Chapter 8

As the cubs and their babysitters made their way home, a sandstorm began in the Outlands. With Pumbaa's heavy build, he and Timon were able to make it home in time. Kimba and Kayla, on the other hand, were much lighter, and were thrown into a cave by a strong breeze. The two cubs were rammed against the cave's walls, and were unconscious. The golden egg rolled into the cave after them, and cushioned against their bodies.

Shortly afterwards, Mufasa and Scar arrived at the cave. The had seen the cubs get thrown, and came after them.

"We should take them home." Mufasa told his brother.

"To Simba?" Scar gasped. "I couldn't possibly go to him… not after he killed me!"

Mufasa groaned. "The hyena's killed you, not Simba."

"Well… they're not our problem!" Scar protested. "Simba should have taken better care of them-"

"Well, Simba isn't here right now, is he?" Mufasa reminded him. "Neither them nor us can stay here for much longer. Now you take Kayla and I'll take Kimba."

Scar groaned, but picked Kayla up by scruff of her neck. He always hated it when Mufasa made a good point…

Meanwhile, at his cave, Simba was pacing around. He had been looking for the cubs all day, but he couldn't find anyone. Not even Timon or Pumbaa! And now there was a storm…

"Those cubs know better than to not come home during a storm!" he said out loud.

"Don't worry Simba!" Nala said to her mate, trying to calm him down. "They will be home soon."

"With this storm, their chances of survival are pretty bad." Simba told her, in a worried tone.

At that moment, Timon and Pumbaa burst into the cave. They plopped down on the ground, panting.

"Timon! Pumbaa!" Nala exclaimed. "See, Simba? I told you they would come back."

"Where are the cubs?" Simba asked the pair, noticing that his grandchildren were still missing.

"The cubs?" Timon and Pumbaa repeated, and then burst into tears.

"They must have been captured!" Pumbaa sobbed.

"By who?" Simba asked.

"Scar's ghost!" Timon cried. "We saw him earlier, so he must have captured Kimba and Kayla!"

Simba groaned. "Timon, there are no such things as ghosts!"

Just as he said that, lightning struck the land outside, and two dark figures appeared at the cave. Timon and Pumbaa ran to cower behind Nala.

"It's Scar's ghost!" Pumbaa whispered.

"I know…" Timon told him. "But… who is that with him?"

The two figures leaned closer to the ground, and dropped things onto it. The two "things" were Kimba and Kayla, who woke up instantly and ran towards Nala.

"Thank you for saving my grandchildren," Simba told the figures. "But… who are you?"

"Can't you tell, Simba?" one of the figures asked, then stepping into the light. "It's me."

Simba gasped as he saw the figure of his father come towards him, perfectly alive. On impulse, he ran toward Mufasa and nuzzled him.

Scar didn't seem to be too happy about the reunion. "Oh sure…everyone's happy to see Mufasa, but no one wanted to see me."

With the appearance of Scar, the cubs ran behind Nala, and hid with Timon and Pumbaa. Simba stopped nuzzling Mufasa to growl at the murderer.

"Now Simba, don't pounce on him." Mufasa told his son. "I didn't bring Scar so he could get hurt."

"Then why did you bring him?" Simba questioned.

"Well, if you have to know…" Scar began to say. "Mufasa and I have been fighting a lot lately, so our parents made us stay here until we are… nice to each other." The last few words seemed to come out like venom.

"Okay…" Simba said, not really understanding what his uncle had said. "So, where did you find the cubs?"

"In Rafiki's old tree." Mufasa simply replied.

"Rafiki's tree? Doing what?" He asked, now glaring at the cubs.

"Going to the Pride Lands…" Kimba started to say. "But Grandpa… it was my fault! I… just wanted to see our parents again."

Simba sighed. He couldn't stay mad at them, especially not when he wanted to go home as well.

"All right, you won't get punished." Simba said at last, with a smile. But do realize that there are better ways to see your parents."

"And…" Mufasa interrupted. "Your cubs found this in Rafiki's tree." He pulled the golden egg out from behind him.

"I do remember Rafiki saying something about a golden egg." Simba told them, looking at the object with great interest. "You can take it to him tomorrow. I'm sure he'll be glad that you found it."

Finally, a longer chapter! I had to make this one long for a few reasons- first of all, it's been a while since I updated. Second, there was a lot of the story that needed to go in together. And last, I'm almost to the point in my other fanfic, Taka's Story, in which it starts to coincide with the events of TLK 3.