~AWAKE AND DREAMING~ (By TigerTail)
Some nightmares of the past are coming back to the Jellicles, but in order to overcome a vicious adversary, they need to put the past behind and be ready for any deception soon to come their way.
This song describes how they want to rid themselves of the nightmares that keep haunting them. It's by one of my favorite rock bands, Finger Eleven, from their album 'Tip' (*lol* I said I was weird…I listen to rock/heavy metal but I love Cats). Well, go on ahead then.
1 AWAKE AND DREAMING
(FINGER ELEVEN)
I can't lose anything,
So what's left is mine
And I win this time
Consolation day,
I'll make up a way,
I'll know now just what to say
And I'll get away from you,
Wait and I'll be begging,
And I'll get away from you,
I'll pull you down, I'll pull you down
I saw it all again,
Fading memory became clear to me,
I try but I can't say
That I'm yours for good
Support me, you said you would
And I'll get away from you,
Wait and I'll be begging,
And I'll get away from you
I'll pull you down, I'll pull you down
Awake and dreaming
But I'm only sleeping
2 Chapter One: More than Friends?
Pearly-white rays of moonlight silently crept across a dismal corner of the junkyard. They reflected on a handsome coat of silver with glossy black stripes, then on a pair of bright black eyes staring right back at their source. The cat absently waved his wispy black-and-gray tail to and fro, but otherwise made no movement at all until he sensed another behind him. He instantly knew who it was without needing to turn around, and grinned as another cat, this time a beautiful tricolor-coated queen, jumped onto the hood of the scrappy old orange Camaro car he was sitting on.
"Fancy meeting you here, Munkustrap," said Demeter, gently waving her tail and returning the smile he had given her.
"Why are you hanging around here all alone in our favorite place?"
"I would have never minded your company," said Munkustrap, grinning. "In fact, I was waiting for you to show up."
"What, did Coricopat and Tantomile tell you I was coming?"
"No, I just knew you felt like talking." Munkustrap smiled again.
"So, what's up? Anything new with you and the queens?"
"What we queens talk about isn't for the ears of a nosy tom like you, you know." Demeter giggled as Munkustrap tried to look offended, but failed in doing so and ended up laughing along with her. Who cared if what they talked about didn't make sense? They'd had each other ever since they met as kittens, and the closest friendship had taken roots from there. But they didn't know that it was much more than that for both of them, especially Demeter. She never knew the inside of Munkustrap; he was always the serious one, the tribe leader, and the one everyone turned to for protection. She only knew that he never noticed that she was in love with him. Under the brave exterior of a potential Jellicle leader, she knew that inside was a very caring cat who could always talk to her and listen to her problems. She was also unaware of the fact that, he, too, was in love with her and was very grateful for the fact that she was always willing to help him out, no matter what.
But it was these talking sessions on the orange Camaro's hood that they most enjoyed each other's company, and most importantly, tell their feelings to each other—at least about the other Jellicles.
"Hey, Demi, what's wrong all of a sudden?"
Demeter's eyes looked down from staring at the moon. Munkustrap's handsome silvery face was pulled into a look of concern.
"It's…nothing. You don't have to worry about it."
Munkustrap smiled again, in hopes of cheering Demeter up. She looked kind of sad, and although he never wanted to show it, he hated it whenever she looked downcast or depressed.
"C'mon, I know something's up. It's OK, you can tell me."
Demeter still avoided his gaze, and his smile faded a little.
"Go on, not as if I'll bite you or something."
Demeter was still hesitant. "You're sure I can tell you?"
Munkustrap cocked his head. "I'm Munkustrap. You can trust me."
"No, really. I'm not sure I want to tell you this."
"Demeter," said Munkustrap, now successful at looking serious. "When have I ever betrayed any of your secrets?"
"I never gave you any of my secrets," said Demeter, feeling happier.
"Which is exactly why I've never let the cat out of the bag." Munkustrap chortled mildly at his own joke.
"No, seriously. You can tell me anything," said Munkustrap. "We've been the closest of friends ever since we were kittens, and we're already like brother and sister. Go on, tell me what's bothering you."
Demeter sighed. It was now or never.
"See, that's just the thing. We've always been really close friends, but, ever since a year ago…" Demeter cast her jade-green eyes onto the junkyard floor. "I haven't been feeling the same ever since I looked at you or talked to you. I get this odd feeling…like I want something more." Demeter hid her face in her paws in shame.
She didn't notice that Munkustrap was sporting the exact same shameful expression, and she felt his paw gently holding her shoulder.
"So you feel like that, too, huh?" he said very softly.
Demeter looked up, very shocked at what he had just said to her.
"Yeah," said Munkustrap. "I feel like that toward you a lot of times."
"Munkustrap," she whispered, her eyes filling up with tears.
"I just never got the courage to tell you." Munkustrap bowed his head.
But much to his surprise, she threw her arms around him, very well knocking the wind out of him, making him choke and gasp for breath.
"I never told you how much I loved you," said Demeter.
"And I'm supposed to be the bravest cat in the tribe." Munkustrap grinned again, and pulled Demeter to his side.
"Thanks a lot for telling me, Demi."
The moonlight shone even more brightly on the feline lovers, but for some reason, the old orange Camaro was no longer hidden in the shadows of the junkyard.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Neither of them knew that two mischievous cats were hiding behind the Camaro, listening to every word they said. Grinning from ear to pointy ear and hiding behind an old chest-of-drawers near the trunk was none other than the Rum Tum Tugger, head pressed to the car's trunk, all the better to eavesdrop. Smiling broadly and trying her hardest to suppress an excited giggle from inside an old elephant-sized crate packed into the trunk itself was of course Bombalurina, who could hear everything just peachy.
"So Munkustrap actually was the playboy I first thought him to be," whispered RTT to himself, reminded of his own flirtatious nature and Munkustrap's usual stiff, straightforward approach.
"I never knew old Demeter had it in her," smiled Bombalurina as she smoothed her whiskers, thinking about RTT and herself, always in the mood for hooking up even though they were already dating, and Demeter, who was always so shy around Munkustrap whenever they met.
Well, until now, at least.
But they had caught notice of each other's voices. RTT sprang from behind the old chest-of-drawers and Bombalurina from her crate, both hissing in hostility. But as soon as they recognized each other's faces in the bright moonlight, the only thing left to fight was their urge to laugh out loud at the amusing coincidence.
"You were eavesdropping!" said both of them at the same time.
"So were you!" they said again. Now it was harder not to laugh.
"Fancy meeting you here, sweetie," said RTT with a wink.
"And you," replied Bombalurina, brandishing a trademark smile.
"You heard everything they said, didn't you?" asked RTT.
"Yeah, and aren't we still listening to them?" said Bombalurina.
RTT nodded and both of them pressed their ears to the trunk once again, still trying hard not to laugh at what else they were hearing.
3 Chapter Two: Dreams Can Come Back
The street near the junkyard no longer looked like an ordinary crossing road for any animal to prowl around on. In fact, it looked like a war zone. A blazing crimson river of fire was swiftly spreading from block to block, threatening to eat up anything that came in its way. Humans were frightfully running around here and there, afraid to extinguish the all- consuming fire.
During all the helter-skelter of the humans and the commotion all of it was bringing, no one, neither human nor Pollicle alike, noticed a pretty young tricolor queen dashing across the fiery street, frantically looking for a place to hide until the damage was over.
But she didn't have the time. She could only keep running where the cement wouldn't burn her paws. But suddenly, a loud and terrible growl erupted through the flames, painfully echoing through her ears. Her heart filled with fear and she felt her body go cold and stiff, but the brave queen got ready to pounce, ears flat and fangs bared.
"Go away, Pollicle," she hissed as fiercely as she could.
There was another loud growl, then the sound of a creature leaping across the flames. A pair of evil dark eyes leered unpleasantly at the queen, and a huge black body with tough long legs now circled her.
"Fancy meeting you here, Persephone," said the dog smoothly. "Now, why would you be running around a blazing inferno of a street at this time of night?" The dog pretended to look thoughtful.
"Out to do something here, my dear Jellicle?"
He said the last word with obvious disgust and contempt.
"I told you to go away, Priam," said the cat, hissing a little louder.
"Well, I'm not going to go away," said Priam softly. "I'm going to stay right here until you tell me what you're hiding, dear Persephone."
Persephone inched her hind legs a little farther, but still maintained a fierce and protective manner as Priam sneered at her.
"What I do here is none of your business," she spat.
Priam just raised his eyebrow, unwilling to give up.
"It certainly is my business if one little kitten just told me where you were, and hinted on what you were doing."
Persephone's blood froze. None of her young would ever squeal to a Pollicle where their mother was. That meant it was another kitten, the offspring of another cat who had seen her running through the flames. Another cat…the offspring of a cat who hated her was probably threatened by Priam to spill the beans or die at his paw…
"Well, I'm never going to tell you, Priam, so don't waste your breath."
"I'm giving you a choice, Persephone," said Priam in a dangerously low voice. "Tell me where they are--or I will kill you."
Persephone drew a deep breath. "Never."
Priam smiled evilly. "I pity you, Persephone. So brave—yet so stupid."
With that, Priam opened his jaws and gave a great leap toward her. The flames made a curtain to cover the gruesome scene.
But in a humid alley, watching it all from a good distance, were two young kittens, one black and brown-splashed, the other white with a sheen of silver on its tiny coat, holding on to each other in fear. They knew little that they only had each other until they heard a deafening screech—the horrible sound of death. Their eyes widened with horror. The younger kitten parted from her brother and started to cry very quietly. But the older one's eyes still blazed with horror. Their expression gradually changed from desperation to all-consuming anger.
"Mother," whispered the younger kitten.
"I'm going out there, Diana," said the older one. "He killed our mother. I'm going to get him back. He deserves it!"
"No! Stop!" Diana reached for her brother's tail and tried to pull him back. He looked back at his sister, and her innocent blue eyes were pleading with him. "Don't go out! He's going to kill you too!"
"He killed Mother," said the older kitten firmly.
"Bryon! Don't you realize that Mother gave her life so we could have ours?" The tone in Diana's voice was just as firm. "You would be stupid to die and waste the sacrifice made just so we could hide from him!"
Bryon stared at his sister, closed his eyes and sighed.
"Well, what else can we do, Diana?" he asked.
"We're going to try and find others of the tribe who need our help."
"Tribe…" Bryon's eyes again flashed with fury. "Diana, I remember now! We've been betrayed! Someone told Priam where our mother was!" His eyes closed in deep thought. "And I think I know who it is."
He suddenly flew on fours and got ready to fly into the flame.
"C'mon, Diana," he said, flattening his ears. "You go find any others who need your help. Then go to the tribe, and stay there, please."
"Bryon, where are you going?" asked Diana fearfully.
