~*We're Going to See the Sky*~
With this second chance, with this blessed hope, he made a promise—they'd see the world again.
~*X*~
Oswald thought to himself that maybe his status as the resident so-called "Lucky Rabbit" wasn't a cruel joke after all.
He kicked his feet up onto his new desk and heaved a contented sigh, arms folded behind his head. About two weeks ago, Mickey—yes that Mickey—had showed up in Wasteland and brought life and color back to the place. With the Phantom Blot vanquished, the Thinner gone, and the citizens of the world finally back on the right track, it was almost too much to be believed. Any moment now he expected to wake up from a dream, but the moment of waking never came.
And he began to believe.
He had been wrong. It had been hard to accept, but now that much, at least, was clear as day. He had been wrong about ol' Mickey Mouse. He wasn't some despicable spotlight-stealing charlatan, but rather a kindhearted fellow with an unfortunate penchant for mischief. All in the name of good fun. It had taken the little scamp years to at last atone for his mistake, which was bringing the Thinner Disaster upon Wasteland, but he had repaired the place with quite a spectacular show!
Who had known that fireworks were so powerful?
Oswald smiled to himself. Naturally Mickey wouldn't have been able to do it alone, not without him and Gus, but it had been the Mouse out on the frontlines…
Regardless. With the world again walking the correct path, he had decided it was time to take his old leadership position back—if they would let him. When the Blot had been rampaging about, he had been so consumed with jealousy for Mickey at the time that he probably hadn't been as helpful as he could have. He was plenty ashamed about it and willing to make up for his error if the townsfolk would let him.
Turns out, they were happy to take him back on as their leader. Oswald had tackled the task with gusto. Though Wasteland was back in one (fully restored) piece, there was still much to be done. Essential things needed to be organized, laws put back into place that had been allowed to dissipate over time…running an active nation-of-sorts was no easy task!
Fortunately, he wasn't alone. He had Gremlin Gus at his side and his tech-savvy team, he had the Animatronic Toons, Horace…heck, he even had Pete and his "underworld connections" if need be!
And, of course, he had—
"Ortensia!" Oswald cried happily, springing lightly to his feet with a grin so wide it would've hurt his face if he had bothered to notice such a trivial matter.
The door had swung open and there stood his beloved Ortensia, black tail curling over her back. Her pink skirt and hat accented her dark eyes in a positively enchanting way, at least so thought the love-struck rabbit, and he felt his smile widen.
She giggled as he moved to kiss her on the cheek; his chest feeling like a jackhammer was pounding against it. Ortensia had been lost to him for more years than he cared to remember, courtesy of the Phantom Blot. She had only recently returned to him from her "stone stasis state" and every time he saw her, he thanked the Mouse for his help.
Ortensia pecked his nose before sidling around him to pick up a sheet of paper on his desk. She studied it with a critical eye. "You have to be careful of Pete," she said in her high, lilting voice.
"Huh? What about him?' Oswald paced to her side and looked over her shoulder at the completely innocent looking document she was holding. He hadn't signed off on it yet, but as far as he could tell, it was a request to expand Mean Street. More Forgotten Toons were cropping up in Wasteland, which normally would have been quite depressing. However, the Rabbit's current ambition was to make the newcomers feel as welcome as possible, and he hadn't really been thinking about the implications behind their appearances just yet.
Her ear twitched in that sharp, jerky fashion that meant she was either exasperated or annoyed. The motion was so dear to him that Oswald sighed happily again. She tossed a quick smile his way before saying, "He's trying to hide it, but he's snuck in something about a new job position for him. If you had signed it…"
Oswald took the paper and scowled at it as if he could make the thing vanish with his resentment alone. "You're right!" He crumpled the thing up and tossed it into a trashcan. He then quickly jotted down a note about getting Pete to write the request again—sans the new position of "Governmental Enforcer".
Ortensia put a hand on his shoulder, her gaze bright with suppressed amusement. "You work too hard," she chastised kindly. "Why don't we take a break in the garden?"
"Whatever you want." He was more than happy to oblige. His office was a bright and cheerfully decorated place, but it was still an office, and no spectacular view of the city below would change that. He followed her down the steps, taking a few two at a time, and he marveled at the vivid hues that were splashed everywhere in Beauty Castle.
Color, he thought somewhat wryly. Shouldn't be something you should have to worry about losing.
He pushed the heavy oaken doors open with a Herculean effort, and with Ortensia at his side, he tromped out into the garden.
It was a beautiful place, with plenty of statues and gorgeous flowers that twined around the pillars. Dusty gold sunlight poured in from over the castle's stone walls, illuminating a veritable swarm of motes that floated about like fairies. The grass was soft and green again, and Oswald took in a deep breath, enjoying the clean scent and definitely not lamenting the loss of the Thinner's heavy stench.
Ortensia's tail rested comfortingly on his shoulder for a few beats, and then she walked off to stand beside a statue of Mickey. She cocked her head to the side, seemingly thoroughly pleased at its appearance. "You're finally over it?"
Oswald decided to play dumb. "Huh?"
She pointed to the gleaming silver figure of Mickey, Paint Brush in hand, standing heroically as if he was glaring down the Phantom Blot and the Mad Doctor. "You used to hate him. His very name was taboo."
