"Simba, it's a pleasure to see you again," Hago told Simba, using that cruel smile that always managed to frighten the Prince of the Pride Lands. "Well, it might not be a pleasure for you, but it's certainly a pleasure for me."
The flames. It was always the flames. Again and again. Every night was the same. Same surroundings, same Hago, but the conversation was always different. It never stopped. Hago had haunted Simba's mind ever since that climatic battle where he was killed, but Simba failed to learn why. Why wouldn't Hago ever stop taunting him? The question needed an answer. Simba deserved an answer. Why wouldn't it ever stop? Why?
"I'm sure you understand why it's a pleasure," Hago continued. "Because I can hurt you again, just like the last time, and all the times before that. I must admit it's rather fun. It's entertaining to see the suffering you will experience. And the best thing is, every time you go to sleep, it won't ever stop. Not ever."
Simba did the same thing he did every time when he had this nightmare: he became a terrified wreck, fearing Hago with every inch of his b ody. He looked so menacing, so frightening, especially with all those surrounding flames. There was no escape, just like the previous twenty-three times this had happened.
"J-just go away," Simba stammered, backing away as far as he could without touching the searing flames. One touch and he would be burnt to a crisp. Everything in this sadistic dream world was so hazardous. Why couldn't he have a pleasant dream for once? Before Hago died, all of his dreams were filled with happy thoughts. Thoughts ab out the lovely times he could experience with Nala, his one true love.
"You know I can't do such a thing, Simba," Hago informed the terrified cub , taking a menacing step closer – just like he did every night. It felt so good to terrorise Simb a. He'd get the same response every night, and it gave him nothing but pure pleasure. It was all he had left. Everything else was gone, consumed b y the very same flames that had killed him. Hago was very much dead, but that didn't stop him from trying to destroy his greatest enemy. Even in death, Hago knew he could have the last laugh.
"I'm never going to leave. I love this too much," Hago continued, grinning evilly. "I love to make you unhappy, Simba. Especially after everything you did to me. You ruined all of the great plans I had for my life. All the things I wanted to do, and you stole all of them away from me. And I'm never ever going to get them back. It'll b e this way for ever."
"Why don't you s-stop?" Simba asked, feeling himself beginning to shake with fear. It wouldn't b e long b efore Hago would do what he always did: advance towards him and presumab ly kill him. Simba knew he would wake up, but that didn't deter him from being utterly terrified by this fictional situation.
"Because I have nothing, Simba," Hago explained, taking another step closer. "Do you understand what that means? Nothing."
"Y-you're dead!" Simba shouted, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. "This isn't happening! I don't believe any of this!"
"Oh, this is very real, Simba," Hago revealed. "Real for me, at least. Oh so very real. This little 'nightmare' you have every night is all I have. It's our last real memory together. You, me and the flames. This is all I can do, Simba. And if that's all I get then I'm going to take it."
"W-what are you t-talking about?" Simba sob bed, not understanding any of this. Why did Hago always have to be so cryptic? Did he ever explain things like a normal person would? Then again, Hago was never exactly normal.
"There's nothing else for me, Simba," Hago replied, a sad smile – the saddest Simba had ever seen in his life – forming on his face. "I'm dead. Do you know what that entails?"
Simba shook his head. "No. If you're dead, then how are you here? It doesn't make sense. None of it does."
"Death is nothing, Simba. Do you understand that? That's all you get. Nothing. All you get when you die is the darkness. The darkness that never ends. You get nothing for all of eternity. Just the dark and the cold. Fear is all there is. Not for you, of course. The good people like you have a Heaven up high waiting for you when you finally pass on. But as for me... all I get is the darkness. So here I am, giving some of the darkness to you. Now do you understand?"
"Please, don't," Simba pleaded, backing away a bit more. He could feel the heat of the flames – they almost burnt him just by standing close to them. Simba knew what was coming next. The climax to this horrible nightmare, where Hago plunged Simba into darkness. Darkness that would never end. If that was what bad people got when they died, then Simba was never going to do a bad thing ever again. "I-I don't want this. Please!"
"That's too bad, Simba," Hago said as he advanced closer and closer, scaring Simba more and more with each passing step. "That's a crying shame. But really, you should have thought ab out this b efore you killed me... shouldn't you?"
With one final, furious roar, Hago pounced at Simba. The terrified cub closed his eyes and felt his soul b eing torn from his body as his world – his life – was plunged into total darkness.
Those two seconds of darkness were horrible. Those two seconds felt like infinity to Simba. It was so horrible. Hago was right. It was just the dark, and the cold. All he had was fear. Pure, cruel, unrelenting fear. It felt like everything had been stolen from him.
This was what Hago went through every day, if days even existed in the darkness. The mere thought of suffering this for ever and ever made Simb a want to shout and cry and the top of his voice. He would b e so loud that his lung would burst. It was that horrible.
"Until tomorrow, Simba..." Simb a heard Hago's voice echo throughout the darkness as he felt himself began to wake up from the nightmare.
The worst thing was that Simba knew this would happen every time he went to sleep.
"Simba..." Nala called as she prodded him, wishing he would just wake up. When he wanted to be, Simba could be a very heavy sleeper. There was no telling when he would wake up. Sometimes he could be full of energy, and other times he could be the most tired cub in the world. Nala figured that Simba should try and balance his energy levels, if that was even possible for him. He was full of surprises.
"Nala..." Simba called back in the same tone. "I'm awake, you know. You can stop prodding and start cuddling."
Nala was happy to oblige when it came to close contact with her boyfriend and best friend – she liked to think of Simba as both. Nala snuggled up to Simba, curious as to why he was asking for a little bit of a cuddle. "So, what's the special occasion?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Simba replied, bad memories of his nightmare returning to him. "It's just that I had this... nightmare earlier, that's all. It kinda freaked me out."
"What kind of nightmare?" Nala asked. She knew Simba had a problem with nightmares – this was most likely because of all the danger he'd been involved in at such a young age. It never seemed to stop him from sleeping, though.
"I don't want to talk about it," Simba responded, looking away from Nala. Out of all those Hago nightmares, that one was by far the worst. He'd never felt so scared in his entire life, and there was one thing he couldn't help but wonder about.
Would it get even worse?