Lonesome Dove Fan Fiction ❯ The Lion King: The Freak ❯ Chapter 6: Karma's a Bitch ( Chapter 6 )

The Lion King: The Freak
Chapter 6: Karma's a Bitch

Caution: there will be more bad language here, including the f word. I don't overdo it though, because I don't really think cursing is appropriate. But extreme situations call for extreme language, and some of our friends are in extreme emotional duress right now. I don't think it's out of line for me to describe what they'd say word for word.)

The Shadow Lands were no place for a hyena to live. Not even an incredibly tough one, both mentally and physically. There was just not enough prey to support any kind of population of predators, especially a family as big as T's.

The young female was hiding behind a rocky structure. She could smell, but not see a lone zebra. The problem was, there was an obvious escape route for the animal to take, and if she went at it now, it would certainly run away.

That's why Ed and Banzai were even now circling into position to cut off the exit. After they did so, at Shenzi's signal, T would go for the zebra. It would run, straight towards Ed and Banzai, and freeze. At that, Shenzi would sneak up on it and deliver the fatal blow. It was the the perfect plan.

With the perfect flaw.

Though the zebra appeared to be alone, the rest of its herd was only a few hundred yards away. In their hunger, the four leading hyenas hadn't bothered to scope out the area completely. And since the rest of their family was off elsewhere, there was no hope of back-up coming.

Worse, these zebra were a little smarter than their brethren. Instead of allowing predators to take some of their own, knowing that in general the group would be better, they would attack the predators en masse, resulting in virtually no friendly losses and the elimination of the predators.

The lone zebra was in a sort of crater, with a path leading from it on the far side of the rock that T was hiding behind. Ed and Banzai were circling around the outer ring of the crater, out of view of the prey, and Shenzi was nowhere to be seen. But T knew better than to worry. Shenzi, being the leader of the leaders, the head honcho, had a knack for concealing her presence so completely that not even her friends couldn't detect her at times.

T heard a click. That was the signal. She still had absolutely no idea where Shenzi was, but didn't waste thought on it. The hyena jumped out of cover, racing for the zebra at less than her optimal speed, snarling and barking at it.

Predictably, the animal jumped, and made for the exit. But it stopped in its tracks when Ed and Banzai jumped in its way, the former laughing insanely, the latter laughing more maliciously.

Then, Shenzi came bounding out of nowhere, and jumped on the zebra, digging her teeth into its side, and bringing the animal down. As the three other hyenas closed in, she went for the neck—

The zebra neighed, a loud, screeching sound. Shenzi growled, and severed its jugular with her jaws. The animal's head flopped to the ground; it was dead.

Licking their lips, the hungry hyenas prepared to dive into the animal. Shenzi made a long incision in its belly, exposing the choicest parts, and was about to split them evenly when she stopped, her ears pricked up. Soon afterwards, the rest of the hyenas did the same.

Ed whimpered.

“Yo... do you guys feel da ground shakin'?” asked Banzai, fearfully.

T looked down. Indeed, small pebbles were being jostled around in the rocky crater.

“Oh, no...” she whispered, looking at Shenzi for guidance.

The lead hyena was looking in the distance, keeping track of the rate at which the rumbling was increasing, until it became a roar, and a cloud of dust could be seen... heading right for the hyenas.

“Shit! Leave da zebra, we gotta get outta here!” she screamed, racing along with the other three back behind the rock.

The four hyenas were panting by the time they managed to conceal themselves behind it. Banzai peeked out to see what was going on, and promptly ducked his head back under cover.

“They're lookin' for us,” he whispered.

Shenzi nodded, as cool as ever.

“Okay... we gotta be real quiet... sneak outta here. Ed, shut it!” she hissed, seeing that the goofy-looking hyena was whimpering and covering his eyes with his paws.

T gently tapped him on the shoulder, and gave him a smile as he looked at her.

“It'll be okay. We just gotta be quiet,” for effect, the young female put a digit to her lips as Ed slowly got to his feet.

“Ed... search for a way to get outta here without them noticin'” said Banzai, while Shenzi kept an eye on the practical zebra army.

Though he didn't look it, the mute hyena had a knack for seeing things that the others didn't. So it wasn't long before he hopped up and down in elation and tapped Banzai on the shoulder, while T continued to keep a watch for any additional threats.

Banzai looked over to where Ed's dark paw indicated. His eyes narrowed. It was a long shot... but if that's the best thing Ed could find, it was the only choice.

He whispered into Shenzi's ear.

“Shenzi... there's a crevice bout 400 yards from here. Takes us across the plain, but I figure we'll be outta view of the zebras unless they look over da crater.”

The female nodded, snarling. She knew well that if Ed only saw that escape and Banzai agreed that it was the only way, then it really was the only way. As the leader slowly drew back from the edge of the rock, she heard T swear.

“Damn—there's a bird coming here. If it sees us, it might freak and warn the zebras...”

Indeed, a small, sparrow-looking avian was even then landing on a leafless tree not fifty feet from the four predators. It sat there, apparently unaware of them, and started to preen itself.

Each of the hyenas cursed in their minds, knowing that even the slightest movement might get a reaction out of the small animal. They couldn't breathe without the danger of being noticed...

And meanwhile, the zebras were searching ever closer to the rock. Though Shenzi was no longer looking at them, she could hear the soft taps on their hooves getting closer and closer to their hiding place.

Suddenly, the bird looked up, staring right at the four. The fear was visible in its eyes, and it ruffled its feathers, apparently preparing to fly away. The hyenas didn't dare make any quick movements for fear of startling the animal, but each shook their heads softly, and looked at it with pleading eyes...

The bird didn't shriek, and the four were grateful for that. But the soft flutter of its wings and the sight of its puny form racing into the sky was warning enough for the vengeful zebras.

Shenzi heard the soft clomp, clomp of the hooves abruptly stop, and then start again, as if cautiously approaching their position.

“Shit, go, go!” she whispered to the other three, the fear in her eyes as plain as day.

The hyenas nodded then moved as quickly and quietly as possible away from the rock. Miraculously, all four managed to dive over the edge of the crater just in time, and they stopped their, breathing heavily, not daring to move any more.

“We can get there if we move quick,” whispered Banzai.

The rest shook their heads, and he fell silent. After a few tense moments, T spoke up.

“What should we do? They're not leaving,” she breathed, and Shenzi knew that the zebras would hang around until they were found.

“Dunno... guess we'll have ta wait till nighttime, then try to get away,” Shenzi muttered, seeing that the other three agreed.

Hours passed. Zebras are not highly intelligent animals, and after a while, they were just walking around where they'd already been, and the crater was not small. The hyenas hoped that they'd see the edges as impassible barriers and disregard them as possible escape routes. And it seemed that that's what was happening. But they didn't leave. The continued to search for the hyenas, paying close attention to every sound that occurred in the barren wasteland...

Nightfall.

After a while, the hyenas had fallen into a light doze, though never were they in sleep deep enough that the slightest sign of a threat would go unnoticed. It was terrible—they slept out of boredom and fear, not to rest their bodies and minds. In fact, it could quite easily be argued that sleeping in such a stressful situation did the opposite of relaxing their minds.

But sleep they did, and they all slowly woke up at approximately the same time. Shenzi noticed that the zebras were getting closer and closer to the edges of the crater. Not good. But it was night now, and the hyenas had the advantage of being able to see a little bit better than their 'prey'.

