Brotherly Love

"My what?"

Pete stared at Ozma, his bright green eyes widening in alarm.

Ozma sighed in exasperation. "Your body, Pete. You know, the thing made of muscles and bones and tissues? That thing."

Pete stared at her. He was used to his sister making odd requests-everything about her was odd-but this was something different.

"Okay, maybe I should explain," Ozma began.

"Yeah, probably," Pete said, sitting down on the edge of his sister's bed.

"There's something big coming," Ozma said, in a dark and over dramatic way. "I'm going to need to be away from Dorothy. And you would be the perfect disguise."

"Um, why?"

She resumed talking in her normal hurried and urgent voice. "Because first of all you're just a gardener-"

"That really helps my self-esteem."

"-And second of all, you have a trustworthy look to you-"

"So do you. We're twins, remember?"

"-And finally, I can do this easily."

She reached up and, with a violent yank, pulled a strand of brunette hair from Pete's head. "Ow!" He yelled.

"Thank you," she grinned.

"Wait, let me get this straight," Pete said, running his hand through his hair. "You want to be me?"

"Yes. Because Dorothy has no idea you exist, you know, 'cause of your lack of magic."

"Here we go again with the self-esteem boost. Thank you for that."

"You're welcome. Now can I have your permission to do the spell?"

"If I say yes, what happens to me?" Pete asked. "There can't be two of me running around."

"I'll make sure you're in good hands," Ozma assured him, slightly distracted by the piece of hair she held in her hand.

"I don't know if I should trust you when you say that."

"Those good hands belong to the Wizard."

Pete stiffened. "The-the Wizard?"

"Of course," Ozma giggled. "Who else?"

"Okay, your offer just became a lot more appealing. But one last thing: won't Dorothy notice you're gone?"

"I'll conjure up a clone. No big deal."

Pete resisted the urge to scoff at his sister. She was talking about performing one of the most complicated spells in history and she says no big deal?

"So, are you going to let me do it or not?" Ozma asked, looking at Pete expectantly, for once completely and fully present.

Pete once again ran his fingers through his hair. "The things I do for my sister..."

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A/N Hello! I am quite extremely proud to say that this is the first published Dorothy Must Die fanfiction. Trust me, I checked. I wrote this because I needed to have some conformation that Pete was real and that Ozma had just been acting like him. So yeah. I hope you enjoyed it!