A/N: Hey guys thought I should update before I get really busy with work and stuff which I start tomorrow. And because from the email I got concerning the fact that we are not allowed to answer my reviews, I decided to play it safe and respond by saying thank you to everyone for the nice reviews, I was surprised that you guys found that chapter to be so sad. Also Simba11 that was the craziest email I have ever received, you should stop having all that sugar. Just kidding, well on with the story.

Ever since Nadira's death and Tafari leaving, I realized that Scar was misusing his role as king. He seemed to only care that he was at the top of the hierarchy and that he could boss others around, he did not care if a lioness was dieing or if the hyenas were eating more than their fair share. What was even worse was that he refused to leave the pride lands even though the land was in terrible shape and the only way it could be saved was by leaving for a little while to replenish itself.

Food was getting harder to find for both lioness and I, my favorite berries all but disappeared and now all I could find for sustenance was termites or a few ants. Something that gets boring to eat after a while. Often I would have to dig for water but where water once was, there was nothing but bones from the animals who had made their last journey in search of it.

I remember one morning while I was resting my wings in my small home in the tree when I heard a commotion outside and quickly popped out to see what it was. There I saw Sarabi being escorted by three lionesses who were from our pride. I had no idea what was happening and why they were doing it but they immediately walked up to Zira who was sitting outside of the cave watching them.

"Your majesty, we overheard Sarabi conspiring against your mate," said one of the lionesses.

Zira gave a cruel and wicked smile. "Well it looks like Sarabi has not found out that I have spies," she said while she circled Sarabi who remained calm but firm. "Take her to Scar and have him deal with her."

The lionesses then shoved Sarabi toward the cave, I decided to quietly fly down and see what was going to happen and hid behind a rock to listen to the conversation.

"So you were thinking of overthrowing me eh, I'm glad I have a few that have joined Zira, we need a few that can be loyal to the queen. But that's not much of a concern now after what these three have told me what you did," said Scar who was circling Sarabi.

"You are not a king Scar, you leave this land to waste and still call it a kingdom, I don't see why you still think this place is perfect for you," said Sarabi who obviously was not denying her idea of overthrowing him.

"Because it is my kingdom and a king's kingdom is always perfect to him," he said.

"So you decided to destroy Mufasa's kingdom and make a land perfect for you and that black heart of yours," spat Sarabi.

Suddenly without warning, Scar gave a defining roar that threw Sarabi off guard. Before she could even move, he was on her, beating her with his claws until Sarabi cried out for mercy which he did when she lay on the ground clearly defeated.

"I have told you never to mention my brother's name; he was a fool and was a disgrace to our family, just like you are. You are lucky too, next time I hear of you conspiring against me, you will be killed, is that understood?" asked Scar. I could see the hate in his eyes while he stood above Sarabi. He had made it a law to never mention Mufasa's name because of how often the lionesses talked about how great he was. I knew Scar was jealous of his brother because of that. Sarabi, meanwhile, looked back up at him with a wounded heart; her eyes showed pain and her face now looked older than it had ever been. I could tell that the pain of loosing Mufasa and Simba had aged her and she now seemed to have lost all hope.

Sarabi then nodded silently while Scar let her back up. Sarabi slowly rose from the floor but not without some difficulty, everyone just watched and did not bother to help her. Finally she stood upright and slowly and painfully she left the cave with tears in her eyes. I did not see her for another two days after the incident.

I remember that second day well, I had been sent by the lionesses to go find her since they were very worried after I had told them all what had happened. Sarafina had searched for her the day before but found no sign of her. I dreaded the fact that she might have killed herself just so she could live happily again with her dead mate.

While I was looking for her though, I saw a familiar face fly toward me and could not help but smile, it was Kalifa, someone who could help me and maybe talk about problems.

I decided to sit on a nearby branch and let her come and talk to me, which she quickly did.

"Hello Zazu, I am glad you are still alive even though your land is not," she said sadly.

I just nodded while she revealed to me a green leaf, something I had not seen in months, it made me gasp in shock as if I had never seen one before.

"I knew the land was still not well so I decided to bring you a treat," she said as she handed it to me.

I opened it to reveal four large and juicy berries obviously from home. My eyes brightened at the sight of them and instantly put one in my mouth, it felt so refreshing while I closed my eyes and ate it, it made me forget at that instant that the land I was living in was a deplorable state and that life was hard.

I opened my eyes again and saw that nothing had changed from my happiness and frowned. "Too bad these cannot help the land become green again," I said.

"I know, but at least it made you happy for a few seconds," she said.

"Yes I have not felt that in I don't know how long," I said.

"Speaking of happiness, how is Sarabi doing," Kalifa asked. She had seen Sarabi cry before and knew that Sarabi always looked miserable.

