" I will save you!" Dorothy cried out as she hurled the bucket of water towards the witch. The Witch, eyes darting to the girl at the very perfect movement, moved away from what would have been her very watery grave.
" You are trying to murder me!" The witch yelled out, running around the now spreading water to get to the girl.
" No, no, I was trying to put out the fire." Dorothy said quickly and the witch's attention was pulled to her burning skirt again, and she stopped in her move forward. The witch moved back and dipped the skirt into the water to kill the fire simply, leaving her draggled skirt hanging damp.
" No." The witch said out before the fabric could touch her skin, and instead grabbed the still dry part and ripped her skirt. The witch dropped the part she had ripped, and then looked back to the girl.
" That was trying to kill me." The witch said then moved forward, broom now held even tighter in her hands.
" It wasn't. I swear…I swear…" Dorothy tried more, tears coming to her eyes as she moved back more.
" You were trying to kill me!" The witch shrieked now as she slammed the broom onto the girl's chest, getting her to cry out at the instant pain of burning.
" Please, stop, I just wanted your forgiveness!" Dorothy yelled, and then tried to scramble away from another stab from the burning broom, trying to quell the fire on her own dress as well.
" I will never forgive you!" The wicked witch jabbed at her again.
" But why not? I would beg on my knees if you weren't stabbing me with that broom!" Dorothy said and the witch just hit her down to the stones, flat on her side. Dorothy coughed at the pain of it.
" I wasn't forgiven, little one. So you don't get to be either." The witch said, then looked at her now nearly diminished broom and let it fall to the stones near to the girl.
" Please, I want to be forgiven, I want to make it right." Dorothy pleaded, but the witch just grabbed her chin with her long fingered green hands.
" You still can't be forgiven." The witch said, then a loud slam was the message that the Lion and Liir and finally made their way up, the locked door all that was keeping them away. The witch nearly cursed out then just picked up the girl by her shoulders roughly.
" Give me the shoes then." The witch demanded and Dorothy stared at her.
" I would, I would! But they won't come off my feet. I have pulled with all my might." Dorothy said and the witch looked down to the red sparkly shoes. The ones her sister had worn, the ones she had worn all the way to death. She had to have them. The witch knew this.
" Then you're feet come off." The witch said and pulled out a knife from the many fabrics covering her body.
" No, please, don't do that!" Dorothy cried out, trying to push back, trying so desperately.
" It's that, or you go off the roof and I take them once you are dead." The witch said, as a cackle came from her throat now as her mind twisted around that she was definitely getting the shoes. Then, the door swung open, as the lock had been smashed through.
" Damn it." The witch swore out.
" Get away from Dorothy!" The lion roared out.
" No!" The witch yelled then grabbed Dorothy. " I'm getting those shoes!"
Dorothy couldn't even yell back as she thrown from the tower and began her plummet down.
" Dorothy! No, Dorothy!" Lion yelled and moved right to where Dorothy had disappeared. The witch looked to the lion, an instinct to kick him out also stopped by her feelings on the rights of all animals and Animals.
" I'll save you Dorothy!" The lion said then slammed past Liir to get down the stairs as quickly as his four paws could take him. The witch watched him go then looked at Liir.
" See what happens." The witch ordered and Liir stared at her, then just nodded, and moved down the stairs after the lion, but not nearly as fast. The witch watched him go also, and then looked out of the tall tower, a sigh coming from her. She might have the shoes, she might not, but all she could think about now was the puddle of water still staining where she had been. The witch looked to it then moved her feet to slip off her shoe. The green skinned foot met with the water and she hissed out as the water touched her, relinquishing her foot instantly as it burned. She quickly rubbed the foot on the stone and pulled the shoe back on.
The pain still blared in her foot even as she decided to walk down the steps. The witch glided down the steps she knew so well until she reached the bottom, then even lower she went in this place, until she met the bottom, and a sight of sorrow but it seemed so nice to her strange eyes. A little broken girl lay on the ground, blue checkered dress covered in red, a big beast of a lion crying beside it, Liir standing to the side either oblivious or not paying attention to the sight. The witch smiled a little, she would have the shoes. She would have this world.
