So Diddledee and Diddlepaws were shunned by everyone, well, almost everyone.
Slowly and quietly, Etcetera crept out of the box. She was certain she had fooled everyone until someone touched her shoulder.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Apollo asked making her jump.
"You scared me Apollo!" Etcetera screeched, talentfully avoiding the question.
"Sorry, now where are you going?" Apollo asked again, skillfully staying on topic.
"Okay, alright...I'm going to see Diddledee. We've been leaving eachother notes at the old tire.
"Does she know you're coming?"
"Of course, we've arranged it all in our notes." Etcetera cried, shocked by the mistrust she heard in his voice.
"Fine, then I'll come with you...just in case."
"Alright Apollo, lets go." And they walked off, their fur soon fading into the dark of the night.
Diddledee crawled out of the tunnel, careful not to make any noise, and finally whipped her tail our. Shadows moved slowly swaying form side to side. Almost tentatively Apollo and Etcetera stepped into the light by the tunnel. "Etcy! Why did you bring him?"
"I didn't, he came of his own accord! He caught me and made me let him come!" Etcetera cried.
"Yeah..." Apollo hissed protectively, his fur bristling straight up, "so if-"
"No, its fine," Diddledee sighed and they began to talk. Diddlepaws saw the whole thing.
Demeter woke with a start, "Macavity!" she looked around, they were still in her box and Macavity was no where to be seen. Breathing a sigh of relief Demeter looked around her home, her green gaze caressing the faces of all her children until she noticed two were missing. "Etcetera! Apollo! Munkustrap wake up! They're gone! Our kittens are gone!"
Tittleso gasped awake. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. She lifted her head, wrinkled her nose, and sniffed the air. The scent of Macavity hit her hard, followed closely by the reassuring scent of her two daughters. Then a strange scent filled her nose, it wasn't one of the henchmen, or her mate or daughters, there was a male and female outside of the tunnel. "Macavity," she whispered, nudging him awake, "someone's here!"
The Jellicles swarmed through the Junkyard crying the names of the lost kittens. Adult cats went beyond the junk piles while the kittens searched the junk. Yet they couldn't find them anywhere.
Demeter buried her face in Munkustrap's neck and sobbed, "They're gone, Etcetera and Apollo, gone, both gone!" her wails filled the night air. Munkustrap calmed the queen, patiently waiting for the sobs to subside, but they didn't.
Two hours later
"You guys are so weird!" Diddledee said after she had finally stopped laughing form another hilarious story Etcetera and Apollo had told. The orange sun rose slowly over the piles of junk, "Oh my gosh! The sun's coming up! You guys better go!" looking around the Junkyard the two other kittens agreed.
"I guess this is good bye for now," Etcetera sighed, "Come on Apollo, let's go home before mom and dad realize we're missing."
"You go ahead, I'll catch up in a minute. I need to talk to Diddledee," he told her. She nodded and Apollo smiled as he watched Etcetera walk away. Slowly he turned to Diddledee, "thanks, we had a lot of fun," he told her. Licking her nose, he ran after Etcetera. "I'm coming Etcy!"
Diddledee stood dumbfounded for a minute, the shock of the moment wearing off until she realized, "oh no! I've got to get home!"
Diddlepaws smiled, it was the perfect plan. She would tell tittleso and Macavity that Diddledee was seeing two Jellicles land then nothing would stand in Diddlepaws way of getting Apollo. Her plan was fool proof, then her smile faded. What if they didn't believe her? No...there was no what if, there was only the assurance that she would get what she wanted, like she always did.
Munkustap saw Etcetera and Apollo racing towards the box just as the sun's first rays came through the opening. Breathing a sigh of relief he turned and nudged Demeter awake. "Sweetheart, sweetheart wake up."
"Wha-"then the night's events came back to her, "Oh no! Etcetera! Apollo! Oh-"
"Shh...its okay they're almost outside the door."
"What!" she screeched. Then laughter filled her ears, "where were they?"
"I don't know, I just saw them," Munkustrap added, "we'll ask them."
"That was so much fun! We should-"Etcetera cut off when Apollo elbowed her and pointed at their parents. "Umm...hi."
"Where have you been? We have been looking all over for you!" Demeter yelled.
"Demeter, calm dow-" Munkustrap was cut off when he tried to calm her.
"No! Don't Demeter me! You try relaxing when you know you kits were alone and you didn't know where they wer-"her voice broke and she turned away as she began to cry.
"Shh...honey its okay, remember? These are my kits too."
"Oh...Munkustrap! I'm sooooo sorry! Its just that they...and I...and oh Munku! I'm so sorry!" Demeter cried after a lot of stuttering.
Shhhh...it's okay, I understand," Munkustrap murmured, "now where were you?" he asked Etcetera and Apollo.
"Umm...we were..." Apollo wasn't sure what to say and his parents knew it.
"We were visiting Diddledee and-"Etcetera told them.
"Visiting Diddledee-"That child of a whore! She's Macavity's daughter!" emeter screeched, and Munkustrap's face had grown deathly pale.
"Children! You could have been killed! What got into you!" Munkustrap screamed. "You can't run off like this! What if Macavity got you?"
Macavity wandered outside the tunnel; he didn't hear or smell anyone. Slowly he turned around and started back in, but something moved. He darted around and came face to face with Diddledee. Parental shock and worry hit him. "Diddledee! What are you doing out her! You're suppose to be asleep!"
"Umm...I was feeling queasy and kind of like the walls were closing in on me."
"Who was out her with you!"
"Mm...no one, I was out her alone!" Diddledee cried out rapidly, to rapidly for Macavity's taste, but he let it go.
"Fine, go on in," Macavity sighed. Diddledee smiled brightly at him and hurried inside. After carefully looking around Macavity followed her inside.
As the excitement of the last night wore off, Tumblebrutus and Jemima stuck close to Etcetera and Apollo. It did seem odd that Tumblebrutus stood close to Etcetera, but Apollo let it go. Jemima nagged at her brother while the four kittens walked through the junkyard until Tumblebrutus spoke up.
"Tomorrow's the Jellicle Ball."
"Really!" Etcetera shrieked grabbing Tumble by the shoulders.
"Yeah," Tumble murmured as his ears grew red, "in an effort to calm your mom Deuteronomy told her that..." after a slight pause he continued, " it had the opposite effect though."
"Why?"
"Well...this year its your coming of age," he told her, his face now red.
"Oh yeah...I wonder who I'll be mating with."
"Me," tumblebrutus said his face beat red.
I hope you all enjoyed this, sorry it took so long to put upï