As Janja made his way towards Scar's volcano, his confidence in the result of the battle started to lessen. What if Scar stops them from winning somehow? What if I get trapped? This is a dangerous game I'm playing. I need to be cautious.
A sudden noise startled him from his thoughts. As he looked at the cliff to his right, he noticed some small rock rocks had tumbled from the side. Janja narrowed his eyes at the rock that had tumbled, before looking back up to see where they had come from.
Right then, he spotted a small crack in the cliff, where some rocks were nudged in between. That crack… It's large enough for a skink to crawl in…
Janja's fur started to bristled as his ears flattened at the possibility. He looked down If they were spying, then the plan was doomed for sure. Scar would find out. He would turn their plan inside out!
No, no. It's fine, Janja reassured himself. I'll be fine. Small rocks fall from cliffs all the time. Why would it be the skinks now? I just need to keep going with the plan.
Janja sighed before taking one last glance at the crack. He was sure he was overthinking it. It shouldn't be an abnormal thing now. Perhaps, he was just paranoid about the battle.
Janja looked back towards the volcano and started making his way over again. It will all be fine Janja. You just need to get it together.
" Janja…" Scar said with a smirk as Janja entered the volcano. Janja walked in with his face up high, trying not to show his uncertainty. He saw that the jackals, the crocodiles" It's been a while, hasn't it? Where is your clan?"
" Well, I was observing the best way to cut into Jasiri's territory and I didn't want to keep you waiting. I can gather my clan on the way to Jasiri's territory. They should already be prepared."
Scar raised a brow. " Oh really?"
Janja gulped as he stepped on the ledge before Scar. " Yeah, really! I swear!"
Scar stayed with his brow raised for a few moments longer before he sighed. " It's really funny Janja. It really is…"
Janja's ears flattened. " What is?"
Scar started to chuckle. " It's funny that I heard my skinks say something else."
Janja's fur bristled as he lowered his body, which made his body look smaller. " What do you mean?"
" Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean," Scar said. Then he looked over to the rest of his army. " Make sure he doesn't go off this ledge."
The jackals and the crocodiles exchanged looks of confusion, but followed Scar's orders by blocking his one way off the ledge. Janja looked behind his shoulder as his breath quickened and his eyes widened in panic.
Janja turned back to Scar as Scar gave back a serious expression. " You tried to hide the truth Janja. But you ultimately failed!"
Janja gulped. " What do you mean?"
" Don't play games with me Janja! You know darn well about what I'm talking about! That little hyena friend of yours! Jasiri, is it?"
Janja shuddered as Scar said her name. " W-what about her?"
" Don't think I don't know about you heistating with Jasiri's offer!" Scar growled as he said it, making the ground beneath rumble with him. " And not only do you hesitate with her offer, but you sneak around and visit her at night, sucking up to her and exchanging nuzzles and kisses! You even had a plan to trap my army so you could scurry off with her!"
The crocodiles and the jackals gasped for a moment behind him. As Janja turned back, he saw Reirei in a disgusted gape and Kiburi in a snarl. Ushari, who was to the side behind the army, started smirking.
" You betrayed us?!" Reirei shouted as her gape turned into a snarl. " With your little girlfriend?"
" Now she and her clan knows of our plan," Kiburi snarled. " All because of this soft hearted fool!"
" The plan we originally had will no longer be a problem Kiburi." Scar narrowed his eyes at Janja. " Our new task will focus on getting traitors out of our army."
Janja lowered his head a little bit more. I'm dead for sure. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.
" I should have known to never trust hyenas again," Scar commented. " Just like the first clan I trusted."
Janja lifted his head for a moment. " What do you mean? They died with you in the fire!"
" Oh Janja, you don't know the whole story do you?"
" What whole story?"
Scar snickered. " Shenzi... She betrayed me."
Janja froze for a moment as Scar's smirk grew. " What a pity that her son turned out the same way."
Janja narrowed his eyes at Scar. " What do you mean she betrayed you?"
" She was overwhelmed by her own greed and hunger," Scar said as his smirk turned downward. His voice started to become raspy with anger. " When Simba came back to end my reign, she turned her back on me after Simba had pushed me down Priderock. She ordered her clan to maul me and as she did, she couldn't escape the fire. So she just so happened to have died with me."
Janja stayed silent for a moment, while looking down to avoid Scar's glare. He could feel his paws shuffle as thoughts ran through his head. After a few seconds pass by, Janja managed to whisper out a few words. " But my mother… She wouldn't die… over greed…"
" But isn't that what you're doing?" Scar snarled. " You are putting yourself in the paws of death, just because your own desires to be with an ally of the ones who starve you. Shenzi died in the fire with me because of her greed."
Janja started to think more and more deeply, his mind whirling into pool of confusion. Am I being greedy? Was my mother really that greedy and outrageous? Is this worth dying for?
Janja stayed in that state for a moment. Any possible doubt started to beat him up inside. Back to square one.
Janja turned back to the jackals and crocodiles, with their teeth bared, eyes full of a burning flame. Janja winced for a moment, making Scar chuckle. " I bet it scares you that you're falling into a dangerous path. Your mother's greed is why you grew up without parents."
Janja could feel his heart pound against his body. Is this worth risking my clan's safety?
" I was trying to help you gain something. Something worthwhile. You were running around in the Outlands, starving your whole life. But you threw all the chances you had to change that away."
