D:L&L (part 115 - Lion) -- Leavin’ on That Midnight Train

The engine steamed, the whistle screeched out its wailing call…”ALLLL ABOARD!” The strange little engineer hollered. Never to be one to hold things up, I grabbed Gilly and the remaining bits of his Snake Snack, toss him back onto my shoulder, and hopped up on the steps. 

I felt the vibrations of the train beneath my paws and through my claws as I held on to the rail.  I’d never been on the YBR before.  Trains always creeped me out.  Things go missing on trains, similar, I imagined, to the Engineers mind. That haunting whistle cried out its mournful song once more, I heard the reverberations of the engine building power… any minute now and we’d be on the way to safety— wherever that may be. 

I tightened my grip on the handrail, the intense shaking of the engine warning me that take off, or whatever it is a train does to build momentum, was going to be a rough ride.  That’s when I saw her…

I knew I had to be hallucinating, perhaps a side effect of the train.  Great, I thought, as if I weren’t already crazy enough, now I was going to completely lose it.  I blinked my eyes, my breath hitched in my chest.  “What a perfect time to see ghosts,” I said aloud.

“Ghosts, Boss?!” Gilly chimed in, a hint of fright in his voice. “Gilly, don’t like them ghosts, Boss. This train needs to gets ta’ rollin’, man. Do you thinks that gal there will make the train? She sure is in a hurries, don’t ya thinks, Boss?”

“By the Unnamed Gods, Gilly, you can see her too? Shit! We’re both going crazy.”

The train slowly began rolling on the tracks. “No wait!! She’s here!” I yelled at Engineer Cobb.

“I know, it’s time to go. She can run like the wind, just watch.”

And that’s all I could do.  I watched as a distant piece of my past hauled ass to catch up to me. “Dorothy,” I whispered.

“Wow, Bossman, look at that fine piece of ass run. You know her? I’d sure like to know her,” Gilly said.

That’s when Gilly’s dick poked me in the eye through his shorts. “Fuck, man, watch that thing!” I shoved the perverted little Weasel off my shoulder. The poke having given me the reality check I needed.  This was no hallucination, she was really here.  And it wasn’t the train thrumming, wasn’t the engine torque causing all the vibration—no, it was what Dorothy was bringing with her.  An army of silver.

Sweat ran down her face, I could almost hear her heavy breath as her arms pumped and her feet hit the ground.  She wasn’t running with what was behind her, she was running from them.   The very things Gilly and I were trying to get away from.  Something had to be done, there was no way she was going to make it in time.  I leaped from the step, my powerful legs pushing as hard as they could.  I had to make some distance to save her.  To save my Dorothy. 

I made a direct line towards her, she saw me coming.  Her eyes grew to large saucers, her mouth gaped open.  She tried to back-pedal, but her forward momentum wouldn’t allow for a sudden stop. “No, don’t stop, Dorothy.  Keep running to me!” I shouted, but I don’t think she heard me as she fell to the ground.  The sounding of the hundreds of Tik-Tok feet stomping the station platform was deafening. Dorothy glanced back over her shoulder are the oncoming swarm, and then back at me.  Tears filled her eyes, defeat registered on her face.  No, I thought, don’t give up. 

The clamoring army kept charging—their target in sight.  I was almost to her.  I could do this.  I could save her.  One more leap and I was there.  Dorothy brought her arm up, shielding her face.  I could hear her terrified scream over the cacophonous pounding of metal against concrete. “Nooo!”

“We don’t have time for this,” I yelled.  I stooped over and picked her up, slinging her over my shoulder.  She fought me, kicking and scratching.  I turned to make for the train—the train that was just about out of the station. “FUCK!”  I roared, and kicked on the speed.  I don’t know if Dorothy finally realized I was trying to help her, maybe she fainted from the sight of the Tik-Toks on our asses, but she became still. 

“Dorothy, are you with me?” I asked. 

“Oh yeah, I’m here,” she said, her voice harsh, nothing like the sweet girl I knew so long ago.  Something hard and cold pressed behind my ear. “Do you know what this is?” she asked.

“Ummm,”  I didn’t know, and could only imagine a metal dildo, perhaps it was the scent of fresh sex and fresh muffins (which I found strange) that emanated off of her that had me thinking that.  The quiet ones are always the kinkiest, no? “Okay, okay, I get that you are turned on right now. I like a little adventure too, but we don’t have time to play right now.  Our ride is rolling out and if we don’t catch it, we’re fucked.”

“Turned on? What? Are you crazy? No!  This is Toto, a gun.  Don’t you…you…ANIMALS know what guns are? This will kill you.  All I have to do is pull the trigger and Toto barks.”

“That’s Toto?”

“That’s Toto,” she said, shaking the gun at me.

“Do you not see the hoard of metal men behind us?  Pull the trigger thing or not, if we don’t get on that train, they will kill us both.”

A sharp pain bolted though my head, I fell to the ground.  Dorothy tumbled over my shoulder and skidded across the platform.  “What the fuck did you do?” I hollered.

“I’d rather die fighting an army than die being eaten by the likes of you!” She yelled back, holding her leg.  I could see the little black gun in her hand now.  It looked harmless, small and insignificant, especially in comparison to the metal that was looming towards us, and away.  The train was picking up speed as the car cleared the platform. 

“Get on my back, Dorothy.  We can still make it!”

