The Return to Cephiro- A MKR/Oz Crossover

by Scandiadream

A Magic Knight Rayearth/Return to Oz Crossover

The Return to Cephiro

A Magic Knight Rayearth/Wizard of Oz Crossover

by Scandiadream scandiadream@hotmail.com

Rated- PG for possible innuendo.

Disclaimer- Rayearth and its characters belong to CLAMP. The Oz characters were created by L. Frank Baum. This crossover fanfic was written by me, inspired by Return to Oz, which I like even better than the original book/movie. Plus me being a purple and green freak, this one gave me a chance for this. So this fic will begin more or less where Return to Oz does.

Hikaru Shidou finally returned back home thanks to the Ruby Slippers. As much as she enjoyed being in Cephiro, she was happy to be back with her Aunt Kotori and Uncle Kamui. But even though Hikaru left Cephiro, the mystical land of Cephiro had never quite left her. She knew that Clef the Wizard and Presea the Good Witch had fallen in love and gotten married. And she also knew that now Lantis the Scarecrow had a brain and was going to school, Ferio the Tin Woodsman had a heart and could care for the forests, and Ascot the Lion was now brave enough to perform in the circus. But she had nagging thoughts that something was not right.

"Caldina, what did you find here?" Hikaru talked to her favorite hen one morning. Caldina always laid the tastiest eggs. "It appears to be a key...C! It must stand for Cephiro!" Hikaru could not believe it, but the key's handle did seem to have the letter C in it.

"Aunt Kotori look! The key has the letter C in it. It HAS to be from Cephiro!" Hikaru ran towards her aunt.
"Now Hikaru, it must be from the old house. I probably turned it hundreds of times". Kotori said.
Kotori and Kamui were worried- since the earthquake Hikaru had been talking about a strange world of fantasy. They knew that all girls that age daydreamed quite a bit, but this seemed very strange.

"Hikaru, we are going to Dr. Kinomoto. He will be able to help you" Kotori told her niece one day.
"What will he do?" Hikaru asked. She was very suspicious of this.
"He has an excellent reputation as a psychiatrist. He will do you good. Farewell ladies, see you tomorrow."
Kamui told his wife and niece.

Dr. Fujitaka Kinomoto was very considerate to Hikaru, and he seemed to know what he was doing.
"We will use biofeedback in order to remove the bad dreams and hallucinations"
Natasha, the head nurse (and also Dr. Kinomoto's wife) brought in the biofeedback machine. The computer system he used was an established medical one. However, Hikaru would not forget about Cephiro.

That night, Hikaru slept at the clinic. Just before she went to bed, a girl a few years older than her came to say hi to her.
"Hi Hikaru! Have some chocolates- it will be Valentine's Day soon." The girl was very kind, but seemed sad. Hikaru at first assumed that the girl was Sakura, Dr. Kinomoto's daugher, who took after her Russian mother Natasha. But then Hikaru remembered that Sakura was just 10 (Hikaru was 14)- Hikaru's intuition told her something was very wrong.

Shortly, another visitor stopped by. This one was not as friendly.
"Here Hikaru! Come with Nurse Shashi!" Shashi was very mean and gave Hikaru the chills, unlike Dr. Kinomoto who was so gentle.

Lightning stroke, the lights went out, and Hikaru snuck past Shashi. She sure did not want to be treated by her. Hikaru ran quickly, and hopped into a boat in the river and fell asleep.

But when she woke up, the river did not look as usual.
"Uh, ah, Caldina?" Hikaru was surprised at seeing her pet hen next to her in the boat.
"Good morning Hikaru!" Caldina replied.
"I did not know you could talk! Where are we? This looks like...Cephiro!"
"You mean that place you're always talking about? It is weird, how it goes from totally barren desert to lush woods immediately".
"Oh my, this must be the deadly desert then! But if we step on the stones, nothing will happen."

Hikaru and Caldina entered the forest and grabbed two lunch pails from the tree.
"What's this- is this a yellow brick I see? This means this is the Yellow Brick Road, leading to the Emerald City. That's great- let's go see my friends. You have to meet Lantis, and Ferio, and Ascot, and Presea the Good Witch and Clef the Wizard".
Caldina was gazing at how different this land was to where they came from.

