Chapter 25

She was dozing off again, listening to the rain outside. It didn't seem to stop. She was shivering so violently now that she wasn't even sure how long she would be able to go on like that. Was that his plan; leave her there to freeze to death? She struggled to pull an old wool blanket around her shoulders. It was a difficult task, since her wrists were still tied together, and her whole body had stiffened as a result of its long exposure to the cold.

Tap-tap-tap of the rain outside… and another voice. A coach stopped in front of the cabin.

Elphaba tried to open her eyes, which was difficult as well, because she felt so sleepy all of a sudden. She could hear footsteps, first outside, then inside the cabin. Someone was there. He was back.

"Hello, Elphaba," a voice said. It was both familiar and unfamiliar.

Elphaba raised her head slowly to look at the person who walked into the room and approached her. She was too numb to recognize him, and too weak to resist as he freed her wrists and ankles. He moved her hair from her eyes, and then she realized who he was. "You!" There wasn't much strength left in her to be surprised or shocked.

"Me," he nodded and pulled the blanket around her.

She snatched it from his hands and shot a cold glare at him. "I can do it myself, thank you." She wrapped the blanket around her, relieved to use both her hands for it, but it didn't do much help. She was freezing anyway.

The Wizard took off his coat and put it around her as well. She was too cold to argue. "Better?" She nodded slightly but said nothing. He sat next to her. "You must be wondering what I'm doing here-"

"No, I actually know why you're here," she cut him off abruptly. She felt as if she was starting to go back to herself, her old self, the one who despised the man who was now sitting next to her. The fact that he was her father changed very little.

He seemed surprised. "Oh?"

"You came to finish what you failed to accomplish the last time. Killing me."

The fire in her eyes resumed. He could see that now. It was burning with hate and anger towards him. "Is that why you think I'm here?"

"Isn't it?"

He chose to ignore her question, for the time being. She didn't look so well. "Are you hungry? I brought you some bread and cheese, you'd better eat something," he said, taking something out of a bag he carried with him.

"It's a little late to be a father now," she said nastily.

He sighed. He couldn't help thinking about Glinda's warnings. It won't be easy… Elphaba doesn't easily forgive. "I guess I deserved that," he said, defeated.

"You did."

"Elphaba, if I only knew the truth back then-"

"If you knew it, so what? You wouldn't ruin my life the way you did? You wouldn't send them to kill me? Or my sister?" Her voice was full of pain and bitterness. Of course she had a right to feel hurt and bitter. It made him feel even more horrible.

"Everything could have been different, had I only known."

"How did you feel after you found out the truth?"

He didn't have to work very hard to remember exactly what he was going through that night. "I felt like I should be the one dying that night, instead of you. It was a terrible night, and a terrible time afterwards. I lived in solitude, in misery-"

"Good. I'm glad. You deserved that as well."

"But I have changed. I am a changed man now, Elphaba. I regret each and every thing I've done to you, and I'm back to prove that to you. I've come to take you home."

"This is my home. Oz is my home, I'm not going anywhere with you." Dawn's voice echoed in her mind. Don't go with man, mama.

The Wizard shook his head. "No, this isn't what I meant. I came to take to back to your home in the Emerald City, to your family."

She looked at him suspiciously for a moment. She fell into that trap once before. He looked so kind and harmless, why wouldn't she believe him? Only this time, she wouldn't. Not so easily. "Why would you want to do that?"

"So you'll see I'm not here to harm you, and because I promised someone I'll bring you back."

"Who?"

There was pure honesty in his eyes. She knew it could be misleading. "My granddaughter." Elphaba gasped. "I promised her that I'd bring her mother home for her birthday."

Elphaba's eyes were filled with tears. She suddenly realized how she missed her little girl. "Have you seen her?" she whispered.

"Yes, I have. She's beautiful." Elphaba looked away. She wouldn't let him see her cry. He pretended as if he didn't know that she was crying, and went on talking. "And she misses you terribly. Fiyero does, too," he added gently.

She turned to face him, a little shocked to hear it. Up to that moment, she wasn't even sure Fiyero was alive. Luke has never bothered to tell her the truth. "Is he… okay?" she asked slowly.

