OOC: So, do we remember way back in Demeter's Secret when this- ^~*~^ was deemed a separators of POVS and this- ~^..^~ was deemed for scene changes in the same POV? Well, since ^~*~^ won't show up anymore for some reason, Then this- =^..^= shall be the scene change instead! :)

…I've sent for two agents of mine to come back to Headquarters here in London. Your parents, I believe? They should be coming tonight"…

Marceth's eyes grew large, words not being able to describe his shock of this news. His parents, coming home? But they had been out of his life since he was a kit! These were the cats he barely saw because of their agent jobs. What would they think of him when they got here? Proud that he had gotten promoted? Ashamed that he was still at the bottom for two more days? Macavity sent him away, leaving the tortoiseshell tom with the fear of meeting his mother and father again...

~^..^~

There were those horrible days where Rumpleteazer could have suffocated herself in the privacy of her empty den. All month, that was what had constantly been the mood. Her heart had sunk deep in her chest; her eyes were red and puffy from sobbing herself to sleep; she felt her whole body shatter into millions of pieces, and all she could do was stare up into space and pray that somehow, the wounds in her soul would heal.

Yet it was never enough. Her thoughts always refrained back to her dead mate. And with no one to help her, she had nothing. No emotional comfort. She seemed permanently inconsolable. Teazer wondered what anyone else would do after losing her mate though. If it had been Munk, perhaps he would be in the same state as her, only he would probably have several cats to help him through it. And what about Skimbleshanks? If Jenny got taken by the disease, what would happen? Mistoffelees? He wouldn't react much better than the others. Teazer could figure he was nervous about Victoria not surviving kitten birth. Truly, if the same thing had happened to another, they would act the same way she was at current.

Yet would anyone else know what it felt like to not know how their mate was killed? Or what their dying words were? Or if they felt pain? No, they would never know what she was reminded of each day. The only thing that could get the tiger-striped queen up in the morning was that she would never want to leave this world without Jerrie. But why did he leave her, then?

Perhaps for the first time in weeks since she was released from the Warehouse, Rumpleteazer stepped into the sunlight of an abnormally nice day. She was too used to residing in the darkness of her den that the clearing of the Junkyard was a bit blurry and unfocused. Yet the warmth felt nice on her fur, which almost seemed to layer over with a cold, thick overcoat. The tiger-striped queen sighed roughly, stepping out into what appeared to be a ghost town now. The Junkyard wasn't the lively home of the Jellicles. No kittens were dancing around the tire. No quilting bees were taking place between the older queens, the toms wouldn't be snooping around for a stray mouse, and nothing was being watched by the overseeing eyes of the Jellicle protectors. Teazer almost wondered if tumbleweeds would cross her path. After a while, she just decided to suffer the loneliness. Sure, there were the few remaining, healthy Jellicles that were sitting around in a mundane state of mind, yet it didn't make her feel any better.

One of those unfortunate souls that she had joined with was the Curious Cat, who seemed to have a dull look over his features. Rumpleteazer often wondered after her ordeals in this dark moment in Jellicle history why a depression controlled everyone in the Junkyard. It was almost as if the disease that was spreading around wasn't only causing physical ailments, but emotional ones as well. Once, this used to be a mirthful sanctuary for the Jellicles. There was not a care in the world, and only happiness existed. Yet Teazer had only been a mere kit at that time. That was before Macavity; before the battles between both good and evil. The tiger-striped queen realized how long ago that seemed to begin. Everything seemed to change so easily.

As she stared around the Junkyard, it felt more like walking through darkened, unfamiliar ruins than her old home. She was able to keep a façade of a smile on her face, but at some point, made it disappear. Teazer felt foolish for wearing it. What did she or anyone else have to be happy about? A raging virus and a corrupted morale? Deeply sighing from exhaustion, the tiger-striped queen sat out by the outer edges of the Junkyard, deciding to ignore the positive thoughts that buzzed around in her brain.

Then, without warning, she found herself closing in on a pacing Rum Tum Tugger. Teazer quietly contemplated whether or not to duck back to her den and act as though she wasn't there, yet by the time she wanted to confirm the thought, Tugger's shadowed eyes had spotted her standing there, staring at him. Trying to redeem herself from this unexpected imbroglio, Teazer moved her gaze to her feet, and attempted to think of a way to excuse her actions.

Yet, she was too late. The mystified Maine Coon spoke before her. "Are you okay?" he asked simply.

