Chapter 12
Mickey could not believe his eyes. He reached up to rub them, and blinked uncomprehendingly at the scene before him, and yet it stayed the same.
Standing before him, in different clothing, holding a strange remote device with only one button, and with a face that was pale white instead of peach, was unmistakably Oswald…
… Whom only minutes ago (though it already felt like hours), Mickey had seen get his heart ripped out right in front of him.
"O-O-Ossie," Mickey stuttered uncomprehendingly as his brain tried to catch up to his eyes.
Oswald's face twitched as he replied, "I think so." He then glanced back at the Heartless, which were now regrouping to come at them again. "Weren't we trying to get away just now?"
Mickey jolted at the reminder, and said, "Right! C'mon!"
With that he grabbed his returned brother's hand and raced towards the window, Oswald somehow using his remote to send more blasts of electricity at the Heatless after them to keep them at bay.
After a hesitant tap on the glass with the keyblade, the window sprang open, and both Mickey and Oswald squeezed through it, snapping it shut behind them just as the Heartless slammed against it, scratching at the glass.
Mickey, in a fit of panic that they'd break the glass, once again brandished his keyblade at the window, and a beam of light shot out of it, bathing the glass in a glow that had the dark creatures shrinking back in fear.
Safe for the moment, Mickey immediately turned his attention back to his returned brother and tackled him in a hug.
"You're here!" he said in a chocked voice. "How- Does that mean everyone else-? What happened to you, Ossie?"
Oswald didn't hug him back immediately, instead, his face was contemplative as he slowly brought his hands up to encircle Mickey. "I… don't know," he said finally, his voice level. "Mick…"
Mickey, sensing something was wrong, pulled back look over his brother again, and saw his face pull into something like confusion. Or at least, an attempt at mimicking confusion, but the expression seemed off somehow.
"Mick," Oswald said again, "something's wrong with me. I-I don't feel anything."
Mickey's elation quickly soured into concern when he heard that. "What do ya mean, Ossie? Ya mean ya can't feel this?" he asked as he reached over to pinch the rabbit's arm.
Oswald jerked back at the sensation and reached over to rub his arm while giving Mickey a baleful look. "Not like that," he said in a harsh tone. "I meant emotions!"
"What?" said Mickey, sounding alarmed. "What'd'ya mean?
"I mean I should be feeling something right now, shouldn't I? Relieved? Happy? Triumphant?" Oswald replied. "You're safe, I'm not dead, and if I'm still here then that may mean Ortensia and the others aren't dead either. These are all good things. I should be a mess of positive emotions right now…" He frowned, his eyes unfocused as he searched inwardly for such feelings and his brother looked on in worry.
"… But I'm not," Oswald said finally, clutching at the spot where the Heartless had torn his heart out. "All there is is an emptiness where I know those feelings, any feelings, should be."
Mickey was silent for a moment, before reaching out to place a comforting hand on the rabbit's shoulder. "We'll figure this out, Ossie." He vowed. "We'll find Ortensia and the kids, and we'll fix this."
Just then the entire castle shook, and they looked outside to see that the Heartless army had resorted to bashing themselves against the castle defenses to get in, making the entire place shake to its foundation.
"Though it's gonna hafta wait 'til we get outta this mess first," Mickey added, tugging his brother forwards as they hurried to join the others.
Minnie and the rest of Mickey's friends met them halfway in the front hall among the refugees gathered from the village, where the princess promptly tackled her fiancé in a hug, wailing apologies and declaring how happy she was that he was alright. Oswald, not wanting to disturb the moment, hung back, going unnoticed as the group focused on the mouse.
Mickey hugged Minnie back and assured her she had done the right thing, before turning to the rest in hopes of planning a way out of this mess. "Donald, how long will the walls hold."
"Who knows?" said Donald with a helpless shrug. "Those monsters hit hard. Really hard."
The castle gave another shake as if to emphasize his point.
"The enchantments protecting this castle are strong and so are the walls," Daisy informed them. "But neither of them have ever gone up against something like this before-"
Just as she said that another blow shook the building, causing dust to rain from the ceiling, and fine hairline cracks to appear in the walls.
"-I don't know how long they'll hold out," Daisy finished, eyeing the cracks with worry.
