Author's notes: Soz I've been so long typing this, had really bad writer's block and didn't know where to go from where I left off. Anyway, this has finally been completed for your entertainment, enjoy!
2 years later
A young queen crouched low to the ground, keeping out of sight on the young kit playing a game of stones alone. The fluffy browned furred kitten picked up a stone and threw it into a large metal bin that was leaning slightly to one side. Its beady blue eyes didn't notice the young queen that was preparing to strike. The queen carefully brushed a strand of her long very light cream fur out of her face and locked her eyes on the target. Then, in a blur of creamy-white the queen dived out from her hiding place and threw the kitten to the ground. In one swift movement the kitten's throat was bleeding heavily and the strangled cry cut short by a loud snap. The queen had twisted her head and the kitten's neck had snapped.
"Well done, well done!" Another queen called out from her own hiding place. She'd been positioned so if the kitten had managed to escape, its only exit would be block and it would run straight into the trap they'd set. "You're learning so fast my little Etcetera!"
The cream coloured queen beamed at the complement and picked the kitten's carcass up.
"Thanks mum."
She'd found her at last, her mother. She was the one who'd been there when she'd woken up and had cleaned her and fed her and cared for her. It was only when she'd woken up three weeks later that she knew who she really was. She didn't even have to ask for the dream she'd had the night before had confirmed who she was looking at.
Flashback
"Are you cold, Etcetera?" The queen asked.
Etcetera nodded and shivered. The queen reached out for something, suddenly Etcetera found herself wrapped up in a blanket of bright butter yellow.
"Look here Etcetera; I've sewn you into the corner."
Etcetera eyed the curled up kitten with awe. She knew that she'd never be that good at sewing.
"Now Etcetera there's something you should know. I am going away for a while."
"Why?" Etcetera mewed
"Because I'm going to meet up with an old friend of mine. Unfortunately, the captain of the boat I'm taking wouldn't let anyone who can't help on. I'm sorry Etcetera but you're just too young."
"Are…are you leaving me?"
"Of cause not!" The queen cried, bringing Etcetera into a tight but gentle hug, "I wouldn't give you up for the world! Don't worry my little Etcetera, I'll come back, I promise."
"Who's taking you to your fwends?"
"It's a tom that I've grown quite attached to. He's called Growl Tiger."
"But mummy…"
Don't worry my little Etcetera, I'll be back I promise you."
"You pwomise?"
"I'd never lie to you Etcetera, I'll be back to care for you. But whilst I'm gone I'm going to have Jennyanydots look after you."
"But mummy, your fwend smells." Etcetera giggled.
The queen laughed, "Don't say that to her, this'll be our own little secret." The queen placed her paw gently over Etcetera mouth to demonstrate silence.
"Tell me all about it when you get back."
The queen smiled, "I'll tell you every last detail my little Etcetera."
The queen lifted the tiny bundle and placed the blanket back in the hidey-hole. Slowly she crept down the side of the junk pile and when she reached the bottom, she walked down the narrow path to the centre of the junkyard. A middle aged and very beautiful queen came forward to greet them.
"Now you be a good little kitten for Aunty Jenny."
"I will mummy." Etcetera said sincerely.
The queen bent down and kissed Etcetera on the forehead. "I'll be back soon, don't worry my little Etcetera."
End Flashback
Etcetera now stood next to her natural mother, beaming at her. She reached out and ran her paw over the silky white fur that floated round her body. Although Griddlebone had been a young mother, she had dedicated her life to her only daughter and knew she'd do anything to protect her. Etcetera wasn't exactly a vision of immense beauty but had she picked up the graceful sway she walked at. She'd also started to pick out those defining features her mother was so proud of. She was indeed turning into a very beautiful young queen although Griddlebone vainly thought she'd never be as beautiful as her.
"My fur's getting as long as yours." Etcetera said finally, breaking the heavy silence that had weighed heavily upon them.
"That's true my little Etcetera and it's also becoming whiter than before."
