Hi everyone! My first fanfic here so please go easy on me. I've had this idea of Scar surviving the hyena attack and fire for a long time and wanted to give my own take on the story since I know it's been done before. Hope you like it!
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Chapter 1: Survival.
The landing on the rock floor was a painful one. In all honesty, it's lucky that he hadn't broken any bones although his body screamed from the pain. He saw three silhouettes coming through the flames, ones which he recognized. The smile that Scar had on his face was one of relief. "Ahhh my friends," he said, knowing that he would be able to rebuild, to replan.
"Friehehends?" asked Shenzi with a condescending, bitter tone. "I thought he said we were the enemy." From here, she looked over to her second.
Dread began to seep into Scar's very being. Had they heard? It was the only explanation. He had been a fool to talk so brazenly with the hyenas so close by. Now it was all ruined!
"Yeaaahhh! That's what I heard," said Banzai, his eyes locked onto the would-be king.
Both of the hyenas looked to the third one, Ed. He normally felt no unease with looking to this hyena, however those eyes normally cockeyed in their stare were looking straight ahead, right at him.
"Ed?" asked Shenzi and Banzai. Ed gave a sinister laugh, licking his chops and starting forward.
He had never heard that kind of laugh coming from the hyena before and it chilled him to his core. All three began to approach him, their own laughter accompanied by the rest of the pack who stepped out from behind rocks, from beyond the flames; it was like something from a nightmare- and yet, they were still there.
Scar had to come up with some way to talk them down, to try to get them onto his side again. But how could he? "N-No, please!" he sputtered. "I didn't mean it! Wait, you don't understand! I don't-" But it was no good.
They pounced on him all at once, just as the flames were starting to close in. Pain blossomed in his right side as claws and fangs bit down onto his flesh. He wheeled around, lashing out with a bone crushing swipe of a paw. Scar roared in pain as the teeth tore at his flesh.
Shenzi and Banzai both jumped at him from the front, while other hyenas came at him from behind. He squirmed and kicked with his hind legs, throwing Banzai off and ducking to the side to avoid a bite to the throat from Shenzi. The hyenas from behind were biting at his mane, trying to get to his spine.
The heat from the flames got more intense the closer they got to them, hyenas beginning to leap away and retreat due to the intensity of the flames. He kicked and swiped at hyenas as they came, buffeting them with strong swipes of his paws to either knock them away or throw them into the fire. However, they kept coming, biting and tearing, clawing at his flesh.
Most of the wounds were superficial, yet they were numerous. He moved away from the pack, trying to find some way to escape. Mufasa, I was wrong, he thought, now feeling remorse and regret for his own prideful stupidity. I don't want to die here... if it were up to me now I would do things differently.
As luck should have it that a large piece of rock fell down in between him and the pack, crushing a few in the process. It's as if the great kings were listening to his very thoughts. He shook his head in disbelief. If this were coincidence then it was one that unnerved him.
Thinking that Scar was trapped, Shenzi made the call. "There's no way he's getting out of there. Come on! Let's get out of here before we all burn!"
He thought luck had been on his side, yet the flames grew more intense behind him and beside him. It scorched at his skin, causing him to leap away with another roar of pain. He fell to the ground, rolling and writhing in agony. His bones hurt, as did his body.
Somehow, he had to get out of here. He saw a small opening, one that lead into an area not as plagued by the flames. It lead away the opposite direction to where the hyenas had retreated. That's it! It was his only chance.
He ran as fast as he could, a limp along his right side as he jumped through the flames, gritting his teeth and pausing for a bit to regain stability within his frame. I can't die, not here, he thought, hurriedly limping away from the place that had been home his entire life. All of his memories existed here and because of him he had to leave it. There was no shifting the blame for this one.
He felt droplets of water falling from the sky, a cascade that grew more intense as the seconds ticked by. While they should have been relieving to him in his current state, it caused a swirling vortex of emotions to twist and writhe within him; disbelief, hatred, relief, joy- too many to mention. The very weather is mocking him. "It's as if the natural order itself is mocking me," he said with a scowl.
His thoughts were interrupted with searing pain over almost every part of his body. The adrenaline had worn off and along with it his heightened pain tolerance. He realized that more damage had been done to his body than he originally anticipated. He could feel fresh wounds along his sides, his haunches and his legs, all of which made movement very difficult.
Perhaps he had injured his back or his rear legs during the fall because he limped with every step along his right rear leg, pain blossoming with nearly every step. He found a rock ledge, one that had a tree growing out from the top of it. This would do. He needed somewhere to rest, just long enough to let him gather his strength and properly assess his injuries. The last thing he heard before settling in was a roar. Oh, how I hate you, nephew. How I hate you and what you've taken from me. He closed his eyes, trying to will a pain filled slumber to overtake him.
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As the days blended into weeks he had retreated from the Pridelands, away from the Outlands and into an uncharted area, however it had been a slow and agonizing journey. Food was sparse and with his injuries he was only able to hunt down the slowest and stupidest of game- there was a point he even resorted to eating grubs, something which in and of itself disgusted him.
He eventually came to a watering hole and was able to better assess his injuries. Fur was missing from his haunches and sides, the burns were still healing even to this day and pained him every day. In his reflection he saw a few new scars along his face. There was an ugly one which went along the top of his muzzle and a second to join the scar along his left eye, just to the side of it.
The fact that he was very lucky to be alive wasn't lost to him. In fact, it's something he thought about every day of his life. As he continued to think, his perception began to change. He had done unconscionable things, things which would surely get him killed should he reenter the Pridelands.
He had no visions of Mufasa, yet he did have the occasional dream. It was dreams not of their relationship as adults but of their play as young cubs. Each time he woke up it left him with a nasty taste in his mouth.
There were the occasions where he would dream of the aftermath of the stampede as well. Simba ran, the hyenas chased him and he looked down to the dead body of his brother. It left him oddly empty, no sense of victory or joy. Time passed like this for the next several years.
In time, he came across a pair of leopard brothers, ones which offered to give him a home. He had to lie of course but after concocting his own story they allowed him sanctuary. They went by the names Winda and Askari. The names were fitting, yet they were at the same time something that had Scar thinking of their past. His own name, Taka, had a meaning of its own that caused him to curl his lip in disgust. Trash was hardly a name anyone would want for themselves.
Their home was situated beside a dried up river, one which from what he heard had been dry for far longer than the 2 had been alive. "How fascinating," he said in thought. "Why do you think that is?" Of course he knew the reason, he knew the very river that they speak of. It had been blocked off with logs for years, logs which naturally gathered along the river itself and stemmed the flow of water until only the smallest bit could trickle through.
He had survived, he had found two who he could use for his survival and yet, it didn't feel like a victory. He had children who he had left; Nuka, Vitani, his hand chosen prince to take his place Kovu. And his mate, Zira. Many would call him heartless and that wasn't true. He was very ambitious, he had big ideals but he was not without a heart. However hatred can corrupt someone and drive them towards actions contradictory to themselves. But what happens when that hatred fades away? It leaves someone a hollow shell, a victim to their own mistakes and their own sins. And it left him victim to the fact that he would never be able to atone for them even if he wanted to.
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Phew! That was a lot, it just kinda came out of nowhere but I do have a direction for this story in mind. Hope you like it! Please leave a review to tell me what you think!