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Disclaimer: ThunderCats is an American/Japanese animated television series, produced by Ethan Spaulding and Michael Jelenic. A reboot of the original 1980s TV series of the same name (which ran from 1985 to 1989), ThunderCats was developed by Warner Bros. Animation and Studio 4°C.
Notes: With thanks to my beta reader Hatashikitty. The title was inspired by the Switchfoot song of the same name.
“I Turn Everything Over” by karrenia
Lion-O had once thought so much of their relationship, if you could call it that; involved nothing more than an unspoken agreement to antagonize one another at every turn, and even at some inopportune moments as well.
It took two to make an argument, did it not?
So, it had not been entirely his older brother’s fault that the underlying sense of antagonism, competition, and jealousy had carried over from their kitten-hood into adulthood.
Ever since the fall of their beloved Thundera, Lion-O had sensed a kind of irreplaceable need for order and stability that came with everything that he had once known was gone.
In the silence of his own mind, Lion-O realized that some of those things he had taken for granted were gone. Then it was more than ever important, not vital that they rebuild.
In retrospect, he realized that his own grief and anger at the outset of their journey had blinded him to the actual steps necessary to rebuild; not just their home, but perhaps the dynamics within their own band of survivors.
He was supposed to be the lord of the Thundercats and if he were being honest with himself; he hadn’t done too terrible at it.
However, it had to be more than the luck of the draw that had enabled him to leap before he looked time and time again early on during their quest for the Book of Omens; and he had still landed on his feet.
Lion-O was also painfully aware that even back in the old days, everyone would forever compare him to his older brother.
Frequently Tygra would come out on top in those comparisons. The elder prince had always been the more level-headed, better at almost everything, and while some of that was true he also had a rather aggravating habit of pointing it out.
Memories of the time leading up to that surprise attack on their home came flooding back to him.
He recalled just how hurtful and defensive he’d been towards Tygra and how cutting and insensitive his blurted-out comment had been. He had told Tygra how he had hoped that when he grew up that he would never turn out to be like his older brother.
While a great deal of time had passed since then, the memory of that chance unthinking remark still rankled. Tygra had bristled, but had not responded with anything approaching the fury and injured dignity that Lion-O had expected.
Perhaps Tygra had felt that the remark had not merited a response, perhaps he just had better self-control, or whatever, but the memory was a still painful one.
At this late stage, Lion-O had more or less accepted that their sibling rivalry while acute posed a severe risk to team morale. If Tygra were willing, he’d welcome a chance to bury the proverbial hatchet.
And there were signs in between the traveling, the searching, and the fighting when it seemed as if for something approaching reconciliation.
Lion-O still did not quite know just how much their venture into the Astral Plane in search of the Spirit Stone had affected Tygra.
First, because Lion-O had never claimed to be the most insightful or observant among them, he knew that something unexpected and important had happened. What they had seen, felt, remembered had changed, and in a good way.
Now, he sat on a boulder in their makeshift camp, watching his brother sleep, although he was supposed to be on guard.
Tygra huddled beside Cheetara underneath the inadequate shelter of his cloak, the lines of his face much more relaxed in sleep than ever were when he was awake. Watching them, Lion-O felt a mix of jumbled emotions churn through him. Mostly he felt ambivalent.
There, that was a friendly word, was it not? He still felt more than a little jealous that Cheetara chose Tygra over him, but then he had resolved to make the most of it, even though he had told Cheetara exactly that, through gritted teeth.
Lion-O shook his head and shuffled the toes of his boots into the hard-packed ground, balancing his weight on the boulder so that he would not topple off.
The knowledge that, as the new lord of Thundercats, with everything that he’s learned, or some cases, been forced to unlearn, not everything will be handed to him on a silver platter just because of his title. If he truly wants what they’re trying to accomplish to mean something, then he has to work toward it, especially given who wants to
He wondered if all of this wool-gathering is just his mind’s way of telling him that Tygra is probably the closest thing he will ever have to a friend, despite their sibling rivalry. It’s a heady thought, and he did not want to let it go.
