A/N: Thank you for the reviews on my last fic - they really mean a lot to me. This is something I've been thinking about writing for a while, but never knew exactly how (I'm still not sure of everything that's going to happen). It's also my longest and most AU story so far! I don't know exactly how many chapters there are going to be, I don't think It will be really long, but I guess it just depends on where the story goes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked

"Elphie! Thank Oz you're alive."

It was a strange feeling. These past few years she had not once encountered a person who had a positive reaction towards her. And now, all of a sudden, here was Glinda, someone she hadn't seen in years, who she had, in every way, abandoned. And for the first time in a very long while, she felt accepted. Wanted, even.

She couldn't decide if that feeling was welcome.

She snapped out of her daze when the commotion seemed to resume, and Glinda's words continued.

"Only you shouldn't have come, if anyone discoverates you..."

The words seemed to float in the air for a while, as Elphaba struggled to grasp at their true meaning. Was it genuine concern for her well-being, or simply leftover bitterness in disguise? Well, in any case, there was no time to ponder over such insignificant details right then; there were much more pressing matters at hand. How she would make it out of here alive, for one.

Elphaba took a moment to marvel at the sight before her; not the best way to use her clearly limited time, she knew, but it was just so ridiculous she couldn't help it.

All in one room, the Captain of the Gale Force was pointing a gun at the great Wizard Of Oz himself, while Glinda The Good stood facing the Wicked Witch of the West, neither of them with any malicious incentive toward the other. Any intruder would certainly be perplexed, most likely shocked, by the scene.

It would have been almost funny, just how twisted the story had become, if only people's lives weren't at stake.

Suddenly Glinda broke the awkward silence that seemed to have settled over the room, by stepping away from Elphaba and moving to the other side. As she approached the others, she seemed to hesitate.

"Fiyero, what are you doing?"

It was as if a wave had hit him, Elphaba noticed, the way he immediately came to his senses. Like he had just woken from a trance in which he had no control over his actions.

"Your Ozness, he means no disrespectation," Glinda had apparently caught on, and was now trying to save him from the inevitable consequences of his bizarre, seemingly rash decision. "Please understand, we all went to school together and-"

There was a crash as the gun dropped to the ground. "I'm sorry…" Fiyero said slowly, his voice thick with confusion. "I'm sorry, I don't know what just came over me." He turned towards Elphaba, and as they made eye contact, she noticed a glint of what seemed to be concern in his eyes.

She wanted to apologise to him, for some inexplicable reason, but the moment passed before she had the chance.

"What happened here?" The Good Witch suddenly demanded, "Elphie, how long have you been in the palace?"

"About an hour and a half"

"All right. I would ask what you were doing here, but..." she glanced momentarily at the Wizard, who was busy behind his Golden Head guise, presumably doing something that involved calling his guards back. "I doubt there's enough time."

Glinda's face brightened and then darkened again, all in an instant. She ran out of the room, muttering a hasty apology of some sort, but not bothering to look back at the green witch.

Well, what had she expected. Of course she would want nothing to do with the Wicked Witch. Elphaba was turning to leave, when a voice called her back.

"Elphaba, wait."

"What?"

"She's coming back. She wouldn't just leave you here without a reason."

She turned back toward Fiyero, who had been standing in the corner of the room, watching the scene unfold with an unreadable expression on his face.

The green girl shook her head, both defiantly and sadly, and muttered quietly, "She doesn't want to associate with me. I understand."

Any words that would have been spoken in response were lost as, to Elphaba's surprise, the blonde woman came hurtling back into the throne room.

She hurriedly approached Elphaba, diverting her attention back from Fiyero, and confusing the witch to no end. Before she had the chance to say anything, though, Glinda pressed something into her hand and softly whispered, "go."

And she did. Without a second thought as to what she was leaving behind, and without so much as an attempt to process what she had just experienced, Elphaba ran out of the throne room. She didn't stop until she was out of the palace, and hearing Madame Morrible's voice in the distance only spurred her on. She knew that by now, there would be Gale Force guards surrounding the entrances to the palace, so her only chance of escape was through a window; she didn't dare try the attic where this had all started.

The whole time she ran, there was a feeling in the back of her mind, nagging her about whatever it was Glinda had placed in her hand.

She should look at it. But no, there wasn't time. When, at last, she reached an empty storage room, with an ideal looking window, her curiosity finally got the better of her and she opened her hand. In it, there was a small piece of paper with jagged edges, giving the impression that it had been ripped in a hurry.

She turned it around, to reveal a small message, obviously scribbled as quickly as possible, in a hand that she recognised immediately.

The woods behind Shiz, midnight, tonight.

Thanks for reading, what did you think?