A/N: First, as always, I apologise for the long wait. But before you get angry at me, think of this: I could've ended the story in this chapter . I had the opportunity and decided against it.

'shizkin' is not mine. It belongs to the brilliant The Pixess ;P. Hope you don't mind that I borrowed it! (If you do, say so and I'll remove it. Rofl.)

Not the greatest or longest chapter, but I like it. Reviews are loved :).

Kiss Me Goodbye

She was trapped. Thinking she couldn't outrun the guards (and, most likely, she had thought correctly), Elphaba had ran as far as she could before she heard them on the stairs behind her. Once she had, she ducked into what looked like a storage closet. It was a fairly large storage closet, given, but it was still effectively working as a prison: there was only one way out.

And running out that door meant running straight into the clutches of the Gale Force.

Panting, trying to catch her breath, Elphaba froze in fear as she heard the heavy footsteps approach and stop very near to her hiding spot.

"She can't have gone far," a gruff voice called out to the men. "Search everywhere and find her."

As soon as she heard the troops move farther away, Elphaba started frantically searching the storeroom, attempting to find some alternate exit. Or, she figured, if not an exit, at least somewhere to hide better so they might not find her immediately if they happened to open the door.

There was nothing. Correction: there were plenty of spare items, such as brooms, buckets, and cleaning supplies. There was nothing, however, that she could use.

What felt like forever passed, each long, tense moment agonising, before she heard a lilting voice. He didn't sound too far away, but nevertheless said, "Sir, there's no sign of the Witch. The men have searched the attic, all the servants' quarters, and the entire ground level. She must've gotten away."

"That's impossible," replied the same voice Elphaba had heard earlier. There was a long pause, broken when the same man said irately, "Fine, search the slums! Make sure all of the Emerald City knows the punishment for harbouring a dangerous fugitive."

Elphaba let out a sigh of relief and moved to make herself slightly more comfortable as the voices died away. It was a huge mistake, however; one that as soon as she made, she was positive she would pay dearly for. For when she shifted, a bucket also moved, toppling to the floor and bringing several containers down with it.

The footsteps outside paused. "Did you hear that?" someone asked.

Elphaba felt as if her heart had truly stopped and in the place of blood, ice water was now pumping through her veins.

The footsteps grew closer.

Elphaba prayed to whatever God would listen that if they saved her from this, she'd become more faithful.

The door opened.

The face of an unkempt, cold man broke into a feral grin. "Hello, my sweet."

Elphaba felt her arm being ripped from its socket as the man yanked her up, dragged her out of the closet, and threw her onto the ground in a heap. "Well, lookie what we have here, men," he announced, raising his voice so the men down the hall turned in astonishment.

"Oz, she's just a girl," one of the older officers exclaimed upon getting a good look at her.

She spat at the Captain's feet when they started mocking her, prompting them to laugh raucously. "And a feisty one at that."

"Let's bring her to the Wizard, then. He'll surely reward us."

Elphaba froze, grateful for the first time in the last few moments that her long hair was covering her face- it allowed her to think without having to worry about concealing her emotions. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, pretties," she said, forcing her voice into a higher range than it usually went.

They continued laughing, though, to her credit, it was a bit more nervously. "And why wouldn't we want to do that," one of them asked mockingly, "pretty?"

She jerked her head up, allowing her hair to act as a curtain to her face. "He told you I was a Witch, did he not?" she said quickly, making it up as she went. "If you should attempt to bring me back to your pathetic Wizard-" she spat the word out as if it were a curse- "I'll have to use my magic on you."

Their laughter stopped. "You couldn't," the stoutest of them replied confidently. "We have your hands tied up."

In response, Elphaba started muttering nonsensical words. It had the desired effect, for they backed up several steps, their faces paling. They didn't, however, release her.

"Gag her," the Captain said, pointing to one of the ones grasping her hands behind her back.

The one pointed out started and started shaking nervously. Elphaba merely forced a smirk.

"Oh for Oz's sake," one of the officers said. "Just knock her out."

"And have her hex us? No, thank you," another retorted. There was a bit more scuffling around- Elphaba couldn't see any of them anymore, for she was pressed up against the wall, her hands still twisted painfully behind her back.

