Fall Of The Empire
Rating: T (for now.)
Disclaimer: I don't own this. If I did, the second season would have been out already, and I would be all over that like white on rice.
Author's Notes: Tried something new with some characters. Changed a lot of stuff around. This chapter was one of the most fun for me to write - because hey, I do tragedy. I do despair. I like dropping character's emotions into a blender and then sitting back and going, "Oooohhhhhh."
Anyway, my slightly sadistic tends aside, here's the new chapter!
Warnings: Death, battle, and tragedy. Thundera has fallen. A few curses here and there.
Additional Edit: . . . Fanfiction ate up some of the grammatical errors I made, and some of the stylistic things (like italics). I am so sorry. I'm replacing the chapter. If there are errors, please tell me. I will edit them and re-upload. My goodness, fanfiction, you haven't been this ornery since the old days!
Echo was in an absolutely terrible mood.
And the day had been going along so well, too.
She stood in the gardens before Sunda, and wondered how it had all boiled down to this. A nasty headache was already throbbing in her temples, and she knew the argument was going to exacerbate it. She had been having a (somewhat) fantastic day, leftover grogginess aside. A full night's worth of sleep had done her wonders, and she had been set to just relax the entire day away. But then Sunda had decided it was the perfect time to fight with her.
And, quite frankly, if the leopard wanted to go there, Echo was willing to go there.
She had been out in the garden, sketching in her journal, when Sunda had come down on her, raging with the wrath of a thousand fiery suns. She crossed her arms over her chest as the cleric glared down at her, golden eyes flashing. He'd been ranting to her for a good five minutes now.
". . . outside the castle walls!" Sunda yelled, "You are not protected! Did you not remember what you promised me yesterday? What happened could have gotten you stripped of protection from the king!"
"We were inside of the inner terrace, so technically, we were still in the palace."
And I had escorts.
"Echo!" Sunda snapped, "Enough of your games!"
"I'm big enough to make my own choices, Sunda," Echo retorted, meeting his glare with a fiery one of her own. "I can-"
"Obviously not, with how childish you've been acting lately!"
"My friend, the prince, went in front of an angry mob to defend helpless animals. What should I have done? Stand by idly, twiddling my thumbs?"
"You are a guest, Echo!" Sunda shouted, so loudly that his voice bounced around the garden, "You hold no political power here! I knew I should have never let you leave the palace-"
Echo tamped down the need to wince as her head throbbed viciously, and anger swelled inside her in response.
"Fine!"
She reached up and snatched the pendant hanging around her neck, and, completely amazed at her own actions, threw it down at the cleric's feet. Sunda snarled, hands clenching into fists at his sides.
"Echo-"
"No! No! Not anymore, you overprotective, stupid Cat! I'm tired of this! I don't need to be coddled like some child! I am sick of you!"
Without letting Sunda get in a word edgewise, Echo spun on her heel and stalked away. It felt strange, not having the weight of the necklace around her neck, but she was more than determined to live without it. She grit her teeth, anger pulsing in her, hot and heavy. Sunda didn't say anything to stop her, which suited Echo just fine.
She made it away from the cleric grounds and was stomping her way out of the palace when she ran into another cat.
Just her luck.
"Ah! So you are this. . . human I have heard so much about!"
Echo whirled, ready to deliver a scathing piece of her mind to whoever had spoken to her, but she paused as she spotted Grune. . . or, who she assumed to be Grune. There was only one Cat that towered over the others in terms of body height and muscle mass.
Echo swallowed her anger as the general walked over to her, emerging from one of the many hallways of the palace. She did her best to try and relax her tensed muscles and, much as it pained her to do it, put a smile on her face. It was one of the hardest things she'd done - Echo was in absolutely no mood to talk to anybody.
"General Grune. It is an honor to meet you face to face."
He laughed amiably, stopping a few feet from her. Echo took this time to finally get her first good look at the general. There's a lot to look at.
In terms of muscles, he beat out Lion-O and Tygra hands down, and he probably had more than Claudus. He was wearing brilliantly-polished blue armor, albeit it looked somewhat marred by battle scars. The general, as the Thunderian libraries accounts suggested, had seen his fair share of battles. His most notable trait was his lack of a second fang. On any other cat, one fang would have looked ridiculous. But on Grune, it seemed to add to his battle-scarred physique.
Echo bowed, placing an arm over her chest as she received the general formally. Grune only laughed and waved a hand airily.
"Let us dispense of the pleasantries. I find - as a soldier - I have no need of them. So, tell me, human, are the stories true? Do you really have no recollection of your past?"
"Uh, yes," Echo replied, caught off guard, "But how did you know-"
"The king and I share close counsel, human. There are no secrets between us. He has even informed me of a power you wield that has not been seen in Thundera before."
Echo paused, her answer on her lips. Something in her mind was wriggling around in warning, and she couldn't quite figure out why. She stared at Grune, and noticed a strange, hungry gleam had entered the general's eyes. . . and Echo didn't like it. Not one bit. It was enough to make her hesitate in answering - but then the gleam was gone. . . and it left Echo wondering if she'd just been imagining it. Realizing she'd let their silence stretch on a beat too long, Echo shook her head and offered an apologetic smile.
"Ah, yes, the stories are true. I would like to say that the extent of this ability may have been exaggerated. . . excuse me, general, but I have business to attend to outside of the palace today, so I must be going."
"I didn't mean to hold you. Although, it would be kind of you to delight an old soldier in his whims. Perhaps you could show me this ability later?"
Echo smiled.
"Yes, absolutely."
Not in a million years.
The thought sprang out of nowhere, and it startled Echo in its acidity. Her emotions were still swirling inside of her, boiling hot, and she pinned it on that. It had to be. She was directing her fury at everyone else. Echo knew she had to get out of there before she said something she would come to regret. Being in Grune's presence was beginning to make her skin crawl, something she also associated with the fight she'd just had with Sunda. She gave Grune a hasty bow again before jogging away.
It didn't take her very long to find the object of her search.
A passage stood before her, carved into the wall and leading down into darkness. It led straight into the main streets of Thundera - if one could navigate the small maze of connecting passageways. And as it just so happened, Lion-O had taught her where the hallways led. She knew the underground connections like the back of her hand. Echo hovered right in front of the door, staring down the doorway, momentarily pausing.
She'd never gone into the city alone before. Lion-O, or an escort, normally accompanied her.
"You need to be protected, Echo!" Sunda's voice repeated in her head, snapping like a whip.
And, just like that, she shot a glare over her shoulder, in the vague direction of the cleric hall.
I'll do whatever I damn well please.
Then she ducked in the hallway, disappearing from sight moments later.
Echo chewed her bottom lip as she stared at the journal in her hands, fingers idly thumbing the pages. She'd purchased a small charcoal pencil from a vendor, and for a vast majority of the day, she'd been sketching in her journal. It had been a good way for her to dispel most of her anger, and it helped keep her mind off of what she'd done earlier.