"Yeah, well, that was before I found out he's not so bad after all." He meandered to the statue's base and rubbed away some dirt that had begun to accumulate over the bronze inscription, which was busy gleaming in the overhead light like discolored fire.
Dedicated to Mickey Mouse
For his heroic efforts in restoring our world
To its full glory
Beneath all of that was a pair of dates. The date where Mickey had first entered Wasteland, and the date he had departed. They were shockingly close together. To think he had made such a difference in so small a period…
Ortensia smiled. "That's good. It was so unlike you, to hold a grudge for so long…over someone you'd never met, no less!"
Oswald nervously flattened his long ears. "Yeah, I know. I feel sort of stupid now."
She took his hand in hers and squeezed. "No, what matters is that you've learned the truth. Don't worry about the rest. Come on, let's go sit down."
He nodded, thinking about her words, and obediently trailed after her as they followed the winding road into the garden. Eventually they found what they were searching for—a familiar spot outside of a small grove of trees.
The wooden bench looked exactly as it always had, Thinner Disaster, Paint Miracle, and all. The brown wood was glossy and the black metal caught the sunrays and held it. The two sat down beside each other, hands still clasped, and Oswald watched a trio of red cardinals chase each other through the nearby branches.
"I'm glad I get to be with the kids again!" Ortensia exclaimed delightedly. She followed his stare and was soon surveying the birds, just as he was.
Snapping out of his reverie, the Lucky Rabbit bobbed his head repeatedly. "They've not been this happy in a long time. I'm so glad you're back, Ortensia!"
She laughed. "As you tell me every day."
"This place was a mess without you." Oswald grimaced and cast his mind back into the bleaker days of Wasteland. "I'm a mess at politics if you're not here, first of all, and secondly—"
"Pete's a bully and drives you up the wall?"
"Yeah, but mostly…" He looked at her. "Mostly it made this place a living heck. I mean, if it hadn't been for the kids, I'd not had seen any point in fighting at all."
She gasped and drew her free hand up to cover her mouth momentarily. A few seconds later, she lowered it and tapped her cheek musingly. "You missed me that much?"
"Of course I did!" Oswald was appalled that she had even bothered to think otherwise.
"Oswald, I'm touched." He could tell that she was, however she continued to speak. "But you have to remember your duty to the rest of the Forgotten Toons."
"I know, I know." Oswald hunched his shoulders miserably, reflecting on his past attitude and actions (or rather lack thereof) but Ortensia interrupted his depression with a loving kiss. He was certain that he had a bubblegum pink mark on his face now, but there were too many butterflies fluttering around in his stomach for him to care.
"Don't worry about it." She gazed at the castle for a few seconds, and then at the sky. "How do you think Mickey is doing?"
For a moment, something unpleasant writhed in his chest. Oswald recognized it now for what it was…jealousy. He batted it away and answered his wife honestly. "Probably basking in the glow of popularity, knowingly or not." The words came out more sour than he had wanted.
She glanced at him and patted his hand, seeing his moody expression. "…What do you think the world is like now, since we left it?"
Oswald frowned at that. That was a difficult question. Who knew? Was the world beyond Wasteland like Tomorrow Land? Still the way he had remembered it, with whistling trains and swinging music? Or maybe something else entirely…?
Suddenly, he was consumed with an all-too-familiar raging desire to see it. He didn't want to hear about it on the chance that Mickey returned, didn't want to just glimpse it from the other side of a looking glass…he wanted to actually live in it. Walk it. He and Ortensia and their many adorable and precious children, which had been all that had kept him going for a while, especially when he had taken the difficult task upon himself of guarding the Phantom Blot's Thinner bottle, which had landed on Mickeyjunk Mountain.
Not just his family either. The citizens of Wasteland. That would be the greatest gift of all.
He stood up and took both of Ortensia's hands, gripping them firmly but gently. Her dark eyes widened with surprise at his fierce words. "I don't know what it's like now…but I promise you, Ortensia, that I'll get us out of here. We'll leave Wasteland eventually, one day soon, and then we'll get to see everything for ourselves! We won't have to be content just looking at a painted sun…I'll do it, somehow. We're going to see the sky! The real sky, which can't be destroyed just because some nut spilled a little Thinner."
She blinked, once, twice, three times before she could stumble through a shocked word. "Os-Oswald…"
Abruptly embarrassed, he let go of her and coughed self-consciously into his hand. "So, are you with me, Ortensia?" He found an unexpectedly fantastic interest in how the nails on his left foot grew.
She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight there in their garden, and said softly, "It's like what I told you before we went to confront the Phantom Blot. I'm always with you, no matter what you decide to do."
Oswald felt his heart—(which really shouldn't exist by the way)—warm up as if someone had replaced his blood with all kinds of sweet and hot things, like chocolate chip cookies and apple pie.
"Thanks, Ortensia. I'll get us out of here, I promise."
"I know you will."
Author's Note: Abrupt ending is abrupt. Anyway, here's a small dedication of mine to Oswald and Ortensia, I love these two! Sorry I have no idea how Ortensia speaks since we never really find out. Reviews are appreciated!