Their exhausted bodies stayed glued to the yellow brick road, laying down as their breathing started to get less and less heavy, slowly recovering from the terryifying events that just occured.
Bryson glanced over at Dorothy, admiring her beauty as she pursed her lips and took a deep breath as he bit down on his bottom lip.
He wiped off his mouth and cleared his throat, the trio then slowly got back up, stretching and groaning.
"That was um.. that was.. somethin'.." Bryson stated.
Dorothy and Finley simply nodded.
"By the way, thanks for flying us over here, Finley."
Finley smiled cheerfully. "No problem. It's my job to make sure you guys stay safe, and I will stay loyal to you both. No matter what. Even if there was like... the biggest, scariest, most intelligent thing you could never outwit, like we're talking big buisness... like something that's invincible..."
Bryson and Dorothy smirked and looked at each other as Finley went on.
"Even if I had to say.. give up my left wing... I'd do it if it kept you guys safe.. ev-
"You're an animiated little fella, aren't you?" Bryson grinned and patted his shoulder, on accident, his hand slightly brushed against the right side of his wing, Finley wincing in response. "Oh.. right.. your wing..."
Finley grunted. "Yeah... I forgot about that.."
"You gonna be okay?" Bryson asked worridely.
"Of course.." Finley put on a, presumbaly, fake smile. "It's nothing.. it'll be alright.."
"You sure?"
"Mm hmm."
"Alrighty then... if you're sure... if it starts to hurt to much.. just tell us, we'll help you somehow. Speaking of which.. we owe you one for saving our butts, Dorothy."
She smirked at him and shook her head. "Not a problem at all. I'm a little concerned about you two... will you be okay?"
"Well Finley's the one who got it the worst.. me? I'm hurt and all but I'll be fine.. it's him I'd worried about.."
"Listen, I'll be alright, if it gets bad I'll tell you." He promised.
Bryson nodded. "Well, I guess we better get going now."
They all agreed and walked off back into the road, a forest around them.
They remained silent as they trudged down the road, until once again, the road ended, and this time, it appeared there was not another side to cross over to. However, they could all hear the sound of a waterfall, and looked down to see a river. It appeared that the river was the only possible way they could continue to the Emerald City.
Dorothy gave a confused look. "I'm certain that there used to be a bridge over this river..." She furrowed her eyebrows.
Finley shrugged. "Uh.. well uh... who... who knows..." He stuttered. Both Bryson and Dorothy could tell he was trying to hide something.
"Finley.. is there something you know that we don't?" Dorothy questioned.
Finley shook his head and snorted. "Wha.. pfff... if I knew something you needed to know I'd, I'd.. I'd tell you."
"You've never been a convincing liar." Dorothy told him. "Now.. how do you suppose we could cross that river?" She asked.
"Well.. I guess we could buid a boat of some sort but.. I don't think we have the time or the resources to do that." He wasn't sure what else they could do, he never felt like he was the brightest when it came to these kind of things. "Or... I-I dunno, maybe we should just go in the woods and keep walking there until the river ends, then if the yellow brick road continues, we'll get back on it."
"Little dangerous, don't ya think?" Finley asked.
"Well.. it is.. but.. I dunno.." He responded in defeat.
"Wait... I believe that my friend Tin Man lives somewhere in those woods." She pointed to the right. "I suppose he could help us build a boat or a bridge." She proposed.
"Alright." Bryson replied, excited he could see the Tin Man in person.
They walked off from the road and into the forest, cautiously scanning the area for any danger, fortunately, they hadn't found any.
They had been walking for a good 10 minutes before finally finding a small cabin, logs surrouding the entire area.
"Well, this is it. I hope he's home." Dorothy told them.
"Should we go.. knock?" Bryson asked.
Finley and Dorothy nodded and walked with Bryson. They walked over the big logs and tall plants carefully, who knows what could happen, it was Oz after all.
They made their way to the door, Dorothy knocked.
They stood there for a few moments, Bryson admired the scenery until the door was suddenly swung open, Bryson jumped a bit and was face to face with the Tin Man. He looked.. well... not human. At all. Didn't look like make up, nor some sort of animatronic, it was literally like.. well just what he was.. a man made out of tin.
"Dorothy, Finley, nice to see you, what are you doing out here today?" He said, it was odd to see him talk, it wasn't like some slow moving machine or robot, it was very human like.
He looked down at Bryson and smiled. "Forgive me, but I believe we haven't met. What's your name?" Tin Man asked, offering his hand.
Bryson smiled and shook his hand, it felt weird, shaking the Tin Man's hand, and not to mention it felt weird shaking his hand when he was made out of Tin. "I'm Bryson."
Tin Man smiled. "Nice to meet you. I'm Tin Man."
"Nice to meet you too." Bryson replied.
"Bryson's trying to get back home, he's from the same place I am, we're going to Emerald City to see if someone could help him." Dorothy explained.
