Bryson slowly approached the throne room, as if every step was sealing his fate.
He reached the doors. One could not simply open them, it seemed. He titled his head and studied the doors before they suddenly opened all by themselves.
"Well, well, well... I wondered if you'd come back. I've been having too much fun with your lovely Dorothy to know what you were up to, but don't think I do not have people to make me aware of your presence." Rabadan's voice boomed through the room.
Bryson walked down the hallway, which seemed to be much shorter now that Rabadan had revealed himself.
The young man had a stone cold look on his face, as if devoid of fear.
He looked at his surroundings that were slowly made clear once he stepped out of the hallway.
Bryson soon realized the room was vacant. Rabadan was there, as well as Glinda. He assumed Dorothy was somewhere in the large throne room, but he couldn't see her.
Rabadan was perched on the throne he had claimed as his, almost slouching. As if to taunt Bryson, as if to show him how little of a threat the younger man was to him.
Glinda was still in the same dress. But she had a black collar around her neck, tied to the walls. Her eyes were closed, a look of defeat on her face with her head hung low.
"What did you do to Dorothy?" Bryson asked sternly, but somehow calmly. "And to Glinda?"
His mind raced with the worst case scenario, but he tried very hard to not think about it and the hurt that came with it.
"I haven't gotten to Glinda yet, really. But I've enjoyed my time with Ms. Gale." Rabadan said lowly. "There isn't much you can do to free them. Dear Dorothy and Glinda are under my control, unable to save you from me this time. And your other friends are dead." Rabadan spat harshly. "I've taken everything from you. You'll regret leaving that swamp."
"Because you've got your hands on a scepter. Anyone wielding that thing could do what you're doing." Bryson said coldly.
"Fool." Rabadan spat and chuckled bitterly. "You cannot achieve a god-like status by simply picking it up and willing it to do as you please. It takes practice. Like an art-form. Envious weakling." Rabadan grumbled, sitting up straight in his throne now.
"I've come to tell you that you've lost, Rabadan." Bryson replied lowly.
Rabadan looked bewildered, furrowing his brows. "Lost?"
"Everything special about you comes from a magic stick. I have won, Rabadan. When you banished me to the swamp, I realized you were wrong. Oz is not evil. Yes, the people here have made bad decisions. War has spread. But it's because of you. Not them. You didn't win, Rabadan. You cannot force your way on something and claim you were right. Oz was just fine before you enacted your plot. A plot with no real barring, because it was from magic. Not you. You're not a real man and you never will be. You can't win, so you force your beliefs to come true with a glorified magic rattle. But you can't break me, Rabadan."
Bryson stepped closer, and Rabadan's features suddenly became angry.
"So go ahead. Torture me. Humiliate me. Hurt me. Do your worst, I will not crack. I won't fall. Oz is good. A place that's done so much good for so many people. And your actions will never take that away." Bryson remarked with a sense of finality in his tone. "You played chess, but you had to cheat to win."
Rabadan huffed. "I see your game. You want me to toss away the scepter. Fight me. Trick me, somehow."
"You can defeat me, overpower me, overpower all of us. It won't change anything. It won't change the truth. What you want more than anything in the world is for everyone to see things as the way you see them. But I don't, and neither do my friends. We'll die with our beliefs unchanged. And sure, maybe you could simply make us believe as you do.. with that scepter of yours. But that wouldn't be very rewarding, would it?" Bryson raised his brow at Rabadan.
Rabadan quirked his brow.
"And you using your magic instead of defeating me one on one. No tricks. That wouldn't be very rewarding either, would it?" Bryson challenged.
Rabadan seemed troubled, as if he knew Bryson was correct.
"Two can play at this game." Rabadan scoffed, jolting up and unveiling a small brown kitten hid under his robe.
"A cat? What's that sup-" Bryson was cut off.
"Here she is. Your dear Dorothy. She simply wouldn't shut her bratty mouth as I was trying to chain her up. So I turned her into my pet!" Rabadan chuckled. "A small and meek Earthly cat."
