Lion-O's POV

We've been ambushing lizard battalions and there are more and more desertions in Mumm Ra's army I should be ecstatic, this is great at this rate it'll be down to just Mumra.

But all I can think of is Cheetara kissing Tygra.

We'd just finished with another battalion that kit & Kat had led to us. The two of them were acting all lovey dovey, I could see red entering my vision, if kit and kat hadn't intervened with their comment , which I completely agree with I was going to cough up a hair ball myself, I probably would have stormed off.

Tygra coughs and they both give me a look "Sorry" tygra said, it was clear he was, at least he cares….. Maybe, then a gain he could just want to make sure Cheetara doesn't feel guilty. Either way I want Tygra to be happy, my Tygra…. No….. Cheetara's

So I cleared the upset look on my face and put on a smile "Don't be, I'm happy for both of you" it was a lie, it hut so much to say that but "It means a lot to hear you say that" Tygra said that smiling, and Tygra means the world to me seeing him so glad that I gave my approval, it was, ALMOST, Almost worth the pain.

"That's right keep it moving" I could hear kat saying "and if any of you come back you'll have kit and kat to deal with" and that was kit.

God I wish I could be that age again things were so much less complicated, I still had Thundera and Father, distant as he was, and me and Tygra were so close back then. I miss that the most, 'Will we ever be like that again, with all that's happened….' it was my fault; I should have spoken up about the vision the sword of omens let me see, but I wasn't sure what I had seen, I didn't want to cause a panic for nothing, the guilt has never left my mind.

'And what about Cheetara, if she had always wanted Tygra why play us both did she even comprehend the pain she put him through making him think it was a competition, what she put me through. I don't like competing with Tygra, the only reason I did it before is because it had reached a point between us where that was the only way I could get him to see me at all'

Cheetara came over just as I finished carving the thundercat's Symbol into the ship of the battalion we just beat and subsequently set free. I wanted Mumra to be sure of how did this. No reason for other tribes to get even more involved in this over something they didn't do.

"Another battalion has surrendered; we need to keep up the pressure"

"It doesn't make sense Cheetara" I say to her, she looks at me very confused, I'd expect her to be, we weren't talking about the same thing.

"Do you have another plan?" she asked.

"I'm not talking about the lizards, even after going through it a thousand times in my mind , I just don't see how I could have miss read all your signals" I see it on her face, she thinks I'm jealous, But It's more than that and it's not of Tygra. But she'll never piece that together on her own.

"You said you were okay with Tygra and me"
"I know what I said, and it's partially true"
"What do you mean?"
"Every time I turned around your eyes were always on me, I – You followed me everywhere. Even into all this…" 'Why?' I thought to myself.
"It's because …. Jaga asked me to watch over you"

Now that hurt, even if I didn't see her that way, during a time where everyone thought I was hopeless as king and No one believed in me, not even My ….. Not even Tygra. She was there, someone who believed in me, someone who trusted me and gave me faith in myself for the first time in a while, that I was more than just the shouldn't be King by birth right, more than Tygra's second in all but the crown younger brother.

To find out…. I was nothing more than a job to her….. I thought I finally found a friend. But that was a lie. And suddenly, I feel even more alone than before….. I hadn't thought that was possible.

"Then all those things you said, about seeing something special in me…..That was just Part of your job…"
"Of course not, I believe in you with all my heart. It's just that heart belongs to someone else"
'That's not the reason I'm upset' I thought to myself.

She put her paw on my shoulder "this doesn't change our relationship" she said it with so much determination and hope on her face and in her voice.

'But it does, it changes everything' I pull away from the paw on my shoulder.

"Did you realize, that during your, let's not make my feelings clear fiasco, do you realize how much you hurt Tygra" it came out with more malice than I had intended, but damn it I'm hurting.

"What?" She was so confuse, she didn't understand.
"It was so clear to me that he loved you so I decided to start backing off, but your little game left him hurting and guessing blindly in the dark. I'm big enough to accept that you chose him; I'm just worried you'll hurt him again. Tygra's the only family I have Cheetara, the only one I have EVER had, I want him to be happy."

Her eyes turned to the ground, brows knit together a regretful look on her face, and she turned her eyes back to meet mine.

"You're right Lion-O, I did hurt him, I should have been clearer to avoid hurting anyone and I'm sorry, but I can promise you that I never will again, I'll always have his back, And yours. My king"

"I'm not your king Cheetara, I'm your charge." I turn to walk away, her paw dropping from my shoulder again.
"Lion-O…"
"The funny thing is I thought I finally had a friend. But I should have known that the day Tygra stopped treating me as his equal, his brother…. I should have known I'd always be alone from then on. And I did, but I decided to hope against hope, at least I learnt my lesson"

I finally walked away without looking back to see the Christ fallen look on Cheetara's face, a firm frown placed on my own face. 'Could this get any worse?'

I heard Tygra come up behind me "What's wrong with him?"

It was night time; we were on a stakeout for any more of Mumm Ra's army to ambush instead I ended up catching sight of the lizards we had just convinced to abandon Mumra.

