OK guys, time for the next chapter. Thanks once again for your kind reviews and support. I'm glad everyone seems to be enjoying the story. This chapter should be a bit more interesting than the last one. Well, I'll answer reviews at the end of the chapter. Enjoy:

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When Dorothy awoke the next morning, she thought perhaps she had gone back in time. Light filtered through the small square window, bringing a sort of familiar feeling to the old bedroom. However, in a few short moments she remembered the true reason she was here, and she sighed before sitting up in bed and wrapping her arms around her knees.

After a few moments, she found herself wondering what time it was. She left the room to head into the kitchen, where there was a small wall clock she could consult. She walked down the stairs slowly, trying to step over the creaky ones in case Elphaba was still asleep.

However, halfway down the stairs the silence was broken by a male cry of, "Holy Shit!" This was followed by a female shriek she recognized as Elphaba's and a loud thump. Eyes wide, Dorothy raced down the stairs to see what had happened. She thought perhaps someone had broken in, and she hoped whoever it was hadn't harmed Elphaba.

When she reached the living room, the scene that met her eyes was a far cry from what she had expected. Elphaba was on her feet, hands out in front of her, and had apparently paralyzed her attacker in place with a spell. His arms were locked behind his back and he was not moving save for his eyes, which were darting back and forth frantically.

Dorothy immediately recognized Elphaba's victim as Hunk, the same farmhand that had sent the letter that had drawn them out to Kansas in the first place. Her eyes grew wide as she raced into the room.

"Elphaba, let him go, he's one of my friends," she said. Hunk's eyes grew wide at the sight of Dorothy, but he was able to make no other signs of recognition.

"Oh, I'm sorry. He broke in and scared the crap out of me. I didn't know that was how people said hello in Kansas," Elphaba said sarcastically, dropping her arms. Hunk staggered backwards, gasping.

"Dorothy!" he shouted, seeming to forget Elphaba for only a moment as he gave the young girl a hug. Dorothy laughed as she returned it, overjoyed to see her old friend again.

However, the moment was cut short when he stepped back and asked urgently, "Dorothy what the hell? Where have you been? How did you get here? Who the hell is that?" On his last question he made a gesture toward Elphaba, who was standing a little ways off with her arms crossed, one eyebrow raised.

"Well…" Dorothy began, wondering if she should tell him the truth. After all, would he really believe that she'd spent her last two months living in the land of Oz in a town full of Animals? But she remembered his letter, and how he'd always seemed to listen more intently to her tales than the other farm hands. She decided to take a chance, "You see Hunk, those stories I was always telling were not just fairytales, Oz is a real place. A couple months ago I was sent there again by accident, and I've been living there ever since. But we got your letter, and I had to come back for Uncle Henry's funeral. This is Elphaba, one of my friends from Oz. She got us here with one of her spells."

Hunk raised an eyebrow but surprisingly did not seem as skeptical as Dorothy would have expected, "You know, I can't really explain it, but I always had a feeling…. I mean, the way you talked about that place, the details that you put into those stories, it didn't sound to me like something you'd just made up. I guess that's why I wrote you that letter in the first place, I had a feeling that if you were anywhere, it was in that world you'd talked about so excitedly when you were younger."

Dorothy smiled, "I didn't exactly expect you to believe me."

He paused for a moment, then glanced at Elphaba and said, "You say your friend here is from Oz. But…in you stories…isn't she…."

"The Wicked Witch of the West?" Dorothy laughed, Elphaba and gave her an annoyed look. Did half of Kansas believe the lies that Oz itself had just been purged of because of Dorothy's big mouth? "I used to think she was, but it turned out everything I told you about her wasn't true."

"I thought she tried to kill you?" he asked, sparing a wary glance to Elphaba.

Dorothy just shrugged and Elphaba, not liking where this conversation was going, said, "Umm…I'm going to go wake up her highness now." Without sparing a glance backwards, she disappeared up the stairs.

"She'd really not all that bad Hunk, you just have to get to know her," Dorothy assured him.

Hunk, however; was looking up the stairs in the direction Elphaba had just disappeared in, "How many friends from Oz did you bring here?"

"Oh, just two, Elphaba and Glinda," she said.

Hunk could have sworn Glinda had been the name of another witch who had helped Dorothy supposedly kill the Wicked Witch of the West. However, he figured he might have just gotten some points of the story mixed up, and so he kept his mouth closed.

A few moments later Elphaba returned, now with a drowsy looking Glinda trailing behind her. Glinda was running her hands through her hair, trying to flatten a spot that was sticking up because she had slept on it funny. Glinda looked up questioningly as they entered the living room. Dorothy also thought she saw Hunk blush a bit as Glinda descended the stairs, but she wrote it off as a trick of the light.

"So…you two are from Oz then?" he asked awkwardly. He couldn't say he wasn't a bit unsettled by the sight of a woman with green skin. He remembered that in Dorothy's description of Oz there was a green skinned woman who terrorized people for no reason and had locked Dorothy up and tried to kill her. If this was the very same woman, then why was she standing calmly in their living room while Dorothy claimed to be friends with her?

