The roundabout route she used to go back to the Jellicle Yard and to her beloved brother took her almost all morning and the sun was high on the horizon when she finally spotted the high pile of junk that signalled the fast approaching refuge of the Jellicle Tribe.
She knew she was taking a huge risk but, as she didn't want to greet her twin brother as a male, she still hadn't changed her form into the sleek back body of Lenny. In this case her powers were very useful in telling her which path to take to avoid stray cats, Macavity's spies, wandering Jellicles, but also the wondering Tugger who, if her senses were correct was lingering nearby the Yard, trying to summon up the courage to enter a face the Tribe.
Doing a brief swipe of the clearing in front of her in order to locate her brother, she was disappointed and mildly alarmed when his distinctive power signature didn't pop up on her radar. Before deciding to give into her panic and do something extremely stupid and probably irreparable she expanded her sensory range and she was finally able to locate him in the proximity of the nearby lake.
Altering slightly her course and direction she ran towards the lake and her brother eager to finally hug him after a too long separation.
She knew she couldn't jump on him and surprise him, or his powers were going to make a big mess that was bound to attract all sorts of attention that they really didn't need.
And so, once she was fairly near to her target she carefully lowered her mental shields and gently nudged her connection with her brother.
The black and white tuxedo tom helplessly crushed to his knees on the back of the lake in front of him. After ten days of worrying out of his mind for his missing twin the young magician had reached his wits' end. Deep down in his heart he knew that Helena was still alive, but the lack of any contact from her had his more rational part of the brain start doubting her presence in the world of the living.
He knew, without a shadow of doubt, that if it was confirmed that his little sister was dead he wasn't going to hesitate in following her, everybody else be damned, and not just because of the prophecy linking them together but also because he loved her more than anything else in the entire world.
So lost into his world at first he didn't notice the familiar soft brush against his conscience but as the feeling grew more intense he became gradually aware that someone, a very familiar someone, was trying to establish a mental link.
He immediately swirled onto himself and with bated breath he started scanning the forest next to the shore fervently hoping that that sensation hadn't solely been a delusional thought of his delusional mind.
As his hopes were starting to get crushed a shift in the wind alerted him of her presence directly in front of him. Less than two second later his keen eyes spotted the petite figure of a black and white queen cat with eyes the colour of spring. Instinctually he started to shape-shift as well and after he was done his fur colouring matched exactly the ones on his sister.
After having looked at her like one looks towards water after a week of abstinence, his feet, probably not very happy with the enormous distance between them, took a step toward them.
That step seemed to break whatever spell had them rooted where they stood and less than ten seconds later he had his arms full of a sister he thought lost to him forever.
§
A good distance away from where the two magical twins where getting re-acquainted, another reunion between brothers wasn't going exactly as smoothly.
I need to go in there and find Munkus and tell him I'm sorry, that I'm a failure as a brother and then beg for his forgiveness or at least enough time with the Tribe to beg for forgiveness from Lenny and Quaxo and then be on my way towards exile…I really hope it won't come to this, but if it really does I can't blame Munkunstrap if he is forced to dish out that particular punishment. I have always been the shame of the tribe, but my actions towards Lenny have been completely inexcusable.
Such were the dark and deep thoughts of the young cat that he didn't notice the fact that his feet had carried him all the way through the front gate of the Junkyard and into the main clearing.
The deafening silence was the first thing that alerted the coon that something had changed in his surroundings. That and the murderously high-pitched scream that pierced the silence: "Tuuuugsieeeeeeee!"
Not two seconds later the Maine coon found himself with an armful of a squealing Etcetera followed soon after by all the young soon to be queens of his fun-club.
Unknown to him the queen-kits weren't the only ones who had noticed the tom's sudden and unexpected return.
"Munkunstrap! Come quickly! I think this is something you really don't want to miss!"
"Alonzo?! What, in the name of the Everlasting Cat, are you yelling for? Has something happened? Please tell me it's not bad news, not again…I really don't think I can handle anything else anymore!"
"Do not worry Munk! I really think you're going to jump out of your skin for joy when you see who's back!"
When you see who's back…Alonzo had specifically said who…he just couldn't mean that…oh Everlasting Cat please let him be back! With that thought the Silver Protector tore out of his den, thankfully Demeter wasn't there to scold him for the damage he was sure he had done to the den's door, and bolted towards the main clearing from which the delighted screams of the queens were coming from.
"TUGGER!"
The powerful yell had the not-so-astounding effect, he was the Protector of the Tribe after all, of silencing everyone and making the kittens scamper off their idol and into the protection of Jenny's arms while everyone waited with bated breath the confrontation between the two brothers, hoping that it didn't turn into a disaster of apocaliptic proportions.
After Munk's yell the clearing suddenly emptied and Tugger was left alone facing what was probably going to be his last appearance at the Junkyard.
The young queens' reaction, he really couldn't call them kittens anymore, had surprised him. He did not expect them to treat him like nothing had changed, like he hadn't attacked Lenny and then escaped the Yard without so much as a backwards glance.
But now, pleasing as their reactions had been, he knew his time had come and that he had but one single chance to make his brother listen and give him the time he needed to beg for forgiveness and then be gone.
