Disclaimer: I don't own Lion King.

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Chapter 24: Emptiness

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The trip to the newest employer of the hyenas turned out to be not a relaxing afternoon stroll, but a full-blown journey. Vunda lead the "political scientists" across the lush, flourishing lands filled with grass-eaters and almost completely devoid of predators. The longer Shenzi thought about it, the more concerned she became. Finally, once the lions made a break in marching, she took the opportunity to ask Vunda about it.

"Hey, why aren't here any lion prides or hyena packs?" she asked, looking around. She didn't think that she even saw a single leopard or a cheetah except one that told them that he was a secret agent of "the boss".

Vunda stretched his paws comfortably, hiding in the shade of an acacia tree.

"If you're an exceptionally strong guy or a handy specialist on the boss's land, he makes you an offer you can't refuse: either you join him or you die." Vunda explained. "I like living, my brothers too."

"And what if you're not strong or smart?" Shenzi inquired.

Vunda chuckled darkly, drawing the attention of Ed and Banzai.

"The boss thinks the weak are a waste of resources and the living space. They need to vanish," he said quietly. The hyenas gulped, suddenly becoming very tense. Vunda turned his head to observe Uchao, who was busy pushing baby birds back to their nests. "If I were you, I'd train that weird pup of yours. Make her a public relations expert or someone like that."

Almost immediately, Shenzi ran after Uchao, praying her from any more selfless acts. Vunda was left in the charming company of Ed and Banzai. Without any feminine supervision, the three males assumed casual poses, collapsing on the ground. The green-eyed lion lifted his head a little, baffled by how confident the hyenas behaved.

"So, you three have worked with lions before?" he asked curious.

Ed nodded eagerly and Banzai replied, as his grinning buddy wasn't a talkative hyena.

"Yep, we helped our lion pal become a king." He summarized the events of the last years.

"How come you guys are not shaking the Pride Lands anymore?" Vunda inquired further.

Before replying, Banzai lazily scratched his belly.

"A hostile takeover." He used the fancy words, he had picked up from Scar. Who would have thought that hanging out with that pretentious prick would turn out useful?

"Crap happens," Vunda said philosophically.

"Yeah." Banzai admitted. All three males sighed simultaneously, pondering the twisted ways of fate. Shenzi's distressed shrieks peacefully blended with the annoyed grunts of Vunda's brother and the tranquil melody of nature. Banzai stroked his full belly.

"So, the boss. What's he like?" he asked.

Vunda rolled onto the other side, letting the blissful laziness engulf him.

"Oh, you know, the usual – wants to rule all Africa, you've got to submit or you die, you catch the jib, right?" Vunda swished his tail, chasing pesky flies away. "The guy's a bit stuck up, but he pays well."

Ed laughed a bit bitterly. Banzai looked at him and nodded to his body, understanding his doubts. They were about to become lackeys of some lion tyrant again. It was like some curse. Maybe Scar's vengeful spirit kept haunting them?

"What the heck!"

Banzai shuddered, startled by Vunda's sudden cry. He sat up instantly, looking around to spot what was the reason for the green-eyed lion's reaction. Banzai didn't have to search long – Vunda's brothers drew his attention by letting out miserable whines, characteristic rather for cubs than for a pair of grown, strong males. Banzai didn't blame them though. With flowers plucked in their braided manes, even top predators of the savannah were allowed to undergo mental breakdown.

"Damu? Chonga! What happened to you?" Vunda breathed out, shocked by the extreme makeover, his brothers went through.

As if answering his question, Uchao jumped out of the tall grass, carrying a bouquet of colorful flowers in her mouth. In a ladylike manner, she placed the flowers at her paws before speaking.

"Don't they look marvelous, Mr. Vunda?" She asked with that creepily happy smile of hers. "It's your turn next."

Vunda stared at her, petrified. He behaved like some gazelles when surrounded by a group of hunters – they freeze, too scared to flee. Shenzi popped behind Uchao, also decorated with a flower garland. Hastily, she made shooing gestures, her mouth soundlessly saying the word: "Run!"

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Scar glared at the lionesses, as he limped across the den. He chose a quiet desolate spot, away from Zira, far from her annoying cubs and isolated from the other pride members. He threw himself onto the ground, not minding if his position was unsightly. He stretched out his legs and squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he could do the same with ears. None of the lionesses dared to approach him, but the cubs were less perceptive. Unceremoniously, they ignored his grim mood, following him to his place of solitude.