Foot, meet mouth. If Sunda doesn't murder you, then Jaga probably will. And what's left will be torn to ribbons by Claudus.
King Claudus had not taken kindly at all to her behavior - and for her stay in Thundera, he dismissed her entirely. She could tell by his expression that he'd hated their scuffle for the lizards. She also got the distinct impression that the king hadn't liked pardoning the lizards last night. At all.
For the past few hours, Echo had been beating herself with a mental stick, cursing her rashness. She had been stupid. A totally complete moron. Why had she decided to start a fight with Sunda, and then throw the king's pendant at his feet? She was going to have one hell of time apologizing to her friend, and she feared that her words had changed their friendship. She wasn't sure why, but she had a feeling that she knew from past experiences that a heated argument could irrevocably after a relationship forever.
But. . . still.
Sunda was much more than a worrywart. He was a nanny she didn't need, constantly worrying about her welfare and safety. It had become downright smothering over the course of six months, and she honestly wasn't sure how much more she could stand of it. She wasn't used to being watched, or to answering for her actions. Echo let loose an aggravated sigh and raked her fingers through her hair. Now I'm thinking about things I don't even know about.
"Well, now I finally know how you feel, Lion-O." She muttered.
She'd been subjected to this treatment for only six months. Her friend had been under the palace's watchful eye for seventeen years.
Another ragged sigh left her, and Echo turned her attention back to her diary. In an attempt to distract herself from her thoughts, she decided to review her most recent sketches. . . all about a very strange dream she'd had the previous night.
She'd stood in front of the sun as it had begun to set, and she had watched as the growing shadows had begun to lift and take shape, malevolent red eyes shimmering in the dark. Right as the sun had been about to dip below the horizon, it had exploded. Beautiful arcs of fire had spread, leaving smoking trails in their wake before landing all over Thundera. She had watched the city catch fire, sparkling all manners of gold and red in the darkness.
She had woken up as five of the red-eyed shadows had turned onto two, small silhouettes of Cats, hazy weapons raised to the pair.
In her dream, they'd appeared to be the same height as kittens - or so she assumed. Echo wasn't really sure, as the entire dream had been very hazy. She hadn't been able to make heads or tails of anything, but trying to figure out what it all meant had proven to be a wonderful distraction from the events earlier that day.
So, she'd secreted herself inside of an alley, journal opened on her lap, and had whittled away most of the day trying to dissect her dreams. Without the aid of the Thunderian library, however, it was a fruitless effort. There was a tome she consulted frequently on symbols within dreams, and without it. . .
Leaning her head back against the wall, Echo stared up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set, turning the blue into gold. She knew she'd have to go back and pay for her sins sometime, and she might as well get it over with now instead of procrastinating.
She got to her feet and edged her way out of the alley, reentering the small crowds perusing the streets at twilight. She walked among the Cats, easily weaving her way through the sparse crowd. She was practically invisible, as nobody stopped to stare at her, and her hair hadn't caught anyone's eye. Huh. Normally gets one or two. . . they must be really preoccupied. She started back on the way to the palace, but her feet slowed, and then stopped altogether.
The world felt. . . felt wrong. Her heart started pounding in her chest, and her mouth went dry. All of her nerves came alive, her senses turning hypersensitive. What . . . what's happening? What's this feeling? I don't. . . I don't understand.
Something tickled in the back of her mind, a nagging itch that refused to be forgotten. She peered around her, looking for the source of her discomfort, but couldn't readily discern anything. As she turned, a deep-throated horn sounded in the air. She looked toward the high walls surrounding Thundera in confusion.
"Another visitor?" A cat said, just a few feet from her.
"So soon?" Asked another.
Silence settled over the city like a suffocating blanket as the Cats all stopped and stared at Thundera's outer walls.
And then another horn sounded.
An attack. Somebody's waging an attack on Thundera.
A cat ran by her, fear on her face, and that fear became infectious. More and more cats began to run, worry and fear etched onto their expressions. Echo was jostled and swept up by the pushing bodies. She somehow managed to free herself from the middle of the crush and dashed to the side of the street, trying her best to ignore the screams and the frantic running as Cats pushed and shoved, concerned for their safety and others. It was hard not to get sucked into it, to run with them and seek shelter in one of the underground hideaways, and wait for the attack to blow over.
The itch, however, kept escalating.
She had. . . she had to stay outside.
There was something she needed to do.
It pulsed through her - strong and demanding.
Echo waited for the crowd to thin out before she started running. The need acted like a compass, directing her down, lower, towards the bottom levels of Thundera. She ran against the flow of cats, and ignored the guards as they appeared in the streets and began to shepherd the masses into the underground shelters. Echo reached behind her instinctively, hands grasping for a sword hilt, and she bit out a low curse when she realized she wasn't armed. I have a feeling I'm going to need to be by the end of the night, she thought darkly.
Warning bells came to life in a frenzied chorus in her head. She needed those swords. It was absolutely imperative that she have something to defend herself with. In the distance, she could hear a strange, low-pitched whistling noise.
Tucked safely inside of her tunic, her journal dug into her skin. Pictures of her dream flashed in her mind. Could I have-
Thunderous cracks sounded, so loud and strongly that Echo flinched back and covered her ears as they rang. A shock wave ran through the ground, and she stumbled into a wall. Her ears were ringing so badly she'd turned deaf, and pain throbbed through her head. Around her, she saw the thickening crowds beginning to bleed worry, fear, and confusion. She couldn't let herself get swallowed up by it. She had to go. There was something she needed to do.
". . . ther. . . ming!"
She craned her neck back, and found a male cat standing in the middle of the road. I can't make out what you're saying, the ringing is so loud.
As if somehow hearing her thoughts, the cat lifted his hand and pointed.
Echo followed his finger, and blackness immediately consumed her vision.
She felt herself being thrown up and into the air, and then roughly tossed back to the ground. She came to a messy stop a few seconds later, and pain resounded through so strongly that she just laid there, unwilling to move. Soft heat warmed her, helping to chase away some of the agony. Okay. Okay, take stock. Everything hurts like hell, but I think it's in working order. Let's get up now, because that thing is-
Echo's eyes opened with a snap when she realized she didn't feel that need any longer.
She did, however, feel a rather sizable trickle of warmth rushing down her forehead. She blinked down, and stared as a few spatters of red quickly fell onto her hand. This scene isn't familiar at all, is it? She thought bitterly. She reached up and swiped at her forehead, and her hand came away wet with blood.
"Great. Okay, Echo. Just forget about it for now - get up."
Her own words encouraged her, and Echo moved, tenderly getting to her feet. She scanned the street, wanting to know just what the hell had made her black out and go rolling - and she stopped.
A boulder, covered in flames, rested in the middle of the street she'd just been occupying. And the cats. . . they. . . they were. . . Nausea made her stomach cramp and her mouth water, and she thought she was going to throw up.
Who. . . why?
An image flashed in her mind, of two kitten-sized shadows, surrounded by lizards. She knew time was running out for the pair.
