Bryson was starting to feel awkward again, he wished that Finley would have stuck around so he felt less uncomfortable, but he couldn't really blame Finley, if he had just been basically groomed and bothered the whole time, he probably would do the same.
He sighed, some more people talked to him for a few seconds, then left. As the minutes passed, more and more people were dressed more festive, and more decorations and such were being put up.
Eventually, he glanced over and noticed someone walking towards him. He turned around and his jaw almost dropped to the floor and he had to struggle to catch his breath.
It was Dorothy, and she looked stunning.
Her hair was curled, she had on red lipstick that made her already kissable lips stand out, the she had on some make-up now, and it perfectly brought out to what to him were nothing but all heavenly features, and to top it off, she was wearing a red dress, and she looked beautiful. Perfect for him.
She came up to him and smiled. "Hey."
He smiled. "Uh... h-hey...uh.. hi." He chuckled a bit nervously.
She grinned. "What is it?" she asked.
"Oh, uh, ummm... nothing.. just uh..." He looked down at her, too shy to look in her eyes. He scratched his neck. "Um... it's jussssst..."
She giggled a bit and he blushed furiously. He scuffed his feet, rubbing his hands together nervously, a habit of his. "You look... uh... you look.. youlookreallygood." He spat out.
"Hm?" she asked with a smirk.
"You look..." He grinned, sighing. "You look.. good, you look nice..."
She blushed a bit. "Well, thank you. You look pretty spiffy yourself."
"Well, thanks." He replied nervously with another small sigh. They stood there awkwardly in silence for a few seconds before Dorothy spoke up.
"Where did Finley go?"
Bryson chuckled and lifted his head up. "Oh, uh, he said he didn't really want to join the party, he just went to bed."
Dorothy nodded. "Oh..." She looked up they both noticed there was now a green stage, Tin Man walked on to it. There was a booth and Tin Man stepped on the stage and up to the booth. There, there was an oddly shaped microphone of sorts. It was gold and Tin Man leaned down to it, clearing his throat. "Hello.. if I could have everyone's attention I'd just like to say, the celebration has offically begun!"
Just then, the Scarecrow slowly walked out and onto the stage. His entrance was pretty lackluster for a guy who was ruling an entire land, no trumpets or anything, Bryson thought. Not that he minded. It made Scarecrow seem more humble.
Everyone cheered and Tin Man smiled. "Right now, we'll have some people and workers come up and share their thoughts on our great king, the Scarecrow, to commemarate his day of birth!" Tin Man exclaimed.
Scarecrow smiled and waved at the crowd and took a seat on a smaller scale thrown next to Tin Man.
Bryson and Dorothy smirked, of course knowing their straw and tin friends were lying about the whole birthday fiasco. He had to admit though, it was a pretty clever little plot to distract everyone.
"They should sweep at the Golden Globes for that performance.." Bryson commented jokingly.
Dorothy furrowed her eyebrows and turned to him. "Golden what?"
She has no idea that is, she lives in like the 30's, you idiot! Bryson thought to himself.
"Um... uh... nothing.. just uh... something... we... do back in Tennessee..." Bryson lied. He hated lying to Dorothy, but he still wasn't prepared to tell her the truth about Oz being fiction in his world. He had to give himself credit, he hadn't slipped up as many times as he thought he would.
Dorothy simply nodded and Bryson gave a small sigh of relief, thankful she seemed to buy in to his story.
You should have said Oscars, you should have said Oscars...
"Now, without further ado, our doorman, Andrew Bryant."
The doorman and several other workers and close friends all gave their thoughts and feelings on Scarecrow, telling various stories as well.
Bryson thought it was intruging to hear about Scarecrow, he sounded even more friendly and fun to be around then he initally even imagined.
Dorothy eventually was asked to come up, and was given more applause then anyone else there, besides maybe Scarecrow. Bryson estimated this was because she was known as the savior of Oz, but then again, even if she wasn't, they probably would. She was so nice, and accepting, and funny, and cute, and pretty, and smart, and witty, and interesting, and..
Bryson realized he was getting distracted again by her, something that had happened quite frequently, if he was to be honest.
After Dorothy finshed, Tin Man returned to the microphone and explained how he hoped everyone had fun and so on.
When Dorothy returned, the party seemed to start and everyone in the massive room gathered around and started to talk, laugh, sing, dance. It was a beautiful sight to Bryson. If only everyone get along like that back at home, he thought.
