Escape to Third Earth

[Lady1Venus]

Chapter 1 - Crash Land

A young woman watch in horror as the flight deck flared into flames. Her long brown hair, which was originally up in a bun, was hanging down, almost in her face. Though the bridge was in flames that did not stop her from yelling out commands to the people who were still alive on the bridge. She knew half of the bridge crew were already dead but she couldn’t worry about that now. She had to keep the ship from being destroyed. She was being perused by another ship, which was firing upon her.

She knew who her pursuer was. And she knew they would stop at nothing to prevent her from escaping. She had been held against her will. While being held captive, she made friends. At the first chance, she and many of her new friends stole a ship to escape. She even learned that some of her family and older friends were helping her. Her new friends were also being held against their will.

“Damage Report!” She looked around her bridge. Debris was everywhere as were bodies. She quickly snapped her head to look at the view screen, which for the moment was showing nothing but static.

“We have hull breaches on levels two through six! Force fields in place but I do not know how much longer they will last!” A male voice was heard from somewhere.

“What’s our heading!”

“Unknown,” another voice yelled. “Navigation has been knocked out. Weapons unresponsive. Wait…”

“What was it?”

“We’re in some sort of pull.”

“The enemy?”

“No, it’s not a tractor beam. We’re being pulled downward. I think we’re approaching a planet’s atmosphere!”

“Put it on screen.”

“Unresponsive.”

The woman slammed her hand on the arm of her chair. A single tear slid from her eye, as she knew it was the end.

“We have fought bravely,” she said quietly with her head bent, but then looked up with determination in her eyes. If they were going to die, she wasn’t about to show her emotions in front of her crew, especially over the deceased.

“All hands! Brace for impact!” Just as she was about to brace herself, the lights flickered out for a moment. She suddenly felt herself being pulled out of her seat and off to one side. A clang was heard and she noticed she was incased in something. She knew who did it and knew whatever she was in was useless to try and get out. She slumped to the floor and cried for everyone.

For several minutes she felt the floor shake as the ship began it’s descend through the atmosphere, but once it was through, she felt nothing. She quickly heard a few screams and then silence. She prayed that when they landed there would be some survivors.

Suddenly she surged forward, banging her head, then flew back. Once she got her bearings, she huddled her legs together, ignoring the pain in her back, as she knew they were vastly approaching the ground of whatever planet they were about to crash on. The last the thought that went through her mind was hope the planet was inhabited.

-

Cats’ Lair was full of activity. The swivelling head moved from side to side, doing it’s normal routine of checking the premises. Just outside the lair, two children, about the age of 12, were playing around in the snow. They quickly seized their play as an explosion was heard. They turned to the sound and watched whatever it was begin a descent to the ground. But they weren’t the only ones that witnessed it. The head stopped its movement and minutes later; four adults came running out of the lair.

“What was that?” one of kids asked.

“From the scanners,” the leader said. “It’s a ship crashing to ground. And from the looks of it, it’s on fire.”

The leader slightly turned as one of his friends was heading towards their vehicle. “It’ll be faster with the Thundertank.”

“Panthro is right,” a tiger looking humanoid said. “We’ve already projected it’s landing.”

The four adults and two kids quickly climbed into the Thundertank and drove off to the crash sight. The six people were known on the planet as Thundercats. The two kids were called Wileykit and Wileykat, as the four adults were Panthro, Tygra, Cheetara and their leader Lion-O.

When they reached the sight, they were shocked, the ship was still in flames. It wasn’t a very big ship but was big enough to fit at least fifty people. The Thundercats knew they had to act fast if they were to try and save anyone that might have been alive. Tygra immediately had a plan formed as he jumped out of the Thundertank.

“There isn’t enough water in the tank to extinguish the flames. We’ll need to get some sort of pipe or tube there so we can transport the water, as there is a lake nearby. It won’t take much to break the ice and with the ice water, it will put the fire out quicker.”

Panthro snapped his fingers. “I have the perfect transportation. I just installed an extendable pipe for these type of purposes.”

“I can get to the lake in no time,” Cheetara offered.

Lion-O nodded his approval of the plan. His team-mates quickly went to work. Panthro ejected the pipe and when Cheetara had a hold of it, she fled to the nearby lake.

Lion-O’s eyes widened in surprise as the pipe kept on coming out. When it finally stopped, it took a few minutes before Panthro noticed water was starting go into the pipe. “Water pressure is building up,” he announced. “I’m flicking the switch so watch out.”

Within seconds water began to spout out of one of the claws from the Thundertank. Panthro drove the tank around the wreckage until the fire was out. When the fire was out, Panthro turned off the pressure and began to extract the pipe.

Within moments Cheetara came running up with the pipe in hand. She dropped the pipe, allowing the tank to do the rest and looked at the wreckage. “From the looks of things, this ship was under attack and judging by the holes in the hull, it was in hot pursuit.”

“I agree,” Lion-O agreed. “We should find out if there’s any survivors.” He grabbed the sword of Omens, which was strapped to his left leg in the claw shield. “Sword of Omens. Give me sight beyond sight.”

Through the eye, Lion-O saw the debris all over the floor. Scorch marks everywhere indicating the fire began from the inside. As the eye looked, Lion-O’s eyes widened in horror. Dead bodies laid everyway some were slumped over consoles while others laid on the floor with burn marks. He was about to give up on his search when something caught the eye’s attention. Zoomed in, the eye revealed him a hand slowly, trying to move from a fallen bulkhead.

Wileykat walked close to the wreckage. “There’s something written on the side of the hull.”

“It looks like,” Wileykit said. “The name of the ship? This ship is human designed.”

“There’s someone trapped inside, alive,” the leader said as he placed the sword back in the claw shield. “Who ever it is, is on the flight deck trapped under debris.”

“Let’s move,” Tygra announced.

“Wait,” Panthro called. “It may be too dangerous. It may be wise for only one person to go in. The floors could collapse. Cheetara, can you sense any other life signs.”

Cheetara close her eyes, placing her fingers to her temple. During the past four years the Thundercats have been on Third Earth, Cheetara had been able to harness her sixth sense better. Though it still weakened her but it wasn’t like it was before. Through her mind, she scanned over the bodies.

Her body went limp after a few moments. Tygra, who was standing behind her, quickly caught her before she fell back.

“What did you see?” Lion-O asked.

“Many dead bodies,” she answered weakly. “There was more in that ship than we expected. There’s only one survivor.”

“Tygra,” Lion-O said. “Go in and rescue the survivor.”

Tygra nodded. He gently placed Cheetara in Lion-O’s arms and quickly made his way through the snow to the wreckage. All around the ship, the snow had melted away leaving the frozen ground visible. He jumped up as close as he could get to the bridge before entering through one of the many holes in the hull.

Lights flickering all round as Tygra slowly made his way through the sea of bodies and debris. His stomach tightened at the thought of the people who died and felt sorry for them. It made him remember when his people died when trying to flee from Thundera, just before it exploded.

When he reached the bridge, he quickly found the survivor. Bulkheads trapped the person, with a hand sticking out. As he began to move the bulkhead and other debris, he noticed the hand belonged to a woman. He also concluded that she was still conscious as he heard her moan as the debris moved.

“Help is here. Don’t be afraid. I’ll get you out.”

Several more minutes traveled on before he was able to get enough of the debris out of the way. He crouched down and slid one hand under her back as his other went under her knees and gently pulled her up.

“T…Thank…you…” she tried weakly.

“Don’t speak. Save your strength.”

When he knew she was secure in his arms, he quickly made his way back through and out the ship. Once in the brisk air, she shivered, which did not go unnoticed by Tygra. He quickly made his way to the ground.

When he landed, Lion-O was already waiting for him when he reached the bottom with a blanket in hand. Lion-O wrapped the woman in the blanket and when she was secured, Tygra and the rest of the Thundercats climbed back into the Thundertank.

Tygra noticed that she was now limp in his arms, which started to worry him as she had lost consciousness. He looked into her face. Her once nice face was smothered in dirt and scratches. Her hair was a tangled mess. One couldn’t even tell what her hair color was.

Panthro switched the tank into gear and quickly traveled back to Cats’ Lair. When the reached home Snarf came running down the snow covered steps.

“What happened, Lion-O? Snarf.”

“Not sure,” Lion-O said. “There was only one survivor and she’s now unconscious.”

“That’s bad.” Snarf turned and quickly took off back into the lair.

Tygra, guessing Snarf was off to set up one of the guest rooms for the woman, jumped out of the tank and preceded to the warmth of indoors.

-

Soft, warm blankets were the first things she noticed as she began to regain consciousness. She felt very safe within the walls of the blankets. But how is that possible? She did not remember climbing into bed nor were her blankets ever this soft. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself in a darkened room with moonlight shining through a weird styled window.

“Where am I?” she asked softly not expecting an answer.

“Cats’ Lair,” a male answered gently. He noticed she started to tremble at the sound of his voice. “Do not be afraid. I’m a friend. Careful, you are injured.”

“Who are you?” she asked.

“My name is Tygra and you’re safe on Third Earth.”

“Third Earth? The home of the Thundercats.”

“Yes. Actually I am a Thundercat.”

The woman quickly relaxed. She was in the home of Thundercats, which meant she was safe. A slight smiled began to grace her lips but quickly faded as she remembered what happened. “My ship!” She bolted up but immediately regretted it.

Tygra was at her side in an instant, gently pushing her back down. “Easy now,” he said. “You’re ship was badly damaged and from the looks of things, it’s no longer space worthy. However, some of the parts maybe salvageable.”

“My crew?”

“Gone, I’m afraid.” The tone in voice was saddened. “I pulled you out, you were trapped under debris.”

“Bastards,” the woman cursed as tears formed in her eyes. “It should have been me, not them.”

Tygra, unaccustomed to the curse, held her hand gently. “Who are you referring to?” He noticed that she had the prettiest pale green eyes he had ever seen. All the warrior maidens from the tree top kingdom had dark eyes.

“My fiancé. The marriage was to be an arranged marriage by my father but I escaped. Him and his brothers came after us and hunted us down like animals. My crew died protecting me, my brothers died protecting me.” More tears flowed.

“What is your name?”

“Alana.” The woman blinked a few times, trying to be rid of the tears and for the first time, she saw her rescuer. She looked into his eyes, which were strange but amusing as he was a cat. From the features that she could tell from the moonlight, he looked to be a tiger. She slowly moved her other hand and gently touched his face. The touch slightly startled him.

“You saved my life, a complete stranger.”

“That’s the purgative of a Thundercat.”

“So the rumors are true. For the past year I’ve been told a lot about the Thundercats.”

“I should let you rest.” Tygra gently pulled her hand away from his face. “I need to let my leader know that you have awakened.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Three days now. Panthro has been looking at the wreckage.”

Alana moved her head away from Tygra. “What is happening about the recovery of my…crew?”

“Nothing as of yet. We’re waiting until you are strong enough.”

“I would like to be part of the cleanup operation…please.”

“Why? Seeing the destruction will be devastating.”

“I don’t care. I knew each and everyone of my crewmembers. They were my friends and they deserve proper burial in the way they want. Especially my brothers.”

“Your brothers?”

“My brothers did not agree with the arranged marriage. My other sisters were forced into arranged marriages and I haven’t seen them since the wedding day. I don’t want to end up like that.”

“Thundera was never into arranged marriages.” Tygra backed away from the bed and began to walk to the exit of the room.

“Tygra,” Alana called with a weak voice. Tygra turned back to her. “Thank you. I’ve never met a man who sounds as kind as you and for that it sooths my heart to know my crew’s death wasn’t in vain.”

“Your welcome. In a few hours, someone will wake you to have something to eat. It will soon be sunrise.”

“Tygra.”

“Yes.”

“I want to see my ship as soon as possible. The sooner the crew is laid to rest the better.”

“I’ll see what I can do. For now, rest.”

Tygra quickly walked out of the room before she asked him another question. He walked up to the command room and waited for his leader to awaken. When he woke, the command room was the first place he went.

“Morning, Tygra,” Lion-O said.

“Lion-O,” Tygra said. “Our guest has awakened.”

“That’s good,” Lion-O answered. “Did she give you any information?”

“Her name is Alana and she was running from her fiancé.”

“Her fiancé?” Panthro questioned as he walked into the command room. “Why would she do that?”

“An Arranged marriage that she disagreed with. With help of her brothers, they escaped and he hunted her down.”

“You mean,” Lion-O started. “A man caused all that damaged to the ship over an arranged marriage. That’s a shame. What is an arranged marriage?”

Panthro looked at the young lord. “It is when a person is forced to marry someone he or she doesn’t want to.”

“That’s just plain cruel,” Lion-O said. “She lost her crew to a madman.”

“People are just plain cruel in general, Lion-O,” Tygra said. “When Alana is strong enough she wants to see the ship and wants to oversee the recovery operation of her crew.”

“What!” Lion-O burst. “That’s a lot of bodies lying in that ship. That ship is a tomb.”

“Even so, she wants to give them a proper burial of what they wanted.”

“That makes sense,” Panthro agreed. “I’ve taken a look at the ship and it looks like some of the computer components could be used to power our weapons better and perhaps I could make few new additions.”

