In honour of the new Lion King movie, (I've always been a sucker for that movie, and the music ;-;) I've had this story on the back burner for a while, and recently decided to continue it, and post it on this very day! Seemed fitting :)

Inspiration is weird isn't it? The sudden realisation of how much certain characters have in common with each other from both worlds...then the whole thing starts falling into place, it's odd but..I hope it kinda works? xD

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

"Wooohooo!" Came a sudden cry, as a large stone boulder suddenly rolled out from a forest edge, effectively knocking away a flock of vultures; after some poor defenceless creature, into the air.

"Dude what a strike!" Came a different voice, filled with infectious excitement and enthusiasm.

"Man that's gotta be the biggest flock yet Jay! Look at 'em move!"

"It looks like your aim has finally improved Boulder-brain!"

From the edge of a luscious jungle, stepped two teens into the blazing sun of the desert; one mainly wearing black with shaggy black hair that almost fell over his eyes, the other mostly in blue, with short brown hair.

"Ahh it never gets old, wonder what poor animal they were after this time.." The teen named Jay, started walking towards whatever animal the vultures were after, one hand shielding his eyes from the burning sun.

"I hope it's something we can cook this time, I'm starving!" The black-haired teen walked out next, one hand on his growling stomach, but suddenly stopped as he noticed something strange on the creature Jay was ambling towards.

"Uh..Jay? How many animals do you know have green fur?"

The teen named Jay, stopped to look back at his friend. "What? None, no animal with green fur exists to my knowledge."

"Well whatever those birds were after-" He pointed to the bundle beyond Jay, "-is green."

Not having taken notice before, Jay slowly looked back where Cole was pointing, finally taking notice of the animal that lay ahead of him, now a little sceptical and..slightly nervous, he began approaching the creature, slowly and tentatively.

Approaching with caution, arms up in a fighting-stance just in case this-thing-decided to attack, Jay slowly stepped closer to whatever was lying there.

The teen named Cole hung back to watch, wincing slightly the closer Jay got, completely unsure of what to expect.

Jay now stood over it, peering down he discovered it was… a boy? A child by the looks of it, lying on his side, draped in some sort of green outfit, not unlike his own.

"Woah it's a kid!" Jay exclaimed, unable to take his eyes off the boy.

"What? Are you serious?" Now knowing what they were up against, Cole joined him next to the young boy, eyeing him curiously.

"Is he-is he alive?" Cole whispered softly, more to himself than to Jay. He slowly reached out for the boy when-

"Wait don't!"

"What? What'd I do?" Cole immediately retracted his hand, thinking he'd done something wrong.

"What if he's dead? What if whoever he belongs to finds him here and think we had something to do with it!? I don't wanna go to jail! We should go!" In his panic Jay grabbed onto Coles arm and frantically tried to pull him away, to forget this ever happened.

But Cole was having none of it, and pried his arm away from the frantic teen.

"Hey, come on he's just a little kid."

Ever the more rational one, Cole went to kneel down to the boy to check if he was breathing, all the while Jay remained behind him at a safer distance, flailing his arms in silent panic.

Upon closer inspection, the black-haired teen thankfully discovered the young boy was breathing steadily, the rise and fall of his chest clearly visible.

Cole visibly sagged in relief, eyes softening.

Jay however was frantically trying to pull out his own hair as he paced back and forth.

"Is-is he dead? He's dead isn't he? I knew it! We're gonna be framed for murder! We-!"

"Jay!" Cole immediately turned his head to snap at his friend, having had enough of his panicking.

The teen in question immediately snapped his mouth shut at Cole's dangerous tone.

Then, Cole's face softened into a smile. "He's alive."

Jay staggered to his knees in relief, hand to his heart as its anxious beating was finally slowing, thankful he wouldn't be going to prison for a crime he didn't commit.

Looking back at the young boy, Cole raised a hand out to the boys forehead and gently brushed aside some of his blond hair, sticking to his forehead with sweat.

"Look at him Jay, he's too young to be out here all alone. "

A pang of sympathy settled in his chest, wondering what could have possibly caused a boy so young to be out in the desert alone and unconscious.

He continued running his fingers through the boys blond locks, his mind racing at what to do next.

"We have to help him."

Jay eyes widened at his friend.

"Are you nuts!? This kids a complete stranger! His parents might think we kidnapped him or think we're the ones that hurt him, angry parents are dangerous dude!"

"He's only a little kid Jay." Cole gestured to the young boy to prove his point.

It didn't help.

"His family will be bigger! That I can promise you! Probably has a huge muscular dad and even bigger brothers or even-"

This time, all it took was a death-glare from Cole.

"Fine…zip it, got it." Jay complied, while making a motion of zipping his lips shut.

Cole looked at the boy's face again, his expression softening. "We need to help this kid okay? Besides, if we help him out, he might help us right? He'll know we did a good thing and no bad people will come after us, right?"

"I-I guess you're right." Jay looked down at his shoes and rubbed at an arm sheepishly.

"Come on, help me carry him. He's probably dehydrated; we'll take him to that little oasis nearby."

Gentle yet strong arms lifted the boy by his underarms, and with Jays help, they successfully managed to rest the boy carefully and securely onto Coles back.

With a firm grip to stop him sliding off, and a gentle hand from Jay on his back to help keep him in place, the two headed in the opposite direction from the jungle towards their destination.

It took them an hour to walk to the oasis. The noon day sun was beating down on the two friends with no mercy. The desert ground dry and hot, beads of sweat trickling down each of their faces.

Soon enough, they spotted the glorious sight that was the oasis. It was pretty small, but served its purpose well as a resting spot and watering hole. Several palm trees lined the banks of a sparkling crystal clear lake. The water so pure, the reflection of the sun on its surface was blinding.

