What happens when you rush in to save your beloved only to fail? For Simba, he re-experience one of the most harrowing moment of his young life...

Chapter 3: To The Rescue...?

Simba's sharp ears picked up on Nala crying out frantically before it was suddenly cut off. His eyes snapped open in dread before he immediately rushed towards her and picked up on the sweet scent. The former prince of the Pride Lands berated himself for letting Nala go off on her own when predators greater than even his father could have been lurking about. He rushed around the tree trunk where he skidded to a stop and felt himself paralyzed with growing horror.

There before Simba's eyes was Nala's upper body being engulfed by the large plant's head with her fore-arms pinned to her chest, both legs flailing about. He could hear her muffled screaming, making every noise imaginable with her mind saturated with sheer terror. The plant seemed to be lifting her off the ground and slowly making a gulping motion as the cub's body was sucked in bit by bit into it. The bulge she created grew with the plant gaining a grip with each slurp.

Simba could barely breath period and felt utterly terrified even as he fully processed exactly what was happening. Nala was being devoured alive by an animal eating plant right before his very eyes. The one he loved was being reduced to nourishment for the local fauna. The lioness cub's screams were barely audible but he could make out, "Simbaaa!" being repeated again and again in her pleadings. They got harder to hear with the mouth sucking itself up to past her paws.

Within the plant's gullet, Nala was completely immobilized by the tight quarters but couldn't keep from acting out in her desperation. She could feel the plant really taking its sweet time to inch her body further into its own while slathering her in what seemed to be what it had for saliva. The cub's heart raced and every breath was uncontrollable fast. She was being eaten. A lion reduced to mulch for overgrown weeds. Tears continued soaking into her furry face frantically.

Simba shook his head in trying to snap himself out of his state of shock enough to rush forth and urge himself to save Nala just as he had vowed. The plant repeatedly sucked up the lioness cub until it gradually left only her bottom half exposed with her tail swished feverishly and her legs kicking wildly. "Sorry, Nala," the disgraced prince apologized in advanced before leaping up to chomp on his crush's tail. He winced hard at Nala's inevitable cry of pain, feeling far too guilty.

Simba braced himself just before Nala's hind-paws kicked him uncontrollably, deciding he deserved it in exchange for biting her tail. The payoff seemed to be worth it as his excess weight was pulling his best friend down along with the plant. He felt his hind paws touched the ground while praying that the plant will give up and release the lioness cub. His highness dug his footing into the dirt for some semblance of leverage and held as steady as he possibly could period.

Simba kept urging himself on mentally as he felt his paws slid forth ever so slightly and saw the plant coming up to Nala's thighs with a few more gulps. He told himself that he had to just hold out for just a little longer and wear out the cub-eating plant. However, what little hopes the Pride Land's former prince had began to crumble when he felt Nala's tail sliding through his teeth slowly but surely. He begged to whatever gods were up there to afford him just one minute.

However, it only took half a minute for Nala's tail to slowly slide out of Simba's teeth and send him toppled to the ground. His highness quickly rose up in the vain hope that he could try again but only saw the harrowing sight of the plant lifting Nala's bottom half way out of his range. It raised its head up higher than before so the lioness cub's legs hung upside down while she screamed her lungs out louder than ever before. "No..." Simba could only whisper heart-brokenly.

Gravity helped the plant swallow Nala's writhing thighs into its mouth, leaving only her hind paws and bushy tail tip for a despondant Simba to see. It only took a second for those to slip into the maw and allow the lioness cub's body to slowly glide down the stem, rocking about helplessly. The dethroned prince couldn't believe that it was even real until images of his father's death flashed before his eyes. All he could do was witness Mufasa descend to his ultimate doom below.

Just as Nala was. She could only wriggle about so much in the slimy innards of the cub-eating plant. Her forearms were pinned to her chest while her hind legs were both pressed together with her tail. The lioness cub could only look ahead at the squelching tunnel she was slowly being squeezed down with her eyes able to see through the darkness. The gradual descent was enough to make the heartbreaking reality all sink in, triggering a growing pressure in her bowels.

"I..." Simba began bargaining, backing away. "I... didn't mean to..." The sight of his beloved entombed within the cub eating plant's innards seared itself into his mind as he felt the same grief he felt back then. "Nala... I'm... sorry..." Tears flooded out from his eyes as his crying grew into a barely restrained sob. His mind kept berating him for not holding on just a little longer and having such a weak bite. It was all because of him that another loved one suffered a painful death.

"BRAAAAAAAAPPTTTTTT!"

The crude cheese cutting sliced through Simba's grief like a sword as he raised his tear stained face up to see the plant convulsing in response. Another loud "BRAAAAAPPPPTTTT!" blasted through its mouth before the bulge that was Nala began rising up the stem. The has-been prince didn't dare get his hopes up but still prayed for a miracle as the bulge neared the mouth and caused the stem to bend forward. The mouth appeared to be upchucking with each and every gag.

Sure enough, Nala's tail poured out of the mouth followed by her legs far quicker than they'd been slurped up. Her torso and forearms slipped right out before finally spitting her head out and sending her slime-covered body to the ground. Simba finally snapped out of his shock enough to race forth and get below his beloved so he could break her fall like the prince he was. However, the chivalrous cub overestimated his durability as his crush almost crushed him upon impact.

"Are... you okay, Nala?" Simba managed to groan out, his limbs all sprawled out with his front pinned to the ground. However, none of it matter so long as his best friend was okay. "Define 'okay,'" Nala snarked back, clearly too shaken to immediately rise up off of him. "If anybody asks, you helped me claw out of there and that's all..." A second passed before they shared a hearty snicker from both her sass and the sheer fact that they got out of such an ordeal with flatulence.

However, despite their laughter over another misadventure, Simba couldn't shake off the harrowing memories and emotions that it invoked deep down. Nala's tail slipping out of his mouth replayed in his head beneath the fun front he was putting up for her. Every time the former prince tried to protect his crush, he only delayed the inevitable and needed a stroke of luck to bail him out. He knew next time he wouldn't be too lucky. Unless, of course, there wouldn't be a next time.

Simba faces a harsh reminder of his limits as Nala's life was nearly snuffed out before his very eyes. What can he do if... anything?