AN: Hi! Sorry it took me a while to update (compared to my usual updat speed, anyway), but I had a really hard time writing this chapter. I'm still not sure about it, but I've been musing over it for days and I'm fed up with it, so I'll just post it and if you hate it, please try to be nice about it :3.

1katiemariee: welcome back! :D

Also, I wanted to thank not only those who reviewed, but also those who follow/favourite my stories. It really means a lot to me. And those of you who review, follow, and favourite: I really love you guys. Like, seriously. I adore you. I worship you. I'll build you your own statue and bow before it. ...You get my point ^_^.

One of my own favourite lines, btw, was this one:

'If you want to ask her out, you have to do it her way.'

'Meaning?'

'Meaning chocolate, flowers, flattery, and as much romance as you can put in without feeling the urge to throw up.'


Chapter 7. Open

Elphaba didn't say anything. She just gaped at the paper for a while.

Glinda shook her head softly. 'First-degree murder, it says,' she said quietly. 'Of one…' She turned the article to read it again herself. 'Governor Frexspar Thropp. His daughter Nessarose Thropp also-'

'Stop it!' Elphaba cried suddenly, letting herself fall back onto her bed and burying her face in her pillow. 'Just… just stop.' Her voice was muffled by the pillow now, and Glinda was starting to feel sympathetic towards her friend. She rose and sat herself down on Elphaba's bed this time, gently putting one hand on the green girl's shoulder. 'Elphie… can you tell me what's going on?'

Elphaba shook her head, her face still hidden, and Glinda sighed. 'Elphie, you're wanted in all of Munchkinland. I've seen posters of you everywhere. You're suspected of murder and as your best friend, I'd like to know why.'

Elphaba felt as if she was being torn apart. How could she tell Glinda that practically everything that had come out of her mouth so far had been lies? How could she tell her best friend that her own father and sister were dead because of her? How could she tell her what had happened without endangering her?

Glinda seemed to sense her hesitation, because she said sternly, 'Elphie, I'm not leaving here until you tell me what is going on.'

Elphaba finally turned to lie on her back and look at her best friend. 'When you saw the paper… Did you tell your parents that you knew me?' she demanded. 'Or did you tell anyone else?'

Her roommate shook her head. 'No. I was afraid they'd tell the authorities… I wanted to hear your side of the story first,' she explained, and Elphaba closed her eyes in obvious relief. 'Okay. Good.'

Glinda watched her friend anxiously, and Elphaba sighed and gave in. 'First you should know…' She hesitated and looked at her friend. 'My name is not Elphaba Levine. It's Elphaba Thropp. And I'm from Munchkinland, not the Emerald City.'

Glinda just nodded solemnly, pointing at the paper. 'I figured as much. It's not like there are green girls running around all of Oz,' she said, which actually made her friend chuckle slightly before sobering again, looking hesitant, unable to find the words. Glinda squeezed her hand reassuringly and Elphaba closed her eyes again and started talking. It was as if all of her walls suddenly crumbled down as the words started tumbling from her lips almost involuntarily; she didn't really know how to stop them. She didn't even know if she wanted to. She told her friend about her childhood, about her mother dying – though she skipped the part about the locket – and what had happened after that, and she told Glinda about her father and sister dying – a slightly adapted version, though. She wanted to leave her friend in the dark about the locket and the Shadows that were after her. She had probably already endangered Glinda by telling her this much, Oz, probably even by being around her, but she still tried to keep the damage as limited as possible. So she just told her friend that she'd thought she heard her mother's voice, and that she had ran until she'd realised how stupid she was being; but that when she returned to the house, she'd found her father and sister murdered in their beds.

Glinda listened wide-eyed as Elphaba curled up on her bed, clutching her pillow, more talking to herself than to Glinda now. 'I ran,' she whispered, tears in her eyes – to her utter disbelief and disgust, but she couldn't stop them or hold them in. Not anymore. 'I thought I heard my mother's voice, telling me to run, and I did. I left them alone, Glin. I left them, I ran away because of a stupid illusion, and now my father and my sister are dead because of me.'