“Before we take apart her ship, we’re going to ask her permission if it would be alright. Even though she has been marooned on Third Earth, the ship is still hers to do what she pleases,” Lion-O said.

“How are her injuries coming along?” Panthro asked.

“Luckily,” Tygra said. “Most of her injuries are minor. The worst is a cut on her head and few bruises. It would seem it was caused from the bulkhead that covered her. I’ve inspected the spot where I found her and it looks like the bulkhead was placed there to protect her.”

“If it weren’t for the bulkhead, she would have died,” Panthro concluded. “Snarf has started on breakfast and it will be reading in an hour or so.”

“Good,” Tygra said. “I told Alana that someone would go and wake her so she could eat.”

-

Alana was awakened to someone slightly shaking her. When she finally stirred and looked at the person. She quickly recognized the person as Tygra.

“I wanted to let you know,” he said. “That breakfast is ready.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly. She peered over to the window, seeing that the sun had risen.

“Would you like to eat here or in the dinning room?”

“The dinning room. The sooner I get back on my feet the better.”

Tygra turned and grabbed an article of clothing from a nearby chair. “Here wrap up in this. It’s one of Cheetara’s robes.”

“Can you help me to sit up?” Alana asked.

Tygra nodded. He grasped her hand and gently began to pull her up. When she was a little off the bed, he placed his other hand behind her to support her back. When she sat up, Tygra placed the robe around her shoulders so she could put her arms in the sleeves.

Tygra pulled back the blanket and pulled her legs around to touch the cool floor. With his help, she stood and with one arm around her waist and the other holding her hand they walked slowly to the dinning room.

Upon reaching there, Alana saw five other humanoids and one four legged creature sitting at a rectangular table and there was two empty spots. One for Tygra and the other must have been for her.

“Alana,” Tygra said. “Meet Cheetara, Panthro, Wileykit, Wileykat and Lion-O our leader and Lord of the Thundercats.”

Lion-O knew the woman was suffering from loss. He looked at her and gave a small smile. She now looked better than she did. Her face was cleaned up as her hair was pinned back into a bun to keep her hair off her wounds.

“Who’s the creature?”

“That’s Snarf,” Panthro said with a smirk. “He has many talents.”

“One of which is preparing food,” Wileykit said.

Tygra walked over to an empty seat and helped her to sit. The other empty seat, which was quickly occupied by Tygra, was beside her. On her other side was Lion-O. It was a quiet meal and surprisingly, Alana ate more than what she expected but less than what the Thundercats wanted her to eat.

“Alana,” Lion-O said when the meal was finished and Snarf began to clear away the plates with the help of the Thunderkittens. “As soon as you’re strong enough, someone will take you to what’s left your ship. But I should warn you…”

“I know, there are seventy bodies lying around like rag dolls. I suppose Tygra said that I wanted to help in the recovery operation.”

“Yes, he did,” Lion-O said. “I know right now, you’re grieving but with your permission, Panthro could use parts of your ship to upgrade Cats’ Lair and other objects.”

“Do with what you need. Tygra already said that the ship maybe salvageable but will never be space worthy again. If I didn’t have too, I wouldn’t go anywhere near the ship but my brothers are in there and they deserve to be buried by me.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Panthro said. “But how many brothers did you have?”

“Six brothers. I have four sisters. My father ended up marrying a three times. Two of his wives died during childbirth. Lion-O, if you don’t mind me asking but did you fight a man name Safari Joe?”

“Yes, actually we did,” Lion-O answered. “Why?”

“He’s my father.”

“You’re father,” Cheetara eyes widened in shock. “That man almost killed us, if it weren’t for Lion-O. He used our greatest weakness against us to render us almost useless.”

“Thunddrainium,” Alana said. “My father told me about that. That is actually how I heard about you but I wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth about hunting you guys. My father, is many things and a coward is one of them. He also is a liar.”

“That,” Lion-O said. “We figured out for a ourselves.”

“He’s a big show-off but when it comes down to action, he’s worthless. Yes, he’s hunted other creatures but when he met a creature who could think for themselves, his coward comes through. He mostly relies on his weapons to protect him and when they fail…you know the rest. When I fled from my fiancé I had full intention of coming here but part way here, we were attacked…” tears began to flow down her cheeks. “I have lost everything that meant anything to me.”

Alana went to stand and leave the room. She did not want to cry in front of strangers who helped her. But as she stood, her legs gave out and she began to fall. Lion-O was quick in getting to her before she collapsed.

“Tygra, why don’t you take her back to her room. She’s been through a lot.”

Tygra nodded. He picked Alana up and carried her out of the room and into hers. When he sat her down, he noticed that she was trying real hard not to cry.

“You don’t have to hide just because you’re within strange company,” Tygra said softly.

Either through his gentle words or softness of his voice, she couldn’t figure out which one, tears began to flow out of her tightly closed eyes. “Please…leave.”

“No,” he said gently but sternly. “You are in pain, in more ways than one. I want to help.”

Alana opened her blurry eyes to stare at the tiger. “Why do you want to help a stranger? Much less a daughter of the man who tried to kill you.”

“From what I can see and what you’ve said, you don’t seem to be anything like your father. You would not be the first human to be our friend. There are several humans on Third Earth.”

“Please, Tygra. I would like to be left alone. Besides, I should get more rest. The more rest I have the quicker, I’ll heal.”

“I agree with you there on rest. If you need anything, there’s a button to the left of the bed. Just push it. Someone will hear it. My room is just around the corridor, Lion-O is at the end of the hall and the others are on the level below you.”

Alana nodded. She pulled her feet on to the bed and removed the robe. Tygra took it from her hands and place it on the chair. When he turned to help her lie down, she was already lying on the bed facing away from him. He knew she was silently crying. Without saying anything, Tygra left the room and once the doors were closed, he could hear heavy sobs, faintly, coming from the room.

It soared his heart knowing what she was going through. A few times, when the Thundercats first crashed and Cats’ Lair was complete, he would hear Lion-O grief over the lost of Planet Thundera. When he returned to the dinning room, Lion-O was the only one left.

“Will she be okay?” Lion-O asked.

“Physically yes, but right now emotionally, no. Actually knowing that her father hunted us down and he tried to force her to marry someone and then that someone hunts her down and kills her friends, is taking a lot out of her.”

“I would imagine. I know I remember when I grieved over Thundera and you overheard. She tried to leave the room without help.”

“Yes. She wants to grieve alone but I won’t let her just as I wouldn’t let you. Tomorrow I’m going to change her bandages and hopefully she’ll be a little more open.”

“Give her time Tygra. She’s not like me. Perhaps if she sees someone of her own kind. Tomorrow I’ll go and see Willa. Willa might be able to help.”

“Then again, maybe not. Willa will be just as much as a stranger as we are.”

“That maybe so but Willa is also human. From what I’ve learned about humans, they like to consult with their own kind more than other races.”

“I’ll take first watch tonight.”

“No. You are almost just as drained as she is. You have been up most of the time, keeping watch over her. I’m going to get Panthro to take the first watch. And if anything, you’ll stay in bed until morning.”

“You’re right. I’m going to head out to the wreckage to see if I can piece together of why the damage is so extensive.”

“That does puzzle me. There must have been some sort of faulty circuits somewhere. The holes are too rounded.”

Lion-O watched Tygra leave the room. Lion-O sat back at the dinning table pondering how he should approach Willa, if he should even approach her at all. Alana was a stranger to Third Earth and she may not want to see another human just yet.

“Something troubles you,” a voice said.

Lion-O looked up and saw the ghost of his mentor. “Jaga. I’m not sure what I should do.”

“The woman is stronger than she looks. She may grieve now but she’ll soon learn how to live again, just as you did.”

“Is it actually wise to allow her to help in the recovery operation?”

“It may not be wise but it is her wish. It will also help in her healing in the end.”

“Thank you, Jaga.”

“Take care Lion-O.”

When Jaga was gone, Lion-O headed out to get some fresh air. He knew Cheetara was in the control room and the Thunderkittens were playing in the snow.

[Lady1Venus]

Chapter 2 – Discoveries
Three days had passed since Alana learnt who her rescuers were. In that time, she had got to know the Thundercats. Where she didn’t want to grieve in front of the Thundercats, she tried her best to only grieve in. She even wanted to get out, but Tygra had insisted that she was not well enough to venture out in the cold weather of Third Earth in her condition.

As much as she didn’t like the idea, she agreed. She knew physically that she wasn’t ready to see the wreckage but wanted to give them a burial as soon as possible. And even if she were able to handle the wreckage, it wouldn’t be until the ground thawed before she could properly bury her friends.

As she woke for the new day, she felt she needed a bath. She knew Tygra would soon be in to change her bandages, she was hoping maybe she could get a bath before he changed them. She slowly got up out of bed and walked over to the window. She stared out over the vast white valley for a few moments before moving away to a door, which led her to the bathroom facilities.

When she emerged from the room, Tygra stood by her bed, waiting patiently for her.

“Hello,” she said. “You know from all those oils and ointments and the fact it’s been three days, I could use a bath. I know I was cleaned up when you first brought me here.”

“Yes, Cheetara cleaned you up as soon as we got you here.” Tygra chuckled. “After breakfast and when Cheetara returns from her run, I’ll have her help you get cleaned up. But in the meantime, I’m going to change your bandages.”

“Thanks,” she said sarcastically. “I was hoping you could hold off until then.”

“The more ointments are rubbed on, the faster you heal. At least it doesn’t have a vapor.”

Alana chucked as she walked over to the bed and sat down. What she hated most about the bandaged changing, Tygra had to rub a cream on to her back to help heal the bruises faster.

“I’ll check the cut on your head first.”

Alana pulled her bangs out of the way to allow Tygra to remove the bandaged. He soon washed around the cut, put more cream and a fresh bandage.

“You’re quite skillful with medicine,” she responded as she let her bangs fall loose on her forehead.

“Back on Thundera, our home planet, I learned medicine, even though I had no desire to. When we crashed here, and where it’s just Snarf and the six of us, I was the only one with knowledge of medicine. So it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”

“But I’m sure, you’ve learned more about medicine since you’ve arrived then you did before.”

“That is true. Thanks to Willa, I’ve become quite the medic when needed.”

“When will I meet this warrior woman? Yesterday I overheard Lion-O speak about her and that he wants me to meet her.”

“I’m not sure. Willa is quite busy these days.”

“How did you guys build this place?”

“Where I wasn’t very skillful on Thundera with medicine, I decided to take up architecture instead. Turn around so I may check on your bruises.”

Alana cringed but turned and then raised her nightshirt so he could see her back. She carefully kept the shirt up against her chest. Though she did not like this part, she continued. “So you designed your home?”

“Yes and with some friends, they helped us build this within a matter weeks. Your back is looking pretty good. After today I may not need to put any more ointments. Your bruises are healing up good.”

“Good,” she said nervously. She slightly jumped when she felt the ointment hit her skin and then Tygra’s fingers rubbing it in gently.

When he finished, he stood up from the bed. “I’ll leave you now. Breakfast will be ready soon. And I’m sure, you’ll want to change.”

“Tygra, how much longer will I be confided indoors? Not that I’m grateful for your hospitality and all but I would like to try and see if anything of my belongings are salvageable.”

Tygra chuckled. “I suppose Cheetara’s outfits that were given to her since she came here are starting to get uncomfortable?

“No it’s not that. It’s just…ok that is part of it. I’ve never been comfortable in wearing someone else’s clothing.”

“I’ll give you an answer later today.” He turned and left.

-

Soon after breakfast was done and over with Cheetara helped Alana get cleaned up. When Alana was all cleaned, Tygra came into the room, to give a fresh bandage on her head. He smiled as he watched the two women begin to bond. He noticed, while they spoke, Alana was in the process of brushing her long brown hair.

He did not think her hair was that long. When he first saw her, there was too much worry in making sure she was going to all right plus dirt over her face to really notice. Also parts of her hair were still up in whatever hairstyle she had it in. When Cheetara, cleaned her wounds and washed her hair, she had braided her hair and pinned it in a bun to keep if off her back.

Cheetara turned to Tygra. “Anyway,” she said as she stood from the bed. “I’ll leave you now. Panthro has asked me to take the Thundertank to the crash sight. He’s found a few items that are still in good condition.”

Cheetara walked passed Tygra on her way out. But before he moved away from the door, she whispered. “She’s hiding something. I can’t figure out what it is but it’s something to do with her father, that I’m sure.”

Tygra nodded and walked into the room, allowing the doors to the room to close. “You look better.”

Alana placed the brush done on the bed. “It feels good to have my hair lying down. Before I was engaged, it hardly ever was up out of my face. But when I left my planet, it hasn’t been down since.”

“What planet is that?” he asked as he sat on the bed and went to work on placing a new bandaged on her head.

“This will sound funny, but it’s called Second Earth.”

“Second Earth?”

“See there’s a reason why this planet is called Third Earth. Ages ago, this planet was home to all humans and was called just plain ‘Earth’ or in what other inhabitants call it ‘First Earth’. And humans were the only humanoids.

