DISCLAIMER: All copyrighted materials belong to their respected owners.

From a Dusty Attic

By Corvus no Genmu

Lost Relations

The dawn is quiet… too quiet to be safe for sleeping and this awakens Lion-O faster than the roar of laser fire or the thundering steps of an iron skinned titan. He wakes up slowly, cautiously, not for fear of alerting whatever brought this strange silence in a once noisy wood but for other things his senses are telling him that his mind believes impossible. He hears the crackling of flames, fires that had been doused at the rising of the moons and should not have been alighted for anything. A scent too, not a cat but a smell that could almost be… it was almost… familiar… He cracked one eye open and saw someone sitting at the fire, their back turned to him, stirring the embers with a long, thin stick of wood. Whoever it was, they were hidden beneath a thick black cloak and busy with keeping the flames alive. Lion-O sat up slowly and glanced at his right to meet tawny gold eyes.

Tygra was awake and already had his laser pistol in hand and further away with the twins awake and huddled behind Cheetara whom was crouched and ready for a burst of clerical speed, just enough to carry the children away should things turn ugly. Nodding, Lion-O rose to a crouch, the young king silently reaching for his sword.

"If I had intended to kill you cats, I would have done so while you slept." The voice was distinctly male and sounding less than impressed with their actions given that he hadn't bothered to turn around and kept stoking the fire.

"That kind of introduction doesn't give us much reason to trust you now does it?" questioned Lion-O, hand reaching down to grasp the hilt of the Sword of Omens but he did not pull it free. "Who are you?"

"Does knowing my name really tell you anything?" The stranger asked in return.

"If you expect us to trust you, then you should trust us with your name." Lion-O shot back, experienced with this kind of game.

The stranger barked a loud laugh. "Ha! I like you, kid. You've got more heart than I'd expect from your species. I've earned many names in my lifetime but my friends call me Salazar."

Tygra, looking insulted at the stranger's choice of phrase, growled, "Oh? Then what do your enemies call you?"

The air felt suddenly colder though the flames still burned heartily. Where he turned to face them, Lion-O would not doubt that Salazar's eyes would be glaring upon his older brother.

"Your… brother… on the other claw…" said Salazar, ignoring Tygra and speaking still to Lion-O "Is exactly as I've seen of your people. Prideful to the point of cruel arrogance," He stoked the flames back to life, ignoring the faint growl of the offended Tygra. A bright flash of lightning from a passing storm illuminated an arm heavy with a rusty-red armguard and wickedly sharp claws though the hands were more catlike but it didn't matter for the limb was not covered in fine fur but jaded scales.

A lizard's arm…

The ThunderCats immediately tensed but made no move to attack the lizard. Well, not with Lion-O's arm held out to stop Tygra from blasting the cloaked lizard in the back. The tiger shot his younger brother a fierce glare and was met with the same defiance that sought freedom for two former slaves; slaves who had returned the same kindness that Tygra had scolded his brother for not hours after the invasion that became the near genocide of their species. How long ago was that…? Days for certain… Perhaps even a week? So much had happened since then…

Lion-O was straight to the point, "What is it that you want?"

If the lizard felt the glares upon his back or even noticed the silent exchange behind him, he didn't give any sign besides a derisive snort at the young lion's words. "That's a long list that doesn't ever seem to get any shorter as the days go by. At the moment though, I want to enjoy a meal between allies."

"Allies?" repeated an incredulous Cheetara.

"Too early to really call us friends," stated the strange lizard named Salazar, "Sit down and talk, or take up your arms and leave. In the end it doesn't matter to me what you decide, I'll follow you still."

Lion-O's eyes narrowed the slightest bit, having caught on to what the lizard was alluding to. "How long have you been following us?"

"Honestly? I'd been in your city for days before the attack."

"Impossible! There's no way a lizard could have been holed up in Thundera without anyone noticing!" exclaimed Tygra.

"Yes because the cats care so much beyond themselves. As I recall, what few animals that were allowed within the city walls were allotted to the slums. Truly it was so good of your people to grant refuges sanctuary with the worst kind of the scum." Salazar snapped right back. "I saw a lot of the cats' bigotry in those few days I was there, but then I saw something that surprised me. A cat that fought on the behalf of a dog, a son who stood up against his father in the defense of two lizards caught stealing food for starving hatchlings, a prince who stood against the will of his own people for the ideal of unity between the species."

Salazar turned his head and revealed a short snout tipped with a small horn of crimson with a bearded spike of the same reddish hue and eyes of molten amber, thin slits wide in the low light of the fire. He smiled a fanged smile like a grandfather proud of his grandchild's accomplishments though he sounded hardly any younger than Lion-O's father if even that much.

"I saw you, Lion-O. It is as I had hoped. Leona lives still, if only in you."

Three sets of eyes widened at that name while two pairs of younger orbs glanced to one another in confusion. For neither of the twins had lived long enough in the capitol city of Thundera to hear for themselves the name of its Queen whom had died on the day of Lion-O's birth.

"You… knew my mother?" The young king asked in hopes of an answer from another's eyes. He learned of his mother through Jaga alone who freely answered what questions he could. Rare was the moment when Claudus opened his heart to his son and spoke of the woman that he had loved, the woman whom had died to deliver him the son he so desired. Tygra said nothing of her, walking away from curiosity until cold and resentful silence became the only certain answer from the tiger.

"Knew her?" Salazar offered a halfhearted chuckle empty of any true emotion such as happiness. There was clear remembrance in those eyes bordered with disdain at past words left unspoken, old actions never redeemed. The words that he could never speak…

Not now.

Maybe not ever…

But still, he could try.

"I more than knew her, I raised her."