NOTE: This chapter contains minor literary violence and a fair portion of angst, if this is triggering for you I would recommend skipping this chapter. Also, if any of you readers have feedback, comments or suggestions on how the story should go, please don't hesitate to leave a review on this chapter.

Mr Mistoffelees meowed frustratedly for the fiftieth time that hour. Ever since Tugger and Munkustrap had left to find that kitten he had been incredibly on edge, and he had no idea why. He knew that what they were doing was incredibly dangerous, sure, but he also knew that both cats were able to defend themselves, especially as a pair. Nothing overly bad would happen to them.

Sighing, he curled up in the corner of his den, batting his tail against the floor. Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, Mr Mistoffelees hated being parted from the Rum Tum Tugger, and he hated it even more when it was a dangerous situation keeping them apart. He just wanted his...friend to be safe, safe in the Junkyard where his magic would protect the Maine Coone from harm.

Stop being so soppy!, he inwardly cursed, attempting to settle down. He doesn't even like you in that way! He's just grateful that you brought Old Deuteronomy back, that's all. As much as he disliked the fact, Misto knew it was true. Why would Tugger the rockstar want to pick the young tom magician? It didn't make sense, and besides, Misto had tried everything. He'd played hard to get, he'd done all of Tugger's favourite tricks, he'd even started licking his fur so it was smooth the way Tugger liked it, but nothing had worked. It simply isn't meant to be.

Fortunately, Mr Mistoffelees' mind was kind enough to grant him distraction from thoughts about the Rum Tum Tugger...well, sort of. As soon as he felt the rush of energy through his paws, a rush that he couldn't control, Misto ran to a secluded area of the Junkyard and waited. Then it began.

All of a sudden, his mind went completely blank, like a fish that had been picked to the bare bone. Then the images came, so fast that Misto could hardly tell them apart from each other, flashes of Munkustrap's tabby stripes and blue sparks flying from Macavity's paws (if he had been able to acknowledge his surroundings, he would have seen the same sparks flying from his own paws), Tugger's puffed-up mane specked with gravel and dust, a pair of eyes that shone in the darkness.

Screams, cries and claws ripping into flesh swirled in his ears; some he recognised, some completely foreign, like the ink-black eyes he had seen what seemed like both moments and eternities ago. They stared back at him, and through them Mr Mistoffelees could see silvery fur and hear a beautiful song. For a moment the bright, kitten-ish soprano voice reminded him of something (or perhaps someone, he was unsure), but then it grew louder and louder and nothing else could be comprehended. Too weak to resist, he allowed the tune to wash over him as his field of vision turned a dull, lifeless black.

After that, not much made sense anymore. Mr Mistoffelees' conciousness was sort of drifting, back and forth and back and forth, never truly present or absent, until he felt a paw brush against his cheek. Opening his curiously heavy eyelids, Jennyanydots' slightly blurred face came into view.

"There you are, Quaxo," she whispered, wiping his forehead with a damp rag. Trying to sit up and gage where he was a little better, Misto was irritated when he was gently but firmly pushed back down, and groaned when a sharp flash of pain ran through his head.

"It's quite alright," he was reassured, yet there was something inside him that made him doubt that statement very much. "You had one of your spells again, but you took a bit of a tumble on the way down." Spells? That's what Jenny always calls my visions, Misto thought. Wait...what happened before I ended up in here? "You'll be right as rain soon enough, though I expect you'll be feeling out of sorts for a little while." She then took on a more stern tone, and instructed, "You aren't to move from this bed for at least a day. Tugger and Munkustrap will be back soon, and they'll bring that kitten they're so desperate to find with them."

Kitten...

Munkustrap...

Tugger...

"Jenny, I have to go." Rising from the table, Mr Mistoffelees made for the door.

"Everlasting Cat, you will do no such thing!" she commanded. "Do you not understand that you are unwell? You should be resting!"

"Jenny, I can't stay, not after what I've seen. I have to go!" Batting the Gumbie Cat's paw away, he ran out of the Junkyard and into the street, letting his magic and his vision guide him to where he had to be.

