Path Into The Darkness

WilyKit let out a loud groan and rolled over in her sleep. She was having the dream again. It wasn't a nightmare, it wasn't even an altogether unpleasant dream, but it always left her with the same feeling when she awoke from it. Confusion. She felt a desire and longing coupled with a feeling of regret and shame, and she didn't understand the issues behind the dream that brought up those associations. It was a strange combination of emotions, and it melded into that feeling she could only label as confusion.

WilyKit stood in a dark jungle in the middle of the night. She wasn't on Thundera, nor was she on Third Earth. She wore clothing that was skintight but not uncomfortable, in fact it seemed to ease her movements while accenting her enviable physique. She was at the edge of some sort of settlement, too wild to be a city but too advanced to be labelled a village. In a sense it reminded her of the place on Third Earth in the unicorn forest where years ago she and her brother had followed Chilla and the man they later learned the hard way was an evil supernatural being named Damien, and where they were imprisoned for a time. Where she was now was much more advanced and the structures were altogether different, but it held the same air of mystery and enchantment that Damien and Celeste's village had.

WilyKit could taste the lingering flavor of freshly roasted meat on her lips and saw her hands stained with blood and dirt. Her feet were sore and her muscles tired, but her entire spirit felt wild and alive. She became aware of a hand gently stroking her shoulder and neck, and then running its long fingers through her brilliant red and black mane.

"You've surpassed all my expectations." a smooth, charming male voice whispered in her ear as the hand returned to her shoulder and another one made its presence known on her other shoulder, and both began massaging her gently, sensously. "Come with me, my love, and we can complete our celebration together." He accented his words by placing soft and tantalizing kisses along her neck and then on her lips.

She returned the kiss and leaned on his strong shoulder, allowing him to lead her back to where they would spend the rest of the night. Once they entered the small home, she shed her clothing and rested on the bed while the mysterious man took a wet cloth and cleansed her hands and face of the blood and dirt that had soiled them. His touch was so gentle, so intoxicating, she wanted nothing more than to hold him close to her. She loved him so much, and she knew he returned the feelings with equal strength.

Soon he joined her on the bed, drew her into his arms, and made love to her with an intensity of warmth, passion, and affection that she had never felt with anyone else before. The two laid there afterward for a time in one another's arms, him drifting off to sleep before her. She turned her head and gazed on her lover's sleeping face. In the dim light she could only make out little more than an outline of his features. He was not Thunderian, that was for certain. His skin held no fur, it was soft and smooth, and a light off-white color. A mane of thick, lustrous dark hair covered most of his head and grew in a longish and wild fashion, falling about his shoulders. Two pointed, long, but slim ears poked through the hair. He had large eyes, a wide mouth, and a small nose. She could also make out two other features, ones that startled her as the realization of the identity of her lover hit the dreaming WilyKit like a ton of bricks. There were two small pointed horns and a crescent moon on his forehead.

WilyKit woke with a start. That dream, she thought. Why do I keep having that dream about me and that lunatac? I only know a few of them and I've certainly never been in love with one, in fact it's been more the opposite. So who is this guy and why do I dream of him? WilyKit sat up and realized that it was morning, her room was brightening with sunlight and it was about time she got out of bed anyway. Her dream began to slip from her mind as she rose and dressed, the images of the dark jungle, the feelings of passion and exhilaration, and the face of the lover she never remembered having fading into obscurity once more. She heard shouting down the hall, it sounded like Pumari complaining about something. "I bet Snarf made her clean that room of hers." she laughed, thinking about the scattered toys and clothes that littered the floor of her bedroom. Snarf was compulsively neat, while Pumari's housekeeping habits left much to be desired. He and Pumari had been having several arguments about her cleaning her room lately. She heard Snarf shout something about it being a "den of sloth" and laughed out loud. "Snarf will never change. He used to give WilyKat the same lecture back on Third Earth."

