Lonesome Dove Fan Fiction ❯ The Lion King: The Freak ❯ Chapter 1: Mothers and Fathers ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own The Lion King, or any of its characters or events. They are the property of the Walt Disney Company. If I am honored to have Disney representatives read this work and they request that I remove this from the Internet, I shall do so, but can make no guarantees that it has not been saved by a third party. Also, I am only including a disclaimer and copyright on this first chapter. Anyone wishing to view later chapters must agree with the terms of both.

Copyright: All original characters and events are my property. I will allow anyone to use said characters or events however, as long as I am credited and it is not for profit of any kind or business use.

Author's Notes are denoted by parentheses, flashbacks are denoted by asterisks, thoughts are denoted by italicized text, and emphasis is denoted by bold text.

The Lion King: The Freak
Chapter 1: Mothers and Fathers

(My first Lion King fanfic. I hope that the allusions to prejudice and racism are very clear, as well as the rather graphic depictions of what targeted groups suffer. I have changed many things about the backstory of the characters. Enjoy, and please review!)

The gaunt, young female tigon breathed heavily, as rain trickled down from the tall jungle trees above her. She was exhausted, on death's door already, and the wet weather didn't help. Her hunting trips over the past few days had been entirely unsuccessful; she had not been able to get even the smallest bite of food. At the end of her pregnancy, she could hardly walk without feeling nauseous. But she still had to try to hunt.

Being a crossbreed, between a male tiger and a female lion, she did not have the mentality of her tiger father to hunt alone, and had been rejected by every pride that she met. The strength of the pack was just too fragile to be upset by such a freak of nature, a name that she'd often been called.

“Freak,” she spat, “it hurts me every time they call me that... but deep down, I know it's true.”

“Even my parents didn't want me. My dad... he was a tiger; couldn't be expected to care for me. My mom didn't really seem like a cub-raiser either... But I can't really blame them... my mom said that my dad had raped her, taken her body for his own use when she was far too young. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to me, that day, when the pride banished me...”

The tigon was only six months old, barely finished suckling from the lionesses of the pride. She had never suckled from her mother, however; the still-young lioness said that even the sight of her only living memory of the intrusion upon her body made her ill. The rest of the tigon's brothers and sisters had died off, some in rather suspicious circumstances.

But this one was strong. She had managed to live through a cubhood of being totally ostracized from her so-called family. The lionesses had grudgingly taught her basic hunting skills, as the rest of the lion cubs refused to play or associate with her.

Chukizo.

That's what they called her. It meant, loosely translated, abomination, but the stigma attached to the word was one too strong to be expressed in other languages.

Chukizo.

Despite her name, the tigon had never allowed another animal to see her cry or show any weakness and live. She knew that the only being in the world she could count on was herself, and that every other animal in the world was predator or prey. There were no friends, there was no family; no comforting home to come to after a lone hunt. No relatives to take pride in her small, but significant for her age kills.

No one.

Forced solitude was a thousand times worse than any other fate the world could throw at a being. Imagine: having others around you that won't even acknowledge that you're alive, and don't give a damn if you're bleeding to death in the desert.

The tigon was stalking a small lizard, alone, like always. She was just about to pounce on it, when something pounced on her. The cub felt dagger-like claws rake her side, and a heavy weight pin her to the ground.

Then, a chatter of laughter focused her confused mind.

“Well look what we got here, boys... the freak, Chukizo!”

Three other cubs walked up to the tigon. The one that had spoken up was the son of the alpha male. He was flanked by his “girlfriend” (Chukizo didn't know if the lioness had been threatened by the alphas or forced by her mother to submit to the young male's fledgling desires), and another cub that Chukizo knew to be something of a cold-hearted sadist. Now, she was a hunter by nature, but she killed quick and she killed clean. But more than once, she'd walked in on this cub torturing an insect, or scratching up a mouse and to watch it run away and bleed to death.

