The breakout

[Claire Heart]

"I'm going to blast his @ss off this planet, is what i'm going to do." She clenched her fists, covering her face with them. "Oh! And I believed in him once. I <i>TRUSTED</i> him! For what? To have him laugh in my face? To..." it dawned on her. What if Ian had been the problem all along. "What if he's the reason she was acting the way she did in the first place? Lashing out? Putting spells on people? On me! Hating me like she did...." she shook her head. "Or Ozma. He always held a little malice toward her. Maybe he's the one who's set this whole thing up in the first place! How could he use my own daughter against me? I was in his corner! I tried to REASON with him. <i> WE INVITED HIM TO OUR WEDDING!</i> Even when they all hated him...we tried!" Claire screamed with angery, fury. She punched the brick walls and didn't even feel the pain in her fist. One lesson Ian had obviously never learned...don't mess with a mother's children.

[Taye Keats]

Taye shook his head, still fuming. "The thing is, I don't think he has been the one. I've been watching him for the past few months... that's where Ozma's been sending me," he added apologetically. "I wanted to tell you as soon as possible, but with everything going on I didn't get the chance. But all he's been doing for the past few months is researching dark magic... stealing books from all over Oz and things like that. If Ozma was really being controlled by him, why would he let himself be found out?" He began to pace, deep in thought, his anger fading slightly as he tried to figure out what was going on. "He's looking for some source of dark magic... and that's sort of been what Gayelette's been tampering with, isn't it? It makes sense why he'd abduct her... he's probably trying to use her naivety, as well as her magic." He sighed. "I guess having gifted children has its downsides..."

[Claire Heart]

"Like them never getting to be children at all..." Claire mumbled under her breath. She would never forgive herself for being part of that whole mess. She'd just wanted some sleep...to be able to enjoy them...and she sped up their life...and inadvertently missed it all. "I have to confess that part of this whole mess is my fault," she hung her head, ashamed. "I put a spell on them...to grow them just a little...just get them to sleep through the night...be able to tell me what they wanted and needed...not just cry at me. I was going crazy. I wanted to go back to school. I was at home all alone with them. I was still fulfilling my Quaddling duties. I just wanted to change things a little so I could function..." there were tears in her eyes. "And so I put an aging spell on them, thinking they'd age a year...maybe two at the most. Only Gayelette had some...no, a lot of natural ability...Oz knows where she got it from because you barely have any and mine is mostly learned. Nonetheless, I went to school, left them with a Nanny and had her walk up to me at Shiz...fifteen..." she shook her head. "I'd like to kill myself some days..."

[Taye Keats]

Wordlessly, Taye pulled Claire to him, holding her tightly. His anger at the situation vanished. "Oh, Claire... sweetheart... Claire Heart..." He kissed her gently on the forehead. "Don't talk like that. Yes, they're older now... but we're still a family. We still have each other. This isn't your fault... please don't blame yourself." He squeezed her gently. "Accidents will happen. They're bound to where magic is involved." He smiled at her, attempting to lighten the situation. "Look at it this way -- our children will be able to support us way earlier now! Won't it be nice to get a cabin somewhere in the Uplands, just the two of us, supported by our rich, famous children?"

He pressed a finger to her lips, his smile vanishing. "But please, please don't talk about killing yourself. I have enough to worry about without thinking the love of my life might leave me. What would Gayelette and Tristan do without you? What would I do?"

[Claire Heart]

"They'd be fine. They see me as more like a problematic older sister than a mother. I am just barely older than them now..." she laughed, shaking her head. "Our own son hid from me in the library the other day because he didn't want a classmate to realize I was his mother..." she sighed. "It's been strange since you've been gone. I think the world turned upside down or something..." She began to smile again, "but maybe since you're back everything will set itself right...starting with our daughter..." She desperately hoped it was true.

[Taye Keats]

Taye nodded, flashing her a confident smile. "We'll get her back. After I rip Ian's body to shreds, we'll be one big happy family again!" His joking mood vanished as abruptly as it came, and he sighed. "I just wish I knew how to go about doing that. I've tracked him plenty over the past few months... I know that he's taken over the old Nome Kingdom underground, but he's got so many magical protections around it that it's impenetrable. We wouldn't be able to confront him until he came out again... and now that he has Gayelette, I don't know when that will be."

