Disclaimer: I do not own Cats or any of its characters.

Apart

Theme: I didn't want to; they made me...

I didn't want to; they made me do it anyway, grabbed me and made me touch his paw. It was terrible—I could barely feel my own mind. It was like I was drowning, but they wouldn't let me pull away until I'd done it…

Coricopat shivered slightly, tugging Tantomile closer to him and simultaneously reaching out to wrap his mind around hers. She pressed herself as close as she could to him, letting his comfort overwhelm her.

And then, once I had told them what I found out, they killed the cat in front of me…made me watch…and all over some stupid little trinket.

Coricopat sighed, wishing, not for the first time, that she'd had a life more like his. Before he'd met her, he had believed he had it hard, dealing with these powers. Yet he had a den of his own to shelter him, friends and queens to keep him company. Compared to hers, his had been easy, and he felt ashamed for ever believing it had been otherwise.

Tantomile, of course, sensed the thought as soon as it occurred to him. She sent him a wave of warmth, carrying with it the scent of cream and honey.

You had it hard as well, my dear…at least I had a mentor, for a while, to teach me to use my powers.

Another wave of warmth, as she recalled the elderly cat who had taken her in for a time, teaching her to control her abilities and caring for her while she was a kitten. She still longed to see him again sometimes, but he had died just over a year after she had met him.

Coricopat smiled, feeling the mixture of joy and sadness that his new best friend was feeling. They had become quite close in the weeks since she had arrived in the Junkyard, and although Munkustrap had told her long ago that she was now free to move about as she pleased, she had chosen to continue living with him. They spent their time honing their abilities and sharing memories through touch, lounging in the den more often than not.

Sometimes, Coricopat felt a faint longing to be more, but he always pushed that to the back of his mind, not wanting Tantomile to feel it and be frightened away. She'd never had good experiences with relationships, and he felt that pushing her into that would be too much, too soon.

It's a shame, though…you haven't been able to spend much time with other cats, have you? An idea had just occurred to Coricopat. She shook her head, slowly coming back out of the memory she had lost herself in.

No…oh, Coricopat, I don't know if I really want that. I don't know if I'm ready for that yet.

Of course you are. Come on. He stood, tugging her to her feet when she hesitated. It'll be great. You'll love them.

Not what I was concerned about, Cor. Tantomile sighed, but let him lead her outside anyway, the two of them blinking in the sunlight.

They'll love you, too. There's no way they can't.

They strolled along without any real hurry, Coricopat searching for the minds of cats he knew well and gently leading Tantomile towards them. They passed a few others along the way, nodding politely but not really waiting for a response before moving on. Coricopat wanted her to meet his friends first.

There was a small group gathered near the fence, laying around with the sun beating down on them. Occasionally a slow conversation started, dying out gradually as the cats became drowsy in the heat. It was this band of sleepy cats that Coricopat led Tantomile towards, pushing reassuring thoughts towards her as he felt her nervousness.

Cassandra was the first to glance up, shading her eyes with a paw as she squinted at the shadowy shapes above her.

"Ah, Coricopat, I had been wondering where you'd gotten off to," she purred, tilting her head slightly to stare at Tantomile. "And this is the new queen…"

"Tantomile," the queen in question answered. "And you're Cassandra? Coricopat has said a lot about you."

"All good, I hope," Cassandra answered, dropping her head back to the ground as she lost interest. Tantomile wavered slightly, but Coricopat took her hand.

That's just Cassandra, he assured her. She's always like that.

There was a brief moment of silence before Coricopat flopped to the ground right in the middle of the group, pulling Tantomile down next to him. She purred softly, then blushed, seemingly embarrassed by her reaction.

We could have stayed in the den to do this, you know, Tantomile noted wryly, looking nervously around at the cats surrounding her. She pressed her anxiousness at him, sending images of the others cats looking at her sideways, irritation or suspicion in their eyes.

Don't be silly, Tant. No one's looking at you like that.

But after a few minutes, Coricopat had to admit that she was right. The other cats were slowly edging away from them, leaving a gap between themselves and the pair, and soon cats began to leave altogether. Oh, they made their excuses, acting politely enough, but the truth was clear in their heads.

Those freak cats just had to come and ruin a perfectly good day…

Can't stay here anymore, not with those two around.

…might try to work their freaky magic stuff on us…

Coricopat growled softly. A few more cats broke away at that, watching him warily. Soon enough it would be only Tantomile and himself left, and their first excursion out together would have been a complete disaster.

His friend touched his leg gently, giving him a small, sad smile. She was remembering the cats forcing her to search the mind of the thief, ripping the memories from his head, watching them kill him. It's just not worth it, trying to get involved with others. It always ends in disaster.

A/N: Fourth! This is set a few weeks after the last one. They've started acting more like we see in the play, so the other cats are starting to view them differently, getting closer to the treatment seen/mentioned in the first chapter.