This question caught her by surprise for a few moments. She was so used to fawning over Tugger and being flirted with by him that her first response to any of his questions would be, "Sorry Tugs, I'm taken." But that was not what she said. Instead, Teazer just tried to shrug her shoulders. "Doin' my best." She replied. Her quiet tone could have shocked anyone. "… and you?"

Tugger raised an eyebrow as he sat down. "As well as one could expect."

Teazer sighed, wishing that they could have been less vague with one another. "… I don' expect much." She replied.

To her happiness, Teazer found a smile pass his lips. "Yeah, neither do I…" he told her quietly.

Their conversation came to a stalemate, soon dying to an awkward silence. After a while, Teazer just stared around, trying to think of something that wasn't going to be conflicting. "How's Munk doin'?"

"Not good…" he told her diminishingly, "Just as stressed as ever. Do you know how close he's been to a mental breakdown?"

"…Pretty close?" she guessed.

"I'd say about 1% of him is left sane."

"Oh…" Teazer just sighed after that, realizing how much she didn't want to dodge any subjects in the only conversation she had had in weeks. The tiger-striped queen cleared her throat of its hoarseness and left-over sobs, "…Tugger… Doya think we're trying ta'avoid what's botherin' us?"

Tugger's brow arched further at the question, but he ended up submitting a nod. "Yeah…Though I'd guess you know what my problem is…"

She winced, as horrid memories quickly flashed to her. The Warehouse. Zela. Jerrie. Jerrie… "… Yeah… Oi think Oi can guess… And the same ta me?"

Tugger sighed, "Unfortunately… I'm really sorry about Mungo, Teaze. I'm also sorry I couldn't have told you that when it happened…"

Teazer just shrugged. She knew the subject was pulling at her heartstrings, but no healed wounds would be reopened. Not if she could help it. "An'… Oi'm sorry about Zel-"

"Yeah, I am too…" He said quickly, frowning at the ground. "It's painful, you know? To… talk about losing someone."

Teazer took a good long look at the Rum Tum Tugger. His eyes were tired, he looked as though the light was blinding him, and his old persona was at a loss. She knew she could relate to everything. Losing the love of her life was harder than anything that this world could throw at her. Even if they were different, for once, The Rum Tum Tugger and the last in the couple of Notorious cats were empathetic for each other.

"… Yeah, I know…" was all she said. Not knowing what else to say, the tiger-striped queen began to feel her tears edging her eyes. "… I miss him…" she choked.

Tugger blinked, quickly walking over to her and hugging her comfortingly. No, he wasn't pulling a move, nor was he trying to be funny. The Rum Tum Tugger was trying to comfort her. "I miss her…" he told her. With a heavy sigh, the two lone Jellicles just sat together, being reminded of their empty lives, and being left without their other halves…

~^..^~

Zela always wondered why waiting was so difficult. Since she was young, she was always impatient. Her first memory was actually of waiting for her mother to get up out of their den so that they could go on their daily walk in the park. It had been incredibly early in the morning, though, and since she had no success in getting her mother up herself, the gold-red queen kit went off by herself. This turned out to be a poor decision on her part. Zela almost ended up getting herself killed after falling off into the street. Being the small kit that she was, not one car would have been able to catch her. Thank Bast for her mother, who had gotten up shortly afterward and followed her scent. She was able to save her young daughter from the perils of the road, and as punishment, she forced Zela to wait in their alley all afternoon before they went on their real walk.

However there were worse memories from what she recalled. She didn't want to wait for Tugger, She had given up on rescue because they took too long to come for them, and at this point, the gold-red queen was waiting for Marceth to come back to the cells. She tried to grow out of her kittenish impatience, yet sitting on the cell steps made it all come back to her. Well, it wasn't Marceth's unpunctuality that was really bothering her. Zela had now been wondering how long she had kept her father waiting with her resistance. He was waiting for her to break into the Warehouse's way of life. He wanted to mold her into his image and force into a life that she never wanted. But now, the gold-red queen was left wondering if perhaps she was the one waiting. She knew that someday, while she was still in captivity, she would give in to her father's demands. Zela knew she would submit, and only time was in Macavity's way now.

It was a truth she would never want to face, but it was a possibility. No one could spend a lifetime in captivity whilst remaining so strong. Perhaps if she stayed like this long enough, Macavity would begin using Jerrie and Teazer against her.

