Chapter 0

"327, please be careful when you're wrapping those plates," Oswald said, stopping as he passed through the kitchen.

"Mabel," 327 corrected, keeping an eye on her work as she wrapped another ceramic plate in newspaper on the kitchen counter. "And I am."

"We just want everything to survive," Oswald said, feeling his own nerves frayed. He took a deep breath and continued on his way through the kitchen to the hall stairwell. When he had suggested his family help Amelia and her family move, he didn't think she would trust his kids with anything breakable. It sure was making the process a lot faster, having more than 400 helpers, and at home they, generally, were careful of things, but Oswald found that having his kids pack someone else's belongings gave him nothing but anxiety. He found Ortensia helping Amelia packing up her closet and sat down on the bed with his head on his hands.

"I think I've still got the box for those," Amelia was saying as Ortensia pulled out a pair of heals.

Ortensia caught sight of her husband and asked, "Oswald, are you okay?"

Oswald raised his head to take in the cat as he forced a smile to pull at his lips. "Just stressed."

"Something's bound to get broke in any move," Amelia said, her head still buried in clothes as she dug through dresses to get to the floor. She pulled her head out and looked over her shoulder at the rabbit and added, "Try not to worry about it so much."

"I know, and they're all relatively good kids," Oswald said.

"Why don't you go help Andrew and Mickey?" Ortensia offered. "I think they're in the office taking furniture apart."

Oswald forced himself feet as he said, "Okay, call for us when you're ready to go out to get dinner." He stepped over to Ortensia, the cat still holding a brown pair of high heels, and planted a kiss on her cheek before leaving the bedroom.

"Daddy!" a young voice called out from down stairs.

Oswald stepped over to the banister and looked down at the boxes piling up by the front door. He put his hands on the wood just above his waist and leaned down to call out, "By the stairs!"

"Somebody keeps calling!" the bunny child called out, his voice hard to understand through the steady murmur of a full house.

"Wait till you get over here," Oswald said, cutting his son off. He rested his elbows on the banister as he watched two of his children pass the stairs before the one holding his cell phone came in sight. "Up here," Oswald said as 202 looked around the landing. Seeing who it was he quickly jumped down the steps, stopping beside his son.

"Somebody's been trying to call all of you," 202 said, holding out the phone. "It's Chief O'Hara."

"All?" Oswald echoed, turning on the screen to be surprised at the number of missed calls he had, and not all from the chief of police.

"Momma and Aunt Minnie's phones too," 202 said with a nod.

"Must be important," Oswald mumbled, seeing the list of voice mails he had. Not bothering to listen to them, he punched in O'Hara's number and put the device to his head. "Thank you, this might be important," he said, giving his son a pat between the ears.

202 smiled up at his father as he said, "Your welcome," before walking away.

Oswald looked behind himself, making sure no one was coming down the stairs, before he turned around to go back up. He headed towards the office as the phone on the other end got picked up.

"Ye," came the curt voice of Chief O'Hara.

"It's Oswald, I just found you've been calling us?"

"Why do I even bother leaving messages?" O'Hara mumbled to himself.

"Thought it was important," Oswald said, stepping into the office to find Mickey and Andrew fighting with putting a computer monitor back in its box. The two looked up at him, getting him to say to them, "It's O'Hara."

"Those splot things you and Mickey talked about in Wasteland, they've been let loose on Main Street. We don't have anything that can stop 'em-"

"Wait a moment, splatters can't be in Mouseton," Oswald interrupted, confusion pulling on his brow. "Most of them were eradicated when the blot was defeated and the ones that survived were good."

"Well these are very much alive and malicious," O'Hara said, yelling picked up in the background as a firetruck siren sounded. "I've gotta go, we've gotta stop these things before they get to any houses."

"We're on our way," Oswald said only to be hung up on.

"Splatters in Mouseton?" Mickey asked, concern on his face.

"What's a splatter?" Andrew asked, looking between the brothers.

"Creatures made of thinner," Oswald stated simply, looking up at the tall mouse.

"Do you think we have time to get to Yen Sid's?" Mickey asked.

"We'll have to, unless we find something else that'll work," Oswald pointed out.