Chapter 1: Reunion

Time for another Lion King what-if! What if Sarabi had joined Nala in her escape from the Shadowlands? What would it be like if Simba reunited with his childhood friend and his mother in the jungle? The name of the story is reference to a verse in the song "Shadowlands" from the original script and Broadway score.

I own nothing. The Lion King and all its content belong to Disney. I don't own the cover image either. It's called "Don't cry, Simba" and it is done by Sauri Elan on Reddit.

Enjoy the story!

"Simba," a young lioness asked as she stared at the grinning golden male. His sunset red mane shook a bit as he nodded in response. It took only a moment before her teal eyes widened in recognition and her face broke out into a wide grin. Instantly both were talking with one another, butting heads and reconnecting with one another after years of separation. The two laughed as they circled each other and took in the sight of one another after all the years, the last time them seeing each other as cubs.

Though as they were talking and questioning each other, neither realized that a tan meerkat with a red hair tuft on his head had come between them by their paws. Not until he yelled, "Hey! What goin' on here?!"

Both pairs of eyes turned to him and Simba was first to respond. "Timon, this is Nala. She's my best friend!"

Said meerkat just stared flabbergasted at him and his mouth fell ajar. "Friend?!"

"Yeah. Hey, Pumbaa! Come over here." A red warthog pulled himself free of a root where he had gotten his head and shoulders trapped underneath. He grunted in surprise before turning around and coming over to the three of them.

"Nala, this is Pumbaa. Pumbaa, Nala," Simba explained. The warthog smiled pleasantly at the young lioness.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," he said politely. She smiled, a bit glad that he held no grudge against her apparently.

"The pleasure's all mine," Nala replied.

"Whoa! Whoa," the meerkat said as he came between the two. "Time out. Let me get this straight. You know her. She knows you. But she wants to eat him. And, everybody's okay with this?" The three flinched as he abruptly rose his voice as he released his irritation. "Did I miss something!"

"Relax, Timon," he quickly said, placing a paw before the meerkat to calm him down as he panted.

"Wait 'til everybody finds out you've been here all this time. And your mother…," her eyes then widened for a moment as she realized something, "Your mother! She's here! She came with me! What will she think when she find out you've been alive and here all this time?"

"Wait...," he said suddenly, causing her shocked conversation with herself to end and drew her attention to him, "my mother's here," he asked softly. His eyes seemed to go blurry and his head was dipped down slightly, but in her excited state, Nala didn't notice.

"Yeah. Your mother is here. She came along with me. You have to go see her Simba. She'll be more then surprised to see you here." Her eyes shifted around, looking all over the place for the direction she might been.

"She doesn't have to know," he quickly interjected, causing her to stare shocked at him. "No one has to know." She noted how his face had quickly changed from the state it had been a minute ago to the saddened, almost guilty appearing expression. She slowly came up to him and stared into his eyes.

"Simba, she's your mother. She's been believing that you are dead all these years, after Scar told us you and Mufasa had been lost in the stampede." She nearly stopped when she saw him flinch, but seeing as he made no movement to speak, she continued. "Seeing you here and discovering after all these years you were alive will give her something to hope for again."

Her eyes dipped to the ground and her toes brushed the sandy ground as she added softly, "It will give all of us something to hope for."

His head was tipped down at the same angle hers was, but it was so that she couldn't see the pain on his face. His whole chest felt like it was collapsing on itself. She was here. She and his mother were here. His heart throbbed with past pains coming up to haunt him again. How would he tell his mother? How could he even look at his mother? How could he even go to meet his mother again after all these years?

What would she think of him now?

"Alright. I'll come with you to see my mother," he replied after a moment. Her head jerked up and she held a gaze for a second before her face broke out into a wide grin.

"You will? Awesome! Come on, I'll take you to her," she enthusiastically said. He nodded and walked a soft pace after her energetic bounding form. Timon got onto Pumbaa and the two followed after them, eager to see how this would turn out.

"Sarabi," Nala tentatively called out into the lush, jungle foliage. Timon huddled close to Pumbaa as they walked alongside Simba, afraid that there would be a repeat of last time with their Simba's maternal parent.

"Yes, Nala," came a smooth gentle voice and melting out of the shrubs came forth a medium brown lioness with gentle red eyes. The corners of her mouth quirked up into a smile as her eyes landed on Nala, but then widened as they came onto the lion standing beside her. Simba's mouth opened slightly as he gasped at his mother. She was older then when she had last seen her. She had a few wrinkles and she looked rather frail but she was still as beautiful as he remembered her.

She came up to them, never taking her eyes off of him. "Mufasa," she asked tentatively, her voice just above a whisper in a mixture of awe and disbelief. He nearly flinched at the mention of his father's name, but shook his head and offered a small smile.

"No. Mom, it's me," he said softly. Sarabi stared straight at him, eyes widened in amazement and shock. Then without saying anything, she walked over to him, extended her forelegs and wrapped them tightly around his neck, pulling him close. Her head came to rest of his maned shoulder as she embraced her son for the first time in years.

"Simba. You're alive? How can this be," she asked, letting hot tears of joy drop onto his mane. His own forelegs wrapped around her shoulders as he held her close, allowing himself to absorb her after years of being apart.

"It doesn't matter. I'm here, mom," he replied quietly, "I'm here."

"I tell ya, Timon. Just seeing Simba with his mother chokes me up," Pumbaa said as he and the meerkat watched the two from behind a bush a few feet away.

"Yeah, it sure does," Timon replied, before looking down slightly. "Guess our time raising him is over," he added sadly. Pumbaa's eyes looked over at Timon before softening as he realized it was true.

