Chapter Two
After a long night of walking to the Emerald City alone, Dorothy finally saw the tall green castle, and smiled in relief. Now, she would get to return home to Auntie Em, and her farm. She would no longer be in this strange place, where the citizens believed that she had actually killed someone.
She knocked on the door, only to be greeted by a short man, popping his head out the slot in the door. He looked her up and down before shutting the slot.
She knocked again. She was thoroughly irritated that she was not receiving a proper welcome.
"What?" The man snapped, opening the slot again.
"Can I please speak to the Wizard?" She questioned, hoping that the Wizard wouldn't be quite as rude. She just wanted to go home; she sincerely hoped that wasn't too much to ask.
"Nobody sees the Wizard."
This was Knuck, following Corey's instructions.
In Dorothy's eyes, however, this was a short little man, being rude.
She knocked once again, after having the slot shut in her face once again.
Knuck looked exasperated as he opened the door.
"Nobody sees the Wizard." He reminded her.
"But I need to get home to Kansas," she whimpered.
"Are you Dorothy?"
She nodded.
Knuck turned around, and appeared to be having an argument, before the door swung open, revealing that the angry little munchkin was not alone. No, he was joined by an average sized man. A good looking man, too, Dorothy thought.
He was very tall, at least, compared to herself and Knuck. His hair was the color of copper, and was tousled just slightly. His bright green eyes surveyed her, like they could read her just like a book. The corner of his mouth was crooked upwards into a smile, but not a friendly 'how do you do' smile. This was a dark, forward smile that made her blush on the spot.
"You're Dorothy, are you? We've all heard a lot about you. I figured it was only a matter of time before you showed up. I expect you want to see my father, the Wizard of Oz?" The man suggested, shoving Knuck to the side with his foot as he allowed Dorothy to walk into the castle.
She looked around in awe.
Their home seemed much more like a marketplace, or a hotel. There were people roaming around all over the place, appearing to have even more places to go. Most of the people passing by stopped to look at Dorothy and the man curiously, which the man seemed to be ignoring without too much trouble.
"The Wizard is your father? Wow, that must be so…" Dorothy trailed off, feeling her face turn red.
She had never met a man younger than her uncles, and did not fully know how to speak to them. She was sixteen years old; still a child, but not too young to believe that this man was just like any other. No, for the first time, she was meeting someone that she found generally appealing. This exhilarated and terrified her as she stared up into his bright eyes, which were glancing over his shoulder at something.
"No, it's actually the very opposite, it's quite dull. Well, I suppose he'll want to see you immediately. Knuck, would you care to tell my father that Dorothy will be in the throne room waiting for him, whenever he's ready?" The man asked, looking down at the disgruntled munchkin.
Knuck walked away wordlessly, glowering at the man as he did so.
"Come along, I'll show you to where you need to go. So, Dorothy, where are you from?" The man asked conversationally, glancing around as they walked, clearly not paying much attention to the little girl at all.
"Kansas! Most people say they don't know where that is, so I suppose I shouldn't expect you to, either. Then again, you are the Wizard's son, so you must be very intelligent."
The man snorted.
"Yeah, my father is certainly intelligent, in his own way. I fall far from the tree in that regard," he muttered in amusement.
Dorothy looked at him curiously, her expectation of an explanation going unfulfilled.
"Here we are: the throne room. Think you can figure everything out from here?" The man questioned, already starting to back out of the room.
"Wait!" Dorothy cried.
The man raised a dark eyebrow at her, his face sporting an annoyed expression.
"What if…what if he really thinks that I tried to kill the woman? You know. The witch? I heard that she was quite wicked, but I would never kill a fly, really, I wouldn't. Do you think it would be so very much for me to ask you to stay with me, while your father speaks to me?" She asked, her brown eyes widening as the man continued to look at her dully, very uninterested in catering to the needs of a sniveling child.
Then again, this was the woman that had killed Nessa.
He couldn't believe that this little girl had led to the demise of the proud, head-strong girl he had known for so many years. She seemed relatively harmless; killing her would be very simple. He doubted that she would even feel comfortable protesting if he tried.
That wasn't his job, however. That was for his father to decide.
He rolled his eyes as the smoke began to billow, and his father's face appeared among the cloud. The effects were too cheesy, and he had a funeral to attend. Dorothy would just have to figure out how to get back to Kansas on her own; Oscar certainly was not going to be very much help.
Corey sighed as he sat on the train to Quadling Country. He could see the passerby's becoming more and more ragged as the train persevered. Quadling Country was not somewhere he would have preferred to have gone, but this was Nessa's funeral, it was the least he could do. Besides, he had some unfinished business with Elphaba and Glinda.
A few people approached him on the train, having heard rumors about the Wizard's son, which he lazily waved off. He wasn't concerned about his image when it came to the citizens of Oz. He was the Wizard's son, whether they liked it or not. If they wanted a change, they would have to get rid of their beloved Wizard first.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the train chugged to a stop.
