A/N: I promised myself that I was not going to make apologies, only updates. So that's what I plan on doing. For those of you still reading, the story is wrapping up. I anticipate about seventeen/eighteen chapters when all is said and done.
It's been a long, long while, so for those of you in need of a brief refresher: I left you precisely at the cusp of Fiyero/the Scarecrow's appearance in the Wizard of Oz storyline. I made up (most of) the following scenes myself to fit the POV and plot.
New Acquaintances
The sun was bright, the sky was blue--and I had absolutely no idea who or where I was.
Consciousness came suddenly, as if it had always been there, and soon after, the realization of being. I was "solid" (even though I wasn't quite sure what that meant). I was also elevated off the ground (what an interesting word!), on a pole. I felt giddy.
Experimentally, I wiggled my fingers. And laughed. What an interesting sensation!
Now if I only I could remember...
Everything else slipped into the background as movement caught the corner of my eye. A small someone was wandering down the yellow brick road in front of me.
As she (it was a little "girl," the word slipped into place) passed in front of me, she stopped, sighing.
"I think we're lost, Toto," she said to the small black creature at her feet, which wagged its tail.
Speech sounded fun, so I decided to try it.
"You're only lost if you don't know where you're going." What marvelous rhetoric.
The child looked up at me. She seemed startled, so I kept still, hoping not to frighten her. After a moment, she shook her head and turned away.
"It's just a scarecrow, Toto, don't be frightened. They can't talk."
A scarecrow. So that was me. That was nice. The girl did not seem to know I was alive, so I guessed I must be individual. Even better.
I lifted an arm. "You could go that way..."
She spun, observed me frozen, with one hand pointed. I waited until she'd looked away before switching arms.
"Or that way..."
"Oh dear," the girl murmured without turning.
I grinned. "Of course, people do go both ways!"
This time, she caught me in mid-motion, as I crossed my arms.
"You can talk!" she exclaimed. I nodded cheerfully. She stepped closer. "I don't mean to be rude, but in Kansas, scarecrows aren't alive."
I shrugged. "They usually aren't here, either." I had no idea how I knew this, but it was the truth. "Where's Kansas?"
"It's where I'm from. Back over the rainbow, I think. I'm trying to get there now." She squinted up at me. "Can I help you down?"
"That would be wonderful." I beamed. "Now, I'm not sure - I seem to be brainless, and can't remember anything before meeting you - but there's a nail that perhaps you could bend..."
The child stepped around the pole, and a second later I tumbled to the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, falling to her knees beside me.
"It didn't hurt," I reassured her, grabbing a fistful of straw and sticking it under my shirt. "You don't seem at all frightened of me--I mean, if scarecrows don't talk back in Kanso."
"Kansas," she corrected automatically. "And, well--a lot of odd things have happened to me today. I'm Dorothy, by the way."
I shook her hand. "I don't know if I have a name, but you may call me Scarecrow. What sort of odd things?"
She helped me to my feet and placed her little basket over her arm. "Well, first, a tornado lifted my house right into the air and brought me here. A town of little people--Munchkins, right?--called me their hero because the house squished the Wicked Witch of the East."
Something clicked unexpectedly. "The Wicked Witch..."
"Of the East." Dorothy nodded wisely. "A nice lady called Glinda the Good gave me these shoes to protect me--" She clicked her heels together and my eyes flew to the sparkly silver footwear, a horrified but as yet unidentifiable feeling beginning to form in my gut. The lighthearted feeling disappeared; it was suddenly important to remember.
"And now the Wicked Witch of the West is after me because I killed her sister!"
Her sister. Nessarose. Elphaba. Houses flying through the sky. Green skin. The Emerald City. Glinda. Captured. Tied to a pole. A flash of light...
I staggered backward as the weight of the memories hit me. I knew who I was. I was Fiyero Tiggular, former Captain of the Guard, Winkie Prince. Nessarose was dead, and now Elphaba probably thought I was, too. Close association with Glinda had taught me that magic could do strange things in desperate times. With the right intent but the wrong wording, it could turn me into a scarecrow.
There was only thought on my buzzing mind now: find Elphaba.
Dorothy patiently helped me to my feet, still rambling. "...the Wizard might be able to help-"
"The Wizard?" I interrupted. "The Wizard of Oz?"
"Who else? I'm going to the Emerald City to see if he can help me get home. I heard he can do anything."
Yeah, right, I thought. But Glinda would be in the Emerald City, and if I could just talk to her...she might be able to help me. I didn't deserve it, but what other choice was there?
Better yet, if Elphaba really was after Dorothy, staying with the girl was my best chance of reuniting with my missing lover.
Even as the gravity of the situation sunk in, I couldn't help a rather wry thought: A green-skinned Witch and a Scarecrow Prince. What an original couple.
"I'd better get going before it's too late," Dorothy announced, interrupting my musings. She scooped her little dog into her arms and offered me a smile.
"May I come with you?" I asked casually. "The Wizard might be able to give me a brain."
She hesitated. "I'd love the company, but it will be dangerous. The Wicked Witch of the West..."
"I'm not afraid of her," I said immediately.
She shrugged. "Then perhaps you are a bit foolish. But all right. Shall we go?"
--
Days later, and I wasn't sure if Dorothy was going to survive the whole trip. I wondered if anyone would find the body if the Tinman and I used his axe to dig a hole in the woods.
She was so annoying! It was constantly Auntie Em this, Uncle Henry that...I usually liked children, but I wasn't in the mood for the endless chatter.
I bit back a groan as the farmgirl started into another drought story, and rolled my eyes over to the Tinman. In him, I had found a friend. From the moment he joined the group, his dislike for our female companion positively screamed out from under the tin. Dorothy was impervious, but I was not, and even though there was something slightly disconcerting about him (as though we'd met before, though I was absolutely sure I didn't know him), the Tinman was company.
The Lion, on the other hand, was not. Cowardly from the start, he hung close to Dorothy and far away from her dog. He did not make conversation with anyone, and meekly agreed with whatever was said to him. I had the oddest feeling we were also acquainted, but as with the Tinman, had had no revelations.
All in all, the present company was a motley, uncomfortable bunch. I couldn't wait to find Elphaba, but there had been no luck so far. The Lion whimpered at the mere mention of the Witch--the Tinman adopted a startlingly ugly expression at her name, and I had to keep reminding myself that he, like the other Ozians, had been deluded.
"...so then Auntie Em told me to go to the well and--LOOK!"
I had become so accustomed to turning my thoughts elsewhere when Dorothy rambled on that it took me several fuzzy moments to realize what had caused her to exclaim so enthusiastically.
We had climbed to the precipice of a hill; now the Emerald City lay before us in all its ostentatious glory. It was mid-day, and the traffic in and out of the capital was at a high. If I had noticed how close we were coming to our destination, I might have expected to meet a few travelers on the road. But it was not the season for Munchkin vacation, and anyway, we had not taken the most highly-traveled road, in order to avoid encountering curious eyes and questions.
I sighed in relief and anticipation. Though I had lived in the city for over a year and had grown to despise it somewhat with its gaudy facade and malicious underground network, I could not completely quell a familiar feeling of awe at the sight of it. I doubted anyone, even--perhaps especially--Elphaba, could.
"We're here!" Dorothy cheered unnecessarily. "Now we'll go talk to the Wizard and I can go home!"
I shook my head. If only anything were that easy.