“Fuck you,” was her reply.

“Are you fucking crazy? Have you been riding this train? You’ve lost it, just like the Engineer. Last chance girly, I care for you, but I’m not going to die for you this way.”

She looked towards the train, then back at the approaching army.  “Fuck! Fine, but if you so much as show me a tooth, I will blow your fucking head off.” She stood, I got to my paws and hunched down for her to get on. 

“What? I’m supposed to ride you?” She had a puzzled look on her face.

“Ride me, baby,” I said.  She rolled her eyes and mounted my back.  “Now hold on, grab whatever fur you can, whatever might still be there, and hold on.”

I felt her hands grasp a tuft of what remained of my mane and didn’t wait.  I bounded towards the leaving train, set on catching it.  I dug deep inside myself, eyes fixed on the retreating car, and pushed.  I don’t think I’d ever ran so fast in my life.  I could see Gilly standing on the steps, waving his arms frantically.  Dorothy leaned into my back and shouted, “Move right!”  I didn’t question her and bounded in her commanded direction. 

A wire, mesh net landed on the platform to our left. Shit!  That was close, I thought.  The Tik-Toks had gained ground while she and I had our banter.  I growled, pissed at her for being so stupid.  I shot forward, closing the gap between us and the train, and distancing us from the threat behind. 

Jumping from the platform, I landed between the tracks.  I took a quick glance over my shoulder when I heard loud clanging.  The Tik-Toks were falling from the platform into a heap.  Finally, the break we needed! I couldn’t help but laugh at the clumsiness of the metal army.

Two more huge leaps and we were mounting the train.  I climbed inside the car and let Dorothy off of my back.  I turned to her, she stood with her metal Toto gripped firmly in her hands.  Gilly approached her from behind and started rubbing himself on her leg.  She kicked at him, “Get off of me, you…what the fuck are you anyways?”

I’m Gilly, Gilly, Gilly

That’s who I be

If you a good little bitch

 I’ll let you suck on me

Gilly dropped his drawers, revealing his large schlong. Dorothy wrinkled her nose and raised an eyebrow then proceeded to whack Gilly on the head of his dick with Toto. Gilly dropped to the floor, writhing in pain, holding his now flaccid cock.  I’d never heard a Weasel cry before, but there he was, sobbing on the floor.  I could see a spot on his cock growing purple, the thought of being hit in the dick that hard had my nuts crawling into my belly. “Gilly, man, you okay?”

“Ohhhh, it hurts, Bossman.  That bitch, she broke Gilly’s dick. Look!” With both hands he gingerly lifted his prick and held it out towards me. 

“I’m not kissing it and making it better, G.  I think you’ll be alright though.”  What else was I going to tell the guy? Yeah, your dick’s broken, you’ll never fuck again.   

“That’s okay, Boss…I kisses it myself.” And sure enough, that’s exactly what the Wonder Weasel did. One of the benefits to being an Animal. Seriously, if you could, you would too. Don’t deny it.

I looked up at Dorothy.  It was Dorothy, wasn’t it? My Dorothy never behaved this way.  My Dorothy was docile and kind.  The Witch had taken over Dorothy’s body; that could be the only answer.  A deep growl grew in my throat, my claws extended.

“Stop!” She yelled. “Just stop. I’m sorry for whacking your friend, I thought he was going to rape me, and I don’t do rape very well, just asked Mikey.”

I calmed a bit, confused and looked at her.  “He wasn’t going to rape you, maybe just hump your leg a bit.” I stared at the woman before me. “You aren’t my Dorothy.”

The tension in the car was heavy; the Dorothy doppelganger stared back at me.  She swallowed heavily, and I could smell fear wafting from her.   “No, I’m not your Dorothy.  Dorothy was my Grandmother.  I’m Dot, and you are the Lion, I presume? Grandma always talked about you most, although she painted a picture of a regal Beast, no offense intended, but you do look a bit ragged and...weird.  What’s with the legs?”

Her words cut to my core.  A regal Beast. Shame filled me, humiliation ate at me, “Perhaps I was regal at one time, but things change. I changed, for her, for the Bitch of Oz. But I’m going to get back at her.  I don’t know how or when, but I will get even with that insane freak.  She frowns down upon Animals, but she liked to take it from me, if you know what I mean.”  I winked when I said it.  Dot visibly cringed. “But she is the animal, she is the killer.”

“I don’t know what’s what and who is who, except from Grandma’s stories, but yeah, things aren’t as nice as she painted.  What the hell happened?” 

D:L&L (part 114 - Tin Man) -- Ground to a Halt

Because I cannot…   

Because…

Cannot…

Because I cannot stop…

Because I cannot stop I chop…

“Shhhh… shhhh….”

My suicidal dream…. Voices telling me what to do…

“It’s okay….sit.  You can do it.”

Help me comfort me

Stop me from feeling what I’m feeling now…

“Right there…. Right there, the oil can….where is it?”

Because I cannot stop I chop. I chop the trees to silence the screams to calm me soothe me release the captured rage. I could not stop chopping, and that is where she found me. This young woman, this bright face, dark eyes, lush mouth – she is not my Nimma, but she will do. 

“Nimma?  What have I told you?  Forget about her.  Until you do, nothing will change.”

