Title: Ritzkin (5/6)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Macavity is a mean kitty. His father isn't much better.
Additional Notes: Burelle is pronounced Brrrrelle, with a purrrr.

I still don't own Cats, but I do own Burelle. Sorta. I wish I owned her for real.

Reviews are very much always definitely appreciated. The last chapter got none. I felt so unloved.

Also, the Cats roleplay, Our Jellicles (ourjellicles. is doing well, but we could still always use more players. Victoria is still open, as of the time of posting this chapter. So are Tantomile and Coricopat, Gus, Skimbleshanks, Bustopher Jones, Jennyanydots, Jellylorum, possibly Pouncival, Exotica, Griddlebone, Admetus, and Rumpus Cat. Made-ups are also allowed, with permission of a majority of the staff (there is a puppy now living in the yard... what's going to happen to her? To the cats?), and members of Macavity's Monnik tribe are ADORED. Currently, we really only have one person playing all the Monniks, as well as Mistoffelees. He'd probably have more fun if there were other people to be evil with. If you're interested, go on, check it out. Please!

Ritzkin - Part 5

Tugger had bid Ritzkin farewell that day and worriedly watched him head back to Monnik territory, not knowing how much Leviticus actually would help.

That had been a month ago.

Summer was beginning to turn into fall, the leaves were starting to change colors, and Ritzkin hadn't shown up at the bridge ever since that day. Tugger had gotten so worried that he even ventured into Monnik territory by himself, twice, only to be chased off by Leviticus' black-furred sentinels before he could find out what happened to Ritzkin.

Now, Tugger lay sprawled out, on his back, in the middle of the living room. His humans were asleep in their beds upstairs, and Rumpus was snoring in the kitchen lamp (Tugger didn't want to know how he got up there). He sighed, his paws twitching, a frown creasing his face.

"Rumsy!"

The voice was just a whisper, hoarser than Tugger remembered, but still recognizable as Ritzkin's. The nickname helped too. With a wriggle and a bound, Tugger was on all four feet and at the open window, pressing as close to the screen as he could. "Ritzkin!"

The grey tabby on the other side of the window looked exhausted, as if he had just lost a battle. He had his claws hooked in the screen (the humans had fixed Tugger's escape hole a while ago, and replaced it with a cat door). "Rumsy… can I stay here tonight?"

Tugger nodded before pointing behind him. "Go around, there's a door in the back. I'll meet you there." He jumped down and raced through the house to get out and greet his friend properly.

Ritzkin stumbled up to Tugger and let the bigger cat support him inside. "What happened?" Tugger demanded, helping Ritzkin into the softest chair the humans had before jumping up with him. "Where have you been? You look horrible!"

Ritzkin closed his eyes, reaching out to catch Tugger's paw with his. "Leviticus believed me," he said quietly.

"And?" That wasn't good enough for Tugger. "Why do you look like someone chewed you up and spat you out?"

"He thought Macavity was showing a lot of gumption by finding ways to make himself stronger, and wholeheartedly supported it."

Tugger's jaw dropped open, and his paw tightened around Ritzkin's. "He wanted Macavity to kill you?"

"Basically," Ritzkin whispered. "He said I was useful, and a good son, but Macavity was a better son, and much better with his magic than I was. He said it was a waste for me to have magic I didn't use when Macavity could have it and be that much stronger."

Tugger wrapped his other arm around Ritzkin, hugging the other. "But Macavity didn't kill you."

"He tried," Ritzkin said. "He pulled me aside after I talked to Leviticus, and he told me that he was going to kill me, and he laughed, and he…" Ritzkin trailed off and tilted his head back, showing Tugger a jagged gash across his neck that was half-healed. "He took my magic."

Tugger touched the injury, causing Ritzkin to flinch. "Sorry… Does it still hurt?"

"Yes," Ritzkin whispered. "And I feel so dizzy all the time. Burelle said that was probably because I lost a lot of blood, but it could be because I lost my magic."

"Burelle?" That was a new name, one Tugger had never heard before. "Who's Burelle?

Ritzkin smiled faintly, opening his dark eyes to look up at Tugger. "She's my mom."

Tugger wasn't sure he'd ever manage to keep his jaw closed as Ritzkin dropped bombshell after bombshell. "I thought you didn't know who your mom was."

"I didn't." Ritzkin curled into Tugger's warmth, kneading his mane loosely. "But she remembered me."

"Maybe you should start at the beginning," Tugger said. "What happened, Ritzy?"

Ritzkin squirmed a bit, making himself comfortable, before he launched into his tale. "I went before Leviticus the day after you suggested it, and I told Leviticus how Macavity had tracked down our siblings and killed them, and then how I was afraid Macavity was going to do the same to me. Leviticus told me that he approved of Macavity killing me, basically, and then he said I shouldn't linger too long, because Rumpleteazer, one of the queen-kits, was going to be doing her coming-out dance, and if I was good, he might pick me to welcome her into adulthood. Then he left, and then Macavity came out. He had heard the whole thing, and he said he was very upset that I couldn't keep a secret, and so that cemented his decision. He said he was sorry, because I was his favorite brother, but killing me would both let him get stronger and keep me from telling anyone else. Then he laughed and started to attack me. I fought him off – I'm stronger than he is – but he started using his magic and managed to pin me." Ritzkin shuddered at the memory. "I scratched and scratched and tried to kick him off, but he bit my throat, and he… he…"

"You can skip that part," Tugger said quietly, guessing what had happened from the injury Ritzkin had shown him. Macavity must have nearly torn Ritzkin's throat out, to leave such a big wound behind.

