Lion King Au: Simba and Kiara. A New Life
Chapter One. Losing Everything
Author's Note: This fanfic is based on a youtube video of an alternative universe lion king by SaraChanlionwolf. The first is called Lion King Au Let me Down Slowly. In this AU. Scar is King of the Pridelands and it is in the state of starvation, Simba is not Scar's Nephew and is allowed to stay. Kiara is Scar's Daughter. Simba and Nala are married and have a son of their own named Simba Jr. Zira is an enemy of Scar's and wants Simba as a king but is still a murderous lioness.
The Pride Lands were in a state of decay thanks to its current King, Scar. Bones laid across the land, there was no grass, no food, no water. Scar's excessive hunting to satisfy the greed of the hyenas had driven what was once a beautiful savanna full of animals of all kinds to a wasteland where almost nothing lived. Now, the pride had to make a choice. They could not sit idly by any longer. Simba, the only other male lion in the pride stood with his fellow pridelander lions, his mother Sarabi and several other lionesses.
"Scar has allowed the hyenas to hunt without regard for the circle of life. They have taken more than their fair share for too long," Sarabi stated. "If we are to remain here, we must bring him down and drive the hyenas out."
Simba looked down, he didn't relish the thought of overthrowing his king. But he could not let his pride starve either.
"We will need a new king once Scar is overthrown," a lioness named Vitani said. "I think it should be Simba."
"It's not like we have much of a choice since he is the only lion!" another lioness named Zira spat. "My son Nuka has let himself starve to make sure his little brother Kovu got enough to eat! If not for Scar, he would still be alive right now! I want justice! I want this land free of all of Scar's taint!"
"We will get rid of Scar, Zira. Tonight, he and his hyenas will either leave the Pridelands or we will have to fight," Sarabi said as she looked to Simba. "I know you are not thrilled about the idea of being King, Simba, but you are noble and care about the pride and the circle of life. You will make a much better king than Scar ever could."
Simba sighed. "I will do what is right."
He looked at the lionesses. "I will be king, but only if all of you want me to be."
They all nodded.
"Down with Scar! All hail King Simba!"
Simba narrowed his eyes. "Very well, tonight we will deal with Scar. I shall challenge him for the throne and when I am King, I will do my best to restore this land to what it once was."
The Pridelanders cheered, and Zira gave a wicked smile at the thought of revenge for her firstborn son. The lions than headed back to Priderock as clouds began to gather.
"Rain is coming," Sarabi said. "This will bring new grass. The lands will begin to grow again, but if Scar remains king, he would destroy it."
She looked at Simba. "Rest now, my son. You will need all of your strength to defeat Scar."
Simba nodded. He made his way to the cave at the back side of Priderock where he and his family stayed. Entering, he saw his son Simba Jr.
"Dad!" the cub said. "You're back!"
"Hey son," Simba greeted.
"You wanna play?" Simba Jr. asked.
Simba sighed. "I wish I could. But I have to conserve my strength for something tonight."
"Ah!"
Simba chuckled. "Hey, I can always play with you tomorrow. Something good is about to happen, Junior. Once its all over, we'll be able to play more and you won't have to worry about starving."
"Really?" Jr. asked.
"Really," Simba repeated.
"Great!"
Simba went deeper into the cave where he saw his wife resting. As a member of the lioness hunters, she couldn't afford to spend too much energy. Nala looked at her husband as he approached.
"Did you make a decision?" she asked.
"Yes," Simba said. "We're going to overthrow Scar tonight."
Nala had a mixture of emotions at this. "That means war with Scar and the Hyenas. There will lives lost."
"I know," Simba said. "But if we do nothing, we will all starve. This is our only chance to make things better."
"Should I come with you?" Nala asked.
Simba shook his head. "I want you to stay away from the battle with Jr. You've been hunting too much for the hyenas, you just rest. When this is over, we'll be able to feed ourselves properly."
"Be careful, my Simba." Nala nuzzled her mate.
"I will," Simba said. "I love you, and I want our family to live happily without the fear of starvation."
