Disclaimer, the usual.
About a week later dorothy found herself sitting at her desk in her room. Alex was at the palace library with the scepter seeing if he could find any information apart from the journals Glinda had given them. she was reading over the journals and wasn't finding any information useful for why the scepter was acting the way it was.
"dorothy, oh, I'm not interrupting your research, am I?" Glinda asked coming into the room.
"no, I was just finishing up, I should probably go check on alex." Dorothy said shutting the journal and getting up.
"oh, I was wondering if you had seen Ellie at all since breakfast, she's shutting me out, so I can't look through her eyes." Glinda said.
"no, I haven't seen her either, didn't you try using the crystal ball on your shelf?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"yes, and it can't find her, I know she's not in trouble, but I can't imagine why she wouldn't want to be seen." Glinda said.
"Hmm, well you know ellie better than any of us, but ill keep an eye out for her and see if I can find out what she's been up to." Dorothy said stretching.
"oh, you don't have to do that, I just worry about her, she's been acting strange lately, have you noticed?" Glinda asked.
"in between make-up school work and coming here to do research? She hasn't seemed noticeably different; how do you mean?" dorothy asked curiously as she changed into the slippers.
"a bit bubblier on occasion but in somewhat of a dreamlike state when you catch her alone?" Glinda said.
"well, yes, but I have a tendency to daydream as well, don't you?" Dorothy asked walking over to her.
"I used to, when I was your age, but the positions that Locasta and I hold don't allow for such, petty things we have to focus on leading." Glinda said sighing.
"oh, come now, glin, even I daydream every now and again, you never allow your mind to wander." Locasta said causing them both to jump.
"sweet Lurline! Locasta don't do that!" Glinda said catching her breath
"Sorry, anyways, sorry to interrupt but have either of you seen Alyssa or Terrance I want to get their opinion on the dining sets." Locasta asked curiously.
"last I saw them they said they were headed to the library, I didn't ask why." Glinda said sighing.
Meanwhile at the library alex was on one of the large ladders in the library, reading through books as he found them, and was finding no information that was useful. Alyssa and Terrance were doing their best to help, mainly because they both thought it was strange and wanted some answers about the scepter as well. But also, because they wanted to get away from planning the wedding.
"so, when are you having your bridal shower?" Alex asked picking up a book and reading through the chapter index.
"a few weeks, I need to take dorothy with me to get a proper dress for it, does she like red?" Alyssa asked.
"not sure, you'd have to ask her" alex said sighing and attempting to grab another book from one of the higher shelves
The scepter at that moment decided to let out a low-pitched dinging sound.
"what's it trying to communicate?" Terrance asked
"I don't know, I've thought about putting my own interpretation on it as far as I can understand it, but I'd rather not do it without getting Dorothy's opinion." Alex said skimming through the next book.
"Alex, is there a reason you aren't getting off that ladder to read? You're going to get hurt." Alyssa said walking over and steadying the ladder.
"Because I'm not finding any information that's useful, I don't know why I'm surprised by this" alex said placing the book back and grabbing another.
"surprised by what?" came Dorothy's voice causing them to jump.
Alex had nearly lost his footing but was able to recover, however the book he had been grabbing fell off the shelf and hit him rather hard on the head.
"Ow." Was all he could say.
"you all right?" dorothy asked worriedly.
"Yes, I'm fine dear." Alex replied
The scepter let out some fast pace ringing noises, almost as if it were laughing.
"Dorothy, what are your opinions on wearing red?" Alyssa asked curiously.
"I don't mind it, I mean, Maddie almost always wears it, so I know I can pull it off." Dorothy said shrugging.
"fair point, I got clearance from Glinda and your aunt and uncle to take you out to get a proper dress for the bridal shower, none of the flashy stuff in your closet." Alyssa said.
"where are we going?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"the Seamstress, she's also making my wedding dress as you know, but she can make you a proper dress in less than a day" Alyssa said smiling.
"I see, did you check with Maddie to make sure she didn't already have our measurements?" dorothy asked curiously.
"Yes, but I want you to have at least some say in what you wear." Alyssa said.
"understandable, anyways, have any of you seen ellie today?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"not since breakfast, last I saw her, she was heading towards to the business district, couldn't Glinda just look in on her?" Alyssa replied.
"she's blocking her out." Dorothy replied.
"nothing really strange about that, ellie deserves some privacy every once and a while." Alex said coming down from the ladder.
"Have you found anything useful?" dorothy asked walking over to him.
"No, you?" Alex asked in response.
