Disclaimer: Do you really think if I owned Cats I would be writing fanfiction?
I'm getting all these favorites and alerts, for the story and for me as an author… THAT'S AWESOME!
Musicgal3: New chapter *squee*. I like the word 'intriguing' too… mind if I steal it? *hands a Super Happy Candy Cookie*
And thanks to everyone who put this story on alert or favorite, it makes me happy.
Dell was numb.
That's the only word he could possibly describe himself as. These people… he should be scared and angry. They tried to get too close too fast. He should be scared, hissing, running…
But he wasn't.
He didn't really like his mother too much. When he and Sil were very young Mother was kind, and loving, and perfect. Now he knows that nothing perfect ever stays. Something happened to her and… she just wasn't the same.
Still, her death hurt him. But it was nothing near the pure anguish he felt when Shock was killed.
Shock was born after Mother's… accident. Even her name shows that Mother wasn't quite the same. Shock was small, and frail, and her paw was twisted, but Sil and he loved her. She was their little beacon of light. She was perfect.
But perfect things never last.
He knew he should feel some fear for these perfect cats.
But he didn't, and he couldn't figure out why. He also couldn't figure out why he wasn't bawling his eyes out, mourning the lost family. Little did he know anguish was going to hit him like a freight train.
The kitten slowly met as they did every morning, yawning and grumbling about their pushy parents, even though most of them woke themselves up.
"Good morning Ellie." Jemima yawned to the dark furred kitten approaching, still trying to rub sleep out of her eyes. Pouncival and Tumblebrutus were already sitting at the tire, waiting for the rest of the kittens. Pouncival turned to the approaching queen kits in a bored fashion before looking up quickly, suddenly awake.
"Hey, who's that?" He asked. Tumble turned his head to where Pounce was looking.
"That's Jemima, and that's Electra. What about it Pounce?" He rolled his eyes.
"Not them, him!" He said, pointing behind the two queens to an unfamiliar tom just older than them, deep in thought atop the car. He didn't seem too happy, but was rather intriguing (1).
"I dunno, Pounce…" Tumble said, blinking. Just as Jemima and Electra approached, Etcetera came bouncing up.
"Hi! What's going on?" She asked quickly.
"We wanna know who that guy is." Pounce said, as the girls looking over and saw the brown furred tom.
"Let's go find out!" Cettie half shouted, bouncing over to him.
"Hi! I'm Etcetera, who are you?" She asked, looking up at him. He looked down at her and blinked quickly.
"I'm Dell." Cettie smiled.
"Hi Dell! What are you doing in the Junkyard? Are you a Jellicle? Are you a stray?" She asked quickly. He stared for a moment.
"You should learn not to ask so many questions. You might not get the answer you want." He said cryptically. Cettie tilted her head, confused.
"You remind me of my sister." He said finally, standing and walking towards Jenny's den. Cettie frowned. He has a sister? She walked back over to her friends, in thought, ready to tell them what she had learned.
Coricopat and Tantomile had left not long after their awakening, and were now sitting in Munkustrap's den, trying to explain to him what was going on.
"Tantomile had a vision, Munkustrap. It involves these two new cats." Coricopat said, and Munkustrap leaned towards them slightly.
"Do you know what it was about?" he said. Tantomile nodded. In a slow, whispered voice, she sang out her prophecy.
"On Summer night a shining star
Will lose themselves and all they are,
On night of Fall and all around
A fallen flower shall be found,
On Winter night there will be lies,
A kit is born, an elder dies.
On one Spring night in cooling rain
The cycle shall begin again."
Munkustrap sat in silence. It could take a while to decipher.
"We have a feeling the queen is the 'fallen flower'. It is fall after all, and we found her during the night. But of course, sometimes prophecies refuse to be straightforward." Tantomile said, looking to her brother, who nodded slightly.
"That may be. For now, we have to find Old Deuteronomy and ask for his advice. Does your vision say anything about them staying here?" Munkustrap asked, standing near the door to his den. Coricopat and his sister stood up and walked out the door, leaving only one piece of advice behind them.
"It doesn't matter whether they stay or go – we will still be closely tied to their destinies."
A/N: I rather like how I wrote my prophecy. I sort of stole the pattern of it from 'The Marvelous Mad Madam Mim' and her story 'The Strange One' (a great story!) So.. sorry! The words are my own though!
See? Said I'd use intriguing, musicgal. :p