Path Into The Darkness

"Welcome home WilyKat!" Pumyra's cheerful voice rang out as he stepped off the ship. She looked at his bandaged arm and frowned. "Ouch, looks like you were hurt pretty badly in that explosion."

WilyKat shrugged. "Nah, nothing too serious. Thunderian ambassadors still aren't too popular on Plundarr. Even with all of Ratar-O's security, he still couldn't keep those terrorists from planting a bomb in the banquet hall. Not all the mutants still want peace. Thank Jaga no one was killed, my injury was the worst, and it's just a lousy broken bone and some deep cuts."

"I hope Lynx-O will be all right in your place for the remainder of the time." Lion-O mused.

"Yeah, that was nice of him to volunteer to go in my place due to my injury." WilyKat said, glancing at his bandaged arm. "What about the mutant and lunatac ambassadors here on Thundera, no one attacked them, right? And how is Kit doing over on the Third Moon?" he asked Lion-O and Pumyra.

"I haven't heard anything about WilyKit, so I assume no news is good news.  As for the other ambassadors staying in Cat's Lair, they're fine.  We haven't had any incidents here, but then again, Thunderians have always been peaceful by nature unless provoked." Lion-O answered. "So you're home early... and someone will be very happy to see you."

WilyKat grinned. "Oh?"

"Hi handsome!" a cheerful female voice rang out behind him. He spun around and saw his girlfriend, a lion-thunderian named Leonora, rush up to him and give him a big hug. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Leo." he replied, and gave her a short welcoming kiss on the lips.

Pumyra gestured to the lair. "Want to get inside and say hello to everyone?" The others gave a nod of agreement and they headed home.

Panthro and Snoelle were in Cat's Lair's control room monitoring all the communications, or at least they were supposed to be. However, since nothing was really happening, the very much in-love couple was snuggled in the head control chair, with Snoelle sitting in Panthro's lap leaning on his shoulder and nuzzling his neck, while he had his arm around her shoulders and was admiring her beautiful features. She looked up at him and met his eyes. "Panthro I have something to tell you."

"Hmmm, what?" Panthro asked her.

"Pumyra confirmed this for me earlier this morning... I am carrying your cub." she said sofly, and smiled.

Panthro grinned. "Really? That's wonderful!" he exclaimed. "I'm so happy." He traced a finger across her face, then leaned over and kissed her softly.

"Me too." she replied, and reached to kiss him again, when the communicator buzzed loudly. "Timing is everything." she commented dryly.

Panthro reached over and answered the call. "Cat's Lair." he said, and the image of Snarfer and Selene appeared on the monitor. "Snarfer? Are you all right? What's going on?"

"I'm afraid we're having a bit of a problem here." Selene informed him. "WilyKit has fallen, well, she isn't feeling well. There have been some strange occurances and--"

"Oh no!" Snoelle exclaimed. "She wasn't attacked too was she? By terrorists?"

Snarfer shook his head. "Oh no nothing like that, but.... brrrrr.... wierder.  She's being haunted by ghosts."

"Ghosts?" Panthro said in disbelief.

Snarfer nodded. "Yep, wierd stuff is happening to her. Things are hitting her and touching her, and just now they attacked some of the others here too. They think she needs an exorcist. It's bad."

Snoelle shivered. "In the name of all the anicents... that poor woman... She's already had such a rough time with her disappearance and memory loss. And demons... they only go after tortured souls, usually. What could possibly be making WilyKit suffer so badly that she's captured the attention of the evil spirits?"

"Brrr... you'd better get Lion-O and the others here to talk about this." Snarfer suggested.

"I'm afraid it's rather serious." Selene added.

"Hold on." Panthro agreed, and got up to find the others.

A few minutes later, all of the Thundercats, including the newly returned WilyKat and his Thunderian girlfriend Leonora, were all in the room. Selene explained the situation to everyone as best she could. She told them about the outburst the night before, and most importantly the ghostly attack in the study. Then she explained why they needed WilyKat to come, as well as a Thunderian exorcist, since none of the lunatacs they knew of could or would do it.

"I'll be there as fast as I can." WilyKat announced.

"Kat, you just got home!" Tygra exclaimed. "And you're injured."

"My sister needs me!" he argued. "She would do anything for me, I'm not going to let her down again."

"Again? Kat honey, you have to stop blaming yourself for her disappearance..." Leonora said softly.

Lion-O nodded. "She's right. I know you want to help her, but from what Selene said these ghosts are kinda rough, you shouldn't be risking further injury."

"Fuck the injury!" he shouted angrily. The others were surprised to hear him cursing, but didn't say anything. "She needs me and I'm going, that's all there is to it." he said determinedly, and stomped out of the room.

Leonora watched him leave and felt distressed. "Lord Lion-O?" she asked suddenly. Lion-O looked over at her and waited for her to continue. "He's going to go no matter what any of us says... may I go with him?"

"I don't know, it could be dangerous for you Leonora. You aren't a trained fighter, and while I don't think any of the lunatacs would do anything to you, I do think if there are supernatural forces at work you could be in danger." Lion-O said.

"I'm not afraid of any ghosts!" she protested heatedly.

Cheetara's sixth sense tingled as she watched Leonora. She suddenly had a vision of the young lioness holding an ancient, mystic staff that literally pulsed with power, facing off a dark evil with a fierce and wild determination. "No, Lion-O... let her go. She's meant to go."

"What?" Leonora paused by the door. "How do you know that?"

"You're of the Halerani, aren't you?" the cheetah asked her.

Leonora closed her eyes for a moment and bit her lip. "I think so." She then looked at the others with a hard expression. "I know most of my clan died in Thundera's explosion. Some of us made it to ships in time, but others didn't. I wouldn't have made it out, but my father gave up his place on an escape ship for me. I was very little when Old Thundera was lost, only about four. I was left with some other Thunderians and grew up in their care. I never found all of my family, I don't know if they escaped in time on another ship or what. But I know the area I was born on old Thundera was home to them, and I do remember being called Halerani in a very vague memory."

"Who are the Halerani?" Panthro asked.

