Again, musical moments in my story :D This one should be OBVIOUS, if you don't know where it's from, you are a MUSICAL FAILURE! Just saying ^_^ REVIEW OR DIE!
Rumpleteazer barely kept herself from screaming as she heard the Jellicles filtering in, around Dymian, their loud voices full of contempt for the wounded Tom. She tried desperately to turn around, to assist her lover, no matter what he said about keeping her safe, but she discovered that the pipe was much too small to turn sideways in. More frightened than she had ever been before, she lay still, trying to catch the action behind her.
"…you at last!" A Tom's voice was snarling, "But it looks to me as though some lucky soul got here first! You don't have much longer too live, that much I can see….What shall we do with the beast?"
"Feed him to the Pollicles!"
"No, the Pekes! Much more vicious!"
"Leave him to die!"
The crowd of Jellicles had erupted into a flurry of ideas, all as morbid and awful as the next. Teazer whimpered as she heard the blood lust in their voices, heard their desire to kill, to destroy what they believed to be a monster. Suddenly, there was a complete silence. Teazer could only assume that the leader had signaled them to be quiet.
"All are excellent ideas!" The Tom's voice was speaking again, "But I am rather partial to the idea of taking him back to the Junkyard, and torturing him until he falls dead!"
The crowd clapped and cheered, crying, "Revenge for Jemima! Revenge for Old Deuteronomy! Revenge for-"
"Wait!"
There was another ominous silence, and Teazer could feel her breath catch in her throat as the leader said, almost silently, "Where is Rumpleteazer?"
Another silence followed, and Teazer thought that her heart was going to fly out of her chest. This was surely the end. Dymian couldn't possibly find his way out of this one, no matter what he tried. But then, out of the silence, Dymian's low and smooth voice murmured, as calm and put together as you please, "She ran away…She's the one that did this to me…"
There was an astonished hush as the crowd took this in. Then, the leader (at this point, Teazer was quite sure that it was Macavity speaking and taking charge) softly whispered, almost too quietly for her to hear, "Well, I'll be damned…Well done, Teazer….Grab the brute, two at the front and two at his feet! And hurry! We need to get him back before sunrise!"
There was the sound of a very weak struggle and the fading cries of triumph and then…all was quiet. Rumpleteazer waited for a moment, listening to the sudden lack of noise in the air, her heart pounding so hard that it would surely give her away, if anyone was listening. Dymian was gone! Gone! And it was her fault…She couldn't have helped, if she hadn't been such a coward! She could have fought all of the Jellicles off, told them that he deserved to be left alive, because he was sorry for what he did….He only did it for love.
After making absolutely sure that no one was left in the clearing, Teazer slowly back out of the tiny pipe, and onto the ground. She slowly turned around, standing up as she rotated on her heel. The left side of the fence, from where she was standing, had been completely obliterated, probably by some magical force. Dymian was indeed gone, and the only sign that he had ever been there was…Teazer gave a tiny gasp of horror as she recognized the spot where Dymian had been laying. There was a large poop of deep red blood on the pavement, marking the spot forever more.
Rumpleteazer ran over to the blood, skidding to a stop as she fell on her knees. Dymian's life was spilled on the ground in front of her, as informally as one may spill a can of tomato juice. Slowly, with a shaking paw, she dipped a sharp claw into the pool and pulled it quickly out, watching a bead of the plasma roll down the black claw and drop back to the ground to join its friends. Blood….She had a plan to save Dymian. And it was going to work…It had to.
With more purpose, she slapped both paws into the blood and dragged them out, moving quickly over to a clean spot on the ground. She began to rub the blood on the pavement, drawing the complex shape she was surprised she could recall with such accuracy. She had seen Macavity perform a healing spell often enough, to save important Henchcats he had taken a liking to. He had even used a minor one on Mungojerrie once, when a Pollicle had slashed his arm clean open. The point was that she remembered exactly how he had done it…And all you needed to make it work was the blood of the wounded…And, of course, a magical cat, this was a problem. Teazer had never used magic before, had never spoken the words of a spell, had never even shown the slightest sign that she might have magical abilities. But she had to try….She had to save Dymian.
