Welcome back, everyone! I've been waiting for this episode since I began Hiraeth. Enjoy!
The rest of the night was tense and restless for Leopara. Even when everyone else had managed to fall asleep, safe and sound, in the bunk-room, Leopara's nerves were too frayed to do anything but sit in the cockpit and stare out into the darkness with wide eyes.
Didn't any of them get it? They almost lost Lion-O.
They almost lost the war. Everything they were fighting for and had won.
All because she 'needed a break' from everyone else's emotions; because she couldn't just tune out her ability to sense them. No, to do that, she had to be angry.
And she was angry, right now.
She was angry every time she thought of Cheetara. How could she be so foolish? Cheetara was smarter than that- did she really think they would spare Tygra, or any of them, if they surrendered? How did she think they would escape that situation?
Cheetara was a cleric. Whatever else she may or may not have been to Jaga, she had been trusted. It was her duty to protect the crown, to protect Lion-O. And she'd…
She'd tossed it away like it was nothing.
It didn't make sense. Cheetara cherished her service as a cleric. She had always been so responsible, unlike Uncio. Leopara had grown to expect things like this- and worse- from Uncio before Jaga banished him from the clerics, from Thundera even. But Cheetara?
How could she have been so stupid to trust Lion-O's life to Cheetara when Tygra was there? To think Cheetara would still value the oath she made over her personal feelings?
Snowmeow huffed, smacking his tail against the floor.
"Go to bed, Snowmeow." she said aloud. Her voice was tired and a little scratchy from yelling earlier. He scooted closer, with a pleasant click-clack of his claws as he shuffled his paws over the floor. "I'm not tired, promise." She was tired, but too restless to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes to take a nap, she saw Lion-O on his knees, neck stretched out- Slithe grinning viciously above him as his ax glinted coldly in the pale moonlight.
No, no. There wouldn't be any sleep for her. Even if she did, theoretically, manage to sleep, it wouldn't be good sleep. She knew nightmares awaited her when she finally succumbed.
She would rather stay awake.
She couldn't lose everything again.
Snowmeow climbed to his feet with a sad meow. She could hear his claws click-clack on the floor as he walked away, the subtle sound fur dragging as his tail hung limp.
She would make it up to him, she would. Once everyone else was awake, she could rest. But they weren't going to be surprised tonight.
"You're not planning to stay up the whole night, are you?"
The fur on her shoulders raised. "I am, actually."
Tygra moved forward to sit in the seat to her left, where the secondary driver would sit. "Why?"
Leopara tore her eyes away from the screen for the first time in a while and blinked, also for the first time in a while. "Why? Isn't it obvious? In case Slithe ambushes us again. He almost had you three. If he was smart, he'd push the attack while we're still recovering."
"Since when did you know battle strategy?" Tygra sounded amused, but it was weak.
"Since we've been living in a war the last few months?"
He rubbed the back of his head. "Right. Good point. How about I take this watch? I have some weapon maintenance to do anyway. Stupid jackalman batted my rifle around."
Leopara shook her head. "Can't sleep."
"Maybe you could snuggle Snowmeow. He seemed pretty sad for a beast when I passed by him." Tygra suggested with a shrug. He was already examining his pistol. It bore a few scrapes, but didn't look worse for wear- at least not on the outside. She'd spent enough time around the Berbils when they were trying to fix Panthro's arms to know that he'd probably be muttering about calibrations and circuits for the next few hours until dawn. "Either way, we're going to need you and Panthro at your best whenever we encounter those generals again. They pretty much just swatted Cheetara and I around like we were cubs." His voice carried a false air of indifference, but she knew it must have been humiliating for him.
"You think I would be much better?"
"Yeah?" Tygra stopped his examination to give her a look of, 'duh.'
Leopara looked at him skeptically. Her eyes hurt focusing on him and stung from being dry. "You and Cheetara, especially, are better fighters than me."
"Sometimes, I think you have the memory of a fly." he replied blandly.
Her hackles bristled again. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you keep forgetting what you've already done and are capable of, obviously. But you're not going to be able to focus at all if you're asleep on your feet. Go to bed."
