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Disclaimer: Naturally, I do not own any of these characters, except La’s parents. They belong to the combined efforts of Disney and Edgar Rice Burroughs. No profit is being made in this story.

Notes: This story is related to the events in the Legend of Tarzan episodes, "Lost City of Opar", "Leopard Men Rebellion" and "The Return of La," (particularly in "Rebellion" and "La") You won’t have to have seen them to know what’s going on, but it might help. Also, La’s background was not only suggested by the series, but also the World Newton Universe by Philip Jose Farmer. This is my best attempt to relate all theories about La’s origins into one.

Part One: Return of the Queen

Some people think that the Staff of Opar is simply a magical device that once made can be easily broken like glass. Others think that it is an ancient device that is passed down from holder to holder, generation to generation. Still, others think it makes a good croquet mallet. But, the Staff of Opar can never be destroyed; it is a living thing that always recognizes its mistress and one clear starry night, it did.

A shadow loomed over the small African village. The figure took great care so that she would step in and out of the shadows and not be seen by anyone. The slightest careless move on her part could have resulted in someone seeing her. Most of the villagers had retreated to their huts for the night. The quiet tribe was even quieter. The figure floated among the shadows carefully until she came upon the central hut she knew well. The woman laughed slightly then placed her hands gently on the walls. She then felt her body float as she stepped through the closed door.

The hut was small and rounded inside. Not much lay in, except for three tribal masks for ceremonies and weapons that the old warrior had been long ago given up using. The old man slept soundly on one side of the room, unaware of the mysterious visitor. The woman looked around the room until she saw, or rather felt it. Behind one of the masks, a red light glowed as if begging for her attention. Excited, the woman uncovered the mask and placed her hand on the long gold staff. She held it reverently like a religious icon, then she picked it up and sneaked out of the hut.

Usula woke up from a long-forgotten nightmare, one that he no longer wished to dream of the young man who died in his arms. He then glanced over to the masks and felt his heart stop temporarily. The staff was gone! He leapt from his bed to the outside. He could see no one, but he knew a presence had been there, an evil one. "You have returned," Usula whispered to his invisible adversary. "I knew that you would return someday."

The Queen of Opar looked up the cliff at the city on top of her. "My, it’s good to be home," she said aloud. "Now, let’s see how my foolish daughter has treated the place."

The Queen crouched to the ground and then sprang up from her position leaping to the top of the cliff. "Honey, I’m home," she whispered maliciously.

The Queen looked around the city in astonishment. If possible it was in more ruins than before, most of the buildings were crumbled and decayed. Any sort of life to it had died. Opar had gone from being a dying city to a dead city! And where were the Leopard Men? And her daughter?

The Queeu felt a small furry animal brush against her leg. She knelt down and saw a small rat trying to desperately grab at a piece of dead grass for nourishment. The Queen smiled maliciously then picked up the rat by the tail. She ignored the rat’s panicked squeaks and angry cries. "I would know you in any form daughter," she teased.

"You have disappointed me, but then I knew you always have, you are nothing but an embarrassment to me!" The rat squeaked profanities to the woman in front of her.

"Is that anyway to talk to your mother?" the Queen teased. "Now, I know that you are Queen of Opar, but I have something that you want." She heard the rat go silent as if begging for the woman to continue. " I have the staff and I can restore you to life. You would like that wouldn’t you? Of course you would, but I need you to do me one little bitty favor. I need you to restore me as Queen!"

The rat squeaked again in rabid anger, this time threatening to bite her. "It’s either that or stay a rat forever and when I restore the Leopard Men, they can have a new chew toy."

This time the rat mumbled in silence. "I’ll take that as a yes," the woman said. She then threw the rat painfully on the ground and raised her staff in the air. A red energy formed around the rat until it took the form of the beautiful young woman it once was.

