The feeling was beginning to sink in now, and Bryson knew he could no longer be in-denial.
This man in front of him with sunken, haunted eyes. It was him. Or.. some version of him, at least.
Who seemed to experience the very same things he had experienced.
No longer was Bryson consumed with who this guy was.
He was consumed with how he was here. How this future version of him was here.
"It.. I." Bryson cleared his throat. "What was the name of my dog?" Bryson asked with a vulnerbale tone.
"Lucky. He died shortly before I went to Oz that second time. When I was in college at LA. Where I met Tommy and his aunt." Zavick retorted through gritted teeth. "God, I can't bare to look at myself! So young and foolish!" Zavick growled, yelling in anger as his face trembled. He braced himself in an attempt to keep his composure.
This was how Bryson turned out? He was horrified at how angry and regret filled the man was.
He had a full beard and short hair like Bryson had during the beginning of his reign as Wizard. But it seemed more natural.
And his future self was muscular and built. Like he had become the man he had set out to be when he agreed to rule.
But he didn't trust himself after he had caused the war. Why trust his future self?
"What's your game plan here?" Bryson asked, tears falling down his face. "Why do you want the Oz-hauler watch?"
"Wouldn't you like to know? I'll have you know your actions get so many people hurt." Zavick trembled, anger swelling inside him. "Dorothy.." he began to choke up.
"What.. what happened to her?" Bryson began to shake along with his future self.
Zavick looked down at the floor, then back up at Bryson. He gave Bryson a knowing look. "The trial happened. And her punishment..." Zavick swallowed.
Bryson gulped. "What.. what else happened? What happened to her? To Oz?" Bryson asked, his voice weak. He suddenly had all the answers of what could happen right in front of him.
Zavick gave a conflicted look, then settled. "Nothing. Nothing will happen if you give me that watch." He said lowly, extending his hand.
"You're me. And you wanna kill... yourself. In the past. Won't that just stop you from being here?" Bryson tried to reason. "And.. why should I even trust you? If you... or we are the ones who messed everything up!"
"It doesn't work like that." Zavick said calmly, tensing up. "I told you I would not use force with loved ones present. Give me the watch. Please. You don't wanna know what happens to Oz. To your world. To.. D-Dorothy.." Zavick swallowed, as if it hurt him to even say those words.
"LIAR! I AM NOT YOU!" Bryson suddenly couldn't take it anymore.
The war, knowing it was his fault.
Dorothy, knowing he had left her after she confessed her feelings.
Knowing she, Oz, and even his world seemed to pay some sort of price for his own actions.
Exactly what he feared would happen due to his rule.
It caused him to react emotionally and irrationally.
He lunged at the bigger future version of him, trying to tackle him.
"Ah!" Zavick huffed, backing away in surprise.
The two began to wrestle around inside of the flying Dragon Machine.
"Stop! Stop!" Tommy yelled out.
Charlotte and Kyle watched stunned, Thersea and Colton stirring in their sleep.
"I told you to not alarm them! God, why am I so sensitive?" Zavick hissed.
"I'M NOT YOU! SHUT THE HELL UP!" Bryson yelled, not wanting to hear it.
Zavick, with his stronger and more experienced build, tossed Bryson onto the ground and pinned him, laying his body right out of the broken window of the flying Dragon Machine.
Bryson looked downward, gasping at what a terrible fall it would be. Surely, if he fell it would kill him.
"I didn't want them to see this, but you've left me no choice! I think it's time I put myself down." Zavick sneered, suddenly drawing out his sword from his black belt.
Before he used it, he swiped for the Oz-hauler watch.
"Stop, stop!" Tommy yelled, rushing over to pull Zavick over.
"Tommy, I don't want you to see this. I'm sorry, I won't fail you again, my friend!" Zavick turned to Tommy apologetically. "Just look away! I'm sorry, but I must do this before my past self destroys everything!" Zavick. "He is unhinged."
But Tommy's pull to Zavick bought Bryson enough time. Bryson kicked his future self in the face.
"Ah!" Zavick tumbled over and held his face in pain. He swiped at Bryson's leg in an attempt to pull him forward and retrieve the green watch.
