A Second Chance

So, This is a summer Fic exchange story. I felt crazy enough to do two, This is Child of the Wilderness’s challenge, though she got testy about a point which she was wrong about. (Dorothy didn’t keep the shoes, they fell off when she was in transit. Who knows where they landed. /Baumcanon) This’ll be a toughie. While I like Boq, I don’t care for Boq/Nessa or Boq/G(a)linda, as the challenge stipulated.

Dorothy disappeared by magic. Once Glinda had told her what to do, Dorothy obediently followed the instructions to the letter. There was a puff of smoke, and she was gone. However, the shoes remained.

“How odd,” the Scarecrow said. “Seems like the shoes stayed.” It had always bothered Boq how much his straw-stuffed companion resembled Glinda’s ex-fiancé, Fiyero. However, every time Boq brought it up, Scarecrow always showed no idea who the man was.

“You can have them,” Boq said. “You seem to like them so much.”

“Can’t,” it said. “They’re not my size.” Scarecrow laughed it off with a joke. The same giddy Dancing-though-Life laugh as Fiyero’s. Too many coincidental similarities were stacking against Fiyero.

“About power,” Glinda said commandingly. Even when so straight-laced was she beautiful. “The Wizard in his final moments gave you three power over Oz. Would any of you care to keep it?”

“I’d like to have a farm of my own,” Scarecrow said. “Somewhere far from others.”

“But you can’t eat.”

Scarecrow smiled. “Just had a thought about how much I hated power and people,” It said.

“My forest is enough of a domain for myself,” the Lion added. “I’ll head back once the celebration of that wretched woman’s death is finished.”

“And you, Tin Man?” Glinda asked gently.

Boq thought a moment. Did he want the power? Kind of, but at the same time, not really. He remembered what a sweet girl Nessa had been. Had he seen Nessa before Glinda back at Shiz, he might have gone after her. She was nice, easy on the eyes, smart but not a know-it-all like her sister, and always seemed to care for him. In the end she had become cold, driven to madness by her love of him. To the point she caused this to happen. He learned many things since then. One new thing he learned was that the heart was unimportant for emotions, even the gentle ones. The trinket he was given by the Wizard meant nothing, but he felt he earned it.

“I don’t care for it. I was cursed into this body by those who had power over me,” he said. “But I don’t want to disappear on you. You’re the next best choice to rule Oz. What with the Wizard retired, Dorothy gone, and Madame Morrible having disappeared to who-knows-where.”

Glinda blushed at the Tin Man’s compliment. “That’s very nice of you Master Tin Man.”

He was glad, it was the first time he made her glad. He should tell her his real name; it would surprise and perhaps bother her. Hindsight is 20/20, and he most definitely was not going around the right way to woo the beautiful blonde girl.

“Goodbye Scarecrow,” Glinda said. “You too Lion. I hope both of you come to visit every now and then.”

The Lion acted humble. “Oh Lady Glinda, you’re so kind to let a fellow ruler come to visit, I’m sure.”

Scarecrow shook his head. “I won’t be able to leave my farm much. I might try in a few years, but that’s as soon as it would be.”

Boq waved goodbye to the two, leaving him alone with Glinda as the crowds died out.

Sometimes goodbyes are second chances. The Witch was merely reacting back at the mansion. He thought it was a dream, but apparently it wasn’t. Even if he had not real vendetta against her, surely some of the things she had done had to have merited death. He got a second chance here, at Glinda. If she let him have a job at the castle. One day he may reveal his name, but only after thoroughly apologizing for the past. There was a beautiful young woman in front of him that deserved to not be alone.

Even if she wasn’t-alone with him.