I don't own Thundercats or the characters.

Liono was pacing in his room, slowly trying to wear a pattern in the marble tiled floor. He hadn't heard hide nor hair of the elder males in an hour now, and was starting to get worried. Usually, everyone would have been in bed by this forsaken hour, but if that blue being downstairs had anything to say about it, they would probably be up all night.

It wasn't like Liono was going to rest anyways. That jerk had just decided to marry off the REAL king of Thundera to the traitor that had killed his father. Who the hell did he think he was? And Liono was a MALE. A male PRINCE. Not a princess. Didn't this buffoon know anything about the legal premises of the laws here? Males weren't allowed to marry males (unless it had been a really bad birthing year, and they didn't have enough females to go around). And being stuck here under their thumbs wasn't what Liono was planning to do! What happened to Cheetara? The kids? And Snarf? They better not have hurt any of them. Panthro was probably kicking some stupid lizard's tail even as Liono sat here. The panther had a reputation to uphold after all…

Liono stopped pacing for a moment as he felt his stomach start to roll. He bent over and tried to will the pains away as he focused on the floor. He hoped he wouldn't puke, even though he really felt like he was going to. Attracting attention when lizards were outside your door wasn't a good idea. The usually meant they would have to come in, clean up, check to make sure he hadn't attempted to poison himself, get him cleaned up, and then put him to bed like a newborn cub. It was humiliating to say the least. And Liono felt like he didn't get a real chance to say anything against them. This was his room. He should at least be allowed to put himself to bed, right? Ugg….

Liono started coughing, and surely enough, a run to the bathroom later, the guards were storming their way into the large bedroom with guns pointing in every direction, looking for a target to kill. When they found none, one of the guards wandered over to the open bathroom door to find the cub hunched over the toilet, hanging onto the rim as if he was going to puke again. He had collapsed from the endeavor so far, and failed to work up any more energy towards getting off the floor. His green eyes pried themselves open when a calming hand found its way to his shoulder. Liono barely managed to look up to see the lizard removing their helmet and kneeling beside him.

"You ok?" The green lizard asked as he rested his gun against the bathroom wall. Liono wasn't a threat in this state, so there was very little to worry about. Liono gave himself a feeble push off the toilet seat so he was sitting on the floor.

"Yeah, I'll be fine…" Liono said as the lizard helped him back up to his feet slowly. The guards could see the stress in the cubs eyes. That amount of stress always lead the cub to feel physically ill, but rarely did it make him vomit like this.

"What's wrong? Eat something bad?" Another lizard asked as he poked his head through the open door. Liono allowed the gentle set of scaled hands to help him to his feet. He was wobbly, but managed to grab onto the sink for added support. After all, it's kinda rude to fall on the person who was helping you stand up, right?

"No… just… stress…" Liono gulped out. He could have sworn his stomach muscles were making this worse (1). He tried to remember to relax them, like Tygra had told him to when they were younger and he kept getting sick one year. Tygra had his good moments when the right time called for it… but most of the time, Tygra was just his typical Tygra self…

"Let's get you back to bed, cub." The lizard holding him said carefully. Liono couldn't agree more. Bed sounded so good right now. Soft, gentle, warm, loving, comfy bed.

"Mmmk" Liono mumbled out, his lower jaw refusing to open after the vomiting spell. Personally, he was a little afraid that he might puke again if he opened his mouth.

"Here we are… safe and sound…-*should we tell Mumm-Ra?*" Liono heard the lizards speaking, but could only make out a few whispers.

"*Yea, he'd be mad if we didn't. Can't blame the kid though. Grune's scary enough as is, think about being stuck with him for the rest of your life!*" The voices kept whispering. Liono's eyes must had slid shut without him noticing, because he felt himself falling backwards into the embrace of slumber. He wanted to stay awake and hear what they were talking about, but after 20 seconds, he just couldn't keep his ears working anymore.

Tygra and Grune walked in silence as they approached the younger male's room. Liono wasn't suppose to know that he was the prize in their little competition, but that because it might make him biased in choose the victor. And Mumm-Ra would have none of that.

