Disclaimer, I do not own the movies, the franchises, etc.
Dorothy looked at the sheriff curiously. What was so concerning that he needed her to be there. She then tried to catch her breath a bit. When she finally regained her composure she looked at him. The door to the office then opened behind her and in walked Mr. Greene the attorney that she had met at Mr. Diggs manor.
"Oh hello miss gale." He said as he straightened his jacket.
"Hello Mr. Greene, what brings you here?" Dorothy asked.
"He's the state's attorney, yes he was Mr. Diggs's attorney but he also works for the state in the event that someone cannot get a lawyer or an attorney." Office grey said calmly.
"How does this have to concern me though? Unless it's about Mr. Diggs's body being stolen from the morgue do I really need to be here?" she asked.
"Yes miss gale, because you have something to do with the client of mine that I'm sure you saw walking around this morning." Mr. Greene said wiping his brow.
"And who's your client?" she asked.
"After some analysis and questioning we have found that his real name is Alex Pryce, but you may remember him as The Appraiser." The sheriff said.
Dorothy gasped, she hadn't thought about The Appraiser since it was her that got him arrested in the first place.
"He's been released from prison?" Dorothy asked.
"No, he was let out for an accompanied stroll this morning." The sheriff said.
"But, because you got him arrested and that there is most likely to be some backlash at you for getting him arrested, according to his inmates and the guards that were watching him and his lackey, he never seemed to want revenge, he did however seem sorry for what he did." Mr. Greene said handing Dorothy some papers.
"So, I have the choice to sign him out of the prison and let him walk free, or not sign them, and whatever the alternative is?" Dorothy asked.
"Yes that's pretty much it, but there is one problem, though he is a Kansas citizen by birth, he actually owns a small house in the next town over, if he isn't released he'll have to go to trial for his other scams and crimes, and with his record, he could spend the rest of his life in jail or even end up in the chair." Mr. Greene said.
This made Dorothy feel rather guilty, she rifled through the papers and found many official documents on accounts of his crimes. Along with them were a list of Pseudonyms that he used along with a record of all his living family members. She sighed and looked at the sheriff, then at Mr. Greene.
"Can I go see him?" She asked curiously.
"Only if you really want to, we are right now holding him in one of the cells here." The sheriff said.
"I'd like to talk to him, alone, if you don't mind." She said putting down the papers.
A piece of paper fluttered down from the pile unnoticed by the sheriff or Mr. Greene. She sighed and got up handing the scepter to the sheriff, she was then led out of the office and to a door that was marked 'Holding Cells.' She sighed and opened it, taking the scepter from the sheriff she walked in slowly. Shutting the door behind her she turned to see one of the cells being guarded by the deputy sheriff. The door then opened behind her and the deputy sheriff walk towards her.
"If anything happens we'll be standing outside the door." he said.
"I think I can manage." Dorothy said smiling.
He nodded and Dorothy walked towards the cell. She noticed buttons were set up next to the cell doors a green one marked open and a red one marked close. Soon she found herself at the cell that he was in. he was lying down on the bed, now a clean shaven man, but he still had the same facial features.
"So, you've decided to see the man you've pretty much condemned?" he asked in a sad tone.
"What do you mean condemned? I haven't signed anything to keep you in prison or on trial." She said.
"I know, but why would you release me? After all I did, I tried to take the homes of everyone in this town, and as I'm sure the attorney has told you, I have a horrible past, I'm a con." He said getting up.
"I'm aware, I'm also aware that you were born in the next town over." She said.
"That is true, believe it or not I wasn't always like this." He said.
"Most people don't start out as cons, I kind of gathered that." She said.
"Well that is correct, I've always live here in Kansas actually, I just traveled a lot and got caught up in all the excitement of scams and stuff that you don't normally find happening in such nice places like here and my own home town." He said sadly.
"Have you had any visitors while you were in the prison?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"My entire family has practically rejected me now that they know what I've become." He said going into his pocket and pulling out some letters.
Dorothy looked at them for a moment then walked over to the button next to the door. Pressing the green one she heard a small motor hum to life. The door slowly opened and she walked in. sitting down on across from the bed she took the letters from him. Flipping through them, she noticed they were all pretty much hate mail, insulting him, threatening to disown him from the family, saying he was shunned and should never show his face in his home town again. She sighed and handed them back to him.
"The time that I spent in the prison made me think about my life, if I had kept on the track I had been using I would have found myself in bigger trouble than I am now." He said pocketing the letters.
Dorothy was saddened by this, she tightened her grip around the scepter which had now at this point grown dark. She looked at him, his eyes were heavy, and they showed regret, sadness, and sorrow. He was truly being sincere about his words.
"Mr. Pryce?" Dorothy asked.