The wizard of OZ should be scared.
" Dorothy!" The lion cried out again to find the girl. Oh how he begged for her to still be in the air, some how be less heavy than how she should be. Maybe Dorothy was made to be as light as a pedal, how pretty she was as a flower. How could the world really crush a flower?
" Dorothy!!" The lion yelled out more desperately now, and then, he had no reason to yell anymore. The lion could barely talk now as he stared at the body he was so wishing was still going to be flowing on the light breeze. Dorothy lay on the ground, body crushed with nearly every bone shattered in the pool of blood that made the lion want to run. So bad his legs wanted to move back but forward he went until his paw met the liquid. This cowardly lion wanted to throw up now, but instead two huge paws came down to the small body and scooped the girl up.
" Dorothy, oh Dorothy, I couldn't save you." The lion said as big tears trailed from his cat eyes, rocking the girl in a strange half human half animal way about this beast.
" You're better without her." The witch's voice came out to the lion, his head instantly springing up to look at her as she attempted to pluck off the red shoes from the small feet.
" I am not! She was just Dorothy, she was helping us all." The lion said back. The witch didn't even look up to him as she kept attempting to pry the damn things off.
" She was just a silly girl who didn't understand what was going on." The witch said, moving the feet now back and forth to see if a plan could come to her. The lion looked at the witch more carefully then down to the broken girl, whose feet were dropped now.
" I saved you from that lab. You just need to live in this world as it messes us all up." The witch said and her same knife was produced. The blade went to the thin ankles but she was paused by the lion making a small noise of protest.
" Wait." The lion said meekly.
" What?" The witch said in an eerily calm tone.
" Let me leave first." The lion let out, eyes downcast, but not even looking at Dorothy, just the ground around them. The great form of green and black nodded her head in a yes after a short stop, so the lion looked to her, then to the stars.
" Better not be praying." The witch said, but her words were mumbled. The lion just slid Dorothy's body off of him, and laid her gently on the ground.
" Whatever you want." The lion said in a downtrodden voice, then all four paws met the floor. The creature bounded off to seclusion and the witch's attention easily returned to the girl. Eyes moved to the dagger then back to the little white ankles, then before she could think more on it the blade were gone. Only the handle stuck out with a green hand still gripping it. The witch's arm pumped up then shoved deeper into the leg, ripping apart the muscle lightly concealed by skin. A grunt was let out when the instrument hit bone and now her movement became like a saw. She knew these were important enough for all the effort. They were the shoes, once her sisters but now and forever would be hers.
" Ugh." The witch groaned then finally the little appendage fell off from the original connection. A smirk quirked the green lips, and then the work began on the other non-mutilated leg. The witch hummed lightly as this one seemed to take no effort at all. It was like she was slicing through clouds. Bloody fleshy clouds, but clouds nonetheless. A clank of a heel hit the ground, another bloody mass in a little even redder shoe. A green face twisted all the way up in a smile.
" They're mine." She cackled out. " All mine."
She stuck her hand in the goopy mess of body parts and pulled out what she could. The flesh and muscle came easily from the bone. The witch ripped apart what was left keeping her from her prize then finally it was all gone from her beloved shoes. Laughter bubbled up in her, but it was the same twisted shriek as she had always let out. She threw off her boots and her feet went in with a squish. A horrid squish but it almost sounded sweet to her. The red morphed to fit her perfectly and she admired the shimmer they still had through the stains. They were hers, all hers, no one could take them now. She shifted her feet in a sort of thought then a wonderful idea came to her wind.
" To the Wizard of OZ, To the Wizard of OZ, to the Wizard of OZ." The witch said, hitting the heels together with each time she spoke. Instantly she vanished, leaving behind a bloody body and the evidence of people, but nothing more, and nothing less. Not that she cared anyway.
She had more important things to take care of.