"We have even bigger problems than that" Cheetara said in a voice that sounded hollow and dead. Tygra watch as she lifted up one of her paws, it visibly shaking. In it she held a single black arrow, the tip of which was cover in a florescent green slime. "I don't know what this green stuff is…but I'm pretty sure that it's poison."

The blood drained from Tygra's face and his body went completely numb. His brain stopped processing anything and he just stared at the tip of the shaft that the cheetah held in her hand. The second his brain started again, he muttered the only words that came to his mind, "Whiskers…."

Chapter 8

Tygra hadn't managed to completely stop the bleeding from Lion-O's wounds, but he had been able to bandage them enough to restrict the blood flow to its minimum. They desperately needed to get him to a hospital; and the quicker, the better. Unfortunately, Lion-O was far too heavy for Cheetara to carry all the way back to Altintas by herself. Tygra could probably do it, but it would take a lot longer, and he was sure that all that jumbling around would cause the arrowheads to do more damage to Lion-O's insides, no matter how secure he made them. And there was still the matter of the poison. He only prayed that it wasn't a fast acting kind.

Luckily, it was only a few short moments before Tygra felt the ground rumble and he heard the familiar roar of the thundertank's engines. As soon as it came around the bend, Cheetara waved her hands overhead and started shouting to signal their location to them. Both Wiley Kat and Kit came flying out of the opened hatch as the tank came skidding to a halt next to Cheetara.

"Tygra! Are you okay?" shouted Wiley Kit as she rushed over to him. "What happened to Lion-O!?" she screamed as she finally got a complete view of the brothers.

"Help me get him into the tank" he ordered, and immediately Cheetara and the twins helped him carry Lion-O to the back of the thundertank. "We need to get him to a surgeon as fast as this thing can go!" he yelled to Panther-O as the mammoth panther opened the rear bay doors. Once on board, they were tearing off down the road before they bay doors were even fully closed.

"How did you guys know we needed help?" Tygra asked after they were on their way. Cheetara had taken his place beside Lion-O and was doing her best to once again stop the bleeding that moving him had caused.

"Lion-O told us," Wiley Kit answered. She had shifted her tear filled eyes back to the tiger to look at him directly while she responded. "We were down by the river enjoying our picnic when the Sword of Omens growled out a warning. Then he asked for 'sight beyond sight' and his face went all pale." She took a deep breath before she continued. "After that, he tore the sword away from his face and said 'Go get Panther-O, Tygra is in Danger' and took off running for you as fast as he could."

Tygra closed his eyes as he tried to process the information she had told him. Lion-O had known that we were going to be ambushed. He thought to himself, the sword had shown it to him. Instantly, he remembered Lion-O's warning, 'Take cover…' That's what he was trying to tell me, not 'take over', he berated himself mentally, ancients, what an idiot I am. He sat there a while, trying to mentally put all of the pieces together. Lion-O had to have sprinted the whole way; otherwise he wouldn't have made it in time. No wonder he could barely talk. Then the realization of the wording clicked in his mind, "Go get Panther-O, Tygra is in Danger" Thinking back to the moments before Lion-O came; he visualized the way they were standing by the boulder; Cheetara was in front of him, in his arms. That meant that Tygra would have been hit in the back with those arrows. Not US, it was ME! His eyes snapped open with that revelation and he looked quickly to his brother. He did all this to save ME!

"Heads up people" Panther-O called back from the driver's seat, "Altintas is coming up!"

A Few Hours Later…

The waiting room of the Altintas hospital was poorly lit now that the sun had set. The dim lighting and barren walls gave the room a dismal and dungy look, a look that mirrored the feelings of the five cats that waited inside of it. It had been some time since they managed to bring Lion-O in. Because of the amount of people in the streets, it was quicker to carry him from the city's entrance than to attempt the drive in with the thundertank. Shouting for help as soon as they came crashing through the doors, the thundercats placed Lion-O gently on a gurney. The hospital staff had him prepped and on his way to surgery in a matter of minutes. Tygra had explained the situation and had even provided the doctors with the arrow that Cheetara had retrieved hoping that they could use it to develop an antidote. Since then, all they could do is wait, wait and hope…

Wiley-Kat sat in one of the chairs along the wall, his thoughts wandering back over the day he had spent with Lion-O. He couldn't believe the rotten turn of events that the day had taken. It had started out so good! Lion-O had taken his sister and him out on a picnic, they played, they swam, and they laughed. Now there was a possibility that Lion-O wouldn't make it through the night. Greif and anger surged through the young boy, it wasn't fair! It wasn't fair at all. Lion-O was different from the others. Wiley-Kat knew that the other Thundercats cared for him and his sister, especially Cheetara, but not in the same manner as Lion-O. He actually liked them, and he liked spending time with them. Lion-O was the KING for ancient's sake, and yet he played games like 'freeze tag' and 'Monkian in the Middle' with them. How many other nobles would do that for a couple of cubs they had only known for a short while? Not many! But Lion-O did. He was their friend, and he was the real deal. He always put others in front of himself, and now he was fighting for his life. Sitting there in that waiting room, Wiley Kat wished that there was something, anything, that he could do to make his friend well again.