WilyKit then got to thinking about Third Earth and some of the stunts she and her brother had pulled as children. Between her, WilyKat, and essentially raising Lion-O from infancy, old Snarf certainly had his hands full with rowdy kids for much of his life. Pumari and Chet were promising to be just as much a handful as she and Kat had been as children. She then turned back to more distant memories, thinking about when she and WilyKat were young children, before they'd been forced to flee Thundera. She thought about her and WilyKat's childhood nanny, a female Snarf named Clarece. She had lived in Cat's Lair as did many Snarfs, and she hadn't gotten along with Snarf Osbert in the least. WilyKit recalled many amusing fights between the two of them, often arguing which children were more well behaved-- her and WilyKat or Lion-O. Back then, the three of us were the same age, WilyKit mused. Of course, Lion-O was now about ten years older than them due to the malfunctioning suspension capsule, but chronologically Lion-O was actually a little over a year their junior. WilyKit thought about Snarf Clarece again. Neither she nor her brother had seen Clarece since before Thundera was lost the first time. She had left the lair to return to the Valley of the Snarfs shortly after the disastrous earthquakes that heraled the beginning of the destruction of their world began. When she left, WilyKit and WilyKat had been given to Snarf's care as well, since they were orphans and future Thundercats anyway. They had been Thundercats in Training as far back in her childhood as she could remember. Suddenly that struck her as odd. Most didn't train until much older. Why were she and her brother exceptions?

She made a mental note to ask Tygra, Panthro, or Cheetara about that sometime later, finished dressing, and headed downstairs. She had forgotten that she was supposed to go with Lynx-O and the kids out to an archaeological dig in some ruins that had been discovered recently. It was part of Old Cat's Lair, the one that was destroyed along with Thundera those twenty-some years ago, and most of the rooms had been preserved fairly well underneath a mountain of hardened lava and rubble in air pockets, once they were opened up. The Thundercats had been overseeing the excavation of the site for weeks now, and this was WilyKit's first chance to go since her return. She was looking forward to it.

She ventured into the dining area and most of the Thundercats were still eating breakfast, except for her brother, who was still asleep (he had night watch the previous night) and Lion-O, who had gone into the city on some sort of political business.

"Good morning WilyKit... glad to see you're awake. Once you get some breakfast we can head out to the site." Lynx-O said as she sat down.

"Yeah that sounds--" WilyKit sat down and suddenly felt woozy. The aroma of Snarf's berbilberry pancakes and the candy fruit syrup clashing with the odor of smoked breakfast meat suddenly made her feel sick to her stomach, which was unusual.

"Kit? Are you all right?" Cheetara asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine, I just don't think I can eat anything." she looked at the serving plates of food and felt even sicker. She had to get away from that smell or she'd puke right on the table. "Listen, just have Snarf pack me a lunch or something and I'll go start up the Whisker for us to get over to the site, ok?"

WilyKit then ran out of the room and headed for the garage. The sudden movement made her feel even sicker and she ducked into a bathroom. She didn't make it to the toilet, she fell against the sink and her entire abdominal cavity spasmed as she vomited into it. She lost her strength completely, not out of sickness but out of utter shock and terror when she saw what was in the sink. Instead of the usual clearish-yellow stomach fluid and bile that would have normally come up after vomiting on an empty stomach, the sink contained an unnatural-looking dark maroon-colored fluid, almost the color of blood but not quite. "Lords of Thundera..." she whispered, shaking from both weakness and fear "what is the matter with me?"

Kit then stood and cleaned up the sink. "No one can see this. I don't want anyone to worry about me." she said to herself as she washed it out. She was feeling a little better now, and figured after she got out into the fresh air she'd be all right.

There was a knock at the bathroom door. "WilyKit are you coming?" Chet called through the door.

WilyKit finished cleaning up and emerged. She gave the boy a friendly smile."Yup, I'm ready to go." She followed him down the hall to the garage and tried to forget what had just happened and focus on their project.

Several hours later WilyKit was feeling better and was busy helping in the excavation of the part of the old lair that had remained intact. They had determined that it was part of the western half, one that had held personal quarters for the Thundercats. She recalled that that portion had been closed off for most of the time she lived there, used mainly for storage of old weapons and artifacts, and it also contained some unoccupied quarters for the previous generation of Thundercats. They hadn't needed the space for it at that particular time, so Jaga had simply kept it closed to save on heating and utility costs in power.