The moment that Macavity had laid his ginger paws on her, Sylvia froze. He had found her, and he was going to take her back to his den; what he would do there she didn't know, and she didn't want to even think about it but she just knew it'd be awful. Whimpering at his claws digging into her back, Sylvia attempted to mentally prepare herself to go back there and hold in her tears. If there was one thing Macavity hated, it was crying.

Then, all of a sudden, she wasn't in his grasp anymore. She was moving, moving away from him, moving into...a wall. Quite hard. Wincing, Sylvia looked around in confusion; how had she been taken away from Macavity? He wasn't a clumsy cat, not in the slightest, he had very good control over his reflexes, so how...

"We have to run. Now."

Planting herself firmly in the nook behind Tugger's flamboyant mane, the pair made their escape, not daring to look back for even a second. After around five minutes they manouvered themselves behind a large rubbish bin, and Sylvia climbed down onto the cobbles, eager to relieve Tugger of any pain he may have been caused by carrying her.

Sylvia, being small, had the advantage of being easily hidden, and thus crouched beneath the bin for a good view of the fight. Her kittenhood so far had given her an extreme distaste for violence of any kind, but she felt that it was her duty to see if the nice Munkustrap cat was winning, and to tell Mr Tugger if he wasn't. At that moment he did, although he seemed to be in a lot of pain - pain that I caused him. Pain that he's feeling only because I was stupid and cowardly enough to run away from Macavity. Pain that's my fault. It's all my fault, I'm not a special Jellicle, I'm a terrible kitten, I should go and drown myself in the river and die like all of the other bad kittens, I'm a disgrace...

As soon as the paw landed on her shoulder, Sylvia jerked away from it. She didn't dare look to see who it belonged to, it could be Macavity, it probably was, he had come to take her back to the den. The paw disappeared then, but then it returned, gripping harder and turning her around to face him. With no other choice she looked up, up into his eyes, Tugger's jet-black eyes full of emotion that she couldn't discern...and lost what little composure she had left.

"Shhhh," he murmured in her ear, non-verbally granting her full permission to plant her face firmly in his fur to soak up the tears streaming down her face. If in her right mind she would have been quite hesitant, but Sylvia was too far gone to refuse his offer of a cuddle and a shoulder to cry on. To her it was almost a foreign feeling, comforting kittens, yet it held a certain appeal in the way that it made her feel all warm and nice inside.

It was difficult to explain, just like the strange feeling coming over her, the strange feeling that made her suddenly grow tired and made stars dance before her eyes, not really there but almost tangible. If I could just reach out to grasp one..., she thought, as everything very quickly turned dark.

In all honesty, when Sylvia had started crying, Tugger hadn't been surprised. She was a kitten, a tiny one at that, and though he didn't know precisely what had happened to her, he had a feeling that it had done her great emotional damage. So he did what he could and held her, too hesitant to try anything else, too nervous of the fact that he might mess up and something bad would happen.

Unfortunately, something bad happened anyway. The moment she had gone still in his arms, his brain had gone into overdrive. Either her head injury was a lot worse than he'd thought, or she was having a vision, and in both cases he had no idea what to do. Sure, he spent a lot of time around Jenny and he knew how to handle visions because of Misto and Jemima and his dad, but he also knew the consequences of getting something wrong in those circumstances - and they weren't good. Thankfully, the matter did not stay in his mind for long, as a shrill cry drew his attention away from Sylvia and towards how best to scratch Macavity's eyes out.

As it turned out, scratching somebody's eyes out wasn't as easy as it looked. Having put Sylvia down and ran to Munkustrap without paying any attention to his surroundings, his angle of trajectory was very off, and the Hidden Paw easily deflected the blow. From that moment they were locked in battle, and it became clear to Tugger that he was the weaker fighter.

However, that didn't mean he wasn't the smarter one. Thinking fast, Tugger dodged a collection of sharpened claws and threw a fistful of gravel in Macavity's face, pleased at the shriek that echoed from the Hidden Paw's mouth. His stomach exposed, it was only too easy to leave a long scarlet scratch across it, a scratch that sent the Mystery Cat running for his lair. He ignored the evil grin, though; any idiot could see that Macavity wouldn't be reappearing anytime soon.

