Lonesome Dove Fan Fiction ❯ The Lion King: The Freak ❯ Chapter 5: I Can't Trust You ( Chapter 5 )

The Lion King: The Freak
Chapter 5: I Can't Trust You

(A warning to my readers... if you are upset by hate, anger, or violence, this fanfic is not for you. There will be very detailed descriptions of death. When I reread the bits about the way Chukizo and Taka were treated, I actually winced myself, despite writing it. Characters might even go mildly insane from the magnitude of rage they feel towards our good friend, Freak. Also, in this chapter, there will be a forced sexual relation. I won't get too graphic about it as I'm not a zoophile, but bear in mind, it will still be plenty disturbing.

To anyone who's still reading this, despite my warnings to the dangers of doing so... enjoy! Flashback heavy, as promised.)

A young Sarabi, hardly at the age of sexual maturity, was playing on the edge of Pride Rock. She was laying on her back, playfully batting at a butterfly with her paws. Though she could have smashed it in a second if she wished to, the lioness was too kind and gentle to want to do that.

Suddenly, there was a roar, and she instinctively rolled to her feet, forgetting about the snow-white butterfly, and looking for the source of the commotion. Realizing that a dark figure was leaping over her, she dived to the side and turned.

Sarabi relaxed. It was only Mufasa. Arrogant and obnoxious though he may be, he was no threat. Not to her, anyway. The helpless butterfly was struggling in between his teeth, its wings beating their last, before it finally lay still, and the tan male let it fall to the ground. He looked at the insect, and then pushed it towards Sarabi with a paw.

“It's for you,” he said, raising his head to look into the lioness's eyes.

Sarabi rolled her eyes and walked away. His frequent advances on her were tiring, and as much as she protested, he would always interrupt her play, barging in and giving her a 'gift' of some kind, or offering to do some hare-brained stunt.

The lioness sighed, and looked back into the den. There was Mufasa's brother, a lion that she could actually tolerate. Taka... it made Sarabi's heart twinge every time she heard or thought that name. He wasn't trash... just... misunderstood.

The dark lion slowly rose, blinking in the early morning light that penetrated even into the den. He saw that Sarabi was looking at him, and though he'd never admit it, least of all to his brother or the lioness herself... he had an interest in her. Taka smiled at Sarabi, blushing as he did so.

The lioness heard a footstep next to her, and looked to her left. Mufasa was there, livid with anger. He'd seen the way his brother reacted just from looking at Sarabi, though he remained out of Taka's field of vision. How many times had the tan juvenile told his brother that he would make Sarabi his Queen? That he was betrothed to her?

Taka heard a terrifying growl from outside of the cave, and perked up. None of the adult lions awoke, but he couldn't count on any of them to protect him anyway. The dark lion's heart sank when he saw Mufasa walking towards him, inexpressible rage written all over his face.

“Brother... it was an accident! I didn't mean to—”

But it was too late. The tan lion leaped towards his brother, and Taka knew better than try to evade his punishment. It would be that much worse for him if he did. But he couldn't help instinctively backing up when he saw his brother's razor-sharp claws come out, arcing straight for his face.

“So he intends to kill me,” Taka thought, as he braced himself for the blow.

He felt a terrible, splitting, burning pain on his eye, and fell to the dusty ground. From far away, he heard Sarabi call, “Taka, Taka!” but he was too injured to respond.

The dark lion fell into unconsciousness, as blood leaked freely from his eye, and his brother put a large paw on his back. A moment later, an Earth-shattering roar was heard, as Mufasa permanently claimed his dominance over Scar... his own brother.

Later that night, Taka was being patched up by his mother. Though the lioness had by now gotten over most of the motherly attachment she felt towards her second-born, Uru still felt the need to make sure that he wouldn't die a slow death of infection. But, no one had even considered scolding Mufasa...

Tears falling from his good eye, the lion softly spoke up.

“Mother? ...Why can Muffy do this to me?” he whimpered.

The Queen sighed. There was no point in concealing the truth from him any longer. He was, after all, no longer a cub.

“Because... he is greater than you are.”

Taka looked up, not understanding.

“You see... he will be the future King, whereas you would be lucky to be allowed to remain here; living on the fringes, always the odd one out, always the outlier.”

More tears spilled from the dark lion's eye.

“But... why, Mother?”

Uru sighed again, then got up, and started to walk away.

“Because, my son... you are a freak,” she said, then disappeared from Taka's view, leaving him alone.

He started to cry harder, but then managed to stop himself.

“No... crying won't get me anywhere,” he thought, rubbing his face clean with his dark paws, being gentle around his injury.

“I am... what I am. I will never be as great as Mufasa...”

“All that's left for me... is to serve him loyally, and love him unconditionally. He is my brother.”

Resigning himself to his fate, forever beneath the soles of Mufasa's paws, Taka could hold back the tears no longer.

A long way away, Sarabi sat, hidden in the grass, watching the scene unfold in front of her eyes. Needless to say, she too was shedding more than one tear in horror of what was happening. But she stopped abruptly, and slowly turned. A heavy footstep was heard behind her...

Mufasa walked next to Sarabi, an expression of apathy at best, distaste at worst on his face. He sat down, a little too close to the lioness for comfort. She managed to hide her revulsion at the proximity of such a hateful being, but her skin felt icy to the future King's touch.

The tan lion utterly ignored his brother, as well as Sarabi's apparent aversion to his presence. Instead, he pressed closer to her yet, and spoke into the cream-colored lioness's ear.

“Why do you only have eyes for him?” he asked.

Sarabi paused for a long moment, before answering.

“Because he, unlike you, is neither violent nor arrogant. He does not hurt friends without reason, and he is only compassionate.”

Mufasa growled, and for a moment, the lioness thought he was going to attack her. But the tense moment quickly passed, as the tan lion looked at his paws. Sarabi heard him sigh, and there was a long, awkward silence before he spoke.

“I... will... try... to change. For you, Sarabi. And only for you. But never, ever imagine that I was at fault today. Taka... he got what he deserved.”

The lioness blushed. He could be kind of cute, when he dropped the tough-guy facade and opened up a little. But what about Taka... Sarabi shook her head out of it. While the dark lion would always hold a special place in her heart, he would never be a good provider... or father. The only one that could fill those roles adequately was Mufasa.

