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: School starts officially in a week. dies Besides that, nothing's really of import in this chapter. For those of you who read Entertaining Destiny, when Glinda was with Elphaba, Nissa was being taken care of by Dorothy, Ozma, and the Tinman. That should explain her reactions to them. And Fabala's reaction to the Emerald City is my first reaction to NYC when I was fourteen. Oh yes, no one forget – Dorothy rules Eastern Oz in this story – i.e. Munchkinland – and, eh, I hope no one likes her too much. Sorry if you do; I suggest not reading if you do. No, I don't like Boq that much, either, but...he's kind of nice in this story shrug Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and please, keep it up. I love to hear your thoughts, and opinions about the story.

Chapter Five: To Oz

The train slowed, and then stopped outright. The two girls got off the train and Nissa pulled Fabala down out of the train station into the bustling city. When they first entered the city, Fabala had to stop and let her eyes adjust to the bright emerald color bouncing off of everything, from the tiniest street stall to the tallest minaret.

"Come on! If you want to find what you're looking for, you have to start where you're safe, right?" Nissa said. She smiled as she watched the other girl's reaction to the city. "Have you ever seen anything like it before?" she asked.

"No...nothing like it, at all." Fabala said quietly. She turned to the blonde, who smiled kindly, before grabbing the dark girl's arm and pulling her toward the center of the City.

They walked slowly so that they didn't look suspicious. Many people moved out of the way to let the daughter of Glinda the Good through, though most moved away from Fabala. The girl's brows knitted.

"I told you they didn't trust Winkies anymore, not since the secession." Nissa whispered. "But I think it has more to do with the closing of the trails to the Ugabu region and the subsequent closure of the Quadling slave trade than anything else. A lot of people are disenchanted by Mother now because she supports what your mother's doing."

"That's...just wrong." Fabala said vehemently. Nissa eyed her curiously. "Just because a public figure's doing something right instead of doing what the people want isn't a basis for hatred."

"It depends on what the subject is, though." Nissa pointed out. "There's more, though. Other things about Oz you should probably know, but..."

"Nissa?" called someone in the crowds. Nissa cut herself off, turning around quickly. "Nissa, what are you doing here?" Fabala looked around the crowd, also, and caught who was calling Nissa's name. It was a young woman, in her late twenties, with long brown hair pulled back neatly in a bun much in the way her mother had described her aunt's hair. The woman wore a pretty deep purple dress; it lay flat at her legs, not like any of Glinda's ball gowns that she wore.

Nissa bobbed her head quickly, a small smile etched across her lips. Fabala knew better, though. Not only had she been the blonde's roommate for the past week, but she had also had the displeasure of getting into a fight with her the year previous. Needless to say, she could tell when Nissa was wearing a fake smile. And what she had on now was definitely a fake smile.

"Hello, Dorothy!" Nissa said, hugging the young woman.

Dorothy Gale pursed her lips, looking at Nissa admonishingly. "Nissa Upland! You're supposed to be at Shiz. Don't tell me they've already kicked you out." There was sisterly teasing in the tone, but Fabala caught the hint of disapproval in the young woman's gaze.

Nissa grabbed Fabala's arm. "This is my roomie, Fabala...Tigalaar." Fabala raised an eyebrow at her father's surname. Nissa turned, a pleading look passing her features, before the smile returned and she was looking at Dorothy. "She's never seen the Emerald City, and since we have a long weekend and not a lot of study work, I thought it would be good for her to see it."

"Hello, Miss Gale." Fabala said, dipping into a short, and somewhat stunted, curtsey. Mentally she was berating herself for being so close to her mother's supposed-killer and being subservient, but she had no choice if she wanted to stay out of trouble.

Dorothy smiled at Fabala kindly, though it was a little strained. "Hello, Miss Tigalaar, was it?"

"Yes, Miss."

Dorothy turned back to Nissa, frowning. "Well, we should get to you mother, shouldn't we?"

She motioned for the girls to follow her, and they did so. They wound through towards what used to be the Wizard's Palace, and Dorothy opened the door and held it for the two girls to walk through. Nissa left the bags at the door, but Fabala picked hers up. She held it close to her as she followed Nissa up the stairs of the castle, feeling self-conscience. Head down, she went up the stairs with Nissa, almost ten paces behind.

As she reached the landing, she tripped, and her bag went flying, items falling out. "The bottle!" she called.

