I Will Find My Way Back, Always, a cats fanfic

Through a drainage pipe in a pocket of space under layers of rotting and rusting junk, lay a singular queen. She was nearly completely white, save for the creamy brown around her face and in small stripes down her arms and up her sides. She settled onto a baby mattress in the center of her "den." She brought a paw to her swollen belly in a maternal caress. She was eight weeks pregnant. Eight weeks, has it really been that long? she wondered mentally. So much time had passed.

Suddenly, she perked her ears at the sound of a visitor. A large main coon, known as the Rum Tum Tugger, pulled himself out of the pipe and straightened his brown, gold, white and black striped maine. His chest was a golden yellow "v" with leopard spots. The same pattern came from his paws to his forearm, as well as up each of his shins. The rest of his body was black. His face was light brown, with stripes coming from his temples and cheeks. His fur was tufted on each side of his face and a swirled curl centered his forehead. The queen looked hopefully up at her visitor, her eyes nearly sparkling with anticipation. He stood and looked down to her, his head shaking. The sparkle dulled from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Victoria," the tom sighed, "We searched everywhere. By this time, everyone has given up on finding him,"

"He's been gone only eight weeks, Tugger. Surely, no one thinks..." Victoria's eyes began to tear up.

"I'll keep looking," the Tugger vowed, coming to the white queen and wiping her tears, "You're not the only one who misses him."

"I know. But if we don't find him... how will his kits ever know him?"

"We will find him. Don't doubt that,"

And with that the tom slipped out again. Victoria thrust herself upon the bed, sobbing into the blanket scraps gathered there. Eight weeks. Eight weeks had it been since she had last seen her mate, the magical Mr. Mistoffelees. Eight weeks he had been missing. Eight weeks she had been pregnant and he never even knew. She had never been able to tell him. She hadn't known she was pregnant until it had been to late. Each tear that passed from her eye and down her cheek seemed to be the perfect representation of the weeks, days, hours and even minutes she had missed him.

Many of the older toms suspected that he had been cat-napped, by none other than Macavity the Mystery Cat. They assumed it had been because of his heroic act of saving Old Deuteronomy. He had made him appear magically at their annual Jellicle Ball, a celebration that chose a singular cat to go to the Heaviside Layer where they could be reborn. Had he not rescued their leader, that decision never could have been made. She smiled dismally as she remembered that night. They had proclaimed their love for each the immediate day following.

Eight Weeks, Three days previous

The ball had ended. Grizabella had been chosen for the Heaviside. Most of the exhausted Jellicles had retired for the day, becoming huddled masses of brown, black, red, gold and white.

Only a few remained outside in the junkyard.

One such cat was a Jellicle tuxedo tom named Mr. Mistoffelees, who was hardly in a mood for sleep. He sat in a remote area, tail twitching in anguish. He had the look of a human about him. His head-fur was mainly black, yet his face was fully white, save for a black widow's peek and black stripes halfway on his cheeks. He was black below as well, with a v-shaped white patch of frills and a bow-tie spot below his neck. His left for-paw was black whereas the rest of his paws came to his forearms and hind leg were white. His tail was white tipped. He was upset beyond all belief. His friend, true love more like, had danced and cuddled with another tom. That had broken the poor tom's heart. He fought back the tears and emotions beginning to engulf him. He could barley handle the wave of emotion that hit him every time he thought upon that horrible occurrence. He shuddered and shook his head. He hated Plato for how lucky he was.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and stood to investigate a noise that his ears had perceived. He crept over to an overturned crate, turning it up. There he found the White Ballet Kitten, named Victoria. The one who had broken his heart. A new stab of pain and regret shot through his heart upon seeing her. He looked coldly at her and turned away.

The white queen was all surprise. She could not recall anything she had done to upset him. She followed him, racking her brain for a logical hypothesis. She called after him, but he evaded her further. She couldn't for the life of her understand what had happened between them. The Ball had been delightfully fun... for the most part. She shuddered as she remembered how she had danced with Plato. Then it dawned upon her. Could that be what was eating at Misto. She ran faster, catching up to him by yanking his tail towards her.

"What's wrong? What happened between us?" she asked concernedly, searching his face with her eyes.

"Why not ask Plato? He has the answers nowadays," her companion replied bitterly, not looking into her face.

His comment had cut her deeply. They had always been such intimate friends. Could one mistake possibly change all of that?

