Nala finds herself all caught up in Simba's exile as they venture forth into the vast and lawless Jungle...

Simba's Second Chance by senshi05

Chapter 1: Everything Changes

"Nala please," a pleading voice called out to Nala as she barely clung to consciousness. "...wake up..." Water splashing across her face finally managed to snap her senses awake slowly but surely. "...don't leave me too." Her vision slowly came into focus as she opened her eyes and saw Simba's anxious expression looking down upon her. "Take it easy," he urged as she began to rise up from her left. The lioness cub could feel her gut crying for food with an audible gurgle.

"Man... I feel... so drained," Nala struggled to groan in her malnourished state, her body unsteadily wobbling. "Where... are we?" Her exhaustion seemed to largely dissipate upon looking at her surroundings and widening her eyes at the thriving Jungle all around them. "Okay, question number two," she continued, still processing this massive change in location, "how... did we even get here?" The wasteland she and Simba both suffered through was too fresh in her mind.

"Not terribly easily, that's for sure," Simba spoke up in a somewhat more lively manner. "I thought it was all over when you passed out but then this big miracle came into view after just a few more steps, give or take about a hundred." He felt immensely relieved to see Nala back up on her paws but made use of his attitude to mask his sappier emotions. "No offense but you really should've cut back on deer," the prince tactlessly complained. "Your mom was right for once..."

Nala shot Simba an offended look at his insensitive comment at her weight. "Well, I'll try to keep that in mind next time we slog through a whole des-" she began to snark back when a realization dawned on her. "Wait a second..." Her frown softened into an expression of bewilderment as she put two and two together. "You carried me all across the wasteland after I conked out?" She knew Simba couldn't have been in better shape than her, her mouth agape in awe.

Nala could remember the unforgiving heat of the sun and the way her stomach begged for food. The last thing she could recall was trailing just behind Simba before blacking out. It was then she thought her time had come. Yet Simba draped her across his back and struggled on with her weight on his shoulders. The thought of his sheer willpower and chivalrousness made her heart start to skip a beat at the thought. It was more than just gratitude. Somehow she could tell.

Simba's devil-may-care facade slightly faltered but he tried to act nonchalant. "It was either that or let the buzzards make a meal out of you," he claimed with a small gulp, trying not to remember the dread he felt when she collapsed. "Not that there was even a option to begin with." He allowed himself to at least sigh and drop his little grin for a bit, remembering what seemed like an entire lifetime ago. "I mean... I just thought about just what... he would do and, well, did it."

Nala's romantic feelings simmered down upon realizing who "he" was. "O-oh..." she sadly uttered, the heartbreaking memories resurfacing in her mind. The one reason they had survived that Wildebeest stampede, Simba's father and king of the Pride Lands, had lost his life in a great fall from a rock slide. Scar warned of how they'd be blamed for causing the tragedy and urged them to run away for their own safety. They made it but not without a few close calls with the Hyenas.

"Simba, I'm so..." Nala began to say, small tears welling up in her empathy. However, her apology was cut off by an awfully crude gurgling from her gut. "...so hungry..." she groaned unintentionally when her malnourished reared its ugly head. Simba's sorrowful expression became one of bafflement from the whole one-eighty the mood took. The lioness cub could only mentally berate herself for such a dumb slip of the tongue before Simba started to chuckle to her surprise.

"Join the club," Simba snickered with more a smile, amused by Nala's little blooper. "I only just scarfed down a snack to tie me over but there's more where they came from." He turned around to head off into the trees past their little clearing with a bit of pep in his step. "Hopefully, it'll be enough to keep you from keeling over entirely." The former prince could feel his despair lighten up thanks to her. It wasn't much but something was better than nothing. "So... you coming with?"

Nala snapped out of her bafflement in time to see that Simba was already a yard ahead of her. "Just wait up for me," she indignantly retorted. "Still starving to near death here in case you forgot." She scampered up as much as her feeble legs would allow her to, pushing through the fatigue. "So what's the plan of attack?" the lioness cub asked as she drew along side her best friend. "I don't suppose there's a short cut to Pride Rock..." She saw his facade briefly faltered.

"With our luck so far?" Simba snarked with an eyebrow raised. "I wouldn't be surprised at this point." He hoped that his facade was holding up as the thought of home tugged at his emotions harder and harder, especially as his guilt for Nala grew. "For now, we should stuff our faces and get some rest for the night." A sharp hiss from afar sent shivers down his spine unbeknownst to his weary friend, his attempts to hide it slipping. "There's no telling what this place's got us..."

Joka narrowed his eyes and smirked devilishly as he keep his distance in a bush. "You're about to find out, kitten..."

Simba's journey without Timon or Pumbaa will take a considerable altered course...