Disclaimer, you know.
Ellie and Alyssa stood there in shock.
"That imbecile, if the jester was going straight to Dorothy, well he'll be lucky, if not, well I'm sorry for Dorothy." Alyssa said.
"Well, we'll find out in a few minutes I assume, at any rate, I did slip some potion bottles into the satchel, not much is needed for a hand mirror." Ellie said, "And at least he has the scepter, not that it will get them out of there." She added
"Go tell the others, contact your sister." Alyssa said sitting down on the bed.
Ellie saluted and ran out of the room. When she informed the others they were shocked at Alex's actions. Mr. Teak simply scoffed and returned to his tea. Ellie then took out a potion bottle and splashed it on the mirror. Glinda seemed to have been waiting for her. She knew.
"I'm sure he'll be alright." Mr. Foreman said getting up.
"Me to, I mean he the scepter so that should serve as protection, but now he'll be just as trapped there since the jester's intended destination was most likely the void" Glinda said.
"I slipped some potion bottles into Dorothy's satchel as well as a hand mirror." Ellie said.
"Good thinking sis." Glinda said nodding.
"How your wand by the way?" Ellie asked curiously.
"It's completely repaired now." Glinda said holding it up.
"Good as new?" Ellie asked curiously.
"Better than." Glinda replied.
"Anyways, no use taking up mirror space, you'll need this if Alex made it to Dorothy." Glinda said as the mirror began to ripple again.
Meanwhile in the room.
Dorothy was expecting the jester to return sooner or later. However as she held up her sketch of her and her parents she didn't expect for another chair to appear and for alex and the jester to land in the hay stack with the scepter rolling off across the room.
"You imbecile!" the jester shouted dusting himself off.
Alex held out his hand and the scepter flew to it. The orb was almost completely dark. It still had a hint of red haze in it however. Alex then stood up, spit out a piece of straw and looked around the room. He saw the cat and her kittens sitting next to the table, and he saw Dorothy. He was relieved. He chuckled and ran out of the pile of straw. He was met with Dorothy's warm embrace.
"Alex, what are you doing here!?" Dorothy asked extremely happy, and extremely confused.
"I, I grabbed on to him just as he was about to vanish, I didn't know if it would work." Alex said with tears of joy in his eyes.
"And you ruined a perfectly good plan, well, at any rate I can trap you both here." He said walking over to the table and setting the satchel down.
"I'd rather be trapped here with him then be trapped here without my friends, but I am homesick." Dorothy said waving her hand in the direction of the crystal.
"Then why torture yourself with images of your home?" The jester asked curiously.
"Because, it's helpful, keeps me sane." Dorothy said.
"Oh, well then, sayonara love birds, I'll be back at breakfast." He said changing to a comically cheerful tone, flicking the wand and vanishing.
Dorothy and Alex remained in the embrace for several minutes. When they finally broke from the embrace Dorothy waved her hand back in the direction of the crystal causing it to go dark. She then took the scepter from Alex and leaned it against the table. She then laughed as she saw pockets trying to open the satchel.
"Oh pockets, seriously?" Dorothy asked picking her up and handing her to Alex.
"Who's he?" Pockets asked looking at the person she had just been handed to.
"That's alex, the one I named Alexa after." Dorothy said going through the satchels contents.
"Ellie packed a lot of socks for you." Alex said.
"I see, she also packed me a pair of flats, a hand mirror, some hair ribbon, and oh, some of those potion bottles." Dorothy said pulling out the mirror and a potion bottle.
"We'll contact them later, first I want you to introduce me to these little guys." Alex said holding pockets up to his face.
"Well, that's pockets, she likes to explore things, and climb into other people pockets" Dorothy said walking over to him.
"Who's the strange looking one?" Alex said handing pockets to Dorothy and pointing to oddball.
"That's oddball, I call him that because of the stripe pattern." Dorothy said putting pockets on table and allowing her to climb into the satchel and poke her head out.
"And the colorful one?" Alex asked.
"Patch, and the one that looks like her mother is Alex, whom I named after you, and the big one is Eve." Dorothy said.
"I like them, they're cute." Alex said walking over to Dorothy, "Like you." He said kissing her on the cheek.
Dorothy blushed and opened one of the potion bottles. She then dripped some of the contents onto the mirror and waited. It wasn't long before the mirror began to ripple and the scene of the inside of the gale farmhouse appeared in the mirror. Dorothy was happy to see her friends and family alright. They were relieved to see her and Alex. It took Dorothy a few minutes to explain her situation to her aunt, uncle and friends. Aislynn got excited when Dorothy introduced her to the cats.
