Wow! Aren't I right bastard for doing that? I had better fix this before you all track me down and lynch me for doing what I did to Misto! I thought I'd throw a shattering moment in there just to cause chaos, meet one extreme with another so to speak. I'll try and update as frequently as I have been doing so you don't have enough time to sharpen your pitchforks and chase me into the hills.

Also, is it Maine Coon or Maned Coon? I think it's the first even though that particular cat has a mane. Confusing.

Anyway, Misto is hurt and needs help fast.

WARNING: Tugger drops the F-Bomb in this chapter, but can you blame him?

Disclaimer: Cats isn't mine. Now you don't have to sue me.

Chapter 9

So much blood

'The world is a strange place. A lot of life is left up to chance. Some call it fate, some call it nature but in the end who can say if the happenings in our lives are planned for us or if they just happen. There are some things – such as falling in love – which some like to say are fated, yet there are other things – such as gross injury – that those same persons say are horrible accidents. How can we be certain which things are meant to happen and which things just occur?' It was something philosophical Old Deuteronomy had said long ago to Misto and for some reason it seemed quite apt at his moment in time. Different thoughts flew in and out of the tom's mind at random, probably sue to shock. He could see the branch from where he'd fallen moments ago above him and could feel a horrible sharpness beneath him, but strangely it didn't seem to hurt. Perhaps it was the adrenaline rushing through his slowly emptying veins or maybe he'd hit his now burning head as he fell, either way all he knew was that the cat who had declared his love for him not long ago was flying down the tree towards him with an incredible look of fear in his eyes. He could see the bigger tom brush shards of glass of from him with his bare paws receiving small cuts himself. The coon bared his teeth he felt stinging sensations fill his paws. Misto stared at him worriedly, he knew he was bleeding but Tugger's actions must have meant something else was wrong. He tried to turn his head to see what the bigger tom was so scared by but all he could see were jagged pieces of green glass dripping with his blood. As he saw what he was lying on he felt a dull aching which slowly turned into sharp pangs of pain inside him as he tried to move. He winced and tears began to stream from his eyes as the reality of the situation began to become clear to him. His breathing got faster and he began to hyperventilate as he understood the implications of this mess.

Tugger panicked, not knowing what to do. His mind tried to cling onto reason as he attempted to clear the small pieces of glass from the tux's fur.

"Everlasting Cat, Misto!" he cried he did his best to squash his horror back inside him for the sake of the tux.

"What is it, Tugger?" the small cat said between frightened gasps for air

"It's…just some glass" Tugger said trying to force out a smile to comfort the little tom. He turned Misto as best he could to get a look at his injuries. It took all his strength to keep his stomach from emptying as he saw the extent of the damage.

"What is it?" asked Misto beginning to shake when he saw the maned tom's pained expression.

"We've got to get you back to the junkyard" he said, "We need Jenny! I'm gonna try and lift you up okay?"

The tux nodded and tried to brace himself for Tugger's motions. He cried out as the tom reached beneath him and began to lift. It tore Tugger's heart in two to see the tux in so much pain. His felt cold as he saw the tux shake as his blood dripped down from his deep gashes. He felt even sicker as he noticed the size of the glass sticking through Misto's soft fur. There were several pieces, the largest of which must have been about the size of a small teaspoon which is huge to be stuck in a cat of Misto's size. He tried to place his paws so he wouldn't force the glass in any further and felt his own tears sting his eyes but tried to keep it together for his mate's sake.

He began to run with the little cat who was becoming rather still in his arms. He looked down and saw Misto was breathing much shallower now and his eyes were closed.

"Misto! Come on! Stay awake for me, please!" he nearly shouted at the rapidly declining cat.

"Where are we now, Tugger?" asked Misto having trouble with his words. His vision was becoming blurrier whenever he tried to open his eyes.

"We're just around the corner, darling. Hold on! We'll be there in a moment."

Misto managed to crack a small smile. He liked being called things like 'Darling' and 'My Love' by Tugger. It made him feel whole and was becoming the only strong feeling he could still feel. He knew he must have been losing a lot of blood as he couldn't feel the pain anymore and his mind was becoming fuzzy. He could just hear the huffing and puffing of his mate as he ran with him in his arms.

