12 days of Christmas!

SIMBA

"It's them..." I could hear the anticipation in Nalas's voice.

"yeah." I took a moment to scan the area. Four lionesses and only three hyenas. The odds were vastly in our favor. "Hey, let's head around. We can follow them."

"We'll be downwind of them, sure we won't get caught?" we made sure to keep our voices to the low whisper, as we stayed hidden in the tall grass.

" It's not windy we should be fine-"

"Alright keep it moving!" I looked over to the one hyenas who was speaking, he was missing an eye. The other two hardly stood out to me. They were just one of many of the same faces. "We ain't there yet." he bite at their heels. But the lionesses didn't move any faster. Down, deep in my memory, I knew failure to respond the way they wanted could only lead to one thing.

I watched as they slowly passed us with bated breath. " Wait...something's wrong." I turned to Nala, who wore a concerned look on her face. followed her eyes to see if I could see what she was talking about, but as I looked on. I just felt more confused I couldn't see anything. " My mom...look."

It took me a moment, but once I zoned in on the unmistakable similarities I knew I had found her. I guess something did seem off, from the way she was walking. she dragged slower than the rest, her head was down she seemed tired. She probably was. "I said move it!" the same one-eyed hyenas snapped at them. What was with him, they were already here. it's not like they had a fucking deadline to meet tonight.

And knowing how those hyenas are, they probably didn't let the lionesses sleep at all. They probably didn't feel safe enough to. Paranoia was likely the only thing that kept them going. The more the one eye hyena got closer to Nala's mother I could hear a steady growing growl escape from her throat. She was waiting for him to make a wrong move.

"Don't Nal, you'll break our cover."

"So my mother needs me."

"They hyena haven't made any serious moves yet-"

" It only takes ONE bite Simba." and that was true, despite their size hyenas damn near have the strongest bite on the African plane. They kill for fun, and they kill slowly. "we have to stop them now before some gets hurt-"

"Move your asses!"

"We're already here." a lioness I was not familiar with spoke. She seemed older as well, likely the same age as Sarafina, or my mother if she were still here. Then a sick curiosity hit me, what if one of these hyenas were the ones that killed my mother? it could have been any one of them, shit she could have been all of them. I didn't need to know all the details to have an idea of how her last moment went... "we're tired."

"Tough shit, feline!"

"look, we need to rest-"

"I said KEEP it moving!" I don't know who moved first. whether it was Sarafina who turned to walk away or the power-hungry hyena that wanted to throw his weight around. either way, what happened next went by fast. Nala was already charging out of the brushes, while her mother was still flying in the air from the headbutt of the hyena.

"Sara?!" a lioness screamed, I broke through the grass after Nala. I knew full damn well I wouldn't be able to stop her.

" MOM!" her sudden presence shocked both hyenas and lionesses alike. Before that one-eyed knew what hit him, Nala had attacked slammed him into the ground. Now everything was on alert. the lionesses grouped against the remaining two hyenas.

"The hell?!..." One said beyond confused. " we're under attack?!" but as quickly as we had surprised them with a sudden advantage, they quickly too regained their killer composure. the duo separating and attacking any limb that was biting, tearing, and snapping distance. "kill em!" but the duo quickly noticed how the tide of this battle was not on their side. Panicked they both split running in different directions. ugh!

" Simba!" my eyes darted over to Nala was subduing her victim, her eyes were darting in the direction of one fast tailing vanishing hyena.

"Got it!" I went after him, with no second thought. I knew the other lioness could handle the remaining dog.

Though the hyena's legs were moving faster than my eyes could see. I still gained the advantage of having a bigger gait. I was one him in seconds. Sinking my front paws into his back flesh. He welp out in pain. He turned to snap at me, but he lost balance and quickly tumbled to a hard stop. A trail of blood followed, I watched him scramble to his front paws to getaway.

Pathetic.

His legs weren't broken, though I could have broken them. All I did was hurt his back. Tore a few tendons and muscles, it leaves you damn near unable to move.

"...f...fuck me." yea, fuck you is right. I stalked over slowly. As much as I wanted to head back, and make sure everyone was okay, especially Sarafina, a part of me needed to take time to enjoy this kill.

"So how are you going to kill him?" this time, it wasn't Scar's voice that was playing in the back of my head. It was my own. "It can't be quick, no no it has to be slow, agonizing." I did, for a sick pleasure, allow the hyena to see my face before he died. he had to see something carrying nothing but total hate towards him before he met his maker...if these creatures have one. These spineless dogs will serve anyone, who would make their hell of a life remotely different From the cursed existence they were born to have due to their greedy nature.

No Great kings of the past would even waste their time looking a hyenas way. They don't deserve it. like the last hyena, I held him by his throat, my one paw covering every inch. Slow crushing suffocation would be his way to go. watery red eyes were now starting to plus in his temples. I could feel the air from his lungs try desperately try to leave his body. His chest grew harder and harder with the passing seconds.

