I apologize to everyone who reads this. I had an intense writer's block. Although I know where this story is going, I just can't write it down. I am so sorry that I took so long to update this!

A woman dressed in a large gown stared at her in surprise, her expression nothing short of the melodramatic radiance a fairy tale princesses seemed to have as Fae looked back into her glittering eyes that hid behind her long lashes.

Whatever words the woman had to say died on her lips as her hopeful gaze saw her fully. Disappointment was the first thing that showed on her face and then it disappeared just like that, confusion taking its place. Fae was sure that she had never seen anyone's emotions change as fast as that.

It was strange. Seeing the blonde woman before her, hearing her speak that name - it made Fae feel like she was looking into a mirror. Not that she thought that the beautiful lady looked like her, it was far from that. She felt like she was looking into a mirror and seeing a better version of herself - prettier with more confidence.

"Er… Galinda, this is Fae, my new assistant," Castien said. Fae raised an eyebrow at him. Because of their previous argument, Castien probably forgot to tell her something important. He gave her a look saying to just go with it, "Fae, this is the Queen."

She knew that this woman was the Queen. Her regal look said it all but somehow, Fae was having trouble believing that she was Fiyero's wife.

"A pleasure to meet you, your Majesty," Fae said, bowing deeply.

"A-assistant?" Galinda asked Castien. "Castien, you...Have you realized that…?"

"Yes, I know. The resemblance is uncanny," he said as they both stared at her. Fae looked away from their stares and pretended that the thread that hung on her sleeve was interesting. Was it going to be this way from now on? People rudely staring at her when the notice that she looks like Elphaba? She desperately hoped not.

Finally, Castien caught on to her discomfort and changed the topic. "Fae is from out of… the Outer Vinkus."

Galinda nodded slowly as if all of that was hard to take in. "Does Fiyero know about this?" she inquired.

Fae fought the urge to roll her eyes. Of course, the King of all people should know about a new employee. Deja vu or not, the queen lacked common sense.

"I was employed by the King to be his brother's assistant, your Majesty." Fae shot a look at Castien. He visibly sighed in relief.

"Oh Fiyero hired you? Well, that's- that's-"

"Prince Castien explained to me about the late princess. I assure you, my Queen, that I was chosen for this job because of my skill." At least, Fae hoped she was. Honestly, she was creeped out on the inside.

"Alright." The Queen eyed her reluctantly before heaving out a large sigh. "Er… I think I have to lie down."

She bid both of them goodbye and turned around. She was accompanied by several servants who were fussing over her.

As soon as the clicking of heels fade out, Fae turned to Castien and demanded, "Assistant?"

"Er… You're sort of a secret weapon. And Fiyero doesn't trust Galinda. Just go with the story for now."

Fiyero didn't trust his own queen? Fae has drawn to the conclusion that Vinkuns or at least Vinkun royalty were naturally untrusting of women.

Although her hear still spun with confusion, she simply nodded. "Of course, my prince."

"And I guess you should just call me Castien."

Fae raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't I address you formally as well?"

"Come on, I said I was sorry. When it's just us, you can call me by my name."

Fae shook her head. Just earlier, Castien was being rude and pompous and now he's acting like a kicked puppy. For some reason, Fae knew that this was how he always acted.

"What's the matter with her? I-I mean, the Queen. Was there a love triangle between her and..." She pointed at the large portrait - at Elphaba, the woman who had the same face as her.

He nodded. "Something like that but Galinda was Elphaba's best friend."

Every piece of new information ran through her mind. Elphaba was a woman with green skin. As if that wasn't dramatical enough, two princess fell in love with her. She then married the younger prince whom her best friend had some sort of relationship with. Her life sounded so perfect... until she died that is.

"Look," Castien said. "I know I've just placed a hell of a lot of weight on your shoulders but we really need you here. So if you're thinking that Fiyero hired just because you look like Elphaba, well that's not true... I guess."

Fae didn't like the 'I guess' part but she shrugged it off. "Were you hiding me from the Queen?"

"Like I said, Fiyero doesn't trust Galinda. Her grandmother..." Castien's voice dropped to a whisper. He looked around the room to make sure no one was listening. "Galinda's grandmother is one of the people responsible for the Animal banns. But Galinda is nice, a little unaware of most common things but she's okay."

Things were starting to make sense a little. "Oh good. I thought I'd be stuck in one of those stories where the master mistreats the slave."

"Do you like reading?" Castien asked.

She nodded with a smile. Reading was her favorite past time aside from singing.

"Come on, I know a place where we can go."

Of course, Fae guessed that they were going to the library. But, what Fae didn't expect was the immensity of it all. What she had in mind was a small room with bookshelves lining the walls but as she took her first step inside, it took her breath away. The three-storey room was packed with shelves that were brimming with both old and new books.

"Pretty impressive huh?" Castien said, snapping her out of her wonder. "This place used to be a ballroom actually but some years ago, my father had it renovated since two ballrooms were quite unnecessary, don't you think?."

Whatever he was saying didn't fully make it into Fae's mind. Her attention was on titles she had wanted to read and reread. Nevertheless, Castien kept speaking - discussing about every historical and artistic aspect of the place.

"The chandelier is made out of blue diamonds. A precious gem that is exclusive only to the Vinkus. It means-"

"First love," Fae completed absentmindedly.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

She shrugged. "Read it in somewhere, I guess." Fae figured it was the only explanation. Although she rarely read about Oz, let alone the Vinkus. "I've done stupid things like read a whole bookshelf in one day."