"It's a branch of the lion clan that possesses the ability to see and talk to spirits at will." Snoelle explained. "They were one of the few outside clans that the snow leopards welcomed and understood, mainly because they possessed similar knowledge of supernatural forces. I don't know how to channel spirits though, I am master of my own spirit. I don't know how to deal with outside ones effectively. But the Halerani do, from a young age they can see and talk to spirits that others can't. The elder of the Halerani also had a staff, I believe it was called the Staff of Dera. It's an ornately carved wooden staff with an orb at the top of pure amethyst... the stone of spiritual purity. The elder could use it to save souls tortured by demons to drive them out of their victim."

Leonora's eyes widened. "Staff of Dera?" she whispered. She had such a staff, back at her home. Her father had entrusted it to her guardians on the escape ship before she left Thundera as a young child.

"Is that like the Totem of Dera?" Lion-O asked.

"They are sister artifacts: one for physical healing and the other for spiritual type-healing, both part of the Treasure of Thundera. However, since only the Halerani could use the Staff of Dera effectively, it was kept separate. Halerani elders sometimes worked with Thundercats, I remember hearing stories about it when I was a child." Tygra told the others.

"I have the Staff of Dera. I never knew what it was or what it did, but my father gave it to me when he sent me off of the planet to safety." Leonora said suddenly. "Great Thundera... that means... I am the Halerani elder now?"

Lion-O smiled. "Well then, that more than qualifies you to go with WilyKat to the Third Moon of Plundarr and take care of whatever is after WilyKit."

"Yes." Leonora agreed. "But... I don't know how to use the Staff of Dera... I have never had a need to, but I suppose it is high time I learned. I'll do what I can."

"I have a feeling it will come to you instinctively. Take care... and watch out for WilyKat. Don't let him get in over his head." Cheetara told her.

Leonora let out a short laugh. "This is Kat we're talking about... since when doesn't he get in over his head?" she remarked, and went to find him.

Lion-O returned his attention to the monitor where Selene and Snarfer were now talking to each other, and where Psiarik was now in the background talking to them, while they waited to hear what the Thundercats planned to do. "We've made a decision." The three of them looked back into the monitor, and Lion-O continued. "We're sending WilyKat and a woman named Leonora. She will explain her qualifications when she gets there, but suffice it to say we think she can handle whatever is going on there, and she's also very close with WilyKat. Between the two of them, I think they can get to the bottom of this."

"I hope so." Psiarik said.

Snarfer seemed to have something else on his mind. "There's one other thing that we didn't tell you that you might want to know about." he said hesitantly.

"What's that?" Cheetara asked.

"WilyKit is, well, kinda pregnant." Snarfer said quietly.

"WHAT?!" was the shocked response from the control room of Cat's Lair.

"Who's the father?" a surprised Snarf asked.

Tygra took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It's happening again, it's happening all over again. Just like her mother he thought, but remained silent.

"One of us." Selene answered. "A hunter-lunatac named Darkail, who's a high ranking officer and ambassador in our royal forces. Apparently he knew her during her memory loss and--" the Thundercats exchanged more looks while she was speaking, surprised that WilyKit had opened up that much about her personal life to any of them "--the two of them were lovers. Darkail is now missing, though, he requested a leave of absense last night, and this morning WilyKit remembered who he was to her. It's rather complicated, I think. Anyway, we thought it best that you be made aware of her condition, so she recieves the right care." Selene finished.

Lion-O was still floored, but nodded. "Very well then, thanks for letting us know. Tell her we hope she feels better, that we love her, and that WilyKat and Leonora will be there soon."

"Okay, bye Lion-O, bye Thundercats." Snarfer said, and the communication cut off.

"Snarf, snarf, what in the name of Thundera was she doing with that lunatac during her disappearance anyway?" Snarf said with clear disapproval in his voice.

Lion-O opened his mouth to give the obvious answer, but Cheetara silenced him in time by speaking first. "Snarf, its not going to do any good to get judgemental right now... first we have to be sure that she's all right. If she is having a child, then an attack from a ghost could have even more dangerous consequences."

Panthro gave Tygra a look. "Is anyone else here getting a sick feeling of deja vu?"

Tygra nodded. "I hate this. It's like its happening all over again, and like last time, there's nothing we can do about it. Just like Sibera said... the birth hour of darkness. It is a curse."

Lion-O was confused. "Sibera? Curse? What are you talking about? Who's Sibera?"

"Sibera was a Thundercat that served under Claudus." Cheetara explained. "The last white tiger noble before Bengali."

"She was also Jaga's fiance, a kind and warm soul, and she was apparently psychic, too... a prediction she made over thirty years ago is coming true."

"What happened to her?" Pumyra asked.

"She died." Panthro finished. "She was killed by Grune the Destroyer, along with a Thundercat in Training named Scarlette."

Lion-O, Pumyra, and Snoelle were horrified. "I knew he was a killer," Lion-O said "but I didn't know he killed two other Thundercats. I mean, I knew about..." he cast a glance at Cheetara, who lowered her eyes sadly for a moment, then he looked at Panthro again "but I didn't know about these two women too."

"It was supposedly an accident." Tygra said. "But we all knew different. Grune knew they were in the line of fire, and shot knowing full well they would die if they were hit, even though the shot was meant for mutants. He just didn't care anymore, by then he hated all the Thundercats, especially Scarlette. He never forgave her."

"What did she do?" Pumyra asked.

Tygra, Cheetara, and Panthro exchanged glances. Snarf looked at them. "Rowr, are you sure you want to get into this?" he asked.

Tygra nodded, and took a deep breath. "Yes, it's time. Clarece was right, its no longer time to keep secrets."

Snarf's ears perked up at the mention of Clarece. He had remembered Snarfer telling him about the night before he and WilyKit left for the Third Moon of Plundarr, when Tygra had seen what only could have been Clarece's ghost out at the ruins. It spooked him just thinking about it, though part of him wished he could have spoken to her as well. He and Clarece never got along, but he had genuinely liked her in a way, and had always respected her. He nodded to Tygra.

