Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked.

Read A New Home followed by RMS Ozmania to have a better understanding of this one.

And do I actually have chapter names this time? o_O

Palace Invasion

Death was something Ellie had come accustomed to at a young age when the first person who ever cared about her passed away, even if she did meet her only a few times, and memories of her were fading. She was known as Auntie Em by Dorothy, but Ellie preferred to call her Aunt Emily. At the tender age of ten, she lost her first mother, Dorothy, who had gone insane and became very sick, dying right before the girl's eyes. But the thing was, she was never devastated at these two deaths. Some tears were shed, but she got over them fairly quickly. The one death that scarred her the most was of her real mother, Nessarose Thropp. Nessa's death actually happened the moment Dorothy's house fell upon her. However, for the two years Ellie had been in the Land of Oz, Nessa had tricked them into thinking she was alive, but it was all some complicated illusion Ellie couldn't explain. But when her mother's spirit finally passed on, it hurt her deeply, more so than those other two deaths. Through those years, she learned to accept death, and learned that people did die due to illness, old age, or even houses falling on top of a person (although this incident only happened once).

But death in masses completely frightened her. When she looked out some of the windows in the Emerald City Palace, dead Gale Force soldiers, Animals, and citizens littered the ground with their rotting flesh and blood. War was something the young fifteen year old girl would never understand. To be honest with herself, she didn't even understand why this war was happening. All she knew was the people of Ix wanted to take over Oz.

Today was a terrible day in Oz because the Emerald City Palace had been successfully broken into by these horrid people who wished for power. She knew she would never stand a chance against the powerful army of Ix. Elena Thropp wasn't one to pray, but today was an exception. Today, she might be killed, joining her dead relatives in whatever the afterlife was. Not knowing what god to pray to, Ellie began to just pray to her mother, hoping that she could help her daughter in her time of need. "Mommy," Ellie whispered. "Please don't let them find me, please. I am utterly terrified. I locked my door, but that will do no good. I don't know what to do. I packed a bag just in case I have to run. But where do I run? Mommy, I'm scared. I wish you were here with me, or maybe back then, I should have chosen to go with you. At least I wouldn't have had a painful death that way. Mommy, guide me to do the smart thing. I can't do this."

Ellie could hear the foreigners thumping about on the floors below her. She hoped that Glinda and Elphaba were safe. What was scaring her was the fact that day was slowly turning into night. It was the winter season, so the days seemed to be getting shorter. Once the sun was gone, Ellie would be left in the dark. She wouldn't light an oil lamp in fear the invading army would find her. Ellie cried silently when she realized that the footsteps she heard were just outside her door. "Mommy," she whimpered even though she knew that her mother wouldn't come to save her.

The brunette heard the army shouting to one another, then the pounding on her door started. Ellie didn't know where to hide, but she darted into her bathroom and shut the door quietly. She went into the tub and pulled the shower curtains in front of her. She sat there in a fetal position and held her breath out of nervousness more than anything else. She feared her life was going to end once the door to her bathroom was broken down. Using a language she didn't understand frightened her. She knew that the people of Oz who had been captured had been put into work camps and were treated brutally as slaves. She remembered how Brac had been captured one day in school.

It had been an average day in Oz about a year and a half ago. But then, their school was attacked, forcing them into lockdown. However, Ellie and her classmates hadn't been so lucky because they were eating in the cafeteria. Although they had only ten minutes for eating because of fear of the invasion that had started in the Quadling Country, it was enough time for a majority of the students to get captured, including Brac who had actually saved her by pushing her into the barrel of apples, covering her up and told her everything would be okay. But it wasn't, because she and four other girls were the only ones that either survived or weren't taken away. Ellie hadn't heard from or seen Brac since. She hoped that he was alive somewhere.

Lucky for her, the Ix soldiers didn't see her behind the curtains and marched off, shouting things in a foreign tongue.

Moments passed, and then she heard a blood curdling scream that belonged to Glinda. Ellie brought her knees to her chest and hugged them. Oh, how she wished she believed in Lurline or the Unnamed God, or even the Christian God Dorothy and the others believed in back in the other world of South Carolina.

Then, the screaming stopped. Ellie heard the Gale Force soldiers shouting about in the palace, and obviously defeating the foreigners. "Miss Elena, are you in here?" one of the soldiers shouted in the room. Ellie crawled from her hiding spot and got up to her feet. "Oh, I am so glad you're okay." She nodded.

"Flaine, we need you on the ground floor," one of the other soldiers said, and they were off. Ellie decided to go try and find Glinda or Elphaba, possibly both if she was lucky. She climbed the stairs and almost tripped over the blonde that was sprawled on the floor. The girl got onto her knees and tried to shake her awake. Whoever it was seemed to be on Ellie's side because the socialite woke up slowly.

