Eh I can't think of any comments right now so I will just go ahead and thank everyone.
Bounding Jackalope: Thanks for the review and no, I will not kill off the main character, he will definitely live through Kiara's time and then retire later on. I don't even know why I killed him in Surviving the Stampede in the first place. I must have been in a weird mood that day. Hope you like this chapter.
SunRise19: Thanks for the review. But in truth, newly dominated male lions actually kill all cubs of both genders. And I just didn't want him to kill the females because I wanted to have a reason why Nala was still around, yeah for some reason I forgot to add that in my authors note, oh well. Any way hope you like this chapter.
Nachonaco: I don't know if you will be reading this again or not but I am wondering if you are a member of Toon Zone because I feel like I have seen your name before in that forum because I go there too. Any way glad you still reviewed and I understand if you don't like Zazu, a lot of people don't. Well see ya.
Pichooi: Man it seems like everyone is having problems with their computers right now, must be a virus going around. Any way thanks for the reviews and I hope you like this chapter. Also did I ever thank you for reviewing my "I'm Her Guardian" story, if not thank you. Huggles you
Gryfffinrose: All I can say is LOL! Thanks for the review, enjoy this chapter.
Okay sad chapter here we come
Be brave little one
Make a wish for each sad little tear
Hold your head up, though no one is near
Someone's waiting for you.
Don't cry little one
There'll be a smile where a frown used to be
You'll be part of the love that you see
Someone's waiting for you.
Someone's Waiting For You: Song from The Rescuers.
Two days had passed since Scar began his reign and those two days were the worst I had ever known. Rafiki gave a funeral for Mufasa but Scar refused to bury him saying that he was not a true king and that he should be left for the ants to crawl on.
The day after Scar ascended was hard for Sarafina and Chiku who both tried to protect their sons. Poor Amari though, Sarafina was only bending over to get a drink when five hyenas snuck up from behind her and killed Amari. I learned that day that hyenas have no sympathy for the mourner and taunted Sarafina while a few other hyena members ripped Amari apart. It was the most horrible sight I had ever witnessed and poor Nala saw the whole thing as well.
Chiku lost Dume during the night, it was my fault mainly. I had accidentally dozed off because I had not slept since the morning before Mufasa's death. Sarabi pardoned me though and said that it would happen sooner or later.
Now that my watchful eye duties were over it was time for me to go back to being the advisor I had always been. Yet it did not seem as fun as it once was, now that the hyenas were the main problem of the land.
I remember Scar's second day as king like it were yesterday, mainly because of poor Nala but I will tell you more about that in a minute. I remember sitting on my usual tree waiting for Tafari to arrive, when he did, he had the look of anger on his face.
"Stupid hyena's, I killed two with my hooves today thinking they can eat me, yeah right," he said with a grumble.
"I apologize for that, as you know it was not my idea," I said.
"I know I don't understand why that new king thinks hyenas should be allowed to come back. I have noticed that they waste the food after they kill it. They don't go back for seconds, they go back for a different animal," said Tafari.
"I noticed that yesterday myself, they must be overwhelmed by all the food here," I said.
"I hope that is the case because if that does not stop I am leaving," said Tafari in a very serious tone.
"If you do please let me know beforehand, I don't want to be sitting here waiting for you all day and then realize that you left," I said.
I had actually grown quite fond of Tafari over the last few years and I hated to see our friendship go because of some hyenas.
"Don't worry I will inform you when I do," he said.
"Well other than hyenas anything else new?" I asked.
"Not a thing, no one seems happy now that Mufasa is gone," said Tafari.
I just nodded and then gave him a quick goodbye before flying off to scout the pride lands. Everywhere I turned their were hyenas mixed with wildebeests or zebras, the hyenas made the land look dark and gloomy next to the fact that a rainstorm was coming.
The rain came rather fast too and it sent me back to Pride Rock in a flash where I was met by Scar who was waiting for me.
"I would have expected you back with a report sooner," said Scar with a growl before stalking back into his cave. I joined him.
"I am sorry sir, but this is how long it usually takes just to scout the entire land," I said.
"Well next time do it faster, it is annoying waiting out in the rain for you," said Scar.
"Then wait in the cave, I would have known you would have been in here," I said.
