Simba quickly snapped out of the trance. "Whoa…" he said, putting a paw to his temple. "That was a little weird."

"What happened?" Nala asked. "Are you okay, Simba?"

"Of course I am," Simba replied with a smile, before dashing off. "Come on. We'd better get to the water hole."

Nala and Haiba shrugged at each other before following him.

When Simba, Nala and Haiba got to the water hole, they were surprised at who they saw lying face down in the water.

"Zazu?" Simba exclaimed, staring down at the smallish hornbill. He looked dead. But that couldn't be true. Could it?

There's only one way to find out, Simba thought, reaching with a paw into the water and pulling Zazu out, dropping him down to the safety of the ground. "Zazu, what happened? Are you okay?"

"What the heck was he doing lying in the water?" Nala asked, looking confusedly from Simba to Zazu. "Isn't he supposed to be the smart one?"

Simba shrugged. "I don't know, maybe he knocked himself out while learning how to swim." He looked down at Zazu.

"Come on, Zazu," he said, hitting him on the chest with a paw. "You're not dead. Get up."

Zazu let out a loud gasp, his eyes snapping open. He screamed at the top of his voice, eyes wide with horror. "Oh, no! Great heavens! What happened?" He saw Simba, and became surprised at once. "S-Simba?" he said, sounding a little confused. As if he didn't know where he was. "What are you doing here?"

"I just saved your life, Zazu," Simba told him. "You were lying in the water. If it wasn't for me, then you would've drowned."

"Water? Drowned?" Zazu sat up, putting a wing to his head. "I don't know what's wrong with me this morning. One minute I was observing the elephant population, and the next—"

"—You were taking a drink – while asleep," finished Haiba, a little smile on his face. His eyes glowed red for a fraction of a second.

Zazu shook his head, trying to determine whether he had just seen Haiba's eyes change colour. But he quickly dismissed that thought, presuming this was just some kind of mental side effect from almost drowning to death.

"I don't understand," Nala said, taking a step towards Zazu. "How could you just suddenly fall into the water hole?"

"Exactly my point, young Nala," replied Zazu. "I'm usually a very careful little bird. In fact, I'm always a very careful little bird! It's almost as if someone else did this to me. Like a murder attempt." A worried look crossed his face. "Oh, dear. That would be simply atrocious."

"So… wait a minute." Simba waved a paw in the air, shaking his head. "You're saying that one minute you were just doing your job—"

"—And then I woke up to see you," Zazu finished. "Either I started sleep-flying, or someone dragged me into the water hole."

"But who would do such an awful thing?" Nala wondered, actually feeling rather sorry for Zazu. Okay, so at first, Nala hated Zazu and everything he stood for. Then a little while later she just disliked him slightly. But now she actually kind of liked him. He didn't deserve this. Not at all.

"I'm not sure," Simba replied, before turning to Haiba. "What do you think?"

Haiba shrugged. "How would I know? I'm not an expert on hornbills getting dragged into water holes. Makes you wish the Grand Lands would teach you about things like that. It's certainly one big mystery."

Simba turned away – not noticing that Haiba's eyes were glowing red behind his back – and looked down at Zazu with sympathy. "Don't worry, Zazu. We'll take care of this," he assured the rather traumatised hornbill. Simba had never seen him look so shaky before.

"I'm doomed!" Zazu cried, collapsing to his back. "Someone's trying to murder me and the only people I can call on for help are three inept cubs! Father would be ashamed of me!"

"Hey!" Simba cried angrily. "I know what 'inept' means, Zazu – and that's something we're not. You know we can help you. We've done it about eight thousand times before!"

"Your extreme exaggeration astounds me, young master," Zazu responded. "I'm still not convinced. Do elaborate further on how you are going to assist me. If my parents were still alive, then they would disown me."

"You talk about your parents a lot," Nala noticed, a curious look crossing her face. "Why is that, Zazu?"

None of them knew anything about Zazu's past. They had to admit, it was very mysterious of him. All the time he was blabbing about other people and what they should do – but he never ever talked about himself, aside from the occasional sentence slip. It was as if he had something to hide.

