Sorry about the wait for this chapter, you guys! Please remember this is a companion story to my other current TC fanfic, "Mortal Bonds," and just as with that story, any OCs appearing in Shadowed Path will be accredited to their individual creators in each copy of each of these chapters as they appear listed in my deviantArt gallery. R&R please!

Chapter 2: The Face of Fear

He was in a nightmare. A really bad nightmare. What else could it be? He had heard things exploding, smelled things burning, felt the ground shaking, seen his mother…had seen his mother killed.

That's why it was a nightmare. His mother was so strong and brave, and had always protected him. Nothing could ever kill his mother; she would stare it in the eye and scare it away. She had always promised she would never let anything hurt him, and she always kept her promises.

Something cold and wet slapped him awake, and he woke with the burning smell still filling his nose. A pair of caramel eyes was watching him from above, and for a second, he was easily able to believe his own fearful lies.

"He barely seems lucid, General. Perhaps I could try again with—"

"Get out of the way you fool."

There was a loud punch and a clatter somewhere beyond his vision as the world came into clearer focus, and Axis realized with a sinking feeling in his stomach that the caramel eyes were framed in bearded face.

"Axis, can you hear me?" the big cat asked, brows furrowing in concern.

"It's not a dream…?" he murmured. He blinked hard a few times, reached up to rub his eyes—

And a scorching pain exploded in the back of his right hand.

He gave a small yelp, stifling his would-be sobs into a whimper as his arm began to shake. He sat bolt upright, blinking back tears as he held his arm tightly to his chest.

"Hurts…" he managed to squeak.

"Let me see that." came the gentle command, tugging his hand away from him and holding it out level. Axis glanced up, watching those caramel eyes narrow in a dark frown. "We'll be able to put something on this to help it heal, but it looks like you may wind up with a scar on that hand."
He didn't really care at that moment about scars. He may not be dreaming, but this was still a nightmare. He was just living in it now. Tears began to trickle down his face despite his efforts not to cry, and he choked on a sob.

"Mama's really gone, isn't she?" he whispered.

There was a tense pause, and finally the answer came. "Yes. Your mother is gone, Axis. But I'm here to take care of you now. I'm your uncle, Grune."

He didn't care. His mother was gone and he would never see her again. She would never give him a bath, or scold him when he disobeyed, or praise him when he did good, or teach him things, or tell him stories, or hold him in her arms and call him her little love, not ever again.

The world around him grew a touch darker, and he suddenly felt cold all over and inside, shivering. He wanted desperately to cry, to just cry as long and as hard as he could, but strangely, it was as though he had suddenly just forgotten how to properly do so. His arms and legs felt heavy, like he'd never be able to lift them again. Part of him, his heart he thought, was crying in pain and burning like his hand, but the rest of him continued to go numb all over, unable to feel anything but icy shock. Tears now flowed as fast and freely as a small river from his eyes, and through the watery blur he looked up at his uncle, his mouth just barely open, unable to form words.

"I'm sorry, Axis," Grune said, carefully putting a hand on one of his shoulders, "It wasn't supposed to be this way."

Those eyes were just like his mother's. Axis remembered just barely the day before yesterday, remembered his mother laughing and smiling, her saber-teeth exposed in a grin as she let him sneak a few kora berries from the basket while they made the cookies, her eyes soft and warm, the way they always were when she looked at him when he sat in his father's old chair.

How could she just be gone?

The image of her laying on the earthen floor, crumpled in a heap, her eyes dull and lifeless, overlapped with that happy memory. Sounds reverberated with the image, the lizard speaking, followed by seven loud shots. He began to shake violently, staring at nothing, and when his uncle made to tug him to his feet, Axis simply allowed himself to be yanked into a standing position.

"Not to worry, my boy," his uncle was saying, though his voice sounded muffled, like he was trying to talk through a fog, "I know what you're thinking about; I've saved you the chance to right this wrong."

And then he was being led somewhere, his feet feeling like the big stones in the wall that he and Servali always played on. He didn't pay attention to anything happening around him, unable to bring himself to care about where Grune was taking, letting his uncle lead him wherever, without regard as to where they went. He tried to push the image of his mother dead on the floor from his mind with happy memories, memories of her alive. It worked…for the most part.

But the world still felt cold and dark.

