Chapter 2: An Evening Conversation (rewritten)
Later that evening, all the gang was at Minnie's house. Some of the dishes were being set up but Minnie insisted that they'd wait for Mickey to arrive before eating.
When everyone else wasn't looking, Donald tried to snatch a roll out of the bread basket on the table. His attempt failed when his hand was met with a slap from Daisy's. Donald retracted his hand and rubbed the pain away with a defeated groan.
As everyone chatted and waited on the mouse to arrive, Minnie was in the kitchen getting the last of the food ready. She looked out the window wondering what was keeping Mickey so long. Minnie sighed as she continued taking dishes out of the cupboards.
Earlier after sending out the last of the invitations, she had taken notice of a pile that Mickey had said he'd personally handle. After taking a glance at the recipients on the letters however, she had grown cautious. Confusion and worry ran through her mind, but she left the letters alone, knowing it wasn't right to sift through them without her lover's notice. She had decided to bring up the letters that night instead while everyone was relaxed and entertained by fond memories of their loved ones that they'd only get to all see together annually.
Daisy walked in and saw Minnie gazing out the window longfully. She started towards her.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be here soon." Daisy said reassuringly.
Minnie shook her head, clearing her thoughts and getting back to the present.
"You're probably right, I don't know why I'm so concerned."
"Come on, let's put dinner out." said Daisy.
Minnie nodded and picked up the plates.
As Minnie and Daisy set the food on the table, she heard the doorbell ring.
"I'll get it!" she shouted as she went to the door.
When she opened it Mickey was standing there with a cake box in his hand and Pluto sitting next to him with his tail wagging.
"Hello everybody!"greeted Mickey.
"Mickey!" Everybody shouted in unison.
"Sorry I'm late, but I wanted to pick up something for dessert." said Mickey while rubbing his head in embarrassment.
"Glad you made it here buddy, we wouldn't want to start without ya hyuck!" chuckled Goofy.
"It's about time!" quaked Donald.
"At least you made it, now let's eat! I have a little something to share after a bit." said Minnie with a smile.
Everyone took a seat at the table and began passing bowls and trays of food around to each other.
"So how was everybody's day?" Mickey asked.
"It was great! Me, Maxie and Roxanne finished decorating the main hall and the ballroom! Ol Maxie couldn't make it." said Goofy. He leaned into Mickey's ear, "He told me he wanted to take his friend Roxanne out for a date, gwarsh he looked redder than a beet as he left! I can't wait to ask him all about it!"
Mickey laughed. "That's great Goofy. Donald?"
"All the food has been delivered and set for the party. Well, almost all." Donald quipped under his breath and side eyed the chipmunks. The chipmunks whistled nonchalantly.
"Fantastic!" said Mickey.
"And despite some issues that happened this afternoon, I-, I mean we, were able to get almost all of the outdoor decorations set up." said Clarabelle.
"Even better! Boy, it sounds like you guys had quite the busy day. You all have worked hard this past week, and I'm proud of all of you. I really feel like we're going to top last year's celebration!" said Mickey.
Minnie looked ecstatic holding in her excitement and proceeded to let it out once Mickey was finished.
"Great news everybody! I've been waiting to tell everyone until tonight that Daisy and I finally finished sending out all the invitations. Everyone should already be on their way for the celebration! Eee! I'm so excited to see everyone again, it's felt so long!" Minnie squealed as everyone cheered.
"Yeah!" Donald quaked as he raised his glass in agreement. "It's been too long since I've seen Panchito and Jose. Can't wait to see those two again!"
"Isn't that nice, the Three Caballeros are finally getting back together. It was getting boring with just this one around." Daisy smugly said as she pointed her fork at Donald. Donald started fuming.
"Oh come on Donald," Daisy continued as she waved her hand dismissively. "Everyone knows those two are the social butterflies and the life of the party out of you three. Can't deny that." she finished as she chewed a piece of food.
Donald took a piece of bread and aggressively took a chomp out of it. He then crossed his arms and grumbled. "...Yeah you're right." Everyone chuckled.