Instead, Bryson writhed around to loosen the grip Zavick had on him.
But this sent him flying out of the window of the Dragon Machine.
"Woah!" He gasped.
"No!" He could hear the cries from the teens as he fell from the flying machine.
He was falling fast, panicking. "Oh.. oh God.."
Glinda wasn't around to save him this time. He would plummet and die.
But suddenly, he had an idea.
He lifted his wrist up and moved the dial on the Oz-hauler watch. He slapped the button in the middle, just hoping this would work.
...
Suddenly, he fell onto his couch at his cabin home.
He tumbled over and fell to the floor.
Back in his world.
He panted, looking around. It worked. He had been transported safely, despite the pain that the fall had caused.
It was much less pain than he would've faced otherwise, at least.
He slowly lifted himself up, looking around.
He didn't have any actual weapons in his house. But he did have knives for food.
He rushed over two of them, hiding them in the compartments of his black Wizard coat.
"These'll come in handy." He growled.
He could wait. He could prepare more.
But forget what Dorothy said.
He wasn't going to wait. Or prepare. He needed to put down Zavick now.
...
He transported himself back in Oz. He was now on the ground, looking up and seeing the flying Dragon Machine in the distance. "Get back here.." he growled, prepared to run off.
But suddenly, Flying Monkey's had flown down Zavick.
"Where the hell did you even get those?" Bryson snapped.
He remembered hiding behind his TV as a child because the ones in the movie scared him.
How had he become a muscular man who seemed to have knowledge on combat and weapons?
Zavick remained silent, as if planning something.
"You know, maybe we could work together! I don't even know what your plan here is! Why do you want the watch?!" Bryson yelled out aggressively, pacing around and just wanting to end the man.
Zavick took a few more moments to respond. "My plan.. is to destroy Oz and our world. Melt it down and re-build it in my image. To make it perfect. I have... certain components to make that happen. All I need now is that watch."
Bryson suddenly gasped. "You.. you can't be serious." He felt even more disturbed. "That's... that's your plan? Destroy Oz and this world?"
Zavick nodded. "I see that Oz isn't perfect. Our world sure as hell isn't. And both get destroyed in the end." He said vaugely with a shrug. "I'll wipe out a vast population of the human race and only leave those are worthy of the new Oz."
"Genocide?!" Bryson yelled, horrified. "You're going to kill people?!"
Oz and his world both got destroyed. What?!
That couldn't be true! He refused to believe it!
"Not kill. They will merely cease to exist. They won't know it." Zavick said. "A lot of them perish not long after this, anyway. This is a much more peaceful way to go."
"What about my friends?! Or.. our friends?!" He yelled.
"They'll be there. Like I said. Anyone worthy. Including Dorothy. You've always favored Oz, anyway. Resented the real world. This is how it culminates. Hand over the watch and I can make the perfect Oz. The perfect dream world." Zavick said, extending his hand.
"How the hell are you gonna just.. build a new world with a watch designed to transport me from different places?" Bryson asked.
"Oh, shut the hell up and fight. There's no one around now. I don't have an issue prying that watch off your corpse." Zavick said coldly. "I should've known trying to reason with you was futile. Imbecile."
Bryson looked around as they stared each other down.
They were in a grassy field. Zavick was facing him a few feet away. Bryson was on the grass and Zavick was standing firmly on the Yellow Brick Road.
"C'mon! Fight me like a man so I can stain your blood all over the Yellow Brick Road! Be happy I'm putting you down and killing you in your favorite place before you suffer any further!" Zavick yelled.
Bryson shivered. His future self was a lot more violent.
But Bryson was outraged and overcome with emotion. He was ready to release it and destroy what had been scaring him most ever since he became Wizard.
Himself.
"LET'S GO!" Bryson yelled.
And like that, the two versions of the same man were sprinting towards each other.
Bryson used his smaller stature to his advantage, leaping himself off the ground and kicking Zavick like a wild animal.
Bryson merely bounced off of Zavick's black suit. He was hardened unlike the current Bryson's smaller frame.
"What was that? I can't believe I was so clumsy." Zavick sneered as Bryson tumbled onto the ground.
As he faced the ground, he spotted something. A single Yellow Brick that had chipped off the Yellow Brick Road.
