10

"Snarf! What happened?!" Tygra had been the first in the room. When the Lair had stopped firing, the ThunderCats feared the worst. As it was, they already thought something had happened, as Wilykit was crying hard, and Wilykat was gone.

Then Tygra saw the invader. "Great Jaga!"

Lion-O came into the room, followed by the others. Lion-O had taken a beating at the hands of the large Berzerker, and had suffered a set of minorly fractured ribs, but he was strong, and was dealing with it well enough. It wasn't the first time on Third Earth he'd cracked a few ribs. He frowned. "Yes, Snarf. What happened, are you all right, Wilykit? Where's Wilykat?"

As the others came in and stared, and Tygra knelt to confirm what Snarf had already found out about the Berzerker's condition, Snarf looked up. Not leaving Wilykit's side, he said, "No one's hurt, Lion-O.." He glanced to the dead pirate. "At least none of us. not badly. The twins took some hits, but Wilykat ran off, he..."

"He what, Snarf?" Tygra asked with a frown.

Snarf began to answer, but Wilykit looked up and did instead. Wiping her eyes, her words stammered and unsteady with her tears, she said, "W- Wilykat, he just, he took Panthro's broken nunchuks..." She pointed a shaky finger to the bloodied half of Panthro's weapon. "He was out of pellets, a- and...the Berzerker insulted him and he just attacked! He sounded like he was talking to someone else that wasn't here!" it had scared her badly, although she did not want to admit it, and Tygra closed his eyes and went to her. He picked the kitten up and held her.

A little embarrassed, but very glad of the comfort, Wilykit leaned against his chest and cried. She was a courageous child, but there is only so much a young warrior can deal with.

Lion-O looked grim, and Panthro's face bore a dark scowl. Cheetara looked unemotional, but that was only her natural defense against the vivid emotions, her mental abilities picking up so strongly on them. She was worried.

"All right," Lion-O said. "Let's get the injured taken care of. The other attackers retreated; Cheetara hit a lot of them and the other pirate things came to the conclusion that their shipmate deserted, so let's go get taken care of. Then we'll get this sorted out.

A couple hours and a few more bandages later, the ThunderCats all were gathered in the council room...all minus Wilykat. Wilykit, sporting a couple three fur-friendly bandages on scraped arms or legs, and a larger one on her face and head, sat sullenly, still sniffing a little bit and holding an ice pack to her head. Lion-O, only in his bottoms, his torso tightly wrapped thanks to Tygra's medical handiwork sat silent a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "I talked to Snarf, Wilykit, and got the whole story. You're not in any trouble, so don't worry about that, okay?" The kitten only nodded. Lion-O sighed. "Wilykat's not in his room, I checked while the rest of you were being tended. If he's not in the lower levels of the Lair we might have to go looking for him."

"Well I guess the first thing we do is search," Tygra said. "But then what?"

"Maybe we should find him first, then worry about that," Cheetara suggested. "What if he gets hurt?" She paused, then added reluctantly, "Or hurts someone else?"

Lion-O nodded. "Good idea. Actually, Panthro, you and Tygra got some internal scanners into this thing, didn't you?"

"Oh yeah...I just installed them a couple of weeks ago." The panther stood. "I'll see what we can find."

Wilykat was actually on the main level, in the gym. He was in the corner at the large punching bag, a bag that was bigger than he was, and nevertheless moved when he struck it. The young ThunderCat was striking the bag as hard as he could, over and over, ignoring the thin burn in his muscles as they told him to take a rest and he didn't. Ignoring the watery sensation in his knees that was telling him he was overexerting himself, he still he didn't stop. Ignoring the ache in his head from hitting himself with the broken half of Panthro's nunchucks, and only concentrating on his frustrated, furious assault on the bag...==

He ignored all these things because what he had heard in his mind as if it were shouted in his hear from his dreams hurt worse then his muscles. Knowing, or thinking he knew, that was what the others thought about him hurt more than his knees... Hearing the echo of his sister telling him she was ashamed to be his twin hurt more than his head.