Tygra met the others' eyes. "Panthro, Snarf, and Cheetara know this story... but the rest of you do not.  At one time, Grune and Scarlette were lovers, deeply in love with one another.  This was back when I was a youth, training to be a Thundercat, hoping to take the position that the previous red-tiger Thundercat, Firestripe, was going to soon retire from. I had competition, though, his other star student, a young woman... Scarlette. She and Grune had fallen in love while she was training, and they were also engaged I believe, but she refused to marry anyone until she won-- or lost, but she never for a moment thought she would lose to me-- the position. Grune went away to the Third Moon of Plundarr on some sort of diplomatic mission that Claudus had set up, hoping to stop the fighting with all those we were at war with. Of course, the mission failed, they always did in those days, for it was all talk and no real effort on their side anyway, but something else happened. Grune changed when he was there... he fell under the influence of some dark souls. I don't know what happened, but I know he became involved with a woman there, a lunatac. Her name escapes me, but there was a huge scandal when a picture of him kissing this woman in some sleazy sort of club on the Third Moon was anonymously sent here... to Scarlette.

"Scarlette was devastated by it, she couldn't believe that after all they had shared, in a few short weeks he would betray her like that. She was almost inconsolable, and all of us, including myself, wanted to help her sort through it. There was a storm the night the picture came, and the communications were down, so she couldn't even call Grune and find out the truth. Some of us tried talking to her, but she wasn't willing to listen to any of us... except for one. A kindred spirit, a good friend. Claudus. He went to talk to her, and was able to get through to her..." Tygra's voice trailed off. He didn't know how to say what was next.

"My father was a compassionate and caring man." Lion-O agreed.

Tygra nodded. "That he was. But... there's more to this than that, Lion-O. You see, that was before he married your mother, Lionari. In those days Claudus was much more of a reserved and aloof man, someone who cared deeply for his people but didn't get close to them personally, usually. Scarlette was an exception. The two of them had always been a lot alike, and they were close friends. But that night..."

"What are you saying, Tygra?" Lion-O asked suspiciously.

Tygra swallowed hard. "For one night they were more."

"What?" Lion-O, Pumyra, and Snoelle gasped in unison.

The three of them were visibly shocked. Snoelle was the first to speak. "Please continue Tygra." she urged him.

The others all eyed him expectantly for a reply. "The next morning, when Claudus left Scarlette's room, we had our suspicions that something might have happened, but none of us chose to speak of it. The two of them acted like nothing was unusual between them, so we let it go. For the next few weeks, no one discussed Grune and the picture of him with the lunatac woman or the night Claudus had spent in Scarlette's quarters, and things returned to relatively normal. Unfortunately, that ended the day before Grune was due back at Cat's Lair after his diplomacy mission was over. We could all tell Scarlette was distraught, and there was a meeting held in the council chambers between Jaga, Claudus, Firestripe, Tessana, and Scarlette that night. The younger Thundercats, Sibera and Chetland, were excluded from that meeting as was I. When they came out, they all had grim expressions on their faces and Scarlette informed us she was pregnant, and not by Grune, but Claudus."

Lion-O shot Tygra a distressed look as he pondered the implications of this. "What are you saying? That WilyKit and WilyKat are..."

Tygra took a deep breath. "Your older half-sister and brother. Chronologically, anyway." Tygra could see the blank, shocked expression on Lion-O's face, and continued to explain. "Scarlette was supposed to take care of the twins on her own after they were born, but she was killed by Grune when they were still relatively newborn. Claudus could not officially recognize them as his for political reasons, he had his upcoming arranged marriage with your mother, Lionari, to worry about, and that could have been jeopardized by the scandal. Without the arranged marriage and legitimate heirs born, the claim on the lordship would have been jeopardized. The twins would not be considered valid heirs due to the fact that they were born out of wedlock. Old Thunderian society was very strict about such things. Claudus didn't want to risk shame falling on his or his clan's name, so he and Scarlette agreed that the truth would be kept among the few of us who knew and never revealed, especially to the twins themselves or you unless it was decided it was necessary. We all swore to it by the Code of Thundera."

Lion-O's face first registered shock, then disbelief, followed by a questioning, hurt stare at Tygra. "You knew this? This whole time? My whole life?! And you never said anything?!"

"Lion-O--" Cheetara began softly.

The Thundercat lord would not be calmed. "You knew too, didn't you?" he accused Cheetara. "All of you... except for Snoelle, Pumyra, and I, and maybe Bengali, Lynx-O, and Snarfer? Damn it, you did know, didn't you?" he shouted.

Cheetara, Tygra, Panthro, and Snarf nodded and cast their eyes downward. "Jaga told us when we were annointed so we would understand the situation but swore us all to secrecy. It was for your own good, Lion-O." Panthro explained.

"I'm sorry, Lion-O, I wanted to tell you but it wasn't my place. We wanted to abide by our word and thought it was best to leave the issue buried." Cheetara continued.

"You thought it was best to lie to me and and the twins about who they are for our entire lives?!" he exclaimed, with his voice rising in anger.

"Try to see it from Jaga and Claudus's point of view, Lion-O." Tygra said in an effort to calm him down. "It would have hurt the twins to know they were children of the Lord of the Thundercats but not be recognized. Imagine the rivalry you would have had with them as children if you had all known the truth. The truth was even kept from your mother, Lionari so she wouldn't be burdened with it either. It was Claudus's one secret, and he suffered heavy guilt from it. You have to know that Claudus loved the twins dearly, though, and that is why when Scarlette died he made sure they stayed and were raised in Cat's Lair, though they would be brought up believing they were orphans. That's also why they were trained so young as Thundercats, it was an effort to make up to them on Claudus's part what he couldn't give them. None of us liked keeping this secret, Lion-O, but it had to be done. It was right at the time. Please understand that." Tygra said. His voice was heartfelt and full of emotion.

