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: Nothing really. Second chapter I've done today, though. Yay! Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. Thanks for the reviews! And I don't know what happened with Boq; he keeps ending up as the nice one.

Chapter Nine: In the City of Emeralds

By air, it was a much faster trip to the Emerald City than it was by land. Fabala landed the broom on the outskirts of the City, and, with Nissa, walked up to the Emerald doors guarding the large city from allowing anyone of ungainly origins into it. Fabala didn't knock on the doors, she just pushed them open.

"Weren't those heavy?" Nissa asked, waking along behind her sister.

"No." said Fabala shortly.

"Oh."

They wove through the crowds until they reached the Palace. Fabala walked around it, searching for something. Nissa followed, confused.

"What are you looking for?"

"A servant's entrance; we have five in Kiamo Ko. There should be some here." Nissa nodded, and started to run her hand over the emerald wall. Her hand hit something, and she made a small noise. "What is it?" Fabala asked, turning to her.

"I found a handle!" Nissa exclaimed.

"Well, don't just hold it; pull it open!" Fabala said, coming to her side. Nissa did as she was told, and opened the door. It led to a dank hallway. The two girls looked at each other, before hesitantly walking into it.

It was very dark, and it was dripping. Cold air and water seeped into their clothes, and Nissa shuddered. Fabala went through her bag, before procuring a blanket, and put it around Nissa's arms. The blonde looked up, smiling. "Thanks." She whispered.

"Don't mention it." Fabala said lightly, before hissing in mild pain as a freezing drop of water fell onto her arm. "Do you know where we are?" she asked.

"Somewhere under the kitchens, probably." Said Nissa, looking up at the ceiling.

Fabala nodded, before touching the wall with calloused fingertips, where the pain of water wasn't as bad. "Are there any dungeons in the Palace?" she asked mildly.

Nissa thought. "Yes, they're on the same level as the kitchens; it's a level only staff and prisoners use. But they haven't been used since the Wizard's reign."

"We'll see about that." Fabala said determinedly. She put Nissa in front of her, and touched the blanket softly. "Show me." She whispered.

Nissa nodded, and started to walk through the winding passageway. A few minutes passed before they found a set of stairs. Nissa walked up them cautiously, Fabala following behind, broom on her shoulders to keep the moisture from falling onto them. They came to a door seven or so steps up, and Nissa moved the handle slowly, before pushing the door open.

They were in an open air kitchen, where kitchen staff seven times the size of Kiamo Ko's worked to make a large meal. Fabala looked at them curiously, but Nissa grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the kitchen and into a side door that seemed to be long forgotten.

"The Wizard hid the entrance to the prison because he didn't want to desecrate the beauty of the city." She explained as she pushed back some moss for Fabala. The darker girl nodded, walking in, and Nissa led the way down the much smaller and dryer hallway, until they reached the small, round prison.

It was almost comical; there were doors all around, all barred, but if you looked from the position of the passage, there seemed to be no one in any of them. "You start on the left; I'll go on the right." Fabala said, dropping her broom. Nissa nodded, before moving away. They looked through the bars; Fabala was getting closer and closer to the center of the cells, and her heart was sinking. Then, she heard Nissa's shout.

"Fabi, over here!" she called. Fabala turned and went over to the cell Nissa was in front of. She fell to the ground when she reached it, ignoring the fact that her bag fell rather haphazardly onto the ground as she did so.

"Father?" she managed, holding a hand through the bar.

Fiyero turned, before letting out a breath of relief. "Fabala, what are you doing here?" He asked her, grabbing her hand and pulling close to the bars.

"I came looking for you. Is Pfen with you?" she asked. Fiyero nodded.

"He's asleep, though." He looked at her, before smiling, hugging her through the bars. "I didn't think you'd find me." He said quietly.

She pulled away, looking down. "Someone sent a fake letter saying that you'd made it back home fine."

Fiyero's eyes darkened. "Oh, really?" he said it casually, but Fabala could sense the hint of anger in her father's voice. He turned to Nissa, smiling at her. "Thank you for helping my Fabala, Nissa." He said quietly.

Nissa nearly burst into tears right then as she grabbed Fiyero through the bars. "I don't know what Fabi would have done if you weren't alive!" She said.

Fabala got up, looking at the lock. "We've got to get you out of there." She said.

"And how are we going to get back home, Faeba?" Fiyero asked.

Fabala winced; she hadn't thought the plan through to that level. Nissa pulled away from Fiyero, though, a gleam in her sapphire eyes.

"Mother will help you; she loves you, of course she'll help you!" She said vehemently. Fabala nodded her agreement, before looking at the lock.

"How can we open this?" She asked herself.

"You can't open it." Said a new voice. Fabala blinked and turned slowly, looking at the Tinman, who stood in the center of the prison, holding the broom. He looked from the broom to Fabala, before moving over to them and leaning down with a few audible clanks and looking into the prison cell. "Who, exactly, are you trying to...sweet Oz!" He backed away from the cell as if he had been hit. "Fiyero?" it came out as little more than a whisper.

