Chapter 1 – Nefas:

Author's Note:

I've been sitting on this for awhile, just waiting to post it. I really like Lion King... I'm not sure if its because I really like Hamlet or if I actually like the characters. But in any case, Shenzi and the hyenas are my favorite Lion King characters. They're... well, they're dragged through the dirt throughout the series. So this story focuses on Shenzi and her friends. There's no real way to explain the story except that strange things happen to Shenzi that changes the story of Lion King. I'll admit that I took a little artistic liberty with Shenzi's character. We don't get to see much of Shenzi in the movies, but we know that she's the most intelligent of the hyena trio. In this story, she's going to be extremely intelligent. So, uh, OOC warning? Kind of... any who, I'll let you all decide as you read. Oh, before I forget, thank you All Hail King Scar for inspiring me to actually post this story... I've had (most of it) typed out even before I joined fanficiton.

XXX

Light was a deceptive entity. Light was not permanent. It was not always here. Light will eventually fade. But the lions referred to light as a symbol of divine right to rule. Everything the light touched was theirs. But what kind of rule was that? Just because the light shone where they wanted, they had the right to take what they pleased? And they act like the land was made for them.

That's why the light touched their land. It was "theirs." As if, a single female hyena thought to herself. She and two others sat atop a large elephant skull. Today was the anniversary of the day they had been kicked out of the Pridelands. She couldn't remember how long ago that was, but it was before she was born. And she didn't know why.

She never liked the light anyways. Light made her eyes do funny things. In the light, the truth was no longer apparent. That's why the lions lived so comfortably, they lived a lie. She lived in reality. Light was not permanent. Light faded, it came and went. But darkness was forever.

So what about the lands covered in shadows? They called these lands the elephant graveyard. No light touched here, and thus the lions did not claim these lands as their own. The female hyena called the graveyard her home. Here she was matriarch of an entire clan of hyenas. But not through some bullshit lie such as divine right to rule, though she did joke and say she ruled everything the light didn't touch. No, she was the strongest, smartest, and toughest hyena in the clan. So she claimed her right to rule from her mother. Her name was Shenzi.

And these were dark times. Food was scarce and many hyenas have died, be it from starvation or disease. She knew that her mother had command of over two hundred loyal hyenas. But after many years of famine and disease, that ended up claiming her mother as well, the number dwindled at just over eighty strong. And just like that, disease vanished and the food returned for a few months. But it did not last long.

There was a reason it was called the elephant graveyard. Nothing living lived here. Except the hyenas. All of the food was in the Pridelands, but the hyenas were forbidden from going there. Shenzi remembered when the graveyard was less than a square mile of territory. Now it was over five square miles, adding to the land not touched by the light. The graveyard now separated the Pridelands from the Outlands and the desert.

Shenzi did not know what was across the desert, and she was hesitant to find out. Her mother had never ventured there, so she refused as well. Besides, the hyenas were not in good enough condition to make it across a large area with no food or water. And Shenzi refused to lead her clan into the Outlands. For one thing, the Outlands were just as barren as the graveyard. Another thing was the rumors of a vicious band of lions living there. Shenzi did not wish to risk her clan's lives, it was safer in the graveyard.

Lions, she thought bitterly, a foul taste left behind on her tongue. There was a reason a group of lions was called a pride, it was their sin. A curse they weren't aware of. But the hyenas are cursed with gluttony, Shenzi rationed. She just couldn't help herself sometimes. Having so little food can do that to you.

But not all lions are bad, Shenzi sighed to herself. Fond memories surfaced of her childhood. She, along with her two friends, had met a lonely lion cub named Taka. He was so alone, he looked towards the hyenas as friends. Even though they were still banished at the time. Taka came by every few days with food. They would laugh and play and Shenzi's mother would look the other way, thinking that Taka could change the lions' views on hyenas. How naive that was.

Taka stopped coming. Years passed where Taka was not seen by any of the hyenas. Then one day, a full grown lion waltzed into the elephant graveyard like he owned the place. He had sought her out specifically. She had just recently become matriarch at the time. She didn't recognize him at first, he was older but still thin. "Taka?" she had finally recognized him after he had called her by name. How rude of you to forget me, he had said. That's when Shenzi realized the lion before her was no longer her friend.

