A/N: Blah, today was one of those cold, rainy days where you have absolutely nothing to do... so obviously it's only natural that I should deidcate some time to this. x) If there was an abnormally long wait [although, in my eyes, it didn't end up being that long], that's because I had to think this part through carefully. There's a lot of stuff to wrap up to get to the next part, and I need to do it carefully. Indeed, I was supposed to conclude the part last chapter with the hyenas, but this chapter is already almost 3,000 words, so I didn't get to it. -.-

Review time. :p

Reldor: And you were the first out of like three people to say that... X) I considered having the two of them kiss, but it wasn't necessary and would have taken up too much time. The poetry was enough, lol. And yeah, things heat up really soon... :p I'd say the Pridelands will be in for a rough time... but they always are, so that's not surprising. (Honestly, can't five minutes pass down there without some sort of plotting or usurpation attempt? Geez... XD)

IronicSnap: YOU CHANGED YOUR AVI! :o Noooo, it doesn't have Scar on it anymore... DX And yes, that poetry was all mine. I deigned to try some... in fact, I may release a sort of poetry-parody thingy soon, but I'm not sure. x) And speaking of unreleased fics, I did read [secret project]... but haven't responded yet. I'll get right on that...! XD I've lost count as well, although admittedly I didn't know that word until recently. And no money was lost this time. :p

mom: Thanks for the review. XD I wrote all the poetry myself, although I hope it didn't seem out of place. o.o; Similar thing happening this chapter, although I tried to handle it a little better. :3

TheTrueJuliet: Okay, now it's my turn to officially feel stupid. All this time I was waiting and wondering if you were going to review, and now I see you already did. XD Hehe. Anyways, as far as the review... yeah, the read aloud thing on my phone kind of creeps me out. x) I guess that's just me. lol And thank you. (: Truthfully, I don't read much poetry... I made all those up myself. :p I hope you keep continuing on with this story, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! :D

Mykklaw: Hehe, thanks! :D Glad you liked it. ;) And yeah, so it has been said... XD lol If that's the case though, I bet I'll have to change some stuff of mine to M in the future (eyes new fic suspiciously)... In any case, you'll find out Zamani's reaction next chapter. :p

ForeverNocturnal: That's okay, it happens. ;) lol And when you said it reminded you of FD, do you mean the foreshadowing, or the repetitive story lines? I'm hoping not the latter, because then my efforts will have been abated. x) Glad you liked the update... and we'll see just what happens with the pair next chapter. :p

pokeking95: It's fine, don't sweat it. (: Yeah, I've heard the very same about college, and I suppose I'll be going there in a year-ish so... X) Yeah. lol I'm glad you liked the interatction of the hyenas, and I apologize if you think it's a bit lax for movement right now... I'm trying to build up to a good first climax without having everything happening too early or all at once. I don't want to be overwhelming, though I am trying to pick up the pace. :3 On a side note, I'm glad you liked Thus Always' first chapter. :D

Shimmy Tsu: Wow, thanks for reading all that way already! :D Hope you keep reading and get to this point (Chapter 21) soon. ;) But I know life can be stressful, and it's hard to catch up to a fic ten chapters ahead of you... so take your time. x) Thanks for the compliments too. (:

Read on. :p

There had been a cry in the savannah. One which, while loud at its source, had traversed the barren Outlands as a subtle susurration disturbing the otherwise peaceful habitations there. In one of the trees, a roosting flock of birds rose to the sky in alarm. Herbivores pricked up their ears momentarily in concern before they continued to graze, and primates took to the trees in flight. Moments passed in disruption… though after this period passed, there was but silence, and nothing interesting or unusual of note happened there.

Until, of course, the lion walked by. Indeed, any animals which had become frightened before now hid themselves in shock and fear, afraid of what exactly this creature was and what it intended to do. Was it a harbinger of death? The bane of all life and every inhabitant of the African ecosystem? Such were the paranoia-inflicted thoughts of many frightened and cowering prey animals as they promptly retreated from sight… yet it was not so.