The lioness sighed in resignation. She did not love him. But he was the only possible choice. She might as well take him when she could, and hope for the best. After all... life is cruel.

“Maybe someday... I can learn to love him,” Sarabi thought, as she started to nuzzle the future King.

The nine month old Freak was injured. Badly.

He'd fought a zebra, and very nearly lost However, in the end, it was the prey's life that had ended. It hadn't gone down easily: though the young li-tigon had easily caught it, he had neglected the instincts of his tiger grandfather. Something had told him to ambush his prey as in bursts, he was infinitely strong. He'd ignored that. He had very high stamina, and could run any animal in the Jungle down eventually.

Of course, he was able to catch the zebra, despite starting his attack from the far end of a plain. He'd see the dangerous tactic as a challenge, and knew that while he was a very dangerous animal... he was not as strong as he needed to be.

Bad decision.

It had taken him an exhausting five minutes of fast running to chase down the animal. After all, when lions attack their prey from long distances, they do so with back-up—and plenty of it. But Freak... he had no one.

“Large animals, regardless of their status as prey to me, are threats. As is everyone else.”

Indeed, he'd taken more than one hit from the herbivore's sharp hooves. No bones had broken, fortunately, but he had serious bruising on his side. It was was only through finally following his tiger instinct and suddenly ambushing the downed zebra from an unexpected angle that he'd killed it.

“Everyone is a threat,” he thought, as he finished his meal, living little more than skin, bones, and innards behind.

He had to try hard to not collapse due to his injuries on the way back to the cave. He would have to rest for quite some time, so that he'd heal, rendering the wounds less permanent than they would normally be.

“I wonder” thought Freak, as he stumbled into his cave, his path barely visible in his rapidly blurring vision, “if I had a mother, or father... would my life be different? Though I am a freak... would they still love me? Care for me?”

“Would I have a different name, instead of what beings currently know me as?”

“Would I have to go through, and give out so much pain?”

Despite his bad physical, condition, the li-tigon thought long and hard. The answer, when it came, wasn't pretty.

“There's no point in thinking about this. My mother, my father, my sister... they're all dead. There's not a being on this Earth that will ever care about me. Never.”

“I am, and always will be, alone.”

“Everyone is a threat.”

There was no one to go home to, no comforting arms to hold him tight and tell him that everything was going to be okay. There was only the thought that one day, he might find love from someone that had kept him going. But the more he thought about it, the more impossible it seemed.

“After all, I am a freak. I can not and should not expect or even hope to find solace in anything.”

The li-tigon, though still barely out of cubhood, had had a nearly impossibly difficult life. From the time he was only minutes old, he'd had to care for himself: find his own food, defend himself from every other animal in the Jungle. But now that the thought of change was gone, his life was that much harder.

But he had no metaphorical heart to break. Being loved for only a few short minutes, minutes in which he was hardly self-aware, did not do much to give a being the capacity to understand emotions or the desire intrinsic to all: the desire to be wanted, to be cared for, if by even one other being.

“From now and ever on, I will be Freak,” he said out loud, unknowingly speaking the exact same words in the exact same place that his father stood, just over two years ago.

The tiger roared in anger, batting his mighty paw against the unyielding steel bars that contained him.

But it was useless. The cage was too strong to be broken, and though he'd managed to surprise the last man that had come to feed him, biting off a finger, he was also unable to strike back at his captors in any significant way.

He threw himself into a corner in an act of hopelessness, holding his fluffy, orange head in his paws. His situation truly had no escape... and now that the humans were taking no chances around him, he'd gone without food for days now. His stomach growled, but the tiger ignored it. Hunger wasn't going to do him any good... it would just distract him.

He got back up, and paced back and forth in his cell. The steel bars held fast, no matter how hard he glared at them, willing them to melt away and let him go free. There had to be some way out... something. A weakness in the cage, a way to capture one of the humans and barter with the others for his escape... the tiger was desperate. Anything was acceptable at this point.

A loud thunk was heard, and it rocked the ship down to its very structure. The tiger jumped once in surprise, looking around in confusion, and barely concealed fear. All was silent for a moment, then a terrible, high-pitched tearing sound was heard, as if the very vessel was crying out in pain. Then, the water flooded in.

The rest of the dark area that he was in light up with the wild cries of all manner of wild animals; some predators, some prey, but all fearing for their lives. The tiger didn't care much for them... he had his own hide to worry about first, and the others hadn't so much as lifted a paw in their defense.

“Pointless,” he thought.

“Humans... they are the most destructive, hateful, and violent creatures on this world. I killed them for food... but it would taste a lie to say that I did not want to do it. After all... what else could my heart feel towards such beings, when I watched my mother and two brothers get cut down in front of me by their cruel bullets?”

Incredibly, however, yelling was heard from the deck. Two humans rushed down the stairs, into the containment zone, keys in their hands. The tiger instantly perked up, praying that they'd have mercy—

Every animal had been released by the humans. Foxes, felines, monkeys, and even a rare big cat... an Asiatic lioness. Though the men regarded her with fear as they cowered behind the door of the cage, even as water poured into the ship, she only looked them each in the eye, and bowed her head low, before bounding away.

Finally, the humans came to his cage. One of them, a young white man, probably straight from London on a hunting trip, put the key into the keyhole, struggling with it to open. Sweating, he knew that there were only minutes left until the ship capsized—

But his companion, a big, tough-looking Punjabi from the near tiger's home put a calloused hand on the boy's shoulder. The Brit looked up, but the Indian was glaring at the tiger, ignoring the other man.

The tiger looked at the man, and though he could not speak any tongue that humans understood, his eyes said it all.

“Please...” he begged.

“If you let me out... I swear, I'll never lay a paw on another human again.”

The dark man grinded his teeth in hatred, and spoke.

“Sher Kahn... so-called King of the Jungle,” he spat into the now damp cat's cage, “on your accursed paws lie the blood of untold dozens of my people. My own brother was scarred by you, and it was by our efforts that you were allowed to live. ...I may as well tell you, so that you can fully understand how terrible of a being you are.”

