Disclaimer: I don't own Lion King.

WARNING! This chapter contains explicit violence (and I don't mean beating someone up, I mean something way worse). If you're faint-hearted or simply loathe violence, run away.

.

.

.

Chapter 6: Coup

.

The Outlands had been graced with a rare occurrence – rain. The day when the skies bestowed their gift upon the dry, hostile land, was the most enjoyable day of Nuka's life. The cub pranced, jumping into the puddles. The joy was shared with the rest of the juvenile members of the pride equally. Panya and her six lackeys played with Nuka, as if none of them remembered their antipathy. Vitani, the youngest of the cubs, squealed happily, landing in the deepest puddle. Afraid that she would drown, Nuka leapt to rescue her, but Vitani kicked him in the muzzle, wriggling out of the grip. Eagerly, she swam in the puddle like a hippo.

"You look like a soaked vulture." Panya teased him, snickering. Indeed, Nuka's wet pelt glued to his skin, revealing that he was even thinner than it appeared. However, as scrawny as he was, he was pretty fast and agile. Before Panya realized that she was in trouble, Nuka pounced at her. Startled, she yelped, but the scream got trapped in her throat as her and Nuka's muzzles touched in a surprise kiss.

"Run!" one of the little lionesses shrieked and they scattered, abandoning their leader. Panya froze in terror, embarrassed. When she finally got a grip, she struck Nuka with her rear paws, throwing him off. With a loud splash, he landed in the puddle beside Vitani.

"Stupid stinky!" Panya exclaimed and followed her little gang.

Nuka spit the water out and scrambled himself out of the puddle. Vitani grinned widely, when she paddled toward him.

"She likes you," Nuka's baby sister said in her childish voice. He huffed and voiced his disbelief, but deep in his heart he felt a nice, warm fuzziness. Panya had been always mean to him, but she was a pretty lioness. Slightly malnourished, like all of them were, she was graceful and confident. Nuka was still at the age, when he perceived females as pesky beings, but he was slowly beginning to discern their delicate appeal.

Hesitantly, he stole a glance at Panya, only to notice her looking in his direction as well. Right away, the two cubs broke the eye contact, spooked. Nuka grinned like an idiot, thinking that little Vitani hadn't been wrong. Absentmindedly, he flattened the mane, that wasn't growing yet and hastily combed his fur to be more handsome. He straightened his hunched back and prowled like a king, showing off how attractive he was.

Vitani looked at her big brother with awe in her big blue eyes. However, the admiration quickly fled, replaced by smugness. She lurked in the shallow water, locking the cocky, shaggy male cub. She approached him soundlessly like a crocodile. He was so enticed in rippling his frail body that he didn't see the attack. Vitani pounced and pricked Nuka's rear with her thin claws.

"Ouch!" he shrieked like a female cub and jumped.

Vitani landed in the puddle, but she chuckled, seeing her victim writhe in pain and dip his sore bottom in the cool water. Nuka, on the other hand, looked less joyful. He glared at his little sister.

"Stop laughing!" Nuka exclaimed, but it only caused Vitani to shift from giggling to cackling like a villain. He muttered an insult under his breath, scratched his rear and snatched his sister by the nape of her neck. She scowled, but she knew too that it was the time for her bath. Both of them were caked in mud from the carefree play. Mother would surely be fuming at their sight.

Carrying Vitani, Nuka kipped toward the largest of the termite mounds. As it was the bath time, the other cups headed there was well. Politely, he let the ladies enter first. He even winked at Panya, but she scowled, keeping appearances. Nuka was sure though, that she was swooning on the inside. In the indestructibly good mood, he strolled inside the lions' den.

As soon as he set his paw inside, he sensed that something was not right. He dropped Vitani, and she plopped right before him. Nuka's instinct was screaming to get out, to take his sister and run, but unfortunately he didn't listen to it. Instead, he stood frozen like a fool, staring at what was transpiring in front of his eyes.

Zira and her lionesses surrounded Msuli. Snarling at him and growling, they cornered their leader like a prey. A streamlet of blood stained his fair fur, leaking out of a wound on his shoulder. Nuka was confused, he didn't know yet that he was witnessing a coup. Msuli's deafening roar echoed throughout the termite mound, as the huge male climbed onto his rear legs, wildly flailing his front paws. One of the lionesses stumbled back, slashed across her muzzle. Msuli's powerful muscles were working underneath his skin, before he leapt forward, knocking another two females off. The pride sisters were limp like a cub tossed by an elephant.

"What's the meaning of this?" Msuli roared furiously, readying to counterattack.

The lionesses were focused, encircling him cautiously. Scared for his mother, Nuka searched for Zira. Crawling near the ground, she was silently approaching Msuli from the back, about to give him a nasty surprise. The lionesses acted like a team. While Zira was the one going for the kill, the others backed her up. They trotted in place, making enough noise to muffle her quiet paw steps. The second-in-command, Panya's mother, stepped forward to distract Msuli.

