"Anyway, Walt told Bugs to team up with me, and help search for you." Mickey continued.
"Walt knew Bugs Bunny?" Oswald questioned in disbelief.
"Well, not on friendly terms. Bugs and I had a rough start. So when he and I became friends, Walt wasn't too thrilled. He was really leery of me spending time with Bugs. Even in the clues he left Bugs and I, he teased Bugs a lot. But in a way I think Walt was trying to tell Bugs he trusts him now, and forgives him for... anything he did to me." Mickey explained. Bugs swung down from the ceiling fan in the snow globe.
"What'd he do?" Oswald asked.
"That's another story." Mickey replied.
The snow globe's projection lost all saturation, and portrayed Sadie strutting out her front door. She waved to her potential date. Oswald and Pete waited for her. Pete tipped his hat to her, and Oswald followed suit by lifting his ears off his head. Sadie daintily skipped between the two. Oswald and Pete each took a hand to escort the lady to their rides. The rabbit inched Sadie towards his car, but Pete pulled her towards his car. They went back and forth, yanking and stretching out Sadie's rubber hose arms. Her torso rose up, and stretched to either side of the bachelors. When there was nothing left to divide but her head, Sadie screamed. Oswald and Pete let go of the cat, causing her whole body to spring back into its rightful shape. Outraged by their rudeness, Sadie gave the boys a piece of her mind, turned her nose up, and marched away. Pete and Oswald were left dumbstruck. For once the comparing footage was not in color. Inkblot Mickey and an unfamiliar white rabbit strolled up to a plain white house marked by the number 1800. The mouse knocked on the door. Ortensia Cat opened the door to them. But in an instant the cat lifted her hands, and chewed him out. Oswald watched her signing intently, catching every harsh accusation she threw at Mickey. 'The mouse wasn't kidding.' Oswald thought; not that he would acknowledge Mickey for that.
Oswald's next cartoon featured the rabbit riding on the back of an elephant. He and half the elephant fit inside a circular spotlight, standing out from the rest of the pitch black snow globe. When the spotlight enlarged, the elephant was revealed to be riding a bicycle. Mickey understood now why Walt first considered a circus elephant to keep this clue. Lush greens blanketed in glittering white overgrew the inkblot's clip. Soon Winifred strolled by, carrying Mickey and Bugs through the winter jungle. Mickey crossed his fingers for the next clue flashback. Unfortunately none came. Only a white storm raged around the tiny glass globe. Nothing happened for some time.
"What happened?" Oswald inquired curiously. Mickey bowed his head.
"When Bugs and I were in the jungle, we were attacked by these demons. They had tried to take the snow globe from us before. But this time... Bugs got in a rumble with one of them, and broke the snow globe." Mickey remembered glumly. "Walt's clues still played, but the still pictures that always came with a clue, they were gone. Sort of like what it's doing now." The mouse gestured to the snowflake flurries. Mentally, Mickey looked on the bright side. At least Oswald wouldn't see Fanny with Happy's arm around her.
"So what did you do?" Oswald questioned.
"Well, after that we had to jump off a waterfall to see this clue that only worked underwater. It was the first time I saw you." Mickey told. Oswald gave the mouse a strange look. "I couldn't see very well under the water, but I know now that I saw... Lillian holding you." Mickey continued. He still felt wary of referring to Walt and Lillian as Dad and Mom around his temperamental brother. "So then went to Two Tone Town to interview Fanny Cottontail." That caught the rabbit off guard.
"You talked to Fanny?" Oswald queried surprisedly.
"Yeah. She called you Ozzie the whole time." Mickey recalled. Oswald half smiled. 'She would say that.' He reminisced.
"So you asked her if I was around?" Oswald predicted. The mouse shook his head.
"Oswald, there's something you should know about Walt." Mickey began. "He never told me a thing about you when he was alive. I never even knew your name until a couple days ago. In fact until later clues, Walt never called you by name." The mouse confessed.
"Must have made it easier to ignore me, without you saying my name all the time." Oswald retorted.
"Oswald." Mickey stated. They were getting off subject. "It's what he did call you, you really need to know." He redirected.
