There she stood, Dorothy Gale, she had returned alive again. Truly a miracle! Her friends cried with her after their four month journey came to an end. She closed her eyes, and remembered how it felt when the Wizard was rescued and returned to the Emerald City. A smile and a tear met at the same time and combined as she opened her eyes. None of that mattered now.

"Toto," she whispered. "We're home!"

The dog didn't move however, he just sat there.

"Come on boy, let's go!"

He sat motionless. Dorothy then noticed that he was staring at her feet, she looked down and gasped.

"The ruby slippers! I can go back..."

Toto then got up and ran towards the house.

"Good idea." rejoiced his owner.

Emily Gale looked up from her work to see Dorothy standing there, tears streaming down her cheeks, a smile on her face. She dropped her work and ran to the child she had raised.

"Oh my dear child," said Aunt Em. "We thought you were dead!"

"I wasn't dead...just lost."

There was no point in trying to explain. The last time she tried to convince them, they did not believe her.

Life began to return to normal on the Kansas farm. Some people believe that everything happens for a reason, and really that's where this story begins.

"MR. GALE!!!!" came the cries of Hunk and Hickory in unison from the field. Dorothy, Aunt Em, and Uncle Henry looked up from their breakfasts and ran out to the field as fast as their feet would allow. Suddenly, Dorothy's legs refused to move and she tripped over herself.

Toto ran up to his mistress and began to whimper, worrying about her.

"Something bad has happened." she said to herself. "I can feel it!"

Dorothy got up despite the screams of pain in her legs and ran to find Zeke had broken his leg. She let out a sigh and ran to his side.

"Zeke," said Dorothy kneeling next to him. "What happened?"

"There was a stampede of horses, one of them outran me and stepped on my leg! I'm sorry Mr. Gale, I know you needed my help for the harvest, but I don't think I'll be of much use now."

Zeke hung his head in defeat.

"Don't worry about it Zeke, you'll rest until you're better, we'll manage."

Henry replied. Dorothy stood.

"I'll help Uncle Henry."

"No Dorothy." Aunt Em answered. "It's too dangerous for you to be working in the fields. Besides, it's unladylike."

Uncle Henry shook his head.

"Em, I think it would be good for her to work a little. Maybe she'll learn something. Dorothy, it would be a great help if you'd take Zeke's place for a while. You think you're up for it?"

"Mr. Gale?" said Hunk. "I don't know about this, what if she gets hurt? She's only fifteen years old, it's hard work!"

"Yes," said Hickory. "What if she dehydrates and passes out? What if we couldn't get there in time?"

"I'm not that weak am I?" said Dorothy cocking an eyebrow. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, living on my own has taught me so much. I would be honored to help Uncle Henry."

The proud uncle patted Dorothy on the back, while Hickory and Hunk exchanged worried looks and helped Zeke back to the house.

The next day, Dorothy began her work. She went out into the fields before any of her family members had even awakened. Looking around, she knew she had a rough day ahead. Dorothy rolled up her sleeves and went to work.

When Hickory and Hunk got out to the fields, they were impressed to see Dorothy had already finished picking the corn and had started on the cotton. By afternoon when it was almost time for lunch, she was bleeding heavily on her face and hands having cut herself on the cotton plants.

Meanwhile, Hickory and Hunk took a brake from their plowing to have a drink of water.

"What do you think about Dorothy working in the fields?" asked Hunk.

"I think she has a great passion." replied Hickory. "You can tell that she would do anything for Em and Henry. What do you think?"

"Oh, I agree with you on that." said Hunk. "It's just....I don't know....I have a bad feeling. Something's not right."

Hickory nodded slowly, but shrugged it off.

"Come on, we'd better go get Dorothy for lunch."

The cotton and corn had all been gathered. Dorothy put it in baskets and buckets.

'I'm going to have to make a whole lot of trips to get this all back to the house!' she thought.

"Wow!" said Hickory. "You got a lot of work done Dorothy. Good job!"

She turned around to face her friends and they gasped when they saw blood trickling down her delicate face.

"Oh my God!" said Hunk gently taking her face in his hands. "How'd you manage that?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I guess I'll have to be more careful when working with the cotton from now on."

Hunk smiled and nodded at her determination. Dorothy grabbed two of the heavy buckets and started walking to the house while Hunk and Hickory took the rest. As the house began to rise over the hills, they stopped.

Dorothy dropped the buckets and began running toward the house, her mind numb. "Dorothy, no!" screamed Hunk. "Come back!"

They followed after her toward the farm house, which was engulfed in flames.

She ran as fast as humanly possible.

'It can't be!' Dorothy's mind screamed. 'I have to do something!'

With all her strength, Dorothy threw herself through the front window. She kept her face down as she hit the glass. To Dorothy, everything was in slow motion, and the only sound to be heard was the sound of her breathing. When the glass had finished cutting through her skin, Dorothy landed hard on the floor of her house which become hell on earth, and the world beneath her shattered.

She felt her way through. She heard Toto barking. Dorothy felt blood drip from her forehead and pain began to run through her body like electric shocks. The smoke began to fill her lungs and so Dorothy got on her hands and knees and began to crawl through her house allowing oxygen to once again flood her chest.