“After the humans began to explore the galaxy, a great disaster happened and almost wiped out the planet. Most areas for vegetation withered away; so most humans left, leaving only a certain amount to stay behind to keep the planet thriving and begin its healing process. After so long, the planet healed itself and vegetation began to bloom as it once did.

“Settlements began again as alien races began to land here. When humans learned that Earth was flourishing again, there was more than one Earth. The alien inhabitants adopted the name ‘Third Earth’ as it’s the third planet in the solar system. The humans agreed to its name, as there was now a First Earth and Second Earth. However after so long, a cursed creature, Mumm-ra was released from his coffin prison.”

“How do you know this?”

“For one it’s common knowledge amongst the humans who travel the stars. Before my ship crashed, we had a database on Third Earth’s history. All the way from when it was first formed, or at least the theory of formation, to now.”

“Perhaps, we could check to see if the databanks are still functional. And if they are, we could download the history into our computer.”

“Well if the databanks are still functional, you could probably integrate the computer into your systems.”

Tygra thought for a moment. “I never thought of that. What sort of studies do you have?”

“Science, medicine are my majors but I do have some off to the side as hobbies.”

“You were saying about Mumm-ra. What is his story? We’ve been battling him since we crashed here.”

“Ages ago, in a country once called Egypt, there was a priest. I don’t know the whole story but legend has it that this priest had done something that was forbidden. So he was placed in a curse. The curse was called Undead. It was designed that if evil beings not from this world would come, He’d arise and create all sorts of havoc.”

“Well that explains a lot,” Tygra fingered his chin. “Willa said that Mumm-ra had never caused any sort of havoc until we had arrived.”

“What would have happened that would have caused him to arise? You don’t seem to the type to be evil.”

“We aren’t but the Mutants are. When we fled Thundera, the Mutants attacked us. During the attack, our guidance system was damaged. We were placed into stasis as our ship guided us here, which was the closest planet. The Mutants followed.”

“Well you can’t blame yourselves for Mumm-ra’s release. You were just trying to survive. For two alien races, we have a bit in common.”

“By the way I have great news. With the ointments and your rest, you have recovered enough that you could venture outdoors. But not too far, I’m afraid, it’s still too soon to see the crash sight.”

Alana leaned her head down. “I figured that but at least I can get some fresh air. Fresh air will also help get my strength back.”

“I agree.” Tygra stood up. “I almost forgot. Willa is here and she’s waiting for you in the conference room.”

Alana stood up. “Let’s meet this woman.”

-

Willa was sitting in the conference room, waiting patiently for the human to arrive, with Lion-O sitting across from her. As she waited, she thought back to when she had watched the woman’s ship crash but at the time, she did not know what it was. The next day, she confronted the Thundercats about it and learned what it was she saw.

It annoyed her to know that it was another ship had crashed but her annoyance soon turned sorrowful when she learned that all but one female crewmember died. When she went back to her kingdom, she decided she would help the woman, who ever the woman was.

A couple of days later, Lion-O arrived requesting an audience with her to ask if she would visit Cats’ Lair to meet the woman. To her surprise the person was human and was a daughter of Safari Joe and she was running from her husband to be.

Feeling sorry for the woman, she agreed she would meet her and hopefully help her anyway possible. Perhaps the woman could actually answer a few questions. Willa had met other humans but none were from space.

Willa’s thoughts were interrupted when the doors opened, revealing Tygra escorting the woman in. The woman was wearing an outfit Cheetara wore a couple years during a ceremony the Warrior Maidens held in which a young woman was declared a warrior.

“It’s nice to see you Willa,” Tygra said.

“Likewise,” Willa answered.

“Willa,” Lion-O began. “This is Alana.”

“It’s the first time, I’ve come across another human that does not live on Third Earth.”

For the moment Alana was silent. Tygra escorted her to one of the vacant chairs as he descended in another, beside her. “It’s all right Alana, she’s a friend.”

“Is something wrong?” Willa asked, concerned.

“After she met us, she became somewhat shy around us,” Lion-O said. “She’s most comfortable with Tygra, though she shows a little nervousness around him too.”

With her head down, Alana said, with a lace of anger, “I don’t appreciate being talked about when I’m in the room. My father always did that and it made me feel small.”

Taken aback by her comment, Lion-O looked as if he just got slapped in the face.

Ignoring the Lord of the Thundercats, Willa quickly rushed out of her chair, pulled Alana’s chair out a bit and knelt down next to her.

“It’s ok,” Willa started. “I suppose you’re not use to being around strange people.”

“It’s not that I’m not use to it. Its just…” she trailed off.

“Its just what?” When Willa got no response, she sighed. “I understand, you don’t want to talk about it. That’s ok. If and when you’re ready, you will.”

Alana looked up at the warrior maiden. “You can fight?”

“Why, yes I am. I’m Queen of my tribe, the Warrior Maidens.”

“I’ve heard of you. You reside in an jungle and in the middle of it is the Tree Top Kingdom.”

“How did you know that?” Willa asked, surprised.

“When humans left Earth, a tribe of women and tribe of men were two of the groups, of a few others, that stayed behind to allow the Earth to heal. In time, they became known as Warrior Maidens and Warrior Men. But the Warrior Men turned into a savage group and ended up being separated and forced to live in caves.”

“You have quite the knowledge of the Third Earth,” Willa stated. “More knowledge it seems than myself.”

“One of my favorite hobbies is learning up on human history.”

“Maybe sometime we could get together and you can tell me a little more about human history. What I know is either myth or legend. I’ve heard so much, I’m not even sure what is fact anymore.”

Alana smiled. “I’d like that. I’m sorry for not speaking sooner.”

“Don’t apologize. I sometimes have one of those moods and Lion-O has witnessed a few of them first hand.”

“I’m sure he has,” Alana agreed.

“Unfortunately, I can’t stay long,” Willa said as she stood. “I have a kingdom to run and I think there’s been a little mutant activity.”

“Anything we can help?” Lion-O asked as he stood.

“Not at the moment.” Willa stood and looked at the Lord. “If there is, you’ll know. Nayda knows how to work the communications to contact you if there is.”

“I’ll see you out,” Tygra said. He stood and began to walk out of the room. He knew what Alana said was wrong but she did have a point and he figured she probably regretted it to. He hoped that she may apologize to Lion-O had her words.

When they left, Alana pulled herself around to face and look at the Lord. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound rude.”

“No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have spoken out about you. But I was only trying to help.”

“I know. Tygra tells me that you are originally not suppose to be as old as you are.”

“No,” Lion-O agreed. “When we left Thundera, I was a mere child, about the same age as Wilykit and Wilykat. But when I arrived here, I was a man. My stasis capsule was damaged and I aged. I had a lot to learn and even to this day, I’m still learning.”

“That’s only being mortal. Everybody learns something new, all the time. I’m sure even Panthro still learns.”

“That he does.”

“Tygra told me that I could start venturing outside but not too far. I was wondering where I could find something warm to wear. I’m sure you Thundercats are not as vulnerable to the cold as humans are.”

“We, Thundercats are more immune to the cold. Though there are some occasions the brisk cold weather will chill us but its not as often as humans.”

If a human were to venture outside in what you wear, they’d die of hypothermia.”

“Hypothermia? What’s that?”

“It’s a condition most mortals can get when they’ve been exposed to the cold either too long or not wearing enough clothing.”

“When Willa arrived, she left a bundle of clothes for you. She said that when you got strong enough to venture out, that they will keep you warm.”

Alan rolled her eyes. “Great more borrowed clothing.”

“Actually it’s not,” Tygra said as he came back in the room. “Willa had the clothes specially made for you.”

Alana turned at the sound. “You guys keep coming up with surprises. First it’s rescuing me, then it’s your medicine and Cheetara giving me some clothes and now this.”

Tygra chuckled. “Like I said when we met. We like to help.”

“Tygra can I speak with you for a moment,” Lion-O said.

“Sure, Lion-O.”

Both men walked out of the room, leaving Alana to ponder. “What was I thinking?” she degraded herself. “They are trying to help me and I practically shove their hospitality down their throats. Josh why did you protect me? Why did you want me to survive?”

“He wanted you to live,” a voice said.

Alana whipped her head around, wondering where the voice came from. “Who are you? Where are you?”

“Not from this world.”

Alana turned to her left and saw a man appear standing in front of her. The man was transparent and wore a Thundercat symbol on his clothing. She gasped at who the person was. Tygra told her that a man, who sacrificed his life to save them, would appear in front of Lion-O and he was the only one to see him.

“You’re Jaga,” she gasped.

“That is correct,” the man smirked.

-

Out in the hall, Lion-O talked to Tygra, not knowing Alana was talking to Lion-O’s mentor. Lion-O was just a little curious how much longer it would be before she would see the wreckage. Seeing the broken ship was not something he was looking forward to but she was determined to help bury her friends.

“How well is she?”

“She’s healing pretty good. I don’t know if it’s the ointments from Thundera or what I learned here. Either way, she’s actually ready to travel but I don’t want her to. The grief is still too new.”

“That may so but how do you think I felt when I was forced to watch Thundera explode. Jaga had Cheetara wake me from my sleep to witness the destruction. I wasn’t ready for that just as I wasn’t ready to lead you all as an adult. I was forced into both.”

“You maybe right but you also had all of us to back you up. Alana on the other hand is only getting to know us. She doesn’t trust us as well as we trust each other. I’ve noticed how she accepts my help but then shies away. Cheetara told me that she’s holding something back.”

“I agree with you there. She was about to tell us something of why she is shy but she stopped.”

-

Meanwhile in the conference room, Alana talked Jaga. “But I was told you only appear in front of Lion-O.”

“I can appear in front of who I want. It’s one of the many wonders of the Astral plain. You are in great sorrow. And for that I am sorry but you know yourself, everything happens for a reason.”

“You know about me.”

“Yes, I do and I have a message for you. Someone who wishes to speak but cannot has asked me to speak on their behalf. Your brothers are happy to know that you survived. And they want you to know that they’re sorry that you are alone.”

Alana looked at the ghost in front of her as tears sprang from her eyes. “My brothers.”

“Yes, but you are no longer alone. You have the Thundercats to help you and the Warrior Maidens. You’re grief is strong but in time, it will mend.”

“Can you tell them, I love them?”

“I can do better.” Jaga smiled gently. “Even though you cannot see them, they are in this room, hearing every word you say.”

More tears streamed down her face with a slight smile. She felt a cool breeze touch her shoulder. She looked to the shoulder but saw nothing.

With her mind focused on Jaga, she did not know she was no longer alone. At the entrance of the room, Tygra and Lion-O stood amazed. Both men were stunned as they saw their mentor stood before the woman, speaking to her. Normally Jaga was not seen by others, other the Thundercats and Mumm-ra.

“Your eldest brother has placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. He wants me to inform you that your safe and he’ll, as the rest of your brothers, will always be with you in heart and soul.”

Jaga looked up and saw the two Thundercats. He smiled at the both then turned back to the grieving woman. “It appears we are not alone. I shall leave you now for another time.”

Speechless, Alana watched as Jaga threw is cape over himself as he disappeared. When he was gone, Alana felt the cool breeze leave. She slowly stood up but quickly collapsed to the floor, crying.

Tygra and Lion-O were quick to her side. Tygra pulled the woman into his arms and rocked her softly until her tears turned to whimpers.

“Why don’t you take her back to her quarters?” Lion-O suggested softly.

“No,” she said weakly in Tygra’s chest. “I’ll feel better if I went outside.”

Tygra looked down at her. “Why did you break down?”

“Jaga, he…he…”

“We saw,” Lion-O said. “It surprises me that he appeared to you. Normally he only appears to me and if the others around, they see. No one outside of the Thundercats have been able to see him. What did Jaga tell you?”

“He said…” she started as few more tears streaked down her face. “That my brothers are happy that I’m safe and that they are sorry that I’m alone. But he also said that I’m no longer alone.”

Tygra looked at Lion-O with a slight smile. “He’s right you know. You are not alone.”

“Did Jaga say anything else?”

“He told me that my brothers are with me all the time. They are even in this room as we speak.”

Lion-O looked at her with a known smile. “So it lightens your heart to know that have haven’t completely lost your brothers.”

“Yes.”

Tygra curled his arm under her legs and lifted her up. “Why don’t we get you dressed and then go outside and get some fresh air.”

With her arms wrapped around Tygra’s neck, she nodded in agreement.

-

When she was dressed in the clothing Willa gave her, her, Tygra and Lion-O ventured outside. When the cold air hit her face, she covered her face with her covered hand, until she was use to the cold. She removed her hand and took a big breath of air.

“It’s beautiful. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to see the sun glisten off snow. When I was child it always reminded of what thousands upon thousands of diamonds would look like glistening in the sun.” She looked down and saw the Thunderkittens playing in the snow.

Tygra and Lion-O looked at each other with a smile. This was the best thing for her. They both wanted to ask her what diamonds were but right now sided against it, as they just wanted her to enjoy the outdoors.

“Wilykat,” kit called to her brother as she looked up at Lion-O. “Look who has joined us.”