The lion came bearing a promise. "Make me king, and you shall never go hungry again!" he had declared. Shenzi was skeptical, but the rest of her clan took to it. That was a year ago. The lion came by every few days, claiming he was waiting for the right moment, and the moment was near. Each time he appeared, Shenzi was reminded of Taka. But the lion had taken on the burden of new sins.

The lion was still prideful, as was his nature, but he was more than that now. And at the same time less. He had taken on the extra burden of new sins that had changed him from the lonely lion she once knew. Taka had been consumed by Scar.

And Shenzi couldn't bear to be near him. It hurt too much to see her friend consumed like he had been. Scar had devised a plan to make him king. His brother was having a son soon, and he was going to trick the son into the hyenas maws. That would lure Mufasa into the elephant graveyard where Scar and the hyenas could deal the killing blow. It was all Shenzi could do not to vomit every time he brought up his plan.

But it was Shenzi's only way out. And she had to take it for the sake of her clan. If it was just her and her two friends, she would've told Scar to fuck off. But she wept inside when the cubs died. The mothers needed food to produce their milk. The only thing that comforted her was that if the pride of lions were in her position, they wouldn't have lasted a week. Their king was selected by a lie, she was a better leader than him.

While Shenzi continued to ponder her situation, the two hyenas behind her had grown bored. One of them was rolling around, laughing his ass off. This hyena was known simply as Ed. One look at Ed and you would immediately dismiss any brains he might have had. Ed had a permanent smile on his face, his gaze was listless and his eyes were glassy. He didn't seem as if he was "all there." His tongue also often hung out of his mouth, contributing to his idiotic disposition. It did not help he could not speak properly.

The second hyena was also male. He had bushy eyebrows and stubble on his chin. His name was Banzai. Both Ed and Banzai were large and strong for male hyenas. They were nearly as large as Shenzi was. Although it could be argued Ed was the larger and stronger of the two males, Banzai was no slouch. Unlike Ed, he did not have the predisposition of being an idiot attached to him. He was certainly not an idiot, but hunger drove his purpose.

Not many understood why Shenzi, the clan matriarch, would allow two males to be in her presence. In the clan, all females, regardless of their status when compared to Shenzi herself, automatically outranked every single male. Except Banzai and Ed because Shenzi would not allow it. Banzai and Shenzi had been good friends ever since they were cubs, Ed had joined the duo a year after they had been born.

Neither were exactly sure why Ed could not speak properly, but they knew it had something to do with humans. Ed had been born in human captivity, and they had experimented on him. Although Shenzi and Banzai could understand him just fine, few messed with Ed. Ed had several notches taken out of both of his ears, a testament to his strength and his escape from imprisonment. And that wasn't all he had sacrificed, though he refused to reveal exactly what else had been taken from him.

Shenzi continued to think. Even though she could hear Banzai complaining under his breath. Shenzi liked to stop and think, quite literally. She would suddenly stop moving and concentrate hard on thinking. Sometimes she would just fall to the ground without even realizing it. It was what Banzai admired most about her. She took her time to make decisions, she wasn't usually rash. And she had been thinking a lot as of late, and her thoughts were becoming more troubling.

Her mind kept going back to Taka. Scar, she hissed to herself. When Scar demanded he be called such, Shenzi happily agreed. She didn't want to associate the monster that was Scar with her childhood friend. She had no qualms killing Mufasa, none of the hyenas did. Mufasa had personally killed several of her clanmates for venturing into his territory and was the main obstacle standing in her way to getting back into the Pridelands. But she couldn't get over the idea of killing Mufasa's son, who hasn't even been born yet.

The other hyenas jumped at the opportunity. Killing a cub was easy, especially if it was in your way. But Shenzi had trouble justifying it. It was one thing to kill a lion who had wronged you, it was another to kill a cub who had never wronged anyone. But she couldn't show Scar any weakness. Scar preyed on the weak, and Shenzi was not weak.

