Revelations and Reflections: The Power of the Heart.

After the lionesses had finished crooning him, the pale preteen had woken from his agonized slumber, he leaned over and looked inside a nearby puddle. He was dully surprised by the massive scar on his face, and knew that he had made a mistake. What if Scar hated him for reminding the king of his past self? What would he do if his father was going to kill him, or if the lionesses began shunning him, telling their cubs to stay away from, at least who they called, Pepo. Earlier that morning, he had overheard a lioness call him "Pepo", which, he had learned from his father, meant "demon". Was he a demon, a wretched horror unfit for rule, or was he simply a misunderstood child, a baby requiring consolation and care? He looked down and saw the evil grimace of his half-father, and as he observed, it transformed into....

him.

The spirit had morphed itself to his coloration, and the Mheetu he stared at was identical to himself, but the reflection laughed in a wicked, almost insane tone, and the eldest of the royal cubs thus far stood up and slashed at his reflection while yelling "Demon!", his eyes glazed over in terror.

Was this him, or was this the lion who he was going to end up becoming? He did the only thing he knew at this point, and one that he could not control.

He began to sob, the tears falling off his pale muzzle and dripping into the puddle. He began to cry, the horror of what monster he knew he would become terrified the child.

He was a demon. He deserved no chance to rule. He deserved to die after that attack. He was a waste of life. He repeated these words over and over in his mind.

Oh, how he wished he could cry into Heshima's paws, or his mother's or his father's.

He lay there and cried, repeating those words.

"I deserved no second chance..." he whispered to himself.

Sarafina was sunning herself upon the familiar rock she usually was at when she bathed her children, or talked with Sarabi. She was feeling horrible lately, and yet some how her son Mheetu gave her hope of another day. Sure she knew that some knew and wished that the forbidden word of their past king was still alive or Simba was alive and ruling.

She heard the crying, and she wasn't sure who was crying, though the crying sounded familiar. Was it her son? She hoped that it wasn't her son, but maybe it was. She could think of a million things of why her son was crying, and yet she hoped that everything was alright.

She moved off her rock and she made her way to where the crying teen was. She couldn't remember the last time she was happy, she was happy as a cub, then since then her emotions were mixture of things.

She finally saw her son looking in the puddle. "Mheetu?" She calls out to her son in her voice she had. Her voice was strained though, from her mood. She makes her way over to her son, and sighs. "Momma is here Mheetu." She says to him. She hoped to calm her son down. She wasn't sure what he was crying about, but she loved her son no matter what, and he running off scared her half to death. "Momma is here." She soothes her son.

Mheetu ignores his mother, the bitterness in his body severing his bonds with the pride. The cub was simply no longer the happy-go-lucky cub he used to be.

And he hated when he was coddled. He despised being treated like a newborn. And he did the only sensible thing he could have thought of.

He growled. And unsheathed his claws. No trace of the once playful cub remained, and he leaped away from his mother and ran. He wanted nothing but solitude.

He wanted to be alone.

He had plenty of reason to think this; The stress of the rouge incident was pushing down on everyone's shoulders. And he never looked back, fearing the pillar of stone he called home.

He was leaving the Pridelands for good..

And he would never turn back.

She was trying to comfort him, trying to be there for him, she felt horrible for leaving him with Nala as she went off to hunt or do her duty to the pride. But he was still young, and couldn't come with her.

She hears his growl, and she stares at him. She was about to growl back at him, or even do something. She watches him as he leaped away from her. "Mheetu." She tried to say something else, but it seemed like it was too late as she watched him run from her. "Mheetu I'm sorry." She calls out to her son, hoping that her son would turn back around.

She was feeling like she should run after him, but she also needed to stay here and make sure Nala didn't do anything or Scar didn't touch her. Though her son was young, and maybe her son could live on his own.

She stood there feeling like she couldn't move. She wished her son didn't run off, she now just could only hope that Scar didn't harm her or punish her for what Mheetu was running from.

She didn't want to be punished, she knew that Scar was probably angry with her already. She looked behind her for a moment before running after her son to stop him. She wasn't happy with her son leaving again, but this time she was going to make sure he wouldn't get hurt.