That simple declaration from Tygra about how he would follow his brother, his king, into hell or high water, had been the most open and unguarded statement that Tygra has ever said to him.
Tygra had said that he would follow his brother anywhere, come hell or high water: it had been the most open and completely unguarded thing that Tygra has ever said to him.
It had focused him on saving his comrades from Mumm-Ra’s pyramid, so it took that it took him a little aback was an understatement. He had been flushed with both exertion and a sense of accomplishing the all but impossible with only seconds to spare and more than a little embarrassment. Lion-O simply gave thanks because he did not have to make a coherent response, especially with all the others looking on.
Speaking of embarrassing moments, he still ruefully recalled that love potion he had intended for Pyumira.
Tygra had gulped it down, more for the sake of ticking him off than because he was thirsty.
‘Well,’ thought Lion-O shaking his head, “What was I expecting when I heard the words ‘love’ and potion’ combined?’
It had forced him to offer Panthro and the others admittedly rather lame excuses for the subsequently goofy, and again, completely unguarded remarks that Tygra had made and for his rather inexplicable behavior while under the influence of said love potion.
He still could not tell if Panthro had bought his excuses, or, under the circumstances, had just seen fit to not punch holes into them. They had all been much too busy fighting for their lives or gathering more of the magical leaves to make the potion that they needed to subdue the hybrid creature that their most dangerous enemy had transformed into.
Lion-0- had been determined to take charge, rushing head-long into the battle, all the while trying to project an air of confidence and resolve as an excellent leader should.
While he thought he’d done a pretty good job of it, he’d been trying to impress Pumyra. So maybe his concentration had been more than a little off.
And you’d think that would bother him because he, too, had been acting as goofy and awkward, if not more so, around the newest addition to their small band. He had been thinking a lot about her from the moment they had crossed paths.
She had been through more than anyone among them could imagine, anyone than say Panthro, and she had every reason to hate him. Or perhaps she just hated everything that he stood for, the destruction of their former home and with it their entire way of life as they had once known it.
Underneath that stubbornness and that fiery attitude, he had believed that he could reach her, make her understand him in ways that she would see him as both a person and her king.
Finally, he had reached her. That he was peeling away at all of those layers to a place where they had arrived at a kind of brittle understanding.
And honestly, he really was attracted to Pumyra and still believed that they could have something special given enough time and work. “Somehow,” he ruefully muttered aloud. “I just seem to keep falling for the stubborn, blazingly bright, but still oh so incredibly beautiful types. I wonder why that is?”
Lion-O sighed and took another glance at his sleeping brother as another rather startling thought flashed through his mind ‘Why have I become so preoccupied in brooding over how to mend my proverbial fences with my brother?’
Lion-O rubbed his hand over his left flank because his ribs still ached from that bone-crushing hug, but it’s a good ache for he knows it meant Tygra loves him; even if that stubborn tiger pride of his had an annoying habit of not allowing him to express how he truly felt. Lion’O thought: ‘Well, damn that stubborn tiger pride of his.’
He never could admit when he was wrong. It’s actually rather cute when it’s not as irritating as all get out.’
The fact of the matter, is simply that he wants, no needs, for the relationship between himself and Tygra to become something better, something more permanent; something that will last beyond this time of troubles and allow them all to move forward into the future, together.
Even as this thought crossed his mind, another flash of realization hit him with all the force of a sucker punch to the gut.
Love is love, and despite the gruffness and aloofness, and the barbed remarks, Tygra loved him, just in his own way.
Lion-O was determined to do whatever it took to bring that out in him. He wanted to heal all the hurts, the slights, to cover over the scar of both the past and present because it’s what they both need even if Tygra might not come right out and admit it.
Lion-O got off of the boulder and used his cloak as a pillow, figuring that he had come to the best decision that he could. Now he could finally get some sleep for what is left of the night.
He laid down, closed his eyes, and smiled.
Tomorrow would be here sooner than expected, but for the moment he would take it one step at a time. After all, they had plenty of time to begin the healing and the rebuilding, and then they would all take the first of many steps that would lead to a new beginning for everyone.
He allowed his breathing to relax, calmed his racing thoughts and finally fell asleep.