I wish I would have never said that because a second later, Scar roared and tried to swipe me with his claws, but missed before giving me the evil stare.
"Don't ever tell me what to do, I am the king and I do what I want, not what I am told to do, now give me a report," said Scar.
"Well it seems that your hyenas are wasting the food they kill and then without going back for seconds they go back for something else. Most of the animals are annoyed by this because they know sooner or later they will deplete the Pride Lands of food, I think you need to talk to them about that Scar," I said with importance.
Scar stood there and thought for a moment before he finally answered me. "I will see to it later, as for now it is time for my nap, I've been up since before the sun rose, checking my territory for any rouges," he said before he slunk off into the shadows.
I shook my head, I knew he was probably going to do nothing and I knew it was best not to argue with him. It was then that I decided to go check on Sarabi to make sure she was alright, every time I was able to check on her, she was either crying or just sitting in a spot contemplating what to do with her life now. When I finally found her though, she seemed to be trying to comfort someone else, Sarafina.
"What's wrong?" I asked when I arrived at their side.
Sarafina took a long heavy sigh and then turned to me, tears in her eyes. "I can't find Nala and I fear that something awful has happened to her. I think those hyenas got her even though they were not supposed to," she said before burying her head in Sarabi's shoulder.
"When was the last time you saw her?" I asked.
"Just this morning getting a drink by the water hole, she said she was going to try and play with Penda for a while, but Penda says she has not seen her all day," said Sarafina.
"So you searched all over the pride lands?" I asked.
"No just around the area of Pride Rock where I have told her to stay by just in case a hyena does try to attack her and I can be there to protect her if it does happen. Oh I hope I did not loose Amari's gift," she said as she continued to cry.
I patted her shoulder with my wing, I felt terrible for her. She lost two Amari's to something horrible and now she felt like she had lost one of his gifts.
"If you want me to, I can go search for her and I will not return until I find her," I said.
"But Zazu, the rain is really coming down I don't think you could make it out there," said Sarabi.
"If I could survive a bad storm when I was a fledgling then I know I can handle this," I said and before they could even argue with me, I flew out to find Nala.
I flew quite a distance away from Pride Rock before I finally called out for her. Of course my voice was drowned out by thunder the first chance I was able to yell out her name. The second time was a success in calling her but it caused the hyenas to taunt me and say that they will find my precious Nala. If I was not searching I would have pecked out their eyes for being so cruel.
Finally after nearly an hour of searching and being fully drenched, I decided to go to Rafiki and ask for his help. I was glad to find him there; he seemed to be busy mixing something so I did not have to worry about waking him from his mediation.
"Good afternoon Rafiki, can you help me in finding someone?" I asked.
"And who might that someone be?" asked Rafiki who did not even look up from his mixing.
"I'm looking for Nala, she has gone missing and I was wondering if you have seen her or would like to help me scout out the area for her," I said.
"You need to look no further my blue friend, she is over in that corner of my tree, exhausted after two days of crying," said Rafiki.
I flew down to the flat part of his tree, and sure enough there was Nala, lying in a round ball while tears streamed down her face. Every so often, her stomach would bounce, showing that she was having some slight hiccups.
"I found her a few hours ago on a rock, crying her heart out, she has not said anything to me yet but has remained silent and has cried the whole time while I mixed this medicine for her," said Rafiki.
I nodded and stared at the poor cub, I felt terrible for her, loosing her best friend and brother in two days of each other. It made me wonder how she was even still managing it.
"Nala, your mother is worried about you, why don't we go home so she can know that you are alright," I said.
Nala gave a long sniff before replying. "I wish Simba was here, he always knew how to make things better," she said.
"I agree with you, Mufasa would be ashamed right now if he saw what his brother did already to this land," I said.
"I've had to deal with ten of them already, they keep taunting me and saying I was a fool, I of course gave them a nice hit on the head with my rotten mangos I have lying around," said Rafiki.
"I hate those hyenas; they killed my brother, right in front of me too. I can still hear his cries of pain and 'Nala, mother save me, their hurting me'" said Nala before she started with the heavy crying again.
"I just hope Scar changes his ways at the moment, this maybe his way at starting things with a tough feature and then become kinder later, at least I hope so any way," said Rafiki.
