For most Jellicles, the months flew by after Mistoffelees had sought Electa's help in asking Victoria to be his mate. For the tortoiseshell, they dragged. She became sullen, and even more quiet. Her kitten was the only one that seemed to be able to draw a genuine smile from her. Her happiness was forced around Jemima, Pouncival and Mistoffelees. No other Jellicles sought her attention. They still looked down on her for taking Adara. The kit herself wasn't fairing well. She was frail, and had trouble balancing. The pretty thing she was, but weak, and her chances at living to old years appeared slim. This did no help for Electra's depression. Adara went to see Jenny or Jelly once a week in order to be sure that she was doing alright.
Electra's happy facade was starting to flicker. Her daughter could tell, and went to all means to keep positive. Jemima and Pouncival played with the kitten sometimes, insisting that Electra go and sleep, or get a nice, big rat for herself. The queen did so, silently. At the end of the day she would come and pick up Adara, and then it would fall back into the routine that she kept, spending the early mornings training to be a healer with her mother while Adara was still asleep, and then spending the rest of the day watching her kitten.
The day that the news came, Electra was sitting on the TSE 1 with Jemima, grooming Adara's fur in the warm air of the last days of summer. Suddenly her sister had run up and squealed, "Jemmy! Did you hear? Did you hear? Tell me you heard!" The cream colored tabby made no acknowledgment that Electra sat with the rust-black queen.
Jemima blinked her big blue eyes at her friend. "Sorry, Cettie, but what are you talking about? There's a lot that goes on in the junkyard."
Etcetera squealed. "Vicky's having kittens! She just found out this morning! You shoulda seen the look on Misty's face!" At this, Electra's forest green eyes widened, and her heart nearly stopped. Jemima glanced at her, her big eyes filled with worry. The queen was the only one that knew of Electra's heartthrob.
"How far is she?" Jemima asked, eyes not leaving Electra.
"Three weeks!" Etcetera bubbled.
Jemima looked back at Etcetera, and gave a forced laugh. "That's great. I'll come see her later," she said through a tight smile. Her eyes flicked back at Electra, who sat there, wounded and in shock.
You should have seen this coming! Electra yelled at herself. They're mates! What else was to happen? You should have seen it, you idiot queen! Never would he even think about dropping Victoria. Even her inner voice sneered the name. Face it! She's his mate, NOT you. You've got yourself a kit, and you don't even have a mate. What tom in his right mind would want that? She scooped Adara up by the scruff of her neck, then walked away as quickly as she could. She continued to chide herself mentally on the long walk to her den, ignoring Jemima's yells for her to come back.
"Momma?" Adara said. "What's wrong?"
Electra sighed, then dropped the kitten in her bed. "Nothing," she said. "Go to sleep. Skimble said you could ride on the train tomorrow if you wanted."
Adara's eyes lit up with excitement. "Really?" she cried, a smile splitting over her small face.
Electra felt the corners of her mouth turn up in a smile. The feeling was almost alien. "Only if you get to sleep," she said. Adara's hazel eyes widened, then she quickly settled herself down and squeezed her eyes shut. Electra let the tired little giggle come from her throat. She sighed, then glanced in the mirror. What she saw captivated her. Staring straight back at her was a queen. A queen that looked much older than she really was. Her fur was unkept. Her eyes had dark circles underneath them, revealing that there was little sleep the queen got, if any at all. And yet, at the same time, there was something there. Something that had once been there, and was struggling to make is presence known again. Electra watched as tears started to form in her dark green eyes. "What have I done to myself?" she whispered. She slumped down. All this had happened because of a tom. You know what, Electra? She thought to herself after sitting there for a long time. Misto's your best friend. If he's happy, that should be enough for you. Look at yourself. You've gone in the completely wrong direction. Starting tonight, you're going to pull yourself together. You hear that? PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!
Electra jerked awake, her inner voice's yell waking her up. She shook her head, then poked her head outside. The sun was starting to make the horizon turn pink, and the ghostly blue light that alway flooded the junkyard right before sunrise was there. Electra ducked her head back in her den, then looked at herself in the mirror again. She quickly groomed her fur, something she hadn't done in a long time. Just taking those couple of minutes made a huge improvement. Then she scooped Adara up in her mouth by the scruff of her neck and trotted down to Jenny's den. Adara woke up as they moved, yawning and watching as the junkyard flashed by.
Arriving outside of the den, Electra placed Adara on the ground, then stood up and rapped on the door. Jenny opened it, then smiled at Electra. "He's just now starting to get ready," she said.
Electra bent down. "You ready to go on the train?" she asked the kitten. Adara's eyes lit up, and she nodded excitedly. "Alright. I love you," she said, placing a kiss on the kitten's head, then ushering her inside Jenny's den. Then she turned around and trotted to the medical den, where her mother was waiting for her. "Morning, Mum," she said, an unusual cheer in her voice.
