I opened my eyes.

I was in a field of roses, but it definitely wasn't one that you would expect...

The roses were all black and swaying and wriggling around a little, and I heard a faint sound coming from them. It almost sounded like they were...breathing. Thankfully they seemed harmless, at least I hoped they would be.

I looked up at the sky above it. It was concealed by blood red clouds that twisted and spiraled in odd and unnatural ways. I immediately decided to not at it anymore after that.

As I kept walking, I noticed a mysterious figure that was far away from where I was standing. It seemed to be concealed in a hood so I couldn't make out their face. I could hazard a guess as to who it was though...

What caught me off guard though, was the figure disappearing, leaving rose petals behind. I started to panic that maybe this was some kind of sneek attack, and I had my sword at the ready.

"Dorothy...who do you think this is?" I asked her, trying to be as calm too.

"I think I know who it could be..."

Dorothy placed herself inside my sword instead of appearing physically, so that my sword could become more powerful. Apparently that's what she did so that I could unleash that massive attack against all those monsters a while ago.

I looked behind me instinctively, and there was there, being dangerously close to me. I tried slashing through it with my sword, but it jumped back in the air, dodging my attack.

Not only that, but she even started levitating in the air. And after that I heard a familiar childish laugh...

Did I even need to say it who it was?

Alyssa materialised behind the mysterious figure, smirking menacingly.

"Dorothy...why did you have to leave me?"

"Because I refuse to hurt Owen."

"What about your grandfather?"

"Well...I want him back...but I know that reviving the dead isn't the answer."

Alyssa's smirk only grew wider as she heard those words.

"Are you sure you don't want him back?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

"Then tell me Dorothy. If you really don't want him back, then why does she exist?"

"Who's she referring too?"

The mysterious figure removed it's hood. It was...another Dorothy? But it wasn't the Dorothy that I knew, or the one that I first knew when she first visited the mansion. It was almost identical to the Dorothy with white hair, but this one had black hair. And instead of an angelic appearance, she had more of a creepy demonic vibe. Especially since her skin was as white as snow, which heavily contrasted with her hair.

"My grandfather...I'll bring her back. No matter what," she stated with pure confidence in her tone.
"Who even is this? This can't be Dorothy," I asked to no one in particular.

"I can assure you that it is. Or rather...it's what's left of her."

"What's left of her...you mean she's been split in two?"

"Heh, you're not as dumb as you look then."

"How...how did this even happen?"

"I wish I could say that I did this, but sadly, it was something else. Someone or something must have awoken the love she has for you in her something, I don't even know."

"I wonder who could have done this then..." I asked myself out loud. I knew that it wasn't Alyssa since if it was her she'd brag about it like a child who got a cool new toy. Not to mention that she'd never intentionally help me.

"I literally just said that I don't know. Wow. You really are as dumb as you look. You know what? That's it, I'm done, JUST KILL THEM ALREADY," she screamed in a booming voice at the black haired Dorothy.

Black Dorothy then drew her sword, which was as dark as the night with red markings, shaped like a bat wing. She rose it up, and a storm of black petals started to form.

"Owen, use my powers!" White Dorothy instructed.

I'm not sure how I did it, but somehow I knew what I had to do. I did the same, rising my sword up to create a similar storm.

Black Dorothy unleashed a beam of pure darkness, surrounded by the storm of black petals, while I did the same but with a beam of blinding light.

Both of them clashed with each other, creating a burst of energy in the middle. Each one of us tried to overpower the other, but it turned out that both of us were evenly matched...

The result was a huge explosion that damaged the both of us, and we both ended up on the floor panting and injured.

This didn't last long though, and my injuries were almost instantly healed. I felt so much more powerful with Dorothy by my side, maybe that was the reason why?

Sadly Black Dorothy also recovered quickly, and immediately began to try and impale me with her sword, which I thankfully managed to block. She kept unleashing a flurry of slashes towards me, and it became more and more difficult to counter...

In that split second however, I saw an opening. And with that opening I managed to slash at her arm, creating a gaping wound.

As she screamed in pain while clutching it as a response, I wasted no time in unleashing vines from the ground, all of which being covered in roses, and keeping her tied up.

But as I ran at an amazing speed on these vines towards the bound Black Dorothy, ready to kill, her wound recovered almost immediately. She surrounded herself in blue fire and burnt all the vines around her, which caused me to fall.

As I was falling her attack became even more deadly, she summoned vines of her own and wasted no time in tying me up, leaving me trapped. They looked like they were rotting and decaying, but I had no doubt in my mind that they were very durable.

It was then that I heard that annoying laugh of Alyssa.

"It seems like you need a little help. Let me make things easier for you!"

The vines started to transport me further away, to a hole that Alyssa likely created. The gaping hole in the ground kept getting bigger, and who knew where it would take me if I fell into it?

"Now kill him Dorothy! You need to be the one to do it!"

As Black Dorothy was ready to cut the vines, meaning I would fall into the seemingly bottomless pit, White Dorothy suddenly appeared and blocked her attack with some kind of shield, and countered with a punch straight to her heart. Black Dorothy collided with the ground as a result of this, but this also meant that she no longer had control over the vines that were currently entangling me. Which meant...

As I awaited for my death by a bottomless pit, White Dorothy flew towards me and carried me in her arms easily.

Black Dorothy looked enraged at this sudden development. Her face turned from cool and collected to mad and furious almost immediately. It was quite unnerving.

"Why...why are you doing this?" Black Dorothy questioned.

"Because a part of me realised that what I was doing was wrong, and now I intend to put it right."

White Dorothy suddenly disappeared, which scared me as I was afraid of falling. But instead, I seemed to gain angelic wings which probably came from White Dorothy's powers.

