How in the name of the Everlasting Cat am I supposed to get to the docks?
The Maine coon jumped out of the way, barely missing a zooming car, right in the center of London. Now he understood why his father had prohibited the Jellicles to go to the docks. It was sheer madness in the middle of the city and Tugger realized that even a tiny lapse of attention could literally spell his death. But he was a cat on a mission and, having nothing left to loose, he was more determined than ever to get things right.
He hadn't the slightest clue on the exact location of the queen he was supposed to aid. The docks were notoriously infinite and he hadn't committed the other cat's scent to memory so he knew the only way to find her wasn't available.
Tugger wondered why, with Lenny gone and in possible, if not certain, danger, he had left the Yard for a cat he had briefly met the day before and he probably was never going to meet again, in spite of the fact that she had given him another appointment.
Because you love her…
Love her?! That was totally impossible! He had barely spent an afternoon with her so he really couldn't be in love. Plus he was the Rum Tum Tugger: he didn't do love! He did flirts and flings and definitely random mating: everything to create a scandal! But he had sworn never to let anybody come this close to his heart. He really couldn't say why he was so adamant on his decision. The maned cat knew that the gut feeling he had on the subject was surely linked with an episode of his past but no matter how much he tried he could not recall which one.
You can deny it how much you want it but the fact it's not going to change…you know you have met her before yesterday afternoon…FOCUS and try to remember!
Ok…that was it! He knew he shouldn't involve himself again into the Tribe's life. The migraine that came along with that every time left him without strength and now even hearing voices.
While lost in thought the leopard-spotted-tom had reached the docks. Perfect! Now that he was there which way to go?
C'mon mother! You wanted me to come here…just give me a sign. Anything!
BOOOOM!
The backlash wave of the explosion sent him flying into the nearest building into which he slammed so hard that his breath was knocked out of him.
Vision dizzy and ears ringing he wobbly got onto his feet, trying to make sure he hadn't sustained major damage.
I did ask for a sign didn't I?
He smiled grimly to himself. The fact that he was talking to himself meant that he had come to his wits' end. He really hoped that saving this queen helped him in fixing his fucked up life because he knew that facing what was going to be a pissed off Lenny – he didn't want to think that the black cat could even be hurt – backed up by his more than pissed brother was going to kill him for good.
Pushing aside those thoughts, labeling them as distraction for the time being, he limped towards the place from where that dreadful explosion had come. He knew he didn't have much time before the humans decided to come and see what the commotion had been about. Gaining speed he knowingly turned in the maze that were the docks, instinctively following the horrid stench of fire and ashes and…magic? He stopped dead in his tracks and took a big sniff. Yes he hadn't been wrong; there was definitely the sweet and sparkling smell of magic. After months with Quaxo there was no mistaking it. It was different from the Jellicle's magician: his was damp, like the rain, but this one was dry and spicy, like a volcano or, better yet, a fire.
Cringing at the thought of what he was about to encounter he briefly thought about turning back and digging himself a deep hole to die in peace, forgetting all good intentions about redeeming himself; but he steeled himself and went forward. He was the Curious Cat after all!
After another couple of minutes of seemingly pointless turning the Maine coon got to a crossroad whose sight had him forcefully expel the contents of his stomach in the nearby corner.
Every surface in front and around him was black after the fire and, spattered all around were a greasy-like substance that Tugger really didn't want to know about. But what had caused his stomach to eject his contents had been the mangled form of a cat that laid on the floor, in front of him, with a long tube sticking out his chest. His form had been devoured by the fire so, what once was a cat, now was barely recognized as a living being.
The maned cat's eyes quickly scanned the area, trying not to dwell too much on the gory vision, hoping to find another life form. He could not, would not, accept the fact he had been too late and that, that thing were the rests of the feline he was supposed to save.
§
Coughing she emerged from the thick smoke that her explosive use of her powers had created. She knew she had been rusty because of lack of usage of all her abilities, but that mess wasn't definitely something she expected to make.
After Shadow had freed her, the small queen's only thought had been to get rid of Shadow for good and then, if that was still possible, to escape. Helena knew that her twin was going to resurrect her just to kill her again if she ever died without first telling him; but really she had little if no choice in the matter and that was something Misto needed to come to terms with, and quickly.
Trying to seduce the mystery cat had been one of the most difficult things in her entire life: she knew how to play with one-track-minds like Macavity's, but Shadow was different story. He would have seen through every deception that wasn't well crafted and her twin had always been the one to handle those diplomatic situations.
Nevertheless Helena had tried and somehow her poor act had been more than enough to convince Shadow, whose appearance she still hadn't seen, to trust her and free her.