Shenzi made a talking motion with her paw, then a slicing motion, signaling the rest of the hyenas to not speak. They all nodded, and watched as she carefully moved down the side of the crater, heading towards the crevice at a quick, but very quiet pace. Ed moved next, uncharacteristically noiseless, followed by Banzai. The three hyenas went down without a hitch, remaining unnoticed by the zebras.

But unfortunately, T was not so lucky. She traveled down the same path that the others had gone down, but their paws on it had loosened a small pile of rocks. When the young female tread across that same place, she slipped, created a small rockslide as she tumbled down.

Worse, she'd managed to end up pinned under the pile of rocks, and no matter how much she struggled, she couldn't get free. Then, T remembered the zebras.

“Oh, no...” she thought as one, two, three, six, a dozen, then four dozen black and white heads popped up over the edge of the crater.

For a moment, the two sides just stared at each other, as if sizing their opponent up. Then, the zebras all clambered over the side of the crater, and charged right for the hyenas.

T's eyes widened, but she still had enough wits about her to know what to do.

“Get outta here! I'll hold 'em off as long as I can! Go!” she screamed, as the herd neared.

But much to her dismay, the three other hyenas ignored her, digging away at the rocks. Too slow. By the time they got half of her free, they were surrounded on all sides by the whinnying, neighing zebras.

“You two take cara them! I'll keep diggin'!” Shenzi ordered.

Banzai nodded, and said, “On it,” as one or two zebras came at them at a time.

T flinched as if her own body was being struck when she saw Ed go flying from a kick to the side. It was little consolation when she watched Banzai rip half the meat off of the attacker's leg, because there were still over forty of the animals left, all with murder in their eyes.

“What the Hell're you doing? Get away!” T cried, knowing that the more her friends tried to help her, the more sealed their own dooms were.

“Not gonna happen,” Shenzi said, as she finally uncovered the younger hyena enough that she could shake the rest of the rocks off, and get onto her feet.

T looked up just in time to see Banzai go down, kicked in the face. He hit the dusty, rocky ground, tongue hanging out of his mouth, as if in a gruesome imitation of Ed's signature expression.

The other male howled in agony, but Shenzi and T were too far away to stop him from running towards the same zebra, only to get the same treatment.

“Ed!” shouted Shenzi in terror, when she saw the goofy male's head snap back, and his body slump to the ground, limp.

“Oh, Gods...” T whispered, as her eyes watered up.

But she was a tough girl. And tough girls don't get sad. They get mad.

“Why the Hell did you wait for me? I told you to leave!” she snarled, facing Shenzi.

The older female growled, and T had to back down.

“NObody gets left behind,” she said, facing the surrounding zebras again.

The zebras, all forty-something of them, seemed to be laughing at the two remaining hyenas. After all... the odds were astronomically in their favor, and they knew it. There would be no challenge at all to suddenly rush in and stomp the two females to death, which was their intent. It was the perfect plan.

With the perfect flaw.

Heroically, the two females tried their damnedest to fight against the practical wall of hooves that suddenly arc towards their skulls. They incapacitated two zebras, maybe three, before they were knocked to the ground, nearly dead. They saw the striped animals surround them, and knew their fates...

A growl was heard in the distance. Then another. Then another. Soon, it sounded like the whole clan of hyenas was rallying up to save their beloved leaders.

Shenzi managed to raise her head, and gasped and what she saw. After some provocation, T opened an eye as well.

Pouring out of a far-away rock structure, like an ant colony defending its nest, was every hyena in the clan. After little deliberation, the zebras ditched their newfound philosophy of resisting predation, and ran like hares. It didn't even occur to any to finish off the four near-dead hyenas that were helpless on the ground.

Predictably, the four zebras on the plain that T, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed had managed to down were lifted behind, to whinny in pain as their throats were quickly ripped out. T felt a gentled muzzle prod her to her feet, and looked to see that Shenzi was also okay.

“The guys,” she suddenly thought, “I hope they didn't die for me...”

“Don't worry,” said Banzai, as he coughed, supported by two cubs, “Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed,” he gasped, managing to grin as Ed limped to his side.

“You're worth dyin' for, T,” he croaked, as Ed nodded, emitting a rattling sound.

Looking around, the young female could see that the rest of the hyenas were doing the same.

“We haven't got much,” said an old male, “but we've got each other. And we're not letting that go without a fight, little lady,” he finished, giving Shenzi and T a warm smile.

Shenzi spoke up.

“Yeah... after all,” she grinned, looking at the younger female, “we are family, little sister. And family takes care of each other.”

Everyone nodded at that, but Shenzi could see that they were eying the fallen zebras hungrily. Now, normally, tradition dictated that the leaders would eat first and most. But to follow tradition against humanity and logic... didn't sit too well with any of the four leaders.

“There's one more in the crater,” Shenzi said, smiling at the looks of elation that the rest of the hyenas suddenly wore.

After all, she was their leader, along with the other three. And they didn't give much to their loyal followers... couldn't give much.

“Dig in,” she said, and lay down on the ground as her family yelped in joy, all feasting for the first time in far, far too long.

The leaders all shared one thought as they slipped into sleep, this time, a relaxing and spiritual one.

“Family takes care of each other.”

Msafiri ran through the jungle as fast as she could away from the approaching hunters, tears in her eyes.

“Why would they do that? Mom never hurt one of them!”

The unshaven Indians had led a famous hunter, Jim Corbett, to their home. Apparently, the lion had been suspected of carrying off a child some weeks ago. But the juvenile lioness knew better than that.

“That was a tiger, no doubt about it.”

She'd been taught by her mother to hate and fear the dangerous big cats, who'd even been known to prey upon their own nearly extinct cousins: the rare Asiatic lion.

“I can't blame the humans, though,” she thought, as she heard the distant crack of a rifle, and saw the bark of a nearby tree chip off, “they know not of our innocence. Not even Mom knew that there was a tiger around here... because if there was, she'd kill it.”

“But... I don't have a mom any more. I'm alone,” Msafiri thought with a sob.

“The only thing left for me is to stay alive, living in peace with the humans. Maybe, just maybe, I can show them that I'm not their enemy... and we can work together to kill every tiger on this planet,” she thought, feeling hate course through her veins, even as she jumped down the side of a hill.

“I'll never forget you, Mom.”

“Or why you died.”

Years passed.

The lioness had never forgotten her hatred of tigers, but she'd never seen one of them in her travels, nor another Asiatic lion. From place to place she wandered, always searching for something nicer, always holding the hope that the next place would have a tiger to kill, or a lion to befriend, or a human to protect.

“The grass is always greener on the other side.”

She shook her head. She'd met humans, now and again, and allowed herself to be seen by them. But Msafiri had never so much as raised a paw at them, knowing that that could be enough to earn her a bullet to the head.

“Humans are smart. If I ever seem like a threat to them, they won't take chances.”

“If I ever meet a tiger, I won't take chances either.”

She was older now, and stronger than her mother had been. As she'd promised herself, she had never gone for a day without forgetting the tough lioness that had taught her all she knew.

“Mother said that father died in a fight with a tiger,” she recalled, bitterly.

“Just another example of how horrible those animals are.”