Wilykat looked up to the top of the steps to see their guest standing beside Lion-O and Tygra, wearing the warrior maiden’s winter clothing. She was dressed in a brown fur coat to the hips and light brown fur leggings. The boots were also furred and tied around up to mid calf. Over her hands were covered in leather mittens with fur on the backs

Before Wilykat could say anything, he was suddenly hit in the back of the head with a snowball. He turned to see Wilykit sprawled on the snow laughing.

“Oh really,” he said. “You think that was funny.” He picked up a snowball and was about to throw it at his sister when he was hit again. But by who? He looked over at the direction where the ball came from and saw Alana chuckling. Her hands and coat were dusted in snow. Wilykit laughed even more.

“Sorry, I had to do it.” She wiped the snow off her mittens.

The two men beside her also laughed.

Wilykat quickly turned around and whipped the ball at his sister, getting her right in the face.

“Come, let’s take a walk,” Tygra offered, controlling his laughter down. He grasped her hand and began to walk down the steps.

Not knowing what to do, she allowed him to lead her, for now. When she first met Tygra, she felt relieved but as she began to know him, she began to feel scared. She had been hurt before and didn’t want to be again.

When they reached the edge of the drawbridge, she began to pull out of his grasp. Tygra immediately noticed this and stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said as she walked away towards the closest tree.

Tygra followed her and when she stopped, he placed his hands on his hips and giving her a soft but stern look. “There’s something bothering you, I know it. All day I’ve noticed you are pulling away from my help.”

Alana turned her head so she wouldn’t have to look into the unusual eyes. “It’s silly.”

“Nothing is ever silly,” Tygra tried.

“It’s just…It’s just you’re the only one giving a lot of fuss over me and I’m just getting a little nervous is all.”

“Why would you be getting nervous?”

What would she say? She couldn’t and didn’t want to tell him what had happened to her in the past. It was a private matter that was between her and her friends and they were all dead. With the thought of her dead friends, she looked at the tiger. “When will I be able to see the wreckage?”

Tygra noticed she avoided his question. “When you would like? After speaking with Lion-O, he has suggested that I give you more space. I have been holding back in letting you know that you are doing better than I expected.”

“That’s probably because of Josh,” she said sadly. “Josh was my eldest brother and just when I had yelled ‘all hands brace for impact’, he grabbed me out of chair and threw to the side. Before I could protest, the bulkhead was covering me. I could here my crew members screaming as the ground came closer.”

Alana was grateful for the crisp air. With the cold air, kept her tears at bay. “There was nothing I could do. All I could do was curl up in a ball and wait to find out what the fates were going to do.”

“Well that bulkhead is what saved your life.”

“I figured that and probably so did Josh. With what I witnessed today, I’m not ready to see the wreckage. But it’s good to know that I can go at anytime. Do you mind if I stay out here a bit by myself. I need time to think and being outside has always made feel better.”

“Sure, under one condition, you stay on the other side of the bridge. I want to make sure that nothing is going to happen to you.”

Alana nodded.

Tygra went to grasp her hand but she pulled away. A little disappointed, Tygra shrugged and began to walk back to Cats’ Lair, walking beside Alana. With her withdrawing was starting to annoy him. Perhaps maybe he was spending too much time with her. He did after all save her, cleaned her wounds and always escorted her to dinner. She hardly had any major chances to see the others. One thing he needed to do was seek a woman’s point of view over the situation. He was feeling drawn to her and wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.

[Lady1Venus]

Chapter 3 – Doing the Hardest Thing

The sun glistened on the fresh fallen snow from over night. The Thunderkittens groaned at breakfast when they were asked to help clean up the snow. Cheetara couldn’t do her morning run as she spent her hour getting rid of snow. The only spot that wasn’t cleaned off was the bridge. Alana slightly chuckled at their displeasure. She didn’t think it was right for the Thundercats to have the kids to so much work but the kids were part of the team so they had to work just as hard as the others.

“Sometime kids I’ll show you a way to have fun while working,” Alana said when she finished eating. “When my sisters and I were kids, we used to have certain chores to do and we made a game out of it.”

“Alana how are you feeling today?” Lion-O asked.

“Ready to see the ship,” she said with confidence. “It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve crashed here and it’s time I get this done and over with. I know my fallen friends cannot be buried until spring but I’m tired of being on the sidelines.”

“After the drawbridge is cleaned off, we’ll head over. Wilykit. Wilykat. You two can stay here and look after Cats’ Lair,” Panthro suggested. “I should warn you there are a lot of holes in the hull”

“Holes?” Alana questioned. “There shouldn’t be. We only took one major hit, which caused a hull breach, but it was contained.”

“There were several holes and when you crashed, your ship was on fire,” Lion-O said.

“Well yeah that was true. The flight deck was on fire. The fire first broke out in the engine room, source unknown. But it was after our first minor…” she paused. “…Hit.” She went quiet.

“Is something wrong?” Wilykit asked. She noticed, as did the others, Alana’s face turned white.

For several minutes, Alana went through her mind everything about the fight. When the color returned in her face she slowly answered more to herself. “If you say there were many holes and the fire only broke after the first minor hit…that would mean…those Bastards!” She bent her head, slamming her fist on the table hard enough that everyone’s glasses slightly vibrated.

“What?” Lion-O questioned, confused at the word.

With glassy eyes, Alana lifted her head at the Lord of the Thundercats. “Sabotage. The ship was sabotaged before take off. Someone must have found out that I was about to escape and knew I was looking for help. I have in mind of who did it.”

“Before we saw the ship crash,” Panthro started. “What were the reports?”

“For the first little bit, it was smooth sailing. On the tenth day through, strange events started to occur. Minor systems were shutting down, but my youngest brother was able to get them back on line in no time.

“After a couple days of going through system malfunctions, the attacks began. At first we couldn’t see where the attacks were coming from. But we were only getting warning shots. I ignored the warnings. My fiancé figured I ignored him so demanded we surrender or he would shoot us down.

“The cat and mouse game lasted for a couple more days until I lost him in a nebula. We stayed there until we thought it was safe. Tony is scared of nebulas and he knew I knew that. When we emerged, the real attack began.”

“How long were you traveling before ending up here?” Tygra asked.

“A month. I don’t even know where the nebula is. When the attack began, that’s when things really started down hill. As soon as we exited, we were hit, that was fine. I ordered all weapons fire at will.”

“I suppose that went on for a few days,” Panthro offered.

“Yes. Both ships were built well. Tony wanted it that way. I never knew why he praised his ships but I do now. But suddenly we had a power drain and from that, Tony fired a shot. It was only a minor hit. A small fire began in the engine room but it quickly manifested when we were hit again, which then caused a hull breach. More minor damages happened shortly afterwards until the flight deck started in flames.

“Soon afterwards I was about to order abandoned ship but quickly learned that the escape pods were malfunctioning and that was when I ordered a damaged report. There was a hull breach from levels two through six; emergency force fields were in place. I then ordered what was our heading; navigation was out. Suddenly we were in a pull downward, we were being pulled down.”

“You were entering the atmosphere,” Tygra concluded.

“That’s what we guessed. I then ordered ‘brace for impact’. I had already had known there were already lives lost. My eldest brother grabbed me and pulled me off to side and a bulkhead was pulled over top of me.” A few tears unwillingly

“I checked the ship all over, hoping not to disturb your fallen friends,” Panthro said. “But I found the living quarters were untouched by the fire. Why is that?”

“Tony has all his ships made like that. He wanted to make sure that if he or anyone else was trapped in their quarters when attacked, they would be safe. He is also greedy. If anyone loses their life, he would take their belongings.”

“That’s heartless,” Tygra spat out. “Why would someone do that? That is something I’ll never understand with humans.”

“Humans are not the only beings out there that can be heartless,” Alana said with slight anger. “There are other alien races who would be just as heartless and some even merciless as well.”

“After today, I could start moving the bodies to a location so there all together when we help you bury them,” Panthro suggested.

“Are you sure, you’ll be all right with that?” Alana asked. “I know it would be hard on me to move…”

“It won’t be too hard,” Lion-O offered.

“Well we better let the kids get the bridge done so we may inspect the ship,” Cheetara said. “In the meantime, I’m going to be in the control room.” Cheetara stood and quickly sped away out of the room.

“Does she do that all the time?” Alana asked.

Panthro crossed his arms and smirked. “Yup. It’s one thing you’ll get use to. Well you two better get started.”

“We’re going,” Wilykat whined. The two kids stood and left.

“That is if I’m here that long,” Alana said.

Tygra looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“Well I don’t want to impose or anything. I’m not a Thundercat, I doubt I’d fit in.”

Lion-O looked at her. “You are more than welcomed to stay here for as long as you wish. You may not be a Thunderian, but I’m sure you’d be useful here and even if you are not, we could always use other companionship.”

“Lion-O’s right,” Panthro agreed. “And you would not be imposing.”

“But what can I do? I don’t have super strength. I wouldn’t be able to help you if you were in trouble.”

“That maybe so about strength,” Tygra said. “But you never know about helping us if we were in trouble. You are the daughter of Safari Joe, you may know a few tricks from him that could be useful.”

“But I’m not Thunderian.”

“Even though you are not Thunderian.” Lion-O and Alana turned from the table. Before their eyes was Jaga. “You can be useful and with some work, you could become a Thundercat without being a Thunderian. Lion-O has the power to allow you to become a Thundercat and with his words, the Sword of Omens would call for you as well when danger is near.”

“I can do that?” Lion-O asked.

“Yes, Lion-O,” Jaga smiled. “With the Sword of Omens and a test, she can become a valued Thundercat, considering Snarf is one.”

“But I don’t find I’d be worthy,” Alana said. Through the corner of her eyes, she could tell the other two Thundercats were intrigued in what had to say Jaga. They were leaned back, smirking.

“Never say you are not worthy, until you try,” Jaga said as he disappeared.

Lion-O turned back to his friends as Alana leaned her head down.

“That’s the second time he’s appeared in front of Alana,” Tygra stated.

“I’m having a hard time believing, with a successful test, you could make Alana a Thundercat and the Sword of Omens would summon her if needed,” Panthro said.

“Me too,” Lion-O looked down at the sword.

Tygra stood and walked over to the woman. “Even Jaga says you are not imposing.”

“I don’t deserve your kindness,” she said with sadness. “But I am grateful. How long does it take the kids to clean off the bridge?”

“Usually a half hour,” Panthro answered.

“Perhaps I’ll go and help them.” Alana stood and walked away as tears came to her eyes. She needed to leave the room before Tygra or the other two noticed she had tears forming in her eyes.

Tygra, as he watched her turn away from him, noticed her eyes were blurred with tears. He closed his eyes for a second and sighed. “She is still hiding her grief from us.”

“Give her time,” Lion-O suggested. “She has only known us for a week. She isn’t going to tell us what is on her mind over night.”

“That is true but her grief is starting to drain her and if she soon doesn’t talk to someone, it’s only going to get worse.”

“There’s no sense in talking about her,” Panthro stood. “She is about to get the biggest shock of her life and we’re going to need to be there to help her through this. It is hard for me to work around those bodies. But it’s no worse than helping Willa when the Mutants attack her village or when they attack anyone else’s village. They are friends.”

“Tygra perhaps you should be with her. Out of all of us, she’s more comfortable with you,” Lion-O suggested.

Tygra nodded. “She is also comfortable with Cheetara. This is going to emotionally drain her.”

“All we can do is give her any support she will offer us,” Panthro said. “In my opinion it’s too soon for her to see that ship.”

“Even so,” Lion-O intervened. “We have to respect her wishes and it’s for the best in the long run. If the mutants were to get wind of the ship, they would not have any regard for the deceased.”

Tygra nodded in agreement. “Well we better get ready. Today will be a long day.”

-

The ride to the crash was silent. Alana, still feeling like she would be imposing didn’t feel like striking a conversation. A few times Cheetara or Lion-O tried to strike a conversation but she would just apologize and didn’t feel like speaking. While she waited for the worse to come, she glanced around the small space.

Her and Cheetara sat at the very back as Lion-O sat in one of seats in front. Snarf lay on the floor near the opening to the front where Tygra and Panthro were. She could hear the two silently talking amongst themselves. She couldn’t make out what they were saying.

When the tank stopped and the top hatch opened. She watched Cheetara jump out and noticed Lion-O had a hand out towards her. She slowly stood, taking a few quick breaths. She didn’t bother to look behind her knowing she would see part of the ship.

“We can come back on another day,” Lion-O offered softly while he gently grasped her hand so he could pull close to him.

“No. I want this over with. I need to be strong. If I don’t do it now, I never will have the stomach to do it.”

Lion-O nodded. “Careful now. I’m about to jump.”

Alana nodded, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. When she was secured on the ground, she slowly stepped away from the Lord of the Thundercats, keeping her eyes averted to the ground.

She slowly bent down in the snow. She clasped her hands together, bending her head further and said a pray. When her prayer was finished, she stood back up and turned to her new friends.

“It’s called a prayer,” she said as she looked at their confused faces.

“Is it another human custom?” Panthro asked.

“Actually it is. It’s a custom that dates back to when the humans were on this planet. The humans once called it the ‘Lord’s Prayer’.” Bending her head back down, she turned to face the ship and slowly raised her head.

