The Circle of Life (a Percy Jackson AU)

Was That a Prophecy?

        When I stopped running, I collapsed in exhaustion and waited until my heart slowed from a wildebeest stampede to merely a stampede of zebras. Then, I got to my aching paws and slowly ambled forward, taking care to taste the air for danger. I could not smell the scent of any other lions, which both reassured and worried me. I was glad that Gabe's cronies were far from me, but I yearned to see another of my kind.
My kind was usually not killed like that. I shook my head, but I could not get the image of my father-so fierce and and seemingly invincible-weak beneath the paws of Gabe. I wanted to tear out his intestines and feed them to the vultures. I wanted him to suffer like how he had forced me to suffer. I was a lone cub who could not catch prey bigger than a mouse; I was a goner.
       My heart felt like it had been torn to pieces by crocodiles and my muscles were as stiff as elephant bones bleached out in the sun. I wanted to curl up and take a nap, but my stomach growled louder than my uninspiring roar. I sighed and looked at my tiny paws, imagining wrapping them around Gabe's neck. It was no use. I was much too small and much too weak to defeat him in battle.
        My throat was as patched as the dry rust beneath my paws and as I trudged through the hot, arid landscape, I felt a bleak sort of hopelessness overwhelm me. What would happen to Tyson, my only living half-brother? Would he be killed too? My throat closed off; it was much too painful to imagine.
     Worse to confront was the idea that I should be dead too. I was not the courageous cub my father had raised me to be. Instead, in my own panic, I had run away like a coward. My father might have wanted it, but just thinking about how I had abandoned my family to the likes of Smelly Gabe cleaved my heart into two once again.
          I finally found a tunnel to sleep in. It was dusty and abandoned. The only scents in it were stale and I laid my head on my paws and drifted off to sleep.
      I was woken by a loud meow. "Oh hi, what are you doing here?" I heard a voice say.
     I looked up to see a lioness cub about my age. She had a dark, tawny pelt that look somewhat red and her tail was flicking faster than a fly on an elephant. "Is this your den?" I asked, getting to my paws. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"It's fine," she said in a cheerful voice. "I don't get much visitors."
"You're a prideless lion?" I asked.
Lions who lived alone were prideless. It was the biggest shame a lion could ever bear. "My father was the leader of a huge pride," she said. "My name's Rachel, by the way, and oh.."
     She broke off and bowled me over. She jumped off of me and I got to my paws, disgruntled and flicking my tail to and fro. "What was that for?" I demanded.
       "I had a feeling..." she said.
        "You were telling me about your father?" I asked.
       "This lion named Kronos attacked him and killed my brothers," she said, staring at her paws. "I've been on my own for three moons."
       I felt the grief of losing my family stronger than ever-like a heat wave threatening to drown me. "M-my f-fatter was killed," I stammered, "and my brother and sister. I ran away. I'm a coward."
     "You're no coward," Rachel said earnestly.
      "How do you know?" I asked.
        "I just know," she said.
         I started pacing. "My father, I thought he would never die!" I said. "He was the strongest lion I have ever seen and a stinky interloper killed him! I have no pride and I abandoned my father's pride. What am I supposed to do?"
     Rachel spoke Aydin, but her voice was different: raspy and almost snakelike. "The stink will only be cleared," she began," When wisdom departs and you face the end of your days."
    Then, she swooned and I poked her with my paw until she stirred. "What happened?" she asked.
     "You said something in a strange voice and then fainted," I said simply.
      "I hate it when that happens," she said. "What did I say."
    I friends and repeated her words. "The stink will only be cleared when wisdom departs and you face the end of your days," I said. "What that a prophecy?"
      "Beats me," she said brightly. "It makes no sense whatsoever!"
      "I thought only baboons recited prophecies," I said.
        I looked at her suspiciously. "Are you a baboon?" I asked.
        "No, I'm a normal lion!" she said.
         "Normal lions don't spout prophecies," I argued.
          "Who said it was a prophecy?" Rachel asked.
            "You spoke in a weird voice," I said.
              "How do you know I was not playing s prank on you?" she asked, curling her tail in amusement.
"You fainted," I deadpanned.
"I have many talents," she said. "I nailed Kronos in the face with some weird blue thing that humans use to brush their hair."
She picked up a strange blue objects that was curved and had bristles in it. "That's so weird," I said.
      "Not as weird as you are," she said. "You haven't even told me your name."
    "Oh, Percy," I said.
     "Well, Oh-Percy," she said. "For your information, that was a prophecy."
        I gasped at her. "What does it mean?" I asked.
        "I'm not sure," she said. "Maybe the baboon gods mug me every so often."
      "Baboon gods?" I asked stupidly.
         She purred in amusement. "Have you never seen them?" she asked, tipping her head to one side.
     "No," I said, wondering what she was talking about.
       "Baboons," she said. "They shriek when the sun goes down; it's like they're at a funeral or something. Plus, they sometimes just go silent-even the babies. I'm pretty sure that's why baboons tell prophecies; they're connected with the gods."
"That makes no sense," I stated,
"Well, I know this: you're going to be a hero," she said, "But your future isn't here. You need to leave and face it."