Hi!

Got a new chapter finished. Up to this point, this took the longest time to get finished yet. There was a lot of thinking to do into what I should put in and what would have had a better place in the later parts of the story. But I think the result is quiet satisfying to me.

Again thanks for the few comments I received.

Reldor: Ochre instead of ogre… you're absolutely right. DAMN YOU MICROSOFT WORD AUTO CORRECTION. … Although I have to wonder of what a love child between Simba and Fiona would look like? (Shivers inside)

x0xalexis8: speaking of…

Chapter 7: long live the king!

Waiting is so boring!

Simba thought as he lay on top of the small rock that was attached to a tree. He had his head rested on his paws and glanced around. Weird place for a little surprise. His mind continued still having the voice of his uncle running through his head. But Simba also thought it would be the best to not question anything of what his parents or the older members of the pride told him. The last week was horrible. His parents tortured him with not having his best friend Nala around. And so all he had left were Kula and Chumvi since Nala decided to stick around with Tama and Tojo. He really liked Kula and Chumvi. But he couldn't help but notice that they were kinda acting weird over the last weeks. And being the only one that stuck with them was not really fun.

And now he found himself lying down in this huge gorge while his uncle scar was out to find his dad was going to show him something. His thoughts wandered back to what Scar said earlier. "Little roar, puh!" He spat with an annoyed tone and glanced down to his right. And just in time, Simba spotted a small lizard making its way down the small tree and passing the young prince. I'll show him! He thought and stood up. "Riao!" He yelled to scare the lizard away, but nothing happened. He roared again, but the small reptile kept moving along like nothing happened.

Oh wait you little… "RIAO!" Simba put all his breath into it. His roar hailed through the gorge and the small animal made a huge leap and sailed a few inches over the ground. Haha… so much for little roar huh! The prince thought and a smile appeared across his face. But just in that moment as he was at the top of his proud. He felt a very uncomfortable feeling coming from the ground. The noise of rumbling reached his ears and his head went to his right up to the far sight of the gorge. And then he spotted a small group of wildebeests running over the edge and coming down into the valley. But it didn't stop with just this few. The number of wildebeests got bigger and bigger.

Simbas eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen. Oh no… not again! Memories came back to what happened just a month ago when he accidentally made a herd of Rhinos run wild over the pride lands. But that wasn't that much of a big deal. This was serious. The golden furred prince stood dead in his tracks as the herd made its way down the slope. He had to run.

With all what was in him, Simba ran like he never had run before and tried to save his life. But in what world could a lion cub outrun a herd of wildebeests. Already his lungs were burning and his legs went weak. It didn't take long for the herd to catch up with him. Soon the young prince tried his best to avoid getting hammered by the big hoofs. Uncle Scar, dad… help me! He yelled inside. If he would try to outrun them, it would mean the end of him. Simba needed some place where he could 'hide'. And right on cue, he found an old rotten tree which he headed at immediately. Quickly he climbed it and held onto it with his claws. The earth underneath him was still erupting under the massive weight under the massive weight of the herd that ran through the gorge.

The tree waived back and fourth and Simba could barely hang on to it. He had to invest all of his strength. Finally he spotted a familiar face in the distance and saw it flying right towards him. "ZAZU! HELP ME!" He cried out in despair.

"Your father is on the way. HOLD ON!"

The blue hornbill flew back with all the speed he could pick up. Simba looked after him while the tree was shaking heavily now. A wildebeest hit the tree and small pieces of the trunk flew through the air. One hit Simba directly on the right eye and for a moment, he lost his grasp on the wood. He screamed in panic and had once again pull out all of his power to not sail into the air. And then… it happened.

One of the animals hit the tree straight forward and the young prince flew in a high bow through the air. He screamed at the top of his lungs and saw the ground which was overlaid with grey coming closer and closer. A flash of gold appeared right in front of him as Mufasa was right there to catch his son out of the air. Mufasa swiftly moved his way through the herd and tried not to lose his son again. Everywhere; the king saw grey wildebeests running wild and spreading chaos through the gorge. Out of the sudden, Mufasa got hit from the right as one animal rammed the king across the side. Simba rolled over the ground and landed feet away from his father.

