Chapter Text
Having 420 kids of his own, Oswald completely understood how exhausting raising babies could be. Honestly If he and Ortensia didn’t have so much help during those first few years, he was pretty sure he would have lost his marbles trying to keep up with all the baby care.
Felix did always comment how he was extremely impressed with how well he handled raising so many kids, due to how he himself had a few moments where he was at a bit of a loss when raising three demons, with POWERS, by himself. In reply, Oswald would say he too was impressed that all his kids haven’t tried overthrowing him due to how greatly they outnumbered him.
Though, while 420 was quite a lot to handle, one single baby was also a lot for new parents.
Especially if said new parents didn’t exactly have time to prepare since the one single baby they have ended up being a Christmas surprise.
With today being a less busy day, Mickey and Minnie the day before insisted they could handle watching over Merry all day so the ink siblings could have a break. Though that didn’t stop Merry from keeping them up all night crying, fussing, and demanding attention for whatever reason.
Currently, Mickey had Merry strapped to his chest while Minnie took a nap herself to try getting some needed sleep. With Mickey in his personal study was Oswald, Felix, Donald, and Goofy. All of them were trying to get through the paperwork that needed attention so they could be done with their work for the day.
Handing some paperwork to Donald, Goofy smiled. “Clarabelle is doing really well with her community service! She’s been clearing snow off the roads all winter and is planning to replant flowers around the kingdom once spring arrives!”
Giving a nod of approval, Donald then held the papers to Mickey so they could properly log Clarabelle’s community service she’s served so far. When he didn’t take it though, the duck lowered the papers in confusion and got a good look at the king.
The king, who had fallen asleep, while sitting up, as his daughter strapped to his chest was trying to reach for his nose with her tiny little hands.
While Oswald didn’t stop himself from wheezing at the sight, Felix did his best to stay composed as a small, amused snort escaped him. Donald too chuckled a little as Goofy giggled. “Garsh, I remember getting that tired when Maxie was a baby.”
Donald nodded in agreement. “Same with Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Didn’t sleep a wink after they hatched.”
Deciding to save his little brother from either a sore neck or a rude nose grabbing awakening, Oswald moved from his seat and gently shook Mickey’s shoulder. Causing the king to snort awake and jolt up in his seat.
“I’m doing my chores Yen Sid I swear!!”
That certainly got the rest of the group to openly laugh, while poor Mickey blushed as he realized what just happened. Taking pity on him, Oswald patted Mickey’s back as he addressed the others. “Let’s take a quick break. Merry’s going to need another bottle soon anyways.”
Everyone agreeing to that, Goofy and Donald left to do their own thing while Felix gave Oswald a quick kiss before he went to go check on his kids, leaving the two brothers to go to the castle kitchen.
While the cook warmed up a bottle, Oswald sat with Mickey in the castle dining room, and watched as his brother let Merry hold onto his fingers with her tiny hands. “So how’s the parenting thing going for you?”
Mickey sighed tiredly. “How do you sleep anymore Ozzy? Minnie and I practically sleep in shifts, and even then, it’s not restful.”
Thinking back to his kids’ baby days, the prince shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure if Ortensia and I slept much at all. It all feels like a blurry haze at this point.”
Mickey gave a small laugh. “Oh yeah. You did look pretty out of it those first few months. Dad practically hired an army of nannies to help you two because of how burned out you looked.”
Too bad they couldn’t keep all of those nannies around because of how expensive that got over time, but at least as the kids got older things got a LITTLE easier, and then the ink siblings came around a few years later. Those three practically had the power, patience, and energy of an army, which was PERFECT for nannying so many bunnies, and now one baby kitten.
Soon the cook came in with a bottle and gave it to the king. Thanking the cook, Mickey then proceeded to feed Merry as Oswald quietly watched.
“..... Am I going to do okay?”
A bit caught off guard by his little brother’s question, Oswald asked. “What do you mean?”
With a worried expression on his face, Mickey explained. “I’m scared I’m going to mess up. I failed at being a wizard, I’m barely cut out to be a king, I’m always worried I’m not being the best uncle or husband I can be, and now I’m a dad! No one has come forward claiming her and we haven’t found anything in search of where she came from. This little girl is going to be my daughter for the rest of her life… I’m scared that I’m going to fail her Ozzy.”
Oh sheesh, has Mickey always felt this way? Oswald had to pay more attention in the future to keep his brother from being so hard on himself. “You’re not going to fail her Mickey. Sure you’re going to mess up sometimes. What parent doesn’t? Mom and Dad messed up with us now and then, but we still love them, and we turned out okay…ish.”
