EPILOGUE

January 9, 1984 1:34 pm

It was fortunate Oswald had enjoyed Christmas Day, because he had to look at the decorations long afterwards. Two weeks passed, and the Mouse mansion was still heavily decorated in holly and lights. Of course the Christmas décor was still out because the Mouse family had been concerned with other things. Since the day Mickey invited Oswald into his home, the mouse made it his priority to welcome Oswald back into the Disney family. They surprised Lillian with Oswald's presence on Christmas Day, and had lunch with Sharon on her birthday, the thirty-first. By the time Mickey showed Oswald to four others, he finally realized Oswald behaved extremely tense, he could even say paranoid around any human stranger. After which, Mickey and Oswald stayed in Toontown for a week. Mickey determined Oswald would heal in his own time. Though it was a kind gesture, the mentally scarred rabbit didn't have the confidence to meet and socialize with a new human every day.

Thus Mickey and Oswald currently spent a quiet day sweeping up pine needles shed by the Christmas trees in the golden ballroom. Oswald wiped the sweat off his brow. He considered asking again why the mouse had multiple trees in multiple rooms when one tree in the living room would have sufficed. But he knew he wouldn't get a better answer than the last time he asked. 'You can never have enough Christmas, my tail.' Oswald grumbled in his mind. The rabbit dropped the broom on the floor, and straightened his back from its slouching position. Craning his neck upward, Oswald followed a line of green garland with yellow lights winding up a pillar. The end of the garland strand lead to a reef, tied with a red bow. Oswald counted sixteen matching pillars around the ballroom. How did he not notice those before?

"Hey, you're doing a great job." Mickey cheerfully complimented behind him. The mouse walked to Oswald's side, carrying his own broom.

"You want those down too?" Oswald inquired.

"Yeah, I'll get a ladder." Mickey offered.

"No thanks. I can handle it." Oswald insisted. The rabbit's ears rapidly rotated, making him take flight. Oswald hovered up to the reef, and began removing the wires and pins holding it in place. At least he could be grateful for a change of pace. Mickey took a few steps back, watching Oswald hover in place. On top of his severe mistrust of humans, Oswald still struggled with performing many toon tricks. Whether it was walking through a painting, accessing the correct objects from his hammerspace, or doing a spinning wardrobe change, Oswald couldn't quite get the tricks down like he did before. Lucky for him, any stunt that involved using his ears or dismembering his limbs, never failed. When Mickey was confident Oswald wouldn't fall, he marched out of the ballroom to find a ladder. If Oswald didn't need it, the mouse would put it to use. Just as Mickey pushed through the grand double doors, Minnie met him nose to nose on the other side.

"Minnie!" Mickey gasped in surprise. Minnie giggled lightly at their awkward closeness. She stepped back and handed him the only cordless phone they had in the house.

"Phone for you." She explained, shuffling away a second later.

"Oh, thanks." Mickey acknowledged. He greeted the caller, assuming that his conversation was private. However the long eared toon inside the ballroom unintentionally overheard the mouse's every word. "Hello?"

"Ehh... what's up, Doc?"

"Bugs?" Mickey smiled.

"Didn't t'ink ya'd hear from me again, did ya?" The Looney Tune remarked teasingly.

"Actually I've been trying to get a hold of ya for a while now. I gotta tell ya something important!" Mickey beamed.

"You found da treasure." Bugs guessed impassively.

"Yeah, I found the treasure alright. It was Oswald the whole time!" Mickey exclaimed. "We were way off about the gold and riches. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit didn't hide or steal the treasure. Oswald is the treasure!" The mouse calmed his voice. "Walt called him a treasure, because before I came along, Oswald was his priceless, irreplaceable, pride and joy." Bugs painted a picture in his mind out of new found facts.

"Dat book said Walt created the 'Oswald' series." He recalled. "The lucky rabbit himself, was Walt's creation." Bugs figured.

"Just the same as me. We're practically brothers." Mickey confirmed. "Walt loved him like his own son. That's why he set up the snow globe quest so I could find Oswald. Remember how the books said Walt lost control of Oswald's series? Oswald was created a Universal toon under contract, and when Walt had to quit, Oswald was dissociated with anything Disney. So we're gonna get his copyrights back to Disney, just like Walt always wanted!" The mouse rejoiced.

"That's great. Gotta give the man credit for not playing the 'treasure was inside you all along' cliché." Bugs droned indifferently. The mouse sensed something was wrong. The looney rabbit wasn't asking any questions. Bugs didn't even sound impressed or relieved that his friend had achieved his goal.

