TW: Child birth/infant loss (idk if that's necessary but just to be safe)

Unina hoisted herself up, though not so much so she could remain unseen as she stalked closer to her current targeted prey; a lone impala grazing out in the open, unaware of the female cheetah's presence. Her belly, heavy and swollen with her very first litter of cubs, jutted out awkwardly from her flanks, making the task of sneaking up on the impala very taxing. It had been one year since she departed from her own family and already she was expecting one of her own, which Unina couldn't be more excited about. She could practically feel the cubs vigorously kicking in her belly as she approached even closer to the unsuspecting impala, who still failed to detect her. Even if it were to finally sense her near, it was far too late, for Unina was finally close enough and made a move.

The cheetah surged forward in a flash, and in an immediate panic, the impala bolted off with Unina not far behind. Due to the weight of her belly, running at this speed felt quite awkward. The impala certainly wasn't making it any easier with their sharp twisting and juking mid gallop, anything to throw the predator off its tail.

Unina cried out when she missed another step and tripped over her own paws again. Quickly, she scrabbled her claws to regain her balance before she could collapse on the ground. Her pelt ruffled with slight embarrassment. The sooner these cubs are born the better.

To say that her current state made it tricky to keep up with the impala's swift gallops and sudden turns would be an understatement. She felt heavy and clumsy while running and the extra weight made her slower than usual. Despite it, the expecting mother cheetah persevered.

Quickening her pace as much as she could, Unina finally caught up to the impala and used all her strength to lunge forward and hook her claws onto the impala's flanks. A surprised bleat escaped from its lips as it buckled over and Unina went down with her prey, carefully avoiding to fall directly on her stomach. Dragging the impala to the ground, Unina fastened her claws around its neck and sank her fangs into it to deliver the killing bite. The prey animal's cries were choked off from the blood and Unina tightened her grip. A one or two feeble thrashes, it finally went limp and only then did Unina finally let go.

Huffing and panting heavily, Unina let herself take a breather as the thrill of the hunt wore down. She used this time to also do a quick checkup on herself, making sure there were no scuffs, bruises, and especially no injuries relating to her unborn cubs. Much to her relief, she could still feel them becoming even more restless, having been disturbed from their mother's excessive movements from the hunt.

"Settle down, in there," Unina cooed in amusement as she glanced down at her swollen flanks, watching her spotted, tawny pelt flutter from tiny movements. The cubs were only a week away from being born and Unina couldn't wait to be a mother, nor was she really worried about the struggles that may come from this life-changing event. After all, if her own mother could raise Unina and her brothers all the way to adulthood, as well as many other litters before them, all by herself without the aid of a mate or other relatives, then so could she.

Unina leaned forward, about to take a bite of her hard-earned meal when a loud roar came from behind. Twisting around, she saw about three lionesses prowling over towards her with a malicious grin on their smug faces.

Dung...

A low growl rose in Unina's throat, her ears pinned flat when the leader of the pride came padding forward; a large, bulky male lion with a thick mane engulfed around his head and chest. Muscles rippled beneath the fur of his broad shoulders with each step he took, he stopped in front of the expecting mother cheetah and she let out a furious hiss as she stood protectively in front of the impala carcass. Silently, her gaze darted around the other three lionesses that had surrounded her, circling slowly with a sneer.

"Good afternoon," the lion greeted Unina with a smug purr, "I figured you would be out here at this time. That's quite a mighty fine kill you have there, though it must've died laughing when it saw that you of all predators challenged it."

"Piss off, you overgrown hairball," Unina snapped at the lion. "Are you and your pride seriously stalking me, now?"

"It's a mere coincidence that we've encountered one another yet again. Small savanna, I suppose," the lion cooly explained, though Unina wasn't buying any of it.

"Hmph," Unina sniffed, "Don't think I'm a fool. You and your pride robbed my kill yesterday, and now you're following me just to do it again. I didn't think you'd be able to haul your fat rump out this far."

"Heh, and I suppose you wouldn't know anything about having a fat rump?" the lion chuckled dryly, gesturing his muzzle at the bulge of Unina's pregnant belly.

Unina smirked, "Well at least it's temporary and I'm not forever stuck looking like a giant, overweight hairball."

"If you want to keep your tongue, I suggest you hold it before I rip it right out of that smart mouth of yours," the lion snapped, quickly silencing the witty cheetah before taking a deep breath to regain himself. "Anyways, you know the drill. Hand the impala over and get lost."

The three members of the lion's pride have now stopped circling and have surrounded Unina from all sides, blocking out any possible exit.

