Pain engulfed her as she slowly opened her eyes. Excruciating pain.

The eastern witch slowly moved her withered hand to her forehead, which had now been bandaged. She turned her head ever so slightly and groaned as waves of discomfort coursed through her body. She felt an intense burning sensation on her back.

Evanora was now resting on her bed. Someone had carried her limp body into her bedroom while she was unconscious. All she remembered was passing out when that imbecilic Wizard somehow managed to best her. She cursed her luck, for it was typical that she had the worst luck imaginable. She knew he was going to come to her cabin. She had the advantage of surprise. She even had her powers restored to boot! Yet, somehow, that useless dupe—a pawn of Glinda, no less—managed to beat her! Again! As she silently blasted her fate and the agony she now had to endure, her eyes narrowed to a small desk in the corner of the room. She saw the object of her hate and she seethed.

The Wizard had been preparing a cold wet towel. As the eastern witch gave him an intense piercing stare of rage, he began to slowly walk over to her and applied it to the old hag's bloodied arm. "Here this should help", he said. But when started to apply it, she grunted in pain and forcefully slapped it out of his hand.

"Come to gloat at my dysfunction!", she taunted him with defiance in her voice. The Wizard said nothing as his jaw remained tight. "Why don't you just kill me now while you have the chance? Go on!"

"I don't kill people in cold blood", he responded. "Unlike you…"

This made Evanora chuckle. "Oh, please. You are a killer. Because if you weren't, then you wouldn't be in this predicament with the Emerald City now…would you?" A sly smile spread across the old hag's lips as she lay in her bed. Even though she bore critical injuries and she was now powerlessness after losing her ruby slippers, the eastern witch still knew how to use the metaphorical dagger that was her tongue to stab it repeatedly into another person's heart.

"How does it feel Wizard? To know that every Ozian who once venerated you now has betrayed you, abandoned you and has turned their backs on you. How does it feel knowing that you have been used and discarded like the ignominious fool that you are?" Evanora's smile then turned into a devious and sinister grin.

As the witch spoke, the Wizard's expression grew dark. He then began to leer over her.

"I'm not going to kill you", he quietly whispered. "But if you don't shut up, you're going to wish I did…"

"Well, then maybe you should", the witch said with seriousness in her voice. "Go on! Do it already!"

He shook his head. "No. Killing you would be too good", the Wizard quietly replied as he tried to hide the rage that was simmering just beneath the surface. He continued to loom over her.

"You want me to do what I thought about doing?", he continued to say with an eerie quietness in his voice. "I wanted to bury you alive in the forest. Or maybe first tie you up to a chair as I slowly removed your fingernails. Or maybe shock you with electricity and set you aflame so your Munchkin subjects would find your burnt and charred body in this cabin. Or maybe slowly pour acid down your throat as it burned your insides. Or maybe eviscerate you…" His face came menacingly close to hers as he clenched his teeth. "Want me to still do that?"

Evanora shook her head as she exhaled through her mouth. She looked at the Wizard was a horrified expression on her face. "You're really sick", she bemoaned. "Even I didn't do this to my enemies!"

"No, you just commit mass genocide", the Wizard shot back as his body moved away from hers. "You're lucky that you are in one piece today. And you don't have me to thank for it."

"I took no pleasure in doing what I did!", Evanora roared. "And there was a lot that you don't know!"

"Like all the Munchkins you sent to the Emerald City to try and defile my name? Like the Winged Baboons and the Emerald City Guards you had sent to kill me when I first arrived here?" He began to shake his head. "I know enough about you. You are a wicked and despicable wretch who takes no responsibility for your actions. You could have just left me alone at the Emerald City, but no! You had to continue your crusade. You pushed me to my limit. You forced my hand." He then turned to her. "And what happened with Agatha was the final straw…"

"I had nothing to do with that!" Evanora's voice was loud and piercing. The Wizard continued to stare down at her with bitterness in his voice. "You're lying…"

But her voice was determined. "I am not lying!"

He shook his head as his eyes narrowed. "I don't believe you."

"Believe whatever you want, but it's the truth", she exclaimed. "Agatha may have been impetuous and pompous and arrogant, but I was not the one who sent her to you…"

The Wizard gazed at her icily. "You were the one who started all of this. By writing a letter to me. By impersonating Glinda. By asking me to go to Theodora's castle…"

The eastern witch's haggard face looked at him confusingly. "What letter? What are you babbling about now?"

The Wizard stared at her intently. "You don't know?"

"No", the eastern witch weakly responded. "What trickery are you trying to pull here?"

