Simba, Nala and Haiba all turned around at the sound of the deep, threatening voice, only to find Sarafina, who was giggling to herself. "Gotcha!" she exclaimed, still giggling.

"Mom!" Nala cried, shooting her a disapproving glare. "What the heck did you think you were doing, talking like that? You scared us half to death!"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," Sarafina replied, her laughs dying down. "I saw you three having a very serious moment, and I just felt like giving you a scare," she explained with a shrug. "Why do you all look so tense?" she asked wonderingly. "Do you three ever take a break from your 'exciting adventures'?"

"Life's too boring without them," said Simba. "And what we're concerned about is actually very important. My worst enemy is about to rise from the grave, and he's going to kill us all!"

Sarafina laughed in response. "Oh, Simba, you say the funniest things sometimes. I can see why Nala finds you so attractive. She's always saying things like, 'I love Simba so much,' and, 'I think he's the cutest cub ever.'"

"Can't argue with that," said Haiba, shooting a look at Simba.

Nala's cheeks turned red. "Mom…" she said, gritting her teeth. "You're embarrassing me…" Why did parents always have to be like that? She wondered if her father would have embarrassed her like her mother did…

"I know," Sarafina agreed with a smile. "I like embarrassing cute little couples. Call it a hobby of mine." She then walked away. "But if you want to be left alone so you two can kiss, then I'll go."

Nala's whole face had turned red. "Whoa," said Haiba, pointing at her. "Your head looks like it's going to explode." He chuckled. "Cool!"

"Haiba, you're insane," Nala told him as she joined Simba by his side.

"I know this," Haiba agreed, a grin on his face. "You ain't never had a friend like me."

"You know, I actually can't argue against that," said Simba. "We haven't ever had a friend like him. Who else do we know who falls in love with trees and sticks and… rivers?"

"Exactly," replied Haiba. "But you can blame my mother for all of that. After all – she did drop me on my head when I was a baby. But it makes me much cooler, don't you think so?"

"This is no time to talk about how great we all are," Simba interjected. "We have a problem on our paws, and we've got to deal with it – before we all die!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide with worry.

"I just loved the way you said that, Simba," Haiba told him. "Very overdramatic, I must say. Go on – say something else."

"Very funny," said Simba, frowning. "But I'm serious. Very serious. There isn't enough seriousness in the world to contain how serious this is. Now, let's think about this." He slumped to the ground, holding his head up with his forepaws. "How do you fight an evil lion with enough magical powers to destroy the world?"

"Hmm…" Haiba thought for a moment. "Anti-magic."

Simba and Nala shot him a look. "Anti-magic?" they both exclaimed.

Haiba nodded. "Yeah. Anti-magic. You can use it to deprive a lion of all magical powers."

Simba looked at Nala, and then grinned. "Really?" he asked Haiba, sounding very eager. "Where do we get some from?"

"Ah." Haiba's face fell, his smile fading away. "It only exists in fairy tales. My mother used to tell me those all the time. I remember one about a planet filled full of treasure." He chuckled, shaking his head. "That was just silly."

"So we've got no hope at all," Simba concluded, sighing. "He's not even here and we've already been beaten."

"Come on – don't give up so easily, Simba," said Nala, hitting him playfully on the shoulder. "We've beaten Hago loads of times. I remember the first time we met him."

Simba chuckled, remembering that all too well. "Yeah," he said, nodding. "He froze you. Froze you!"

Nala giggled in response. "I know! And then he made us get a stupid jewel for him! And that was just the beginning of the trouble he caused!"

"He kidnapped you; made you fall in love with another cub; hypnotised my Dad; and teamed up with my Uncle Scar to take over the kingdom!" Simba listed all of the trouble Hago had caused, still laughing. "And none of his plans worked!"

Nala laughed along with him. "Yeah!" she agreed. "What a complete idiot!"

"Well, you're kinda missing the obvious," Haiba pointed out to the two. "If Hago has never beaten you, then why are you so worried, Simba? Even if he was going to come back, then what's to say that you can't beat him?"

"Oh, I don't know," Simba replied with a shrug. "He's been getting inside my head with all these nightmares. Wouldn't you be scared if you had nightmares about everyone you loved getting viciously murdered?"

"Uh… I guess," Haiba replied. "But they're only nightmares, aren't they? They don't mean anything."

"You'd be surprised," replied Simba. "They mean a lot of things. He showed me what death is – for bad people, I mean. Once they die, they get… nothing," he told Haiba, gulping nervously. "Just darkness. Endless darkness. It sounds horrible."

"Especially if you're scared of the dark," Haiba remarked with a smile. "So what do good people – like ourselves – get?"

Simba shrugged. "I don't know. Eternal sunshine and happiness?" he guessed. "How would I know?"

"Because you know what b ad people get," Haiba replied. "Does this Hago guy only like to talk about really depressing things?"

"Well, duh!" Simba exclaimed. "Evil psychos don't exactly talk about how nice the weather is! What's wrong with you?"

"Too many things," Haiba responded. "Maybe I'll just shock Hago into death with my disturbing stories. They're enough to put someone to sleep for ever!"

"Somehow I think it's going to be a little bit harder than that," said Simba, a thoughtful look on his face. "Hey – maybe we could just kill him!" he suggested.

"A little violent, don't you think?" asked Nala, turning to him. "Since when were you into murdering people?"

"I'm not, but it's Hago," Simba responded. "If anything, he deserves to die. I hate him. He's put me through hell."

"So when would he come back?" Haiba wondered. "How would he come back? And what would he do?"

"You've never heard of people coming back from the dead before?" Nala asked him. "Ever?"

"Nope," Haiba answered, shaking his head. "No resurrections, no comebacks… nothing. If this Hago person can do it, then I'll be very surprised."

"If you think he's going to come back to life today, then don't you think he would have showed himself to us by now?" Nala asked Simba. "Shouldn't we be dead already? Our guts should be hanging from a tree!"

"He's waiting for the right moment," Simba said, his eyes darting left and right suspiciously. "The right moment to strike.

He's hiding right now, ready to pounce on us and tear out our throats!"

"He's really paranoid, isn't he?" said Haiba.

Nala nodded. "Very." She chuckled, shaking her head. "Hago coming back… Like that'd ever happen!"