Chapter 1

April 18, 2016

A few days earlier

"You want to what?" Donald asked, looking at his friend almost as if the mouse had lost his mind.

"I want to re-open the House of Mouse," Mickey repeated, looking at everyone gathered around his living room. To his disbelief they were less excited then he had predicted. "What's wrong with that?"

"There's nothing wrong with it, but…" Clarabelle's voice trailed off as she tried to find the right words. "Doesn't Pete still own the building?"

"Nope," Oswald said, pulling out a roll of paper from his pants pocket. He flicked it open with a smile and showed the group what it said. "I now own the building. I tried to get it in Mick's name, but the judge couldn't convince Pete to do that."

"Well, I want some help up in the sound board," Horace said, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his seat.

"I could give it a try," Oswald shrugged. "Working with the Mad Doctor all those years, I know my way around circuits and I did create the projector system after the thinner disaster."

"Yeah, why did you create those using my shorts when you hated me then?" Mickey asked, it just hitting him.

"I didn't have access to mine," Oswald shrugged. "And the three I did have, they didn't really fit anywhere."

"Okay, so any idea what the penguins are doing right now?" Minnie asked, trying to get back on track.

Blank looks passed around the living room before Mickey's hand jumped up, pointing towards the ceiling. "Oh! They're on a world tour still, since Mary Poppins had their fiftieth anniversary."

"Still?" Donald asked, surprised.

"Great, so who are we going to have as waiters?" Max asked.

"Well…" Ortensia drew out, biting her bottom lip. "We do have four hundred twenty little bunnies who could do it."

"Yeah, if they can grow up to their actual age," Donald mumbled.

"What did you say, duck?" Oswald asked, eyeing Donald.

"They're eighty some years old but they're worst then my nephews!" Donald exclaimed.

Oswald jumped to his feet, ready for a fight. "You try going through what my family has gone through and then talk!"

"Oswald," Ortensia tried, knowing her husband's short temper could match the duck's.

"I'll talk now!" Donald said, getting to his feet with his fist raised.

"STOP!"

The two looked at Mickey, freezing in their fighting stances.

"Donald, you've only got three kids to keep together so I really don't think you're one to say anything. Sit down and keep it zipped," Mickey said, surprising everyone with his no-nonsense tone. Donald sat back in his chair stunned as he watched Mickey turn to his brother and continued in the same tone of voice. "Oswald, we all know you did your best but fighting's not going to get you anywhere."

"Sorry, Mick," Oswald said as Donald mumbled a quiet "Sorry."

"I want the House of Mouse to come back so no one else has to deal with being forgotten," Mickey explained. "I know it's not much, but it's something. We used to play a lot of the old shorts through the House of Mouse and that seemed to stop a lot of the older cartoons from disappearing."

"Mickey, this is a great idea and all but is this all just a cover up for a midlife crisis?" Daisy asked.

"What do you mean?" Mickey asked.

"I mean, you're one of the last left from the beginning of animation," Daisy said. "Excluding Oswald and his family, I mean."

"I'm not one of the last ones left," Mickey said, surprised. "Felix is still around."

"Mickey, he's got a line of cat food and kid's toys. I really won't count that as still being around," Clarabelle admitted. "And you know Krazy Kat's disappeared. No one's heard anything from Bobo the Clown either."

"I don't think Mickey has to worry about being forgotten," Goofy put in.

"Anyway, that has nothing to do with why I want to re-open the House of Mouse," Mickey said, trying to get away from the subject. "Truthfully I wanna show the world Oswald's shorts."

"Wha-?" Oswald choked out, the first he heard of this. "Really?"

"Yeah," Mickey nodded. "The company's released a few of your shows on DVD but they're still finding more."

"Yeah, they've found Empty Socks, Harem Scarem, Hungry Hobos, and Poor Papa," Minnie said, reading off her tablet. "And that's not including the other thirteen that were on the DVD."

