Sorry for the long wait (not that anyone is actually waiting for this) but I'm supposed to be revising for my exams. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, now on with the story.

Chapter 22 – The End of Brown Lion

"STOP FIGHTING!" yelled Shenzi.

At this everyone stopped and looked up at her, mouths agape, paws raised – lions pitted against hyena, friend against enemy, snarling mouths frozen in unison. Shargra felt Shanika tremble with adrenalin and slight fear as the two of them looked at the tableau of anger, and then his attention was drawn to Shenzi, who's loud, harsh voice was berating the now silently staring hyenas.

"Don't you see? They aren't our enemy, it's not them who made us come here and help them become king! It's not them who treated us like crap! It's not them who made us out to be the evil ones! Who was it?"

"Scar!" shouted a voice from the back, and a murmur of dissent ran through the crowd. "Scar! Yes, that's right! Scar! Scar did this!"

"He scratched my pup!"

"He killed the king!"

"He's a liar!"

"He's a traitor!"

"He's my mother!"

"Yes, it was Scar!" shouted Shenzi, teeth bared in a grin, hushing the furious crowd again, "so stop fighting! We're both predators – why aren't we hunting together instead of hunting each other? Let us unite against our common enemy!"

A few moments silence. And then some more. And then a few seconds more.

A cheer, a screech, an almighty roar of agreement came from the crowd, and it dived into pandemonium. Shargra and Shanika looked at each other and grinned as they saw lion and hyena alike raise paws in the air and roar together, and then run off, yelling instructions to each other.

"I saw Scar! He went this way!"

"He went that way!"

"He went to hell!"

"He was with Simba!"

"He was with Zazu!"

"He was with my mother!"

Shenzi shouted some orders at the ones near her, and then she ran off, muscles moving quickly across the stone as she searched for the lion who had made all their lives such a misery.

Shargra and Shanika slowly and carefully struggled down to where the rest of the pride were along with a few of the hyenas, licking each others wounds, and Shargra saw Nasiha among them. He smiled weakly at her, and she grinned back before giving a yelp of joy. Shargra watched her run up to a male hyena, who had a squirming pup in his mouth, and nuzzle the pair of them. The male licked her, and she licked his face back. Shargra smirked.

"Ewww….." muttured Shanika, and Shargra rolled his eyes.

Sarabi walked up to them, slowly and proudly, a queen all the time despite her ordeal, looking as shocked as her upbringing would allow her. "I shall abdicate," she murmured decisively, and then, to the two young lions, "what did you two do to those hyenas?"

"Not much, I just needed to convince them that Scar couldn't do anything to them anymore and they did the rest themselves. Nice creatures really, no different from us – it's like my father told me once there's good in everyone; all you need to do is bring it out."

Sarabi looked kind, and seemed as if she was about to say something when: "LOOK!" Shanika screeched.

Shargra looked up just in time to see Simba flip Scar from the rock. The young lion watched, transfixed by the look of mingled terror and anger on Scar's face as he plummeted down, down, down, and crashed to the ground not far from where Shargra and Shanika stood. Shanika gave a strangled cry at the sight of his body, and buried her face in Shargra's fur, but Shargra nudged her, and she peeked out.

Scar was slowly getting to his feet and Shenzi and her two friends were watching him. He pushed himself up onto his paws, swayed slightly, winced, and looked around with a look of intense pain before noticing the three furious hyenas, and his looks instantly resumed their suave demeanour; albeit with a slight panic to his voice.

"Ahh, my…my friends!" he murmured, taking a step towards them, but the look on Shenzi's face stopped him.

"Frie-he-hends?" she coughed, as if she hadn't heard correctly. "I thought he said we were the enemy!"

"Yeah, that's what I heard!" one of her friends said, also grinning.

"Ed?" they both asked at the same time, and no words could convey how chilling that word sounded.

The hyena called Ed – whom Shargra recognised now, from a life long ago – looked at Scar, and then, very slowly, started a cruel sounding chuckle, that got higher, and faster, and more terrifying with every step the three took towards Scar, as the other hyenas emerged from the mists, threatening shadows, past Shargra and Shanika, closing in on the treacherous lion.

"No. L-L-L-Le-Le-Le-Le-Let me explain. No! You don't understand. No! I didn't mean for... No, No! Look, I'm sorry I called you... No! NOO!" Scar gave a scream of terror, but it was barely audible over Ed's cackling, and he disappeared from their view, but the cries and shadow on the wall were indication enough. Shanika sobbed at the sounds and buried her head fully in Shargra's shoulder again, and Shargra covered her ears, unable to draw his eyes away.

The fire began to fade, and storm clouds were gathering, the few drop of rain splashing down and soaking their fur, mingling Shanika's tears with the raindrops.

"Simba!" whispered Shanika, "Simba, did he make it?"

They looked back up at Pride Rock, and saw the lion himself, stalking slowly up the wet rock. Their eyes followed him, and Shargra felt a burst of pride in his chest as he thought of all this lion had achieved. When you looked at it, really, he hadn't done anything. All these brave animals – Simba, Shenzi, Nala and Nasiha – had risked their lives. All he'd done was make the sparks.

As if she knew what he was thinking, Shanika nudged him, and he looked at her. Through the rain he could see that she was grinning. "What?" he asked, puzzled.

"You!" she shouted.

"What!"

"You've got a mane, you sod!" she cackled, laughing her head off, and as Simba gave a great roar, they roared too, happy to be in the pride, their hearts swelling, roaring the loudest roar they'd ever roared. And Shargra roared the loudest of all, raising his paw to the sky in a mighty gesture to the lion king.

Please review

I will try to get the last bit up quicker than this one.