Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He can recall a time when Thneedville was nothing more than a map, and a small set made in miniature scale, sitting on his desk. The Once-ler, at the height of his wealth and power, had bought out the land from under the feet of the people in Greenville. Promising them a far superior town, with better roads, houses, hospitals; better everything, all made on the backs of the Thneeds he was shipping world wide. The small town, where he had been hit with tomatoes, was destroyed and in its place Thneedville had been built.

That was so very long ago, now.

Today, the Once-ler stands at the door of his house that teetered on the edge of the cliff, and stared at the distant town. The big, circling wall was now completely removed and destroyed. The fields were slowly growing grass again, the skies were blue with lazy clouds drifting on the surface… it was an actually pleasant day.

This, ultimately, made this all the more unbearable for the old man.

“Nope. Not doin’ it.” he announced loudly to no one in particular. He spun on his heel and walked back indoors. “Not goin’ anywhere.” Once-ler said to himself, listening to the quake in his voice not only from age, but from fear. “Don’t know what he’s talkin’ about.” the old man rambled as he picked up the letter that he had found snuck under his door that morning.

‘Dear Mister The Once-ler,’ he had read aloud, 'I just thought it’d be awesome if you could come into town! The roads are all fixed now, so you don’t have to risk falling off all those ledges any more. It’s just one straight road! A lot more people know about you now, 'n even Ma wants to meet you since she used to think you were a made up fantasy story. In fact, a lot of people thought you were, and that you weren’t real. So come to this address for lunch today if you can!’

Naturally, it was signed Ted.

Everyone had forgotten about him; that much he could have expected. Who in their right mind wanted to waste brain cells in remembering the man who had lopped down every single Truffula tree, and sent the native animals into exodus? Who in their right mind would remember him?

“Hrm.” Once-ler sighed before he spotted something on the wall. It was the great-great-great grandfather snail that Ted had brought to him. The snail, slow moving, turned its head to look at him. The elderly man, and snail, regarded one another and their reason for being here. “Shell of a great-great-great grandfather… a nail… and fifteen cents…” Once-ler whispered to himself. He had told one, single, solitary person about these objects.

She had remembered him.

~*~

“Oh yeah that’s real mature, real grown up. Thanks a lot.” Once-ler grumbled as he had wiped the tomato from his face, guitar slung down low around his neck. So far, his attempts at selling his thneed, wasn’t going very well at all. He’d only gotten a few bars of his specially written song out before someone up the back had hurled a tomato at his face.

“Ha ha, looser!” the voice of whoever it was had called, and he was shocked to hear it belonging to a girl. Figured, really. Girls the world over were crazy.

It was later, now, and the crowd had dispersed. Melvin was happily munching away at the green grass and Once-ler sat there, wallowing in his private pity party, when someone approached him.

“Aw chin up buckaroo, it ain’t the end of the world.” the voice told him cheerily.

Once-ler lifted his head to see a slender, petite young woman standing across from him. Her hands were set on her hips, and she wore a pale yellow dress with a white pinafore. Her long auburn hair had loops and curls on it, and on the end of her nose were small round glasses. The young man, clad in grey and white, stared at the girl for a moment before he hunched his shoulders up.

“Oh so I guess you’re a natural at getting over things when you get lobbed in the face with a tomato?” he demanded.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” she grinned cheekily.

“What? You?!” Once-ler got to his feet immediately, his 6'4 height dwarfing her 5’ but she didn’t look intimidated at all. If anything, she looked amused.

“Guilty as charged.” she smiled.

“What-but-who just–why would you do that??” he demanded, holding his hands out to her, demanding an explanation to why he now had tomato seeds in his hair.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I was bored, and nobody else seemed interested in what was going on.”

Once-ler was sure he was red in the face. “Who does that to somebody new in town? Do you all throw tomatoes at any stranger who comes calling?”

“Only if they come calling trying to sell something with horrible music.” she teased back.

“Horrible–horribl–HORRIBLE?” Once-ler flushed, hands forming fists by his sides before he pointed at her. “Now you listen here, you can lob vegetables at my face–”

“Fruit.”

“What?” his finger drooped.

“Tomatoes are fruits, not vegetables.”

“…no way, really?” Once-ler asked.

“Hmm hmm, really.”

“I didn’t know that.” he mumbled.

“Well they say you learn something new every day.” she smiled.

“Hm. True. Anyway, back to my ranting. You can lob fruit at my face, you can call my invention stupid, you can even tell me I suck but nobody insults my playing!” Once-ler puffed himself up, and tilted his hat forward on his head until it shaded his eyes. “I’ve been playing a long time and I doubt you’re the critique of this town!”

She laughed, and swatted at his arm with one of her hands and just barely made contact.

“You’re funny, I like you.”

“Feeling ain’t mutual.” he grumbled as he grabbed Melvin’s leash and tugged him along with him as he began to walk away from the square, and the girl.

“Aw, don’t be like that I’m only teasing!” she said as she hurried up to walk alongside him. “So you live out there, in the woods?” she asked, genuinely curious it seemed.

“Well yeah.” Once-ler said, eyeing her warily. “I don’t have any where else to live.”

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because, I travelled the world, baby.” Once-ler replied with a smug grin, proud of an opportunity to boast. “Packed up all my gear, kissed my Ma goodbye 'n set off into the wide blue world.”

“Ooh, now that’s impressive.” she said, nodding her head and pushing her glasses back up her nose since they had begun to slightly slip.

“Ya darn right it’s impressive.” Once-ler said with a proud nod of his head, “So I’ve been looking, seeking town to town, place to place, with my trusty mule Melvin here,” he purposely scratched at the mule’s ears. “Until I finally found Truffula trees.”

“Sounds like quite a tale.” she said before suddenly stepping out in front of him, and held her hand out. “Norma. Norma Wiggins.” the young woman finally introduced herself.

“Oh. Uh.” Once-ler blinked at her hand before taking it, and giving it a slight shake. “Once-ler.”

“That’s a funny name, Once-ler. What’s it mean?” she asked.

“Uh. Once?” he shrugged.

She laughed, which only further pushed his buttons. By the time he stormed home that evening, thneed around his neck, guitar under his arm, and Melvin walking alongside him, the girls’ laughter still rung in his ears. He had grumbled, shooed Pipsqueak from inside his bed, and gone to bed early.

~*~

“Can’t believe I’m doing this.” Once-ler muttered as he ran a mostly toothless comb through his mustache in his bathroom. The tiles were pale green and showed their age by how pale they had gone in the years, and how slimy since he wasn’t exactly the best man to look after tiles in forty years of isolation.

He turned his head this way, and that, before pulling his upper lip back and ran his tongue along his upper teeth. How they managed to stay in his skull all these years, and never need a dentist, he didn’t know. But he was grateful for that since most men his age didn’t have their own teeth any more.

Making his way down his stairs slowly, carefully, Once-ler finally emerged again from his front door. Thneedville glistened on the horizon and he took a deep breath. He hadn’t gone beyond his wasteland in decades, now, and he was telling himself he wasn’t afraid. There was no reason to be. Sure, people may stare, but they stared the first time he’d gone into Greenville too.

But he had people waiting for him, out there. Ted and his family, for one. And, maybe, he could ask Ted about where he’d been told about the snail, money, and nail. If he could figure that out, he may be able to hunt down Norma. She had to be alive, just had to, since who else would know these things?

The elderly man hummed as he walked along the long winding road towards Thneedville, arms slowly swinging by his sides as he did. There was a gentle breeze gently wafting over the valley, and it was a welcoming feeling. Almost like it had been all those years ago but, of course, he had company back then. Melvin, his trusty steed, had always followed along with him wearing the 'Everybody needs a Thneed’ sign that he had made. How insulted the mule had looked when Once-ler had revealed it to him, and he had to literally chase him down to put it on.

He missed his mule, just like he missed the other animals, and the Lorax. But just a little bit more. Melvin had always been there for him, ever since he was six years old and his Ma had brought the mule from the stock yards. It had been shortly after the death of his father and the young Once-ler had been turning quiet on people, no longer whimpering when his brothers would pick on him.

The mule and he had clicked, somehow. Once-ler would lead the mule around the farm, carrying and dragging things. He would talk to Melvin and the mule would obediently listen and sometimes he would even snort or bray with amusement. Once-ler always believed Melvin could understand him, though every time he said this, however, his mother would remind him Melvin’s nothing but a stupid animal.

Then his aunt would add 'it takes one to know one’ and everyone would laugh.

“Old bitty.” Once-ler mumbled to himself as he found himself stopping on a small cobblestone bridge, and staring straight on with Thneedville. The last time he’d been in this city… no, no. He couldn’t think about that now. This is a new start, a fresh start. Wasn’t it? Right. He bit at his bottom lip apprehensively before he stood his tallest, heard his bones creak at the effort, and he started walking again.

He felt eyes upon him instantly as he walked through the park, or what could be considered a park. Eyes boring into him, at an old, tall, man who nobody had ever seen before.

“Looka the tall man mommy!” a little girl cried.

He hurried his pace as best he could but stopped, and stepped back, and looked down. It was the Truffula seed which, now, wasn’t a seed any more but a sapling. Already it was a few inches in height, the tuft a happy pink that reminded him so much of the pink trees that had surrounded his cottage all those years ago.

But what got to him, even more than the sight of the tiny plant, was the fact it had a ring of stones around it. He recalled the first tree that he had chopped down so carelessly, how he had spotted it days later with rocks piled around it. He’d asked the Lorax what that was all about, but the Lorax had snorted and said something to the affect of 'you wouldn’t understand’.

Once-ler chuckled and tipped his hat towards the sapling before slowly, carefully, getting to his feet since he had knelt towards the plant. He took a shuddering breath and looked around, before walking through the park, around something that looked like it used to house a giant statue, and finally reached the side of the road. He remembered his lessons and waited for the traffic to pass, and almost fell over completely.

The vehicles were unlike anything he’d ever seen before. Some had one wheel, others had multiples, their colors were bright and flashy, and some guy was riding a unicycle atop a very tall pole whilst listening to something on head phones. He took another step back when a car, the hugest he’s ever seen, came barreling past him.

“Whoa there!” a voice startled and hands caught at him before he would go falling over completely. “You all right old timer?” the woman’s voice asked.

Once-ler spluttered at the indignity of it all; being shaken by vehicles, almost falling over, and at being called an old timer. Of course he was surprised by the cars and such, the last time he’d seen a car it had been his mother’s RV. Motor vehicles back then weren’t nearly this flash, or huge. The shock had been enough for him to step back too much, treading on the trailing tail of his jacket and almost fell over in an embarrassed lump of green and pink material attached to a man.

And the lat part; being called an old timer. Not even Ted had called him that! He spluttered, and flailed his arms and legs for a moment before finally finding his footing. He stood up, pulling himself away from who’d grabbed him, and huffed with as much self respect as he could scrape out of the bottom of the barrel right now. Oh he was going to give this person a talking to, make no mistake. Yes, he may be old, but that was no reason for insults.

“Now you listen, I’m–”

His words spluttered to a stop.

An elderly woman wearing a pink jumper, green dress, and holding tightly onto a brown walking stick tightly in one of her hands. Atop her head, almost pure white curls sat. Upon her nose were small, round glasses and behind those were brown eyes… familiar brown eyes.

“Excuse you, you’re…?” she asked, arching a thin eyebrow at him.

“I,” he said after a moment and grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled on them, straightening his clothes, “I am fine. Yes. Thank you.”

“They are pretty obnoxious, aren’t they?” the elderly woman asked, “The cars. They’re so loud and big but they’re slowly fazing them out now.”

“Good.” Once-ler grumbled, still waiting for the vehicles to stop threatening him and his livelihood. “Is it always this busy?”

“This time of day? Oh yes.” she answered with a wicked little chuckle. “Check this out.”

She suddenly, and boldly, walked out into traffic. Once-ler yelped and reached out to her, hoping to yank her from the arms of death but the cars were screeching and driving around her, horns honking in annoyance at the old woman. The last thing he expected, though, was to have her walking stick suddenly loop around his neck and yank him down to follow after her, cars careening around them or all out stopping just in the nick of time.

When they were finally on the other side of the street did she release her hold on him via her walking stick, and the Once-ler stood to his full height.

“Wh-at-what, what, lady are you crazy??” he demanded, eyes wide. “You could have died! I could have died! We could have been hit by a car! My heart…!” the man leaned against a sign post, grasping at his chest with a hand.

“Oh, where’s your sense of fun gone?” she asked, smirking. “I like ta keep em on their toes.”

“Y-yeah… sure… look I’m. I gotta go. I’ve got a place to get to.” he righted himself, and smoothed out his scarf.

“Oh?” the short woman looked curious.

“Yeah. I do.” Once-ler said as he turned away. “Thanks for the life and death experience but I better be going.” He began to walk but stopped after a few steps since he saw that the short woman was following him, but no, not following. She was walking right along side him. “Can I help you?” he asked.

“Oh so polite,” she gushed playfully. “Well you’re walking in the same direction I am you see. Might as well walk side by side.”

Once-ler eyed the woman; why was it that he couldn’t shake the feeling he knew her? He hadn’t been in this city in over forty one years, anyone he would have known back then would have either moved on, died, or gotten so old he couldn’t recognize them. There was a small niggling thought at the far back of his mind, telling him this is something big but he couldn’t for the life of him remember.

The fact he was in town again, being stared at, and had almost died seconds ago had done a number on his memory.

He huffed at the woman. “You know what, fine. Do what you want.”

“Oh I will.” she replied back with a smug little smile that, somehow, didn’t anger him at all.

Perhaps, he thought as they crossed a pizza parlor, coming into Thneedville wasn’t such a bad idea as he thought it was. After all, he had Ted and his family waiting for him and he hadn’t seen Ted in a few days. He always enjoyed it when the boy came to visit, and a few times he’d brought the girl (woman, sorry) who had inspired him to seek him out in the first place. Such a pretty thing she was, with ginger hair wearing a dress of sunny yellow with butterflies on it. He wondered if she’d ever seen a real butterfly or not.

But they were good kids, visiting an old man like himself, telling him about the town, about their school, that sort of thing. It warmed his heart in many ways when he saw them arriving, always on that one wheeled scooter thing that he got around on. Right now they were helping him to repaint his house, since it had been an ugly color for far too long, and Audrey had been bringing in some nice white paint and tile paint to do the tiles a nice ceramic color.

Yes, his house which had been more like a prison for forty plus years was finally beginning to look like a home again.

This, really, just made him wonder what kind of home Ted lived in. He could almost see a nice clean house with his mother and father, Audrey next door, on a nice little neighborhood where kids played out doors… he was quite excited to go see it, even with the old woman still walking alongside him.

“Are you really one hundred percent sure which way you’re going?” she suddenly piped up.

“What–why I never!” Once-ler spluttered. “I’ll have your information, lady, that I designed this city!” he boasted, “I drew the lay out, I designed the biggest buildings, the bridges, the roads; it was all me! If anyone knows Thneedville, it’s me!”

She chuckled, and rolled her yes. “Oh yes, sure, sure. You’re the brilliant designer who set up Thneedville.”

“I am.” he grumbled. “And for your information I’m heading to Geisel Avenue, which is in the East of town. Yes?”

“Hmm. I’ll give you that much,” the white haired woman said, giving him a stink eye. “but how do I know you aren’t hiding a road map in that jacket of yours?”

“If I was you’d probably be able to see it.” Once-ler replied snappily, holding at the edges of his jacket. “I’m not exactly portly you know.”

“I noticed. You’re like a stick with a marshmallow on top wearing a hat!” she laughed; and again, that laugh seemed so familiar and yet it was just beyond his grasp. What was wrong with him, Once-ler’s memory is majority of the times something like a bear trap. Anything to wander into it was snapped up and held tight. But this time… he wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

“Yeah well, you’re like a cupcake left out in the sun for too long.” he countered, which only made the woman giggle at his attempt to insult her. She was tougher than he gave her credit for, it seemed.

To be continued

Chapter Text

“Ted!”

…

“Ted!”

…

“Theodore Wiggins will you answer your mother when she calls you??” Mrs. Wiggins voice snapped from the kitchen, arched its way up through the house and bounced its way into Ted’s bedroom.

“Ma, you just told me to do my homework!” he called back, turning away from his desk where some of his school books lay spread across like a carpet of text and pictures.

“I’m also calling you down here, so get your keister down here stat!” she shouted.

Groaning for all his suffering, Ted dragged himself away from his homework and made his way downstairs.

“You seen your Grammy anywhere?” Mrs. Wiggins asked as she stuck her head out from the kitchen. “I been lookin’ for her and she’s no where.”

“Uh. I thought I heard her say something about heading into town?” Ted asked.

“What? So close to that Once-ler guy comin’ over? I swear, I don’t know where she keeps her marbles sometimes the way she carries on.” Mrs. Wiggins rambled as she went back into the kitchen, “Anyway, Tedster, c'mon you gotta help me set the table.”

“All right Ma, all right.” he sighed, following her into the kitchen.

~*~

“You know if I didn’t know any better I’d swear that you’re stalking me.” Once-ler finally said, as he cast a glance to the old woman who continued to walk alongside him which, in itself, must be an effort for one stride of his legs was at least four for her.

“What an imagination!” she chuckled as she took a few more steps to be ahead of him. “Now who’s stalking who hm?”

“This is getting tedious.” he muttered to himself, being reminded just why he decided to cut himself from people. Sure, a few people had approached his house in the past but it was never about trees. They had just wanted to look into the rumors of the old crazy hermit living alone out in the middle of nowhere. He had built his houses defenses, the booby trapped door bell, the boot, and many others as a means to defend himself.

Still, he didn’t want to go back to living like that again. He had long since disconnected his booby traps, and even dismantled his faithful boot. That had been a sad day, since they had been there almost as long as he had been but this was because of a fresh start; a do-over for him. And you couldn’t do that with means of hurting people lurking in your home.

He came to a stop and fished the letter out of his jacket pocket and looked over the young boy’s writing again, before peering at the number on the house he was stopped by. Each house looked the same; it was easy to get lost unless you were counting the numbers on their letter boxes. Every lawn was the same, inflatable bushes, fake flowers, even the same mail boxes. It was unnerving and he had to remind himself that he’d designed all of this, and he wondered just how twisted an individual he’d become to think that this was good.

Then again everyone seemed happy… but they didn’t know better, did they? He remembered Greenville the way it was, small, quaint, houses dotted here and there with a bustling market not too far from the square… how the wind would gently breeze through your hair, the sun warm your face, and the shade of the Truffula trees… so much of it lost, gone forever. Who wanted to backpedal on progress?

“What’s wrong, are you lost now?” the woman’s voice broke his toe dip into nostalgia, and Once-ler blinked a few times as he shook his head.

“No, no. This is the right street. Number 22…” for some reason this amused the woman.

“Hey there you are!” a familiar voice, finally, broke the Once-ler’s concentration. “Mister Once-ler, over–Grammy!”

Once-ler watched as Ted came down the stairs leading to his house and hurried up to the two. “Grammy?” Once-ler asked.

“Oh, yeah! Once-ler, lemme introduce you to my Grammy. Grammy Norma.” Ted introduced them, placing a hand to his grandmother’s shoulder and holding his other hand out towards the Once-ler. “She’s the one who told me all about you!”

Grammy Norma could see the total and utter shock on Once-ler’s face, since his eyes seemed to double in size and his mouth fell open. She had hated to play with him like that, but after almost forty years of not seeing a man like him you couldn’t blame her for having some fun with him. Unable to help herself she chuckled at his shocked expression, confusing Ted.

“Did I do something wrong?” Ted asked.

“Oh Ted, no!” Norma laughed, shaking her head. “No you’ve done nothing wrong. Now, come on! If I remember right this gentleman’s here for food, yes?” she asked.

“He is yeah,” Ted replied cautiously as he eyed the Once-ler, still standing there looking gob smacked. “But why–”

“Answers can come later, first let’s eat!” Grammy Norma announced as she eagerly rubbed her hands together and went on ahead, and was the first one indoors.

Ted looked up at the man before cautiously approaching; while he had seen the Once-ler out of his house, and had spoken to him since their important talks back when the Once-ler didn’t even dare exit his house to speak face to face, he still couldn’t feel slightly intimidated by him. The man was incredibly tall, after all, and he seemed to hold a presence that asked you to both pity him, yet also at the same time make him feel like the most approachable man he’d ever met.

Those whiskers were something to be in awe over as well.

“Um… Mister Once-ler?” he asked.

“Huh?” Once-ler blinked, and shook his head, before looking down at Ted. He barely seemed aware the boy was there at all since he had felt the whole world suddenly freeze on its axis the moment Ted had introduced the woman. Norma? At first he thought, oh, there are so many women named Norma in the world. Surely this couldn’t be the one I knew. Then Ted had elaborated, telling him that she had been the one to tell the boy all about the old man, about how to find him, what to bring. The Once-ler had bestowed that information on one person and one alone.

It had to be her. There was no other possibility out there.

Ted’s grandmother was Norma.

“Oh. Yes! Yes sorry. Old man thing you know. Stop and stare into space for a while. It happens, you know?” he asked, awkwardly laughing as he reached out and patted Ted’s head in a nervous manner before walking around him. “Any way, yes. Let’s do this! Gonna meet some family. Yeah. I can do this.”

“Sure you can,” Ted said supportively as he hurried around the old man to keep the door open for him and even offered his hand since he’d seen the Once-ler take to stairs before. He always gave the idea as if he was about to fall over them, and the last thing he wanted was the old man breaking a hip on his stairs. He’s sure his mother wouldn’t like that happening either, now that he thought of it.

“Oh thank you Ted.” Once-ler took his hand and soon he stepped into the lounge of the Wiggins family house and came to a stop as he looked around, his eyes widening faintly as he did.

He hadn’t been inside a proper house in decades, and this house was most certainly not like his family home way back where he’d come from. For one there weren’t any dead and stuffed animals hanging on the walls, or paintings of lumberjacks, or blown up pictures of his mother back when she was the winner of beauty pageants. Nor was it like his house, now, which was very Spartan in appearance. He had no photos, no carpets, no light shades, no store bought furniture. When he had locked himself away, the Once-ler had done away with any and all kinds of comfort, including comfortable furniture.

His own bed had been forever lumpy and hard, and whilst it had killed his back he had gritted his teeth and endured because this was nothing, nothing to what he’d done to the trees, to the animals.

The Once-ler looked down at the fake hardwood floors, before looking around at the warm, cream colors that painted the walls. There were photos of Ted, ranging from a new born to his age now, and various photographs of his mother with Norma. There was one photo of a man with brown hair on the far wall, and Once-ler could only assume it was Ted’s father and seeing how far dethatched it was from the other frames the man must be alive, just not ‘here’.

Funny how after decades of living with nothing on your walls, how readily it took for you spot things on other peoples walls.

“Ma, mister Once-ler’s here!” Ted called as he took a few steps away from the old man who was still looking at the things on the wall.

“He is? Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything it’s just my house for cryin’ out loud.” Mrs. Wiggins said as she came down the stairs from upstairs, and paused on the steps when she saw the incredibly thin, and tall, man standing by the wall and admiring a family photo. “Oh!”

Once-ler turned at the sound of her voice and stared at the tall brunette as she made her way down the stairs. The resemblance to Norma was unmistakable; she had the same hair, similar face shape and eyes. Even the glasses were the same. But she wasn’t short, not at all. She was quite tall; not nearly as tall as him but she probably came up to his chin which was saying something for a man of his height.

“Well hello!” she greeted, finally getting to the bottom of the stairs as she approached him. “You know it’s so nice knowing you’re, er. Well. Real. The way Ma used to go on about you 'n all it sometimes sounded like you were some made up fantasy cautionary tale or something.” she smiled faintly.

“Oh. Well, uh. Believe you me, I’m real. Been quite real since I was born.” he replied, hopefully not in an awkward way, before holding his hand out. She took it and shook his hand a few times before pointing up at his hat.

“I gotta admit you’re a lot taller than I thought but I bet a tall hat makes you look even taller ta most, huh?” she asked with a grin. “You don’t got to be tall 'round us, you can take your hat off.”

Once-ler could practically hear the 'take your hat off indoors’ command and he reached up and slowly lifted his green top hat off of his head, much to the amusement of Norma who suddenly laughed from her place at the table.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, hunching his shoulders up defensively.

“Your hair, it’s all gone!” Norma squeaked.

“Ma, really! Don’t laugh at our guest!” Mrs. Wiggins scolded like a mother to her own mother.

“Sorry, sorry I really am but the last time I saw him he had a thick head of hair.” the older woman giggled.

“Wait, whoa, wait a minute.” Ted walked forwards, eyes widening. “You knew each other?” he asked.

“I guess you could say that.” Norma shrugged, sending the older man a glance as he stood there holding his hat.

“Really?” the young boy turned his head to look up at the tall man.

“Uh, er, well. I uh. Y-yes. We did.” he admitted nervously.

Mrs. Wiggins stood there with a curious look on her face as she looked from her mother to the older man, before clapping her hands together. “Right! Then! You two knew each other; why you’d never tell us this, Ma, is beyond me…”

“I told you about him all the time, you’re the one who chalked it all up to fairy tales.” Norma replied, shutting her eyes with an indignant air to her.

“Well–look, Mister Once-ler, you don’t hafta stand there. C'mon, sit down. Take a load off. The ride into town musta done a number on you.” Mrs. Wiggins gestured to a chair and smiled as the elderly man moved towards it.

“Oh. Actually I walked.” he admitted.

“What?!” Mrs. Wiggins asked while Norma put a hand to her mouth. “You–you walked??”

“I don’t own a car. Or bike. Or mule.” Once-ler shrugged as he eased down into the chair, sighing with ease as he did. “So I walk where I want to get to.”

“But that’s–how many hours were–Ted! Next time you invite a person around for food you make sure they don’t hafta walk hours ta get here!” Mrs. Wiggins scolded. “I’m so, so sorry Mister Once-ler. Tell you what, when it’s time to go I’ll drive you home.”

Ted winced, shutting an eye. “I didn’t know!” he spluttered, since he really didn’t.

Once-ler blinked in surprise, playing with his hat which now sat in his lap. “What?” he asked in a small voice. “You’d do that for me?”

“Well why not?” Norma asked, “You’re old with grey hair, Oncie. You can’t be expected to walk for hours on end, you’d be unable to move for days!”

“Don’t call me that.” he sighed, “I used to tell you back then to not call me that.”

“Oops. Sorry, bad habit.” she chuckled, before spotting her daughter and grandson’s confused faces. “I used to tease him something awful. He hated the name 'Oncie’ so of course I called him that all the time.”

“All. The. Time.” Once-ler said.

~*~

“Heya Oncie!” Norma chirped in greeting when she spotted the tall man come walking into town, again, Melvin and guitar in hand.

“Argh,” he growled and rolled his eyes. “Quit callin’ me that.”

“Hello Melvin! Who’s a good mule, who’s a wonderful mule?” she greeted the mule affectionately and scuffed the fur on his cheeks. Melvin tiled his head to the side with a happy look on his face. “Look at what I got for you~” she sung, pulling a red shiny apple from a bag she was carrying.

“Hey. Where’s mine?” Once-ler asked as he watched Melvin graciously take the apple.

“No apple for you.” she replied with a grin.

“Oh so my mule gets an apple but I don’t?” he asked, setting a hand on his hip.

“You’ll be getting all the fruit you want today, remember?” Norma asked.

“Touché.” he grumbled, “Lemme guess, the crowd’s already gathered?”

“Of course they are.” she chuckled as she walked alongside the tall man and his mule. “It’s becoming a highlight of their day when you show up!”

“Heavens forbid I stop.” Once-ler sighed as he approached Greenville Square and, sure enough, there was a crowd of people standing there eagerly awaiting his arrival.

“Good luck! Maybe today someone will buy your thneed!” Norma wished him before vanishing into the crowd, and was gone.

“Right…”

But, naturally, nobody bought his thneed that day. He had been at it a few weeks now, every day heading into town with his faithful thneed and mule and guitar and every day he left with bits of tomato in his hair and on his face. Why did he keep coming back? Because he was a stubborn man, somebody who believed you had to get through the worst of things in order to reach the good things and he had been going through so much worst stuff, surely something good was meant to happen soon, right?