"I don't care what he called me! And I don't appreciate you back talking me!" Oswald exploded. The rabbit kicked the snow globe off the mattress. Oswald grabbed Mickey by the throat. "I let you live this long to answer my questions! Now finish your stupid story, so I can kick the bucket without another interruption!" Mickey was speechless, even when Oswald released his throat. Never in Mickey's life had he ever met someone so angry and confused. He couldn't fathom wanting to die, let alone taking another life with him. So far Oswald experienced three moments of clarity. One, when Mickey spoke of Sadie and her boys. Two, when Lillian appeared in the snow globe. And three, when Oswald watched Mickey take a bullet. A wife and children, a mother, and a caring brother should have been plenty of reasons for Oswald to live. Alas, Oswald still held a grudge for the past and saw no possible future. At this rate, Mickey worried he couldn't change the rabbit's mind after all.
"Fanny... said she suspected the humans abused you." Mickey hoarsely whispered, gently picking up the snow globe. "But you never let her know just how bad you had it, did you?" Heavy panting was Oswald's only response. "After that, Bugs and I searched for my friends out in the desert. We had to get a camel and a guide to find our way. But the guide turned out to be an escaped convict, who tried killing me to avenge one of his associates, and..." Mickey babbled. "That clue was just a big mess. Still we got everyone to Bugs' house safe and sound." He concluded.
Suddenly the snow globe's storm flashed like lightning, and the constantly falling snow became a still grey blur. Darker streaks in the grey began to move, transforming into Oswald and Sadie. The rabbit who wore a black Santa hat and a scraggly white beard, watched his 'reindeer' companion slip down the chimney. The make shift reindeer was only a white horse wearing an antler headband. Oswald untied the sack between them, and out popped a Christmas tree, fully decorated in round ornaments and toys. Oswald and Sadie gleefully smiled. Hues of green, gold, and red outshined the colorless animation. Mickey's family sat at the bottom of their Christmas tree. The kids dug under the branches, and sorted the gifts into piles by name. Mickey noticed himself off to the right. Like Oswald, he too wore a Santa hat.
"Walt gave us a day to take a break from the quest, and just celebrate our families like it was Christmas. Quite a coincidence he was just a few days off." Mickey commented.
The bright Christmas colors lightened into white, and then formed new inkblot shapes. Oswald sat behind the wheel of a 1920's styled limousine. He turned his back to the viewers, and waved his arm out the window. Sadie skipped away from him, but didn't leave his sight without blowing a kiss his way. Oswald leaned back in the driver's seat, sighing dreamily. However the animation's counterpart didn't look the least bit similar. The snow globe captured Minnie's image, sitting at the Mouse family's dining table. She appeared to be in deep thought, with her fingers interlinked under her chin. Mickey assumed this moment happened right before he entered Sadie's birthday code.
"I don't get it." Oswald announced.
"Walt had some final words to tell Sadie in that clue. He wanted me to play the message to her, if we ever crossed paths again. But then the snow globe showed an illustration of Minnie. Of course, Minnie figured out right away that... you and Sadie were in love." Mickey responded, facing Oswald. But the rabbit wouldn't make eye contact."Basically Walt gave me a picture of Minnie, so I would understand how you feel about Sadie." Mickey explained. The rabbit kept his lips sealed.
