Setting Sun [AustralianChaos and Zorayda]

[zorayda]

"Kyaaaah!"

The dark brown cub cackled triumphantly as she leapt at her target, large tan paws splayed as she sailed through the air and straight onto the other cub.

"I gotcha, Tanga!" the female laughed, the messy fringe falling into her crystal eyes as she lay draped across the bright-furred male. They'd been playing for an hour now, in the clear, sunny weather that was typical of a day in the Pridelands. She growled playfully as she scrambled back up, tail in the air in triumph.

"I tagged you agaaaaain! Betcha can't toooouch me!" she taunted in a sing-song voice, and giggled again as she turned abruptly to face him. She lowered the front half of her body so that her light chest fur almost touched the ground, her rump waving in the air. She loved playing with her shy pridemate and fellow cub, taunting him out of his shell much moreso than other young lions of Pride Rock. Tanga had always been a bit of a quiet thing, but Zorayda, as was the female's name, quickly discovered his sweet nature and secret fun-loving side. She waggled her bottom and stuck her tongue out at him for the male to come after her, eyes sparkling.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga yelped and tried to roll aside as Zorayda leapt at him, but was just too slow, the yellow-furred cub soon pinned under his friend, blowing his little tuft of black hair out of his left eye so he could better pout up at her. "No fair, I wasn't ready!" he cried, the normally shy and quiet cub happy to let his more exuberant side around his closest friend.

As Zorayda scrambled to her paws, challenging him to come after her, he crouched low with her. "Betcha I can!" he replied, his own rump wiggling slightly as he prepared to pounce at her. "I'm gonna get you back sooo good!" he cried playfully...only to stop as he felt something. Pausing, raising his front half so he was standing normally once more, he looked at the ground below him, feeling the faint rumbling still.

"You feel that?" he asked Zor softly, nervous confusion apparant, before jerking his head up, his ears flicking as he picked up a distant sound. "Hey, I can hear it now," he said, before straining to hear better, finally discerning the low rumbling as the sound of hundreds of hooves impacting the ground rapidly. "Hey, I think there's a stampede!" he cried suddenly, looking around rapidly, before pointing with a paw to a nearby gorge, where he could see clouds of dust rising from it. "There! What do you think's going on?" he asked, turning to Zor again.

[zorayda]

"Ha!" Zorayda snorted at Tanga's retort, her back feet prepared to spring as he prepared his pounce. But then his face grew serious and hers reacted in kind, becoming confused and concerned.

"Feel... what?" she asked curiously, but was answered when a faint rumbling became apparent under her paws. Smile vanishing, she suddenly became very still, ears perked forward to catch the sounds. Sure enough, a distinct thrum was apparent in the air. With widening eyes, she looked to her friend briefly before trotting quickly up to the edge of the gorge, looking up and down the narrow canyon. The dust that Tanga had pointed out was rising to the right of the two cubs. Zorayda narrowed her eyes carefully and watched, gasping in shock when Tanga's guess was confirmed.

"It IS a stampede! There are so many wildebeest... that's not good! I wonder what got them all so spooked...?" she wondered, her voice fearful. "Maybe we should go back and tell the grown-ups!" she conceded, turning to face her friend. There wasn't really much the two small cubs could do alone, but getting an adult lion involved sounded like the right thing to do.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga quickly hurried after Zor as she went for the edge of the gorge. "Zor, wait a second!" he called, hoping she wasn't about to do something silly. When she reached the edge and starting looking for the stampede, he hurried after her, relieved she only seemed to be after a look. His eyes widened when he saw the stampede himself, he'd never seen anything like it before. "Whoa..." he breathed, backing away from the edge slightly as Zor commented on it.

"Yeah," he said in response to her suggestion to find an adult. "Maybe we..." he paused as he spotted something, narrowing his eyes to look closer...only for his jaw to drop in absolute horror at what he saw. "Oh, no..." There, at the front of the stampede, clearly caught right in the middle of it, was the prince of the Pridelands, Simba! Tanga had played with the prince a few times, and was a friend of him, but Tanga generally preferred Zorayda's company. She knew when he was in one of his quieter moods, and would be a little calmer and considerate, whereas Simba never seemed to run ou of energy, constantly insisting they go and explore some other cool area or play some new time, even when his paws were raw from the running.

