Pain and Suffering

As Mheetu runs farther and farther from Pride Rock, he enters the water hole. He laps up the water when a rouge enters. The male charges so fast that poor Mheetu has no time to react before the rouge is upon him, and all he feels is claws, teeth and pain...

And as soon as it starts, he lays bloodied and on the verge of death at the most peaceful place in the entire Pridelands....

He dreams of home, and sees the pride mourning. He ponders the happenings when he sees his body laying beside his father, motionless. Then the picture dissolves and he begins getting tormented by horrible visions of lions with blank white eyes ripping into him and saying horrible, frightening things to him. Unknowingly, after Heshima spotted him, tears begin to tear down his face as the visions get bloodier and gorier. He sobs and mentally writhes as he's tortured by horrible spirits.

Heshima had been on high edge today, for some reason nothing seemed to fall into place. The creamed colored lioness was stressed, Uma and her litter were keeping her on her toes. Was she ever going to catch a break? Heshima was in charge of five cubs, giving birth to four of those five. And then, Mheetu was placed under her watch when Sarafina and Nala were out in the hunting parties. But the female was going to catch a slight break, she knew Zira was going to be taking care of her litter; but if luck had anything to do with it something would happen to Zira, and Heshima would be watching over at least one more cub.

The cubs were currently taking a rare moment -well, at least rare for most of them- to sleep and Heshima had the chance to slip away to think. For the moment, Heshima was only under care of her litter and Uma; and Heshima was thankful for the small break. A cool breeze flew across the lands, a small storm cloud could be seen in the distance. The female chuckled to herself at the thought of the cloud even making it to the Pridelands, but no, the lone storm clouds never reached these lands. They haven't since the day Mufasa and Simba were declared deceased, and Heshima remembered it well. The lands seemed to cry that day, just as everyone else did when they saw Mufasa's body lying still in the dirt.

Heshima finally reached the waterhole, seeing the lone figure of Mheetu lapping up the water. A smile crossed the female's face, but it quickly vanished when a larger male lion came and brutally attacked him. Heshima had not seen the male before, and he sported a dark reddish-brown pelt. Tears entered the female's eyes as she ran to the small cub as the rogue ran away with a menacing laugh being given. Heshima nudged the cub once before running back to Pride Rock, she could do nothing, but Scar could.

The female was frantic, trying to gather as many of the diminishing pride as she could. "Help!" she called out, her voice straining from the distress she was in. She finally found Scar and a bow was quickly given before relaying the news. "Sire, it's Mheetu! He's been attacked!" The submissive lioness waited no longer and ran back to the waterhole, leading whoever decided to follow. She hoped the cubs didn't follow, she couldn't bare seeing their faces if they saw Mheetu. The pale cub quickly came into view and Heshima was quickly at his side. He was breathing, barely and she tried to lick his wounds clean. It was his mother's job, but Heshima was scared. There were too many wounds, and it finally hit Heshima that Mheetu would most likely not make it.

Scar had been searching for the lost prince near Pride Rock when the frantic Heshima yelled for help. His head darted up as he saw the lioness approaching, explaining that Mheetu had been attacked with panic obvious in her demeanor and tone. By her reaction, Scar judged that the attack had been particularly brutal, and his face screwed up in horror to think that his son had been hurt by some lion.

Who would do such a thing? Who would hurt an innocent cub? Then the realization that Scar had done the very same thing to his departed nephew crept into his dark thoughts, and he was paralyzed with fear and dread. Was he being punished? Was his dark past finally catching up to him...?

His mind was reeling, but the initial shock passed after a pause, and he glared at Heshima, the bearer of bad news. "How could this happen?" But Heshima had wasted no time and was swiftly leading the others in the direction of the incident. The enraged ruler followed her, running as fast as his aging body would allow. She led him to the pale cub, who lay bloody and barely breathing. Scar froze in his steps when he saw the spilled red liquid surrounding the ailing cub as Heshima tried to clean his deep wounds.

The father only stood there, feeling more helpless than he would ever admit. Who... Was it Kiume, or another of his neighbors? He began to growl, muscles tense, as if he was ready to fight right there, right now. "Who did this? What did you see, Heshima?" Whoever the culprit would be destroyed. Scar would see to that. Something that belonged to him had been touched, and the king would never allow such an injustice to go unpunished.

Heshima tried to recall what the lion looked like big, buff, a worthy rogue whose genes a smart lioness would want to have her children carry. The blood trail moved off towards the Savannah, away from the Outlands where some of her old friends lived. "It was a male sire, he had a darker pelt than yours." She paused for only a second, knowing the severity of the situation. "He smelled as a rogue, and he ran off toward the Savannah, the neutral territory to the northeast,"

Tears flooded the female's eyes and she bowed her head, her body shaking. "I tried to stop him sire, but I arrived too late," The small cub, there was no hope in trying to clean his wounds anymore. She would let his mother do so, even though Heshima knew that Mheetu would be meeting his uncle at any moment now. Apologies swarmed out of Heshima's mouth, the young mother saw Mheetu as one of her cubs as well, it struck her the wrong way that he had been suited to this fate. She felt as if it was her fault, if she would have run faster she might have scared the male away.

