11

The man shaped sarcophagus' lid echoed in the empty chamber as it slid open. A low rumble of irritation came from within. This was beginning to anger the demon priest. For days now, he'd felt as if there were something going on around Third Earth that he should be aware of...and yet his cauldron showed him nothing. For a brief moment he thought he knew how Lion-O felt when his thrice-damned sword growled at him but didn't show him anything. "Nothing!" he cried in frustration. He kicked the side of the pool lightly. "Why? My senses have never failed me before, why do you refuse to show me what is happening?"

Mumm-Ra turned to the four figures that hovered above the rank-smelling pool. "What is happening, great ones?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. He got none. Looking back down, he shook his bandaged head. The next time, if he was strong enough, he would transform, and see just what was going on.

With a whisper of ancient cloth dragging along the stone floor, he returned to his rest.

***

Wilykat was, in fact, restricted to the Lair. All of the ThunderCats had, at one point, tried to talk with him, but he'd walked away with his hands over his ears. Once when Panthro tried, Wilykat had kicked him, right in the shin. Panthro hadn't tried again. He didn't want to hurt the kid.

Well, actually he did. That was why he did not try again.

Life went on as usual, though. The Mutants were being a pain, and even there remaining three Berzerker types had tried to get their revenge once they learned what had happened to their crew member. Ram Bam had been taken and set up on a funeral pyre in the rocky regions near Dark Side, the mysterious forbidden territory.

The heroes of Third Earth drove them back each time, but it was as a robot performs its programmed duty. They did it because they had to and to protect the friends they had on Third Earth. No one enjoyed battle, and some often did. They were too concerned with their own crew member, and his increasing darkness.

I don't understand it," Cheetara mused, shaking her head. "I feel...I feel some thing that I should not feel from any child. I feel a deep...dark. That's the only way I can describe it."

Tygra frowned. He and Cheetara were talking it over between themselves. "Why do you think...I mean we don't treat him that badly, do we?"

Wilykit heard this snatch of conversation as she walked past. Even she had been avoiding her brother, even going so far as to sleep in a hammock in the gym. She did not know it, but that added fuel to the fire, as Wilykat just saw that as more proof that his friends hated him. Wilykit unabashedly pressed her ear quietly against the door.

Cheetara sighed. "No, Tygra. Of course not. But somehow our concern for them, you know because they are children, somehow his mind has twisted it, making him think it far worse. I-I feel it's not even his fault. Somehow his psyche is intensifying everything we say that could be negative, and filtering out anything good about it."

"So you're saying his mind is turning on him?"

"I feel that's what happened." Cheetara sounded weary.

There was nothing for a while, then as Wilykit was about to leave, Tygra said, "What do we do about it?"

"I don't know, Tygra. I just don't know."

Then, Wilykit did leave, as she did not want to be caught, but she was thinking furiously. She and Wilykat felt the same things. Almost always. She knew that Wilykat had had enough of her teasing, and let her know in no uncertain terms. She's thought that out of character. Not now. THIS was out of character. That had been only a bad mood.

Was she the reason? She loved him more than anything or anyone else that existed. He was her only family, a brother, and more than that, a twin. They were born at the same time. Neither had ever lived a life before the other. They knew what the other was thinking, and for the most part how the other felt. She could have recited exactly what Wilykat would do in a battle, and he could do the same for her. So he should have known, even if he hadn't liked it, she didn't mean half the things she said. He had to know that, didn't he?

DIDN'T HE?! Wilykit kicked the wall in frustration, as hard as he could, then let a muffled cry as it hurt her foot. Her soft boots had not cushioned the blow any. Rubbing her foot and sitting down, she thought. And thought. And thought. Ever since that damned battle with Mumm-Ra! Maybe he did something to him! But she couldn't go alone, and she couldn't tell the others...

Sighing in helpless frustration, she stood and went outside to brood.

***

"Dang blast it!"

Lion-O entered the control room in time to witness Panthro bringing his fist down on the control panel. He raised a brow. "What's wrong Panthro?" he asked.

Panthro turned around, a completely disgusted look on his face. "This miserable, blasted console! The damned sensors aren't working, and when I tried to get a reading on low on Thundrillium we were, it informed me that the temperature outside was 80 degrees!"

Lion-O tried to stifle a laugh. "And you thought that perhaps striking it would shape it up, huh?" Panthro gave him a look. It was one that said, "Don't start with me." But Lion-O saw a surpressed smile in there. "All right, what is it this time?"

Panthro shook his head. "I just don't know, Lion-O. Every time I fix it, something else, something more serious goes wrong. I also can't open the hangar paws, and my computer game that I was halfway through got erased!"

Lion-O sighed. "This is the third time this week that something's gone wrong, Panthro. I want to know what in the namw of Jaga is happening! I trust your mechanics and Tygra's electronics more than anyone's. And I don't believe that it's just random system failure, either."