Jellylorum looked at her, a decent amount of surprise written across her face. "Good morning, Electra. You're in a good mood today," Jelly observed.
Electra nodded, dunking her paws into the bucket of cold water, then covering them with some soap and rinsing them off. "What are we doing today?"
"Well, today, I actually have a question for you," her mother said. Electra raised an eyebrow in response. "I was wondering if you were interested in having a hands-on project. One that would last a couple weeks, actually."
Electra's brain whirled. Then she cocked her head. "Any other details?"
"It has to do with kittens."
She should have stopped right there. She should have backed down, said she didn't want to do it. She should have realized whose kittens they were. But no, a stupid gleam came into her eyes, and she stupidly accepted the stupid project. Then her mother smiled, and pulled back a curtain that shut the maternal part of the medical den away from the rest. And there, looking as prim and non-pregnant as ever, was Victoria. The queen looked up when she was revealed, and upon seeing Electra, wrinkled her nose in distaste. But the action was gone as soon as it was there, and the white queen smiled at the shocked healer-in-training that was going to be attending to her in the next six weeks.
"Uh...hi?" Electra finally managed.
Victoria giggled, her blue eyes telling a story that disagreed with her smiles and laughs. "Hello, Electra," she said, waving her fingers at the tortoiseshell as she kicked her feet back and forth.
Jellylorum beamed, oblivious to the tension in the room. "Alright, Electra. I'm just going to run you through the basics..."
The rest of Electra's day was numb. She nodded and did what she was told, barely observing anything. When it was done, she nodded and washed her paws once more. She then wandered to her den, still in a glazed shock. When she walked into her small, shadowy den, Electra realized exactly what she faced. For the next six weeks, she was caring for Victoria. For the first two weeks, she would give Victoria once check up a week. And the third and fourth week, three. For the fifth week, there were five planned. And by the sixth week, the white queen was to remain in the medical den at all times.
For a moment, Electra's thought flashed back to when she was a kitten, how she and Victoria had been friends. Actual friends, sharing secrets and playing with each other. And a time when Etcetera was actually her sister, and supported everything she did.
Those times were gone. It no longer was life bliss. No, for Electra, it was now quite the hell. If it weren't for her daughter, her one thing that kept her going...
That moment, Electra's breath became strangled. Her daughter was gone for the next two and a half days. She was on a train with Skimbleshanks. The tortoiseshell let out the twisted, bated breath, and spun around her heel. She rapidly walked away from the main part of the junkyard, into the deep, winding west part. No Jellicles went there, it was simply too much junk. But to Electra, it was sanctuary. She could scream and cry until her throat was bleeding and her eyes were out of tears, and no one could hear her.
Electra lost her sanity for a few hours. She raged and screamed and wailed in the west 'Yard, and no one heard her. Only at the end of her meltdown, and she regained her mind, did she even notice the pair of blue eyes staring at her. Electra's heart stopped. The blue eyes came out of the shadows, revealing a white face. Then a white chest, then a black tail with a white cap.
"Lecs?" Mistoffelees said, his voice impossibly soft and caring. "Are you alright?"
Electra stared at him in shock, fright, and just a tiny bit, sadness. "How much...did you see?" she croaked, throat quite torn up.
Mistoffelees stared back at her, blue eyes taking her in. "Just the last part," he said.
Electra nodded, mouth hanging open a bit. Mistoffelees made a move to come towards her. Electra bolted, gone as quick as can be. He'd seen her. Oh, Bast, he'd seen her loose her mind. Oh, Everlasting Cat this was bad. Electra wondered if she truly was stable. Probably not. One good push, and she would spiral down into insanity.
"No! Lecs! Wait up! Just talk to me!"
Electra only ran faster. She couldn't bear to face Mistoffelees now, not after that. Probably not ever again. But yet...when he had asked if she was alright, he had seemed genuinely concerned...
Yeah, for your mental health, the snide voice in her head sneered.
Electra continued to run, Mistoffelees's calls growing fainter, before quickly stopping altogether. But she didn't stop running until she was back in her den, alone, out of breath, and slightly crazed. Now that she was alone, tears once more sprung back into her eyes. Just when she had gotten her friendship with Mistoffelees up and running again. Just when she had started to feel better again. Just when she thought everything would turn around. No, it was all ruined. All ruined by her. That damned queen that messed up her entire life, everything that she had ever wanted.
She moaned in sadness, putting her head against the wall of her den and pounding her fist against it. She wanted it all to go away. Just to be happy again.