But now, it was blindingly obvious that Simba was in real danger, and Tanga knew that the moment he saw the cub. "Zor, that's Simba! Simba's down there, we need to get help, now!" he cried, not even waiting for her as he turned and shot off, heading straight in the direction of Pride Rock. He knew that Mufasa was off somewhere else, but Tanga knew there was no time to search for the king...all he could do was hope that Sarabi or someone else was there to help, and that they weren't too late.

[zorayda]

"S-Simba!?" Zorayda cried, her pupils shrinking in fear for the prince. She and Simba would play occasionally, but it always seemed that he had Nala as the main cub he'd hang out with. To know that the golden cub was in serious danger, however, froze her insides and made her mouth go dry. "Oh my gosh! What can we do? What if..." What if they didn't make it in time? But she left the words unsaid, mouth agape for a brief moment as she stared down at the small golden speck. She tore her gaze from him, snapping her eyes to Tanga and nodding quickly.

With a strangled, worried sound that came from somewhere deep in her chest, she raced after Tanga, dust kicking up behind them.

--------

The queen dozed peacefully on her favorite rock, in the midst of most of the pride lionesses and cubs. While her mate was away, she would tend to any pride needs or to be the diplomat while Mufasa was unavailable. But for just this moment, she relaxed happily among friends. The moment of peace was ruined, however, when a couple of noisy cubs dashed into the middle of the ring. She recognized them vaguely, knowing their mothers moreso than they themselves. She raised her head in surprise when they made a beeline straight towards her, stopping to catch their breath before one of them spoke up. A few of the pride lionesses perked up in interest, as well, watching the queen's reaction.

"Um, M-miss Queen," the brown one piped up first, looking absolutely terrified. A brief glance at the other cub told her that he was feeling the same. Brow furrowed in concern, Sarabi sat up a little straighter. "There's... a stampede! Down by the gorge, it's terrible...and..." the cub stopped to suck in a deep breath. What she said next would be a moment that Sarabi would never forget... "Simba's there! He's in the middle of it, you have to help him please!" the cub was frantic now, and the queen only froze for a split second before leaping to her feet.

The female cub yelped in shock, but Sarabi, in a rare moment of carelessness, paid no mind. "Where, child?! Show me where!" she ordered, her voice risen in volume. No, her son, her only cub... he had to be all right, he was smart, maybe he would be.... "Abeni! Sarafina, Kato, Nsia, Obi!* I need you to follow us!" Sarabi commanded, instantly becoming the Queen of Pride Rock again and not just another sunbathing lioness. The lionesses quickly jumped up, those with cubs murmuring words of goodbye to them before falling in behind their leader. They were what made up the usual hunting party, and Sarabi trusted them to keep their cool in the midst of a huge stampede. Zorayda locked eyes with her mother, Nsia, who smiled in a nervous but reassuring way as a sign of encouragement to her daughter.

"Lead us, you two!" she finished, her warm but regal gaze settling again on the two cubs.

"I-I'm coming too!" a voice called, and another cub, cream in color, rushed up to Zorayda and Tanga. Zorayda recognized her as Nala, Simba's best friend.

"Okay, but keep up!" Zorayda warned, and, looking nervously at the queen, turned and began running the way they'd come.

(*Abeni = "We asked for her, and, behold, we got her", Kato = second born of twins, Nsia = sixth born child, Obi = heart.)

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga raced through the lands with Zor right beside him, ignoring the rapidly-developing stitch in his side as he fought to keep running, knowing every second was another Simba was stuck in the midst of that stampede. He just hoped they were fast enough to save the young prince, no-one deserved to die so soon, and in such a way, too...

