[Hey everybody, hope you like my one shot!
Oh! And happy assorted winter holidays, God bless!
I disclaim all rights.]
"Pounce stop!" Etcy whined as Pouncival tugged on her tail once more, asking for her attention.
"But Etcete-"
"Shut up!"
"You've got something in your-"
"Go away!"
"STOP!" Pounce shouted at the top of his lungs, making her step back in shock. "Good Bast! You've got something in your fur! But I won't bother to tell you that since you're such a stuck up snob." He hissed.
"I don't know why either," He continued, crossing his arms and giving a sneer. "You're not even pretty." And with that hateful comment he turned on his heel and stomped away, leaving heavy footprints in the thin snow.
"Pounce I-" She started, but didn't know what to say. She shut her mouth, what she had thought he was trying to do was bug her like he always did. Did being the key word in that statement, he'd grown up quite a bit since his coming of age. He didn't play as many jokes, although the occasional feathers and glue did happen to come up during September, he'd even started helping his dad at the railway station, and had begun to take after his older brother –Tumblebrutus- and become a respectable Tom. Was she just being rude? Was she really being a snob?
"Go apologize," Victoria, her sister, urged.
"No, he shouldn't have been pulling on my tail." She spit. If Pounce could be mean then so could she.
0o0.0o0.0o0
Etcy pouted her bottom lip, she was most thoroughly put out. Tugger was leaving the yard again, he'd been gone almost all the time now. Rumor had it that he was leaving to meet a mysterious Queen, but Etcy didn't believe that – how could he when he was meant to be with her?
"Where do you think he goes?" Victoria asked her sister as they watched out the window at Tugger as he fluffed up his mane against the snow. It was practically a blizzard out, and he was just walking out into it like it was nothing. Well if he could do it….
"Let's follow him," Etcetera giggled and rolled off her nest, running to the door.
"No! It's snowing like crazy out there, we'll freeze." Victoria hissed, throwing her arms wildly in the air for emphasis.
"Fine then," Etcy was in a rush to catch up. "You stay here and I'll come back with all the juicy and explicit details!"
She raced out of the house, shocked by how cold it really was. Her paws became numb so quickly that no matter how hard she was rubbed them together she couldn't feel it. The snow became a sort of a veil that kept her from seeing not only Tugger, but where she was going as well. It was like magic, it was falling down so thick and so heavy that it seemed to weigh her down and trip her. She'd been walking for what seemed like miles before she finally collapsed - at that point she didn't even know if she was following Tugger anymore, she thought she'd turned around and been going back to the yard.
"Tugger?" She yelled, pushed herself against a brick wall. She definitely was not in the Junkyard anymore. "Tugger?" She tried against, her voice being drowned out in the wind. "Anybody!"
At this point she didn't care at all if just somebody would come save her.
0o0.0o0.0o0
"Hey!" Victoria came storming into the meeting hall, where everyone had gathered around the huge makeshift fireplace, and shut the door behind her. "Where's Etcy?"
"We thought she was with you," Munk said standing up.
"She… She followed Tugger,"
"Well I'm here," The said Tom stood up along side his brother, concern crossing his face. "So where did she go?"
"Oh my gosh," Pounce put his head in his hands and starting to imagine all of the horrible things that could be happening to her. No matter how much of a Pollicle she could be, he couldn't let anything happen to her! Secretly, for the last three years… he'd had a crush on Etcetera. Sure he'd made fun of her, especially that 'annoying' Tugger scream. Okay, that one actually was annoying, but only because it made him a teency weency bit jealous.
"I gotta go find her!" Vicky yelped, jumping back towards the door.
"No," Munkus grunted, pulling her back in by the waist. "If you go out there we'll lose you too." He moved to the other side of the room and set her down.
"We'll make a quick round, it looks like it's starting to let up." Admetus stood up along with Alonzo, both quickly going to open the door. A flurry of snow fluttered in and settled, sure as day the snow was actually slowing down. They stepped out into the cold weather and began a brisk step as they did a full circle around the Yard.
Pounce stood up, unnoticed, and slipped out the back of the meeting den. The cold bit at his neck as he looked for Etcetera, she wouldn't have been in the yard since she thought Tugger was leaving it so looking around here would've been pointless. "Etcetera!" He yelled, a gust of wind carrying his voice away and nearly pushing him over.
"Etcetera!"
0o0.0o0.0o0
She had been on the point of absolutely freezing to death, she was cold, and she was tired, and she wanted to go home! She had curled up in an old cardboard box behind what smelled like a bakery, she'd even tried to get in to stay warm but they'd effectively shut out the cold and her.
"Etcetera!" Her ears perked up, "Etcetera!" She lifted her head and peeked out into the alley.
"Pounce?" She whispered to herself, not really believing that her knight in shining armor was going to be the clown of the yard. "Pounce! Yes I'm here Pouncival !" She could see a figure, outlined by the slowing snowfall.
"Oh my gosh, Pounce, I didn't think anyone – let alone you- was going to find me," She sighed while attempting to climb out of the box. As she looked over her shoulder again she watched in amazement as his outline became larger that it should have been, and then stared dumbly as it became two.
"Pounce?"
0o0.0o0.0o0
"Etcy? Where are you?" He muttered, blindly walking down a back way of a restaurant. A shrill scream faintly reached his ears, and he took off in a mad dash towards it. His steps faltered as he heard another cat behind him, looking back he huffed:
"Tumbles, what are you doing here?"
"Helping you! No way was I going to let you go out here alone," The two brothers were running at top speed and showed no sign of slowing down. No way was Pouncival going to let anything happen to her!
"Hey!" Tumblebrutus shouted at two Toms that held a young Queen between them. A look of relief spread across her face when she saw the two. There was hardly what one would call a scuffle, let alone a fight. Because basically, Tumbles threw himself on one and knocked him to the ground and by doing so had the brute hit his head on the ground and fall unconscious, and Pounce attacked the other by pushing him into a wall and punching him until he, too, was unconscious.
Etcetera squealed as she ran to Tumbles, embracing him in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you,"
Pounce didn't take the time to stare, didn't waste the energy on releasing his anger on his brother, and didn't bother telling Etcy that she was a no good, two-faced, mean, annoying, bit-
"Hey, stupid!" He turned around. "I wasn't done yet," She bounced over to him and pulled him in a tight squeeze.
"Thanks for saving me," She whispered, kissing his cheek.
[You can tell I started rushing towards the end there…
Happy 2012 everybody!
No flames please, constructive critique welcomed. ]