Lala Mtoto Lala
sypnosis: The white lion clan has invaded the country, and they’re about to wipe the city out. The sunset warriors told the people of the slums to evacuate. With the hope of getting out of the war, and fear of being in the crossfire, you begin your journey towards the outskirts of town along with your husband, Ruggie.
tw: mentions of war, blood, and burning. genocide. implied character death
⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺⁺‧₊˚
You and Ruggie have been together for as long as you can remember. Since you were kids, your grandmothers were best friends. So you hang around each other as often as the sun sets in the savanna. And so, you grew to love each other. You got married after he got a job, and now have your beautiful offspring. With freckles decorating his skin, just like his father. You prayed to the sevens, and all the gods above that your happiness would last a little longer. But it seems as if fate had a different plan for you.
The Sunset Savanna has been invaded in a ghastly war. The Sunset Warriors knocked on you and Ruggie’s door, “It’s time to evacuate.” You stared at Ruggie when the warriors left with wide eyes, your child crying in his crib. It was terrifying. Ruggie squeezed your hand in his. Trying to give you a piece of comfort in the middle of the cataclysm of everything you both knew. The sounds of the military’s boots thumping on the ground echoed through the slums. People panicking about what to bring, whispering if the white lion clan will come unannounced to their neighborhood to take their children and their lives.
“Don’t listen to them.” Ruggie whispered, pulling you in an embrace. “Our son will be okay, I promise you.” You leaned into his embrace, his warmth and scent comforting you. Ruggie won’t let anything happen to you, you knew that. That’s how you both survived for so long. You had each other’s backs. And you know that even the white lions couldn’t stop that.
“What will we do now?” You asked, he gave you a toothy grin as he pinched your cheek, “survive.”
You went to carry your son, and he started to pack up the essentials. Canned food, bottled waters, diapers and such. When you were almost ready, he hugged you. Then angled your chin to meet his eyes.
“I’ll help the others.”
“You’ll need me.” you answered, he shook his head. Ruggie’s eyes softened, holding deep affection within them as he met yours.
“Yeah, honey I know I do. But you’re the stronger one and I need you to take care of yourself and snaggletooth. I can take care of the grammies, okay?”
You nodded, understanding that your priority is the child you both held dearly. He kissed your cheek then let you out of his arms before turning to the door. As you wrapped your baby in their blanket, Ruggie ran out to check on the other people in your streets. The people who watched you two grow up. The grandmas, aunties, and uncles who shared what they had to let you grow healthily. It was time to give back. Ruggie helped them with their things, and began to organize them, to ensure their survival. You put a cloak on, carrying your bag and child before following them.
The journey to the protected zone was quiet. The people of the slums were never this quiet before. It was a stark contrast to how loud your community was with fights, celebration, or just talking in general. In the distance, you could hear magic exploding. The elderly flinching, children shaking from hunger. No rations came for the past week. Ruggie reached into his bag, handing the children fiber bars to eat.
“Come on grams, you literally used to beat up five men at once. You can handle this, ‘kay? Let my boy taste that delicious markavah you used to make after this war.” The grandmother who was once shaking smiled, patting ruggie’s head and agreeing. Walking less shaky this time.
Ruggie’s attention was cut in half by looking after the others, then at you. You swear that he looks at you with fearful eyes, while trying to comfort the others. He jogged back to you.
“How are you holding up?” He asked, “and the pup?”
You gazed at him, “The pup’s okay. If anything I think I should be worried about you. How are you, hun?”
He chuckled, taking the baby from you. “Good enough, as long as you’re okay.”
You felt so tense before, but now everything felt lighter with him near. Little did you know, that relief would be short lived. The woodland creatures ran up the mountain, as if to escape a catastrophe.
All your fellow beastmen halted as they climbed the mountain. The tension grew when the rocks on the ground were shaking. Ruggie grabbed you, and pulled you to run, “EVERYONE, RUN NOW.”
Everyone began running as light from what you presumed was fire appeared a few meters behind you. The scent of iron in the air almost makes you want to throw up. The white lion clan is here. Many of them are here. It all happened so fast, red spluttered on the ground and the leaves. Ruggie kept pulling you when a white lion beastman rushed behind you. He took his magic pen out and used fire magic to push him away. The lion beastman screamed in agony as the fire engulfed his body, “don’t look back!” Ruggie shouted to you, and in contrast, he pushed your child into your arms.
Ruggie had a very agitated look on his face as he kept running while grabbing your arm with his hand. Ruggie looked behind you, watching the others fall into the genocide these monsters created for the sake of their ‘species’. He bit the insides of his cheeks, enough to make them bleed. Trying to think of a way to save you, and that child that he loves more than himself. He looked around, running to a darker path then pushing you in front of him. He let his eyes drown in the sight of you. God, how do you look so beautiful even when he is terrified? You met his eyes, you saw the tender way he gazed upon you and knew instantly what was on his mind. You shook your head, shaking in fear as tears began to fill your eyes.
“No– you’re not doing this, Ruggie! Run with u–”
“It wouldn’t do anything if I ran now.”
Your heart dropped. It felt as if you swallowed a rock. He turned your flashlight off, and hid with you behind bushes. He held your face with his shaking hands. His eyes teary as he smiled at you, “I need you to listen to me”
“No– no no Ruggie there has to be another way..!” You whispered-screamed at him. Ruggie shook his head.
“Listen hun. I need you to keep running. Leona’s people are right up there. Just a little bit more and then you and snaggletooth will be okay.”