Echo wrenched her eyes shut and turned away from the scene, trying to get herself under control. Precious seconds passed as she sagged against a nearby wall and clamped a hand over her mouth, struggling to keep herself from vomiting.
The picture flashed again, clearer this time, and she could see the definite details of two kittens. The clock continued ticking. Every second was precious.
Echo forced herself to take a step, and then another. Blood trickled down the front of her face and off her chin, but she ignored it. What she'd just seen. . . she couldn't. . .
Again, the image consumed her vision, moving as a lizard lifted his weapon and aimed at the kitten's head-
"I don't know where to go!" Echo shouted, nearly falling onto the building side. Tears coursed over her cheeks, and she knew she was violently close to losing what contents remained in her stomach. She stood there, battling against all of the sensations rolling over her, and she fought to keep herself from breaking down entirely.
Something cold brushed against her back, and Echo gasped. It felt like ice was rolling down her spine. She craned her neck back and looked, seeing. . . she wasn't entirely sure what she was seeing. There stood a figure, cloaked entirely by shadows. Not even the light by the fire on the boulder illuminated the dark covering them. As if they had been waiting for Echo's attention, they lifted a hand and pointed down a side street.
"What's down there?" She asked, voice shaking. She looked down the road, partially covered by debris and destroyed buildings.
Another picture of the kittens flashed through her mind.
"Kittens? T-They're. . ." She trailed off, turning back to the person, but they were gone. She was alone. Whoever they were, they'd disappeared as quickly as they'd come.
Echo stood there, trying to see where the stranger had disappeared to. She wasn't sure what the hell had just happened, but. . . somebody wanted those kittens saved. And turning around to the scene of death behind her was not appealing in th slightest. That left her with one option.
She turned down the street and started sprinting for all she was worth.
The clock in her mind kept ticking, dwindling almost to nothing. Echo kept running, breath rasping in her throat, her aching body protesting vehemently. She had to get there. She had to. The need that had first propelled her twitched to life again, weakly, and nothing like how it had been before. As she turned another corner, the clock ran out.
Two rocks sailed overhead, trails of smoke streaming behind them. Another horrifically loud crack echoed through the air, followed by the sounds of rocks falling and debris building. She followed their trail, knowing that time was still of the essence. Finally, finally, she made it to an open pavilion at the end of the street, where. . .
An underground shelter was. . . how many more lives had. . .?
She wanted to break down. She just wanted to fall to her knees and sob. Sorrow pulled at her, and Echo wrenched herself away from the sight, forcing her to look around, search for the - there!
Two small kittens were disappearing around a corner. Echo took off after them, her dream haunting her. Whoever was attacking Thundera, whoever was orchestrating this widespread death and destruction - they were going to claim the lives of the two kittens. No, she thought vehemently, I can change this. I can get there in time!
The kittens had to live. But she didn't know why.
Echo skidded around a corner, and her heart nearly ground to a halt in her chest as she found the kittens. They were standing frozen in the middle of a decaying street, five lizards staring them down. And they were wearing. . . technology? They had it in their hands, too. One of the lizards was smiling, teeth sharp and gleaming in the light as he stared down his prey.
". . . your prayers, Cats!"
The girl kitten flinched behind the boy, and Echo ran again, desperately wishing her swords were strapped to her back. She threw herself against the girl, sending all three of them crashing to the ground. Echo heard the report of the piece of technology, and bit back a cry of pain as something hot sliced into her arm.
"Who're you-" The boy asked, wriggling out from under her.
"Not now!" She snapped, jumping to her feet, and standing in front of them both.
She'd hoped the lizards had been shocked by her entrance. It might have given her enough time to deal with one or two of them. But their technology was trained on her, and she knew it had been a fleeting hope. A new wave of blood trickled from the wound on her arm, and a sharp burning in her muscles told her that while she'd avoided most of the energy, it had sliced deep.
"A no-fur freak," Their executioner hissed in laughter, "My day just keeps getting-"
Echo's eyes widened as something white sailed overhead, and in the next second, a cleric landed in front of them. He moved inhumanly fast, a blur to her eyes, taking out the first lizard and brutally punishing two more. The remaining two tried to fire, but the cleric avoided the shots and bashed their heads together. Their helmets cracked and their eyepieces shattered under his blows, and in seconds, they laid on the ground with the others, incapacitated. Echo swallowed, slightly in awe of the cleric's battle prowess, and then straightened from her defensive crouch.
I almost died.
I almost joined everyone else today.
Her hands started to shake at her sides. If the cleric hadn't intervened, she would have been moments away from greeting the reaper.
The kittens behind her stayed on the ground, bodies trembling in fear, eyes wide with shock.
"Y-You're bleeding. . ." The girl murmured.
Echo felt the hot sting of blood on her arm, and her face, and a bitter smile twisted her lips. Looks worse than it is, she thought. She gave her face another quick scrub (which was fruitless, really, because the blood just kept coming), and turned to the kittens, giving them an easy smile.
"It's okay," She said, injecting fake confidence into her voice, "It doesn't hurt at all. Are you okay?"
The kittens looked at each other and nodded.
"Good."
At the sound of her voice, the cleric turned, regarding them all. When his eyes landed on Echo, they narrowed. They were slitted in fury and blood lust, and glowed with a harsh inner light. He approached, one footstep carefully measured in front of the other, body tensed as if to spring. Echo stood her ground, hands clenching at her sides. She was shaking like a leaf, and the adrenaline coursing through her wasn't helping in the slightest.
Though. . . she knew who this cleric was, even swallowed up by his war attire.
"S-Sunda. . ." She said, her voice cracking, "I wasn't g-going to let them d-die."
She was so terrified, she didn't even care that she was stuttering.
The cleric came to stand right in front of her, looking like an angel of death in his battle gear. He lifted a hand, and Echo saw him spread it wide, as though he were going to slap her. She closed her eyes, preparing for the blow.
She wasn't expecting his arms to circle around her and crush her to him. Her eyes shot open when she felt the cleric trembling against her.
"I was so afraid," he said, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper, "I thought I was about to see you die."
It was almost too much. Echo felt her head spinning, and inside, she was reeling. Sunda sounded as though he were on the verge of tears. His claws dug into her as he held her tighter, and even as pain stung through her, she didn't protest.
"Eleven years ago, the lizards attacked my village. My family, my home, my sisters were. . . I can't lose you, too."
Oh, Sunda.
Sunda, I'm so sorry.
It all made sense. His hatred against the lizards - it made a terrible, terrible sense. Echo understood it all now, as though somebody had finally arranged the picture for her. In that moment, she wanted to apologize for everything. She opened her mouth, but Sunda was already straightening, his hands sliding over her arms. A familiar weight settled over her back, and Echo looked up at Sunda and offered a tiny smile.
Her sheathes gave a quiet clatter as they fell into place over her back, and Sunda worked to secure the harness. Echo was quiet as the cleric worked efficiently, tightening the straps to her body. She let him prepare her, drawing assurance from the act. She wasn't fighting this battle. Sunda was there with her. It was enough to chase away the fear that had been biting at her like a rabid dog, infecting her with terror.