He was going to show his family they were wrong. That he wasn’t a hopeless case, and that he wasn’t going to end up a failure who would end up going home with his tail between his legs and take up the family business of wood chopping. Once-ler could remember his father’s hands, rough, scarred hands from years of working with axes and wood. Every other day he had splinters that looked like they hurt, but the man had never complained, not even when a young Once-ler would beg him to play on his guitar for him as soon as he came home from work.

His father had never complained.

Today, though, things took a worse turn than normal. Today a man had actually set up a stall for people to buy fresh produce to throw at him. That much he might have been able to grit his teeth through but suddenly a little girl, wearing yellow, had grabbed his guitar. Not just his guitar.

His father’s guitar.

Then she swung it, and the instrument snapped in half with the worst noise Once-ler had ever heard. With tomato on his face, and food still being hurled at him, he had stared in utter horror at the ruined guitar as she little girl was now stomping and jumping on it, giggling gleefully as she did. He felt numb, but the pelting fruit and vegetables ensured he wasn’t numb for long.

“Argh, okay, that hit the tender spot. Stop it. OW. I mean it–stop-stop it!” he shouted as he got to his feet, but again another tomato hit him in the face.

“THAT’S IT!” he suddenly shrieked, fists balling as he did. “That’s it! I’ve had it! I’ve had enough!” Once-ler said as he stormed away from the crowd, from the gazebo, shoulders shaking but refusing to let these people see just what they’d done to him.

“How could you?” a voice spoke up from the crowd after the tall man had left the area, and they turned to see the bespectacled auburn haired Norma standing there. “Look, I understand he’s a stranger from out of town. I know his music’s awful. Even that thing he’s trying to sell is a joke and a half; it looks like a floppy scarf knitted by a three armed monkey but…” Norma walked up to the little girl and plucked the neck of the destroyed guitar from her hands. “…this is too much. I like a laugh as much as anyone else but this… I thought Greenville was meant to be a happy place to live. A nice, good, friendly place to live. I hate getting serious but this… this almost makes me ashamed to live here.”

She walked over to Melvin, who Once-ler had forgotten in his rage, and took the leash of the animal before stopping to pick up the other half of his guitar. “Now if you excuse me, I have amends to make. Somebody’s got to.”

It didn’t take long to find him, not truly. Norma had walked out of town, following the path he normally took, and it wasn’t long before she saw him sitting by the stream. He had his arms around his knees, and his head buried in them. His hat lay discarded on the grass, and it too had stains of fruit and vegetables on it.

“…Once-ler?” Norma spoke up.

He didn’t acknowledge her.

“Once-ler, I brought Melvin and your guitar. Look, I’m sorry about all that. Back there. I’m sorry if I sparked it all with my stunt when you first arrived but it…” Norma sighed as she let Melvin wander freely as she approached and sat down besides the man. “…they took it too far. I’m sorry.”

“My family was right.” she heard him whisper quietly.

“Your family?” Norma asked; she hadn’t heard a thing about them from him before. He’d never mentioned them.

“They always said I wouldn’t amount to anything.” Once-ler’s voice came in a small, quiet voice. “All my life they laughed at me. Ever since dad died I’ve been their door matt. I just–I want them to see I’m not a total goof off. I thought, with… with my thneed they’d…”

Norma watched as the man who she, so far, had only seen with so much confidence and boastful actions seem to literally fall apart in front of her. He suddenly seemed so human, not just a caricature of a big dreamer shooting for the stars. He had flaws, he had hopes, he had dreams just like everyone else and yet nobody else had cared to see that.

Even she hadn’t seen that.

“You’re not a failure, don’t ever say that.” Norma said as she moved closer to him and reached out, placing a hand to his back. “You’ve done so much…! You can’t call yourself that.”

“Have I sold a thneed?” Once-ler asked, still unable to look at her.

“No, but you can’t let that alone be a way for you to decide if you’re a failure or not! You told me the day you met me, you packed up everything. Every single thing you owned and got into a wagon and left home. You’ve been travelling the globe looking for the right thing to help you along with your dream. A failure doesn’t do that; a failure is somebody who’s afraid of failing and you are not afraid. You’ve never been afraid, I’ve never seen fear in your eyes and that’s what I like about you. You don’t give up; you keep trying, day in, day out. That, you know what? That’s admirable. The people in town are just too stupid to see that!”

He, finally, lifted his head and she saw that he’d actually been crying. His eyes were pink, his face flushed, and he had a bit of snot on his nose. She reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, and began to gently wipe at his face.

“This is just another step. You’ll see. Maybe your future isn’t with the thneeds, but something else?” she asked softly, tilting his head as she wiped at his face and found it alarming that he allowed her to do this. “Don’t throw in the towel just yet.”

He stared at her vacantly as she wiped at his face, before finally after a moment pulling away. Really, he shouldn’t have let her get so close, or say so many things. But the fact of the matter is, nobody had ever spoken to him like that before in his life. Nobody had ever consoled him, told him that things would be okay, and nobody had certainly ever cleaned his face after he cried. His masculinity felt a little wounded that he’d allow her to see him like this, but at the same time…

“Like me, huh?” he asked, unable to take a small, playful punch at the girl but was shocked to see her face flush a faint pink.

“Uh, well…” Norma mumbled; and for the first time ever Once-ler saw her unsure of herself. He’d never seen her like this before, suddenly looking shy, even girl-like. For the dresses she wore, and ribbons in her hair, Norma had never truly acted like a girly-girl around him. That was something he liked, though he hadn’t admitted it. Why would he? It would only give her something else to use against him when she teased him.

But this, no way. She liked him? As in, liked-liked him? At the realization of this, his face flushed brilliantly. Being a man who had his eyes set on business, his future, his prize, he had never really given girls much thought. For one, there were almost none back where he’d come from. All he did was work, work, work and had little time to go on the 'town’ (more like a convenient store, a market, and a book store) and meet young women. The same applied here, since none of the girls ever showed any interest in him.

Except Norma.

Even though she didn’t have to, she seemed to wait for him every time he came into town. She’d walk with him, talk with him, laugh at and with him, one time she even brought him a slice of apple pie her mom had made. He’d accepted it, of course, yet now he couldn’t even recall if he’d said thank you.

“…thanks.” he said, awkwardly. “For. For this. It uh. It means a lot. More than you probably know.”

She was blushing and he had no idea what to do. He was suddenly very aware that her hand had been at his back, before. Once-ler fidgeted for a moment before reaching out and placed his hand over hers, and held it.

They sat there, besides the stream, simply holding one another’s hand in silence.

To be continued

Chapter Text

Once-ler stared down at the food on his plate in front of him before slowly lifting his gaze and stared at Ted who was picking at the green, broccoli shaped gelatin on his plate with his fork. He then turned his gaze to Norma who was bouncing the, what he could only assume to be, chicken since the shape was that of a chicken. He slowly ran his tongue over his lips, and pointed.

“I’m sorry but what is this?” he asked.

“Food. And I use that term lightly.” Norma answered as she finally stabbed her ‘chicken’ with her fork.

“But…” Once-ler looked down at the jiggly food on his plate, and poked at it with a knife. “It’s jelly.”

“Well,” the older woman sat a bit more comfortably, leaning on an elbow, as she looked at the older gentleman. “After everything went down it became impossible to grow food any more. Rather than open a means of bringing in food from out of town, O’Hare simply gave people this instead. They each hold the nutrition that you’d get from the actual foods, vitamins, that sort of thing but if you ask me they’re a joke.”

“Grammy…” Ted sighed.

“All right I got the drinks and—what’s tha matter Mister Once-ler, you don’t like chicken?” Mrs. Wiggins had just entered the room carrying a tray of glasses with what looked like orange juice in the jug.

“Oh uh. No. No,” Once-ler said quickly, trying, without success, to stab the jelly chicken with his fork. “I’m just not—not used to this kind of food.”

“What kind of food are you use to, Mr Once-ler?” Ted asked, since he’d always wondered what the old man lived on way out in the middle of no where.

“Tinned food.” he replied simply, giving up on the fork and picked up the broccoli and threw it into his mouth, chewing it noisily.

“Tinned food? What, like, peaches ‘n stuff?” Mrs. Wiggins asked as she sat down.

Swallowing, the old man shrugged. “More or less. I bought out a life time supply of preserved food and tinned stuff and kept it in the basement of my house. The stuff has long shelf life, you know?”

“That can hardly be healthy for you.” Mrs. Wiggins commented.

“And this is?” he pointed to the jelly.

“Yeah well we didn’t really rightly have a choice in the matter did we, since somebody went ‘n ruined the ground ‘n made it all but impossible for anythin’ ta grow.” she snapped back.

“Ma!” Ted gasped.

“Helen!” Norma snapped at the same moment.

“What?” she honestly looked shocked at sudden verbal assault.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Once-ler held his hands out in a calming motion. “Easy. She’s got every right to say that. It was my fault. All.. all of this is my fault.”

Mrs. Wiggins chewed at her bottom lip as she watched him rest his hands on the table, his head bowed like that, and now felt like she’d just put her foot in her mouth sideways. Hadn’t the old guy been living out there all these years because of what he’d done? Why had she gone off like that?

“Just cuz I’m right doesn’t mean I should’ve said it. I’m sorry, really.” she said gently, honestly.

He gave a weak smile and nodded his head. “It’s fine.”

“But, but, but,” Ted spluttered into the conversation, “I heard they’re actually opening a way for us to get fresh fruit and vegetables again, or imported soil from way out of town so we can start growing our own food again!” this caused Norma, and Once-ler, to turn their heads to look at him. “It’s all a buzz in town about it. What with the grass growing back and that little Truffula tree growing so fast, it might be happening faster than you think!”

“Oh yeah, yeah I heard about that, on the news…” Mrs. Wiggins said, tapping her bottom lip with her finger. “Compared to the prices we used to pay for air it’s gonna be peanuts.”

“Still can’t believe that little jerk charged for air.” Once-ler muttered as he picked up the chicken and bit the head off the jelly bird. “I mean, that’s… that’s a whole other level of greed right there…”

Norma hummed softly as she nodded her head.

“I mean I know I’m not one to talk, I got pretty swept up in the stuff too, but before that I wasn’t… I never set out to be like that…” Once-ler whispered more or less to himself as he reached for his glass. “Never my intention at all.”

~*~

“So lemme get this straight, just for the record.” the Lorax said as he watched Pipsqueak toddle off to the waiting arms of his mom after a lengthy game of ‘what card game is this anyway’ and Bill the chick flew home after his own mom. “You’ve given up on that thneed stuff?”

Once-ler shrugged as he sat by the stream, legs crossed, and hands digging back into the grass. “More or less. Realized that I didn’t really need to make em, I mean. Nobody wants em.”

“Ah well you’re takin’ this whole shattered dream thing better than I thought you would, Beanpole!” the mustached creature grinned, and slapped his hand against the young man’s back. “Good for you! There’s a whole world of opportunities out there for someone like you!”

“Hyeah, y-yeah.” he laughed awkwardly since he was still adjusting to the fact he had a furry orange creature walking around and talking to him. Sure, he’d tried to send him down a river on the first day that they met all those weeks ago, but at least now they were more or less getting along. That was something.

“So what’re you gonna do—”

“Oncie?”

The woman’s voice interrupted the two talking and Once-ler spun around where he sat to see Norma approaching his cottage. Of course she stopped to give Melvin a greeting scratch to the head.

“Norma?” Once-ler squeaked before looking at the Lorax, who stood there, proudly besides him with his arms folded.

“’Oncie’?” he asked, a yellow eyebrow cocked with amusement.

“What—no, don’t you-get outta here!” he shooed, hissing, at the Lorax as he got to his feet before going towards Norma, smiling faintly, nervously. How was she going to react to seeing the furry meatloaf? “Norma, h-hey hi! I didn’t—didn’t expect to se you out here…!”

“Well I thought it was fair I come out and scope out your bachelor pad.” she smiled as she walked up to him.

“Hoo hoo hoo, this is interesting~” the Lorax grinned as he stood back, watching the two.

“Will you get outta—” Once-ler started before he saw the look on Norma’s face. “What? Wait. No! No, not. Not at you at—at…” he spluttered before something dawned on him. “Sorry. I was talking to. Mosquitoes. You get a few of em, around here you know? You know what—let’s. Let’s go inside. It’s awful buggy out here, full of PESTS.” he purposely shot a glare at the Lorax while he took hold of Norma’s arm.

“Inside, on a night like this?” she asked curiously as Once-ler led her towards his cottage.

“Yeah less you wanna be bugged all night.” he smiled at her, once again, casting a glance at the Lorax who was still standing where he left him.

“You just want me in your house don’t you?” Norma asked with a bemused smirk on her face.

Once-ler was certain his face was red as a tomato. She, in return, laughed and leaned against him slightly, pressing her head against his arm. “You charmer, you.”

He was too lost for words as she, not he, led him up the small slope towards his cottage and opened the door to his house. Once-ler shot Lorax one last look, a mixture of fear, confusion, and embarrassment, before the door shut behind him.

“Oh wow!” Norma let go of his arm as she walked into his one roomed cottage. “This is the cutest place I’ve ever seen look at all this!” she practically squealed. He had his bed, a table, shelves that held pots and pants, a tea set, then his little kitchen area with a heath, a little ice box, a sink… and a comfy looking chair which had a bag of pink wool sitting besides it.

“You knit!” she declared, more than asked, as she approached the wool. “I’ve never met a guy who actually knitted before!”

“Uh, er, well—” Once-ler started but then stopped in his tracks.

The Lorax was in the room with them; just how he magically got himself into his house every day was a mystery to the young man and he glared at him in annoyance as he sat there on his bedside table as if he owned the place. Once-ler glared for a moment before going over to Norma, fingers twitching. “Well how else did you think I made my thneed?” he asked.

“I dunno but I never thought knitting.” Norma giggled as she picked up his knitting needles, revealing a scarf that he was making.

“Nothing unmanly about knitting.” Once-ler mumbled defensively as he crossed his arms, pouting.

“Aww, Oncie…!” she gushed, putting his knitting down and approached him, placing her hands on his arms. “Don’t be like that; I didn’t say it was unmanly! Just that I didn’t expect it!”

“My family used to make fun at me for knitting.” he said quietly. “Said it was unmanly and that only women knitted.”

Norma clucked her tongue. “Not sure if I’m all too keen on your family, from what you’ve told me, Oncie.”

“And I keep telling you to not call me that.” Once-ler added, though he said it with a playful smile.

“I know.” she grinned back.

He heard the Lorax chuckle and he resisted the urge to turn around and glare at him. Once-ler was a fast learner, he’d worked it out instantly as soon as Norma had appeared and how she hadn’t freaked out at seeing the Lorax standing besides him. She couldn’t see him. Why was that? Could only certain people see the mustached menace, or was he making it so she couldn’t see him? Was this so he could make Once-ler look like a fool in front of her, or something else? He didn’t know, and he couldn’t ask now.

He would later, you can bet your bottom dollar on it.

“You know what you’re right,” Once-ler suddenly announced as he suddenly placed a hand to the small of Norma’s back. “Let’s go sit outside.”

“But what bout the mosquitoes?” she asked, blinking in surprise.

“We’ll scratch each others bites.” he said as he led her outside but before he joined her he quickly grabbed the Lorax by the scruff of the neck, kicked a cupboard open and threw him inside. He heard the small mossy looking creature grumble but whispered “That’s for eavesdropping.” before following Norma outside and shutting the door.

He had always found the calm of night especially relaxing, even back when he was a young boy living in his attic room in his family home he would sit in his porthole window, watching the stars and moon. But here, surrounded by nature, and with company at that, he was learning a great deal more about appreciating it.

Norma sighed as they walked along the river that Once-ler knew closer than he would want to, arms swinging by her sides as she walked. “It’s beautiful out here.” she smiled. “I used to take walks out here all the time. I really should do it again.”

“Mmm. Beautiful.” Once-ler commented as he glanced down at her but quickly looked away before she’d spot him. Those annoying butterflies in his stomach were doing loops and he didn’t appreciate it. He came to a stop by the water and peered down at his reflection, highlighted by the moonlight, before frowning. “Hey Norma, I got a pretty weird question.”

“You say a lot of weird stuff,” she smiled as she came to a stop besides him. “What’s up?”

He wasn’t sure how to segue way into the topic so he just out right asked, “Do you know about a thing called the Lorax?” Once-ler watched her face, arms loosely folded over his chest.

“Oh, you mean the mythical, legendary guardian of the forest?” she asked without skipping a beat.

“…mythical what.”

“The Lorax is the guardian of the forest,” Norma added with a smile. “All the kids learn about him in school but it’s more or less a story now. But years ago, and I mean a long, long, long, long time ago he was seen as a deity who wandered the valley here, protecting the trees and animals.” she went on to explain. “People used to make offerings to him every Winter in hopes of a bountiful harvest in Springtime,” she tucked her skirt under her legs as she sat down on the soft grass. “You know that sort of thing.”

The Once-ler stood there a moment, blinking in surprise. So people around here knew of the furry mustache? Quickly, he sat down besides her. “Huh. I wouldn’t have thought…” Well, that explained why the little guy had announced himself and had seemingly waited for Once-ler to realize who he was. That shrug, that anticipation on his face.

“How’d you know about him any way? His story is pretty local.” Norma said curiously, tilting her head at him.

“Oh uh. I. Um. Overheard. Yeah. Overheard people. People talking.”

“Oncie you’re a terrible liar.” she grinned.

He huffed, blowing some air up at his hair. “If I tell you the truth you’ll think I’m nuts.”

“I already think you’re a little nuts.” Norma said helpfully.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” he grinned at her, reaching out and poking at her side, making her giggle and pull away from him. Oh, ticklish? He’ll have to remember that. “But. Eh. When I chopped down the tree I made my thneed from this guy claiming to be this Lorax guy showed up, threw his weight around. Still is, really.”

Norma tilted her head curiously, watching him. Once-ler was an odd guy, she had to admit that much. He flailed around a bit, acted like a kid from time to time, but he didn’t seem the type of man who would make up stories like this. If the Lorax had appeared to him, who was she to doubt him? Besides, he was a guardian of the trees so of course he’d appear if one was chopped down.

She smiled.

“Well I hope he doesn’t give you too much trouble.” she said.

“You don’t know the half of it.”

She couldn’t help but laugh, and he, in turn, couldn’t help but join her because she just had one of those laughs that was very infectious. Once-ler still didn’t know if she truly believed him, talking about a guardian of the forest who was now locked in a cupboard in his house or not; but at least she hadn’t called him a crazy man and stormed off. She put a lot of faith and belief in him, something nobody else had really done before. If he’d told his Ma about a talking guardian of the forest with a mustache she would have called the men in white coats to drag him away kicking and screaming.

Norma smiled as her laughter finally calmed to giggles, and she wiped at her cheek with a hand. What had they been talking about? She couldn’t rightly remember, since seeing him laugh like that had been… something. It made her heart flutter faster, in a way that she wasn’t alien to but still felt strange attaching the feeling to this lanky man with the big dreams.

But he was sweet, really. Funny, talented with his hands if he can knit and play the guitar, plus he lived so closely to nature. He seemed grounded, despite having his head in the clouds sometimes (a little literally, he was so tall he towered over her even when he was sitting on the grass), and she couldn’t help but feel drawn to him. He was the kind of guy you could take home to mother, and he had always opened doors for her, even pulled a chair out for her the other day when they’d gone to get a smoothie together in town.

Now that he was without his thneed the people in town weren’t so drawn to insult or throw fruit at him anymore; which was good. She hated to think he was banned from town entirely now, hence why they had gone to share a drink together. She had discovered it was impossible to play ‘footsie’ with him since her feet barely touched the ground yet his stretched out in front of him due to his insanely long legs. She had joked that he could string a tire swing from one of his legs and she’d have enough room to have a swing.

He had laughed about it; that’s what she liked also. He could laugh at himself. Not many could.

She then slipped her glasses off, since they were fogging up a little, and began to wipe them with her dress.

“Hey Norma, just how far can you see without your glasses?” she heard his inquisitive voice.

“I’m blind as a bat without them.” she shrugged honestly, before lifting her head to where the black, white, and grey smudge that was Once-ler sat. “I can barely see beyond the end of my nose.”

“Wow that’s… that’s pretty bad eyesight. You’re like my Ma, she can’t see a thing without em either…” he answered her, and she wasn’t certain if he was moving closer or not.

“Oh it isn’t too bad, I like my glasses.” she smiled, “Not many people in town wear them.”

“I like your glasses.” Once-ler’s voice said, this time much closer than he had sounded before. “I mean, they frame your face really nice. Er, nicely.”

“Aw, you big flirt!” Norma giggled as she began to lift her glasses back to her face but suddenly felt his hand atop one of hers, gently pushing her hand, and glasses, down to her lap. “…Once-ler?” she asked, but the next thing she knew his lips were to hers and the breath froze in her throat. Norma would never have expected him to make the first move like this, and it had genuinely surprised her.

But his lips were firm, a little chapped, and she felt his nose pressing against hers; but it was still a kiss, their first. Norma felt her lips pull into a faint smile before she finally returned it, shifting a hand to gently grip at his arm, holding him in place, helping the moment last there besides the stream and underneath the moonlight.

~*~

Once-ler stared out the window of the car as Mrs. Wiggins drove through the city. In the backseat besides him sat Norma, who was looking out her own window. In the front passenger side sat Ted, and of course behind the wheel was Mrs. Wiggins.

“Still I can’t believe you lived out there all them years by yourself,” she was saying as the took the exit out of Thneedville, heading down the road, passing the many tree stumps that were now slowly being removed thanks to a restoration project. A few workers were out there right now, tugging the tree stumps up by their roots and the old Once-ler put his hands to the window as he watched; eyes wide as he did. “Didn’t it get awful lonely?”

He said nothing, since he was turning in his seat to look back at the workers.

“Hey, you listening back there?” she asked.

“Oh. Uh y-yeah. Sorry. Distracted. Things… window… yeah.” it had been decades since he had ridden in a car. The last one he’d ever been in had been one of his limos, a stretch one at that, with a mini bar inside, a telephone, and big comfy chairs to stretch out on. This was certainly not a limo and his long, skinny legs were bent, knees practically to his chin, in the small car. Even with Ted moving his seat as far to the front as possible he still had trouble with his long legs.

“Give him time dear,” Norma spoke up. “It’s been a long time since Oncie saw out a moving vehicle.”

“I keep telling you to stop calling me that.” he said, smirking, as he reached out and poked at her side causing the old woman to snort a laugh, and pull away. Still ticklish after all these years, it seemed. So he did it again, and Norma flailed her hands at him, laughing still.

“Hey, hey. You two. Behave or I’ll turn this car around.” Mrs. Wiggins said jokingly, glancing in the rear view mirror.

The trip didn’t take nearly as long as it had taken Ted those months back, when he was riding around on his wheeler scooter. This time it went much quicker, and smoothly, thanks to the restoration of the roads. They still passed that huge billboard that was still plastered with a ‘You need a thneed’ poster of a young Once-ler, clad in green, grinning in a slightly creepy way.

“Really should take that down.” Once-ler mumbled to himself.

“I hear they’re making it a historical landmark.” Ted commented. “You know, a way to see how the past affected everything.”

“Still should be taken down.” the old man whispered to himself, looking down at his lap with a tired sigh. Then Norma’s hand reached over and placed itself atop one of his, her thumb gently caressing his hand.

“It’s okay Oncie,” she whispered softly. “It’s okay.”

He said nothing to that, and remained fairly quiet the remainder of the trip until finally they came to a stop near the sign that read ‘The Street of the Lifted Lorax’. Norma eyed the sign from inside the car, before looking at Once-ler as Ted got out of his seat and pushed it forward entirely so the old man could climb out.

“Well I must say thank you for lunch again,” he said as he held his hat tightly in his hands. “It was… good.” he said, glancing at Norma. “Nice to catch up again.”

Norma simply smiled at him, though it had a sad look to it.

“Yeah, we oughta do it again!” Ted said as he helped Once-ler out of the car.

“Most definitely and next time I’ll drive out and pick you up. No more walkin’ three hours, all right old guy?” Mrs. Wiggins asked.

“Got ya, yeah. Sure.” Once-ler laughed nervously as he replaced his hat atop his head. “You all take care now.” he said as Ted got back in the car.

He waved at them until they were gone, and he slowly lowered his hand and pressed it against his chest, taking a shuddering breath as he did. A part of him still couldn’t believe he’d found Norma so quickly, or that she was Ted’s grandmother. And her daughter was nice, a little sassy but so had Norma been in her day. How much like her mother she looked, though her height was something to be intrigued with. Yet there had been no ring on Norma’s hand; one of the first things that the old man had taken into account when he realized who she was. And on the walls of the lounge, no photos of an older man.

So she hadn’t…

“No, no. Stop that train of thought right there.” he said to himself as he turned and made his way up the way to his house, passing the pile of stones as he did. “Living in a fantasy land. Things don’t work like that.” Once-ler said to himself as he reached his house and pulled the door open, and vanished inside.

Once inside he pulled his hat off and set it on a table, and began tugging his long green gloves off. He pulled his right one off first, and then his left, but after he’d done that he hesitated and stared down at his hand. Not his right, but his left one. His skin was taunt across his knuckles, and like any old man he had age spots that marked his once perfect skin. Years of stitching, and playing a guitar, had left his thumb and fingers calloused and rough. His nails were almost non existent, bitten down so close to the skin.

But what he stared at the most, besides the age spots, the wrinkles, and his nails, was the simple gold band that still clung to his finger. It had remained throughout the years, hidden beneath a glove, and it was loose since he’d lost so much weight in his years of solitude but thanks to the glove it stuck close, always.

He held his hand against his chest, covered it with his other, and slowly made his way up his stairs.

To be continued

Chapter Text

“What ya got there, Beanpole?” Lorax asked, looking up from lounging on Once-ler’s bed as he came walking into his cottage one late evening.

“Look how many times do I gotta tell you, keep off my bed?” he scowled, reaching and picking the orange one up under the arms and set him on the floor.

“Aww but your bed’s so cosy and warm!” whined the guardian, playfully, before pointing again to the thing that Once-ler had under his arm. “Again, what’s that?”

“This, is called a book.” Once-ler held it out to the other, and flipped the pages open and watched as the Lorax stared at it with disinterest.

“Mrf. How many trees died for this thing?” he asked, seemingly capable of being able to tell anything that was made of trees with one whiff of his nose.

“It’s not about that, you furry meatloaf.” Once-ler said as he sat down on the floor, and flipped through the book. “This book mentions you.”

“Oh ho?” the Lorax’s eyes widened as he hurried around, climbed up Once-ler’s back, and balanced himself on his shoulder, peering down at the book with keen interest.

“OOF. Y-yeah but… look this isn’t you at all.” the young man pointed to a black and white photograph of an old painting which was dated as over eight hundred years ago. The being in the painting loomed over the trees in the picture, had powerful looking horns, was partially see through and was blowing a harsh wind upon the land. “Last I checked you aren’t over one hundred feet tall, or capable of wind breath.”

The Lorax rolled his eyes. “What, you think I’m always like this?”

“You’re pulling my leg.”

“If I did they’d be even longer ‘n we don’t need you being any taller.”

“No really. This can’t be you; he doesn’t look anything like you! Now unless people back then had one Heck of an imagination or you’re taking some guy’s credit. For shame!” he turned his head to smirk at the Lorax, eyebrow narrowing against his eye. “For shame.”

The Lorax rolled his eyes. “It don’t work like that.”

“Just like your quote unquote, powers, eh?” Once-ler grinned.

“Ey.” the Lorax prodded his cheek suddenly, his fur tickling his skin. “Magic is as magic does. It changes its shape over the years, ya know?” he asked since no way in Truffula Trees would he admit that over the years, because people’s belief in him had lessened so much, it had affected not only his appearance but his magic as well. He was at his weakest power, now, because only the animals believed in him but they would always believe in him. Even those not born yet believed in the Lorax who guarded their home, as well as themselves.

If bar-ba-loots could talk it wouldn’t be a surprise to hear them saying bedtime prayer to the Lorax for keeping their grass green, their Truffula trees tall, and their fruit plentiful.

It would take a lot, and I mean, a lot of belief for him to become that figure in the picture again. Now days, in the dawning of the age of televisions and such, people were forgetting the gods of old for the shiny new things. But now he had the animals, and Beanpole, believing in him and that was enough for him. He could get along quite well without draining his magic.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“So why’re you readin’ up on me anyway? Is it to impress your little girlfriend?” the Lorax asked with a big grin beneath his mustache.