And there he lay; Simba was frightened to death as he looked around him and only found his death in every direction. Again, Mufasa was there and picked the scared cub up with his mouth. He had to get them both out of here. In the corner of his right eye, he saw a little opening and ran as fast as he could to the edge of the gorge. Carefully he dropped his son on a small ledge were the two looked into each others eyes.

WHAM!

Mufasa was picked by the horns of several animals and got carried away right in front of the eyes of his son. "DAD!" Simba cried out in horror. Hectically, his gaze wandered over the ground. He hoped to get at least some sign of the king, but all was filled with grey. But then the lion king darted out of the mass and rammed his claws to the stony wall. Simba couldn't help his father as he saw him climbing slowly back up to another cliff. But maybe Scar could. Quickly, he jumped up a small path. Calm down, I just have to get up there, find uncle scar and we can go home. For him, moving up the rocky path took almost an eternity. To his left he saw a little opening where he could look back into the gorge and check on his father.

He just about had entered the opening and his eyes once again widened as he observed the biggest shock of his life. There was his father, sailing down the gorge and landing in the middle of the still moving herd. "OOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed of the top of his lungs and darted right back into the direction where he came from.


Back at pride rock, Nala impatiently swung her tail from left to right as she overlooked the pride lands from the ledge which emerged from the giant rock. Her punishment of not being allowed to play with Simba was finally over. Of course their parents were not that cruel to forbid them from talking to each other. Both of them had already agreed on meeting each other right in front of the cave which their pride called home. Simba had the idea for this meeting place since it would send some sort of a message to their parents. But the golden prince kept her waiting.

It was agreed that Simba would pick her up some time after lunch. Nala had been waiting on this place for quiet a while now. And there was no sign of Simba. It wasn't that the cream female was mad or something. But she never had been friendly on the patient side. Something else she had in common with her best friend and… dare she say it… future husband. "Come on lazy bone! You know how much I hate waiting!" She mumbled as she yawned and got more and more bored. In the distance she spotted Tojo and Chumvi having another one of their wrestling matches which by this point, had become quiet popular in the pride.

It reminded her of her little conversation with Kula a few weeks ago. It was obvious right now that she and Chumvi would end up together at some point, kinda in a way that she and Simba would end up ruling this kingdom. This brought her back to her mom, since she arranged her betrothal. Sarafina was acting kind of strange over the last week. If Nala couldn't tell better, she would call her… moody! At first she thought, it was because of her and Simbas action earlier on. But as she spend quiet a while with Ni, he told her that this was totally normal for her state right now, although Nala didn't know what he meant with that.

Suddenly she felt paw steps behind her and turned around in anticipation of her royal friend finally arriving. But as she looked towards the cub that walked up to her, Nala noticed that it was Kula who right away dropped beside the cream furred cub.

"Hey Nala, Tama and I wanted to go to the western hills. Why don't you come with us?" The caramel cub asked right away as she lay down on her side and scratched her side with her left hind leg.

Nala put her head back on her paws. "No thanks Kula, I'm still waiting for Simba to come pick me up!" She replied but couldn't hide the fact that she was a little bit disappointed right now.

Kula noticed that and moved closer to her. "Come on Nala, would it be that hard for you to keep him waiting for an instance?" In no way Kula wanted to upset her friend and her own friendship with the young prince. "I mean, we had some really big fun the last week. You know… being just three us girls." She continued and now laid her paws on Nalas back. She looked into the distance and spotted Chumvi who was now on top of Tojo and laughed triumphant. She suddenly had an idea. "Or… maybe you're so eager because you LIKE him!" She remarked with a sly smile.

Her cream coloured friend tilted her head up and lifted one eyebrow. "What are you getting at Kula?" She replied but exactly knew what she was up to. Talk about a Deja vù ! Nala thought. "Well no… but I already promised him that we would meet here. It's not nice to break a promise just because someone else told you to." She said with a wink towards Kula.

"About that, I was wondering. What exactly happened the day you two have been on your own? What made your parents so mad that they forbid you to play with each other anyway?" She asked and dropped onto her side right beside Nala.

