AN: Just to let you know there'll be A LOT of talking and explaining in this chapter - so it'll be sorta long; remember it's the same day and just the day after the rescue so the whole crew are trying to heal before anything else happens. And I figured I'd get some explaining done - some.

Also there are sad moments in this chapter as you find out what happened to the former prisoners AND there are also spoilers from the Broadway production of Wicked. They're not necessarily in order, but I figured I'd just give you a heads up anyway.

Hope you'll enjoy Chapter 11.


Chapter 11:

The trip back wasn't too hard in the end.

Even though Elphaba had said to the Flying Monkey's, "Fly my pretties, fly,"

Which made Rachel laugh despite the situation, the monkey's stayed with her, unmoving, as far as they were seemingly concerned, Elphaba was their new master.

One was called Chisery; who had slowly begun to achieve the ability of speaking.

"Service to you green one," he had said to her.

Elphaba just looked stunned, "But I don't need servants,"

"Service to you,"

"But don't you remember? I'm the reason you have wings, I hurt you,"

"Still service to you,"

Elphaba sighed before saying, "Help me carry everyone back to Kiamo Ko Castle, there we can all rest,"

Carrying the Tin Man and the Scarecrow was easy, Tina Doll and Sam the Monkey were flying together, since the smaller winged monkey could fly with the China Doll in his arms.

Glinda was going to ride on Elphaba's broom; the monkey's planned to carry Rachel in a safe sling.

The hardest to get to cooperate was Lion Quinn who would just jolt in anger and fear as she backed away snarling angrily at the monkeys.

At times she would just push back on her hind legs so that she looked like she was about to pounce or hit one of them with her front paws, roaring as she did so.

In the end, it took about fifteen minutes of Rachel calming her down and saying that everything would be okay before the Lion finally let the monkey's help out and carry her properly this time; also in a sling.

When they arrived back at Kiamo Ko, everyone decided to go inside, except for Lion Quinn.

Rachel just looked at her as she entered the castle and returned with some hot water mixed with healing herbs that Elphaba had given her to treat the Lion's wounds.

"Quinn, please, talk to me," Rachel begged the Lion who was currently laying outside in the courtyard of Kiamo Ko Castle; refusing to enter the place.

But no matter what she said, the Lion refused to say anything back, she just grunted, roared or whimpered, the usual sounds a Lion would make when upset or agitated and wounded.

"Quinn if you don't start talking you're going to forget how to and be lost forever," Rachel said as she approached the Lion.

Lion Quinn just moved away a bit.

"At least let me tend to your wounds," Rachel said as she got up to try and tend to the Lion, but whenever she tried to clean any wound on the Lion's body, the Lion would flinch as if she had gotten startled and snarled angrily as she tried to get away before cowering in a corner.

"Quinn!" Rachel said exasperated as the Lion jolted backwards onto her hind legs and moved quickly away from the brunette.

"Give her time," Elphaba said as she stood behind Rachel and placed a hand on the smaller brunette's shoulder, "I think she's just trying to recover from the trauma of being imprisoned by Mombi, that woman knew how to play with your mind, we don't know what she has said to Quinn while we were on our way to rescue everyone,"

"I guess, but I want to help,"

"Sometimes you have to give people the space they feel they need, rush them and you'll just push them further away,"

Rachel sighed as she looked at the Lion who was now letting out small growls and roars.

"Let's just give her some time and space, she knows where to come in when she's ready," Elphaba said as Rachel nodded her head.

"How's Glinda?" Rachel asked.

"Healing, she's banged up pretty bad, Mombi did a number on her, when she's okay again I'll have to ask what happened,"

"And Santana?"

"She's fine, Brittany's looking after her,"

"Okay,"

"C'mon, let's go inside,"

Rachel sighed again as she looked at Lion Quinn who was now looking back at her.

As Elphaba began leading Rachel away, the Lion began to react again as she started racing after the two snarling angrily.

Elphaba had to put up a force field to stop the Lion from pouncing on her.

"Wow, she's mad," Rachel said.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Elphaba said.

"Well she is, I wonder why?"

"Because I have you and she wants to protect you,"

"Quinn I'm okay, really,"

But the Lion wouldn't listen as she tried to attack the force field over and over again, only to be pushed back, snarling angrily each time she couldn't get to Rachel.

"Quinn, Stop It," Rachel said sternly as the Lion looked a bit hurt as she whimpered and edged closer to the force field that was keeping her away from Rachel.

"If you promise not to pounce on me, I will lower the field," Elphaba said as Lion Quinn nodded her head.