The goon that had pinned her to the dusty ground was the alhpa male's young nephew, or the cousin of the hateful little brat that was walking up to Chukizo. She stared up at him with no emotion in her eyes, but couldn't help but flinch when he spat on her too-bony snout.

“Look at you, you ugly piece of shit,” he sneered.

The cub smacked her face, while the one pinning her down laughed in a goofy manner. The lioness had no reaction, and the other cub just smiled sadistically. Chukizo yipped in pain, but knew that no help was coming.

The alpha's son just laughed again.

“Yeah, that's right... go ahead and whine all you want. Nobody cares.”

He laughed again, and called the sadistic cub over to him with a flick of his paw. The pale, maneless male sauntered up to Chukizo's face.

“Hello there,” he rasped, unsheathing his claws.

The tigon whimpered as the sharp, hooked naturally-occurring blades were brought closer and closer to her hapless form. The cub chuckled for a moment, a horrifying, dark sound, then slowly cut her face, enjoying each second of it.

Chukizo screamed, but the rest of the males only laughed harder. The young lioness tried to look away, but managed to catch the eye of the tigon.

“Please... help me...” she begged.

But the lioness just closer her eyes and turned away.

The alpha's son sniggered for another minute. Then he prodded his accomplices.

“Enough fooling around. Let's really see some blood!”

All three laughed, and the larger cub on top of Chukizo pulled head skywards, nearly snapping her neck then and there, but exposing her jugular and windpipe.

The sadist cub smiled more than ever, then stroked the tigon's bare throat with the tips of his claws.

He chuckled again.

“I wonder... how does it feel, to be so utterly helpless? So uncared for, so humiliated and degraded? You have nothing, abomination,” he tensed his paw, ready to strike, “not even your pride and dignity.”

Chukizo broke down and cried. It was hard, in a position like that, head tilted upwards, a fat cub pinning her to the ground. But she did anyway.

The pudgy cub on top of her laughed, covering her head with snot. The other two caught sight of this, and literally rolled on the ground, giggling to death. The tigon cried for another minute, and then looked at the other two cubs that she could see. They were still taken over by their humor at her situation.

Chukizo had had enough. She promptly stopped crying, sniffed, twice, then allowed rage to take over.

Ten minutes later, when the tigon became aware of herself again, she nearly vomited at the scene around her. The fat cub that had pinned her had bleeding globules of gore where his eyes should have been. The sadist was cut... open, really, innards slowly oozing into the desert sand. The lioness was nowhere to be seen. But the alpha's son... he was worst of them all. His back legs were broken beyond recognition, and most of the skin had been pulled off of his face. Numerous cuts and bite wounds peppered his tan body.

“Oh, no...” Chukizo had thought. Whether she was horrified at what she'd done or the consequences, she still didn't know.

The tigon grimaced as she remembered how she'd literally been chased out of the Southern Desert by her own mother, and many other lionesses. They had banished her for life, under pain of death... in fact, they had actively pursued Chukizo for days, making sure that it was well-impressed on her how unwelcome she was... how unwelcome she always had been.

She'd never had a happy moment in the pride. No friends, no one to share in his accomplishments, praise her, or offer a friendly paw when she needed lifting up. Life for her had been a living death.

She suddenly groaned and her eyes grew wide. The cubs were coming soon.

Heaving herself into a small cove, at least out of the elements, she reflected once again on how hard she had it.

“Do people realize how hard it is to be hated and mistrusted by everyone around you? To never be able to find peace anywhere? And then, when you think you've finally found something special... you realize that you've been stabbed in the back by fate again.”

It was about three months ago, nearly two years after Chukizo had been banished from the Southern Desert. Since then, she had made no attempt to return. Life in the jungle was hard for one used to a desert environment, but at least she didn't have to worry about other predators. The tigon was the baddest kid on the block... the only kid on the block. Since her exile, she had seen neither hide nor hair of another lion.

