A/N: Thanks for the patience, everyone. I'm sorry this chapter turned out to be so short, but it wasn't exactly the easiest thing to write. Also, the title of the chapter is actually named after the song "Louder Than Thunder" by the band The Devil Wears Prada. I had that song on repeat towards the end of the chapter, and it actually helped me with writing this. (Mind you, I was pretty much just scribing the scene I saw playing out in my head by that point.) Still, please R&R!

Chapter 1: Louder Than Thunder

Brilliant golden rays of sunlight washed over the city's cobblestone roads, warming the ground underfoot and giving the inhabitants a light-hearted spring to their steps. A crisp, cool breeze whistled through the city, a refreshing breath of air, and in a small, tumbledown house on the end of a high avenue, a single mother breathed in deeply, feeling somewhere inside her heart that today was going to bring a great change with it.

She frowned, chewing her lower lip nervously as she sat patching clothes at her table. The thrill of impending change was mingling with a strange, misplaced anxiety, one she couldn't fully explain. Her hands moved deftly with the needle, diving in and out, up and down, putting the final touches on a patch as she let her mind wander.

Muaraine had never put much stock in what her brother called "gut feelings", and somehow she didn't quite believe that was what this apprehension was. No, it was women's intuition, it had to be. Her sixth sense didn't always kick in so strongly, but it was never unfounded and rarely inaccurate.

She had just finished with the patch and was moving onto the next article of clothing that needed attention, when a small, fuzzy head poked above the edge of the table.

"What are you doing, Mama?" the saber-tooth kitten asked, his large blue eyes staring up at her curiously. The corners of Muaraine's mouth turned up and she reached out, gently stroking back her son's wild, sand-colored hair.

"Just making some patches, dearheart," she murmured.

"Oh." he said, his expression unreadable as he looked at laundry on the table.

"Why are you back so soon?" she asked kindly. "I thought you had gone outside to play with Servali and your friends."

"Servali got in a fight with Ryland again, so everybody had t' go home." he said in a pout, his ears twitching slightly in annoyance as he did his best to scowl. Muaraine fought to keep a straight face as she watched him.

It had been eight and a half years since her brother had been sent with Panthro to find the Book of Omens. And it had been a little over six and a half years since Damorn had been killed in action. Yet as bleak as life seemed to turn, fate had given her the most beautiful gift in the world for her suffering.

"Chin up, Axis, my little love," she chuckled, vainly trying to smooth his hair again, "That's not so bad. This means you get to try a special treat since you're home early. It's a new recipe that Tifran gave me."

His blue eyes went bright and his ears pricked up. "A treat?"

"Yes," she replied, rising from her chair and holding out a hand for him, "Kora berry cookies."

A grin split his face as he grabbed her hand, practically charging to get to the kitchen. "Kora berries? I wanna help make it!"

She smiled warmly, genuinely, and sent a silent prayer of thanks toward the heavens, to whatever deity was listening, for her son.

The horn's long, low tone reverberated through the very ground of the city, the subtle ambiance unbalancing many of the citizens. It wasn't, however, a tone of alarm; the sound was signaling the approach of someone or something outside the gates of the city. Muaraine glanced up briefly from setting aside the remaining kora berries and frowned, the faint sensation of prickling intuition brushing her subconscious. Axis paused as well, looking toward the window, his ears twitching as he listened.

"What is it, Mama?" he asked quietly.

"The guards are just alerting the king that the city has visitors," she answered with a weak smile, putting an arm around him for comfort, "There is nothing to worry about."

"Promise?" he asked, turning his large eyes up at her.

"I promise." she replied.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a pleasant haze as the two played together and it was just after sunset, as Muaraine was laying Axis down to sleep, that a knock came on her door. Surprised, she tucked the covers tightly around her son and answered the door quietly, seeing a few of her neighbors looking at her, their faces caught between excitement and something she couldn't quite identify.

"What—"

"Muaraine, aren't you coming?" one of them asked before she could form her question.

"To what?"

" 'To what?' Muar, we thought you would have been the first to know!" said another.

"Know?" she parroted, furrowing her brow.

"Muaraine, Grune's back!" said the third.

"Grune?" the name escaped her lips in a disbelieving gasp. "My brother?" she asked to confirm, unsure of whether or not she was dreaming. Her visitors nodded.

"He arrived just this afternoon from his travels, hauling treasure! The king is holding a celebration! Aren't you going to come?"

The sounds around her began to fade away and her limbs felt as though they had been filled with stones, threatening to drag her to the ground as a strange void enveloped her mind, numbing her thoughts. Her brother, finally returning from his quest triumphant? No, it was too good to be true. Perhaps the facts had gotten skewed in the excitement of the telling. Surely it was Panthro who had returned, and her brother might or might not have been with him. Yes, that had to be it.

"Muaraine?" someone was saying, concerned. She blinked, seeing her neighbors outside her door once again, and cast her eyes down.

"Sorry, but no." she murmured. "I cannot come. I just laid Axis down to sleep."

"Are you sure?" one of the other cats asked hesitantly, and she offered them all a sad smile.

"I'm positive. But I thank you. I am…sure that Grune and I will have another chance for a reunion, one where he can meet his nephew while Axis is awake."

And with that, she bid them goodbye, shut the door, and walked back to her son's bedside, stroking his flyaway hair as he slept.

"Besides," she whispered aloud, "If what they say is true, then Grune will come to see us the instant he has a free moment. After all…he's my brother. He would never abandon me."

But Grune did not come.

