A.N: Hello and welcome to my 14th story of fanfiction. This one is in honor of the two Epic Mickey games that came out to day and it's Mickey's 84th Birthday, so Happy Birthday to him. And as you can see this is focusing on Epic Mickey: The Power of Illusion. Now mind you I first started writing this right after reading the very first Nintendo Power (May it R.I.P.) article on the game so for any in-game inaccuracies, shut up and deal with it. Because of the way they worded it in the article it made me think that there's a 50/50 chance that Minnie is actually an illusion, I even originally intended to have two endings for that purpose. One with my Illusion!Minnie, and one with the real one. This was even supposed to be a little bit longer but I ran out of time. so it is what it is. Please Read and Review!

Disclaimer: all characters belong to Disney and Junction Point Studios and DreamRift.

Mickey Mouse didn't hesitate when Oswald appeared on his television to give him strange and troubling news that not only was there a random castle that recently appeared in Wasteland, but its troublesome inhabitant, a witch who calls herself Mizerabel, was causing trouble, and that Minnie was spotted in her castle...That's what did it for Mickey. He jumped right through his TV again since "Minnie" and "Wasteland" were in the same sentence. Once he took the detour through Master Yen Sid's workshop to get the magic brush, the first question out of the mouse's mouth was "Where's this 'mysterious' castle Imma hearin' 'bout?"

Oswald of course led him right to the front step but the rabbit would go no further, because for some reason, he just couldn't. "It's the darndest thing, Mickey! I can't seem to open the front door, and whenever I hop up to the balcony up there, it's like there's an invisible wall or somethin' preventin' me from goin' any farther! But I know what I saw! Minnie is definitely in there! Maybe you could get in since you're not from around here. I have a feelin' whatever that invisible wall is won't allow anyone without a heart in. So you just might have a chance, Mickey. " Oswald explained as best he could of his hunch.

Oswald's hunch may have been right, as Mickey had absolutely no problem walking on in. As soon as he was inside, he was instantly hit with a wave of déjà vu simply because he felt like he had been in this castle before... but when? Come to think of it, the witch's name, Mizerabel, sounded familiar as well. Actually, the entire situation of Minnie being kidnapped by a witch was eerily familiar...Oh well, he'd figure it out later. Right now, Minnie was his top priority.

Ages later, Mickey found that this castle of illusion was a complicated yet simple environment. Everything was an illusion yet real enough to follow some basic laws of physics. For instance, when he was in the "room" that represented the underwater kingdom of Atlantica, he had to stay in his air bubble as he moved through the water to keep from drowning. Regardless, he could still tell no matter which "room" or (more accurately) world he was in, that it was all a very intricate illusion simply because small pieces of the castle itself couldn't fully become part of the illusion given. So a castle pillar would be in the bay next to the Jolly Roger in the Neverland world, or a random piece of the castle's ceiling would be in the sky no matter where he went.

Unfortunately, Mickey found he did have other priorities besides saving Minnie. Apparently, Mizerabel is planning on trying to leave Wasteland and has been kidnapping other popular characters to do it, or at least, their essences. Therefore, the characters that were kidnapped, like Peter Pan, The Beast, Rapunzel, Goofy and even Scrooge McDuck, were all actually illusions. Afterall, they definitely didn't belong in Wasteland, plus none of them knew who Mickey was when he found them, even Goofy. They were all just lost souls, lost souls who needed their own rooms in the safer parts of the castle to remind them of where they came from. Because they were illusions, it made Mickey wonder about his resolve to rescue Minnie, and if he came all this way for nothing just because she might be an - ! No, he shouldn't think like that, his worries should be focused on her safety. After all, the energy to create so much - especially this much into making illusions - has to come from somewhere. Mickey shuddered to think that his lady love was being used as a power source of that energy. So he set off once again, hoping that this door would be his las-!

"Just a minute lad!" Or that door could wait just a little bit longer... Mickey stopped in his tracks and even almost tripped at the sudden interruption. He turned to see Scrooge McDuck waddling towards him with cane in hand. "Sorry 'bout startlin' ye, but I find that it's rather important. I just wanted to warn ye so's ye don't get yer hopes up. I'm sure ye've probably already realized the extent of the illusions," he waved his free hand behind him to the other characters, socializing outside their rooms, who obviously didn't belong in Wasteland. "So try not to be too disappointed in case that sweet lass of yers is actually one of us," he added as he patted Mickey's shoulder. "Just do what ye believe is right, lad."