"Dis is all your fault!" said an angry voice, making them all turn to see Pete storming towards them.
Mickey opened his mouth to respond, but the large cat raised his fist before he could reply, and made like he was going to punch the mouse, even with the princess still clinging to him.
Alarmed, Mickey jerked to protect Minnie from the blow, but before it could land, Goofy dived between them. Pete's punch struck against his shield, resulting in a resounding 'clang' that echoed throughout the room, causing all the occupants to stare in shock at the proceedings.
Pete didn't move to strike again, but he was still shaking with rage as his glare bore into the mouse over Goofy's shoulder. "It's all your fault, you lousy-"
"Hey!" snapped Donald, but Pete ignored him.
"I heard what tha' witch said through the gate," he snarled. "If yous had that fancy key-sword all dis time, then why didn' ya use it sooner? Why didn' ya use it to save my Peg?! Why didn' ya use it to save my son?!"
Understanding flooded Mickey as he realized the source of his rage. "Pete! I swear, I didn't get it until just now," Mickey insisted. "If I could, I would have done everything I could to protect both of them. I-"
Pete shoved against Goofy's shield, making the dog stumble back as Pete towered over the mouse, his expression dark. "Save your excuses," he growled. "I ain't never forgivin' you for this, Boat Boy. Dis ain't over yet."
With that, he wheeled around and stormed off, the crowd of refugees parting as he went past.
Mickey winced at Pete's words, before turning to Goofy, remembering what he had lost as well. "I promise ya, pal, the keyblade only just came to me. If I'd just had it sooner…" he trailed off regretfully, but Goofy managed to give him a small sad smile.
"I believe ya, Mick," he said. "If ya coulda saved Maxie, ya woulda."
Mickey then perked up, and said, "But there may still be a chance to get him back," he said, reaching over to where Oswald was lurking, and yanking him into the spotlight. "See!"
Everyone gasped at the sight of the rabbit, and Clarabelle and Goofy's face seemed to gain some hope. They had all seen Oswald's sacrifice from atop the wall, and to see him standing before them now was nothing short of a miracle.
Oswald looked unsure under their scrutiny, but kept quiet about the changes he'd gone through that Mickey seemed to have forgotten about already. Even if he couldn't feel it himself, now was not the time to take their hope away.
Just then, the castle once again quaked from a blow from the Heartless, reminding them of their current predicament.
"Even if they are still alive, we can't go out looking for them with unwanted guests knocking down our door," said Clarabelle bitterly, glaring in the direction of the gate, and the hordes of enemies beyond it.
Minnie, who was still attached to Mickey's arm, said, "Oh if only there was a way to break the seal that awful witch put on the Cornerstone. Its light is what has always kept those creatures at bay."
Oswald perked up like a lightbulb going off on his head. "That's it!" he said, turning to Mickey. "That witch said a keyblade can unlock or unseal anything!"
Mickey's eyes widened as he caught his train of thought. "Meaning I can use this to break her spell on the Cornerstone, sending her forces back to where they came from!" he said, holding up the keyblade.
"Then what are we waiting for?" said Donald as they all turned to rush to the Cornerstone room.
As if in reply, it was that exact moment that the Heartless broke through, and began rushing through the courtyard towards the castle, causing the refugees to panic as they closed in.
Seeing this, Minnie took charge. "Mickey, get to the Cornerstone. Break that spell!" she ordered, "Donald, Goofy, you and the Musketeers hold them off for as long as you can. Daisy, Clarabelle and I will lead our people to safety. Go!"
The three barely took the time to snap a quick salute before rushing to follow her orders.
As Mickey took off through the castle, he heard a second set of footsteps behind him and was unsurprised to see Oswald following him.
"You should evacuate with the civilians," he said to him as his brother caught up and matched his pace.
"Not a chance," Oswald replied bluntly. "I don't need emotions to know you'll probably need me to save you again."
Mickey let out a humorless laugh at that. "Just don't save me the way you did last time. I'm not losing you again."
Oswald remained silent, and Mickey pretended not to notice he made no promises.
They rushed through the castle with the entire place shaking like it was about to come down around their ears. Upon finally reaching the throne room, they had to screech to a stop when a section of the ceiling came crashing down in front of them.
