A/N: I'm so sorry everyone I haven't updated in so long. This chapter is shorter than usual because I'm coming out of a severe case of writer's block.
"Oh, Fabala, it is you!" The scarred woman leaned heavily on crutches, and braces were evident on her legs.
"It's good to see you, Nessa—but these past fourteen years you've been living in hiding?" Elphaba asked her sister as she helped her sit on the bench.
"Oh look who's talking now. Crope and I—along with everyone else at this train depot—had no idea until today that you were alive. I miss those shoes you magicked for me all those years ago, my wheelchair too even." Nessarose admitted, setting her crutches beside her.
"How did you survive? The house fell on you. I saw your legs sticking out. You were crushed." The green clutched her sister's hand as an affirmation to both of them that they were alive.
"When Glinda took my shoes and gave them to that farm brat my soul decided to go back into my body. There were cracks in the floorboards above me, so eventually I pulled myself up into the house. I don't know where I got the strength to do that from. Well, I was much younger then."
The crowd was watching the two sisters intently. These women—the most feared women in all of Ozian history—were nothing more than escapees of cruel fates.
"Aunt Nessarose?" Arii said—she had opened her box from Glinda and found the slippers inside, "I believe these are yours."
Nessa's eyes lit up at the sight of the shoes she had lost all those years ago. "Thank you, dear." She turned to her verdigris sister, "Oh, they still sparkle as much as the day Father first gave them to me, fix them on my feet will you, Fabala?"
"Of course," Elphaba smiled, and once they were secure helped her stand up.
The train came to a screeching halt, causing everyone on the depot platform to jump unanimously. Parents, younger siblings, and other relatives waved the students into the passenger cars, but still, all eyes were on the 'wicked' sisters. Glinda, Boq, and Fiyero pulled up in a carriage just then, determined to say goodbye to the second batch of kids heading to EC High.
"Boq?!" Nessarose hissed just as the three new arrivals said, "Nessa?!"
Once settled on the train after the smothering, loving farewells, the three ripped open their presents. Liir extracted a dagger with an emerald handle, Nor received a jasper necklace, and Arii was content to know the good deed she had done by returning the jewelled shoes to their rightful owner. They buzzed happily about their gifts. The twins recalled the stories they had been told about the objects they had been given.
In the booth opposite theirs, a woman with cloudy white eyes listened intently to their conversation. Another woman and a man who looked hauntingly similar to her sidled into their seats with the blind woman.
A/N: Please review!