The Circle of Life (a Percy Jackson AU)

Pride and Prejudice

I left Ogygia in a daze, wondering why I had just passed up immortality and a chance for an easy life. Then, I recalled the burst of anger I had felt when I vowed vengeance and how my heart had twisted in pain when I realized that my father could not defeat Smelly Gabe. I had been unable to help my father then; I needed to help him now.
Before I could do that, however, I needed to find some prey and a place to reside in while I grew up. I would train and grow powerful enough to make Smelly Gabe pay for all he had wrought upon me. I dug my claws into the earth and imagined sinking them into his throat.
I shook my head. I was still a young cub who should be suckling his mother's milk and I was no match for a full-grown lion, least of all one as strong-though I hated to admit that-as Smelly Gabe. No, my dreams of vengeance would have to wait. After all, they were just dreams until I made them reality.
I walked for days, stopping occasionally to rest. There was prey, but it was either too swift or too large for me to catch. I managed to scrounge on a zebra carcass after scaring away a couple vultures, but by the time the sun was sinking after the fifth day of travel, my belly was roaring as loudly as a full-grown lion.
My throat was dry and breathing hurt. My paws were sore and cracked. My injured leg was hampering my progress and it now sent bolts of pain through my body, causing me to grit my teeth and swallow my own bitter complaints. I longingly thought of the fresh water at the oasis of Ogygia and the plentiful prey. I pushed the thought away. This was the price of doing the right thing. Besides, my appetite for prey was a gazelle compared to the elephant of my hunger to wreck vengeance upon Smelly Gabe.
I was thinking of all these things when I heard a squeak of amusement. "Oof!" I heard a lion cub say and I pricked my ears, hoping to pick up on the conversation.
Were they friends or foes? "Get off me Reyna!" the cub insisted.
      I heard a purr of amusement and then the sound of the cubs battering each other. I slunk through the grasses quietly, hoping to catch sight of them. There! Two cubs tangled together in a play-fight, nothing but winning the game to trouble them. "You'll never win Jason!" the other cub squeaked.
      I flicked my ears. So they were a male and a female. With a pang of sadness, I remembered how Annabeth used to tease me, her eyes bright with amusement whenever I did something foolhardy. The cubs were still play-fighting when I saw a shape moving towards them.
      My heart violently stampeded in my chest. It was a hyena, its jaws lazily flicking open, as if it wanted nothing more to do than sink its jaws into the cubs' tender flesh. As the hyena neared then, I sprung towards it and flashed out one paw, catching it on the shoulder and causing the hyena to yelp in pain.
     While in midair, I had tried to roar, but I had only managed a sound that sounded as defiant as a newborn gazelle. The hyena laughed at me and I felt anger coursing through my body, giving my limbs the strength they needed. I ducked as the hyena snapped at me, avoiding its vicious jaws by a hair. Then, I careened towards it and sheer surprise allowed me to knock it off of its paws, though I was smaller.
       The hyena lunged at me though and its jaws sunk into my injured leg. I yelped and tried to wrench my leg away from the vile beast, but to no avail. "Geroff!" I cried. "Geroff!"
      At least it wasn't underwater; I could still breathe, though my strength was being leeched from my body. "Get off him!" I heard two voices say together.
     I felt the weight on top of me shift and the hyena was pushed off of me. I got to my paws, wincing in pain and snarling at the hyena, whose gaze was lit up with fury and surprise. I felt a burst of vicious triumph as I saw the hyena had missing chunks of its fur and scratches were laced over its flanks; the creature was weaker now, but no less deadly.
      The two cubs were fighting side-by-side. They matched each other's moves perfectly, as if they had been born from the same womb. The female-Reyna I believe-kept nipping the hyena before darting aside, letting it swing towards her and catch nothing but empty air. While she did that, her companion was striking the hyena, raining down blows upon its flanks. 
      Despite the pain coursing through my body, I leapt forward-causing myself to yelp in pain. The hyena looked up at me and in the midst of its distraction, the two lion cubs both careened towards it at once. Their combined force sent it sprawling into the ground.
The female laid a paw on its throat, her sharp claws glinting in the harsh sunlight. "Give me one reason that your life should not end here and now," she growled.
"I'm a pride animal just like you?" the hyena asked.
My leg throbbed in protest. "Lions are noble," I spat. "Hyenas like you are a disgrace to the land."
"I have a pride too," the hyena managed, its voice faltering. "I have a family-a mate and my own young. Would you make them motherless?"
"Leave then," the male cub said.
The female cub hesitated before raising her paw. In a flash, the hyena ran off, turning into a little gmat in the distance. "Good riddance," she said, turning towards me. "Now Jason, what should we with him?"