Disclaimers: As much as I may want to claim ownership of this production, I can't because Oz the Great and Powerful belongs to a whole lot of different companies that I can't remember the names of at the moment. Any characters that appear in this fic that is not a part of the original series, belong to me so don't take them without asking first.

Author's Notes: This idea wouldn't leave me alone after watching the new Oz movie. I always wondered what would happen if Oscar Diggs had gone a different path in how he handled Theodora the night he was going to leave the Emerald City to confront Glinda, and this story I'm writing now came to light. lol

Spoilers Alert: as a warning to everyone who haven't seen the movie yet, there is mention of some scenes from the movie in here.

Word Count: 4,763

Summary: (Alternate Universe) What if, The night before Oscar Diggs was to leave the Emerald Palace to go after the 'Wicked Witch' Glinda, he had a change of heart about leaving without saying anything to Theodora and pays her a late night visit? (Oscar & Theodora)

Chains of Fire
Chapter 2: Walk a Mile in My Shoes
By: Sakura Lisel
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Early the next morning found Oscar and Finley making their way down the yellow brick road away from the Emerald City, as they made their way to the dark forest where Evanora had told Oscar where the wicked witch would be hanging out in. Much to Oscar's irritation, Finley had to come wake him up that morning, and it wasn't until the monkey had dumped a bucket of ice cold water on him, that Oscar had roused from the bed, while cursing out the monkey as he got up, much to Finley's amusement.

'Maybe I should have postponed this trip until later in the day or even tomorrow? I'm dead tired, and at least I could have spent what might be my last few hours alive in the lap of luxury and a warm bed awhile longer before I face this wicked witch everyone is talking about.' Oscar thought sleepily to himself as a loud yawn escaped from his mouth as he continued down the road to his destination, as he glared down at the flying monkey for a moment as Finley carried his traveling bag in his arms beside Oscar when he heard Finley snicker outloud, "Something amusing you, Monkey?"

"I was just wondering about what is making you so sleepy this morning, Oscar. Didn't you get enough sleep last night?" Finley asked casually as he glanced up at Oscar with a curious look on his simian face for a moment, just as another yawn escaped from the humans mouth, causing Finley to chuckle a bit once more as he ignored the glare that Oscar shot him as he dragged the heavy traveling bag with him, "I thought you had headed straight to bed after you talked to me about our plans today, just so you wouldn't be tired for this trip?"

"If you must know, I didn't get much sleep last night, because I was worried about what we are going to be doing today. Please remind me again, exactly who's the utter moron who's stupid bright idea was it to leave first thing in the morning to do this misadventure of ours, Monkey?" Oscar demanded angrily as the lie about what he had really done last night came easily to his lips, then flushed a bit in embarrassment as Finley casually tucked his travel bag under one arm and pointed his free arm directly at Oscar in response to his question, "Oh shut it!

"Maybe if you couldn't get any sleep last night, maybe it was your guilty conscious telling you just how wrong you are about lying to a sweet and innocent girl like Theodora and getting her hopes up about you being the Wizard her and everyone else has been waiting for who can fulfill the final prophecy of the late king, and your just now realizing what you're really getting yourself into because of your lies," Finley said casually, shaking his head sadly for a moment, as he gave Oscar an angry look, as his eyes narrowed a bit at his new master as he ignored the glare Oscar was now giving him as he continued speaking, "It's not too late you know. We can turn right around and you can go confess that you're nothing more than a big fake, and hopefully the punishment for lying won't be too bad. Probably sometime in the royal dungeon in the palace if they're not too mad."

"Not a chance in hell, Monkey. I'm not going to risk hurting Theodora or getting thrown in jail for this. I got myself into this mess, and I'll get myself out of it without confessing to a blasted thing if I have to, too much is at stake if I turn back now. Besides it won't be lying if I actually do defeat the wicked witch." Oscar said stubbornly as he glared down at the simian for a moment as a thoughtful look appeared on his features before a smug look appeared on his features as he smirked down at Finley, "Both Evanora and Theodora say that all I just have to do is just get my hands on this Glinda woman's wand and break it, and with your help it will all be over. My motto is as long as we believe we can do it, then anything is possible. And it's never failed me once."

