The Lion King Chronicles: Nala's Tears {Editing}

Chapter 38

The sun had long ago set and the stars were beginning to emerge in the inky black sky. I laid at Simba's side as we watched the stars. Every time I looked at him, my heart fluttered like a bird. He would glance at me and the gentlest of smiles found his face.

The Great Kings led me to him. That had to mean something, right? Maybe it was destiny. I wasn't a firm believer of destiny, but perhaps the Great Kings had a paw in this. After all, it had been Anukis who had pointed me this way.

"There's so much more I want to show you," Simba murmured as he stared at me with golden eyes.

"Then what are we waiting for?" I responded excitedly.

Together we got up and I followed Simba along the trails leading through the jungle. The one we walked offered us a beautiful view of the waterfall. I still couldn't believe how beautiful this place was. Simba's been here all this time...why didn't he ever come home?

Simba glanced at me with pride. "Isn't this a great place?"

"It is beautiful," I answered as I looked around. Then I returned my gaze to him. "But I don't understand something. You've been alive all this time. Why didn't you come back to Priderock?"

He climbed onto a bunch of hanging vines and laid down as if it was the softest bed. "Well, I just needed to... get out on my own. Live my own life. And I did. And it's great." He didn't sound very convincing.

It's been great? Is that all he could say?! He's been here living the good life while we've been fighting to stay alive! I took a deep breath and tried to keep my voice calm. "We've really needed you at home."

Simba suddenly looked away, a pained look on his face. "No one needs me."

"Yes, we do!" I raised my voice, stepping close and putting my paws on the vines. "You're the king."

He shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows. "Nala, we've been through this. I'm not the king. Scar is."

Just the mere mention of Scar made me feel sick with rage. "Simba, he let the hyenas take over the Pridelands!"

"What?" Simba frowned.

I spoke through my rage, my sorrow. "Everything's destroyed. There's no food. No water. Simba, if you don't do something soon, everyone will starve." Sorrow dripped from every word. Vitani will starve...

Simba got up and jumped off of the vines. "I can't go back."

He couldn't go back?! If I so much as stepped a paw on the Pridelands, Scar would have me killed! "Why?"

He shook his head. "You wouldn't understand."

"What wouldn't I understand?" I retorted angrily. He had no idea what I've been through.

"No, no, no. It doesn't matter," Simba looked as though he was trying to convince himself. "Hakuna Matata."

"What?" I narrowed my eyes in confusion.

"Hakuna Matata," Simba repeated sternly, "It's something I learned out here. Look, sometimes bad things happen-"

"-Simba!" I growled, trying to bring him back to reality, the reality where everyone needed him to step up.

"-And there's nothing you can do about it. So why worry?" Simba started to walk away and leaped onto a fallen log.

I trotted after him, anger rising in my chest. "Because it's your responsibility!" I shouted.

Simba turned his angry gaze on me. "Well, what about you? YOU left."

"I left to find help!" I lied. Scar exiled me. "And I found YOU. Don't you understand? You're our only hope."

"Sorry." Simba snapped.

I stared at him in disappointment. This wasn't the Simba that I knew. The Simba I knew would've done anything to protect his family. "What's happened to you? You're not the Simba I remember."

"You're right. I'm not." Simba swung his head around so that our noses were only a whisker-length apart. "Now are you satisfied?"

"No," I muttered angrily. "Just disappointed."

Snorting, Simba retorted: "You know, you're starting to sound like my father." He started to walk away again.

"Good," I growled, "At least one of us does." Someone had to act like Mufasa. And if Simba wouldn't, then I would.

Simba stopped in his tracks and his shoulders tensed. He suddenly turned on me, anger alight in his eyes like fire. "Listen, you think you can just show up and tell me how to live my life? You don't even know what I've been through!"

"I would if you would just tell me!" I argued. You have no idea what I've been through...

"Forget it!" Simba snapped, walking away.

Anger consumed me. "Fine!" I watched him walk away but then I started to pace.

He was the only one that could defeat Scar. How did he not get that? How could he be so selfish, so irresponsible?! I've been through more than anyone my age and faced death countless times. I'm a survivor. I always survive.

That doesn't mean my heart survived.

A coldness came over me and I settled beside the log. In this beautiful place, it took great anger to become so distant, so cold. My mind flew away from the jungle, across the desert, and back to the Pridelands. They were starving and there was nothing I could do. My dear daughter...I missed her so much.

Maybe Simba would change his mind in the morning. I had to make him see reason.