"Is just a little happiness too much to ask for?" she whispered, questioning the universe. "Do I not deserve a little happiness? I've done so much. Sacrificed my youth for a kitten that I could have just given to Jenny. Stood there, smiles and sunshine, while I'm told that she might not live. I've put up with the entire junkyard hating me, despising me, for saving the innocent life of a kitten. I haven't talked to my own sister in years. I even gave my best friend, who I'm completely, utterly in love with, advice on how to ask another queen to be his mate. And now I'm taking care of that queen, for six weeks, while she's pregnant with his kittens. Do I not deserve one shred of happiness?" She pounded the wall with her fist again, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Lecs?" Again, his voice was impossibly soft.
Electra did not move. She remained with her head and arm resting on the wall, facing away from Mistoffelees.
"Lecs...has it...has it really been that bad?"
She gave a hoarse laugh. "'Has'? I wish I could say 'has'. It still is. No one accepts me anymore. No one understands me anymore. Not even Jemima or Pouncival. Certainly not you. No, Misto. It has been, and still is, a living hell. If Adara didn't still need me, I would have been gone a long time ago." She let him choose what kind of 'gone' she was implying.
"Ellie," Mistoffelees whispered, coming up behind her and pulling her into a hug.
Electra's breath hitched. He hadn't called her Ellie in years.
"Ellie, I'm so, so sorry."
And Electra broke down once more, sobbing as she collapsed into Mistoffelees's strong arms, arms that weren't hers, nor could ever be hers. He held her, gently rubbing circles into her back, a stream of comforting words whispered into her ear. Electra slowly calmed, until what remained of her sobs was an occasional hiccup. And now that the crying was done and away with, she truly realized who was holding her, gazing at her with eyes full of concern.
"Oh Bast," she said, quickly pulling away from his arms. "You shouldn't be here. No. You shouldn't have seen that."
"Ellie, it's alright-"
"No it's not!" she cried, struggling to push him out of her den. "You're Victoria's! Not mine! Go back to her! Get out! Leave me alone!"
Mistoffelees stood strong, not willing to move. "No! You're my best friend, Ellie-"
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" she screamed. The name brought back too many memories, too many feelings. "Get out, get out, leave me alone! Go!" She pushed him again, and found that this time he moved. He was gapping at her, unable to believe that Electra, strong, stable, clam Electra, had just yelled at him. He stumbled out into the twilight, still in shock.
And then he was gone. She had pushed him out, and he was gone. She was alone once more, alone in her misery, misery that someone now knew about. All that hard work of keeping it hidden, all the acting, wasted, gone in a span of just hours.
They would have found out soon enough, she thought to herself, curling up in the den, which now seemed cold and uninviting. She pulled herself closer together, trying to warm her heart, and to make the terrible, aching sadness go away.
For the next six weeks, Electra trudged through life. Each day was a battle, each night was sleepless. She was an alien in the world, wondering why she hadn't been found yet. Had Mistoffelees really kept all of that to himself? It seemed so.
There is one upside to this, she thought as she curled up on her mat. With Victoria bound to give birth any day now, Electra had taken up residence in her old home, in her old room. The smell of kittenhood was comforting, and if she closed her eyes in the night, Adara's quiet breathing became Etcetera's, and she was a kitten once more, not a worry in the world.
But, alas, she was not. She woke up in the morning, already wishing the day was over and she could curl up on her mat again and pretend she wasn't adult Electra, that she was happy and young and wasn't suffering from that horrible depression.
Unbeknownst to her, however, Fate decided that the road to the the happiness she deserved would start to be forged on this very morning.
It started when Electra walked out into the large room of Jellylorum's den, only to find her mother and another cat were already there in this early hour. They appeared to have been talking, for when Electra entered, the both silenced.
With a few glances at each other, Electra moved to leave, to get a mouse for her breakfast. It was then that Jelly nodded to the other queen, who took a shaky breath and said, "Wait."
Electra turned around and looked into the blue eyes of her sister. "Yes?" she asked, desperate to get out of there.
Etcetera looked back at their mother, who gave her an encouraging nod. She turned back to Electra, and, very quickly, said, "'Msorry."
Electra blinked her green eyes, unsure if she had heard correctly. "Excuse me?"
Etcetera now seemed desperate to say it all. "I'm so sorry, Leccy. I've been so mean to you, because I was just being stupid. I should have never stopped talking to you. I've missed you so much, and I can't even tell you why exactly I was mad at you for taking in Adara. It was just, so, so different, and such a drastic move, that I didn't really know what to think. So I went with what Victoria did, which was really stupid of me, and I'm so, so, so sorry, and I really hope you can forgive me for how horrible I've been to you." She finished by looking into her sister's eyes, barely daring to hope she would be forgiven.
Electra stood there, her breathing becoming rather shallow. "Oh," she breathed. "Oh, oh! Oh, Cettie!" And then the two sisters were embraced in each other's arms, both crying and trying to speak to the other, trying to cram years' worth of chatter into the one moment. And then they were laughing, and pulling their mother into the hug, and then lapsed into happy silence, relishing the wonderful moment.
