Three Brothers 2

Character listing (the full listing)

Michael: The New King

Howie: Michael’s brother and Ra’s uncle

Ra: Michael’s Son

Simba: Michael’s brother and Ra’s uncle

Nala: Michael’s wife and Ra’s Mother

Zazu: The King’s majordomo

(There are two others, but they don’t have names because they are non-important characters)

(This story takes place a year after the story “THREE BROTHERS”)

(It takes a lion four years to reach full maturity)

CHAPTER ONE – The Drought

(A searing Heat-Wave remains stationary over the Pridelands, temperatures in the dead of night barely fall below 97 degrees Fahrenheit, making it hard to stay comfortable, there is a major risk of fires during the daytime. We find Michael looking out across the plains from his vantage point on the jut of Pride Rock)

Nala: (to Michael/walking out of the den) Michael??? What are you doing out in this weather?

Michael: (answer/staring distantly over the plains) Im Watching for Fires… (Pauses) What are you doing up, it’s very hot out, so everyone’s asleep (pauses again) did Ra wake you up?

Nala: (rubbing her bulgy stomach) no, this one did.

(Michael took pride in the fact that he was a father, and he took even more in the fact that he would soon have another mouth calling him “dad”)

Nala: (question) you coming in to rest soon?

Michael: (answer) no, I’ll stay out here for another hour or so.

Ra: (coming out of the den) Mom! Dad! There you guys are!

Michael: (command) Ra, don’t come out here, it’s too hot.

(Michael’s command had barely popped out of his mouth when he saw a cub rubbing against his wife’s Forepaws, and purring)

Nala: (trying to reach a compromise) Ra, if you go to sleep for the rest of the afternoon, we’ll do something fun tonight, when its cooler.

Ra: (exited) really? Like what?

Nala: (a quick cover-up for something she hasn’t planned) it’s a surprise, so I can’t tell you…

Ra: (going in the den) ok ill go to sleep.

Michael: (smiling/question) you don’t have anything planned, don’t you Nala?

Nala: (stammering/unprepared for the question) I- I most certainly do.

Michael: (smiling bigger) uh-huh, sure…

Nala: (getting frustrated) uhhh!!! You are just- so infuriating!!

Michael: (quick laugh) it’s my job, and so is me taking care of you, and im not doing a very good job if you are standing out here in this weather.

Nala: (smiling) remember, you said you would be in, in an hour or so, any more time and you’d fry out here.

Michael: (looking back out across the plains) ill be in shortly, ill try to find a replacement.

(Nala walks back inside the den; Zazu the majordomo flies up and lands on Michael’s shoulder)

Zazu: (statement) sire, the lands are a buzz, the hippos are requesting that you turn down the heat.

Michael: (laughs) I wish I could.

Zazu: (question) sire, not to be rude, but do you get hot out here, I mean after all, a black fur coat isn’t really the best to be in the sun (pauses, and is interrupted)

Michael: (mock anger) I know Zazu, and that’s exactly why you’ll be standing here until dusk, and not me.

Zazu: (alarmed) but Sire! Im too delicate for this heat, ill be cooked alive! It’ll be roast hornbill tonight for you lions.

Michael: (teasing) which happens to be my favorite meal, so stand there.

(Zazu starts mumbling incoherently but stays in his place, Michael walks into the den)

Nala: (waking up as Michael lays his head on her chest) whoa! You scared me!

Michael: (trying to go to sleep) I found a replacement…

Nala: (question) who?

Michael: (yawning) Zazu.

Nala: (going back to sleep) oh, ok

(When Michael and Nala went to sleep, Ra opens his eyes)

Ra: (amazed) wow, they believed my fake-sleep.

(Ra gets up and heads for the den opening, but then Howie blocks his path.)

Howie: (question) hey Ra, where are you going?

Ra: (lie) to the Water hole to get myself a drink, im thirsty.

Howie: (believing) ok, just be careful, a fire could start at anytime.

Ra: (walking away) don’t worry uncle Howie, ill be careful.

CHAPTER 2 - the Fire

(when Ra runs out of Howie’s line of sight, he goes out on the plains not toward the water hole where he had said he was going, but a full stomach and lack of any real amount of sleep wasn’t helping him, his eyelids got increasingly heavier, until he fell asleep altogether)

(Somewhere on the plains a low crackling noise is heard, the heat has started a fire and in that heat, a fire is uncontrollable once started. Michael is currently awake, worrying about his son.)

Michael: (hopeful) hopefully he got in the water, he would be safe until the fire burned it’s self out.

(Nala weeps openly in a corner; another cub tries to comfort her)

Cub: (comforting) it’s ok your majesty, Ra is gonna be ok.

Zazu: (flying back in the den) I can’t see the water hole through the thick smoke sire, im sorry, but whether he lives or dies depends on him.)

(Michael paw-swats Zazu to the ground and holds him there by his tail feathers)

Michael: (angry) now listen. If you ever say that again-

Nala: (calming) Michael, don’t get mad at him…

Michael: (calming down) im sorry Zazu.

Nala: (coming over to Michael) he’ll be alright…

(Meanwhile on the plains, Ra wakes up to see darkness all around)

Ra: (confused) I didn’t think I slept that long…

(Realizes that everything is on fire) whoa! Fire!

(Ra sees a distant tree that hasn’t yet ignited, so he climbs it, little does he know, trees burn too, the fire ignites the tree, scaring Ra into hysteria)

Ra: (scared) mommy! I’ll be good! I won’t ever do anything bad ever again!

( the fire slowly inches up the tree, as if tormenting the young lion in it)

Ra: (verging on shock) help!!!

(Then, the flames reach the branch he is on, he is so scared, he growls at the flames, but not a growl of anger, but of desperation, out of raw primal fear)

Ra: (very scared) go away!! (Starts to cry) go away!!

(He then feels the branch begin to give; he falls to the ground, and looks up, the last thing that his eyes ever saw was a 40 pound branch falling on top of him)

CHAPTER 3- A King’s Remorse

(Several hours after the fire burned itself out, Zazu reports back to Michael.)

Zazu: (statement) sire, I think, that I have found him.

(Zazu leads Michael, Howie and Simba to the tree; they see a charred log on top of what appears to be a young lion cub, Michael instantly knew the truth, but couldn’t believe it)

Michael: (voice cracking) R-Ra? Please wake up Ra, please.

Simba: (gently) Michael…

Michael: (mad) SHUT UP!!!!! He’s not dead!!! He’s not… (Starts crying uncontrollably) (Looks at Howie) YOU! You were supposed to be WATCHING HIM!!!

Simba: (statement) oh come off it Michael, Howie was lied to by Ra, it’s not his fault.

Michael: (mad) (roaring) I could’ve stopped it…

Howie: (statement) I believe that all things in life happen for a purpose, maybe Ra was born to help you become a better parent to the other one that is about to be born.

Michael: (crying) I loved him, he was my son, and now you’re telling me that he died for a purpose?

Simba: (interrupting) you know Howie could be right, it does make some sense.

Michael: (calming down) come on, help me move this log.

(When the log is moved, Michael picks Ra’s body up by the scruff and starts to carry it home)

(Nala is worried to death about what she is gonna see, but when Michael walks in front of her with tear tracks down his face and a limp cub in his mouth, she knows her worst fears have been realized, she starts to cry, for that is the only thing she can do at the current moment)

(Later that evening Nala and Michael are talking alone)

Nala: (question) what are we going to tell the new cub when he or she is old enough, and they ask “did I have any brothers or sisters?”

Michael: (statement) we will only tell it when it understands the meaning of death…

THE END.