Author's Note: SnowFlakexx; I wouldn't say in love, not yet at least.

SLHGOUATTLKFAN; I'm glad you liked that part. It is very important later on. As for the cub and mother, you have to wait and see.

TMNTMentalistTLK lover; Maybe. Who knows, but there will be jealousy later on.

"I'm truly sorry for your loss, my liege." a zebra stallion bowed as the golden king walked by his herd.

Mufasa stopped and closed his eyes before dipping his head. "Thank you, Aga."

The zebra herd leader bowed his head along with a few others in his herd. It wasn't unusual for Mufasa to know the names of his subjects. Mufasa continued on towards pride rock, he had finished his rounds but he couldn't focus like he should of been. Sarabi and Simba's deaths still very much laid heavily on his heart. He doesn't think he can keep up the act much longer. He sighed as pride rock came into view. He felt out of place, every day when he returned Sarabi along with their sons would be at the base to greet him. But Mheetu wasn't there, before the king could worry he heard the voice of his son.

"Dad!"

Mufasa looked and was utterly surprised to see his son with a unknown cub and lioness. He wanted to shout to his son to come here but as he looked at the dark gray lioness, she looked familiar. When the lioness' hazel eyes met his amber eyes, she smiled.

"Hello Mufasa."

Mufasa's left ear flickered at the slurry tone in the lioness' voice. The golden lion looked closer and his eyes widened as he recognized the lioness. "Maiju?"

The lioness smiled widely, showing off her pearly whites. "It is always good to see you...my king."

Mufasa cleared his throat just as Nala, Tama and a light blonde lioness cub walked over. Nala smiled when she saw Mufasa but frowned at the loving look on this new lioness muzzle. She didn't know why but she couldn't help the rising feeling of distaste for the dark gray lioness build up.

-O-

"Hold on Simba!"

He was holding on for dear life to a rotted tree branch. The stampede clashed against the tree in their wake to get away from whatever they were running from. He didn't want to die. A wildebeest rammed into the tree nearly knocking him off. His claws was slipping...another wildebeest rammed into the tree sending him soaring into the air. He was soon grabbed in mid-air before sliding across the gorge after a wildebeest rammed into his mother.

"Mom!"

The dark beige lioness rushed in between the herd and grabbed her son. She placed her son a ledge but before she could joined Simba she was carried back into the stampede. Simba scanned the sea of black and brown but was no sign of his mother anywhere. He climbed up higher to get a better look. On a the cliff face was his mother, the queen of the Pride Lands was struggling to climb the steep slope. She looked up directly at Simba, fear in her orange eyes.

"Simba! Simba, help me!" Sarabi shouted to her son.

"Mom!" Simba shouted back. He didn't know what to do. He was helpless!

There was no one around to save his mother. That was when he knew it was up to him to save her. But what could he do? He's only a cub. But the more he debated on how he was going to save his mother, Sarabi began to slid further down.

"Simba!" the queen shouted as she slid down until she finally lost her grip.

"No!" Simba cried as he watched his mother fall to her death and disappear into the stampede below.

Simba screamed as he jumped out of his sleep. He breathed heavily as he looked around. He was no longer in the middle of the stampede in the gorge. Instead he found himself in the middle of a oasis. The golden cub sighed in relief realizing it was only a nightmare, but as quickly as the relief came it just left when Simba remembered that it actually happened. It had only been a week since that tragic day in the gorge…the day his mother, his best friend, died in the wildebeest stampede... Chills went down Simba's spine as he remembered hearing Sarabi's ear-piercing scream. He was still able to see her never resurface. Simba cringed at the memory of seeing his mother's lifeless body in the middle of the gorge.

And to make matters worse, the only reason Sarabi died was because of him. Simba was the cause of his mother's death. Even his uncle Scar said so.