Soon, people started to gather around he and Dorothy, and he started to get a little nervous. He was never one for parties or being social, being painfully shy was always a problem for him, resulting in his stance as basically a loner and social outcast with very few friends. At least until Oz.. now, he had friends that actually cared about him, and that felt great.
And even though he really wanted to get to know everyone in Oz, his shyness overtook him and he tapped Dorothy on the shoulder.
"Hey, uh.. I'm gonna back to my room.. I might come back later." He explained.
Dorothy looked a bit dissapointed. "Oh, uh.. okay.. are you sure?"
Bryson nodded and gave an apolegetic look, but Dorothy smiled to assure him.
"Well.. I'll see you.. later I guess.." Bryson finished.
Dorothy nodded. "Alright."
Bryson walked quickly back to his room before anyone could start conversation with him. He found his room and walked to his large bed, plopping himself on to it, drifing into deep thought and dozing off for a bit. After his quick little nap, he woke up and looked around, getting up.
He walked around his room and debated to himself over whether he should return to the party. He eventually sat on the edge of his bed and tapped his foot, unsure of what to do, until he heard a knock. He went to the door and opened it, curious as to who it was, and he smiled when he saw it was Dorothy, who had a small smile on her face.
"Hi.. uh... I'm not bothering you.. am I?" Dorothy asked.
"Oh, um... not at all." Bryson replied warmly.
"Oh, good." She replied. After a few seconds of silence, she spoke up. "Um, so... everyone's kind of... dancing right now... slow dancing. And ya see... everyone has a partner but me... so.. you wanna be mine? My, my partner, I mean.." she asked, blushing a bit.
His heart was about to pop out of his chest at the fact he was about to dance with Dorothy Gale and also the fact she'd ever wanna dance with him.
"Oh um... sure.. I'd.. I'd.. I'd love to. But.. you don't have a partner?" He asked. "You seemed pretty popular with everyone back there is all."
"Well, I was offered and I danced with some other people for a bit, but I was thinking that perhaps you'd like to dance.. I thought you might be lonley..." She explained.
He blushed a bit and smiled. "Well, thanks... um.. but uh.. well... I can't really... dance..."
"Well, sure you can. It's simple, really. I'll.. show you if you'd like me to." She said sweetly.
Oh boy...
"I don't know..." he replied, his shyness kicking in again as he scuffed his feet on the floor and fiddled his hands nervously.
She grinned and grabbed his hand, causing him to shudder a bit, nervous that they he actually made some sort of physical contact with her. Her hand was warm and just felt so.. right.
She giggled and slightly dragged him to the door, playfully.
"Wait.. I don't know.. I'll look stupid in front of everybody.." He mumbled.
"You won't look stupid." She insisted, her eyes giving a look of promise. Bryson stared in her big doe eyes for a bit, they were so easy to be entranced by, he could be hypnotized by looking at them, the few hints of make-up on her just enhanced them. They were probably his favorite part about her. If he coul choose a favorite, every bit of her was perfection as far as he was concerned.
"Bryson?"
He shook his head and cleared his throat, realizing he was staring too long.
She smiled. "We'll just.. dance in here.. if you'd like.. I don't know about you, but I can still hear the music from that room." She pointed.
Bryson hadn't noticed til now. "You're right..." It was slow music, it gave off a.. romantic vibe, causing him to get even more nervous, but whenever he looked in her eyes he was a bit more at ease.
She got closer to him, she wasn't too far from him. "Here... just... I'll show you what to do." She told him with a smile.
She put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to shudder yet again.
She reached out her other hand. "Now.. you just.. intertwine your hand with mine.."
Bryson bit his lip nervously, and he desperately tried to control his hand that was lightly shaking.
He put his hand to hers and almost gasped, she then slowly started to intertwine her hand with his, and he slowly did the same, he shuddered at the feel of it, it was so warm. Electrifying.
"And put your other hand on my hip.." she told him.
He bit his lip once again and did as she said, making sure not to go too low or too high.
She smiled widley at him. "Good. Now just kind of... transfer your weight back and forth.. slightly lift the foot your weight's not on and slide that foot a little forward.. maybe sideways." She constructed.
He did as she said, a bit clumsily, causing her to giggle.
"What?" he asked with a grin.
"Nothing, you're just cute..." she commented, causing his brain to almost explode.
