Disclaimer: This chapter contains coarse language.

But, of course, Tumblebrutus would not wake up.

As the day wore on, Pouncival would find a comfortable place to sit in the room, kept company by Tantomile and Coricopat. The twins watched over him like a hawk, making sure that his seeing Tumblebrutus alive would be the catalyst for something good, rather than something potentially terrible. There was a great risk inherent in this moment, though Pouncival's choice words about wanting to help Tumblebrutus get better remained the theme of their occasional conversations. For the most part of the day, all three cats were rather caught up in their own thoughts.

Perhaps some context was in order.

Pouncival had fainted late the previous night, woken up for an incredibly brief moment and fallen back asleep. Coricopat had carried him into Tumblebrutus' room whilst the tom slept, allowing him to wake up and see his brother almost immediately. That plan had worked well. He had woken up around dawn, being roused by the sunlight that poured into the room. Pouncival had slept for almost ten hours, though it was true that he woke up to find himself crying after a terrible nightmare.

It was this nightmare that kept resounding in Mistoffelees' mind, as though he was missing something. He felt like a realisation hit him for a fleeting moment, though it left him only a second later. Now he felt like he was on the edge of something important, some very key meaning that he had simply failed to comprehend before. He had left the room and returned to his own den, trying to focus on what was bothering him.

It was about Pouncival, of that Mistoffelees was certain. Something about the way the tom showed such surprise that he was crying. Whilst Pouncival had been asleep that night, Tantomile had come to visit Mistoffelees. They had shared a brief conversation, but ultimately she merely invited him to come and watch Pouncival see Tumblebrutus for the first time – after all, it was Mistoffelees who was responsible for rescuing him from Macavity.

She had found Mistoffelees returning to his den very early in the morning. The small tom promised to tell her exactly what he had been doing later, and she agreed to come see him again for that purpose. In a way it was quite exciting for her, as it marked the first time in two years that she would be able to leave Pouncival with Coricopat without feeling guilty. They had spoken about it on and off all day, and though Pouncival initially protested that he was unhappy to see her go, he ultimately conceded that Coricopat "wasn't all that bad" and that he'd "just have to make do with him, even though he doesn't give as many good kisses as you". His light-hearted comments made Tantomile confident that Pouncival would be alright without her, even if she was slightly worried that Coricopat might bite him.

And so she left.

"I'm really glad you came." Mistoffelees said with a half-smile as he opened his door for Tantomile, allowing her to enter his den. "It's been a hard couple of days..." He started, leading her through into the main room and offering her to sit on a cushion by the fire. "You're looking well, though! I mean, at least, you're walking well..."

"Thanks." Tantomile said simply as she took him up on his offer. She enjoyed sitting beside fires, though it was rare that she could find the opportunity nowadays. Pouncival had been petrified of fires and fireplaces since Macavity attacked his family, though he had never quite managed to tell her why. "I'm walking okay if there's a wall to lean on. The fact that your den is literally beside Munkustrap's makes this a hell of a lot easier."

"Yeah..." Mistoffelees felt awkward having her in his den. The last time they were both here, they kissed. That was the burning issue that he wanted to talk about, of course. Now that Pouncival was better it seemed that any chance of them having a relationship was completely off-the-cards, but he still needed to find out. He carefully sat down on the cushion beside Tantomile, giving her another weak smile before looking into the fireplace.

"I like your den." She said to break the silence, feeling just as awkward as he did. That kiss had been unplanned, thoughtless and probably a very bad idea, but she could not pretend that it did not mean anything. It had been passionate and fiery. It made her feel unbelievably guilty. Needless to say, she did not want to talk about it. "So... uhm... you said you'd tell me about that thing you were doing?" What a weak excuse to see him. She did not care what he had been doing last night, she simply wanted to see her friend. She hoped he was still her friend.

"...sure." Mistoffelees rubbed his paws together and stared at the fire, considering for a moment that if it spread out of control he would not be able to do anything about it because of her collar blocking his magic-

He froze, deep in thought. Her collar. There was something about her collar, something important. Whatever he was trying to think of, whatever he kept almost realising or comprehending, it was to do with her collar. Of that much he was certain, but once again, as soon as the idea came to him it was gone. He sighed.

"We were burying Macavity." Mistoffelees turned to look at Tantomile, who reacted with a look of surprise. "That's what we were doing last night through to this morning, depending on how you look at it. By 'we', I mean myself, Munkustrap and Tugger. Alonzo briefly helped. Old Deuteronomy came by after we had done all the digging to wish his son farewell. I'm guessing Coricopat told you that he died."

"He did." Tantomile replied simply, though the news was no less shocking. It was not hard to understand why they had chosen to dispose of Macavity's body in the shadows of night, away from the prying eyes of the rest of the tribe, but the fact that they had buried him at all was a complete shock. She had hoped that they would just leave him in a backstreet for a Pollicle to devour. "You may not be surprised to hear that I am happy he is finally gone." She said simply, folding her arms and trying to find a comfortable way to sit on the cushion.

"As am I – as we all are." Mistoffelees nodded as he caught her gaze. Despite bearing the marks of that fight with Macavity, Tantomile looked remarkably better than she had done earlier that week. She appeared a lot healthier – clearly she had been eating properly since Pouncival's sudden apparent happiness. Another thought darted through Mistoffelees' mind about Pouncival, but this one he chose to ignore. He changed the topic slightly, moving from one passing to another. "Etcetera will be next."

Tantomile made a sad face and looked at the ground, averting her eyes from his. "She was beautiful." Tantomile said quietly, not knowing how else to possibly refer to the queen. Etcetera had been a vibrant kitten, one full of energy just like Pouncival. It was difficult to imagine the Junkyard without her loud giggle being an everyday fixture. "Things will be quieter." She mused, looking over at the burning fire.

"Her body will be laid to rest at the Jellicle Ball." Mistoffelees said calmly, choosing his words quite deliberately. Clearly he had been talking to Munkustrap. "There are plans for the Ball to be soon, in a week or so. Some say it may even be only a few days, though I doubt that." He glanced over at the fire as well, finding something oddly calming in its radiating warmth. "Munkustrap asked me if I thought she might somehow be chosen to be reborn. What do you think?"