Etcetera studied her fur. Her mother was right; those patches of pale brown were dissolving into cream and the cream to white.
"Let's take this kit back to Macavity as a gift." Griddlebone decided at last.
That was another thing Etcetera had found out. The tom who she'd heard when she'd first woken up was Macavity. She knew she recognised that malice and cold voice but at the time she could put a name to a voice.
"Did you know the kit?" Etcetera asked her mother as she slung if over her shoulder.
"Nah, just a random one. I don't care much for knowing who they are, if they need killing them so be it. The only one I wouldn't kill or so much as touch in that way is you, my little Etcetera."
Etcetera smiled inwardly at the thought that her mother would never harm her; she didn't need to say it.
As they walked back through the empty backstreets, lightened by the faint glow of morning.
"Shit we missed the sun rise!" Griddlebone snapped, seeing the light filter through the dank and grimy street they were walking down.
"Don't worry, there's always tomorrow." Etcetera smiled.
Griddlebone looked like she was going to argue but for once dropped it. "You're right. Tomorrow we'll go to that hill over there and we'll watch it together gain… this time for real."
In all the two years they'd been reunited, they hadn't once watched the sunrise together. Neither were quite sure why but they kept putting it off. Etcetera believed it was Griddlebone's emotions playing games with her and telling her that if she watched the sunrise with her daughter them they'd be parted again.
They reached the place where Macavity had housed them and carefully they entered the overgrown garden with caution. The old Victorian style home was crumbling away and the windows were boarded. The only way in was round the back through a smashed window that had escaped been boarded.
Etcetera jumped up nimbly onto the window sill and allowed Griddlebone to pass up the kit's body. Once free of her baggage, Griddlebone followed her daughter into the nearly empty kitchen. They jumped down from the rotting work surface after kicking the kitten off it and Etcetera bent down to pick it up again. After slinging it over her shoulder the pair made their way through the filthy grim covered floor to the 'living room' where a lone sofa stood, covered in dust and rotting slowly away. The whole house stunk of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs and their stench hung in the air like a heavy blanket.
"Ah home sweet home." Etcetera muttered with a grimace as she wrinkled her nose up in disgust.
"Well this is the best Macavity could find on such short notice."
"You're far too soft mum; he's got you wrapped round his paw." Etcetera sighed, shaking her head and dumping the dead kitten on the sofa.
"No he hasn't!" Griddlebone retaliated, "He's just got nowhere else to keep us!"
"You know full well that's a lie!" Etcetera snapped. "He's just thrown us in this shit pit because he doesn't care for you at all! You claim he loves you but if he really did them we'd be living with him in luxury! Open your eyes mum for God's sake!"
"He does love me!" Griddlebone cried, "he wouldn't say it if it wasn't true!"
"Oh my God how stupid are you mum? All he wants you for is for sex, nothing more! To him you're just another whore on the side who he can fuck any time he likes! I don't want to see you get hurt mum, I really don't but you can't keep this up! You know what I'm saying is true!"
"You're lying to me! You're just jealous that I've got a tom with high standing and you've got no one!"
"That's really pathetic; I don't need a tom to keep me happy! All I need is someone who'll love me for the way I am, even if it isn't the type of love between a tom and queen! Why don't you understand that mum?" Etcetera started to cry. Of all things arguing with her mother was the worst to her.
Griddlebone sighed and sat down on the sofa. Etcetera sat down near her and the two sat in silence for a moment, listening to the dripping of a loose pipe and each others breathing.
"Mum." Etcetera asked eventually, "Who's my dad?"
Griddlebone glanced at Etcetera with a look of pity.
"You don't know do you." Etcetera said quietly, turning away from her mother but keeping her within her vision of sight.
Griddlebone sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry my little Etcetera, I don't know. As you know I seem to attract tom's left right and centre. Around the time I had you I had several toms on the go so it could be one of several."
"And who where they?" Etcetera asked her voice shaking a little.
