Ok Helena. Don't panic…don't panic?! I'm hung by my wrists from a ceiling of someplace I don't even know where it is and definitely stinks too much to be actually bearable. On top of that this place has to be proofed with iron because I really can't seem to be able to tap into my powers. And worst of all the madcat that has me trapped here knows who I am because I have reverted back to my original form! What's not to panic?
She knew she was going slightly mad if she started talking with herself but the small queen couldn't bring herself to care about her mental state in that very moment.
"Well, well, well my dear sweet Heleiana! That was so nice of you to come back to the land of the living. When I found you yesterday night I really thought you were dead. That would have really been a waste! I'm sure many would have regretted your loss, definitely your precious brother am I right? Oh yes, don't look so surprised! I know you escaped the massacre and that you took on your cousins' names and appearances in order to escape Macavity."
"I'm not surprised Shadow. I have always known you had far more brain capacity than you let others know. What has always surprised me was the fact that you accepted to work under Macavity…I've always thought you more, how can I say, ambitious than that."
"Glad to see you have noticed me as well as I've noticed you during your short stay with the master. As to the reason why I still work under the Hidden Paw…well you have to agree with me it's easier to let somebody else work out all the bureaucratic details of every mission. Plus taking the blame or getting an ulcer for a job not well done by somebody else, has never been my forte."
"Aah…so I see. Self preservation. You work in the shadow on things that suit your personal plans and if they happen to collide with Macavity's you do his dirty work, otherwise you keep for yourself."
"I always thought you were a smart kitten darling. That's why I have always had this feeling that things between us would work just perfectly. Macavity calls himself the Napoleon of Crime but he really doesn't see beyond his nose in some of the business."
A freezing chill settled in Helena's bones. Something in the other's cat tone had unsettled her in her very core. She had never actually seen the cat in question: his name Shadow wasn't a simple vanity. She really doubt that even Macavity knew what his appearance really was. She decided she needed more information about his idea and she definitely needed to buy more time either to allow Misto to come to her rescue –which she really rather preferred he didn't – or to rescue herself.
"Well since I don't see myself walking out of here anytime soon you might want to keep me entertained don't you think? That would be a very gentlecat thing to do…"
Helena decided to try the I-don't-give-a-damn-about-the-situation tone her best shot. She really couldn't let the other cat know she was scared or her life was going to be hell sooner than she wanted it to be.
"As always you're quite right darling! You are not going to walk out of here anytime soon. If I can have it my way –and I will – you'll never walk out of here! And about the fact I ought to keep you entertained I suppose I can tell you my plans since you're going to be the central piece in them!"
Oh Everlasting Cat how did I get into this situation? Ah yes…that lovely chat with Tugger! Seriously that asinine coon really had to stop that persecution paranoia of his. Things tends to get ugly with that kind of obsession. But I suppose he was partially right. I didn't exactly explain myself clearly. I really have to apologize when, or if, I get out of here alive.
She hung her head and sighed. She didn't expect her conversation with Tugger to take that particular turn. She had only wanted to give him some space to rethink their relationship and she truthfully didn't believe he loved her as much as she loved him. Not that she thought him that superficial, no that was far beyond that. Tugger was simply in love with what he could not have, he was in love with the idea of being in love. And Helena knew that, as Lenny, she wasn't the right cat for the maned tom.
The small cat just hoped her brother had flipped out when he had discovered she hadn't come back that night and that Tugger had attacked her. But she knew she was literally hoping for the moon. Mistoffelees had ingrained in him the instinct of protection of his twin. She was a lot stronger than she let everybody, except Misto, knew but still his brother refused to acknowledge that fact.
"My dear you shouldn't space out if you really want to hear my magnificent plan!"
Helena inwardly grimaced at the false sweetness of Shadow's voice. She needed to get out of there, possibly without cuffs, if she wanted to use her powers and to get out of there she needed the other feline to trust her. The young queen sighed and prepared herself to use her best method of seduction.
"I'm really sorry Shadow! It's simply difficult to concentrate on something when you can't feel your hands anymore…but enough about me! Tell me about your grand plans: I suppose Macavity doesn't know I'm here right?"
"Of course that cretin doesn't know! He wouldn't recognize a good laid if she was naked all over him. I seriously doubt he would know what to do on such a great occasion! He wanted to make you his heir but I've got a much better plan in mind!"
The young shape-shifter went back to the day she had first been kidnapped by Shadow. It had happened when she was more of less six months old. She and Mistoffelees had been playing not too far from their cousins when she had sensed someone approaching. Before they had the time to even call for someone they had been knocked unconscious and she had been kidnapped and brought to Macavity.
She knew, because her mother had told her after she had managed to escape that her twin didn't remember a thing about her abduction –probably his mind trying to erase bad memories – so the official story was that she had being spending some quality time with their Uncle Bustopher. He still didn't know the truth.
But the reality was that Macavity had kidnapped her in order to train her to be his heir. The Hidden Paw had discovered that the small shape-shifter had partially his very same powers and decided she was the best choice for his succession. That had led to a barbaric training to control and use her more offensive power. She had barely survived the beatings and the abuses, physicals and verbal, in the first month, but then she got the hang of the trigger and she started to improve. But, much to the Napoleon of Crime's dismay, she hadn't proved corruptible. After she had refused, for the umpteenth time, to do something she found morally abhorrent, the red tabby had unleashed all his fury on her.