As he continued, the prince reached out and gently rubbed Merry’s head as she drank her bottle. “Also go easy on yourself. My kids love you like crazy, Minnie looks like the happiest woman ever being married to you, you’re doing a good job at being king, and if you ask me, being a wizard didn’t work out because Yen Sid may not have been the right magic teacher for you. Always giving that “disappointed teacher” look and giving you busy work to teach you patience when you were clearly really wanting to practice magic.”
“He had a point with the patience thing; I made nothing but messes. Besides, he’s the greatest wizard of all time…”
The prince scoffed. “Doesn’t make him a good teacher. You, Donald, Della, Morgana, and Goofy took his classes. Goofy dropped out because he realized he didn’t want to be a wizard, Donald and Della were decent at it, but their bad luck and temper didn’t mix well with magic, don't even get me started on Morgana, and you had amazing potential that I think wasn’t properly guided. You five were his ONLY students from our generation and none of you became official wizards for different reasons. Sounds more like a teacher problem then a student problem.”
With how his brother still looked conflicted, Oswald decided to get back on topic. “My point though, is that despite your concerns, you’re doing a good job because you’re trying your best. That’s all any parent can do. We can’t be perfect, but our kids can appreciate that we try. Merry is going to grow up loving her sweet, cheesy Dad.”
Like Oswald suspected, his words got his little brother emotional, with how his eyes started to get watery and he started to sniffle. Smiling fondly, Oswald got up from his seat and hugged Mickey, who could only lean into the hug considering how his arms were full from feeding Merry.
“I love you Ozzy.”
“Love you too Mic.”
___________________________
The day eventually came to an end, the work was done, Mickey and Minnie got to spend some quality time with their daughter, then everyone settled down for the night.
Thankfully, for the queen and king, Merry was having a night where she was actually sleeping. Instead of just closing her eyes for a few minutes then waking up to fuss. Taking the golden opportunity, Mickey and Minnie practically passed out in bed, with their loyal dog Pluto by their feet.
Resting comfortably at the end of the bed, Pluto’s ears twitched at every small sound he’d pick up as he was nodding off. With Mickey and Minnie taking in a baby, Pluto wanted to make sure to listen for any sounds the baby made in case his owner slept through it.
Before he could completely fall asleep, he heard Merry starting to mew softly, and then something quietly shushing her.
Opening his eyes, the royal dog blinked a few times as he looked at the crib on the other side of the room. A cloaked figure was carefully gathering up Merry into their arms.
At first wondering if that was Bendy, due to the familiar feeling he got from his dark magic ink body, and how he'd always have his cloak on, Pluto’s eyes went WIDE when the cloaked figure then suddenly started to float up into the air.
Bendy couldn’t float.
That wasn’t Bendy.
A stranger had Merry!!!
Barking as loud as possible, Pluto practically leapt off the bed and jumped at the cloaked figure. The person turned and gasped, barely moving out of the way before Pluto could sink his teeth into their flesh, but the action resulted in the royal dog biting down on the bag the person had on them.
Snapping awake thanks to Pluto’s barking, Mickey and Minnie sat up in bed and frantically looked around to see what was going on. When they spotted Pluto dangling in the air trying to bite someone, they both gasped in horror when they saw the intruder had their daughter.
“GUARDS!! GUARDS!!!!”
The intruder’s attention was drawn to the royal couple as they screamed for the guards. Seeing how the king and queen were leaping to their feet, and the king was grabbing a sword, the person groaned in frustration and glared down at the dog. “STUPID MUTT!”
KICK!
Pluto let out a pained yelp from the powerful kick in his rib cage forcing him to let go and crash into the ground. Now free from the dog, the person held Merry tightly and FLEW out the door as guards came bursting in, zooming down the hallway.
Minnie cried out in horror. “OUR BABY! MICKEY OUR BABY!”
Not wasting any time, Mickey chased after the intruder and yelled at the guards. “AFTER THEM!!!”
Running as fast as he could, Mickey did his best to keep his eyes on the person who had his daughter, trying to force himself to go faster so he could reach them, get his baby girl back.
But the intruder was faster.
They turned a corner, making Mickey and the guards by his side lose sight. When they all managed to turn the corner as well, they all froze.
The hallway was empty, all that was there was the abandoned cloak fluttering to the ground.
They took her.
Merry was gone.
Mickey’s sword clattered as it hit the ground as the king dropped to his knees. He didn’t notice or hear the guards around him. He barely felt as Minnie rushed to his side, holding onto him as she cried and yelled something to the guards.
