"I love you, Maji," Simba told his beautiful new girlfriend, staring into her deep-sea eyes. "More than anything else in the whole world."
Maji let out what sounded like a pitiful laugh – but Simba was too in love to pick up on that. "Oh, Simba, you're very sweet," she said. "You make a very handsome, cute little boyfriend. I almost feel sorry for what I'm going to do soon. But still, at least I've let you live much longer than the others. That's because you're very special. Very special indeed. It's worth the wait, in my opinion."
Simba didn't register the underlying threat in what Maji was saying to him. Every time she opened her mouth to speak, all he heard were the most beautiful, heartfelt, romantic words coming out of her mouth. He loved her, and she loved him.
That was all that really mattered. They were going to be together for ever.
"Simba, come with me." Maji pulled Simba to his paws, before leading him across the endless desert they were in. "You see this place?" She gestured to all the sand. "It's not exactly my most favourite location. Too hot for me. Far too hot. But it's the only place I can stay, so I have to make do with it. On the bright side, it does make such an excellent place for hiding the bodies."
A thin, evil smile spread across her face, as she stared at Simba. He just stared straight ahead, a smile on his face.
She was his little slave. She had him completely under her control. No matter what she asked him to do, he would do it.
Simba was so lost in the wonderful, weird world of love that he didn't care. He would obey her every command.
"I'm going to show you something, Simba," Maji told him. "But I don't think you're going to like it. Well, the real you wouldn't – but while under my control, I'm sure you'll be fine."
"Come on." Nala nudged Haiba on his side, before walking across the sand. "There's gotta be something around here somewhere. It can't all just be a big desert."
"That's what it looks like from here," Haiba replied.
"Don't be negative – we need to keep our spirits up, if we stand a chance of finding Simba and figuring out who's behind this."
"So this is some big evil guy trying to kill us, then? Again." Haiba sighed. "Who is it this time? The Emerald Elf?"
"I was thinking Sandy," Nala retorted with a smile. "Fits the location. After all, isn't a cheesy name what makes a villain in the first place? It's always 'Shocker' this and 'Royal Reaper' that. Me and Simba used to have a game where we were superheroes. He was Super Simba, and I was Nasty Nala."
Haiba couldn't help but laugh. "Not as carefree as when I was born," he said. "When I was just three days old I had to learn how to wrestle a snake, otherwise I would have been fed to the wild Kubwa beasts."
"What's a wild Kubwa beast?" Nala asked.
"You don't want to know," was his reply. He looked ahead. "Well, there doesn't seem to be anything in sight, so I think we should try to swim back. Let's go."
He turned around to leave, but Nala grabbed him. "You can't just go, Haiba," she told him. "We have to figure this out – before it's too late."
"Then you'd better start thinking," Haiba said. "'Cause from the looks of the sun…" He looked upwards. "We've got about three hours before we burn to death."
"What?"
Maji dragged Simba along, until they came to a significantly darker patch of sand than the rest of the eternal desert they stood in. "Here we are, Simba," she announced, leaning towards her little slave with a smile. "This is where I keep my most prized possessions."
"Really?" Simba sounded like he was someplace far away. "Wow…"
"And it's very special to me," Maji continued to explain, "because it has a sentimental value. Every time I come here, I remember all of the good times I shared with my victims – friends – who came here." She grinned at Simba. "Would you like to see?"
All she got in response was a silly laugh.
"I thought so."
"Three hours?" Nala exclaimed, her teal eyes wide with horror. Part of her believed Haiba, and part of her didn't. Was he joking? Was this just some kind of sick prank he was playing on her? Did he actually think this was funny? "Haiba, please say that this is a joke."
"I'm serious," Haiba said, proving Nala's fears to be true. "I can tell by looking at the sun. We're out in the open, on the hottest part of the day, on the hottest day in the year – with no protection. We've got three hours – maximum."
"Maximum?" Nala was trying very hard not to panic. "Oh, this is bad. This is bad. This is very, very, very bad." She looked around frantically, trying to figure out what to do. "Please tell me what you're thinking, Haiba."
"I'm thinking about your mother," Haiba replied. "She's kind of cute when you get up close to her."
Nala grabbed Haiba, an urgent look in her eyes. "Haiba, you can try and date my mother later. But this is important right now!"
"All right, all right, I'm thinking, I'm thinking," he said. Haiba looked upwards, and then he looked down. "Hey, wait a minute. I've noticed something."
"Noticed what?" Nala asked, a smile forming on her face. This was good, wasn't it? Maybe they were on their way to finally figuring something out! "Haiba, what is it?"
"This patch of sand is darker than the rest," he said.
Nala's face fell. "What?" She hit him on the side angrily. "You're completely useless when our lives are at stake, did you know that?"
"Don't doubt me," he said. "I know what I'm doing. Something's not right."
"Oh, so the sand is a little darker in some place," Nala said, throwing her fore paws up in the air. "Big deal. What's it got to do with anything?"
"It implies…" Haiba sat down, staring at the darkened patch of sand. "That someone has dug this particular part of sand up," he explained. "It means that someone has been here – perhaps the someone who put us underwater and most likely kidnapped Simba."
Nala looked very doubtful. "I don't think so," she said, shaking her head as she sat beside Haiba. "Haiba, why would someone dig up the sand? It's pointless. It doesn't mean anything. You're just being ridiculous. Look…" Nala began to dig up some of the sand. "There's nothing under—"
Nala let out a terrified scream at what she saw.