List of Character Equivalents & Final Author's Notes

(1) CHARACTER LIST

I am still amazed at the amount of characters I managed to get into this fanfic. Although they have been scattered throughout the story I really felt the need to summarise them here. It wasn't my intention to cram so many characters in but it kind of turned out that way so I can only hope I managed to in a natural and fun way for you all as readers to read them. Please find the full list below:-

Name and Character as in Gundam Wing = Their role in There's No Place Like Home

Relena = Dorothy, the main protagonist of the story

Zechs = Uncle Henry

Noin = Aunt Em

Heero = Tinman (Zero-One) / Heero the farmhand

Duo = Scarecrow / Duo the farmhand

Wufei = Lion / Wufei the farmhand

Trowa = Toto / Trowa the Crown Prince of the Emerald Kingdom

Lady Une = Miss Gulch AKA The Wicked Witch of the west AKA Jeune (in her better days) / Good Witch of the East AKA Aînée

Treize = Kansas Man AKA Wizard of Oz

Iria Winner = Iria the Munchkin doctor

Quatre = Good Wizard of the South

Magnac Corps = Munchkin army

Rashid = Mayor of Munchkin City

Abdul = Captain of the Munchkin army

Doctor G = King of the Crows and Scarecrow's nemesis

Alex = Alex the wolf and shapeshifter

Mueller = Mueller the wolf and shapeshifter

Doctor J = Tinsmith / Wicked Witch of the West's accomplice

Wing Zero = Wing the leader of the Winged Monkeys

Dorothy = Good Witch of the North

Quinze = the Dream Spirit / Native to the North Lands (Dorothy's domain)

Mr Darlian = Mr Darlian, Relena's father

Mrs Darlian = Mrs Darlian, Relena's mother

Kai = Kai, Relena's school friend who's obnoxious and has a crush on her

Howard = Leader of the Sweepers who keep and maintain the Emerald Walls

Pagan = Doorman to the Wizard AKA Butler to the Emerald Palace

Catherine = Princess Regent of Emerald city

Sylvia Noventa = The Sprite of the Forest / Native to the West Lands

Hilde = Fairy of the forest / Native to the West Lands

General Noventa = Elder Sprite of the Forest

Deathscythe = Winged Monkey called Deathscythe

Heavyarms = Winged Monkey called Heavyarms

Sandrock = Winged Monkey called Sandrock

Nataku = Winged Monkey called Nataku

Mercurius = One of J's creations, a green peacock built for defense

Vayeate = One of J's creations, a blue peacock built for attack

Epyon = One of J's creations, the biggest

Weridge = old farmer who owns a small farm

Sally Po = Daughter of Doctor Po a local doctor and his apprentice

(2) TIN CREATURE DESIGNATIONS:

Zero One (01) – Human (Tinman)

Four Six (46) – Porcupine (Killed by the Nevenmere)

One Eight (18) – Snake (Killed by Une)

Seven (7) – Fox (Accountant of numbers, status and whereabouts unknown)

Ten (10) - Bear, sub leader of the tin peoples when Tinman is away

Three (3) – Crocodile (Killed by Tinman)

Nine Five (95) – Hippopotamus (freed by Tinman)

One Thousand (1000) – Epyon (buried in landslide, status unknown)

Two Five (25) & Two Six (26) – Mongoose (freed by Scarecrow, Lion and Tinman)

Two Seven (27) & Two Eight (28) – Mongoose (freed by Scarecrow, Lion and Tinman)

Two Nine (29) & Three One (31) – Meerkats (freed by Scarecrow, Lion and Tinman)

Three Eight (38) & Three Nine (39) – Mercurius and Vayeate (Killed by Scarecrow)

Six Seven (67) - Gorilla (Freed with Hilde and Relena's support)

(3) AUTHOR'S NOTES

Hmm I don't know quite how to start this...but I feel that this story has become such an epic that it deserves some closing thoughts to do it justice. Let me be honest, this never started out with the intention that 1) it would take so long 2) become such a labour of love and 3) become this strong lifeline that pulled me through many things happening in my life. It started off with a vision of Relena demurely sitting on a cart with Zechs in a cowboy / farmer type gear riding it down the road. Then the farmhands played by Heero, Duo and Wufei appeared and then Toto...can you believe that? Toto for whom so many became a key focus of the story was just an afterthought. I guess this shouldn't surprise me because how many fics start off knowing they are going to transform into what they became later on right?