"Anyways," Daisy continued, swinging the conversation towards herself.
"I'm excited to see Ariel again. She was giving me pointers one year after I told her my singing voice was exquisite and I wanted a role in Sebastian's concert.
After I displayed my heavenly voice, she was so moved she must've lost her voice again cause I left her speechless. She left saying she'd give me a call back." declared Daisy.
"And did she?" asked Mickey.
Daisy sunk in her chair.
"...That was six years ago…" she admitted.
Donald took sip out of his drink with a smug look, glad to see karma make its rounds. Minnie was the next to take head of the discussion.
"I'm excited to see Quasimodo and Rapunzel again! Every year they team up together to make these really cute wooden sculptures of everyone. Last year, they made one of Tod and Copper. Oh, it was so adorable!
They're so kind to let me keep them after the Jubilee is over. I like to place them all over the castle. I see it as a way to have everyone around in spirit. I wonder who they're going to make this year?" Minnie said, clasping her hands with a dreamy look.
Goofy was next his face lit up at the thought of the person he was looking forward to see again.
"I'm lookin' forward to seein' Mr. Toad again!"
Some groaned.
"Gee," Goofy scratched his head. "What's wrong with Ol James?"
"Goofy, that maniac cannot drive." Clarabelle said as he began to recount Mr. Toad's infamous motor skills. "If you remember, one year he drove right into the castle leaving a giant hole in the wall and straight into Tinkerbell, bless her heart.
She got flung all the way into a chandelier, not only knocking it down on Baymax, who for some reason was completely unfazed, but Tinkerbell left a giant trail of her pixie dust all over the ballroom from her slingshot flight, which caused everything and everyone in the room to start flying all over the place. Horace was not pleased at fixing that gaping hole."
The chipmunks had a laughing fit.
"Clarabelle you're always a stick in the mud!" giggled Dale.
"Yeah," Chip joined in. "Mr. Toad SAVED the party that year! It was so boring until he came along and finally got the party started!"
"You might've saw it as a disaster but you should've seen the faces on Pongo and Perdita's pups. Peter was even guiding them along like a parade. Seeing 99 puppies soar around will make anyone smile at how adorable it is!" Dale said.
"Either way, Mr. Toad is banned to only using the train from that day forward." Clarabelle finished as she crossed her arms, giving a noticeable huff, turning her nose upwards.
"Besides," Chip leaned in to Mickey's ear. "Horace was the one having the most fun with the Pixie Dust. He was only mad he had to fix the hole because that meant no more 'horse' play with the Pixie Dust." Chip finished telling him as he snickered.
Time passed as everyone went around sharing fun stories of past celebrations of Walt's Birthday.
Some included one about where Judy and Basil went on an elaborate investigation together about who took Judy's carrot recorder, turning the entire party in a crime scene drama, only to discover it was under Basil's hat the entire time after he asked to borrow it hours prior.
Another included the time Robin Hood and Aladdin pulled a fun little prank on Elsa to try to get a good scare from her. Needless to say, the castle was an icy wonderland for the next few weeks. On the flipside, many enjoyed ice skating and having snowball fights at the festival that year.
After that story was shared, Minnie began thinking about some particular people they were inviting, thinking back to the invitations.
"Ummm Mickey?" Minnie said trying to get his attention.
"Yes Minnie?" asked Mickey.
"There's another reason why I was hoping you would show up to dinner tonight. I wanted to ask you about those special invitations you wrote out to the people you invited.."
"Who?"
Minnie took a deep breath, aware that what she was about to say may change the mood for the night.
"...The Villains..." said Minnie in a low tone.
Donald spat out his drink as the liquid landed on an unfortunate Clarabelle, who sported an unamused expression.
There was a long silence as everyone suddenly stopped eating and looked around the table at each other. Then everyone at once started expressing their various emotional responses to the news.
"Uh, what in your right mind thought that was a good idea?" Daisy started, hands on her hips.
Chip and Dale clutched each other with fear.
