As she stood in the library waiting for Nessarose, Elphaba still couldn't get over Shell. He looked so much like their mother, but still showed traces of their father. Neither she nor Nessarose could claim that. Nessarose shared some of their mother's features. Elphaba even less. Neither looked anything like Frex. What got to her most for some reason was the fact that her brother was perfect. Perfect limbs, peach colored perfect skin, and handsome features. Guess Mama had it right wanting a son, she thought.

When she heard the large oak doors being opened, Elphaba turned from the window she'd been staring out. She wasn't surprised to see her sister's appearance, so dark and stiff, she was in mourning and now the Eminent Thropp, what did surprise her was the fact that Boq was pushing her into the room.

"Hello Nessie." Elphaba said carefully before giving Boq a nod of her head. "Boq."

Her fellow Munchkinlander schoolmate smiled at her. "It's good to see you're safe, Miss Elphaba."

"Indeed." Nessarose agreed. "Boq dear, would you mind leaving my sister and I alone."

The look on Boq's face was some kind of mixture of disgust and relief. He gave his old friend a nod of his head before leaving the room.

The room suddenly filled with silence as the sisters simply started at each other. It was Elphaba who finally broke the silence. "Look, Nessie, I know your probably really angry with me."

"You abandoned me." Nessarose huffed.

Elphaba sighed as she sat in a chair next to her sister. "I know and I'm sorry about that, but I had to do what I thought was right, Nessie. I had to get away."

"What happened?" Nessarose asked.

"The Wizard, he wanted to use me." Elphaba explained. "He tested me, gave me this book and told me to read from it, I ended up hurting a lot of innocent Animals. He wanted to use me to hurt more people, not just Animals but all of Oz."

"It's said you attacked him." Nessarose said coldly.

Elphaba shook her head. "The first time I was so stunned I was in shock. I grabbed the book and Glinda and ran. The second time it was he who attacked me." Elphaba sighed as she got to her feet and began to pace. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Nessie, or Grandfather, or anyone else."

Nessarose blinked. "Grandfather?"

Unable to look at her sister, Elphaba returned to looking out the window. "They say he died when he heard the news of my so called betrayal to Oz."

Nessarose blinked and then suddenly started to laugh.

Elphaba blinked this time and turned to look at her sister. "What's so funny?"

"Elphaba, you didn't kill Grandfather." Nessarose told her. "He had a heart attack while his nurse and he were… Well, lets just say they had to lift him off her."

Emerald skin turned a deep dark green. "Oh."

Nessarose weighed wither she wanted to tell her sister what their grandfather had truly said upon hearing the news of his granddaughter's behavior, but decided against it. What good would it do for her sister to know the old man had been proud? Instead she asked, "Why are you here?"

It was hard to do especially for her but she managed to say, "I need help, Nessie."

"I gathered as much." Nessarose replied. "You want a place to hide."

"No!" Elphaba countered. She didn't like the tone of her sister's voice. It made her sound as if she were a stray dog looking for a scrap. "I'm not here to hide, I'm here to ask for help against the Wizard."

"And why should I ally with you against the Wizard?" Nessarose asked as if she held all the cards, which in her mind she did.

Elphaba knelt beside her sister's chair. "Because if we don't do something he's going to destroy Oz."

Nessarose snorted. "Now you sound like Papa. Have you lost your mind to the conspiracy theories as well?" The wheelchair bound girl looked down into her sister's eyes for a long moment before turning even colder. "Why should I do anything for you, Elphaba, you've done nothing for me."

That felt like a spear right through Elphaba's heart. She'd spent most of her life taking care of Nessarose because she blamed herself for her sister's condition. "What do you want from me, Nessie?"

"You say you've all this power that the Wizard wants and yet you've never used it to fix what you've done." There was so much anger, maybe even hate, in Nessarose's tone it even surprised herself.

"What I've done?" Elphaba asked.

"If you hadn't been born green, I'd be able to walk." Nessarose spat out.