"Well, by now they would be adults, about my age, I rarely go for toms older than me. One of them was Alonzo; he was quite nice, fairly quiet as I remember him and not really a queen's tom. The poor guy had a lot of trouble pulling queens so I thought I'd help out and boost his ego a little."
Etcetera sat in silence; she could never imagine Alonzo as a shy, ugly tom.
"Alonzo was very inexperienced so I hunted around till I found another tom, but still going out with Alonzo. This was the start of a chain of mistakes for me."
"Hmmm I can imagine." Etcetera muttered.
"The tom, Tugger I think his name was, was shy at the time but very experienced in 'that' area. I think I was screaming his name at least twice a night…"
"Please mum, I really don't want to know about that." Etcetera butted in; getting very disturbing vision of her mother and tom she didn't even like that much together. It was ever since the last Jellicle ball she'd been to that Tugger had humiliated her. He'd 'accidentally' dropped a tin of bright pink paint of her as she was walking into the clearing to do some duet with Electra. They'd been working on it for ages and Etcetera was very keen to show off what she could do. That had been ruined however by Tugger.
"Ok, sorry my little one. Anyway, the third was a quite the terrorist actually. He slept around and stole and mugged and… well, was a criminal basically. He had a small catnip empire and of all of the toms he was the most experienced. I think it was all the whores he had under his pay. That's another thing; he owned a whore house with Macavity. They're bothers you see and when Macavity wouldn't help settle a deal, the business collapsed and it had to be closed down. They were still at each others throats when I left but Macavity had gone on to set up his own criminal business while the other… I don't know what happened to him actually. I think he settled down somewhere."
"Tell me his name, and I might be able to help." Something Etcetera highly doubted but was willing to try.
Griddlebone looked at Etcetera for a moment. "I can't really remember, his name's quite difficult to remember… well for me anyway."
"Could you describe him to me?" Etcetera knew she'd regret ever asking that question.
"Well, from my memory… he's a little shorter than Macavity; he's got the same build as him. He's a tabby I think… yeah, a tabby. I clearly remember his silver and black striped fur again my body when we made love under the stars…"
Griddlebone closed her eyes and lost herself in her memories. Etcetera however sat ridged, her eyes wide open and her claws digging into the seats. She prayed to the Everlasting Cat that whoever her mother describing wasn't Munkustrap. She knew he was Macavity's brother but a criminal? 'No' she told herself 'mum's lying, Munkustrap isn't like that.' But the sinking feeling in her stomach squashed that thought. Her mother would never lie to her about something like this, would she?
"Etcetera?"
The young queen was dragged away from her thoughts as Griddlebone had finished hers. "Yeah?"
"You're not mad at me are you?"
"Why would I be mad at you?" Etcetera replied deadpan, felling numb.
"Because I've slept around with random toms, I don't know who your father is and I've cheated on all of them. I left you when you where barely a week old and haven't found you until only recently. I've got us dumped into this shabby waste dump of a house and not once have we watched the sun rise together. I've put myself before you and never considered you once in any of this. I had Macavity take you away from your friends and the protection of the tribe. In everything I've only thought of myself. I know the list is endless and it could never be completed but I just needed to tell you that I do love you and I'd do anything to keep you safe from harm. That's why I made all those stupid decisions, they were all meant to help you me little Etcetera, please believe me." Griddlebone cheeks were wet with tears but Etcetera still sat rigid to the sofa.
"I know you've done a lot of shit mum." Etcetera said eventually, "But I'm your daughter and I can forgive you. I forgive you for all the things you claim went wrong and I forgive you for anything unsaid. I can't hate you mum I can only love you and forgiving you shows you how much you mean to me. I don't need to be part of any tribe to be happy and protected."
Griddlebone burst into tears and pulled Etcetera into a tight hug. At first Etcetera just sat in her arms but soon her paws found their way to Griddlebone's back. For a moment they stayed like this, neither daring to break the embrace first.
I didn't mean for it to be so corny but that's the way the fingers type.