Lets see here, well my 16 year old car got a crack in the radiator, I fixed it with this special glue like solvent but mom wants to drive it from now on so she can be the one who gets stalled out on the highway. She gave me her car but I never really liked it, it feels weird, I always feel far away from the gas pedal no matter how close I get, plus the back part of the seat makes me sit up more and I can't seem to figure out how to put it back a little. I will probably get a new car by the end of the summer or when I get back from the Disney internship, I don't know yet. Any way now that I bored you with my endless drivel about my car time to thank my reviewers.
Bounding Jackalope: Another fast review from you, how fast do you read any way? I'm a fast reader too so I'm not being suspicious or anything. Thanks for the review I'm glad you liked it and good luck with your story.
Pichooi: Thanks for the review, glad you liked it. Yeah I thought it was odd for both Sarabi and Sarafina to have only one cub. And I will explain more about the two cub thing at the end of this chapter.
Skima: Don't worry you will see what Zazu thinks about those two soon enough I am definitely not going to skip out on that. Thanks for the review
Gryfffinrose: Yup two cubs thought it was a good idea any way. Thanks for the review and I hope you like this chapter.
DarkStar: Wow thanks for all those reviews, I was not expecting any until my next update and I come on to check my email and I find you, thanks a bunch. Any way Sarafina is Nala's mother according to the Lion King site and all other places that mention the Lion King. I think she is also listed in the end credits too even though she said only one line in the movie. Well thanks again, here's the next chapter.
MorpheusDreamer: Yay your back for a few seconds. Glad you liked the death of Ahadi and Sarafina's back story. You will see what happens to the other cub soon, he doesn't die immediately though. And thanks for more tips, commas and me don't get along, I'm still trying to work on that stuff. Thanks for the review, see you soon.
Nala5: Thanks for the review and I am sorry about your computer, don't you hate it when those things break on you? And don't worry I don't plan to get Sarafina stuck with Scar. Hope you like this chapter.
Sunrise19: Thanks for the review; you'll see what happens to the other cub later on and I am glad you liked chapter 11. Hope you like this chapter.
Now on to the story after using two pages worth to thank everyone,
I was waiting for so long
For a miracle to come
Everyone told me to be strong
Hold on and don't shed a tear
Through the darkness and good times
I knew I'd make it through
And the world thought I had it all
But I was waiting for you.
Hush now
I see a light in the sky
Oh it's almost blinding me
I can't believe
I've been touched by an angel with love.
Let the rain come down and was away my tears
Let it fill my soul and drown my fears
Let is shatter the walls for a new sun
A new day has come.
A New Day by Celine Dion. (Who else thinks this is Sarabi's song?)
Two months went by and as nature had always intended it was time for both Sarabi and Sarafina to give birth to their cubs. Because Sarafina's cubs had been conceived first she was of course the first to give birth. It was one of those stormy nights when it happened, at first Mufasa wanted me to find Rafiki and bring him here to help but Sarafina said she was perfectly fine and was willing to deliver them by herself.
I remember watching as the first cub was born an hour after she had the contractions. It was the first time I had ever witnessed a lion birth, so naturally I found it odd to see a slimy ball appear out of nowhere while the mother quickly grabbed it to wash it off.
"Is it male or female?" I asked curiously.
"A female and I have the perfect name for her," said Sarafina.
"What is that?" asked Sarabi.
"Nala, it means 'gift' a 'gift' from Amari before he died," said Sarafina happily.
"It's a beautiful name, I can even hear the words 'Queen Nala' being said in my mind," said Sarabi.
Sarafina smiled before wincing in pain as another contraction came along, signaling that the next cub was going to be born. It took about as long as Nala's and when the next cub finally arrived; Sarafina quickly grabbed it and began to clean it before setting it beside his sister.
"It's a male this time, I think I will name him after his father Amari," said Sarafina. (A/N: Please read my statement at the end of the chapter about this cub.)
"I bet Amari is proud of you for that, you have two lovely children now to show for your perilous journey here," said Sarabi.
"Yes and now my journey is complete," said Sarafina who then set her head down and closed her eyes. We all knew that it had been a long day for her so the lions all moved to the far end of the den for the rest of the night while I retired to my tree like always.
It was two days later when I was awakened very early in the morning by Mufasa who had an urgent sound in his voice. It took me a moment to register what was happening because at first I thought it was just a dream until I then realized that my eyes were open yet I was still not thinking clearly. Finally I jumped up and peeked out of my home. I was surprised to find that the sun was barely up and Mufasa needed me that early.
"What is it sire?" I asked with a loud yawn.
"Announce to the Pride Lands that the new prince is born and get Rafiki, he needs to do the ceremony," said Mufasa.
My eyes widened, the prince had been born and I missed it. "Sire how long ago was he born and why did you not wake me?" I asked.
"He was born two hours after you left, I did not want to disturb you because I wanted you up early to tell the pride lands," said Mufasa.
"I see then, what is his name sire?" I asked.
"We named him Simba, now get going," said Mufasa.
