"YOU DID WHAT?"

The ferocious cry meant for Pouncival ripped from Tugger's throat as he rampaged through the crowd that held the tom he was searching for at its center. He carelessly shoved aside the ones who stood in his path, the ones who were attempting to protect their fellow Jellicle from the fearless and furious cat that was charging straight forward. But he was impossible to stop. Feline after feline was tossed aside by his massive, muscled paws. And with each cat he set aside, his target became more in sight. Pouncival had backed himself up against a tree, nervously shaking behind the torso of Alonzo, who had his heart set on stopping Tugger. Not necessarily because he cared for Pouncival, which he did, but more than anything he really wanted to sink a claw into Tugger's fur. He couldn't stand that cat before, and how he hurt Misto and was planning to hurt another Jellicle had caused his hatred to expand.

Tugger had cut his way through the last of the crowd, leaving only Alonzo left. The curious cat could smell the fear that reeked from Pouncival's coat. It satisfied him greatly. Pouncival should be afraid. He thought grimly to himself. Cause the moment I lay a paw on that flea-bag, nobody will smell his fear anymore. They'll just smell his blood.

"Step aside, Alonzo. This isn't your fight."

"Isn't it sad when you don't get your way, Tugger? I know you're use to getting exactly what you want, but it's not moving. Go fuck a Bombi, or any female you want. I'm sure they'll let you, curious cat." Alonzo's words were calm and cool as he spoke them, but he spat the end with a touch of mockery. Tugger's fur fluffed and his ears set back farther against his head.

"Move."

Alonzo shook his head. "Not going to happen, pretty boy. Why would you wanna take your anger out on Pouncival, anyway? Or is it guilt that makes you want revenge?" A sly sneer spread across his lips, and he took a long pause to examine his sharpened claws. When his eyes flicked back up to meet Tugger's, he said coolly, "Is it cause you're the one to blame?"

There was no response from The Rum Tum Tugger, but his eyes squinted further with fury as he glared right back at Alonzo.

"You know just as well as I do that Misto's disappearance is due to you." The coolness is Alonzo's voice began to slowly fade, giving way to show his true anger. "Qauxo could be dead for all we know, and it's your fucking fault! He loved you, he thought you changed. But that's shit, isn't it? You couldn't give up 'The Rum Tum Tugger Lifestyle', could you? No, you couldn't. And now Qauxo's hurt and missing, and there's not a cat here you can blame but yourself."

Tugger closed his eyes, and breathed in deeply. "You've got your wires crossed."

"And you're lying to yourself. You just don't wanna deal with the fact that you could be the cause of Misto's death, if he is in fact dead."

"You're wrong."

"You hurt him!"

"Alonzo, you don't understand."

"I understand perfectly! I understand that you're still a Casanova, and that will never change about you! I understand that you hurt the one cat that truly loved you!"

In an instant, Tugger's eyes flew back open. A wild look of pure fury was built inside them as he stared down Alonzo. "Shut up. You don't know what happened, so shut up!"

"Make me, pretty boy. I'd like to see you try." Alonzo barely finished speaking when a set of claws cut across his face. Pain swelled around each cut like nothing he had felt before. A horse cry of pain escaped his throat but was cut off by blood that swelled from his sliced nose and ran into his mouth. The deep wounds began to ooze at once, the blood seeping down and corrupting his vision as well as his smell. He swept out a paw and tried to wound the other tom, but his senses were so a screw at the time that each swipe hit nothing but air. Tugger took on massive paw of his own, and shoved Alonzo to the side, revealing the frightened tom behind him. Tumblebrutus and Asparagus ran to Alonzo's side. He had fallen to his knees and had escaped Tugger, but he found no way to escape the pain of his wounds. Tumblebrutus sent Asparagus for Jenny, and examined the wounds of his friend as the waited for the she-cat to arrive.

Tugger wasted no time to begin his revenge on the frightened tom before him.

Pouncival attempted to escape the clutches that held him tightly pinned to a large oak tree, but found no success. Screeching, angry words of disgust were spat into his face from only an inch away repeatedly, and sharp claws dug into both his right and left shoulders, ripping small tuffs of his fur from his skin. Seething pain burned across his face where a sharp, stinging slap of revenge had been laid earlier. The large crowd of Jellicle toms around him made no attempt to interfere. Most had their fur sticking on-end, fluffed-up tails, ears pinned backwards, and wide, frightened eyes that showed that they were all simply too afraid to stop the raging tom that held Pouncival to his place on the oak.

The tom growled viciously, his teeth sneaking out from beneath their hidden place under the lip. His right paw crept violently to Pouncival's throat and applied a painful amount of pressure as he asked a single question again for the second time.

"Tell me….you. Did. WHAT?"

Frantically searching his own mind for an answer, Pouncival meekly replied at a quick speed, "Tugger, I…I didn't do any…anything, I swear! Really! I- I-..!"

His paw clearly had no intentions of being removed until an answer that he thought worthy was spat from the smaller tom's throat. He pressed with greater force on Pouncival's neck, and snarled with further fury. "Shut up! You did do something, you fucking ass! You did or he wouldn't be gone, so don't spit me that shit again. You DID do something; now tell me what the fuck it was before I tear out your god damn throat!"

"No, really, I promise, Tugger! I really didn't do anything to make him leave…or I…I didn't try. It just was such a mess and I felt bad and I wanted to help so I tried but it didn't work and I didn't do anything intentionally I swear I really really swear like really I do Tugger I didn't do anything to Mistoffelees!"