The scenery returned to black and white, as Oswald rode a lengthy dachshund, suspended in the air by a couple of balloons. Suddenly black raindrops poured down, and the sky turned dark around them. White subtitles read 'When day broke-'. The cartoon cut to Pete, snoozing in a bed perched atop his propeller plane. He awoke, folded his bed into the plane's lower compartment, and did some routine stretches. Elsewhere in the light grey morning sky, Oswald furiously grilled the dachshund to flap his ears and pick up the pace. But the dog only hung his head tiredly. Oswald clenched his fists in frustration. His fists went to his ears, as he plucked them off his head. Then the rabbit began rowing with the ears, which pushed the airborne dog along a little faster. Soon Oswald came gliding past Pete in his plane. The rabbit laughed at the bear mockingly, unaware that Pete had a trick up his sleeve. He grabbed his riffle from inside the plane, and fired at Oswald's balloons. The rear balloon popped, causing the dog's bottom half to fall. Oswald slid down the dog's back and barely saved himself by the dog's tail. Pete shot off another bullet, taking out the last balloon. The rabbit plummeted out of the clouds. Luckily he was saved by his ejecting parachute. Oswald's grey sky bled shades of dark blue. The memory of Mickey and friends also riding a strange plane overshadowed and blocked out the old animation. A green parrot stood at the tip of their giant paper airplane, calmly steering his umbrella. Behind him, eight toons cowered away from the edges. Mickey clung to the snow globe protectively. The snow globe's perspective dipped down off the side of the plane. Now Oswald could see the storm brewing directly below them. Lightning flickered inside a funnel of purple clouds. At the center, wild winds whipped at dark water. Enormous waves crashed together. Oswald's eyes widened at what the parrot did next. The bird pulled the mouse out into thin air, and just when he released Mickey's hand, the paper plane and all its passengers free fell into the eye of the storm. The snow globe's perspective dropped with the toons, and was swallowed up by black water.
In an instant the darkness cleared into tranquil grey sea. Fanny however was far from calm, as she flailed and splashed about to keep herself afloat. Oswald rowed up to her in a boat just as the fem rabbit slipped underwater. He tiptoed to the boat's end, and bent his knees a few times before working up the courage to take the full leap. The rabbit belly-flopped in. Fanny and Oswald resurfaced together, but before Oswald could grab his girlfriend's hand and pull her to safety, a wave carried Fanny high above his reach. Up and down the raging waves tossed the two rabbits. Dark purple clouds hazed over Oswald and Ortensia. The snow globe picked up right where it left off with Mickey's adventure. Zooming towards the crashing waves, Mickey suddenly became aglow with a blue light. The mouse held out his arms, and the blue light engulfed the water. Monstrous waves glowing sky blue, towered over Mickey, but rather than crushing him, they wrapped around him. Mickey surrounded himself and his friends in a shield of water and psychic energy. Oswald's jaw dropped at the display. It was baffling to Oswald, how the mouse could hold so much power and control over nature.
"How are you doing that?" The rabbit breathed.
"Ha. Would you believe it's magic?" Mickey replied. To demonstrate, Mickey summoned his sorcerer's apprentice robe, and willed the snow globe to hover in thin air. He drew a clockwise air circle under the snow globe, making the snow globe spin. Oswald marveled at the trick. "I'm in training to become a sorcerer." Mickey commented. He willed the snow globe to float to Oswald's arms, then showed off another trick. The mouse held out an empty palm, but when he closed it, silver sand leaked from his fist. The sand sprinkled over an invisible object on the floor, causing the shining particles to roll off the top, and build up on the sides. A metal dome developed as the silver specks merged together in a round shape over the unseen matter. Mickey picked up the dome cover and a plate made of the same material underneath. He passed the platter and dome to Oswald, trading it for the snow globe. Oswald gingerly grasped the platter, hardly believing it was real. The rabbit removed the dome, and beheld a circular cake coated in white icing. The top was decorated in a green icing reef, with assorted red hard candies. Mickey opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Oswald's ravenous attack on the cake. The rabbit stuffed his mouth by the handfuls. Licking every last glob of icing off his fingers, the rabbit moaned, satisfied by the sensation of filling his stomach. He hadn't felt so full in weeks, maybe months. Letting Oswald savor the last crumbs on the plate, Mickey returned his attention to the snow globe. Colorless illustrations moved behind the glass again.