Tantomile looked over at Mistoffelees. It was an interesting question. "Well... there is so much we still do not know about the spirit world. If you simply consider the things that myself and Coricopat have discovered during our lifetimes, the list goes on and on..." She trailed off slightly, remembering the collar. Tantomile lifted her paw to her neck and tapped it lightly, feeling the bright pink, studded collar reverberating under her touch. "But then, what do I know? I'm not a magical cat like you. Not anymore."

Mistoffelees swiftly got to his feet when he heard those words and marched over to Tantomile, sitting beside her. "Shut up." He said simply, wrapping his arm around her back and giving her a small squeeze. "You're the most magical of all of us. We'll figure out a way to get that collar off you, just give me some time, okay? It's only been a couple of days." He felt awkward hugging her, but this was important. Her identity was based around magic use, to have it taken away must have crushed her. "Don't focus on that. Tell me about Etcetera."

Tantomile sighed and accepted the embrace, though she did not reciprocate. She could not forget the kiss that they had shared a few days earlier, which only made this feel more awkward than it needed to. "I don't know." Tantomile replied calmly, shrugging her shoulders. "Our current understanding of spirits – and this is only a theory – is that outside of the rebirth that can be brought through the Jellicle Ball, spirits simply sort of... hang around, a bit. I don't know how else to describe it- hey, are you listening to me?" She snapped at Mistoffelees, who had been looking across the room, deep in thought again.

Spirits hang around. Sort of. A bit. There was something there. Something almost made a lot of sense in Mistoffelees' mind, though once again the thought was fleeting and he had to let it go. "Sorry." He said simply, turning back to look at Tantomile. "I was just... something. I'm not sure. Anyway, Etcetera... I was listening! I mean, if her spirit is still here, could she somehow be chosen by Old Deuteronomy? I guess we won't know until the Ball itself, but he sure as hell isn't choosing Macavity..."

"You can say that again, a hundred billion times over." Tantomile sighed gently as she looked at his paw. "This is awkward, isn't it." She said with a calm tone, which made Mistoffelees quickly pull away his arm from around her back. It was the elephant in the room that neither had commented on yet, but now the topic of conversation had been broached. They had to talk about it.

"I might as well just say it." Mistoffelees countered, folding his arms slightly defensively as he shifted on the cushion, turning to face his entire body towards Tantomile rather than the fire. "Did our kiss mean anything?"

There was a telling pause.

"That's a difficult question." Tantomile replied gently, mirroring Mistoffelees by turning her body to face him as well, though she also folded her arms. "Of course it meant something. Cats don't just kiss... there's always some kind of motivating factor." She was being almost clinical in her words, unconsciously using language to distance herself from the action.

Mistoffelees was not about to let that happen. "Well, look... this is hard for me. You know I've never been 'confrontational' or whatever, I used to be really, well, mouseybefore you and Coricopat came along." He scratched his arm nervously, trying to maintain some kind of eye-contact with Tantomile as he spoke. "But there's something I've got to tell you and I don't know if it can wait any longer."

Tantomile's eyes widened slightly and she shook her head, preempting his thoughts despite the loss of her psychic powers. "Oh... Misto, really think about what you want to say here, okay? Because you can't take back something once you've said it... so... so please don't say it, okay?"

But Mistoffelees had already committed in his mind. This was not something that he wanted to say – this was something that he needed to say. "I just... I've been thinking about you for forever. I didn't know what that meant for so long, to always be thinking about someone day and night, but after we kissed I realised what those feelings were, and Tantomile, I-"

"Misto, please don't say it-"

"I love you."

Tantomile's mouth was agape. She shook her head slightly, in complete shock and disbelief at the words that had come out of his mouth. Even if she had expected him to say it, that did not make it any less difficult to hear.

"So... so that's why I need to know if that's something you'd... if that's something where you could ever see a future where you're with me rather than Pouncival." Mistoffelees managed to say before completely losing eye-contact with her, looking down at the ground. He was fidgeting out of nervousness, though this had gone more or less as he had expected. Whenever he played out this scenario in his head, Tantomile said 'no'.

"No."

Tantomile sighed as she reached towards Mistoffelees, taking his paws into her own. "You're beautiful." She said calmly, moving closer to try and nuzzle his cheek. Mistoffelees reacted sadly, taking the affection and lifting his head to meet her gaze. "You're amazing and handsome and wonderful." Tantomile added, keeping that fixed gaze before letting out another sad sigh. "But I'm not in love with you. I'm sorry. Maybe before I considered that future... but you know that I love Pouncival more than anything else in this whole wide world. I do love you too, Misto... but not in that way."

"You're breaking my heart, you know that, right?" Mistoffelees spoke with a weak voice. Their tones had become very quiet, perhaps knowing that Pouncival was only in the adjoining den, not very far away at all. "It's not like I expected you to say anything different or anything... I just figured there was a chance. However slim or tiny that chance was, I figured it was worth it. I would play this lottery a million times if I thought there was a chance you might say 'yes' once."

Tantomile felt the tears welling in her eyes as she heard him speak, sounding so poetic when he talked about her. "I..." She started, but found herself momentarily unable to continue. She squeezed his paws tightly, keeping that fixed gaze before speaking up again. "Pounce is better, so much better. He's struggling with Tumblebrutus being back, but Misto... he's happy again. You know I can't leave him. Not now that he's so vibrant, it would devastate him. Maybe part of me wants to say 'yes' to you... but you know that's not our story. Not this time." She felt the teardrops begin to roll down her cheeks as she spoke, the words choking her throat. "Just promise me there's a way we could remain friends... please, tell me some way."

"...Tantomile." Mistoffelees said firmly, holding back tears of his own as he watched her cry. "Whatever happens in this impossible world, I can promise you categorically that we will always be friends. Even if I'm not always around, we can be friends." Tantomile tried to interject, to question what he just said, but Mistoffelees spoke over her. "Let's just meet up like this, once a week. No matter what, this time each week, you and me meet up together. Alone."