“What–gah!” Once-ler felt his face flush at the question. He’d never tell him he was right; that he was reading up on stuff about the town and its history so he wasn’t as stupid and un-knowledgeable about things when he and Norma would meet up. “Mustache! Get off!” finally irked enough, he swatted at the orange fur ball until he got down off of his back.

“You two are gettin’ pretty cosy aren’t you?” he asked, grinning. “What’s it been, a month now? Meeting every day, holding hands, smoochin’ up storms~ it’s like Spring time all over again!” he giggled in glee as he pressed his hands to his own cheeks.

“Mustache you are one second away from me throwing you in the river.” Once-ler grumbled as he got to his feet, taking the book with him.

“Oh don’t be like that! You know I tease because I love.”

“Love to see what you do when you hate someone.”

“Send em floating down rivers.” grinned the Lorax, causing the young Once-ler to swallow nervously.

Once-ler opened his eyes from where he’d been resting in his old rocking chair, hands resting on a book that he had read so many times in the past forty years that he knew it word for word. He knew every picture, every paragraph, even the legal information by heart. The same book that he’d gotten to read upon local legends, the tales of caution told via animals, the tale of the Lorax and how he saved the valley from a raging forest fire; all sorts of stories.

He wondered if you could even find this book any more in town. Probably not, since the store it had come from had been demolished like all the rest when he had been making Thneedville.

Slowly, carefully, he ran his hand over the book cover before holding it against his chest and shut his eyes. After a moment he set the book down on the chair once he got up, and moved across the barren floor to stare out his window. Even with the grass slowly beginning to return to the hills, they still looked so naked. There were still no trees, because the sapling in town wouldn’t be at the age to produce seeds for years to come.

It was going to be treeless for years to come but, after over forty years of living without seeing a single living green plant from his window, what’s a few more years?

But did he have a few more years left in him? He was seventy eight years old now, and his body was beginning to wind down despite how much he fought it. He’d been in a battle with his mind, and body, for all these decades in order to stop himself from going crazy in his isolation, in his grief, and so far he’d fared well. The town was on the pathway to revival, the trees would be returning and in turn so would the animals and… maybe even the Lorax. He prayed so hard that he would live to see that day, to see his friend again.

But something good had happened already hadn’t it? He’d found Norma again. He had been hoping to do so, he had been going to ask Ted if he could tell him where the woman who had told him about the money, nail, and snail could be found and it turned out to be his very own grandmother. That had been quite a shock, but a welcome one at that.

And she was still a feisty and beautiful as the first day he met her, when she had lobbed that tomato at his face like that. How fondly he could still remember their walks through the Truffula valley together in those months between his abandoning his Thneeds to them suddenly becoming the hottest things since sliced bread.

She would bake for him, too. Norma had always cast herself off as a horrible baker but she would still try for him, making cookies, muffins, and various other food stuffs and bring them out to him in her basket looking like a foxy version of Little Red Riding Hood. In fact he even ended up making her a red hood, just so he could call her that from time to time. She had laughed, called him adorable, and kissed his nose.

He felt himself slipping into the memories again but stopped himself, shook his head, and moved over towards the door and pulled it open, grabbing his hat as he went. Pulling it atop his head the old man stepped out into the sunlight but stopped short, and almost instantly, the whiskers on his lip bristled in surprise.

There were clouds on the horizon. Not regular smoggy, polluted clouds that used to block out the sun forever around his house and across the expanse of the wasteland but actual honest to god storm clouds. Storm clouds meant rain. Rain meant streams. Rain meant the stream returning to its full lustre and the grass growing faster and more water for the sapling in town and–he felt tears prickling at his eyes and he brought his hands up, and rubbed them furiously against his face.

“I’m getting so emotional in my old age I swear…” he mumbled to himself.

~*~

Norma hummed to herself as she walked through the supermarket, a tune that really had no rhythm at all. The elderly woman walked with a familiar spring to her step that she hadn’t walked with in a long, long time.

Even if she and Once-ler hadn’t really been able to have a moment alone when he came to eat with her family it had been wonderful seeing him. It had taken all the restraint in the world when she first saw him to not pull him in for a tight hug and explain how much she had missed him. That wasn’t the kind of woman she was, it would be a lie as to the kind of woman she had grown to be after everything that happened between them. She sighed, softly, as she picked up a bag of marshmallows and stared at the brand name. This was the same one Once-ler and she used to share when they’d toast them in the safety of his cottage, sitting snuggled up besides one another beneath his blanket. They dare not have a camp fire outside, what with so man animals around and the last thing Norma wanted was one of them getting hurt by the fire.

Having bought her purchases she stepped outside but jumped back, startled, when something struck her face. “Oh!” she cried out, startled, and looked up and saw a sight she hadn’t seen in decades. There were grey cloud sin the sky, blotting out the sun which people were finally beginning to grow used to feeling on their faces, and it was raining. Actual, honest to goodness, rain falling from the sky. Norma hadn’t seen it rain over Thneedville in so long; their water having been shipped into the city from somewhere else for years now. Sprinkler systems were set up over town to give one the feeling of rain falling, but it was never real rain. She hadn’t smelt the scent of rain in the air in so long, she felt her eyes beginning to mist over.

“Pardon me, miss, but you look like you’re in need of someone walking you home.”

Norma turned her head at the sound of the man’s voice and looked up to see a familiar pair of blue eyes staring down at her. It was impossible for her to mistaken him for anyone else; she knew his voice, she knew his face, she knew so much about him even after all this time. She giggled, and waved her hand at him.

“Oh well now I don’t know, my mother always told me never to talk to strangers.” she replied bashfully.

“Then allow me to introduce myself!” Once-ler announced as he removed his hat and bowed to her as low as his old back would allow him. “My name is Once-ler.”

“Quite the charmer, aren’t you Mister Once-ler?” Norma asked, grinning like a school girl.

“It’s a gift.” he replied with a chuckle before replacing his hat and standing back to his full height. “Good to see you again, Norma, though I must say the last time we crossed paths you certainly had your little game with me didn’t you? Though,” the old man chuckled, “I suppose you’re entitled to that.”

“I would say so.” she smiled, softer now.

He suddenly produced an umbrella from beneath his jacket as those around them were still reeling from the rain falling from above. It was bright yellow, the handle designed to look like Swomee-Swan. Once-ler opened it up and held it above Norma’s head, “Shall we?” he asked.

“We shall.” she replied holding her bag of goods closer to her as the two began to walk down the sidewalk together. Norma took her time, using her walking stick, as she glanced up at the taller man walking alongside her. He had always towered over her, even back then, yet now it felt even worse. She had shrunk a little in her age and yet it seemed as though he had remained as tall as always. Maybe it was because he was wearing that silly big hat, instead of the adorable fedora he used to wear all the time. Also he had a jacket on that trailed down to the ground.

In the wet weather, it was growing damp.

“I suppose you have questions, don’t you?” Norma asked.

“Yes.” Once-ler replied softly. “I have a few. You can’t blame me for that, can you?

She shook her head simply.

"Promise to be serious?” he asked.

“Over this? Oncie please, I know when it’s time to be serious and when it isn’t.” Norma replied curtly.

“Right.” he said as they stopped by the lights together, the same ones that she had dragged him across on the first day she saw him after so long. “…did you ever marry another man?” Once-ler asked, softly, so no one else would over hear.

“No.” she answered. “I never did.”

“Hmm.” Once-ler mused, as the lights clicked green and they safely crossed the road as the rain continued to gently fall around them. “So… Helen…” he said, finding himself incapable of finishing the question.

“Yes.” Norma looked up at him. “She is.”

The elderly man seemed to shudder all over at the confirmation that he had been wondering ever since he first saw the woman. She was so tall and slender, with her mother’s good looks, yet hair a darker shade than what Norma’s had once been. He had assumed that she, Norma, had married again or found somebody who could rightly look after her because he simply couldn’t but no. She hadn’t gotten married. And that woman, Helen, with her sassy attitude and playful grin was… his. Once-ler was a father and he hadn’t been there for her at all. At least he had memories of his own father, Theodore, before he had died but her.. Helen… she didn’t even have that luxury. Not only had he disappointed the Lorax, the animals, and everyone else but his own child had been let down. He felt his stomach twist painfully.

“So you never told me.” Once-ler said quietly.

“Granted, I didn’t know I was pregnant until after everything happened. You’d already left, gone into isolation and by that time I couldn’t risk going all the way out there to find you. Besides, my mother wouldn’t let me go see you even if I could. You know how she was.” Norma explained, sighing, and moved closer to him to avoid the rain since it was beginning to come down harsher. Around them, cars beeped and tires screeched in alarm, and people ran for cover from the rain with newspapers and briefcases and bags. All of them totally unaware of what was transpiring between himself and Norma.

“…does she know who I am, to her?”

Norma was quiet for a moment, and shook her head after a moment. “She doesn’t know. Nor does Ted.”

“Why? W… were you ashamed?”

She sighed. “I can’t say I was happy. But I understood, Once-ler.” she looked up at him, eyes cloudy with signs of the past. “I understood.”

They walked in silence for quite a while, both of them lost in their thoughts, Once-elr wondering if telling Helen the truth about who he was would be a good idea or not; she seemed happy, why would he want to ruin it by telling her who he was? It may disrupt everything for it was one thing to know Norma from a while ago, but anothe entirely to be your father who you didn’t even know existed until now. And the fact Norma hadn’t told her… what had she told her? That she had a one night stand with a man? What? He dare not ask; he didn’t think he wanted to know the answer.

It was one thing to have your name and legacy tarnished by your own actions, another to have your 'title’ within a family dragged through the mud because of lies. Once-ler gave a heavy sigh, and shut his eyes.

“…I’m sorry. I don’t really know if that’s enough to make up for what happened, I just–”

“Oncie, no.” Norma stopped him straight away, holding up a hand and placing it atop of the one he was using to hold the umbrella. “Don’t apologize for this. For what happened. Now I know what happened was ugly and it hurt both of us but it happened, and you can’t change the past, but you have to learn to move on, to go on, because staying stuck in the past isn’t the right way to go is it?”

He looked at her sadly.

“Hrm. I am talking to the man who locked himself up in his house for forty years, aren’t I?” Norma asked, tilting her head with a sad smile on her face. “You didn’t have to do that, either you know.”

“Norma…”

“No, you didn’t. Locking yourself away didn’t help fix anything, did it?” she asked softly, though he could hear the slight annoyance to her tone.

“It was how I was paying my debt.” Once-ler said quietly. “Do you think it was easy? Doing that? Destroying my factory, on top of destroying everything else? What we had?” he turned, stopping in his tracks, and looked down at her. “Norma it wasn’t easy, it wasn’t meant to be easy. I’d become a monster, I wasn’t the man you fell in love with any more and you knew it. I had destroyed everything and I had no right to live in town, where no one believed in trees any more. Because of me.”

She lowered her gaze, and sighed. He was right; of course he was. After O'Hare had so readily taken over, and at such a young age, people were already being brainwashed by the perfect world they now lived in. Even when the wall was still being constructed she had heard that the Once-ler had appeared in town. How he had been desperately trying to tell people about the trees he’d destroyed, that the world needed them but he was more or less chased out of town by a lynch mob since everyone blamed him for the state of things to begin with. O'Hare offered safety, security, while the Once-ler only offered empty promises and lies.

If she had been able she would have defended him, though sadly she’d been a bit busy in the hospital and only heard of the attack upon the man after, when a dark brown haired baby had been in her arms in the hospital bed. Naturally at the news that Once-ler had been in town, Norma had wanted to go to him but her mother had informed her she was better without him; that he was a monster, and she deserved better than a man who had done what he’d done not only to the trees and valley, but her.

And with a baby in her life, even with her mother supporting her, by the time Norma found time to get away for a moment that giant wall around Thneedville had been erected. He was sealed off to her, and she had no choice but to settle into the position of a mother, and raise their daughter.

“I missed you.” she whispered in the rain, staring up at the man who had entered into her life with a pink hand knitted invention hanging around his neck. Funny, how, now he stood there with a long pink scarf around his neck and shoulders in the drizzling rain. “I really did. Even if you had explained everything you did and why, I still missed you.”

He was quiet for a while and Norma, for once, feared if she had said the wrong thing which was a big deal since Norma was the kind of woman to speak her mind without fear of what people would say to her in retaliation, or what she had said. But Once-ler was different, wasn’t he? He was somebody very special, more than special, to her. She had been genuinely afraid that he would have moved on, or even died, without being able to see him again. Without the chance to tell him how she felt, still did feel.

“I missed you, too.” he finally answered after a moment, looking down at her, pain in his eyes. “It wasn’t just another layer to the guilt I was feeling over what I’d done, it was… a… a whole other part of it. Knowing you were out here, alone, because I couldn’t… and wouldn’t…” he groaned and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m still a guy who has issues with communicating… you know. Feelings.”

Norma, unable to help herself, laughed. “Oh you old fuddy.” she teased before reaching up with her walking cane and once again, hooked it around his neck before jerking him down until he was closer to her, this time standing up on her toes. “Now you owe me this much.” she said and before he could splutter a question, just like that night next to the river, their mouths met but this time it was in a far more public setting and it was Norma taking the initial step this time.

Funny how things turn around full circle, isn’t it?

His whiskers stood on end and brushed against her face now, her nose, her upper lip and her cheeks as well but that hardly mattered to her. It wasn’t the first time she’d kissed a man with a mustache and it wouldn’t be the last, not if she can help it.

His whole frame had frozen, and he almost dropped his umbrella entirely which would have been unfortunate since they would have both gotten wet. But no, he kept his grip upon the umbrella with all of his might as the rest of him found itself suddenly very interested in what was going on. The initial shock of what was happening passed over relatively quickly, and his eyes that had been wide with shock finally eased shut and he found himself kissing her just as softly in return.

Nobody paid any heed to the old couple kissing in the rain, and it was probably best left that way.

When they finally pulled away from one another, they didn’t remove themselves from one another entirely. Norma’s walking stick was still around his neck, and he had ended up grasping at her shoulder with his free hand whilst the other had managed to keep its grip on the umbrella. Blue and brown eyes stared into aone anothers for a moment, before Norma giggled, released her hold on her cane to reach up and smoothed down his mustache.

“You’re all red.” she whispered.

“Yes well in case you forget I haven’t really had the privledge of kisses from beautiful women for a long, long time.” he replied, face well and truly set to a bright red shade.

“Oh for that you’re going to have to get another one.”

“I fail to see a downside to that.”

To be continued

Chapter Text

“Oh wow it’s really comin’ down out there isn’t it?” Mrs. Wiggins asked as she stared outside her window as the rain continued to pour outside, splashing against the window. She had stared at wonder at the rain when it had first started, since she couldn’t rightfully remember rain that well.

She had vague memories, as a baby, of her mother holding her in the window as rain came falling down but it was around that time the rain began to stop falling. It had a beautiful quality to it, a magical feeling, one that gave Helen a sense of nostalgia she couldn’t rightly place.

The woman smiled faintly, in the privacy of her home, and moved away from the window. Just as she did this, though, she missed watching her mother and the old Once-ler walking up the street together. Norma still held the bag of goods in one arm, the other hand gently holding onto the green clad glove of the elderly man who, in his other hand, held the Swomee-Swan umbrella still.

They came to a stop at the end of the path that lead the way up the stairs, and the two looked at one another.

Once-ler thought these kinds of things would be easier to deal with, with age, but no he still felt as awkward and clumsy as he had been as a young man. He chewed at his bottom lip before tilting his head to the side.

“Well, here we are.”

“How very astute of you, Oncie.” Norma replied with a cheeky grin.

“Now come on I’ve told you to not call me that.” he huffed, mustache fluffing slightly in irritation.

“That’s why it’s so much fun to call you that!” she smiled before turning her head to look at the house, and sighed. “I feel like a teenager.” She squeaked when he suddenly reached down and touched her side, making her laugh, and pull away from him. “Hey!”

“Funny, you don’t feel like a teenager.” Once-ler grinned at her, having finally had the upper hand for once.

Laughing, Norma hit his arm with her hand. “You old fox!” she said, eyes sparkling with a kind of joy she hadn’t felt in decades.

He chuckled, resting his hand now on his knee, as he was slightly bent down in the rain. “Oh yeah, I still got it.” he said proudly.

“As if you ever lost it, sly thing you are.” Norma smiled before gripping his scarf and tugged him down to her level, standing on her tip toes, and kissed him quickly.

Once-ler mumbled something against her lips but found himself incapable of pulling away from her until she was done, just like the old days, before he finally was able to pull away from her but not entirely. Smiling down at her he sighed, before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“Are you certain you don’t want to come in for tea?” she asked.

“I know that look,” he said with a smirk, “Whenever you asked me in for ‘tea’ before we did anything but drink tea.”

“Oh you old fox!” she cried with a laugh, “Really Oncie, we aren’t in our twenties any more.”

“True but I know that look in your eyes anywhere, Norma.” Once-ler said before he pushed himself back onto his feet, “Besides I’m sure your daughter and grandson are wanting your company, not mine, this evening.”

“Oh poo. Fine.” she huffed.

They stood there in silence for a moment, the only sound belonging to that of the gently falling rain around the couple.

“So…” Once-ler started, finding himself incapable of not blushing. “What… er, what exactly is happening here now? Are we together? Are we… doing this again…? Even after what…”

“Oncie.” she said softly. “What I feel for you is as strong as it was way back when. Even after all these years, you locking yourself away, and me raising Helen… you’re still the man I fell in love with. Now. The question is if YOU want to see if this can happen. If this can work because I can’t speak for you but I want it to.”

Once-ler stood there, oblivious to the fact that the gently falling rain had slowly eased to a stop. He looked down at his feet, and noticed finally that his jacket was now wet in some places, but that was hardly worth worrying or fussing over right now. There were matters far more important to think about.

Oh how he had missed her, in his isolation, after all what had happened. He regretted so much, it had been almost suffocating for him. He missed her laughter, her touch, her kisses, the way they would share a bed together; how their bodies would gravitate to one another’s and end up clinging to one another. He had been all legs and she so short, so petite and yet still their legs got tangled in sheets together.

And now, knowing he had missed out on being a father… he wouldn’t know what it’s like to hold a baby in his arms, his own child. He wouldn’t have gotten to celebrate all the holidays with a little one in his life, no birthdays, no parties, no late night sickness, no midnight feedings, no sharing it all with a wife he should have held on for a lifetime instead of allowing her to slip through his fingers.

It broke his heart all over again.

“I want to try.” he admitted weakly, slowly lowering his umbrella.

“Then try we shall.” Norma smiled up at him before giving him a small wave. “See you later, Oncie.”

“When?” he asked, feeling like he was in his twenties all over again as she began to walk up the path to her house.

“Soon!” she replied, giggling.

“How soon?” Once-ler called, taking a step but stopped himself from going too far.

“Tomorrow. In town. Meet me in the square, around one?” she asked, looking back at him as she began pulling the door open.

“Tomorrow. One. Got it.” he said, nodding his head as he closed up the umbrella since he hadn’t done so yet.

They smiled at one another before she went inside, and shut the door behind her. Once-ler stood there, shoes and jacket wet, umbrella still in hand, before a smile spread out over his face. He turned and began his long walk back home again, feeling as though the journey had been well worth it.

“Where you been, Ma?” was the first thing Norma heard when she got back indoors. “It’s been rainin’ all afternoon,” Mrs. Wiggins approached from the kitchen, “Where were you?”

Norma rolled her eyes. “I was where I was.” she replied.

“Don’t get funny, Ma.” she frowned.

“I’m not being funny, I’m being secretive. There’s a difference!” Norma replied with a smirk. “Really Helen, your mother can go and do her thing can’t she?”

“I guess but why aren’t you wet?” she asked.

“Let’s just say a nice man helped an old lady home with an umbrella.” Norma said as she made her way upstairs.

Mrs. Wiggins watched her mother go up the stairs, before her eyes trailed to the photograph on the wall of herself, Ted, and her mother. She folded her arms over her chest lazily, observing the picture. It had always been her and her mother, never her father. When she was younger she had wondered why she was the only little girl who didn’t have a dad, but when she had asked her mother the woman would get a distant look in her eyes.

Helen would then feel bad about asking, and soon learned not to ask who the man was.

Though, at that meal, when the Once-ler had sat at their table besides Norma the woman couldn’t help but observe how they acted towards one another. She now knew they had known one another, that she had been the one to tell Ted about the old man who was behind the destruction of the trees, but just how closely had they known each other?

Was he…?

Surely not! She shook her head, laughed at herself for thinking such a ridiculous thing, and headed to grab her bowling ball since today was another game day.

~*~

He had never put so much thought into his clothes in so long, it was almost startling. The old man stood in his bedroom, staring at his closet which was just as slanted and crooked as the rest of his house. Once-ler frowned slightly as he stared in at the clothes, most of them were so old, and smelt of moth balls and age.

The man would never admit to the fact he had to shoo a few moths out of his closet when he opened it, or carry a few daddy long legs out and toss them outside where they belonged.

Now, though, he stood there in his green dressing gown and faded pink slippers, staring at the clothes. What do you wear to a date to a woman who you had once been a fiance to? Something dressy, of course, no more of his green jacket that he had worn for so many years.

In the end he ended up wearing tan brown pants, slightly grey long sleeved shirt, a familiar looking vest and even traded his long pink scarf for a simple green one. Even his faded, fluffy green top hat got left behind in place of a black one with a simple green band that wrapped around the base of it. No, it wasn’t the one he had worn when he had been at the height of his power, he hadn’t kept that.

In fact the hat, along with the outfit that had accompanied it, ended up being thrown into an oil drum and set on fire by the young man not too long after the bottom of his business fell out. He didn’t want to be associated with such clothing ever again, and he had had so many spares of it made, and had gladly burned them all in the privacy of his factory back when it was still standing.

Those clothes, he had once been so proud of them…

~*~

The sudden success of the thneed had come out of literally nowhere. Once-ler, months after abandoning his dream of selling his creation, had settled into a fairly mundane, simple existence, but an existence he had learned to love and cherish with all his heart. He and Norma saw one another practically every day, sometimes she would end up sleeping over at his cottage and they would spend the mornings together.

Why, she had even taught him how to cook pancakes, something that he had never made before. Back home his mother hadn’t been the best cook, so breakfast treats like pancakes or waffles was never something he had experienced. How patiently she had stood with him, at the stove, showing him how to do it though they did get slightly distracted at some point, when she ended up being sat upon the counter top. His arms had wrapped around her, and oh how they had kissed and ended up burning the pancake batter to a crisp.

His cottage was soon filled with the smell of freshly picked flowers, pancakes being cooked, and the laughter of the petite woman with glasses. In fact it felt down right strange when she wasn’t around, and how many times he would wander into town seeking her out he lost track.

Once-ler had never felt this way before, and it showed. When she had even bought him a pink apron for him he hadn’t snorted or laughed at it, no, he had graciously accepted it and hugged her, thanking her for the gift. In fact he had been wearing that same apron, the gift from her, when his world had suddenly begun to change.

Suddenly he had found himself in a crowd of crazed people wanting, demanding, needing his thneed. They had literally surrounded him, waved hundred dollar bills in his face, and hoisting him up onto their shoulders. The sudden burning passion, that drive for success, reared its head within his heart and grasped at him in its talons. Not only that, but the fact he could now support Norma, to give her absolutely everything she rightly deserved, was another driving force.

“You called your family?” she asked, when she had come around to his cottage that night.

From what he had told her, his family wasn’t exactly the nicest people to have around.

“Well yeah!” he had replied, enthusiastically. “It’s gonna be great! I need more help, right?”

“I’m not enough?” Norma asked, tilting her head slightly, a scowl on her face. The first time he’d seen that.

“Huh?” Once-ler blinked. She had been coming around since the mob mass had appeared, and had been knitting with him deep into the night. In fact it was her idea to hand pick the tufts from the tree rather than knock them over, since Once-ler had told her how he had promised not to cut down any more trees because of the legendary Lorax.

But even two people knitting couldn’t keep up with demands, it seemed.

“Norma,” he approached her and took her hands into his. “Please. You know I appreciate your help but we need more hands, and Ma said always to call her when I was finally a success, so I did!”

“Oh, so now she wants to see you because you’re a success?” she asked, looking up at him with a dissatisfied look on her face.

“Don’t be like that…” Once-ler whispered softly, lifting a hand and brushed his knuckles gently against her cheek. “She’s my mother.”

“I know.” she sighed before moving forward and wrapping her arms around his middle, and buried her face into his chest. He looked taken back by this embrace, but he still returned it, wrapping his arms down around her. “I know.” Norma said again. “Just…”

“Just?” he asked.

“Don’t get too caught up in all this, please?” she tilted her head back, looking up at him. “I know it’s exciting, people wanting your thneeds after everything that happened, after being knocked back so much but please… don’t get carried away?”

Once-ler laughed slightly, before bending down and pressed a kiss to her lips. A reassuring one, a soft, tender, loving one that captured her breath and tossed it out the window.

~*~

“So, just dropping you off, huh Grammy?” Ted asked with a bemused grin as he rode across town with his grandmother sitting behind him, holding onto his waist to stop herself from falling off. He tried not to pay attention to the fact she had dressed up in a fluffy yellow jumper, blue skirt, or a pink scarf around her neck. She was even wearing golden ear rings, more visible than her normal earrings she wore.

“Yes Ted, just dropping me off.” replied the woman as she held onto him, tightly grasping her walking stick still in her hand.

“You don’t want me to hang with you?” he asked.

“OH my word Ted, no! I’m sure you’ve got exciting things to do. Far more exciting than hanging around with an old woman!” she replied brightly.

“You’re not just an old woman Grammy,” Ted started but she interrupted.

“Hup bup bup, Ted.” she said, sharply. “I’m getting the feeling your mother put you up for this. Did she?”

He was hesitant for a moment before laughing. “Yeah, she kinda did. She wants to know where you’re going and why you’re all dressed up like this.”

“Well that’s my business and hardly hers, and you can tell her that from me!”

“All right, all right. I will.” Ted laughed, amused at hearing his grandmother being so upset over something like this. Well, no, she wasn’t upset she sounded more miffed at having her daughter want to know so much about what she was doing. As the eldest in the house, wasn’t she allowed to have privacy?

According to his mother: no.

Finally they arrived in the middle of town, and Ted watched as his Grammy hopped off the bike. “Thanks Teddy,” she smiled at him. “Now go on. Shoo.”

“Aw Grammy! You can’t expect me to just walk away from this do you?” he asked with a cheeky grin.

“You bet your bottom dollar I do, shoo!” she waved her walking stick at him in a playfully threatening way. The young boy laughed, lifted a hand to protect his head, and sighed.

“All right fine, fine!” he said as he started up the engine on the bike again, and drove away.

Norma stood there, watching him go, before she glanced around in a stealth manner. She turned and headed off in one direction, oblivious to the fact that Ted had done a U-Turn and was watching her from around the near by corner. He watched, transfixed, as he watched his Grammy walk down a side street and vanished.

“Ted?”

The voice, his name, startled him and he spun around to see the last person he expected standing there. It was Audrey. She smiled at him.

“Audrey!” he squeaked, incapable of stopping the pitch in his voice. “Oh uh, h-hey!” he greeted. Even with everything that had happened between them, he still couldn’t help but feel a little shy and nervous around her.

“Hey, what’re you doing back here being all mysterious?” she asked, smiling still.

“Uh…” he could have thought up an elaborate lie, but Ted wasn’t the type of boy who wanted to lie to someone like Audrey. It felt wrong. He sighed. “Grammy’s been acting really different these past few days, and I want to see what’s going on with her.”

“Oh your Grammy? She’s awesome, but what do you mean acting different?” Audrey asked.

“It’s hard to describe.” he sighed. “But she’s been going out a lot, not telling us where, and just generally acting… off.”

Audrey nodded her head.

“So I’m trying to find out by old fashioned means. Wanna help?” he asked, grinning mischievously.

The teenager laughed, and brushed some of her red hair behind her ear. “Oh gee I dunno. Don’t you think she’s entitled to some privacy?” she asked.

Ted huffed, and rolled his shoulders. “Yeah, I guess you’re right…” he looked back to the place he had last seen his grandmother but she was already well out of sight, and gone. He sighed, wondering what she was really getting up to.

