Souls Unite
chapter 8
By Leanna.
Myra and cheetara took Leanna back to her bedchambers to shower and change, the whole way back the lioness was quiet, Myra went into the bathroom and turned on the shower and the cheetah cleaned up the nick on the lioness's arm from Schwenk tried to shoot her, when she was done the lioness took off her ruined blood soaked clothing and cheetara picked them up and tossed them into the chute that led to the furnace in the basement.
"Come on Lea," Myra said putting her arm around the lioness's shoulder, directing her to the steaming hot shower.
"She alright," cheetara asked as the tigress came back out of the bathroom.
"Yes…I think so anyway…She hasn't said one word," Myra said chewing on one of her long claws, "so what's going to happen to her".
"I don't know, "Cheetara said sitting down on the bed, "I know Lion-O will help her in anyway he can," she nodded, "it's a clear case of self-defense".
"Yes…but to actually take his life and so violently," Myra said shaking her head.
"What would you have done if you were in her situation," the Cheetah asked.
"Probably the same thing," The tigress nodded, "but less violently".
"Face it Lea has a temper…and you seen the shape poor Panthro was in, if it had of been Lea that got hurt ,we would have found body parts scatter all over the place, that panther would have tore him limb from limb..I say Schwenk got off lucky," Cheetara said.
"True enough," Myra slightly chuckled, "I better go check on her," she nodded and went into the bathroom, when she went in she noticed the water had been shut off, but their was no sign of the lioness, "Lea," Myra said slightly opening the shower door, she looked down and saw the lioness curled up in a ball in the corner trembling. The tigress quickly grabbed one of the thick soft towels and crouched down, "hey….it's ok," She said wrapping the warm towel around Leanna, "you'll feel better once you get dressed and see Panthro," Myra nodded and helped the lioness to her feet.
When the two came out, Cheetara stood and walked over and threw her arms around Leanna hugging her tightly, "it's going to be alright Lea…I promise," cheetara smiled," now get dressed and we'll go down to the med bay and wait for Panthro to come out of surgery".
"You guys are too good to me," the lioness said quietly.
"Hush woman," the cheetah smiled, "we are your friends and friends stick together no matter what".
"Even a cold blooded murderer," the lioness said as she dressed.
"Lea…..what you did was in self defense…you were protecting your mate," Cheetara nodded.
"Let's hope everyone else sees it that way," Leanna sighed, "I lost control and someone died".
"Come on…let's go see if that panther of yours is out of surgery yet," Myra smiled taking Leanna by the arm and headed towards the door.
Down in the med bay, Pumyra and Tygra were wheeling the panther out of surgery, they had cleaned and stitched up the deep gashes on his lower back, then reset the broken bones with pins and steel plates. If there had of been time they would have taken him back to New Thundera to have an orthopedic surgeon do the work, but there was no time and they had to act fast or risk having the panther bleed to death. The two got the still unconscious panther on the med bed and made him as comfortable as possible.
"He's going to hate being laid up," Tygra smirked adjusting the panther's right leg that was in a plaster cast from his hip to his toes.
"That's why I think we should keep him medicated up as much as possible," the puma chuckled, changing the IV bag that held a mix of antibiotics and pain medications.
"Or at least tied down," Tygra smirked looking down at the big sleeping cat.
"Nah...Leanna will keep him in line," Pumyra winked, "and speak of the she-cat," she said as the three women walked in, "just in time".
"How is he," Cheetara asked.
"Doing well," the puma answered putting a heated blanket over the panther, "we were about to wake him from the anesthesia," she said as Tygra put an oxygen mask over Panthro's face and injected medication into the IV line.
"I think he would much rather see your face when he first wakes up Leanna then mine," Tygra smiled and stepped aside allowing the lioness to take his place.
The lioness smiled and sat down on the side of the bed and gently ran her fingers over the panther's cheek. A few minutes later the panther groaned and stirred slightly, he reached up and pawed at the oxygen mask that covered his face. The lioness reached over and took it off his face and leaned down and gave him a soft kiss, Panthro slowly opened his eyes.
"Hi handsome," the lioness smiled resting her hand on his cheek.
"My head hurts," he said groggily.
"That's from the anesthesia," Tygra said," it will clear up soon…so keep this on for a bit longer," he said putting the oxygen mask back on the panther's face.
Panthro closed his eyes and mumbled something, the lioness chuckled.
"Do I want to know what he said," Tygra asked cocking a brow.
"Umm …no," the lioness winked.
"Get some rest you old grouch," Tygra smirked patting the panther's shoulder.
"He will be okay won't he," Leanna asked concerned.
"Yes," Pumyra nodded, "thank goodness he changed back to his thunderian form, if he had of still been human…it would have most likely killed him, but thanks to his muscle mass the damage wasn't as bad. He will be laid up for a while though until his leg heals".
"How long is a while," Leanna asked.
"At least 4 to 6 weeks," Tygra nodded.
"Oh boy we're going to have on very crabby kitty if he's laid up that long," Cheetara said shaking her head.
The comms Unit beeping on the wall caught the puma's attention; she walked over and pressed the button, "Pumyra here".