“But I'm no lion,” she often had to remind herself, “If I were a true lion... things would be different. Mother would care about me, and I might even have a father.”

“But that's not how it is. I'm a... freak The offspring of a male tiger and a female lion. A one-of-a-kind abomination.”

She had been in her small den, the hollow of a fallen tree, alone and crying. It was cloudy outside, and Chukizo had been caught in the intense storm only minutes earlier. It had taken her hours to trudge through the heavy rain back to her shelter. The rest of the animals in the forest had laughed at the wet cat, calling her names and making obscene hand gestures. One monkey even went so far as to hit her on the noggin with a pineapple.

Big mistake.

The tigon had roared, and scrambled up the tree. Before the small juvenile could react, she tore off his small, furry head with her mouth. The monkey's parents looked on in horror, but knew that their son was beyond saving now. They turned away, arm in arm, each crying on the other's shoulder.

Chukizo started to feed on the monkey, though she was purposefully as quiet as she could be. After all... the monkey's parents were not to blame for his intrusion, and they did not deserve to have to face the gruesome disembowelment of their son.

Finished, the tigon looked at the other two monkeys with half a mind to eat them too. She was rather hungry, and they were not five feet from her, the backs of their necks visible.

But Chukizo couldn't bring herself to do it as she saw the mother wail in agony, having lost her only child. The father was hardly better, but managed to calm his wife down by reminding her that life is cruel.

The tigon jumped down from the tree, and as she made her way back home, the monkey's father could swear he heard her say, “I'm sorry.”

“Life is cruel,” thought the tigon, alone in her den.

She licked his muzzle clean of the blood spilled on it, and curled into a tight ball. The tigon needed the kind of warmth only created by company. But, over time, she'd come to get used to the feeling. She never liked it... but she could live with it.

Barely.

Chukizo had been sleeping for a few hours, but was suddenly awoken by the soft sound of padded paws approaching. Even though she'd had no contact with another big cat for so long, it was absolutely unmistakable.

She wasn't alone.

But the tigon had yet to overcome her intense, but justifiable fear of fellow big cats. After all, her last encounter with them had resulted in her banishment from the only home she had ever known, despite the fact that she hated ever waking minute there.

Chukizo growled loudly as the darkened silhouette of a skinny lion appeared at the entrance of her den. The lion stopped, for a minute, then plodded forward a little bit more.

“So... they really do want me dead; enough to send a rogue after me.”

“Well, I won't make it easy for him.”

The young female summoned her courage and roared at the intruder. But rather than roar back or attack, he just took another step forward.

Chukizo was about to attack when he fell over. Instinctive, but unwise concern for a fellow big cat made the female rush over to him. She stood over him, still cautious, but quickly realized that he had collapsed out of exhaustion.

The tigon had no idea what to do. Sure, she'd occasionally seen the other lionesses in her pride care for each another, or other animals do the same. But seeing didn't compared to doing. Chukizo acted on instinct alone.

She put a paw in front of the lion's muzzle to see that he was breathing normally. Good. Then, she gently touched her claw to his jugular. Concentrating, she could feel a healthy pulse.

So the lion was stable. What now?

Curious, she nudged him with her paw. The lion gave no reaction, so Chuziko shrugged and sat down next to him, giving him a careful looking over. After all, it had been so long since she'd see another big cat.

He was a skinny lion, with dark brown fur. His scruffy mane was limp and black, though strangely, most of his body was not wet at all. He must have missed the rain, but the front of his muzzle was damp... with tears, possibly?

The tigon shrugged, and went back into the corner of the den. She lay down, but didn't sleep again. She kept an eye on the lion, just in case...

Chukizo was lightly sleeping, her one open had shut long ago. The lion hadn't made so much as a peep for the hour that she'd monitored him. He had just fallen down, and was quietly sleeping. At least, that's what it looked like.

