A/N: I'm back, in less than two days! The main reason is that I'm going on vacation, so I won't be able to post again for over a week. So I thought I'd post this, which, lucky for you all, doesn't end in a cliffhanger. Enjoy, and I'll get another chapter up ASAP when I get back next week!

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Chapter Twenty-One: Elphaba's Explosion

Five heads turned fearfully toward the door.

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

"Out the other door," Elphaba urged. Everyone began to move toward the main door. "No, not that one! There are probably guards everywhere out there! That way," she pointed to the door that led to the underground cells.

Before they could take more than a few steps, however, there was a splintering sound, and, whirling about, they saw that Boq had apparently used his axe on the door and it was cracking in two. As they stared, frozen in horror, there was another gigantic cracking noise, and the door flew out of the way, the cage rolling aside, to reveal Boq and Madame Morrible. The soldiers were no longer with them.

"Don't move!" Madame Morrible shouted, aiming a rifle at the group, "Don't move or I'll shoot."

"Won't you shoot anyway?" Elphaba asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Good point." Morrible smirked and moved the gun to aim it directly at Elphaba.

The Wizard stepped forward. "Helga, don't do this. Just put the gun down and we can-" He was interrupted by a loud gunshot. Morrible had fired just a few inches above his head. She looked wild; her eyes were wide, and she was quivering.

"Don't test me. You threw away your life when you decided to go with these rebels." She spat the word as if it was poisonous, and then once again cocked the gun at Elphaba. "Don't worry. I'm sick of talking about this, sick of looking at you, even, so this should be quick. It might even be painless. I wouldn't know. After all, I have never died."

Glinda protested, appealing to Boq. "Boq…I know you're in there somewhere, the real you. You don't want to do this. Please, help us!"

Boq was unmoved. "Madame Morrible is doing this for the good of the people of Oz, Glinda. If you can't see that, then you must be one of them."

"Elphaba isn't wicked, Boq. It's Morrible!" the Lion pleaded.

"This Wicked Witch has done nothing but bad for the past few years. If she lives, she will continue to taint Oz with her evil. After all, it is because of her that I am tin. It's because of her you are cowardly. And her own lover is a scarecrow because of her, yet he still stands by her. Don't you see all the wicked she's done?"

Color had started rising in Elphaba's cheeks, and her eyes were sparking dangerously. She looked livid. "You think that all my life I've been trying to do wicked deeds? That it was my prerogative from the very beginning to ruin lives? When I was a little child, it was always, 'Not now, we have to help Nessa,' or 'Elphaba, stop making such a spectacle of yourself! Try to pretend you're like everyone else!' My father made sure he lost no love on me! Oh no, heaven forbid that Nessarose should lose even an ounce of care! That a little bit of love should be wasted on me, the unwanted green girl! It was my job to look after Nessarose, always, because Father was too busy as governor! Every instruction was spelled out so that there was no way I could possibly screw anything up! And if anything was done wrong, I was the victim! It was always my fault! And if anything went wrong with the politics, I was the vent through which Father let his anger go! And he never apologized! Nessa always received the best presents, because, according to Father, I had the best gift of all – a little sister to take care of! The only reason I was sent to Shiz was so that I could look after Nessarose – and Father didn't even make sleeping arrangements for me! And though I was older, Nessarose was the one who would become governor because no one would hear of following a girl the color of an artichoke! At school, the students didn't care, no one understood! And Nessa deserved you, Boq, because Oz only knows the rest of her life had been filled with discomfort! Oh yeah, my life was a picnic! And even later, Nessa still complained about having to depend on me, when I was the one who got the worse end of the deal! And not once had I thought about rescuing her from her utter misery! And I was the Wickeder Witch, just because I wanted to save innocent Animals! And all my life, it's been like this, and I JUST - CAN'T – TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!"

All through this yelled speech, the others had sensed a growing aura around Elphaba. The air had begun to pulse with power, and even Boq backed up, wincing. As the last word left her lips, she flung her hands out, and magic erupted from her in a wavelike, electrical rush. It hit all of them – Boq, Fiyero, Glinda, Madame Morrible, the Lion, the Wizard – and threw them backwards. It also consumed Elphaba, and she was flung to the ground as well.

The power stormed in a whirl of colors throughout the room, bouncing off walls. It formed an orb around each living being in the room, and then settled, causing a faint glow to conform to the shape of its prey.

For a moment, there was complete silence and stillness in the room. If anyone had been there to hear it, they would have felt suffocated in it all. Then Elphaba slowly sat up.

She was aching and hurt all over, but she could tell immediately that out of all of them, she was the one who was least injured. Her head spun and she felt drained because of all the power she had just released, yet she also felt…cleansed. It was odd. Then a glow from the corner of her eye distracted her.

It was Glinda. But there was something different about her. The unkempt curls had disappeared. Her hair was simply gently curled and simple, the way it had used to be. And it was…brown? And Glinda looked…younger. The worry lines had disappeared from her face, and it was smooth. Elphaba's eyes widened. What was happening?

Her eyes left Glinda and swept on to Fiyero, where, once again, she was in for a surprise. The Scarecrow was gone. In his place was a familiar human form – Fiyero before the spell. And Fiyero no longer looked worried, either. He had a peaceful smile on his face.

On to the Lion. No longer a big beast, he looked remarkably small. Like a cub. He was a cub. Just like that day, long ago, when Dr. Dillamond was hauled off.

