A/N: This was my first real fanfiction ever. Constructive criticism would be nice.
Disclaimer: I do not own CATS. If I did, I wouldn't be writing a fanfiction, now, would I?
Enjoy!
The young calico cat cautiously entered the junkyard. Jemima glanced around for her pure white friend, Victoria. They had both agreed to meet early for the Jellicle Ball. She looked around for at least one familiar face--ah! She caught sight of a white face with bright, lively black eyes. She ran up to the tuxedo cat.
"Misto!" she cried, hugging him. "How are you? Have you seen Victoria?"
"I'm doing all right," the magician answered the first question. "And no, I haven't seen Victoria." Since last year, Jemima had grown used to Mistoffelees's polite and old-fashioned manner of speaking.
"There she is!" Jemima said, waving to the young white queen. "Victoria!" she called.
"I think I'll go and look for the Tugger," Mistoffelees said awkwardly, hurrying into the night. Jemima giggled, for she knew the exact reason. After they had met a year ago, Mistoffelees paid frequent visits to Jemima. On one of those visits, he had told her that he had feelings for Victoria. Not only that, but that he didn't have the courage to face her just yet.
Victoria gave Jemima a hug. "Hey, Jem!" she said. "How have you been?"
"Pretty good," Jemima said.
"Is anyone else here?" Victoria asked.
Jemima considered telling her that Mistoffelees was there; it would be a wonderful joke. But then she imagined his face and thought about his powers. So she said, "No, no one is here yet." Suddenly, she caught someone else's scent. "But someone is about to be."
Bombalurina, the saucy red queen, sauntered into the junkyard, a gray-striped (but otherwise white) kitten by her side. The kitten looked to be almost exactly Jemima's age.
"Hey, Jem," Bombalurina said. "Cornelia, this is Jemima and her friend Victoria."
"Hi," said Cornelia. "It's nice to meet you." Jemima could tell that she didn't say much.
"Nice to meet you too," said Jemima and Victoria in unison. "You're going to love the ball," Victoria added.
"I figured that," Cornelia said, wandering off.
When she was gone, Jemima turned to Bombalurina. "Aunt Bombie," she said, "who is that?"
"Yeah," Victoria said. "Who is she?"
"She's my kitten," replied Bombalurina proudly.
Kitten? Jemima thought. I never thought that Bombalurina would have a kit unless...of course. "Bombie," she said tentatively, "is she yours and Tugger's kitten?" If so, Jemima couldn't wait to see how Etcetera would react when she found out that the Rum Tum Tugger, the flirtiest tom in the tribe, had a mate.
"Yes," said Bombalurina, as though it was nothing major or life-changing. She was still the same aloof, careful queen. "Say, have you seen Demeter anywhere?"
"Yeah," Jemima said. "Last I saw, Mum was going with Dad to make sure that the ball was absolutely secure this year." Munkustrap, Jemima's father, had had Mistoffelees magically enhance the security system so that when Macavity, the most fiendish feline in the world, came around it would not only warm the Jellicles but also keep Macavity out.
"Thanks," Bombie said and strutted off to find her sister.
Distant giggles, followed by a "Shush!" echoed through the yard. Jemima looked towards the old car to see the most notorious Jellicle twins, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, climbing over the trunk with heavy-looking bags slung over their shoulders.
"Been out stealing?" Jemima called. Victoria laughed.
"O' course!" Mungojerrie said in his thick cockney accent. "Wo' else d'you expect us ter be doin' when we're not 'ere?" He and Rumpleteazer hurried down to meet Jemima and Victoria.
"Good to see you, Jerrie," said Victoria. "And you too, Teazer."
"Anyone else 'ere yet?" Rumpleteazer inquired.
"Yeah," said Jemima. "There's my mum, my dad, Bombalurina and her kit Cornelia, Tugger, and Misto...ooh." She flushed a little--she wasn't exactly supposed to say that he was here yet. "By the way," she said, skillfully changing the subject and turning to Victoria, "where's Plato?" She was referring to Victoria's mate.
Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer exchanged fleeting glances, sensing that something was wrong. "Come on, Jerrie," said Rumpleteazer. "Let's go foind Coricopat an' Tantomoile." Then they left to find the witch twins.
Victoria looked at Jemima. "I don't want to talk about it right now," she said quietly.
