Zela waited a few seconds, praying that a reaction would come through the Persian queen. Suddenly, Griddlebone let out a gasping breath, almost immediately sitting up. Zela let out a sigh of relief, touching her friend's shoulder. "Griddlebone, let's get you out of here…"

~^..^~

Munkustrap watched the Junkyard less curiously than usual. His whole effort was drained a little of being the Protector. His job had finally gotten him into a daze, realizing that he just lost two out of the three Jellicles he had sent to snoop around the Warehouse. He was, of course, feeling more guilty than usual for it, but what he couldn't believe with everything coming at him at once was the fact that Zelaphelia had turned from her tribe. When the words came out of Rumpleteazer's mouth, he couldn't believe it. No one could. Not Demeter, Victoria, Mistoffelees, or Electra. Frankly, the whole tribe could not believe Teazer.

Zela was a part of their family. There was absolutely no way that she could have left, but Teazer kept insisting that she saw it with her own eyes. She claimed to have been told that her mate was killed, and also confessed an astounding story about everything she saw and heard from her encounter at the Warehouse. Munkustrap couldn't imagine it… Zelaphelia, betraying them? Again? It was unbelievable, but if the story was true… what was he going to do now? Go back and try to find her? Bring her back? He shook his head. It wouldn't be possible.

Demeter wasn't taking the news to well. She came into their den after coming back from working with Jellylorum. Munk had told her all he had heard, but she wouldn't listen to any of it. "You're lying…" was what she said to him. "Stop lying to me, Munk. You promised me she'd be back!" He had tried to tell her was told to him. The only truth he could actually give. He tried comforting her, trying to make her see what he was saying wasn't all that bad, but all she did was slap him in the face. She slapped him. "How could you…?" She had whispered, and that was when he left the den and Demeter locked herself in side. Munkustrap considered himself as 'banned' from his own den, but he thought it would be best to let his mate cool down before trying to speak to her again.

The silver tabby sighed, staring down at the ground. He sat on the TSE 1 silently, watching the wind circle around the dust. Alonzo suddenly appeared out of nowhere next to him. "You look like shit, Munk…" he said bluntly.

Munkustrap glanced at his friend, and slightly smirked. "Yeah. But it's not like you look much better…"

He chuckled to himself. "I know…"

"How's Cass and your daughter?" the silver tabby asked casually.

Alonzo shrugged. "Alright I guess… Cass didn't take the news about Zela well…"

"Really? What'd she say?"

"Well… she had to explain it in front of Vita that one of the closest cats in her young life wasn't coming back… she learned how to speak now… simple words, of course. 'ma-ma', 'da-da'," he chuckled quietly. "You want to know what she said today? She said 'Ze-wa'. Strangest thing, she's interacted with Zela only a few times, and has already gotten familiar with her…"

"Yeah well…" Munkustrap shifted around uncomfortably."I don't know what to do about it now… Rumpleteazer is convinced that she's turned…"

"Do you think she is? Why would she do something like that, to us…? I was suspicious of her once, but I never thought that…"

"Macavity's a manipulator. If he found the right words, he could have gotten her to do anything… It's not a wonder he got to her…"

Alonzo nodded, though he looked a little uncomfortable about the subject. He looked up at Munk. "Could it be possible that it's not true? Maybe she's there now, being held against her will?"

The silver tabby stared at his friend and sighed. "I sincerely hope that's true, Lonz, but… I have no proof to give to the elders, and most of them are leaning towards what Rumpleteazer told them before she went all… you know… catatonic. The whole tribe is torn up. No one's sure what side to take, but it's like the tribe's divided."

"Well you know what they say, 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' …" Alonzo's nose wrinkled as he thought over his statement; "Or at least I think that's what they say…didn't some famous president give that speech?"

Munkustrap rolled his eyes and shrugged as he looked out into the Junkyard again. "I don't know. I'm not American…"

Alonzo quietly chuckled as he followed his friend's gaze. "But still, it's true."

"Well thanks for being philosophical for me…" Munkustrap said with a grin, probably the only grin he had gotten on his face for a while.

Alonzo laughed softly, "No problem… So how's Demeter taken all this?"

Munkustrap suddenly lost his grin as he looked down at his paws, his ears drooped. "She's not talking to me…" he said in a depressed tone, "In fact… she's cut herself off from everyone, even Bomba…"

"Really?" the patched tom looked as though he regretted the question. "That doesn't sound like her…"

"Yeah… she's really cut up about the whole thing… She really hates me for this…"

"I'm sure she's just upset, Munk." Alonzo told him. A look of concern lined the edges of the patched tom's eyes.

