"Vail!" Pike ran through the junkyard, searching for his sister. He could sense that she was close, and he needed her desperately. He found her sitting on a boot, fiddling with the bottle of poison. "Vail, we need you!"
Vail glanced up at him. "What for? And who's 'we'?"
"Me, Misto, Cori and Tanto. Mom's not waking up, and the twins think if we combine our powers we can bring her back."
"You told them about me?!" Vail shot up to her feet, glaring in disbelief at Pike.
Pike rolled his eyes. "Are you going to help or not?"
Vail scowled at the ground. "What do we have to do?"
"Coricopat suggested we explore her mind," Pike said, starting off through the junkyard. "If we can find the reason she's unconscious, maybe we'll be able to reverse it."
Vail nodded, seeing the sense in the mystic's words, and followed after Pike. "Does Jenny have any input about her condition?"
"She says…" Pike paused, scrunching his nose. "She says it's called a coma, and that it's not very common for someone to wake up from one unharmed."
Vail's face lost all its color. She began to run faster. Let them think what they may, she thought, I'm going to get her out of this.
…
Coricopat and Tantomile hissed in unison as Vail entered the den, causing severe alarm among Mistoffelees, Jennyanydots, and Jellylorum. Pike entered right behind her, his paws raised to ward off any attack.
"Cool it, you two," he said calmly.
"She has Macavity's magic." Tantomile said quietly.
"So?" Pike demanded. "So do I. If you two haven't figured that out by now, I don't think you can be considered mystics."
Coricopat gazed at Pike, but the young tom didn't flinch or look away as most others would. "We suspected…"
"A connection…"
"Between you and Macavity," the twins finished in unison.
"He's my father, so what?" Pike growled. "Does that make me any different?"
"Guys, I think we should—" Misto started.
"Shut it," Vail said, glaring at the tuxedo tom. "It's your fault she's like this."
The cats in the den fell silent, their gazes shifting between Vail and Mistoffelees.
"What do you mean?" Pike asked.
"How would you know that?" Misto narrowed his eyes at the young queen.
"Something I've kept to myself until now," Vail said nonchalantly. "I can read minds. You offered to remove a mental block from her mind, and now she's stuck like this until she comes to terms with her memories. So all we can do is wait."
"Wait for what?" Jenny watched Kroova on the bed.
"For her to accept her past life as it is." Vail glanced at her mother, keeping her face straight.
"What exactly do you mean by 'her past life'?" Pike asked, frowning at his sister. Vail glanced at him, worry beginning to shine in her eyes.
"That's something I really wish I didn't know."
=^..^=
"Taru?"
The large black queen stirred and squinted at the figure in the entrance of the den. "What is it, baby brother?"
Talon frowned. "Kroova's not doing so good."
Taru was immediately by his side, an arm around his shoulder. "Why don't ye tell me about it, eh? It'll feel better to be talkin'."
"She's sick, I can tell," Talon gazed at his paws blankly. "Jenny won't tell me what's wrong with her exactly, but I know from their faces that it isn't good. I just wish there was more that I could do," He dropped his head, covering his eyes with his paws. Taru rubbed his back, slightly uneasy at the sight of her brother so upset. Kroova had been the best thing to happen to him, and now she was slipping away…
"Is there anythin' ye can think of to help keep yer mind off things?" Taru asked. Talon shook his head, and Taru sighed. "Well, how about this; you teach all them kits how to fight tomorrow, that way we'll have some real competition in Rascal's tournament."
Talon considered this, then numbly nodded his head. It would take all his focus to get the junkyard kits to be fighting fit.
=^..^=
I thought about everything. All seventeen years' worth of memories that had previously been blocked in my brain. I looked over them, shifted through them, and each time they flowed through my mind it seemed more like I was merely watching a movie of someone else's life. Like a movie that was supposed to have a sequel, but the makers just got lazy. Wasn't Cassie supposed to find a Wal-mart in the morning? And did she just leave Mike for good, or did they end up having a life together? At first I was frantic with the desire to know what happened next, but soon I found it drifted away. I pushed all the foreign memories out of my head, turning to what I knew.
So what if I couldn't remember my kittenhood? I had plenty of fillers. Pike and Vail, for instance. I didn't really know them very well, but that would soon be remedied. I would talk with Talon as soon as possible about staying with them; it would be a hard decision to make… would they want to come back to Ireland, or would Talon be willing to stay with the Jellicles? Also, a new thought was forming in the back of my mind… the familiar sensations rippling through my body, sending excited shivers down my spine. I looked forward to the future, and what it would hold. There was just one problem: I couldn't move.
[A/N] Ok, so this one is short, but I couldn't continue without giving stuff away. Enjoy, children!