Here we go, another update! Anyway, I've been busy of late for trying various job interviews and I've had to give this little updates now and again but in that time, here's the finished article! So in the last chapter, it was dark and this one...well, it starts of dark again. But anyway, this and the next few chapters will be a bit lighthearted before it get's darker later on...

Anyway, its time to catch up with the Jellicles once more!

Chapter 3

The Dream

Pouncival opened his eyes and saw that he lying in the middle of the Junkyard at night. Oddly, he looked around and saw nobody here; there wasn't even a pin drop of a sound. Surely there had to be someone here at night. It was then he noticed that there was something different about the yard, all the dens that he knew were all trashed and that to his shock, he noticed several blood marks all over the place.

"Guys?" Pouncival called out, but no one replied. Now he was starting to shake in fear.

He stood up and started walking along trying to find any of the Jellicles. "Tumble? Dad? Plato? Anyone?"

Still silence, by now the bi-coloured tom was starting to feel more scared at the silence. "Come on guys this isn't funny…anyone…Electra? Munkustrap? Jemima…"

He stopped dead in his tracks; he remembered how he saved his and Jemima's lives from that ambush in that alleyway from those toms. The whole thing was nothing but a blur, a very dreadful blur. Though all he could remember however was lying there on that pavement in the rain in her arms. Pounce prayed hoping that she would've brought him back to the Junkyard and that he'd be nursed back to health. Unusually though, he looked down at his body and noticed that all the wounds he'd suffered where not there, as if that attack hadn't happened at all.

"Hang what's going on?" he muttered to himself checking himself out.

Then he heard a laugh, a low, cruel, menacing laugh.

Pouncival's blood ran cold, he with the rest of the tribe all knew that laugh, but he didn't want to think who it really was. "Please stop it…this is not funny!"

The laugh got louder, and this time, it was coming from behind him. He spun round and looking up on one of the piles in the yard, his heart nearly stopped in horror. It wasn't a pile of junk, when he squinted his eyes, he gasped when he saw it was a pile of bodies. Bodies that all in fact were the Jellicle tribe…dead.

All his friends and family…dead all covered in all of their own blood. He didn't know what to do and fell to his knees began to have tears fall down his face. It was then however when he looked up on top of the pile of bodies that he saw the one responsible. The laughter was coming from a large scarlet tom that looked frightening and one that Pouncival knew all too well.

Macavity.

He stopped laughing and stared down at the young tom. Pouncival always knew that Munkustrap was always there to protect the tribe when he was a tom-kit, but now the silver tabby was within that pile of bodies and that Pounce was all on his own. He was now the last of the Jellicles and there was no one out there to help him.

Pouncival waited for the villainous tom to attack him and send him to his death with the others…he didn't. Instead the two stared at each other, Macavity's dark eyes sending chills down Pouncival's spine. Then Macavity stepped to the side and to Pouncival's surprise, there was another cat that appeared behind him, though due to his eyes now welling up with tears, he couldn't make out whom it was. Then the two slowly left and heading of down the Junkyard pile, laughing at the destruction they had caused.

Pouncival tried crying out to them shouting curse words at them, but it was useless, the tribe was dead and all he could do was sob in grief while knelt down with his head in his paws.

"It's not over," said a voice in front of him, one that he'd never heard before.

Pouncival slowly looked up coming face to face with a brown tabby tom with his arm outstretched for him.

"Come with me," said the mysterious tom, his expression being a serious one, and then suddenly, it all went back to black.

XXX

A faint voice was heard in the darkness, but became clearer quickly as Pouncival slowly opened his eyes.

"Come on Pouncival, can you hear me?" said a female voice, one that Pouncival knew very well who it was, Jennyanydots.

His eyes opened further and then he saw where he was. He was in Jennyanydots' den and he was lying on a makeshift bed made up of old pillows that would've been found in the yard. When the young tom's eyes faced towards the motherly nurse cat, an expression of relief washed over her face.

"Oh thank Everlasting cat you're ok!" She sighed happily as she dabbed a wet cloth over some of his wounds. "I didn't think you'd make it."

Pouncival looked down at his body and saw various cuts either small or large, but he in particularly saw a large gash wound by his chest. It was that wound that could've quite easily killed him, thankfully though this time; it wasn't bleeding furiously like before.

"What…what happened?" Pouncival asked, still unsure about everything that had happened since then.

