Disclaimer: I do not own or lay claim to anything even tenuously associated with Wicked or The Wizard of Oz or any of the characters, situations, settings, etc. contained therein. They belong to various individuals who are considerably more talented and well-off than myself; included among these people are Gregory Maguire, Winnie Holzman, Stephen Schwartz, L. Frank Baum, and the company of MGM. I am only playing with the aforesaid characters, situations, settings, etc. for my own amusement and am making no profit whatsoever from this (other than the betterment of my writing skills and my own amusement). No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

A/N: For my 50th fic here on FF.N, I'm returning to my roots: Wicked. I was cleaning out my files when I ran across a Wicked fic that I wrote a little over five years ago. Originally it was part of a much longer story (an epic that was supposed to stretch from a few days before Fiyero's arrival at Shiz to the end of the show), but I know that realistically I'm never going to finish it. Therefore, I've carved out a few of the better written sections and am in the process of turning them into a semi-coherent story. Eventually, this fic will be somewhere between two and ten chapters. My apologies in advance for my slow updates!

Just a reminder: Fiyero wasn't there when Elphaba offered to take Glinda with her to the Emerald City. Therefore, he has no idea what's going on at first.


Chapter One

Fiyero thought it a bit peculiar when he didn't see Galinda – no, Glinda, he reminded himself – in class or at meals the next day. He had known, of course, that she was fairly close to Elphaba, but he hadn't realized that she would take her departure this hard. It wasn't like Glinda to shut herself up in her room and isolate. It couldn't be healthy.

And so, despite his intentions to think of a way to gently break up with Ga – Glinda, he found himself heading to her dormitory, with the express purpose of cheering her up and getting her out of her room.

When he knocked at the door, no one answered.

That was a bit strange, too.

No matter how upset Glinda was at Elphaba's departure, surely she wouldn't miss the chance to tell someone else how miserable she was. And she was too well-bred not to answer the door, anyways. Keeping up appearances and all that.

Something was very wrong here.

He knocked again – louder this time. There was still no reply.

He briefly contemplated breaking down the door, but quickly dismissed that plan. If Glinda really was in there, she'd be pretty annoyed with him if he smashed her door in. Morrible wouldn't be terribly pleased with him either – and he was on thin enough ice with her right now, after the whole Lion Cub incident. He didn't want to get kicked out of Shiz – not now.

So, with a shrug, he resigned himself to waiting for Glinda to make an appearance. She couldn't stay in her room forever – if, indeed, that was where she was. And if she wasn't in her room… well, if he didn't see her by the end of tomorrow, he'd think of something.

-–-–-–-

The next day, Fiyero had gone downtown to get a cup of coffee – he had Early Gilikin Literature in an hour, and he needed the caffeine if he was going to have any hope of getting through the class.

Glinda still hadn't shown up to any of her classes, and he hadn't seen her in the dining hall or at any of her usual haunts; something about this jangled at his nerves. It felt all wrong.

As he was musing on this, Fiyero absently noted that the newspaper vendors seemed to be doing an unusually brisk business that morning. He didn't pay much attention to this, however, as he had just reached Mr. Quaddle's Café & Coffee Shop. It wasn't the most sophisticated of places, but Fiyero had yet to find a place in the area that served a stronger cup of coffee.

Entering the shop, he promptly ordered his usual – a dark, bitter Vinkus-blend – and sat on a barstool for a few minutes, attempting to sip his steaming drink. When it had cooled sufficiently for him to able to drink it without scorching his tongue, Fiyero gulped it down. Normally he sipped at his coffee leisurely – why pay good money for something if you didn't take the time to enjoy it?, he reasoned – but today he needed to get back up to the school. Although he wouldn't mind missing the Literature class, he knew perfectly well that Madam Morrible would mind – and he didn't want to get into any trouble with her so soon after the last incident.

As he strode along the street back to Shiz, Fiyero heard the newspaper vendors shouting out the latest headlines.

"Wicked Witch of the West Attacks Wizard!"

He rolled his eyes.

'The Wicked Witch of the West'? What sort of a name – well, title more accurately, he supposed – was that anyway? He'd never heard of this person. Besides, the security around the Wizard was far too good to be breached by some petty terrorist.

"Green Terror Terrorizes Capitol City!"

Hold on – 'green terror'?

Fiyero only knew of one green person. One green person with a rather bad temper.

"Monkeys Mutilated by New Insurgent! Denizens of Emerald City Fear for their Lives!"

Trying to push away the hollow feeling of dread that was growing in his stomach, Fiyero shoved his way through a cluster of onlookers to a man selling papers.

One look at the front page of the paper confirmed all of his worst fears. A picture of Elphaba – bedecked in a black cloak and a very familiar witch's hat – scowled down at him, a broom tightly clutched in her fingers. The headline proclaimed 'Where Will She Strike Next?: Wicked Witch Swears Vengeance On Our Wonderful Wizard'.

The feeling of dread settled in his stomach like a stone.

Oh Elphaba, he thought desperately, what have you done?

-–-–-–-

Fiyero was been unable to concentrate all throughout Early Gilikin Literature. His only consolation was that no one else was concentrating either – not that this was an unusual occurrence, per se. The only unusual thing about it was the reason.