~*~

Norma wondered when her heart had suddenly decided to act like a teenager’s. It was pattering within her chest with a ferocity she hadn’t known in oh, so, very long. She paused, by a store front window, and looked herself over. She ran her fingers against her curled hair a few times, and smiled at herself. Spotting something on her teeth she ran her tongue over it, wiping it clean. She smiled again, turned, and gave herself a once over.

She huffed when she saw her behind but that was something she’d always done, and nothing was going to change that. Turning, she continued along her way until she spotted him, and her heart decided to do a little flip that made her cheeks turn pink at the sight of him.

Once-ler sat at a coffee table, his long legs bent beneath the round surface and oh my, he looked dashing in browns and greens. He was even wearing a different hat and everything. She fought the butterflies that were beginning to form in her stomach, reminded herself she was Norma Wiggins, a woman who had raised a child alone, who had helped bring about the change in Thneedville (she had driven a tractor for crying out loud!), and to not feel so childish around the man who had hurt her so badly in the past.

Yet she couldn’t help it.

As she approached he noticed her, smiled, and got to his feet as she got closer.

“Norma,” he greeted, going so far to lift his hat to her as she finally reached him. “I should like to respectfully tell you that you look very lovely today.” Once-ler said since, honestly, it was the truth. She always looked gorgeous in blue.

“Oh you smooth talker you.” she smiled as he pulled the chair opposite him out for he to sit on. She hopped onto it, and hummed when she felt his hand run against her back as he bent down to press a kiss to her cheek before sitting back down again. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long, I just had to live through the Spanish inquisition with my grandson.”

“Not long.” Once-ler replied as he handed her the menu. “And honestly I’m perfectly happy waiting around for you.”

“Talk like that’ll get you stealing my heart all over again faster than you can blink, Oncie.” Norma smiled as she took the menu from him, looking over the items.

Once-ler said nothing, instead, he chose to just settle there and watch her. The way she held the menu, how she stuck the tip of her tongue out of her lips when she was thinking; it was all so familiar. All the small, little things, had been returning to him like moths returning to a lamp turned on to keep the darkness at bay.

It was funny that, only now, did he realize just how badly he had missed her.

To be continued

Chapter Text

Norma could remember the first time she met Once-ler’s family, on that balmy summer day all those years ago. It had been just like any other morning for her, she had awoken, gone through the usual morning routine of showering, getting dressed, and enjoying her breakfast. It was all so very ordinary, and mundane she could have cried. But, like every other day, what she looked forward to most after working in the local book store was heading out to the valley to visit Once-ler.

By that time of day she would normally find him doing his washing out by the stream, or pegging his laundry on the single line he stretched from his cottage to the nearest tree. On more than one occasion she had come in to find him chasing the bar-ba-loots who had stolen various items of clothing, in particular his underwear. It seemed as though one of them, named Pipsqueak, had taken a fondness to the heart covered underwear.

Why, though, she couldn’t rightly understand but a bar-ba-loot’s mind was a very tricky thing to understand.

But this time as she approached the cottage she saw something she never thought she’d see; a giant vehicle that was at least twice the size of Once-ler’s cottage. It had so many add-ons, so many rooms, and the large shadow it cast was almost impressive if it wasn’t so gosh darn intimidating.

Holding the basket she had been carrying, hoping to enjoy a picnic with her boyfriend, a worrying expression on her face. She’d never seen a vehicle like this before, Greenville had always been fairly small and out of the way compared to other towns in the country. But that’s the way that they liked it.

Then she spotted him, standing out by his cottage, his back to her. She smiled faintly, and began to walk towards him. “Once-ler?” she called, voice betraying her nerves.

He turned his head to see her, and grinned. “Norma! Hey!” he greeted as he hurried up to her, bending down and kissed her quickly. “Check it out, isn’t this awesome?”

“It’s something but what is it?” she asked, drawing closer to him, still holding the basket to her chest protectively.

“It’s my family!” Once-ler explained, “They just arrived today ‘n I got em working the fields already!”

“Working the 'fields’?” Norma asked, arching an eyebrow. “Just what does that mean?”

“You know, harvesting!” Once-ler said brightly before taking one of her hands into his. “C'mon I’m gonna introduce you!” he said enthusiastically as he began to drag her out around the huge vehicle, and Norma cast a nervous glance at the plastic pink bird that had been stuck out in front of the car. A Swomee-swan chick was perched on it, peeping loudly.

“Here, here!” Once-ler said happily as he led her down the slight incline of the hill near his house.

Sure enough she soon saw them, and my what a group they were. There were his brothers, he had mentioned them before, Bret and Chet. They wore matching clothes, overalls, red plaid shirts, and small black hats. One of them was sitting atop the other’s shoulders as he reached for the tufts of an orange Truffula tree.

“Keep steady!” the one on top said, tongue sticking out of his mouth, as he stretched.

“I’m tryin’ but yer big butt’s heavy ta carry!” said the other.

“Bret, Chet!” Once-ler reached them, “Guys, guys. I wanna introduce you to someone!” he said, grinning as he held tightly onto Norma’s hand in his own as Chet, the one currently balancing himself on Bred’s shoulders, turned his head to look at them.

Bret turned around too fast though, causing Chet to shout out a startled yelp as he suddenly went crashing to the ground, rolling once before ending up in a sitting position. He shook his head as his twin approached Once-ler and Norma as if he hadn’t almost just caused an injury to his brother.

“Hoo boy who’s this Oncie?” Bret asked, oggling Norma as she moved closer to the taller man. “Ain’t she a honey!”

Norma frowned.

“Now Bret she’s got a name.”

“Cutie pie!” Chet said, having gotten over his tumble relatively quickly, joining his twin to check out their brother’s little honey.

“Guys, guys c'mon now.” Once-ler frowned. He gestured to Norma, shutting his eyes as he did. “Bret, Chet, lemme introduce you to Norma. My girlfriend.”

“Hello.” Norma would have said 'nice to meet you’ but she wasn’t so certain if she was, yet.

“Boy you caught yerself a pretty one!” Chet said to Once-ler, before suddenly punching Once-ler in the arm in what meant to be an affectionate pat but ended up almost sending Once-ler falling over. But that’s just the way things were; Bret and Chet tended to forget their strength and how gosh damn twig-like Once-ler was like. How many times, and how many bruises, he’d sustained from them throughout his life he’d lost count.

“Hah! Y-yeah, yeah I. Yeah. Ow.” Once-ler mumbled the last part to himself, flexing his poor bruised arm as he did while trying to make it NOT look like he’d sustained an injury.

“Sure is tiny though,” Bret commented as he looked down at the little lady. “Do they all grow so small 'round these parts?”

“Excuse me I happen to like my size, buster.” Norma spoke up, frowning.

“Guys, c'mon please don’t–”

“Oncie? Who is this?” the sweetly sounding Southern belle voice interrupted the conversation, causing the three brothers to turn their heads as one. Norma leaned around Once-ler, still frowning, to see who it was approaching and she could only guess it to be Once-ler’s mother.

She looked fairly young for her age, with her hair blonde and seemingly held in place by glue. She wore glasses, and had what she could only assume to be real fur hanging around her neck. The woman walked with the kind of strut you’d expect to find in a woman who knew she was in charge, and may Lorax have mercy on anyone who tried to best her.

“H-hey Mom!” Once-ler said, and no his voice did not shift slightly in pitch to a more slightly nervous tone. “How, how’re things going?”

“Slowly.” she replied curtly, before looking at the short, auburn haired woman and put on a welcoming smile that somehow didn’t sit with right with Norma at all. “And who is this?” she asked again, since body had answered her question.

“This here’s Norma!” Chet cut in front of Once-ler who had just been about to speak.

“She’s Oncie’s special lil’ squeeze!” Bret added, clasping his hands together. “Ain’t she just the sweetest little thing?” he asked.

Once-ler threw a glare at his brothers, something he was very rare to do, since he was normally pretty understanding of his brothers and their simple ways. “Yes. Mom.” Once-ler coughed, before looking to his mother. “This is Norma. My girlfriend.” he said as he placed a hand gently to Norma’s back.

Norma didn’t rightly like the look in her boyfriend’s mother’s eyes. Being a woman, she knew how to read other women very well and the look that had crossed the blonde one’s eyes wasn’t a welcoming one. The fur wearing woman tilted her head, and arched an eyebrow as she pursed her lips together for a moment before she smiled. Yet, again, the smile wasn’t a rightfully nice smile.

“Oh well just look at you!” she declared as she approached the two, and Norma had to resist the urge to back up. “Well ain’t you the cutest lil’ doll?”

“Thank you?” Norma asked, really unsure how to answer to that kind of compliment. Doll?

“So you went 'n captured my lil’ Oncie’s heart now did you?” she asked curiously, tilting her head slightly.

“Mom please,” Once-ler started.

“Don’t interuppt your Momma, Oncie.” she said curtly. “I’m talkin’ to your lil’ lady.” she turned her attention back to Norma. “So how’d you 'n my little stringbean meet, hmm?”

“It’s really not that good a story–” Once-ler started before his mother’s finger pressing against his lips, silencing him.

“Oncie. Momma’s talkin’.” she said sweetly.

“What’s goin’ on over here?” another voice, another woman, though a very gruff one, spoke up and Norma turned her head to see a woman like no woman she had ever seen in all her life. She was almost perfectly round, clad in purple fur, a hair-style that made her think of both devil horns and pastries. If Norma had thought Once-ler’s mother was a piece of work, well this woman was a masterpiece. “Who’re you?” she asked abruptly of Norma, “What are you doing here?“

“Aunt Grizelda,” Once-ler said through his teeth, trying to be nice but even his ends were being torn by how ‘great’ this first meeting was going. “This is Norma.”

“She’s Oncie’s girlfriend!” Bret and Chet said as one, both seemingly finding the art of announcing this to be the most hilarious thing on the face of the planet because to them, the idea of their brother having a girlfriend was down right hilarious. Once-ler shot them another glare, missing how his aunt approached Norma as well.

Norma had the sinking sensation that a stray zebra got when it was being surrounded by lionesses. But she refused to show her fear, or even take a step back, when the two women were now in her personal space. The woman Once-ler had said was his aunt suddenly reached out and lifted the tea towel covering off of the basket Norma was still holding. “What’s this then, lunch?” she asked, “Don’t mind if I do I am starved.” she said before unceremoniously taking the whole thing from Norma.

“What– Hey!” Norma started but Once-ler grasped her shoulder, pulling her back.

“Why yes that’s so nice of you Norma,” he said, voice strained, “of you to bring us something to eat like that…!”

“We been workin’ up a sweat all day we rightly appreciate it.” his mother said in that sickly sweet tone of hers as her sister was already inhaling the sandwiches that Norma had made for Once-ler.

He pulled Norma away as his brothers converged upon the basket as well, and it was very much like watching a group of lions rip into a zebra. Norma stood there, arms by her sides, and eyes wide before she looked up at Once-ler. “You know that wasn’t for them!” she said in a hushed tone. “I brought that here for us!”

“I know, I know.” he said, gripping her shoulders and actually getting down onto one knee in front of her so they were more eye to eye on the matter. “But this is how my family works. It isn’t easy I know, but… but it’s my family.”

“I see no resemblance whatsoever.” Norma said as she glared at them, and watched as a short, balding man in a bowler hat attempted to join them but kept being pushed out of the way. That had to be his uncle, what was his name again? She couldn’t really remember, she was that upset by how this first meeting of his family had gone.

“H-hyeah Chet ‘n Bret used to joke I was adopted.” Once-ler said on an awkward laugh as he scratched the back of his head. He’d never tell anyone that the idea of being adopted and not being a blood relative to these people would be like a dream come true for him. He sighed, before quickly kissing her cheek. “Don’t worry, we’ll have a picnic tomorrow. I promise.”

Norma nodded, but was unaware that this was the first of a long line of empty promises that she was going to have to deal with.

~*~

“You know Grammy you’re making it kinda obvious to everyone what’s going on around here.” Ted said as he rode his bike out over the roads, already leaving Thneedville behind.

“Oh?” Norma asked as she held onto him. “What’s going on?” she asked in her sweetest most innocent old lady voice.

“C’mon I’m not stupid. I know why you’re having me drive you out here.” he smirked as he watched the road. Today was a fairly bright day, with a few clouds that dotted the blue skies but unlike a week ago, there were no signs of rain. Which was good, since there had been an increase of rainfall a lot lately. Ted had never driven on a wet road before and the prospect was a little daunting.

“I’m sorry dear I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Norma said. “What’s so peculiar about meeting up with an old friend, hm?” she asked.

“Well, nothing…” her grandson replied. “I guess.”

“Well there you go, now stop being a snoopy snoop.” she replied, and Ted rolled his eyes but continued along his way.

It wasn’t long before the view of the Once-ler’s house came into view, and Ted felt a great swelling of joy in his heart at the sight of it. How it had changed over the past few months. When he had first come across the house it had been under the cover of night, shrouded with fog, withered and old, worn by the harsh weather it had been left out in. Now, though, thanks to himself and Audrey it was painted a nice crisp white color. The tiles were painted, there was grass growing on the ground, and it was refreshing to see the old man actually out and about around his house compared to lurking in his lurkim at the top of his house.

He looked up when he heard the approaching sound of the motor, and Once-ler smiled, raising his hand and waved as the two approached. “Ted, Norma!” he greeted as he approached them, smiling still. “How nice of you to come drop your Grandmother off, Ted.” he said, looking down at the young boy who was his grandson, but had no idea of this fact.

“Yeah, you two really need to get yourself your own means of transportation though. I’m not some taxi!” he joked as Norma got off of the back. “I’m a busy guy, I got things to do, homework to study, places to hang. You know.” he replied with a smug grin.

“Oh well we would hate to keep you from such important matters!” Once-ler said with a chuckle. “But do you want a drink first before you head on back?” he asked, pointing towards his house.

“Well I dunno,” Ted said as he slowly got off of his bike. “I might need a drink.”

He had just stepped away from his bike when Norma suddenly moved with a speed of a woman over half her age. She jumped onto the bike, grabbed Once-ler by the front, and hauled him on behind her. Ted, startled by this turn of events, took a step back as Norma revved up the bike loudly, kicking dirt and grass up as she did.

“Thanks Ted we’ll catch ya later!” she shouted before suddenly tearing off, Once-ler having no choice but to hold onto he with one hand whilst the other went to his hat, not wanting to lose it. Once-ler looked over his shoulder at the shocked expression on Ted’s face as it shrunk into the distance, before turning to peer down at Norma, eyes still wide. “Hah!” she laughed triumphantly, “My plan worked perfectly!”

“You are absolutely crazy, Norma!” Once-ler shouted as he held onto her, coat tails flapping in the breeze behind him as she continued to ride down the road. “I love it!”

“You needed a little more excitement in your life, Oncie!” Norma called as she went off road, expertly driving the bike with an ease one wouldn’t expect of a woman her age. But Norma was just the kind of woman to be full of surprises, ones you least suspected. “Walking everywhere, that isn’t right for someone like you and you needed an escape!”

“Always thinking of me, how kind you are.” he chuckled as he bent closer to her, and pressed a quick kiss to the back of her head.

“Oh stop it.” she laughed.

She drove for quite a while, across the valley that used to be known as the wasteland. No more would it be called that, though. Now life was beginning to return, the grass growing, water flowing, the skies bright and blue… it was as if successfully planting that one, singular seed and making the people of Thneedville finally care about the trees had some kind of magical effect on the land. Once-ler couldn’t help but think back to his friend, the Lorax, and how he had told him that his powers all balanced on how strongly people and animals believed in him. Was he tied to the land, as well? Was the simple act of caring about the trees sending strength back to the Lorax, wherever he was, and in a way affecting the valley he had once guarded?

It was all so deep and mystical Once-ler got quite a headache when he thought about it for too long.

He did wonder where his friend was, now. If he was safe. Was he looking after the animals? Or had he really just sent them off? Just how much could a guardian of the forest do without a forest to guard? Sometimes he wondered if he was still floating around up in the sky somewhere, or if his magic had petered out and he was hiding underground once more. Would he ever see him again? Had he done good? He honestly didn’t know, but he hoped he had. Having Norma back in his life again, it felt like no time had passed at all. How many times they had caught up in the past few weeks, taking walks together through town, sitting and enjoying the park together, or catching up for meals. Smoothies were a big thing for them, though, they had shared them together so often in their youth it was now a staple for them in their later years.

It wasn’t long before they were standing in front of the billboard that depicted the young Once-ler, holding his thneed out proudly, with that maniacal grin on his face. Norma set her hands on her hips, and scowled. “I never did like these things. They popped up everywhere.” she said.

“Yeah I don’t know what the PR people were thinking when they came up with it. I look like I’m jacked up on sugar or something.” Once-ler commented as he stared up at himself, feeling very uncomfortable. The eyes just seemed to follow you no matter what, and that in itself wasn’t a comfortable feeling.

Norma crouched down, picked up a stone, and threw it at the billboard. It sailed through the air and struck the wood smack bang on the nose and she laughed triumphantly. “Yes! Thirty points!”

“What–hey! That’s my face!” Once-ler said, as she picked up another.

“It sure is!” Norma said, grinning, as she hurled another rock at the billboard. This time it got him in the hand. “Shoot, five points.”

“You’ve already got a point system?” he asked sourly, but was grinning none the less.

“Of course! Thirty points is the nose, forty are the teeth and mouth. Fifty for right between the eyes. Five points go to the hand, ten to the arm, thirty to the chest and forty if you get him right in the neck.” Norma explained as she handed Once-ler some stones. “Come on, let loose! I know you want to.”

The old man stood there awkwardly holding the stones, looking down at them, before looking up at the billboard. He took a deep breath, gripped one in his hand, and hurled it at the sign. His aim was terrible, his throw bad, and he missed the face area entirely and ended up hitting the thneed. “Shoot!” he grumbled as he picked up another rock, and threw it again.

He lost track of time fairly quickly. Just how long they had spent hurling rocks at the billboard, shouting points out loud at one another, and laughing every time one of them would manage to hit the hat. For being heritage listed, the billboard now had a fair amount of scratches and dents on the aging plaster and wood.

Once-ler hadn’t laughed this hard in a long time.

Soon they were sitting in the shade of the billboard, leaning against one another. Once-ler had an arm around Norma’s shoulders, holding her close, and she too had an arm down around his waist. Her eyes were shut, allowing herself to just enjoy the moment more, of having him close again, feeling his presence and his warmth. He was still incredibly skinny, maybe even skinnier than he had been when they had been young, but that’s what happened with some people, didn’t it? While she had gotten shorter, and plumper, he had just gotten skinnier.

Would he have gotten so skinny if he hadn’t left? If they had tried harder, would it be any different or was he destined to be a skinny man for the entirety of his life? Probably.

“We’re going to be in so much trouble with Ted.” Once-ler finally said, his smile partly hidden by his mustache.

“No doubt.” Norma chuckled.

“Wonder what Helen will say.”

“She’s getting nosy, you know.” she informed him.

“Well of course, she’s our daughter. I’d be ashamed if she was anything but.” Once-ler said, his tone distant, soft. “…what was she like, as a little girl?”

“The naughtiest little thing you’ve ever seen!” Norma said, pulling back gently to look up at him. “She was everything I used to be as a little girl but worse! She would give me awful cheek as a little girl, sneaking out of her room even after I would try to punish her, wouldn’t do her chores… I swear, my Mother said it was all fair, since I had been a trouble maker for her. And don’t even get me started on her teenage years.”

“Uh oh. Bell bottoms?” Once-ler asked gravely.

“Bell bottoms.” Norma said flatly. “I swear, they only wore bell bottoms to cover up their swollen ankles after twisting them so many times with those big clogs they’d go around in!”

Once-ler laughed, unable to stop himself. Which he was grateful for, since hearing about how his daughter had been growing up had been almost enough to cause tears to prick at the corner of his eyes. He had missed out on so much, hadn’t he? Just like him, his daughter had grown up without a father in her life. It just wasn’t fair, not fair at all. But laughter, oh yes, that helped. That helped alleviate the guilt he was feeling so much.

“Oncie,” Norma said, after his laughter had ended, “We should tell her.”

He sat there, his hand moving in slow, lazy motions against her back, taking in her words. Slowly, he sighed through his nose, and shut his eyes. “I don’t know. Who would want a father like me?” he asked. “I ruined so much. I disappointed so many people. Everything I did, who… who’d want to be related to me?”

“Now stop that talk!” she snapped, prodding his side with a hand. “You may have made your mistakes but you’ve atoned for them now! You’re the one who held onto the last seed, you’re the one who convinced Teddy to open his eyes and in the end bring about the change of Thneedville. You may have ruined things, Oncie, but you’ve helped fix them just as much. Sure, Helen may be grown up, but she still needs her father. And Ted, his dead beat dad is never around for him since the divorce. He needs a father figure, and you know he looks up to you so, so much.”

“Does he?” Once-ler asked quietly.

“You bet your mustache he does!” Norma said, forming a fist and shook it to emphasize the point. “He respects you, as anyone in their right mind should!” she then reached and took his hand into hers, unsure if she felt a ring beneath the folds of material in his left glove or not but this wasn’t the time to ask about that. “Once-ler, please. They both have a right to know who you are.”

The old man, the man who had spent over forty years living in solitude, held the woman’s hand tightly in his grip as he stared out at the horizon of the valley. As far as he could see in his advancing years, he could see green. He never thought he would see that again. Once-ler thought he would live out the rest of his days surrounded by the mistake of his past, the destruction, the pollution, his scar upon the world. But it was healing now, slowly, surely…

…so why shouldn’t he let his heart finally heal, too?

To be continued

Chapter Text

Now that he was standing here, Once-ler didn’t know what to think, really. He had gotten up in front of crowds so many times in his life, he’d had fruit and vegetables hurled at him too, yet then he’d had no nerves. It had felt as though the young man would never feel nervous about anything and yet, here he stood, feeling nerves climb up his back and bite the back of his neck in an unpleasant way.

“Whassa matter, green bean?” The Lorax’s voice piped up, causing Once-ler to jump, and glare down at the being who had accompanied him on a trip that he really shouldn’t have.

“Shht.” Once-ler huffed before looking back at the display of jewelry set before him. So far, his thneed business was really getting off the ground quicker than he hoped. His family harvested every day, not a single tree was chopped down, and they were just making demands. That was fine, right? And yet the young man had realized, seeing his girlfriend dealing with his family as well as she had, she may very well be the one for him.

He hadn’t really experienced women like this in the past; she’d been his first everything and that made her even more special to him. Norma made him happy in ways nothing else did, not even making thneeds made him this happy, the way she made him feel. How his heart would skip a beat now and then when she would touch him, or the warm caress of her lips against his when they would kiss so tenderly in private.

Course his brothers had walked in ‘accidentally’ on them every so often, causing Once-ler to blush up a storm and Norma to glare daggers at them. They meant well, he had explained. Bret and Chet were just simple, they meant no real harm.

Still, despite how rocky it had been at first, Norma was settling in around his family more each day and he had spontaneously decided he would ask her to marry him. He had enough money now to support her; he could get her a beautiful wedding band and everything, though… his mother hadn’t liked the idea. She had muttered something about gold diggers, and suitable young women, but he had brushed it off.

Sure he had been getting a bit more attention from young women around town now that he was richer, but his heart belonged to Norma and he wanted to ensure it stayed that way so he was going to marry her. He would ask her, she would say yes, and they’d kiss and embrace and do all those toe curling good things he quite enjoyed. Though, of course, being the proper couple of the day and age they were they hadn’t… done it. Norma had told him right up front, when hey had begun dating, that she wouldn’t make love to him until their wedding night if they ever got that far. It was just how she had been raised to be, and she wasn’t about to go and throw herself at a man like that.

At that time Once-ler had turned red in the face at the prospect of not only sex, but marriage. Sure they had played around a bit with one another, what couple could keep their hands off of one another entirely, but it had never gone too far. Now though, both marriage and making love didn’t seem so intimidating or scary. So that was why he was now at a jewelry store in town, but his unwanted companion had followed him. Of course nobody else could see him so Once-ler flat out ignored the orange menace as he wandered around, looking in windows, in people’s baskets; all sorts of things. It was hard to do, honestly.

But the Lorax appeared to be a master at avoiding being stepped on since as of yet he had yet to bump into anyone. They had even made it through a crowd of young girls on their way there and nobody had tripped over the orange meatloaf.

“Boy you humans and your fascination with shiny stuff’ll never make sense to me.” the Lorax said as he sat on the counter now, staring down through the glass at the shiny objects.

“Does sir see something to his liking?” the older man behind the counter asked.

“Yes, yes the sir does!” Once-ler announced brightly, pointing to a ring. “I’d like ta take a look at that if I may.” soon the ring was in his hands and he was looking it over. It was a fairly simple band, nothing too elaborate, with one single diamond set in the middle. He turned it over in his thin, rough fingers, smiling to himself. He imagined it on Norma’s hand, her proudly showing it off to her family and friends, boasting about what a wonderful fiancé she had. It made his ears turn pink.

“So what’s it all mean exactly?” the Lorax asked as they left the town behind, heading back towards the cottage and RV.

“It means we’re married. You know. Mates?” Once-ler asked. “She’ll be my wife and I’ll be her husband.” even if the Lorax was old as time itself, mystical, and the guardian of the forest he certainly didn’t know much about people and customs.

“Oh I see! Swomee-Swans mate for life too, so do Bar-ba-loots. Good to see you humans do that too. Shows guts. Shows how much you really care for her. I’m glad.” the Lorax nodded his head in an approving way, as if he was her father or something and Once-ler was asking permission to wed her. Which he had done, just the day before. It was the only right thing to do, after all, and Once-ler had been shocked to learn her father was just as tall as he was. Only much more boarder, as well.

“Well I’m so glad you approve.” Once-ler said as he looked down at the velvet box held tightly in his hands. “I just hope she does.”

“Aw c'mon a catch like you how could she not eh?” the Lorax smirked, nudging at his calf with his elbow.

“Yeah yeah yeah yeah…”

Of course, now that he had the ring, he had to ask her. He would never admit to how many days passed, before becoming weeks, and months, while the ring sat in his dresser drawer. His business was booming every single day, and it wasn’t long until he made his decision to lop down the Truffula trees had been put into affect. He hadn’t even realized that chopping the trees down made the act of creating the thneeds so much quicker. While Norma had been angry at him at his decision to do this he explained to her it was only going to be a few trees, not all of them. After all, he had to carter for the supply and demand and baby, people were demanding thneeds as if they were going out of fashion.

After a few more months of his business biggering and biggering, Once-ler no longer wore his grey striped pants anymore. They were replaced with black, tailor made trousers. He got around with a white collared shirt now, a green and black tie hung around his neck and green suspenders helping to keep his pants up. No longer did he wear his hat, either, abandoned and forgotten in his cottage on his hat rack along with his father’s guitar.

“I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees, you’re choppin’ em down faster than they can grow! Why don’t you listen to reason Beanpole, please!” the Lorax was around again, bothering him as usual.

“Oh come off it I’m not chopping down that many.” Once-ler muttered as he was looking over the sales figures for the day in his cottage. It was only recently did Once-ler begin thinking that, by now, he deserved a bigger office, a bigger chair, a bigger desk… maybe a hat to wear? He was becoming quite the figurehead in the fashion and business world, why shouldn’t he look the part? He reached for his draw and pulled it open, looking for a pencil, and his fingers brushed a velvet box. “Huh?”

He withdrew the box and stared down at it, before opening it up. The engagement ring he’d bought months ago gleamed up at him and a sense of guilt and shame washed over him. He hadn’t proposed to Norma. How could he have forgotten something so important? Yes, his business was important, but she was too. And she was working hard for him, too, doing his book keeping and every morning he would greet her with a kiss and at the end of the day part on one. They had lunch together, still…

“What’s that–oh ho ho, conveniently forgot ta ask ya girl ta marry you huh? How bush the life of a business man is!” the Lorax scolded.

“Shut it.” Once-ler said as he got up and clutched the ring box in his palms tightly. “I’m gonna do it. Tonight. That’s right, that’ll show you. I’m still the same guy.”

“Who’re you tryin’ ta convince; me or you?” the Lorax had asked; but he got no answer since Once-ler had left the cottage entirely. The orange guardian sighed, and pressed a hand to his forehead. “Losin’ him… I’m losin’ him…” he whispered to himself.

