For disclaimer and other stuff, see part 1 and thank you for the review to Pernicia .

Chapter 6

When they had to leave the castle that had been his home for nearly all his life, Fiyero didn't look back. He was still angry with his father for making him choose. How could he? Couldn't he understand that wasn't the way love worked?

Love wasn't based on your skin color, or if you are friend or enemy. Love simply happened. And long ago Fiyero had fallen in love with Elphaba. He didn't care that she was green. He didn't care that nearly everyone else believed her to be the Wicked Witch of the West.

"Where do we go from here?" she asked him.

"I don't know, but at least we are together."

"I am sorry, Yero."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. It was my decision. I love you, my Fae." He took her hand in his and gave her a gentle squeeze.

Both had decided that for the time being they would stay in Elphaba's little cabin in Quaddlingland.

It was a three-day journey to the cabin. Mostly they travelled by night. Fiyero was afraid that someone would spy them. Especially because Elphaba's green skin made them easily spotted.

One night they had to camp near a small town. Fiyero was really afraid. Their happily-ever-after could be over any minute.

They had build a small tent in which Tanith and Elphaba were sleeping soundly while Fiyero was sitting outside, guarding his family. Elphaba slipped out of the tent and sat next to her lover.

"You should have stayed with your parents," she started again.

"Fae, we already talked about it."

"You made your decision without me," she answered.

"Still, it was the right one."

Elphaba looked up at the sky, the western sky, the one she had haunted all that time. People believed her, the Wicked Witch of the West, to be dead. She was afraid what would happen if someone would learn the truth. She knew that she would be killed this time and she was afraid for Fiyero. What would happen to him? The Ozians would realize that the ex-fiancé of Glinda the Good had helped the Wicked Witch of the West. He would be imprisoned or worse, he could be killed.

What would happen to Tanith if they would capture and kill the two of them? The little girl would have to grow up without her parents.

She was afraid that something really bad would happen.

But thank Oz everything went fine on their journey.

Tanith did ask a couple of times why they had to go away, she had wanted to stay at the castle and play princess a while longer. Fiyero hadn't found the right words to tell her the truth. For him, she would always be his little princess.

He knew that Elphaba blamed herself for what had happened back at his home. He had tried to argue with her, but she was stubborn.

And when they finally reached their home for the next while, Elphaba gazed up at the abandoned cabin. It was the place she had once lived, the place where she had said goodbye to Fiyero so long ago.

It was a shock, noting that the little garden was untended to and ivy crawling up the cabin's walls. How did things diminish so quickly? Was it only a few years ago that she was living in this place? Four or five years ago she had once spent the night here and later she had returned to this place with Tanith. Up until nearly a year ago she had spent a lot of time here.

A shiver slid down her spine as she stepped onto the walk. She was hit with a remarkable sense of déjà vu. Her shoes made soft click-click-clicks on the footpath. Elphaba tried to avoid stepping on the dead flowers that drooped off of their stems, suffocated by the weeds that had strangled them. She was reminded of her mother, spending hours slaving away over her garden path and the rose bushes. Her mother had loved this cabin. The two of them had spent some time here before Nessa was born, before her mother had died. The cabin was the only real thing she had inherited from her mother.

She stopped before the large, wooden door that towered over her. The paint was chipping and the hinges rusted into place.

Elphaba gently reached out and grasped the door handle. It was thick with dirt and rust and she had some trouble twisting it. At last, she threw herself onto the door and forced it open.

The sight that met her eyes nearly sent her reeling.

Everything was dusty and untouched. How long since she had been here? It had been the day Tanith had been captured.

Elphaba ran her fingers lovingly over the old, dusty books filled with the knowledge she craved lining up the wall near the fireplace. Knowledge that would block out all of the problems in her life that she didn't want to deal with. She felt safe here in the little library filled with history, things so much older and more important than herself. She could actually think here. It was quiet and safe and for a little while she was in a place where she could forget about the real world. She stopped at a book shelf and closed her eyes, drinking in the scents of the old books; leather and the slight smell of mildew.

It was home, if only for the time being.

It was home, but she didn't know for how long.