WilyKit was sitting alone in what they had determined was personal quarters belonging to some long-gone Thundercat whose identity was yet to be determined. This particular room was emptied of most of the owner's personal belongings, as though it had been cleared in a hurry, which was unusual. So far the other uncovered chambers, ones that belonged to Thundercats who had died in battles or retired, were still full of their personal things, left as a memory to their owner until the room was needed again. Lynx-O was busy sorting through a chamber they found belonged to a Thundercat of the previous generation called Firestripe. He had known Firestripe personally and had respected him a great deal, so Lynx-O had asked to be the one to search what was his chamber. Chet was assisting him and Lynx-O was telling the boy stories of the past Thundercats that he had been told, for then he was just a citizen, although a highly respected one. Pumari was helping some of the other Thunderians working on the dig open up a chamber that belonged to a Thundercat named Sibera who had died in a tragic accident. She recalled some old story about Sibera and another Thundercat, named Scarlette she recalled, that told how they died in a battle and had been killed accidentally by friendly fire. Who fired that shot was never spoken of. WilyKit was just an infant, merely weeks old, when it occured and had no real memory of it. She wondered if Scarlette's personal chamber was in this section as well.

WilyKit's thoughts drifted some more as she found a man's uniform with a Thundercat insignia on it stuffed inside a crumbling drawer of a poorly preserved dressing cabinet. "What Thundercat would have left something this important behind?" she wondered, puzzled. "Thundercats that died in battle were buried with their insignias, and those that retired took their uniforms with them when they left the lair and were buried with them upon their death as well. This makes no sense. Whose room could this be?" WilyKit got her answer when she picked up the uniform to examine it more closely, and found a leather-bound journal beneath it, perfectly preserved. She set the uniform aside and opened the journal. Immediately her questions as to the identity of the room's past owner were answered. Handwritten on the first page was "Grune the Mighty".

Holy Thundera... Grune the Mighty... that was Grune's title before he turned to evil and became known as Grune the Destroyer... this is his journal. His thoughts, his life, before he turned to the darker path of greed, hate, and destruction. WilyKit was fascinated. She'd always wondered why Grune went bad. No one seemed to know for certain. He couldn't have always been evil and been such close friends with Jaga and lived as a Thundercat for years if he had been. Maybe the answer to that lies in here. WilyKit opened the book and began to read, but was interrupted before she could get to the second page.

"WilyKit!" Chet shouted. "Didn't you hear us calling you? It's time to go back to the lair!"

WilyKit looked up. "No I didn't Chet, I'm sorry. I'll be right there." she replied, and shoved the journal into the bag she'd brought along with her. She then caught up to Chet and headed back to the lair with the others. As they returned, she was shocked to see it decorated for a party.

"Surprise!" WilyKat, Cheetara, Lion-O, Pumyra, Tygra, Panthro, and Snarf shouted.

"What?" WilyKit asked, stunned.

"We've been planning this for a few days." Lion-O explained. "We waited until you were supposed to spend the day out so we could set it up. It's just our way of saying we're glad to have you back."

WilyKit grinned. "Thanks guys! You're the greatest!"

The celebration began and WilyKit forgot all about her problems and Grune's journal.

A few more days passed, and life was relatively normal around the lair again. Normal for everyone, that was, but WilyKit. She was feeling more alone and scared than ever. The dreams were getting more graphic and vivid, and more unsettling each time. She was now dreaming of different aspects of the same dream on different nights, each going into more detail than ever before. Some dreams showed parts of some sort of dark ceremony in the jungle, others showed flashes of her seeing and doing things that she couldn't identify but made her feel uncomfortable and guilty, while others showed more passionate interludes with the mysterious lover that made her feel so wanted, loved, and alive but also left her feeling shameful and bad. The only common thread was that the man, the lover, was in all of them in some way. The dreams were bad enough, but the worst part of all was the horrible pain she felt after the dreams, the sickness, and the awful purplish red vomit. She didn't know how to explain it, but it had happened to her every time she awoke from one of the dreams and it even happened right before dinner the day before out of the blue. It terrified her, but she couldn't bring herself to mention it to anyone. Instead she simply acted as though nothing was the matter and hoped whatever it was, it would all just go away and allow her to get on with her life. She spent her days carrying out her duties in the lair and and tried to spend her free time with things that made her happy: training, goofing around with the kids, and visiting friends in the nearby New Thundera City.