Someone took his daughter…
“Mic! Mickey! Hey come on little brother, we need you to breathe.”
Gasping, Mickey finally snapped back to reality. He wrapped his arms around his wife and looked up at Oswald who was kneeling down in front of him with Felix, the ink siblings, and their pets right behind him. Tears ran down the king’s face as he looked at his brother with big, terrified eyes. “Ozzy, t-they took Merry!!”
Alice from behind Oswald gasped while everyone looked extremely alarmed. Growling, Bendy turned to his siblings. “Alice, go get Cala! Boris, help the guards and see if you can pick up Merry’s scent! I’ll go get Cuphead and Mugman!”
As the three siblings with their pets quickly split up, Oswald then turned to Felix as the cat man spoke. “I’ll go get Goofy, Donald, and Daisy and search with them!”
The prince nodded at his partner and watched as he rushed off. With everyone gone in search of baby Merry, Oswald then put his full attention on his brother and sister-in-law. He quickly wrapped his arms around the two, and hugged them tightly as they both cried.
“It’s going to be okay. We’ll find her. It’s going to be okay…”
______________________________________________
The sun was up.
The guards searched the entire castle from head to toe, and now they were searching the entire kingdom, but so far there was no word on where baby Merry is.
Mickey and Minnie were understandably distraught. It took Oswald and their friends a while to help them calm down and assure them they won't stop until they find Merry. Donald and Daisy quickly rushed off to get Scrooge and any friends they had to help with the search. Oswald was especially being a big help by taking charge and ordering the guards to do everything they can to find out what happened to his new niece. Goofy and Captain Cabrera lead many of the guards during the searching.
The King and Queen prayed their little girl was safe…
The ink siblings at one point tried using their powers to find Merry by searching for her soul, but when it got to the point where all three of them were coughing up ink from pushing their powers too hard, Mickey and Minnie ordered them to stop, not wanting the three teens to hurt themselves.
With how he was no longer allowed to try using his powers to find Merry, Bendy then offered to try making a sketch of the person who took her if the king and queen got a good look. The royal couple agreed and did their best to describe the person’s appearance as everyone was gathered in the royal couple’s bedroom.
Sitting on the edge of the bed and petting his poor dog Pluto, who thankfully wasn’t badly hurt from trying to protect Merry, Mickey sighed heavily. “I’m sorry if my description isn’t much. That, girl? She kept herself covered, and it was dark in our room when all of this happened…”
Hugging her husband’s arm tightly, Minnie shook her head. “Don’t apologize honey. You got a better look at her then I did. It’ll be thanks to you that we’ll have some way to identify her.”
Thankful for his wife’s reassurance, Mickey rested his hand over his wife's then put his attention back on Bendy, who had pulled out a seat from the bedroom desk to sit in as he finished up the sketch… And had a rather strange expression on his face as he lowered his pen.
“I-is something wrong? Is my description off?”
Bendy didn’t answer right away, leading his siblings, friends, Oswald, and Felix to curiously look over his shoulders and take a peek at the sketch themselves. While most of the others didn’t seem to see anything wrong, both Boris and Alice’s eyes went so wide that they almost resembled the size of dinner plates. The three siblings all exchanged shocked looks with each other, before Bendy turned his sketchbook around so Mickey could see the drawing.
“Are you SURE this is who you saw?”
Looking at the paper, and taking in the drawing, the King nodded to confirm. “Yeah, that’s pretty accurate…”
To everyone’s surprise and confusion, Alice seemed as if her skin turned whiter than it already was as she covered her mouth in horror, Boris was practically grabbing at his head as he panickily muttered “Ohmygodohmygosohmygod.” repeatedly, while Bendy’s face went blank, and ink started to drip from his head.
Starting to get concerned by his kids’ reactions, Felix asked. “Guys, what’s wrong? Do you recognize her?”
Bendy slowly nodded as he put his sketchbook down in his lap. “That’s Carley…”
Getting worried as well, Cuphead moved next to Bendy and carefully rested his hand on his boyfriend’s back. “Is she someone from your past? Someone who hurt you guys?”
Shaking his head no, Bendy’s blank expression changed to that of dread as realization sunk in. “We didn’t know she was out there all this time… We didn’t know she EXISTED.”
Now very confused, Oswald asked. “Okay, wait, hold on. How do you know her if you didn’t think she existed?”
Facing the adults, what the ink demon said stunned them all.
“Carley is an ink creature, a living fictional character, just like US.”