So Elphaba lowered the shield as the Lion raced forward and pushed up onto her hind legs so that she could softly pounce at Rachel and pull her into a hug with her front legs.

Unfortunately for Rachel, soft for Lion Quinn was not quite soft for her, factor in the fact that the Lion was incredibly large compared to the tiny brunette, well, the moment the Lion 'hugged' her, the brunette felt her knees buckle under her and she fell to the ground, Lion Quinn's chest in her face.

"Oof, Qwinm?!" she muttered through the Lion's fur.

Resisting the urge to lick Rachel's forehead, Lion Quinn settled for nuzzling Rachel's face with hers, letting out small contented rumbles that Rachel realised were her way of purring.

Rachel reached up and started stroking the Lion's mane.

"Looks like the Furball is happy to see you," Tin Man Santana said as she clanked out of the castle with Scarecrow Brittany in tow.

"What are you doing on the ground Rachel? Did Quinn try to have sweet kitty kisses with you?" Scarecrow Brittany asked.

"I have no idea what she was trying to do, but she did pounce on me and I collapsed under her," Rachel answered.

"Wanky," Tin Man Santana said.

"Not like that,"

"C'mon you lot, let's go inside, we should rest and eat," Elphaba said.

Rachel looked up at the green woman before she managed to shimmy out from under the Lion.

Lion Quinn didn't like that as she stood nearer to Rachel while glaring at Elphaba.

"I don't think she likes you very much," Scarecrow Brittany said.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Elphaba said as she walked into the castle.

As the four joined Sam the Monkey, who jumped into Rachel's arms the moment the brunette walked in; as well joining Tina Doll who seemed to take a liking to conversing with Scarecrow Brittany;
the six began to converse amongst themselves and those that had to eat started to eat the food that was there.

The larger flying monkeys were also in the room, but at the other end of it; and enjoying the freedom of working for the green witch as they played together, ate bananas or slept.

Chisery was in charge of them.

Elphaba smiled as she looked at the scene before her, it was rather adorable. After a quick moment, she decided that she'd take her leave to go and see Glinda who was resting in her room in the top tower.

She slowly eased the door open to look inside, Glinda was awake, but only just.

"Hello my sweet," Elphaba said as she entered the room and sat down on the bed next to the blonde.

"I knew you'd come for me," Glinda said as she took Elphaba's hand in hers, "Pink still looks good with green,"

"Of course I would, and yes, I agree, pink still looks good with green,"

Glinda smiled as she grasped Elphaba's fingers tighter.

"What happened, my sweet?" Elphaba asked.

"After I talked to you about going to find out what was going on, I went back to the Emerald City, and Morrible was there with Mombi, they tricked me, at first I thought you were there, but then I saw her eyes, her eyes were what gave her away; I panicked a bit and demanded to know what was going on, to know what had happened, they both laughed at me before Morrible accused me of getting what I wanted by having Rachel brought here from god knows where and killing Nessa, I'm so sorry,"

"Hey, it's not your fault,"

"It is, I was the one who told Morrible and the Wizard a while ago, that if she wanted you to come to her, she'd just have to spread a rumour about Nessa being hurt, I didn't think she'd actually do anything,"

"Morrible is who she is, she knew I wouldn't fall for any trick or rumour,"

"Elphie I'm still so sorry,"

"Me too," Elphaba said sadly as she thought of her sister before looking at Glinda and urging her to carry on with the tale of what happened to her, "So what happened next?"

"I don't remember too much, Mombi hit me with a spell and as I was fading out I heard her mention Ozma,"

"Ozma? You mean the rightful ruler of Oz?"

"Yes, but she mentioned something about Ozma being cursed, as who or what I don't know, but I know that she seemed pleased as was Morrible,"

"Glinda, once we face down Morrible, we have to find Ozma, only then will Oz have peace again, or at least the balance in Oz will return, I'm sure of it,"

Glinda just smiled as she tugged on Elphaba's hand, indicating that she wanted the green woman to lie next to her.

Elphaba put her hat down on the chair next to the bed as she lay next to Glinda and held her, "Sleep my sweet, heal, and tomorrow we can talk more,"

Glinda just nodded her head as Elphaba kissed her forehead before the two eventually dozed off to sleep.


The next morning, everyone was seated in the dining room, Elphaba had managed to cook up some food.

Tin Man Santana looked at the meal and wrinkled her tin nose, "Okay, what is this? Not that I care because I don't eat," she said.

"It's vegetables," Elphaba said.

"Elphie's a Vegan," Glinda said.

"Really? Me too," Rachel said in surprise.

Lion Quinn just wrinkled her nose at the meal and sulked away.

