Disclaimer, I don't own the franchise, characters, etc.
Dorothy awoke a few hours later, she was now on her bed, the scepter she could see was floating a few inches away from her bed, as if standing guard. Alyssa was sitting there with a worried expression on her face. Dorothy then tried to sit up but found her head throbbing once again. She placed her hand on her forehead and groaned.
"Dorothy? do you need anything?" Alyssa asked concerned.
"Just a drink of water." Dorothy said quietly.
Alyssa nodded and got up, she then walked into the bathroom, and emerged a few seconds later with a glass of water. She handed it to Dorothy who sipped it slowly. She found her head feeling better. She was able to sit up but her head still hurt a bit.
"Dorothy, is there anything else you need?" came the voice of the Queen.
Dorothy looked around and eventually found that the queen was on the bedpost above her.
"Not really, just something for the headache." Dorothy said taking a few more sips from her water.
"Dorothy, what happened?" Alyssa asked curiously.
Dorothy then explained how the jester told them she'd be getting another friend back, but she didn't know who.
"And that's when I collapsed." Dorothy said ending the story.
"Why would he do that?" Alyssa asked.
"I don't know, but he sounded sad saying it." Dorothy said.
"Odd, but I don't want to think about the jester right now." Alyssa said.
"Me neither but we need to find a way to find him." Dorothy said reaching over and plucking the scepter from midair.
"Good point, we should try to find the location of the castle." Alyssa said.
"That's what Ellie and I were trying to do." Dorothy said.
Before the discussion could go any further a guard ran in panting.
"Miss Alyssa, Miss Dorothy, your majesty, we found a girl lying in the field outside the city, she is unconscious, but she is alive and breathing, we think it's one of your associates." The guard said.
Dorothy looked at Alyssa and jumped out of the bed, she didn't care that her head was still throbbing a bit she ran. Alyssa picked up the Queen and her guards, and then jogged after her. When they got to the field they found another guard carrying someone. Dorothy gasped when she realized who it was.
"Dear lord, Elena." Dorothy said gasping.
Alyssa then ran up to her and panted a few times, the queen still holding on, as was her guards. She then saw her sister and gasped.
"Sweet oz." Alyssa said offering to carry her.
"So you know her?" the soldier asked.
"She's my sister." Alyssa said starting to tear up.
The guard nodded and handed Elena off to Alyssa. Dorothy held out her hand for the queen and her soldiers to climb on. They nodded and did this and skittered up her arm and onto her shoulder.
"We should take her to my room, its closest in the city." Dorothy said.
"Are you sure?" Alyssa asked.
"She probably won't be happy to see me, so I might as well try to make up for it." Dorothy said.
"But I don't know when she'll wake up." Alyssa said.
"I never leave my friends in the lurch." Dorothy said.
Alyssa nodded and turned around, carrying her sister in her arm she walked to Dorothy's room. When she got there, she set Elena down on the bed, she then unstrapped the sword sheath from her sister's side and hung it on the bed post. That's when Dorothy walked in. she walked over to Elena setting the scepter down against the wall and walked over. She stood at the end of the bed and pulled off the flats Elena had been wearing setting them on the floor.
"Alyssa, where is Elena's room?" Dorothy asked getting up.
"It's not far from mine." Alyssa said, "Why?" she asked.
"She's a nurse, she must have some medicine lying about in her room somewhere." Dorothy said.
"There is, but there's no way you'd be able to make heads or tails of any of it without her little medicine guide." Alyssa said.
"Oh, um where's her little pouch?" Dorothy asked taking the blanket and pulling it over Elena's body.
"I think it's in her room, she wasn't wearing it when they found her." Alyssa said getting up and walking out, "summon for someone if she awakens." She added.
The queen looked at Dorothy then at Elena, she then walked over to a little bed that had bed made up for her and her guards. Elena shifted in the bed a bit, and groaned. She closed her eyes tighter. She then rubbed her eyes and opened them. When she saw Dorothy and scowled, she sat up and looked for her sword, the scepter sprang up and knocked it away causing the queen to stir.
"What's happening?" the queen asked looking at Elena.
"Your majesty." Elena said gasping, she then jumped out of the bed and bowed.
"Arise child." The queen said looking at Elena.