"I wish that were the case, I have no idea what's wrong with her, Lonz… She's never just didn't want to work out problems. I must have really hurt her…"

"I'm sure it's not as bad as all that." Alonzo told him, patting him on the back comfortingly.

Munkustrap sighed as he jumped off the TSE 1. "If only, Lonz…" he said, walking off into the shadows of the Junkyard, probably off to do more patrolling. Alonzo watched him as the sky grew dark. It didn't feel like things were turning in any better way, but he could still hope, if not for the tribe, then at least for his family…

~^..^~

Behind the locked door of a dark den, Demeter was lying on a couch cushion in an exhausted state of body and mind. She'd felt like she had been thinking over everything for years. Yet, she knew that it had only been a few days since she lost her daughter. Had it really been that short of time? Demeter had theorized that time began slowing down after something terrible happened. And after what Munkustrap had told her, she felt things were beyond terror. Perhaps it was just her, thinking these horrible things, having strange, dark things overwhelm her mind.

She began contemplating why tragedies happened. Why innocence had to suffer, and the evil were succeeding. Why Macavity enjoyed torturing her and her family. Why he took someone she cared about. Was it revenge for everything that happened between them? Was it to hurt her and Munkustrap even more than he already had? Or maybe he actually was planning to do something with her. But the question of how haunted her mind. How did he seduce Zela into his dark ways? How did he convince her to join him? They were all just empty, unanswerable questions now. Nothing could be answered anymore…

Someone suddenly knocked on her door. The gold queen glanced at the entrance, but didn't really want to answer. No one gave her answers, so why should she give any? They knocked again, harder, and began calling her. She recognized the voice as low and masculine. She thought it might have been Munkustrap, and she was refusing to let him come in at all.

"Deme, come on! It's Tugger! Will you let me in?"

Demeter raised an eyebrow, but quickly shook her head. "Go away, Tugger!" she shrieked, letting out a cough into her paw unintentionally.

"Please? I… I just want to talk to you… I think you're the only one who'd really get what I'm saying…"

The gold queen paused as she stood up, wobbling a bit before sighing quietly. "Regarding what?" she asked hoarsely, rubbing her eyes.

"…Zela." He mumbled.

Demeter's hard expression softened as she sighed to think about it. She knew about what Tugger felt for her daughter. It was quite obvious, actually, but she never said anything to her daughter, hoping it was just a small fling that would pass in time. The gold queen glared. "Just go away… please…"

"But-"

"I SAID LEAVE, TUGGER!" she growled more furiously. Demeter didn't want to speak to anyone, especially him, or Munk, or her sister. All of them were just bitter reminders of the dreadful days that were ahead.

The gold queen didn't get a response, and assumed he had walked away. Demeter looked up at nothing before hacking again. She staggered on her feet before making her way to roll of clean toilet paper. The gold queen unraveled some while coughing up on her arm. She tore off the end and began hacking into the tissue. After a few seconds, she looked down at her paws, seeing the white paper spotted with red. She sighed, wiping some blood off the corner of her mouth, and placed the paper with the pile of red and white rags she had made in the corner of her den…

~^..^~

Tugger frowned as Demeter shouted inside of her den. His ears drooped as he slowly walked off. The Maine Coon felt as though she could have been the only one who would understand what it felt like to lose someone to betrayal. It hurt. It hurt real bad. He couldn't even fathom what was going on, whether it was Zela leaving or this strange disease spreading through the Junkyard. Three others had just gotten infected. Not just Plato and Etcetera were sick, but now Jenny, Pouncival, and Asparagus were all having bizarre reactions. It was frightening in a way, especially to the Curious Cat. He wasn't even sure what was going on anymore. All he knew was that volunteers in Jelly's den had to be extremely careful.

For this reason, Tugger was staying as far away from the place as possible. He didn't want to catch anything. And then he heard from Teazer that Zela had joined with Macavity, which only added to the trauma being carried by the tribe. Some began wondering if they could trust her at all now, others thought it was a lie. The tribes' perspective was too divided to do anything! Not even the Rum Tum Tugger was sure of what to think… He knew that he didn't want to believe it, because it was most likely his fault. After all the rotten stuff he had said to her… probably hurting her feelings and making her feel worse about herself. It was reasonable… but Tugger still wished he didn't have to blame himself…

Quite suddenly, the Maine Coon glanced at Bomba, lounging around by the wooden platform that was sitting on the ground and leveled up at an angle. He remembered always hanging around there at the Jellicle ball about the time of Skimble's song. He looked up at her as his ears perked minimally. "What are you doing?" he asked her dully.

