One if by Land, Two if by Sky

by Aerohead

Sequel to Entertaining Destiny A group of Shiz students find themselves in the middle of a coverup in Oz, and must find out what's going on before something bad happens. Though they must make sure not to kill each other, first. [COMPLETE]

2. The Man at the Bar

Title: One if by Land, Two if by Sky

Author: Aerohead

Email: in my profile

Website: In my profile

Pairing: Fiyero/Elphaba, Fiyero/Glinda, Glinda/OC, OC/OC

Rating: PG13

Disclaimer/Dedication: For L. Frank Baum, Gregory Maguire, Stephen Schwartz, and Winnie Holtzman who own this idea that I'm extending. Thank you for giving me the first part. This is also for everyone in the OibLTibS RPG, so Sheika belongs to F-kun, Destin belongs to Tori, Riley belongs to Nessy, and Kade and Noelani belong to Cree.

Warning: spoiler for the ending of the musical Wicked, but that's pretty much about it.

Genre: Romance, adventure (book/play amalgamation)

Summary: Seventeen years after the "death" of the Wicked Witch of the West, a group of Shiz students must come to terms with their differences in order to help inform Oz about the truth behind the lies. If they can work together.

Author's Notes: Thanks for the review! All I can say is that Kade's...Animal-ness, will be explained in due time. Remember "raised, not born, in Munchkinland." wink Also, as of now, this is only loosely following the RPG, with my ideas but now it's a total fanfic using the characters of the RPG. Note to self; never let mind wander. I'm really cranking tonight; don't expect part three to come out anytime soon, though. I'm going to Cape Cod for the weekend, then I'm going to Salem before an ugh recording session for a competition my dad's entering.

Chapter Two: The Man at the Bar

It had started to rain; no, pour, by the time seven o'clock came around. Fabala made a face as she looked out of the window. "What's wrong, Fabala? Don't like the rain?"

"What do you think?" Fabala asked, pulling her cloak closer to her body as they stood under a ledge outside of Briscoe Hall. If either Miss Greyling or Professor Timin – the boys' Head – came by and saw three freshmen girls standing there, they would have been in huge trouble. But as it was, the only person who happened to open the door to Briscoe Hall was Destin, who looked at them as if they were insane.

"Get in here; you'll catch your death in weather like this." As he said it, he glanced Fabala up and down. With a thankful smile at him, Fabala pushed past him and the door to get into the dry stone entry to the boys' college. Nissa and Riley followed quickly after her.

"Thanks Tin!" Nissa said, pulling her nearly-step-brother into a death grip.

"Chocking, not breathing..." Destin managed. Fabala hid her smirk in her cloak, while Riley watched.

"I think he wants you to let go now." She said.

"Oh..." She pulled away, smiling charmingly. "Sorry, Tin."

"Please...don't...call...me that..." Destin said, heaving for breath. Once he had finally revived himself, he looked down at his shirt, frowning. "Luckily I was going to get drenched anyway." He sighed.

"Hey, girls!" called Aran, waving from the top of the stairs. The girls looked up, and Riley blanched.

"A Quadling?" she said stiffly.

"Yes, my friend, Aran." Fabala said. She eyed the Munchkin hesitantly. She remembered her mother's warning about friends, and she didn't want more than one feud at a time going on in the dormitory. "Is that fine?"

"Just don't let him sit near me." Riley said.

"Got it." Said Fabala, a little put out.

They were silent for a few moments. Destin was leaning against the stone wall, and Fabala was fingering the wet fabric of her cloak with one gloved hand. Riley contented herself with getting most of the excess water off of her blue skirt, while Nissa paced, pouting as she checked the grandfather clock. "What's taking those boys so long?" she demanded.

It was then that there was a rumbling on the steps. Riley moved away from them, and the boys started down. Noelani was in the front of the heard, as he was the smallest of them, with Aran and Kade in front, and a rather reserved Winkie lagging behind in the group, not looking too pleased with the fact that he was forced into this outing.