I dream about how it’s going to end, approaching me quickly

Living a life of fear, I only want my mind to be clear…

“Shhhhhh.  It’s okay.  It’s okay, but I fear I can’t do much of a job on your face. It’s rather… mangled. You’re not much of a blacksmith and neither am I. It’s rather unfortunate. You never were much to look at, but if you wipe the blood off of your face, you aren’t that un-lovely. Strong jaw and all. Befitting an emperor.”

Crunching metal, a stifled squeal. Something deep in me stirred, surfacing.

Because I cannot stop I chop. I chop the trees to silence the screams to calm me soothe me release the captured rage. I could not stop chopping, and that is where she found me.

“Shhhhh.  Be still.  Be still.  Open your eyes, if you can.”

Because I cannot stop I chop. I chop the trees to silence the screams to calm me soothe me release the captured rage. I could not stop chopping, and that is where she found me. This young woman, this bright face, dark eyes, lush mouth – she is not my Nimma, but she will do. 

“Gabriella?” I mumbled.  It came out like “Gammemma.”

“Yes.”

Fingers graze my eyes, massaging oil, my lifeblood, into the seams and ridges. There is something twisted about my face; I can feel it beneath her fingers, can sense the hesitation and anxiety with each swipe over mangled metal. When the fingers are finally able to pry my eyes open they are not tiny flower hands; no my little Jumbly is dead. 

Because I cannot stop I chop. I chop the days I slice the night I fall I slide I tumble from heights past the moon beyond the light, I do not like I love I might just take my fist ignore your fright I might I might I might I might.

My little Jumbly, who scuttled and shifted shading waiting for me to wake, darkness sliding over his tiny flower face, bright blossom hands, Jumbly who lifted the oil to my lips, let me wake into the darkness of a fallen empire, crumbling towers tumbling. It was Jumbly who brought me back to life after years of watching me sleep watching light seep wading deep into what made him weep as he cleaned the bloody meat off my walls. My little Jumbly with bright flower hands splattered red and gray while I slipped deep into a sleep unrolling for years.

“It’s me,” she said suddenly, popping into view, upside down – no, my head was hanging, chin to chest, and she was bending down over me, her face splashed with concern, pale, cheeks petal pink blushing. “It’s me, Gabriella.” She half-grinned. “Did ya miss me?”

I tried to nod, but my neck joints were sealed. Gabriella nudged the mouth of the oil can where her hand guided it, taking little else notice of anything else and avoiding looking at my face. After a moment I could move enough to look around me, but there was little to see: we appeared to still be in a storage facility that had served as the temporary boudoir of the couple in hiding. High windows opened to the cool night air above, stars straining to see inside, watching us.  Behind me the door was gaping open like a great mouth, torn asunder by my axe – how long ago?

“Your mouth,” Gabrielle whispered, her eyes still not meeting mine. “Your mouth now.”

“Thank you,” I said when I could feel the jaw screw loosen, and I closed my eyes and leaned back against the metal pole at my back.

“Nick,” she began, her tone high and full of energy, eyes black shining, glancing at me then away as if staring into the sun, or looking at a horror, “there is something you should know.”

“What is wrong with my mouth?”

Gabriella closed her eyes.

“Nick, your mouth… your mouth and your face…do you remember your encounter with Her?”

I wanted to touch my mouth, my face, but my arms were pinned to my sides – not rusted, but useless.  If I’d had a heart, it would be pounding now.

Because I cannot stop I chop. I chop the trees to silence the screams to calm me soothe me release the captured rage.

“Shhhh,” she said and came around in front of me.  “Shhh.  Hold still.  It’s okay.  I’m here now.”

“My arms,” I said.  Gabriella, who had lowered herself in front of me, her knees silently touching the floor between my outstretched metal legs, look up at me.  I could see the strain of it in her face.  “Gabriella, my arms, oil them.”

“I have, Nick.”

 

“My legs?”

“Yes.  All you have to do is stand.”

But I knew I couldn’t.  I could feel it, or rather I felt nothing.

“Do you remember Her?  Her name, the woman with the gray steel boom stick.  She is called Dot.”

And just like that, as if the loud steel stick had just boomed again, I was slammed with the memory of what happened, of that room, the blood and smell of it, of my axe in that young human’s face before the explosion in my own.

“You’re a monster!” Nimmie Amee had screamed as she kicked in my grasp, gasping as I moved inside their home toward her cowardly lover with my face, my lips, my hands. “Stay away from him, you monster! You’re nothing! Nothing! You’re heartless – a heartless freak, Nick!”

“Dot,” I repeated.

She nodded, shifting her body, bringing her legs around and crossing them in front of her. “Yes, it is an abbreviation of the name Dorothy.” She tapped one delicate finger against my tin knee, her eyes on the space below my chin, looking at me, looking at nothing. “I do believe she is a human relation of some kind to... the first one.  You remember her.”

“Dorothy.”

“Yes.  It is her relation that did this, her relation that you tried to murder.” 

“That bitch blew up my face,” I pointed out with only words – my arms were still uselessly hanging at my sides like broken tree limbs. “What was that thing?”

Gabriella continued to study my chest, her small  head shaking slowly.  “I’ve asked around,” she said, “and some humans I found inside the last standing Snickety’s said in their realm it is called a gun. They use them to kill one another.” She turned her pink face up to me, her lips trembling as she spoke. “Much like your axe, only not nearly as detailed or messy.”

“Yes.”