"I'm fine, thanks."
Tygra raised one eyebrow at her. "Really? You don't look fine. You can barely sit up and your eyes are red."
"Just leave me alone." she snapped.
He shrugged. "Sure." He returned to his pistol. Leopara returned to staring at the screens showing the outside world. Had anything crept close while she was distracted? Any skulking shadows? Figures hidden in the dark-
A hand pushed against her shoulder, and before she could catch herself, she landed on the floor in a heap. She growled, pushing herself up on her forearms so she could look at Tygra. The effort it took to keep her braid from dragging her head back down to the floor felt monumental.
"What was that for?!"
"Just checking."
"Checking what? If gravity still works?"
He smirked. "If you were as fine as you say you are."
Leopara huffed through her nostrils and climbed to her feet. That was one of her many mistakes that day. The moment she did, her vision swam with spots and her head pounded. She swayed unsteadily on her feet and latched onto the headrest of her chair to balance herself.
"Whoa there. You're not looking so good. Maybe you should sit? Or perhaps you'd like to go lay down?" Tygra asked in that infuriating tone he had when he was mocking someone. Usually Lion-O.
She wanted to strangle him in that moment.
"I hate you." she growled instead.
Tygra held up a hand to his ear, pushing it towards her. "What was that? I couldn't understand you."
"Fine! Fine, I'm going to bed." She didn't wait for him to say anything before she began staggering away.
"Good night." he called after her.
She stumbled her way down the corridor until she reached the bunk room. She made a straight-ish line for the nearest available bed, the lower bed of WilyKit and WilyKat's bunk, and crawled into it.
Within moments, of laying her head down on the pillow and closing her tired, stinging eyes, she was asleep.
For someone who had nearly been executed the night before, Lion-O was surprisingly… chipper. Leopara didn't trust it.
"How about we fire up the Book of Omens, Panthro? Find out where that next stone is?" Lion-O commanded- it sounded like a suggestion, but Lion-O was their king, so it was a command- as they entered the bridge.
Panthro nodded and pressed a few buttons on the interface. The book beeped a couple of times and finally whirred as it projected a red armillary sphere. The smaller sphere within it, the one that possessed an arrow, twirled in place as the arrow slowly tilted upwards. Once the small arrow was pointing straight up, it shot out a red beam.
"Up? How can it be up?" Panthro asked. Both he and Lion-O looked straight up at the ceiling of the cockpit.
Lion-O looked back down at the book. "I don't know. But if the book says the stone is up, then that's where we're going."
Leopara raised a brow, standing beside him with her arms crossed. "...how? Tygra checked last night, and gravity still works."
Tygra let out a single chuckle. "You should have seen the look on your face."
"I still hate you." Her words were hollow, lacking any emotional backing. Tygra's heckling had accomplished its goal, which was making her go to bed. Sleep had been good for her, the three or five hours of it she got- and she had been so exhausted she didn't even dream.
Lion-O ignored them, typing on the Thundertank's interface. The display flipped to show a towering pillar of earth- she hesitated calling it a mountain or a mesa- reaching for the sky. Lush vegetation grew atop its peak.
"Why does up always have to be so high?" Tygra lamented.
"The book can be cryptic at times. Maybe you're misinterpreting the message." Aaaand there went Lion-O's supposedly good mood. The moment Cheetara spoke, it plummeted like a rock tossed off of that mountain would.
"It wouldn't be the first time. But I've learned my lesson." Lion-O began to turn away from them.
"Have you?" Tygra asked. "Because heading up there seems like another wild goose chase."
Lion-O barely paused to gesture at Tygra. "When you're king, you can do things your way. Now, let's go." And then, he continued on.
Tygra watched with frustration.
"Maybe if you two actually gave him advice instead of arguing with him, he would listen to you." Leopara remarked as she passed them by. In a spark of pettiness, she added, "Oh, I guess that's why I'm his advisor."
She ignored the murmuring that erupted behind her and Lion-O. Nonetheless, she still caught snatches of the exchange.
"-with those two?" she heard WilyKit ask.