"Are you really sure that you want to continue on with this, Oscar? Like I said before, it's not too late to go back and confess. You could even try getting on your hands and knees and cry a little bit to get them to show mercy," Finley said as he shot Oscar a skeptical look as he wondered what was going through his new masters mind right that moment, as he stared at Oscar's face. Finley could already tell that Oscar looked conflicted about what they had to do, "If you can't force yourself to cry, I can help you out by cutting up some onions for you to sniff that will induce the tears for you when you face Evanora and Theodora again."

"For the last time, Monkey, we are not going back. We're going to find the Wicked Witch, and I'll get my hands on her wand and destroy it as planned," Oscar said confidently, as he smirked down at Finley once more, as he took note of the worried look on Finley's face for a moment, before turning his gaze away from the winged monkey and back on the road once more, "then we can return to the Emerald City as conquering heroes, and I'll become the new ruler with all the gold at my disposal and Theodora at my side as queen, and you'll get yourself a nice bushel of banana's as reward for putting up with me."

"You're going to give me banana's as my reward for helping you?" Finley demanded as he dropped Oscar's traveling bag to stare incredulously at the man before him, causing Oscar to stop walking and turn back to face Finley in time to see the angry and incredulous look on the monkeys face, "Oh so just because I'm a monkey, then I must love banana's and would prefer it as my only reward? That's such a vicious stereotype towards my kind!"

"What? You don't like banana's?" Oscar asked curiously, as he arched an eyebrow at Finley for a moment, as the monkey started to look sheepish.

"No I do love banana's. I'm a monkey, don't be ridiculous, I just didn't like the way how you said it should be my reward for helping you," Finley retorted angrily, with a small of huff as he saw the smirk return to Oscar's face, as Finley calmed down for a moment, as he picked the bag back up once more, as they continued on their way, with Finley offering up ideas for Oscar to choose from that he could use if they went back to the palace, but Oscar shot down all of them.

It was nearly noon time, when Oscar and Finley finally reached the dark woods, though their number had grown by one in the form of a little orphan China doll girl named Melody who they had picked up along the way who had wanted to join them in their mission to destroy the Wicked Witch and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Earlier that morning they had stopped in a nearby village called China Town that had been ordered destroyed by the winged baboon's because the inhabitants of the town had been celebrating Oscar's arrival in Oz when news reached them.

While searching through the rubble of the town, they had found little Melody, who was the lone survivor of the massacre, crying her eyes out in the ruins of her destroyed house in the middle of town. Her legs had been broken by falling debris, but Oscar had been able to fix the damaged legs using a bottle of glue he had been carrying in his traveling bag, and glued her legs back on as good as new.

When they told Melody who they were and why they were there, she had insisted on coming with them to help, despite Oscar's attempts at trying to get her to head towards the Emerald City on her own while he and Finley handled the wicked witch, before he finally agreed to let her come with them when she broke down in tears and jumped on his leg and wouldn't let go until he agreed to take her with them, though he had to confiscate a knife she had on her when she showed it to him.

As they entered the woods, Oscar felt a chill go through his body as he stepped through the woods, as he tried to ignore the ominous warning from a pair of talking crows that were perched in branches high up in the trees that were claiming that he and his friends would die if they didn't head back the way they came. He had even picked Melody and cradled her gently in his arms as they walked when the China girl had gotten scared and asked to be carried by him as they continued on their way.

It hadn't taken them long before they finally reached their destination, which was a graveyard deep in the forest, where they could make out the cloaked hooded figure of someone standing outside the graveyards closed gates, and set aside a glowing wand on a nearby tree stump as they fiddled with the lock on the gates to get it open.

Pulling his companions to the side, they came up with a plan to how to distract the figure, and Finley had went off to go make animal noise, while Melody hid herself out of sight, while Oscar waited for his moment, as he chuckled a bit when he heard Finley let out loud mooing sounds like a cow.

