Disclaimer, And Now for something somewhat different.

An Entry from the newly started Journal of Alexander Nathanial Teak, and the Beast

"As dictated to an enchanted typewriter that the wonderful Madeline Hatter so happened to have in her possession gathering dust."

"Mads with all that's happened, you're taking now to touch on your vanity?"

"We've just been forcibly separated, and even that wasn't the first idea on our list"

"Well its working isn't it? Besides, I don't know when I'm going to turn into a cat again so my help is rather limited"

"at any rate it's a waste of paper."

"anyways, getting to the point, we've just suffered from an attack from Imps."

"Who have the nerve to do this for as an amusing joke."

"to make matters worse, they could not transform me and the beast it seems so they took the liberty of separating us, the beast now has his own body, but our thoughts are still connected."

"and it was ungodly painful."

"yes, I was getting to that, it felt like I was transforming again, but instead they gave the beast his own body, they mentioned something about our nature being quite different, they could not affect us."

"they did quite a bit of mischief on everyone else though, save for Polly, Ozma, Alyssa, and Terrance, as well Elphaba and Nessarose."

"that is because, The Gale was completely Nome Made, they can't penetrate it, Nome Magic is one of the few forms of magic the Imps are unable to affect, had you two been wearing that ring, or had actually been wearing your sword, you two would be completely safe."

"well fortunately"

"and unfortunately."

"the beast and I are on a rather short leash; we can't get more than a few meters from each other without feeling massive discomfort and then crippling pain."

"Elphaba has instructed us to keep within arm's length for now as Glinda is currently indisposed as a pink swan."

"Ellie is safe as well; she had a special charm that Glinda had given her once."

*the text is rather blurry here as two voices spoke the same words at the same time*

"anyways, barring further interruptions, we are making this journal per instructions to get the aggression out now before I attempt to do something rash, because these imps"

"have gotten personal, they transformed Annabella, into a wolf pup."

"In case you imps are listening in on this, I don't pity you, you angered the sleeping beast and its keeper, I rather hope you know how to run."

"Mads why don't you get some lettuce for Morris and Wendell."

"they didn't touch our parents, the simply went after Annabella, which is infuriating, and makes me want to hit something."

"please don't, I don't want to explain that to Mads, we've got enough problems, the Imps didn't touch Zeb, Donna, Kelly, or even Cap'n bill or trot, Mr. and Mrs. Bobbin, And according to the Imp that told us we were now in the middle of a game, but wouldn't tell us the rules, the triplets and Mr. and Mrs. Gale are safe by technicality."

"whatever that's supposed to mean, all I know is that if I get my hands on them."

"down boy, deep breaths, before you do or say something, we'll both regret, we were in two minds before but I was happy with you being dormant."

"how do you think I feel? Its freedom at a price, and right now we are the only ones in any rational state of mind or any stable state in a sense."

"it's not my fault Glinda literally has to keep her Ducks in a row, I'm sure Ellie would have met the same…wait a tick, that brings up a question, is Ellie the only one who still utilizes her sword for protection outside of Oz?"

"interesting point, query, why was Alison still transformed, Brianna is always busy in the kitchens, so no weaponry on her, Caitlynn and Chrissy are always patrolling so we never see them, but they're around, mostly, Elena sticks to the medical bay, so there's no knowing what she does or doesn't keep around her."

"hypothesis, Alison let her guard down I guess."

"antithesis, even still though, she would still be on guard, unless like Glinda they caught her unawares."

"considering that for once it was us who were caught sleeping on the job, that seems about right dog breath."

"wow, low blow."

"I don't mean it as an insult I mean it as a hint, I think there are some mints in that candy bowl over there, I don't usually go through Mad's personal things, right, anyways, with Ozma stuck behind an impenetrable barrier, Polly in a state of shock, and Elphaba and Nessarose trying to keep things organized, well needless to say things have not gone as planned today. In fact, I would go as far as to say that today has become pure chaos and its barely started."

"shall we list off a few other casualties of this just for a laugh, because you left out Finley, he's perfectly fine,"

"well the alternative is literally talk to myself, so sure, though I would've got to it, we are literally sharing thoughts. Scarecrow was transformed into a straw stuffed bear, rather amusing to look at, but hopeless for just about everything else. The Tin man was transformed into a Tin Owl, luckily neither of them eat or we would be in quite a lot of trouble. Lion, was transformed into a small house cat, which is amusing enough on its own."