Within moments, Echo was armed.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her over. Satisfied, he placed one hand on her forehead, and the other covered the injury on her arm. Echo heard him give a few short, murmured words, and a fierce tingle started under her skin. There was a sharp pang of discomfort, but then her woulds were healing, and the flow of blood finally stopped. He couldn't heal it all the way, but it was enough for the time being.
He separated from her, and then brought his cloak up to her face and wiped the rest of the blood away. Murky, dirty red stains marred the white fabric, but he hardly seemed to care. Done, he placed both hands on her shoulders, and stared at her intensely, golden eyes glowing.
"I must go to the king now. . . but if anything happens, Echo, you fight. You fight until your last breath, and even then you keep fighting. Swear it to me."
"Sunda-"
"Swear it, Echo!"
He wasn't going to let her get out of this. She paused, looking at the cleric, and then she nodded her head.
Accepting her answer, he stepped away from her, eyes almost blazing under the lip of his helm. Then he was gone, jumping up and disappearing over the rooftops to rejoin the clerics. Echo watched the white of his cape disappear, and she found herself suppressing the urge to call his name, to force him to reciprocate that promise. . . and she wanted, even more, to apologize.
"Miss?" Came a quiet, hushed voice behind her.
The kittens. With Sunda, she'd almost forgotten about them.
Both of the kittens were now standing and looking at her. She noticed they were holding hands, and they hadn't even seemed to realize they were doing it. Two kittens, caught up in a horrible battle like this. . . god, I'm just a kid too - no. No, Echo, hold yourself together. Echo warred with herself, standing there in silence, and she listened to the sound of war around her. In every direction, Thundera was crumbling, more and more. And, even though it pained her, she forced herself to give them a calm smile.
More than anything, she just wanted to curl up in a ball and bawl her eyes out.
So much death and destruction. . .
"Hey," She said, forcing the words out, "It's gonna be okay. I'm going to get you two out of the city, alright? I'll get you someplace safe. Can you run?" As she spoke, her own panic seemed to ease, if only just slightly. She didn't have the option of not holding it together. The kittens were depending on her.
They glanced at each other, then back to her, and nodded.
"Okay. Don't let go of your hands. I won't let anything happen to you. Stay close to me."
She gestured for them to follow her, and in a heartbeat, they were running. Echo led them through the rapidly decaying streets, aiming for one of the emergency tunnels cut into the side of Thundera. Around them, there was blood, rubble, and war. Echo's eyes stung with tears as she sprinted through the corpse of the once-beautiful city.
She tried her best to say a prayer for the dead as she ran.
She stopped by a corner of a building, heart pounding in her chest, breaths rough and ragged.
Peeking around it, she bit out a harsh curse. A squadron of lizards was there, advancing forward. The tunnel she sought laid on the other side of the pavilion, and Echo breathed in deeply as she pressed herself back against the side of the wall. I need a plan. I need to get the kittens to the other side. . . but how? Ideas ran through her mind as she tried to think. Beside her, she felt the eyes of the kittens as they looked to her for guidance, and for some reason, it was enough to give her confidence.
There was only one plan that stood out in her mind.
Become a distraction.
Echo pushed herself away from the wall, and drew her swords. There was a comforting rasp that sounded in the quiet air as the metal parted from the sheathe, and she stared down at the steel, holding the hilts loosely in her hands. Battle calm built inside of her - along with rage. She understood why Sunda hated the lizards now. They'd claimed the lives of innocent cats - and if she'd intervened, they would have added two more kittens to their count. Kittens. No soldiers or warriors, but children.
They were destroying Thundera, rock by rock, and deriving pleasure from it.
"H-Hey!"
Echo didn't open her eyes. Not right then. Her resolve would be broken if she did.
"Across the street is a tunnel. Do you see the mosaic on the wall? Press against the third rock on the bottom of it and the door will slide back. It'll shut behind you. Don't wait for me - just run outside of Thundera and hide."
"But what about you?"
The fear in that voice was almost tangible.
Echo opened her eyes and bent down to their level, giving them the best smile she could manage. Placing her sword on the ground, Echo reached out and gave the boy a tight squeeze on the shoulder. She stroked the girl's hair back, brushing a few wayward strands out of her face.
"Trust me, okay?"
"But what if you get shot?" The girl blurted, "What if they hurt you?"
"It's okay," Echo said soothingly, "The cleric cast a protection spell over me. I can't get hurt."
A lie, but a necessary one. The kittens bought it, though, as the girl nodded. Echo grabbed her sword and stood.
"Alright. When I get out there, you run. You don't look at me, or the fight. You just run to that door. Understood?"
She waited for them to nod.
And then, before she could lose her will, she turned and ran around the corner. She let loose a war cry as she sprang forward, swords flashing in the light of the fires that raged around them. She surprised the first lizard she stumbled upon, and his gun tumbled from his hand. She elbowed him, hard, before knocking him to the ground.
His comrades trained their guns onto her, and Echo found herself dancing through a barrage of laser fire a she went for the next lizard. She swung her swords, but he brought his gun up, stopping them. For a moment, their arms shook as they vied for dominance, but then Echo kicked his gut, sending him sprawling. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the kittens darting across the pavilion, but a laser skimmed across her cheek, forcibly turning her attention to the battle again.
Echo was on the lizards in a heartbeat, a sword arcing down to slice through a barrel of a gun. A few of them began to run as she continued to take them out, one by one, body twisting and ducking under the fire, and she heard their commander hiss in rage.
"It's a single fighter!" He barked, "Stand your ground and fire!"
This feels. . . so familiar. Echo thought, as she twisted to avoid another energy bolt. She hardly even noticed she was moving, just letting her body take over as she fought. The picture of death and chaos around her, the heat of battle. . . it all felt like some dream she wanted to remember.
With a start, Echo realized she found war. . . comfortable.
With every swing of her sword, she was more and more at ease with it. There would always be that emotional despair, she knew, but it was something that could be dealt with. A familiar demon she'd wrestled, time and time again. She-
A laser almost singed her foot, and Echo grit her teeth as she bent her spine, just barely managing to avoid another laser aimed at her face. More reinforcements began to arrive, drawn by the commotion, and she knew she was going to lose the battle. The numbers were quickly growing out of her favor-
"Echo, duck!"
Lion-O!
Her body did, on reflex, right as something whistled overhead, beeping - and Echo flinched as whatever it was exploded.
Fiery heat licked against her, and her ears rang, but it all calmed in the next few seconds. She gently eased herself from her protective ball, heart pounding as she looked at the smoke and fire that covered the area around her. For now, the lizards were gone. An eerie quiet descended on the square, interrupted only by the sounds of more battles in the distance. She shook her head, trying to clear the ringing in her ears, and looked for Lion-O.
She was greeted with a hand right next to her face.