"Good afternoon, my dear Shenzi," a silky smooth baritone said. Speak of the devil. It was Scar. He sat on the ground, several feet below where Shenzi sat atop the elephant skull. Scar did not address the males. He knew quite a bit about the clan's dynamics and knew that males ranked low, so he didn't bother with them. Shenzi didn't dare correct him. If he threatened either of the males, he could easily get to her.

Shenzi ignored him for the most part, she was still thinking. Although she was mostly conscious of her surroundings, she was too distracted to properly greet Scar. Banzai nudged her discreetly, trying to get her to regain her focus, which she did. She glared at him briefly, but slid down the skull's tusks to greet Scar up close. Banzai and Ed followed. She touched her nose to the ground and said, "Good afternoon, Scar."

For lions, touching your nose to the ground was a sign of submission, but not to the hyenas. To them, it was a sign of respect. Not that Scar considered it anything other than subservience. "I see you three are doing well."

"Well? We ain't got nothing to eat around here!" Banzai burst out. It had been several days since any of them had anything to eat. Shenzi herself had abstained for longer, giving her food to the only mother who still had cubs.

"That's too bad," Scar said mockingly. "Perhaps I'll bring something by next time I visit. But today I have some good news," he smiled cruelly. Shenzi had suspected Scar was aware of her misgivings towards his plan, but neither dared voice them. Scar may be popular with the hyenas, but Shenzi was still their matriarch. "Mufasa's cub was born today. It'll be only a couple of weeks now."

Shenzi didn't reply, but she did nod. Ed shook his head rapidly in excitement and Banzai grinned like a madman. No matter what she thought, she couldn't hate the two for willingly wanting to kill the king's son.

Shenzi was lost in thought once again and missed Scar leaving. She couldn't blame the two males for wanting out. But there had to be a better way to do this. The hyenas were quickly adding wrath to their list of sins. If they killed the king's son, that would be it. They would become more and more like Scar until the only difference between the two was that Scar was a lion and they were hyenas. This thought reverberated in Shenzi's mind. She could become like Scar.

And it wasn't a fear she could share. Not even with her friends. They loved Scar, they thought he was an excellent role model. If she told them she was scared of becoming like him, they would push for her to make the transition. There would be no saving her. Not that she needed to be saved.

"Alright, let's go," Shenzi finally said. Banzai and Ed perked up immediately, Ed letting out a whoop in excitement.

The trio left the elephant graveyard. There was a small stretch of land between the graveyard and the desert. She just called them the badlands. Things lived in the badlands. Small things, mostly insects, but there were several prey items on the list. One such animal was the meerkat. The trio knew of a colony of meerkats not far from where they lived. There was nothing dangerous in the badlands, so they had nothing to fear.

Meerkats were small and hard to catch. In fact, none of the hyenas had ever caught a single meerkat. But it was fun to harass the colony. At least, that's what Banzai and Ed believed. Their little excursions to the meerkat colony was Shenzi's excuse to go scouting. She did not order her friends around out of respect and the other hyenas were too busy preparing for the upcoming battle with Mufasa that they could not be bothered with scouting. Banzai would only go hunting if he knew he was getting food out of it. Ed only went when Banzai went.

But Shenzi had tricked them several times with the meerkat excuse. They would chase around the meerkats for awhile, while Shenzi took the opportunity to look for other prey. She had been tracking a herd of zebra for several weeks now, and she wanted to make sure they were in the perfect position before she made the hunting parties go after them.

Shenzi knew that they could never catch more than one meerkat each. It would take ten whole meerkats to satisfy a grown hyena. A single one would only make him or her hungrier. Banzai didn't seem to understand this. It didn't matter much because the meerkats were damn near impossible to catch. It didn't make it any less fun, however. And Shenzi would admit to having fun as well. The rest of the world though of her as a monster, why shouldn't she be allowed to become one? Even if only for a short while.

XXX

It's a little short, I know. But this is just the starting point. We learn a little about Shenzi, she understands the concept of "evil" and that's important. It's what makes her different. So for time reference, this takes place during the first scene of Lion King one and a half, just before Timon goes on guard duty. Which also makes it a day before Simba's ceremony. Hope that helps clear up time confusion. Stay tuned for the next chapter!