-The Cliff- [Liono]

"Sigh, maybe I should just do it and get it over with, no one's coming." He thought, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He couldn't believe it was going to end like this, alone. It was hard enough he had to deal with the loss of his father and his home; adding the weight of losing the love of his life broke the final chain tethering him here.

Liono stood and removed the armor from his chest, letting it fall with a clang to the soft grass as he moved closer to the waterfall. He cursed himself for letting all of this happen, for being a coward to his own emotions.

"What good is a king if he's a coward?" He asked to no one in particular, nearing the edge, and his release form the pain.

A rustling from behind him was the only thing that made him stop, the smells on the wind told him exactly who was behind him, and confirmed it was only him.

"It doesn't matter if the King's a coward, as long as he leads his people in the right direction." Said a voice form overhead, accompanied by a figure dropping from the trees to land a few feet behind the Lion.

Ignoring the comment, Liono resumed walking toward the edge, determined to end this before he got caught up in his emotions again.

"What do you think you are doing?" Tygra asked, fearing that he knew what his brother had planned.

"What does it matter to you, you'll have the girl and the crown all to yourself in just a few moments." He replied, not losing his pace.

He knew it, Tygra knew what he was going to do, and rushed to catch his arm and keep him from going and further, but the lion turned and sent a kick to his chest, dropping the Tiger to his knees, stunned.

"Why are you doing this, it was one kiss?"

Stopping once again, only inches from his "Destiny" Liono turned his head slightly to respond.

"So he told you then, that I saw you two?"

"Yes, and he also told us that's why you left, are you really going to kill yourself because you think Cheetara chose me?" Tygra yelled, anger in his voice.

"It doesn't matter if she chooses you; what matters is that you chose her… over me," Crossing the last few inches, Liono threw himself from the cliff, and into the moonlit waters below.

"LIONO! NO!" Tygra yelled at the top of his voice, leaping to the edge and casting his whip, trying to catch the boy's foot. For a moment it looked like it might actually grab hold of him, but it came up short, Tygra yelled once more before he saw his brother break the water's surface and kept watching as the splash settled.

-The Village- [Cheetara, Wilykit/kat, Panthro]

They heard a shout in the direction they were watching, and turned to it just in time to see Liono throw himself of the cliff,

"No!" Cheetara yelled, while the other three gasped, clearly too distressed by the sight to say anything. After what had happened finally set in, Wilykit started to tear up, and eventually broke out into loud fits of crying in between staggered gasps and sniffles. The few Elephants who were watching could not believe what they saw, and could only imagine the loss their visitors were feeling.

-Cliff- [Tygra]

Tygra couldn't stop the tears that came, he couldn't stop thinking about what just happened, and how he had let it happen. He couldn't stop repeating the words Liono had said before he jumped.

"Did he… love me?" He asked himself, still staring after his brother for a few seconds before pulling himself back up and crouching under a tree nearby. With his head in his hands he wept loudly, unbelieving that this was really happening, and trying to convince himself it wasn't a dream. The sound of an engine roaring brought him back to the reality he so desperately wanted to escape, he even considered jumping himself, but he was too much a coward to actually do it.

"Who's really the coward?" Tygra whispered under his breath. His brother pervaded his thoughts, even when Cheetara and the kits came into view he still kept his focus on the lion. Cheetara sat down next to him and put her arm on his shoulder, he looked over to her and through his sobs he told her what happened. He even told her his final words, and hearing them caused the group to gasp, even Panthro who just reached them after securing the Thundertank.

"I wasn't fast enough, I couldn't even tell him what really happened between us," he cried, still looking at Cheetara, his eyes puffy and red from the pain of his loss.

-A few Hours before-

Liono had just run from the sight of the man he loved kissing the girl from his childhood. As soon as he had left though, Tygra had pushed Cheetara away and turned around, leaving a puzzled look on her face.

"What's wrong?" She asked, putting her hand on Tygra's shoulder.

"I'm sorry Cheetara, I can't do this…" he responded, closing his eyes, not trying to look at her as she came to stand in front of him.

"Is there someone else?" she asked, looking a bit hurt, but not too hurt.

"I'm not exactly, attracted to…" he tried to finish, but the words wouldn't leave his mouth, so Cheetara finished for him:

"Women," he nodded

"Sigh, why are all the good looking ones either gay or taken?" she tried to joke, but seeing how it didn't lighten the mood she sighed again and waited to see if he'd say something. Realizing he wouldn't she asked him if he would tell her who it was he liked.

"I, I think I'm in love with…" he hesitated.

"Who, who is it?" she pressed, closing the distance between them.

"Liono."

He expected her to be surprised, but instead she simply nodded her head, understanding, and held out her hand to lead him back to camp. Along the walk, Cheetara had asked if he's said anything to the boy yet, and upon hearing his answer, she scolded his hesitance and pressed him to say something. It seemed like promising her he would was the only way to end the conversation, so he did. They got back to camp after a few minutes more, but learned Liono wasn't back yet.

Tygra felt uneasy and immediately felt like something was wrong. He felt worry and it made him ancy and used this new energy to search everywhere. Cheetara helped him while the rest of the team sat either on or around the Thundertank. It wasn't too long before both cats returned, and learned about their missing leader.

-Present-

Tygra had led a search for Liono, hoping desperately that he survived the fall. His search led into nightfall the next day, and eventually his party became too tired to continue. Upon returning to camp empty handed, the Elder told the group that, in his opinion, one so small as Liono could not have survived, and if he did, he probably would not survive for much longer. The statement did nothing to ease their pain, and neither did the ceremony the Elephants hosted in honor of Liono help their grieving. Tygra cursed his body for tiring so easily on him, and he desperately wanted to continue searching for the boy who shared his feelings. Cheetara tried desperately to calm Tygra down, but eventually he decided to continue the search on his own, to no avail however, as the team followed him everywhere, as they searched every city along the river and past its end for the next year and a half.