AN: Post pilot, mid-Ramlak Rising and concurrent with "Paradigm Shift."

Nightmare

Yumiko Kaze

"You're angry, Lion-O."

Lion-O bristled. He wasn't in the mood to listen to anyone right now, least of all an emotionless Cleric, and Cheetara's well-meant statement only served to fan the flames of Lion-O's rage. Before he could stop himself he snapped, "I should hope I'm not the only one. We're going after Mumm-Ra. And that's a command."

He stormed off, leaving Cheetara and Tygra to either follow or be left behind. They followed, as he knew they would, albeit at a safe distance. Lion-O wasn't sure if he felt ashamed or proud that they seemed to fear his ire.

They should fear it. Like everyone feared father. No one ever questioned him.

A part of Lion-O recognized that he wasn't acting like himself at all. Where was the lion who had granted mercy to a pair of lizards? The Lion-O who had wanted to sue for peace between the species and try for a new beginning? The larger part, the angry one, rationalized that this was how his father would have done it and that thought alone justified everything for Lion-O at the moment.

Especially since Cheetara and Tygra seemed to be taking everything so calmly. Jaga and Claudus were dead, and neither of Lion-O's companions had said so much as an angry word. Or even shed a tear. Someone should be upset. It might as well be me.

Behind him he could hear Cheetara and Tygra holding some sort of conversation in hushed tones. He stopped, a scowl on his face, and spat, "Is there something one of you wants to say?"

The two of them froze. When they glanced at each other instead of answering immediately, Lion-O's eyes narrowed. They'd been talking about him.

"Well?" he pressed, eyes flicking from one to the other, daring them to challenge him.

Holding her hands out in a placating manner, Cheetara finally answered, "We were just thinking that it would a good idea if we gathered some supplies before going after Mumm-Ra."

Tygra nodded in agreement. "There's no telling how long we'll be traveling. We might as well leave here as prepared as possible."

Lion-O's jaw clenched. He knew they were right, but all he felt was rage that they were questioning his authority. And anger that he hadn't thought of it himself. What kind of leader was he if he had to depend on them to come up with these sorts of things? "All right," he barked. "Find what supplies you can and meet back here within the hour."

Cheetara frowned, obviously not pleased with his tone, but inclined her head respectfully before darting off between some ruined pillars. Tygra's eyes narrowed and his lips formed a hard line. Lion-O stared back at him, daring him to say something, until Tygra dropped his gaze and turned to go with a grumbled, "You are the King."

Lion-O snarled a bit at the disrespectful tone, but let it slide, heading in the opposite direction. Tygra had been unusually reserved since their escape the night before and Lion-O had to say he rather liked the change.

Lion-O's thoughts wandered as he crept along the decimated streets. He barely recognized buildings he'd spent his life knowing inside and out. His entire world had just been turned upside down in just one night. He couldn't believe how easily their great city had fallen, taken down as much by the traitorous Grune as by foolish pride. The cats had believed nothing and no one could challenge them and their superior military might. They'd believed the Eye of Thundera would protect them always. They'd seen no need to change, no reason to think the fears that had plagued their ancestors had anything to do with them. They'd never stopped to wonder "what if."

"What if" had been the center of Lion-O's world for as long as he could remember. He sighed a little as he poked through a promising pile of debris. Underneath a toy doll, he found the charred remains of a children's story book. One his mother had read to him countless times as a cub.

The pages crumbled at his touch and Lion-O felt his throat tighten. It'd been just make-believe then. Technology had seemed so otherworldly and exciting in the old stories; ships that could fly, carriages that propelled themselves, and devices that could do anything at the touch of a button. He'd always dreamed of being able to travel through the stars like the heroes in his favorite tales. Everyone else had laughed at him, calling his ideas crazy and telling him he was a fool. For years he'd thought he would give up anything as long as technology really did exist.

Now he would take it all back if it meant his father were still alive.

He'd gotten what he wanted, but he hadn't wanted it like this. Never like this. He'd never even considered the thing he'd spent so long chasing after would destroy his home. His only consolation was that his lifelong obsession had been what allowed him to save Tygra and their father's lives and escape the lizards momentarily. In that moment, Lion-O had finally earned what he had craved his entire life: his Father's respect.

Whatever happens tonight, remember that you've made me proud.

King Claudus did not give praise easily, usually not at all. Lion-O had spent his entire life waiting to hear those words. Father had finally said he was proud of him. And it had been the last thing he would ever say. The memory brought a wet sheen to Lion-O's eyes which he blinked away rapidly.

Lucky for him he'd been unknowingly collecting explosives for years.

Lion-O stopped digging through his current pile of rubble and sprinted towards the palace. Why didn't I think of this sooner? It was so obvious he could have kicked himself.

He slunk around the side of the palace to one of the servants' entrances. He'd used to use this very entrance in order to sneak out in his various trips to the bad part of the city to buy bits and pieces of tech. The lizards had completely ignored the servants' entrances in favor of stripping the decoration from the larger, more opulent ones leading to the atrium and throne room.

