Chapter eight of my Megamind and Wicked cross.
Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven **************************************
Megamind knew something was wrong one night when he was wandering the halls. He could feel the wrongness in his very being. That was when he saw it; it was late … almost midnight, so they didn’t think he could see them. There in Doctor Dilamond’s office, it was Dilamond and Madame Morrible talking. It didn’t look like a particularly pleasant conversation, what could they be arguing about?
That was when he noticed them on the table, the papers … Doctor Dilamond’s research! Madame Morrible was gesturing to it; they were arguing because of his research … she disagreed with the idea that Animals should be given rights above animals, rights almost equal to humans. Megamind didn’t understand why these rights should be denied to Animals, they felt and thought just as any human did … shouldn’t they be treated as any human was?
Yet he knew that he was having trouble being treated as an equal and the only differences he had were his head and his skin. Was it so difficult for people to open their minds to the differences of people, was appearance really so important? Maybe that was why he was so interested in Doctor Dilamond’s work, because he understood not being treated as an equal simply because of how one looked. Or maybe it was because he was raised in the company of a Fish.
The Wizard was going too far though, taking away their rights and their ability to speak! He couldn’t imagine having his ability to speak stripped away from him; it would be … a nightmare. It was horrifying to think of what some humans were capable of, and they called him wonderful … how could they call him wonderful? Did they not realize how dreadful his actions were? Did they not realize who they were following?
How could the people of Oz be such mindless drones? How could they simply follow like … like brainless … sheep! Not Sheep, for they would surely not follow, but sheep would. The “wonderful” wizard of Oz was no saint and he only wished there was a way he could change that. He wished there was a way he could change the world and make it better, he wished he could make the world accept the differences in people. Yes, Animals were people, not things or creatures, just as he was not a creature!
He thought Madame Morrible had brains … but apparently she did not. How could she yell so passionately against the rights of Animals? How could she be so cruel? So prejudiced? Morrible the horrible … he understand that nickname now, but he was sure it had occurred for reasons other than the truth. For she was horrible in her prejudices and so were many of the people who used that very nickname.
Wait … what was she doing? No! She couldn’t have! It wasn’t possible! His hands were against the window, his eyes wide … he was dead … Doctor Dilamond was dead … Madame Morrible had killed him … and Megamind had witnessed it. He ran to the room and opened the door; Madame Morrible looked at him and hit him over the head with … something.
Megamind opened his eyes, was he in the hospital? How did he get here? He tried to sit up “Careful” he heard the nurse say to him as she pushed him back down.
“What happened? How did I get here?” He looked around, trying to figure it out, why couldn’t he remember?
“Calm yourself down. You fell down a flight of stairs and hit your head, you were lucky Madame Morrible found you instead of one of those students whose sent you in here before.”
He knew she had a point, it would have been bad luck for one of those students to have found him, but … why did that feel wrong? Something wasn’t right, “I … had a strange dream … how is Doctor Dilamond?”
“Oh … I know you were close to him. I don’t know if I should be the one to tell you” she looked down and Megamind knew right then what had happened. Madame Morrible was no savior, she had killed Doctor Dilamond. She had knocked Megamind out, and sent him here hoping he wouldn’t remember.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” he had to be sure … even though he really believed it to be true … he really didn’t want to
“I’m sorry dear, yes, he is. It was a terrible accident, it was” she looked concerned
Megamind felt his heart fall in his chest, how could this have happened? Surely if Madame Morrible knew he remembered she would kill him too … something felt fuzzy about the memory though … had she done some kind of spell? Perhaps she had done something to make him forget, something that didn’t work; he could use that to his favor. He didn’t want to die, he could figure out what to do about this later, but he really didn’t want to die. “This can’t be happening” he shook his head
The nurse put a hand on his shoulder, “I’m sorry, it’ll be all right”
It’ll be all right? How could it be all right? Doctor Dilamond was dead! At least Megamind had been given a copy of his research; he could try to continue his work so that he wouldn’t have died in vain. One day … one day Madame Morrible would pay for this. One day she would be the one who was dead, for having killed such an innocent and honorable person like Doctor Dilamond.
All he wanted was to prove that he deserved equality! Didn’t everyone deserve that chance? Megamind certainly felt that he did, he felt Doctor Dilamond did and he felt he did himself. Anyone in the way of equality should fall … anyone in his way would regret it. Yet none as much as Madame Morrible, one day … one day she would wish she had never been born.