All-righty, readers! Here's the next chapter. Please enjoy, and remember to review! But no flames! Today's songs are pieces from Don Juan and Twisted Every Way from Phantom of the Opera. I have changed the lyrics at several points to fit the story, so please don't sue! The original song belongs to Andrew Lloyd Webber. Drumroll, please…
Chapter VI: Returning a Favor
"Well…it isn't Tarrant's, but I guess it will suffice."
Chess sat in a tree above the burbling brook, flipping the miniature derby into the air with a practiced flick of his wrist and catching it again on a claw. It had been easy to capture the thieving black rat that had stolen the hat from Sussen a month before the Horunvendush Day (thank heaven for memory). It had been only a little bit harder to retrieve it. (He took its home, too…he'd need it, although it required some redecoration, and it wasn't like the creature would need it itself where it went.) The plan was working perfectly, and he had to admire his own cleverness. True though it was that vanity was a curse, surely, a moment of self-satisfaction was acceptable!
"This is almost too easy!" he whispered to no one in particular. His thoughts became a song, and he chuckled as he sang. "A better scheme there's never been! Once again, I recite the plan: make her see the way I do, and all at once see HER point of view! When we met I changed my voice, and she could not have seen my fangs! She knows not the plot I have concocted in my brain! Poor thing hasn't got a chance! With this hat and a rodent's form, conquest is assured…IF I do not forget myself and LAUGH!"
As if on cue, he laughed. With luck, and a few lies (he hated that word…perhaps "stories" was more appropriate?), he'd gain her trust once more…and, as a dormouse, hopefully reach a closeness he could never reach as a cat.
That saddened him. Not that he disliked taking a rodent's form (which he did), but it was depressing that she couldn't love him for who and what he really was. A feline he may have been, and thus a killer, but he couldn't help that. They'd been friends so long…he'd almost forgotten the fact she was, by nature's rule, his prey. No wonder she had been frightened so easily by his anger, when not even the Jub-Jub Bird could scare her off…
But THIS time, he swore, he'd make sure he wouldn't mess up. THIS would work: if she couldn't love Chessur Cat, she'd love Russehc Dormouse. He was willing to remain in that form forever if he had to, even if it was the death of him, if only for her. He'd do anything for her.
A familiar sounding sigh quickly led to his evaporation into invisibility.
It was her. She was here.
Perfect!
She was talking to herself.
"That Russehc fellow's right…he can't help it. He has to do it…he has to…he has to kill…"
He grinned wider.
This is working out even better than I'd hoped! I've already got her thinking…
"Which is why…why I'll never have him…"
Drat.
"He won't have me…he'll kill me first. It's his nature…his nature…"
She sighed again. She sounded like she wanted to cry.
Have me? HAVE me? You HAVE me already, ridiculous girl!
He cocked his unseen head to one side as he heard her sing, under her breath.
"Twisted every way, to him what joy do I give? Am I to risk my life to, at long last, truly live? Can I avoid his words, can I escape his voice? Am I only his prey...in this matter, have I a choice? He kills without a thought…he has murdered those bad and good…I can't deny how I feel for him, and yet…I wish I could. Oh, God, if he were this to see, what horrors would wait for me, in this, the Cheshire Cat's game?"
Here she bent her head low, and he swore he heard her sob. He wanted to as well, but that would be suicide.
"I wish Chess was here…or, at least, that Russehc…I'm so confused…"
Wish granted, love.
Silently, he evaporated to the ground and transformed into a dormouse.
Remember, he mentally reminded himself. Keep your voice soft, and don't get too close to her, or she'll see those pearly teeth. Don't want that, now do we?
"Ms. Mallymkun? Is that you?"
Mally raised her head and wiped her eyes. She whipped around to him, her expression stronger than he guessed she felt.
"R-Russehc?"
"Hello, madam! I had hoped to see you again," said "Russehc" with a bow, his hat hiding his smirk. "May I ask what is troubling you?"
Mally huffed and eyed him suspiciously.
"None of your business, sir."
"Please, madam…call me 'Russ.'"
Mally glared, her face vaguely pink.
"Fine. Nothing is troubling me, Russ. Better?"
"Much, Ms. Mallymkun," he answered, nodding. Her gaze softened.
"If I can call you Russ, you can call me…Mally."
Inside, he wanted to fly to the moon.
Outside, he tipped his hat with a smile and said nothing but, "As you wish, Mally."
Mallymkun chuckled and turned away from him again. He smiled and sat beside her, just out of arm's reach.
How I want to tell her…she doesn't know she HAS me. She had me when we met. It is I who cannot have her. Oh, I want to touch her…so small…so soft…so gloriously "muchy"…
"Russ?"
Her voice was so soft even his keen ears could barely hear.
"Yes, Mally?"
"May I ask you a very serious question?"
"Anything, madam."
"Please…Mally. A-and you won't tell anyone…right?"
He smiled and drew an X-shape over his chest.
"Say that…someone really, REALLY liked somebody else, and they wanted to tell that somebody they liked them. But that somebody hurt them..."
"Go on."
"Well…say that someone still likes that somebody a lot, and that somebody apologizes, but that someone gets angry and they leave. And…and now, that someone…isn't so sure the person they like likes them back…what should be done?"
Russ took a long time to ponder. Since when had Mally asked anyone for an opinion?
"Well," he said at length. "I think that someone who got angry should apologize, and tell that someone they love that they love them."
Mally nodded and turned again toward him.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome…"
Stop lying. TELL HER!
NO! Can't end the game yet. I have to keep up at this. As long as she's happy, I'm happy.
I'm happy…
"Mally?"
"Yes, Russ?"
"You once gave me the honor and granted me the sublime favor of having lunch with you and your fellow Resistance members. I'd like to return the favor, if I may?"
There was a long pause.
"At your house?"
"My burrow, yes. Why not?"
She seemed to think it over.
Say, yes, Mally! Please, please, say yes…
"No. I'm sorry."
Shukm.
"All right. May I ask why though?" he asked, more than a bit disappointed.
"I…well, I…" she faltered. After a silence, she asked in flat, dull voice, "Why?"
"Because, my dear lady, it is rude to accept an invitation to lunch and not give ne yourself to the 'inviter', as it were."
Mally hesitated.
"PLEASE, Mally. You have absolutely no idea how much it would mean to me."
This was the truth.
Mally smiled.
"I'll join you, Russ. You have a point; it's rude not to accept."
YEEEEEEEEEEESSSS! YES, YES, YES!
"Thank you, Mally," he said, thankfully succeeding at keeping his exuberance suppressed. "Will tomorrow at noon be a good time?"
"Fine. How far from here do you live again?"
She remembered…
"Seventeen yards down the brook. My burrow is beside a rosebush. I doubt it will be as splendid as the home of a hero – like yourself – but I do hope you'll grace it with your presence."
Mally smiled wider.
"I was right. You are a true gentleman."
"One tries. Tomorrow, then?"
"Yes. Fairfarren, Russehc."
"Fairfarren, Ms. Mallymkun."
With these words, he turned and ran, smiling widely. Very widely.
"Now," he murmered. "The fun can REALLY begin…"