It took a moment, but she realized she was staring at her friend. He was riding one of the bird-steeds, which was burdened by two bags. As she met his eyes, she could see the depths of his hate and rage and pain. Lion-O was watching his city burn down around him. His home. His people. Those blue eyes were bright with barely-leashed fury, and a fierce snarl looked ready to leave his lips at any moment. He was burning with an intense need to hurt, to cause pain. . .
Sheathing her swords, Echo took his hand. He helped her swing up to sit behind him on the bird. Slipping her arms around his waist, he kicked his heels into the animal's side, spurring it to a run. The bags jostled, filled with the clinking sound of metal.
"Where are we going?" She asked, raising her voice to be heard over the wind.
"The arena."
Echo swallowed back more questions, fearing what the answers might be.
But for some reason, she couldn't shake that feeling, that ominous dread that was beginning to sprout inside her.
This night is not going to end well.
"I trusted him. He was our hero." Raged seethed behind Lion-O's words, but Echo was silent.
She could tell that touching him, offering any kind of emotional support - it would only serve to make him angrier right now. When they'd come to a stop, Echo had withdrawn her arms, instead choosing to grasp at the saddle they sat on. Lion-O's anger was such a palpable thing, it seemed to taint the very air around them.
In the arena below them, Tygra and Claudus were surrounded by robots and lizards, while Grune stood on the roots of the arena, a triumphant smile over his face. He stood before a Cat wrapped in chains - but from a distance, Echo couldn't make out who it was.
"Your rule has come to a long overdue end, Claudus," Grune's voice echoed, oozing thick with confidence and triumph, "Now drop your inferior weapons! How can you defeat technology if you don't even understand it?"
In front of her, Lion-O tensed. He withdrew a few of the pieces of technology from his bag. That's the tech Jorma gave him. Sliding his finger across the surface, the display lit up, and began to beep. He cocked his arm back, and Echo shifted to the side, giving more space.
"Luckily I know a thing or two about it, you traitor!" Lion-O snarled, voice bouncing in the arena.
He threw the disc, and it soared through the air, landing on one of the huge, human-like pieces of tech with a hollow klang!
The beeping grew faster, but this time, Echo covered her ears. The blast eradicated the tech, and one more well-thrown bomb took out the other two. Spurring the bird forward again, Lion-O guided them forward, smoke curling around them. Under them, the bird shifted restlessly, unused to the heat of battle.
Claudus and Tygra wore ridiculous expressions on their faces as they looked at the pair, and under any other circumstance, Echo would have laughed at it. As Claudus approached them, Echo swung her leg around and dismounted, jogging over to Tygra.
"You alright?" She asked.
The tiger palmed his whip, expression tight with anger.
"Yeah," He said, and then gave her a once over, "What about you, human? You look bloody."
Echo looked down at herself. She was covered in her own blood, but most of it was dried and turning brown. "Just a little banged up. I can still fight, though."
"Good."
"We are going to show the lizards that the Sword of Omens is the greatest weapon of them all," Claudus announced. Echo turned to find the leader of the ThunderCats drawing his sword. It extended, metal shimmering dangerously in the light. Power vibrated int he air, and it intensified as Claudus lifted his weapon up.
"ThunderCats! Ho!"
The battle rally made something Echo's blood sing. The sword crackled with power - bright, white light bursting around it. She drew her own swords in response, readying for battle again. She swore she could hear whispers in the air, as though Omens were telling everyone: stand behind me, and we will be victorious. Lend me your arms. Give me your strength, and we will win.
Tygra and Lion-O rushed forward, Echo just a beat behind them. It was hard to concentrate on the remaining lizards, however, as Claudus powered through them. With a single stroke, he felled more and more. Two at one stroke. Four. Six. The trio were left with the scraps of the army, and Echo did her best, jamming her sword hilt into one, and kicking another off the roots.
The lizards were dispatched before she'd even blinked, it seemed like. She sheathed her swords as Tygra, Lion-O, and herself climbed the roots behind Claudus, where, at the very top of the arena, Grune stood guard in front of the chained Cat.
A shock wave plowed into her, almost making her lose her grip. Ahead of her, Claudus was using Omens to deflect an acid-green laser from Grune's massive hammer. The splashes billowed around them, and the trio were forced to jump away, or risk getting caught by the eddies of it.
Echo settled herself on a root, watching as Claudus almost buckled. He shoved Omens forward, and Grune's laser fizzled out. With a powerful stroke, he pushed his advantaged, and Echo cheered inwardly as Grune fell onto the roots below, giant hammer toppling away.
"Echo, climb!" Tygra said next to her.
Echo did as told, and committed herself to climbing up the roots. Tygra remained by her side, because without claws on her fingers, and a semi-injured arm, ascending the thick roots was difficult. She managed, however, fingernails throbbing as she used them to gain as much leverage as possible.
The feeling of ice sliding down her spine again made her shiver, and she craned her neck back.
Something was wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.
Her suspicions were proven right as she caught sight of Lion-O, eyes widening in horror, running over the roots.
"Father!"
Echo knew screams of pain. But this. . . it was unlike anything Echo had ever heard in her life, and she knew it was going to haunt her for years to come.
"NO!"
So would that sound of utter desolation.
Time slowed to a crawl as she watched Claudus fall, red hair billowing around his face. His body hit roots on the way down, twisting and turning, before finally falling into the water. Lion-O was in the air moments later, diving in after his father, and Tygra hardly spared her a glance as he detached from her side to follow his brother.
Omens fell too, striking the root right above her. Echo startled, thinking somebody had just thrown it at her, but focused on the water a moment later. It must have fallen from Claudus's hand. . .
Everything was just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. That ominous feeling in her was going ballistic, demanding that she put a stop to everything before it was too late. Echo managed to heave herself up to the small ledge Omens impaled itself on, and she stopped there, watching over the arena.
Lion-O and Tygra had succeeded in pulling Claudus out of the water, but they hovered over him, heads hung low.
He was dead.
Her heart splintered in her chest as Echo watched Lion-O visibly curl in on himself. Both he and Tygra were choking on their grief.
Laughter echo around the arena, disrupting the picture of mourning. It sounded oily and thick and unnatural. Echo craned her neck back, looking at the Cat she didn't recognize. He was freed of his chains, and stood proudly on the roots, a wicked knife in his hands. Everything inside of Echo was screaming, demanding she do something, and chills ran down her spine as she stared into his eyes.
"You! A traitor too, Panthro?!" Lion-O snarled, each word deepening in rage.
Panthro - the other general! He betrayed the king, too?!
"Not quite," Panthro replied, "Have you ever considered that if technology was real, then so are the things of your worst nightmares?"
Flames came to life on his body, and in seconds, Panthro was gone. Echo felt the entirety of her body flush in fear as energy, ten times more potent that that of Omens, clouded the air. The skies above them darkened, boiling and swirling and crackling with lightning as the very elements reacted to this evil power. Her throat closed up as, through the fire, a ragged, red cloak emerged, decayed with time and riddled with moth-eaten holes-
You.
It's you.
"Mumm-Ra." Her voice was snatched by the winds, and it felt like her throat was made of sandpaper.
