Disclaimer: I do not own The Lion King, the song that is sung in this fanfic one-shot, or anything else in this work of fiction. All rights to these master pieces belong to their current owners.
The Lion King
Sarabi's Halloween
In a dimly lit cave at the back of a rather large rock formation known as Pride Rock was a lone lioness who was laying on her stomach as tears silently streamed down her cheeks. She was once the mate and Queen to the former King of the pride she was a part of, but since he died, along with her son, in a terrible accident her heart has been racked with grief. In the weeks that followed she's spent most of her free time crying in cold, dark, places alone. The day had gone rather well, and although the hunting party managed to bring down a rather sizable zebra along with two average sized gazelles, she could tell the herds were starting to thin out after hearing about the King's death. Since the death of her mate, she made a silent, solemn, vow to herself and to him in the midst of these dark times that lay ahead to do her best to keep his pride safe and alive even if he couldn't be there with her to help them, after all these lionesses weren't just random members of her kingdom, they were her friends, and as far as she knew the last part of her mate she could physically reach out and touch. The pride, and kingdom, were now under the tyrannical reign of the King's brother, Taka who had been known as Scar for the last few years. It was truly a shame how he came to become so evil; he was once one of the nicest cubs in the pride, and certainly one of the smartest. After the death of his mother though, and his lifelong dream of being king were snatched away from him by his father's decision to choose Mufasa to succeed him after he died, Taka slowly morphed into the sick, twisted, lion known as Scar.
The former Queen was brought out of her thoughts as she noticed the silhouette of a mandrill moving across the darkened landscape under the cover of rain as it moved from one shadow to the next, and who seemed to be guided only by the dim light of the moon. She squinted to see if she could recognize the moving figure, and as it came it closer, she realized that was the pride's Shaman, Rafiki. Rafiki was an old mandrill who had dark blue fur with yellow eyes, and light blue markings just under his eyes, he also had a white mane around his neck. He slowly entered the cave and once he was under it's roof he shook himself dry before walking closer to the lioness, and once he was a few feet away from her he gave her a small bow before saying "Good evening, my Queen, I come to you with a saddened sense of joy to tell you that a very special task that has cost my mate and I greatly in both time and effort is now complete." The lioness stood up to her full height before saying "I'm no longer a Queen, though I do appreciate the curtsey, Rafiki." The old mandrill laid his walking stick to one side of the cave as the gourdes that hung near the top of it clanged together, before giving the lioness a saddened smile which reflected the pain he felt in his heart as he grasped the sides of her head gently while looking deep into her eyes and saying "Oh, my dear Sarabi, … I've known you for quite some time now, and what you should know by now is that it is not a title that make one a King or Queen; it is the love and compassion they have in their hearts and how well they look after that and those who they are given responsibility over." Hearing this made Sarabi's frown change to into a small smile, though deep down her heart continued to ache, and Rafiki knew it. He gently released her from his grasp as he let one hand drop from the side of her face and bent over to reach for his staff with the other. A second mandrill appeared behind him and said, "The coast is all clear, we need to move quickly though, no telling when this rain will stop." Rafiki turned his head slightly to acknowledge the female mandrill and said "Ok, Kuponya, we were just leaving, …" Kuponya is an elderly female mandrill whose features were quite like Rafiki's, except that most of her fur was dark purple, and she had yellow bands under her eyes instead of light blue ones. She led Rafiki and Sarabi out into the rain as they were guided by the smallest of hints of moonlight.
After half an hour of walking through rain, mud, and near pitch black darkness, Kuponya led her two companions to the base of the gorge that Mufasa had died in. Sarabi's heart began to feel broken once more as she knew what this place was, and as she made her way through the bottom of the gorge, she did her very best not to break down crying. After a few minutes of walking down the length of the gorge, Kuponya came to stop in front of what at first looked like mere cracks in the side of the gorge. She retrieved one of the gourdes from her walking stick, cracked it open and dipped her index finger into it, before using it to trace the lines with the strange liquid filling the crevices she traced her finger over. She continued to draw the outline of something, as to what though, Sarabi didn't know; all she knew is that Kuponya was humming a haunting tune as she continued to create some mysterious piece of art. Kuponya then started singing "Cold blowwwsss tha wind to myyy true love, … And gently falls tha rain…. I never had but ooonnneee true love, and in a gorge he lies slain. I'll dooo as much for my true love …. As aaannnyyy young girl may. I'll sit and mourn all on his grave … For twelve months and a day. And when twelve months and a day had passed,
Tha ghost did rise and speak, "Why do you sit all on my grave … And will not let me sleep?"
'Tis I, 'tis I, my one true love that sits all on your grave I ask one kiss from your sweet lips, … And that is all that I crave.
My breast is cold as the clay; My breath is earthly strong, aaannnddd if you kiss my cold, my cold clay lips, … your days will not be long.
How oft on yonder grave, Sweetheart where we were wont to walk— The fairest flower that e're I saw Has withered to a stalk. When will we meet again, sweetheart? When will we meet again?
When the autumn leaves that fall from the trees arrre greeeen …. and spring up again."
