(Insert maniacal laughter here. I really was interested in getting some predictions! Ah well. They're always welcome! I don't own Oz, the Great and Powerful, despite my passionate desire to.)

"...Have we met before?"

The great projection faced the girl, now solitary in the throne room. Janaye and Denique had been instantaneously dismissed with no degree of formality, resulting in an insulted glare in Oscar's projectory direction. This did not faze him. He was much too occupied.

The girl who stood in front of his projection shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing slightly, her voice trembling under his gaze.

"No, sir, I don't think so."

Oscar rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times.

"Annie," he ventured, his voice threatening to snap at the familiarity of the name in accordance to the features, "I think you would be perfect for Lady Glinda as her apprentice. Congratulations."

The girl Annie's face perked up, a tentative smile on her face that made Oscar's heart skip only slightly. True, she was clearly a mere girl as opposed to a woman; seventeen or eighteen, not quite as developed facially as the Annie he had left behind. Oscar still recognized her as clear as day, as the girl he had spent his entire childhood with. Annie from Kansas stood in front of him, complete with the nervous yet friendly expression of meeting someone new and the pure warmth emanating from her. Oscar could almost see it, as if it were a tangible thing.

"Thank you so much, most kind and gracious Wizard! I shall do my very best to please Lady Glinda," Annie said, her smile bringing a similar one to Oscar's face.

"I know you will. Now return to your family, let them know of your apprenticeship. I shall have someone notify you when Glinda the Good is ready for you."

Oscar didn't understand how Annie's family could be in Oz, or how Annie was in Oz in the first place. He wondered if she had brought them, her mother and father and older brother, somehow.

"I shall do that instantly! Oh, I cannot wait," she gushed. "I have two aunts, my mother's sisters, that are my guardians," she added, "My parents died long ago. Oh, they'll be so pleased with my accomplishment! I had thought that they were going to disown me if I didn't do something worthwhile, such as this!"

With that, the girl scurried out the door.

~O~

Only minutes later, Oscar staggered out of the booth, blinking rapidly in pure confusion. How was Annie here? This couldn't be possible. Could it? After all, he had gotten to Oz. Maybe she had tried to follow him. It was an entertaining and slightly flattering notion. As he mulled over this strange new development, his mind was too befuddled to realize that he was walking up the many ascending, spiral and vertical and diagonal staircases to reach the common room, which was still, to his belief, locked and occupied. When he found himself in front of the clearly not locked door (judging from the slight opening that led Oscar to acknowledge that it was partially open), he shook himself. Why was the door open? Had Glinda felt well enough to leave? For a moment, he was tempted to search the castle, feeling as if he had just missed her leaving, but decided to check the common room first.

Opening the door all the way, Oscar almost crashed into a particularly violent and savage looking chunk of glass half the size of him wedged in the floor. With a quick scan of the room, he noticed just how...precise everything seemed to be placed. The glass seemed to stick up like the pointy rocks in the ground - Oscar didn't know the term, geology had never been quite his speed - in a complete circle, followed by a slightly smaller ring inside made up of smaller chunks of upwards reaching glass, and another ring of pure glass dust, all coated with a thick layer of broken, splintered wood. This did not seem like pure coincidence.

Stepping over many obstacles, Oscar scampered through the rings of death and first checked his own personal chambers, more out of habit than wont. Besides, he did not like the idea of sleeping on his throne; making sure his chambers were intact was a priority. Luckily for him, all seemed undisturbed. The bed was just as he had left it: unmade and wrinkled terribly. The wardrobe and surfaces were just as he had left it: askew, dusty, and in complete and utter chaos. Although, he noted, as he spun around once in a survey, something seemed off. As if something was missing.

After another few minutes of close scrutiny, he figured it out. His one photograph was gone. No wonder his room had seemed only just slightly out of whack; the picture was probably the one thing that signified it was his chambers as opposed to someone else's.

The photo, aged a few years, something he had always kept where ever he had gone, was missing from his dusty dresser, leaving a vacant, clean spot amidst the clutter. The photo was special to his heart, not like any other photo he had taken or seen, or possessed.

The picture of a nineteen year old Oscar, and a seventeen year old Annie, smiling together for the world to see.

(Hmm, suspicious...Where has Oscar's photo gone, and does this have any relevance to the new Annie who's popped up? Would you guys prefer short chapters and many updates, medium chapters and medium updates, or long chapters and tedious updates? I'd like to hear your input. Although I can't resist writing like a crazy person for this story.

REMEMBER, I would seriously love to hear some predictions/guesses/accusations/etcetera on what you think is going on in Oz! *sings* Something bad's, happening in Oz! Under the surface, behind the scenes!)