“I’m surprised you can even talk,” she told me. “Your face, as I said.  I’m sorry.”

“And my arms?  My legs?  I can’t feel them.  What else has happened?  My axe?  Where is it?  Where did Dot go?  Where are the tik toks?  How long have we been here?”  Questions poured out of my mouth like curses, and my blood boiled again.

Because I cannot stop I chop. I chop the trees to silence the screams to calm me soothe me release the captured rage.

Gabriella turned her face away, sullen.

“I can’t move.  I can’t move!  Where’s the oil can?”

“Shhhh, Nick.  Shhhh,” she whispered, turning back, oil can in hand.  “I’ve used it.  You are oiled and ready to go.  That’s not the problem, Nick.”

“Then what is the problem?” I said, feeling the panic, needing to feel my axe in my hand.  If I could just heft it, if I could just raise it up, pull myself, I’ll tear after that Dot bitch and cleave her head in, just like I did her lover, just like I did her friends…just like I did Nimma…just like.

Because I cannot stop I chop. I chop the trees to silence the screams to calm me soothe me release the captured rage.

“I cannot stop.”

“Yes, you can, Nick.  You must stop now.  It has to end.”  Gabriella leaned up and I could feel her tiny flower hands on my face, see the concern in her eyes, the tears welling in the creases there.  They reflected my tears.

“I don’t think I can.”

Because I cannot stop I – no, please

“I don’t think I can.”

“You must.  You must let her go.  You must put down the axe.  You must.”

“Why?”  The tears were streaming down her face now.  I could feel mine, see my vision blur, taste the salt on my lips.

“Because you’re dead, Nick.  You are dead.”

D:L&L (part 113 - Scarecrow) -- A Father's Love

No matter how many times I’ve been magically transported from one place to another, no matter how many times I’ve been whisked around by tornadoes or flying monkeys (whatever happened to Turlo?), no matter how many times I’ve landed on my ass, I will never get used to it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of long and luxurious walks. I’d rather travel around in style. Better still, I’d much prefer it if I was carried in my Imperial Throne (although I don’t quite recall ever having one) and adored by all in Oz. But it was seldom I got my own way these days. Once again I was in the hands of someone who wasn’t me; someone who was as trustworthy as Lion or Tin Man. Having said that, though, the Wizard’s spell worked like a dream. He had gotten us to where he…we needed to go.

Kiamo Ko. The home of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. My beloved. Aren’t reunions wonderful?

The haze surrounding us as we reappeared receded and we took in our surroundings. Wherever in Kiamo Ko we were, it was indoors, thank fuck. It was a hallway, with a staircase to our left, and two grand doors to our right. There was something going on behind those doors. I could feel magic happening. Diggs could, too. His hair – what was left of it – bristled and crackled. I could almost sense my straw catching fire, but this was all in my mind.

‘She’s behind those doors,’ the Wizard said.

‘You think?’ I remarked, looking around for an exit, just in case one was needed. Fuck, with all this magic flying around, a way out was definitely on the cards. This was way above any pay grade I was aware of. Not for the first time, I wondered why I bothered getting out of bed most days, why I bothered to even try to clean up my act. Nothing was ever going to change. Oz would never know peace, not if Diggs had his way. He was powerful, deceitful, and manipulative. Whatever Elphaba was getting up to behind those doors, the Wizard, with his years and years of experience, would be more than a match for her. Fuck my life.

‘Just follow my lead, Fiyero,’ Diggs said, steeling himself for the battle to come.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘A father’s love for his daughter is eternal,’ he replied. ‘I shall appeal to her better nature.’

‘What if she doesn’t have one?’

‘Then I’ll obliterate her, take the book, and then take Oz.’ He turned to me. ‘You can rule by my side, be my lieutenant.

‘That’s generous of you,’ I sneered. ‘The way I see it, I’m being demoted.’ I looked back to the doors. The room behind them had gone silent. The magic had stopped. I could sense Elphaba was on her way out.

I closed my eyes when I heard the door opening. I heard her say, ‘We have much to do,’ and reckoned there was someone else with her.

‘Hello, daughter dear,’ Diggs said. ‘It’s been too long.’

‘You!’ Elphaba shrieked. Then she must have seen me. ‘And you! With him?’ She screamed loud enough to bring back the dead. When she eventually stopped she said, almost soothingly, ‘You can open your eyes now, Fiyero. I’m not so ugly that you’ll turn to stone upon looking at me. It didn’t happen before, and I don’t think it will happen now.’ I could feel her come closer to us. ‘If anything, you may like what you see.’

I did as she asked – and nearly fainted when I beheld my beloved in all her glory. She was green still, but that was never going to change. Her colour meant nothing to me then; it meant even less to me now. She was indeed the most beautiful creature I had laid eyes on.

She was also incredibly young; it was as if the years had fallen away from her. Death, or what passed for it with the Witches of Oz, had been very kind to her. Her eyes were chasms of emerald destiny, of a past unresolved, and of a future yet to be told. Regardless of what she had said a few moments ago, I had turned to stone. Only her touch, even the merest of brushes, would release me now. The Wizard was on his own. I would be of no use to him.

‘How have you been, Father?’ Elphaba asked. ‘Well, I trust?’

‘I’ve seen better days,’ he replied. ‘But like you, magic has kept me young, if not at heart, then certainly in body.’ He opened his arms. ‘Come to me, my daughter. Embrace me as only you can.’

