A/N: Okay, unlike the last chapter, the style of this final installation will be more normal – there's no going back and forth between the lands of the living and somewhere in between (but feel free to pretend Demeter's spirit is lingering in the background while the events play out).

Jemima ran to the center of the Junkyard from the river where she had gotten a sudden idea, she ran straight toward Mistoffelees. "Hey!" She put an arm on his shoulder as she slightly doubled over in her troubling effort to catch her breath. "I have an idea, but I need to know if you think it could work."

Misto's expression was forlorn, as was everyone's face who still remained in the Junkyard clearing. Munkustrap was still sitting on the ground cradling his mate. His sobs were quieter now, but the tears continued to flow. Nevertheless, though Misto was just as distraught by the recent events, he humored Jemima, and speaking in a low tone, asked, "What's your idea?"

"I think I can rescue Demeter. I think I can save my mom!" Jemima was getting excited, and some of the others were picking up on this oddly energetic, positive behavior. Misto guided the young queen to the side where there were less cats, and looked her sternly in the eyes.

"Jemima, your mother is dead. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for you to grasp this, especially after just being reunited with her, but we have to face reality; we have to acknowledge what just happened here. She was attacked, her stomach was practically shredded to pieces," Misto winced at his own gruesome description, "and there isn't anything we can do for her now."

"But the shocks that I can generate from my paws-" Jemima was interrupted by the mystical feline.

"No Jemima, magic cannot save her. It's too late. Besides, nothing like that has ever been done before. Don't you think if there were something more to do that I would do it? That I would agree to try? Demeter was your mother, was Munkustrap's mate, but she was also my friend." Jemima's expression was unchanging. Misto took in a heavy breath. "Munkustrap is never going to be the same, to tell him there's a chance to bring Demeter back would lift up his hopes only so they could be smashed back down to the ground again. It wouldn't be right, Jem."

"Misto, if you'll just hear me out! I can restart her heart! I can use my powers to bring her back to us, she doesn't have to be gone!"

"She is gone, though. She's gone, Jem." Mistoffelees spoke sadly.

"No! I won't give up!" Jemima, greatly dissatisfied with the tuxedoed tom's attitude, moves toward Demeter's form, clutched in Munkustrap's grasp. She gingerly places a paw on the tabby's shoulder. At her touch, the broken silver feline looks over his shoulder at the young queen standing there. His face crumples further and he reaches out to hold her tiny paw. He knows they must stay close now, he knows that now each other is all they have.

"Munkus," Jemima sits down next to him, speaking softly in his ear, "I think she may still have a chance. I would like to try something, with your permission of course." Munkustrap is silent, he stares at the ground absently. "I would like to try 'jumpstarting' my mother's heart, I want to try giving us another chance of living a long and happy life with her."

Munkustrap looks into Jemima's eyes, their faces in close proximity to each other. Jemima can see the deep sorrow in his eyes, his shattered soul in pieces, like shards of glass scattered untidily all over the floor.

"Please let me try." She pleads.

"Alright." Munkustrap mumbles almost inaudibly. He tenderly and with the utmost effort to be gentle, lays Demeter on the ground, moving aside so Jemima may have room to perform whatever it was she was about to do.

Jemima looked at the body of her mother. The bleeding wound now hardly bled at all. What was once a raging river now seemed more like the trickle of a leaky faucet. She brushed some stray strands from her mother's face, and leaned in close to kiss her on the cheek. "Please let this work." Jemima whispered to herself.

She placed her paws on her mother's chest, ignoring how cold the surface had become already. There was a stiffness setting in, a thing Jemima did not like feeling on a body that she knew to be so lively and warm. She ignored it all, she ignored everything: her surroundings, her friends, her home, her past, her mother's recent departure from this world, and she ignored the stress of the moment as most eyes rested on her while she attempted to perform a feat of magic like no other.

Jemima held her paws in front of her face and concentrated. She could feel the power coursing through her veins, rising up like it had every time she had summoned it for use in the past. It always came from within, it always came from her heart. Soon the purple and blue sparks formed around her claws. The sparks soon became longer, they slithered around Jemima's arms, flashing brightly and contorting whimsically. She was building up a charge, one that would hopefully be strong enough to cause Demeter's heart to begin pumping again, to warm the cold body, to loosen its stiffened state, to make her mother's eyes spring open and her lungs take a vitalizing breath.

