The Circle of Life (a Percy Jackson AU)

Not Everyone Dies Heroically

After leaving Rachel's den, I looked towards the setting sun, unsure of where I was or where I should go. My soft paws were smudging the grass red and my throat was as dry as the dusty earth, but I continued to trudge on, though I was faint with hunger and dizzy with exhaustion.
     The words of Rachel's prophecy hung in my mind like spiderwebs that I could not brush away-no matter how hard I tried. I was a coward. I didn't want to face the end of my days. I was only a cub and the idea of dying terrified me-especially after what had happened to my family.
I gritted my teeth. That was why I must go back-I needed vengeance. I needed to make Smelly Gabe pay for what he had done to my family. The problem was that I was utterly lost and even if I knew how to get back to my pride, I was in no condition to fight. Smelly Gabe would best me in a heartbeat and I'd only add to my mother's grief. I didn't want to do that; I could never do that.
I saw a sight so beautiful that my heart stopped and I felt my thrust close up, like locusts filling the air and hogging all the space. Water. It was a river, its surface glittering under the harsh, unforgivable sun.
Without even considering what I was going, I felt my paws propel me forward and the dried grass crackling beneath them was s blur. My aching thrust seemed to have hijacked my body and before I knew it, I was over the edge of the riverbank.
For what seemed like eternity-though it could only have been mere moments-I was suspended in the air. My flailing paws tried to grasp onto something-anything-but all they brushed was the air around me. Then, I hit the surface of the water.
      I was down under, my paws flailing to each the surface, but I was so weak and disoriented that I was not sure if I was going up, down, left, or right. On the savannah, running was on two dimensions. In the river, swimming required three.
        My lungs were begging for air and I kicked desperately. My head finally broke the surface and I sputtered, coughing up the water I had inadvertently swallowed. My legs-which has already been sore-were screaming in protest-pleading me to just give up and let my head sink underwater and my life drain away. My heart, however, had different ideas. Thumping rapidly against my chest like a herd of panicked gazelle, it reminded me of what I had lost and what needed to be.
I kept treading the water, my strokes growing wearier by the moment and I feared that I would finally lose all my strength and drown. I was nearly to the riverbank-though I was not sure how I would ever clamber over it, for the sides were steep-when I felt an agonizing burst of pain in my hind leg and panic swept over me like the wave of water that doused my head and left me sputtering.
     I spun around, though my hind legs refused to move and with a sinking feeling in my chest, I realized that a pair of jaws were clamped around it. I felt queasy; a crocodile want biting my hind leg.
     It wasn't the largest crocodile I had ever seen, but it still easily outweighed me. Besides, I was only s cub and it was in its natural habitat. I swung my paws and battered the top of its snout, causing it to shift its bite slightly and I managed to wrinkle my hind leg out of its grasp.
      I was still underwater and dizzy with weakness, but my hind leg was screaming as if it were on fire. I was in the water and yet, flames of agony shot through my leg, causing my already weak movements to falter. I tried to breathe-only to choke on water-and as dizziness overwhelmed me, I remembered the prophecy. Was this how I would die? It wasn't a very heroic death, I thought, and I would have snorted if I were on land. I was going to die because I was too stupid to think clearly. I was going to die because I was too thirsty.
       In the midst of my slipping away from life, where the edges of it seemed to crumple and my vision faded, I saw something that caused my half-closed eyes to flutter open. It was another lion-no a lioness. She was older than me, with a dark-colored pelt and warm eyes. I was surprised to see her, but I was shocked and astounded to see her facing the crocodile.
     She swiped at it, her claws causing rockets of its blood to disperse through the water. My blood had already tinged the water pink, but now it turned red as the fight intensified. After biting its snout, she flicked a hind leg at its underbelly, causing it to swim away, before turning towards me.
        At this point, I closed my eyes. My lungs were craving oxygen so badly that I was sure my death was eminent and unavoidable. At least she hadn't been hurt badly, I thought.
     I felt gentle teeth grasp my scruff and something tugging me upwards. Before I knew it, I was at the surface and my jaws gaped wide for oxygen, gulping breathes of fresh air like a famished hyena. I was still weak and felt someone-who I assumed to be the lioness-helping me swim, propping me against her shoulder, and nudging me forward.
     I finally was nosed towards the riverbank. I flopped down on the ground, my leg still screaming in pain and my entire body weighed down with exhaustion. My pelt was sopping wet, turning the ground to mud and I weakly looked up at my savior. She looked a little older than me, though only by a moon or two. "Th-hanks," I managed weakly.
       She licked my pelt gently. "I always help those who are lost," she said. "Welcome to my home. Welcome to Ogygia."