Janja had realized his body was visibly shaking. It felt like his body was crumbling along with his brain. His doubts were slamming into his mind. Have I been scared this whole time for no reason?
" All of you hyenas are cowards! All of you! What even makes you think that Jasiri would even care! She's just using you to win! She'll use you and then throw you to the side! You're nothing to anyone, always have been and will forever be that way. Just like your mother! Even when I took over the Pridelands, when let her hyenas to their hearts desire, she still decided to kill me and to be burned to nothing."
Janja felt a quick jolt of rage in his heart and looked up to Scar smirking. Is he degrading me?
Janja thought for a moment. These doubts… They're irrational…
Janja looked to his paws. I'm just scared… I need to stop.
" Enough of this talking! When can we get a piece of him?" Kiburi snarled.
" In a moment Kiburi!" Scar snapped. He fixed his eyes back at Janja. " Any last words?"
Jasiri wouldn't save my life if I was nothing. Janja thought. She wouldn't have said we were the same. Janja made eye contact with Scar. Scar is a manipulator. This is what he does. My mother would never die for something so stupid. Scar must have lied to her too. He's just blaming us hyenas for his mistakes and greediness.
Janja could feel his shaking lessen as he slowly lifted up his head towards Scar. He could still feel his legs vibrating still and in the back of his mind still remained his fears. But he felt braver. I didn't just risk everything with Jasiri for nothing.
" Yeah," Janja said as firmly as he could. " I do."
Scar raised a brow as Janja continued. " I know I betrayed you. I know I'm greedy." Scar narrowed his eyes, as if he was confused as to where Janja was going.
Janja paused for a moment, shaking a bit as he thought about what he would say next. He knew the reaction he would get when he continued. But it felt right to say. He sighed. " But I'm proud of what I've done."
Scar's army had gasped behind him and Scar's flames even grew as he bared his teeth. " You're proud!?"
" I'm not like you Scar," Janja said. " I'm greedy for a good life for my clan. I'm greedy for a better life for everyone. I betrayed you because you would have betrayed me first." Janja felt his stance become more firm and less shaky. " You are greedy because you're hunger for power. Only for your own personal gain for power as well. Not for us. That's why you took over the Pridelands, right? Killed Mufasa? Attempted to fight over the throne with Simba instead? Stars knows what you did to my mother to get them so pissed!"
The fire in Scar's eyes grew even more, along with the flame around him. " What?!"
Seeing Scar getting increasingly angered drove Janja to smirk a bit, as his fears and doubts seemed to leave him. " Why do you even need power? I wanted power for food for my clan. My mother needed food as well. You had everything at your paws when you were at Priderock. You were gifted with the power of the roar! I can't really tell if you're just really insecure about yourself, or if you're just that sick in the head!"
The flames started to get so high, that Janja could feel the difference in warmth, the fire warming him like they were about to consume him. Scar was getting so and so much more enraged. " You think I'm sick headed?!"
Janja chuckled a bit. " At least with Jasiri, I'm not around sick minded creatures like you! She doesn't kill family and her own allies for personal gain! She helped me in so many more ways than you could, even if you had tried! She made me see that I don't need power to live a good life. I don't need to fight the Lion Guard to get food and to get respect. I actually felt like I was more than I ever was before! The circle of life gave me a purpose!" Janja smiled to himself, thinking to himself for a second. " She even saved my life. You can't get any more honorable than that. She saved me when no one else even cared to notice. It's funny to think… that without her… I wouldn't be standing here."
The memories shared between him and Jasiri flashed across his mind. From the time he had been saved by her to last night when they officially confessed to each other. A warm fuzzy feeling settled in his heart, as he thought about each memory.
He looked back up at Scar. " And she was so right that you didn't care about hyenas. That has to be one of the truest things that she's ever said. How much did you even help my mother and
her clan? You nearly destroyed the whole Pridelands in your unjust reign so she was back to starving again! And to think that I was so native, that I agreed to get you back here on Earth! How insecure was I to think I needed you? And I was so scared of you! Actually I was so scared when I walked in here today! And it took me that long to decide to go a different route to help my clan, even when I knew something was wrong the whole time!"
Scar broke into a sudden crackle but even as he laughed, the raspiness and the size of the flames determined the amount of rage he felt inside. " You actually you can make it without me?! You coward! You could never find a way to live outside of this crappy life without me! You need me!"
" It's funny that you think I'm the fool!" Janja laughed. " Because I have become much stronger than I have before." Scar looked back down to Janja, smirking, but none of it phased Janja. " I have the actual strength to stand up against you, in the moment where I could die! Weeks ago, I would have ran like an actual coward or bowed before you! What would make you think that I needed you?"
" Tell you what. You need me survive my army when I order them to end your life!"
" I would rather die than join you again!"
" Then let's see how much strength you have while you're being mauled to death by my army!" Scar laughed, looking to his army behind Janja. " I've had enough of him. Have at him."
" My pleasure!" Kiburi snapped as he and his crocs approached Janja with teeth bared.
" You're not taking me down that easily," Janja turned back to face his attackers. " Even if I die at the end." Janja bared his teeth and crouched a bit in a defensive stance.
Either I die for Jasiri, or she comes and fights beside me, Janja thought. Either way, I'm satisfied…