"Oh, come on," Jemima said. "I'm your niece. You know that you can tell me anything." She made her most pitiful face, for Victoria had never been able to resist it before. "We're best friends." She began to pout full-on.
"Fine," Victoria said. "I might as well get it over with." She took a deep breath and her eyes began to water. "Plato met a queen from another tribe. The other day he told me he was leaving. He didn't tell me why. But I found out." By this time, her tears were flowing freely.
"Oh, Tori," Jemima said, her heart overflowing with empathy. "I'm so, so sorry. I wish there was something that I could do."
"There is," Victoria said, thinking. "Don't be offended, but this is something that only one cat could fix. You said that Misto was already here. Do you know where he went?"
"Yeah," said Jemima. "He said he was going to talk to Tugger."
"Thanks," said Victoria. Then she hurried to the Rum Tum Tugger's lair.
"I don't think that a human book is going to help," Mistoffelees said, putting the book back on the Rum Tum Tugger's makeshift bookcase.
"But human books always help," Tugger persisted. "I'm telling you, if there's one thing that humans got right, it was the concept of those 'How To' books. That's where I get my charm." He winked.
"I'm not following," Mistoffelees frowned. He heard someone approaching. It was Rum Tum's daughter, Cornelia.
"Hi, Daddy!" she said, giving Tugger a hug. "How have you been?"
"What do you mean, how have I been?" the Rum Tum Tugger said. "You talked to me this morning."
"I know," Cornelia grinned. Then she turned to Misto. "Uh, Dad?" she said. "Who's this?"
"Cornelia," Rum Tum said, "this is Mistoffelees. And Misto, I take it that you already know who Cornelia is."
"Yes," Mistoffelees said. He looked at Cornelia. "You must be Tugger's daughter."
"Yep," said Cornelia."
Mistoffelees felt someone else approaching. When he could hear who it was, he winced and blushed. All this time trying to avoid her and it goes down the loo, he thought. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures....He jumped and concealed himself behind Cornelia. "Hide me!" he practically squeaked.
The kitten turned to her father. "Dad, what's his problem?"
The Rum Tum Tugger, as good at keeping secrets as he was, just said, "I have no idea."
Victoria entered the lair with a resigned grace. "Misto, can I talk to you?" she asked.
Begrudgingly, Misto stepped out from behind Cornelia. Curse you, mostly white fur! he thought towards Cornelia's pale tabby coat.
Victoria led Mistoffelees to the top of one of the many tall junkpiles, where you could see nothing but the violet sky as the afternoon faded into night.
"Misto, I really need your help," Victoria told him. "I have a real problem."
"What is it?" Mistoffelees asked, truly curious. He didn't expect Victoria to come right out with it. But then, he hadn't expected to find out that he had magic powers like his father, either.
"Plato left me," Victoria said curtly. "I know this seems a little selfish, but could you please help me through this? It just seems like you're the only one who could help me handle this sort of thing."
"Of course, Tori," Mistoffelees said. Victoria should have known by now that he would be on board for anything that she asked.
"Come on," Victoria said. "The ball is starting." Together, they headed down to the center of the junkyard.
Jemima watched as Electra and Etcetera danced the Invitation to the Jellicle Ball. As they were both to become queens that night, they would, pretty much, be the center of attention. Jemima couldn't wait to be a queen herself. However, that moment wouldn't occur for another year.
"Hey," a quiet voice said beside her.
"Hi, Cornelia," said Jemima.
"I just wanted to know something," Cornelia said timidly. "Who's the big silver tabby?"
"Oh, that's Munkustrap," said Jemima smoothly. "He's the protector-slash-storyteller of the tribe. Everyone loves him in one way or another."
"Ah," said Cornelia. Then, all of the Jellicles came out for Munkustrap's bit in telling those who hadn't been to the ball what was going on. Jemima couldn't help but feel that something was missing, however. But she decided to disregard the emptiness.
Jennyanydots, the Old Gumbie Cat (who was also Munkustrap's mother), decided to try out for the Heaviside Layer again. Jemima knew that the Rum Tum Tugger wasn't going to try out, but he decided to ruin Jenny's fun anyway.
All of the females, except young Cornelia, swooned at the mere sight of him. He sang the same song as last year, but the experience was still great. There weren't any extra contestants this year, so after Tugger had his fun, they went straight to Bustopher Jones. He actually admitted that he was getting to be around past his prime. This didn't change his eating habits, though.