'Oh, Elphie…' Glinda scooted closer to the green girl and wrapped her arms around her. 'That wasn't your fault! It wasn't your fault at all! In fact, if it wasn't for that 'illusion', as you call it, you'd probably be dead now, too!'

'Perhaps that would be for the best,' said Elphaba quietly, for the first time voicing the thought that had played through her mind for the past few months, and Glinda nearly burst into tears at that. 'Of course not! Elphie!'

'If I had been there, they wouldn't have died,' she insisted, and Glinda shook her head violently, sending her blonde curls flying. 'What makes you say that? You could never have stopped a murderer by yourself, Elphie.'

That's true… if he had been a mere murderer. But he wasn't. He was a Shadow and he wanted me. The locket and me. If I had been there, if I could have just given him what he wanted, perhaps he would have left Dad and Nessa alone.

But at the same time, she knew that wouldn't have been an option. Melena had been very clear when she'd given her the necklace; it could never fall into the hands of the Shadows. Ever. Not even if that meant someone had to die to prevent it. Not even if that meant her father and Nessa had to die to prevent it…

Why had this curse been bestowed upon my family?

Elphaba's fingers instinctively found the locket under her pillow and she fingered it in disgust, wanting nothing more than to take it and throw it as far away as she could. It had cost her everything. Her father, her sister, her friends… her home. But she had to keep it safe. She'd promised her mother and she kept telling herself that. She had to keep it safe, or all would be lost.

'But he was looking for me…' The words escaped her lips in a whisper, and as soon as they did, she regretted letting them slip. Glinda looked at her wide-eyed. 'What do you mean?'

Elphaba shook her head. 'I don't know. Nothing.'

But her roommate pressed on. 'Elphie?'

She sighed and settled for an excuse as close to the truth as she could get. 'I was just wondering if… what if he was looking for me? Could I have done something?'

Glinda lay one hand on her roommate's arm gently. 'But why would he have been looking for you, Elphie?'

Elphaba sighed again and lied, 'I don't know.'

Glinda hugged her, causing her to tense at first, but then she allowed herself to relax a little. 'Oh, Elphie… You really mustn't blame yourself. It's awful, it really is, but there's nothing you could have done to prevent it.'

Elphaba just heaved another sigh, the weight of her secret heavy on her shoulders.


When she returned to their dorm between classes the next day, she was fuming.

'Glinda Upland!' she yelled, and Glinda paled even before her roommate came into view, but she forced a bubbly smile on her face. 'Hi, Elphie!'

'Don't you 'hi, Elphie' me!' grumbled Elphaba. 'You told Cohvu!'

Glinda grimaced. 'Well… yes,' she admitted. 'I'm sorry, Elphie, but we're all friends here, and I slipped up when I was talking to him… and then he just kept asking and asking until I told him what had happened. Look, it's no big deal – he won't tell anyone, and neither will I-'

'You already have!'

'From now on, I swear to you that I will keep my mouth shut,' Glinda promised, and Elphaba glared at her. 'Pinky swear!' the blonde added. Elphaba just shook her head and plopped down onto her bed. 'He's been all over me all day.' She started mimicking him. '"Oh, Elphaba, I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through! Have you talked to anyone? I know a very good psychologist who might be able to help you!" I swear to you, I felt like killing him. Luckily, there was kickboxing class today to help me give vent to my anger or Cohvu would have been dead by now.'

Glinda suppressed a smile. 'Where is Cohvu now?'

'In the infirmary.'

Glinda's eyes widened in shock, and Elphaba hurried to reassure her, though she was grinning. 'He's not hurt himself! He went with someone else…. Um…' She cleared her throat. 'Though I suppose it was my fault.'

'Elphie, what happened?'

Elphaba looked sheepish now. 'Look, I've only been fighting like this for a few months and my coordination is not perfect,' she defended herself. 'And… um… well… I kind of kicked Avaric in the face.'

Glinda looked confused. 'He's not even in your kickboxing class, is he?'

Her roommate shook her head. 'He's not, but he came to watch – one of his friend is in my class. He was by the sideline, and I was practicing, and…' She suppressed another grin. 'I can honestly tell you I didn't do it on purpose, but after he came to me again this morning to ask me in what was supposed to be a seductive voice if I cared to join him in his room tonight, I can't really say that I feel bad about it, either.'

