The Scarecrow's lanky and gawky stuffed body stumbled around as he eagerly rushed down the hall. Whenever he had to come down these gray painted halls, he typically came down in a rush, as being called down them was a rare occurance, and usually, he was only called down for something very important.

As he reached the end of the hall, he approached the wooden door, pulling out the golden key from his pocket and unlocking the door hastily, almost stumbling over clumsily as he pushed it open. He stumbled a bit before picking himself up, a habit he was used to, and walked quickly over to the end of the room.

At the end of the room, there sat a large figure, completely covered in a black cloak on a large throne. The figure was massive, practically a giant, and Scarecrow knew well who he was. In fact, he was one of the few people of Oz who knew he was.

Scarecrow gulped a bit as he looked up to the cloaked covered figure. He kneeled down, as the giant expected him to. He didn't like kneeling. He never made his people do it and went as far as to make sure they never had to kneel, finding it degrading, not liking the idea of feeling like a king is superior. The Scarecrow was a charitable king who did his best to make everyone feel as if they were equal to him, and that they were even friends with him, his friendly nature earning him a soft spot in the hearts of Ozians. Ozians who had been around long enough had all agreed he was the best ruler the land ever had.

But this figure wasn't as interested in being friendly to the people of Oz.

Again, Scarecrow did not like the idea of kneeling, but he knew how agitated the giant could get when people didn't kneel. He didn't know what would happen if one completely refused to kneel, but he wasn't too keen on finding out the result.

"You don't have to kneel, Scarecrow. Get up." His deep, booming voice ordered.

These words surprised the Scarecrow, but he got up anyway.

"Scarecrow... do you happen to remember the boy that helped us imprision Rabadan?"

Scarecrow instantly knew who the giant was talking about.

"Yes, I do. Bryson, his name was, I believe. What about him?" Scarecrow asked, his mind already racing, wondering what this could be about.

The giant then began to lean over, his massive face coming close to Scarecrow's, merely inches away. The giant's huge head being so close to Scarecrow's much smaller one was a startling feeling, but Scarecrow had been in Oz for far too long and seen too many things to let this frighten him.

"Send him to me." The giant lowly.

Scarecrow's painted eyebrows arched. "W-why?"

"Do it." The giant replied.

"But... s-sir... why? I don't understand what this is about.."

The giant arched his back and leaned back into his throne.

"He knows." The giant stated.

"..K-knows what?" The Scarecrow questioned.

The giant sighed and lifted up his large arm, resting it on his throne and fiddling with his big fingers. "Everything."

The Scarecrow gasped. "Everything?!"

The giant sighed once more and nodded quickly. "Yes, everything! He knows about L. F.B, he knows about '39, he knows about it all!"

The Scarecrow's jaw could have easily fallen to the floor. How could this happen?

"How could he possibly have known?!" Scarecrow exclaimed.

"It seems he's from section 24. Just like Rabadan." The giant told him, sighing.

Scarecrow shook his head. "That can't be! He showed no signs of being from section 24! He never said anything!"

The giant shook his head and sighed. "Are you sure? I think his the cloth of his clothing was a dead giveaway."

"But he was wearing the same material we use here in the Em-"

The giant cut him off. "No. That was when he came here and he was changed for the dance. Remember his inital clothing when he first arrived?"

Scarecrow shook his head, sighing in defeat. "It's been about four years, no, I don't, I can't manipulate things like you, you know."

The giant shook his head. "The point is, he's from section 24. And he's been gone for four Oz foresaken years! Who knows what he could have done with this knowledge?!" The giant clenched his fists hard and punched the the throne in anger, groaning, causing Scarecrow to jump back, startled. The giant sighed. "I apologize. I only found out a few hours ago... and this information is still brand new to me.."

Scarecrow nodded, licking his lips and rubbing his chin, deep in thought, looking up at him. "So what do we do now?"

The giant sighed once more. "Either have him brought to me, or send someone to him."

The Scarecrow nodded. "Okay.. I'll tell Glinda to open a portal. Should we use a-"

"Storm portal." The figure replied hastily.

Scarecrow sighed. "Why do you always want to use those? Those are dangerous."

"But they take much less time. This is urgent, I want this boy taken care of this instant." The figure commanded.

"Taken care of... you don't mean.."

"No, that's not what I mean. I just want his memory erased. That's all." The figure replied.

"But sir... have his memory erased? But the reason we even bring people here is t-"

"I don't care. Our land is more important than one boy. You know I've always said we can't use people from section 24. He should have never been here. And I wasn't around when we were making the decision to select him, you know that." The figure explained.

"Yes, I know.."

"I'm beginning to think we should put a ban on all immigrants here." The figure told him.

"Sir.. we can't do that.." Scarecrow argued.

"I'll let the ones that are already here stay, but these portals.. after we take care of the boy, I want them destroyed. I can't let this happen again, and you know this whole imigrant project has caused 5 percent good and 95 percent disaster. We need to put an end to it!" The figure said.

Scarecrow couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But sir, this project has done so much good over the years! Think about this! This project gave us Dorothy, for crying out loud! Dorothy!"

The figure sighed. "Yes, I know, I know, but we can't take any more risks. This project needs to be shut down.! Now, we've wasted too much time over this debate, we can discuss this at the next meeting, but right now, you need to go have that portal opened. And I suppose we should just send someone instead of bringing him here, I think bringing him here is too risky. Now go! Hurry!" The figure demanded.

Scarecrow sighed and nodded quickly, rushing back down the hall. His mind was racing. But as he rushed out the door, he knew he couldn't completely follow the giant's orders. All he knew was that Oz needed that boy right now.

A/N: Hello, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. This is of course a sequel to my story "Dreaming of Oz." If you haven't read it, I encourage you do so and come back here, otherwise, this story won't make much sense. Now, I'm sure you're all confused as to exactly what the conversation is about, but it will all be revealed soon, and untl then, I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Feel free to leave a review, they're greatly appreicated. Also, tell me what you would like to see in this story, if you'd like, and what you want from it! Well, that's about all I have to say now. Consider this chapter more of a prolouge of sorts, if anything. I'm happy to be back to writing, and I look forward to continuing this series! See you soon.