The Gumbie cat looked away biting her tongue and shuddering at the memory. "Oh heavens, what a truly horrible thing to happen to the two of you. All of us here were staying in our dens due to the rain, then suddenly Jemima came in with her arm round your waist, you were in a terrible state with blood everywhere…"

She turned to look at the patched tom before continuing. "She told us what happened…oh heavens…I don't know what to say. I've never seen Jemima look so frightened in my life."

Pouncival tried sitting up, but pain suddenly brought him back down again. Jenny quickly rushed over to his side. "Careful now. You've only just woken up."

Pouncival then thought back to his dream as Jennyanydots went over to a small basin and dip the damp cloth in it to make it wet once more. That dream didn't feel like a dream or even a nightmare, it felt real to him. "Um, Jenny?"

"Yes?" She asked as she dipped the cloth into the basin.

The young tom cleared his throat, he didn't know what to say about that dream. "…Um, well…I had this…dream, no, nightmare, that felt real somehow."

The Gumbie cat, now curious, turned round to look at him. "Oh? What was it about?"

Pouncival drew in a shaky breath and rubbed his head in a apprehensive manner. "…It…it was about Macavity…the Junkyard was in ruins, and you were all dead, lying in a pile…and he was standing on top of all of you laughing…"

Jennyanydots' eyes widened and she lightly placed a paw over her mouth. "Good heavens."

"That wasn't all though," Pouncival added. "Macavity had someone else with him…couldn't make it out though who it was…and then there was this brown tabby tom, about ages with you, telling me to come with him…and that was it."

The two of them were silent, as a cold chill seemed to go down Jenny's back. "My word," She uttered in shock. "Surely those horrible toms must've done something to do with it…you don't think, they maybe part of Macavity, right?"

Pouncival shrugged. "Who knows, but who was that brown tom…is there any brown tom that you might know?"

Jennyanydots shook her head. "Don't know any brown tom around here…anyway though, it's just a passing nightmare, let's hope we won't have anything to do with them ever again."

The young tom agreed and began resting once again; it was only then when he remembered about a certain young queen.

"But wait," the patched tom said to Jenny. "Is Jemima alright?"

The Gumbie cat muttered something about forgetting Jemima in their conversation and turned to look at Pounce once more.

"After you went into my den, she has been really worried about you since, and with that large wound on you," She pointed at his large slash wound on his torso before carrying on speaking. "I was fearful that you wouldn't make it. The poor queen has never once smiled since then."

Pouncival felt more worried about Jemima than his own condition. "I must meet her to say—"

"Stop right there," Jenny commanded. "As I said before, you'd just woken up and you are not fit to stand up, let alone go out there."

Just then, they heard a clattering from outside and the door opened revealing Jennyanydots' daughter, Electra. The young tortoiseshell queen came in carrying a bundle of various bandages in her arms and to Pounce's mind, it looked like she'd been working all day with her tried expression.

"Hello mum," Electra greeted as she placed the bandages beside Pouncival, not knowing that the tom had awoken. "It's like a madhouse back there…"

She stopped as she soon noticed that Pouncival was now awake. "Oh! Your alive!" And she ran over and tried to give him a hug, but Jenny pulled her back.

"Careful! His body is not feeling that good!" Jenny explained.

Electra let out a little embarrassed giggle and muttered 'sorry' before looking back at Pounce. "Oh I'm so happy you are ok! Jemima will be so happy over this!"

The Gumbie cat then had an idea. "I'll tell you what, Electra. You go over to where Jemima is along with the rest of the tribe and tell them the good news."

Electra smiled. "Alright mum, I'll do that." And with that said, she raced off out of the den to tell the others.

Just after she left however, Pouncival looked up at Jennyanydots. "Actually, apart from Jemima, how do the others feel?"

"All of us are worried," Jenny replied. "Admetus and your brothers have been worried sick, always banging on my door asking me if they could come in and see you."

Pouncival thought over the images of his dad and brothers trying to get in and ask how he was doing. He could see dad and Plato getting emotional, but Tumblebrutus? The idea of Tumble getting upset like that didn't seem like him, anyway, did his littermate ever care about those close to him?

"Wait…" Pouncival then realised something. "How long have I been in here?"

Jenny muttered something to herself with a nervous expression. "Well…you've been out for two days—"

"T…Two DAYS?" Pouncival gasped.

