Chapter Four – The Forgotten.

The first thing Rumpleteazer noticed when she woke up was that she was not in the same place she went to sleep. This, she decided, was very odd, especially as she had not previously been known to sleepwalk.

Glancing around, she deduced that she was in a human house, in some sort of a cupboard. It was a bare, wooden room, with nothing inside it but a single bucket, and no way out but a small door. Optimistically, she pushed it, hoping it was open. No such luck. Deciding to sit on the upturned bucket, she wondered where she was.

It wasn't like she had never been somewhere unknown before – that had happened a lot back in her old thieving days. It was just a bit disconcerting to wake up and find yourself a prisoner.

Idly, she wondered if Macavity was on the prowl again, but quickly dismissed the thought. It just wasn't his style, after all. If it was him, he'd have started gloating by now, the egotistical idiot. And she couldn't think of anyone who hated her enough to catnap her. Well, apart from her mother, apparently. But that just wouldn't make any sense, and Teaze didn't want to spend too long dwelling on her mother's actions. Too much raw heartache there. She wasn't one for wasting time thinking about her feelings. She was a cat of action.

Which got her back to the point she was trying to make – who had done this? Who would go to the trouble of catnapping her, of all felines? She was hardly the most dangerous, that would be one of the magic cats. She wasn't the most well known, either, or the most influential. There was no reason, no motive.

She shook her head, to clear it of her thoughts. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense. Especially not the talking to yourself thing, she thought wryly. First sign of madness, isn't it?

Slowly, she came to notice the voices behind the door, seemingly arguing. Curious as usual, she pressed an ear to it, hoping what she heard wouldn't involve the words 'kill the giant cat-thing'. That would just make her day even better.

Ironically, she couldn't hear anything for about a minute – not for lack of trying, just for lack of anything to actually hear. It seemed as if the argument had stopped. She sat on the bucket, most likely looking like a complete idiot, for what seemed like an age before she heard anything. It was a sigh, and it sounded like it came from someone who was extremely annoyed.

"Faith, we can't keep it here! We're struggling for food as it is, we can't possibly house another person, let alone...that." It was a low, gruff voice that appeared to come from a tom.

"Why not, Grant? It was in trouble, so are we. It's obviously not one of the ones in control. It wouldn't be lying in the snow if it was. It could have frozen to death!" Another voice, this one definitely female. She was calm, trying to be reasonable with the tom, but he didn't appear to care. Wait, left in the snow? she thought with a jolt. That's me. They're talking about me.
"Oh, Bast." she muttered. Then, as an afterthought, "It? Tha's offensive. I'm no' an it!"

She pressed her ear to the door again, wondering what her mysterious enemies were going to do with her. And clearing up who they were would be a good idea as well.

"It'd be better off dead, Faith! It's probably some sort of a spy for their leader. I say we just slit its throat and have done." The tom was getting really angry (was he called Grant? That was what the queen had said.) and Teaze was starting to fear for her life even more than she had earlier. Basically, she knew when she was in the Pollicle mess, and she was in it deep.

"Why don't we just ask it what it wants? It's not as if we can't deal with it after if it does want to kill us all, which by the way I very much doubt."

"Fine. Just don't blame me if you get permanent scarring." Grant muttered angrily, and Teaze sighed with relief. She wasn't going to get killed! That was always a bonus in her line of work.

"Josh! Go fetch the Jellicle for us, will you love?" The queen – Faith – yelled. There were footsteps, and Rumpleteazer stepped back from the door automatically. She didn't want them to know she's been spying, after all.

Sure enough, a minute later, the lock clicked. She gulped as the door swung open, revealing for the first time her captor.

Meanwhile, in a well known house where many a powerful human had lived, Tantomile was doing magic once again, reaching out with her mind along the empty streets, the quiet houses, the abandoned city that was London. She expanded her mind, feeling out further down the roads. At this strength, she could make out individuals, recognising Jemima and Victoria returning from Mistoffelees' den, a cat from the Manchester Tribes named Castor who was out hunting, a group of humans huddled in a doorway – but there was no sign of the cat she was looking for.

"You okay, Tanto?" said a voice behind her, and she whipped around, startled. Fortunately, it was only Jellylorum with a saucer of milk in her left paw.

"Oh, Jells, it's you." she breathed, one paw over her heart in relief. "Don't do that to me!"

"Sorry." her friend smiled, collapsing onto a sofa with a satisfied sigh. The sofa was white, as was everything in the room, and it looked odd against Jelly's yellow and orange fur. "What were you doing, anyway?"

"Looking for someone. You know, with magic." Tanto said evasively. She didn't like talking about magic to non-magicians.

