The Secret of NIMH: Jonathan Alive
I decided I would continue this story. Keep in mind, I am in college, so that will obviously be more important than fanfiction.
A big thanks to my first reviewer for telling about my spelling error! I had no idea I was spelling Jonathan wrong the whole time! XD I checked the correct spelling on the web and hopefully I broke my habit of spelling it wrong. I will leave the first chapter alone, just people can see my mistakes.
I hope you enjoy this fanfic-adaption of the Secret of NIMH!
"Mr. Ages! Mr. Ages? Is anybody home!" Elizabeth shouted into the fuming threshing-machine.
She was greeted with a cranky, echoey, "Go away!"
Mrs. Brisby slowly slid into the entrance of the machine. She cautiously eyed one of the sharp, metal spikes on her decent. "Mr. Ages!"
"What is it!" It sounded like he bumped his head.
"Mr. Ages!" She said with a bit more force. "May I please speak to you!"
"What!?"
Elizabeth looked down a dark chute and shouted. "I said, may I please speak-" she gasped as the old mouse had climbed up from the platform behind her, coughing up fumes. "-with you..." She pressed a hand to her heart in relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I'm so glad you're home."
Mr. Ages hacked a bit more, taking off his glasses to rub the smoke off of them. "Confounded machine! You never know when it's gonna up and blow!" He said aggravated.
"Yes." She quickly agreed with him. "I don't suppose you would remember me."
"Yes, yes. You're Mrs. Brisby." He said bearishly. He looked at his cleaned glasses. "Now if you'll excuse me." He ducked back under the platform.
"Mr. Ages!" She cried after him.
"Great Jupiter women! What do you want!" He shouted in a cranky-sort of whine.
She turned quickly, as he had appeared on the other side of the platform. "Mr. Ages, I know you don't like visitors, but this is an emergency, please."
As if on cue, the machine rattled, startling the mice. Mr. Ages fell and rolled down the thresher like a slide, falling over the edge. Elizabeth quickly chased after with mouse-like grace. She peered over the edge to see the elder mouse laying on a basket, held up by a rope system.
"Ma-" He coughed. "Madame, that is an emergency!"
Elizabeth shook her head. "Oh, Mr. Ages. My son Timothy is so sick, and Jonathan is in bad condition as well."
Mr. Ages pulled the rope, making the basket rise. "Timmy? The one with the spider bite? Just give him some pepsissiwa root and-"
Elizabeth grabbed him by his shirt. "No! No, he's sick with a fever!"
He sighed, exasperated with the mother. "Well, I guess I could fix something up for him. And your husband too."
The brown farm mouse clasped her heart. "Oh, thank you!"
"Follow me, but don't touch anything!" He said in grouchy warning. "Understand?"
She nodded, climbing into the basket.
.
Jonathan sighed. He wasn't sure how to react. The Plan had gone without a hitch, meaning the time for moving day was near. Drugging Dragon had been his mission, and he almost payed for it with his life. 'It'll be worth it.' He thought. Thorn Valley was almost in fruition. The rats wouldn't have to live in fear of humans any longer!
But he couldn't leave his family behind. How could he suddenly explain the last three-and-a-half years of their relationship? He had constantly lied to her, to the point it felt almost normal! To just suddenly blurt out the truth would just be... be...
"She would hate me forever... and she would have every right too." He murmured into the sheets. He inhaled. They smelled like her. 'No... I can't tell her the truth. It would ruin everything.' He exhaled, getting drunk off her scent. '... but she will notice... she'll grow old, and I... will stay young, along with the kids.' He burrowed his face in the sheets dejectedly. "Oh, what have I done... we're married with four kids, and yet she still thinks I'm solely a farm mouse. I am such a fool!" He raised his head, looking towards the make-shift door. "I have dug my own grave. Now it is only a matter of time before I'm pushed into it."
The depressed mouse sighed, then shifted onto his back. "No use lamenting over it." He tested his leg, seeing if he could move it without inflicting pain. No dice. "Augh!" He muffled his cry into the pillow, as to not alert the kids. 'Nope. No use trying to walk out. I could never run out to see Nicodemus then come back. She'd be here before I could even limp even remotely close to the rosebush.' He groaned. 'And then I'd be in real trouble with her.'
Rolling onto his back once more, Jonathan relaxed his muscles and let out a deep breath. 'May as well get some sleep...'
.
Elizabeth walked down the path to home. The old mouse had given her medicine to bring down Timothy's fever, and help Jonathan cope with the pain of his leg. She walked into a log, but her ears twitched, hearing something ahead.
A crow flapped uselessly against the red string he was tangled up in. The mouse couldn't help her curiosity and climbed up the log. She laid her medicine packets on some of the caught string and looked down at the thwarted bird. She couldn't help but smile in amusement. "Is everything alright, here?" She almost giggled.
The crow let out panicked cries before realizing it was just a mouse. "Lady! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"I didn't mean to frighten you." Elizabeth said apologetically.
"Oh, uh. You didn't frighten me. You just, uh, broke my concentration!" He excused himself.
"It looks like your all tangled up!" Mrs. Brisby responded to the bird, starting to untangle the knots.
The bird climbed up. "Uh, yeah! That's enough exercise for one day!" He chuckled sheepishly. "Besides, I'm really after this terrific string!" He said enthusiastically. "I'm working on a love nest for two." He snickered. "You know what I mean?"
"Oh I see," She pulled some string from his foot."you have a girl."
"Well," He started, shaking some tangled string off. "not really. I mean, I haven't found miss right, yet. But when I do," He got up, dramatically, swooning against the string. "The whole world, will hear us singing!" He fell backwards into the water.