"His heart is broken. He's worried about you." He found a handkerchief in his pocket and handed it to her. "Look, Elphaba, I didn't come here to force you into anything. I know that you might never forgive me, I don't expect you to. I swear, I will never do anything to hurt you again. And I will do anything to win your trust again. You once told me that no one believed in me more than you… well, I want to go back to that time, when you had faith in me." She just sat there, silently watching him. He couldn't interpret the expression on her face.

"The man who brought me here; did he tell you where to find me?"

Luke. He had forgotten about that. He shook his head. "Yes. There is something else you should know… about Luke."

"Was he working for you?" She wouldn't be the least surprised if she would find out that that was the case.

"Heavens, no! He… he is my son."

She gasped. She surely wasn't expecting to hear something like that. Her mind was racing. He told her that Morrible was his mother… Sweet Oz, were they-

"It's a long story, and we have a long journey back to the Emerald City. Will you come back with me?"

She hesitated. Of course she wanted to go back to Dawn… and Fiyero… and Glinda… but should she go with him? Would he keep his promise that time and not hurt her again? She had put her trust in the wrong people lately; she wasn't sure how she should react.

"You don't have to decide right away," he added gently, sensing her hesitations. "I brought you some clothes, and you must eat something first. It's a two days' journey back home. We can go out tomorrow morning."

"If I go with you," she started slowly, as if considering her every word, "I'll do it for my daughter, not for you."

"Of course. I've told you, I don't intend to force you into anything."

"And don't expect me to trust you again, surely not to have the same faith in you as I used to have," she added, more sternly.

He nodded. "I understand."

"And you'll have some explanations to do later, including how you got back here."

"I'll tell you everything on our way back. I promise."

"If this is a trap, I swear to you I'll-"

"It's not a trap. I give you my word," he said calmly.

She looked deeply into his eyes in an attempt to find a spark of lie, but she couldn't find anything of the kind. All that was there were deep sorrow and pure regret. "You'd better hope it's not," she said in a softer tone. "We won't leave in the morning. We'll leave tonight, the sooner the better. I just need to freshen up a little."

He nodded. He didn't have any intention to argue with her. He held out the bundle of clothes he brought for her and she took it from his hands without a word. She got up carefully and after swaying on her unsteady legs for a moment, she disappeared in the next room.

They started their long journey an hour later. It was dark and stormy and the coach moved slowly on the bumpy road. Elphaba was exhausted, but she couldn't bring herself to fall asleep. They sat in awkward silence for the first half an hour, glancing at each other when they thought the other one wasn't looking, until Elphaba caught the Wizard glancing at her. He smiled sheepishly but didn't look away.

"So, do you have a name also, besides that enormous false title of yours?"

"Yes. My name is James," he answered, deliberately ignoring the sarcasm in her voice.

"James," she murmured, trying it out. "Sounds strange. Foreign."

He smiled. "It's actually quite popular where I come from."

"How did you get back here? Not on your balloon again, I suppose?" She snuggled under a thick woolen blanket. It was chilly inside the coach, which made her even sleepier. She felt sorry for their driver, who was sitting outside in a freezing cold.

"No. I was summoned here-" She raised a skeptical eyebrow. "By your friend Glinda."

"Glinda?" she repeated, confused.

"Yes. She found a spell in the Grimmerie-"

"The Grimmerie? She did a spell out of the Grimmerie?" exclaimed Elphaba, completely taken-aback. The Wizard nodded. "How in Oz did she do that?" she asked, full of admiration for her best friend.

"I'm not sure she could tell you herself. She was as stunned as I was when I got there."

"But why did she do it?"

"Because Madam Morrible told them, that is- Fiyero, Glinda and her husband, Biq, was it?"

"Boq."

"That's the one. She told them that I'm the only one who might convince Luke to let you go."

Elphaba looked outside. The raindrops hit the coach's windows. The coach's slow movement lulled her to sleep. The Wizard's voice seemed so far away as he kept talking… Her eyelids felt so heavy-

The Wizard didn't realize that Elphaba stopped listening to him until her head softly touched his shoulder. He slowly removed her hair from her face and tucked the blanket around her. He hesitated for a moment and just looked at her peaceful, almost vulnerable face, illuminated by the faint light of the single lantern in the coach. Then he leant down to kiss her forehead.

The last thing he saw before he drifted off to slumber was the smile that slowly appeared on his daughter's face as she slept on.