"Why are you jealous of that tom?" she asked, her voice raising slightly.

"I'm not. I hope your happy with the scum. You two deserve each other,"

She slapped him at that. This took Misto slightly aback. He rubbed his cheek, looking in the direction her hand had forced his face to. He couldn't look her into the eye. She demanded to know why, stamping her foot in agitation. She was furious, until she saw the tell-tale tears fall down his cheeks. Her face softened as quickly as her heart.

"I-I'm sorry Mist," she stuttered, looking sincerely into his eyes.

"I de-deserved it," he sobbed, collapsing to the ground.

That had done it. As soon as she had hit him, his bottled emotions had burst. The broken piecesof his heart that he had tried to keep in place shattered. He slunk to the ground, sides heaving with his sobs. Victoria knelt beside his, wrapping him into an embrace. He buried his head into her shoulder, crying harder. Her own tears began to fall upon his head. His words had hurt. She loved him so much, it had cut her to hear him speak so harshly. She knew he had said that in hurt, ergo him crying into her shoulder.

"What's wrong, Misto?" she whispered, wiping away some of his tears.

"Y-you l-love him," he answered back, more tears falling down his face.

"Who?"

"Plato,"

She contemplated this for a moment. Did she love Plato? Certainly not! That tom meant nothing compared to what the one on her shoulder was worth. She sighed, wiping away her own tears. Misto removed himself from her shoulder, sniffling and wiping whatever tears crawled down his cheeks. She had never seen a tom cry before. Excepting when she was littler. Little toms cried almost as much as the princesses.

"Why would it matter?" she asked, nuzzling her head and resting it on Misto's ruffles.

"Do you hear my heart?" he asked instead of answering.

She cocked an eyebrow before closing her eyes and listening for the ever familiar lup-dup. Upon hearing it she nodded.

"Funny how that works though it's been taken," he sighed, giving into his desire to nuzzle her head.

"By whom?" she asked, jealousy creeping into her voice.

"By the listener of its melancholy symphony," he answered, wiping a stray tear.

"What do you mean?" she asked, sitting up and looking into his eyes.

"I'll just show you," he said, leaning in toward her.

Before either knew what was actually happening, their lips interlocked. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he, in turn, wrapped his around her waist. Like so many destined lovers, they found their way to sheer intimacy. They had never known this before. Neither had ever explored the mouth of another. Once air was needed they parted, still in each other's embrace.

"I love you," he said, assuring the queens hopes.

"I love you. Not anyone else, you," she replied nuzzling into his neck.

He held her closer to him. He no longer cared what had happened between them. They would make it right. All transgressions where washed away. Forgiveness settled in the heart on both sides. How could they possibly stay aggrieved with each other?

"Will you become my mate?" Misto asked, nearly singing.

"Yes!" Victoria exclaimed kissing him lightly on the lips.

"Tonight?"

"The sooner, the better," she replied.

That night, much to the surprise of many Jellicles, their mate-iage ceremony was held. Many were ecstatic for their happiness, but none were happier than the young couple. Though some adults complained they did not adequately meet the age, Old Deuteronomy had decided that the starry eyed lovers had better become mates. He knew elopement would ensue if he did not meet their request.

A kit kicking stirred her from her reverie. She held her paw on her stomach. Those tiny lives were due in a week. Soon, she would be able to see her precious cargo. A tear fell from her eye as she remembered what happened three days after they had become mates. She had found Misto had already gone out that morning. No one had seen him leave. Some assumed he had disappeared to his human home. Victoria had decided to look there, but she could not find him. She ran back to the junkyard and searched all of his favorite haunts, to no avail. Then a week had passed. Two weeks, three. Still no sign of him... he never returned.

The Jellicles had searched for him during that time, Victoria at the lead. That was, until she started to show signs of pregnancy. Munkustrap, a stripped silver tom and the protector of the Jellicles and future leader, had told her she could no longer search. He feared something could go awry in the pregnancy at her young age.

Victoria shook herself out of these thoughts. She did not regret keeping the lives of her kits in top priority. She only regretted leaving Misto out of her sight. She kneaded the bed and curled up in a blanket. Sleep began to overtake her as she quietly sighed, "Misto, come back to me..."

