At the Ball

I can't express how unbelievably happy I am to find that my first CATS fanfiction turned out to be successful in the fact that I actually got a response from a few people! I would like to express my extreme thanks to Jemima-luvah (thanks for your review), Roman de la Croix (don't worry I will keep on writing as long as I can!), Mystitat (I hope you enjoy the rest of the story), and Krissy4 (thank you for your review, I was hoping to portray Mistoffelees quite differently, so tell me what you think!)

A few strays had banded together, Macavity's finest force with Grumbuskin leading them. The group consisted of only a small number of fully grown toms who (before Macavity had 'taken them under his wing') all had lived rather dangerous and rough lives out on the streets. As the group sat together Macavity smiled confidently from his podium, each cat had a speciality; Grumbuskin was well known for his pure strength, fighting skills, and effective leadership techniques. He led 6 cats in total, though only 3 of these were highly thought of in the stray world. Vincent was fully black with dazzling green eyes which seemed to pierce you with fear. His colourings meant that he was effective in kidnapping and sneaking about in the dark. He was seen as the spy of the group. Stories of a mysterious creature lurking in the shadows, only a bright pair of eyes haunting you if you were unlucky enough to be caught alone at night was a story told by mothers as a method of keeping her kittens quiet. It was a myth, however, if this terrifying story was based on any cat it would have to of been Vincent. Lounging behind him lay two larger cats, both sporting similar tabby markings. They were known as Wiskucat and Furrocat, inseparable brothers who had been taken in by Macavity at a young age. Furrowcat sported a torn ear and a long scar running over his right eye which stopped abruptly at his black nose, his build was stocky and muscular- "a real fighter cat," Macavity had described him as once. Wiskucat was taller and less ferocious looking, but had slanted eyes and hair that pointed in an unruly fashion, giving the impression that he was quite insane. And Wiskucat was known to have a rather unsteady past. Though he was seen as mad, Wiskucat was in fact very much a laid back cat. In a fight he was always the one circling the competition before rushing in (this is what made him very different to his brother).

The other 3 cats were young and keen, but not necessarily inexperienced. They were but a few of Macavity's nameless strays, who were content just to follow his orders and were really only good for providing strength in the group.

"You know what we're going for, and what we're going to come back with," Grumbuskin lectured. "However there will be no cat here that will enter the Junkyard. Macavity wants the conjurer and not a full on fight." There was a wave of groaning from the audience, "not yet, anyway."

"How are we supposed to catch this runt if we can't enter the junkyard?" enquired Wiskucat. It was at that point that Macavity himself leapt from where he was sitting and interrupted, the others looked up in surprise at this entrance. They hadn't even known Macavity was there. He held a sly grin on his face but was otherwise unreadable.

"Are you tense when you sense there's a storm in the air?" he recited from the Jellicle song. The strays shook their head, utterly bewildered. "I thought not. Well I may not be a Jellicle cat, but I do know that those storm clouds," he motioned to the large blackened clouds hanging over the edge of the city, "will mean that there is one." The cats still appeared confused, why would a storm affect the junkyard. If anything, it would mean that the Jellicle's would hide away in their holes-safe. The grin on Macavity's face widened and Grumbuskin figured that he knew something he didn't.

"How is he?" The Rum Tum Tugger asked, easily peering over the shorter Jennyanydots to catch a glimpse of his friend. Jennyanydots gave The Rum Tum Tugger a stern look and ushered his protesting form out of the shade. She did not seem to think that Mistoffelees needed him to be around. It was bad luck really. Tugger had managed to build a rather strong impression for the older cats of the tribe. Jennyanydots and the others saw him as a young rebellious rascal who had yet to find his stride and settle down into the easiness of life. He had often brushed this off without thought when Jennyanydots or Jellyorum would yell at him for being a bad influence on the kittens. It never occurred to him that now, when he was deadly serious, he would be denied to see if a fellow Jellicle was recovering well.

"I am sorry Tugger, but I cannot allow you to see Mistoffelees at this time. He does not need you to drag him into any pranks you may have up your sleeves. He hasn't even woken up yet!"

'What high opinions she has of me.'

"Aw come on Jenny, I just want to see how he's doin'. No pranks," Tugger gave her a cheeky wink, "I promise". Inside he was far from cheerful. Jennyanydots shook her head sternly, "that charm of yours won't work on me Rum Tum Tugger. Now shoo, Mistoffelees should recover soon". The Rum Tum Tugger turned to go when a shaky voice interrupted his departure,

"It's ok Jennyanydots. I feel much better now." The voice was that of Mistoffelees, he had just woken up and felt in himself much stronger, but could feel the unpleasant after effects of sunstroke. Jennyanydots at once left Tugger's side and offered the conjuring cat a drink of water. He accepted and drank the lot quickly, then got up and assured the Gumbie cat that the heat was just too much for his absorbent black coat and that from now on he would stay in the shade. She hesitantly moved aside and rose her eyebrow, unimpressed as The Rum Tum Tugger winked again and flashed his trademark smile, before leaving after Mistoffelees.

