The Lion King: The Freak - Chapter 1

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Copyright: All original characters and events are my property. Iwill allow anyone to use said characters or events however, as longas I am credited and it is not for profit of any kind or businessuse.

Author's Notes are denoted by parentheses, flashbacks are denotedby asterisks, thoughts are denoted by italicized text, and emphasisis denoted by bold text.

The Lion King: The Freak
Chapter 1: Mothers and Fathers

(My first Lion King fanfic. I hope thatthe allusions to prejudice and racism are very clear, as well as therather graphic depictions of what targeted groups suffer. I havechanged many things about the backstory of the characters. Enjoy, andplease review!)

The gaunt, young female tigon breathed heavily, as rain trickleddown from the tall jungle trees above her. She was exhausted, ondeath's door already, and the wet weather didn't help. Her huntingtrips over the past few days had been entirely unsuccessful; she hadnot been able to get even the smallest bite of food. At the end ofher pregnancy, she could hardly walk without feeling nauseous. Butshe still had to try to hunt.

Being a crossbreed, between a male tiger and a female lion, shedid not have the mentality of her tiger father to hunt alone, and hadbeen rejected by every pride that she met. The strength of the packwas just too fragile to be upset by such a freak of nature, a namethat she'd often been called.

"[b]Freak,"[/b] she spat, "[b]it hurts me every time theycall me that... but deep down, I know it's true."[/b]

"[b]Even my parents didn't want me. My dad... he was a tiger;couldn't be expected to care for me. My mom didn't really seem like acub-raiser either... But I can't really blame them... my mom saidthat my dad had raped her, taken her body for his own use when shewas far too young. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to me, thatday, when the pride banished me..."[/b]

The tigon was only six months old, barely finished suckling fromthe lionesses of the pride. She had never suckled from her mother,however; the still-young lioness said that even the sight of her onlyliving memory of the intrusion upon her body made her ill. The restof the tigon's brothers and sisters had died off, some in rathersuspicious circumstances.

But this one was strong. She had managed to live through a cubhoodof being totally ostracized from her so-called family. The lionesseshad grudgingly taught her basic hunting skills, as the rest of thelion cubs refused to play or associate with her.

Chukizo.

That's what they called her. It meant, loosely translated,abomination, but the stigma attached to the word was one too strongto be expressed in other languages.

Chukizo.

Despite her name, the tigon had never allowed another animal tosee her cry or show any weakness and live. She knew that the onlybeing in the world she could count on was herself, and that everyother animal in the world was predator or prey. There were nofriends, there was no family; no comforting home to come to after alone hunt. No relatives to take pride in her small, but significantfor her age kills.

No one.

Forced solitude was a thousand times worse than any other fate theworld could throw at a being. Imagine: having others around you thatwon't even acknowledge that you're alive, and don't give a damn ifyou're bleeding to death in the desert.

The tigon was stalking a small lizard, alone, like always. She wasjust about to pounce on it, when something pounced on her. The cubfelt dagger-like claws rake her side, and a heavy weight pin her tothe ground.

Then, a chatter of laughter focused her confused mind.

"Well look what we got here, boys... the freak, Chukizo!"

Three other cubs walked up to the tigon. The one that had spokenup was the son of the alpha male. He was flanked by his "girlfriend"(Chukizo didn't know if the lioness had been threatened by the alphasor forced by her mother to submit to the young male's fledglingdesires), and another cub that Chukizo knew to be something of acold-hearted sadist. Now, she was a hunter by nature, but she killedquick and she killed clean. But more than once, she'd walked in onthis cub torturing an insect, or scratching up a mouse and to watchit run away and bleed to death.

The goon that had pinned her to the dusty ground was the alhpamale's young nephew, or the cousin of the hateful little brat thatwas walking up to Chukizo. She stared up at him with no emotion inher eyes, but couldn't help but flinch when he spat on her too-bonysnout.

"Look at you, you ugly piece of shit," he sneered.

