Chapter Seven

Nary a word was said when Tyber walked back into Pride Rock. Nala never made a sound when he and Vitani walked into the foyer, where he immediately went into Vitani's domicile, pausing only to collect the weapons he'd dropped. As Simba wearily went into Kion's domicile, Vitani guided Tyber to her bed, letting him lay down to sleep. She laid down next to him, and like the other night, she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her body to his and her nose against his neck. She even put a tender kiss there. Not a word was said. This incident had been a close one, and she nearly lost Tyber. But, though Vitani loathed to admit it, she had the name of Tyber's assailant and now, because of Simba and Kion's foray into Tyber's memory, a face to go with the name – now all they needed was who he was to Tyber and the motive of the crime.

Vitani traced a finger along some of the scars on his chest. How cruel fate had been to him, she thought. From what Simba told her of what he saw in his memories as they walked out to find him, his own family treated him like a slave. But, she imagined, they weren't always like that. If they were, perhaps Tyber would not feel so sad they'd been murdered. No, he still felt for them, loved them as family, even if they no longer viewed him as such. Then Jeff came along, and took everything from him. His home, his family, and it would have been his life had Tyber's temporal friend not transported him to the Pridelands where Vitani found him. Arguably cruel that he be forced to endure all that. Just what did he possibly have to gain from it? But she already knew the answer: He gained her. She understood how he felt, what it meant. She was the one most ardent over helping him overcome this darkness. She was the one who cared about him the most, who was most hurt when he nearly left them. Sure, Kovu understood him, as well, but Vitani had an advantage Kovu didn't – Vitani was a woman, something Kovu could never be. Vitani couldn't help feel warm, seeing Tyber sleep the way he was. She frowned slightly, having another thought come to her. On a hunch, she released him from her grasp and slid away from him to some degree. He showed no change, but just as Vitani thought there wouldn't be one, he twitched. Then again, and again, and the muttering started, though Vitani couldn't tell what he was saying. So she slid back behind him, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her body to his. Almost immediately, he began to settle down, until the twitching stopped and he fell silent. There it was – proof. Of what he had said, of what she had suspected – she had a powerful influence on him. Her very touch was soothing to him. It was a surprising discovery, but a welcome one. She smiled at how she had such a positive effect on him. Perhaps, in time, she could eliminate his nightmares. Perhaps she could open his heart, open him up to...

Vitani stopped herself cold. Was she seriously thinking that? She only knew him for a matter of weeks – a month, tops! But then... would it really be so bad...? She found she enjoyed the thought. Her and him... it seemed like a wonderful thought. She'd never had a boyfriend before. One would think that being a princess of the royal family through her brother would afford her her choice of mates... but like Tyber, others were often intimidated by Vitani. She chuckled mentally at the thought; she had more in common with him than she initially thought. Between thinking about how much the two of them had in common and her thoughts about the two of them in any sort of committed relationship... it was all she could think about, she found as she drifted off to sleep.

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The morning after the incident went on as usual, but everyone gave Tyber and Vitani a wide berth. They'd both been through a lot last night. Tyber and Vitani silently grabbed their breakfast, Tyber pausing to get his morning coffee, and they sat down at the table wordlessly. Even though Simba could tell Tyber had something he wanted to get off his chest, Simba outright refused to push. After last night, he felt it would have seemed wrong. But, as they all dug in, Tyber just stared at his food, and after he sipped his coffee, made it clear that Simba didn't need to push:

"He was my ex-stepfather."

Simba had been sipping on his own morning tea when Tyber spoke. He lowered the mug and asked, "Who?"

Tyber looked up at Simba. "But you know who. You, Rafiki and Kion saw him just as I did. The man holding the detonator that ended my family's life." Simba frowned slightly, coming to realize what Tyber was saying. But he didn't want another incident.

"Tyber, what are you doing?" he asked.

Tyber's eyes shifted to a grey color. "Lowering my guard," he replied. Simba looked to Kion, fully expecting him to press in, but to Simba's surprise, he didn't – instead, he just stared at Tyber, waiting for him to say something else. "My ex-stepfather was the one who murdered my family, who tried to kill me."

