Here's chapter 26. Please review. Reminder that all familiar characters belong to Disney and Lion King does too.

Shinda was resting in the den. Her back wasn't as sore, but Rafiki had told her to take it easy for a couple weeks. As for her tail, she had to let time heal it.

Alex walked into the den, and lay down beside her.

"Any news?" Shinda asked.

Alex knew that she was talking about Nala, Simba, Kula, and Chumvi.

"Kula woke up." Alex said.

"How is she?" Shinda asked.

Alex sighed, and replied, "She's hurt pretty badly, but she's not as bad as Nala."

"We can't go see them yet?" Shinda asked.

"No, not yet. Uncle Mufasa told me that Simba's really depressed, but I don't think it's because of the whole Scar thing. It's something else that's bothering him." Alex said, thoughtfully.

"He's probably just overwhelmed by everything that's happened." Shinda said, resting her head against Alex's amber red mane. She felt Alex intertwine his tail with hers.

Alex nodded. "It'll take a while to heal their relationship with their parents."

"I have some relationship mending to do, too" Shinda sighed.

"Have you talked to your mother yet?" Alex asked.

"A little, but not about anything deep. Just about how I'm feeling. I haven't said a word to Anjani, Zuri, or Hariku yet." Shinda replied.

"Shinda you shouldn't have just ran to find us like that." Alex said, giving her a nuzzle.

"What was I supposed to do?" Shinda snapped. "Just wait and hope that you would show up?"

"Yes!" Alex exclaimed. "Don't ever risk your life for me like that again. Tojo feels the same way."

"Alex I wasn't going to wait for you to show up like that. If something had happened to you or Tojo I would have never forgiven myself." Shinda said.

Alex sighed. "Neither would I." He leaned closer and licked Shinda's cheek. Shinda rubbed her muzzle against his.

After a minute Shinda pulled back. "I still don't know what to tell my mother. Personally, I told her the truth, but she's going to be upset if she realizes it is? How about Hariku, Zuri and Anjani?"

"Shinda, I don't really know what to tell you. Personally, I would just apologize, and say that you went a bit overboard because of the circumstances that you were in." Alex replied.

"I know. I know that I'm lucky that my mother is still here with us, too." Shinda said, gazing at him.

Alex sighed. "Yeah you are lucky." Alex said thinking of his mother Shireen. Did Shireen even remember him? Did she want to see him? If she did, she could always send a messenger to give Mufasa a message for Alex to go visit her, but she didn't.

"Any signs of those lions that attacked them?" Shinda asked, breaking the silence between them.

Alex shook his head. "No, they probably left. We're still looking though."

Shinda nodded, and rested her head in his paws, and soon she was asleep.

TLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLK

Ajjali and Sarabi were walking up Priderock. There wasn't much for the cubs to do these days because of the burnt Pridelands. Mufasa told them it would take at least three months for the Pridelands to recover.

"Mom, can I please go see Simba now?" Ajjali asked, looking up at Sarabi.

"I don't know, sweetheart." Sarabi said, leaning down and nuzzling her. "He's quite hostile when we come near him, and I don't want to get him upset. He's hurt pretty badly."

"I won't bother him, I promise." Ajjali said.

Sarabi thought for a minute and said, "Alright, but just for a few minutes."

Ajjali nodded, and ran into the royal den.

"Simba?" she asked, softly, as she approached her big brother.

Simba looked up. He seemed to be surprised to see her, but it only showed for a minute, before his face was clouded by a mixture of anger, hurt, and annoyance.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I just wanted to see you." Ajjali said walking closer to him.

"Well you saw me now." Simba said, resting his head in his paws.

"You're really badly hurt." Ajjali said, looking over Simba's injuries.

"I think I know that." Simba said, but there was a tiny hint of a smile on his face.

"So, when are you going to start walking again?" Ajjali asked.

"When Rafiki say so." Simba replied.

Ajjali walked closer to him, and nuzzled her older brother. To her surprise, Simba returned her nuzzle.

"I missed you." Ajjali admitted.

"Weren't you mad at me when Mom and Dad told you that I attacked you?" Simba asked.

"I don't remember anything about the attack." Ajjali said. "But Mom and Daddy said told me that you, Nala, Kula, and Chumvi did it, but I didn't really want to believe it."

"It wasn't us. It was probably that lioness Gurile, Scar and his allies." Simba said.

"I know," Ajjali replied.

"You know you're still probably going to be future queen." Simba said nudging her.

"What?" Ajjali exclaimed. "But you're back, and Daddy said that you're going to be future King again."

"Who knows if I'm going to survive?" Simba sighed, resting his head in his paws. "I don't mind I die."

"But you have to live!" Ajjali wailed.

"Stop being to whiny!" Simba snapped.

"You have to live." Ajjali repeated.

"My cub should have lived. It didn't deserve to die because of us." Simba thought.

Tears threatened to escape his eyes, and he blinked to hold them back.

"Ajjali, leave me alone now, okay?" Simba asked.

Ajjali nodded, and walked out of the den, leaving Simba in his own thoughts.

TLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTLKTL KTLKTLK

Nala was running... She didn't quite know what she was running from, but she was running. She ran from her past, and from her future.

Suddenly a huge weight struck her, and she fell to the ground. She looked up to see Gurile smiling at her.

"No," Nala breathed. "You're supposed to be dead."

