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Love of a Wicked Heart

Chapter 7

1995, Western Castle of Oz

Thea spent the next couple of weeks worrying about Locasta, hoping she would be alright and wake up soon, but so far it was not looking like that would happen. During the past couple of weeks, only one other attack happened and the only conscious survivor mentioned seeing a hideous looking woman who cackled while attacking the village by herself. The survivor said she had pale graying skin that looked dried out and cracked all over her body. It was also said that she had sickly glowing blue eyes, dark red hair that looked almost black, and wore black lipstick. She wore torn blood red rags for a dress with red feathers near her collar.

It was hearing this that Salazar declared the rumors of the Wicked Witch were true and mentioned what she looked like. Thea decided the best way to help Locasta, and the survivors of both the first and second attacks would be to protect everyone else from sharing the same fate which meant she would be focusing on finding out the identity of Wicked Witch was and where to find her.

Elphaba was also working just as hard if not harder only to stop every once and a while and ask Thea to spar with her either with magic or without. While Elphaba was extremely skilled, Thea proved to be far stronger with magic. Every time Elphaba would enter the room, she would adopt a curious and calculating look that seemed if she was judging Thea to see if she was worthy or not. Thea was currently trying to figure out a pattern of the last two attacks such as what time of the day the Wicked Witch liked to attack and what type of spells she preferred to use during the attacks.

Thea had snuck out one night and returned to both villages that were attacked and looked at the interior for any clues of what happened. There she had found pictures of people that were missing from dead or those who had survived. So far Thea was able to determine that the Wicked Witch would attack at night and kidnap young men and children before she would use fire-based spells to attack anyone left at the village to cover up what was doing.

Soon she heard the door to her study open and saw that Elphaba was carrying a tray of food over to her desk. She looked at Thea and said, "I hope you don't mind but I wished to fix your dinner this evening. I wanted to thank you for allowing me to stay here and I thought this would be the best way."

Thea looked at Elphaba and smiled, saying, "Thank you Elphaba. Would you like to stay and join me?"

Elphaba shook her head and said, "I would love to but I have to get back to doing research on these attacks. Besides, I already had something to eat."

Thea nodded and watched as Elphaba placed the tray on her desk made out of emerald marble after she cleared off a spot so that her work would not get messed up if the food was to accidentally spill. Elphaba took off the cover to the tray and showed that it was a meat stew with vegetables. Thea looked at the meal and smiled as she began to eat, letting out a small moan in delight at the taste of the dinner. As Elphaba was about to leave, she stopped and picked up a green apple from the fruit tray and asked, "I have noticed that you are always eating apples. Why is this?"

Thea wiped her mouth off and swallowed her food before saying, "I honestly don't know. But I have always loved apples and I just can't get enough of them."

Elphaba placed the apple back and asked, "Do you think this Wicked Witch is evil like people are saying or do you think there is more going on?"

Thea sighed and said, "I am honestly not sure. While I do believe most people are not born inherently good or evil. While the Dark Lord from my home can easily be said to have been born evil, I think he is one of the few exceptions. But from what I have to guess, the Wicked Witch probably suffered a great injustice or something similar which cause hate and rage to boil within her until it consumed her. But that is based upon a theory though."

Elphaba nodded and left the room, quietly closing the door behind her. Once Thea had finished the dinner, she walked over and picked up the apple Elphaba had held a few moments ago and took a bite out of it. She heard the door open and close a few seconds later. She turned around and saw Elphaba standing behind her, with a dark grin on her face. Thea was about to ask what the creepy grin was about when she saw Elphaba's light brown eyes turn to a sickly pale blue.

Thea let out a gasp and dropped the apple she was holding, crying out, "YOU!? You're the Wicked Witch!?"

A few seconds later, Thea let out a pained groan and collapsed onto her knees, looking up at Elphaba with hatred. Thea let out another groan and asked, "What did you do to me, you evil bitch?"

Elphaba let out a dark chuckle and quickly picked up the apple that Thea had dropped and said, "Yes, I am the Wicked Witch. Right now you are changing into my perfect sister, a fellow Wicked Witch. I placed a potion in the apple you ate which will deaden all good and happy feelings within you and amplify the darkness inside your heart. Soon you will feel nothing but beautiful wickedness. You are too special to have as an enemy Theodora."