"I thought I was going to die," Ritzkin continued, after taking a moment to compose himself. He drank a lot of my blood, thanked me, and walked off, just leaving me there. I just remember thinking that I was going to die, and no one would know what had happened to me, and no one would tell you… and then I don't remember anything else. When I woke up again, there was this really big queen curled around me, and we were in a den under a human house. She was licking my fur and singing to me."

"Burelle?"

Ritzkin nodded. "Burelle's a younger queen. She only had the one litter so far, she told me. She's also the prettiest queen in the whole tribe – she's big and red with no tabby stripes and green eyes. She kept singing to me, and she would bring me food and take care of my neck." Tugger made a mental note to thank Burelle for saving Ritzkin's life if he ever ran into this Monnik queen. "She told me she was my mom, and she remembered all six of us, even though Leviticus told her not to, that we wouldn't know she was our mom. She would watch us, though, and was so proud of all of us… until Macavity started killing us."

"She didn't like that, huh?" Tugger felt like he needed to fill Ritzkin's pause with words.

Ritzkin shook his head. "No. She didn't know why Macavity was doing it at first, or why I was helping him. She said she tried to save all the others, too, but she never got to them in time, and they all died." He took a deep breath. "All except for me."

"So, you've been living with Burelle all this time?" Tugger asked, earning another nod from Ritzkin.

"Yeah. It was a long time before I could get up and move around again, and I was really dizzy, like I am now. Burelle didn't want me to leave her den, though, because she was afraid Macavity would try to kill me again. That's why I didn't come to meet you earlier."

"It's okay," Tugger replied. "I'm just happy you're not dead."

"She's happy too. She said she forgave me for helping Macavity kill the others, after I told her what was happening. But I couldn't stay with her forever, she said." Ritzkin looked up at Tugger again. "She said if I returned to the Monniks, Macavity would kill me, or I'd have to kill him. I don't want to kill anyone anymore. I thought… maybe… maybe I could stay with you?"

Tugger's grin was so wide it was threatening to split his face in two. "Yeah! You can stay with me, and be a Jellicle, and you can be my brother! I've always wanted a brother like you, and not like Rumpus Cat, who thinks he's a Pollicle." Tugger rolled his eyes at that. Rumpus Cat's latest obsession was with Pollicles, and he tried to imitate them most of the time. Tugger didn't understand it.

Ritzkin smiled, the relief evident in his eyes. "Thank you, Rumsy. I don't know what I would have done if you'd said no…"

Tugger butted his head against Ritzkin's. "You're my best friend. I wouldn't ever throw you out."

"Do you think the Jellicles will let me stay?" Ritzkin asked. "I mean… I know I have a really bad reputation, and there are stories about how I ate my mom–"

"Stories that are completely false," Tugger interrupted. "But… yeah… they might not be too happy letting the Terror Twin Ritzkin join the tribe." He fell quiet for a while, thinking about this problem. "What if… what if you weren't the Terror Twin Ritzkin?" he suggested slowly. "What if we changed your name, and said you were a new cat my humans brought home from the pound, and you had gotten hurt there, so you don't remember much of anything before you came here?" Tugger nodded toward the gash on Ritzkin's throat. "That would explain your injuries, and it would mean we don't have to come up with a story, and the Jellicles always let new cats to the neighborhood join."

"Change my name?"

"Yeah. You wouldn't be my Ritzy anymore. You could be…" Tugger screwed up his face, trying to think of good names. "What about… Dionysus?" That was a name from stories some of his humans read to each other. "Or Aphrodite?"

"What about more of a cat name?" Ritzkin said, making a face at those names. "Like… Munkustrap, or maybe Rastiball."

"Shakespeare! Or Romeo, or Tybalt…" More names his humans threw around.

Ritzkin stuck out his tongue. "I like Munkustrap."

Tugger nodded. "I like Munkustrap too." If Ritzkin liked Munkustrap, then Munkustrap would be his name. "I dub thee now Munkustrap, soon to be of the Jellicles."

Ritzkin-now-Munkustrap yawned as Tugger 'knighted' him with his paw, covering his mouth and looking slightly embarrassed. "Sorry about that… I'm just really tired."

"Maybe we should sleep, then," Tugger said. "You've had a rough month." This was the first time he would fall asleep with Ritzkin, he realized, as they usually went their own ways before either of them were tired.

Ritzkin nodded, resting his head on his paws. "Night, Rumsy."

"Good night, Ritzy." Tugger set his own head down as well, curling his tail protectively around the grey tabby. Nobody was going to hurt his new brother with him there!