Glinda giggled. 'How bad is it?'

Elphaba shrugged. 'Broken nose, I guess. Nothing serious. Mr. Jy made Cohvu go with him. Poor boy.'

Glinda giggled again. 'Yes… Poor Cohvu.'

Now that they were on the subject anyway, Elphaba decided to stick to her promise to Cohvu and ask Glinda a few questions. 'So… how long have you and Cohvu known each other?' she asked casually.

Glinda sat down on her bed and played with her bracelet. 'A year and a half, or so. Well, we've met before – that friend of Cohvu's I mentioned once? I met him before I met Cohvu, at these official and very boring gatherings my parents used to take me to… we weren't really friends back then, but we were acquainted. He invited me to a party once, because, well, he could see I was bored, and at that party I met Cohvu. I didn't see him again after that, but a few months later when I went to Shiz, there he was, and somehow we became friends.' She rolled her eyes in a way that was so like Elphaba herself that the green girl had to suppress a smirk. 'My friends, you know, Milla, Pfannee and Shenshen, they were all falling over him in the first few weeks. They all thought he was hot.'

Oh, this was just perfect. 'And you?' asked Elphaba innocently, letting herself fall down onto her bed, and Glinda hesitated. 'Well… Yeah. I suppose he's hot. I guess. He's certainly not ugly…' She flushed. 'Why are you asking me this?'

Elphaba shrugged. 'No reason.'

But Glinda was less gullible than she looked. She narrowed her eyes. 'You never ask these things.'

'Okay, then,' Elphaba pretended to surrender. 'I was just wondering if you liked Cohvu. You know, as in, boyfriend material.'

Glinda's face turned a bright shade of pink. 'What? Why?'

'Like I said the day after we met,' Elphaba explained. 'The nicknames – Coco sounds kind of like something you would call your boyfriend…'

'My cousin's name is Dahio and I call him Dada,' Glinda pointed out, 'so that doesn't prove anything.'

'Still,' insisted Elphaba. 'You would look well together.'

Glinda blushed even deeper at that. 'You think so?'

That was pretty much all the answer her roommate needed – Glinda was so in love with Cohvu. 'Would you consider it?' asked Elphaba, to be completely sure. 'Dating him, I mean? Or are you really just friends?'

Glinda sighed and fidgeted with the hem of her dress. 'I've had a crush on him last year,' she confessed. 'And I guess I would still like to date him… but I'm perfectly fine just being friends, too,' she dismissed it. She rested her chin on her hands and looked at Elphaba expectantly. 'Now that we're having an open conversation, anyway… Are you in love?'

Elphaba shook her head.

'Ever have been?'

She shook her head again. Glinda appeared shocked. 'You've never been in love before? Have you even had a boyfriend?'

'Glin, I'm green,' said Elphaba, and Glinda seemed genuinely panicky. 'Ever been kissed, then?' she demanded in a high-pitched voice.

Elphaba rolled her eyes. 'Would you kiss a vegetable?'

Now the blonde scowled at her. 'You're not a vegetable, Elphie.' She blinked. 'I just… wow. I can't believe you never…' Suddenly, her face brightened. 'Ooh! I'm going to find you a boyfriend!'

'I'm going to leave this room,' Elphaba declared, before doing just that – well, she only went to the bathroom, but still. Glinda pouted. She really wanted to make her friend happy, especially after what she'd told her the day before. Elphie's life must have been miserable before now, and she was determined to be the bestest friend ever.

Suddenly, something in Elphaba's bed caught her eye and she scooted over there to take a better look. It seemed to be a necklace… and it looked vaguely familiar. She frowned as she carefully examined the thing, but just then, the bathroom door opened and Elphaba came in again. 'Glin? What are you doing?'

Glinda quickly hid the necklace in her hand. 'Nothing. Do you want to go out and grab lunch together?'

Elphaba eyed her friend suspiciously, but nodded. 'Sure. I'll just be a minute, okay? Some idiot threw coffee all over me and I need to shower.'

Glinda nodded, looking strangely relieved. 'Of course. Meet us at the Shiz Café when you're ready.'

