Hello to everyone! And now for chapter four… muahaha. Kinda sorta pointless-ish, but it's cute and fluffy and still sad, so I hope it's okay anyway. I also wish to apologize for Lirr's whining. He's kinda sorta starting to irritate me, but it'll get better. I promise.
I have become aware that the book Son of a Witch is now available. I will read it eventually, but I want to let you know that this story started before I knew about that book and that it should have no influence on my fanfic. Any possible similarities as of right now or in the future are accident.
Also, I realized a few days ago that I completely forgot Toto! Please forgive me. PLEASE, let me know if it would be better to just pretend he was never there or to add him in next chapter.
Thanks to those who reviewed. Please, I love constructive criticism. Let me know how I can make my story better for you!
Blufair: I'm glad you like the whole Liir/Dorothy interaction. I do too. I hope the plot does interest you, although admittedly it may take a while to actually get rolling. Thanks for reading!
Lils: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!
Disclaimer: I do not own Wicked or any aspect of it other than this fanfic. ((cries))
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Chapter 4: Stones, Cakes, and Kisses
The sun began to rise over Kiamo Ko. They had been there a month. Despite the hospitality and kindness of Liir and Nanny, there was an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of Dorothy's stomach that grew stronger all of the time.
After she had dressed and washed, Dorothy gloomily walked down to the kitchen where her friends were already deeply immersed in eating. Scarecrow was the first to notice her arrival. "Good morning, Dorothy!" He waved his tattered glove and smiled.
Dorothy gave only a faint, pained grin and waved her hand wearily. She proceeded to the window and stared out with wide eyes that hardly blinked.
Nanny emerged from the kitchen smiling brightly. "Oh! Good morning Dorothy! I made breakfast!" Liir had followed close behind her and was nearly buckling under the weight of an enormous tray laden with food. "Oh, I found the most wonderful recipe the other day for biscuits! And of course, I wanted you to try some of my famous pancakes and my wonderful oatmeal. Breakfast is, after all, the most important meal of the day. I've always felt that a good meal can make or break how well a day goes…"
Nanny continued rambling on for a few minutes. She did not notice Dorothy's sober mood until she realized she was being met with silence. When she finally did figure things out, the lines on her face became etched even deeper with concern.
She gestured for Liir to set the tray on the table, which he promptly did in silence as he listened to what went on around him. Nanny gently grasped Dorothy's arm and led her to a chair at the table. "Dorothy, is everything alright?" she whispered worriedly.
Dorothy shook her head slowly. A small tear left a shining trail from her eye to her chin. "I want to go home," she mumbled in a voice that was barely audible.
Nanny nodded. "Alright." She placed a plate and a biscuit in front of Dorothy. "Just eat something first."
By now the Lion, Scarecrow, and Tim Man had looked up from their food long enough to realized how distraught Dorothy was. They crowded around. "Do we hafta leave?" whined the Lion. "The way to the Emerald City is full of tigers and bears and –"
There was a dull thud of a cloth glove against a furry head. "Shut up, twit! Can't you see she misses her home?"
"Both of you shut up!" The Tin Man gave them both a cold, metallic stare. The Lion and Scarecrow immediately went mute. "Thank you," sighed the Tin Man. "Now look, Dorothy wants to go. So we'll go. End of story. Got it?"
The two nodded enthusiastically, afraid of provoking the Tin Man's anger. "Good," replied their iron companion.
The following silence was so thick that you could swim in the tension that accumulated.
"So I'll pack sandwiches for everyone, then!" Nanny's sudden exclamation made everyone jump. Many pairs of eyes glared at her as she hobbled through the kitchen door, humming a merry tune.
Dorothy looked up her friends with puffy eyes. "So you don't mind? We can go?"
"Of course," purred the lion, resting a fluffy paw on her kneecap.
"That's what we set out to do, so we'll keep going," added the Scarecrow.
"Don't worry. You'll be home before you know it," the Tin Man reassured her.