“You were to be taken to a zoo... living on the charity of humans, our plaything... something that the children of the fortunate could come to, to marvel at you like the fiendish beast that you are,” the man snarled, and even the tiger backed away.

The water kept coming, as inexorably as the increasing frequency and strength behind the white boy's desperate taps on his companion's shoulder.

“May you drown in here, O King of the Jungle, O Man-Eater. You will be missed by no one, and if, God-willing, I survive this disaster... I shall give thanks every day to your slow, humiliating, and much-deserved destruction.”

Lightning cracked across the sky, and Sher Kahn lunged at the cage. The bars shook more than ever, but the man just laughed, a maniac, evil sound, as his friend and another human finally pulled him up the stairs. The water kept flowing, and even over the rain and sounds of destruction, the man could be heard laughing, from the distance, as he got into his lifeboat.

Sher Kahn was now beyond trying. He collapsed in his cage, out of exhaustion, hunger, and almost gave up then and there. But the sound of a big cat coming down the stairs rekindled a cautious spark of hope in his heart, and he looked at the young lioness, and begged.

“Dear lady... please, aid me,” he cried, stretching out his paws to grovel at her feet.

But the cold Asiatic cat merely swatted them away, as she looked around, sniffing for something. Then, she disappeared into her cage, coming back a moment later, carrying a large side of meat. After all, she'd need something to fuel the long trip to shore.

The tiger's drool spilled out of his mouth at the sight and smell of the food so near him. Even if she wasn't going to help him... she might ease his last moments in this world by allowing him to leave it with at least some food in his stomach. There was plenty of meat, surely she could spare some...

The lioness's eyes seemed to laugh at the tiger, as she looked at him from the other side of the cage. And, much to Sher Kahn's dismay, she left, tail fluttering out of his sight, not even a sliver of meat thrown in his direction.

He roared again, hoping that someone, would come, anyone. Anything.

And it did.

The boat rocked again, struck even harder. Sher Kahn was thrust off his feet, straight into one of the steel bars. He felt a powerful impact, and fell into blackness.

He couldn't have been unconscious for more than a few seconds, as he came to unable to breathe. Water had filled the boat, and it was slowly sinking, dragging along with it the tiger... but there was a rapidly closing window of opportunity. Somehow, the cage had collapsed, nearly crushing the tiger. However, the hateful steel bars had bent under the pressure, and now they parted just wide enough for him to slip out—

Tigers are very interesting big cats. Unlike nearly all other felines, they actually enjoy spending time in the water, and are quite capable swimmers. Even Sher Kahn had spent many a humid afternoon cooling off in one of the various pools in his homeland.

But the water that surrounded him now, pressing on his chest, as if trying to choke the very life out of him was nothing like the relaxing fluid that he knew. The tiger swam as quickly as he could, be he was already fifty feet down, and the ship was still sinking. Sher Kahn dodged falling cargo, squeezed through opening after too-small opening before he finally broke free of the vessel.

But the surface was still fifty feet upwards, and the tiger had almost no air left. Feeling as if his lungs were about to explode from the effort, the tiger clamped his mind on only one thought.

“Get to the surface. Survive.”

He managed to concentrate the remaining strength of his starving, oxygen-deprived body into moving his limbs, slowly but surely carrying him to the stormy surface of the ocean—

The tiger broke through the surface. Gasping, he looked around, his eyes met with a terrible scene.

The gigantic ship was sinking, and off in the far distance, the tiger could see the lifeboat of humans drift away. There were no other animals in sight... either they'd drowned, or left his rather limited field of view. Another fork of lightning cracked through the air, and Sher Kahn looked up just in time to see a huge wave crash on his head...

The tiger was thrust back underwater, with absolutely no air in his lungs. Worse, the wave had pulverized his already weak body, rendering his rippling muscles useless, and extinguishing what little hope remained in the cat's heart. He struck something hard, and once again, blacked out.

A long time later, the tiger realized that he was still alive, and could breathe freely. The storm still raged on, albeit in the distance, and he'd miraculously managed to end up caught among some broken timbers of wood. Sher Kahn tried to get up and look around, but it was useless. Fatigue, exhaustion, and the hunger that was gnawing at his innards more than ever finally got the best of him, and he fell asleep, half-dead, on his makeshift raft.

The tiger's eyes flickered open, then quickly shut again. It was too bright. He lapsed back into unconsciousness...

“Too bright?”

Sher Kahn forced himself to open his eyes, fully, and was able to bear the hot sun and burning sands of the beach that he'd ended up on, after his feline pupils rapidly contracted. Far in the south, a forest lay... it reminded him vaguely of his home. But it was in the distance... far out of his reach. And everywhere else... was a terrible, expansive desert.

“It's so barren...”

“Must fate always take me from a bad situation to a worse one?”

“I thought things were bad when I watched my family get killed in front of me, and had to grow up alone, learning to hunt and live, all the way, fueled only by my hatred of man,” the tiger shuddered at the thought of the horrible, bipedal beast that was a thousand times more evil than he.

“I thought things were bad when I tried to kill that accursed man-cub, Mowgli, and he nearly burned me to my death.”

“I thought things were bad when I survived, and attempted once again to kill him, only to be trapped in a situation that made my death all but certain.”

“I thought things were bad when I was captured, beaten, and starved by those other men.”

“I thought things were bad when the ship started to go down.”

“I thought things were bad when all of the other animals, except for myself, were released so that they could at least have a chance at survival.”

“I thought things were bad when the man cursed me, and damned me to die in that terrible cage.”

“I thought things were bad when another being, a sister cat, had the ability to help me, or at least ease my suffering, and she didn't...” the tiger snarled, feeling his hatred of men extend to hatred towards all other forms of life.

He smelled in the air, and roared in rage. The Asiatic lioness's scent... was strong in the air. She'd survived, and come to that very spot. Looking around, Sher Kahn saw tracks leading from the forest to his spot and continuing off into the other direction. But the tiger was too out of it to try to follow, or even wonder what had happened.

His stomach growled no more, and Sher Kahn understood. There was nothing he could do no to prevent starvation. No prey was in sight, and he had no strength to catch it, especially not on a strange, foreign shore. Death was as inevitable as the sunset... a sunset that he'd never see.