'Not the animal sound I was expecting but it'll have to do, I guess,' Oscar thought silently to himself, as he kept his eyes on the hooded figure, as he slowly made his way towards the gates, just as the figure turned to look in the direction the mooing was coming from.

While the hooded figure was turned away, Oscar managed to get close enough to snatch the wand off the tree stump before sprinting away as fast as he could, back to where Melody was waiting for him, as they were soon joined by Finley, as they congratulated him on getting the wand, as they hid out of sight of the
wicked witch, as Oscar kept a tight grip on the wand.

"I got it!" Oscar exclaimed happily as he ducked down out of sight next to his two companions.

"That's great! So break it already, so we can get out of here before the witch catches us!" Finley exclaimed.

"Break it! Break it!" Melody cheered on, as she stood next to Oscar.

'This doesn't feel right. I'm not getting the same feeling I got from Evanora, from this Glinda woman,' Oscar thought silently to himself as he held Glinda's wand in his hands as he stared down at the jeweled wand for a moment, as a frown appeared on his face as he gripped the wand in both hands as he prepared to snap it in half over his knee, but something was holding him back from immediately breaking it as he stared down at the wand, 'Something doesn't add up here, I think...'

"Wizard, what are you waiting for? Break the stupid wand already!" Melody whispered insistently as she and Finley crowded around the human with worried looks on their faces, when Oscar didn't immediately snap the wand, "Hurry up before the wicked witch finds us and..."

"Yeah Oscar, we've come too far now for you to chicken out now," Finley said as he encouraged Oscar to break the wand, "this is your chance to prove you're the wizard like you wanted."

"I know that you two. Okay here goes nothing..." Oscar said, as he sighed as he decides to ignore his feeling for once, as he got ready to snap the wand only to jump in fright when he felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to yelp as he spun around only to backpedal a bit when he realized that the wicked witch was right behind him, as Finley and Melody both ducked behind him for protection as they stared fearfully at the hooded figure before them.

"Are you really the wizard that these two are talking about?" a soft voice asked from underneath the hood, as the figure stood before them, as her voice became stern as she held out her hand towards the trio, "I believe that wand is mine, and I would like it back now."

"Well that's a com-complicated question." Oscar stammered fearfully as he stared up at the hooded figure while still clutching the wand in his hands, as he tried to decide if he should give it back or not, "I mean, what is a wizard really?"

As the trio watched, the figure reached up and pulled off her hood, revealing a beautiful woman with long silvery blond hair, and wearing a silver tiara on her forehead, and he stared at them with warm and kind eyes that didn't look as angry as they thought she would be for taking her wand away.

But it Glinda's face that really caught Oscar's attention as he stared in shock at her for a few moments, as he clearly saw how familiar Glinda's appearance was to his old friend Annie from Kansas.

'Annie? No it can't be. She should be safe back home, that is if she managed to get away from the twister.' Oscar thought frantically to himself for a moment, as Glinda took a step closer once more with her hand out towards him, as he finally snapped out of his stupor and reluctantly handed the wand back over to Glinda knowing there wasn't much else he could do under the circumstances, much to the protests of his friends, 'But this woman looks so much like Annie, she could almost be her twin I think...'

"Thank you," Glinda said, smiling bright and in relief that she was able to get her wand safely back in her hands as she stares at the would be thieves in front of her, as they stared back at her with scared looks, though she was more focused on Oscar, as she repeated her earlier question.

"My name's Oscar Diggs, and this is Finley and Melody." Oscar said a bit hesitantly, as he saw that Glinda wasn't going to immediately attack him and his friends, as Finley and Melody continued to cower behind him, "and yes I'm the wizard."

Meanwhile back in the Emerald City, Theodora woke up late having barely gotten any sleep during the night because of the dreams she had of a certain man, that brought a smile to her face, as she reluctantly sat up in bed and stretched a bit to get the kinks out of her body, as her long reddish-brown hair fell loosely down her back, as she glanced over at her nightstand and spied her music box and Oscar's pocket watch still resting on the nightstand where she had left them, as memories of the previous night filled her mind as she reaches over to shut the lid on the music box and picked up the pocket watch to examine it once more as she sat in her bed.