Suddenly, she saw light omit from the top of the stairs, and a dark figure beginning to walk down. She blinked and stood up, trying to make herself visible to the silhouette. A pair of glowing, golden eyes blinked at her. "Hey, Zela…"

Zela smiled, recognizing the voice immediately, "Marceth…How did it go?"

"Um… Fine, I guess…" he cleared his throat as his face came into torchlight. She could see he was trying to smile, and comfort her in some way, but she didn't feel swayed.

"What happened? What did he say?" she asked, looking firmly serious over the subject.

Marceth paused and cleared his throat. "Well… he said… basically that I'm doing well… and I deserve a promotion…"

"A promotion?" she repeated, looking almost disappointed, "…As…as what?"

"An interrogator… And that's… kind of an improvement from this."

"From this…right…" Zelaphelia's lips curled back as she stared down at her paws. She sat down in the middle of the stairway and placed her elbows on her knees. Marceth must have seen how upset she looked, since he joined her. But still, she didn't want to talk to him about what this "promotion" was going to do to them. Did this mean he wasn't going to be with her at all? She would just wander around in this Hell… alone? Relinquishing her heavy thoughts would only be lying, so she refused to do that in front of him. But knowing that he would leave her for a job gave her a better perspective on how they saw each other. Right then, she felt like she had crashed down the stairway, landing right back into her cell, losing every ounce of freedom she gained.

"Zela…please don't look like that. It's not like I asked for this… and it's not like I can say no… it'd be dishonorable…" Before the gold-red queen could come up with a response, the tortoiseshell put a paw on hers. She looked over at their paws, touching so warmly. It made her want to smile, but she wanted him to know how disappointed she was. "But I'm not going to stop being a guard. I've sorted things with him. I have two days of regular duties, and then I'll become an interrogator during the day and I'll be a guard at night. That way… we won't be able to not see each other…"

Zela looked at him, even if he was trying to avoid her gaze. Finally, when he did look at her, she knew he could see happiness in her eyes. "…Why would you do that?"

"Because… I… I guess I don't want to stop seeing you and taking that job full time would do the complete opposite of what I want."

For a while, the gold-red queen didn't know what she could say to him. She would have thanked him for not abandoning her. Yet, what if spending more time with him got him thinking more about her? Being closer to him reminded her of bathing in the spring sun after a harsh winter or finding raw meat after a week of nothing but garbage scraps. He was like the small, good things that happened to her when she was living on the streets as a kit.

"Hey… do you want to… go out hunting, or something?"

Marceth looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Hunting? ….Okay… where?"

Zela thought for a moment before shrugging, "Well… I can't go outside the property without my father's permission, so… maybe behind the Warehouse, or something?"

The tortoiseshell tom stared at her until his young, eager features grew brighter, "Yeah, sure… Lunch, right? Jezabella will understand."

Zela smirked at that. A day without Jeza's harsh training would do her well. The gold-red queen stood on her feet, waiting for Marceth to do the same before she nodded at him. "Of course." She replied calmly.

The two of them walked up the narrow stairway with Zela leading. Once they reached the top, they faced the nearly empty main room of the Warehouse where few henchcats were training. Zela started heading towards the entranced of the warehouse, but then the tortoiseshell tom stopped her. "Let's use my exit." He told her, a shy smile on his face.

Zela grinned, deciding to let him lead after that. He brought them to the right side of the main room that was hiding under shadows. They came behind the crates in that were piled up next to the walls, yet not touching it. They simply sat there like useless props, only made to give a henchcat some privacy. The gold-red queen never thought there was a way to leave in the back of the Warehouse, and this seemed like the least likely place it would be hidden. "I've never seen this place before…" she mused.

"That's because the trainees in my group made it." Marceth grinned as he looked back and explained this. He started leading them away in the narrow passage, which appeared like Zela would view a theatre audience from beneath their seats.

She paused a moment, staring around in wonderment. "…You made this?"

"Well… helped… Ramlowe and Ben did a lot. A couple of henchcats did too. We thought we had to have our own exit. So we built one." Marceth put a paw on her shoulder, pointing his paw over at a small cat door that was built into a hole in a wall. Zela suddenly smiled, "That's… really cool."