Cheetara responded, "-'s mad with me, I thi-"
"-hardly any sleep" Tygra added.
"Is this really-" Cheetara asked.
Gruffly, Panthro replied, "-any other ideas?"
"No, but it doesn't seem-" Tygra was saying.
"Hey, uh?"
"-y're leaving us behind…"
Indeed, she and Lion-O had already climbed down the small ladder leading down from the platform towards the exit, and he had already stepped out into the sunlight. Leopara was quick to join him outside, pausing only to look back at Snowmeow. "Stay. Just in case anything happens here, okay?"
He looked up at her with pitiful eyes and rrow-ed sadly at her.
"Not this time, okay? I'll give you a good brushing when I get back." She pet him affectionately before he loped away. The others had finally reached a verdict and were trickling towards her. Leopara turned away and hopped down, once, twice, thrice from the Thundertank to finally reach the ground. Lion-O had already gained some, approaching the base of the path carved into the… mountain.
She hurried to catch up to him and walk by his side.
The others eventually caught up to them- Lion-O had slowed his pace to match hers, just as much as she tried to walk faster to match his- and then lingered behind them in periods of silence and self-contained murmurs for the next couple of hours.
By the time any of them properly spoke, they must have been at least half way there. Maybe a third?
Whiskers, whether it was a tower or mountain, it was huge, both in circumference and in height.
"Do you even know where you're leading us, Lion-O?"
Lion-O glared in their direction from the corner of his eyes. Then, without speaking, quietly grunted and pressed on a little faster than Leopara could walk.
"Right into Mumm-Ra's hands, if you ask me." Panthro commented. "We're totally exposed to attack on this route."
Lion-O's annoyance swelled. Leopara couldn't help but agree, swinging up her arm to conjure a flickering barrier large enough to encompass all of them, even as stretched out as they were. She shook her hand a little in the air and then dropped it, feeling like she'd made her point.
It irked Tygra, but he was not the next one to speak. "How much higher can we go?" WilyKat asked, sounding breathless.
"I'm more worried about the way down." WilyKit answered.
Leopara didn't need to look down to know they were high up. The air was thinning and she could see more and more distant land with a glance. "Get away from the edge, you two." she called, twisting as she walked to look at them.
"She speaks!" Tygra sarcastically quipped.
Cheetara stopped. "Maybe we should consider turning around. What do you think?"
Lion-O was silent. "I think you've already considered it." Leopara replied in his stead, then turning to follow him. "We've trekked more than this before without knowing what was waiting for us. Maybe you should try to have a little faith and loyalty."
Cheetara balked. "I do have faith and I am loyal."
"Is that why Lion-O was almost executed last night?"
"I had to-"
"You didn't have to do anything!" Leopara stopped in her tracks. "All you're doing is making excuses for failing. You're a cleric. You should act like it."
Everyone was quiet and tense for a moment. "Maybe I'm more than just a cleric now, Leopara." Cheetara said in a hushed tone.
"Then you're just like Uncio, if you think the rules and responsibilities don't still apply to you- and just like him, not a cleric after all."
"Leopara-"
"Save your breath." Leopara resumed her hike. She didn't want to let Lion-O's red hair get out of her view now.
Up ahead of her, Lion-O gasped and stopped.
"What is it?" Leopara began to trot to catch up to him, then stopped by his side. "Are those…" her stomach growled at the familiar sight of the red and pink striped canopy of candy fruit trees. She swallowed. "-candy fruit?"
Lion-O nodded. He finally looked at the others, who had joined them in looking at the trees. "I think... we should stop here for a quick rest."
WilyKit and WilyKat exclaimed in glee, "Yay!" and "Alright!" before charging forward with outstretched arms and laughter.
"First good idea you've had all day."
Leopara rolled her eyes. "I don't recall you having any ideas earlier."
Tygra shot her a sharp look before angrily marching on. Cheetara passed them quietly, glancing at both of them. Panthro followed, briefly resting a hand on Lion-O's shoulder before moving on. With the five of them out of the immediate earshot and not paying them much attention, she gently nudged Lion-O.
"I'll save you a fruit." she said quietly.