But Tanga allowed himself no respite as they reached the shaded grove of trees and rocks where the lionesses tended to stay when relaxing away from Pride Rock, the young male gasping for breath as Zorayda rapidly explained the situation to the queen, Sarabi, who was off like a shot, rapidly gathering the rest of her usual hunting party around her as Tanga quickly turned, beginning to lead the way back even as everyone else got organised...there wasn't a second left to lose.

----------

Sarafina whirled back around as Nala spoke up her desire to come with them, her instinctive protest dying in her throat. Nala and Simba were best friends, and very close. Sarafina knew that if she forced Nala to stay, the cub would either fret endlessly and stress herself to breaking point, or she'd just follow along secretly, directly into danger without anyone being aware of it. The mother reasoned that, by her side, Nala would be better protected, with the entire hunting party. "Just stay out of danger, dear," she said even as they followed the two cubs back into the grasslands. "If I tell you to run, you run, okay?"

But she turned her focus onto the cubs once more, looking ahead as Tanga called out, gesturing to a gorge up ahead. "There! Simba's in there somewhere!" Sarafina looked ahead and could see the massive plumes of disturbed dust rising from within the gorge, obviously a result of one of the biggest stampedes Sarafina had ever seen...and Simba was in there?! But even as she ran, her ears picked up something over the low rumbling of the hundreds of hooves...a scream. Deep and desperate, but hard to discern fully over the noise of the stampede, and the distance they still had to cover, but Sarafina paled at the roar within the scream...whoever had screamed was a lion!

Picking up the pace, Sarafina actually raced ahead of the cubs, skidding to a stop at the edge of the gorge, looking down into it. She couldn't see much through the ridicuous amounts of dust rising from it, coughing slightly as it reached her, but judging by the lack of movement, and the sound of the hooves rapidly fading, the stampede had already passed this area. She was just about the look further down the gorge for the source of the scream when she heard a voice, one that filled her with dread and relief all at the same time. "Daaaad!" It was Simba, and he sounded like he was okay...but why was he calling for Mufasa? Wasn't the king supposed to be on a border patrol today?

[zorayda]

Nala's breaths came in quick pants as she raced slightly ahead of her two acquaintances, desperate to know if her best friend was safe. What was Simba thinking, going into the gorge when there was a stampede?! Why had he been so far from home? Didn't he learn his lesson when they'd had that run-in with the hyenas in the elephant graveyard? Terrible thoughts kept popping into her head about the prince, things she couldn't stop... Simba, unconscious and bleeding all alone, Simba trampled on and battered, Simba with a broken leg, dragging himself home...

Tears formed in Nala's aquamarine eyes and she pushed harder, only mentally pausing when her mother passed the cubs and looked down into the gorge. Nala and the other cubs stopped alongside the cream-colored lioness, panting.

A sudden scream rang out above the pounding hooves, and the lionesses all suddenly looked unsettled or scared. Nsia edged closer to Zorayda as if to protect her, but kept close enough to the others to await orders from their queen. Sarabi's eyes were the only things that betrayed that she was just as frightened by the noise as the rest of them, but after a brief moment of shocked silence, she continued on as if nothing happened. They would investigate later, after she'd found the cub prince. The stampede finally began dying down as they approached the gorge.

The rest of the adults came to a stop farther back, but Sarabi was eager to find her son and so was searching upon the edge of the promontory with Sarafina. Her maroon eyes scanned the gorge, but the dust was everywhere...it was nearly impossible to see or smell anything properly. Coughing slightly, she turned to ask Sarafina if she'd go down into the gorge with her to search for her son, but Simba's voice cut through the dust before she could get a word out. The queen didn't register what he'd said as much as the fact that she'd heard his voice--a sign of his well-being.

"Simba? Simba, it's Mom! Where are you?" Sarabi called out, her head leaning over the edge of the gorge earnestly. With a glance at Sarafina to signify that she follow, Sarabi ran to the staggered rocks and quickly began making her way down. Her paws were thankfully very nimble, and she gracefully climbed until she was at ground level, taking an excruciating several minutes. She just had to be near her son, to touch him, to hold him, to know that he was alive and safe...