"Understand?" Lion-O asked. "How can I be expected to understand the people I trusted most in life, my father, my nanny, my guardians and mentors, even my wife, have lied to me about something as important as this since my birth? I can understand that your intentions were good, but..." he choked to fight back the angry tears that were threatening to come out, and swallowed hard. "I can't deal with this now, I can't talk about it. It's too much. We just found out that WilyKit, my sister, is not only amnesiac and suffering torments of ghosts, but is pregnant by some lunatac she either doesn't remember or can't tell us about, and now this bomb is dropped on me... I have to be alone right now. I'm sorry." Lion-O said, and fled the room.

Snarf instinctively tried to follow him, but Tygra stopped him. "No Snarf, don't. You'll only upset him farther. He needs to calm down first."

Cheetara broke into tears. "How could we hurt him like this?"

Tygra lowered his head sadly. "I hope we did the right thing by telling him."

"Someone has to follow him and make sure he's all right!" Snarf wailed, looking at the door apprehensively.

"I'll go." Snoelle offered. "Since I didn't know before now, perhaps he will be more willing to hear me out. I'll do what I can."

Cheetara gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks Snoelle."

Snoelle returned the smile, nodded, and headed out after Lion-O.

Pumyra was also visibly upset by the revelation. "I know you all meant well, but when, if ever, were you intending on telling him or the twins about this?"

Panthro thought for a moment. "To be honest, I don't know if we ever would have if it hadn't just come out like that."

Tygra sighed. "I know I have terrible timing with this. I didn't stop to think that maybe this would be better explained later. When I heard about WilyKit and her child, my mind just kept drawing the parallels of WilyKit and Scarlette, and to some extent Grune, and it scared me. Sibera warned us when WilyKit was born that she was born at a time of day that holds extremely bad omens for those born on that hour. Grune was born on the same hour, and he eventually gave into whatever dark forces influenced him. I fear that WilyKit is under the same influence due to her birth hour, and is somehow acting out some karmic pattern tying into Grune, her mother, or both." Tygra told them. "The only way to fight these dark secrets is to bring them to light and let them be dealt with so they don't overcome us."

"Great Jaga!" Cheetara exclaimed. "The twins still don't know this. You think we should tell WilyKat before he leaves? If he could understand and explain it to Kit, maybe it would help. She was asking you questions about her past, Tygra. Perhaps if we tell her--"

"No!" Tygra said forcefully. "You saw Lion-O's reaction to this. The twins will react the same way, perhaps even more violently. WilyKit is under a tremendous amount of emotional strain right now. If we dumped this on her now, she could easily snap and fall under the influence of whatever evil forces are trying to take her over. I don't want to risk that."

"You can't tell him anyway." Panthro said as he pushed a few buttons on the control console. "He's already gone. The Feliner II just left about one minute ago, with both him and Leonora aboard. They're already on their way."

Snarf sighed. "I guess we don't have a choice, snarf snarf. You can't tell them news like this over a communication, it needs to be done in person. Rowr, we might as well wait until they return and tell them together, right here, with all of us present." Everyone seemed to agree with Snarf's suggestion, and a tense silence filled the control room as they all pondered what to do next.

Several hours later, WilyKat and Leonora landed the Feliner II in the MoonTower's landing bay, and were greeted by Snarfer and Frostor. After a hurried greeting, they were taken to a room where several of the others were gathered. WilyKat saw his sister laying on a recliner relaxing with her eyes closed and he ran over and gave her a big hug. "Sis, you're all right!"

She returned the hug. "I'm glad to see you Kat... hey... what's with the arm?" she asked him.

"Mutant terrorists bombed the building I was in on Plundarr. They weren't too thrilled with the idea of peace I guess. Don't worry it's not serious. Lynx-O offered to go in my place though, since I was hurt." WilyKat then greeted Snarfer once he let go of his sister. Snarfer happily returned the greeting to him and Leonora.

WilyKit smiled. "I'm glad you weren't injured too badly, or worse." she told him, then noticed Leonora. "Hi Leonora, you came along too?" she greeted her.

"Yes. You're my friend and Kat's sister, and I want to help."

"And she can, too." WilyKat added excitedly. "She explained this to me in detail on the ride over here. She's a Halerani, and not just any Halerani, but the daughter of the elder, the most powerful one on Old Thundera. She inherited the Staff of Dera, the weapon that they can use to drive out evil spirits that are tormenting innocents."

"I don't know how to use it yet, but I hear it's instinctive for those of my bloodline." Leonora added.

WilyKit gave them a puzzled expression. "Wow... that's great that you can help me, but, how come you never told us this before?"

Leonora turned the Staff of Dera, which she had gotten from her home before she and WilyKat had departed, over in her hands and looked at it. It was about a foot and a half long, carved in a dark reddish wood, with ancient designs and symbols on it. The amethyst orb at the top was affixed to the staff by a delicate-looking and elegant silver holder. "I didn't know until just a little while ago." she told WilyKit. "I asked permission to come along to help you and WilyKat even before I knew, and then Cheetara said she saw me in a vision from her sixth sense. With what she told me of it and my memories, I learned that I was indeed a Halerani and a powerful one by birth. Cheetara also told me she somehow knew I was meant to come and help you."

"That's good, because something has to be done about these damn ghosts of hers." Luna said, now sitting on top of Amok like she used to, for protection. WilyKat and Leonora noticed Luna had a bright purplish bruise on the side of her face, like she had been beaten. WilyKat wondered for a moment who did that, and what they looked like when Amok had finished with them.

Leonora saw the ugly bruise and gasped. "Did the spirits do this to you?"

Luna nodded, and Frostor spoke up. "Not just that. They threw half the library's worth of books at me and were touching WilyKit too."

"It was awful. It's the most terrifying thing I've ever seen, and that includes all of the disgusting evil stuff Mumm-Ra put us through as kids on Third Earth, too." WilyKit told them.

Leonora shivered. "Why? Why are they here?"

"We were hoping you could tell us." Psiarik said.

WilyKat turned to Leonora. "Can you figure that out, Leo?"

