Mad at Mouse Part 25

After speaking with Maleficent I felt so cold. I was already ice cold from freezing my heart, but dealing with that woman turned the blood in my veins to ice water.

I stepped out into a World, one that was inhabited this time, and turned my face to their sun.

It was so warm. I drifted, letting the ice slowly melt away.

It was painful. It was always painful, but it was cleansing as well. Tears fell, and I was careful to collect them.

Tears can be a powerful thing in the right hands.

There was laughter on this World, and more of the ice melted away at the sound.

It was joyful and free, and most of all, it was alive.

I was drawn towards it. Gliding towards the source, the children playing and laughing and living.

They were so alive. Barely a shadow marked their hearts, they sang with hope and love and adventure.

They were building something. It seemed familiar, but rather than try to understand I sank down beneath an old tree, letting the golden sun warm me, the soft green grass comfort me.

Not everything was dead. Not everything was broken.

Tears ran freely now. So many dead. So many consumed by Darkness. Why hadn’t anyone stopped this from happening?

“Hey!” One of the boys called out, sharp features and bright red hair, but a kind look to his face. “Are you okay ma’am? You look like you could do with a friend”

I wiped at my eyes. This was a good World, to spawn such kindness.

“I could I suppose. I don’t have many of those left.” I replied, trying to stifle my tears.

Another of the boys offered a clean square of cloth, and I took it, drying my face. “Thank you.”

“Can we help?” The first boy asked, and I shook my head, a spark of cheerfulness already breaking my melancholy.

“You already did.” I smiled at them, and it must have been a painful broken thing because it caused the boys to look more worried. “I needed to remember there was light and hope and happiness still in this Universe. I had... forgotten.”

“Well, if you’re sure...” The first boy didn’t look convinced.

“Go.” I gestured, “Play, have fun, make something awesome. Show me there’s more to life than the end of it.”

A spark lit in the smaller boy’s eyes. “Ferb!” He exclaimed, “Can we...?” I watched in growing amusement as a rapid conversation took place between the two boys, one bouncing from idea to idea while the other offered a steadying hand.

My heart started to sing again.