“At least I may die with dignity,” he thought, shaking the water off of his lanky form, curling up to sleep his last...

A short while later, the tiger woke again. He was bitter, now... would fate not even allow him to die peacefully? Instead, it sent an annoying young lioness to fiddle with his near-corpse of a body. His ears flittered, and he slowly opened his eyes.

“What do you think it is?” came a hushed, low-pitched, but very feminine voice.

“I don't know... hey, I think it's waking up,” said another one.

“Indeed, I am,” growled Sher Kahn, as he suddenly lashed out, cleanly cutting through the first lioness's throat with a claw.

He watched as thick blood flew from the injury, spilling out onto the hot desert sand, dyeing it a horrible reddish hue. The female slumped back, eyes glazed over, as her friend looked on in horror.

“Murderer!” she screamed, striking his face with her claws.

Sher Kahn's head was turned from that blow, and three jagged, bleeding lines were visible on his face, as if highlighting his pure black stripes. But he looked back at the lioness after a moment, with hatred in his eyes.

He hit her back, thrice as hard, despite his near-death state. All the very young lioness, not even quite out of cubhood could see was his large, muscled paw race towards her... it occurred to her how much smaller than him she was.

The blow knocked the tan cat into the air, and she bounced across the hot desert sand, nearly unconscious. But she was still alive, and still aware. She just couldn't move, not yet. Which meant that she could watch, but not resist, as the tiger positioned himself behind her.

“Yours will be a fate worse than death,” rasped Sher Kahn, knowing that his own would be in minutes... he only just had enough time left.

“No...” gasped the lioness.

The tiger laughed, and mounted his forced mate.

“May you be... as cursed as I have been, child,” said the striped cat, as he started the unspeakable act.

A terrible scream echoed across the desert, bouncing off of sand dunes and the occasional palm, but piercing the hearts of all beings that were unfortunate enough to hear it.

Several minutes later, the tiger fell away, dead. His face bore an expression neither of peace nor hate... just that of a being that had lived a hard life, and lived it full out. His eyes were open... but the lioness did not close them. In fact, she couldn't bear to even look at or be around him any more.

The female ran as fast as she could, tears flowing from her eyes. Her diminutive paws raced through the desert, but they did nothing to take her away from her pain. It was always there, as constant as the sun beating down on her shoulders.

She felt something in her body change, and she suddenly lost balance. Screaming, she was hurled through the air by her own momentum, sliding across the burning hot sand. She lay still, more tears leaking out of her eyes.

“My Gods... I am too young to be pregnant.”

But fate was fate, and it was as irreversible as the flow of time. The lioness's fate was sealed, as certain as the death of her rapist, and as certain as the sunset that would come later in the day; as cruel as the eventual fate that meets us all.

The young monkey shed a tear.

He'd tried so hard... but the lizard was dead. And his knowledge of medicines were useless in the face of that final boundary. There was no more he could do: nothing would bring the poor animal back to life.

Mganga had found the lizard as it was fighting off a crow. He'd stepped in, bashing the bird in the side with a branch. Hard enough to sting and be a good deterrent to the attack, but not quite powerful enough to cause an injury. After all... the monkey had had his hands full with even the lizard to worry about.

He climbed down from the tree, carefully cradling the reptilian's limp form in his hands. He knelt down on the ground, and dug up a sizable hole in the ground with one hand, then gently placed the dead animal in it, covering it back up with dirt. As an afterthought, Mganga grabbed a nearby flowering plant, and after eating one blossom, placed the other on the lizard's makeshift grave.

“A fallen brother in the some times cruel Circle of Life. I will see you in the next world, my friend... travel well.”

“I will see you... along with many others.”

The monkey sighed, but didn't need to try to stop tears from flowing. He was no longer a baby, capable, if barely, of taking care of himself. He'd never quite known what had happened to his parents. One day, they said they were going out to search for relatives... but they'd never returned. He'd cried that day, for hours.

But crying now would do no more good. Mganga held the pain of losing his parents at a young age in his heart alone, but ever since they'd disappeared without him being able to help them... he'd made it his personal mission to save every creature that he could. On an intellectual level, he knew that it was the sad fate of predators to hunt. But sometimes, when he saw one animal try to prey on another, he found himself fighting the hunter, incapable of bearing the thought of another animal dying.

Even if it was necessary.

He'd lost many animals... some had died in front of his eyes, as he approached the scene. Others, he'd been able to keep alive for hours. And for some... there'd never been any hope from the beginning. Like the lizard.

“He was cut along the spine... many broken ribs. Internal bleeding. Organ damage. Nothing in my power could have helped him. His death was... inevitable.”

But that didn't stop Mganga from feeling sorrow every time he witnessed death. No matter how much of it he'd had to witness in his life.

The young monkey lived in the northwestern part of the Jungle, for the time being anyway. There were too many of them in the area... soon, some of them would have to leave and travel to another part of the Jungle. Some would even have to go as far as the southern lobe, through the dreaded Dark Zone.

“Maybe that's where they went. To look for a home for us. Maybe they didn't want me to worry... they knew that I would go along and try to save them. But whatever demon lurks there... can't be fought.”

In truth, however, the great serpent of the Dark Zone had not been responsible for the deaths of Mganga's parents. Not entirely, anyway. At the time, the snake wasn't so large that it needed to eat two monkeys in order to have a full stomach. One would suffice. What had actually happened after Mganga's mother had turned around to find her mate missing was the feeling of a great pressure being exerted on either side of her head—then blackness. Her death had contributed to the life of a rather unwelcome resident of the Jungle: the often-cursed freak, Chukizo.

But the monkey knew none of this. Rumors of the strange li-tigon hadn't quite reached that part of the Jungle. Not yet, anyway, and it would be longer still before they were treated with any credence. More troubling were the rumors of the worsening situation of hyenas to the north. Many animals of the Jungle, all of them small enough to be targeted by the dog-like predators as food, worried that though hyenas are not really adapted to life in that sort of habitat... they'd be forced to, and would evolve. At the expense of the beings already there.