"I can try." Leonora said, then closed her eyes and relaxed. She let her mind go blank, trying to receive some sort of signal, impulse, or feeling, anything that could give her a hint on what was behind the madness that seemed to be running wild here. She felt nothing, except perhaps a lingering trace of evil. "I can't sense any kind of presence in here. Whatever spirits are tormenting you, they are not here now. I did, however, sense a sort of malevolence. I have no doubt that there are spirits, and their intentions towards you are evil, but until they reappear, I can't tell you any more."

"Cawww! That figures!" Vultureman said rudely. "These two aren't going to be any help. If there are even ghosts at all, and you just aren't all nuts."

"How do you explain this then?" Luna demanded, pointing at her bruise.

"Nyah ha ha, even the ghosts find you intolerable?" Jackalman suggested, snickering.

Amok growled at Jackalman and made a threatening gesture.

"Cool it, guys." Frostor said to the mutants and Luna, clearly annoyed.

Selene stood in the center of the room and waited for them all to quiet down enough so she could get their attention. Once there was a lull, she spoke. "If what Leonora says is accurate and there are no ghosts here right now, let's not waste whatever short time we have before their next visitation by standing around squabbling. Why don't we all go and do something relaxing and fun? As for you three, Aunt Luna, WilyKit, and Frostor, I still think you should all be resting, especially you, WilyKit, given your condition."

"Condition?" WilyKat asked. "What condition? Are you ok, sis?"

"You didn't tell them?" Alluro asked Psiarik and Selene.

Snarfer jumped up. "We sure did!" he said defensively "But, uh, I guess you left the room after we told 'em, snarfer snarfer."

"Told us what?" inquired Leonora.

WilyKit's cheeks flushed with embarassment and worry. "You told them?"

"I wanted to make sure they knew about your condition so they would understand what was happening here with you, so they wouldn't worry. You didn't ask me to keep it quiet, I didn't mean you any harm by it. I am sorry if I have spoken out of line." Selene said apologetically.

WilyKat was beginning to worry. "Harm? Kit, Snarfer, what's going on? What did Snarfer tell the others while Leo and I were getting ready to leave?"

All eyes were fixed on WilyKit and WilyKat as the female Thundercat looked her brother in the eyes and began to speak. "I found out what the purple puke was. It was a hormonal imbalance sickness that happens to pregnant lunatacs... or women of other races pregnant by lunatacs." she told him.

He blinked. "What?"

Leonora's eyes widened, but she remained silent. Normally congratulations would be in order, but she could tell from the pained expression on WilyKit's face that it was not what she wanted to hear at the moment.

WilyKit nodded. "You heard me right, Kat. When I lost my memory I had a lover, I know now he's a hunter lunatac named Darkail, who coincidentally is one of Frostor's top officers, and my unborn child's father... but when he realized that I had figured out who he was, he left for parts unknown. So I'm no closer to knowing anything about my missing time, other than I spent it with him."

"Kit... oh wow... I'm... well I don't know what to say. I'm glad there's nothing wrong with you--"

"That's debateable." TugMug remarked. Chilla, RedEye, and Jackalman all snickered.

WilyKat hadn't heard it, and continued to talk. "--but I'm worried about this guy... and the ghosts... oh man, what a mess." He hugged her again.

Selene could tell that they needed time alone, and led everyone else, including Snarfer and Leonora, out of the room so they could talk. WilyKat and WilyKit talked for a few hours, her telling him all she knew about what had happened, while he told her about his shortened visit to Plundarr. The long talk made them both feel more at ease, as they had always been able to comfort each other with their unique bond of being twins. Soon WilyKit felt better than she had in a long while and was laughing and joking like her usual upbeat self, which in turn boosted her brother's spirits. Before they finished their talk and joined the others, they were both feeling like they could take on anything, a feeling they commonly had as children, and were ready to face whatever evil was after them together, a feeling of being invincible.

That feeling was exactly what the two dark spirits, invisibly lurking in the shadows nearby, were ready and waiting to destroy.

A few hours passed without incident, and nightfall was soon upon them. WilyKit, WilyKat, and Leonora were in a plush and spacious sitting room talking with Selene and Psiarik. On the other side of the room were Chilla, Alluro, Frostor, and Vultureman, listening to Jackalman tell them some stories about Slythe and some of the less intelligent things he had done over the years while at his now higher rank in the mutant army. Naturally the others were all to eager to laugh at the reptilian, after the numerous unpleasant run-ins they had each had with him over the years on Third Earth. Also in the general area were the two children, Erissa and Silvian, but like most children, they were in and out of the room, scampering all over the place while playing with each other.

It was on this relatively calm scene that Mumm-Ra and Torlei decided to make another move and re-establish the fear they were trying to put into WilyKit. Invisible to anyone but his undead bride, Mumm-Ra went behind WilyKit and placed a hand on her neck, trying to make her feel as though the hand of something repulsive and cold death itself was touching her. Torlei watched the scene silently, waiting to see what would happen before making her first move.

As WilyKit felt the malevolent touch on her neck, she instantly went rigid with fear. She casually brushed her neck, hoping it was some sort of draft, but when Mumm-Ra began to slowly run his hands down her neck and on her shoulders, and then used his other hand to trace the cold touch across her face with a finger, she couldn't stand it or keep silent any longer. She let out a whimper of fear, then tried in vain to slap the ghostly hand away. "Leave me alone!" she cried in frustration.

"Kit? What's happening?" WilyKat asked her worriedly.

"They're touching me again!" she said, then stood up to try and shake it off. Mumm-Ra anticipated this and followed, continuing to touch her, and then began to poke her and slap her to make it clear that she could not get away from him.

The others could hear him slap her and saw her cheek redden where she was hit. "Stop that immediately!" Psiarik shouted angrily to the spirit. The group on the other side, as well as the children, looked over to see what was going on.