"Did you really think I'd forget about you?" Elphaba said as she brought out a dish that had a lot of meat on it.

Lion Quinn raised her head as she looked in the direction of the table and bounded over to it.

"Quinn you should eat at the table with us," Rachel said as the Lion ignored her as she tried to take the plate in her teeth only to fail.

The Lion roared and grumbled before she opened her mouth wide to take as much of the meat as possible before skulking to the corner and ignoring everyone else.

"What's wrong with her? Why is she acting like this? Why isn't she talking?" Scarecrow Brittany asked in surprise and worry.

"Poor thing," Glinda sighed.

"I heard it all too," Tin Man Santana said.

"What?" Rachel asked.

"While we were captured, they put us in a pit, I was in that iron suit right in front of her so I could see and hear everything, they electroshocked her into obedience, beat her when she tried to fight back, they teased her, called her a dumb animal over and over again, whenever she would fight, the chains would tighten so much she would bleed, Mombi would taunt her now and then with the memory of her family and how she wasn't even a real Lion because she was just a coward behind a mask; worse was when she mentioned you, she would turn to stone as Mombi took your form,"

"She took my form? What did she do?"

"Screamed as if you were dying and Quinn was too helpless to try and help you, she fought hard but Mombi would just say things like 'You're too weak to help me Quinn, why can't you help me? What is wrong with you? Don't you feel anything anymore? Don't you want to help me? Help me,' Things like that, spooked her bad,"

"Oh my god,"

"Yeah,"

"Mombi was known for that, take your fears and enhance it, it's what she does," Glinda said, "It's how she has power over people,"

"Hmmm, and with fears like what Quinn has, well, I'm afraid it may take a while before she opens up again," Elphaba said.

"Why?" Rachel asked.

"Because for some, when they're hurt so bad they retreat into a shell, they protect themselves by any means possible, Quinn, I noticed, is very good at doing that, and now she has even more reason to believe the lies Mombi has told her because she already believed them in the first place,"

"And what belief is that?"

"That she's nothing more than a dumb animal, too stupid to talk or feel or think, have that repeated enough to you and you'll actually start believing it,"

"But she's not, she's better than she or anyone thinks,"

"I know, and we'll have to show her that, but for now, let's all of us eat,"

As almost everyone started to eat, Lion Quinn had already finished as she walked over to Rachel and lay next to her as she placed her heavy head on the brunette's lap.

Rachel subconsciously started to stroke the Lion's head and mane.

"So, Glinda tells me that Ozma has been cursed, once we find her we can save Oz," Elphaba said making conversation again.

"Ozma?" Scarecrow Brittany asked.

"The rightful ruler of Oz, she's a young heir who was to become the ruler of the land, to govern it in peace, but she disappeared a few years ago, we don't know where,"

"Oh,"

"Mombi made sure that Ozma disappeared before anyone would know about her, it's how things are now in the Emerald City," Glinda said, "People follow too blindly without looking at the facts, for example, the Wizard is actually missing, he's nowhere in the Emerald City,"

"You are certain of this?" Elphaba asked.

"Yes, I don't know where he is, but Elphie, I,"

"Yes my sweet?"

"I, I did learn something about him, something that I'm certain Morrible and Mombi did not know and I,"

"My sweet, whatever it is, you can tell me,"

"He's your father,"

"My what?"

"Your father, I'm sure of it, remember that green bottle you kept that you said was from your mother?"

"Yes,"

"And do you remember how you said that no one else in Oz has it?"

"Yes,"

"He has a bottle exactly like yours,"

Elphaba looked stunned as she quietly sat down.

"Elphie?" Glinda started but Elphaba raised her hand to stop the woman.

"No, let me process that, for now, tell us more about the city,"

"Morrible is running everything behind the scenes, she uses Figgins as the 'stand-in' Wizard because he's too afraid to check the facts and he's too afraid of her, I also know that Mombi and her used their powers to make the Haunted Forest grow more and attack the villages that dared stand against them while helping you,"

"I see,"

"Yes, before I was finally captured, I heard them talk about curses, as you know, one on Ozma, and there was talk about the curses on you two as well," Glinda said as she looked at Tin Man Santana and Scarecrow Brittany, "I know you two thought it was me who cursed you, but I swear it on my life, it was not me, the only person affected by me is Rachel,"

Rachel huffed as she folded her arms while glaring a bit at Glinda; whereas Tin Man Santana looked at the woman and asked, "So, what do you mean?"