Eplhaba smiled. ‘Dear Father, your wish is my command.’ She opened her arms, too, then brought them together with a crash of green fury, unleashing a powerful force that threw the Wizard across the hall. She stared at me. ‘You I’ll deal with later.’

The Wizard struggled to get up. Plainly he had thought his daughter would be weaker than this. Had the Grimmerie strengthened her to this level in such a short space of time?  It seemed so, but if she wasn’t quick, he’d have a chance to retaliate.

Elphaba must have been reading my mind. She stormed over to Diggs and levitated him to his feet. ‘For years,’ she seethed, ‘for many, many years,  I was nothing. A no-thing. A Usling. Eating rats to keep my strength up, and drawing life from their deaths.’

I heard a ticking sound from behind me; I turned and saw a tik-tok man standing beside the door, carrying an ax. He looked on, unconcerned. He might even have been smiling. I might have been, too, if I wasn’t so bloody scared. I returned my attention to the father and daughter reunion.

The Wizard wasn’t done yet, though. He was too strong to fall at the first fence. He let rip with a spell of his own that very nearly brought the ceiling down. I covered my head for fear that the sky might fall on me. (Funny how some childhood superstitions refused to go die, huh?) Elphaba, however, remained where she was.

‘The dead brought me back to life, dear Father,’ she said, waving her arms to bring another spell upon him. ‘I shall not let their sacrifices be in vain.’ At once the hallway lit up, and balls of flame surrounded the two of them. For the moment, she was leaving me alone. Whoever survived, it wouldn’t be good for my chances. For a moment, I hoped forlornly that they’d do each other in.

Hold on. What the hell was I thinking? This was Elphaba. Surely to the Unnamed God I should be shouting for her corner, right? Of course. I looked around to see if there was anything I could do to help. The tik-tok man was looking at me, again with a semblance of a smile. He jerked his head toward the axe. No, I thought. I couldn’t use it. I’d never get close enough.

I saw that this was true. Both Elphaba and the Wizard were engulfed in flames – no quarter asked, none given.

‘You never loved me,’ my Witch screamed through the fire, a little obvious if you asked me. Diggs loved power and would use anything and anyone to get and retain it. Including his own daughter. He answered with a spell that shook Elphaba and almost brought her to her knees. But her knowledge of past glory was enough to keep her in the game. This was a clash of titans. To the victor, the spoils; to the loser, death…or what passed for it with the witches and wizards of Oz. I no longer knew. I felt something touch my leg. It was the tik-tok man. He had the axe balanced in his two hands and was passing it to me. Oh well, I mused. In for a penny and all that. I took it from him and crept slowly over to the scene of the apocalypse. The champion and challenger (Which one was which? Damned if I knew) were at an impasse, each locking the other with their spells. If I didn’t do anything now, this fight could go on forever. I called Elphaba’s name.

She turned to me, but still concentrated on what she was doing. I threw the axe at her. My action surprised Diggs for a mere moment – but that was all the time Elphaba needed. She grabbed the axe from the air and plunged it into the Wizard’s neck. The spells stopped. The Wizard fell, his eyes never leaving Elphaba’s.

‘We could have been great together,’ he croaked.

‘You shouldn’t have sent a little girl to murder me,’ the Witch replied. Then she kicked her father in the head, removed the axe, and then buried it in his skull.

Ding Dong! The Wizard was dead.

But what would she do with me?

In answer to this question, Elphaba came over to me. The burning look, both in her eyes and in the flames that surrounded her (now in green, to go with the decor, you know), had not quite receded.

‘What to do with you,’ she whispered. Then she looked down. ‘Clever little tik-tok, giving the straw man an axe to help me. You have more brains in your toes than this man ever had.’ She leaned closer to me. ‘But still I love him.’

I gulped. What the -?

‘But not like this.’ She felt my head and pulled out some straw. ‘This reminds me of tragic times. I need to do something about it.’ She stood back and waved her arms again. For a brief second I thought about praying to whoever would listen. But everything became fuzzy and I felt my body contort as if every atom, every part that was indelibly me, was being torn asunder. My head hurt like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

But I had experienced it before: when I stopped being Fiyero and became Scarecrow.

Suddenly the pain was gone and my head cleared. I looked at my hands, my blue hands, the silver diamonds marking my skin again.  Then I looked up at my beautiful Elphaba.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said.

‘For what?’ she replied.

‘For everything,’ I whispered.

‘Welcome back, Fiyero,’ Elphaba smiled. Then she kissed me. ‘You are Scarecrow no more.’ Then she kissed me again. Aren’t reunions wonderful?

D:L&L (part 112 - Narrator) -- Time to Fly

There was good news and bad news, he always liked to say.

The good news was that he was right about Cloe.  She was everything he thought she'd be from the moment he'd seen her to the last time he'd tasted her honeyed lips.  From her sensuous voice to that look in her eyes every time she whimpered Ozma's name, she'd been like a gift from the Unseen God.  If only it had been meant to last.

The bad news was she was gone, Dr. Na-Na was gone, and it was likely all of the movement was gone, as well.

They'd come in the middle of the night after the last clandestine meeting of the New Oz Animal Rights Expediency, a.k.a. The Shiz.  Had they been waiting for them to gather to be sure that the whole group would be there?  Or had they only pursued him?  He'd already chastised himself; it was arrogant to think a division of tik toks would simply be tracking him, the so-called "leader" of the rebal movement in Shiz.  Huddling in the dark now, listening for the tell-tale clink of the metallic feet on the cobblestones, he felt more than foolish.