When she finished the last line of the song a crack of thunder could be heard behind them that seemed to echo the break in Sarabi's heart. Kuponya then continued to hum the song until she was done, and the entire process took nearly five minutes to complete. When she finished the painting, she stood back a bit and gazed proudly upon her work, before looking at Sarabi who now had a look of both longing and heartache etched into her face. She was now looking at a carved portrait of her beloved late husband, and she couldn't help but wonder if she was going a little crazy when she heard an all too familiar, deep, voice say "Hello, my love, it's been too long." This caused her to step back about a foot or two away from the carving, and her eyes went wide as the eyes of the carving began to glow bright yellow, and the two mandrills just watched her reactions. Her eyes widened even more when she saw the ghostly image of Mufasa appear in the carving, and then disappear only to reappear again standing next to her left side. She rolled her eyes slowly to the left to see that the image of Mufasa was looking right at her as he smiled warmly. His ghost was fully formed as his body glowed a golden yellow with a red mane and irises to match.
Sarabi turned her head to the left to follow where her gaze had been drawn to, and then she turned her entire body so she could face Mufasa's ghost. She stood there speechless as her lips began to tremble, and he said "I know you're in pain right now, I have watched as you wept a thousand tears for Simba and I, and I want you to know that though the days are dark and even darker ones lay ahead; … the dawn of a better reign will come." Tears were now streaming down Sarabi's cheeks and where she felt shocked and even slightly horrified a mere moment or two ago, she now felt compassion, a sense of fulfillment, and a slight sense of dread. She managed to compose herself well enough to speak, and her mouth hung open for a moment before she said "I , … I, … I don't know what to say, I don't know what to do. I promised myself, and whether you know it or not, you, that I would do everything I could to ensure the safety and well-being of our pride. I wish I were a better mother, a better wife, a better queen, … a better lioness; if I were maybe I'd still have my family, my position in the pride and everything would still be normal." Her voice started to break towards the end, and the flood of emotions she'd been doing her best to hold back for a good part of the night had returned, and finally she just broke down crying. She cried even harder than she had in the weeks since the lose of her family. Mufasa materialized enough to where he could not only be seen, but also felt, as he walked over to her and gave her the biggest hug he possibly could. She felt him as he hugged her and decided to lean into it as she started to cry even harder. The couple that had been torn apart by death, and reunited tonight, stayed in this position for a moment until the sobs slowly stopped. He pulled back a little from the hug to look at his mate and said "You were the best Simba and I could've hoped for, and at times even better than we deserved. You have "nothing" to be ashamed of, my love." She sobs her last few sobs, and he wipes away the last of her tears as he smiles warmly at her.
Something occurred to Sarabi, as she tried to compose herself, everyone knew where Mufasa's body was and they knew for certain that he had died; but only scattered traces of Simba's scent were picked up by the Pride, and his body was never found. She went to ask Mufasa what had become of the young Prince, but as she went to open her mouth it was as if he already knew what she was going to ask before she said a word; and he stopped her by raising a paw and giving a knowing smile, before saying once more " … you will see the dawn of a better reign, my love, …." She didn't know for certain, but she kind of got the hint that Simba might be alive, and he could return some day to rule the pride like his father had before him. The two mandrills stood in the background as they watched and listened to the exchange between Sarabi and Mufasa, and Rafiki said "You were given the correct name, … Kuponya, for now I see how well you can "heal" others. I just hope your scars have healed …" There were things Kuponya never told anyone, not even her mate, Rafiki, … and she looked at him with a solemn look as she thought "How did he know about those, … I know I've never said a word about them to him …" He gazed into her eyes as they started to dart slightly from one direction to another in wonder as to how he knew what he knew, … and he said "You don't need to worry, … ole Rafiki knows how to keep a secret, … but it would be wise to discuss them in a private setting, so they don't become a problem later…" She slightly gulped before nodding slightly in agreement" A second or two later the last rumbles of thunder could be heard echoing through the gorge as the last few drops of rain fell; and as it ended as if on que a distant roar could be heard that everyone in the gorge assumed was most likely from Pride Rock.
Sarabi stared at the ghostly image of her husband before her as her smile seemed to fade once more. The fading of her smile was quickly followed by the fading of Mufasa's ghost, and his glowing eyes were the last thing to disappear, and after they did so Sarabi closed her eyes, sat on her hunches, and dipped her head in despair. She knew that when Mufasa spoke, that it was often of the utmost importance, and when he mentioned that dark times were ahead that he wasn't exaggerating. She only knew of Scar's darkened demeanor and twistedness from the few times she met him since their adolescent years and from what others mentioned about him, but even so, deep down she wanted to believe that some small part of the old him was in there somewhere; perhaps buried deep underneath the pain and heartache of the years he suffered since they were cubs. A blue and white bird with an elongated beak, known as Zazu, flew down to where she was as if on que to help bring her out of her thoughts, and it came to hover right in front of her before saying "Scar is not pleased that you are out after Sunset, however, his attention is more focused on Queen Zira who is having some difficulty with her pregnancy." Sarabi was now worried for the young cub inside of Zira, … sure she had been less than kind towards Sarabi, but that didn't mean she wanted anything to happen to cub because of his mother. Sarabi's ears pinned back as the rain slowly started to fall again, before nodding and saying, "I'm on my way and I'll do whatever I can to help." Sarabi and Zazu, the King's majordomo returned to Pride Rock as quickly as they could, but before Sarabi left the gorge for the night, she gave one last look over her shoulder and she could barely make out a set of bright yellow eyes watching her. She felt this was a sign that she wouldn't be going through these dark times alone, and that her love was never far away; she then looked toward Pride Rock and took off as fast as she could towards it with a renewed sense of both strength and bravery.