Chapter 1

Darkness was something that Scar was use to, more than he liked to admit. The brown-coated lion had been isolated from the kingdom for so long. A few days ago, when the bratty son of Mufasa had been given a presentation, Scar had opted not to show up. Mufasa and Sarabi would be pissed off. Great kings of the past, Sarafina would not be happy either.

But Scar hadn't been able to find it within himself to care. Those three betrayed him. Mufasa had known about his previous liking to Sarabi and selected her as a mate. Sarafina too... oh especially Sarafina. When he had begun finding happiness again with her, she chose Ni over him without hesitation.

Seriously, that increased his anger for Mufasa. Their father, King Ahadi, exiled many of the male lions to prevent competitions, yet Mufasa had been different from their father, more... oh what was the word? Wise.

No, more like foolish.

When Scar became King, he would fix that little issue. The only female lion he didn't hate was... no, she have been gone for so long now, and even at this point in time...

Still, her image shimmed in his mind, and wouldn't go away. She had been the only one who stood by him. She had been the only one who Scar would have done anything for her.

He had been able to vent to her for everything, and he had clung onto her for so long.

When Scar opened both of his eyes, he stretched out his muscles. The conversation with Mufasa and that little fool annoyed him miraculously. For some reason, he still felt incredibly tired, despite the fact that there was a missing hole in his memory.

Something... happened.

When Scar attempted to look into the black hole in his mind, the lion couldn't find anything. Looking around him, the place didn't seem familiar.

He slumped on the ground thinking about it. Did Mufasa have anything to do with this? Did his brother finally remove him from the Pride Lands to some unknown location just to have his precious Pride all for himself?

That last bit filled him with rage. The idea of removing Mufasa from the equation had been plaguing him for a while, yet Scar had resisted going through on it. There have been the fact that outliving Mufasa was always the possibility.

Added onto this, if anyone discovered that Scar murdered his brother, his own torched reputation would be tainted further. There were times when he didn't care, for he could have just taken the Pride Lands by force and damn the consequences.

Yet, lionesses made the pride, and those foolish hyenas under him could grow problematic. Besides, there was the fact that Mufasa could take him out which meant that there would be nothing to take.

Does it even matter anymore? If this was just a terrible nightmare, perhaps when he came back to the land of the living.

However, if it was reality, and Scar somehow was stolen away...he had been sulking for a great many moons nowadays.

He found his stomach clamping in pain, and he had to fight against spitting up. He'd appeared to be in some sort of an enclosed area.

He heard movement and looked to see a bunch of strange animals. The scarred lion moved over and snarled, but that didn't appear to frighten the animals. Oh, he would make them.

He lunged, only to be stopped by...

What?

Wait, could it be...

Judging by the different sorts of fur on top of their heads, and they were standing on their full legs, Scar's mind was quick to put it together. They hardly came out to the Pride Lands, haven't for many moons...

Humans?

Oh, how long have he been out for? Ahadi had told them stories about humans, but they preferred not traveling that deep into Africa in recent times. Recalling the stories their father told them, they were always hunting their type too.

Oh, damn it!

Scar scowled & dashed forward, clawing away at the windowed imprisonment, growling. The now terrified young humans moved away at the gesturing of the older ones. Still, he didn't relent.

Sans one brave light-skinned creature who shot him a bored look, and Scar briefly wished he could have given him something to be afraid of.

If he was any other lion, he would have bashed his head against the imprisonment. Scar decided to use his claws only to yield no results.

Eventually, the lion grew bored of this and moved through his humble abode. The space was big around him.

Some part of him would admit that this place was to Scar's liking.

There was a watering hole of some sort. Not as impressive as in the Pride Lands but still something he could get used to.

A big tree in particular that could be served to Scar completely behind that watering hole. The lion jumped into the water with a smirk, allowing his mane to fall around him, before moving to the tree, jumping on it, and slumbered off.

This was the life.

Of course, his luck had to run out.

When he was off, he could remember the sound of something opening, but had been too tired to care as he laid.

Later, Scar opened his eyes, fully conscious, and moved to the watering hole, beginning to take several drinks. The humans had the good nature to leave behind food.

Four full vultures!

Let dear ol' Muffy have his Pride, this was Scar's new life!

Scar unsheathed his claws and looked them over. Freshly killed too. The humans knew how to take down their animals.

Scar approached. He heard the sound of shuffling behind him, and stopped before he could have dig into his lunch.

The sound of growling let Scar know that he wasn't alone in here.

He turned to face a rock and frowned. He could smell something.

"Oh, who's to join me now?" He asked, not showing any fear as he moved closer to the source of the noise.

"Scar! Is that you?!" Speaking of the lion... but it couldn't be. Mufasa was back in the Pride Lands!

But lo and behold, it was Mufasa. Accompanying him, the two lionesses he resented the most were moving, their eyes widening in surprise.

"Oh great, its you three," Scar cursed.

Oh, how quickly someone's treasure could turn into a great nightmare.

Arthur's note: I read two Lion King fics that inspired me to write this fic from the same author: ArizonaSivy. From Behind Bars. From the Sands of the Arena. I didn't want to make a shameful rewrite of them though, so I decided to have Mufasa, Scar, Sarabi, and Sarafina altogether. They were a good trio in my opinion.

My writing has matured with age. I love darker topics and Lion King ultimately doesn't have many concepts that allow me to touch those darker attributes.