"Yes?" he replied curiously.
"What would you do, if I let you go free?" she asked curiously.
"Well, first I would try to make amends with my family, then I would apologize to all the people I have affected through my actions." He said in a hopeful tone.
"I think I've heard enough, you know, your cell door is now wide open and yet you make no attempt to run, why is that?" she asked curiously and looking at the door.
"Because, where would I go? There is a guard waiting out there to pretty much shoot me dead in the event that I even try to escape this hall." He said sighing.
Dorothy then chose this moment to get up and walk out of the cell. She turned to look back at him, she knew this man was truly sorry for his actions, but he was hated by his entire family. She knew that if she let him out, she would try and find a way to help him make amends. She was about to get lost in thought when she heard him speak again.
"I'm sorry." He said.
"What?" she asked turning around again.
"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you, your family, everyone." He said
Dorothy smiled and pushed the red button next to the door, as she heard it close and lock into place she began to walk down the hall towards the door. When she got there and opened it she was met with Officer Grey, the deputy sheriff and Mr. Greene all waiting for her.
"So?" the Deputy Sheriff asked.
"Can I have a few minutes to think?" Dorothy asked.
"Take your time, we're in no hurry." Mr. Greene said.
Dorothy nodded and walked back to the sheriff's office. She walked in and over to the large armchair that was placed in the room. She sat down in the chair and began to think. This man was most definitely sorry for his actions, and he truly wanted to make amends, but he had no idea how he would accomplish it without help. She then looked around the room and saw a radio sitting on a small table next to her. She picked it up and turned the tuning knob. It immediately crackled to life.
"Breaking news, local town heroine Dorothy gale is now said to be at the local sheriff's office determining the fate of Mr. Alex Pryce, a con man who once tried to take all the homes in the town for his own gain, if he is released there is no knowing what he may do…." The voice of the newsreader said as Dorothy immediately turned off the radio.
She held somebody's life in her hands at this very moment. She knew that if she kept him in jail he would die alone, sad, and rejected. But if he let him free, well how do you make amends with a family that has basically rejected you past the point of no return? She felt confused about it, she didn't know what to do.
"Miss gale? There is a reporter here who want to talk to you about the situation." Came the voice of the sheriff.
"Tell him I'm unavailable for comment at the moment!" she yelled.
"Okay, will do." He replied.
Dorothy sighed and sat back in the chair. Why was she of all people always forced to make such dire decisions? She couldn't deny that she was technically responsible for putting him in prison but she didn't want his life in her hands. She thought about this for a minute. Then she made her decision. She then got up and tightened her grip on the scepter. Walking out of the office she was confronted by many reporters.
"Miss Gale, have you made your decision yet?" one of them asked.
"Yes I have and if you would all back off please I'd be much more comfortable." She said as kindly as she could.
The entire room became still and quite, the only one still talking was a live news reporter.
"Earlier, as in a few minutes ago, this man gave me a sincere apology for everything he has done, and I cannot condemn a man like him to such a fate that he would most likely end up dead from." Dorothy said looking at the sheriff and nodding.
He nodded and went to the holding cells, Mr. Greene walked up to her carrying some papers, a clipboard and a pen. She took them from him and read through them. It was an official release form. She smiled and signed it, all that was needed now was Mr. Pryce's signature.
"Ms. Gale were you aware that Mr. Pryce was once a school teacher?" asked one of the reporters.
"I was not." She replied.
The sheriff then emerged followed by Mr. Pryce. He was smiling and crying. He hadn't expected this. When he was handed the forms he immediately signed them, as did the sheriff. Mr. Pryce then walked over to Dorothy and offered his hand. She shook it gladly and then walked forward. She didn't get far before she heard a loud clap of thunder. It began to start pouring.
"Officer Grey, would you mind keeping him here for now, I have a really bad feeling about this weather." Dorothy said walking over to a window looking out at the sky.
It was dark and grey. Another flash of lightning followed by a clap of thunder soon followed this observation.
"I think that would be smart Dorothy, well at least the reporters all ran off so that their equipment wouldn't get ruined." He said chuckling.
"Don't I get a say in this?" Mr. Pryce asked.
"Only if you want to do something that could get you killed." Dorothy responded.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I'll explain later." She said.
He shrugged. Dorothy slid out of her flats and walked over to the sheriff and handing them to him.
"Uncle Henry would kill me if I ruined these." She said.
"But you need proper footwear if you're going to go out in that weather." Mr. Pryce said sounding really concerned.
"No I don't, believe me, I've been through much, much worse." She said tightening her grip on the scepter and running out.