"Can you help us?" Fabala asked. The Tinman looked between the girls and the man in the cell, before nodding once.

Fabala sent him a small smile a thanks, before moving her bag to allow the Tinman to come closer. He moved closer to them, dropping Fabala's broom neatly onto her bag as he did, and started to work on the lock. "I heard you were dead, Fiyero." He said.

The captive blinked, before shaking his head. "No, Elpha-a friend of mine, saved my life."

The Tinman sent a sidelong glance Fabala's way, before wrenching the lock off of the door. "Elphaba saved you?" He asked incredulously.

The door came open with a wail, and Fiyero pulled Pfen out of the cell before coming out himself. He stared at the Tinman for a few minutes, before raising an eyebrow in obvious confusion. "Who are you?" he asked.

Fabala poked Nissa. The blonde turned, and Fabala motioned for her to leave the two men to themselves. Nissa nodded, and picked up Fabala's things. They moved to the door, only to see a dark figure standing in front of the open doorway at the end of the hall.

The two girls went back to the prison, looking at the men. "We've got company!" Fabala said.

Footsteps echoed into the prison cell, and Nissa pulled Fabala behind the Tinman and Fiyero.

Ozma came into the room, looking around, perplexed. "Just what is going on in here?" she asked.

The Tinman looked at Fiyero. "This man is no criminal, he's former captain of the Gale Force."

"Yes, I know who he is, but why is he here?" Ozma asked, shaking her head.

The Tinman opened and closed his mouth, trying to answer the question, but nothing came out. He turned to Fiyero, who shrugged nonchalantly. "The Gale Force, your Highness. They attacked my man and me while we were leaving the city. They brought us in here and then forgot about us."

Ozma looked around at the three men. "And who's responsible for this reconnaissance?"

They looked at each other, but Fabala walked out from behind the men. "Fabi!" hissed Nissa.

Fabala stood tall, holding her bag on one arm, and her broom cocked like a gun on her other. "I am." She said defiantly.

Ozma pushed strands out brown hair out of her face, looking at Fabala quizzically. "And who are you?" She asked.

"I'm Fabala Thropp, you Highness." She said, curtseying as well as she could without bending her left knee. Ozma smiled; pretenses of royalty gone.

Nissa came out from behind the Tinman, grabbing Fabala's hand tightly so that the girl couldn't flinch away from her. "And I'm, as you know, Nissa Upland. I'm this man's illegitimate daughter, and Fabala's half-sister."

The young woman smiled wider, and nodded. "Of course, of course; come with me." She led them out of the prison and out of the open kitchen, to a small garden. She turned to Fabala and smiled, this time sadly. "There are many odd things happening lately. The Gale Force's stronghold is in Ugabu, and even if we had control over the West, that is still a disputed territory, and we have no claim over it. I'm sorry for this mess; I'll see to it personally that you, Master Fiyero, get home safely along with your manservant."

"Healer." Corrected Fiyero.

"Right, 'healer', and I'll talk with your mother, Miss Nissa, and see if we can't rectify this problem."

"What about Dorothy?" Nissa asked. Ozma's face fell.

"She doesn't come to our meetings anymore, and she's become withdrawn. I don't know if it's because she misses her own home, or if it's something else that I'm not aware of. But Dorothy and I can no longer talk to each other without fighting, I'm sorry, Miss Nissa."

Nissa pet Ozma's arm. "It's okay, really. See? I'm not angry. I'm just a little worried."

Ozma cheered slightly. "Would you like me to see you two back to Shiz? I'd love to go back there."

Fabala shook her head. "We have our own transportation."

That was the first time Fiyero noticed the broom, and his eyes widened. "You didn't." he said.

Fabala blushed. "I did." She looked up at him. "I had to, I wanted to know if I could, and I found Mother's in the attic here, and I just...I just...I'm sorry." She said in a rush. Fiyero laughed.

"It's okay, Faeba. You're your mother's daughter after all."

The Tinman and Ozma stared at Fabala and Fiyero.

"So...Elphie's not dead." The Tinman said, sounding a little rusted.

"Dorothy didn't kill the Witch of the West?" asked Ozma.

Fiyero looked at Fabala, and put a hand on her shoulder. "No one is permitted to know, or they will have to deal with Glinda."

"So, Glinda knows?" The Tinman said, putting a hand to his head.

"We should go." Nissa whispered. Fabala nodded.

"Thank you, your Highness, for everything; please, don't tell Miss Gale about all of this. Now, if you'll excuse us..." Fabala put the broom out, and she and Nissa got on much in the same fashion they had before. Fabala kicked off, and they flew through the sky, back south.

"So, are we going back to Shiz?" Nissa asked.

"No." Fabala said darkly. "We're off to see the Wizard." She muttered.