Ah... I thought I would write a story.  Let me know what you think (like it /
hate it / could be better ____ )

Keep in mind it was 2 a.m. when I wrote this. 8\  "Seventh and James" was
already at the top of the index card I was writing it on, so it is the title
even though it has naught to do with it.  :\

				--Muke! ;)

[possible SP spoilers, if you're still at that tender stage]


Seventh and James
 by "Muke" <alrivera@southern.edu>

The lioness approached the beaten body of Scar at the foot of Pride Rock.  The
hyenas had not taken all the life out of him, but it was clear he could not
live much longer.

"Zira-- Is that you there?"

"Yes, my love," Zira answered.  "Don't strain yourself!  You must live... You
will--"

Scar almost smiled at his lioness's devotion, but a greater weight was on his
mind.  "Listen to me-- your new cub must never know-- must never know that I
am its father."

"But Scar, if--"

"No!" He would have shouted, but the weight of death was pressing him down.
"The cub must not-- must not share in my curse... it must reign..."

Zira was getting frantic, seeing her mate acting like this.  "Curse?  Scar,
don't be silly, there's--"

"It will take our Nuka, just as it has taken me..."  He fell silent for a
moment.

"Scar? Scar!!"

"Zira...," he said weakly.  "It will take you too."

Scar closed his eyes and never breathed again.

-----

After being banished to the Outlands, Zira had her cub.  It was a male, and
she allowed herself to call it Kovu--which means "scar" in the other
language--but she never told him the truth about his father.

Scar's curse came twice again to Zira's pride, but Kovu became King of the
Pride Lands.