Feeling desperate and helpless, she began to scream out for them.

"Aunt (*cough*) Em! Uncle Henry, (*cough* *cough*) where are you? PLEASE, ANSWER ME!"

Dorothy heard someone call out to her faintly and she crawled over to find Uncle Henry on the ground next to Aunt Em, who lay motionless and unconscious.

"Dorothy," he whispered. "Go, I want you to get out."

"NO!" she replied. "I won't leave you! I can get you out of here. Oh no! AUNT EM!"

Henry grabbed her arms. "Dorothy listen to me, be a good girl and do what you're told. I'm not asking you I'm telling you to get out."

"But..."

"NOW!"

Dorothy broke down and cried on her uncle's chest. She stood defeated and began feeling her way through the heavy smoke.

Dorothy felt alone, she had to follow his orders, she couldn't disobey. By the time she could see the rays of light from outside, doubts made their way to her heart. Heart took over, and Dorothy turned around and went back.

When she'd found the right spot again, however, it was already taken over by flames...she knew they were gone. Dorothy fell amongst the flames and vowed not to move. She knew it wasn't what they wanted, but that was irrelevant now. The only family she'd ever known was dead, what was there to survive for now? Then she remembered!

Suddenly, the ruby slippers disappeared and Dorothy passed out among the flames.

It had happened before when she was in danger, and it happened again. Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion stood in the main hall of the Emerald City now with the ruby slippers in their hands.

"What should we do?" said Lion. "This is terrible, worse than terrible even!"

"We have to go find her." replied Scarecrow. He tapped the heels in his hands together and said, "Take us to Dorothy!" They began to glow and then everything grew dark.

When they could see again, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion realized what had happened. They were in Kansas, that they could tell. They ran and hid behind a bush and watched in horror. But when they looked around, they saw no sign of Dorothy.

"Oh no!" said Tin Man. "She must still be in there!"

They looked up to see a man pull someone out of the house, and relief came to them when they realized it was Dorothy.

Hunk covered her in a blanket as she opened her eyes and Dorothy began to shiver. It was raining now, and the fire was almost completely burned out, but how long Dorothy had been in the house was unclear to her. Toto, Aunt Em, and Uncle Henry were gone, she'd failed them.

Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion went back to Oz and sent the slippers back to Dorothy.

"Do you think she'll be ok Scarecrow?" asked Lion.

"I hope so Lion." he replied.

The ruby slippers had reappeared on her feet. Dorothy could feel them come back and knew that her friends had checked on her. It gave her a warm feeling of confidence that there was still someone who loved her. Dorothy then closed her eyes and remembered.

...Dorothy had fallen amongst the smoke and flames. This was her worst nightmare. Then suddenly, light flooded the darkness, the door had been kicked down. Strong, warm arms wrapped around Dorothy and pulled her to salvation once more. It was Hunk! Hickory and a limping Zeke stood outside waiting for her with a blanket and support for their Dorothy.

They had all seen Dorothy grow up into a beautiful young woman, only to crash among flames in defeat at the loss of the only family she'd ever known. As for her actual family, no one could ever answer her questions, and it gave them a heavy feeling of guilt. So now, Hunk, Hickory and Zeke were all she had, or so they thought.

For days, Dorothy refused to leave. She would simply lie wrapped in a blanket outside the wreckage of her once beloved home crying...hurting...regreting. The others stayed in the neighbor's house two miles off to the west. They'd go to her during the day and try to get her to eat or at least to move, but Dorothy refused.

One night...the songs played...she heard them...flashes of light and feelings of love... Then reality flashed back in front of her eyes. Dorothy sat up, and knew what she had to do. A note was written to the last loved ones that she had on the dreary Kansas prairie.

"I've lost everything," said Dorothy to herself. "But now maybe I can gain some of it back."

*CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK*

"There's no place like Oz, there's no place like Oz!"

And into the darkness of the night, Dorothy Gale vanished.

The next morning, Hunk, Hickory, and Zeke (who was now on homemade crutches) went again to try to get Dorothy to get up. But when they reached the spot she had been, there was nothing but a note. Hunk bent down and took it in his hands and stood to read it with his comrades. It read:

My Dearest Friends,

I am going through a tremendous pain right now, and I must listen to my heart. I've lost so much, and I think now I can gain some of it back. Thank you for always being there for me, I love you so very much. I want you to build a new house, hire some more hands, and run the farm. I leave it to you now, I know you'll see to it that it's taken care of. Just know this my friends, you will always be in my heart, and you are my family, I've never doubted that for a second! Never! On my eighteenth birthday, you will see me again. So, I'll see you soon my friends! Keep me in your prayers, as I will pray for you.

Love always,

~Your Dorothy~

The thought of Dorothy leaving them caused Hunk, Hickory and Zeke to cry tears of sorrow.

"She says she'll be back," said Hickory. "Maybe she will!"

"Yeah Hunk! I know you're worried, but she's strong. She'll come back."

"But where did she go?" asked Hunk. "Who's going to look after her? ::sighs:: I guess we'll just have to pray that Dorothy keeps her word."

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Ok, that's it for now. I hope you're enjoying this! I'm working very hard. Thanks, more is coming, I promise!

~*Tori*~