"Sorry! I promised to not tell anybody."

Kula had it and dropped her self onto her friend with an impact which pressed nearly all the air out of Nalas body. She immediately gasped out loud. It didn't take the cream cub long until she flipped Kula around and landed right on top of her as she immobilized her caramel friend in her typical way. "Pinned ya!" She shouted and held her head high in triumph.

"Hello ladies!" A voice appeared and shook both of them out of their thoughts. Kula looked to the side as she recognized the voice immediately. A few feet away from them stood Jiwe who tried to deepen his voice to make it sound more adult. The male cub stood there with his head twisted a little to the right showing only the left side of his face to the caramel coloured female cub.

Kula giggled a bit at the way the beige cub reacted when he was around them even though they hadn't seen each other for quiet a while. "Hey Jiwe, what's up!" She called out and waived her paw in a greeting matter. The male cub approached them slowly still keeping his chin low and his head twisted. Both Nala and Kula raised their eyebrows at how Jiwe padded over to them; they right away saw that he was hiding something.

"Hey uhm… Nala! Sorry if I have to be rude but… could I have a few words with Kula… alone?" He asked and revealed his complete face to both of them.

Again, the caramel female concentrated her gaze on Jiwes right eye and noticed the still remaining red taint it had taken on. A few days ago she didn't realize but now she was sure. These were the same eyes that observed her and Chumvi back the day Simba and Nala had been missing. Something inside her felt a little uncomfortable about the way, the young male lion watched her through the grass back then.

"Kula, what are you staring at?" Jiwe said a little offended and turned his head again to the side. He caught her right when she locked her eyes on his right one. This was exactly what he feared for the last weeks. She thinks I'm a freak. He thought and stepped back a little.

Kula, realizing that she made the beige cub uncomfortable as well, moved her head a little and glanced towards his neck where she again stared onto his neck. Oh great kings, what happened there? She thought concerned about the scar that had built all around his throat. She kind of felt sorry for him. Unlike the other cub that wandered around the pride lands with scars across his face, Jiwe seemed like a caring and friendly guy.

Just like seconds before, Jiwe caught her checking out his wounds. It made him throw out a growl from his muzzle, one which was undetected by both female cubs in front of him. His eyes narrowed and he put up his head. "I think I should come back later." He said frustrated.

Kula and Nala felt that the cub in front of them was upset and they immediately started apologizing. "No wait Jiwe… I didn't mean to be rude. It's just that…."

"HEY JIWE! WHAT'S UP?" That voice belonged to Chumvi who made his way back to pride rock accompanied by Tojo. The came up a small side track and placed themselves right beside the two females.

Jiwe growled again lightly as he saw Chumvi sitting down right beside Kula and once again tried to hide his injuries from the other cubs. This was the second time; he tried to get in contact with the caramel furred female lion and got interrupted by the dark brown male. And now he even brought his ochre coloured wrestling buddy Tojo along. If it wasn't already enough that Kula seemed to find his disfigured face rather disturbing. "Well... never mind, see you guys around." He grunted in defeat and walked away.

All the other cubs watched after the beige coloured one as he jumped down a few steps and padded over the green grass toward the water hole. "What's with him?" Chumvi asked and raised a paw into Jiwes direction.

Tojo shrug his shoulder and moved forward. "I don't know. But the way I see it, the waterhole seems like a good place to cool down right now. What do you say? Wanna' come with us?" He said turning to the female cubs.

"No thanks! I'm still waiting for Simba to return. Besides… I still need some more swimming lessons from him before I can go into the waterhole with you." Nala said right away. It was weird to her that she was the only cub in the pride lands that still had some reservation towards the water. Simba taught her how to move in the cooling liquid by now. But she still didn't have the courage to go in there without the golden coloured prince.

Tojo turned towards Kula "What about you?"

"Sorry, but I already agreed with Tama to go to the western hills. I hoped that I could persuade Nala to come with us myself. But… since she's so eager to wait, I guess I'll keep her company for now." The caramel answered and lay back down beside her friend.

Chumvi and Tojo shrugged their shoulders and padded away from the females. "Race ya?" Chumvi asked.

