AN: In this chapter I hope to, sort of, answer the question of why the Witch Hunters took forever, Thank You to the guest who reviewed and wondered about it.
In all honesty the Witch Hunters were just kinda there in the Broadway Production so that the reasoning as to why they took so long to actually find Elphaba isn't really mentioned. And I will be honest it escaped my gaze too...oops.
So I hope that the answer of the Witch Hunters will be somewhat satisfactory.

Oh, and just so you know magic is spelt magick here.

Also, I figured I'd let you know more about Ozma...again spoilers from the book and Broadway Production that aren't necessarily in order. Read at your discretion and as always Enjoy.


Chapter 12:

After everyone was left in an uncomfortable silence, wondering what to do, they began to talk again about how to make Elphaba come to her senses and plan a means of escape. The talk upset Glinda a bit as the blonde wondered why Elphaba just didn't want to bother any more about anything. As they talked, they noticed Lion Quinn get up from the ground, it was a surprise to all there when the Lion was seen heading towards Elphaba's room in the tower, though they figured if Elphaba wasn't there the Lion would probably head up to the tallest tower where the witch kept her crystal ball and magick items.

The Lion walked up the tower stairs, hating them, as they took forever in a never-ending spiral, but she had a mission to do, so she kept at it.

First she went to Elphaba's room, but realised the woman wasn't there, though that didn't stop her from looking around the room for a moment for something she thought she might need.

The next stop was the highest most tower, the Lion peeked her head around the slightly open door and saw Elphaba there.

The green woman didn't even notice the Lion walk into the room until she let out a rumble.

"Hello Quinn, what brings you in here?" Elphaba asked as the Lion just looked at her, "Still not talking huh?"

The Lion just looked at her as she walked up to the green woman and dropped something at her feet.

It was something that Elphaba hadn't seen in a long time, a photo, how the Lion found it amongst her things in this large castle she didn't know.

The photo was of her and Glinda together at Shiz University.

"We took that the day after the Dance," she said as she looked at the picture fondly, "That was when we had so much hope and dreams, boy were we naive,"

But the Lion wasn't done, she dropped something else by Elphaba's feet. It was a pink flower, the flower that Glinda had given her as a present after the dance in the wee hours of the morning when they first became friends; as the small blonde had told Elphaba all about being popular before saying how beautiful she was and how pink looked good with green.

Lion Quinn just rumbled again as she pushed it towards Elphaba's feet.

The green woman sighed as she picked up the photo and the flower, the memories of her time in Shiz were running through her head, most of it was bad; but the good ones, well, they were good and they all involved Glinda, even the day when the blonde was attempting to practice magick and had accidentally made a sandwich blow up in Elphaba's face was a good and funny memory.

She sighed before she observed the Lion slowly waltz over to her crystal ball and put her large paw on it while looking at her, making a small sound that she couldn't quite describe.

"What am I supposed to be looking for?" Elphaba asked as Lion Quinn let out a huff as she grumbled at the witch and raised an eyebrow, "I'm not looking for Glinda,"

Lion Quinn started to get annoyed as she let out an angry and annoyed roar.

"Yell all you want, I'm not going to," Elphaba said, but the Lion stood up on to her hind legs as she grabbed the witch's hands, making her drop the items, and pressed them hard to the crystal ball, the witch knew the Lion wouldn't let her go until she did what she wanted.

Sighing, the green witch summoned an image of Glinda, who was sitting in Elphaba's bedroom holding onto her cloak and crying into it.

"It'll be okay Glinda, we'll think of something," Scarecrow Brittany said as Rachel patted the blonde's back in comfort.

"I know that Elphie has not had an easy life, hell, I was part of the reason everyone laughed at her back at Shiz, but that was a while ago, doesn't she know what she means to me?" Glinda sobbed into the cloak.

"I'm sure she does," Rachel said softly.

"But she acts like she doesn't,"

"I know,"

"I love her, why can't she see that?"

"I don't know,"

Elphaba just looked into the ball, Glinda actually said it, she loved her, she really did. Lion Quinn let go of Elphaba's hands, satisfied that what needed to be seen was seen as she sat down and looked at the witch.

"She loves me," Elphaba whispered, stunned, yet not so.

Lion Quinn moved up to the witch and started shoving her towards the door with her nose.

"Hey, stop it," Elphaba said as the Lion kept pushing her, "Stop pushing me,"

"No," Lion Quinn said as Elphaba looked stunned and turned her head to look at the Lion.

"You talked,"

"I did, now go,"

"I'm not moving,"

"Don't make me bite you,"

Elphaba grumbled a bit as she went down the stairs of the highest tower and down a level to the next tower.