"But why?" Nala asked. "Why is he trying so hard to kill you?"

Tyber's hand balled into a fist, but he released it before Vitani could place her own over it. "Because it was no longer enough to keep me contained," Tyber said through clenched teeth, tears welling in his eyes and his eyes themselves shifting red, then blue, then back to grey again. As much as Simba didn't want to cause Tyber any more pain, he realized he wasn't forcing this out of him – this was Tyber's choice, and come hell or high water, he was gonna tell this story one last time. "I never thought it of the man, first time I laid eyes on him," Tyber continued. "Just thought he was another dad. For a time, he was. But then... he changed. They all did."

"What changed?" Kiara asked.

"He became cold, severe – he belittled mom, granddad, and my brothers for what he perceived as our flaws, from the smallest to the largest, and argued, sometimes violently, with us. I got the worst of it..." Tyber explained. He paused to sniffle, wiping a tear away. "The other kids I grew up with – at school, in the neighborhood... they were no different. Always hating and harassing me because I was different, as though that brands me a heretic or outcast. They all made it seem to me that my crime... was that I existed. So, you can understand, I became angry. Most of my childhood was spent in loneliness and despair. I wanted them to suffer... I hated them..."

"That's terrible," Kiara said, moving to Tyber's side, opposite of Vitani.

"And that's an understatement," Tyber said, his voice beginning to shake. "They hated me for being different. My ex-stepfather? He accentuated it, made it worse. He took advantage of my anger problems at the time, made me out to be what I'm not – and worse, he tricked me into believing it."

"So why was he trying to keep you contained?" Simba asked.

"Because he began to beat me, smack me around – while mom was away at her job, he'd torment me any chance he got, for his own sick amusement. I tried to tell the 'authorities', but they. Did. Nothing," Tyber all but hissed that last word. "But it was because I was fighting back that he began to spin lies about me, to use the laws of my own people to keep me contained to my mother, wherever she went – and then he staged an incident he would be caught in, to give him a reason to divorce her. But he never really left me alone after that – he continued to torment me, though her. She believed his lies about me being mentally-unstable, psychotic, even... and she did everything she could to preserve that image. Then she learned how she could make money off me in that state..."

"That's cruel," Kovu commented. "Even my own mother wasn't that senseless."

"When did the Force manifest in you?" Nala queried.

"Three years before the night everyone died," Tyber answered. "I don't know how or why it happened, nor why it took so long to do so... and I discovered it entirely by accident. But ever since, I've used it to... create things, with my mind. I just... think of it, of how it functions, and there it is, in my hands. I saw it as a way to possibly break free. So for three years, I worked tirelessly to gather what I needed to just walk out the door and never come back... but Jeff struck first."

"That still doesn't explain why he tried to kill you," Nala protested. "Why would he-" She stopped midsentence, comprehension dawning. "If you got loose with the memories you held of what he did to you... if others learned of it, if someone somehow found evidence of what he did to you..."

"... it would have destroyed him. His entire web of treachery and deceit would be completely undone, and he would be forced to answer for his crimes," Simba concluded solemnly.

"That's why you blame yourself for their deaths!" Nala surmised. Tyber nodded slowly.

"They died because I knew something he didn't want getting out," he said. "And now... I'm more dangerous to him than I ever was before, because I'm the only one who can put him at the scene of that crime. If he kills me, he kills all evidence that ties him to it."

"Then he'll come for you," Vitani deduced. She gently gripped his hand, driven more by her determination and care for him. "Why wouldn't you tell us?"

"Because it wasn't your burden to bear," Tyber said softly. "I never wanted to drag any of you into this. This is my fight."

"It may have been your fight, but we are just as dangerous to him, now that we know what he did. We could all testify to what he did to you. I still have the medical report from the night we met you, the lab report of the shrapnel and glass pulled from your body..." Simba paused for effect. "This may have been your fight... but when we took you in, it became our fight. And it's a fight that I intend to see finished." Tyber chuckled through his evident lamentation.

"You sound like Thel," he remarked.

"Who?" Simba asked.