Someone scoffed, Elphaba's head was thrown backwards sharply, and a soaked cloth-covered hand made its way around her head to cover her mouth and nose. Struggling to get free, Elphaba tried not to breathe in, but she soon became dizzy, her lungs tight and painfully hot. Inevitably, the need for oxygen became too much and she took a deep breath in, wrapping her view in darkness.

Something was wrong. Glinda knew that much.

Morrible was nowhere to be found- a bad omen if she ever saw one. Elphaba had been gone for only a day and already a bad feeling had begun to take hold, twisting and transmuting until she couldn't eat or sleep. Something was wrong.

Her fears were confirmed when Madame Morrible suddenly reappeared late that afternoon in the Main Hall, blubbering rather falsely and blabbering about something having to do with the Emerald City. She pressed a hanky to her giant, shaking nose and composed herself, declaring a moment later in a breathy voice that an assembly would be held in fifteen minutes' time.

Fiyero pushed through the small crowd and found his way to Glinda. The two were still a bit stiff with each other, but had agreed to put aside their differences and try to be friends- at least until everything was sorted out. "What's that all about, d'you reckon?" he muttered to her as people started flooding out the doors.

"I don't know," she replied, "but I have a really bad feeling I don't want to know."

Fiyero paled. "Do you think something went wrong with Elphaba's trip?"

Glinda shrugged, her throat tightening. "I don't know," she whispered around the lump in her throat. "That's the only thing I can think of in the Emerald City that Morrible would care about, though."

They were jolted by a few passing students, and Fiyero bit his lip. "C'mon," he said finally. "Let's go see what this is all about, then." He placed his hand politely on her elbow, helping to lead her through the crowd.

Five pushy, crowded minutes later, Glinda found herself sitting between Fiyero and Boq in the cushy parlour not used in everyday campus life. The students were packed together, most sitting on the benches but a few left to stand. There was an excited buzz around the room, each contributor bringing a different note. Some had a tinge of anxiety to their hum, some worry, some happiness, some sadness.

"Think she'll say the sickness is over?" someone said.

"Oh, I hope she says exams are cancelled!" cried another.

"You're all wrong," another exclaimed gleefully. "It's about the Wicked Witch!"

A shiver ran up and down Glinda's spine as the room silenced, goosebumps erupting all over her arms and legs. "Wicked Witch?" she repeated in a whisper to Fiyero. The buzz resumed again, more apprehensive this time.

Fiyero shrugged, looking slightly queasy.

It wasn't too long before they would find out, though. Madame Morrible entered the room with a dramatic flourish, sending the room into silence once more. She walked up to the podium set up in the front of the room and cleared her throat. "My dear students," she began melodramatically, "I have good news and bad news to share with you all today. First, thrillifying news: no new cases of the sickness have been reported in several days. We are beginning to believe this horrendible illness is over!"

Cheers erupted throughout the room.

Morrible finally stopped them after a moment with a wave of her hand. "Yes, yes, very riveting," she said. "However, we must grave for those who have passed." A simper formed and passed on her face before she said, "And now, the dreadful news: one of our classmates has turned. Yes, ladies and gentlemen," she exclaimed over the gasps, "we have been playing host to an ungrateful traitor."

"Oh shizkin," Glinda whispered.

Once the exclamations died down a bit, Morrible began to recount the tale of what had happened the previous day. "So, you see, Miss Thropp had been invited to meet the Wizard- the lucky lady was being offered a job. Instead, the ungrateful brat threw it in Our Glorious Leader's face, attempting to steal from Our Glorious Leader, putting several, poor, defenceless Animals in harm's way in the process, as well as assaulting his Guards!"

The students were in tumult by this point, saying things like, "I always knew she was trouble," and, "What an ungrateful little witch!"

Glinda, on the other hand, began bawling into Fiyero's shoulder, who was staring ahead blankly, pale as a sheet. Out of the corner of her eye, Glinda saw Boq shake his head in disbelief. "She wouldn't do that, Fiyero," Glinda was murmuring to him, barely audible over the students' uproar. "I know her. She wanted this more than anything. She cares about the Animals and their rights. She wouldn't do this."

"Come on," he said, pulling her to her feet and following the few people who had begun to trickle out. Once they were free of the hectic parlour, Fiyero led Glinda to a bench outside, where he allowed her to sob until she was out of tears.