Nala had also heard the shout, and she looked up at her mother to see if she'd bring her down, too, though she doubted it. If anything, though, Nala now knew that her friend would be okay... she spared a glance at the two cubs who had warned the adults and let her eyes convey her gratitude. She really should hang out with those two more often...

----------

Zorayda gulped in air as the adults finally took over, standing next to Tanga as Sarabi anxiously searched for the prince. The little brown cub's sides were heaving; Zor had never been very athletic, and the running had really taken a lot of energy out of her... she'd been running on pure adrenaline, and now that the immediate danger was over, her muscles felt extremely taxed.

"We did it," she breathed as Simba's call rang out over the eerie silence after the stampede had made its way up and out of the gorge. "He's okay, Tanga!" she panted, looking at her best friend with relief evident in her eyes.

[AustralianChaos]

Sarafina nodded as Sarabi gave her a look signalling her to follow as the Queen began to descend down the gorge to find her son, only delaying to turn back to her own daughter. "Nala, stay here with the rest of the lionesses, we'll be back soon," she commanded, before dashing after Sarabi, only able to hope everything was alright, especially with Simba's desperate plea for his father, which still confused her. She did not have long to try and work it out, however, as another call soon came from the prince as they reached the bottom of the gorge, one that chilled Sarafina's very blood, and told her something was terribly, horribly wrong...

----------

Simba, in the meantime, had found his father after seeing his terrifying fall from the cliff, trying to get him to get back up. "Dad?!" he cried, his voice choking as he shoved his father's mane insistently. Why wasn't he responding? Even when Mufasa was asleep, he never, ever ignored his calls this much. "We gotta go home!" he shouted more insistently, before moving around his father's muzzle, biting his ear and tugging at it desperately, a move that had always brought a rise out of his father and king...but not this time.

And it was there, in that moment, that Simba finally understood, the life lessons Mufasa had taught him barely a day ago giving him the answer...his father, was dead. For a brief moment, Simba just stood there, shaking horribly, trying to find some way to explain away the truth of what was right in front of him. But nothing came, and the shock of losing his father, one Simba had always thought was invincible, was starting to set in.

"Heeeeellllp!" he cried out into the dust-filled gorge, his voice agonising in it's pain and desperation...the voice of a cub who had clearly just suffered a life-changing tragedy. "Somebody! Anybody..." he sniffled, the grief of the moment finally settling it. "Help..." he whimpered one last time, before turning and padding slowly back to his father, sobbing quietly as he pushed himself against his father's belly, still warm despite being lifeless, and curled up next to him, trying with every fibre of his being to deny the fact that his father, his proud, strong, kind, loving father...was gone, forever.

----------

Back up on top of the gorge, Tanga looked over at Zorayda as she gasped out her relief to him, he himself panting heavily. He might be a bit more athletic than his friend, but his smaller frame could not take as much, and left him just as exhausted as Zorayda was. "Yeah...I guess..." he said softly, looking over at Nala, before ducking his head down, a forepaw shyly tracing shapes in the dust as he spotted her look of deep gratitude. Zorayda was pretty much the only other cub who could bring out Tanga's more quirky side...around everyone else, he tended to become more closed-off and shy.

But his head snapped back up as Simba's desperate plea for help reached his ears, Tanga easily able to hear the bone-chilling agony lacing it. "Oh, Kings Above..." he breathed, knowing something horrible had happened. Without missing a beat, Tanga leapt down the gorge, nimbly following Sarabi and Sarafina's precarious path down the gorge, only hesitating slightly when one of the lionesses with them protested, trying to call him back. Tanga knew the difference between physical and emotional pain, and knew which one Simba's call was filled with. And if Tanga's instincts were correct, the poor prince was going to need everyone he could get down there to help him with whatever had happened.

[zorayda]

Nala nodded to her mother reluctantly as she ran to join Sarabi, sitting down near Zor and Tanga. Her breathing was already evening out, thanks to her consistent vigorous play with Simba and the hunting practice her talented mother provided in the late afternoons. She looked at Tanga as he spoke, used to his usual shy nature.

