"Gone. It's all gone."

WilyKit and WilyKat just stood and stared for a long time. The home they had known ever since they arrived here was gutted, ripped from the earth. In fact, it looked like nothing had ever been there at all, if not for the rock cuts they'd made to fit the Lair in.

And no sign of anyone else.

"Where are the others?" WilyKit spoke in a whisper as if she was afraid of the answers. But speaking it aloud caused the fear thudding in her heart to break loose.

With a wild dash, she left her brother and scrambled up the rock wall, where the stairs had once been, clawing her way to the wide chasm in the back that had once held their home.

She screamed names as she went, tripping once as she sought anything in the wide carved out rock. "Lion-o! Pumyra! Panthro! Tygra! Bengali! Snarf! Lynx-o! Snarfer! Cheetara! This isn't funny! Answer me!"

Her voice caught and carried by the huge space, only succeeding in making her feel more alone than ever. It was her and her voice.

Where was everyone?!

She ran to the edge of the chasm, hell intent on climbing by hand to the top, where the Cats' Head once was. She would not, could not stop!

"Kit!" Her brother's voice felt so far away. "Stop! You'll fall!"

Fine! Let her fall! At least she was trying to do something!

But her legs felt heavy, sinking under an invisible weight. The feeble grip she had on the stone was cracking. And she hadn't even gotten to the side of the cliff yet.

The wind ruffled her hair and she swore it felt like rhythmic strokes, parting and caressing. Oh, if only it was…

You're panicking. That doesn't help anyone. Calm. Breathe. Assess. Plan.

Reluctantly, she let herself slid back down. Her brother caught her and the two of them crumbled together.

But…that guidance. That reminder…

Kit knew her own inner voice. That hadn't been it.

OOO

"Mrr, WilyKit stop it!"

Snarf and Snarfer had taken off on the kitten's heels as soon as she began running. By the time she reached the cliff side, both snarfs had leapt at her legs at least three times, passing through each time.

"Snarfer, Snarfer, she'll fall, Uncle Snarf!"

"I know, I know!"

The others rushed over, WilyKat passing through them as they did, also trying to reason with his sister. But she dug her claws into the rock regardless.

Snarfer leapt a fourth time. "Don't go up there, WilyKit! Don't make us watch you fall!"

"Not when we can't catch you!" Snarf leapt at her again.

And the oddest thing happened.

While one couldn't reliably say they made contact—they passed through just as before—it was different. They fell slower, as if caught in gel.

And Kit's legs dipped, as if they felt the pressure.

Tygra frowned. "Snarf, Snarfer, what did you do?"

"We don't know!" The two cried in unison but they took advantage to cling to Kit, in a way, as long as possible.

"What's happening?" Lion-o turned to the tiger. "Tygra, are they able to…"

"Not completely, it seems." Tygra shook his head. "But something is getting through."

"How?" Pumyra spoke aloud. "Nothing else we're doing seems to have any impact."

"Perhaps," Lynx-o reasoned. "It is not the action but the emotion behind it."

Bengali have a confused growl, "What do you mean?"

"It is merely a theory—"

"A theory is better than what we've got right now," Panthro reminded him. "Let's hear it."

"Perhaps strong has the ability to bridge the barrier between us, at least to a certain degree."

"Emotion?" Cheetara echoed even as she considered the implications of such a concept.

"Yes. After all, the lifeblood of our people is justice, truth, honor and—"

"Loyalty." Everyone spoke as one.

"So, it would stand to reason that any one of those concepts might bridge Mumm-ra's magic. It has always faltered under such conditions."

"But," Snarfer protested in voice but did not move from WilyKit. "I went right through them when I ran to greet them!"

"Yes." Lynx-o agreed. "Because the emotion you felt—happiness—while powerful indeed was not strong enough. But here…" he gestured. "You feared for someone you love. That carries immense power."

Tygra stepped forward. "Well, let's see if there's something to that."

He reached out and had he been able to, he would have stroked Kit's hair back, as he had done before when she was frightened or upset. He made the motions anyway.

You've every right to be scared. I'm scared. But this won't help.

But if she climbed that cliff…Tygra and Panthro had looked over the cliffs carefully when they built the Lair. And he had no doubt, she would fall.

The Small Cat clan was tough, durable but he knew what such a fall would do to her body. His stomach turned at the mere thought and his heart raced. If he could hug her, even for a moment…

He spoke instead, in the soft, gentle tone he was known for. "You're panicking. That doesn't help anyone. Calm. Breathe. Assess. Plan."

After what seemed an eternity, WilyKit slid back to the ground, her brother beside her.

And she took a breath. Then another. Deliberate deep breaths.

Tygra looked to the others. "Lynx-o might be onto something."