"Thanks Mr. McDuck...I'll try ta keep it in mind," Mickey replied cheerfully to the mallard's sympathy, but trailed off uneasily at the implications that he had secretly been dreading. Regardless of whatever Mickey was feeling at the moment, he trucked onward, ready to face anything that may lay ahead of him with hopes that he wouldn't have to call for back up. This was something he wanted to do alone.

"Mickey!" she cried as she ran towards him. The battle was over, Minnie was safe, but the question in Mickey's head lingered...Is it really her? How on Earth would he even know for certain that it was her or not? Logically, he could question all of this, but emotionally he ran towards her as well with open arms reaching out to her as if he couldn't get to her fast enough. They flung themselves at each other once they were close enough to do so...but their embrace was not meant to be.

She went right through him, and though she was just an illusion, she could still feel the small kiss as her lips coincidentally passed through his, and she could swear she also felt his heart break into pieces as her chest incidentally went through his as well. Of course the same exact thing could be said on Mickey's end of feeling all this, as he figured that her broken heart was caused by the fact that he was not her Mickey. Well, the feeling was mutual for him, but it was more so the heart wrenching fact that she wasn't real.

So stunned were they about all of this in a matter of milliseconds, that from the momentum of fling themselves at each other, they both fell flat on their faces. Well, Mickey hit the ground harder than Minnie did, as she mostly stumbled. In any case, as Mickey picked himself up and off the ground he heard her sniffle, and instantly knew she was crying. Frankly, he himself would be lying if he said he wasn't about to cry as well.

"Oh," she whimpered, "You're not my Mickey!"

"And you're not my Minnie," Mickey replied just as sadly. He was not going to cry, he had his manly pride to maintain.

"Where is he?" she asked, and he assumed she meant her Mickey. He shook his head.

"Never saw 'im. An' I don't think Mizerabel got ta create 'im neither since she never got her hands on me," he explained, sharing his theory as to why there wasn't an illusion of him simply because the witch never got his essence.

"But...since you defeated her, then why is the castle still standing?" As if on cue, the ground started shaking and their surrounding environment started to blink in and out of its visual reality: invisible, visible, invisible, visible, etc. Even Minnie started to turn see-through. Mickey rushed to her side, disregarding all facts that were aforementioned, and tried to usher her to the door. "Mickey, what are you doing?! You need to get out of here!" Which of course wasn't working since his hands went right through her shoulders.

"I'm not leavin' without ya Min! Now c'mon!" He kept trying anyway even though it was obviously useless, and he was getting frustrated because she wasn't moving and clearly had no intention of going anywhere. However, she did finally stand up to confront him.

"Mickey Mouse! You get out of here this instant!" she protested, pointing a finger to the door behind her.

"Not without you!" he shot back, still hopelessly trying to grab and hold something of her in an effort to make her move. He only stopped trying when her hand went through his head, as she had apparently tried to slap him as she made the sound effect anyway by clapping her hands after the sudden movement.

"ENOUGH! YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW! THERE ISN'T MUCH TIME SO DON'T ARGUE! THINK OF THE REAL ME! SHE MOST CERTAINLY WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO DIE HERE, AND I MOST CERTAINLY DON'T WANT MY FINAL MOMENTS TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU DYING! NOW GET GOING!" she screamed at him with bucket loads of tears in her eyes.

There was never a more heart wrenching way to make Mickey feel more useless than ever than whenever she was crying. Whenever she cried, there was never much he could do except hold her and offer as many words of comfort as he could offer depending on what she was crying about. As she was now, even if only an illusion, there was nothing he could do to make her tears stop flowing. Nothing he could do to wipe the pain from her face. He felt useless, and he couldn't even touch her. Absolutely nothing could be done except for him to obey her command to leave...reluctantly of course, but not without a regretful kiss goodbye...even if it really couldn't be felt.