It wasn't until he had to pull his feet up in order to step on the first of the white stone stairs that he came to his surroundings. Briefly scanning the area, he realized with a start that his uncle was leading him up the ruined and charred entrance to the royal palace. Part of him wanted to ask why they were coming here, but his mouth still could not form words, and he walked on, his uncle's hand still on his shoulder. Inside the halls of the palace, lizards were patrolling silently, all of them stopping to salute Axis's uncle as they passed. The first time Axis turned to look at one of them saluting, his eyes slipped past the lizard to the marble floor behind him, finding huge wet red stains turning the floor a dark color. A wave of nausea threatened to overcome and he quickly looked away, forcing his eyes to stay forward or else on his uncle.

He didn't look again after that.

Grune took him to a huge antechamber with a set of thrones perched on a raised dais at the end of the room. There was someone sitting on the central throne, but Axis barely caught a glimpse before his attention was drawn elsewhere by a weak cry of pain. He whipped his head around to see several lizards half-shoving, half-dragging an older cat toward a huge hole in the wall, as his legs seemed hard put to move. Axis watched silently, trying not to cry again as the grandfatherly cat was forced from the room, his old, bright blue eyes only catching Axis's once and softening with a great sadness.

"Axis."

He turned again at the sound of his name, and found to his shock a lizard being forced to the ground before him. The reptile looked up at him, his face registering a building fear, and Axis realized just who he was looking at, the throbbing in his right hand burning just a little worse.

"Filthy cat."

Seven loud shots rang in his ears as his mother's body hit the floor.

"MAMA!"

"Disgusting creatures." the same voice said, followed by the sound of an eighth shot going off.

The lizard looked from Axis to Grune, clasping his hands together pitifully.

"Please, General!" He rasped, "Show mercy!"

"I am, Lieutenant."

It was a bit scary, how fast his uncle's voice could go from warm and gentle to icy and dangerous. Big hands came down on his shoulders, pushing him forward a step.

"Because as of this moment, your fate is my nephew's hands."

Axis tilted his head back to look at his uncle, confused. What did he mean by that? Then something cold and heavy was pushed into his hands, drawing his gaze down, and he had a sinking feeling he knew what Grune meant.

"Here is your chance, Axis." the older saber-tooth murmured, crouching down until he was level with the cub, giving his shoulder a fond shake as he offered him a cold, encouraging smile. "This insubordinate lizard took away your mother. Now you have the chance to show him what it must have felt like for her, what it feels like for you."

Axis glanced up from the gun in his hand to his uncle, to the lizard, back to the gun. He stroked the cool metal absently with his thumb, feeling the pain trying to force its way back to the surface, to break the numbness that was trying to become his shell. His mind began to race, bolstered by a surge of furious anger, and he tightened his hold on the gun.

And then he remembered his mother, chuckling at him kindly when he had to come home early from playing with the other cubs..

"Chin up, Axis my little love."

He could almost feel her slender, kind hands trying to smooth his hair again, and the anger in him died down, replaced by hollow grief.

"If I kill him…" He said slowly, the words feeling strange and wrong on his tongue, "Will it bring Mama back?"

His uncle hesitated again before answering, "No…but you have the opportunity to make right what he did wrong. You'll avenge your mother, and then you won't have to live with the pain of knowing that this monster—" he glared at the lizard, who cowered, "—won't hurt you ever again."

His mother's face swam in his vision again, speaking words of concern from the time he had wanted to fight Ryland for picking on Servali.

"Remember, my little love: Two wrong things will never make something right."

"If it won't bring Mama back," he answered, placing the gun back in Grune's hand, "Then it's stupid and there isn't any point in it."

The adult cat's eyes widened as his face fell in shock, and the lizard flung himself onto the floor, sobbing his gratitude and relief.

"How repulsively touching."
The sneering hiss was cold, colder than the numb void Axis had felt earlier, and it came from the direction of the raised central throne. He turned, getting a good look at the figure there for the first time, and fear swallowed everything else he felt, icy fingers of dread crawling up and down his spine.

The figure had been leaning his weight heavily on the throne, but now he was rising slowly, taking careful, deliberate steps toward them. A long, flowing cloak the color of blood, tattered and frayed at the edges, barely concealed the gray-white bandages that covered his body. The few bits of withered skin Axis could see were stretched taut over sharp bones and were a revolting blue-gray color, where the sharp teeth in his mouth were bright white. But it was his eyes that made this person so frightening. They were as red as his cloak, glowing softly, broken only by a brighter glow that made up his pupils, and they swept over Axis as though they could peel off his skin and expose everything underneath that he felt inside.