"You guys, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, Simba--" but then she heard a strangled, desperate call from within the gorge, a sound that tugged at her heart so strongly that she physically lurched forward a bit, towards where they believed Simba to be. She gave Tanga a terrified look before shooting off like a star, her paws scrambling as she ran.

----------

Zorayda looked from Tanga to Nala as the shy male cub stammered, smiling secretly. It was always cute to see him act that way, though she was very glad that he was able to open up to her. It made her feel special and privileged to be the one Tanga trusted. She was shaken out of the thought when another scream pierced the air, obviously Simba's. But this cry was... forlorn, painful... it squeezed Zor's heart with an ice-cold fist to hear a young voice such as the prince's in such pain. With a glance at the two other cubs, the three of them almost simultaneously took off to meet Simba. Zor had a passing thought, of Nala's mother's warning, but she immediately banished it. Surely Sarafina would understand how much her daughter needed to be with her best friend right at that moment... no matter the cost.

------------

Sarabi's pulse raced as Simba cried out, his voice desperate, pleading... painful to hear. She ran as fast as her paws could carry her, hearing Sarafina's panting breaths not too far behind. The dust was clearing slightly... she could scent Simba now, and---

Was that... Mufasa's scent, too?

And something else was in the air... something that made the fur along the queen's spine stand up. Something was very, very wrong. Then, finally, she saw him--Simba, standing not but a few yards away and looking very lost. With a strangled cry of relief, Sarabi skidded to a stop, using her claws as traction and not caring if a few of her tendons complained as they were stretched a little too far. The mother lioness nearly bowled her son over as she gathered him between her forelegs, her darling, precious cub, and licked his face and head with her tongue frantically.

"Oh, Simba, you're all right! I was so worried, and what were you doing here, you know you're not supposed to--my darling, were you crying? Don't worry, I'm here, you're safe..." All of this was spoken in a rapid-fire fashion between each lick, her paws tightening around the golden cub as she talked. "Is your father here? I thought I smelled him, have you seen..." her head was whipping back and forth as she asked this, wine-colored eyes scanning the grounds around them. It was then... that she saw it.

A young tree, snapped in half and bowing towards the ground.

The pawprints and skid marks leading up to it.

A large, golden lion, his body broken and still.

Sarabi's forelegs loosened from around Simba as the images worked their way into her brain. It seemed to take an abnormally long time for the sharp lioness to piece it all together. The red mane. The golden coat, identical to the cub she held. The large, muscular frame. The figure's back was facing them at the moment, but she knew.

Her mate, and the lion king of Pride Rock... was dead.

No...! It isn't true, it can't be... Mufasa...

She instinctively tucked Simba's face into her foreleg, shielding him from the image, but she knew he'd seen it, too. With a choked, shocked gasp that sounded almost like a sob, she realized what he'd been screaming about... Simba would be permanently scarred by this event. And she had been absent as he had to deal with his own father's death.

But... he just can't be dead!

"Simba..." the queen's voice cracked as she whispered her son's name. "I'm... I'm going to try to help your father. Sarafina!" Sarabi addressed her best friend, a now haunted look making her look slightly crazed. "Please... watch my son. I must tend to the king," she said with a strangely formal tone, as if trying to make up for the unbelievable and horrible situation. With that, she walked with an odd calmness to Mufasa's body, gently touching his face with one paw.

He was cold to the touch, and completely unresponsive. His chest was still, no breaths moving his ribcage, and the smell of his blood was in the air. There was no denying it. Sarabi wanted badly to bury her muzzle in her beloved's mane, to sob until she died herself so she could join him. But she had a son--their son--their legacy. Simba could not see his own mother break down like that. Her jaw trembled as she closed her maroon eyes, grief slamming into her heart. As queen, she had to compose herself for her subjects, to be strong for them... as a mother, she had to show her son that she was a rock he could stabilize himself upon as he fought his own way through this tragedy...

She stood still as stone, save for her paw as she gently stroked her dead mate's mane.



(This post is soooo repetitive. Lol.)

