As the cats lay down to sleep, Victoria looked up. She heard something. She quietly crept over to the magical tire to see if anyone was still awake. The iridescent clouds loomed over her as a cool wind blew across her whiskers. The elegant white cat tip-toed over to Plato. He was also awake.
"Vicky, what are you doing awake?" He asked.
" I am not tired. Would you like to walk with me?" Victoria held her paw out.
"Yes, if you don't mind. I'm not tired either." Plato looked up into the sharp green eyes of his darling. "I have something very important to tell you."
They walked for a while, down the road. The cobblestones on the street hurt her paws, so Plato carried her until the road changed. She gazed into his warm brown eyes.
For some time they just walked and talked about some of the cats. "Jenny means well, but she does get a little too over protective." Plato said, tapping his chin.
She nodded thoughtfully
Plato thought of something. "Where are we going?" he asked.
"A Place where we can talk. You said you wanted to tell me something, right?" Victoria said. Plato nodded.
Plato thought of what the important thing was. He never wanted this walk to end. he wished that he could live his life with her, get old with her, and go to the Heaviside layer with her. Plato sniffled.
"What is it?" Victoria asked.
"Nothing. It's just that... when will we get to the place we want to go?" Victoria pointed.
"Here it is."
Plato couldn't keep it any longer. "Victoria, I love you. I think you are the prettiest Queen in all the Jellicles."
Victoria smiled. "Why thank you, Plato"
"And also the sweetest, kindest cat a Tom would want. I truly love you. There is just one problem." His voice got shaky and he began to sob. "My owners are moving and I have to go with them."
Victoria gasped. "B-but Plato, we were supposed to have kittens together!"
"I know. I never want this night to end. We're leaving tomorrow." Plato hiccuped.
"You know, Plato, this night never has to end." She motioned towards the garden shed. He followed, understanding exactly what she meant.
They woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed. Victoria knew that he loved her and that he didn't want to go. She had to let him go if she loved him.
They walked back silently, thinking about that night before and how they expressed their love for each other. "Plato, I'm going to miss you so much!" Victoria wailed.
"We can't part this way. I will write, and we will just never see each other again, though you will always be in my heart." They embraced, and Plato left.
He knew in his heart that he should stay, but he also knew that if he didn't look back, he wouldn't have to remember.
Victoria spent the rest of the day thinking about Plato, and crying. All of the Jellicles were worried about her mental and physical health.
Later that day, Rumpleteazer came by with her three kittens, Tubbiafam, Sillabie, and Etceterina. "'ello, old girl, what's the matter? You can tell Teazer." Her strong Cockney accent made Victoria's ears itch.
"Ever since Plato left, I feel very lonely." She spilled out all that happened since that last night, and early this morning. Rumpleteazer blushed.
"Umm... I'm so sorry. You really loved him didn't you?"
"Yes, I did. I miss him dreadfully. When he left, I wanted to kill myself. I wish I could have told him goodbye in a more romantic manner." Victoria thought out loud.
Being the MATURE cat Rumpleteazer was, she thought out loud also. "I don't think there is a more romantic goodbye than-" Rumpleteazer giggled. Victoria rolled her eyes.
"Guess I'd better be going now." Teazer said, ashamed of what she blurted out. Victoria waved.
A lot of cats came to see Victoria, Jennyanydots the most concerned. "Vicky, I fear for your health. You need to just move on. Find another cat you dearly love." Victoria began to cry, and Jenny finally understood how much Victoria loved this Tom. "All right. Life will go on, but you will never be the same." She patted her on the back and left Victoria, crying. She cried herself to sleep.
Jenny worried for hours about Victoria. She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. The whitewashed walls stood out for the light yellow ceiling was so soft. She looked at the pictures of each Jellicle at their first Jellicle Ball. Rum Tum Tugger had that terrible grin, Skimbleshanks' picture was bright and cheery, and Etcetera's was as cute as she was. Jenny looked over at hers. She burst out laughing. The picture looked so old! The she saw Victoria's and Plato's and she began to cry.
A knock on the door startled her and she wiped the tears off her face. "Who is it?" She asked.
"It's Munkustrap, open up." Munkustrap was the Jellicle leader, now that Old Dueteronomy was dead. The door swung open.
"Munkus! So nice to see you! Won't you sit down?" Jenny exclaimed.
"I'm terribly sorry, but I can't stay. I have horrible news." Jenny looked at Munkus with curiosity.
"What news?" She asked.
"Plato was walking along the road, and he was killed by a car."
The news struck Jenny like a bolt of lightning. "P-p-plato dead? Oh,
Vicky!" She looked dazed.
"Now Jenny, don't go hysterical. Please try to keep calm until I tell Vicky." Munkustrap soothed.
Jenny nodded painfully.
Victoria was sitting in her bedroom, looking out the window. Everyone seemed to be crying! What happened? Munkustrap knocked on their doors, told them something, and then they started to cry.
Munkustrap took a deep breath and trudged over to Victoria's chamber. He gathered up all his courage and knocked on the door.
"Yes?" The white feline asked, her voice shaking. "Why is everyone crying?" She shuddered.
"Victoria, come sit down." He motioned to a wooden seat, the one that only Victoria uses when she is sick or depressed. "I have something to tell you."
Victoria knew something bad was going to happen. "Please tell me, Munkustrap." He took a deep breath and started.