For the first time that morning, Dorothy gave a genuine grin. Small, but heartfelt. "Thank you," she whispered. They all wrapped her in hugs, engulfing her with their kindness and warmth.
In all of the events of the morning, no one even noticed that Liir had gone.
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Plink! Plop!
One by one, a series of pebbles splashed into the creek. They flew with such force that a person would have trouble believing that the person throwing them was as small boy of merely fourteen, sitting upon an old wooden bench.
Liir's face was blotchy. The skin on his face was still slightly moist. How could I have been so stupid? He thought. She had kissed him. Twice. Didn't that mean something? Whenever she had a nightmare, she trusted him to stand guard, and she had fallen asleep with her hand safe in his. Didn't that mean something? Over that week, her smiles grew and they filled his heart until he thought that it would burst. Didn't that mean something? But now she wants to leave. She wants to get away from me. No, he thought as he bitterly threw another pebble into the creek, I guess none of that meant anything.
Liir let out a small cry. All of his attempts to remain strong shattered. He buried his head in his arm, slumping to the ground and sobbing.
It was only a few brief moments later that Liir's crying faded into a small sniffle, but it felt as though he had cried for hours. He laid there on the ground and stared at the sky, exhausted both physically and emotionally.
He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he did not notice the sun beginning to set. He did not notice the distant calls of his name. He did, however, notice a faint snapping of a twig a few yards behind him.
Reality gave him a hard slap in the face. He stood upright and gave his head a rush of blood. Then he started to worry. It was after nightfall and he was at least a mile from the manor. You never knew what kind of creatures you could expect in the wilderness of the Vinkus. Was there some creature lurking in the shadows, waiting to prey upon him? He listened for any sound that would tell him what was there or what he should do. The being in the shadows startled and upset him more than a wild animal would.
"Liir?" Her voice came softly, like a timid whisper. Liir clenched his fist. And settled back down on the old, moss-covered bench where he had been earlier.
"Liir, is that you?" Dorothy's figure appeared from the trees at Liir's side, silhouetted in the twilight.
He made no reply.
She approached him slowly with the air of a lost traveler wandering into a bears den. She
cautiously set herself on the bench next to her, and it creaked with old age under the weight of another person. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you all day. We were all worried sick. Nanny suggested that I try looking for you up here. What have you been doing?"
Liir did not respond. He merely stared straight ahead at the water of the creek.
Dorothy rested her hand gently, but he twitched. Her hand recoiled as though she had been burnt. "What's wrong Liir?"
He took a deep, shuddering breath before giving an answer. "Why don't you like it here?"
His words wounded her. "I do. It's just that –"
"It's just that you want to leave. I get it." He turned his face so that she could not see his eyes begin to water.
"Liir, I miss Kansas. I miss my family, and they will probably be missing me by now. I need to be home."
"Then leave. I'll take you back to the house, and tomorrow morning, you can go. You don't have to come back." He stood and made his way to the path. She followed him. "I wouldn't want to stay with me either," he added very quietly to himself.
But she heard.
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Liir could not fall asleep that night. As much as he tried, there was too much on his mind to do anything but stare at the ceiling and think it all through. He thought about her, and remembered the past month.
He remembered the time that Dorothy had tried to bake a cake. The kitchen had ended up covered in flour, eggs, and various other ingredients. Smoke filled the room when the cake caught on fire. The Scarecrow had to run down to the well and grab a bucket of water to put out the flames.
Liir smiled to himself when he thought of her in the kitchen, covered in ingredients and crying over a black mass that she held in her arms. He had tasted a piece of the cake just to try to cheer her up, but he had tried hard not to spit it right back out. She was so grateful at his attempt to please her that she hugged him and threw the sad excuse for a dessert out the window. Not even the crows would peck at that rocklike cake. He had been so sure the look of gratitude in Dorothy's eyes had meant something more. But I guess not, he thought.
