Wow, thanks so much for all the reviews! I really appreciate them, all of them!

Sunrise19, I have calculated Scar to be around 10 years old... Nala is 5 or 6 years old (lions become 10-14 years old... and females mature around 3-4 years of age, males a bit later)... so yeah, he is a bit old, hehe...

Zeldy; Simba does still love Nala... and he will be a part of the story sometime I'm sure - just not yet...

sulkenwolfpup! What a review, the longest I ever had I think! I always thought Mufasa fathered Nala, since it is only the leading male of a pride who's allowed to mate with the females (and not just one of them). And yeah... love "The Madness of King Scar", so you got that guess right (I listen to it constantly this time around)... ;)

oh well, on with the story... here it is, I hope you like this next part - please R&R, your reviews makes me think more about what I write too... Atrice

Part 5 - There's still a chance...

Scar took a curious look at this young lion. He seemed so familiar – and he was a member of the King Pride? That made Scar wonder; for the young had dark fur, and his mane almost black as Scars own. He looked like Scar, when he was a young and strong lion at only 5 years. Scar understood, that his time was running out, when he saw this young version of himself; and remembered that Athari told him that the lion would be king of Pride Rock one day. While the thoughts ran through Scars mind, the young lion interrupted them.

"Nala… who is this?" he said, the voice calm and interested. Scar nodded with a smile to the lioness he called Athari, who looked at him.

"Yes… please, introduce us." He said with all the nobility he could pull together. He had to make a good impression on this future king – who looked like himself. Nala kept walking back and forwards between them, she couldn't decide what to do. Finally she stayed put right between them, to prevent an eventual fight.

"Kovu… this is…" she almost couldn't bear to say it and took a deep breath; "…Scar! Scar, meet Kovu – your future king!" she forced herself to say, anger in her voice. She couldn't tell who looked more surprised after the introduction – Scar or Kovu? The fight she thought she predicted, didn't take place - they both starred at each other, looked like they had seen a ghost. Scar however was the first to pull himself together, refilling the air around him with that strange aura of nobility and power. Kovu still looked like he had seen a ghost, when he finally stuttered:

"You're… Scar? The Scar?" he didn't think about how he put the words, and Scar smiled to the young lion with a nod – almost a bow, and Kovu finally noticed the scar across his eye. A scar on the exact same position as the scar across Kovu's eye! He remembered the tales that Zira told him about the great Scar, and the not so great tales he later heard from Simba and Nala. He couldn't believe this darkness they talked about, was present here in front of him. Scar actually made Kovu look up to him, wanting to know him. Kovu felt it, as ifhe had just met a great king, greater than the gentle Mufasa he had heard about; but in another way. Scar could be kind too, couldn't he? And he looked so much like someone, who ought to rule…

"And you… Kovu, are to be king of Pride Rock?" Scar ripped Kovu out of his thoughts, and he nodded slowly. "Interesting, don't you think, Athari? Kovu was the cub I took in as my own son, when his father died. Chose him to become king, if I failed… I failed, and Kovu will be the king!" Scar said to Nala, who felt it was all going very wrong. She didn't like that Scar got this satisfaction, but it was too late now.

"The king that Kovu will be, will be many times better than you were!" she said to him with a growl, and Scar smiled his superior smile.

"I am sure he will – I chose him, after all, didn't I? Kovu…" he looked at the young lion, who suddenly couldn't help but smiling too. Scar had been right in choosing him; Kovu understood this now, this thing he never understood from Zira.

"As a cub, Zira tried to teach me how to become the king – but in all the wrong ways. I always wished you were there to teach me… why did you leave?" Kovu suddenly asked, not knowing where that question came from. He ought to be happy that Scar at least was alive, and that he would finally know this lion he always heard about. Scar walked around the lioness he called Athari, and she moved to let him pass. In fact, suddenly he did impress her too with his stately steps and charisma! She felt what Kovu had been feeling not long ago; that Scar did look like someone who should to be in charge…

"Simba tried to kill me – I'm sure you heard all about that…" he growled to Athari, who sat down as he looked at her. "…but he failed, didn't have the courage. I managed to escape, when the hyenas felt the fire came too near. I came here, exhausted, outcast… and ever since, I have been surviving on my own. I had failed, and could not return – not to Pride Rock, and not to the Shadowlands either…" he explained, in a miserable yet profound tone. Nala knew he felt every word of that to be true, she knew him too well. He was sad that he failed to be a great leader, and he hadn't returned to the outcasts either because of that. Scar actually had feelings, that were not just arrogant and refined. He was more than she ever imagined he would be…

"You failed, but there's still a chance for things to be alright again…" she said – he had been ignoring her while talking to Kovu, and now they both looked at her. Kovusmiledlike he agreed with Nala, Scar looked curious and his miserable face again changed to a minor smile.

"I remember you saying that before… but back then, things were different. Athari – you could have been my queen…" the conversation had suddenly changed, become more deep and serious. Athari – or Nala – had never talked with Scar like this before. Never guessed that he contained these feelings – that he contained any feelings at all, in fact…

"Back then, you were obsessed with power…" she had no idea where all this came from, and surpressed what she was about to say; 'but you have changed…' he had altered, he was a different lion than the one being king between Mufasa and Simba. A different lion than the one, who had killed his own brother to become the king himself…

"I'm afraid you all failed to see beyond that… they always did, you know; nobody ever liked me, not even as a cub…" Scar suddenly felt this was going too far, and without another word he left the two others alone by the waterhole – returning to his own rock, where he lay down on the top with a sigh. Nobody ever liked him; it seemed that Kovu maybe did, but did he know Scar at all?