HAT: Sorry for the long delay, but inspiration decided to give me space, but now I think I'm slowly getting it back! I hope you guys enjoy it (and don't kill me)!
Disclaimer: I, sadly, don't own CATS... though I do own Lyon so I guess that's a plus.
"Let's get you to Cori and Tanto," Bombalurina mutters, putting his arm over her shoulders and an arm around his waist to help lead him.
He doesn't resist, not that he has the strength to do so anyway. He tries to scrape some actual memories from the clutter in his mind, but it seems that the harder he tries, the further away everything gets from his grasp.
The door opens before Bombalurina has to knock and the twins immediately take him from her grasp to the couch. He barely takes in that their tails twine with his and they're asking him questions, he can just feel the pressure in his mind as they try to dig through his mind. When they begin to make progress that pressure turns into pain and he moans, glass-green eyes closing to try and lessen the pain, but it does not work.
"Just hold on a little longer," Tantomile whispers.
"We're almost-," they both start only to stop at his moan.
"Stop, please," he interrupts, trying to squirm from between them.
"Just a little more," Coricopat insists.
"It hurts so much," Skimble whispers huskily, trying to convince them to stop.
"Stop, you're hurting him," Bombalurina insists forcefully, only to stop with their fierce blue and dark brown glares.
"We're almost there," they insist, turning back to Skimble. "Just a little longer, a few more seconds."
With each millisecond the pain increases with their progress, making him whimper in pain momentarily. Soon the pain becomes so bad that he feels that he is going to die of implosion if he doesn't stop this immediately.
"Desine!" Skimble begs with a hiss. Immediately the mystic twins are on the ground in front of him with looks of pain on their face and the pain inside of his head is gone. Guilt stabs at his heart and he reaches forward to help them up, but their gazes halt him. He knows that he's just made a mistake, that if he'd lasted just a second or two longer he'd know his past and be freed from the false memories, but he'd stopped it before they could do anything. He's failed them, but most of all he's failed himself. "I-I'm sorry."
(A/N: That's right, I'm draggin' this ish out for as long as possible. You ain't gonna get ish until I feel you guys've earned it, which means there's gotta be reviews! Remember, I'm writing this ish as I go, so there isn't anything solidly planned and there's a chance I can have it go as quickly as you want it, or if ya'll don't, I'mma drag it out for as long as possible and he won't get his memory back for who knows how long... I need to take a break watching IISuperwomanII/SuperwomanVlogs on Youtube because I'm using ish way too much... continue with the story.)
Coricopat sighs and helps his sister up. "It's not your fault. You were in pain."
"We'd never thought that Macavity had such an influence on your mind that even an attempt to unlock your memories would resort to something like this," the both of them mutter.
He looks away from them at some part of the floor that catches his interest. He doesn't want to meet their gaze and see utter disappointment in him. He'd love for nothing more than to have his memories, back, but the pain doesn't seem to be worth it.
"May I leave?" he asks.
Tantomile nods and waves him off and he walks out before breaking into a run. Vaguely he registers that it's reckless of him to run when in such terrible condition, but he doesn't care and disregards it. His lungs hurt and his limbs burn by the time he finishes running and falls to the ground.
Why is it so hard to do this? Why me? I don't want to go through this, he thinks. When he catches his breath again he stretches out on a worn out tire to bask in the sunlight and ponder. He felt it, his unknown Third Name was the key to his freedom and true memories. He bites his bottom lip and watches the clouds wander seemingly aimlessly through the sky. Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity. He's a fiend in feline shape... You two were right when you two sang that.
"Skimble? What're you doing out here?"
He His glass-green eyes travel up to meet dark brown ones. "I could ask the same of you."
Electra rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "That doesn't answer my question."
"I needed time to think," he grumbles, turning away from her.
"Get up," she groans, holding out a paw.
"What if I don't want to?"
"Then you'll suffer the consequences," she replies.
He takes her paw and allows her to haul him up. Suddenly he's struck, and it must be from the Everlasting, with a question. "What do you know about Third Names?"
Her eyebrows come together. "What do you mean?"
"Just, anything."
