Commission for  BowserFan93
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A Past Left Forgotten


Tools for war – the “birthright” imposed on every lion. They were born and bred to be replaceable soldiers and nothing more. One lion tried to break free of that life, but at the cost of his own and the lioness he loved. Once a respected general, he became a deserter and a threat to his nation. He tried to protect all that he had left as best he could – his wife and their young cub, Joel. Together, the little family of three was on the run for seven years, skipping from town to town, donning a new identity for each one to avoid capture. But even so, the risk of getting captured, and even killed, grew with every move. And then…

***
Joel woke up, gasping heavily for air. His yellow paws clutched the assault rifle he kept close tightly. Where was he? Was there an attack? Beads of sweat ran down his shirtless muscled chest. All he could see at the moment was the white tuff of fur on his chest climbing and falling with each breath. Then he looked by his side and saw the snow white bunny that accompanied him, her face visible through the dark blue cowl she wore.

“Are you ok?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

Joel’s mind began to clear. “I’m fine,” he replied as he stood up and took note of the smoldering remains of a fire he set up.

“Fire’s dead.”

“It’s been dead for over an hour since you slept.”

The lion’s purple pupils scanned their surroundings just to be sure they were still safe. They were hiding in the fallen ruins of a city torn apart by the Great War. Their camp was set up behind piles of rubble and a lone wall that used to be part of a house. Joel’s right paw touched the scar across the left side of his chest and sighed; his nightmares have become more frequent.

“You should wear more clothes,” the bunny said. “It’s cold at night.”

“A pair of black pants and my gun is enough for me. One of the perks of being a lion, this thick bushy brown mane of mine keeps me warm.” Joel replied, pointing to his mane.

A brief moment of silence followed. Joel walked over and sat to the right of his companion, patting her on the head.

“Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I… I’m not used to sleeping without a story,” she replied. She looked up to his face and brushed the white goatee on his chin. She developed that habit after travelling for so many months with him, often doing it when she felt terrified. After lying down by Joel’s side, the lion began to tell a story.

“Ok, well this is a story of someone called the Naughty Lion. Once upon a time, there was a young cub no more than seven years old. He and his parents were on the run from the law, but he, being a child, wanted to live a normal life. One day his parents told him not to go out to play with the neighboring kids, but he didn’t listen. He went out to play, and someone saw him and recognized who he was. He ended up attracting some of the civil guards’ attention, and after gathering reinforcements they found the lion’s parents. They wanted the reward on their heads but of course his parents fought back. Before they could attack, the guards from behind opened fire and with loud bangs, his parents fell dead on the ground, bleeding from the head and everywhere else. But the cub escaped during the whole thing and hid in the house of one of his parent’s friends, losing the sight of the guards. Filled with regret and guilt, he grew up to join the army. All so that he could become strong enough to protect those that he cherished, and to atone for his mistake. Now, he is retired and travelling with a little bunny girl to take her to a faraway city so that she can rise to be Queen and end this senseless war.”

Silence fell between the two. The blows of the cold wind could be heard inside.

“I hope the story gets a happy ending,” Joel’s companion replied. “For both of them.”

Joel smiled. “I hope so too.” The tip of his tail then twitched and turned a shade of light blue from brown.

The little bunny noticed it and asked, “Will you ever tell me the story of how you got a color changing tail?”

“Maybe tomorrow night. Let’s just say it involves a lot of radiation and now I am a walking mood ring.”

Then, Joel’s ears perked up at the sound of footsteps coming closer from the street on the other side of the wall. Judging from how quick the footsteps were, he guessed that there could have been at least two of them coming from the right.

Standing up again, Joel held his weapon ready to strike, he signaled to the bunny to hide. “Stay here, and don’t make a sound.”

The bunny girl nodded.

His tail turned a dark shade of blue as he ran off to the opposite direction of the footsteps. He moved fast and quiet despite his burly build, something he learnt during his time in the army. Finding another wall, he crouched down behind a corner and peeked at his targets. There they were, dressed in grey uniforms that he had loathed for so long. The lack of medals on their clothes signaled that they were just grunts.

At one point in time he would have chosen to run than to fight, but years of fighting the war taught him that mercy would only lead to a later death. The two targets were approaching the camp site. Joel emerged from his hiding spot and fired at the first on the left. Bang! Head shot. The grunt fell on the ground like a lead brick. Before the second one could pull his gun from his holster, Joel fired three shots straight to his face.

The lion approached their bodies to ensure the job was done before stripping them of anything valuable. From behind the wall the bunny walked out, hands closed to a fist on her chest and her nose twitching rapidly.

“It’ll be over soon, won’t it?” she asked.

Joel looked at her like how a father would when their child had a nightmare, “Soon, I promise. I’ll keep you safe and we’ll stop all of this.”

Sniffling, the bunny girl rushed out and hugged the bigger lion’s right arm. All they had was each other, and that was all they could count on.