Tantomile had a hundred thoughts racing through her head at his words – what did he mean, 'not always around'? She wanted to comment on it, but first she had to reassure him. "I promise." She responded to his request, which she understood. Having to see her with Pouncival must have been hard for Mistoffelees, so wanting the occasional alone time was not much to ask. But now, back to that comment. "What did you mean-"

"HEY."

A loud voice boomed from the door as it swung open. Tugger was standing there, panting. He looked as though he had just run a marathon, though in truth he had only sprinted from the adjoining den. "Both of you, come now. Come quickly." He took a couple of breaths then continued, just getting out the important words: "Pouncival... he's lost it... angry, shouting, screaming... he needs you now."

Needless to say, all three cats stormed back to Munkustrap's den faster than any had run before. The adrenaline that soared through Tantomile's body belied any injury she might have suffered from Macavity's attack as she desperately fought to get back to her mate. He needed her. This could not be happening. Not now. It wasn't fair. This wasn't fair.

Tugger briefly filled them in on what had happened (or at least, what he had been told) as they dashed back to the den, but in order to get the full story of what had happened, it would make more sense to go back to a different part of this story – to look at how events unfolded in that upstairs room inhabited by Pouncival, Coricopat and Tumblebrutus – to look at what happened after Tantomile left.

The initial pain felt like a dull throb. It started mere moments after Tantomile left the room, but Pouncival assumed that it was only a headache and ignored it. He had been sitting comfortably across from Tumblebrutus, quietly teasing Coricopat about being "too pretty". Now he was completely silent, but for the small sound that escaped from his lips. It was like a soft moan, but it did not contain any ounce of pleasure. This was a sound of pain.

Coricopat shot across the room almost on instinct to lift Pouncival's chin and look into his eyes. "You alright over here?" He asked simply, glancing at the tom. He had a pained expression, which told Coricopat the whole story. "What is it? A headache? I can try and calm you if you like, we need you to focus on staying away from those thoughts, okay Pounce? You just told us both you were going to try harder."

But no amount of trying would save Pouncival from the pain that was about to hit him. It struck him like something he had never felt before, he could only imagine this was what being stabbed in the head felt like. His paws shot up to his forehead and pressed firmly, the pained expression turning into something fiercer as he clenched his eyes shut tightly, letting out a small whimper. He did not want to scream. He wanted to stay strong.

Unfortunately for Pouncival, Coricopat was not buying it. This was all too convenient. "Okay, Pounce, this is not trying harder." He felt it was time for some tough love. Pouncival had been doing so well over the past two days, to throw it all away now would be too terrible. "You do not need to be upset because Tantomile is not beside you. I am here, you said you liked me." He tried to be light-hearted, but it was not registering. Time for the hard facts, then. "You cannot do this, Pounce. Tantomile cannot be by your side every second of the day, you are being unfair to her and me."

But Pouncival simply shuddered and jammed his palms into his forehead, trying to make the pain stop. "The voices have come back." He managed to spit out the words through an agony so fierce he could not describe it. "They're louder, Cori, they're louder than ever, they hurt so much more oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck-" He started pounding his palms into his head, actually hitting himself quite hard after a few moments.

"Okay, stop." Coricopat said briskly as he pulled Pouncival's paws away, not wanting to see the tom hurt himself. He decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, though it was hard to show sympathy when he knew that could be the catalyst that saw Pouncival regress to his previous mental state. This was no good. "Don't move." Coricopat stated with his trademark stoic voice, leaning in closer to press his forehead against Pouncival's. He shut his eyes, unlocking his mystic power to read minds.

But there were no voices to be found, or at least, none other than the usual meager noises that occupied Pouncival's mind. Nothing had changed since the last time he did this, he was forced to conclude that this was all an act. "Pouncival." Coricopat stated as he pulled away, opening his eyes whilst keeping his paws tightly around the tom's wrists. "There's nothing different. I know you are putting this on, trying to get attention for whatever reason. This must stop now. I cannot care for you if you are going to lie."

But, as has been made abundantly clear, Pouncival was not lying.

The voices were too great. More voices than ever before made Pouncival's head too difficult for him to even think, he could not comprehend any of Coricopat's words as the noises manifested themselves into anger. Pouncival spat at the tom opposite him, struggling before managing to pull his paws away. In that heated second of anger he lashed out at Coricopat, laying a streak of slashes across the tom's chest.

But in that moment, something else terrible happened. For it had only been two days since Macavity's invasion, only two days since Coricopat was literally fighting for his life. With those thoughts still so fresh and raw in the tom's subconscious, his gut reaction to the pain could not have been worse – he swung an instinctive set of claws at Pouncival's face, striking him viciously across the cheek to leave four clear slices.

"Pounce... oh fuck, Pounce I'm so sorry-" Coricopat tried to say as his senses returned to him, but it was too late – the damage had been done. Blood trickled down from the four clear cuts, staining cream fur red. Tears began to slide down Coricopat's cheeks as he started crying at his actions, shuddering and shaking in absolute fear of himself. He became a monster in his own mind. He had attacked a mentally ill cat he was caring for.

Coricopat tried to desperately hug Pouncival, but the smaller tom pushed him away, cowering away from him. As both cats stared at each other in disbelief, both in a severely weakened mental state after that terrible moment, the sound of the door opening was not even heard by either tom. For all of that shouting had drawn attention from another cat who occupied the den – Munkustrap.

"...what the hell is going on?" Munkustrap asked as he entered the room, moving across to stand between Pouncival and Coricopat. The sight of fresh blood on both cats disturbed him, clearly they had got into some kind of scrap, but why? They both looked disturbed by his presence, though Coricopat was the first to speak, a garbled set of words apologising through his tears. Munkustrap looked at the tom with a confused expression, shaking his head before turning to Pouncival.