She looked like a bit embarassed, as if that's not what she meant to say, but Bryson decided to carry on.
Did she just.. call me cute? He thought in his mind. He was in utter disbelief at it.
She taught him a few more things and he was slowly getting the hang of it.
Their motions started out slow, even a bit timid, but slowly became more carefree.
He looked down at her. He was a good bit taller than her, but not too tall.
They started to dance around the room and Bryson started to get the hang of the whole dancing thing.
"You're doing great!" Dorothy commented.
"Well, thanks.." Bryson replied shyly.
He was still a bit awkward in his movement but he was definitely improving. But he was starting to feel a bit rebellious and more cocky as they went along, and they had been dancing like this for a while, so he formed a little plan in his head, to make things more interesting.. he debated on doing it for a while but decided to hell with it and grabbed her hand and lifted up his own, spinning her around for a bit and then back into his arms, but she stumbled a bit, she laughed, but the stumble caused her to fall into him, and he was now pressed against her, it didn't mean for it to happen but he wasn't exactly sorry it did.
Though, it made him quite a bit more notice, that they were pressed against each other, but he decided just to go with it and they continued to dance around. He could just smell her scent. She had a bit of colone on now, it seemed. He loved the smell of her, part of it was the colone and part of it was just... her, just Dorothy.
"Well, what was that all about?" Dorothy asked teasingly with a sly grin.
Bryson shrugged and gave a sly grin back. "I don't know... I got a bit cocky, I guess."
Dorothy grinned and they danced normally for a few more minutes.
"I guess I can get a bit cockier though." He teased. He'd seen this in movies and TV, and didn't know if it would work, but he decided to give it a shot.
He then dipped her over.
"Oh!" she cried out in response.
He looked at her and she grinned, but then Bryson started to lose his balance and the two fell to the floor, causing them to burst out laughing for a few minutes. They looked at each other as they laughed, then finally stopped.
"Maybe we should.." she laughed. "Maybe we should stop dancing for a few seconds.."
He laughed back. "Yeah.."
He took her by the hand and helped her up. They chuckled some as he lead her over to his bed, considering it was really the only place to sit at.
They sat on the edge.
"So that was the first time you've ever danced like that?" she asked.
"Yep."
"And you've never danced with a girl before?"
"Nope. But I'm really glad you taught me.. that was fun." He admitted.
"Of course. We should do it again sometime." She suggested.
"Oh, definitely..."
After a few moments of silence, she spoke up.
"Oh, why were you so down earlier?" she asked.
He sighed.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.." she assured.
"No, no, it's okay, it's okay. It's just... you remember... remember that smaller Kalidah that was hurt and on the floor?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Well.. I'm the one who hurt it... I didn't want to, but I had no choice, it was attacking Finley... and I just felt a bit guilty."
Dorothy frowned. "Oh, Bryson, you don't have anything to feel guilty over... it was attacking Finley, you did what was right.. I know how you feel though, I don't like hurting animals.."
"I know, but.. it was just trying to eat. It doesn't know any better. But I mean, I of course don't want Finley to be eaten, but..."
Dorothy nodded. "A lot of boys I go to school with back in Kansas kill flies for example all the time, and annoy other girls about it. I'm not one to judge, but I'm just saying, some don't give killing an animal a second thought.. so it says a lot about your character, so don't worry about it." She smiled warmly.
"Thanks.. that makes me feel a lot better, actually."
Dorothy smiled. "Well, I'm glad I could help. Now, do you wanna go back outside? It's okay if you don't want to."
After what had just happened, Bryson was in a more postive mind set and to decided to just live dangerously. Well, dangerous for his standards at least.
He shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"
She grinned. "Wonderful!" She excitedly grabbed him by the arm. "Come on!"
They both giggled and rushed out the door, shutting it behind them and walking back into the large, green room. "Oh!" She said, almost gasping a bit and pointing her finger up. "I just got an idea."
"Yeah?' he asked, grinning back, finding her "I just got an idea" face to be adorable.
"I should show you around the Emerald City! Oh, there's this really big balcony outside, upstairs! The view up there is just beautiful, it'll look marvelous at night!" She told him.
He grinned and she led up him to a flight of stairs, they rushed up like two little kids and started to slow down their steps when they came up to the balcony.
"Wow.." Bryson whispered.
He could make out the moon in the distance, the night sky and the stars all just looked beautiful from this height.