It was late and, for the first time that month, Liir did not hear Dorothy cry out from a nightmare. In fact the whole house was as silent as the grave. It disappointed him that he would not have the sight of her face or the sound of her breathing to soothe him into sleep.
He tried counting sheep to fall asleep. Around the ten thousandth sheep, he heard a soft knock on the door. A faint ray of light struck the room from the dim glow of a candle as the door hinges creaked open.
It was Dorothy.
"Liir?" she whispered. He was laying still with his back turned away, pretending to sleep. He could no face her.
She approached him slowly, almost fearfully. He listened to the soft thud of her shoes against the floor. Those shoes had given everyone so much grief and would still not be removed from her feet, no matter how much any of them tried. Dorothy silently cursed the shoes and their hard soles for making so much noise on the wooden floor of Liir's room. While part of her desperately wanted him to turn around and know she was there, another part of her was scared to death and hoped that he would not even realize she had been there at all.
The light of her candle fell on Liir's head, illuminating his dark hair with strands of gold. She took a deep breath before stumbling blindly over all of the words that wanted so badly to rush from her mouth.
"Liir… I'm sorry. You must hate me for all that I've done. I never tried to hurt anyone. You've been so… nice to me. And I repay you by saying that I want to leave. Even though I killed – well, I still don't really understand who she was – but the point is, you forgave me. I just want you to know – " She took in a shuddering breath. " – I do care about you Liir. Out of all the great and wonderful things I have found in Oz…" She choked back a sob. "… I believe I will miss you most of all. Since you're asleep, you probably haven't heard a word of this, but I needed to say it. Well… good night." She turned away. Her hair, for once left down instead of in pigtails, swished around her shoulders. The pat of her shoes moved away from the bed. Dorothy reached for the knob to pull the door shut as she left, but a sound behind her made her turn.
Liir was sitting up in his bed with his feet on the ground, staring at his slippers. "I just wanted to say…" He raised his watery eyes to meet hers. His voice came out in barely a whisper. "I love you."
There are moments in life where words become useless. Emotions are clearer than speaking. Everything falls into place in those moments. There was nothing more right for the pair than that point in time when two pairs of lips met in a kiss that made them both weep with the overwhelming emotion of love. It was a kiss that lifted their souls and filled them with strength and joy.
When they finally drew apart, Liir took Dorothy's hand in his before she fetched her candle and went back to the door. Softly, it clicked shut behind her. Liir laid down in his bed and closed his eyes.
For the first time that night, Liir was able to sleep. For the first time in weeks, Dorothy was not plagued with horrible nightmares.
And, if only for a little while, life was sweet.
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The next morning, Dorothy's friends were stuffing their faces with Nanny's food for a final time. Dorothy hardly ate and excused herself from the table early. She sent Liir a pleading look on her way out and he quickly excused himself as well.
Nanny, the Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tim Man only followed them with their eyes. As Dorothy and Liir left, a heavy silence filled the room.
The Scarecrow was the first to comment. "So… what's with them?"
"Beats me." The Tin Man put a drop of oil onto his ankle hinges. "Maybe they both caught some kind of bug and feel sick."
"No, if that were the case we could tell. Dorothy has such a fair complexion that illness would make her look like a ghost," the Lion pointed out before beginning to eat another slice of bacon.
"Ya' nutters, can't you see that want to be alone?" Nanny sighed. "Honestly. It should be painfully obvious."
"Umm… wait. If they both left, how can they be alone?" The Scarecrow scratched his head."Because that doesn't make sense and –"
"You really don't have a brain, do you?" The Tin Man shook his head in disbelief. "They wanted to be together, without all of us."
"Oh." The Scarecrow's face fell. "I knew that."
"Maybe we should go after them," suggested the Lion, "and make sure they're okay."
"No, just leave them alone." Nanny cleared some plates from the table. "You can all help me do dishes instead."
Despite the curiosity that was eating away at the trio, they agreed and were soon elbow deep in soap suds.