Every part of Dorothy ached.

Her head hurt, her and legs were battered and bruised, her throat burned and stung. She gasped for air, and it only fueled the fire in her throat and her lungs. Her right hand was completely numb from the first knuckles down to the tips of her fingers. Her chest ached from breathing as she panted.

She couldn't sit up. She didn't have an ounce of energy to allow her to do that.

For the first time ever, she was a complete slave to her own on pain. A slave to her own burning, aching, painful prison of flesh to which death was the only way for an escape that would taste and feel so, so sweet...

It felt like she had only blinked twice, but when she opened her eyes again there were pale stripes of light that fell over her face. She still hurt, but he pain was just a bit more bearable than it had been. But not bearable enough.

"Wake up," a nasty voice hissed. "Wake up."

Dorothy let out a croak, trying to talk. "I..." she gasped for air. "Am."

"So you killed her. My sister, Malideena," the voice said coldly.

Dorothy released a quiet croak from her mouth, trying to answer the question. A shadow fell over her and she looked up to see none other than the Wicked Witch of the West standing over her. In the pale light that Dorothy assumed came through a small, barred window, she could see the Witch's face, which was a almost as deep of a green as the Emerald City. Despite this, her skin had a smooth, healthy appearance and glow despite its strange green color. The witch's hair was a stark blue that seemed illuminated, especially in contrast to her inky black hair and her equally dark clothing.

"Of course you can't reply-- the monkeys nearly choked you to death," the Wicked Witch said, her tone not one of complete apathy.

Dorothy attempted to nod, but her neck protested painfully at the attempt.

"You must be wondering where your little friends are," Maridina said quietly. "All except for the Lion are destroyed."

A sob that Dorothy did not know that she was currently capable of making left her mouth like the creaking of a rusted hinge as her eyes watered and burned.

"It was what I had to do to avenge my poor sister. I am sorry that I have had to have this pain inflicted upon you, but you and I know both know that you deserve it. Friends are undoubtedly not worth as much as a sister, so I had to have them all destroyed. Except the Lion. I know that you do not truly see him as a friend," Maridina told her.

Dorothy shook her head and whimpered a bit, despite the pain pulsing through every cell of her body.

"I know you cared for the cyborg-- Bo, was it? in particular. His body is lying in the field, miles away from my castle, to be picked apart by lonely kalidahs and the birds. Not as good as what my sister got, I admit. I have heard rumors that she had been cremated, then her ashes buried in a pit in the ground. I suppose that is what she would have wanted, since I was not able to be there for her in her final moments, or even to prepare a proper burial for her."

The Witch adjusted the sleeves of her dark dress so that they were pulled down towards her knuckles.

Dorothy squeezed her eyes shut, in far too much pain to utter another sound. Too tired cry. Too hurt too tired too hurt too tired.
There was a new pain in her chest that cut through her heart like the dull blade of a rusted knife.

"Although you deserve this pain and suffering for what you did, there is someone who deserves it more, and I know he sent you hear to try to kill me," Maridina continued, her voice as soft as the brush of a feather on a baby's cheek. "We shall both bring punishment to him."

Dorothy blinked her eyes open.

"No? Well, he will not be able to get you back to your home. He has no power."

Dorothy blinked some more. That, she had already figured, but she had been clinging to the hope that he would somehow be able to get her back home to Earth and to her aunt and uncle like a child clings to its mother when it is being pulled away. But now, the child's fingers could no longer grasp to the mother much like she could no longer hold to the hope after Maridina confirmed her fears and suspicions.

"It is right for you to feel hopeless about the situation, Dorothy Gale. But now that I will have your help, there is no need to feel hopeless about it. We will make the Oz, the poor and dishonest 'Wizard' pay for what has happened to us, and for what he has done to this planet."

There was a sudden twinge in Dorothy's left arm, and there was a dull, throbbing amount of pressure where the twinge had been.

"Now, sleep. It will make you your physical pain better," the Witch said soothingly.
Before she knew it, Dorothy had closed her eyes and fallen to sleep.

                    ***

Dorothy awoke, a tall glass of water sitting beside of her on the cold, stone floor. She picked it up, her entire body screaming in agony as she sat up, and sipped the water slowly at first, then she began to gulp it thirstily. Her mouth was a desert in a sudden downpour of rain.