Lion Quinn was just behind her, making sure she was going to see Glinda.

When they arrived at Elphaba's bedroom door, she knocked on it, "Hello?" the green woman said cautiously as she opened the door and peeked in.

"Hi Elphie," Glinda said as she looked up, her eyes red from the tears.

"I'm sorry I made you cry my sweet," Elphaba said as Rachel moved away from the bed so that the green woman could sit down next to the blonde.

"It's okay,"

"No it's not,"

Glinda just sniffed as she pulled Elphaba close to her so that the two were in a tight embrace and sitting on the bed.

Lion Quinn went up to Rachel and nudged her leg with her head.

"Hi Quinn," Rachel said as she let her hand run through the Lion's thick mane as she sat on the floor and the Lion lay next to her so she could place her head on the brunette's lap.

"What are we going to do?" Glinda asked.

"I don't know," Elphaba said.

"Question," Tin Man Santana started.

"Yes?"

"Why are the Witch Hunters after you now?"

"I'm assuming Morrible knows now that Mombi is dead, so she's probably increasing the searches because she wants me out of the way, I'm the only one who can match her power, apparently, but what I want to know is how you knew about the Witch Hunters Rachel,"

"Oh, in the world where I'm from, we hear about your story and the uh, witch hunters and guards are here when Dorothy, or I guess it's me now, when I'm here with these three and you, um, die," Rachel answered in a slight stammer.

"NO!" Glinda almost screamed as Elphaba held her tight.

"I'm sorry,"

"It's okay," Elphaba said, "So if what you think is true and the Witch Hunters are probably approaching soon; I'll go check my crystal ball later; I should have known that they'd find me eventually,"

"You know about them coming for you?" Glinda asked in surprise cutting the green witch's sentence short.

"Of course, I hear things, the Animals help me slip away sometimes, and other times it was the villages, like Beatlesville; I just didn't think they'd actually catch up with me this time,"

"Elphie?!"

"I suppose I should be prepared for a fight then?"

"I guess yes," Rachel said.

"I just wonder why they're taking so long to get to you and why not use the Tin Men Force?" Tin Man Santana said.

"They've been after me for a while, they just could never figure out where I was all the time, I mean most of them are peasants who are just angry without knowledgeable cause and they've been trying to avoid the Haunted Forest, as for the Tin Men, why waste valuable resources I guess, they're good soldiers,"

"True, and the Witch Hunters are all peasants? Isn't that dangerous for them, I mean you're supposed to be this witch with scary powers,"

"Yeah I guess, but there is power in numbers, if you want to be a united front, unite the ones who are desperate for answers and for solutions, you go to the ones who desire the most outcome and spew something that will get their interests, make them promises that you don't plan to keep, politicians do it all the time, you cause a distraction by doing this and divert them from the real issues; just give them a common enemy and they will unite all they have under you, so who do you think the Wizard blamed for the drought and all the bad things happening in this land?"

"You?" Rachel said.

"Yes, me, and with Mombi flying around causing distress as me, well, it's not helpful, or wasn't helpful,"

"So, how do you think they figured out that you're here? And what happened to the Green Guards?"

"Green guards?"

"Well, in the Wizard of Oz, your character had guards who were also green, they were like your slaves,"

"I don't have such guards here, let alone ones that are green,"

"Oh, okay, so, how do they know you're here?"

"Kiamo Ko is one of the last places people wanted to look, especially since it had a reputation for being a bright and sunny place that belonged to Fiyero and his family, besides process of elimination, I guess they started out where I was first seen, Shiz University and most of them moved on since then to the Emerald City, then to the Upper Uplands before settling for this general area, I frequent this place quite a bit and beings talk, so I guess that's how they figured out that I was probably here most of the time; as for the 'hunters'; it's only about a group of twenty, from what I gathered anyway, they're all talk but they don't have what it takes to hunt down anything or anyone,"

"I see, well, I guess this is more like the Wicked World since it's the peasants who are probably lead by Boq and Brr,"

"Oh dear," Glinda said as she clutched Elphaba's waist tighter, "Please tell me that Elphie somehow escapes,"

"Well, in the Wicked World, and in the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy throws water on Elphaba, she melts, and disappears with Fieryo, that, or she dies," Rachel said.

"You can't be serious, throw water on Elphie and kill her?" Glinda said in alarm and annoyance.

"But I don't think she's…"

"We are not throwing water on Elphie," Glinda said cutting Rachel off.

"We may not have a choice my Sweet," Elphaba said.

"Well, how about we change the myth, I mean, who wouldn't believe Glinda the Good?" Rachel suggested suddenly getting an idea.