The young woman stood face to face to the older woman. They were almost mirror images of each other, the same white hair that trailed down to their waists (though the mothers was fuller and wavier, while the daughters was straight), the same cobalt blue eyes that belonged to a civilization long ago lost to the sea, the same narrow faces, and the same light black skin (though the mother’s was slightly darker than the daughters). They even wore similar jungle outfits, but the mother’s were a long blue sari-like dress and the daughter’s was a short red halter- top and skirt. The daughter looked her body up and down in astonishment at seeing it again. Then, she looked at her rescuer and her astonishment and surprise metamorphosed into anger, and hatred. "Sopuk, Mahthim," La said spitting the words as she spoke.

The Queen made a motion for her daughter to kneel. La rolled her eyes then kneeled to the ground. The mother walked up in front of her daughter and then paced around her. La took great care not to look into her mother’s eyes. She knew that while The Queen was here she had to at least act as her subordinate. "La," her mother began sweetly, until she kicked her daughter in the back. "You have disappointed me! After all I did for you, taking you in when the Waziri thought of you as a curse, an outcast!"

La felt the force on her back then sat up to look at her mother in the eye as the woman continued. "I am in exile and what do I find when I return? A city in ruins, my Leopard Men gone, and my daughter finally living up to her true form? I knew you were useless, but I thought at least you were good for something!"

La blushed furiously, not wanting the anger to creep up. "But, it’s not my fault. This man Tarzan arrived and-"

"Silence!," The Queen commanded sending a force of magic in her daughter’s direction. La leapt to avoid it. "You would not have been defeated if you weren’t so weak! Never mind that! Now, that I have returned I have great plans to restore Opar to it’s glory. Once more the Oparians will rule over all lesser beings as we were meant to!"

"How?" La asked.

"I have learned a few things in my absence many of which could prove useful," The Queen said. "I am now much more powerful than before and I could use a second in command, someone with your fighting spirit and loyalty to myself and Opar."

La bowed low in her mother’s presence. "Of course Mahtim, you will find no one more loyal than myself to Opar." The sooner I get your old decrepit body off my throne and away from my staff the better off I will be, Lat thought. She made sure her face displayed no anger or tension, nothing but humble loyalty.

"I had a feeling you would say that," The Queen said smiling. "Come with me to the palace." La followed the woman to the white broken palace.

The Queen sat on her throne imperiously. La took great pains not to show her anger at being usurped. "What is our first plan, Mahtim?"

The Queen smiled. " ‘We’ are not going to do anything. Did you know that one of the skills that this ‘old decrepit body’, I believe was the term, learned was mind reading? You are no more fit to be my second than you are fit to live!"

La paled in panic. "Then why did you restore my true form?"

The Queen grinned maliciously. "So I can see your face when I do this!" She then raised her staff and sent a large blast of energy and hurled it in La’s direction. La once again ducked to avoid the blast. She then hurled herself on her mother’s body. "Then I won’t give up my throne without a fight!" She said, she then attacked the older woman. The two struggled for a few minutes until La was able to wrestle the staff from her mother’s hands. The Queen smiled and applauded. "Wonderful, but my power no longer lies just with the staff or the crystal." She then created a blast of cold air to blow her daughter to the ground. La struggled helplessly as her mother effortlessly picked up the staff from her hand. "Of course it doesn’t hurt to have a keepsake." The Queen laughed and then reviewed. "Let’s see I have the staff, I have my city, my title, restored my daughter so I can gloat. I’m forgetting something, what is it? Oh yes," She then raised her arms and the staff glowed a deep red. La looked around the shadows as tall black robed creatures floated through with burning red eyes. La gasped in fear. "The Shadow Men, the Lost Souls."

"You are correct madam," The Queen said then she turned to the creatures. "Kill her."

La couldn’t move as the Shadow Men approached her. She screamed as they bit at her and scratched her. Finally, she struggled enough to move and ran out from their circle. She ran terrified away from the palace. As La ran to the edge of Opar’s cliff she looked behind her. The Shadow Men were fast approaching. She would stay and fight, but she knew she would never win. At least if I escape I can plan my return and regain the element of surprise, she said. She looked below at the cliffs, then crouched down and leapt off the side. She landed on the ground in a heap, but otherwise alive. La looked up at the old city. "I will return, Mahtim!" she vowed as she sank into the jungle.