"She wouldn't do it," Glinda repeated shakily some time later. The sky was growing dark but the two were still outside, not wanting to go back in to hear the awful rumours.

"I know," Fiyero said reassuringly, leaning back against the bench raggedly. "The more pressing issue is why would they say she did?"

The first thing Elphaba noticed when she awakened, the moment she opened her eyes, was the weather. Oz had been having an unusually long period of sun- long enough, indeed, to cause a drought; three-quarters of Oz (excluding the wealthy Gillikin and the Emerald City itself) had been limited as to the amount of water they were permitted to use, hoping to avoid running out before the next rainfall. Now, however, it sounded as if it were hailing: something quite large and loud was beating an uneven, rapid tattoo on the stone roof and walls surrounding her.

It was then that she realised where she was, recalling the previous events in a moment's breadth. She must be in the Wizard's prison, for the guards had managed to capture and drug her.

Never had she felt so scared, so powerless. She was cold, hungry, tired, sore, and inevitably alone. She sat up, hugging her knees to her chest for both warmth and comfort. How in Oz was she going to get out of this?

Her movement must have triggered a spell, for a loud, high-pitched droning caused her to bolt upright in alarm. As heavy footsteps quickly approached nearer and nearer, she looked, frantically around for something with she could defend herself. Only a bale of hay and a broom rested in the cell she occupied. Sighing inwardly, she picked up the broomstick, brandishing it in front of her like a blade.

The guards- there were three of them- finally appeared out of the shadows. They looked a bit taken-aback at the girl in front of them, but they apparently deemed the broom- and the one wielding it- no threat to them, for they laughed loudly and gutturally.

"What, are you going to sweep the dirt off our clothes?" one said, sending the other two into more laughter.

Elphaba merely mustered as much ferocity as she could and forced it into a piercing glare as she jabbed one of them with the handle roughly.

"Dammit!" the one she hit swore. The other two immediately stopped laughing, attempting to wrest the broom from her hands. She put up as much of a fight as she could, but two fully-grown, trained, muscular men were no match for the scrawny, gangly, teenaged girl. It flew out of her hands eventually, the men grabbing the other end of it not ready for the sudden lack of resistance; as a result, they fell to the ground.

Elphaba's parched lips turned upwards even though there was nothing remotely funny with the situation. As soon as the guards righted themselves, they advanced on her cell, rattling the bars threateningly. "Just wait," one of them hissed as she shrank back from their rank breath, "the Wizard will punish you soon enough."

Her heart stopped for a moment. As soon as it resumed, the beat was erratic in fright. What was she supposed to do?

She tuned the buffoons out as they began lecturing her about the different ways they could torture her should she not behave. She was thinking as rapidly as she could- and yet, no brilliant ideas came to her.

One of the guards that had fallen grinned at her maliciously and motioned for his partners to follow him. The two finally left (but not without the guard she hit spitting in her general direction).

Truly alone for the first time in conscious memory since she had arrived in the Wizard's throneroom, Elphaba buried her face in her hands, trembling as the last precious drops of adrenaline fled her body. There was no way out- easy or difficult, she realised as a familiar prickling sensation began to take hold of her eyes.

Immediately she inwardly cursed her weakness, digging her fingernails into her palms in a painfully effective attempt to distract herself. It worked until her thoughts turned towards Glinda and Fiyero; her resolve crumbled. Salty tears flowed down her cheeks, leaving peculiar stinging tracks as they evaporated into the cold, stale night air.

Dimly she registered the hail had been replaced with a steady, soothing rain. As the last tear dried, she wearily collapsed onto the makeshift bed of hay.

Spent from the tears and the emotional impact of the day's events, Elphaba half-heartedly drifted off into a bittersweet slumber, plagued by ominous dreams that confused her sense of reality and filled her heart with ironic longing.

I won't be doing review responses, as I recently found out they're against the rules . Whatever.

Thanks to: TheThroppSistersandCompany, OMG it's WickedJelly, MoonlitInuko, Bombalurinasara, Geordie Jedi, Sparkling Patronus, xxDefyGravityxx, X-Kate-X, populardarling, not a geek freak. You guys make my world go round :) (and I mean that quite literally).