"Glinda, oh, thank Oz you're all right," Ellie exclaimed, but then she saw the bloody wound Glinda had on her stomach. It looked as if she was stabbed. The poor woman coughed up blood, and Ellie had to keep herself from bawling at the sight.

"Ellie, you're okay," she whispered and brought her small fingers up to Ellie's cheek and then tucked her brown hair behind her ear.

"I am," Ellie agreed.

"They took Elphie," she wheezed. "They took her."

"The Ix soldiers took her?" Ellie asked. "Where?"

"Yes. There's a prison camp, the worst one, in Ix. I would bet she's there."

"Do you know where she is in Ix? Her whereabouts?" Ellie had to get this information from Glinda despite her horrible state. She was slowly staining the floor red, and this scared Ellie half to death. She could also hear a horrid battle going on downstairs and it was only a matter of time before they came back up here.

"I need a map," Glinda confessed. "I could show you then." Ellie could hear Ixian soldiers clomping their way upstairs. They were coming back for Glinda. The Gale Forcers had failed. Ellie scooped Glinda up carefully and carried her up back into her own room. She laid down the hurt ruler of Oz and grabbed a map from her drawer of Ix.

"Don't worry, they won't look here. They already did before," Ellie said hastily. "Can you point to the relative area where the work camp is?"

"Here," Glinda pointed. It was in the East.

"We have to get out of here," Ellie said and put her map in her famous brown waterproof bag that also contained her art.

"Sweetie, I don't think I can," Glinda said and breathed in sharply.

"You're going to have to," Ellie grabbed her first aid kit in her bathroom. She pushed Glinda's skirts up carefully. She wrapped the wound as best as she could, and was glad it wasn't as deep as she thought it was.

"You have that same take charge attitude that Elphie does. And Nessa had that too, you know," Glinda smiled and patted Ellie's hand.

"I know," Ellie smiled. "I'll be right back. I'm just going to grab a few things." Ellie darted out of the room as quiet as a mouse. She tip toed up to Glinda and Elphaba's room. There, Ellie found the enchanted broom, Elphaba's famous black cloak, as well as the Grimmerie in the bookshelf. The Grimmerie was off limits to Ellie, but she knew this was crucial so the people of Ix didn't get a hold of it. She had never opened it before and had only seen it once. She put it in her bag, grabbed the broom, clipped the cloak over her, and rushed back into her own room. "How is your wound?" Ellie asked the blonde.

"I think the bleeding's slowed down," Glinda said, although Ellie could see she was getting paler. "Are you wearing Elphie's cloak?"

"I figured once I found her, she'd want it."

"What are you doing with her broom?"

"Thought it might come in handy. Honestly, I have no idea. I just kind of grabbed it," Ellie shrugged and knelt at her bed and held Glinda's hand. Ellie could hear the Ix soldiers coming even closer as they marched up more stairs. "We really need to get out of here."

"I don't think I can," Glinda said weakly. "You get out of here and save yourself."

"I'm not leaving you, Glinda. Don't even say it," Ellie said and darted over to her closet and took out Nessarose's magical slippers and put them on her feet, replacing her black heels. She hoped that there was still some magic in them just in case she needed saving.

"I'm not holding you back. Besides, they want me, not you. If I let them take me, you'll be okay, Ellie."

"I wouldn't be okay because I would know something bad would happen to you. I don't think they'll just kill you, you know."

"I'm prepared for whatever it is they'll do to me."

"No you're not. Maybe if you were Elphaba I'd believe you," Ellie said. "Come on, I can hear them outside the door," the fifteen year old said as she opened the window. She knew Glinda was too weak to conjure up her pink bubble, so Ellie was going to have to take things into her own hands. Ellie carefully helped the blonde sit up. Glinda cried out in pain as Ellie got her into a standing position. She mounted the broom, putting Glinda in front of her as they stood on the ledge of the windowsill.

The door broke down. The soldiers of Ix ran towards them. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion for the two women barely standing on the ledge of the window. "What in Oz are you doing? You can't fly this broom!" Glinda exclaimed, afraid that she was going to fall.

"Just trust me. After all, I am of two worlds. Perhaps I can," Ellie said and pushed off the windowsill with her feet. She held Glinda up and closely with her left arm, and her right clutched the broom so hard, she could see her knuckles through her skin. Glinda screamed as they were plunging down to the ground due to gravity. Ellie pulled up hard on the broom, something she had seen Elphaba do numerous times. The two soared up into the sky. They were high enough so guns and arrows wouldn't be able to reach them, but low enough to breathe comfortably.

"You did it, Ellie," Glinda said.