"I'm going to go find that piece of shit who gave Mother out to Priam," said Bryon fiercely. "I'm coming back with you as soon as I find him." His tail whipped in front of Diana. "Let's go. We'll split up at the end of the block and meet at the junkyard. We can call the others if we need help ourselves." Bryon then dashed into the flames, whipping his tail again above the low wall to signal to Diana. She hesitated, but remembered Priam's ugly face and the cruel way they had seen him kill their mother, then bravely leaped into the flames, landing next to her brother. Bryon nodded, and they sped in the opposite direction.
It wasn't too long before Bryon spotted a dark shadow standing against the bright light of the fire. Something told him that this was the villain he had been looking for. He cautiously eyed the blazing wall, then jumped right over, getting ready for a fight.
He immediately stared into the scariest pair of eyes he had looked into. They were dark and sunken in, but they looked right back at him with the exact same hatred. The enemy had a long, shaggy coat, filthy from neglect, and long dirty whiskers. Bryon felt a chill creeping up his spine, but he shook it off, flattened his ears, and got ready to pounce.
Both bared their fangs and jumped at each other.
It was another frightening sight. Two young cats were battling through the flames, biting, scratching and jumping, determined to rip each other to pieces before the other did. The enemy cat was having more success, and got to Bryon's leg, slicing at the flesh and making the wound bleed profusely. He yowled in pain. Bryon was already covered with blood and scratches, his handsome black coat was covered in dirt, and he was growing a little weak from the fighting. His only consolation was that so was his enemy, and that both had the equal amount of fighting skills and strength. But this was not enough for Bryon. He wanted to kill the bastard cat who let his mother be murdered.
A new fury surged through Bryon's bones. It seemed to give him a new strength, and he tore ever harder at the cat's hide. He struck at the cat's face, and just as he planned, it stunned him. He held his claw right above the cat's throat, ready to slash it open…
A piercing shriek echoed through the red-tinted sky. "Bryon! Help me!"
Bryon was suddenly shaken wide awake from his wild trance of anger, and for a moment, he forgot the wretched beast he was fighting against as only one thought echoed through his mind.
"Diana!" he cried. "Diana! I'm over here! Where are you?"
Bryon threw the cat's head to the ground as hard as he could to keep him unconscious for the time being. His heart now filled with fear. His sister sounded like she was in grave danger.
And his guess was right. Diana had just taken another kitten out of a burning alley, but had been trapped by a very thick wall of flame three times her size. If she jumped through, she'd be badly burned. If she stayed to wait for the fire to subside, she'd suffocate.
Bryon ran as fast as he could toward the alley and the flames almost burned his eyes. He shook it off, but stared desperately at the almost impenetrable trap his younger sister was in.
"Diana!" he shouted. "Diana!"
For a minute, no one answered. Then, Bryon heard a very soft cry coming from the alleyway. "Go away, Bryon! You can't help me now!"
"Don't be a dumb ass!" Bryon yelled. "I can't leave you there!"
"You have to!" said Diana desperately. "There's nothing you can do for me now! Just leave me, and go!"
"No, I'm not!" Bryon shouted. "Remember what you said, Diana! Mother gave her life for ours! I'm not going to let you lose yours!"
"Bryon, please!" cried Diana. "I need you to go back to the tribe!"
"Diana…" Bryon couldn't bear this much pain. He had just lost his mother. Was he to lose his beloved younger sister too?
But he didn't have a choice. Diana was right. He had to.
"Diana…" he whispered. "Diana, I'm so sorry!"
With that, the only thing Bryon could do was run.
Someone waited for him there. As soon as he realized where he was going, he was struck out cold by a really hard scratch to the face-
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"Tugger! TUGGER!"
"Wha…?" The Rum Tum Tugger awoke with a start, but cooled down a little when he realized who had woken him up. Munkustrap was staring at him right in the face with a raised eyebrow.
"What'd you wake me up for?" demanded RTT sleepily.
"You woke us ALL up," said Mr. Mistoffelees, annoyed.
"You were rolling around and screaming," added Alonzo.
"I was…?" said RTT, mildly surprised.
"Yeah," said Munkustrap. "What's up, Tugger? Bad dream?"
RTT suddenly came to his senses very sharply. Bad dream…what was the bad dream? He shook his head, trying to remember…
"Must've been," he agreed. "A really terrible one, maybe."
"Well, if you keep on screaming, you'll wake the whole junkyard up," said Alonzo, curling up and getting ready to go back to sleep.
"And I'm going to make you disappear!" said Mistoffelees, waving his paw threateningly at the air above RTT.
"Yeah, and you might even wake the queens up," said Munkustrap, winking. RTT grinned. "You don't want them to come and tear us apart?"
"Or worse yet, cancel all your dates," said Mistoffelees.
RTT somehow knew that the dream wasn't going to come back, and sure enough, he was right. He slept soundlessly that night—unaware that another cat was having the same dream.
4 Chapter Three: Little Mist
"Three in the mo'nin', Jerrie," groaned Rumpelteazer exhaustedly. "It's three in the mo'nin', for cripes sake! Wha' the hell are we doing 'ere in this 'ere dirt alley? Everyone else is sleepin' and we should be too!"
"Oh, shut up," hissed Mungojerrie fiercely. "I told you that I saw somethin' 'ere las' nigh' while I was lookin' for stuff near Victoria Grove, and I want to check if it's still 'ere!"
"Well, wha' did you see, and why do you want me to tag along?" Rumpelteazer spat back. "I could be curled up in a comfortable little crate and be like that until late afternoon while you could roll aroun' in the mud and wait for your special little something to turn up for all I care!"
"Well, too bad," said Mungojerrie. "You're with me anyway, and besides, we can go snag some breakfast and stuff at the Gourmet Diner down the street before we go back."
Rumpelteazer brightened up to this. "OK."
Mungojerrie nodded. "We ought to make it fast anyway."
The two thieves wandered cautiously into the alley with identical movements. Rumpelteazer still looked suspicious and sleepy, and Mungojerrie painfully expectant.
"Wha' was it, anyway?" asked Rumpelteazer.
"Not quite that sure," replied Mungojerrie. "But I've got an idea of what it might be."
"Like wha'?" asked Rumpelteazer. "A stranger?"
Mungojerrie only nodded and put a paw to his lips.
They kept on creeping through the alley very quietly. The alley was very dim, and for quite some time, the two pairs of dark eyes scanned their pitch-black surroundings curiously. There seemed to be nothing strange inside, but Mungojerrie could sense another presence, and from the look Rumpelteazer was giving him, she could too. He signaled to the very end of the alley and silently walked over to a not-so-curious looking trash bin. She nodded and did likewise.
"It's somewhere over 'ere," whispered Mungojerrie.
Rumpelteazer lifted her nose to the air. Sure enough, her brother was right; the scent of a stranger was lurking around the alley's end, but they didn't know where it was. But the dust started to tickle her nose.
"Haaa-haaa-haaa-( She opened her mouth to let it out.
"No! Don' sneeze! You'll ruin our cover!" hissed Mungojerrie.
But it was too late. Rumpelteazer erupted like a volcano.
"HA-CHOOO!"
"Way to go, dumb-ass!" spat Mungojerrie angrily.
"Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer?"
The twins froze in surprise. So there was a stranger hiding somewhere here. But the stranger knew their names?
"Who-who are you?" said the shaken twins together.
"You might know me," said the voice.
"We-we're not that sure…" mumbled Mungojerrie.
"Bu' how'd you know our names?" asked Rumpelteazer shakily.
"Even a sneeze can telltale a heavy British accent, mate."
Heavy British accent…so the stranger clearly did know them. But was this mysterious cat really a stranger?
"C'mon, you two, I wouldn't expect you to be that stupid. You still don't know who I am?" There was the tiniest note of glee in the cat's voice, and it sounded vaguely familiar.
"Little Mist?" they guessed aloud, astonished.
They heard a very gentle 'thud' beside them as another cat, a smaller one who had probably been hanging around the fire escape ladder on the building adjourning the alleyway.
"How many times have I told you half-wits that it's Silvermist? I'm not a little kitten, anymore, you know."
The cat was sporting a very handsome coat of snowy white, outlined with the faintest hint of silver, plus a cocky smirk. The twins grinned. This was definitely not a stranger.
"Where've you been, huh?" said Rumpelteazer, slapping a paw to the cat's shoulder and pulling roughly.
"We haven' seen you in ages," said Mungojerrie, grabbing her and scalping her head with a killer noogie.
Silvermist grinned. "Nowhere in particular. I've just been hanging around where I can, and believe me, that ain't a lot."
She grabbed the two heads and rammed them together.
"So, what have the two best blokes in the world been doing?"
A couple of years ago, when the twins were young and still considering running away from Victoria Grove for a time, they had met Silvermist, also known as 'Little Mist' because of her short height, in an alley near the very first place where they intended to steal from. Ever since then, most of the twins' early tries at thievery included the small but crafty snowy cat, and many valuable items were scraped, many a bottle of milk had gone missing because of the troublesome three. Silvermist had been the twins' best friend, aside from themselves, for a full year of fun and prosperity.
Then came Macavity. He had offered for the three youngsters to work for him, and become notorious criminals instead of a trio of bungling thieves. The twins had agreed, but for some strange reason, Mist had strongly disagreed and hung back. They started to hang around less, and soon, the twins hadn't seen Silvermist for a whole year. Only sometimes did they wonder what ever happened to their former best friend, the little plunderer who never squealed a single thing about the past.
And sooner or later, the two had decided to quit and move to a Jellicle tribe at the junkyard, where they lived like the ordinary Jellicles, but they still stole from Victoria Grove and therefore, less trusted by the tribe. If they had found Mist, they would have told her what happened. But she had permanently disappeared, and after many tries, the search ended, and she was quite forgotten by the twins.
And here she was, looking as happy as ever, making Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer wonder if she'd even changed at all from a tiny rolling ball of a thief.
"Still stealing?" asked Silvermist interestedly.
"Yeah," said both the twins. "Lots, in fact."
Mist grinned. "I figured so." The look on her face grew a little darker. "Haven't heard of news on you and Macavity lately. What's up with business?"
"You don't know?" said Mungojerrie.
"We quit working for Macavity," said Rumpelteazer.
"When?" asked Mist, obviously shocked.
"Soon after you left, mate," said Mungojerrie.
"Tha's why we've been tryin' to find you," said Rumpelteazer.
"We moved into a Jellicle tribe," said Mungojerrie.
"But you aren't as trusted," said Mist amusedly.
"Righto," said the twins.
"I figured so," said Mist, grinning again.
"They treat us OK," said Rumpelteazer.
"Least we have a tribe," said Mungojerrie.
Tribe…tribe…why was this word ringing a bell in Mist's head?