"Thanks."
Leopara approached the nearest tree, plucking two candy fruit from it. One red and pink, the other medium and light blue. It reminded her of Lion-O's eyes.
She took a bite from the red one, glancing around for him; she was sure he would spend a moment collecting himself and then join them. Rather than approaching her, she spotted him climbing up on the candy fruit tree to pick himself a fruit. He already had a blue one in hand, and reached out for a yellow one.
"Lunch will be easy compared to the stone." he said to himself.
As he was about to take a bite of the yellow fruit, WilyKat scampered up and snatched it out of his hands. Leopara frowned. "Too slow, Your Highness." With no remorse, WilyKat chomped down into the fruit.
While Lion-O glared at him, WilyKit snuck up on his other side and stole the blue one. Lion-O gasped and whipped his head around to look at her. "You really need to keep your eyes open." She gave him a sweet chuckle, then hopped across to sit with WilyKat. They shared a laugh and began to voraciously dig into their fruits.
So… that was how they were going to be.
She reached to her side and grabbed her staff. She didn't even let it finish extending before sweeping it at the two with a gust of wind. Neither of them were expecting it, and Leopara would admit it was a little stronger than intended.
But, to her immense satisfaction, they both yelped and fell from the tree, losing their ill-gotten fruits. Leopara approached, still holding her staff, and held up the blue fruit for Lion-O. "I told you I'd save you one."
Lion-O took the fruit and offered her a smile in return. "Thanks."
"What was that for?" WilyKit demanded.
Leopara turned a hard, disapproving look towards them. "What do you think it was for?" she hissed at them. "Go pick your fruit from the trees, not people's hands." She made a shooing motion with her hand.
WilyKit gulped. "C'mon, sis." WilyKat said, giving her a sour look over his shoulder.
"What's with them?" Lion-O asked, glowering.
The twins were mischievous gluttons and sometimes ill-mannered, but they'd never stolen food right out of their hands before. Leopara shrugged. She rotated the staff a little to create a much smaller version of her tornado, and used it to pluck another candyfruit for herself. "It looks like they already plucked this one most of the way."
"I'll find some more." Lion-O declared, hopping down from the tree.
Leopara took a bite of her new fruit and watched him go. He climbed up the next cluster of trees, where Panthro was gorging himself on one side and Tygra was lounging atop one of the branches. Cheetara was picking fruit from the ground.
When the cheetah spied Lion-O stretching and straining to reach a fruit, she spoke up. "You always do things the hard way, Lion-O."
Lion-O grunted, trying to reach a blue fruit just out of his reach. Just as he got his claws on it, Tygra lashed out with his whip and snatched it away. "Aah! Hey!" he protested.
"A king should never eat before his people." Tygra took a loud bite of the fruit. Despite her earlier interference, Lion-O had enough. He braced both hands on the tree limb Tygra was on, and gave it a good few, hard pushes. Tygra swayed dangerously then yelped as he fell. Tygra landed with a heavy thud. It was very amusing for her to watch. "Or lose his temper." he groused.
"And a good prince doesn't eat before the king." Leopara remarked, walking past him.
Lion-O jumped next to her. She startled, stumbling a couple steps. "Oh, is that it? You're all against me?"
"It's not us, kid." Panthro rejected, clambering closer. "You're your own worst enemy."
"He's right, Lion-O. Just because you're king, doesn't mean you can't learn something from us.
"No, he's not." Leopara crossed her arms. "You stole his food, they stole his food. Did you want him to get fruit juice on the gauntlet or steal your food?" she snapped at them in turn, finishing with Cheetara. "If you want to teach someone something, teach them. Don't be asinine, Tygra."
"That's not fair." Cheetara protested.
Leopara growled at her. "What's not fair is the way you're all acting! None of you have any better ideas, and none of you seem to care that we almost lost everything we've been fighting for last night! Instead of trying to help Lion-O, you're taking out your frustrations on him!"
She expected the pause that followed in the next few heartbeat.
She was not expecting the BOOM! that made the ground they were standing on tremble. It was followed quickly by a second KA-BOOM! that showered stone around them.
