Chapter Six: Evil Within
A/N: All right, this one's really short, but I wanted to emphasize the change in Miru. I think this chapter and the very end of the last one shows his transformation into Scar. Hope you guys like this one!
Scar suddenly felt hollow as he followed the mass of the hyenas. Their laughter and shouts chorused around. He thought he should feel afraid, but he felt . . . nothing. He didn't fear or enjoy any of it. He was just there, waiting for something to happen. Anza was right, he was right. Miru was dead and gone.
"Keepin' up, cub?" Anza called behind, not slowing down.
"I'm right behind you," Scar answered. "And I'm not a cub. Just call me Scar."
"Whatever tides you over, then, Scar. I don't know if the Boss will enjoy that lip of yours."
"He doesn't have to, Anza. I'll just see him."
They continued on silently, stepping over mounds of bones and rocks. Anza disappeared into a cave with the other hyenas following her. Scar did the same, not sure what to expect. The hyenas ahead of him stopped and cleared a path for him, leading him to Anza.
An ancient hyena sat on a rock, its eyes opening and closing rhythmically. Its fur was grayed and falling off in patches. The eyes were glazed over, staring at nothing. Scar thought hyenas were bad-looking enough, but the Boss took the cake. Anza leaned close to the Boss, whispering in his ear.
"Come here, lion," the Boss ordered.
Scar walked up to stand beside Anza.
"Let me feel your face."
He reached out a worn paw and ran it over the lion's face. It stopped over his deep scar and ran along it carefully. The Boss began to laugh gleefully, the other hyenas joining in instinctively.
"Silence!" he called over the din.
The hyenas quieted immediately, straining to listen.
"You are what we have been waiting for, boy," the Boss continued, removing his paw from Scar's face. "Strange things have happened since I became blind. I have vivid dreams that tell me what is to come and what is to be. You, my lion friend, have been I my dreams for months now."
"Why is that?" Scar asked, curious.
"There is evil within you. Do you know that? You are destined to take this whole land by force. I saw that it will be your blood that you will have to overcome."
"My father?"
"It goes further than that, boy."
"Mufasa . . ."
The Boss nodded. "Your brother."
"When will this happen?"
"When the time is right, I promise you. First, I must to warn you. If you choose this path, you can never turn back. And my dreams tell me that your fate will not be glorious. You can join us and you will soon lead the hyenas in a revolt that will shake any security the pride will have. Or you can return home and allow fate to guide you in the ways of a gentle lion, hiding the shadow of a brother you may never measure up to."
Scar was quiet for a time. He could go home and live a life of jealousy and boredom with no worries of dying before his time. Or he could stay here and become a lion that could rival his brother and be cut short of his life, but he could rule . . .
He looked at the dying hyena before him. His eyes hardened suddenly. "Are these hyenas willing to listen to me?"
The Boss laughed loudly. "That's what I thought. Come, we have much to speak of."