A slight gasp escaped her lips and she took a step back. She suddenly felt Tygra’s presence directly behind ready to give any support she needed. She took in a quivering breath before taking a step forward.

“We can start where ever you like,” Panthro said. “The flight deck and engine room took the heaviest.”

“Start…” she paused. “Start from the bottom. My brothers are on the bridge. After I get this done, have all the…” she wasn’t sure what she wanted to call her friends. “…Fallen placed neatly in the rooms until we can bury them.”

“I have an idea on that,” Panthro said. “I have been doing an experiment with the Thundertank. And I think I have found away to bury them now instead of waiting until spring.”

Alana swiftly turned to the panther. “How?”

“I made a slight modification to the guns on the Thundertank. I believe I could thaw the ground to bury everyone. With the scrap that I’ve been able to salvage so far, I made crypt for your fallen friends. From what I’ve found you had a crew of 69. And I made the crypt to fit all of them.”

“Including myself there were 70. The ship looks small on the outside but inside is another matter. Tony wanted small looking ships but crew capacity of more. So small bridges and engine rooms were built.”

“All we have to do is get everyone in the crypt and create a burial sight.”

“If it’s all right with you, I’d rather the sight be here. Will this crypt be crowded?”

“No. Each person will have it’s own pocket as if it were a coffin.”

“Thank you.” She turned back to the ship and began a slow journey to where the engine room was located. She entered through one of the holes in the hull. Other than the hole there was no other light shining through.

Behind her, Tygra climbed in, though he had good eyesight, he produced a light for Alana.

“Thank you. I’ve always heard that cats had good eyesight in the dark and I figured yours were no different.”

“Not only do we have good eyes in the dark but we have a good sense of direction as well.”

“Is it going to be hard to get to the engine room?” Though still saddened, Alana was able to control her emotions as if she was doing a salvage operation for another ship.

“No we already cleaned the debris away from all the major areas,” Panthro answered. “Just be careful as you walk, there is some loose bulkheads and some of the floor could buckle.”

Alana led the way down to the engine room. When they reached the room, Alana quickly noticed bodies. Some laid as if they were sleeping while others were leaned over consoles. Tears brimmed her eyes, but she refused to let them drop. She needed to get this over with so the Thundercats could get use of the ship and so she could complete her grieving.

Closing her eyes from the pain. “Can anything in here be salvage?”

“We haven’t really taken much of a look,” Tygra answered. “We didn’t want to disturb anything until you looked at it. But I’m sure there is.”

“Yesterday when I was here. I came across one of the quarters that may still have an operational computer.”

“That would be the master’s quarters, which would have been set for Tony.”

“I take it,” Cheetara said. “Tony is the guy you ran away from?”

“Yes. And he built his ships so certain rooms would withstand anything.” Her voiced suddenly began to whisper, head lowered. “Megan, Trish, Michael, Dan, Tracey, Francine, Chris, Jason and Travis. May you rest in peace. I might not have known you for too long but understood my views. I wish you were all here but I need to live on and make sure Tony doesn’t win by allowing my grief consume me.”

She lifted her head up to look Lion-O. “Over in the corner was the main console for the engine room. Later we if can get the computers back up and running we could find out if anything from the hyper drive is salvageable.”

Lion-O nodded in agreement.

“Just beside the console there is a hatchway that leads to crawl space where you’ll find most of the computer chips that ran the ship. There is many different crawl spaces across the ship.” She turned looked at her fallen friends again and quickly regretted it. “Can we leave this room? Please.”

“Of course,” Lion-O said. “We’ll go to the next room.”

They went to every room of the ship and whenever they came across a room with bodies, Alana whispered a prayer to them. When they finally reached the flight deck, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go through with but she knew she had to.

Tygra, for support, grasped her hand and gave it gentle squeeze before entering. She quickly closed her eyes as they entered, she didn’t want to back out as they entered. When they stopped, she forcefully opened her eyes.

She quickly scanned the room and just as she came across her chair, she gasped. Before her eyes she saw her brothers. Her eldest brother lay beside the chair, eyes wide opened as dried blood stained his face. She gasped in horror and quickly turned, covering her face in Tygra’s chest as heavy sobs came out.

Tygra wrapped his arms around her and with quick observation; he noticed her legs were starting to give away. He slowly lowered himself and her to the floor as he looked at Lion-O who shrugged.

“Maybe you should take her home,” Lion-O suggested.

“No,” she cried in Tygra’s chest. “I need this,” she whispered.

“Lion-O,” Tygra said softy. “As much as we don’t like this, she needs this. With this out of the way, we can place her friends and brothers in the crypt and bury them.”

Alana, feeling comfortable wrapped in Tygra’s arms, cried. She tried to cry silently but the sobs just wouldn’t stay silent. As she listened, she felt a cool breeze brush past her shoulder. Though she was wearing thick clothing, she was able to feel the breeze. It made her remember what Jaga said that her brothers were always with her.

She began to calm her tears as she remembered the good times with her brothers and the last few moments of their lives. Josh pushed her out of the way for her to live. He knew everyone’s lives were gone but he wanted her to live.

She remembered back when they first departed…

Flashback

“Is everything ready to launch?” Alana asked.

“We are ready at your command. But we should soon hurry. It won’t take Tony long to figure you are not in your chambers getting prepared for your wedding.” A young woman with short black hair said.

Alana snapped her head away. “Megan, I don’t need to be reminded of that. I will not marry someone I do not love nor will I allow my father to do what he pleases to me as he did with my sisters.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. Megan turned towards the ship and read the name. “Renegade. That’s a fitting name for the ship.”

“That’s why I chose this one. It’s befitting to our departure.”

“Yo, sis.”

Alana turned to see her eldest brother coming around the corner. She smiled as he approached. “Josh.”

“Well I better make sure the engine room is secure,” Megan excused herself. “I’ll be chief of engineering.”

When Megan was gone, Josh spoke. “Listen, what we are about to do is treason. Are you sure you want to go through with this.”

“Josh you are the eldest sibling. You have seen our sisters be forced into marriages and we haven’t heard from any of them and they were married off when they turned eighteen. My eighteenth birthday is soon arriving, I will not be like my sisters.”

“I know. I just want to make sure that this is what you want. All of us in this together and we back you up all the way. I just want to make sure you are not getting cold feet.”

“I am not going to marry that monster. He locks me in my room when I’m not needed. I can’t go anywhere without an escort. I have no private time.”

“What is our heading?”

“Third Earth. I want to enlist the help of the Thundercats. If what father says is true, they can stop father and we can finally be free.”

“Are you sure these Thundercats will help us. They are complete strangers.”

“From what father has told his friends, the Thundercats are a kind race who fight with honor and loyalty. They do not stand by and watch the helpless get hurt. Besides Manadora has said the same thing. When she visited last month. In secret, I had a private meeting with her and she told me the same thing father said.”

“And Mandora doesn’t lie.”

“No, she doesn’t. But I need to keep Mandora out of this as much as possible. When we meet the Thundercats, I do not want them to know that she knows our father.”

“I agree. Well we better board. Tom, Terry, Steve, David and Carl are waiting for us. They are already aboard and waiting on the bridge for us.”

“Six brothers, helping their youngest sister run away. How weird is that?” Alana asked but quickly changed the subject. “Then let us get moving before we waist anymore time.”

“One more thing before we go. When he finds out you are missing, and he will, he will come after us. He’ll either try and retrieve us or shoot us down as we are taking one of his best ships and he doesn’t like seeing his ships in anyone else’s hands.

“I just want you to know, if my life is lost during this, I want you to live. Tony will want to try and ruin your life and the best why to do that is by destroying everything that matters, including your spirit. That spirit was almost lost once and if it weren’t for me and our brothers, that spirit would have been lost forever.”

“And I thank you everyday for that.”

“Yes and I don’t want the spirit to die because of me or the brothers.”

“Josh…”

“No. I don’t want to hear buts or anything. I want you to promise me that you will live if we don’t.”

“I promise.” Alana hugged her brother and the two entered the ship to begin their long journey to Third Earth.

End flashback

The words Alana said to her brother suddenly kept going through her mind over and over again. ‘I promise’. She couldn’t ignore nor break a promise. She looked up at Tygra as she realized they were on the floor.

“I need to be strong,” she whispered. She gently pushed herself from the tiger’s arms and slowly stood.

Lion-O was going to help but she held her hand up to stop him. He took the silent jester and backed away from her, leaving Tygra beside her. When she was completely on her feet, she moved towards the main part of the bridge where her brother laid, broken.

“You feared this would happen,” she whispered to the body. “I will not break my promise but it will not be easy but I will allow these Thunderians to help me move on. I know you are standing beside me.”

With shaky hands, she covered his eyes, to close them so she wouldn’t have to look at the haunting look. When she removed her hands, she felt her body begin to fall. She knew darkness was about to envelop her as seeing her brothers was too overwhelming.

Before falling too far, she felt herself being slowly lowered. She knew Tygra had caught her before she fell too far and held her in his arms. She managed to look up with blurred vision to see the concerned look of her tiger friend darkness consumed her. There wasn’t anything more she could do. She wanted the darkness to take over. She needed peace and get out but didn’t want to venture back through the darkened tomb.

[Lady1Venus]

Chapter 4 – Why is Alana Scared?

Moving quickly before the woman fell he caught her before she had any chance of falling too far. He looked down upon her and saw that her eyes were no longer in focus. He knew she was loosing consciousness. He watched as her eyes slowly closed for the final time, giving indication that she was no longer conscious. He looked up to his leader as his spoke.

“Is she all right?”

“I think so. It looks like she fainted.”

“We should get her out of here,” Panthro suggested. “She has been through a lot and from seeing her brothers, I’m sure it has really taken a toll on her.”

“Tygra, why don’t you take her home? Wileykit and Kat can keep an eye on her. I want to start getting these bodies out of here so we can work.” Lion-O suggested, taking another look at Alana’s oldest. “The sight of this is starting to make my stomach queasy.”

“You’re not the only one,” Cheetara said. “But we have done this before.”

“A few times actually,” Panthro stated.

Tygra nodded. He easily lifted the woman into his arms and left the flight deck. Lion-O followed just to be on the safe side in case Tygra had any problems getting out. Considering Panthro did say that the floor could give or the bulkheads could let go.

“Tygra, a few days ago, Alana started to seem a little distant and each day it seems to get worse. I’m sure she is hiding something. Something that could either get us into trouble.”

“I feel the same Lion-O but she has to come to us. If we were to push her to tell us what is wrong, she would back away from our friendship and she did come to us. Not the way she wanted, but she did make it to her destination.”

It took only a few minutes for the two of them to exit the ship and into the open brisk air. Tygra wasted no time in getting over to the Thundertank and placed Alana in. He jumped in as well, putting it into gear and headed back to Cats Lair. He didn’t even say anything more to Lion-O.

When he reached the lair, the two Thunderkittens waited for him at the steps. “What happened?” Wileykit asked with concern.

Tygra carefully picked Alana up before answering. “She fainted. Lion-O has asked for me to place her in your care and get back to the sight.”

“Ok, but first lets get her inside.”

Tygra nodded and went inside, the two kids were behind him. When they reached Alana’s room, Tygra carefully laid her down on the bed. With the help of Wileykit, the two removed her winter gear so she could rest peacefully. When the woman was comfortably in bed, Tygra quickly left.

“I’ll let you know if she awakens,” Wileykat said as he met Tygra at the doors leading outside.

“Thanks.” Tygra moved away from the window. “I better get back.”

“I’ll send Snarf to keep an eye on her.”

When the Thundertank was out of sight, Wileykat went back in and to the control room where she knew Snarf would be.

“Snarf,” he called as he entered the room. “Tygra has just brought Alana back. Right now she is resting in her room.”

“Snarf…What happened?”

“I guess from seeing her fallen friends, put too much strain on her and she collapsed.”

“I suppose you would like me to keep an eye on her in case she wakes up?.. Snarf.”

“If that isn’t too much trouble for you.”

“It shouldn’t be. I took care of Lion-O, didn’t I?”

“And once in awhile, you go overboard. That is from what I’ve seen and heard from Cheetara.”

“Snarf…can I help it. He was only a boy when we left Thundera and when we arrived he was a grown man. He lost the best years of his life.”

“You have a point there.”

Wileykat sat back down in his seat while Snarf left the room. Though still young, he was just as concerned for the young woman as Tygra was. But he had a feeling that Tygra seemed a little more concerned for her than anyone else.

-

While Tygra headed back to the crash sight, he was confused and concerned for Alana. He never knew a woman who was like Alana before. She was beautiful and mysterious all at the same time. She had been within the Thundercats’ company for a week and they were no closer in finding out more of who she was than what she had told them. She was only telling what they needed to know at the time it was appropriate.

What Lion-O said was right, but Tygra knew his point was also right. He soon was going to have to come to decision. He already knew what his course of action was going to be but he was dreading it if it came down to it. He was afraid of having to put the pressure on Alana to be more talkative, knowing she had been through a lot.

Tygra was also afraid, either Tony or even her father may come looking for her and they wouldn’t have any way to protect. They were completely vulnerable at the moment. Even their own enemies, Mumm-ra or the Mutants could attack and they wouldn’t be ready.