Panthro sighed. "Well here's another thing I have to fix."

"Need any help?"

"No, I can do it. It's just time consuming." With that, Panthro worked himself under the console and began to work.

He should have left it alone, Wilykat thought. He always had to fix everything, didn't he? What a jerk.

The boy turned from where he's been peeking in the door, and clenched his fists.

A week later is when the fight started. Cheetara ran into the room where she saw at first only a moving ball, rolling around the council room, a whir of claws and flashes of bright orange manes, and glimpses of brown and blue tunics. At first, she thought that they were wrestling, and almost felt relief, but then the cheetah only stared. This was no friendly tussle, this was an out and out fight. She'd never seen the Thunderkittens fight, not this seriously. "Hey! You two stop it!" She was not even heard.

With a sigh of frustration, she growled herself and shot two lightning fast hands into the fray, grabbing the collars of the twins' tunics, and wresting them away from each other. "Hey! What's the matter with you two! Fighting in the middle of Cats' Lair like a couple of--" She yelped, as Wilykat looked at her with eyes that blazed with hatred, and raked his claws across her side.

Cheetara let go of his clothing by reflex, and the boy ran from the room. The cheetah looked after him, shocked. Wilykit looked after him, even more shocked. Timid Wilykat, attacking one of the adults? She'd never thought she'd see the day.

They only stood there a little while, Cheetara still holding Wilykit's tunic, as the door shut after the retreating Thunderkitten. Then Wilykit started to cry.

Wilykit never cried. Never. At least not where anyone but her brother could see. Now she cried, and Cheetara drew her into an embrace. "We'll get help for him," she vowed in a low tone. "I promise. As soon as we can find someone who knows what happening to him."

The next day, Wilykat watched them all leave. He didn't know what had happened, some alarm or another. Not the Mutants, or those miserable pirates this time, there was some kind of new menace in the direction of the Bolkins and the Warrior Maidens. He watched them leave.

Wilykat sat on the bed, looking at the floor. He glanced at his sister's bed, neatly made, and growled. She always had to be the better twin, didn't she? She was so noble, and honorable. She was always so brave. She was the dominant of the pair. She was the one that always got them into trouble, then got mad at him. It was HER fault! All hers!!

With a sigh, Wilykat stood and wandered into the control room. His head always felt like there was something inside it. Something soft and expandable, sponge fog, maybe, in his head, and it kept getting bigger and bigger until it sent him off balance, and filled up every crevice i n his mind so he couldn't think...

"AHHH!" he yelled in frustration, putting his hands to his head. That visualization had made it worse.

His eyes sunken in deep pits from lack of sleep, his tunic hanging a little, as he had not eaten well in a few weeks, Wilykat wandered into the control room in almost a daze, and looked around.

Snarf, the only one who had not left, wasn't in the control room, which was fine, and Wilykat looked over the console. Panthro's stupid game had been started, and he was already halfway through again. Wilykat could never get past the first level. His lip began to tremble. He wasn't any good at computer games. Even Wilykit was better. He couldn't fight. Everyone except maybe Snarf was better at it than him. He couldn't fly his spaceboard without falling at least once, he was no good at the laser guns; Wilykit had a better aim. nothing! He could do nothing! Everyone was better than he was! Everyone!

Wilykat wiped tears from his eyes, and kicked the console, hard. He didn't feel it. He seized the game chip that had Panthro's game on it, threw it to the floor and stepped on it. When that didn't work, since it was flat, he picked it up and snapped it, throwing the pieces to the floor again.

Just destroy the console

It had not been a voice. It hadn't been a thought even, only a vague idea. Had Wilykat been a little more aware, he would have wondered. It was an idea that occurred to him from his own mind, but it also occurred to him from outside his own mind. It didn't matter at this point. Wilykat looked around, then stormed from the room.

He came back with a piece of pipe from the storage closet in the hangar, and with a growl of anger and deep hurt, he brought it down on the console as hard as he could. Sparks flew, some landing to singe his tunic. He didn't care. WIth all his strength, Wilykat bludgeoned the computer terminal, which was only an extra small screen for tracking, and Panthro's stupid game console. He smashed it until there was nothing left that could possibly work. He stood, breathing hard, tears streaming unheeded down his cheeks.

Feels good. Feels good to destroy things

Again, the idea was there, and it was true. Wilykat felt only a small shred of hesitation, not wanting to break anything vital. But then he thought of the ThunderCats saying he was unpredictable and dishonorable. Just like his dream. He heard Wilykit saying she was ashamed of him. Just like...or was that the dream? He didn't know any more. He had the nightmares every night now, and real life only merged with the dream anymore...

Why did he care about them? They didn't care for him! They hated him! The kitten snarled.

Taking the pipe, he went to the main console, the one that controlled lights, the hangar paw doors, the weapons, the sensors, everything. With a scream Wilykat did not realize he uttered, he began to swing the pipe...

