Disclaimer: I don't own CATS

Hey, sorry it's been so long. I've been working on some other stuff lately, and have been very distracted. Don't worry, I'll update as soon as I can. Until then, please review!

While the maniac with fur enjoyed the numbness in his limbs and tail and everyone else downstairs downstairs gave him all their attention, a certain queen's heart broke.

Bombalurina decided she had had enough of the chaos downstairs, and so she headed up to the library on the top floor (yeah, it exists now) to browse around and explore.

"As soon as that eccentric, nipped up oddball gets frostbite, it's not going to be funny anymore," she thought to herselff, as she walked around the balcony of the second floor and toward the hallway that lead to the second staircase.

The red queen found that she really like this place. The architecture was nice, simple and rustic, and very cozy. The pictures on the walls were of nature scenes, and sometimes animals, and she found that despite the fact that they were trapped under a ton of snow, she was generally not too put out by all that had happened so far.

The past couple of days hadn't been too bad, actually. She found most of what was going on amusing. This was good, because it was a distraction, which is what the queen really wanted, anyway.

Of course, as this thought ran through her mind she let out a sigh, as she was reminded of what she needed a distraction from.

Even at her happiest, Tugger was always on her mind. She just couldn't stop thinking of him. Really, it had to do with the fact that he had always promised they would be together when they were younger, back when she thought he was trustworthy. That was back when she confided in him with everything, trusted him. Now, she was tired of empty promises from him and from being his throwback.

Bomba stopped for a moment when she came upon a mirror, looking at herself. "I won't look this good forever. I'm just waisting my life. In a few years I'm probably going to look like a totally different cat. Than again, we all are. And I'm losing years of my life to a loser who throws me away like garbage."

She stood there a moment longer, looking so closely into her own eyes it was almost creepy even to her. "There's a whole world out there, and the older I get, the more I restrict myself from seeing it, and I obsess over this stupid relationship. I've avoided family because I've been too ashamed to talk to them about it, I've hurt others I love, and I've given up a lot of my old interests for really no reason."

And she knew the reason behind this was all to do with this depression she was getting into over Tugger.

As she was about to walk away from the mirror, she noticed something in it. Bomba narrowed her eyes as she watched the tiny reflection of a brown, long and lanky cat around the corner of the hall.

Bomba had been jealously watching Cassandra going out with Tugger for the past week, and had been driving herself crazy over it.

Quietly, Bomba crept around the corner and down the hall, hoping no one would see her as she walked past the top of the grand staircase. As she was passing it, she looked and saw everyone downstairs going crazy about the snow, trying to get rid of it using pales while Admetus went crazy trying to stop them. She shook her head at the craziness of it all, figuring they were all nuts and should just be left to themselves.

Finally past the grand staircase, the red queen took a deep breath and looked over her shoulders to make sure nobody saw what she was about to do. Silently, she tiptoed up to the door she had seen Cassandra enter through, trying to peek underneath it. All she saw were the legs of furniture and two pairs of feet, although the sight made her heart nearly stop. One pair belonged to Cassi, the other to Tugger.

Bomba felt a chill run through her, as the thought that it should be her and not Cassi Tugger is with. Full of indignant anger, Bomba held her breath and pressed her ear to the door, nervously waiting for what she was afraid she was going to hear.

"So, what do you think?" asked Tugger, his voice slightly muffled by the door. Tugger was holding up the case to show Cassi the collar he had made for Bombalurina.

"Oh Tugger, I think it's a lovely collar. You did such a fine job!" exclaimed Cassi.

As the abbysinian said this, Bomba's eyes went about as wide as ping pong balls.

"Does Bomba know yet?" whispered Cassi.

At that moment Bomba grabbed her chest, as if her heart had just leapt forwar about a foot.

"No, I don't want her going crazy until we hear from some rescue. I mean, think about everyone's sanity. She'll be going nuts," said Tugger, half laughingly.

Her heart stopped throbbing against the walls of her chest. Instead, the red queen felt a sudden cold, emptiness beginning to make its way over her entire being.

Slowly, the red queen shrank away from the door, stood up, and begun walking backwards away from the door. She continued to walk backwards until she reached the edge of the hall, and then took of running. Tears streamed down her face as she ran, she couldn't think or see or breathe, she just needed to get away from those two cats.

She would have run away from this place if she could, but since she couldn't, she'd run as far as she could in this prison. Through the hall, up the stairs, through the next hall, until she got to a door and threw it open.

There was the library, bright and full of books from ceiling to floor, with such couches and large windows.

To her, it was just an empty room. Her feet carried her to the window; it was frozen over with this ice. Her whole body felt as cold as ice, her chest empty of a beating heart, her red fire gone.

She stood with her back to the room, not moving. She wanted to disappear in this room, wanted to vanish as she looked at this empty window. It would hurt less than feeling so alone.

Alone, where no one would hear, she pressed her hands agains the freezing glass, and she begun to sing.

"There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong"

She knew singing alone was pathetic, but that's what she was here.

"I dreamed a dream in times gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung
No wine untasted."

Her entire life had been centered around chasing one tom who used her and threw her away repeatedly. She never saw any consequences to playing games with him and allowing herself to be used by him when she was younger. Now, she was just lonely and tired of it. But Tugger had only thought of her as an object, and wouldn't stop the game any time soon.

"But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame."

"Are the tigers all of them, all those other queen?" she asked herself. "No, we're all a bunch of cruel, coniving creatures who seek to harm each other. I've done my share of hurting others, and it's come back to get me and drag me down."

"He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came."

"And every time, I allow myself to believe he's going to stay with me."

"And still I dream he'll come to me
That we'll live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed."

Slowly, the red queen curled up into a little ball, not looking up. The ache in her chest was twisting and turning painfully, and the coldness in her body made her feel empty. "I was so stupid for dreaming."

Meanwhile, two theiving calico's were wandering down the stairs into the basement, not knowing they were about to hit the jackpot.

"I was down here earlier, and there's plenty of nice stuff for us to steal," said Teazer with a smile.

"Oh really, what's so good that's worth taking down here, sis?" asked Jerrie, as they opened the door.

Before the two cats were dark skies lit by red lanterns, letting off a warm red glow. Red tiled roofed building with plants in the windows and stone steps leading up to them. Store fronts, food carts, and markets, everything unique and exotic and interesting. People everywhere, selling, buying, walking or riding in carts and rickshaws. The roads were made from cobblestones and seemed almost new, and fences and gardens lined them. In the background you could hear people calling to each other or bartering, music being played from somewhere, and the sounds of the crowded streets; it was almsot overwhelming.

The smell of the food, all so enticing, the calico's almost found themselves drooling.

"Well," begun Jerrie, trying to look at everything as fast as possible. "This 's a useful discov'ry."

"Useful? This 's ama'zin. Io say 'e 'ange our target's," said Teazer, looking around like a kid in a candy store.

"Okay," said Jerrie, nodding his head. "'ow, we 'ertainly ain't in Kansas any'ore."