Getting to her feet, Elphaba staggered back a little. She'd never heard her sister confirm her own guilt. "Nessie I…"

"If you finally help me Elphaba then I will help you." Nessarose told her sister before yelling for Boq.

When Boq came into the room he saw the look on Elphaba's face and went to say something but was cut off.

"Take me to the gardens, Boq." Nessarose ordered. "I will have tea out there, and then see that my sister and whomever else is with her is settled into rooms."

Boq sighed. "Yes, Nessarose."

Elphaba simply stood there. Sure Nessarose had always been prissy and needy but when did she turn into a bitch? Had she always been like that and sisterly love made her over look it? Or had it been an effect of her leaving her at Shiz?

"Don't you ever get tired of being her whipping girl?" Malky asked from the corner of the room where he'd been watching.

"Apparently not." Elphaba sighed.

Malky jumped onto the back of a padded armchair so he could almost look his charge in the eye. "Your mother took those pills of her own free will. It was her own vanity that made her think of your skin color as a curse rather then seeing your beauty."

Elphaba smiled at the Cat. Before Glinda, she'd have argued about the beauty part. "Thanks." She said softly as she scratched his ear and then stopped a moment later. "What pills?"

"Ask Nanny." The Cat replied as he jumped down. "Now lets go get the others."

"Wait, how'd you know…" She began, but Malky was already out the door.

After spending all night thinking and flipping through the Grimmery Elphaba had decided she'd help her sister even though she was slowly starting to believe Nessarose's life wasn't her fault. With her book tucked under her arm she knocked on her sister's door.

"Come in." Nessarose called.

Stepping into the huge room Elphaba actually turned completely around to take it all in. As children they'd never been allowed in her grandfather's rooms.

"Impressive isn't it?" Nessarose asked as Boq was helping her into her chair.

"In an over indolence kinda way." Elphaba replied. When she turned to look at her sister she watched in amazement as Boq knelt to put Nessarose's shoes on. When had he become her personal servant?

Nessarose smiled at Boq. "Thank you, dearest. Would you have breakfast held until Elphaba and I come down?"

That same look of disgust clouded Boq's once boyish face. "Of course." He bowed to them both before leaving the room.

Elphaba was about to ask what the hell was going on with him when Nessarose asked, "So have you come to give me what I want?"

You've been getting what you want all our lives, Elphaba thought as she nodded. "Consider it a gift." She said aloud as she opened the Grimmery to the right page. She knelt down beside her sister and began to chant over the shoes their father had given her so long ago. As the shoes began to sparkle and glow, Elphaba had to keep reminding herself that with her sister's help things would go a little more easily. When she was finally finished the once silver shoes were ruby red.

"What did you do?" Nessarose asked timidly.

Elphaba stood and placed herself in front of her sister, holding out her hands. "Stand up."

Nessarose blinked. "What? Elphaba that's not funny!"

"Stand up." Elphaba repeated.

For the first time in her life Nessarose stood on her own two feet.

Elphaba smiled at the pure look of joy on her sister's face. Even with all her doubts about doing it, that look made it worth it. "Now take a step." She saw the fear in her sister's eyes and held tightly to her hands. "It's alright, I have you. Step towards me. I've got you."

Her heart was pounding painfully in her chest as Nessarose took that step and then another, and then another. She was walking! She laughed gleefully before throwing her arms around her sister. "Oh Elphie! Thank you!"

Elphaba hugged her sister and smiled. "Your welcome."

"Oh Elphie you really are powerful!" Nessarose laughed happily. "You don't need my help, you could do it all on your own, but you have my help anyway." She added as she took more careful steps with Elphaba's help. "Oh Elphie now Boq will have to love me! I'm whole now!"

Elphaba's smile and bright eyes faded as she stopped taking steps backwards. "What do you mean he'll finally have to love you?"

"He can finally love me instead of feeling sorry for me." Nessarose explained. "His pity is what keeps him here, but now it'll be his love." Nessarose giggled like a happy child. "Oh Elphie your wonderful!"