That night came all too quickly as Simba, Sarabi, Zira, and all the other lionesses apart from Nala went up to the main part of Pride Rock to face Scar.
"This has gone on too long Scar. You have all but destroyed the Pridelands by letting the hyenas take over!" Sarabi declared. "All of us lionesses are in agreement. You are not fit to be our king anymore!"
"Oh, you have have you?" Scar asked. "And who would replace me?"
"I would," Simba said stepping forward.
Scar looked at him. "You? You are a weak lion who could never be king!"
"He actually cares about the pride! Unlike you Scar! You have let lions in your pride starve!" Zira snapped. "You will pay for the death of my Nuka!"
"Only the weak die!" Scar shot back. "The strong survive. That is the circle of life!"
"You are a cruel lion with no honor, Scar! A true king searches for what he can give!" Sarabi shouted. "His true power is his compassion!"
Scar growled. "Lies! A true king takes what is his!"
He then slapped Sarabi across the face. She was sent off her paws and fell. This caused Simba and the lionesses to attack. The hyenas lunged at the lions hoping to defend their king who had given them so much food to eat. Simba roared and swept his paws at them while Zira and the other lionesses did the same.
Scar, meanwhile, took advantage of the chaos and fled. The hyenas were his pawns, he was not going to risk his neck for theirs. He retreated along the side of Priderock as a lightning bolt suddenly hit the ground. Fire erupted, Scar flinched and continued along the side. As he did so, he saw a cream lioness and her cub. Simba's wife, Nala and Simba Jr.
"Scar!" Nala exclaimed, surprised that he was here and not at the fight.
Scar said nothing for a moment.
She scoffed. "I should have known you would have been too cowardly to stand and fight."
Scar snarled, and pounced at the lioness.
Simba swatted the last of his hyena opponents away. He looked around, and saw to his dismay that Sarabi was not getting up and that the hyenas had chewed her to pieces. He felt himself tear up.
"Simba, Scar is escaping!" Zira called.
Simba looked and saw Scar was indeed running down the side of Priderock.
"After him!" Zira said. "He must not live!"
After seeing his mother dead, Simba couldn't agree more. This had to end.
Nala was too weak and slow to stand up to Scar as the king lunged at her. She gasped as she felt his teeth go around her throat. If only she had been better fed she might have the strength to defeat him or at least put up a decent fight. But in the slightly starved state she was in now, the lioness was no match. It was over quickly as her neck was broken. She fell to the ground, dead.
Simba Jr.'s mouth fell open as he saw his mother go down.
"Mom!" he screamed.
Scar turned his attention in the direction of the sad cub whose expression quickly turned to fear as the king lunged at him too. Scar's fangs tore young lion flesh. Simba arrived just in time to see Scar walking further away.
"No!" Simba screamed, running the side of his fallen mate.
He nuzzled Nala, hoping she would reply. But she simply lay there. Simba took several breaths, all the joy in his life, his family… was gone. His heart seemed to empty for a moment, and then he felt a new feeling replace the sadness. Rage.
"Scar!" he yelled.
The black maned lion looked back, thinking he was safe after murdering the lioness and cub. But he realized he was mistaken as Simba came running after him. Scar ran further up Priderock, all the way to the top, jumping over a wall of flames that had crawled up Priderock from the lightning earlier. He turned as Simba leapt over it as well. As soon as the younger lion landed, Scar was on him. But Simba had youth on his side, he swiped Scar off and then went on the offensive. They exchanged several blows of claws, then Simba threw a strong swipe at Scar which sent him stumbling backwards off the top ledge. The tyrannical lion fell from the top of Priderock. Simba took a look from the ledge, and growled. He wasn't certain if Scar had survived the fall or not, but he had to make absolutely sure.
Simba climbed down to the bottom of Priderock and made his way to where Scar lay. He was dead alright.
"You monster, curse you!" Simba growled at the body of the lion that had destroyed his life.
"Dad!" a voice suddenly called.