"There's been an accident. Plato," Victoria gasped at his name. "was on the road for some reason, and he was hit by a car."
"Plato." Victoria whispered. His name clapped like a thunderbolt. She stared at Munkustrap, not comprehending, and then he began to twist and move, and he turned around, and around, and around and around...
Jenny put a cool rag on Victoria's face. Her eyes fluttered and she looked around. "What is everybody doing h-" She blinked. "Plato." She began to cry like a helpless kitten, suffering from loneliness and abandonment.
"There there, Vicky. We will have a funeral, where you can say goodbye. You don't need to worry about that. He will go in the Jellicle Graveyard, with all of the other cats." Jenny patted Vicky's shoulders.
A group of cats, Tumblebrutus, Pouncival, Munkustrap, Mungojerrie, and Victoria went to get Plato's body.
There was no blood anywhere. He had broken his neck, and that's all that happened. Victoria wept over his body. She looked at him closely, and saw a letter in his pocket.
My Dearest Victoria,
That was her!
My Dearest Victoria,
You were right. I should never leave you. Love
conquers all, remember? Right now I am on the road, coming back to you,
where we will live together forever. I can close my eyes right now, and
I
can see your beautiful white fur shining, and your green eyes
glistening.
Oh, how I long to be in your arms. I'll be home soon.
Love always,
Plato
He was acually coming back to her! Victoria cried more than she ever did before. She showed Munkustrap the note, and he hugged her as she cried on his shoulder.
"Victoria, at least you know he was coming back to see you. He loved you more than life itself." Munkustrap gave her one last squeeze.
The funeral was a long procession of mourners, for Plato was well known. Victoria was the mourner in honor, and all of the cats gave her little hugs and sympathies. Victoria looked behind her, and there was Macavity, crying. His brother was dead. The catnapper of all catnappers was acually feeling pain. That made Victoria cry more.
As Victoria passed his casket, she gave him one last kiss. " I will always love you, alive or not. No car can ever destroy that." She placed a gleaming garnet rose in his paws. Munksutrap lead her away.
That next day, Victoria felt a little funny. "Jenny, what's the matter with me?" She asked. Jenny looked over her and decided the diagnosis.
"I think you're going to have kittens, but you don't have a Tom." Jenny said, curiously. Victoria thought a while back. When she finally lost her innocence, it was also the last time she had, and the last person was...
"Plato!" She yelled. "Do you think they are his?" She can always have him by her now. She wanted a warrior, just like his father.
Jenny nodded, smiling.
"Oh, this is going to be wonderful!" Victoria exclaimed.
Victoria's best friend and sister Jemima was talking to her one day. "Vicky, I'm so glad you're happy again. I thought you would never get through with it. By the way, who's kittens are they?"
"They are His." She whispered lovingly.
The kittens were finally born, with the help of Jenny. Two kittens were born, a boy and a girl. "The boy's name is Plato, and the girl's name is Demeterina." At the name "Plato", Victoria felt a sense of sadness wash over her.
She shook it off and joined in the happiness. There was a great feast after this. As Victoria was carried over to a chair with her kittens, the cats sang and danced and ate. They were a merry gang.
The party died down after a couple of hours, and soon only Jenny, Jemima, Etcetera, Munkustrap, and Victoria were there. "If you don't mind, I have some important things to finish." Victoria said. Munkustrap watched Vicky walk over to the Jellicle Graveyard.
The tall green grass engulfed her as she walked to the graveyard. She wanted to talk to Plato, she wanted him to understand why she named her one son after her love.She looked around the other grave markers.
One large one was Old Dueteronomy's. It was a blue-ish colored stone, and it had the saying:" Come to me, my children." Victoria remembered the Jellicle Ball a year and a half ago, when the cats dressed as Pollicles, and they sang a song called "The Pekes and the Pollicles." Old Dueteronomy thought it was hilarious, and Victoria was right beside him, laughing along with him.
She looked around, and saw Grizabella's stone. It was a granite color, with the inscription, "Be different, or be damned". That saying fit her perfectly, the wild and precocious cat. Victoria remembered the same Jellicle Ball, when Grizabella wanted to be a part of the tribe again. After she sang her lonely song, Victoria was the one who put her paw into Grizabella's. How she missed her mother.
One of the newest gravestones was Gus's. He died a couple months ago, of old age. The last sentence he uttered was, "...I'll do it again!" The inscription on his was "...for he once was the star,of the highest degree. He has acted with Irving. He has acted with Tree." Victoria remembered the song that he and his daughter Jellylorum sang. It brought tears to every cat.
As Victoria walked past 500 years of Jellicle deaths, she reached Plato's grave. His read,"...may the Heaviside angels keep you safe forever. Until then, good night." She remembered, more vividly than the others, that night that she lost her innocence. He was the One, the only One. She will never love anybody ever again as much as she loved Plato.
"Well, Plato, you know now that you have a son and a daughter. Plato and Demeterina. They are fine kittens, healthy and strong. I just-" She broke off, sobbing. "I just miss you so much! If only you were here. Love will never ever let you be the same." She blinked her tears away.
As she walked out of the Graveyard, a wind began to blow. "I will always love you..." It seemed to say. "Until then, good night, Plato." Victoria whispered. "Good night." Her kittens waved for her. "I'm coming!" She called out.