A/N: Since you were all so wonderful in reviewing promptly, TA DA! You get another chapter today! Enjoy. (And yeah, this is another one of my favorite chapters!) (And hey, Chimalmaht finally gets her wish!)

Munkustrap's flashback, part two:

"Oh, Ebony, he's beautiful!"

"Isn't he? A perfect tuxedo!"

Three years later, Munkustrap gazed in wonder at the little bundle in his mate's arms. His first kitten! Ebenitat, his perfectly black and silky mate, had just given birth to their first son. Munkustrap couldn't believe he was a father. It was a miracle!

Just outside the Jellicle Infirmary (okay, it was still an old car...), the other cats were clamoring to get in and get a look at the little newborn. "Is it a boy or a girl?" Skimbleshanks wanted to know.

"What does it look like?" asked Bombalurina.

"Does it have Munkustrap's eyes?" queried Demeter.

"Can it come out an' play?" That one was Alonzo (hey, he was only six months old!). Little Plato nodded; he wanted to play with the kitten, too.

Tugger rolled his eyes and smiled at his son. "No! The kitten can't come out and play! It's just been born, you silly ying-yang!"

"What's that?" Alonzo and Plato chorused.

"I dunno. I heard some humans sayin' it." Tugger shrugged.

"It's a boy, with perfect tuxedo markings, it has its own eyes, and it will be playing with no one until it can get some peace and quiet!" Jennyanydots was almost yelling to be heard as she stepped out of the car to give the new family some privacy. "All of you, shoo!"

Munkustrap and Ebenitat (or Ebony, for short) smiled as their friends and relatives were shooed away from the newest Jellicle. "Ebony, I can't believe it," Munkustrap muttered as he cuddled with his mate and the new arrival. "I'm a father! You're a mother! This – it's – uh – wow, I can't think of anything to say!"

"How about a name, O heroic leader? He will need a name, you know," Ebony said, smiling sweetly with him in the backseat of the car.

"A name? You mean, I get to name him?"

"Why not?"

"Oh, it's just- I thought- oh, all right, I'll name him! How about, um, Oshtakoot?"

Ebony grimaced. "Ugh, it sounds like a Russian breakfast, with bird eggs or something."

"Oh, ok," Munkustrap said. "Uh, maybe Zackalike?"

"No, it sounds like carpet cleaner."

"Floundro?"

"Too wishy-washy."

"Athena?"

"He's a boy!"

Sheesh, Munkustrap thought to himself. I thought I was naming him. "All right, how about, um, Quaxo?"

"Eh, it's okay, but I think he will need something more, oh, dramatic!" Ebony complained. "Something more sharp, more dangerous! Ooh!" she squealed. "How about Mistoffelees!"

"I guess it's all right..."

"Perfect! His name is Mistoffelees!" Ebony held him up to get a better look at him in the new light of his name.

Munkustrap inwardly sighed. As long as he doesn't grow up like Mephistopheles... he thought.

Suddenly, an eerie voice cackled in the minds of Ebony and her mate. "Ah, Mistoffelees, what a perfect name. Too bad he won't live long enough to learn how to spell it."

"Who's there!?" Munkustrap called out, as if he didn't know. Ebony clutched the kitten closer to her chest, and Munkustrap embraced both of them.

"As if you didn't know."

A puff of orange smoke materialized in the forward end of the car (the front seats had been removed long ago). It grew until it was large enough to hide a small pollicle, but when it cleared, it was definitely not a pollicle sitting there.

"Macavity," Munkustrap sneered. Even though he had seen (and fought) his brother in the years since he had been banished, he hardly recognized him. Macavity's coat had obviously not been cut since he lived with the Jellicles, to the point that his ears could no longer be seen in the mass of ginger fur atop his head. He seemed to have given up on washing himself, and a faint sour odor emanated from his person. His brow was deeply lined in thought, his head was highly ... oh, you know the rest!

Munkustrap was torn between running out to get help, or protecting his familly. He had heard about his brother's escapades since he had been banished. In the end, the need to protect his family won, of course.

Macavity grinned. "Ah, dear brother! You seem surprised to see me. I just wanted to welcome my nephew into the world."

"Liar!" Munkustrap snarled.

"Okay, maybe that's not all I wanted to do," Macavity said as he rolled his eyes. "Maybe I also wanted to buy myself a bit of, shall we say, insurance?"

"Insurance?" Ebony squeaked.

"Yes. I wanted to make sure that what happened years ago never happens again."

"What do you mean?" asked Munkustrap, clutching his mate and son closer, hoping to buy some time in which help could arrive.

Macavity rolled his eyes again. "You dolt. I guess I have to explain everything for you, don't I? I'm going to kill your son, so he can never follow you as Jellicle Leader, and I'm going to kill your mate, so you can never have any more descendants. And, I'm going to let you live with the knowledge that you let me kill them!"

"But why?" Munkustrap was still trying to stall.

"You really are a dolt, aren't you! Haven't you ever heard of revenge?"

