Chapter 2: Deliciously Squared

Simba knew it would be a long walk home, and it didn't disappoint. He felt the pride staring at him all the way back, their fear and shock boring a hole in the back of his head. He knew they wouldn't let this go, and it was only a matter of time before they'd lecture him on the Circle of Life. But he wouldn't stop to talk. He just wanted to get home and stand guard over the Pride Lands while he waited for Zazu to return with the news about the herds. And then he'd suffer through their lectures.

But before he knew it, he was home. It was as if he blinked and Pride Rock popped into view. The great throne towered over his head, and his face turned red with shame. He could just hear the lionesses telling him he wasn't worthy of the throne, and he worried he wouldn't know what to say.

I did the right thing. She was going to kill me. If I'd just let her run away without telling her I meant business, she'd probably go off and kill somewhere else, or return and kill us when our backs are turned. Besides, I didn't break the Circle of Life. It's already broken, so what's the difference? And what was I supposed to do? Let her get away with breaking it again? Someone's got to put a stop to the killing, and it might as well be me.

He turned to the pride, eyes locking with Sarabi's. She looked at him the same way Mufasa looked at him, when he and Nala went off to the Elephant Graveyard and nearly got themselves killed. But he turned away and started his march up the rocks. He wasn't going to be lectured, and no amount of angry looks would change his mind.

Not deigning to give them a glance, he climbed up onto the promontory and swung toward the cavern as Nala trotted alongside said, "Simba, we need to talk."

"No." And he continued his march, leaving her dumbfounded and indignant.

He padded into the cavern and looked for a corner of rock to lie on, but his eyes got used to the dark, and someone caught his attention.

A cheetah lay on the stone floor, his hind legs kicking off to the side. The cat's regal face was melancholy, his ebony eyes dark and sad, but one look into them made Simba go wary.

The cat's hind leg was bound up, a stick held in place by the lei from Timon's hula outfit. Timon's mother and uncle stood over the cheetah, tying the stick in place, and they saw Simba's silhouette filling the cavern mouth and lifted their heads. Alarm filled their faces as they saw his dusty head peering down at them.

"What happened to you?" Uncle Max said. "You look like you've been in a fight."

Simba nodded. "We had a little trouble. Scar had another pride, and they came back to settle the score."

"So ya killed them, right?"

He let out a sigh and slunk past the meerkats. "No, Max, I didn't."

Mouth agape, Max turned to the female. "I told ya, Madge: He's a nice guy, but a king shouldn't be a nice guy."

"Uncle Max—"

"No. He's been coddled and pampered his whole life. He's gotta get used to people tellin' him he's a wuss." The gray-headed meerkat swung around and jabbed a finger at Simba's face. "Wuss! You!" Simba rolled his eyes and padded into the shade of the cavern.

"Timon, is this how you raised him? To take half-measures?"

"Well, around here, it's not a half-measure. Traitors have to get off scot-free."

Max stared dumbly at him, then bugged his eyes out and spread his arms wide. "This whole country's full of wusses!"

Madge's mouth fell. "Uncle Max, enough!"

"No, Sis! This whole place has gone to hell in a handcart, and now his pride's gonna get us all killed. I told you we should have left. I told you we should get everybody to Timon's new place, but did ya listen? No."

"He's right," Simba said. "You don't need to be here."

"We're not leavin'," Timon said. "Friends stick together 'til the end."

Max scoffed. "Yeah, well, the end is extremely freakin' nigh, Timon. The Pride Lands are toast, and his own pride and their stupid laws are gonna get him killed. Assumin' he doesn't get himself killed..."

Simba glowered at him. "What does that mean?"

"You know what it means," Max said. "You're too much of a wuss to make a kill. All ya did was throw your uncle to the hyenas—and that was an accident."

Simba stopped mid-pace, holding a paw over the floor. "That's not exactly true."

A tense pause filled the cavern, and Sarabi's eyes went wide with horror. "Simba, did you kill your uncle?"

He didn't answer. He tried to look her in the eye, but he couldn't keep it up.

"You knew where the hyenas were," Sarabi said. "You threw him to them...and you watched him die."

A long pause filled the air, and a measure of strength welled up in him.

"I did," he said. "And I'd do it again."

The horror on her face was wiped away. All that remained was a stare, too angry and bitter to warp into a frown. "You took a life."

