I don't own the lion king, do I look rich to you? - this is my first lion king fic and it takes place directly after the end of the first movie, written for my sister who wondered how it would have happened had Scar lived. First fic, be nice, you. There are more chapters to come, but i wanna see what kind of reaction i get from this first.

Scar's eyes widened in terror as the hyena's began to swarm him, biting and clawing at every inch of him, intent on eating him alive, and the battle with Simba had left him weak, he knew that this would be the end of his reign…

"NO!" a voice snarled.

Scar looked up as he felt the hyena's knocked from his body, and saw that a lioness, large with a cub within her, was stood between him and the hyenas. He knew this lioness.

"Zira." He said softly.

She turned her head to give him a quick glance. She was assessing his injuries, Scar knew, so she knew if he could get up. He struggled to his feet and crouched beside her, ready to fight if need be.

"We must retreat." She purred to him, glaring at the hyenas, which were beginning to back down their shapes disappearing in the fire that surrounded them, they knew better than to take on two angry lions.

Scar nodded, "To the outlands…" He gasped, memory jogging. "Where are the cubs?" he knew precisely what would happen if the cubs were found while Simba was in power, he would kill them, any offspring of Scar's was worthless and a potential to him.

Zira's own amber eyes lit up with fear, "Inside!" she let out a growl and moved to climb the cliff face, but Scar leapt in her way.

"You get out of here, I'll get them." He growled, turning towards his old cave, he knew of a passage that led to the throne room, and if he ran, he felt he could make it. He knew that running while so badly injured would probably only serve to hurt him more, also he could feel his lungs starting to fill with smoke and he had a feeling that the hyenas had given him a dozen new scars all over his body.

She frowned, "But-"

Scar's eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth, "Zira, I will not let you jeopardise the life of the cub inside you. Now GO!" he snarled, using his power as a male to frighten her into submission, he was no prime example of a lion, but when push came to shove, she couldn't fight the instinct to please him.

And Zira, snarling to herself, left, racing off through the pride lands, A few other lionesses followed her. Scar almost smiled, Zira really was a good choice for a queen, she was ruthless and ambitious, like him, but with a softer side to her that only he saw.

As he raced through the clouds of smoke towards his cave, memories of his first night as king came flooding back to him. Many of the lionesses had stayed by Sarabi and Sarafina in their grief, but while he lay in the throne room, quietly contemplating his New Kingdom, Zira had appeared in the cave mouth.

"Prince Taka." She had purred, a playful smirk upon her face, "You always bragged about being king one day, despite your big brother's jokes."

Scar had raised his head, no-one had called him Taka since he was an adolescent lion, and only one of his playmates as a cub had ever dignified him with 'prince'.

"Zira." He had stated, sitting up to watch her sleek form move into the cave. "I haven't seen you since we were children… you've… grown."

Admittedly, Zira was not was most lions would consider conventionally beautiful, she was very thin and pale in comparison to the others, her dark-rimmed eyes somewhat disturbing and the thin black stripe down her back marking her as a mongrel.

But to Scar she possessed confidence and pride, and she was the perfect shape for a hunter. What was more, she had always respected him, even when they were children and Mufasa had mocked Scar for wanting to be king.

"So have you." She purred, admiring his long dark mane and vibrant green eyes, yes he was thin, but she thought the thinness could be put down to malnourishment, a problem easily solved now he would be getting the lion's share of food. "I know he was your brother, and you must be in mourning, but I'm rather glad you're king at last."

Scar and grinned then, and rubbed his head against hers in a friendly manner when she came close enough.

"Between old friends, so am I." He growled playfully. "One thing, though. I'm not Prince Taka, I'm King Scar… but in your case, you may call me Scar."

Zira had purred to herself, and began to make her way out, "Thank you Scar… what will you call me?"

Scar looked her over a few times, in the moonlight that shone through the cave mouth her figure was clearly outlined, and she was beautiful. He nodded at her slightly torn ear, "Notch."

She smiled and began to walk away, when the king called after her; "The moonlight becomes you, my dear." And she had lifted her head up with pride.

When she had left, Scar had began to muse to himself for the first time since he decided to take the throne that every king needs a queen.

The lion burst into the throne room, luckily Simba and his lionesses were busy outside, but there still wasn't much time, he knew the cubs were bright enough to hide during times of war, with any luck they were still here.

"Nuka! Vitani!" He snarled, and sure enough, two frightened cubs ran to him. One a scraggly version of himself, short black mane just starting to sprout. The other barely more than a kitten, and the very image of her mother.

"Daddy, what's happening?" Nuka whimpered, wrapping himself around Scar's front paws.

Scar frowned, "No time to explain. Get on my back." He leant down and lifted the kitten in his mouth, he felt the weight of his son on his back, and raced off as fast as his ageing bones would carry him. Say what you will about Scar, but his light frame made him perfectly built for speed, and it wasn't long before he caught up with the lionesses. It had begun to rain by this point, putting out the fires and clearing the air somewhat.

With a gasp, he placed Vitani at Zira's paws, and allowed Nuka to slide off his back, before sighing and collapsing on the muddy earth himself.

"Daddy?" Nuka whined, tugging at Scar's ear. Zira pulled the cub to her side and leant her head down to rub against Scars.

"Taka?" She whispered, a rare flurry of fear appearing in her voice "How badly does it hurt? Can you walk?"

Scar opened one eye weakly. "I will recover. Let me rest." He closed his eyes again and let out another low sigh. "And I told you, my name is Scar, Notch."

Zira smiled and let out a purr, she knew he would be all right if he was referring to her by that pet name. She nuzzled him again, "Anything you want, your majesty."

Several other lionesses moved forwards, leaning their own heads down as if to nuzzle him, but Zira gave a low snarl if they came too close. She turned on them, vicious even after a defeat.

"Stay away from my mate." She growled.

Scar almost laughed, despite the ache in his chest, "Your mate, am I?" he knew as well as Zira that they had never had the royal ceremony to officially mark her as queen, head lioness of the pride and Scar's only mate. Mostly because they both knew Sarabi would have kicked up a huge fuss at having to step down. Even as a cub Sarabi had acted snootily, convinced she would be queen one day, and that had enraged both Zira and Scar.

Zira began to lick at one of his wounds on his back, "After two cubs and another on the way I'd better be your damn mate."

"Mama, will he be okay?" a thin voice cut into their conversation.

She lifted her head from tending to Scar's wounds and looked down at her scraggly cub, "Yes my little Nuka. He will be alright… but don't bother him now, let your father rest." She laid herself down beside the fallen king, rain be dammed, they couldn't move just yet. "I think we should all rest. It has been a long day." She spotted her female kitten was pressing her nose to her father's cheek, making little meowing noises.

"Vitani, come away." She started to chide, but Scar cut her off.

"No." He purred, "let her stay." He reached one weakened paw up to the cub and lifted her onto his head, where she let out little purrs and rubbed her head in his thick mane.

Zira smiled and allowed Nuka to press up against her pregnant stomach, then nuzzled up to rest beside her mate. Slowly the other lionesses who had fled pride rock, loyal to Scar, did the same, but maintained their distance from their royal family.