The cub smacked her face, while the one pinning her down laughedin a goofy manner. The lioness had no reaction, and the other cubjust smiled sadistically. Chukizo yipped in pain, but knew that nohelp was coming.

The alpha's son just laughed again.

"Yeah, that's right... go ahead and whine all you want. Nobodycares."

He laughed again, and called the sadistic cub over to him with aflick of his paw. The pale, maneless male sauntered up to Chukizo'sface.

"Hello there," he rasped, unsheathing his claws.

The tigon whimpered as the sharp, hooked naturally-occurringblades were brought closer and closer to her hapless form. The cubchuckled for a moment, a horrifying, dark sound, then slowly cut herface, enjoying each second of it.

Chukizo screamed, but the rest of the males only laughed harder.The young lioness tried to look away, but managed to catch the eye ofthe tigon.

"Please... help me..." she begged.

But the lioness just closer her eyes and turned away.

The alpha's son sniggered for another minute. Then he prodded hisaccomplices.

"Enough fooling around. Let's really see some blood!"

All three laughed, and the larger cub on top of Chukizo pulledhead skywards, nearly snapping her neck then and there, but exposingher jugular and windpipe.

The sadist cub smiled more than ever, then stroked the tigon'sbare throat with the tips of his claws.

He chuckled again.

"I wonder... how does it feel, to be so utterly helpless? Souncared for, so humiliated and degraded? You have nothing,abomination," he tensed his paw, ready to strike, "not even yourpride and dignity."

Chukizo broke down and cried. It was hard, in a position likethat, head tilted upwards, a fat cub pinning her to the ground. Butshe did anyway.

The pudgy cub on top of her laughed, covering her head with snot.The other two caught sight of this, and literally rolled on theground, giggling to death. The tigon cried for another minute, andthen looked at the other two cubs that she could see. They were stilltaken over by their humor at her situation.

Chukizo had had enough. She promptly stopped crying, sniffed,twice, then allowed rage to take over.

Ten minutes later, when the tigon became aware of herself again,she nearly vomited at the scene around her. The fat cub that hadpinned her had bleeding globules of gore where his eyes should havebeen. The sadist was cut... open, really, innards slowly oozing intothe desert sand. The lioness was nowhere to be seen. But the alpha'sson... he was worst of them all. His back legs were broken beyondrecognition, and most of the skin had been pulled off of his face.Numerous cuts and bite wounds peppered his tan body.

"[b]Oh, no..."[/b] Chukizo had thought. Whether she washorrified at what she'd done or the consequences, she still didn'tknow.

The tigon grimaced as she remembered how she'd literally beenchased out of the Southern Desert by her own mother, and many otherlionesses. They had banished her for life, under pain of death... infact, they had actively pursued Chukizo for days, making sure that itwas well-impressed on her how unwelcome she was... how unwelcome shealways had been.

She'd never had a happy moment in the pride. No friends, no one toshare in his accomplishments, praise her, or offer a friendly pawwhen she needed lifting up. Life for her had been a living death.

She suddenly groaned and her eyes grew wide. The cubs were comingsoon.

Heaving herself into a small cove, at least out of the elements,she reflected once again on how hard she had it.

"[b]Do people realize how hard it is to be hated and mistrustedby everyone around you? To never be able to find peace anywhere? Andthen, when you think you've finally found something special... yourealize that you've been stabbed in the back by fate again."[/b]

It was about three months ago, nearly two years after Chukizo hadbeen banished from the Southern Desert. Since then, she had made noattempt to return. Life in the jungle was hard for one used to adesert environment, but at least she didn't have to worry about otherpredators. The tigon was the baddest kid on the block... the only kidon the block. Since her exile, she had seen neither hide nor hair ofanother lion.

