Key:
Flashback = Flashback (Obviously)
Dream = Dream
Time Passage =...
- (BORDER) - = perspective change
Anyway, chapter information:
Genres: Adventure and Drama
Warnings: Scenes of violence and explicit language. !CHARACTER DEATH!
Date started (Chapter): Wednesday 16th December 2015
Date finished (Chapter): N/A Yet
Song/s: Breaking the Habit by Linkin' Park
Chapter 19: Breaking the Habit
The wind howls overhead as sheets of ice-cold rain pour from the sky. I knew that I'd regret this decision, but what choice did I have?
When I finally see Grune, we're in a low ridge between two outcrops just outside of the forest. I keep low as I track him; I can see him just below me, and that's when my foot slips on a loose rock and sends it bounding down the slope. Grune looks up just as I pounce and he dodges out of my way; I hit the ground and roll before coming up into a crouch. Grune snarls at me and unsheathes his big double handed sword. I've brought a battle axe that Bengali made for me as well as the Sword of Omens. I stand up and grab my axe from my side. We circle each other, growling with our fur standing on end down our bare backs. I'd left my armour behind so that I'd be stealthier, but wish that I have it right now.
"Hello, Lion-O..." Grune growls as he looks right into my eyes "I can see that you kept with the promise of the fight."
"Grune..." I growl as we stand still "I was a fool to let myself do this..."
"You should not have tracked me, 'my lord'!" Grune snarls sourly, spitting the end of the sentence with venom on his tongue.
"Don't call me that!" I snarl back at him "You lost that privilege all those years ago when you turned against your people! This has to end, and it has to end NOW!" I can't let him live.
Grune just chuckles at me and says "So be it, 'my lord'!" Then, he lunges at me. I catch the swing of his blade on the Claw Shield and spin to the left, swinging my axe with all my might; Grune dodges and the axe harmlessly passes his chest. I keep spinning, but this time raise the axe high above my head and bring it crashing down into his sword as he deflects my blow. The valley rings with the sound of steel clashing against steel as we battle.
We disengage and circle once again, so I lunge at Grune once again, but he dodges again. I over-step, leaving my back open for his sword to slice across it; I raise the Sword of Omens and shout
"Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats..."
But I'm cut off as I scream in agony as I feel his blade glide across my back, splitting skin and muscle and grinding against bone as he swings his blade around, causing me to drop the Sword. I grit my teeth against the pain as I fall to my knees. The wound isn't bad or life threatening, but still hurts like hell, and I know that I'm going to need stitches. I hear Grune laugh as he says "You'll have to try better than that, my lord!"
He presses the blade of the Sword of Omens against my throat, not releasing the pressure, no matter how much I try to push him off. I try to breathe, but I can't.
Grune cackles as he sees me desperately struggling against him. "Well, well, well! I never could have ever thought that I would be so close to killing one of the sons of the man who used to be one of my best friends!" Grune roars, but I manage to get my feet onto his chest, sending him reeling backwards as I kick him.
I get up and turned to face him, blood gushing down my back. I crouch and bring my axe up defensively. He kicks dust into my face and lunges again, but I'm ready for him this time. I swing my axe up towards him, and catch him in the chest, slicing him from waist to shoulder. A jagged line of blood seeps from the wound as he screams in agony. I only just recover my stance when he lunges at me again; his anger evident in his enraged expression at being caught off guard. I deflect his blow with the shaft of my axe which splits in two, sending jagged shards of wood everywhere.
We back away from each other, knowing that we are equal. We circle each other again, panting and trying to regain energy, waiting for the first move. "What is it that you even want, Grune?" I snarl as I look the sabre-toothed tiger right in the eyes. The evil Thunderian chuckles before replying with "Well...For starters, I want you dead!" I see what he's planning. I growl menacingly before snapping "You would never dare try to do anything to me! You know that the Thunderian Council AND the Thundercats would have you arrested and executed if you by some way managed to kill me!"
Grune laughs before saying "And what could your so-called 'precious' Thundercats do? Your son is but a cub; he is less than a month old, and so there would be nobody to take over as King or Lord of the Thundercats!"
I growl menacingly, but it's more guttural this time. "If you think that you can defeat me, Grune, you can kiss my ass! I won't give in to defeat!" I snarl, blood gushing down my back as I feel my strength fading.
The sabre-toothed tiger cackles menacingly before saying "You're a sentimental fool, Lion-O! Just for you, my sword was laced with liquid Thundranium! Which means that, by now, it will have entered your bloodstream!"