This time Oswald was depicted in a war zone. The rabbit took off in his fighter plane, tailing an enemy mouse pilot. Agilely the planes swerved through the sky, until Oswald caught up to the mouse. Oswald and the mouse went head to head, while the planes went nose to nose. Stars flew from the brawl of fists and wings. Suddenly Oswald and the mouse jumped from their planes to continue their fight one on one. The aircraft kept swatting at each other with their wings, while Oswald and the mouse duked it out in the open air. When the pilots realized where they were standing, they hopped back in their planes. The rabbit's plane then tossed the enemy plane into a tailspin, and trailed it to the ground. Oswald's plane crash landed on top of the mouse's plane, crushing both aircraft into a pile of scrap metal. Naturally Oswald bounced out of the wreckage completely unscathed. His nemesis tried to run away, but Oswald pounced on him, and began hammering his fists down on the mouse. Oswald showed no mercy, beating down the rodent half his size. They punched, tackled, and rolled until the mouse laid motionless in the dirt, taking Oswald's hits. Finally Oswald stood the mouse up, pulled back his fist, and knocked the inkblot rodent's head clear off his shoulders. Though the scene was fast paced and meant to be humorous, Mickey gulped at the brutality. He didn't need to look up. For he sensed Oswald smirking at him. Blood red clouds firing purple lightning bolts consumed the grey field. Under the hellish storm, Mickey and Minnie fought off two identical monsters draped in black robes. Their black skin pulsed with purple veins, and their faces appeared mutated with tall pointed ears, and curving horns. The creatures assaulted the mice by shooting fire from their arms, but Mickey and Minnie stood their ground with energy bursts and the magic sword. But when Minnie abruptly dropped her sword and fled, the dark creatures combined their fire power to finish Mickey off in one blow. But before they could attack, a pink lightning bolt struck Mickey's hat. Magic channeled the electricity out of the glowing star shapes, to strike the monsters. Two creatures launched backwards, but only one hit the ground. Mickey's friends immediately circled the assailant. It was Horace who yanked off the skin tight mask.
"Who's that?" Oswald asked. What he saw was a mouse, slightly resembling Mickey, but with smaller ears and a bigger nose.
"Mortimer Mouse. The bad guy behind the demon attacks." Mickey answered. "Walt tricked him into thinking he could be studio mascot if he beat me in battle. Mortimer's always been a big obnoxious jerk. So in Walt's last deeds he hoodwinked Mortimer and taught him a lesson." The mouse smiled. "And it was all worth it. I've never seen Mortimer so embarrassed."
"So if your 'clues' imitated my shorts, Dad just needed that loser and his demons to replace Pete?" Oswald figured out.
"Yeah, I guess so. Also having a masked mastermind chasing us added to the mystery." Mickey said.
"What mystery?" The rabbit questioned confusedly. Mickey's response, or the train of thought leading up to it, was interrupted by another black and white clip. In a mostly white setting, Oswald flirted with Fanny via winking and stroking one finger under her chin. Fanny fell for Oswald's courtship, and let him scoot closer to her. However the rabbits' romantic moment is ruined by a nosey cow. The cow stretched her neck a little to far over Oswald's shoulder, which set off the rabbit's temper. Oswald angrily shooed the cow away. Thus, the cow sulked off, leaving the rabbits alone. Fanny sat down on a bench which stretched around a tree, and Oswald joined her. The rabbits rolled their pupils around their heads in bliss. Beautiful florescent colors painted over the white. Mickey and friends stood on a white sand beach, in the dawning light of a gorgeous sunrise. Aside from Mickey and Minnie, all the toons hung their heads in sorrow. The comparison wasn't clear at all. Once again, Mickey had to interpret.
"Walt said goodbye to the whole gang, except for me and Minnie. It was the last clue they were allowed to hear. The tale end of the journey was left to... just the two of us." Mickey told, unhappily.
The final Oswald cartoon up until the present one commenced. A male cat character wobbly pedaled a bike down a rocky country road. Fanny uncontrollably bounced in the sidecar. Oswald sprinted to catch up to them. The bicycle crashed into a tree, causing the bicycle to scrunch up into a unicycle. Without warning, the side car broke off and threw Fanny head first into a lake. Unable to swim to safety, Fanny struggled to keep her head above water. Meanwhile, Oswald staggered far behind. Sweat dripping off his face, his laid back ears, and his outward hanging tongue were signs of his exhaustion. He couldn't run any further if his life depended on it. But then the bolded word HELP escaped Fanny's lips. When the word literally reached Oswald, the rabbit was too tired to pay the message any mind. That is until the black P rotated upside down, and kicked Oswald in the tail like a boot. The rabbit jumped in surprise, and looked to the word for a problem. One stem of the H grew a hand, and jabbed a thumb in Fanny's direction. Suddenly remembering Fanny's peril, Oswald grabbed the floating letters, and rode the word HELP like a race horse the rest of the way to Fanny's rescue. He rushed to the water's edge, and laid his body flat with his toes on the shore, one arm on a rock under his chest, and the other arm reaching for Fanny. But the clip ended before Mickey could see if Oswald saved Fanny. Judging by the drowning scene, Mickey could predict what would mirror that in the present. The snow globe flooded with liquid darkness. Blue wisps highlighted the liquid's trembling. Slowly the snow globe's perspective floated up to light blue rays shining down from the surface. A round eared silhouette blocked out some of the surface light. Mickey realized he saw himself looking into Yen Sid's cauldron. But something wasn't right. His master had to pick him up to see Oswald's nightmare. However, Yen Sid's silhouette was no where to be seen. Mickey gasped. According to the snow globe...
