After the Ball
Author's notes: Hey everyone! Thanks for your quick feedback, its lovely to know people are wanting to read this, even if it means I have to write extra quickly to keep up with it all. Morph- Thanks for the Macavity encouragement, I really need it so I can write him well. I've also been toying with idea of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer turning up, I couldn't just have them leaving abruptly could I?
Jemima-luvah- You know, you're right about Macavity, he needs to be less well spoken I think (though I do love to write like that, I hate the modern style of writing really). I'll have to look deep inside my evil side to find out how to write Macavity's role! Thanks for reviewing too! Just a girl in crystal- Congratulations! You get my rather pathetic review award for the last chapter! I chose you because you inspired me and was just plain great! Thank you!
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Macavity had returned to Mistoffelees whilst the small black cat was sleeping. The ginger cat entered to find that his captive was curled in a tight protective ball in the furthest corner of the room, shivering from the cold but still obviously suffering slightly from the fever and minor injuries he had acquired in the pervious 24 hours. Annoyance welled up inside the napoleon of crime and he quickly closed the gap between himself and the sleeping tom, careful not to make a single sound. He looked closely at Mistoffelees and wondered from the scrunched up look on his face what the small tom was dreaming of. In any case he didn't really care that much and so in the next moment he delivered a swift kick to his side. A dull thudding was heard followed by a pain filled yelp and then a sharp laboured intake of breath. Mistoffelees, who was previously enduring a nightmare of most epic proportion had woken to a terrible pain in his ribs and opened his eyes to the cause of such pain, both mentally and physically- Macavity.
Keeping a slow and steady breathing pattern Mistoffelees gained his footing with nothing more than a slight wince, he dared not look directly at Macavity and so settled for a small smudge of dirt on the floor. His shaken figure hardly reached the shoulders of the looming cat in front of him and it unnerved him even more. Swallowing nervously he asked the question he had been itching to ask since he had woken up from unconsciousness.
"Where is The Rum Tum Tugger?" his voice pitiful and almost drowned out by the size of the room and his own heartbeat caused Macavity to laugh.
"I should've known you would've asked that first. Jellicles and their 'concern' for each other," he spat then went on, "I'm an honourable cat, I did what I said I would do and let him go crawling back to his junkyard." Relief swept over Mistoffelees' face at these words.
"Whether he is going to survive the next few days is another matter," Macavity added with thought, smirking. Mistoffelees looked like he was about to reply when Macavity cut him off sharply, "enough questions!" he barked and lifted a paw menacingly. "I'm here to discuss your services to me."
xxx
It was assumed by Munkustrap that Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer had left the junkyard to get away from the affairs concerning Macavity. Munkustrap guessed that their long line of contacts had to be connected to the napoleon of crime in some way or another. Well he was half right. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer did indeed have a long line of contacts in which Macavity was connected to, after all Macavity knew everyone who was worth knowing. What Munkustrap failed to realise was that the two twin cats had not fled from the junkyard like some of the others. They had actually gone out to find one of their most reliable albeit most dangerous sources. They knew about Mistoffelees and they wanted to help.
Rumpleteazer sniffed the air and tiptoed down a shady alley situated near the junkyard. Seeing a small window ledge above her, she leapt onto it gracefully and sat herself comfortably down. Her colourings may have been bright and cheerful but she seemed to blend in pretty well with the darkened shadows. She sniffed again and narrowed her eyes, she could smell that someone was near by, but she just couldn't see where
"That you?" she asked clearly, her thick accent loud and echoed in the alley. Nothing. Curiously, she let herself down from the ledge and paced a little way towards the dead end of the alley, where trash cans were sprewn about the place, clearly forgotten and full. She looked closely and then jumped as a pair of yellow eyes suddenly appeared from the shadows.
The eyes closed again and Rumpleteazer felt exposed. She then saw a rat scurry from under one of the bins but it only made it half way to its destination before squealing and getting pulled further into the shadows.
"Oi, come out now," she ordered, and the eyes appeared again, but this time they were followed by a body. It was hard to make out where the shadows ended and the body began, so dark was the coat of fur. The approaching cat lazily padded up to Rumpleteazer and dropped the dead rat at her feet, "a present for you, Rumpleteazer," this voice was silky but deadly sounding, matching the equally piercing eyes. The female cat glanced at the rat but didn't make a move for it; its killer was dangerous when you took your eyes off of him for more than a few seconds.
"Nah thanks, I'm not hungry," she replied politely. The other cat nodded and then said, "So why have you come to speak with me? And where is your brother?" The cats tone turned from conversational to slightly bitter when it came to mentioning Mungojerrie. Rumpleteazer shrugged, "around somewhere."
"He's never far away from you," The dark cat spat.
"Too right Vincent," came a voice and Rumpleteazer and the other cat looked up to the window ledge. There perched Mungojerrie. He leapt down in the same fashion as Rumpleteazer and stood at her side protectively. Mungojerrie and Vincent had had a strained relationship for a long while. Both recruited by Macavity when kittens, Mungojerrie and Vincent were friendly rivals, however when Vincent had found out about his sister, he had gone after her in hopes of making her his queen. Not wanting his sister to be involved with Macavity or any of the strays, Mungojerrie and Vincent had fought. Mungojerrie had won and left soon after, though Macavity was furious at his abandonment and was after him and Rumpleteazer ever since.
Now Vincent was their reliable inside information, but this was probably only because he got to see Rumpleteazer and to keep her from harm. Mungojerrie was particularly touchy at this, and even more so when he found that Rumpleteazer seemed to have a soft spot for Vincent anyway.
Vincent only nodded at Mungojerrie before asking them the same question, "Why do you want to talk to me?"