"Well," Jellylorum said after a while, "I am going to go and find some mice. Need to get some breakfast to the almost mommy in there." She jerked her head towards the passageway that lead into the medical den. "Will you to be alright for an hour?"
"Yes, mam," Electra said, and Etcetera gave their mother a little salute.
Jellylorum smiled at them once more, before she disappeared out of the den.
Electra and Etcetera looked at each other for a while, identical smiles on their faces. "Do you want to see her?" Electra asked her sister, starting towards the door to the adjoined medical den.
Etcetera shrugged. "I guess."
Then she followed her sister, through the door and straight into the maternal section. Victoria was sleeping on her back, swollen belly up in the air. Mistoffelees was there, too, curled up on the floor, snoring lightly.
Electra felt the same sad pang of heartbreak when she saw him, but ignored it as her sister giggled. "I didn't know our stomachs could get that big," Etcetera whispered. Electra smiled and nodded.
Just then, Victoria's head popped up, eyes wide, and groaned. "Oh, ow," she moaned, her head dropping back down. "Oh, ow ow ow. That hurts."
Electra turned on her healer attitude. "What hurts? Are they kicking again?" she asked, placing a paw on Victoria's back to help the white queen sit up.
"No, it's more in my lower back- oh, ow, ow ow. Yeah. Defiantly not kicking."
Electra's green eyes widened. "Oh, dear. Oh, Cat. Etcy, go and find Mama. Like, now." Etcetera, eyes wide with fright, scrambled out of the den, hurrying off to find their mother.
"Okay, Vicky. I think the kits are coming, so what you're feeling is probably contractions."
Victoria groaned, tilting her head back, closing her eyes. "They hurt," she moaned. "You're lucky you didn't have Adara."
Electra stared at her. It was the first time Victoria had ever mentioned her daughter. She was saved from replying, however, by Mistoffelees popping up. "Wussgoin'on?" he slurred, voice heavy with sleep. He was answered by another groan from his mate, and was instantly awake. "Is she okay? Are they coming?"
The tortoiseshell nodded, still rather dumbfounded.
Mistoffelees turned back to his beloved mate, taking her paw and making soothing noises. "It's okay," he said calmly, gently rubbing patterns into the back of Victoria's paw. The white queen moaned again, her other paw going to rest on her swollen tummy.
Electra watched, now rather panicked. Whenever she had pictured this happening (which she had tried not to think about in the first place), she had assumed her mother would be there with her, knowing exactly what to do. But now she was stuck here, by herself.
Just as she started to really panic, Jellylorum came running back in, surprisingly fast for a queen her age, followed by Etcetera, and, strangely, Plato.
Then Electra breathed a sigh of relief, stepping aside and letting her mom do all the big stuff, waiting to receive the kittens. Her job was to clean off the kits and make sure they were healthy. And so she waiting, watching the birth unfold, listening to Victoria's yells and Jellylorum's voice giving orders, mixed with Plato and Mistoffelees', both trying to sooth the white queen.
She waited only a little while before the first kitten of the estimated three was carefully given to her. She quickly placed the squalling kit on the table, before turning back for the next, and the final one after that. She then started cleaning them while Jelly dealt with Victoria. Rubbing the soft, wet cloth against the first's fur, a white pattern was revealed on its stomach, legs, and back. Then, as she cleaned the sensitive ear, coppery fur was revealed. Electra froze. No, she thought. Surely not. However, as she cleaned the rest of the kit, she found that it was a pure white tomkit, with ears capped in copper. She blankly handed it back to Jelly, who, in turn handed it to Victoria.
Electra didn't watch to see if anyone noticed the copper fur. She instead cleaned the second kitten, who turned out to be a queenkit, exact replica of Victoria herself. The tightness in Electra's chest loosened a little. It came back, tough, as soon as she started cleaning the third and final kitten. Another queenkit, but no trace of Mistoffelees at all. Instead, she found the pattern of the tom who had come flying in with her mother and her sister.
"No," she breathed, picking up the kitten herself. She turned around and walked the short distance to Victoria's bed. The white queen had fallen asleep, two kittens in her arms. Electra looked at Plato, who had now become silent, simply watching Victoria. And avoiding everyone's eyes. Electra turned to Mistoffelees, letting him see the kitten in her arms. He looked at the kitten that wasn't his, mouth forming a tight line. He nodded slowly, then turned and walked out of the medical den.
Electra looked back at Plato, and approached him, offering him his daughter. He looked into her eyes, expression fearful. She simply offered him the kitten again, and he gingerly took the sleeping queenkit. Looking down at her, his face slowly broke into a smile, and he sunk down next to Victoria, looking at the four felines he loved.
Rather sickened by the entire sight, she turned away. Electra watched her mother clean up, her jaw set in a tight line. She obviously had noticed, and didn't approve at all. Electra then looked at her sister, who was helping their mom, and noticed that her eyes were a bit bigger than normal. She wouldn't be quite as concerned as their mother, but she was still surprised by this turn in events.