Gurile laughed, and said, "You can never really kill me Nala. I'll always be alive."

"No," Nala growled, struggling to get loose from her grip, but she couldn't.

"I'll let you go, but not until you see something." Gurile said, with an evil smile.

Nala told herself not to look, but she couldn't keep her eyes closed. Nala turned her head, and opened her eyes, and she saw it.

Simba was lying on the ground, covered in blood, dead.

"No!" Nala cried. Gurile let her up, and she ran to Simba.

"Simba?" Nala nudged him with her muzzle. "Get up. Please, please get up." Nala begged.

"Simba?" she begged. "Don't leave me alone." Tears began to blur her vision, and she collapsed into his mane. "Don't leave me alone." She sobbed. "You promised to always stay with me."

"Oh, there's more Nala." Gurile snickered.

Nala looked up at her in horror. She turned her head, and saw Hofu lying on the ground, in his own pool of blood.

"Hofu!" Nala wailed. She ran to her brother, and tried to get him up, but it was no use. He was dead.

Nala's blood began to boil. She turned to Gurile, her anger practically pouring out of her like lava.

"You," she snarled, advancing on her.

"You can't kill me. I'm already dead." Gurile said. She slowly began to fade away.

"Just die Nala," Gurile whispered. "If you die, you can leave this painful world." With those finally words, Gurile completely vanished.

Nala turned to the dead bodies. Her sobs racked her body, and she collapsed onto the ground trying to numb the pain.

"Hofu, why did you have to die?" Nala sobbed. "Simba, don't leave me. Don't leave me!"

Nala opened her eyes, and shot her head up, gasping as if she had lost all of her breath crying. She knew these things would forever haunt her dreams. She needed Simba more than anything, but there was no way he would want her, when she couldn't protect their cub. Sarafina walked into their secluded part of the den, and looked at her in concern.

"What's wrong? You're all out of breath." Sarafina asked.

"I just had a nightmare." Nala muttered, turning her head away.

"Are you okay enough to talk?" Sarafina asked, lying down next to her. Nala nodded, numbly.

Sarafina took a deep breath. "Nala, I have no way to tell you how sorry I am. And, I know that you'll never know how truly sorry I am, or how guilty I feel."

Nala didn't say anything, and Sarafina continued. "That evidence that we had about the murders and you coming back late that night before was convincing. At first I didn't want to believe you did it. But I began to believe you did it, and I was just too angry to speak with you. But I'm sorry Nala."

Nala didn't want to accept her mother's apology. She had blamed her for murder, and had exiled her. Why should she accept the apology? What she really wanted to do was hate her forever, but something inside her told her that it wouldn't be a good idea.

"Scar spent his life hating his brother, and it ended up destroying him. If I hate my parents for the rest of my life, I won't be any better than him." Nala thought. "And they're my parents, I owe them so much."

"I know you're sorry." Nala sighed.

Sarafina moved closer to her, and Nala didn't pull away.

"Rafiki's going to be here soon to check up on you." Sarafina said.

"Does it really matter whether he comes or not?" Nala asked. "I'm probably going to die anyway."

"Don't speak like that. You are going to live." Sarafina said firmly.

"I'm not a cub Mom." Nala snapped. "I know there's a greater chance that I'm going to die than I'm going to live." She looked at Sarafina, daring her to argue. Sarafina didn't say anything.

"I have to go help with hunting. I'll tell your father to stay with you." Sarafina said.

"I don't mind being alone." Nala said.

"No," Sarafina insisted."I don't want you to be alone."

"But wasn't I alone all this time?" Nala thought. "No, I had Kula and Chumvi. And I had Simba, but he won't want me anymore. Not after I failed at protecting his cub."

Runju came in a few minutes after Sarafina left.

"How are you feeling?" Runju asked, approaching her.

"Not much of a change since last time you checked." Nala sighed.

"Are you feeling well enough to talk?" Runju asked.

Nala nodded. Runju lay down near her.

"Nala, I'm sorry for everything I did, especially the way I treated you. I only said those things because I was furious at you." Runju began.

"You don't have to lie to me." Nala snapped. "I know you would be happier if I wasn't here." She could manage to let go of her anger of being exiled, but she was angrier at Runju for the way he treated her than for exiling her.

"I'm sorry if it seemed that I loved Hofu more, but that's not true." Runju said, softly.

"Did you not think that day when you told me that you would be happier without me, that it would hurt my feelings, whether I was a murderer or not? Or that time when you told me not to go near your son? Didn't you at least think it would hurt me?" Nala asked her voice hoarse with grief.

"I did think that it would hurt you. But I didn't mind because I thought it would teach you a good lesson and you wouldn't murder again." Runju admitted.

"I'm not a murderer." Nala said softly.
"I know you aren't. You saved a lot of lives." Runju said.

"I tried so hard." Nala said softly, her voice choked by tears. "I wanted Hofu to live, and Kula, me, Chumvi, Simba, and my..." her voice trailed off.

"You're what?" Runju asked, in a voice full of sympathy.

"Never mind," Nala sighed shaking her head. She could never tell anyone about the loss of her cub. The only ones that would know would be Kula, and Simba.

"Can I see some of my friends now? Alex, Moraan, Shinda, Shani, Thresh, Tama or anyone?" Nala asked.

"I'll go find them." Runju said getting up, and walking away from their secluded part of the den, leaving Nala to wait for the arrival of her loyal friends.