Outside, The Rum Tum Tugger found that Mistoffelees had already made it half way to his pipe. It meant that the large tom cat had to run to catch up with him. He gently tapped the black and white tom on the shoulder.

Mistoffelees turned round, secretly embarrassed and very tired. He didn't feel like talking to anyone but his friend Tugger was making it obvious that he wanted to talk, and to his surprise he turned to find that The Rum Tum Tugger gave him an uncharacteristically swift smile.

"I'm fine Tugger, before you ask," Mistoffelees stated, looking up into the face of the taller cat. The Rum Tum Tugger did not seem convinced. Instead he replied with something Mistoffelees was definitely not expecting.

"Why didn't you tell me that you get sick from using your powers!?"

These words hit Mistoffelees hard, he had tried so hard to keep it from the others yet now, because of his perilous stunt at the ball and his fainting fit on the car, everybody knew (or so he assumed) and he would be treated differently. His defensive mood proved to be quite dangerous. He felt the magic deep within him stir nervously and he fought to keep himself from sending small lightning bolts across the yard. Instead he began to walk away, his eyes staring at floor, willing the feeling to go away- his magic did appear when he was nervous, or happy, or threatened. It could prove at times to be quite troublesome.

"Mistoffelees don't just run away from this. I'm only tryin' to help you" The Rum Tum Tugger planted a firm grip onto his friends shoulder so he couldn't run away. The magician turned around angrily and the older cat thought he could see Mistoffelees eyes sparkle with energy; he began to talk again but was interrupted before he could even start.

"Rum Tum Tugger." Mistoffelees had used his full name, this meant that he was either very angry or very upset…'probably both' thought Tugger.

"There are some things that you will never understand, this being one of them." Tugger was reminded of what Tantomile and Coricopat had said earlier about there being certain things no one (even the cat himself) knew about Mistoffelees' magic.

"I will be fine; I just need to sleep off this sunstroke."

"You don't seem fine," pointed out The Rum Tum Tugger in his annoyingly confident voice.

"No, and you know why? Because I'm being hassled by the most curious cat I've ever known," shot back Mistoffelees, half jokingly. The Rum Tum Tugger looked complimented and decided to quote his very own song.

"And there isn't any need for me to shout it!" Mistoffelees cringed at his friend's voice singing loudly at the top of his lungs, but laughed as The Rum Tum Tugger stopped to give a devilishly dashing grin.

His shouting had caused quite a commotion around the place. Etcetera, as if tracking the two came bounding from the tyre, happy that she had finally found The Rum Tum Tugger. From under the tyre Electra popped her head out to see what was happening and then joined her sister. Their mother Jellyorum was angry at this, having only managed to get them to go to bed (the day had ended now, leaving a cool darkening evening). For some reason Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer chose that exact moment to tumble into the junkyard. These two calico cats were always in some form of trouble, whether it be with the police or simply with Munkustrap, though they always wore large grins on their faces. The cockney tom and queen were notorious cat burglar cats, making a living in Victoria Grove (the richest part in town where the likes of Bustopher Jones resided). They each wore necklaces to show off how successful they were and constantly kept changing them, which gave the idea to Munkustrap that the two were always busy committing one crime or another. This didn't bode well with him and he regularly lectured them, however he could never actually prove a thing-the pair were that sneaky, and Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer were the friendliest cats in the Junkyard so it was sort of an unwritten rule that everyone didn't take much notice of their lives outside the yard.

"Ello ello ello," Mungojerrie said chirpily, smiling at everyone. Jellyorum didn't look pleased to find that she now had to deal with not one, but three troublesome cats. The Rum Tum Tugger appeared miffed about something too. Rumpleteazer, always the one to state the obvious and inappropriate piped up, "well don't everyone look down today."

"These kittens should be in bed by now Rumpleteazer. Have you any idea how long it takes for them to settle?" Jellyorum snapped. Rumpleteazer shook her head, not picking up on the old queen's tone. Jellyorum gave an agitated huff and flocked her kittens back to bed, leaving Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer to chat with The Rum Tum Tugger relentlessly, he couldn't get away.

It wasn't till Mungojerrie had asked what had happened in the junkyard today, did The Rum Tum Tugger realise that Mistoffelees had pulled one of his disappearing acts again. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Well," Rumpleteazer said, "he better appear soon, can ya sense that storm comin'." The three shivered. They all agreed that they could feel the cold sensation which ran up and down their spines when a storm was about to hit. The calicos departed shortly after to find shelter, leaving The Rum Tum Tugger to his impossible task of finding Mistoffelees.

