Hey guys! Well this was quicker than expected. I am officially done with the spring semester. WOOHOO!

Now that I have some free time, I will probably be updating more frequently.

This chapter was inspired from the song, The Beast by Imogen Heap. (One of my favorite music artists. You have to check out her work, she is AMAZING 3)

I do not own Fall of the Empire/Rise out of the Ashes. The story belongs to WAR-Operative.

The Beast belongs to Imogen Heap and I do not have any affiliations with her or her record company.

Enjoy!


Being a King was something Lion-O never imagined to be, especially this young. He figured that his father would live for several more years before passing the throne to him. But fate decided to take a different route and now Lion-O is somewhat of a King. Although, being King of a shanty town with animals who always disagree with each other wasn't what he was expecting. If Thundera was still standing, he would be King of not only Thundera, but King of cats overall.

This was something he wanted, yet didn't want.

Did he want to lead a group to find the next stone and fight Mumm-Ra? Yes.

Did he ever wanted to be King at all? Maybe.

Why does this have to be so hard?

He was sitting inside the cargo hold of the Feliner. After a meeting which turned into Lion-O trying to dispute an argument between the birds and the dogs, he wanted to be alone to ponder.

The day itself was miserable. An unexpected storm drifted in, covering the sky in a grey blanket of clouds. He could hear the rain pounding against the Feliner. And occasionally, he could hear thunder.

He sighed and leaned his head against one of the walls and looked up at the ceiling.

Someday this turned out to be.

The door to cargo room opened. Lion-O straightened up and saw Pumyra sticking her head in. When she laid eyes on him, she smiled and stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey yourself," Lion-O replied.

And just like that, his mood brightened a bit.

What was it about Pumyra that seemed to make him feel better? Was it her smile? The way her calloused hands were soft to the touch? Was it her determination to be by his side? He didn't know. And he didn't mind.

She sat next to him and lean against him, her head on his shoulder. She was slightly wet from the rain.

"What are you doing here alone?"

Lion-O patted her knee. "Just needed some alone time. Figured I try and get my head together before I go back outside."

"Then you might be in here for a while. It doesn't seem like the rain is going to let up anytime soon. Cheetara said that it might last until nighttime. It might even go on to the next day."

"Well at least everyone here has a roof over their heads. The last thing I need is a complaint about there not being enough room for more shacks."

"They're giving you trouble?"

"Not as much…" Which was true. Despite the constant arguing between some of the animals, they didn't entirely distrust him. There were some animals who were apprehensive about him being King, but other than that, no one has given him trouble.

"Don't let them get to you," Pumyra said. "You have to keep your head up high. They will see you as a King when you lead them to victory."

The corner of Lion-O's mouth tugged into a small smile. She had faith in him. Not only her, but so did the rest of the Thundercats, even some of the other animals.

In the darkness, there is light.

"Thanks for having faith in me."

Pumyra lifted her head from his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek.

The two sat together in silence. Enjoying the little free time they had together.

"Well isn't this a cute scene."

Sitting across from them, was a faded figure of Echo. "You two kind of make a cute couple when Pumyra isn't being a bipolar schizo."

Lion-O was too stunned to even move, let alone be scared. He knew it was just a figment of his imagination. She was basically his only friend. Why else would he be seeing her?

"I wonder what kind of queen Pumyra will be? Considering how rough she is around the edges, she could be a Red Queen. If you know what I mean by 'red'. After all, you lot are nothing but animals. Savages."

"Lion-O?"

Lion-O shifted his gaze back to a confused Pumyra, then back again to Echo, but she was already gone.

"Lion-O," Pumyra said. "What's wrong?"

"Do you really think we're savages?"

Immediately, Pumyra's smile turned into a frown.

"Don't listen to what she said. She's just trying to mess with your head."

"But what she said is true." He stood up and walked to where Echo was. "I have to make sure not to act on impulse. After what I did to her in Avista, I don't want that to happen again. I was fueled by rage when I skewered her. I don't want anger to be my only driving force."

"You and I know she's a traitor. She is going to kill us if we don't kill her. You saw what she did to us near that small river. If she was going easy on us, then there's no way we'll be ready for her if she is going to give it her all. She has to die Lion-O."

"Is that the only answer? More death?"

He still remembered when she screamed when he stabbed her. He remembered that smile filled with rage as Mumm-Ra lifted her away. He could still see her.

"Not everyone has to die. You know that right?" Ghost Echo stood next to him. But before he could turn to see her, she was gone.

He looked down at his hands. Did he really meant to kill her in Avista?

Was he turning into…?

A beast?


Erica looked down at the lizard before her. Its body badly mangled. A piece of bone was sticking out from its leg. The rest of its bones were either broken or completely shattered. But the internal damage to his bones didn't kill the lizard. It was quick snap of the neck that ended its life.

She had done this to it.

This lizard shouldn't have hit Sunny to begin with. The little Berbil was hiding behind her legs. Part of his robotic claw was broken. Earlier, Sunny was fixing up a weapon for Erica when a lizard got the bright idea of messing with it. Sunny has faced a lot of hostility from the lizards. But those who dared lay so much as a finger on him would fell the wrath of Erica. This wasn't the first lizard she killed, though. There have been countless times when a lizard took a step too far and they paid the price for aggravating Erica.

This lizard before them brought the blunt end of his gun down on Sunny's paw. The lizard didn't even have time to react as he was lifted in the air. His bone began to break. He cried out in pain before Erica snapped his neck.

"Ro-E okay?" Sunny asked.

Erica looked down at him. "I'm fine."

She then picked him up and went to the repair room. As she walked, several lizards immediately moved out of her way, not wanting to join their fallen lizard.

Once inside the repair room, Erica set Sunny down on a table and searched inside a tool box, picking up several electronic tools.

When she had everything, she went to work on repairing Sunny's paw. She got the gist of how to fix some technology. Not as much as Sunny, but some of it.

As she detached his paw, her thoughts went back to the dead lizard.

He was asking for it when he hurt Sunny. Erica made it clear that no one, not even Markata, was to touch Sunny. At all.

Those who did ended up dead.

Dead.

It was amazing to her how desensitized she was when it came to killing.

Like it was second nature to her.

She did swore vengeance against Lion-O and the Thundercats. If it involved killing them, so be it.

It was their fault. Not hers. They have some serious bad karma coming their way.

After a few minutes, the paw was finally fixed and she reattached it back onto Sunny. Sunny, in response, flexed his robotic fingers, making sure each one was in stable condition.

Erica left Sunny on the table and went for the door. As soon as the door automatically opened, she felt a tug on her pants. Looking down, Sunny had its arms extended to her. He wants to be picked up.

Erica bent down and picked up Sunny. Sunny wrapped his hands around her and snuggled his head into her neck.

For a moment, Erica nearly smiled. It was the only smile that wasn't from rage.

But the near smile quickly went away and she walked to her room.

Did she have some sort of ounce of humanity in that smile? It did feel good to have Sunny with her at times. Usually, she just ignores him. But today, something changed.

But it didn't change her.

She was still a beast.