I'M BACK! (For those of you who didn't know.) I missed you guys while I was in England! I don't want to make this author's note 5000 words long, so I will simply say this about my trip: I got to see two more musicals than expected! I saw the Lion King, Jersey Boys, and Phantom of the Opera at the West End! All were excellent, but PotO nearly made me cry… THREE TIMES. In case you were wondering, those times were the beginning and end of the first act, as well as the end of the second act. Erik's reprise of Masquerade was so sad… also, watching Phantom made me want to write a Phantom/Cats crossover- sorta- fic, with Cori as the Phantom, Jemmie as Christine, and Pounce as Raoul… Anyways! Please tell me if there's anything wrong with Etcie's POV… I've never written her before, or anyone bubbly! And I'm changing my separating-sections thingy to ~GW~. Ahem. On with the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own CATS. It belongs to TSE and ALW. (Don't you just love acronyms?)
~GW~
Etcetera's POV
I blinked and mumbled as my surroundings slowly came into focus.
"Where… where am I?" I murmured.
"Guys! She's awake!" a voice cried. A golden-striped tabby- Electra, I realized- knelt next to the bed I was lying on, and asked me how I felt.
"Erm… hungry, thirsty, and incredibly confused," I replied, frowning. "Do you realize that a Pollicle's poking its head through the door?" She glanced over to the entrance of the den, where a large, black pit bull was blocking the entryway.
"Yeah, I'll explain that later. Right now, you just need to know that you're in Liverpool, that you're safe, and that you fainted from malnutrition, which is why you feel so hungry. At least, that's what Jenny and Jelly tell me."
"Mum's here?" I whispered hoarsely. Electra nodded.
"Coricopat, move out of the way! I need to see Cetty!" I heard a voice order from outside. I blinked again as the Pollicle moved.
"But… Coricopat's dead, isn't he?"
"Well… not exactly." Jemima walked through the doorway. "He's alive, and-" The craziest idea came into my head in the middle of the sentence, and I interrupted her.
"Don't tell me that when you and Millie escaped, you found Misto and got him to bring Cori back to life, and he somehow was brought back as a Pollicle in the process?" She looked at Electra.
"Actually, yeah, that's pretty much what happened."
"Nice to see you again, Cetty," the Jellicle-turned-Pollicle greeted. "By the way, Jems, Jenny's coming this way. She wants to know why you aren't in bed yet." Jemima scowled, and sat on the cot next to me.
"I'm supposed to be on bed-rest," she explained, sighing. "It's so boring, especially when I could be doing something to help prepare for the war!"
"There's a war?"
"There's going to be," a gloomy- almost unfamiliar- voice replied. How in the world did Misto manage to sound so depressed?
"I mean, there's no way around it," the tuxedo tom added flatly. "We attack Macavity, he attacks us, or we attack each other at the same time… it's inevitable." He paused to shudder. "I hate violence. I hate it."
"Everyone does, Mistoffelees," Jenny stated, walking into the room. "Except Macavity, but we're not like him. I'm glad to see that you are awake, Etcetera," the medical queen greeted. My mum- Jellylorum- bounded in after her with more energy than I'd ever seen before (which is really saying something… you should see me on a sugar rush…) and hugged me tightly.
"Sweetheart, you're okay," she whispered. "I was so worried…"
"It's okay, Mum!" I responded cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. "I'm all better now! Tell me what's happened since I've been unconscious." They took turns explaining the current events to me. I interrupted when Corico started talking about Macavity's plans to attack Piccadilly Circus.
"Wait a second…" I commanded. "If Macavity knew that you were in his mind, he'd change his plans, right?" Everyone nodded. "And, since he's basically trying to launch an attack on Buckingham Palace-"
"How do you know?" Quaxo, who had joined us, cut in.
"Well, he wants to take over the humans, and the queen is obviously in his way! Piccadilly Circus isn't that far from Buckingham Palace- but do you know what is even closer?" I questioned. Electra understood the soonest.
"He's going to attack from Green Park. And he'll want to attack as soon as possible- he won't want to lose the element of surprise," Leccy realized. "I think he'll attack tomorrow."
"We better organize an army more quickly than we thought, then," Misto muttered. "We won't be able to stop him from taking Green Park- maybe all of London- but I can arrange for Her Majesty to be at Windsor for the next few days, without letting Macavity know… That way, I can buy us some more time. We'd have to increase defenses around Windsor first, and then work at Liverpool…" He continued to mutter as he went to set whatever plans he had in motion.
