We are canines, we are crazies, we are puppies.

Stave Two: The First of the Three Ghosts

Disclaimer: I don't own, well, anything really. I do own the PPI, the PPFFD, and the canines. Lion King and all of its characters are owned by Disney, and A Christmas Carol is in public domain.

I will not update until I get at least three reviews. I'll get this story done by Easter, maybe.

Scar woke up from his deep sleep, startled. What woke him up? The bells: "ding...ding...ding-"

"What, the bells? Already? How could I have slept an entire day?" but that didn't matter. What does matter is how did he know that the thing that makes that ding noise is called a bell.

"I put it together," replied Scar.

Phew, I thought we had a plot hole on our hands.

"Ding...Ding...DING..DING, DING, DING, DING, DING!" and it stopped suddenly. Something started shimmering in front of Scar.

"No, not now!" The simmering light particles formed a figure, a lion-like figure, but smaller, with a bigger head. For the first few seconds, he seemed almost ageless, like an adult, but like a child at the same time. He had big muscles, but a baby-like face. His fur looked like it had gray streaks in it.

Eventually, the shimmering stopped, revealing a more constant-looking figure. The ghost looked almost cub-like, with a cub-like face, legs, and ears. His fur was an extremely light shade of tan, so light, it looked almost white. Everything about him screamed cub, everything except his eyes, which held an unusual amount of maturity for someone of his age. Scar recognized him almost immediately.

"Mheetu? You're the first ghost?"

"I am who used to be Mhe-"

"Give it a rest."

"Fine, ahem, fine. It's me, Dad. I am the ghost of Jua Tamasha Past," he said the Dad with an edge to his voice.

"So I guess you're here to give me a second chance, well I'll have none of that! In my opinion all this is nothing but," the bug came back, "Humbug!"

"You do realize that humbug is a human word meaning 'fake'?"

"Well, this is not a fake bug," the bug still kept bothering him, "HUMBUG!"

Mheetu sighed, "Just grab my paw."

"Why do you want me to—AHHHHHHH!" he screamed as he was whisked away by Mheetu who flew out of the cave and over the Pridelands, like a bird. They flew so fast everything around them looked like a blur, as suddenly as they started, they stopped at a watering hole.

"What just happened?" Scar asked, confused. He grew even more confused when he saw that the sun was rising over Pride Rock, "Where are we?"

"The watering hole, but a more important question you should be asking is, when are we?"

"Huh?"

"We have gone back in time, welcome to the Pridelands, on Jua Tamasha, back when you were a cub. Oh look, here you come," and sure enough, a young dark brown lion cub with a black tuft of fur on top of his head came to get a drink from the watering hole.

"Aww, I looked so cute!"

"Yeah, what happened Dad?"

"Oh, ha ha, very funny. Come here little cub, look at me," the adult lion tried to pet his younger self, but his paw went through his body.

"He cannot see or hear you, all he is is a vision of what has already happened," Mheetu told him as Scar got up, "Just watch."

"While we're waiting, umm, what's death like, son?"

"A little bland, no better than my short life," Mheetu replied, "Some father you were, I liked mom better."

"You mean Sarafina?"

"Yeah. At least death has its ups, I don't need to eat, I'm not chained up, and I'm away from you."

"Was I really that bad?"

"Kind of. The only reason I agreed to this was because Nala was involved. I'd rather have you chained for eternity."

"Nala?"

"Never mind, look," he pointed his paw towards a cub with yellow fur and an orange tuft of fur on his head, behind him stood a full-grown lion with yellow fur and a black mane.

"Hey Mufasa, do you want to play?" asked young Scar.

The adult Scar sighed, "I was so innocent back then."

"Sure, Taka," young Mufasa replied. Then he jumped onto him and started pretending to fight.

Scar sighed, "Ah, those were the good old days," Taka pinned down Mufasa, making Ahadi roar and pin him down.

"Mufasa is the one who is going to become king, so let him win!"

"But Daaad!"

"No buts, I'm going to show Mufasa the kingdom, so don't get into any trouble. It is Jua Tamasha, and I don't want you ruining the festivities."

"Fine," and Ahadi left, Mufasa looking back at Taka with a bit of arrogance in his eyes, but also a bit of sadness.

"So I'm guessing those weren't the good old days. It seems like bad paternal relationships run in the family," Mheetu said. Scar glared at him, "What?"

"Never mind."

As the two left, a dark shadow grew from behind the confused Taka.

"Watch out!" screamed Scar.

"He can't hear you!" screamed Mheetu.

Taka noticed the shadow and looked behind him...only to be tackled by a young Marty.

"Ha ha, you should've seen your face," said the young hyena, "You were all like," he made a frightened face, "and I was all like," he made an "attack" face, then he fell to the floor laughing as Taka glared at him angrily.

"Hey, can we come out now?" asked a voice from the bushes surrounding the waterhole.

"Sure, you can go," Marty replied.

"Great," from the bushes jumped out Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed.

"So what do you guys want to do?" asked Taka.

"Well, you see, there's a place at the borders of the Pridelands called the Elephant Graveyard that my pa told me about, how 'bout we go there while the adults are getting ready for the Tamasha?" asked Marty.

"The Elephant Graveyard? My father told me never to go there, he said that golden-back jackals lived there, the worst kind!"

"What do you have to worry about? It's not like he's ever going to find out? When has he ever cared about you, when all he does is remind you that Mu-whatsa is going to become king?"

"I guess you're right."