~*~

“Family meetin’ time?” Helen asked, confused, as he mother stood there in the bedroom door, fastening one of her ear rings. “Since when do you arrange family meetin’s, Ma?” she asked.

“Oh since now, dear.” Norma answered. “There’s a serious matter we’ve all got to discuss so I’m calling a meeting.”

“Serious matter huh. This got somethin’ ta do with you sneakin’ out around town?” she asked, arching a brow slowly.

“No spoilers now, dear!” Norma sang. “But it’ll be happening in an hour so make sure your butt is downstairs!”

“What, an hour, but Ma I had plans! Goin’ out on the town? I been talkin’ about it all week…” Helen complained, like a teenager, before huffing a breath. “Oh fine fine. Can’t be too long…”

So that was it. She was soon sitting downstairs on the sofa, Ted sat besides her. Grammy Norma sat across from them, hands resting in her lap. The clock ticked in the background.

“So you gonna tell us why you called us here, Ma?” Helen asked.

“In a minute dear I’m waiting.” Norma said.

“Waiting, for who?” Ted asked curiously.

The doorbell rang.

“Him!” Norma hopped off the couch and hurried to the door and pulled it open. Sure enough a familiar looking man stood at the door, removing his hat as he walked in. “Hello Oncie, so nice of you for coming.” she said softly, genuinely. “Good to see the taxi got you here in one piece.”

“Barely.” Once-ler muttered. He glanced up and saw Helen, and Ted, sitting there and smiled faintly in greeting. Nerves were bubbling in his stomach. “Hello.”

“Hi…” Helen said slowly.

“Mister Once-ler, hey! I didn’t know you’d be comin’ around today!” Ted said brightly, grinning.

“That’s the point of a surprise, Ted. To keep it secret until they show.” Once-ler said as he made his way to the couch opposite Ted and Helen and sat, while Norma made herself comfortable besides him.

“So you finally gonna tell us what this is about?” Helen asked, arms folded, eyes narrowed in an unsatisfied kind of way. She didn’t like being left out of the loop of things, not one bit.

“Of course. Well. No way to sugar coat this at all,” Norma said, placing her hands in her lap before reaching over and taking hold of the old Once-ler’s. “we, being myself and the dashing handsome gentleman to my right, are involved.”

“Hah I knew it!” Helen said, pointing at them. “I knew youse two were messin’ about! Inutition.” she added, tapping her forehead. “I knew it.”

“Involved?” Ted blinked, “So you’re like… what… dating?”

“I believe that’s the right word for it, isn’t it?” Once-ler asked Norma, looking down at her; trying to hide his nerves with a joke. She smiled in return, and rubbed his hand with her fingers, trying to offer some support without words.

“Yes I do believe it is. Dating. Doing the scene. Caught in a net. All that jive.” Norma said, looking back to her family. Helen had an unsure expression on her face while Ted looked genuinely happy. So far, so good. “But, that’s not the only thing we’ve got to tell you.”

“You ain’t pregnant are ya Ma?” Helen asked, flatly.

“Oh now that WOULD be a miracle!” Norma laughed, clapping her hands together whilst Once-ler sat there looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Ma, ew!” Ted made a face. He didn’t need THAT mental image, thank you very much!

“No Ted, no. Don’t you worry your little head you aren’t going to be mentally scarred today. I hope.” Grammy Norma smiled before sighing, and brushed a white curl behind an ear. “Truth of the matter is… Oncie and I, as you both know, knew each other a long time ago. But what you don’t know is the extent in which we knew each other.”

Helen had a feeling of dread growing in the pit of her stomach.

“We were quite close, over the years when his company grew in power. But we knew each other before then, too. You see, well…” Norma trailed off for a moment and sighed, as the memories flashed by her eyes, taking her back to the past for just a moment. All those times they’d spent together, before everything changed… “We were engaged to be wed, when Once-ler here went and exiled himself.”

“Engaged.” Helen said, sitting up straighter in her seat.

“Yes. But not only that, but. Well. He’s your father, dear.” Norma said as gently as she could. “I never let any other man touch me, and not nine months after he left you came into my life. So there’s no denying who, or what, he is.”

Ted, and his mother, both shared the same expression of total shock on their faces but Helen more so. She had been feeling as if this was going to be said, that it was the truth. That this man, the man who had destroyed everything, was her father. She’d been feeling it since he’d walked into their lives for that dinner but now there was no denying it. Her eyes narrowed, and she frowned.

“So you just walked out on Ma, pregnant?” she asked, angrily. “What kinda man are you? Oh wait, yeah, the kinda man who destroyed the environment 'n set it all up for that baby man to take over!”

“Helen!” Norma gasped, “He didn’t know I was pregnant!”

“Well you shoulda told him!” Helen’s voice raised, “You shoulda marched up to his stupid little house 'n make him realize he had a kid ta look after! Not let yourself raise me all alone like ya did! You think it was easy on her?” she said, glaring at the old man sitting there who suddenly seemed so small, so quiet. “Raisin’ me alone? It wasn’t easy on me either! Father’s day was always quiet 'round our house 'n I had ta watch all my friends with their dads at picnics 'n I felt so different 'n wrong not havin’ you here! Not havin’ ANY father since Ma didn’t ever take a husband. You,” her hands clenched in front of her in a gesture Once-ler himself used fairly often when he was aggravated. “You…”

“Helen,” Norma got out of her chair and made her way over to her daughter. “He did do right by us. How do you think I was able to support us, being a stay at home Mom all those years? He gave me money, Helen. When he left. He didn’t want it, but neither did I but once I found out I was pregnant I knew I’d need it. He’s supported us, dear, all throughout your childhood he supported you.”

“I don’t want that tree money on my conscience!” Helen balked, “How could you accept–he, you..!”

“I should go.” Once-ler said quietly, his grip so tight on his hat it was probably bent. “This was a mistake, I. I should never have come here.” he said, beginning to get to his feet.

“Yeah that’s right run off again it’s what ya do when ya face somethin’ ya can’t fix huh?” Helen growled.

“Helen!”

While the two women continued going back and forth at one another Once-ler had gotten to his feet and was just about to place his hat atop his head when he felt a grip on his wrist. Looking down he sat Ted standing there, forgotten in the heat of the argument, holding onto him. The boy wasn’t looking at him; instead he was looking at the ground.

“Don’t go.” he said, quietly, sounding so very young all of a sudden. “Please don’t go and lock yourself away again.” Ted said, clearer, looking up at the old man slowly, eyes honestly pleading as powerfully as his words were.

This gave Helen, and Norma, pause and now the two women were watching as the young boy and his grandfather looked at one another in, no doubt, a new light. Ted was breathing harsher than normal, his heart and mind at odds with one another as to what to feel. All his life he’d wanted a grandfather since his father’s dad had died years before he was born. Then, when his dad took off, he’d been left in a house with his mother and grandmother. Not a bad thing, but every little boy longed for a father figure to look up to and, honestly, he had been looking up to the Once-ler (in more than one way) since he met him.

The man listened to him, joked with him, told him cautionary tales and facts about life. Sure he may be so old he had next to no hair on his head but Ted had felt a connection there, ever since he’d gone back to his house that second night. And now he understood. He wasn’t just an old hermit living in the middle of nowhere. He was his grandfather.

“Please don’t leave.” he said again.

Once-ler stared down at Ted for a long moment before very slowly getting down onto one knee, so the two were more face to face with one another. The old man reached with his free hand and placed his head atop Ted’s head, and ruffled his brown hair. He cast a glance at Helen who was watching this, her expression hard to read. Looking back to Ted, the old Once-ler smiled.

“News flash.” he said, quietly. “Not goin’ anywhere.”

And then Ted was hugging him so tightly it was squeezing the tears out of his eyes. Once-ler shuddered as he brought his arms around the boy, holding onto him, and shut his eyes tightly.

“He needs his grandfather, Helen.” Norma whispered to her daughter, reaching out, touching her hand. “Don’t deny him that.”

Helen stood there, much like her son, heart and mind at odds as to what to feel. The little girl within her was so happy, was so overjoyed at having found her daddy. The man she had wanted so badly when she was growing up. The older woman she was, though, was angry and bitter at him for having left her mother behind to mope for forty years. Hadn’t he thought about coming back sooner? Had his self exile meant that much to him? Of course it had. He blamed himself, and still did, for everything that had happened. She had seen that sorrow, and that regret, in his eyes at the dinner table.

He was sorry. And even with her anger, she didn’t know if she could deny his apology.

Sighing, she pulled away from Norma and approached the two, and waited until Ted finally pulled away from the old man before helping him back up onto his feet.

“Careful, don’t wanna fall now.” Ted smiled faintly.

“I’d snap like a twig.” Once-ler chuckled weakly before looking at Helen who was suddenly so close to him. She was shorter than him, but still fairly tall. Helen had so much of her mother’s looks about her, but this close, he could see similarities. Small things. Freckles. Naturally long eyelashes, a problem he’d put up with all his life. The way she carried herself even reminded him of himself. Funny how genetics worked.

“Lemme set it straight.” she said quietly, voice shaking slightly. “I’m glad you’re makin’ my mother happy. I ain’t seen her this cheery in a long time. I ain’t gonna deny my boy the one opportunity ta have a grandfather, either. As for me… I don’t. I don’t know how ta feel yet so don’t go expectin’ me ta tall you Dad. Or Pops. Got that?” she asked.

“Totally understandable.” the old man nodded his head.

“Can I call you Pappy Once-ler?” Ted suddenly asked, voice literally dripping with hope and apprehension.

Once-ler had to hesitate a moment before answering. Before this day, he would have balked at being called such a thing. Such a title would make him sound so old, and he didn’t like being old. He hated feeling old. He hated the aches, and pains, and how long it took him to walk any where. He disliked many things about getting older but… being called Pappy Once-ler wasn’t one of them.

“Course you can.” he replied gently. “Pappy Once-ler is something I can live with, you can be sure of that.”

Ted beamed.

~*~

They had been engaged four years now. Norma honestly had to wonder where the time flew, but honestly, all she had to do was look outside the window of the giant factory that had been erected in the valley to see where it was going. As far as she could see the hills, and valley, were slowly losing the greenery, and brightness, she had loved so badly about it all. The woman rubbed her engagement ring against her finger, and then looked down.

Once-ler had changed so much, now. His company ran him. His mother controlled him. The media followed him everywhere and even with lobbyists coming against him for destroying the trees, and causing the starvation of the animals who lived in the valley, he continued going. He was a powerful man now, a millionaire, with money to spare.

She got the best of everything, now. The best clothes, jewelry, make up, perfume, trips to anywhere she may want… but never with him. Once-ler and she rarely shared a bed together anymore, he was always so busy with work and sometimes, she dreaded, he was having an affair with his secretary Miss Funster. Of course she had faith in her fiancé, but…

Sighing, Norma made her way to his office. She passed his mother, working away at a desk in a long hallway, and the woman barely looked at her. Once-ler’s mother rarely spoke to her anymore, and Norma was glad for it. The woman was nasty and underhanded, the way she had acted like a puppeteer, pushing her son into chopping down all those trees, for pushing him into the limelight, and the way she sponged off of him… the whole family did, and she wished he would see the truth behind them but he was blind to it.

She passed a blown up portrait of him claiming 'Too big to fail’, and the picture of him looked nothing like the man she once knew. Still, she continued, until she reached the giant doors at the end of the wall. Chet and Bret stood there, now nothing but doormen to their brother.

“I’m here to see him.” she said.

“Y'all got an appointment?” Chet asked.

“Appointment? I’m his fiancé!” Norma snapped.

“Y'all gonna need an appointment ta see The Once-ler.” Bret said in a bright voice, glad to be doing good work for his big brother.

“'The’?” Norma frowned, hating how he had put that title before his name. “Look I’m not going anywhere until I see my fiancé so OPEN THE DOOR!” she raised her voice.

“What in the name of thneeds is going on out here?” a sharp voice said from behind the door and one of the doors was jerked open and there stood Once-ler in his green pinstripe suit. The lapels made his shoulders look sharper, and that top hat added more height to his already impressive frame. The brightness in his eyes, that brilliant shine she used to see every time he saw her, had faded. She hadn’t felt his touch in weeks; he’d taken to wearing gruuvulous gloves all the way up to his arms.

“Norma!” he greeted her, voice smooth, as he reached out and took her hand into his. “Bret. Chet. I told you to always, always, ALWAYS let Norma through.” he said, voice snarling at the ends.

“Sorry sorry Mister The Once-ler sir!” they both yelped as one, pulling away from him like a pair of frightened dogs.

“That’s better.” he said, eyes still on his lowly brothers, before leading Norma in through the doors and they swung shut behind them. “So, dearest, how are you?” he asked, now they were alone in his huge, expensive looking office.

“Not good.” Norma said, yanking her hand out of his.

“Not–not good?” Once-ler asked, flabbergasted. “What do you mean, what are you talking about? You have everything you could ever want in the world, Norma. What more could you possibly need?” he asked, getting to his feet.

“What I need, what I want, is the man I fell in love back.” she said, fists down by her sides. “You’ve changed, Once-ler. You’re not that same man any more, you… all this, the money, the lawyers, your mother, they’ve all-”

“You keep my mother out of this.” Once-ler snapped, glaring at her angrily. “My mother has done nothing but look out for my best interest since she got here, which is better than what you’ve done.”

“What?” Norma frowned. “I’ve been nothing but supportive of you!”

“Hah! Yeah, right. You nag me every single day for stupid little reasons. I’m a busy man, Norma! I’m running a company that churns out thneeds every single day! You think I’ve got time to bend to your petty will every time you open your mouth?” the tall man got to his feet, now, towering over her as he spoke.

“I do not nag you I tell you the truth! You have no time for anyone any more, you’re always in meetings, away with your public representatives, having interviews and you can’t even see what you’re doing around here, to the trees, to the valley, to me!"

"Funny,” he said as he picked up his smoking cigar from where he’d left it on the table and took a long drag of it, “I don’t recall asking for your opinion.”

Norma stared at him. This man, standing before her, wearing expensive clothes and smoking Cuban cigars was not Once-ler any more. Her Once-ler did his laundry by the stream, played his guitar beneath the shades of the trees and made her pancakes in the morning. Her Once-ler was playful, adorable, sure he could be a smart ass from time to time but he had been her smart ass.

She missed everything about him.

“This is going to destroy you.” Norma said softly. “It’s killing you, who you were, and you can’t see it because you don’t want to.”

“You’re beginning to sound like that annoying pest who keeps showing up,” Once-ler said as he walked around her, picking up his sunglasses from his desk and slid them onto his nose. “All he does is nag too, but I get security to see him out.”

“Are you threatening me with security?” she asked.

“I’m thinkin’ it.” he replied darkly.

“You don’t have to.” she said, unable to stop the tremble in her voice or the tears in her eyes as she walked around the tall man. “I’m seeing myself out.”

“How considerate.” he grumbled as he looked up at a portrait of himself, as big and powerful as he felt. In the foreground were the Truffula trees, and folded over his arm was his wondrous thneed, the one item to change the world. To bring such meaning to his life, despite the small, muffled voice in his heart who told him that Norma was the one who had brought the more joy to his life than the intimate object. But he snuffed the voice out with a scoff, reminding himself how naggy she’d been.

He watched her leave, before rolling his shoulders slowly. “Right then, now that’s done…” he rubbed his hands together before walking over to his balcony and stared out at the land. His domain, his world… how beautiful it was. And it was never, ever, ever going to stop.

To be continued

Chapter Text

”Pappy Once-ler, I got a question.”

Once-ler glanced up from where he’d been watering a few of the sprouting saplings.

“How come there’s all these saplings around? I mean didn’t you have the last Truffula seed in existence?” Ted asked, holding his own watering can in his hands tightly.

“Oh that’s easy,” Once-ler replied as he moved closer to the boy. “It wasn’t the only seed, not really. You see after… well… everything happened I spent a long time combing the valley night and day looking for seeds. When I found them, I planted them, tended to them but none of them ever sprouted, or grew.” he explained as he leaned down and cleared some dirt away from a new sprout that was poking itself out of the ground.

“So you kept planting all of them until you had one left?” Ted asked.

The old man nodded his head. “More or less. Which… Well. Now that people believe in the trees again, I guess the valley is growing all over again. The Lorax’s powers must be doing this,” he said as he got up to his feet again. “It has to be.”

“Grammy Norma said she never saw the Lorax,” said the young boy as he watered a sapling with an orange tuft.

“No she probably won’t. He chose who could see him.”

“I guess that made you pretty special then huh?” Ted asked, looking up at his grandfather.

“Hmm. I was a threat to his valley of course he’d show himself to me.” Once-ler pointed out.

Ted nodded his head vaguely before looking out over the valley. He remembered the first time he saw it, nothing but stumps as far as the eye could see on barren, black ground. The fog had stunk sour, there’d been no wind, and how the sky had been blotted out by polluted clouds. Now it had undergone such a transformation in just a few short months, it was outstanding.

“So this is how it used to look.” Ted mused, quietly.

“Oh no. They were much taller.” Once-ler replied, holding a hand up. “Some of them were so tall, even I couldn’t reach the tufts without a step ladder.”

“Wow, and you’re like, super tall.” the boy grinned.

“Not too tall. Just tall enough for my purposes.” Once-ler said.

“…I got a question, you told me all those things but you never mentioned Grammy. Why?” he asked.

“Oh well what young boy wants to hear about the whirlwind love affairs of an old man from his youth? Besides, you wanted to know about trees. Not about my personal, private matters.” he said as he turned his gaze to see Norma outside the front of his house, smacking an old carpet with a beater, getting decades old dust out of it. He smiled fondly as he watched her, lost in the moment and smiled the kind of smile Ted himself had been known to wear when Audrey was around. He was deaf to all until Ted tugged on his scarf. “Hm, sorry?” he blinked.

“You got kind of lost for a second there.” Ted smirked, glancing over towards his grandmother as she worked the dust out of the carpet.

“Sorry. My heart got a bit twitter pated.” Once-ler chuckled as he began to head back towards the house, Ted following behind him. “Flower pot,” an affectionate pet name for Norma that he’d thought up a few days ago, “don’t. Stop that. You’ll throw your back out.”

“I’m not as fragile as you, sweetie.” Norma smirked back at him as she gave the carpet one last whack with the wooden stick before leaning on it as the two approached. “All done watering what you can then, boys?” she asked.

“Yup all done!”

“So go wash up for dinner,” Norma said, “I’ve got a good old fashioned vegetable salad for us!”

Ted made a face, but reluctantly walked inside. Just the week previous the imports of fruit, vegetables, and meat, had begun and so far it was doing a roaring trade in Thneedville. People were finally able to eat real food, grown out of the ground, and it was lifting spirits everywhere. Norma and Ted had come over to Once-ler’s the visit, Helen still uncertain enough to stay, so Norma had made them something to enjoy together.

They watched Ted head indoors before Norma approached the taller man, and took one of his hands into hers. “You doin’ all right?” she asked.

“Mmm.” he nodded his head slightly. “Just feeling mighty apprehensive.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’m having a good time. I’m… enjoying myself.” Once-ler admitted weakly.

“That’s bad?” Norma asked, confused.

“I just haven’t enjoyed myself in a really long time and I’m almost afraid something’s going to happen to shatter all of this, like a lesson being learned or… or something.” Once-ler admitted before Norma wrapped an arm around his frame, barely reaching his waist. She really had shrunk with age, hadn’t she?

“Don’t think that way.” Norma hushed him, “Now come on. We have dinner waiting.” she said as she headed back inside, Once-ler taking a moment to stare at his house for a moment before he followed her inside, and shut the door behind him.

~*~

Norma’s heart was racing as she ran out of the partly constructed town. Greenville had long since been purchased by Once-ler, in a wild act of green and hungry with power, he had bought all land, all properties, all businesses and announced it was going to be replaced with Thneedville. A town where everything would be perfect, intact, and there would be no cause for worries or cares anywhere. Norma had been horrified at the purchase, she had told him it wasn’t right to own the town but he had dismissed her. That was months ago, now, and already half the buildings were almost completed.

They worked fast, and hard, for Once-ler.

But she had bigger things to worry about now. There was thick, black, vile looking smoke erupting from the horizon and she knew where it was coming from. The factory. The people of Greenville, sorry, Thneedville, had gotten used to the smog in the air but not like this. The smoke was black, and you could hear the roar of the power behind it. She got onto her cousin’s motorbike and drove across the valley, unable to even look at the hills.

Once they had been beautiful, bright, colorful. She could remember the picnics under the trees as a little girl, how she and Once-ler would take their walks before star gazing together at night. How he would hold her, and kiss her, so many years ago now. But all of it was gone. She couldn’t even see any animals anymore and that terrified her to the core.

But soon she was stopping her bike and letting it fall to the ground, her eyes wide in horror as she looked upon the factory.

It was in flames.

The fire roared like a hungry beast as it consumed the factory, windows already having broken because of the heat, and she could hear groaning concrete and steel, as if the factory had been a living breathing creature that was slowly dying. The smell was horrible, the smoke thick, and it stung her eyes and yet…

“ONCE-LER?!” Norma screamed, running up the hill. “ONCE-LER! ONCE-LER WHERE ARE YOU??” she screamed louder, tears now running down her face but not because of the smoke. The closer she got, she saw him; standing there, far enough from the flames so he wouldn’t be burned yet close enough he could probably feel the heat burning his skin. “ONCE-LER!”

His hat was missing. His jacket and gloves were missing. His hair was wild and unkempt. The tall man stood there, head tilted back, and he was laughing. It was a wild, deranged kind of laughter of a man breaking beneath his own sanity, his guilt, his regrets; everything was crumbling down around him. Norma grabbed at him, grasped his arm, and pulled him back away from the building, from the flames.

“Once-ler, w-what happened?!” she asked, voice shaking, as she continued to drag him away.

The man was no longer laughing, but the next thing she knew he had tripped up something. She yelped, falling with him, and she looked to see what he’d fallen over. A collection of rocks, in a circle with the word ‘UNLESS’ embedded into the largest rock. It was so smooth; it looked almost as though the rock had been made with the words there rather than having them engraved. But her attention was dragged away when the burning building gave one, long, last, pitiful groan as it suddenly collapsed.

Once-ler was suddenly on top of her, shielding her with his long, thin, frame as the air filled with dust and the sound of cracking rocks and rumbling earth.

The very hill the factory had been built on suddenly collapsed in on itself. The earth took the factory into its depths, taking the steel, concrete, gears, flames, glass, and wood, but the smoke continued to billow out into the skies. It was almost as if the earth itself was wiping the factory off of its face, not even wanting the crumbling building as a reminder of what happened here. Why would you, with all these tree stumps going on forever?

He stayed on top of her like that; eyes will wide, heart racing, tears running down his soot blackened face, unmoving. The air was how thick with dust and along with the flames it was awful. He began to cough, as did Norma, before he finally moved, and slumped off of her onto his side on the ground and lay there.

Neither had much of a memory of getting back to Thneedville, yet the next moment Once-ler opened his eyes he found himself in a hospital bed. He had sustained some burns to his arms and back, something like sunburn to his face and had breathed in too much smoke so he had an apparatus hooked to his mouth. The man heard voices, loud, angry ones, from outside. People were picketing him being in the hospital. How quick they had turned on him, destroying the environment, causing the animals to vanish, ruining their livelihood. They didn’t want a man like him in their hospital, they wanted him out.

He couldn’t blame them, how could he? The man had destroyed everything and he’d been so selfish and greedy, blinded by his wealth, and power until it was too late. Once-ler could still see them, all of the animals, walking away from their home. Baby Bar-ba-loots in their mothers arms, small Humming Fish struggling to keep up with the larger ones, and the Swomee-Swan chicks riding atop their parents backs before the birds took to flight.

And the Lorax.

That look. That one, final, grave look that he gave him that spoke of so much disappointment and sorrow it was like flaming pokers being shoved into his heart each time he thought of it. How, finally, he had showed him his magic but only to leave. Once-ler could still see him, even with his eyes shut, he could still see his only friend left in the world lifting himself away. Literally wiping his hands of him. He’d tried to talk sense into him, tried and failed. Everyone had failed.

It hadn’t helped matters that leading up to that point everything had gone to Hell. Without the Truffula trees, there were no more thneeds. The buyers became angry, ransacked stores, turned violent. The stocks in his market had bottomed out entirely. If he hadn’t put a great deal of wealth aside, privately, without his mothers knowing, he would be penniless. But was that so bad?

…he thought of his mother. How she had looked when he told her, told all of his workers, so many of them, that the company was shutting down. She had looked violated. He’d never seen such a look of pure, utter hatred in her eyes before. Then she had stormed off and not two days later, while he had stood there by his dead factory, up drove the van.

“Son. You have let me down.” she had told him, before informing Bret he was now her favorite child. Once-ler had seen his brothers look at one another with pure shock in their eyes, and they had looked at him as the window of the car door went back up. Not even a goodbye. They hadn’t even given him that. Years of living off hand outs, having the best of everything, best food, clothes, any and everything… they were just gone. They had abandoned him, alone…

..and then the animals had left.

“Ghk…” Once-ler’s chest hurt and he pressed a palm to his eyes, frame shaking. He was crying, incapable of stopping. Everyone had left him, there was nobody left. He had sat in his office, the smashed remains of his prototype of Thneedville laying in pieces on the floor from when he had hurled it in a fit of rage. He’d torn down his curtains, toppled his desk, his portraits. Any and everything was now on the floor, or out the window.

And then the madness had gripped him. Once-ler had ran down to the inner workings of the factory and found the oil that was used to lubricate the joints and gears. He had poured it everywhere. Dragged it behind him as he ran through the factory, up stairs, down stairs, out onto balconies. The stuff had stank but he had done it until every single drum of black oil was finally gone. It slicked the floors, walls, he’d even hurled pieces up to the ceilings but that was impossible; they were too tall.

He’d pulled off his top hat, his glasses and jacket and hurled them into the oil as well, along with his gloves.

Then he’d found the matches, and set it all on fire.

Once-ler had watched his factory, the thing he had sought for his entire life, his accomplishments, his hopes, his dreams, burn from the inside out. That’s when Norma had found him, and despite how crazed his mind had been, he could remember her. She had left, hadn’t she? They’d argued only the day before and he hadn’t seen her all morning. Was it a day? Or was it longer? Everything was a blur of time and faces and places and incidents he didn’t know but he knew her.

“Norma.” Once-ler said quietly, shakily, as he sat up in his bed, alarming a near by nurse. “Norma.” he said again, pushing the blankets down, ignoring the advice of the nurse that he had to stay in bed. He got to his feet, wearing nothing but a hospital gown that gave an unflattering view of his back side. “Where’s Norma?” he asked again. She’d been there, when the ground had quaked. Was she safe? Was she hurt? If she was hurt, he’d—

“Once-ler?” a voice called from the door and he turned his head, and saw her. She wasn’t hurt. she was wearing a lovely soft cream colored dress and had her hair tied back, as unruly as it was.

“N-Norma,” Once-ler rushed at her, and grasped her arms. “Norma.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay…!” she whispered softly, lifting her hands and touched his wrists, not moving to tug him off of her even if his touch both repulsed and intrigued her. She had missed his touch, missed how he would touch her just because he could. But he had pushed her away from him over time, had changed so much but the man before her, now… even he wasn’t the Once-ler she had loved. His eyes had no light to them at all. He was like a zombie, an undead creature who was barely alive.

How she pitied him.

He had begun to cry again, and he suddenly collapsed in front of her, burying his forehead into her chest as he began to cry again. The cries of a man who had lost everything to him, had been left without anything. No family, no friends, nothing that mattered. Norma felt that swell within her heart, but as well as her stomach, as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him against her. Gently, she caressed the back of his head, feeling his black soft hair shift against her fingers.

“Shhh… shhh… big boys don’t cry… big boys don’t cry…” was all she could think to say. An affectionate whisper, a playful jab, but you could hear the adoration behind it even if it was hidden so deep within her. How could she abandon, or forget him, entirely? He had captured her heart years ago, she had loved him and he loved her. What she felt now, though, was it love? Or was it pity? She didn’t know, but she knew if she abandoned him here he may very well kill himself and no matter how badly he had messed up he didn’t deserve a death like that.

Nobody did.

Naturally the man was up for charges of arson and property damage, but seeing how it was his own stuff he had burned and destroyed there was nowhere for the case to go. No longer could Once-ler rely on his lawyers, or his public relations people. They had acted like rats on a sinking ship and skipped town super early. As such, Once-ler had no where to live.