"Is the tribe somewhere in a junkyard?" she asked. Junkyard…junkyard…tribe…? Somehow the words fit, but Mist didn't know how or why.
The twins glanced at each other. "How'd you guess?"
"I dunno," said Mist, shrugging. "Just a guess, that's all."
The twins' eyes suddenly lit up at the exact same moment.
"Hey," said Mungojerrie. "Tha's what we've been meanin' to ask you ever since we quit workin' for Macavity!"
"You want to join the tribe?" asked Rumpelteazer eagerly.
Mist's eyes brightened too, but then they lost their glow and she bowed her head disappointedly.
"I can't do that," she murmured. "That's already been bothering me for quite a long time."
"Wha's been botherin' you?" asked both of them simultaneously, looking curious. They had never heard their friend talk about something in the past.
"Years ago, I lost my mother. I had only one brother, but he was slain by one of our enemies. I got trapped inside an alley by a wall of fire, and I told my brother to run away." Mist shook her head sadly. "He walked right into our adversary, and I lost contact after. From that, I feel like an outcast with no family." She sighed. "I don't know if I'll be accepted. I virtually murdered my own brother."
Mungojerrie looked sober, but then stiffened. "You just think about it, OK? When you've made up your mind, meet us at Victoria Grove at midnight Friday. We'll take you there personally." He turned to say something to Rumpelteazer, but she had already fallen asleep on her feet. Being fairly strong, he picked her up and jumped into the now faint light of the sun, as it was almost dawn.
"Besides," he hollered back to the alleyway, "A lot of our kind are outcasts or have no family. That's just the way it is."
Then, with a swish of his tail, Mungojerrie disappeared with a sound-asleep Rumpelteazer on his back.
Silvermist nodded, and went back to hiding in the alley. She didn't know how right Mungojerrie was.
5 Chapter Four: I'll Stand By You
Demeter woke up in a cold sweat, breathing short and fast. She looked around wildly, trying to make sure that no one in the icy darkness would reach out and hurt her. But gradually, her breath slowed and she calmed down. Her jade-green eyes looked tired and worn-out, but still alert and wary. Then, realizing that no one was there, watching her and prepared to make a next move, she closed her eyes, sighed, and the opened them again. The only thing visible was the part of the junkyard she slept in and the moon starting to grow brighter; that meant it was probably around past midnight or so.
She shut her eyes, even tighter than before. Those nightmares…they'd been haunting her for quite some time now. The more the images clearly formed in her mind, the more she couldn't stand them. She just wanted to run away from all those nightmares…away from what had been following her for the longest time…
Then one thought came to her mind: Munkustrap.
Surely he meant what he said the night before. He had said that he loved her, and it calmed her heart because she loved him too. The scene of yesterday night, Munkustrap pulling her closer to him and showing that he understood completely, gave her some warmth beneath the sea of cold she felt she was drowning in right now.
Her heart gave a small jump. He was definitely still awake. She always knew that he sat around at midnight, alone to his thoughts, but he never minded her walking in on him. In fact, he seemed to like it whenever Demeter came along and discussed her problems to him. Well, this was a problem. And after what they had confessed the previous evening, she felt more secure. She stood up and walked to the smallest and brightest corner of the junkyard, where she knew Munkustrap always stayed, patiently sitting and waiting.
Sure enough, Munkustrap was there, looking deeply thoughtful and absently swishing his tail. He grinned when he sensed Demeter coming to sit down on the usual car, but his friendly smile faded a little when he saw the drawn look on her face.
"Hey now, what's wrong then?" he asked concernedly.
Demeter still remained silent, remembering her nightmare.
"You had a bad dream, didn't you?" Munkustrap guessed.
"How'd you know?" asked Demeter wearily.
"Just a guess," he said, shrugging. "So what was it about?"
She only bowed her head weakly.
"You want to talk about it?" he asked patiently, gently laying his paw on her shaking one in an attempt to calm her.
Demeter sighed. "You don't want to hear this from me."
"Sure I would," said Munkustrap. "Go on, tell me about it."
"It's just a stupid nightmare," Demeter insisted.
"Most cats have nightmares," said Munkustrap. "That's nothing strange, and that's just the way it is."
"But you don't have ones like mine," said Demeter.
"You wanna bet?" There was a small note of sadness in Munkustrap's voice, one Demeter had never heard before.
"Tell me about yours first, then," said Demeter softly.
"OK, then." Munkustrap took a deep breath and stared at the moon again. Its silvery rays illuminated his handsome face.
"You notice that no one really knows about my past except maybe Old Deuteronomy?" he said soberly.
Demeter thought hard. He was right. Nothing much was known of the childhood of the Silver Tabby, a tribe member in great authority and very surely to become the next Jellicle leader. Munkustrap was right; he probably wouldn't have told anybody something so private. But Demeter wanted to know; she now loved him very much, and genuinely wanted to know whatever happened to a little silver black-striped kitten who became a wise and serious leader for the Jellicle cats. She put a paw on his shoulder, urging him on.
"I never knew what happened to my father," said Munkustrap. "But I once heard from my mother that I looked just like him." He paused and smiled very grimly. "My mother was very beautiful, and I had two sisters who bore the exact same reddish-gold coat, maybe something like yours, and a beloved older brother who had a handsome ginger one. I never knew what happened to him." He paused again and sighed.
"Do you remember that terrible fire three years ago?" he asked her. Demeter nodded and he went on. "So many cats were killed that day, and many a brave soul died at the paw of the Pollicle leader Priam. My mother was burned in the fire, and my two sisters were murdered by Pollicles in front of my very eyes. As for my brother, I heard that he had been hanging with a bad crowd, and I never really saw him again." He closed his eyes. "Those are my nightmares. In my dreams, I can see my mother suffering in the flames, I can see my sisters being brutally killed by a bunch of fierce dogs, and I can see my brother, who I once loved and looked up to, laughing joining in with the killing."
Demeter gazed at him with shock and pity.
"It's something I can't survive with," he said.
"Neither can I," said Demeter, pulling him close to her.
"The day after the fire, the fire brigade carried away dozens of injured humans, dogs and cats alike." Her green eyes lost their glow once more. "Some of them never came back. I only had my dad, and he loved me dearly and took care of my every need. When he was mortally wounded in the fire, everyone said he was going to be OK. Everyone said he was going to come back. But then, he never came home. What I dream about are the days I wasted away, waiting for Dad, before I finally realized he was gone forever."
Tears started to well up in Demeter's eyes, and she couldn't hold back. She cried on Munkustrap's shoulder, and he patiently held on to her, closing his eyes and fully feeling her pain. So that was how much they had in common. Both had lost all they had in that fucking fire.
But that was it, Munkustrap thought as he hugged her back a little tighter. That was all they had right now. Each other.
"Munkustrap," she sobbed. "I hate them, I hate them all! And I'm really scared of what would happen if they got me too. Or worse…you. I can't lose you now…"
Munkustrap felt a strong feeling of protectiveness for Demeter surging in his heart, and he held her closer.
"Don't worry," he whispered in her ear. "You don't have to think about it. You can stay right here. I'll watch over you tonight. I promise."
Demeter looked up at him, obviously very tired.
"Don't worry," he repeated. "I'll stand by you."
"Stand by me," she murmured. "Don't leave…"
"Shhh," he whispered gently in her ear. "You're very tired. You go to sleep now, OK?"
"Munkustrap…" she said weakly.
He put a paw to her lips as a signal to keep quiet, then kissed her lightly on the cheek, grinning. She seemed confident enough, and without warning, she fell right into his outstretched arms, knocked out and freezing cold. He carefully put a paw to her forehead, and frowned slightly.
"Poor Demi," he said very softly. "You've got fever and chills. Don't worry, just stay still and rest for now…"
He held her even closer to him, resting his chin very gently upon her delicate neck. The warmth of his body calmed the chills, and Demeter finally drifted off to sleep in Munkustrap's arms, her own clinging to his neck.
Munkustrap kept faithful to his promised vigil, and stayed awake, Demeter lying fast asleep on him and nestled comfortably against his warm body. During those moments where the only sounds that broke the silence between night and dawn were that of her soft, even breathing, that he felt happiest. Demeter was his, right here with him, at least until the early rays of the sun would signal the dawn.
He didn't let her go until the morning itself. But it was then that he himself finally fell into a deep sleep, and joined his beloved in her dreaming.
Somehow, both of them knew that the nightmares wouldn't haunt them, at least for now.
6 Chapter Five: Hello…? Mr. Lady-Killer?
7 (Rum Tum Tugger's Got A PINK Tail!)
"Don't you ever do anything else but annoy other cats all day?" yawned Rum Tum Tugger, flicking his tail threateningly at where a pile of dirty old cloth with big sewn-on buttons of different colors sat beside him, smiling goofily.
"Well, all the others are busy," complained the odd rag ball.
"Hey man, I was busy too," said RTT impatiently.
"You didn't look it, just staring bug-eyed into nothing with your big head in your paws," sneered the rag ball.
"Well, really nice of you to jump at me and say that you were some kind of evil monster from another planet!"
"Radiated evil mud monster from another solar system!"
"You've been reading that old stack of comic books some human dumb-head dumped here, haven't you?"
"Hey, the pictures are cool," said the rag ball.
"So you don't have anything better to do?" said RTT.
"Aw, you're no fun at all." The rag ball slipped the old brown cloth off its head to reveal a deeply disappointed-looking Pouncival, scowling heavily at him. "I'm going to go find Tumblebrutus. Maybe he has a better sense of humor!"
With that, Pouncival frisked right off to the other side of the junkyard to meet his best friend, Tumblebrutus, dragging the mess of brown rags and buttons behind him.
"See you later, kit," said RTT absently.
A quarter of an hour later, RTT was still suffering from a severe case of boredom, but rather that than an abnormally hyper kitten prancing around, pretending to be some stupid mud creature taken from an old comic book. He wouldn't really have minded someone to talk to, and coincidentally, he sensed someone nearby, watching him and basically also doing nothing else. RTT grinned, grateful for the company.
"I give you-the magical, the marvelous-Mister Mistoffelees!" he announced lazily to the air in front of him.
As if right on cue, a loud popping sound echoed through the corner of the junkyard, and a second later, there was another cat, this time a black one with a white throat and boots, sitting beside him and grinning.
"Hey, how'd you know I was there?" he asked amusedly.
"I can tell if someone's staring at my ass, Misto," RTT replied good- naturedly. "What're you doing here anyway, buddy?"
"Absolutely nothing," said Mistoffelees. "There's basically nothing to do 'round here today."
"Except roll around in old rags," said RTT.
"So you were pestered by Pouncival too, huh?"
"Welcome to the club," said RTT sarcastically.