That time she had managed to save herself thanks to the intervention of Tugger. Yes at that time Macavity hadn't been banished yet and was practically his little brother's hero. Before he could strike the final hit and kill her, the young and fluffy coon – his mane was definitely sexy now on a full grown tom, but it was totally cute when he was simply a kit – had interrupted his big brother to play with him. The little Rum Tum Tugger had stumbled onto a bloody and beaten to a pulp little queen-kit, lying on the ground on death's door. And his brother, his big heroic brother, on top of her ready to strike.
That had sent the kit screaming for daddy who, with half the actual tribe elders had barged in and then banished Macavity. She remembered being lifted off the ground by Tugger himself, who kept sobbing broken apologies, trying to figure out why he hadn't been able to see this coming.
At that time Helena had taken pity of him and once he had deposited her on the ground outside the den she had been trapped into, she reached up to kiss the small coon and with that she sealed his memories.
Without looking back she disappeared from his life, never expecting to see him again.
"You've done it again love! You should stop spacing out or I might think you're trying to escape!"
This time the shadowy cat didn't simply reprimanded her, but punched her in the middle of her stomach, eliciting a grunt that had nothing feminine in it.
"As I was saying, nobody but me knows you and your brother are alive and with the Jellicles. I really don't care about your twin though. Oh yes he has an enormous power but I can't touch him! At least not until I have corrupted you…you see Macavity had read the prophecy about your personalities but he didn't understand the half of it. You are the decoy, the one that is supposed to take the brunt of all the trouble. He is the perfect son and you are his protector. No harm can be done to him if you stand in the way. He cannot be corrupted if you aren't so…I decided to corrupt you. Macavity trained you and tried to break you through violence, but that is not how you work right? I want to make you mine…do you think that'll work?"
Helena could only stare at him horrified.
The secret she had worked so hard to maintain had come into the worst hands of all.
It was true. Every single word Shadow had spoken was the simple and utter truth. The reason that their spirits had had to reincarnate so many times was that no one until her had understood the female's purpose of the couple.
The two legendary cats were a tom and a queen. They were twins so every time they reincarnated they either chose twins of changed the appearance of one of two brothers. That had been the case with Helena and Misto. Her coloring wasn't black and white but she had been changed to match her brother's colors. The tom of the legend was supposed to fight the absolute evil and triumph but he could only do it if his soul hadn't been corrupted. That was exactly the queen's job. Her soul was intertwined with her brother's so when someone tried to corrupt the brother he or she never succeeded because his soul was in his sister.
Nobody had figured that out in many centuries. Nobody except Macavity and now Shadow. But Macavity hadn't succeeded because he had thought that beatings were the best way to break her soul. That would have been impossible; she would have died before being corrupted.
But now Shadow had found the only way. If she was mated to someone evil her soul and her brother's, became corrupted.
"From your lack of answer I guess that I hit the jackpot wouldn't you say darling? Now you understand why I didn't tell our beloved Mac you were alive? So what do you say? Will you come of you own free will or do I have to force you?"
Confronted with the choice Helena knew she had to play her cards right or she was never going to get out of there alive. The reason the legendary queen and tom had to reincarnate so many times was a very simple one: at a certain point, usually after extensive torture the queen decided she had enough to cover for her brother and willingly gave herself into the evil.
"I'll come willing Shadow! I have been waiting all my life for a tom that could prove himself worthy of me. When Macavity kidnapped me I thought he was the one, but I really couldn't be with a brutal idiot. But you have a brain that can much mine and I do love a mental challenge!"
"I knew you would see my point darling. Why dying a painful death when you can live your life like and empress? But, pardon me asking, what about your twin? Surely you have some allegiances to him…"
"Mistoffelees? Good, kind and honest Misto? Oh c'mon all my life has been Misto here and Misto there! Look at your brother Helena! Try to be more like him! He is such a talented kit! Why can't you be more like him? You know that my parents erased my brother's memories from the time I was kidnapped and doubles his security? He hadn't been the one abducted! I would love to see him crawl at my feet Shadow!"
"If I had known you would have been so willing to come I would have rescued you before darling! Well I suppose there is no more need for the bindings. You will forgive me for thinking them necessary but I didn't think I would have found you so…plying. Come my love let's get out of this stinking hole and go to your new palace. I'm sure you're going to love it!"
Smiling at him the young magic queen took his hands and let the older cat lead her outside of the sewer, praying the Everlasting Cat that she managed to escape, or at least die trying so that her brother could be safe from harm.
Tugger! Tugger wake up! Your new friend is in danger, you are the only one who can save her. Wake up my beautiful son! I know you think everybody is against you, but you need to face the world. She is in grave danger and on her well being depend all of your lives. Go towards London's docks…I know Jellicles are forbidden to go there, but she'll be there in need. Save her and you'll be able to save yourself! NOW GO!
The Maine coon bolted awake fur damp with sweat. He could have sworn he had just dreamt about his mother. She had told him that his "new friend" was in danger. She couldn't mean Lenny, she had said that she was going to need his help. Who could…oh no! Not that tux queen he had met the day before…but he didn't even know her! How could he save her?
But his mother had been clear; she was going to need his help and the entire world with her.
He had already disappointed his love, his best friend, his brother and the entire tribe. He wasn't going to let also his mother down!
He was going to fix things with Lenny, but right now he needed to go to the docks.
With a new determination he got to his feet and exited his den. Without looking back he disappeared into the shadows.