The monkey sighed. Earlier, he'd heard of a small scouting party of hyenas, four of them, had been bold enough to travel from their home in the Outlands a good while into the Jungle. But no one knew what had become of them. Rumor was it that they'd somehow been injured too badly to press on or go back. For the most part, the Jungle's residents were happy: the deaths of the scout party would not bode well for the other hyenas, and with luck, the Jungle would remain relatively safe.

But Mganga knew that if the hyenas were injured... they'd need help. His help. He cared not that they were predators or foreigners to the Jungle. He only saw four beings that he might be able to save. If they even existed.

He swung through the trees, every now and again pausing, checking the air for an unusual smell. For the first two hours, his search was fruitless, even as he traveled further to the northwest.

Suddenly, Mganga stopped. His nostrils told him that there were animals, three or four of them, that he'd never sensed before in his vicinity. And intuition told him that that made sense. This particular part of the Jungle was more or less ignored by the monkeys and other herbivores, as it contained a certain kind of flower. They were huge, six feet across, and smelled like meat. They fed on flies and animals as big as small rodents that were stupid or unfortunate enough to be allured by their seemingly intoxicating odor. However... their epicenter was highly acidic. Enough to char a limb to the bone, rendering movement virtually impossible.

The monkey pressed on towards the sources of the smell, noticing that the acrid scent of burnt flesh was getting stronger.

“If it's burned too badly... the best I can do is amputate the limb and try to prevent the wound from being infected. I hope I'm in time...”

He jumped down from the treetop, landing near a small hole under the roots of a particularly large one. Sure enough, he could hear the characteristic whimpers and whines of hyenas in pain. Listening in, he noticed that there were indeed four, though one seemed a good bit younger than the others.

“Ed... we told ya not ta go near that freaky thing!” said a rather harsh-sounding female voice.

“Yeah, man—you coulda gotten us all killed!” added an annoying masculine tenor.

“Come on, guys... no point in yelling at him about it now. He won't do it again. Right, Ed?” questioned a tough but very feminine alto.

There was a rattling noise, followed by a soft whine, then a collective sigh.

“What're we gonna do?”

At that, Mganga appeared in the entrance to the veritable hole in the ground, much to the surprise of the hyenas. They leaped to their feet, or at least tried to. Only the apparent leader, the angry-sounding female managed to shakily stand.

“Get outta here!” she hissed, partly in anger, mostly in pain.

The monkey just looked over his 'patients'. Not good, but not irreparable either. The leader had a superficial but painful splash of acid on her side that had burned right through her fur, exposing bloody, pink flesh underneath. The other female was worse, with the flesh on her underbelly totally bare. One of the males had taken a more serious wound to the forelimbs, and he had a significant amount of muscle damage.

But the other male was worst. His face, forelimbs and chest looked like they'd been bathed in the vile liquid, that's how bad the injuries were. There was little muscle damage on his forelimbs and chest... but his face would take weeks to get back to normal. If it ever would. His speech would be crippled for life.

Mganga had more or less forgotten the fact that he was in a hole with only one escape and four predators that, while injured, were still very dangerous, especially to such a young monkey.

The leader, the female on her feet, managed to speak again.

“The Hell you want around here anyway?”

His eyes flashed when he saw the direness of the situation. Though she was on her feet, she couldn't remain so for long. And the more she did, the worse it would be for her health. And if there was still acid on her...

The monkey moved too quickly for the injured hyenas to react to. In their blurred eyes, it was like he was standing in the entrance one second, then at Shenzi's side the next, feeling her wound.

Understandably, the female was upset, and snapped her jaws at Mganga. However, the stress of the maneuver was just too much for her to take, and she fell down; fortunately on her unburnt side.

“What are you doin'?” she asked, groggily.

“You're hurt... I have to help you,” the monkey reached down, touching the leader's flesh with his finger, and yanking it back quickly at the pain he felt on the tip of the digit.

“Curses... there's still acid there. Do you still feel it burning?” he asked, fearing that she had nerve damage.

Shenzi gritted her sharp teeth, and answered, “Yeah...”

“That's good. Your nerves are still working. If I move quickly, you'll all be better soon—”

With that, the monkey ran off. The hyenas barely registered this, and one by one, they all fell into a nightmarish, pain-induced slumber...

It was hours until they woke up. But when they did, they found that moving was still too painful, and were forced to lay down, and try to catch a few extra minutes of sleep. One of them, however, the youngest hyena, the female, had the presence of mind to sniff the air.

“That monkey... he's been taking care of us.”

The hyenas looked each other over. Indeed, each had a slathering of a sweet-smelling herb on his or her wounds. Ed felt his face over with a gentle paw, and realized that leaves of some kind were wrapped over his grievous nose injury.

“Now why in da Hell would he do somethin' like that?” asked Banzai.

Mganga entered, looking over the four predators. He was carrying more leaves and a paste that smelled bitter. But this time, the hyenas didn't jump up at his sudden appearance.

“Because...” he suddenly chuckled, “you looked like you needed care.”

The four hyenas smiled collectively at that, knowing that this was a being that had helped them without the thought of any reward or benefit. He should have left them to slowly succumb to injuries and infection, as that would have kept his home safe. But instead, he went through a great deal of trouble to help them. For that, the Jungle would remain off-limits to all hyenas, despite the dire situation that the dog-like animals were in. And, from then on, Mganga was their friend.

Ed was drooling at the sight of the dead monkey. After all, he hadn't eaten properly for weeks, and in front of his eyes was fresh, warm food. But something clicked in his erratic mind, and he tapped Banzai with his paw, whining, and looking pointedly at the monkey's face.

“Ed, shaddap! Can't ya see there's somethin'—” he suddenly broke off his annoyed whisper, as he too recognized the primate.

“Hey—that's Mganga! He saved us back when we were goin' ta tha Jungle!” he suddenly said.

Shenzi and T looked away from Freak, knowing that the lions would step in if he tried anything, and turned their gazes just a few degrees downward towards the monkey.

Shenzi's tired eyes suddenly opened totally, as she made the connection. It was indeed Mganga... but he'd changed, somehow. From a compassionate and caring being, into one whose every emotion for the past few years had been either rage, or hopelessness.

“Oh my Gods...” said T, and she started to take a tentative step towards the monkey.

