws and hooves, and the ripple of Simba's mane in the wind.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Scar sat at the top of pride rock, watching the sun rise over his beautiful land. His... Beautiful... Land. The evil lion smiled. So long had he waited for this land. And soon, very soon, he would have nothing to worry about, because he DID worry about Simba. Although The Pride was small, it posed a threat to Scar's peaceful life. Once they were all dead, or enslaved, he could enjoy watching the sun rise. And without looking at the horizon every few seconds to see if his nephew appeared.

And Scar knew he would show. The intense connection between Simba and Nala assured that. The thought of their relationship brought disturbing feelings to Scar, remembering his past with Sarafina. He shuddered and forced himself to think about the upcoming battle.

He looked down upon Pride Rock, at the hyenas patrolling the outskirts of his domain. They were ready. And Karkass was somewhere, devising genius strategies with his generals. And Scar had to do nothing, absolutely nothing. He laughed. How could Mufasa be so stupid as to believe that he could trust other animals? Now, Pride Rock teamed with sentries and patrol. This was the way to rule a kingdom: bribes and bodyguards.

The dark-maned lion laid his head on his paws and sighed. Today would be fun.

"Sir, Talot here to report." Scar spun around at the startling arrival of the youth hyena.

He collected himself and responded, "Oh, good." He had forgotten he had sent for Talca's son.

Talot had grown to like the new regime under Scar. His natural strength served him well among his peers. He had risen among the ranks to one of the best. The day that he was assigned to Karkass's army was the best day of his life. He looked up to Karkass as more of a father than his own, especially since his own father was generally disliked by the entire community, and was never at home because he left to help the enemy all the time.

Talot's thought process was broken by Scar's kind voice, "So, Talot. I hear you've become quite a warrior."

"Oh yes. I've learned so many things from Karkass. I can't wait to kill more Pridelanders."

"Good, because I need you to do some killing for me, but you're going to have to be stealthy. Can you kill quietly?"

Talot nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! Just tell me who I need to kill and consider the deed done."

Scar smiled evilly. "Your father."

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Simba froze when he saw the shape of a hyena bounding over the horizon. He relaxed when he recognized it as Talca, with an unfamiliar hyena tagging along behind him.

Talca bowed upon reaching Simba. "Sire. This is my wife Rarlta." The spy motioned to the hyena at his side. "We came out of fear for our safety. I assume you're heading to battle."

Simba never looked at the hyena, but turned his head back to point towards Tareesh. Talca understood and ambled back to the antelope leader.

"Welcome, Talca. Who's this?"

"My wife, Rarlta."

The female hyena bowed. "Pleased to meet you."

Talca spoke his concerns to Tareesh. "We were forced to leave because our son was summoned by Scar, so we feared for our safety."

The antelope looked empathetically into Tacla's eyes. "Your own son?"

The hyena nodded with his head down. "Scar's taken both my sons now and I'm not about to let him take my wife. Anyways, I never received word that we were attacking so soon."

"Simba's angry. It's rash, but The Pride follows his orders." Tareesh sighed, "But who knows, perhaps today we were meant to attack. But I'm worried."

"Yes. We can only hope."

"And as for your son?"

"He's chosen his own fate." Talca looked steadily forward. Tareesh frowned and said no more, and neither did any other animal.

All that passed between the Pridelanders was a rush of adrenaline as the tip of Pride Rock rose above the horizon, with a small black dot sitting atop it.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

A frightened Talot made his way back up to the tyrant. "Uhh, sir."

"Is it finished?" the dark-maned lion didn't even turn around. He kept his steady gaze on the horizon.

"My father is... gone. He's nowhere to be found."

Scar maintained his position and countenance. He smiled as Simba appeared over the horizon. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood today." The tyrant turned around quickly. "Karkass!"

The all-important hyena slowly made his way up to Scar. "I smell him, the red-maned one."

"I want him dead, Karkass. Find whatever means possible to make that happen. If you cut off the head of the snake, the rest dies."

Karkass bowed. "Sir."

