Chapter 14 : The healing begins

It was a few days after the encounter with Mr. Zero that Mike was slowly beginning to recover,and during that time everyone was on high alret just in case the devil decided to pop up out of nowhere.

As much as she appreciated everything that the guys,tin man, scarecrow and everyone else was doing to help aide in Mike's recovery, Stephanie knew that they had to get home so that Mike could be treated by real doctors and real medicine.

On their second day at the Emerald city castle, Stephanie spent some time with Mike who did nothing more than sleep,which was something that Stephanie understood since her brother was tormented and tortured by Mr. Zero's minions but all she wanted was to have her older brother back to his old self again,and not battered and broken.

While she kept a vigil at his bedside,Stephanie soon heard a loud crash right outside of the room where Mike was sleeping,followed by the sounds of eleven voices arguing with one another. Sighing as she turned her attention to the door,Stephanie said goodbye to her brother and then left the room to see what was going on out there.

" What in the world is going on out here? "Stephanie asked as she placed her hands on her hips

" They did it."The flying monkees said as they pointed to Micky, peter and Davy

"No they did it! "Micky, Peter and Davy said as they pointed to the four flying monkees

"I don't have time for this. "Stephanie sighed as she pinched the sides of her nose " Can one of you please tell me why there's a giant hole in the ceiling. "

" I can. "tin man Peter spoke up

Flashback to before Stephanie entered the room

" I sure hope your friend will be okay. "said tin man Peter

" Who Mike?"said Micky " Ah he'll survive. "

"How can you be so sure about that? "asked gatekeeper davy

"Yeah Micky."said Davy "He was pretty hurt,after what happened. "

"Simple. He's hard headed and stubborn, so he should make a full recovery. " said Micky

" You seem pretty confident that he's going to pull through."said monkee#1

" Your friend was in real bad shape, when we came to rescue the lot of you."said monkee #4

" And what about Stephanie? Has anyone even talked to her since we came back to the Emerald city? "asked Peter

" Maybe she just wants to be alone,you know."Micky the lion said as he looked at the green door across the room

With all eleven of them nodding their heads in agreement, they all say around in the throne room in silence, until Micky who was busy looking around the room wondered what everyone did for fun around there.

" So... what do you guys do for fun in this place? "asked Micky

"There's not a lot to do around here, but I'm sure that we can come up with something. "said gatekeeper davy

While the eleven of them contemplated on what to do, Micky suddenly got that familiar Cheshire cat grin on his face as he stared up at the Emerald chandelier above his head. Looking over at Peter and Davy as he still smiled,Micky noticed the unusual yet agreed looks on their faces as he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"I know exactly what we can do."Micky said with a grin as he pointed to the ceiling

"Are you out of your bird ?"asked Davy as he furrowed his eyebrows

"For once Davy,I have no idea except that it might be fun if we do this."said Micky

"Micky,maybe we shouldn't. "said Peter " I mean what would Mike say if he was here?"

"He would probably talk me out of it, but since he's not here at the moment I might as well have some kind of fun."Micky sighed

While the three of them were busy arguing, their Oz doppelgangers began to wonder what was going on. Deciding to find out, the leader of the flying monkees cleared his throat hoping to get Micky's attention.

"Ahem. ... Would y'all like to tell the rest of us what you're rambling on about over there? "asked flying monkee #1

"We were just talking about a game that hopefully we can all play,that can kill the boredom ."said Micky

" And what kind of game might that be? "asked flying monkee #1

"A little game called 'Tarzan'."said Micky

"How do you play that? "asked Micky the lion

"Yeah Micky, how do we play that? "asked Davy

"I'm glad you asked that question. "Micky said smiling

Explaining how to play the game, which was met by some mixed feelingsbetween the flying monkees and the other Oz friends, Micky somehow convinced everyone to go along with it unaware of the concenquences in the end.

Back to the present time

After hearing the hole story, Stephanie shot Micky, a death glare and scolded Davy and Peter for going along with him.

" Now I'd expect this kind of thing from Micky, but I figured that the two of you would know better. "said Stephanie

" Well love, it's not like we had a choice after all. "said Davy

" Yes we did ,we could have told him no. "said Peter

" I don't have time for this."Stephanie sighed " Right now my brother is lying on what might be his death bed, all the while his friends are acting like a bunch of immature idiots. "

Leaving the eleven of them standing in the middle of the room, Stephanie walked away to another part of the castle and was followed by the scarecrow who figured that she could use a friendly shoulder to cry on.

Finding an area of the castle that seemed like it was never used,Stephanie sat down on the cold emerald floor and buried her head in between her knees. Tired and frustrated by everything thats been going on ,Stephanie knew that she just wanted to go home and forget everything. Quietly beginning to cry,Stephanie felt someone touch her shoulder. Looking up with the tears still soaking her eyes,Stephanie saw who she thought was her brother standing above her,until she saw pieces of straw sticking out of his sleeves.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Stephanie slightly smiled at the scarecrow and invited him to sit down.

" Is everything alright kid? "asked scarecrow Mike

" No."Stephanie sighed

" Wanna talk about what's bugging ya?"The scarecrow asked as he sat down beside her

"I don't even know where to start."said Stephanie

" Just start from wherever. "said scarecrow Mike " I'm all ears. "

Taking a deep breath, Stephanie began telling the scarecrow everything that was on her mind. Watching his facial expressions as she poured her heart out,it almost felt as though she was talking to her brother since the scarecrow reminded her so much of her brother.

After she was done, the last thing Stephanie expected was for the scarecrow to pull her into a tight hug,where she suddenly broke down and cried.