Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own the Lion King or any of its characters.

I do not own the following characters but have prior permission from the author, Nala-Nay to use them:

Hasani

Hiassen

The characters I do own are as follows (For now):

Kali/Uhami (Fierce/exile)

Usafi (Purity)

Kusudi (Purpose)

Ufisa (Variation of Ufisadi which means Mischief)

Chaka (Thicket)

Kuchin (variation of kuchinjwa which means slaughter)

Matata (Vicious)

Pepo (Demon)

Ni (I am)

ALSO, I put up a poll on my profile page for any who are interested!

ENJOY!

The Scarred Oath

"Mufasa's death was a terrible tragedy; but to lose Simba, who had barely begun to live. For me it is a deep personal loss. So it is with a heavy heart that I assume the throne. Yet, out of the ashes of this tragedy, we shall rise to greet the dawning of a new era..." The hyenas start emerging, casting eerie green shadows and laughing hollowly "...in which lion and hyena come together, in a great and glorious future!"

As Scar began ascending the kopje to enter the Royal Den, he was stopped by a familiar voice that all lions recognized.

"SCAR!" Zira cried in panic.

"Aunt Zira" Usafi cried and ran towards the lioness.

"OH Usafi what is wrong?" She asked with mock concern.

"We just heard that Simba and Mufasa are dead!" Usafi said as more tears ran down her muzzle.

"Oh dear! Well I would hate to add to the bad news!" Zira said.

"What do you mean?" Usafi said with dread filled eyes.

"Yes, Zira. What is wrong?" Sarabi asked.

"I saw three cheetahs hunting illegally near Acacia Grove. I also saw Kali there and tried to save him but I was too late. They killed him and devoured him whole. I only managed to bring this back." Zira said with false sorrow and then placed the tuft of bloody white fur that Kuchin had stolen, near Sarabi.

"NO! Not Kali too. I lost Mufasa and Simba, I can't lose my little Kali too." Sarabi said as she took the little tuft of fur and clutched it tightly since it was all she had left of her beloved son.

Everything in her world had just shattered. Kali is Dead. Usafi could not believe these words as they were said. Just hearing them seemed to make time stand still.

"No it can't be true. Kali can't be dead. You are lying." Usafi yelled at Zira.

"I am sorry Usafi, but I am not. The proof is right there in Sarabi's paws." She said gesturing to the tuft of fur.

Kali, my Shujaa is dead. No, it can't be true. But it was. She looked at Sarabi who was now more broken than Usafi was. She had just heard that her husband and both of the sons she had birthed were now dead and that Scar was to be king. She was sobbing uncontrollably at this and then Usafi looked to her adopted sister, Nala. Nala was suffering a loss similar to Usafi's. Nala had just lost her best friend, Simba, and Usafi knew that the reason she sobbed was that like Usafi, Nala too had a crush on her own respective prince. Sarafina was trying to comfort Nala and Sarabi. Usafi however, made no move to want to be comforted. Her heart almost felt like dust now because though she had lived a happy life, it was a happiness filled with death. Her mother had died when she was still a newborn cub and now her lover, Kali, and her friend, Simba, also lied dead. Oh Kali. This is all my fault. If I hadn't asked you to meet me at the Grove, then maybe you would still be alive and here with me.

"Why did Kali have to die?" Usafi asked herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard two small cries by her side. Kusudi and Ufisa were sobbing with a force that dwarfed that of a hurricane. She immediately pulled them close to her and they continued sobbing into her chest. She knew they felt as bad as she did because they had lost their savior Kali, their brother Simba and Father and king Mufasa all in one day. She knew there were no words she could say to console them and was about to cry too when she heard a roar. Scar was suffering just like everyone else but his sorrow quickly changed to calmness and he said.

"Since the cubs of Mufasa are dead, it is by King's right that all other cubs loyal to my brother must also be killed." He stated coldly. Zira quickly stood in front of Hiassen and Hasani to signify they were excluded. Scar then proceeded towards Usafi and the cheetahs and he raised his paw to strike her a killing blow.

