Stacked with: FPC, BAON, Star, Fence, SN
Individual Challenge(s): New Fandom Smell (Y); Fresh Fandom High (Y); Short Jog
Representation(s): Mufasa; Taka/Scar; Uru; Ahadi's Pride; Brothers; Motherhood; Queen; Performance; Prank; Leadership; Denial of Resources; Bullying
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenge(s): Nontraditional; Second Verse (Not a Lamp; White Dress); Machismo; Chorus (Pear-Shaped)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenge(s): Intercept
Word Count: 1151
A/N: I haven't written in a year and… this is what I finally come up with? *shrugs* I have no idea. But I do love TLK, and I enjoy trawling through the various fan-made family trees and backstories. The non-canon names here come from a YouTube family tree by Kayla Jenkins, though I have my own headcanons about who they are and how they got here. Maybe I'll explore those later, or maybe my muse will move on. And well… that wasn't the real reason for writing this fic anyway. The real reason is something that had occurred to me before, but never in quite this way: Aren't Mufasa and Scar basically Thor and Loki?
In any case, I don't own The Lion King or any dialogue you may possibly recognize from any Marvel movies that may possibly have ended up in here definitely completely by accident. Happy reading!
We Are Not Doing 'Get Help'
Mufasa stopped suddenly at the top of the ridge, forcing Taka to draw up short behind him. "What now?" he grumbled. "I told you, you're going to make us late for—"
"Hush!" The word escaped Mufasa's throat as a low snarl.
Annoyed, Taka crept up lightly beside his older brother. Below, at the base of Pride Rock, dinner was clearly already well underway. It was two antelope and a zebra, by the look of things, but the beasts were so torn apart it was difficult to tell. Shaka, Sifa, and Kiume had each claimed a kill, along with their lionesses and cubs, while Angu and young Deni prowled from group to group trying to snatch a mouthful.
"Where's Mom?" Taka breathed, surveying the chaos. "Father won't be back yet, but she ought to be—"
Mufasa nodded at a spot in the shadows just inside Pride Rock. In the dim twilight, Taka's eyes picked out the dark form of Uru, their mother, the queen, waiting for her turn at the meat like a runty cub or a toothless old lioness past her hunting days. Anger flashed through him like lightning.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again," Mufasa muttered ominously. "There's too many lions around here."
Taka said nothing. He was well aware of his brother's views. Mufasa believed that in his devotion to Uru, their father Ahadi had let his authority over the pride slip; that in allowing so many males to remain and even form their own family groups within the larger pride, Ahadi was sowing the seeds of their own destruction. If he had his way, Mufasa would have forced out the other males long ago. Taka could only wonder how long it would be before his brother looked at him the same way.
And yet this… this was too much.
All at once, Mufasa's demeanor changed, and he turned to Taka with a twinkle in his eye. "Hey, let's do 'get help.'"
"No."
"Oh, come on. You know you love it."
"I hate it."
"It's great, it works every time!"
"It's humiliating!" Taka growled, glaring up at his older brother. The nearer they came to adulthood, the more painfully obvious it became that he would never measure up to Mufasa. Everything about Taka was narrow, compact, even slinky; while Mufasa, by contrast, was large and powerful. Even Taka's mane, the same rich black as his father Ahadi's, looked dull and patchy next to the thick red of his brother's. He hardly needed Mufasa's ridiculous "get help" scheme to be reminded of his inferiority.
"Look," his brother said, dropping the playful tone. "Do you want to eat tonight? Do you want Mother to eat tonight?"
Taka looked out again over the raucous scene, at his mother hiding in the shadows.
"We're doing get help," Mufasa affirmed, taking his silence for assent.
"We are not doing get help," Taka repeated. But they both knew his heart wasn't in it.
"Get help!" The desperate cry echoed off the rocks through the dim twilight. "Please, somebody! My brother is dying!"
Recognizing the voice of her elder son, Uru bounded from the shadows beneath Pride Rock. She saw the two boys struggling down the ridge, Taka half-slung across Mufasa's back, his head lolling against his shoulder. For an instant her heart stopped, and then she was racing towards them, her only thought to reach her sons. The rest of the pride had stalled in their feasting, raw flesh dangling from their mouths as they stared up at the boys in alarm.
Suddenly, Mufasa reared up and flung Taka bodily at the nearest feeding group. Sifa and Safura were knocked headlong, while Zingela and Sarafina scattered as Mufasa seized the remains of the antelope in his teeth and bounded away. Taka sprang back to life, leaping to follow hard on his brother's heels before the larger Sifa had time to recover his wits.
Uru watched in bewilderment as they hurtled toward her. Mufasa, his mouth full of antelope, jerked his head as if beckoning her to follow. Taka slowed as he reached her and gave a sheepish smile.
"Come on, Mom! Let's go!"
Bemused, Uru followed. Behind her, she heard angry roars as Sifa and Safura gave chase. Taka was running as fast as his lanky limbs could carry him, while Mufasa, scarcely hampered by his load, glanced back periodically to make sure his mother and brother were still behind him.
After a few minutes, the roars faded and began to recede. Looking back, Uru saw that Ahadi had appeared in the distance, plodding slowly up from the grasslands below. He had saved her again, if without knowing it, as she hoped this time he would not have to. Her mate looked bone weary, and she could not bear to think of his coming home to still more burdens.
Ahead, Mufasa had tossed the remains of the antelope to the ground and was chuckling breathlessly. "Classic," he huffed, grinning at his brother.
Taka shook himself and snarled. "I still hate it. It's humiliating."
"Not for me, it's not." Mufasa turned the grin on his mother, and she returned it weakly. "Come on, Mother. Time to eat."
Uru shook her head, looking back and forth between her two sons. "What was that? Taka, are you hurt? I thought…"
Taka lowered his head and came over to nuzzle her shoulder. "Don't worry, Mom, I'm fine." He shot his brother a look. "Just another of Mufasa's harebrained schemes."
Mufasa crouched and swatted playfully at Taka. "It worked, didn't it?"
Taka groaned.
Then the laughter went out of Mufasa's face. Uru followed his gaze to Ahadi coming up the slope. His eyes on his father, Mufasa asked, "Are you all right, Mother? How did they drive you off? Who was it?"
She came to lean against his broad shoulder. "It was Shaka," she murmured, and she felt him stiffen. "He encouraged the others."
"This can't continue," Mufasa growled. "Dad needs to know about this. It was bad enough before, but now they're working up to all-out rebellion. If they can keep the queen from eating…"
Uru sighed. "I hate to worry your father. He's got so many troubles right now."
Mufasa shook his head. "This one's going to get a lot worse if Dad doesn't do something soon. He'll do it for you if not for anyone else."
She felt Taka come up on her other side. "You don't deserve to be treated this way, Mom," he said softly. He glanced up at Mufasa. "And we're not going to let them."
Mufasa nodded. "He's right."
"But first—" Taka dragged the antelope carcass over and set it at her feet. "I didn't go through that indignity for you not to even eat this."
She and Mufasa laughed, and Taka cracked a smile. Together, they finished off the antelope as darkness fell over the Pridelands.