Chapter 9

In that moment, Nala absolutely expected the worst. Never before in her life had she been so terrified by anything, not even Scar. She prepared for the inevitable, shut her eyes tight and braced for her demise.

But in an instant, that all changed.

As soon as she began to slip into Kaa's smily maw, a loud and vicious roar suddenly ripped through the jungle around them, catching them both entirely off guard. Nala's eyes shot open in shock, and even Kaa seemed surprised at the abrupt roar. Then turning over to where they heard it, they could see now that Simba was the one who made the roar. With the last of its echos dying off in the distance, they saw Simba was now crouching down in hunting position towards them both, now glaring maliciously at the sight. Nala gasped.

"Lion cub, what have I told you?" Kaa spat at him. "I will handle this!"

"Not anymore you won't." Simba replied through gritted teeth.

Kaa's eyes widened, as did Nala's. Although Kaa could not comprehended it just yet, Nala in fact did. Just moments before at the sight of seeing the lioness about to meet her demise, something in Simba's mind had snapped. Whether it was from instinct or from the spirit of Mufasa himself, he would never know. But no matter what caused it, the effect was clear: Simba's mind was reforming to its original state. All of his memories were slowly coming back to him, especially those with his childhood friend. And they had come back to him not a second too soon.

He growled maliciously at Kaa for a moment as the python cocked his eyebrow, raising Nala up and out of his mouth now. It did not take him long to realize what was happening.

"Could it be...?" Kaa said softly. "After all this time... after all I've done for you!"

"Put... Nala... down." Simba said madly.

Here, Kaa gasped very slowly as his eyes widened. His expression turned to that of seething anger towards Simba. He hissed loudly.

"So you've broken through my hold on you, is that so?" He said. His grip on Nala abruptly loosened and sent her falling to the ground. She struck it face first before her body tumbled to its side. Ignoring this, Kaa's malicious glare intensified as he turned to directly face his old pet.

"So your inner instinct has gotten the better of you at last." He said.

"Don't play games with me, Kaa." Simba said firmly. "I realize now what you've been doing now. You've been keeping me as a slave all my life, holding me against my will and using me to do the dirty work for you!"

Realizing Kaa would not be able to lie himself out of the situation this time, he hissed.

"You will not abandon me, lion cub! If I must put you under my hold again, I will do it!"

"Just let Nala go." Simba replied. "Let us both go and I'll spare your life. I don't want to fight you."

"Because you know I will kill you!" Kaa spat back.

"I can last longer than you think, you know that!"

"Don't tempt me, lion cub."

And with that, Kaa began to slither forth towards Simba at a vicious pace, his mouth opening to expose his razor sharp teeth. Determined not to be deterred by this, Simba roared fiercely at his old master and ran forth at him. And there they were, the lion and the python ferociously moving towards each other fully prepared to fight. Nala watched this as she staggered up to stand on all fours, her eyes widening. She gasped in shock.

"Simba! Simba, no!" She screamed.

But it was too late. Simba and Kaa clashed against one another there in the jungle clearing, and immediately they showed no mercy to either one of the other. Simba leapt forth and brought Kaa to the ground at first, gripping his slimy skin with his claws. but they only tumbled around for a brief moment when Kaa used his thick coils to grip around Simba's back legs, in an attempt to handicap him from the start. But Simba realized what he was doing and immediately leapt away from him, just barely escaping his grasp before it got too tight. Then he used his claws to try and keep Kaa pinned to the ground to some extend.

"After all I did for you, lion cub!" Kaa shouted. "I saved you from the desert, found you, treated you like family, and this is how you repay me?!"

Simba said back, "You used me so you wouldn't have to do the hunting for you! That's what you did!"

Not taking any chances, Kaa abruptly twisted his coils around Simba's body, this time making more of an effort to keep him from escaping. Simba tried to get away at first, but it did no good. None of his claws could reach where Kaa was constricting him, and as a result he was forced to the ground by his might. Kaa looked maliciously at him and tightened his hold on the lion, this time much tighter than he had ever had him before. But Simba was prepared for this, and held out as best as he could. Through gritted teeth, the lion managed to say,

"Don't do this, Kaa... Just let us go!"

Then, the python leaned his face in closer to him and started him in the eye. Kaa said darkly,

"Now, lion cub... you now have two choices. Either reform to be my pet once again, or both you and the lioness shall never live to see the sun set this day!"

Simba squirmed and moved around all he could within Kaa's slimy grasp. He didn't want to say anything back to him at all, but his grip was just too tight. The coils moved both up and down his body covering his back legs and his chest plus up to his neck. His whole body was incapacitated now.

"Choose!" Kaa hissed.

The lion attempted to rip away from Kaa using his claws, but they did no good. The python could feel his efforts for sure, but they pained him little. Just as Simba had gotten used to his constrictions, he himself had gotten used to the feeling of his claws trying to rip through his skin. He laughed at his futile efforts.

Finally, after he stopped moving around, Simba looked to his left. He absolutely refused to look his old master in the eye again, knowing now what kind of hypnotic power they withheld. He grunted painfully.

"Just let Nala go... and you can kill me. Just leave her out of this."

Kaa laughed again. "Oh, foolish lion cub. I once thought you would grow up to be a wise creature indeed. It seems that I was wrong."

