Okay, I'm super super super super sorry I haven't updated in that last however-long. The file with the story on it was on a certain computer that has super-crashed. So here's next chapter (please don't kill me for taking so long!)

Crying. Simba looked up at the top of the cliff he'd been standing on an hour ago. He climbed back up. It was Vitani and Nuka.

"You're alive!" Simba embraced his cousins. At that moment, he'd have embraced anyone.

"Gee, thanks. Yes, it was quite hard keeping an eye on those two while you were in a coma!" Simba opened his eyes and looked past the cubs. "Timon and Pumbaa," Simba said, smiling (which was something he never expected to be doing in a situation like this).

"Who'dja expect?" Timon said calmly.

"My Uncle Scar, for one," Simba said.

"Oh, don't get me started on his brain case," Pumbaa said. "I'm tellin' ya', Simba, your uncle suffers from split personalities fighting for control over his body. You should check with a doctor to make sure it's not hereditary!"

"Gee, thanks, Pig!" Vitani said.

"He means nothing by it, Tani," Simba said. "How long was I out?"

"We followed you three and yer 'escorts' for a while," Timon complained. "Let me tell ya, they did not give us one break! Day and night! We got here about a week after…"

"A week? I should be dead! I haven't had any water in-"

"Two weeks," said Nuka.

"Two weeks? I defiantly should be dead, then! Didn't they think I was dead?"

"It was the twins," Vitani whispered, staring at the cliff edge. Simba realized she'd have nightmares about this all her life. They all would, except maybe Timon and Pumba. But even they…

"What do you mean, Tani?"

"They realized you were still breathing," Nuka said. "They forced water down you're throat every time we stopped for water. The hyenas were so oblivious."

Simba looked back to where he'd been asleep for about a week. He imagined the sisters laying his body down there, crying tears of guilt streaming down their delicate, beautiful faces. And then the hyenas, on orders from his own uncle! They told the twins to jump, head first. They couldn't, so the Four attacked them and forced them off headfirst. He could even hear them scream… Simba looked away. They died for him and his cousins.

"They didn't deserve this!" Simba muttered.

Timon got off of Pumbaa's neck for once. He walked up two feet in front of Simba. The prince's head hung low, not daring to look, else show his tears.

"No one deserves this, Simba," Timon said. Simba looked up. Timon never, ever was serious. "Simba," he continued, "they died for you. Didn't they?" Simba nodded. "Then why are ya' sittin' here? Why aren't you off chasing down their killers?"

"Well, let's see," Simba spat through tears. "I haven't eaten in weeks, we're lost-"

"No we aren't!" shouted Nuka, immediately regretting it. Simba looked down at him.

"Nuka?"

"We lived in a jungle before Pride Rock, but, uh, that's it. We stayed in the jungle. We've never seen this spot before," Timon said.

"Nuka, do you remember the way home?" Nuka didn't want to say.

"Nuka, that lion isn't your father anymore. Your father is named Taka. That one is called Scar, because he scars the hearts of the ones he trusts and lets them burn in Man's Red Flower!" Nuka pleaded to Simba with his eyes.

"You aren't betraying your father, Nuka." Nuka looked out across the plains beyond.

"Beyond stone, grass, and sand

Lays a home once tended.

The ones that there lived,

Hearts they need mended.

Only One, both strong and true

Brave and Wise,

Can save the victims

From his fatal lies…"

Nuka looked back at Simba, his poem heard.

"Well said," Pumbaa remarked.

Simba's eyes narrowed slightly. "Very."