Tygra made his way slowly back to his quarters. It had been a long meeting, and the ramifications had been unpleasant. Panthro had taken the Thundertank with him, which meant that Lion-O now had yet another lethal weapon in his growing arsenal. He was almost to his door when a light touch on his arm almost made him jump through the ceiling.

He turned to see the soft, lovely features of Cheetara staring back at him with a look of bemusement. She giggled, and a grin broke over her face, lighting up the cream colored fur of her face. "I came here to see if you were a little tense after the today's council meeting. I see that you are."

He forced a smile onto his own face. He didn't have to try too hard, especially when he was looking at her. "Your sixth sense is infallable, as always," he joked lamely. At the most awkward moment possible, his quarter's door slid open automatically. For a long moment he seemed to hesitate, wondering whether to ask her in or talk to her out in the hallway. They had grown so much closer recently, they even considered themselves a couple, but there were still a few barrier between them.

She seemed to sense his indecision and grew even more amused. "Can I come in?" she asked, taking a few steps towards the door, but leaving her fingers resting lightly on his arm. He seemed to become immediately super aware of the gentle feel of the clawed fingertips on him, and nodded quickly. "Good," she smiled, pulling him in after her. "You looked like you'd be pretty tense. I had a few ideas about how to work that tension off," she siad seductively.

Tygra froze at the words. His heart began to beat rapidly in his chest. He gave her a questioning look, and his heart pounded faster when he saw the affirmative look she gave back. This was to be the night. An electric charge seemed to build in his body as her fingers crept along his back and started caressing and soothing. The touch grew firmer, stronger, turning into a massage. He sighed as he felt the tension starting to drain out of him, replaced by a warm, relaxed feeling of anticipation.

He turned into her grip, entwining his fingers with hers, and then drawing a hand away to gently stroke her cheek. He took a moment to admire the tight line of her jaw. A quick, secret smile leapt onto his face and then flashed away quickly. Cheetara was intrigured by it. "What are you thinking?" she queried as she sat down onto his bed, pulling his body down next to her by his fingers.

"It's silly," he said, blushing slightly. "Kid stuff." He saw the curious, demanding look on her face and decided to be out with it. "Back when you were younger, taking classes, did you ever look around the room and imagine being trapped on a far-away world with just the people around you? I did all the time, imagining surviving just with that small group of people, and of course having to choose a mate from those present. In all those fantasies, you were always the woman I chose to be with. Not that I ever thought you'd want me in real life, but then after the holocaust, there we were, just a very few of us left, trapped alone and far away from anything we knew. And now here we are." When he finished he looked a little embarrassed, flushing at sharing the fantasy with her.

She ran her fingers through his stiff ruff of hair. "I agree with you, this is a dream come true," she said in a hushed voice, and inched her full, eager lips up towards his longingly...

A glowing figure caught Tygra's eye, and reflexively he turned his face away at the last moment before their lips brushed together. His excitement drained away into pale horror and disappointment. He recognized the glowing figure, and he knew that somehow he would need to be alone. Now of all times. How the hell was he going to explain this to Cheetara?

He noticed her stiffen briefly just as the glow began. Could she see it too? No...only he would be able to, that's how it had always worked in the past. He opened his mouth to try to speak to her, to offer some excuse. "Cheetara, I..."

She put a shushing finger over his lips. "Sixth sense, remember?" she purred. "I'll be outside, waiting," she said, and stepped out of the room. If he hadn't been in love with her before, Tygra was in love with her now. As soon as the door slid closed behind her Tygra turned to face the glowing spectre that stood silently now in his room.

"Greeting, O' Wise Jaga," he rumbled, bowing defferentially to the figure. He knew Lion-O had been told that only he could see Jaga, but in truth the spectre had vistied Tygra more than once. Tygra knew that Jaga trusted him, more than he had Lion-O at any rate.

The grim spirit stared at Tygra for long moments, and then finally spoke. His speech always seemed accompanied by a low, hissing sound, as if the sound were being funneled in from a long distance away. "Tygra, young Lion-O has become a threat to the Thundercats."

"I know, Lord Jaga, but what can we do about it? He is one of our own, we can't move against him." Jaga stared back at Tygra with angry, penetrating eyes. Tygra felt forced to continue, to justify himself. "I mean, he has broken our Code, but he hasn't moved directly against us. He would never dream of physically attacking one of his own!" Jaga did not answer, he only glared quietly. "He's only one man! I am sure that the others will see how much more righteous were are, we only need to give them time!" Tygra slowly wilted under the spectre's stare.

