A/N: This chapter is more of a drabble on Bryson's feelings on the current situation and how it effects him, but shows his mindset on what's happened so far. Thanks for the reviews and hope you enjoy.
...
Bryson didn't know what had just happened, really.
It had happened so fast.
Everything he had loved and care about in Oz... gone.
He would have sobbed if he felt he had any more to give.
The rain eventually washed away and he was left in the darkness of the night, Emerald City being his only source of light.
He began to tremble, not because of the coldness of the rain, but because of the unknown.
What had Bruce done with the Ozians?
What was he planning?
Bryson had no way of knowing.
What had happened to Tommy?
Why would he just.. suddenly melt away like that?
Was it because he was the Child of Oz? Did he have the same weakness as the Wicked Witch?
But why didn't it effect him back in L.A? Surely the young boy had been around rain before.
No matter how the situation was spun.. it was bad.
And what about Claire?
He had told her that he would keep Tommy safe.
He clapsed his hands together, breathing heavily.
This couldn't happen.
He didn't want to believe it.
He refused to believe it.
How could Tommy be gone?
How could everyone he loved in Oz be captured?
After they had ran away and fought so hard for so many days.. it all meant nothing.
Bryson had wanted to return to Oz to get away from everything, to be happy, to see his friends again.
He didn't want.. this.
He sat there in shock.
He felt frozen, glued to the ground.
How would he even free friends? Let alone find them?
He didn't even know how to travel from Oz to his world.
He had no real way of even planning how to go about this.
The grief surged with every expelled breath he took, always reaching higher peaks, never sufficiently soothed by his long intakes of the damp air. Tears began to spill from his helpless eyes onto the ground.
He felt an emptiness burning into his heart. A shear of nothingness that somehow took over and held his soul and threatened to kill him entirely.
He felt a heavy feeling, like the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders, with nothing he could do to get out from under it.
The emptiness in his heart, the numbness pounding his brain, the salty tears that flowed unchecked from his eyes, the shear nothingness that now took hold of his soul threatened to engulf him entirely.
He could remmeber Tommy's face so well, despite it often being hidden by his longer blonde hair. He could remmeber the way he talked, laughed. He could remember it all so vividly.
And now the boy was gone.
He didn't know if Tommy was truly dead, if when he melted it meant he was truly gone.
But there was no hope in sight.
So all he could do was mourn.
Mourn for the captured Ozians and the now lost Child of Oz.
...
It took at least an hour for Bryson to actually get back up.
He stumbled, just wanting to fall back down in defeat.
The rain had stopped, but his tears still slid down his face.
He wasn't sobbing, but slight tears, the ones he could actually manage, still slid down his face.
There was a cold and noticeable quietness in the air.
He made his way around Emerald City.
He walked back into the building, now deserted. There was no music blasting from the club, all the people in there presumably running off with Bruce.
He stepped back out of the hall and back outside, turning around to look at Emerald City.
It shined bright in the night sky, looking as beautiful as ever.
But it was empty.
Like a ghost town.
Gone were the cheerful sounds of chatty and happy Ozians roaming the area.
Gone was the sound of the animals playing around the city.
Gone was the sound of Finley cracking jokes, hovering over Bryson.
Gone was the sound of Dorothy giggling at him as they innocently flirted.
Yes, Emerald City was still there.
But it was vacant.
Bryson slowly turned around and began to explore Oz. Explore what he could. He had nothing else to do.
...
He walked around the Poppies, feet shuffling around the flowers.
He walked along the Yellow Brick Road.
He went back into the forest, not afraid of what lurked among him. Nothing that attacked him would feel as bad as he currently did, and anything that could attack him was likely already captured and being transported back to his world.
He eventually found his way through the forest he had landed in when he arrived.
He had been so overjoyed, so overwhelmed in happiness.
Now he was just full of sorrow and grief.
He looked down at all the beautiful flowers around the land.
So pure.
And at this rate, they would be part of a theme park.
Bryson noticed something on the ground.
A Jitter Fruit.
He gave a soft smile, the first he gave in hours.
He kneeled down, collecting it off the ground.
The fruit the people of Oz had made after discovering Bryson's panic attacks he used to have.
He remembered it really did help him calm down earlier when Glinda gave him one.
He decided to eat it.
He felt calmer after a few minutes.
But the hole in his heart was still there and he continued to walk around Oz, defeated.
...
He managed to reach the cornfield where Scarecrow used to reside, the place he had first landed during his Oz trip.
The small farm he had landed in was gone, but the fields looked as nice as ever.
He missed his first trip now, at least it had never gotten so bad that he was left all alone in Oz, witnessing the closest thing he had to a brother vanish in front of him.
He passed Munchkin Land, not hearing or seeing any sign of life.
Bruce had even gotten them, it seemed.
...
He traveled past Winkie Country, seeing the influx of yellow around him.
The buildings were empty with no one in sight.
They had taken Jack's Pumpkin House away completely. It was no where to be found in the area.
He reached the Dainty China Country, where the China Town was located.
He was disgusted but not surprised when he saw a sign up that read:
"MEET THE CHINA DOLLS, THE MOVING TOY FOR ONLY $30!"
None of the China people were in sight, presumably also gone with what Bruce and his men took.
...
Bryson had reached the mountain he had to climb when he battled Rabadan.
He looked up it.
What he barely managed to climb as a kid, he began to walk up with ease.
With both the intense strength he had now possessed and the fact he simply did not care after what he witnessed.. this time he climbed with little effort.
He trudged up the mountain with a stone cold face.
He climbed halfway up, coming across a small gray structure in the middle of it.
It wasn't there when Bryson had climbed five years ago.
He saw a large hole in the middle of the gray building, slowly approaching it.
He walked inside.
There was nothing in the small little gray structure.
He could see some of Oz outside the hole, looking down upon the land.
And suddenly, it built in him.
The anger.
The frustration.
His ex going behind his back, seeing someone else.
His dad getting sick.
His dog dying.
The stress of taking care of Tommy and protecting him from his father.
Not knowing whether Oz was real, not being able to go back for years.
And the horrible people from his world trying to take advantage of Oz.
His biggest enemy in it all was time.
He didn't have enough time to spend with his ex, leading to her getting with someone else.
He felt he didn't have enough time to earn money, leading to him foolishly moving to LA in a hurry.
His time with his father and his dog had been limited, running out quickly, the time with his dog already gone.
He didn't have enough time with his friends in Oz, not knowing if he'd get to stay and see them again.
He made horrible decisions, being paranoid and wary over time.
Like almost crashing the Dragon Machine and having to have Dorothy fix it.
And especially..
Jumping the gun and leaping onto the Hot Air Balloon.
He could have thought out his movements.
He could have planned out his attack.
But instead, he let them get away.
Because he jumped the gun, paranoid of time.
Time.
Timing was a funny thing.
And his greatest enemy.
He had never fixed that issue within himself, and it caused him to fail dramatically.
He decided to just lay down against the dirt inside the grey structure.
He had wanted to be in Oz, but not like this.
All alone with nothing but the land in front of him.
Bryson Scot listened as the wind howled, trembling to himself as he lay there..
And let the land of Oz swallow him.