Rating: R
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst, some Humor, Sap
Warnings: Slash, Het, mention of sex, some blood, swearing, incest (there cats, there's nothing unnatural about it)
Pairings: Misto/Munku, Tugger/Bomba, mention of Munku/Dem, some Cass/Munku, past Bomba/Munku,
Timeline: two weeks from the Jellicle ball in the movie.
Description: Love cannot exist for a magical cat; in fact, it's fatal if it does.
Disclaimer: I do not own CATS, or any portions thereof. None of the following events took place in the original CATS plotline, and I do not claim that they do.
Songs to Read With: (not mandatory) Take on Me (Ah-Ha), If You Could See What I See (Geoff Moore and the Distance), I Must Be Dreaming (Frou-Frou)
Between Death and Love
Chapter Three
By Edenrising
(Recap from Chapter Two)
'Because I've bonded with you, and now I've ruined our lives.'
It had been a week since the incident occurred, and Mistoffelees was finally deemed well enough to leave Munkustrap's den, as long as he kept off the broken paw, by both Jelly (who had visited the morning after the rainstorm) and his silver savior. But Mistoffelees knew better, he was far from well. Being in Munkustrap's den he was unaffected by the bond, since he was in such close vicinity with the other Tom and was constantly in physical contact with him during the time he was nursed back to health.
The magician could feel the bond strengthening with each touch, but it was far from being stable. To stabilize the bond with the other Tom required for he and Munkustrap to mate, but that was far from happening. The silver tabby and he were closer as friends, but nowhere near to the point of falling in love. Mistoffelees had a lot of work to do if he was going to survive, and to do it without Munkustrap suspecting anything.
For the first time in ages, Mistoffelees entered his pipe home, but it didn't comfort him in the same way as Munkustrap's den did. It hardly smelled of himself now, and seemed alien in nature. He sighed as he lay down; even the blankets that formed his bed didn't feel as soft. After a few moments of futilely trying to re-acquaint himself with his home of over a year, he gave up and instead set out to see the rest of the tribe that he hadn't encountered in over a week.
The first stop he made was the kitten den, which was a large van, and as soon as he stuck his head in the doorway of the den he was assaulted by all of the kittens. Falling back on his tail, Mistoffelees was almost grateful he had bonded with Munkustrap; otherwise he might have accidentally attached himself to one of the kittens!
Mistoffelees waited as the kittens finished nuzzling and licking him, and sat up. Jenny and Jelly were frantically shooing the kittens back inside, and trying at the same time to apologize to the small tom.
"It's quite alright," Mistoffelees said, "No harm done." His arm had, miraculously, survived the encounter without getting jarred.
"I'm terribly sorry Misto," said Jelly, "The kittens have just been so excited to see you since they heard about you saving Pouncival here." She gestured to the brown and white Tom behind her, who on Wednesday had actually become a full-fledged tom, but it was normal for a new queen or tom to remain with those who raised them until they were about a year and a half.
The new Tom was looking at Mistoffelees as though he didn't quite believe he was really there, he had remained strangely silent throughout the whole exchange between the magician and the kittens.
Mistoffelees turned his attention to the young Tom, "And how are you doing Pouncival? Do your ribs still hurt much?" The tom was silent before nodding in answer, but then a strange thing happened and Pouncival's eyes filled with tears.
He wiped the tears away, sniffling, "I'm… I'm really sorry you got hurt Misto, I should have…. I don't know, fought back harder or something." He tried to regain composure, "Thank you for saving my life, I'll never forget it, I promise." And with that he gave the magician a nuzzle to the shoulder, and ran back inside, embarrassed to be so emotional around someone else.
Jelly smiled after the youngster, "He was so worried about you, thinking it was his fault and everything. But he's calmed down a lot since the incident, not so much of a kitten anymore…" at this admission, she began to choke up. Pouncival was Jelly's last kitten before she became too old to have any more, and she was taking his coming of age hard.