With that, Elphaba took a bite of the apple and watched as Thea writhed in agony as the potion changed her. Thea tried to get up but she collapsed and fell, knocking over the tray on her desk. A few seconds later, everything became quiet and Elphaba asked, "Theodora, sister, are you alright?"

Soon the fireplace behind the desk ignited and a flame roared as a green hand with long black claw-like nails shot up and tried to grab something to hold onto. Elphaba noticed that the nails easily scratched the emerald marble. Soon she watched as Thea stood up and noticed that her skin was now a smooth and flawless emerald green and her irises were now a sickly demonic yellow. Her hair was still a silky midnight black. Her eyebrows were thin and her body seemed to be clean of all hair. Her nose was now long and hooked but one thing that Elphaba noticed was that Thea was still extremely beautiful.

Elphaba watched as Thea began to frantically feel her face and check her hands. Thinking that she was panicking, Elphaba said, "Dear sister, if you are afraid that you look hideous, I can easily cast an enchantment to hide your new look."

Thea looked at Elphaba with hatred and snarled out, "No, I want everyone to know what I have become. I want everyone to see what true wickedness looks like, that they were the cause of all this."
With that, Thea let out a horrid cackle that sent fear though Elphaba and caused her to question if turning Thea into a Wicked Witch was the right decision. She disappeared in a green and black cloud of smoke only to return a few minutes later, wearing a solid black corset dress with black fur around the collar. She was also wearing a black pointed hat and holding a pair of ruby slippers. She looked questioningly at Thea who gave an evil smile and said, "This is the Portkey that I have been working on. These slippers are what will take me back to England as I believe there are items that can help us take over Oz."

With that, Thea put the ruby slippers on. When she looked at Elphaba and clicked her heels three times, simply saying, "There is no place like home."

Elphaba watched in fascination as Thea disappeared right in front of her. As she was about to leave the room, she heard someone arrive. She quickly fixing the enchantments on her to make sure she looked normal before turning around to see who arrived. She noticed that Salazar was standing before her and looking around. Elphaba sighed and said, "If you are here to talk to Theodora, then you just missed her. She had a breakthrough on how to find the identity of the Wicked Witch and in order to do so; she had to return to her homeland of England. She finished the Portkey as she called it, which was a pair of ruby slippers."

Salazar looked shocked and asked, "Did she mention when she would return or possibly how long it would take to find what she was looking for?"
Elphaba shook her head and said, "No, but I do know that she will return as soon as possible. Until then, I will continue to see if I can find out anything else that may help us find out the identity and location of this Wicked Witch."

Salazar nodded and left in a cloud of dark green and silver smoke. Once he was gone, Elphaba sighed in relief and began to clean up the room, making sure that none of Thea's research and items were damaged. Once that was taken care of, she quickly tossed the apple into the fire and watched as it was destroyed by the flames.

1995, Emerald Palace

Salazar returned to the palace a few minutes later and noticed Glinda was waiting for him. She quickly noticed his concerned but excited mood and asked, "I noticed that you seem concerned while you also look like you are about to start dancing around in joy. Is everything alright?"

Salazar nodded and said, "It seems that Theodora has completed the Portkey that would take her back to where she came from in England. She has reason to believe that something there may be able to help us find out the identity of the Wicked Witch and where she is hiding."

Glinda looked shocked and asked, "Do have an idea of what the Portkey looks like?"

Salazar was hesitant at first before saying, "I do not know what they look like but from what Elphaba told me, they are a pair of ruby slippers. Apparently out of all the items that Theodora used, the ruby slippers were the best item to safely channel the magic to take her to England and back."

At this, Glinda nodded and prayed that her friend would be safe and come back as soon as possible. Both Salazar and Glinda had a feeling that things were about to get a lot worse before they even started to get better.

Here is Chapter 7. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. As always, if you notice errors in grammar, let me know so I can fix them right away. Also please leave a review of what you think of the story so far.