"Ahem," came a voice from behind and the two turned around to see Nala behind them. "Hey, do you think you could give the two some time to be alone," Nala asked, finishing with a smile. Pumbaa and Timon looked at her, then to each other before nodding.

"Sure. We understand," Pumbaa replied first.

"Yeah, looks like he could really use some alone time to catch up with his mommy," Timon added. Nala nodded and the three began to walk away from the two.

"Son, how did you survive the stampede? Scar told us about it in the gorge and how it had taken the life of you and your father, or so what we thought at the time," Sarabi asked the second the separated. Simba looked shocked at the question, but tried to keep a calm expression.

"Really? What else did he say," Simba asked nervousness creeping into his voice. Her eyes softened in concern for him, but she went on.

"Only that he had seen you perish along with your father in the stampede," her eyes looked down at that, "however, we never did find your body," she mentioned a bit quieter. Her eyes lit up again and she gave a soft smile as she turned back up again, "But apparently he was wrong since you are here."

Her eyes looked so hopeful at him, shedding warm light over his heart. He longed to bask in that light, but his heart ached with the knowledge and pain of the past where now he felt as if he could not accept this kindness shed on him. Hs head turned away to the side, avoiding meeting those kind, warm eyes.

"Yeah... well I'm not the same lion that I used to be," he replied. He started to turn around and walk the other way, but she joined in stride with him.

"But you're alive. And that means you are the king and that you can take over from Scar's reign," Sarabi pressed, looking hopefully at her son. Simba halted and look hard at his mother. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the almost anguished look in his eyes and she felt concern flood through her veins.

"Son," she asked. Her paw daintily lifted up to press onto his face, but she had barely grazed his fur when he moved his head away from her and continued walking.

"I can't go back," he replied suddenly. She gasped silently before rushing up towards him again.

"What? Why not," she asked, pressing to make him look at her.

"I just can't," he replied, trying to speed up his gait and get away from her. However, after living after the death of her mate, surviving through Scar's reign and having the courage to escape with Nala to find help, Sarabi was obviously not one who would back down. Simba had to stop abruptly as she suddenly charged forward and stood stoically before him, staring him down sternly.

"Son," she replied firmly, "I have spent this many years under the deteriorating rule of your uncle. I have survived living through constant barking to hunt where there is no food. To search for herds and water with barely any energy left in my muscles. What's more, the Pridelands are suffering because of his greed and neglection of the Circle of Life. So don't think for a minute here that after all these years, searching for a hope to save our homeland and finding you, that I'm not going to let you get away with walking away from this conversation.

"I can see it in your eyes, son. I can see within them that you're hiding something. You're hiding something that clearly has been hurting and haunting you for the longest of time. Now I just want you to know that I am your mother and I am more then willing to sit down and listen to what you have to say, but you have to be willing to talk to me about it. Otherwise, I will just sit here and I won't let you pass until you do talk."

Simba stared up stunned at his mother, asserting her dominance as his parent and placing him in a tough decision. To hear someone talk for firm, so unmoving at him, for the first time in years, it- it was astounding, world-shaking for him. To her shock, she began to blink rapidly and his eyes got shiny all of a sudden. She felt a wave of motherly worry come over her and she tried to meet his eyes which were now dipped towards the floor.

"Son?"

"I was there," he whispered quickly. Her eyes widened slightly as she continued trying to make eye contact at him.

"Wha-?"

"I was there!" His eyes looked up face her, wild with a bright energy that nearly sent her tumbling back at the sight.

"Was where," she asked loudly, her tone pleading with him. His eyes focused on her and she could see the turmoil swirling inside their depths.

"The gorge! The gorge where and when dad's death happened. I-I, it was all my fault! I'm the one that was in the canyon when it happened! I'm the one who roared and spooked the wildebeest to stampede! I'm the one that lived while dad died trying to save me! It's all my fault he's gone! It's all my fault he's dead now!"

He flung up his head and roared in anguish before collapsing right before her in a heap of shudders. The once stoic queen looked stunned at her once proud son. In that moment, she no longer saw the son she once knew. The proud and boastful, but all around well-meaning cub that looked up to his father and absorbed every bit of kingly knowledge from him was no longer there. Instead, an almost grown, broken down and obviously hurting lion sobbed before her feet. She realized the emotion she saw in his eyes wasn't laziness or stubbornness. It was pain. Pain that had remained dormant until now and had come up again to inflict more suffering over him.

It was well into the night when he had finally begun to calm down. She held onto him in that time never once letting him go as he cried out and apologized constantly. His sorry's came out in a blubbering stream, a never ending mantra until he had choked on his saliva and emotions. Her hold on him never wavered, even as the sun set behind the trees and the twilight came stealing in.

She would hold onto him until he calmed down and was ready to preach out the horrible truth he had held in his heart all these years. And, with a listening ears and a comforting tongue, she would help him lose his pain.

Simba was a naive, impressionable cub when his uncle tricked him into believing that he had murdered his own father, giving him throughout the years a lie along with the guilt of the situation and the trauma of the event. He had been living for years in the jungle under the poisoned words of Hakuna Matata, never once taking thought into all the responsibilities of being king and going back and the lessons his father had taught him.

It was only by the help of his childhood friend, a monkey shaman and the ghost of his father, who probably should've appeared before Simba years before, to convince him to go back and confront his past. However, one there his evil uncle torments him with his past when before Simba was told and shown to let it go. This is a part of the film that really annoys me since it turns hypocritical from letting go of the past to 'oh, it matters and you can't let go of it because it's too important and it defines exactly what you are. A murderer.'

I'll continue this story till we reach that part and hopefully under the tender and understanding ear of his mother, Simba will move past his past for real and face Scar without letting him get to his weakest point. Please leave a review if you liked this chapter and I hope I will see you for the next chapter. Sincerely, v.t.7