Tugger, whose last nerve had snapped, shoved himself nose-to-nose with Pouncival, screaming with rage, "You're gonna fucking die unless I get an answer. I swear to Everlasting Cat, Pounicval, I swear I'll-"

"Tugger remove your paw from Pouncival now or you may leave the junkyard."

Turning to see who had the courage to try and stop him, Tugger met eyes with his older brother, Munkustrap. He wasn't please, Tugger could tell by the death glare Munkustrap was burning down towards him. With steady, confident steps, Munkustrap did what all the other toms were too scared to do, and walked over to where Tugger continuously held Pouncival. With a gesture of his paw, he ordered the two to split and watched as Tugger's grip loosened. Pouncival quickly backed from the scene at the first chance and ran for safety. He hid deep within the crowd until he was sure he couldn't be spotted by his attacker any longer.

"Tell me why Mistoffelees is gone, Tugger."

"You know, bro, I'd really love to. However, I've been trying to find out the same damn thing this whole time. All I know is that that cat-" He turned and glared at Pouncival through the crowd. The small tom sunk down lower so he couldn't be seen. "had something to do with it. And somehow it's my fault? I didn't do a thing. But for some reason, every Jellicle in this junkyard has given me a dirty look since midday, when he apparently left."

From where he sat, Alonzo spoke up. He held a human cloth to his face to soak the blood from his stinging wounds. It had been at least 15 minutes, now, and the blood was finally letting up. However, the pain continued. "I'm shocked. You're the very reason the cat left, and you don't even know it. Ha! Goes to show how much you know about love, Tugger."

"What do you mean, Alonzo?" Munkustrap asked calmly.

"I mean that scumbags the exact reason Qauxo left! He saw Tugger and Bombi having lunch together…it broke the poor kit's heart." Then he turned to speak to Tugger. "Love means being faithful to the one you care about. Like I said, it goes to show how much you know about love."

The anger that was held in The Rum Tum Tugger's expression gave way to sorrow. "He…he saw that? And…it hurt him?"

Alonzo snorted. "Of course it did, dumbass. You flirted with him, made him think you were really into him and that he wasn't just another toy for you, and then you got caught running around with Bombi? You expect him to be glad?"

"No…" Tugger said meekly, his head hanging pathetically. "I expected him to get jealous. To...want me more..."

"Sorry to brake it to you, pretty boy, but you're the only one who works in such a twisted way. That usually hurts others."

Munkustrap spoke now as he went to stand beside Tugger. "So you intended for him to see this lunch with Bombalurina?"

Tugger's head nodded slowly. "Yes, I did. I thought he would get jealous, and when I would ask him on the date I planned later, he would just want to go with me more. I…I...wanted him to be a little frazzled. So then I could just prove to him that I only care about him…and I blew it…"

"You just wanted the fuck him and leave him like you do to every cat. And why not try and kill two birds with one stone in the same day? Get Bombi and Misto? Those were your true intentions, cat. I'm not buying your shit for two tail flicks." The black and white tom hissed from where he sat.

"It's impossible for you to believe that I've changed, isn't it?"

"It is now. I thought you did once, and then you just…you…"

"What I did with Jemima has nothing to do with now."

"You used her! Every last inch of her! She's so much younger than you, but you didn't care at all. You took advantage of her. She was just a toy to you, and you hurt her so badly…Mistoffelees is just another toy to you, too. You'll do to him the same."

Tugger growled, "She's your mate now, isn't she? Isn't that all you wanted?"

"I wanted to be her mate badly. But more than anything, I didn't want her to get hurt. And the way she spoke of you, the way she looked into your eyes when you scratched beneath her chin and told her she could come to your place with you…I loved that happiness. I didn't care if she was mine then, because she said you had changed. And if you truly had, if you really cared for her like she said you did, then I was happy too, even though I wasn't her mate. and then that look in her eyes when she asked if you were going to be mates and then you shot her down…the look in her eyes then…the tears in her eyes then…Maybe Mistoffelees is better off gone. If he isn't here, then he doesn't have to deal with the pain of loving a Casanova who'll only hurt him in the end."

A small voice spoke from within the depths of the crowd. "Unless…Macavity has him…"

Munkustrap's eyes widened as he realized how truly dangerous this situation could be. "Then he isn't better off gone. He'll be in more danger." He turned back to the voice who spoke from the crowd, "Plato, go find Old Deuteronomy. Tell him that he needs to put extra guard patrols the junkyard. We need all eyes to search for that red demon. I want everyone to go back to their dens, and if our leader needs you, go without question. Alonzo, Brother, come with me."

"Why? Where are we going?" Alonzo hissed as he slowly rose from his seat on the soft grass.

"To find Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. They're the only ones I can think that know where Macavity may be, and they might actually tell us. Those cats may be trouble makers, but they aren't all bad. They'll want to help."

Tugger was a step ahead of Munkustrap. His paws moved furiously as he raced ahead of the other two toms. "Then lets go, now. We don't have time to waste. Night is coming steadily and Qauxo could be hurt by now…or dead, if Macavity has him in his paws…" Shaking his head of the gruesome thought of Macavity stripping the magic cat of his last breath, Tugger kept a move on, darting past each cat in his path as he searched frantically for the striped siblings.