She plodded along on the jungle floor, hardly paying attention to where she was going in terms of geography. The lioness had lived through enough to know that whatever physical path she took, in the end, the destination was the same.

“We're all dead... there are no more Asiatic lionesses around. Anywhere. We've been hunted into extinction.... due to the accursed tigers,” she spat on the last thought.

“I might as well die now.”

It was with that thought that her next paw tore through the seemingly solid ground in front of her, ripping right through the leaves, grass, and assorted foliage of the jungle floor. With a roar, she managed to turn herself around in midair, so that she landed on her feet, twenty feet under the ground.

Suddenly, she caught the scent of humans, surrounding her from all sides.

“So... I will die like my mother. Targeted as a big cat, when the only ones at fault have ever been tigers,” she thought, closing her eyes.

A barred door shut above her, and she could see ropes run through them, then tighten as Msafiri felt herself and the camouflaged cage get lifted up onto level ground. Dragging her were two elephants, on top of each a skinny villager. At the side, a young Brit and tough-looking Punjabi shook hands.

“Mr. Singh, you are incredible! I hardly held out the hope that Asiatic lions still existed in this part of India. But you have both found, and captured one! I'm sure the zoo will be very pleased.”

“Sahib Burton, your praise flatters me. But I do have your word that she is not to be harmed?”

(Note: Sahib is a now obscure term of respect for a white man. It used to be used in India and other parts of South and Southeast Asia.)

“No, no, of course not, old chap,” chuckled the white man, clapping the larger man on the shoulder, “this is supposed to be a secret... but it's for a conservation effort. Rather than merely let her waste away, she'll be introduced to the only other Asiatic lions in captivity in the world—at the London Zoo. We used to not have enough, so few that they'd die off in generations due to a lack of genetic diversity. But with her... there remains an ember of hope for the species.”

At that, Msafiri jumped to her feet and pranced around.

“So there are others...? And you're taking me to them? Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she said, almost shedding a tear in her joy

Of course, to the men, it just looked like she was growling and getting excited. The Brit drew away in fear, but Singh stepped forward, so close to the cage that his thick beard poked through the bars.

“Ah, you see, Sahib—even she likes the idea. As do I,” he said, turning back to face the astounded white man.

“I've long wanted to visit London. With your permission, and of course a reasonable drop in my fee, I will accompany you on the ship. To take care of our other captives, as well. I do not know if I can entrust their safety to your inexperienced hands,” the Punjabi said, chuckling.

Burton nodded.

“Of course. I completely understand. After all... she might get lonely, being the only other Indian on the vessel.”

Singh laughed, and his muscled belly jiggled as the outcry of mirth echoed through the forest.

“Yes... traveling to Thailand was quite an experience. But I couldn't leave home for too long. We're near my village,” he said, his eyes taking on a distant look as he remembered the place that he grew up in.

“I want to see my brother.”

Burton thought of his own older brother, the strong military man that he'd looked up to for his whole life, ever since he'd lost his father.

“Yes. I do, too.”

Sher Kahn stopped, concealing himself among some bushes. The men were still advancing, setting fire to the jungle and every creature in it. Even him, if he let them.

“Another example of the mindless destruction wrought upon the world by these... abominations.”

The tiger moved again, sprinting too fast for them to see anything but his tail flicker out of sight.

It was morning.

The humans had finally given up pursuit of him, though not after he'd snatched another one of their own right under the noses of the others. The man's scream tore through the night for a minute, serving as nothing more than a warning to the rest.

“A very tasty warning,” grinned Sher Kahn, as he took another bite out of his warm kill.

But there wasn't much meat on the man. Not much at all. The tiger looked at his scrawny, tanned, almost blackened form, and sighed in frustration. It had been some time since he'd had a real kill.

The tiger moved on, leaving the man splayed across a rock. Flies had already started to settle in among the flesh that he hadn't touched, already eating away at his still open eyes.

“The humans in this area will be on alert for some time. I should get far away from here, at least for the time being.”

“Perhaps, I'll go to the northwest. I recall tales of other big cats there... and it has been far too long since I've seen another,” he thought with a pang, remembering with startling clarity the sights, sounds, smells, and horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach the day his mother and brother were shot...

Sher Kahn shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be thinking of such things. He shoved his thoughts into a dark corner of his mind, knowing that he should only draw strength from his just hatred of men from it If he thought about it too much... he'd go insane.

“After all... how many beings have to live in such a terrible solitude as I?”

A week later, the tiger smelled something he'd never smelled before.

“I can remember what Mother and Nasher smelled like... this is... similar to them... but somehow distinct. Could it be—another big cat?” he thought with rising elation.

Sure enough, up and over the next rise, the face, mane, shoulders, torso, then tail of an Asiatic lion came into view. For a being that had lived a life of solitude, always staying just a step ahead of the next hunter's bullet, moving from place to place with little hope of ever finding comfort or peace... it was magical.

The tiger couldn't stop a lone tear from running down his cheek. He didn't even try to stop it.

“How long... I've waited for this moment. To see a friend. A comrade. A... brother. I... don't have to be alone anymore...” he thought, and could no longer hide his elation.

He leaped out of his hiding place, not even paying attention to the fact that the lion dropped into a fighting stance.

“Namaskara, friend!” he said, bowing his head, expressing a very high level of respect.

(Author's Note: namaskara is a formal, respectful greeting used in India, Nepal, and also by followers of Hinduism, Jainism, Sikkhism, and Buddhism. In Sanskrit, which Indian languages are derived from, it's translated to “I bow to you.”)

The lion growled, and Sher Kahn was confused. After all, his polite greeting left little to imagination. But maybe he'd been a little forward. So the tiger lay down, submissively, and bowed his large, furry head again.

“Sir... I am Sher Kahn, known to humans as the King of the Jungle. I've... been alone for a long time. I apologize if I startled you. It's just that... I wanted to see another big cat. To not be alone anymore,” he ended on a hopeful note.

But the lion only growled more, and this time Sher Kahn felt threatened. He stood, and watched as the other cat spoke.

“Get away! You're not welcome here,” the Asiatic male said.

The tiger reeled as if he'd been hit. The lion's words had struck him right in the fragile remnants of his heart.

“But... why? I just want to be a friend. I don't want to be alone. It's been so long... so long, since I saw a being that I could relate to. Too long.”

It was true. Sher Kahn was saying what he'd denied himself to think for years. The truth was, that no matter how many men he killed, how strong he became, there was always an emptiness inside him. A void that could only be filled by the knowledge that his life meant something to someone, even in the smallest way.

The lion shook his head.

“I don't care. You're not bringing the violence that follows you like a plague to my family, O King of the Jungle. Leave us... and don't come back.”

Time seemed to slow down for the tiger.

“No... no... it's not supposed to be like this! We're supposed to be friends—brothers on the path of life! Why I am hated?” Sher Kahn thought in dismay.

But he hadn't quite given up the hope that the lion could still be convinced. So he strangling out, literally groveling at the Asiatic's feet.

“Please...” he begged.

It was lucky for him that no other being was spying upon the interaction. If that had been the case, Sher Kahn would lose every ounce of reputation that he'd gained over the years. Imagine: a man-eater, the King of the Jungle, prostrating at the feet of a being that he didn't even know.

But the lion merely slapped away the tiger's paws, as if in disgust. Little did he know that, only a few years later, his daughter would do more or less the same thing; albeit aboard a doomed ship instead of in the jungle.