"That's not stupid. Try the whole library in a two months."

Fae waved her hand dismissively. "I could probably read all of these in one."

"Hah. That's what Elphaba told me back at school. So we decided to race each other. She won of course," Castien said, a big faraway smile on his face.

The way Castien talked about his fond memories of Elphaba was endearing. His eyes sparkled whenever he said her name.

She looked up at the blue diamond chandelier, her heart suddenly heavier as she remembered her missing jewellry. But the thing was, Fae never really thought her necklace and ring had some sort of meaning. They had always been just the few nice things from her past life.

If Fae believed in fate, she would be absolutely cursing it right now. This was causing hope to rise up in her chest, coercing her to figure out what it all meant. She knew it would end up very badly.

.

Her job officially started when Castien pulled her suddenly into Fiyero's office without any sort of warning. She glared at the two men in front of her and then remembered that they were royalty. They could easily throw her in the dungeon so she put on a small smile and waited.

Fiyero turned to face her. "Are you ready to begin?"

She had no idea what 'beginning' entailed, but she nodded anyway. "Yes."

The brothers looked at each other, a scheming gleam in their eyes that made Elphaba dread whatever they were planning. Castien handed Fiyero some papers which Fiyero looked over and read.

"Last week, dozens of rescued Animals were dropped in our rehabilitation center," Castien said.

Fae had read about the new rehabilitation center in the newspapers. It was said that it contained over a thousand Animals who had been subjected to torture because of banns. It made her heart ache for the animals and her blood boil for those who tortured them.

"Apparently, they were rescued off the streets in the southern Vinkus. I suspect there are more torture chambers in that area but we can't pinpoint the location," Fiyero said. "The Animals aren't speaking to any of the facilitators."

She held up her hand to pause Fiyero's enthusiastic talking. "You need me to get information out of traumatized Animals?"

"Don't make it sound like we're the bad guys..." Fiyero scratched the back of his head. "But yeah, mainly that's what I want you to do. Of course, you should help in some activities too like helping them relearn speech."

"This is very simple so please don't involve any magic yet," Castien added. "Plus, you'll be on your own so-"

"Wait. Neither of you are coming with me?"

Fiyero shook his head. "We have to attend a very important meeting. Don't worry Fae. We trust in your skills."

He smiled at her sweetly. This time, however, it was more annoying than endearing.

No doubt that the two were busy running a kingdom, especially Fiyero. But Fae had a feeling that she was being tested. She took it as a challenge. Extracting information from traumatized Animals couldn't be that hard.

.

.

After some days of spa treatments and relaxation, Galinda was finally ready to face Fae again.

It was all planned in her head, she would ask her to have some tea in the gardens and she would politely get to know her. However, Miss Fae had other ideas. As Galinda walked to her balcony, she spotted her below, a carriage ready to take her somewhere.

"Stop the carriage!" Galinda pretended like she wasn't winded from her dash down to the castle grounds.

All of a sudden, she was face to face with her again. From the way her long raven hair fell down her back to the small mole on her jawline, she was almost an exact copy of Elphaba, the green skin being the only thing missing. Galinda thought she was ready but her heart was being racked with all types of sad emotions that she couldn't help but just stare.

"Er… your majesty?" Fae snapped her finger on her face to get her attention.

She focused on Fae's ugly, unmanicured fingernails and finally found her voice. "Where are you going, Miss Fae?" she inquired softly, trying to forget how rudely she snapped her dirty fingers at her.

"The prince asked me to run some errands for him," she told her.

"Oooh! Shopping?"

"No." Fae shook her head and Galinda's excitement went away. "Community service. I'm attending in his stead. It's for the Animal rehabilitation center"

For some reason, Fiyero's priority had always been the Animals. Granny Morrible told her several times over to reason out with her husband but Galinda couldn't even get him to talk to her in beginning. Besides, they Animals did no harm. Galinda would rather they lived separate lives from humans but as long as they didn't bother her then she didn't see any reason why they have to be arrested.

"I'll tag along," she said, not really knowing what got into her own head.

"Er… aren't you supposed to attend the important meeting that Fi- the king mentioned?"

"Well, Fiyero prefers that I don't attend meetings unless it was necessary," she said, which was true but in this circumstance, she was invited for this particular meeting but she decided to leave it Fiyero and Castien. They were more than capable to handle it.

Fae nodded slowly. "Alright. You can er...tag along."

She grinned. "Animals are amazing! You know, I had a professor once and he was a Goat but he always mispronounced my name and-"

"Your Majesty," she interrupted. "I'm sorry but what are you doing here?"

"Miss Fae, I just wanted to monitor your work."

"The prince already does that," she pointed out before sighing. "This has nothing to do with the fact that I look like Princess Elphaba?"

When Galinda looked back at her, Fae had her head down.

"Y-your majesty, I'm really sorry that you lost your best friend. She sounds like an amazing woman. But you don't have to be kind to me. I'm not her."

"I understand," Galinda said, nodding. "I guess you've probably noticed this from Fiyero and Castien but you're quite intriguing. You look, sound and act like Elphaba. This is stirring up the memories that each one of us want to relive but at the same time forget. Do you understand that?"

Fae moved her head. It could have been interpreted as a yes or no but it was the best answer to Galinda.

"However, I really do want to get to know you," she said.

"Alright, your majesty. Should I have another carriage prepared?"

"No need Fae. We could fit in one."

I really need to watch Moon Embracing the Sun again.

Is anyone still reading? Pretty please review :)