He was having a truly horrible series of nightmares: about how throughout his entire life, he'd been second-best, always shunned to the side when compared to his brother, and now with the crowning of his new nephew as future king, he had absolutely no chance at the throne. Never would ha have a fair chance at life. Never.

The dark lion stirred, and slowly got up. He was in a rocky cave of some sort... how did he get there? Ah, yes... after he'd found out that the crowning of his nephew was imminent, he'd run as far as he could, as fast as he could. He didn't even inform his only three friends in the world, hyenas, where he was going or when he'd come back. In fact, the lion didn't even know if he was coming back.

Groaning, he got to his feet, and looked around. Outside was a lush jungle, still watery from a recent rainfall. But inside the cave... was a lioness?

The dark lion jumped a little at the sight of her. She was no true lioness, that much he could tell at a glance. But she had the stature of one, and perhaps the jaw structure... but her fur was a subdued shade of orange, and scraggly gray stripes. Her face was a slightly more vibrant shade of orange, and after thinking for a moment, the lion realized that she had the muzzle of a creature he'd heard tell of from visitors to the Pride Lands and the Shadow Lands. She had the blood of a 'tiger' in her, he concluded, though he'd never seen one of the fabled big cats himself.

Chukizo suddenly woke up, to the sight of lion up and about. Understandably, she was surprised. She jumped to her feet, and the sudden action made the lion take a sharp step back.

The tigon spoke, her voice harsh out of fear.

“Speak your name or risk your life, stranger. You are not a denizen of the Jungle.”

The dark lion composed himself, and spoke in a soft tenor tone.

“Many apologies for my intrusion, dear lady,” he said, and bowed his head slightly, though his yellowish eyes were still locked on her dark ones.

“I am Scar, of the Pride Lands, brother of King Mufasa, and uncle of,” he spat bitterly on the ground, “Simba, future king.”

The tigon lowered her guard slightly, retracting her claws. She had only heard of the Pride Lands in passing from lionesses from the Desert. She'd come in contact with two other tribes, one to the East of the Desert and one to the West, shortly after her exile, and they'd barred her entry on sight. After those stressful encounters, she'd never even tried to gain access to the Pride Lands, out of fear of a similar occurrence.

“And what, Scar of the Pride Lands, is your business here?” she growled.

The dark lion paused, searching for the right words.

“I... was in mental distress. You see, long have I held out the hope that my brother would not sire any cubs, or he'd crown me king at least from the time of his death until mine, to give me at least a few months of happiness...”

Scar paused. Never before had he spoken so much about himself, not to his so-called family, not to his friends, and certainly not to a stranger. But he felt the need to go on, and let all of his pain find an escape. He'd go insane if he didn't.

“But, my brother, the great King Mufasa, did not see fit to give me any pleasure in my life... I, Scar, who has saved him time and again from all the dangers of the world. I, the only being who has loved him unconditionally, despite the favoritism our father displayed to him. I, who he so cruelly scarred all those years ago, for showing an interest in the same lioness cub that he did...”

The dark lion tapped the red wound that ran over his eye. They say that a blow lain on another with hate never does heal... and looking at the terrible injury that had been inflicted on the lion by his own brother, one could see the wisdom in those words. Even the tigon flinched at the sight of the scar.

But after a minute in which the two big cats just stared at each other, Chukizo spoke up.

“I am unfamiliar with the strife of family life. You see, I have no family. My father was a tiger, and my mother was a lioness of the Desert. My father took the body of my mother, and I was born into a world that neither wanted nor accepted me. I am a stranger to having faith in the kindness of other beings... because no being in my life has shown me any measure of kindness.”

The dark lion shivered for a moment. Here was a being that had been hated from the day of her birth, and apparently forced out of her own family. He had not heard her name yet, so that additional layer of shame had yet to disturb him.

“...What is your name?” he asked.

Now it was the tigon's turn to look jarred. She brought her eyes away from him, and looked to the ground.

“...Chukizo. The freak.”