Bryson squinted, looking into the eyes of the cat. Doe eyed with something familiar about its face.
"..Change her back." Bryson snarled, gritting his teeth and clinching his fists.
"Or I can do much worse to her after I kill you with my bare hands." Rabadan growled, tossing his scepter across the room. "You'll be met with volts of electricity if you try to touch that thing, by the way. I've customized it well."
Rabadan put Dorothy down, who was now a helpless small animal locked in one dreary room. Bryson couldn't think of many fates worse for her.
"Unlike you, I don't need magic to win.." Bryson huffed back.
"I'll show you who needs magic.." Rabadan said lowly, quickly approaching Bryson as the two males readied their fists.
Bryson gulped. Rabadan was bigger, taller, and more combat experienced.
But at least there was a one percent chance he could win this way.
"And if you can defeat me.. I will grant you access to the scepter. You can undo it all." Rabadan told the younger man. "I won't deserve it, anyway. If I lose to a twig.."
Bryson thought of everything that Rabadan had done over the years. He huffed and suddenly swung his fist right at Rabadan's cheek, as hard as he could muster.
Rabadan tossed his head back, but casually as if it didn't phase him in the slightest.
Bryson shook his fist, the punch hurting him. Rabadan scoffed at that.
The two men continued to circle each other, sizing each other up in the throne room. Rabadan hadn't done anything and Bryson was wary, knowing the larger man could attack him at any minute.
Bryson threw another punch at Rabadan's nose. Rabadan reacted the same way.
There was another pause, then Bryson punched him again. Then gave another quick, slightly harder punch.
Rabadan wasn't phased, his reactions remaining the same.
Bryson's eyes flickered back at the transformation Rabadan had forced upon her.
He gritted his teeth and then drew his arm back before swinging rapidly at Rabadan in an attempt to really hurt him.
Rabadan met Bryson with a fierce and intense swift punch to the gut that immediately slammed the wind out of him.
"Ah!" Bryson yelped out in pain, falling over on the floor as he clutched his stomach.
He felt as if he couldn't breathe now, gasping for air. "Ow... oh.."
"Forget what you think." Rabadan walked over to his scepter. "I've beaten you fairly now. This is no matte-"
Suddenly, a red burst flew across the room.
And the scepter was destroyed, bursting into tiny pieces like confetti around the room.
"WHAT IN GOD'S NAME?!" Rabadan yelled in astonishment, whipping his head around.
Theodora was standing in the entrance of the throne room, slowly walking in.
The Ruby Slippers were on her feet, except they seemed as if they had been cheaply stitched together, and a few of the rubies were missing... which revealed a more plain black texture on the shoes.
Bryson looked on with a stunned look on his face. Her whole demeanor seemed different, and he couldn't believe she was here.
The slippers made loud clicking sounds against the floor.
Rabadan had fallen to his knees, trying to pick up the pieces desperately. "No, no, no, no, NO! NO!"
Rabadan managed to grab the shard of the Ruby Slipper that had helped powered the scepter. He gripped it in his palm and rushed towards his throne, slamming his hand against something in the back, presumably some sort of button. "I'll find another power source to use this shard with, no matter!" He scoffed.
Almost out of nowhere, the throne room floors flipped over and the throne was replaced with a large flying machine. It looked just like the Dragon Machine, except it was golden.
Rabadan leaped inside of it, beginning to control it. Bryson tried to reach over and stop him, but the flying machine flew upward due to his control and crashed through the ceiling. Bryson yelped out, sliding away and ducking and holding his hands over his head to avoid the debris and the piece of the ceiling that came crashing down on the throne room.
It seemed Rabadan had planned a getaway, the machine he surely had made with the scepter.
Theodora zapped out another red burst from her makeshift Ruby Slippers, but Rabadan had been too quick.
Bryson turned to the Witch, shaking his head in a stunned manner. "I... you're helping me? I thought the Ruby Slippers were gone, what's.."