"Tugger!" Munkustrap called, and Tugger saw his elder brother and protector limp slightly over to him "You did it! I've never seen you fight so we - Tugger, are you okay?" The Curious Cat didn't quite know how to respond to that. He wasn't feeling his best, sure, but that wasn't unusual after a fight with the literal Hidden Paw, was it?

"Think he might have done a bit of damage," he mumbled, before he was cut off and stumbled dangerously to the left. Placing his paw on his side, he grimaced when it came back red, and suddenly he felt very cold. Through the numbness, he could feel Munkustrap linking an arm under his own and sitting them both down, adjusting their positions to get a better look at the wound and wincing when he saw it. The wince, however, seemed familiar, and the déjà-vu wouldn't disappear...

"Sylvia!" How he could have forgotten about her for so long he didn't know, but Tugger was very thankful that he had remembered that she existed. "She's by the bin, something strange is happening, you have to help her, I didn't know how."

"Tugger, what are you talking about? What's happening to her?

"I-I...vision," he mumbled, as he allowed the pain of his wounds and the tiredness in his bones to consume him.

The moment Tugger had been slashed, Munkustrap's brain sprung into action. It was as if he was no longer himself, but a whole other being; in those moments, he was the Protector of the Jellicles. Putting his younger brother into a more suitable position, he dashed off in order to find his young charge, whom he was suprisingly already quite attached to.

It didn't take him long to find her. Her form was completely still, as if she had fallen asleep, but Munkustrap knew that wasn't it. There was something deeper about what was happening to Sylvia... Then it clicked. Tugger had said vision before he had fallen unconscious; perhaps that was what was going on? With a well-practiced deftness, Munkustrap shook her gently by the shoulder.

"Sylvia?" he whispered, trying not to allow his concern to get the better of him. "Can you hear me?"

"Hmmm..." was the only reply he got, but it was still something and he smiled slightly.

"Can you wake up, Sylvia? I want to see if you're alright." At that she opened her eyes, rubbing them with her paws. Looking up at Munkustrap, she recoiled back in apparent fear until he sat her firmly on his lap.

"That's it, good kit. Remember me? I'm Munkustrap and I'm going to help you get away from Macavity, alright?" Fortunately she did seem to remember him somewhat, and nuzzled into his tabby fur.

"Mr Munkustrap, where's the black cat gone?"

"What do you mean, Sylvie?"

"The black cat, Mr Mistoffelees, he said he would come to rescue us. Where did he go?"

"Well, you see, Sylvia, you didn't really see him, you saw - "

"But he was right there!" She pointed over to where the Rum Tum Tugger was now lying, still keeping one arm wrapped around Munkustrap's waist so she wouldn't fall off his lap. "What happened?"

"Tugger said that you were having a vision. Can you remember what happened before?"

"I-I don't know, sir," she admitted, with a frailness in her tone that made Munkustrap's heartstrings twinge. "He rescued me from the fight and then we came here, we were hiding and watching. Then I felt really sad, and he was nice to me, and then I started seeing things. I don't understand, what's happening to me? What's going on? Am I a freak? Are you going to get rid of me now?"

"No, no, no," Munkustrap reassured her, alarmed at how quickly she presumed she would be abandoned. "I'm not going to get rid of you over something as simple as this, Sylvie. What happened to you is called a vision, and it's where you see things that are going to happen in the future. Sometimes it can be very clear, and sometimes it can be a bit muddled, but there are some cats I know who can teach you to understand them. Some of the Jellicles where I live have visions too, and one of them's my daughter who's just your age. I'm sure you'll be the best of friends."

"Really? There are o-other cats like me? Cats that won't hurt me or say nasty things?"

"Sylvie, if I can do anything about it, nobody will ever do any of those things to you ever again." Despite not having intended it, Munkustrap instantly realised that his words had struck something very deep. He returned the hug he received just as tightly as it was given, taking solace in having another little kitten to take care of and wondering just how badly Macavity had mistreated her.