She ran for a few minutes, she soon found herself completely soaked. She ran in the direction of the hospital, when she got there and walked in she was greeted by the receptionist. Dorothy didn't say anything she just went to the room that her aunt was being kept in. she found her uncle waiting for her there, as well as Ellie, Aislynn and Mr. Alistair. Her aunt was sitting up on the bed looking at her, and smiling.
"Dorothy, why are you soaked?" Ellie asked.
"I ran all the way here in the pouring rain." Dorothy replied.
"Oh, right it's raining, anyways we saw what happened, and it was very nice of you to release that man." Ellie said smiling.
"We heard what happened over the radio that was a very brave thing that you've done." Auntie Em said smiling.
Dorothy smiled and walked over to her aunt, kissing her on the cheek. Dorothy then walked over to Mr. Alistair and whispered something into his ear. He nodded and smiled. Dorothy smiled as well and then one of the nurses came in.
"Miss gale, would you like to go to another room and dry off?" she asked.
Dorothy looked at the nurse and walked over to her. She then walked over to the table behind the door and grabbing her satchel and her boots. Pulling on the boots she walked past the nurse. Toto followed her closely and they walked out of the hospital. Another clap of thunder rolled through the sky and lightning continuously flashed. She ran quickly and eventually made it to the house she recognized as Mr. Alistair's. She knocked on the door and it was answered by Donna who quickly pulled Dorothy in and soon she found a towel being thrown at her.
"thanks." She said drying off her hair.
"No problem, I had a feeling you'd show up eventually." Donna said chuckling.
"Still thanks, any ways how are your parents?" she asked curiously.
"They're fine, they should be back in a few days with the building supplies, and Kelly is forcing my aunt to teach her how to sew." Donna said giggling.
"Where did they go for the supplies?" Dorothy asked
"Just a few towns over, they're just stockpiling as usual." She said going into the other room.
Dorothy couldn't help but chuckle, Donna and Kelly's parents always hand a tendency to get things they didn't even need that much of. It was fun to watch them going into their house after they would go grocery shopping. Their house was two floors tall. They were a moderately wealthy family, always prepared for anything for some reason.
"Hey, don't laugh." Donna said emerging with one of Dorothy's other dresses.
Dorothy thanked Donna and went to change. After this was accomplished she emerged and was immediately tossed a rain coat and an umbrella.
"Why do I need these?" Dorothy asked.
"Because 'You' are going back to the hospital." Donna said as Kelly ran down the stairs.
Toto ran up to Kelly and barked, she scratched him behind the ears. He then returned to Dorothy as she was pulling on the rain coat. She then pulled her boots back on and was about to leave when Donna grabbed her shoulder.
"Yes donna?" Dorothy asked.
"We, as in Kelly and I, received a message from Glinda to tell you to be careful." She said.
Dorothy pushed the door open and was met with a clap of thunder. She opened the umbrella, Dorothy then looked down and Toto who was standing close to her. She then started walking towards the hospital. Tightening her grip on the scepter which was now glowing slightly. The weather was now beginning to pick up and was getting dangerous. She needed to get to the hospital quickly. She began to pick up the pace she then jumped as a bolt of lightning struck close to her. She looked around and saw some people running at her. But then she began to feel dizzy and blacked out.
"I think she's waking up." came a voice from around her.
"Oh thank goodness." Was the response.
"She seems to pass out a lot recently." Came another voice.
Dorothy was now in a bit of a daze at this point, she had no idea where she was, or what she was doing there. She being to open her eyes but found that one couldn't open. She groaned a bit and pushed herself into a sitting position.
"What happened?" she asked placing a hand over her eye that was still closed.
"Don't worry about your eye miss gale, it's just got a patch of some sort of ointment over It." came the voice of Doctor Maxwell.
"You mean you don't know?" she asked him.
"It's not mine, a mysterious girl came in and placed it on you, your friend here has been checking it every once in a while, you seem to be recovering quickly which seems like a miracle." He said.
"Okay, well that answers my next question but again what happened?" she asked curiously.
"Well according to the sheriff you collapsed and hit a root that was sticking out of the ground, but you seem to be recovering nicely." He said turning around walking out.
Dorothy sighed and used her good eye she saw the scepter leaned against the bed. She also noticed that everybody was crowded around her at this point.
"Dorothy, Elena came here, what is currently on your eye right now, or at least as far as I've gathered, is a special ointment made by my sister, and it really is helping." She said smiling.
"Thanks, how long?" she asked.
"How long will you need the patch or how long have you been unconscious?" they all asked in unison.
"Both." Dorothy said giggling a bit.
"Well you've been unconscious for maybe three or four hours now." Said the sheriff who was now turning to walk out.
"And the patch will need to stay on till at least tomorrow morning according to Elena." Ellie replied.
"That's nice, so I have to go with judgment from one good eye." Dorothy said.