"[b]But I'm no lion,"[/b] she often had to remind herself, "[b]IfI were a true lion... things would be different. Mother would careabout me, and I might even have a father."[/b]

"[b]But that's not how it is. I'm a... freak The offspring of amale tiger and a female lion. A one-of-a-kind abomination."[/b]

She had been in her small den, the hollow of a fallen tree, aloneand crying. It was cloudy outside, and Chukizo had been caught in theintense storm only minutes earlier. It had taken her hours to trudgethrough the heavy rain back to her shelter. The rest of the animalsin the forest had laughed at the wet cat, calling her names andmaking obscene hand gestures. One monkey even went so far as to hither on the noggin with a pineapple.

Big mistake.

The tigon had roared, and scrambled up the tree. Before the smalljuvenile could react, she tore off his small, furry head with hermouth. The monkey's parents looked on in horror, but knew that theirson was beyond saving now. They turned away, arm in arm, each cryingon the other's shoulder.

Chukizo started to feed on the monkey, though she was purposefullyas quiet as she could be. After all... the monkey's parents were notto blame for his intrusion, and they did not deserve to have to facethe gruesome disembowelment of their son.

Finished, the tigon looked at the other two monkeys with half amind to eat them too. She was rather hungry, and they were not fivefeet from her, the backs of their necks visible.

But Chukizo couldn't bring herself to do it as she saw the motherwail in agony, having lost her only child. The father was hardlybetter, but managed to calm his wife down by reminding her that lifeis cruel.

The tigon jumped down from the tree, and as she made her way backhome, the monkey's father could swear he heard her say, "I'msorry."

"[b]Life is cruel," [/b]thought the tigon, alone in her den.

She licked his muzzle clean of the blood spilled on it, and curledinto a tight ball. The tigon needed the kind of warmth only createdby company. But, over time, she'd come to get used to the feeling.She never liked it... but she could live with it.

Barely.

Chukizo had been sleeping for a few hours, but was suddenly awokenby the soft sound of padded paws approaching. Even though she'd hadno contact with another big cat for so long, it was absolutelyunmistakable.

She wasn't alone.

But the tigon had yet to overcome her intense, but justifiablefear of fellow big cats. After all, her last encounter with them hadresulted in her banishment from the only home she had ever known,despite the fact that she hated ever waking minute there.

Chukizo growled loudly as the darkened silhouette of a skinny lionappeared at the entrance of her den. The lion stopped, for a minute,then plodded forward a little bit more.

"[b]So... they really do want me dead; enough to send a rogueafter me."[/b]

"[b]Well, I won't make it easy for him."[/b]

The young female summoned her courage and roared at the intruder.But rather than roar back or attack, he just took another stepforward.

Chukizo was about to attack when he fell over. Instinctive, butunwise concern for a fellow big cat made the female rush over to him.She stood over him, still cautious, but quickly realized that he hadcollapsed out of exhaustion.

The tigon had no idea what to do. Sure, she'd occasionally seenthe other lionesses in her pride care for each another, or otheranimals do the same. But seeing didn't compared to doing. Chukizoacted on instinct alone.

She put a paw in front of the lion's muzzle to see that he wasbreathing normally. Good. Then, she gently touched her claw to hisjugular. Concentrating, she could feel a healthy pulse.

So the lion was stable. What now?

Curious, she nudged him with her paw. The lion gave no reaction,so Chuziko shrugged and sat down next to him, giving him a carefullooking over. After all, it had been so long since she'd see anotherbig cat.

He was a skinny lion, with dark brown fur. His scruffy mane waslimp and black, though strangely, most of his body was not wet atall. He must have missed the rain, but the front of his muzzle wasdamp... with tears, possibly?

The tigon shrugged, and went back into the corner of the den. Shelay down, but didn't sleep again. She kept an eye on the lion, justin case...

Chukizo was lightly sleeping, her one open had shut long ago. Thelion hadn't made so much as a peep for the hour that she'd monitoredhim. He had just fallen down, and was quietly sleeping. At least,that's what it looked like.

He was having a truly horrible series of nightmares: about howthroughout his entire life, he'd been second-best, always shunned tothe side when compared to his brother, and now with the crowning ofhis new nephew as future king, he had absolutely no chance at thethrone. Never would ha have a fair chance at life. Never.