"We've had enough of your rule," she said with disdain ringing in her firm voice. "You're eating all our prey. We're starving and you don't give a damn! You're going down, Msuli."

Msuli set the wrathful glare of his blue eyes on her, oblivious that his own mate was about to pounce onto him from behind. Zira crouched, prepared to leap, when the gigantic male eluded her without any prior warning. Two pride sisters tried to block his path, but he rammed through them, casting them aside effortlessly.

Suddenly, Nuka realized that Msuli was sprinting for him and the other cubs. Little lions froze, petrified from panic and surprise. Even if they wanted to flee, the male got to them before they could set a paw in the right direction. A high-pitched squeals of terror echoed throughout the termite mound, when Msuli jumped in the midst of the cub's flock. His long, sharp teeth glimmered in the twilight, urging the little pride members to move. It was too late though, at least for one of them.

"Mom!" Panya called, when Msuli scooped her, separating her from the rest of the cubs. She kept screaming, as the male lion sunk his teeth in the nape of her neck until blood stained his mouth. For a brief moment, everyone in the termite mound stilled, and only the buzzing of the insects was a contra punt to the overwhelming silence. Afterward, as if it was the nearing climax of the tragedy, the shrieks of horror interrupted the quiet. The cubs rushed for the exit, pushing past Nuka and nearly sweeping him of his paws. His instinct told him to run, to save Vitani, but all he could do was to watch Panya wriggle in Msuli's grasp.

"Let her go!" Panya's mother pleaded. The lionesses assumed submissive attitude, lowering their heads and stepping back. Zira hesitated to give up for a while, but then, she noticed Nuka. Her eyes widened and the cub saw fear in them. She wasn't scared of Msuli though; she was terrified of what he could do to her son. A miserable groan escaped her throat, as her gaze wandered between her cub and her pride sisters. She was indecisive – should she protect her Nuka, or should she put the well being of her pride sisters first?

Zira's hesitation had dire consequences. While she was having an internal battle, Msuli knew exactly what would be his next move. He dropped Panya. The cub yelped. She was wounded, but alive. Her mother closed her eyes and breathed out with relief. Smiling encouragingly to Panya, she approached to take her daughter into safety.

The entire time Msuli was watching her warily. A smirk on his muzzle grew, and it was the moment when Zira realized what was going to happen. Little Panya scrambled off the ground, balancing on her shaky legs. She returned a faint smile to her mother, before Msuli lifted his massive, heavy paw.

"No," Zira whispered.

Nuka helplessly observe Msuli's paw descend onto unsuspecting Panya. A look of ultimate shock distorted the lionesses' muzzles, as their male leader dashed the cub. A nauseating crack was the sign that his blow shattered Panya's bones. Msuli removed his paw, revealing the most disturbing sight, Nuka had ever experienced.

Panya was still alive, barely. With her neck bent at an odd angle, she coughed weakly. Her little paws twitched, before she gave her last breath. Msuli sat on his rear, gloating. He looked like a cub, who had hunted a little mouse.

"Panya," the cub's mother muttered. Suddenly, a desperate, vengeful glimmer flickered through her eyes. She roared, leaping onto Msuli to avenge her dead daughter. No one backed her up though. The pride sisters averted their gazes, not wanting to see her being hit by his paw and pinned to the ground. One whimper, Msuli's triumphant growl, and she lay dead beside her cub with her throat ripped.

The lion lightly jumped over the corpses.

"Which one of you wants to be next?" he roared, casually strolling between the lionesses. The pride sisters cowered in fear, avoiding gaze at. Msuli chuckled, pleased to see how much dread he inflicted upon the members of his pride. He approached Zira and looked her dead in the eye. "If something like this happens again, you and your pathetic offspring will become vultures' next meal. Is that understood?"

He leaned closer to Zira, so that their muzzles were at the same level. Reluctantly, she nodded. Nuka saw his mother claw at the ground, as if to prevent her paws from shaking. Msuli purred and nuzzled into Zira's neck, as if nothing gruesome had happened just moments ago. His mate didn't dare to move away; she remained stiff, enduring the caress.

"Take these carcasses outside!" Msuli yelled, ordering the lionesses around. "And catch something decent. Disciplining you made me hungry."

Nuka shivered, staring at his stepfather, his mother and Panya's limp, lifeless body laying on the bottom of the den. It was his moment of clarity. He understood his fate, the hopeless destiny of his family. Msuli would always loom over them like a threatening phantom, crushing all defiance and draining the pride's hope. One by one, they would die, either by his paw or the famine would finish them off. What would become of them?

Nuka darted off, not looking back. He ditched Vitani, he left mother behind. All he could think of was to erase the image of Panya's violent death from his mind. Endangered and scared, he directed his paw steps toward the only safe place, he knew – a tiny cavern on the border with the Pride Lands.

.

.

.

Author Note:

Review, please. Each comment is appreciated, and I respond to all of them.