He catches me off-guard and uppercuts me, knocking me back down onto the floor; I throw my axe away and shout "Sword of Omens, come to my hand! I, Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats command it!"
The Sword of Omens flies into my hand, and I stand up again, making Grune laugh.
"That's not going to help you, my lord! One thing Mumm-ra requested for me to tell you is that the collapse of the Tower of Omens was meant to kill you, not the lynx!" Grune snarls, clutching his bleeding chest.
"I told you not to call me your Lord!" I growl as we both move at the same time. Our swords clash and lock together, bringing us face to face. I seize my chance and head butt him square in the face. His nose explodes in a spray of blood as he stumbles backward. I use my sword hand and punch him as hard as I possibly can. It has the desired effect as it catches him square on the jaw, breaking his remaining sabre tooth. He howls in agony and he keeps stumbling backwards.
I raise the sword above my head for the killing blow, but as I bring it down, he steps back and the blade slices down the side of his face, cutting him from cheek to forehead diagonally. He howls in pain and steps forward as I swing across; the sword's blade cuts a deep gash in his throat. Blood spurts from the wound as he collapses, clutching the gash on his throat from which the split ends of his trachea protrude, making me feel slightly sick. I spit on him as he lies drowning in his own blood. "I was never your lord!" I say, and then I turn around and walk away, trying to distract myself from the pain that I am in.
...
Where am I? What am I doing here? Why did I willingly put myself into this situation?
Seemingly endless questions race through my mind as I stagger onwards through the thick jungle undergrowth, struggling to stay upright. The ice-cold winter wind buffets me as I walk on in a desperate struggle to reach Cats' Lair before sundown. My back is pure agony, and the blood that gushes from the deep gash feels like a thick slime which trickles down the backs of my legs, soaking my feet and fur. I can barely breathe because the pain is so bad, so my breath comes in ragged spasms of panting through gritted teeth as I force myself on, my heavily injured body only just managing to cope with the pain and stress of being forced onward.
I feel weak, tired and hungry; my shirt is near enough sliced open at the back, and is completely soaked with blood. The rain which falls feels like needles being stabbed into my body, but I continue to force myself on, knowing that I could die if I don't reach the Lair by sundown. I can hear voices getting closer, and I know that they are Thunderians. I stumble out into a clearing where a small group of ThunderGuard scouts are taking a break from training.
"Great Jaga's beard! It's King Lion-O!" one of them shouts as they run to me, "Bobbie, help me with him!"
The one that helped me up puts his hand on my back, and I see his horrified expression at the fact that his hand comes away slick with blood. "SHIT! We need to get him to the Lair NOW! He's badly wounded!"
They hoist me up onto one of their horses, and I black out immediately afterwards. I'm only just aware of the jarring movements of the horse...
I open my eyes; I'm lying in the infirmary, and the curtains are drawn, flooding the room with bright sunlight. I try to sit up, but I haven't got the strength to move. I look at my right arm, and see that a drip is connected to the inside of my elbow. I lay my head back on my pillow as a soft groan escapes my lips. I feel so strange, yet so exhausted. I can barely keep my eyes open, but I hear a slight voice beside me; "Morning, lazybones!"
I weakly look up to see Cheetara sitting in a chair by the side of my bed, and Pumyra is standing beside her, flicking through my medical record. "You've been out cold for nearly 24 hours, but I'm guessing that it's just a side-effect from the anaesthesia that you were put under. You're going to be a bit sore for a little while, but it is understandable." the young puma says, and then I remember what happened.
"How the hell did you manage to save me? After what Grune did to me, how did I not die?" I ask weakly, to which Pumyra replies with "It was a fight to save you because you were bleeding so badly, and some of the muscles on your back had been sliced through, but they've all been repaired. Anyway, about Grune," the young puma looks me in the eyes, and I can't help but gulp; I know that I'm in for it. "You left a trail of blood through the forest, and the scouts who weren't coming to Cats' Lair followed it, but by the time they got there, there was just a pool of blood."
"But that's impossible. I killed Grune; I watched him die in front of me. When I went for him with the Sword of Omens, I cut his throat open. I watched him drown in his own blood." I say, struggling to sit up as Pumyra slips an oxygen mask onto my face.
"Don't go getting yourself so worked up, Lion-O. What you need now is rest, and getting all worked up about Grune isn't going to help you." the young puma says as she gently pushes me back down onto the bed and tries to keep me down "Now, you need to stay lying down or you'll tear your stitches out, and all of mine and Tygra's hard work will have been for nothing. If you keep on squirming like this, I'll have to sedate you, and you definitely won't like that."
