A/N: Thank you to everyone who is still reading this! It really means a lot to me. Galinda is rather mean when she first comes into the story, but she gets better eventually, I promise. She has her motives, just like Elphaba.

Anya struggled to eat her dinner, the gruel scraping against the back of her throat and making her want to vomit. Elphaba hadn't stirred since she had called Anya Galinda, and Anya was beginning to worry. Avaric had also failed to make an appearance at dinner like he had promised. Anya assumed it had something to do with that benefit the Captain had mentioned.

As darkness descended on the women again, Elphaba called for her. "Anya?" Her voice was coarse from thirst.

Anya cupped some water from the basin in her hands and carefully made her way to where the Witch lay. Elphaba sat up slowly and drank cautiously from Anya's tightly cupped hands. When she had finished, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as Anya wiped her hands on her dirty skirt.

"Where did we leave off?" the green woman asked, not missing a beat.

"But, Elphaba, shouldn't you rest? You can tell me more tomorrow."

"No day but today," Elphaba smiled ruefully. "Besides, I assume that you're nearly dying from want of entertainment. I know that being alone with only these four walls for company can make a person go crazy."

"How long have you been here?" Anya asked, surprised that she didn't know the answer to that question.

"Nearly three years now. Ever since Fiyero…"

Anya took the other woman's hand in her own. She couldn't imagine losing her lover. She wondered how Fiyero had died, if it had been from illness or a freak accident. Or the Wizard.

Elphaba took a deep breath. "I'll tell you about it eventually. I'm afraid I'll have to prepare myself. These old memories don't haunt me anymore, but him…It's difficult for me to think of that time in my life, even now."

"I understand."

"So where were we?"

"You had just gotten paired up with Galinda."

Elphaba smiled, her eyes growing distant as she revisited her memories. "Galinda. Yes. Well, we were completely different from one another. And because of this, we immediately loathed each other…"


"Would you desist?" Elphaba asked, swiveling around in her chair, annoyance and frustration clear on her face.

Galinda, who had been quite loudly preparing for her date, rolled her eyes. "What, is the green bean trying to study?"

Elphaba returned Galinda's eye roll. "Something you obviously haven't heard of."

"Oh, really, Miss Thropp, who needs books when you have boys? Oh, but how silly of me! You've got nothing but your books, do you?" Galinda grinned maliciously.

Elphaba was so used to being made fun of that the comments didn't even faze her. "Yes, well when your pretty looks fade, which they inevitably will, your husband will wish that he had married someone with substance."

Galinda gaped at Elphaba for only a split second before she regained her composure, but it was long enough for Elphaba to know that she had won. She smirked and turned back to her books, sighing contentedly. Galinda, of course, made sure to make as much noise as she could while she curled her hair, changed her clothes, put on her makeup. Elphaba only smirked more, knowing that she had gotten under her roommate's skin.

"Don't wait up, Miss Thropp. I'm sure I'll be having too marvelous of a time to notice the clock. I sincerely hope I don't wake you when I return," Galinda called over her shoulder as she exited the room. She slammed the door, and Elphaba breathed a sigh of relief. While surly came easily to her, the tension in the room when she and her roommate were both present and conscious was staggering. She hoped that she would get to transfer the next semester.


"I do believe you've met the man she went on a date with that night. As I recall, it was her and Avaric's first date," the Witch said with a smile.

Anya's face showed her surprise. "Avaric went out with Lady Glinda?"

Elphaba laughed a little at her shock. "Is that so hard to imagine? Galinda's beautiful, sure, but back then Avaric was the most popular and handsome boy in school. Until Fiyero, of course." Elphaba looked sad, but her eyes twinkled with the memory.

"How did you meet him?" Anya asked, entirely consumed by her curiosity. She had heard so much about him, yet she had heard hardly anything about him at all. The irony of that didn't escape Anya as she waited for Elphaba to respond.

"I see who you're interested in," Elphaba teased with a slight smile. "I don't blame you, though. He was always the more interesting of the two of us. But I'm getting to him, don't worry."

Anya smiled. Who knew that she would be talking about men with the Wicked Witch of the West? Anya distinctly remembered the papers claiming that the Witch was neither man nor woman. Some even claimed that the Witch was born both male and female, completely anatomically correct. Once, her lover had read to her an account of a man who had claimed to be captured by the Witch.

"Listen to this," her lover said, laughter clear in his voice. " 'She kidnapped me, she did! She stripped me naked, and then she removed her own clothes. I saw scars where a…man's parts…would be. I swear it, I do!' How completely ridiculous!"

Anya, who was stretched across the bed, honestly couldn't care less. Who really did care if the Witch was man or woman, or both? The Witch was a terrorist, and it didn't matter what sex a terrorist had.

"Come to bed," Anya purred. Her lover looked up from the paper and grinned.

After they had made love that night, Anya clung to him as if he were a life preserver. He was all that made sense to her. His dark skin swirled with her white, and Anya dreamt of the children that they would have together, if only they were permitted.

"What are you thinking of?" Elphaba asked, pulling Anya from her reverie.

"Just…my past. My family. I miss him so much it hurts."

Elphaba nodded. "You'll see him again soon. I can feel it in my bones. I may not be a sorceress like they claim, but I still have my intuition."

Anya grinned sadly. "I hope that you are right." She paused. "I think you would like him," she said suddenly.

"Why?"

Anya, who had mostly listened during her imprisonment, felt her stomach turn with nerves. Whereas Elphaba's story was altogether engrossing and important, Anya's was far less glamorous. Even her lover seemed to pale in comparison of what Elphaba clearly felt for her Fiyero. Anya wondered if Elphaba would think her naïve for sharing her intimate thoughts about her lover.

"He's activist, like you, but in his own little way. You see, he's from the Vinkus—" here Elphaba blanched but nodded "—and, because of the Wizard's laws of segregation, we aren't allowed to marry. He always supported you, saying that your fight was our fight. I think he would be shocked to know that I'm speaking to the Witch herself."

Elphaba, who had regained her composure by this time, smiled and nodded. "I had hoped to make a difference. Unfortunately, I failed. But if being in prison has taught me anything, I've learned the resilience of human and Animal nature. Someone will surely fight the battle that I couldn't win. And, if not, then the world simply isn't worth living in."

"Why did you give up, Elphaba?"

Elphaba sighed and closed her eyes. Anya thought that she had offended her and opened her mouth to apologize when Elphaba answered. "I refused to fight dirty like the Wizard. He can take everything else away from me, and, believe me, he has, but he can't take my morals. They're all I have anymore. It was either give up or go crazy with the things that I couldn't change."

"So why not just seclude yourself somewhere? Why get captured? I'm sure that you could have avoided it. You avoided capture for four years. What happened?"

Pain crossed Elphaba's face, but the green woman was quick to hide it with a smile. "Such a curious girl. Perhaps one day I'll feel comfortable in revealing my reasons. Until then, be comforted by the fact that this is truly what I want."

Anya shook her head. She didn't understand it, but she supposed she would have to accept it.