Chapter 12
Going out to hunt again, Scar invited Molly to come along.
"Hmph, I can eat 'em for now Scar. Let me work up to killing." Smiling, she looked over her shoulder and called to Shenzi, "Hey, you guys want to go for a hunt?"
Ears perking up, Shenzi nipped at Banzai who turned with a dumb look on his face, "Come on guys, the boss is waiting- ah! Get Ed!"
Banzai skidded to a halt and went back for the absentminded hyena, "Come on Ed, we don't have all night."
Turning back to Scar with a wide grin, Molly tried to will away the glare he was giving her. She should have guessed he would have rather gone alone than with the hyenas. He'd already played with the pups and barely averted catastrophe, maybe this would be pushing it...
Rolling his eyes as the three hyenas lined up before him, Scar nodded and turned toward the path out of the graveyard, "I'll bring back food for YOU then."
Feeling as big as a mouse, Molly huffed and trotted after him, "Fine, ya big baby."
Smirking, Scar didn't look at her as she walked beside him. So that's how he was going to play it? Well she could be aloof too. Looking straight ahead, Molly kept an eye out for any prey. Her new eyes cut through the darkness and pinpointed anything that moved. Scar still found the zebras first.
"Hush," Scar crouched down and hissed behind him at the chattering hyenas, "There," he whispered, nodding his head to the left when Molly looked at him questioningly. Spotting them, Molly felt a sick feeling in her stomach when she realized what she was about to do.
"I don't think I can do this," she whispered to Scar.
Glancing between her and the oblivious hyenas, Scar glared, "You're a lionness; you figure it out."
Jaw clenching, Molly shook her head, "I'll scare them, round them up, whatever you want, YOU kill them."
"Hey, uh boss," Banzai piped in from behind, "Want us to do like last time? We remember. What are we waiting for?"
Refusing to look at Molly, Scar nodded, "Like last time. Molly will follow the three of you."
"Gotcha," Shenzi was first to dive into the grass, Banzai and Ed tagging along soon after.
"Scar?" Molly hesitated, but he ignored her, so she slithered through the grass after the hyenas. They made their way around the herd, moving in tighter and tighter until they'd managed to section off a group of about ten. Two were babies and one was an old female with a limp in her front leg.
Eyes glowing in the grass across from where her and the hyenas were hunkered, alerted her to Scar's position. The zebras didn't notice.
"Alright boys," Shenzi whispered, crouched and ready to leap out of the brush, "You ready?"
Ed nodded as Banzai chuckled and said, "Of course I'm ready, it's zebra man!"
Molly swallowed hard and tried not to show how uncomfortable she was.
Shenzi burst from the undergrowth at that moment and the other two hyenas took off. Clumsily, Molly ran after them, not ready at all and not really knowing what to do. She'd seen this played out on countless documentaries, but being the one running after a living thing, hell bent on killing it, was a new thing altogether.
Barreling down on the herd from the opposite side, Scar frightened them and sent them running straight for Molly and the hyenas, but when they saw them, they scattered. It was hard to keep them contained, a big stallion galloped straight for her, hoofs slashing and kicking at the air. Knowing nothing more than to get out of the way, Molly let him through. Turning around, she saw the zebra Scar had singled out.
"NO!" she yelled, bolting across the grass, over an old log, around another zebra, and slammed herself into the side of Scar as hard as she could, sending the two of them tumbling end over end. Slamming against the ground one final time and coming to a jarring halt, Molly lifted her head and shook it, trying to clear the fuzziness and see if she'd succeeded.
The baby zebra was high-tailing it after its mother, unharmed, the hyenas too far from it to give chase. Heaving a sigh of relief, Molly turned back to find Scar looking angrier than she'd ever seen him.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" he growled.
"You were going to kill a baby!"
"It's weak prey, Molly. Of COURSE I was going to kill it. THAT'S food around here."
"Around here?" Shenzi and Banzai were watching the two of them carefully.
Whirling, Scar snarled, "We're done here. You can all starve tonight."
...
Ignoring Molly, Scar set a ground eating pace that she had to trot to keep up with.
"Where are you going?"
He didn't trust himself to speak.
"Are you not going to talk to me?"
He didn't even look at her. He was too angry.
"Scar, I can't believe YOU are mad at ME. You're the one about to kill an innocent baby."
That was it; he pushed his shoulder against her to knock her sideways, "You have NO idea what you're talking about HUMAN! I was about to kill that damned child because someone else refused to be the one to make the call, someone else let the other zebras get away so all I was left with to feed my pathetic family was a baby. I don't know what it's like where you come from, Molly, but in this world, MY world, THIS is what happens." Moving again, he felt her stay behind. Good riddance. He had no patience for her or those three imbeciles.
...
Watching Scar go, Molly knew already that he was right. But it didn't make it anymore okay to her to kill a baby. There was no way she would ever be able to do it, or let him do it. Yet she knew he already had. If tonight had been so easy to brush off, how many had he killed before this? The old National Geographic videos of babies being taken down had always made her feel like crying. Now she was being shunned because of her reservations. To Scar and his kind, this was life.
"It must have felt like I was betraying him," she said aloud.
"Betrayal." a voice from the darkness whispered, "Aah, something not easily forgiven. But, I think, not so hard for you to fix, Molly."
"Rafiki?" Molly peered into the tall grass, looking for the old monkey, "Where are you?"
Something warm and a little...heavily scented, landed on her back, wrapping long skinny arms around her neck, "I'm glad to see you're doing fine, Molly."
