***HERO***

***Chapter 1***

***A Broken Pride***

"Careful…. Careful…" he murmured to himself softly as he descended the path down Priderock. He was moving faster than usual, but it was still slow by anyone's standard. The path was familiar to say the least, but still was just as foreboding as it always was for the lion. Others traversed the path just fine, but he wasn't quite as coordinated as they were. Today, however, he really didn't want to fall. He was late and eager to get to his destination. No, there was no way in hell that he was going to fall toda-

"AAAAAAHHHH!" the young lion cried as his paw caught on the same protruding root that had caught him the day before. And the day before that. And the day before that. He knew what was coming; he had fallen enough times to be ready for that at least. With hardly a second to spare, he clenched his eyes shut and braced himself for the impact that was soon to come.

"WHUMP, WHAP, THUD" The poor lion winced in pain as he fell down the incline with increasing speed, his hide being bruised and beaten by the unforgiving ground. He could only imagine the amount of dust being kicked up by the fall.

As the ground leveled off, his speed slowly reduced and he finally rolled to a stop on the sandy ground. He flopped over onto his back, his breathing ragged from the adrenaline rush and his body sore from the fall. In his pale tan fur he could feel bits and pieces of rock, dirt, and plant debris that he had crushed and absorbed from the path. He lay there for several moments, staring up at the sapphire sky.

Amari was used to it all by now. He knew that he wasn't the most athletic, or the most coordinated, or even the cleverest lion around. Hell, there wasn't much of anything that he was good at besides getting himself hurt. Yet, he knew his place in the pride which was more than some could say.

The young lion, officially now an adult, groaned as he rose to his feet. His fall was worse than it normally was; he had been going faster and had kept rolling for a longer while than usual. The stinging scrapes and bruises quickly lost their edge as he recovered, but Amari wasn't quite ready to move on. He reviewed his body carefully to make sure that there wasn't any serious damage. He found nothing and he looked up at the breathtaking view that he overlooked.

Ever since Simba had returned to take his place as King, the Pridelands had been healing dramatically. The lush grass was back and the herds had quickly followed suit. The sun shone again, no longer hindered by the smoke of the constantly burning grass fires. Thanks to Simba, the balance of the Pridelands had been restored and peace had reigned… for a while.

In the past months, however, the pride had begun a tragic downward spiral. Though the balance of the land was well kept, the pride itself had been struggling. It had all started when Zira had brutally murdered Kopa, the King's son. The exile of her and her followers had left the pride weak and at hardly half strength. The grief over the tragedy had affected everyone greatly, especially the king and queen. Amari felt terrible for the new rulers; he had grown up under Scar's rule, but even then there had been no murder. Sure there were scraps and violent events between the hyenas and lions, and starvation seemed imminent, but no one was ever murdered, let alone a cub!

To make matters worse, a terrible sickness had swept over the pride soon after the murderers' exile. It was a nasty virus that left its victims incapacitated for up to two months with high fevers and fatigue. Amari had been one of the first to fall ill to the infection, and he shuddered involuntarily at the memory of the awful feeling. He didn't remember much of what happened when he was in the deeper stages of the fever, but when he awoke there were many others suffering from the same illness. It was a 24-hour job for the un-infected or already recovered lions to care for their sick family. Within a few short weeks, Priderock had been transformed into a hospital.

It was only a matter of time before they reached the peak of the illness. Many of the stronger pride members had already begun to show symptoms and they were quickly dropping to join the ranks of the incapacitated victims that they had been caring for.

Amari groaned inwardly as he stones in the ground. It seemed like every other step resulted in him almost tripping and remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He sighed deeply and pulled away from his reminiscing to make his way towards the main cave. He was late for his shift, and he knew it. Nala would be irritated with him to say the least. He trotted down the level path at a brisk pace, trying in vain to avoid the protruding objects and falling onto his face.

By some miracle, he made his way into the deep cavern without falling again. He scanned the faces of the sick and the healthy alike, searching for the queen. He couldn't see her; maybe she was out getting water, he thought to himself. He was about to turn away to go search for her, but-

"AMARI!" a voice cracked like a whip.

The young lion winced and turned to face the queen. He had never heard her yell like this before. "Y-yes, your highne- Keela?" he exclaimed with confusion.

