Sorry for the long "update-time", but here it finally is! I've been really busy the last week...

Katrina, I'm sorry you didn't like it - but then again, not everyone can love what another writes. I'm just a bit annoyed, that you've followed this story for so long, and not commenting before now on what you thought. Now that things actually did happen, and they can't be changed. But that is the way things go sometimes, I hope you find other stories out there that you like better than this.

Morpheus-Dreamer, thanks so much for that! Beautiful... never thought about calling a death scene that, but thanks!

Sunrise19, I hope you'll be doing better soon. We all have favorite characters, and I'm sorry to let one of yours die, but Scar wouldn't have it any other way ;)

well, here it is... I think it's one of the last chapters, we're coming near the end! I won't update again before next week, since I'm going on a longer trip with school for the next few days. Enjoy this chapter, please read and review - as always. Atrice

16 - Long live the king!

Scar didn't move, when he saw Nalas mad eyes fixed upon him. The somewhat relieved, superior smile on his face did not disappear, and his green eyes seemed to shine more than ever.

"Will you fight?" Nala then asked, and Scar looked somewhat surprised by the question.

"Nala… my dear Athari! You're right, things could have been alright. And they are – I got what I wanted, didn't I? You're wrong on one point though…" Scar took a step forward and sent a quick glance towards the stars so far above, then smiled to Nala. "I was always next in line, after Simba! I am the king now!" both Kovu and Kiara sent him a startled look, but he seemed to stand on his point. Then Kovu got to his senses, remembering what Scar once told him.

"That means, that to become the real king – I must kill you too…" Kovu said and Nala nodded; it seemed as if Kovu had finally moved to the good side again.

"Oh, but you won't, Kovu… you won't." Scar said, sounding very sure of himself.

"And why won't I kill you? Tell me, please…" Kovu moved closer to the lion, who backed a bit away – not only because his chosen son came closer, but also because the blood on the floor suddenly began to spread more again. Now cold, thick blood…

"Because you haven't got the courage! You couldn't kill Simba, how could you then kill me – who you have more in common with, than you ever had with the late king!" Scar wanted his words to be right, they could all hear that. Nala took action, and pushed Kovu away – who looked at her with puzzled eyes.

"If he is to die, let me do it – it was my mate, he killed." Nala said, but Kovu didn't like that.

"But that won't lead us anywhere! You've got to let me do it!" the younger lion said, and Nala shook her head and sighed.

"You do have the courage, Kovu… but this is my revenge, not yours." She explained.

Scar thought this looked quite interesting. Kovu and Nala fighting over who was to fight himself, and kill him! He felt like laughing, but sensed it was a bad time to do it now. Scar then heard a little whimp behind him, and went to see how the cubs were doing. For a moment, he forgot what just happened, and the fighting lions didn't seem to notice him.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

"All you ever wanted, was to be the king…" a soft voice asked behind him, and he let Kiara step up to the sleeping cubs too.

"A king is loved by his pride…" Scar said and looked at the little ones again. They were loved – or were they? Their real father had never even looked closer at them, but they had gotten a little love from both Kiara and Scar before Nala, Simba and Kovu turned up. Scar hoped they would be loved, all of them; that none of them were made better than the others. That they were equal, even though they maybe didn't look the same.

"Only if the king rule in a way, that can be loved." Kiara looked over her shoulder, to see what was going on there. The two others still stood there, snapping at each other. Kiara thought about it for a short moment; she didn't want another death here. But she knew that someone would fight and kill Scar sooner or later. Scar, who had been so nice to her, shown her love in a way she never imagined. She had given him the love that he wanted, in exchange for the care she sometimes longed for. A care that wasn't worried, but just let her follow her own mind – and didn't disappear because of that. Kiara knew now, how to rule when she was the queen. "Scar, there is only one way out of this! Either you run away now, when they're busy… or you stay and fight." She then finally said, and he was once again surprised by this young lioness. He had her in his claws, how on earth had she come to care so much for him?

"What do you suggest – my queen?" Scar then said with a glimpse in the eye, and by those words she seemed astonished, but not in a bad way. A lion, that would and could take care of her, who knew about life – a lion who would let her be the queen, if she asked him to stay. But she knew just as well as he, that there wasn't a choice there; he couldn't stay and become the king. Kiara opened her mouth to tell him, that he should flee now…

"Kiara! Why are you talking to him?" Kovu suddenly asked, and they both turned around – Scar smirking. Kiara sighed, there was no choice at all now. Had they finally come to an conclusion?

"Because he is the king!" Kiara yelled back at him with such insistence, whichstunned Kovu so much that he shut up on what he was about to say. Nala smiled to Scar, and went to him. She nodded to him, that he should come with her to the middle of the chamber again. Here the two lions faced each other, while Kovu backed away towards the chambers entrance. He didn't want to go near his socalled mate again! But Nala still smiled.

"What was it? Simba told me, what you said to Mufasa just before you killed him… Long live the king!" and with that, it was settled, and Scar had no chance to prevent it when she made a jump towards him – she was ready for the fight, he wasn't.