He kept trying to sneak a look at his paper – he had been unable to read much of it on the way up to school – but Madam MaClain had caught him at it and confiscated the paper.

"After class, Mr. Tiggular," she snapped briskly.

He nodded, attempting to look penitent, but afraid that he only looked resentful.

After suffering through an hour and fifteen minutes of sheer mind-numbing boredom, Fiyero was treated to a lecture by the professor on proper conduct in class. At the end of this, she returned him his paper, with the explicit warning that if she were to catch him not paying attention in her class again, there would be unpleasant consequences.

Fiyero's first action upon reaching his room was to bolt the door and collapse on his bed. Unfolding the paper, he began to read the article. As he shortly discovered, the whole state of affairs was much worse than he could have imagined.

Where Will She Strike Next?

Wicked Witch Swears Vengeance on Our Wonderful Wizard; Newly-Titled Good Witch Barely Escapes With her Life

by Nexun Figul, Special Correspondent

When Miss Glinda Upland was invited to the Emerald City by the Wonderful Wizard himself, she had no idea that she was about to be bestowed with a greater honor yet. The Wizard, having heard of her Goodness and great talent for sorcery, wanted to offer her a position in the government in advance, which she would take up after her after her graduation from the prestigious Shiz University, where she is currently a student.

"I was astonished," Upland states, tossing her blonde hair. "I never could have dreamed of such an honor. Of course I accepted it – who wouldn't, after all?"

The Wizard has granted Miss Upland the title of 'Glinda the Good'. Citizens of Oz, we are sure, rejoice upon hearing this good news.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as happy about the Good Witch's good fortune. A Wicked Witch – with hideous skin as green as sin – had concealed herself in the throne room, and overheard the entire conversation. Overcome with jealousy, she burst from her hiding spot, and attempted to threaten the Wizard. When he refused to yield to her demands, she vengefully disfigured some of the Wizard's monkey servants. The monkeys twitched and convulsed with pain, and soon sprouted wings; these poor creatures are now deformed for life.

But the Witch was not satisfied with this alone. She then tried to kidnap our beautiful Miss Glinda, who narrowly escaped with her life. Guards were summoned to contain this abomination of nature, but it was too late. Using her unnatural powers, the Witch had summoned a broomstick, and took flight. According to eye-witnesses, her cackle was "spine-chilling" as she told the Wizard that he'd never catch her, and that she would do whatever it took to bring him down.

Citizens of Oz, be warned: the Wicked Witch's malevolence knows no bounds.

Press Secretary to the Wizard, the esteemed Madam Morrible, advises the public: "If you see the Witch, contact security immediately. Do not attempt to deal with the problem on your own – she's much too powerful. Heed nothing she says; she's evil, no matter how she may try to persuade you otherwise. Even if her skin does not convince you of her Wickedness, her actions will. I myself am horrified by her deliberate mutilation of these monkeys, who were merely innocent bystanders. Remember, if she will do this to poor, dumb beasts who pose no threat to her, she will certainly do to worse to you."

Since this occurred last evening, sightings of the Witch have flooded in from all over the countryside.

Citizens are advised not to panic, and reminded that offering the Witch shelter or assistance is a criminal offence.

"I can't understand why anyone would do something so horrible," Her Goodness Miss Glinda said, blue eyes filling with tears. "I just can't understand."

The Great and Terrible Oz, however, assures us that the Witch will be caught and brought to justice soon. Until such time, however, citizens are urged to exercise caution.

"She can't hide forever," the Wizard said in a recent statement to the press. "She has to show her face sometime. And when she reveals herself, we'll be ready."

-–-–-–-

It can't be true, Fiyero thought hazily as he went about the rest of his day on autopilot. Elphaba would never harm an animal, no matter how upset she was. And besides, the Wizard asked to see her, not Glinda!

He awkwardly maneuvered his way through a crowd of students.

For that matter, was Glinda ever even invited? She must have gone along with Elphaba… that's why I haven't seen her around here! But – if things didn't happen the way the paper said – well, why would everyone lie? It must be the paper, they got the facts mixed up…

But he knew that this was unlikely to be the case. All of the papers, from the Oziad to the tabloids, were controlled – at least to some degree – by the government. So there was a high probability that anything printed in the paper had already been approved by a higher level authority. Which meant that this couldn't be a simple case of the facts getting mixed up. No, this was something bigger.

Oh, so now you're subscribing to conspiracy theories? Fiyero asked himself disgustedly. You're paranoid, Fiyero Tiggular, absolutely insane.

But really… what else could it be? Something must have happened that the government wanted to cover up. That or…

No.

He refused to think about it. But thoughts crept into his mind, heedless of his wishes.

What if… the paper is telling the truth?

Elphaba did have a nasty temper. Of course, she wouldn't have harmed the monkeys on purpose, but her control of her magic was tenuous at best when she was upset. He could easily imagine her losing her temper about something, losing control of her magic – and the consequences that would then follow. It was all entirely too plausible.

But why would the Wizard allow her to be vilified like this? By all accounts, he had been very interested in getting her to work for him – for there was no denying that Elphaba was quite powerful. Why would he make an enemy of a potential asset and ally? Unless… maybe Elphaba had lost her temper at him for something. And, in retaliation, the Wizard had allowed her name to be blackened.

And when Fiyero shivered, it had nothing to do with the breeze.