Marceth glanced at her with a wide smile. "Yeah… come on, let's go hunt…"

=^..^=

They ended up going a little far at the end of the property. The strangely organized Junkyard that was piled behind the Warehouse still made Zela uneasy. She hated the darkness. She hated that there was nothing but gloom hidden over the shadows. It made hunting for prey less exciting… less lively. She wasn't sure how any henchcat could live in this horrid wasteland for so long. Yet Marceth didn't look at all affected. He had a content smile on his face as he sniffed around; searching for a rat he claimed to have spotted earlier.

Zelaphelia stayed quiet most of the time, finding that she hadn't been as hungry as she thought. Instead, she observed Marceth at his best. He was a great hunter, actually. He tracked things even faster than Macavity could. But even with such skill, Marceth had some sort of innocence that just glowed in his eyes and his smile. Every time she found herself near him, she felt like he had this indescribable hold over her. For Heavyside's sakes, she was a mystic; the daughter of the Hidden paw! How could anyone feel so compelling? Zela couldn't remember another time she felt like this. Being with Marceth made her happy… and somehow… that's was the line between a friendship and a real relationship.

After a few minutes, the tortoiseshell padded back with a dead rat in his mouth. He spat it out and placed it in front of her. "Hungry?" he asked, a civil smile on his face.

Zela grinned a little and leaned forward, sniffing at the rat for a second. "Is this the one you were tracking?"

"Sure is!" he said proudly, "Little thing was a rascal too! As much as I hate following after something so impossible, I can hardly resist a chase."

The gold-red queen laughed, "I see… well then, it proved to be less impossible… which is probably why you should keep it."

Marceth raised an eyebrow, "You're not hungry?"

"Not… especially…" She murmured, smiling a little at him, "I've had a couple of things on my mind."

"Oh…" Marceth smiled a little at her and just nudged the rat towards her. "Maybe we could go back to the Warehouse then? See what we missed? It's getting… pretty late out anyway… How long have we been hunting?"

Zela blinked, looking out in the west and seeing the sky highlighted by a dimming sunset. "Oh… I don't know… a few hours…"

"Well… time flies, doesn't it?" he smiled at her gently, making Zela's cheeks blush beneath her fur. His smile felt good… it felt right to have him looking like that at her.

"Yeah, it does…" she murmured, a small smile overcoming her. The gold-red queen couldn't do anything to hide it from him. She knew she cared for him, and it made her feel better, knowing that he felt the same. Yet, now that she knew so much about him… about how she felt… She almost felt like hiding was the better idea. The gold-red queen cleared her throat, "We should get back to the Cells…"

Marceth blinked. He seemed to pause a while before nodding wearily."Um… Yeah… I suppose so…" he mumbled. With that, the tortoiseshell tom gently took the rat in his mouth, and lead them away back to their home. There was a definite tension that was untraceable to the source… But it was a good tension, somehow; the kind that made Zela feel more comfortable around someone she felt so strongly about…

~^..^~

Misto worked the rest of the day and most of the night. His solidarity in his research made him miss the daylight, the bits of goodness that his family brought, but most importantly, he missed his pregnant mate. The tuxedo tom yawned tiredly; exhaustion was trying to be held back. He couldn't give up. Not now. He had gotten too close to do that. It didn't take long to figure out what the toxin was doing to feline bodies, and it helped even more when he brought mystic blood into the equation. "After all this time, I never saw it…" he muttered.

Mistoffelees ignored all feelings of disdain after scratching his own arms for his blood with little shards of broken glass. He had been experimenting with himself and his blood samples from other patients for too long now. He had grown desensitized to the pain. The tuxedo tom stared at the blood, working around with what he used to experiment it with. He had taken enough samples from patients in the next room to know what it would lead to. Misto had also found that the toxin would affect any body that didn't have the immune system of a mystic. Yet with different blood types, the reactions would be different when first injected. AB positives, like Plato, would completely lose control and act as though they were mad. O negatives or positives, such as Old Deuteronomy and Jellylorum, would just lose consciousness and fall into a coma.

It was a strange phenomenon to discover in his experimentation, but it was at least interesting. "Okay…" he murmured, researching the mixture of blood samples he collected in a test tube, "It's gotta be in here." He had experimented with so many bloods that he was getting dizzy from the scent of them. Inhaling deeply, Misto tried one more mixture, pouring in the chemicals that came close to giving the tainted blood a reaction.