Not once that night did he appear, nor did he come by the next day. When Muaraine spoke to passersby on the street in the late morning, there was talk of the king tying up all of Grune's time, due to some riot involving the princes, a small mob, and a pair of lizard criminals late the previous night. The news wasn't surprising, not really, and as the morning continued into the afternoon, she sustained herself on the knowledge that her brother would finally come when he had a free moment. But then the afternoon bled into the evening, and it brought the city's alarm with it.

This time, no neighbors stopped by her house, and she refused to set foot outside of it.

"Mama…? What's happening…?"

She found Axis curled in a ball under her bed, whimpering in fear and covering his ears. Sitting on her knees, she carefully pulled him out and brought him into her lap.

"Shh, darling," she whispered, hugging him tightly, "There is nothing to worry about."

He shivered and gave a squeaking hiccough as he clung to her, ears flattening as far as they could against his head to block out the noise.

"Everything will be alright. Your uncle is going to come and find us, and protect us from whatever is happening. And until then, I'll protect you."

She didn't believe the words even as they left her mouth, but it was a tiny relief to feel her son's small frame stop shaking. For a long time they simply sat there, not truly hearing the sounds outside as Muaraine gently rocked her cub back and forth.

Suddenly there was an eerie, unsettling silence, as though the entire city had simply ceased to have a voice. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and her intuition began to prickle at the back of her mind. And then came the explosions, a great many booming roars that shook and rattled Thundera at its edges. Fear blossomed inside Muaraine, and she knew she had to get them both out, that she had to run, to move, to escape. Surging to her feet, she carried Axis out to the kitchen, ducking under the table as something crashed down into the room behind them. The cub let out a terrified shriek, clinging to her desperately as she stared, barely processing that debris from the explosions almost killed them, had she not moved.

"Mama, what's happening?" he cried again, more terrified this time around. She gathered him into her arms, clinging to him tightly and doing her best to shield him with her larger form.

"It's going to be alright," she whispered, as much to herself as to him, "Your uncle will come and find us. He'll come back, like he promised, and we'll be safe."

The words were a poor attempt at reassurance, but she kept repeating them nonetheless, renewing her efforts with each explosion.

"Promise?" Axis whispered.

"I promise," she repeated automatically, quietly fearing what would happen if she couldn't keep her word to him.

After a time, there fell another relative silence. Muaraine had no idea how long they had hidden beneath the table, but it seemed an eternity had passed. Finally, she risked a chance and emerged, sharply ordering Axis to stay put. The kitten complied, his wide, terrified eyes remaining fixed on her as she tentatively started to move about their home, inspecting fallen debris. At first, it seemed a twisted calm after the explosions had come upon them.

Then they heard the footsteps.

It was impossible to guess how many lizards there were, but the leathery sound of their bare feet hitting the cobblestones was unmistakable. Muaraine froze where she stood. It couldn't be…there was no possible way…

Doors began to slam, things began to break all up and down the street as the lizards yelled at one another. Muaraine spun back toward the table, reaching for her son, when her own door cracked, the splintering wood flung inside as the lizards forced their way inside. Her head turned, caramel eyes just making contact with one of them as he leveled a weapon.

"Filthy cat." he hissed.

Her heart thudded wildly as his weapon gave a loud hum.

A vaguely familiar voice gave a shout of alarm somewhere outside, the words muffled.

The weapon hummed louder.

"Mama!" Axis cried.

She turned back to him, as fast as she could bring herself to move, feeling for all the world slower than molasses as she flung an arm out for her child.

The lizard's weapon fired.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Muaraine's body jerked, convulsing with each shot as the blasts from the firearm lifted her feet from the ground, time slowing down.

The weapon fired a fourth time.

A fifth.

A sixth.

A seventh.

The force began to push her back toward the far wall, a bit at a time, her back arching with the shots, her hand still reaching forward, her pain-filled eyes locked with her son's horror-stricken ones.

She was dead before her body thudded to the floor.

Axis was unable to believe what was happening. His eyes saw all of it, and yet something in his mind couldn't—wouldn't—accept what he had just seen. He didn't worry about being good and obedient any more, and scrambled out from under the table.

"MAMA!" he screamed, his voice high and ragged as he ran to her. His mother didn't respond. She lay in a crumpled heap, her hands going cold, her eyes open and empty, staring at nothing. Horror built inside Axis, a fear that became overwhelming when he heard the lizard with the weapon speak again.

"Disgusting creatures."

Axis looked up, paralyzed by utter terror as the weapon hummed loudly once more, leveled this time at his eyes. Instinct had him moving automatically, his right hand shooting up to shield his face as he flinched back.

Then there was a horrible, burning, stinging pain that stabbed through the back of his hand as the weapon fired. A primal scream of fear and agony tore itself from his throat. His arm began to shake violently and his hand hurt, hurt worse than anything he'd ever felt before.

Suddenly there was a furious roar, nothing like the thunderous explosions of earlier. It was much more raw, and somehow softer, yet more furious and savage.

"Get that gun away from my nephew, you stupid reptile!"

Axis continued to shake and began to cry softly, tears pouring from his eyes as he kept his hand raised.

"Axis?" said the voice, gentler now by a fraction, "Come here, my nephew."

"M-mama…" he choked out.

There was a pause, then a yelp of pain and a crashing sound.

"I'll deal with you later." the voice promised as Axis saw through his tears the lizard sink to the floor. And then a second later, a pair of strong arms lifted him up.

"Axis, it's alright." the voice said in a strained tone, "I've got you. Uncle Grune's got you now."

Axis lowered his hand, still burning with stabbing, stinging pain, and looked into a pair of eyes the same shade of caramel as his mother's. He choked on a sob and buried his face into the big cat's armored chest, crying quietly until he fell unconscious.