"That," said Jaga finally, "was exactly what your father said to me when another young warrior broke away from the Code to strike out on his own. I heeded his council, for it was full of wisdom. Surely, no Thundercat could be capable of doing evil to his own kind. In time, he argued, the warrior's defieance would die out of its own accord, and then we would not need to sully our hands by commiting violent acts against a comrade, evena fallen one."

"Exactly!" said Tygra, his chin rising earnestly.

"That young warrior's name was Grune," finished Jaga. He let the full impact of his words sink in on Tygra. The devastation Grune had caused had been massive. Thousands died in his bloody uprising. Worse than that, thought Jaga to himself, he had nearly succeeded in his goal of throwing off the yoke of the Jaguars.

Tygra blanched at the named of the most hated figure in Thunderan history. Grune the Betrayer. Grune the Destroyer. His rebellion was the darkest of Thundera's dark memories. "But surely," stuttered Tygra, "surely you can't think Lion-O is capable of the murderous acts of cruelty that Grune committed."

"Can't I? Look at his pattern of behavior, Tygra. Look at it through the calculating eyes of a leader, not the warmer eyes of a friend. Lion-O...was like a son to me. Would I come to you with these words if I weren't absolutely certain that he posed an immediate threat to the last vestiges of our race?"

Tygra turned away from the spirit, not wanting to hear these words. The ramifications were already streaking across his mind to their inevitable conclusions. "What would you have me do to stop him?" Tygra finally asked quietly.

"Tygra, before I go on...would you be willing to sacrifice to save the last of our people from this force? Would you be willing to sacrifice your position, your life...even your honor?" Tygra nodded silently, his head starting to slump. "Grune did the damage he did because he was allowed to strike first. He was allowed time to gather his forces, Tygra. We can not afford to give Lion-O the same opportunities. He must be stopped, quckly, permanently...fatally."

"But what you are suggesting, Jaga...isn't that exactly what we banished Lion-O for in the first place?"

"It is. If you survive the assassination attempt, you would of course have to give up your place as a Thundercat. You would have to give it all up, and travel far away. It is a tremendous sacrifice to make. To protect the Code we hold sacred, you would have to violate it yourself. But there is a difference between you and Lion-O, Tygra. A great difference indeed. He was called upon to make the sacrifice, but he failed. Instead of quietly submitting and disappearing, he rose up, and is now forging a kingdom of his own, not to protect the Code, but to replace it. No Tygra, you are not Lion-O. You are no betrayer. I know you. After doing this deed, you would simply disappear. For the Thundercats."

"For the Thundercats," repeated Tygra, his eyes misting up. He thought about Cheetara. How he had longed for her, just to be with her. And now he had her, and he had to give her up. "There is no other way?"

"None. Can I count on you, Tygra, to destroy this evil, to make this sacrifice?" Tygra looked small and defeated. He nodded silently to Jaga, a small tear slipping out of the side of his eye. Jaga nodded back to him. "You are a good man, Tygra, and a truly noble being. I rest securely, know that the fate of the Thundercats is in your hands." The spectre faded away, and Tygra was left alone in the darkened room.

Tygra sniffled a few times and braced himself. He triggered the door and tried to smile for Cheetara. "What's wrong?" she asked instantly upon entering, her soft hand leaping up to the side of his face to feel the trail of the tear he had tried so desperately to conceal.

Tygra clenched his jaw as the emotions struggled inside him. "Don't talk," he finally said in a rough, forced voice. He switched off the lights and drew her into the room until the door slid closed behind them. He pulled her down onto the bed in the darkness and let his lips meet hers.

Tygra thought of Lion-O as their hands began to slide over each other's curves. Even without the Sword, Lion-O had been formidable. To destroy Castle Plundarr single-handedly...Tygra admitted to himself that Lion-O frightened him. But tomorrow morning he would rise silently from the bed, careful not to disturb the cheetah beside him. He would write his farewell note to her, and try to explain what he felt for her, and that whether he won or lost, he wouldn't be returning. Ever.

"Just love me," he whispered to her in the darkness, letting the rising passion sweep him away. "Love me like this is the last time we'll ever be together."