"Fine? Not so much, Rafiki," she sighed, "But what are you doing here?"
"Checking on you," the baboon's long, slender fingers began digging between the fur of her shoulder blades. It was unnerving how many bugs he was cheerfully snacking on from off her body, "After Sarabi came by, I worried. She's very smart, and I was worried she would figure out what you really were," another three bugs popped into his mouth and he moved on to the top of her head, "Have the hyenas?"
Molly shook her head, "But it doesn't worry me as much if they found out. I think the lions would be much angrier."
"Well you're right there. But don't worry about it right now, Molly. Right now, you should be going after that lion and explaining to him how you feel."
"I don't see how it's going to help."
"Trust me, go on," Rafiki picked a few more morsels from around her ears and hopped off.
"Are you coming?"
"I'll be by later, give you some time to make up."
Feeling a little awakward, Molly blushed, did Rafiki mean...?
...
Knocking a pile of bones across his cave, Scar listened to the hollow clattering sound they made as rage flooded through him. He wasn't even sure who he was more mad at, Molly, himself, the hyenas, his father. It was pathetic, and it only made him even angrier. By the time Molly came in and said his name softly, he was ready to skin something alive and breathe fire. Back arching at the sound of his name, Scar whipped his head around, green eyes blazing as they focused in on Molly. His rage had an outlet now, and it demanded he attack.
"YOU!" he snarled, "Get out of here."
"No."
"No?" Scar scoffed, moving to stand above her, to intimidate her.
Moving back a step, Molly held her ground, "Let me talk to you Scar."
"Why? So you can judge me for the next thing you don't approve of?"
Blinking, Molly looked hurt enough to cool his rage a little. Backing up a step, he switched glaring at her with not looking at her at all.
"I'm sorry I betrayed you, Scar."
Ears twitching, Scar fought the urge to look at her; he'd heard a 'but' at the end.
"I just want you to understand how I feel about killing-"
Scoffing, Scar muttered, "I already know how you feel about killing, Molly, and I've got news for you, none of us like killing the young. But we like starvation even less."
"I...I know I don't have any right to judge you, Scar. I'm sorry."
Watching her out of the corner of his eye, Scar waited.
Shifting, she opened her mouth once, closed it, hesitated, and finally, "I've been nothing but trouble for you, haven't I?"
The sorrow in her voice made his heart ache. It was NOT a sensation he was familiar with, and he hated it.
"You've sacrificed so much for me, even from the beginning. You saved me from the cheetah. You changed who you were so much just to have me near you. And...and all I've done is complain."
Scar turned to look at her now, her eyes begged him to understand, but what, he didn't really know.
"I guess, as a human, I'm used to right and wrong being a certain way...a way that makes no sense anywhere else in the world. I can't go imposing those rules on you, it's selfish of me. I just...want you to understand I'm trying...and not to hate me for being who I am... A weak, selfish human."
"Molly," he moved towards her and looked into those big, sad eyes, his insides screaming at him to make her feel better, SOMEHOW, "I don't hate you. I..." he couldn't. There was no way he could tell her.
Those big eyes looked at him so hopefully, he could almost read his own feelings in them, but he had to be sure. The last time he'd put his heart out there...well...it hadn't really come back whole.
Changing what he was going to say, he sighed, "I saved you for a reason, Molly. I DO understand you're different. It's just...hard to remember at times. You ARE in the body of a lionness after all. I can promise I'll try to do better...if you'll promise to be patient with me."
"Patient with YOU? Scar, I'm the one that's begging for YOUR patience," she blustered.
Chuckling dryly, Scar rubbed his cheek against hers, "We're getting nowhere with this, Molly. How about we just both agree to try and be patient with each other's faults? No more arguing about who has more than who."
Purring, Molly nodded, "Deal."
"Are you hungry? I can still try to catch something and bring it back. That way you don't have to deal with it."
Shaking her head, Molly smiled, "I'm hungry, and I'll come with you."
Raising an eyebrow, Scar asked, "So soon? You really think that's a good idea?"
Swallowing hard and sighing, Molly nodded, "I've got to get over it sooner or later. Exposure will probably do me some good. I don't think you should rely on me though. I can't see myself being useful anytime soon."
"You want me to invite the hyenas back out, don't you?"
Shrugging, she grinned at him, "What's a lion without his Pride? They ARE your family, Scar, whether you see it that way or not. As am I," she added.
Hesitating, Scar decided now was as good a time as any. He had to know.
...
Smiling at Scar, Molly was surprised when he leaned his body against hers heavily and licked the side of her face slowly. Then gave another slow lick to her jowls, lifting one of her lips up so that his tongue brushed roughly across her teeth and gums. A lovely warm jolt went through her body all the way down to her toes.
Standing back for a moment, Scar watched her.
What was that? Had he just kissed her? It certainly felt like that's what it was, but she'd never been a lion. Was that how they kissed? Mind whirling, Molly licked her lips, "Scar?"
Looking a little embarrassed, Scar nodded his head once, "I-"
"BOSS!" Shenzi's shriek snapped them out of their moment, "Boss, that monkey is here!"
Thank you everyone who's still been bothering to follow this story. I don't deserve you guys! I love each and every one of you SO much for your encouragement, and a lot of you for loving the story enough to try and give me a swift kick in the patootie because I was an utter asshole and made you all wait! I hope this chapter was worth it! I'll do my best to stay on top of it! I don't want you guys to have to wait another five years for an update. THANK YOU AGAIN!