Oz Victorious

Chapter Three: Eternal

Months passed; things changed; the nights seemed longer, darker. Ruling on their own, the Vega sisters found themselves worn thin. All but Jade seemed to suffer with their newfound power. Keeping her promise, the newest of the Vega witches took Victoria under her wing, teaching her how to give up her pain and suffering. Day after day, she grew colder towards the world. The anger and pain she held within her began to boil and fester until it came to the surface. The world that hated her would never see her in a time of weakness again. Sitting with Jade night after night, Tori sat up with Jade; listening, loathing, and crying alone. Every time, the tears burned.

"Tori," Jade said one day. "...I need to talk to you." The two walked down the hallway that night, guided by the dim light of several lanterns. Along the way, Victoria remembered her past, as she did every night; "freak, monster, deformed." The mocking laughter, the scorn, the hatred. Jade taught her to see that people would never change. People had an endless tendency to hate one another, and torcher the different. Victoria could see that now.

Sometimes I think they'd change me if they could...Would you? No. At last, the two made it to Jade's bedroom.

"What's wrong?" Tori asked once the door behind them was closed.

"...I killed Dad," the dark-haired young woman confessed.

"You what?" the green young woman gasped, stepping back.

"Please...don't leave me," Jade begged, holding out her hand. "I didn't have a choice."

"You said the world took him from us," Tori replied, her heart starting to burn.

"And it did," the young woman answered. "He was suffering...Couldn't sleep. Tori, I saw the misery in his eyes. I had to put him out of that misery...the world didn't give me a choice."

"This is insane," Tori snapped, feeling tears start to form in her eyes again. "Why would you...how could you?"

Jade put her hand on her sister's shoulder, her breath slow and trembling. "It's a cruel and wicked world," she said. "Look at what it did to you..." Tori remembered her tears and pain as a child. All the insults and taunting; maybe the people had their way with her father as well. "There's no other way to be but cold."

"...How?" Victoria choked out. Warmly embracing her sister, Jade closed her eyes. "I'll teach you," she whispered. "You and Trina."

"No," a familiar voice cried out. Tori and Jade turned to see Katrina standing in the doorway, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You took him..."

"Trina, I didn't have a choice..." Jade tried to defend herself.

"You're lying!" Trina screamed, holding a white wand out, pointing it at her wicked sister. "By the authority of my true royal blood..."

"Trina, please," Tori cried out. "She didn't mean it. She was just trying to help him."

"She killed our father," the eldest Vega witch replied. "She has to be banished."

"You can't!" Victoria screamed. The room fell silent. "I need her...we need her."

"No, we don't," Trina argued. "She used us...she took everything from us."

"Please don't do this," Tori begged, her heart shattering.

"Make your choice, Tori," Jade whispered. "I can take away all your pain...make your heart harder than ever before...we can rule Oz together."

"Tori, get back," Katrina ordered, aiming the wand carefully. "I'm your sister. I only want to help you."

The tears scalded the green girl's cheeks as they fell to the ground. "...Do you?" she demanded. "Or are you just trying to hurt me like everyone else?" Trina felt her body grow weak and numb. "Jade was right...the world doesn't want anything for me but suffering...this is what you wanted...You're not my sister anymore!" Clenching her fists, Victoria felt the fire form, then threw the orbs at Trina, igniting the ground around her. "Leave this place! And never come back!" Jade smiled, and released a bolt of green electricity upon her former sister. Waving her wand, Katrina disappeared from the castle, leaving Tori and Jade together. "Promise me you'll show me how to make the pain go away," the green-skinned girl begged. "I don't want to feel anymore."

"You'll never have to," Jade promised. "...Victoria the Wicked." As her heart darkened and sank forever more, Tori heard the lightning strike above her as the blackness of rain poured down upon the emerald land of Los Angeles.