"And if it weren't for you, she'd still be alive…"

Tears formed in Simba's eyes as he remembered his uncle's words. As much as it hurt, it was true. Simba accidently roared too loud at the silly lizard scaring the wildebeests. He caused the stampede that claimed his beloved mother's life. A mere accident killed the most important lioness in his life. The tears finally fell from Simba's eyes as he rested his head in his paws sobbing.

"I'm sorry, mom…" Simba thought as he sobbed uncontrollably. "I'm so sorry… Please forgive me…"

After a minute of sobbing, he finally managed to calm himself down a little deciding that he needed someone…to comfort him especially after that horrible nightmare that he just had. Simba needed someone to tell him that everything would be okay…just to be there with him so he wouldn't be alone. That was when it hit him. When he ran away from the Pride lands after his mother's death, he met a meerkat and a warthog named Timon and Pumbaa. They took him in and taught him about "Hakuna Matata" or "no worries." He had been living with them in their beautiful oasis home for the past week.

Bringing himself back to reality, Simba looked to his left and saw his two new best friends and guardians, Timon and Pumbaa sleeping in their own bed under a large tree across from his. The young cub slowly stood up and got out of his bed. As he slowly walked over to their sleeping forms he couldn't help but feel a little guilty for wanting to wake Timon up for the fourth time in a row. He had woken the meerkat up three times before to go to the bathroom, to get water, and to go to the bathroom again.

"I hope they don't mind," Simba thought to himself as he sat down in front of the sleeping duo.

He took a deep breath hoping Timon wouldn't get mad at him and that maybe they could comfort him like his parents always did whenever he had a nightmare back at Pride Rock.

"Timon…" he said hesitantly.

"AHH!" the meerkat shouted suddenly sitting up making Simba cringe a little. Even though Timon had his back to Simba, the cub was able to see how annoyed he was at the moment. "What have you got against the concept of a good night sleep, HUH?" he asked as he got down from Pumbaa and turned to face Simba. Simba saw that Timon's eyes were bloodshot and felt even worse.

"Actually…I…uh…I had a bad dream…" Simba said meekly hoping that his new friend would be more understanding.

Simba thought he saw Timon's angry expression turn into a look of shock and slight embarrassment."Oh…well…uh…" Timon stammered nervously. He then swung his elbow into Pumbaa, who was still sleeping.

Pumbaa suddenly jolted awake from the impact. "Oh…uh…wasn't me…" he said sleepily.

"Junior had a bad dream," Timon said pointing directly at Simba.

Pumbaa looked over at Simba with a concerned look."Aww…" Pumbaa said as Simba looked down waiting for Timon and Pumbaa to figure out what to do.

He knew that they had never taken care of a lion cub before and certainly didn't know what to do when he had a bad dream, but he couldn't help but feel alone and even more homesick as he remembered what his parents would do whenever he had a nightmare in the middle of the night. Both his father and mother would hold him close and nuzzle him while his mother would sing him a lullaby until he fell back to sleep. That brought some fresh tears in his eyes.

"Why don't you sleep over here with us?" Pumbaa finally said bringing Simba back to reality.

Simba stared at the warthog not believing what he just heard."Mi Pumbaa, su Pumbaa," Timon said casually.

A wide smile splashed across Simba's face when he realized his two best friends just offered him a chance to sleep with them…so he wouldn't be alone after the nightmare he just had.

"Alright!" he said running over to them. He hopped onto Pumbaa's stomach next to Timon. He rested his head on his paws ready to go back to sleep. "Good night."

"Sleep tight," Timon said leaning on him.

"Dream of bed bugs tonight," Pumbaa said before immediately falling right back to sleep.

Simba and Timon looked at each other as they let out a little chuckle. With that, the cub and meerkat followed the warthog's lead and began to fall asleep. As Simba drifted off again, he subconsciously wrapped his arm around Timon pulling him closer. The young lion cub was able to sleep peacefully for the rest of the night knowing that even though he caused his mother's death…he was no longer alone.