And then, Kaa went for a move that Simba had only prayed he wouldn't: The end of his coils slithered up to his neck, moving themselves around it ominously.

"Last chance." He hissed. "Either follow me or die."

"Not on my father's life." Simba spat.

Seeing as though he wasn't going to give in, Kaa decided to do what he had truthfully not wanted to do- his coils tightened around Simba's throat, instantly cutting off all air to his lungs. He gasped and wheezed violently for any amount of air at all, but he could get none. The poor lion was being suffocated by his own master. He choked and fought for breath, but it did no good. His vision began to blur, distorting the world around him. He tried to say something, but found himself unable to. The sight of Simba in such pain made Kaa smile.

"If that is your choice... then farewell, little lion cub."

But then, as bleak as things may have looked at that moment, hope had finally answered.

"His name is SIMBA!" Nala screamed as she came bolting forth suddenly to attack.

She roared ferociously as she leapt through the air before either Simba or Kaa could fully comprehend what she was doing. Gripping his slimy body with her claws as hard and as deep as she could, Nala furiously bit down on the python's throat showing absolutely no mercy. Kaa cried out in pain and loosened his grip on Simba. Taking in precious air, the lion used his remaining strength to escape the coils now that he had not a second to lose. The python winced from his wounds for a moment until Nala removed her teeth from his throat, which had managed to puncture his scales. Seeing as though she had just enough time to do so, she immediately looked back over to Simba and went over to help him in his weakened state. He staggered on all fours while Nala placed her paw on his shoulder. Both of them looked over and glared maliciously at Kaa. Nala crouched back into hunting position.

"I doubt you can properly fight both of us like this," snarled Simba, standing by the lioness. "Go and never show your face to us again."

Kaa was about to hiss back in protest, but stopped as he winced in pain once more. As much as he so dearly did not wish to admit it, Kaa knew Simba wasn't wrong. He could take on one of them with little problem, but to take on two and while wounded no less was far too risky. He exhaled loudly.

"So my own pet has dealt me my first defeat," hissed Kaa, full of contempt as he slithered away. "How incredibly ironic. But know this, lion cub..." He snarled as he looked back to Simba and Nala, spitting his words as though they were poison. He finished with an especially malicious and intimidating tone, "This will not be our last meeting. Even if it will cause the death of me, we will meet again. And I can assure you... I will not be alone."

And with that, the mighty python that was Kaa slithered away into the distance of the jungle, heading up northwards. At long last, he was gone. The one who had caused Simba so lose so much of his life was forced away from his domain.

Once Kaa was out of sight, Simba and Nala both let out a sigh of relief as the lioness rested her head upon his mane. There was a long moment of silence as they both recovered from the fight with Kaa. For the longest time a silence lingered upon them both until Nala broke it.

"Simba..." She said softly looking up to him. "He..."

But Simba said for her, "Nala... thank you. Thank you so much."

When he uttered these words, he nearly broke down into tears. The lion and the lioness nuzzled happily for a bit before Simba went on. "I had no idea he was controlling me, Nala. All my life... my whole life..."

Nala placed her paw upon his own on the ground. She looked him in the eye. "It's all right, Simba. It's not your fault. It wasn't your decision."

"Even if he did save me that day in the desert", Simba started to reply. "I... I can't ever forgive him. All those horrible things he made me do. All those innocent animals he made me kill..."

Simba's voice began to break down in sadness, with the realization of just how much his entire life had been wasted only now beginning to hit him thanks to his 'master'. Regret filled his mind. Nala could easily tell by his anguished expression that he was hurt beyond comprehension. Simba sat down beside her, prompting her to do the same. The two of them sat together there in the jungle for a bit before Nala cleared her throat.

"Well... I've really missed you." She said nuzzling him. Perking up, Simba returned the nuzzle.

"I've missed you too." He replied with a tear running down from his left eye.

"Nala", Simba started. "About what you told be with why you even came here... was all of it true?"

Nala nodded, her tone now becoming more serious. "Yes, Simba. The Pride Lands are completely destroyed. There's no food, no water... if we don't do something, everyone will starve."

As soon as she said this, a wave of remembrance came over Simba. He recalled quite clearly that, although it was long ago, he had watched Mufasa die right in front of him. And as far as he knew, it was all his fault too. His eyes closed.

"That's right." He muttered to himself. "It's my fault... it's my fault."

"What?" Nala suddenly asked. Simba opened his eyes again.

"Nothing." he lied. "Just... I was thinking about my father. What would he say if he could see where I am now? Wasting my whole life away when I should be king right now?"

Nala thought as hard as she could to think of what to say something to this. A moment passed before her eyes widened and she brought her face in closer to Simba's. She smiled.

"Well, I think he would say that you need to remember who you are. You're his son and the one true king. If we go back to the Pride Lands now we can set everything right and save them all from starvation or worse."

As she said these words, a soft breeze picked up in the jungle, ruffling Simba's mane around. Somehow, it felt right. He smiled back at her.

"That... that sounds like what he would say." Simba said warmly.

Simba and Nala had a very tender moment following this as they nuzzled. Somehow and some way, even despite all Simba had unwillingly done for his master, they were going to set things right. One way or another, they were going to get his life back on track.

And eventually, they did.

THE END

Now that that's done, please comment on what you thought of the whole thing?