I started this when I was in my last year at uni, a time when I should have been studying, but I had discovered the world of fanfiction and felt frustrated that I had discovered it late. I never really had access to my own computer until I started studying computer science at Uni and even then, being brought up in a conservative household I had lived out my childhood hiding my love of anime. In school no other girl was into anime so I was scared of being teased and I never talked about it. So for many years I never shared it with anyone and when I found fanfiction I kind of went overboard and wanted to write everything. I had so many ideas and so much creativity that I have still multiple documents of plans for which I never got around to writing the stories for. I posted chapters of 'There's No Place Like Home' (TNPLH) fast and with a fury that I never knew I had in me. I finished my last year, went on to do a Masters, and still wrote like I had been unleashed. Those initial days I remember feeling carefree and my imagination was so vivid it was like a movie. It was after Lion's appearance and Relena's journey through the Nevenmere that I began to struggle. But before we get to that I just wanted to recollect some of my favourite moments from those initial chapters when I was on a high writing this: I think my most favourite chapter has to be chapter 5: Glass Eyes. I really enjoyed writing that chapter, was really pleased with the way it turned out and to this day it still gives me a little shiver that runs down my spine when I read it. Apart from that I find the first meeting between Relena and Scarecrow brings a smile to my lips and then perhaps I would rate Relena's entrance into Oz and the arrival of Quatre in third place. I could go on with all my favourite scenes but I think those are my top three from those chapters.

After chapter 6 and Relena's foray into the poppy field I started to flounder. I was working now and I found life hard away from home. There were a lot more struggles and things that burdened me and changed me and I felt it seep into my writing. For one, I feel that the way I started writing out TNPLH, I lost that sweet, innocent touch as the years went on. There are moments in the beginning chapters where the writing reminds me more of a child's book or something like that. Later on I felt I wrote darker or I wrote...differently...I don't know how else to describe it. It frustrated me because I didn't know how to resolve it and I was unable to continue. That's when the length between chapters being posted began to increase. My story was becoming something that wasn't the way I started it and I couldn't control it. I became particular and detailed about things that I initially intended to glaze over. Relena's dream journey in the poppy field was never initially in the plan but suddenly formalised. Once it was thought out I couldn't not have it in there. Sylvia's appearance and the story of the Noventa was also not in the initial plan and yet once I had thought of it I just couldn't let it go. The world of Oz began to flesh out more and more and the struggles of the people in it began to appear before me. However, I still felt restrained by the way I had started it and held to account for what I had already published. Having never written something so long before I struggled to reconcile and 'deal' with what I had created and was creating.

Around the time I started my second job which was in an IT consultancy firm I almost gave up writing altogether. I was stressed out working and travelling and, although I wanted to write I didn't have the energy and just felt more frustrated sitting at the computer trying to. I think, but I can't remember exactly, this was when Relena had left the Emerald City, leaving her friends behind, and was going to fight the Wicked Witch of the West on her own. I was so tired and fed up and I really wanted to give up. A dear friend and fan of this story, Purdy, was the one to convince me to continue and I owe her everything for that. She is the reason this story is complete today and I am so glad she did that because it has kept me going. It is the one stable thing in my life aside from all the personal troubles and struggles that I've faced. Not only that but I've discovered that I really really want to keep writing about Heero and Relena. It sounds silly but those two keep me going, I want to be strong and keep fighting just like them. And I don't mention those two as a couple necessarily, they are my favourite two characters in Gundam Wing and they don't have to be together to be my favourites. I find them very similar and I find their way of living invigorating if a little too 'intense' compared to other people. I have finished TNPLH maybe but I think I want to keep writing and I want to tackle the next project and send them on another adventure in another universe and explore more things about them that others may not have yet done. I have drank up writing by the likes of BlackRose, Zapenstap, Kirsten_Elizabeth, and so many other writers (that I can't recall right now) so I know my classics. Let's bring it alive again once more even though those shipping Heero and Relena may be fewer now and less active. I'll be sure to keep it alive if I can. I'm not really interested in any other fandom or moving to shipping new animes or couples...that's not to say I don't like other animes or shows etc. because I do, but I just don't want to write fics about them like I want to do for Gundam Wing...I'm weird right?

So its now on to the next project...and there are so many to choose from but in my heart I had three fics I wanted to write before I snuffed it. One was TNPLH and that's complete now (ticks item off list), which one is next? I think I have an idea but this time I want to try and plan the pacing and exposition a little better than I did with TNPLH so I may take some time to research and think about it a little before I start writing. But even if I'm away for a spell I will, inevitably, always return.

So my dear, wonderful readers, you who have been my sole fuel and kept me alive with sharing my love for Gundam Wing and Heero & Relena, please be patient and bear with me. Goodness knows you have been angels of patience already with my posting of chapters. But don't give up hope as I will be back, I'm not going to stop writing and I will keep going as I have through the years.