"Those are the same lizards we convinced to desert earlier"
"Must have been captured my their own army, tough break"

I heard Tygra say, I was shocked at him, did he have no compassion, didn't he realize what those lizards had risked abandoning Mumra's, that they had families to get back to loved ones to take care of just like us. If not that then the fact that by abandoning Mumra they were giving us a fighting chance.

"You don't want to help them?"
"Whether there deserters or prisoners, there not our problem anymore"
"You don't understand, if we don't stand by them they'll stand by Mumra!"

Cheetara finally spoke up "Tygra's right, it's too dangerous to save Lizards who could turn on us tomorrow"
"Guess I shouldn't be surprised you're siding with him, at least you weren't lying then too"

Cheetara looked torn; in all honesty I should be glad she's keeping to what he told me she would do, standing by Tygra having his back. But I was so hurt right now I couldn't make room for other emotions, Tygra's stance on the matter didn't help any ether.

"Lion-O…"
"This is about their army being on the verge of collapse and us not letting up, right Cheetara!" my words were laced with hostility.

I turn to kit and kat "you two should go back to the berbul village, they're right about this being dangerous"

Authority in my voice with no room to argue the Kitts take off towards the village.
I start heading towards the lizards to free them.

"Lion-O wait, we need to stick together!" I hear Cheetara call to me from behind, I look back and her face shows both concern and annoyance, I wanna feel bad for making her worry, but I can't do this right now.

"You two stick together!" I yell back in anger, she looks confused ,fine , so I still wasn't over them being together, he was my Tygra damn it, I love him more than anyone else ever could, and while that was the very reason I was somewhat keeping quiet about the situation, it still hurt like hell. But they were right this is dangerous and I don't want Tygra getting mixed up in this, something in my gut told me not to bring him into it this time.

"I mean it Cheetara!" "Stay, I'll do this alone!"

I turn around and continue on my way down. As I reached their level, stood in front of slyth holding out my sword and apparently Mumra got a couple of new generals, K-nar and Adacus, these two look like bad news. 'Glad I left Tygra back there'

They were planning to execute these guys "I can't let that happen" if I do I risk a divided front in my final confrontation with Mumra.

"Three against one that's hardly fair" Adacus snarls with a demented smile on his face. Suddenly there are three wooden leafs that cut them off from getting closer to me.

Looking up I see Cheetara twirling her staff 'So that's where they came from' she said something but I'm more focused on someone else.

"Did you really think we'd let you do this alone"

Tygra, he had an annoyed yet protective look on his face. It made my heart skip a beat 'Tygra' my brain supplied for me. NO! What is that idiot doing, I know logically that Tygra can take care of himself, but something in me was screaming at me to keep him away, if he gets involved we louse.

"Tygra NO!"

But it was too late he'd already jumped down next to me, always by my side. My Tygra. He engages K-nar while Cheetara takes Adacus and I go at it with Slyth. No time to worry about anything now, Tygra can handle him. 'Tygra can handle him…'

And it's all I'm worried about as I'm fighting Slyth, which really tells you something about how bad he is.

"Look around you Lion-O" Slyth's voice is sounds confidant in the worst way possible, I turn around and "Tygra!"

Tygra's tied up on his knees K-nar's sword staff at his neck and I freeze for a moment, then I'm snarling at them. Before they can react I activate my gauntlet's fingers to wrap around K-nar's right lower leg and throw myself to the left, pulling him away from Tygra and slamming his head into solid rock while at the same time avoiding Slyth's blade trying to cut me in half. With K-nar knocked out, I get up quickly and with a run and give Slyth a good kick to the head knocking him down. I hurry over to Tygra and untie him from his own whip. As soon as he's on his feet he looks to his right, to Cheetara, who had dropped her staff at Slyth's order to stop tygra from getting hurt further, and was currently being held in a choke hold cutesy of Adacus. Tygra Quickly launched for his gun a few feet away and targeted the ape's legs making him release Cheetara; I quickly gave him a kick to the chest to get him away from her followed by a gantlet covered upper cut, that knocked him down.

"Cheetara, are you okay?" Tygra hurried over a worried look on his face. He didn't even notice me, not even a thank you, 'Am I just going to me back ground to her from now on!?'

From behind tygra I could see K-nar getting up his eyes on Tygra, I snatched Tygra's gun from his left hand, His right was wrapped around Cheetara… He looked at me surprised/confused "GET DOWN!" I yelled. They both hit the floor quickly, and I shot my aimed gun at K-nar twice but it didn't seem to do more than amuse him. In my peripheral vision I could see Adacus getting back up too with a wild look in his eyes and Slyth was getting up too. The three of us stood back to back.

"These guys are stronger than Mumra's usual variety of lakies." I said my voice sounding more on edge than I intended to let show.

Just then I hear the thunder tank behind me 'Panthro' I look up and it's him flailing his new apparently expandable arms around knocking down all three generals again. He opens the thunder tank for us and we all run in the doors close behind us and we're off

"Don't look so down kid you only lost a battle not the war"
"But these new generals, there army will be stronger than ever" they almost got tygra…. I can't lose him.
"We'll get through this; we just need to stick together"

Well that took longer than expected
I hope you liked it, and pleas leave a review it really helps and encourages me to keep writing. Till next Chapter.