He exhaled through his mouth. Now, he was the one who was confused, but he remained determined not to fall for Evanora's lies and deceit. "Of course, you sent me that letter", he finally said as he remained unaverred. "You wrote me another one while I was at your sister's castle taunting me. I will not listen to your lies anymore—"

But Evanora angrily and sharply interrupted him. "I don't know what you are talking about. I wrote you ONE letter! I only knew you went to my sister's castle once you were there! What other letter are you talking about with this utter foolishness!"

As she continued to shriek at him in a booming voice, the Wizard eyed her up and down. He knew a liar when he saw one, but now he was not so sure. By her tone, her body language and her non-verbal communication, it appeared to him that she was telling the truth.

"Never mind", the Wizard softly said, turning his gaze away from the witch as he quizzically stared at a nearby wall seemingly lost in thought.

After a moment of silence, the Wizard looked at her once more, now with renewed annoyance in his voice. "…But you were the one who kept lying about me to the Munchkins." His voice became more bitter and caustic. "And to your sister!"

"That was for their benefit!", the eastern witch exclaimed. "I did it to protect them!"

"SHUT UP!", the Wizard bellowed as his voice became furious. He moved his face threateningly close to hers once again as his eyes shot Evanora a look of rage. He took out his pocketknife and held it to her throat.

"Go ahead! Do it! Just kill me already! I don't care anymore! You know why?", the eastern witch challenged him as her voice continued unabated. "Because wickedness has already won at the Emerald City! That's why! The wickedness that was started by King Pastoria and has been pervasive ever since! The whole city seemingly cursed my name after I was banished, but you have been misled ever since you arrived!"

The Wizard's facial features relaxed as she continued uninterrupted. "What do you know about Ozian society or its politics! You are a nobody who doesn't know a thing about Ozian culture. You came to this land and became its so-called "ruler" within a week! A week! You think you just got extraordinarily lucky? You are wrong! Glinda would have taken anyone with a pulse and placed them in that position because she didn't want to have her own name tarnished by getting her hands dirty! And let me guess, Wizard: after all your ingenuity and sacrifice, you have very little actual power over the city and everything you know is what Glinda and King Pastoria's former lackeys tell you! You were duped and manipulated, but that is a fitting punishment for someone who is as ignorant as you!"

The Wizard began to remove the knife from Evanora's throat as he continued to eye her angrily. "You killed the king", he said as he continued to glare at her. "You set all of this in motion."

This made her scream and spat at him sharply. "I. DID. IT. TO. PROTECT. MY. SISTER! THE ONE YOU'VE BEEN VISITING! I DID IT TO PROTECT HER! Again, who are you to judge when you don't know anything that went on before you came here! I'm sure Glinda never told you how the king would confine her to her room while she was growing up. And how she would be bullied relentlessly when she wasn't! How the king himself told her how ashamed he was of having her as his daughter. And Glinda supported all of this! She knew and did nothing! She even suffocated her own sister one night while she was being held down by our parents. Her crime? She wanted to fit into Ozian society and attend a dance!"

The Wizard remained silent as the eastern witch's voice started to crack and her lips quivered. "And after all of what he did, I couldn't even kill him! I had the poison in my hand, and I couldn't even do that! I dithered in a moment of extreme weakness! I placed that damn cup down, not caring about the outcome! I couldn't do it!"

The Wizard carefully examined and observed Evanora as she began to cry in a quiet voice. But these weren't crocodile tears. They were genuine. She's not lying, the Wizard told himself. All this really happened…

"You felt like you had to kill the king in defense of someone else", he muttered in stunned silence.

"I felt like I had no choice! It was either him or my sister!"

The eastern witch then composed herself. "But it was never supposed to turn out like this. Our mother was supposed to take over. She knew how deleterious the king's mind had become, but even she couldn't do it. She couldn't slay her own husband and that hesitance cost her own life. I saw him brutally murder her when she confronted him. And I'm the only one who knows because I saw it while hiding. He then covered it all up…"

As she spoke, the Wizard continued to silently stare at her. He then furrowed his brow and his eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you report this?"

Evanora's voice was filled with exasperation. "To whom? He was the king! There was nothing that could've been done! And even if I told someone about the queen's death and accused him of such, he would have killed me, too. He would come after anyone who threatened his power. That's why he confined my little sister in her room. He feared her powers above anyone else, but I guess he initially did it to protect the city and its people. At first, he did what he thought was right, but then power consumed him…"

"Like you?", the Wizard asked.

But the eastern witch didn't respond. Instead, she grunted in pain as she rubbed her face with her hand.

"You framed Glinda because she supported the king's actions?", he continued as he broke the silence. "That still doesn't sound like enough to warrant arbitrary banishment".

