Sarabi was met by a peculiar sight when she exited the den at Pride Rock. She saw her loving mate, Mufasa, along with an odd lion with an odd staff. The perfect word to describe him. Odd.

Sarabi walked over to the two of them, a smile on her face. "Hi," she said to her mate, happy to see him.

Mufasa smiled back. "It's good to see you," he told her in a tone that sounded very robotic.

"And who's this?" she asked, gesturing to the strange lion with the staff.

Hago stepped in front of Mufasa, a welcoming smile on his face. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hago, and I am a dear friend of your mate, King Mufasa."

Sarabi looked surprised. "Oh, really?" She laughed. "He's never mentioned you before."

Hago laughed back. "That's funny. No, that is funny!" Hago looked back at Mufasa. "You never told your own mate about me?"

Mufasa laughed along. "Must've slipped my mind," he joked.

The three of them began to laugh. "He is a crazy guy!" Hago exclaimed. After a few seconds passed, the laughter stopped and Hago sighed, still smiling.

"Why exactly are you here?" Sarabi asked curiously.

"Well, Mufasa has quite an important announcement to make, and he requested that I be present for it." He grinned. "I can't imagine why."

"Stop!" cried a voice from behind them all.

Hago, Mufasa and Sarabi all turned around to see Simba and Nala running over to them. Both had urgent looks on their faces, like they were desperate to stop something from happening.

"Simba, whatever's the matter?" Sarabi asked, noticing the urgent look on his son's face.

"Mom, he's done something to Dad!" Simba cried, pointing at Hago.

Hago rolled his eyes. "Not this again. I think we've had enough of you and your lies, you troublesome little cub."

Mufasa nodded in agreement. "I agree, Hago. It's about time you stopped playing games, Simba."

"Hold on a second," said Sarabi, looking down at her son. "If he has something to say then let him say it."

Simba grinned, knowing he had a chance here. He was lucky his mother always had a willingness to listen to him.

Simba continued to point at Hago. "Mom, he's—"

Hago cleared his throat, interrupting Simba. "Yes, I'm sure you have something very important to say, but I'm sure it can wait for a few moments while you look at this."

Simba turned around slowly, a suspicious look on his face. "Look at what?"

Simba found himself staring into the glowing red eyes of Hago's cobra staff. Once he caught a glimpse of them, he couldn't stop looking. Simba stood on the spot, totally transfixed. His focus was now on those frighteningly red eyes. He could feel his thoughts slipping away, his control over his body, everything was just disappearing…

Simba blinked, and then his eyes started to glow an entranced red. He now had a blank expression on his face, which could only mean one thing:

He was under Hago's control.

Nala gasped in shock, a concerned look on her face. "Simba?" she called, trying to evoke some kind of response from him.

Hago laughed maniacally. It felt so rewarding for him to have control of the little cub who he considered to be his greatest enemy. "He's not going to listen to you now," Hago informed Nala. "Now he'll only listen to me."

Hago turned to Simba with an evil grin, eager to order him around. "Simba, go and murder your best friend. Now I'm killing two birds with one stone, how about that?"

"Yes, master," Simba obeyed in a hypnotic, sleepy voice.

"What have you done?" Sarabi asked, knowing that Hago was up to no good. She thought there was something odd about him…

"The same thing that I'm going to do to you in a minute," replied Hago. "In fact, I think I'll hypnotise the entire pride. That'll make them very obedient indeed."

"Simba…?" said Nala, scared, as Simba slowly approached her with an angry look on his face. Those glowing red eyes weren't exactly helping either. He looked like he wanted to kill her… But no, Simba wouldn't do that! Would he…?

"I'm going to kill you, Nala," Simba told her as he slowly approached her, his claws extended.

Well, that confirmed it. Simba was going to kill her, all right. Stupid Hago and his stupid hypnosis powers!

"Oh, come on, Simba, you don't want to kill me," Nala said nervously as she backed away from Simba slowly, trying to keep a safe distance away from him. "I'm your best friend!"

"I don't care what you are," Simba replied. "I only listen to my master, now."

Hago laughed at the sound of that. "I never believed I would hear that from my greatest enemy. This has to be the best day of my life!"

Sarabi frowned. Hago wasn't going to get away with this. "Not if I have anything to say about it." She got ready to lunge at Hago, her survival instincts taking over. If she had to rip him to shreds to protect the pride, then she would.

"Oh, you wouldn't want to do that," Hago warned her. "Not while I have your mate and your son under my control. I could kill the two of them instantly, you know. All I have to do is command them to kill themselves. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Sarabi gasped in horror. "You wouldn't…?"

"Oh, I would," said Hago with a menacing sneer. He was in control of everything now. He knew it. No one could stop him.

The Pride Lands were finally going to be his! All that trouble was worth it!

Simba – still under Hago's control – had Nala completely trapped on all sides. He had her backed right up against the edge of Pride Rock, leaving her with no space to get away.

"Simba, please!" Nala pleaded, fear and concern evident in her eyes. The fear was her not wanting to die, and the concern was for her best friend. She didn't want him to spend the rest of his life as a mindless servant to Hago. That creep… she wished he was dead! "You know you don't want to kill me!"

"I want to tear you to pieces," Simba said threateningly, wanting to scare Nala before he murdered her. He now obeyed only his master, Hago. Nala was of no importance to him, as far as he was concerned.

"You know that's not true!" Nala exclaimed, trying desperately to try and break the hold Hago had over Simba's mind.

"Listen to me! Please!"

