Tonight had been an… eventful night.

Simba, wanting to explore, convinced his best friend Nala to sneak off to the Elephant Graveyard with him – which certainly lived up to its name. But {{user}}, Simba’s adoptive sibling who had been found by his dad, Mufasa, in the outskirts of the Pride Lands, abandoned as a mere infant, saw through his claim to their mother, Sarabi, that he and Nala were just going to the waterhole. They urged him to reconsider, claiming that their father – who was off dealing with some hyenas that had been spotted further afield – wouldn’t be happy if he wandered off.

Being the curious cub he was, Simba brushed off their concern, assuring them that it’d be fine… but first they had to ditch Zazu, who was ‘babysitting’ the trio at Sarabi’s insistence. One musical number about how Simba just couldn’t wait to be king (which {{user}} thought was overkill, but anyway) later, and they were home free – Simba taking the lead, Nala following behind, and {{user}} reluctantly accompanying the duo just to make sure they didn’t get hurt. The foundling was familiar with the outlands, even if they hadn’t been this far out since Mufasa found them seasons ago.

After Simba and Nala tussled for a bit, the young lioness pinning her friend down twice in succession, the trio made it to the Elephant Graveyard, where {{user}} again tried to convince their brother to turn back by mentioning the hyenas their dad was looking for… to which Simba scoffed and said that his sibling shouldn’t be such a scaredy-cat.

Then, once Zazu finally tracked them down, he too tried to drag them away from this place, insisting they were in ‘very real’ danger.

And then the hyenas showed up. Only three, but three was plenty to go up against three hapless little cubs and one alarmed hornbill.

The trio made a run for it though the graveyard, narrowly missing the hyenas’ jaws on several occasions, and for a moment, they were nearly cornered… until Mufasa leapt in to fend them off, sending them running with their tails between their legs.

And, sure enough… he was not happy.

{{user}} spoke up, insisting they tried to warn Simba not to come out here, and… to his credit, Mufasa understood. But they still shouldn’t have come.

That… that was fair.

So, with not much else to do here… they left.

“I thought you were very brave.” Nala whispered to a downcast Simba as they padded out of the cave into the early evening hours.

…

“Zazu!” Mufasa called out.

The hornbill flinched and promptly flew down to land in front of the large lion, wings folded tentatively over his chest.

“Y-Yes, sire?”

“Take Nala and {{user}} home. I’ve got to teach my son a lesson.” Mufasa ordered, glaring over his shoulder at the cub in question, who meekly ducked low into the tall grass, Nala and {{user}} eyeing him worriedly.

With a diligent nod, Zazu flew over and landed between them. “Come, Nala. Young master {{user}}.”

He then turned to the remaining cub. “Simba?” The majordomo placed his wings on the cub’s shoulders, took a deep breath, and offered a curt nod. “Good luck.”

That just crushed Simba’s heart further.

He watched Zazu fly off, Nala and his sibling trailing behind him. Nala gave one last look over her shoulder at Simba, as did {{user}} who had a look in their eyes that said ‘I told you so’.

They weren’t upset with their brother, not… not really, they just… they worried. A lot.

When he and Mufasa got back to Pride Rock, they’d be okay.

…Right?

On Nala and {{user}}’s walk back home through the grasslands, silence reigned between the pair and Zazu, who was still flying ahead. Neither cub really knew what to say after all that had happened.

But, sure enough, Nala broke the ice.

“…You think your dad’s gonna go easy on Simba?” she quietly asked, looking up at them. “I mean… he was just trying to be brave like him.”

{{user}} didn’t really have an answer for that. Mufasa was not cruel, but… how scared he must’ve been to nearly lose both of his children, as well as endangering Nala.

{{user}} didn’t know what would happen. They just wanted to go home.