She gasped for air once she had finished the glass of water, then brushed her scabbed and bruised hand across her lips, the water droplets sticking to her skin. She brushed her knuckles gently across her forehead to get it wet and cool.

Dorothy carefully stood up off of the floor, using all of what little strength she had to do so. Her arms burned from pushing herself up off the floor, and she winced slightly as she rubbed them with her fingers gently.

She was so sore... if only she had some painkillers to ease the pain...

The Wicked Witch of the West stood in the doorway, leaning against the wooden panel, her arms crossed across her chest and her legs sticking out with her ankles crossed. It was a casual position that did not quite match her long black dress and her tall, pointed hat that matched.

"Get up," Maridina snapped. "We don't have time to waste."

"I am," Dorothy muttered hoarsely.

The Witch stood up straight and stretched her neck slightly, her nose slightly sticking up in the air. Her bright blue eyes were fixated on Dorothy, eerily like a raven's eye as it stared at something that did not belong there.

Dorothy looked down in an attempt to avoid her sinister looking gaze.

"Why did you steal those shoes?"

Dorothy did not look down at her feet like she usually would have, but instead, straightened up-- even though it hurt her to do so-- and looked Maridina right in the eye.

"I did not steal them. Glinda gave them to me," she said, rolling her shoulders back and trying not to wince when she did so.

Maridina laughed. It was like the tinkling of a bell, but it also sounded hollow and humorless.

"Glinda... she's so naive. Always has been, as long as I've known her. She has no idea what those shoes can do, or what they're for. Nor does she respect that my dear sister would have wanted me to have them." She had tilted her head down slightly, the shadow cast by the brim of her hat nearly covering her eyes.

Dorothy stared up at her silently, a frown etched on her face.

"I suppose you didn't really like her, anyway. I never liked her. She's so... perfect," Maridina said, her voice under ten inches of disgust, "She's always been popular, despite her naivety. The people of Oz are all naive." Her voice had lost the harshness of its disgust and had become softer with woe.

"That makes sense," Dorothy said dryly.

Maridina nodded a bit, her sharply elegant features of her face bobbing up and down slightly. "That is why I need your help more than anything, Dorothy Gale."

The girl took a step back. This wasn't her planet-- this wasn't her problem! All she wanted to do was get home as soon as possible, without having to worry or care about the people of Oz or what their leader was up to.

"You help me, and I help you. It's simple really," Maridina said coaxingly. "I will help you home after you help me kill the Wizard."

Dorothy choked, searching for adequate words. She wasn't a murderer... she couldn't be a murderer.

"You already committed involuntary manslaughter. What is one more Dorothy, especially when you will liberate thousands more people," Maridina cooed.

"Says the person who has slaves!" Dorothy lashed out suddenly, tightening her aching hands into a fist.

"They are not slaves!" Maridina said and stomped her foot slightly. "They are fully paid, and they receive full benefits, and their families are completely compensated. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to listen to mere gossip and rumors, Dorothy Gale?"

Dorothy glared at Maridina. "Even so, I will not kill anyone."

"Even if to kill would buy your way back to your home, far, far, away?" Maridina asked. She let out another one of her humorless laughs.

Dorothy stiffened.

"I'm sure you can compromise your morals just one time to get back home to your precious aunt and uncle."

"How do you know about them? How do you always seem to know what I'm feeling?" Dorothy asked her suddenly, her voice quietly.

"I have... many talents," Maridina said, folding her arms. "But they will not help me successfully assassinate the Wizard, unfortunately. That is why I need you."

"Why me specifically?" Dorothy asked with a grimace.

"He already seems to trust you, since you killed my sister. I know he allowed you to enter his throne room. Alone. Without any of his guards in there with you. He never allows anyone in there."

Dorothy took a few steps back, rubbing her arm a bit nervously. Maridina's piercing gaze upon her only made her feel much, much worse.

"I shall give you two days to think it over, Dorothy Gale. No longer than that," Maridina said.

The Witch exited out of the door and it locked with a sharp click, leaving Dorothy completely alone to think of what she had said and about Bo... and Toto and Effigy...