Echo stared, lost in a mix of awe and fear. This man - this creature, she'd read about his legendary battles. The ThunderCats had waged war with this evil monstrosity, and he'd shaken the very foundations of Third Earth before. And she'd dreamed abut him. She'd been so, so stupid not to put together the whole puzzle before. But now he was here, in Thundera, and he was the epicenter for all the souls lost that day. . .
"Clerics!" Jaga's voice sliced over the winds clearly, "To the death!"
No! No no no!
"Sunda!"
Echo nearly fell off the root as she desperately turned to catch sight of the clerics. She saw them leaping into the air, taking off the peaks of the half-destroyed arena. She scanned frantically, looking for a spotted leopard - and she spotted his half-bloody cape, pristine white stained with murky brown. Echo reached out, hoping he'd see her, prayed he'd hear her voice, but her screams were snatched away. Above her, Mumm-Ra laughed.
"Pathetic fools. You are but insects to the power of Mumm-Ra! The Ever-Living!"
The air began to crackle and snap as Mumm-Ra gathered power to himself, and then, with a sharp cry, he loosed it.
The sky turned violet as the energy sped outward, and Echo screamed again, watching helplessly as the clerics were absorbed by the blast.
And they just. . . fizzled away. Disintegrated into dust. A few tattered remains of cloaks floated down from the sky, and Echo watched as Sunda. . . Sunda. . .
Tears coursed down her cheeks. Her throat felt tight, like it had swelled shut. She just sat there, feeling numb and consumed at the same time. Lizards began to pour into the arena, metal armor and weapons making a loud din as they surrounded Lion-O and Tygra.
I never got to apologize to you. You were there for me, every step of the way. And I never got to thank you for that.
She couldn't move. Everything had. . . it had all gone wrong.
Everything she'd loved had been stripped from her at the hands of this monster. She stared ahead of her, and found her eyes drawn to the dulled edges of Omens. Echo just looked at the blade, and maybe it was her imagination, or some hallucination from the spell of grief woven so tightly over her but. . .
But for a moment, she swore she saw the Eye of Thundera flash.
"Thundera has fallen!" Mumm-Ra declared, voice booming.
A victorious roar filled the air, and the lizards below her pumped their fists and weapons, proudly celebrating their victory.
No.
I can't let it end like this.
She got to her feet, her grief transforming into power. Sunda had told her to fight. So she was going to show that decayed bag of bones just how painful she could make a sword feel.
She reached out, grasping the hilt of Omens. In her hold, she felt the sword pulse. It was the first time she'd ever dared laid hands on the weapon, and Echo could understand why. As soon as she'd touched the hilt, power fizzled through her, setting her blood to a boil and making her muscles tremble. Omens seemed to reach out to her, spurring her onward, encouraging her to achieve the impossible.
In a heartbeat, her grief and numbness turned to a dark place.
In her mind's eye, she could see everyone Mumm-Ra had murdered. The kittens that had narrowly escaped death. The countless cats that had sought refuge. And Sunda, her beloved friend. . .
That darkness gave her the energy to hop up the last few roots and come face to face with the demon himself.
"Echo! Echo, no! Don't do it!" Lion-O was yelling to her from down below, but she ignored him.
Mumm-Ra turned to face her, and when she made eye contact, she found that darkness inside her growing.
"I'll kill you," She said, calmly, beginning to walk forward. The tip of Omens dragged on the ground beside her, rasping against the roots, "I'll slice your body into a thousand pieces. I'll make you bleed."
"Oh?" Mumm-Ra's lips split into a grin, but it looked like a giant, gaping wound on his face, "And what makes you believe you have the power to stand against me, child?"
Echo grit her teeth. The sound of his voice - she loathed it. Tears were still falling, but she could hardly feel them sliding down her cheeks.
"I hate you!"
She ran forward, using both her hands to prep Omens for the swing. It was a heavy sword, so much heavier than what she was used to, but rage and adrenaline gave her the strength to swing it. Another smile split his face, and he spread his hands, purple energy forming. He threw his hands forward, and a purple blast crackled towards her.
Instinctively, she brought Omens round, and the Eye of Thundera glowed, humming. The blade vibrated in her hands as Mumm-Ra's energy smacked right into it. The power threatened to send her sprawling, but Echo dug her heels in and shoved. Omens almost flew out of her grip as she managed to parry the blast away, and she ran forward again, every step taking her closer and closer to Mumm-Ra.
He looked surprised.
But Echo wasn't fast enough.
She saw a flash of white, and then bandages shot out and wrapped around her, stopping her moments before she'd been able to swing the sword at him again.
"What an interesting quandary you are. . . but your anger blinds you! You wield War as though it were nothing more than a toy, child!"
"I'll kill you," Echo hissed, "I swear I will!"
Mumm-Ra looked at her, a smirk on his paper-dry lips.
"I believe I have use for you yet."
Purple electricity raced up the bandages holding her, and Echo's eyes widened, just for a moment, but then pain cascaded into her.
She wasn't ashamed to say that she screamed. She dropped Omens as her muscles spasmed, refusing to obey her orders, and still, the agony grew, becoming a horrible crescendo - until it stopped.
She fell. She collapsed, blackness swirling around her as her mind shut down, seeking refuge from the events of that day.
As unconsciousness claimed her, Echo thought she could hear Lion-O calling her name.
"You must not give into your sorrow, child."
Echo tried to contain herself. She bit down on the inside of her cheek until it started to bleed, fresh tears forming in her eyes. She tried to deny Mumm-Ra the satisfaction he craved. . . but that only made her punishment so much worse.
Please. . . she wanted to beg, please, stop. It hurts. It hurts too much!
"If you simply told me what I wanted to know, child, you could spare yourself this agony."
The bandages wrapped around her wrists kept pulling as she remained silent.
Her breaths came in short, tiny little pants through clenched teeth as she fought against him, trying to extricate herself from his hold. In response, the bandages tightened again. As the moments ticked by, Echo heard Mumm-Ra sigh.
The bandages pulled tight, and her left arm broke with a loud snap.
She couldn't bite back the scream. She writhed, fighting to break free, screaming out in pain - but it was cut short as another roll of bandage wound tightly over her mouth and pressed down. Echo just barely managed to crack her eyes open and stare down at the red demon.
"Remember all we have taught you."
Mumm-Ra sat on the throne of the now-dead king, and as he looked up at her in turn, he let out a thoughtful 'hm.'
"Your screams are staring to bore me. . . extracting information from you is far less pleasing than what I thought it would be."
Tears kept coursing over her cheeks, but she hardly felt them. Inside, she felt numb and hollow - she couldn't cry from her own emotions anymore.
"Death is not the end; it is merely the beginning. There is another life. His transition was painless."
She felt herself moving through the air, and Echo didn't resist.
"Do not give into your rage, child. Live, for his sake. Honor his memory."
"And yet," Mumm-Ra continued, "You could actively tap into War's power. How is this, child? How is a human capable of such a feat?"
I don't know, she thought, I honestly don't know.
