A HUMAN WORLD
by Medianoche
(aka The Lady Elizabeth)

PART 1: CHANGED
Chapter One: The Battle

Battle waged in the junkyard that fateful night. It was not your typical battle of Peke and Pollicle dogs, but that of two groups of cats. The Jellicles and a tightly knit band of strays led by the Jellicles' most hated enemy. The Hidden Paw himself directed his hench-cats into a battle that would be spoken of for many years to come.

Macavity was in the junkyard.

At that moment, Macavity was fighting his own, personal enemy. Munkustrap, a strong, gray tabby, was growing more exhausted by the minute, was letting more and more blows past him. Any onlooker could see that Macavity was at an advantage, and would win if help didn't come soon.

With a strong backhand, Macavity struck Munkustrap across the head. Dazed and injured, the tabby staggered back. He tried to steady himself, but Macavity kicked him firmly in the stomach, sending him to the ground. Munkustrap groaned as the air was knocked out of his lungs and his ribs and the backs of his legs slammed hard against the packed dirt. Macavity stood over Munkustrap, a contemptuous look on his face.

"Get up, Jellicle," he hissed. "Fight like a tom!"

Munkustrap shook his head to clear it and stumbled to his feet. Around him, individual fights had ceased and their participants had turned to watch them. Jellylorum, who was rounding up the last of the kittens to be protected along with Skimbleshanks and Bombalurina, was holding onto one of the younger kitten's paws. The tabby tom made it a point to learn the names of every single new Jellicle, born or brought into the tribe. This little kitten's name was Jemima. Her eyes were wet with tears and her mouth was working, as though she were yelling or screaming at Macavity himself. Munkustrap stared harder and the kitten's head was quick to turn to his direction.

Be brave, he thought as hard he possibly could, knowing that she couldn't hear him. She nodded sagely anyways and allowed Jellylorum to catch up her under the armpits and lift her into the tire. A swish of her tail and Jellylorum and Skimbleshanks were quick to follow the kittens into the deep, safer bunker. Bombalurina waited outside, her claws unsheathed and ready to draw blood.

A thick and heavy silence settled over the junkyard as the screams of the kittens vanished and all that was left were the painful thudding sounds of flesh striking flesh. Very soon after that, even that noise stopped and all that could be heard were Munkustrap's gasping breaths and the deep and distant sound of a kitten crying. Macavity narrowed his eyes and began to circle the tabby, the tip of his tail twitching dangerously. It was a scarlet snake closing in on its prey.

"C'mon, Munkustrap," he growled.

Munkustrap crouched into an attack position. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his mate, his beautiful Demeter, looking on in horror. She was hunched over; arms crossed over her chest, with nobody near her to soothe her. You just couldn't afford to soothe someone in battle. That could end up killing each of you.

Munkustrap watched Demeter's small frame heave with sobs of absolute terror and fury, though it was clear that the terror had won out. She was quiet in her sobs; Macavity had taught her that. Suddenly, her eyes snapped towards his face and he could see the pain wracking through her body as it never had done before. Munkustrap felt something inside of him stretch too far and crack; perhaps a last shred of gentlemanly decency on the battlefield.

With a snarl, he lunged at the Hidden Paw. There was a flurry of red and black and silvery-gray before Munkustrap crashed once more to the ground, Macavity standing over with him with bloody claws out. The tabby hit the ground hard enough for the wind to be knocked out of him again and he sucked in breaths like a drowning cat. Demeter's voice, carried by the wind to his ears, moaned in agony and Munkustrap knew perfectly well why.

It's hopeless, he thought. I'm just too tired.

He felt Macavity move closer and hook a paw under his stomach. Munkustrap flipped onto his back with no resistance and stared as firmly as he could as Macavity knelt down beside him. The scarlet feline wore an almost sympathetic look as he rested those long, bloody claws on the flesh of Munkustrap's neck.

"You're pathetic, Munkustrap. Why do you want to fight for these people? They only love you because you protect them," he practically purred.

"It's better than what your people 'love' you for," Munkustrap snarled in return. Macavity nodded, sugarsweet, and tented his fingers together, elbows resting on his knees.

"And after I kill you, I'll keep your pretty little Demeter as my own little play toy." Munkustrap only looked away. "She does scream so wonderfully. I should know, right? I've played with her before."

"Shut up," Munkustrap replied evenly, knowing that there was no use in rising to Macavity's bait. Even though everything he was saying was likely to be true, he had to pretend that Macavity's bravado was nothing but a fancy smoke screen.