"Oh I've always wanted a cat." Aislynn said.
"Well without the jester and I these guys would have gone hungry on the streets of emerald city." Dorothy said.
"That's rotten of whoever left them there." Ellie said.
Dorothy sighed and nodded. She then yawned and stretched.
"Where's Toto?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"I'm here." Toto said jumping into view of the mirror.
"Hey boy, what would you say about me bringing home some cats?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"I said before I wanted to choose them, but hearing their story makes me feel sympathetic." Toto said.
"I knew you'd like it." Dorothy said as the mirror began to ripple again.
"We're happy to talk to you again Dorothy, see you…" Em said before going pale.
"Good evening Mrs. Gale, gee you're looking a nice shade of Pale this evening!" the jester said taking the mirror from Dorothy as the image faded.
"We're in trouble aren't we?" Alex asked curiously.
"Oh, no, that was rather crafty, now tell me how you got some of that potion in there." He said grabbing Alex by the collar and placing the wand against his forehead.
Alex immediately found himself unable to keep quiet, but he didn't even know that Ellie had slipped the potion in there.
"I didn't know Ellie had slipped any in there, my plan was to get here, I didn't know, I swear, now please, you're hurting me." Alex said as the jester dropped him.
Dorothy gasped and helped him to his feet.
"Well then, you can keep the mirror, and any potion you have left, but I'll be keeping a closer eye on you two." The jester said vanishing.
"I don't like him that was painful." Alex said rubbing his forehead.
"Alyssa said he did the same thing to her once." Dorothy said yawning again.
"It's painful and it makes the truth come out." Alex said sitting down in the chair
"Well I'm going to turn in for the night, the bed is, oh okay the beds are over there." Dorothy said noticing that a second bed had now appeared next to the one she was using
The beds were maybe three or four feet apart. They still looked rather plain with the addition of some new blankets. Dorothy chuckled weakly and yawned.
"Dorothy?" Alexa asked curiously
"Yes Alexa?" Dorothy replied.
"This place is looking homier now, don't you think?" Alexa asked curiously.
Dorothy looked around, she hadn't really thought about. It had a table, chairs, two beds, and a crystal ball that allowed her to observe her friends. But she never really thought about it as being rather homey. But in a way it did.
"Yea, I guess it does." Dorothy replied chuckling a bit.
"What did she ask?" Alex asked curiously.
"She asked me if I thought this place was beginning to look homier." Dorothy said.
"Well in a way it seems relatively comfortable." Alex replied.
"Yes, I know." Dorothy replied.
Dorothy then smiled and walked over to the bed. She first picked up the hair ribbons she had been using to play with the cats and placed them in her pocket. She then laid back on the bed and soon she found herself asleep.
Meanwhile in Kansas.
Glinda had come to Kansas after Dorothy and Alex had contacted the others. They had told her that the jester had caught them using the mirror. None of them knew if the jester had done anything to them as punishment for Ellie's attempt to keep in contact and Ellie was completely blaming herself. However everyone was trying to convince her otherwise
"But it is my fault, I slipped the potion bottles in there." Ellie said
"Ellie, using the mirror to contact us was already risking them getting caught by the jester." Alyssa said placing a hand on her comrade's shoulder.
"Alyssa is right sis, no one knew when the jester was going to return to the room, there was always a chance of him walking in on them talking to us." Glinda said placing a hand under her sister's chin.
"So? What if the jester punished them in some way?" Ellie asked worriedly.
"Well then there's nothing we can do, it can't really be helped." Glinda replied.
"But surely there's something you can do?" Henry asked curiously.
"Sorry henry, but really the only way to get to the room besides using whatever method the jester is using, is on complete accident, and even then only the jester can release them." Glinda said looking over to him.
"So trapping them there, that could be a punishment in a manner of speaking." Aislynn said.
"Not really, that would only work if the place served as a dungeon, but the jester has given them some sort of accommodations, and they are able to live there, there's not really anything there akin to punishment unless you count the isolation part" Glinda said.
"Well then, that makes me feel slightly more worried about it." Aislynn said.
"Glinda, I think it would be best if we send Aislynn to the emerald city, she'll be safer there." Alyssa said.
"I agree with Alyssa, without Dorothy here though none of us are really safe." Em said.
