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"...but he's your brother..."
At the mere use of the word 'brother', Oswald spun around to face the female mouse. "He is no brother of mine," he spat venomously, though the malice in his tone wasn't directed at her in the slightest. It should have been, he knew, but it just wasn't. "He's nothing to me." He couldn't help it—something about Minnie made him reluctant to lash out at her, so he took a deep breath to calm the spike of anger that shot through him. "Look I don't blame you one bit for anything that happened... that other mouse replacing me wasn't your fault, I get that, but just because you love him doesn't mean I have to even try to tolerate him." Despite his reluctance to be spiteful towards Minnie, he couldn't help the next words that escaped him. "...and even though you didn't replace me like he did, you did replace my Ortensia."
At that Minnie winced. Despite not even knowing the rabbit for that long, let alone not having ever met Ortensia herself, it still felt like a touchy subject that needed to be treaded lightly on, if hardly at all. Mickey had indeed replaced Oswald, and as a result she ended up replacing Ortensia as the female love interest to the new star. Still, something told her that if Ortensia had been there (if she wasn't gone), she wouldn't have had any bitterness or resentment.
But then again, how was she to know? I've never been replaced, so how could I assume such a thing...? Perhaps it was her positive demeanor and trying to look for the best in everyone, which is what prevented her from getting angry at Oswald for his harsh words towards her husband. She knew he had every reason to be angry, especially after losing his own wife.
If I lost Mickey, I can only imagine how I would be afterwards...
And that was exactly what was in stake for the female mouse: her husband's life. From how Oswald had described Ortensia's final moments, it seemed eerily similar to how Mickey had been taken... Only she didn't know if he was gone yet either...
Her heart raced at the mere thought before she could stop herself, and it was that spike of anxiety that pushed her into trying to reason with Oswald again. "I'm not asking you to like Mickey, even after everything is over... I just need your help finding him." She looked down at the paintbrush in her hand. "I can only do so much on my own with this." The doubt was the predisposition she had towards of own self and how she'd been portrayed in most cartoons over the years. She was usually the damsel in distress, the love interest to be saved, but this wasn't a cartoon anymore. Her reality now involved her being on the other end of what happened in most of her cartoons with Mickey: now he was the one in distress and she was trying to save him. This time, however, she could only wonder if there'd be a happy ending at the end of all this.
At her words, Oswald looked away, thinking about Ortensia. Minnie was so much like her, and he had realized this once he saw her. When the Blot came down from the sky, Ortensia had wanted to help in the fight. She wanted to help protect their home and their kids and him. And he lost her, possibly in the same way Minnie had lost Mickey. And now Minnie was doing the exact same thing—trying to save her own spouse. She still had a chance and he knew it, and while he didn't really care much whether Mickey suffered the same fate as Ortensia or not... He wouldn't wish a fate—losing a soulmate—like that on anyone, especially not Minnie, who was so much like his Ortensia (so much so that it hurt; and it hurt to think about whether at the least if Ortensia and Minnie would have been friends). "Eh, I wouldn't say that," he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck as he kept his eyes glued to the other side of the room. "You've been doing fine on your own."
Minnie wasn't so sure. She'd come a pretty long way since she fell into Wasteland and yet hadn't come even close to finding out where Mickey was being held. She stared apprehensively at the magical brush in her hand. "But I still need your help," she said finally. "I still can't find him, and there's only enough time to look before something happens to him..." If something hasn't happened already. "I feel like I'm running out of time."
"Maybe you are..." He didn't want to be so blunt, but it was the truth. If Mickey had been taken by a part of the Blot and was being held inside a part of it... He could have already turned inert. Of course he couldn't tell her that part. He didn't want to, even with how much he despised Mickey. "...but fine... I'll... help as much as I can." Minnie perked up at that. Oswald paused, turning and meeting her eyes. "On one condition."
"Anything, you name it. I'll help with restoring your kingdom as much as I can too while I look for him."
She already was, and while he did secretly appreciate it... "When you find him—" When, not if. He had faith in her, he just didn't know what she would find... "—take him back home." He averted his eyes in a hateful glare at the thought of his brother. "I don't want to see him and I don't want to talk to him. When you find him, just leave. Leave and never come back ever again." This time he didn't try to keep the bitterness out of his voice. If he was going to waste away here forever, without his Ortensia and with the Blot still around—unless Minnie planned on actually defeating it, but it was bottled up already; the most she could was fight the splatters and whatever part of it that took away his most hated enemy)—then he wanted to do so without Mickey—the cause of how and why he ended up being forgotten in the first place—being there to add insult to injury. And with Minnie, she was just too much like Ortensia, and that in itself was a constant painful reminder among all the other painful reminders in his life. He just wanted them to leave after everything was done with so he could live with his children and what was left of his kingdom in peace.
And Minnie understood that, she really did. She couldn't focus on worrying about Oswald and Mickey and couldn't spend time wondering about how they could possibly ever get the chance to really meet (her husband hadn't even known Oswald existed to begin with, and she hadn't either). She had bigger things to worry about, like saving Mickey before anything bad happened to him (if it hadn't happened already, that is). She needed to focus, to put forth all of her attention and dedication and determination into fighting parts of the Blot and, in the end, finding her Mickey.
Minnie nodded finally at his request, staring down at the ground. She clutched the paintbrush in her hand just a little bit tighter. I'll be there soon, Mickey... please just hang on.
"It's a deal," she said finally.
She lifted her eyes to meet his. For a moment Oswald was taken aback by the set determination in her eyes. He could tell right then and there that she was even more ready now than ever before—ready to go as far as need be and fight with everything she had just to save the one she loved most. He'd been there before, he had tried with all his might to save the one he loved most... only he had failed, while Minnie still had a chance.
She might actually pull this off.