Nissa jumped, and grabbed the bottle out of the air. "Got it!" she called. Fabala scrambled around, trying to grab her things. She searched her bag, then looked frantically around.

"Where is it?" She whispered to herself. A book was put in front of her.

"Are you looking for this?" She looked up at the man holding the book out for her. He was tin, from head to toe. She smiled lightly, taking the book, and stuffing it into her bag. A tin hand was held out for her, and she looked up, taking it thankfully. "Are you okay; you took a bad spill off of that last step?"

Fabala nodded, blushing at her own clumsiness. "I'm fine, thank you." Nissa smiled, and latched onto the Tinman.

"Hi!" She said cheerily. He chuckled, pulling her off of him lightly.

"Hello, Miss Nissa."

"Where's Mother?" she asked, cocking her head lightly.

"She's in her study, reading."

Fabala refrained from commenting, though she wanted to; she really wanted to. Nissa nodded and waved goodbye to the Tinman and Dorothy, before pulling Fabala along. "What was that book you have?" Nissa asked.

"It's nothing, really." Fabala said, pulling the bag closer to herself.

Nissa frowned. "It wasn't nothing; I saw the look on the Tinman's face. That's no ordinary book, and I know it!"

"Well, it was my mother's," Fabala hissed, not wanting to get caught, "since he is the Tinman and he was there when my mother quote-unquote melted, then he probably saw it then and recognized it!"

Nissa pouted, but was mollified. She turned and flounced down the hallway, knocking on the last door on the right. She knocked twice, and smiled cheerily as she was given permission to enter.

Glinda looked up from the documents she was reading through, and brushed a hand neatly through her short curls. "Nissa? What are you doing here?" The woman stood, pale pink hoop skirt billowing as she did, and moved over towards her daughter. "What's wrong?"

"Miss Glinda, have you seen my father?" Fabala asked bluntly. Glinda turned from her daughter to Fabala, and then back, her blonde brows knit in confusion.

"You came here...together?" She asked.

Fabala sighed, exasperated. "Why is that the reaction we get from everyone? Yes!" She winced when she saw the blonde woman's face fall. "I'm sorry, Miss Glinda, I'm just worried. My father said he was coming here to talk to you, and if I didn't hear from him or my mother by yesterday, I should come to the Emerald City and find you. So, have you seen him?"

Glinda straightened and went over to Fabala. The girl hadn't expected the hug that the woman gave her, and she certainly wasn't expecting the tears. Fabala started to panic. "Miss...Miss Glinda? Um...Please, don't cry. Really." Said Fabala, sucking in a breath as a stinging tear hit her bare neck. "Please, let go. What's wrong? Maybe...maybe if you let go, I could help?"

Nissa caught on immediately, and touched her mother's shoulder. "Mother, you're hurting her."

Glinda blinked, letting go of Fabala. She looked at the small but angry red mark on the girl's neck, and instantly the tears dried up and she worried over the reaction. "I'm sorry, Fabala dear, it's just...yes, yes I did see your father, and...I thank Oz that he's alive. But he left two days ago; he wouldn't be back in the Vinkus yet, but he could have sent word to you from the Emerald City."

"Oh...thank you, Glinda." Fabala said, slightly dejected. She moved out of the study and into the hallway, sinking to the ground as she did.

"They're not as bad as you think they are!" Said a voice from someplace a few doors down. Fabala cocked her head, before moving toward the voice. She sat down next to an ajar door, listening.

"They're all alike, Ozma. Why do you think they seceded? Didn't you happen to notice that they did so on the day she died?"

"You mean the anniversary of the day you killed her?" Ozma retorted. Fabala felt a cruel smile tugging at her lips, before she quelled it by frowning. The younger members of the triumvirate were fighting like this, and the one holding them together – Glinda – was now getting bad publicity. Something was wrong, very wrong.

Ozma had said something to Dorothy that Fabala had missed, but she heard the reply loud and clear. "I couldn't just let them walk around here, it's unnatural. And that...that Winkie, well, he wanted to help them! You understand, don't you?"

Fabala stood shakily. Nissa was next to her instantly. "What is it? What's wrong?" She asked.

"Air...I need air...I need to think..." She started to worry the skin next to her thumbnail, and only snapped out of her train of thought when Nissa touched her shoulder.

"Come with me, I know a place you can think and get some air." She said, smiling reassuringly. Fabala nodded mutely, and followed Nissa up a few sets of winding stairs until they reached an attic. "You sit down and think, I'll open the window."

