Pink.
He hated being this bright, monstrous eyesight on the Savannah, but here he was.
Existing as a constant blinder of birds and other creatures alike.
He shook his head with a sigh, staring at the reflection looking back at him from its depths and wishing that maybe his mother would've taken an interest in darker colors. He was a large lion, but even he knew he was too soft. He'd been run off from his kills too many times because the other creature, he assumed, was hungrier than himself, with skin hanging from the barest of muscle tissue and coughs wracking their bodies.
And he's pitied them, and acted afraid, and left them to the food it had taken him hours to find and further pursue and take down.
Before he could dwell on the pessimistic thoughts much longer, a gaggle of giggling lionesses passed by, and cast adoring glances over their shoulders as they did.
Within a second, his day seemed that much brighter.
Maybe being pink... was a good thing?
He stood up and low-key followed after them, hoping that maybe his luck would turn around. He followed them for a short while, a little pep in his step as he rounded a rock.... and they were gone?
Had he missed something?
He looked around, trying to trace their footprints in the dust and coming up with nothing giving them away.
Stumped, he sat down, a noticeable pout on his mouth. Of course, he would have some kind of heat stroke midday and imagine it all. Three lionesses, interested in a brightly-colored wuss? Not likely in the real world.
Giving up, he stood to once again return to the water's edge and stare into his own eyes until he could sink into the abyss of his pupils, but rustling from behind would have him on alert and... slightly wary.
He turned, half expecting a rodent, and instead finding one of the three lionesses from earlier, winking and gesturing for him to follow.
Blissfully unaware, he followed as she called like a siren, willingly following her into the shade of the trees, though every time she rounded some new corner in some new knook, he almost lost her time and time again, continuing to see less and less of her.
Finally, he found himself stranded amongst the rocks, closer to the mountains than he had thought he could possibly be, having just minutes earlier been near water and open sun... and it was growing darker.
He wanted to turn and leave, no longer ignoring his gut instinct, but he wasn't even sure the way to go at this point. Laughter from around a corner, and he cringed. Well, since there was no way back, he might as well go forward, right? After all, he'd been so miserable before, maybe this wouldn't be as bad as it COULD be.
But then again, it still could be. And he'd be dead.
While he fretted and panicked, he could hear the lionesses singing, though he assumed he would still have a ways to go, as he couldn't make out the words.
And still he followed the sounds, finding the entrance to a cave and going into the darkness, the only light seen through cracks overhead from a quickly darkening outside sky. The singing grew louder and softer so often, he couldn't be sure if he were headed in the right direction more often than feeling sure of the way to go.
No matter how close he seemed, the words never seemed any clearer, and he was getting so far from where he started...
Wall.
He blinked, feeling the tunnel in front of him, and was stunned. How could he hit a wall when he'd been following the sound all along?
He supposed it could be an echo, but he was so sure of his last few turns in the labyrinth of rock...
He turned around, intending to head back out the way he'd come, and met another wall. WHAT?! Had the tunnel collapsed behind him?
But no, as he felt it, he felt no stones out of places or loose enough to move. It was if the wall itself had been there the entire time, and he'd somehow magically passed through it with no effort other than his own foolishness.
A flickering light from behind, and he risked yet again turning into a wall, but instead found the opening he'd been searching for to the outside world. He was looking at a darkened beach, surrounded by cliffs and harsh landscape that he'd never seen before. The roaring waters were a sight to see, bashing up against the already sodden rock as if the ocean itself was threatened by his presence. He made an attempt to back away, back from whence he'd come, but found a solid wall. No longer was there a tunnel of safety, he was out in the open of the beach and sky and water and fearful.
He made an effort to climb, and he was doing quite well for himself until he got caught on a sharp rock and began to slip as they grew wet under his paws and he fell, down, down, further down than he dare believe he'd climbed. The ground was so close now, and as he rolled over to break the impact with his feet-

He woke with a start, sweating and sitting next to the river out under the open sun. He'd dozed off? It had all been a dream?
He shook off the fear, the absolute terror of his nightmare, but he couldn't help as if there were eyes on him, watching him and waiting for his fate to unwind.
He stood up, stretched as far as his limbs would allow, and started to wade into the shallow water, submerging himself up to his elbows and sinking into the mud of the riverbed uncaringly.
He sighed, getting ready to lower himself into the water when he heard a sound that made his skin crawl.
Lionesses.
Word Count:: 1,007