"What's the matter, Bugs?" Mickey suspected. "I thought you'd be happier."

"I am happy for ya, Doc. Ecstatic. Thrilled." The grey rabbit insisted. "I'm just exhausted. Didn't sleep well last night."

"Oh. Well anyway, I've got more good news." Mickey proceeded warily. "That inkwell you held onto for safekeeping..." On the other end of the line, Bugs' face turned green with guilt.

"You mean da one Ortensia lodged in me ear?" Bugs needlessly asked.

"Of course, that one." The mouse replied. "I found out it belongs to Oswald and Ortensia. O.R. Junior is supposed to be Oswald's son." Mickey revealed. Bugs shielded his eyes in shame.

"...Really?" The rabbit stammered.

"Yeah, so now Oswald will hold on to the inkwell until we find Ortensia, or until the ink's used to animate a child toon." Mickey foretold excitedly. "I know plenty of animators who would be more than willing to do the job, especially after they hear what Oswald's been through."

"Uh-huh." Bugs agreed numbly.

"And I know this will be really great for Oswald. So if you could drop off the inkwell as soon as possible, that'd be swell." The mouse went on.

"Listen, Doc!" Bugs interrupted. "Remember I called you. I gotta get somet'ing off my chest."

"Okay. So what did you wanna tell me?" Mickey wondered.

"I'm gonna be straight wit' ya, Doc. Ya ain't gonna like this." Bugs warned. Whatever this was peaked Mickey's curiosity, as well as the curiosity of Oswald. From the full height of a pillar, Oswald carelessly dropped the decorative reef, just like he'd done to the last five. While flying over to the next pillar, the rabbit intently listened to the caller's next words. A rotten feeling in his gut told him Bugs Bunny was up to no good. "Dat inkwell ya trusted me wit'..." Bugs started.

"Yeah?" The mouse responded.

"I lost it." Bugs confessed.

"WHAT?!" Mickey exploded. Suddenly a loud 'CRASH' echoed off the ballroom walls. The phone fell from Mickey's hand as he frantically burst through the doors. His eyes immediately darted to the right side of the room. Oswald's motionless body laid on the floor face up. Whilst Mickey dashed across the wide ballroom he had time to notice the garland was only half unraveled from the pillar beside the rabbit. Mickey knew Oswald had fallen. He stumbled to his knees beside Oswald, and desperately gripped his brother's shoulder.

"Oswald! Are you okay?!" Mickey cried. Oswald's eyes slid back and forth. Black motion lines that weren't quite stars popped over the inkblot's face.

"N-no joy in Mudville. Mighty Casey has struck out." Oswald moaned, before losing consciousness. While crazy talk after a hard blow was a good sign for a toon, Mickey still worried for his brother. Acting on adrenaline, he called to Minnie for help, and left Oswald in her care the moment she raced in. Mickey couldn't stand waiting another second to give Bugs a piece of his mind. He stomped out of the ballroom and snatched the phone off the floor.

"You snake in the grass!" Mickey cursed.

"Yelling will not fix anyt'ing." Bugs lectured. "But if it makes ya feel bettah, fire away. I desoive it." He submitted.

"I can't believe you lost it! I trusted you with an unanimated life! And you betrayed my trust! That was supposed to be my nephew, Bugs! How could you do this?!" The mouse raged. "Do you even have any idea where it could be?!"

Nine years later... ... ...

"United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru..."

(8/16/16)
Author's Note:
A.) And that's the end, everybody! Until the sequel, that is. My plan is to make the sequel an Animaniacs fic, and the following sequel a Looney Tunes fic. I know it would be easier to keep this trilogy all within the Disney fandom. But one thing I've noticed as I take many notes on the sequels, is the plot is deviating very far from Mickey and friends. So this may seem confusing at first, but it's how I'm going to tell the rest of Oswald's story and... someone else's. Stay tuned for the next instalment in the Treasure trilogy: Treasures of the Inkwell.

B.) Every animated Disney movie produced in Walt Disney's lifetime was in some way referenced in this fic. (plus a few later ones). Did you catch all the references? Some are better hidden than others.

C.) Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, alerted, or just read every chapter. Especially to the reviewers, thank you so much. You guys gave some of the nicest feedback I've ever read. I'm glad to know my first full length Disney fanfic. was so well loved and there's an audience out there wanting more. Thanks to you, there will be more Toontown adventures to come.

(10/21/16)
A.) The sequel is up! Whoo-hoo!