Disclaimer, you know.
That evening Alex spent sitting in the parlor in front of the fireplace. Marshall Mallow, Alyssa and Terrance still hadn't come up with a plan and he was growing a bit impatient. This time the scepter didn't vanish to find Dorothy on its own like it had last time, and then there was what Ellie had said that bothered him. She had said that the scepter answered to both him and Dorothy, and that she didn't understand why. Now that he thought about it the only reason he had ever been told that it let him anywhere near her when it didn't allow anyone else was because it trusted him as much as she did. He didn't know anything about sorcery and realistically the only thing he did know about it at the moment was that it isn't really something he wanted to try and mess with. He knew Dorothy didn't have a good grasp on the subject either which didn't help either of them in this situation and he also knew that everyone seemed to be avoiding whatever room he was in with the exception of Toto, pockets and the other cats.
"Alex?" Glinda asked as she walked into the room.
"Yes Glinda?" Alex replied without even turning around.
"We've all been talking it over and we've thought of two plans." Glinda said.
"Oh good you've reinstated the war council." Alex said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Anyways, the two plans are one, allow you to get captured, you and Dorothy together, nothing can stop you two, and two is to just start towards the city until we hit one of the armies heading in that direction, the scepter will do the rest." Glinda said.
"As much as I like the first plan, I'm going to have to go with the second one, not even the jester would be stupid enough to capture me while I have the scepter." Alex said.
"Why? For all we know Dorothy's been tied up and it's not like you're the master of the scepter, it's her object of power I know that it trusts you, but it won't bend to your will unless she is killed or replaces it according to all known laws of magic." Glinda said.
"But here's the thing." Alex said holding out his hand
Immediately the scepter flew into it and began glowing brightly for a few minutes before dimming again. He turned finally to see Glinda with her jaw hanging open.
"I, I have no remark for that." Glinda said
"Ellie said that the scepter seems to obey both me and Dorothy, for whatever reason that neither you, Ellie and most likely any other practitioner of sorcery in this castle will never understand, it obeys me like it obeys Dorothy." he said waving it in the direction of the door
Immediately the door slammed shut and locked. He then waved it at the door again it unlocked and opened again. He then looked at Glinda who was now completely shocked. She rummaged through her pockets, pulled out a pair of gold framed reading glasses and pulled out her own pocket compendium which she flipped through.
"That doesn't make sense, all laws of magic say that that should be impossible." Glinda said walking over to him
When she got over to him she took the scepter from his hands and looked at it. The red haze was still in the center of it but it didn't mean anything. She knew what it meant but she had always left Dorothy and Alex in the dark, this was something new, something she hadn't seen before, something she had to look into. She handed the scepter back to Alex and quickly stormed out of the room. Alex however sighed, got up, slung the satchel back over his shoulder, and left the room only to be met with Ellie waiting for him.
Back at the city.
Dorothy awoke that evening to find the jester standing in the door way to her room.
"What do you want now?" Dorothy asked getting up, not even bothering for her glasses.
"I wanted to ask you what you know about the scepter's behavior towards you and that boy you like so much." The jester replied.
"Okay two things, one his name is Alex, and two, what do you mean?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Well it breaks all known laws of sorcery, the scepter, according to Glinda's little sister it obeys both you and him, which should be entirely impossible, the scepter obeys you because you killed its owner, the wand obeys me because it was cast away for the slippers." The jester said.
"Well I'm just as in the dark as you are, I have no clue what you are talking about." Dorothy said.
"I figured as much." he said taking out the wand and pointing at her.
"Why are you pointing that thing at me? I haven't done anything nor am I really in the position to do anything." Dorothy said stretching her arms.
"Because, you're rather dangerous company, I always worry that you've got a trick I haven't thought of, which is why this time I'm not too hesitant on doing this." He said giving the wand a flick
Immediately Dorothy felt her hands once more get tied up. This time however they were tied in front of her.
"What is the point in doing this, how am I supposed to do anything without the scepter?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"I don't know, but this time I'm taking you to the chambers with me, we can both watch your friends come up with some sort of plan because their first two involved the boy getting captured and just coming here, both of which are solid plans one takes time and the other I had already thought of." The jester said grabbing a piece of the rope and pulling her along.
When they got to the chambers the jester sat Dorothy down in a chair and leaned himself against the table as they watched Alex, Ellie and the others try and think of a plan that was better than the two they already had. Whenever rose talked however the jester would shut his eyes and grind his teeth. Dorothy however couldn't bear to watch. Her friends were talking about how they were going to save her so that she could end him, and she really didn't like anyone talking about that stuff. She squeezed her eyes shut and wished she could cover her ears.
"You know, I have a better idea, why don't we let it go the way it goes." Came Alex's voice from the crystal.
Dorothy opened her eyes and sighed she was glad Alex wasn't suggesting to do anything rash or dangerous. It was then that she smelled something cooking.
"What's cooking?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Soup, why? Wait a minute, right you still have an acute sense of smell don't you?" the jester asked
"Yeah, smells good." Dorothy said
"Thank you, I found the cards sitting on a table in the kitchen." The jester said.
