Disclaimer, well you know.
Back in father time's domain.
Alex and Ellie immediately found themselves in a different room than they had intended to end up in. father time was now standing next to them. Ellie jumped as soon as she noticed this. However this was broken by the sound of sobbing. Father time pointed in the direction of the couch. The Nome King was standing in front of it watching the child.
"The problem with being in my domain is that you remember everything, that's what made her so susceptible to the room's power, I personally know and remember anything that has happened, or is happening." Father time said.
"What about what will happen?" Ellie asked curiously.
"No, though I technically exist in all of time I cannot foresee things before they happen, the future is something that open ended, the possibilities of it change every time you say or do something, I could show you a future, but that is only an example of one possible future, if actions were to change then the outcome would change and things would be different." Father time boomed out.
"Like which one of us tries to talk to her first?" Alex asked curiously.
"Exactly." Father time and the Nome king said in unison.
"Ellie, you should talk to her first, you probably know her much better than I do." Alex whispered.
"But she loves you, why, I'll never know, but she loves you nonetheless." Ellie whispered back.
"Just go." Alex whispered sternly.
Ellie nodded and slowly approached Dorothy. The Nome king smiled and stepped aside walking over to father time. Ellie began to remember the first time she had ever seen Dorothy crying. It was early one morning after she had a nightmare. Ellie had comforted her with the help of their friends that time. She really wished Alex had gone first. As she got to the couch she knelt down next to Dorothy. She was still sobbing. Ellie sighed and placed a hand on Dorothy's shoulder.
"Dorothy?" Ellie asked worriedly.
"Go away, I want to be alone!" Dorothy screamed out.
Ellie was shocked and fell backwards. Dorothy was definitely upset this time. But thinking about it, if she just had to witness some of her worse memories. Well she definitely wouldn't be too thrilled to talk to anyone. She stood up and ran a hand through Dorothy's hair. After a few minutes Dorothy pushed Ellie's hand away.
"Dorothy, I'm not going to force you to get up, I'm not going to force you to talk to me either, but you should talk to at least one of us." Ellie said getting up.
Dorothy didn't respond. She merely continued to sob. Ellie sighed in defeat and walked over to Alex.
"Do you want to try?" She asked curiously.
Alex looked at Ellie. Then to Dorothy. He thought about it for a minute, looked back at Dorothy, then to Ellie once more, and then back at Dorothy. Yes he felt that he had to help her, but she was definitely too upset to talk to anyone at the moment. He continued to stare at Dorothy and watch her sobbing for a few minutes before shaking his head and sighing.
"Not right now, I think we should give her some time to vent, I mean, how would you feel if you had to live through your worst memory?" Alex curiously.
"I know, I know, but, oh never mind." Ellie said.
"Anyways, at least she's here and at least she's safe." Alex said sitting down on the floor and taking out his reading glasses.
"Father Time, if you don't mind, could you send me back to the city, Alex can stay here and wait for her to calm down." Ellie said.
Father time nodded and immediately Ellie vanished. The Nome King chuckled and he and father time walked out for their tea. Alex sat there, the only other living person in the room was Dorothy. Alex listened to Dorothy's sobs for about ten minutes before getting up and walking over to the couch. When he got over to the couch he sat next to Dorothy and sighed, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. Dorothy brushed the hand away and sniffed.
"Alex, it was horrible, I couldn't even drown out the memory, I, I had to watch it." Dorothy said through her.
"Any points for guessing you don't want to talk about it?" Alex asked trying to brighten the mood.
Dorothy didn't respond. She merely shook her head and continued sobbing. Alex sighed and leaned over kissing Dorothy on the cheek. Dorothy was unmoved by this, though she still went red in the face. Alex sighed and got up. He wondered if he could go exploring. In the end however he sat back down and decided against it. His gut told him he should stay with Dorothy.
Meanwhile back in the emerald city.
Ellie had explained to Glinda and Em how Dorothy was fairing. Em wished she could go, but Glinda suggested against it because she had to watch the kids and they started a bit of an argument. However Em did argue her point of being one of Dorothy's legal guardians rather well. And at this point Glinda was most definitely losing
"But Emily, what about your Children?" Glinda argued one last time.
"Glinda, she is my niece, and anyways we could always bring henry here to take my place for a few minutes." Em said.
Glinda sighed in defeat, she was indeed losing this argument. She waved her wand and henry appeared in front of them. He was shocked to hear what happened to Dorothy. Aislynn however now over heard this. She too was concerned. Dorothy had been there to see her grandfather die. Aislynn knew that if she had to witness that more than once she too would be crushed. She set Eve down on the floor and let her walk over to them making her presence known.
"Ace? Oh dear, how much have you heard?" Ellie asked worriedly.
"Ellie, I've heard what Dorothy witnessed, I think I should go talk to her." Aislynn said.
"Aislynn no, she's extremely upset." Ellie and Glinda said.
"And I was upset when my grandfather died, and she was there for it, and I mean she witnessed it." Aislynn said as she Em, and Glinda vanished without them even being noticed for several seconds.
"Where did they go?" Henry asked when he finally noticed
"Father Time must have summoned them." Ellie said sitting down next to the triplets.
Back in father time's domain.
Em, Glinda, and Aislynn now found themselves in a room with father time standing in the middle.
"Wow." Em said looking around when her brain finally registered she wasn't in the city any more.
"What?" Aislynn asked curiously
"I didn't even realize we moved." Em said.
"That's the upside of traveling to my domain, you don't even feel it." Came the booming voice of father time.
"Ah, I wish all travel was like that." Em said.
"Sadly you can't." Glinda said.
