[3rd POV]
What the hell was he supposed to do now?
That was the question that plagued his mind as Simba wandered around the empty Pridelands.
The plateau was still a wasteland, but from what he had seen, it was recovering, and it was recovering fast. All the blood that had spilt and all the corpses the war had left behind seemed to act as some sort of fertiliser.
Leo made them pay back the land they stole from with their corpses.
If he lingered and searched for it, Simba could smell old wounds and blood. He also saw many skeletons around certain areas. The backside of the kopje or the largest entrance for example.
"Father, what am I supposed to do now?" Simba asked aloud while looking over the Pridelands.
All those years of training, of getting as strong as possible. All had gone to waste. The kingdom did not need him. Leo had already done what Simba was supposed to do and he did it better.
And the revenge for his father's death was also complete.
Now Simba was just a lion without purpose. A beast that had nothing to fight for. He was just a king who never was.
Almost like the salty lions in the Massai Mara. Leo had stolen his throne, making him forever incomplete as a king.
As Simba looked towards the sky for answers, there were none.
The world was silent.
He could rule over this Prideland. Be some sort of protector while it recovered. But he reckoned his brother wouldn't like that very much. And he didn't want to do that either. Steal a kingdom when he had done nothing to earn it.
"Simba," he heard the voice of Rafiki once more behind him. He thought he had left the old monkey behind on the Pride Rocks but it seemed he had followed him.
Simba stood at a ridge overlooking a good portion of the Prideland. Rafiki came up behind him, his staff in hand and stirring up dirt with the end of the stick.
"Tell me, Rafiki. What am I going to do?" Simba asked, his head low, his heart beating without purpose.
"You don't have to worry too much my child," Rafiki assured him.
"Your time will come," Rafiki said, "Blood runs thick after all. And the storm that should make complete kings is yet to come,"
"You'll find a place there. I'm sure of it," he said, a small smile on his face.
"You said the pride has been taken over by Leo right?" Simba said, "My mother should be with him too,"
Rafiki gave a nod, his eyes sparkling.
"And where is Leo?"
Rafiki could only show a grin as fate snapped into place, even when it couldn't be a single factor.
..
..
/////////////////////
[Leo's POV]
(1 week since fight with Hippo)
"Ah fuck, this is annoying," I said while carefully moving with my broken arm.
As if I needed to be more crippled.
My arm was covered in thick bandages and a steel rod was tied around both sides to help my arm remain straight so that the bones could heal.
My arm was definitely swelling under the pink bandages. It hurt like a bitch too.
"If some random challengers see me like this, they'll think they have a chance," I said with a shake of my head.
Imagining the worst case scenario, imagine a group of coalition coming to attack right now.
That would suck. And it'd be such a bullshit nerf by god to take me down.
"I don't think you should move too much," Tala advised kindly while I walked around with a limp.
The pride had moved closer to the Northern Region now. The massive herds were currently migrating to the Masai Mara, so we followed along as much as possible.
And as the Northern Region was closer to the Massai Mara, which was experiencing the wet season right now, the land was also much greener and the dry season was not as harsh.
Since I was unable to hunt and because many females were pregnant, we were cautious of hunting buffalo and hence why we followed the normal prey animals as they moved to migrate.
"I'm fine, Tala. One of my limbs is broken, not all of them," I said.
I couldn't patrol in this state so the least I could do was secure the parameters around the pride. The vultures were also there to look out for challengers so although I may be out of commission right now, we were not in danger.
The pride had also welcomed new members again recently. The second generation batch of cubs were born. And this time, they were 11 of them.
Meaning that right now, the pride had 20 fucking cubs in the pride. Bringing the size of the whole pride to 54 members in total.
The new batch of cubs came from Nia, Asha, Lela and Zalina. At this point, it was hard to remember all my cubs' names and their identity. I simply loved them as they were.
It was the male cubs that I remembered though. Call me misogynistic but they were my legacy and there were fewer of them. Hence why I played favourites and knew them well.
Aslan, Kion, Asafa, Shaka. These were the older cubs from the first generation.
Kamba, Jala and Namean. These were the new batch of male cubs.
In total, there were five male cubs in a total of twenty cubs.
Maybe the theory of manly dudes having mostly daughters were true. I had 15 female cubs while only having 5 males.
Regardless, the pride was thriving.
It was thriving a little too much some might say. I guess I was bound to have a large family since I had a large territory.
And there were newly pregnant females and pregnant lionesses ready to give birth in the next few months too.
