I sat down, I had the idea for this story, that is its origin.

I own nothing. The Lion King and all its content belong to Disney. I don't own the cover image either.

Enjoy the story!

It was the middle of the night. Everyone else was asleep, yet her mind had suddenly become aware of the warm body lacking from against her. Forcing her eyelids to open, she blearily looked out into the darkness over her shoulder. Sure enough, her husband was nowhere to be seen.

Her eyelids felt like they had several ton weights on them, yet she struggled against closing them again and even turned onto her stomach as she searched for him. The faint moonlight coming from the entrance blinded her for a moment, yet she could make out the figure of a lion sitting outside. Huffing irritably, she forced her tired muscles to work and began moving towards them.

"Stupid Simba. Probably just woke up to eat those disgusting bugs out here without anyone judging him. Well he's not the one who's pregnant. He's not the one who can afford to take it easy right now," she muttered to herself while avoiding the tangled, sprawled out limbs of the other sleeping lionesses.

A shiver ran through her as she stepped into the cool night. The moon was full and illuminated the land with a milky glow, the stars were out tonight and glittered like diamonds against the black velvet sky. It was fantastic night, but waking up at such late hours made her look past all this nocturnal beauty. Her eyes were instead focused on the lion sitting on the tip of Pride Rock, head bowed and possibly deep in thought.

"Simba, it's the middle of the night," she called out once she was close enough. "I don't care what it was like living in 'Hakuna Matata', but you need to get some sleep. How else can you rule of kingdom if you can barely take care of-"

"It's all my fault."

She stopped talking and took a long, hard look at him, feeling more alert and awake now.

"Simba?"

"It's all my fault. It all my fault. It should've been me. It should've..."

She then took a glance at his appearance His mane was unkempt and look disheveled and she was pretty sure it wasn't a case of bedhead alone. His head was bowed and his body was shivering from clearly not just the cool night air. His breathing was ragged and she could hear such emotion come out of his voice when spoke.

"Simba?" Her paw slowly reached out to touch his shoulder when suddenly his head threw up and he stared at her. His eyes were redder then usual and a flood of tears had soaked his face.

"It's my fault he died." At her confusion, he clarified. "My father is dead because of me."

"Never," she loudly replied and her forelegs immediately flung around his neck and caught him in a firm embrace. He stiffened under her sudden action, but he quickly collapsed on the stone beneath him before weeping onto her shoulder.

"Simba listen to me," she said after a few minutes of letting his emotions out. When he didn't respond, her paw came under his chin and she pulled his face to look at ghers. "Listen to me! You were not to blame. None of it was your fault. The gorge, the stampede, the throwing off the cliff, it was never your fault. You were an unknowing part in his plan, but it was never your intention nor your direct actions that killed Mufasa. You were tricked, used, and lied to, but it was all Scar's doing. It was never your fault!"

Both of them stared at one another, tears streaming like glistening rivers down their cheek. Their eyes were watery, reflecting the light of the moon and stars above. All of a sudden, Simba threw himself forward. Nala gasped as his weight nearly sent her toppling over, but managed to balance themselves upright again.

She stiffened when she felt something warm and wet seep into her fur on her shoulder. She was about to brush it off when more began falling down, followed by heaving sobs. Instinctively, her forelegs wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him closer to her. His muzzle came to rest on her shoulder while tears streamed off his nose and onto her fur, though she didn't mind.

Years spent in Hakuna Matata had suppressed the memories, the experience, the pain he had gained in that one terrible event. It now came forward all the way and she wouldn't leave his side until he had released it all.

It was going to be a long night, but sometimes you needed to make sure everything was taken care of before going to sleep.

Short story, I know, but that's all it was meant to be. I'm pretty sure after Scar was defeated there would be some period of time where he would be missing his father, even after coming to terms with the past.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading. Please leave a review and feel free to check out some of my other stories. Sincerely, v.t.7