Part One: Chapter I

When the announcement was made, citizens of the capital city of Oz started congregating eagerly, carrying in their arms celebratory supplies such as streamers and confetti.

"Good news! The witch is dead!" "The Witch of the West is dead!" "She's gone, the enemy of Oz is finally gone!" "Good news, good news!"

Remarks were made in a hush murmur at first and then roused to roaring chants as more people joined.

People near the palace of their dear Wizard turned their head upward when the double doors to the balcony opened up. "Look!" One of the jovial men in the crowd pointed and yelled loud enough to gather attention. "It's Glinda!"

The Witch of the North, known to the people of Oz as Glinda the Good, floated down in her bubble to hover just feet above the people in the crowd where everyone who came could see her.

Women, children, and men alike cheered enthusiastically as she came to them . "Is it really her? It is! It's her!" "Glinda!" "We love you, Glinda!"

"It's good to see me, isn't it?" She smiled, her pearly white teeth flashing everyone near her. The crowd cheered their agreement. "No, no need to respond – that was rhetorical." She moved in her bubble to another side of the crowd, letting as many people see her as possible. "Fellow Ozians, let us be glad and grateful; and let us rejoicify that Goodness could subdue the wicked workings of-" she stopped for a moment, clearing her throat, "the wicked workings of… you-know-who. Isn't it nice to know, that good will conquer evil? The truth we all believe'll by and by will outlive a lie for you and-"

A man in the crowd, that was silent to hear Glinda the Good deliver her speech, raised his hand pierced the mood by shouting "Glinda! Exactly how dead is she?" Everyone in the crowd gasped and turned towards the shouter.

"Because there has been so much rumor and speculation," the crowd turned back towards the curly blonde as she began speaking again, "innuendo, outuendo, let me set the record straight." Glinda adjusted her grip on her majestic wand with both hands.

"According to the Time Dragon Clock, the Melting occurred at the thirteenth hour, the direct result of a bucket of water thrown by a female child." Glinda proclaimed solemnly. "Yes, the Wicked Witch of the West is dead."

Cheering broke out again. "No one mourns the wicked!" A woman screamed.

"No one cries: 'They won't return!'" A male voice could be heard saying that to his wife.

"No one lays a lily on their grave." A child told her group of younger siblings around her.

Men could be heard telling each other "A good man scorns the wicked!" While a group of young mothers who had congregated were telling each other "Through their lives, our children learn what we miss when we misbehave…"

Glinda floated in her bubble while looking at the crowd celebrating just mere feet below her own slipper adorned feet, her face impassive as she moved to yet another area of the mass. People were trying to touch some part of her as she floated past them; many of them squealed in delight when they felt the softness of the bottom of her magical bubble.

Spotting a group of young children dressed in night clothes jumping around and cheering, Glinda popped her bubble and smiled as she approached the children. As she walked, people were scrambling head of heels to touch her hand of which she did freely. When she reached the children, her skirts were attacked by boys and girls hugging her legs while thanking her for getting rid of the dreaded witch their parents told her to run away from.

A little girl who had finally made it to Glinda tugged on her hand. Glinda smiled as she knelt down to look at her at eye level, noting the curious look on the child's face. "Glinda," she started, her voice in an inquiring tone of voice. "Why does Wickedness happen?"

"That's a good question. One that many people find confusifying." The crowd had quieted down again once she answered after a pause. "Are people born wicked? Or do they have Wickedness thrust upon them? After all, she had a childhood. She had a father… who just happened to be the Governor of Munchkinland.

"And she had a mother, as so many do. Also, like every family – they had their secrets. But, from the moment she was born, she was…" Glinda struggled to find a word. "Well… different." Glinda said. She soon explained the circumstances of her birth, how it was hard on both her mother and father; seeing how repulsed the Governor was and how agonized the mother of Witch was when they saw her unusual skin color. "So, you see, it couldn't have been easy!"

The citizens of Oz who had been listening started murmuring after Glinda explained. "No one mourns the wicked."

"Now at last, she dead and gone!"

"Now at last, there's joy throughout the land."

A louder voice exclaimed, "Goodness knows…

Glinda summoned her bubble from her wand and rose up above the crowd just enough to see her head and upper body. "Goodness knows her life was lonely. She died alone."

Cheering in the mass finally grew to its climax, the roar of voices the loudest it had been since the news broke. The Witch of the North floated higher in her bubble and in the direction of the balcony of which she flew down from but not quite making her exit yet.

"Well, this has been fun!" Glinda said, amplifying her voice with magic to get the attention of every person in the crowd. "But as you can imagine, I have many issues to resolve. Our dear Wizard had told me to announce that he will be taking an indefinite leave of absence; the tolls of his Wizardship had been too much and was taking its toll on him during this ordeal and he needs time to recover before returning to serve the people of Oz to his best ability." The people shouted up encouragement to Glinda, hoping she would deliver their well wishes to him before he left.

She steadily rose her bubble higher in the air to signal the end of her speech. "So, with his Wizardness' unexpected departure and leaving me as his successor, I have much to attend to. And so, if there are no further questions-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, a man's hand shot up in the air. "Glinda!" he shouted. "Is it true you were her friend?" The crowd gasped once again and turned towards him in time to see a woman grab his hand to bring it down and hit him on the arm with her streamer stick.

Glinda was glad for that brief moment of inattention toward her as she was frozen in place, not knowing what to say. Her mouth seemed to work of its own accord as she stammered. "I… uh… Well, I…" People started murmuring asking soft questions towards her.

"Yes."

Shouting and angry questions were being shot towards the Witch. Glinda decided that the truth needed be told. Lowering her bubble to the ground and vanquishing it with her wand, she stepped towards the citizens of Oz.

"Well," she attempted to diffuse the reaction of the people around her and who could hear her. "It depends on what you mean by friend." She used her wand to amplify her voice. "I did know her, our paths did cross… at school." She paused to gage the reaction of the crowd.

"But you must understand, it was a long time ago," she hoped in her hear that everyone would comprehend everything she said. "We were both very young…"

Glinda took a deep breath in and started to dig through her memories of which she had not thought of for the longest time…


So... to those who have been following me since my Glee story, please know I'm still working on it and this new story is to respark my desire and habit to write as well as help heal me a little bit. This story is more of a writing exercise to get me back to where I was when I was updating Struggling.

To new readers, welcome! I hope you'll come back and visit often. I can't promise an updating schedule as I am taking a very heavy science schedule at my university but I can promise you that I will not be abandoning this story no matter how long it is between chapters.

This story will be the story of Wicked, the musical, with actual lines from the the Wicked Grimmerie book I bought when I saw it when it was in my city. It has the full script and I can promise you that in this story, the lyrics from the songs will be in conversation form and somewhat natural to speak in the circumstances presented. So no, they will not be bursting into song in this story. The chapters will be based on the chapters and parts of the script. Since some of the chapters are quite short, I will be filling it in with a bit of my own imagination to hopefully fill some of the time gaps of the plot line.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you'll be kind enough to come back often and check for updates.

Sincerely,

AnatomyFreak (AF)