Chapter 11 11: The final peace

[1st POV] (Seven months old) On this fine morning where the cool atmosphere and the heat of the sun create the perfect weather, I made my way towards Scar's den with a rabbit. After my first successful hunt, I only got better at catching rabbits. Just this morning, I caught not just one but two rabbits. One of them I already ate while the other was hanging from my jaw. I saw Scar lying on top of a massive mound of rock when I entered the cave. He was nursing his own wounds before he turned to me with curious eyes. I dropped the rabbit on the ground to speak, "Good morning, Uncle Scar." Scar remained quiet, his eyes fixed on me with vivid intensity. I guess I couldn't blame him since he was not in good shape, and I was partly to blame for it. Long story short, Mufasa went to Scar after what happened with Simba in the elephant graveyard. The king was not so dumb that he couldn't connect the dots after I specifically told him that Scar was the one to tell Simba about the elephant graveyard. The king was not happy at all with the conclusion he came to. So he roughed up the weaker lion and put him in his place. Scar was injured and had not left his den for a few days now. "What are you doing here, Leo?" he asked me with a measured tone. "Did you come here to show off your kill?" From how he was reacting to my presence, I think he did not blame me for what happened. Instead, all his hatred and ire was focused on Mufasa himself, not an unassuming cub. That was good for me. That was great for me. "I heard what happened," I said, and silence followed. He stared at me, studying my expression for a long time. Perhaps he was expecting me to mock him or pity him. I did neither. "Here, I brought this for you," I said and pushed the dead rabbit with my paws. This time, his eyes became wider with surprise. Lions were very selfish and greedy when it came to food even amongst their own pride. So giving an outsider food was unheard of. It might not seem much from my humane perspective, but to a lion, this was the rawest way one could show affection and goodwill. The only time other lions did something similar was when a mother gave food to her cubs. "You're giving that to me?" he asked, dumbfounded. "Yeah, I figured you'd need it more than I do," I said. But my answer did not satisfy him, he shook his head and asked again. "Are you sure? But you're selfish and greedy when it comes to food." That made me thoughtful for a few seconds before I lowered my head to bite at the leg of the rabbit. I pushed the rabbit with my paws while pulling it with my jaw. The right leg of the rabbit tore off with a snap. I chewed the meat for a while. The sound echoed through the silent cave like I was doing an asmr. Scar simply watched me with an expression that said. 'Really?' I swallowed with a satisfied gulp. "Okay, you can have the rest," "There's still a lot more meat to go there," Scar said, unimpressed. "Just take it before I change my mind again," I said and turned around to leave. "I'll try to bring more if I can. Get well soon, Uncle Scar." I did not wait for a response and left the den immediately. I've seen and done what I needed, so there was no need to stay. I did not like being in his vicinity much. It was like being in the presence of a criminal who might stab you if you looked him wrong. My relationship with him was built on sheer caution. After leaving Pride Rock, I head back toward the plains where Simba was waiting for me. I had been spending a lot of time with my brother recently. Now you might be asking why I did what I did. Why did I give my hard-earned food to Scar? Did I truly feel bad about being the reason for his injury? Have I come to care for the evil lion after interacting with him multiple times? The answer was, fuck no. Who do you think I am, Jesus? Lion Jesus? Wait, that's Aslan. The true reason why I was doing this was to make sure I stayed on his good side. Because, believe it or not, that evil cat was about to become the King of Pride Lands. Whether I like it or not, it will happen. I could not stay beside Simba 24/7, and I could not give advice or warnings to the King without it being disregarded. So if the canon really happened and Scar became King, I needed him to like me enough that he would let me live. Or in the best-case scenario, let me continue living among the pride. Besides, it was always a good idea to stay on the good side of a possible king. ... ... ///////////////// Here I was, on another fine morning, trying my best to abuse the rabbit hunting glitch that I discovered not too long ago. But I was not too hopeful today because of the person I brought with me. "Wait for it... wait for it..." I said, but Simba kept moving. It was like a moment of pause would literally kill him. "Patience...patience...NO!!!!-" But he jumped anyway. The timing was off by a mile, it was still too early to jump out from the bush. The prey had more than enough time and distance to escape. The rabbit ran and Simba chased after it. They moved quickly through the plains, but ultimately, the rabbit dived into its burrow, and Simba got his head stuck in the hole in his lame attempt to follow it underground. "Truly, you have the patience of a dying animal," I said while walking up to him. He pulled out his head after a few struggles and tried to dig the hole, but to no avail. "Give up, most burrows go too deep to simply dig out," I said, and Simba finally stopped with a fed-up huff. "This is so annoying!! I don't know how you are so good at this, Leo," Simba said. "It's not that difficult when you have patience," I said with a shrug. I was not actually too sad that we lost the prey. The pride had a meal yesterday so I was still full. "You're weird, you know that right? Our mother and every adult in the pride said you would be horrible at hunting yet here you are. You are the first among the cubs to catch their own prey," Simba said honestly. "Sometimes... Sometimes I wish I could be a little more like you," he admitted with a sigh. He didn't look at me when he said that. Just stared down at the dug-up dirt like it had all the answers. I digested his words carefully. Those were big words coming from Simba, and I knew it. "Well, no need to sulk over it. It's not like kings need to hunt anyway. Your job will be to protect the pride and the kingdom," I said. "I guess," he answered. The relationship between us could be better. We were brothers only in blood. The sheer favouritism shown to him made sure that we could never be truly equal, like brothers were supposed to. But that didn't mean that I hated him. It was quite the opposite actually. I like Simba and consider him to be someone close, even though he could be childish at times. Which was the reason why I wished I could stop what was about to happen. But I had neither the power nor the competence to change fate. What I did back then was make sure fate takes its course, but changing it was a different matter. Even if I made sure Simba never followed Scar alone and let the stampede happen, I knew Scar would just find another way. Worst-case scenario, he might lead his hyenas to fight the lions out of desperation. I knew the lions would win, but I was sure I would be one of the unfortunate souls to die. I was still too weak. All I could do now is expect the worst and hope for the best. "Come, let's go to the watering hole," I said and turned. "What are we going to do in the watering hole?" he asked. "I don't know, watch some crocodiles eat other animals?" I said. "Just leave the rabbit; they're not coming out anytime soon." Simba trotted up beside me, grumbling, but his eyes lit up at the thought of crocodiles. He was easy to distract. Easy to love. I had a feeling that these few days would be the last and happiest moments of my childhood. I knew of the disaster that was coming upon us. What I didn't know was just how right I was. ... ... [IMAGE] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join my patreon to read ahead. Pat : Emmanuel_Capricorn