So Norma allowed him to stay with her, at least until he was on his feet again. A part of her scolded loudly, like her mother, for letting the man who had hurt her back into her life like this. He deserved to rot in Hell for all time for what he’d done. You shouldn’t be giving him a second chance. All this advice had come flying at her but she told them, calmly; Once-ler was no trouble. He woke up, showered, ate, and then went out.

And stayed out until well past midnight. She quickly gave up asking him where he was going, what he was doing.

Sometimes he talked; but whenever he did it was apologies. Whenever he came home though he would be covered in grime, and dirt. Sometimes even bruises, blackened eyes, and how many times he had broken his nose she forgot. The people despised him, so the fact they would throw things at him, or even physically assault him, was no real surprise. It still didn’t stop her from tending to his injuries on nights like those when he would look half dead.

He really was just a shell of who he used to be, and she hated it. She hated who he had become, who he was now. Norma longed for the man who would lift her into his arms, the man who would play his guitar for her. The man who would blush terribly whenever she would kiss his ears, his nose, or his lips. The man who had gotten down on bended knee to her four years ago, asking her to marry him. But that man was gone, wasn’t he? He had been swallowed up by a monster known as greed, and pride, and now depression and loss. She didn’t know if she’d ever see his smile again, and it was heart breaking.

“I did it.”

Norma looked up from her reading when Once-ler walked in one night.

“Once-ler?” she asked; eyes wide.

“I did it.” he whispered again. “I’ve finished my house.”

“House?” Norma asked, confused. “What… what do you mean?”

“I made a house.” Once-ler explained, voice quiet, as he approached her. “Out in the wastelands. On the cliff. Where my factory was.”

So that’s where he’d been going these past few months? Out in the middle of no where, building a house? He was leaving. Of course she hadn’t expected him to stay, to grow old with her, but the fact he waned to leave twisted her heart in the worst possible way. “But why out there?”

“So I remember what I did. So I see it, every time I look outside my window. Every breath I take will be that sour smell. It’s punishment. Because when I go, I won’t be coming back.” he had explained, alarmingly calm.

“Won’t be…” she dropped her book from her hands and it landed on the floor. “You can’t do that!”

“Yes I can.” Once-ler replied, pushing a hand through his black hair which had recently begun to show grey hairs. “I don’t deserve to live in Thneedville. Not any more.” he shut his eyes and sighed, quietly, before looking to Norma. “I came here to say thank you. For… for letting me… stay. Here with you all this time. I know I haven’t been the most pleasant house guest but… I. I won’t forget this. I won’t forget you.”

She was crying. Why was she crying? She couldn’t understand why it was, nor could she explain why she suddenly rushed at him, throwing her arms around his shoulders and pressing her forehead to his cheek. For a moment it felt as though he wouldn’t hold her back, but he did. She felt his arms, thin as always, embrace and hold her against him.

“I can’t ever forget you.” Norma whispered hoarsely, tears still streaming down her face.

What she did next she couldn’t ever rightly explain, but she had kissed him. She continued to kiss him, and it took a moment for him to finally retaliate but then he did. He grasped at her, like how he had used to do years ago. His arms around her, his hands feeling her beautiful curves that had always been so alluring when he first met her. She was beautiful, she would always be beautiful to him, even if he didn’t deserve her. What Norma deserved was a man who wouldn’t mistreat her, who wouldn’t snap at her or belittle her. A man who would love her eternally, like she deserved.

What transpired on that couch, on the floor, of Norma’s house was something that neither of them would ever truly forget. Hands had grasped passionately at one another’s bodies; mouths had fallen open on quiet, hungry sounds before returning to one another’s almost as if their hearts would stop if they didn’t kiss one another so deeply. There were tears, there were quiet muffled whispers, even some cries as they had made love for the one, and only, time together.

Did she regret it, in the morning?

No. She couldn’t regret it. How could she? Even if the events leading up to it was something she wished had never happened, being that close, that intimate, with the man who had stolen her heart wasn’t something she could ever regret.

Maybe in a way she had hoped it would help him to stay. That it would let him see he deserved joy, happiness, love in his life but no. Not even she was enough to keep him here in her world, in her arms. The tall man had gathered his things not a few days later. Then he had given her a key, and hung it around her neck on a chain.

“What’s this?” she had asked.

“The key to the lock on a safe I have. A safe in the bank. Keep it.”

“What?! N-no I can’t—”

“Yes. You can.” Once-ler said, voice one of determination, one not to be argued with. “Please. Norma. I ruined so much. at least let me look out for you in some way. It isn’t… it isn’t too much, I lost so much money but it’s enough for you. Enough for you to live happily doing anything you want for the rest of your life. I want, I need, I have to have you keep it. So I don’t have it.”

She was beginning to cry, hating the tears as they rolled down her face. “But I want you.” she whispered, pleaded.

“You don’t want me.” he had said. “You need so much better than me. I’ve taken so much of you, Norma. I’ve taken so much from the world. This town… it’s changing. And I know not for the better. People still know me. They still hate me. I need to go. I don’t deserve this world, this town. So I’m going to be out there, far out of town where the grickle grass grows, and where the wind smells sour when it blows. Where no animals call except old crows. That’s the place where I’ll live. Where… where I’ll wait.”

“Wait?” she asked quietly.

“Wait.” he said as he looked up at the smog covered skies. “People might look for me. One day. They might want to know about trees again… maybe one day. But…” he looked down at her. “I need you to do one last thing for me.”

“What? What more could you ask of me that you haven’t already?” Norma asked, voice bitter, tears still running down her face.

“Listen. Listen for if… if anyone ever asks for trees. If they ever sound interested. In the Truffula Trees. Send them to me, won’t you?” he asked.

“Send…” she whispered, voice shaking.

“But not without proof it was you who sent them, or that it’s trees that they’re after. Tell them… tell them to bring fifteen cents, a nail, and the shell of a great, great, great grandfather snail. If they bring me those things, then I’ll tell them everything. About the trees. About the Lorax. About what I did. Then, and only then, will I talk to them.”

Norma shut her eyes tightly, her heart beating so fast, and swallowed numbly before nodding her head. “F-fine. Yes. I. I’ll do it. I’ll do that. For you.”

“Not for me. For… for the valley, for the trees and for the Lorax. I’m not the good guy in this story, Norma. I’m the bad guy. And bad guys don’t get happy endings.” Once-ler was quiet for a moment after having said that before he leaned down and hugged her. One last time. He dare not hold her too long or he’d never follow through with this. He took in her scent; the smell of apples and lavender. A mix he’d always loved. A smell he’d never know again. Touch; he took note to remember it all. The warmth, and where her hands rested. He remembered everything.

“Goodbye Norma.”

“Goodbye, Once-ler.”

She couldn’t watch him leave. Betraying her tough exterior Norma had ran inside after he had walked out the door, found her bedroom and threw herself onto the bed like some teenager in a silly television show. Norma had clung to her pillow tightly as the tears flowed, her sobs muffled.

Norma feared she may never see him again and that only made her tears flow faster.

He walked through town for the last time. Once-ler avoided the busiest parts of Thneedville, not wanting to be spotted. The last thing he wanted, on top of the emotional burden gripping at his soul and mind, was a physical altercation with somebody. Even if he rightly deserved it. He deserved every pain he would get from now until the end of his days. But still, the man walked, with purpose, avoiding people. Something he was going to be doing for a long, long time now. He only stopped, and turned around, once he was out of town.

They were erected a giant metal wall around Thneedville, blocking out the horrible wasteland that surrounded it. Soon, the wall would be completed. Not for a while, though, the wall was huge… maybe a few months? Almost a year? But what did it matter to him. The people wouldn’t see the horrors he’d unleashed, and they may very well forget about the old Once-ler by then. Maybe it was for the best.

Deep down, though, deep within him, he hoped somebody would ask about trees one day. And he hoped harder still that Norma would be around to hear that voice, no matter how small it may be, when it finally speaks those words.

To be continued

Chapter Text

Norma would never admit it to anyone that it took her almost two months to realize that she was pregnant. After Once-ler left her, the young woman had entered into a moment in her life that she would never talk about with anyone, for the rest of her days. Depression. She would spend days walking around her house, focusing on the furniture that Once-ler would have, once, curled up on after coming home late at night. To be honest, the man had rarely slept in the spare bed she had set up for him in her guest room, and on multiple occasions she would find him on the couch, or on the floor itself in the mornings.

She never thought she would miss him this much. When she had left him, after their surprisingly quiet through stressful, talk back when he was still the head of his company, she hadn’t missed him this badly. Maybe because she had gone cold turkey? Was it because leading up to that point she hadn’t seen him for days, and he was always so busy, and treating her as if she was a bother to him as well as a pest?

This time he had been more receptive of her. He would listen to her, he was quiet, rarely he spoke but she always liked it when he did… true he wasn’t the same Once-ler that she had loved, the man who had been playing his guitar in the town square on the day when they first met, nor was he the adorably awkward man who would have done just about anything to make her smile. But he had still been here, for her, in a way. Now, though, he was gone and there was no way he was going to come back.

She had even attempted to leave town, once, wanting to see that house he had built but the security men with their black suits and towering forms had turned her away at the gates. That didn’t mean she didn’t try sneaking around them but that had almost gotten her arrested and despite how tough she was, Norma didn’t want that on her record, or conscience.

But it was shortly after that did she realize she hadn’t had her ‘womanly visitor’ in a while, and this had caused her to promptly go to the doctors where she was informed that she was pregnant. And for a young woman of her age, at that day and age, being pregnant and single was not the best thing to be.

When her mother had learned of her daughter’s pregnancy, before marriage and to a man who had exiled himself in the middle of nowhere, she had turned her back on her daughter indefinitely. Norma’s father had passed away years ago, “And good thing too! This would have killed him!” her mother had shouted in fury, with tears gushing down her face. Norma highly doubted that, because her father had been a towering sign of strength to her. Well, not towering. He had been very short, much like herself, but had never let anyone give him lip for it or else he’d give them a swollen one with his fist.

Most girls would have cried and carried on over being abandoned by their mothers. Norma Wiggins, though, not so much. She had already cried so much over the baby’s father, where he was, how he was now living in exile because of his actions. Besides, she had always been a strong woman, even as a little girl she had never cried over silly things like teasing or scrapes sustained after running around. She was tough, she was her father’s daughter and her father’s daughter would not have laid down and cried and threw herself a pity party over being pregnant and alone.

And so she managed. Norma continued to work at the book store all throughout her pregnancy, and only took her leave a week before she was due. By then her stomach had swollen as all pregnancies tend to do to women, and spent the remaining week preparing her house properly for the new addition to her life. Norma could recall, a long, long time ago, before Once-ler had been changed into the wealth obsessed mad man. They had been resting under one of the Truffula trees, Once-ler slowly strumming at his guitar as she quietly read a book.

“Hey Oncie?” Norma had asked, suddenly, setting the book down in her lap.

“Yu-huh?” he replied, eyes on his hands as he continued to strum the guitar.

“If you found yourself suddenly a parent, what would you name your child?” she asked, looking up at him, with a fairly good impersonation of an innocent look.

Once-lers face blossomed into a vibrant shade of red, he messed up the chord he was playing, and a string snapped on his guitar. He turned his head to look at her, blue eyes wide. “What?!” he asked, voice having raised a few notches in his throat.

“Oh calm down.” she said, “You know I’m not pregnant.” you would have had to make whoppee to have that happen. “I’m just curious.”

His heart beat, still, wildly within his chest as he stared at her before finally starting to breath again. Swallowing, dryly, he gave a shiver since for a moment he had suddenly felt as though his life was beginning to spiral out of control. Of course she wasn’t pregnant, she was jut asking a genuine question. “Uh. Um… Gimmie… gimmie a minute…” he said as he fumbled with his guitar string, trying to put it back into place but found it impossible to do because the chord had snapped too short.

“Yes?” Norma asked, curiously, smiling.

“Well. I don’t. Don’t really know anything about… about a girls name but if it was a boy?” Once-ler asked.

“Hmmhmm?” she asked, nodding her head.

“Theodore.” Once-ler said quietly.

Norma tilted her head curiously, blinking her brown eyes. “Theodore?” she asked.

“My father’s name.” he answered, voice barely audible.

“Your father…” Norma said quietly, “You’ve never mentioned your father before.”

“I’ve had no reason to,” he replies dryly as he still attempts to fix his string on his guitar. “He left us.” he said, shortly. “When I was six.”

“He left?” her eyes widened in shock.

“Yeah. I mean. The Depression, right?” Once-ler asked with a shrug, looking away, eyes giving away just how hurt he was. “He couldn’t support us. He felt worthless. His job, he was just a stable hand. A handyman. He did anything he could but he couldn’t support us, not with the twins so… so he just packed his stuff. 'N left. Ma never talked about him since.”

“Once-ler… I didn’t. I’m sorry.” she whispered, placing a hand to his arm and felt him flinch beneath her touch but not pull away.

“Nothing to be sorry about.” he said flatly. “It happened. I moved on.”

Normal, since then, could only wonder if the reason behind Once-ler’s obsession in making sure that his thneed was so renown, and popular, and used by everyone by way of making himself feel needed, and wanted. His father had felt useless, an Once-ler had never wanted to feel that way. These things continued to buzz through her mind for a long, long time.

Helen Henrietta Wiggins was born November 10th, at 6am chilly winter morning. Her mother had gone into labor right on time, it had been the perfect pregnancy, the doctors had called it. She had swollen over nine months after Once-ler’s departure from town, and when the dark brown haired, brown eyed screaming baby girl had been handed over to Norma’s waiting arms that early morning she was already well and truly weeping.

She had a daughter, a beautiful little daughter who would forever remind her of the man she had lost. Norma had laid in that hospital bed with her baby, crying with her, holding the shivering little baby to her protectively, so closely. Norma was no longer just a woman; she was now a mother, a mother who was alone.

Besides, financially, she was secure. Once-ler’s ‘not a lot’ of money turned out to be a couple million dollars and in those days, a million went a long, long way. She had bought all the proper things for her baby, and when she came home with her bundle of joy in her arms she was prepared for it all.

By now, though, the wall around Thneedville was now finished.

Little did she now, as she sat at home that first night with little Helen sleeping in her arms, was that she wouldn’t see the wall come down (and up close, at that!) for another forty one years.

There was not much of his forty years of isolation that Once-ler got through that wasn’t almost repetitive. He would wake up in the mornings, wash, and sit in his house. It was very, very, very empty. He hadn’t given himself luxuries at all. There were hand made tables, chairs, and a chair. He had bought out a lot of preserved foods and tinned food, all kept in the basement, kept cool to last longer. Some of the piping from his factory had survived, so he had water thankfully. Course he had to filter and clean it before even attempting to drink it but it was water.

At night time he would head out, under the cover of darkness. The man would search the ground for seeds. He knew there had to be some left behind, there had been so many trees that had been knocked down, shook free of the earth if not just chopped in half. Slowly he discovered them, and each time he did he would bury them feverishly. This routine carried on for thirty nine long years, and it was alarming just how fast that time flew by.

He woke, one morning, and looked at himself in the shattered mirror he used in the bathroom. A wrinkled, pale, grey face stared back at him, a face he barely recognized as his own anymore. Once-ler observed himself, before looking down at the green clothing he wore. Naturally it was hand made, leftovers from his company. Heck, the dressing gown he wore had been made of old curtains that he had found left behind after the arson. Somehow they had survived the flames, and the destruction of the hill, so he had made good use of them.

And, horror upon horror, he’d found bundles of Truffula wool left over. Miles of the stuff, somehow it had avoided burning up. A part of Once-ler had wanted to destroy it forever but… he ended up taking it home, and knitted a long, winding scarf, matching socks, and mittens. On his journey through the valley he also found a pair of gruuvulous gloves. As always they fit his arms to a tee, and the secretive Snuvv were still there.

He checked and… yes… the small, fake Truffula ‘flower’ he had worn in all his promotional shoots was still in there. Once-ler had stared at it, before slowly pinning it against his dressing gown. Over the years it stayed there, though once he had knitted his incredibly long, wooly scarf it was hidden beneath the material. He had carried it with him all those years, another part of his older self, a self he had slowly grown to live with.

It hadn’t been easy, not at all. Some nights he awoke from horrible dreams, nightmares full of familiar faces, all of them melting or burning away. He saw his factory time and time again going up in flames, the smoke enveloping him like a hand around a doll before being thrown around like his existence didn’t matter. In a way, it didn’t, did it? He was just a man. A simple ordinary man who had destroyed so much and was now trying to atone for it by being how he was.

Was it working? Was it enough? Would it ever be enough? He honestly didn’t know, he couldn’t work it out. If only someone, anyone, would tell him if he was doing the right thing or wrong.

But that was just it. Nobody ever came. Nobody in so, so many years, did not come to the Once-ler. He sat up in his Lurkim, lurking away, watching the wasteland continue to stretch in every which direction, perched on he edge of the cliff from which his factory had fallen into. The remains of the factory sat at the bottom of the gorge, and every so often Once-ler would walk outside his house in the dead of night and stare down at the twisted hulk of metal, wondering just what had come over him. Why he had allowed things to get as bad as they had.

He knew why.

Pure foolishness. He had allowed himself to be led astray by his emotions, by his lust, and of course by his mother but he coldn’t blame her for everything that went wrong in his life. She had just had her hand on the steering wheel, telling him that of course it was fine to chop down a few trees but those few trees soon grew into hundreds, thousands, and millions of trees. Her sister, Aunt Grizelda, had been just as adamant that who cared if a few trees were dying? Things died every day, why would he be upset over trees that had a usefulness? His uncle however had said nothing. He was too timid and weak to speak up against his wife and sister-in-law.

He was probably just glad to no longer be the bread winner for the family any more, since that had been his role after Once-ler’s father had left.

Once-ler sighed as he turned away from the cliff and began to walk up the stairs of his house, back towards his Lerkum. He paused, just before entering the top most room of his house, and looked up at the sky. He liked to imagine that he could see the moon again, and if he shut his eyes he could almost see it sparkling in the sky, surrounded by the pin pricks that made up the stars that he and Norma used to star gaze together beneath on those warm Summer nights.

Norma.

He thought of her on a daily basis. It had almost become painful to think of her, living in Thneedville. Thing is, it pained him to think of her both as alone, but also as with somebody else. To imagine another man holding her, caressing her hair and skin, kissing her and telling her that he loved her… the idea made his heart ache in the worst possible way and yet he knew it was probably happening as he lived out in the middle of nowhere. She deserved so much more than what he could give her. There was no denying that.

Yet the idea of her alone, always… it tore at his heart. If he could, he would scale those giant walls of Thneedville, search for her until he found her and would never let her out of his sight again but that wasn’t the ending a man like him deserved.

So he sat… and he continued to wait.

~*~

Norma smiled, and waved, as she watched young Ted head off on his way to racing practice. The young boy was a real whizz on his wheels, and had won a few trophies even if Helen didn’t think much of her son partaking in such a ruthless sport. But he was good, gifted even, and who was she to deny him something he enjoyed? The old woman chuckled to herself as she moved around her bedroom, and sat down upon her bed before pausing, and getting back down off the bed.

Setting her walking stick down, she walked across the room to a dresser and pulled one drawer open. Picking up a book she pulled it out, and shut the drawer behind her. Norma looked down at the book in her hands, smiling fondly at the cover. It was a small history of Greenville, the town which had been here long before Thneedville had taken over. She flipped the pages open, and was overcome with the sweet scent of fresh butterfly milk. How had that happened–oh. She saw why.

There was a small piece of pink Truffula tuft used as a bookmark. Norma’s eyes widened at the sight of the material, and felt her heart, and mind, go rushing back in time. She practically felt the walls around her collapse and spring back up only with the small cottages that used to make up Greenville. The trees and plants, and grass, were no longer real but fake. The electronic trees that used 96 batteries were replaced with real ones, tall, towering trees with bright colorful tufts supported by striped trunks.

Lifting her head slowly as tears began to run down her face she could remember hurrying out of Greenville to the valley. Towards a certain spot which, now, was no longer there. A cottage had sat out there, and it was always surrounded by Bar-ba-loots, Swomee-Swans and Humming Fish. She could practically hear the strums of a guitar in her ears as she would approach the door, pushing it open without knocking, to discover the Once-ler sitting on the bed.

The image vanished just as quickly as it had appeared and Norma dropped the book, took a few steps back, and bumped against her bed. She gripped at it, keeping herslf steady, as the tears continued to roll down her face. She had almost forgotten what the smell of butterfly milk tasted like. She had forgotten a warm summer breeze, the feel of grass beneath her feet and yet she could still remember him. The man in grey, the man with the guitar, the one who had changed not only her life but the lives of everyone in town.

How long… forty years? No. Almost forty one years he had been out there and no matter how many times Norma went into town, hung around the squares, the stores, she never once heard people mention trees. No one had an interest in them. O'Hare had blinded everyone with his perfect town with clean crisp air, absurd prices to pay for air, and 'winning’ smile. Honestly, she loathed the little baby man.

Picking up the book, Norma gazed down at it again, before holding it to her chest.

“Enough waiting.” she whispered to herself.

Audrey was humming to herself when she came walking down the street, her orange hair swaying gently against her shoulders as she walked. The young girl, Norma knew her. She was the girl who Ted had a huge crush on, that much she couldn’t mistaken. She had seen how many times he had 'accidentally’ sent his ball flying over her fence, in order to talk to her. He’d been doing it since he was eight years old, after all. You just couldn’t miss things like that.

She had been sneaky, of course she had. Norma had 'accidentally’ set the book down on the pavement, pages open, revealing a spread of the valley back in its day. The old woman was huddled down behind one of the plastic, inflatable near by bushes, and watched intently as the teenager continued on her way down the path before she spotted the book.

“Hm?” Audrey stopped and crouched down, picking up the book. It had an odd scent to it, one she didn’t recognize but that wasn’t what caught her attention. Her green eyes widened in wonder as she stared at the page open to her. Yellow, orange, red… such beautifully colored… what were they? What was this? She checked the cover of the book. “A Brief History of Greenville.” she said aloud. What was Greenville? What were those things on the pages?

Knowing it was somebody’s book, Audrey felt as though she should try to find out whose it was, but she couldn’t bring herself to put the book down. She had to know, she had to find out, just what these things were. They were so beautiful, so tall, and soft looking.

Norma only moved out from behind the plastic bush when she was sure Audrey was well and truly gone. She set her walking stick on the ground, a proud smirk on her face. “Phase one in action.” she said to herself. While she felt sad having given up her book, of course she had held onto the tuft she’d found in the book. If things were going to go the way she most certainly hoped they would, she may not be waiting too much longer.

~*~

“Aaaand here we go, Oncie.” Norma sung, walking through the door way that led from his kitchen to his lounge.

The house on the cliff side had underwent a very violent change in the past few months. No longer was it the picture of Spartan living like it used to. He had carpets now, comfortable couches and chairs, a working fire place… he even had paintings on the walls, a warm indoor paint on the walls and ceiling… the house was now finally feeling like a home for the older man. Even if Norma had said he could find a place in town fairly easily, he had refused.

This was his home, and leaving it entirely would be too much of a shock for his old body. Plus he was still a stubborn old goat, as he called himself.

Once-ler looked up from the comfortable leather chair he was sat in; well used an second hand but he adored it to no ends, and lowered his newspaper into his lap as Norma approached, carrying two cups of tea. “Ooh oh oh oh!” Norma couldn’t help but smile at how excitable he became when she brought him something to drink, or eat, even if he insisted she didn’t have to. He rubbed his hands together before reaching over, and took his cup from her in one hand.

Gently, he reached for her with his free hand, and drew her closer to him so he could affectionately nuzzle her cheek with his nose and lips. “Thank you, flower pot.” he whispered.

Norma couldn’t help but giggle at the nuzzling, and drew away after a moment. “You dirty old Once-ler you,” she gushed, “You know your mustache tickles me something awful!”

“I know.” he replied with a proud, smug grin, as she went to sit in her chair besides his own. “Why do you think I manage to do it on a daily basis?” he asked before taking a sip of his hot chocolate, then made a face. “Urk.” he said as the brown liquid stained his white mustache. He wriggled his upper lip, making it bristle slightly as he set the cup down.

“Oh Oncie come on.” Norma huffed a sigh as he got to his feet, and made his way into the kitchen. “That can’t be healthy for you!” she called after him.

“Fiddlesticks to health. I’m almost eighty. If I can’t do what I want now than what’s the point of anything?” he called from the kitchen before returning with a small bag of mini marshmallows in his hand. Once-ler promptly sat back down in his arm chair, opened the packet, and began to pile the small treats into his hot chocolate. Norma watched as he continued to pile them in as if they were going out of style.

Still, she couldn’t help but giggle, because he had always had an affection towards the confectionary treats. Soon the mini marshmallows were piled so high he could no longer drink the chocolate but slowly eat his way down to the drink.

Norma sighed, shook he head, and took a sip of her hot chocolate.

“You haven’t changed.” she informed him, “You’re still the same Once-ler.”

“The same one you fell for?” he asked, looking at her.

She paused a moment and purposely put on a thinking face, tapping a finger to her bottom lip. “Hmmmmmm…” she hummed aloud. “Let me see… musical… adorable… affectionate… blushes at the drop of a hat… good listener… understanding….”

“Norma…” Once-ler mumbled, cheeks tinting beneath his whiskers.

“I would have to say yes. Yes, you are.” she reached and gently took his free hand into hers, and gave it an affectionate squeeze. “And I’m so happy to see you again. The real you. It’s been such a long time.”

“It has, hasn’t it?” he asked gently, giving her hand an equally affectionate squeeze in return. They looked at one another for a moment, looking as though they were very well prepared to say something to one another they hadn’t said in over forty years of being apart, when there came a knock at the door.

Once-ler groaned like the old man that he was but quickly kissed the back of Norma’s hand before letting go, getting up, and went over to the door. He pulled it open. “Hello?” he asked, before looking down to see Ted standing there, helmet and goggles still in place. “Oh, Ted! Hello, we weren’t expecting you till–”

“You gotta come into town.” Ted said, breathlessly.

“Ted? What is it?” Norma asked, approaching from behind Once-ler to stand besides him.“

"In town. There… I don’t really know how to say this.” he bit at his bottom lip.

“Well most people say things with words formed with their lips and tongue in their mouths.” Once-ler advised him, leaning against the door.

“It’s your brothers. They’re in town.” Ted spluttered.

Once-ler stood there in the door, grateful he had abandoned his cup on the table besides his and Norma’s chairs. If he had been holding it, no doubt he would have dropped it and to shatter a cup holding Norma’s famous hot chocolate would be the greatest crime in all the history of everything.

He didn’t have to ask if Ted was joking; he could see that he wasn’t. Ted had an honest face, readable eyes. The boy had no reason to lie to him about something so important. He lifted his gaze, slowly, and stared off into the distance that was Thneedville.

His brothers.

To be honest he would have expected them to be dead. But why were they here, now? Did they want money? How had they found their way back? What was their reasoning of being here, now, of all times?

“This is gonna be painful isn’t it?” he asked quietly.

To be continued

Chapter Text

He had decided to walk back into town. Even if Ted insisted that he could ride his bike with Norma, the old man had refused. If he was about to meet his brothers again the last thing he wanted was to show up on that, since he may end up tripping over himself. He hadn’t heard their conjoined laughter in over 42 years now, and he certainly didn’t want to hear it now at his expense.

How old would they be now? Seventy three, at least… yes… seventy three. He would never have thought they would get this old, all of them, much less himself. He had once been so full of life, so full of spunk. Now he was slower on his feet than he’d care to admit, and the pains and aches in his joints made him sometimes so mad he’d just glare at the world and pout like a child.

Driving alongside him was Ted, Norma riding on the back.

“How’d they show up?” Once-ler asked as he walked, arms bent and swinging with purpose.

“I don’t know,” Ted explained. “I just got home and Ma had these two guys there. She said they were her… well. Uncles, and they wanted to know where you were so I came out here super fast.”

“Did you get a good look at ‘em?” Once-ler asked.

“Not really…”

He wondered what they looked like. Were they the same any more, or had they changed their appearance? A part of him felt thrilled; it was his brothers. His baby brothers, who he used to tickle to make them giggle when they were small, before they had reached their terrible two’s where they would rough house and tumble around.