"Hey, girls!" called Noelani as he reached the end of the stairs.

Destin grimaced. "Please, Noelani, not so loud. We're right here, after all."

Noelani smirked. "You suck all the fun out of life, Dest."

"You'd rather dance through life than do anything about it." Destin pointed out.

"Isn't Noelani a girl's name?" Riley asked.

The male Munchkin visibly blanched. "Yes, it is. My mother was so gung-ho about having a girl that she went into denial when she had me. Ah well, suits me, doesn't it?"

"I think it's a nice name." Nissa said. Noelani smiled.

"Thank you, Miss...?"

"Upland; I'm Nissa Upland, you may have heard of me?" Fabala and Aran both rolled their eyes in unison. Kade caught the act and snickered.

Noelani shrugged. "Upland, as in Her Goodness, right?"

"Exactly!" exclaimed Nissa, flipping her hair off of her shoulders and smiling.

"Oh, hey, this is Sheika, my roommate!" Kade said suddenly, pulling the male Winkie down the steps into the gathering.

"Hello, Miss Thropp." He said quietly, looking at Fabala, who blushed.

"How do you know me?" She asked. Destin sent her a quick 'isn't it obvious?' look, and Fabala blushed, though it was hidden by her hood. "Oh, right, that."

The group stayed quiet for a few moments, not knowing exactly how to take in each other. They were an odd group too; two Gillikinese, two Munchkins, two Winkies, a Quadling, and an Animal, all standing together, ready to either become a close-knit group of friends or a group of really bad enemies. None of them was sure what was about to happen.

The tension was cut by a growling sound, and Kade laughed slightly, rubbing his neck. "Anyone else hungry, or is it just me?" He asked. When everyone else nodded, he smiled. "Well then, lead the way, Master Quadling." He said, with a flourishing bow to Aran.

"Right, come on then, everyone." And the group trekked out, off the grounds of Shiz and to the small diner.

It wasn't exactly a diner; to be specific, it was a bar, but it was the cleanest eating establishment that was close to the University grounds. It was packed with upperclassmen. Many of them hailed Noelani, who smiled pleasantly and waved. "I can't believe some of these guys weren't expelled." He muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Destin, who chuckled.

"I know; Kiore, over there? I figured he'd be gone."

Noelani nodded, before grabbing a table for them to sit at. It was a rectangular table with four seats on either side. On one side sat Destin, Nissa, Noelani, and Riley, while on the other side Aran, Fabala, Kade, and Sheika sat.

An odd little man in his seventies looked over at the group, squinting at them, before he moved over to them. "Can I get anyone here something to drink?" He smiled kindly, looking at Nissa and Fabala especially. The two girls shared a look, before remembering their resentment for each other and looking away.

"I'll have some tea." Sheika said.

"Any type of ale." Said Noelani.

"Herbal tea, please." Said Aran politely.

"Anything sweet." Said Riley with a shrug.

"Ditto to the Munchkin in the blue dress." Said Kade.

"Do you have any goat milk by any chance?" asked Destin.

"Yes, we do." The old man said.

"I'll have that, then." The boy replied with a nod.

"I'll just have some mineral water." Nissa said, with a malicious smirk to Fabala, who had stripped out of her cloak and gloves with help from Aran and a clueless Kade.

Fabala sent Nissa a sour expression, before looking at the old man. "Nothing for me, thank you."

"Are you sure, Fae?" Aran whispered.

"Positive." She replied.

The old man smiled and left the table, weaving through the crowd to get to the bar.

"Don't you think he was a little odd?" Asked Riley.

"You mean because he's the only non-teacher or student who lives this close to Shiz?" Noelani asked.

"No...the way he stared at Miss Fabala and Miss Nissa." Said Sheika, noticing that everyone had turned to him. He shrugged, fingering the religious habit he wore. "It's just, he seemed to know them, or someone from their families, but how could that be if it's our first night here?"