"Race ya!"

With that, the male cubs darted of as their female friends watched after them and into a bride future. At least in their eyes…


The young prince didn't know how long he had been lying beside his father. He didn't even know how much time it took him to finally get to the numb body of the king of the pride lands. All he kept thinking about was the irresistible feeling of guilt which slowly crawled from his stomach up to his heart. Simba buried his head into Mufasas golden and still soft fur. His eyes were wet from all the tears that had wandered down his cheek and his mind was becoming numb from all the pain he felt inside. Right at this moment, all which mattered, was that he wanted to stay with his father.

But the cub didn't notice the shadow that lurked behind him. The gorge was still filled with dust which made the figure blurry until it became bigger and bigger. Slowly a set of green eyes emerged from the darkness. Scar wanted his nephew to perish alongside king Mufasa. But in that case, Scar underestimated what a passionate, determined and strong lion his brother was. His mind was running circles about what to do about the golden furred cub that was still alive and sobbed beside the corpse of Mufasa. Should he kill him right on the spot? Just like Zira had suggested it for a long time? He had already disposed his brother. So what difference would make another murder in cold blood?

But he decided not to… in this moment, he held all the power over the young lion in his paw. He could do anything right now with him and no one would notice. He wanted to see how far he could go. At least try to make it look like an accident? He thought cruel and didn't even believe himself that this would be necessary. "Simba! What have you done?" He asked putting on a concerned but still reproachful look on his face.

Simba turned his head around. Beaten and defeated by his loss, he stared at scar with big eyes of horror. He quickly stepped away from his father and padded around hectically. "The Wildebeests… he, he tried to save me… it, it was an accident, I never meant for this to happen." He half sobbed and cried. With his eyes still wet, he could only feel Scar pulling him towards him as he tried to comfort him. He barely was able to hear what his uncle was telling him.

"… for these things to happen. But the king IS dead." Simba pulled his head away from the sudden change in Scars voice. "And if it weren't for you… he'd still be alive."

If there was anything left in Simbas heart that kept him going. It was ripped out of him. Scar words hit him deep inside as he realized. If I wouldn't have tried to scare that lizard… the herd wouldn't have moved… and dad would still be here. The tears were now coming in rivers as he rested his head against his uncles' leg and let the thought sink in deeper.

"Oh! What will your mother think?" Scar said. He had the cub right where he wanted him.

What would mo think? He barely had recovered from the incident with the hyenas where he almost got his best friend killed, and though his father comforted him really well that evening the guilt he felt for the events of that day was still strong and overpowering. How could he even look into his mothers eyes after what he did today? How could he look into everybody's eyes? His thoughts wandered off to Nala. How was there any chance that she would still be friends with him after she found put that he killed his own father. Right now, there was only one lion he could ask for help. "What am I gonna' do?" He asked and tilted his head up to his uncle.

Got you! "Run away Simba! Run… run away and never return!" Scar said blandly as he watched the cub wasting no time and heading away from his father and his brother. The red/brown lion waited there for a few moments and allowed himself for a nasty smile to appear at the edge of his muzzle. IN his back he could hear his three hyena allies laughing a little and fletching their teeth.

"KILL HIM!"

With that the hyenas darted off after the frightened Simba.


After Nala and Kula waited for another hour in human time calculation, they both decided to go along with Tama in exploring the pride lands once again. Since Simba didn't show up in a decent time, Nala had no bad conscience in going out on her own without informing the golden furred cub. To her it was legit since. The three of them stayed out in the western hills for the whole day and came back when the sun had nearly completely vanished and left the pride lands be lighted only by the pale moonlight and the stars above. The female trio padded exhausted towards pride rock but had still laughing faces on.

The huge rock formation was now so close, that it filled the entire horizon to the three cubs. Nala kept her ears up and her eyes on guard if she could hear any sign of SImba nearby. Oh how she wanted to give him a lecture for letting her hang today. "That golden king wannabe is going to be in so much trouble once I get my paws on him!" Nala said half joking and half gritting her teeth.