"Whoa." Oswald found himself speechless, surprised that people were looking for his old shorts.

"So are we all in on opening back up the House of Mouse?" Mickey asked, looking around the room.

"Sure," Max said, the first to lead the group in an agreement.

"Hot Dog!" Mickey smiled back at the group.

"We've got a lot to get done then," Minnie admitted, standing up.

"Like what?" Donald asked.

"Cleaning mostly," Minnie admitted. "The place hasn't been opened for the past ten years and someone went ahead and started advertising we'd have a Grand Re-Opening show this Friday."

"What were you going to do if we said no?" Clarabelle asked, looking at the mouse.

"It never really occurred to me you'd say no," Mickey admitted with a blush.

"Hope the, eh… mice haven't eaten away any of the wires," Oswald said, blushing after he realized the phrase didn't work so well anymore. He rose to his feet and stretched his back before adding, "I've got that interview tomorrow so we need to get going."

"Oh right, with the Disney Archives," Minnie remembered.

"I didn't figure you as someone who'd work with dusty old papers and props, Ozzie," Horace said, crossing his leg over his knee as he looked at the rabbit.

"You don't have to have a degree when you've been around for as long as I have, guess they count me as living history," Oswald admitted. "And now that they've officially opened Julius' old position, I figured it was worth a shot. It pays well."

"Really it's just a stepping stone," Ortensia said, rising to her feet. She gave Oswald a smile as she added, "It'll give him the chance to take some classes so he can be in the field he wants to be."

"Well, good luck," Clarabelle offered.

"Thanks," Oswald smiled at the cow.

"Are you gonna be free in the afternoon?" Horace asked, dropping his leg to lean forward. "We need to get going through the wiring."

"I'll be there."

April 22, 2016

"Oswald, Horace, how it coming?" Minnie radioed up to the sound booth from her old spot just off stage.

"We're going to try it one more time," Oswald radioed back.

It was Friday morning, only nine hours from opening and the big screen wasn't working. Minnie looked up at the screen, wishing they had been able to afford an upgrade from tubes to digital, but there just wasn't enough money to get a new screen at the moment. A pop sounded off from just behind the screen before smoke started coming out of the back.

"Shut it off!" Minnie exclaimed into the walkie-talkie before grabbing the fire extinguisher in case of a fire. Thankfully the smoke cleared, leaving her to put the extinguisher back.

"I turned it off. Is everything alright?" Horace radioed.

"It started smoking," Minnie admitted to the device as she walked on stage to look up at the rabbit in the sound booth.

"Alright, I'll get down there and see what's the problem," Oswald sighed.

Minnie clipped the radio to her waist band of her old cleaning skirt and looked at her tablet to see what else needed work. She looked over at the left hand side of the stage and saw Huey, Dewey, and Louie setting up their drums and keyboard. "How's it going?"

"Great Minnie," Dewey smiled, looking up from sitting down his keyboard on its stand.

"Just don't plug in anything until Oswald's cleared the outlets," Minnie reminded. "I don't want anything to blow."

A crackling came from behind her as the screen flashed with light, leaving a superimposed image of a rabbit. As the crackling faded, so did the house lights leaving them with just the emergency lights turning the place red.

"I said I didn't want anything to blow," Minnie mumbled, clinching her free hand into a fist.

"I'm okay!" Oswald called out, a cough following. "Just blew a fuse, that's all." A moment passed before the lights slowly came back on as a smoking black faced rabbit walked on stage. "The screen should work now."

"I'll watch out for anymore blowouts," Minnie said, leaving the stage as the rabbit walked back to his sound booth.

"With all this, you think we were expecting a sellout crowd," Huey complained, screwing his drums together.

"You didn't hear?" Louie said, standing up from just finishing his job on the drums so he could look his brothers in the eye as they both shook their head no. "They've already sold out this whole weekend and next Friday."

Huey whistled in surprise as Dewey admitted, "And no one even knows the theme."