"The injury did made you lose a lot of blood," Jennyanydots explained, shuddering remembering the bloody and battered tom from before. "It was only once we managed to stop you losing more blood, it was then a waiting game to see if you would wake up…if ever."

Pouncival didn't reply and simply rubbed his head in thought about the whole series of events. "Damn…I don't know what to say."

Jennyanydots placed a wet cloth over Pouncival's large wound, causing there to be a nip for the tom, which he tried to hold back that brief twinge of pain. "One thing is good though and that you are on the way to recovery, and with it just a few days until your birthday, you should be out by then."

The cream and brown bi-coloured tom smiled at her. "…Thanks…that's all I can say."

"Oh don't thank me," Jennyanydots corrected. "Thank Jemima for getting you back."

XXX

The Jellicles sat round near the TSE1 all with their thoughts with Pouncival. Most of the adults were talking among themselves while Admetus was trying to comfort a weeping Plato, who had never stop crying since Pouncival had gone into Jennyanydots' den. Even Tumblebrutus felt worried about his littermate, his expression was sour and his eyes were moist but they never blinked as he could only stare at the ground blandly without any idea what to do now.

Elsewhere, Mistoffelees and Victoria were in a deep conversation about something, Etcetera was curled up nearby watching Rum Tum Tugger and Bombalurina chatting about something, they didn't seem that worried like the rest about Pouncival and the little tabby queen felt angered by them. Then again after Tugger shocking everyone by settling down with Bombalurina as his mate, some things do change overtime.

It was only when she saw one queen who seemed to be the saddest of the lot. Jemima. Etcetera felt just sad looking at the rusty black queen, Jemima sat on her own sitting by the large tyre, her head drooped low, no doubt thinking about Pouncival. Seeing no on else beside her, she decided to give her friend some comfort.

The cream and white tabby sat down beside Jemima, in which she didn't respond to Etcetera sitting beside her.

"Hi?" Etcetera voiced softly.

Jemima didn't say anything. She felt too numb to feel anything; she just couldn't stop thinking about Pouncival and that ambush in that alleyway. Etcetera could see her face had tears rolling down her face.

Etcetera's mouth formed a tight line as she looked over to see Munkustrap with Demeter discussing about something, and now and again looked back to Jemima.

"He…he saved me," Jemima suddenly spoke up, her voice quite groggy, as if she was feeling ill.

Etcetera, happy to get a response from her, carried on speaking to her. "Yes, he saved you…he does care for you after all this time."

Jemima slowly craned her head up to face Etcetera; her bruises that she'd received had nearly disappeared thankfully. The white and cream tabby's heart sank just looking at Jemima's sombre expression, oh how she wished just to see her smile again. "It was my fault…I should've done something to help him."

"But you did!" Etcetera pointed out. "You managed to bring him back here to safety, so in a matter of fact when I think about it, you both saved each other's lives." She paused as Jemima sniffed and whipped away some of her tears.

"I just…don't know what to do," Jemima sighed.

"You can still hope," suddenly came the sound of Demeter's voice.

The two younger queens turned to see Demeter sitting beside Jemima with her mate, Munkustrap, following Demeter and sitting alongside them.

Etcetera then couldn't help but noticed of how mother and daughter were so alike. Since Jemima had become a fully-grown queen, she had almost become a spitting image of Demeter (including Demeter's sister Bombalurina), minus the colours of fur.

Demeter then placed a comforting arm around her daughter's back. "It's ok Jemima, Jenny will know what to do with him. Besides, if you still didn't like him, you wouldn't be feeling like this."

Jemima sniffed, her feelings for Pouncival that she had for him when they were together had now started to return. "He's…he is just my best friend…no…I…"

Demeter rubbed her daughter's back in comfort trying to let Jemima's feeling to come out.

"It's all right," Munkustrap said softly at his step daughter. "Everything's going to be ok."

Jemima looked up at the silver tabby with a sad look, though she had only had her mother since the day she was born, she had never know who her real farther was, Demeter saying it was a one night stand long ago when she was younger. Though since Demeter had become Munkustrap's mate, he had filled the void of a farther figure for Jemima and had always been there for her to help her through various situations. Right now though, all she cared about was Pouncival, her heart now racing at just thinking about him. There was no denying that she still held deep feelings for her former tomfriend.

"I…oh, Everlasting cat…I still love him." The rusty black queen then pulled her mother into a tight hug that Demeter accepted and uttered several words of comfort to Jemima.