Corey surveyed the area as he stepped off of the train. It was dirty. There was more dirt and mud caked onto the road than there was in Emerald City entirely. He would likely need to dispose of his clothes the second he returned into the city.
He grimaced slightly as he stepped on the street, but quickly regained his composure.
The funeral started in a matter of hours, and he did not intend to stay longer than he needed to. Quadling Country was not on the best terms with the Wizard's regime, as it currently stood; there had been non-consensual ruby mining for a while now, which was slowly deteriorating their already desolate land.
He walked down the street towards Nessa's childhood home. He knew exactly where he was going; she had shown him maps hundreds of times, when he would be lying on her bed, waiting for her to join him.
Elphaba was the first one to noticing him, and greeted him with a cold stare.
"Did your father send you down here to throw a house on me, as well?" She questioned, folding her thin arms against her chest as she glowered at him, her beady black eyes boring into his, as the corners of her bright red lips tugged down. She was clearly trying very hard to make an unpleasant face, letting Corey know that he was far from welcome.
"Of course not, I received an invitation to the funeral, and wanted a chance to say goodbye to an old friend. Can you really begrudge me for that, dear Elphie?" He questioned, knowing that Elphaba hated it when he used her old nickname.
"Yes," she muttered under her breath, following Corey as he sauntered towards the back of the house, where Nessa was to be buried.
"If you must know, my father is dealing with the girl whose house fell on your sister. She's a very unimpressive little girl; thin, pale, nothing memorable about her whatsoever. She's got this annoying little dog with her, too. I wasn't even sure pets were allowed in Emerald City."
"I'm pretty sure pets are the only animals allowed in Emerald City," Elphaba countered.
Corey chuckled, his eyes searching her face.
She hadn't changed one bit. She still had her face fixed with that surly expression, her clothes were still raggedy and unflattering, yet she had this untamed quality about her that was interesting, if nothing else. She was still arguing about the rights of Animals, despite the fact that it was her outspoken nature that had gotten her into trouble in the first place.
"We're not here to talk about politics, or just how my father has failed you today. So, who else can I expect to see today? Glinda, perhaps?" Corey questioned, glancing around the backyard, which was full of people lingering around, wearing black and staring at the ground.
All in all, it was a very boring social event. He hadn't quite thought about the kind of people that would attend a funeral for a devoutly religious ruler.
Elphaba's eyes narrowed as she turned to meet his eyes.
"What's your interest in Glinda? She's married, remember?" She growled.
Corey raised his eyebrows, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smirk.
"As was Fiyero, but if I may, that little boy you were scolding prior to greeting me does look astonishingly similar to him. Shame he couldn't be here, to help you argue about the sanctity of marriage."
Elphaba's face instantly turned closer to a dark shade of blue as she began to shake with anger.
Fiyero had been murdered by the Wizard's secret police. There was no doubt in her mind. In the back of her mind, she knew that his death was largely her fault. She should have been more discrete about conducting her affairs. Blaming Corey and his father seemed a lot easier, though.
"How dare you," she snarled, taking a step closer to Corey.
Corey watched her with interest, knowing that no harm would befall him.
"Oh, don't give me that look, Elphie. You know I don't have any control over my father's resources, such as his, how shall we put it, his assistants? Fiyero's death was completely out of my hands."
Elphaba felt herself shaking with rage as she stared up at Corey.
He was so smug, so arrogant. The world revolved around Corey, as far as he knew. He had never been told "no" a day in his life and likely never would. He didn't perceive the concept of growing attached to someone, and losing them, like she had lost her beloved Fiyero.
And yet, with one direct look, she found herself calming down, no longer seething at Corey.
"Stop that," she murmured, trying her best to remember what it felt like to be mad at him.
Corey was very talented when it came to manipulating the emotions around him. It was something that Elphaba had desperately tried to learn herself, but was constantly told that something was a "gift", not something that could simply be learned. Corey, on the other hand, had this gift down perfectly, and was frequently taking advantage of it, causing others to bend to his will, just by receiving a glance from those emerald eyes.
Maybe it was because his mother was Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. Her powers were unmatched in the field; many girls, including their own friend, were named after her, because she had such talent, along with an incredible gift of making people feel comfortable and safe around her, no matter what. On the other hand, his gift fit in with his personality so well, he could very well have simply willed himself to be able to manipulate people the way he did.
Elphaba silently cursed whoever was responsible for Corey's frustrating, yet useful, gift as she felt the corners of her mouth forced into a smile, as she looked up at him.
Glinda sat in the train station, twisting her wand in between her fingers.
It wouldn't look very good if she attended the funeral of someone that the Munchkinlanders referred to as wicked, especially when she claimed to be an advocator of the Munchkins. Still, going to Nessa's funeral would be the right thing to do.