"Great Thundera!" Snarf came running in to find Wilykat wrecking the control room. Smoke filled the place, and Snarf coughed violently for a minute while his eyes strained to see through it. And there was Wilykat, smashing the consoles with a piece of pipe. "Mrrr, Wilykat, it's me, Snarf! Stop it! Stop!"

But Wilykat did not hear. And all of a sudden, the lights went out. The sparks flew, illuminating the scene in sporadic strobe flashes. "Oh, snarf, snarf...." Snarf ran to Panthro's room to grab his portable communicator.

Outside, the battle finally having been won, the weary ThunderCats returned...and they returned to a frantic Snarf hollering on the radio something about Wilykat.

"Damn it!" Panthro growled. The bridge was across, but the hangar doors wouldn't open. "Wilykat." He jumped from the tank and ran for the door. When it wouldn't open, he went through the door, getting a few nasty scrapes as he forces the doors open. The others followed.

They ran in near darkness, their feline vision the only thing keeping them from running into walls. Snarf met them at the door of the control room, from where sounds of destruction emanated. He pointed with a shaking hand, and Panthro had to force these doors open too. He was not happy.

The consoles were strong, but Wilykat had the strength of fury, and of hurt. He had reduced most of them to scrap metal, heedless of bits of metal that flew from them to strike his own body. His injuries from the battle with the pirates had all but healed, except for the missing teeth, but now he had new injuries that he didn't even feel. He was scraped up from his hands or his sides hitting a jagged piece of metal or glass in the dark, he panted and coughed from inhaling the smoke. Pieces of glass had flown up to hit his face, and he's stepped barefooted on more of the same. He had even accidentally hit his own leg with the pipe.

The ThunderCats all stared. "How could we have let it go this long?" Tygra whispered. He sighed. "We should have listened to them more."

Wilykit only stared, her mouth open.

But it was Panthro that finally did something. He darted forward and grabbed Wilykat by the arm, and just as fast had to duck away as he swung his weapon at him. Panthro caught it and wrenched it from his hands, throwing it across the room. He dragged Wilykat, fighting like one possessed, across the room, away from the smoke and the glass and metal. He dragged him into the hallway.

"We...we gotta get help for him," Wilykit whimpered. She was scared.

"We will, Wilykit," Lion-O vowed. "Wilykat...Wilykat, it's us, we're your friends, damn it! We're trying to help!"

"No you're not, you all hate me! Let me go you...asshole! Asshole!" he repeated it defiantly as he fought the panther.

Lion-O shook his head. "Tygra. Get a sedative." The tiger nodded and ran off, even as Wilykat broke from the panther, ripping his tunic, and ran down the hallway. Cheetara ran after him.

As the cheetah struggled to hold him still, murmuring quietly to him, trying to calm him, Tygra ran back with a hypodermic needle, and rushed to where Cheetara was trying to pin the kitten to the floor.

"Hey, what are you gonna to with that?" Wilykit said. She ran to him. "You can't do that, leave him alone! you can't DO that!"

Panthro grasped her arm. "He has to, Wilykit, look at him!"

"No! Stop it, he doesn't want you to!" She knew the reasoning, and she knew it was necessary, but she was in no condition to be reasonable. All she felt was indignation and fear. "It's not fair, it isn't!"

Panthro sighed and lifted her by the belt, getting an indignant squawk from her as Tygra grabbed Wilykat's arm and finally got the needle in. After a few moments, Wilykat stopped fighting. He wasn't unconscious, but almost.

Wilykit sniffed. "I'm sorry," she whispered, hanging from Panthro's grasp. "I-I know you had to...but--but..."

"We understand, Wilykit," Tygra said, standing up as Cheetara lifted the near-asleep Wilykat. "I know how you feel. You can put her down now, Panthro."

He did, and Wilykit ran and took her brother's hand. She would not have been able to any other way, he would have pushed her away.

"We'll get him tended again, then we are going to find out what the hell is going on," Lion-O said. "One way or another."

Wilykit gazed at Wilykat. He looked terrible. She found herself thinking of the conversation Tygra and Cheetara had had, and she thought of what she herself had wondered. The fight with Mumm-Ra...it had to have something to do with that. Whereas before she would not have been willing to tell the other for fear of getting into trouble...she thought that now she would. Any punishment they would mete out for them taking that dare would be nothing compared to...

The dare! The pyramid...the statue...

Wilykit's eyes narrowed. In a sudden burst of understanding, she suddenly knew. She broke the piece off, he carried it. That had been the deal. And just to prove he was brave, he'd decided to carry the little piece around...but then they had both forgotten about it. It was still in his pouch.

As she followed Cheetara and Tygra into the infirmary, she came to a decision. She'd go back. This was between her and Wilykat. No need to bring the other in it. On the morrow, before the sun was even up, she would go back.

Part Ten

Part Twelve

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