Daydreamer731: you know what im about to ask lol

Fiyero: hmmm

Fiyero: i don't know

Fiyero: i have to be careful right now

Fiyero: cuz you'll put anything i say in the a/n

Authors' Note: Yes, dear readers, this is indeed it. Today is a sad day in Wicked-fic land…That's right, this is our last update for about another two weeks, due to the fact that we're both going to NY to see it. So until then…enjoy.

Chapter 5

There were noises coming from the outside the shattered window. Elphaba turned to look at Fiyero and Glinda. "We must leave," she said. "If someone finds us here, we're trapped. We need to get somewhere with multiple ways out."

Glinda eyed Elphaba suspiciously. "Why should I trust you?" said the blonde. "I've only just met you."

"You know me," said Fiyero. "You trust me. Why would I, the Scarecrow, join up with someone untrustworthy?"

"Well…," Glinda began, but interrupted herself with a scream of terror as a large axe flew through the air and settled itself in Fiyero's back. A girl followed the axe, seizing it before Elphaba could blink and slicing Fiyero's head clean from the rest of his body. Elphaba hurried to retrieve it.

"Are you all right?" she asked the head.

The girl screamed and burst into tears.

"I didn't mean to do it! I swear I didn't! He said he'd kill me if I didn't!"

"Relax," said Fiyero's head. "Just get a needle and some thread. A few stitches and I'll be good as knew!"

This only caused the girl to shriek louder and scramble under Glinda's pink-ruffled bed. Glinda sighed and went to the closet to retrieve her sewing kit while Elphaba continued staring at the head in shock.

"I'm fine, really!" said the head. "The perks of being a Scarecrow."

He winked at Elphaba.

Elphaba placed Fiyero's head beside his stuffed body and peered through her veil under the bed. "Hello?" she said. "My name is Fae… we won't hurt you, honestly. We'd just like to ask you something."

Two big, dark eyes peered back from the darkness. "I'm sorry for killing him," she whimpered.

"He's a Scarecrow," she informed the child. "In fact, he's the Scarecrow."

The girl gasped. "Then… then he knows him."

Elphaba's eyes narrowed. "Knows who?"

"His Highness, the Ruler of the Winkies. He made all the grown-up Winkies realize they were sick of being looked down upon by the rest of Oz and now they're on a rampage to kill Glinda the Good - whoever that is - and steal the Grimmerie - whatever that is - and take over Oz."

"How do you know all this?" asked Elphaba, suddenly suspicious.

The girl looked scared and backed a little further under the edge of the bed.

"I-I…I was a servant girl at his palace. It was easy to spy on him, because he never paid any attention to me. When I hear what he was going to do, I—I…I followed him because I wanted to stop him. But now he's killed my brother and he wants me to kill you and there's nothing I can do about it!" The girl burst into tears again and retreated under the bed completely.

"Who is 'he?'" Elphaba asked softly. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know, but she knew she had to. "You said Fi - the Scarecrow knew him."

"We are forbidden to call him anything but 'Highness,'" said the girl. "I don't know his name."

"Then what is he? Is he human? Another Scarecrow?"

"He's a man… but not an ordinary man… he's made of tin."

If Elphaba hadn't already been crouched on the ground, she would have fallen over.

"Boq…" she whispered without thinking.

"What did you say?" Glinda asked, her face going even paler than it already was.

"Oh! Uh…book! I said 'book'! I was thinking about the Grimmerie. Where is it? We need to make sure that if he attacks again, he can't get at it."

"Under the mattress," said the sorceress.

"Honestly, that's the first place they would look," said Elphaba as she lifted the mattress from the frame of the bed to pull out the thick book of spells. She looked under the bed once more. "You want to stop the Tin Man? Help us, then. You know information about him, you can help us stop him and your fellow Winkies."

"I… I don't know."

"The risk may be great, that much must be admitted," she said. "But this could save many lives. If you don't, this could mean the downfall of Oz. You'd be forced to live in slavery your entire life."

"I…"

"You said your brother was a victim of this man. Don't you want to help avenge him?"

Silence. Finally, the girl responded. "I'll do it. I'll help you."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" said Glinda defensively. "I've hardly even agreed to work with you, and already you're bringing more people into this? Fae, I don't know who you are, but I do know one thing: you're getting on my nerves. And I don't like it when people get on my nerves. I'm the one in power here! So just stop trying to take control of this situation!"

"Glinda," said Elphaba with unnatural patience. "You know you need help. The very fact that you would stay in a castle that was under siege and hide that book instead of using it to protect yourself and your position of power shows that you need an advisor in this situation. Now either you put your enormous ego aside, or we can just leave you to your own devices and see how well you cope!"

Glinda let out a huff. "You know, Fae, you remind me of someone."

"I figured I would." A wave of confusion jumped onto Glinda's face.

"What's your name?" asked Fiyero, whose head Glinda had sewn back onto his shoulders. "We can't continue just calling you 'girl.'"

"Jessanine," the girl said. "But everyone calls me Jessa."

Three hearts nearly stopped.

"Okay, now that's really creepy," said Glinda, looking back and forth between Jessa and Elphaba in puzzlement.

"What is?" asked Jessa, at a loss.

"Now you both remind me of someone."

"Someones," corrected Jessa.

"What?" asked Glinda.

"Someones. We remind you of two someones. Unless we both remind you of the same person, that is."

"Um… yeah," said Glinda. "You confuse me. But anyway, you're right I suppose - you remind me of two people."

"I remind you of two people or Fae and I each remind you of one person?"

"I… you… oh whatever!"

Elphaba sighed and looked at Fiyero. "This is going to be a long journey." Still, Elphaba had to admit that it was a bit strange how much Jessa and Nessa sounded alike.

"So…what exactly do you want me to do?" asked Jessa.

"Oh, you know, go spy on him some more," said Glinda. "Figure out a way to undermine him."

"I can't go back there! Not now! He'll kill me!"

"Exactly," said Elphaba, glaring at Glinda. "You know, you remind me of someone too, Glinda. It almost feels as though we knew each other in a past life."

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