“Get lost...”

As the tiger looked up in dismay, he realized that he could no longer hear. All he could see was the lion, a being that could have brought him back onto the good path of life, but had instead thrown what little benevolence Sher Kahn still had back in his face. He watched the Asiatic male's lips move, and read the terrible message that they spoke.

“... you freak.”

Intense, heart-splitting sadness in the tiger turned to rage. After all, he was a being that had lived his whole life fueled only by hate for humans: not the love for his mother and brother, love that he had neither given nor received enough of.

When he was again aware of himself, he realized that the body of the lion had been destroyed so thoroughly that it was unrecognizable. Blood covered every tree for dozens of feet in any direction, and no patch of fur larger than a square inch had escaped Sher Kahn's tirade. Broken, pulverized bits of bone were visible here and there, scattered across the bloody jungle floor. Even the tiger, who had fed his life on death felt nauseous, though it may well have been at what the lion had done to him, rather than what he had done to the lion.

“Why I am hated?” the tiger asked out loud.

“I've only ever done what I've thought to be right. Killing humans... it's necessary. I have to eat to live. And they killed Mother and Nasher without provocation,” he said, remembering a long-forgotten memory of himself and his brother tumbling around in the jungle, playing, as his smiling mother looked on.

“Am I... a cursed being? Has something in my past life caught up with me? Am I to never find happiness or peace?” the tiger continued to speak as if in a trance.

(Note: obviously, there is Hindu influence upon Sher Kahn being that he's lived his whole life in India, in which Hinduism is what most people there follow. He apparently believes in karma and reincarnation, which are both beliefs intrinsic to said religion; in fact, the former is the sole creation of Hinduism.)

He paced back and forth, faster and faster, until his aimless strides broke into a fever pitch. With a roar of agony, the tiger ran as fast and far as he could. But he could never outrun his pain. It was always there, waiting for him, no matter how fast he ran.

The Punjabi entered his family home. It had been too long... the smells of the village, the incense, the freshly cooked food the way only his mother could make it... It had been far too long.

“Son? ...Is it really you?”

Walking into the room, back bent from decades and decades of hard work, was Abhay's old mother. Seeing her after being away for so long brought a tear to the hunter's eye.

“Mama... it's me,” he said, leaning down, far, to envelope the old woman in his muscled arms.

“Abhay...” she said, shedding a tear of her own, before she leaned back to look at the man in front of her.

She gave a raspy, dry chuckle, which pained her son to hear.

“You've grown,” she said, weakly squeezing her little boy's bicep.

“You've grown too, Mother. Older.”

“Dear Gods... how could I have forgotten her?” the man thought back to the night, almost ten years ago when he'd left his homeland.

He'd lived in other parts of India, learning, working hard, earning money, always sending some home to his family, knowing that as the eldest son of the family, it was his responsibility to care for them now that his father was gone. He'd learned how to hunt, and well, and over the course of years, he'd gotten very good at it. So good that it hadn't been long at all before his talents were discovered by the white man. He'd been sucked into assignment after assignment with the promise of wealth and glory. And though at the end of each month he'd always written a check addressed to his village... he'd long since forgotten what, and more importantly, who he was working for.

“Where is... where is Amar... where is bhai?” he managed to ask, forcing himself to back out of the embrace.

(Note: bhai is brother in many North Indian languages.)

The old woman looked to the ground. Even from his vantage point over her, Abhay could see her tears hit the floor.

“Son... I've failed him. I couldn't protect him...” she managed to sob.

“What?”thought the man with a gasp, fearing the worst as he opened the door to the room he and his brother had once shared...

And there, lying on the same dingy, lumpy bed, moaning in pain, was Amar Singh.

“No...”

Abhay dropped to his brother's side, and managed to prevent himself from placing a hand on Amar's too-thin chest.

“I really have forgotten them,” some part of the hunter's mind told him.

But closer to the surface of his terror was the recognition of injuries that could only be described as hateful. There were plainly not intended to be lethal, as they were etched in, almost artistically, on parts of the man's body that while painful, would leave him alive.

Probably.

Crisscrossing the Amar's scrawny chest were deep, vicious scratches.

“Brother... I became a hunter... for you. You and mother. But somehow, I've forgotten all about you.”

“That ends now.”

Abhay clasped one of his brother's hands in both of his own, noticing how baggy and malnourished his skin was, before standing up, looking in pain down at Amar's limp, unresponsive form, then walking out back to his mother. He was already almost certain of the attack... but he needed to be sure.

“Mother,” he said in a rather gruff voice, trying to attract the crying woman's attention.

It didn't work, so Abhay spoke in a softer, gentler tone.

“Mom... I need you to be strong. For Amar.”

At that, the old one looked up into her son's determined face.

“How did he get his...” injuries just wasn't the right word.

“There was an attack. A woman was taken. His promised one,” she started to cry, remembering how deeply her little boy had cared for the girl, ever since childhood.

“He tried to fight... but there was nothing any of us could do. She was dead. But yet, he went on. The rest of us didn't dare follow, not into the jungle, not at that time of night. An hour passed... and we saw his poor silhouette break free from the treeline. And then... he fell.”

“We managed to get him home before he bled to death. And with God's blessing, the shaman managed to save him. But son... he'll be scarred for life.”

The man suddenly swore, and hit the nearest wall with his rough fist. Though the cement didn't break, the entire house shook, and he felt no pain from his hand.

“What was it?” he asked.

“A tiger,” his mother said, starting to cry again, terrified of the terrible rage that twisted across her conscious son's face.

After a moment, Abhay started to leave the room. But he felt his arm catch fast in his mother's bony grip, and turned to look at her.

“Son... the tiger was only doing what was natural for him. What he had to do. Please... don't put even more pain and suffering into this world than there already is. It's not God's will,” she said, pleading.

Abhay looked forward, and gently, but purposefully plucked his mother's gaunt fingers from his thick arm, as he left the house.

“God's gonna sit this one out,” he growled, planning his next hunt, even as the dry sobs of his mother followed him into the night.

Sher Kahn licked his paws clean of the woman's blood. To all external appearances, he looked serene, but he was struggling with himself internally.

“Were my actions just? I had to escape, of course. But did I really need to strike him so much?”

“...It is of little concern. He attacked me... like so many others have. I needed to leave a very clear message that such actions will not be tolerated.”

“But that's not what I thought when I tore into him. He was only trying to protect his loved one.”

The tiger felt a stab of pain at that.

“It matters not I, too, was protecting a loved one... myself. It is... understandable... that I got carried away a little.”

The tiger nodded. Now things made sense again.

“Yes. I love myself... because there is no one else for me to love. No one,” he thought, and in an act of spite, batted his kill's body so that it tumbled around on the ground before coming to rest, face down, into a ditch in which Sher Kahn had just urinated.

He sighed, and stood up, walking onwards, as he'd always done. The only thing that was sure in the tiger's life was that there would always be prey. After all... the terrible disease on the world that was mankind spread quickly.

Abhay grinned terribly at the struggling tiger. It had taken weeks of diligent tracking, then the careful, almost spiritual placement of the trap... but in the end, he'd managed to do it.

