A/N: Thanks to the few readers who have stuck with me over the years. I'm honestly not getting as much feedback as I thought I would but don't worry, I will still give my loyal readers a proper ending. Thanks!

Chapter 10

"I want all the men to my left side to scour the castle thoroughly. Leave no room unturned." Tahj pointed to the assembly of guards who had gathered for the emergency meeting. "I want all the men in the center to spread out a five mile radius around the castle and search for Miss Ella."

"What about us?" A guard of around twenty-five years of age asked from the right of Tahj. "What should we do?" The man's helmet fell a little in front of his eyes as he spoke. In actuality the helmet looked too big for the man if you even wanted to call him that. He was so small to be a guard that he looked like a child masquerading as one.

Tahj directed his eyes towards the unfamiliar voice. His guards were always changing. As soon as a group of guards became too old for the position a fresh round of young blood would take their place. Tahj was the only one on Glinda's security detail that was over the age of forty-five. Most people once they got a little older went on to bigger and better things. Being a guard was not glamorous.

"What's your name?" Tahj asked as his eyes narrowed on the inexperienced guard. He was tired of always having to train the new staff. The young guards always thought they knew better. That was the instance a few years ago when some young guards went on a rescue mission for Miss Elphaba. Their ignorance and incompetence nearly cost Glinda and Elphaba their lives. It had cost Fiyero his.

"Sheldon" The young guard answered as he raised his hand to fix his helmet.

"Well Sheldon, you all on the right will be with me." Tahj huffed as he saw the boy fix his helmet. What kind of amateurs are they sending to be guards now a days anyways?

Sheldon gulped as his superior leveled a glare at him. He was new to the force but knew not to cross Master Guff. Just as he was about to ask where they were going whispers broke out into the audience, which turned louder within seconds.

"Silence!" Tahj yelled as he quieted his men down. "Now I know that most of us have already worked our shifts today or some of us were scheduled off. None of that matters now. You will all be working 24/7 until we find Miss Ella and return her safely to her parents. If anyone thinks this is too much to handle then maybe you shouldn't be a guard." Tahj stared down his guards. He would not tolerate anyone thinking that this mission was not important.

Sheldon gulped as the men surrounding him caught the severity of the situation. If he were going with Master Guff then that meant he would be in the most dangerous part of the rescue most likely.

"It's nearly midnight now." Tahj looked down at his watch. "We won't get much done until the sun comes up but I still want you all to try as hard as you can. The more time we stand here the worse off that child is. Each second you waste is a second that could save her life. Good luck men." Tahj saluted to his men before going to join the team to the right.

Elphaba and Glinda had watched Tahj speak from behind all of the guards. The two did not look towards each other when he left to go join his rescue team. They had nothing more to say to one another.

XXX

Sleep would have taken Ella by now had she not been in the predicament she was in. With the gag in her mouth it made breathing hard. She was worried that if she went to sleep she would never wake up again. The thought would have brought tears to the girl's eyes but she could no longer produce any. She was severely dehydrated and the heat of the tunnel was not helping. Any tears that she may have formed exited her body in the form of sweat instead. Struggling once again against her bindings she relented to the fact that they were just too tight. She would not be able to remove them on her own.

Chancing a glance around the room she looked for anything sharp that might help her escape. Her eyes fell upon the fan that her kidnappers had left behind. If she could just get over there maybe she could use the blades to cut the ropes free. She had to at least try.

XXX

"Glinda," Tahj came over to the blonde and placed an arm on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry about blowing up on you earlier." The man who had been a father figure to the blonde hung his head low. "I don't know what came over me outside. When I saw Elphaba laying there lifeless I…"

"Don't worry about it." Glinda interrupted the Captain. "I understand that everyone's emotions have been on edge all day." The blonde said before an odd expression came across her face. Her eyes looked towards the ground, something red had caught her attention.

"Glinda?" Tahj asked concerned before looking down to see where Glinda's attention had gone. "Glinda what is it?" The man looked to the blonde whose eyebrows were scrunched together in concentration.

"Elphaba…" Glinda's voice started as a whisper before growing louder. "Elphaba!" The blonde now frantically called for the woman who stood a few feet from her.

At the scared tone in Glinda's voice the green woman rushed over to her side to see what was wrong. She looked down as Glinda pointed to something yellow on the floor. Elphaba bent down to get a better look at the liquid substance.