On the dirty streets of London, a worn looking tuxedo tom trudged heavily homeward. He bore many scratches and bruises from his captivity as a prisoner to Macavity, a psychotic ginger cat who loved to cause others misery. Many a time he had been beaten by this fiend, the Napoleon of Crime, as he had been dubbed. The cat, Mr. Mistoffelees, smiled to himself at his cleverness of escaping. Mac wouldn't like that. The guards that always had guarded him had been drunk, shortly after a party that had been held in their boss' favor. He had easily slipped past the guards and used his magic to teleport out of the miserable, filthy lair. Usually, the guards would beat him for trying to use magic, but their incapacitated state had shown in his favor.

Macavity had wanted to take vengeance upon Misto. The Conjuring Cat had saved the aged Jellicle leader, Old Deuteronomy, from the clutches of the infamous cat. A foiled plan never settled well with the Hidden Paw, yet another nickname for the odious blackguard. He had sent Henchcat spies into the junkyard. They had told him of the love between Victoria and Misto. The Mystery Cat waited, long enough for the junkyard to let its guard down. He had Griddlebone intercept and catnap Mistoffelees during a morning stroll. Macavity had tortured the young tom in many ways, but ultimately had tortured him with revealing himself as the magical tom's biological father. Upon running through these thoughts, Mistoffelees decided to groom himself. If he was to return to the junkyard, he had to look nearly pristine.

How he had longed to see his mate! A small smile broke upon his features as he dwelled upon his queen. He loved her deeply, passionatley and had missed her beyond missing. she was the only thing that drove his mind onto escaping. He knew she had not given up on him and she would demand him to strive for freedom had she been there. How happy she would be to see him!

Standing and shaking himself, Mr. Mistoffelees looked into the direction of the setting sun. He headed towards the setting orb of light, the light that guided him homeward. I will come bakc to you, Victoria. I promise, he vowed inwardly.

Not nearly quickly enough, his paws stepped into the junkyard. The sun had nearly completely set and the first few twinkling stars began to shine in the darkening sky. Misto walked into the junkyard clearing and sighed. It felt so wonderful to be home. Changing into Jellicle form he tip-toed through the clearing. A large dozing Rum Tum Tugger quickly aroused from slumber. His eyes caught sight of Misto and his jaw fell open.

"Misto! Everyone thought..."

"I was dead?"

Tugger refrained from answering. Mistoffelees was no idiot, he knew very well what the answer was. Instead the main coon dashed over to his nephew and nearly squeezed him to death in a large Tugger-hug. After protesting for a few seconds, Misto was placed firmly back onto the ground.

"What happened? Why were you gone?" Tugger asked, knowing full well the answer.

"Macavity," Mistoffelees spat bitterly.

"What did he want?"

"Revenge for rescuing Old Deuteronomy. He hates his son as much as any other Jellicle,"

"So, you know then?" Tugger asked after his surprise at Misto's statement had worn off.

"Yes, Tug. I know about my father."

"Sorry,"

"I don't want to seem rude," Misto began, Tugger nodding him on, "But I am exhausted and desperatley need to see my mate."

A coy smile played upon Tugger's face. Misto cocked an eyebrow. Tugger knows something. What could it possibly be?

"Your mate has missed you," Tugger said slowly, words heavy with an unknown secret, "She had a bit of a reminder of you, however."

"Huh?"

"Go and see her, she's in your den,"

Mistoffelees did not question, but shrugged and crawled into his drainage pipe. Once he reached the end, he pulled himself into the cavern of refuse hidden inside. There, upon a baby mattress, slept his beautifully pristine, white queen. He sighed, fighting urges to pounce upon her and smother her with licks and kisses. He had missed his darling baby so much, words could not express.

He crept up to her side and sat on the matress, breathing in her sweet aroma. He kissed her forehead, and her eyes fluttered open. She rolled towards him, eyes bright blue orbs of surprise. His copper ones had grown to be the same size, if not larger. Her swollen belly struck him with such emotion, he could barley contain.

"Misto?" Victoria asked him quietly, as if she did not want to frighten away a dream.

Overwelmed by emotion, he could not answer her. He laid his paws on her stomach, gently moving them across the surface. Vicky smiled widely at his awestruck face, unable to contain her emotion. She watched him for a time and slowly brought his paw over to the upper left side of her belly. He gave her a questioning look, but was drawn back into his kits when he felt a small kick.

"That meant, 'welcome home, Daddy'," Victoria translated, a broad smile still visible on her features.