After her shower, she indeed met up with Glinda and Cohvu at the Shiz Café and they had lunch together. 'So, how's Avaric?' asked Glinda, and Cohvu made a face. 'His nose is badly bruised and he has a black eye.' He looked at Elphaba pointedly, and she held up two hands in the air in surrender. 'I said I was sorry! I didn't say I meant it,' she grinned, 'but I did say it.'

Cohvu shook his head. 'Well, I'm just happy you hit him harder than you did me the other day,' he muttered. 'My face was only a little bruised. Avaric looks as if he's lived through a war.'

Glinda giggled. 'Guess he won't be picking up any girls for a few days, then.'

'Oh, the horror,' Elphaba deadpanned, and her friends laughed.

Cohvu looked at her earnestly. 'How are you feeling?'

She glared at him and he sighed. 'Elphaba, that psychologist I was talking about-'

'Do you want another foot in your face?'

'I'm just trying to help!' he protested, but she sneered at him, 'I don't need help! I'm perfectly fine, Cohvu. Leave me alone.'

Glinda shook her head slightly at her friend, but didn't dare say anything – after all, it was her fault that Cohvu knew in the first place. She excused herself to go back to their dorm, leaving Elphaba alone with Cohvu – much to the former's dismay.

She made to leave as well, but Cohvu took hold of her arm. 'Em? Have you by any chance talked to Glinda?' he asked anxiously, and she exhaled slowly and sat back down at the change of subject. 'In fact, I have,' she told him. 'And I think it's safe for you to ask her out.'

His face lit up. 'Really?'

She nodded. 'She's okay with staying friends, but I'm pretty sure she'd be delighted if you were to ask her out. The Glinda-way, of course,' she added, and he nodded solemnly. 'Right. Chocolate, flowers, and flattery.'

She got up. 'I have to get to my next lecture.'

'I'll walk with you,' he offered. 'I need to talk to you about something else, too.'

She glared at him. 'If the word 'psychologist' so much as crosses your lips, I won't be held responsible for the consequences.'

He complied. 'Fine. It's not that, anyway.'

She shook her head and they walked out of the café. Elphaba's hand instinctively went towards her wrist, where she was wearing the locket mostly these days – it was almost November and it really was too cold outside to wear short sleeves now. She frowned, however, as she didn't find the locket there. She subtly managed to wriggle one hand into the bodice of her dress to look for the locket there, assuming she'd put it there that morning, but she didn't find it. That was when she started to panic.

Cohvu noticed, of course, and looked at her questioningly. 'Are you looking for something?'

She blinked. 'No.' Meanwhile, her mind was raging. Where had she left it? She always wore it on her body, except for when she was either sleeping or showering…

And that's when it hit her. She had showered in between classes today because of the coffee that had been all over her dress. She had hid the locket under her pillow during her conversation with Glinda, but she had been so distracted by the talk that she had forgotten to take it back after her shower. It must still be in her room.

'I… I forgot something,' she blurted out. 'I'll be right back.'

Cohvu reached into his pocket and held something up. 'Do you mean this?' His voice sounded a bit wary and, she noticed to her surprise, cold.

Elphaba's eyes widened as she recognised her locket hanging down from his fingers. She pulled it out of his hand rather violently and tucked it into the bodice of her dress again, her eyes frantically darting around to see if someone had seen the necklace. Luckily, no one seemed to have noticed, and she pulled Cohvu behind a pillar. 'Where did you get that?' she hissed at him.

He held up his hands in innocence. 'Don't blame me. Glinda showed it to me just before lunch. She said you were hiding it under your pillow and it looked familiar to her, and when she showed me the locket… I knew why.' His eyes bore into hers. 'Do you happen to be a Shadow?'

Her jaw quite literally dropped at that. Suddenly, his cold tone made sense. He and Glinda had apparently connected some dots, but their conclusions were, well, pretty much as wrong as they could be. She grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards her dorm. 'You have no idea what you're talking about,' she hissed at him, pulling him with her. 'I can't believe you'd do this. Do you know what would have happened if anyone had seen you with that locket? Do you have any idea what kind of danger you might be in right now? I should never have let you two get close to me,' she muttered, more to herself than to Cohvu. 'If I hadn't allowed myself to make friends, none of this would have happened. All that stupid piece of jewellery has brought me is bad luck. I'm walking bad luck right now.' She whirled around to face him. 'If anything happens to you or Glinda,' she began angrily, but she wasn't quite sure how to finish that sentence. However much she wanted to blame her friends, it really was her own fault. She should have been more careful.