Scar held his gaze upon the approaching Pridelanders. "Talot, join the ranks. I'll stay up here and watch."

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Simba slowed his pace to fall back in line with Tareesh. "I'll need rhinos to break me into the horde. They will take me to the den. The rest of The Pride will need to break through Scar's defense and form a wall around Pride Rock. At that point, it will be ours. No matter what happens, don't break the attack. I intend for this to be the last battle."

"Simba…"

"This is my choice. The Pride is yours to command, Tareesh."

"It never was."

"It is for the course of this battle."

The antelope gave in. "It's your call captain." Then he turned around, "ALL OF YOU! FORM RANKS! ZERU WILL LEAD IN FROM THE LEFT! I WILL LEAD IN FROM THE RIGHT! EIGHT RHINOS, UP HERE NOW!"

Simba smiled, "See? You were born for it."

Tareesh punched him with a hoove, "There's a smile! Now go get yourself killed, you crazy lovebird."

Simba returned the punch and made his way to the gathering of rhinos. "You all will be by barrier, we make a straight shot for the den, no stopping. If one falls, tighten the circle. Am I clear?"

The eight rhinos nodded in unison.

The lion's muscles tensed up as he crouched into a position ready for sprinting. "Here I come, Nala."

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Scar watched as the Pridelanders dashed in for the kill. His eyes widened as he noticed a small circle of rhinos acting as armor for Simba at the front of the charge. All he had to do was sit back and watch.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Adrenaline masked all of Simba's senses as the head rhino collided with the oncoming hyenas. Dust filled his vision, and his legs moved in a steady rhythm without command. With tears in his eyes, his mind glossed over and he felt the ground pound at his heart with every thud of his legs. And then the rhino hit him.

As his senses poured back in, Simba rolled out from underneath the rhino's limp body and leapt atop it. The small gray blob of rhinos that used to be his protection disappeared into the dust.

Grabbing the first hyena to his left, Simba swiped his claws across its throat and jumped off of the rhino onto the bloodied ground. Biting the legs of another hyena he threw him onto one behind him. Blood spilled across his fur as he slowly made his way forward. One hyena after another died at his paws in the name of his love.

His paw grasped air as he burst into a peculiar circle of nothingness, and his eyes met the stare of a certain hyena; a hyena missing a patch of fur, right where Sarabi had taken it from him.

"YOU!"

Simba reached for the hyena but he disappeared into the dust in retreat. Simba growled as he collided with a wall of stone. He had reached Pride Rock!

Following the wall, and occasionally killing hyenas who came in contact with him, he eventually found a rock short enough to leap onto, and then another. He slowly ascended the rocks until he came to a ledge. Looking behind him, he saw clearly the field of dust that obscured the battle. From where he was, it seemed that The Pride was gradually gaining distance. He smiled.

Recognizing the path that led to the den and the ceremonial ramp of Pride Rock, Simba quickly found the way around his home.

The king stopped dead in his tracks, as about one hundred hyenas came into view, and they were all in front of the den. He circled back behind a wall, out of view of the hyenas. Luckily, they hadn't seen him.

It was obvious now that Nala was hidden in the den, but that many hyenas would be impossible to overcome; but not if his mate was by his side. He smiled. This was what it all boiled down to; this moment. He dug his claws into the dirt, and felt the ground beneath his paws, just as his father had taught him during their pouncing lessons. Simba looked up into the sky. "This is it, Dad."

The hyenas all yelped as a huge lion bounded out from behind a wall, landing on five of them and killing them instantly. He then spun around and slashed out at a few more, taking advantage of their momentary shock. Then the hyenas started attacking. They dug their claws into him, but he didn't care. He continued to spill the blood of his enemies. Each drop brought him closer to his mate. His heart pounded with each swipe of his claws. Then his vision was filled with yellow.

Pinned by Nala, Simba quickly returned her affection; but they both knew their lives were at danger, so they jumped into an upright position and began fighting for their freedom.