“Mr. Singh, I do appreciate your spirit, but it's only fair for me to remind you, again, that the London Zoo has no need for another tiger at this time. And certainly not a one such as this; a beast that's sure to kill any animal it's kept with,” said Burton, with a bit of an edge in his voice.

The Punjabi turned on him, glaring.

“Be silent, Burton. My brother was hurt. You will not keep me from avenging him,” he said, turning back to the tiger with malice in his eyes.

Sher Kahn was tied up, hanging upside-down from a long, slender tree trunk that had been cut down specifically to hold him. The tiger was unconscious, for the moment, but felt himself return to the realm of the living as Abhay coldly slapped him across the face.

He managed to open his eyes, and growl, furious that he'd allowed himself to be captured by man. But then, his eyes widened in dawning horror.

“That scent... he is that man's brother?”

“My Gods... I hope that he doesn't get carried away as well.”

Unfortunately, getting carried away was exactly what the Punjabi planned to do. He looked around for a moment, then broke a long branch free from a nearby tree. He approached the incapacitated tiger, and almost lovingly drew his knife, flashing it before the feline's eyes.

“Sher Kahn... I do not plan to kill or permanently injure you. That might cause others, eventually, to feel pity for you... which is something you do not deserve.”

He slid his knife away, and the tiger breathed easier for a moment. That is, until Abhay reached for a nearby torch, holding it only inches from the terrified cat's eyes. Sher Kahn struggled to move away, even as he smelled the terrible, acrid odor of his own whiskers burning off.

Abhay laughed at that.

“You're not going anywhere, O King of the Jungle. Not until you suffer as much as my poor little brother must have.”

A loud crack was heard, followed by an animalistic grunt of pain. Even Burton, who had seen more than one disturbing sight in his life, due to growing up on the backstreets of London, had to turn away. But nothing he did could prevent him from sensing, in some way, the terrible pain that the tiger was going though.

When he looked next, Singh was leaking more perspiration than water flowed through the Nile. But Sher Kahn was as dark with bruises as the one who had beaten him was shiny with sweat By this time, the tiger had been unconscious for nearly an hour, but that earned him no respite. Blow after blow had fallen on his limp form, until Abhay was physically too exhausted to continue. But now, the chore was done... and he could go home...

“Mom, I'm home,” he said, walking into the one-story hut, not caring what time of night it was.

But nothing but the soft breathing of his brother in the far room reached his ears. Concerned, the man walked into his mother's room.

And there she was, sprawled out on the bed, almost peacefully. But the man had seen enough death in his life to recognize it at a glance. Her chest wasn't rising and falling, and when he bent down to check her pulse with a heavy heart, it too came up negative.

Abhay Singh sat there till dawn, cradling his mother's body until the villagers had found him, and taken her to perform the funeral, even as Abhay still sat there.

“Is this God's way of telling me... I was supposed to forget them? That I am destined to leave their lives and never return? I've been gone for ten years... and around when I return, my brother is attacked, ad my mother dies...”

“I am... an abomination. A bad omen. For his own good... I must leave my brother.”

With that thought, Abhay walked out of his house, not even looking back when he heard his name being called by the weak, sickly voice of his younger brother.

(Monday, February 25, 2008)

Chukizo was a few months old at the time.

She was lounging around in the den, surrounded by two of her brothers; the third one had gone to get a drink of water. The only female of the litter had shrugged at that. He'd be lucky to find a drop of drinkable liquid in the desert, unless he dared to go as far as the western oasis.

She sat bolt upright.

“No way... he's not stupid enough to do that, is he?” she thought.

For the past few weeks, animals had been... vanishing at the oasis. No one knew why. Some said that it was the water itself, some said it was a water demon striking back at the pride for allowing the abomination and her brothers to live... but no one could offer an actual explanation as to what was going on.

“But he'd see it as the quickest, surest way to get water... I'd better not wake anyone else up, in case I'm wrong. Besides... they wouldn't care anyway.”

As quietly as she could, Chukizo left the den, and sure enough, in the far distance, she could see the diminutive figure of her brother plodding along towards the oasis.

“Oh no,” she said out loud, but even if she shouted at the top of her lungs, her brother wouldn't hear him.

After all, he was deaf.

Chukizo was actually the only one in the litter that didn't have some sort of disability; though of course, the rest of the pride treated them all like there was something irreversibly wrong with them. Besides her one brother who was deaf, another was severely mentally handicapped, and the last one had weakened jaw muscles.

Even at her age, the tigon understood that it probably had something to do with their mixed parentage. But that didn't help her brother who could hardly move his jaw at all. As soon as he was too old to drink milk... he'd starve... because he wouldn't be able to eat meat. Not in his state.

She'd managed to explain it to both of her other brothers with difficulty. The deaf one had just looked terribly sad, but the other one... he'd cried for hours, and the worst thing was, there was no one to comfort him but two other freaks.

The female tigon ran as fast as she could after her deaf brother. But he was already over a mile away; and for a big cat cub, that was quite a distance. By the time the panting, gasping Chukizo came within view of her brother again, he was already starting to lap up water with his scratchy pink tongue.

She was only twenty yards away, by now, but even shouting for him at this distance would do no good.

Suddenly, the tigon saw something that she'd never seen before. But, somehow, she knew what it was... and what it was doing.

Two large, slimy, green eyes had popped out of the water not two feet from her brother, and the look that they contained could only be described as... hungry.

“Ziwi, look out!” Chukizo screamed, and incredibly, her brother looked up, giving his sister a surprised grin.

A pair of gigantic, scaled jaws with a seemingly ubiquitous amount of yellowed, sharp, dagger-like teeth seemed to fly out of the water, opening so wide that it looked to Chukizo as if they could crush the entire world in their cruel embrace.

Ziwi was thrust up into the air by the sheer force of the attack, and it was with a squeal that he managed to look at his sister, as if trying to tell her, “Save me.”

But there was nothing Chukizo could do.

The huge jaws clamped down together. A gruesome crack was heard, and the female watched as her brother's life ended, just like that; snuffed out in with one terrible move. Even as blood splattered on Chukizo's shocked face, she couldn't do anything but stare.

It was only after the twenty-something foot long crocodile had slithered back into the water that she managed a strangled yell. Chukizo made to jump into the water, but stopped herself. Ziwi... was gone. And nothing she could do would ever bring him back.

The female li-tigon heard a malicious grin from behind her, and turned around. There, laying down across the sand, was her and Ziwi's mother.

“Ah... that was funny, wasn't it, little one?” she said, smirking at Chukizo.

Tears ran down the cub's cheeks.

“Mom... how can you say that? He was your son,” Chukizo managed to gasp as she cried.

“So what?” the lioness said, shrugging.

“It's not like I loved him. And the same goes for you, you little freak,” she said, baring her teeth at her daughter.

But Chukizo could only cry harder. Her heart was weary from watching her brother get eaten in front of her, and even more from having impressed upon her once again just how hated they both were.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, the li-tigon saw movement, and jumped as far away from the water as she could. She felt sharp, bloody teeth just kiss the side of her torso as she tumbled across the sand, and saw that the same crocodile glared at her, as if to say, “Next time.”

The cub heard her mother seethe, and watched as she walked away, tail flittering over the dune.

“Rats.”

It was Mufasa's first day as King.

His father, Ahadi, had passed away, quietly, the day before. And though the tan lion shed many a tear, he couldn't help but notice that Scar's pained expression seemed rather, well... exaggerated.