Nala tried to take a step backwards, but when she glanced behind she realised that if she had taken a step backwards, she would have fallen to her death. She was completely trapped on the edge of Pride Rock. If she went back then she would fall, and if she went forward then Simba would rip her apart. What was she going to do?

Nala took a risk, and tried to get around Simba. However, he grabbed her and violently threw her to the hard ground, causing her to cry out in shock.

"Simba, please—" Nala gasped in horror when she saw Simba raising his claws, ready to slash her in the throat. That was all Simba had to do – one quick slash at her throat and Nala would be dead.

Simba laughed evilly, something Nala would never in her life expect to hear from him. "Time to say goodbye, Nala!"

Nala had tears in her eyes now. Not because she was scared, but because she knew she wasn't going to ever see

Simba again. "Simba, please don't…." she muttered, tears streaming down her face.

Simba got ready to slash Nala in the throat, when he saw the pleading look in her eyes. She looked so sad, so… heartbroken.

And that was when Simba realised that he couldn't do it. What was he thinking? He couldn't kill Nala!

Simba's eyes turned from an evil red to their original, friendly auburn colour, completely free from Hago's hypnotic control over him. "Uh… Hi," he said as he looked down at Nala, not really sure what to say.

Nala breathed a deep sigh of relief. "You're back!" she exclaimed, happy.

"Back from where?" Simba asked, looking around. "Where was I?"

Nala giggled. He was so funny! But then she realised that Hago was still in control of King Mufasa, and the two of them didn't have much time before Hago hypnotised the entire pride! "That doesn't matter now, Simba," she told him, getting to her paws and pointing at Hago, who looked rather shocked. "He's still controlling your Dad!"

"This isn't making much sense," Hago said as he scratched his head with the top of his staff, confused. "How are you free from my magnificent hypnotic hold?"

Simba and Nala walked down Pride Rock and stared at Hago, determined looks on both their faces. Together, they were quite an unstoppable force.

"We're stronger than you think," replied Nala, smiling.

Hago scowled. "Fine. Don't think it's much of a victory, because I still have control of the King!"

"Not for long," said a voice from behind Hago.

Hago turned around to see Sarabi, smiling as she stood in front of her enslaved mate. Hago thought that was rather peculiar – shouldn't she be cowering in fear right now?

"What are you doing?" Hago asked. What was she up to?

"You'll see," she replied. She looked over at Simba and Nala. "I used to do this a lot to him when I was a cub."

Sarabi then raised her paw and slapped Mufasa hard across the face, causing him to instantly snap out of Hago's control, his eyes turning back from red to their reddish-brown colour.

Mufasa put a paw to his burning cheek. "Ow," he said. "That really hurt."

"Oh, dear," said Hago, noticeably worried. "This has taken quite a sudden turn for the worse."

Mufasa suspiciously looked at Sarabi. He knew only one person who slapped him like that, ever since he was just a cub.

"Did you slap me?"

Sarabi smiled in response. "Yes, I did, but only to free you from a lifetime of servitude to him."

Sarabi pointed at Hago, and Mufasa's eyes started to burn with anger at the sight of him. He remembered exactly what

Hago had done to him earlier today. That evil fiend didn't deserve to even live!

Hago looked around, realised he was outnumbered, and tried to make a run for it. However, he didn't get very far when

Mufasa blocked his path, letting out an angry roar.

Hago fell onto his back in surprise, looking up at King Mufasa. He didn't look very happy.

"I don't take very kindly to people who think they can enslave my kingdom," Mufasa told the dastardly villain. "The penalty is death."

Hago laughed. Not nervously, but evilly. "It's a good thing you won't be able to see me, then."

With that, Hago vanished out of sight. Mufasa looked around the area, confused, when he felt a sharp below to his stomach and he crumpled to the ground.

The sound of someone – presumably Hago – could be heard hobbling away as Simba, Nala and Sarabi hurried to Mufasa's side, helping him back onto his paws.

"Are you all right?" asked Sarabi, concerned.

"I'm fine," was Mufasa's reply. "I'm more concerned about that lion. How did he vanish like that?"

"He knows magic," Simba answered.

Mufasa shot his son a surprised look. "And how would you know such a thing, Simba?"

"We've met him before," Nala replied. "Actually, a lot of times. He's always trying to cause trouble for us. He kidnapped me, he tried to take over the kingdom while you were away – a lot of things, really."

"How long has this been going on for?" Mufasa asked, rather concerned for the pride's safety. If the Pride Lands were in danger, then he would have to ensure they were made safer.

Simba shrugged. "A few months."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Sarabi asked, shocked that they had been keeping this a secret.

Simba and Nala gave Mufasa and Sarabi cheesy grins. "You never asked!"

"Man, you must like my fur if you're hanging on to it this much," Simba noticed as Nala rested her head on his chest again. "I always thought it was kind of rough."

The two of them lay in the middle of a grassy field, watching the billions of stars that were littered across the night sky. It really couldn't get much more beautiful than this.

"I think it's very soft," Nala told him, keeping her head on his chest.

"Yours is softer," Simba complimented.

She giggled. "Thank you, Simba."

They found themselves staring into each other's eyes again, his auburn eyes connecting with her teal ones.

Simba could feel his heart start to race, for what felt like the billionth time. He had a feeling it would continue to do that for a countless number of times to come.

He couldn't help but smile to himself as a thought crossed his mind. I'm gonna tell her, he confirmed, meaning every word of it this time. Tomorrow. I'll tell her I have a crush on her.

"Got something to say, Simba?" Nala asked, noticing the thoughtful look on his face.

"No," he replied, still smiling at her.

Not yet.