A part of him still loved them. How could he not? They were his brothers. A larger part of him was angry at them for leaving, though. They hadn’t even put up a fight against their mother, yet, could they have? Brett and Chet were always so simple minded, so slow and easy to please and easy to lead. With a woman like their mother at the helm, she would steer them right into Hell and back and they could be incapable of saying anything.

He pitied and hated them at the same time and it wasn’t a nice feeling to have towards what could be your only living blood relatives left alive in the world, not counting Helen and Ted.

Helen… it was one thing to learn the Once-ler was her father, but what about learning she had uncles, as well? He groaned internally. She won’t like this.

After the long walk back to town they finally reached Ted’s house on Giesel Street; and Once-ler had to stop at the corner since there was a white van parked out front of the house. Realization struck him that his brothers weren’t 'free’ like he was. They were in a home. A nursing home; for the elderly. Why did that hurt his heart so much, so suddenly?

The orderly was standing besides the van, looking bored.

Once-ler walked up to the van but then he heard a familiar laugh coming from not Ted’s house, but the back yard of the neighbor’s house. Audrey’s house? Ted hopped off his bike once Norma was off, and they slowly made their way around the back of Audrey’s house. There stood Helen, arms folded, looking very put out.

“Yeah that’s it,” Audrey said enthusiastically as Norma and Ted rounded the corner. “Oh hey Ted!”

She was standing besides the two old men that Ted had seen inside his house. They both had long white beards, bald heads, and bent black hats. One tilted forward, the other tilted back. One wore a plaid red and black shirt while the other actually wore blue. The one in red had his pants pulled up so high it may as well be up to his arm pits whilst the other wore suspenders, keeping his pants up.

Once-ler, when he finally saw them, stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes widened. His brothers, his little brothers, were so close suddenly. He hadn’t been this close to them in decades and they were… painting on Audrey’s house. She didn’t seem to mind, which was nice of her, he guessed.

“Oh. Well they haven’t changed that much.” Norma commented with a shrug as she watched the one in blue draw a huge circle in white paint, smiling as he did.

Once-ler said nothing but walked around her and approached the two old men slowly, as if approaching a wild animal. How do you start a conversation like this? Was hello suitable? He didn’t know.

“Uh. Brett? Chet?” he asked.

They looked at him at the same time; their faces as wrinkled and spotty as his was, their eyebrows bushy and grey to match those long curling beards. Though there were differences. Brett, the one in red, his beard curled inwards whilst Chet’s curled outwards. They both looked at him with an equally lost, blank expression at first before it looked as though a light switch was flicked in both their memories.

“Once-ler!” Chet cried out, dropping his paint brush, and rushed (as much as a man in his early seventies could) at his brother and wrapped his arms around Once-ler.

“Once-ler!” Bred echoed his brother and did the same, until Once-ler was more or less being group hugged by his brothers. The tall man, still taller than them, stood rigid and still as his arms were all but pinned by his sides.

“We wuz a'scared you’d be worm food, Once!” Chet declared.

“Ever so scared.” Brett echoed.

“H-hyeah well I might be if you guys don’t let me go.” he said through gritted teeth.

“Uh?” the twins asked as one.

“Let me go. Please.”

Soon he could breathe again, and he found it so odd to find himself sitting on a chair against the patio swing that Audrey’s parents had out back in which his brothers were sitting. It was alarming how much they had aged. Heck, how much they had all aged since the last time they saw one another. They had been in the RV besides their mother, announcing Brett to be her favorite child before they drove away, never to be heard from again.

Until now.

“Boy Oncie you sure got awful old.” Chet commented.

“Same can be said for you, Chet.” as always, even as a child, Once-ler can tell his brothers apart. Funny since their mother never could.

“Hyeah he got that true.” Brett giggled.

“So uh. What’ve… what happened after you two left?” Once-ler asked.

“Oh we gone went home again.” they both said in unison. Brett took over for a moment. “Made our ways home with Ma 'n auntie 'n uncle 'n went back ta workin’ the way we wuz before your call.”

“Momma went 'n married the mayor a few years later, but they done get divorced not too long after that.” Chet explained.

“How nice.” Once-ler said flatly, and awaited to hear more but his brothers didn’t continue. “And?” Once-ler asked.

“That’s 'bout it.” they both said at once.

“…well uh. What, what about Aunt Griselda? Uncle Ubb?” Once-ler asked, gesturing with his hands.

“On Uncle Ubb up 'n ran away long ways back. We don’t rightly know where he went but one mornin’ he was just long gone.” Chet replied, “Aunt Griselda stopped talkin’ ta anyone after that. She went 'n died bout… how long?” he asked Brett.

His twin shrugged. “Long time ago.”

Once-ler wasn’t sure how to feel at this news. His uncle had been the main bread winner in the family after his father had left during the Depression. Ubb was a lawyer, the only one in the area, so he got a lot of work. Weakling as he was at home, he was a different man in the court house. But he was never out rightly cruel towards Once-ler, they had shared an understanding of being stuck in the house. But… yes. He was glad his uncle had gotten away from that toxic environment they had called their home.

Maybe he found happiness somewhere. He hoped so.

The three brothers sat there, staring at one another, waiting for that ultimate question to be asked.

“….okay I’ll bite. What about Ma?” Once-ler asked.

“Oh, she died.” Chet answered casually as Brett shrugged. “Just last week.”
Once-ler stared at them with wide, shocked eyes and he was sure he heard Norma gasp from where she was standing near by. He did a double take.

“Last. Last WEEK?” he asked, pure and utter horror on his face.

“Ma went 'n lived ta be at least ninety seven I think.” Chet mused, counting on his fingers.

True, their mother had only been eighteen when Once-ler had been born so…

“Wow.” Once-ler said quietly. “Just. Wow I mean. Wow. I…” he got up out of his seat and took a few paces away from them. “Just. She lived to be that old? What was she running on? Black magic?”

The two brothers shrugged in unison.

“So… wait so that. Are you guys here to ask me to attend a funeral?” he asked, looking at them. “Because I’m not. She abandoned me. You, all of you just left me behind to rot in a dead land I made, why would you–” he was obviously getting upset and even Chet and Brett, in all their simple souls, could see it.

“No, no.” Chet shook his head as Brett got up and approached his brother, reaching out and grasped his arm. “We ain’t comin’ to ask you ta go to a funeral. We done buried her already.”

“Fast as we could, she got turned into worm food.” Brett added as once-ler looked at him with wide eyes.

“So why…?”

“Momma went 'n left ya somethan 'n we came ta give it to ya. 'N see you again cuz we weren’t allowed ta mention you, or nuthin’ after it all happened.” Brett explained.

Once-ler stared at them, his brothers, and could see in their eyes the pain they’d been through. Cut off from a brother, taken back home. No doubt forced to work and probably even harder after Uncle Ubb left. How much had his mother and aunt changed after the men in their lives abandoned them? Did they push more onto Chet and Brett by way of expressing their anger, easing their built up disgust and bitter heartbreak?

And now they lived in a nursing home. But they looked well looked after, for their age. Well fed, cleaner than he’d ever seen them. They looked happy. Actually happy, even in this situation.

He lowered his head, slowly, and pressed a gloved hand to his forehead.

“She… left me somethin’…?” he asked weakly.

Brett nodded before reaching into his pocket and pulled out a letter and handed it over to Once-ler. The old man would be lying if he had been expecting something bigger but an envelope was more or less what he’d expect from his mother. He looked down at the terribly wobbly writing on the letter, which simply read 'Once’.

“…don’t think I can read it now.” he said quietly, looking back up at his brothers. “But thank you. For finding me and bringing it to me. I… never thought I’d ever see you two again.”

“We done thought the same thing.” Chet said, looking miserable.

“We thoughts you’d be dead. But we’re gladder to see you ain’t.” Brett added, and Once-ler could see, and hear, the honesty in their voices. His heart was aching for so many reasons right now, the fate of his uncle and aunt, his brothers who were forced to work all their lives, his mother who had lived to be almost one hundred and the fact she’d written him something, on top of it all how his brothers had searched for him once they were finally free… he wondered, if their mother had died earlier, would they have sought him out just as quickly…?

The fact they’d come out here, seemingly right away, looking for him told him that… yes. They would have. His brothers, the same boys who he used to follow after once they were old enough to walk and run through the house and barn yard to make sure they stayed safe, had come back to him as fast as they could. It had only taken them forty one years to do it.

He wordlessly moved to them suddenly and wrapped an arm around both of them, pulling the twins into his arms and pressed his face down against their shoulders. Brett, and Chet, both looked equally surprised by this. Simple as they were, of course they’d picked up Once-ler’s reluctance at hugging them when he first arrived. At the same time though they wrapped their arms around their older brother.

He decided, then and there, not to tell them that he’d sat in solitude for forty years. They were better off not knowing that information. Better off thinking he had made a life for himself after they left him. Last thing he wanted was them feeling bad for not coming sooner; just why he cared so much, he couldn’t understand. Seemed as though blood run deep and wouldn’t be denied, even after so long apart.

Unfortunately Brett and Chet couldn’t stay too long. They had a nursing home to get back to, though Once-ler did insist on giving them his telephone number, got theirs, and promised he would make it out there to visit them one day soon. Funny that, he only just now realized how badly he’d missed them. Sure they’d been rough with him, playful with their punches and slaps and jokes but he had long since accepted they hadn’t done it because they hated him. It was just the way they were, easy going, simple minded, gentle giants who wouldn’t really lash out at him in anger.

They never had done it, after all.

Norma, in the end, had decided to leave Once-ler to talk with his brothers alone, and return to Helen’s house. The two women sat in the lounge, watching from the couch, the white van drive away. Once-ler was stood out on the sidewalk, waving after the van.

“You got to think,” Norma suddenly spoke up, making Helen jump slightly, “He lost his entire family. His mother, his aunt and uncle, his brothers. Then he lost the animals, and lost himself in all those years out there. On top of everything else he lost me, and in a way lost you as well.”

“Hnnn.” Helen said nasally as she held her arms across her chest, holding herself.

“It couldn’t have been easy feeling as though you were the most horrible person in the world. Yet look at him, now. He’s so much better. He’s the man he used to be, again.” Norma smiled fondly, remembering those days so very long ago when the two were young and in love. How she’d snuggle in his lap reading a book, his hands resting against her hips as she did and she could almost feel the heat radiating off of his face when she would do such a thing.

“Ya thinkin’ I should give him a chance aren’t you Ma?” Helen asked, cutting to the point.

“Always was a sharp one, Helen. You got that from me.” Norma winked up at her.

“Mhh. I know. I know.” Helen sighed as she adjusted her glasses, irritated. “He just made a whole messa trouble 'n made a tonna mistakes. He’s sorry I see that. 'N I do see how well he treats you, Ma. I ain’t blind to that.”

“Oh well good. I’d hate to think your eyesight has gotten any worse.” she smirked playfully.

“Ey lay off.” Helen chuckled.

“I hope you do give him a chance, dear.” Norma spoke softly, seriously, as she placed a hand to her daughter’s side. “He’d love to get to know you. What kind of a woman you turned out to be.”

Helen sighed, heavily, and reached down to touch her mothers hand against her side. “I know Ma. I know.”

~*~

He sat out on the grass outside of his house that evening. The stars were sparkling in the inky blackness that was the night sky, and it was clear as crystal. Not a cloud in sight. The old man was wearing a thicker jacket than normal, since being so old and skinny meant the cold winds went straight through him and Winter was fast approaching. It hadn’t snowed in the valley for a long time, but he had a feeling that, maybe, this year it would be snowing.

Another thing he’d missed had been the weather changes. After forty years of seeing fog and blackness the chance to see snow, to feel the balmy warmth of autumn, and the feeling that spring brings… it would be enough to make the old man weep.

Resting in his hands was an old guitar. He ran one hand along the neck of it, his old, knobby fingers touching the strings. He hadn’t played it in years; could he still remember how to play? In order to do it he would have to remove his gloves, something he didn’t like the idea of but he really had no choice. Resting the old instrument in his lap he slowly tugged his gloves down.

His hands still showed sight signs of scarring from the burning of his factory but they had long since faded, now nothing more than a few marks here and there. Naturally, the engagement ring he had proposed to Norma with still sat on his ring finger. He’d gotten so used to it being there he no longer noticed it there.

“All right.” he said, picking up the instrument again. “Let’s do this.”

And so he began to slowly play. It wasn’t a real song or anything compared to how he used to randomly break into musical moments in his youth but it was still a song. He watched his fingers, aged, wrinkled, scarred and with age spots on the back of his hands, slowly remembering what it was what they were doing. Yes, this was familiar. This was music. He loved music, he’d loved it ever since he was a little boy and his father would play his guitar for him. It was an escape, however small and precious it was.

He slowly began to play a proper song, though, going by memory. Once-ler had never been one to use sheet music; he had learned to play by example, by trial and error and no books pointing out what to do. The young man had practiced up in his attic bedroom, long limbs barely fitting into his small bed, and it gave him a reprieve of his life as a lowly stable hand, a lumber jack for hire… with his music he could be anyone, anything.

But then he realized he was no longer just strumming random chords, it was a song. An old song he hadn’t heard in a long time. What was the name again… oh yes. “I’ll be seeing you again.” he spoke the title to himself but instead of singing along with it, the old man continued to play the chords of the song on his guitar, not missing a beat, no droppings of notes; it felt as if no time had passed since the last time he’d picked up his guitar.

By the time he finished there were tears running down his face, and he stared solemnly out at the world, heart hurting. His mother was dead, his aunt and uncle were dead too. His brothers were alive, finally free after a lifetime of being under his mothers control and now stuck in a nursing home. They had never known true freedom. And the letter… the letter that still sat unopened in his pocket.

He knew he should read it.

Didn’t mean he wanted to though.

Licking his bottom lip, he set his guitar on the ground and pulled the letter out of his pocket and opened it up, slowly. Swallowing dryly, he pulled the single page piece of paper out and opened it out. The writing was horrible, hard to read, but that’s probably because his mother wrote it herself rather then trust anyone else with it. He took a deep, steadying breath, and began to read.

'Dear Oncie

It’s been an awful long time since I last saw you. But it hasn’t been long since I last thought of you. There’s so many things to be said but I know it may be too late already. I know I wasn’t the best momma a boy could want. You know I didn’t want you, you know I hated your father for getting me pregnant. I made no attempt to hide these facts from you. I was always an honest woman but maybe too honest. That’s just how I am though and how I always was.

So let me be honest; I loved it when you were rich. I loved the parties, the food, the clothes, the people; everything. It made me feel special. I was living vicariously through you. I am a little sorry for that but I think I was entitled to some kind of fun in my life. My life, which now, is very nearly over since I’m certainly quite old now. I think pure nicotine and hair spray is keeping me in one piece as I write this to you. Hell you may not even open the envelope. Either way Oncie, know your momma loved you deep, deep, deep, deep down.

All my love, Momma’

He was glad he was alone. My God, was he glad he had read this when he was alone rather than surrounded by family. His hands were shaking, the letter crinkling at the parts in which he was grasping it tightly. She was still the same, wasn’t she? Even in her old age she was painfully honest. Even writing it down in a letter, that she hadn’t wanted him, hated his father for getting her pregnant, it packed the same powerful punch as it had been when he’d been informed of this as a little boy.

Once-ler let the letter drop to the ground, not even thinking about how she hadn’t left him anything. Even if she had, he wouldn’t want it. She had belittled and controlled him for so long, her final words to him being an echo in his mind for so long it was now maddening when he thought about it. The old man lifted his hands and pressed them to his face, shoulders shaking, as he was racked with sobs he didn’t even know he still had in him. Everything came pouring out, the thoughts of his brothers, his uncle, his aunt, his mother, his fiance abandoned by him, his daughter growing up without him, the whole town being twisted and changed into a fake Utopia all because of him.

Even with all the good happening in his life now, that amount of guilt will probably never ever truly leave him.

And he hated himself all the more for feeling it.

To be continued

Chapter Text

Helen sat there in the lounge room of the man who was her father, at least genetically. For his sake, but also her own, she had finally decided to attempt to get to know him. Alone. Without her mother, or her son, around. This was a little unnerving, sitting in the slanted oddly built house knowing that her father had holed himself away in here all her life. She looked around the room, at the recently wall-papered walls that now had a soft green and white design on them. The carpets were warm and rich underfoot, hiding the concrete and rock he had built his house on.

“Well you… really have a nice place here.” she tried to compliment as he returned from the kitchen, carrying a tray. Helen got to her feet and moved to help him but the tall elderly man backed up. “What?” she asked.

“You’re a guest. Guests sit their tuckushes down and wait to be served.” he said, shutting his eyes as he did.

“Well yeah but you ain’t no spring chicken.” Helen said, setting a hand on her hip. “I can’t have an old man like you wait on me.”

“Get used to it.”

Seemed as though he was as stubborn as she was. Maybe this was where she got it from? Helen couldn’t say, but she sighed, and took her seat again as he set the tray down on the table and handed her the cup of tea.

“It’s so awful nice of you to come out here. So far out of your way and all.” Once-ler said as he eased back into his chair, his own cup of tea settled in his gloved hands. He blew on the steam rising from the cup and took a slow sip.

“Yeah, well…” the woman shrugged her shoulders. “I figured it’d be fair since you always make an effort ta come out to my place ‘n all.” she reached for the spoon that was in the sugar bowl and began to add a couple spoon fulls to her tea. Once-ler watched this very carefully.

“Bit of a sweet tooth huh?” he asked when she finally put the spoon back.

“Hm? Oh. Yes. Heh! I dunno where I got it from, Ma hates sweet things.” she said as she stirred the sugar into the hot liquid.

He knew where she’d gotten it from. How could he not? Once-ler had suffered from a sweet tooth since he was a little boy, thanks to the sweet things is father would bring home to him when he would work away from home. If he should tell her though, that was the question.

“So those two guys… your brothers huh?” Helen asked after a length moment of silence in which the two sat across from one another, sipping their tea. She wouldn’t admit it, but the way he held his cup was the same way she did. She then, purposely, held it differently.

“Yes. My younger brothers. Sorry if uh, if they were rude or… well. Abrupt about things.” he tried to apologize for the two.

“Oh nah, forget about it they were… hrm. I guess you could say sweet. Compared to other guys who’ve gate crashed my house they were some of the sweetest.” Helen replied with a wave of a hand before pausing, and worked her bottom lip for a moment. “Does that make them my uncles then?”

“That’s what normally happens when your father has brothers.” he replied, before hesitating and adding. “I mean if you see me like that. I understand if you don’t, I mean what happened and… all.”

“To be honest I dunno how ta feel about you.” Helen said with a shrug of her shoulders. “I mean, yeah sure. You’re the guy who got my mother pregnant 'n all… but you weren’t there for me were you?” she asked, trying to keep her tone calm, sincere. “You weren’t there when I was born, when I walked for the first time, or my first words. You certainly weren’t there to intimidate my first boyfriends, you didn’t walk me down the isle at my wedding 'n you weren’t there when I had Ted. You missed out on all these main events in my life. All the things a father should be there to see for his daughter. You know what I’m sayin’?”

He sat there, listening to her, feeling his heart tighten within his chest as if it felt as though shrinking in size would mean the blows to it wouldn’t hurt so much. It didn’t work, he still felt horrible, and it must have showed on his face since she looked worried suddenly.

“H-hey, look. I’m sorry, I just-”

“Don’t apologize to me.” Once-ler mumbled as he looked down at his tea, before putting it back onto the table. It clattered, and a bit of it spilled but he cared little about that. “Please, don’t. Nobody owes me an apology, not you, not your mother, not Ted, not the people of Thneedville. All of… all of this,” he got out of his seat, tugging his robe around him as he walked over to the window and stared outside. “All of… everything. Was because of me. If I hadn’t been so blind the trees would still be here. Then there would still be fresh, clean, pure air and O'Hare would never have gotten into control. Then Thneedville wouldn’t have been locked away for just as long as I have. I… I would have had a wife. A daughter. I could’ve.. I could have been so happy instead of living for so long with my regrets.” He turned his head and looked over his shoulder at her. “Not a day went by I didn’t regret everything I’d done, and what I’d never have. Never would I have assumed I had a daughter, much less a grandson, somewhere in that town. My life would have been so, so different.” Once-ler looked back outside at the town, and the hillsides and valley. After years of seeing no change whatsoever in the scenery to suddenly see grass beginning to grow, and small shoots of new Truffula trees slowly peeking out of the ground, it was enough to bring tears to his eyes most mornings.

To see life again, to see the sun, feel the wind on his face… and combine with that he had Norma again in his life, the same woman who had once made him so happy before his life had been destroyed by the influence of greed, and his mother’s controlling attitude.

“…I can see you’re sorry…” Helen finally said after a moment of watching the man, her father, stare out the window. “I’m sorry too.” she said, “And don’t go denyin’ me my apology because I deserve to have it.” like him she got to her feet, abandoning her tea, and walking over to him. “I’m sorry if I made you feel worse cuz… well. You’ve felt bad enough for so long. I didn’t wanna make you feel like you don’t belong in our family because you do. Ma’s head over heels about you, I can tell the way she goes on 'bout you or the way she looks sometimes, when she thinks no one can see her. She looks happier than I’ve seen her in so long, you know?” Helen asked, leaning her hands on the window pane, staring out at the hills. “Things are turnin’ back to the way they used to be for her, 'n with you around… this, tall, apparently handsome man who touched her heart and life so much? No wonder she’s walkin’ on cloud nine.”

“Handsome?” Once-ler chuckled.

“OH yeah you should HEAR half the things she calls you when you ain’t around, or when her bridge buddies come 'round. She boasts 'bout havin’ you in her life again. It’s embarrassing.” she chuckled, before sighing through her nose. “But also good. I seen her alone all my life, you know?”

“Really, all of your life?” Once-ler asked. “She didn’t bring any guys home at all?”

“Who, Ma? Pft!” Helen scoffed and waved a hand. “I ain’t never seen her with a man in her life. What, you think she was lying when she said she never had someone?”

“I thought she’d just say that to help save my feelings from being hurt or turning into a jealous old man.” he shrugged.

“Nope.” Helen shook her head. “Far as I know, and seen, you’re the only man she’s ever had.”

Once-ler blinked slowly, before pressing his left hand to his chest and gripped at his scarf. “She’s the only woman I’ve ever had too.”

“What, not even before comin’ out here?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He shook his head. “I was too focused on getting out of there, ever since my father left. I wanted to make a name for myself, make my thneed, and get rich. I had no time for women and even if I did, there really weren’t any. I really did grow up in the middle of nowhere.” he explained. “S'why your mother always meant to much to me. Even with the town turning on me, after the destruction of all the trees, she stuck by me. She let me live with her… let me stay, at the expense of what people might think and say… She was always so much stronger than I was.”

The two stood in silence for a long while before Helen slowly reached out, and placed her hand on top of his that was still pressing against his chest. This startled him, and he looked down at her hand, before looking to her.

“You’re both strong people. I had ta get it from somewhere, right?” she asked with a small smile. “You may not 'ave been in my life at the start, but you’re here now. 'N… I don’t want to miss the opportunity to have a dad in my life.” even if she didn’t know how long he had left in this world, if she could see him as her father for only a few years that would mean… well… the world to her.

He wordlessly stared at her for a moment, really, really looking at this woman. This tall, gorgeous woman who reminded him so much of Norma, back when she was younger. She was tall, self reliant, strong in her own way, and as stubborn as he was. Helen had told him how she liked disco, how she tended to fall asleep in the same 'dead’ position like he used to sleep in, how sometimes she would hum a song to herself in a manner that he used to do. There was so much for not only himself, but Norma, in Helen it was sometimes startling to see it.

The fact she was giving him a chance, though… despite all what he’d done, all what he’d missed out on, it was one of the best moments of his life and the fact they were alone to share this moment, to bask in the warmth of it, only made it all the more meaningful.

“So can I get a hug?” Helen asked, opening her arms to him. “…Pops?”

Next thing she knew the tall man (not much taller than her but he WAS an impressive 6'4 for his age) had his arms around her, and Helen’s own slender arms wrapped around him. He was skinner, my word she could feel how skinny he was through his clothes as he held her but rather than focus on that, she focused on the warmth that he was putting into it. How long had he wanted to hug her, let alone touch her, after learning of who, and what, she was to him?

This was her father. A man she used to wonder about so much when she was a little girl. A man she hated as a teenager for not being there. A man she had wished who had been there as a young woman and now, finally, he was here. His mustache tickled her cheek yes, but that was just one minor thing that she could take in her strive.

Because now that she had him in her, as well as Ted’s, life she was certain she wouldn’t want to lose him again.

“Thank you.” she heard him whisper finally. “Thank you so much. You… this is… one of the happiest moments of my life.”

“It’s pretty high up there for me too.” Helen replied gently before slowly pulling back, but keeping her hands on the man’s arms. “'N look at you, you really are all skin 'n bone aren’t you? Ya need ta be eatin’ better…!” she scolded playfully, though she did mean it. In his old age the man really should be looking after himself more.

“I know. But I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now.” he explained with a shrug.

“Oh?” she asked, arching a brow. “Such as?”

“Asking your mother to marry me.”

Just how bluntly he answered her astounded her. Helen stared at the man with wide eyes. He and her mother had only been involved with one another for a few months now, and he was already talking about marriage? Then again, hadn’t they been engaged once upon a time? They had that long, though painful, history with one another and having found one another again… and on top of that their current ages, who knew how long they had left to be with one another? So why wouldn’t he want to? Her mother was a good catch, a great catch for her age, and if it was him, well it only made perfect sense.

“…yeah I can see how that would take up alotta ya mind space.” she said, nodding her head.

“I’m going to need some help though.” he said.

“Oh?” Helen asked, a small smirk creeping onto her face.

“Think you can help an old man out?” Once-ler asked.

“I figure I can.”

“Excellent.”

~*~

“Come ON Ma! We ain’t got all night!” Helen called up the stairs as she stood at the base, leaning on the wall. “You think these tickets were easy ta get hold of?”

“I’m coming keep your knickers on!” Norma called back as she stood on a small step ladder in the bathroom, putting the finishing touches on. She had gotten some nice gold hoop earrings, and was putting the last touch of blush on her cheeks. Just the other day Helen had announced she’d gotten tickets to a function in town, raising money for the project of ensuring the trees around Thneedville would become preservation, and that nobody would ever be allowed to put an axe to them again. It would raise money, and awareness, of the whole thing to not only Thneedville but the country in general.

“All right here I come…!” Norma called as she came down the stairs wearing a nice navy blue dress with sequins on it, a simple white shawl around her shoulders and white snug gloves as she carried her walking stick down the stairs.

“Oh nice. Ya gonna be turnin’ heads, Ma.” Helen grinned.

“Oh shush. Only one head I’m interested in turning. He’s going to be there, right?” she asked, looking up at her daughter who wore a lovely red dress.

“Well seein’ how he’s the guy who put the petition in, yeah I reckon.”

Soon the family was in Helen’s little red car and driving their way through town. Ted was sat in the front passenger seat next to his mother, looking fairly uncomfortable but still excited sitting there in a little black tuxedo. His hair was even combed and styled, making him look fairly smart and he had only just made it on time too. The little boy had been out all day, and only just got home half an hour before they left. For such a short amount of time, he spruced himself up pretty well.

“So where is this thing any way?” Norma asked.

“Oh, you’ll see.” Helen replied as she continued to drive.

“Well if that doesn’t sound half ominous I don’t know what does.” the old woman smirked as she glanced out the window.

Not five minutes later, though… “Okay Grammy?” Ted turned in his seat to look at her. “Can I ask you something?”

“Oh, of course dear?” she asked.

“Can you put this on?” he held out a blindfold.

Norma stared at it blankly, before arching her eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“It’s for the surprise! Pappy Once-ler asked before we arrived for you to wear it, so when you walk in it’s a bigger surprise than normal. Please?” Ted asked, putting on his best begging face ever.

“Oh fine. That old coot and his ways.” Norma huffed as she took the blindfold and tied iti nto place. The world, now black to her, continued to be that way for another five minutes before she was helped from the car by Ted. She listened to him and her daughter talk back and forth about being careful, minding this, and minding that, and soon she could just begin to make out some lights through the black material.

“Are we there?” she asked, since it felt incredibly quiet, and she was sure the ground felt fairly soft underfoot. Was it an outdoor event? That would be lovely, rather than being inside.

