Chapter 5
"To think, you two are brothers where you come from," Sadie said once the two had finished telling her their backstory and the world they were from.
"We look at it like this," Mickey said, stabbing at a chunk of chicken in cheese on his plate. "Walt created us and the humans call us step-brothers, so why not? If it wasn't for everything that happened to him, I wouldn't've been needed."
"Don't get me wrong, I did hate his guts for about seventy years," Oswald said, reaching for the plastic cup holding a type of sparkling water and took a sip to wash down the noodles. He sat the cup back down and looked at the cat as he added, "But seeing him fix the mess he had cause, the danger he put himself into, that's when I realized he wasn't all that bad." He threw a look at Mickey, kind of embarrassed for the mouse to hear those words, to see a smile on his face.
"So where you're from, we call you uncle, Mr. Mickey?" 85 asked from his seat across from Oswald.
"Yeah," Mickey said with a nod.
"They're lucky," 85 mumbled, looking down at the last of his dinner.
"Robert, you should be thankful for what you have," Sadie chastised.
"Sorry Mom," Robert mumbled.
"Thankful for what?" 62 called out from the other end of the table.
"Chandler!" Sadie exclaimed, shock on her face as all eyes fell on the blue child in question.
"We live in an old shop, it's never safe to step outside, our own father tried to kill us," Chandler listed off. "Who'd you steal from to get our groceries this time? Paully? Pete? This is a shitty existence, no wonder Beka killed herself."
"Hey, language," Oswald exclaimed out of surprise. Sadie turned to look at him, getting him to remember where he was. "Sorry, force of habit."
Turning her cold eyes to her son, Sadie said, "Chandler, dinner was a gift from Loralee so eat it. At least we have a roof over our heads, most people here can't say the same. You saw Pinocchio the last time he came in. Now eat up."
"Why don't you take me out like you did Kat?" Chandler mumbled, poking his food with his fork.
"Like hell I did!" Sadie exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table as she pushed herself to her feet. Her chair fell back behind her as her tail lashed back and forth. "John was with us and he told you the same thing."
"John's dead!" Chandler exclaimed, jumping to his feet on the chair's seat. "You killed him with one of your crazy experiments!"
Sadie's eyes were wide as she took in a deep breath. In a quiet voice she ordered, "Go to your room."
"Good, maybe I'll die there," Chandler mumbled, dropping to the floor.
"Take your dinner, "Sadie said calmly as she closed her eyes, her head bowed to the table. Without seeing her son comply, she turned around and picked back up her chair to take a seat once more. Picking up her fork she finished her meal in silence as footsteps pounding above showed where Chandler was now. She laid her fork on the empty plate and looked at the brothers, saying, "After dinner I'll come with you to show you where the other portals are."
"You sure you don't need to be here?" Mickey asked, throwing a glance upward.
"As long as they stay inside, the kids'll be safe," Sadie said, standing up to start picking up the dirty dishes.
"Are we excused than?" 101 asked.
"Yes, you all are," Sadie said, nodding her head.
"I'll help you," 94 offered, picking up her cup before dropping to her feet.
"Thank you, Anita."
Oswald downed the last of his drink before rising to help himself only to freeze as Anita said, "Oh, you don't have to do that, Mr. Rabbit."
"How about this, I'll do as you ask, but don't call me Mr. Rabbit," Oswald said, placing his dishes back on the table.
"We're not gonna call you Dad," a voice called out as a few of the bunny children headed into the doorway that led to the stairs.
"No, but I have a first name," Oswald reminded.
"Why not call him Ozzie?" Mickey offered as he rose to his feet.
"Okay!" Anita said with a laugh.
Sadie looked up from picking up the brother's plates and asked, "You mind if I call you that too?"
"Sure," Oswald said with a shrug.
-.-.-.-
Sadie kept the brothers at a quick pace through the remainder of Mean Street, the name meaning more here, as she kept them out of the worst of the blotlings gathering down an alleyway. They kept quiet as they made their way past the old cinema, the marque empty, only for Oswald to freeze at the sight before them.
Mickey noticed his absence first and turned around to whisper, "Oswald?"
At Mickey's voice, Sadie came to a stop, unasked questions on her face.
"You don't have the projectors," Oswald whispered as he looked at Sadie. Looking passed her he took in the old plaza with its train track still intact.
"What, like what Harry put up?" Sadie asked.
"Mickey, imagine the Walt Statue here, in the center," Oswald said, a smile pulling at his face. "Wasteland looked like this before the thinner disaster."
"Wish I could've seen it back then," Mickey offered.
"Come on, night time's not the best to be out and it'll be getting dark soon," Sadie reminded.
Oswald gave one last look at a Wasteland that was still connected before following behind Mickey and Sadie. She led them down a pathway with barren trees and sticks of bushes that brought them to this world's version of Oztown. Crude buildings supposed to be houses circled a thinner pond that looked to have been made from a familiar crack underground.
"Over by the Gag Factory!" Sadie exclaimed, repositioning her grip on her weapon as blotlings turned at her voice.
Oswald turned to his right to take in a large group of monsters surrounding a portal screen showing the title card for Sagebrush Sadie. "Hey Uglies!" Oswald called out before sending out a dazing blast of electricity.
Sadie came up beside him and followed behind his blast with her own, vaporizing the ones stunned as well as those beyond. Mickey took Oswald's left side, thinner now coming from his brush.
"We're gonna have to go through the portal, aren't we?" Mickey asked, taking out one still dazed to their left.
"We need to find out which one goes to my Wasteland and where the other's go to," Oswald reminded. He threw a glance at Sadie as she turned off her gun to let the red barrel cool off and asked, "You sure you wanna come with us?"
"I said I'd help," Sadie reminded.
Motion behind her got Oswald to quickly daze the three seers before they could go through the portal, the three round bodies falling to the projector screen's feet. Mickey shot out green thinner, melting the three into a puddle on the ground.
"Is that all of them?" Mickey asked, looking around.
"For now," Sadie said. She turned to the two and smiled. "I don't think I've ever cleared an area that fast. Thanks."
"That machine gun of yours does wonders," Oswald pointed out.
"Come on you two," Mickey said with a laugh as Oswald realized his face was heating up. "We need to know where this goes to."
Oswald quickly looked away from his wife's counterpart, unsure how this counted, and said, "I'll go first. And remember, Yen Sid said the castle was crawling with them so if we end up there-"
"I think we can deal with whatever we find," Sadie said, cutting him off. "Lead the way."
Oswald gave the woman a look, hoping she was right, before stepping up to the portal. He looked up at the title card for the still lost cartoon, the one giving the public Sadie's name after she had showed up in a few of them, before diving head first into the portal.
