Ok, this is just a one shot, its something that happened during Scar's reign of the Pridelands.

I do not own the lion king; only the Hyena character is mine.

The Dawning of a New Era

It was a hot day and it hadn't rained for months; the Pridelands were slowly drying out and food was getting scarce. Nala, who was almost full-grown, had been sent out into the Pridelands searching for food. It was nearing midday and the sun was at its highest in the sky. By now she had abandoned hope of finding anything to eat and was now just looking for somewhere to get out of the sun.

She spotted a cave and made her way toward it; stepping inside she was thankful of the shade it gave, and she lay down in the entrance. She tried to fall asleep but as this proved impossible she just lay awake, contemplating scars rule and hoping it would be over soon. She knew this was impossible as there was no replacement king, so she had not much hope left, and she was just falling asleep when there was a sound from the back of the cave. Nala got up and span around.

"Who's that? Who's there?" she asked worriedly. She saw something moving in the shadows but nothing came out. She could see that it was smaller than a lion and that gave her a good idea of what it was, though she hoped that it wasn't.

"Come out now or there'll be trouble!" she shouted into the shadows. Her suspicions about the creature were confirmed when a scared looking Hyena slowly walked out of the shadows. It was medium sized for a Hyena and was quite normal - except for a cruel, large scar running all the way down its side, making it look as it had been mauled rather badly. Like most lions Nala had a certain dislike and mistrust for Hyenas, but as she wasn't a nasty lion by nature she decided to give it a chance.

"Why were you spying on me?" she demanded.

"I… I… I wasn't spying on you honest, I was here before you, when you came in I couldn't get out…" the Hyena stuttered.

Nala looked at the creature before answering. "So… why didn't you just ask me to let you pass?" she asked, puzzled.

"I…" The Hyena sighed. "I was too scared to, I know better than most how much lions hate us." He indicated the scars down his side. "I got these when I was still a pup from a lioness in your pride; it was only a few days after Scar made us come here and it was just because I was in her way."

Nala's face softened slightly. She hadn't thought that someone in her pride could be so cruel as to attack something that young, even if it was a Hyena.

"I suppose with the time we're getting with Scar I didn't think it would be as bad for you," Nala said, beginning to feel sorry for this Hyena - something she had never thought would happen.

"You don't have to be sorry, it wasn't you that did it! But I'm glad that there is at least one good lion…why are you being so friendly to me?" the Hyena said, looking a good deal more relaxed than it was at first.

"Well…I have always been taught to hate Hyenas - all lions are - but I have never seen the reason why I should, I mean, you've never done anything to me, at least not much," she admitted, remembering the Elephant Graveyard, "so I'm willing to give you a chance. And I'm not the only good lion, not by far: there was Mufasa, he was a good lion; Sarabi, she is always kind, and of course there's my mother Sarafina," At the mention of her mother, the Hyena suddenly looked terrified and started to back away.

"Sarafina… is your mother? I've… I've got to go!" With that he ran off, a look of undiluted terror on his face. Nala looked after him, shocked. Why should her mother's name be causing so much distress to this Hyena? She suddenly had an awful thought. 'A lioness in your pride', he'd said… but surely her mother wouldn't do a thing like that… would she? There was only one way she could find out for sure and she took off in the direction of Pride Rock.

It took her at least an hour to find Sarafina who was sleeping under a tree near the base of Pride Rock. Nala walked over to her and prodded her with a paw.

"Hey Mum! Mum! Wake up!" she shouted.

"...Go away!' her mother snorted, half asleep.

"Oh mum, just wake up!" Nala yelled, beginning to get impatient.

"Wha? Oh sorry dear I was asleep…" Sarafina yawned, "Was - was there something you wanted?"

"Well… yes, there is. About an hour ago I was looking for somewhere to get out of the sun, so I went to the first place I found which was a smallish cave… after a few moments in there I heard a sound from the back, it was a Hyena and I-"

"A Hyena! Nala are you alright? If it did anything to you I'll…"

"Yes, yes," Nala assured her hurriedly, "I'm fine but that's not the point. The point is that he was actually being quite friendly to me and he even said that he was glad that there was at least one good lion… I was telling him that there were other good lions as well, like Mufasa and Sarabi, but when I mentioned your name he suddenly looked terrified and ran off. So do you have any idea why?" Nala looked up at her mother and was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"Mum?" she asked quietly.

"It's nothing dear I've…I've just got something in my eye," Sarafina replied hurriedly, rubbing it with one blonde paw.

"Mum…" said Nala,

"No, really Nala… it's nothing," she said, but Nala wasn't having any of it.

"MUM!"

Sarafina sighed before answering.

"Alright, alright, I admit it, it was me, I was the one that attacked him! There, I said it! I didn't even know that he had survived! He hadn't done anything to me and I attacked him!" Sarafina said, sniffing and sounding like a very young cub indeed.

"Mum, how could you do something like that! He was only a pup!" Nala said incredulously.