'I can't believe that Oscar really said those things about Evanora. He doesn't know anything about her, yet he said all those mean things about her. I'll go ahead and do what he suggested, just to prove to Oscar,' Theodora thought silently to herself, as the events of Oscar's visit the previous night filled her mind, a faint blush crept to her cheeks for a brief moment, before it was replaced by a frown as she remembered what Oscar had told her about involving Evanora, as a worried look appeared on her face for a few seconds before a determined look replaced it as she threw off the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed as she stretched once more, 'that this 'feeling' he's talking about is wrong about Eva. Eva's not as bad he's making her out to be. I know her, and she wouldn't purposely hurt or lie to me, would she?'

As Theodora pushed herself out of her bed and walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out a long flowing pure white dress with large gray circular patterns at the bottom of the dress, along with a red hat and matching red jacket, and walked over to the bathroom and ran a hot bath for herself, as she stripped off her nightgown and slippers, and slipped into the hot water with a contented sigh as she starts scrubbing herself down.

'The water is just perfect as always. After everything I've been through for the last couple of days with Oscar, a nice hot bath feels perfect,' Theodora thought silently to herself as she let herself sink a bit under the water, as she dunked her head and came back up with water running from her wet hair, 'I wish I could have done this last night when I first got home...'

She had been too tired from the traveling she had done with Oscar and Finley to take a bath the previous night, and had chosen to head straight on to bed after pulling off her clothes and slipping into a nightgown after sending her dirty clothes off with a maid to be laundered, and repaired.

As she waved a hand and a bottle of shampoo and conditioner came over and automatically started soaping up her wet hair as she continued scrubbing her body to get rid of the dirt that had acclimated during her travels, as invisible hands scrubbed and fluffed her hair under the soap and conditioner before a bucket of water came over and doused her with it, causing her to laugh a bit, as a brush and comb came over and started combing and brushing her hair.

Nearly half an hour later, Theodora reluctantly pulled herself out of tub, and grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped it around her body as she stepped out of the tub, as her hair hung limply down her back in wet strands before she wrapped another towel around her head, as she heads back into her bedroom as she casts a simple drying spell on her body that quickly dry's her off, as she lets the towel drop to the floor in a heap as she casts another spell that makes one of her corsets come flying out of the wardrobe and attach itself to her body and tying itself up, before the dress she pulled out earlier came floating over and dropped over her head and upraised arms, slipping neatly down her body to settle at her feet, followed by a red jacket that slipped onto her arms, as she pulled on a long strand of white pearls necklace.

Walking over to her vanity table, she smiled brightly at her reflection as she gave herself one last look over to make sure everything was in place, as she picked up a tube of red lipstick and applied it to her lips, before picking up a brush and brushed her hair once more to get out any remaining knots and tangles that might still be in it, before tying up her hair into a tight bun on top of her head, as she reached over to pick up her red hat and places it on top of her head as she looks herself over in the mirror with a proud smile on her lips.

'Perfect. It's already getting late in the day so I can't waste time waiting for a maid to come help me get dressed when I can do it myself,' Theodora thought silently to herself as she glanced over at a nearby clock and saw that it was nearly noon, causing her to gasp a bit in surprise at how late it was getting, as she slips on her shoes and picked up a red purse before walking back over to her bed and picking up Oscar's pocket watch from where she left it on the nightstand before slipping it into her purse for safety, 'Evanora must be wondering where I am by now. I might as well get this show on the road before I lose my nerve and change my mind about what Oscar said.'

As she exited her bedroom, she greeted a few of the guards and servants who were working in the hallways warmly, as she happily made her way through the palace, stopping once on the way to check inside of Oscar's appointed bedroom to see if he might be back from his trip yet, only to find the room empty. Even his traveling case was missing, so she knew immediately that Oscar wasn't back yet.

Sighing a bit in disappointment, Theodora shut the bedroom door behind her and quickly made her way towards the dining hall to eat a quick breakfast to appease her growing hunger that the servants were more than happy to bring her, before going to look for Evanora and found her sister in her bedroom, with guards standing outside her chambers, where she could hear the sounds of Evanora's voice yelling angrily about something involving Glinda through the closed doors.

