AN: Here it is, then: my new Wicked multichap. Carlie, thank you so much for helping me with the title! I really love this one :).

The picture is not Willemijn Verkaik, for a change; it's Danna Paola, the Mexican Elphie whom I got to know through Humole (thanks for that ^_^) and I've really grown to love her!

Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 1.

"Elphie?"

Elphaba froze in the middle of her movements. Ever so slowly, she turned around to face the girl – the woman – that had once been her best friend and was now probably one of her greatest enemies.

The fact that Glinda had called her 'Elphie' gave her some hope, though. Maybe the blonde did not hate her… much.

"Glinda," she said, sounding breathless. She tried to look unfazed, chin raised and one hand on her hip. She didn't feel calm at all, though. Her heart was pounding in her throat. Would Glinda call the guards on her? What if she did? Her eyes flicked to her broom, leaning against the wall – would she be able to make it over there and fly out of the Throne Room before the guards could get here?

Carefully, she looked back at the blonde standing on the other side of the room. Glinda's eyes were wide and filled with tears, and she pressed a hand to her mouth. "Oh, Elphie… it really is you!"

And then she suddenly crossed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around the green girl in a tight hug.

Elphaba tensed up, not having expected that at all; but then she relaxed and hugged Glinda back.

"I'm so glad you're alive!" Glinda sniffled, burying her face in the taller girl's shoulder. "I was so worried about you… it's been so long. I heard all these horrendible stories, about you saving Animals and flying all over Oz on that creepy broomstick you left on the day we met the Wizard, and about the Gale Force searching everywhere for you… I feared so many times that they got you! Every time I heard about a new prisoner being brought to Southstairs, I was so scared it could be you!"

Elphaba forced herself to smile. "You know me," she said. "I'm not so easily caught."

Glinda laughed tearily. "I know." She embraced Elphaba again. "I'm so happy to see that you're alright."

"I thought…" Elphaba looked down. "I thought you'd hate me," she confessed.

Glinda was shocked. "Hate you? What? Why?" she demanded in a high-pitched voice that nearly brought tears to Elphaba's eyes, it sounded so familiar. She hadn't even realised how badly she had missed her best friend and roommate over the past two years until now.

"Because I left you." Elphaba closed her eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry, Glin. I just… left you here. Alone. I abandoned you."

"It was for a good cause," Glinda said. "I don't blame you, Elphie. I never did. If anything, I just… felt guilty because I didn't go with you."

"It's a good thing you didn't." Elphaba shook her head. "It's not an easy life I'm living," she admitted. "I always have to be on guard, lest someone recognise me. The Gale Force are sniffing my trail like a bunch of bloodhounds, and if I'm not careful, they'll find me. I always have to make sure they can't trace my steps, because if I don't, it's not just me that could be in danger, but a whole lot of Animals, too." She looked at Glinda. "I'm glad you didn't come with me," she said. "I really am. At least I know you're safe here."

Glinda took her friend in. At first, she had thought Elphaba looked good; much the same like she had looked back at Shiz. Her hair was still long, slightly wavy, and black. Her skin was still the same shade of green. Her eyes were still chocolate brown and ever vigilant.

Now that she looked closer, however, she could see that two years on the run had taken their toll on her friend. She could see some of Elphaba's bones poking the fabric of her dress – that was how skinny she was. Her hair wasn't as shiny as before and there were dark circles under her eyes. She looked exhausted.

Her eyes were still sparkling, though.

"Elphie…" she said softly. "Are you okay?"

Elphaba nodded. "I am," she said. "Really. I'm doing what I've always wanted to do now – I'm making a difference. I'm helping the Animals. I won't say it's not hard, but I'm okay, Glin. I really am."

Glinda suddenly felt a rush of pride and affection for her friend. "Okay. That's good," was all she said, but she knew her eyes told her friend everything else and Elphaba smiled at her before turning.

"I should probably get out of here." The raven-haired witch crossed the room and picked up her broomstick before turning back to face Glinda. "Before anyone else finds me here and decides to call the guards on me."

Glinda nodded. "You should." She hesitated for a moment. "Elphie… one more thing. It's about Fiyero." She wasn't sure how to tell her friend this, but she had to bring it up. "He…"

"He's alright," Elphaba cut her off before the blonde could even ask her question. "And safe. If the idiot listened to me and stayed put, that is," she added, scowling a little.

Glinda's eyes widened. "Really?" She shook her head. "So he found you, then," she concluded in wonder.

"Actually, I found him." Elphaba let out a sound that was something between a huff and a laugh. "He should have known better than going out roaming the Great Gillikin Forest all by himself to look for me. Dawyn nearly ate him. I only stopped her just in time."

"Dawyn?" Glinda inquired.

"A Jaguar I got to know." Elphaba shrugged. "I tried to send him back, of course – Fiyero, not Dawyn – but he refused to go. The moron said he'd been looking for me ever since he found out I was gone and now that he found me, he would not leave me again."