But the fear in Pouncival's mind had turned back into anger. He let out a fierce growl and hissed at Munkustrap, who briefly stepped back in shock. What was going on here? Had Pouncival lost his mind... again? The silver tom placed his paws gently on Pouncival's shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes. "Calm down." He used his most relaxed tone to speak to the young tom, but it was of no use. "There is no need for this. Calm down and we can talk-"

But there was to be no more talking. Pouncival reacted badly to the paws on his shoulders, seeing them as a threat in this mental state. The voices were pounding in his head, mixing up his thoughts. With no ability to understand what was going on around him, Pouncival had turned feral. He leapt forward and struck his claws across Munkustrap's chest, taking the tom by surprise and almost earning another slash across the face – though Munkustrap was able to control himself better than Coricopat had.

Instead of attacking Pouncival, Munkustrap simply grabbed the tom's arm and twisted it behind his back before pushing him flat against the wall. Pouncival growled and hissed fiercely, but found himself completely immobilised by Munkustrap's hold. It could only be described as fortunate that Tugger took this opportunity to enter the room, reacting to the strange sounds coming from within.

"Get Tantomile!" Coricopat quickly exclaimed to Tugger, trying to wipe away the tears from his eyes. "Pounce is... he's gone. I don't know, I... please Tugger, just get my sister. She's with Mistoffelees next door..." Coricopat tried to explain, but Munkustrap put a full stop on the point by shouting: "Now."

And so, Tugger ran to Mistoffelees' den and told both cats what was going on. It did not take them very long at all to get back to the room, where Tantomile was greeted by a sight she never wanted to see.

She quickly dashed across the room to Pouncival, looking at him with a real sadness in her eyes as Munkustrap held him up against the wall. "Oh... Pounce..." Tantomile cooed as she reached out to stroke his cheek. "Please calm down..." She was in tears, completely distraught by this terrible sight.

Pouncival calmed down.

In fact, his breathing had slowed almost the moment that Tantomile entered the den. After she stroked his face, he drew a series of deep breaths and felt everything calm. "They stopped..." He managed to say as the emotions dissipated, the anger fading away into relief. "The voices stopped."

"That's not fucking good enough." Munkustrap snapped as he released Pouncival, who more or less fell into Tantomile's arms. She squeezed him tightly as he looked up at her, though anger built inside her as well upon seeing his face. "What have you done to him!" She exclaimed, holding Pouncival very close against her. She glared at Munkustrap. "His face! Why would you hurt him like this?"

Munkustrap shot her a look of frustration and threw his arms in the air theatrically. "I did no such thing." He snapped, pointing at Pouncival. "This can never happen again. Whatever happened here can never, ever happen again."

"It was me." Munkustrap was interrupted by Coricopat, who had managed to pull himself together and swiftly moved across the den towards his sister and her mate. "I hit him. I didn't mean to, it's just after Macavity attacked I've been so on edge and then he just attacked me out of nowhere, he snapped Tantomile, he completely snapped and I just hit back, oh Pounce I'm so, so sorry..." Coricopat tried to hug the tom, but Tantomile protectively pulled him away and against her.

"It's okay, Cori." A small voice came from Pouncival's mouth as he looked at the mystic tom. "You didn't mean it... but... but it's okay because they've stopped now, the voices have stopped again." He released Tantomile and stepped towards Coricopat, hugging him gently. Tantomile moved closer and joined the hug, though still keeping more towards her mate than her brother. Pouncival spoke up again, offering some solace in his words: "I don't feel broken anymore, I feel okay, I'm exhausted but I feel okay..."

"Stop it." Munkustrap snapped again as he stepped forwards, breaking up the hug. Tugger stood beside Munkustrap, allowing him to speak. "This cannot continue." Munkustrap spoke with an adamant tone, a very dominant voice. "These are the signs my brother showed... that Macavity showed before he flipped. We did not remove one threat just to watch another emerge."

Tantomile immediately shook her head, again showing some kind of inherent premonition as she expected the next words that came from Munkustrap's mouth before he said them.

"This will not go that way." Munkustrap showed his dominance by standing tall, reiterating his role as protector through the words that he used and the powerful tone that came from his voice. "I need to speak to my father, to question some possibilities."

Tantomile was shaking her head desperately. She wrapped a protective arm around Pouncival, glaring at Munkustrap with a fierce look in her eyes. He would not dare say what was on his mind, surely not.

And yet Munkustrap did. "Would you three have anywhere else to go if you were no longer able to stay here, in this Junkyard, with this tribe?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" A voice yelled from across the room. Every cat turned to see Mistoffelees storming towards them – he had been standing perfectly quietly in the corner, simply watching and listening to what they had to say, hoping that something would click in his head. But this... this had gone far enough. "You will never do such a thing!" He screamed at Munkustrap, moving to stand between the silver tom and the other cats.

"This is none of your concern-" Munkustrap started to say, but Tugger placed a paw on his brother's shoulder before interrupting him. "C'mon, Munks... the kit's right. I remember that shit with Mac like it was yesterday, trying to send them away ain't the answer and you know that. If you'd let him speak, I'm sure li'l Sparkles would've told you it's all about love and caring and compassion and junk like that."

It was things like that that made Mistoffelees admire Tugger like an older brother. He knew just what to say, and somehow managed to say it with a poetry that belied his street-cat voice. "If this kit over here-" Tugger said as he pointed at Pouncival. "This awesome, sexy dude right here, is gonna have any chance, it's gonna take some lovin'. And I ain't talking the kind of lovin' that me and Sparkles get up to sometimes. I'm talking the kind with hugs and kisses and shit. I'm talking-"

"Hey." Pouncival snapped, speaking loud enough that Tugger stopped talking. Everyone turned to look at him, giving him a moment to say whatever it was he wanted to say. "I'm fine. I feel fine." He patted his cheek gently, feeling the blood take to his paw. Tantomile immediately hugged Pouncival very tightly indeed, but it did not stop him from speaking up. "Okay, my face hurts from this, but I'm really fine. My head doesn't hurt anymore, the voices have stopped, I don't know why the voices came back when Tantomile left, they were worse than ever, but they're gone now! I'm fine, completely fine, Munkustrap I'm not Macavity, I'm not evil and I'm not magic-"

Magic.

Magic.

MAGIC.