As the dust settled, the entire group of hyenas lay dead on the floor. Simba smiled, "Fighting with you is so much more fun than fighting alone."

Once again, the king found himself on the floor, with Nala licking his face, and her tears wetting his mane.

"You idiot! You know how long I was in there? And it was terrible! Why couldn't you come sooner? You lazy jerk!" And then she collapsed on him, and closed her eyes.

Simba laughed. "I love you, too."

His mate sobbed and brought her head up to look into his eyes, "Promise you'll never leave me again."

"I promise."

The couple, after some time, rose and looked out over the battle from the ceremonial ramp. Simba commented excitedly, "Well it looks like Tareesh knows what he's doing. They've completely sectioned off Pride Rock, now all that Scar's army can do is run away and never come back. It's a shame though, I wanted to meet my mother's killer."

Just as Simba finished his last syllable, a hyena came skidding around the corner of the den yelling, "Scar! They've taken Pride Ro-", and stopped. Bewildered, the hyena stared at the lion couple in shock.

Simba turned around and smiled, "Well that's fortunate."

The hyena regained control and sped off up the trail towards the top of Pride Rock. The two lions followed him.

Upon reaching the top, Simba and Nala found Karkass and Scar, the latter two looking mortified. The king and queen growled and jumped toward their respective murderers. Simba tackled Karkass and slashed him across the face as Nala crashed into Scar and sent both of them rolling down the front of Pride Rock. Simba yelled, "No!", as his mate tumbled off the edge, and Karkass took advantage of the moment to throw Simba off of himself.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Nala and Scar separated as they continued to fall. They both came to a halt as they landed on the plateau outside of the den. In pain, Scar came to his feet first and bounded into the den in retreat. Nala groaned as she realized she would have to follow him in there, and she made her way to the entrance. She couldn't see him in the darkness, but she could hear his voice bouncing off the walls, "Well, Nala. Here we are again."

"I'll rip you apart Scar, for everything you've done."

"Well," Scar laughed, "You'll have to come in here to do so."

Nala apprehensively placed a paw into the den. Not only was it dark in there, but her mother's dead body was also somewhere. But for every second that she waited, Scar's eyes became more accustomed to the dark. She had to face her fears, and this time Simba wasn't around to comfort her. Her vengeful growl filled the den, and she leapt into the darkness.

As soon as her paws alighted on the ground, Scar threw himself at her, grabbed her back from the air, and flipped her onto the ground. Before Nala could rise, Scar came at her again and slashed her face. Nala roared, and her adrenaline rose because the slash across her face reminded her of what her father had done. He had killed Sarafina.

Nala rolled over and bowled into where she thought Scar was, but he had moved. Falling over, she was leapt onto again by Scar, and he held her down. "This seems familiar." He smiled.

Nala still could not see anything, but she growled once more in Scar's face.

"This is just how I killed your mother."

Nala struggled a paw free and kicked him off of herself. As she made her way back out of the den and into the light, Scar jumped on top of her again, but she was ready this time, and she flipped him back over just as she had done to Simba many times.

Now the tables had turned. Nala was pinning Scar to the ground, and they were out in the light. Scar blinked as the sun hit his eyes. He could do nothing to overpower his daughter. He laughed, "You know Nala, I have a little secret."

The lioness's eyes narrowed, "I know you're my father."

"Oh," Scar responded shakily.

"And I don't care that you're my father, because you're not my father. You don't deserve to be my father! You deserve to die!"

Scar pleaded, "No, Nala! Please!"

Unable to contain her rage any longer, Nala began ripping Scar's face apart with her claws.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Karkass tried to retreat back to the trail to descend Pride Rock, but Simba regained his footing and leapt at the hyena. The king was only able to grab onto Karkass's backside, so Karkass nipped at his attacker's paws and freed himself. The hyena then jumped at Simba and pushed him back towards the edge. The lion retaliated similarly, but was able to knock Karkass of the edge. Karkass dug his claws into the rock, and launched himself back up on top of Simba.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Meanwhile, Talca found Tareesh and addressed him, "Sir, we've secured all of Pride Rock."