The creamed lioness choked on tears and inched closer to the tyrant king and finally met her forehead with his deep black mane. Heshima nuzzled her king slightly, ready to step back at a moments notice if Scar struck at her. It wasn't her job to have watched Mheetu, but she felt that it was her fault. Finally, Heshima calmed herself and once more uttered one final apology. "I'm so so sorry sire,"

Scar's face suggested that he was in deep shock, and he said nothing when Heshima spoke, her voice heavy with emotion. The russet lion didn't cry, he found it difficult to breathe at all. He bristled when Heshima attempted to comfort him. It wasn't comfort that he wanted, it was revenge. He shoved the lioness away from him, though he did not strike her or use his claws to harm her. "Why... Why didn't you stop it? Sarafina said she left him under your care."

He stepped over to the lifeless cub, but couldn't tell if he was alive now or if he had succumbed to his injuries. Scar's entire body was shaking with rage, but he didn't touch Mheetu, only looked down at the bloody cub in disbelief. "Is he dead? Where is Sarafina," he growled under his breath, voice low and ominous. She needed to see what her inattentiveness had done to her only son. While the dark king had a handful of other cubs, Sarafina had only one in her last litter. It would be a heavy blow for her.

Scar didn't know what to do, only that he wanted someone to pay. His chest heaved as he looked around slowly, as if the criminal rogue would still be lurking there. Despite Heshima's assumption that it was indeed a vagabond, Scar couldn't help but wonder if Kiume was behind it. Was the exiled lion beginning his attempts to overthrow his former king? Already, his twisgted thoughts were conjuring up ways to make his neighbors suffer. He had no allies on the savannah, only enemies.

She couldn't believe it, she wasn't sure where she would run to. She didn't want to be punished though it wasn't up to her. She moved quickly as she could, feeling oh so responsible. She couldn't believe this, she being over protective should have just stayed behind and not gone to the Tree of Life. She wished that her son would listen to her, she hoped that he wasn't hurt or too hurt.

She sighs as she comes to a stop as she nears the small group. She hoped that everything was alright. Her face wasn't so frantic as before, it had changed to a sad worried look. She hoped that she wasn't too late. She looked around and spotted the rogue male run off further from where she was coming from, a low growl escaped her maw, she hoped that lion wasn't Nala's father, though it had been a long time since she had last saw him.

She continued on her way to the group. She hoped she wasn't late. She sighs and looks to her son, she didn't know what to do, but she didn't want to deal with Scar right now. "I saw a rogue male on my way here, didn't get a good look at him but he looked like Nala's father but I am not sure." She says to them, but mostly Scar. She looks to Mheetu, and nuzzled her son as close as she could get. "I'm sorry Mheetu." She whispers to her son. She could feel the tears in her eyes.

As the lions gather around the young cub, Mheetu begins to cough up blood, the visions becoming more intense. He sees the rouge who attacked him, and hears his mother's muffled apologies and he coughs up more blood, and he begins to sob.

There is now another, more glaring resemblance to his father. From the top of his eye down to the end of his muzzle runs a large, bloody and deep cut. Anyone in the area would know this would become a scar.

Mheetu finally begins to regain consciousness and sees his mother's sobbing face. He weakly whispers to her. "I'm fine, Mom."

As Heshima was shoved away, Scar wondered why she didn't stop the rogue from attacking. The female was almost appalled, she had been watching five out of his cubs, she had only seen the rogue from a distance! But then, Scar had claimed Mheetu was under her care. Her teary eyes widened at the statement and finally she spoke up. "Sire he was not under my care! I was in charge of our cubs and Uma today, Nala was supposed to watch Mheetu," It was clear that the king was distressed, and who wouldn't be if it seemed like he was losing his son?

As Scar asked where Sarafina was, said lioness appeared in a hurry. But Heshima swore something was off, she didn't look as emotionally distressed as the creamed lioness or the king was. She cooed to her son, apologizing for his accident that might have been the cause from Nala's father. When Heshima found the cub she was hysterical, but Sarafina seemed as if it was just some occurrence that was to happen in the world. It was true that tears were starting to form in the mother's eyes, but how was she being so calm? Her son was on the brink of death, and yet, she was so calm.