"What about me?" I asked excitedly. "What can I do?"
"You can look after Jemima," Jenny told me sternly. "Your mother and I will be needed to heal wounded soldiers." I tried not to pout. I had been working so hard at my nurse training, but I was assigned to looking after pregnant queens? I mean, Jemima was my friend and all, but it'd still be kinda boring…
"It's okay, Cetty," Jemmie laughed. "We'll think of something to do." I grinned.
"Like paint this den so that it looks like an 80's disco nightclub?"
"Something like that, yeah!" I giggled excitedly.
"Jeeze, Cetty, five minutes after waking up and you already sound like you've drunk five liters of coffee!" Coricopat joked. For a moment, it was just like it had been before Macavity took over- three friends, just laughing together and planning some crazy scheme. Except that one of those friends was pregnant, one was a Pollicle, and one had been unconscious for Bast-knows-how-long. Oh, and everyone was preparing for war. Other than that, it was exactly the same!
~GW~
"CETTY!" I heard a shriek come from inside the maternity ward as I was coming back from hunting.
"Cetty! Kittens are coming!" Coricopat yelled as he bounded past me to search for Jenny and my mum.
"MOM! JENNY!" I screamed loudly. All those years of screaming at Tugger had to be useful for something, right?
I rushed inside, despite having no experience in these types of things besides watching countless human TV shows. What had they always told the soon-to-be mother?
"Breathe, Jemmie, breathe!" I commanded sternly. As that was the only thing I could think of, I kept on telling her to breathe until the professionals arrived.
"Etcetera, you can go now," Jenny told me softly as she began attending to my friend. "Go try and calm Coricopat." I nodded, and rushed out to where a small crowd- Tantomile, Misto, Quaxo, Electra, and, of course, Coricopat- were gathering.
"Jenny and Jelly have her now," I announced. Everyone exhaled gratefully. Coricopat continued to pace nervously.
"Don't worry," I comforted. "She'll be fine."
That, of course, was proved wrong an hour later.
"Coricopat?" Mum whispered, dipping her head through the door. She had his attention immediately.
"I… I'm sorry… but… she's dying."
He fainted.
~GW~
Coricopat's POV
I know that it was somewhat cruel, disconnecting my soul from my body without any warning to the others, but I didn't have any time to waste. I would not let Jemima die, and there was only one way I could think of to save her. So I shot my soul downwards, towards the Kingdom of the Dead.
I joined an endless sea of other spirits, each one travelling towards death.
"Jemima," I tried to scream, but my voice was muffled. "Jemima!" Finally, I saw six little blobs of light, one shining more brightly than the others- Jemima and the kits. I drifted towards them, praying that I would get there before it was too late.
"Cori… go back," my mate whispered. "You shouldn't be here."
"I'm not living without you," I said firmly, pushing her back towards the Mortal World with my back paws. With my front paws, I grabbed two of the kittens, and I grabbed another with my tail, shoving them all back into Life. Once they were safe, I dove downwards again. Two of the kits were still in between Life and Death, and I wouldn't let them go until they were safe.
"Come, little ones," I coaxed, all the while feeling Death beg me to join it.
"Go away," I growled. "Leave me and my family alone. I control this kingdom, and I do not want my family to become a part of it yet." Once I had grabbed my kittens, I turned around and made my way towards Life.
~GW~
When I woke up, the first thing that I noticed was that I was a Jellicle again. I was lying on a cot in the medical den. Jemima was next to me, breathing softly in sleep, and I was surrounded by concerned faces.
"Hi guys," I croaked, then coughed. I was thirsty. Really thirsty. "Can I get some- oof!" My sister had latched on to me tightly, refusing to let go.
"It's okay, Tanto, we're alright… really, I promise." She sniffled, nodding.
"I thought I had lost you forever," she mumbled.
"Don't worry, sis," I comforted. "I'm not going away again for a long time. Neither is Jemima, or…" I looked around frantically. "Where are the kittens?" Jenny brought them out- five little bundles of fluff- in a wicker basket.
"I just finished cleaning them off," she told me. "Do you need anything?"
"A glass of water would be nice," I replied, only half-aware that I was actually saying anything. I knelt down next to my kits- three toms, two queens. At some point, Jemima came and shakily sat next to me.
"Would you like to begin the Naming now?" she questioned quietly.