"They were. I've been collecting each shard that was left in the Dusty Desert for years. I wanted to wait to find every shard. Re-make the slippers perfectly. But the situation was dire." Theodora explained.
"C-can you fix all this?" Bryson asked, excitement in his voice and a big surprised smile on his face.
"No, they're not that powerful without all of the shards intact. But I can let out powerful bursts from them. Worked well enough, that dumb scepter is destroyed." Theodora replied.
"That.. that works. I can't believe you're actually helping me." Bryson grinned, as if proud.
"No more talking, Evanora and all the others are suspicious of me. They could be here any minu-" Theodora was suddenly cut off.
The sounds of several foot steps were heard, and the two turned to see the entire group of evil in front of them.
Evanora, Nome King, and Jester were standing several feet from them.
"I should've known you weren't wicked enough to live up to me!" Evanora hissed angrily. "Changing your tune because of that stupid outsider!"
"No, I'm doing what I want for myself, Evanora. For once in my life, I will not be your puppet to manipulate." Theodora retorted with the most confidence Bryson had ever heard from her.
In a quick motion, Theodora held her hand out at the small cat. Suddenly, Dorothy was laying in the throne room in her natural state - just with messier hair.
She gasped, looking around bewildered before she stood up. She wobbled slightly, as if having to adjust back in her human state.
"Dorothy!" Bryson beamed, unable to help himself. He sprinted over and hugged her tightly, squeezing her slightly.
"Oh! Oh.. gee, I.. what?" Dorothy hugged him back with one arm, but she stumbled and gulped, looking on up at him.
Theodora then stuck her hand out, and Glinda's chains were gone and her wand was in her hand.
Glinda gasped, looking shocked at the other witch as she stood up.
Theodora then took off the Ruby Slippers, approaching Dorothy. "Here. You'll need to go after Rabadan. You will need these more than I will."
Dorothy seemed flabbergasted as she graciously accepted the makeshift Ruby Slippers from Theodora. "I... why are you helping us?" She shook her head, confused.
"Because I decided to take my own action rather than doing what my sister would want." Theodora shrugged, as if it were the most casual thing in the world.
Dorothy seemed very wary until Evanora suddenly outstretched her hand. Green electricity began to flow from her fingertips.
And then, she emitted a huge deadly green blast.
Bryson and Dorothy yelped in fear, gripping each others arms before Glinda used her wand to emit a huge deadly pink blast. And Theodora used her hands to emit a large fireball.
Nome King and Jester gasped, watching helplessly.
Evanora grunted out. "NO!" She used up what seemed to be all her might, and the green blast eventually began to overpower the surge of the pink blast and the fire.
Theodora and Evanora gasped, being pushed back and digging at the floor as Evanora closed in on them.
"I'm done trusting you, you sorry excuse for a sister! You and Glinda will die tonight! And the farm girl, and the fake Wizard, and the foolish oaf of this throne room!" Evanora yelled out, getting closer and closer as her green blast became larger.
Dorothy gasped, quickly taking action and putting on the makeshift Ruby Slippers. Her face strained, grunting to herself and thinking it over.
That seemed to do the trick.
A red blast was joined with the pink blast and the fireball, and they became larger and over powered the green.
Evanora gasped out, and soon enough the blasts were too much for her to handle.
Bryson stepped back to not be hit.
The three women blasted at Evanora, their blasts then emitting to Jester and Nome King behind her.
The blasts had overpowered Evanora so much that it began to melt her skin.
Evanora screamed in agony, her and her partners soon reduced to puddles on the ground.
They were dead.
Glinda panted, but seemed relieved.
Theodora trembled, seeming as if she had finally conquered a beast. But she seemed deeply effected at the act of killing her sister, despite the solitude she had seemingly found. She stayed shaking, looking at the puddles with intense eyes.
Dorothy panted, too. She tapped Bryson's shoulder.
"C'mon, let's go get Rabadan."