Is it bad that I wrote this chapter while alternating attention to YouTube, lounging on couch, listening to Adele? (I have a very, very long Adele playlist).

I HAVE A REASON THIS WAS LATE. The power was cut at my house just before I finished and it didn't come back in time. I just got it back.

ElphieIsPopular: I tried. I did.

Fae'sFlower: They will see each other… *smirk*

AirHawk19: Yeah…I couldn't…

Elphaba violently spun on her heels to face the hospital bed. Could it be? She stared in awe and confusion as Nessa's eyes fluttered open, her brown irises reflecting fear and she too was confused.

"F-Fabala?"

To Elphaba, the three syllables of her childhood nickname had never sounded more beautiful than when they fell from the lips of the bedridden girl in front of her.

Except for the fact that Elphaba knew it wasn't true. She wanted to believe it. She wanted to believe that what she was seeing was real.

But it couldn't be. It shouldn't have happened. It couldn't have happened. She shook her head, stepping back.

"N-no…you're dead. I saw you die. What kind of magic trickery is this?!" She demanded.

"Fabala…i-it's m-me." Nessa rasped out.

"It c-can't be…" Elphaba backed up, accidentally walking into a set of drawers in the corner, causing a loud crashing.

Dr. Bonvadi rushed into the room at the sound, only to see Elphaba looking as if she'd seen a ghost.

"Miss Elphaba? Are you alright?" She asked, helping the green girl steady. Elphaba turned to her, her brown eyes wide and green face surprisingly pale. She extended a shaky, verdant hand to the bed, not diverting her eyes from the Doctor's.

Dr. Bonvadi, thoroughly confused, looked at Nessarose. She gasped at the sight of the girl, who was (previously?) dead, but her eyes were open and she was breathing.

"How?" Dr. Bonvadi breathed, moving towards the bed. She gently grabbed Nessa's left arm. The veins, still black, caught her attention first, but it quickly shifted when she felt a weak, yet steady, pulse emanating from the wrist. "She was…she is…"

"A token from the one who loves her most." Elphaba whispered, walking forward. She gently pushed a few stray hairs from her sister's forehead. There was a tiny green imprint that bare the shape of the lips that had gently touched it minutes ago.

"What?"

"Magic, Dr. Bonvadi. Magic." Elphaba smiled, allowing her hand to rest on Nessa's hairline.

Dark Nessa returned to Nieve's shop when she finished her work in the hospital. Nieve was pleasantly surprised when, off to her left, the room swirled with black tendrils as the dark soul made her appearance.

"How did it go dearie? Does Frex feel pure regret?" The apothecary asked when she saw the girl, as casually as if they were making small talk.

"Oh yes. I even thanked him for setting me free. That just made it better." Dark Nessa said, smiling giddily as she sauntered over to the apothecary.

"Very good. Now, if I let you freely use your dark magic, will you continue to help me?" Nieve allowed a dark smile.

"I would love to. What's next?" Dark Nessa rubbed her hands together, but she suddenly stopped. Nieve confusedly knit her brows together as the other woman looked around, panic-stricken. She moved wildly about the room.

"It can't be!" She snarled loudly. "It's not possible." Dark Nessa fell to her knees, clutching her stomach.

"She…she's alive." She wheezed, sounding as if someone had punched her in the gut. A mangled, deep cry of pain ripped from her throat.

Nieve gasped as she realized what was happening. The dark girl was crumbling away, forced to return to the soul and body she had been linked to. She couldn't let that happen.

Hastily, Nieve grabbed a spell book and threw it on the floor in front of Dark Nessa. Finding the spell was growing difficult as black wisps from the girl began to blur her vision. Finally she found it.

"Arturm latum faret potum. Arturm latum faret potum." She chanted repeatedly, gracefully waving her arms over the book in swirling motions.

Dark Nessa howled in pain again, but then a strange tingling sensation filled her. She felt strength. Power.

Pure, raw, dark, power.

The ruby slippers adorning her feet glowed bright red.

"What have you done?" Dark Nessa whispered in awe.

Nieve smirked. "Magic."

"No duh," Dark Nessa countered sassily, "What did you actually do?"

"You were your own being. And this little spell gave you your own soul again, but for only twenty four hours."

"So that means-"

"Yes." Nieve cut her short. "If you want to stay how you are, you have to kill Miss Nessarose within the next day, or you will return to her soul."

"How should I do it? A slit neck…a good ol' fashion stab…" Dark Nessa rambled off options, but stopped when Nieve raised a hand.

"You have to break her."

"What?"

"Break her. Get inside her head. Break her soul. Or if you can somehow regain complete control over her, you can do that as well. It's the only way you can stay your own being."

Brain buzzing, Dark Nessa smirked and disappeared.