She still looks at him with a worried expression, but answers the question anyway, "Third Names are kept from everyone. There's a good one and a bad one. The Positive Name is the one that everyone around us knows, but we, ourselves, don't know, The Negative Name is the one that only we know and that everyone else doesn't know.
"If someone finds out the Negative Name, it's like having complete control over a cat, especially if they're magic. If a cat knows their Positive name, then they have complete control over themselves.
"We tend not to acknowledge our positive traits and focus on the negative, which is why we find it so hard to find out our Positive Names. Other cats look at the positives of others of more often then negatives and don't know exactly what out true fault is, which is why they find it hard to find out our Negative Names... did that cover everything?"
He slowly nods, processing it in his mind. "That's good... thank you."
She takes his wrist and leads him towards the main clearing and he doesn't fight it, not like he could even if he tried. He's still to weak do do anything to fight back so he has to follow the queen to wherever it is that she is taking him exactly. He catches the eye of Demeter and quickly looks away, eyes lowering to the ground.
I met her once, no need for acting like I've known her for years, he reminds himself as he's sat down on a box near the tire. "Why're we here?"
"We're here to have you checked on. How you've managed to go three days without getting any checkups, I don't know, but that stops today."
I have a Gumbie Cat in mind. Her name is Jennyanydots, Skimble thinks as he enters and sees the queen bustling about. "But I feel fine."
She puts her paws on her hips and shifts her weight to one leg as one eyebrow raises. "Are you really gonna argue when you can't even fight against a kitten and win?"
Damn. He runs a paw through his head fur before waving her on. "Alright, lass, go ahead."
"Perfect! Stay right there," she orders, perking up immensely.
He sits back with a sigh, looking up at the sky and waiting for the one that was made his sister in his mind to come out. After about ten minutes he hears someone clear their throat and he sits up to look at the pale orange queen covered in tiger stripes and leopard spots with kind, but guarded chocolate brown eyes.
"Hello, I'm Jennyanydots," she says.
Skimbleshanks stands and bows his head slightly in a polite manner he "remembers" using on the railway. "Pleasure to meet you Miss Jennyanydots."
She blushes slightly, flattered. "Just Jenny is fine."
"Yes, Miss Jenny," he replies.
"Oh, such a well-mannered young tom! You could teach these kits a thing or two about manners," Jenny says with a mirthful smile as she leads him into a room off to the side and has him sit on a bed. "Oh, so thin! The ones you're staying with have been feeding you, haven't they?"
"Yes, ma'am, and I'm not as thin as the first day. I was taken to Mistoffelees and he put quite a bit of weight on me, as much as he could," Skimbleshanks assures, not mentioning that he stopped Mistoffelees from overexerting himself.
"Well, you still need weight put back onto your bones. Whenever you're feeling hungry you can come to me or Jellylorum and we'll be sure to feed you."
Hunger is the last thing on his mind most of the time, but he still says, "I will."
The pale orange tabby turns to the striped queen. "Skin-n-bones herbs?" He'd never heard of those.
"For thin cats to ensure that they gain weight when they eat," she explains as the other queen hands her the human medicine bottle full of leaves and she turns and pulls out a regular sized leaf. "Take one leaf before every meal and half a leaf after every snack. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Miss Jenny," he replies as he gently takes the medicine.
He doesn't know exactly what it is about her that makes him more... respectfully afraid of her. Perhaps her back was a little straighter or her chin was held a little higher or her shoulders were slightly more back or perhaps something in her tone or the way she moves or the look in her eyes. Whatever subtle difference there was, he was more cautious of this strong queen now than in his memories.
"Good. Now, be sure to eat often and no skipping meals. Don't eat yourself sick, but definitely don't skip, alright?"
"Yes, ma'am," he nods. "I promise."
She nods, satisfied, before giving a warm smile. "I hope you get better, dear. Now, Electra, I want you to take care of this young tom, alright?"
Just like her to assume I won't remember to do something as simple as this, he thinks in amusement.
"Yes, ma'am," she replies with a quick nod.
"Who are all the cats you know?" Jenny asks the tom.