"I had to! He killed my father and he tried to kill me. Last night, I told him to leave, and he tried to kill me again! What else was I supposed to do?!"

"What about Zira's ear?" Nala said. "Did you do that on purpose?"

"She had to know I meant it! When she thinks about that ear, she's going to think twice about coming back, because she knows what I'll do to her."

"Simba, do you realize what you've done?" Sarabi said. "You committed treason. You're supposed to end the violence—"

"That's what I'm doing. Sometimes, the only way to stop the killing is to make a kill." On his way out of the cavern, he muttered, "If my father knew that, he might still be alive."

A wave of murmurs rippled through the pride, but he ignored them and padded into the daylight. Sarabi bounded up behind him and swerved in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. "Don't take your father's name in vain. I knew your father since we were children; I knew him better than anyone. He loved the laws of the Pride Lands, because he knew they were good. And even when Scar betrayed him, your father kept him close, because you don't turn family away."

"Yeah, and look what it got him: murdered by his own brother. I don't care how much he loved the laws of the Pride Lands; the laws got him killed. And if I don't change them, they're going to be the end of us. No traitors will be allowed back here as long as I'm king. And if they ever come back, I will kill them."

Her eyes filled with tears, and her breath went shaky. "This is what your legacy is going to be? A legacy of violence and murder? How long will you make it law? Until you have children? Until you have grandchildren? How many people will have to die for you?"

Simba stared dully at her. "I guess we'll find out."

She shook her head. "I won't."

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Simba, you are my son, and I love you. But this can't go on. You are breaking the laws of our ancestors, and if you keep doing it, people will die."

"If you leave, you're going to die. You don't even know where the herds are. And if Zira finds you again, she's going to kill you."

Sarabi nodded. "So be it. But we're not going to be murderers." And she turned around and faced the cavern again. "We're leaving."

Just as the ripple of replies filled the air, the cheetah lifted himself off the floor. "You don't have to be!"

The cavern went silent, and all eyes turned to the cheetah. He lifted himself upright, standing on his three good legs.

"Sire, you don't have to split up your pride. I can tell you where the herds are."

"Don't bother," Simba said. "Zazu's looking for them now."

"He won't find them," the cheetah said. "There's a lot of birds out there, and they don't like trespassers. If he goes into their territory, they're going to knock him out of the sky."

Simba felt his stomach churn as Nala's words came back to haunt him. "If something happens to him, we won't know."

"I don't know how to get Zazu back," the cheetah said, "but I can help you find food. If you do that, you can keep your pride together."

Simba cocked his head. "Why didn't you tell us that?"

"Because I didn't want to get my hopes up," the cheetah said. "Sire, you don't know how I've been living. The hyenas have been chasing me all over the savannah. I almost starved out there. And then I broke my leg. It's a miracle I made it here, and Timon's family was here to help. Now you're here, and you're alive. It seemed too good to be true."

Simba kept staring darkly. The cheetah still put out a bad vibe, but he couldn't put a finger on it.

"I can show you where the herds are," the cheetah said. "Just let me go with you, and protect me from whoever's out there."

Nala smiled at Simba. "This is our chance!"

"Nala, I don't know—"

"Why not? We'll get a meal. We'll keep the pride together."

"We don't know that."

"It's better than sending Zazu out."

"We don't know that, either!" And under his breath, "I don't trust this guy."

Nala dropped her voice to a whisper. "If you won't take the chance, we will. We're not staying here." Simba started to protest, but Nala swung away and turned to the cheetah. "Where are we going?"

"It's not far, Ma'am." The cheetah limped out of the cave and into the sun, aiming his face to the north. "It's a day and a half from here, past the—"

A eagle snatched the cheetah off the rock, carrying him in his talons. The cheetah thrashed and kicked, but the bird soared on an updraft, carrying him away from the rock. Simba roared at the eagle, "BRING HIM BACK!" but the bird circled in the air, beating its wings once, then twice—

And the bird opened his talons and let the cheetah fall.

Simba roared and charged to the edge of the rock. The cheetah tumbled through the air, screaming as he went.

"NO!"

There was a dull thump on the dry slope, and the cheetah kicked up a puff of ash and dust.

Simba watched the world go blurry as his head went dizzy. All around him, the air grew thick and tense. No one dared to breathe, and only a whimper came out of Madge's mouth. Behind them, the pride had gone still, their eyes bulging and their mouths hanging halfway open. Madge lifted a hand halfway to her mouth, and Max shook the stupor out of his face and said—

"Kid…what just happened?"