After the arena, she'd been brought into the throne room to be interrogated with Jaga and a remaining cleric. Grune stood just to the side of the throne, arms crossed over his chest as he stared, disinterested, in what was occurring before him. When she'd come to, Jaga had whispered a short, brief counsel with her - right before Mumm-Ra had noticed and dragged her in the middle of the throne room.
She didn't know how long he'd been torturing her for information, her notion of time had disappeared entirely. His version of "questioning" involved shocking her, asking her questions, and then shocking her more. When she'd refused to answer, he'd broken her arm.
The bandages around her tightened, and Echo's entire body went rigid as she expected him to break another bone. Instead, they loosened. He'd wanted her undivided attention. She was hovering directly before the cloaked terror himself, and those glowing eyes examined her critically.
"What an interesting pet you are - yet, I grow tired of your silence. Have you lost that fighting spirit? You had such an admirable way about you when you lifted that blade against me. . . tell me, child. Did you like the power it gave you? The sorrow - the hate! Such a potent flavor is contains, doesn't it?"
The bandage gag fell away.
He wanted an answer.
"No." She managed, voice thick.
As powerful as it had been to seize that darkness - as satisfying, she was never going to do it again. Sunda. . . Sunda wouldn't have wanted that.
Mumm-Ra chuckled. "Ah, you lie, human. I do not appreciate lies."
His purple aura billowed around him, and Echo glared.
"Go to h-hell." She hissed.
The demon grinned, taking that as an invitation. Echo tensed, feeling her heart quicken painfully in her chest - but, quite surprisingly, her rescue came in the form of Grune.
"It would be wise to stop, my Lord. The cleric's pet is reaching the end of her endurance. You would not want to break her just yet."
The energy fizzled out, and with little grace, the bandages unwound and deposited her roughly on the floor.
"This is true. Bring me Jaga."
Two lizards latched onto her and dragged her away - and Echo let them. She was exhausted, every muscle in her body felt sore, and her left arm had been broken. She couldn't have fought, even if she wanted to. Her swords had been stripped from her back, and she could see them, sitting by Mumm-Ra's throne. Just looking at them made her remember Sunda's fingers tightening the straps over her shoulders.
She'd promised him. Her heart lurched in her chest, and Echo forced herself to focus her thoughts elsewhere. Anywhere but the memory of her dear friend.
Two lizards unchained the head cleric and dragged him forward. One of them shoved his face onto the floor.
"These two are all that remain of the fabled Guardians of the Crown." One hissed, taking the time to painfully dig his heel into Jaga's back as he walked over him. The ancient Cat hardly seemed to notice.
"So," Mumm-Ra said, settling back on the throne, "You are Jaga. Legendary sorcerer to the dead king. Such a shame Claudus could not join us today, but I fear he is. . . otherwise occupied."
"And you are even more grotesque than the stories suggested."
One of the lizards lifted his gun (as she'd learned they were called), preparing to smack the butt of it down, but Mumm-Ra held up a hand, stopping the violence.
"I admire a fighting spirit. It is so much more fun when they fight. Tell me, Jaga. Did your stories neglect to inform you that the stone in that sword is mine?"
It is?
It felt like a haze had descended over Echo. Everything felt fuzzy, and hard to understand. Beside her, her arm felt like hot pokers were digging into her bone.
Mumm-Ra turned to Omens and began to reach for it, a possessive gleam entering his eyes, but the Eye of Thundera came to life and repelled him, harsh red lightning singing his hand. Mumm-Ra bit out a cry as he hastily snatched his hand away, and then he glowered, anger darkening the rotting lines of his face.
"I want it back." He seethed, his fury becoming darker with every passing second.
On the ground, Jaga grinned. Echo marveled at how, in spite of everything that had happened, he could still smile in the face of this monster.
"I'm afraid an ancient spell prevents the sword from being touched by the hands of evil."
"That is why you're going to remove the spell!" Mumm-Ra snapped. Like snakes, his bandages began to react, lifting off the floor and curling dangerously in the air around him.
"Never."
Jaga's voice held a silent oath in it, and Echo knew he meant it. Even if it killed him, he would never let Mumm-Ra hve his way. The wrappings raced forward, snapping around Jaga's withered form and lifting him up into the air. Echo closed her eyes, and tried to do her best to block out his cries. She knew what he was feeling. That pain.
It was hard. So much harder than she expected. Mumm-Ra laughed as Jaga writhed in the air, body wracked with agony.
She thought she couldn't cry anymore.
She was wrong.
Will this nightmare ever end? Where can I escape this pain.
Somebody. . . somebody please save me.
Echo's eyes snapped open as she heard the report of a gun, and her heart jumped into her throat, fearing the worst. The bandages holding Jaga had been sliced neatly through. The cleric was freed a moment later, lasers breaking the chains that bound her to her pillar. In a heartbeat, war erupted in the room, and Echo sat there, feeling completely dumbfounded as a fight broke out. She jumped when clawed hands rested over her wrists.
"Are you okay, Echo?" A voice asked her.
Who?
She craned her neck back, and was greeted by the worried visage of Tygra. Relief flowed through her, and she smiled.
"N-No. N-Not okay."
"What's wrong? Are you - whiskers. Your arm. Alright, c'mon. Lean on me."
He helped her get to her feet, and Tygra wrapped his arm around her waist, acting as her support, something she was grateful for. Echo didn't think she could walk very far on her own.
Mumm-Ra let loose a deadly, blood-curdling snarl, and Echo's head snapped back to the throne.
Lion-O knelt on the floor, a shortened Omens in his hands. Another wave of relief washed through her - they were alive. Tygra and Lion-O were alive. She'd feared the worst had happened to them.
"You took my father's life," Lion-O declared, "But you'll never take his sword!"
He came to his feet, blue eyes glowing as he swung Omens.
"Thunder."
Omens extended, metal rasping as it grew.
"Thunder!"
Blue energy crackled around the blade. Power thrummed in the air once more.
"Thunder!"
The hilt of the sword curled around the Eye of Thundera, and Echo watched as Mumm-Ra spread his arms, preparing to unleash a barrage of his own.
Lion-O beat him to it.
"ThunderCats! HO!"
The Eye of Thundera came to life, and red energy shot out of it, slamming into Mumm-Ra with a power she'd never witnessed before. Even the lizards in the throne room ground to a halt to stare at the display. Mumm-Ra's cloaked body disappeared as the Eye blasted him through a wall and into the outer courtyard surrounding the palace.
"Don't just stand there, you idiots! Return fire!" Grune barked, ducking through the hole to follow Mumm-Ra.
The lizards opened fire, and Echo flinched as a bolt nearly hit her leg. Tygra walked her forward, and Echo desperately wished for her swords. The cleric tossed off her uniform, using it as a cover to attack a lizard, and Echo blinked in shock.
"Cheetara?" Tygra asked, sounding speechless.
"She's a cleric?" Lion-O continued.
You didn't know? Echo thought, looking between the two of them. Seriously. It wasn't that obvious?