Sarafina tried to stop him but she, Sarabi and Naanda were immediately blocked by a wall of hyenas that Scar had allowed to enter Pride Rock.

"Scar please not my daughter. She has done nothing wrong. PLEASE spare her!" Sarafina cried with desperation as she tried to get to Usafi.

"Ufisa, Kusudi don't worry I am coming!" Naanda called as she too tried to reach her adopted children.

"Now, now a law is a law and even a King cannot break his own laws." Scar said as he paused to speak to them.

"Scar can't you just kill the cheetahs? They are not a part of the pride. So just get rid of them. Spare Usafi." Hiassen stated while looking at Usafi.

"AN excellent idea Hiassen." He then tried to move Usafi with his paw and succeeded. He then went to kill the two cowering cheetahs but Usafi ran up and yelled at him.

"If you want to kill them then you will have to kill me first." She said curling around her friends.

"So be it!" Scar said and raised his paw with claws unsheathed.

"USAFI!" Nala wailed.

Usafi closed her eyes and squeezed her young friends closer to her as she and they awaited certain death. But it never came. Confused, she opened her eyes and looked at Scar. His eyes no longer held the same killer instinct as they did before but rather a more sympathetic and caring gaze. Though she did not know it, this was not Scar before her now; it was Taka, the honorable lion Scar had been before he was given his nickname by his dead friend, Kito. He was running his claws through the scar on his eye and then ran his claws through his fur and across a scar over his heart that Usafi recognized to be exactly like the one Kali had. He lowered his paw to the ground and spoke to the cub.

"That scar.." Usafi began to say before Taka cut her off.

"Young Usafi. I feel sorry for you and know that you are going through more pain than any of us could possibly comprehend. But I wish to ease some of that pain." He said. Usafi still confused, urged him to continue.

"Is it about that scar on your chest?" She asked to which he nodded.

"I should kill you but I am bound in a way that cannot be broken. Kali loved you so much that he came to me one day and asked if there was a way he could protect you if something ever happened to him. There was and he took his chance." He paused and pointed to the scar on his chest.

*Flashback*

"Hey Uncle Scar." Kali says as he clambers into the den.

"Why does my favorite nephew have a long face?" Scar asked, as he uses his paw to bring him close. He then proceeds to stroke his back.

"It's just that Usafi got hurt when she was roughhousing with Tama. It was an accident of course, but what will happen when I can't protect them."

"They'll be fine because your family be here to protect them."

"But what if someone takes over the pride from our family? I know it probably will never happen, but still worries me."

"Well there is something lions used to do in the dark days before Mohatu ever founded the pride lands. "

"What was it?"

"A lion could make an oath to protect the members of the pride if he died in battle."

"But how would the new king know?"

"He would mark himself with a scar."

"Could I do that?"

"Are you sure, it is quite painful." Scar says concerned

"I am sure."

"Alright. Do you prince Kali, take an oath of selflessness to protect your loved ones?"

"Definitely"

"Please state the lions you intend to protect."

"All the cubs of the pride." He says confidently

"What do you wish to protect them from?"

"Execution and Exile"

"Because you have chosen to protect them from these punishments, the scar must be in shape of an x. As it applies to the cubs of the pride, it will be placed on your chest."

"Please make it quick." Kali pleads as he closes his eyes.

Scar extend his claws and sticks them in as Kali screams in pain. While this is going on, Scar shakily chants the oath as done many years before.

A pure and fearless heart

One born of love and nobility

Now feels pain from which life doth start.

This pain is not neglected

Though agonizing and felt for eternity

Makes his love protected.

The mark is made

The protected stated

His heart hidden is now before laid

His loyalty is no longer debated.

AIEHU BE PRAISED!

When it is over, Kali topples over on his side as his chest is stained red. Scar quickly picks him up by the scruff to induce his body to go into a zen like state. He runs with the cub to the pond near by and dunks him in so his chest is submerged, but head hovers above. Kali splashes frantically as the water stings his wound. After a grueling five minutes, Scar places his nephew on the ground.