Jenny patted her friend on the shoulder, she herself would be sad to see Etcetera go in a few months, "It'll be alright dear," after her distraught friend disappeared back into the van, she turned to Mistoffelees, "Misto dear, we really are thankful. If we'd lost Pouncival I don't know what we'd do, but he's quite the young man now, thanks to you! I believe your exploits to save him last week have influenced him into becoming a better cat." Jenny said to the small magician.
She invited him into the front seats of the van for some cat treats and milk, where the older cats stayed, and they talked for awhile, along with Jelly, who had recomposed herself.
Then Jenny stopped suddenly in the middle of her talk about the cat nip her humans had hid in the closet, and expected her not to find. Her eyes widened, and then she looked at Jelly with a mischievous look upon her face.
"Now, Mistoffelees dear, you must confess." She wiggled her eyebrows at him, Mistoffelees was very scared, "Us queens aren't allowed into Munkustrap's fridge, unless it's to visit the freezer," she giggled, "What's his den like? Is it as fabulous as all the Toms always brag?" She put a paw on Mistoffelees', and glanced excitedly at Jelly.
"Oh yes, do tell… And if you've seen the freezer, tell us about that too." Jelly bounced.
Mistoffelees was speechless, he didn't know what to think; he was having girl talk… Dear Bast almighty… he was becoming a queen!
But, actually, now that he thought about it, he was kind of effeminate, and it couldn't hurt to tell. The queens weren't allowed inside any of the Tom's dens unless they were courting at the time (reverse for Toms); even to go to the battle/security meetings at Munkustrap's.
After all, queens usually weren't generals, or part of the security, so it was more of a safety feature for the younger cats (to prevent any raging hormones from exploding) than a use of discrimination. All of the Jellicle meetings were held in the same place as the Jellicle ball if they were really important, and since barely any queens saw a Tom's den (and since Munkustrap's was almost Holy in reputation, due to that it was the biggest) it was a common topic for them to guess about the insides.
Thinking further, Mistoffelees would be lying if he said he hadn't seen the freezer part of the den. He'd had to fetch Munkustrap when Jemima came to speak with her Father, and it had required for him to enter the other Tom's sleeping quarters. It was very nice in there too, completely padded and very warm. Perfect for… well I'm sure you can guess. But admitting to it would be like saying he'd slept with the Tom, which wasn't true.
He looked up, into the eyes of the two elder-Queens, both around the age of fifteen, who were staring at him inquisitively. He decided he'd just tell the truth, what could it hurt? Jenny and Jelly were both reasonable queen's, and Munkustrap had the reputation of being straight as a rail.
"Well…" he began, "I will admit, I did see the freezer," the two queen's gasped, and inched closer to him, "But. It was only very briefly, Jemima came late at night when her Father was sleeping and asked to speak with him." Jenny and Jelly looked slightly disappointed, but still paid attention, "It's very comfortable, lots of pillows, blankets and the like."
Then he described the fridge, which he'd seen in more detail. After which he'd left, once the two queens finished cooing over his injuries and forced him to consume another saucer of milk. When he left, he could hear both Jenny and Jelly putting the kittens to sleep and thanking Tumbrutus and Pouncival for looking after the kittens while they socialized Mistoffelees. He'd certainly made their day, he thought, but was also slightly concerned.
Why did they treat him like a queen? Was he really that… girly? 'I mean,' he thought 'I know I hung out with the girls, mostly Victoria, when I was younger. But that doesn't mean I should be treated like a girl…Or does it?' halting his thoughts, he shrugged and made his way to Demeter and Bombalurina's, he owed them a visit. He'd liked having tea with Jelly and Jenny, and that was enough for him. Queenish or not.
Dem and Bomba's den was basically a rusted-out filing cabinet on its side, but it was warm and the perfect size for two Bachelorettes. Making his way to the slightly open part of the cabinet, he realized it was utterly silent inside the den, he hoped they were home.