Elizabeth watched the eccentric bird climb back up apologizing to no one. "You keep making all that noise, and Dragon will hear you!" She warned him. She kinda liked him. He was sort of an oddball, but he was quite humorous. Now if only he could stay quiet for just a minute. "If he hasn't already..."
"But wouldn't you sing too, if you felt the call of the world!"
"I would-" She lowered her voice. "I would not, if I knew there was a cat nearby." She bit the string with her sharp teeth.
"But she's out there! Somewhere! And when I find her, I'll feel it! Way down in my wishbone! I ah - what cat?"
"Dragon." She said in a low voice. "He belongs to Farmer Fitzgibbons. Look towards the house. See if you can see him." The crow flies onto the logs dead branch, causing the mouse to shriek in fear. "C-come back down here! He'll see you for sure!"
"Hey! Is that your relatives over there?" He asked.
"What?" Elizabeth, out of curiosity, climbed the string to where the crow was. True to his word, there were rodents near the Fitzgibbons house. But they weren't mice but... rats!
Mrs. Brisby shook her head. "N... no... I'm not a rat, I'm a mouse..." She continued to watch, as a small patrol of rats entered the house one-by-one from a house under the houses front door. "Why would a group of rats want to go inside?" She asked herself.
Suddenly the black bird flew down from the branch and pecked at the string. "There's no cat out there. Not that it mattered! I'm allergic to cats, I'd be sneezing my brains out if there was one nearby. Hey, by the way, I'm Jeremy!" He said enthusiastically.
Mrs. Brisby still felt off about what she saw, she almost ignored him. "Yes... Oh! I'm Mrs. Brisby! It's very nice to meet you, Jeremy!" She said politely, while biting the strings.
The crow shook the excess string off of him. "Thanks!" He flapped his wings, gathered the cut string in his talons. "You did me a real favor!"
"Oh, your welcome." The she-mouse replied. She picked up pack of medicine and started climbing down the log. "Goodbye!"
"W-wait a minute!" He tripped and fell into the water again. "s'cuse me, pardon me!" He climbed himself onto a stone. "Do you like me!"
"Of course I like you. Bye now." She hopped the stones.
"No! I mean, uh... you don't think I'm clumsy or anything?"
The mouse stopped on the rock and faced him. "If you want to father a nest, you'll need to learn how to properly treat a lady!" She informed.
The bird flapped the water out of his wings, ruffling his feathers. "You're right! And when you're right, you're right! And you're right!" He paused for a moment. "Say, you used to be a girl once. You could teach me too... teach me too..."
"Behave yourself?" She filled in. She hopped off the stone and into the edge of the tall grass.
"I'm not that bad!" He defended himself.
"Jeremy, I really need to get home now."
"Ooh! Let me fly you home! We can talk on the way."
She shook her head. "Oh, no, no! I'm afraid of heights."
He followed after her into the grass. "Okay! We'll walk then."
"Bye now."
No dice, the crow trailed her steps. "I think I got real potential! Girls like the athletic type, right?"
"Jeremy, your stepping on my tail."
"Oh! Excuse me, pardon me!"
.
Jonathan woke up in his bed. His internal clock telling him it was late. He felt himself worry, as his wife wasn't home in bed with him. 'Visiting Mr. ages and coming back couldn't take so long... unless something happened to deter her from coming home.' He stretched his bandaged leg, testing it. "Still hurts, but I can manage." He got out of bed and limped for a stick. Using it as a crutch, he balanced himself. His ears pricked up at the sound of an argument.
"Spoiled brat!"
"Loud mouth!"
Jonathan rubbed his temples. "And once more... they are at it again." He shook his head. While he wasn't a fan of Auntie Shrew's pompous behavior, he wished Martin would learn to tolerate it, as he did. 'Better do something before the damage is done.'
He stepped out of his room, to see Auntie Shrew falling down the steps, and the children giggling.
'Too late.' He smacked his palm against his face. He opened his mouth to reprimand his son.
"Martin!" Elizabeth called out. "Auntie Shrew! What's going on?" She asked worriedly.
"Indeed!" The shrew huffed, walking past her.
"Please, come back inside." The gentle mouse offered.
"Not for a King's ransom!" Auntie Shrew pointed her cane accusing at Martin. "I just have one thing to say; that child is a brat!"
"Yes, I will speak to him." Elizabeth tried to console.
Auntie Shrew nonchalantly shrugged off her words. "I came to inform you, the frost is off the ground and moving day is at hand. Prepare to move your very, very odd family. Good day!" She turned and waddled off, mumbling obscenities under her breath.
"Martin." Jonathan said his name in a strict tone.
The young mouse flinched, looking at his father nervously. "Y-yeah dad?"
The lab mouse walked up the stairs with his make-shift walking cane. Then he looked back down. "We're going to have a talk. Come on."
The young mouse sighed dejected and followed after his old man. He knew what was coming. "... yes dad..."
Mr. Brisby gave a nod at his wife. "Give Timothy his medicine, I'll be back after I'm done disciplining our son."
Martin scuffled his foot against a pebble. "I'm sorry." He said meekly.
Elizabeth patted his shoulder. "Don't be too harsh, you know he means well." She gently implied, then walked down the steps to make Timothy his soup.
Jonathan watched the lithe form of his wife gracefully step down the stairs. She was such a beautiful creature, and he felt himself so lucky to have her. His mind drifted to earlier. To how he would age slowly... she would never see the kids grow up.
'Kids!' He remembered what he was doing.
He looked down to see his eldest son. Martin twiddled his thumbs in guilt, nervously waiting to be scolded.
"Come along. We need to talk about that behavior of yours." Jonathan walked into the grass for a quiet place to talk to his son.
"Yes dad." He responded dolefully, tailing his father into the quiet brush.
I hope you enjoyed reading!
Remember to review, as that makes me less lazy and more likely to write more!