He dejectedly closed his eyes and took a big breath so he could at least attempt to rush out the explanations he knew he needed to give before the final judgement was casted, but every single word he had planned to say to Munkunstrap and the Tribe died on his lips when his brother slammed himself into him and then proceeded to squeeze every last ounce of breath out of his system.
"Munkunstrap…can't breathe…loosen up a bit…"
As fast as they appeared the strong arms of his brother suddenly disappeared but the grey tabby still didn't take a step backwards.
Without the support Tugger crashed on his knees and hot tears pouring from his caramel eyes.
"I'm sorry Munk…so sorry…sorry…so so sorry…"
His pitiful litany was interrupted by a soft paw on his head-fur and when he gathered enough courage to look up he met the azure-eyes of his big brother, his own widened at the sight of the Jellicle Protector openly crying over him.
"Are you here to stay Tugger?"
The soft-spoken question badly startled him. His brother didn't want to exile him?
"Do you want me to stay Munkunstrap?"
"Of course brother! Why wouldn't I want you back, why wouldn't the Tribe?"
"Because of what I've done! Of the inexcusable things I did over the years, to you, to Father, to the Tribe, and lastly to Lenny and Quaxo…I've been an insufferable, hard headed, idiotic, self-centred idiot and I only came back to ask, nigh beg, for your and the Tribe's forgiveness for my past behaviour and then go back to the exile I'm sure I deserve!"
Head lowered in shame the Maine coon didn't notice the looks exchanged between the various members of the Tribe that were present to the prodigal son's return.
When Quaxo and Munkunstrap had sought every last Jellicle out to paint another image of the Rum Tum Tugger, so different from the stage persona everyone had grown accustomed to, many Tribe members had been, sceptical if nothing else. Many had downright scoffed when the two cats had started recounting many episodes in which the boisterous coon had been thoughtful and insightful, fully believing those stories to be delusions of a loving brother and a faithful friend.
But now, confronted by the heart-breaking scene in front of them, even the most hard-core cats started to believe the tales that Quaxo and Munkunstrap had told them and in their hearts sparkled, once more, the hope that, this time, the real Rum Tum Tugger would finally emerge in the light.
"You know young one…you always did say the stupidest things…"
Skimbleshanks thick accent resonated loudly in the still eerily quiet clearing, but his words sparkled a chain-reaction in all the cats and soon after all Jellicles chimed in the discussion with their own heartfelt line about either Tugger's stupidity or the fact that, obviously, he was still a Jellicle and thus very much welcome into the Tribe.
Mouth agape the young tom could only stare in wonder at the cats he had pranked and disrespected over the years but that now, even though he had done the unthinkable, opened their arms once again to welcome him back into the Tribe, into their family.
"No one will cast you out Rum, unless it is you who wants to go away…"
The bitter taste of doubt in Munkunstrap's question was enough to jolt his brother from his stupor: "No, no! I don't want to go into exile Munk! It's…I mean…I never thought you would welcome me back, not after everything I have done."
"You did do some stupid things over the year Tugger, that is for certain! But someone has made us realize that we all were partially at fault for what you had become…"
Jennyanydots' voice resonated loudly in the clearing, rendering the blabbering coon speechless again.
Their fault? What in the name of the Everlasting Cat had happened in the ten days he had gone away? And what did Jenny mean when she said that someone made them realize they had been partially at fault over the years? She couldn't mean…no…not Munkunstrap! He wouldn't betray me like that!
But when he finally decided to look up, the guilty look in his brother's eyes was all the confirmation he needed.
Jumping to his feet he managed to disentangle himself from his brother's arms and he started inching backwards while trying to figure out exactly how to proceed when all his shenanigans and motives had been exposed for everybody to see.
So caught up in his own little world the leopard spotted tom didn't notice the look of surprise that had taken residence upon the Jellicle Protector's face, alongside the rest of the Tribe's, just as surprised, faces.
"You are not going to run away again, right Tugger? I mean you wouldn't want to waste the opportunity me and Munk had worked so hard to give you, by deciding to do the stupid thing again, wouldn't you?"
The sarcastic comment had the immediate result of freezing him on the spot. It was as if time had stopped his flow when ever so slowly the Maine coon pivoted on himself and turned around to come face to face with the shorter, and very much pissed off Tribe's magician.
With eyes like saucers he took in the slightly dishevelled appearance of the normally aloof cat and, finally, his eyes landed on the imposing black figure of the cat that had been missing from the Yard alongside him.
Still in slow motion he saw Lenny's black fist forming and then flying to collide with his face.
When the fist impacted with his nose, with a force the coon had to recognize was impressive, time righted itself again and the Rum Tum Tugger found himself flying across the clearing and painfully landing on the TSE.
Crumbling on the floor he managed to right himself just enough to try and staunch blood flowing freely from his nose and to shakingly ask: "Lenny?"
"If you try and pull that idiotic stunt again on me, asinine imbecile, I swear it will be more than your nose bleeding the next time! Have I made myself clear?"
Without waiting for an answer or even and acknowledging nod the black cat whirled on himself and stormed off the clearing, leaving a flabbergasted Tribe behind.
With a smirk and a wink his black and white brother sauntered toward the still shocked Maine coon and bending low he whispered something into his ear that had Tugger pale considerably.
And then, with a fancy trick with his wrist and a puff of smoke he disappeared from the Yard.
