After Simba descended Pride Rock after he was crowned king, he looked toward his mother and Nala. "There is something….something I have to do now." He sighed heavily. Sarabi and Nala watched him as he stepped toward the grass. "Where do you suppose he's going?" Nala questioned.
Simba stopped when he saw the paw print his father had left so many years ago, on the night he had been rescued by him. He looked up at the sky, half-expecting Rafiki to conjure up another séance. He looked up, and as the wind rustled he heard Mufasa's voice. He heard the lecture, the story of the Great Kings, and then his father telling him of his destiny. "I guess even kings get scared, huh?" Then, he heard himself. And it was then that he realized that he had been scared during the fight with Scar.
He wanted so much to live up to Mufasa's expectations: to be great, powerful, intelligent….Simba sighed as he lifted his paw up out of the print and onto level ground. Then his eyes widened and he put his paw in the print again. At first glance he thought it was bigger than expected…he expected, and felt as some do, that it was the same as when he was a cub.
But no. It was bigger, meshing perfectly with the paw connected to his body. He smiled…he had grown, matured. He was ready to be king.
"Simba?" Simba's ears perked, revealing themselves from his mane as he heard his beloved's voice.
"Yes?" He replied.
"I'm pregnant. Rafiki says I'm going to have a cub."
And Simba felt as if he were on top of the world. From the clouds, Mufasa smiled.