Rating: R
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst, some Humor
Warnings: Slash, Het, mention of sex, some blood, swearing, incest (there cats, there's nothing unnatural about it)
Pairings: Misto/Munku, Tugger/Bomba, mention of Munku/Dem, some Cass/Munku, past Bomba/Munku,
Timeline: two weeks from the Jellicle ball in the movie.
Description: Love cannot exist for a magical cat; in fact, it's fatal if it does.
Disclaimer: I do not own CATS, or any portions thereof. None of the following events took place in the original CATS plotline, and I do not claim that they do.
Songs to Read With: (not mandatory) Take on Me (Ah-Ha), If You Could See What I See (Geoff Moore and the Distance)
Between Death and Love
Prologue
By Edenrising
There's something about magical cats they don't tell you. Something that causes each and every magical cat to die at one time or another, and is so deadly that even the most secluded of their kind will fall to its whims eventually. You see, cats with magic in their blood cannot fall in love, for the fear they will be rejected.
For most cats, a rejection from a desired mate is not overly disconcerting. A cat may take many mates in their lifetime, and even indulge in more than one at a time. But a cat like Mr. Mistoffelees is different; he is always seeking a singular and particular acceptance. Always quiet and seemingly indifferent to the world around, while still wanting to be a part of the group and secretly needing the feeling of a family to comfort him, cats like Mr. Mistoffelees are very conflicted.
Because he is always seeking this acceptance, he becomes susceptible to experiencing great emotion over small acts of affection, such as; a hug, or a birthday party. Here is where the magic kicks in. Due to the fact that magical cats hold a certain amount of telepathy and extreme empathy he forms an unconscious bond, a magical one with the person he so desires (this desire could be brought on with the simplest of touches from the significant other).
Soon, his magic begins to rely on that person's affection to keep the bond stable. The simplest answer would be to stop all contact from the beginning, to let the bond die, but as always, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. After formed, the bond grows in power, sending more of the magical cat's magic into it. Seeing as how their magic is the life source of magic cats, what keeps their insides beating; the situation becomes very dangerous very fast.
So, why not break the bond?
After a bond is created, no matter how small, it can never be broken and the two are forever linked. What's wrong with this? A mate of a magical cat must remain faithful all of his/her life; any mutual sexual advance to another cat/animal spells death to the magical cat involved in the original relationship. This is hard for many cats, as the feline is by nature, fickle and arrogant in their love. It is hard for a cat, however much they desire it, to adore one being more than any other and to become selfless for that one, singular creature.
Which brings us to the question;
What if the significant other of the magic cat does remain faithful? While this has only been succeeded a few times in history, it is not enough to only remain faithful to the cat with which you share the bond; you must also love them in return. Love. This is the factor that kills so many of the magic felines. Empty affection does not feed the link, and then the magic evaporates into the air, leaving the magical cat without his life force and consequently, without his life.
You may ask, how come so many die because of this? Since the magical cat tries to remain detached out of instinct to prevent death, he unknowingly welcomes it. The one he/she loves may have barely even encountered the cat before, and with one touch can become instantly linked to them with no chance of destroying it. In short, it is hard to love a cat you barely know and has most likely had little interaction experience himself/herself (magic cats tend to avoid socialization, in fear of the bond, and thus hinder the impending relationship even more).
Give it time?
Of course, just to complicate things, there is a time limit. If the bond is not completely stable in under a month or so (depending on the original display of affection), the magic cat is subjected to a death brought about by his/her own love.
But, then, one must also remember that magic cats are unusual- you don't see them very often. It's a recessive gene that causes the abnormality, and is only seen once in a while. Cats like Tantomile and Coricopat are hardly magical, but instead are linked as twins telepathically. Mr. Mistoffelees remains the only magical cat in the Jellicle Tribe, and has been the only one to have appeared in three decades. He is also the only magic cat in London.
Why so few magical cats?
A magical cat can never have children. Not that they are infertile, but due to a fault created by their magical blood. The magic seeks out the strongest and most compatible mate, one that is almost identical in physical attributes, and balances out the weakness in the magic cats; who are generally small when male, and large when female. The magic also looks for someone similar in mentality and interest; the emotional for the emotional, the independent for the independent. And as such a magical cat's mate happens to often be of the same-sex, and the desired will likely not have the same orientation as his/her magical mate.
Why do I tell you this?
Because, Mr. Mistoffelees, the Original Conjuring Cat, is about to form a bond... and will probably not survive the occurrence.