"And we're at a bit of a dead end, the yellow brick road stops back there and the only way to cross is with a boat or something. You think you can help us?" Finley continued.
Tin Man nodded and smiled. "Of course, there's plenty of trees here I could use, it'll take a while but I'll have it done soon. In the meantime, you guys can stay in my cabin, make yourselves at home." He smiled warmly and they all went in to the house.
Dorothy turned to Tin Man. "Are you sure you don't want us to help?" She asked, looking at him with her big brown eyes.
"That's alright, Dorothy. Besides, it's dangerous out there. You need to stay in here." Dorothy opened her mouth to protest, but he patted her on the shoulder and smiled at the group, then walked out and Dorothy decided not to push it.
They all looked around in the small cabin. "It'll probably take a while for Tin Man to build that boat. Maybe we should spend the night in here." Finley suggested.
"Probably." Bryson agreed.
Finley yawned and flopped himself on the bunk bed nearby, he must've been exhausted after what happened with the Kadilahs, and Bryson could feel the exhaustion slowly creeping its way into him and he also yawned.
Dorothy then yawned a few moments later. "I think I'm gonna join Finley and go to sleep."
"Yeah, me too. You can have the top bed, I'll just sleep on that couch." Bryson told her, pointing over to it.
"No, no, no, I'm not the one who was attacked by a vicious best, barley dangling from a small monkey over a cliff, I think you need it more than I do." She responded with a grin.
Bryson chuckled and shrugged. "Well yeah, but then I'd just feel rude."
"It's okay." She laughed and playfully nudged him.
He grinned and nudged her back, walking to the bed.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." She replied with a smile. "I appreciate your generosity, though." She teased.
"Anytime..." He responded with a smirk, he climbed up the high bunk and sank down into it. He was tired before, but talking with Dorothy just made his heart race and it was all he could think about. He felt guilty that she wasn't the one in the bed, but she was being stubborn and he decided not to push it.
Eventually sleep overtook him, but in the middle of the night, the sounds of yelling and vicious laughing awoke him. He yawned and sat up, he noticed it was night time from the windows and climbed down from his bed, Dorothy was gone but Finley was still sound alseep.
Bryson rushed out the door and searched for what the commotion was. He turned his head and was shocked to find a huge ball of fire.
"Whoah!" He exclaimed.
He could hear the sound of Tin Man yelling, and he sprinted to the other side of the cabin to find Tin Man and Dorothy against the Cabin, both of them were shaking a bit, mostly Dorothy.
Tin Man protectively held Dorothy. Bryson looked over and was surprised to see the Wicked Witch of the West.
How was she alive? She died. But this was Oz, Bryson thought, about anything could happen.
His mouth was agape at seeing her in person, like the others, but where those were enchanting, this was more horrifying, her skin looked more green that an anything else he had read or seen, he couldn't describe, it was so... real.
She was dressed in the classic get up, black dress, the pointy hat, all topped off with that infamous broom and wart. Not to mention, those pointy nails...
Much more frightening in person. He dreaded to here that terrible voice..
She leaned her head back and chuckled, Bryson shuddered in response.
She then put up her hands and laughed and her broom dropped, the sound of her making Bryson cringe, feeling odd to hear it up close and in real life. It wasn't like when he was a scared little 3 year old, no remote to turn it off, no couch to hide behind.
Tin Man had his axe in his hand, and it started to shake and it then flew off, circling Dorothy and Tin Man, it then flew into Dorothy, but she screamed and ducked, leaving in to fly through cabin, smashing its windows. The Witch was levitating it.
Uh oh... Bryson thought worridely.
If she had the power to levitate, who knew what she was going to do.
All he could do was watch, he felt like such a coward, but he decided to rush in to the scene.
Dorothy and Tin Man quickly turned their heads to him.
"Bryson, you and Dorothy need to leave." Tin Man commanded.
The Witch giggled creepily tapped her nails together in an intimidating manner.
"Bryson... you're the one I've been hearing about.." She laughed maniacally and yet again put up her hands, throwing Tin Man a few feet away, and then Bryson was suddenly lifted up in the air, Dorothy gasped at his predicament, Bryson started to panic as he no longer had much control with his body, she could do whatever she wanted, stop his heart, snap his neck...
But she didn't.
She just toyed with him and started moving around his arms, then she started spinning him around in a circle rapidly, Bryson could feel himself panic and almost threw up, he could feel himself just trembling, he was getting dizzy, and he was starting to lose control, he felt a panic attack coming on as the Witch laughed and threw him hard into the Cabin, Dorothy yelped and the Witch laughing even more. Bryson got on his hands and knees, clenching his fists, trying his hardest not to throw up, he was definitely having an anxiety attack again.
His stomach felt full, he coughed as his mind raced, he wanted the attack to be over quickly.