I did not want to anger the king further so I quickly flew out of my home and started flying through the pride lands yelling at the top of my lungs saying that the prince had been born. Many creatures stopped what they were doing and listened as I related the news before heading their way to Pride Rock and seeing the new arrival.
Once I announced it to everyone I flew straight toward Rafiki who seemed to have already got the message since he was climbing down his tree.
"So you heard the news then?" I asked.
"Of course I did, how can anyone miss that much noise made by one small bird," said Rafiki.
"Well he told me to announce it so I did," I said.
"And you did a good job," said Rafiki.
"Thank you, I will meet you back at the rock, I'm going ahead to tell him your coming," I said.
Rafiki nodded while I flew as fast as I could back to Pride Rock. It was a fascinating sight to behold, never had I ever seen so many animals congregate in one spot just to see the prince. I only wished Kalifa was here to see this, but she was not expected to come and visit for another two weeks.
Once I got closer to Pride Rock, I saw Mufasa's majestic figure stand at the edge watching as all the animals arrived. I flew in front of him and bowed, it was one of my ways of saying that I had done the job for him. Mufasa just nodded proudly before being distracted by the parting of animals and the arrival of Rafiki. I watched as he climbed up and greeted Mufasa with a happy hug.
Once they finished greeting one another their attention turned to Sarabi who was cradling the newborn cub in her arms. I saw it for just one moment before Rafiki obstructed my view. But I remember seeing a tiny ball of golden fur look up at him with bright brown eyes; it was such a sweet sight to behold.
For a minute, Rafiki stood over him and anointed the new cub with some juice of a mango Rafiki had brought with him. Once the anointing was complete, Rafiki picked him up and carried him to the edge of Pride Rock.
What happened next was one of the most spectacular things I had ever seen in my entire life. As soon as Rafiki reached the edge, he lifted the tiny cub in the air for all the animals to see. This caused the entire congregation of animals to cry out happily and jump up and down for quite a few minutes. I was surprised that they would actually do this since one of these days that young cub would go hunting for them.
Then something else happened, the clouds parted and began to shine on Simba while the entire congregation of animals bowed to him. I was so amazed by this and turned to Mufasa who was watching everything with happiness in his eyes.
"Look sire how they kneel before the royal son," I said.
Mufasa turned to me and smiled. "Yes what a glorious day for this too, though I can't seem to find Scar any where among the crowd," he said.
"Oh you know him, he's probably nearby sulking like he always does since now he is second in line," I said.
"But he was supposed to join us, I am going to have a little talk with him once this ceremony is finished," said Mufasa.
"I agree, you definitely should," I said.
Mufasa said nothing but instead watched as Rafiki finished the revealing of the cub. Mufasa and Sarabi then moved forward to take Simba away. Rafiki smiled and handed him to Sarabi.
"He did not fuss or anything, I can see that he is going to be a tough little prince," said Rafiki.
"And hopefully a strong king," said Mufasa.
Rafiki only nodded before returning to his stick. "Well I must head back, there are some things that I need to do," he said.
"Thank you for everything my friend and I will see you soon," said Mufasa who then gave Rafiki a big hug. Rafiki quickly hugged back before descended off Pride Rock and back to his tree. Mufasa then turned to me.
"I think I know where Scar might be," he said.
"And where would that be?" I asked.
"In the cave behind the rock, I need you to go ahead and announce that I am arriving, I hope he has a good excuse for not joining the presentation of Simba," said Mufasa.
I nodded and flew ahead, I was not happy with the job I had to do but I did not want to argue with Mufasa since I knew that he already had a long night of helping Sarabi.
I flew to the back of Pride Rock and just like Mufasa said, there was Scar hiding in a small cave and playing with a mouse that he was about to eat. I decided to announce my presence.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?" I asked in an annoyed way.
"What do you want?" asked Scar who seemed more annoyed now that I was there.
"I'm here to announce that King Mufasa's on his way, so you better have a good excuse for missing the ceremony this morning," I said with a small bow, signaling that Mufasa was going to be here soon.
I seemed to have distracted Scar from his meal because a second later, the mouse slipped between his paws and scurried off into a nearby hole and out of reach. Scar did not seem happy about that.
"Oh now look Zazu you made me loose my lunch," he said sounding all nice about it, I knew in truth that he was more angry on the inside. I of course had to go about my duty and pretend that I did not care.
Hah, you'll loose more than that when the king gets through with you, he's as mad as a hippo with a hernia," I said as I crossed my wings.
"Oh I quiver with fear," said Scar in a menacing voice that scared me. He then started stalking me while I backed away from him.
"Now Scar don't look at me that way," I said nervously before I finally took flight and called for help.
Of course I did not fly away fast enough and quickly found myself in Scar's mouth, not a pleasant situation. His breath reeked of dead animals and he seemed to drool a lot. Of course that probably was because I was trying to get out and he was holding me in. Luckily I did not last long in there and I was able to hear the booming voice of Mufasa ordering Scar to drop me.
