I know you all are hunting me for that sick, sick cliffie in the last chapter, but you're not allowed to kill the birthday girl!
Or, she would have been, if Elphaba hadn't been running through the crowd at that exact moment. The blade fell down, down, down, as if in slow motion.
"STOP!" Elphaba cried. She flung out a hand, and the blade froze barely half an inch from Nessa's neck. The brunette was panting heavily. Even with eyes screwed shut, she knew it was Elphaba as she felt a hand on her shoulder and one on the back of her head.
"Elphaba," The Wizard said gruffly, "This is quite inappropriate."
"You can't kill her! She's innocent!"
"Feelings aside, she has been charged with treason for drafting a document speaking of receding Munchkinland from Oz, and the punishment is public execution," The executioner said firmly.
"Nessie, Nessie look at me." Elphaba completely ignored the executioner and kneeled in front of the Governess.
She did. The crowd had fallen completely silent, waiting with baited breath for what was coming.
"Do you remember writing that document?"
Wordlessly, she shook her head.
"See! That proves it!"
"People forget things all the time."
"Not me," Nessa said, finally regaining some semblance of courage. "I remember everything from the day I was born. It's proven. Ask any doctor in Munchkinland."
"Enough!" The Wizard bellowed. "We shall proceed."
The executioner nodded and pulled the rope to bring the blade back to the top of the guillotine.
"Father no! You can't do this!"
"I can do what I want, Miss Elphaba! And this traitor needs what's coming."
Realization dawned on Elphaba's face as the Wizard cursed under his breath.
"It's not really you, is it?"
Something flew into her, knocking her from the stage into the crowd. She hit the ground, hard, and stumbled back to her feet. A black shadow of a figure stood tall next to the Wizard and the executioner.
"Please. Let me go, Elphaba," Nessa whispered, a tear sliding down her face. "Let me go, sister."
"Sister?!"
"Do it now!" The Wizard screamed.
Just before the rope left his hand, Elphaba's magic exploded again – accidentally this time. The guillotine was blown to bits and the four people on the stage, minus Nessa, were thrown backwards. The governess was lying amongst the wreckage of the execution machine, and Elphaba was next to her in a heartbeat.
"Nessie?"
"Fabala…" She breathed, attacking her sister in a hug as the tears finally came.
The Wizard regained his footing and looked around wildly as did the other man. His cloak had been torn off.
"What do we do now?" He called out, his stubbly face looking skyward.
A flash of lightning and a plume of smoke later, they found themselves inside the abandoned portrait gallery in the palace.
Morrible swept into the room, her eyes filled with anger.
"One job! I gave you all one simple job." She turned to the two girls on the floor. "You just had to make this more difficult didn't you?"
Nessa whimpered and curled farther into her sister.
Melena…we need you…Melena… she thought repeatedly, hoping to repeat the success she had with Elphaba the previous eve.
"She told me everything, you know. We're sisters," Elphaba said, hoping that no one could see through the lie.
Morrible's jaw dropped. The Wizard and the other man tensed up and slowly turned their heads towards Morrible. Nanny was still on the floor, unconscious from the magic blast.
In the blink of eye, Nessa went from being wrapped in her sister's warm embrace to laying on the floor, seizing.
"Melena..." She said out loud. Her eyes were completely glossed over and her body was shaking uncontrollably.
"What is she doing? What did you do?!" Elphaba demanded, glaring daggers at the old fish.
"Believe it or not, dearie, but this was not my doing."
Elphaba gave her an incredulous look.
"Ezra, Oscar, seize them!"
Melena was curled up, quite catlike, in an armchair in Carella's living room in front of the warm fire. Her sister snapped her out of her trance-like state by offering her a cookie, fresh out of the oven. Melena gratefully took on and bit into it. White chocolate and macadamia nuts – her favorite.
"How have you been holding up?" Carella asked as she made herself on the couch across from her sister.
"Better, actually. Thanks, Ella." She gave the redhead a genuine smile. "I know that Mum would always say-" She suddenly stopped.
"Lena!" Carella cried as her sister suddenly collapsed to the floor.
Melena's head was drowning in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Nessarose.
Melena…we need you…Melena…in danger…Morrible…help…
That was all she needed to hear. As soon as her head stopped spinning, she was on her feet, booking it to the door.
"Melena please stop," A voice whimpered behind her. She turned, and her younger sister was looking at her with tears in her eyes.
"I have to go, Ella. My daughters need me."
"Let me go with you, please. I can help."
It was evident that Melena took a moment to think about this. "Okay," she finally said. Carella took a quick moment to scribble a note to Gainin to explain their departure before they set off in the direction of the Emerald City.
"What happened?!" Carella demanded once they were in the carriage.
"This is going to sound crazy."
The younger woman raised an eyebrow, challengingly.
"I heard my daughter's voice."
"Elphaba?"
"No, Nessa."
"But…how?"
"I don't know."
"What did she say?"
"They're in trouble, and that's all."
Carella took on of her sister's hands and squeezed it lightly.
"We'll save them, then."
Nessa was unconscious when she and Elphaba were locked in two separate cells by Oscar and this Ezra man.
"Nessie. Nessie wake up," Elphaba pleaded once they were alone, but there was no response. She was too far away to check for a pulse, so she just had to hope and pray she was still alive.