He walked right through her, making sure his head was angled down enough for his lips to pass through hers. Then he turned around and started walking backwards to the door refusing to have her leave his sight until the last moment. She slowly turned around, faintly blushing, and knew fully well of what he tried to do, and when she saw what he was doing now she couldn't help but choke out a chuckle. "You know I'd stay with ya if ya'd just let me, Minnie," he smirked sadly while feeling for the door handle. She turned her head away at that statement, because she didn't want to say goodbye.

"Just go!" she forced herself to cry out. He very reluctantly obeyed (it took him five more seconds), but one wouldn't have been able to tell just by looking at the situation, since at her command (and the five seconds), he opened the door and booked it out of there.

He ran as fast as he could down the hallway as the ceilings and floors crumbled around him. He jumped over sudden fissures that ripped open in his path, and he avoided pieces of the ceiling that threatened to squash him like a bug. All the while he cursed himself for not sticking to his gut and accepting the possibility that this Minnie would be an illusion. As he kept on running, he cursed himself for thinking that and for not disobeying her and staying by her side like he should have. He could imagine her now just sitting there crying while she waits patiently for the end to come in the form of she, the castle, and the other characters of illusion to just vanish from existence. The real Minnie would have wanted to see him until her last breath, but it was too late to turn back now, he knew that if he did he'd find the door ultimately blocked by a huge piece of the ceiling. So it was definitely too late, far too late, past the point of no return.

So engulfed was he in his self pity that he didn't even notice that the ground had vanished from under him. When he did, well, down he went. He didn't even care how much it was going to hurt when he hit the ground, he wouldn't die after all, he was a Toon. So he'd be a puddle of ink and paint for a few seconds and then regain his shape immediately afterwards, but that doesn't mean its not going to hurt plenty.

Thankfully, Mickey didn't have to worry about hitting the ground. Oswald snatched him out of the sky using his ears like a helicopter. Once they both landed safely, Oswald noticed the sad and depressing look on Mickey's face. The rabbit couldn't remember a time when the mouse was this sad. He almost didn't want to ask Mickey about what had happened in there, but he had to for the sake of things.

"So uh, how'd it go in there, Mickey?"

"Fine, 'cept everything was fake," Mickey responded solemnly.

"What about that witch that was causin' trouble? What was her name? Mizerabel? Yeah, what about her?" Oswald asked, changing the subject.

"Omigosh I forgot! I don't really know, after I defeated her my attention was entirely on Minnie!" Mickey answered excitedly, but then went back to depression at his next sentence. "Who wasn't even real..."

"Hey, Oswald! What did yous want me ta do with dis witch here?" Big Bad Pete called out from behind them, holding a much smaller Mizerabel with one hand scruffing the back of her cloak. She was no longer looking like Maleficent and instead looked more like Witch Hazel, only with gray hair instead of blonde. She certainly looked harmless but just to be sure...

"Lock her up in a really safe place, Pete! We don't want any of this happening again!" Oswald called back, and then turned to Mickey and started whispering. "Listen, I know how ya feel. I couldn't tell ya how many times I hallucinated that Ortensia was with me even though she was still a statue locked up in the castle. It pained me so many times that it was just an illusion in my mind. I lost her once, and I ain't gonna lose her again. Now you can kinda say the same thing I guess."

Mickey looked up at him hopefully.

"That's the spirit! Now c'mon, let's get you home to your lady! She needs you whether she knows it or not!" Oswald said cheerfully.

Thus, Mickey went home on yet another firework that Oswald had stored safely in a place that Ortensia would never find them. Once Mickey was out of Yen Sid's workshop, he went straight over to Minnie's house, carrying a bouquet of flowers. Should the need arise, only she could comfort him and make his worries go away, but he wouldn't let his worries show too much. He only went over to tell her how much he loved her and to simply find comfort in her presence. Though she did find his behavior a little off due to some underlying sadness that he was trying his best not to show, she didn't question it. Knowing that he would tell her what was bothering him when he felt like it. He never did tell her but then, they both forgot anyway due to them being distracted by their passionate kisses to one another. So Mickey's sadness of illusion faded away just like that, but then, Minnie always made him forget about his worries.

The End