After he carefully mixed them in a beaker, the tuxedo tom let out a silent prayer, asking the everlasting cat that this would be the mixture that would solve all their problems. He knew every chemical in his resources. He had taken every precaution that he possibly could. It had to be this time! Holding his breath, Mistoffelees suctioned the chemical mixture from the beaker to the syringe he held in his paws. He hesitated for a moment before he could find the courage to squeeze down and surged the contents into the test tube.

After a few moments… the fog in the blood cleared up, and the mixture bubbled over.

A wide smile finally grew on Mistoffelees face. Weeks and weeks of serious research and he had found it. The cure that could save them all! "I did it…" he murmured quietly. But only once, "I did it!" Mistoffelees stood up, having every note on the measures and chemicals in his mind. This would save everyone! Misto's first thought was how happy this was going to make Victoria... yet she never did meet her for a break, oh but surely she would condone it this time, especially now that he had the cure!

However, his celebration didn't last long. The last thing Mistoffelees remembered was having a paw over his mouth, which covered his mouth with a white cloth that smelled of chloroform. Misto, in his last moments of consciousness, dropped the beaker that held the cure. All that was left of it was his memories…

~^..^~

The sun had set more quickly than either Zela or Marceth had guessed. By the time they actually got back inside, the whole building was already darkened; the only light source was given by oil lamps that were clamped to the wall, yards away from each other in the hallways. Zela smirked a little as Marceth held up a match for her to look at, as if it were something to marvel.

The gold-red queen chuckled as they padded gingerly to the stairway of the cells. The lamps in the cells were barely ever lit whenever it was Marceth's break, and it usually fell on to him to light their nights together. Zela always loved talking at that time with the tortoiseshell tom. She knew that she loved him for all the company he gave her. It surprised her when she thought of the word, love in her mind, and she automatically went to Marceth in the thought. Was it perhaps more than a friendship that fueled the eagerness of the word on her tongue? She had contemplated the thought several times ever since they kissed each other.

Even when she looked into Marceth's eyes, she saw the very same thing that she felt. He saw happiness whenever his attention turned to her. She felt like her heart was leaping in her throat whenever he spoke to her smoothly. She always found herself watching his lips, his piercing golden eyes, and every movement that occurred in his body. He was no longer the naïve henchcat she had first met in the cells. The tortoiseshell tom was now someone who understood her; who knew her, and she him. After all this time, they had known each other better than themselves. They were regular bailiwicks on each other. How could two cats that became so compatible in their relationship remain in as friends? Impossible… The gold-red queen thought to herself, I'm… in love with a henchcat…

Pushing all these internal thoughts away, Zela watched as Marceth lit a spare oil lamp and carefully took her paw, leading them both back down into the cells. "I think everything worked out well today, don't you?"

"Yeah, it did…" she murmured, smiling as they paused on the stairway to talk. Marcetheus gleamed under the light of the lamp. "Actually… today was… perfect…" The gold-red queen smiled at him, timidly trying to say the word "perfect".

Marceth blinked, his eyes moving across the stair he stood upon, "Yeah…" he mumbled, "Perfect… 'sides my little chat with the boss…"

Zela blinked, seeing the upset in his face, which she hadn't expected. "Well, that doesn't really matter. I'll find a den in the Warehouse, move out of the cells when my dad actually trusts me, and we can see each other whenever we want!" She smiled, actually thinking that this was a great plan that she had concocted. Yet, it was strange as well, realizing that she was making long-term plans to live in the Warehouse. Not letting this disrupted focus faze her, the gold-red queen put her free paw on his shoulder. "It'll be okay. I promise."

Marceth seemed to take this assurance rather well, but Zela wouldn't be fooled. She could tell as he just stared ahead that there was something else bothering him. Suddenly, the tortoiseshell tom gave her a grin, as if he was trying to give an assurance to her as well. The gold-red queen yawned from exhaustion suddenly as she looked away from his shy grin, and just gazed down at the staircase, feeling woozy the moment she looked at him.

That was when Zelaphelia noticed something peculiar. She lightly raised an eyebrow as she peered at the end of the cell door. There was light being emitted from the bottom. Feeling that this wasn't a regular occurrence, Zela poked at Marceth, and pointed down at the light. "Why are the lamps lit down there…?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

Marceth quickly followed her paw down the staircase, and suddenly, his body stiffened. "Oh… Oh no…" His body quickly turned to distress as she shoved the lamp in Zela's direction, missing her by only inches before she would be scorched. "Hold this…" he muttered, quickly walking down the stairs.