Even as he stole through the empty halls, Lion-O tried to rationalize what he was doing to himself.

The children's book had given him an idea. He personally owned the largest collection of information about technology in all of Thundera, he might as well put it to good use. Lion-O's hope was that he would be able to find something in the old story books that could tell them how to fight technology and Mumm-Ra. There had to be a record of how they had been defeated in the first place. Something. Anything.

His room had remained largely intact from the battle the night before and, as of yet, was untouched by the looters. Though, unless you knew Lion-O you wouldn't have been able to tell. Unlike Tygra's room, Lion-O's was a perpetual disaster area and had looked dangerous enough before the palace had been destroyed. He just didn't keep a lot of fancy things in his room. And they were organized his way. Easily accessible on the floor and tops of furniture.

Various books, sketches, and parts of disassembled tech littered what was left of Lion-O's room. The blasts from the night before had knocked everything on the floor, making it look even worse than usual. He began to sift through several old story books, looking for anything remotely similar to the devices he'd seen the night before. Between the pages he'd stuffed some old notes and drawings. Some of which he hadn't looked at in years. He cringed at how bad some of the older ones were. Others were more recent, like the sketches of the bomb he'd used the night before.

Every scrap of paper that Lion-O picked up was a memory, and a painful reminder that what he'd loved had destroyed his home. Technology had been Lion-O's dream for as long as he could remember. He'd spent hours poring over the stories with Tygra when he was little. He cracked a smile at one drawing. One of Tygra's from before he'd decided he was too grown-up for the tales Lion-O continued to love. The both of them, red and orange blobs, were depicted piloting a large flying ship with the ThunderCat emblem emblazoned on the side.

Despite himself and the need to be quiet, Lion-O laughed a little at the memory. The two of them had used to pretend that they had flown to other worlds in that ship. They'd rescued quite a few pretend damsels in their day. Not to mention designed several machines they'd planned to build when they found the parts. Of course now they looked like mostly indiscernible blobs because both of them had been pretty small at the time. Lion-O didn't even remember what half of them were supposed to do. Though he remembered almost all of the old stories by heart, the games he and Tygra had played together were more than a little fuzzy.

Boots shuffling on marble alerted him to intruders in the hallway. Without thinking, Lion-O scooped up everything he could carry and hurried back the way he'd came. He pressed himself to the wall of the servants' quarters, holding his breath. He breathed a sigh of relief when the lizards passed by without glancing in his direction.

"Where are you going? The treasury is the other way," one lizard hissed at another. "There's nothing here of value anyway."

Another lizard hissed back, "Maybe not, but I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to have a little fun."

From where he was hidden, Lion-O could see the second lizard lower his laser at one of the pillars and start firing. The other lizards followed suit. Soon, half the hallway was in flames. Portraits were smoking and several pillars were in ruins.

Lion-O's lip curled into a silent snarl. He was hard pressed to just watch them destroy his home and not rush them in a blind rage. He struggled to remind himself of the facts. They more than outnumbered him. And while the lizards worked for Mumm-Ra, Mumm-Ra was the one who had struck the killing blow to his father. Mumm-Ra deserved the full brunt of his rage. Mumm-Ra and technology.

After a few moments the first lizard spoke up again. "Come on. Let's go before this place falls apart."

As if to punctuate his words, one of the pillars groaned and a piece of the ceiling fell in with a crash. The lizards scattered back towards the throne room and Lion-O retreated to the exit.

On his way out he pilfered several loaves of bread, some meats, cheese, and various dried foods. They needed things that could last a while on the road and hopefully be eaten in various combinations. As an afterthought he snagged three old cloaks that were hanging by the door. Lion-O donned one of the cloaks, bundled everything else together, and scurried towards where he was supposed to meet up with the others.

Once out of the palace, it didn't take Lion-O long to make it back to the designated meeting place. However, the images of the lizards and their armored vehicles desecrating his home the night before just wouldn't leave his mind's eye. They replayed over and over again in various montages. The slight feeling of nostalgia he had enjoyed for a few moments was long gone, replaced with a roiling fury. He stopped short at the sight of a green armored figure lurking about, nearly dropping the bundle of goods. Great. Another lizard. No matter. He was more than prepared to fight just one of them. Suddenly the figure turned around and Lion-O did drop his loot.

"Tygra?"

His brother laughed at the ridiculous expression Lion-O knew he was wearing, which only served to make him angrier. "Lion-O. Took you long enough. What'd you find?"

Lion-O mutely bent to retrieve the dropped items, unable to take his eyes off of his brother. "What are you wearing?" A part of Lion-O couldn't believe what he was seeing. Tygra had discarded his royal blues for a body suit and armor.