When he arrived, he saw Cheetara carrying one of the bodies, wrapped in a blanket, towards a bunker. Tygra guessed the bunker was the crypt Panthro spoke of. He quickly jumped out of the Thundertank to help the young male cub. There were five separate sections, able to fit fourteen bodies in each one. When one section was filled, another one would lay on top of it, until all five were on top of each other, making it ten feet high.

“Is she all right?” she asked.

“She should be,” Tygra answered. “She’s resting right now. The kids and Snarf will keep an eye on her and let us know if she awakens.”

“It’s not fair. She shouldn’t have pushed herself into this so quick.”

“Nobody said life is fair. What are the others doing?”

“Working as quick as possible in covering the bodies. This is the first one.”

Tygra could tell on the cheetah’s face she was having a hard time with this. She seemed to have a hard keeping her emotions in check. “Why don’t you go for a quick run. You missed out on it this morning. Perhaps it will help clear your head.”

“Are you sure?”

Tygra slightly smiled. “Go.” He took the body and watched Cheetara disappear around the corner of the ship. When he had the blanketed body placed gently in one of pockets of the nearest section, Panthro came up behind him with another body.

“Where’s Cheetara?” he asked. “I thought she would have come back for another.”

“I told her to have a small run. She never had it today and it’s starting to run her down. She probably will be back in a few minutes to continue to help us.”

“I noticed that too,” Lion-O agreed as he came up beside Tygra and placed another body in the makeshift crypt. “We have everyone covered in blankets since Alana showed us from the quarters. It’s making it a lot easier to not loose my breakfast.”

“Perhaps it’s a good idea to take a break and wait for Cheetara to come back.” Panthro suggested. “With her speed, we could get these people out of that ship before nightfall. The sooner this gets done, the better I’ll feel. I haven’t been able to eat properly since Alana arrived.”

“I know what you mean,” Tygra agreed. “Alana isn’t eating much either.”

About a half hour later, Cheetara returned. She seemed a little more energized than she was when she left. Lion-O quickly noticed that she did not run like she usually does. That would mean that she did not go very far from the ship. For a quick moment, he went around the corner of the other side of the ship and noticed that Cheetara’s trail let to the forest that was nearby.

She must have rested at the edge of the forest, giving herself some private time. All the times they ever had to help bury bodies from the Warrior Maidens or anyone else, Cheetara always seemed to do the moral around the group, either with helping Snarf prepare food or rebuild the damaged homes.

Lion-O turned back to his friends.

Cheetara looked at her friends. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Here’s the plan,” Lion-O commanded. “Cheetara and I will start with the engine room and you two work from the flight deck. We’ll meet somewhere in the middle.”

“Good plan,” Tygra agreed.

-

The sun had just gone over the west horizon when Cheetara brought out the last blanketed body. She laid the body down in the final pocket. Together her, Lion-O and Tygra placed the slab that would be the cover for the crypt.

Panthro jumped into the Thundertank and using the paws of the tank, he grabbed a hold of the final section, placing it a top the other four. He used a low setting on the guns, sealing the last section so it wouldn’t come apart. When each section was put on top of the other, Panthro did the same.

Panthro wiped his brow. “There. Now the stomach squeezing can stop. Let’s head for home and try to stomach something. We don’t want to be weak in case we’re attacked.”

“I guess Alana hasn’t woken yet,” Lion-O said.

Suddenly, Wileykit’s voice came through over the Thundertank’s communicator.

“What is it?” Panthro, still in the tank, answered.

“Alana, she’s gone. An hour ago, I checked on her and she was still in bed. I just checked on her again and she’s gone.”

“We’re on our way.” Panthro looked up to his comrades. “Let’s go. We have ourselves a missing guest.”

Tygra shocked his head. “I had a feeling she would do that. She could have been pretending to sleep when Wileykit checked on her and when she left, Alana snuck off.”

The three remaining Thundercats jumped in the tank and headed back to Cats’ Lair. As soon as they arrived, Tygra jumped out and quickly made his way into the lair. He wanted…needed to find her. He went to the control room, where he began to do a survey of the whole lair. For an hour he looked but found nothing. He was starting to get a little frustrated.

Cheetara came up behind him with a tray of food and a drink. “Nothing?”

“No. She has to be here somewhere. There were no fresh tracks in the snow, indicating she’s somewhere inside.”

“Here, I brought this up for you.” Cheetara offered the food to him.

“Thanks.” He turned, generously taking the tray and nibbled a little. He was still overwhelmed from cleaning Alana’s fallen friends, but he needed something in his stomach. He took a small drink, when something caught his eye. He turned back to the monitor, bringing a closer image of what had his eye. His eyes widened as he smiled.

“Found her,” he announced. “She’s hidden down in the green house.”

As he stood, forgetting about his food, Cheetara got his attention. “You like her.”

He turned to her and stared at her for a few minutes. “I believe it’s going further than that.” He turned away from the woman and left before she could utter another word.

-

As he approached the doors to the green house, he slowed to a walk. He knew if he approached the doors too quick they would swish open fast and he did not want to startle the grieving woman. The doors slowly opened, barely giving a sound when he was close enough to the sensor. He began to search around for her, not exactly sure where she was. He knew she was still in the room as he could hear her occasional whimper, indicating she had been crying.

When he located her, she was in a far corner, surrounded with crates of food. The crates created a huge shadow over her, keeping her well hidden. If it weren’t for her crying, no one would be able to find her.

He took a closer look at her condition. She had a blanket wrapped tightly around her with a bucket beside her. The blanket, she probably took from her room. Her body wouldn’t stop shaking and it wasn’t from crying. He speculated she had been throwing up.

Not being able to take her hurt anymore, he kneeled down beside her and placed a gentle hand on her shaking shoulder. “We were worried about you,” he said softly.

She slightly jumped and looked at him. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying making the rest of her face look very pale.

“How did you find me?” she asked hoarsely, barely above a whisper.

“Checked every room and corridor by the monitor in the control room. We’ve been back for an hour.”

She turned away from him. “I can’t feel my body.”

Tygra gasped slightly at her statement. She was basically telling him, from all her crying and throwing up; she lost all feeling in her body. He sat on the floor; stretching his arms and pulling her towards his warm body.

She tried to fight his arms away from her but she had no strength left. She was amazed she was able to hold herself up for so long. Giving up, she leaned her head against his chest, allowing the rhythm of his heartbeat to calm her nerves.

For about ten minutes she sat in his lap, the warmth to his body to warm her up. When she stopped trembling, he felt it was time to leave the room. Switching his arms around her to carry her, he slowly stood and slowly walked up to her quarters. She had her arms loosely wrapped around his shoulders. He knew the whole time; she was still awake, as a slight sniffle would break the silence.

When he had her safe and warm in her quarters, he came to the realization that he was attracted to her…and it was vastly turning into more of an attraction. He knew that caring for her the way his feelings were starting to want him to, was dangerous. He didn’t really know anything about her and it wasn’t fair to her as she just ran from her fiancé and just lost her brothers and closest friends.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” she pleaded in a whisper when he laid her on the already opened blankets.

“As long as you promise me that you won’t hide from us again.”

She slight nodded as her eyes began to draw heavy. Sleep was very quickly starting to take over her body.

“On a lighter note, everyone is now in the makeshift crypt. When you have the strength, we’ll do a memorial for them before burying them.”

“Thank you.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head slightly away from Tygra.

He quietly stayed in the room, sitting on the side of the bed as she fell asleep. When he knew she asleep, he slowly stood.

“I shouldn’t have these feelings,” he whispered. “I wish you would open up. We need you to be more open up so we can protect you from our enemies and yours.”

He turned away from the woman and left the room. Just outside the room, Cheetara waited. He had no idea how long she was there, but figured it was shortly after he arrived.

“I noticed you two were no longer in the green house, so I figured you brought her back here. From your looks, it looks like she wasn’t in the best of shape when you found her.”

Tygra shock his head. “Worse. I’m surprised she was still conscious. She has just made me promise not to let anyone know of her condition when I found her.”

“At least she’s putting her trust in you.”

“I wish she would tell us what she is hiding from us.”

“Well at least she’s safe. Why don’t you finish what I gave you and then head to bed yourself. Panthro is taking first watch.”

Tygra nodded. “I think I’ll just skip dinner and just get some sleep. From today and seeing her in the green house has completely made me lose my appetite.”

Cheetara watched as Tygra walked down the hallway and into his own quarters. When the doors were closed, she quietly peered into the human’s room to make sure she was asleep and not pretending and then made her way to the conference room, where she knew Panthro and Lion-O were.

“Did Tygra find her?” Lion-O asked as Cheetara entered the room.

“He found her. She was in the green house. She’s now back in her quarters, sleeping. Tygra has gone and done the same.”

“Perhaps she should have something to do here so she isn’t so lonely.” Panthro crossed his arms. “But the question is what? I have no idea what type of talents she has.”

“She told Tygra she had knowledge in Science and medicine and that she has other hobbies but what they are, I’m not sure. I could have a talk with her when she’s feeling better,” Lion-O suggested. “She might feel more useful if she was doing something. I have noticed she has been admiring the structure of Cats’ Lair.”

“Lion-O,” Cheetara interrupted. “She maybe more responsive if I spoke with her. I’ve noticed she is not always comfortable around you.”

“I’ve noticed that to,” he agreed. “And it’s starting to get troublesome. She’s most comfortable around you and Tygra.”

“Lion-O, why don’t you get some rest? You will be taking the next watch after me.”

Lion-O sighed. “You’re right Panthro.” He stood and walked past Cheetara.

When the Lord of the Thundercats was gone, Panthro looked at Cheetara. “Why do I get the feeling that there may be something trying to develop between Tygra and Alana?”

“Maybe from Tygra’s end but I think Alana is scared to start over. From what I gather, she looks as though she’s afraid that all men are like her fiancé.”

Panthro shock his head. “Even if that is true she must realize that we are nothing like humans. So what that are appearances are different. We are a race who respect our women and others.”

“I think she’s starting to see that now. I’m quite surprised there hasn’t been any Mutant activity. Not even the Warrior Maidens have had anything.”

“Something is brewing, I can feel it. As soon as we can get Alana’s friends buried, the better I’ll feel. If the Mutants see that crypt, they may attack it or steal it. Either way, it will make Alana drawback even further than she already has.”

“I agree. In the morning, I’ll go to the Tree Top Kingdom and see if they know anything.”

“Why you’re out, see if we can get the help of the Robear Berbils. They helped us build Cats’ Lair. I want to see if they can help us get the ship disassembled and the parts here so we can work with it better.”

“Let’s just hope we do not get another snow storm. This year is terrible for the storms.”

“Perhaps the storms is what is causing the Mutants in not being able to make an appearance,” he chuckled. “They probably don’t know how to get by a storm.”

“But we can never be to careless,” Cheetara stated. “That would be something if that were true, but we shouldn’t speculate on why they haven’t showed.”

“Any idea what the kids are doing?”

“Yeah they said they wanted to make something for Alana. They feel real bad for her and want to try and cheer her up. She has not smiled since the day she first ventured outside.”

“Lion-O said she threw Wileykat a snowball right after Wileykit hit him with one. Well I’m heading up to the control room.” Panthro stood from the table. “I’ll first check in on the kids before heading there.”

“I will. The kids are in one of their rooms and that is the opposite direction than where you are heading.”

-

Cheetara came up to the kids’ quarters, almost expecting them to be in there. When she came close to the sensor, she noticed they were in there. She entered the room, as the two were busy working on something.

“How is your project going?” she asked.

“We should be done by morning,” Wileykat answered. “I hope she likes it.”

“I’m sure she will. Lion-O and Tygra have gone to bed and Alana is now resting back in her quarters.”

“Where was she?” Wileykit asked as she placed down the wood she was using.

“She was hiding in the green house. I’m not sure why she was there. But I would have to say she was probably wanting to get away from everyone and she got lost.”

The kids shock their heads in sadness.

“I’ll leave you two alone now. Whenever you’re ready, you may head to bed.” Cheetara turned and headed out. She decided she was going to take another look in on Alana.

When she got to Alana’s Quarters, she saw Snarf standing outside the doors. “What are you doing here?”

Snarf looked up to the owner of the voice. “Keeping watch…Snarf. Snarf.”

“Snarf that is not being nice. What do you think she’ll say if she sees you? I’m sure she’ll stay in her quarters. Tygra said she was quite upset and tired.”

Snarf crossed his arms and huffed. “Fine.” He turned away and walked over to Lion-O’s quarters. He laid down beside the doors. “If I can’t watch her from there, I will here. This way if she sneaks off again, I can follow her and let you guys know.”

Cheetara shook her head and walked away. She didn’t need to check on the human now since Snarf was taking care of that. She continued up to the control room and sat at one of the empty seats, helping Panthro for a little while before turning in. When she finally decided to turn in, another storm began its approach towards the Cats’ Lair.

She heard Panthro curse at the weather. “Blasted storms. With these storms we can’t do much. This is the third storm in the past week. Third Earth hasn’t had one of these type of winters in a long time.”

