[Discontinued] The Lioness ~~~ A Lion King x reader fanfiction~~~

The Aftermath - Chapter 12

A slight breeze woke the cub up from her slumber. It was much chillier than the normal warm one that accompanied the bright and comforting rays of the sun. When (Y/n) opened her heavy eyes she noticed the dark sky willed with various clouds that didn't let even a slither of sunlight upon the earth.

Only after blinking a few times confusedly did she realize that she didn't know where she was and certainly didn't feel the dirt under her paws. After that revelation (Y/n) bolted upwards and franticly looked around, however, her gaze stilled when she noticed a familiar mandrill on a nearby branch of the baobab tree.

The monkey was slumped and lazily fiddled with the herbs in a nearby bowl.

"Why am I here?" (Y/n) quietly asked the wise man, he only briefly looked up, nodded at her, and cast his gaze back down on the crushed herbs.

"You passed out a distance away from here," Rafiki explained with a saddened tone, "I carried you here."

The girl only nodded at the mandrill and decided to look around his home. She noticed a drawing on one of the branches barks with a lion cub that was smudged.

"That is Simba," (Y/n) was brought out of her trance when the wise man spoke, "That is- was - Simba, before he..."

Died.

The girl didn't say anything. Only turned back to the ruined drawing with a guilt-ridden face.

"How did he die?" (Y/n) whispered, her voice cracking.

"Crushed in a stampede," the mandrill sighed and continued to crush the herbs, "Mufasa went in there to retrieve him but died the same way. There was nothing anyone could've done. Not even you."

At his last sentence (Y/n) bowed her head and felt tears prick her eyes. In her mind, she knew she couldn't have saved them but regardless, (Y/n) felt like she could've. The cub raised her paw and rubbed her eyes clean and took a calming breath.

"You should go. Your friends and family are worried about you," Rafiki spoke to her, (Y/n) only replied with a nod and slowly made her war to the exit right before she looked back at the smudged drawing of her now-deceased best friend.

Her body seemed like it had a mind of its own as it carried (Y/n) towards the shadow encased rock while her mind seemed to rush like a turbulent stream from her thoughts yet at the same time like it was empty and still. All the girl felt was numbness. Like time moved at the speed of light around her while she stood there motionless.

As she reached the base of the rock, she through her fogged mind noticed the golden fur of her mother. The lioness calmly stood by the trail that her daughter approached and lovingly nudged her head. The older woman wordlessly led (Y/n) up the mountain and into the dark cave where they would normally sleep.

Inside there was the corpse of a mostly eaten zebra presumably from the hunting expedition that she missed this morning. The cub dropped herself near the corpse and hid her face under her paws. Eadala sighed sadly, walked closed and nudged the zebra closer to the girl.

"You should eat, (Y/n)," the lioness whispered to her daughter gently.

"I'm not hungry," the cub mumbled back sadly.

Eadala sighed dejectedly and slowly laid herself beside (Y/n) bringing her in the lioness' side comfortingly which prompted the cub to nuzzle into the soft fur and softly cry.

But both of them knew that this moment of peace wouldn't last forever.