Everyone, he thinks before he can stop himself. "Um... Miss Bombalurina, Miss Electra, Mister Mistoffelees, Mister Coricopat and Miss Tantomile, aaand... a black and gold lad with a large mane wearing a belt and gloves... and another lad that's mostly white with grayish brown stripes on his sides and a brown patch over his right eye."
"Rum Tum Tugger and Tumblebrutus," Electra informs.
"Aye," he nods and makes himself look as if he's racking his brain for any other members, though he can clearly recall who he's met again officially. "Mister Ol' Deuteronomy... aaa silver lad with black stripes and... a tom that has black and reddish-brown stripes."
"Munkustrap and Asparagus," Electra informs.
"Aaaand... Miss Bombalurina's sister... black and gold, the lass is."
"That's Demeter," Jenny informs with a nod. "That's a good amount of cats for the first three days."
Three days... it's only been three days, he thinks, finding everything to have moved so fast. Well, we could never say that Jellicles didn't make quick bonds and judgments of cats.
"Am I free to go, Miss Jenny?" he asks, anxious to be out of the small room and... well, that hasn't been decided, but he's sure that he'll end up back with Coricopat and Tantomile for a while before the male mystic went back to his mate for the night.
"Alright," she says, waving him out of her den.
He walks out with Electra behind him and stutters to a stop, lost for what he could do. He glances at Electra and partially hopes that she'll leave him alone and partially hopes that she'll give him something to do. Boredom isn't something he feels he can deal with at the moment.
Maybe Bomba knows something... or maybe I should find Ol' Deut? He could tell me a few tales, Skimble thinks as his tail swishes lazily and his paws take him slowly in a random direction.
"Maybe you should rest," Electra says, worry tinting her voice.
"I'm fine," he assures, but immediately, as if her words were a trigger, he feels exhausted. He sits carefully and curls on the ground. He winces when he sees his hip bone protruding in his skin. Years of not using muscle does that to a cat. "Though a wee bit of rest won't hurt. Especially if it makes you happy."
Her eyes roll with exasperation at this and she settles down beside him, dark eyes watching him with careful eyes. He seems to be a mixture of things. He is incredibly shy and yet at the same time very sarcastic and social, easy to get along with, she suspects, but there's a pain that he has in his eyes that causes her to pity him and feel guilty though not having done anything to this cat. She's not the only one to feel this way. The other cats, save for Old Deuteronomy, Bombalurina, Coricopat and Tantomile, have said the same thing. Skimble looks at them as if they've hurt him in some way despite having never met them and it makes them feel guilty for something they couldn't have possibly done.
He's doing it now. His piercing glass-green gaze looks at her with pained eyes.
She looks away, unable to take the guilt.
"You don't have to do it," he murmurs suddenly, gaze on a few of the kits playing and there's a sense of longing in his gaze, and if she looks hard enough, perhaps the slightest bit of jealousy, but she doubts even he knows that he is feeling the latter of the two. "Look after me..."
She observes his face carefully and then speaks slowly, "No, I don't have to," she says, but then she talks faster and with determination, "but I want to."
The tears in his eyes are there for a fraction of a second, but she can tell that he never expected this. "Th-thank you lass..."
He's probably never and a friend, some part of her thinks as she curls up next to him.
Mungojerrie: When do I get in?!
HAT: Later... Why're you just standing there?! *holds back Barney*
Mungojerrie: *sighs and helps put Barney back in the black hole and closes it* Why can't Barney just stay in there?
HAT: Because he's stupid! (Honestly, I can't stand Barney)
Mungojerrie: *sighs* Anyway, would you do us a favor here at the junkyard and review? We get enough of HAT's complaining, ya know.
HAT: *pouts* You meanie!
Mungojerrie: *holds out candy*
HAT: *glares* You know I'm trying to cut back on my sugar intake!
Mungojerrie: Says the girl that has candy in den?
HAT: ... *walks out* Skimble! Get this tom!
Mungojerrie: *grins* Mission Make HAT Mad accomplished... Review! *walks off and shivers* Why do I feel like that's gonna come back to bite me later?