Title: Ritzkin (4/6)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Macavity is a mean kitty. His father isn't much better.
Additional Notes: I still don't own CATS.

Ritzkin - Part 4

It was a warm summer day, and Tugger had been let out early by his humans. He was too big, now, to fit through the hole in the window screen. Tugger was nearly a full adult and nearly the size of Deuteronomy, with or without the puffy fur on both of them. He was eager to meet up with Ritzkin, because Ritzkin had promised to tell him about one of his Monnik friends, a thief-in-training named Mungojerrie. Tugger always loved hearing about the rough and tumble Monniks. In return, he had decided to tell Ritzkin a story Gus had told him, about a cat pirate named Growltiger and his beloved Griddlebone.

Tugger arrived at the rocks around the bridge before high-sun and hadn't expected to find Ritzkin there yet. Ritzkin didn't always show up, because he would get in more trouble than Tugger if he was caught. They both knew this because Ritzkin had been caught, a couple times, and severely scolded and given chores as punishment. The last time, Ritzkin had also been given a beating that left him limping when he next saw Tugger, but he had grinned and said it was worth it, that Tugger was more fun than any of the toms or queens of the Monnik tribe, Macavity included.

No sooner then had he stretched out on the sun-warmed rocks was Tugger surprised by his name being called by his friend.

"Rum Tum Tugger? Can you keep a secret?"

Tugger spun around, golden eyes scanning the shadows under the bridge. It took him a minute to find Ritzkin squeezed as far back as he could, cowering against the underside of the bridge. His normally bold friend was curled up tighter than a scared kitten. What alarmed Tugger even more, though, was the way Ritzkin had used his full name, not even just 'Tugger.' They usually called each other Ritzy and Rumsy (or Mitzy and Dumbsy, when they were being insulting). For Ritzkin to use his whole full name… something was wrong. "Ritzy?" Tugger crawled up to where Ritzkin was crouched and curled around him protectively, licking his face and ears the way his mother used to lick his. "Yeah, I can keep a secret. What's wrong?"

Ritzkin cuddled close to Tugger, closing his eyes, and Tugger realized that the grey tabby was shivering. Something really horrible must have happened to frighten his friend this badly.

Tugger wrapped his paws around Ritzkin and stroked the fur of his back as he continued to lick and nuzzle the smaller cat. Eventually, Ritzkin's tremors stopped, and he pushed away from the hug enough to look up at Tugger. "I never did tell you what mark me and my siblings had, did I?" Tugger shook his head, but kept silent. Ritzkin took a deep breath and began to speak, resting his head against Tugger's chest, his eyes focused on something far away and invisible to Tugger's gaze.

"Sometimes, occasionally, very rarely, the Everlasting Cat smiles upon a union between a queen and a tom, and blesses their kittens with some of its power. Every kitten that comes from a litter where only that one tom is the father will have magic. The more kittens in a litter, the less magic each has, but the same amount of magic will be there."

Tugger knew that bit. Tantomile and Coricopat were magic cats from the same litter – a big litter. Tugger had heard eight, but didn't know if he believed it. He didn't want to ask, though. Those cats had split up into pairs, slipping off all over the world to join tribes everywhere. Tantomile and Coricopat had joined the Jellicles and used their psychic abilities to help wherever they were needed.

"My mom and dad were blessed like that," Ritzkin continued quietly. "We all had magic, but all we could do as kittens was make sparkles." He held up his paws to demonstrate, making the tips sparkle blue and green and red. "Macavity was better at it than me, and he's the one who figured out we were brothers. He thought it would be fun to track down all our siblings and practice our magic together. It took us a long time, because we had two sisters, but we managed to find them all – Noilly, Apollinax, Mizra, and Wiskus." After naming his siblings, Ritzkin took another breath, one that shook, and Tugger looked at him in alarm, thinking his normal composed friend was crying. Ritzkin's eyes were dry, though, as he continued. "They're dead now, all of them. Macavity killed them, and I helped."