He covered it with his back turned to Zavick, hunched over and pretending he had been exhausted.
"Already tired? And I was expected to rule Oz at this age." Zavick scoffed.
Suddenly, Bryson put his plan into motion.
He jumped up and spun around, using the Yellow Brick to bash it into Zavick's face.
Zavick blocked it with no effort. He withdrew his sword again a hasty motion and swiped the Yellow Brick in half. Bryson couldn't believe how much faster Zavick was, despite being middle aged.
"You tried that trick against a lone warrior fighting to overthrow me.. or.. you... in the middle of the war. It's a few weeks after today. It didn't work as well for you as it did then." Zavick scoffed.
Bryson suddenly felt horrified.
No one could really know someone as well as they knew themselves.
And Zavick was him!
Not only him, but from a future version who knew the outcome of so many things Bryson had not yet known.
How could he possibly win this?
Bryson wasn't thinking rationally, however. He wanted the sight in front of him gone. He couldn't bare to look at another roadblock to Oz's perfection.
He couldn't believe he could be driven to attempt literal genocide! Murder of people and destruction of Oz and his world!
What had he become?
He felt so much agony over it all. He could only yell out and suddenly gave a wild punch.
Zavick squinted, giving Bryson a hard whack on the top of his head with the fist not holding the sword.
It was a petty move, filled with disdain.
Zavick then gave Bryson a clean punch, one not as wild but just as angry and forceful. It was much more experienced. This version of him knew how to throw a punch.
And Bryson felt it. He held up his hands to block the punch, but it was still incredibly forceful and filled with resentment.
He cried out and fell to the ground with the single punch, his face falling against the Yellow Brick Road. He looked over to see red liquids stain it, bleeding from the punch.
"Already doing what I said I would do. Fulfilling my promises.. unlike you fulfilled your promise to make Oz perfect." He growled, lifting his sword and going in for the kill.
Bryson gasped, suddenly whacking the button on the Oz-hauler watch to transport himself away from danger.
...
Back in his word, he lifted himself up and wiped blood from his mouth.
He had a chance to plan things out and not make a hasty decision that'd get him hurt or killed like Dorothy said.
He ignored it, hellbent on destroying his future self.
Especially after knowing what his plan was.
He refused to believe he would ever stoop to such a terrible and evil plan. It couldn't be him, could it?
He grabbed a wooden chair from the house and a small rock from just outside, struggling to carry it all as he slapped the button on his watch - to take himself back to Oz.
...
He landed behind Zavick, just as he wanted to.
He lept up and smashed the wooden chair onto him.
It landed right on Zavick's hand that held his sword. The weapon slid over and the chair broke, the top of it crushing along Zavick's hand with its wooden material.
"AH!" He yelled out in pain, the chair crushing his gloved hand.
Zavick struggled, somewhat trapped by the chair.
Bryson took the chance to grab the rock.
Zavick noticed and held his free hand up to block it, but the rock still hit arm. "Ah!" He yelled out in pain.
"That watch of yours can't save you for long! Believe me, I experienced it!" Zavick huffed.
Zavick suddenly lifted the chair off his hand, tossing the remains of it. "You think giving me a splinter is going to stop me?" He sassed. It reminded Bryson of the way he taunted Rabadan when he was fourteen.
Zavick stayed kneeled. Bryson took the chance to try and crash his foot down on Zavick.
Zavick laughed, catching Bryson's foot and tossing him on his back against the Yellow Brick Road. Bryson then knew that Zavick stayed kneeled for so long just to trick him like that, feeling like an idiot.
"Oh, it's hilarious how you could have stayed in your own world with that watch. Bide your time. But I'm just as stubborn and desperate at this age as I remember! Cowardly, too. Face me like a man or don't face me at all." Zavick mocked.
Bryson began to scoot away like a scared child, panting and heaving as he looked up at Zavick.
Zavick closed in on him, just like his future was closing on him.
Zavick was so quick.
Bryson didn't know how to outsmart someone that was just him, but with more knowledge.
He turned around, resorting to the knives he had hid in his jacket.
Somehow, Zavick's taunt about not facing him discouraged him from using the Oz-hauler any further.