I sighed and looked sadly at her. "I don't know I have not seen her in two days, she was beaten by Scar after he found out she was plotting against her," I said.

Kalifa gasped in shock. "Oh no, we must go find her then, she could be injured and Rafiki can probably help her," she said.

"We should split up then, you go one way and I go another, it will be easier to find her," I said.

Kalifa nodded and instantly flew away; I headed toward the other direction back toward my tree to drop off my remaining berries so I could save them for later.

I decided to search behind Pride Rock and make sure she had not hidden herself in one of the many caves that the rock offered, or course all of them were empty and I knew she had to be out in the pride lands somewhere, but where could she be? The land was so desolate you could spot a lost butterfly.

I did not have to search for long though for a few minutes later, Kalifa returned with a small smile on her face.

"I found her, she's down at the gorge," she said.

I said nothing but instantly followed her, it did not take me long to find out where she had been headed for, the last resting place of her husband. Once I reached the gorge I found her next to a rock in the shady part looking sadly at what remained of Mufasa, a few bones including his skull.

We both flew down to her and landed right in front of her; she did not look up startled but stayed still while tears fell down her face. I looked at her, I could tell Scar had done quite a number on her; her left eye was swollen to a black and blue. Her right shoulder was badly torn and still bleeding slightly, there were also a few cuts lining across her body revealing Scar's anger, nothing was life threatening which was a good thing.

"Sarabi, are you alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine Zazu, I just came here to think, no one around to bother or question you about what you are doing," she said in a soft voice. There was no anger to it, just tiredness from the stress of living with Scar.

"If I may ask, how did they find out about you conspiring against him any way?" I asked

"I was telling Sarafina and two other lions my idea and I guess the three lionesses were hiding behind a tree the whole time, listening to everything. When I had finished my conversation, they surrounded me and told me to go to Scar. Sarafina and the two others wanted to attack but I told them no and that I would come back for them later. I wish I would have let them attack because what Scar did was just terrible, he is not the lion I remember from cubhood," Sarabi said sadly.

I nodded in agreement and patted Sarabi's paw lightly. If those plans had changed, things would have probably been different, perhaps a mutiny would have formed and Scar would be in the outlands by now.

"So what had been your plan any way?" asked Kalifa.

"Well I had planned to get all the lionesses and surround Scar and Zira and tell them how we felt and that we did not like it if nothing changed, and if they said no, we would attack and kill both of them since we do outnumber them four to one," said Sarabi.

"But remember, you have not had as much food as they have, and then you all would not be as strong," I said warning her.

"True, but when you want something done, you would probably use all the strength you needed," said Sarabi.

Kalifa and I nodded with her; both of us wanted the land to return as much as she did. And Sarabi of course was once a queen who used the land as wisely as she should have. We all pondered about what we should do now since the newest plan was now leaked and that was when I wondered why we had never sent for reinforcements.

"You know, I bet Tahir could help us," I said.

Sarabi looked up at me with hopeful eyes. "I should have thought about that before, Tahir has a son and a son-in-law that could help, they could easily overpower Scar now that they have a fruitful land and maybe if he agrees to help, we can merge the pride together and once this land heals we can go our separate ways again," she said.

"That would be brilliant," said Kalifa happily.

"And if you would like, Kalifa and I can go out and find him that way you won't have to make the long journey," I said.

"Sounds wonderful," said Sarabi.

The plan did sound wonderful. Tahir was five days away now, but since Kalifa and I could fly, we could reach Tahir in a day or two. We would return to the pride later and act like nothing is going to happen, then in less than a week, Tahir would arrive with his two other members and together they would kill Scar and life would return back to the way it was. I was jumping for joy underneath my feathers at the thought of that.

"So then its settled, you two will head out, if Scar asks for you, I will just tell him that I saw you fly over to the waterhole looking for water the last time I checked. And since it was your idea, I will count you as the hero when it is all said and done," said Sarabi.

"It would be an honor if you did," I said.

"Well you better get going, I don't want any one to be suspicious and wonder where you had gone," said Sarabi.

"We will and take care of yourself, it looks like you need a few days rest after what Scar did," I said.

Sarabi just nodded and watched as Kalifa and I flew away towards Tahir's territory and hopefully toward hope.

Kalifa and I flew all that day to Tahir's territory, we rested for a few hours that night as well and then left many hours before the sun came up just so we could get to him faster.

We reached Tahir's territory by late afternoon; we could tell we finally found the place by how much greener it really was and by all the animals. We flew around the area for quite some time looking for that familiar kind face that I knew so well. Luckily we ran into his advisor finch who was out patrolling the area.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a snobbish tone.