'It's now or nothing I guess. I might as well get this over with now,' Theodora thought silently to herself as she stood outside her sisters chambers while the guards stood watching her, as she took a deep breath before making her way towards the closed doors, and pushed them up, as she rushed inside closing the doors behind her. As she entered the bedroom she immediately spots Evanora standing over a crystal ball in the corner of her bedroom watching something that was going on in the crystal ball, when Theodora came barging in, causing the older woman to jump in surprise by the intrusion until she saw who it was.

"Theodora! It's good to see that you are finally up and about this morning, sister. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever awaken," Evanora said as she glanced up from the crystal ball to stare at Theodora, as the older woman plastered a fake smile on her lips as she stared at Theodora, "Did you have a good rest last night after your long trek, and what can I do for you?"

"Good morning Evanora, and yes I'm more than rested now. I'm sorry to bother you, but have you seen the Wizard today? He's missing!" Theodora asked cheerfully as a small blush of embarrassment crept up to her cheeks at Evanora's words, as she approached her sister and took a peek at the large crystal ball for herself and Theodora could see images of Oscar and Finley floating around inside the crystal ball, as confusion filled her as she spots Glinda and a little China Girl doll appear in the crystal ball, "I've looked everywhere for him in the palace and can't find him... What's going on?"

To be continued...

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Author's Notes:
So what do you guys think? This chapter is completed at 8 pages. This is my second attempt at writing anything related to Oz The Great and the Powerful, with my first being my story 'Withered Hearts' so I hope you all like my second attempt at writing the series.

I also updated Chapter 1, but not that much.

Before anyone asks about Theodora being able to take a bath using water without her infamous water allergy activating, it's because I don't think she even HAD her water allergy until AFTER her heart was broken by Oscar and Evanora. I mean come on, look at everything that happened before she became green and evil. First when she first met Oscar, and he came out of the lake soaking wet from head to toe, Theodor was standing barely a foot away from them as they talked, and she wasn't the least bit afraid of accidentally getting wet.

Even when they were running from the baboons, they were practically running through water to get away from them to get away from the monkeys, with burning or melting or screaming in agony on Theodora's part as they ran as she MUST have gotten splashed while they ran for their lives from the crazed winged baboons. lol Plus there's the fact that Oscar must have still been wet from the pond when he helped Theodora up into that cave they hid in when the monkeys were chasing them yet she still let him touch her and wasn't screaming in pain from where his wet body seeped into her clothes and came in contact with her skin, and wasn't that cave they hid in filled with water from the waterfall they had to get through, that they were both sitting in, and Theodora still wasn't showing signs of her allergy even then.

It wasn't until after she thought Oz had 'betrayed' her, and Theodora's heart became broken by the supposed betrayal of the man she loved, that her tears started burning her. Evanora herself even SAID it, when Theodora came running to her demanding to know WHY her tears were burning her now, which means water, and her tears, have NEVER burned her before in all the years she'd been alive, and Evanora took one look at the tear track scarring on Theodora's face and immediately said that the tears burning her was a sign that Theodora's broken heart was bringing out the wickedness inside of Theodora as the reason why water was now hurting her when it never did before.

So what do you guys think of Chains of Fire? Please leave a review to let me know if you like it or hate it, so I can know if I should continue it or not? Flamers will not be tolerated.

On another note, I need help everyone with my Harry Potter and YuYu Hakusho fanfic known as 'Night Guardian' everyone. I have a poll up on my profile page so everyone can vote on which Dark Tournament team Kuronue/Melody gets put on, when Yomi finally calls in his favor with her. And she'll also be the new captain of said team. I had updated the story itself with an announcement as 'Chapter 5', saying that people should check out my profile for the poll, but didn't keep it up long enough for a lot of people to see the announcement, so I'm also putting it up here. I'm also looking for five OC's in that story, and an application form is up on the profile page, if anyone is interested in giving a go of it.

Started On: April 5, 2013
Completed On: April 15, 2013
Updated On: May 12, 2013