"Pouncival." Mistoffelees spoke suddenly, lifting his paw to usher the tom to stop. "Pounce, you're..." He continued, lost for words as all of those thoughts from earlier came rushing back into his head. "You're... no. No!" He turned to Tantomile suddenly, stepping forward and reaching for her neck. He touched the pink collar briefly, earning a flinch from her, before turning back to address Pouncival directly.

"You're wrong." Mistoffelees said with a remarkable confidence fueled by the thoughts that were racing in his head. "You're wrong, Pounce, because you..." Wait.

Mistoffelees had to make a decision.

He had realised something, something terribly important. Something with the potential power to change the lives of at least half the cats in this room. Something that would completely change the life of one cat in particular – him. For if he revealed what he now believed to be true, that would be it. The possibility of life with Tantomile, which had momentarily seemed plausible after this episode, would be forever gone just as she had told him less than an hour earlier. Mistoffelees had to make a decision about who he wanted to be, about who he believed himself to be. Was he the good guy in all of this? Was he the hero that he had always wanted to be?

"You are magic."

It seemed Mistoffelees was the hero he wanted to be, after all.

The room stopped to question the words that had just come out of Mistoffelees' mouth, as they did not seem to make any kind of sense. Fortunately for them, nobody would be kept waiting.

Mistoffelees never liked cliffhangers anyway.

"Okay." He started, drawing in a deep breath. "Here's what I think, and then I'll tell you why. Pounce, you're a mystic. You can hear voices... voices of spirits. Because you were hurt before, because you were unstable or slightly unwell before, nobody picked up on this. You always had voices in your head, right? So everyone assumed they were getting worse. But what if they were wrong? What if you weren't ill after all – Pounce, tell me now and really think about it, when was the first time the voices got worse?"

Pouncival was desperate for this to continue. He was a mystic? That could not be possible. He had never been anything other than just... him! But hearing spirit voices? How could this be? "I... they kept getting worse." Pouncival managed to say after a moment's thought. It would be fair to say that every (conscious) cat in that room was hanging on his every word, giving him the moment to think. "The first time they got louder... I remember. It was a while ago. Almost six years."

"Okay." Mistoffelees repeated as he looked around the room. "Everyone... this is really important. Think back six years ago. Because if I'm right... and I really, really hope I'm right... someone died six years ago. Did a Jellicle die six years ago? Not to be reborn, not as part of the Ball, simply... passing away? Pounce – is there anything else you remember about it?"

Everyone started thinking. Pouncival looked up at the ceiling as he tried to remember specifics, though his gaze ultimately moved to look at Tumblebrutus unconscious on the bed. "It's the reason I stopped sleeping alone... I mean... I was alone." He said simply, keeping his eyes fixed on his brother. "We used to sleep next to each other on separate beds. But this night... he wasn't there. They had gone out – him, Dad... I wasn't with them. I was too scared, I... by the time they came back, there was a voice that was louder than anything before. It was too loud, it hurt, I... Tumble made everything better. He... we..." He trailed off. Pouncival did not need to finish that sentence, it was clear from his earlier words that from that night on, Tumblebrutus had stayed with him every night to make sleep easier – well, barring the nights Pouncival spent with Tantomile a few years later, at least.

"Gus died."

Everyone turned their attention to Tugger, who was keeping his focus directly on Pouncival. "Gus, the Theatre Cat. Or Asparagus, depending on how long ago you knew him. Maybe six years ago, he collapsed. Some of us went over to talk to him that night, our Dad spent the evening with him until his passed away."

Mistoffelees breathed a sigh of relief. He was on the right track. But he needed more proof for his theory to be right, that could simply be a coincidence. "Okay, Pounce... when was the next time they got worse?" It was a simple question, and one that Pouncival expected. He shook his head and turned to face Mistoffelees. "Five years ago. Like... a month before I started dating Tants." She squeezed him tightly as a reward for using her nickname and being brave to speak about this so openly. Needless to say, Tantomile's heart was in her mouth as Mistoffelees spoke, simply hoping that something good would come of this.

"There was that stray that wandered in." Coricopat stated, causing Mistoffelees to glance back at him. "He had a heart attack, or at least, that is what we assumed. I'm not sure exactly how long it has been, but if I had to guess, I would say it was around a month or so before Tantomile and Pouncival got together."

Mistoffelees was unsure how to deal with that information. His original thought was tied more to family and the tribe itself, but perhaps he had to change it to something more... geographic. "Does that make any sense to you, Pounce? Think about it for a moment... remember when that stray cat collapsed in the 'yard?"

Pouncival shook his head. "No. I was with Jenny... uh... my mother... that day." There were reasons that Pouncival corrected himself, though he did not bother explaining them. He doubted that any of the cats there apart from Tantomile would understand why it was important for him to call her that. "I was in the infirmary all day. I just remember it suddenly getting worse... no, wait! You're right!" His words seemed to surprise himself. "I remember. I was lying on a bed, it hurt really bad... but then they brought in this tom and he wasn't moving..."

Mistoffelees nodded again. "This is good, Pounce. This is really good, in fact." But he still needed more proof before he could be sure. Right now, this could still be an unbelievable coincidence. "The next time, Pounce. Tell me about the next time the voices got worse-"

"Is this really necessary?" Tantomile asked suddenly, shooting a glare at Mistoffelees. Pouncival was quite visibly upset talking about this, and it made her feel awful as well. Besides all of that, she had spoken to him about the voices in his head before, and she knew the next time they got worse. Pouncival did not need to relive that. "We both know the answer to that."

"But do we?" Mistoffelees countered, approaching Pouncival and staring the tom directly in the eyes. "Really think about it, Pounce. I know it's hard or whatever but really just think. When did they get worse? Was it all at once? Separate? Can you remember actually physically feeling them worsen?" His words drew tears from Pouncival's eyes and Tantomile tried to interject again, but Mistoffelees' question was answered.

"It was immediate." Pouncival said quietly, which again caused everyone to listen. "The second after Macavity cut my mother's throat, the voices got louder. I remember pressing my palm into my head right there in that room, when everything else was going on." He shuddered, not wanting to relive the memories anymore. "It got worse when she died and then... then it got worse when Dad died, too. Both times it got louder, both times it hurt more."