"There you are… did you sleep in or something?" The grizzled old lioness growled as she approached the late arrival. "We have work to do!"

Oh great… It wasn't that Amari disliked Keela; she was certainly good at getting jobs done and her style was unbeatably effective. He respected her age and her status in the pride… But still, he didn't want to be the focus of her attention.

"Um… yea." Amari stuttered confusedly. "I was looking for Nala to find out what she wanted me to start with…"

Keela shook her head irritably as if he should have known something important. "Nala took a turn for the worse last night; Simba too. They're both resting in the side cave."

"What?" Amari nearly shouted, keeping his voice as low as he could for the comfort of the sick lions around them. "Are they okay?"

Keela shrugged. "They're sick just like everybody else, so I think it's safe to assume that after a month or two they will recover, just like everybody else." She added emphasis on the end of her sentence to imply the stupidity of his question.

"So… Who…"

"Nala put me in charge of taking care of the sick, so consider me to be your new boss."

Amari groaned, and Keela's eyes went wide with anger. "Don't give me that! Go over and help Mela with the bedding!"

Amari nodded with a frown on his face. Sure, he respected Keela, but he did not like the idea of her being in charge, especially not of him. At least he was being partnered up with Mela, one of the only other pride members that was his age.

"Good morning," she replied without looking up from the grass she was laying out. "I hope that it wasn't too hard for you to wake up this morning."

Amari frowned. Was everyone against him today? "I know, I slept in! Keela made it all very clear… Can we please get on with whatever it is that we're doing now?"

"Fine," she replied irritably, no doubt because she had been overworked all morning due to his absence. "Go get the Acacia blossoms from the shelf over there; I need them for the last layer for tonight's beds."

He looked across the cave at the items she mentioned. Between him and the blossoms were a dozen sick lions and a heap of old bedding that needed to be removed. "The shelf all the way over there?" he asked incredulously. "Can't you just do it?"

Mela's head snapped up sharply, her eyes the epitome of rage. "No, Amari." She hissed. "I'm doing this! Now go get the blossoms now!"

Amari had a feeling that if there weren't so many resting lions around, she would have been screaming. With a sigh if irritation, he went off to complete his task. Albeit begrudgingly. He liked Mela, (more than she knew) but he hated how she sometimes took on this bossy tone with him.

The young lion stepped carefully over the sleeping invalids with as much precision as he could, but inevitably he stepped on a tail or two. For him, trips and missteps were a simple part of walking. Within a few minutes, he reached the stone ledge where the blossoms were laying and was about to lift them up with his mouth.

"God, Amari." A familiar voice said behind him. Mela pushed him aside gently, but with significant discord, as she picked up the blossoms herself. Clearly he had been taking too long with navigating through the sick lions, and she had gotten fed up with it. "Grab those." She said with surprising clarity through her mouthful of blossoms.

Amari nodded and grabbed the bundle of sticks that she had gestured to. He turned to face the lioness, but she was already halfway back to her work. She walked through the bodies with ease; her feet falling firmly and deliberately on the hard stone floor, and not onto the tails of the ill pridelanders. Amari just sighed inwardly and began his own route.

Several minutes and several death threats from sickly lions later, he reached Mela and the bedding she was working on. She had already used all the blossoms and was waiting as patiently as she could for the sticks that he was carrying.

"Thank you." She said curtly as he dropped them at her feet. "But next time try and go a little fas-" she stopped and looked at him curiously. "Did you fall again?"

Amari shifted his weight uncomfortably. "What makes you thin-"

"I can see bits of plant and dirt in your fur."

"Oh… uh…" he stammered nervously. "It was just a little fall from earlier this morning."

Mela nodded and began to evaluate him more carefully. "Yea… it looks more like you were caught in a landslide..."

"It wasn't that bad…"

Mela just sighed and went back to her work. "You need to be more careful, Amari. Some day you're going to get tripped up and go falling down the edge of Priderock. You won't be able to shake that off."

"Yes, Mother." He replied sarcastically.

"You know that I'm right."

He sighed. "Yea… you usually are."

