Squinting her eyes in the silky blackness of the dense forest, Buffy grabbed Spike’s hand. He chuckled as he took her grasp and walked in front of the group, his yellow eyes glowing. Xander jumped when a meek growl sounded from behind him. Taking a fighting stance, Buffy prepared to attack the ‘beast’ she knew was lurking in the shadows. When the clouds above dissipated and the forest grew slightly lighter, Buffy’s stance relaxed when she recognized the timid lioness who stepped forward, petting her tail.
“Willow?”
“Put 'em up, put 'em uuuuuup! Which one of you first? I'll fight ya both together if you want. I'll fight ya with one paw tied behind my back. I'll fight ya standin' on one foot. I'll fight ya with my eyes closed…um…if you don’t mind, that is.”
The lioness seemed to retreat back into her shoulders as the group looked her over. When she realized that no one planned on hurting her, she dropped her tail to the ground and stuck out an enthusiastic paw to Buffy.
“It’s nice to…um…meet you…please don’t hurt me…I’m…I’m not a bad lion…honest. I…I enjoy classical music…and picnics…and…I like small animals…bunnies especially.”
Anya gripped her ax in hand and moved menacingly toward Willow.
“Bunnies? Oh, now I know she isn’t to be trusted…evil…bunny coddling beast!”
Willow jumped back from Anya’s threatening movement, but, in the commotion, Xander stepped on her tail. A horrifically loud growl rang from Willow’s furry mouth. Buffy smacked her nose when she began to prowl towards Anya, enraged.
“Ow! What’d you do that for? I didn’t bite her,” Willow said, as tears ran down her whiskers. “I wasn’t gonna hurt anybody…honest. I couldn’t hurt a fly…I’m afraid of them. I can’t even sleep because I’m so scared. Look at these bags under my eyes, I haven’t slept in weeks.”
Xander stared at her, his sole eye bulging out.
“Why don’t you just count sheep?”
“I can’t, I’m afraid of them too…I’m just a coward…a big…furry…coward…is…is my nose bleeding?”
“Of course not,” Buffy said, patting Willow on the back.
Xander perked up as an idea slowly made its way into his mind.
“Hey! Why doesn’t she come with us to see the Wizard?”
“Sure,” Buffy said half-heartedly, “Will…er…Lion, why don’t you come with us? We’re on our way to get her a heart,” she pointed at Anya.
“And him a brain,” Anya said, still eyeing Willow up cautiously.
Xander nodded.
“I’m sure he’d give you some courage!”
Willow sniffled, wiping her tears on her tail.
“Well, wouldn't you feel degraded to be seen in the company of a cowardly lion? I know would.”
Buffy sighed.
“Of course not, we’ll get you help, okay?”
Willow nodded and as she broke down further in tears and then began to sing, Buffy pulled Spike out of the group’s sight. His yellow eyes flashed again as he leered at her.
“Buffy, pet, what are you doing?”
“What, you’re telling me you want to hear this?”
He smirked.
“So what if I do? What did you want me over here for, Slayer? Planning on humming me a few private bars?”
Buffy faked a frown for as long as she could before breaking out into a smile.
“I just thought we could maybe get a quick one in before….”
A shriek interrupted Buffy, and she and Spike ran back to the group.
“What…what’s wrong,” she stammered.
Xander sighed in relief.
“We thought we’d lost you Dorothy! And poor Toto too,” he said, patting Spike on the head.
“It’s Buffy,” she offered, rolling her eyes.
“What?”
“Oh, never mind. C’mon guys, off to see the Wizard.”
Buffy smiled at Spike enticingly as the group skipped down the yellow brick road.
“You too, Toto.”
--
Drusilla stared into the crystal ball before her in her large castle. Throwing her hands in the air in anger, she hissed at the image the crystal ball projected, Buffy and Spike along with their rag-tag trio, walking closer toward the Emerald City.
“Oh, I can see it,” Buffy said to Spike as she ran towards the horizon. She stopped at the edge of a field of poppies and put her hands in her face. “Damn it…I forgot. Guys, let’s go around this field, all right? I have a bad feeling about poppies today.”
Drusilla screamed into the crystal ball, enraged, as her evil “sleeping poppy” spell was about to be all for naught.
“Evil…wicked girl! She knows what I’m going to do before I do it…evil, terrible blonde enchantress!”
A large group of winged monkeys hobbled into the room wearing vests and tiny hats. The three that led the group were distinctly different from the other “clone” seeming flying monkeys. The first, and largest of the group, had an extremely large forehead, even for a primate, albeit a flying primate. His gaze was pensive and brooding. The second monkey wasn’t as large, but had a striking jaw and a well-styled hair-do. The final lead monkey had long, blonde hair, and wore a pink skirt in addition to the vest and hat her fellow flying monkeys wore. Drusilla frowned at the lot of them before she sat down in a chair, staring into the crystal ball.
“Angel, Riley, Harmony, come here and help Mummy feel better.”
The three flying monkeys hopped over to the Wicked Witch, Riley climbing into her lap, leaving Angel and Harmony resting at her feet, as she patted their heads, roughly.
“Now Mummy has to wait for the evil little wench to fail,” Drusilla cooed to the flying monkeys surrounding her.
A flash of blue haze obscured her view in the crystal ball, but, before she could get up to inspect it, the haze vanished and the group was making their way into the poppy field. Drusilla squealed with glee, and jumped up, clapping her hands together. In her happiness, she unintentionally knocked Riley onto the floor, snapping his neck, and leaving his flea-infested body in a heap. A few of the “clone” monkeys scurried over and scooped up Riley’s body, throwing it out of the window into the ravine after taking his vest and hat off.
The next most-distinguished monkey donned Riley’s uniform and hopped over to Drusilla, who didn’t notice Riley’s death and subsequent heaving into the rocks below her castle. As she danced around in merriment, Angel and Harmony stared at the crystal ball, neither one wanting to get Drusilla’s attention when the sleeping group began to stir and move toward the Emerald City again.
--
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Italics=internal monologue.