His mind racing both with the death of his father and the seeming lack of care that his brother had shown about it, he'd barely paid attention to his crowning, at which Sarabi stood faithfully by his side, while Scar was off to the back; close to the greatness of his brother, but never too close.

Nightfall.

The entire Pride Lands seemed to be sleeping. And the King couldn't blame them. The ceremony was very tiring, and there was a truce... no animal was to predate any other until dawn of the next day. In fact, many animals that would normally be considered prey to the lions had elected to sleep not fifty yards from Pride Rock, showing their loyalty and trust to their new King.

It would be hard to sneak past them all.

“Scar... wake up,” Mufasa whispered, tapping Scar on the shoulder.

The dark lion instantly got to his feet, not even rubbing his eyes to wake himself up.

“What is it, brother?” he asked, looking around for a way to serve Mufasa, his King.

“I'd like to talk to you.”

Though confused, and a little bit nervous, Scar knew better than to refuse. So he merely nodded, and waited for Mufasa to move first before following him out and away from Pride Rock.

They walked together for a full two miles in silence before Mufasa spoke. Scar was next to him, kind of, never quite neck and neck with his brother, always a step or so behind.

“How do you think, brother, that I will be as a King? Will I live up to Father?” Mufasa asked.

It was partially a genuine question, as he really was interested in how his brother viewed him. But the tan lion also meant to find out exactly what Taka thought about the late Ahadi.

“You will be a thousand times as great as our father, Mufasa. After all... I cannot imagine you practically abandoning your second-born.”

Mufasa stopped in his tracks, and turned to Scar. Never had he really thought on his father's treatment, or lack thereof, to his brother.

Taka took the motion the wrong way, and suddenly bowed down.

“I'm sorry, brother. It's not my place to criticize Father. Especially, now that he's gone.”

The King didn't know what to say.

“Scar... did he really treat you like that?”

But Mufasa already knew the answer. He thought back to how, over the years, he'd never seen Ahadi give even a single kind word or pat on the back, metaphorical or physical, to his brother.

But the sad nod that his brother gave him reemphasized his fears.

“Brother... I don't know what to say.”

Taka looked off into the distance.

“Mufasa, there is nothing to say. I have lived life without a father, so his death yesterday meant little to me. Except, of course, that with my great brother as King... perhaps, for just a few months... I could take the throne, as well?”

The King closed his eyes, and in the darkness of the night, no one could see the lone tear that leaked from his eye to softly hit the ground. So... the whole thing was a set up. Scar's ploy to take the throne for himself.

“Brother... are you—”

Scar was cut off when he suddenly found himself pinned to the ground, at the mercy of Mufasa's heavy paws.

“Why, Taka... why would you try to take advantage of our brotherhood like this? You ask the impossible!” the King whispered.

After a long while, the dark lion felt the great weight on him ease up, and looked to see his brother walking away.

“He's upset by the death of Father, and overwhelmed by his sudden rise to the throne. I have faith in him,” he thought.

“I must.”

Freak was confused. He didn't know what to do.

The four lions were drinking at one side of the water hole, the four Outland hyenas at their side. Usiku and his daughter were a little farther off to the side as well, but the li-tigon knew that if he stayed too close, the Pride Landers might forget their promise.

So he walked around to the far side of the lake, and started to carefully sip at some water. Every now and then, he'd look up to make sure that the others were keeping their distance. But after a while, he relaxed, and drank his fill. He looked up, seeing that the others were preparing to leave.

So the li-tigon cautiously approached the lions, making sure that he always kept them in between him and the hyenas.

“What am I supposed to do now?” he bluntly inquired, unsure of what else to say.

Though everybody glared at him, Freak held, waiting for Simba to answer.

“Well... I guess we have to introduce you to the rest of the Pride. You four,” he said, looking at the hyenas, “are welcome to stay in our spare den, as are you, Usiku of the Bloody Shadows, along with your daughter.”

The black hyena curtly nodded. Now that his assignment had been aborted, he had no desire to start the long journey back to the Bloody Shadows. Perhaps not ever. After all, that's rather why he'd come to the Pride Lands...

Freak nodded as well, and walked alongside the group back to Pride Rock. Sort of. He never went closer than twenty feet from the lions, especially since Kovu had tactfully placed himself between the li-tigon and Kiara.

The group marched to the huge, earthy structure in silence. Kovu was torn between his desire to attack Freak, the knowledge that he'd certainly lose, and the fact that Simba had guaranteed the li-tigon's safety. Kiara was greatful that her mate was okay, but more than a little wary of Freak. Nala didn't like the arrangements, but trusted Simba's judgment. Barely. The four hyenas formerly of the Outlands knew that now, as loyal subjects of their King, they would never harm a hair of the li-tigon's body. But that didn't mean that they'd forgive him. Usiku was of course bound by his code of honor, and like the other hyenas, wouldn't directly, physically harm Freak, but would not hesitate to take other actions that would lead to his death. Uvuli was scared of the li-tigon, plain and simple.

And Simba... he was starting to second-guess himself.

“It's dangerous to keep him here. He could kill us in our sleep... no, I don't think he would. He seems like a pragmatist. He has no reason to kill us, so he wouldn't. But still... we don't know enough about him to make a good enough judgment.”

“So, cousin,” Freak looked up, realizing that Simba was referring to him, “how was life in the Jungle?”

The li-tigon thought, for a moment, while the other beings perked up their ears, waiting for the answer.

“Hard. Hard, and painful.”

“Lonely,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

It was true. Every now and again, the li-tigon had felt the need for company, though those desires had slowly subsided with the passage of years. But even so, and even despite living a life in practical solitude, Freak knew that something was missing; even if he didn't know what it was.

The Lion King flinched at the abrupt, brutal answer.

“Um... what sort of prey did you hunt here?” he asked, curious.

Simba figured that since the lionesses of his pride always worked with each another to take down larger animals, such as zebra, Freak would be restricted to preying upon smaller animals.

“Anything that I find. Zebras, antelope, an occasional hippo, lemurs, monkeys, birds, lizards... too many to mention. If it moves, I've probably eaten it or something like it.”

This time, Kiara spoke up. Her voice was one of wonderment and confusion, much to the disapproval of her mother and her mate.

“How on Earth did you kill zebras, antelopes, and hippos on your own?”

Freak blinked.

“I don't understand your question,” he said, glancing halfway to look at the young, tan lioness.

“Well, you see,” said Nala this time, “we hunt in groups. That's the only way we can take down big prey like that. A gazelle is pretty much the limit of a lone lion. Anything beyond that... is either risky or suicidal,” she ended flatly.

“In that case... necessity has forced me to do those things. There was never anyone else to help me hunt. So I had to do it myself. It was the only way for me to live.”

Nala and Kiara seemed to understand that. Both nodded, then continued walking towards Pride Rock. He'd answered the question, just... without any personality. It seemed like he was merely narrating the events of his life from a third-person perspective.

Kovu spoke now, his anger at Freak seemingly forgotten. At least for the moment.

“How did you live like that? I mean... you must have gotten injured at least a few times.”

But it was Usiku who answered, albeit with another question.

“As lions of the Pride Land, I am sure you are aware of pythons and cobras, as well as the distinct methods in which they hunt?” the black hyena interjected, gaining confused stares, then nods from the lions.