"don't forget to mention Wiser he got the short end out of this, which I think it's funny as Dorothy's pets remained untouched."

"ah yes, Wiser, was unfortunately back in the city today, he was transformed, not so much, he is now less than half of his height, as a stuffed Owl, which while in our opinion, cruel, is rather fitting, at least he's not hungry."

"Oh, and you forgot Marshal Mallow and the China Princess."

"right, the two of them were transformed into porcelain lambs, not very fitting if you ask me, but im not here to rant on that, they're still a perfect couple."

"They'd be great as bookends if they weren't living."

"well that was a bit grim wasn't it?"

"im everything you repress, what did you expect? For me to be all sunshine and rainbows?"

"no I expect you to at least keep those kinds of thoughts to yourself, I'd ask you to go outside but that would reliably do more harm than help at this point, we are literally in a game we don't know how to play and according to Ozma it only serves to keep the Imps amused."

"oh good, you guys haven't murdered each other yet, consider me happily surp-"

"the other issue here we are the only ones, apart from Elphaba, at the moment who are able to communicate with these guys, no one is sure if it's safe to transport anyone to Oz, so right now we all have to be content with our lot, and none of us are contented with our lot."

"and I genuinely don't think that this exercise is helping in any way to relieve the aggression, even if we aren't sure what the consequences are, we should still at least try to go to Kansas, we'd be of more use there than we are here."

"not so, what can we do in Kansas that we can't do here? And contrariwise, how much can we do here that we can't do in Kansas, we have NO knowledge of magic outside the rudiments, NO way of knowing what's going to happen, and NO way of ensure that you won't get us thrown in a jail cell"

"fair enough"

"now, I don't want this journal entry to be too long, we have to help Madeline explain the circumstances to Mombi and Jinjur, which is going to be interesting."

And the entry ended there.

This entry had been dictated at around three in the morning, it was now around eight and Alex and the beast were sitting at a table across from the Former General, Jinjur. She herself was amused by the circumstances but couldn't offer much in the way of help. Mombi, however, wasn't sure how to take the news, she had mellowed over time, but she was not prepared to hear news of Imps. Madeline was keeping quiet just in case her sentences rudely got cut off by hiccupping, followed by the immediate transformation into a cat. While she knew that Dorothy could still speak in that form, no magic known to anyone was going to easily get rid that part of her. Madeline could not. She did however take now to cut in. because she had been doing quite a bit of thinking and a thought had occurred to her.

"wait a tick, pardon the intrusion as I can never be sure how much time I have, but with Ozma rather trapped, and Dorothy stuck in Kansas at least for the time being, doesn't that technically put you two in charge as prince regent?" Madeline said rather quickly.

Alex looked at his near double for a moment, his dull blue eyes, meeting with the wolf eyes of the beast. The two of them hadn't been thinking of this, as usually it wouldn't.

"you know" they said in unison, "what is it with Thursdays always putting me in these odd situations?"

The two of them were dressed immaculately, looking the part of the position they usually carried. They were both in identical suits of Plum colored fabric. Where it not for the beast having slightly longer hair, and the eyes of a wolf, the two of them would be terribly difficult to tell apart. Both of them grabbed a piece of seed cake from the table, dipped it in their cup of tea and drank a few sips from their cup before eating the slice of cake.

"well, if that's the case, shouldn't you be guarding the emerald city, your majesty?" Jinjur asked curiously.

"the Imps have already pricked the sleeping beast." Alex said,

"and unlike most people, I think they succeeded at running away." The beast said

"for what they did to Dorothy?" Mombi asked curiously

"for what they did to Annabella, his younger sister." Madeline said sighing," we're used to Dorothy being generally transformed on a regular basis, but they touched his family, he was furious when I told him what happened in Kansas."

"to be clear, Mads, you did tell them about this right?" the beast asked curiously.

Madeline said nothing, she tried her best not to meet the gaze of the beast. Alex immediately had to place a hand on his arm to keep him from doing something rash.

"Mads, if it turns out its safe for us to go to Kansas of vice versa, I think they might find this a tiny bit jarring, don't you?" Alex asked now becoming rather annoyed.

Before Madeline could let out a response however, she began hiccupping. The two of them sighed, they knew what this meant. And soon a small house cat was sitting before them.