A/N: Half way through something else and this popped up. I hate writing fics that happen in the middle of the season because I don't know whats going to happen in canon. Buuuut I'm sick of waiting for new episodes. My muse just thew this one at me mid sex scene in my trek fiction (WTF MUSE)….I honestly don't know where it's going. I'm assuming some major Tygra angst and angsty romance with Lion-O.

This starts out slow. Like 2k words of no sex/romance LOL WUT. But, as big a fan of TygraxLionO as I am…I still want to rationalize it. So, This is SLOW BUILDING TxL with lots of ANGST and eventually ROMANCE

I have no beta, so mistakes = mine. Lemme know if you see something.

**2015 update: OMG! Stuff is happening! I'm working on this again :D I've spruced up this chapter a bit and will be updating with new chapters as time allows. I haaaate stories that start with a dream...idk why I did this, sorry...it was years ago!

He ran. Faster and faster. He dared not look backwards. He could hear it, feel it's breath at the nape of his neck. He ran past the throne room. No, that wasn't right. Why was he here? A quick left turn down another stone hall led him to a dead end. Too fast, it was going too fast. His breath came hard as he turned to face the opening of the hall, waiting for the inevitable. The lanterns on the walls went out one by one as a hulking shadow began its way towards him.

Not like this. He couldn't die like this. He had to save his brother. HIS BROTHER. Where was he? Why was he not here?

A dark rumble came from his pursuer. "Hehhaha." It stopped a few feet from him. "You have failed." The shadow shook with laughter.

Failed? What did he fail? Where was his brother?

"You failed. It is your fault." A shadowed arm reached for him, "You have always been a failure. The prince that shouldn't have been." He couldn't breath; when had the shadow put it's hand on his throat? "You couldn't even save your brother. The hand applied more pressure and he could feel himself growing weaker.

Weaker…

Failure…

Weak…

Suddenly he shook, was that the monster's doing too? Pressure on his shoulders. Warm pressure. Another shake.

"Tygra!"

With a gasp he opened his eyes, coughing roughly. He gingerly placed a hand around his throat, reassuring himself it had only a dream. With tremendous difficulty he slowed his breathing, he knew there was a certain amount of stoicism expected from him. Years of training made it easier to forget the dreadful fear the dream triggered. Tygra counted to ten before shifting his attention to the cat beside him.

"Thank you for waking me, Cheetara." If any of his companions were to witness his weakness, he was glad it was her. Cheetara's cleric training meant she would keep any secret pertaining to the royal family. Especially a moment of weakness.

She blinked at him, "No need to thank me. We've all had night terrors. Now, go back to sleep. Lion-O and Panthro should be back in the morning and we will need to begin our journey again."

Tygra nodded and laid back down on the soft grass. The sound of Kit and Kat's light snores drifted around their small camp. A grin crept onto his face as he recalled their indignant looks when he told them they couldn't go with Lion-O and Panthro. He suspected it had more to do with them being accustomed to sleeping in the thunder tank than truly wanting to make a supply run. After Lion-o's…excursion… at the previous town they encountered they decided to make any trips for supplies in pairs. Those trips would need to stop soon. It was understood they would need to live off the land more than they were currently. Too many appearances in towns could be dangerous.

The Prince shifted his weight. He didn't hear Cheetara, but suspected she went back to her post. It must have been a few hours since they switched watches. The prince shifted his weight again, trying to be as quiet as possible. He may be comfortable with Cheetara knowing he had a nightmare, but she couldn't know how much it had affected him.

He could feel his brother slowly pulling away from him. Lion-O was King now, he now had the one thing Tygra wanted most of all. The tiger did his best to protect his brother and to guide him through the responsibility he was far too young for. However, his efforts seemed to backfire. When they had passed near a town three days prior he insisted Lion-O stay behind.

"You need to stay away from towns, brother. What if someone were to take the sword? Our whole quest would be for naught."

Lion-O became irate with him, still angry from a quarrel that morning. "Yes, because you would be better suited to carry the Sword of Omens- All I'll do is get into trouble and have someone steal it! I'm going with Panthro after we set up camp on that ridge." He turned to leave, "I may not be as talented as you, but I am NOT the helpless child you think I am."

Tygra sighed at the memory. Lion-O and Panthro had left the next morning and he hadn't gotten a chance to apologize to his brother. Nothing he said to Lion-O came out right. Either the lion took it to mean the worst possible thing, or Tygra's competitiveness put an edge to his words. And that is where he always unsuccessful. Being a brother. He loved Lion-O dearly, but was never quite the big brother Lion-O deserved. He needed to try harder, he decided. When his brother came back they would have a talk, a real talk. Lion-O should know his older brother only sought to protect him.

Would he fail at a time they needed him most? Every moment of his life he strived for perfection. He demanded nothing less of himself. The perfect Thunderian Prince: Calm strength, elegant poise and a refined appearance. His mother demanded he set a good example for Lion-O, something he took to heart at the tender age of five. There was never room for failure. To fail a task meant admitting he wasn't a good prince. So, no. He would not fail at anything. All of his energy would go into protecting his brother and the rest of their ragtag group.

Cheetara watched as he slowly fell asleep, thankful no more night terrors troubled him.

Tygra was awake as soon as the first rays of light touched his face. He stretched across the dewy grass and pulled himself up. His muscles were sore from sleeping on the ground, but he ignored the discomfort. With no effort he found Cheetara perched on a tree branch that oversaw the small valley below. The Wily kittens still slept soundly next to each other. He would never admit just how fond he had grown of the little nuisances. He silently padded to where they slept and pulled their discarded blanket back over them. If anyone asked it was because the morning was chilly and the last thing they needed was sick kittens.

He nodded towards Cheetara as she jumped down from her perch. "I'll make breakfast."