She moaned and pulled at her hair. 'It'll be my fault.' She shook her head. 'I can't get anyone else killed…' She took a deep breath and pulled a very confused and bewildered Cohvu with her, up the stairs, into her and Glinda's room, and she locked the door behind her.

Glinda looked as bewildered as Cohvu did when she saw her friends storm into her room. 'Coco? Elphie? What's going on?'

'You two,' Elphaba declared hotly as she started pacing up and down the room, all kinds of thoughts whirling in her head, 'are absolutely insane.'

'I told her about our suspicion,' Cohvu told Glinda quietly. 'She's denying it.'

Elphaba really felt the need to punch someone in the face right now. 'You two think I'm a Shadow,' she said flatly, and Glinda hesitated. 'Elphie…'

Elphaba shook her head, suddenly seeming to deflate, as she sank down on her bed and stared ahead of her, a blank expression on her face. 'You have no idea what you're getting yourself into,' she whispered.

'Elphie…' Glinda moved to sit beside her on the bed and laid one hand on her roommate's arm. 'I'm going to ask you a few questions, and I need you to be honest with me, okay?'

Elphaba nodded mutely. She didn't really see the need to lie anymore now, since her friends had already figured things out on their own. She couldn't keep her secret from them anymore, anyway – she was pretty sure they wouldn't stop until she told them everything.

'Those Shadows you were researching the other day,' began Glinda. 'Are they real?'

Elphaba buried her face in her pillow and nodded.

'And the locket,' her friend continued. 'Is it or is it not one of the three Objects of Power?'

Elphaba's voice was muffled by the pillow as she replied, 'It is.'

'I told you,' she heard Cohvu say, and she lifted her head to look at them. 'How did you find out?' she wanted to know, her voice sounding slightly hoarse with pent-up emotion.

Glinda exchanged a glance with Cohvu. 'I found it,' the blonde said. 'I'm not even sure why I took it to Cohvu… I thought I'd seen it before. He put the pieces together.'

Elphaba was willing to believe that. Though admittedly, Glinda was a lot smarter than she let on, Cohvu was more one to have an eye for details – he would have remembered the pictures from the book they'd caught her with in the library the other day.

Cohvu's eyes were still cold, and Glinda seemed uneasy, as he asked bluntly, 'Did you kill your father and sister to get your hands on the locket?'

Elphaba shot up as if she'd been stung and her eyes flashed with rage as every single thing made of glass in the room shattered into tiny pieces. Cohvu and Glinda both winced as she stood there, eyes blazing, trembling all over. 'You have no idea,' she said, her voice dangerously calm, though she was feeling her emotions whirl around like a tornado inside of her, 'no idea what you're talking about.'

'Why don't you tell us then, Elphie?' whispered Glinda, and the young witch calmed down. A little. She sat herself back on the bed and looked at her friends. She could see both of them had given this a lot of thought – they looked uncomfortable, but calm, as if they were sure already that they knew exactly what was going on. A sound escaped her that was something between a hiss, a sob and a mirthless laugh, and Glinda recoiled a little, clearly frightened of her roommate in that moment; then, Elphaba collapsed onto the bed and broke into a fit of desperate, heart-wrenching sobs.

Glinda immediately forgot all about her fear and crawled onto the bed as well, wrapping her arms around her crying friend. 'Oh, Elphie, I'm sorry,' she said in tears. 'I didn't mean to… I know you wouldn't do such a horrendible thing.'

Cohvu seemed slightly more wary of her, but he apologised as well and he seemed sincere. 'I guess we just got carried away,' he muttered, staring at his feet. He was feeling positively ashamed of himself right now. 'I'm sorry, Elphaba. I shouldn't have assumed that… I should have known you would never do such a thing.'