Zela stared at him in confusion for a second before following him to the floor's level. "Marceth, what's going on?" she asked, still as quiet as ever.

Marceth jiggled his pair of keys into the lock, partially fumbling with them as he unlocked the door. "Zela, something Macavity also told me was that… my parents were coming back to headquarters from their job in Kingsten. And that they were coming tonight…"

Zela's ears perked at his statement, not only from the word "parents", but from recognition of the name, "Kingsten". "What?"

Before he could answer her further, Marceth shoved the door open, revealing a jet-black tom leaning back on a cell door, and a white queen with a thin face sitting on Marceth's chair, picking dirt from her claws. Zela's heart skipped several beats, making sure to clutch the lamp in her paw so that she wouldn't drop it.

Marceth's face didn't change from a blank expression as the pair quickly looked up, both with smirks. "Son!" the queen called, standing on her feet, a long string of pearls swaying on her neck. One would think a loving parent would walk up to their child and hug them after such a long separation, but they did nothing. After a second, the apparent father of Marceth had switched his smirk from his son to Zela, who was quaking at the door.

"Well, if it isn't our little alley queen." The tom purred mockingly. The white queen let out a snort.

Marceth looked between the three of them, then just raised an eyebrow at Zela. "Have you met my parents?"

It took Zela several moments before she could finally speak again, but she decided not to answer Marceth's question. "… Cesaro… Wynestelle…" she said, barely in a whisper. Both cats seemed to smirk even wider.

The gold-red queen could still hardly believe it. The two cats that had given her shelter in Kingsten were agents for her father. And suddenly, every question from the anomalies in that disgusting town had been answered. The Pollicle, the eyes in the shadows, the knowledge the two had of the Hidden Paw. After all this time, she had been sharing information with her father's contacts; obvious pawns that were part of his plan to get her back to London. "You… betrayed me…" she said, her voice increasing in volume. "You were helping my father?"

Wyne snorted again and leaned against the wall. "Convincing, huh? Saro and I pride ourselves for our acting skills." She rolled her eyes, "And playing caring nursemaid to you day after day got exhausting! I swear, if the boss contacted us a day sooner than he did, I would have shipped ya to London for him!"

Zela just stared at her angrily. The only mother figure she had on the trip around London was a sham. Cesaro came up behind his mate and wrapped a paw around her waist. His proud smirk was still on the gold-red queen. "What? You're surprised that two random strangers would accept you into their lives in such a horrible place like Kingsten?" he laughed, "You're more predictable than how the boss described."

Marceth finally spoke up after this mess was revealed. "I… I don't understand."

Wyne walked up to her son and pinched his cheek, "You see, Sweetie, this little damsel's daddy wanted us to take her in so that he could figure out a way to get her back home."

Saro chuckled as he leaned back. "Our whole job this summer was to keep her in one spot until the boss sent his pollicle over to us. The second our little Zela found out the mutt was with her father, she would go to the only safe place she could go."

Wynestelle smirked at Zela as she rested a paw on Marceth's shoulder. "So predictable…"

Finally, the jet-black tom's gaze turned back to his son, "And what joy we found when he called us back to the Warehouse to find out the pleasant surprise that our son got promoted to be an interrogator for the boss!"

"We're very proud of our little tom…" Wyne grinned, kissing Marceth's cheek quickly, "And think of all the time we get to spend with you after we finish a job for the boss tomorrow!"

Marceth remained completely neutral throughout this whole conversation before he nodded. "Yeah… great…" he murmured, appearing to attempt excitement in his face, "I missed you both."

"Sure, sure Marcetheus." Cesaro dismissed quickly. The tom quickly leaned up and wrapped his arm around Wynestelle's shoulder. "Well, we need to go get into a room…"

The white queen chuckled, her blue eyes' brightness was replaced with sleaze, "Five months of work… one night of rest won't be so bad…" She leaned over, giving her mate a long, deep kiss before they parted, "G'night, son." She told Marceth, ruffling his head fur.

Cesaro snorted at Zela as he pushed her out of the way of the door. "Have a good night, Zela."

With that, the devious pair walked back up the stairs, laughing hysterically all the way there…

~^..^~

There was an awkward silence between Marceth and Zela for a long time; so long that it took what seemed like ages before Marceth forced himself to close the door to the cells. He felt himself shaking in disbelief. Of course, the obvious reason for that was his parents had come back in his life! They were still the same as ever, caring… about his future, happy that he was safe… and moving up in the ranks, and above all, they were as proud as ever. Not of him, though. They were proud of how their fornicating could consequently result in their bastard offspring giving them a boost in criminal status.