But him striking her, that hurt worst of all. What made it so awful was that he knew who he was striking at. He had known it was she shaking his shoulder, and he had felt a flash of rage, and turned and struck. It hurt him so badly because he knew he'd meant it.

"He's about ready to drop," Tygra said softly. They had found Wilykat in

the gym, striking at the punching bag like a demon. "And he's hurt." Tygra started for the boy, who had not even noticed the others' arrival.

Lion-O held him back. "Hold on, Tygra. not while he's like this." He gestured to the others, and they approached, blocking Wilykat's way should he decide to run.

As Lion-O got closer, he could see that Wilykat's knuckles were bloodied, and wondered how long he'd been down there, punching with all his strength. Even he could tell he was at the end of his endurance, and thought he'd been down here a while. "Wilykat," he said quietly.

Wilykat growled, still not realizing the voice had come from behind him, still thinking he was fighting his own dreams and his own self doubts. "It's not my fault!" he screamed, an he hit the bag. The bag swung, knocking him to the floor. Normally it wouldn't have happened, but his tired body wouldn't hold him up. Still he managed to get up and attack the offending bag. "It isn't! It isn't!"

"Wilykat!" Lion-O said louder, and stepped forward to touch Wilykat on the shoulder. he now saw he'd been hurt also.

Wilykat spun, his sweat-damp mane falling in his eyes, panting hard enough to make Tygra a little concerned, and faced his friends. no, his former friends, real friends wouldn't say the things they said. They wouldn't tell him he was worthless. They wouldn't say he was no warrior. They woudln't say they were ashamed. "S-s-stay away from me!"

"Easy, Wilykat," Lion-O said. "We're just trying to help, and figure out what happened up there."

"No! It wasn't my fault!" Wilykat staggered against the wall like a cornered animal. "You don't want to help, you hate me! You always did!"

Wilykit pushed through the adults to look at her brother. "I don't hate you Wilykat! I don't! Why do you think I do?"

Wilykat didn't answer; he might have, but the battle, and this self- inflicted exhaustion caught up with him, and his knees unhinged. The young kitten fainted.

He awoke to find he ws in the infirmary, curled up under the covers on one of the beds. His hands had been bandaged, his knuckles, and his mouth felt funny. An exploration of hit teeth with his tongue told him that the two teeth that had been cracked when he'd hit himself had been removed. Luckily the twins still had their baby teeth. Salve had been applied to his bruises and scrapes.

He was nude, his belt, boots, and tunic lying over a chair on the other side of the room. He felt drained. Never in his life had he felt so completely tired. And he felt awful. He felt awful with all the feelings of hate and paranoia, and anger, but they were real. He had reason to feel like that damn it!

Wilykat took a few moments after sitting up to make the room stop spinning, and jumped from the bed on weak-feeling legs that felt like they might unhinge once more. But they did not, and he stumbled to the chair and got his clothing. He slipped his ripped tunic over his torso, then cinched his belt around his waist. Then the boots.

Moving slowly, Wilykat left the room, walking through the halls of the Lair. where normally he would have barreled through, probably chasing his sister, now he felt like a sneak thief, an intruder in someone else's home. He peered around corners to make sure no one was around before turning them. Wilykat was headed for his room, but he passed the council room on the way. He stopped and pressed an ear to the wall.

"He's become...he's become unpredictable," Tygra said. "I don't know what's wrong with him. Nothing physical is wrong, this seems to be a malaise of the mind."

What did that mean?! Unpredicatable...from his dream...and malaise? Did they think he was crazy?

"I know Tygra, but what can we do? I mean, he killed that pirate, and from what Snarf tells me, he was in no danger of being killed when he did it."

Wilykit sniffed. "And he did it on purpose, too."

Lion-O sighed. "He's broken our laws. If we can't find a good reason..."

Cheetara broke in. "But he's only a kitten, Lion-O."

"I know. That's another consideration."

"He killed, Lion-O!" Panthro said. "And he's been fighting us, yelling at us for weeks! What he did was dishonorable!"