Scar's eyes widened at the sad manner that the tigon spoke. From looking at her lean, but muscled frame, he could tell that she was tough: tougher than any lioness in his clan, maybe even capable of defeating Mufasa in single combat.

But he walked over to her, and did something he'd never done before.

Scar, the freak of his family, the one always shoved to the side when his brother was around, the one who had only three beings in the world that he considered friends, nuzzled the tigon.

Needless to say, she was more than a little surprised. After all, she'd never been nuzzled before by anyone. But she didn't attack.

“What are you doing?” she asked, though she was starting to get into the moment.

“I don't know. It just seemed like the natural thing to do,” Scar simply stated.

After another moment, she nuzzled her back. The tigon and the dark lion were both unfamiliar to the feeling that had sprung out of nowhere, but to a bystander, it would seem natural. The two beings were one and the same, and both were in desperate need of someone to talk to.

After another minute of affectionate nuzzling, their tender motions turned into something else.

Chukizo sighed. Scar and she had only spent half a day together, but in that time, they had mated. Afterwards, the two had spoken about their plans to overthrow Mufasa. It had been the tigon's suggestion to kill off the King and his son, and Scar didn't like it at first. But after a moment of persuasion, he understood that his actions were justifiable. Justifiable, but still cruel. He would not enjoy them, or so he thought.

“After all,” thought Scar, as he wlked back to the Pride Lands with only the stars to guide him, “they have more than earned their fate.”

Scar had left her that night, promising to return in a few weeks after his overthrow of Mufasa. He did, but explained that in the political strife of the introduction of hyenas to the Pride Lands, he could not bring his queen to the rest of the clan. He hated the idea of having to leave her alone for so long, but she agreed with him. After all, the tigon would only be acceptable to the clan in their weakest hour, when they would be physically unable to reject her.

The dark lion had left again, promising to make life for the lionesses as hard as he could. Tactical leadership decisions were purposefully forgone by him, he did as much as he could to bring drought and famine to the Pride Lands. Eventually, the herds started to leave, and the lionesses suffered.

But somehow, over the next few years, the lionesses had hung on. Sure, they'd gotten skinnier and skinnier, but they were never truly physically incapable. Scar had visited Chukizo again and again, each time with the same message: wait.

She had faithfully done so. The last time she had seen Scar, they had mated again, and a few weeks after he left, she found out she was pregnant. The joy that she felt at this great knowledge was only increased by the thought that her children would grow up as sons and daughters of a king. Scar had said that the lionesses were getting weaker and weaker, and that only the return of Mufasa could save them now. But the next time her mate was supposed to come to her... he never came.

She was saddened at first, then angry. Could her mate have forgotten about her? But throughout her pregnancy, there was a sudden migration: every herd of prey that had left the Pride Lands over the past few years returned all at once.

Somehow... the plan had failed. And the only way that Scar would allow his plan to fail is if he was dead.

The tigon had mourned for weeks, and the troubles of being late in the stages of pregnancy only abetted that feeling of hopelessness. Again, she was totally alone: and now, she had less and less prey. With no one to care or hunt for her, she had practically died every day that she had taken an animal.

Chukizo stumbled into her den. Then her eyes widened as she groaned.

The cubs were coming.

The pain became more and more intense. It stretched the tigon's decrepit body to its limit... and even she knew that she would not survive much longer.

She laughed horribly.

“Do people really know how hard it is to be a freak? An abomination? Hated everywhere you go, with only a single being in your life acknowledging that you exist? Having to live alone for all your life, with scarcely the hope of change.”

“And now, fate has cursed me with cubs, on my deathbed. It is impossible for me to live through this, and my cubs will cry over my body for only hours before they are eaten by small predators. They will die before even being able to live, killed before even having a chance at life.”

The tigon paused, a tear rolling off of her striped muzzle.

“I can't allow that to happen. I won't allow that to happen.”

