(AN: Though Trials of Boq and Nessa exists in a musical-verse of Wicked that is separate from the musical-verse of Wicked that Ozian Adventures belongs to, the events depicted in that story, as far as pertaining to a certain character, are mentioned herein and have some weight on the events to come. If you know not, just go back and read. That's what it's there for)
(Hopefully this story will turn out better than the last six)
Human Again
He was now the Tin Woodsman, soon to be crowned Emperor of the West. In the whoop-dee-doo that followed the unexpected departure of the Wizard, the Scarecrow was left in charge of Oz. Though secretly, he who was once called Boq doubted that the straw-man seated upon the Emerald Throne was indeed the Scarecrow that he knew. Glinda had all the power as the Protector and Sorceress of Oz.
But then again, he could never be certain of anything. He had been certain that killing the Wicked Witch would be just retribution for his galvanization. Yet when she melted, he did not feel a bit whole than he had before when she was still alive. He received an audience with Glinda to tell her about what had happened and how he once felt for her.
It would make no difference. He could not be un-galvanized, so the chance of ever being with her was nonexistent. Then she told him the truth, that she never loved him, that he meant nothing to her and that she had only used him to get his attentions away from her.
Any other day, he would have been heart-broken. Yet he realized, even then, that she had done to him what he had done to another love-stricken person many weeks ago.
Nessarose Thropp.
In the end, he realized, she was the only one who ever truly understood him. And he drove her away, he threatened her, he left her, and then she hurt him. Glinda said it was her fault, though Boq didn't honestly believe a word of it.
At least, not yet.
So time went on and he tried to forget the past and move on with the future. Glinda was now ruling from Quadling, living in a remote palace that floated upon the marshes. She was still the same bubbly but kind sorceress, though a little absent-minded at times. She also had taken to dying her hair a brilliant shade of red, which Boq never would have seen coming at three hundred feet away with a brass ensemble heralding its arrival.
He was living it up, more or less, in the Vinkus. A huge palace of tin he had commissioned to be constructed on the edge of the Thousand Year Grassland. Here he would rule over all the tribes of the Vinkus - the Scrow, the Yunamata and the Arjiki. It was a bold expansionist ploy, and if it worked, it would mean the quick civilization of the wild outback as part of Loyal Oz.
If it didn't, well, that would leave Oz one Tin Man short.
So it was that, while work continued on the palace, Boq decided to take a stroll. He thought his joints were getting a bit rusty and needed to make sure. As much as he enjoyed his shiny new body, it had many weak points. For instance, he seemed physically older than he was before, especially when his joints because rusty and hard to manage.
Oh, he sighed. What I wouldn't give to be a normal Munchkin again!
Just then, he noticed a figure standing upon the hill-side before him. It was cloaked and hooded, with a tall staff in its hand.
"Hello there!" he waved. "Who are you? What brings you to my castle?"
But the figure said nothing, it just walked on down the hill and was now coming close towards Boq. Fearing that this might be some kind of trick, he drew out his ax and prepared to stand his ground.
"Stay there!" he whined. "I mean it! I have an ax, I'm not afraid to use it!"
"Today is your lucky day, Boq!" the one-eyed old man said.
Before Boq could mutter How do you know my name?, a strange thing happened to him. Suddenly it seemed as though he was flying, flying out of the tin body. It was standing still in place, ax in hand. Looking down at himself, he saw that he was once again as he had been - that is to say, flesh and bone. The old man was now whispering things to the tin statue.
"Why are you still here?" he asked, looking up at the floating Munchkin. He waved his staff and suddenly Boq was soaring through the sky.
(AN: A very short chapter, but I can think of nothing else to put there.)
(More things will happen in the next chapter)