Tugger stared. He knew the rumors, of course, that Macavity had killed his siblings, and Ritzkin their mother. He had thought, though, once Ritzkin said that they hadn't killed their mother, that it meant they hadn't killed their siblings either. "H-how?" he asked, and then the more sensible question: "Why?" Ritzkin began to pull away from Tugger, frowning, but Tugger wouldn't let him go far. "I'm not… mad, or scared. I just wanna know why."

Ritzkin stopped pulling away and looked up at Tugger, his dark eyes searching Tugger's gold ones for something. When he was satisfied, he answered Tugger's question. "For their magic. Macavity did a lot of studying about magic and stuff, and asked all the cats who stopped by the docks questions, and came up with a theory. He said that our magic was in our blood, and there was only a certain amount of magic between all of us. He said that if one of us died, then that part of our total magic would be lost. He thought, though, that if he drank the blood of the magic cat before the cat died, then he could take in the magic and keep it, and make his magic stronger." Ritzkin closed his eyes. "He didn't tell me all that at first, though. He just asked me to help Noilly sneak out of the queens' nursery, because I was better at that than he was, and then he ran off with her. I helped him sneak Mizra out too. I didn't realize what he was doing until Apollinax was found dead, and I only found out about Apollinax's death after I helped Wiskus come up with an excuse to sneak away from the main gathering place too." He looked up at Tugger with such sorrow in his gaze. "I led all my brothers and sisters to their deaths at Macavity's claws."

"Well, but that's not your fault," Tugger said, trying to cheer Ritzkin up. "You didn't know he was killing them… how'd you find out, anyway?"

"I asked him, and he told me," Ritzkin replied. "He showed me how his magic had gotten stronger, and he told me that he would have shared them with me, if I wanted him to. He made me swear not to tell anyone else, though."

"So you're breaking your promise to tell me?" Tugger didn't know how to comfort his friend who had just told him how his brother murdered his family, but he would keep listening and talking to Ritzkin.

"I think he wants to kill me," Ritzkin whispered. "He's been practicing his magic all the time, and he's getting really good at it, but he's not happy. He keeps looking at me funny, and just today, he said he wished he had been an only child, so he could have all the magic to himself, and then he chased me." Tugger could feel Ritzkin's claws come out, even through his thick fur. "He's never chased me like that before, like I was a rat to catch and eat."

"Oh." Again, Tugger was at a loss. "Did you tell Leviticus?" If Rumpus had been trying to kill Tugger (not that Rumpus could kill him – Rumpus might be stronger, but Tugger was far more cunning), Tugger would go to Deuteronomy as soon as possible to get Rumpus set straight.

Ritzkin shook his head. "No… I don't know if he'll believe me, or if he'll help me. Macavity's his favorite."

"But you're his second favorite, right?" Tugger remembered Ritzkin crowing once about how Leviticus had honored the brothers, and named them his favorite sons.

"Well, yeah, but Macavity's his first."

"You should talk to Leviticus," Tugger said firmly. "It's his job to keep his tribe from killing each other. He's supposed to protect you."

"Do you really think that'll help?" Ritzkin asked, looking skeptical.

Tugger nodded, confident in his answer. "Yeah, I do, because if I was in your place, I'd be running to Deuteronomy in an instant."

Ritzkin slowly sat up, stretching out his tense muscles. "And you won't tell anyone what I told you, right?"

Tugger shook his head and zipped his paw over his lips. "I'll keep your secret. I haven't told a single Jellicle that we hang out, and I won't tell anyone about Macavity, either."

"Thanks, Tugger," Ritzkin said quietly, looking over at the other cat. "Thanks for still being my friend."

Tugger grinned and butted his head against Ritzkin's. "Hey, we're gonna be friends forever, no matter what, right?"

He must have said something right, because Ritzkin's face lit up with a grin (weak though it was). "Right!"

"Come on." Tugger hopped out from under the bridge and streeeetched. "You said you'd tell me about Mungojerrie today!"

"Oh yeah, Mungojerrie. He's an orange tabby, and he's a little younger than me, but he was in my milk-litter…"