"All right." said Fabala, moving to find a place to sit. She sighed and pulled her braid out, redoing it.

"What did you hear that got you so worked up?" Nissa asked, unlatching the windows.

Fabala let out a hiss of air, pushing a burnt broom out of the way. "I don't know, it was a conversation between Dorothy and Ozma...Dorothy said something about Animals, I think, and why they're disappearing, and something about a Winkie. She probably meant me."

Nissa huffed. "Not everything's about you, you know."

"That's ironic coming from you." Fabala said lightly, tracing her finger in the old soot from the burnt wood of the broom. She looked at the black soot next to her skin, wrinkling her nose when she realized it was almost the same color.

"Fabi?" said Nissa, nervously.

"What?" asked Fabala, turning. Her eyes widened at what she saw. Nissa had tripped on the bay windows, and was falling out of the window. "Nissa?" called Fabala, running to the window. Instinct took over, and she felt something in her hand, she hoisted her bag over her shoulder, and praying to all the gods she didn't believe in, she dove out the window after Nissa.

When she reached Nissa, she pulled her over onto whatever Fabala had grabbed. "Oh thank Oz!" Nissa cried, wrapping her arms around Fabala and burying her face in her half-sister's chest.

"Nissa, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the ground's coming up fast..." Fabala said.

Nissa looked up, eyes wide with shock. "You don't know how to fly this thing?"
"What thing?" Fabala ground out.

Nissa's mouth hung open. "The broom you grabbed!"

"I didn't..." She cut herself off, looking down. She really was on the burnt broom she had found in the attic. She grabbed hold of the end of the broom and pulled it out of the nosedive. They lurched forward and started going straight up again. Fabala pulled on the handle again, and finally managed to get the broom to even out. The two girls looked at each other, and Nissa started shaking and held onto Fabala for dear life.

"Sweet Oz, I thought we were going to die." She looked up. "You saved my life." Realization swam into deep sapphire eyes, and she latched onto Fabala's middle. "No one's ever done anything like that for me before! Thank you!"

"You're...welcome?" Fabala said hesitantly.

"You two, get in here, now!" Came a call from the window a few hundred feet below them. Fabala lowered the broom until she was even with the Tinman, who was leaning out of the window, looking wild eyed and worried. "You should get back to school; that stunt of yours was luckily not seen by anyone, but if they had seen it, they'd be talking. The broom, the book, and...what's your name?" The Tinman had moved away from the window to allow the girls to enter the Palace.

"Fabala, sir." She said, bowing curtly. Gray eyes looked her up and down, before a tin hand reached out.

"Fabala, give me the broom."

Fabala looked at the burnt thing. "Why?" she asked.

The Tinman looked at her; he looked tired. "Please give me the broom? If anyone sees you with it, they'll come to correct conclusions. I don't want you or Nissa getting hurt."

Fabala gave him the broom hesitantly, and then she jumped away. "Why do you care about me?"

The Tinman shrugged, clanking as he did. "Because Glinda does." He said. He smiled. "And if Glinda trusts you, and Nissa trusts you, so do I. But not everyone trusts Glinda anymore. Please, go back to Shiz; go back to safety. Something's wrong, Dorothy and Ozma are fighting, and they've never done that before, everything's falling apart, please, just go to where it's safe and structured. You came here looking for your father, the Winkie prince Fiyero if I'm correct, right?" Fabala nodded. "Miss Glinda has a small fleet of the Wicked Witch's flying monkeys still at her service. I'll have one go with you, and it can be your messenger. I know I saw Fiyero leave, and if having you get a message to him will appease you, I'll allow you that."

He looked so sincere and so worried that Fabala conceded. The Tinman nodded to himself, before leaving. The two girls waited, and he came back sans the broom, but with a monkey. "This is Valen. She's one of the younger monkeys; she was born with wings. Please, go now, before Dorothy and Ozma get out of their conference." Valen let go of the Tinman and went over and stood behind Nissa, hugging the girl's leg. Fabala smiled at the monkey. "Send a message to me, also, to make sure you're father's safe." The Tinman said, as they left.

Walking with the monkey between them, Fabala and Nissa made their way back to the train station to go back to Shiz. As they walked, Fabala formed a plan. The first part of her plan was to find a broom in the supply closet at Shiz. The second part involved finding an old grammar manual and begging time off of Kade.