"I take it we do this fair and square?" Tygra said as he kept his orange gaze set in a straight forward glare. His room was right beside the younger male's, and Grune wouldn't know about the many stories that had been told of his cheating ways. Tygra, one to usually play fair, wasn't going to allow this traitor to cheat his way into Liono's hand. Given, Tygra himself wouldn't really know what to do with the younger male at the moment, he did know that he didn't want to see Liono forced to wed someone who had helped kill his father (adopted or not) and overthrow their homeland, all in a quest for undeserved power at the expense of far too many lives.

"Fair and square it is." Grune said as stopped and turned to Tygra, paw extended in a supposedly in a sincere gesture. Tygra knew better. This was Grune after all, he'd probably try to at least grease the sword handle when it came to a sparring match over the young beauty's hand. And there would be a sparring match. It was the Thundarian custom after all.

Thundarian tradition went a little something like this. First, each male had to get the female's attention, either by impressing her (in this case, him), or by bringing her a gift- such as a fresh kill from beyond the city walls or a soft flower from, again, beyond the city walls. It was frowned upon to bring a gift simply bought, because it showed that one didn't really want the courting, and simply believed that money was a solution for anything (assumed, bear in mind). Second, all courting males would have to battle each other in some fashion (which was debatable in most cases, but between the former general and a prince, swords would be the best tract). Third, if the battle didn't decide a clear winner, each of the males would have to show their intelligence. Needless to say, Tygra had an upper hand here. Royal's educations were nothing short of well versed. That would usually determine the winner of the fair maiden's hand, but in this case, Tygra just needed to win to keep his younger brother away from the greedy Grune's paws.

Tygra, despite getting into a lot of arguments with his younger brother, loved him for who he was (well, in most cases… the technology thing always sent a wave of embarrassment through Tygra's body when the cub brought it up in public…). He didn't LOVE Liono like that… but he would still fight to keep the brat away from this monster. Tygra remembered quite well the conversation between Claudis and Grune the day that Grune left with Panthro to find the Book of Omens.

"He's a cub, Grune! And he just lost his mother! Do you know even within the slightest how appalling this is?" Claudis growled. Grune, smug as usual, just stood there taking it. Tygra, confused as to what they were talking about, only remembered walking into the courtyard with his father to find Grune and Liono sitting together at the fountain, and Grune was flustered. Liono, innocent as usual, didn't seem to understand what was going on. Claudis ordered both cubs to go to their respective rooms.

"Easy Claudis. No reason to get testy. It was a harmless kiss, nothing more." Grune remarked.

"Harmless? Harmless? He's a boy, Grune! And you are an adult! This is wrong on so many levels…" Claudis said as he covered his eyes with his hand and rubbed his face.

"Claudis, relax, nothing bad will come of this if we just let it go…" Grune said as he leaned against a nearby post. Tygra could have sworn he'd never seen his father as mad as he was at that moment. Claudis reached out and grabbed his general by the neck, pulling him to the golden male's face and growling.

"If you ever lay such a hand on my son again, you will have me to deal with, Grune. Now go pack your things. Panthro and you will head out at first morning light."Claudis said as he released the other male. Grune, slightly disgruntled, stormed off in the direction of the door. Tygra, recently learning his invisibility power, cloaked himself in the right colors, and stood perfectly still as the elder male walked right past his hiding spot.

Looking back, Tygra should have killed the male on the spot just for kissing his brother. Liono was young, and if Tygra recalled correctly, that was two days after they had buried the beloved queen. Liono took her death hard, crying for the entire evening until he fell asleep in Tygra's arms (Claudis was getting them dinner at the time, and Liono didn't want to come out of his room). It nearly broke Tygra's heart to see little Liono clinging to him, sobbing uncontrollably as he called out for his mother. Seeing the younger male so raw and emotionally ripped apart made Tygra realize exactly how young and fragile Liono's emotions were. Tygra swore to protect his little brother from everything that posed a threat to him that day. After all, he only had one brother…

One little brother…

Always smiling at him…

Always laughing at his jokes….

Always… just being Liono…

…the halcyon days were over…

…he shouldn't be focusing on the past…

…he should be protecting the future…

…and Liono.

Tygra didn't realize that he'd been standing alone in the hall for minutes while he mused on the brat. He turned and headed towards his room, stopping only when he saw the guards frantically ushering a doctor to Liono's room. Tygra broke into a sprint-

The brat better not have hurt himself.

"Let me through, please! He's my brother!" Tygra said, trying to make his way through the lizards as quickly as they would allow. Some of the lizards tried to hold him back while others moved aside.

