"Let us in! Somebody! Let us in!"
The Scarecrow pounded on the tall door of the Emerald City, frantically hoping someone would hear them. The doorman popped his head out.
"Who's there? What do you want?" he demanded in his obnoxious nasally voice.
"Down here!" the Scarecrow barked. The doorman looked down and scowled. But when he saw Dorothy's body, his face fell and he withdrew inside again. The heavy door creaked open, and the Scarecrow and Lion entered gravely. Angry tears fell freely from their eyes as they trekked into the noble city. The doorman met them inside, and he approached them nervously. "I-I didn't know," he stammered. "I didn't know this would happen."
The Scarecrow didn't reply. He strode heatedly through the streets toward the Wizard's throne room.
You caused this. You and your demands.
They reached the grand door that would lead them to the green leader. The guard outside raised his spear to shoo them back, but then saw Dorothy in the Scarecrow's arms and the doorman sobbing behind them, and immediately let them in, stony-faced.
The Scarecrow stormed to the Wizard.
"Who dares to approach me?" The Wizard boomed. The Scarecrow was not afraid of him any longer. He tramped right up to the massive projection and held Dorothy's body closer.
"Do you see what you've done?" he screamed. "Do you see what's happened because of you?"
The Wizard's colossal face appeared in a heavy puff of green smoke. He looked straight ahead of him with a blaze in his eyes. "I have caused nothing!"
"Then you are blind!" The Scarecrow laid Dorothy's body at the foot of the Wizard's altar. The Wizard still did not seem to see her. "All she wanted was to return home, to her family! And now…" His voice broke and he screamed in rage, pressing his fists to the side of his head.
The Lion had taken to pacing around the room like… well, a caged animal. His muscles tensed and were visible under his tawny hide. His claws scratched and scraped at the floor with every step, and he left a trail of tears behind him. "So innocent… so innocent…" he chanted monotonously.
The Wizard did not look at Dorothy, nor did he look at either of her companions. He simply stared directly ahead of him a though they still stood at the door. The Scarecrow, already furious to the point of explosion, picked up the first thing he could find- a panel from the window outside- and chucked it at the Wizard. The panel passed right through him. The Scarecrow didn't notice out of rage. But the Lion did. He prowled up to the Wizard and slashed him across the face with his claws. The giant face didn't react.
"Scarecrow," he said. "Look."
The Scarecrow whirled around. The Lion had his entire arm sticking through the Wizard's jaw. The Scarecrow frowned and approached, still fuming. He studied the area on the Wizard's face where the Lion had stuck his hand through; it was fuzzy, like a projection.
"You're not real," the Scarecrow murmured. He looked up at the Wizard. "You're not even real!"
"Of course, I'm real!" the Wizard boomed.
Toto was yip-yapping like he'd seen a squirrel. He pawed at a silky green curtain on the far side of the room, but the Scarecrow and Lion paid him no mind. Determined, Toto grabbed the edge of the curtain with his teeth and pulled. The curtain parted, and a small, white-haired man stood at a console, frantically cranking wheels and pulling levers. Toto barked again.
The Lion was the first to spot the small canine. "Scarecrow, look!" he cried, and ran towards the small man.
The man turned in time to see the ferocious feline bearing down upon him, pinning him to the control panel. His beady eyes widened at the sight of the Lion's sharp fangs and strong muscles crushing him into the machinery. "Lion, let up!" the Scarecrow hollered. He came up behind his friend. "Who are you?" he asked harshly.
"I-I am the g-great and powerful… Wizard of-of Oz…" the man stuttered.
The Scarecrow's jaw dropped.
"You?" he shrieked.
"Yes… I'm afraid so." The Wizard replied sheepishly. "What service may I do you, gentlemen?"
The Scarecrow's eyes flamed again. "You couldn't have just sent her home, could you?" he wailed. "You couldn't have just given her what she wanted!"
The Wizard looked at him uncomprehendingly. The Scarecrow covered his face with his hands and wept bitterly, turning away. The Lion dismounted from the man and sadly pointed behind himself at Dorothy's body where it still lay on the shining green floor. The Wizard frowned and crept closer. He recognized Dorothy, and he gasped and recoiled. "I'm sorry…" he whispered. "I am so… sorry…"
"Sorry doesn't bring her back!" the Scarecrow bawled. "Sorry doesn't take her home! Sorry doesn't help her now!" He paused. "She was so trusting… so naïve… and it killed her…"
"No, my friend," the Wizard said. "I was the one to cause this. I knew the odds of her coming back alive, and I should have listened to my intuition. I've caused her to perish."
The Scarecrow was speechless now. He had lost all anger and fury that had boiled within him. All that was left now was grief. Grief and sorrow. Dorothy was gone, and she wouldn't return. He knelt next to her body and brushed her brown curly hair back from her face, laying a hand on her cheek. It was so cold. So cold…