"Scar, wait for us!" Nuka exclaimed, leading the assault of three siblings. However, his advantage dwindled quickly, as Vitani bit at his tail. The mangy cub let out a pained cry, while his sister darted past him, racing with Kovu.

Scar groaned and rolled onto another side, with his back to the cubs. When they reached him, his eyes snapped open, staring at the termite mound wall in front of him with murderous intent. The touch of little paws on his back was enough to make him want to drown them all, preferably in a river infested with crocodiles.

"Dad, play!" Kovu demanded, poking Scar, who didn't react. Perhaps if he played dead, they would go away.

"It's not fair that only Kovu gets to call Scar dad," Nuka said with envy, behaving, as though Scar wasn't there. Afterward, he added in a whisper. "He's not even his real father."

"No?" Kovu asked, startled. Disappointment and confusion could be heard in his voice – he was genuinely shocked. That made Scar smirk, and somehow made his mood better.

"Don't worry, Kovu." Vitani hurried to comfort her younger brother, while giving Nuka a death glare. "Scar isn't really our dad, but we can adopt him! Mom says it's okay."

Scar raised his eyebrow. He was quite sure that adoption didn't work that way. Nonetheless, he found himself "adopted".

"Dad, you promised to show us the Pride Lands today!" Vitani exclaimed, yanking at Scar's mane to get his attention.

"We were quiet all day, so let's go, dad." Nuka joined his sister, sealing Scar's fate as an unwilling father of three cubs that weren't even his. If this was how parenthood looked like, he was glad that he hadn't had an idiotic decision to start his own family. He had no clue how anyone managed to suffer through so much noise and bothering. It provided some insight in why Scar's father used to be so short-tempered and irritable though.

"Go away," Scar muttered, swishing his tail to repel the cubs the way flies were chased away.

"But…" Kovu jumped on Scar's back, making his spine hurt immensely under the little weight.

"I said," Scar hissed, before yelling: "Get lost!"

He stood up abruptly, shaking Kovu off. The cub rolled off his back and landed at Nuka's paws. Zira's offspring stared at him with their eyes wide-open and dumb expressions on their muzzles. Scar let a low-pitched growl erupt from his throat, before he roared. The cubs yelped, backpedaling. Terrified by his furious glare, they ran off, surely to tell Zira on him. Scar couldn't care less though. He collapsed on the ground, ready to get his nap and glad that he got rid of the nuisance.

Predictably enough, his moment of peace was short-lived and ended with the arrival of the cub's angered mother. Scar could hear Zira huff above him, but didn't bother to grace her with a single glance.

"What was left from the herds moved to the Pride Lands. The waterhole dried and the river is no longer safe because of the crocodiles." Zira complained. Why did lionesses have to nag constantly? When Scar didn't show any interest in her boring rambling, she poked him with her paw. "Are you listening to me?"

"No." Scar was being honest. He waited for Zira to vent her frustration and go away, but she was more persistent than her spawns.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Zira jumped over Scar and hovered over him like a vulture. She leaned, so that he was forced to look her in the eye, as she stared at him with anticipation. The silence dragged on and Zira let out a frustrated howl. Brutally, she grabbed Scar's shoulder, so that he wouldn't turn away from her. "What happened to you? Lately you're doing nothing but lazing around!"

Her accusation failed to elicit any response from her future mate. Scar looked away.

"What about the promised Pride Lands? Now it would be the right time to take them over!" Zira nearly yelled into his muzzle. Scar scoffed, trying to pry her paw off himself, but Zira's grasp was strong for a lioness.

"My leg has still to heal," he said. The excuse was not an imaginary one, actually. His hind leg, injured twice, had yet to regain mobility. His flesh wounds healed days ago, leaving gruesome scars all over his body. The bones, however, were not exactly as they used to be. Scar's ribcage was slightly sagged on one side. His back was hunched, and he couldn't leap as gracefully as before – at least not without having to lay down for two whole days afterward. "I need more time to recover."

"More time to recover." Zira repeated his words like echo. Her claws grazed Scar's pelt, as she took her paw away. She said quietly: "Scar, your injuries have healed already."

Scar glared at her. How dare she fathom that she knew better than he did?

"Not yet," he said shortly.

"Your leg and back aren't going to get any better with time, you know." Zira stated bluntly.