God help us all.
...
After I was done circling the area around the pride as an alternative afternoon patrol, I decided to rest under the shade of a tree.
The dry season did not happen instantly like a door being shut. It was more like the land holding its breath. It was slow.
And the region where we currently stayed was the northern part, so the effect of the dry season was not too obvious yet. The grass beneath my paw was still green, albeit it lost its shine.
I did not sit alone or in silence for long. Around ten minutes later, the playful ones quickly found their way towards me.
There were four, Aslan, Asafa, Amila and Shaka. These four cubs in specific could always be found together. They greatly reminded me of me, Simba, Zuri and Nala when we were young.
"Well hello there cubs," I greeted them with a smile.
They ran towards me, their paws comically larger than their bodies. They stumbled and Asafa fell and rolled when he couldn't stop himself. They probably raced to get to me, and seeing them run, I guess that would make Shaka the winner and Asafa the second.
Asafa continued to stumble and roll until he crashed into the side of my body.
"Good afternoon my Lord," he said sheepishly.
At three months now, the cubs could talk. They also began eating meat as a part of their diet, although they were still nursed by the mother from time to time.
"Afternoon to you too," I said with a small bow. It was important to teach them manners while they were young.
"So, what is the most troublesome bunch of cubs doing these days?" I asked.
"I don't know what you've heard my lord, but all those accusations are not true," Aslan said, walking towards me. But when I raised an eyebrow, he stopped.
"It was all Asafa's idea," he folded under zero pressure.
"Is not!!" Asafa denied, twisting his body and standing up as if to physically defend himself.
"Is too!!"
"Is not!" he said and then turned to me, "It was Shaka?"
"Don't bring me into this," Shaka said with a sigh. Would it be wrong of me to say that his appearance and demeanour were like Scar's?
The three males began arguing among each other immediately. They began counting all the mischief they had been to lately and who was responsible for each fuck up. To be truthfully honest, I wasn't aware of most of them.
The mothers rarely reported their behaviour to me. Only when they needed rough discipline. Nala in specific could understand them so she let them free most of the time.
This wasn't like the Pridelands where a traitor was living among us. My dominance reached far and wide. They were safe to do as they liked.
I looked towards Amila as her brothers argued. She gave me a helpless smile.
"I heard you recently tried to steal a cheetah's meal from her," I asked. That was one of the wild stories I've heard.
"That was Aslan," the two other male cubs said immediately, pointing fingers.
"Tell me, what was the idea there?" I asked in amusement.
"Aslan swore he could outrun the cheetah. He would steal a piece of the kill and then run off," Amila said.
I laughed, "I suppose you are not the brightest among my cubs," I looked at Aslan who shied away from my presence.
"And how did that work out?"
"A vulture swooped in and stopped the cheetah from attacking. The vulture said who our father was and she left immediately," Amila said.
"So that's how it is. But I do wonder why you would try and steal a meal in the first place? Have I not fed you enough?" I asked.
"I just... wanted to eat meat I got for myself. I'm sorry," Aslan said, his tail dropping.
"It's quite okay, no need to apologise. Just remember to stay safe," I said.
Their ears perked up at that. I think they took that as encouragement. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.
So I added, "Do you know what happened to the cubs of our pride a long time ago?"
"The cubs that were mischievous quite like you," I said, recalling those cubs. They were not of my blood but I treated them as such.
"The ones who died in the water, from a crocodile," Shaka said, finishing my words.
"Indeed. We must learn from our past mistakes. So even when you are out there, going on adventures. Remember, survival is the most important thing," I said.
"We also heard that you went into the same lake and killed all the crocodiles responsible for their deaths. Is that true?" Asafa asked, twisting the story into something exciting.
"I suppose so,"
"And is it true that the crocodiles in that watering hole dive deep into the water the moment they smell lions?" Asafa asked.
"I don't know. Maybe?" I said, unsure.
"That's so cool!!" they said, looking at each other.
"It is cool isn't it?" I said with a chuckle, "But remember. We lost the lives of cubs that day. No matter if I killed all the crocodiles in the world afterwards, it couldn't bring back the lives that were lost,"
They nodded.
We heard a roar in the distance shortly after. We all turned towards the sound. It was a familiar sound at that point.
It was the roar of the hunting party coming back successful.
"Time for dinner," I said.
The cubs ran before I stood up, racing once more to see who could reach the meal first.
I straightened my broken arm and limped my way as well.
A good meal would be the thing that fixed my current pathetic state.
..
..
..
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------