For almost a week, Ordinal Jones, "Fly-By", the "Fastest Man Alive", was on top of the world.  He'd inherited a rebellion, landed the girl of his dreams, and walked around campus with a swagger that turned heads.  It was all perfect, the dreams of a boy coming true in ways that he'd never imagined.  It had taken less than five days to become completely unraveled, and now he had traded the dream for a nightmare.  A fool's dream had earned him that - resistance gone, girl gone, swagger...gone.

Looking out from inside a half-full dumpster outside the Shiz Yellow Brick Station, Fly-By blinked in the rain.  The weather had come in suddenly, almost as suddenly as the tik toks through Dr. Na-Na's front door.  The lights surrounding the station showed an empty darkness, the station abandoned - no trains would come through at this time of the night.  He'd heard rumors all week that the Yellow Brick Express had experienced some trouble down in Munchkinland, something to do with a stranger purple fog, but he'd not been the least been concerned at the time.  That was half a world away, it seemed, and who knew where people got their information.  All he knew was that there had been no trains for days, and it didn't matter.  He was BMOC.  But there was nothing now, not even a hat to keep the rain out of his eyes, a jacket to keep him warm, even a sandwich or a cracker to fill his empty stomach.  Whatever smells and soft darkness existed below his feet in the dumpster, he knew none of it would provide him the shelter or sustenance he needed.  All he could do was try to hide from yet another tik tok patrol and try not to breathe through his nose.

Across the street was the only thing left for him - a single pump rail car on a side track, what he was sure now was his way out of town.

He'd stared at it for hours, not because the tik toks had blanketed the train station with patrols and not because of the rain.  He'd stared at it, wiping the rain from his eyes again and again, because it represented failure, loss, promises unfulfilled.  It was surrender, and what little pride he had left was rooting is feet to the ground.  Or was it fear?  Fear of failure, not pride.  What pride was there in turning and running when the door burst into splinters?  What pride was there in seeing Cloe, her body clothed only in his t-shirt, cut down by their razor sharp fingers, her screams ringing in her ears and him unable, or was it unwilling, to do anything?    He'd spent the last night and day wondering if he should have run into the main room, if he should have sacrificed himself, been noble, rushing headlong to his death with blood boiling in his veins, urine running down his leg.  He knew the answer - he would have been dead.  He wouldn't have been able to save her.  He wouldn't have even dented any of the metallic body, small as they were.  Just another dead member of the resistance - that was the only real answer.  And yet, he couldn't make it right in his head.  He couldn't make it right in his heart.

And now, he was crouching, soaked through, in a dumpster that smelled of - well, he didn't want to think about it - and somewhere behind him was the blood of those he was supposed to protect, a university he might never see again, a bright future as an Animal Doctor, or "Vet", as they were calling it now, and perhaps a long future with the most beautiful girl in Oz.  Somewhere - a place he would never visit again, a place that had come and gone like the wind, as ethereal as a rainbow, a dream more than a reality.  It was over now, and all that was left was the rain running down his cheeks like tears.  If they were tears, in fact, he couldn't tell.

All that was left now was that pump car and a chance to escape, a chance at something because behind him there was nothing.  Ordinal Jones glanced at the sky, blinking back against the fat drops coming down, and surveyed the area.  It was quite.  It was dark.  It was now or never.  He scrambled out of the dumpster and ran for all he was worth.  It wouldn't get him a trophy, but it did get him to the pump car, and in the middle of the night, the day after he had lost everything, it was time to fly.

D:L&L (part 111 - Elphaba) -- Bits and Pieces

As soon as she stepped into the little room, she could feel him.  Black on black, but outlined clearly, the little Bunny stood stock still in front of the book stand, waiting.

Elphaba smiled, her heart leaping at the sight of the tiny creature, the Keeper of the Book, and the keeper of her heart and soul.  He'd waited for how long?  She didn't yet know.  The passage of time had gone on like an endless dream, and her children could tell her nothing - they had been lost far long than her.  All she knew was that Vaughn was back, that the book was back, and the time had come for the final incantation that would make her whole again.  She had everything she needed.

"Vaughn," she whispered.

She stepped forward, pulling the little tik tok man behind her, their fingers intertwined.  He came willingly and as silently as he could, click-clacking on the stone floor.  She'd explained what she'd needed from him, and he'd only nodded, his metallic face frozen in what almost seemed to be a grin, but she knew better.  Grommetik could no more grin or express emotion physically than this creature could; perhaps she was simply seeing something that wasn't there.  Or perhaps she was imagining something that actually was there.  Perhaps the smile was there on the inside, felt rather than expressed, and yet it seemed to have manifested itself on the outside.

They stopped in front of the round dais where the Bunny waited, and she smiled again.  "My dear little one.  Vaughn, I've missed you."

"I have waited for you, Mistress," he said, his black eyes shifting up to look at her, studying her face.  "You've been gone a long time."

"Have I?"

"You've changed."