"Ambush!" Lion-O cried. Leopara thrust her staff forward with a barrier. "WilyKit! WilyKat! Get closer!" she called out to the twins. They were too far away, too close to the edge-
As the next several missiles slammed into the mountain, each erupting thunderously, the twins were thrown backwards from the edge. The candy fruit trees, none of which fully fit in her barrier, burst into flames and were flung by the force of the missiles.
"I told you we were too exposed!"
"You're not helping!" she screamed. The next explosion rocked her off of her feet. Water droplets from her barrier thudded around her, and smoke rushed to fill the clean air. She coughed, squinting around. Where did everyone go? They were just right next to her!
She heard Tygra's whip fwip in the air. It creaked and groaned while Tygra exclaimed in shock. "Not gonna hide this time." A deep and unfamiliar voice taunted him.
"Tygra!" Cheetara cried. She too exclaimed before Leopara could understand what was happening.
"You run like a girl." A nasely, higher-pitched voice declared before breaking into a fit of laughter.
Tygra was prone on the ground, his whip held in the hand of the giant white ape from the night before. Cheetara was once again held in a headlock, this time by the tall and almost-lanky, except it was apparent he was quite muscular, jackalman.
She climbed to her feet, clutching the staff. Lion-O, where was Lion-O?
She whipped her head around wildly, looking for him.
There. Through the smoke, she caught sight of him running for the Wilytwins. Before she could run after him, a hand grabbed her braid and pulled her back. She cried out in pain and surprise as she was lifted off of her feet. She scrambled to grab her braid and claw at the leathery hand grasping it. "Let go!"
The white ape chuckled darkly.
And then, just as abruptly, she felt an electric shock race through her, starting from her neck. She screamed again, before finally going limp. Then, and only then, did the ape drop her. She landed in an undignified heap, vision swimming and limbs feeling like lead.
What… what just…
She struggled to reach up and touch her neck. Something… something was there. Her claw grazed over cold metal before another electric shock danced through her. She cried out again, tears filling her eyes from the pain.
When the shock ended, she lay there, panting and watching as the jackalman and ape both grabbed a hold of Lion-O. Slithe stepped in- what was he doing? He stepped back holding…
The Sword and the Gauntlet.
No… no!
Leopara strained against every aching, burning muscle in her body to push herself up and grab hold of her staff. She clenched it as tightly as she could, hearing the wood creak.
Slithe slapped Lion-O in the face with his tail, sending him careening to the ground.
She took one, shuffling step forward.
Slithe was speaking, but she could only hear his voice without words. The white ape stepped close to WilyKit, cutting her off from her brother. Slithe pointed at her.
Leopara shuffled forward another step.
She had to get there…
The white ape slightly raised his club. Lion-O lunged at Slithe, snatching the gauntlet from him. Slithe shouted- "Grab him!" The white ape snapped around and slammed his club into the ground where Lion-O was just a moment before; Lion-O lept and flipped out of the way, landing on the other side of the jackalman, near the edge of the path. He teetered there for a moment.
The jackalman took a step.
"Lion…" Leopara tried call out.
"Lion-O!" WilyKit screamed.
The jackalman took two more steps and effortlessly shoved Lion-O. "Aah!" Lion-O shouted as he tumbled over the crumbling ledge.
"No!"
She staggered, falling to her knees to the edge of the path next to her. She took deep, painful breaths, pulling forth her magic to make winds.
She had to.
She had to catch him.
It was just a long fall to the river below.
He couldn't survive the fall-
The collar on her neck tightened and let out another burst of electricity that seared her veins. Her hand convulsed, dropping the staff. The gathered winds burst, blowing her backwards into the wall. Her vision turned black for a moment, then blurred into colors.
And then, it went black again.
As her consciousness faded, she had one last thought.
Lion-O...
Thank you all for reading! A special thank you to The Night Whisperer, Heart of the Demons, and Frankannestein! I always thought everyone was unnecessarily catty towards Lion-O in this episode. Leopara was not having it! Too bad she couldn't save Lion-O after spending the day so over-protective of him... she definitely won't experience any trauma over that!