But their arrival in Emerald City was not as pleasant as they thought it would be. Shortly after entering the gates, Hikaru saw Clef and Presea sitting on a bench looking as if they had been talking. Hikaru approached them...and saw that they had turned into stone!
"Clef, Wizard of Cephiro, did one of your tricks go wrong?" Hikaru said, not kidding at all.
Then she looked around and saw people of all ages who had also been frozen. A wall had been written with the words "Beware of the Wheelers"
"What is a Wheeler?" Caldina asked.
"Unlike the Ma-ti's, who are all talk, the Wheelers can actually be dangerous. Let's get out of here!"
And before she could finish this, some nasty looking thugs on rollerblades with pizza slicers in their hands came running after her.
Hikaru saw that there was a door behind her. Quickly, she took out her C key and opened it, hiding behind. It seemed desolate, until she saw a robot.
"Lafarge. Human android. To think, wind up 1. To speak, wind up 2. And to walk and move, wind up 3". Hikaru did as the instructions told her.
"Who are you? Last thing I remember is that Princess Alcyone locked me up." Lafarge said.
"Princess Alcyone?" Hikaru asked as they stepped out. The Wheelers tried to attack the trio, but Lafarge quickly wiped most of them out.
"What do you know? Why have all these people turned to stone?" Lafarge asked a Wheeler whom he was able to catch.
"It was the work of Princess Alcyone. She is trying to turn them into subjects for the Gnome King. She now works for him."
"So that means our real Princess?"
"I do not know anything else. Please let me go, and nobody will be hurt."
Lafarge let the Wheeler go. Hikaru realized that to find out more, she would have to talk to Princess Alcyone herself.

Hikaru and her friends walked into the palace. In the middle of the main hall there was a very alluring woman. She was entertaining a male visitor.
"Why we have a very young visitor. And who may you be, little girl?"
"My name is Hikaru Shidou. Please tell me, why have all these people turned into stone?" Hikaru demanded of Alcyone.
"Ah, insolence. Someone has let you know too much. I'll take care of you later." Alcyone locked Hikaru and company up in a room. Lucky for the gang, Alcyone was thinking more of her visitor than of security.

Hikaru looked around the room. In a sofa there was a very beautiful young man sleeping. How could he sleep through this, Hikaru did not know. But she woke him up.
"What happened? My princess...wait a second, you are not my fiancee." the lad suddenly looked sad.
"What have they done to her?"
"Your fiancee? I do not think I quite understand. I just arrived to Cephiro. My name is Hikaru Shidou."
"I am Zagato. The real princess and I are engaged to be married- but the Knome King wanted to take over. He made Alcyone, a royal courtesan, betray my princess and imprison her. When I tried to defend her, Alcyone put me to sleep, so that I could not prevent her from imprisoning the one I love."
"I will not permit this. But where does that horrible knome king live?" Hikaru asked.
"Over that mountain across the Forest of Silence and Deadly Desert" Zagato pointed out the window.
"Now how are we going to get there? It's not like I can fly you all" Caldina remarked.
"Hmmm, these leaves could serve as wings, this couch as a buggy, and this eagle head as the director. Now if we could make it fly." Lafarge was thinking.
"I got it! Alcyone keeps something called the Powder of Life in the same chest where she keeps all the make-up and jewelry her boyfriends have given her." Zagato shuddered at the mention of this name.

Hikaru snuck out to retrieve the powder. Alcyone was fast asleep, so Hikaru could grab it. But unfortunately, on her way out, the door made a noise, and Alcyone woke up.
"What? They could not have escaped!"

"What's going on?" the eagle head spoke now attached to the sofa.
"Come on Eagle, you can fly!" Lafarge said.
Hikaru, Zagato, Lafarge, and Caldina all hopped onto Eagle's couch body. Eagle now flapped his wings thanks to the Powder of Life. They flew out the window just as Alcyone entered the room.