"Indeed."  The mirror she'd seen had revealed her narrow face, dark eyes and hair, sharp chin, but these things, while familiar, were also shocking.  She'd stared at the broken glass, trying to remember what she'd looked like on the day she had been murdered, knowing that her skin and hair were the same, but at the same time very different.  The spell had never specified if there would be any changes, but now she knew there had been.  What she'd seen had been startling but ultimately pleasing.

"You are much more beautiful now.  So young."

Elphaba nodded.  Whatever had happened was inexplicable, but it had left her with a countenance that reminded her of her years of youth in Shiz, far removed from the aging witch she had been in those last few years in Kiamo Ko.  "I feel off, strange, incomplete."

"Yes, as you said you would."

"I don't feel like myself.  I know this is me, but it doesn't feel like me.  It's..."  She stared at the little Bunny at her feet, unsure of what to say.

"That's because you aren't all you yet, and you are more than you.  If you recall the spell..."

"I don't."

"You knew then what it would take if something were to happen, if you were to fall.  You would need more than just yourself to come back."

"Souls.  Other souls."  The words came without her knowledge, as if someone else was speaking through her lips, a hushed voice that she barely heard.

"Yes, souls.  The souls of the wrongfully dead, souls of the unwilling whose lives would be extinguished by injustice and cruelty.  Vengeful souls howling in pain.  They have sought you out for all these years, a patchwork off tiny sparks building into a being that had once existed and who could return and bring them justice and honor.  But you are still missing one thing, the thing you left here, Mistress, for me to guard."

"The book."

"Yes, but something more, something more important."

"I don't remember."

"It was a long time ago when you made me, when you left that valuable something here on this dais and told me to guard it until you came back."

"Yes," she said with a sudden frown, a chill creeping up her spine.  She remembered.  She knew what it was now, the thing he had guarded so closely for her.  She looked up at the book, the mighty Grimmerie, laying open, the page she needed opened and ready, and then her eyes fell on the Bunny patiently waiting.  "Something I have to have back, dearest Vaughn."

"As you wish, Mistress.  It was never mine to keep."  The little Bunny spoke flatly, resigned.  "I only borrowed it from you until you were ready to return, until you had regained the spark of life."

"True," she said, wondering at what he said.  There was no denying it.  The Grimmerie had mentioned 'gaining the spark of life', but it had not been explicit, and it was this mystery that had left her floating, lost in the deep darkness of the fortress' dungeons...until she found her children and they began to bring her sparks, to feed her and make her strong.

"How many died to bring me back?" she muttered, thinking now at the moments that the children had come back and fed her.  "How many souls were lost so that I might live?"

"You know the answer, Mistress, better than I."

She nodded, a solemn tear rolling down her green cheek.  Again, there was no denying it.  They had come in droves, stitching her essence into a corporeal body, little more than a corpse.  With each spark she grew in strength until she could walk, until she could climb the stone steps out of the depths of the castle and into the fresh air of the parapet, then further still up to the highest tower, where the world opened up before her and she could see a land that she had nearly forgotten.  There she waited, searching the world with her eyes, with her ears.  How long had been the thing called Usling, the wretch in the tower, more skeleton than woman, barely subsisting on the rodents she found in the dark corners?  She'd waited and waited, and with each spark, she felt her strength returning, her connection with the world growing, until finally the metal man had come and brought with him the ax that would bring even more sparks.

"So many.  So many."  She sighed, falling to her knees.  The tears were coming fast and free, and her body responded, shuddering with waves of sorrow.  But, it was not over.

"And now you must take another."

She nodded and stared at the Bunny through blurry eyes.  He seemed smaller now, more like a toy.  The memory was coming back - that moment when the little toy rabbit ceased to exist and her servant had appeared before her.  It had taken a mighty piece of magic to do, and it had left her weak and mentally unprepared for the arrival of the party of friends from the Emerald City.  Had they really come from the EC to murder her?  She would never know for sure, but she could not deny what happened, and it was only the little Bunny before her that had made it possible for her to stand here again, young and vibrant like never before.

"I'm sorry, my little Bunny."

"No, Mistress.  Do not be sorry.  I will always be here to guard you, to protect you, to be with you."

She smiled, a weak curve across her shadowed face, and reached down to pull the small Bunny to her.  She held Vaughn close to her breast, feeling his warmth, the silky smoothness of his fur, and whispered the words that appeared in her mind at the moment, the words she suddenly saw scrawled across the page before her.  "In finem."

A moment later, Elphaba, the former Wicked Witch of the West, closed the door of the hidden room behind her and stepped out into the main hall of the once formidable fortress at Kiamo Ko with the tik tok silent behind her.  She took a deep breath, feeling whole for the first time in decades, and yet there was a loss there behind her where a little toy rabbit sat in the darkness and guarded a powerful book.

"We have much to do," she said, and the little machine behind her nodded.

D:L&L (part 110 - Scarecrow) -- Fit to Kill

It was spell time once more. The Wizard Diggs had the Bunnies running around town, picking up whatever it was he needed to get us out of the king’s court and into the witch’s castle. All things being equal, I’d have been better off passed out. My head was an absolute fucking mess. I didn’t have the first clue how to stop any more ‘interventions’, and I wasn’t even sure if Diggs wanted them to stop. I may have in the past been out of my head, but at least it was my own doing – and I invariably ended up back where I started. 