"Explain," Elphaba said.

"In my World, people in Oz are told that pure water melts you because your soul is so 'unclean'," Rachel started.

"I'm not allergic to water, that's just, strange,"

"You're not allergic? I thought you were?" Glinda said in surprise.

Elphaba just looked at her with an eyebrow raised, "Really?"

"Well, I, I haven't seen you in so long and I just, you know, forget things sometimes,"

"You've seen me shower, and I know you were staring at me,"

Rachel balled in laughter, as did Tin Man Santana as Glinda turned red.

"That was one time, it was an accident," Glinda said as she tried to brush off the incident.

"You totally loved seeing the Green Woman in the buff," Tin Man Santana said.

Glinda just mumbled something, but the group could sort of make out the words, 'stupid', 'hot body', 'rust her for good, tin idiot'.

"In the book you're allergic to water and in the Movie 'The Wizard of Oz' you are too, the Broadway, you're not, anyway, main point, how about we get me to throw water at you after you attempt to set Brittany on fire," Rachel said.

"You're not setting my girl on fire," Tin Man Santana said angrily.

"Not for real, I'm sure Elphaba or Glinda know of a safe spell, anyway, let me finish, we let the water hit Elphaba, she pretends to melt, or disappear or something, she reappears, and Glinda can declare that the water melted away all the evil in her, and while her skin will always be green, she is now a good Witch who will have no memory of her past life, and that the Ozians in turn should move on,"

"That might work," Elphaba said with an impressed voice.

"It's worth a shot," Glinda said, "Anything to have my Elphie back,"

Elphaba blushed a bit as Glinda kissed her cheek, making the other four aww at them.

"Wait, did you just say 'aww' Quinn?" Rachel asked as she looked at the Lion.

The Lion just looked at her with a stony unreadable face.

"She said 'aww' right?" Rachel asked as she looked at the others.

Still the Lion didn't say anything as she looked at Rachel and leaned her head further against the brunette.

"Sigh," Rachel said as her arms circled around Lion Quinn's neck.

"Hey Rachie, I just realised," Scarecrow Brittany started.

"Yes,"

"Once we help Elphaba, you can go home,"

"Well, not really, we still have to find Ozma and we have to defeat Morrible, I don't plan on leaving until then,"

"NO!" Lion Quinn said loudly as she wrapped her front paws around Rachel's waist.

"Oh my god," Rachel said in surprise, surprise that Lion Quinn actually said something, okay one word, that's still something.

Surprise that the Lion was so loud, and surprise as the Lion held her tighter than she thought possible.

The Lion let out a small cry, "No," she said again.

"Oh Quinn, you'll have to face the fact that I have to go home sometime," Rachel said as she softly patted the Lion's head.

The Lion lifted up her head and looked at the brunette sadly as Rachel stroked her mane.

Not thinking of the consequences of her actions, Rachel softly kissed the tip of the Lion's nose, "I'm very sorry Quinn," she said as the Lion leaned into her again letting out sad grumbles.

"Hey Munchkin," Tin Man Santana started, breaking the silence.

"Yes?" Rachel asked.

"Do you know who Ozma is? I mean you read about our World right?"

"Yes I have, but I also said that what I'm experiencing is different from the books,"

"Okay, but maybe it's a starting point, who's Ozma?"

"Well, from what I remember Mombi turned Ozma into a boy named Tip who was made to follow her everywhere,"

"Oh, I know of Tip, he followed Mombi around as her servant, he disappeared a couple of years ago though, I don't know what happened, I think he ran away from her," Glinda said.

"Perhaps he's at the Ice Castle, that used to belong to Mombi," Elphaba added, "Maybe he figured if he hid in plain sight it would be a smart idea and safer, or more likely, she froze him,"

"Good point, so Morrible first then we find Tip and hope to Ozma that he's, um, Ozma?"

"Yes,"

Elphaba looked at Glinda with a smile, it was a smile that Scarecrow Brittany recognised very well.

"Um, we'll just get going, and we'll uh, talk about Rachel's plan later," she said as she got up and dragged Tin Man Santana with her.

"Why are we going?" Tin Man Santana asked.

"They're going to have sweet lady kisses and we shouldn't be there,"

"Oh god, wait for me," Rachel said as she got up and bolted out the door with Lion Quinn hot on her tail.

Elphaba cackled a bit as she watched the door close.

"So, it's just us," Elphaba said, "What shall we do between now and later?"

"I have an idea," Glinda said with a mischievous grin.


AN 2: So, there you have it, I wanted to end on a bit more of a lighter note. Next chapter is on its way.