The moment had come, Jemima could feel it, and she could also feel the strength and intensity of her powers building to a maximum. She had to be careful, she didn't want to fry her mother, and she didn't want to treat her like the lamp she had been given by Misto, an item she had spent so many hours practicing with. She just needed enough, that was it – just enough to get the job done and nothing more. She didn't want to do damage, she wanted to heal.

Jemima pushed her paws down onto her mother's fur, above her heart. She propelled the jolts of electricity through Demeter's body and she watched as the golden-ebony queen's body jerked slightly with the abrupt force. Jemima felt for a pulse when the first wave of electricity had been delivered. There was nothing.

She tried again. It took less time for her to summon enough magic to generate the electricity and before long another round of jolts had been sent through Demeter's body, again it jerked at the contact, and again there had been no change.

"One more time," Jemima said to herself aloud. "Come on mom, breathe for me." She administered the bright charge through again, and nothing had changed, but she wasn't ready to give up. This was her mother lying before her, someone who had loved her for her entire life, even when she couldn't be there for her. She had spent so much time searching for her, trying to group what was left of her family back together, she had risked a lot to find her, to keep her safe, and there was no way Jemima was going to let things end like this. She needed her mother, she needed to be able to cuddle up with her at night in Munkustrap's cozy bed, she needed to hear her mother humming in the kitchen as she would wake up in the early morning hours of the day, she needed to feel her mother's lips kiss her softly, she needed the guidance only a mother could give, she needed that bond, the relationship, as much as she needed air to breathe with.

Jemima refused to quit. She sent round after round of electric shocks through her mother's body but still she hadn't woken. Her plan had failed her, and she was getting angry - angry at the Everlasting Cat for taking her mother away and yet again ripping her family from her, and mad at herself for not being able to save her mother.

Her electricity grew stronger as her frustration rose. Demeter's body jerked more violently, matching the rage engulfing the poor young queen. Misto came over to her, and placed his two paws on either shoulder as she gradually stopped trying, as she allowed the sobs to consume her. Mistoffelees knelt beside the two kindred queens, and Jemima buried her face in her friend's chest.

Mistoffelees patted her head to comfort her, he didn't know what else to do. He gazed at Demeter, who didn't seem any more dead or alive than before Jemima had made an attempt to restore her life. He stood up with Jemima beside him, ushering the queen to his den where she could get some sleep. He knew the magic she had conjured would make her feel exhausted within a few moments.

Jemima was permitting herself to be lead away from the scene, but she hadn't gotten more than a few steps away before a thunderous, guttural howl escaped her throat. As she let this involuntary eruption of emotion rip from her core, she spun out of Misto's grasp and let one final burst of lightning sparks enter her mother's body. She collapsed over her, clutching onto her fur tightly. Now she felt like Munkustrap, totally lost and destroyed. Her clean fur was mingling with the stained coat of her mother, becoming tainted with blood the longer she stayed there, but she didn't care.

Then she heard it – it was a beat. Jemima's head snapped up, and she looked at her mother's face. "Unbelievable, I did it!" Jemima cried. Demeter groaned softly, and her chest began to rise and fall as oxygen filled her lungs. Munkustrap's eyes were surely fooling him, he must be dreaming, there must be some form of deception going on, but alas, even after he rubbed his eyes profusely, the scene before him did not change. Demeter, after dying tragically, was beginning to stir as if she were waking from a slumber.

"Quickly, Jelly! Fetch some towels!" Jellylorum, her mouth agape and slightly dumbfounded, ran off to her den and quickly returned with the towels.

"Mom, can you hear me? It's your daughter, it's Jemima. I'm right here." She grabbed onto her paw and squeezed it tightly. Jemima smiled gloriously as she felt her mother squeeze it back.

Munkustrap was there beside his mate in an instant, grabbing onto Demeter's other paw and kissing it. "Everlasting Cat, Demeter! Don't you ever do that to me again."