Glinda knew for a fact that that was true.

After the day Doctor Dillamond had been removed from campus, Fiyero had started acting strange towards his blonde girlfriend, and eventually the truth had come out: he didn't love her anymore. He wasn't sure he ever had. He was in love with her best friend and roommate, and he wouldn't act on it because he thought Elphaba would never like him back, anyway, but he thought it wasn't fair to continue being together with Glinda if it was her roommate he really wanted.

She'd been upset, obviously, but she had gotten over it; and when Elphaba had, after a few weeks, reluctantly and shyly admitted to the blonde that she kind of liked Glinda's ex-boyfriend – after lots of prying from Glinda, obviously – the blonde had taken it on herself to get the two together… but then Elphaba herself had slipped up. She, Glinda, and Fiyero were talking about something – or a lot of things, really – when the subject of 'stupidest thing you have ever done' came up and Elphaba had suddenly blurted, "Falling in love with my best friend's boyfriend."

Since she had only ever had one best friend – and said best friend had only ever had one serious boyfriend since Elphaba knew her – it was pretty obvious who she was talking about.

She had clasped her hands over her mouth in horror and Glinda was sure she would have given anything to make the floor swallow her in that moment, but then Fiyero had asked, "Is that true?", with this really intense look in his eyes that Glinda found adorable, and Elphaba had admitted that it was. Glinda had proceeded to discreetly leave the two alone and had watched from behind the corner, silently squealing, as her friends had shared their first kiss.

When Elphaba got her invitation to meet the Wizard, Fiyero had wanted to come, but she had apologetically told him that she was taking Glinda.

"She's my best friend," she'd said. "She's never been to the City before and she's always wanted to go there… and I've been neglecting her a little lately. Don't worry, it'll only be a few days."

He had reluctantly agreed and had come to see them off. Glinda remembered that day so vividly, it was like it had happened yesterday. Nessa being upset over Boq. Elphaba wanting to go after her sister, but Glinda stopping her. Glinda awkwardly standing with her back towards the couple as they said goodbye – a long, elaborate, many-kisses-and-hugs involving goodbye, if she remembered correctly. And then she and Elphaba had left for the City and things had gone wrong from there.

She hadn't been able to fly off with Elphaba. She just couldn't. But she had felt ashamed and guilty from the moment Elphaba disappeared out of the window and out of sight. The Wizard and Morrible had offered her the position of Grand Vizier at the Palace once she would graduate, and she had accepted; but she had returned to Shiz in tears, upset and confused and lonely. Fiyero had been there to welcome them and she had just thrown herself at him and sobbed into his shoulder, leaving him sick with worry over Elphaba for nearly half an hour before she could get herself together enough to tell him what had happened.

Immediately afterwards, he had started making plans. After a few weeks, when he had assured himself of the fact that Glinda and Nessarose would be alright – Elphaba would never forgive him if he hadn't done that and he knew it – he had left Shiz to look for the green girl. Glinda hadn't heard from him since and frankly, she had feared the worst.

Glinda smiled. "So you're still together, then?"

She didn't miss the way Elphaba's eyes softened at that and Glinda's smile widened. She recognised that look from back at Shiz. It was the same look Elphaba had always had whenever Fiyero was either mentioned or nearby.

A lot had changed, she realised, but some things never seemed to.

"We are," said Elphaba, a tiny smile playing around her own lips. "We're currently staying at an Animal hideout – the location of which I won't tell even you – and we're… helping, I guess. In any way we can and know how."

Glinda took her friend's hand and squeezed it. "That's great, Elphie."

Elphaba squeezed back. "I'm sorry, Glin… I have to go."

"I know." Glinda took a deep breath in an attempt to keep herself together. Then she hugged the dark-haired witch one last time. "Be safe. And give Fiyero my love."

"I will. You be careful, too – the City can be a dangerous place, despite its apparent safety." Elphaba looked into her friend's eyes. "And be happy," she added softly.

Glinda smiled sadly. "I'll try."

She watched as Elphaba climbed into the window sill, broom in one hand, and stared out over the Emerald City for a brief moment. Her emerald skin was glowing in the fading sunlight and her raven hair whipped around her as the wind swept it up and blew it around her face.

She looked back once. "Goodbye, Glin," she said softly.

Glinda met her gaze. "Goodbye, Elphie."

Then Elphaba mounted her broom and leapt out of the window.

Glinda ran over to it and hung out of the window in order to look down, afraid somehow that Elphaba had just plummeted to her death – it had certainly looked that way.

That wasn't the case, of course. Elphaba was already high up above the clouds, her pointed hat clearly visible against the western sky and her cloak billowing behind her on the wind. Her bone-chilling cackle seemed to echo through the skies, and Glinda could see the people below, in the streets of the Emerald City, stop dead in their tracks and point at the witch flying on her broomstick through the sky.

Glinda smiled and closed the window before leaving the Throne Room like nothing special had occurred there.