"Drop the formalities, please, Sheika." Nissa said blithely. Sheika turned to Fabala, who shrugged.

"I never liked being called 'Miss', even at home." She said, making a face. "It sounds much too formal for who I am."

"A member of Arjiki royalty?" came Sheika's rather quiet reply. The table grew quiet, and Fabala put a hand up.

"I'm not a member of royalty; I'm the child of a long-dead man, how could I be?" Sheika sent Fabala a look that said 'you and I know different', but she ignored him.

"Fine, I'll drop the formalities, since no one seems to want them." Sheika said, shrugging.

"Hey, he's lightening up!" Kade said, waving his arms around. "Mark it on a calendar, people!"

"It won't last." Sheika promised as their drinks arrived.

The man put a bottle in front of Fabala. She looked up at him, curious. "I didn't want you to go without." He said, before leaving. Riley blinked.

"That was beyond strange."

Fabala poked the bottle. "It's a funny bottle." She said, noting its odd shape.

They chatted about topics that didn't have a point and other things as they drank; Fabala, however, watched the man at the counter, who was watching them. He looked...vaguely familiar. She had seen his face somewhere before, but she wasn't sure where. She didn't touch the bottle of liquid, she was too afraid that there could be some water in it.

It was closing time when they left. Noelani was perfectly sloshed, and had to be carried between Sheika and Destin to get him back to Briscoe Hall. "Great, and classes start tomorrow, too." Destin muttered under his breath. "How am I going to explain how my fellow classmate and roommate got drunk without saying I was out, too?"
"Don't tell anyone?" Everyone turned to Kade. It had long since stopped raining, and they were taking more time to get back to their rooms than they had before. Aran was holding Fabala's cloak and gloves, and they were walking slightly apart from the group, talking about the mysterious old man at the bar. Everyone had stopped at Kade's suggestion, going to stare at the lone Animal in the student body. Kade shrugged. "What? All that will happen is that he'll wake up with a headache tomorrow morning. Probably a major headache, but it could be explained away as nerves due to classes starting."

Destin looked Kade over, before nodding to the Red Panda. "That's a...very good and reasonable deception, Kade."

"I know, isn't it? Remind me to use it when I get a hang-over." He laughed, elbowing Sheika.

"I won't let it happen." The Winkie said. Kade pouted.

"You're no fun!"

"You just figured that out?" Noelani said. He hiccupped, and withdrew his arm from around Sheika's neck, grabbing his mouth. "I'm going to be sick..." Destin pulled him over to the bushes, while the others stood in a small circle.

"We're almost back." Aran pointed out dumbly.

"Yeah..." Kade said wistfully.

"I think we should try to figure out what was up with that guy at the bar." Said Riley.

"How?" asked Sheika.

"We could go back sometime." Nissa said.

"I think we should find out why we're being forced into 'learning groups' for roomies." Fabala said suddenly. "I think we should figure out why Dorothy wants us to understand one another. What could be so bad in Oz that forces us to break with normalcy and become tied into small groups?"

"And what's been happening to Animals that return to the Emerald City." Kade said quietly. Sheika looked away, but put a quick, comforting hand on his roommate's arm. Destin had brought Noelani back to the group, and the boy looked slightly better.

"Well, I'm sure that's all well and good, but..." Nissa started, not wanting to get into anything that had to do with her mother's standing in society.

"But what? It's a good idea." Riley said.

They looked at each other for a moment, before Fabala put out a hand. Aran smiled and put his down on hers. Riley followed suit, followed by Destin. Noelani tried to pick his hand up, but was too weak to do so, so Sheika picked it up with his own. Kade smiled and put his paw down on top of all the other's hands. Everyone turned to Nissa. She fluttered for a few moments, pulling her hand close, then back. Finally, with a reserved huff, she put her hand down on Kade's paw.

The pact was sealed; they were stuck together whether they wanted it or not.