They slowly walked to the egde of the balcony and stood side by side, looking over at it.
"Breathtaking, isn't it?" Dorothy asked.
Bryson nodded and chucked slightly. "I'll say... the moon.. just the stars... it all looks so beautiful."
"I know!" Dorothy exclaimed.
They remained silent for a couple minutes until Dorothy squinted, as if noticing something in the distance.
"Do you.. see something?" Bryson asked.
Dorothy nodded. "Yeah.. it looks like something's coming towards us..."
As it came closer, they started to make it out..
"What the.." Bryson muttered.
Then, it started to get closer.
"Oh.. no..." Dorothy whispered.
"What is it?" Bryson asked.
"It's.. flying monkeys..."
Bryson gulped. As they came into view, it appeared to be a legion of them. Several. And they were coming from different angles.
"Uh... Dorothy.." Bryson started shakily.
"Come on, we need to go!" Dorothy commanded in a panic, she grabbed his arm and they rushed to the steps, running downstairs. They rushed over and found Scarecrow and Tin Man talking in a corner. They sprinted up to them.
"Scarecrow! Tin Man!" Dorothy exclaimed, panting.
"What is it Dorothy?" Tin Man asked.
"There's, there's flying monkeys coming towards the Emerald City. A lot of them!"
"What?!" Scarecrow exclaimed. "Where'd you see them?!"
"On the balcony upstairs! We have to do something quick!" Dorothy cried.
"Oh no... oh no..." Scarecrow said, pacing. He sighed and turned to Tin Man. "I've gotta find every guard I can find. Dorothy, Bryson, do the same and look for guards. Tin Man, try and distract everyone." Scarecrow ordered.
"How?!" Tin Man asked.
Scarecrow sighed, too anxious and worried to think of anything. "I don't know, I've got to get going!" Scarecrow replied, running off to find guards.
"Come on!" Dorothy said, running with Bryson to do as Scarecrow said.
But just then, the door that led that Bryson, Dorothy, Finley, and Tin Man had previously came inside through ripped off its hinges and went flying to the other side of room, causing Bryson and Dorothy to duck down in shock.
They got back up and gasped when they saw Rabadan slowly walking inside with a determined look on his face.
He had his scepeter in his hand and slowly walked in.
Everyone in the room was staring at him, in udder bemusement, most of them having no idea who he was.
He looked at everyone. "Good evening, citizens of Oz!"
He walked around the whole room menicangly, glaring at everyone. Especially Bryson, Dorothy, and Tin Man, causing Bryson to shiver a bit in fear.
He remained silent and pointed his scepeter at the stage to the podium that Tin Man was at earlier. Then, a blue blast of sorts came out of his scepeter and completley destoryed the podium, causing pieces of it to fly everywhere in the room, several citizens had to duck from it.
Rabadan then used his scepeter to shoot out a blue blast that destoryed the stage, causing it crumble down. Rabadan then started blasting different tables that were set up, some citizens were hiding under the tables and screamed when they were blasted off. Rabadan pointed his scepeter at one of the citizens and blasted at them, causing them to go flying into one of the tables, breaking glass all the while as he blasted different other citizens, causing them to fall over, the shrieks, cries, and creams could be heard all throughout the rooom, echoing.
Then, several different Wheelers rolled in rapidly through the door, among with different flying monkeys flying in.
Several different groups Wheelers surrounded different groups of people, backing them into corners and chuckling evily causing them to scream more.
Rabadan then turned around and lifted his scepeter up, now, a much larger blast came out and it hit the ceiling, causing it to slowly tear off.
"Oh.. boy...Bryson muttered.
"EVERYONE GET OUTSIDE!" Tin Man commanded.
Everyone who managed to hide all rushed to the door to run out, followed Tin Man's orders and rushed out the now broken door. But Rabadan put up his scepeter and pointed at all the citizens rushing out. But Dorothy stayed. "We have to stay and help!" She urged Bryson, who nodded in agreement.
Tin Man noticed Rabadan pointing the scepeter at the citizens and leaped in front of them.
"No!" Tin Man cried out.
Rabadan glared at Tin Man.
He snarled and kept his scepeter pointed at Tin Man, but then, he was stopped by Scarecrow, who rushed out and grabbed the scepeter. Rabadan looked at Scarecrow and snarled, he then picked Scarecrow with the scepeter, who was still holding on to it, but Tin Man interfered by shoving Rabadan. Scarecrow fell off the scepeter. "Whoah!" He cried out.