Leonora took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to gain a sense of the spirits that were tormenting her friend. She could immediately feel the presence of both Mumm-Ra and Torlei and get a sense of what they appeared as in their true form. However, she had never encountered them before and did not recognize who they truly were. "There are two spirits here." she informed them all in a loud, clear voice. "One is an old demon, a powerful and ancient evil, that is the one touching WilyKit. He is grotesque in appearance and I cannot place what species, if any, he may originate from, or if he was ever mortal at all." Leonora tried to get a clearer vision, but her inexperience at this hindered her, for she had no formal training as most Halerani would have. She then focused on Torlei. "The second spirit is watching... enjoying WilyKit's pain. I sense deep hatred within this spirit... an all-consuming need for revenge, and the intent to possess WilyKit's body. This spirit was once mortal, and in life was a lunatac... and is standing right there!" Leonora shouted, and pointed to a spot by an empty chair about four feet away.

Torlei and Mumm-Ra were both astonished and infuriated when they discovered that Leonora could sense their presence, and even see them, if she tried, despite their efforts to remain invisible. "You're right, lioness... but now you must pay the price for your discovery!" Torlei shouted at her in a voice only Leonora and Mumm-Ra could hear, and blasted her with a telekinetic beam.

Leonora cried out and was knocked to the floor. Selene helped her up, then realized they all needed some assistance. She immediately fled the room to retrieve the MoonSaber, hoping it's ancient magic would be able to fend off the demonic forces at work.

Mumm-Ra then decided it was time for all hell to break loose, so he picked up WilyKit, and lifted her high into the air, several feet above the floor.

"PUT ME DOWN!" WilyKit screamed.

"Leo! Kit!" shouted WilyKat as he watched first his girlfriend fall and then his sister be levitated by some evil spirit. Leonora shakily stood back up, while WilyKat raced to get WilyKit back to the ground and away from the spirit, with Psiarik's help. They found out immediately, however, that he wasn't tall enough to reach, he was about six inches too short. Psiarik tried to remedy the situation by calling over to Alluro to help, since he was the only other one tall enough to reach her. While passing Leonora on his way over to help Psiarik, Alluro was struck by a powerful and painful invisible force, almost like a punch to the gut. It knocked the wind out of him and made him involuntarily double over, temporarily stunning him. A second later, as he was recovering, he was uppercut by the same force and fell backwards to the ground. Torlei stood above him, invisible, admiring her fist and smiling wickedly. You won't interfere with me this time. I'll see to it you get yours, along with that Thundercat over there, she thought satisfactorily as she watched him reel from her blows.

She knows them, this is something personal! Leonora realized, as she read Torlei's thoughts. She was about to vocalize her observation when Torlei used a telekinetic force field to throw her across the room and slam her into an end table a mere few feet away from where the children were standing and watching the ghostly attack, petrified. Leonora cried out as Torlei then levitated and dropped a heavy ottoman on her where she had fallen. The lioness grunted in pain and tried to roll over. Little Silvian watched this happen, let out a whimper, and tried to hide behind one of the chairs while Erissa just let out a shriek of terror.

The child's cry was more than enough to stir Chilla to action. After helping Alluro back onto his feet after the assault, she was furious to see her child now being terrorized by the ghosts right after they had just used her mate for a punching bag. She was beyond angry-- she was livid. She shot a fire beam at the air above Leonora and ran over. "Why don't you show yourself you fucking bastard?!" she hissed. Frostor took advantage of the distraction Chilla would likely cause to the spirits, and gathered up the children to get them out of the room and out of harm's way. "Come on, what's the matter, are you too chickenshit to face us in your real form, you damned son of a bitch?" Chilla screamed.

Mumm-Ra burst out laughing, though none could hear him but Torlei and the somewhat immobilized Leonora. "You have to hand it to her, she's got nerve!" He dropped WilyKit for the moment and decided to teach Chilla a lesson about mouthing off to the mighty Mumm-Ra. WilyKit fell clumsily into the arms of Psiarik and her brother, who were still below her attempting to free her. Mumm-Ra teleported himself behind Chilla, and kicked her as hard as he could in the back, knocking her to the floor. "That's for being such a bitch." he said with an evil laugh.

Chilla fell with a painful thud, but was not impressed. "That the best you can do, you pathetic piece of shit?" she snarled defiantly.

Torlei frowned and unceremoniously shot her with a bolt of energy, while Mumm-Ra raised his foot and kicked her in the side of the head-- not once, but three times. Alluro could see the beating she was taking by how her body shook at the hands of the invisible force, and made his way towards her. Some force, however, seemed to be forcing everything away from her, and he could only advance slowly. "Chilla... stop!" he shouted. He hated seeing her being hurt like this, when there was nothing he could do to stop it. "Don't encourage them to hurt you. We don't know what all they're capable of." he warned her, knowing full well her insults were only egging them on further.

The frozen lunatac, ignoring Alluro's warning, winced at the burning sensation of the electrical beam and managed to spit out another colorful phrase to her attackers before passing out from the pain. "Fuck you!" Chilla growled, then went limp.

Satisfied that they had done enough for the moment, Mumm-Ra waved a signal to Torlei, then let out a burst of evil laughter that everyone could hear, but in a disguised voice so it couldn't be identified as him. "I will have my revenge!" he echoed through the room, and seconds later he and Torlei vanished.

The room remained silent for a moment, then Leonora spoke up quietly from where she was still pinned to the floor. "They are gone this time... for now." Psiarik lifted the ottoman off her, then helped her onto a chair. Meanwhile, Alluro had scooped up the unconcious Chilla and laid her on a couch. He was relieved to see her stir a moment later and that she wasn't seriously hurt.

Selene had returned to the room with the MoonSaber in hand, only to see that whatever had been going on was apparently over. She stood quietly and looked around the room deep in thought, trying to figure out what they could do against this evil force that was harassing them. Leonora could see the spirits, which was an advantage, except for the fact that it made her more of a target for their attacks than the others. She hoped that Leonora would be able to use the staff that she'd brought to keep the spirits at bay next time. "Leonora," Selene said gently "are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

"Yes, although being slammed into a table and having furniature dropped on me is not my idea of a good time." she remarked, and smiled despite her discomfort.

"Yeah, well, getting kicked in the head is no picnic either." Chilla, now awake, muttered from the couch, rubbing her sore forehead.

"We've gotta do something about these ghosts, and now." WilyKat said angrily. "This is getting out of control. Four of us were physically attacked this time."