The Queen looked down from the hill seeing no sign of her daughter. The girl had obviously wandered into the jungle. She knew for right now La was defeated, but not completely. The girl would return like a wounded animal, and just like a wounded animal she would strike back.

"No matter about that, I’ll face her when the time comes, but just in case I want one of you to follow her," A Shadow Man nodded and then floated away. The Queen then turned to the staff. "For right now, I must choose another second. I know you have been calling to her. Call to her now, send her here."

Jane awoke from her peaceful slumber to feel a presence. She looked out from her tree house and saw or rather felt the strange red light calling to her again. It called to her occasionally and most of the time she ignored it, but tonight well it glowed brighter than ever. The woman looked to her bed, Tarzan wasn’t there. But, that wasn’t a surprise he heard rumors of poaching and would be gone most of the night. Jane hoped he would be all right, but then the light called her again. Jane felt drawn to it as her body seemed to move of a will of her own and wandered out of the room into the tree house. The Englishwoman felt pulled into two different directions. Her mind kept begging her to stop and go back, but her body kept moving. She began to feel as though she were watching a picture show and was unable to help the heroine on the screen except to shout at her. Jane kept walking until she left the tree house and was out into the jungle.

Tantor and Terk returned from a midnight revel at the watering hole when they saw Jane wandering out in the jungle. "Hey, Mrs. T. where are you going, ain’t it past your bed time?" Tantor asked.

"Here let me try, Big Guy," Terk said then she cupped her paws around her mouth. "Hey, Jane! Jane? JAANNNNEEEE!" But still Jane wouldn’t listen. "Something ain’t right," Terk said. "Tantor, we gotta stop her!"

"How," the elephant said.

"Get in front and I’ll get in back," Terk suggested. The elephant and gorilla ran up to Jane to block her exit. Jane wanted to stop to reassure her friends, but she felt helpless against the spell that drew her. Suddenly, a blast lifted Tantor up from blocking Jane and sent him hurling to the ground away from her. "Big T. Are you all right?" Terk said jumping by Tantor’s side.

Tantor nodded. "Something weird is definitely going on here."

Terk looked up and gasped. "Don’t look now, Buddy, but it’s getting weirder." A shadowy creature appeared before Jane. It was taller than Tantor even and walked on two legs. It looked down at Jane with burning red eyes and as it stared at the elephant and the gorilla they were both paralyzed with fear. Suddenly, it surrounded Jane in shadow. As the shadowy creature melted away, Jane disappeared too.

Tantor and Terk were broken from their trance and hollered for Jane. "What’s going on?" a friendly male voice asked. Tantor and Terk jumped with fright.

Terk stammered. She didn’t want Tarzan to worry especially about something that she had no idea what it was, so she looked for a good excuse. "Oh, hey Tarzan, Tantor, Jane and I were playing a game."

"A game? What kind of a game?" Tarzan asked.

"It’s called Jane got carried away by a black shadowy monster and now she’s the All Seeing Elephant knows where," Tantor said.

"WHAATT?!!" Tarzan yelled. Terk poked Tantor in the trunk as he coughed. "Uh, hide and seek?"

"What happened? What took her?" Tarzan asked.

"We don’t know," Terk said.

"I do," an elderly voice answered. "I arrived as soon as I heard the animals crying for Jane. She was taken by the Shadow Men."

Tarzan and the animals turned around to see the wizened Waziri elder standing before them. "Usula," Tarzan remembered. "What are the Shadow Men?"

"They are men who have left this world and are unable to go into the next because they were once thieves, cowards, murderers, rapists, troublemakers or have disappointed the gods. They have become lost souls. They can only be controlled by a dark god or a powerful sorceress."

"Where have they taken Jane?," Tarzan asked.

"To Opar," Usula answered.

Tarzan, Tantor, and Terk exchanged glances. "Opar, then that must mean that-"

"-La has returned," Usula answered.

"Wait a minute," Terk said. "News flash, ain’t La a rat now? I mean she was always a rat now literally?"

