Where is she? Oh Everlasting Cat let her be all right! It has been four days already and I haven't heard anything from her. She knows I panic quickly whenever she is involved and a four days disappearance isn't something she would do, even if she wanted some privacy. Something is wrong, very, very, wrong, and I haven't got a clue about where she is and how I can contact her…oh Helena please be all right! You know I can't stand it when you're not with me…remember that time you went with Uncle Bustopher for four months? I knew you were safe but I couldn't shake that feeling of dread that stayed with me all the time. I really know you can protect yourself but I don't want you to sacrifice your life for my sake: you're too important for me to waste your existence to keep me safe. I don't care what the legend says: you always thought I was the most powerful and your only job was to keep my soul pure even at the expense of your life. Yes that's right but please sis, don't forget that your death will result in my corruption because I don't think I could resist the temptation of bringing you back…I hope you realized that…
"Quaxo! Oh thanks Bast! I thought you had left the Yard for good!"
"Jemima? Why are you here? I thought your father had literally locked you in the den for your protection!"
She smiled sheepishly at him, perfectly aware of the fact that his father was surely going to have an heart attack when he found that his daughter had been roaming the Yard, alone.
"Yeah..well…I knew you had probably withdrawn yourself from everyone else and I definitely know nobody can snap you out of it or at least get you to talk about it…so I kind of hoped that you might have been willing to talk to me…I swear I'm not going to tell Father about it, even though I know he had been dying to know what you think of all of this situation, but he knows he can't push you…I just wanted…"
Unexpectedly a soft white paw was pressed on her mouth: "You're rambling Jemima! There is no need for you to be nervous, I'm not going to send you away with bolts of lightning and yelling, actually I'm really quite glad you are here. You are right, I really can't talk with the others even though I know they mean good, but with you…well that's different. I can be more myself when I'm around you Jem. You don't need to hear the words to understand what I'm feeling, we connect on a deeper level than with everybody else."
The black and white magician sighed: what he had just said had been the utter truth. He had come to realize that. Little sweet Jemima had the gift for reading him, just like his sister had. But while Helena had a boisterous personality, a firework in the fur, the striped red queen-kit had a quieter personality. She never unleashed her fury and she always tried to pacify the small battles that happened with the younger cats. She was a lot like Quaxo himself and that was something the young magician fully appreciated. But the tux knew he wasn't being exactly truthful with the young queen: yes his personality was exactly what everybody had been seeing in the past months, but there was more to him than any Jellicles knew and Quaxo was perfectly aware that, once the truth was out, everything was going to change.
But in the light of the recent events the magician knew he didn't want to think about the future, he wanted, no needed someone beside him to get through this situation.
So he did something he always thought his sister did best: he let his heart decide instead of his head and took Jemima's paw in his.
"Would you stay with me for sometime Jemima? I don't know if I can really talk about what's happening and how I'm coping with it, but I really liked some, your, company…"
Without bothering to answer to that she curled beside him. She knew that Jenny and the other elders always said that talking about problems was the best way to start solving them, but she understood what Quaxo had been thinking even if he didn't say the words. She smiled when he curled next to her and purred softly. Her smile doubled when she heard him purring in response; she didn't know how to bring his brother back or how to fix the relation with Tugger, but she was happy she had at least managed to make him smile, even if for just a second.
Munkunstrap found them a couple of hours later, when he was just about to send out some searching parties to look for his beloved daughter. His blood had frozen in his veins when, coming back to his den, he hadn't found Jemima inside. First Lenny; then Tugger; Quaxo had been appearing and disappearing randomly in the past four days; and now Jemima. That had been the final straw for the already stressed out protector.
He started frantically running around the Yard, to make sure she wasn't just wondering around and, just when he was about to call Alonzo and set some patrols, he had spotted them.
They were napping together, the magician curled around his daughter, as to protect her from harm. His first instinct had been to punch Quaxo away from his kitten, but then he realized that Jemima had been the first one to get this close to the black and white tom-kit. He knew that the tuxedo hadn't taken advantage of his daughter and, with the clinical eye of a parent – Demeter would have been very proud of him – he also realized that love was blossoming between the two. As much as he loathed that some cat was going to take his baby away, the grey tabby knew that she could have done definitely a lot worse.
Sighing he accepted defeat in that department and proceeded to wake both the cats up. He needed to talk to Quaxo and now that he had found him he decided to take the chance.
"Ehm…Quaxo? Jemima?"
Thankfully his reflexes had been sharpened to take on the role of the protector because he had to quickly maneuver himself out of the way of two different sets of claws.
"Munkunstrap? Oh Bast! I'm sorry! I didn't hear you approaching…it's not like it seems, she came here to help me get out of my shell…we were just sleeping…we…"
If the situation hadn't been that dire, the Silver Protector knew he would have let the magician rumbling, obviously in panic, for a while more: it was absolutely entertaining to see the always cool and collected cat stumbling on words.
"Quaxo calm down! I'm not mad! I was just worried sick about Jemima, thinking she had disappeared as well. By the way young lady: we need to talk about this! While I appreciate the effort to cheer up Quaxo, that doesn't excuse the fact that you had disobeyed my orders and escaped our den. Now go back to your mother and we'll discuss it later. Ah, and by the way, don't tell her anything, she doesn't know…"
A little more relaxed by the fact her mother didn't know about her stunt, she flashed a sweet smile to Quaxo and bowed to her father, before retreating herself.
"Quaxo…I know it's painful for you and I wouldn't force you to talk about it if I did have another choice."