Munkustrap looked down. He didn't think this was going to work, but he wanted to try. "Macavity, you don't have to do this. Don't you remember what you were like before? Living peacefully in the junkyard? How much fun we had together? I know you don't want to do this. Let it go. Don't worry about Deuteronomy. He's not even here, now. (Deuteronomy had become the Jellicle Leader, leaving Munkustrap as the youngest Protector ever.) I can reason with him. You could come back home! I know what you've been through. Don't you want to come home?"

Macavity would have none of it.

"How can you?!" he screamed. "How can you possibly claim to know what it's like for me?! You know nothing! You have never seen the looks on the faces of cats who can't handle the thought of you living with them. You have never felt rage burning inside you until you think you will burst! Never been rejected by your own tribe, by your own father!" He paused here, regaining composure. "You had leadership thrusted upon you," he said, words dripping from his mouth like ice. "You have never lusted for power. That's what magic does to you. It makes you yearn always for more power. It's insatiable. There is nothing I can do. And when it's not power, it's revenge. 'What's to stop a magician from getting his revenge?' it tells me. And it's right. There is nothing. I am the only thing that matters. Nothing can stop me from having what I want!"

Other cats, hearing the comotion, began to congregate around the car. Macavity sensed them before Ebony and Munkustrap could, and with a glance at the car doors, the locks went down. It would be useless for Munkustrap to stall now.

With that, Macavity drew back, preparing to strike against the young family. Munkustrap saw this, and reluctantly pounced on that most evil of cats. But Macavity had expected that, and as soon as Munkustrap had vacated the back seat, he disappeared and rematerialized in the exact spot his brother had been in when he cuddled his family. Macavity gazed at Ebony and smiled evily. "I will have my revenge!" he snarled, seizing Ebony's neck. She put up a fight, but she was no match for a full grown tom. It was only a moment before her struggles died and she went limp.

"NO!" Munkustrap cried as he saw what was happening. He tried to leap in between Macavity and Ebony, but it was too late. Ebony was dead. There was nothing he could do but try to save all he had left of her: his newborn kitten. He grabbed the tiny thing in his mouth by the scruff of his neck and dashed to the nearest door in the car, but Macavity was quicker than he was. Before Munkustrap could say, "mice-cream cone," Macavity was in between him and his only means of escape (not that he could have gotten out, anyway: all the doors were locked, and it's kind of hard to undo the lock when you're a cat with a kitten in your mouth).

"I have you now!" Macavity cried, and let loose a thunderbolt that rocked the entire car, blinding Munkustrap. It hit the small kitten squarely. Macavity smiled, satisfied. When Munkustrap was finally able to open his eyes, he was horrified to see his son lying on the floor, unconscious.

"Well, that should teach you to try to defy me!" Macavity declared victoriously, as he strode to the front of the car to make his exit. "You know, you should have just let me kill you all those years ago. You would have been much better off in the long run. Not to mention – what's this!!" He whirled around and stared.

Munkustrap was staring, as well. He had stood up, and was going to try to take down Macavity right then and there, but a small "mew" stopped him. Now, in his arms, he held his lifeless kitten, but it was no longer lifeless! It was just waking up from a nice little catnap, and was rather hungry. He mewed for his mother, stretching out limbs that had not really seen use yet. Macavity just stood there, mouth agape. Hadn't he killed that kitten just a few moments ago? How could it have survived? That blast would have taken down a lion. A large lion. If it was enough to kill a giant cat, this little kitten couldn't be any match for it!

Both brothers stood in the car for a full minute, pondering how in the world this tiny creature could have survived a powerful blast of lightening. "It can't be," Macavity uttered, and just to try to prove himself wrong, he zapped the kitten again. It twitched, but otherwise didn't take any notice of the efforts of his uncle to kill him. "No, it can't be," Macavity said again.

"What?!" Munkustrap screamed, too confused to be terrified. "What is it?!"

Macavity glanced at him, not wanting to tell Munkustrap reason for his kitten's immunity to magic just yet. He would discover it in time. "This isn't over," he muttered. With that, and a puff of his trademark orange smoke, the Hidden Paw disappeared into the night. Munkustrap coughed until the smoke cleared, then looked at his boy again (completely ignoring the other cats who had sprung from their beds to see what was the matter). How did you do that? he silently asked little Mistoffelees.

But then he glanced over to the backseat, and all thought of his kitten evaporated. Ebony! Macavity had selfishly taken the life of his brother's one true love just to get his stupid revenge. How could he do that? Ebony never did anything to him! She hadn't even seen him before!

Munkustrap let out a low growl. Now he would never let Macavity back into the Jellicle Tribe. He could never forgive his brother for taking away his mate.

A/N: Okay, do you all still want to give Macavity hugs, now? (Jemima-luvah, I already know your answer...) Actually, I must admit I was surprised at how much sympathy he got, but I realized why when I found out how I'd split this up. Originally, this chapter and the one before were just one chapter, so you don't get much of a chance to feel sorry for Macavity (come on, guys! he's the bad guy in this story!). But I split it in two because the whole things was quite a large file and I wanted to milk as many reviews as I could out of you. So, yeah, enjoy.

(and, chimalmaht? sorry Misto's mom was an oc cat, but I think it worked in the end. I also think I'm gonna have to write a prequel for this eventually...)