"not remotely, at least nothing that explains our connection to it, or why its acting the way it is." Dorothy said.
"perhaps you two should go to Glinda's castle, her personal library might have some information she could have missed." Terrance suggested.
"or Locasta's." Alyssa suggested.
"Or perhaps castle west?" Came Madeline's voice.
The four of them turned to find Madeline sitting in one of the larger arm chairs, sipping softly from a cup of tea, smiling at them.
"why there?" Alex asked curiously
"well, think about it, dorothy owns the castle and as it stands, everything in it as well, and the library there is rather extensive, I'm sure you'd find more information there than anywhere else, isn't that right Glinda?" Madeline said glancing to the door.
"as much as it bother's me to say it, Madeline makes a good case, I mean, I've seen that library myself and I know the witch was continuously expanding it, several times Locasta and myself tried to convince them to give up their evil ways in the name of good, but we eventually gave up at the fruitless endeavor, fortunately they never rose to full power, out of fear of the wizard they always bided their time." Glinda said sighing.
"but they weren't always evil either." Dorothy said.
"no, and part of me likes to believe that somewhere, deep down they showed some sort of regret for their actions, when you summoned their spirits in castle grey, those were the spirits of people long gone." Glinda said sighing.
"You know, there's something that bothers me, didn't they have names? I mean, you all have always referred to them by title, witch of the west and east or as 'they or she'" alex asked curiously, holding his hand out for the scepter
Dorothy thought about it for a moment and realized that she hadn't really put much thought to that. Glinda however, had a look on her face that none of them were used to, one of shame and regret.
"Glinda, they had to have had names at one point, and you and Locasta were closer to them than anyone else when they went power mad." Madeline said.
"yes, they did, names that they cast off in favor of their respective titles, after the incident in the hall of time, after they both disappeared, whenever I think about them, I don't think about the bringers of darkness they became, I think of the two young women we grew up with, I see the image of a picture of people I once knew, to me, they died long before the accidental circumstances of their deaths." Glinda said walking over to one of the chairs and sitting down.
"but you regret not trying harder, you wish there was more that you could have done?" Madeline asked.
"all the time, but neither Locasta or I tend to dwell on it really long, but to answer your question, yes, the woman you knew as the witch of the west was at one point called Elphaba, and her sister who many would have known as the witch of the east, Nessarose." Glinda said looking apologetic.
"What about the jester?" alex asked
"I wasn't even aware that they had a brother till long after the pieces were in place, and sometimes, I wish I could go back, put things right, and apologize for not being the friend that I should have been, a real friend would have tried harder to put things right, but it was all out of our control, and had dorothy never put a stop to it, well I shudder to think how far things could have gone." Glinda said.
This caused dorothy to shiver, the deaths of the witch of the east and west were complete accidents. But now that she was able to put proper names to the faces she had seen years before, she felt worse about it. these people that had she had seen, people she was thought to be responsible for the demise for. she had known the witch of the west, but at the same time, she had now known both Elphaba and Nessarose as they had been. Two sides of a coin she had never completely seen, that had been flipping in the air for a long time had suddenly dropped and landed on the side she was never fully aware.
"dorothy, are you all right?" Alyssa asked.
"No, she isn't." Madeline said setting her cup down and getting up.
Dorothy shook her head and closed her eyes. The memory of when she summoned their spirits at castle grey flooded back into her mind. She held her hand out to alex and he nodded, handing her the scepter. the scepter let out a sad sounding chime as her fingers closed around it. it was then that she came to a decision, not one of her best, and she knew she was going to get an earful afterwards for it. Glinda saw the look on Dorothy's face and grew worried, but she knew what dorothy was about to do, and didn't try to stop her.
"Take me to castle garrison." Dorothy said clicking her heels.
In flash she was gone leaving them all alone in the library.
"Glinda, why didn't you stop her?" Terrance asked.
"The same reason dorothy went off, she feels as much regret for it as dorothy does." Ellie said standing in the doorway.
"Where were you?" Glinda asked curiously.
"Business district, chatting with Brianna and Jude, I'm sorry for shutting you out, but you've been so nosey trying to get as much info on what we've been trying to plan that I thought it was best." Ellie said
"why Jude?" Alyssa asked curiously.
"Because he was there, and since he's Brianna's assistant it wasn't my place to ask him to leave, which reminds me, any idea when dorothy will be back, he's been wanting to meet you two for a while." Ellie asked curiously.
"not a clue, I imagine once she's at least attempted to make peace with this." Alex said sighing.
"oh." Was all ellie could say.