Looking up, they (or at least Mickey) were horrified to see Mizrabel's face towering over them with a pitch-black pallor, and glowing yellow eyes.
"She fused with the Heartless!" shouted Oswald in realization.
"She can do that?" asked Mickey as he stood frozen in shock.
"Apparently," said Oswald, gesturing to the proof before their eyes.
Mizrabel gave the two a nasty grin, and reached her now massive taloned hand into the hole she had created, only to let out an earth-shaking shriek when Oswald zapped it back with his remote.
If he could, Oswald would have felt almost grateful for his emotional numbness at this moment, as it kept him from freezing up like Mickey had. As it was, he had been able to react quickly enough to force the now giant witch back and shove his brother forward. "The Cornerstone, Mickey," he said pointedly.
Spurred back into action, Mickey nodded. "Right," he said shortly and bolted for the hole by the throne, Oswald hot at his heels.
They raced down the steps, and Mizrabel came shrieking after them, her shadowy form flooding through the hole to give chase.
The brothers' race to get down the steps caused the two to stumble, and practically bounce down the rest of way before landing in a heap at the bottom at the base of the Cornerstone.
Pushing himself to his feet, Mickey looked frantically between the stone and his keyblade, and said, "Uh, now what? How do I unseal it?"
Oswald looked back up the steps as stairway blackened with the coming darkness. "I don't know," he replied. "But you better figure it out quickly. She's coming!"
Desperately, Mickey held his keyblade aloft and began waving it like he'd seen Donald do with his wand in hopes something would happen.
Nothing did.
Seeing the creeping darkness grow closer, Oswald brandished his remote and sent another bolt of lightning into its midst. "Mickey! Hurry up!" he shouted as the shadows screeched and pulled back, only to begin encroaching again all too soon.
Mickey spared a brief glance back at his brother, before looking down at the keyblade frantically and shook it roughly. "Come on, work," he muttered to the blade. "If you don't break this spell, we're doomed."
The darkness attacked a second time, and once again Oswald blasted it back, but the effect seemed to lessen with the growing darkness in the room.
"Mickey!" he shouted impatiently.
Mickey winced at the shout, before closing his eyes and pointing the keyblade directly at the cursed Cornerstone of Light.
"Please work," he whispered.
For a second nothing seemed to happen, then, to both brother's surprise, a glowing light surrounded Mickey, before being drawn up to the tip blade in a brilliant gleam. Once all the light had gathered, a shining beam burst from the tip and shot into the Cornerstone.
The curse surrounding it shattered like glass, unleashing a shockwave of light that burst outwards, past the brothers and out of the castle and making all the Heartless wither as they were vanquished by the light.
Upstairs, all the castle's occupants cheered as their foes vanished before their eyes, and it seemed they had won the day.
Mickey too was exuberant, rushing over to pull Oswald into a crazy victory dance out of sheer relief, and though the rabbit could share none of his enthusiasm, he still managed to put a smile on his face at the mouse's exuberance.
All looked well until a soft chanting from above alerted the two that there was still one last enemy in their midst.
The two rushed up the steps with their weapons at the ready, only to stop dead at the sight that met their eyes.
Mizrabel, now absent the Heartless' power, appeared to be conjuring one last spell, and from the look of the green lights swirling around her, it was looking to be a big one.
Mickey shook himself and leveled the witch with a glare. He knew stopping a sorcerer's spell in halfway through was likely worse than it completing (a lesson he'd learned the hard way during Donald's magic training). Only she would be able to stop it without (or at least minimal) consequence.
"Stop this, Mizrabel!" he demanded. "By my authority as a Musketeer, I arrest you!"
Mizrabel ignored him and continued to chant, her words quick and desperate.
Mickey shared a look with Oswald, who shrugged back at him. This was not good.
"I said stop, Mizrabel!" Mickey said louder, pointing his keyblade at her. "Your partner is gone, your curse is broken, and your army has been defeated. There is nothing left for you. You've lost!"
That caught the witch's attention, and she rounded on the two of them. "Lost?" she asked, an almost insane gleam in her eyes. "Oh, I know I've lost."
Her face then took on a nasty smirk, "But I will not be the only one to suffer for it!"
With that she threw her hands upwards, unleashing her spell through the broken ceiling and up into the sky where it spread out across the clouds much like the light shockwave had done only seconds before.