"Anyways, I didn't want to hear you guys arguing, the three of you had a fair enough argument." Father time said referring to the couch Dorothy and Alex were sitting on.
Aislynn gasped and she and Em ran over to Dorothy. Aislynn sat down next to Alex who was curious as to why she was here. It didn't take long for Aislynn to explain her story. Alex nodded and scooched over and allowed Aislynn more room next to Dorothy. Em took her spot next to the arm of the couch by Dorothy's head where she had shifted it to as she continued to sobbing. Em sighed and stroked Dorothy's hair.
"Dorothy, it's alright dear, I know you're upset, I can imagine how you must…" Em said as Dorothy cut her off.
"No you can't, you never witnessed it all, I had to live it twice, you don't know what it is like to be that young and lose someone you love!" Dorothy screamed looking up at her aunt.
Dorothy's face was red and stained with tears. Em drew back at her niece snapping at her. Aislynn however placed a hand on Dorothy's shoulder only to have it slapped away rather hard thinking it was Alex trying to comfort her. Aislynn yelped a little out of pain and drew back. It was then that Dorothy realized what she had done, that they had brought Aislynn with them. Why? She didn't know, she didn't understand, what she knew was that now she was sorry.
"Dorothy?" Aislynn said shaking her hand out in pain.
"Ace, I'm so sorry." Dorothy said turning to her and hugging her.
"Dorothy, your aunt may not know how you feel, but I do, you were there when my grandfather died, you know how I was." Aislynn said wrapping her arms around Dorothy.
"Wait, what?" Alex asked rather confused.
"The day Aislynn came into my custody, was the day her grandfather, died, I was there, I watched him breath his last breath." Dorothy said sniffing and looking at Alex.
"Oh, wow, ace, I knew you were in Dorothy's custody, but, oh wow." Alex replied.
"Yes, most people didn't know that, I don't tell them." Aislynn said.
"I'm sorry." Alex said.
"I am to." Dorothy said
"Why?" all of them asked curiously.
"Because I made her have to remember that." Dorothy said wiping tears from her eyes.
"Dorothy, its okay, yes it hurts me, but I witnessed people die three times, my mother, my father, and my grandfather, death doesn't hurt me as much as it hurt you, you were younger than me when you lost your parents, and I lost my parents over time." Aislynn said.
Dorothy didn't respond, she merely hugged Aislynn tightly and sobbed a bit more.
"I'm trying to forget my memories, it hurts, and it broke my heart to have to witness that more than once." Dorothy said.
"She only meditated for twenty minutes, had she waited the full half hour the hallway would not have been there, you see, my realm is effected by choice, every choice one makes determines what happens in the future." Father time boomed out.
"So if she had just waited she would have ended up in a different room?" Alex asked curiously.
"Possibly, I cannot be sure, I didn't even know the room would be there, time works in more ways than one, since, as I said, it is open ended." Father time boomed out.
"Then why didn't you wait with her? Show her the right way to go?" Em argued.
"I can't, I cannot influence other people's choices, I can merely be cryptic about what I say and make the hints one can choose to use." Father time said.
"Wait a minute!" Dorothy shouted.
Immediately the entire room fell silent. All heads turned to look at Dorothy.
"How then, how, could you know? You were able to tell me what memory was going to be projected next." Dorothy said finally getting up and walking over to him.
"Ah, I wondered when this would come up, I exist pretty much through all of time, I cannot foresee the future, no but I can however look into the past and find out things as they happen, it doesn't take much for me to know what was coming next." Father time said kneeling down to make eye contact with Dorothy.
Dorothy looked at him with more tears in her eyes. She then turned back to Alex to see him now standing as well. She ran over to him and embraced him tightly. She began to sob quietly and he returned the embrace. Em then got up and walked over to Dorothy and Alex. She wiped Dorothy's face of tears and kissed her on the cheek. She then walked over to Aislynn and hugged her now that Aislynn was now in tears. She wasn't crying as hard as Dorothy was but she was still crying. Aislynn pushed Em away and got up before walking over to Dorothy.
"Dorothy?" Aislynn asked curiously.
"Yes ace?" Dorothy responded.
"Do you want to return to the city now?" Aislynn asked curiously.
"Yes ace, please, have him return us to the city." Dorothy said letting go of Alex.
No sooner had Dorothy finished her sentence did they all find themselves now standing in the chambers of the emerald city. Dorothy saw her uncle, Glinda and Ellie standing across the room looking at her worriedly, her cousins however seemed to take no notice of Dorothy's arrival and continued playing with their kittens. Dorothy smiled weakly and ran over to her uncle and embraced him tightly. Em walked over and join her in the embrace.
"Can you two do me a favor?" Dorothy asked weakly.
"Yes dear?" Em replied.
"Don't bring up any mention my parents, my childhood, or their death, at least not for a while." Dorothy said.
"Alright dear, we promise we won't." Em said stroking her niece's hair.
"Dorothy, if you want I can send you guys home." Glinda said.
"No thank you Glinda, not right now if it's alright." Dorothy said looking at the scepter which was now leaned up against the door.
"Dorothy, why don't you go to your room and have a little rest, I'll bring you some tea in a few minutes." Ellie said walking over.
"Thanks Ellie." Dorothy said breaking from her aunt and uncles embrace and embracing Ellie quickly.
As they broke from the embrace, Dorothy grabbed the scepter and started for her room. Glinda who had been completely silent up to this point finally spoke up.
"Well, come on sis, I'll help you with the tea." Glinda said walking over to her sister.
"Thanks sis." Ellie said taking her sister's hand and dragging her out of the chambers.
"I think I'll go to Dorothy's room, make sure, she's, um, alright." Alex said walking out.