She was stopped both by a growl from Freak, and Shenzi's paw in front of her chest. The younger hyena glared at the li-tigon, hatefully, and gave a curt nod as Shenzi slowly, meaningfully shook her head at her adoptive sister.

Simba roared again, though not nearly as loud as before. It was just his way of showing that he was in control—even if that was not the case.

“Enough!” he shouted, glaring at both the hyenas for second, then Freak for far longer.

“Now... tell me what's going on,” he said to Usiku, as he was rather disturbed by Freak's appearance.

The black hyena got to his feet, and set his daughter down behind him, away from the li-tigon. The other hyenas also put themselves in the path between him and the baby, though Freak knew that if he really wanted to kill her... he would do so. They might be able to injure him, but they would never be able to stop him. He was not impressed by Usiku's tough figure—the li-tigon knew that he was twice as fast, and thrice as smart.

“Simba, King of the Pride Lands, I am Usiku of the Bloody Shadows.”

The tan lion nodded, and the tightness of his eyes decreased. A well-established lioness in his pride, Msafiri, had traveled from the Desert of the South through the Lower Plains, then the Bloody Shadows, and finally the Outlands to reach the Pride Lands. There, she'd finally dropped her nomadic nature, though she'd never really said why she'd left the Desert. However, Simba, for some reason, couldn't shake the feeling that she was somehow not ethnically related to the Desert pride.

“An abomination took all I cared about from me,” was the most she'd ever mentioned.

“I was hired, by the late Mganga, to end the freak that sits opposite us,” he said, giving the li-tigon a baleful glare.

“The monkey, huh...” said Simba, as he pondered what to do.

“And why are you not attacking him now? He could have killed your daughter!” said the Lion King, gesturing at the now complacent Uvuli.

Usiku bared his teeth, glaring at Freak again. He tensed up his legs, as if about to pounce on him, and the lions followed their leader in lowering into defensive postures—

But the black hyena tore his eyes away from the li-tigon, grinding his teeth as he replied to Simba.

“I can't. As an assassin of the Bloody Shadows,” Simba was unimpressed by the title, he'd met assassins before, “I am sworn to not kill another animal, except in predation, unless I am paid to do so. And, unlike my father... I do not have a taste for the flesh of another predator.”

Simba shook his head. If anyone, much less a lone freak, tried to harm his daughter, that being would have a short but fatal meeting with the King's claws and teeth.

“Fine,” he said, turning to the li-tigon, and looking him up and down.

Freak was calmly sitting down, watching the scene unfold in front of him. He vaguely considered eating Mganga, after all, the monkey was still quite fresh, and right in front of him... but that would take his attention off of the other predators—almost certain threats. He hadn't missed the way the hyenas reacted when they recognized Mganga as a being who had apparently helped them.

“Who... what... are you?” Simba asked Freak, his claws extended just a little.

“My name is Freak... and that is what I am,” replied the li-tigon, extending his claws as well.

Simba growled at the answer, as well as the apparent resemblance the stranger had to the Uncle that he still hadn't forgiven.

“Don't lie to me,” he said, lowering himself, ready to pounce.

At that, the three other lions began to fan out, positioning themselves so that if it did come to a fight, they could surround and attack him from all angles. Growling, the hyenas held their positions, still under the belief that Uvuli was in danger.

Freak, meanwhile just glanced around, taking in the situation. He didn't lower himself, knowing that if he did and was surrounded, he was in more danger. But if he stayed sitting, he could jump into the air and run, or slash the backs of any aggressor's neck with his claws. Still, he knew that things didn't have to go that far...

“It wasn't a lie. I am known as Freak, in the Jungle. As to what I am... My mother was Chukizo, and I do not know what she was. My father, whose nature I am also unaware of, was Scar.”

Simba's eyes flashed, and anger at the newcomer for being both a freak and the son of Scar overwhelmed him. He roared, going into a long, high jump, so that he could claw Freak and follow up with his teeth. At the same time, the other lions quickly moved to surround him, and Usiku and the other hyenas dropped low, in case Uvuli needed protecting—

Cold reasoning took Freak over, and from the corners of his eye he could see that the other lions were cutting off his exit, but not attacking. Apparently, they wanted to leave him to their leader. Their mistake.

The li-tigon moved as well, but not into a jump. He raced forward, and before the son of Mufasa could react, took advantage of his dense bone structure. Freak ruthlessly headbutted the King in the chest, nearly breaking his sternum open as he did. Simba fell away, and the other lions, enraged by the sudden, resounding defeat of their leader, all attacked.

Nala and Kiara came from 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock respectively, while Kovu moved in from Freak's six. Knowing better than to try to engage all of them at once, Freak paused for a brief second, thinking, until the best way out of the situation seemed obvious.

He roared at the two lionesses, and they faltered for a moment, afraid. Kovu, though, as Freak predicted, was only enraged more, and was only feet from Freak's rear when the li-tigon reacted—

The dark lion saw two muscled legs shoot out, then stars in the sky. He felt his body impact the ground on its back, and tasted blood. Freak had viciously kicked him in the face, then shot around the back of the lion as he bounced to the ground. Before the lionesses could do anything to stop him, he had his paw, claws extended, on Kovu's neck, and pressed down, half-strangling the nearly unconscious cat.

The Shadow Land hyenas growled at the sight of Simba, who they still felt allegiance to, being struck down. They were about to pounce on Freak, taking advantage of the fact that Uvuli was apparently out of danger, but Kiara stopped them.

“NO!” the lioness screamed, turning to face the four.

“If you do something... he'll kill Kovu.”

“Damn right I would,” thought Freak, as he considered his next move.

Simba unsteadily got to his feet, and shook his head, clearing his vision. Though he tried not to show it... the blow had hurt him a great deal. He growled when he saw that the li-tigon had taken his son-in-law hostage, but knew better than to attack again. So, instead of trying to order the stranger to release Kovu, he tried talking again.

“Scar... was a lion of this pride,” he muttered, glaring at the li-tigon.

“Was... so he is dead,” said Freak, with not a hint of emotion in his voice.

“Do you want to know how he lived, and what made him die?” asked Simba.