Tygra shook his head, "I checked our supplies last night during my watch. There isn't enough for the four of us." He raked a claw through his mane, "You know as well as I that we need to start hunting more. I'm going to head out and try to catch…something." He had only went on a few hunts with his father and never had a chance to perfect the skills. But he wouldn't fail them.

Cheetara frowned, "Stay within sight of camp."

After an hour of hunting all he managed was two fribbots. But, it was enough to sustain them. Kit complained about not having seconds, to which he just raised an eyebrow. He was about to suggest the kittens join him in catching lunch when the distinctive sound of the thunder tank reached their ears.

"Yay! Lion-o's back!" The siblings ran to the edge of their camp and jumped up and down until the tank parked in front of them.

Tygra shook his head at their enthusiasm and went back to cleaning up their breakfast. The tank opened up and the kittens climbed up, asking if they brought back any sweets. Oh, how he wished he was a kid again. He frowned, he wished he had ever been a kid. As the adopted prince there was never any time for frivolous games Wily Kit and Kat played. Even Lion-O enjoyed games, something he had sought to put an end to. If his brother was going to be King, then he should need to spend twice the effort on being a good prince. Childish logic. But, it held true to an extent.

Panthro's deep voice brought him out of his musings. "Hey Tygra. Give me a hand with your brother." His back went ridged, what could have happened? Why wasn't he there to protect him? Panthro motioned to the back of the tank. "The tank has something going on with the exhaust, it will probably be a few hours till we can move out."

Tygra barley registered what Panthro said about the tank. He climbed into the tank and found Lion sitting in the back with Snarf fussing over him. His right arm, his sword arm, was bandaged and in a sling. And his left leg had a cast from his foot to his knee. He should have been there! "Lion-O, what did you do!"

His brother glared at him. Through gritted teeth he spat, " What did I do? Always you jump to conclusions. It is ALWAYS something your incompetent brother did." Lion-O pulled himself up, "Cheetara, can you give me a hand down?"

Tygra suppressed a growl, how could Lion-O be so brash. "Lion-O, what happened." I should have been there.

Cheetara helped Lion-O down and onto a log. "Here, let me get a look at the wounds."

The lion shook his head, "Thanks Cheetara, but I had them checked by a healer in town. My leg isn't as bad as it looks. Its still a little sore, but the bandages can come off tonight. The healer gave me some ointments to keep the scaring to a minimum."

Tygra bristled, "And your arm?"

Lion shrugged, " A few days probably. Its mostly superficial, but there is a small fracture. The healer said a week. But I think I'll be fine in a day or two."

"No. You leave the damn thing on for a week." Panthro stalked over. "Any less and you could do permanent damage. If you so much as THINK about taking it off you'll be on latrine duty for a month."

"But I'm King!" Lion-O mock pouted, earning a chuckle out of everyone but Tygra.

"Aye, and you're shaping up to be a fine one little cub." Panthro ruffled his mane affectionately and set back to his task of sorting their new supplies.

Tygra crossed his arms and leaned against the tree next to Lion-O with a sour expression. Cheetara took a seat next to Lion-O. "Kit, Kat, why don't you go help Panthro." Her tone made it clear it wasn't a suggestion. After they sulked away she turned to Lion-O, "What happened?" Her tone didn't hold any of the accusations Tyrgra's own had.

The young King sighed and ran his good hand through his mane. "On the way to town the tank had some issues over heating. Panthro said it was an easy fix, but we needed a part. We hid the tank and walked to town. We found the part no problem, but since we spent so much time already I suggested I stay behind and start gathering supplies while Panthro fixed the thunder tank."

How could be so foolish! "There's a reason we go in pairs, Lion-O! How could you be so short sighted!" Tygra threw his arms in the air, "You need to act like a King! You-"

"Shut UP." Lion-O stood so he could face his brother, Cheetara hovering in case he fell. "Shut the FUCK up- you selfish fucking TAIL!" Every one of his brother's muscles were tense as he shouted. He paused to collect his words. "Panthro left to repair the tank. I- I walked around the market district to try to find a map first." Tygra couldn't help but be impressed, he didn't think of asking them to get one. How could they plan their journey if they didn't know the land? Finding the town had just been luck on their part. "I'm glad I left my hood up and my sword hidden. I-" He drew a breath, " At the center of town I found two cats. I-They…They were being sold." He clenched his left fist. Cheetara gasp. "I waited until they were led away from the center of the market and ambushed their 'owners'. I must have waited a while because the next think I knew Panthro was back and helped me take down those thugs."

He walked right up to Tygra and threw his injured arm in front of his face. "The two cats we rescued led us to were a dozen others were to being kept until they were sold. That's how I was Injured. Protecting MY people. Freeing MY people." He turned his back to Tygra, " There are about twenty cats-that we learned of- living as we are, traveling and hiding. Probably more out there, somewhere. Our people survived- only to be hunted down by Mumm-ra and hunted by those we once repressed."

The tiger watched his brother stiffly return to the log and Cheetara lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. That should be was he did, he was the older brother, he should be comforting him not the cleric! Something stirred deep in his chest, but now was not the time to decipher the emotion. "Lion-O-"

"Not now Tygra." Lion-O scowled in his direction. "Help Panthro reorganize the supplies in the tank. I'm going to look over the map with Cheetara. After dinner we'll have a meeting to discuss the next course of action."

Tygra hesitated, trying to catch his brother's eyes. Pride swelled inside him, Lion-O was starting to act like a king. When it was clear Lion-O wasn't going to look at him he made his way to the tank, heart heavy. He would talk to Lion-O before dinner. Tygra needed him to understand. He needed the only family he had left.

R&R I thrive on it. I have a few plot bunnies for this, just general things I KNOW will happen. But, I love suggestions ;)