Leonora nodded. "I agree. What we need to find out is why they are doing this, and see if we can resolve the reason motivating them to attack us."

"Cawww, none of this started until that Thundercat came here. She's the one who started this!" Vultureman said angrily.

WilyKat jumped to his sister's defense. "She can't help that, it's not her fault!"

"Like hell it isn't!" Vultureman argued. "Nothing happened until she showed up, and it only strikes when she's around. Haven't you noticed that?"

"But what would it want with me?" WilyKit wondered aloud. Revenge, a little voice inside her nagged. It wants vengeance for whatever you did to it.

Leonora remembered all the feelings of hatred and revenge she'd sensed from the two spirits. "The ghosts want to torture you and punish you for something they feel you've done to them. That much I'm sure of."

Alluro shivered, thinking about Leonora's statement, and her earlier observations. A lunatac that had a deep hatred for WilyKit and wanted to possess her? Someone who felt wronged by her? He could think of someone who fit that description... but he couldn't say that, not unless he wanted to explain how he knew that information. That was out of the question, for if he answered that he would have to explain why he put the memory block on her in the first place, an action that the others were likely to look unfavorably upon, given the trouble it had caused so far.

"But I haven't done anything... have I? Who could hate me that much?" WilyKit wondered.

Selene thought for a moment. "Could it be someone you encountered during your memory loss?"

"I would think I'd remember if someone had died!" she argued.

"Yeah well you'd also think you'd remember getting knocked up, but you didn't." Jackalman remarked.

"You'd better watch it, mutant! You may be an ambassador, but I can still kick your ass. You're not the only one here with diplomatic immunity!" WilyKat threatened him angrily.

"Kat, stop it, he's not worth it." WilyKit told her brother in an effort to calm him down, then shot a nasty look at Jackalman. "Besides, no one asked you, Jackalman, so shut up."

Selene had an idea. "Leonora, what's that you mentioned earlier about resolving whatever was causing them to attack? Maybe if we could figure out what it is, we could do something about it to appease the spirit. Perhaps all WilyKit needs to do is apologize for whatever wrong it feels she's committed against him."

It'll take a hell of a lot more than that, Alluro thought silently.

Psiarik nodded in agreement. "Yes, that could work. Now all we have to do is figure out what that is. Good idea."

No, it's a bad idea. A terrible idea. Alluro thought. Drop it, just drop it now, he silently willed them. He was getting nervous. He had no idea how the others might react if they found out his role in all of this, and he didn't want to find out. Psiarik wasn't one to forgive deception easily, and the last thing he wanted was for his son to have reason to hate him again. He might have tried hypnotizing them all if he thought he could get away with it, but he knew Selene was resistant to hypnosis, and Psiarik would easily be able to shake off any attempt at mind control he might try without using the psyche club... which of course he could not, if he didn't want to arouse suspicion.

"I'm really trying to remember... but I can't. I can't think of a single thing that I have done that would have started this. Whatever it is, it probably happened in those months I lost. A lot of good that does us... I'll never remember that, especially not if Darkail can't fill in the blanks. He'd be the only one who could tell us for sure." WilyKit lamented.

Another idea suddenly occured to Selene. "Say, WilyKit, I might know a way we can help you remember what happened, if you'd like to try it. Psiarik is good at establishing psychic links with others, if he tries, and he may be able to walk you through your memories if you are in a trance. Maybe he can help you remember what you need to know."

Psiarik looked at the two of them in shock. "You must be kidding." he blurted out. "Selene, I don't have any formal training in that stuff. And doing a mind link with..." his voice trailed off when Selene gave him a pleading look. He sighed, he couldn't say no to her. "Oh all right." he agreed reluctantly. "If WilyKit wants me to, I will."

WilyKit brightened a bit. "I hope that works... oh, once I can remember this stuff, I can finally get on with my life, and maybe we could find the key to sending these ghosts packing! That would be great."

"Yeah, and then we could all get some peace from her ranting and screaming and whining." Jackalman said.

Most of the others shot him an exasperated look, except for Alluro, who was getting even more uneasy. He hoped his mind block was strong enough to block whatever Psiarik tried to get her to break out her memories. He wasn't going to speak up, though, lest someone volunteer him for the job instead of his son. He wanted stay as far out of this as possible.

WilyKat laid his sister on a comfortable reclining seat while Psiarik sat next to her. He took one of her hands in his, then placed his other hand on her head, and closed his eyes, concentrating on entering her thoughts. "Try hard to remember what happened the night you disappeared." he instructed her. Soon the two of them were flooded with images of her on her trip home, calling WilyKat, telling him she would be late because of the storm. A man approached them, a man they now both recognized as Darkail, and somehow lured her away. After that, the memory sharply cut off, and faded to black. The next memory was her wandering confused in the Valley of the Snarfs, weeks later. "Think about Darkail meeting you, what does he say, what does he do?" WilyKit tried to concentrate, and during this process Psiarik attempted to use any detail she could remember to break the void that obscuring the remainder of the memory. Suddenly he saw a flash of a woman who looked identical to WilyKit, but wasn't. "You have no business here, boy. Get out. Give up. You will find nothing." she told him forcefully, and her eyes glowed an aqua green color with some sort of hypnotic power. The other WilyKit's words caught him off guard, and he saw no reason why he shouldn't listen as he stared into her eyes, and withdrew obediently. It was only after he had broken the link and tried to figure out what went wrong that he discovered what happened, and scowled.

The dazed Thundercat shook her head. "What's going on?" she wondered, as Psiarik pulled away from her.

"These aren't normal repressed memories." Psiarik said coldly. "Some sick bastard put a mind block on her and is purposefully keeping her from remembering whatever she's forgotten."

"What? Who would do such a thing?" Selene wondered. "Why?"

"Maybe whoever did it had a good reason." Alluro blurted out. "Perhaps whatever she forgot will torture her worse than whatever she is suffering now, and the individual who put that block there did it for her own good."