"Shouldn't you check on it?" Dorothy asked curiously.
The jester looked at her, sighed, got up, grabbed the ropes around Dorothy's wrists and pulled her to her feet before leading her out of the chambers. When they got to the kitchen the jester walked over to the stove where Nikko was standing watch. The jester pushed him out of the way and took a ladle from a nearby rack. Dorothy out of simple curiosity walked over to the stove and stood next to him. He stirred the soup a few times before taking a sip from the ladle. He thought about it for a minute before picking up a pepper shaker and sprinkling some pepper into the pot.
"You're wondering where I learned to cook aren't you?" the jester asked turning to her.
"Yes I am." Dorothy replied.
"No one taught me, you probably guessed that, but I'm not always standing in front of that crystal ball, I needed a past time, so I taught myself how to cook." The jester replied.
"So, you got yourself a hobby?" Dorothy asked
"Yep." The jester replied stirring the soup again and taking another sip from the ladle.
Dorothy sighed again and struggled against her bindings. The jester looked at her and then pulled out the wand. He gave it a flick and the rope around her wrists vanished.
"Thanks." Dorothy said.
"Your welcome." He said taking out two bowls from a nearby cabinet.
Filling them both with a good amount of soup he handed one to Dorothy and placed his on counter. He then went into a nearby drawer and took out two spoons, handing one to Dorothy and placing the other in his bowl he then motioned for Dorothy to leave. She sighed and carried her bowl of soup back to the chambers and sat down on the throne. Trying some of it she found that it was actually quite good. It wasn't long after that the jester joined her and took his place by the crystal ball. Dorothy attention however was constantly drawn towards the two colored one which seemed to be causing all the trouble. After about twenty minutes she had finished her soup, got up and walked over to it. Not daring to touch it she simply walked in a circle around it and observed it.
"What is it?" Dorothy asked curiously
"Power." The jester replied.
"Why?" Dorothy questions.
"Because, what's going to happen soon requires a lot of it." the jester said getting up and walking over to her.
"Tell me, what's going to happen?" Dorothy asked.
"That's for me to know and you to watch when it happens." The jester said chuckling.
"The storm, what is it exactly?" Dorothy asked.
"Returning to my previous statement." Was the jester's only response
"Right, I'm warning you though, if you harm any of them." Dorothy said.
"Like I said, behave, no harm will come to you, that applies to your friends as well." The jester said.
Meanwhile back at rose's castle.
As the sun set Alex found himself sitting alone once more in the parlor. The plan was leave early in the morning and let things happen as they happen. Staring into the scepter he wished that he could just go to Dorothy using it but Glinda wouldn't never allow him to do it.
"Dorothy wouldn't want you sulking about would she?" Emma asked walking into the parlor followed by Annabella
"No, probably not, but I'm not sulking I'm thinking." Alex said.
Emma looked at Annabella and shrugged before Annabella walked over to her brother and climbed onto his lap.
"Brother dear, why don't you get some sleep, we're leaving in the morning." Annabella said hugging him tightly
Alex looked at his sister and sighed. Annabella smiled and got off her brother's lap before walking out of the room with Emma. Alex let out another long sigh and got up grabbing the scepter he returned to the bedroom and attempted to fall asleep.
Back at the city.
As the moon was rising in the sky the jester led Dorothy back to her room and locked her inside. The first thing she did was take off the slippers and left them by her bedside. She then picked up her glasses and returned to the desk and went back to sketching. She sketched the silhouetted scenery outside the window. Even in the darkness the land around what was once the emerald city still didn't look as beautiful as it once did. As she sketched her gaze fell on the card she had left out. She sighed and placed in the open drawer to the desk before taking out another sheet of paper and making a paper airplane out of it. When she finished she tossed it aside and watching it land on the other side of the bed. She then returned to her sketching. After about twenty minutes she felt something like invisible hands poking at the soles of her feet. She imagined it was the jester just trying to either keep her awake or distract her, either of the two it didn't really matter which it was at this point as it felt all the same to her.
"Just ignore it, m-maybe he'll get bored of it." Dorothy said holding back a giggle.
However the action persisted, even shifting her position didn't make it any better. Her mind then settled on the conclusion that he was just trying to annoy her. He knew she was ticklish and he knew that she was either sketching or trying to sleep. So she concluded that annoying her was probably his aim. Eventually she just couldn't take it anymore and she burst out into laughter, it was then that the feeling stopped.
"Wow, you are a persistent one aren't you?" the jester asked from behind her.
"Why were you trying to get me to laugh?" Dorothy asked.
"I wanted to see how long you could hold out, much longer than I anticipated and much longer than last time." The jester said flicking the wand causing Dorothy to be tied to the chair by her waist.
"Now what did I do?" Dorothy asked.
"Nothing, I'm just trying to get on your nerves." The jester said flicking the wand again causing the ropes to vanish.
Dorothy sighed and got up taking her glasses off and leaving them on the desk she walked over to the bed and sat down on it. She heard the jester let out a quiet chuckle before he vanished as well. She let out another long sighed, laid back, and soon fell asleep.
Well, that was eventful. No questions as I can't really think of one. If you want to leave a review be my guest.