Chapter 26: You have no Idea

AN: Finally, I'm back! And Mufasa and Scar are still locked behind bars!

Day 227

Breeder's journal.

I went to the ZOO today, and it was the first time in twenty years that I had to pay for the bloody ticket! Those guards are real numbskulls. I spent an hour just staring at my lions- they recognized me and it seems that they are doing well, even though Laila still doesn't show the slightest signs of being pregnant. I just can't wait to start working there again.

The stork had come and the stork had gone. Tears have been shed, word of anger have been shouted, prayers have been lifted up toward the heavens. Everything came back to normal. At least on the outside.

People, at this time of year dressed in their light, summer clothing, were moving about on the other side of the Perspex wall, significantly more concerned with the three inhabitants of the Lion Walk than they were with them.

Laila was, as usually after breakfast, nursing her fur with all the care and devotion of a young lioness.

Scar was most likely sleeping, lying carelessly on his back upon a grassy parcel of the ground and exposing his belly and everything below to the heavens and whatever inhabited them, showing just how much he cared about the stars and his fate that was supposed to be written in them.

Mufasa was, of course, busy. Nodding and humming every now and then, he was hearing out Moses' relation concerning recent events that took part in the ZOO. After the return of the lions' majordomo, they had reestablished their web of connection with the other animals and were now acting sort of like sages and advisors for the whole community. Both their carnivorous and herbivorous jail mates were using Moses' mediation to ask questions and solve the inner problems of their families whenever they became too grave for them to take care of the matter themselves. And after the lions' wisdom occurred to be useful in more than a few situations, the whole institution knew who to turn to when someone was in need.

-"I'm telling ya, it's getting really nasty over there!" – Moses gasped, waving his big black wings emotionally as he described the currently most urgent event inside the institution. – "I don't know much about lynxes, but trust me- that Amanda is one jealous kitty cat! I suppose you can remember what I've told you about her reaction when the humans added Laila to the menagerie. Her mate Leonidas was, supposedly, very excited to hear that, what made the female extremely unhappy. Well, later everything went silent for a while, but recently I think ol' Leo made some kind of a mistake. Some birds say that it was a really small thing- like, maybe, he moaned Laila's name in his sleep or something. It's beyond me, anyway. I mean, how can anyone even be jealous in such a situation? They don't even belong to the same species! Leo is more than two times smaller than any female lion, for heaven's sake…"

-"And they are held locked in separate cages, what also should be considerable" – Mufasa interrupted him, expressing his own thoughts on the matter. But the old raven could sense a taste of irony in his words, as well as in the slight curve of the lion's lips.

-"Oh, you can laugh, Muffy, but try to put yourself in Leo's position! Amanda is furious- she keeps him away from their sons, and Shem, Ham and Japheth are starting to get worried themselves. It's not nice for adolescent cubs to watch their parents' relationship go to pieces, you know! Anyway, Leonidas is helpless and he feels shattered. The guy almost begged me to ask you for help."

-"Alright, alright" – Mufasa dropped his joyfulness and stood up to look more serious. He turned his head to survey his surroundings. Laila seemed totally unconcerned with the fact that someone's sympathy towards her was close to leading to the destruction of a marriage, as she was more busy with grooming the fur on her back. For a very short moment, Mufasa wondered about how that was even possible. Not that she was so inert, but that she was actually able to lick her own back. Then, quickly abandoning that thought, he gazed towards Scar, who had apparently established quite a close and almost friendly connection with the male lynx during their midnight walk through the alleys of the ZOO. But no, Scar wasn't eager to help as well- he was still just snoring and sunning his landing gear.

And that exact sight quickly made Mufasa turn away to face Moses once again. The lion sighed. Once again, he was made to be the one to solve the other animals' problems. But he was still Mufasa- the former Lion King, as proud as he always was. So, truth be told, he actually liked that thought and the duty he was given.

-"Ahh, let me think… Well yes, it's true that Amanda's jealousy is quite unreasonable… But I suppose you are conscious of the futility of demanding a female to depend on something more than just her emotions!" – he took a swift look to determine if his words didn't offend Laila, but seeing her lack of reaction, he continued. – "Okay, Moses- learning from my own experience in the matter, all I can advise Leo to do is to simply wait until his mate cools off a bit. I assume that he'd already assured her of his innocence?"

The raven waved his head.

-"Yeah yeah, he said that he loves her, that he can't imagine his life without her, that he really didn't mean to upset her and all that kinda stuff… You know, the usual promises that are said during marital arguments, no matter what species is involved…"

-"Good. Tell him that even though she didn't believe him, she still did hear what he said. Now all it takes is for her anger to silence and for reason to consider the whole matter in peace. That's all I can say for now. Keep me informed about how they're doing."

Moses saluted clumsily and with a loud "yes sir!" he took off into the air to deliver the message. Muffy took a deep breath, meditating over the hardships of being a leader again.

-"Uhh, it's not easy to be everyone's advisor…" – he said to himself. And even despite that his words were quite silent, or rather he thought them to be so, he quickly heard a rather unpleasant response. Namely, his brother's forceful, mocking laughter.

-"HAHAHA!" – his younger sibling chortled with utmost amusement, kicking the air with his hind legs.