Dishonorable...

"I know, I know that Panthro!" Lion-O nearly roared. "You think I don't know? I don't like this, all right?" Then he calmed down. "Look, when he wakes I'll talk to him.

Tygra said something else, but Wilykat did not hear. He felt numb. He was right, they didn't want to help!

He/'d leave. They didn't want him here so he'd leave, but...not now. He couldn't now.

Still weary, he stumbled back to the med room and climbed into then bed.

Closing his eyes, he once again slept.

And dreamt.

"He's been up," Tygra's voice said. "He's clothed." "Yeah..." Lion-O sighed, and gently shook the kitten's shoulder. "Wilykat, you have to wake up."

As Wilykit watched anxiously, and the others hovered back a little distance, Wilykat sat bolt upright, grateful for the interruption. He's been about to strike his sister down for the second and final time, and by this point in the horrible nightmares, the accusatory voices of the ThunderCats were at an unbearable shriek, and he felt no remorse when he landed the final blow...

But when he saw who had awakened him, he growled, and jumped from the bed, backing towards the corner.

Panthro sighed. "I;ve had enough of this." He stalked over, grabbed the boy's shoulders, and forced him into a chair. "Stay put," he warned, and slowly let go.

Wilykat glared at the panther but still feared him. He knew how strong he was. He knew which one would be smeared all over the floor in a serious fight. He sat.

"Wilykat," Lion-O began. He also sat in a chair. "Snarf told me what happened up there. Do you realize that you killed that pirate?"

"So?" Wilykat said defensively. "He deserved it! He's just like the rest of you, you all think I'm clumsy and stupid, and he deserved it!"

Tygra started to say something, but Lion-O, perhaps unwisely, stopped him. "So then you did it purposefully?"

"I-I...I did! He deserved it, it was his fault, he was gonna kill us!"

"But you were in no immediate danger."

"I don't care," Wilykat growled. "He's dead, a-and...and I'm glad!"

Lion-O closed his eyes, sighed, and stood. In a low tone that indicated part anger and part remorse, he said, "Wilykat don't know what's going on, or why you say we hate you. But until this is over with you are confined to Cats' Lair, and you will have a full physical examination by Tygra in the next few days."

Wilykat also stood in indignation, anger flashing across his face. "You can't mak--"

"Quiet," Lion-O said, still in that low tone, but with an intensity that stilled whatever the young ThunderCat had been about to say. "And until we figure out what's wrong...I am going to have to ask for your insignia." At the boy's horrified face, he shook his head. "You killed, and unnecessarily, Wilykat. You sat there and struck that pirate until he was dead. That goes against everything our code stands for."

Although Lion-O spoke softly, even sadly, Wilykat nevertheless heard the accusation. He heard wrong, but to his mind, it was plain as day, and tears of humiliation and hurt rolled down his face. He didn't notice them. "Fine!! Just get rid of me! you don't need me anyway!" The boy detached the thin disk from his belt and threw it at Lion-O, then stalked from the room.

Wilykit began to go after him, but Lion-O stopped her. "No, Wilykit," he said in a tired voice. "Let him be. He needs to be alone."

Wilykat had gone back to their quarters and threw himself on the bed to cry. He didn't care if anyone saw him, they already thought him weak and a coward, no need to be macho about tears. He didn't care, he'd already lost everything. His sister hated him, the others thought he was a killer. The worst thing was he was a killer, and he knew it.

But he wasn't weak! That proved it! That pirate had been twice his size and he'd defeated him. Alone. Without any help. He wasn't weak, he wasn't...

So much confusion. So much resentment and hurt and fear and anger. He wasn't someone who thought very deeply on these things, as what child did? But now he thought of them... Dishonorable? Who were they to judge him? Worthless? He'd just rid Third Earth of a slime! Weak? He'd done it on his own, and injured too!

Good. These are the right feelings. And the ThunderCats responded well.

It was there again, with its ideas that were not thoughts or words, only ideas. Feelings.

And they have no idea.

Part Nine

Part Eleven

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