The two continued on their work for some time before eventually switching over to retrieving water from the nearby stream. It was no easy task, even for Mela. The big bowl-shaped leaves that they used were very awkward to hold, and their teeth had a tendency to rip through the plant material. As a result, they frequently had to go and fetch new leaves.

"Careful, Amari." Mela warned him from where she stood on the ground. "Don't fall."

"I've… almost… GOT IT!" the young lion cried as his paws closed around a handful of the large leaves. His jubilation soon dissipated as lost his grip on the tree trunk. He glanced down with fear at the ground ten feet below. Mela closed her eyes; she knew what was coming.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" He yelled as his claws lost their grip on the smooth wood. He felt his stomach shoot up into his throat as he began the freefall back to the earth. Not again… he thought to himself.

"WHUMFF!" came the expected, if sickening noise. Amari groaned in pain and rolled onto his back with his eyes winced shut. It felt like his body was on fire and that his back was broken.

"Are you okay?" Mela asked concernedly, gently pushing on his side.

He opened his eyes a crack to see her standing over him. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that she had some genuine sympathy in her eyes. "Yea…" he murmured as he rose slowly to his feet. "I'm fine; just got the wind knocked out of me… It happens."

She nodded. "It seems to 'happen' to you more than to anybody else."

"I'm used to it…"

"HEY!"Mela shouted suddenly, making Amari wince.

"What?"

She frowned at the injured lion. "Not you, him!"

He blinked in confusion and turned to look at what she was talking about. Not too far away, stood a lone lion. An unfamiliar and dangerous-looking lone lion. His fur was matted and disheveled and his eyes were dark and foreboding. He approached the two slowly, but deliberately. It was intimidating to say the least.

"What?" he asked Mela with a slight hiss.

"Uh… um… W-who are you?" she said softly, her initial bravery suddenly depleted. Amari just sat there, petrified in the presence of the scary beast.

"Who I am doesn't matter… what I represent does. Where is your king?"

"He… uh… He's not really avail-"

"He's at Priderock!" Amari blurted.

Mela glared at him. "But he isn't available right now…"

The unkept lion just grinned. "That's just fine." With that, he walked off in a brisk towards the direction of Priderock, quickly disappearing into the shrubbery.

Mela watched the plants for a moment before turning back to Amari. "YOU DON'T JUST TELL A RANDOM STRANGER WHERE OUR SICK KING IS!"

"Sorry, I panicked!"

Mela's eyes were wide as she tried to formulate a plan. "Come on!" she said urgently. "We need to get back first! We'll take the longer way, but we'll run faster than him."

Amari nodded. "But-"

"There's no time! Come on!" she shouted before running off.

The young lion groaned. This was not a good day.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((0)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

The pair burst from the foliage near Priderock with the expression of sheer exhaustion on their faces. Amari was covered in burrs, dirt, and sticks from the countless times that he had tripped. Mela just looked extremely frustrated, no doubt due to how her friend had slowed her down so significantly.

They glanced up to the peak of Priderock to see the same lion exiting the main cave and receiving many angry glares from the healthy lionesses around him. He just sneered at them and trotted down the ramp to the ground below with surprising casualness. They had missed him! He stopped for a moment and stared at the two young lions with a chilling glare. Amari shivered involuntarily.

The two climbed the ramp hurriedly to the small gathering at the top. The lionesses talked amongst themselves worriedly with concerned expressions on their faces.

"What happened?" Mela asked one of them.

"The lion…" Keela replied sullenly. "He came here to threaten us…"

Amari blinked in surprise. "What? Why would anyone threaten us?"

"Because we're weak right now."

"Still," Mela protested. "One lion can't take us down!"

Keela shook her head. "He was just a messenger… there will be a whole gang of them coming soon."

"How soon?"

"One month."

Amari frowned. One month wasn't enough time for everyone to recover from the sickness… especially not Simba or Nala. "What do they want?"

Keela sighed forlornly. "Everything."

***Author's Note***

Thank you for reading the first chapter of my next story. As I said in the A/N of "Path of a Rogue Warrior," I like to begin my next story before I finish my other one so that they sort of compliment each other. That being said, I hope that those of you who have not read the above mentioned story, I really hope that you do.

Thanks for reading, please comment!

-Ben