Unina scowled at them, "Why don't you all just leave me the hell alone?"

"Come now," the lion mewed haughtily, "We don't have to do this the hard way. It's simple, just hand us that impala over and we'll leave you be. Easy."

"I SAID GET LOST! This is my catch!" Unina snarled at the larger feline, her hackles rising as she stood defensively over her kill. "I already let you steal my prey yesterday, but I'm sure as hell not letting you do that again! If you want your own, go get it yourself! Otherwise, you and your trio of mangey, tail-kissers can go eat dung!"

One of the lionesses seethed at this, "How DARE you speak to us with such DISRESPECT! You are nothing but a weakling who's lower than the very ground we walk upon!"

"We should teach this spotted fleabag a lesson," another lioness snarled, "She's being nothing but an uncooperative, disrespectful brat!"

"It's your call," the third growled to her leader, "Just say the word, and we'll flay her and claim the kill."

"Stand down," the male lion ordered, "For now..."

"Look, just let me go," Unina said, "I'm clearly in no condition to fight. I don't even want to fight."

"Then hand the impala over," the lion said. "It's nothing personal, you don't get very far in the food chain by being a weak, pathetic loser, something you cheetahs will never understand. The Circle of Life doesn't show mercy to those who are too fragile to handle it."

"There is enough prey around here for all of us, why don't you go and hunt instead of harassing me and stealing my catch?"

"That's enough. You either hand it over or suffer the consequences," the lion said in a dangerously low voice, "I'm serious."

"Listen here, you selfish fuzz-brain, I have to feed myself and my children," the defiant feline's face curled with rage as she thrusted her muzzle up towards the larger predator's face. "Yesterday, you strutted your rump over here to steal prey that I actually worked for, since you're all so unbearably lazy! As if your mothers never taught you to hunt. You have THREE lionesses that can easily hunt down anything! So for once in your worthless life why don't you leave me the hell alone instead of stealing my meal, you STUPID, LAZY, POMPOUS LION–!"

Before she had a chance to blink, the next thing Unina saw was the lion abruptly whipping out a paw and swiping her across the face, toppling her over onto her side. Unina screeched in shock and pain as she roughly rolled on the ground a little before the lion lunged and grabbed her by the scruff and forced her to the ground where he slammed a large paw on her just right above her belly, pinning her down on her back. Unina grunted and struggled beneath the massive paws planted firmly along her lithe body, she watched with distraught as the lionesses strutted over to the impala carcass. They all glared smugly at the defeated cheetah.

"P-please... don't hurt me, I-I'm expecting, remember...?" Unina stuttered, her stomach sick with panic and fear. She tried not to shiver beneath the lion, who glowered down at her. The cheetah's blue eyes widened as she felt his claws sharply pricking at the space between her chest and her stomach.

"I've killed many cheetahs before who have given me less back talk than you have," the lion snarled into Unina's ear. "You just had to keep running that smart mouth. You just had to make it difficult, didn't you? You brought this on yourself, you could've gone free and not risk hurting yourself and your unborn scraps, had you simply listened."

"L-look... You already got what you wanted, the impala is now yours... You've won, okay...?" Unina trembled beneath the lion, feeling the sting of tears in her eyes. She swallowed a lump in her throat, "You win...! So let me go, please!"

"Hmmmm..." the lion glanced over to the side where his pride had the impala carcass in their possession, then he finally turned back down to Unina. It was clear the pregnant cheetah had resigned and was no longer thinking of hurling any more bold insults at him or his pride.

"You have five seconds to get the hell out of here," he muttered, finally getting off of Unina. The female cheetah remained still on the ground as the male lion turned his back on her, his thick- maned head held high. "Let's go, ladies. I'm starving."

"Of course. You can eat now if you want," the lioness said to him as she rubbed her flank against his side. "Whatever you leave behind will be for us."

The lion was already digging in while his pride stood by, waiting for their leader to finish, however long that would be as well as how much would be left over for them would depend.

Unina gasped a breath of air that she hadn't realized she'd been holding in for a while, her legs shivered as she strained to push herself up to her paws. The female cheetah slowly looked up and stared at the lions, every hair on her pelt bristling in terror. Her heart racked wildly against her chest, I-I'm alive...! I lost my catch but I'm still alive...

"Five seconds," the lion reminded Unina with a mouthful of impala meat, he licked his blood stained muzzle before taking another greedy mouthful.