RTT suddenly heard another popping noise, though quite faint, and turned to Mistoffelees, who looked back innocently.
"What?" he asked, denying the mischievous smile on his face.
"You did something," said RTT.
"What did I do?" asked Mistoffelees.
RTT looked at his back, expecting to see his long, handsome tawny tail swishing pleasantly behind him. He saw his tail, all right-except that the fur was now colored a shocking pink.
He turned to Mistoffelees, who was now rolling around and positively dying with wild laughter.
"MISTOFFELEES!!"
"No…not yet…" Mistoffelees wheezed, still trying, and failing, to recover from his endless fit of laughter. "Did I ever tell you that the color pink looked good on you?"
RTT breathed furiously, but as he stared angrily at Mistoffelees, rolling around and not being able to contain himself, he started to smile, and finally let a chuckle escape him. A few seconds later, he was laughing along with Mistoffelees, his magnificent tail still a magnificent pink.
"OK, OK, put it right," he said finally.
"Aw, you're no fun at all," pouted Mistoffelees.
"That's exactly what Pouncival said a while ago."
"But it's true. C'mon, no one goes around with a pink tail!"
"Hey, I don't want to be that unique!" complained RTT. "Put it right this instant! How will I look in front of the queens?"
"You'd stand out," said Mistoffelees. "Won't all your queens like a beautiful tail like yours?"
"Not on a lady-killer tom like me!" exclaimed RTT indignantly.
"Oh, whoops-( Mistoffelees grinned evilly. "Gotta go. Later."
"MISTOFFELEES!" Too late. Mr. Mistoffelees had disappeared with another loud 'pop'.
8 "Great," he muttered under his breath. "The most famous queen hustler 'round the junkyard's got a pink tail."
RTT had finally decided to just walk into the queens' side of the 'yard with his neon-pink tail nonchalantly tucked in. He wanted to talk to Bombalurina anyway.
Maybe their excessive flirting would keep his mind away from his nightmare. He was heartily sick of that stupid pop-in-his-head-every-other-night dream, and it wouldn't get out of his mind. Besides, he knew nothing about what had happened there. The fire…a young queen trying to protect something she was hiding…the vicious Pollicle leader who killed her…two young kittens…a vicious adversary…the younger one being trapped in a blazing wall of fire…and the older suddenly being scratched on the face, slapping him into unconsciousness…
What did all these stupid things mean to him?
But he knew about the fire, one of the most tragic things that had attacked the tribe. Sure, he had talked to Demeter about it a couple of times, and he knew that her dad had been killed in the fire. Munkustrap, however, had a different story. RTT had been told that Munkustrap's whole family had vanished in the flames except for himself and an older brother, a young ginger tom, who had been rumored to hang around with the worst company and actually be a spy for the notorious Pollicle leader, Priam.
Now, RTT only believed a little of what the rumors said, because Munkustrap had always been a friend. But although he never dared to tell Munkustrap, he secretly thought that the missing ginger tom was Macavity. It sounded so obvious that a cat like him would turn against his tribe and work for a Pollicle to save his own skin, but he never said so. Even the thought that one brother was a Jellicle leader and the other was a long sought-after criminal was hurting.
And there was another issue to think closely about. According to some of the older cats, there had been a feud between the families of RTT and Munkustrap. They both thought it was very ironic, since they got along very well enough each other. Munkustrap's father had wanted to join up with the Pollicles so that he and his family could be saved from later years of bloodshed and death, and he had taken his older son along with him. RTT's family, however, disapproved greatly of the idea, and soon, they began to resent each other. No harm was done to the older son, but Munkustrap's father had suddenly died, and the ginger tom went away to take his place. Strange…after that, RTT knew nothing about what had happened to his mother, or to his sister…he could vaguely remember having one…
There were so many things to think about.
But a sassy voice had broken into his private thoughts.
"Hello…? Mr. Lady-Killer? Are you awake?"
RTT turned around to see a beautiful fire-colored queen smirking cockily at him. At least this was a good distraction. He returned the smirk with the practiced eye of a playboy.
"Hey there, Sugar, how ya doin'?
"Just fine, thanks," said Bombalurina. "And how's Mr. Hustler doing? How come you look so far-off earth?"
"Oh…just thinking about some things," he replied quickly but smoothly, the way that should have been expected of him.
"What were you thinking about?" she asked suspiciously.
"You've always been on my mind," he lied.
Bombalurina gave a satisfied smile.
RTT decided to make it good if he was trying to cover his thoughts. He swished his tail in the usual sexy way of his.
Bombalurina's grin grew wider. Then it slowly turned into a big, hearty laugh. Soon enough, all the queens and kittens who had been watching the two lovers flirt were all joining in.
RTT looked back to see his fantastic neon-pink tail flicking back at him. He flushed the same shade as his loud-colored tail, then slapped his forehead in embarrassment.
How could he forget?
9 Chapter Six: The Plot
It was only an ordinary London evening. Cars sped down the busy street, lights were flashing and dying, people came in and out of several buildings, hurrying down the sidewalk or stopping to talk to other people. The sun was setting, and the city was fast getting dark.
And among all the distractions and the fading lamps, no one noticed a large cat with unkempt gingery fur slip into a dismal alley behind a grubby old apartment.
Macavity wasn't really up to this. Slinking into an old alleyway to meet someone he didn't have a clue about wasn't his idea of a fun night, what would usually be going to a human paint store and spray-painting "THIS FUCKING TRIBE OF JELLICLES CAN SUCK POLLICLE COCK" in bright green and blue on one of the junkyard walls or grabbing some handy-dandy ready-mixed manure and dead things and leaving it there to decompose.
But he was actually going out to play one of his nasty little pranks on the tribe when one of his rats had arrived, delivering a message from this stranger.
"Message? What message? Give it to me."
"Uhm, sum weirdo wants to tawk to ya 'bout sumthin' in the alley next to Magnolia Apartments, I think."
"Weirdo? Do you know who sent the message?"
"Uhm, all the message sez wuz dat it wuz from 'an old friend of yas', Macavity sir," the rat had said.
So here he was, in the filthy old alley next to the almost run-down Magnolia Apartments, and not knowing who or what he was waiting for.
Macavity sniffed around cautiously. This could be some kind of trap; maybe the Jellicles were setting something up to catch him, or maybe some of the Pekes he cheated last week were out to whip his ass for some restitution. Whatever it was, something here made his blood freeze, and that wasn't too common for the Hidden Paw, a cat who wasn't afraid to do anything at the cost of his tail.
He sniffed again. A familiar scent filled his nose, but he couldn't really put his paw on it, until he heard a voice that sounded like a low, menacing growl.
"Good evening, Macavity."
Macavity almost jumped out of his fur. Could it be…?
"Who's there?" he called out weakly at the back of the alley.
"Don't tell me you don't recognize me," said the voice.
"Who-who are you?" Macavity yelled into the alley.
Out of the dark shadows and smiling grimly, came the huge black figure of an evil-looking Pollicle. The left eye looked to have been scraped in a fight, and an ugly red scar ran down the spot to seal it permanently. But the right one stared at Macavity, giving him a fierce chill in his bones.
Priam was back.
"…Priam," said Macavity in a whisper. "My old master."
The huge dog grinned even wider at Macavity.
"I hear you're doing well," said Priam.
Macavity nodded nervously. Priam seemed to sense it.
"What's the matter?" he asked amusedly. "Are you afraid of me, Macavity? I don't find myself remotely scary."
Priam laughed dryly at his own joke.
"No," said Macavity uneasily. Being here with his former master gave him the idea that his ass was going to be beaten pretty badly. After all, it had been a long time. Priam had disappeared after the terrible fire, and believable rumors concluded that the evil Pollicle leader was dead. And Macavity believed them. He went on his own crime spree, declaring that he was the most notorious criminal of all time, saying that Priam was nothing compared to him, and that the big old black bastard had long been dead.
Apparently, he was wrong. Very wrong.
"I hear what you've been saying about me, Macavity," said Priam with a humorless smile. "I'm ashamed, knowing that you used to be my favorite boy, despite the fact that you're-( He paused hatefully, to think of the proper insult-"a cat."
Macavity grimaced, clenching his teeth together and imagining blood and torn limbs scattered around the already filthy alley.
"But you were gone so long," he said, trying to buy time. "We all thought you were dead, so we parted different ways."
"I wouldn't have needed you to call 'the guys'," replied Priam.
"Then what do you want with me, anyway?" asked Macavity.
"I hope you're glad when I say that I'm not going to kill you-( Relief washed over Macavity-"this time."
"You're-you're not?" he asked, trying to sound nonplussed.
"No," said Priam. "Better to kill you when the plan is carried out successfully."
Macavity sighed. At least he had more time.
"What plan?" he inquired.
"Would you have wanted to carry out revenge on the Jellicle Tribe you hate so much?" said Priam.
Macavity nodded. There was obviously something up.
"This mostly revolves around you," said Priam after a pause.
"What do I need to do?" asked Macavity.
"Cut your fur, for one thing," said Priam.
"Cut my fur?!" Macavity had been pretty damn scared of Priam during the conversation, but this suggestion sounded so absurd that he almost laughed. Cut his fur?! The wild, tangled and almost incomprehensible ginger fur that hadn't been groomed and had grown like weed plants on his body was what made him so noticeable, if not for his horrible reputation.
"And why in Sam Hill's dick do you want me to cut my fur?!"
Priam stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"-Master," he added sheepishly.
"I've got a brilliant plan," said Priam proudly. "And with your charm and good looks (if you cut your fur, that is), I doubt we won't be able to pull it off."
"What's the plan?" he asked, this time out of curiosity.
Priam's voice became lower and softer. "I need you to get yourself trusted within the tribe. Mingle around a little, and improve your reputation. You have to gain their trust. Then, when you're fully sure about it, give the signal, and I'll conjure up some troops for a sneak attack."
Macavity smiled. The plan sounded great.
"You have to change your image, too," said Priam. "Cut your fur, clip your claws, and for one, use a good smile."
"I know how to smile," said Macavity indignantly, referring to the evil grin he always used before and after a crime.
"A charming one," said Priam.
"Oh." Macavity scowled slightly. "That."
"We should by next quarter-moon," said Priam.
"That's in only in three days," said Macavity.
"Exactly," said Priam. "That buys us enough time."
Macavity thought about it, then nodded.
"In the meantime, it should also be enough to change your looks. Remember what I said about that."
Macavity nodded again, then prepared to go out into the alley. Priam disappeared into the shadows.
"Good luck," he whispered to Macavity.
With that, Macavity slunk out of the alley, and within a few seconds, was nowhere to be seen. Priam followed a few minutes later, smiling. No one else knew of the plot.
This time, he was the wrong one. A pair of misty aqua eyes scanned the alley, then disappeared.