Cheetara came up behind Panthro. “How large will the storm be?”

Panthro punched in a few numbers and was given the answer. He gasped at the size. “It’s huge, ranging 45 degrees south to 30 degrees north.”

“That’s the biggest storm we’ve had all year so far. And it will reach all the way to the Castle Plun-darr,” Cheetara mused. “At least that will answer a question about them. They will, at least for now, be digging themselves out before they get to us.”

“Unless Mumm-ra decides to interfere.”

“In reality we haven’t heard from him since the winter began. In fact every winter so far, we never hear from him. When will the storm reach us?”

“It will reach us, if the winds keep going the way it’s going, by tomorrow night. I have noticed that about Mumm-ra. Maybe the cold weather doesn’t suit him. Or perhaps sometimes the snow can make a reflection or the ice will when he crosses it and it’s bare.”

“I’m heading off. If it hasn’t starting snowing yet by morning, we should get as much done as possible tomorrow.”

Panthro laugh quietly. “Have a good night.”

With Panthro now alone, he decided to get some work that he had wanted to get done since before Alana arrived. And with the storm, it was a perfect time for him to do it. He had wanted to see if the scanners could work through a storm. So far they wouldn’t but he figured he probably could configure it somehow. If that could work, then they would be able to scan for ships approaching Third Earth.

[Lady1Venus]

Chapter 5 – Revealing Talents

It was near the beginning of daybreak when Tygra woke. He couldn’t believe he slept for so long as he turned in very early. He quickly got up and made his way to Alana’s room. He did feel a little guilty in wanting to see if she stayed, but it was necessary to make sure she was safe. He was about to open the door, when he noticed Snarf was nearby, one eye opened. Tygra slightly smiled. Snarf felt the same way; he kept an eye on the grieving woman.

Knowing that she would be in quarters, he shrugged his shoulders, and made his way to the control room, to relieve who ever was on watch so they could get a few more hours of sleep before the sun completely was in the sky.

“Good morning,” Tygra said as he noticed it was his leader who was up.

Lion-O turned. “You’re up early.”

“I’m surprised I slept this long. Why don’t you head back to bed? I’ll take it from here. I’ve slept for quite a long time.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind? I have had plenty of sleep.”

“Go,” Tygra said.

Lion-O stood. “I’m sure you saw Snarf next to my door.”

“Keeping an eye on Alana I guess. She’s been through a lot these last few days.”

“And it may get worse. There’s another storm heading our way. At its present course, it will catch up to us by nightfall. So far it will be the worst and it will eventually reach all the way to Castle Plun-Darr, no matter what the wind does.”

“That’s quite the storm.” He watched the Lord of the Thundercats leave before he took his position where Lion-O was.

Not long after Lion-O left, Tygra saw activity just outside the Cats’ Lair walls. He homed in on the source and smiled. It was only Cheetara getting ready for her morning run. This was her normal time in getting. He watched her for a few minutes before she disappeared in a blurr.

“I probably could use some food.”

Tygra turned at the sound, seeing Alana standing in the doorway. She looked a lot better than she did when he found her. A little ways behind her, he saw Snarf, but quickly noticed Snarf took off. With Alana with Tygra, he was no longer needed.

“I’m sure we could find something.” He quickly turned back, pushing two buttons before putting his attention on getting the human some food.

“What did you just push?” she asked as Tygra approached her.

“Recording outside activity in case of an attack and turned on the alarm. When Cheetara comes back inside, she’ll deactivate the alarm and head up here.”

They silently walked to the kitchen and Tygra began to take a look around on the shelves to see if there was anything edible for Alana to eat without having it cooked. He was surprised that Snarf wasn’t in the room.

Alana saw a small table with a couple chairs and sat down. She didn’t want to over exert herself after throwing up for so long. From that, her stomach was now sore and was giving quite the discomfort.

“I’m not sure what there is without having to cook.”

“Can you cook?”

Tygra whipped around and stared at her. She looked up with a slight smile.

“I’m kidding.”

Tygra smiled with her. “Well actually I can cook, but I’m not as good as Snarf.” He turned and in on the last shelf he found some of the left over candy fruit from the Robear Berbils. He turned back and sat at the table.

“There’s not much but there is a little bit of Candy fruit.”

“Candy fruit? What is that?”

“It’s fruit in the shape of different types of candy. It’s really good.” He handed her the candy fruit.

She carefully took it out of his hands and took a bite. Her eyes lit up with the taste. “Amazing. I’ve never had anything like this before. But I don’t want too much or I’ll ruin my breakfast.”

“Snarf will probably come in at any time and start breakfast.”

“I suppose this will hold me over until then. Will I be able to see the ship today?”

“That may not be possible I’m afraid.”

Alana stood, suddenly angry. “Why because of how I reacted last night?”

Tygra placed his hands up in defense. “I’m not saying that at all. But if you were to take a look at the sensors, you will find a storm heading this way. At the rate it’s going, it will start at nightfall. I’m not sure how much will fall, but it’s rating the worse storm this year.”

“Snow.” Her anger increased. “It’s going to snow again. What is this? Is this the God’s way of not allowing me to grieve the way I want?” She slammed her fist but quickly regretted it. She hissed in pain as she grasped her hand.

Tygra noticed she scratched her hand when she hit the table. He guessed it must have been caused from her weaken condition. He went over to help her but she cowered away.

“I should take a look at that.”

“No. I’m fine.” Her anger was now gone but was slightly irritated. “This was my fault. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. Its just…” she trailed off.

“It’s just what?” He watched as she turned away from him. “Look,” he sighed. “You are hiding something and I understand that you don’t want to talk about it, but I want to be your friend and frankly you are making it really difficult.”

She turned back to him, with her head down. “I know you want to be my friend and I’m not helping. But I have a dark past and it’s hard to speak about it. The only person I ever confided in…you just took off the flight deck. I’ve never been good at being open.”

She turned back away from Tygra and was about to walk out but he gently grasped her arm. “Can you at least tell me why you keep shying away from us?”

“I…” she looked at the arm that was holding hers. She took a deep breath. “Believe me when I say I want to trust you but…” she paused and then rushed out. “I have a hard time trusting men. My brothers were the only ones I’ve ever been able to trust completely.” She pulled her arm away and ran out of the room, leaving a startled tiger in the wind.

After she was long gone, Snarf walked in to prepare breakfast.

“Snarf… Why did I just see Alana come running from this direction?”

“She’s troubled and she’s having a hard time trusting people,” Tygra explained. He walked out of the kitchen so the small Snarf could get his work done. He went back up to the control room to monitor Alana in case she was to get herself lost again.

But he quickly realized she had gone back into her quarters.

“I see you had turned on the alarm. Alana must have woken up.” Cheetara asked as she came into the room. She looked at the disturb tiger. “Is something wrong?”

Tygra turned to the woman. “I thought you were out for your run?”

“I decided to talk a small run. We have a busy day and we need to start as soon as possible.” Cheetara took a seat near the tiger.

“I just found out one of many reasons why she’s not comfortable around us.”

“Let me guess, she’s afraid of men.”

Tygra turned in his seat. “Exactly. And I don’t know how to help her.”

“Why don’t you let me talk to her?”

“That might be a good idea. I was just with her a few minutes ago and she had suddenly got angry at the weather.”

“These storms are keeping her from being able to put her friends to rest.”

“I know. I’ve never met a woman like her. She reminds me of Willa when we first met her, but short time after meeting Willa, she began to open up to us. Alana on the other hand, keeps backing away from us.”

Cheetara looked at the monitor, watching the storm, closing in towards them. “From the looks of that storm, it’s going to take us a few days to get through the snow.”

Tygra shock his head. “At least we were able to get Alana’s friends out of the ship.”

Cheetara nodded. “Perhaps we can get them buried before the storm hits us.” She turned and left, making her way towards Alana’s room. When she arrived, she could hear muffled cries coming from the room. She slowly made her way into the room.

“Alana,” she called softly.

“Go away,” Alana cried.

“Alana I want to just have a small talk.” Cheetara walked over to the bed and carefully sat down. “It will just be a conversation between you and me.”

Alana sat up and looked at the cheetah woman, wiping her tears. “How can I trust you?”

“You can me believe or not but only you can decide that. If it makes things easier on you, why don’t I tell you a secret? I’ve never told anyone this and I’m not sure if it’s proper for me to feel like this.”

A little interested, Alana curled her legs under her, leaning her head against the back of bed, allowing her tears to subside slowly. “And what is that?”

Cheetara blushed as she spoke. “For quite some time now, I’ve had these feelings but have never acted upon them. See when we first left Thundera, Lion-O was a child. Now, he’s a grown man.”

“Handsome at that,” Alana added.

“Yes, he is. But that is where lies the problem, I’m attracted to him and I’m not sure if I should feel like that. He might have the body of a man but in reality he should only be in his teens.”

Leaning forward, Alana said. “Are you telling me that you care for him more than a friend?”

Cheetara nodded, as her blush brightened but she did nothing to conceal it. “I care for him as a friend, my leader and…would like it to become more but I don’t know if I should pursue it.”

“Does he like you?”

“As a friend yes but something more, I’m not sure. I don’t even know if he knows what love is. He still has a lot to learn.”

“If you ask me, I think he does like you. I have noticed a couple times in the way he looks at you when he thinks no one else is looking.”

“Perhaps.” Cheetara noticed the human woman had stopped her tears. “Can I ask you something? Are you distancing your self from us because you’re afraid of men?”

“You spoke to Tygra.” A slight anger whispered through her words.

“No,” Cheetara white lied. She did speak to Tygra but he never said she was afraid, she guessed it herself. “I guessed this on my own. One minute you are getting close to guys but then suddenly you back away as if they are one of Tony’s people.”

Alana looked away, sadness reappearing. “I guess I’m that transparent.”

“Only to me. The others are not sure what to make of your actions. They are only wanting to help.”

“I know they are but it’s hard to trust men.”

“Were you hurt by one?”

Alana looked back at Cheetara as a new onslaught of tears brimmed her eyes. Cheetara pulled her close as Alana silently cried. “I don’t know how to trust men. The ones I trusted are dead.”

“It will take time but just talking to me is a big start. Start out small.” Cheetara soothed. “Tygra, Lion-O and Panthro are the most trusted men I’ve ever met. Why don’t we dry those tears and join the others. And after breakfast…”

Alana suddenly moaned in pain. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, making Cheetara lightly push Alana away, putting her at arm’s length. “What’s wrong?”

Alana hesitated for a moment before slowly answering. “Last night, when Tygra found me…he saw that I had thrown up and now, my muscles hurt.”

“That’s terrible. You shouldn’t have to go through this alone. Tygra is concerned for you and it’s not completely because you are alone on this planet with no one you know to trust.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Alana whispered.

“No. But I would like to but in time. Why don’t we go and see if there is anything to eat yet?”

“I can’t face him.”

Cheetara nodded in complete understanding. “You can’t avoid him. And he wants to help, we all do. Later on today Panthro would like to talk to you and I would like to see if you have any fighting skills. But since you have sore muscles…”

“Did you bring back what I asked for yesterday before I fell all to pieces?”

“You mean…” Cheetara stood up and walked over to the closet. “This.” She pulled out a gray box.”

“You found it.” Alana got up from the bed and walked over to Cheetara. She took the box from the woman’s hands and opened it. She pulled out a bottle and quickly drank what ever was in it.

“What is that?” Cheetara asked when Alana placed it back in the box and closed it up.

“Before I left Tony, I took one of his first aid kits and what I just took was a pain killer. By nightfall my muscles will be healed.”

“Ok, while your muscles are healing, we can talk about your fighting skills. But right now, you need food in your system. We could probably end up burying your friends today if everyone agrees. But we also need to dismantle the ship before our enemies rear their ugly heads.”

Alana nodded.

-

During breakfast, it was agreed the Thundercats would bury the fallen before the storm began but first they would do what they could about working with the ship. After breakfast and knowing she wasn’t strong enough too venture too far, Alana stayed at Cats’ Lair, everyone else but Panthro were going to go to the crash sight. Everyone stood; ready to begin their day. Alana watched Panthro got up and left just as Snarf began to clear the dishes.

Not long after he left, Lion-O commanded for the rest of the team to head to the Thundertank. Alana walked with them and watched them leave. When they were away from the lair, she went back inside and helped Snarf with clearing the table then went in search of Panthro. She knew Cheetara was right about needing to trust her new friends.

When she found Panthro he was hard at work in his workroom. She took a quick look around; there were parts of her ship all around the room. Some of the parts were flattened out, while others were still in its original shape.

“Hello.”

Panthro turned. “You found your way here?”

“Actually Snarf told me where to go. Cheetara had said you wished to speak with me.”

“After yesterday, I’m surprised you would be willing to socialize.”

She walked up to him. “I need to start doing what I had promised to my brother and that is to live on. I’m also getting bored. I have no idea what I can do around here.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” He turned his full attention on her instead of the small piece of metal that was laying in front of him. “I was wondering what sort of talents you have. I know you have knowledge in science and medicine but what other talents do you have? Or do you have any?”