"Kali, I know you're in pain, but please don't lick your wounds or it won't heal correctly."

"As long as my pride's safety is guaranteed, its worth it."

"Also, Uncle Scar I think this oath should have a name."

"What name did you have in mind?"

"I think it should be called..."

*End Flashback*

"This scar is a mark called the Oath of the Night. It is a mark that once made protects any and all stated in the oath from a death sentence. Kali made his oath two weeks after he overcame his father's challenge. He stated that he wanted you, those two cubs that cling to you and all of your friends to be protected in the event of his death. Even a King is bound by this oath especially in my case since I witnessed it. Since he is dead and those cubs are the only things you have left of him and they need you. All three of you shall be spared." He said with a kind smile.

Usafi burst into tears and hugged Fisa and Kusudi even more tightly at hearing that Kali, her one true love, was still watching over her and their siblings despite being gone from this world. Scar still with his menacing calm then turned to Nala.

"Nala. Your life shall also be spared because you along with Simba were also included in Kali's oath. He desired you both to be protected because if Usafi was spared and yet her sister was not, then Usafi would most fall into a bottomless depression. Though Simba is no longer with us and you are grieving his loss like Usafi grieves Kali's, you will be spared so that over the years you both can one day overcome this pain. " Scar said to her.

"What about our cubs?" shouted Sukari (Sugar), Tojo's mother as she stood over her cub.

"Yeah. Did our cubs not mean a thing to him?" Said Njaa (Hungry), Tama and Kula's mother.

"They are also being protected because as I said he wanted all the cubs in the pride to be protected, not just the ones closest to him. He was indeed a true prince of these lands." Scar said to the raging mothers. They calmed down as they recalled what Scar had said was true.

"Thank you Kali. May you be remembered forever along with your father and brother." said Subiri (Patience), Malka and Chumvi's mother.

He then turned to Zira; his face had now lost Taka's compassion and reverted to the angry yet confused look of Scar, and he and her along with the cubs by her side walked with into the Royal Den. Usafi took the two sobbing cheetahs and followed her mother, sister, and Sarabi into the lioness' den to sleep. The other lioness' and their on cubs followed the sobbing royals and laid down in their own locations. She curled up around her young spotted siblings who though sad managed to fall asleep by Naanda's side. Sarafina and Nala curled up close behind her in an attempt to comfort her and Sarabi who had curled up on her other side. They all cried till they tired themselves into a difficult sleep. As she drifted to sleep Sarabi could not help but think a dark era has come. A green moon named Scar has taken the throne. The king Mufasa, the fire of the Pride has burned out. Simba, the golden prince who rose up everyday like the sun, has set too quickly into the eternal night which is death. And Kali, the silver prince of the night, whose fur could mirror the heavens themselves, his light like that of star, has finally blinked out.

Author: So now the meaning of the scar is made clear and Usafi, Nala and the cubs are safe. Just to let you know. In the next chapter we will be jumping ahead a few years because I fear I will lose you if I explained Kali and Usafi's entire lives growing up into adults. Not to worry, there will be some filler stories which will explain what happened from both ends. The stories will be posted once they have been completed. So be patient.

Who liked my change to the idea about Simba and Nala's friends with Tama and Kula being sisters and Chumvi and Malka being brothers?

Also, I added a poll to my profile that asks you who you think will visit Kali from the Great Beyond. Opinions are appreciated.

Swahili:

Kila kitu akifa.

Moto hauwezi kuunguza milele.

Jua akifa kama siku hufanya njia kwa giza ya usiku.

Nyota daima blink nje.

Lakini wakati mwingine mambo kuja nyuma.

Moto inaweza zilirejesha.

Jua anaweza kupanda kutoka giza kuanza siku mpya.

Nyota mpya wanazaliwa kila siku.

Translation:

Everything dies.

Fire can not burn forever.

Sun dies as day makes way for the dark of the night.

Star always blink out.

But sometimes things come back.

Fire can be rekindled.

The sun can rise from darkness to begin a new day.

New stars are born every day.