The dark lion stirred, and slowly got up. He was in a rocky caveof some sort... how did he get there? Ah, yes... after he'd found outthat the crowning of his nephew was imminent, he'd run as far as hecould, as fast as he could. He didn't even inform his only threefriends in the world, hyenas, where he was going or when he'd comeback. In fact, the lion didn't even know if he [b]was[/b] comingback.

Groaning, he got to his feet, and looked around. Outside was alush jungle, still watery from a recent rainfall. But inside thecave... was a lioness?

The dark lion jumped a little at the sight of her. She was no truelioness, that much he could tell at a glance. But she had the statureof one, and perhaps the jaw structure... but her fur was a subduedshade of orange, and scraggly gray stripes. Her face was a slightlymore vibrant shade of orange, and after thinking for a moment, thelion realized that she had the muzzle of a creature he'd heard tellof from visitors to the Pride Lands and the Shadow Lands. She had theblood of a 'tiger' in her, he concluded, though he'd never seen oneof the fabled big cats himself.

Chukizo suddenly woke up, to the sight of lion up and about.Understandably, she was surprised. She jumped to her feet, and thesudden action made the lion take a sharp step back.

The tigon spoke, her voice harsh out of fear.

"Speak your name or risk your life, stranger. You are not adenizen of the Jungle."

The dark lion composed himself, and spoke in a soft tenor tone.

"Many apologies for my intrusion, dear lady," he said, andbowed his head slightly, though his yellowish eyes were still lockedon her dark ones.

"I am Scar, of the Pride Lands, brother of King Mufasa, anduncle of," he spat bitterly on the ground, "Simba, future king."

The tigon lowered her guard slightly, retracting her claws. Shehad only heard of the Pride Lands in passing from lionesses from theDesert. She'd come in contact with two other tribes, one to the Eastof the Desert and one to the West, shortly after her exile, andthey'd barred her entry on sight. After those stressful encounters,she'd never even tried to gain access to the Pride Lands, out of fearof a similar occurrence.

"And what, Scar of the Pride Lands, is your business here?"she growled.

The dark lion paused, searching for the right words.

"I... was in mental distress. You see, long have I held out thehope that my brother would not sire any cubs, or he'd crown me kingat least from the time of his death until mine, to give me at least afew months of happiness..."

Scar paused. Never before had he spoken so much about himself, notto his so-called family, not to his friends, and certainly not to astranger. But he felt the need to go on, and let all of his pain findan escape. He'd go insane if he didn't.

"But, my brother, the great King Mufasa, did not see fit to giveme any pleasure in my life... I, Scar, who has saved him time andagain from all the dangers of the world. I, the only being who hasloved him unconditionally, despite the favoritism our fatherdisplayed to him. I, who he so cruelly scarred all those years ago,for showing an interest in the same lioness cub that he did..."

The dark lion tapped the red wound that ran over his eye. They saythat a blow lain on another with hate never does heal... and lookingat the terrible injury that had been inflicted on the lion by his ownbrother, one could see the wisdom in those words. Even the tigonflinched at the sight of the scar.

But after a minute in which the two big cats just stared at eachother, Chukizo spoke up.

"I am unfamiliar with the strife of family life. You see, I haveno family. My father was a tiger, and my mother was a lioness of theDesert. My father took the body of my mother, and I was born into aworld that neither wanted nor accepted me. I am a stranger to havingfaith in the kindness of other beings... because no being in my lifehas shown me any measure of kindness."

The dark lion shivered for a moment. Here was a being that hadbeen hated from the day of her birth, and apparently forced out ofher own family. He had not heard her name yet, so that additionallayer of shame had yet to disturb him.

"...What is your name?" he asked.

Now it was the tigon's turn to look jarred. She brought her eyesaway from him, and looked to the ground.

"...Chukizo. The freak."

Scar's eyes widened at the sad manner that the tigon spoke. Fromlooking at her lean, but muscled frame, he could tell that she wastough: tougher than any lioness in his clan, maybe even capable ofdefeating Mufasa in single combat.