Tama beside her just shook her head on the behaviour of their future king. She couldn't believe how someone would make a promise to a person, and without telling the person just ignored it and do whatever he was pleased with. Sometimes, she could just pick up the young prince and strangle him.

Suddenly, the three heard the roar of Ni which was directed towards them as a sign to move quicker towards pride rock. Nala spotted the cream adult lion walking towards them with fast paced steps. Something about his behaviour made her nervous. His glance was stern and concerned as he halted right in front of the trio.

"We have been looking for you all over the place. Come with me at this instant." He said emotionless as he turned back to pride rock. There was no sign that he was mad or anything going into that direction. But Nala knew right away that there was something big going on, that and the fact that Ni never had his eyes landing on them for more than a split second. It seemed like his mind was at another place and he had other things to worry about.

Anxiously about what was going on, the way to the rocky castle could not take longer. But the group finally reached the small field that lay right beside the huge ledge which emerged from the rock formation. Nala noticed that all of their pride had assembled and stood closely together. She searched for her mother and found her standing right beside Sarabi and Zazu. The young female quickly rushed over to her but suddenly stopped halfway. Nala turned her head and spotted Ni standing behind. While Kula and Tama had already joined their parents, Nala padded back to the cream male lion.

"Aren't you coming?" She said confused and raised her eyebrow.

Ni just shook his head and gestured her to just go one. "I'm not allowed there, this is a thing between pridelanders. Just go ahead, I catch up with you two later." He slowly moved around with a wink as Kicho flew quietly over him.

Nala shrugged and padded over to where the rest of the lionesses and the cubs stood. There was something else that ticked her off and she slapped herself inside when she realized. There was still no sign of Simba, and neither was Mufasa around. She quickly moved beside the leg of her mother and nuzzled her on it. At this Sarafina noticed her and greeted her with a quick smile. But Nala knew right away that something was wrong. It was forced. The female cub then glanced around and her gaze landed on Sarabi and she noticed her face being full of tears as Zazu put his wings gently on her paw.

It was then when a thought came into her mind and slowly sunk down in her, it came to her piece by piece and she now had a hunch of what was going to happen next. And right at this moment, the kings' brother Scar appeared on a small boulder and glanced down on the pride in front of him. Sarafina moved her muzzle to Nalas ear gave it a quick lick and spoke up. "It's gonna' be okay my dear, be strong."

Then… Scar began. "My dear lionesses and pride mates. It is with great grief that I have to give you the news that our beloved king Mufasa and his son prince Simba have passed away this noon." The lionesses' heads dropped to the ground at an instant. Nala glanced to the side and noticed Chumvi and Kula burying their heads in each others furs to comfort them. Tama was washing away the tears in her eyes with her paw. To her left, she saw Tojo dropping to his mothers' feet with a blank expression as he stared blandly in front of him.

Scar continued. "I myself could do nothing to prevent this horrible accident and safe our leader. I couldn't even safe my own nephew from perishing." He bowed his head in sorrow. At the feet of the boulder, Nala couldn't even think anymore. All life seemed to run into a blur as the thought of her best friend not being there anymore settled even further into her heart. For a split second, she could have sworn to see a pale cream scarred male cub lurking in the shadows with a stony gaze towards the kings' brother.

"Mufasas death… is a terrible tragedy. But to lose Simba… who barely had begun to live…. For me it is a deep personal loss. So it is with heavy heart that I assume the throne." The red/brown lion spoke with his head hanging down and his face turned to the ground. "Yet out of the ashes of this tragedy…" His voice took a dramatic turn. "… we shall rise to great a dawning of a new era."

There was laughter that could be heard in the distance and which made the lionesses shook up their heads. All of their eyes widened as they spotted several hyenas coming down the small side track that lead to the back of pride rock. Nala took a quick glance up, a little helpless to see her mother having a shocked and desperate expression. At this point, the cream cub already didn't listen to what Scar was saying.

"In which lion and hyena come together… in a GREAT and GLORIOUS FUTURE!" The pride could only watch helpless as the kings' brother walked up the ledge. Every king of the pride lands had to walk this path and roar into the distance to manifest his position as king once he was announced. Nobody aside pride rock let his eyes of the new king as the air was filled with the mixture of Scars roar and the hyenas' laughter.