The lion staggered across the landscape, barely managing an impeded limp across the tall and hindering grass. Stalks of it hit him squarely in the chest and generally were a nuisance, though he did his best to soldier on and continue through the open fields that defined the vague, northern border of the Pridelands. To his rear somewhere, already out of sight, was the graveyard of elephants and the home of many vengeful hyenas. It also happened to be the place which he was abandoning—or, rather, trying to abandon. His procession was slow and rather awkward, and the sharp rocks hidden in the grasses, which indiscriminately cut the pads of his paws at practically every other step, did nothing to soothe the smarting pain in his already hurting appendages.

He was tired and, what was worse, leaving a fresh and messy trail behind him. It would be a surprise if any predator within a mile's radius couldn't smell him or the acute scent of his spilled blood, which had been slavered generously across the ground.

The lion stopped again to rest, cringing in pain and barely suppressing another stifling cry as he gingerly placed his left forepaw on the ground… for the first time in a while. He panted, catching his breath, and heaved a heavy sigh. Pain continued to afflict him from all sides, and overall it was a relatively demoralizing and debilitating affair. Persistence alone had kept him walking upon his three good feet… and only now was he able to spare his hurt paw a lick or two, clearing the quickly and sloppily-rent flesh of the dirt and grime beginning to cling to it. Another sharp jab of pain was added on to the chronic throb of his entire limb, and the part of him that wasn't utterly concerned for his immediate well-being was both curious and utterly confused… After all, how could the removal of such a small part of his body entail so much bloodshed…?

He stopped, another labored breath filling his lungs as he sheepishly studied his paw. Practically all of it had been covered already by the deep, crimson liquid, and much of it had begun to trickle in rivulets down his arm. There were even some spatters on his chest from where he had cradled his leg in an attempt at a walk. Another pang of concern spread throughout him—as much as he tried to hide it, he couldn't quite deny the fact that he was now deeply afraid. For mere thoughts had turned into words, and words into actions… Things could only go from bad to worse, couldn't they?

Something had to be wrong. It shouldn't have been bleeding quite this much…

"Scar!"

A call addressed him from nearby, causing him to turn his head absently in an attempt to find the source. Indeed, now he could hear the footsteps in addition to the voice of a lioness… he lifted his head up and took a slow whiff of the air, vaguely detecting Zira's scent underneath the overwhelming and more poignant presence of his own.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay back where you belong…" his frustration and wariness were only ameliorated by the presence of this strange and all-too-enigmatic lioness. Why was she doing this? Why did it seem fit to her to show up, uninvited, at his exact whereabouts at the most inconvenient of times? Surely she would be begging to go with him now…

"Are you alright, dear? I came to find you, in case something went wrong…" the stalks of grass nearby rustled rhythmically as she made her way through them, using his own pungent scent as a device to locate him. Scar finally ceased arguing, realizing that resistance was futile. Zira then burst through the last layer of grass, standing directly opposite him with an absent and vaguely compunction-wrought expression on her face. "And I was just thinking that… that…" her body tensed as she stopped, and her eyes slowly and inevitably went towards the source of the scent… towards the bloodshed profusely emanating from his paw…

"… What the hell happened to you?!" she snarled, her face now twisted into a pure embodiment of rash, protective anger. Scar shirked and sidestepped—both literally and metaphorically—and uncomfortably attempted to circumvent her righteous rage… but alas, she wasn't over. Not yet.

"Honestly, what in the holy name of goodness were you thinking? Getting yourself hurt like that? I knew it… I knew something was off all along! And you didn't even let me come with you… I could have protected you—I could have kept all this from happening!" She hung her head, ashamed not only of Scar but of herself. The older lion growled, irritated by her brash persistence and suddenly-instigated raving. He had to get her off his back, away from his trail somehow… His time was running short.

"My dear, you could not have done anything about it. I am still alive—it is but an extraneous setback. Do not trouble yourself…" He attempted to brush past her quietly, to stalk off into the night as though nothing had really happened at all. But he still remembered everything. He still remembered every word of the matriarch and her oddly-audible friend as their fangs gleaned in the dark and they slowly, horribly mutilated him…

Zira whirled around and jumped in front of him, a strange and eerie quality present in her red eyes. She stood up to him quietly, not backing down and refusing to be cast aside. The lioness would not permit him to leave like that… not yet, at least.