Tugger rounded the last bend in the road and made for the entrance to the junkyard. He nearly tripped as he passed pieces of junk with the barely awake little Misto in his arms. His fur was soaked in the tom's blood and it ran down his arms as if he'd cut his own wrist. The white patches of his mate's coat had become a scary mixture of pinks and reds which could be seen by the cats in the clearing of the junkyard as the two toms made their way in. Every one of them gazed in terror at the sight they beheld. Tugger fell down, cradling his love and helping him to support his head.

"Please, somebody help" he said shakily to no one in particular. The cats just stood in their places, shocked at the view. Tugger was holding a very bloody Misto and crying rivers as he looked down at him. Tugger's head shot up,

"HELP HIM!" he screamed at the tribe, not knowing why nobody was coming to their aid. "He's dying! Jenny do something!" he said directing his rage at the motherly queen. She snapped out of her stupor and rushed to the toms. She quickly looked at the tux's afflictions and spun her head around. "Skimble!" she shouted to her mate, "Prepare the den!" The ginger tabby was off like a rocket to their den to clear a space for the little tom.

"There's not much time" she said frantically to Tugger as she finished her quick assessment. "Munkustrap, Alonzo, come here, now!"

The two friends bolted over to the trio in a flash.

"Pick him, quickly! But avoid the cuts. Take him to my den right away!" the toms complied and as gently as they could picked up the fallen tom.

Jenny caught Tugger's arm as he attempted to follow them. She seemed to convey great sadness with her eyes, "I'll do my best Tugger" she whispered, "but I can't make any promises".

"What are you saying?" stammered Tugger, fresh tears beginning to run down his cheeks.

"All I can do is my best" she repeated and ran off in the same direction as the toms. Tugger stood there in a daze. What did the queen mean? She said she would do her best, did that men there was a chance that Misto might…

Tugger sped off after Jenny. He'd figured out what she was saying and needed to know more. He was caught by his brother emerging from the den as he neared.

"Let me through, Munk!" he cried, thrashing in the silver tabby's grip.

"I can't, Tug! They need space! You'll just be in the way! You need to stay out here!" said Munk struggling to hold back his younger yet ironically larger brother.

"Fuck that!" shouted Tugger, "Let me through!"

A bunch of other toms came to the tabby's aid and pulled him away. Tugger just shook them off and ran. Munk followed knowing that his brother needn't be alone at that moment.


Inside the den, Jenny was turning the little tom onto his front with assistance from Jelly. They simultaneously winced as the extent of his injuries became clear. Misto was slipping in and out of consciousness, eliciting a small gargle or whimper every now and then. The two queens were saying things back and forth but Misto only heard soft sounds that made no sense. Jenny slowly began clearing the smaller pieces of glass from the tux's wounds. She could see it was hurting the tom but there was no other way. The blood was making it really difficult to see even though Jelly was wiping as much of it away with a cloth as she could. Jenny worked as quickly as possible. She was highly skilled having a lot of experience but could only work so fast. She managed to clear every small shard she could find but now came the tough part: the large pieces.

"Skimble, bring me some paper clips from my bag, and remember to sterilize them". Skimble jumped into action going about his mate's orders. He struck a match and held the clips in it's flame for a few seconds before moving over to the working queens.

"Okay" said Jenny "We've got to take these pieces out now or we might not be able to save him. We've got to stop the bleeding or he'll die, so here's what's going to happen: Jelly, you pull the pieces out slowly and I'll clamp off the bleeding inside him with the paper clips which, Skimble, please hand to me as I need them. Are we clear?"

The two assisting cats nodded and got ready.

"Okay, now!" Jenny said firmly. Jelly gripped the shard and began to pull gently. It wouldn't move.

"Jelly, pull!" said Jenny

"It's not moving" the yellow tabby said.

"Try harder"

"It's not budging, it's too jagged!"

The two queens looked at each other with knowing glances.