"Not that La, her mother who is also named La has returned," The elder answered gravely. "She is every bit as evil as her daughter and ten times more powerful."

"Well, I’m going to stop her," Tarzan declared. "Powerful or not."

"I am going with you," Usula answered.

"Yeah, so are we," Terk said.

"Yeah," Tantor said, "We are?"

The Jungle Lord shook his head. "No it is too dangerous. I need you to stay and tell the Professor."

"YESS," Tantor cheered, but then returned to normal. "If you think that is best, Tarzan."

Terk looked reluctant, then sighed. "Alright, but be careful Buddy."

"Yeah, good luck," Tantor agreed.

"Come we haven’t a moment to lose," Usula said as they left the area.

Renard Dumont was asleep in his room on the top floor of his trading post when he heard a large crash like glass breaking. He leapt from his bed and put a shirt on with the pants he was already wearing. He lit a small lantern from the table picked up a small derringer gun from the dresser. He knew that he had promised Tarzan that he wouldn’t harm any animals, but he didn’t promise that he wouldn’t scare them. On his way down he heard his employees, Hugo and Hooft sleeping in their separate rooms. The two men were snoring practically in sync with each other. Renard gave an amused chuckle. Did those two even breathe separately?

Dumont casually stepped down the stairs so he wouldn’t be heard. He put the lantern behind his back so as not to tip off to the intruder that he was there already. He could barely make out a human shadow in the darkness. He gained enough confidence to level his gun at his intruder. He poked him in the back. "Alright, Monsieur, give me one good reason that you are here or I shall have you before the magistrate."

"I beg to differ, monsieur," a soft voice answered mimicking Dumont’s French accent. Dumont started in surprise. It was a woman’s voice! Dumont raised the lantern to look into the stranger’s face. She was a beautiful African woman with light dark skin. Her white hair trailed down and she stared at him with large blue eyes. Renard gasped. "You are very beautiful," he said.

"And you are a great fool!" the woman said as she kicked the gun out of his hand. The force of the fall sent a bullet to shoot through the wall. The woman then kicked Renard in the face and sent him falling. He was able to catch the lantern in time before it fell out of his hand, but he wasn’t able to keep his grip on the woman, so she ran out of the store.

Hugo and Hooft ran downstairs. "Boss, we thought we heard gun shots!" Hooft said.

"Yeah, what’s going on?" Hugo agreed.

"No time to explain," Renard answered as he ran outside the store.

The woman had barely gotten away from the store, when Dumont caught up with her. As he got a better look at her, he noticed that she was scratched and bleeding pretty badly and that she was even limping on one leg. She appeared famished and terrified.

"Excuse me mademoiselle," Dumont began.

La pointed a knife at him that she had stolen from the store. "You come near me and I will kill you!" she said.

Dumont couldn’t help, but smile. "Really?" he asked amused.

"I mean it," La answered. Then she tossed the knife at him. Renard didn’t even flinch as he grabbed the handle with one hand. "Anything else in mind, ma cherie?"

La looked closely at him. She knew she had seen him somewhere before, but where? Then suddenly she remembered the time that she had possessed Jane’s body! The Frenchman who led her to Opar and she turned into a gibbon! "I know you, Renard Dumont!" she said.

Dumont’s eyes widened. He didn’t recognize the woman from around here, so she wasn’t a native that he knew nor was she with any of the developers. Was she someone from France? Renard shook his head, he had a large circle of friends most of whom he knew by sight or name. This woman was not one of them. As many friends as Renard Dumont had, he had just as many enemies. Was she with one of them? How much did she know about him? Did she know about- "How do you know me? Have we met before?" Renard asked.

La grinned. From those two simple questions she had gathered that he had a past and he seemed somehow frightened of her. "I have seen you before though you may not have seen me," she said.

That helps, Dumont thought sarcastically to himself. "Where are you from?" he asked.

"Around," La answered. "Now, if you will excuse me."

Dumont stopped her. "Wait, you look like you have been in a fight. Are you in danger, mademoiselle?"

La shook her head. "No, no real danger, at least not now."