But he walked over to her, and did something he'd never donebefore.

Scar, the freak of his family, the one always shoved to the sidewhen his brother was around, the one who had only three beings in theworld that he considered friends, nuzzled the tigon.

Needless to say, she was more than a little surprised. After all,she'd never been nuzzled before by anyone. But she didn't attack.

"What are you doing?" she asked, though she was starting toget into the moment.

"I don't know. It just seemed like the natural thing to do,"Scar simply stated.

After another moment, she nuzzled her back. The tigon and the darklion were both unfamiliar to the feeling that had sprung out ofnowhere, but to a bystander, it would seem natural. The two beingswere one and the same, and both were in desperate need of someone totalk to.

After another minute of affectionate nuzzling, their tendermotions turned into something else.

Chukizo sighed. Scar and she had only spent half a day together,but in that time, they had mated. Afterwards, the two had spokenabout their plans to overthrow Mufasa. It had been the tigon'ssuggestion to kill off the King and his son, and Scar didn't like itat first. But after a moment of persuasion, he understood that hisactions were justifiable. Justifiable, but still cruel. He would notenjoy them, or so he thought.

"[b]After all,"[/b] thought Scar, as he wlked back to thePride Lands with only the stars to guide him, "[b]they have morethan earned their fate."[/b]

Scar had left her that night, promising to return in a few weeksafter his overthrow of Mufasa. He did, but explained that in thepolitical strife of the introduction of hyenas to the Pride Lands, hecould not bring his queen to the rest of the clan. He hated the ideaof having to leave her alone for so long, but she agreed with him.After all, the tigon would only be acceptable to the clan in theirweakest hour, when they would be physically unable to reject her.

The dark lion had left again, promising to make life for thelionesses as hard as he could. Tactical leadership decisions werepurposefully forgone by him, he did as much as he could to bringdrought and famine to the Pride Lands. Eventually, the herds startedto leave, and the lionesses suffered.

But somehow, over the next few years, the lionesses had hung on.Sure, they'd gotten skinnier and skinnier, but they were never trulyphysically incapable. Scar had visited Chukizo again and again, eachtime with the same message: wait.

She had faithfully done so. The last time she had seen Scar, theyhad mated again, and a few weeks after he left, she found out she waspregnant. The joy that she felt at this great knowledge was onlyincreased by the thought that her children would grow up as sons anddaughters of a king. Scar had said that the lionesses were gettingweaker and weaker, and that only the return of Mufasa could save themnow. But the next time her mate was supposed to come to her... henever came.

She was saddened at first, then angry. Could her mate haveforgotten about her? But throughout her pregnancy, there was a suddenmigration: every herd of prey that had left the Pride Lands over thepast few years returned all at once.

Somehow... the plan had failed. And the only way that Scar wouldallow his plan to fail is if he was dead.

The tigon had mourned for weeks, and the troubles of being late inthe stages of pregnancy only abetted that feeling of hopelessness.Again, she was totally alone: and now, she had less and less prey.With no one to care or hunt for her, she had practically died everyday that she had taken an animal.

Chukizo stumbled into her den. Then her eyes widened as shegroaned.

The cubs were coming.

The pain became more and more intense. It stretched the tigon'sdecrepit body to its limit... and even she knew that she would notsurvive much longer.

She laughed horribly.

"Do people really know how hard it is to be a freak? Anabomination? Hated everywhere you go, with only a single being inyour life acknowledging that you exist? Having to live alone for allyour life, with scarcely the hope of change."

"And now, fate has cursed me with cubs, on my deathbed. It isimpossible for me to live through this, and my cubs will cry over mybody for only hours before they are eaten by small predators. Theywill die before even being able to live, killed before even having achance at life."

The tigon paused, a tear rolling off of her striped muzzle.

"I can't allow that to happen. I [b]won't [/b]allow that tohappen."

Gathering her strength and resolve, Chukizo set her mind on twogoals: allow her cubs to have a glimpse of the world, and then killthem as quickly as possible, as humanely as possible.

