Dragon: here we are!! Chapter 6!! Unfortunately not as early as I'd hoped... actually it's probably the latest yet... but. Well... Well it doesn't matter because here it is!

Rand:: still whimpering from his beating ::

Dragon:: sighs :: c'mon Rand, it wasn't that bad was it?

Rand: ...:: whimpers ::

Dragon: ...

Mat: you'd think as the all powerful Dragon reborn he'd be able to take more then a simple beating

Min: especially considering the daily beatings he took when being held captive by the Aes Sedai...

Nyneave: well, Sammael IS a Forsaken, and they're all out to get Rand, what, did you think he'd go easy on him?

Dragon: ...I should have considered that...:: shakes head :: anyways.. The reviews!! Aria-Wolfstar, hehe, I know, I'm trying to make it as Lion King-ish as I can, glad to know its working, and the longness makes up for the lateness...hehe.. And Lan, heh, I'm still considering weather ill leave him in Demandreds evil clutches

Demandred: say yes say yes! :: evil smile ::

Lan: ...

Dragon: well... it WOULD be fun, it means I can get him bashed on a regular basis for no reason, plus the story gets angstier...

Demandred: you know ya wanna!

Nyneave:: glares ::

Dragon: meh... I'll decide on that next chapter.. Thanks for the review! And FantasyTraveler, like I said, I want to make this story as similar to the original Lion King as possible. And, uh, thanks...I thinkOo thanks for reviewing! And now. TO THE STORY!!

--

She stared, horrified by the vision in front of her, she could see King Lews lying, dead on the ground. A dark figure was standing over it, laughing evilly. "He.. He's not going to make it" she wasn't sure if she'd only thought that or if shed spoken it out loud. The city was growing darker, darker; she could hear him screaming in terror as four shadows floated in circles around his limp body. The laughing, the screaming, they where growing louder, louder, louder, she could hardly distinguish one from the other anymore, everything was going dark, she couldn't breathe. She cried out desperately, she could hardly hear herself. She lost consciousness.

--

Min awoke to a warm bed and a familiar voice, "Min? Can you hear me Min?" her eyes fluttered open to reveal Nyneave, sitting in a chair next to her bed. Wait, not her bed... Elayne's bed. Elayne herself was seated on a chair on the other side of the room, head in hands, weeping softly as her brother tried to comfort her.

"What...?" Min asked drowsily. Why was she here? What had happened...?

Then it all came back to her. Lord Gaebril coming into her room. Knocking her out and taking her to the darker part of the city where those women bound her in the power as bait for Rand. She vaguely remembered watching helplessly as some blonde man with a scar beat Rand with the power. After that, it got strangely fuzzy.

"Nyneave, where's Rand? Why isn't he here? What happened? Oh light Nyneave what happened?!" panic stricken, Min was in such a rush to ask it all came out too quickly, Min felt dizzy suddenly, was the room supposed to spin like that?

"Shh, Min, you need rest." Nyneave told her gently, "you're awfully worn out," she frowned slightly, "and you've managed to develop a fever as well" Min lay herself back down, not realizing shed jumped up in the first place. "Nyneave, what happened?" she asked again pleadingly. "Where's Rand?"

Nyneave hesitated slightly, but before she could answer, Elayne did. "Rand's dead, Min."

Min almost fell unconscious again. Rand. Her Rand was dead. "H...H...How?" she managed in a hoarse voice after finally registering what had been said.

"After King Lews was killed," Elayne said quietly, her voice shook and her face was wet with tears "He went after them, Min, and they killed him. Demandred told us. He'd tried to save him but...but..." Elayne broke into sobs again and Gawyn put his arms around her.

Min said nothing. King Lews... She'd remembered having a vision of his death, just before passing out. She'd foreseen his death, just moments before it occurred. And she hadn't been able to help Rand. She could have stopped him, she could have reasoned with him! Min took a deep, shaky breath.