"Skimble, bring me a knife"

The ginger tabby looked at her. "What?" he asked, shocked.

"Just do it!" she said with a raised voice, "and sterilize it!"

Skimble just did as she asked and handed her the sharp tool.

"Get ready with those clips, Skimble, and Jelly, pull when I say" she instructed as she lowered the knife to Misto's ever-gushing wounds. She quickly made small incisions around where the glass was sticking in. Misto shuddered beneath them feeling a new sharpness other than the type he was already enduring.

"Pull now" she said, and Jelly swiftly pulled the first large shard free. It's place was quickly filled with blood and began to overflow.

"Skimble, the paperclips" she said quickly. She took it and reached into the tux's gash. She closed it around what she found was the source of the bleeding. It seemed to subside and she wiped away the excess blood that had been spilled.

"I need to stitch it while it's clamped" she said frantically digging out some thread and a needle. She held the needle over a match like Skimble had done with the paperclips and threaded it. Very quickly and carefully, she stitched along Misto's deep cut like she would if sewing together a torn cloth and slowly removed the paperclip as she went. She brought her paws back and inspected her work as she finished. She deemed it suitable and looked to the others.

"Right, now the next one" she said working like a machine.

Misto had stopped feeling things shortly after the knife went in. It wasn't clear if he'd passed out from the pain or the lack of blood but either way he fell into blackness.


Tugger was distraught. He smashed things as he rampaged along one of the junkyard's many trails. He picked up a small metal pipe and began to destroy everything he could see. He was filled with so much hurt that he needed to let out somehow. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, he wanted kick the living daylights out of something, anything to make the pain go away. In the end his grief took over and he fell to his knees, bawling like a kitten. He let out his strife loudly and didn't care who saw him, although he was glad that it was unlikely anyone would be nearby to see him. He stood corrected as a paw rested on his shoulder. He swung around and tried to lash at whoever it was that had touched him. Munkustrap dodged his brother's swiping paw and just looked him in the eye. Tugger tried to hit him again but Munk just jumped back avoiding the Maine Coon's attempts to hurt him. He kept backing away until he saw his opportunity present itself. Tugger swung around hard and his arm was swung right around his body, Munk took this moment to tackle his brother to the ground and pin him there. Tugger thrashed and writhed beneath him,

"Get off me you bastard or I swear I'll kill you!" he screamed at his brother and hit him as hard as he could. Munk just stared him intently in the eye holding him like a vice. Tugger's attempts for freedom slowly became less and less as tears poured from his despairing eyes and he began to convluse beneath his sibling. He threw his arms around his brother and cried hard into his fur. Munk brought him up into a sitting position and hugged him close, letting his brother relinquish his muffled shrieks of emotional agony into his shoulder. Tugger felt so much fear for his mate that he had no idea what to do.

Munk just stayed where he was, holding his usually strong brother as he bore his heart and soul for his lover.


Blood seemed to be covering everything. Jenny and Jelly's fur was stained a sickly reddish-brown but that was nothing compared to Misto before the nursing queens had cleaned him off as best they could. His fur had been matted with a horrible reddish sludge composed of his spilt blood which had dried. He'd lost a lot of the precious, life-giving liquid as he was being transported by his mate and a lot more of it had been deposited in his fur or on the sheets he'd been placed on whilst Jenny worked on him. The motherly queen was just finishing up bandaging the broken tom's body as Demeter entered the den.

"How is he?" she asked quietly

"He's alive" Jenny said back with just as much volume

"That's good, isn't it?" Demeter asked timidly.

"For now it's all we've got" she replied, "he's lost a lot of blood, my dear, and there's no way of telling what the extent of the damage is until he wakes up." She paused and then corrected herself, "If he wakes up, I mean" she said with blatant sadness. Skimble went over and put his arms around her. It was strange for any cat to Jenny without her usual cheeriness.

"If?" Deme asked

"I'm afraid so" Jenny mustered. "After losing as much as he did he may well be comatose and if his brain has been too severely damaged from lack of oxygen then he might not wake up at all" she said as a tear leaked from her tired eyes. She clung to Skimble who rubbed her back gently as he held her.