"You like?" Tygra glanced down at himself before tossing Lion-O a similar outfit and pieces of armor. "I grabbed some for you and Cheetara too." He let a bag slide off his shoulder and opened it. "And I found this. Thought it might come in handy." He pulled out an odd looking device with several switches and buttons.

"No. I don't like it. Take it off," Lion-O snapped. Seeing Tygra in that armor disturbed Lion-O. It was like Tygra was turning his back on Thundera and their way of life. However, curiosity won out and in spite of his misgivings he asked, "What is that?"

Tygra shrugged. "Some sort of dowsing rod? The lizards were using it to find things buried in the debris." He pressed a button, pointed it at what used to be a house, and the device began to make a beeping and whirring sound.

Suddenly Lion-O was back in the thick of battle the night before. Smoke was rising from decimated buildings and he was watching the light fade from his father's eyes. Instantly he was enveloped by a complete and incomprehensible rage. Ripping it from Tygra's grasp, he dashed the device against the ground, causing it to sputter and die. He stomped on it for good measure.

Tygra had taken a few steps back at Lion-O's sudden outburst. Now he was looking equal parts angry and flabbergasted. "What are you doing? I thought you liked tech. I thought you'd be happy I found something useful."

Lion-O kicked the remains of the devices and glared at Tygra. "Happy? Happy?" He gestured to the ruined city around them. "Look at what it's done. Technology helped the lizards kill our father and destroyed our home. I don't want anything to do with it. Ever again," he hissed.

A brief flicker of understanding passed through Tygra's eyes before it was overridden by annoyance. "Obviously this stuff has its uses. It helped the lizards accomplish in one night what they have failed to do for centuries. We can't turn a blind eye to it now. Not when we can use it to hurt them just as much as they've hurt us."

Lion-O reached into the bundle of things he'd retrieved from the palace. "This isn't what I wanted." He waved several of their old childhood drawings in Tygra's face. "I wanted to use technology to make things better. Not this. This is a nightmare." With that, Lion-O let out the most impressive roar he'd ever managed and ripped the majority of the sketches into pieces, flinging the remains at Tygra.

With that, Lion-O stormed away, abandoning his brother with the scattered pieces of their childhood.

Lion-O had gone maybe a hundred yards when he stopped. In his path was the body of a Thunderian soldier, an ocelot. He'd come upon many dead bodies since he, Tygra, and Cheetara had come back to the city that morning. Most of them were half buried beneath the buildings or burned so badly they were unrecognizable. This one was mostly intact and Lion-O couldn't seem to look away.

The ocelot had died quickly. At least, Lion-O hoped he had. He stared up at Lion-O with gray filmed eyes, his face twisted in the mask of surprise he'd been wearing when he'd been cut down. He still clutched his pike as though he planned to ward off Thundera's enemies even in death. With a grim expression, Lion-O used two fingers to close the soldier's eyes with silent thanks for his honor and courage.

"Forgive me," he whispered.

Stripping the armor off of the fallen soldier was harder than he'd thought. Rigor had already set in and he had to fumble with the body for a while until he'd managed to procure what he needed. He hated to disturb the dead, but Lion-O reasoned that he was going to need the armor a hell of a lot more than the soldier would.

Lion-O struggled into the armor, smiling with grim satisfaction when it fit. He would have liked to have had his father's armor, but that been burned along with Claudus' body. Traditionally, the new King would've had his own armor custom made—new armor for a new King. Lion-O decided that, under the circumstances, giving the dead soldier's armor new life was infinitely more appropriate.

It'll probably be the most worthwhile thing I've ever done. Lion-O scowled, giving his reflection in a mostly intact fountain a once over. He'd wasted his life chasing dreams. What had he ever done to deserve any sort of loyalty from his people? Most of them hadn't even believed he would be a good king anyway. Tygra had asked him when he was going to grow up; now seemed as good a time as any.

Lion-O swallowed the lump in his throat and turned to go back to the others. It was time to prove he wasn't just a screw up, that he was worthy of his Father's title and throne. He had to stop running away when things got tough. From now on he'd face his fears and his enemies head on, like his father would have. He would make his father's murderers pay. He would take on Mumm-Ra, the entire lizard army, and technology. By himself if need be. His home, his father, and his dreams had already been taken from him.

He had nothing more to lose.

AN: This stupid thing took me the longest to write out of anything I've posted for ThunderCats so far. Rage Lion-O is difficult as hell to write. Again thanks to ArcaneLegacy for her patience and help with defeating the aftermath of 6 years of college paper writing and long lost grammar and punctuation skills. Though this was posted without a final looksee by her because it's been sitting on my computer for too long and needs to be posted and I didn't feel like putting her through the torture of this fic again.

Please review. I honestly am becoming very fond of those of you who keep coming back and I keep trying to PM and thank everyone personally but sometimes I get sidetracked—I recently became a house supervisor and have been staying late to deal with staff issues and then sleeping like the dead. I would thank you all here, but that would make my notes too long. So thank you everyone!