"Fool! That's easy for you to say… you're lucky they cut your paw and not your throat…"

He stopped suddenly, now feeling the sudden urge to smack her… but he did not. It would be imprudent… and maybe, just maybe, she actually had a point. The lion wanted to say that he knew what he was doing, but the truth was that he didn't. Nothing really made much sense anymore, and he felt as though he should have been dead already. His options were slowly narrowing…

It still made him angry, though. How dare she call him a fool? And why should she see fit to question his motives? Who did she think she was?

"Maybe they should have… at least it would signify an ending to all of this nonsense…" he growled with a note of apparent self-pity, having introspectively been cursing his string of bad luck since… well, since the stampede plan had gone so horribly, horribly wrong…

"The Scar I know wouldn't have given up so easily," she retorted simply, her expression clearly betraying a need to question the very veracity of his statement. But alas, she too was making no sense. The Scar she knew? He had never known her in the first place… and how was it any of her business?

"Well, then I must admit that it is a pain to have disappointed you, my dear," he closed his eyes and turned away from her indifferently, an arrogant veneer all too easy to keep on his face as he tried to ignore her, tried to block her out of his vision… But she was persistent—he would give her that much.

"Curses on you! You're going to get your stubborn self killed unless you think this through! Are you listening to me? Where do you think you're going?"

"Nowhere…"

"Don't you dare lie to me!" The lioness paused as he continued walking to the south… "Come on… surely you aren't going to the Pridelands, are you?" She fixed him with that cold, knowing stare of hers, fangs glinting in a show of anger such that he had never before seen from her. Alas, he was beginning to understand why she was called Zira more and more with every passing day: she had the potential to get contorted by rage, and was almost belligerently brash. She was trying to wrap him around her pinky—she was trying to dominate.

He could not let that happen. She was younger, smaller, of the weaker sex… and he hated submitting almost as much as she did. All of his life he'd had to submit, but no. Not this time. No more.

Scar had made up his mind—indeed, it was almost as though a part of his mindset had come off along with the first of his fingers. He was not, and would not be, the hyenas' chew toy. He would not run about and do their bidding like a coward anymore. He had to think this through, come up with a plan against them. But first off, in the meantime, he had to escape and go into hiding in the jungle: their chances of finding him there were almost nil, provided he made it there before they found him. Surely, once they found out of his desertion, they would set off to find him… provided they didn't 'raise hell' in the Pridelands first. For he knew—though he didn't have any exact evidence on this point—that something awry was going to happen, and soon.

Perhaps the only catch of his otherwise foolproof plan was the inconvenient fact that the quickest route to the Southern Jungles was through the Pridelands, along the gorge… the very same one from whence the stampede had been set and Simba had died. Any other route was too indirect, too circuitous… and he needed to be quick if he was to cover enough ground before the hyenas were set on him.

After he got there, he wasn't exactly sure what he would do, though he was already planning. Surely his superior intelligence and finely-honed skills of manipulation would allow him to raise his very own group of rogue followers, just as he had—without much success—done with the hyenas. Only this time they would be more trustworthy, and he could go on the offensive…

Or something along those lines. He still had to think through the details of that… although he did know one thing for certain: Zira would not be among his group. She was too unpredictable, too vaguely enigmatic, too... uncertain. A wild card. And if she turned on him during his little escapade, it might be the difference between his life and death. Now was his chance to let her go, to get her off his back… and so it was that he felt no remorse for lying to her. In fact, it was almost fun to toy with her easily agitated mind, even though it suited his interests more to placate her than to molest her.

"Oh no, my dear. Why would I make such a foolish mistake as that?"

She lifted her eyebrow, not entirely convinced.

"Why," he continued, "you see, I'm heading to the east. Outside the border. I need to meet the hyenas there for a ransom." The lion lied smoothly, not even deigning to bat an eye or look away. There was only that same, calm façade on his face. One that was almost comforting, a look that incited trust, however misplaced it may have been. It worked every time, and this would have been no exception… had Zira not seen fit to question his motives yet again.

"Well, then I shall go with you," she concluded complacently, practically daring him to defy her this time. Scar turned and bared his fangs slightly in frustration… no, that was not supposed to happen. Why could she never understand that he didn't want her around?

"I said…" he cleared his throat brusquely, still subtly trying to assert his dominance in the matter, "I'm meeting them for a ransom…"

Zira stood there, nonplussed.

"Which means that you will need to hunt for me, just like last time. You did it once, and you can do it again, right?"