Electra caught her mother's eyes, and the older queen nodded, dismissing Electra to go and find Mistoffelees. They both knew that, although he had acted calmly, the small tom was completely torn up inside.
So the tortoiseshell quickly dunked her paws in cold water, then ran outside. There was a group of Jellicles waiting outside. "Can we come in?" one asked. "Why did Mistoffelees run by like that? He looked like he was angry." "Who do the kits look like?"
"Funny," Electra said. "If I hadn't had this information, you would have ignored me. Like the past few years." Then she dashed away, taking satisfaction in some of their expressions.
Electra ran to the West Junkyard. She hadn't thought about it before, but Mistoffelees must have known about the nice little cranny amid the junk if he had been able to find her. So she went faster, much quicker than she normally would have.
Before she entered the small clearing, Electra froze and listened carefully. It took a few seconds, but she picked up quiet sobbing, as well as small electric pops, and she immediately knew it was far, far worse than quiet sobbing usually meant. His fur only sparked when he was on the very end of his emotional scale.
So she softly padded into the clearing, praying to the Everlasting Cat that she wouldn't get electrocuted, in case he started shooting lightning at anything that moved.
Without saying anything, she crept to Mistoffelees and sat next to him. For the longest time neither did anything. Electra sat, offering her presence to the tom, who neither accepted it or denied it, simply continued to let tears stream from his eyes. It wasn't until he started coughing from trying to hold back the huge sobs that Electra moved, thumping him on the back until he could breathe again.
When he looked at Electra, the queen's heart broke. His eyes were red from crying, his lower lip was quivering, and he wore an expression of absolute dejection. "She told me she loved me," he whispered, turning and resting his head on Electra's shoulder. "I loved her," he continued. Electra wrapped an arm around his shoulders, trying to comfort him. "What did I do wrong?" Mistoffelees moaned.
"You didn't do anything wrong," Electra said instantly. She rubbed his back, ignoring the small shocks she was getting from doing so. "I don't know why she did it. She shouldn't have, but she did. I can't answer the questions, even though I wish I could," she whispered.
It went on like that for a long time, Electra doing the best she could to comfort Mistoffelees while his shoulders shook and tears ran into Electra's fur. When the sun started to set, she managed to get the poor tom on his feet and lead him to her den, where he collapsed onto the assortment of pillows and promptly curled up and fell asleep.
Electra sighed, willing tears not to form as she looked at Mistoffelees, utterly broken and lost. Then she quickly ran back to the medical den to get Adara. When she got there, she found her mother sitting in the living area of the den.
"Hi, Mama," she said. "Is Adara asleep?"
Jellylorum nodded. "Did you find Mistoffelees?" she asked.
Electra sighed, nodding.
"Is he okay?"
Electra shook her head, crossing to her old bedroom to get her kitten. Jellylorum continued to talk as she moved. "Oh, that poor thing. I feel so bad for him."
"So do I," Electra said, scooping Adara up into her arms. The kitten didn't wake, but shifted in her mother's arms. "I don't know why Victoria did that too him. It's one thing to cheat on a tom. But to be pregnant with another tom's kits, and let your mate think they're his...that's different." She picked up a blanket from the floor. "Can I have this?" she asked, exiting the room. "Misto's asleep in my den, I don't want him to get cold or anything."
Jellylorum looked at Electra, green eyes meeting green eyes. "Of course, sweetheart. You take care of that tom."
Electra shifted, slightly uncomfortable under her mother's gaze, and the way she said to take care of Mistoffelees seemed like she was implying something even heavier than taking him in for a night or so. "...Alright. Goodnight, Mama," she said, now eager to get out of the den.
"Goodnight, Electra," Jellylorum returned. As the tortoiseshell hurried away, the elderly queen called, "If you get a chance, come and check in on those kits!"
By the time Mistoffelees woke up the next morning, Electra had been awake, groomed her fur, taken Adara to Etcetera and Tumblebrutus, who had offered to get to know their adopted niece, been to the medical den to check on Victoria's kits (she had done this silently and quickly), and hunted mice for both herself and Mistoffelees. She waited patiently for him to wake up, hoping that he wouldn't be inclined to start crying again. She had also taken the time to squash her feelings into a small box and shove them as far away as possible. Now wasn't a time to pine for her best friend. Now was the time to make him feel better.
Which is why, when Mistoffelees started shifting and groaning, she put on a smile. "Good morning," she said.
Mistoffelees looked at her with a confused expression on his face, clearly having trouble processing everything. Finally, he asked, "What happened?" His voice was hoarse and quiet.
Electra's smile faltered, and she spoke slowly and tentatively, as if walking on eggshells. "I brought you here last night, after...everything." She looked down and played with her fingers awkwardly.
