Never thought myself as much of a Bessa writer, but this has been bugging me...

"I love him, but every day I'm learning;
all my life, I've only been pretending!
Without me, his world will go on turning.
A world that's full of happiness that I have never known!

I love him.
I love him.
I love him,
but only on my own."

-On My Own, Les Miserables

Nessa stood by the dark window, looking at her pale reflection on the glass.

He was gone.

Gone, taking with him her heart, her love, her hope of a bright and happy future. He left her with nothing but misery and a magical pair of ruby slippers.

What was the point of continuing to live? Her heart had been burned by his confession of everlasting love for Glinda. She was now an emotionless shell, even more severe and wicked than before.

Wicked

Was that what she had become? A truly terrible character, evil in all aspects, the real Wicked Witch of Oz?

She must be, just look at what she had done. Out of love, that pure, innocent emotion, she had enslaved an entire providence and struck fear into the heart of every Munchkin. Through her own acts, not false government propaganda, every person in Oz, including her own sister, hated her.

The Wicked Witch of the West hated her. A scary thought, even though she knew Elphaba would never hurt her. But she deserved to be hurt, didn't she? She blamed her green sister for Boq's tinification, even though it was entirely her own fault.

Boq

Everything seemed to circle back to him. How had she let her life become like that? So desperate for love and attention that she she forced her friend to act as though he loved her. It had been obvious from the start that he loved Galinda, she just chose to ignore it, wrap herself in a cocoon of safety as always.

She did love him, though. The way his smile seemed to light up his entire face, shining with joy every time he was even mildly happy (granted, this had been very infrequent in the previous years). His awkwardness and nervousness had made her laugh and just added to the image that she saw of Boq. He had been so perfect, so wonderful, but she had abused his friendship and love...

Lost in her own thoughts, Nessarose never saw the odd dark shadow covering the ground outside until it was too late.

Hope you enjoyed, please review!