"I didn't frame her", she calmly said. "The twist of fate sometimes has its own way of seeking retribution. Glinda unknowingly gave the poison to the king. When she revealed that she had been the last one in the king's room upon his death, I knew the investigation would eventually lead back to me. I saw an opening. In a moment of panic, I…I accused her. But I wasn't even thinking about the throne at that point. I did it merely as an act of self-preservation, but also to protect our little sister. To protect Theodora! I knew if Glinda took over that things wouldn't change. I not only wanted Glinda banished for how she supported the king and assisted him in his cruelties towards her, but also to protect those who were ostracized by Ozian society. Do you get it now, Wizard! Do you get it?!"

After barking at him, her tone became more hushed. "Funny how it was all undone in the end when you helped King Pastoria's followers regain power. Funny how the proverbial wheel turns…"

For the Wizard, things started to make sense. It explained why Theodora never actually danced with someone. It explained why she gave him such a foreboding look and refused to discuss why there was a falling out between her and Glinda when they had dinner that night in her castle. It explained why she had since refused to return to the Emerald City. It also explained why Glinda needed someone who was not attached to Oz or its people to wrest control away from Evanora.

Glinda never told him about any of this. Instead, she simply said it was Theodora's actions and behaviors that prevented her from returning to the Emerald City and that she needed to find the Goodness in her heart in order to do so. Glinda would also blame him for why she became the way she did. If there was a certain word for what she had been doing to him, it didn't exist in early 20th century vernacular, but it greatly irked him, nevertheless.

Still, much of what the eastern witch said was incredibly damaging to Glinda and her reputation. Instead of retaking the city with violence and being an active agent in her agenda, the southern witch desired to take a more passive role. Glinda's passivity was no accident. To him, it never made any sense that Glinda needed someone else to do her job for her because she was a powerful witch. Why would she need someone who she saw as a con artist and a fibber with zero magical abilities to retake the Emerald City?

But if Glinda had secrets that she didn't want revealed, it started to make sense that she would want someone who was completely unattached to the city and even its land to carry out her work. The Wizard even started to ask himself whether Glinda had intentionally been captured by Evanora in order to evoke sympathy among the Emerald City's residents. He didn't know what to believe anymore, but the eastern witch's story appeared credible.

There were no "good witches" here, the Wizard finally concluded. It was all a lie, meant to segregate and discriminate against those society did not accept. And because the king never liked his youngest daughter, the rest of Ozian society followed suit. Were there more who shared Theodora's story of ostracism and abandonment? There definitely was. He only knew of Mombi's story because he had discovered her and she told him about what happened to her mother Gayalette and her sister, Singra. Had he not found her that day, he never would have known that they existed. How many other Ozians had been banished? And what were their stories?

"There's something that still doesn't make sense", the Wizard said in quiet tones. This caused Evanora to shift her head towards him as her eyes pierced his. "If all of this is true, then why deceive your own sister about me?"

"I knew you wouldn't have killed Glinda", she cooly remarked. "This was wishful thinking. I sent you on that foolhardy mission thinking you would have simply perished in the Dark Forest and that would have been the end of it. It was to my great surprise that not only did you survive, but you managed to reach Glinda. This posed a problem, for if Glinda retook the Emerald City, then all would have been for nought. Sister had idealistic and naïve notions that Goodness resided in everyone. It was a hard lesson for her to learn, but I needed her on my side. Since it was clear to me that you supported Glinda, there was no other side for her to take. I had no choice in the matter."

"It was a stupid one. You clearly set something off within her that she couldn't handle."

Evanora paused. "I didn't know the full depth of it at the time, but there was something clearly growing within my little sister that she had long suppressed. A wickedness. Because many years before, Glinda experienced something in the hallway palace that changed her. The story goes she had been viciously attacked, but her assailant had never been identified. For when I came to the charred hallway, I saw the queen carrying a pointy black hat. I asked her what happened, but she simply continued walking and refused to answer me. I never knew who it was until the day I brought you up with sister, that is. That's when I realized the truth…"

Evanora's voice became quiet and fearful. "That Glinda saw a monster. A green skinned creature of wickedness and incarnate darkness. That is who she fought that day." She then began to shake her head as her eyes stared off into space. "So, I could understand why she became fearful and sided with father. And while I now realize that is the reason why he wanted to kill his own daughter, I still couldn't let him kill her. But the truth is, that is the real her."