"I'm sorry for making you think about that." Mistoffelees responded with a calm tone. "You said that the voices were worse than ever now, right?" He could not believe the cuts that were on Pouncival's face. To think that had happened in the short time Tantomile was not in the den... "This is really, really important now. You think that right now they're worse? How much worse?"

"Horribly worse." Pouncival replied, breaking gaze and glancing down at the floor. "I get what you're trying to do for me, Misto, but it doesn't make sense. Maybe before it did, but... they were really, really bad this time. Way worse than ever before, not a jump up like it had ever been, they were terrible. I couldn't think, I literally couldn't think of anything, I couldn't use words or do anything, I didn't even know what I was doing..."

"That's because two cats have died, and one of them was a very powerful mage." Mistoffelees said with that same calm tone he had borrowed from Munkustrap. "Etcetera and Macavity both passed away since you last heard the voices. They got worse the moment both of them died – you just didn't realise because... and this is the most important thing of all of this..." He pointed to Tantomile. "You only heard them the moment Tantomile was not around."

"The first thing that struck me as strange was when you woke up this morning with tears in your eyes." Mistoffelees continued, not wanting to break his stride. "You said that you had a nightmare, which was odd because Tantomile kept telling me how much better you have been the past few days – then I remembered that she left your side last night."

"We were talking about a whole bunch of things earlier, but by utter coincidence Tantomile said something else that made me stop and think." Mistoffelees was starting to enjoy this a little bit. He was not the only cat there smiling, though – Tugger was absolutely transfixed by the showmanship involved in this, it was like watching a performance. It had been a while since he had seen the Magical Mr. Mistoffelees show such enthusiasm.

"So I'll go back to what I was saying before. You are a magic cat." Mistoffelees announced the revelation to the room, though he was met with a measure of silence. "You can hear the voices of those that pass away outside of the Jellicle Ball. At the Ball, they're reborn, but outside of that... we just don't know. Tantomile reminded me that we just have no idea how the spirit world works, only that we can contact it every now and again. Mystics can control those voices – but what if there is one mystic, say every generation, who immediately hears the voices of those that die?"

He continued. "You didn't know about magic as a kitten and you always heard noises in your head. To anyone else, and I'm really sorry to be saying this, it just seemed like your mental problems were getting worse. But what if they weren't getting worse? But what if they weren't problems? What if you were simply hearing something – the voices of those that have passed? What if whenever a cat dies, their voices join those in your head, but because it's a kind of magic we don't quite understand, we could never see or hear them ourselves?"

To say that everyone was shocked would be an understatement. Tugger immediately tried to start a round of applause, though nobody joined in and he tried to play it off as though he was simply trying to vigorously swat a fly. Munkustrap was still stood with his arms folded, the twins looked somewhat skeptical... but Pouncival looked positively excited.

"...you're like, a really, really good Detective Pounce!" Pouncival exclaimed, again to no reaction. "What, nobody gets that reference? If Tumble was awake, he would have laughed so hard at that-" He turned sharply to look over Tumblebrutus' body, but the tom remained unconscious and hardly breathing. "...just checking... but wait, why Tantomile?" Pouncival asked, turning sharply to look at Mistoffelees. "You said she makes it stop hurting, but why her?"

Mistoffelees shook his head as he smirked. "No, I did not." He approached Tantomile again and turned to face the room before placing his paw on her shoulder. "The ridiculous bright-pink studded collar around her neck – the one that Macavity put there to stop her from being able to use magic again – is putting out a field stopping anyone around her from using magic either. Right now, Coricopat cannot read minds, I cannot conjure anything. The collar didn't effect Macavity because his powers overturned it, but all of us... it is my belief that you, Pounce, are also being effected."

Pouncival tried to speak, but Mistoffelees sharply released Tantomile and turned to the small tom, moving closer and placing his paws on Pouncival's shoulders. "It gets better, Pounce. You're not ill. Every time someone has told you that they've been wrong. You've simply had an impossible time trying to cope with unending voices pounding in your head, but so long as you're with Tantomile – or more specifically that collar – you'll be fine. No more voices. I'm sure of it and, Munkustrap-" Mistoffelees turned to face the silver tom, releasing Pouncival and folding his arms. "If this is all true, will you take back what you said? If this is all true, will you let them all stay?"

It should be said that at this point, Tantomile and Coricopat both hugged Pouncival very tightly. Mistoffelees' logic was sound and it made the group happy, it explained away all of the pain and provided an answer for something they had never been able to understand. Tantomile was showing an expression of shock at all of this, but inside she felt a ball of happiness. This was incredible. If this was correct... there would be no more crying. They could have the future that she wanted.

Munkustrap had been standing with folded arms for the entirety of Mistoffelees' speech. It would be unfair to say that he did not understand, though he was unconvinced despite all of the evidence. "If you're right... if it is provable that Pouncival is not mentally ill... then I see no reason why not." Munkustrap nodded before fixing a sharp gaze on Mistoffelees. "But if you are wrong, then that's it. I have already made up my mind. Tantomile... if you would not mind leaving the room for a moment?"

Tantomile's eyes widened as she looked at Munkustrap and shook her head suddenly. "No- are you- what?" That request did not make any sense to her. If Mistoffelees was correct with everything he said, then leaving the room would surely make Pouncival feel that agony again. She never wanted him to feel that pain so long as she lived. "I... I can't hurt him, Munkustrap-"

"It's okay." Pouncival turned to Tantomile and gave her a small hug. He had a smile on his face, signaling the relief that he was beginning to feel at these revelations. To be told that he was not ill, that there was nothing wrong with him, it was the thing of dreams. And Tantomile must have known that. "One last time." Pouncival said, before breaking the hug. "If he's right and I hear the voices again... well... then we know what it is for sure. And then we have another reason to always be together."