"I'm always right, I'm Marty. Come on guys," he gestured to the hyenas, "Let's go," and they all walked towards the elephant graveyard.

To the two future-dwellers, and to the audience, the scene faded away to show the aftermath of the visit.

"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT GOING TO THE ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD?" yelled Ahadi at his son Taka, who was covered with scratches and bruises, one of them going down his left eye. He was being examined by Rafiki in the cave at Pride Rock.

"That they're dangerous and filled with jackals," Taka replied in a bored tone.

"YES, AND WHO TOLD YOU TO GO TO THE ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD?"

"No one! But the hyenas asked-" he said the last sentence in a tiny voice.

"HYENAS! I SHOULD'VE KNOWN! I TELL YOU, YOU CAN'T TRUST A HYENA!"

"But they're my friends, they care about me, unlike you."

"MUFASA WOULDN'T DO SOMETHING AS STUPID AND RECKLESS AS YOU DID, AND HE WOULD CERTAINLY NOT BE FRIENDS WITH A HYENA!"

"Stop comparing me to Mufasa, I'm nothing like him!"

"OF COURSE YOU AREN'T, BECAUSE HE WILL BE KING AND YOU WILL NOT!"

Taka broke into tears, "STOP REMINDING ME!" and he ran out of the cave.

"Don't you think you were hard on the kid?" Rafiki asked.

"He needs to learn his lesson! By the way, how are his injuries?" Ahadi responded.

Rafiki sighed, "Nothing serious, most of his cuts will heal with time. However, one of the cuts will never heal and will turn into a scar, the one over his left eye." Older Scar, watching from the shadows, touched his old scar with his paw.

Suddenly, Rafiki got all happy again, "Ah well, considering what happened, the cub actually got away with very little injuries. Just put some ice on it, Rafiki knows best! Now, to get to the festivities," he turned around and started singing his nonsense song:

Asante sana,

Squash banana,

We we nugu,

Mi mi apana!

A still-sobbing Taka ran to hi mother, Uru, who was dragging an antelope carcass home.

"What's the matter Taka?" she asked.

"Dad...hyenas...jackals...king...graveyard," Taka said in between sobs.

Uru patted him on the back, "There, there little one, don't cry. Let me talk to your dad for you."

"Thanks Mom."

"You're welcome," she stomped angrily into the cave, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SON! STOP SCREAMING AT HIM! HE'S JUST A CUB, HE DOESN'T KNOW ANY BETTER!"

"Looks like that's another thing we have in common, we both have a caring mom," Mheetu's ghost noticed, "At least you're not dead!"

"So how's the old man," said a voice behind Taka, who jumped up, startled. He looked behind him and saw Marty, behind him, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed. All of them were covered in scratches and bruises. The hyena saw the lion's sad face, "I'm guessing not so hot. Ah well," Taka still remained silent.

"I knew it was a bad idea to visit the Graveyard, but you wouldn't listen," young Banzai whispered to Shenzi.

"Me? You're the one who agreed with him, I only tagged along for the ride," young Shenzi whispered back angrily.

"He he he," said Ed.

"SHUT UP!" the other two screamed angrily. Marty looked at them in amusement, then he looked back at Scar. More specifically, he was looking at the long, deep scar that ran over his left eye.

"Look at that cut! I think it's going to become a scar one day," he paused, "Yeah, a scar. That could be your cool nickname! What do you think?"

After a pause, Taka replied, quietly, "Okay."

Mheetu and Scar watched as the scene faded away...to reveal a giant gorge. No, The Giant Gorge. Can I just skip over this part?

"No."

"What? Why are we here?" a befuddled Scar asked.

"Well, it's not Jua Tamasha, but it's your past, and the turning point of your morality," below them, a stampede was going on just like in the move, complete with the music.

"Where is that music coming from?" asked Scar.

"The Buena Vista Music Group, also known as the Disney Music Group," Mheetu replied.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just a meta joke, you wouldn't understand."

"Again, what?"

"Never mind."

Next to them, past Scar watched as Mufasa tried to save his son. Eventually, Mufasa started to climb the cliff and asked his "brother" to help him up. His brother, as you know, uttered the ironic, "Long live the king," and pushed him off.

The past scene once again faded, but this time, it faded to Scar's cave. Mheetu looked at his father angrily, "So you're not only responsible for the death of your brother, but the death of another cub?"

"Only my brother, the cub was just a bonus," Scar replied. Mheetu rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Tomorrow, the bells will ring again, and the next ghost will come. Until again," and with that, Mheetu flew out of the cave into the night sky, and, unbeknownst to Scar, to the almighty. Scar, looking back at him, fell asleep once again.

Lucky: I am not updating until I have at least five reviews. I know that at least forty-eight people as of this posting have read the first chapter, but as far as I know, that could mean that forty-eight people accidentally clicked on this story. I'm not going to get any better if you don't update!

Coco: You may not know it, but there's a little foreshadowing going on here.

Lucky: (holding up eggnog and cups of hot chocolate) Who wants eggnog and hot chocolate?

Coco: (taking said things away from him) Let's not, these things make you go crazy. By the way, why did we have to make up our own holiday instead of using Kwanzaa?

Lucky: Because Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday, and above all, a human holiday.

Coco: Oh right.

Lucky: Please send constructive criticism, I know this story's not perfect and I want to know how to change that. No flames! Critiques and flames are not the same, no matter what they say!

Coco: Who are "they"?

Lucky: Does it matter, all that matters is that "they" are coming!

Coco: But who are they?

Lucky: "They" are "they".

Coco: Huh?