Elena then looked back at Dorothy, she backed slowly away from her as she went to pick up her sword. Dorothy looked at the scepter and then reached her hand out to grab the scepter so that it couldn't attack Elena.
"I don't want to fight you." Dorothy said.
"I don't want to fight you either but should it come down to it I will avenge my sister." Elena said picking up the sword and sheath.
Dorothy tightened her grip on the scepter. Then she giggled.
"What, you think it's funny that my sister is a statue!?" Elena yelled unsheathing her sword.
This time the scepter made no move to defend Dorothy this time. The Queen however did.
"Miss Elena, put that sword away." She commanded.
The sword clattered to the ground and Elena ran past Dorothy, and into the embrace of her sister.
"How? Oh sweet Oz, I thought I'd never see you again." Elena said, Dorothy smiled.
They all explained how all the events unfolded, when they got to the events about Ellie Dorothy stopped and sat down.
"Dorothy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up." Alyssa said.
"It's okay, it's just, oh never mind." Dorothy said wiping some tears from her eyes.
"You gave a list of your weaknesses to the jester in exchange for our freedom, are you INSANE!" Elena asked
"I said the same thing." Alyssa said handing Elena her medicine bag.
"I wonder why the jester would do that though he only promised one friend." Elena said looking at both them.
Meanwhile at castle grey.
The jester was pacing around his tower, twisting the wand between his fingers like a baton. He was looking in a crystal ball, he saw that Ellie had been crying, her sister hadn't gotten any better, but he had no idea what to do. He considered just letting her go, she wasn't going to get any better in that dungeon. He was feeling guilt, he didn't know why.
"I don't get it, I'm keeping prisoners to make the girl play into my hands, but I can't fathom why I'm feeling guilt about keeping statues, the marionettes didn't give me guilt, why this?" he asked himself.
He walked out of the room and the crystal went dark, he found himself at one of the many bedrooms, he went in and found it plain, dull and boring, but it would work, it was warmer in here than the dungeons. He felt he wasn't going to get the guilt off his back unless he assisted with the recovery. He went towards the dungeons and found a bedroom that was relatively closer to the dungeon, he himself didn't sleep much, he took the occasional catnap but that was about it. But the three prisoners he didn't have as stone statues didn't sleep much either by the looks of it. He then found himself walking towards the dungeons once more. When he got there he unlocked the cell, Ellie didn't stir, she had finally fallen asleep. Toto how ever did stir, he shook himself awake and saw the jester and barked. This made Ellie wake up, when she saw the jester and shrunk back.
"W-what do you want?" she managed to choke out.
The jester didn't speak, he just flicked the wand and their chains unlocked, he walked up to Glinda and placed a hand on her forehead, he immediately drew back and shivered. She was as cold as the marble in the room and somehow still alive. He then looked at Ellie who made no attempt to run, which surprised him.
"I broke your chains and you make no attempt to run, why?" he asked picking up Glinda.
"Like Dorothy I don't abandon the people I love, my sister made me forget her for my own protection, she had years of regret, I will not make my sisters mistakes." Ellie said getting up.
"Well then, you and Dorothy do have something in common, enthusiasm, spunk, and the love of others." The jester said carrying Glinda out of the dungeons.
Ellie and Toto followed, they were curious. The jester was pretty much offering hospitality to them. When they got to the bedroom closest to the dungeon he motioned for Ellie to open it. She did, as she looked in she saw a rather plain looking room, but it felt warmer and more welcoming than the dungeon. The jester walked over to the bed and set Glinda down on it.
"Why are you offering hospitality? It doesn't seem like a villain to do that." Ellie said picking up Toto.
"because child, for some reason I am feeling regret, guilt if you'd like, for just leaving you three in the cell, I don't know why but doing this just feels right, and admit it, she wasn't going to get any better if I kept her in that cell." The jester said pulling a blanket over Glinda's body.
"So in other words, though you are still wicked, you have some remorse and are having second thoughts?" Ellie asked a bit confused.
"That's putting it bluntly but yes, I am still wicked so to speak, I'm still plotting your friends doom, and yet, the game is changing in ways more than I would have hoped." He said taking a small book from his pocket and flipping through it.