10
11
Some nightmares of the past are coming back to the Jellicles, but in order to overcome a vicious adversary, they need to put the past behind and be ready for any deception soon to come their way.
This song describes how they want to rid themselves of the nightmares that keep haunting them. It's by one of my favorite rock bands, Finger Eleven, from their album 'Tip' (*lol* I said I was weird…I listen to rock/heavy metal but I love Cats). Well, go on ahead then.
1 AWAKE AND DREAMING
(FINGER ELEVEN)
I can't lose anything,
So what's left is mine
And I win this time
Consolation day,
I'll make up a way,
I'll know now just what to say
And I'll get away from you,
Wait and I'll be begging,
And I'll get away from you,
I'll pull you down, I'll pull you down
I saw it all again,
Fading memory became clear to me,
I try but I can't say
That I'm yours for good
Support me, you said you would
And I'll get away from you,
Wait and I'll be begging,
And I'll get away from you
I'll pull you down, I'll pull you down
Awake and dreaming
But I'm only sleeping
2 Chapter One: More than Friends?
Pearly-white rays of moonlight silently crept across a dismal corner of the junkyard. They reflected on a handsome coat of silver with glossy black stripes, then on a pair of bright black eyes staring right back at their source. The cat absently waved his wispy black-and-gray tail to and fro, but otherwise made no movement at all until he sensed another behind him. He instantly knew who it was without needing to turn around, and grinned as another cat, this time a beautiful tricolor-coated queen, jumped onto the hood of the scrappy old orange Camaro car he was sitting on.
"Fancy meeting you here, Munkustrap," said Demeter, gently waving her tail and returning the smile he had given her.
"Why are you hanging around here all alone in our favorite place?"
"I would have never minded your company," said Munkustrap, grinning. "In fact, I was waiting for you to show up."
"What, did Coricopat and Tantomile tell you I was coming?"
"No, I just knew you felt like talking." Munkustrap smiled again.
"So, what's up? Anything new with you and the queens?"
"What we queens talk about isn't for the ears of a nosy tom like you, you know." Demeter giggled as Munkustrap tried to look offended, but failed in doing so and ended up laughing along with her. Who cared if what they talked about didn't make sense? They'd had each other ever since they met as kittens, and the closest friendship had taken roots from there. But they didn't know that it was much more than that for both of them, especially Demeter. She never knew the inside of Munkustrap; he was always the serious one, the tribe leader, and the one everyone turned to for protection. She only knew that he never noticed that she was in love with him. Under the brave exterior of a potential Jellicle leader, she knew that inside was a very caring cat who could always talk to her and listen to her problems. She was also unaware of the fact that, he, too, was in love with her and was very grateful for the fact that she was always willing to help him out, no matter what.
But it was these talking sessions on the orange Camaro's hood that they most enjoyed each other's company, and most importantly, tell their feelings to each other—at least about the other Jellicles.
"Hey, Demi, what's wrong all of a sudden?"
Demeter's eyes looked down from staring at the moon. Munkustrap's handsome silvery face was pulled into a look of concern.
"It's…nothing. You don't have to worry about it."
Munkustrap smiled again, in hopes of cheering Demeter up. She looked kind of sad, and although he never wanted to show it, he hated it whenever she looked downcast or depressed.
"C'mon, I know something's up. It's OK, you can tell me."
Demeter still avoided his gaze, and his smile faded a little.
"Go on, not as if I'll bite you or something."
Demeter was still hesitant. "You're sure I can tell you?"
Munkustrap cocked his head. "I'm Munkustrap. You can trust me."
"No, really. I'm not sure I want to tell you this."
"Demeter," said Munkustrap, now successful at looking serious. "When have I ever betrayed any of your secrets?"
"I never gave you any of my secrets," said Demeter, feeling happier.
"Which is exactly why I've never let the cat out of the bag." Munkustrap chortled mildly at his own joke.
"No, seriously. You can tell me anything," said Munkustrap. "We've been the closest of friends ever since we were kittens, and we're already like brother and sister. Go on, tell me what's bothering you."
Demeter sighed. It was now or never.
"See, that's just the thing. We've always been really close friends, but, ever since a year ago…" Demeter cast her jade-green eyes onto the junkyard floor. "I haven't been feeling the same ever since I looked at you or talked to you. I get this odd feeling…like I want something more." Demeter hid her face in her paws in shame.
She didn't notice that Munkustrap was sporting the exact same shameful expression, and she felt his paw gently holding her shoulder.
"So you feel like that, too, huh?" he said very softly.
Demeter looked up, very shocked at what he had just said to her.
"Yeah," said Munkustrap. "I feel like that toward you a lot of times."
"Munkustrap," she whispered, her eyes filling up with tears.
"I just never got the courage to tell you." Munkustrap bowed his head.
But much to his surprise, she threw her arms around him, very well knocking the wind out of him, making him choke and gasp for breath.
"I never told you how much I loved you," said Demeter.
"And I'm supposed to be the bravest cat in the tribe." Munkustrap grinned again, and pulled Demeter to his side.
"Thanks a lot for telling me, Demi."
The moonlight shone even more brightly on the feline lovers, but for some reason, the old orange Camaro was no longer hidden in the shadows of the junkyard.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Neither of them knew that two mischievous cats were hiding behind the Camaro, listening to every word they said. Grinning from ear to pointy ear and hiding behind an old chest-of-drawers near the trunk was none other than the Rum Tum Tugger, head pressed to the car's trunk, all the better to eavesdrop. Smiling broadly and trying her hardest to suppress an excited giggle from inside an old elephant-sized crate packed into the trunk itself was of course Bombalurina, who could hear everything just peachy.
"So Munkustrap actually was the playboy I first thought him to be," whispered RTT to himself, reminded of his own flirtatious nature and Munkustrap's usual stiff, straightforward approach.
"I never knew old Demeter had it in her," smiled Bombalurina as she smoothed her whiskers, thinking about RTT and herself, always in the mood for hooking up even though they were already dating, and Demeter, who was always so shy around Munkustrap whenever they met.
Well, until now, at least.
But they had caught notice of each other's voices. RTT sprang from behind the old chest-of-drawers and Bombalurina from her crate, both hissing in hostility. But as soon as they recognized each other's faces in the bright moonlight, the only thing left to fight was their urge to laugh out loud at the amusing coincidence.
"You were eavesdropping!" said both of them at the same time.
"So were you!" they said again. Now it was harder not to laugh.
"Fancy meeting you here, sweetie," said RTT with a wink.
"And you," replied Bombalurina, brandishing a trademark smile.
"You heard everything they said, didn't you?" asked RTT.
"Yeah, and aren't we still listening to them?" said Bombalurina.
RTT nodded and both of them pressed their ears to the trunk once again, still trying hard not to laugh at what else they were hearing.
3 Chapter Two: Dreams Can Come Back
The street near the junkyard no longer looked like an ordinary crossing road for any animal to prowl around on. In fact, it looked like a war zone. A blazing crimson river of fire was swiftly spreading from block to block, threatening to eat up anything that came in its way. Humans were frightfully running around here and there, afraid to extinguish the all- consuming fire.
During all the helter-skelter of the humans and the commotion all of it was bringing, no one, neither human nor Pollicle alike, noticed a pretty young tricolor queen dashing across the fiery street, frantically looking for a place to hide until the damage was over.
But she didn't have the time. She could only keep running where the cement wouldn't burn her paws. But suddenly, a loud and terrible growl erupted through the flames, painfully echoing through her ears. Her heart filled with fear and she felt her body go cold and stiff, but the brave queen got ready to pounce, ears flat and fangs bared.
"Go away, Pollicle," she hissed as fiercely as she could.
There was another loud growl, then the sound of a creature leaping across the flames. A pair of evil dark eyes leered unpleasantly at the queen, and a huge black body with tough long legs now circled her.
"Fancy meeting you here, Persephone," said the dog smoothly. "Now, why would you be running around a blazing inferno of a street at this time of night?" The dog pretended to look thoughtful.
"Out to do something here, my dear Jellicle?"
He said the last word with obvious disgust and contempt.
"I told you to go away, Priam," said the cat, hissing a little louder.
"Well, I'm not going to go away," said Priam softly. "I'm going to stay right here until you tell me what you're hiding, dear Persephone."
Persephone inched her hind legs a little farther, but still maintained a fierce and protective manner as Priam sneered at her.
"What I do here is none of your business," she spat.
Priam just raised his eyebrow, unwilling to give up.
"It certainly is my business if one little kitten just told me where you were, and hinted on what you were doing."
Persephone's blood froze. None of her young would ever squeal to a Pollicle where their mother was. That meant it was another kitten, the offspring of another cat who had seen her running through the flames. Another cat…the offspring of a cat who hated her was probably threatened by Priam to spill the beans or die at his paw…
"Well, I'm never going to tell you, Priam, so don't waste your breath."
"I'm giving you a choice, Persephone," said Priam in a dangerously low voice. "Tell me where they are--or I will kill you."
Persephone drew a deep breath. "Never."
Priam smiled evilly. "I pity you, Persephone. So brave—yet so stupid."
With that, Priam opened his jaws and gave a great leap toward her. The flames made a curtain to cover the gruesome scene.
But in a humid alley, watching it all from a good distance, were two young kittens, one black and brown-splashed, the other white with a sheen of silver on its tiny coat, holding on to each other in fear. They knew little that they only had each other until they heard a deafening screech—the horrible sound of death. Their eyes widened with horror. The younger kitten parted from her brother and started to cry very quietly. But the older one's eyes still blazed with horror. Their expression gradually changed from desperation to all-consuming anger.
"Mother," whispered the younger kitten.
"I'm going out there, Diana," said the older one. "He killed our mother. I'm going to get him back. He deserves it!"
"No! Stop!" Diana reached for her brother's tail and tried to pull him back. He looked back at his sister, and her innocent blue eyes were pleading with him. "Don't go out! He's going to kill you too!"
"He killed Mother," said the older kitten firmly.
"Bryon! Don't you realize that Mother gave her life so we could have ours?" The tone in Diana's voice was just as firm. "You would be stupid to die and waste the sacrifice made just so we could hide from him!"
Bryon stared at his sister, closed his eyes and sighed.
"Well, what else can we do, Diana?" he asked.
"We're going to try and find others of the tribe who need our help."
"Tribe…" Bryon's eyes again flashed with fury. "Diana, I remember now! We've been betrayed! Someone told Priam where our mother was!" His eyes closed in deep thought. "And I think I know who it is."
He suddenly flew on fours and got ready to fly into the flame.
"C'mon, Diana," he said, flattening his ears. "You go find any others who need your help. Then go to the tribe, and stay there, please."
"Bryon, where are you going?" asked Diana fearfully.