Simba didn't hear it. The cheetah's screams lingered in his ears. His mind was racing with memories, of scenes he had long held back—scenes of the wildebeest charging through the gorge, of his father plummeting down the rim of the gorge, of his father hollering his death knell as Simba cried in terror—

The eagle swooped down into his eyeline, breaking him out of his trance. He looked down at the bird as it swooped to the ground, and his heart went into his throat.

A huge band of animals marched up to Pride Rock, forming a ring around the throne. Elephants with sharpened tusks tromped in unison, zebras cantered in a long arc over the hills, rhinos with horns tapered to fang-like points made the ground boom with their heavy footfalls, ostriches pawed the ground, looking for a fight, cheetahs flexed enough muscle to take on a leopard, and leopards looked powerful enough to fight a lion.

An elephant threw back his head and bugled into the air, and the army halted in unison. He stepped forward and craned his tusked head up to the promontory, glaring at Simba.

"I'm Commander Taku, Special Operations Detachment of the Pride Lands. You're surrounded. There's nowhere for you to go. If you surrender, you get to keep breathing. If you try to run, you'll die."

Timon cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey! You know who you're threatening? That's Simba—your king!"

"He's no king of ours!" a zebra said. "You'd better tell him to stand down, or we're gonna throw him off the rocks!" The ring of troops roared and bayed and kicked into the air.

Simba stared at them open-mouthed, then swung his head over his shoulder. "Pumbaa, go around back. See if they're bluffing."

The warthog nodded and galloped down the promontory, and Timon tugged on the warthog's ears like a pair of reins.

With a huff, Simba swung back to Taku. "You murdered a Pridelander!"

"We put him to justice!" the elephant said. "We knew all his tricks. We knew all his plays. Oh, sure, he limps up to you, giving you a sob story about how miserable he is. He says he wants to go wherever the food is, how he wants you to protect him. Next thing you know, Zira's attacking your camp, and he runs off like a little coward. Three of our men were killed because of him!"

I knew he was no good, Simba thought. "Taku, listen. We can work together. We can help each other—"

"If you don't stand down, we're coming up there. Alpha, Charlie teams, get into position now!"

The leopards and cheetahs broke out of the ring of troops and marched toward the boulders.

"Taku, stand down," Simba said. "If you don't call off your men—"

"YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS!"

Simba stared dumbfounded, then snarled and whirled around to the pride. "We just need to kill one of them."

"Are you nuts?!" Max said. "There's too many of 'em!"

"If we do it, they'll back off, and my pride will have a meal."

"This isn't what we wanted," Nala said. "We wanted to leave."

"TWENTY!"

Pumbaa and Timon clopped back onto the promontory. The warthog's face was wide with alarm, and the meerkat pointed a finger over his shoulder. "Kid, they're back there."

"Is there a way out of here?"

Timon shook his head. "We're surrounded."

"Kid, we've gotta give up," Max said. "This isn't the hill we wanna be dyin' on."

"They're going to kill us if we don't."

"They're gonna kill us if we do!"

"TEN! NINE!"

"Kid, give up!"

"EIGHT! SEVEN!"

"We can't give in to them!"

"SIX! FIVE!"

"Simba, they're moving."

"FOUR!"

"Sarabi, do something!"

"THREE!"

"Honey, give this up!"

"TWO!"

"Simba, please!"

"ONE!"

Sarabi bolted to the edge of the rock. "WE'RE STANDING DOWN!"

Taku swung to his left. "Alpha, Charlie teams, stand down!" The leopards and cheetahs backed away from the rocks and trotted into the ring of troops.

Breath heaving in and out of his chest, Simba gritted his teeth and turned to Sarabi. "This is why you wanted to leave, isn't it? You knew they were coming back."

She kept hanging her head, her mouth quivering. "Simba, we have to make this right."

"Make what right?"

She gave him a mournful stare, then turned around and padded away. She started down the promontory, leading the lionesses down the rocks, as Simba stood on the rocks, open-mouthed and staring blankly after her.

"What's it going to be, Simba?" Taku roared. "Are you coming? Or are we going to come up there and get you?"

Simba gulped down a lump in his throat and started to walk down the promontory. With his breath trembling, he began to lope down the rocks, and Rafiki, Pumbaa, and the meerkats followed close behind.