She grinned. "I'm seeing Tugger, but I'm hearing old Gus."

Tugger rolled his eyes and snorted. "Ha. The question still stands."

"Just lounging about…" she said with a slight smirk, "Why?"

"Just wondering…" he sighed as he looked back down at nothing. "You just seem so calm, I suppose…"

"Should I not be, Tugger?" She asked, chuckling softly.

"Well… I figured you'd have just a tad bit more stress on you with everything that's going on… I mean, between a disease raging in the Junkyard and your sister being… herself."

The scarlet queen curiously raised an eyebrow. "Herself?" she repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, paranoid, anti-social, unfriendly… herself." He smirked at her, though the tease was less sprightly than he intended for it to be.

Bombalurina gave the Maine Coon an annoyed eye roll, but then shrugged and walked off the platform. "You know she wasn't like that a week ago. But after what Zela did…well… it's not surprising."

Tugger grimaced at her last statement. "Zela didn't do anything." He insisted.

Bomba chortled, "Oh, come on, Tugger! You think your little sweetheart is so innocent? Rumple said she saw her training with henchcats!"

"Yeah, Teazer said that after she went into a state of crazy!" he exclaimed. Tugger knew that this was a very heated debate, and Bomba was obviously on the opposite side of him.

Bomba rolled her eyes in slight annoyance, "Tugger, of course she's in shock! She lost her mate to Macavity, she was held hostage in the most feared place in London, and she's probably seen worse things than anyone one of us."

"Yeah, but she could have been mistaken." He pointed out, trying at least to convince her that Zela may still be on their side.

"I doubt it."

He growled lowly at his failed attempt. The Maine Coon turned away from Bombalurina and shook his head. "You don't know her like I do, Bomba. I might have been hopeless to think that I could change my personality for her, but at least I know that I'm taking a step forward by trusting a fellow Jellicle."

The scarlet queen sighed roughly and shook her head, "Well… you have your opinion, and I have mine."

"She's your niece!" he countered sharply.

She shook her head. "A niece of mine wouldn't have turned to Macavity."

"And if I'm right? If she didn't turn to Macavity?"

Bomba hesitantly looked down at the Curious Cat and let out a sigh, "Then she was always part of my family."

Tugger gave a slight grin towards her way and then padded away to find someone else to talk to. Who would listen to him though? Maybe Bomba had the confidence that even she could be wrong once and a while. If she could admit it, then could the rest of the tribe? The Maine Coon sighed, discarding the idea, because the tribe was too divided on opinion to really decide what to do anymore…

~^..^~

Macavity had allowed Zela to take Griddlebone back down to the cells, allowing her to be nursed back into a conscious state of mind. Right now, she was so confused and afraid. Nothing could compare to the paranoia that was around her. She didn't even look at Macavity or Zela. The Persian queen just had a blank stare in her eyes. Zela scowled when she heard her father chuckle darkly in some sense of amusement, but had quickly dismissed her from her lesson, reminding that nothing be said about what she saw that day, or else Jerrie and Teazer would meet a grim fate.

It was possibly the most horrifying thing she had seen in her life. All of those cats, despite being henchcats, were being ruthlessly tortured… they were helpless; turning to madness as the toxin reigned terror over their bodies, beginning to eat the dead, decaying felines inside the quarantined room. The gold-red female wasn't sure what to make of it, besides it being repulsive in too many ways. Zela sighed as she guided Griddlebone through the twisted maze that was Macavity's lair until they met Marcetheus at the door of the prison. He normally waited their after her work was through, just so he could check that she was in a cell right after. Sometimes he would watch her train, then again quite a few of the henchcats would.

She looked up at the tortoiseshell tom. He had a raised eyebrow. "Zela…Is… is that Griddlebone?"

Zela blinked at him with some confusion beginning to glimmer through her violet eyes. "You know her?"

He nodded quietly and took the confused Persian queen's shoulder, still looking quite surprised. "Yeah, I saw her around… but I thought she left a few months back…"

"Well, she didn't…" Zela muttered as they both guided Griddlebone down the stairs into the cells. The gold-red queen's eyes adjusted slowly as they got to the bottom of the dark hallway. She held up the dazed Griddlebone as Marceth opened the door of the cells, which had a dim glow of sunset blazing around the hall. As he walked in, the tortoiseshell tom helped put the white queen inside Zela's open prison. They gently laid her down together.