[AustralianChaos]

Simba looked up as Sarabi arrived, blankly collapsing into her embrace as she hugged him for dear life, completely lost as to how to explain this...he had just been sitting in the gorge, and the stampede just...appeared. He just listened as Sarabi muttered on, not really comprehending what she was saying...at least until her grip loosened, Simba giving a small sniffling sob as he realised Sarabi had seen Mufasa. "Mom, I..." he tried to say something, anything, but Sarabi quickly cut over him, the young cub seeing his mother struggling to accept what was right in front of them herself as she told Sarafina to watch him, Simba giving no resistance as he buried his muzzle in Sarafina's leg, unable to hold himself together any longer as he sobbed loudly into her leg, muttering incoherent things as he did.

----------

Sarafina could only stare at the scene before her, placing a paw comfortingly over Simba as she stared at the fallen king in shock. Mufasa...he couldn't be dead, could he? It just wasn't right...the world seemed such a bleak place without him. He had been hailed as one of the kindest and fairest kings for generations, and now he was gone. All she could do was watch, a few tears slipping from her own eyes as she watched Sarabi fight with her grief, obviously trying to stay strong for her son. Sarafina knew Sarabi would need to find time alone within the next few days to grieve herself, but for now it was clear she was trying to put her son first, in an effort Sarafina knew she could never hope to match, as her steadily falling tears proved.

But when she heard more young voices behind her, she turned around, jaw dropping slightly as she saw Tanga, Nala and Zorayda run into the scene, her grief-stricken mind struggling to keep up with everything that was happening. "Nala..." she breathed, her voice still choked with grief, before she regained some control over it. "I thought I..." But Sarafina's voice was cut short as Simba looked up, his tear-soaked gaze meeting Nala's for a brief moment, before he leapt out of Sarafina's paws, clinging to Nala desperately like a lifeline, sobbing into her shoulder as Sarafina's reprimand fell short. Simba needed his best friend right now, needed all the comfort and support he could get...but she still gave a worried frown, knowing it was too late to stop the three cubs from seeing the horrific sight behind her.

----------

Sure enough, Tanga had indeed seen the body of their king, and just stood there, frozen. Mufasa wasn't moving, not a sound coming from him, either...he was completely silent and still, eerily so. Tanga knew enough about the world to know what that meant...their great king was no more. A few stangled, unintelligable syllables escaped his throat, before he looked back at the completely devastated Simba, and guilt struk him with more force than a charging rhino.

He hadn't been fast enough...he was too slow, and now Mufasa was dead. To his mind, it didn't matter that Zor had been with him, he couldn't lay the guilt on anyone but himself, thinking if he had just been one pawstep faster, just a little bit fitter, he could have prevented this. For a brief moment, he just sat down, his body shaking as he became torn over whether to rage at his own incompetence, or whether to cry at the unbelievable loss that had occurred. In the end, grief won, and he collapsed onto his belly, sobbing into his paws, still trying to comprehend what had happened.

----------

It was into this scene of grief and misery that another lion stepped into, making him pause briefly. This wasn't right, Scar though, Simba was supposed to be alone...no-one but himself, Simba and Mufasa should even be aware of the stampede...the hyenas certainly wouldn't have gone telling anyone. Still hidden by the dust, Scar turned and gave a subtle signal to the hyena trio, letting them know a complication had come up, and they needed to return to the Graveyard immediately while he tried to figure out what had gone wrong.

Putting on a mask of grief-stricken horror, Scar wandered into the scene, converging on Sarabi first. "Sarabi? I saw what happened, I...I tried to save Mufasa, but..." he trailed off, putting on a near-flawless act as he sniffed quietly, playing the part of someone overcome with guilt and grief to perfection. Inside, though, he was seething...Mufasa's death was not meant to have witnesses, and he could see that infernal prince, still in the embrace of little Nala...still alive. That would complicate things immensely. He'd have to go back and devise a whole new plan now. But even so, the gears in his head were still turning...maybe he could turn this unforseen event to his advantage. And on top of that, he would be sure to find out who had alerted to lionesses to the stampede and punish them...quietly.