Hehe, I left you all with a cliffhanger! pulls faces and if I keep writing all this author commentary stuff, i can keep you from finding out what's gonna happen! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Oh yeah, and I still don't own the lion king, just the plot to this story, touch that and I'll bite your fingers off. Rawr.

Simba felt the air of the pride lands linger in his body for a moment, and knew hwta he hd to do, the land would never be perfect or back to the way it was until all of the pride were back where they belonged.

"Welcome home Uncle Scar."

The animals let out a collective gasp, including the outsiders. Nuka was so surprised he dropped his little sister altogether.

Then someone started to cheer. It was probably Rafiki, but no-one knew, because suddenly the rest of the pride land animals were making a fuss, cheering and hooting and howling as Scar and his lionesses made their way up the rock to the rest of the pride.

Several of the outlanders ran to the pride lionesses, recognising sisters, mothers and old friends, rubbing their heads and purring like they would never stop. Zira made her way to Nala and for a moment the two queens eyed each other suspiciously. Then they began to talk of the hunt that evening, and soon seemed like old friends.

Kovu and Vitani made haste in racing over to Kiara and soon the three cubs were entangled in a game of rough and tumble, their fur mixing and making them a ball of colour, Nuka wandered over to some of the younger lionesses to brag about how he was still technically royalty. Only Scar sat at the edge of the jutting out rock, regarding them all with oddly warm eyes.

"…Uncle Scar?"

He looked up, Simba was sitting directly in front of him at a safe distance, and for a moment there passed between the two lions a strange feeling of something heavy finally lifting, of the past being put behind them. For a moment Simba was that innocent cub again, and Scar his sometimes genuinely caring uncle.

Simba walked over slowly, "You've… raised a fine family. Is the eldest yours?"

Scar rolled his eyes, "Yes, and I don't know how he happened either." He sighed, "He smells, he can't hunt, he's infested with things I don't care to mention and he couldn't find his tail without help. But he's my son and I love him."

Simba smiled and nodded. "You'll have to introduce me to them. I don't even know their names." He smiled, "My own cousins and I don't know their names…"

Scar nodded. "Nuka, Vitani and Kovu"

"Smell, Devil and Scar?" Simba replied, eyebrow raised.

Scar grinned, "I suppose you and your mate were much more creative, to come up with 'Princess' all by yourself like that."

Simba noticeably blushed, then turned his face to the sky. The sun was coming out from behind a cloud. "Dad told me about what happened, when you were a cub."

"I'd rather forget it." Scar cut in, "If it's all the same to you."

"Do you want to go back to your original name?" Simba asked, looking like he meant well.

Scar turned and narrowed his eyes, "Would you?" he shook out his mane and sighed, "No. I'm Scar, Taka died a long time ago."

Simba looked blank for a few seconds, then gently bumped his head against that of his uncle's in a gesture of slight affection. "Well, whichever you are, I'm glad you're home."

A few years passed, things began to change. Nuka flourished in the pride lands, several Lionesses took it upon themselves to teach him to hunt, and when he fell in a lake during one of these hunting trips he was cured of the termite infestation and the reek was gone from his body. He finally started showing signs of being Scar's real son, showing some semblance of a brain behind his crazed eyes. His mane never really grew in, remaining like a hyena's crest, but he did manage to attract a few lionesses.

One day he meekly approached Simba, several lionesses following him for moral support.

"Y-your highness?" he stammered out.

Simba looked at the boy calmly, "What is it Nuka?"

"I…I was thinking…. I… I am technically a prince, right?"

Simba raised an eyebrow and nodded, "Yes, Prince Nuka the first, eldest son of Prince Scar, brother to Princess Vitani and Prince Kovu."

Nuka swallowed, his confidence growing, "Then, I'm entitled to some power, yes?"

Simba groaned in his mind, hoping the boy wasn't going to try to challenge him for the throne, because he knew that he could hurt the young lion, and though Scar disliked the boy, he also cared about his oldest son, he didn't much like the iade of having to explain to Zira and Scar why he had injured their boy.

"I Suppose…" he answered tentatively.

Nuka suddenly got the most pathetic and pleading face Simba had ever seen. "Then can I please have some land for me and my lionesses? I promise to take care of it! I just want a chance to be a leader!" he glanced back at the females and his confidence grew slightly, "I know I could make dad proud if i had the chance!"

Simba's face was blank for a moment, then he smiled warmly, the boy was so desperately eager to please and make his father proud. How could he possibly refuse?

He gave them some land on the southern border, far enough so that the small pride had to be self-reliant, but near enough to get to pride rock in emergencies, he was still a little unsure about Nuka's abilities.

The day Nuka left his siblings had made an unusual amount of fuss, the two still quite young, they jumped over and around the brother, nuzzling his head and tugging his tail and begging him to stay just one more day.

"I'm sorry guys," Nuka protested, pulling free of their crushing embraces, "I've gotta go and make something of myself." He made his way out onto the jut of pride rock, his parents waiting at the end.

Slowly he approached them, head down out of respect. The first thing he felt was his mother nuzzling and licking his head, something she hadn't done since he was a cub.

"You'll do fine, my little Nuka." She whispered, purring against his head and letting him go once she was satisfied he knew how much she truely did care for him, even if at times she didn't show it.

Nuka swallowed and looked up at the stern face of his father. "…I… I promise to make you proud father!" he declared, "I know I'm not what you wanted, but I promise I'm going to do my best!"

Scar looked stunned for a moment, then he actually smiled and nudged the boy's head with his, though he had never much liked contact with Nuka. "I know you'll try your best, but you don't need to make me proud of you," Scar looked his son in the eyes, completely honest, "It's hard to tell, but I already am."

Nuka's face lit up with the biggest, dopiest smile his parents had ever seen, and as tradition demanded, he moved to the end of pride rock, allowed Rafiki to bless him and his pride, and then lifted his head.

Scar and Zira both smiled nervously, any other lion at this point was expected to roar to signify his adulthood, but they had never heard Nuka manage more than a squeak.

But perhaps this time luck was on Nuka's side, because he took a deep breath, tossed what little of his mane there was back and opened his mouth to let out a gargantuan roar that drew the attention of all the pride lands and proved once and for all that Prince Nuka was now a King.