"Do you think she's okay?" he asked, clearly naïve in medical knowledge.

Zelaphelia shook her head, unsure of the answer. "I hope so… Is there anything we can give her? Water? Food? Medication?"

Marceth shook his head. "…No, I've never seen any of that stuff down here… I could take her back up…see if Celestica would see if she's okay…"

Zela blinked at him. She hadn't expected Celestica would still be at the Warehouse. She thought all of the queens she once knew were probably gone, besides Jeza and now Griddlebone. Perhaps there were more cats than she remembered from the past… "In the queens' den?" she asked quietly.

He nodded, oblivious to her curiosity. "Yeah…" he did his own self-examination of the Persian queen, but then quickly stopped. "She looks like she'll be fine, though… she just needs some rest…"

Zela grinned slightly, "What makes you official in the medical profession?"

"I'm just good with felines, I guess." He replied, giving her a sheepish smile.

The gold-red queen held back the urge to roll her eyes. She looked down at the now-unconscious Griddlebone, unsure of how she was supposed to tell her what happened. What did Macavity expect her to remember after something like that? There were too many questions to ask before the Persian queen could get better. For now, Zela just decided to let her sleep, but she did want to know what had happened, and how long she had been infected with that toxin. But at least the gold-red female knew that the liquid Macavity had given her was the antidote. There might still be a way out of this mess.

Marceth blinked at her and curiously touched her shoulder gently. "Do you know what happened?"

Zela stared down at his paw. She barely realized it was on her shoulder before shrugging him off. "… Let's just say she's been gone a while…" she murmured, looking down at her unconscious friend, "but she's back now… She just needs to realize it."

He nodded solemnly in response, though he seemed confused by the answer, it didn't surprise Zela that he didn't question her further. "She'll be okay…" he predicted positively.

With a sigh, Zelaphelia stood up and slid down the cement wall, trying to think of what to say to him. But was there anything to say to a henchcat who was helping her? Actually not treating her like a prisoner, when he was the one who was supposed to be watching her the most? Marceth stood up from Griddlebone's side, slowly walking over to her and sitting down beside her. "You're not okay, are you?" he asked, looking at nothing in particular, but still keeping his head turned in her general direction.

Zela faintly grinned at the henchcat's decency when attempting to converse with her. She could hardly expect him to be comforting, since he was loyal to her father, but there was no one else in the Warehouse that was conscious who could possibly do much better than he could at the moment. No doubt Jerrie and Teazer were having a problem just keeping sane. The gold-red female turned her head slightly towards him. "Don't expect much from me, Marcetheus. I don't open up to cats I don't know…"

"But we do know each other." He pointed out. Zela raised an eyebrow at him. The tortoiseshell tom gave her a sheepish grin in return, "Well… technically."

Zela rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but you wouldn't understand… You're my guard, not my therapist."

Marcetheus slightly grinned at her but then just shrugged. "True, but one thing I am for certain is a good listener."

"… Why would you listen to someone that you barely know? A Jellicle, nonetheless?"

"That sounds like something Jezabella would say to me, you know…" the henchcat told her, looking up at her face for the first time. Of course, his words weren't ones that Zelaphelia could appreciate, but the genuine look on his face told her he really did just want to talk. She sighed; disappointed that she couldn't trust him enough to do so. "Mm hmm…. Whatever you say…"

"You don't like talking about her?" he asked gently.

She grunted in frustration. "Of course not, but I don't like talking, period."

"I could just stare at you then?" he asked wryly, giving her a smirk. Zela couldn't help but roll her eyes from the backhanded comments he was throwing at her.

"Will you ever give up?" the gold-red queen grumbled.

"I'm probably just as stubborn as you are." The tortoiseshell told her, keeping his smirk.

The gold-red female hesitated when she thought about glaring at him. What she hated about Marceth the most was that it was hard to hate someone who seemed so altruistic. Instead of giving him a resentful, ornery look of some kind, she just sighed roughly and looked down at her paws. "Alright, so maybe I'm a little upset that I'm being held against my will, my tribe is slowly being exterminated by the most evil cat in London, and I'm going to have to join his side if I don't want to see more cats hurt…"

She glanced over at him to see if he was true to his word when he said he was a good listener. Marceth was looking at her, nodding quietly. Her lips curled back in a half-grin. "I only feel like I've got Griddlebone, now that my family seems to have forgotten about me…" She grimaced, wondering why she said that, when she could have phrased it much more benevolently.