"Yeah… I do suppose that would be a good idea, wouldn't it?" Jemmie smiled, and took my hand.
The Naming was a sacred Jellicle tradition. Each cat was born with its Second and Third Names. The Second Name was discovered by the parents shortly after the kit was born, but the Third Name was left in mystery, for the kitten itself to find out.
I took a breath, and placed both of our paws on the first kit- a rusty-colored tom's- forehead.
"Jeracat," we said as one, Bast having placed the kit's name in our minds. "The Son." Next was another tom, who greatly resembled Munkustrap.
"Orin- the Pine." After that was a golden-black queen, almost identical to Jemima's mother, Demeter.
"Niamh- the Bright." Twins, with almost exactly the same coloring as me- except for the fact that their fur was lighter, with more reddish-brown highlights- were up next.
"Tadgh- the Poet," we murmured softly, touching the head of the silver-striped tom.
"Selene- the Moon," was the name of his sister. We both shook our heads slightly, coming out of whatever trance we had been in. I could feel a grin spreading across my face as I fingered Selene's tiny paws.
I was a daddy!
~GW~
Tumblebrutus's POV
I sighed as I walked my evening rounds. There wasn't really any point- we were almost constantly watched by guards, so it felt like we were canaries trapped in a cage.
"I wish I may, I wish I might, escape from this dank place tonight," I muttered, gazing at the one star I could see in the sky. All of a sudden, a scrap of paper caught my eye.
GET EVERYONE OUT. NOW!
~MISTO
I suppressed a yelp. It was finally time for the Resistance to go to work! At last, all those careful months of planning and preparation would be set into action.
Don't worry, Coricopat; you won't have died for nothing…
~GW~
"Shh!" Mungojerrie hushed as everyone crept through the prison cells of Macavity's lair. We had somehow managed to knock out the cats guarding the prison, and it was a miracle that our party of fourteen Jellicles hadn't been discovered yet. We were going to rescue Munkustrap, then escape.
"This way," Mungo ushered, directing us through the labyrinth of passageways. "'Ere's Munk's cell." His sister, Rumpleteazer, quickly pulled out a lock-picking kit from one of her boots and got to work. In a few minutes, the door swung open to reveal a starved-looking Protector.
"Hm…?" he murmured sleepily.
"C'mon, Munk, we're getting you out of here," I whispered, helping Alonzo to lift him up. Our tribe slinked through the corridors and into the moonlight. The silver tabby Protector winced- he hadn't been outside for months.
With much struggling, we managed to get everyone out of the Fire Zone safely and onto a train headed to Liverpool. It was the only train running at midnight.
"Don't worry, Cetty," I whispered to the star I had noticed earlier. "I'll find you somehow."
~GW~
Yay! Kittens! And the Jellicles escaped from Macavity! But this story isn't quite over yet- there's still a few more chapters to go! Please vote in the poll on my profile, if you haven't already, because I need to know what to do after this (while I work out the plot for the sequel.) Here's a quick guide to Cori and Jemmie's kittens, in case it wasn't clear enough in the chapter:
Jeracat- a rusty-furred tom. Name is pronounced the same way it's spelt- like Jer (short for Jerrie, short for Mungojerrie) a (the article) and cat (this one should be fairly obvious.) I couldn't find any names that I liked for him online, so I just kinda smushed together Jemima and Coricopat to get Jemapat, then changed a few consonants…
Orin- a silver tabby tom. Looks like Munkustrap. Name is pronounced like it's spelled: o (like in AUra) and rin (like in RINse.) It means "pale green" in Irish, and "pine tree" in Hebrew… originally, I thought it meant Protector… boy, was I wrong!
Niamh- Pronounced "neev." I thought it meant "the north wind," but it turned out to mean "brightness"… who would'a thunk? She looks like Demeter.
Tadgh- Pronounced like the TIG in TIGER. Means "poet."Tadgh looks like Cori, but lighter and with more red-brown (from Jemima's side.)
Selene- Pronounced "sel-een." Selene was the Greek goddess of the moon, before Artemis came along and replaced her. She looks exactly like Tadgh, but female.
So… yep! Oh, and if you have ANY constructive criticism at ALL, please do tell me! I want to improve as I writer, because I'd like to be an author someday, so this is kinda like practice for me.
More Reviews/Constructive Criticism= Happier Me= Faster Update= Happier You= More Reviews/Concrit!