"We think ya know why Vincent," Mungojerrie replied, "Mistoffelees."
"Ah the magical cat," the black cat registered, "he's Macavity's big plan at the moment."
"Why did ya attack The Rum Tum Tugger and Mistoffelees!" yelled Rumpleteazer suddenly, angry at his laid back approach and lack of interest in such an important matter. She unsheathed her claws irritably. "What has that fleabag Macavity done to em?"
Vincent narrowed his eyes, "well The Rum Tum Tugger got what he deserved," he pointed out. Rumpleteazer growled and leapt at him, not thinking about anything else. They rolled together on the floor, Rumpleteazer scoring a hit on Vincent's leg. Vincent used his weight to position himself on top of her and pinned her front paws down so she was unable to move. Mungojerrie then grabbed Vincent by the neck and heaved him off of her. She got up and growled but did nothing else.
"Where's Mistoffelees held?" Mungojerrie asked, breaking the stony silence.
"At Macavity's hideout of course"
"Where's that?"
"I couldn't tell you that, he would know." Vincent was not a cowardly cat, but anyone who defied Macavity and he found out, well that was not worth mentioning. He often wondered why Mungojerrie was still alive. Mungojerrie seemed to realise this too and didn't push it.
"Is he ok?" Rumpleteazer piped up in a worried tone. Vincent looked at her with what appeared to be sympathetic eyes. "He's not dead, if that helps. He's pretty beat up from what I could find out, but otherwise ok." He saw the sorrowful look Rumpleteazer gave him and the furious anger Mungojerrie was trying to hide, "You won't need to find Macavity's hideout anyway. I think he's going to come to you."
xxx
The extent of The Rum Tum Tugger's wounds (many cuts and bruises, a broken rib and an extremely hurt ego) meant that the lion cat was restricted to the comfort of his bachelor pad. "Sadly," he thought, "his pad would not be in any working order and that comfortable is all very well if only it were not so boring." An hour or so had passed since Jennyanydots had left. Strict instructions were left to Munkustrap, making sure that The Rum Tum Tugger could not damage himself even further. This only caused him to protest further however, and both Munkustrap and Demeter had quite a struggle to keep him lying down and rested.
"Tugger, please just lay still or your wounds won't heal," Demeter pleaded whilst kneeling down next to the injured tom before her. The Rum Tum Tugger winked and flirtingly replied, "For you Deme, anything" As Demeter returned an innocent smile a loud din could be heard from outside. The two cats looked toward the entrance of the room although they both knew who it was to enter way before the figure could pop up through the entrance hole.
"I don't care what Jenny says, I'm going to see him if it's the last thing I do. That good for nothing tom has hurt me for the last time, going and getting beat up like that!" The owner of the loud strong voice emerged from outside.
"Bombalurina," The Rum Tum Tugger croaked half heartedly. Angry expressions on the beautiful red queen immediately melted into one of worry as she took in the sorry sight of her crush. She literally flew to him, tears bursting from her eyes and she landed on the floor next to his chest, crying his name in a pitiful voice.
"Oh Tugger, I was so worried that he had killed you," she moaned into his still matted hair. He responded by hissing in pain, she immediately left his chest and looked on in confusion.
"Broken ribs," he said simply, giving her a fully genuine smile; the first he had given since his capture. She sniffed, wiped her eyes and then kissed him full on the lips. His shocked face was enough to cause Demeter to laugh and Bombalurina smile cheekily. Quickly, The Rum Tum Tugger corrected himself and replied.
"Didn't know you cared Bomby?"
She snorted, "Well if not me, then who else would bother?" The Rum Tum Tugger too tired to become absorbed in one of their famous arguments laughed lightly before breaking out in a fit of coughs and then Munkustrap appeared. Now with four cats in the trunk of the old blue ford, it was rather cramped. Usually suited for two who could comfortably sleep, the large Rum Tum Tugger was taking up half the space and the other three had to stoop in order to fit in.
"Munkustrap looks serious, more than normal at least," Tugger thought to himself as his brother settled down next to Demeter without taking his deep eyes off of the ground.
"I've just spoken to Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer; they seem to know that Macavity has Mistoffelees."
"Well I knew that much Munk," The Rum Tum Tugger groaned sarcastically, "but what about getting him back? Where is he?" Clearing his throat in what The Rum Tum Tugger could only think of as an awkward gesture, Munkustrap replied somewhat slowly.
"They say that they don't know where Macavity's hideout is." This earned an annoyed snort from Bombalurina, "anyway," Munkustrap carried on eyeing Bombalurina criticizing her previous action, "even though Macavity's hideout is still unknown, Mungojerrie informs me that Macavity will come to us."
There was a long silence and Demeter's body shivered in fear. The Rum Tum Tugger actually snarled (it was very out of character for him), "That makes no sense, why would he come here when he has what he wants, it's a trick."
Demeter had found this talk all too much and left with a sigh, Bombalurina close on her tail. The two brothers were left in a surprising stony silence. First to break it was The Rum Tum Tugger.
"So what's the plan Munky? Let Macavity saunter in here with Mistoffelees still hostage? He'll not come alone you know, something's gotta be up" His sarcastic tone was almost painful to Munkustrap's ears.
"What can I do Tugger? You know him, he could turn up at any time, just remember the Jellicle Ball," he replied.
"Well we'll just have to fight him, get rid of him once and for all!" The Tugger argued. Munkustrap said nothing and turned away, but before he left he stated one thing. "I will speak to Old Deuteronomy on this matter, he will know what to do." The silver tom then departed leaving The Rum Tum Tugger to dwell in his own thoughts and self pity. Before he fell into a fitful sleep he could not help but wonder that Macavity may actually pull his stunt off this time.