He could hear the metallic sounds of Tin Man's large foot steps running back towards the Witch, Tin Man was about to get back his axe but was yet again lifted in the air by the Witch, Bryson slowly crawled into the cabin and searched for the axe, but couldn't find it. He started to walk back out but suddenly, the cabin was on fire, the Witch was laughing, she must've thrown a large fire ball at it.
Bryson paniced and took a deep breath, trying to rid of his anxiety attack, he looked over and noticed Finley wasn't there, he looked around but couldn't find him, hopefully he wasn't hurt just wandered off somewhere in fear.
He started to get in control, but only a little bit, he rushed to other side of the cabin and scanned the area for the axe, he noticed the glass on the other side was shattered, he looked down and there it was.
He bent down to pick it up, it was far heavier than he imagined but he managed to lift it up, he walked back to the Witch and tried to make sure she wouldn't see it, because if she got a hold of it, who knows what could happen.
He rushed back to the scene to find Tin Man on the ground, obviously dizzy, and looked in shock as Dorothy was now the one in the air.
Bryson felt anger rush through his body, he made his way over to Tin Man and gave him the axe.
Tin Man looked up at him and took the axe. "Thank you."
Tin Man slowly lifted himself up and swang his axe over his shoulder, gripping on to it. He then ran up to the Witch and started to swing at her, but she dodged and dropped Dorothy down hard on the dirt. Bryson rushed over to Dorothy and kneeled down next to her. "You okay?" He asked worridley.
She groaned and nodded, clearing her throat. "I'll be fine.."
The Witch started to try and levitate the axe once again, Tin Man was trying so hard to not let it fly away, he was about to loose but Bryson looke down and saw the Witch's broom on the floor, he ran over to it and picked it up.
The Witch growled and looked at him angrily, Bryson was afriad of the fact her attention was now on him but it was all he could do, she jerked her hands and Tin Man flew back a bit, but not as far as before, his axe, however was sent flying, but luckily, a nearby tree stopped it and it fell to the ground. Tin Man sprinted over to it and picked it up as the Witch started to close in on Bryson, but Tin Man pounced on the Witch and started to try and slam it onto her face, but of course the Witch used her levitation to stop it and sturggled against Tin Man.
Tin Man turned to Bryson and Dorothy. "You guys need to go. The river is close, the boat is basically finished, if you can find Finley he can fly it down and you can all get in it, but if you don't find it.." He stopped and struggled more. "JUST RUN!" He yelled, the Witch then threw his axe straight into Tin Man's face, then flew him several feet away into the trees, his weight knocking several of them down.
"Tin Man!" Dorothy exclaimed. The Witch laughed loudly and started to throw several fireballs all over the place, the whole forest was now on fire, and Bryson and Dorothy dodges them.
"Run!" Bryson yelled, he and Dorothy then started running as fast as they could into the woods, fire balls flying everywhere.
One large one flew in between them and they both jumped and landed on the ground.
They groaned and Bryson got up, grabbing Dorothy's hand to help her up, and they again started running.
"Wait.. what about Finley?" Dorothy asked between heavy breaths as she kept running.
"WHAT ABOUT ME?!" Finley asked, now in between them.
"Where'd you come from?!" Bryson asked.
"You still don't know?! Well when a mommy monkey and a daddy mo-"
"Oh you know what I mean!" Bryson holored, sighing.
They kept running when Bryson realized something.
"Shit, we didn't get the boat!"
"You watch your mouth mister!" Finley scolded playfully.
"Oh shut up..." Bryson mumbled. "Come on, let's go get it."
They sighed collectively, turned around and sprinted back in a hurry, dodging the fireballs, Dorothy could see the boat. "There it is!" She pointed to it.
They nodded and ran to it but suddenly, the Witch was now right in front of him with an evil grin, she lifted up her hand, but then Tin Man's axe flew into their sight and slightly scraped her hand. "OW!" She screamed in pain and held her hands. She was no longer playing with them. She loooked outraged.
"I'm going to kill each and every one of you brats!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, her eyes filled with anger, they almost looked red.
But Tin Man rushed in and picked his axe back up and yet again started swinging at her, turning to the group. His face was dented from the axe, but he would be okay.
"Get out of here!" He yelled.
They ran towards the boat and Bryson sighed heavily. "It's gonna take a while to move this thing..."
But all three of them used all the strength in their bodies and slowly pushed it towards the river, the Witch seemed to be preoccupied with Tin Man, and every so often the trio would look to see what was going on. Tin Man was dodging fire balls, the Witch, dodging his axe.
They kept pushing and pushing, until they almost fell off the cliff, they had finally made it and Bryson looked at Finley.
"Finley, I know your wing is injured, but can you fly us and this boat down to the river?"
Finley nodded, he had a worried look, but then replaced that look with a look of confidence.
But just as Finley started to struggle and pick up the boat, the axe was literally on fire and was rushing towards them, all three ducked but the shock of it sent them and the boat falling into the river.