Demeter smiled faintly, as if she was trying to laugh. Soon her grin disappeared as Jellylorum pressed the towel to Demeter's belly, against the wound. Demeter winced and even flinched at the contact made by the towel against her abdomen. Munkustrap petted her face softly. "I love you so much, Demeter. Don't ever leave me."

Demeter looked to her daughter, and spoke in a hoarse but audible voice, "Thank you."

Jemima smiled broadly, "Shh, mother. Don't talk now, you have to rest. You have to save your strength."

Jellylorum lifted the towel, there was a minimal amount of blood that was on the cloth. "Alright, let's get her into my den, I need to tend to this wound as soon as possible. Demeter's got a long way ahead of her if she's going to make it out of this alright." As Demeter was carried off to the den, Jemima knew her mother would be okay, she knew that despite the months of healing that lay before them, Demeter would be just fine.

A few hours later:

Jemima sat at Demeter's bedside. A bandage was wrapped around Demeter's midsection tightly, but not so tight as to keep her from breathing adequately. She was sleeping peacefully, something Jemima knew she herself would be doing soon. She hadn't rested since she performed the day's magic, and her body was in protest of the fact that her eyes were still open and she wasn't laying down some place comfortable.

Jemima stroked her mother's paw, and rest her head on her lap. "You know Jem honey," Demeter spoke quietly, much to Jemima's surprise, "I don't much care for these games we've been playing. No more losing and finding each other, okay? Enough with the lost and found routine."

Jemima grinned, "You got it."

"You should be sleeping. You've been through a lot." Demeter nuzzled her daughter's paw, holding it close to her face.

Munkustrap was in the doorway of the room, and soon he spoke up. "The both of you are long overdue for some rest."

He sat down beside Demeter on the bed, trying to keep the mattress from moving too much, anything to prevent Demeter from feeling any more pain. "Hi, beautiful." He pressed his paw against Demeter's face and loved that she leaned into his touch. Considering how close he had come to losing her, he was grateful to even hear the in and out motion of her breathing.

"Hi, handsome." Demeter returned the greeting, grinning happily, as her face remained in Munkustrap's paw.

"You know mom, I don't know what made me do it. I don't know what made me think to try saving you the way I did."

Demeter took her head away from his paw and desperately tried to sit up, and when the pain was too much to bear and she realized that wouldn't work, she settled for merely rolling over onto her side. Her weakness and vulnerability did not go unnoticed by Munkustrap, of course.

"I know what it was, Jem. It was me."

Jemima looked confused by this.

"I came to you when you were crying by the river, and I kissed your head, and in that moment you had your idea."

"How did you know what to do?"

Demeter took a shaky breath, she would need to sleep soon, but she needed to tell her daughter what had happened.

"I knew what to do because of your father, because of Macavity. He was there. He told me I had a choice, that I could either go with him or stay with you and Munkus. I think you know what I chose, darling. So then I came to visit you - I couldn't have you be so sad when I was so close by. You needed a little push."

"Oh mom," Jemima sighed, "thank you for not leaving. Thank you for staying with us." Jemima delicately climbed into bed with her mother, being careful not to disturb her bandaging or the wound that lie beneath. Demeter pulled her closer, though her stomach ached in protest with every move she made. Jemima rested on her back, her head tucked under Demeter's chin, while Demeter gently stroked Jemima's head fur.

"You should also know Jem, that your father loves you. He wanted me to tell you that."

Jemima smiled at her mother's words, she tucked herself closer next to her mother.

Munkustrap cleared his throat and spoke. "You did a good thing, Jemima. If it weren't for you then Demeter wouldn't be here right now. I'd be happy if you would let me be your father, from this time onward."

Jemima was speechless for a moment, but soon wasted no time relaying her emotions to the silver tom. "I would love that, Munkustrap, well… father. I would be honored if you'd have me for a daughter."

Munkustrap smiled, then looked to Demeter, who's eyes were drooping heavily as she battled against sleep. She was smiling though, for now she had another family, and things were finally feeling the way they should, the way they had all those years ago when she and Macavity were starting out together. Things were moving in the right direction. Finally, happiness was found, and she vowed never to lose it again.

The End