The antelope leader smiled, "Good, now find Simba and see if he's okay."

"Yes sir."

Talca found his way up Pride Rock, but was halted by a familiar voice before he had found Simba.

"Hello, father."

Talca turned around to see the face of his son, grinning evilly.

"Talot, I know what you were ordered to do, but it is not a good idea."

"Why not?"

"The Pridelanders have won, you'll only be looked down upon for your actions now."

"I don't care! It was an order given to me directly by Scar! I can't ignore such an order!"

"Talot, Scar is dead."

Talot clawed at the dirt, "That's impossible!"

"It's true Talot."

The youth hyena growled.

Talca sighed, "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you're nothing! I was accepted by everyone once I joined the army! I wasn't looked at as your son anymore!", he was in tears, "I wasn't' dirt!"

"You're not dirt, Talot. You're my son, and I love you. You are not dirt."

"But YOU are!"

"Talot, I fought for what I believed in. All you're doing is fighting for what others believe in."
"Whatever!"

"Son, if you come with me, you'll be looked on as a hero."

Talot couldn't bear the indecision, so he did only what he knew how to do. He sprinted toward his father, "DIE!"

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Nala's tears cascaded onto Scar's bloodied face. What had she done? She collapsed onto her father, and sobbed loudly.

The pain was unbearable for Scar, so his consciousness drifted away.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

"Look at the black-mane."

"I know. He's so weird."

"I wonder where he came from."

Taka slunk along as his fellow cubs whispered amongst themselves. Why did they whisper anyway? He could still hear them…

The outcast lion cub made his way to a spot away from all the other cubs and lay down. Every day he had to deal with the pain of being the only black-mane. And on top of that, he was Mufasa's little brother. He would always live in the shadow of Mufasa, the future king. But one day, one day Taka would get his paid dues. One day he would exact revenge on all those jerks.

"Sarafina! What are doing?"

"Shut up Sarabi. I just want to meet him." The light-furred female cub made her way over to Taka. "Hi, I'm Sarafina."

Taka lifted his head, but kept his eyes to the ground. "Why are you here? To get a better look at me?"

"Well, I guess. But not on the outside, I want to know what's on the inside."

Taka looked up and saw Sarafina smiling at him, wagging her tail. He smiled. "Uhh, ok"

"Yay!" Sarafina looked around. "Let's go somewhere a little less loud."

"Ok."

The pair walked together out of view of everyone.

"So, I hear you're Ahadi's son."

Taka sighed, "Yup."

"That's pretty cool. So you're like a prince, right?"

"Sure, but I'll never be King."

Sarafina laid down, "Pshh, whatever. What does that mean anyway? It just means you have more things to worry about."

Taka's frown lightened.

The female cub changed the subject, "I noticed you hang out with hyenas a lot. Why do you do that?"

"Because none of the other cubs want to hang out with me."

Sarafina frowned. "Well… Well, I do. I'm bored of all of them anyway."

The dark-maned cub stared at the ground and sighed, "Why would you want to hang out with me?"

Sarafina shifted uneasily. "Well… I think you're mane is kinda cute."

Surprised, Taka's head shot up and their eyes met. Sarafina smiled and Taka blushed.

Sarafina turned her body and looked at him with her heard turned. Then she motioned towards the outlands. "Why don't you introduce me to your hyena friends?"

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Simba and Karkass panted heavily as they stood at opposite ends of the peak of Pride Rock. The sun was beginning to set, and blood blurred both their vision. The combination cast a red fiery glow on their surroundings. Simba now understood why this particular hyena was at the top of the heap. He was one fearsome opponent. What he lacked in girth, he made up for in speed. Luckily, Simba had managed to not fall of the edge, but Karkass hadn't fallen either. The lion was the first to speak, "Why do you do what you do?"

The genius hyena laughed, "Why do I do… what I do?" He began walking counterclockwise, and Simba followed suit. "It's all perspective Simba, you see, from where I'm standing… it looks like you've taken MY home."