"Let the cub through." A voice came from inside the darkened room. Tygra was used to light usually pouring from the younger cub's room, thanks to all the lights that he kept lit when he was working on another piece of scrap metal. Tygra felt the scaly hands leave his chest and arms, while his own legs seemed disjointed from his body as he moved forward into the room. After passing from the light to the relative darkness, Tygra saw a two figures at his brother's bedside. He calmly walked over to the bed, noting that Liono was lying in the multiple sheets and blankets- wrapped tightly in the many cloths that adorned his unusually neat bed (the doctor must have made it, Liono wasn't tidy about things like this). Tygra took his place beside the doctor, who was a lizard, and was wearing a simply white robe and dark pants. The other figure, another lizard guard, was holding what appeared to be his medical kit.

"Are you the one they call Tygra?" The medic said slowly, making sure he was heard through the whisper that was an unspoken rule when dealing with an injured or ill cat.

"Yes sir… is he ok?" Tygra said as he reached for his brother's form, but stopped himself when the doctor looked at him like the young cub was insane. Tygra, feeling like he'd just stepped on someone's toes, stood still with the worried look plastered to his face. The doctor rose to his feet and dusted himself off.

"He'll be fine. He just has a slight fever, nothing to be too worried about- probably the stress just getting to him (2). He should rest tonight at least. With Grune nagging him, I doubt that will be possible tomorrow. But you are his brother, correct?" The doctor asked as he placed his equipment back into the box the guard was holding.

"Yes sir…" Tygra said as he stared at the doctor.

"As it stands, you are the only one who's allowed to stay with him tonight. He's not going to be a hassle, but he's been asking for you for the last half hour." The doctor said as he collected his things. Tygra, slightly startled by this revelation, nodded while his mouth began to open on its own. The doctor started to leave, not really having more to say.

"Thank you, sir." Tygra said as he made his way over to the desk, and waited for the sound of the closing door to turn off the light. He carefully made his way around the bed as his bright orange eyes adjusted to the dim, moonlit room. He slid off his boots and his shirt, making sure to leave them far enough away from the bed that he wouldn't trip on them should he have to spring up in the middle of the night. He pushed his backside up onto the bed and slid down on the covers, only taking the few top most sheets and comforter with him- so if Liono woke up in the night, he wouldn't think his brother was being perverted. After all… they were brothers.

And he had to protect his brother…

Tygra, worried with fear ebbing into his chest at the form of the younger male lying beside him, allowed a heavy hand to lay itself on the slowly rising, warm chest of the younger male. It felt good to just rest for one night with his best friend…

And despite what the rest of the castle thought, Liono was Tygra's best friend. Heck, up until the events of Grune's return, he was Tygra's only real friend. All the others were maids and butler's sons assigned to pretend they were his friends, but if things turned bad, they would turn tail and run like cowards. After Liono was old enough to go places with him, Tygra couldn't get rid of the kid. And he really didn't like it at first, but when he realized he had a little brother to look up to him, that tune silenced itself. He had someone who just wanted to be around him. Not for wealth. Not for fame. Not for pleasing a king (bless Claudis for thinking of his adopted son's happiness though). Just to be his friend.

Tygra felt his body move closer to the slumbering male's form, pulling him closely to the orange and black striped chest as he tried to just listen to the now even breathing of the younger male. After a moment of musing on his younger brother's colorations being so light, he pressed a small, humble goodnight kiss to the younger male's forehead and rested his own head on the pillow.

1 When you get stressed, your stomach muscles will start to cramp up on you if you lean over too much. Poor Liono isn't having much luck with this, I'm afraid. And you can make yourself sick if you let it go too long. So, if you ever encounter this issue, take the palm of your hand and place it at the bottom of your rib cage. Then, start to move your hand down slowly towards your navel- not beyond, or this won't work. Then move it back up in a circular motion, rubbing the muscles that are hurting the most while slowly straightening your spine into a standard upright position. This should relieve the pain. If not, try it on a bed. That usually kills it. If it still doesn't relent, get to a hospital- you have a virus.

2 As any college student will tell you, stress will make you ill. It actually shuts off normal hormone production while replacing it with lactic acid from the muscles that is usually staved off by said hormone production filtering it out as you go. Yeah. So don't stress yourself out. It can hurt you.