The Wizard had definitely changed as well. He was no longer a gray-haired man. Instead, he had dark brown hair, and his face was free of his glasses and wrinkles. As on all the others, a faint smile curved his lips upward.

Elphaba's face turned towards Madame Morrible. At first, she thought there was no difference. Then she noticed a glimmer and realized that there was a crown on Morrible's head. This was utterly confusifying. Up until now, Elphaba had thought that this was a view of the past. But Madame Morrible had never been a queen – had she?

With a shake of her head, Elphaba turned to the last figure in the room and received a shock. Boq was Boq all right, human once more, but he was violently shaking, his expression contorted in pain. Even as Elphaba watched, his suffering seemed to grow stronger, and he pierced the silence with a sharp cry. Elphaba wasted no time in getting to his side.

"Elphie? Is that you?"

Elphaba turned to see Glinda standing there, a disbelieving frown on her face. She still looked young and chipper, and somewhat out of place in the magnificent gown.

"Of course it's me!" Elphaba snapped. When Glinda flinched, she regretted it. In a gentler tone, she added, "Who else could it be?"

"It's just…your skin! It's normal – white, I mean. And you look so young…when did you put your hair back in braids?"

"What?" Elphaba held her hand in front of her face. It was green. She rubbed it, but nothing happened, "Glinda, my hand isn't-˝ Then, she remembered the change she had seen in everyone else. Could what Glinda saw be her own reaction to the magic?

Glinda was now looking past Elphaba at Boq, who was writhing on the floor. "Dear Oz, is that Boq? What's wrong with him? And what's going on?"

Elphaba decided Boq could wait a moment. "Glinda, look at the others."

Glinda looked. And her eyes got wider and wider with each sight. "They're all…changed! They look younger. Except Madame Morrible, that is."

"And you have, too, and so have I. To me, Glinda you look like a schoolgirl, young and carefree. The same as I remember from Shiz, only now you have brown hair. Maybe we just can't see the change in ourselves."

Glinda seemed more agitated by the 'brown hair' statement. "I have brown hair?" She put a hand on her head and frowned, then sighed. "Unfortunately, all I feel are intricate, though admittedly messy, curls."

Elphaba nodded. It all made sense. Just then, Fiyero joined them. The girls stared at him. He stared back.

"Elphaba? Glinda?" He received two nods. "You both look...different. Like, why is your skin white, Elphaba, and Glinda – what's with the hair?" The two women proceeded to tell him what they knew, and Fiyero took a glance at the rest of the room, and then looked at himself. "All I see are cloth hands," he said sadly. Then a shriek made his attention turn to Boq. "What's wrong with him?" he asked, his eyes not showing any true concern.

"I don't know," Elphaba said softly, kneeling once more beside the former tinman.

She had barely started formulating a plan when the Lion woke up, closely followed by the Wizard and Madame Morrible. Enmities forgotten for the moment, Fiyero and Glinda filled them in, and then they all crowded around Boq, though Madame Morrible stayed far away from Elphaba and the Lion was practically dancing in fright.

They all stood silently as Elphaba examined the Munchkin. She avoided touching him in case it hurt him somehow, but finally she had no choice. Carefully, she laid a hand on his forehead, and gasped as she was electrically shocked.

"He has electricity coursing through him!" She told the others in surprised tones, "I know some of the magic was electric, but none of you got hurt, did you?" They all shook their heads.

"I'm no doctor, and I'm certainly not a thinker, but Boq is-well, was, a tinman, right? Well, metal conducts electricity." Fiyero said slowly.

They all gasped. "Fiyero, you're a genius!" Glinda squealed.

He blushed, "Well, thanks…I guess."

Elphaba put her hand under Boq's head, carefully, ignoring the shocks. She studied him carefully. He was still moaning, though softer and softer each time.

"His pulse is failing. I'm not sure I can do anything now." She said, finding herself deeply saddened by this. Her anger of a few minutes ago had evaporated, and so had the malicious Boq. Now all that was left was a broken Munchkin man.

"Glin-da…" they all froze as Boq rasped out the word. All eyes turned to Glinda.

"Let me hold him," Glinda said, coming forward. Elphaba slipped out from under him, allowing Glinda to take her place.

"Shhh, I'm here. It's all right. Oh, Boq…" Glinda sighed mournfully.

"I'm…sorry."

"No, no, no, I should have paid attention to you; I shouldn't have pretended I didn't know that you loved me." Glinda protested feebly.

"I have…always…loved you," he managed.

"I know."

"Elphaba…" he said hoarsely.

She knelt down again. "Yes?"

"I'm…sorry. Nessa…all…my fault."

Tears were cascading freely down Elphaba's face, and she didn't feel the pain. "If I hadn't turned you into a tinman, you would be okay!" she wailed.

"No." he replied, "You saved…me. You all…saved…Oz."

"You can't leave us, Boq! Not now! Hold on! We can still save you!"

"I'll be…seeing…Nessarose…again. I can…apologize. We'll be…waiting for you all. Don't come…too soon."

"We'll miss you," Glinda whispered. There wasn't anything else to say. They all nodded, minus Madame Morrible.

"No one mourns the wicked," he replied with his last breath, and then his head lolled over. Boq was gone from the world forever. The glow around him shimmered, and then disappeared, leaving in its wake a motionless tinman.

But this tinman had a gentle expression on his face, a slightly relaxed smile that hadn't been seen on Boq's face for a long time. It seemed as if his ugly demeanor had vanished – his anger gone. And then they all noticed one more thing – Boq's heart, his token from the Wizard, had stopped ticking.

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A/N: Review!