Monkey claws sank into Rose's arm, and she joined her companions in screaming. Another ape dove down to grab at her side, followed by another. "Three o' ya??" she protested, swatting frantically at her tormentors. "I may be a lion, but I ain't FAT! This is bloody unnecessary!"

Her arm (paw?) connected with one of the little monsters, batting it to the side. In this moment of clarity, Rose could see Brooke being hoisted into the air. "Dorothy!" she cried, falling into character. Suddenly, the blonde could feel her own feet being lifted from the ground. "No!!"

Rose remembered this part of the story. She knew where Dorothy was headed, but couldn't recall the fate of the Cowardly Lion. Was she going to be tortured? Put into a zoo? An oven? Panic set in. "Brooke, Brooke!" she cried, hoping to be heard. "Don' let th' Witch near your shoes! Uh, uh, there's this hourglass tha', um, OH!! If there's a crystal ball, it'll show ya 'ome! Call Sam!!"

Rose had very little faith in Brooke, to be honest. The younger girl didn't believe in aliens or ghosts or anything supernatural, and now they had to trust her to conquer a living book. Rose wished she were Dorothy, instead.

She opened her mouth to call out again, but one of the monkeys' feet became tangled in her hair. The ape flailed, screeching and tugging at her gnarled locks. The other creatures struggled to hold onto the lion. Again overcome with cowardice, Rose screamed and kicked about. The mess of monkeys ascended clumsily into the sky with their prisoner.

Call Sam. Crystal ball. Shoes. If Brooke hadn't seen the movie a few hundred times when she was little, she never would've remembered all of that.

She struggled again to get free of the monkeys and finally one of her arms slipped free. For a terrifying moment, she dangled one-armed from the monkeys' grip, another scream getting caught in her throat. She was too far up to not break anything, if she were to fall. So when another monkey came to help, she nearly sighed in relief.

Of course, when she realized how far away the others seemed to be, any relief she felt disappeared.

"Be careful," she yelled, though she wasn't sure if anyone of them would hear her.

And then, not five seconds later, Brooke was being flown as quickly as possible to the castle. She even stopped struggling, simply because she didn't want to end up falling to her death.

With the monkeys swarming in and Brooke being lifted off into the sky, Castiel could only wish that he still had access to his powers in this strange world they were in. He felt helpless and didn't like it at all, but all he could do was try to protect himself and watch out for the others.

A tin man may not have a heart, but the woodcutter wasn't really short on courage. Luckily, he had the nerve to fight back and a few monkeys would not like it if he did manage to connect with a punch or two.

He tried to rush after Rose's direction, but with too many enemies in the way, he couldn't stop them as they carried her off.

"Let go, let go!" Rose yelled, thrashing about. One monkey lost its grip in the struggle. The lion's weight became too much; the two apes still holding her began to descend under the burden. Then, the claws locked in Rose's hair ripped free, taking a few strands with. She yelped in unison with the final monkey. The lone creature couldn't hold an entire lion by itself! Down they spiraled, Rose's stomach turning as if on a roller coaster. The ape flapped its wings hard, keeping them from plummeting too quickly.

The monkey had enough. As Dorothy had been the real target, the blonde was dropped like a ragdoll. Rose landed on her side, her cheek hitting the forest floor. It hurt a bit, yes, but she was thankful. The fall hadn't been far enough to break anything. She lifted her head from the prickly grass to a chorus of victory howls. The leftover mass of monkeys rose up into the air. The Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man were unceremoniously abandoned. Brooke was gone.

Rose pulled herself to her feet. Her face now scraped and streaked with dirt, she sighed. They were certainly acting out the plot properly. Unfortunately, though, this meant putting their lives into the young, snippy hands of Brooke.

She made her way back to Castiel and Max. After that episode, the forest's sudden quiet was eerie. "Tha' was awful," she groaned, as if it really needed to be said. "Everyone okay?"

Edited 2010-08-28 05:04 pm (UTC)

Max had luckily not been dragged by the monkeys; somehow his flailing had managed to deter him until he'd re-collapsed in the grass, more or less playing dead again. At Rose's words, he peeked out from under his arm. "I think so," he said. His eyes darted from the left to the right and he finally pushed himself to a sitting position. "Are they gone?"

Max looked over his shoulders and then turned back, scanning the sky for any sign that they'd been there in the first place, other than the messy hair and tattered clothes that the crew now had. And then it hit him.

"Guys," he asked, not looking at anyone in particular. "Where's Brooke? What are we supposed to do now?" He supposed they could wait to see if she pulled through. Either that or they would have to find the Wizard themselves, probably.