"I agree with you, this will definitely be an interesting time while he is king," I said.
"And just the night before, I made a vow with Simba, that I would become his queen once he became king, he was so brave that I realized that I loved him," Nala said suddenly while looking up at us with the most pitiful eyes I have ever seen.
I just smiled back at her while a small tear fell down my eye, I was not very good at comforting any one, but it was still good to be with someone when they needed a friend most of all.. But after what she said about her and Simba, I wanted to cry with her but it was best to remain strong.
"Here drink this medicine, it will keep you from getting more hiccups and headaches from crying too hard," said Rafiki who put a bowl down in front of her.
"What's the point, maybe my hiccups and headaches will become bad enough for me to join Simba, Amari, and Mufasa it's probably a lot better up there with them and the other great kings than down here," she said and turned the bowl away.
"But your mother needs you, think how lonely she would be if you were not there to cuddle with her since you are her only remaining offspring now," I said.
"Besides crying does not solve anything, it only makes things worse," Said Rafiki who then slid the bowl closer to Nala.
Nala stared down at the concoction while tears continued to stream down her face. Finally after a minute of silence, she began to drink it. She made no face as she did so and that probably meant it was not bitter like the one medicine I took when I first arrived here.
"Very good Nala, I am proud of you," said Rafiki who then took the bowl away from her and put it aside. Nala wiped her eyes and gave a big sniff.
"What if Scar stays mean like this forever and lets the hyenas do whatever they want?" asked Nala.
"Then we will try to find help, it's the best solution, about the same thing happened about six generations before Mufasa with an evil ruler named Harja. His brother had gone off to help out with a situation far to the west but never returned so Harja took his place for almost four years. The land was so depleted that by the time the brother returned after learning what happened, there were only four lionesses left. Hopefully that will not happen but if it does I will try to catch it early," said Rafiki.
"But this time the brother is not alive so what are we going to do about that?" asked Nala who was still sniffling.
"Then we will find a different lion, no doubt that a rouge would probably love to help in this situation," said Rafiki.
Nala just nodded and lay back down while she put her paw on her face, she didn't cry this time, but just sat there and contemplated.
"Now Nala you must be brave, time will soon heal all wounds and you can continue on and help the pride hunt and raise cubs," I said.
"Yeah raise Scar's cubs," said Nala with bitterness in her voice.
That's when I realized something I did not like, what if Scar found interest in her once she got older in fact how were all the other lionesses going to handle that, I knew almost all of them did not like him.
"But perhaps his children will not be like him, maybe they will grow up to be kind and maybe overthrow him," said Rafiki.
"Perhaps but we will find out eventually," I said.
Rafiki just nodded and looked outside, it was still dark but the rain had dissipated somewhat. I knew it was best to leave so Sarafina would not worry any more.
"Are you ready to go back Nala?" I asked.
"I guess so," said Nala quietly.
"Then follow me," I said.
Rafiki waved goodbye to us and watched us depart. As soon as we left the tree a hyena walked beside Nala and followed her at a distance.
"So your little boyfriend is gone I see, well I say good riddance, he was such a pest," he said.
I could hear Nala growl under her breath before looking angrily at the hyena. "Leave me alone, go bother someone lower than you and I bet that might take a while seeing how there is nothing lower than any of you guys," said Nala. I smiled at the way she handled that.
"Oh tough girl huh, well I must say that Simba would have probably had a hard time with you as queen seeing as how you want to boss me around, you probably would have bossed him around too and then he would have divorced you and then you would go crying to your mommy. Would you do that? Go cry to your mommy all boo hoo hoo," said the hyena.
That was the last straw for Nala and like lightning she roared and scratched the hyena in the nose. The hyenas gave a startled look before finally running off into some nearby bushes to nurse his injury
I looked down at Nala who gave me a small smile, I smiled back while she began walking back to pride rock with her tail held high. I realized then that Nala was probably going to be a tough lioness to handle once she was older.
A/N: Gah that did not come out the way I wanted it to. I wanted to have a slightly more depressing mood but I see I failed in that and I am sorry it sucked, I just could not get the words out right for this chapter. Oh well please review any way and I also have a new deviantart account I have the link in my profile if you want to see it. It's mainly photography but that's still just as good as drawings. Any way see you all next week with a new chapter.