"It's astonishing and rather pitiable that any nephew of yours would show such compassion." the monster hissed.

"Come now, my lord." Grune said jovially, putting an arm around Axis's shoulders, "He's just a cub. He'll grow up yet."

Axis shuddered, fear evolving into terror. Uncle Grune worked for this person? Suddenly he had never wanted so much to turn and run away in hopes those red eyes would never find him again. He squirmed and his uncle tightened his arm, as though sensing his thoughts. The creature frowned at Axis, slowly extending a hand, his clawed hand reaching toward the cub's face. Axis flinched away, pushing himself farther back into his uncle's grip, fighting the urge to start screaming and crying; he did not want the red nightmare monster to touch him.

"He knows to fear me," said the monster, slowly lowering his hand, "Very wise for a child."

"And with a bit of time, he'll respect you as well, Mumm-Ra." Grune remarked.

Mumm-Ra gave Grune a skeptical look, but said nothing. Axis glanced up, knees knocking as he tried to catch the older cat's eye.

"Uncle?"

"Just think; when I rebuild Thundera, I'll rule it under you, and Axis will become standing general of your forces beneath me. He has potential, he just needs the training." At this, his uncle turned and grinned. "What do you think, Axis? One day, you may even be king as well."

He didn't want to be king. He wanted to get away from his uncle, who was turning out to be as scary as Mumm-Ra. He wanted to get away from Mumm-Ra, because he had never been so scared in his life.

Most of all, he wanted his mother back.

The cold emptiness and the sadness started to come back, fighting inside him with the terror he felt in the presence of the evil monster before him. He gave a small whimper and looked back up against his better judgment at Mumm-Ra, who was studying him carefully. Those red eyes bored into him, making his heart pound in dread, before they swept toward his injured hand.

"That," Mumm-Ra remarked, "Could prove to be a problem. If it heals poorly, he'll be crippled."

The red eyes flashed toward Grune, narrowing.

"I'll not have an infirm general commanding my army."

The older saber-tooth shifted, and for the first time, Axis got the impression his uncle was actually scared. He turned to look, hoping he could tell his uncle he was scared too without actually speaking.

That was a mistake.

Mumm-Ra's arm shot out, his clawed fingers closing painfully over Axis's injured hand. The cub yelped as he was yanked forward, and the next second, electricity ripped through his entire arm, making him scream in unbridled agony. The wound on his hand hurt worse than before, a thousand needles lit with fire, jabbing into the sore spot over and over again, jolting through his arm all the way up to his shoulder, relentless and unforgiving. The flesh of his hand squirmed and wriggled, boiling like hot water.

"The infirmities of living flesh are a curse, a weakness." Mumm-Ra said quietly.

He screamed again, tears streaming down his face as he tried vainly to pull away.

"Healing comes at a cost, child."

He sobbed, the pinpricks of fire and lightning stabbing ever harder in his hand.

"This hand shall be a curse to you, so long as any part of you remains loyal to Thundera." came the hiss.

The pain in his arm began to lessen, a coolness spreading through his limb, but his hand still burned and boiled and stabbed and ached. His screams died down to uncontrollable sobs. Why wasn't his uncle stopping this?

"But I am forgiving," Mumm-Ra declared simply, withdrawing his power and letting the coolness of healing spread further, but his claws continued to dig into the kitten's soft flesh, "Swearing your loyalty to me will grant you what you deserve."

Axis collapsed to his knees, barely fighting to free his hand any more, his entire frame shaking from pain and silent sobbing.

"Tell me, boy: Whom do you live to serve?"

The tears kept flowing. He just wanted it to end.

"Y-y-you…" he managed to choke out, "M-m-m-Mumm-Ra. I…l-live to s-serve…Mumm-Ra."

And finally the monster released him, letting him collapse to the floor.

"Yes," Mumm-Ra sneered, "You will."

Axis could barely stay on his knees. His entire body felt about as limp as a doll, and he swayed and shook on the spot. Finally, Grune scooped him up and into his arms, his face carefully impassive. The world began to darken again.

"Take him to one of the tanks and be quick about it." Mumm-Ra snapped, turning away from them, "It's a long ride back to my temple, and we still have to secure that wretched wizard."

Those cold words were the last thing Axis heard before waves of darkness swept over him once more.