Despite the fact that I have barely any strength left, I struggle against Pumyra, who seems to be as strong as a horse to me due to my weakened state.
"Get off of me!" I roar, my claws coming forth as I growl, bearing my fangs. "Why is it that he always has such a bad reaction to anaesthesia?" I hear Pumyra mumble to herself as she takes some thickly padded strips of material from the bed next to us, and struggles to keep me down long enough to restrain me to the bed before grabbing a hypodermic syringe.
"This is for your own good, Lion-O!" she says as she pops the cap off of the syringe, and then she stabs it into my right thigh before pressing the plunger down. I feel the icy fluid flowing through my body as the sensation of drowsiness sweeps over me, seconds before it sweeps me away into a deep state of unconsciousness...
"I just can't believe that any of this has happened. Especially with how quickly it's happened, too."
"Times are hard at the moment, Lion-O, but it will get better. I promise you that."
I look into Cheetara's eyes as she straightens the tie around my neck. I could barely sleep last night because ever since Lynx-O's death two weeks ago, I've been plagued by re-occurring horrific nightmares every night. My wife smiles at me before turning to our one month old son who lies half asleep in his cot, lifting him up and lying him on our bed before changing him from his sleep suit into a smart outfit similar to a suit, which the young cub objects to by starting to cry and squeal, making such an annoying loud-pitched noise that it almost drives me nuts.
"I don't think he likes that very much." I say as Cheetara picks Katzeran up and cradles him in her arms.
She laughs slightly before saying "He's probably grouchy because he's hungry. He hasn't been fed yet this morning because he was asleep."
I sigh as I sit down next to Cheetara and look at our cub. "I can't believe that he was so ill just a few weeks ago. That medicine really did cure him." I say as I put an arm around my wife's shoulders before kissing her on the cheek.
"I love you so much, Lion-O."
I sigh slightly, yet contently as I gently hold the cheetah against my chest. "I love you so much too, 'Tara. More than you'll ever know. If it ever came to it, I would give my own life to keep you, Katzeran, and the other Thundercats safe." I whisper into her ear, making her smile. "I'd do the same for you."
I sigh again before saying "Well, we'd better go downstairs. The funeral is in half an hour..." my voice trails off, and my wife remains silent. "We have visitors from Third Earth who came to attend Lynx-O's funeral, seeing as how we have so many close friends on Third Earth; Willa, Nayda, Snowman and Snowmeow have all come to pay their respects." she eventually says, but I don't reply to her. I just stare out of the window, watching as rain starts to fleck the window pane, the sky slowly turning from a pastel-blue to a murky grey as storm clouds conceal the sun from view...
"Lion-O? Lion-O, can you hear me? Pumyra, he's coming round, but he's seemingly fighting it."
My vision is blurry and I feel sick. I feel like I'm soaking wet, and I'm uncontrollably trembling. One of my eyes is forced open and a light is shone into my eye. "His pupils are responding to the light, but he's seriously struggling with coming round."
I try to sit up, but I can't move my arms. "Lion-O, stay down, ok?"
My vision eventually starts to clear and I see Cheetara and Pumyra. My wife looks extremely worried, and the puma is rapidly working around my bed.
"'Tara? Wh...Wha...What's going on? Where am I?" I ask, my voice no more than a pathetic, weak whisper. Cheetara takes my hand and says "You're in the infirmary."
I blink weakly before saying "I..I had an operation...didn't I?" My wife nods. I can remember some, but everything is hazy.
"It sure is good to see you again, Thundercats."
I smile at Willa despite the current sombre occasion before saying "And it sure is lovely to see you and your sister, Snowman and Snowmeow again."
"Anyway, what has happened whilst you've been living on New Thundera? We've already seen the city, and it is simply amazing that you constructed such a complex city." Snowman asks, to which I reply with "Quite a lot has happened since then. For example, I re-met my twin brother Leo, and me and Cheetara got married, and had a cub."
Snowman turn to Cheetara and asks "And who's this little one?" as he sees Katz, who is fast in my wife's arms. The cheetah smiles before saying "This is Katzeran, our son."
"He's adorable. How old is he?" Willa asks, so I reply "He's about four to five weeks old, maybe even 6 weeks."
"He looks so much like you, Lion-O," Nayda says as she looks up at me "Anyway, what's it like to rule an entire planet?"
