The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations
Episode 13: Toss
It was midnight, Nuku laid among his parents and sisters, he twitched and trembled constantly over the ground, groaning and gasping, moving his paws while shaking over his back, with a face of fear and worry. Naibi opened her eyes slowly, having been awaken by her son's groans, she saw him and sighed when noticing his troubled sleep, she moved a bit to get closer to him and licked his forehead, making him to gasp and wake up abruptly. "Shh…" She stroked him with her lower jaw. "It's me…son." She rested her head over her front legs, next to Nuku, who was now awake, he yawned and laid his head against his mom's.
"I saw them again." Nuku said with a broken voice.
"It was only a dream, Nuku." Naibi said reassuringly.
"I wish it was." Nuku replied. "You saw them too, mom." He sighed by the painful remembrance. "Dokka and Gezi."
Naibi stroked him again. "I did." She said. "I can't possibly imagine how much you miss them."
Nuku let out a sob. "What did they do?" His voice was deeply broken, he began to sob more repeatedly.
"Who, son?" Naibi inquired.
"My friends…" Nuku started to cry. "What did they do to them?" He sobbed. "To the hyenas?"
Naibi lowered her head, getting thoughtful by her son's question. She just rested her head over his back. "There's evil out there, Nuku." She yawned. "But I'm here with you, and it'll not reach you."
Nuku sobbed. "I'm scared, mom, I…I don't know what to do…"
"That's why I'm here, me and your dad, alright?" Naibi said reassuringly. "You have nothing to fear."
Nuku closed his eyes again, letting more tears to fall, finding shelter in his mother's support, but still bearing a heavy sadness. After a few minutes, he finally managed to fall asleep, now more calmly.
The sunlight already invaded the cave's corners, Ari woke up with a long yawn, standing up and stretching at the view of the cave's outside, she glanced at her family then at Nuku and his sisters, their parents had already left the cave. She gave Emba and her cousins a final look, they were still deeply asleep just as the caracal, so she let out a sigh and just walked towards the cave's exit. She reached the beginning of the path that led to the yard, her eyes widened after taking just a couple of steps as she thought she had seen a familiar face through the narrow view between the two rocks that faced the cave, so she walked backwards and with an eye closed she looked through the narrow aperture, gasping and blinking when seeing her father at the distance, sitting down among four caracals, like waiting for someone. "Dad?" She mumbled at herself then turned and entered the cave again with hurried steps, approaching her brother and waking him up by stepping on his face with her front paws. "Emba…" She murmured rather loudly.
Emba growled with discomfort. "Ari…get off me…" He said while snarling and pushed her, rolling a bit over his back to ignore her and keep sleeping.
Ari grunted and looked briefly over her back then at her brother. "Emba…is dad…he is he…"
With a gasp, Emba rapidly got into his paws and looked at her with his eyes widened. "Here?!" He exclaimed, waking up Keru and Zale.
"Wh…" Zale yawned and stretched. "…what's going on?"
"My father, he is here!" Ari answered.
Nuku, Vari and Makei woke up abruptly. Vari yawned. "Why are your friends so scandalous?" She complained, glaring at her brother rather upset.
"Are we in trouble?" Keru inquired, who was still laying.
"Uhm, probably." Ari responded like stating the obvious, then she looked at Emba. "What are we gonna do?" She murmured worriedly.
"Are you sure it was him? Of all the places he could b…" Emba was interrupted by his sister's sudden rush to the exit. "…hey!" Ari got out of the cave again, sitting before the rocky aperture, looking at her brother then gesturing at the view with a subtle frown. Emba walked by Ari and closed an eye while getting his face against the two rocks, trying to spot his father. "Uhm, Ari…maybe you imagined it or som…" He gasped when finally seeing Kion, who was speaking with the caracals. "Oh…I think I'm imagining it too."
Ari sighed. "Emba, if he sees us here, he is gonna get mad."
Emba glanced down, putting a face of thought. "Okay…we just need to find another way, uhm…" He looked for an alternative to the path that led to the main yard, he took a few steps to the little barrier that started on the cave's entrance, he got over his hind legs and rested his front ones on the barrier, he poked out his head and gasped with relief. He looked at his sister. "Ari."
Ari approached him and adopted the same position, also poking her head a bit to see beyond the barrier, finding out the several sandy levels that they could use to go down the cave without their father noticing. "You think that's, well, safe?" She inquired.
"You got another idea?" Emba stated.
Ari sighed. "Fair point." She got her paws off the barrier and hurried into the cave, rapidly approaching her cousins. "Come on, we have to leave now."
"I don't wanna leave." Keru opined.
"Keru…" Zale warned.
"But Zale, it is good here, why are we leaving?" Keru asked.
Zale sighed. "You wanna get in trouble?"
"No." Keru responded.
"Then…" Zale gestured at the exit, making Keru to lower his head with resignation.
Nuku got into his paws and stretched. "Guys...what's going on?" Nuku approached Ari and her cousins.
"Ari, come on!" Emba said from the outside. Zale looked at his brother and started to head to the exit, hesitantly followed by Keru.
"Sorry, Nuku, we have to leave." Ari responded.
Nuku raised an eyebrow. "Why? It's still early."
Ari sighed while slightly shaking her head. "My father, he is here. He can't know we went here on our own."
"Why? I mean you're not hurt or something." Nuku joked.
Ari chuckled a bit. "Yeah, but…" She chuckled again. "I just know him, he is not gonna like it." She turned and began to head to the cave's entrance then looked over her back. "Thanks." She said then resumed her steps. Nuku thought for a moment then just followed them.
"Alright." Emba studied the barrier while taking a couple of steps backwards. "We just have to jump this thing and we'll be good to go."
"Are you sure there isn't another way out?" Zale inquired, looking briefly at the view next to him, spotting Kion again. He sighed and looked at the barrier. "Maybe we should just stay in the cave while my uncle leaves."
"Yes, we could do that." Keru said with a hopeful tone.
Emba ignored them and focused on the barrier. "Just watch and learn."
"Emba, I think we might listen to Zal…" Ari was interrupted by Nuku, who arrived and gasped when seeing Emba running towards the barrier.
"Hey! What ar…?!" Nuku stopped talking as Emba had already jumped, barely passing over the barrier.
Emba yelled with celebration then landed on the other side, just way differently as what he had in mind as he landed over piled, semi-spherical rocks that were covered by the sand, which instantly started to roll down and Emba couldn't stand over his feet on the continuously moving rocks, he screamed and started to fall down, hitting several rocks while groaning and gasping all the way down to the yard.
"Emba!" Ari exclaimed with worry then just took the path to the yard, now not minding the presence of her father. Zale, Keru and Nuku followed her.
Emba groaned while struggling to get into his paws. "Oh that…" He groaned again, finally managing to stand up. "…was not a good idea." Emba shook his head and opened his eyes, which immediately widened.
"It certainly wasn't." Kion said, looking at his son with disapproval, sitting down right in front of him.
Emba chuckled nervously. "Hey…dad…" He adopted a face of worry while looking at the ground with shame.
-Author's Note-
Special thanks to Rogue-Lion.