Despite it being exceedingly wonderful, Munkustrap knew that he couldn't hug Sylvia forever, and he was almost glad when a sudden noise sent her scrambling off of him. Gathering his bearings, he squatted low and pricked up his ears, wondering what it was. Best-case scenario, it was someone come to help them; worst-case scenario, it was Macavity.

As luck would have it, it was the best-case scenario and then some. Eyes wider than saucers, Mr Mistoffelees immediately bolted over to his... friend, and seemed both horrified and disgusted by his state.

"When I get my hands on him, I'm going to -"

"Be completely rational and not get yourself just as or more severely injured than Tugger is now. If it's any help, he was fairly coherent before he passed out."

"This is more Jenny's realm, but that should be a good sign. I can sort the bruises, but that cut I definitely can't handle." With an anxious sigh, Munkustrap looked once more at his injured brother, and realised just how vulnerable he was: his body relied completely on the wall to stay upright; what skin he could see under the fur had paled remarkably; his ugly, still-bleeding slash wound. To the elder brother whose job it was to protect Tugger at all costs, it was a horrible sight to see.

Sylvia, by all accounts, seemed to agree. She had remained by the bin, not even poking her head out and Munkustrap realised suddenly just how frightened she must be by the presence of a new cat with magic when she had just had her entire world turned upside-down. Gently, he motioned for her to come to him.

"Sylvie," he told her, scratching her softly behind the ears. "This is Mr Mistoffelees, the cat you were telling me about. He's going to help get us back to all the other Jellicle cats."

"I've seen her before," the conjuring cat murmured, in a way that gave Munkustrap the distinct impression that he had no idea why he knew her. "But I don't -"

"We can worry about that later, we just need to get home." Pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing, Munkustrap scampered up and hoisted his brother onto his back, despite Misto's insistence that he could do it; to have known to come he must have had a vision of some kind, and there was no way he was risking Tugger being dropped because Misto was exhausted from having used too much magic.

However, despite attempting to seem calm and collected for Sylvia's sake, Munkustrap couldn't shake the feeling that something was undeniably wrong. It hung in the air like a bad stink, and he couldn't pinpoint what it was; bad things had happened, sure, but they were much outweighed by the good things and even then they were solvable. Looking around to try and detect it, he saw nothing until he saw his kitten, sat away from them both with her eyes wide and her ears flattened. Then it clicked. Macavity.

How had he not realise before that Sylvia had only met him half an hour ago? She had just run away from Macavity, who she reasonably believed was going to take her back, and now he was expecting her to fully trust him? It was a wonder that she had stuck around this long, let alone shown him so much affection. Munkustrap bent down in an effort to console her, but to his surprise, Mr Mistoffelees beat him to it.

"Hi, Sylvie," he whispered, somehow maintaining the perfect balance between gentle and excited in his tone. "I'm Mr Mistoffelees, but you can just call me Misto, my name's way too long. I know you don't know us very well yet, but we're not going to hurt you, okay? We're going to go back home and make sure you and Tugger are okay, and then have a slap-up feast! And I'll tell you a secret;" he leant in close to her ear, and she perked them up, clearly very eager. "I want Tugger to be my mate."

This statement didn't exactly shock Munkustrap, but it did surprise his little friend, whose eyes widened in disbelief. "He's really a very handsome cat," Misto continued, "And what's wrong with two boy cats liking each other?"

"M-Macavity said that toms who liked other toms were bad degenerates. He said that toms could only like queens and queens could only like toms."

"Well, Macavity is a right Peke if he thinks that!"

"Misto! Language!" Munkustrap scolded, and the Conjuring Cat blushed a furious red.

"And Tugger likes anything that moves, so it's okay." Sylvia giggled at that, edging slightly closer to Mr Misto, and he used this new proximity to her to his advantage. "Hey, watch this!" he exclaimed, before summoning sparks from his hands and making them fly around. Sylvia was enraptured, but Munkustrap knew exactly what was going on, and grabbed them both before the sparks flew over their heads and consumed them, transporting them back to the Jellicle Junkyard.