This particular afternoon WilyKit didn't have much to do and she remembered her question about why she and WilyKat were trained so young. She thought it was as good a time as any to go ahead and ask, figured her brother would probably be interested too, and as luck would have it, found him with Tygra in the sun room of Cat's Lair. "Hey, just the Thundercats I was looking for!" she greeted the two of them cheerfully as she sat down with them. "Are you guys doing anything important?"

"Not unless you call discussing Snarf's candyfruit pies important." WilyKat replied. "He's baking a bunch of them today."

Tygra gave WilyKit a questioning look. "Is there something you would like to talk about with us WilyKit?"

WilyKit sat down on a chair and looked at them both seriously. "Actually, yes. Tygra, I was recently wondering some things and I bet you'd be able to answer some questions for me. Is that all right?"

"Certainly." Tygra answered. "You know that you can ask me-- or any of us for that matter-- anything. What's on your mind?"

"Yesterday morning when I was waking up, I heard Snarf and Pumari arguing and it reminded me of when Kat and I were little, being taken care of by Snarf Clarece, living here in Cat's Lair as Thundercats-In-Training."

WilyKat grinned. "Snarf Clarece... man, we used to give her so many headaches with the pranks we used to pull. Remember how she and Snarf used to fight when we'd team up with Lion-O and get into stuff and the two of them would be arguing over which of us was the bad influence on the other kid?" he laughed at the memory.

Tygra laughed too. "I remember that. That was a long time ago." He turned to WilyKit, as if waiting for her to continue.

WilyKit smiled. "Yes it was. But my question was about something else, Tygra. I was wondering, I mean... as far back as I can remember before we were finally annointed as Thundercats when we turned 12, you know a couple of months before we had to leave Thundera, WilyKat and I were Thundercats-In-Training. Why were we trained and annointed so young, while Lion-O, who was only a little younger than us, waited until much older?"

Tygra took a deep breath and spoke. "Well WilyKit that's kind of a complicated issue. Lion-O was the future Lord of the Thundercats, and as such required special training. There was no need to annoint him early, since Claudus and Jaga were still alive. We thought it best that Lion-O have a childhood relatively free of responsibilities since he would have very serious ones in his adult life. You two, on the other hand, even as toddlers, showed so much promise that we wanted to train you as early as possible. Also, since you two were in our care in Cat's Lair, we figured it would be only right to allow you to become Thundercats."

Both WilyKit and WilyKat listened to Tygra carefully. However, Tygra's explanation had opened up a door to another question that both of them had at one time or another. "Okay, I understand that, Tygra. Can I ask you one more question?" WilyKit asked.

"Certainly."

"Why were we in Cat's Lair as infants?"

Tygra's face darkened slightly. WilyKat then answered Kit for him. "Kit, you know that. We were orphans, and left to be taken care of by the Thundercats."

Tygra seemed relieved. "Yes, that's right, WilyKat."

WilyKit had noticed Tygra's odd shift of mood when that was mentioned, and it made her even more curious. "Tygra... who were our parents? What happened to them that we were left as orphans to be raised in Cat's Lair?" she asked. WilyKat too gave Tygra an interested look. Both the twins realized that in all the years they had lived among the Thundercats, their entire lives, no one had ever really answered that question. On the few occasions they had thought to ask, it had been Snarf they asked and he never had given them a straight answer, only a vague story that was enough to satisfy them at the time.

"Your parents... well, what do you want to know about them exactly?" Tygra asked.

"Who were they? What happened to them? How did they die?" WilyKit asked.

"Yeah," WilyKat continued "I've wondered that too. I mean, I know one of our parents was a Lion-Thunderian and one a Tiger-Thunderian, but that's it. And how come we're the only mixed-race Thundercats?"