The king growled, "You know that's not true."

"Is it not? Is it not?" Karkass's face flashed into an angry snarl as he continued, "You're father may have been an amazing king, to all of you Pridelanders… but us hyenas were left out. We were always left out because of our past, our ancestors. And we could do nothing to change that, could we?" The hyena laughed again, "But Mufasa wouldn't hear any of our complaints. He wasn't a risk taker. And what was the result? Us hyenas were hungry, always hungry. My parents died too, Simba. You're not alone."

Simba felt sympathy for this hyena, but he couldn't tame the anger that he had felt for him his entire life. Karkass continued, "And why do I do what I do? Because Scar fathered me, more or less. And because he claimed a land that we should have an equal share in. Ahadi had two sons, one who played things safe, and one who ventured out into the unknown, and felt pity for the forgotten. I do what I do because I owe Scar, we all do, and because I hated your father. I'm glad I killed your mother, Simba."

The king began to feel the adrenaline in his veins, and he growled once more. Karkass laughed, "And Simba, it would be wonderful if we could all live together in harmony, but Mufasa made that impossible. He created two sides, and we've been deemed the evil ones. It's fate that we must kill each other. There's no other way."

"Then you die now!" Simba leapt at Karkass, but stopped short as the hyena did not move.

"Simba, I've paid my dues to Scar." His words were barely audible, "All I can ask… is that you do not banish the hyenas into the outlands again…" And with that, the leader of the hyenas pushed himself off of the edge of Pride Rock, and fell to his death.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

"Isn't she adorable, Taka?"

The dark-maned lion responded, "I suppose."

Sarafina snorted, "You're funny." The new mother tickled her cub's nose with her paw.

"What should we name her, Taka?"

"I liked the first name you came up with. Nala."

Sarafina smiled at her cub. "Yeah. I liked that one, too. Hello Nala. Welcome to the Pridelands."

Taka snorted.

"Oh come on, Taka. Don't be so jealous. Here, why don't you hold her?"

"I'll be outside." The dark-maned turned and left his mate and daughter alone. Sarafina frowned, but looked back down at her new cub and smiled.

Sarafina was the only one Taka had. And now she was stolen from him, by a stupid cub. He had to do something with this anger…

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

"Nala, kill me."

The queen lifted her head from her father's chest, looking bewildered, "What?"

Scar lifted his head, and managed a little smile. "You look just like her."

"Dad." The word felt weird in her throat. "Dad, what are you saying?"

"I've done only terrible things... I deserve to be gone from you… so I don't cause you any more pain."

"No, Dad, please." Nala's tears began a fresh stream. "I can't… I can't kill you. You're my daddy."

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

The hyena youth looked confused, sitting in front of his father. "Why don't you move?"

"Son, if killing me will bring you peace, then I won't stop you." Talca smiled. "But I beg you to think differently. Come back with me and your mother. We will all live in the Pridelands, and we'll never be hungry."

Talot looked to the ground, then to his father. Then he stepped back. "I… I don't know what to do."

"Just trust me, Talot. Trust me."

Both of the hyenas were startled by a loud cheer from the opposing hyenas. They had broken through The Pride's defenses! They both stood where they were, along the path to the den, and started backing up as they felt the ground shake.

"Grab Scar, and let's get out of here!" The voice was Zeru the Sly's.

As the blind hyena came around the corner, with an antelope horn in his grasp, he laughed maniacally. Talot jumped over his father and protected his body from the oncoming wave of hyenas. The hyenas jumped on Talot's back, breaking open old scars from his brutal training, but the hyena stayed strong, and kept his father alive.

Once the hyenas had reached the den, Zeru ordered them to carry Scar and Nala, and to follow him to a new life, far away, to a place that Zazu had told him about.

Simba came charging down the trail from the top of Pride Rock and jumped into the huge mass of hyenas, killing many, but to no avail. Eventually, the herd of hyenas had broken through the unorganized mass of The Pride's army, and taken Scar and Nala past the horizon, with Simba hard on their heels.