Minutes or hours later, Elphaba had no idea, Nessa's eyes slowly fluttered open. She groaned in pain as she sat up.
"Oh thank Oz," Elphaba breathed in relief as she crawled to the edge of her cell. "I thought you were-"
"Dead? It's alright, they thought that this morning when I did the same thing." At the princess's confused look, she continued. "You heard my voice last night, correct?" A nod. "I just did that again, I managed to contact your…our," she cautiously corrected herself, "mother."
"Wait, what?"
Nessa dragged herself to the edge of the cell. "Give me your hand. There's something I need to show you."
Elphaba complied without hesitation. She had a severe case of déjà vu as she watched Nessa tightly take her hand and mumble words that weren't words, just like she did in the dorm room only a few months ago.
The younger girl drew a deep breath and looked Elphaba directly in the eyes. "This is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you."
"What do you mean?" Elphaba was growing agitated. "What are you doing?!"
"I saw into your mind for years, Fabala. It's time to show you mine."
Galinda Upland was having a panic attack. To most of the students on campus, the cause was the fact that she couldn't find the correct shade of pink to match her dress.
But really, it was because Elphaba hadn't shown up to report back to classes in four days, so a week since she'd left campus since she scored high on the language exam. No letter, no explanation, nothing.
Today, however, she checked her student mailbox as she dutifully and had been every day this week, and there was a letter. She couldn't open it fast enough.
Dear Glin,
By the time this reaches you, you're probably having a panic attack about me not returning to school. Don't worry, I'm alive and well. Physically, at least. The reason I haven't come back yet is Preena, my mom's personal handmaiden and one of my best friends (you being the other, of course), was murdered in the palace this week. It was sudden and tragic. It's just after midnight on Tuesday as I'm writing this, and her funeral was today…or I guess yesterday.
I won't be coming back to Shiz until next week, just so you know. I'm sorry I left you to panic for so long, I meant to write you sooner, but I was still coming to grips with her death.
I should probably get some sleep, it's getting late.
Love,
Elphaba
Galinda read over the letter a few times, just relishing the fact that her best friend was indeed alive. Then she ran off to Fiyero's dorm.
"Fifi! Fifi! Fifi!" She shouted, pounding on the door. A slightly annoyed Vinkun Prince opened the door and looked expectantly at the petite blonde.
"She's alive."
"She sent me the same letter, Glin. She's my girlfriend," He enunciated the last word, since it should've been blatantly obvious to anyone around.
"I am well aware," Galinda said sarcastically. Fae has been really rubbing off on her, Fiyero thought.
"Do you think…we should go to her?" He asked as they walked towards the café. Boq joined them, as he had just gotten out of class. Galinda suddenly froze the moment they entered the café.
"Glin?"
She turned to him, her face ghostly, as she pointed a trembling finger to the rack of Daily Ozians, just printed that morning, sitting by the counter.
GOVERNOR NESSAROSE THROPP OF MUNCHKINLAND TO BE EXECUTED FOR TREASON
After exchanging a look, they stumbled forward to read the whole article. It said that she had drafted a document to recede Munchkinland from Oz, and her execution was supposed to have been that morning, but was postponed due to "unforeseen circumstances".
For the Gillikin Heiress, the Munchkin, and the Vinkun Prince, they didn't need any more reason to go to the Emerald City. They fled the café, appetites lost, and ran to Madame Morrible's quarters.
To Whom It May Concern – I am dealing with some business in the Emerald City at the moment and won't be back for a few days. Any business can be taken up with my stand-in, Doctor Dillamond, History Building, Room 412.
Fiyero, Boq, and Galinda all wore the same suspicious look as they left for the History building.
"Doctor Dillamond?" Galinda called as she poked her head in the room.
"Ah, yes, Miss Glllllinda, Master Boq, Master Fiyero." He greeted politely. "What can I do for you?"
"We're here to talk to you about Elphaba."
"Is she alright?"
The two gave the Goat the condensed version of the story, just telling him that someone close to Elphaba died, but also brought up Nessa's looming execution.
"It doesn't seem like her," Doctor Dillamond mused.
"So, really, we're here to see if we'd be allowed to go to the Emerald City and be there for Fae. We're hoping she's not in trouble, but you never know. If Nessa's being executed for treason, anything could be happening," Fiyero explained. He was hoping with all of his being that the Goat would agree. He looked at them skeptically but nodded nonetheless.
"Three conditions," He said sharply, "Make up all missed school work." A glance at Fiyero. "Keep an eye on Morrible. I know she works at the Palace, and she may be up to something. And…give Miss Elphaba my condolences."
"We will, thank you Doctor Dillamond." They turned to leave, but the Goat spoke again.
"Be careful, all of you. I know you want to help Elphaba and save Nessarose, but sometimes," He heaved a deep breath, and slowly let it out. "Sometimes you can't save everyone."
Thirty minutes later the three students were speeding away from Shiz, while another carriage was the same distance away in the other direction. Five people, one common goal.
They just hoped they wouldn't be too late.
You guys didn't actually think I would kill Nessa, right?
In other news, in case you didn't see the above, it's my birthday! No killing the birthday girl!