"I'm going to go find that piece of shit who gave Mother out to Priam," said Bryon fiercely. "I'm coming back with you as soon as I find him." His tail whipped in front of Diana. "Let's go. We'll split up at the end of the block and meet at the junkyard. We can call the others if we need help ourselves." Bryon then dashed into the flames, whipping his tail again above the low wall to signal to Diana. She hesitated, but remembered Priam's ugly face and the cruel way they had seen him kill their mother, then bravely leaped into the flames, landing next to her brother. Bryon nodded, and they sped in the opposite direction.
It wasn't too long before Bryon spotted a dark shadow standing against the bright light of the fire. Something told him that this was the villain he had been looking for. He cautiously eyed the blazing wall, then jumped right over, getting ready for a fight.
He immediately stared into the scariest pair of eyes he had looked into. They were dark and sunken in, but they looked right back at him with the exact same hatred. The enemy had a long, shaggy coat, filthy from neglect, and long dirty whiskers. Bryon felt a chill creeping up his spine, but he shook it off, flattened his ears, and got ready to pounce.
Both bared their fangs and jumped at each other.
It was another frightening sight. Two young cats were battling through the flames, biting, scratching and jumping, determined to rip each other to pieces before the other did. The enemy cat was having more success, and got to Bryon's leg, slicing at the flesh and making the wound bleed profusely. He yowled in pain. Bryon was already covered with blood and scratches, his handsome black coat was covered in dirt, and he was growing a little weak from the fighting. His only consolation was that so was his enemy, and that both had the equal amount of fighting skills and strength. But this was not enough for Bryon. He wanted to kill the bastard cat who let his mother be murdered.
A new fury surged through Bryon's bones. It seemed to give him a new strength, and he tore ever harder at the cat's hide. He struck at the cat's face, and just as he planned, it stunned him. He held his claw right above the cat's throat, ready to slash it open…
A piercing shriek echoed through the red-tinted sky. "Bryon! Help me!"
Bryon was suddenly shaken wide awake from his wild trance of anger, and for a moment, he forgot the wretched beast he was fighting against as only one thought echoed through his mind.
"Diana!" he cried. "Diana! I'm over here! Where are you?"
Bryon threw the cat's head to the ground as hard as he could to keep him unconscious for the time being. His heart now filled with fear. His sister sounded like she was in grave danger.
And his guess was right. Diana had just taken another kitten out of a burning alley, but had been trapped by a very thick wall of flame three times her size. If she jumped through, she'd be badly burned. If she stayed to wait for the fire to subside, she'd suffocate.
Bryon ran as fast as he could toward the alley and the flames almost burned his eyes. He shook it off, but stared desperately at the almost impenetrable trap his younger sister was in.
"Diana!" he shouted. "Diana!"
For a minute, no one answered. Then, Bryon heard a very soft cry coming from the alleyway. "Go away, Bryon! You can't help me now!"
"Don't be a dumb ass!" Bryon yelled. "I can't leave you there!"
"You have to!" said Diana desperately. "There's nothing you can do for me now! Just leave me, and go!"
"No, I'm not!" Bryon shouted. "Remember what you said, Diana! Mother gave her life for ours! I'm not going to let you lose yours!"
"Bryon, please!" cried Diana. "I need you to go back to the tribe!"
"Diana…" Bryon couldn't bear this much pain. He had just lost his mother. Was he to lose his beloved younger sister too?
But he didn't have a choice. Diana was right. He had to.
"Diana…" he whispered. "Diana, I'm so sorry!"
With that, the only thing Bryon could do was run.
Someone waited for him there. As soon as he realized where he was going, he was struck out cold by a really hard scratch to the face-
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"Tugger! TUGGER!"
"Wha…?" The Rum Tum Tugger awoke with a start, but cooled down a little when he realized who had woken him up. Munkustrap was staring at him right in the face with a raised eyebrow.
"What'd you wake me up for?" demanded RTT sleepily.
"You woke us ALL up," said Mr. Mistoffelees, annoyed.
"You were rolling around and screaming," added Alonzo.
"I was…?" said RTT, mildly surprised.
"Yeah," said Munkustrap. "What's up, Tugger? Bad dream?"
RTT suddenly came to his senses very sharply. Bad dream…what was the bad dream? He shook his head, trying to remember…
"Must've been," he agreed. "A really terrible one, maybe."
"Well, if you keep on screaming, you'll wake the whole junkyard up," said Alonzo, curling up and getting ready to go back to sleep.
"And I'm going to make you disappear!" said Mistoffelees, waving his paw threateningly at the air above RTT.
"Yeah, and you might even wake the queens up," said Munkustrap, winking. RTT grinned. "You don't want them to come and tear us apart?"
"Or worse yet, cancel all your dates," said Mistoffelees.
RTT somehow knew that the dream wasn't going to come back, and sure enough, he was right. He slept soundlessly that night—unaware that another cat was having the same dream.
4 Chapter Three: Little Mist
"Three in the mo'nin', Jerrie," groaned Rumpelteazer exhaustedly. "It's three in the mo'nin', for cripes sake! Wha' the hell are we doing 'ere in this 'ere dirt alley? Everyone else is sleepin' and we should be too!"
"Oh, shut up," hissed Mungojerrie fiercely. "I told you that I saw somethin' 'ere las' nigh' while I was lookin' for stuff near Victoria Grove, and I want to check if it's still 'ere!"
"Well, wha' did you see, and why do you want me to tag along?" Rumpelteazer spat back. "I could be curled up in a comfortable little crate and be like that until late afternoon while you could roll aroun' in the mud and wait for your special little something to turn up for all I care!"
"Well, too bad," said Mungojerrie. "You're with me anyway, and besides, we can go snag some breakfast and stuff at the Gourmet Diner down the street before we go back."
Rumpelteazer brightened up to this. "OK."
Mungojerrie nodded. "We ought to make it fast anyway."
The two thieves wandered cautiously into the alley with identical movements. Rumpelteazer still looked suspicious and sleepy, and Mungojerrie painfully expectant.
"Wha' was it, anyway?" asked Rumpelteazer.
"Not quite that sure," replied Mungojerrie. "But I've got an idea of what it might be."
"Like wha'?" asked Rumpelteazer. "A stranger?"
Mungojerrie only nodded and put a paw to his lips.
They kept on creeping through the alley very quietly. The alley was very dim, and for quite some time, the two pairs of dark eyes scanned their pitch-black surroundings curiously. There seemed to be nothing strange inside, but Mungojerrie could sense another presence, and from the look Rumpelteazer was giving him, she could too. He signaled to the very end of the alley and silently walked over to a not-so-curious looking trash bin. She nodded and did likewise.
"It's somewhere over 'ere," whispered Mungojerrie.
Rumpelteazer lifted her nose to the air. Sure enough, her brother was right; the scent of a stranger was lurking around the alley's end, but they didn't know where it was. But the dust started to tickle her nose.
"Haaa-haaa-haaa-( She opened her mouth to let it out.
"No! Don' sneeze! You'll ruin our cover!" hissed Mungojerrie.
But it was too late. Rumpelteazer erupted like a volcano.
"HA-CHOOO!"
"Way to go, dumb-ass!" spat Mungojerrie angrily.
"Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer?"
The twins froze in surprise. So there was a stranger hiding somewhere here. But the stranger knew their names?
"Who-who are you?" said the shaken twins together.
"You might know me," said the voice.
"We-we're not that sure…" mumbled Mungojerrie.
"Bu' how'd you know our names?" asked Rumpelteazer shakily.
"Even a sneeze can telltale a heavy British accent, mate."
Heavy British accent…so the stranger clearly did know them. But was this mysterious cat really a stranger?
"C'mon, you two, I wouldn't expect you to be that stupid. You still don't know who I am?" There was the tiniest note of glee in the cat's voice, and it sounded vaguely familiar.
"Little Mist?" they guessed aloud, astonished.
They heard a very gentle 'thud' beside them as another cat, a smaller one who had probably been hanging around the fire escape ladder on the building adjourning the alleyway.
"How many times have I told you half-wits that it's Silvermist? I'm not a little kitten, anymore, you know."
The cat was sporting a very handsome coat of snowy white, outlined with the faintest hint of silver, plus a cocky smirk. The twins grinned. This was definitely not a stranger.
"Where've you been, huh?" said Rumpelteazer, slapping a paw to the cat's shoulder and pulling roughly.
"We haven' seen you in ages," said Mungojerrie, grabbing her and scalping her head with a killer noogie.
Silvermist grinned. "Nowhere in particular. I've just been hanging around where I can, and believe me, that ain't a lot."
She grabbed the two heads and rammed them together.
"So, what have the two best blokes in the world been doing?"
A couple of years ago, when the twins were young and still considering running away from Victoria Grove for a time, they had met Silvermist, also known as 'Little Mist' because of her short height, in an alley near the very first place where they intended to steal from. Ever since then, most of the twins' early tries at thievery included the small but crafty snowy cat, and many valuable items were scraped, many a bottle of milk had gone missing because of the troublesome three. Silvermist had been the twins' best friend, aside from themselves, for a full year of fun and prosperity.
Then came Macavity. He had offered for the three youngsters to work for him, and become notorious criminals instead of a trio of bungling thieves. The twins had agreed, but for some strange reason, Mist had strongly disagreed and hung back. They started to hang around less, and soon, the twins hadn't seen Silvermist for a whole year. Only sometimes did they wonder what ever happened to their former best friend, the little plunderer who never squealed a single thing about the past.
And sooner or later, the two had decided to quit and move to a Jellicle tribe at the junkyard, where they lived like the ordinary Jellicles, but they still stole from Victoria Grove and therefore, less trusted by the tribe. If they had found Mist, they would have told her what happened. But she had permanently disappeared, and after many tries, the search ended, and she was quite forgotten by the twins.
And here she was, looking as happy as ever, making Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer wonder if she'd even changed at all from a tiny rolling ball of a thief.
"Still stealing?" asked Silvermist interestedly.
"Yeah," said both the twins. "Lots, in fact."
Mist grinned. "I figured so." The look on her face grew a little darker. "Haven't heard of news on you and Macavity lately. What's up with business?"
"You don't know?" said Mungojerrie.
"We quit working for Macavity," said Rumpelteazer.
"When?" asked Mist, obviously shocked.
"Soon after you left, mate," said Mungojerrie.
"Tha's why we've been tryin' to find you," said Rumpelteazer.
"We moved into a Jellicle tribe," said Mungojerrie.
"But you aren't as trusted," said Mist amusedly.
"Righto," said the twins.
"I figured so," said Mist, grinning again.
"They treat us OK," said Rumpelteazer.
"Least we have a tribe," said Mungojerrie.
Tribe…tribe…why was this word ringing a bell in Mist's head?