"Rumpleteazer." Jelly raised an eyebrow. It wasn't a question.

"How do you know about that?"

"Tanto, I'm Jenny's friend too. She tells me everything. Do you think she'd just forget about expelling her rebellious daughter?"

"Ah." There was an awkward pause. Tanto was itching to interrogate Jelly, to find out exactly how much she knew, but she didn't think it was right. But she had to control information, and if anyone else knew, there'd be unrest among the Jellicles. As co-Leader, she felt she had to know if anyone else had heard what happened. After a pause, she asked Jelly what she knew, only slightly hesitantly. Her reply was quite odd.

"Do you ever switch off, Tantomile?"

"What?" Tanto was confused. She only asked to make sure nobody else had heard. It was for the good of the community. What was wrong with that?

"You need a rest, old friend." Jelly said, that all-knowing smile creeping across her face once again.

"Jells, I-" She had slept yesterday, after all. Or was it the day before? She wasn't so sure.

"No excuses. There's no harm in getting some sleep, Tanto, and Heaviside knows you need it! After all, it's not like there's going to be a major crisis in the next few hours, is there?" Jelly had risen to her feet, apparently intent on ferrying Tantomile out of the door if she would not go on her own. Wearily, she stood up.

"Yes, Mum." she muttered sarcastically, before grinning. There was no way she could stay mad at Jelly, who was currently laughing her furry head off.

"Well, if you act like a kitten, I shall treat you like one! Bed. Now."

A look passed between them then, a weary look, yes, but a satisfied one. It said that they had got what they wanted, that they were happy where they were, secure even. Nothing could happen to them now. They were invincible.

But the moment passed, and Tantomile slunk upstairs. There would be time to discuss that in the morning, and Jelly was right. She needed sleep.

"Night, Jells."

"...Night, Tanto."

Rumpleteazer blinked. Standing in front of her was a human tom, no more than a kitten. She guessed he was around Mistoffelees' age. Actually, he reminded her a bit of Misto, as he had dark hair and a sullen expression.

"Well, tha's a bi' of an anticlimax." she muttered, following him out into what looked like a meeting room. It was dirty, but tidy, with a semicircle of chairs around an old-fashioned fireplace, each filled with a human. She was lead out to the centre of this semicircle, where a grey haired human tom stood. At a guess, she'd say he was Grant. The man turned to her, speaking slowly and clearly.

"Do...you...un-der-stand...me?" he asked, and Teaze rolled her eyes. Great, a moron, she thought, mentally preparing a sarcastic response.

"Yeah, bu' if ya keep talkin' to me like tha', I may be forced to claw ou' your tongue." Looking at the reactions of the other humans, she judged that this was not the right response. Most of them looked shocked, or just plain mad at her. Oops, she thought. The man – Grant? – looked a little surprised, but he carried on nonetheless.

"What were you doing outside this house?"

"Sleepin'." Teaze decided to keep her answers brief. "Go' nowhere else to go, 'ave I?"

"Why?" This was the second voice she had heard from the cupboard, and she turned to see a short, dark human queen looking curiously at her. Shrugging, she told them about how she had come to be there, as briefly and concisely as possible. After she had finished, there was a long pause.

"Faith, come with me. I need to talk to you." Grant ordered, and the pair of them left the room. Teaze was anxious. Were they going to kill her after all? Oh, Bast, say that won't happen. There was so much she wanted to say to her brother, if she could find him. She wanted to live! She was relatively young, at least, she was compared to her peers. There was no way she deserved this! It wasn't fair, it really wasn't.

The door creaked open again. Grant and Faith entered the room, both looking stony-faced.

"We have reached a decision." Grant said emotionlessly. Teazer gulped.

"I have been persuaded," he glared at Faith. "To let this...thing stay here, on the condition that it-"

"She." Faith interrupted. Teazer smothered a grin.

"That it use its Jellicle nature to find us food and help us humans."

"What do you say, Rumpleteazer?" Faith asked kindly. Teaze liked her, she reminded her of Jenny. She shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well, it sure beats sleepin' in the snow..." she said. "So, I guess I'm in."

Author's Note- So, it's been a while. Again. Sorry about that, I've been busy, busy, busy then I spent the last week in the Oblivion of No Internet (Scotland). But it's SUMMER now, so I may even put the next bit up within the next fortnight. Maybe.
Bet none of you guessed it was the humans! Well, one of you did in a review. Your prize is...er...a banana. Yes! Go get a banana and pretend it's from me.
Anyway, all the usual, reviews are good, constructive critiscism wins cookies and I'll see you next update!

Disclaimer- I only own the situation and the humans. (And Castor) Yeesh, do I look like TSE, ALW or RUG?