"Magic blocker." Elphaba replied as she ran the substance back and forth between her two fingers. Bringing the gooey liquid up to her nose she took a whiff. "Very potent magic blocker." Elphaba's chocolate eyes became concerned. Why would there be magic blocker on the grounds of their castle? Yes she still practiced magic but she hadn't practiced potions in years and neither did Glinda.

The blonde's hand once again went to her mouth to stifle a cry. She knew this had to be bad. Tahj looked towards Elphaba to gauge her reaction. He wasn't too familiar with sleep tonics but he knew they must be bad if his friends were treating it like this.

"Elphaba what is it?" Tahj finally asked when the green woman remained quiet for too long. Elphaba looked back towards him before getting up from the floor and wiping her hands on her dress.

"One way to take someone's power away is to bind them with a spell." The green woman frowned. "Another way is to make them drink a magic blocking potion." The green woman looked over towards Glinda. "I don't think Ella ran away." Elphaba gulped. "I think she was kidnapped."

Tahj's eyes grew in size as Elphaba said this. Had someone gotten into the castle undetected? "But how can that be?" The man waved his hands frantically. "No one gets in or out of this castle without us knowing about it." He motioned towards his guards. Only the guards in his search group remained. The others had started their search.

"I don't know how but they did." The green woman's eyes began to tear up as guilt returned. "There's no other explanation on why this would be here."

Glinda hated to agree but she could see the evidence right in front of them. Someone had broken in to the castle, someone had made their daughter drink a potion that would strip her of powers for Oz knows how long, and someone had her daughter right now. The blonde woman looked towards Elphaba. The green woman always had a plan. She had never let Glinda down when things mattered.

"We need to find Ella soon." Elphaba shook her head as she looked towards Tahj.

"Me and my men will spread out. We will find your daughter." Tahj placed a hand on Elphaba's shoulder to comfort his friend. He then walked back towards his group of men and told them everything he knew.

"Elphie." Glinda whispered in a tone that the green woman had not heard for a long time. She was afraid and her demeanor changed completely from before.

It broke Elphaba's heart to see Glinda hurting so badly. She wanted to reach out and comfort her but she couldn't. She wanted to hold Glinda in her arms and tell her everything would be okay but she couldn't. No…they didn't act like that around each other any more. They were practically strangers.

The blonde's tears rolled slowly down her cheeks as she watched Elphaba's mental battle. She could tell that the green woman was contemplating offering comfort or not. She knew that they shouldn't, that their marriage was over and there was no saving it. So why did she want Elphaba to hold her and tell her everything would be okay?

"We should get some sleep Glinda." Elphaba sighed as she looked away from the blonde. "The guards will find her. There is nothing more we can do." And with that the green woman turned from her wife and started to walk in the direction of her bedroom, her head hung low.

Glinda watched Elphaba's retreating figure as she tried to regain control of her emotions. The green woman was right. There was nothing they could do for Ella right now. She had to trust in Tahj and his men. Resigned to the fact that she wouldn't be able to sleep until her baby was home in her arms, Glinda walked towards the kitchen for a midnight snack. She needed to keep her energy up for when Ella came home.

XXX

"MMhhhh" Ella groaned into the cloth that was in her mouth. There was no way she was going to be able to get to the fan. She could barely move one foot before her binds tugged at her uncomfortably. "I may not be able to get over to the fan but I can still wish away these ropes." Ella thought as an idea popped into her head. Using her tongue to push the cloth in her mouth she slowly edged in out. It took nearly ten minutes to get it out but finally the damp object fell upon her lap.

The child gasped as she got her first deep breath of air since being attacked. He chest heaved up and down for a minute after removing the cloth. At least she was able to do one thing right. Gathering what little strength the child had left she mouthed an incantation Elphaba had taught her. "Dimmitam funes." She said as she stared down at the ropes. Her throat was raspy which caused her to cough after saying her spell. "Ugh!" Ella yelled as she looked at her ropes still tied. Ella knew that she wasn't as powerful as the twins but she had a little bit of magic in her. Her magic hadn't been with her since birth, it was only starting to show itself within the past few years. Glinda once told her that being a late bloomer wasn't a bad thing. It just meant that her powers weren't as strong. She should still be able to do a simple spell though. "Work dang it." The child screamed into the abyss as she recited the chant once again. "Dimmitam funes." She closed her eyes and focused harder on her objective. Opening her eyes slowly she saw that the spell still didn't work.

Resigned to the fact that her spells would not work she did the only other thing she knew to do. She screamed for help.