"Oh Nala, do you know how bad it made me feel? I didn't mean to do it, and I felt so guilty when I realized what I had done!" Sarafina answered.

"What happened? Why did you do it?"

"Well… if I tell you, you must promise not to judge me!" she insisted, and Nala nodded. "A while ago now, only a few weeks into Scars reign…in fact, you would have still been a cub…"

---

"SARAFINA!"

Sarafina looked up at the sound of her name and groaned. "What does that git want now?" she asked, more to herself than to anyone else. She decided that it would probably be better if she did go and find out what Scar wanted; it could be dangerous to defy Scar. She started walking up to his cave, and she got up there she found him standing in the entrance waiting for her.

"What took you so long?" Scar snapped. Sarafina was about to complain but was stopped by Scar's dismissive snarl.

"I want to talk to you about your hunting party - I have some changes to make, I've already spoken to Sarabi about hers." Scar said. "Firstly, I want all the lionesses on it at all times, regardless of age…"

"But-" Sarafina was cut off again.

"Second, I want you out twice a day, regardless of weather.."

"What-"

"And third, I want you to make sure you get enough food to feed those damn hyenas, got it?"

At this Sarafina exploded. "WHAT! You cannot be serious! There is absolutely no way that we-" she was interrupted in mid-flow when Scar slapped her across the face with his paw.

"You will be doing it because if you don' t your daughter might have a little accident involving her, my paw and falling off the top of pride rock!" Scar said, his eyes glinting maniacally.

"You wouldn't dare!" Sarafina shouted defiantly.

"Oh but I would," Scar snarled, "Now get out of my sight!"

And with that he strode back into his cave leaving Sarafina speechless with rage.

She started back down the rock, fuming. "If that bastard lays one paw, just one paw on Nala then I will personally kill him!" she snarled. She was half way down when her path was blocked. Looking down she saw a small hyena pup looking up at her with large eyes.

Without even thinking in her rage she whacked it as hard as she could with her claws, sending it flying from the path, and she continued to walk down. It took her at least five minutes before she realized what she had done. "Oh no…" she whispered, turning around and running back. "What have I done?" she cried.

She got back to where it was and started frantically searching for it, but it was nowhere to be found. The only sign of it was a pool of blood on the ground.

Sarafina sat there staring at it for a long time. "I killed it… I killed it!" she whispered, a tear running down her face. "It- it did nothing to me but I killed it! It was so young!" She sat there for at least an hour, crying to herself, before she slowly started walking back to her cub…

---

Sarafina looked up at Nala and sighed again. Nala had been silent through the entire account and was now staring open mouthed.

"Thank god he's okay…" she murmured.

Nala was in shock - she had had no idea that her mother had done any of this.

"Do you know where this Hyena is?" her mother asked suddenly.

"What?" Nala said, taken aback. "Why?"

"I – I have to talk to him," Sarafina said.

"Well, I know where he was, but I don't know if he will be there now or not,"

Nala said, and the two of them ran off, Nala leading.

"Hello? Hyena, are you in there?" asked Nala, making her way cautiously inside. There was no answer, but a slight whimpering sound came from the back of the cave.

"Come on, it's alright, it's just me…" There was a long pause, but eventually Nala heard the sound of paws against stone, and she saw the Hyena slowly walking towards her. It stopped a few meters away and looked at her, trembling.

"How can the daughter of Sarafina be a good lion?" he asked nervously.

"My mother never meant to hurt anyone," Nala said, trying to understand what this Hyena had been through.

"Then why did she do it?" he asked.

"I swear I didn't-" began Sarafina, stepping forward, and the hyena cut her off with a shriek, noticing her for the first time.

"SHE'S COME TO FINISH ME OFF!" he shouted in terror. Sarafina sat down and looked at the ground.

"I'm so sorry about what I did. I don't even know why I did it – Scar had threatened my daughter, and I was just so, so angry…" A tear ran down her face and fell on to the cave floor. The hyena looked completely taken aback.

"What?" he asked.

"After what I did to you, I don't deserve to live…" She lay on the ground. "I am at your mercy." She closed her eyes, and waited for the hyena's revenge.

The Hyena stared, speechless for several moments before replying.

"I forgive you," he said simply, and Sarafina looked up in shock.

"But after what I've done to you, I nearly killed you! I…" she trailed off.

"I know what you did, but you didn't kill me did you? I have it in me to forgive you - anyway we're both in the same situation here stuck in these lands with this famine and drought, so we should put aside our differences - if we can do that, we might be able to get through this," the hyena said, finally smiling.

"Thank you." Sarafina said, sitting up. "I don't deserve it"

"Yes you do. We all do things in life that we regret and anyway forgiveness is in my name; it's Buraa."

"Come on, it's getting late - we should head back to pride rock," Nala suggested, nuzzling her mother in relief, so the two lionesses and the hyena walked back to their home together, talking all the way.

As the sun set over the Pridelands that day, it truly was the dawning of a new era, in which lion and hyena came together - in a great and glorious future.

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