Unable to contain himself any longer, Misto crashed his mouth upon Victoria's. He could not give a name to the many emotions that swirled through him. He straddled her and kissed her deeply, passionately. He felt that his love for her had grown over his absence. Victoria had felt the same way. She could feel his tears that had appeared fall onto her face. She did not care, for her own tears mixed with his. Tear into tear, mouth on mouth, Mistoffelees and Victoria had truly become one. It was as if their very hearts beat together and everything they did came into sync. Deeper and deeper became their kiss until Mr. Mistoffelees felt a tiny nudge into his stomach. They parted, panting heavily.

"'Wow, slow down Dad,' " Victoria laughed as she caught her breath again.

"That was nothing, little ones," he replied, speaking for the first time.

He still straddled his beloved queen, his body just inches from hers. They stared into each other's eyes. So much had to be said, yet neither could voice a single word. Mistoffelees kissed Vicky's forehead once again and she giggled in return.

"I missed you so much, Kitten," he whispered into her ear and kissed it, begging to kiss down her head and neck.

"I knew Macavity could not keep you from me. I knew you would escape," Victoria breathed, eyes closed in ecstasy.

"Of course I would. I'm the Magical, Marvelous Mr. Mistoffelees,"

"Such alliteration, you should become a tongue twister," Vicky replied sarcastically.

"Hum," he scoffed in mock hurt.

She laughed again, leaning forward slowly and kissing him on the nose. She nuzzled the side of his face with her cheek, two harmonious purrs errupting from both cats. He nuzzled her face in return, licking her cheek.

"I missed you too, Ruffles," she choked out, tears again streaming down her face.

"I know you did," Misto replied, continuing with, "You have to remember. No matter what happens to me, I will find my way back, always."

"Always?"

"Always," he promised.

Victoria was satisfied with that. Her mate would keep his promise to the bitter end, if necessary. She kissed him lightly upon the lips, lying back once more. She gazed into his soft, enchanting eyes, her's beckoning him on.

"Hold on, kits," he said, a mischeivous smile playing upon his lips, "Daddy needs some Mommy time,"

And with that, they began to kiss again. Mistoffelees paws began to stroke down Victoria's sides and hers began to run across his back. She could feel the electricity run from his paws as well as from his tongue. How she loved him and how he loved her. Neither had to say what they felt, the actions showed well enough.

Once they had parted again, took his side of the bed. Once he had flopped down and had settled, Victoria lay her head upon his chest. He reached an arm around her and stroked her head.

"One question," Mistoffelees stated.

"Yes, darling," Victoria cooed, closing her eyes and snuggling into her mates side.

"Why didn't you tell me you were in heat that one time?" he asked, more so out of curiosity than anything.

"You wanted kits as well as I. I didn't think it would matter if I was or not. I didn't expect a pregnancy,"

"Alright. Just curious,"

Silence flooded into the den once more. Then Victoria pipped up with:

"Misto?"

"Hmm?" the Misto in question replied, eyes lazily closing.

"Sing me a song," his mate pleaded gently.

"Now?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, eyes still closed.

"Yes," she affirmed.

"Which one?"

"Choose," was her only reply.

He thought for a moment, searching for a song to fit his mood. Jellicles had a far easier way of choosing songs than humans. Music ran through every Jellicle's blood, it was a part of them and a part of their life force. Deciding upon one, he began to sing slowly and melodically.

"You know our love was meant to be
the kind of love that lasts forever
And I want you here with me
from tonight until the end of time.
You should know, everywhere I go
Always on my mind, in my heart
in my soul..baby"

"That's beautiful, Mist," Victoria commented with a sleepy sigh.

You're the meaning in my life
you're the inspiration.
You bring feeling to my life
you're the inspiration.
Wanna have you near me
I wanna have you hear me sayin':
No one needs you more than I need you.

And I know, yes I know that it's plain to see
So in love when we're together.
Now I know that I need you here with me
From tonight until the end of time.
You should know, everywhere I go
Always on my mind you're in my heart in my soul.

Wanna have you near me
I wanna have you hear me sayin':
No one needs you more than I need you.

When you love somebody, always on my mind

No one needs you more than I.

As he finished the song, he looked down to see his mate had fallen asleep. She was so peaceful and beautiful. He smiled and closed his eyes, praying and silently thanking the Everlasting Cat for letting him escape from Macavity and for giving Victoria to him. He then joined his mate and sleep, a smile upon both faces.