Hey there, and welcome back to the Lion King novel. So Mufasa's dead, Simba's gone, and Scar's ready for his takeover. Plus, I've already got six reviews, so things are turning out pretty well for this Fanfic.

There will also be a nod to two things: part of the musical and, once again, Simba's Pride. So you all noticed Zira in the eighth chapter, and she'll have a slightly important role...of sucking up to Scar, that is.

Uploading Date: August 21, 2019

Enjoy!

...

The Dawning Of A New Era

The sun was slowly going down for the day, giving way to the night. The sky had slowly turned from a baby blue to a deep red, the color of spilled blood, and the air was getting slightly cooler. It was a beautiful end to a day that was going to get better...at least for Scar.

A satisfied Scar made his way back to Pride Rock, and he couldn't keep the smile off his face. Shenzi had told him that they had caught Simba and killed him, eating his corpse before tossing the remains away. This pleased Scar. That loose end with Simba had officially been tied. Now no one would stop him from taking over Pride Rock or find out about his plan.

So he returned to Pride Rock to break the news to the lionesses and cubs. It was night when he returned, when Sarabi had returned from the hunt with her fellow lionesses. Together, they had taken down a young giraffe, a juvenile, and were ready to eat when Scar sauntered up to them.

"Scar?" Sarabi asked warily, looking up from the fresh kill. "What's going on?"

"Is everyone gathered here?" asked Scar. He had put on an air of grief, to prepare to deliver the bad news. "Even the cubs will need to hear this. I have very terrible news for you all. It involves Mufasa and Simba."

At this, Sarabi's amber eyes widened with shock and creeping fear. She left the fresh kill to fetch everyone in the pride, from the oldest lioness to the youngest cub. They gathered at the foot of Pride Rock, where Scar sat down before them on a smaller rock. This was how he wanted to imagine himself on his first night as king: looking down on everyone else.

"It is a terrible day for the Pride Lands," Scar announced. "The migrating wildebeest herd stampeded in the gorge today, with young Simba caught in the middle. Our king Mufasa - noble and wise and beloved as he was - died saving Simba from the stampede. Alas, it was all for nothing. Simba had fallen to the stampede as well, his life cut short."

The affect was immediate. Sarabi seemed to understand what was going on...and then let out a cry of despair and roared to the sky, tears streaming down her face. Most of the other lionesses walked over to give condolences to their queen, some crying with her and others praying. Zazu (who had returned shortly after Scar did) gently rested a wing on Sarabi's paw, showing her his sympathies. Even the cubs realized what was going on, little Nala's eyes full of tears when she heard of the death of her friend.

Oh, I am good, Scar thought with a smirk. It was all too satisfying to witness. Mufasa may have been the stronger out of the siblings, but Scar definitely got the acting part down pat.

"Mufasa's death is a terrible tragedy," Scar continued his eulogy, turning back to the pride. "He was the greatest king that the pride has ever known. To lose a brother is such a deep and personal loss. And to lose Simba..." He allowed himself to trail off as if he was overcome with emotion, gulping as if he was choking back tears. "To lose Simba, who had barely begun to live...a cub whose blood held our future...it's almost too much to endure. I only wish I had gotten to the gorge in time to save them."

He turned his back on the pride, so that they didn't see his smirk. So far, so good, he believed.

Then Scar turned back to the pride, just as the moon was starting to rise. "So it is with a heavy heart that I assume the throne. Mufasa and Simba are gone, which means that I am now your king."

The lionesses murmured among themselves. Only Zira, a younger lioness, watched him with interest. Scar had gotten to know her when she was an outsider, taken in by Mufasa when her mother was killed. During the time she stayed with Mufasa's pride, she had come to know Scar and sympathize with his goals. At least he could count on her as an ally.

"But I must admit that I cannot bear this burden alone. After all, what is a king without a queen?" Scar pressed on, staring down at Sarabi. He hoped that she would agree right there and then.

To his annoyance, she snarled up at him, her eyes still full of tears. Scar only scoffed at this. She would say yes. One way or another, Scar would not stop until he had what he wanted.

"One more thing I need to address: your new army, which will keep you safe," he went on. He turned to the shadows on his left and called, "Come on out. I hereby invite you all to help yourselves to our bounty."

Sinister cackles echoed from beyond Pride Rock. One by one, Shenzi and her hyenas - a whole army of up to fifty - sauntered towards Scar, slinking past the lionesses. The lionesses were shocked and horrified before they shielded their cubs from the hyenas' view, snarling. What was Scar doing, inviting them onto their territory for free?

"And so, from the ashes of this tragedy, we shall rise up to greet the dawning of a new era," Scar concluded as the hyenas marched over to stand beside Scar. "An era in which lion and hyena will live together, where all prejudice is set aside, and where all animals of Pride Rock are equal. Welcome, my pride, to a great and glorious future!"

...

In the meantime, Sarabi watched the hyenas arrive at Pride Rock as if they owned the place, invading them. Their brown fur was dull and matted, they bared sharp drooling fangs, and their eyes were alive and full of malice. It was all so wrong.

The worst part of it, however, was that her mate and son were dead. Her heart ached at the very thought until it nearly broke. Never again would she feel warm and secure against Mufasa's mane, nor gently groom Simba while he pretended to be king. She looked to the place where she and Mufasa slept with Simba, as a family, and wanted to feel like this was all a horrible nightmare. But it was too real. In one terrible day, they were taken from her forever. Scar was right in Simba being dead much before his prime; he would have been a good king.

Speaking of Scar, as she headed to the cave to grieve, she lifted her gaze to see the new king talking with Shenzi, the leader of the hyenas. He had acted as though he was upset that Mufasa and Simba were dead, but she doubted that he actually missed them. There was no love lost between the brothers. She had known Scar ever since they were younger, and she wished that she could ask him or Mufasa what had happened. But when she did, Scar would scoff, and Mufasa would look uncomfortable before changing the subject.