"I beg your pardon?," Dumont said.

"Listen, I must return I have to fight someone," she said.

Dumont smiled wryly. "Not likely in your condition. You look like it would finish you off."

"I can handle it!" the woman snapped. "I have handled her before, now I would take kindly if you would leave me in peace."

"Who is her?," Dumont asked. "Listen, you can either tell me the whole truth or you can tell the magistrate the whole truth when I have you arrested for shoplifting."

La looked down defeated. She knew that this man might be a friend of Tarzan’s and that he and Jane might have told her the truth about her. She had to think of a good story. "I’m off to fight a tyrant. This woman destroyed my village and put me in exile! I am returning to reclaim my throne!"

"So then you are a –"

"-Princess, yes," La answered starting to cry a little.

Dumont wrapped his arms around the woman, He felt sympathy for her but he couldn’t yet tell if she were telling the truth or lying. He tried another tactic. "I would love to help, really I would, but there is one who is more suited for the job. He is Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle."

The woman shook her head and bit her lip. Tarzan was not a tactic she wanted to deal with. Time to think of another lie. "I can not find him! I have tried, but I cannot face him! We have a history together!"

"Of all of the things you said, that is probably the most unbelievable," Renard said wryly. "What is your name?"

La’s heart pounded. She couldn’t tell this man her real name especially if Tarzan and Jane told him! She frantically remembered the name of a Waziri girl who had died of a fever when she was six. "Kalilah," she said. "I must go."

"Wait," Dumont said. "You are in no condition to fight her now! You are hurt and are limping. You should stay the night in my rooms until tomorrow at least." He hoped that if she were running off to meet her companions that they would leave by the morning.

La glared at him, but then she knew he was right. She couldn’t return to her mother, not yet. "Alright for the night then," she answered. Dumont then grandly led her to the trading post. "Thank you, Mr. Dumont," she said.

"Please call me Renard," he said as he opened the door for her.

"Thank you, I’d rather not," La answered as she followed him into the store.

The Queen paced impatiently as the Shadow Men entered the building. "About time," she said,

"Put me down!," the voice demanded as the woman lay between them.

"You heard her," The Queen commanded as the creatures dropped Jane on the ground. The Englishwoman looked around her surroundings in astonishment and anger. "Opar!," then she glared at the woman. "La, whatever game you are playing with Tarzan and me, I promise you that you will not win and- how did you get out of rat form?"

The Queen’s face revealed nothing, but surprise and confusion. "Madam, I don’t know what you mean. I presume that you have met my daughter?"

"Your daughter?" Jane asked in astonishment, "I do detect a family resemblance and yes, I have met her though I’d rather wish I hadn’t." Then Jane covered her mouth in embarrassment realizing that she may have insulted The Queen.

The Queen jumped down from her throne to be eye level with the young woman. She gave a weary sad sigh. "There isn’t anything that you can say about my daughter that isn’t true. You hate her, don’t you?"

Jane shrugged, not wanting to make another mistake in revealing her true feelings. She wasn’t sure that she could trust this woman. "Hate is a rather strong word. But, every time that we have met she has plotted to do away with myself and my husband."

The older woman smiled. "And yet you survive, you have quite a resilience about you, Jane."

"How did you know my name?" Jane asked.

The Queen held up the staff. "It told me. Do you know of it?"

Jane walked up to the staff and caught her breath. She gently ran her fingers along the handle. "Indeed I do," she whispered.

The Queen smiled, "Let me begin with a history lesson. This staff used to be part of a greater power known as the Heart of Atlantis."

Jane stared in shock. "Atlantis? But, I thought-"

"-That it was a myth?" The Queen laughed. "That’s what everyone thinks. But, Opar’s anscestors were Atlantean and the staff is a part of their crystal. It is connected with it’s holder, you Jane. You used it once to liberate the Leopard Men, oh don’t worry, I had nothing to do with their creation, " The Queen said hoping that Jane would believe that obviously she did.

"You have felt the staff call to you since then."