Nieve stood up and stretched. She was getting too old for this.

"You're never too old for revenge my dear."

Startled, the apothecary turned, only to come face to face with none other than her mother.

"M-mother?" She whispered, stepping back.

"Hello dear." The old woman's hair was mostly grey, and they matched her eyes. The same storm grey colored irises that Nieve had inherited. Her long, lanky fingers entwined as her hands rested on her stomach.

"What do you want?" Nieve snarled, taking on a defensive stance against the other woman. She was surprised when her mother pulled her into a hug. Nieve roughly tore away, tripping over the book on the floor behind her.

"I wanted to see your revenge plot succeed. I did, after all, have a hand in it."

"I thought you never wanted to see me again." Nieve shot back.

"Well I didn't, but then I started to think. I missed you."

"For twenty years, I heard nothing from you. Twenty Oz-damned years."

"Dear-" Nieve's mother started, but her daughter was on a roll.

"And for the twenty years I lived with you, I was your personal slave!" Her grey eyes were alight with fire. The apothecary turned away.

"Nieve would you listen! I'm sorry!"

"Sure." Nieve scoffed, looking at her mother over her shoulder. "Well it's a little late for that. Twenty years too late!"

She whipped around, thrusting out her arms and pressing the heels of her palms together. A solid beam of black magic shot from her hands, blasting her mother backwards. She collapsed to the floor, dead.

Nieve's chest heaved as she collected herself. Realizing what she'd just done, Nieve longed for an empty, guilty feeling, but she didn't get one.

No regret.

No guilt.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The room was crowded.

Very, very crowded.

Several doctors and nurses worked tirelessly to stable the Thropp girl who had woken up without explanation.

Galinda, Boq, Fiyero, Frex, and Elphaba watched from the sidelines. Galinda and Fiyero both tightly gripped Elphaba's hands, as the green girl's anxiety raised with every passing moment, and it spiked when Nessa's eyes closed again.

Inside the girl's head, a war was raging.

'Come on…wake up…wake up and see the one who loves you most…'

Nessa desperately wanted to. More than anything. But she couldn't. It was like she was being pulled away from her body.

No. She fought back. It was as if she was clutching to the last string of life she had.

In all the excitement, despite the dozen people in the cramped room, no one noticed a single black tendril creep in through an open window and slip into Nessa's ear subtly.

"Well well….look what we have here." A voice taunted Nessa, its tone was soft and smooth.

Nessa looked around fleetingly. She wasn't surprised when Dark Nessa descended into her line of sight.

"What do you want?" Nessa asked upon seeing her dark twin.

"You, my pretty, need to go back to sleep. I want my freedom, and I can't have it as long as you're still alive."

"You can't kill me."

Dark Nessa laughed. "I don't need to. I can control you. All I need to do…is break you."

"Break me?"

"You don't need to know the logistics of it all, but believe me, I will win. You can't fight the darkness. You have to succumb to my every will. Makes my job that much more enjoyable."

Without warning, Nessa swung her wrist and her fist connected with the jaw of her twin. The girl did flinch, but cackled.

"Feisty are we?" Dark Nessa smirked.

"I'm tired of you. You don't own me. You can't control me. And you never will again!" Nessa spat back venomously, her confidence going up a smidge.

"If only it were that easy." Dark Nessa snarled, voice hushed. "It's not." With that, she lunged at the other girl, knocking her down. She grabbed her wrists, effectively pinning her down.

"You know how this will end my pretty, so give in. This way it'll hurt less. You have nothing to lose."

Nessa opened her mouth to fire back, but hesitated. She'd fought so much, went through so much pain and suffering, and for what? For nothing. She felt herself slipping away.

A smug smile crept on the lips of her dark twin.

"Heart rate dropping!" Dr. Bonvadi called, slightly panicked. Her jaw set in determination. She wouldn't lose this girl. Not again.

"That's it, my pretty. Let me win. Accept your darkness." Dark Nessa whispered softly.

Nessa relaxed slightly. She felt several spindly tendrils wind their way around her body; up her legs, across her abdomen, and most importantly over her torso. One by dark one, they dipped beneath her skin into her empty chest. They combined into a black heart, beating strong.

"Stabilizing!" The Doctor shouted. She was slightly relieved. The other occupants of the room released held breaths.

Nessa opened her eyes again. Dark Nessa was gone, but a voice had appeared in her head, whispering cruel, vile things.

Suddenly it snapped in Nessa what had just happened. She hadn't controlled it. But now, her dark twin was pulling the strings. Nessa wanted to fight. She wanted to break away from the darkness.

She just…couldn't. It was a part of her.

Dark Nessa sensed this and released a cruel laugh. She had full control.

"My pretty…you're mine now…"

Wanli8970: I'm going to have Freyja coming for me aren't I?