"Pumyra," Lion-o said, "could you come down stairs for a moment".
"Sure...I'll be right down," she nodded then left.
"We'll leave you two alone," cheetara nodded and her and the tigress left, Tygra checked on the panther's vitals one more time and went over to the other side of the room to do some paper work.
Leanna looked at the sleeping panther and sighed, she started to get up but Panthro's grabbed her hand, she smiled and sat back down and leaned over and softly kissed his cheek, he reached up and once again pulled the oxygen mask off his face as he slowly woke up.
"You're so cold," Leanna said tucking the warm blanket up under his chin.
"Stop fussing woman," Panthro said groggily looking at her, "I'm not some cub that needs looking after".
"Well guess what…too bad blue man… I'm going to take care of you whether you like it or not," the lioness stated, "so you can get as pigheaded as you want, but I'm not going anywhere".
"Bossy pain in the ass woman," the panther grumbled.
"You know you love me," the lioness smiled and leaned over and kissed him.
"you know I do," The panther smirked and put his arms around her and pulled her to him, she laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. "You alright," Panthro asked running his fingers through her thick ebony mane, "he didn't hurt you did he," he asked seeing the bandage on her arm.
"Not badly…Just nicked me," she said quietly.
"Lea…what's wrong…what happened," he asked.
The lioness sat up and hung her head, "He's dead Panthro…..I killed him".
"What…..Lea…..no," the panther said in disbelief, his memory was foggy about the events that happened in the forest, the last thing he remembered was Schwenk going after his gun.
Down in the lower levels the puma arrived as requested, she seen Bengali and Lion-O standing out side of one of the spare cooler units they had used to store perishables talking.
"Glad you're here," Lion-O nodded, "how's Panthro".
"He's doing fine, he's out of surgery…Leanna is with him now," Pumyra nodded, "we stitched up his wounds and reset the broken bones".
"Will his leg be okay," Bengali asked.
"Yes..But it will take time to heal, but he should be as good as new," Pumyra answered.
"Good," Lion-O nodded," now the reason you're here," he said as his expression turned glum, "I need you to do an autopsy on Schwenk..We know how he died..But I want it in a formal report..This is a serious situation and I want to help Leanna as much as I can..So we go by the books".
"Right," the puma nodded, "we don't need some bureaucrat breathing down our necks saying this or that wasn't done properly".
"Exactly," the lion nodded, "now matter how we feel about this or what we think…we need to be professional about this…I'm putting you in charge because I know you can handle it".
The puma nodded her head, "so he's in there," she nodded to the cooler.
"Yes," Bengali nodded opening the door to the converted morgue.
"I'll have to go back to the med bay and get the supplies I need," Pumyra nodded as the three walked in.
"You tell me what you need and I'll go," Lion-O offered, "I want to check on Panthro anyway".
"Alright…You go get what I need while Bengali and I prepare his body," The puma nodded the named off a small list of things she would need.
Lion-O nodded, "I'll be back shortly".
"No big hurry…He's not going anywhere," Pumyra said as the lion left.
Lion-O walked in and saw Panthro awake and sitting up in bed, but the lioness was no where in sight, "hey Panthro," the lion smiled," how you feeling".
"Like I got run over by the thundertank a few dozen times," he said adjusting the blankets.
"Pumyra said Leanna was here," Lion-O said feeling a bit awkward, he wasn't sure why she wasn't there.
"Oh…She went down to get me something to eat," Panthro nodded.
"I see your appetite is still in tact," Lion-O chuckled and pulled up a chair and sat down.
"She's in serious trouble…Isn't she," Panthro asked.
"I would be lying if I said no," Lion-O sighed, "But I will do my best, I'm going to try and build a case of self-defense".
"Well it was," Panthro nodded, "from what I can remember, he was going to shoot me, not once but twice….Lea did warn him to stay put once she had him down the first time, then he reached for his gun again, and that's all I remember".
"I have to ask this but did she act any different then she normally would," Lion-O asked.
"What do you mean," Panthro asked confused.
"well she told me that when she killed him she wasn't herself, she could see what was happening but was powerless to stop her self, it was as if she was another person" Lion-O said.
The panther just cocked a brow, "you know as well as I do she's got a temper….but to loose total control…no I can't say I've ever seen that".
"But the question is..If she's lost total control once….will she again," Lion-O said.
"But this was different," Panthro said.
"Yes I know, you were badly injured and her protective instincts kicked into over drive…but to actually kill someone," Lion-O replied.
"Hell I would have tore him apart, you'd be picking tiny pieces of him up all over the damn unicorn forest," Panthro grumbled.
"No you would have beat the living snot out of him," Lion-O smirked, "but I don't think you'd kill him….well then again maybe".
"I just don't want anything to happen to her," Panthro sighed running his hands over his face, "for the first time in a very long time I'm happy".
"So I've noticed….your not as crabby as you use to be," Lion-O teased trying to lighten the mood.
Panthro just snorted, "I must be losing my touch then".
"Nah…you've just mellowed out a little…You've got a woman who adores you, your health and friends, what more could you ask for," Lion-O smiled.
"True enough," Panthro nodded
To be continued…