"The V-villians?!" screamed Chip
"T-to the Birthday B-bash?!" exclaimed Dale.
Donald quaked furiously. Clarabelle covered her face with her hands and gave an loud exhausted groan.
Goofy gave a wide eyed look and moved to clean his ears. "Uh, Mick, did I hear that right?"
"Ok, everyone let's just take a moment to calm down." pleaded Minnie.
"Now I know what you all are thinking, but I thought about this for a long time and I think we should at least give them a chance don't ya think?" asked Mickey.
"Mickey, you can't invite them! We don't know what letting them out would do!" yelled Donald.
"Which is another reason to invite them over and see." Mickey defended.
"I'm gonna have to agree with Donald on this one." spoke up Daisy. "I mean," she gestured towards everyone and herself. "Look, we all know everyone's stories, and with that includes the people who were out for them. What if they try coming after them again?"
"Daisy's right, we don't really have any idea of what these villains are capable of. Besides, who knows what the reaction would be by everyone be seeing them show up to the party." said Clarabelle as she held her head in thought.
"Y'know, Micks gotta point. Who knows if the villains would even hafda power to do anything if they tried." It was Goofy speaking now. "Doesn't bein' out of their land lower their power?"
"We don't wanna find out!" cried Chip and Dale.
"Now let's think about this." Minnie was speaking now. "We should at least try. Mickey has a good point. Inviting the villains could possibly lead to having a stable relationship with them. It can't hurt to try this at least once." Pluto barked in agreement.
"I thought about this a while back and decided to bring it up to my old master, and after a long talk I was able to convince him to consider giving the villains a chance as well." said Mickey
"Whaddya plan on doin'?" asked Goofy scratching his chin.
"Well me and my master have arranged a meeting with the villains to talk about their behavior between now and during the party."
Everyone was admittedly in awe at the mention of Mickey's master. Everyone throughout all of the Magic Kingdom knew he never involved himself in their everyday matters unless it was of the utmost importance.
"Wait, you both are planning on going to the Villains Realm?" Minnie shuddered. "That's dangerous Mickey. Are you really sure about this?" she asked with slight worry.
"Of course Minnie, trust me," Mickey began, holding her hand. "Everything will be fine."
She paused, thinking of what to say. "Ok." she nodded. "I have faith this will work."
Silence continued, as only the sounds of cutlery against the plates were heard.
Minnie took a good look at everyone at the table. Faces of fear, confusion, anger reflected on the diners. She turned her head towards Mickey, who sported an uncomfortable look at the now spoiled mood. Minnie looked at the table again.
"You know what? We're here to celebrate. This is the one time a year we get to see everyone and just feel happy. Let's start this celebration off right!" She held up her drink for a toast. "Let's remember why we're celebrating, rather more, who we're celebrating." she looked at Mickey and smiled, he gave back the same gesture as he raised his glass.
After her speech, everyone was starting to relax. Without another word, everyone one by one began to hold their drinks high like Minnie did.
"To Walt." Minnie proclaimed.
"To Walt!" everyone cheered.
With that, the night continued in peace until dinner concluded and everyone began to leave for the night. Everyone said their goodbyes until only Mickey, Minnie and Pluto were left. Pluto started off while Minnie gave one last hug to Mickey. Mickey ran off after Pluto, giving one last wave to Minnie before he and Pluto were out of sight. Minnie returned the farewell gesture as she went back into her house heading to bed, admittedly with a sense of fear.
As Mickey was just about to lay down in his bed, he couldn't help but think about what Minnie said earlier.
"I know that this will work." he thought it himself. Mickey said as he turned off the lamp, said goodnight to Pluto, and drifted off to sleep.
END OF CHAPTER 2
A/N
That's another one rewritten. Sorry for the long wait, we've been working on 2 chapters at once, so stay toned because the next one will be out soon. Also thanks to those who've been following the story this long. And another thanks to my partner Nickolai777 for helping me out. Please let me know what you think of the rewrite. (I only own my OCs Zen, Wildroth)