"No... He wouldn't have listened anyway" she told herself under her breath. She was almost surprised when a hot tear trickled down her face. Almost.

The room became silent, save for -Elayne who was still crying- as they all mourned the loss of their King and Prince. Then, there was a knock at the door, and General Faile walked in, she gave a short bow before she said "Um... I beg your pardon for intruding... but the Funeral starts in a few hours..." Nyneave stood, brushing away her own tears and muttered, "we'll be out in a minute" Faile nodded, bowed again and left.

"A funeral? Already?" Min asked, completely aghast, usually, when someone died, the family and friends where given a few days to prepare themselves. It was a hard thing letting go of someone. A Funeral was like the admitting. Admitting you'd never see them again.

Never again, she thought. Never again would they run through the castle together, trying to best each other in speed and strength, never again would they walk through the town, looking at all the strange things the sea folk traders had brought from foreign countries, nor sit by the fire

"I know, it seems strange," Nyneave sighed, "but what with everything that's been happening outside the Dragoncity, we need Lord Demandred to take the throne as fast as possible so there won't be much time for mourning" Min nodded, then, a revelation came to her. If Demandred was going to become king, that meant he had to live in the palace. Along with...

Lord Gaebril.

As they made their way down to the great hall a few minutes later, Min was still suppressing shudders.

--

"I told you we should have gone earlier; at least it wouldn't have been as hot"

"...shut up" Mat muttered, he heard Perrin sigh in exasperation. He knew Perrin was right-bloody Perrin was always right! - But Mat could hardly help that, he just wasn't a morning person.

Even if not being a morning person meant having to walk through the scorching hot sun for miles just because that bloody Aiel woman insisted it was 'good for their health'. Aviendha herself had already gone on her morning run, which he suspected was at least twice as long as he and Perrin had to walk. Aiel sure were a crazy people.

So the two of them continued to walk on through the heat, each lost in their own world of thought, when suddenly...

"AARGH!" Mat cried as he fell face forward into the ground.

"You okay there Mat?" Mat heard Perrin ask.

"Blood and bloody..." Mat growled, pulling himself to stand again, "I tripped on this...whatever it is" He glared down at it. It took them both a few seconds to actually realize what it was.

"Light... its... it's a kid!" Perrin breathed in shock. "Blood and ashes... What's he doing all the way out here though?" Mat responded, kneeling down next to the ragged looking boy. He didn't actually look much younger them, he was tall-almost as tall as an Aiel, and that was saying something- with long, messy red hair. His clothes where so travel worn it was hard tot ell they where actually clothes at all.

"We'd better take him with us" Perrin muttered, picking up the limp body.

"I wonder what Aviendha will have to say about this..." Mat muttered.

--

Some days before

Rand had been walking for days now, without food or water, and without rest. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept, nor had a decent meal. Nor did he care. He found it hard to remember much anymore, the great heat took away the energy to do little more then struggle to take the next, tiring step towards nothing. Every so often he'd slip into a sort of half-awake day dream where he'd remember the last few moments of his father's life, hear his scream, remember... Someone telling him to leave the city, and he had done so.

He was so tired, he couldn't even think straight anymore. What was the point of continuing? He wasn't even going anywhere... Or had he been? He couldn't remember... His knees finally gave way and he collapsed, he let his consciousness slip away...

For a long time, Rand simply drifted. Floating on the fine line between life and death, almost completely incapable of thought, every now and then he'd find himself in some random memory of his childhood, walking through a garden with Elayne as she told him about how Gawyn was going t be her warder when she finally became Aes Sedai, of the day he and Min had first met one another, in his mothers small room, of the day Nyneave had tried to teach him to sing-and with very little success...

Until one day, his consciousness returned. He could hear voices, he could, just barely hear what they where saying.

"...He's getting better... at least his temperature's dropped"

"I wonder what he was doing so far from the city."

"Maybe he isn't from the city at all..."