Jane nodded in a daze. Ever since the time the Leopard Men kidnapped her to use the staff and free them, she had felt its presence. In her mind, she saw the red and white lights pulsating to her as though it were a living thing. She remembered the rush that she felt when she used it, then the let down she felt when she had to put it away. What scared her the most was that she felt compelled not to tell Tarzan about the staff and her conflicting feelings toward it.

"You see Jane it knows you," The queen prompted. "You are a part of it. It wants you to have it."

Jane held it for three seconds and then put it down slowly. Even though she longed to hold it and use it again, she was afraid to. "I can’t," she said.

"Why not?" The Queen asked.

"It’s nothing, " Jane said.

The Queen nodded pretending to understand. Now that she lured Jane’s desires, time to play up the sympathy card. "You’re afraid it will turn you into La won’t it?" Jane stared at the woman dumbfounded that she could see into her secret fear. "Not to worry, Jane that doesn’t always happen. La’s heart was full of evil and darkness. She had the staff and it made her drunk with power.

"That sounds awful," Jane said sadly.

The Queen nodded. "You’re not sure whether you should believe me or not. But, she overthrew me." Jane looked at the woman in surprise. "Her father was a native, a Shaman of the Waziri , a good man, but he died when La was ten years of age. I took her to Opar to train her in the sorcerer’s ways. Opar was once a benevolent community a thriving happy city and I needed to train her as my heiress. She learned rather quickly, but I’m afraid to quickly. She became merciless, heartless. I let her borrow the staff occasionally to practice spell casting, so she created the Leopard Men. One night she came to my chamber and forced me to relinquish the staff, but I refused! Her Leopard Men overpowered me and threw me into the jungle! I tried to fight back, but she had the staff with her! I was in exile for many years and I returned to my friend, Usula who gave the staff back to me. When I returned I found Opar in ruins and my daughter in rat form!" The Queen began to sob loudly, Jane put a comforting hand on the woman’s shoulder as she continued. "Thank you, I must admit when I saw La in that form, I felt glad. What kind of mother is glad to see her daughter defeated?"

"There now, don’t feel bad, I’m sorry to say this but I don’t believe that La deserved your sympathy," Jane reassured her.

"You are a truthful woman, Jane, such a rare commodity these days," The Queen said mentally gagging on her own words. Jane was almost completely won over. Now, time for her to play the last card in the pack. "I must confess that I have another reason for bringing you here. My time grows short and the staff will one day claim another holder. I thought La would be the one, but her heart is too black. I can see the purity and honesty in your heart, Jane."

Jane gasped in shock. "Me, become your second? Wouldn’t I have to be born of Opar then?"

The Queen shook her head. "No, not necessarily. La was or rather half was, as was I. But, my mother was not born of Opar. She was chosen, just as you will be."

"I don’t know," Jane began.

"La used it for evil and you can use it for good. I have seen your intentions, you can aid your husband Tarzan in his fight against evil." The Queen practically spat out the words as she said them.

Jane thought about it, if this was true then she could help Tarzan! She looked once more at the staff as it glowed bright red and white as if to call to her. She examined it closer. La was evil, she used the staff for her own gain, Jane knew that she would never do that. La didn’t deserve the power, but Jane did. The Queen grinned evilly at the Englishwoman’s avid interest. "Alright," Jane said. "You may fire when ready."

The Queen then waved a hand over Jane’s face and the woman yawned," But for now I am sleepy," she said. The Queen watched as Jane was carefully lifted to another room.

"Yes, Jane you will have one night to think it over and soon you will decide to aid me,"

The Queen looked outside of the window. Part of her reason for getting rid of Jane was twofold. One was to get her to dream of the power, so she would definitely choose. The other was, because The Queen sensed someone out there. She looked down and saw Usula and another man who she guessed was Tarzan heading for the city. She didn’t want Jane to know Tarzan was here, because the girl had yet to fall completely under her spell. By the time she did, she would be willing to execute Tarzan herself.

"Let’s see what I can do about these vermin," The Queen said as she raised her hand in the air. She pointed her finger downward as lightning emerged from the staff.