Chapter 2 – The Scarecrow
"Aww, the bag's all empty now…" Nora grumbled to herself while shaking the bag that used to hold twenty pancakes. "I've only been away from that village for five minutes and I'm already all out! Have I no control!" Zwei shook his head. "Oh, what do you know, dog."
"Hey! I need help!" Someone was near Nora and was in danger from the sound of it. "You there, little girl!" Nora looked around the landscape for the owner of the voice. On one side of the yellow pathway was a road that lead towards Vacuo, on the other side of the pathway was a big cornfield that seemed to stretch on for miles. "Please, just look at me. Am I really that invisible?" Nora's eyes finally made contact with a scarecrow that was just barely outside of the cornfield. "Ah, good! Now we're on the same page!"
Nora jumped back, startled that the voice belonged to the scarecrow. "Uh, Mr. Scarecrow? How come you can talk?"
The scarecrow looked sad, "me? I've always been able to talk, but people just seem to ignore me." He looked awfully familiar, but Nora couldn't put her finger on where she had seen him before. "Now, if you could help me? I really would like to get off this perch. It doesn't really suit my look."
She moved forward and pulled him off the stake, setting him down on the pathway. He brushed his black shirt after standing up, but he immediately fell back down. He smiled at her, she groaned and picked him back up. "Can you tell me why you're all the way out here?"
"Well, as you can see, I am a scarecrow. A farmer put me on the stake to ward crows away from the corn, but I'm not that good at my job. I couldn't scare away a fly if I wanted to." He sighed heavily and stretched his arms. Right then, a man walked up the road and grabbed the corn from the field straight off the stalk. "Hey! You! Stop stealing the corn!"
"And what are you going to do? Scare me? You suck at your job." The man took a drink from his flask and grabbed more corn before walking back down the road.
"Do you see what I mean?" The scarecrow referenced at the man. "The crows really don't listen to what I have to say and they always leave a lingering smell of liquor." The scarecrow shifted his position. "I wish I had a brain. Then I could really hurl insults that would scare away those annoying crows."
"You want a brain? That would explain a lot actually…" Nora commented under her breath.
"What is that supposed to mean?" The scarecrow glared at her. She laughed and he rubbed his blonde hair trying to figure it out. Eventually, he gave up and returned his focus to Nora. "So, where are you going?"
"Oh, me? I'm headed to Vale. I'm supposed to be able to get home if I go there." Her mind traveled back to Beacon Academy where she remembered the times she spied on Ren showering, tripped Jaune in the hall, told jokes with Yang, annoyed Weiss with Ruby; how she longed to return to that.
"You're headed to Vale? What for?" He thought for a few seconds. "Oh, I know! You're going to see the Wizard Oz!" He grinned at himself for remembering such a big detail.
"Don't you mean the Wizard of Oz?" Nora questioned.
"No, no. His name is Oz and he's a great wizard. Ergo, he's the Wizard Oz." The scarecrow gleamed with happiness. "He's supposed to be able to grant wonderful wishes and give you whatever your heart desires! Maybe he can give me a brain!" He looked sparkly. Nora didn't want to touch him. She hates glitter. "Oh, please, can I go with you to Vale? I really really want a brain!" He pleaded with his hands clasped together.
"Well, I don't see why not. In fact, it would be really rude of me to say no." She nodded her head. "All right, you can go with me."
"You really mean it!" He beamed.
"Yes, just turn down the brightness already." Nora blocked her eyes with one hand.
"Yes, yes! Of course! Shall we hold hands and sing?" The scarecrow asked her honestly.
"Uh, no. What are you? Some kind of girl? No group of people in their right mind just randomly start to sing down a pathway. This isn't some work of fiction." Nora walked a little further ahead of the scarecrow and he clumsily ran to catch up with her.
"I'm no girl. But the farmer I was working for has seven daughters. So, I guess I just picked up some things from them. They always seemed to want to redo my hair and give me braids." He fluffed his hair. "I'm more of a warrior's wolf tail kind of guy myself!" He smiled smugly.
"Isn't that just a ponytail?" Nora laughed softly.
"No. It's mainly! It takes all the hair you have and brings it to the back and put it up like…" He looked ashamed. "Please don't ruin every good vision I have."
"I'll try not to, but I can't guarantee much!" She smiled as they walked. Zwei barked happily as he trotted between Nora and the scarecrow.
They made their way down the pathway increasingly until they were no longer visible from the cornfield. Just after, a man walked out of the cornfield and smirked. Salem was right, she was only a girl. No magic. He started at his own pace and began to follow Nora and the scarecrow into the woods.