Sarafina pulled Nala closer to her as the grey furred animals wandered towards them and circled around the pride. Nala quickly glanced over to Sarabi who put a few steps forward and positioned herself in front of her lionesses. Her head was high and her gaze showed that there was still some fight left in her.

"Well… looks like you've got new neighbours." A female hyena laughed out as she went eye to eye with the former queen and put on a vicious smirk.

Nala immediately recognized the voice. A voice she never would forget for the rest of her life. It was the hyena that tried to kill her and Simba a week ago at the elephant graveyard, the hyena they called Shenzi. The cream female cub moved a few small steps back as Shenzi locked her eyes on her. "Hello beautiful!" Shenzi said knowing all to well what she called Nala the last time they went eye to eye.

"You make one more step and you…" Sarafina instantly snapped and put her head just inches away from the hyena and growled angrily. Nala moved back to her mothers' hind leg just as Scar intervened.

He eyed the Shenzi and darted her with green eyes. "This is going to stop right now." The new king growled and moved forwards. "You know we had a deal. So behave yourself and don't let anything slip your mouth." His voice turned into whisper as the slowly removed from the lion pride.

Tamas mother Subira and Himaya walked closer to Sarafina as she turned away from the scene only with her head keeping locked on the female hyena. "So much for a great and glorious future." She mumbled and picked up Nala with her mouth. The lioness walked over to the cave as she heard paw steps behind her. And as she turned around, she saw Scar walking up to her.

"I'm sorry for what happened over there Sarafina. I will assure you that none of that will happen again." He said with an apologizing glance on his face. The lioness dropped Nala and eyed him. "Have you seen how they looked at my daughter? I hope you know what you're doing… your majesty!" She said and continued on her way. Soon, she was accompanied by Ni who nuzzled her quickly and gave Nala a lick on the cheek.

Scar looked after them with a stern and emotionless expression.


Defeated and filled with sorrow, Rafiki made his way to his tree. Scars words were still hammering through his head. The animals called him the wisest and most experienced animal they had ever come across. But even that didn't make him immune to pain. He loss of his long time old friend and his son, took the, for most of the time, calm and all knowing monkey by total shock. The way back from pride rock to his tree never felt this long. But he finally arrived as the red light of the dawn already showed upon the horizon. He never noticed that he wandered through the pride lands for the whole night.

As soon as he had climbed up the tree he sat down right beside the small totem of Simba he had painted on the wood right the day he was born. Sobbing filled the air around the tree. Not even the star filled sky which lay the pride lands in its natural beauty could make Rafiki forget the pain that ran through him. He quickly looked at the totem and strove with his hand over the picture and leaving it completely blurred.

Beneath the tree, he could hear movement. It didn't take him long to figure out who was making noise. "What does a cub need to do to get some sleep around here?" It came from underneath him and the mandrill shook his head in a mixture of annoyance and anger.

Not now! Rafiki thought and padded over to the edge of the tree and glanced down. "Not tonight Mwehu, I'm not puttin' up wit' dis' right now." He said from his high point. He had barely seen the pale cream cub over the last week. And just in this moment, he was only lightened by the by the pale moonlight. He could see that Mwehus body physics had changed over the time span. His face had become slim. The contours of his skull could be seen at this point. But the less thick his face looked, the more his muscles had started to built up. To Rafiki, this was a strangely interesting sight. Quickly, he climbed down and landed on the ground right in front of the scarred lion cub. "Hav' yu' heard de' news?" He asked right away.

"Yes! I was there." The lion cub answered apathetic.

"And?"

"Nothing! It doesn't concern me." Mwehu answered in his typical 'I don't give damn' manner.

At this point, Rafiki didn't expect anything else. But he was not going to let go of the cub tonight. "It doesn't concern yu' dis' is yur' pride we're talking about." It was rare that the mandrill lost his temper, well at least without purpose. But after all the times he had been through this conversation with the cub and today's loss made him snap.