But his parents' relationship with him wasn't bothering him as much as Zela's reaction to them. It didn't take long to understand what was really going on. She knew them, and wasn't happy to see them in Macavity's lair. Marceth wanted to be angry with this information. He wasn't, maybe because it was all very confusing. What surprised him most was that this commonality had never come up in any of Zela and his conversations. Now what could he say to her without making the silence even more uncomfortable?

Marceth turned himself to the gold-red queen. She had already curled up in the middle of her cell. Devastation was visible in every movement her body produced. It was strange, seeing the compunction in her violet eyes and the vulnerability in her face. He sighed, quickly walking into the cell and sitting down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry about that…" he murmured tenderly.

Zela quickly shook her head. She rested her head into his chest, as her arms wrapped around him. Comfort was a strange thing, and definitely something Marceth wasn't used to. But someone he was close to deserved what comfort he could give her. Her calmness reminded him of the gulls that sat down on the beach by the peer. They only stayed if left undisturbed. He felt it was his opportunity to calm the waves and wait for the gulls to return to the beach. "I'm really sorry." He said, hugging her tightly.

Zela clung to him, sniffling as she laid her head on his shoulder. "They… betrayed me…" she whimpered, "And they're your parents…"

Marceth nodded, resting his head down by hers. "I know…" he whispered.

She buried her face into her fur. "What use is trust anyone anymore?" The tortoiseshell tom just stroked her head fur, pretending that statement didn't relate to him. He wasn't going to make her feel worse in her state.

"Because there are a few people who are worth trusting, Zela. The kind that make us happy and make us feel good about ourselves. The kind of people that we learn to love..." Marceth wasn't sure where this had all come from, but it was a motivational sort of comfort. Or maybe it was his own nostalgia of trying to find someone that he could trust to love. And a thought quickly came to him... why couldn't he love her? The daugther of the hidden paw... his sensible side reminded. However, the tortoiseshell tom decided to ignore his logic for once in his life.

She inhaled deeply and pressed herself against him. "Marceth…" she said shakily, "…We've been through a lot, right?"

He nodded, a small smile creeping on his face. "Yeah, we have, Zela." He rested his head down on hers, hoping he wasn't pushing his limits. "I love… being with you…every moment of every day. Ever since the day you showed me you could conjure your way out of your own cell."

There was a laugh that came from Zela. A sweet, gentle laugh that Marceth always liked hearing. A little light shined on the queen's face at that statement. Marceth wasn't sure, but he swore he felt the vibration of her purrs on his face. She leaned her head up to look into his eyes. "Marceth…" He heard her breathe deeply. His muscles tightened at seeing her expression of pure, genuine happiness, "…I… I love you."

Marceth stared at her eyes, her beauty, and again being enticed, even in her vulnerable state. What was this hold that the gold-red queen had over her? Zelaphelia, the daughter of the Hidden Paw, just admitted to loving him. And when she had said this… he felt himself uplifted, like they were the only two cats that mattered, and there were no problems left in the world. There was so much emotion merely between their faces that the words that slipped out of his lips in the quietest of tones were inevitable. "I love you too…"

Their eyes were locked on each other so deeply, that not one sound could disturb the concentration and peace they shared. What words couldn't describe, they were experiencing. Marceth couldn't feel awkwardness anymore. Only love. Complete and utter love. He himself, a dark, twisted mind raised in the claws of the Hidden Paw, had fallen for a queen that enlivened the gloom that he had developed with as a small kit. That saturnine hate was disappearing now as he felt through her body and copied her smile. She made him happier than he could have ever realized. The tortoiseshell tom, unsure of what else to do now that utter affection was aroused around them, slowly leaned down by her lips, and kissed them deeply.

She didn't resist at any time. Zela complied, and encouraged his movements, kissing him back just as deeply as her paws moved around him. Marceth dominated this contact, holding her tightly in his arms. He felt like his whole body was on fire as he leaned down upon her. Were things fast from just admitting their love for each other? Perhaps so, but their emotions were so swollen between each other that there was no stopping what was between them.

Their passion, growing so much in size had clouded their logical judgment. The loving kisses did not stop, the movements did not stop, and soon enough, their joy and pure affection created the night that Marceth and Zela lost their innocence.

~^..^~