Okay, I been lazy! Next chapter! Out of curiosity, why do I keep loading these up when everyone's gone to the full version already?

Warning: Ultra confusing chapter (or so I've been told)

Simba didn't know how long he had been asleep. Hours, days, weeks, it didn't really matter. He slowly opened his bruised eyes and raised his head off of the ground. He looked around, barely strong enough to perform the simple task. He recognized nothing. That was all that mattered. He had failed. Simba let his head hit the ground. He cried and put a paw over his face. Eventually, he fell back to sleep.

Again, Simba woke up, unaware of how long he'd been out. This time, he managed to stand up. He looked around. Behind him was the edge of a dense jungle. In front of him, a large plot of un-vegetated land and not far in the distance was endless grasslands. To his right, more dead land like that in front and beneath him. To his left, however, was the edge of a cliff.

The moment he saw the cliff edge, Simba got shivers up his spine. His fur stood up on ends. His pupils shrank. His mouth was suddenly very dry. His insides were twisting around in knots. Something was just out of his sight, and he did not want to see it. But he had to.

Every step towards the edge of the cliff brought more dread. Simba's breathing rasped. His heart was banging in his ears. His mane quivered. He reached the edge and looked down into the shallow gorge. Simba gasped in horror.

Two of the lionesses in his pride lay at the bottom, dead. Not even the scavenging birds were brave enough to touch their broken bodies. Simba struggled to breath. He knew these two. They were from his pride. They were sisters. He had never been close to them, but they were still kind and loyal. They didn't deserve to die so early in life. They were only about three years older than he. Tears streamed down Simba's face. Why would they jump…?

Why would they jump! Simba thought about it. The gorge wasn't that deep. Maybe twenty feet. Just deep enough to kill if you jumped at the right angle, but not even a suicidal goes head first. That's when Simba saw them. The attack wounds on the sisters. Simba climbed down to them.

Simba looked at their faces. There was no way they came down here willingly. Their faces, frozen to their final position, resonated fear, betrayal, guilt… Simba reached with his paw and closed their eyes. He reached down to hug their lifeless bodies, a final goodbye, but he got a whiff of a foul stench clinging to their fur. Hyenas. Simba knew immediately what happened.

Scar stood at the top of Pride Rock, standing over Simba's unconscious body. He called for some hyenas to take him down to the ground. Scar observed them struggle to carry the larger cat. He had them lay Simba in front of the pride, who were trapped by hyenas under Pride Rock. They had all seen him go up onto the promontory. The darkness had hidden them from Simba's eyes before. And now he was half dead.

The pride stood there, staring at their fallen prince. No one, not even Scar, knew he was still alive. Nala's bruised face showed the most sorrow and horror. Mufasa was seriously crippled from the hyena ambush. Scar looked into the eyes of his prisoners. He smiled cunningly.

"Your 'Prince' has, um," Scar looked at Simba's motionless body, "abandoned his post. And that leaves me to play with you all. You've met all my friends, I take it," Scar referred to the hyenas. One female seemed particularly favored by Simba's uncle. Two males also. "Now I need two volunteers," Scar cooed. Four hyenas stepped up. "Choose the ones you want, boys."

The hyenas chose the two who'd put up the smallest fight, two sisters. "Girls, come!" The hyena guard let the twins out of the pen. Scar motioned them to come to him. They walked up nervously. "Your job is to get rid of," Scar nudged Simba's head, "this. These four gentlemen are going to accompany you. You see, he's too heavy for two hyenas, and no more than two of them are able to get under him to carry him. So you two are. There's just one catch," Scar played friendly. "You two will not be joining my boys back. I'm afraid I have no use for you."

"WHAT ARE YOU!" screamed Nala, rushing the perimeter of hyenas. . "WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO! WHY WOULD YOU KILL HIM! AND WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU GETTING RID OF HIS BODY!"

"Because it's fun," Scar smiled. Nala's eyes grew in horror. Scar turned to the twins and hyenas. "Get going! Oh, and while you're at it…" Scar added, "If you happen upon two cubs called Nuka and Vitani, take them with you, and leave them with the corpse."

But they were wrong. Simba wasn't dead. And he was not going to let his pride go on thinking that he was.