AUTHORS NOTE: Sorry guys, my creativity has been in a bit of a slump due to personal reasons. Actually I started this chapter right after the last one and was almost finished when my slump happened so I guess there's really no excuse. Anyway you might noticed I added a bit to Glinda's fleeing scene, I think it suits it a little better.

Sorry for the cheesy dialogue.

OH and I changed the chapter title of the last one since it's not really the ending.


Elphaba couldn't look at away at anything else. She had needed to focus on the wife of her dead lover, she had been working to gain forgiveness for so long, that it just seemed to take priority. But, in truth, it was so her calm didn't crumble. She couldn't dare look into the eyes of the woman she loved while trying to ask forgiveness from this she-wolf. She couldn't show weakness.

Sarima had stared at her. An unreadable expression masked her. But Elphaba didn't need to see the hate to know it was there, she didn't need to feel the burn of a slap across her face to know Sarima would have done much worse if she didn't have some dignity.

Sarima shook her head. Elphaba couldn't blame her, but it didn't stop her from speaking, "Sarima, just..."

But there was nothing to it. Sarima shook her head, and slowly backtracked into the room. "I didn't want to believe it. I don't… believe it. Ha! I actually became friends with my husband's mistress! Well, there you go, Miss Auntie Witch!" Sarima turned back, her eyes flashing with that hatred Elphaba had been expecting, but something else too. "Your goal of befriending me worked—but no—no—" her head shook again and she waved her hands in the air. Defeat. It was unnerving to see Sarima this way. "No…" and she retreated into the small chamber of the throne room behind the two, now empty, chairs.

Sarima never said what she was saying no to, but Elphaba knew. Sarima would not give forgiveness. Not now, at least. And to think of it, she felt foolish for expecting anything different. How could she have expected to be forgiven so easily for an affair when even now she couldn't seem to forgive that little Melena brat for hanging around Glinda so much?

It was only then that she turned towards Glinda. Her heart almost broke on the spot. The anger and hatred she had expected to see had melted as soon as she locked her brown eyes to blue, what replaced it was indescribable hurt and pain, and her heart ached deep within her chest. She moved forward, her hand ever so slightly outstretched towards the Lady Glinda.

"Glinda—"

"NO!" Glinda shouted, shaking her head violently. She wouldn't let her tell her any reasons, no excuses or explanations. It was unfair.

"Please listen to me, I—"

But Glinda did not listen. She did not give her a minute to explain. She did not let her breathe a single word about the adulterous affair, or how sorry she was, or how she regretted it every day of her life. What Glinda did is run, run with a horrible limp through the doors and down the long halls. She ran away.

It was then, Elphaba snapped.

How dare she act as if she was the only hurt party of this whole awful affair? Sarima had not been the sole reason Fiyero had been unfaithful, but Glinda—she was a different story. If she had not heard of her getting married, she wouldn't have…

…she wouldn't have….

She wouldn't have had an affair with him, and Fiyero would still be alive.

Liir would not exist, and she would not be faced with the incredible guilt she felt every day, she would not feel such a hollow whole within her chest every time she looked at her bastard son.

"It's not only my fault." Elphaba said darkly, "How dare you act this way when you were the one who betrayed me?! After I told you to wait, to hold out, what do you do? You marry the first man that walks into your life!!" the words grew more violent and hate filled as she spoke, until finally she was shouting her pain from the top of her lungs as she ran down the halls. She was chasing Glinda. She didn't realize it at first, but as she screamed she could only think of the pain which filled her heart, the crushing feeling of betrayal she had convinced herself she did not care about when she had clung to Fiyero. It was undeniable now.

"You're a pathetic coward—couldn't stand the thought of being alone! Can't spend even a damn year without a fucking man!" and she was standing at the drawbridge now, but Glinda had gone. Elphaba scoffed with a bitter grin as she watched the rain come down heavily. It was the reason she had stopped. She turned, and before she had even taken a step back into the courtyard, a pale fist collided with her face. She fell back from the force onto the floor, but the attack didn't stop there.

"How fucking dare you?!" screamed a furious Melena. She grabbed the throat of Elphaba's dress and yanked her violently up to her feet. Her hazel eyes burned with pure hatred and disgust, and the anger which laced her voice seemed to pale in comparison to Elphaba's anger just a moment ago. "It was you—you left her!"

"You don't know anything!" Elphaba snarled.

"You abandoned her!" Elphaba felt a painful lump in her throat that stopped any rebuttal she could have spoken. Melena didn't seem to be waiting for one, though. "You left her alone and scared while you left to go play assassin, or hero or some shit. She was alone, disowned, because she was pregnant! You left her with a baby!"

…what? Elphaba's shock went unnoticed by the ranting younger woman, who was knocking her back into a wall with each infliction of her words. Melena dropped Elphaba to the floor and gave her a hard kick before rushing out into the cold night, but not before saying one last thing.

"I pray to Lurline and any other god that might hear me that I never, ever, ever take after you!"

Elphaba lay there, bent over in a ball. The pain of the steel toed boot breaking one of her ribs was only part of the reason she did not move. She was in shock. Glinda didn't have any children—Fiyero had told her she didn't. Had he lied to her? Had he not known?

How could Glinda…cheat on her…when they were still together?

"Elphaba," a soft, saddened voice spoke. Elphaba looked up slowly. In the glare if the lightning, Nanny seemed worn and tired, filled with a life of hardships, much of them not of her own fault, but given to her anyway by ungrateful children she had raised from infancy. "We need to talk about…"

Elphaba's eyes widened, she paled, and her heart stopped as the next words were breathed from Nanny's old lips.

"Your daughter…"