Chukizo's eyes widened, and she started to push. Strangely, therain and clouds suddenly cleared up, allowing the sun to shine onceagain.

Despite her pain, the tigon managed to give a sad grin.

"[b]So... fate will be cruel enough to show my cubs the sun; aterrible irony that they'll die before they ever understand itsbeauty."[/b]

The tigon suddenly screamed, and felt a great release. The cubshad hit the ground.

After a second in practical unconsciousness, Chukizo managed toturn. There were two cubs, one a female and one a male. The femalelooked like her father, minus the mane and yellow eyes, but withjagged black stripes.

"My daughter... you are beautiful. Your father will be proud.Give him my love, and inform him that I will be with himmomentarily."

The tigon smiled, and closed her eyes. She heard a soft [b]mew[/b],then only a gurgle as she slit the throat of the small female.

"I'm so sorry, daughter. But your life in the next world will bebetter than any I could have given you here... a freak of a mother,with a second-generation freak of a child... no, I did what's bestfor you. Please don't hate me for it."

Chukizo heard the sound of the small body fall the ground, andopened her eyes to look at the male. Though blood was already poolingaround his small paws, he did not react. He just sat there, lookingat his mother curiously.

At first appearance, he looked like a lion. He was built with aslender body, and a small tuft of a black mane. He was perfectly inbetween the dark shade of Scar, and the deep tan of his mother. Atfirst glance, he had no stripes. But, a sudden change in the lightingof the cave due to the sun cast a different pattern of shadows andlight onto his unimposing form. His stripes were also black, but sosmall and so hidden by the rest of his fur that they could only beseen in very unique lighting.

"My son... you truly do have a body fit for a king."

Chukizo coughed, and looked down to see blood drip out of hermuzzle.

"I wish that I could give you a better life... but if the worldwill not allow me to do so, I will give you a heavenly afterlife withyour father, sister, and I."

The tigon inched her way to the male, and held out her claw,meaning to cut his throat. But incredibly, he jumped out of the way.

How could a newborn, whose eyes should still be shut, possiblyunderstand the dangers of being clawed.

Chukizo's face wore an expression of horrible pain and confusion,but she tried to cut him again. But again, he stepped off to theside.

"Son... I wish only to ease your passing. Don't resist me,please," she begged.

She struggled to her feet, and made to claw him yet again. Hejumped higher than ever, totally evading the blow.

"So be it, child. If you do not decide to follow the wishes ofyour mother, I'll have to make you!"

With that, Chukizo lashed out with a blow so quick and so powerfulthat no living lion or prey beast could hope to evade it. She aimedto crush the cub's fragile head.

But incredibly, he saw the danger again and jumped back. But hewasn't quite fast enough.

The tigon's claws had instinctively extended, and the male's eyewas cut, tearing off a bit of skin, fur, and eyelid. His face wasforced down from the blow, but after a second, he looked up at hismother again.

She gasped.

"You really are Scar's son," she breathed.

Indeed, the cut had given him a triangular wound that wasperfectly identical to Scar's. Though blood still dripped from it,she could see that it was starting to mend itself already.

The tigon roared, and nearly fell. The physical stress of standingand striking blows had left her without any strength left.

"So... I am not to kill my son and send him to a better place?Must fate place him into a world in which he will be more hated andalone than Scar and I were?"

She coughed up even more blood. The male was not phased still, hejust sat back down to watch.

Chukizo was only heartbeats from dying now. She rolled over to herside.

"You are a cub, my son. You need milk. And if I am not to killyou, then it is my responsibility as a mother to see to it that I cando what I can for you."

The male slowly walked over, and set himself down at the tigon'sside.

As he started to suckle from her, Chukizo felt a feeling ofelation. As stretched out her paws, and got herself into ascomfortable position as possible as she laid down to die.

"So this is what being a mother is like? ...I wish I could havemore time with my son..."

The tigon died painlessly, as her son continued to suckle.