Black Dorothy just sighed.

"You've lost sight on what's really important. Have you forgot how much you...we, have suffered?" she asked, and I honestly had no idea how to answer.

Her eyes started to turn blue, and her body ended up being surrounded in blue flames which led to her shooting giant blue fireballs at her. I knew that I couldn't get close to her like this, so I had no choice but to evade her attacks. As she started throwing them at full force, I kept flying in different directions so she'd miss, which clearly agitated her.

However, I seemed to have missed one of them...there was one which I wasn't able to dodge properly and it came into contact with me.

The white hot burning pain I felt all over my body was excruciating. I struggled to maintain control of my wings and stay afloat in the air. Black Dorothy laughed triumphantly at my suffering.

"He's just like the others. Unreliable and useless," Black Dorothy mused.

It was then that I unintentionally was able to channel a giant fireball into my hand. It was regular fire, not blue like Black Dorothy's. It illuminated the dark area a little, and it gave me a feeling of comforting warmth instead of a deep burning sensation.

I threw it at Black Dorothy, but my attack sadly missed. I kept throwing them at her in the hopes that it would burn her, but like what I did she evaded them all with ease.

It was at that moment that I had an idea. I summoned rose covered vines from the ground, which managed to imprison Black Dorothy since she was taken by surprise. I then threw a fireball straight at her which burnt both her and the vines, and she ended up in just as much pain as I was.

I began to notice a pattern...both of us had almost the exact same moves, just with different appearances. The two Dorothy's seemed to be evenly matched as well. It was like they were two sides of the same coin, two sides of a mirror.

"It's over!" she screamed as she began to make a tornado of black rose petals.

"A-ahhh!" I cried as I involuntarily got sucked in by the black whirlwind.

I couldn't control myself and I couldn't get away. I ended up being caught in the whirlwind, and the pain was even worse than that of the fire. Each petal was as sharp and painful as tiny knives that were digging into my skin.

Black Dorothy laughed triumphantly as I couldn't move anymore from all the pain, and I remained stationary in the center of the tornado.

I felt like things were coming to an end...my vision started to fade and my surroundings weren't becoming visible anymore.

Until...I heard a voice. It was Dorothy's voice, and once I heard it I felt a little less scared.

"Owen...you can do this..." I heard her tell me faintly.

"Dorothy..."

"Use the last bit of our power...I believe in you..."

That was all I needed to hear.

I summoned the last bit of power I could muster, clinging onto the hope that Dorothy will soon be safe from Alyssa's clutches.

I created my own tornado of rose petals that went in the completely opposite direction of Black Dorothy's tornado, and they somehow blended together in a flurry of black and red. It managed to get some of the black petals at a distance which was a relief.

Meanwhile Black Dorothy was literally seething with anger at this point. It was as if something awakened within her, and it unleashed her true and dangerous potential.

"That's it...I'm done with this...you've been a hindrance for too long!" she screamed.

She flew as fast as she could into the tornado, knowing fully well that she would feel just as much pain as I felt. As she felt the immense pain of the deadly rose petals coming into contact with her body, she did everything she could to reach me, guided by her primal urge to kill. She tried slashing at me with her sword and I deflected, but our movements were weak and slow as we were both feeling the white hot pain everywhere.

"I...I don't care what happens...to me...I just...want you dead..."

I kept deflecting, and I couldn't help but let a tear fall down my eye. From the pain, and the fact that I really didn't want it to come to this. Things shouldn't have been like this...

Black Dorothy, who was clearly feeling the same that I was, raised her sword as high as she could above my head, ready to end me. I had no energy left. I couldn't move. I couldn't deflect it...

She knew this, and she risked everything with this final attack as both of us were at death's door.

"It's over..." she whispered, ready to deliver the final blow.

However...the sword didn't even touch me. Something was stopping it from coming into contact with me.

It was White Dorothy, who managed to keep the sword away from me with just her bare hands. She felt the effects of the petal whirlwinds surrounding us, of being in the eye of the storm, but at this moment she was stronger than both of us combined since we've suffered those effects for a long period of time.

A light appeared from both the Dorothy's, where their hearts were supposed to be.

"Please...Dorothy...become whole with me again. We can't let Alyssa control us anymore. And we can't let Owen die! We have to save him, together!"

"Why should we?"

White Dorothy spread her arms, trying to hold Black Dorothy closely get the wind currents were preventing her from getting close.

"Because...it's the right thing to do, and I care about Owen."

"Then why I don't I care about him? After all, I am you. This "care" you speak of is just delusions..."

Black Dorothy started closing her eyes and opening them again just as I was, and I was hoping that I wouldn't end up unconscious, or worse. I could tell that White Dorothy would probably feel the same too...

"You're just a part of me. All the awful things I felt back then...all because of things I couldn't control..."

"S-shut up..."

White Dorothy finally reached her counterpart, and she held her in a warm embrace, with Black Dorothy being in too much suffering to fight back.

"You're safe now...things will be alright eventually."

Tears started to fall down Black Dorothy's eyes.

"But...but what if they're not?"

White Dorothy started to hug her tighter, protecting her from the petals and offering her reassurance.

"At least now you're not alone."

Black Dorothy smiled a little, and the light emanating from the two started to become brighter, and the pain started to decrease little by little.

"And now...we can become whole again," Dorothy mused.

The bright light eventually became a blinding white, and the pain was gone entirely. It was like I was being transported to another world...I felt myself falling...and a familiar mysterious voice resonated in my head.

Well done...today, you have saved someone's life.

For that, you have my blessing.

Sadly you must return to your own world now.

Just remember that I have faith in you.

I know that you can achieve your destiny.

Owen...

And with that, my eyes started to close.