A/N: And I'm back. Finally.

Disclaimer: I don't own CATS.

Here we go!

"Is that any way to speak to your father?"

Father? Victoria thought, horrified. It can't be true...it simply can't be! She forced herself to look into Mistoffelees's deep black eyes.

"I'm sorry, Victoria," he whispered, his voice barely audible.

"You didn't already know?" Macavity chuckled. "This is too good! The Magical, Cowardly Mister Mistoffelees actually has the nerve to lie to a whole tribe of Jellicles...and then fall in love with one! When will you ever learn, Misto?"

"Let us go," Mistoffelees ordered again, his voice cold and hard as ice.

"Oh, I might," said Macavity, "and I might not. That's up to you, my son. I'll tell you what--I'll make a deal with you. If you can beat me in a magic duel, dear boy, I'll let you and your little girlfriend go free. If not, you'll just remain variables in my little experiment."

"What experiment?" Victoria found herself asking.

"If you must know, little queen, I plan to use you as more of a prop," said Macavity. "You see, if and when Mistoffelees loses--or if he refuses to fight me, I will probably just kill you myself, thus breaking his little heart." He made a phony sad face. "And we all know what happens to cats whose hearts get broken. Bet that makes you feel really confident, huh, Misto?"

Victoria gulped.

Cornelia gazed fearfully at Old Deuteronomy. Right now, he was trying to figure out how to get Mistoffelees and Victoria back.

She knew things had gone really wrong when Coricopat and Tantomile came up to speak directly to Old Deuteronomy. However, she had never expected anything like this.

Pandemonium was about now. Jemima, the dear little dove, was all for going to get them back. Pounce, of course, agreed. But Asparagus Jr., Jellylorum, and Jennyanydots, despite their caring natures, said that they couldn't risk more Jellicles being taken.

Munkustrap went up to Old Deuteronomy. "Father," he said, "if I might make a suggestion, could we assemble a search party?"

"Mistoffelees and Victoria are both very dear to me," said Deut. "I think that is a wonderful idea. But whom shall we send?"

"I'll go," said Grizabella, standing up. "Victoria's my daughter as well as yours, Deuteronomy, and we can't risk you."

Cornelia grabbed Grizabella's hand and squeezed it.

"I'll go too," said Jemima. "Victoria's my best friend."

Pouncival put a hand on her shoulder. "I go if she goes," he said.

"Then I'll go too," Demeter said, coming up behind her only daughter.

"As will I," said Munkustrap.

"We'll go too," said Bombalurina as she and the Rum Tum Tugger stepped forward.

"Me too," Cornelia said confidently. "Misto and Tori are some of my very best friends."

"All right," Deut agreed. "Everyone else: Remain calm. We will get Victoria and Mistoffelees back home safely."

Macavity opened the cage door and dragged Mistoffelees out. He quickly closed it back, before Victoria could follow.

Mistoffelees stood on the opposite side of the room from Macavity. As usual, his manner was vague and aloof. "Any time, Macavity," he said.

Macavity suddenly lashed out with a force that Victoria couldn't see, but apparently it hit Mistoffelees in the gut. Hard.

"NO!" Victoria screamed, throwing herself against the iron bars. Her arms stung, like they'd been exposed to gusts of wind for long periods of time. She looked at the bars to see that they were sharp with iron spikes and that the spikes were stained with blood. She looked down at her badly cut up arms and realized that it was her blood.

Mistoffelees fought back with everything he had. Lightning, force fields, everything. Despite this, Victoria was still extremely worried for him.

When Mistoffelees was knocked down for the third time, Victoria felt as though she just couldn't take it anymore. She slammed against the cage again. She wanted to be out so badly.

This time, her head was hurting. She raised her hand to feel of it, and when she inspected it, it was stained with red. She was becoming dizzy with the stench of the blood.

As she watched father and son in single combat, she realized that if it was for Mistoffelees, she would gladly surrender her soul. So she threw herself against the bars once more.

It broke Misto's heart to see Victoria in pain for him. When he saw her bleeding head and arms, he felt weak and sank to his hands and knees. I can't take it anymore, he thought. Not if it costs Victoria her life.

"Misto," he heard Macavity say tauntingly. Wearily, Mistoffelees lifted his head to see that Macavity was holding Victoria tightly against him. Macavity ran one claw along Victoria's belly and a red line appeared there. Victoria hissed in a breath. "Misto," said Macavity, "don't you remember what I said I would do to your little white queen if you didn't fight me?"

Mistoffelees didn't do anything physically. Instead, he focused on his "special skill"--telepathy.

When Mistoffelees didn't move, Macavity said, "If that's how you want it." He started to drag Victoria to a back room. Once, in his kittenhood, Mistoffelees had wandered into that room and found it filled with instruments designed for killing. That was when he had decided to run away.

Enraged, Mistoffelees rose to his feet. He hated to have to do this, even to someone as evil as Macavity. Concentrating on the mind and mind only, he literally forced Macavity to let Victoria go.

With much resistance, Macavity's arms opened and Victoria fell to the ground. She crawled to a corner, her blue eyes wide with fear.

Mistoffelees could tell that Victoria did not fear Macavity then. He knew that for the first time in her life, she feared him. She feared Mistoffelees.

"I'm more than just telepathic," he told her in his thoughts. "I'm sorry, Victoria.

At the moment that Macavity was about to strike back, Mistoffelees heard a voice say, "You know, Macavity, with all your previous plans to kill, it seems like you've had a very unproductive day." It was Munk!

Misto turned to see Munkustrap, Demeter, Pouncival, Jemima, Rum Tum, Bombalurina, Cornelia, and Grizabella enter the scene. Munkustrap nodded his head, letting Mistoffelees know that it was alright to go down to Victoria.

Mistoffelees crawled over to the snow white queen. "Victoria," he said quietly. He knew that Victoria was trying not to let him see that she was slowly inching farther back into the corner. "Victoria," Mistoffelees tried again. "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to see me do that. I didn't mean to frighten you. Please know that I wouldn't be able to stand hurting you, even if it was an accident. I...I love you too much."

Smiling a little, Victoria took his hand. "I love you, too," she whispered. Mistoffelees kissed her hand gingerly.

Cornelia couldn't pay attention to everything that was going on, naturally, so she divided it up evenly. From what she could tell, Munkustrap, Pouncival, and the Tugger were all fighting Macavity. It also seemed like Misto had won Victoria over. Cornelia mentally congratulated him.

Jemima tugged on Cornelia's arm and practically dragged her to where Demeter, Bombalurina, and Grizabella were crouched close to Mistoffelees and Victoria. The group of cats huddled together, watching the fight.

Cornelia was rather impressed with her father. She hadn't known that he could fight so well. It was already apparent to her that Munkustrap was a good fighter. So, the only one she really worried about was Pounce. However, he held his own and, eventually, the toms had Macavity cornered.

Macavity shot Mistoffelees a look that made him wince and disappeared.

And there we have it. Just so you know, I've been hinting at the telepathy thing throughout the whole story.

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