"Is the tribe somewhere in a junkyard?" she asked. Junkyard…junkyard…tribe…? Somehow the words fit, but Mist didn't know how or why.
The twins glanced at each other. "How'd you guess?"
"I dunno," said Mist, shrugging. "Just a guess, that's all."
The twins' eyes suddenly lit up at the exact same moment.
"Hey," said Mungojerrie. "Tha's what we've been meanin' to ask you ever since we quit workin' for Macavity!"
"You want to join the tribe?" asked Rumpelteazer eagerly.
Mist's eyes brightened too, but then they lost their glow and she bowed her head disappointedly.
"I can't do that," she murmured. "That's already been bothering me for quite a long time."
"Wha's been botherin' you?" asked both of them simultaneously, looking curious. They had never heard their friend talk about something in the past.
"Years ago, I lost my mother. I had only one brother, but he was slain by one of our enemies. I got trapped inside an alley by a wall of fire, and I told my brother to run away." Mist shook her head sadly. "He walked right into our adversary, and I lost contact after. From that, I feel like an outcast with no family." She sighed. "I don't know if I'll be accepted. I virtually murdered my own brother."
Mungojerrie looked sober, but then stiffened. "You just think about it, OK? When you've made up your mind, meet us at Victoria Grove at midnight Friday. We'll take you there personally." He turned to say something to Rumpelteazer, but she had already fallen asleep on her feet. Being fairly strong, he picked her up and jumped into the now faint light of the sun, as it was almost dawn.
"Besides," he hollered back to the alleyway, "A lot of our kind are outcasts or have no family. That's just the way it is."
Then, with a swish of his tail, Mungojerrie disappeared with a sound-asleep Rumpelteazer on his back.
Silvermist nodded, and went back to hiding in the alley. She didn't know how right Mungojerrie was.
5 Chapter Four: I'll Stand By You
Demeter woke up in a cold sweat, breathing short and fast. She looked around wildly, trying to make sure that no one in the icy darkness would reach out and hurt her. But gradually, her breath slowed and she calmed down. Her jade-green eyes looked tired and worn-out, but still alert and wary. Then, realizing that no one was there, watching her and prepared to make a next move, she closed her eyes, sighed, and the opened them again. The only thing visible was the part of the junkyard she slept in and the moon starting to grow brighter; that meant it was probably around past midnight or so.
She shut her eyes, even tighter than before. Those nightmares…they'd been haunting her for quite some time now. The more the images clearly formed in her mind, the more she couldn't stand them. She just wanted to run away from all those nightmares…away from what had been following her for the longest time…
Then one thought came to her mind: Munkustrap.
Surely he meant what he said the night before. He had said that he loved her, and it calmed her heart because she loved him too. The scene of yesterday night, Munkustrap pulling her closer to him and showing that he understood completely, gave her some warmth beneath the sea of cold she felt she was drowning in right now.
Her heart gave a small jump. He was definitely still awake. She always knew that he sat around at midnight, alone to his thoughts, but he never minded her walking in on him. In fact, he seemed to like it whenever Demeter came along and discussed her problems to him. Well, this was a problem. And after what they had confessed the previous evening, she felt more secure. She stood up and walked to the smallest and brightest corner of the junkyard, where she knew Munkustrap always stayed, patiently sitting and waiting.
Sure enough, Munkustrap was there, looking deeply thoughtful and absently swishing his tail. He grinned when he sensed Demeter coming to sit down on the usual car, but his friendly smile faded a little when he saw the drawn look on her face.
"Hey now, what's wrong then?" he asked concernedly.
Demeter still remained silent, remembering her nightmare.
"You had a bad dream, didn't you?" Munkustrap guessed.
"How'd you know?" asked Demeter wearily.
"Just a guess," he said, shrugging. "So what was it about?"
She only bowed her head weakly.
"You want to talk about it?" he asked patiently, gently laying his paw on her shaking one in an attempt to calm her.
Demeter sighed. "You don't want to hear this from me."
"Sure I would," said Munkustrap. "Go on, tell me about it."
"It's just a stupid nightmare," Demeter insisted.
"Most cats have nightmares," said Munkustrap. "That's nothing strange, and that's just the way it is."
"But you don't have ones like mine," said Demeter.
"You wanna bet?" There was a small note of sadness in Munkustrap's voice, one Demeter had never heard before.
"Tell me about yours first, then," said Demeter softly.
"OK, then." Munkustrap took a deep breath and stared at the moon again. Its silvery rays illuminated his handsome face.
"You notice that no one really knows about my past except maybe Old Deuteronomy?" he said soberly.
Demeter thought hard. He was right. Nothing much was known of the childhood of the Silver Tabby, a tribe member in great authority and very surely to become the next Jellicle leader. Munkustrap was right; he probably wouldn't have told anybody something so private. But Demeter wanted to know; she now loved him very much, and genuinely wanted to know whatever happened to a little silver black-striped kitten who became a wise and serious leader for the Jellicle cats. She put a paw on his shoulder, urging him on.
"I never knew what happened to my father," said Munkustrap. "But I once heard from my mother that I looked just like him." He paused and smiled very grimly. "My mother was very beautiful, and I had two sisters who bore the exact same reddish-gold coat, maybe something like yours, and a beloved older brother who had a handsome ginger one. I never knew what happened to him." He paused again and sighed.
"Do you remember that terrible fire three years ago?" he asked her. Demeter nodded and he went on. "So many cats were killed that day, and many a brave soul died at the paw of the Pollicle leader Priam. My mother was burned in the fire, and my two sisters were murdered by Pollicles in front of my very eyes. As for my brother, I heard that he had been hanging with a bad crowd, and I never really saw him again." He closed his eyes. "Those are my nightmares. In my dreams, I can see my mother suffering in the flames, I can see my sisters being brutally killed by a bunch of fierce dogs, and I can see my brother, who I once loved and looked up to, laughing joining in with the killing."
Demeter gazed at him with shock and pity.
"It's something I can't survive with," he said.
"Neither can I," said Demeter, pulling him close to her.
"The day after the fire, the fire brigade carried away dozens of injured humans, dogs and cats alike." Her green eyes lost their glow once more. "Some of them never came back. I only had my dad, and he loved me dearly and took care of my every need. When he was mortally wounded in the fire, everyone said he was going to be OK. Everyone said he was going to come back. But then, he never came home. What I dream about are the days I wasted away, waiting for Dad, before I finally realized he was gone forever."
Tears started to well up in Demeter's eyes, and she couldn't hold back. She cried on Munkustrap's shoulder, and he patiently held on to her, closing his eyes and fully feeling her pain. So that was how much they had in common. Both had lost all they had in that fucking fire.
But that was it, Munkustrap thought as he hugged her back a little tighter. That was all they had right now. Each other.
"Munkustrap," she sobbed. "I hate them, I hate them all! And I'm really scared of what would happen if they got me too. Or worse…you. I can't lose you now…"
Munkustrap felt a strong feeling of protectiveness for Demeter surging in his heart, and he held her closer.
"Don't worry," he whispered in her ear. "You don't have to think about it. You can stay right here. I'll watch over you tonight. I promise."
Demeter looked up at him, obviously very tired.
"Don't worry," he repeated. "I'll stand by you."
"Stand by me," she murmured. "Don't leave…"
"Shhh," he whispered gently in her ear. "You're very tired. You go to sleep now, OK?"
"Munkustrap…" she said weakly.
He put a paw to her lips as a signal to keep quiet, then kissed her lightly on the cheek, grinning. She seemed confident enough, and without warning, she fell right into his outstretched arms, knocked out and freezing cold. He carefully put a paw to her forehead, and frowned slightly.
"Poor Demi," he said very softly. "You've got fever and chills. Don't worry, just stay still and rest for now…"
He held her even closer to him, resting his chin very gently upon her delicate neck. The warmth of his body calmed the chills, and Demeter finally drifted off to sleep in Munkustrap's arms, her own clinging to his neck.
Munkustrap kept faithful to his promised vigil, and stayed awake, Demeter lying fast asleep on him and nestled comfortably against his warm body. During those moments where the only sounds that broke the silence between night and dawn were that of her soft, even breathing, that he felt happiest. Demeter was his, right here with him, at least until the early rays of the sun would signal the dawn.
He didn't let her go until the morning itself. But it was then that he himself finally fell into a deep sleep, and joined his beloved in her dreaming.
Somehow, both of them knew that the nightmares wouldn't haunt them, at least for now.
6 Chapter Five: Hello…? Mr. Lady-Killer?
7 (Rum Tum Tugger's Got A PINK Tail!)
"Don't you ever do anything else but annoy other cats all day?" yawned Rum Tum Tugger, flicking his tail threateningly at where a pile of dirty old cloth with big sewn-on buttons of different colors sat beside him, smiling goofily.
"Well, all the others are busy," complained the odd rag ball.
"Hey man, I was busy too," said RTT impatiently.
"You didn't look it, just staring bug-eyed into nothing with your big head in your paws," sneered the rag ball.
"Well, really nice of you to jump at me and say that you were some kind of evil monster from another planet!"
"Radiated evil mud monster from another solar system!"
"You've been reading that old stack of comic books some human dumb-head dumped here, haven't you?"
"Hey, the pictures are cool," said the rag ball.
"So you don't have anything better to do?" said RTT.
"Aw, you're no fun at all." The rag ball slipped the old brown cloth off its head to reveal a deeply disappointed-looking Pouncival, scowling heavily at him. "I'm going to go find Tumblebrutus. Maybe he has a better sense of humor!"
With that, Pouncival frisked right off to the other side of the junkyard to meet his best friend, Tumblebrutus, dragging the mess of brown rags and buttons behind him.
"See you later, kit," said RTT absently.
A quarter of an hour later, RTT was still suffering from a severe case of boredom, but rather that than an abnormally hyper kitten prancing around, pretending to be some stupid mud creature taken from an old comic book. He wouldn't really have minded someone to talk to, and coincidentally, he sensed someone nearby, watching him and basically also doing nothing else. RTT grinned, grateful for the company.
"I give you-the magical, the marvelous-Mister Mistoffelees!" he announced lazily to the air in front of him.
As if right on cue, a loud popping sound echoed through the corner of the junkyard, and a second later, there was another cat, this time a black one with a white throat and boots, sitting beside him and grinning.
"Hey, how'd you know I was there?" he asked amusedly.
"I can tell if someone's staring at my ass, Misto," RTT replied good- naturedly. "What're you doing here anyway, buddy?"
"Absolutely nothing," said Mistoffelees. "There's basically nothing to do 'round here today."
"Except roll around in old rags," said RTT.
"So you were pestered by Pouncival too, huh?"
"Welcome to the club," said RTT sarcastically.
