Jaded smiled coldly. "No where else would be the best place to test your skill."
"And the Dogs?" She swallowed, this just kept getting worse and worse.
"Insurance," his words dripped ice.
"Insurance?"
"Yes," his eyes turned from hers and to the pavement in front of him. "Just in case you decide your power’s not working…"
Two playful kittens attacked Blaze when she and Mistoffelees entered the center of the junkyard.
"You should have seen him," the smallest of the two, Jemima exclaimed, "he was like a tiger, he was so beautiful, even better then Tugger-"
"I know Jemima," Blaze muttered, pushing the two off, "I saw him on my way out."
Mistoffelees went straight for Bomb when they came in, "have you seen Thistle?" he asked the preening Queen.
"What is with all these questions about Thistle today? You’re the second cat to ask me about her. The first was-"
"Yes I know," Mistoffelees prodded, "it was Christian. Do you know where Thistle is?"
Bombalurina’s eye grew misty. "Was that his name? It’s such a beautiful name…"
Mistoffelees rolled his eyes and went to ask a third time but Demeter’s giggle stopped him.
"I’m afraid you’re not going to get much more out of her then that today Misto. She’s completely taken by that Christian guy. What were you after?" Demeter asked, slinking towards him.
"Have you seen Thistle?" he asked, trying to be patient.
"Not since last night," Demeter sat on her hind legs and cleaned a spot off dirt off her left paw. "Why do you want to know?"
"Cause that Christian guy is looking for her-"
"Why would he be looking for her?" Bombalurina’s eyes narrowed on Mistoffelees, "she’s a traitor, why would he want to be seen with her."
Mistoffelees’ fur bristled, "she’s not a-"
"Well hello…"
All eyes in the junkyard turned upward and Mistoffelees gave a feral hiss. All the cats knew why. In typical Star Blazer fashion she stood ready beside Mistoffelees her body ridged. The kittens took refuge behind them and Demeter and Bombalurina as well, both standing firm, their teeth bared.
Above them, on an incredibly high pile of garbage, sat Scatter Cat. He looked tall and magnificent as always, his golden eye staring down at all of them, his dark coat rippling with his movement. And beside him was Thistle. Her small stature seemed only to stand out more as she was next to Scatter Cat, but she seemed to have grown, become menacing. Her coat was clean, sparkling in the sunlight, a single red teardrop streaked down her cheek. Mistoffelees couldn’t phantom what kind of person would do that to her. Her eyes were steel green, hard and cold, no loving light showed in those depths.
Mistoffelees still held out some hope. "Thistle, why are you working for this scoundrel, come back to us."
She didn’t move, didn’t blink. Scatter Cat smiled coldly, "Thistlewait works for me now Magic Cat, I thought even you would have realised that by now. You are dumber then I thought you were." He chuckled as he made his way down the piled rubbish. He dropped the last few feet of it, landing right in front of Mistoffelees, looking down his nose at the small Tom. "And you don’t have to be stuck here anymore then Thistle was. You could join us, you could be with Thistle."
The growl came from somewhere deep with in Mistoffelees, somewhere his thoughts rarely strayed. "You can just-"
Suddenly Thistle was before Scatter Cat. She had slinked in front of his sitting form with the grace of a puma. She had circled him once before moving protectively in front of him. Like a lioness protecting her cubs. Like a tigress protecting her meal. Like a panther protecting her mate thought Mistoffelees sadly. She looked at Mistoffelees with cold eyes. "You have more sense then this Misto, he’ll kill you, and everyone in this junkyard without a second thought," her voice was low, hissed softly but coldly, like the cold in her eyes, in her stance.
Mistoffelees eyes searched her face, looking for the love he knew she had, the inner beauty. He found nothing but glaciers. "Thistle," he whispered in pain, "what has happened to you?"
She straightened, shaking out her whiskers. "Nothing’s happened, I’m the same old cat I always was," she purred softly, "you just refused to see things that way Mistoffelees, you always had such a two dimensional mind. You refused to see me for what I really was, and now you’re paying the price of such a foolish idea."
Blaze didn’t believe a word of the bullshit that this tiny (and she was tiny!) queen was weaving. She stepped close beside Mistoffelees. "A tom who calls himself Christian came looking for you today, he seemed to see something more then a bad cat."
When Blaze had spoken his name something like… like longing had flashed across Thistle’s face, but it didn’t last long, the ice returned quickly. "He’s just as bad as Mistoffelees, all of you are-"
"Now Thistle," Jaded whispered in her ear. "Show me your power now."
They heard him speak, and for a second they thought Thistle wasn’t going to do it, for she had closed her eyes. But they didn’t stay closed for long and when they opened they were almost neon green. It scared both Blaze and Mistoffelees so much that they backed off from her. They needn’t have worried for her left paw shot out, aiming for a small garbage heap less then a few feet away. A sharp hiss escaped her lips as from beneath her fingertips a small ball of green fire appeared and grew. It was a swirling mass of dark ivy flew towards the garbage and with a giant whoosh of the garbage lighting it disappeared in a cloud of ash.
Mistoffelees stared at her. Her eyes were cold again. He had had no idea just how powerful the small cat was. She had so much control over it, so much power and Mistoffelees doubted if that was all she could do.
Scatter Cat looked quite pleased with himself but Thistle spoke first. "That could have been any of you, and you know that Misto, better then anyone else in this entire junkyard-"
"Expect, of course, me."
Eyes turned. Scatter Cat’s, Blaze’s, Misto’s, Bomb’s. Everyone’s. Except Thistle’s. Her beautiful green eyes closed, a tears slipping down her cheeks. "Christian."
The tall cat was at the opening, and while everyone was staring at him, his blue grey eyes were on Thistle. "Finished running from me yet?" He asked simply.
Scatter Cat’s eyes flicked back to Thistle in time to see the tears fall. He circled her. "And who might this Tom be?"
"No one," the ice in her voice sounded incredibly forced but it was still there. "He’s no body."
Christian actually laughed, slinking forward towards Thistle. "Don’t you think that’s a little mean ‘Thorny’? After all the time we’ve spent together." He smiled, Jaded had stopped behind her and Christian stopped in front of her. "Do you forget us so easily?"
Thistle trembled slightly, "no," now the small queen’s eyes closed and the tears fell heavy. "How could I?" When her eyes opened they were the clearest crystal green, "I never would, my love." Jaded hissed and Christian smiled, moving forward and rubbing the top of his head against her cheek. She couldn’t stop crying.
"Shhh, my sweet, it’s okay now," he whispered in her ear.
Jaded seethed in his fury, looking from the pair of lovers he whistled. There were half a dozen angry growls and the cats in the junkyard jumped in alarm. Jaded used this alarm to grab Blaze by the scruff of the neck. The queen howled in outrage but Jaded’s head snapped, sending her flying through the air, the back of her head connecting with the ground, cutting off her cry as she fell unconscious.
"Blaze!!!" came Mistoffeele’s scream as the dogs dashed through the junkyard. One took Blaze up in his mouth, Jaded grabbing another as they flew passed and disappeared out of the junkyard.
"He goes to far this time," Thistle growled. "Stay here and look after each other, we’ll go after him." Both Thistle and Christian followed quickly.
"My fur butt I’m staying here," Mistoffelees hissed and ran after them…