Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: Legacy Forgotten

Chapter 6 Part 2

Oswald was allowed to keep the outfit on since he was so happy with it and he didn't want to go through the hassle of taking it off then putting it back on in a few minutes. As he waited for Mickey to be ready to introduce him, he wandered between the bedroom and the office in an attempt to shake off his nerves, since he knew incoming guests wouldn't be able to see him there unless they decided to come down that hallway. And he was sure Mickey would be able to keep them from doing that. His curiosity and anxiety kept growing as he heard more and more people gathering in the studio's main lobby, their collective voices growing as more people showed up. He could hear some that were distinctively cartoon-like, it wouldn't surprise him if most of the guests were Mickey's Toon friends, but some voices sounded like the human animators and producers that they had been working with. That made sense too, the humans put just as much work into this new collection as the Toons did, if not more. With thoughts racing through his mind, Oswald stepped into the washroom to splash water on his face, making sure not to get his new clothes wet. He ended up looking at himself in the mirror and reminding himself of something that made him smile. He was here. He was alive, and now he existed outside of the vault. He had friends like Mickey and almost everyone who worked in the studio. And with luck, this new collection of cartoons would bring him back into the public eye. A whole new generation of people would start to know who he was. Maybe he didn't have to be famous, he knew he'd never be as popular as Mickey, after all, but he wanted his name to be out there, at least. He wanted to be known. And if anything was gonna make him known, he felt it was bound to be these cartoons.

He put just a little bit more water on his face, to make sure he wouldn't be too nervous when the time came, but when he looked back up at the mirror something was off. For a few seconds, it was fine, but he thought he saw something drip off of his face. He brushed it off as remaining water that had slid down his cheek, but then there was another drip. And another. And another. Each one was a little bit bigger than the last, and by that fourth one, Oswald could see that the drops were black, not blue or see-through like water usually is. This made him nervous, as it made him feel as though the paint that his body was composed of was coming off of his face. Typically, the paint stayed on perfectly fine, you'd never even notice it was there. But that was why Toons were so badly hurt when exposed to paint thinner because their bodies are mostly made up of paint, the exact thing thinner was made to get rid of. His hand went up to his face to see if he was dripping, but his attention was quickly diverted as he noticed a shadow creeping in through the door. Unfortunately, there was no figure attached to this shadow, it just kept crawling in on its own. Oswald knew too well what this meant, and it filled him with dread. He decided to look dead ahead in the mirror, hoping that if he didn't look directly at the darkness, it would go away. But it didn't. It kept enveloping the room behind him until all he could see in the mirror was his reflection against a dark background. His reflection was still dripping a little, but it wasn't quite as bad as before. He did his best to keep himself steady, to keep staring into his own eyes, but his focus suddenly broke when he realized that there was another pair of eyes above him. The only source of light in the room, the evil green eyes seemed to glare at him from behind. Oswald ended up looking into the eyes, or the reflection of them perhaps, and as soon as he did a strong feeling of dread set in and his ears dropped, pressing against the back of his head. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't. He suddenly felt like he couldn't move a muscle, and besides, what else was there to look at in here anymore? Maybe he could close his eyes, but would it do any good? It took him a minute, but as he kept looking, he eventually calmed down, apart from that feeling of dread.

Then Oswald heard Mickey calling out for him. Once he heard that, everything let up at once. A slight feeling of relief sparked in him, he could move his body again, and as he moved his head to look at the bathroom door, the darkness finally blew away like a wispy cloud. He got his legs to work and carry him to the door of the washroom, where Mickey was waiting just outside. "Are you alright?" was the first thing the mouse said. "It took you a minute to come out. I was starting to wonder if you could hear me."

"Yeah, I'm alright," Oswald replied with a smile. "I was just getting a little too excited about this party, so I thought I'd splash some water on my face to calm down."

"Oh, good thinking! I hope you're calm enough now, though, because it's time." Mickey seemed rather excited himself, just seeing the delight in his eyes got Oswald to smile. But the mouse's words made Oswald realize that Mickey was in his classic tuxedo, the one that Mickey mascots were dressed up in at the amusement parks.

Regardless, Oswald nodded and kept a small smile on his face. "Yeah, I think I'm ready. Let's go!" The two of them walked from the washroom out to the main lobby of the studio, where the party was being held and where most, if not all of the guests were gathered. As they walked, Oswald managed to put the earlier hallucination out of his mind, wanting to focus on what was meant to be a happy occasion.