Here's the second installment! Thanks to those who viewed and enjoyed and are back for more. To those who are seeing this now, welcome! Enjoy, rate, and review!
Disclaimer: I do not own CATS. Just because I'm making something out of the nearly nonexistent canon of the original story does not make it mine.
Note: I based the overall progression of the Jellicle Ball off of the choreography of the movie. I'm sure it's a bit different in other productions.
Chapter One
Macavity.
All the adults were whispering the name when they thought the kits couldn't hear. It was like a creeping, icy cold hand of darkness and death, subduing them all. Except that was not all. The death of one of their own, just a day before the Jellicle Ball, was weighing heavily on the atmosphere.
Who killed Lancelot? No one would admit to it, and there had been almost no evidence. Tracking the killer had proved nearly impossible. All the cats had started to regard each other, even their families, with suspicion—a bad omen the day of the Jellicle Ball.
It must have been Macavity. Lancelot was Mara's brother, after all.
But who's Mara?
You know, that cat who committed suicide a few years ago. She was the mother of the little black tuxedo cat…Quaxo, I think his name is?
Demeter hadn't known Lancelot very well, but his death had truly been horrible. He had been found murdered, clearly having been through quite a struggle before he was forcefully drowned. Demeter shuddered to think about it, then shook her head to clear it and continued absentmindedly eating dinner.
"You won't want to eat too much, dear," her mother, a golden queen named Hera, advised her. "It's your first Jellicle Ball; you won't want to throw up if you overexert yourself."
"I just don't understand why we're still having the ball if there's a murderer on the loose," Demeter replied.
"Old Deuteronomy is convinced that we have strength in numbers," Hera replied sternly.
"But what if the murderer is in the tribe?"
"He isn't."
"How do you know?" Demeter asked curiously. "Does it…does it have anything to do with Macavity?" Hera turned sharply towards her daughter with a shocked look on her face.
"How do you know that name?" she demanded fearfully.
"I hear all the adults talking about him. Who was Mara? Why did Macavity kidnap her?" Hera looked like she was about to have a heart attack, and gestured for Demeter to keep her voice down. Looking around fearfully, Hera began whispering so quietly that Demeter had to move closer to her in order to hear.
"You were just a kitten at the time, and we didn't want to frighten any of you," her mother began carefully. "Macavity was always a bit of an outcast within the tribe. Kept to himself; talked about magic all the time. He never really made a huge effort to take care of himself either, although I think that was due to a lack of real guidance from older cats. His only real friend was a cat named Mara. She was a kind, gentle cat who loved to dance. I think she really felt sorry for him. Well, as you might guess, he fell madly in love with her, or at least he thought that's what it was. When she refused to return his affections, he resorted to violence and she was hurt rather badly. Macavity himself disappeared. A few months later it became apparent that Mara was expecting, and well…though she never acknowledged the rumors, most people thought that the child was Macavity's."
"Quaxo? That tiny black kitten who's always helping to watch over the newborns?"
"Yes, the very same. Your friend Munkustrap has been looking after him since Mara died, you know."
"Yes, I know," Demeter murmured, unexpected heat rushing through her at the mention of her older friend. A thought occurred to her. "Why do people think he's Macavity's?"
"Well, he wasn't at the scene when Mara was found, but she didn't have a mate at the time and no one else would own up to being the father, so..."
"I see," Demeter murmured. She glanced outside and gasped. "Mother, we have to go! We'll be late for the ball!"
"O-of course, dear," Hera stammered, taken aback by the abrupt change in subject.
Demeter rushed out the door, feeling that they air was charged and forgetting all about the ominous topic of conversation. She saw her friends all gathered, looking tense yet elated. This was not like other times when a few Jellicles would gather and make a dance routine for the rest of the tribe to see. No, this would be unrehearsed and entirely instinctual, or at least so Demeter had been told by the older Jellicles. The Jellicle Moon hung high and breathtakingly immense in the heavens, no different from any other full moon to any except those who were gathered this night.
Suddenly, as if on cue, all the Jellicles looked one by one to the sky and began to dance.
Demeter had never practiced this dance before, nor had she heard the music that suddenly seemed everywhere, inside her head and all around her—the dance of the Jellicle Moon, ingrained into the body and heart and mind of every Jellicle kitten before birth. This was what they lived for.
Demeter danced, sometimes among her friends, sometimes among adults she barely new—some of those who were experienced had solos, and others did not, but it didn't matter. Everyone knew their part that surely must have been designed for them by the Everlasting Cat.
Suddenly, Demeter found that everyone had fallen away to the ground, yet she knew somehow that she was to remain standing. Barely a second passed before she realized she needed a partner for this particular part of the dance, and suddenly before her was Munkustrap. His silver fur shone, and the black stripes gleamed—to Demeter, he had never before looked so…desirable. Shyly, he nuzzled her. Demeter leaped away, startled, but then relented to his slow advances. He lifted her up, higher and higher, and then lowered her with a tenderness she was not expecting, breathing in her scent. It may have only been a dance, only a symbolic act, but oh…it was true ecstasy.
When it was all over, Demeter lay next to Munkustrap and smiled at him. He smiled back hesitantly.
Suddenly, there was a change in the music. Skimbleshanks, a Jellicle a little older than Demeter, sat up, sniffing the air. Soon all the Jellicles were up, looking at the sky expectantly.
The music came again, different this time—where before it had been full of anticipation and pent-up energy and nervousness, now it was joyful and rapturous. Everyone danced together. This time, no one was a soloist. This was all about what it was to be a Jellicle.
As the Jellicle Ball finally ended, cats started immediately disappearing into the darkness without a word. Demeter, suddenly feeling a need to be by herself and think, joined them and slunk off towards her den, avoiding Munkustrap's eyes. Curling up in a ball with the last strains of music still echoing in her mind, Demeter quickly fell asleep. No one noticed a pair of eyes glowing menacingly on the edge of the junkyard, and no one heeded the feeling of foreboding that they quickly buried underneath the ecstasy of the evening.
In case no one picked up on it, this was Demeter's first Jellicle Ball. Yes, Quaxo is Mistoffelees and Macavity is his father. Don't worry! Our villain will show up soon, and the plot will definitely pick up speed within the next two chapters. I just needed to give some backstory first and establish a couple of things. Review, please!