"Good afternoon Errol, we are looking for King Tahir, have you seen him?" I asked.

"Of course I have, if I hadn't I wouldn't be the advisor now would I," Errol said. One thing I did not like about this bird was how every sentence seemed to get more annoying, and every time it did I always felt like beaking him in the face.

"Well then can you show us to him?" I asked trying my best to sound like him even though I knew that I failed miserably.

"Fine, follow me, and it better be important, his majesty has just had a hunt and is now resting off his stomach," said Errol.

Kalifa and I just rolled our eyes and followed the snobbish finch toward Tahir. Errol wasted no time in taking us to him and once we reached our destination, we found that Tahir had created a suitable spot for taking a nap after a long hunt. It was by a group of rocks where an acacia tree had conveniently grown right on the side of it, creating a perfect place for the youngsters to play in and for the adults to rest against after a nice meal.

We quickly found Tahir sitting at the top most rock, with his mate while his son and daughter sat at the next rock down with their mates, happily enjoying the day. Errol flew up to them and took a bow.

"Your majesty, Zazu from the Pride Lands has arrived, he says he has something important," he said.

"Oh really, well send him over, I hope its good news," said Tahir who then looked up at me and smiled, I liked Tahir he was always so welcoming.

"Good afternoon Zazu, I hope you are well, I see you brought a friend along, I hope this means that your land is returning to the way it was," he said.

"Oh this is actually my sister Kalifa on holiday from home, usually comes to see me once a month, but that's not important at the moment for you see the land still has not returned to its original state and it seems to have gotten worse. A few days ago, Sarabi was beaten by Scar for trying to mutiny against him, and now he has lioness spies. So Sarabi sent me to ask if you could please help us by overthrowing this madman known as Scar. You could then help us return our home back to its original state, and possibly be greatly rewarded," I said.

Tahir lay there and listened, he was not at all like Scar or even Zira, he was very much like Mufasa, sensible and good natured, though not as wise.

"I understand your predicament, and I am greatly saddened by what Scar did to Sarabi, an ex queen should never be treated that way. So I will do what you have asked and bring my son and son-in-law with me. Tell Sarabi that once I end Scar's reign, they can journey back with me and live in our land until the Pride Lands are fit," said Tahir.

"Thank you sir, I will head back at once and inform them that you are coming," I said.

Tahir just nodded and then dismissed us while he turned to his mate and informed her that if he or the two other males did not return for some unknown reason that she would rule until his two month old son was old enough to take the throne. One good thing about Tahir was that he was quite a prolific breeder, one of the many reasons why he had to trade with Mufasa and I was surprised that he still had not learned to control that.

Kalifa and I flew back with happy spirits; we knew that everything was going to be okay soon. That night, we slept in an old acacia tree that was still part of Tahir's pride. I found a few delicious berries and seeds that I happily ate and quickly felt my old strength return from such a long hunger. Once I had satisfied my belly, Kalifa and I looked up at the stars and talked.

"I bet Mufasa is proud of what you did for him," said Kalifa.

"Me too, I just wonder what he will do to Scar when he reaches the place," I said.

"Hee hee, probably give him a big lecture and damn him from ever becoming a great king in the stars," said Kalifa.

"Hmm I don't think Mufasa would be like that, but who knows, I guess we will find out when we reach the age where we have to join them," I said.

Kalifa just nodded and continued to watch the stars with me, she was quite content with just sitting there and staring out into the dark void wishing that tomorrow would come sooner.

"Well I guess when we get back to the pride lands you'll have to go home huh?" I asked knowing about my sister's routine well.

"Don't be silly, I would not want to miss Scar's defeat for the world, I followed you to see Tahir and I am going to keep following you until it is over," said Kalifa.

I just laughed at her statement and then gave her a big hug before silently continuing our watch over the great kings and hoping that they would stay out to watch the new change that was coming to the Pride Lands.

We returned to Pride Rock two days later and found Sarabi sitting near a baobab tree waiting for us. We then quickly told her what was going to happen and to not tell the other lionesses in fear that another may be a spy or that they may be riled up and give away the secret and that Scar would be prepared for it.

Once my talk was settled with Sarabi I flew to the den to let Scar know that I was still alive and ready to do his bidding for the time being while Kalifa stayed in a safe place away from Scar.

"Good morning Scar, I apologize for my absence, for you see I got stuck in some brambles while trying to search for food and it took me a good many hours to finally get out," I said with a small chuckle hoping that Scar would buy it.

Scar just gave me a long stare while Zira gave a loud grunt before continuing with what she always did, pampering her beloved husband.

"Good for you then, I expect the morning report by late afternoon," he said.

I just nodded and flew out, I knew I had to make something up too since nothing ever happened and what usually did was caused by the hyenas.

