Title: Eye For An Eye

Author: Aerohead

Email: in my profile

Website: In my profile

Pairing: Fiyero/Elphaba, Fiyero/Glinda

Rating: PG13

Disclaimer/Dedication: For L. Frank Baum, Gregory Maguire, Stephen Schwartz, and Winnie Holtzman who own this idea that I'm extending. And to Jen, and she should know why.

Warning: None really…well, spoiler for what happens to Boq, but that's it.

Genre: General (play)

Summary: The last week of Nessarose's life, from when Elphaba leaves after charming the shoes up until her death.

Author's Notes: I know I said that I'd leave this in only play-verse, but I really want Nessarose to have some sort of confidante, I'm not that mean. So…yeah, just read it. ' Also, I believe Shell is six years younger than Nessarose, which would make him about…fourteen.

Day Two

Nessarose jumped awake. She could have sworn she heard clanking; tin against tile. She fell back into her bed, realizing she was making herself crazed. Boq had left two days ago, and he would not come back, ever. Even she knew that inside her mind, though she didn't want to admit it to her heart.

She got out of bed and changed into a nice dress. She needed to find someone to talk to, anyone who would listen to her and not ignore her feelings as a human being, not a wicked witch.

She pulled out a cloak also and started out of her room. She stopped in the hall and considered writing a letter to her servants, but remembered Kaiya, the illiterate. Possibly all of her servants were illiterate, and she didn't have time to stay and help them to decipher her own note. She started out of the governor's mansion. She stopped and watched the sun rise over the forbidding building, before turning and starting away.

She followed her feet to where she needed to go. Nest Harding's School for Boys wasn't that far away, she knew, and she needed comfort, the comfort she knew Elphaba had always given her. She followed the Yellow Brick Road, listening to her shoes clink against the stones. She looked up at the sky after a while, surprised to find that the sun was fighting to shine behind the clouds.

"Miss, what are you doing here?" someone asked. She looked down at a first-former Munchkin who was watching her with an easy expression. She frowned, not understanding why she hadn't struck fear into his heart. Then she remembered leaving without pulling her hair back, and mentally hit her forehead. It was hard to strike fear into someone's heart when one was tragically beautiful.

"I'm looking for a boy." She said shortly, before going past him and walking onto the grounds of the school. She looked around, before she saw a group of boys about the right age talking and laughing together. Their laughter died down as she approached, and she merely smiled, though grimly, as she looked at them. "Have you seen a boy that looks like me, except more…masculine?"

"Nessa?" asked a voice from behind her. She turned and smiled at the thunderstruck expression on Shell's face.

"Shell?" She asked, hugging him tightly. "Oh, Shell! It's been so dreadful in that house without Father or you around!" she said.

"Nessa?" he said again. She pulled away, looking at Shell, her smile becoming wider. "You're…you don't have…wow…this is…amazing!" He said.

"Isn't it? Elphaba spelled my shoes so that I can walk!" she said happily.

"That's terrific, Nessie!" He said, hugging his older sister again. "It's great. I mean, amazing, but still…what…what do you want, Nessa? Why are you here?" he asked.

Nessarose shrugged. "Do I have to have an excuse to come and visit my brother?" she asked. He frowned, and she moved away from him, rubbing the back of her neck. "I just needed someone to talk to."

Shell led her to a table without any boys within hearing range. "So you came to me? Nessa, we were never that close, you know." He said. "Why don't you talk to Elphaba? If she's done this for you, then you must know where she is." He said.

Nessarose shook her head. "She's too far away. She's…she's at Kiamo Ko, hiding out with some prince or another." She pouted.

Shell's mouth hung open. "Elphaba is hiding out with a prince? Since when! How does she even know a prince?" He squawked, waving his arms around frantically. Nessarose grabbed his arms, trying to calm him down.

"She's with Fiyero that prince Glinda was supposed to be engaged to. We went to school together at Shiz." Nessarose explained. "He was friends with Boq…" she said, her voice breaking as she moved away from Shell.

Shell looked at her, confused. "Nessa, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She said quickly. Shell moved over to his older sister and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. She put her head on his shoulder, and held onto him, ignoring the prep-school boys who were watching.

"Nessa, something has to be wrong." Shell said, looking down at his sister. "What happened? Did something happen to Boq?" he asked. She nodded onto his shoulder. He lifted her chin so that she was looking at him. "Nessa, you can tell me. Is Boq hurt or sick or something?"

Nessarose shook her head, then nodded, at a loss as to what to say. She had come to Shell to talk to him, but now she wasn't sure how to tell him what had happened. She swallowed her pride, and bit her lip. "Boq…isn't…" She looked away.

"Boq's not what, Nessarose?" Shell said. Nessarose's eyes widened. His tone of voice and the way he lowered it to sound like he was in inner turmoil…it was the same tone their father always used with Elphaba. Her body shook, her will shattering. Now she knew why Elphaba always felt so terrible after one of her 'talks' with their father when they were young.

"I didn't mean to…it's just…I wanted him to love me." She said, her mind and mouth not working together. She took a deep breath, and stared at the floor. "Elphaba came to me for help, and…I turned her away."

"Nessa!" said Shell, jumping up to stare at her.

"I'm sorry, I am, but I was upset…I'm allowed to be aren't I?!" she demanded, standing up. She took in a staggering breath, before slumping her shoulders. "But Elphaba charmed my shoes, and…when I showed Boq, he wanted to leave me, to go to Glinda…I couldn't let him do that. Shell, I need him!" she sniffed, and closed her eyes, turning away from him.

Shell sighed and hugged his sister. "You don't need him, Nessa; you've always been strong. Boq was just…an infatuation." He said. "And…maybe he wasn't the right one for you.

"No…he was right; he was the one." She said, sitting back down and holding her head in her hands. "I was the one who wasn't right." She said quietly.

Shell sat down next to her and pet her on the back. "Don't think like that, Nessa, you're beautiful."

"Oh, yes, tragically beautiful, that's how I'll always be remembered." She said. A man came up to Shell, and stopped near the two Thropp children.

"Master Thropp, class will be starting in a moment. I'm sorry, Madame Governor, but you're brother needs to get to class." He said. Nessarose nodded stiffly.

"I understand, don't worry." She turned to Shell and kissed him on the cheek. "I have to get home. I…thank you." She said, hugging him.

Shell hugged her back. "Remember, you didn't need Boq. I love you, and…you don't need someone to follow you blindly when you have a loving family." He said, before running off to join his friends. Nessarose watched him joke and laugh with them, before sighing. She looked at the darkening sky before quickly walking back to the mansion. "I hope it's just rain." She said to herself, biting her lip as she remembered Elphaba's warning. Then she laughed at herself. "Don't be ridiculous, Nessa, you're just getting jumpy because you're still upset…" she gulped, before running inside just to be sure.