Scars of the past

Stampede

8 years later

Lari steadied herself along the large log she was standing on, her tail twitched and her blue and yellow eyes focused on a herd of antelope. Rushing forward she let out a loud roar that echoed through the canyons of the outlands, she swiped out her claws and spooked the prey. They took off and lari cleared out of the way, being careful to not be trampled. As she watched the stampede carry on she climbed higher and higher hoping her plan would work, her father stood waiting for her. She approached him and stood infront, waiting for the perfect time. As the stampede got closer she growled, reared back and pushed him to the ground. He roared in pain, Lari stepped back and out of the way. Her father stood up weakly, he felt the ground rumbling beneath his paws

Just before he could jump out of the way large horns pierced his stomach, he was dragged along the ground and trampled on. Bones cracking as he screamed out in agony, it echoed between the thundering hooves of antelope and wildebeest. Dust swirled around the massive beasts, it took a few minutes before they all passed leaving Lari's father on the ground choking up blood. She emerged from the debris and stood over her dying father, he stared up at her with his deep brown eyes. "Help me..." he choked out, lari looked down and growled. "Help you? Did you ever help me?" His eyes became wide with fear, his body trembling as his muscles began to contract. "YOU ARE NOT TO ASK OF SUCH A THING!" She roared. "NOW YOU WILL FEEL THE SAME PAIN YOU HAD CAUSED ME ALL MY LIFE!"

She roared, her father tried to lean his head up but was stiff unable to move from his multiple fractures. "You'll bleed out in agony, I'll kill mother and then sister. They'll join you in hell, I hope you burn forever!" And with that she ran away. Her father taking his last breaths as vultures began to circle around his fresh corpse, making it back to the den she looked around for her sister and mother. Walking inside she rested, reflecting on all that had just happened. She had really killed her father, he made her like this a monster. "It's his fault, he deserved it" she told herself, closing her eyes and frowning. "He doesn't deserve your sadness, he was sick and, and twisted.." she told herself again. "It's okay" she finally convinced herself of her actions being reasonable, resting her chin on her paws she began to drift off peacefully. Her sister returning to the den and staring down at her, she grabbed a small mouse from the prey hole and started to nibble at it. Her slim body becoming more clear as rays of sun shone on her red/brown pelt.  Lari rolled her eyes, growling as her sister chewed loudly. "Could you stop that?" Her sister still ignored her, standing up Lari growled. "I SAID STOP!" She snapped. Sakabi stared at her in shock, a feather dropping from her mouth. "What's wrong with you?" She questioned. Lari grumbled and stepped forward, her mother entered the den with a loud cry. "You sick MONSTER!" Lari whipped around to face her, fury hefiring in her body once more. "You killed him, your own flesh and blood!" She pushed lari to the ground tears streaming down her face. "My mate! My pride and joy is gone! No thanks to you!" She yowled, Lari hissed at her and stood up. "He deserved it!" Lari's mother shook her head. "He did not, you are a mistake! A cruel mistake I gave birth to!"

Lari hissed in rage at her mother. "A mistake? What have I ever done for you to hate me so much, this is you and fathers fault! You made me into a monster and now you blame me and get angry at me?" Her mother stared at her furious. "You don't get to abuse me anymore, you've had your many chances and this is the last chance!" she leapt at her mother, clawing at her face. Sakabi leapt upwards and yelled at them to stop fighting, the two didn't listen. They tumbled over eachother biting and scratching, tearing chunks of fur from their bodies. Lari threw her mother off with her back legs and she landed against the cave wall with a loud thud, Sakabi ran over to her. "Mother are you alright?" She nuzzled her and supported her upwards. "Get out" she shook, hastily steadying herself. Lari glared, her mother roared. "GET OUT!!" Lari stepped out of the den without a care in the world and wondered the outlands, dodging hyenas and a few jackals. As she steered her way up a winding path she made her way up into the pridelands. Her blue and yellow eyes shine brightly, she jumped up onto the ledge and snuck through the long grass. Digging into a hole and snatching up a small rodent, she swallowed it down quickly and layed beside the large waterhole, a few animals surrounded it and stared at her with concern. Her tail flicked side to side as she thought about everything, all the suffering she had been through for so long. She had grown exhausted by it all, and now she was finally free. A lioness approached her, brown eyes locked onto her beaten body. "Excuse me, but you are an outlander and you cannot be here" she said in a gentle tone, Lari looked at her pale fur and apologised. "I'll be going, I just wanted somewhere to rest... I got kicked out of my home" she looked down sadly, partially wanting to sleep and sad that she was kicked out of the onto safe place she had. "I can offer you a night at priderock, I'm Princess Kiara" she smiled at Lari. Her eyes widened in surprise and she gasped. "Oh! It's so good to meet you your majesty!" She leaned her head down respectfully. "I heard you were trying to change things for the rest of the lions in the outlands I really respect that" Kiara smiled at her when lari sat up. "But I must warn you some may be rather tough on you... they don't seem to trust outsiders anymore and we have a few guests, I'll put you in with the royal mjuzi Rafiki so you can be patched up" She led Lari up to pride rock.

"Thank you so much, I cannot express how happy and thankful I am" Kiara nodded her head as Lari sat down in a small corner. "It's my pleasure, peace is what I plan to bring" she walked off and came back with Rafika a few moments later. He checked over Lari's injuries and began to rub some herbs onto her scratches, she winced and her held her paw gently trying to comfort her. "There, there your alright" he said. Lari began to settle and now her cuts were all tended to, Rafiki gave her a gentle tap on the cheek and Lari smiled as he walked down priderock. "You can stay in this corner if you'd like, it's blocking some chilly wind and gives you cover" Lari nodded and purred as she layed down. "Have a good sleep stranger" Kiara whispered walking into priderocks sleeping place. Lari closed her eyes, finally feelings safe and filled with relief once more.