"It's nothing that would interest – or entertain – cubs like you," Zazu replied. "Now, please, leave me. I need some quiet thinking time."

"We're not leaving until we get some answers," Simba stated, staring down hard at Zazu. "Come on, Zazu. I think it's about time you told the truth. Just what happened to your parents? You never talk about it. Not even to my dad – and he's like your best friend."

"What do you think happened to them?" Zazu said flatly. "They died. Both of them. First it was my mother. She developed some kind of… infection and died a short while later. I was barely six months old when it happened."

"You mentioned her a while back," Nala remembered. "Her name was… Zuzu, I think."

Zazu nodded. "That was her."

"By the way you said about her, it sounded like she was still alive," Nala said.

Zazu winced, trying to hide the fact that he was close to tears. He hated talking about his family – and how every single one of them had perished. "I lied," he admitted. "I just made it sound like she was still alive. But no. All of them are gone."

"Your father," said Simba. "Out of your family, you talk about him the most. I'm guessing he means a lot to you, or something like that."

"After my mother died, he was the only one left to look after me," Zazu explained. "I thought it would be… okay – as long as nothing else bad happened." He frown crossed his beak. "But I was wrong."

"What happened?" Simba asked.

Zazu stared at Simba and Nala, noticing their intrigued looks. He'd never told anyone before. It was too horrible. Too awful.

But maybe, it was time to finally tell the tale. "You're not going to like it," Zazu warned them. "But I'll tell you."

Simba and Nala sat on the ground and listen intently, not noticing that Haiba was standing right behind them, an evil grin on his face, eyes glowing red...

Zazu didn't know what to do. Life was so horrible right now. The world was cruel. The world was wicked. It was his father alone who he could trust in this whole kingdom.

The pride had completely deteriorated into a starving, dehydrated mess. Thanks to King Ahadi, he had exhausted every single lion and lioness in the kingdom. He had already killed one of his mates, and it wouldn't b e long b efore the other one suffered a similar fate. Zazu had overheard that all Ahadi really wanted was just another son. He was always listening in on things that he shouldn't. One day he feared that it would b e the death of him.

But that didn't stop him from doing it anyway.

Zazu looked up at the full moon. It was late at night. He was just waiting for his father. He didn't know where he'd gotten to.

He'd b een gone for hours now. Maybe he wouldn't come back at all…

"Son?"

Zazu whipped round at the sound of his father's voice. "Dad?" he said, in his youngish, squeaky sounding voice. Being only a year old, he couldn't really help how he sounded. "What is it, Dad?"

Zazu's father looked much like Zazu did – just a little b it older. "Son," he spoke softly, walking along the edge of the water hole – which had since b een completely drained of all water – and put a comforting wing around his son's shoulder. "I'm afraid I have to go."

"Go?" Zazu quickly became confused. "Go where?"

"To the King," Zazu's father said. Fear was evident in his voice. Zazu had never seen his father scared until now. That alone sent a chill through his b ody. His b lood ran cold. That told him one thing.

Something was very wrong.

"W-why?" Zazu asked, failing to understand. "What does the King want from you? I thought you didn't like him. You said he was an 'unintelligent individual with no common sense'."

A frown formed on his father's beak. "Zazu… the King thinks that I'm not good enough for the pride. And for that, he wants to…" Zazu's father hesitated. "He wants to kill me."

Zazu gasped in horror. He was smart enough to know that when the King wanted someone dead, then he would make sure of it. His father didn't need to soften this b y saying that the King was 'sending him away' or something like that. He was old enough to understand issues like death.

"Dad, no—"

"It's okay," Zazu's father interrupted, hugging his son closer. "But there's nothing… I can't do anything about it. If I ran away, then I'd be abandoning you. And that's simply something I'm not going to do. I'm going to face my punishment."

"But th-that's abandoning me anyway," Zazu stuttered, tears in his eyes. "You c-can't just let yourself d-die. There must be something we can—"

"Believe me, Zazu, I've tried," Zazu's father told him. "But it's complicated. If there was any way out, then I would take it. But there isn't."