"Oh," Mistoffelees said. "Right."
They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes, neither one really wanting to say anything.
"I...I got you a mouse," Electra said hesitantly, pushing one towards him. Mistoffelees looked at the food blankly. Electra gazed at him nervously.
"I'm not hungry," he said finally.
Electra deflated slightly. "Oh. Okay. I'll just...leave it, for you, I guess. You can eat it when you get hungry," she said.
Mistoffelees nodded, then laid back down on the pillows and curled up, a sure sign that he didn't feel much like talking.
"Okay," Electra said, giggling slightly out of her own discomfort. "I'm just...going...to go...yeah." If he heard her, Mistoffelees gave no inclination. "Okay," Electra said, feeling incredibly awkward and defeated as she scurried out of her den. She scurried so quickly, in fact, that she didn't see Jemima trying to come into her den.
"Oh!" the small queen exclaimed as the two went tumbling to the ground.
Electra scrambled up. "I am so sorry, Jem," she said, offering a paw to help Jemima up.
"No biggie," Jemima said, taking the offered help and pulling herself to her feet. "I was just coming to check on you and Misto. I heard from your mom that he fell asleep at your place."
"Oh. Yeah," Electra said. "He's...I'm not sure. He didn't want to eat. Which is strange, because you know as well as I do that he can put away the food like nobody's business."
Jemima gave her a sad smile. "Yeah, but he's probably just upset. Can you imagine?" She lowered her voice. "I mean...Victoria cheated on him, when they were mates. It's kind of a big deal. He's probably feeling like he did something wrong, or he wasn't good enough for her." Jemima put an arm around Electra, pulling her close. "Just give him some time. He'll come around. I mean, he always has before, hasn't he?" she said, trying to smile.
Electra nodded. "I guess so." Then she looked at the shorter queen and smiled. "Thanks, Jem."
Jemima gave her a real smile. "You're very welcome."
And so it went on. Mistoffelees stayed at Electra's den for another day, which turned into a week, which turned into two. The longer he stayed, the more worried Electra got. The tom didn't leave, barely ate, and slept more than usual. She couldn't stay with him all the time, either. Victoria, since she had given birth, had been staying at the medical den, receiving help from Jellylorum and trying to adjust to life as a mother. Electra often found herself there, helping with the kittens as much as she could.
It was during one of these times that she snapped.
Electra had been at the medical den for almost the entire day, helping her mother and tending to Victoria. Electra was on her last nerve, as the white queen had done nothing but complain the entire day about how tired she was of the den, how she wanted to get home, how tired she was. The list went on and on. It was when Victoria complained that her den was going to be dusty and disgusting when she got back that Electra finally lost it.
"It's going to be so gross," Victoria said. "I don't want to take my kits back to a filthy den, that's just horrible. I mean, it was already musty and wet-"
Electra froze. "Don't tell me you're going to take them back to the pipe," she said, looking over her shoulder and away from the rags she was washing.
Victoria gave her an odd look. "Well, of course. Where else am I supposed to take them?" she asked in an offended tone.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe their father's den?" Electra said, throwing the rags down with such a force they made the metal tub she was washing them in waver.
Victoria sniffed angrily. "Mistoffelees is going to be their father," she said.
Electra turned around, laughing with disbelief. "Are you serious?" she asked. "You actually think Misto's going to be the father of those kits? The kits that aren't even his? That you got pregnant with while you were mated to him?"
"Of course," Victoria said, looking slightly confused.
The tortoiseshell stared at Victoria in utter disbelief. "You don't think Plato will want to be his kittens' father? You think Mistoffelees wants to be the father to those kittens? You think he still wants to be with you?" Victoria's expression was one of mild confusion. Electra looked around almost frantically. "Mistoffelees has been in my den since you gave birth. He has barely spoken a word. I try to talk to him every morning, and all he does is shrug. Adara tries to talk to him. She's asked me, on several occasions, why Misto's so sad. He's inconsolable. He won't eat, Victoria. For two weeks, I've offered him all different kinds of food. The past week, I've had to force him to eat even the smallest bit of food so that he doesn't starve to death. He sleeps almost all the time. And during the night, when he thinks I'm asleep, he cries a little more. Every night, Victoria. Every, single night, he cries because he thinks he did something wrong, or wasn't good enough for you. You broke his heart, Victoria. Not just his heart. You broke him."
Electra turned away, determined not to let the white queen see the tears that started to brim in her eyes. The past two weeks...they had been harder than any in her life. She'd had to beg Mistoffelees to eat, reducing herself to tears when he would continue to refuse. In two weeks, she had watched as he grew thin and hollow, watched as all the incredible life she had fallen in love with was drained away, all because of this one damn queen.
"He loved you, Victoria," she whispered. "But you didn't love him."
Victoria was silent, the mews of her kittens making the only noise in the den. Electra sighed, then went back to scrubbing her rags.