Psiarik raised his eyebrows. "Everybody knows that mind blocks drive the blocked individual nuts far more often than they work. More likely whoever did this to her, probably Darkail, is trying to protect himself from something she knows. Darkail is not a psychic lunatac though, and has no powers to do something like this... and when I find out what low-rent sleazebag he paid off to do this to her for him, I'm going to string both of them up by their toes. Not only have they hurt someone who has done nothing to warrant it, but they've probably left the door wide open for the ghosts to attack and torment her and the rest of us. Not to mention that by doing this to a Thundercat, they have endangered the diplomatic relationship between our planets, something we have only had for a mere five years."

Alluro gulped. He could tell from his son's stern tone that there would be no explaining away this one. This is what I get for attempting to do something good, he thought miserably. I try to do someone a favor and I'm about to lose everything over it... why the hell did I even bother trying to do the right thing? It never works, it always backfires...

Psiarik noticed Alluro's expression and the rest fell into place. "You." he said coldly. "You did this to her, didn't you?"

"Psiarik, I--" he began to explain.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" he shouted, and advanced toward him.

Alluro backed away. He didn't want to fight with him. "Yes, I did it." he admitted. "Darkail asked me to."

Psiarik filled with rage and began trembling with anger. "How could you do something like this?! I told you when we first let all of you stay here that if you ever hurt anyone again, that if you did something to someone I cared about, that you'd live to regret it." he said angrily.

"She's a Thundercat, what do you care for her?" Alluro retorted. "Besides, it really was in her best interests. Darkail would know, he was with her the entire time."

"You threatened an entire diplomatic mission! What does she have on Darkail, or you for that matter? Did you do this to save your own hide, or are you covering for Dark for some other reason? A nice payoff maybe?"

"I didn't take any money." Alluro said indignantly. "Darkail asked for my help as his friend, so I gave it to him."

"And of course you got to stick it to one of your old enemies in the process, got to mess up her mind... not a bad way of getting even for all the years she and her friends had you in exile and on the run." Psiarik said, and glared at him. "Does your hate for Thundercats run that deep that you still couldn't forgive them, even after all we went through in the Battle of the Swords? Do you want to see us back at war again? Or did you even think about the consequences before you screwed with her head? Hell, you probably got off on it, didn't you? You haven't changed a bit." Psiarik raged.

Alluro now got angry. "My feelings about the Thundercats had nothing to do with this. As a matter of fact, I did think about it. I told Darkail it was a foolish idea, that it would do more harm than good, but he insisted it was necessary. I thought it was for the best at the time, so I did it for him as a favor. When I saw that she was losing it, that she couldn't handle it, and heard she was having his child, I tried to get him to change his mind. I even tried to talk him out of it last night, and if he were here he would tell you that."

"Maybe... but he just happens to have disappeared, how convenient for you that he isn't available to corroborate your story." Psiarik said sarcastically. "If it bothered you so much, why didn't you undo it yourself?"

"I gave Darkail my word." Alluro replied quietly.

"Your word? Oh, and that's good for plenty, isn't it? Just ask my mother how good your word is!"

Alluro clenched his jaw, trying to remain emotionless and not show just how deeply Psiarik's words had hurt him. "You never did forgive me for that did you? Well, the truth finally comes out, you haven't forgiven me, and still resent me over what happened between your mother and I. Obviously that is not ever going to change."

"Get out." Psiarik ordered him coldly. "Now. Before I decide to let you rot in a jail for what you did to WilyKit."

"Wait, maybe you two should calm down..." Selene started. She could see that this was getting very ugly, very fast, and wanted to diffuse it.

"Gladly." Alluro snarled and turned to leave, ignoring Selene.

Chilla, who had sat up on the couch during all of this, reached for Alluro as he went by and grabbed his arm. "Wait a minute, Alluro..."

He met her eyes. "I'll be in touch with you soon, Chilla." He then broke loose from her and stormed out of the room, without looking back once. Before long they all could hear a ship fire up in the landing bay below and leave in a hurry.

WilyKit closed her eyes and fought back tears. "I am so sorry. Look what I've done now, dragging you all into my problems. This mess, it's all my fault. I never meant to cause everyone so much trouble."

"You're damn right this is your fault... you and your stupid problems and your damned ghosts. I hope they do get you, you whiny little brat!" Chilla spat. "Then at least you'll be gone and you'll stop ruining our lives like you Thundercats always do!" with that, Chilla left the room as well.

Snarfer gave her a hug. "Snarfer snarfer, don't listen to her. It wasn't you who caused this mess. You were innocent."

"Innocent? If I'm so innocent, why am I sitting here with a memory so horrible it had to be blocked by a mind controller to keep me from it? If I'm so innocent, why did Darkail run away from me when he realized I knew who he was?" she sobbed.

Selene met her eyes. "Don't worry, we're going to get to the bottom of this. After all, we can't have your Thunderians thinking we drive people insane over here on the Moons of Plundarr, can we?" she said with a joking grin, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"No, we leave that to my father and Darkail." Psiarik muttered in disgust.

"We never did figure out what happened to her, either. We now know Alluro blocked her, but what he blocked is still a mystery." WilyKat said.

Psiarik frowned. "I should have forced him to undo it before I kicked him out. Sorry... I got a little angry and wasn't thinking. I will get in touch with the royal guard and have them spread the word that he and Darkail are to be arrested on sight. It shouldn't take long to find them, bring them here, and force them to remove that block. Depending on what we find out they're hiding, I'll decide whether or not to let them stay in jail or just kick them out of here for good." he grumbled.

Selene gave him an expression that read something along the lines of "aren't you being a little harsh?", but she didn't push it.

Psiarik looked away from her. She really was too nice for her own good, after what Darkail and Alluro had done to WilyKit, he couldn't see any reason they deserved her sympathy. He instead looked to WilyKit, WilyKat, and Leonora. "I'll go make that call now. I'm sorry I couldn't help you more, WilyKit." he said sincerely, and headed off to the communications room.

A tense silence hung over the room for a minute or so, until Selene couldn't take it any more and broke it. "It's late anyway... why don't we call it a night and try and work this all out in the morning?"

Everyone agreed and went their separate ways to their quarters.