"Gee, that makes me feel loved." Glinda said sarcastically.
"Oh, I didn't mean to offend but let's face it, how many times have we all managed to get captured by the jester?" Em replied.
"Okay, though that's true, I can still keep you guys safe." Glinda said as she waved her wand in aislynn's direction causing her to vanish.
"Well, at least she'll be safe in the emerald city." Ellie said.
"Ellie, I'm going to send you there later." Glinda said looking at her sister.
"What, why? I'm perfectly safe here." Ellie said looking at her sister confused and worried.
"Ellie, I'll explain later, right now is not the time." Glinda said walking over to where Toto was napping and picking him up.
Toto barked a few times in confusion and then realized what was happening. Glinda chuckled and handed Toto to Ellie and waved her wand over her causing her to vanish as well.
"I thought you said you were going to send her later?" Alyssa asked.
"Alyssa?" Glinda asked curiously.
"Yes boss?" Alyssa replied.
"Shut up." Glinda quickly replied.
Alyssa sighed and walked over to the couch and sat down.
"We still don't have a solid plan do we?" Alyssa asked curiously.
"Not at all." Glinda said walking over to the playpen and kneeling down next to it.
"Well, this should be fun then." Alyssa said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes
"Alyssa?" Glinda asked.
"Yes?" Alyssa replied.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" She responded now sounding aggravated.
"Glinda, when was the last time you got some sleep?" Em asked worriedly.
"Why?" Glinda asked turning her attention to the triplets.
"Because you seem extremely on edge." Em replied.
"I don't know, maybe a few days, not since my wand broke." Glinda said handing a stuffed rabbit to Robert.
"Glinda, I think you need to get some sleep, staying awake like that is not good for you." Mr. Foreman said looking at Mr. Teak who had said nothing up to this point.
"Thanks Jon, but I'm fine." Glinda said.
"Glinda, no you're not, you're stressed and that is not good for your health." Mr. Foreman said walking over.
"Alex mentioned once that Glinda doesn't really seem to sleep much." Mrs. Teak said.
"And how would he know that?" Mr. Teak asked curiously.
"Because my room in the emerald city isn't that far from his, he was walking passed my room while I was in the middle of a breakdown." Glinda said looking over to him.
"So he was being nosey? Ha, I knew it wouldn't last long." Mr. Teak said.
"Mr. Teak, he wasn't being nosey, he was showing concern for my wellbeing." Glinda said.
"Well then, I think we have the first part of a new plan, and that is, make sure Glinda gets a good night's sleep." Mr. Foreman said.
"Well, it's a start." Mrs. Teak said.
"Come on Glinda, you can use aislynn's room, I'm sure she won't mind." Em said walking over Glinda and helping her up.
"You guys aren't going to leave me alone until I actually get a few hours' sleep are you?" Glinda asked curiously.
"Nope." Almost all of them replied in unison.
"Fine, just wake me up before midnight." Glinda said.
"No, no, you are getting a full night's sleep." Alyssa said finally talking again.
"Fine." Glinda said in a childish tone of surrender.
Em smiled and led Glinda to the room. Alyssa followed just to be sure about things. As soon as Glinda was settled down in the bed and they were sure she was asleep Alyssa sat down in a chair next to Aislynn's desk and decided to keep watch.
Meanwhile back in the room.
Alex had been watching things go on in the crystal ball. He looked over to Dorothy's bed to see that the scepter was now floating at the foot of her bed. He smiled and waved his hand over the crystal causing it to go dark.
"So, what were you planning to accomplish by ending up here?" The jester asked in a whisper.
"I'm not really sure, I wasn't even sure if you were going to come here in the first place, I was putting myself in danger." Alex said looking over at the scepter.
"Oh don't worry about that thing, I can't touch it, it belongs to her, it will just repel me away." The jester said walking over to it.
He looked away and closed his eyes. He then slowly reached out his hand to try and touch the scepter. As soon as his hand got close to it however, it immediately sent out what looked like yellow sparks. The jester jumped and yelped quietly shaking his hand in pain.
"Okay, point taken." Alex said chuckling.
"Yes, and now that I've subjected myself to that." The jester said trailing off, flicking the wand, and vanishing.
Alex smiled and walked over to the beds. He looked at the cats who were sleeping in the corner by Dorothy's bed. He quietly approached Dorothy's bed and kissed her on the cheek. He then walked over to his bed and laid down on it. It wasn't long before he himself was asleep.