Survival of the Fittest
by K. Stonham
first released 30th July, 2011
Cheetara didn't look back. Behind her, Thundera lay in smoking ruin, overrun by Lizards.
Behind her, Jaga lay dead.
She shunted away the thought of her mentor. He had sacrificed himself to slow their pursuit, she reminded herself, and she would not disobey his last orders for her to protect the two princes-
Well. One prince, now.
She spared a glance out of the corner of her eye, looking at Claudus' sons.
Tygra was close to her own age, she knew. He took after his late mother in looks and his newly late father in temperment. She'd seen him in passing from time to time, always in her role as one of Jaga's clerics. She hadn't thought much of him, and still didn't. He was strong and swift and handsome, to be sure, but he was also too sure of himself for her tastes. Ladies' man, Cat's Cat... he was well enough on his own, she supposed, but she'd also met his brother and couldn't help but compare the two. She wondered if she was the first one ever to think that Tygra was somehow lacking something.
Lion-O, on the other hand... Younger son, but always the heir to the Thunderian throne. And now, her new king. He was young and untried, and in some ways so painfully green, but there was something in him that was like a breath of fresh air. A prince familiar with the slums? A noble interested in the rights of other species? Together with his interest in technology, something the rest of the court had scoffed at until today, it marked him as a fool, and Tygra as the one who rightfully should have ruled.
But that ridiculous belief...
Mercy.
What did ThunderCats know of mercy? They were the strongest, the swiftest, the best! Those who stood against them were to be destroyed. It was nothing more and nothing less than the natural order of things.
And yet the Lizards had destroyed them from within.
What if, Cheetara allowed herself to think, they'd been wrong? What if the new king, with his childish notions and outlandish fancies, was right?
Mercy.
The word tasted like ash in her mouth.
Jaga, her mentor, the one who had been like a father to her, lay dead behind her along with all the other members of her order. Her brothers, her sisters, too. They who had been her family were all dead, slain by reptilian hands.
She wanted revenge.
And she could not have it, because her highest priorities were the survival of her King and Prince.
"Cheetara." A hand was lain upon her shoulder, and she half-turned to look into the blue eyes of her King. His mouth tightened for just a moment, then he said "I'm sorry."
She stared at him. He, who had seen his own father slain this day, attempting to comfort her?
He looked like he wanted to say something else but in the end didn't, his hand dropping away as he turned.
"Thank you." The words were small, but they stopped him from going. "I'm sorry," she said, her eyes seeking out Tygra's for the first time, "for your loss. Claudus was a great king."
Tygra turned away. Hiding his pain. They were Cats; it was how they were. But the old ways no longer worked; perhaps it was time for them to find new ones.
Cheetara looked at the horizon. The sun was high and the day was fair. And as she faced it, she thought she felt a breeze of fresh air pushing its way through all the destruction.
Author's Note: A little post episode one piece, beta'd by my Wonderful Husband.