As for the lionesses, they followed her with fear and sadness in their eyes. Their cubs looked scared beyond belief at the thought of the hyenas approaching them. Sarabi wanted to run over to them, to comfort them and help them escape this nightmare. What will we do? she asked them silently. We can't let the hyenas take over. They'll destroy everything...and everyone.

Then she saw something that infuriated her, made her fur itch with anger. Zira, the arrogant young lioness, was sidling up to Scar, actually giggling when he talked with her. As soon as Scar walked off, Sarabi approached Zira, fixing her with a stern glare.

"How can this be a good time to smile and laugh?" she demanded. "This is a day of mourning, not flirting and giggling. Two lives were lost today!"

Zira snorted. "My, my, Sarabi. That temper will get you nowhere," she responded with a simpering tone, a tone that almost made Sarabi want to smack her. "Come on, Sarabi, just admit it. Mufasa's reign was pretty weak, and Scar had the right idea to invite the hyenas into the Pride Lands; he can unite lions and hyenas together. As for Simba, he would've been a pathetic king indeed. With Scar, there will be much more order and progress."

Sarabi knew that Zira didn't particularly get along with Mufasa or Simba, but hearing her slander her late king and son was too much. "You don't know that," she snapped. "Even if you didn't agree with Mufasa, he did his best to uphold this land's traditions. And Simba would've done the same."

"Quit living in the past already, Sarabi, and get your head out of the clouds," growled Zira. "Scar will be the better king for us, just you wait. Now if you'll excuse me, I must find Scar." Then she paused and snorted, "And as if you would make a good queen for Scar. You're nothing but an old has-been. What good would someone like you do for the pride?"

Whipping her tail at Sarabi's face as she spun around, Zira trotted off. Sarabi fumed, wanting to tell Zira off more, but she decided to leave the selfish lioness to her fantasies.

"Sarabi?" a small voice piped up behind her. The queen turned around and saw Nala crouched before her, eyes full of tears and fright; behind her, the younger cubs began wrestling with each other. "What did Scar mean by a 'new era'? Are we letting the hyenas stay here?"

Now Sarabi realized that she wasn't the only one who lost something today. Nala had lost her best friend; she would never get to play with him again. Sarabi bent down to touch the cub's forehead with her nose, as she had done with Simba many times before.

"I don't know," she admitted, watching as the other lionesses and cubs surrounded her. "I just don't know."

Yips and snarls made the lionesses look around. The hyenas were helping themselves to the lionesses' last kill, chewing and smacking their lips. As they ate, they bit at the younger hyenas, forcing them to stay back. Hyenas were too different from the Pride Lands' lions. Lions in the Pride Lands never hogged a fresh kill, neither bitten nor scratched over a meal. What was worse was Scar and Zira standing back and grinning, encouraging this behavior.

"Scar thinks we have to live together with the hyenas," Sarabi began slowly. "But I don't think it'll last. Lions and hyenas have always been enemies, even outside the Pride Lands."

"The nerve of that foolish girl," Sarafina added in a disappointed tone; Sarabi could tell that she was talking about Zira. "I know what Scar has become, and I don't know what she sees in him now. Now I wish more than ever that Mufasa and Simba hadn't died."

It was true. Zira was not to be trusted anymore, but Scar was the one that Sarabi did not trust at all. He seemed too eager to share the news of Mufasa and Simba's deaths, and the way he asked her to be his queen made her pelt prickle. She would never be his queen. Mufasa would always be in her heart, and she would never accept another mate ever again.

As for Scar's promise that lion and hyena would live together, Sarabi knew that it was something big. It was also going to be something bad.

Finally, she found the courage to speak. "I don't know exactly what will happen," she told the lionesses and their cubs. "But I know that we will not give up; we just need to let them think that they've won. Scar may think that we will immediately adapt to his 'future', but we'll show him that our spirits cannot be broken." She turned her gaze to the other lionesses, spinning until she could see them all. "Don't always succeed in hunts, and if you do, catch prey as big as a hare; better we not catch much of anything than give up our meals to the hyenas. Never go anywhere alone. We must stand united as a pride; we need each other more than ever. So are you with me, lions?"

There was no doubt that they still followed their queen. They dipped their heads to her, and she to them. Pride Rock would always be their home, Sarabi thought as she looked up to the midnight sky. She had lost her mate and son in one day; she could not afford to lose her home too.

...

Far away in the ancient baobab tree, Rafiki groaned with sadness and wiped a tear from his eyes. It had been a horrible day, which would only lead to horrible days. Mufasa and Simba were gone, and Scar had allowed the hyenas to invade their home. Even he knew that inviting a lot of hyenas to the Pride Lands was just asking for trouble.

"Madi ao,"* he began his lamentation, a prayer that was used when a member of the Pride Lands was needlessly killed. He bowed his head and murmured on, eyes focused on his hands as he clenched one into a fist. "Leka sebete chia ho nele sebatha. Mo leka qeme o tsaba oha. Lebo haling ha o bue ka le ha."*

Then he turned his attention to the painting of Simba he had made months ago. Sadness overtook him as he rested his hand on the painting before wiping across it. It was a sign that a royal member of the family - a cub at that - was gone, dead at the prime of his life.

Rafiki looked to the sky, at the twinkling stars and the shining moon. "You have left us too soon, my king and prince," he prayed. "The pride and your subjects need your guidance."

All that answered him was a slight breeze.

To be continued...

*#1: Spilled blood.
*#2: Try courage so the beasts may fall. Those who defy mountains are, in truth, cowards. Even in anger, you do not speak against wrong.