She sighed, standing up then sitting down again.
Corey was invited. She had heard this through the grapevine. The Wizard's son had always been a weakness of hers. If he went to the funeral, and she assumed that he would, she would likely fall victim to his charm. She had already been so unfaithful to her poor, sweet husband when it came to Corey Diggs.
Then again, speaking to Corey could qualify as business. He would be able to tell her if the wizard had seen Dorothy, and just what the outcome had been. She owed it to the little girl from Kansas to follow up on her trip.
Besides, Elphaba would be at the funeral, and she had never been subtle about her distain for Corey. She would likely prevent Glinda from even looking in his direction for longer than a couple of seconds at a time.
Yes, she would go to the funeral, as a friend of Nessa's, and a protector of Dorothy.
As Corey stood in the dirty field among the funeral, he glanced around, scanning for any of his old schoolmates. He had been attracting politicians who had heard he would be attending the funeral, all of whom had been incredibly dull. One was currently talking his ear off about the potential use of Quadling Country, if they could only find something to do with those who currently inhabited it.
He noticed Avaric chatting with Elphaba. The two appeared to be in an argument, which wasn't surprising. Not one bit. Elphaba was always picking fights with whomever she was speaking to. It seemed that one of her favorite roles to play was the righteous victim.
Avaric was likely wrong, of course. He usually was.
Corey stopped watching the social interaction, upon noticing a familiar golden glow in his peripheral vision.
"You'll have to excuse me. I'm very uninterested, and have finally found something better to pursue. Good luck proposing a civil war to the board," he muttered to the man speaking, before walking off towards the glow.
He could hear the man scoffing behind him, but didn't spare him even a glance.
The politicians of Oz were blithering idiots, the whole lot of them. They believed that Oscar Diggs was the great Wizard, instead of a con-artist skilled with illusions. They believed that the selfish, deceitful plans he came up with, were in the best interest of moving Oz forward as a nation. They believed that they were relevant, and even important to the Wizard.
He snorted at his own thought.
They were all pawns.
"Glinda, you're looking beautiful as always," he commented, approaching the young woman, who gave him a wary look in response.
"Thank you Corey, you're as charming as always,"
He smiled slightly, his right eyebrow raising as he turned to look at her smugly.
"That's the goal."
"Now, I did come here to pay my respects to Nessa," Glinda lied, "but I would also like to inquire about Dorothy, the young girl I sent to see your father after the…" she coughed nervously, "the incident. Is she well? Has your father sent her back to Kansas?"
Corey looked at her in mild amusement.
Glinda thought she was more intelligent than she really was. She believed that the Wizard was real, as opposed to some old man, taking advantage of innocent minds. She believed that Corey's mother, as well as her namesake, had been the kindest, most talented, witch that had ever lived in Oz.
He could hardly blame her for being so ignorant. Most of the citizens of Oz believed this. It was partially his mother's reputation that had kept his father in power, through the turbulent times.
He knew better, though. While she had died during childbirth, he had collected enough information about her to know that she was just as human as he was. She had nearly been killed, due to her ignorance about Oscar. She had been cast off by the people of Oz for years, under the accusations that she killed her own father.
Corey quickly turned his attention back on Glinda, who was staring at him questioningly.
"She's in the palace, she's fine, as far as I know. I brought her to my father myself, but I doubt she's going to end up back in Kansas for a while. Don't worry so much, she's just a silly little girl. We'll get her settled eventually. She's just not a priority."
Glinda huffed, annoyed that the little girl, her pet project, was being taken so lightly.
The little girl had killed a witch all by herself, and was from another world. How could Corey not think that she was a priority? She was possibly the most dangerous creature in all of Oz! All other things aside, Dorothy was important to her; it wouldn't look very good on her if she sent the little girl to the wizard, only to have her blown off by every important figure in Emerald City. How could Corey not prioritize the little girl, if not for what she was worth, then for Glinda's sake? She had slept will him countless times, after all.
"Don't get so bent out of shape, I never said that we were going to let her stay forever, we're just more concerned about the possibility of an uprising here in Quadling Country, some of the rabid Animal activists," he nodded towards Elphaba, "and, of course, sorting out this whole mess, finding a new person to take over Munchkinland. Nessa was the last willing Eminent Thropp."
Glinda sighed, looking away from Corey.
He was right, of course, but it was unfair for him to be so impartial towards her. She had risked everything for him, and he was risking nothing for her in return.
Corey was perfectly aware of Glinda's silent temper tantrum occurring, but opted not to get involved. She was no longer the childish girl she had been at Shiz, she would not act on her anger. Therefore, it posed no immediate threat to her.
As Glinda was working up the nerve to insist that Corey personally take care of Dorothy, the unionist minister who would be performing the services stepped up, drawing everyone's silent attention.