It took at least three hours for the Bunnies to collect what Diggs needed. I made use of this time by hunting down some alcohol. So sue me – I don’t care. It was the thought of possibly seeing Elphaba again that was driving me to seek out some sort of solace. If (as the Wizard thought) she was alive – or near enough as to make little difference – then it was highly likely that old wounds would reopen. It was also highly probable that neither of us would make it out alive. If the former Wicked Witch of the West was in possession of the most powerful book on Oz, then not even the Unnamed God could save our world. She would be out for vengeance, no doubt about it. I was beginning to think that our past love wouldn’t be enough to save me. But if there was a chance to communicate with Elphaba, make her see what’s going on and perhaps to ask her help, then it was a risk worth taking.

The only fly in the ointment was the Wizard. If he got control of the book, if he managed to somehow persuade the witch to hand it over to him, then all bets were off. I couldn’t trust him to do the right thing, and there was no way I would let him travel to Kiamo Ko on his own. My other worry was how I would handle this. I knew that from the very beginning I was nothing more than a passenger. Rather than take any type of assertive action, I let others do things for me and to me. Like the good little Scarecrow I was, I allowed folk to shit on my head. As I reached for a bottle I found behind a stack of lettuce heads I knew it was time for me to shine. It was time for the Emperor to come to his own, for Fiyero to reach out to Elphaba – time to claim the throne of Oz once more. But one more drink wouldn’t hurt, right?

I never got to sample Bunnybury hooch, though. No sooner had the neck reached my parched lips than it was knocked out of my grip. An unknown assailant had taken it upon himself to deny me one last pleasure before I met my doom.

‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’ a voice called out from my right. I turned and saw one of the king’s warriors; a pretty little Bunny who had been one of my captors back in the court. ‘Oz has gone to shit,’ she continued, ‘that weasel of a no-good wizard has pulled the fur over the king’s eyes; the Wicked Witch of the West isn’t as dead as we first hoped; and here you are, necking down a cool one.’ She hopped over to me and slapped my face hard. ‘And to think you were the Great Straw Hope for Oz.’ She sighed, and try as I might to hide it, I felt a deep shame overcome me. ‘You’re better than this, Scarecrow. You proved it once; you can prove it again.’‘If only it was that simple,’ I said, feeling more than a bit sorry for myself. ‘I’m a useless piece of straw. All I’m good for is soaking.’

The Bunny got a bit closer to me. ‘I know a bit of magic, okay?’ I nodded. ‘And my nose is twitching.’

‘What does the twitching mean? You got an itch?’

‘No, you fool! It tells me that you’re still under some kind of spell.’

I sighed again. ‘I’d be very surprised if I wasn’t it. I’ve been invaded by all kinds recently, and I’m beginning to think that half of what I remember didn’t really happen.’

‘So how do you feel?’

‘Like I said, pretty fucking useless.’

‘That’s how he wants you to feel.’

‘Who – the Wizard?’

‘Who else? To him you’re expendable. If at any time the real you wants to come out and play, he fucks your head up and leaves you right back in the shit. Like now.’

‘I was thinking the same thing myself.’

‘He wants you docile,’ she continued. ‘Then when he has what he wants, he’ll throw you to the dogs…or the Lion. Or maybe even Nick the Chopper. Then he’ll have the book and once he has that, Oz and everywhere he can get to will be his. You can’t let that happen, Fiyero. You have to get into Elphaba’s head and show your true self. It is only then that Oz has a chance.’

I was struck dumb by the Bunny’s skills as a motivational speaker. She nearly had me convinced.

‘Put the bottle away,’ she said bluntly. ‘For good.’ She whispered into my ear. ‘Everything else will fall into place once you do this one thing. I promise you.’

I looked at the Bunny and said, ‘You’re not really here, are you?’ I shook my head, closed my eyes and then opened them again. I was wrong – she was still very much in front of me. But there was still something not right. ‘What is going on with me?’

The Bunny smiled. ‘Fiyero,’ she said softly. ‘Dorothy Gale sends you her love. Like I said, I know some magic.’ She rubbed her twitching nose again my running one. ‘Think of her when you leave for Elphaba’s castle. When you need her, she’ll be there for you.’ Then the Bunny skipped away.

What the fuck just happened?

I gathered my thoughts as quickly as I could and raced back to the king’s court. By the time I got there, the Wizard was nearing the end of his preparations. He saw me and beckoned me over to him.

‘Quickly, Fiyero,’ he said. ‘We’ve not a moment to waste. Here, stand beside me.’ I looked around and saw that we were standing in the middle of a pile of brown and blue leaves. Not knowing what they were exactly I presumed they would be the means we’d be using to follow the scent.

‘Do I need to click my heels?’ I asked him.

‘Not at all,’ Diggs said. I could see his excitement levels reaching boiling point. He quickly mumbled the required spell and then grabbed my arm. ‘You must do exactly as I tell you, once we are in Elphaba’s presence. If you vary just a little bit from my instructions, I will be unable to save the book.’

I took this in, and then added something of my own. ‘Fuck with me, Diggs, and I’ll make sure her monkeys rip your heart out in front of you.’

‘What makes you think she has anyone but a black rabbit to help her?’ His grip tightened. ‘In less time than it takes to fart, we’ll be in Kiamo Ko, Fiyero. Use that time wisely. Pick a side – and say your prayers. There is no coming back now.’

With another quick recitation, the court of King Charles of Bunnybury vanished. We were off to meet Elphaba, however she may appear to us. Today, I thought, was a good a day as any to die.