But Heshima noticed something off, the blood had stopped flowing from the wounds upon the cub, and he started to stir. "Thank the kings," Heshima whispered, it seemed as if Mheetu to was going to live, but with his share of battle scars. The cub awoke and claimed to be fine and Heshima took the initiative to gently move the pale heir away from the pool of blood that had been forming. If anything were to kill the cub now, it would be an infection from the now dirt filled blood reentering his system via the wounds. The creamed female smiled and tears fell down her face, she always felt a bond towards Mheetu, she viewed him honestly as a little brother, even though her cubs and him were half siblings.

The mother of four nuzzled the cub's head gently, trying not to open up any recently closed wounds. "Mheetu, you scared us," The cub had a longer cut than his father's running down his face that Heshima would know would surely scar. The cub would bear even more of a resemblance to his father, along with possibly a few more cuts that would scar. All that was off was the cub's colors, and Heshima hoped that his new striking appearance wouldn't give him a softer spot in the king's heart. Heshima cleared her eyes of tears and turned to Sarafina, still wary of her behavior. "Sarafina, I'm sorry that this happened. I-I wasn't aware he was supposed to be under my watch, I was told Nala was watching him." Heshima paused and finally nodded to herself, "I'll be sure to watch him more now, even with the other five cubs. I'll protect him next time,"

Scar didn't seem to hear anything that Heshima said as she claimed that Nala was supposed to be watching her little half-brother. There was only one lioness who would take the blame for this incident, ultimately, and she soon joined Heshima and Scar. As Heshima noted, Sarafina seemed strangely calm now that she had joined them near the water hole to look down at her injured son. Sarafina was not even crying, and the sight of her dry eyes enraged Scar. Even Heshima was near hysterics at the sight, and it wasn't her cub!

"You should be sorry! What is wrong with you, Sarafina? You saw a rogue lion and did nothing? While your son was being torn to pieces? This child is your first priority, and you have failed him. You have failed me. If he dies, you will be marked as a traitor to the crown, do you understand?" Scar was seething with rage, and if he had not stepped away from Sarafina then, he would have hurt her. He wanted nothing more than to make her suffer at that moment, feeling that she deserved it for allowing this to happen. But that would have to wait.

Then, as if by magic, the lifeless cub came back to consciousness. His pale coat was marred with deep gashes, some which would no doubt turn into scars as they healed -- if they healed at all. The chances of a cub surviving such serious injuries were next to none, and Scar seemed to assume that he would not make it. Already, his mind was conjuring up ways to avenge the loss of his eldest cub. Even if Mheetu survived, he would suffer a lifetime of trauma, and he would never be the strong heir that Scar had imagined. The dark king turned away from the two lionesses and the bloodied Mheetu, no longer willing to look at the pitiful sight. "If he survives, it will be a miracle. We must punish whoever is responsible."

Sarafina watches her son. As he coughs up the blood and hears his sob. She hears his whispers and she is relieved, she sighs in relief and it just feels like the world was lifted off her shoulders, though she knew that her son wasn’t out of the woods just yet, and she knew that Scar would want to punish her for putting someone else incharge of his care while she went out to think and to look for any sign of prey. She was doing the pride a favor! Trying to find food to hunt and to think, should she be allowed time to herself? It seemed not.
She was trying to be calm, she was drained from the arguing with Scar, she was drained from hunting, and now seeing her son like this made her hysterical, but she had franticly looked over the pridelands for Mheetu. So couldn’t she be calm now, after all, going through several emotions in one day took energy.
She was about to move him away from the pool of blood, but it seemed that Heshima had the same idea, and acted upon it. She was feeling stupid, tired, and angry all in the same time. She wasn’t sure what to do now, she wanted to run away now, she wanted to find Nala’s father and get revenge on what he had done. She hated these mixed emotions.
She felt like relief had washed over her as her son was talking, he wasn’t fine, and yet, he said he was, probably not to worry her. She looks from her son to Heshima as she spoke to her. She was tearing up, her eyes refused to cry. She was upset over this. “I’m the one to blame Heshima, I shouldn’t have left him a lone for Nala or someone else to watch, though I did tell him he would be punished if he did wander off, like when Nala was a cub, and her punishments.” She didn’t want to cry, not infront of Scar; she had a lot to deal with him anyway. She feels the tears swell up in her eyes as she hears Scar speaking to her. She felt more torn up inside then she ever had been. “I shouldn’t have left him a lone, I know that now, I shouldn’t have gone off looking for prey for us, for the cubs so they could have their bellies full tonight.” She looks to her son then to the ground, she was trying her best to avoid Scar’s eyes. She gives a light nod to his final words. “I understand Scar.” She says to him. “I truly understand.” She was upset, upset with herself, upset with Nala’s father. “I saw Nala’s father leaving the territory, upon my venture to here, I didn’t know he would be back, and I do not know if he did this or not.” She answers. She wasn’t sure how they would get Mheetu back home, though she wasn't sure if she would even want to explain to Heshima of her behavior.