She then turned her head as her eyes met with his. "Look upon me, Wizard. I was born with this hideousness, this perceived 'wickedness', but mother covered it up with a powerful enchantment and the king never even knew. But if he found out, I probably would have met the same fate, too. Ozians reject all hideous people. You can't survive here if you are ugly." Evanora began to look at the Wizard with hopelessness in her voice. "Maybe father was right. Maybe all of Oz is right. Maybe Theodora is truly wicked, through and through…"

But the Wizard placed his arms across his chest and shook his head. "I reject that out of hand", he said with resistance in his voice.

"It's no use", the eastern witch said with sullen resignation. "She's too powerful and unpredictable. The only thing that can be done is to contain her or to use her as a pawn. Father tried to contain her, and I tried to use her and channel her powers towards an end, but we all failed in our respective goals. I don't know what else could be done. Maybe nothing else can be done. Maybe Ozians are right to fear and loathe her until someday someone kills her…"

While she spoke, Evanora sighed and squirmed on the bed, trying to make herself comfortable. The pain from her burns was agonizing, but she tried not to let it bother her. She was a tough woman, who had many times been exposed to her own set of hardships and trauma.

As his arms remained crossed on his chest, the Wizard's mind raced as he became lost in thought. After thinking for some time, his lips finally parted as a small smile emerged. He then turned his back on the eastern witch as he slowly, but with much enthusiasm, started to walk towards the door of her bedroom.

"Where are you going?", the eastern witch asked him with surprise in her voice.

He turned around and gazed into her eyes, which was the only thing that was not old and decrepit. "If I survive the latest trials and tribulations that the Emerald City throws at me, I just realized what I need to do. And it's an idea you just gave me." He continued to look at her as he spoke, his tone conveying a renewed sense of optimism. "I'm glad we had this discussion, Evanora. Despite all the animosity and acrimony we have against each other, there was something about this story that really connected with me. I don't know what it is, but maybe in another time or in another place or in another dimension, we could have even been the best of friends."

"Don't go back to the Emerald City", the witch warned him. "Now that you are on their blacklist, their wicked list, you are going to end up just like Mombi, Theodora and the others. You are going to end up just like me. You are going to have to run. Run, Wizard. Run and start over. That is your only option."

"No", he said forcefully. "I did a lot to get to where I am, and I am not going to throw all of that away. I am going to fight." The Wizard then turned and departed as Evanora looked at him, not with amusement, joy or satisfaction, but rather from curiosity. As much as she despised how he worked with Glinda, there was really nothing the eastern witch truly had against him. Maybe she had misjudged him. Maybe. Long after he left, she continued to reflect on the series of events that had transpired while she attended to her wounds.

As the Wizard departed Evanora's cabin, he made his way towards the Emerald City. The sun started to set, and the birds chirped while he continued to walk without much fanfare. Soon, the green emeralds from the city skyline came into view. He had to take a detour, however, because the entrance to the Emerald City faced the Winkie Country. While the path he was on was a winding one, it would ultimately lead him to the borders of both the Emerald City and the Winkie Country.

When he finally emerged from the thick underbrush of the forest, he saw a group of Winged Monkeys and dozens of Winkie Guards in the distance. They were being led by the green skinned witch herself as they were all standing on the Yellow Brick Road where the land border of the Winkie Country ended, and the Emerald City's had begun. Standing behind the Emerald City's border was Glinda and her all-female army, including a small group of plain clothed Ozians, most likely residents of the city itself or merchants who had been blocked from leaving.

The Wizard ducked behind a tree when he heard the green skinned witch yell and taunt Glinda in a fiery and shrill tone. If Glinda had indeed responded, her voice would have been too inaudible to be heard.

Finally, after some time had passed, he decided to gather up his courage and his strength. He didn't expect Theodora to be outside the Emerald City, but an opportunity had presented itself. If he was ultimately going to be executed for Agatha's death, he decided that he needed to confront the witch once and for all.

Something happened over the past week that changed him. Once incredibly fearful of Theodora and her powers, there was something about her that he was now drawn to. Maybe it was her personality or her faults or even her complicated and complex backstory? Or maybe it was the belief that she could change and be accepted into Ozian life once more?

Or maybe it was the fact that despite being a scary green skinned witch bent on destruction that no one in Oz had ever given a chance to, she still had the same emotions that any human being had? Or maybe it was the fact that he had just survived a battle with Evanora and he could accomplish anything if he lived through that? Or maybe it was the shock of finding common ground with her, his most hated enemy? If he was able to do this with the eastern witch, then why couldn't he do so with Theodora? Was she truly wicked like everyone believes her to be, or was she simply misunderstood and molded that way by Ozian society? To him, everything became clear. He knew what he had to do.

He wasn't scared of her anymore. And he was going to fight for her Goodness, even if it ultimately killed him. It was time to confront her, once and for all.