"Fired? You can't fire me! I quit!"

It wasn't normal that an arguing hornbill became a wakeup call for Nala. Usually, she just woke up on her own accord. Either that or Simba woke her up, having found the latest adventure to embark on. Or Haiba trying to kiss her while she was sleeping. That had happened a few times, too.

Actually, come to think of it, it was pretty rare that Nala ever woke up on her own accord. Something always managed to get in the way. What she'd give for a couple of nights' worth of good sleep…

But this time, it was pretty strange. It wasn't just the loud volume of Zazu's angry arguing. There was something else waking her from her sleep.

It was rare that she was ever woken up by a hug. Normally, a nice, warm, cuddly hug was what put her to sleep in the first place. But this time, the hug was… different. Like someone was shielding her. Protecting her.

Which raised the question: what did she need protecting from?

Nala's eyes flickered open, as she slowly lifted her head, to find the source of the protective hug.

It was Simba. Although, if something were to happen to her, he wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. He was fast asleep. But he still remained hunched over her body, as if he was trying to save her from an unseen enemy.

"Simba?"

Simba's eyes snapped open, startling Nala. "What is it, Nala?" he asked, his eyes darting left and right. Like something terrible was about to happen, right there in the middle of the den. "And…" He narrowed his eyes. "Who's shouting?"

"… Well, that's fine by me!" Zazu's shouting continued from outside the den. "You've lost yourself the best royal advisor you're ever going to get! Good day!"

Simba watched as Zazu flew away. He looked back at Nala. "What's going on?" he asked her. "Why is Zazu… leaving?"

"I'm not sure," Nala replied, rubbing one of her eyes with a paw. "It's what woke me up. Well, that and your strange hug. It seemed like you were trying to protect me – or something like that."

"I… I was," he confessed, looking down at the ground, feeling a little sheepish about the reason why. "I don't know, I just… thought that… if I let you go, then… something would happen to you."

Nala smiled. "Oh, Simba…" She put a paw to his cheek, stroking it softly. "Nothing like that is ever going to happen again."

She was of course referring to the events of the previous day – or night, depending on how one thinks about it. A terrifying, horrific entity known only as Death had arrived in the Pride Lands, planning on claiming thirteen souls for his own.

He almost succeeded – killing Nala and just about everyone else in the pride – but was foiled at the very last second by Simba, who would have become Death's thirteenth victim if it wasn't for a very odd – yet magical – turnaround. Simba still couldn't find the words to explain it.

"I hope not," Simba replied, still feeling a lump in his throat. He didn't like to think about it – much like many of the other creatures and horrible things he'd faced before. But Death was by far the worst. He'd killed Nala. Murdered her. And it was only by a stroke of luck that she had been revived.

He didn't want that to happen again. He wouldn't allow it. Couldn't let it happen.

Because next time, he knew there was no way she would come back.

"Come on," Nala said, nudging Simba on the side as she got to her paws. "We'd better go see what's up."

Simba nodded in response, following Nala out of the den. He found his parents – Mufasa and Sarabi – speaking just outside.

"… Mufasa, are you sure you weren't too hard on him?" Sarabi asked, looking toward the sky. "Maybe you could have been a little more—"

"I did what I had to do," Mufasa interrupted. "Zazu has become far too reckless. After the events of yesterday – or night, depending on how one thinks about it – I made my decision. He is no longer welcome to his position as a royal advisor – until he changes his ways."

"Mufasa, you wouldn't… exile him, would you?" Sarabi had a worrying look in her eyes.

"Of course not," was the King's reply. "That would be too extreme. But he's going to have to settle in somewhere else for the foreseeable future."

"You fired Zazu?"

Mufasa and Sarabi both looked down at their shocked son. "Simba?" said Mufasa, a little alarmed. "I – I didn't hear—"

"Didn't hear you firing Zazu," Simba interrupted. "Dad, why'd you do that? Zazu hasn't done anything wrong."

"He has insulted us, Simba," Mufasa explained. "And he's shown himself to be careless and irresponsible of his duties as a royal advisor. So, I'm afraid we had to depose him."

Simba stared at his parents. "What is wrong with you?" he sighed, before walking away.

Sometimes he just couldn't understand his parents. They didn't seem to trust anyone. First it was just a minor annoyance. Then it started to become quite bothersome. But now it was just bordering on the level of utter cruelty. Just what was wrong with them? It's like they weren't themselves anymore.

"Hey, wait up!" Nala called, following Simba down Pride Rock. "So much for protection," she remarked with a smile.

"Well, so far we've established that Zazu is fired, your parents are totally insane, and Haiba has vanished off the face of the—"

"Not a chance," Haiba said with a smile, appearing from underneath Pride Rock. "You know, it's funny how many dead snakes you find under a famous landmark. I'll take care of them later – before your parents freak out or something. So, I hear Zazu's been fired. Seen him sulking miserably by the water hole. He looks ready to burst into tears."

"We noticed," Simba said. "The poor guy. All he's been through and he gets fired for it. My parents can be idiots sometimes. Actually, no, I'm lying. They're idiots all the time. I think I might need to bash them on the head with a stick or something. But even that probably wouldn't help."

"Then we'd better go and see him," Nala suggested, walking in the direction of the water hole. "You know how much that job means to him. For all we know, he might want to drown himself in the water."

Simba followed Nala, with Haiba giving her a funny look. "What water?" he said.

Simba and Nala turned around, confused. "What do you mean?" Nala asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"You heard me," was his reply. "There's no water in the water hole – which kind of defeats the purpose of its name, but you get what I mean."

"How can there be no water?" Simba asked, taking a step towards Haiba. "You can't just take it out."

"Well, you can tell that to the guy who did it," said Haiba. "All I know is that there's no water left. It's gone. Empty. Dried up. Just looks like a very big hole now."

Nala frowned. "Let's go and see," she said, before carrying on walking – at a slightly quicker pace this time. "It can't be that bad."