“Well... in the Jungle, there is, or was, a terrible beast. Longer than the longest python I have ever seen, but worse, it was venomous, and deadly fast. Would you believe that this freak managed to kill it when he was still only a cub? True, he probably would have died if Mganga hadn't stepped in. But the fact remains... he managed to kill that horrible serpent, alone, before his first year passed.”

Even the assassin's voice had taken on a rather impressed tone when he said this. He quickly noticed this, and prodded his daughter so that she'd walk faster. The baby giggled, stuck out her tongue at her father, and ran ahead a little bit.

“Wow...” said all other beings, excluding, of course, Ed, who maintained his goofy expression.

Freak shrugged.

“I had to. It was cutting me off from the rest of the Jungle, and killing my prey. Also... I had to know that I was strong.”

Simba chuckled.

“Well, there's no doubt about that now,” he said, grinning, despite the li-tigon's expressionless muzzle.

“You said that your mother was... Chukizo?” he shuddered at that; hardly capable of imagining why any mother or father would name their daughter such a horrible word.

“Yes.”

“...How do you know? You said you only spent a few minutes with her. Come to that, if that's true, then how did you survive until you were able to eat meat? How did you get milk?”

“I remember,” Freak said simply.

“I killed mothers and took milk from their bodies. Once, I tried asking. It didn't go well...” he thought back to the terrible experience with the lemur.

T gasped.

“That's terrible!” she said, and her fellow hyenas seemed to agree.

But the li-tigon shrugged again.

“I didn't enjoy it. But I had to live. There was no other way,” he struggled to explain; for some reason, he didn't want them to hate him more than they already did.

Shenzi seemed to nod, before she growled suddenly.

“And lemme guess... you din't enjoy killin' off our family, too?” she said, accusingly.

Freak slowly, almost sadly shook his head.

“No... I didn't. They struck first. I... did what I had to. I had to live,” he halting spoke.

“Don't gimme that bullshit,” sneered Banzai, and for a moment, Usiku covered his daughter's ears with his paws at the use of such obscene language.

“They wouldn'ta done anything like that, not unless you did somethin' first, ya punk motherfucker!”

Though Shenzi agreed with the sentiment, she and Usiku growled at the male's harsh language. Banzai glared back for a moment, then looked down, muttering an apology. Then, the female spoke up.

“He's right. What did you do to them?” she demanded.

“Nothing but what I had to. I ate, and they starved. They found me, and attacked. That's all there is. I didn't provoke them. In fact, I even tried to talk them out of it. But they attacked me regardless...” Freak finished, not willing to say exactly what he'd done to try to talk the other hyenas into leaving him alone.

“Though... this could work to my advantage. Simba seems not to know what the hyenas were planning. Which means that I could use it against these four...”

The li-tigon's face was as expressionless as ever.

The hyenas, minus Usiku and Uvuli, growled in unison, but said no more. They were being emotional, and they knew it. They'd leave Freak alone... but they never intended to forgive him.

But T, being younger and less cynical than the other hyenas, continued to ask questions.

“What, exactly, are you?” she asked, bluntly saying what everyone was thinking.

“A freak,” the li-tigon simply answered.

“...Do you really believe that?”

“Every being that I've met has told me so.”

The young female struggled to wrap her mind around the concept of being so looked down upon. It was one thing to be feared as a threat, or even hated as a predator... but something else entirely to be truly detested as a freak.

“...But do you believe it?”

“I don't understand your question.”

T looked at Shenzi for help articulating what she knew that the older female was wondering as well. After all... they'd been through so much together that they could practically read each another's minds. The same went for Banzai and Ed, too.

Though Shenzi pointedly refused to look at Freak, she spoke up.

“She means... do ya really think that yer a freak, regardless o' what others say?”

The li-tigon paused, thinking.

“Yes.”

Banzai was confused by the answer. Throughout the conversation, he, like the lions, had been trying to figure out Freak, trying to spot an Achilles Heel, of sorts. But the curt answer made him look over at the li-tigon.

“Wait, what? How da Hell could ya go through life like dat?”

Freak shrugged.

“I came to accept it. It... caused me pain... sometimes, when they called me Freak. But it's not the kind of pain that any other injury I've had causes. I don't know how to explain it.”

Though the li-tigon had never felt sadness, or any real emotion, he did, from time to time, go through a physical reaction that substituted the emotions that he'd never known. It was beyond his explanation. He wouldn't feel threatened or hurt, not physiologically, but he'd feel actual pain in his gut, in some extreme situations.

For the first time, he spoke without being prompted.

“It was shortly after I killed the snake... I thought, that since I destroyed him and the fear that was associated with the Dark Zone, where he lived, that the other animals might come to accept me. To see me as...”

He shook his head. He didn't know the word to express his mistaken hopes.

“Until then, I'd lived in the shadows. I didn't allow anyone to see me and live. But it was hard, like that, and I wanted to be able to walk through my home without having to look to see if someone else was there.”

“I called for all of the animals in the area, knowing that word of my existence would spread fast. They gathered around me... I should have known then, from the way they stared at me, that they'd never accept me. But I told them what I'd done, that the Dark Zone was now no more dangerous than any other part of the Jungle.”

“I thought that that they would thank me...”

“But they only glared at me more. One monkey told me that I was a thousand times worse than the snake, because I was not a son of the Circle of Life. He told me... I was a freak. That nature didn't want for me to exist. Others joined in. Very soon, every animal was cursing me, calling me an abomination, telling me to die. I don't know why... but I wanted to kill them... but I had the snake for food. To strike at them would be... illogical. Wrong.”

“That event reinforced what I've known since birth... everyone is a threat.”

Freak abruptly shut up. A strange, raw ache was forming in the back of his throat. It was because due to a lifetime of virtually no use, his vocal chords weren't strong enough for the demands suddenly placed on them.

Kiara spoke after a moment of absolute silence. The more the group spoke to Freak, the more twisted and disturbing his life seemed.

“You said you've been alone since your mother died. Were you born alone? Don't you have any brothers or sisters?”

Litters of one were not rare, but more common were litters of at least two or three. After all... life was hard, and in general, only 50% of lion cubs grow to adulthood.

(Note: that probably isn't true in real life, but this is a fan fiction.)

Freak nodded.

“I had a sister. But my mother killed her when she had just been born.”

Nala, shocked, spoke up. Being a mother herself, she couldn't possibly understand why any animal would want to kill their own child.

“Why would she do that?” the lioness gasped, walking a little closer to Simba.

“Because... she didn't want her to live a life of hardship. She tried to kill me, too, but I didn't understand her at the time. So I dodged it She tried to kill me again, and I dodged that to. Her final strike... gave me this scar,” the li-tigon said, gesturing at the horrific wound that streaked across his eye.

“If I'd known that she was doing it out of love...”

Freak trailed off. He'd never really thought about what might have happened if he'd understood his mother's intentions. Would he still have let her mercy-kill him? Or would he have resisted anyway?

After a while, Simba stammered a question that he'd been wondering since the li-tigon took Kovu hostage.

“You said you don't care about anyone... did you love her back?”

“I don't understand your—”

“It's very simple, son of Scar,” said Kovu, getting a little impatient with the li-tigon's naivety, “what feelings do you have for your mother?” he ended, thinking of his own mother.