She looked up, seeming angry, but not with him. 'How could you know?' she demanded, wiping her tears away. 'You didn't know me. I never gave you the chance to know me. I couldn't. I wish I could… Oz, you have no idea, but I just…' She took in a shaky breath. 'I don't blame you. Either of you. I told you so little about myself, and what I did tell you were mostly lies. For all you knew, I really was a cold-blooded murderer… but I'm not.' She shook her head violently and slumped back into the pillows, repeating faintly, 'I'm not…'

'You're not a Shadow at all, are you?' asked Cohvu, realisation finally dawning on him. 'You're the opposite of that. You're supposed to protect that locket – you're one of the people destined to keep the Objects of Power safe.' Glinda looked surprised at that – she hadn't thought of that herself yet – but Cohvu seemed confident that he was right.

Elphaba nodded faintly. 'I am,' she whispered. 'According to my mother, the locket has been passed down in my family for many generations. We're supposed to keep it away from the Shadows, or all hell will break loose…' She bit her lip.

'Is that how your family died?' Glinda asked her gently, and as Elphaba bit her lip again, she tasted blood. 'Yes,' she whispered. 'Not my mother – she really was sick… But my Dad, and Nessa… they died because the Shadows were looking for me.' She took a deep breath. 'They didn't know if my mother had given the locket to me or to Nessa, and they went to our house…'

'That's when you had the vision,' said Glinda as she understood. 'Of your mother telling you to run.'

Elphaba nodded faintly. 'The Shadow found me after that, but I escaped. I went back home and… and I found them there.' She told them everything after that – really everything this time, from what she still remembered about the time when her mother was sick and gave her the locket, up until now. They both listened wide-eyed, looking incredulous and shocked, and when she finished, there was a long silence.

Finally, Cohvu spoke up, his voice quivering a little. 'Em… I'm really, really sorry.'

She shook her head. 'It's okay,' she said hoarsely. 'Like I said, I… I didn't give you much leverage. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you anything, but…'

'We understand,' Glinda assured her quietly, and then Elphaba startled them both by wrapping her arms around them in a hug. Glinda immediately hugged her back and even Cohvu did, after an initial moment of bewilderment. 'We're here for you, Elphie,' the blonde girl assured her. 'We're your friends.'

Elphaba pulled away, shaking her head. 'You can't be anymore.'

They both looked genuinely shocked now. 'What?'

'We can't be friends anymore,' the green girl repeated, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them. 'I can't stay here. Not now that you know.'

'What?' Glinda just repeated, in shock, and Elphaba looked at her, feeling surprisingly calm now that her secret was out in the open. 'If they find out that you know about it… they'll kill you,' she said simply. 'I can't let that happen. I've lost my family already… I can't lose my friends as well.' She shook her head again before rising to her feet and pulling her bag from underneath her bed, after which she started throwing her possessions inside. Cohvu and Glinda exchanged a glance before both leaping to their feet and grabbing one of Elphaba's arms. 'Stop it, Elphie,' Glinda told her sternly. 'You're not going anywhere.'

'Don't be ridiculous,' added Cohvu. 'We can help you. We want to help you, don't we, Glin?'

'Right.'

Elphaba looked faintly amused and exasperated at that, but she was also touched. 'Glin… Cohvu. I can't.' She sighed and raked her fingers through her long, raven hair. 'I just… I can't endanger you two more than I already have,' she said quietly, and Glinda hugged her. 'Oh, Elphie… Please don't do this,' she almost begged her friend. 'Just… just stay. At least stay here for now – it's soon going to be dark and I don't want you wandering the streets on your own then. Sleep on it, okay? We'll talk in the morning?'

Elphaba hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. 'Fine.' She looked at her friends. 'But you have to promise me not to tell anyone about this,' she warned them. 'Not as much for my sake as for your own. Please. You have to keep this a secret, or we'll all end up dead.'

Cohvu nodded gravely and Glinda said seriously, 'My lips are sealed,' before pretending to lock her lips and throw away the key.

Elphaba let out her breath in relief. 'Okay. Thank you.'

That night – being the stubborn personality that she was - she snuck out of their dorm and headed outside, ready to leave Shiz despite her promise to her friends; but a faintly amused, yet cold voice froze her in her tracks.

'Going somewhere, dearie?'


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