"For you to be human again, you need to display an act of love and it has to be selfless, only then will you be human again, as for you Brittany, I don't know why Mombi hated you so much, but your human heart is still there, it's small, tiny, and if it ever got crushed you'd die,"

"We know that," Tin Man Santana said, "When Mombi was disguised as you, she told the monkey's to crush Brittany's heart, I just don't understand it, if she didn't like Brittany or me so much, why not just kill us? That would have made life easier for her,"

"That may be true, but when someone is on the verge of what they feel is true power, they get cocky, they think they're untouchable and invincible, they don't think things through and just do whatever it is they want, damn the consequences, I don't know why Mombi really cursed you but I know she did it for a reason,"

"I was heartless and I killed someone, she told me that I didn't deserve to be human anymore and since I acted like I had no heart I should just become the Tin Man I oughta be, hollow and empty and feeling nothing, I was so sure it was you, it sounds like something you'd say,"

"That is true, perhaps she was trying spread discourse, and just so you know, I'd never curse someone like that unless I had no other choice,"

"I had to do that," Elphaba said quietly as everyone looked at her, "Nessa did a spell from the grimmerie and shrunk Boq's heart, I had to turn him into a Tin Man too, but for him there is no escape from his fate,"

"Oh," Glinda said as she took Elphaba's hand in hers and gave the woman a reassuring squeeze.

"What if it's because you were married to Dani and she thought you still were?" Rachel asked after that moment.

"What do you mean Munchkin?" Tin Man Santana asked.

"Well, think about it, if she knew that you were married to Dani, or that Dani still meant something to you, what's a way that would hurt more than losing you to death? It's to know that you're alive but you can never feel her again, to know that you can never be with her or near her because you are forever a Tin Man and her family would have cast you away, you're no longer 'human',"

"I was divorced by that stage,"

"But what if Mombi didn't know that?"

"I suppose, I guess we'll never know now,"

"Or what if it's because you refused to follow her?" Sam the Monkey suggested as Tin Man Santana looked at him.

"Explain," she said.

"Well, I told you before that the Tin Men had weird things at the base of their necks as if something was controlling them,"

"Yes,"

"Did you ever resist that?"

"Well yeah, I wasn't putting anything at the base of my neck, damn what people say about it supposedly making me stronger and faster as well as almost invincible, I didn't trust whatever the hell that thing was,"

"So perhaps it was because you refused to fall in line,"

"Perhaps, or perhaps it was a mixture of all the things we mentioned,"

Everyone was quiet again as they ate before Scarecrow Brittany broke the silence, "What about me though? I don't remember much about my life, just that people thought I had no brain and I wanted more," she said.

"I don't know," Glinda answered.

"So, if Santana has a way to become human again, what about me?"

"Yours is tricky, from what I gathered as I heard them talking, even though what you sought was a brain, that's not what will make you human again,"

"Then what will?"

"Using your brain to remember who you are,"

"How will I do that?"

"I'm very sorry, but I do not know, do you remember anything?"

"Not very,"

Everyone looked sadly at the Scarecrow as the Tin Man patted her back.

"Glinda, how long before they captured you? You seem to have managed to get a lot of information," Elphaba said as everyone else were also curious and wanted to know what else had happened.

"I know, I was hidden for a bit, I think Mombi knew I was there because when I was found; I tried to pretend I was just walking in by the way; she was already disguised as you, I guess they didn't care that I heard those things because they figured I'd die before anyone found out," Glinda answered with a shrug.

Elphaba just nodded her head.

"Oh snap," Rachel said as she shocked everyone.

"What?" Elphaba asked, wondering why the small brunette yelped all of a sudden.

"Elphaba, the Witch Hunters, what are we going to do about the Witch Hunters? If I remember right they're on their way to kill you,"

"Oh, right,"

"Oh no," Glinda said as she looked at Elphaba with fear in her eyes, "Elphie, what are we going to do?"

"Nothing," Elphaba answered with a shrug.

"What?"

"For now nothing, how long until they get here do you think?"

"Three, four days tops,"

"Good, then for now we'll all rest and think of what to do, you three need to heal and I'll be damned if I don't see you all get better,"

"But Elphie, your life,"

"Glinda, my life was forfeit the moment I was born, there is no point in delaying the inevitable,"

And with that everyone watched as Elphaba got up from the table and left.

Glinda felt her tears fall from her face.

She knew Elphaba was stubborn, she knew that the woman was headstrong, but she never thought that Elphaba would accept her death so quickly.

She didn't know what to do; and neither did the other occupants at the table.

It seemed that the death of the perceived Wicked Witch of the West was coming sooner than they anticipated and that fact scared them as none of them could think of anything they could do to help her. Her fate was sealed.