Scar took advantage of the fact that she wasn't holding him down anymore and turned with his back to her. He couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye – she sounded too much like the ghost of his despised family members.

"Pfft." Scar rolled his eyes.

"I'm disappointed in you." Without knowing it, Zira said exactly the same words, as the apparition of Scar's father in his nightmarish vision. The lion shuddered, spooked. He stared at her, wondering whether she wasn't possessed by persistent ghosts. Zira sighed. "I was a fool. All your talk about becoming the king of the Pride Lands was only to weasel your way into my pride, wasn't it?"

Afterward, she did what Scar didn't quite expect – she walked away. He had thought that her leave would bring him relief, but he was restless instead. Scar felt compelled to tell her that she was wrong, that he wasn't a useless waste of place in the den. He stood up and rushed after Zira, limping.

"Don't you turn your back on me!" Scar growled. Zira stopped, but didn't even glance at him over her shoulder. "I forbid you!"

"And who you are to order around me?" she questioned.

Scar didn't like the tone of her voice, but she had a point: who was he really? A rogue, a stray without a pride, an Outlander? No, he was much more than that. They all were wrong, the ghosts were wrong, the lionesses too. Deep in his heart, Scar always knew his destiny.

"I'm a king!" He roared; his strong voice echoed across the termite mound. "I always was."

"A king?" Zira asked, her voice dripping with mockery. Slowly, she turned around to face him. "You're no king, Scar. You're a pathetic, lazy bum, living off our charity. And you're an impotent."

"What?" Scar coughed out, completely caught off guard by the last accusation. He looked around, realizing that all lionesses stared at him, whispering amongst each other, while his male pride was being crushed. "No, I'm not!"

Zira gave him a doubtful look.

"Then why haven't we mated even once, even though I wanted?" Zira demanded. Scar opened his mouth to defend his sexual prowess and dignity, but she wouldn't let him utter a single word. "Don't say it's because of your bad back. It's a lousy excuse."

Scar's jaws snapped shut. How did she know precisely what was he going to say?

"And just how exactly are you planning on challenging Simba with your bad back?" Zira asked sharply, not giving Scar a break.

She leapt toward him and before he could react, she kicked him in his bad hind leg. The male lion swayed, instantly losing his balance. His muzzle got distorted by a grimace of pain, and he fell on the ground. Slowly and clumsily, he scrambled to his paws. Zira watched him with disdain. She proved what the ghosts had told him – battered, Scar was no longer the lion he used to be. He would never defeat Simba with the broken body of his, not ever. Reclaiming his place on the throne was an empty dream.

Upon the realization, Scar suddenly felt, as if all his life ended. For the first time in his life he experienced such a void. There had been always a goal, a desire that drove him through rough times and helped him achieve the unthinkable, but now his existence became aimless.

Scar raised his head, encountering Zira's unsatisfied, judgmental glare. The lionesses stared at him silently. The Outlanders wanted him to provide them fertile lands, but he was no longer able to do it. Therefore, he had no place either. Scar clenched his jaws, feeling like howling from humiliation and despair. Slowly, he limped toward the exit of the den, feeling the disappointed gazes following his every step. Zira didn't stop him.

"Scar, don't go!" Nuka pleaded. Vitani and Kovu launched forward, but Zira intercepted them and hauled them away.

Scar squeezed his eyes shut, leaving his second home behind. He was a true stray now, with no place to stay and no goal. As if hoping that the Outlanders would stop him nonetheless, he opened his eyes to glance over his shoulder. However, the termite mound stood in front of his eyes tall and grim – no one ran out of him to ask him to stay. Zira wanted him gone. Scar didn't blame her, actually. What good a cripple was to them?

It didn't really matter where to go next, for Scar didn't expect to last out here. Unable to hunt and unwelcome practically everywhere, he was bound to perish. If he was to die anyway, he didn't want to give out his last breath in the barren wastelands though. Limping, Scar headed home, toward the lush grasslands of the Pride Lands.

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Author's Note:

Thanks for reading, my lovely readers! Special thanks goes to Megan Lyle, ninjaswag132 and almondbutter. I haven't expected anyone to review since I had such a long break in updating. I appreciate your support and I love you!

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When waiting for another update (which will come sooner than later, I hope), you may want to check out my new fanfic, Dusk of the Force. It's a Star Wars story centered around the bad guys. Give it a look, please, and maybe leave me a review (I'll hand you a virtual lemon cupcake if you do).