The familiar sense of being ignored swept over Mistoffelees as The Rum Tum Tugger was surrounded by other cats. That cat always did attract attention, and that was what made it difficult to properly talk to him. Instead of making a fuss, he snuck away silently. No one had even noticed.

The first place he thought of heading was to his pipe to settle down for a nice long and uninterrupted sleep, however his guess was that as soon as The Rum Tum Tugger had realised that he was missing, he would go directly to that destination, effectively making his plan useless. No, instead he had decided to leave for a small secluded area outside the junkyard. As a very small kitten, Mistoffelees had been orphaned or abandoned (no one knew exactly) and was found by the kitten protector, Munkustrap himself as he was casually passing by the alley in which Mistoffelees was left to fend for himself. He was too young to remember much of what happened that night; however he was often reminded of the fact that he had no family when he witnessed others playing or joining each other for a family meal. Due to his abandonment at a small age, Mistoffelees had no human home either which meant that the junkyard served as his full time home and he didn't mind it so much. That didn't mean that he never ventured out of the Jellicle boundaries. Often, when he felt like he wanted to be alone, he would take long walks, sometimes not returning until the next day, thus gaining his reputation of being vague and aloof. On his travels he had discovered a quaint park which had a pond, many trees and an old unused shed. At the back of the shed there was a hole just big enough for Mistoffelees to squeeze through and inside it was comfy enough to sleep fitfully.

There was one drawback to this secret den of his. It was a while away from the Junkyard- about an hour if walking at a leisurely pace. The magical cat was halfway there when he stopped abruptly. A queer sensation caused the hair on his back to stand on end. There was a storm coming.

Raindrops had already started to fall lightly when The Rum Tum Tugger discovered that Mistoffelees was not anywhere in the yard. Cursing under his breath at the storm, he searched the perimeter and caught Mistoffelees' scent. It was weak however as the rain was beginning to wash any smells away. He followed it and was met by Alonzo and Munkustrap. They were running at an average speed, aiming to reach the junkyard before the storm had fully started.

"Tugger, what are you planning? Going out in this kind of weather?" Alonzo exclaimed. The Rum Tum Tugger appeared already soggy from the light pour of rain, his mane being pulled down by the weight of the water and his tufted coat clumping together. His brother Munkustrap gave him a most distasteful look.

He wanted to tell them both that Mistoffelees was missing, but how would he go about it? They would either reply that Mistoffelees could take care of himself or that he was tricking them- The Rum Tum Tugger rarely showed anyone any consideration or worry. He merely decided to give a mumbled,

"Don't ask."

Alonzo shrugged and ran ahead, clearly wanting to get out of the rain, like The Rum Tum Tugger, his younger brother also loved to keep up appearances and having a wet coat went against that. His other brother looked genuinely worried.

Munkustrap frowned. His brother Tugger would never be caught out in the rain, not for anything. There must be something up with him. A brief thought came into his head- what if The Rum Tum Tugger was annoyed that he and Alonzo had not invited him to see Old Deuteronomy, but then discarded it. He never ever went to see him anyway.

"Well I am asking. Why are you sneaking off into the rain? You're not in any trouble again are you?" Munkustrap asked with a tone of superior responsibility. His brother rolled his eyes.

"Always the critic aren't we Munk."

"Munkustrap," the Jellicle protector corrected. Then he repeated the question.

"If you have to know, I'm looking for Mistoffelees. He got sunstroke today and has now crept off," The Rum Tum Tugger trailed off uncomfortably. It seemed to Munkustrap that he was keeping something else from him.

"And..?" He said. There was a pause and then, "And, I am worried about him. He didn't seem right when I last saw him." Munkustrap felt himself laugh at the now embarrassed lion-like cat. Sometimes his brother did surprise him. His brother in question rolled his eyes again.

"So what you're saying is that YOU care for someone ELSE'S safety," Munkustrap asked mockingly. To him he felt that the curious cat was having a laugh, he stopped laughing when he saw the sombre look on The Rum Tum Tugger's face. He decided to take another approach to the situation.

"Mistoffelees is not a kitten anymore, I'm sure he's gone to wherever he goes when he feels like it."

"I know he's not a kitten anymore, but he's still very young to be out there in a storm! You know how he hates those," The Tugger explained. That was true, Mistoffelees hated storms, and he had a large fear of them in fact. Still not worried much by this seemingly normal scenario Munkustrap began to walk away,

"You go and find him then, but I'd advise against it, he has his magic and can take care of himself if anything happens." The next moment he had disappeared to find Demeter.

"That's just it, he doesn't have his magic," The Rum Tum Tugger thought and ran towards the gloomy streets surrounding the Jellicle home.