"You suppose he's a Saldean or something then? He sure doesn't look it..."

"Would you two please concentrate on what you're doing? All your talk will awaken him!"

Rand felt sleepy again, his consciousness slipped and he was back to floating...

--

"...Hey! You're awake!" Rand's eyes opened. He looked around; he was in a small hut, lying on a messy bed in a cave. It didn't really look much like the inside of a cave though, the floor had been lined with various rugs, and some brown material had been hung over the opening to act as a kind of screen to the outside world. To the far corner where a few large slabs of wood, one of which had a pile of strange looking herbs, an assortment of fruits, and a hunk of meat on it. Next to his bed where two others, each as messy as his own, and sitting on one of them was a tall young man- not much older looking then himself- wearing a wide brimmed, black hat.

"Where...Where am I?" he asked, suddenly realizing how hoarse his voice was.

"You're here" the man replied, and grinned at the confused look on Rands face. "A small Haven, just off the south side of the Aiel waste" Rand stared at him. That was right across the Waste, from the city. "Had he really managed to walk that far and not die? Light!

"How..."

"We found you" a voice said, and the brown screen was pushed back as another young man walked into the cave-room. He was taller then the other, and more muscular. He was holding what looked to be a large axe. "Glad to see your up at last" he spoke again, smiling at him warmly. "My name is Perrin, and this," he gestured to the man sitting on the bed, "is Mat"

"And who're you?" asked the one named Mat, "and what where you doing wandering through the Waste?"

"...Rand. My name is Rand" Rand replied, "And I was..." he paused. What would he tell them? He could hardly tell two strangers he was a prince who'd killed his own father and run away from his home. Yet, something about these two strangers made him feel compelled to tell the away. I'm an outcast" He said at last. If he wasn't going to tell the truth, he'd at least tell part of it.

"An outcast eh?" Mat muttered, grinning again, "Well Me'n Perrin here happen to be outcasts like yourself." Perrin nodded solemnly to Mats words.

"Mat? Perrin?" another voice called from behind the screen, a female's this time. A young woman came into the room, she was, Rand had to admit, rather pretty. She was tall, and had long, flaming red hair wearing some brown cloth Rand's Mother had told him was called, Caidin'Sor. In one hand she held a long spear, in the other, a very large, very dead snake., Her eyes instantly met his, "ah, so your awake" she greeted him, "My name is Aviendha, and I suppose you've already met Mat and Perrin" Rand nodded numbly. "His name's Rand" Mat told her as she handed a long spear to Perrin and placed the snake on one of the large slabs of wood. "Says he's run away from his homeland" Aviendha nodded.

"Well, Rand" she said, turning to face him again. "Welcome to our Haven"

--

Demandred smiled to himself as he stared up at the stars. Everything had gone perfectly. His Fool brother was dead, along with his no-good son, and now he was king. Just like it should have been. It was too bad Asmodean had somehow managed to escape him, how he'd managed to flee the castle was unknown to him-and along with that short haired urchin girl too Rahvin seemed to fancy too. Not that it mattered; there was plenty of time to find them, just like he'd find that Aes Sedai woman, maybe he could use her Warder as a lure. Smiling to himself at the thought he retired. Everything was just prefect.

--

Dragon: yay! That's it!

Mat: yay! I was in this chapter!

Perrin and Aviendha: us too!

Dragon: yeah.. Hehe.. I feel so mean, I'm torturing all the characters.. And its only going to get worse...especially if I decide to Have Lan thrown into Jail...

Nyneave: leave Lan alone!

Dragon:: snorts :: oh come on, he's a WARDER! Hell be FINE!

Lan: I hope...

Min: aw, I hardly got to do anything this chapter!

Elayne: at least YOU did more then sit around and cry..:: pouts ::

Min: ...

Dragon: well...uh... See ya's all next chapter! And thanks, everyone, for being such loyal reviewers much appreciated.. Review now. Bye bies!