"Let's go!" Cheetara ordered, and not a moment too soon. Laser fire peppered them, and Echo moved with Tygra. She tried to walk on her own, but found she had to rely heavily on the tiger for support. Every movement sent a nasty lance of pain through her newly-broken arm, making black spots dance across her vision.
She was barely aware of the movement around her, but had the hazy notion that somebody scooped up the weaponry by the base of the throne, and Jaga was also being carried. Jaga pulled at a torch on the wall, and the rock slid away, revealing a hidden passageway.
Tygra was quick to pull them both inside, and they stood in the darkened passageway as Cheetara, Lion-O, and Jaga entered behind them. We can't leave Jaga behind, she thought blearily, we've lost too many people already-
The door slid shut, but Jaga jerked, eyes widening in pain as a laser struck his back. Echo felt her blood run cold as Jaga collapsed to his knees, pitching forward. She tried to wrench herself from Tygra's grasp, but he held firm, keeping her still. Cheetara slid neatly into place beside her mentor, catching him before he could hit the ground.
Tygra pulled her back into a walk, and worry nagged at Echo as she kept twisting to look behind her, ensuring that Jaga and Cheetara were still present.
The passageway around them shook and crumbled as the lizards did their best to break through the wall on the other side, and Echo knew it wouldn't be long. The stone wouldn't hold out against their assault forever. Her muscles burned, and she knew she was going to give out soon - the only thing keeping her upon her feet was adrenaline.
As they came upon a pool with a thin stone bridge, Echo heard Jaga give a loud sigh.
"Before we go further," He wheezed, "There is something that must be done."
"It can wait!" Cheetara cut over him.
"No! It must be now!"
"Jaga, we'll get to safety-"
The old cat shook off her hold with surprising strength, but it quickly dissipated. He fell to his knees on the floor, and Cheetara followed him down, but he warded off her hands as she tried to aid him. Determination and urgency radiated off him. He held out his hand for the gauntlet, and Lion-O obeyed wordlessly, passing it over.
"Your left arm," He said, gently - as if they had all the time in the world. Lion-O stretched out his arm, and Jaga slid the piece of armor over it. For a moment, nothing happened - but then it molded to fit the lion's arm. He wriggled his claws, looking surprised. Jaga closed his eyes, one hand tightly holding onto his staff.
"For the Eye of Thundera, and the Sword of Omens." A few more words left him, sounding like a mix between a prayer and a spell, and he touched his staff to the gauntlet. It glowed in response, "Now, Lion-O, Lord of the ThunderCats. Go."
"What?" Echo asked, speechless.
You want us to leave you?
"You're coming with us!" Cheetara protested, pain glimmering in her eyes.
"I will only slow you down," Jaga said softly, using his staff to help him to his feet, "At least this way I can buy you time to get to safety. . . the Book of Omens," He commanded, placing a hand against Lion-O's breastplate and giving a weak push, "Lies at the foot of the setting sun. You must find it before Mumm-Ra does!"
Tears began to streak down her cheeks once more, and inwardly, Echo laughed at her weakness. All she'd done since this began was cry.
Lion-O seemed to be with her in the pity-party.
"I can't do this alone!" he cried. Echo could see it in his face - it was too much for him to bear, far too soon.
Around them, the cavern shivered, reminding them the lizards were close to breaking through the stone.
"You won't have to. You have everything you need, Lion-O. Whatever questions remain, the answers lie in the Book."
Echo finally managed to free herself from Tygra's grasp, and she swayed, one arm loosely holding her broken arm.
"Echo, we don't have time-"
"Then make it," She said briskly, "Just. . . get Lion-O out of here. Cheetara'll help me."
Tygra hesitated, but nodded. He grabbed Lion-O's hand, giving Jaga a pained look before he dragged his brother further down the passage.
Echo shuffled in front of Jaga, a broken smile on her face.
"Jaga, we both know you can make it. Stop it, please. We've all lost too much. We. . . I need you. Why are you doing this to us?"
Echo knew they didn't have time.
But she stood there and cried, overwhelmed by her pain. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair.
Jaga didn't offer her comfort. He didn't hold her or touch her or pat her on the shoulder like he normally did.
"You must go, child," he said, tone soft. Slow. Gentle. "Your destiny is bound to Lion-O's. Whatever answers you seek, you will find. Your path is a hard one, but you must take it."
Before she could speak again, Cheetara grabbed her good arm and started pulling, dragging her away, looking visibly pained. Echo fought against her, staring at the resigned expression Jaga wore.
"Jaga!"
With a crack, the door gave way, and lizards began to pour in, catching up to them in a heartbeat. Grune's laser crackled, and Echo nearly tripped and fell as the caver collapsed, blocking them off. Cheetara yanked her, spinning her around before hse could see more, and continued dragging her, forcing her to run down the passage. Lion-O and Tygra waited just a distance up ahead, and when they were reunited, they ran.
It was pitch black.
Renewed grief swamped through her as they sprinted through the passage.
"Don't cry," Cheetara told her, "He wouldn't want you to cry."
It helped stem her tears, but only because she noticed that Cheetara seemed on the verge of crying herself. And eventually, knowing that somebody else was suffering alongside her, it did help to stop Echo's tears. A stitch developed in her side as they continued their winding path, up, up, up, until finally they came to a doorway, bright sunlight greeting them.
They emerged on a cliff side overlooking the razed Thundera. Echo stood there, feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin and face. . . but it felt like she'd never be warm again. As she looked out on Thundera, smoking, ruined, and dead, she realized war. . . war wasn't beautiful, glorious, or awe-inspiring.
War was senseless death, pain, and blood.
War was suffering and never-ending tears as your heart was violently torn from your chest and ripped into a thousand bloody red pieces.
She hardly noticed when Cheetara made a makeshift sling for her arm and slipped it over her head. Nor did she notice when the cleric murmured a few short words and the pain from her broken arm subsided.
After a long while, Echo focused on her friend, who stood just a slight ways away from her. She could see rage and fury glimmering just under the surface of his eyes, waiting to be unleashed.
"We're all alone now. . . everyone's gone." He murmured.
"No," Tygra said, "You're not alone. I'll always be there."
He laid a hand over Lion-O's gauntlet, and a moment later, Cheetara placed hers over theirs as well.
"I am the last of the Guardians of the Crown. I swear I will protect you."
It was a move of solidarity and unity. In the face of all of the rampant chaos, the trio had found something to latch onto - a pact. Before she knew what she was doing, Echo moved to the three and placed her hand on top of the pile. Cheetara blinked at her in shock.
"I'm not a Cat," She said, quietly, "But you're the only friends. . . the only race. . . I have. I'll stay with you. Until the very end."
Echo thought she saw a hint of a smile come to life on Lion-O's face, but it was gone too quickly for her to tell for sure. Grief claimed him again as he lifted his eyes and peered at his ruined home.
"This is just the beginning."
As they stood there, over the ruins of the once-beautiful Thundera, Echo couldn't tell if it was just an observation. . .
Or a dangerous promise.