"I thought the theme was Oswald?" Huey said.

"Ha! I told you it worked!" Oswald's voice exclaimed from the sound booth as on the screen played the opening to a Mickey short from the 90's. A second passed before the sound followed, turning up in volume to a reasonable level only for the speakers to pop and fizzle out. "Oh come on!"

"Hope he's got enough luck to get this all working before seven," Louie admitted, leaning against the wall as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I think it'll be more than just luck we'll need," Dewey said, staring towards backstage. "Look, it's Uncle Donald!"

The two turned to look only to see the tail end of a wave washing out the backstage area. The three rushed over to see the water had originated from the backstage bathrooms, pushing Donald out of the way and almost all the way down the hall to the front desk. Grumbling, the duck grabbed the plunger that had floated down with him and stomped his way back to the bathroom.

"He was told to clean them, not shower them," Louie said through his hand to cover his laugh.

"This sure is going to be an interesting night," Huey noted, smiling at his brothers.

Time passed as the group did all they could to make the building presentable before Minnie looked around and realized someone was missing from the chaos that was her friends. "Has anyone seen Mickey, it's only half an hour from show time," Minnie asked.

"Have you tried his dressing room?" Goofy asked, lumbering through as he tied on his apron.

"Yes, Goofy, thanks though," Minnie sighed, pulling out her cell phone to call the mouse.

"Minnie! We're here!" Mickey's voice called coming from the back door.

Minnie turned around and saw Mickey with Mike in his hands. "Mickey, where on earth have you been!?"

"We had to get Mike back," Mickey pointed out.

"It'll be great working here again," Mike said, smiling up at the mice. "ESPN's not as fun as it sounds."

"Okay, um," Minnie paused for a moment, trying to get her brain to work as fast as she needed it to. "You need to talk with Oswald. Show time's in 28 minutes. Mickey, you still need to get in your suit."

"Aunt Minnie."

Minnie turned to the voice as her jacket was pulled only to see one of the bunny children sitting there, fidgeting. She knelt down to fix his bow tie as she smiled. "Yes?"

"Um, has Donald fix the bathrooms yet?" he asked, his cheeks blushing.

"No, we've got a plumber coming tomorrow, so you need to use the guest bathrooms," Minnie said, standing back up to watch the little blue bunny hop away quickly. She took another look at her tablet, making sure the plumber had said he'd be over after lunch as she leaned against the wall. Mickey was just like his father, and sometimes Minnie knew what Roy must have felt like, always trying to find where the money and resources were going to come from when Walt wanted to do something.

"Minnie, are you okay?" Mickey asked, getting Minnie out of her daze as Pluto led the mouse over to her.

She glanced up to see Mickey standing there in his old suit from ten years ago. She was about to say something about it only to realize she must have fallen asleep on her feet as it was now only three minutes till show time. "Never give me a chair here," Minnie ordered, turning to look out the archway to the seats.

"Okay?" Mickey shrugged, not sure. "Do they have the list?"

"Yeah, just like you typed up, though I don't think he realizes you want him to make an appearance on stage," Minnie admitted.

"That's how I want it," Mickey nodded.

"Direct from downtown Main Street, it's Disney's House of Mouse!" Mike announced, giving Mickey his head's up cue that they were about to start. The old theme song started up, letting the guest know they should get to their seats. "And now, at 24 frames per second we see a lot of him, it's Mickey Mouse!"

"Thanks Mike!" Mickey called as he slid into his spot under the spot light. He took a quick glance at everyone there, glad to see some faces he hadn't in a while. "And thanks ya'll for coming for Walt Night! We have three cartoons lined up for you all and a specialty that will remain a secret for now. But to start you all off while our new waiters get you everything you've ordered, here's Huey, Dewey, and Louie back together just for you."

Mickey waited for Horace to swing the spot light over to the threesome before walking off with a smile on his face.