I returned to Kalifa to tell her and so for the next few hours we made up a few interesting news story to tell to the soon departed king.

It was four days later when hope arrived; Kalifa and I were still sleeping in my nest when we received an early morning wake up call. It was a roar that was not from Scar and we quickly jumped out of the nest to investigate.

There we saw Tahir with his son and son-in-law standing on a rock a few feet from Pride Rock. Scar was running out of the den with Zira and went to the edge to see who caused the roaring. He roared back when he saw who it was while the rest of the lionesses from our pride watched a few feet away.

"Tahir, why are you here, what do you want?" growled Scar.

"I received an anonymous tip from someone that you are causing the pride to suffer and I believe that what you are doing is wrong so my son and son-in-law have decided to fix that by ending your reign once and for all," said Tahir whose voice sounded very noble and calm.

"I see, and how are you going to do this?" asked Scar who did not look the least bit worried, I did not like that.

"By fighting you to the death, including my son and son-in-law," said Tahir.

Scar then gave one of he scariest laughs I have ever heard come out of his mouth, it sounded like the devil himself had entered into the black lion. That was when I realized that the plan was going to backfire.

"Well I have news for you three, you see those hyenas behind you?" he asked.

Tahir and the other two males turned around and noticed that a large group of at least a hundred hyenas stood behind them, licking their chops and laughing happily.

"Yeah what about them?" asked Tahir's son.

"Well you have to get by them before you can kill the king," said Scar who then gave another evil laugh. "Kill them," he said finally.

Suddenly before Tahir and the other two could lunge, the entire pack of hyenas were upon them. Kalifa and I watched in horror as Tahir and the other two males tried to fight back but the hyenas just kept coming, they were able to kill a few but that was not enough, and soon Tahir's son was buried under a pile of hyenas never to rise again. Tahir's son-in-law quickly followed.

Tahir knew he was outnumbered and began to make a break for it, how he did so I had no idea. I saw him run with hundreds of wounds criss crossing his body, including one that was flowing quite rapidly down his neck, and another on his stomach that was just too horrible to even describe; I knew he would not live long even if he did make it. Finally the blood loss was too much for him and he collapsed to the ground where at least fifty hyenas took claim and finished him off.

I looked back at Scar who watched with proud eyes, and I felt terrible, another tragic death occurred in Tahir's pride but this time it was from a cold blooded killer. Our wonderful plan was ruined and now our life would never return to the way we wanted it to.

After a few minutes, the blood bath was over and the hyenas walked off acting like nothing had happened. Nothing remained of the bodies; the hyenas had been so hungry that they had consumed them as well. A gruesome thought for both me and Kalifa. Scar meanwhile looked down at the lionesses and roared with anger.

"Who's idea was that?" he roared.

"Speak up or I will kill you all," said Zira with hate in her eyes.

I knew I had to confess, it was my idea any way and I did not want any of the lionesses to suffer since they were suffering enough as it is.

"I did!" I said as I stood faithfully on the branch.

Scar turned to look at me. "You Zazu? You sent someone to kill me? I thought you were my ally," said Scar with sadness in his voice, I wasn't buying it.

"Well I wasn't, you ruined this pride Scar and I left for a few days to hopefully make a change to it, but you cheated and used hyenas so you can keep ruling this place and you know what, because of that I say you are a coward, a cold blooded coward," I said.

Scar sat there silently for a moment staring at me and then at Kalifa who was standing beside me looking like she was ready to attack Scar.

"Kalifa, you better leave this place now, you are banished from the Pride Lands and if I ever catch you conspiring with your brother again I will kill you right in front of him," said Scar.

Kalifa turned to me with tears in her eyes. I could tell that this was going to be hard for her. "Zazu?" she said, her voice shook.

"Go Kalifa, don't worry about me, I will see you again one day, I promise. Tell Tahir's pride what happened so they can know," I said as I gave her one last hug.

Kalifa said nothing but flew away in the direction of Tahir's pride; I could tell that sadness had now consumed her, now that I could never see her again.

I watched her go but was then rudely interrupted by Scar.

"Zazu! I want to see you in the den immediately," he said with a voice as cold as ice.

I knew that I could do nothing else but follow his order.

A/N: Well there's chapter 23 for you finally with a nice cliffhanger in the end, I hope you thought it was okay, especially with Tahir's death, it seems rushed to me for some reason. I just hope I can get you a new chapter soon as well. Oh and before I forget, I am now working in Disney World more specifically at Typhoon Lagoon at a fast food joint called Leaning Palms so if any one makes a trip down feel free to say hi. I also have five other roomies and three bedrooms and two baths. LOL. So please review and I will see you all as soon as possible