When the world falls...because of you (Once-Ler)

[mysterysneeze]

Alright, I was convinced to share this story on here. Feel free to comment if you so chose to. I'm happy that the person that asked for this via trade liked this Here it is:

Well, this is the day where my world officially just fell off the deep end. I've lost track of the days since that fateful day, the day where I released that annoying, troublemaking…oh who am I kidding? He was MY FRIEND! The Lorax was his name, and now he is gone. Everyone is gone. Not just everyone, but everything is gone too! I don't even have the energy to become happy.

What happened to me? I'm not a bad person…that's what I thought before all of this happened. Now I'm not sure who or what I am anymore.

A ramming sound boomed across the huge building that was just yesterday the top business in the land. Memories flashed behind the Once-ler's closed eyes as he sat back in his tall mountain of a chair and wanted to forget. Oh he so wanted to forget…and yet he couldn't. His mind wouldn't allow him to forget. Jumbled memories played in his mind for countless minutes, and those minutes turned into hours. The ramming sound continued to scream in every direction as one of the large machines still active was doing its programming…cutting down things, and the only thing left standing was the Once-ler's huge factory.

Half of his factory was destroyed by the time the sad Once-ler got up out of his chair. The machine's blades were all bent and wrecked from cutting into the building, but the huge amount of damage had already been done. It would take days to fix this mess, but he was secretly glad this happened. Now he could focus on things that weren't haunting memories.

Day after day the Once-ler worked, making the factory a shriveled fragment of what it was before. Odd contraptions became his new obsession. Dozens of different combinations of ropes, pullies, and all sorts of random objects were tried and used while he took apart both the damaged part of the factory and most of the undamaged part.

It was a full two weeks later when the Once-ler began to feel ill. Constantly breathing in the polluted air from outside, pollution he had caused, made his throat burn and his eyes water. Still, the determination to finish what he was doing was something that he failed to let go. If his business was dead, he sure wasn't going to go down with it! He continued to work, even as he could feel his illness get worse the longer he worked.

A few days later, something unusual happened. A huge boot, presumably belonging to one of his family members, was left in the rubble of a section of the factory that he was working on breaking apart. That single shoe made the Once-ler's eyes widen and he got a look in his eyes, a look that was hard to explain. His irises seemed to tremble and shake as he stared at that boot for what seemed like hours to him but were only minutes in real time. A small smile slowly formed and with his voice coarse and shaky he spoke for the first time since everyone had left him. "D…don't let the boot hit you on the way out…hit you…ha…ah ha…" That smile grew his laughter would've sounded scary if anyone besides himself was there to hear him. He tied the boot to a contraption he had made earlier and watched as he pulled a lever and the boot struck like a snake outwards from the factory wall.

The Once-ler watched the boot come back and forth each time he pulled that lever, but his mind was forcing tears to come down his face even though he was still laughing. His mental state was in jeapordy as from his point of view that boot looked an awful lot like the ax swinging to chop down…chop down that…first…tree…

Pictures from his past broke flooded from his mind, no longer being held back. His knees hitting the ground, the poor man was sobbing his guts out as the things he had done hit him harder than they ever had before. The desire to work completely faded and he wanted nothing more than to collapse into his bed in the factory…or what was left of it. The Once-ler himself didn't know what he had turned his factory into. It looked like a bizarre, feeble-looking vertical tower now rather than the neat, tidy, and powerful factory it once was.

The green gloves wiped away as many tears as he could before he tried to stand up. A wracking coughing fit forced him to stay on the ground, and as that fit ended, he rubbed his eyes and felt how irritated and sensitive they were. Very carefully he stood up, walked along the pathway upwards to his bad and huge chair, and immediately he went to the mirror first. He may have looked fine for the most part, but his nose was twitching, his eyes almost formed black rings underneath them, and his mouth was open and trembling, his erratic breathing was begging his body to get in another coughing fit to prove how feeble he felt right now.

First he tried to get a tall glass of water. Now that he knew he was sick, he knew his throat would demand water sooner-or-later. Too bad that as he poured the water into the glass his nose quivered and his breath hitched just two quick warning breaths before his gloved hand rushed for his face to stop a sneeze. Unfortunately the water he had poured splashed all on his face, some droplets dripping from his hair. His whole body shook and gave a shudder as the cold water made him feel like ice was surrounding him.