"I told you before Rafiki, this is not my pride!" The scarred cub said out of anger as he stood his ground and faced the baboon. "I don't care about their problems and they don't care about me. So… there's nothing to discuss about this. And don't come to me with your 'I need them crap' because for the last time, I DON'T!"

Rafiki finally lost it. "YOU DON'T NEED THEM!" He yelled. "LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING! Today, the king of the pride lands died in a stampede, along with his son. King Mufasa caught you out there, at the borders of the pride lands. A few days old, left alone and with no chance of survival. He took you in without any remorse of second thoughts." He walked up to the lion and got eye to eye with him. "Without any help, you would have died out there. They brought you into their pride. They fed you, the supplied you with meat and shelter." Mwehu walked away as both of them saw the sun rising over the pride lands. "I personally brought you here and gave you this as a home. And this is how you thank all of us. By ignoring and denying everything that the pride of king Mufasa offered you. I think it's time that you return something of that."

It was the first time the lion cub had seen the old mandrill ever lose his temper. "WHY RAFIKI… WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH?" Mwehu yelled back towards the baboon in despair.

"Because… believe it or not, animals in the pride lands care for each other. Every time I see you, I see the potential lying inside you. You have the chance to become a great lion, a brave and true leader to a majestic and proud pride. But what do you do instead, a wander around the land half as a rogue, half as a pride member. There's no strict line in your actions." Rafiki finally reached out to the cub and placed a hand on his head. "You may not need them, but they need you. For once, please act like a normal member of a pride."

Both of them stared into each others eyes while the sun shimmered through the top of the tree.


"You wanted to see me?" Ni said as he entered the freshly created kings' chamber. Instead of the big cave, where the pride usually slept, Scar chose his own den as the new home of the king of the pride lands. Mufasas brother had dismissed the lionesses and ordered the hyenas to bring the newest edition to his pride into his home.

"Ah… yes my dear Ni. Make yourself comfortable." Scar answered and waived his paw around. The king had his head facing the wall that lay on the opposite site of the cave entrance.

The cream lion had never been inside this den before. So, since he was already here and the king wasn't paying that much attention to him anyway, he decided to observe the cave a bit. Even though some might say that one cave looks exactly like the other, this one had some special 'props' lying inside. In the far left corner, he spotted an abdomen of an impala which was positioned like a cave directly beside the wall scar was looking at. He glanced further to the left and saw a stone elevation on one side. To a human, this would have looked like a bed made of stone. It was indeed different from where the rest of the pride settled itself inside for their rest.

"I presume you like what you see!" Scar called out to him in his calm way as he finally faced Ni with his green eyes locked on him.

Already, Ni knew that the king didn't call him into here for a little small talk. The male lion tensed up and brought up a stern expression. "To be honest with you my king, I don't. But you didn't order me here so that I could observe your home." He responded with a rather challenging tone. One he at first didn't want to use in this situation.

Quickly, Scar noticed the way Ni replied but didn't think it necessary to go into it. "First of all Ni, I'm not your king!" The red/brown lion went on with a glimpse of a smile appearing on the right top side of his muzzle. "But more on that later! First I wanted to thank you!"

The cream furred lion couldn't resist but to scratch his head at what Scar was getting at. "Thank me? Why would you do that? I never did anything to you which would make you thank me."

"Oh on the contrary. If it wouldn't have been for you. Our beloved Sarafina would have died out there in the middle of the veldt with her unborn daughter inside." Scar smiled and stepped a bit closer to the other male lion.

Are we really going down that path again? He never seemed to car about that day and incident before. "Uhm… thank you but… like I told your brother Mufasa before. It was nothing. You don't have to thank me anymore." Ni questioned himself about Scar real intentions. If he was that thankful to him, why didn't he come to him earlier? "Besides! If it wouldn't have been for that incident, I may have never found a pride that would have accepted me like you did. It is me who has to be thankful for that my king." He said but was a little unsure about this whole scene.

Scar turned to the side. "Like I said before, I'm not your king!" Inside his head, Ni slowly began to realize where this was going. "You see dear Ni; I am the king of the pride lands. This means that I am the king of the pridelanders. Which, last time I checked, YOU are not!" Scar remarked with a sudden coldness in his voice.