Munkustrap watched them both and flashed Tantomile a look, which made Tugger (of all toms) spring into action. He approached the queen and reached out for her paw, which after a brief moment she begrudgingly took. "There y'are, love." Tugger smirked and wrapped his arm around her, giving Tantomile some support. The cuts that covered his body would surely have hurt at this physical contact, but there was something going on here far more important than some physical pain – Tugger got to be an assistant in a Mistoffelees performance. There was probably something else important going on here too, but he found it hard to focus on more than one thing at a time.

As he helped her out of the room, Coricopat wrapped his arms around Pouncival in a sharp hug. He began to slink down to the floor, dragging Pouncival down with him and holding him tightly against his chest. It was a moment of protection and adoration, with his arms completely enveloping Pouncival's small frame. The tom's face buried in his neck, and in that moment of comfort Pouncival felt himself begin to cry. There was something about being held so tenderly – or indeed, in such an utterly protective way – that made him miss his parents terribly. Coricopat simply wanted to make sure that when the voices did come back (and at this point, he was convinced that Mistoffelees was correct), he was on hand to minimise Pouncival's suffering.

At the other end of the spectrum, the second Tugger and Tantomile left the room, Mistoffelees stepped up to Munkustrap and snarled at him, causing the silver tom to step back in absolute surprise. "Even if I'm wrong." Mistoffelees stated firmly. "I just want you to know there's no way you're ever sending my friends away from here." A low growl poured from his lips, proof that this was no empty threat.

Munkustrap took a moment to consider his actions before stepping forward as well, in a sudden movement reaching forward and gripping Mistoffelees by the collar. "You what?" He responded with a similar growl, standing tall and dominant over the smaller tom. "You fucking what? You don't decide what's best for this tribe, that burden falls on me. And I swear to the Everlasting Cat, you'd better be right, because I will go through with my promise."

"I'd sooner die." Mistoffelees responded firmly as Munkustrap released him, the two toms staring each other down.

Outside the room, Tantomile and Tugger were both slowly walking down the hallway.

They did not speak, for Tantomile had no words to give him. Equally, Tugger really did not know what to say either. Though he was playing this off as all being for a magic trick, really he did know that there was something big going on. He knew that Tantomile was essentially willingly hurting the cat that she loved in order to prove that he was not sick. And that must have been difficult for her – certainly he could not imagine having to harm Bombalurina in a similar way. He tried to empathise with Tantomile by thinking about hurting her, if that made any sense at all, before deciding that simple words of encouragement might be the best thing to say. "Hang in there, kid."

Oddly, that was probably the perfect thing for him to say. Coupled with the things he had said about Pouncival earlier, Tantomile discovered a newfound respect for the Rum Tum Tugger and rested her head gently against his shoulder as they walked, mouthing a quiet "thank you" before finding a smile forming on her lips.

'Please, Pounce.' She thought to herself, knowing that he could not hear her. 'Just scream. If you scream because your head hurts, then you're better. If it starts hurting you, this will all end for good. Please be better, Pounce. Please let Misto be right. Please let this end, let all this suffering end.' She looked up as they made it to the stairs and slowly began to work their way down them. Tantomile inadvertently let the next few words slip out of her mouth, such was her heightened emotion. "For fuck's sake, Pounce, is this really too much to ask-"

It wasn't.

Pouncival let out a scream so loud that half of the Junkyard must have heard it. Perhaps a little... theatrical... but deep-rooted in real physical agony. It was pained and harrowed, of course he had been planning to scream, but suddenly allowing all of that pain out produced something even he did not expect. To provide some context – the moment Tugger and Tantomile made it halfway down the stairs, it felt as though someone had slipped a knife through his ear and deep into his head. It was terrible.

Of course, the moment that sound pierced Tantomile's ears, she and Tugger darted up the stairs like cheetahs. They both burst into the room, to find Pouncival sobbing into Coricopat's neck. Tantomile dropped to the ground and reached out to hug her mate, who gratefully accepted and held onto her tightly. Coricopat readjusted and rubbed his chest slightly, bearing the fresh wounds of Pouncival's earlier attack.

Munkustrap stepped forward and looked at the group. Pouncival quietly confirmed that the voices came and went in a moment, which was enough for the silver tom. "The collar is clearly the thing keeping the voices out of Pouncival's head." Munkustrap stated firmly. Tugger swiftly told him that they made it to the stairs, which allowed Munkustrap to continue. "In order to be safe, you two must never be less than five footsteps of one another for the rest of... well, your lives. Is everyone agreed?"

A moment passed. The ruling was perhaps unnecessary as with this knowledge, neither Tantomile nor Pouncival had any interest in being one footstep apart, let alone five. But not everyone in the room shared that same passion for his statement. In fact, Munkustrap's words only served to make one tom rather irate, who took to his feet and stood toe-to-toe with the protector.

"Or, you could just go fuck yourself." Coricopat spat as he stood tall. Munkustrap was shocked just as before to see this kind of response and tried to ask what he was talking about, but Coricopat simply pushed him back. "You were so prepared to just throw us out on the street only fifteen minutes ago. If you were so happy to get rid of us, you won't miss us when we're gone. Clearly we have no business being Jellicles anymore."

Coricopat glanced back at Tantomile and Pouncival, who were more or less consoling one another. They were listening, but Tantomile knew her first priority was to calm Pouncival down and brush away his tears. Coricopat simply glared at Munkustrap and continued. "For the entirety of my life here, I have shown you nothing but respect. But then the moment it was your turn to do something for me, well. It was just too hard. You just could not be fucked."

"Why the hell do you think Macavity disappeared for two years?" Munkustrap snapped, glaring at Coricopat. A silence fell at his words, which he silently regretted. "I have done everything in my power to help you every single time I could. I suffered terribly at Macavity's paws time and time again to protect this tribe, to protect you. Just because I do not announce everything I do to protect this place, do not presume for one second that I do not love each and every one of you."

That was something Coricopat had not expected. But then, he also did not expect the voice that echoed from behind him.

"Do I even get a say in this?!" Pouncival yelled.