He wished they knew where Ozma was. Firstly so that he could confront her about why she had been misleading them all for the past few months, and secondly so that he could ask for her help -- assuming that she hadn't gone wicked.

[Claire Heart]

"We need backup..." she admitted defeatedly. "I really hate to drag everyone else into this...but it's going to come to that, isn't it?" Claire sighed, looking around in the darkness. 'Where do we go from here? Find Ozma? Or do we rally the troops? I feel like I should tell Ellie but..." she looked sadly at Taye. "That's something else that's changed...Ellie and I...we're just not...like we used to be. There's this barrier that's been there since you've been gone. It's just crept up and gotten worse and worse. At first, I thought it was the spell Gayelette put on me. But the spell's been disbanded and it's still there. She just...I don't know. It's different now. I guess we're just not who we used to be."

[Elphaba Thropp]

Elphaba saw Tristan and Claire, and ran to them. "Morrible!" She cried. "I can't say I'm sorry, but something's up. She's dead."

[Princess Ozma]

Ozma followed Elphaba; apparently she hadn't heard her. Ozma's head was still killing her. What was she even doing here? Something felt terribly wrong about this entire situation, but she felt too disoriented to figure out what.

"Claire!" Ozma exclaimed with pleasant surprise. "Taye, what... what are you all doing here? What's going on?" She looked from her two friends to Elphaba. Why did everyone look so tense?

[Elphaba Thropp]

Elphaba gave a little courtsey. "Claire, Taye, what are you doing here?" Elphaba hadn't been present at the Ozdust Ball. "I just came to check up on Morrible and Mombie. I've...I've been thinking about Nessa a lot for some reason. Morrible's dead."

[Claire Heart]

Claire couldn't really control herself. There had been so much that had run through her today, and the continuing adrenaline from her daughter's kidnapping (be it willing or unwilling on Gayelette's part) drove Claire to an otherwise normally unthinkable act. She drew back her hand and slapped Ozma clear across the face. "That's for my husband." She reared back and hit her again. "And that's for my daughter."

[Princess Ozma]

Ozma's eyes grew wide with terror. She was no stranger to being hit -- she had been Mombi's servant and punching bag for years, after all -- but it was something she would never have expected from one of her best friends. Tears instantly began to spill from her eyes.

"Claire, what...? I... I'm so sorry!" she sobbed. On a childish impulse she wanted to cling to Claire, who she practically saw as an older sister, but she held herself back. "I... I don't... what did I do?"

She felt crushed, terrified, and yet somehow she wasn't angry. More than anything, she just wanted to know why one of her best friends was angry enough at her to strike her. Did she do something wrong? Ozma couldn't remember doing anything in particular... maybe Claire was angry that she had sent Taye off to missions, away from her.

"I... I'm sorry about Taye," she hiccuped apologetically, eyes fixed on Claire with watchful, teary eyes. "I didn't want to make him go away for so long, honest... we just needed him to keep an eye on Ian, so I thought that for a couple of weeks it might be alright to send him..."

"I really am sorry!" she managed to stammer finally, and burst into a fresh flurry of sobs.

[Elphaba Thropp]

Elphaba was shocked. She was amazed as well to see Taye back, and suspicious about why Ozma had said he was dead, but hey, stranger things in Oz had happened. Instinctively she pulled Ozma tight too her, and held her, comforting her. "Claire! Have you lost your mind! WHat are you thinking?" She said. "Oubviously there was a mistake. False news, you know how rumors travel. As far as we know, Taye COULD have been dead. COming back from the dead is rare, but it happens. Just think of all those years Glinda thought I was dead. I'm sure this wasn't intentional. As horrible as it is."

[Princess Ozma]

Ozma stared at Taye, eyes wide with surprise. "Taye... dead? But why would he be dead?" Her missions hadn't been that dangerous, had they? But who would report him as being dead without evidence? Something wasn't right here. "Who said that he was dead? We've been communicating back and forth since I started sending him on missions a couple of weeks ago... right Taye?" She looked at him hopefully, praying that whatever confusion going on would pass. She couldn't bear for her best friends to be angry at her, whatever the reason.

[Elphaba Thropp]

"What happened?" Said Elphaba. "YOu're saying you don't remember telling us that Gayelette killed Taye?"