Wiley-Kit sat next to her brother, but her mind was a million miles away. She was standing by the side of a mountain, and she had just seen Lion-O go over the side. He had seemingly plunged to his death, but somehow she knew that he would be okay, that he could come back to them. Oh, how she wished she felt the same way now. Her mind drifted back to the present and she looked over to the cheetah maiden sitting on the other side of her. She took Cheetara's hand and finally put to voice the fears that she was having. "I'm scared Cheetara," she told the young woman when she turned to look at her, "I'm scared that he won't make it this time." Cheetara saw the fear in her eyes and she tried her best to comfort her, "Lion-O is going to be just fine, don't you worry. He didn't leave us last time, and he won't this time either." "But that is what I'm trying to tell you!" Kit exclaimed, "Last time I knew he would be okay, I could FEEL it. Somehow I could feel that he was going to come back to us, even when all of you thought that I was crazy for thinking so, I knew that he would. AND HE DID!" She swallowed hard to get past the knot that was forming in her throat as the tears started building behind her eyes, "This time I don't have that. This time I feel that if he dies, he won't be able to come back; and I'm not sure what's gonna happen. I don't know if he's gonna make it or not!" With the words finally spoken out loud, Wiley-Kit couldn't keep herself from breaking down into sobs.

Cheetara quietly pulled the crying child onto her lap and gently wrapped her arms around her. She began to rock her back and forth, trying to impart as much comfort as possible, just like Lion-O had done with Cheetara not so long ago. She placed her chin on the top of the girl's head and soothingly stroked her mane. "We have to have faith that he will pull through. You know that Lion-O is a fighter, and he will fight with all of his strength to come back to us. We just have to pray that this time, it will be enough."

Cheetara held Kit tightly and just continued to rock, doing her best to soothe the girl without letting her own fears and doubts show. She tried to keep her thoughts as positive as she could, because she would not allow herself to contemplate the alternative. The thought of life without Lion-O left her feeling cold and empty inside, like a hollow shell of herself. Somehow, over the course of the last several weeks, the young lion had made himself an integral part of her happiness. She didn't know when her feelings for her king had shifted, but they had, and she would have to figure that out later. What she did know, was right now he was fighting to stay alive, and until they received word that he had passed from this life, then she would hope, she would pray, and she would do everything in her power to comfort those around her.

Panther-O watched the exchange between the two females with silent amusement. The cleric was good with the kits, better than he would have guessed at first, but then again, she was always full of surprises. The panther shifted listlessly in his chair, trying to find a comfortable position. He hates hospitals, he always did. He never had a god experience in one, but he knew that he needed to be there. Despite his best efforts to prevent it, he found himself liking the new king. At first he didn't believe that Lion-O would make the cut, but the kid had spunk. Even when the odds were stacked against him, he had never given up. He wasn't great in the beginning, but he did the best that he could, and he continued to improve as the time went by. The impressive thing though, was that the kid had heart, he always put others needs in front of his own. He was surprised the first time he noticed that Lion-O made sure everyone else's portion of food was larger than his, or the first time he defended a non-feline, just because it was the right thing to do. Now he's come to expect it from the kid. Claudus he mused to himself, I think you'd be proud, if you could see your boy now. He hoped that the young lion would pull through, although he would never admit to it, they would all be devastated if he didn't.

Tygra stood near the window gazing out into the city. His mind had drifted back to the days before Thundera had fallen. He remembered back to when he was a small cub; Lion-O would follow him around all the time. Everything he did Lion-O would try to copy, it was so annoying. Then their father sat him on his knee and explained it to him. "Tygra, Lion-O is little, and he has a lot to learn. He learns right now by watching and copying things. You are his big brother, and he loves you, of course he is going to try and copy you. Be proud that he wants to be like you, because there will come a time when that won't be the case. Remember, that you are family." That time came soon enough, and then they acted just like every other set of siblings. Half of the time they were purposely trying to annoy one another, the other half of the time, couldn't stand to be in the same room as each other. But he was always there. If he ever needed him for anything, he was right there without any questions. His brother!

Then Thundera fell. Their father died and it was just the two of them. He was sure that his brother was in no way ready to wear the crown, and he was right. That's changed now. It took a long time, and a LOT of work, but Lion-O has become a capable leader. He didn't do it the way Tygra would have done it, but he did it; and even though he would never admit this to his brother in a million years, Lion-O will be a good king, better than him. Now all he has to do is make it through this ordeal. Tygra thought long and hard about the time since Thundera fell. They have been through a lot since then. They still can't stand to be in the same room together half the time, but he was still there for him. His brother ran over two and a half miles to push him out of the way of poison arrows, that stupid fool! That selfless, careless, stupid fool! Doesn't he realize that he is the KING! Even as he wondered why Lion-O would do such a thing, he knew the answer, because he's my brother idiot! That's why! And that's what family does for each other! Tygra glanced over to the others, and his gaze fell upon Cheetara rocking a sniffling Wiley-Kit. That's another thing that needs to be worked out, he thought to himself. Interestingly, Tygra found that there wasn't the anger there that was present before. Lion-O needed to get better, and soon!

