Plato and MungoJerrie were on patrol. After suffering his punishment, Mungojerrie had finally been allowed back into the ranks of Macavity's henchcats. He had been put on guard duty with another new tom, Plato. The two of them had walked in silence, both unimpressed at being forced to stay awake on such a cold night. Rubbing his frozen paws, Mungojerrie attempted to start up a conversation to pass the time.
'So… Ya new here?'
It was lame, but the tabby was tired and it was the best he could do.
'Yeah.' was the only reply he got.
'What do ya think of it?' Mungojerrie tried in vain to get the silent tom to speak.
'Well..' For the first time Mungojerrie could see the young tom's expression more clearly. He looked frightened.
'Dun worry. I aint gonna tell anyone.'
'Well, to be honest, I don't know what to make of Macavity. He just looks like he wouldn't trust you to do anything and…' Plato paused before continuing. 'He just seems to be so angry at everything.'
Mungojerrie sighed. Plato would never understand Macavity, no-one ever would now.
Plato continued with his impression of Macavity.
'He looks crazed… Like he's gone mad!'
Looking sadly over the skyline, Mungojerrie exhaled deeply, letting his hot breath warm his already numb paws.
'If you don't go mad after something like that, you don't have a heart.'
'How do I tell her?' Macavity slammed his fist on the desk, refusing to wait for an answer.
'ANSWER ME!'
The henchcats looked helplessly at each other. It had been Melanic who dealt with Macavity's personal issues. They were clueless in the face of such raw emotion. Among them, Mungojerrie stood watching the emotions cross over the ginger toms face. Anger, hurt, worry, fear – they were all there. As Macavity met his eyes he realise he had been staring and quickly snapped his eyes away.
'Get out. All of you.' His voice was heavy, anger concealed behind a calm exterior. He turned for a second before calling after them.
'Wait. Can I speak to Mungojerrie and Plato please?'
Mungojerrie scrunched his nose in annoyance. He had been halfway through his lunch when the meeting had been called and he just wanted to get back to eating.
He turned to look at the other tom in the room. He was a tall tom, almost reaching the same height as Macavity, despite his young age. Even with his size, his expression and posture made his look like a tiny kitten. He was scared. Mungojerrie shrugged to him, hoping to give him some encouragement. He knew what is was to anger Macavity, he had the scars to prove it.
'Night watch. Both of you. Mungojerrie, show Plato the ropes, as he's new. See he doesn't get into the same trouble you did.' Macavity's voice was monotone and his sentences short.
It was then that Mungojerrie understood what made Macavity the leader. In the face of such betrayal and pain, any other cat would have broken down and lost control. Even when it was clear he was hurting, Macavity did not let it get in the way of business. You only had to look at the way his henchcats followed him to understand the respect they had for the ginger tom.
'Yes Sir.' Mungojerrie nodded and waited to be dismissed.
'I'm giving you a chance to prove yourself 'Jerrie. I know you have potential. Don't waste it. Now you may go.'
As both of the toms left, Mungojerrie heard Macavity call after him, telling him that his sister was to visit Victoria that afternoon. Mungojerrie sighed; With 'Teazer being the only queen on Macavity's team, all the motherly jobs fell to her.
With his henchcats gone, Macavity sank into his 'chair'. In his mind he though over the events of the last two days. The day of Melanic's disappearance had begun as usual, with him briefing his henchcats on the days work and retiring to his 'office' to go over his plans. It was there he realised he hadn't seen Melanic at the briefing. He had called in some of his workers to ask if they had seen him and eventually sent them to find him.
That was when the whole day had gone devastatingly wrong. Melanic's den had been found empty. Unable to believe it, Macavity had gone to investigate himself. The den had been completely cleared of it's contents, it was hard to believe anyone had ever lived there. His reaction had been one of utter confusion and disbelief, eventually turning to anger. He immediately put his anger to good use, channelling the feelings into preparing an investigation. He ordered one cat to find out when Victoria had last seen Mistoffelees and on hearing her reply concluded that they were not far away. A search party had been sent out, but returned without finding the runaways.
'They have three days. I want posters up, rumours started, anything you can get to bring them back. They will have a chance to explain themselves. After that,' He nodded to a tom to his right. 'You know what to do.'
It had been two days since then and there had been no sign of the two toms.
With his head in his hands, Macavity knew that Victoria had to be told. As for what she was told, he would decide that later. Sometimes lies could cause less pain than the truth. Macavity just wished he knew the truth. He couldn't understand what had made Melanic so desperate that he would risk his life. All of the henchcats knew when they joined that the penalty for betrayal was death. No exceptions made.
A single tear dropped onto the 'desk' in front of him. The first tear Macavity had shed in over ten years. His eyes jerked open as he felt a soft paw wipe away the damp trail the tear had left on his cheek.
'I thought I told you to see Victoria.'
With a seriousness in her voice Macavity had never heard before, Rumpleteazer replied.
'She's not the only one who's hurting.'
Her dark eyes were wearing an expression Macavity had never seen before. It was a cross between concern and something else, something he couldn't work out. Rumpleteazer had become invaluable when dealing with Victoria. She was a female influence and acted as both a mother figure and a friend. Macavity himself rarely had chance to speak to her but found that when he did, she was good company and a change from the 'rough-around-the-edges' toms he usually talked to.
'You need to leave, I have work to do.' Macavity pulled her paw away from his face and pretended to look down at the pile of paper in front of him. He was concentrating so hard on the black and white letters he didn't notice her walk around until she was standing right next to him.
'You need to stop trying to act like everything's fine. You're not the Rumpus cat.'
'No. I'm not.' Macavity had given up trying to get rid of her and just answered her as simply as he could. He felt her paws slip into his and groaned as he felt himself pulled to his feet. He stood limply, looking down at the determined expression on the queen's face.
'Well you need to stop trying to be him then.'
Macavity couldn't help smiling at the sharp tone of her voice. She was such a petite queen; it was entertaining to find himself being ordered about by her. It took a moment for him to realise he was still holding her paws and as soon as he did, he dropped them like they were hot coals.
Rumpleteazer rolled her eyes. 'I've not got a contagious disease!'
As she watched him sit back down, Rumpleteazer, just as her brother had, realised something about Macavity.
'Why are you so scared of showing affection? You're cold to almost everyone. You're even distancing yourself from Victoria and she's your own daughter!'
Macavity stood up with such force, Rumpleteazer leapt back.
'Because if you get attached, you get hurt. Cats come into your life but no-one ever stays. In the end, they always leave you. That's why it's safer to never grow close to anyone, or trust them, or…' Macavity paused and looked helplessly at Rumpleteazer who gently took his head in both of her paws. Then, standing on her tiptoes so she could reach, she kissed him.
'Or love them. Right?'
Then, wiping her tears away, she left the room.