"Well, strictly speaking, I'm the King of New Thundera ANDThird Earth, but I find it weird. And with being royalty, I find myself starting to wonder what life is like for the commoners, but other than that, it's great to live the high life." I say, then Cheetara says "He HAS had a few 'power trips' though. I can understand why the power sometimes goes straight to his head. ESPECIALLY because he's 10 years younger mentally than he is physically."
I growl, but ever-so-slightly in a tone which is only audible to Thunderians. I absolutely hate it when people talk about me as if I'm not there.
"Well, anyway," I say as I look at the watch on my wrist – I got given it by Cheetara on my 21st birthday a few days before Katzeran was born, "We'd better go and take our seats; the funeral begins in a few minutes."
My friends agree solemnly, and so follow me into the entrance hall where the service shall take place. Pumyra and Bengali told us how they would like the service because of how they were the lynx's best friends, and we tried our best to make what they wanted a reality.
"Hey Lion-O!"
I turn to look behind me, and I see Leo approaching me from behind, his two sons trailing behind him. My brother and his cubs are wearing suits, and their manes are pulled back into warrior's braids.
Leo stops beside me as he says "Y'know, I am REALLY sorry for your loss and all, but I don't know why you invited me to the funeral because I never actually KNEW Lynx-O."
I sigh. I physically can't give my brother an answer, mainly because I don't know what to say. He looks at me out of the corner of his eyes. "Lion-O, are you ok?"
I don't answer him. I actually can't. Every time I try to talk, no words come out; no physical sound is made as I try to speak. I just feel so trapped within the mental confines of my own mind; bound to my anxiety as the old side of me is subjected to repression. I never asked for any of this.
I feel a friendly hand settle on my shoulder, and I turn around to see Cheetara. She looks concerned, and I know that she's managed to pick up on my emotions. "Lion-O, I know that something is wrong with you," my wife mumbles in my ear "But don't you think that this is all starting to get out of hand?"
I sigh huffily and walk ahead of them before taking my seat. I'm expected to give a speech, and I feel so nervous. I've never actually been a good public speaker, and I suffered from slight anxiety as a cub due to the fact that I was...publicly humiliated...when I was about 6 or 7 years old, and that left me mentally scarred...
...
A few days later...
"Well, the stitches have been removed and the wounds are healing up nicely. You'll have a scar down your back, but it'll be covered up once your fur starts growing back around the area of the wound. You will have to be careful with what you do for a little bit until the wound is fully healed, which will probably take two to three days. But you can leave today" Pumyra says as she puts a fresh dressing on the wound on my back and wraps a clean bandage around my chest and abdomen.
"Well that's a relief. I was expecting it to be more severe than that because of the Thundranium poisoning." I say as Cheetara sits by my side on my bed. She's holding Katzeran, who is hungrily guzzling down a bottle of milk. Mine and Cheetara's cub is two months old, nearly three months, and he's just so greedy.
"You were exactly the same when you were his age, Lion-O. The amount of bottles that you and Leo downed a day was crazy, and your father would be up every two hours at night because you were both feeding constantly. You were both so demanding, but I suppose the fact that there were two of you because you were twins and there were two of you doesn't help much." Cheetara says as she chuckles slightly.
"Well, that's the first I've heard of that story..." I say as I shift slightly, almost uncomfortable.
Cheetara chuckles again as she stands up before saying "Well, it's true. When you were a young cub, you were a handful, especially when you were a newborn. You got dangerously ill when you were born, and every night until you were better, you'd cry, and nothing that your father and the midwives did would soothe you."
My wife helps me get up off of the bed, and as we walk out of the door, I can't help but feel lost in my thoughts. So much has happened, and I am so lucky to be alive. I've nearly lost my life so many times over the past year, and all are down to my recklessness and impetuosity...
I gulp nervously as I walk up to the area at the front of the entrance hall. All of the memories have long since come flooding back of an unfortunate and embarrassing event from my past in which I'd been at school and I'd got so nervous that I'd wet myself because I had to do a presentation in front of my class.
As I stop before the coffin in which my friend lies in, I clear my throat before beginning my speech;
"I...I d...I didn't actually know Lynx-O as well as the other Thundercats, but I can without-a-doubt safely say that we were close friends prior to his passing. When we rescued the newest Thundercats-Pumyra, Lynx-O and Bengali- from Mumm-ra's icy clutches, it became obvious to me that they were all going to be extremely important members of the team, seeing as how Pumyra is a fully-trained professional medic, Bengali is a skilled blacksmith, and Lynx-O was un-doubtfully by far the smartest and wisest of the living. I owe what I know about my family and most of what I know about myself to him because he taught me so much about what I couldn't remember, and he always was and always will be a valued member of the Thundercats.