"Dammit! Now what will the knome king say about this? Oh well, they're probably harmless. It's not like SHE escaped." Alcyone took a malicious look at the mirror. In it there was what appeared to be a pale female figure moving, as if trying to exit.

"So, Zagato, what happened to your fiancee the princess?"
"I do not know. Nobody seems to know anything- Lafarge and Eagle sure do not seem to. It is as if she disappeared mysteriously. That gnome king better not, better not..." Zagato was clearly upset. Hikaru extended her hand to his.
"We will find her. I know she is alive" Something did tell Hikaru that her friend's true love and heir to Cephiro was alive indeed.

"News, Your Majesty. Quartet coming from two o'clock. And they may have a chicken."
"CHICKEN? ACK!" the Gnome King trembled, as if he had a chicken phobia.

The bunch all landed safely. But Caldina was inside Zagato's knapsack, so she could not be seen or heard from outside.
"We do not see any chickens. We may just be paranoid" a rock guard told the king.
A figure appeared from the stone.
"Welcome here, children. I am the Gnome King. Please enter my castle." He seemed unusually polite.
"I am Hikaru Shidou, Your Majesty". Hikaru was freaking out on the inside, but she made sure to be courteous. "And this are my friends Lafarge, Eagle, and Zagato." Since Zagato was dressed in modest clothes, the Gnome King did not recognize him yet.

"Do you have my friends Lantis, Ferio, and Ascot? They are a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion". Hikaru asked politely.
"They stole the emeralds, so now they paid!" Lafarge and Zagato knew this was not like that, but Hikaru did not quite know.
"No they did not. They are innocent!" Hikaru began to cry.
"I will give you a chance to bring them back. Each one of you has three guesses. Touch an object and say 'Cephiro'. If you guess correctly, you will revive one of your friends back. If not, you will be turned into an ornament. Why don't you go first, Eagle?"

Eagle accepted. But after a few minutes, they could see the Gnome King look less like rock and more like a human being.
Zagato decided to go next. "If I am an ornament, I will not miss my fiancee anymore".
"Aw, Zagato, you can do it." Zagato went inside, with Caldina inside his knapsack, still unseen.
But the Gnome King turned even more human after a while.

Lafarge went next. A while passed.
"It appears that your friend has stopped moving after his second guess."
"Oh, he needs to be wound up!" Hikaru stated.
"Then you may go in, and he still has his last chance, and you have three" the Gnome King let Hikaru in.

A frantic chariot ran into the palace. It was Princess Alcyone.
"They have escaped! They are on their way! And they have a CHICKEN!"
"I know. "
"How do you know?"
"They are here! Now KNEEL! I will spare your life, but that is only because there was no chicken in their party." an overconfident Gnome King said.
"At least it's not like I let Emeraude escape."
"Do NOT mention that name in my presence again. I don't even know why you keep her alive."

"Lafarge! Here, I'll wind you up."
"Hey, I just pretended to run out so that we could work together. If I fail, please take note of what kind of object I am, so that you may have a clue."
Lafarge touched a pretty chandelier "Cephiro". But he turned into a medal with a green ribbon.

"A brass medal with a green ribbon."
"Would the object be shiny- Cephiro!" Hikaru said as she touched a shiny silver spoon. Nothing.
"Could it be a ribbon- Cephiro?" Hikaru now touched a fancy hairbow. Nothing again.
"Maybe it is green- Cephiro!!!" Hikaru touched a jade bowl. A cloud of smoke appeared. Now it had turned into a scarecrow.
"Lantis!!!!!" Hikaru shouted as she hugged her friend.
"Hikaru! You're back! I missed you so much!"
"We have to rescue our friends! People from Cephiro are GREEN objects!" First they turned Lafarge back. Then a green branch was Ferio the Tin Man. A green ribbon was Ascot the Lion. And then they saw a gold ring with a green emerald in the middle- that would be Zagato.