Not wanting to risk sticking around the pride any longer, Unina quickly fled the scene.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the first contraction hit, it caught Unina completely off guard that she stumbled midrun. She hadn't expected it at all, and the sudden wave of pain that struck through her ripped out a sharp, agonizing screech from her throat that sent birds in trees to take off in a frenzy. The second the pain passed, Unina quickly forced herself back up and she staggered into the closest underbrush where she screamed as another contraction wracked her body. She clawed helplessly at the ground, curling up in a feeble attempt to curb the pain. Gradually, the span of time between the grueling contractions diminished. They grew closer and closer to each other, giving her less time to recover. The female cheetah groaned and gasped as white-hot pain flared through her aching belly. Summoning every bit of strength in her body, she squeezed her muscles and pushed, sobbing and howling as she did everything in her power to get the cubs out. It was slow, excruciatingly slow.

No... it's too soon...! They aren't supposed to come until next week...!

She could barely breathe, wheezing and gasping around the pain. Of course she was scared, terrified out of her mind. It felt like she was dying. It didn't help that she was also completely alone, writhing in her own agony with nobody close to comfort her. 

How did mother do this...? How did she stay brave for so long...?

But Unina doesn't have time to dwell on that, she needs to be strong if she is going to bring life and raise up her new family, for it was the natural way of her kind. Cheetahs have always lived a life of solitude, especially females. The responsibility of carrying on the next generation of her bloodline rests on Unina's paws alone without the help of any of her kin, let alone mate. Not that she needed help from them anyway.

I can do this... I HAVE to...

Minutes grew into hours, time was the least of Unina's concerns. She rapidly grew increasingly weak and dazed. Her whole body felt numb, her spotted fur drenched in sweat, and she could barely keep his eyes open. After many hours of screaming and cursing and crying as she continued to endure the insufferable labor, seeming to have no end, it finally did, and Unina's ears twitched when the den was soon filled with the sound of faint mewling.

Wearily, Unina tried to lift her head up. She gasped and groaned as a sharp pain shot through her head. Her whole body felt sore and there was an especially deep ache throbbing in her abdomen.

Through the bloody discharge, she counted four, tiny bundles near her trembling, aching body; two girls and two boys. A warm purr rose in the new mother's throat as she leaned forward to give each of her newborn children a tender lick to their soft, damp pelts.

"Hello, my darlings," Unina whispered softly, blinking back tears. "Welcome to the Circle of Life."

Wriggling around, the older, bigger infant girl of the litter quickly sought her mother's belly and immediately began to nurse, ceasing her cries. The youngest baby however continued to struggle aimlessly in the nest, weakly crawling around trying to follow her older littermate. Even when she did reach Unina's belly, her sister didn't seem too keen on letting her in, kicking and shoving her little sister away whenever she got too close and attempted to squeeze in what little space was offered. Despite this, the cheetah cub persisted, continuing to fight her way through for a share of her mother's milk. And each time, her older sibling continued to push her away, to which the younger cub let out a squeaky, frustrated growl, making her feelings clear.

"Oh dear..." Unina chuckled to herself. Gently, the mother cheetah nudged the bigger cub to the side, eliciting a disgruntled mew from her. Unina helped guide the smaller cub over to her belly with her paw. The little cub nosed her tiny muzzle into Unina's soft belly fur and finally began to nurse alongside her older sister.

Despite the joy Unina got from seeing her two newborn daughters alive and seemingly well in spite of their untimely birth, her smile dropped when she couldn't feel the same for her sons, who didn't look as promising as their sisters. One of the boys laid completely still in the nest, not nursing or letting out soft, feeble mewls like his other littermates. The other looked as if he were struggling to even breathe, his tiny flanks heaving in exertion before he too soon went as chillingly still as his brother.

Concerned, Unina gingerly lapped her tongue over their soft, damp pelt, neither of them moved. Whimpering, Unina tried again, licking and gently nosing the small bodies of her newborn sons, hoping to see at least one of them crawl or hear a faint cry, something, anything. But they remained still, not a peep from any of them.

The pain that tore at Unina's heart sharply like claws felt even worse than the pain in her weakened body. I-I've lost them... My sons...

Then, her gaze drifted over to the two remaining cubs, nestled beside their mother as they continued to feed off her milk. Unina's lip quivered as a single tear trickled down the side of her spotted face, but she resisted the urge to break down right there on the spot. She couldn't afford to break, especially now that she has two daughters to care for.

Fighting a sob that threatened to escape from her throat, Unina wrapped her tail around her daughters and she buried her muzzle against their soft pelts.

"You two are all I have left. My two, beautiful, little miracles," Unina whispered as she breathed in their warm scent, bringing her a small amount of comfort.