Two Hours later…

It was a very tired Irish-Setter that made his way through the halls. Almost five hours of surgery can take a lot out of you, but he had one last duty to perform; there were people in the waiting room that he needed to speak with. Slowly he opened the door to the waiting room. As he did so, five sets feline eyes immediately turned their gazes on him.

"Is Lion-O going to be alright doctor?" Tygra quickly asked.

"We were able to repair the damage that the arrows did to both his spleen and his lower intestines." The doctor stated, and as he did so he heard the release of the breath some of them were holding. "But he lost a lot of blood. The fact that you were able to suppress most of the bleeding and got him in here as quickly as you did most likely saved his life. Unfortunately, he also has a severe head trauma, and …we were unable to do anything for the poisoning." He continued.

"What?! Why?! Weren't you able to use the sample from the arrow that we brought in?" Cheetara questioned.

"Yes we were." replied the setter. "It was a very complex poison. We were able to identify everything except one compound. It is an animal protein, probably venom of some sort, but it's not from anything around this region. We don't know what it is." He rubbed his weary eyes and took another breath before continuing on. "Right now we have him sedated and on medications that will slow the progression of the poison, but unless we get an antidote or enough of that unknown animal protein to process an anti-venom, then the poison will eventually overtake him."

"How long does he have doctor" Tygra inquired in solemn voice.

"Several days… maybe a week, we can't really be sure." Came the reply. "He is young and healthy, so that will work in his favor. I'm sorry there wasn't anymore we could do for your friend"

"When can we all see him doctor?" asked Cheetara anxiously.

"Tomorrow" he said with some trepidation, "He is sedated right now, however, I can allow one or two of you to stay with him overnight."

"Thank-you doctor, for everything you've done." Tygra told the haggard looking doctor. He shook his hand and watched as he exited back through the door.

"Me and the Kits will head back to the campsite," Panther-O stated, taking Wiley-Kit from Cheetara, "You and Tygra can stay here and look after Lion-O."

"Okay, we'll see you tomorrow." Cheetara replied as she watched them heading for the hospital's main exit.

Afterwards, she and Tygra were escorted to Lion-O's room by one of the hospital's staff. Once they entered the room, they were both surprised at the young lion's appearance. "He looks so pale." Cheetara commented in a worried voice. "He lost a lot of blood the doctor said," Tygra responded, "More than I originally thought." He turned to see the distraught look on her face, and the apprehension in her eyes. "Tygra," she began, her voice quivering slightly, "If you had not been able to control his bleeding the way you did, he would have died. You saved him."

The emotions in her statement were unquestionable and undeniable. They were also the last confirmation that Tygra needed. His suspicions were correct. "He's not out of the woods yet." He commented, then he walked up to her and gently took her hands in his. "Cheetara, I need you to do something for me." He paused while she looked at him inquisitively, "I need you to look after him. I don't think anyone will come after him, seeing as how they were after me, but I want to make sure that someone will be here to watch him while I'm gone." She cocked an eyebrow at him and asked, "Where are you going?" "I'm going to go find his antidote." Tygra replied.

"But you don't…" Cheetara started, but Tygra never let her finish her sentence. "I'm not stupid, Cheetara." He interrupted with a steel resolve, "And neither are you. We both know who did this. The doctor said it was a 'complex' poison, and one of the ingredients was not found anywhere in this region. Who better to make a poison, than the person you would normally ask to make the antidote? And we both know a certain traveling apothecary that would have a reason to hold a grudge against me." He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to control the anger that had crept up on him. "I need to know that he is safe, so I can concentrate on getting the antidote." He gazed into her eyes while he waited patiently for her answer. He could see the conflicting emotions warring inside of her.

After a minute or so, she simply nodded her head; she didn't trust her voice at that moment. The thought of him going out alone after someone who wanted him dead was tearing her apart. "How do you plan on getting him to give it to you?" She finally asked. "Don't worry," the tiger replied with a devilish grin on his face, "I have my ways." After a moment, he added something. "And after he is all healed up," he said nodding to his unconscious brother, "You two need to discuss these feelings you have for each other."

The shocked look on Cheetara's face was actually kind of comical, and so was her attempted response. "Wh...What?!" she managed to sputter out. Tygra's features instantly softened, and with a gentle voice he admonished her, "I told you earlier that I wasn't stupid… I'm not blind either." "Tygra…" she pleaded, unable to say more. Her tears were welling up in her eyes and there was a huge knot in her throat. "C'here." Tygra said as he wrapped his arms around the beautiful cheetah. He stood there holding her tightly, trying to convey as much comfort as he possibly could. "Everything will be alright," he said soothingly, "I promise." How long they stood that way he didn't know, finally she calmed down enough to speak. "Please be careful," She asked sincerely, "I don't want to lose you either." "Don't worry," he replied, "You won't." With a final squeeze, he released the young cheetah and quietly slipped out the door…..

To be continued…

A/N: Please read and review. All reviews are welcome, good and bad, thanks! A special thanks to those who noticed my mistake and informed me about it :)