Disclaimer: I do not own Thundercats. Everything else is fictional.
The Rocking Lullaby
It starts out like this. I'm walking in the forest outside The Tower of Omens. I can't remembering why I'm out here, but something called to me. Then all of a sudden the sky grows dark, and I feel some fear, but then I see it-a small lantern…
"Hey sis," says Wilykat, "do you know when you guys will be back?"
"Not sure," replies the female sibling. "We've got a lot to collect."
"I don't get it, why do I have to stay behind with Tygra?"
"You two were picked out the pot, just deal with it."
"But we don't even get along."
"Yeah, I agree," a stronger male tone says from behind Wilykat. The pair turn to see the tiger come towards them. He grabs the fellow waiter and ruffles his fur, chuckling. "We'll just have to wing it. I've got some repairing to do with the Thundertank, why don't you help me?"
"Nah, I'd rather stay in the tower and take a nap."
"Suit yourself but stay there, ok? We don't want to lose you."
Tygra exits out of the tower and heads towards the vehicle. His friends are standing nearby and while the group of adults talks, the youngsters watch, reading the lips as best they can to figure out what's the game plan. The verdict: Wilykat stays in the tower, Tygra works on the Thundertank and Wilykit joins the rest for material searching in the forest.
"Well, that's my call," says the sister. She pats her brother on the shoulder and exits out into the open grounds. She stops to look back and smiles. "Hey, stay out of trouble, ok?" she adds and looks up at the sky, chuckling then frowns. "The sky looks really gray…"
"A storm's coming? Watch yourself out there. I really don't want to go looking for you."
"Things will be ok, remember the little rhyme our parents sang to us?"
"Little puppets, little strings, hanging from trees, watch them sway with the breeze. A storm is coming, watch them fly away, torn from their spots, they break easily. Don't cry, go to sleep, we'll repair them, make them nice and neat."
"So if you get nervous, or worried, sing that to yourself, ok?" replies the sister. She takes off running towards the group. "Later chicken."
"Hey!" screams the brother. "I'm not a chicken, nor would I ever get scared, or worried," he adds, but his relative isn't listening. "Jerk…
Wilykat walks in the dark forest, the stars up high are his only light. He hears a snickering sound and stops, looking around, nothing. He starts to hear a humming sound, its male, and rather familiar, too strange-in fact…He takes off running, a light is up ahead, it's a lantern on a rock, he stops to crouch behind a bush. He sees a figure wearing a traveling cloak, pulling up the bodies of his friends to hang from a tree with ropes around their necks.
"My god," whispers the watcher. "Lion-O, Panthro, Cheetara and…" he trails off, seeing his sister swaying a bit from a mild wind that's blowing. "Wilykit…" he sits up a bit, reaching a hand with watery eyes but catches the cloaked figure's, a cold icy blue. "Crap!" he screams and turns, taking off running without looking back, but the route only brings him back to the spot. "What? What's going on," he whispers, seeing there's no one around, "where did he go?"
Wilykat walks over to the lantern, picks it up and holds it up to his sister's pale face. The eyes open, they're icy blue, in fact all of the dead's eyes are icy blue and looking.
"Wake up Wilykat," the bodies whisper in a horrible chorus of off key one voice. "Wake up Wilykat."
"Ah!" the lantern holder screams. He drops his item, pitch black, the icy blue eyes are even scarier now. "No! Noooo!" he adds loudly. He closes his eyes, opening them to find that Tygra is looking at him, he's been asleep on the top floor of the tower. "What's going on?"
"You were tossing and turning in your sleep, bad dream?" inquires the tiger.
"You…yeah…bad dream."
"Listen, I'm going to be staying up a bit tonight to work on the Thundertank."
"Can't sleep either?"
"Yeah, but that's mostly because the others haven't returned yet."
"They haven't returned?"
"No, its like, the forest, it ate them, get what I'm saying?"
"Maybe they got lost…"
"Well, they should know the way back, I mean some of the supplies aren't too far from here."
Wilykat stares at the closed door for The Tower of Omens. "Yeah, perhaps, not to be fearful, or cause worry, something did happen."
"I'm giving them till the rain hits, which should be any minute, so be ready to go, ok?"
"Rain?"
"Yeah, clouds are really building up."
The respondent opens his mouth, but closes it. "I'll be ready to go when you are, but make sure to wake me, ok?" he mutters and watches his friend disappear. "A storm is coming."
Wilykat walks through the forest, holding a lantern, its light is brighter than all of the heavens combined. Rain is falling down on his face. He hears a humming sound and echo of rope being pulled up tightly, it makes him take off running. He finds himself back at the spot where the other four bodies of his friends are still hanging, but there's a new addition, Tygra, he's swaying with the winds. The cloaked figure continues to hum, but the tune, its familiar to the watcher.
"It's…the lullaby my parents sang to us growing up," says the watcher. He watches as the unknown chuckles, walks over to an opposite bush and pulls out a spear. "What's he going to do with that?"
The winds blow the dead bodies gently, they rock nicely from their tree branch. The figure is waiting for something, a flash of lightning blinds Wilkat, crash, thunder sounds; the cloaked creature starts to stab the dead. He's humming the lullaby louder, stabbing fiercely and madly, but switches into more horrific acts. He takes his first spear and stabs it up the rectum of Lion-O, the body cries out, this figure is back to life. The unknown does it for the others, the same event happens.
"Why? Why can I feel pain," the corpses cry out in one distorted tone, "get it out, get it out of me!"
"You shall die, my friends, for I'm the problem child," the cloaked figure whispers. It turns to look at the bush where Wilykat is, he's hiding. "You did this, its all your fault, Nigh," it adds and begins to laugh. "Come out, wake up, wake up for letting me ruin your life."
The listener takes off running, his light by his side. "Tygra! Wake me up! Please!"
"Tygra! Wake me up! Please!" Wilykat screams in his bed. He twists over, rolling, not knowing, he's going to go all the way down the steps. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" he cries out until he ends up on his face on the bottom floor of his tower. He sits up and rubs it. "I think I may have broken my nose," he mutters and looks, seeing The Tower of Omens door is ajar. He looks out, seeing the wind is blowing, rain is falling and the Thundertank…its small entry is open. "Tygra…"
The awakened takes off running, he crosses the wet grass and enters the tank, but he finds no one is inside. Tools are around, but not a tiger, there's no trace as to where he's gone. Wait, a memory recollection of a conversation. He takes off towards the woods but stops, something familiar catches his eyes, a small lantern. He picks it up, fear shoots throughout his body, making him shake.
"No," he mutters. "Please don't tell me…" he stops talking and takes off running into the woods. The winds are blowing harder, rain is growing and drenching Wilkat. He needs to know, despite fear, if it is, what's there, a horror from a dream. "Please…" he whispers, tears are falling from his face. "Please let them be ok. Let it all have been a nightmare and nothing more."
He arrives at the spot. He's not right, it's all wrong, the scene, its still there. The cloaked figure, he's torturing his friends, his flesh and blood. It's stabbing more and more, reaching higher and deeper, creating loud whines from the animals hanging from the trees. The arrival will not let it stand. Let the dead rest. If he's a true killer, he'll move on to someone else-like him, but he won't go down without a fight.
Wilykat charges, pounces his victim and begins to hit him. "Die-you-fiend!" he screams, but he stops. He pulls off the cloak, its him, and he smiles, chuckling. "It's our nursery rhyme."