"Hey, it happened to me once, I walked into a tree and had to go through the same process." Ellie said.
"Well at least it doesn't leave any scarring." Uncle Henry said sighing.
"No, that's a different ointment." She replied.
"Thanks, that makes me feel so much better." Dorothy said.
Everyone laughed at this for a minute and then the clock struck seven. Ellie then walked over to Dorothy and slowly lifted up the patch. She then smiled and set it back over the eye carefully and gently.
"Well, it is definitely improving." Ellie said.
"Thanks for checking, but I still couldn't open it." Dorothy said concerned.
"You won't be able to till your eye is completely healed." Ellie said.
"And that couldn't be the first thing you told me?" Dorothy asked.
"You didn't ask." Ellie said walking back to the end of the bed.
Dorothy closed her other eye leaned back. She began to think about the jester, why wouldn't he just jump out and reveal his plan already? What was going on? And more importantly why did she constantly pass out for what seems like no apparent reason? She couldn't come up with any answers, not anyone of them made sense in her head. She began to get lost in thought when she felt someone tug on her dress. She opened her eye and was met with Aislynn's gaze. She had slid the notebook onto her lap along with a pencil.
"I assume you want me to either draw or write something ace?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Yes please." Aislynn replied.
Dorothy nodded and opened the notebook and picked up the pencil. She immediately began to sketch. She looked up for a moment and noticed it was only Ellie, Aislynn, and herself in the room now, but she shrugged this off and went back to sketching.
"What is she sketching?" Aislynn asked looking at Ellie
"Knowing her, could be anything." Ellie replied.
"Really?" she asked.
"Well, she designed a dress for me once, she also designed a dress or two for the china princess, and she's even sketched a few other things that I've seen." Ellie replied.
"Oh." Was the only response she could come up with?
"Yep." Was Ellie's response.
After a few minutes Ellie got p and took aislynn's hand and led her out of the room so Dorothy could have some peace and quiet. Dorothy didn't take much notice however, she continued on sketching. After a few minutes she stopped and held it a distance from her good eye. She then examined it for a bit and smiled with content. It was a nice looking sketch of Aislynn and Ellie.
"Well that's a nice picture." She said to herself.
Toto then ran into the room followed by Uncle Henry.
"Dorothy, Doctor Maxwell said its okay for you to leave." He said.
"And go where exactly?" she asked.
"Well there's the Alistair residence." He replied, "Or you could see if your friends can bring you to Oz, I don't know to be quite honest." He added.
Dorothy sighed and got up. She then picked up the scepter and walked over to her uncle. Hugging him for a minute she stumbled about trying to get used to having the patch over her eye. She then walked past him followed by Toto closely at her heels. After a few minutes of walking she found herself back at the reception desk. The receptionist greeted her kindly and asked her how her eye was doing.
"Its improving." She said.
The receptionist nodded and Dorothy walked out of the hospital, the rain had long since stopped and Ellie and Aislynn could be seen sitting on a bench just outside the hospital. She walked over to them and embraced them from behind.
"So where are we going to stay tonight?" she asked them curiously.
"I had the sheriff call up Aislynn's maids they should be here in a few minutes to pick us up." Ellie responded smiling.
"So staying at the Digg's residence that should be nice." She replied.
Toto barked in agreement as two cars pulled up to them. One was the canary yellow one commonly driven by Jessica, the other one was emerald green which she knew was Jenny's. Opening the door she allowed Aislynn to get in. she then got in the front seat and looked at Jessica, who gasped when she finally noticed the patch over Dorothy's eye.
"Dear lord, what happened?" Jessica asked quite concerned.
"Jessica!" Aislynn shouted.
"Ace I'm allowed to ask." She said as Ellie came over and handed Toto over to Dorothy.
Dorothy took Toto in her arms and got in the car. She handed Toto and the scepter to Aislynn while she got herself settled in and sighed.
"I passed out and my eye made contact with a tree root Jessica." Dorothy said.
Jessica nodded and looked at Dorothy sadly, she then began to drive off. Dorothy could see Ellie getting into Jenny's car through the rearview mirror. She sighed and lounged back for a bit. She soon began to doze off as they drove along and the next thing she knew they were at the manor. She sat up and shook her head a few times to clear it. She then got up and walked out of the car. She then opened the back door and let Toto out. She noticed that Aislynn had actually fallen asleep. She leaned into the car and grabbed the scepter while Jessica went to the other side and picked up Aislynn. Jenny pulled up soon after and they all walked to the door of the manor. As soon as they were all in Dorothy pulled off her boots and placed them in the rack. She then walked to the parlor with Ellie and Toto and sat down on one of the couches. She soon found herself dozing and was eventually asleep again.