Cold hatred had taken over the Lion King, and though he couldn't physically hurt Freak, not with his son-in-law in danger, he could still attack him in other ways. So, without waiting for an answer, he spoke on.

“He killed his brother—my father—and tried to kill me as well... for power. I escaped, and came back after years in your Jungle. We fought, and I won, but let him live. I told him to go, but he betrayed his friends, the hyenas. He was in turn eaten by them, and as he left this world, the hyenas forever left the Pride Lands,” the King finished with a pang.

“That ends now,” he said, and looked at the hyenas, who gasped, in cautious hopes of what he meant—

“From now on... you and the rest of your family will be welcome in the Pride Lands. It's been too long... you've all had hard lives since the time of my grandfather. And I've been... wrong... to forget you.”

The hyenas gasped, then bowed low, sobbing onto each others shoulders. They were not tears of happiness.

“S—King...” started Shenzi, “I can't say enough ta thank you fer what ya just did. But... we're the only ones out of our fam'ly left. The others... they were... killed... earlier today. Brutally.”

Simba was saddened. So, he was already too late to save all of them... but being that he was no their King, and responsible for their safety, he though it his duty to find out who had killed all of his subjects. For the moment, he ignored Freak, though Nala and Kiara were still ready and waiting to tear him apart.

“Who... could have done this?”

“It seems like those four don't know it was me. But the other one, Usiku, he does. And I know better than to hope that he won't tell.”

Sure enough, the black hyena spoke up.

“It was the freak, my lord,” said Usiku, sadistically smiling at the li-tigon.

Simba turned towards Freak with murder in his eyes, starting to take a step towards the stranger, but was abruptly stopped when he saw Kovu's neck get depressed another inch. At Kiara's terrified gasp, the Lion King spoke up.

“Who are you? Why did you come here? To bring pain to my subjects? My son-in-law? What do you want, you FREAK?!” he ended on a roar.

Predictably, Freak was unphased, and took a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking.

“I have already told you who I am. I came here.. because I saw him, Kovu,” he said, nodding towards his hostage, “and her in the Jungle. I was... curious. I'd never seen another big cat before, not since my first day old. As to what I want...” Freak broke off.

Truth be told, he didn't know what he wanted out of life. He didn't even know why he struggled so hard to stay alive.

Simba shook his head in disgust.

“Fine. Keep your secrets. But why did you kill all of their people?” he growled, gesturing to the still sobbing group of hyenas; such was their pain that Uvuli was now softly crying as well, and even Usiku looked affected.

“I was staying in the northwest, I think you call it the Shadow Lands. I had to eat. I took the occasional prey animal that wandered into that wretched place. I ate... and they starved. I was found, and they attacked me. I defended myself. I had to.”

The Lion King didn't know what to say to that. If the freak was telling the truth, there was no moral flaw in what he'd done. But Simba didn't want that to be true...

“What right do you even have to be here?” he growled.

Freak didn't know how to answer. He'd never been welcomed or even accepted anywhere, but he sensed that saying that he didn't care would not be smart. So he carefully answered, in as gentle terms that he could.

“The same right that all of us, as sons and daughters of the Circle of Life, have to be on this Earth. It was not my goal to cause the deaths of the hyenas, or bring pain to... anyone. But I had to. If I hadn't done what I did, I would be dead.”

“Not unlike yourself, Simba. How many animals have you killed in your life? Out of hunger? Out of necessity? You know well that life feeds on death, even if you do not recognize it.”

The tan lion growled, but made no response. Everything Freak was saying made sense, pragmatically. But the fact remained that he'd killed so many hyenas, and still held Kovu hostage.

“Release him,” the Lion King commanded in an authoritative tone.

“No,” plainly replied Freak, “if I do, you'll all attack me. And I can't fight all of you at once. I have to live.”

Simba growled again, and lowered himself, preparing to pounce.

“I said, release my son-in-law, you murderous freak.”

“I won't. And don't think that you can somehow attack me before I kill him,” he extended his claws, placing on just next to Kovu's jugular.

The Lion King roared, in anger and frustration. What could he possibly do to protect his son-in-law?

“Just let him go, and leave!”

Freak still shook his head.

“I can't do that, either. I know that there are many lionesses in your tribe, and though I can sense no others now, that doesn't mean that they're not around here, somewhere. I could be surrounded at this very moment.”

Simba growled in hopelessness.

“What do you want?” he asked, almost begging the li-tigon.

He cared about Kovu very much...

“To live,” Freak simply replied, “It's all I've ever wanted.”

Simba blinked in confusion at that, and spoke without any sort of ulterior goal this time.

“That's it? You only want to stay alive? You never want to find a pride? A mate? Start a family? You don't even want power, like your father?”

The li-tigon shook his head.

“I have no desire to do any of those things.”

“You don't want to find love?” Simba asked, in a small voice for a King.

Freak tilted his head to the side at the unfamiliar word. He searched his memory, then remembered what it meant.

“I don't understand your question,” he said.

It was true. Being that he was nearly a full grown lion, right in between Kiara and Kovu in terms of age, he could scarcely remember the few minutes that he'd shared with his mother, and no longer could connect any emotion to it.

Simba thought of how to explain it. He didn't know, so he tried to ask more questions.

“Love... it's what your mother and father give to you.... it's what families feel to one another... it's why I want you to release my daughter's mate,” he said pathetically, jerking his head to the tearful Kiara.

Freak thought again, trying to remember....

“I never met my father. And I only spent a few minutes with my mother. I have never been part of a family. And I do not care about anyone. I don't understand,” said Freak, but for some reason, he felt a desire, almost a hunger to understand.

The lions and hyenas took a collective gasp. Now, they were slowly starting to imagine the hardships that this being must have been through to still be standing in front of him today, forget that he was still restricting Kovu's breathing.

Simba looked around. At the four still crying hyenas, at the cold Usiku, at the baby, at his Queen, and at his daughter. But there was nothing, no way to make him understand what love is. The Lion King had not had an easy life. Barely out of cubhood, he'd had to flee his homeland and live in a strange environment, but even there, he'd found friends. He'd had to fight for his kingdom, but even then, he had support. He'd had to listen to the peaceful, compassionate words of his daughter and son-in-law to prevent another war...