“She... I don't know what to think of her. She cared for me. But that was only because she saw me as a weapon against Simba. Her tool to use to avenge Scar. I was no son to her.”

“But I don't know how I feel about her, now that she's gone...”

“I don't know. She loved me, and after trying to kill me, let me drink her milk. She's the only female that's ever let me do that... and if she hadn't right then and there, I would have died. But she still tried to kill me. I don't know how to answer.”

The lions seemed satisfied with that. And they were closing in on Pride Rock. The other lionesses woke up, and came growling towards the group, seeing as how they were flanked by a strange-looking big cat with injuries all over him, an assassin of the Bloody Shadows with his daughter, and four of the hyenas that they'd long forgotten about.

Though the five adult hyenas and Uvuli had the sense to stand down and appear as non-threatening as possible, Freak knew only how to meet force with force. After all, earlier that day when he'd tried talking his way out of a conflict, it had failed. So the li-tigon growled back, almost roaring, and prepared to fight for his life.

Unfortunately, this took the attention off of the hyenas and made the other lionesses concentrate solely on Freak. They started to close in, some surrounding him, others moving in head on. A battle seemed inevitable...

Suddenly, the Lion King roared, making the li-tigon jump, a little, but instantly defusing the situation. The lionesses stopped advancing, and they waited for Simba to explain.

“He's a friend. My cousin. Our brother. He is not to be harmed,” the tan lion said, looking each lioness in the eye, and seeing no dissent.

They slowly looked from Freak to the hyenas, wondering why on Earth they were accompanying their King, and an obvious assassin, back to Pride Rock.

“These hyenas... are now welcome in the Pride Lands. As is Usiku of the Bloody Shadows, and his daughter Uvuli.”

The lionesses relaxed when they realized that Usiku was a son of the Bloody Shadows. After all, Simba had a favor owed to him by the leader of that land, and though they didn't know why; they did know that no assassin of the Bloody Shadows would ever harm him nor one of his Pride.

Usiku, however, had to stifle a grin when he saw them calm down.

“If only they knew... I no longer consider myself Usiku of the Bloody Shadows. I am now only Usiku... that accursed, backwards land, built on the back of my so-called father deserves neither my allegiance or my trust.”

“Your cousin?” asked one perceptive lioness.

Simba nodded.

“He's my father's brother's son. Scar's son.”

There was an audible gasp, followed by an inaudible wave of hatred that Freak felt wash over him. But he didn't care. He was used to it.

“He looks... just like Scar,” said Vitani, and Kovu nodded, agreeing with his sister.

“Be that as it may,” said the Lion King, with an edge in his voice, “he's family. Not to be harmed. He is welcome here.”

Vitani nodded at that, as did the other lionesses. But the ex-Outlanders hated Scar more thoroughly than anyone else. And if this being was his son... they didn't know if they could ever truly accept him. Alongside Freak's unwanted presence, the hyenas's sudden reintroduction to the Pride Lands hardly even registered with them. All of their attention... was on hating the li-tigon.

One old lioness caught a glimpse of him as a cloud covered part of the sun, changing the lighting of the Pride Lands. For a brief second, his charcoal black stripes were visible, but it was so quick that it was almost like it never happened. But when Freak turned, locking eyes with her, she knew.

Msafiri suddenly stepped forward, growling, even as the other lionesses quirked their heads at this sudden turn of events. The li-tigon, however, merely sat down and looked at her, curious as to why she was disobeying Simba's orders when no one else was.

“You, stranger... who, or what, are you? Who was your mother?” she demanded, even as Simba glared at her for speaking out of turn.

“My name is Freak, and that is what I am. My mother was Chukizo, though I am not sure of her—”

The li-tigon suddenly ducked low, extending his claws, as the ancient, foreigner-looking lioness suddenly lunged at him and took a swipe at his face. Before she hit the ground, Freak had jumped on her back, pinning her down, but not delivering a fatal bite or claw.

The Asiatic lioness coughed as she felt the li-tigon's heavy form crush her to the ground. She struggled to get free, but could hardly flail her paws about in front of her, much less escape or attack the li-tigon.

“What is the meaning of this? I said that he's not to be harmed!” Simba roared, walking towards Msafiri.

Still, she struggled, and managed to scrape Freak's forearm. At that, he growled, batting her heavily on the back of the head, hard enough to smash her muzzle into the ground and make her see stars. The Lion King roared again at that.

“That's enough!”

After a moment, Msafiri finally stopped struggling, though in her eyes was enough hatred to make the other lionesses flinch when they looked at their old sister.

“Now... Msafiri... why would you attack Freak like that?”

The lioness growled, struggling for a moment again, until a louder growl from Simba and more pressure on the back of her neck from the li-tigon calmed her down.

“His mother... the accursed abomination, Chukizo... killed my son, Simba. He was only a cub... but the suffering that she wrought upon him must have put him through enough pain to make an assassin of the Bloody Shadows beg for mercy.”

Usiku blinked in surprise at that. That colloquialism... was only used in the Bloody Shadows themselves. This strange lioness must have been there for quite some time to pick it up, around some very unsavory characters...

Simba didn't know what to say. Long had Msafiri held that an abomination had taken all she cared for from her. But never had he suspected that she was talking about her cub's death, at the paw of another big cat...

Suddenly, the Asiatic lioness struggled harder than ever, and Freak opened his jaws, intending to end her then and there...

“No... don't do it,” said the King, and the li-tigon held back, barely.

“She's lived a hard life as well. Killing her, it would serve no purpose. But Msafiri... he's not his mother. So he'd not responsible for what she did. No matter how,” he shuddered, “terrible it was.”

She growled, but managed to restrain herself, and even assume a humble air.

“Yes... yes... you're right, Simba,” she said with a sob, “he is not his mother. And if you can forgive him for being the son of Scar... then I can forgive him for being the son of Chukizo.”

Despite her words... the lioness's thoughts were rather different.

“I shall avenge you, son. And if Simba stands in my way... then he'll have to fall, too.”

“Yes...” said Simba with a pang.

The pain of losing his father to his uncle had never truly left him. Even these days, he'd sometimes wake up to a nightmare of his father falling down into the stampede while in this distance, Scar laughed.

“Freak... let her go. It's time for us all to forgive and forget,” he said meaningfully.

The li-tigon considered for a moment, but slowly, cautiously got up, allowing the Asiatic to get to her feet. She glared at him for a moment, then looked to the ground, remembering that she had to play her part... at least for a while.

But she couldn't possibly expect what the Lion King said next.

“Now... nuzzle each other.”

Msafiri growled, but backed down at the glares she got from the rest of the Pride. Meanwhile, Freak just looked confused. He spoke, but didn't turn his vision from the Asiatic for a second.

“What does it mean to nuzzle?” he asked, his hateful eyes burning holes into the lioness's skull.

Simba sighed.

“Show him, Msafiri.”

Slowly, grudgingly, the old, wrinkled lioness came forward to within inches of Freak. He growled as their whiskers flickered past one another, and extended his claws. Resisting the temptation to bite his neck right there, knowing that he might well be able to fight her off even then; even without the aid of the Pride, Msafiri forced herself to rub up against him. As her point of view changed, she realized that his stripes were in the exact same pattern of a being that she'd long forgotten...

“It can't be... that tiger...”

Karma's a bitch.