After accepting his offer for a partnership the young magician had to endure an endless talk about the other feline's plan to conquer the world. If she hadn't been the main pawn and hadn't been slightly grossed out by the sheer amount of gory details in the tale, she knew she would have handed to him the first prize at least for having thought through his master plan.
Everything had been planned right to the smallest and insignificant detail and nothing had been left to luck or winging. She had been truly amazed by the fact that half of Macavity's minions had never been loyal to the Napoleon of Crime. Helena found difficult to believe that someone as cunning as the red tabby hadn't seen the vastness of deception on his side.
Shadow wanted to mate with her as soon as possible in order to gain access to her powers and then to her twin's soul in order to turn him. What the mystery cat didn't know was that her powers had to be given willingly; whereas they had been taken by force they would have killed the offender and then the bearer, just because he or she had been corrupted and therefore was completely useless.
For all his careful planning and small detailing Shadow had forgotten one tiny thing: his own desire for ultimate power.
Oh sure, he had taken that into consideration as a powerful motivator but he never even thought it could have been his undoing. The wanting had blinded him and had made him seen exactly what he had wanted to see even thought that hadn't been necessarily true.
The only blind spot of the plan had been right in front of his eyes and, the minute she had been freed and at a safe distance from the place the Jellicles hung to, the magic she-cat had taken full advantage of it.
At that crossroad in the docks Helena made her final stand: she whirled and kicked the older cat in the guts and the surprise, if not the pain, had been enough to distract him so the tux could jump outside Shadow's reach.
The rest of the battle happened in a blur: finally Helena understood why the other's name was Shadow. He had the uncanny ability to blend into the shadows of the landscape in front of him, thus making him impossible to spot till the last minute.
But she hadn't backed down, she couldn't have. That much was crystal clear to them.
She kept attacking with everything she had, every move, every short-range attack that was hers. And when her expertise started to fail her she summoned her predecessors' powers and knowledge but nothing seemed to have been enough to stop the now enraged feline in front of her. After a while she had become a bloody and battered mess and Shadow still seemed in his prime.
What do I do now? I'm losing and fast. It won't be long before he will end to this farce. I have to win or I need to find a way to kill myself before he can try anything or all is lost. But what can I do?
And then it hit her, not everything was lost yet: she still had one power she could use. She never really considered it because saying it was explosive, was seriously underestimating the damage it could do. It was a dangerous choice because, if not done properly, the ritual to evoke that particular attack could have killed her as well but she had stated she needed to die if she could kill him so what would have been the problem?
Taking a calming breath and closing her eyes she started the ritual; she was vaguely aware of the strangled noise that had come from Shadow when he had realized her plan. She waved her hands one last time and then she knew nothing more.
When she opened her eyes again her first thought was that the Heaviside Layer had a high level of pollution. Then the smell hit her.
Gagging she tried to stood up and, once she had taken in her surroundings, she realized that she wasn't in Heaviside Layer but still in the docks, on earth. Apparently the Everlasting Cat didn't want her company, yet.
The explosion had catapulted her a good hundred meters away from where she had been standing so she decided to go back to where it had all begun, just to make sure Shadow was really dead.
Stumbling she rounded the last corner and the sight that welcomed her was more than enough to make her knees buckle under her weight. With a last glance she saw the impaled body of the other cat in the middle of the clearing and then the world went black again.
§
His nose was completely useless in a situation like this. The stench of smoke and something else, he didn't really wanted to know, covered every other smell, rendering almost impossible finding a different smell. So Tugger trained his ears in order to catch even the faintest sound around him. The thump behind him had been so soft that, at first, he thought he had imagined it; but when he turned around to glance behind, the sight froze his blood in his veins.
In front of him, splayed on the floor, with a growing pool of blood underneath her, laid the object of his search. Elated that all hadn't been lost he sprinted toward the unmoving figure, but with every step towards her the Maine coon realized that, he might still be too late to save the small queen.
When he kneeled in front of her some relief washed over him: she was still breathing, albeit with a lot of difficulty. He carefully rolled her over to check on her injuries and gasped at the amount of damage her small body had sustained. He couldn't ignore the fact her fur felt soft under his paws or how slender was her body. He missed her eyes and wanted nothing more than for her to open them so he could lose himself again in those pools of color. Jerking out of his fantasies he scooped her up, frowning when he realized that she looked even smaller lying so broken in his arms. Quickly scanning the area for any humans, he knew were on their way, he sprinted out of the docks, someplace safe.
He started running towards the Yard when a feeling put him on alert: something was warning him to stay away from the other Jellicles for the protection of the small queen in his arms, but moreover for the safety of the Tribe. Without knowing why he obeyed the hunch and, turning his back to the Yard, he sprinted in the opposite direction.