Nis mouth hung open a little bit. He should have seen this coming. "Well… I don't know how much up to date you are but… your brother Mufasa named me a full member of the pride lands." He watched the new king clench a little as he mentioned Mufasas name.

"Don't ever mention his name again." He snapped angrily but realized that and quickly moved back to his reserved tone. "I mean… the pain is still to strong and my heart still has problems in taking our loss." He stroke with his right paw through his black mane. Ni realized how less he and his brother had in common. "Anyway, it is the kings right to name whoever is and is not a pridelander. And since you are not born in the pride lands, you are none."

Scar was now showing his true face, and Ni knew it. He was going to kick him out of pride rock. Away from Sarafina, Nala and… "You can't just banish me. You can't just call your brothers law as null and void. What about Sarafina and the others. You think it is a wise choice to have them lose another member of their pride just the same night the found out that their king and his heir have died. Don't you have a heart?" he asked upset and passionate.

"My brother is dead. As much as I hate to say it, his laws are null and void. And being the king means… I decide about who belongs to this kingdom." He turned his back to him and looked back towards the cave wall. The pale moonlight shined inside and showed his shadow on it. "And as for my heart, I'm counting on you to have one." He continued in a snotty tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ni yelled. He was close to snapping out as he moved forward with a small growl.

Scar turned around again. "There's an old tradition about males taking over a pride and having a special way of dealing with newborns." Nis eyes widened in shock. "Oh, you thought I didn't realize." Scar continued as he heard no response from the cream furred male. "You know, me and… Sara spent a lot of time together in our youths, mostly together with Sarabi and… my brother." He spat the last word. "I know her inside out. Besides I've been on this world for long enough, I know a few things. Do you really want me to open this old tradition again? A tradition my brother called off when he assumed throne."

Ni led his head sink for a moment. The new king was serious. He would take everything away which he had gained over the last months. But he wasn't going down with a fight. "You won't get through with this!" He growled through gritted teeth.

"Oh I'm afraid I will. I have the numbers on my side." Of course he was referring to the herd of hyenas that were resting all around pride rock by now. "Oh and don't think to take them away with you. One tiny word from me and they will… hunt… you… down!"

The cream lion stood there in defeat as he thought about his choices. Should he stay and fight him right here, risk to be killed by an army of hyenas, and risking the lives of his newfound family. Or would he run away, make sure they are safe but him being back to where he was a few months ago. A rogue in the middle of the African savannah with only a black and white pied to accompany him. On the bottom line, Nis decision was not about him. It was about his pride. "IF I leave… will you leave them alone?" He asked.

"That's the idea!" Scar replied simply.

And just like that, Nis world broke together in front of him. "Fine… I'll leave." He mumbled under his breath and sunk his head even more.

Scar grinned and again turned away from the cream male lion. "Good… I expect you to be gone by tomorrow. I let you have a last night in the pride lands." Ni walked away just in the same time as Zira entered the den. Their eyes met for a split second and a nasty grin appeared on her muzzle. Ni just continued walking while the lioness approached her new king. Both lions looked at each other before the new king opened his muzzle. "One down!"


Exhausted and defeated, Ni trotted back to the mouth of the cave. He was empty from what just had happened. Who would he brake this to the others. With a gasp, he entered in and spotted the two female lions that had become his family for the last months. Sarafina had Nala cuddled up in her grasp as she rolled herself up (like a dog would do). He could see that the cream coloured cub had cried herself into sleep by the dried water over her eyes. As soon as Ni was close enough to hear the lionesses' breath, she opened her eyes and stared at him. It didn't take Ni to say anything for Sarafina to understand what her mate had been talking about to Scar.

Very careful and slowly, Sarafina led Nala slide out of her embrace. She picked her up with her mouth and carried her over to Subira. The lioness herself had her daughter Tama snuggled up to her. She dropped Nala gently beside her young friend and gave her a quick lick on the cheek. Then she turned towards the male lion who himself gave the cub a little nuzzle.

Both lions slandered to the mouth of the cave keeping constant contact to each other with their sides. The sadness could be read all over their faces as they probably spent the last night together.