Not caring how much water he had, he poured as much as he could in just a few seconds before heading into his bed, shivering constantly even as he pulled the fancy sheets over himself. He tried to think happily, truly he did. It was just his nature to try and be happy, but with no one around and knowing it was his own fault that no one was around, he felt utterly miserable.

The Once-ler felt his cheeks grow warmer. "A fever now? What could possibly be worse than that? " He whispered to himself. "That's right, I know what is worse. Having all of your friends and family gone. No one is…hi…heah…heeh…HE'XSho!" Even his own sneeze was weak. Still, his nose was aggravated and continued to try and get a tickle out, but the Once-ler's glove was already covering his face in a motion that made his hand cover both his nose and his mouth.

As he laid there in that position he could literally feel his fever getting worse. He couldn't see himself, but he knew his face was flushed now and he was sweating a little bit. Not wanting to make himself cold by removing his sheets, he chose instead to just suffer from his fever for now. "Hunnh…why? If only…"

A feverish glazed look overtook his eyes and again memories flooded his mind. Swinging axes, spinning axes in the air while singing, getting mountains of money from his invention, and having himself feel successful for the first time in his life during the booming period of his business were quickly followed by pictures and memories of the Lorax himself, the adorable creatures, and marshmallows. Tossing and turning in his bed, the Once-ler fought with himself as his guilt and his guilty pleasure for being greedy both seemed to be appearing in his mind at the same time. It wasn't until the look on his faithful mule's face and the rejection of the marshmallow by the friendliest creature he had met made him cry while in his bed.

"It's all my fault…" He gave a feeble cough and his whole body shivered again as the Lorax's warnings came next.

"You have been warned."

"The forces of nature will come upon you."

Do you know which way a tree falls? It leans. Be careful where you lean."

"I told you, it doesn't work like that."

"Hopefully they'll find a better place."

All of those animals marching out in endless lines, the look on the Lorax's face as he ascended into the sky, and having his family abandon him AGAIN made the Once-ler's depression really sink through. Sniffling and shaking like a little sick child, he fell asleep and didn't know how long he was out for.

By the time he woke back up, his fever was still there but it wasn't as bad as it was before. His nose still tingled and a strong coughing fit told him he was still nowhere near cured of this illness yet. His eyes dull and downcast, he stared blankly at a wall until he either a cough or a sneeze broke his concentration. Utterly miserable and feeling like a gloomy cloud hanged over his head constantly, it took every ounce of strength to get up out of his shelter called a bed.

His head hung down as he stepped outside, took a sniff, and instantly wished he hadn't. The powerful smoggy air hit him hard. "He…heh…heEK'SSEEW! H'TSsHO!" Feeling even more pathetic, he sniffled and traveled a few steps, closing his eyes as a headache came over him. Suddenly, just as he was about to start sobbing again for just the mood that hung over him like a wet towel, he spotted one tiny thing. Something so small it was barely noticeable…could it be possible? Was it real? Picking up this small object, the Once-ler pressed his gloves around it and hugged his closed hands. However, what could he do? He couldn't do anything now…unless…

That single word appeared over and over in his mind constantly. It appeared so often his mental status moved to the brink of insanity. Just to keep himself sane he carved that word into a stone and placed that stone so he could see it from the comfort of his bedroom without ever leaving it. Still feeling miserable but now having a slim chance of hope, his dull eyes had a faint glimmer of his original happy look to them. It was tiny, so small that one may have mistook it for a glare instead of a happy look, but it was still there. His feverish feeling returning, he got back into his bed and closed his eyes while at the same time he talked to himself, being the only person in the world he could talk to now. "I am just one person. I can't make a difference…unless I have someone else come here. Unless there is just one person that cares, nothing I do can change this place." Closing his eyes and breathing roughly, the Once-ler again looked helpless, weary, and gloomy as he laid there. How likely was it for someone to come to see him? Extremely unlikely…and he knew that too. First things first…he needed to get better from this illness.

He never fully got out of his depressive state, which is why he went from a happy optimistic young man into a bitter-sounding old man.

[Invisibles]

*Squeee* This is just super adorable <3~

I love anything involving Oncie, and this is just too precious~!