He swiped the knife from his pocket and hastily turned around to stab Zavick with it.
Zavick gripped Bryson's wrist, the knife shaking.
"I knew you wouldn't use the watch if I mocked you. Good lord, I was stubborn!" Zavick laughed.
Zavick was stronger and smarter in every way, it seemed.
Bryson fumbled his hand to swipe the knife away, wanting to ensure Zavick couldn't use it as he kicked it away.
"Woah!" Bryson stumbled afterwards due to Zavick's grip. He fell onto the grass and Zavick gave out a yell. "THIS IS FOR GETTING DOROTHY KILLED!"
Suddenly, Zavick leaped towards Bryson and crawled over top of him while he began to pound the younger male's face in.
He punched him repeatedly, aggressive fists moving rapidly against Bryson.
Bryson coughed up blood. "Ah! Ah!" He yelled in pain. He had never been hit like this before.
Bryson knew he had grew to dislike himself after what his rule upon Oz had done to him.
He had felt the hatred through Zavick as he pummeled Bryson's face into the grass and made him bleed all over.
Zavick suddenly stopped, Bryson's face twitching. "Ah.. ah.." he felt he couldn't move a muscle.
His nose was broken. He could tell.
Zavick slid open the jacket of Bryson. "Ah, yes.." Zavick hissed as he swiped the second knife from Bryson's jacket. "I tried this trick before, too. I do know myself well." Zavick taunted. "I'm ending this!"
Bryson weakly reached for the first discarded knife.
Zavick went straight to the heart, but Bryson jolted his knife against the one Zavick held.
Bryson struggled, trying to wrestle Zavick's wrist away.
But Zavick was stronger. Bryson was giving it all his might, however.
Zavick's knife began to penetrate the fabric of his clothes, digging into his skin. It went right into his shoulder, stabbing him.
"Ah!" Bryson yelled out in pain.
Zavick was about to drag it down and go for the heart.
"STOP!" An unmistakable voice cried out, suddenly sprinting up.
Zavick immediately halted his movements, Bryson breathing a sigh of relief.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Dorothy was rushing up, tears streaming down her face as she immediately held Bryson's held and yanked him away from Zavick. "No! Oh, no! What.. what did you.." She sobbed, stroking Bryson's hair as her hands shook against the knife in his shoulder.
She gasped at his bruised and bloodied face. She slowly looked up at Zavick and stared.
Through her tears, it seemed she could make out his face.
"W...wait.." Dorothy gulped. "B... Bryson?"
Tears began to fall from the face of the future counterpart, looking at Dorothy in awe. "Dorothy.. you're alive.."
Dorothy recognized him instantly. "Bryson.." she looked at Zavick, then at Bryson repeatedly. "Oh my goodness.." she said with a horrified voice.
Bryson could hear quick footsteps. "Bryson!" Tommy yelled, rushing over. "Oh, no.." he gasped at the sight of the knife lodged in Bryson's shoulder and at his beaten up face. Tommy immediately began dragging him through the grass.
Bryson peaked over and saw the Dragon Machine laying in the field. It seemed that they had been looking for him after he fell out and had now found him.
"Wait, wait!" Dorothy cried out, reaching over and looking in concern at Bryson's badly beaten up body. She snapped her head back to the current and future Bryson, eyes settling on the future version.
"Tommy, take care of him! I need to talk to him and solve this!" Dorothy pointed to the future version of Bryson.
Bryson's current self felt like he was fading.
"Oh my God.. we have to get that knife out of him safely." A voice said, sounding like Thersea.
Bryson just grunted, his bloodied and bruised face squinting out.
"Dorothy.." he whimpered, feeling complete fear knowing she had been left with a maniac as the Dragon Machine flew away and took off without her.
A maniac that.. was technically him.
Those words rang in his ear.
"Getting Dorothy killed."
How literal could that be, he wondered..
It wasn't a pleasant thought.
...
What will happen with Dorothy and Bryson's future self? Is Zavick fully Bryson or just a certain version of him? What is happening with the war in Oz? These and many other questions will be answered soon. Hope you enjoyed, I appreciate all reviews and support. Have a lovely day.x