Haha…I really should be working on WotW. Unfortunately, the thought of that right now makes me want to go and shoot myself; it's at a standstill. Therefore, I bring you what I love. Angst. A one-shot of pure angst.

Normally, I don't publish my one-shots. Apparently, I do now.

And thanks to Heffy for first, giving me the angst bug (although I had it already), and second, being a beta for me.

Forever and a Day:

Nearly a decade had passed since the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. In that time, Oz had flourished. Glinda the Good had single-handedly taken down the hierarchy that had dominated Ozian society from the time that the Wizard had taken power and built up a new government in which every Ozian, human or Animal, had a voice. She had finally taken Elphaba's dreams and made them into a reality. Animals were slowly rejoining society; one could find Panthers strolling along the streets of the Emerald City, or Cats teaching respected seminars at Shiz.

But with every time of peace, there comes a factor of discontent, boiling beneath the surface and waiting for the right time to explode. There would always be Ozians who preferred the Wizard's rule, as tyrannical as it was. They enjoyed the feeling of power and superiority over the Animals. With Glinda as a leader, that power had disappeared with the new laws she had almost immediately passed. In the ten years, the group had been slowly growing, gaining influence, and making plans. Tonight was the night to act.

Security had been lax in the past few years. Having secured peace and joy throughout the land, Glinda did not fear so much for her safety as for the safety of the Animals which she felt such responsibility for. The chosen members of the group did not have much work to do. The guards supposed to be guarding the entrance of the palace had fallen asleep on duty. No guards were strolling through the palace halls leading up to Glinda's rooms.

Glinda the Good had not even time to scream. The designated assassin stabbed her with such alacrity and precision that all she felt was a flash of pain and then an eerie feeling of nothingness. In the moment before the nothingness, however, Glinda had but one fleeting thought. She had thought of Elphaba. I'm coming, Elphie. I'm coming.

It had been Fiyero who had found the body first. It had been half concealed, hidden in among the roots and leaves of the old rotting oak by the river. Whoever had left the body there had not bothered to hide it properly. It was as if they were trying to make a statement, the way it had been thrown into the undergrowth. The body had not been there for more than two or three days, but there was no mistaking those blonde curls or that crown.

Elphaba could not look at the body. She did not want to. This was not the way that things were supposed to happen. Glinda was supposed to be ruling Oz, not lying dead five miles from their safehouse. In a way, Elphaba blamed herself. She had promised herself on the night she was 'melted' that she would sneak back to Oz and check on Glinda. It would be her way to make sure that her best friend was safe. Out here, however, she had continually put that task off. One year, it was too rainy, and the next, the roof of their house needed repairing. It wasn't that she didn't want to see Glinda, but that Elphaba wasn't sure she would be able to watch Glinda without letting the blonde know that she was alive. That would have been disastrous, and so, instead, Elphaba had simply put her trip off.

The burial had been simple. Elphaba had wrapped Glinda's body in her old cape- the one that Glinda had given her that day in the attic so long ago. Working together, Elphaba and Fiyero finally placed Glinda the Good in her final resting place, at the foot of the old oak by the river. Elphaba had been cruelly reminded of a day, almost in another lifetime, when she had sat under an old oak by a river. It had been the day she had received the letter from the Wizard, summoning her to meet him. She had been euphoric, and Glinda had been there to celebrate with her.

"What will it be like, I wonder?" Elphaba said, leaning against the old oak by the dorms and taking the official letter out to admire again. "Working for the Wizard, I mean. Or even just getting to meet him."

"I don't know, Elphie." Glinda looked amused at Elphaba's uncharacteristic excited chatter. "I've certainly never met the Wizard."

"Well, it should be amazing, either way." Elphaba paused. "Or should I say 'wonderful'. I'll remember it forever. I should hope I'll remember it forever," she added as the thought came to her.

"Perhaps to be on the safe side, you should remember it forever and a day," Glinda suggested. "You'll always have that extra day."

"Forever and a day, huh?" Elphaba mused. "I like that. Well, when I meet the Wizard, I'll remember that moment forever and a day."

Elphaba wrote the message on Glinda's headstone herself.

Here lies Glinda Upland.
Rest in peace.
For all you have done, you will be remembered forever and a day.

Yay! Depressing-ness. My favorite. Hey…at least no one was tortured.

Reviews are love! Thanks!

-Wolfie