The Beauty Underneath

Chapter Three – Feel Music

"It seems so beautiful… So strange yet beautiful, everything's just as you say."

Macavity smiled to himself, they were on the same wavelength, and he knew it… He felt it. However, there was still a voice of doubt irritating him in the back of his head.

"And she's so beautiful, perhaps too beautiful… What I suspect cannot be. And yet somehow we both see the very same way."

The girl on the other side of the mirror began to take a few timid steps closer but still stopped before fully coming in contact with him, as if she was scared of something, as if she was contemplating whether he was safe. He couldn't blame her; if she could see behind the cloak she'd probably run off screaming. She still smiled however, her sweet almond eyes lighting up as dimples in her cheeks and in her chin became noticeable. It was a smile that would stop any man in their tracks and suddenly Macavity felt fiercely protective. She calmed him however by once again singing in her gentle soprano,

"Is there music in your head? Have you followed where it lead and been graced with a taste of the beauty underneath? Does it feel your every sense? Is it terribly intense? Tell me you need it too, need the beauty underneath."

Macavity grinned and all of a sudden that annoying voice of doubt in the back of his mind disappeared. As he joined in with her chorus,

"When it lifts its voice and sings, don't you feel amazing things? Things you know you can't confess, things you thirst for nonetheless."

They harmonized beautifully; her high and tender voice complimented the smoothness of his low one. Her face lit up with excitement, it was as if she realized how well they matched each other,

"Its all so beautiful…"

"Can it be?"

"Almost too beautiful, do you see what I see?"

Macavity couldn't hold back his own excitement, however, he had to hold on to it, had to make sure that he was perfectly safe if he wanted to reveal himself to her.

"To her it's beautiful, my world is beautiful."

"How can this be what it seems?"

Once again, they harmonized with perfect synchronicity. "All of my most secret dreams somehow set free…."

With a grin, he knew now it was time to finish off their perfect duet. He wanted to make sure that he was thorough when making sure she was prepared,

"You can feel the lift."

"Yes," she muttered, passion, excitement, anticipation all mixed into one word. Her sweet face began to look almost desperate.

"Come closer…" he said with a smile on his face, she obediently ran up the glass, her hand lingering just out of reach of the glass.

"Yes…"

"You've no fear of the beauty underneath."

"The beauty underneath."

Macavity prepared himself to step out, to pull the cloak off, to reveal his face to her. He wasn't sure what her reaction would be but the girl seemed excited enough. Her body language was rigid and her eyes hungry, he wasn't sure what she already thought of him but he was going to explain everything… He had everything planned out in front of him.

"To the splendor."

"Splendor."

"And the glory."

"Glory."

"To the truth of the beauty underneath."

"The beauty underneath…"

As she mirrored his sentences, Macavity felt his breath get rapid. He refused to use the word 'nervous' to describe what he was feeling, it seemed like one of the most slanderous curse words anyone could use. He wasn't nervous, he was just… anxious.

"You'll accept it?"

"Yes."

"You'll embrace it?" the anxiety almost leaked into his words and the girl picked up on it immediately, she gave a little giggle as she responded.

"Yes!"

He stepped out of the mirror, already she was taken aback, her chest rising as she took shallow breaths but a smile still on her face. Macavity started to remove his cloak,

"Let me show you the beauty under…"

His last sentence was cut off by her ear splitting scream now that she realized whom her duet partner was.

Demeter couldn't stop pacing and if Bombalurina was blunt she would have expressed how irritating it actually was, however, she was a bit more sympathetic to her sister's anxiety especially now that her niece had been stolen.

Jemima was sweet, she didn't really stand out all that much but she seemed content in the background, almost as if she fitted there. However, no one could deny there was something different about her.

In spite of the situation, Bombalurina smiled at the thought. It was uncanny how much the girl was relatable to her biological parents. She had the musical talents of her Father and the same maturity level of her Mother.

Demeter sighed and finally took a seat, her chin balancing on her palm. The red queen frowned and put her arm around her younger sister. Though Demeter had refrained from saying two words to Jemima, Bombalurina saw how her sister looked at the kit, how she acted if a tom tried to make a pass at her, how she smiled when the girl lifted her head and sang in her sweet soprano.

"Munkustrap had better hope he finds her," Demeter said suddenly breaking Bombalurina's train of thought, "Because I swear to god if that monster lays so much as a paw on her, I'll give him and Munkustrap a beating they'll never forget."

Demeter wasn't a violent queen. She usually kept out of all physical affairs and would tut if Bombalurina happened to mention wanting to scram another cat. However, Bombalurina took a guess and came to the conclusion that a Mother's scorn was dangerous.