"Thel – Thel 'Vadam. A Sangheili that I deeply respected... but he is a tale for another time," Tyber replied. Simba paused for a moment, the rose from his chair and approached Tyber. Putting his hands on his shoulders, he told him,

"I fully recognize this was a lot for you to unload all at once, Tyber. After last night, I didn't want you to speak any more about your past, least of all to me. What Kion and I did to you was wrong, and we never should have done it. And you have my deepest sympathies for what happened to you – both in regards to what we did, and what he did; in either case, I know I'm probably the last person you want to hear this from, but I've been where you are... and I know how deep it hurts."

"Thank the Force for that... because you and yours are the closest thing to family I have left," Tyber said. "And I felt, at this point, you deserved to know. If..." Tyber paused to wipe away tears. "If I don't make it... don't let happen to others, what happened to me."

"We won't," Vitani assured him. "And you'll make it. I promise."

"Listen to her, Tyber," Kovu suggested. "My sister won't let any harm come to you. She's a fighter – just like you."

"And as we said last night, we had to restrain her from beating Kion senseless last night. A woman wouldn't do that to her own family unless she deeply cared about you," Simba stated. "Never forget that. Always remember, above all else, you have her. She's kind, fierce and loyal; welcome traits even among your kind."

"Not to mention gentle and selfless..." Tyber muttered.

"Even more reason, then," Simba chuckled. "Point is, Tyber... always remember what you have. And you have a chance to make a new life for yourself, here in the Pridelands. Don't cast that aside." Much to even Simba's surprise, Vitani took both Tyber's hands and turned him to face her.

"I'll always be here for you, Tyber – I have been ever since we met. You know you can always turn to me, whether you need to get something off your chest, or just need a shoulder to cry on," she told him.

"I know," Tyber responded. "You have been the kindest woman I've ever met. You don't quiver in fear at the sight of me – none of you do – you don't judge me, you don't intentionally make a target of me... and I'm so sorry for last night. I completely-"

"Tyber, what happened last night was a reaction to something that never should have been done – you had every reason to be angry. Regardless, what's done is done," Vitani told him. "Let it go, Tyber – you've held onto all this long enough. You've shouldered this burden too long; let it go."

"It's not that easy, Vitani," Simba cautioned her. "But I think it'll be easier for him if we catch his ex-stepfather, make him answer for his crimes, before we help him to let this go."

Finally, Kion spoke: "One thing I still don't understand – how did you get here after the explosion? We were forced out of your memories before we could see how you got out of there."

"Admittedly, I know no more than you; all I can tell you was that it was a temporal event," Tyber told him. "Someone from another timeline with access to my technology brought me here, but none of us knows who or why, least of all me." Tyber looked over to Kion. "Believe me, I would love to know who saved me. I would love to why. But no clear answer on that point was ever given. And I fear none ever will. We may never know who it was that saved me by putting me in Vitani's path that night she and I met." He returned his gaze to her. "But I'm thankful they did – until you, I had never met any woman who had as much in common with me as you do, let alone with the courage to talk me down when I'm at my worst." This time, it was Tyber that made the unexpected move, putting a hand on her cheek. "One would think a woman like you would have her pick – yet out of all those you could have chosen, you chose me."

Vitani leaned into his hand briefly. "Like you, most others are normally very intimidated by me; and I didn't think you'd take any interest in me, being that I'm a feline." Tyber smiled and chuckled.

"Haven't you noticed?" he asked jestingly. "I have a thing for felines." He and Vitani shared a light laugh before he said, "Feline or otherwise, I care about who you are, not what you are."

"Aw," Kiara commented, "Now that is so sweet!"

"He's a keeper, Vitani," Kovu snickered, earning him a scold from Kiara. But Simba, having already seen them together in more ways than one, smiled.

"I think I'll just leave you two alone," he said. "I need to get to the Human consulate and get in touch with the human government to give them the evidence they need to catch Jeff." Simba left as Tyber and Vitani shared a warm embrace. He had to admit, as odd as it was, he liked the idea of the two of them together. Only time would tell if it would actually happen...