Macavity nodded once more. "I figured you'd say that, so here's my best offer: I'm going to offer a complete scholarship to your prettiest little queen kitten. I'll have her speaking like an upper class housecat, but able to satisfying even the most insatiable, such as myself." Munkustrap's eyes narrowed. "I think the girl I'm thinking of is named Jemima."

"You son of a bitch!"

"Finally, there's my outburst," Macavity said. He raised his paw to club Munkustrap over the head. He was finally going to end the gray tabby's life, once and for all.

"STOP!"

Macavity's paw froze in midair and he looked up. Mistoffelees stood several paces away, his paws glowing a brilliant blue. The much younger tom glared at Macavity threateningly and Macavity couldn't help but laugh.

This is typical, he thought. Of course the magician would want to try and save the day. He always likes to play hero. Well, that's your first mistake.

"What're you going to do if I don't?" Macavity taunted. He flicked his tail, giving a hidden signal to his own, private weapon.

"Something you won't like," Mistoffelees replied, shifting his weight uneasily. Macavity was supposed to be looking scared right now, not arrogant. Everyone, Jellicle and stray, knew that Mistoffelees's powers were growing immensely.

Macavity rolled his eyes. Ah, he thought. A poet: a real Wordsworth with language. Waiting for the right moment, Macavity slowly backed away. He watched in amusement as Demeter rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Munkustrap. The golden queen began to nuzzle and lick at the tabby's head, occasionally shooting Macavity looks of pure rage and terror. Macavity smiled. It would be nice to have her to play with once again. Her screams had been the sweetest and she had been a virgin when he had first taken her. It's hard to let go of something as perfect as that, Macavity knew.

"Leave now or I'll do something we'll both regret," Mistoffelees said quietly.

"Now, why do I doubt that?" Macavity asked. Munkustrap got to his feet, Demeter clinging desperately to him. He tossed his head back.

"You're outnumbered, Macavity," Munkustrap said.

Beginning to get annoyed, Macavity clapped his paws together. There was only so much he could take from this sniveling ball of fur. He noted, with satisfaction, that Demeter's eyes grew larger when a small, black tom slipped up beside Macavity. The Hidden Paw glanced at him quickly then returned his gaze to the female Jellicle in front of him. He extended one long, razor sharp claw towards her. Demeter moved, as though in a sudden trance, towards him.

Munkustrap snatched Demeter out of Macavity's reach at the last moment and Coricopat and Tantomile, the resident physic twins, healers, and natural magicians, were between the now heavily sobbing Demeter and the gloating Macavity.

"Leave her alone," Coricopat said softly so only Macavity could hear.

Tantomile nodded, the tips of her fingers glowing a swirling mixture of gold and green. "There are more 'magicians' here than just those who can make sparkles in the air and recover lost cats." Macavity felt himself somewhat turned on when she smiled slightly and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Fireworks are nice, we're the ones who can raise the tide, shake the earth, melt the earth, and blow away everything you hold precious."

"Note taken, my darling."

Coricopat hissed and reclaimed his sister. Macavity watched as the two slunk back to their place with Alonzo then shook his head. Imagine! Them threatening me! He threw out his hands and looked Mistoffelees straight in the eyes. The small tom flinched, but stood his ground.

"Let me introduce you to Merle, my dear Jellicles," he said. Mistoffelees looked a little nervous.

A small, black cat was hustled out in front of him. It looked as though he had been being held in place by his upper arms because he began to rub them with an annoyed look on his face. He was easily thinner and shorter than Mistoffelees despite striking similarities to the older tom, including having that smudge mark on his knee, which meant it looked like he was perpetually dirty from playing in the dust. Munkustrap figured that he might not even be considered a tom; Merle appeared to still be a kitten. Although he obviously had Macavity's confidence in him, he looked a little scared to even be in the junkyard. He twisted his paws nervously in front of him.

"You're going to have a kitten defend you, Macavity?" Munkustrap scoffed. His voice was weak now from weeping along with his heartbroken, stricken mate. "What could he possibly do to us?"

Macavity gently pushed the tiny cat in front of him. Merle blinked nervously then met Mistoffelees' eyes. To the Jellicle magician's astonishment, they were the exact shade of his own. He wanted to call a time out so that he could study this child and determine if he were some kind of close, but lost blood kin. Merle dropped his eyes to the ground before Mistoffelees could rattle off a single of the hundreds of questions racing through his head. Macavity clapped Merle hard on the back and the little tom stumbled. This was the first time that Mistoffelees wanted to scream at Macavity to lay off one of his own agents.

"Go ahead, Merle. Show them what you can do."

Before anyone could move or react, Merle shot out his paws in front of him. A brilliant red light shot out of his paws and struck Mistoffelees square in the chest. Shocked, the magician was thrown off his feet and he crashed to the ground. He desperately began to gather his magic.