"Oswald wants to talk to you," Minnie said, pushing the walkie-talkie in Mickey's hands the moment he stepped off the stage.

"Hey Ozzie," Mickey said, leaning so that he could watch the guests and front lobby from the back stage without being seen.

"Why didn't you tell me there's a special guest?" Oswald's voice asked sounding frustrated.

"Cause it's a surprise," Mickey said plainly.

"I should've had them miked and tested by now," Oswald pointed out.

"I thought the stage had mikes above it?" Mickey turned so he could look onstage to see the thin wires hanging from the rafters holding the small choirs mikes. "Yeah, they're still there."

"They may be still hanging, but they don't work," Oswald admitted. "This whole week we've been replacing and testing wires and just never got to them. You're lucky the big screen works."

Mickey covered his eyes with his free hand, sliding down to try to wipe away the annoyance. "Zippie-do-darn. Oswald, you're the guest, okay?"

The radio was silent for a moment before a horse "What?" came through.

"I was planning on doing an on stage interview with you for you to remember some of your days working with Walt," Mickey admitted. "I thought it would be a good surprise so I wasn't going to tell you until right before we did it."

A moan filtered through before Oswald replied, "Alright, tell me when we're doing the interview."

"Right before your short gets shown," Mickey explained. He waited a moment before handing back the radio and leaning against the wall to watch the ducks play.

"You should've told him," Minnie said, sitting down her tablet on the table.

"I know, I just…" Mickey let his voice fall away, looking down at the floor and his shoes. He let out a sigh and turned to face the girl as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I was afraid he'd come up with some way out of it, you know?"

Minnie let out a laugh as she took her hand back. "This is the same rabbit who has fought all of the odds to get back into the world's camera. You think he would skip out on a chance to be on a stage?"

"I never said it was reasonable," Mickey threw off. "I know he went years hating me, I feel like the past seven years have been trying to make him like me."

"Don't force it." Minnie moved so she was standing in front of the mouse as he raised his head back up. She looked him in the eyes and smiled, "In a way, you're so different then the mouse that ran the first House of Mouse."

"That's a good thing, right?" Mickey asked only to receive a muffled laugh.

"Yes, it is," Minnie smiled. "Now, go on. They're finishing up the song."

Mickey turned to the edge of the stage and waited until they were letting the last key float before stepping to his spot. As the stage light turned back to him, he smiled and started, "We've all heard how it all started with a mouse, well recently I've realized that's not true. It all started with a boy in the mid-west who learned about film and fell in love. Here's one of his earliest animated cartoons, part of the Alice Comedies, Alice Solves the Puzzle."

Mickey walked off stage as the screen showed a black and white title card. He picked up a water bottle from the table only for a loud boom from the stage to stop him in his tracks. He dropped the water bottle as he rushed to the stage only to stare in dismay at who stood there, the video paused with Putrid Pete and Julius fighting. The sound of the crowd leaving filtering in through his ears as only background noise.

"Mickey, I'm touched, really I am," Putrid Pete said, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye as he looked at the screen, a gun in his hand being the cause of the loud sound. "It brings back memories."

"Hey boys, get in here," Julius called, holding a rifle in both hands with it pointed towards the floor.

Mickey turned to the front door only to see a black dog holding Daisy's hands behind her back as a fat cat came in with Donald taped up over his shoulder.

"Mickey!" Minnie's voice cried out.

The mouse turned around to see Minnie and Ortensia tied up together, and a dog pointing a gun at their heads to prevent them from moving only getting a growl back from the cat.

"Boss, can I shoot this one?" a dog asked, punching Goofy hard enough to send him sprawling next to the girls.

"Maybe later," Julius nodded.

AN: Wow, you can really tell this one was started back years ago… Let's see, original create date was November 29, 2014. Back before Oswald was supposed to be in the story, back when I had it as part of the original House of Mouse, Pete and Mortimore were supposed to be the main bad guys, man a lot of things have changed.