"Impeccable timing your majesty," I said before I was spat out by Scar and came out looking like a newborn cub. I wiped myself off while I listened to the two brothers argue.
"Why if isn't my big brother descending on high to mingle with the commoners," said Scar as he acted all kind and sweet. Mufasa of course kept his anger and continued to talk.
"Sarabi and I didn't see you at the presentation of Simba," he said.
"That was today, oh I feel simply awful," Scar said in a mock tone while he sharpened his claws against a rock. Not a pretty sound let me tell you. "Must have slipped my mind," he finished as he admired his claws.
"Yes well as slippery as your mind is, as the king's brother you should have been first in line," I said as I flew toward him but then had to hide behind Mufasa after he took a snap at me.
"Well I was first in line until the little hairball was born," said Scar as he bent down at eye level with me and looking very angry by my attitude with him. Well someone has to keep him in line.
"That hairball is my son and your future king," said Mufasa who brought Scar's gaze away from me.
"Oh I shall practice my curtsy," said Scar in the most smart alek remark imaginable before turning away from Mufasa.
"Don't turn your back on me Scar," said Mufasa, he sounded like he was trying to reprimand a cub.
"Oh no Mufasa perhaps you shouldn't turn your back on me," said Scar threateningly.
Mufasa gave a loud and angry roar, one that was usually heard when he had it up to here with his brother's nonsense and ran in front of Scar. "Is that a challenge?" he asked teeth bared.
"Temper, temper, I wouldn't dream of challenging you," said Scar unfazed by Mufasa's anger.
"Pity, why not?" I asked.
"Well as far as brains go I got the lions share but when it comes to brute strength," said Scar staring at his brother as if he wanted to fight before finally walking away. "I'm afraid I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool," he said.
Mufasa stood there and watched him go; I knew he was not happy with his brother. "Oh there's one in every family sire, two in mine actually," I said as I remembered Ban'ai and Kato and the little skirmish I had with them when I was a chick. "And they always manage to ruin special occasions," I finished as I flew onto Mufasa's shoulder.
"What am I going to do with him," sighed Mufasa.
I decided to lighten the mood and joke around a bit with him. "He'd make a very handsome throw rug," I said.
"Zazu," he said in a "shame on you" kind of voice.
I ignored him and continued to talk. "And just think whenever he gets dirty you can take him out and beat him," I said.
That received a chuckle from Mufasa who then responded. "Better watch out though, he may turn you into a feather duster."
"I seriously doubt that, he will never catch me, he can't even catch a mouse without it slipping through his paws," I said with pride in my voice.
"Don't be so sure he could become happy and spring into action at any given moment," said Mufasa.
I was about to continue when Sarabi ran up to greet Mufasa with a happy face. "Oh Mufasa you must come and see this, Simba, Nala, and Amari have already made friends with each other, it is the most darling thing," she said.
Mufasa just smiled and ran up Pride Rock to watch the new arrivals play, I followed and when we arrived we found Nala pinning Simba to the ground while Amari chewed on Simba's ear, it truly was a cute sight.
"It looks like they were made for each other," said Sarafina.
"Yes but of course it can only be for a little while, who knows what they will think of each other a month from now," said Sarabi.
Mufasa lay down near Sarabi as we continued to watch the little cubs crawl around the cave and play. Of course they were still quite small and could not do much but they still seemed to show the toughness of a lion with their little growls and swatting with their paws.
Finally after a few minutes, Simba seemed to have enough and crawled over to Mufasa where he put his head on his front leg and fell asleep. Mufasa stared at him with happiness in his eyes, it was a darling sight. For a second Mufasa cleaned his cub to get rid of some dirt before putting his head down next to him and fell asleep.
I looked over at Sarabi who was smiling happily. "Looks like Mufasa loves his little heir," I said.
"Mhmmm, and Mufasa needs some rest after that long night with me," said Sarabi.
"Is there anything I can do for you madam?" I asked as I put a wing on her front paw.
"No thank you Zazu, you were a great help this morning, I guess we can give you the rest of the day off," said Sarabi.
"Thank you madam, I am a little hungry, after all, I had not eaten since last night," I said.
"Then you are excused," said Sarabi.
I nodded to her and then flew out of Pride Rock in search of food, and to tell Tafari more about little Simba.
Very Important Authors Note! Please Read: There's chapter 13 for everyone. I hope you all liked it. Now in case you all were wondering, I am going to keep little Amari alive for a little while because I thought that just because you don't see him in the movie, it doesn't mean that he's not there. He could be out playing or hiding between other lionesses. And Nala was originally going to have a brother in the movie but he got scrapped. So I'm just letting you all know about this since it is fanfiction and there are a lot of nitpickers out there. Also according to my hit counter, I had 30 something people read that last chapter, don't be shy I like reviews, just not mean ones. Also I do not know when my next update will be since this weekend I am going up to Salida again with Lady Mia Starstriker. Don't know what we are doing yet but its definitely not going to be rafting. So I will see you all when I get back. Have a wonderful fourth of July and don't burn yourself lighting firecrackers.