Munkustrap and Etcetera both watched the tender moment with warm smiles, then the silver tabby stood up when he saw Electra racing over to the Jellicles. Once each member of the tribe saw her, they all focussed on her awaiting what news she might bring for them about Pouncival.

"Any news?" Munkustrap questioned as the other Jellicles asked similar questions to her at once.

The tortoiseshell queen raised her paw for them to be silent. "Yes…I bring news for all of you," Electra replied once they were all quiet. "It's alright…he's awake!"

Several of the Jellicles cheered, others like Tumblebrutus, Admetus and Munkustrap could breath a sigh of relief while Jemima give Demeter another hug and for the first time since Pouncival went into Jennyanydots' den, Jemima smiled.

XXX

As soon as Electra had given them the good news, the whole tribe went racing over to Jennyanydots' den, all of them keen to know how Pouncival was doing. It was only when they arrived outside of the den that Jennyanydots heard the sound outside and headed out of the den to meet them.

She didn't want them all to rush in as no doubt that poor Pouncival would've been bombarded questions, she thought of letting in Admetus, Plato and Tumblebrutus in first to meet him, but then she saw Jemima standing nearby Demeter. Though looking relieved she still had an anxious expression on her face.

So knowing about how Jemima felt through this whole time about him, she decided to let Jemima in first to meet him. "Jemima, you can come in first to meet him."

The young queen, though quite surprise at this, nonetheless nodded and casually walked into the den, with several members of the tribe knowing why, with their history together, which would allow Jemima to go in first.

Once the young queen entered the den after being led by Jenny, she came face to face with Pouncival. She stared at the tom's many wounds he'd suffered from those toms and she felt a lump in her throat of how sorry she felt for him. He slowly sat up and gave her a warm smile, it was only then that suddenly Jemima rushed forward and pulled the cream and brown tom into a tight hug.

Jennyanydots was about to split them up knowing the tom's injuries, but knowing then that the two were worried about each other, she back down, not to mention that Pouncival wasn't reacting to any pain from his wounds as she was expecting. Instead, she back into a corner of the den to allow the two some privacy.

"Oh Pounce," Jemima sighed happily after pulling back from him. "I can't tell how happy I am to see your ok."

Pouncival smiled and cupped her cheek with his paw, even though she had some bruising not bad as his own, she still looked radiant in his eyes. "Yeah? Well, Jenny told me that you brought me back to the Junkyard rather than leaving me back there…got to say you helped save my life."

Jemima blushed. "But you saved me from those toms, you are my hero and I don't think either of us would be here right now."

The Gumbie cat sat in her corner and smiled warmly at the tender moment between the two. "They're growing up," She thought contentedly.

The two of them just remained there looking into each other's eyes and in both their hearts saying to them that this was all they needed. Then without them knowing it, the two slowly started leaning forward until—

"Would you look at that!" Tumblebrutus' voice boomed across the den.

Jennyanydots jumped in fright not expecting anyone else to enter the den unless she allowed it. Pouncival and Jemima both pulled away quickly and their faces blushed as red as Bombalurina's fur. They both saw Tumblebrutus standing there in the entrance to the den with a reluctant Admetus and Plato behind him, both of which looked really irritated.

"You ruined the moment!" Plato said in annoyance.

"For goodness sake didn't I tell you not to enter without my permission?" Jennyanydots scolded them, but Tumblebrutus walked forward with a smile on his goofy face towards his littermate.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Tumblebrutus said as he sat in-between Jemima and Pounce. "And look at these scars on you, damn you look so badass, even I'm jealous!"

"Let's wait our turn," Admetus ordered his son to come back.

The white and brown bi-coloured tom grinned at his dad. "Come on, he's my brother and your son, surely we're allowed some access?"

Jennyanydots groaned. "Your dad's right, once Jemima's done, you can come in."

Tumblebrutus snorted and then looked back at his brother. "Ah well, hope you get out soon." He paused as he looked back at Jemima. "And once you're done makin' out with him, let's us in next."

And despite Jemima shouting at him as he raced off saying that Pouncival was not her tomfriend, Pouncival didn't really matter what was going on around him. All that matter was things could get back to normal and that he would be out just in time for him and his littermate's special night…their birthday. And a night when he hoped he could perhaps let himself back into Jemima's heart.

Aah, lovely eh? Well, the next chapter is a birthday...but what does that brown tabby tom want with Pouncival? Review to find out more and if Pounce and Jemima will get back together again!