Maternal Instinct
2
WilyKit sat up in bed. The darkness around her did
absolutely nothing for her nerves. The kitten looked over at the other bed. Her
brother was out like a light, face in his pillow. She could hear his gentle
breathing. Sighing, the child turned over and tried to go back to sleep.
She had not closed her eyes for more
than a minute when they opened again. She looked around in the dark. She felt
vulnerable. She felt scared. Swallowing hard, she looked at her brother again.
He was still oblivious to her. She sighed. Had she been but a few years
younger, she would have crept over to his bed, shook him awake and crawled in
with him.
She was too old for that. She was
twelve, nearly thirteen. A twelve year
old girl should have been able to sleep without awakeing from nightmares. She
kicked her sheets off and sat on her mattress, knees drawn up to her chest.
Wrapping her arms around her shins, she hugged her limbs desperately.
Finally, unable to stand it any
longer, she crept to her twin’s bed and gave his shoulder a shake. After
shouting a little, her brother’s eyes flew open and he stared up at her. He sat
up slowly, rubbing his eyes as his sister sat on the edge of his bed.
“What’s wrong, Kit?” he asked
softly. He didn’t need to because the Lair’s walls were pretty well
soundproofed. Their room was less soundproofed then the others because when
they had first come to Third Earth, for several weeks the twins would wake up
from nightmares of their planet’s end and the adults would comfort them. But he
always spoke softly when he sensed something was wrong.
Kit sighed. She ran her hand through
her bright red mane. Kat cocked his head at her and put a hand to her cheek. He
bit down a curse when he lifted her face and saw her eyes. They were wide,
afraid. But Kat saw more than that and that’s what scared him. Deep in those
pupils, deep within held the symbol of Kit’s that showed pure distress. Tears.
“Kit?” he asked again. “What is it?
I know you didn’t wake me up just to annoy me.” He stole a glance at the clock.
“Not at
“I don’t know, bro.” She admitted.
“I haven’t slept much. The dream.”
“Dream?” he asked. Kicking off his
own sheets, he took of his sibling’s hands and patted it gently, reassuringly.
His look of reassurance morphed to one of shock as she let out a yelp and
buried her face into her brother’s shoulder.
“Kit!” he shouted, a little too
loudly. He knew as soon as he heard the volume of it that Cheetara would be
there in a few minutes whether he lowered his voice or not. “Kit what is it?”
WilyKit made no response. She just
flung her arms around her twin and cried. She had not really cried since
Thundera had been destroyed but did so now. Her brother gulped. This wasn’t
like his sister.
“Thunderkittens! Are you alright?”
The twins turned around in time to
see Lion-o and Tygra tear through the door. Kit raised her head and blushed
feriously as she wiped away tears. Needless to say that triggered their senses
that something was wrong. They looked to Kat for explanation. He shrugged.
“What’s going on?” a new voice
asked. Cheetara came through the door. But before she could say anything,
Pantro ran through the door.
“What is it Pantro?” Tygra asked.
The panther took note of Kit and took on a worried look but then turned back to
Tygra.
“Bengali called. Pumyra just woke up
with nightmares. About-“
“About a frightened kitten girl,
alone.” Kit finished. Pantro turned to stare at her along with the others.
Then, Cheetara spoke.
“Who lost her mother.”
The Thundercats turned around to
look at her but were startled again by a unianimous shriek from both females.
Then with fear in their eyes, Cheetara tumbled to the ground and Kit felt
backward in faint to land in her brother’s arms.
Snarf ran in then.
“Lion-o! Pumyra just passed out!
That’s not normal! And…”
He stopped when he saw the
she-cat and kitten. He turned to Lion-o
and the other males. Tygra had scooped Cheetara up in his arms while Lion-o
picked up WilyKit. Snarf realized then, the three females of the Thundercats
had passed out at the same time from the same thing.
“Snaarf. This is trouble,” he moaned
as the Thundercats rushed the two down to sick bay for a checkup. “Big
trouble.”
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