this!" snapped Simba, his voice almost a roar, but too broken to bring it out. "Where are the cubs?!"

Zira smiled a fur bristling smile. "I assure you I don't know what you're talking about."

This statement and the way Zira said it practically told Simba she had done something to do with his son and Kula's. Then he realised with a gasp that there were blood streaks on her paws. Nala noticed it too, and shivered. It can't be... they must have been hunting... but why this early? And wouldn't the rest of her lionesses have any signs of a hunt on them?

This made Zira's smile spread even further. "Noticed? I think it looks pretty good on me."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??!!" screamed Nala, almost throwing herself at the striped lioness.

"Avenged Scar! That's what I've done!!!" snapped Zira, resisting the temptation to throw herself onto the lions before her. "You killed our king! MY king!! Your little brat deserved what he got! I merely returned the favour!!"

Nala cried out and sank to the ground, sobbing hard. Simba was at loss of what to do or say, he just froze and tried to take it all in. His son...gone...no...it couldn't be...

"What about Afua?" came a quiet voice, dreading the answer.

"I don't know, don't know who he is and don't care." Zira licked her blood stained paws casually.

"YOU LIAR!" shrieked Kula, tears coming to her eyes. She had done something to her baby, she knew it.

"Hang on..." muttered Zira, pausing for a moment."Was he that slightly darker one? I seem to remember another cub."

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM??!!"

"To be honest, I don't remember. Silly idiot tried to stop me I think," At this they noticed Zira's bleeding ear, and a chunk missing from it. “ ‘Might’ve crushed him, whacked him off, bit him, clawed... same thing really."

Then Kula too almost sank to the ground like Nala. The other lionesses comforted them and each other. Grief took over them all for the two young lives. Simba was still dumbstruck, the grief had come in too quickly. He had lost another family member... he just couldn't take it.

"Simba...Our baby..." sobbed Nala, completely broken down.

"How does it feel, Simba, to lose a loved one?" said Zira, her words low but piercing like her claws, "This is what I felt when you killed my Scar!"

Simba didn't even have the heart to deny it and tell her once again that his own hyenas had killed him.

"Coward..." he muttered.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're a coward, Zira. Why don't you just come at me? No, instead you murder innocent children! That's cowardly, even for you Zira!"

"It's definitely not cowardly to make you feel this pain, Simba. The pain I experienced was overwhelming. I didn't know what I'd do. There was nothing to do...an emptiness inside, right Simba? Oh, and to make you feel it AGAIN is just even better. Feel the pain, Simba. You wouldn't recommend it to anyone else, would you? It's worse than dying, isn't it? You see, dear Simba, I'm no coward. Now spend the rest of your days in this pain and guilt that you could've stopped it. Mind you, those days won't be long, for I'll get you too some day, Simba. Trust me."

These words would have spooked anyone out, but Simba had such a mixture of grief, anger and misery inside him that he ignored them completely.

"Get out." He said, raising his head to show his tear stained face full of rage. "Get out...NOW."

Some of the lionesses stepped forward, growling and snarling fiercely.

"Oh, I'll go Simba. But I'll be back. You'll be looking over your shoulder until then. That is a promise."  said Zira, grinning evilly then turning round. "Let's go, girls. Leave King Simba to drown in his grief, like we did!"

The rest of her lionesses made to leave as Simba shouted after them.

"IF YOU EVER COME BACK, YOU'LL BE PUNISHED SEVERELY!"

"Understood, your majesty." mocked Zira again, then disappeared among the trees and bushes. Simba bent down and nuzzled Nala. He had let this happen...and now Kopa was dead. He had failed to protect his son. If he had simply exiled Zira, this would never have happened. Then he thought of his other younger child, Kiara. He would do everything he could to keep her safe, no matter what. He wouldn't fail again.

Chapter 5:

What everyone didn’t know was that Kopa survived all the difficulties put before him. He was dragged with the river, and just as he was entering the rapids, kicking in desperation, trying to get to shore, a lion that happened to be walking along the river spotted him and jumped in. He grabbed the cub by the scruff on his neck and dragged him to safety.