RTT suddenly heard another popping noise, though quite faint, and turned to Mistoffelees, who looked back innocently.
"What?" he asked, denying the mischievous smile on his face.
"You did something," said RTT.
"What did I do?" asked Mistoffelees.
RTT looked at his back, expecting to see his long, handsome tawny tail swishing pleasantly behind him. He saw his tail, all right-except that the fur was now colored a shocking pink.
He turned to Mistoffelees, who was now rolling around and positively dying with wild laughter.
"MISTOFFELEES!!"
"No…not yet…" Mistoffelees wheezed, still trying, and failing, to recover from his endless fit of laughter. "Did I ever tell you that the color pink looked good on you?"
RTT breathed furiously, but as he stared angrily at Mistoffelees, rolling around and not being able to contain himself, he started to smile, and finally let a chuckle escape him. A few seconds later, he was laughing along with Mistoffelees, his magnificent tail still a magnificent pink.
"OK, OK, put it right," he said finally.
"Aw, you're no fun at all," pouted Mistoffelees.
"That's exactly what Pouncival said a while ago."
"But it's true. C'mon, no one goes around with a pink tail!"
"Hey, I don't want to be that unique!" complained RTT. "Put it right this instant! How will I look in front of the queens?"
"You'd stand out," said Mistoffelees. "Won't all your queens like a beautiful tail like yours?"
"Not on a lady-killer tom like me!" exclaimed RTT indignantly.
"Oh, whoops-( Mistoffelees grinned evilly. "Gotta go. Later."
"MISTOFFELEES!" Too late. Mr. Mistoffelees had disappeared with another loud 'pop'.
8 "Great," he muttered under his breath. "The most famous queen hustler 'round the junkyard's got a pink tail."
RTT had finally decided to just walk into the queens' side of the 'yard with his neon-pink tail nonchalantly tucked in. He wanted to talk to Bombalurina anyway.
Maybe their excessive flirting would keep his mind away from his nightmare. He was heartily sick of that stupid pop-in-his-head-every-other-night dream, and it wouldn't get out of his mind. Besides, he knew nothing about what had happened there. The fire…a young queen trying to protect something she was hiding…the vicious Pollicle leader who killed her…two young kittens…a vicious adversary…the younger one being trapped in a blazing wall of fire…and the older suddenly being scratched on the face, slapping him into unconsciousness…
What did all these stupid things mean to him?
But he knew about the fire, one of the most tragic things that had attacked the tribe. Sure, he had talked to Demeter about it a couple of times, and he knew that her dad had been killed in the fire. Munkustrap, however, had a different story. RTT had been told that Munkustrap's whole family had vanished in the flames except for himself and an older brother, a young ginger tom, who had been rumored to hang around with the worst company and actually be a spy for the notorious Pollicle leader, Priam.
Now, RTT only believed a little of what the rumors said, because Munkustrap had always been a friend. But although he never dared to tell Munkustrap, he secretly thought that the missing ginger tom was Macavity. It sounded so obvious that a cat like him would turn against his tribe and work for a Pollicle to save his own skin, but he never said so. Even the thought that one brother was a Jellicle leader and the other was a long sought-after criminal was hurting.
And there was another issue to think closely about. According to some of the older cats, there had been a feud between the families of RTT and Munkustrap. They both thought it was very ironic, since they got along very well enough each other. Munkustrap's father had wanted to join up with the Pollicles so that he and his family could be saved from later years of bloodshed and death, and he had taken his older son along with him. RTT's family, however, disapproved greatly of the idea, and soon, they began to resent each other. No harm was done to the older son, but Munkustrap's father had suddenly died, and the ginger tom went away to take his place. Strange…after that, RTT knew nothing about what had happened to his mother, or to his sister…he could vaguely remember having one…
There were so many things to think about.
But a sassy voice had broken into his private thoughts.
"Hello…? Mr. Lady-Killer? Are you awake?"
RTT turned around to see a beautiful fire-colored queen smirking cockily at him. At least this was a good distraction. He returned the smirk with the practiced eye of a playboy.
"Hey there, Sugar, how ya doin'?
"Just fine, thanks," said Bombalurina. "And how's Mr. Hustler doing? How come you look so far-off earth?"
"Oh…just thinking about some things," he replied quickly but smoothly, the way that should have been expected of him.
"What were you thinking about?" she asked suspiciously.
"You've always been on my mind," he lied.
Bombalurina gave a satisfied smile.
RTT decided to make it good if he was trying to cover his thoughts. He swished his tail in the usual sexy way of his.
Bombalurina's grin grew wider. Then it slowly turned into a big, hearty laugh. Soon enough, all the queens and kittens who had been watching the two lovers flirt were all joining in.
RTT looked back to see his fantastic neon-pink tail flicking back at him. He flushed the same shade as his loud-colored tail, then slapped his forehead in embarrassment.
How could he forget?
9 Chapter Six: The Plot
It was only an ordinary London evening. Cars sped down the busy street, lights were flashing and dying, people came in and out of several buildings, hurrying down the sidewalk or stopping to talk to other people. The sun was setting, and the city was fast getting dark.
And among all the distractions and the fading lamps, no one noticed a large cat with unkempt gingery fur slip into a dismal alley behind a grubby old apartment.
Macavity wasn't really up to this. Slinking into an old alleyway to meet someone he didn't have a clue about wasn't his idea of a fun night, what would usually be going to a human paint store and spray-painting "THIS FUCKING TRIBE OF JELLICLES CAN SUCK POLLICLE COCK" in bright green and blue on one of the junkyard walls or grabbing some handy-dandy ready-mixed manure and dead things and leaving it there to decompose.
But he was actually going out to play one of his nasty little pranks on the tribe when one of his rats had arrived, delivering a message from this stranger.
"Message? What message? Give it to me."
"Uhm, sum weirdo wants to tawk to ya 'bout sumthin' in the alley next to Magnolia Apartments, I think."
"Weirdo? Do you know who sent the message?"
"Uhm, all the message sez wuz dat it wuz from 'an old friend of yas', Macavity sir," the rat had said.
So here he was, in the filthy old alley next to the almost run-down Magnolia Apartments, and not knowing who or what he was waiting for.
Macavity sniffed around cautiously. This could be some kind of trap; maybe the Jellicles were setting something up to catch him, or maybe some of the Pekes he cheated last week were out to whip his ass for some restitution. Whatever it was, something here made his blood freeze, and that wasn't too common for the Hidden Paw, a cat who wasn't afraid to do anything at the cost of his tail.
He sniffed again. A familiar scent filled his nose, but he couldn't really put his paw on it, until he heard a voice that sounded like a low, menacing growl.
"Good evening, Macavity."
Macavity almost jumped out of his fur. Could it be…?
"Who's there?" he called out weakly at the back of the alley.
"Don't tell me you don't recognize me," said the voice.
"Who-who are you?" Macavity yelled into the alley.
Out of the dark shadows and smiling grimly, came the huge black figure of an evil-looking Pollicle. The left eye looked to have been scraped in a fight, and an ugly red scar ran down the spot to seal it permanently. But the right one stared at Macavity, giving him a fierce chill in his bones.
Priam was back.
"…Priam," said Macavity in a whisper. "My old master."
The huge dog grinned even wider at Macavity.
"I hear you're doing well," said Priam.
Macavity nodded nervously. Priam seemed to sense it.
"What's the matter?" he asked amusedly. "Are you afraid of me, Macavity? I don't find myself remotely scary."
Priam laughed dryly at his own joke.
"No," said Macavity uneasily. Being here with his former master gave him the idea that his ass was going to be beaten pretty badly. After all, it had been a long time. Priam had disappeared after the terrible fire, and believable rumors concluded that the evil Pollicle leader was dead. And Macavity believed them. He went on his own crime spree, declaring that he was the most notorious criminal of all time, saying that Priam was nothing compared to him, and that the big old black bastard had long been dead.
Apparently, he was wrong. Very wrong.
"I hear what you've been saying about me, Macavity," said Priam with a humorless smile. "I'm ashamed, knowing that you used to be my favorite boy, despite the fact that you're-( He paused hatefully, to think of the proper insult-"a cat."
Macavity grimaced, clenching his teeth together and imagining blood and torn limbs scattered around the already filthy alley.
"But you were gone so long," he said, trying to buy time. "We all thought you were dead, so we parted different ways."
"I wouldn't have needed you to call 'the guys'," replied Priam.
"Then what do you want with me, anyway?" asked Macavity.
"I hope you're glad when I say that I'm not going to kill you-( Relief washed over Macavity-"this time."
"You're-you're not?" he asked, trying to sound nonplussed.
"No," said Priam. "Better to kill you when the plan is carried out successfully."
Macavity sighed. At least he had more time.
"What plan?" he inquired.
"Would you have wanted to carry out revenge on the Jellicle Tribe you hate so much?" said Priam.
Macavity nodded. There was obviously something up.
"This mostly revolves around you," said Priam after a pause.
"What do I need to do?" asked Macavity.
"Cut your fur, for one thing," said Priam.
"Cut my fur?!" Macavity had been pretty damn scared of Priam during the conversation, but this suggestion sounded so absurd that he almost laughed. Cut his fur?! The wild, tangled and almost incomprehensible ginger fur that hadn't been groomed and had grown like weed plants on his body was what made him so noticeable, if not for his horrible reputation.
"And why in Sam Hill's dick do you want me to cut my fur?!"
Priam stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"-Master," he added sheepishly.
"I've got a brilliant plan," said Priam proudly. "And with your charm and good looks (if you cut your fur, that is), I doubt we won't be able to pull it off."
"What's the plan?" he asked, this time out of curiosity.
Priam's voice became lower and softer. "I need you to get yourself trusted within the tribe. Mingle around a little, and improve your reputation. You have to gain their trust. Then, when you're fully sure about it, give the signal, and I'll conjure up some troops for a sneak attack."
Macavity smiled. The plan sounded great.
"You have to change your image, too," said Priam. "Cut your fur, clip your claws, and for one, use a good smile."
"I know how to smile," said Macavity indignantly, referring to the evil grin he always used before and after a crime.
"A charming one," said Priam.
"Oh." Macavity scowled slightly. "That."
"We should by next quarter-moon," said Priam.
"That's in only in three days," said Macavity.
"Exactly," said Priam. "That buys us enough time."
Macavity thought about it, then nodded.
"In the meantime, it should also be enough to change your looks. Remember what I said about that."
Macavity nodded again, then prepared to go out into the alley. Priam disappeared into the shadows.
"Good luck," he whispered to Macavity.
With that, Macavity slunk out of the alley, and within a few seconds, was nowhere to be seen. Priam followed a few minutes later, smiling. No one else knew of the plot.
This time, he was the wrong one. A pair of misty aqua eyes scanned the alley, then disappeared.
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