Title: The End (7/11)

Rating: PG-13 for things not in this chapter

Warnings: There will be character deaths

Notes: This is it. The end. The end of the Ritzkin Arc, the finale, as it were. This is where choices are made, fates are decided, and Leviticus (modeled after the Godfather), finally shows his face.

This chapter is dedicated to two very special cats, Munkus and Tigger.

My own Munkus is back in America while I'm studying in London, and due to conflicts with the people I left in charge of him, he's basically completely without a home. He's probably going to be going to a no-kill shelter soon, and I will no longer have my cat.

If there's anyone in western Michigan who can give this absolutely amazing silver tabby tomkit a home (he's going to be a year old on Halloween), please, please, PLEASE get in touch with me. It's bad enough losing Munkus when I'm on the other side of the ocean, even worse knowing that he's not going to a good home.

Tigger is one of my boyfriend's cats, and he got run over yesterday. Last I heard, he was at the vet and it didn't look good. Please keep Tigger in your thoughts. He's an amazingly cuddly long furred tabby, and one of the friendliest, most loving cats I've met. He doesn't deserve to suffer. Thank you.

You really should read the Ritzkin Arc in order to understand what's going on. I know it's long. Bear with me…

I do not own Cats…

The End

Munkustrap ran until he couldn't run any more, until he couldn't force another step from his bloody paws. He collapsed, stumbling forward and falling quite ungracefully on his nose. His sides were heaving as he fought to breathe; his eyes were blinded by tears. He didn't even notice the other cat, a grey tom, until he was upon him, nudging his shoulder.

"Munksrap?"

The voice was harsh, deep and gravelly, but the pronunciation of his name was positively kittenish. Munkustrap, still wheezing, lifted his head. Blinking back tears, he was able to recognize this place. It was under the bridge, where he would meet Tugger as a kitten. It was a place he felt safe. Protected. How completely ironic.

The grey tom nuzzled him again, purring, before he cuddled up beside him. Munkustrap now turned, looking at his companion.

The grey tom was filthy, his fur coated in dust and soot, though there was a hint of tabby markings beneath the grime. His tail was bent, broken from a fight. The whole cat looked like he'd been constantly in fights. He had a tattered left ear and a scar beneath one brown eye. More scars dusted his body, some mostly covered by his grimy fur, but some too horrific to ever recover from fully. One was a burn scar on his thigh (Munkustrap had had a similar mark on his own leg, where Macavity had zapped him with magic years ago, but it had healed), and another, the most gruesome, was a mass of scar tissue over his neck. It looked like someone had tried to rip his throat out, but failed to kill him.

Munkustrap paused, staring at that horrible scar, one paw creeping up to his own neck. Hardly daring to breathe, he pulled away and really looked at the other tom.

Long and lean, this stranger was built like Macavity. He had a similar evilness in his dark eyes, but his face wasn't quite as long and narrow as Macavity's. Still, there was a definite similarity between the two. "Who are you?" he asked softly. If he didn't know better, if he didn't know that he was Ritzkin, he would have feared this cat was. As it were, he wondered if he was crazy and imagining things.

"I'm Etcetera!" the grey tom squealed, before dissolving into definitely kittenish giggles. He reached his paws up and fiddled with his throat. A moment later, he fell into himself, the image of the grey tom fading away. Sure enough, Etcetera, the Jellicle kitten, stood in his place, a collar clasped in her paws. "Hiya, Munksrap! Why're you bloody and sad?"

"Et… Etcetera!" Munkustrap stared at the kitten. "How… How? Why? What are you doing here? And what did you… how did you…"

Etcetera giggled again and held out her collar. "Mommy and Daddy gave me this. Mistokitty made it! Mommy telled me to come here, that I'm gonna be important. I'm apposed to help you."

"Mistoffelees made this?" Munkustrap felt weak and lost and could hardly focus on what Etcetera was saying.

"Yep yep! Mommy asked Mistokitty to make it for her, and Daddy asked one of his other sparkly friends to make this one." Etcetera pulled out a second collar from behind a rock.

"What… does it do?" Munkustrap had taken the first, was holding it in his paws, trying to focus his eyes on it.

Etcetera shrugged. "That one makes you look like a nasty cat," she said, pointing to the one Munkustrap held. "I dunno what this one does. Let's try it!"

Before Munkustrap could say anything, the kitten had fastened the collar around her neck. Munkustrap recoiled in horror, crying out at the sight. Once the collar was fastened, Etcetera's appearance had changed. She was no longer a kitten. She wasn't even a full cat. She was a disembodied head. She was a very realistic, bloody, disembodied head.

She was Munkustrap's disembodied head.

It took a very long time for Etcetera to explain and repeat everything she knew. By the time Munkustrap had calmed down and understood the kitten, he believed he also had a grasp on what Coricopat and Tantomile had been thinking, sending Etcetera away with these two magic collars. By the time the pair had curled up beneath the bridge to sleep, Munkustrap had the beginning of a plan…

Tugger watched as Munkustrap fled the yard. When he could no longer see his friend, he closed his eyes, taking a deep, shaky breath. So much had happened. He had come into the yard this morning with Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, fully expecting to have a fun day with the Jellicles after being absent for a week. The presence of all the Monniks was the first clue something was wrong in the yard. The cries of murder gave away even more. When old Gus stepped toward him with sad eyes and murmured, "It's over… you're in charge…" Tugger broke into a run, sprinting into the center.

Tugger had been half-expecting to see Deuteronomy dead, but he hadn't been expecting quite the gruesomeness of the scene, and he certainly wasn't expecting to see Admetus pinning an unconscious (and bloody) Munkustrap to the ground.

Gus had explained what he knew about the events to Tugger, and he spoke up on the younger cat's behalf, explaining to the tribe how Deuteronomy had picked Tugger as his heir.

Munkustrap had woken up with a groan, and Tugger had exiled him. Now, Tugger needed to bury Deuteronomy, name a new Protector, and ensure the Monniks behaved.

A cat's scream – Victoria's scream – broke the stunned silence after Munkustrap's exile, and Tugger cursed, looking around. Damn Monniks!

"Quaxo!" Tumblebrutus leapt for his friend, but two large Monniks stepped in his way, grinning maliciously. Victoria kept screaming as there was a splash behind the Monniks, dissolving into sobs as Tumblebrutus pulled her close, trying to see what the Monniks had done to Quaxo. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer took this moment to turn tail and run.

Macavity stepped forward, clapping his paws. "Bravo, Rum Tum Tugger, Jellicles. I couldn't have done it better myself. Your Protecter killed your Leader. How pathetic for you."

Tugger growled, his fur bristling. "Bugger off, Macavity."

"Why should I?" Macavity asked, looking around "Or, rather, why should we?"

Tugger tensed as the Monniks all shifted. They completely surrounded, completely outnumbered the Jellicles, and now their paws fell heavily on the Jellicles' shoulders.

"Admit it, Rum Tum," Macavity purred, stalking toward the young Jellicle Leader. "You lost. Your Leader is dead. Your Protector has fled. Your conjurer is useless," and Tugger's eyes widened, wondering what Macavity had done to Quaxo. Drowned him? "Your tribe is surrounded. What are you going to do now?"

"The correct answer, nephew," Leviticus rumbled, stepping forward as well, "is to surrender."