"That question is simple." Tygra responed quickly. "The Thundercat nobles are specialists, and usually the star athletes are descended from a single race, having the specially developed abilities and talents of their kind. Mixed-race cats have a wider range of abilities but are less specialized, therefore it is often harder for them to make it through the physically demanding trials for whatever position they are competing for. You aren't the first mixed-race Thundercats though, there have been several others in our history. You are simply the only ones within the last three generations."

"That makes sense." WilyKat agreed.

WilyKit noticed, again, that Tygra seemed somewhat relieved. Could it be that there was more to that than he was telling? No, Tygra would never lie or withhold information from them. Would he? "Tygra... what about our parents?" she persisted.

Tygra shifted slightly, almost appearing nervous. "Your mother was young, 19 years old when she had you. She loved the two of you very much. Sadly she died in an accident not long after you were born. That's why you were left in our care."

"But what about her family? What about our father?" WilyKit asked.

Tygra looked away for a moment, as though thinking of how to say what he was going to tell them, and then looked at them again. "I don't mean to hurt you by saying this, but you two were not, well, planned. Your father could not be in the picture, not really. Your mother didn't really have any other family who was capable of caring for you, so you were left entrusted to us upon her death." Tygra then smiled. "And I must say I'm glad she did. You two were quite a blessing to all of us."

The twins both smiled. "Thanks, Tygra. We feel the same way about all of you." WilyKit replied.

"Yeah, definately. You guys were great to us." WilyKat agreed.

WilyKit then realized something. "Tygra, wait a second. Even though our mother is dead, you mentioned our father couldn't really be in the picture... is it possible that he might still be alive though, could we meet him?" she asked hopefully.

"Meet our father... oh, wow, that would be amazing..." WilyKat breathed as he thought about it.

The dark look crossed Tygra's face again. "No, I'm afraid you could not meet him. He's no longer alive."

"Are you sure?" WilyKit asked. "Because if there's any chance..."

"I'm positive." Tygra replied.

"Oh." WilyKit slumped back in her chair. "Who was he?"

"He was an important man, a powerful man. That's really all I can say." Tygra answered, looking very bothered by the question.

"What was his name, Tygra?" WilyKat asked.

Tygra looked down and frowned. "I think it would be best if you two dropped this."

"Why?" an astonished Kit and Kat replied in unison.

Tygra softened his voice and gave them a sympathetic look. "I understand that the two of you want to know about your parents and your roots, but I need you to trust me on this. It's best to not open up old wounds that time has already healed. All you really need to know is that your parents were good people who both loved you dearly, and were kept from you only because of circumstances beyond their control. They both wanted the best for you, and the Thundercats agreed to abide by their wishes."

"Can't you just tell us their names?" WilyKit asked, her voice rising with emotion.

"I've told you all I can. I agreed-- we all agreed-- to do what's best for you, and that includes telling you no more of this. It will only lead to pain. Please let it go." Tygra's voice began to take on a pleading tone and his face showed obvious emotional distress.

"But Tygra--" WilyKat protested.

"I said that's all I can say about it." Tygra snapped. "Now let it be." With that, Tygra turned and walked out of the room.

"Why won't he tell us? What could be so bad about our parents that he can't tell us their names or who they were?" WilyKit asked, trying not to cry out of frustration.

"I don't know." WilyKat said thoughtfully. "But Tygra's never let us down before. Maybe we should take his word on this and forget about it."

WilyKit's jaw dropped. "How can you say that?! Don't you even care who we are, who we came from? How can you just be willing to let this go?"

"I know who we are. We're Thundercats. They're our family, they're who we really are. That's what really matters, WilyKit. If Tygra says that digging into who our biological parents are will hurt us and not to do it, then I think we should listen to him. Frankly, I think you should too. You're under enough stress already and I don't think you can handle any more." WilyKat answered with a tone of slight concern in his voice.

WilyKat's tone set WilyKit off. "What is that supposed to mean?" she snapped. "I can handle plenty!"

WilyKat raised his eyebrows. "Can you? After all, you still can't even remember what happened to you or where you were while you were missing! Maybe you should concentrate on the missing gaps in your own recent past instead of stuff that happened over thirty years ago!"

"How dare you treat me like I'm crazy!" WilyKit yelled, her eyes filling with tears. "You know damn well I wish I knew what happened to me! I don't! I can't remember!"