"I told you," the girl smiled despite the fact the ruler of Oz couldn't see her. "Just relax. You can lean against me if you want." And she did.

"I hope I'm not too heavy," Glinda chuckled to herself. She still sounded very weak, and Ellie could feel her blood seeping onto her own arm.

"You're tiny," Ellie said. "Honestly, you make me look fat," she joked.

"Nonsense, you're just filling out."

"Luckily, I inherited mom's boobs, or so it seems."

"You look more like her every day. Nessa was a very beautiful woman. You got some pretty good genetics if I do say so myself," Glinda said, her eyes getting heavy. Ellie could tell she was trying to keep herself awake. And she couldn't let the blonde fall asleep no matter what, so she had to keep talking. After all, Glinda could never resist chit chat about nothing.

"Thank you," Ellie said. "I like how they're wasting arrows and bullets. They'll never get us. And it's going to get dark soon, so there's no way they'll find us. I promise we'll stop once it's dark and they lose us."

"You really do have good genetics. You've got Nessa's looks, as well as her smarts, and you even got Elphaba's logical thinking. I always wondered what it would be like to have a daughter of my own, and I wonder if she'd be like me." Ellie didn't feel wet blood hitting her arm anymore, so it must mean that the wound wasn't bleeding.

"Oh, she'd be just like you. But you've got to admit, I took after you. I do enjoy shopping, and without you, I doubt I'd have a sense of style. Too be honest, I think I'd be wearing those awful frocks if it wasn't for you," Ellie said, trying to make her feel better. Glinda had mentioned that she wanted her own biological daughter.

"Very true," Glinda laughed weakly.

"Why don't you ask Elphaba? I bet she could conjure up some weird spell to get you pregnant or something."

"I have mentioned it to her," Glinda sighed and closed her eyes. "We just got in a fight because there's nothing she could do. I even asked about magic, but there just isn't a way. She told me that I should have stayed married to Sir Chuffrey if I wanted a baby that badly," Glinda began to weep.

"Don't let Elphaba make you upset."

"But it's just not fair! I mean, she has you, and you're related to her, so you're practically her daughter. I don't have anyone."

"So you don't think of me as a daughter?" Ellie asked, trying to stifle her sadness and anger. "Do I mean nothing to you?"

"No, no, Ellie, it's nothing like that," Glinda assured.

"Then what is it like? Am I not good enough for you because we don't share the same blood?"

"Please don't get angry, Ellie, please."

"You know how much I put up with in school defending you? You know what it's like to make two Mother's Day cards in the fifth grade and none on Father's Day? Obviously you don't. When I have a child, he or she isn't going through with that. Luckily, I'm attracted to boys so it'll never happen. And to think I came all the way to Oz, traveled to Emerald City from Kiamo Ko with Elphaba, which wasn't all fun and games, I might add, just to get to you? Maybe I should have stayed in South Carolina. This way, I wouldn't be a burden to you," Ellie ranted, her voice rising as she spoke.

"Sweetie," Glinda cried. "I don't mean to hurt you."

"I'm glad you informed me that I've been wasting my time caring," Ellie huffed. "I've been wasting my time loving you as if you are my own mother. And here I am, saving your life when I should have probably left immediately to go look for Elphaba in Ix. But no, I'm going the other way to get you to fucking safety before I get her, so you aren't tortured and killed."

"Please stop, Ellie. Please stop," Glinda sobbed.

"Why should I stop? I'm not that timid little girl you first met."

"I know you're not. You're growing up into a beautiful woman, Ellie, I mean that."

"How do I know you're not lying? Do you even love me as if I was your own? Because I sure love you just as much as I loved mommy."

"And I love you as if you are my own," Glinda said and hugged Ellie's arm. "You are the perfect daughter, and I'm sorry for making it seem like I didn't care about you. I love you."

"I love you, too. I guess I overreacted. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, sweetie. Thank you for saving me."

"It's what I do," Ellie said as she let her smile spread across her face.

"Where exactly are we going?" Glinda asked. Ellie rested her chin on top of her golden curls and said,

"We're going to Munchkinland. I have a friend there that can help us. You remember Calix, right? I'm sure he'll let you stay there."

"You mean us," Glinda said firmly.

"No, I mean you."

"Elphie…she…she would want us to stay together, and for you to especially be safe. I mean it."

"I'm sure that's what she wants, but it isn't what she needs. I don't want her to suffer any longer, Glinda. She just can't. From what I understand, her life has never been easy."

"We will discuss this later. Now, I am really tired," Glinda yawned. Ellie wondered if she got any of her color back. She'd inspect her wound once she landed.

"I think it's safe to land now," Ellie said and began to descend towards the forest beneath them.