The lioness paused, suddenly looking distressed. She pressed her lips together, forming them into a thin line which spread across her countenance.

"…Right?"

Zira scuffed the base of the dirt with her paw, refusing to meet his gaze… and suddenly looking somewhat disappointed in herself. Scar wanted her to do something—something as simple as another payload of prey… but she knew she couldn't do it, even if she tried. There was no way she could fulfill that request, and for a brief moment she felt as though the weight of sudden expectation would crush her.

Before, of course, she came up with an ingenious idea.

"Well… it would be easier if you came with me, Scar… It'd be awfully, er, difficult on my own…"

Scar couldn't help but heave another sigh. Back to square one—getting Zira off his tail, even though she insisted on following him every single step of the way. Finally he had enough: he was getting nowhere.

"No," he commanded simply, attempting to use his implied power over her to instigate a cessation to their conversation. It was his last resort—though, with someone like her, it probably wouldn't work anyways. He was close to mentally snapping: something which happened rarely, for anger had a hard time penetrating his naturally calm composure, but still had the potential to be destructive…

"And why not?" she lashed her tail about with frustration, "you expect me to do everything on my own? I'm willing to help, but that… that is ridiculous! Why… why do you always try to get rid of me?"

"Because I do not want you around," he growled brutally, his honesty almost cutting and clearly venomous. Zira stood for a moment, almost soothed by the delicate purr of his words… until, of course, she had deciphered the meaning of them.

"… What?"

"I do not like you, I do not trust you, and I no longer need you. Leave."

Unfortunately, a part of him—albeit a small part of him—felt just the smallest bit sad at castigating her so harshly, especially as he saw her dejected reaction. Indeed, instead of getting angry as he had expected, her face had drooped with shame and disappointment, inciting just the smallest pang on his part… a pang which, akin to a snowball hurled through the burning depths of hell, was quickly extinguished by his cruelly kindled indifference. And as much as he hated being so frankly, austerely scathing, she had proven herself ignorant to his subtle equivocations more than once. That was not his fault. He turned away, attempting to wash his paws of it and leave it all behind him.

"But I love you!"

Scar stopped. It was these moments where, quite apart from merely disliking or distrusting her, she simply confused him. He scoffed.

"… You know nothing of love. For one thing it hurts, cub."

Zira appeared indignant, and on the verge of tears. Scar resumed his walk away, trying to make up the time he had lost in idle conversation. This time, she did not follow.

"… They were right about you. All of them."

"What do you mean?" he mumbled, not meeting her gaze or even ceasing his impeded limp away from her.

"They said you were a greedy, selfish lion, only out to save your own hide. I refused to believe them… I saw you and I thought that I understood you. But you're right, Scar. I was foolish…" she responded with a sniffle, a commendable and equally scathing note in her voice. Never had it been her intention to hurt him, and yet he had so callously done the same to her. She told herself that it was only fair for her to respond in kind, and she did. Yet, under her anger, there was always a small part of her which only wanted to please him.

But it was no use. She had to give it up.

"Goodbye," she spoke quietly and not without a hint of fondness. No response. The lioness turned and left, leaving Scar alone as he headed off towards the gorge where it all began, and where it all could end…

There was no emotion on his face, even though his mind was calmly and logically filtering through a seeming list of other, similar things. Rejection was tough… but it was a part of life.

That was simply the way it went.

Well, I'm pretty happy right now. (: Firstly because Trampled reached 30 faves last night [3 in the last chapter... looks like you guys are more astute to my hints than Zira was to Scar's! XD], and secondly because my half-birthday/unbirthday/call-it-what-you-like is on the 17th of November. Since I don't know if I'll have updated by then, feel free to leave me a half-birthday review/fave/follow now if you'd like. :p (I'll be 14 and a half).

Also, I uploaded the first chapter of a new fic. It's called Thus Always, and - oh, look - it's an AU! Kind of like Trampled. :p Personally, I think you guys would really like it... ;) So feel free to R&R there if you'd like. 7 people already have... so go join the bandwagon! XD Hehe.

Rejection hurts, no? What do you guys think will happen? Hyena chapter next time... how do you think THAT will blow over? ;o How will Zamani feel about this? And what's Mufasa been up to? Readreadread next time, folks. ;)

Twin :)