Scar's thoughts whirred through his skull like a flock of sunbirds. He walked silently alongside Molly as they headed back towards their cave. Her scent pulled at him still, but it had lessened. He hoped that was a sign of her cycle coming to an end. He needed some sort of reprieve. He had too much to deal with without having to fight his urges for her.

This new development had shaken him. He was trying to keep a brave and calm facade up for Molly's sake but it didn't seep very far into his interior. The thought of Pacha being able to become a human both frightened and enraged him. He had entertained the thought of asking Rafiki to turn him human for Molly several times over the past several days. The logistics of it and the responsibilities forced upon him here had kept him from making the request. Knowing that Pacha was capable of doing something that he himself longed for irked Scar. He walked and brooded, his mind refusing to allow him to make sense of anything. A line of thought would be interrupted and he would follow the tangent off in every which way but towards a solution. By the time they reached the cave, he was a fuming mess.

Molly seemed to notice. She didn't speak to him, merely bumped her head up under his and pressed her body close to him. The contact made him take a deep breath as some of his frustration ebbed away with her touch. Another deep breath and he leaned down to rub his face against hers.

"Thank you," he licked her cheek.

"You're welcome. It's strange, isn't it?"

"What is?"

She tilted her head to look at him from the side with a bemused smile. "Well, everything really. But specifically the fact that if you hadn't found me and asked Rafiki to change me, you wouldn't have any idea that it could even be done."

He blinked. Clearly her thoughts had been following a different path on their walk.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those "Everything happens for a reason" types. But I have to admit it's pretty crazy to think about. If I hadn't gotten lost, you'd probably still be with the hyenas. Pacha and his werelions would be a complete surprise, something unthinkable."

"My brother already thought it was a strange coincidence that you arrived at the same time as Pacha. I plan on keeping your past a secret but I can't keep the secret of Pacha and his Pride's ability. My brother is not stupid, not all the time at least," he gave a dry laugh, "He could very well puzzle out that your strangeness stems from an ulterior motive."

"You think he will believe I'm working with Pacha?"

Scar nodded, "Bapoto and Masika were suspicious but they trust me and Rafiki. I don't think my brother would be keen to extend the same trust." He didn't add that many in the Pride would share his brother's suspicions. "The Pride has to be warned that Pacha and his lions could be in human form. I can't risk them being exposed because I didn't warn them. They will want to know how I know something like that is possible. I don't know what to tell them."

Molly sat in silence, leaning against him and once again tucking herself under his chin. After a while she said, "We should tell the Pride about me."

He pulled back, "No, Molly, they-"

"Will think the worst of me either way. If we risk my secret coming out on its own, we risk their mistrust more than if we told them outright. If we have Rafiki there to speak on my behalf-"

"Rafiki doesn't want anyone to know what he can do. You saw how agitated he was at letting Bapoto and Masika know."

Molly sighed, "I think keeping the truth about me a secret is dangerous, Scar. Rafiki will see reason if we speak to him first."

Scar shook his head but said, "After we hear Shenzi's response we will speak with Rafiki again. Let the old monkey cool down a bit." He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to still the thoughts in his head. There was too much. "Maybe…maybe if Shenzi and the pack agree to come, we won't have to tell the Pride, we can get rid of Pacha before anyone needs to know." He was exhausted. He'd been doing little but worrying and plotting and planning for the past couple of days. His brain felt like sun baked gazelle guts.

Molly licked his cheek and nuzzled up against him again. He sighed and leaned over her. The night was quiet save for the sound of insects calling to each other and the faraway sound of a hippo bellowing a warning.

"Scar? Was Pacha born into the Pride?"

"No."

"Your father let a male into the Pride without him being blood related?"

Scar felt cold slither around his heart. His mind flooded with memories of his mother. "My mother brought Pacha to The Pride one day. She said she'd found him out on the plains, alone, dying. She never fought with my father over anything. They had disagreements, but she never defied him, until Pacha. Mother wouldn't take no for an answer. She forced my father to accept Pacha into our group. He never forgave her for it." He thought about the way his mother had looked that day, standing in front of the skinny little cub that would become his friend then enemy. She'd looked ready to rip his father into pieces if he tried to hurt or reject Pacha.

Pacha had never talked about his past, even with Scar. He said it was too traumatic and that it didn't matter anyway. It was his old life, his new life started when he joined The Pride. Something tickled at the back of Scar's memories. Something he couldn't quite pull into the light and examine.

"Did your mother rescue other cubs?"

"No," Scar answered distractedly. He'd asked his mother why she'd faced down her husband, the king for Pacha. She'd told him it was because seeing Pacha out there, alone and defenseless, had reminded her of him. Scar knew they resembled each other, they were both oddly dark lions compared to the golden, yellow, and tan lions that made up theirs and every other nearby Pride.

"Why Pacha then?"

Scar looked down at Molly and shook his head. "I…don't know…" the memory tickled at the back of his mind again. Something his mother had said that hadn't made sense at the time, but now… Scar took in a sharp breath as the memory clicked into place.

His mother stood over him, Pacha hiding behind her legs as she smiled down at Scar. "I want you to show him around, Scar. He hasn't been a lion for long."

At the time, he thought she'd been making a reference to Pacha's age. He was so much smaller at the time, Scar assumed he was younger. But he knew Pacha was older. He'd told Scar he was as old as Mufasa when he'd asked. Now, with what he knew-

"Pacha was human first," he said, getting to his feet and pulling back from Molly abruptly. "And she knew! My mother knew!"

He couldn't understand it. His mother had been the closest to him of anyone. Why would she have kept this from me? His breathing was erratic as he dug his claws into the ground.

"Scar," Molly moved toward him but stopped when he turned his wide, panicked eyes on her. Everything he thought he knew, everything that seemed so certain in the past, it was all crumbling. Why would mother take in a human? He looked at Molly and his heart felt sick. The same reason I have…because of love. Which means…

"Pacha…is my brother," he whispered.

Sincerest apologies to you all for being so late with this! We were visiting family in Texas and I had the WORST internet connection. I just got home this morning and crashed. So I'm uploading this as soon as I possibly could. Thank you all for sticking with me! Some big reveals in this chapter, even if it is one of the shorter ones. Hope you all still enjoy!

Much love!

Meg