Somehow Mickey held himself over the stone cauldron alone.
"I used my magic to find you tonight... in this house." Mickey partially lied.
"But how'd you know I'd be here?" Oswald inquired.
"I learned a lot from my teacher tonight." Mickey improvised. The potion emitted a white orb that filled up the whole globe. The paleness saturated into different hues, painting an etched glass windowed door labeled 'Charles B. Mintz'.
"No!" Oswald cried. Mickey thought fast, putting his hand on the rabbit's shoulder.
"It's okay, Oswald. It's okay." The mouse tried to soothe. "It's only a memory." A memory, it certainly was. Oswald's bottled up anger crumbled into fear, as he witnessed the snow globe look to Walt just as he had. It only took a second for the rabbit to realize his own memories flashed before his eyes. Mickey was right. Everything the mouse saw pertaining to this day, was absolutely true. "Oswald. You don't have to watch this." Mickey placated. But the rabbit did. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the blurry shadows beyond the door, his ear lodged in the gap, and Mintz's perfectly collected expression as he yanked the rabbit up by the ears. The memory was silent, but the haunting voices that scarred him for life echoed in Oswald's mind.
"Stay here, Son."
"You're finished. Go back to Kansas."
"I never liked that damn rabbit anyway!"
"That reminds me. Before you go, say goodbye to your pet."
Oswald brought his hands over his eyes near the end. He tried to wipe his tears away without Mickey's notice.
"Okay, I believe you." Oswald mumbled. He blinked and refocused on the globe, only to find Mickey standing in the snow, outside their old home. The mouse climbed the stairs, strode through the dark house, until he found a line of light under the bathroom door. Now Oswald understood what was happening and exactly when. Despite everything that he'd seen before, this was the clue that made it all real. The mouse nudged the door open, and a vile of Dip came hurtling at him. The scene played on exactly as it happened thirty minutes ago. Like the previous animated clip, the snow globe cut the scene short, so it was unclear whether the hero rescued the rabbit in distress. Mickey and Oswald were blown away by a sparkling blizzard, that slowed into tiny specks drifting over figurine Mickey's head. The 'Trolley clue' as Walt called it was finished. "Why would you do all of that?" Oswald wondered.
"There's a lot the snow globe didn't show you." Mickey pointed out. "But I'd do it all again for you and Walt." He proclaimed.
"But why?" Oswald pressed. "A few days ago you didn't even know my name. What am I worth to you?" Mickey held his tongue. It was still too soon to say 'brother'.
"Walt valued you, more than you'll ever know. I did this because he matters to me, and you matter so much to him." Mickey complimented.
"Baloney." Oswald muttered.
"Oswald, he loved you!" Mickey exclaimed. "He loved you until the day he died! Can't you see that?" The mouse shook the snow globe for emphasis.
"He never came back." Oswald stated numbly.
"Well, I did! I came all this way for you!" Mickey declared. Oswald felt at a loss for words. The mouse's spirit and determination was admirable. But what did it change? "I tried to tell you before. About what Walt called you." Mickey went on. Instead of yelling, this time Oswald listened quietly. "I didn't know I was looking for you most of the time, because Walt called you a different name."
"Humor me." Oswald quipped sarcastically.
"He called you, Treasure." Mickey answered.