“Maybe that's it.”

“This whole time, I've been asking myself what Father would do. But maybe... maybe I have to ask myself, what would Kovu and Kiara do?”

The Lion King pondered the difficulty of the position for a moment, but then the answer came to him.

“If you put Kovu down... we won't harm you. You have my word. We'll even welcome you into the Pride Lands, and offer you protection against anything that tries to hurt you.”

Everybody was surprised. Nala and Kiara seemed to agree with the idea of allowing Freak to leave, but they sharply turned their heads to look at him for a tense second before looking back at the li-tigon. The hyenas, who were now finished in their sorrow at the loss of their family, and in the joy of once again being subjects of the Pride Lands felt more than a little desire to harm Freak. Usiku just seemed apathetic. After all, as long as Uvuli remained safe... he cared not what happened.

But the li-tigon shook his head, almost sadly.

“There's no way that you can convince me that I won't be harmed. I can't trust you, Simba.”

Simba was tearing up now. He could see that Kovu's gasps were getting shallower and shallower.

“Please...” begged, then an idea hit him.

He suddenly walked towards Freak, who growled, and brought his claw ever closer to the dark lion's throat. However, instead of attacking, much to the horror of Nala, Kiara, and the newest four subjects of the Pride Lands, he rolled over on to his back, exposing his neck.

“We're not your enemies,” he said, though the looks that every single other being in the area gave to the li-tigon said otherwise.

“Just one question...” Freak asked, as he slowly sheathed his claw, “you said that my father, Scar, was the brother of your father. Does that make us... family?” he asked, an undertone of elation almost audible in his voice.

The Lion King laughed once, then answered.

“Yeah... I guess it does.”

There was a pause.

“This is foolish. They could be lying. They're still threats.”

“Wrong They are family. Like Mother. They want to help me.”

“Those four killed Father.”

“They had to. He betrayed them.”

“They could betray you.”

“They won't. They are family.”

“I've observed families from afar for most of my life. They seem to... trust each another, unconditionally. I never dreamed that I'd ever be part of one... but if that's how it is...”

The li-tigon had come to his decision. The lionesses's eyes widened as Freak slowly took his muscled paw off of Kovu's neck, and even rolled the dark lion onto his feet so that he could breath normally.

Kiara couldn't restrain herself any more. She rushed over to her mate's side, even as Freak prepared to fight, and nuzzled him, crying, as he coughed, gasping for air.

“I thought you were gone,” she said, rubbing her head against his neck.

Kovu coughed once more, then answered with a goofy smile.

“It'll take a lot more than that,” he said.

But the dark lion's expression hardened as he turned around to face the li-tigon.

“I have to live too, son of Scar. Kiara needs me. So if you ever try anything again—” he was cut off.

“Kovu!” Simba growled, in a voice that reminded him and Nala of his late father, shaking his head at his son-in-law.

Kovu growled at Freak for a moment, before tossing his head and walking away towards the waterhole. After a moment, Kiara did the same. Nala ignored the li-tigon entirely, just continued behind her daughter and son-in-law, and the four hyenas soon followed as well. But they abruptly stopped at Mganga's body.

“He was our friend...” said T.

“Yeah... he was... th' greatest monkey that ever lived,” commented Banzai, looking sadly at the monkey.

Ed nodded, giving a sound that sounded like his brain was rattling around in his skull, though his expression was one of pain as well.

“He took care of us,” said Shenzi, “so that we could live. If he was alive, he'd want us ta use his body fa what we could, since he ain't got a use for it no more.”

T gasped at what the other female said, but couldn't disagree: she knew it was true. Cruel, but true.

“Life feeds on death,” she muttered, as she opened her jaws, along with the three other hyenas.

Starvation has been known to drive beings to terrible extremes. Cannibalism, the consumption of corpses, predating on animals that are normally impossible to eat....if a being is driven to an extreme desperate enough, there is little he will not do. And the hyenas were predators. They did what was natural, nothing more.

But it was hard, at least for T, to look into the eyes of the being that had selflessly come to her aid so long ago, while eating of his flesh. But in the end, she managed to do it. After all... eyes are nutritious.

At Pride Rock, Msafiri, the rapidly aging Asiatic lioness allowed her thoughts to drift years back.

“Who... did this?” she'd asked of the new head lioness.

The young, harsh female sniffed around the scene, and her eyes narrowed.

“Chukizo.”

Chukizo... the freak. So, it was her claws that were dirty with the blood of her son. Her accursed, abominable appendages.

Msafiri had spent her life traveling. One town in India to another, always looking for somewhere to call home. To protect her species, she'd been captured and sent to London as part of a conservation effort. But the ship had struck a reef, and she'd managed to escape. Not after ignoring the plight of an enemy tiger. After all... it was a tiger that bittered the name of all big cats on the tongues of humans. Asiatic lions hadn't preyed upon man for generations. But due to the actions of one man-eater whose name was a mystery to the lioness, they had been persecuted as much as tigers themselves. The sight of her shot mother still haunted her to this day...

Barely surviving the vessel, she was disgusted by the sight of that same tiger on the beach. She'd considered killing him, but decided not to dirty her own claws. After all, he was as good as dead, and hadn't even woken up when she growled at him.

The lions of the Desert had welcomed her, and she'd managed to settle down there, and even have a cub. The young male... he was her whole life, after his father, a traveler like Msafiri, had moved on. But she didn't blame him. It was in his nature, almost as it had been hers.

But when Chukizo killed him... there was no reason for her to stay in the Desert. Wandered, she did, for months, even years. But she finally found solace in the Pride Lands. The Lower Plains pride had been strange, probably due to living so close to the Bloody Shadows. And though Msafiri had gone through the latter unharmed... she felt as if she had been watched the entire time. The home of the assassins was no home for a lioness, not even one as strong as her.

“My son...” she thought, remembering the terrible sight of his ravaged body.

“If I could avenge you, in any way... I would.”

“It is lucky that that freak, Chukizo, must have died long ago in the Jungle. She may be part tiger... but she was raised a lion.”

“It is lucky. If I could... I would avenge your death, and the state that your poor, helpless body was left in.”

“A thousand times over.”