“We’re here.” Helen said as she untied the blindfold and pulled it away.

Norma gasped when she could finally see. They weren’t in town at all but outside of town; in fact, not too far in the distance, she could see Once-ler’s house. But they were near one of the strange rock formations that dotted the landscape; they curved like ocean waves out of the ground before returning back to the ground with a gaping hole included. The ground was harder around here too, but not too much.

There were lights strung up, wrapping around the arch. On top of that there were trees - fake ones yes but ones that looked far more realistic than the fake ones in town. Beneath the arch of stone, though, was a table. It had a white table cloth set up on it, a champagne ice bucket sat on it. There were two plates, already covered with covers to ensure the food stayed fresh and hot. Two chairs sat there, waiting.

“What… what is…?” Norma asked.

“This, is for you.”

Hearing his voice Norma looked around but then he stepped out from behind the arch and she couldn’t hide the impressed noise she uttered at the sight of him. Norma hadn’t seen Once-ler in a suit in so long, she had honestly forgotten what a striking figure he struck when he wore one. It was a dark color, maybe black? It was hard to tell in the light, but he had thin white pinstripes to accompany the black. He wore a white shirt under that, and a soft pink tie that reminded her of his scarf. His mustache was well groomed, his wild hair combed and held down probably by hair spray, and his receding hair line wasn’t too noticeable even if he wasn’t even wearing a hat tonight.

“Sweetie!” Norma cried as she walked towards him, “What’s with all this?”

“I wanted to surprise you. What, something wrong with that?” he asked as he reached down and took her hand into his and she was startled to find it was she, tonight, in the gloves and he without them. She looked down at the back of his hand, the wrinkles, the age spots and the partly faded scars from the fire all those years ago. She smiled softly, and looked up at him.

“Nothing wrong with that.” she said, before looking back at Helen and Ted. “You two were in on this the whole time weren’t you?”

“Guilty as charged.” Helen smirked.

“Where’d you think I was all day?” Ted asked. “I was out here setting up!”

Norma could do nothing but laugh as she was showed to her seat by the gentleman whose suit, now upon closer inspection, was a deep emerald colour. She smiled. “You just love that colour, don’t you?” she asked tenderly.

“It holds a lot of meaning.” he replied softly as he kissed her forehead.

“Well, we’re gonna be up at Pop’s place,” Helen said as she rubbed her hands together. “You two need anythin’ give that there bell a ring all right?” she asked.

“You’re not staying?” Norma asked.

“Nooooo, this is your date. Not ours. C'mon Tedster. Before you’re scarred for life.”

Once-ler rolled his eyes before he reached for the cover on Helen’s plate and lifted it off, revealing roast chicken (REAL chicken), mashed potatoes, and various roasted vegetables. Soft enough for her and her dentures, naturally.

“Oh, Oncie.” she sighed softly as he set the lids aside and opened the bottle of champagne. “You really didn’t have to do all this.”

“I know. But I did it any way.”

She was surprised, as well, to find he had borrowed Ted’s CD player and had set it on a rock not too far away. After fiddling with the device for a moment he managed to find the play button and music, the same kind of music they had once listened to and sung along with, in their youth began to drift out of the speakers. Norma couldn’t help but giggle, as she picked up her knife and fork.

“I remember singing with you, under the trees.” she commented as she cut into her chicken. “You and your guitar. You were so talented with your hands.”

“I still am thank you.” he replied with a sharp, though playful, tone. “I can still play my guitar.”

“Oh you simply must serenade me again at some point then! No reason not to now.” she grinned.

“Baby, I got no reason to not do anything for you.” Once-ler smiled at her, the same, attempt at being suave with a hint of worry if his look was working. He used to flash her the same grin all the time when they had first started dating.

“Oh you old flirt.” she giggled.

They continued to eat, listening to the music, and speaking now and then of times long since passed. It was a generally lovely evening together, and Once-ler congratulated himself on being so smart to organize all this with Helen and Ted. But he still had a matter of business to deal with, one of great importance. Still, he had to laugh with her as she remembered the day she had tried to teach him to swim in the slowly running part of the stream. He’d been terrified of swimming, and seeing Norma in her bathing suit had given him all sorts of feelings at the time.

“It’s sad, you know…” he said, after his laughter had died down.

“What’s sad?” Norma asked. “You’ve got no reason to be sad.”

“No, I mean. We had so many wonderful moments together. Falling in love with you was one of the best things to happen to me and I let my greed over power me and make me think my money and wealth meant more. I lost you, Norma. I lost everything that mattered to me and I missed out on a whole life with you.”

“Oncie…” she reached out, covering his hand with hers.

“I missed out on growing old with you. I missed out on Helen being born. On Ted being born. So… so many things I should have been there for but I wasn’t. I hate it. I hate it, and I don’t know if I ever will stop hating it.” he said, lowering his head and shutting his eyes and even if he had prepared himself for this, he could still feel the tears beginning to prickle at the corner of his eyes.

“Hey now. Shh, shh…” Norma’s hand rubbed his hand gently.

“That’s. That’s why I did t-this,” he said, pulling his hand away from her slowly. She picked up that he was stuttering, a sign he was nervous. Why was he nervous? “I w-wanted t-to do so-something s-s-special for you. Because you are special, N-norma. You’re so sp-special to me and the f-fact you let me b-back into your life af-after ruining yours all those y-years ago. It… wo-words can’t explain my gratitude or love for y-you enough.”

Norma was ready to point out he didn’t ruin her life, that he had brought her so many good moments, he’d given her a daughter, but then he was standing up. “Once-ler?” she asked, now a bit worried.

He moved around to her, reached down, and took one of her hands into his. Her left hand. Norma stared at him, eyes slowly widening, as the old man very carefully got down onto one knee before her and she was certain her heart was set to explode when his free hand held out a familiar box. The same box he had held out to her over forty years ago. He pushed it open revealing the same ring, the same gold band with the diamond in the middle. He had held onto it. Norma had left it on their bedside table the day she left, and she had been sure he would throw it away but no. He had kept it and now he..

“I’ve asked you t-this once already but good questions n-need to be asked twice.” he said in a shaking voice as he looked at her, taking deep gulps of air. “Norma, will you marry me?”

“Well what do you think?” Norma asked right back, tears running down her face, unable to stop them. “Of course I will you old fool how could I not?” she declared, helping him to work the ring onto her finger. It still fit; after all these years it still fit her. “Oh, oh…” she whispered, looking at the familiar ring that had meant the world to her a lifetime ago and once again, meant just as much. “Come here.” she whispered, holding her arms out to him and of course he went to her.

The tears were running down his face, he knew it was weak of him and pathetic but he couldn’t help them. He hadn’t cried the first time he’d asked her; he had worked so hard to be professional and a man, and she had been the one to weep but this time it seemed as though their roles were reversed. Norma hummed softly, lifting her hands, and held his face against hers gently as she nuzzled his cheek. “Shh, shh… big boys don’t cry… big boys don’t cry…” she whispered to him, knowing how much that phrase meant to not only him, but herself included.

They held onto one another tightly in the electric light, the cool evening air around them both, and the twinkling stars in the skies above them. To think he would ask her the same question twice, over forty one years apart? It was insane, but as they say you learn from your mistakes and this time he wasn’t going to let her slip away from him again.

To be concluded

Chapter Text

Unsurprisingly, this time around, Once-ler and Norma did not mess around when it came to their engagement. The last time they’d been engaged it had lasted years, thanks to Once-ler becoming wrapped up in his company. This time around though, there was no company for him to be pulled away by. It was funny that, in their youth, a wedding would have been an enormously huge affair. Now, though, both nearly eighty years old the two of them, they decided it to be an incredibly small affair.

There was a small guest list; ridiculously small. Of course there was Once-ler and Norma along with Helen and Ted. On top of that came Audrey and her parents, Brett and Chet (allowed to even stay the night at Helen’s since she didn’t want them in a car for hours on end), and of course Norma and Helen’s friends. Since it was such a small gathering, Helen ended up making the wedding cake herself though she did call in some help for catering the rest of the meals.

“Stop fussin’ Ma.” Helen said as she fixed up her mother’s hair.

“I’m not fussing. You are.” Norma replied as she stared at herself in the mirror. Just how much time had passed between Once-ler getting down on one knee before her and today? It had felt like a whirlwind, barely any time at all yet here she stood in a nice cream colored dress suit. It had a spiral, floral, design on the lapels and she wore a simple necklace with a blue gemstone. The headpiece she was wearing was borrowed, of course, from Helen since she had held onto it from her own marriage.

“I just hope this thing gives ya more luck than it did me.” Helen smiled.

“Oh believe me I think we’ll be fine this time around.” Norma replied with a smile.

“Here you go Grammy Wiggins,” it was Audrey, dressed in a beautiful pale green dress with her hair done up in a lovely plait, entering the room with a bouquet of flowers. Real ones, at that. Flowers had returned to the valley, seemingly in time for this occasion. Even if Once-ler may be against the idea of cutting flowers out of the ground he may forgive them this one occasion. “I hope you like them.”

“They’re gorgeous Audrey, tell your mother thank you!” the old lady replied as she took the flowers and gave them a sniff, overcome by the scent of flowers. It was beautiful, simply beautiful.

“Ma don’t cry you’ll run ya makeup.” Helen fussed.

“I’m not, oh shush!” Norma sniffed.

Meanwhile an old man was standing outside of his house, hands resting behind his back. This time he was dressed in black, a tuxedo with tails that felt so familiar on him and yet so very different. He wore a black bowler hat rather than his green top hat and pinned to his lapel was of course the pink mini Truffula tree which had accompanied him all these years. He surveyed the valley around him, lush green grass, bushes, bushes and flowers and the small trees all growing healthy.

He glanced skyward, at the beautiful blue sky, and wondered if the Lorax was seeing this, if he could sense the changes happening. Or maybe he was well and truly gone, maybe he had been dying when he’d ascended to the skies, because there were no more trees for him to care for? He had wondered these things for such a long, long time. It pained him to think that way, and today of all days he refused to let it happen.

“Pappy Once-ler?” hearing Ted’s voice he turned and looked down at the boy. “It’s time now.”

“…all right.” he replied quietly before casting one last glance up at the skies before following Ted around his house. They were having an outdoor wedding, of course. There was a small collection of chairs for the guests to sit at, and then a long table and smaller tables for them to eat and celebrate at after the wedding. Already the guests were there, Chet and Brett wearing their Sunday bests and sat at the very front of everyone else. Then there was Audrey’s family, and the close friends of the family.

“Y'all look like a thin penguin Once-ler!” Chet said as he watched the old man approached.

“Hey-hey, thanks.” Once-ler scoffed as he passed them. “Try not to talk too loudly okay?”

“Do our best!” the twins answered in unison.

He sighed as he stood there at the front and watched as young Ted hurried away. He was the ring bearer, of course, and Audrey was their flower girl. Helen was the Maid of Honor and only bridal party member since it was easier that way. Once-ler, however, had no best man. If he could, he would have had Mustache stand there with some kind of bow sticky-taped to his neck but alas he was not here. And no one else could take his best friends place, so it was left vacant.

“Nervous?” the Pastor asked as she smiled up at the towering, elderly man.

“I feel like I’m going to puke.” he answered.

“Try not to until it’s all over and done with, okay?” she grinned.

“No promises.”

The butterflies in his stomach felt like they were ready to leap out when he suddenly heard the melodies of Ted’s CD player. They had chosen against getting a band, since it would be easier with simple music. Lovely music played and Once-ler readied himself by gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as he turned around.

Audrey led the way, of course, throwing petals upon the grass. They were from already wilted flowers, so there was no issue there. Besides, they smelt nice. She smiled up at the tall, elderly man as she approached him before slipping off to sit besides her parents. Ted had been right behind her, carrying a cushion with the wedding bands on. He looked nervous, probably since he hoped he didn’t trip up over something and drop them. Thankfully he didn’t, and stood to the side, watching his grandfather keenly.

Finally, there was Norma and Helen. It seemed only fair since, at Helen’s wedding, Norma had been the one to walk her down the isle. So now she was returning the favor. Once-ler felt his heart miss a few beats at the sight of Norma dressed so beautifully, with that veil hung down in front of her face. He swallowed harshly as they approached, and watched as Helen smiled down at her mother before looking to him and giving him a ‘I’ll be watching you’ look. She stepped away, to Norma’s left, and stood there.

“You look beautiful.” Once-ler told her, honestly.

“You don’t freshen up half bad yourself.” Norma smiled back at him as he gently took her hand into his, and the ceremony began.

They listened to the Pastor as she talked about marriage, its meaning, and how wonderful it was to behold a couple such as Once-ler and Norma, marrying one another at such an age. For their worth, Chet and Brett kept their promise and was quiet throughout the whole thing. Once-ler felt his nerves begin to bundle up again when it came the time for the vows since, naturally, they had prepared their own in secret rather then stick to the book. Heck, their whole lives and romance together hadn’t stuck to any rules, so why would their vows?

“Okay, me first.” Norma announced, causing a wave of laughter in the crowd, as she took both of his hands into hers and gazed up at him. “You’ve owned my heart for so long. I hope you know this. Even after what happened between us, the factory, your family, and you leaving the way you did I could never, ever let another man into my heart to take your place. A part of you was always with me, somewhat literally,” she casts Helen a small glance and her daughter scoffs but smiles back. “And even if there were sad times, I always knew deep down in my heart I would see you again. I love you, Once-ler. I always have and I always will and becoming your bride, your wife, has been a dream come true for me. The wait was well and truly worth it.”

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t wet in the eyes because he was. Once-ler smiled down at her and squeezed her small hands gently in his large, aged hands, before taking a deep breath.

“My go.” he whispered before speaking louder. “Norma Wiggins… I love you. I love you so, so, so much. You have been on my mind for all these years and to find you again, to find love with you again, has been the greatest thing to ever happen to me in my entire life bar none. I dare not bring up our past, and how sorry I am for my treatment of you because what’s past is past and I’m sick of living in it. I’m tired of running from it and I know, now, I can stop running. You,” he squeezed her hands just a little bit closer, “are my life now. You are my future and no matter how long it is you and I now have left to spend together, I know my future is going to be a bright and beautiful one. Full of flowers, and laughter, and your love. Like you said… the wait was well and truly worth it.”

“You old romantic you.” Norma smiled up at him.

Then came the exchanging of the rings, and Ted stepped forward, trying to puff himself up to look more important.

“The wedding ring is a symbol of eternity.” the Pastor spoke as Ted held the pillow steady for Once-ler to take Norma’s wedding ring off of it. “It is an outward sign of an inward and spiritual bond which unites two hearts in endless love. And now as a token of your love and of your deep desire to be forever united in heart and soul, you Once-ler, may place a ring on the finger of your bride.” she gestured to Norma, smiling fondly.

He did his best to keep his hands steady, not wanting them to shake be it from nerves or from a sign to show his age, as he took hold of her ring finger.

“Norma,” he said, again fighting to keep his voice steady, “I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness to you."

"I should hope so.” Norma whispered to him on a soft smile, which he returned.

“By the same token Norma, you may place a ring on the finger of your groom.” the Pastor prompted.

Norma picked up the remaining wedding band and winked at Ted in thanks before taking Once-ler’s hand into hers, and pushed the ring onto his long, slender, rough finger. “Once-ler, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness to you.” when she finished she looked up at him and the two silently looked into one anothers eyes, hands now tightly holding onto one anothers.

“By the powers invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.” the Pastor smiled proudly as the couple stared at their matching wedding bands on their fingers. Once-ler had worn the engagement ring for so long it felt strange having another one on, this one was thicker, but held so much meaning. He got down, onto one knee, lifted the veil to reveal Norma’s face, and kissed her. The instant he did of course there was a round of applause from all gathered, his brothers who were clapping especially loudly and enthusiastically.

“Oh.. you have no idea how long I’ve waited to be Mrs Norma-Ler.” her voice, shaking with emotions, whispered into his ear after the kiss had ended and they were just able to hold onto one another.

“About as long as I have.” Once-ler answered her softly. She pulled back and smiled at him before rubbing a thumb against his cheek, wiping his tears away.

The congratulations were passed around, Chet and Brett enveloping Norma in a big old group bear hug, before pulling Once-ler in on it, declaring her their one and only sister-in-law. The rest of those gathered cheered and whistled, and when the two made their way towards the celebration section of the outdoor wedding people threw rice and more flower petals. Norma got it all in her hair, and Once-ler’s mustache had a few stray pieces of rice lodge in it but it wasn’t that big a deal. Not really.

He had a wife. He had a woman he loved, and she loved him back, despite his faults and his horrible choices in his life. She had seemingly waited for him just as much as he had waited and hoped to see her again. On top of that he had a family now. He had a daughter who was as vibrant and full of pep as Norma used to be, and he had a grandson who was smart, witty and he knew he would be going places in his life. And then there were his actual brothers, two men he thought he would never ever see again in all of his days, they still shoulder punched him something awful, they still laughed and joked but now it was far too late to feel dislike towards them. They were his family, his brothers, and he loved them.

The party went on until late into the night. There was good food to be shared between everyone, there was music playing on the CD player and everyone had a wonderful time. When the time came for the first dance of the bride and groom it was an interesting thing since Once-ler had to bend over a little to take Norma’s hand, and hold her waist, and she too had to stand on her toes but they made it work. They had practiced, and of course during their practice there had been a fair amount of yelps when Once-ler’s big feet had stepped on Norma’s small ones. Now, though, they were pros at it.

“I can’t believe it finally happened.” Norma whispered to him, voice shaking in a rare sign of emotion.

“You and me both. I used to be so afraid of marriage.” Once-ler admitted, smiling down at her. “I guess when you get this old having fears is just silly.”

“I agree.” Norma chuckled before tugging him down to kiss him just because she could, because as his wife she could do these things without being told off. Not that anyone would dare even attempt to tell her off for loving the man she did.

By the end of the evening, though, with full stomachs and tired bodies from an emotionally draining day, Once-ler and Norma left the party around ten o'clock. They thanked everyone for coming, for the well wishes, the gifts, and even went around embracing everyone at least twice. Taking her hand, Once-ler walked with Norma towards their house. No longer his, but theirs. She was moving in, officially, tonight.

That in itself had been an emotional thing, especially for Helen and Ted who had always had Grammy Norma live with them. But as she said, a wife’s place was with her husband and she wasn’t going to let him live out in that house all by himself anymore. She had packed up her things, not many surprisingly, and they had been slowly brought over in boxes and unpacked by the two elderly people while she had visited on the days leading up to the wedding. Everything was in place now, her clothes, her possessions, photographs, small little trinkets and of course her books.

“Wait, wait. I need to do this right.” Once-ler said as he opened the door to his house.

“What do you mean–what, what are you doing?!” Norma helped as he suddenly wrapped his arms around her and began to lift her off her feet. “Oncie no, no your back!”

“I can do this I can do this I can do this!” Once-ler said through gritted teeth. What could he say, he was a traditionalist. A husband had to carry his wife over the threshold after getting married. Even if he may not be able to carry her against his chest like he may have been able to forty years ago he still managed to carry Norma inside, and ease her back down to the ground. He huffed, and leaned against the wall. “Told ya I’d do it!”

“You old fool.” Norma laughed as she took his hand and the two began their slow walk up the stairs.

“So, does it feel different?” he asked her.

“Being married? It’s too early to tell.” she replied with a shrug and she could practically feel the disappointment in his body language. Norma smiled to herself as they reached the top of the stairs and he led her to the room which was now theirs. No longer was there a single, old bed sitting there but a queen sized bed. Ted and himself had put it together from a box, and the mattress had been squeezed in before being dressed up by Helen that morning. They stood in the doorway for a moment, holding one another’s hands.

“When was the last time we slept in the same bed together?” Norma asked softly.

“Long before our last moment together.” Once-ler replied sadly.

“I wonder if you still lay as still as a log.” she smiled.

“I wonder if you still snore.” he answered.

They looked at one another, before they moved towards the bed together. Norma got up onto it first, testing it for how comfortable it was, as Once-ler began to remove his shoes. She liked this bed, the mattress had good support for both of them and she couldn’t help but smile and see he had set up on her bed stand on 'her’ side of the bed a reading lamp, a place for her teeth, as well as a small family photo of Helen and Ted. On 'his’ side was another reading lamp, square glasses, and a thick novel.

When she looked back at him she found he’d already unbuttoned his jacket and taken it off, and was loosening his pink tie. She didn’t have to wonder why her cheeks suddenly felt warm, not at all. Once-ler paused when he saw her watching him, and a red tint spread over his cheeks.

“Well, go on. I am your wife, now.” Norma commented, gesturing to him with a 'please continue’ motion of her hand.

“Heh…” he chuckled before tossing his tie away but approached her instead and pressed his hands onto the bed, one on either side of her. “Mmm. I think we can help one another with that.” he whispered.

“Why you randy old man,” Norma smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her nose to his. “How I adore you.” she whispered.

“Not as much as I adore you.” Once-ler answered before he kissed her, and eased her back onto the bed. It really had been a life time since they’d held onto one another like this, hadn’t it? But even now, after all those years, with the wrinkles and age spots, the white hair, as well as the laughter lines… to Once-ler, Norma remained the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen.

~*~

Settling into married life was easier than Once-ler thought it would be. They slept together as easily as they had all those years ago, the blankets wrapped tightly around one another. Norma, just like she used to, always wound up resting her head on his shoulder, and her hand over his heart. He still slept flat on his back, though now and then his arm would reach over to her and rest on her side, keeping her close.

He soon learned that it was proper to keep the toilet seat down, that he couldn’t leave his shoes laying around on the floor, and to not abandon his knitting half way through and leave it laying around. Norma, in turn, learned how sometimes he needed his time alone. After a lifetime of loneliness sometimes the old man just needed to be in a room to himself, but whenever those moments ended she knew because he would come search her out, embrace her, and apologize.

Ted, and sometimes Audrey, visited on an almost daily basis at first. Naturally Ted missed his Grammy so he’d take any opportunity to head on out to visit his Grammy, as well as his Pappy. He’d bring them fruit sometimes, or new books, things like that. He would be horribly spoiled by ways of snacks and marshmallows when he visited, mostly from Once-ler more than Norma but she let it slide. Once-ler had never experienced being a grandfather before, so she let him spoil the boy. If just to get to Helen in a playful poking kind of way.

The couple would take walks through the valley, as well as the town when they made their way there to do their shopping. Both had been shocked when Helen had bought them a motor scooter with side cart but she insisted they needed it, so of course Helen would drive and Once-ler would end up sitting with his legs bent painfully so in the side-cart. She’d drive them to town, they’d walk around, shop, and head back home again.

They had picnics very frequently out in the valley where the trees were still slowly growing. The bushes and flowers grew faster, and they adored it as they sat and ate their meals together out in the sunlight. Most times Once-ler would bring his guitar and play songs for her, and Norma would always end up singing along with him. All the old songs they used to play together, too. Every other day they baked, as well. Cakes, pies, cookies, all manner of things that they would give to Ted to take back to his mother and to Audrey. It was very rare that you approached the white house on the hill and not pick up the faint smell of baking wafting through the air.

It was an early morning when Once-ler woke in their bed, to discover Norma as usual resting her head on his shoulder. She looked incredibly at peace, sleeping like that, for once not snoring. He smiled and pressed a kiss to her warm cheek. “I love you.” he whispered.

“Hnnn… your whiskers…” she whimpered back which, naturally, only made him tickle her with them on purpose. After a giggling morning the two went through their morning routine. Shower, shave, brush teeth, and soon they were both downstairs. Outside the sun was bright and shining, and when Norma opened the window in their kitchen a lovely breeze came dancing through, ruffling the curtains. “I’ll put the kettle on then shall I?” she asked, taking hold of the kettle and reaching for the tap at the sink.

“Sure,” Once-ler nodded as he reached over and rubbed her back. “I’m just heading out to water the trees.” it was his thing; he’d go out each morning and water the little growing saplings that surrounded their house.

“Course love.” she smiled and kissed him back when he pressed a soft peck to her lips.

Grabbing his yellow, and old, watering can from the laundry area he filled it with water from the sink out back before heading to the door. He paused, and pulled on his scarf, wrapping it around his neck. Picking up the watering can again the old man pulled his door open and walked outside. The morning light struck his face, and the old man stood on his door step and took a big, deep, long sigh of contentment. He hadn’t felt this happy, this wonderful, or at peace in so long.

He moved away from the door, humming to himself as he held a hand behind his arm as he began to gently water the small Truffula saplings that had sprung up around his house. Once-ler could remember planting every one of them in the dead of night over forty years time. Hoping, praying, that they would finally take root and now they had. Pink, red, orange, and yellow, all of the beautiful colors he had once seen every time he looked outside his cottage window.

He leaned forward slightly, watering one of them when he suddenly had the insanely strong urge to turn around. Once-ler was now not a man to fight his gut, so he slowly turned his head and looked up at the morning sun, lifting his arm to shade his eyes as he stared. After a few moments he saw something coming out from the sunlight, and his blue eyes widened when he saw what it was.

A Swomee-Swan. As large and as beautiful as he remembered them to be. It came flapping out of the skies, glided around him like the majestic bird it was, before continuing on to fly across the valley. Once-ler stared in silent shock for a moment before a small, proud smile crossed his face. The birds were coming back. He thought he would never see a Swomee-Swan again, but… there it was. Was it checking how things were? Was it a scout, sent by the rest, to see how the valley was growing? They were clever birds, after all. Not stupid and simple like the birds he remembered back home.

He was just about to continue when he felt a sensation suddenly arch up his spine. It caused his heart to stop for a second, and again, that strong urge to turn around presented itself to him. This time the old man only looked over his shoulder as he saw more light spilling out of the sky even without a cloud needing to move out of the way of the sun. This light was different. This was light he had only seen once before in his life because it sparkled with a magic, a power, he recognized.

Once-ler turned around completely as he saw a shape slowly emerge from the glistening light, a shape he knew, a shape he had seen in his dreams, in his nightmares, in his mind for over forty one years. He stared, open mouthed, as the Lorax came floating out of the skies. He was holding himself by the seat of his pants, just like how he had left, before he let go of himself and gracefully landed on the same pile of rocks he had lifted himself away from forty two years ago.

The orange creature stood there, proudly, a look of content on his face and Once-ler could only stare as the watering can fell from his hands. He couldn’t believe it. He honestly could not believe his eyes. Long since had Once-ler accepted the fact he wouldn’t see the Lorax again. Yet here he stood, as proud and real as he had been all those years ago and he felt so… happy. Overjoyed, even.

He heard himself bark out a laughter of sheer joy, before moving closer to the other, and bent slightly to look down at him. The Lorax observed the old man he recognized, despite the years that had been added to the Once-ler’s body. He knew those eyes, he knew that look, he knew it to be him. He had seen the valley, he had felt the trees returning, the flowers, the grass, the bushes, the insects, the birds; all of the life. All thanks to the simple gesture of handing the last seed onto a young boy. He smiled.

“You done good, Beanpole. You done good.” The Lorax said.

He was shivering, he knew he was, but it had nothing to do with being cold. Once-ler shut his eyes and gently shook his head, finding himself incapable of speaking right now, so overcome by the emotions pouring from within his heart at seeing the Lorax, at hearing his voice, at hearing his commendation and confirmation that he had finally 'done good’ the old man couldn’t stop himself. He moved even closer and fell to one knee instantly before the other and threw his arms around the Lorax, pulling him against him tightly. Once-ler felt the Lorax freeze in his arms and he waited, braced himself, for the guardian to shove him away from him with an angry huff and puff. He waited, but it never came. He felt the Lorax’s arms wrap around him as best he could, even went so far to pat him and that in itself made Once-ler hide his face into his friends shoulder for a moment squeezing his eyes shut as he did.

Slowly he pulled back and the two, now equally old, men regarded one another for a moment before Once-ler let him go, and got back to his feet. The Lorax chuckled, and hopped off his pile of rocks as he took a good long look at the towering, old man. “By the way, nice moustache.” he complimented.

“Thanks.” Once-ler smiled, amused by the comment. “One day it might be as impressive as yours.”

“Keep dreamin’.” smirked the Lorax as he walked alongside the tall man. “So, what’ve I missed?” he asked.

“Boy, Mustache,” Once-ler couldn’t help but chuckle as he waved a finger at the Lorax. “do I have a story for you.”

The End