"it's okay Munkus, I understand it. I'm sorry I withdrew myself from the Tribe. I have never been one to share my feelings with everybody, but I didn't take into consideration that I wasn't the only one hurting here…"
Tugger's name hung heavily between them.
"I cannot say I don't understand you Quaxo…I never thought my brother could be capable of something like that, but I realize only now that his reaction had been dictated by his intense fear of being abandoned. And that's partially my fault: after Mother's death I was brought away to become the Protector and Tugger was left alone."
"Munk you shouldn't blame yourself for everything. As for Tugger being capable of doing that, I still do not think he hurt Lenny on purpose. He was totally devastated by that fact, that much was clear to everybody. He should have been able to control that instinct, but I really can't blame him for that: my brother hasn't exactly been known for diplomacy!"
"Yeah, ok…but why hasn't he come back? I'm sure Tugger did more damage than either of us is aware off! Otherwise why run away? Lenny is missing and Tug ran away…what do you make of it?"
"I have no idea why Tugger ran away, I'm guessing he couldn't face the fact he had disappointed you, and the rest of us. As for Lenny I fear he is in trouble. Serious trouble."
"What do you mean? How can you tell?"
"He has disappeared before while pissed, or heartbroken, but he had always come back after a couple of hours, maximum the morning after. I can't tell you how I know it because I don't know it myself, but I feel that Lenny is in danger…"
"All right then…your brother is in danger. So what do we do?"
The smaller cat sighed, already regretting was he was about to say: "Nothing Munk. We do nothing. We wait for them to return and pray the Everlasting Cat we can rejoice their coming back during the Ball and not mourn their death."
Munkunstrap knew the magic cat was right, but that didn't mean he had to actually like it.
"What are we going to do about Tugger, when he comes back?"
Pleased but the fact that the older tabby had said when and not if, the black and white tux considered his answer carefully. He still hadn't forgiven the Maine coon for clawing his twin, but he had been sincere when he had told Munkus that his brother hadn't really meant to draw blood. He knew Tugger had made a mistake, but he also knew that the reason behind it had been created by the neglect the tom had experienced from the entire Tribe. The only problem was that, nobody, except him and Munk, knew about that. Suddenly the magician knew what he had to do. His best friend – yes he still considered the coon that – was not going to like it, but Quaxo knew it was the only way that would enable him to come back.
"Call a meeting for the entire Tribe! It's high time we show them the real Tugger!"
"What do you have in mind? Why do you need the entire Tribe?"
"You and me have already forgiven him, even though we try to pretend otherwise, because we know that, under the flirt lies an intelligent and caring tom. The rest of the Jellicles have always seen just the playboy and the whore so they are never going to forgive him. I want to show them what we see…I think we owe Tugger at least that much. And maybe, just maybe, he will be listening to us and he will decide to come back and we will be able to ask him why he did that."
The Jellicle Protector simply grinned recognizing the maturity of the suggestion. He left to call the Tribe: they needed to revise their opinion on Tugger and only then, maybe he was going to come back to them. And maybe, the grey tabby, couldn't help but hope, his brother had not just run away in fear, but he was out there, with Lenny, waiting for the perfect cue to come back…as always.
§
Where the hell am I? Why is there a ceiling on top of my head? I should be dead by now, and I'm not saying that I expected Heavyside Layer after my death, but a place with a ceiling just doesn't even look like the otherworld…
"You're finally awake! I was starting to grow worried…"
Startled by the sudden appearance of a voice she couldn't see the young queen-kit quickly jumped to her feet and tried to take a defensive stance, only to fail miserably and fall back on her rear end.
"Who are you? What do you want from me? SHOW YOURSELF!"
"Calm down! There's no need for you to be on your guard. I'm on your side I swear! Plus you already now me…I just want to help you!"
And with those words the mysterious cat got out of the shadows and revealed himself in all of his glory.
Tugger? Oh no! Please Everlasting Cat tell me you're joking! Tell me you haven't send after me the only cat I really didn't want to face for the rest of eternity…
The small she-cat closed her lilac eyes fervently hoping that the presence of the Maine coon was only a figment of her overworking imagination, because she wasn't sure she could deal with the tom that had broken her heart –true she had tried to break his before, but she really hadn't meant it like that!- all the while trying not to expose herself and her brother.
When she opened them again the coon had come even closer, so close that she could smell his delicious and lightly spicy smell, and feel the softness of his mane.
"Are you feeling all right? I'm not even sure you really ought to be up and standing, not after the aftermath of the big explosion I found you in. By the way the name is Tugger."
And with that simple phrase he put himself in what was known, even though Helena couldn't tell him, to be his signature pose with his paws in his belt and his head half cocked aside.
But due to sleep deprivation and a definite lack of his morning routine of grooming and fluffing his enormous mane the overall result of his charade was definitely more comical than sexy and the small tux-queen couldn't help but double on the floor howling with laughter.
"What in the name of the Everlasting Cat is so ridiculous that you have to laugh like you've never done such a thing before! Plus lady you barely even know me and that doesn't give you any right to judge me or to laugh at my expense! Just because you're extremely sexy it doesn't mean that I will let everything slide, am I being clear enough?"
Thankfully during his tirade the black and white queen had managed to get a hold of herself otherwise she would have seriously risked being left to her own devises which, at the moment, were very scarce.
"I am truly sorry for my behaviour! I guess that the near death experience really took its toll on me! Even though what I did to you was inexcusable I really must say that you looked really funny. Anyway I hope you can forgive my very rude behaviour and that we can start again…"
Suddenly she flashed him her most winning smile and extending her paw towards him she said:
"My name is Ana and I wanted to really thank you for saving my life! I will be forever in your debt!"