Gathering her strength and resolve, Chukizo set her mind on two goals: allow her cubs to have a glimpse of the world, and then kill them as quickly as possible, as humanely as possible.

Chukizo's eyes widened, and she started to push. Strangely, the rain and clouds suddenly cleared up, allowing the sun to shine once again.

Despite her pain, the tigon managed to give a sad grin.

“So... fate will be cruel enough to show my cubs the sun; a terrible irony that they'll die before they ever understand its beauty.”

The tigon suddenly screamed, and felt a great release. The cubs had hit the ground.

After a second in practical unconsciousness, Chukizo managed to turn. There were two cubs, one a female and one a male. The female looked like her father, minus the mane and yellow eyes, but with jagged black stripes.

“My daughter... you are beautiful. Your father will be proud. Give him my love, and inform him that I will be with him momentarily.”

The tigon smiled, and closed her eyes. She heard a soft mew, then only a gurgle as she slit the throat of the small female.

“I'm so sorry, daughter. But your life in the next world will be better than any I could have given you here... a freak of a mother, with a second-generation freak of a child... no, I did what's best for you. Please don't hate me for it.”

Chukizo heard the sound of the small body fall the ground, and opened her eyes to look at the male. Though blood was already pooling around his small paws, he did not react. He just sat there, looking at his mother curiously.

At first appearance, he looked like a lion. He was built with a slender body, and a small tuft of a black mane. He was perfectly in between the dark shade of Scar, and the deep tan of his mother. At first glance, he had no stripes. But, a sudden change in the lighting of the cave due to the sun cast a different pattern of shadows and light onto his unimposing form. His stripes were also black, but so small and so hidden by the rest of his fur that they could only be seen in very unique lighting.

“My son... you truly do have a body fit for a king.”

Chukizo coughed, and looked down to see blood drip out of her muzzle.

“I wish that I could give you a better life... but if the world will not allow me to do so, I will give you a heavenly afterlife with your father, sister, and I.”

The tigon inched her way to the male, and held out her claw, meaning to cut his throat. But incredibly, he jumped out of the way.

How could a newborn, whose eyes should still be shut, possibly understand the dangers of being clawed.

Chukizo's face wore an expression of horrible pain and confusion, but she tried to cut him again. But again, he stepped off to the side.

“Son... I wish only to ease your passing. Don't resist me, please,” she begged.

She struggled to her feet, and made to claw him yet again. He jumped higher than ever, totally evading the blow.

“So be it, child. If you do not decide to follow the wishes of your mother, I'll have to make you!”

With that, Chukizo lashed out with a blow so quick and so powerful that no living lion or prey beast could hope to evade it. She aimed to crush the cub's fragile head.

But incredibly, he saw the danger again and jumped back. But he wasn't quite fast enough.

The tigon's claws had instinctively extended, and the male's eye was cut, tearing off a bit of skin, fur, and eyelid. His face was forced down from the blow, but after a second, he looked up at his mother again.

She gasped.

“You really are Scar's son,” she breathed.

Indeed, the cut had given him a triangular wound that was perfectly identical to Scar's. Though blood still dripped from it, she could see that it was starting to mend itself already.

The tigon roared, and nearly fell. The physical stress of standing and striking blows had left her without any strength left.

“So... I am not to kill my son and send him to a better place? Must fate place him into a world in which he will be more hated and alone than Scar and I were?”

She coughed up even more blood. The male was not phased still, he just sat back down to watch.

Chukizo was only heartbeats from dying now. She rolled over to her side.

“You are a cub, my son. You need milk. And if I am not to kill you, then it is my responsibility as a mother to see to it that I can do what I can for you.”

The male slowly walked over, and set himself down at the tigon's side.

As he started to suckle from her, Chukizo felt a feeling of elation. As stretched out her paws, and got herself into as comfortable position as possible as she laid down to die.

“So this is what being a mother is like? ...I wish I could have more time with my son...”

The tigon died painlessly, as her son continued to suckle.