Oswald immediately pointed his remote at the witch. "What did you do?" he demanded.
Mizrabel's crazed expression only grew more frenzied. "A memory spell," she practically purred. "One that will encompass all of this world, affecting everyone within it."
"And do what?" snapped Mickey, as he kept his keyblade pointed at her, his stance ready to attack.
"And make them forget," said Mizrabel. "To erase this entire event from history. As far as you'll know, this day, this attack never happened." She then gave them both a nasty grin, "As well as erase all memory of those who have been taken by the darkness. Their disappearance would be a constant reminder of what happened, after all."
Realization of what she meant shot through Mickey like a bolt of lightning, and he shot forward and swiped at the witch with his keyblade, causing her to shatter like glowing shards of glass, cackling as she went.
Mickey was shaking as her words echoed in his head. Erasing the memory of those taken meant he would forget about his family, about Goofy's son. And he couldn't bear the thought of forgetting about Orten… Or… O…
He paled as he realized already his sister-in-law's name was fading from his mind like vapor, and he likely would have continued struggling to remember if a voice behind him hadn't caused him to freeze.
"M-Mickey!"
The mouse wheeled around and was horrified to see Oswald sway and fall forwards as his feet began vanishing right out from under him like shards of glowing white glass.
"Ossie!" Mickey shouted, rushing over to steady him, and they both collapsed to their knees.
Oswald's face turned sardonic. "I guess I can't exist too," he muttered. "How I am now is too much of a reminder. Can't just forget why I suddenly don't have a heart."
Even as he gripped his brother's shoulders, Mickey could practically feel his memories of him flying out of his head. Even though he fought with all the mental strength he had, he could do little to hold onto them.
Still, he refused to give up. "NO!" he shouted, yanking his brother into a desperate hug as if clinging to him would help anchor the memories. "You're my big brother, Ossie! I can't lose you!"
"From the looks of things, you won't even know I'm gone," said Oswald, already sounding like he was giving up as the shattering light spread up to his waist. "For what it's worth, I'll be sure not to forget you."
"Don't say things like that! We'll fix this!" said Mickey.
"How?" asked Oswald. "You can't stop this."
"Because I promise you!" shouted Mickey, yanking Oswald back to look at him. "I promise you, that memories or not I'll find you! I'll get your and everyone else's hearts back!" He then looked Oswald square in the eye, his eyes burning with determination. "You can count on that, Ossie!"
Oswald stared at him with a stunned expression as the light reached his shoulders. Then, just as it spread up to his face he gave Mickey an actual genuine smile. "I believe you, little brother. I think can actually feel it."
And with that last smile, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit vanished, the shards of light floating away, leaving a devastated mouse in their wake.
Mickey let out one final cry of anguish that echoed throughout the castle for a loss he was no longer even sure he knew what it was for.
Then, breathing heavily, he stopped, and looked around the throne room, wondering why he suddenly felt so melancholy, and (more importantly) why the castle suddenly looked like Swiss cheese.
Blinking in confusion, he looked around trying to put the pieces together. "Gosh," he said more to himself than anyone else. "What happened?"
Then he remembered. "Oh right," he said slowly, as the explanation slowly trickled into his mind. "The tornado."
How could he forget? A tornado had just blown through town, destroying several houses. They'd evacuated the civilians to the castle for safety, but even it had suffered under the wrath of mother nature.
"Mickey! MICKEY!" came a shout behind him, and he turned to see Princess Minnie come bursting into the room, and throw her arms around him.
"Princess, are you okay?" Mickey asked worriedly. "What happened?"
Minnie shook her head into his shoulder. "I don't know," she said. "I just suddenly so worried. It felt like something bad had happened to you, and I needed to find you and make sure you were okay."
She then pulled back from the hug, and her face melted into concern. "Mickey?" she asked cupping his face in her hands. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Mickey blinked and reached up to find tears streaming from his eyes. He quickly brushed them away, before giving Minnie a look of pure confusion.
"I-I don't remember," was all he could reply.
A/N For the record, I wrote this before I saw Infinity War. It only occurred to me now as I was looking it over before posting it there are some similarities. Oswald's vanishing was really supposed to be more like when Xion vanished since both are being erased from everyone's memories. Just the epilogue left.