"Hello?" he called.
After a few moments, and some shuffling, Bomba appeared at the door looking as though she had been asleep. Mistoffelees immediately took in her slightly round form and protruding breasts, Bomba was most probably pregnant with a litter. Considering her state, she was about three weeks along, and since the Jellicle ball was three weeks ago- well no need to go into that. The magician was happy for her, fertilization under the Jellicle moon spelled good fortune for the litter and the queen and was very rare.
"Whaddy'a want?" she grumbled at the small black tom, not quite taking his form in. Then, after a few moments, she seemed to realize who it was standing in front of her, "Oh… Oh! Mistoffelees! How are you doing?" she came over to him, giving a friendly hug.
He smiled, Bomba had always been his favorite queen (besides his sister, Vicky), "I'm just fine, it's good to see you too Bomba." he held her back, and gave a look, "So… How are you doing?"
She seemed confused, before she caught on, "Oh, I'm doing just fine. Demeter came home about a week ago, and was certainly shocked though. Jelly says I'm having two! Two Misto… I'm so excited!" She certainly looked it. Bomba was a tough queen and very sought after in the tribe by the toms, which made her hard to get to know, but she had always been peculiarly nice to Mistoffelees.
"Who's the father?" he asked, genuinely curious.
She raised an eyebrow at him, giving one of her smirks, "The Rum Tum Tugger, amazing isn't it?" and she swaggered back into her den, motioning for Mistoffelees to follow her.
He stopped inside the den, which was almost spotless, and had covers everywhere. To tell the truth, Mistoffelees was amazed, the Rum Tum Tugger was infamously known in the tribe as a tom who cared, but didn't want to commit. For him to be a Dad was almost unbelievable. After all, he was already almost four, and had no previous kittens to show for his exploits.
"So... How's he taking it?" He asked, sitting down in a chair.
She rolled her eyes at the magician, "He's bloody terrified, like his life is about to end." Then she paused, "Well I guess it is, kind of. Now that he has kittens himself, he'll have to stop flirting with all of them." She leaned back on the box that served as a table, "And to top it off, he's being so damn chivalrous; bringing me flowers every day, and making sure to visit me all the time." She gestured to the flowers on her kitchen table, "I'm almost sick of him! But, then again… he's Tugger, and I do love him very much." She admitted, looking at the magician with a smile.
Mistoffelees was truly happy for her, she was in love and with a tom that would probably would remain faithful for many years. Tugger was a year older than her, but that wasn't so much of a problem, and she would probably remain only his for a very long time. 'Of course,' he thought, 'they've been dancing around each other for years.' He also felt envious, she had the type of love he needed, and it was a rare enough occurrence as it was.
He looked at her stomach, rounded with kittens. He fought back a sigh, he loved kids, so did Munkustrap, and there was little to no chance that he could have them. It was possible, of course, after all he was magical- was there anything he couldn't do? There must be some way in all those books he had to-
"Are you alright?" Bomba said, concerned at the magician's expression.
"Oh, it's nothing Bomba," he waved away her concerns, "I really must be going though, lots of rounds to make. Say hi to Dem for me, won't you?"
"Of course," she stood as he walked out of the den, waving to him, "Bye Misto."
"Bye." He didn't turn around, worrying the queen even more.
She watched him turn the corner, and then murmured, "What's wrong with him?" she couldn't help it, she was suspicious- it was part of being a queen.
Mistoffelees knew he'd worried Bomba, but didn't dwell on the fact. Instead he made his way back to the pipe, and lied down. He wasn't feeling well; he was dizzy, and very upset. It was a result of the separation from Munkustrap, he knew, but wasn't quite ready to acknowledge it.
Falling asleep, Mistoffelees didn't notice the blood that seeped from the cut on his leg. Which shouldn't have happened, because the injury had healed over two days before.