But then they noticed the roof crumbling on top of them. It was the Gnome King, now nearly completely turned into stone.
"You scoundrels! You will not get away with this!"
"But you gave all of us three choices!" Hikaru said.
"I was not expecting this! But I will devour all of you one by one! First is you, wacky bird!". The Gnome King grabbed the sofa from Eagle's head and finished it off.
"Then it's you, pretty boy! If there's something that will hurt the princess more than destroying her city, it is destroying the man she loves!" the Gnome King grabbed Zagato.
"If he eats me, and the worst has happened to my princess, at least we will be together now." Zagato resigned himself.
But he did not remember that Caldina had snuck into his knapsack.
"Cluck! What the heck is this? I am not becoming chicken stew!"
"A CHICKEN?" the Gnome King shuddered.
"You are NOT going to hurt my friends anymore!" Caldina bombarded him with her only weapon- the egg she just laid.
"AN EGG?"
The egg landed into the Gnome King's mouth while he still had Zagato in his hand.
"POISON! Don't you know that to Gnomes, eggs are poison?" the Gnome King screamed. But it was not long till he was turned solid, then crumbled.
"No I did not, but glad I found out!"

And as soon as the Gnome King died, the spell was reverted. The Emerald City was lit up with its returned emeralds. Clef and Presea began talking again, but did notice that something had happened.
Hikaru, Lafarge, Zagato, Eagle, Caldina, Lantis, Ferio, and Ascot returned triumphantly to the Emerald Palace. Even Alcyone managed to sneak in, only to be distracted quickly by one of the cute guys who had just been revived.

"Hikaru, please become Queen of Cephiro" Lantis asked.
"Yes, please do" Ferio agreed. All her friends cheered.
"I would like to. But doesn't Cephiro have a crown princess already?" Hikaru asked, not giving hope, even though Zagato seemed to be so melancholic.
"Look at the mirror!" Caldina pointed out.
Walking towards Hikaru there was a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair and eyes as green as emeralds. She looked quite a bit like the older girl who had brought her candy at the hospital, so Hikaru was surprised.
"Emeraude!" Zagato exclaimed with joy at seeing his real fiancee.
Hikaru helped Emeraude out of the mirror. She thanked her warmly, then ran into her beloved's arms.
"Now Cephiro is a happy place again. Now we have our future queen back." Presea rejoiced.
"But what will happen to Alcyone? She betrayed you after all." Clef asked.
"I have forgiven Alcyone. Hikaru breaking the spell took her powers away, and without power, a witch cannot do much." Emeraude stated.

"Hikaru, do you have any wishes that I may grant you?" Emeraude asked the young girl.
"Just please send me home safely."
"With one condition- we will watch over you, and you may come visit us anytime."
"Of course, I will try to find out a way to sneak over here!"
Hikaru hugged all her friends good-bye, then clicked her ruby slippers 3 times.
"There's no place like home!"

Hikaru woke up in the same boat where she had fallen asleep before. But she knew this was NOT a dream.
"Hikaru, are you all right?" Aunt Kotori and Uncle Kamui ran and helped Hikaru get back into the ground. Mokona, her little doggie, was happily wagging her tail at seeing her.
"There was a storm. But everyone in the clinic is fine. Dr. Kinomoto, and Natasha, and little Sakura all are hoping that biofeedback helped you. However, Shashi did not show up at work today, and nobody has been able to reach her.

A few days later, Hikaru was looking at the mirror in her bureau. All of a sudden she saw not her own face, but that of a beautiful blonde princess in a wedding dress. It was Emeraude. Hikaru became joyful and yelled "Aunt Kotori!", hoping there was convincing proof for her aunt. A handsome young man, Zagato, was now embracing his bride in the reflection. And next to them was Caldina with a green ribbon around her neck! Hikaru now knew she did not want to spoil the moment- so she flipped the mirror over.

"What is it, Hikaru?"
"Oh, I just saw a cute mouse, but it seems to have run away!"
"Don't worry. But please flip the mirror correctly."
Hikaru worried at first, but when Aunt Kotori flipped the mirror, the reflection was normal. However, Hikaru knew that Cephiro was now celebrating a royal wedding and everyone was happy.

The End

You won't believe how the movie inspired me to write a fanfic after a dry spell. I got this image of Momby as Alcyone, and Ozma as Emeraude, and it just flowed from there. This creative spirit will NOT be killed.