A cub suddenly ran past Simba and up to Scar's body. When she looked at Simba, he saw she was a light orange cub with bright green eyes like Scar's. Simba felt shock enter him. He knew Scar had a daughter named Kiara, but he'd never seen her as Scar forbade him from entering his dwelling.
Kiara nuzzled her father's body, and realized he was dead. She then looked at Simba in fear. Simba stood gazing at her. She reminded him of his own cub. He'd just killed her father, just as Scar had taken his family. For a moment, Kiara appeared in Simba's eyes as Simba Jr.
"You got him!" another voice called, this one familiar.
Simba looked and saw it was Zira who approached him. She looked with satisfaction at Scar's body before noticing Kiara. She looked from the cub to Simba.
"Kill her!"
"What?" Simba asked.
"She is Scar's daughter! You must kill her! That is the ancient tradition. When a new lion becomes king he must purge the pride of all remnants of the past kings genes!"
Simba looked at Kiara, the cub was backing away, the fear on her face now much deeper as she looked at Simba. Simba could tell just by looking in her eyes, she was no killer. She was just a cub, an innocent.
"No!" Simba said.
Zira snarled. "Fine, I'll do it myself! Its too bad Scar is already gone, he won't be able to feel the pain I felt when I lost my Nuka!"
As she took a step forward, Simba growled and turned around, putting himself between the cub and the murderous lioness.
"You will not hurt her! She is just a cub! I'm not going to kill a helpless cub. If I did, then I'd be no better than Scar!"
"If you don't kill her, you will lose the respect of the pride!" Zira said. "We put our faith in you to rid us of Scar's filth. That means his daughter must die too! It's the law! Either kill her, or leave the pride!"
Simba's heart was so full of pain. He had lost his mother, wife, and son today. Now, he had a terrible choice to make. Either take the life of an innocent cub that had done no wrong, or leave all the members of his pride, his home. Simba stood there for a moment, he could feel Kiara's green eyes that were so much like Scar's watching his back as he thought of what to do. Then he snarled and struck Zira across the jaw.
"I'm not going to kill a cub. I will not become like Scar! Or you! You've become no better than he is."
"Then leave!" Zira spat. "And take that cub with you. But I'm warning you, if you ever come back here again… if we ever meet again… this pride will tear you to pieces."
Simba frowned at her. "So be it."
He turned around and looked at Kiara, picking up the cub by the neck in his mouth. He walked away from his home, the lionesses that had this morning pledged their loyalty to him now looked at him with disdain as though he were Scar. But they were all blinded by hatred. He kept walking until Priderock was far away and set Kiara down on a rock. She turned and looked at him.
Simba frowned at the green eyes that reminded him of Scar. The hurt and anger from all that he had lost today finally coming up to the surface.
"My life is over now! All because of you and your father!" he said. "Your father's hyenas killed my mother! He took my wife and son, and now because of you… I've had to leave my pride. Everything I've ever loved is gone!"
As he shouted and let out the anger, Kiara flinched. Simba paced around her, growling several times, letting out his anger. But as he continued growling the anger faded and was replaced with an overwhelming amount of grief. He stopped and looked down, ready to cry.
"My mother, wife, son, pride. All of its gone," he said, sobbing lightly.
"I'm sorry," Kiara said. "I never wanted anything like that for any member of my pride. I never knew my father could have been such a bad lion to cause so much pain."
Simba looked at her, frowning again.
"Thank you for saving my life," Kiara finished. "I guess there's no place for either of us to go now? You probably want me to leave right? You don't want anything to do with the daughter of the lion who took your family from you?"
Simba's anger faded again at these words. He thought for a moment.
"Your father's crimes are not yours," he said.
The cub looked up at him. Simba looked around at the Pridelands which they would now have to leave. The pride would surely kill both of them if they stayed… assuming that they could still salvage this land.
"We need to leave. Zira and the pride will kill us both."
"So… where I should I go?" Kiara asked.
"You should stay with me," Simba said. "You won't survive on your own. I'll take care of you."
"You will?" Kiara said, a wide smile forming on her face.
"Yes, come on."
Simba began to walk off, and Kiara followed. A lion and the cub of his enemy walked away from their home.