"Problems, Simba?" said Haiba, as he watched Simba and Nala walk past him outside the den that morning. "You woke me up with all those distressing pleas you were making in your sleep."

"You could say that," Simba mumbled, a sad frown on his face. "Serious problems. Serious problems that aren't ever going to go away unless I do something about them."

Haiba raised his eyebrows. "Oh, dear," he said, before turning towards Nala. "All right, what's wrong with the Prince this morning?" he asked her. "Didn't he get his beauty sleep or something?"

"It's a bit more serious than that," Nala replied. "Did I mention to you about the neverending, horrific nightmares Simba has every time he goes to sleep?"

Haiba's eyes widened slightly, suddenly feeling a little disturbed – and freaked out. "Um… No. No, you didn't mention that to me. And where has all of this come from all of a sudden?"

"It's lasted for ages," Simba told him. "Before we even met you. In fact, it all started just after me and Nala got together.

That very night. And it just…" He sighed. "It just doesn't stop."

"Until today," Nala added. "Or so he thinks, anyway."

"Why?" Haiba asked, concerned. This sounded really serious. Why hadn't they ever mentioned it to him before? After all, he was their friend, wasn't he? They should have told him before now!

"Because Hago's coming back," Simba told Haiba. "He was our worst enemy. He almost ended up killing us. He even took over the kingdom once! We just barely managed to take it back from him. He's the most horrible person I've ever met. And he's come back to life. Just to kill me."

"Hago?" said Haiba, narrowing his eyes in thought. "You said that name the other day – after that Royal Challenge incident. Where have I heard that before?" Thinking for a moment, he finally came up with an answer. "That's it!" he exclaimed, pointing at Simba and Nala with a claw.

"That's what?" Simba and Nala both asked at the same time.

"Hago!" Haiba replied. "My mother used to know him!" he cried, a grin on his face.

Simba narrowed his eyes at Haiba. "You're looking awfully happy about your mother knowing our worst enemy," he told him.

"She always used to talk about him," Haiba said. "About how horrible and evil and mean he was, you know? She used to think of him as a… Well, I hate to say this, but she thought of him as a friend."

"Friend?" Simba and Nala both exclaimed. "How could your mother think of him as a friend?"

"Look, it's not what you think," said Haiba, waving his fore paws in the air. "It wasn't like he was her best friend, or anything. They used to go to the Grand Lands Academy together."

Simba raised an eyebrow. "The Grand Lands Academy?" he said, his eyes widening. "Who would even invent something like that?"

"Yeah – she always said it was pretty weird there. Some kind of freaky, annoying little monkey used to teach them all. My mother could never understand half of what he was saying," Haiba told him.

"I know the feeling," said Nala, nodding. "I hate monkeys. They nearly tickled Zazu to death!"

"But he deserved it," Simba interjected. "I never would have had to fight that stupid cub if he hadn't gotten rid of that Royal Challenge thing." He frowned. "It definitely would have made the day a lot less stressful."

"As I was saying," Haiba continued, "apparently, Hago used to always want to control the class there. Always trying to get people to think they way he did, you know? My mother didn't like him very much, but he had this way of controlling people. They always seemed to listen to him."

"Hypnosis, I bet," Simba muttered. "And we know all about that. But how long did your mother know him for?"

"Well, he used to pop up in the classes from time to time, but after she graduated, she never saw him again," replied Haiba. "He just kind of… disappeared."

"So he's been all around the place, then," Nala concluded. "I can't wonder why, though."

Haiba shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I should have asked her more about him. There's not much I can do about it now, though. You should have told me sooner."

"What, before Simba started getting extremely paranoid?" Nala retorted. "How was I supposed to know this was going to happen?"

"I'm not paranoid, okay?" said Simba, staring at Nala. "I know these kind of things. Trust me. Sometimes the weirdest things can happen around here. If I've learnt anything, then it's that."

"So you think that this Hago guy – who I know hardly anything about – is going to come back from the dead, and try and kill you?" asked Haiba, finding that quite difficult to believe. "I've heard of ridiculous, but that is a seriously farfetched assumption."

"It'll happen," Simba insisted. "It could happen tomorrow, or even today. I'm scared to death, Haiba."

Haiba just stared at Simba for a few moments. "You killed him – didn't you? He was going to do something so terrible that you had no other choice."

Simba stared into Haiba's eyes, and nodded. "Yeah. Well… he sort of killed himself, but… I think I kind of delivered the final blow, if you know what I mean." He frowned. "I know he wants revenge, and he'll do anything to get it."

"Well, what are we going to do about it – if he does come back, I mean?" Haiba asked. "Arm ourselves with sharp sticks or something?"

Simba shook his head in response. "I've got no idea. All I know is that we have to be ready. Anything can happen today. Anything."

Haiba smiled, and nodded. "And I was having such a nice day. Now I've got to fight an immortal lion. Great."

"Immortal?" Simba's eyes widened. "You never said anything about him being immortal!"

"Oh, great, now you've made it worse," said Nala. "Thanks a lot, Haiba. You really are a great pal."

Haiba grinned. "Really?"

"No!" Nala replied. "Now we're just going to end up spending the whole day feeling more frightened than a wildebeest being chased by a hungry lioness!"

"How very right you are, my dear."