Jemima shook her head in disbelief. It wasn't plausible, the idea itself was laughable that the singer was the tom in front of her. She closed her eyes and counted to ten in hope that she'd wake up from a sweet dream that just got twisted. Instead, when she opened her eyes, the ginger tom was still stood there.

Her chest heaved, as her breathing got heavier; she stood her ground, her frame rigid and her eyes almost stern. Macavity's lips were parted slightly in almost a half-smile, he took a step towards her, ignoring her sharp intake of breath, and he carried on and touched her cheek lightly. She turned her head and her eyebrows knitted together, her face a perfect image of confusion.

Macavity sighed slightly. He should have guessed the reaction from the very beginning, the very fact he had gone to the jellicle's home in hope of taking Demeter with him only a few hours previous didn't exactly help out his cause. He opened his mouth to say something but the girl cut him off,

"Why were you staring at me earlier?"

It was an odd question. Out of all the ones she could have asked, like the normal cliché "Why have you brought me here?" or "What do you want with me?" she decided to ask about his line of vision. It was laughable.

"You look just like Demeter…" he said, his own eyebrows raised almost musingly, Jemima winced slightly and then turned to look at him. Her lip wavered slightly and he could see her shake but her eyes bore into his own with a disgust he had seen before. He had seen the very same expression in his own eyes.

"You need to leave Demeter alone, she's still panicky around us all because of what you did to her… Dad says that…"

"Might I ask, who is your Father?"

Jemima was taken aback. She had just attempted to condemn the most feared cat in the country and he questioned her on her hereditary. "Skimbleshanks…"

Macavity nodded and clicked his tongue against his teeth his eyebrows raised, "And your Mother?"

"Excuse me, if you just wanted to discuss parent ties you didn't have to go through all this trouble…"

"Who is your Mother?"

His voice was stern now, forceful maybe. She looked him directly in his face and noticed his eyes were narrowed, for some reason she thought she recognized them from somewhere. Jemima didn't want to answer, she wanted to hit back with something witty and sharp, however, like any other sane cat would be, she was terrified.

"Jennyanydots."

Macavity nodded again, a smile placed on his lips. She didn't appreciate his expression; it was as if he was mocking her silently for a reason she didn't understand.

"I don't have the honor of knowing your name, kit."

"Jemima."

"Okay then. Tell me, Jemima, does either Jennyanydots or Skimbleshanks have black fur?"

"Mum said my great grandfather was a black cat," she retorted.

"Very well…. But do either have almond eyes? Pale blue like yours…" she bit her lip and realized where she had recognized Macavity's eyes, they were like a complete mirror reflection of her own, "What about their lips? Gentle and full shape? Do either have dimples? I think you'd find that those features are almost identical to Demeter's…"

Jemima shook her head, "What are you trying to imply?"

"And there's also your talent… Do either have the feel you do for music? Does either appreciate it as much as you do?"

She paused. That had stopped her in her tracks. Macavity smiled, as if knowing he had gotten underneath her skin. He grabbed her hand and turned her around to face a mirror.

"Look Jemima. The red in your fur is unmistakable, the exact shade of my own if I must say…" Her body was still, the only way anyone could tell that she was still fully conscious was the quick movement of her eyes as she analyzed both hers and Macavity's features, "Now, we've already mentioned the eyes… How about your head fur? A bit wild, isn't it? And you have high cheekbones and a sturdy jaw line, I'd say that these were identical to my own, wouldn't you?"

Jemima shook her head, "You're… You're just trying to scare me."

"And our voices… They went well together, didn't they Jemima? Outstandingly well, almost."

Jemima couldn't deny it, so she wasn't even going to attempt it. She just stood there, feeling helpless, letting each and every word he was saying echo around her head, letting it sink in…

"How old are you?" he asked bluntly,

Her lip trembled, "Nearly sixteen…"

Macavity smiled, "Demeter left me just over sixteen years ago, what a coincidence." The irony in his voice was unfathomable. She didn't want to listen any more, she wanted to run away and try and forget the whole ordeal, maybe write it off as a nightmare. However, Macavity brought his face right next to her own, she felt his cool breath on her cheek and flinched,

"Have you guessed it, Jemima?" he whispered softly, "I'll tell you then shall I?"

She didn't want him to tell her. She wanted to leave.

"I'm your real father."

((A/N: It was so hard not to make that a Star Wars moment… ^^' So in case you wanted to know, the song used was 'Beauty Underneath' from Love Never Dies. Criticism is appreciated c; ))