“I have a few others but they are mostly hobbies. But one of other best techniques is architect.” Alana looked down at what Panthro had been working on when she walked in. “You know with a little more pieces, you could make an alarm with that. It could be something that could be attached to the Thundertank.”

Panthro blinked in surprise. “That is exactly what I’m making. You know more than you let on.”

“That’s a talent that has been with me since my mother died. “Alana turned away from the man. She swung her arms out as she spoke. “With the salvageable materials from the ship, you could create a whole new level in Cats’ Lair.”

Completely intrigued in her idea, he leaned on his arms on his knees. “How could I do that?”

“At a slow pace, we could build underneath the foundation, creating a whole new level.”

“I have thought of building below the foundation but how could we do that? That is the problem about that the idea.”

“No, there isn’t.” Alana walked back over to Panthro. “Start by making a hole in the foundation. Once the hole is big enough, begin to dig on the sides. When there’s a big enough hole start enforcing the hole with the salvaged metal. Before you know it, there will be a whole new level, without having your enemies knowing.”

Panthro fingered his chin for a few moments, letting the idea sink in and placing in a few of his own ideas. “What would we put down there?”

“Glad you asked. You built this,” she swung her arms around, “to protect. But there isn’t anything here for fun. It’s just a work facility. You have a hanger for the Thundertank and Feliner, then there’s the command center and of course sleeping quarters. And if I’m going to become a part of your team, I would like something to do other than military work all the time and someplace to relax besides my quarters.”

“Where did you learn all this?”

“A couple years ago, my brothers and myself built a secret room that nobody knew and it was my room to relax and I was the only one to get in. My brothers never even came in. I was never able to go anywhere unless there was an escort. Mind you after so long, Tony did find out about it, but my brothers forced him not to do anything or there would have been hell to pay. That’s where the idea of building under the foundation came from.”

“That could work.”

“And with the others on their way to speak to the Robear Berbils, who ever they are, it will make things easier.”

“And if they agree, faster. With the Berbils help, Cats’ Lair was built in a matter of weeks.”

“Wow, they’re fast.”

Panthro nodded. “I’ve never seen structures built as fast as Cats’ Lair.” He turned to what he was working on. Knowing Alana would soon shy away, Panthro came up with an idea. “You know, I could use a hand in building this alarm.”

“Sure, but to make a really good alarm, you should wait until more parts arrive. I have a better idea of what could be made, or at least started on. You have complained of your enemies getting too close.”

“How did you hear that?” he turned back to the woman.

“I may fall to pieces, but I do listen. It’s something my mother taught me; if I want to know something without asking, be busy at something else but keep the ears open. You’d be amazed at what you can hear when everyone thinks you’re not listening.”

Panthro nodded his head in agreement. “You heard me speaking to Lion-O yesterday at the crash sight. Ok. What could we make to help boost up the defenses of Cats’ Lair?”

“Place weapons on the outer walls. We could make weapons from this scrap of metal. The weapons array is damaged but can be repaired. But until we can get the array, we can build shells for the weapons.”

“What are we waiting for?” Panthro was now excited at her knowledge.

-

Three hours after Alana and Panthro started working, the Thundercats arrived back with a makeshift wagon, full of parts from the ship. Alana and Panthro went out to investigate the parts. When Alana arrived outdoors, two small creatures greeted her.

“Alana,” Lion-O spoke. “Meet Bobear Bill and Bobear Belle of the Berbils.”

“It’s nice to see that you survived that awful crash,” Robear Bill said.

“Yeah,” Robear Belle agreed. She handed Alana a covered item.

Alana took the item with gratitude. She unwrapped the item and found a small bouquet of silver-blue lily flowers. They looked freshly picked. She looked at the Berbils with surprise.

Robear Belle bowed. “They are the only flowers that grow in the winter. Our ancestors planted them when they immigrated on Third Earth.”

“Thank you,” Alana said. “They’re beautiful.”

“Your welcome,” Bill said. “You are luckily to have friends like the Thundercats. They came to us and we started to help them with your ship. Others from our village are at the wreckage, working on getting the easy parts off before the storm reaches us.”

Alana looked past the two Berbils as she saw Cheetara and the Thunderkittens unloading the parts. Before she could blink, Panthro ran past her to help them. Before too long, everything was unloaded and left just inside the doorway of the lair. Alana watched as the Thundertank pulled away, leaving to get another load.

When it was only her and Panthro again, Panthro began to inspect the pieces. “There’s enough here to finish the shells of the weapons but it might be a good idea to work here instead. The workroom will be too small.”

“I agree. Why don’t you head and get whatever supplies we need and we’ll start working with this instead. I’ll start going through this and see what we’ll use.”

“Good idea.”

By nightfall, it began to lightly snow. Lion-O called it quits on the salvage operation. When the last load was in Cats’ Lair, half of the foyer was covered in pieces of metal. One side of the stairwell, leading to the rest of the lair was blocked off. Alana was surprised at how much was gathered in a small amount of time.

“What are you guys working on?” Tygra asked.

“Alana came up with the idea of boosting Cats’ Lair’s defenses by adding weapons on to the side of the walls, hidden from plain view,” Panthro explained. “We have been making the shell casings for the weapons to be used.”

“That’s a great idea,” Lion-O complimented. “However, if we are to bury your friends, we should head out, it has begun to snow and soon it will be a all out blizzard.”

Alana nodded, allowing soar to fill her heart once again. All day, she was not plagued with burying her friends. But now…was a different matter. It was time to place them to rest before the storm became worse.

With a sadden voice, Alana stood. “Well there’s no time like the present. Let’s go.”

Panthro came up beside her. “Are you sure you want to do this now. We could wait until the storm is over.”

“I want this done as soon as possible. They deserve that at least from me.”

Lion-O walked up to her. “Would you mind if our friends are there?”

Alana looked at him and then past him. She saw, standing at the entrance, Willa and two other Warrior women and six of the Robear Berbils. “I don’t mind,” she whispered. “They have helped in the salvage operation. That is more than I’ve expected from strange people.”

“Everything will be ok,” Lion-O said quietly then walked away. He didn’t have see but he knew that she left the main room to dress for the winter weather.

When she was dressed, everyone was waiting for her at the Thundertank. Willa and another Warrior maiden, Nayda, helped her into the tank as everyone else jumped in. Panthro pulled the vehicle into gear and traveled to the crash sight.

Once, getting there, Alana climbed out of the tank herself, not wanting to have help from anyone and moved away to look at the ship. She quickly noticed they did not start on the outer hull but from somewhere inside. When she turned, she saw Panthro, in the Thundertank, burning a hole into the ground.

She didn’t bother to ask what he was doing or how long it was going to take. At the moment she wasn’t in a talkative mood. When the hole was large enough, Panthro extended the paws of the Thundertank and picked up the crypt. It was slowly moved from its spot and carefully placed over the hole.

“Stay back everyone,” Panthro called. “This is going to make a huge sound. The best way to place this in here is by letting it drop.”

The front seats were suddenly closed over by a protective shield. The paws were extracted and the crypt fell with a loud thud, shaking the ground. Alana watched it and only blinked when it crashed into the hole. She didn’t realize that when she blinked, a single tear slid down her cheek. This time the brisk air was not going to hold back the tears.

When the Thundertank was away from the hole, Panthro jumped out and walked over to Alana. “It’s all yours.”

Alana nodded and slowly walked over to the crypt. She crouched down and grabbed some of the soil that was loose from the sides and threw it onto the crypt. “Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. May you find rest here together.”

Tygra came up beside her as she continued to speak. He wanted to help her but wasn’t sure what other kind of support he could give besides what he has.

“We left Planet Seris, in search for help. I found that help but at the expense…of your lives. But that was a risk…you were willing to take.”

She paused and took a deep breath. “Some of you were born on Seris, while others were from another planet. But all were forced to live a life under the command of Tony. I will…visit you as often as possible and…keep your memories alive.”

Uncontrollable tears were now streaming down her face. “The planet that you now rest on is once the planet known as Earth but was renamed Third Earth by the alien natives that now reside here.”

Alana didn’t realize that she was not alone at the edge of the crypt. Everyone was standing directly behind her, all giving their own soars and prayers. This was the first time, the Thundercats seen the Robear Berbils give their own kind of burial service. They had seen what the Warrior Maidens did.

“My brothers…I know you’re with me and I can’t see you. But I want you to know…that I will not let go of my spirit and let Tony win. I will be…strong and someday will pay him a visit and give him a piece of mind. But until then…” She lowered her head to whisper, “I need to start over and become strong again.”

She trembled as she stood back up and walked away from everyone. She didn’t notice that she wasn’t walking away alone.

“Alana,” Tygra said softy. He gently grabbed her arm and pulled her to look back where her friends were about to be buried.

She watched with blurred vision, not able to turn away, as the Warrior Maidens dropped a knife, a few flower headpiece, a few cloaks, a couple bows and quivers of arrows.

Willa turned away and looked at Alana as she spoke.

“The weapons are to help the fallen find their way to the land of peace and if there is problems, they can fight their way through. The flower headpiece is for the women to arrive with their dreams up high. The cloak is for the men to arrive being known for their bravery.”

The Robear Berbils stood forward and threw down a large amount of the same flowers they gave Alana. Robear Bill turned, as did the others as he spoke. “The flowers are to give them peace and know they will now be in a better place.”

Alana wasn’t sure what do think or do as the strangers gave their own burial rituals. The only thing she could was stare as tears heavily streamed down her face. By this time, Tygra had an arm wrapped around her shoulders in case she was to weaken in the knees. His other arm was curled around her arm with his hand tightly holding hers.

Lion-O waved his friends away as he brought out his sword. She was a little nervous at what he was about to do. Suddenly he shouted. “THUNDER! THUNDER! THUNDER!” Alana watched with wide eyes as the sword grew in length. “THUNDERCATS! HO!”

A huge Thundercat symbol glowed out of the sword. Suddenly all Thundercats eyes lit up and their symbol as well as they shouted.

“THUNDERCATS! HO!”

Lion-O aimed his sword at the crypt. A white light came out of the sword, circling around the hole. When the light cleared, a solid level of ground covered the grave sight. She couldn’t even tell the ground was even touched. But Lion-O wasn’t done. Lion-O touched the ground with his sword. Again a light appeared but this time, it made circles. When it was done, Lion-O’s sword went down to normal size and he placed it back against his leg.

“To be sure we all know where this is.” He kneeled down as the snow started to cover the spot. “A script has been placed. ‘Here lies the friends and family of a brave human friend known as Alana. May you all rest in peace by allowing the Thundercats to take care of your friend’.”

He stood and walked over to Alana with his arms open “And allow yourself to grieve when needed and not try to hide from us. We are here to help and we cannot honor our pledge to protect you unless you let us.”

Knowing Lion-O was being sincere, she moved away from Tygra, forcing him to release her. She quickly rushed into the Lord’s arms and cried. He wrapped his arms around her as she cried as the others surrounded the two. Everyone quickly noticed that the weather was starting to get worse. Lion-O swung his arm around, curling under Alana’s legs, carrying her to the Thundertank. Everyone else followed suit, with the Robear Berbils and Warrior Maidens climbing into the makeshift wagon. When her tears began to slow, they were moving away from the sight.

Before getting back to Cats’ Lair, Panthro dropped their friends off at their villages. When the Thundercats were safe at home, Alana was asleep in Lion-O’s arms. He was astonished that she cried on his shoulder. It was the first time she went to him for support. It didn’t take him long to get her to her quarters and left her with Cheetara to care for her. Lion-O left the room, finding Panthro and Tygra in the conference room.

“Is Cheetara with Alana?” Tygra answered. When he saw Lion-O nod, he continued. “That’s good. At least now they are at rest.”

“While you were doing the salvage operation, Alana came up to me and gave out some good ideas. She even knew what I was working on. She even said we could build a whole new level under the foundation.”

“What would we put under there?” Tygra asked, intrigued.

“She was talking about making it into something for fun. And I tend to agree with her, Cats’ Lair is for defense, there is nothing for her to do.”

“Then we’ll do it,” Lion-O said. “As soon as the weapons are complete, you two work with Alana in making that new level. Tygra, you and Alana work together in designing in what will be down there.”

“Perhaps we can get the Berbils to help.” Tygra nodded. “Where did this idea come from?”

“She said, her brothers had built her a secret location so she could relax. She was never able to go anywhere alone.”

“That’s terrible,” Lion-O said. “She was a prisoner.”

“That it is,” Tygra agreed. “Changing the subject. Has anyone seen Snarf?”

“He’s in the kitchen preparing some food,” Wileykit said as she walked into the room. “How bad is this storm going to be?”

Tygra turned to the young female cub. “This is going to be the worse one this year.”

Wileykit groaned. “Well at least Alana’s friends are buried. Is there going to be another salvage operation?”

“As soon as we can,” Panthro answered.

The Thundercats knew at least for the next couple days, they would be enemy free and they were going to take the time and use it wisely. There was no sense in keeping their guards up when they knew the Mutants couldn’t stand the cold, neither could Mumm-ra as well. But one thing that weighed heavily on their minds was what was Alana hiding. They now knew she was into forced life that she didn’t want to be. What more was in her dark past that she didn’t want to speak about?