A week had passed since the eventful Jellicle ball and the calico twins had hardly been seen by anyone.

The usually playful pair had been hiding, some of the other cats had made it no secret that they blamed the criminals for Macavity's appearance. How else would he have known about the ball, the only time Old Deuteronomy would be at the junk yard and the one time of year the protector would have his guard down?

Rumpleteazer buried her head in her old blanket, trying to block out the memories of that evening.

"I'm hungry." She whined, looking over at her brother hopefully. All of that dancing, singing and frankly making a nuisance of themselves had been rather tiring.

Mungojerrie didn't miss the look Teazer gave him, if he ignored her he wouldn't hear the end of it. Anyway he was quite hungry himself, he'd quite happily sink his teeth into a juicy rat.

"Alright alright, gimme ten minutes I'll be back" He said, elbowing her side playfully before leaping up onto a junk pile to head to are more secluded part of the yard to hunt.

Rumpleteazer grinned, she always got her way when it came to her brother. She stretched out her arms and made her way back to their shared den.

She had only gone past an old wardrobe, home to Pouncival, when she was cornered by three older cats. Alonzo, Plato and Admetus surrounded her on all sides, leaving the only escape being a vertical climb which she didn't want to risk being so tired.

They looked angry. Rumpleteazer's fur stood up on end and her heart started racing, but she didn't dare show that she was scared.

"What do ya want?" She demanded. The three had previously been her friends, well no, not friends, acquaintances, but she'd never had any trouble with them before.

The young queen crossed her arms across her chest and glared at them, despite being significantly shorter she wasn't going to back down, especially as as far as she knew, she had done nothing wrong.

"You told Macavity about the ball." Plato hissed, slamming his paw on the fridge to her left, making her jump.

"What?! No I-" She started to defend herself, it was madness! She would never betray the tribe like that. She and Mungojerrie had been just as worried as everyone else when Old Deuteronomy was kidnapped.

"Oh don't play dumb. We know you two work for him." He continued, his tail swishing back and forth angrily.

How did they...? She had no idea how they knew about their connection to Macavity. Then it dawned on her, Mungojerrie. He couldn't help but brag to the younger kits, telling tales of his past adventures and narrow escapes.

"Maybe before bu' we ain't for a long time!" She insisted.

"Liar!" Plato growled, swiping his free paw at her, grazing the side of her face.

She whimpered and tried to duck under his arm but was grabbed from behind by Alonzo and thrown to the ground.

"How else would he have known that Deuteronomy would be here?" Admetus questioned, looking as angry as the other two but he still kept his distance. He wasn't one for violence.

"I- I don't know okay!" Tears threatened to fall, she knew they didn't believe her.

She tensed up, ready for a fight. But the fight didn't come.

"Hey!" A voice shouted in the distance, it was Munkustrap. The toms glanced at each other then scattered, leaving Rumpleteazer shaken.

Seeing that the trouble makers had dispersed, Munkustrap decided to check on Rumpleteazer before going to scold the toms. He wasn't even supposed to be patrolling, Macavity had really done a number on him and some other members of his tribe. However he'd promised Jenny that he'd be back to get himself fixed up once he'd checked in on everyone.

"Are you okay?" He asked, placing a paw gently on the queens shoulder. He had a feeling he knew what this was about but it was his job to protect the tribe and he couldn't let rumours cloud his judgement.

Rumpleteazer jumped away from him, worried that he would lash out at her too. She nodded quickly. "Fine." She said then ran to her den without a backwards glance.

Meanwhile Mungojerrie had gathered up a small feast for the both of them. He couldn't wait to show Teazer the size of the rats he'd caught. But when he arrived at their den she wasn't there.

He frowned, where else could she have gone? Just as he was about to head out to find her his sister came barrelling in through the door, her face stained with tears.

"Woah woah wha' happened?!" He asked, immediately worried. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to make sense of what she was saying.

"Slow down Teazer...come on sit down." He took her paw and led her over to her blanket. It was only then he noticed her face. "You're bleeding! Who hurt ya?!"

"Plato..." Came a quiet reply.

Jerrie growled. How dare someone attack his sister. "Dont.' She added as he straightened up, predicting he was going to go after the other tom.

Mungojerrie glanced out the door but then sighed and sat down beside her. "Wha' happened?" He asked again now she was calm.

"It wasn't just 'im. Admetus an' Alonzo was there too. They said it was our fault Macavity showed up at the ball. That we told 'im." She explained.

"But why?!" He was shocked, sure they used to work for the Hidden Paw but they hadn't been with in five miles of the hideout in over a year.

Teazer lifted her head and glared at him. "Cause ya can't keep ya mouth shut about 'im! They 'ate us! Couldn't ya just not brag for five minutes?! They're gon' come after us Jerrie! It's your fault!"

Mungojerrie backed away, holding his paws up in defence. "I didn't know Teazer! I'm sor-"

"Don't you dare say that you're sorry." She hissed, flattening her ears against her head.

The tom closed his mouth and bowed his head. "I was just showin' off, I didn't think somethin' bad would happen."

"Look Teaze we just gotta stick together...right?" He glanced up at her hopefully.

Rumpleteazer sighed, knowing she shouldn't be taking her frustration out on her brother. "Sorry..." She said, nuzzling his head with her own.

Mungojerrie grinned, he knew she couldn't stay mad at him. He licked her wounds to help them heal and then nudged the rat towards her.

"Look what I got."

She smiled at him and they tucked into their food. He was right, they needed to stay united, especially if the other Jellicles were no longer on their side.

After food was eaten Mungojerrie curled up on his blanket, his sister following him shortly after, not wanting to sleep by herself.

It took a while for the twins to fall asleep, but eventually exhaustion won out and the two slipped into peaceful slumber.

Please let me know what you think! I plan to continue this ASAP!

Thanks for reading darlings~