Later, when Kopa had fully recovered and taken in what was around him, the lion introduced himself as Malka, a rogue. He had infact just arrived in these lands, as long ago, when Scar banned the communication between the two prides, he eventually sent hyenas to attack Malka’s pride and gain the land. The whole pride was massacred, except for Malka and his mum, who had managed to escape. This happened without the lionesses knowing, and Scar was especially driven to this decision by finding out that the lionesses were going to smuggle Chumvi and Tojo, two male cubs, to the other pride because they were a threat to the throne and they were afraid that Scar was going to kill them. Unfortunately, Scars hyenas got ahead of the lionesses and had killed the two cubs near the border on the night that they tried to leave. [Malka was hit hard by this news when Simba and Nala told him, as they were also his cubhood friends.] The cubs wouldn’t have survived anyway, because Malka’s pride was already gone, and two little cubs were no match for the cruelness of nature.

Malka and his mother had escaped by a hairline, and went to live somewhere else, far away. Malka wanted to go to the Pridelands, to finally find out what was going on. When he was younger, and nothing was heard from Pride Rock for some time, some members of his pride had tried to go there and find out what was going on, only to find hyenas patrolling borders and the news that the great king Mufasa and his son were dead, and that Scar had taken over.  From then on, no one tried to go against the hyenas, and Malka’s pride stayed in their lands, until Scar and his hyenas attacked.

When Simba returned and Scar’s reign ended, the pride tried to find Malka’s pride again, but by then, there was not a living soul in their lands, and Malka was far away. The pridelanders decided to leave the other pride’s lands alone and separate, in memory of the pride that used to live there. Malka’s mother had wanted nothing to do with the monsters that had destroyed their pride, and wasn’t going to risk her son’s life to find out the truth. They found some land far away to live, and when Malka’s mother eventually grew old and passed away, he decided to go back to the Pridelands, to finally quench his thirst for answers.

On his way there, almost at the border, Malka met Kopa and helped him out of the water. Kopa thought that his friend, Afua, was dead and that it was his fault, and decided to live with Malka. He called himself Tanabi, the first name that came to his mind, and went on living like that. Malka sometimes made the vague connection between Kopa and the Pridelands, but never tried to take the truth out of him, as Kopa had obviously been through a lot. When Malka asked him about the Pridelands and told him he was going there, Kopa became saddened and frightened of going there. He was in such a state that Malka decided his trip would wait for later, and for now, he would take care of the cub further away.

Afua, meanwhile, had been taken in by a small family of rogues, and lived with them. Time passed, and one day, Afua decided to go back to the Pridelands, as much encouraged by his new family when he revealed who he was. Malka, too, decided that it was time to return, and that Kopa was ready to come. If he didn’t want to, he’d still be able to cope by himself while Malka was gone. After all, he was a grown lion now. Kopa told Malka he didn’t want to go, and why, revealing who he was and confirming Malka’s suspicions. Malka, however, thought it was time Kopa returned to his proper home, and stopped running from his problems. Eventually, Kopa agreed to come, and the two lions set off.

When Kopa and Malka got there, Kopa didn’t think he was ready, and despite Malka’s dying to get to Pride Rock and Kopa’s offers for him to keep going without him, Malka stayed with him and they retreated to Malka’s old pride’s lands. That was the day that Chaka and his friends saw Kopa. Malka and Kopa stayed where they were for a while, before unexpectedly meeting a long lost friend, Afua, who had also decided to go back. They each encouraged each other, as both friends thought the other was dead, and the three finally arrived at the Pridelands, where we last left our heroes.

So after this story was told, and the story of the two prides joining together thanks to Kovu and Kiara and Zira’s death, everyone went to sleep that night with all their questions and wonders of the past answered, though some had to think on it.

When almost everyone else was sound asleep in the cave, Simba and Kopa were sitting outside and looking at the moon and the stars. Simba couldn’t believe that his son was alive, after all these years, he was