Merle turned to Munkustrap and Demeter. He flicked his wrist towards where the older magician was climbing back to his feet, a haze of blue surrounding him. Demeter got the hint easily enough and used every bit of her strength to drag Munkustrap back to his feet and lead the heavy tabby over to Mistoffelees.

A blue lightening blot shot past Merle, missing his head by inches.

"Hey!" he cried. Mistoffelees was thrown off by the other cat's shock that anyone would retaliate. Did the little tom think that this was a game? Had Macavity been sick enough to have raised him to think that fighting and battles were playing games that one always play, with any skills or weapons they had? Worst of all, had Macavity made it clear that the cats that Merle was sent to destroy were now dead and would never to be alive again?

Recovering quickly, Mistoffelees shot another bolt. It would've hit him, but Merle held up his paws in a protective gesture. The lightening struck a red light shield and bounced away. Not wanting to give him another opportunity, Merle crouched down and quickly summoned his most powerful magic.

Realizing what he was doing, Mistoffelees gathered his own magic. There was no way this side of the Heavyside Layer that he'd let Merle blow him away without a fight. Even though he had no idea what would happen, he flung his paws out in front of him. At the exact same moment, both cats fired out rays of intense blue and red light.

The twin lights collided with each other with a deafening boom. Jellicles and strays alike fled to hide underneath garbage. The light engulfed Mistoffelees, Merle, and Munkustrap and Demeter, who were immediately behind Mistoffelees and still trying to console one another. For a moment, one could see each silhouette against the bright light. Then all was dark and silent.

Macavity, who had been blown backwards off his feet, sat up. His backside hurt from landing on it so hard. No wonder Munkustrap always looked so much less engaged in a fight after landing on his bottom or back. He blinked, trying to make his eyes adjust to the sudden darkness. His mouth fell agape as he stared at the spot where the four cats had been.

Of the four, only Merle remained. He was standing shakily, staring straight ahead. His bright blue eyes were now dull and without emotion. He murmured something too soft for anyone to hear and took a step back. He brought his paws to his mouth, eyes filling with tears and began to shake his head in shock.

"What have I done," Jennyanydots heard him whisper from her post with the young queens. "I want to take it back." The little black cat swayed. "I want to take it all back. I want to… take…"

To his credit, Macavity leapt to his feet and caught the small cat as his swaying stilled then he collapsed in a dead faint.

Macavity shifted Merle to the ground. He examined him quickly, a skill well learned, among hundreds of other important ones, by sheer chance of being taken in by a young librarian who had a wide collection of non-fiction books; he came to decide that Merle would be all right for a moment. The Hidden Paw looked around the junkyard, waiting for some sign of life.

He breathed a faint sigh of relief as he saw one Jellicle toms, Alonzo, crawl out cautiously from behind a broken washing machine. At least Merle didn't kill everyone, Macavity thought.

He watched as the Jellicle stared in disbelief at where their friends had been. Alonzo's face contorted swiftly from shock to despair to rage before he turned on Macavity.

"Where in Heavyside are they?" he shouted.

Macavity decided to ignore his question and turned his head to look at the stunning red queen who had slipped out of the tire. He smiled and gestured to the general area before him.

"Impressive, eh, Bomba?" he asked. Bombalurina stared at him for a long moment before she lunged at him. Alonzo caught her around the waist, struggling with the hissing and spitting flame-colored queen.

"Where she is?" Bombalurina screamed. "What did you do to my Deme?" She cut herself off from further questions when Merle moaned quietly.

Alonzo jerked her away from the small cat and the two older cats stumbled backwards. They glanced at Macavity then back down at the tiny magician. Bombalurina took a step back as he groaned again.

Deciding that he didn't want to have anything to do with such a powerful tom, Alonzo tugged at Bombalurina again. Frightened, she allowed herself to be tucked back into the tire, her fierce green eyes staring outwards. Tucked against Alonzo on one side and Etcetera and Rumpelteazer on the other, she watched warily as the strays emerged from their hiding spots. They cast tired looks at one another and their leader before slowly drifting out of the junkyard. Macavity knelt, scooped Merle into his arms, and followed them.

Nobody spoke or moved for a long time afterwards.

This is my very first fan fiction ever, so please be kind to it. It's been on the internet for nearly eight years, but stashed back on a website that is no longer being updated, so I doubt this little story ever got much of a chance. So, even though it's definately an old work (someone besides me is bound to notice that), I decided to dust it off, polish it, put it in it's best kept clothes, and parade it about town. Reviews are warmly welcome.