It Does Funny Things to You

by Mystitat

A/N: Okay, give me a little leeway: this was the first fanfic I ever wrote. I actually wrote this before I knew what fanfiction was. When I gave it to my best friend to read, she said, "Oh, Cats Fanfiction!" I was all, "What's that?" Yeah, I was pretty pathetic. It's not quite as eloquently written as I like to be now, but most of it here is the way it originally was. Not surprisingly, I never really finished it back then when I was first introduced to the world of Cats. So now, I have resurrected it, and I've even got an ending in mind, if you can believe it. The chapters will get better as I put more up, as they were written more and more after I became aquainted with the nuances of writing fanfics and ... oh, I'm blabbering. Just enjoy!
Mistoffelees lay awake in his paper-bag bed in the junkyard where most of the Jellicle Cats lived. He tried lying on one side, then the other, then on his back, but it was no good. He couldn't sleep. His magic did that to him occasionally. He loved doing magic, and he loved the attention he got from it, but sometimes he hated the effects that it had on him. His friends were always asking him to do the littlest things for them (which he would have done, but he wasn't allowed to do it) and sometimes it just kept him awake. It surged through his veins and fizzed in his brain so much that he simply couldn't sleep.

Suddenly, a trash can banged in the distance, and a newspaper fluttered. "That's odd," he thought to himself. "No one's usually awake now, except me, and if someone were coming, I would have sensed it." Mistoffelees could sense anything odd coming, except for one cat.

Whatever was making the noise seemed to be coming nearer. A box overturned, and whoever was sleeping in it spilled out with a meow. Oddly, Mistoffelees heard nothing else from the unknown sleeper. He decided to venture a peek out of his bag.

As soon as he peered out, he yelped and immediately scrambled back into bed. Macavity was standing right next to his bag, so close he could hear the raspy breath. Mistoffelees' heart pounded in his throat and his magic was going crazy now that he knew of the imminent danger. It did that when he knew he might have to fight. But why would Macavity be right next to him without doing anything to him?

Macavity was the most evil and mysterious of cats. At the last Jellicle Ball he was so brazen as to kidnap Old Deuteronomy. Whenever he showed up, everyone hid in the deepest, most secret place they could find. No one wanted to be as close to him as Mistoffelees was now. The only cat who didn't hide were the ones who were strong enough to fight him, like Munkustrap, Mistoffelees' father. Munkustrap was currently sleeping in a tire next to Mistoffelees' bag.

After braving another peek out of the bag, Mistoffelees found that all the cats he could see were sound asleep. "But how could he do that to all of them?" he thought. Then he accidentally rustled in the bag.

Macavity had seen him.

Quick as a wink Mistoffelees dashed out of the bag and into a nearby box. But Macavity was right behind him. He bounded out of the box and thought, "Time for some magic!" thrilled for a chance to use it. He waved his arm and a swarm of bottles and glass rushed at Macavity. But Macavity waved his own arm, and the swarm dropped where it was! Mistoffelees was astonished! How could someone else thwart his own magic? Macavity was slowly stalking toward him. He tried throwing lightning at the evil cat, but it had no effect on Macavity. Similar lightning even came back to him, and hit him squarely in his chest. He felt no pain.

Mistoffelees only had one magic trick left. He might be able to charm Macavity into obeying his commands, a little like hypnotism. It was a trick he had practiced, but never perfected. As he began the spell, Macavity jumped at him, pinning him to the ground. "It won't work on me, boy, and you know it!" Somehow Macavity had known exactly what Mistoffelees was about to do.

Mistoffelees sent the charm flying at Macavity, but just as he had predicted, it had no effect. Now he was scared. He cried out, "Munkustrap! Help!" but Munkustrap could do nothing. He was gagged and bound in his tire, right where Mistoffelees had seen him fall asleep the night before. He did not even struggle against the ties. He was sound asleep, as if in a coma.

Then that cleverest of cats had an idea. He used his magic to knock over a trash can, and while Macavity was distracted, he slipped out from under him. And Mistoffelees ran like he had never run before. He ignored the sharp pain of broken glass under his paws and the tightness in his chest from lack of breath. Even though Macavity was biting at his long black tail, he was confident again. He ran up to the highest garbage peak, and skipped over the trap he knew was buried in it. Macavity snarled as his foot became caught in the trap, which dragged him up by his ankle to hang upside down.

"Ha!" said Mistoffelees. "Try to get out of that one!"

"I will."

Mistoffelees watched in horror as Macavity slowly started to ascend. He rose up until the rope was slack around his ankle and simply fell off. Macavity could fly! "Uh oh," Mistoffelees uttered, and he was off running again.

With Macavity flying behind him, he had no hope now of outrunning him. Still, he thumped over boxes and barrels in his attempt to get away from the evil that was following him. In desperation he leaped off a cliff of garbage, and blindly reached out with his magic. When he stopped moving, he was astonished to find that his feet did not touch the ground. "I didn't know I could do that."

"You and I are more alike than you would like to think, boy." And with that, Macavity disappeared into the night.

When Mistoffelees had finally untied his father, he tried to wake him up, to no avail. Not even the mighty odor of old tuna fish could wake him up. He muttered, "Dad, Dad, wake up," and similar urgings, but nothing happened. Mistoffelees tried shaking him and hitting him, and even biting him, but Munkustrap just lay there, as if, as if...

As if he had been charmed! No wonder none of the cats had woken up when Macavity came, even Demeter, who was sensitive to Macavity's proximity. Macavity must have charmed them into sleeping, so no one would hear him. This was bad. Mistoffelees wasn't sure if he could break the charm. He could if he was the one who cast it, but this wasn't his spell. He had never tried to break someone else's spell, because he didn't know anyone else who could cast one. The little cat started to whimper. He didn't know what to do, short of trying to break the spell. And he wasn't even sure that would work. It was a long shot, but he had to try.

Sweat came to Mistoffelees' brow and his hands shook as he prepared to use his power. He really wanted this to work. But before he could even try, Munkustrap's eyelids fluttered. He rolled his head as he came about and looked around. "Dad, are you okay?" Mistoffelees asked.

Munkustrap lifted his eyebrows in confusion. "Sure I am. But why am I so sore? And you look exhausted. Are you okay?" Mistoffelees was panting and in shock that Munkustrap awoke without a word from him.

At this point, every other cat in the junkyard seemed to be waking up, and all of them were querying each other over what had just happened, and why their sleeping surroundings had been disturbed.

Mistoffelees hesitated. He wasn't sure of what to say. He would have loved nothing more than to tell them that Macavity had been there, and that he had scared him off, but that wasn't quite true. For some strange reason, Macavity had just left on his own without doing any real damage other than charming everyone to sleep. And Mistoffelees still wasn't sure if the whole thing hadn't been some kind of a wild dream.

"Nothing happened, Dad."

"Then why do you look so exhausted?"

"Oh, a mouse scampered into my bed, and I was chasing him around."

A/N: Okay, time to review! And don't worry, it's going to get MUCH more interesting! )

PS: I had trouble putting this under a genre, because it encompasses so many! (you'll see as I put up more chapters)