Ellie out of curiosity tried to read the page that the jester was, he immediately shut the book and looked at her.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's rude to read over someone else's shoulder?" he asked placing his hand on the bridge of his large hooked nose and rubbing it.
"Yes, but what is that?" Ellie asked referring to the book.
"The rules of the game, they get made up as we go along, and I find it fun." He said chuckling.
"So, you really do see this as one big game them?" Ellie said walking to a chair and sitting down in it and petting Toto.
"Yep." He said walking out.
That night in the emerald city.
After a warm reunion with her sister, Alyssa and Elena, accompanied by the queen of the field mice, went to the library to search for information. Dorothy however did some more exploring using the map that Alyssa gave her. She eventually found herself at the hallway she had been in when she was confronted by the jester. The scepter was serving as a torch, she walked to one of the rooms that she hadn't been in and pushed the door open. Inside she found boxes of stuff, and a painting of the wizard himself. This made Dorothy smile, the wizard hadn't always been reclusive and she knew that, but inside she wondered what had become of him. She then left the room and began to think.
The wizard became the mysterious person that he did because of the witches. But when she killed them even then he didn't reveal his true self. But this was completely understandable given the circumstances. But she wondered about the witches, she knew that they held control over their domain with an iron fist but were they truly wicked, or did they just not have their moralities straight? She asked herself these questions, she began to tear up. She wished she could go back and ask the witch of the west why she was the person she had been. She must have had a childhood, something had to have made her the way she was. She began to cry a bit, then words that had heard before she just couldn't place them.
"Someone who is truly evil, is a person that has no one to weep for them." She said to herself.
But she wondered where she had heard it, but at the same time she didn't. She then walked over to another door and pushed it open. She found inside that the room was completely empty. She walked in and sat down in the center, she set down the scepter and pulled off her boots again. She then crossed her legs and closed her eyes. She began to relax, as her breathing slowed and her mind began to clear she began to feel calm and tranquility pass over her. After a while she sighed and got up, pulling on her boots and picking up the scepter she decided to go back to her room. After maybe ten minutes she found herself back in the part of the emerald city that she recognized. It didn't take her long to find her way back to her room from there. When she got back to her room she set the scepter down next to the door and walked over to the bed. Sitting down on it she pulled off her boots and lied down on it. It didn't take long for her to drift off to sleep.
However in the library, Elena and Alyssa were growing tired, they hadn't found anything about white marble castles anywhere.
"Find anything yet?" Elena shouted across the library.
"Nope, Have you three found anything?" Alyssa asked looking around for the queen and her two guards.
"negative." Came the voice of one of the guards
"Same." Came the voice of another.
"Alyssa, there are probably more than a couple thousand books in the library, it could take weeks for us to find any clues." The Queen said running up to her.
"I know, but it's the only lead we've got." She said.
Alyssa then put her hand out for the queen to climb onto. She bowed and did this, then she whistled for her guards who came running from two separate directions. They both then saluted and climbed onto Alyssa's hand. She smiled and climbed down the ladder she had been on.
"Elena, I'm bringing the queen and her guards to Dorothy's room, you should think about getting to bed as well." She called to her sister.
"Okay, hopefully we can find something in the morning." Elena said emerging from the bookshelves.
They all left the library rather tired, but hopeful that they would find something.
Meanwhile back at castle grey.
The jester was now pacing around the castle, the china princess and her giant marshmallow of a husband hand already been informed of what had happened with Glinda, they didn't seem too worried about it. But at this point being captive for so long made them too weak to care about anything. He walked up to tower and the crystal ball lit up with life. He waved the wand over it and the image of Dorothy, asleep in her room in the emerald city, he flicked it and it went to the image of Ellie, Toto and Glinda. Ellie had been crying again, he was beginning to wonder if this was caused by him, he just didn't know how he did it.
"I need to find a way to help Glinda recover before this guilt takes over me completely." He said to himself.
The game was taking longer than he hoped, his new plan was that if in three days' time had the girl not found him yet he would tell her himself. He really wanted to avenge not just his sisters, but his first loss against the girl. Because he knew far more than he was admitting to anyone, the only other person who knew this was Glinda. And she was not in a state to share secrets with anyone. So he would have to reveal it at some point himself, he walked over to a small curtain and pulled the tasseled rope next to it. Behind the curtain was a small book. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. He then laughed wickedly.