"I know that." WilyKat replied quietly, trying to calm her down. "That's why I'm worried about you. Kit, you were gone for weeks! That's a big chunk of your life missing that you can't account for. I think finding out where you were should be your first priority for your own peace of mind. When you've straightened that out, then ask Tygra. He's just as worried about you as I am. In your fragile state--"

" 'Fragile state'?! I'm not a doll, I'm not going to break!"

"Aren't you? Look at yourself, WilyKit! You're ranting and raving just because Tygra wouldn't answer a question--"

"A very important question!" WilyKit protested angrily.

"Important, yes, but not life-or-death. It can wait, and although it might be hard to deal with, we would live just fine if we never knew the answer. Tygra thinks that we'll be happier if we do. But it's not just the question! There's other things too, Kit, things that I haven't wanted to mention but I know are the matter with you. I know you're not sleeping at night."

WilyKit eyed him suspiciously. "What are you talking about?"

"I hear you call out in your sleep. Your room is next to mine, and the walls aren't that thick. I hear you cry out in your sleep, sometimes screams, sometimes crying, sometimes calling like you're scared, sometimes like you're facing something you don't want to see. I've even seen you sleepwalk a few times, Kit, and that scares me. You've always been a sound sleeper, but not ever since you've come back from wherever you were those months." WilyKat told her with a shaky voice, his eyes filled with concern for her.

"Well, like you said, I have been under stress." WilyKit explained nervously, shaking a little. She didn't realize the others had picked up on her erratic sleep patterns. She hadn't wanted to worry them about anything, she already felt so guilty about putting them through the worry and pain of her disappearance. She also didn't want to get into the specifics of her dreams about the jungle, the wild and alive feelings that somehow felt wrong, or the mysterious lunatac lover. She didn't know if it was a memory or a subconcious projection of some sort, and she certainly didn't want to face up to whatever it was in front of her brother when she was already upset. "I've been having strange dreams. They're probably what keeps me from sleeping right."

"You say you're having wierd dreams?" WilyKat leaned forward and put an arm around her. "What are they about Kit?" he asked in a gentle voice. "Maybe if you tell them to us we can help you figure out what happened to you and where you were."

"NO!" Kit yelled. She then lowered her voice. "I mean, I can't tell you. I-- I don't remember them when I wake up." she lied. "Please Kat, just let me deal with this on my own. It's getting better. I'll be fine, really."

"Fine? Kit, you're anything but fine! You're distracted and on edge all the time, probably because you're not sleeping! You're having dreams that are affecting you negatively, you're sleepwalking, and... Kit... I-- I" he faltered, not quite knowing how to put it, so he just blurted it out. "I know about the purple-red puke."

"What?" she whispered, shocked. Gods of Thundera, no! I hid it! she screamed inside. "I don't know what you're talking about--"

"That's a load of bull." WilyKat said forcefully. "I heard you the other morning. I saw the paper towels in the garbage that you must have used to wipe your mouth." His voice grew heavy with emotion. "Kit, I'm so worried about you! What's the matter with you? What is it?"

"Nothing! Look it's probably some wierd bug I picked up when I missing! I feel fine the rest of the time, I think it's getting better. I don't want to worry anyone ok? Please, Kat don't tell anyone."

WilyKat frowned. "Kit, I'm not sure I should..."

"Please." she pleaded quietly. "I really think it's going away." she said, sounding more hopeful than she really felt. "If it gets worse I'll talk to Pumyra, but right now I'd rather not worry them, all right?"

WilyKat took a deep breath and sighed. "All right, sis, on three conditions. One is you listen to Tygra and drop the thing on our parents for now. I don't want you any more stressed than you already are. Two, you concentrate on straightening out these dreams and the lost memories and all that other stuff. You gotta take better care of yourself. Three, if you get any worse, all bets are off. I'm not going to stand by and watch you fall apart."

She hugged him. "Okay, you've got a deal. Thanks for understanding."

He hugged her back. "No problem. You know I'd do anything for you."

WilyKat couldn't see her face, but it held an expression of nervousness rather than one of relief. If only I felt as sure as I sounded just now...