It was a heavenly sight to the two friends. Cole was about ready to collapse, but was afraid he might hurt his bundle, so instead gently kneeled down and allowed the boy to slide off of his back and onto the small but soft patch of grass.

Jay kneeled down beside the young boy and gently lifted his head into his lap.

"Well hey look at you." Whispered Cole as he knelt down beside the two, failing to resist the urge to again brush away some hair from the boys forehead; "You're not scared of him anymore?"

Jay only continued to study the boy's face, eyes filled with a mixture of sympathy and worry.

"It-it's kinda hard to be scared by something so..small and fragile." Jay felt a little foolish now for his previous behaviour; it certainly wasn't helpful to the unconscious boy.

"Do you think he's injured?" Jay asked softly looking back up to Cole, while still cradling the boys head.

"He doesn't seem to be. But first things first, we need to wake him, otherwise we won't know for sure."

Cole turned and walked a couple steps to the edge of the lake. He pulled out a small canteen from somewhere on his person, squatted on his haunches and let it fill up, then carried it back to the two.

Jay watched curiously as Cole then held the canteen above the boy's head, and slowly turned it to allow some of the water to gently pour down onto the boy's face.

The water wake-up technique did the trick, the young boy woke with a start, spluttering and gasping. After rubbing the water out of his eyes, he looked around groggily, blinking as the harsh sunlight invaded his eyes.

"Hey kid, you alright?" Cole asked softly, gently placing a hand on his shoulder, while Jay helped the boy to sit up.

"Oh thank FSM you're alive! You could've died back there! We thought your family would get all vengeful and come after us and think we did something to you or that we kidnapped you or-"

Cole rolled his eyes at his friend's tendency to ramble. "Jay, let the kid speak."

"I-I think so?" Though dazed and disoriented, and well, a little confused at the sudden rambling, the boy wiped the last remaining remnants of water from his eyes and took in his surroundings.

He hadn't a clue where he was or how he got there, his eyes then settled on the stranger in front of him.

He looked older than him that was for sure, and definitely had some muscle on him. He almost seemed intimidating, but his eyes and expression shone with tenderness and caring, almost like a gentle giant. Right away the boy felt he could trust him.

Cole noticed the boy observing him, before suddenly remembering he was still holding the canteen.

"Oh! I almost forgot, you must be thirsty, here." Cole held out his canteen for the boy, who took it gratefully.

As soon as the first drop of water hit his tongue, the young boy then greedily gulped down the rest of the water, Jay watched in slight envy, mouth dry and parched.

Jay's expression however didn't go unnoticed, as Cole was handed back the now empty canteen, he went to fill it again then handed it to Jay, who took it with a grateful smile. Still keeping one hand on the boys back to hold him steady, he focused on quenching his own thirst.

Cole couldn't help but entertain the thought that while Jay was busy drinking, he wouldn't be able to talk.

He squatted down so he was eye level with the boy.

"So what's your name kiddo?"

Suddenly a little bashful, the young boy replied a little nervously:

"Uh..my n-name is Lloyd."

A sudden satisfied sigh from Jay startled the two as he finally quenched his thirst and handed back the canteen to Cole, who only shot a brief irritated glance at him for interrupting them, then stood up to once again fill the canteen from the lake, this time quenching his own thirst in the process.

"So Lloyd huh? Like.. with two L's?" Now no longer dying of thirst, Jay felt back to his old self, deciding their new friend needing some cheering up.

"Uh-huh."

"I have to wonder why some names start with the same two letters, like it could be a drawn out name like Llllloyd, to emphasise the two L's, or you could pronounce them separately? Like..L-loyd. Hah that's funny to say, Luh-loyd, like J-jay or C-cole-"

"Jay just…don't." Came the reply from an exasperated Cole, currently pinching the bridge of his nose.

Jay just stuck his tongue out to him in retort, before turning back to Lloyd, having not moved from his spot on the ground.

"So, where did you come from Lloyd?"

An innocent question, but a loaded one at the same time, it sputtered the memory of what he was running from into motion, and came rushing to the forefront of his mind. Cole noticed his shoulders suddenly growing tense.

Biting his lip, Lloyd harshly looked away, then stood up, and slowly wandered away from the two teens.

"Kid where you goin'?" Cole gently called, throwing his arms out in confusion.

"Nowhere." Came the stoic reply as the boy wandered a little further into the desert then collapsed onto his knees, a picture of utter defeat.

Lloyd's utter look of misery and defeat was enough for Cole to feel a tugging at his heartstrings, a protectiveness awakening inside his very soul, the likes of which he hadn't felt for a very long time.

Making up his mind, Cole walked up behind Lloyd, kneeled down beside him, and gently placed one hand on his shoulder "Come on kid, what's eating you?"

"Well you nearly did for a start," snorted Jay, he received a glare of death in reply.

Cole tried again, giving Lloyd's shoulder a gentle squeeze "So, where are you from Lloyd? You must be really far from home."

Lloyd shrugged off Cole's hand as he began lazily walking away again, throwing his answer over his shoulder. "What's it matter? I can't go back."

"Oh?" Jay jogged up to his side excitedly "Does that mean you're a runaway like us?"

Though Lloyd stopped when Jay appeared, he still refused to look at him. "I guess?"

Still kneeling in the same spot, Cole replied, "Did you do something bad?"

Lloyd exhaled slowly, closing his eyes and lowering his head as he realised he wasn't going to be able to hide it from these two forever "It's not that I've done something bad it's…that I'm supposed to do something bad."

Jay and Cole looked at each other, each raising one quizzical eyebrow at the confusing statement.

Then slowly, Lloyd released a long and tired sigh, and turned his face further away from the two friends, "I'm…supposed to kill my father one day."