"I did love him," Victoria said softly. "At first, I did. And I still do. But not in the way I thought I did. I guess...I guess that's why I went with Plato."
Electra turned around. "That's not a good enough reason. There's never going to be a reason that will be good enough for what you did to him. Mistoffelees deserved the world, not someone who would cheat on him. Someone that would love him unconditionally, be there for him no matter what, someone-"
"-Like you," Victoria said. Electra froze and stared as the white queen lifted her head, tears in the blue eyes. "He deserves someone like you, Electra. Just look at what you've done. You took in Adara when you didn't have to, sacrificed a kittenhood for her. Now you're doing the same for Mistoffelees, like a proper mate should. I'm not the right feline for that role, not with Mistoffelees. Maybe with Plato, I have hope. But Misto..." she looked off in the distance. "I was a good queenfriend. But not a mate."
Electra stared at her for a few moments. "Tell him that," she said.
"What?"
"Tell Mistoffelees that. He should be the one to hear you say that. Not me. You broke his heart, and you need to explain why to him. Not to me. I'm not going to be the one to tell him that. You need to do it," Electra said, breathless. She couldn't believe what Victoria had just said. And when she continued to look at the white queen, a very un-Victoria-like expression came over her face: fear. The white queen was afraid.
"He'll hate me," she whispered.
Electra stared at her, eyes cold and unforgiving. "He has every right to," she said. Victoria cringed. "But he won't," Electra continued. "He can't hate everyone. And you should be incredibly thankful for that. Because if I were Mistoffelees, I would never talk to you again." The white queen bowed her head in shame. Electra continued to stare at her. "Go and talk to him. I'll watch your kittens. Go and talk to him, before he gets even worse. Because he's never going to get better unless you do."
Victoria stood up and promptly ran out of the medical den, moving faster than Electra had seen her in more than two months. And then Electra collapsed on the ground, wondering exactly what she had just done.
Electra got home late that night. Adara was staying the night with Etcetera and Tumblebrutus. Victoria had returned to the medical den and announced that she was going to move to Plato's den in two days. She had refused to say anything about her talk with Mistoffelees, only stating that they had agreed it would be best for her to become Plato's mate and let the kittens be raised by their own father.
So Electra was rather afraid of what lay ahead. Normally, Mistoffelees would already be asleep and the mouse she had given him that morning would still be sitting near him, untouched since she had left. So when she entered her den, she was upset to find it as it always was.
"Misto?" she called quietly, not exactly expecting a response. Which is why, when the tuxedoed tom sat up, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Hi," he said, stretching his arms above his head. Electra stared at him. "How was the medical den? Any major injuries?"
"No," Electra said slowly. This was the most he had said in two weeks. His voice was still somewhat scratched and sounded like someone recovering from being sick, but he was actually talking. It even seemed as though he had tried to groom his fur. "I guess...I guess you're feeling better today, though."
Mistoffelees shrugged, then got to his feet, something else he hadn't done much at all the past two weeks. Then he started stretching his legs and back while Electra looked on in shock. When he caught the expression on her face, Mistoffelees grinned, which nearly gave the poor queen a heart attack. This smile, this tiny, tiny smile, was the first she'd seen since Victoria gave birth. "You look surprised," the conjurer mused.
"I...I, ah...well. It's just nice to see you up," Electra said, stumbling over her words. Then she walked around her den, trying to find something to occupy herself and keep from looking even more awkward. It was then she noticed that the den, which she hadn't cleaned in the two weeks Mistoffelees had been there, was spotless, save for the uneaten mouse on the ground. Electra's brow furrowed. She turned back towards the tom, who was watching her with a rather mild expression. "Did you do this?" she asked, gesturing to the whole of the den.
Mistoffelees raised an eyebrow. "Clean the den? Cat, no. I can barely touch my toes, let alone climb around to get all the dust. Victoria did it."
Electra's jaw dropped. "Victoria did this?"
"Yep."
"But...but why?"
"She felt like she needed to repay you, I guess," Mistoffelees said, scratching the back of his head.
Electra blinked, thoroughly dumbfounded. "Repay me?"
"I don't know. I really don't. I thought I understood queens, but Cat, was I wrong," Mistoffelees said, getting down on four legs and sniffing at the mouse that was in front of him. Electra watched as he sniffed it again, then took a rather large bite.
Electra watched as he ate the mouse. Slowly, she started to smile. Mistoffelees wasn't fixed, not by a long shot. He had yet to use his magic, and sleeping for two weeks had caused his flexibility, and surely his dancing skill, to be reduced to almost nothing, but those could both be regained with practice. He was standing and stretching and eating, and that was plenty enough for her.
One year later...
"Adara! Adara, come here right now!"