"Um…yes," said Elphaba, "We came with Dorothy to make sure she gets home alright."

"I don't understand though," he said slowly, "No offense, but I thought you were…"

"Wicked?" Elphaba finished, smirking slightly. As awkward as this situation was, she did find it slightly amusing watching the farmhand squirm.

"Well…yes," he said, and then turned to Dorothy, "I mean, isn't she the same person you talked about when you spoke of your first trip to Oz?"

"Well, yes and no," Dorothy started, "You see, I spoke of a Wicked Witch, but this is Elphaba. The Wicked Witch was just something that the Wizard of Oz made up to make people believe she was evil."

Hunk looked back and forth between Elphaba, Dorothy and Glinda, obviously still confused. Dorothy decided to change the subject, "So, are you the only other one coming to the funeral?"

"No, Zeke and Hickory are coming by later, as are a few of the neighbors," he said. He looked at Elphaba for a moment before he continued, "Elphaba is it? You should keep your skin covered while the others are here. I mean, I believe Dorothy's Oz stories, but I don't think anyone else is going to be so readily accepting. I mean, even Zeke and Hickory believe it's just a fairy tale."

"Thank you captain obvious," said Elphaba, rolling her eyes, "Because I certainly wouldn't have thought of that on my own."

Hunk looked at her for a moment before replying, "You're a bit sarcastic aren't you?"

Elphaba looked ready to respond (with a sarcastic remark, no doubt) but Glinda piped up instead, "You don't know that half of it."

Elphaba swatted playfully at Glinda's head, but Glinda ducked and stuck her tongue out at Elphaba. Hunk, seeing that he'd lost the women's attention but satisfied that neither of them appeared to be very threatening in any way, turned to Dorothy once more.

"Say Dorothy, where's Toto? I don't think I've ever seen you without the little mutt at your side."

"Oh I left him back in Oz with Boq and Fiyero, Glinda and Elphaba's husbands. They were the Scarecrow and Tinman before Elphaba changed them back into humans," Dorothy said, "I didn't want to drag him along."

Hunk shook his head, "Oz sounds like quite a place."

"Oh it is," said Dorothy. No matter how grave the circumstances, Dorothy was excited that she'd have a chance to speak with all of her old friends. She'd suddenly realized that she missed them terribly, "Anyway, I'm glad we ran into you Hunk. I wasn't sure exactly where we were supposed to go, or when for that matter,"

"Well, your uncle requested the funeral ceremony be held on the farm before we take him over to the cemetery to be buried next to your aunt. I was just coming by to make sure all of his possessions had been moved out when I startled your friend here. I suppose people will start arriving within the hour," he explained.

Dorothy's tone suddenly became serious, "Hunk, how was Uncle Henry after I left…?"

"Well, I don't really know Dorothy. I didn't really see much of him. Of course I helped with the search efforts when I heard you'd gone missing. Your Uncle seemed really distraught about the whole thing. They called off the search efforts about a month after they'd started and I didn't hear anything of your Uncle again until his death two weeks later."

Dorothy looked down at her feet, "This is all my fault. I should have been here for him."

Hunk became stern, "Look, there was nothing you could have done to prevent this, and beating yourself up over it won't help any."

Dorothy smiled weakly and hugged him, clearly not feeling much better, and he gave her a gentle pat on the back. However, there came a sudden knock at the door, and Hunk pulled away from Dorothy. Turning to Elphaba he said, "Cover your face, we've got company."

And now one of the farmhands has entered the story. I hope Hunk's ready acceptance of Oz was believable enough. He seemed to be closest to Dorothy, and I felt that he might believe her if anyone did. Either way, he needed to believe her to move the story along, and you'll see why in later chapters.

I'll just answer a couple of reviews now:

WickedJelly: Sorry I didn't get a chance to respond to your PM, I've had a busy week. I shall respond now. I used to not sing when my parents were around, but then I just stopped caring what they thought of it and now they want to kill me P. Enjoyed it? I think I was traumatized. Besides the fact that we were dancing poppies and I can't dance to save my life. Sadly I don't think this curse shall lift. I shall be doomed to have half-smileys for all eternity.

S'OK, I was just wonderin'.

The-Good-Die-Alone: Ooooh. What does this icon say?

GldWlf: Hmmm…I guess people in Kansas are just completely oblivious. Either that or the author just wanted to get this chapter done…. Nah, it's probably the first one. P

Sigma1: I was wondering whether or not to make Hunk resemble Fiyero, but eventually decided against it. I know he was the Scarecrow's parallel in the Wizard of Oz, but it just seemed like such an unnecessary distraction…

Disneyqueen: Well, I find it strange that you ask that but not how the farm house is even there if it crash landed in Oz. No, I'm kidding. Truth is, it didn't really cross my mind when I was writing the chapter. Anyways, it was more focused on Dorothy, and I think she's angsting enough for all of them at the moment.

X-Kate-X: Squee! I'm a Fiyeraba addict too. Go us. P

Well. That's all for now folks. Please leave a review telling me what you thought and I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.

Till next time S.P.