The tortoiseshell henchcat gave a humored grunt. "Doesn't surprise me… After everything the tribe did to Macavity. I wouldn't put it past them to do something so heartless."

Zela's expression hardened at him. "I didn't mean it like that." She clarified harshly, but then quickly grew soft in her features. "I just miss them…"

Marceth nodded again, and very tentatively put his paw on her shoulder. "Listen, I know I can't do much for you. I know I'm only a henchcat to you, but… I can say that I understand what it's like to be away from family. It hurts when you can't see the only cats that you want to have pride in you. I want to prove to my parents more than anything that I can be a son to be proud of, but… considering they're hardly around…"

The gold-red queen raised an eyebrow, but was slightly interested in the subject. "Where are they, then? They're henchcats?"

He nodded solemnly. "Yeah… they go out on missions. They act more like contacts, really, traveling up by the borders and by the north side of England, learning information easily for Macavity. They left on a mission for him about six months back… I haven't heard from them since."

Zela felt as though she was seeing a softer, more vulnerable side to her guard. She slightly smiled and looked up at him. "You know, you henchcats aren't as bad as they say you are."

He grinned and shrugged. "Only the sadistic ones are bad. The boss puts them on outside missions. Probably what gives henchcats such a rotten image…"

"Well… thanks for giving me a better perspective, then…" she told him. THe gold-red queen wished she couldn't smile as much at him, but she found she couldn't help it. Zela quickly realized that she actually didn't hatea henchcat.

He grinned slightly at her. "Not a problem… I'm more than happy to clear my name."

"I didn't think you were awful when I first met you." The gold-red female admitted, "I mean… you didn't make any snide comments like the rest of them… Why were you so different, Marcetheus?" She truly couldn't stop herself from asking. Her own curiosity was pulling on her on why she could stand talking to someone who worked for her father.

Marceth tilted her head to the side, then quickly looked away from her and curled back his lips. "I… I didn't think I was…" he said honestly. "You think I'm different?"

Her lips curled back. "Well… apart from other henchcats…" Zela explained. She looked away from him, a bit anxious to be so near to him now, as she could feel his eyes on her. "I suppose it was just what I thought the first time-"

Zelaphelia didn't get to finish her sentence. It ended when she saw his paw forcefully turning her head towards him. Before she realized what he was doing, she felt his mouth crash onto hers. The gold-red queen paused in awe as he pulled her in, deepening his kiss. Zela kept her eyes wide open, staring at him in total shock. After a few short seconds, she got up the nerve to unsheathe her claws and smack him across the face with her free paw. Marceth fell back at the force of the blow, looking up at her sharply. The gold-red queen instantly stood up and looked like she was about to kill the tortoiseshell as her silhouette stood over him. Her one claw was pulled back, ready to strike at any attack. She glared angrily. "Don't you ever do that again!" she screeched at him, "I knew I could never trust you! You're a lunatic if you think you can kiss me and get away with it!"

Marcetheus gently sat up, rubbing his aching cheek as he looked straight up at her. "You mean just how Benthelo almost got away with raping you?" he countered. The gold-red female's hardened expression softened slightly as she lowered her paw. She was unsure of how to answer him. Marcetheus quickly stood and strode up next to her. Zela didn't move. "The only reason I kissed you," he began with a sharp tone, "was to show you that I really don't have to be too different from the henchcats. It's proof that I could have gotten away with anything, and that you judge on first impressions as much as a common cat would. Hell, you're no different from any of the Jellicles, even when I thought you could be. How about you know a cat before you judge what they're capable of, hm?"

Zela stared at him in awe at what he had said to her. No one had ever talked to her in that manner. Not even Macavity. The golden red female took a pawstep back and turned away from him. The only thing she could think to say just wouldn't come out. A henchcat had left her speechless. She shook her head, scratch that… Marcetheus made me speechless… The tortoiseshell tom quickly turned away from her, pulling Griddlebone up and carrying her out of the cell. He closed the door of her cell from behind, then pulled the Persian queen over his shoulder and rushing up the stairs to the ground level. The gold-red female was left alone, and was about ready to burst into tears. She wanted to go home…

~^..^~

A/N: I'm ashamed that I haven't updated for a month, so this is my apology chapter. School began, and caught up with me too quickly. Rest assured, I'm planning to make my next update much quicker. Thank you everyone!