Just then, the ceiling that was previously blasted at slowly started to come off, causing Bryson and Dorothy to gasp.
Dorothy and Tin Man went to pick up Scarecrow and Rabadan glared at them. Just then, several guards rushed out into the room, weapons in hand.
Rabadan looked at them. "Oh. I see you have a bit of any army. Well, luckily, so do I!"
Just then, several guards on Rabadan's side ran inside with their weapons. .
"Bryson, Dorothy. Get to the balcony." Scarecrow ordered.
"But!" Dorothy started to protest.
"Go!" Scarecrow ordered. "Try and protect citizens up there!"
Bryson and Dorothy decided to rush up to the balcony, and were horrified when they saw citizens being attacked by flying monkeys, they could see some of them carrying citizens away.
"Oh no.. what do we do?!" Bryson exclaimed.
"I don't know!" She replied.
"Wait! I just realized.. where's Finley?!" Bryson asked.
"Oh, no, we better go get him!" Dorothy exclaimed. They rushed back downstairs.
"Wait.. which door is he in?!" Dorothy asked.
Bryson shook his head and sighed deeply. "I forgot... oh man.. oh man.."
Finally, he could no longer take it, all the people being attacked, Rabadan trying to kidnap Scarecrow and Tin Man, all the Wheelers and guards, not being able to find Finley, it all just was stressing him out and he could feel yet another anxiety attack coming on.
"Oh boy.. I can feel another uh.. anxiety attack.. coming on.." Bryson breathed out.
"Oh no..." she sighed. "Just try to breathe in and out.." she patted him on the back and he slouched over from the anxiety attack.
They looked over and noticed Rabdan's guards on one side and Scarecrow's on the other, with Rabadan in the middle and Scarecrow next to his. Rabadan pointed his scepeter at the guards and it flashed, and suddenly, they were all gone, just like Glinda, but Scarecrow leaped out of the way. He got up in a scurry and gasped at the fact that all his guards were gone.
"And Scarecrow.. I'll leave you here, alive. Now do you see? You were never fit to rule this land. Did you notice something? Everything falls apart without Glinda. She's the real leader, if you think about it. You're just a bunch of straw. And now she's gone, everyone will show their true colors. They'll eat each other alive. And they.."
He pointed to Bryson and Dorothy.
"They will see this land isn't all just sunshine and rainbows, and they'll learn the truth, as I have. And at the end of the day, they'll have their world just ripped from them, and they'll crumble. Like me. Which is why I decided to not capture them, unless they continue to get in my way of course, then I'll have no choice. But who knows? After wintessing such destruction.. perhaps they'll even join me and all you'll have left is one small piece of the Yellow Brick Road after I've set it on fire. One brick, while you slowly rot away in this place. All it will be is the ground, and no one will ever have to be hurt by this hell hole ever again. I'll leave you here to think about that."
Rabadan turned around. "Come on." He ordered his guards. They all slowly walked out of the room, and the Wheelers followed as well.
Just then, Tin Man ran out with Finley who was now awake.
"Finley!" Bryson and Dorothy exclaimed, as Bryson got up, recovering from his attack.
Finley rushed over to Bryson and Dorothy. "It seems like I missed a lot.." he muttered.
Then, they started to hear creaking. They looked up to see the ceiling was about to detach and come crashing down.
"Oh no..." Bryson said.
"Hey, I think I saw some people go into their rooms.. we have to go get them right away!" Dorothy said.
"Oh, God, you're right!" Bryson replied.
They all banged on the doors, telling them they need to come out before the ceiling came crashing down, and luckily, they all came out.
"It's too late, we have to leave now!" Tin Man yelled.
"Wait.. I have to get my backpack.. it's in my room.. I have part of the plan in it!"
His friends protested, but he ignored.
He rushed to inside his room and grabbed his backpack, sprinting out of it as he ran with the remaining citizens and his friends. The ceiling started to descend as they all ran out, crushing the entire room.
Everyone backed up in horror at the destroyed city.
But then, something much worse happened.
Rabadan came up from behind him and looked at them. He pointed his scepeter at the Emerald City, and out from it came a massive load of fire. Everyone looked on in horror as it came to the city. The Emerald City started to go up in flames, slowly burning to the ground.
Scarecrow fell to his knees, as if to signify that he had given up.