OOO

WilyKat returned from his short trip to the nearby Wollo and Bolkin villages around sundown. After Kit had calmed, the two of them had taken a much more logical approach, using the space boards to examine the areas higher up, examining the ruins for signs of anything. Evidence of escape, hiding, injury, anything.

Kit had gone to the Bernie Village shortly after, seeing if they'd noticed anything. No such luck. But she'd returned with candy and bread fruit.

Now, WilyKat came back with a similar downtrodden expression. He took a seat next to his sister, huddled up against the far back of the chasm, taking what protection could still be offered by home.

"Nothing?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No. Just the same dark storm. Nothing else." He pulled some wrapped up blankets and small sack from under his arm. "They sent blankets and some milk. Offered us a bed there but…"

"The Berbils did too. I said the same thing." She took the small flask her brother offered her and though she didn't feel hungry or thirsty at all, she drank. "Here."

WilyKat took the ratio of candy fruit and breadfruit from her silently but made no move to ingest. "What are we gonna do?"

"Dunno." Kit was honest, her voice tight. "Had to be Mumm-Ra. Only he could do this kind of thing."

WilyKat nodded, still just staring at the food in his hands.

Eat. You can't think if you don't eat. Starving yourself won't help anyone.

He blinked, looked around.

His sister noticed. "WilyKat?"

He looked at her "Nothing. I just..it was like Cheetara was here." He pointed to his head. He smiled, a bit. "Told me to eat."

Instead of scolding him for being silly, as he expected, she said, "I swore Tygra told me not to panic. When I was trying to climb the cliff."

WilyKat took a small bite of the breadfruit. It felt bland to him. "Maybe…they did."

The two went quiet after that, eating silently and leaning against one another when they couldn't force themselves to take another bite. At some point, they wrapped the blanket about themselves.

"I'm frightened." WilyKit said it so softly, her face on her brother's shoulder. "I'm frightened." Her eyes grew wet and she tried to hide them in her sibling's shirt.

He pulled her close, cursing his own tears. "Me too." He looked up and around in their vast, empty little abode. "I'm scared too."

The two let their cries run free when the thunder overhead of an approaching storm helped drown them out.

OOO

"Blast you, you miserable mummy!"

Panthro's curse went unanswered as he and the others huddled as close to the twins as they could. The older panther had reached out, almost instinctively, when the twins began to cry.

But he still couldn't touch them. Couldn't soothe them. Couldn't reassure them that they weren't alone, that the others were right here!

Cheetara and Lynx-o had been focusing on the storm. It carried the same ominous feeling as the night before and they now knew that there was true danger in it.

"It's coming." Cheetara said suddenly.

The others looked up and sure enough as the rain began to come so did that horrific mist. That mist that started this whole mess.

"He's trying to come for the Thunderkittens." Lion-o spoke it firmly, with such assurance.

"Let him try!" Panthro immediately drew his nunchucks and fired at the approaching mist.

It went right through it.

Biting his lip, Lion-o pointed the sword. "Ho!"

Nothing. It went right through the black tendrils like it was never there.

Tygra withdrew his whip, slashing down and about, forming a net of ice that spread to form a solid wall.

The mist crept through it.

Cheetara released a blast from her staff and even tapped into what little of her telekinesis she could.

No effect.

Bengali's hammer blast, Pumyra's sling and pellets and Lynx-o's light shield blasts had similar responses.

The mist still came, curling to the sleeping twins.

"No! No!"

It was Pumyra that first ran to the twins, crouching around them, using her own body as a shield. The two snarfs followed her and then, one by one, the others.

They pressed tight together, leg to leg, arm to arm. Their heads they pressed to the hard wall, creating a barrier of flesh and spirit.

"You can't take them Mumm-ra." Lion-o's voice should have shook the heavens for all the ferocity in it. "You won't! I, Lion-o, Lord of the Thundercats, forbid it!"

"Keep your miserable hands off them, you bag of bones!" Panthro

"They are not yours. And you won't have them!" Tygra.

"Don't touch them. You won't touch them!" Cheetara.

"Leave them alone!" Snarfer.

"They're only kids. Don't hurt them! Leave them be!" Snarf.

"If you think you're getting them, you have another thing coming!" Bengali.

"Get away from them!" Pumyra.

"Your evil will not have our youngest." Lynx-o.

The Thundercats' eyes grew golden, as if they had seen the symbol in the sky. Their insignias burned blood red and the Thundercats roar rolled through their blood.

The mist crept about them. Cold, slimy, with every iota of evil they would expect from the undead mage. It swirled within their bodies, turning their stomachs, making them feel stripped, vulnerable.

Not an atom of it touched the Thunderkittens.