Demeter tried to speak but her words caught in her throat. She looked down at the motionless tux as his chest moved up and down with shallow breaths and burst into floods of tears. Jelly rushed over and comforted her and Deme hugged the tabby queen tightly. She needed her mate right now but he had run off after his brother and had no idea where they'd gone.

After a little while she regained a little of her composure and thanked the three cats for working so quickly. They all nodded and carried on trying to make Misto comfortable. Jenny dissolved some painkillers she taken from her humans in some water and filled a hypodermic needle she'd acquired with the solution. She gently penetrated the tux's skin at the shoulder and injected the soothing concoction. The little tux just stayed motionless as he received the medicine. Demeter couldn't stand to look at the damaged cat anymore and excused herself quietly. She made her way out of the den where she found the tribe waiting anxiously for any news in the clearing. She saw Old Deuteronomy on the tyre and made her way over to him passing cats who reached out to her as she went. She didn't feel like taking anyone's paws at this moment. She ascended the steps up to the tyre to join the Jellicle leader who looked at her with knowing eyes. She tried to speak but couldn't manage it. He titled his head forward and gazed at her while opening his arms. She flew forward and began to sob into his fur. Old Deuteronomy was like a father to the whole tribe and was a great comfort to them in their times of trouble. The other cats saw Demeter's expression of sorrow and some began to sob to themselves thinking the worst had happened. Old Deuteronomy's lifted up the queen's head and spoke in his soft baritone,

"How is he?" he asked

Demeter did her best to stifle her misery and almost silently related the situation to the Jellicle leader. When she had finished he hugged her again and sent her down from the tyre. He stood before the cats and addressed them with a heavy heart,

"The Magical Mister Mistoffelees is gravely ill. He has been badly injured and it is not yet known how quickly he will recover, that is if he recovers at all. I advise you all to pray to the Everlasting Cat for his life, and by that grace he may recover."

Many of the cats broke down at their leaders revelation. Some sat on the ground sobbing quietly while others stood stock still in shock. Old Deuteronomy signalled for Mungo and Rumple to come to him and they quickly scuttled to his side.

"Would you be so kind as to inform Mistoffelees' father of his state?" he asked them with sorrow

The notorious pair simply nodded and bowed to Old Deuteronomy before they took off running to the house where Bustopher Jones lived. It was going to be difficult to break the news to the smartest of cats.

Bombalurina sat across the clearing. She was racked with guilt over what her lie had managed to become. She began to sway as her mind became fuzzy with the thought that if Misto died, she would be a murderer. She fainted.


Time had passed since Tugger had let his misery explode from within him. He and Munk just sat on the ground whilst the younger tom stared into the abyss. Munk watched him as he sat, wondering what was going through his mind. He knew his brother was fragile at the moment but needed to make sure he was alright.

"Tugger?" the silver tabby asked gently. Tugger just sat, not changing his expression.

"Tug?" the tabby asked again, placing a paw on top of the other's. Tugger flinched at the gentle contact. He relaxed as well as he could when he saw it was just his brother.

"I think we should go back, Tug" Munk advised. The bigger tom looked at him quickly before averting his gaze again.

"Tugger, if Misto wakes up and you're not there he'll be really frightened" the tabby tried again.

Tugger seemed to wince a little at the thought but continued staring straight ahead.

"Tugger, say something"

The cat took in a strained breath and simply said "I can't."

Munk was surprised. "Why not?"

He was silent for a moment before speaking again, "What if…you know"

"What if what, Tug?"

"What if he's dead?" Tugger said beginning to tear up again

"He won't be dead, bro. Jenny's good at what she does, I'm sure she managed to fix him" Munk said trying to comfort the tom.

"You didn't see it happen, Munk. The glass stuck in deep and the look…" Tugger said choking on his words, "the look in his beautiful, beautiful eyes…I just couldn't bear it" Tugger said painfully, a new wave of sobs racking his body as he looked down at Misto's drying blood covering his fur. Munk placed an arm around his brother trying to keep him together.

"I love him, Munk" Tugger said through the tears, "I love him with all my soul".

