Malice woke up, a lengthy night terror had rocked his world. He panted, choking for breath as he sat upright, his heart pounding out of his chest. Tumaini was asleep on the bed beside him, still peacefully slumbering, snuggled into the pillow. The dark lion sighed with a smile, giving his love a small pet on his long, gorgeous mane as he stirred a little. Malice pulled his paw away quickly as not to disturb his mate.

''Well, i'm up, better get ready for the day...'' He grinned.

Something felt off, he rubbed his face, to his surprise, his skull felt - fluffy. Thinking nothing of it, he padded into the bathroom, scratching his ass as he walked, a big yawn planted on his face.

There is was again, like a twinge. He shrugged.

Switching on the light, his maw went straight to the sink, running the tap to splash his face with cold water.

Malice looked up into the mirror, his eyes focusing and tracing his facial features for a moment.

Wait.

WAIT.

''OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!!!' He shrieked, tears starting for form down his cheeks.

Tumaini ran into the bathroom, finding Malice with a paw on his reflection.

''Whats wrong, Mal? Whats happened? You Okay?'' He panicked.

''Look.'' Malice moved his paw out of the way so he could see.

''What does this mean, Mal? Oh my goodness?'' Tumaini asked.

''I'm...I'm no longer cursed, hun. I'm free.'' he choked.

''How is this possible?'' Tumaini cocked his head.

''My Boss must have changed his mind on keeping me under his boot.'' The dark lion said quietly, ''He said change was coming, I didn't know what...''

Tumaini hugged his mate, stroking the now-golden furred side of Malice's face.

''You don't know how nice it is to feel your paw on that side for the first time...'' Malice smiled.

---

Let me just clear this up now, before I get the 'Oh I liked Malice with his skull face' - its still a part of him. I will still draw him with his skull shown, but I felt like i'd let Malice suffer enough. I was also talking to my mate, who agreed the same. Maybe we should have him look like a chimera, much like Tumaini is, and those lovely cats you see with bicoloured eyes and faces. Yknow?

This is something long in the works, I didn't know whether to give him his dark fur back, but he'd look too normal? So, took a little of Thrasher and chose to have a golden face to replace his skull.

It might take a while to adjust to this change, but rest assured, he's still the same cocky, booze loving lion he always has been.

The other change, is that he doesn't have his 'Spider' on his stomach. I didn't feel it was needed at all tbh, but to show his curse in more of a visual way, if that makes sense?

And yes, its his right side, thats his reflection. XD

I love those bicoloured chimera cats, so felt this was a nice change. :)

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Malice © Thrasher