“SHE’S GONNA EAT MEEE!!”
Simba’s ears twitched violently at the sound of the scream behind him. “Oh gods!” Turning about, he began to sprint, praying with all his heart he would arrive in time. As he neared, he heard the distinct snarl of a lioness closing in for the kill, and the sound was familiar indeed. His eyes narrowed as he rounded a corner and saw Pumbaa wedged under a tree root, scrabbling desperately for release.
That damned Sasha lied to me, he thought. Well, we’ll see who gets thrown out of whose territory NOW!
A terrible snarl erupted from him as he leapt over the root, floating through the air in a graceful leap. He descended rapidly, crashing down with terrifying force in front of the lioness as she slid to a stop, a look of total surprise on her face. Simba lashed out, snarling, noting that this was not Sasha after all, but another lioness, much younger, in fact. No matter.
Timon leapt with joy as Simba joined battle with a fury that shook the earth. “Get her! Bite her head!” He capered atop Pumbaa’s rump gleefully as the two titans thrashed about, paws whipping through the air in an awesome display of chained fury.
The lioness backed back, claws whipping around in an effort to lash his face, but his mane deflected the blows as he closed in. Gathering himself, Simba launched himself at her, jaws spreading as he prepared to seize her throat--
--and then he gave a startled “WHUFF!” of surprise as her feet sank into his belly, knocking the wind from him. The world spun crazily, and he found himself lying on his back, the lioness pinning him to the ground, her hot breath billowing in his face as she bared her fangs at his throat. Stricken, sure he would be dead in a few more seconds, he looked up to meet her gaze...and saw the brilliant green eyes staring into his.
He had seen those eyes in a thousand dreams. “Nala?!”
The snarling grimace of the lioness vanished, her face transforming from awesome rage into awesome beauty. Her jaw dropped and she backed away, crowding into a tree trunk and staring at the stranger before her. “Is it really you?”
She gazed at him suspiciously. Was it possible that Taka would send someone to follow her? Nonsense. A male such as this he would have killed outright, or at least driven off. “Who are you?”
“It’s me! Simba.”
“Simba?” The name rolled oddly off her tongue as she looked at him. Funny, she had known a cub by the same name when she was a child...her eyes widened as she looked into his face and SAW him, oh gods, he was ALIVE!
“WHOAAAAW! A simultaneous explosion of joy erupted from the two as they rubbed heads together in greeting, filling the air with a cacophony of confused questions.
“But how did you--”
“It’s GREAT to see you!”
“It’s good to see YOU!”
“I thought you were--”
“HEY! WHAT’S GOIN’ ON HERE?!”
Simba grinned and introduced his companions to Nala, chuckling at Timon’s utter confusion. His mirth was short lived, as Nala looked at him, her face serious.
“Wait till everyone finds out you’ve been HERE all this time! And your mother...what will she think?”
Simba felt a mad rush of panic that nearly overwhelmed him. “She doesn’t have to know. Nobody has to know.”
“Of course they do! Everyone thinks you’re dead!”
He looked at her, shocked. “They do?”
“Yeah.” She lowered her gaze sadly. “Scar told us about the stampede.” She glanced up tentatively, afraid to meet his gaze.
Simba was awash with cold fear. “He did? What else did he tell you?”
“What else matters?! You’re alive! And that means...” she looked at him, a new look of awe on her face mixed with newborn hope. “You’re the king.”
Simba froze into immobile stillness. He watched numbly as Timon and Pumbaa transformed before his eyes, looking at him like some new kind of insect they’d never seen before. Before Timon could embroil himself into an argument with Nala, he sighed deeply. “Maybe you’d better go.”
Timon gaped. “It starts. You THINK you know a guy...”
Simba watched them leave, then grinned shamefacedly at Nala. “Timon and Pumbaa. You learn to love ‘em.” He fell silent as he saw Nala with her back to him, looking as if she might begin weeping at any moment. He went to her and leaned against her shoulder comfortingly. “What? What is it?”
“It’s like you’re back form the dead,” she said quietly. “You don't know what this will mean to everyone. What it means to me--” Her voice threatened to betray her, and she silenced herself as years of dreams and hopes, things she had long forgotten and buried away in her mind now clamored for attention. She remembered playing with him long ago, cub games in the sweet grass fields of the Pride Lands where time stood still.
Simba nuzzled her tentatively. “Hey. It’s okay.”
Shaking with the years of memories that threatened to burst forth, she buried her head in his mane, rubbing her cheek firmly against him. “I’ve really missed you.”