Teazer pressed her paws to the center of the shape she had drawn, her claws tapping a small star that adorned the very middle. Softly, very softly, she sang,
"Eleka nahmen nahmen,
A tum, a tum,
Eleka nahmen!
Eleka nahmen nahmen,
A tum, a tum,
Eleka nahmen…"
She slowly raised her paws above her head, the blood still dripping from them as she swung them over her head, slowly, solemnly, drawing complex shapes in the air as she sang,
"Let his flesh not be torn,
Let his blood leave no stain,
Though they beat him, let him feel no pain!
Let his bones never break,
And however they try to destroy him,
Let him never die!
Let him never die…"
She returned her paws to the blood shape, etching the edges, her heart pounding fiercely. Any minute now, the spell would work…The shape would glow, and she would know that she had saved Dymian's life. Any minute….
"Eleka nahmen nahmen,
A tum, a tum,
Eleka nahmen!
Eleka nahmen nahmen,
A tum, a tum,
Eleka…eleka…"
But the shape was glowing, nothing was happening. Teazer's eyes filled with tears as she slowly came to the realization that her passion and desire for this cat to live wasn't enough- it wasn't going to work. With a frustrated cry, she slammed her paws again the shape, crying,
"What good is this chanting?
I don't even know what I'm saying!
I don't even know which trick I ought to try…
Dymian, where are you?
Already dead or bleeding!
One more disaster I can add to my generous supply!"
She slowly stood up, suddenly calm as she dropped her paws to her side, the blood on her fur starting to harden against her skin. She looked down at the blood symbol she had drawn, the useless thing that had brought her nothing but woe. It didn't work…It wouldn't work for her.
And everything, everything that had happened was her fault, she knew that. Dymian had only acted how he felt was correct…It was she that he enabled him, had tried to take him in and make him better…But she hadn't even tried to do that, really! She had just let him take her over, thinking maybe that would satisfy him, thinking herself a good cat, keeping this…monster from harming everyone else! But it hadn't worked…She had failed.
"No good deed goes unpunished…
No act of charity goes unresented.
No good deed goes unpunished,
That's my new creed!
My road of good intentions led where such roads always lead…
No good deed….
Goes unpunished!"
She held the mournful note as she knelt to the ground, slapping her paws into the still wet puddle of blood. Slowly, the blood settled again, the ripples growing calm…Blood….so much blood….
"Jemima…
Old Deuteronomy….
Dymian…
Dymian!"
She screamed the last word, her head spinning with images of her dying angel, lying there, bleeding his life out onto the cold pavement. Again, she slapped the bloody, the drop hitting her face and slid down her neck, staining her, marking her as something awful, something not to be befriended or even looked upon as normal.
"One question haunts and hurts,
Too much,
Too much to mention!
Was I really seeking good?
Or just seeking attention?
Is that all good deeds are when looked at with an ice cold eye?
If that's all good deeds are,
Maybe that's the reason why…"
Slowly, she rose again, her arms strong by her side, her face set with rage, and complete and utter loss of any sort of hope.
"No good deed goes unpunished!
All helpful urges should be circumvented!
No good deed goes unpunished…
Sure, I meant well, but look at what well meant did…."
She stared down at the blood again, her mind filled with nothing but images of Dymian dying…being tortured to death by the Jellicles…
"Alright, enough!
So be it!
So be it then….
Let all the world be agreed…
I'm wicked through and through
Since I cannot succeed, Dymian, saving you!
I promise no good deed will I attempt to do again!
Ever again!
No good deed will I do…
Again!"
She screamed the last note as loudly at she could, shouting it at the sky, the rising sun, shouting it to the Jellicles, miles away.