“Then come with us..!”
“I need to be here to push them away, name. Please. Listen to me just this once. If not for me, then for our cub. I need him safe, I need you both to be safe.”
The baby was about to scream and cry before Ruggie hummed a lullaby he learned from his grandmother, petting his head. Trying to keep him quiet as the white lions kept attacking the others. The screams added to your terror. You could feel the tears you didn’t know were there drop down on your cheek.
“There’s a path towards the camp up here. They won’t see you. Take the path. I’ll be right behind you once I’m done here.”
You bit your lip, wanting to rebel against his words. But your son kept those thoughts away, and you could just nod as you began to get up, “You promise?”
“Yeah, dumbass. I’ll be there begging Leona for scraps before you even know it.” He smirked at you, but there was something soft in his eyes. “I love you.” He rubbed his thumb over your hand, as if to memorize the way it feels, each print and veins. He gave your beloved son a tender kiss on the forehead before he ran to the opposite side of the slop. Shouting to get the clan’s attention and away from you.
Looking back at it, you should’ve told him that you loved him just as much before you started running. But you trusted him, his promise that he’d be there and that your son would grow up with a loving father, and you’d grow old with your beloved husband.
You felt Ruggie’s mana as you ran in the darkness. It was your source of comfort. The baby started to fuss, feeling his father away from him. You tried to shush him as you ran, scared of someone hearing and hurting your baby. He kept crying. You rushed through the path, singing gently in the way Ruggie did.
“Lala mtoto lala lala mtoto lala. Papa Anakuja Lala akupe maziwa Lala.. Lala mtoto lala.” The cub in your arms began to slowly calm down. You continued singing, "Sleep well, my dear child.. Sleep well, little one. Papa is going to come soon.. Sleep soundly, he’ll bring milk for you. Sleep well, my dear child.”
You changed the word mama for papa, feeling as though it’ll comfort him more. Ruggie had been better with kids than you after all. Your son calmed down, leaning to your chest when bright lights shined in your eyes. The safe zone was in your vision, Leona caught sight of you and ran to you and your baby, his godchild.
“Leona– you got to help Ruggie..!!” The second prince looked behind you, and his right hand man wasn’t there. Leona was usually a man who didn’t like being ordered around doing chores. But something made him sick to his stomach.
“Go to the magic border, now!” He shouted, but before you could run, The sky erupted in light. You could hear Ruggie’s voice, distant now, shouting to draw the enemy’s attention. But the sound was swallowed by the explosive force behind you, a flash of light that felt like the very earth had cracked open beneath your feet.
You gasped as Leona pulled you back, instinctively covering your child’s body with your own. The world blurred, a mix of searing light, smoke, and the sound of your child’s terrified cries echoing in your chest.
"Leona… Please," you whispered hoarsely, struggling against his grip. "I… I need him—please, Leona!"
Leona’s jaw tightened, but there was no softness in his voice. "There’s nothing more I can do. You know that." His words were rough, like he was trying to convince himself as much as you. "We get you to safety. That's what Ruggie would want."
"I don’t care what Ruggie would want!" You screamed, twisting in his arms, desperate to escape, to run back to him, but Leona’s grip was ironclad. "You don’t understand! He promised he would—"
"I’m keeping you alive. I’m keeping your son alive. And I’ll keep my word to Ruggie. But you’re not helping him by staying here. You need to survive. You both need to survive."
His voice cracked on the last word, but there was no time to process it. A blast of light tore through the mountain slopes, and for a brief, harrowing moment, everything went deathly still.
Then the world came crashing back into focus. You choked on your breath, but there was only silence. No mana. No heartbeat from Ruggie. No warmth.
Leona froze, eyes scanning the horizon where the last echo of magic had burned out. The tension in his shoulders was palpable, but there was a silent kind of rage in the way his fists clenched. He turned to you, finally showing the flicker of something—something unspoken in his eyes that made your chest ache in ways you didn’t understand.
"You’re not going to like this," he muttered, his voice softer now, but firm. "But I’m getting you out of here."
"Leona," you gasped, your breath coming in ragged sobs, trying to hold your son against you, trying to keep him calm even as your own world collapsed.
“I know, I know,” Leona whispered, lifting you up in his arms. His voice dropped lower. "I’ll make sure he doesn't die for nothing. I’ll bring him back, I promise you. But you—you need to live. For him. For Ruggie."
You couldn’t do anything but cry, in fear, sadness, and all the other emotions at once. Leona set you on a mat in the shelter, “I’ll go find him. Stay put.”
You nodded, and the second prince ran for the door, his soldiers following him. And now you sit, wait, along with the only thing that he left with you. You and Ruggie’s son, the only reminder that he was there. That he was real. Your heart sank, helpless, but prayed and hoped to the sevens that he was okay. If they answered and followed your begging, you wouldn’t know until or if you even see him safe again.
✧₊⁺🕯⋆.˚୨ৎ✧₊⁺🕯⋆.˚୨ৎ✧₊⁺🕯⋆.˚୨ৎ✧₊⁺🕯⋆.˚୨ৎ✧₊⁺🕯⋆.˚୨ৎ✧₊⁺🕯⋆.˚୨ৎ✧₊⁺🕯⋆.˚୨ৎ✧₊⁺🕯⋆.˚
writer's notes: lala mtoto lala is a Swahili lullaby. upon research, it's said that sunset savanna is inspired from East African countries. If I had made any mistakes representing the culture, please tell me so I can learn and change it. Send me a private message, or comment <3