Once again he became the centre of attention, getting to his feet with Tantomile and turning to address the room. "For the first time in forever everything is starting to make sense. Misto is right! I mean, I'm not ill. I... I don't want to leave here, Cori." He shook his head and folded his arms sternly. "I've only ever lived here, my parents grew up here and one day... well... if I'm better, if I'm not ill... well one day I want to have kittens of my own here. I'm a Jellicle. I'll always be a Jellicle." He turned to Munkustrap, his words ringing true. "I love you, too. I love all of you. I can't imagine a life without any of you, so please don't try and take any of this away from me."

Munkustrap nodded. "Good." He said with a half-smile, before turning and calmly leaving the room. Tugger watched his brother go and gave everyone a thumbs-up before taking his leave also, content that he had been the best magician's assistant of all time. Mistoffelees was next to try and head out the door, but this was not proved so easy as Pouncival suddenly leapt in front of him.

"So, here's the thing." Pouncival said with a sheepish expression, almost looking away from Mistoffelees despite trying to confront him. "All my whole entire life everyone has thought I was crazy. My family, Tumble, Cori, hell... even Tants...everyone has always thought I was crazy but you never have." It was a difficult thing to say, but Pouncival felt it was important. He managed to look up and make some kind of eye-contact. "You just thought I had it rough when my parents died. And you kept treating me like a real cat forever, even though you probably had loads of reasons to ignore me like everyone else. For the first time in forever, someone stood up for me like I was a real, normal, sane feline who isn't crazy. So... thank you for being the greatest, most unbelievably incredible friend in the whole wide world."

Pouncival reached forwards and wrapped his arms around Mistoffelees, giving him a small hug. But Mistoffelees froze up, not reciprocating at all. This was difficult for him. Everything that he had said was the right thing to say, he felt good for saying it... but in doing so, he knew he had thrown away his one chance of being with Tantomile. And as that began to sink in, things just started to feel... numb. As Pouncival released him and returned to the twins for hugs and smiles, Mistoffelees began to slink towards the door.

But then he stopped. "I'm not a good friend." Mistoffelees said quietly, which made all three cats turn to look at him as though he was crazy. "Just so you know. I'm not a good friend." He was stood at the doorway, ready to leave. Things would be so simple if he just left now, left forever, left for good. But he could not do that without at least telling them. And there was no way to tell them without saying something else: "I'm in love with Tantomile."

It said something about their similarities that both Coricopat and Pouncival reacted in exactly the same way that Tantomile had responded to that news earlier – with gaping mouths.

"I can't be your friend." Mistoffelees continued, though he looked as though he was about to cry. "I can't stay here anymore. I... I'm so glad that you're going to be able to be happy, Pouncival. You too, Tants, I... I'm glad that you're all going to be able to be happy. But you're just going to have to do that without me, because I can't bear to see you be happy. I can't stay here anymore."

Tantomile tried to interject, but Mistoffelees was caught up in his own mind. These words were ones that he wanted to say before, but now that everything had been taken away from him by his own paw, it just made things feel worse. Never had being the good guy created such an awful feeling. "You don't understand." He said simply, shaking his head. "I love you too much. It's gotten unbearable. Before when it was bad, I still kept thinking that there was a chance for us, that Pouncival might never get better. I know that's a horrible thing to say, but it's true. Now there's no chance for us because so long as he's with you, he'll always be fine. Macavity was the last cat alive who could make that collar, who had the ability to block magic. Now that he's gone... this is it. You have to be with him forever at all times. There's no world where I could see you, where we could meet and talk like you promised. All that's left is a world where I am forced to see you two together and that's a world I can't be a part of. I'm sorry."

Silence fell across the den. Pouncival spoke up as he watched a set of tears fall down Mistoffelees' cheeks, and heard a quite audible sob come from Tantomile's lips. "But you helped me." Pouncival said quietly. "Why would you help me? You could have just said nothing. You didn't have to do this."

Mistoffelees sighed. "I guess that's why love is really, really fucking stupid." And with that, he turned to leave.

But Pouncival was not about to let that happen. He dashed forward and grabbed Mistoffelees' arm, stopping the tom from leaving.

"You saved my life." Pouncival stared directly at Mistoffelees. "You don't get to pretend that you did this for Tants. You don't get to pretend that, because you stood up for me just then like nobody else ever has. When they left the room, you stood up to Munkustrap, you were going to fight him if he tried to get rid of me I saw it. Everyone else I ever knew had given up on me ever being better. But you didn't give up on me. You thought I could still be sane and normal and you knew that I wasn't crazy." He pulled Mistoffelees a little bit closer, still holding his arm very tightly.

"I can't do this." Mistoffelees said quietly, looking down and away from Pouncival's gaze.

Pouncival shook his head. "You can't do this? Are you kidding me?" He placed Mistoffelees' paw on his chest. His heart was racing. "Feel that? Listen to me, if anyone here can't do this, it's me. My parents are dead, my friends all abandoned me years ago. The only cats left who care for me are Tants and Cori... suddenly you appeared and cared for me and I can't deal with not having you here."

Mistoffelees pulled his paw away. "I'm sorry Pouncival, I'm so-"

"You can call me Pounce."

"...I'm sorry, Pouncival." Mistoffelees managed to pull himself away from Pouncival's grip. "But you don't understand. I'm hopelessly, worthlessly, desperately in love with Tantomile. I love her so terribly much that I can't-"

"Misto." Tantomile spoke as she approached as well. "You can't be serious with all of this. Today is a good day. Please don't sour it by-"

"No." Mistoffelees pulled the door open, stepping back so that Pouncival could not grab him again. "You don't get to decide how I feel. I hope that you both find incredible happiness with each other and never again feel sad but there's absolutely no way I can stay here, there's no way I can be close to either of you ever again." And with that, he left.

Coricopat offered a hug to both Tantomile and Pouncival, who took it. Tantomile started to cry, feeling a moment of utter dejection at the loss of her close friend. Her heart was breaking...

...when the door opened again.

Mistoffelees re-entered the room, walked forward and stopped in front of them, shivering.

Pouncival turned and hugged him tightly, swiftly joined by Tantomile and Coricopat.

"It's okay." Pouncival whispered. "You're okay."