"But… what happens to me?" Zazu wondered, looking up at his father. Would he have to fend for himself all alone?

"Zazu…" His father managed a smile. "Did you really think that I would leave you all on your own? I took care of it. That friend of yours – Mufasa – is going to look after you."

"But… he's King Ahadi's… son," said Zazu, looking down at the ground. He didn't know if the King would like that.

"I know, Zazu," his father agreed. "But it's simply the b est I could do. I know it's going to b e hard, and I know for a while that it'll seem scary, b ut… I have faith in you. One day – because of you – things will get better. I promise."

"Really?" asked Zazu.

His father simply smiled. "Have I ever let you down before, son?"

Zazu just stared at his father, before slowly shaking his head.

Zazu's father looked around, the smile on his beak turning into a frown. "Son… I have to go now." He then turned Zazu around to face him. "But just remember one thing: I'll always be with you, even if you can't see me."

"Dad—" Zazu began, but it was too late. His father had already taken to the skies, towards Pride Rock. Towards his inevitable death.

It was then that Zazu started to cry. He sniffled, wiping tears from his eyes with his wings. "No… I don't want you to die… Please… I'd do anything just to save you..."

"Did someone say 'anything'?" said a voice from behind Zazu.

Zazu turned around, and was terrified to find two blinking red eyes staring back at him. He couldn't tell if these eyes belonged to a body or not. If they were, then the darkness was obscuring whoever this person – or thing – was.

"Who… who are you?" Zazu asked, cautiously stepping backwards.

"You know what, Zazu, you cute little hornbill? I would tell ya, but then that would just spoil all of the fun, now, wouldn't it? You see, I like surprises. I hate spoilers. Hate, hate, hate them. Don't you?"

Zazu didn't answer. All that could be heard was his loud, heavy breathing. He was far too terrified to say anything.

"You see, Zazu, I couldn't help but overhear your little cry for help. Your brave daddio is about to bite the dust, no thanks to King Ahadi – but I can rectify that."

"You mean that…" Zazu slowly began to realise. "That you can save my dad from b eing killed b y the King?"

Zazu could have sworn he saw the figure in the darkness smile. Either that or his imagination was acting up. "Of course I can, you loveable little scamp, you," the mysterious figure replied. "Just wish for it, and I can make your dreams come true. I once knew a person who believed that if you wish upon a star, then all of you dreams will come true. Okay, she's dead now, so it's a pretty stupid message. Unless, of course, you happen to know me."

"Then… then I wish that my father wasn't killed b y King Ahadi," Zazu said, hoping with every inch of his being that his wish would come true.

"You've got yourself a deal, Z," said the figure. "I'm gonna fix that for ya right now."

A faint whooshing sound was heard, and then suddenly Zazu found his father standing right next to the shadow that obscured the figure. "Dad?"

"Zazu?" Zazu's father quickly became confused. "What on earth has happened?"

"Hey, lookie here," said the figure, chuckling. "It's your dad! Now, Zazu, I am going to make your wish come true."

Zazu saw a law, jagged claw reach out from the darkness. It poked his father on the side.

The result was instantaneous. Zazu's father let out a loud gasp, and then collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide open.

He was dead.

"There we go," the figure said.

Zazu quickly leapt to his father's side. "Dad?" he said, trying to get some kind of response out of him.

But there wasn't one.

"Dad?" Sadness quickly turning into anger, he looked up at the figure. "What did you do?"

"What did I do?" said the figure, confused. "It's what you did, Zazu. You said 'I wish my father wasn't killed by King Ahadi.' Well, he wasn't. He got killed b y me instead. Happy, now?"

"But… b ut…" Zazu didn't know what to say.

"Looks like our business is concluded. Nice meeting ya, Z. Have fun living with the guilt that you just killed your father. I'm sure it'll be a blast. Bye, now!"

And just like that, the red eyes disappeared.

Zazu looked down at his father's dead corpse, and then burst into tears. "Dad… I'm so sorry…"