Munk was shocked. His brother, the Rum Tum Tugger had just admitted to being in love with another cat. Did he hear him right?

"Come again, Tug?" Munk asked sheepishly

"I said I love him. I don't know how and I don't know when it happened but Everlasting I love so damn much! I asked him to be my mate right before he fell and we were gonna ask you and Deme about how to tell everyone, but I guess that's all gone to hell now."

"Why has it?"

"Because…" Tugger couldn't muster the strength to say it again

"Tug, you're jumping to conclusions. Let's just go back and see him."

"I told you, I can't."

"You've got to."

"I can't!" Tugger said angrily

Munk stared in disbelief. How could his brother be so stupid? 'Scratch that' he thought as he remembered whom his brother was.

"Yeah. You know what, fine! Let's just leave him there all alone and scared as he can be. I'm sure Jenny will tell him how his big, brave mate ran off because he was scared, and I bet you he'll understand. I won't, but hey, that's just me. Everlasting, Tugger! How can you say you love him and sit here like some frightened kitten instead of being by his side?" Munk said feigning anger.

Tugger stared at him with fire in his eyes. "Don't you dare tell me I don't love him!" Tugger shouted.

"Then if you really do, get back there and make sure he's alright"

Tugger hesitated, then stiffened his lip and stomped off back to where he'd left his mate in the care of Jenny.

'That cat can be dumber than a Pollicle sometimes' Munk thought to himself.


The cats were all gathered in the junkyard. Bomba had been cared for by some of the other queens and now seemed to be alright again. That being said, she was rife with guilt and her uneasiness certainly reflected that.

Tugger appeared at the other side of the clearing from where his mate was resting. All eyes turned to him as he stood there. Usually he would revel in everyone staring at him, but not now. It felt strange now, as if everyone knew his business and could see just how pained he was. He started to make his way slowly to the den, all eyes moved as he did. Cats moved out of his path as he made his way through them looking almost visibly embarrassed and frightened. He felt truly awful at the way he felt others were perceiving him even though in reality they were just confused by the situation and simply didn't know how to react. Tugger eventually made his way through the crowd and climbed up the junk to the den's entrance. He stopped. He knew he had to go in but couldn't make that first step. He tried incredibly hard but just couldn't do it. He stared down at his feet, utterly ashamed when a cat appeared beside him. It was Munk. He put his arm on Tugger's elbow and looked him in the eye with the all-knowing look only Munk could create. Tugger felt strengthened by this and gradually found the strength to press forward. He entered the den gingerly and looked around. First, he saw Skimble who turned to look at him as he entered. The ginger cat didn't say anything and looked quite grim. Tugger turned his gaze and rested his eyes on Jelly who looked equally as rough as Skimble. Still turning he saw Jenny who had a look of intense sympathy and heartache in her eyes. It felt as if she knew about Misto being Tugger's mate, but that was impossible.

He finally dropped his eyes lower to a bandaged form on a bed. He took in the pinkish looking strips of gauze that wrapped a tortured looking creature of black and white fur. It didn't seem like his Misto, but it was . It was his beautiful, amazing, Magical Mister Mistoffelees, only now looking truly broken.

"Would everyone leave, please." It was more of a command than a question

"Tugger, we have to keep watching him. If anything bad should happen…" Jenny interjected

"Just for a minute. Please." He looked at her begging silently with his eyes

She reluctantly nodded and ushered everyone out ahead of her.

Tugger turned to his mate who was breathing softly in his seemingly empty state. Tugger didn't know what to say. He eventually sat on the edge of the bed his mate was on and gently stroked the fur on his head. Misto made no reaction.

"Misto?"

Silence.

"Wake up, Misto." Tugger said as his heart fell to a new low. He brought his face close to his lover's and kissed him on the forehead as fresh tears came to his eyes.

"Please don't die, Mistoffelees" he pleaded and embraced his mate as he sobbed silently.

Uh oh. I just made it worse! What is wrong with me? I think I need a serious talking to.

Thanks for your reviews, they're really nice. Please keep 'em coming.