I part of me feared his insides would pop, underneath me. his heart exploding, killing him off before I was ready to let him go. So I lighten my hold and allowed him to breathe air. His eyes were bulging from his skull, the moment I allowed him to tasted the scent of air. His body involuntarily relaxed, in a slump, clearly tired, clearly relief. Clearly, he would be wrong.

The second I saw an ounce of comfort on his face, I dug my long claw along the bottom of his neck. He should have known it was coming, he would have been a fucking fool to think I would let him live otherwise. Did he really think I would take him captive as my prey? to use this against Nuka, please. I wouldn't waste my fucking time. I watched his bulging eyes tried to make sense of what was happening, his fate. I cut low, puncturing his jugular. but I didn't slice it all the way threw,

I was going to watch his drown on his own blood. To my surprise his struggling lasted longer than I expected, he put up a good fight. Pawing at his dripping neck. The more blood collected at the bottom of his paws the more the panic started to take over. He rolled over like a fish, what in the hell was that supposed to do? stop the bleeding?

10 seconds passed, and i could see him fading. paleness started to grow over his gray face. Eyes grew a shine, that made him look blind under the moonlight. And lastly the randoms spasm, you know a last-ditch effort of hopelessness. Then he was gone, "hmm, I was rather nice to him...I could have tortured him more." I bent down and whispered into the dead dog's ear.

"That was for my mother." I wiped the remaining blood I still had on my paws back on his body. As thrilling as it was, the stickiness of dead was annoying. i could imagine breaking bones would be more cleaner, and satisfying. After being satisfied with my work and turned to head back towards the others. As I got close they were still where I had left them. hyenas bodies laying a few feet away from one another. I could see Nala was with her mother, along with the other lionesses" Hey...that's the last of them-"

"Back off! who are you?!" A grey lioness, clearly not from the pride lands turned with fangs wide open towards me. What, I just fucking helped them-

"I-"

"Don't, it's okay!" Nala broke through the small group and stood in front of me. " He's with me." wow a second longer and i think these lionesses were going to tear me apart.

"...no...no way..." the lionesses break apart to let Nala's mother come through. she looked, just like I remember.. her mouth hung open with disbelief. "am I really seeing this?"

" yes, ma'am..." I felt my voice start to shake. Why was I so...so nervous.

"Oh Simba" before I knew it, I was hit with a loving embrace. And for a moment I thought of my mother...how she would react to seeing me after such a long time. would she be this excited...this compassionate? yes...I think she would. I hope she would. Because I would want her to know, I regret everything that happened that day between us." look at you..." I couldn't help but notice the wide smile on Nala's face, as her mother and I nuzzled each other. the look was an ' i told you so' look.

" Hello, who do we have here?" oh right, I looked around to see three other faces I did not recognize. This has to be something out of the blue for them.

"Mwenya, this is Simba." explained Sarafina " He's the son of my best friend...he's been gone for a very long time." I could see the other lionesses take notice. their expression didn't change much, but I could feel they were more trusting for me. seeing I wasn't some random male.

"Well, I'm sure glad she found you. You both made an easy time with those hyenas."

"But Nala, where Roho?" her mother asked.

"He's safe, with Shia. They're not too far from here."

"What in the world are you two doing here then?" That was the great question of the day.

"We came to help you," I informed. Nala came in to add a comment.

"We know what Nuka going with the Valley pride. Hyenas found where Roho and I were hiding out. But we managed to get information out of one before we killed him."

"they...found you, but how?"

"Nuka sent them after Shia." Nala explained. she did her best to get rid of them.

"So she's safe then?" asked the lioness called Mwenya.

"Yes, for now at least," I added. "she was getting away from Nuka."

"Can you believe this madness, that lion has lost his damn mind. the only reason why we're even doing this is that he has Vitani."

"h-how is she?" my voice, came out nervous. Why i don't know. I guess i was afraid to know the truth of what could have happened to my favorite cousin. a truth that could have been preventing if I would have done something more for her. "she's my cousin, they both are." a shocked expression read on all the lionesses I did not know. Kings, i wonder what they must be thinking, they probably think I'm a monster too, who knows.

"Well, I'd like to let you know you have a very messed up family." this lionesses that spoke wasn't Mwenya,

"I know..." I explained, ashamed " but I came to fix everything."

"uh, what do you mean?" asked Sarafina.

"Mom Simba's going to help us defeat Nuka." disbelief read on her and all of the other new faces.

+ yo this was supposed to come out last night, but working two jobs is a b$# sometimes.

Iz (Guest), lol I know right, took them literally three years.

KawaiiCutie12, yes, but the distance will slowly but surely disappear so excited for it, still won't be easy for them...

RyanSquad, haha you and everyone else! just put your faces together and get it over with lol!

Loading (Guest)...maybeeeee hint hint.