So Scar wasn't asleep, after all- thought Mufasa as he felt anger growing inside him. For some time now, probably since the return of Anya the stork, the brothers' relations have become particularly cold. They ceased to sing together, they no longer took part in friendly play fights, they hardly ever even spoke to each other. It was just like the time after Simba was born and the two had a severe quarrel about why didn't Scar take part in the prince's presentation. Now, just like then, the younger lion's behavior has become simply intolerable. Scar had always been malicious, but nowadays Mufasa was starting to think that this miserable feline is trying to get even on him for all of his grief and the supposed injustice that he'd experienced. The older brother had tried to be compassionate, but he found it extremely hard to sympathize with someone who was simply asking to get his rump strongly kicked.

-"Shut the hell up! What's wrong with you?" – Mufasa once again felt his irritation taking advantage of him. But he didn't try to stop it.

After being able to control himself, Scar rose from the ground with tears in his eyes and a smirk of jeer twisting his face.

-"Oh, heh-heh, excuse me, brother. This is just how much I am enjoying that joke of yours."

-"What joke?" – the lion answered yelling, finally attracting Laila's attention.

-"You know! The one about you being everyone's advisor. Hilarious, really. Did you thought of it on your own? I seriously doubt it…"

-"You're going over the edge, Scar!"

-"Am I? No, you are the one who went over the edge boasting about yourself, as usual. Do you even look at your reflection in the stream sometimes? You're not all that perfect…"

-"Scar! Don't push me!"

-"… and I really don't know why those doleful creatures still send the raven to ask you to solve their pitiful problems for them! Lesser beings, as I have always said…"

-"I mean it, brother! Shut your snout!"

-"That Leonidas fellow, for example. A real disgrace to the feline kind. Not only does he fail to put that stupid female of his in her place, but he pleads for familiar consultation from someone who doesn't even have a family of his own anymore…"

-"Scar!"

-"… and will never have one again!"

Mufasa was petrified. For a second he just sat there with a gaping mouth. What? How could he have said such a thing? This was something more than just malice. No- this was hate. He knew it when he gazed into his brother's emerald eyes, narrowed, scornful and loathing.

And then he attacked.

Laila shrieked with shock when she saw the bigger, stronger male charging ferociously at his helpless brother. This did not look like one of their staged pouncing exercises. To her greatest fright, Mufasa looked furious- just like he wanted to…

Kill his brother.

Scar did not try to dodge or resist the attacker's onrush at all. It was futile- right now Mufasa was showing all of what his body provided him with, boosted with the power of wrath. In a mere moment, the younger feline was hammered to the ground, trapped under the 250 kilos of pure muscle. He gasped, but he didn't seem afraid. He looked as if he wanted this.

-"Go on… do what you want to do… feel the same rage that I have once felt toward you…"

It was just like when Mufasa came to him after he missed the presentation. Mad as a hippo with a hernia, as Zazu put it, and now even more than then. On that day Scar told him to hold his temper and departed, but now…

-"Brute strength" – he grinned mockingly. – "Come on, let's see where that will lead you…"

Behind them, Laila was shouting with despair.

-"Muffy! Let him go! Don't do anything stupid!"

Mufasa gnashed his teeth right in front of Scar's face. No, he didn't want to kill him… But he also was far from letting him get away from being punished this time.

-"This is for what you said about my family!"

The female wheezed when she saw him lifting up is paw with claws unsheathed. And when she saw it going down… She wasn't able to make any more sound at all.

She saw Mufasa rising from the ground and leaving without a word to hide among the trees. For a moment Scar remained motionless, sending shivers down the lioness' spine… But after a while, he also stood on his legs with a painful groan, shaking the grass off his fur and heading towards the den… leaving a trail of blood behind him as he walked.

When she entered, he was standing in the shadow with his back turned, but when he felt her scent and heard her unstable breath, he suddenly moved to face her. The sound of her frightened shriek filled the cave as she observed the wounds that Mufasa had inflicted. Scar, the famous lion with a flaw on his eye, had been scarred once more- three deep, bleeding cut marks were now disfiguring the left side of his muzzle, soaking his beard and the mane on his chest with blood. His eyes were wild, wide-open as he panted to catch his breath. But when he saw Laila, frowning and cringing in fear before him, he calmed down a bit. Dropping his crazed expression, he approached her closely. Very closely- close enough to whisper straight into her ear.

-"Lie down on the ground."

This is it- thought the female. Something her mother had warned her about. Something she'd feared from the very first moment she saw that she was put in a cage along with two male lions. Her time of peace has lasted long enough- now, filled with emotion, one of them would ease the passion burning inside of him by taking advantage of someone as small and powerless as her.

Laila shivered, and Scar could feel that. But it did not make him act brutally- actually, to her surprise, it did not make him act at all. Noticing that he was scaring her, he changed the tone of his voice. He was waiting for her consent.

-"Lie down on the ground… Please."

She moved her head to look him in the face. Scar, wounded and bleeding, was not looking angry at all. There was something different in his eyes, something that Laila could sense, and what made her feel extremely sorry for him.

Sorrow.

Obediently, and a little less fearfully, she submitted to the male's request. The cold stone touching her belly made her flinch, but soon afterward she felt the warmth of the body of a lion. Scar did not approach her from the back like a mate would. Instead, he nuzzled into the fur on her side like he was her sibling or a little cub from the same pride. Only then did he breathe with relief, and Laila breathed along with him.

-"You're so lonely, aren't you?" – she asked plainly like the young, innocent female she was. It took some time for the answer to make it through Scar's throat.

-"You have no idea…" – he whispered sadly.

The atmosphere in the cave suddenly became a little bit more cheerful, warm and friendly. Laila smiled delicately. Was it also becoming a little bit romantic, as well?

But, of course, such thoughts vanished rapidly as she heard Scar lying in her embrace snoring loudly, immersed in a deep slumber.