Moments later, Dorothy was lead to where Bo was held captive.

It was far below the Emerald Palace, so Dorothy and the person who was leading her down there had to walk down several flights of stairs, descending further and further and further down into darkness.

She nearly jumped as rats scurried past her feet. The air was dank and smelled horrible, like feces and the remains of bodies that had been rotting and festering there for a long, long time. It made Dorothy wonder just how many people had been held captive down below. It also lead to thoughts as to why they had been held down there.

Dorothy clamped her teeth down on her lip, trying her hardest not to gag. The air made her extremely nauseous, and she could already feel her stomach prepare to empty itself entirely, despite the fact that there was nothing in it to empty itself of.

"Stinks, doesn't it?" the girl asked. "Sorry. It doesn't get cleaned very often, and it never gets the cleaning that it really needs."

"It's alright," Dorothy croaked, nearly gagging from the wretched stench and the bile that was now rising rapidly into her throat and mouth.

The girl gave her an apologetic glance through the darkness as they descended further down.
There was a guard with a mask over his mouth and nose, sitting in a chair. He stood up quickly and gave a bow to Dorothy, then turned to lead them to the holding cell that Bo was in.

"Right this way," the guard said as he headed down the dark hallway, which was lined with several cells with barred doors.

It reeked so badly that Dorothy would have much rather been in the late Wicked Witch of the West's dungeon instead. Though they were in the back of Dorothy's memories now, she decided that they were much more pleasant than this dungeon below the Palace. It made her wonder how no one could smell it all the way from upstairs.

The guard stopped at a cell and pressed his hand to a scanner that had edges that were caked in dust, dirt, and something that Dorothy did not want to see or know what it was.

"You may enter," the guard said, gesturing to the now open cell door.

Dorothy nodded and stepped inside.

In the far left corner of the cell, she saw Bo's crumpled, limbless form slumped against it. She ran towards him quickly and fell onto her knees.

"Dorothy?" Bo croaked.

Dorothy put her hands on his shoulders. "It's me."

"Gale!" he said loudly with an even louder sniff. "I thought you would never come. What's the escape plan?"

She let out a quiet sigh. "There is no escape plan."

"There... there isn't?" Bo asked, looking up at her with wide, sad eyes. "There is no escape plan? What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry, but you're going to get out alive, I promise. You're going to get out alive, and you're going to be okay," Dorothy whimpered. She put a hand on Bo's cheek, the part that wasn't replaced with synthetic pieces, the skin rough with the prickles of growing beard stubble. She blinked back her tears, trying to smile for him.

"What... what about you? What about you, Dorothy?" Bo asked, his voice a hoarse whisper.

"That doesn't matter, as long as you're alive," Dorothy said firmly.

Bo shook his head quickly. "No! You can't sacrifice yourself for me!" he yelled, his eyes flashing desperately. "You can't!"

"I'm not going to die," Dorothy told him quietly as she stroked his cheek gently. "I'm going to be okay. I promise, Bo."

"But..." he began to protest, but Dorothy shushed him quietly.

"You're going to leave Oz. I don't know when, but you will. You won't be executed. I promise."

"But what's going to happen to you?"

She just shook her head roughly. "It will only break your heart even more if you found out--"

"What heart?" Bo asked with a humorless laugh. "I've only got this artificial one, but if it's feelings your talking about, you have a hold of mine. You've had a hold of them for a long while now. You can tell me anything right now, and it won't hurt me, I promise."

"I don't want to make things worse. I'm sorry." Dorothy stood up slowly, her fingertips leaving Bo's face.

"Remember when you fell asleep in the poppy field?" he asked suddenly.

"Don't," Dorothy said with a shake of her head. "Please don't." Her voice cracked like ice that's tossed into a glass of water.

"I was so scared that I would lose you," Bo said, a sob at the edge of voice. "I don't want to lose you again, but I've got this terrible feeling that I am. Please. I love you."

She gave her head another shake and rubbed one of her eyes with her hand as the guard roughly beckoned for her to exit the cell.

"I have to go. I'm sorry," she whispered as she turned to exit the cell.

"Gale! Dorothy!" Bo shouted after her as she stepped out of the cell and the guard shut the door with a clang. His yells didn't die away as the scanner beeped, signalling that that the door was now locked.

Dorothy squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to cry as she and the girl who had lead her down there headed back down the hallway.

A/N:
Fun fact: Ray Bolger was originally cast to play the Tin Man in the 1939 The Wizard of Oz movie, but he traded roles with Buddy Ebsen, who was supposed to play the Scarecrow. Bolger was allergic to the mixture of paint and aluminum dust they tested for the costume, and he had to be hospitalized, where he remained for two weeks with lung failure at one point. Luckily he and Ebsen, who wasn't allergic to the "cosmetics" used for the tin man, were able to swap roles.
Some more fun facts that I am undoubtedly adding to add to my word count to reach fifty-thousand words for National Novel Writing Month: The Cowardly Lion costume was made from real lion skin.
Judy Garland's daughter, Liza Minelli, was married to Jack Haley Jr., who was the son of the actor who played the Tin Man.
Toto was played by a female dog named Terry.
Margaret Hamilton, the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West, was a kindergarten teacher before she took up her career in acting.
L. Frank Baum wrote seventeen sequels to The Wizard of Oz in total, three of which were published after his death.
Now, enough with the facts, here's some questions:

1. How did this scene make you feel?

2. Was this scene emotionally charged enough?

3. How do you feel about the fact that the book is about to draw to a close?