"I have only one regret, and that is that I tried to save him when the Tower of Omens collapsed, but due to the nature of the incident, my attempt to get us both out alive was futile- when the Tower collapsed, we were both buried alive by the rubble. I was extremely lucky to get out alive, but it pains me that Lynx-O was not as lucky as I was."
I look around me, and see that Pumyra is sobbing, being comforted by Bengali, who has been her boyfriend for just under two years now. I have so much more that I want to say, but I don't know how to get the words out, so I just go and sit back down...
...
Later on the same day...
"Lion-O, we need to talk..."
I turn around and look at Cheetara, who is holding Katzeran, as she stands behind me. My wife looks rather troubled, and I instantly realise that whatever she has to say must be extremely important.
"Sure, sure. Have a seat." I say as I perch on the edge of my desk. The cheetah sits down in one of the chairs before me. Without saying anything, I quickly but thoroughly examine her facial expression with my eyes. The look on her face is concerning, and I can't help but feel like I'm about to receive a bollocking.
"Lion-O, I've had this thought on my mind for a little while now; how on Third Earth did you escape from the fight with Grune with so few injuries? It was a fight to the death, and you managed to kill a Thunderian who stands at over twice your size." Cheetara says as Katz grabs a handful of her mane and shoves his fist into his mouth, dribbling and drooling all over her clothes.
"I escaped from the fight by giving Grune exactly what he wanted; a fight to the death," I say as I walk up to my wife and take our son from her so she could pull something from her pocket.
"This is a photograph of the place where the battle between you two commenced. By the time the scouts reached the site, there was no sign of Grune's body, but there was evidence of a fight because of how much blood was soaked into the mud and on the rocks. Lion-O, what if you never actually killed Grune? What if he is still out there, wounded but alive?"
"There is no way that Grune could have possibly survived. I slit his throat with the Sword of Omens; I watched him drown in his own blood. I watched him die!" I say, but the thought that Grune could still be alive and walking about sends shivers down my spine, especially with the injuries that he got during the fight.
That night as I stand on the balcony of mine and Cheetara's bedroom, I can't help but be immersed in my thoughts. I can see the capital city of New Thundera sprawled out in the near-distance, and I can't help but sigh as I feel a mixture of immense pride and intense guilt. I can hear the crickets chirruping in the courtyard below, and as I stand along in the coolness of the late-winter air, I can't help but reflect on my life. I haven't felt this calm since the night Katzeran was born in late November last year. A slight chilled breeze whips my mane around my face, causing my fur to stand on end as goose bumps cover my bare arms and legs.
I look up at the stars and sigh for a second time before speaking out loud. "I don't know whether you can hear me or not Father, but do you approve of who and what I have become? I...I found Leo again, but it seems like he hates me now. We were always so close when we were cubs, but the destruction of Old Thundera and the years apart that we spent believing that the other was dead seems to have destroyed our bond as brothers and torn us apart..."
"Lion-O? Are you alright?"
I quickly turn around and see Cheetara standing behind me, wrapped in her thick dressing gown. I feel myself blushing a deep shade of red. "I don't know how much of that you heard...but I bet I sounded crazy..." I say as my wife walks up behind me and wraps her arms around my chest. "Lion-O, you're absolutely freezing! How long have you been out here? Come inside into the warm." the cheetah says, so we walk inside, and Cheetara gets herself settled in bed, having settled Katzeran off to sleep earlier, as I lock the doors of the balcony and close the curtains before turning in for the night.
I crawl under the covers and lie on my side, yawning heavily. "About what you said a few minutes ago, I'm ok. I just have a lot on my mind." I say.
"I noticed. And you didn't sound crazy. I sometimes still talk to my mother, even though I'm not sure whether she can hear me or not."
I sigh slightly before turning off the bedside lamp. My wife cuddles into my chest, and I drift off to what will probably be the best sleep I've had in ages...
Next time on Thundercats:
5 years on, now that Katzeran is older, Lion-O and Cheetara find themselves struggling to cope with their hyperactive cub, especially when it comes to teaching him about the dangers on New Thundera, but when an unknown danger appears, can the pair keep their young son safe?
Find out in the next chapter of Thundercats: Wake Up!
A/N: -_- I can't believe how long this has taken. But at least it's done and out of the way. Just wanted to let you guys know that this is the last chapter of Era 1, meaning that the next chapter will be the first chapter of Era 2, which takes place 5 years into the future. Hope you enjoyed it. :)