Expectations When Expecting

Book 2, Chapter 21

After the interaction with Lilia, Yuu had indeed retreated to her bed (possibly not a very good idea, but she figured that she could trust Lilia), calming down. Almost immediately after her head hit the pillow, Yuu's mind flashed an image of the mirror glowing. Yuu, like any tired person, opted to ignore the ominous glowing mirror.

Yuu groaned as she turned, no longer hearing Grim's rumbling snoring, rather a very pathetic sounding song. Yuu turned to snuggle into the pillow only to be met face-first with a pile of dirt, which led to her shooting up.

"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen... Nobody knows my sorrow..." Yuu's eyes cleared as she took in the image of a hornbill bird singing sadly as he was imprisoned in an animal's ribcage. Her eyes flashed to the Lion that lounged on a stone, licking a set of bones clean as he turned to the bird.

"Oh, do lighten up, Zazu. Sing something with a little....mmm bounce in it." He suggested, the Hornbill rolling his eyes.

"It's a small world after all-" The bird began, the lion snorting in annoyance.

"No! No. Anything but that." He said, making the bird sigh again, changing the song as he leaned into the rib cage.

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, diddly dee, there they are standing in a row-"

The Hornbill sang, the Lion humming happily as he played with a skull, moving it like a puppet. Yuu cringed at the morbid scene.

As the Lion sang, Zazu groaned before muttering to himself, loud enough for Yuu to hear.

"Oh... I would never have had to do this for Mufasa..."

The Lion's ear twitched as he growled, hopping up from his lounging place.

"WHAT?!" The Lion snarled in warning, making both Yuu and Zazu scramble backward. "What did you say?"

"No! Nothing!" Zazu yelped.

"You know the law! Never ever mention THAT name in my presence!" He growled, eyes boring into the bird menacingly. "I am the king!"

"Yes, sire! You are the king!" Zazu cried. "I- I only mentioned it to illustrate the differences in your managerial approaches!" The Lion simply huffed, turning away from the Hornbill.

Suddenly, three hyenas entered the cave in which the Lion resided, Yuu could instantly recognize them as Banzai, Shenzi, and Ed.

"Hey boss! We gotta bone to pick with you!" Banzai grumbled with a cowardly glare at the Lion.

Shenzi, the female, stepped forward, silencing Banzai to speak with the Lion in a more civilized tone, her tone barely hiding her contempt for the Lion that had promised her clan so much. "Scar, there's no food, no water. We're hungry."

"Oh, what are you complaining to me for? " Scar responded dismissively, waving his paw in the direction of the caged Hornbill"Eat Zazu."

Zazu immediately began to plead for his life, and, much to his relief, the hyenas took no interest in him.

"I thought things were bad under Mufasa..." Banzai grumbled, shrinking before immediately realizing his mistake.

"What?!" Scar stood, lunging threateningly the the male hyena."What did you say?! Get out!"

The hyenas yelped and scrambled out, leaving Banzai to linger for a moment, sheepishly turning to Scar"But we're still hungry-"

"OUT!"

Yuu pursed her lips as she watched the hyena yelp and scramble out of the cave before she felt the familiar tug of the waking world calling her back. Something about the scene seemed to make Yuu uneasy.