The young queen came scurrying towards her mother's voice. The young queen had grown a lot in the past year. She had gotten a lot taller, and filled out with healthy meat on her bones. She discovered that she had a strong sense of music, and was taking singing lessons from Jemima. Mistoffelees was teaching her to dance, something she still struggled with, because her coordination, according to Jellylorum, would never be quite perfect. She had been banished from the medical den, and wasn't allowed to touch any of the utensils belonging to Jennyanydot's cockroaches. "Yes, Mom?" she called, still barreling towards Electra at top speed.
"Woah," Electra said, grabbing her daughter's shoulders and steading her. "Take it down a couple notches, Rocket."
Adara wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Don't call me that," she said.
"But it's true," Electra said, laughing.
Adara rolled her eyes. "What did you need me for?" she asked.
"Jemima's waiting for you. Said she's bored and has time for a lesson if you're up for it."
"Okay," Adara chirped. "I'll be back at home before sundown. I'm helping Victoria watch her kits."
"Course, sweetheart," Electra said, trying to squash the years of resentment and hatred for the white queen. She ruffled Adara's headfur and sent her on her way. No sooner had the young queen disappeared from her sight was her vision cut off by two paws being placed over her eyes.
"Guess who," a playful voice said in her ear.
Electra's face split into a grin as she turned around and pressed a kiss to Mistoffelees's lips. The joy she got from kissing him hadn't lessened, not one bit in the four months she had been kissing him. "Hey there," she said, tapping Mistoffelees's nose with a finger.
The tuxedoed tom grinned at her. "Hey, Ellie," he said.
After that day, a little over a year ago, things had turned sunny and bright, for the most parts. In the beginning, there were still days when Mistoffelees would cry, and those were the days that Electra dragged him out of his pipe and back to her den, where she would, to the best of her ability, console him and let him cry as much as he needed to. Then she would force him up, insist that he do some stretches, making it a competition between them, seeing who could stretch their limbs further. In the beginning, Electra had the advantage, since Mistoffelees had to recover from his two week idle period. But he quickly overtook her in flexibility, and then running, and then climbing. Finally, Electra admitted that he was simply more athletic than him. (But she did let him beat her in running- it seemed like the right thing to do.)
By the time she ran out of physical activities for them, Mistoffelees ran out of tears to shed. After they got past that first hard month, he made bounding leaps and soared back to the tom he used to be. He put on magic shows, he danced with Tumblebrutus, he smiled and laughed and returned to the junkyard that had missed him dearly. Most of all, he returned to Electra. She still felt very cautions, nervous, around her friend. She never found out exactly what Victoria had told him that night those many months ago, and Mistoffelees never brought it up. So she was still incredibly hesitant to bring out that little box from the recesses of her emotions, the one she had packed tight and sealed up and shoved away the day Victoria gave birth.
It wasn't until two months after his start to recovery that she brought that box out, and slowly, let her feelings out. She didn't stay anything, rather, let her emotions do what they wanted. And after a month of this, Jemima and Etcetera got tired of watching Electra and Mistoffelees dance around each other, because they could tell Mistoffelees liked Electra and Electra like Mistoffelees but neither of them knew what the other thought. So after one set up night, thanks to Jemima and Etcetera, the two got on to dating. After a month, they kissed. And after five months of seeing each other, they were more in love with each other than Mistoffelees and Victoria had ever been.
Which is why Mistoffelees had plans. Very big, very secret plans.
But when he looked into Electra's green eyes, and her smiling lips, those plans, carefully thought out and rehearsed, went out the window. Instead, he took Electra by the shoulders, looking straight into the depths of her green eyes that he loved so much. "Electra, Lecs, Ellie," he said.
"Mistoffelees, Misto, Misty," she said back to him.
Mistoffelees smiled, but continued. "I hope you know these have been the best five months of my life. It's like when we were best friends. But better. Stronger," he said. He watched emotions flicker through her eyes, and for just a moment, faltered, but quickly recovered. "I love you," he said. "And, Ellie, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So...what I'm saying, is...will you be my mate?"
For the first couple seconds, all Electra could do was stare at him, her jaw around her ankles. Then, just as Mistoffelees was getting nervous, she squealed and threw her arms around his neck, bouncing as she said yes over and over.
And she knew, in that moment, she was that girl.
(A/N): Great lord amighty. I think this has been in progress since I published "I'm Not That Girl", which was, I believe, a year ago. It's kind of weird to read this because I see my writing change and get a little more mature from the beginning to the end. And sorry for the end, but I wanted to be done with this and it's so long and it makes me nervous to upload it because I don't know how it will be received.
BUT YALL I STILL GET VISITORS ON MY STORIES. THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY BECAUSE PEOPLE FIND THEM AND READ THEM EVEN THOUGH IT'S BEEN I THINK A YEAR SINCE I WAS ACTIVELY UPLOADING AND STUFF.
So hai. I hope some of my old readers are still active.