They heard a pound on the door, and both Elphaba and Glinda jumped, letting go of each other immediately. "Open up, or we're going to have to come in!" a threatening voice sounded.

The two looked at each other with wide eyes, and Glinda took Elphaba's hand. "Elphie, that's the guards. You have to go, you have to go now!"

Elphaba looked around frantically, and the guards continued to pound on the door. "Open up in there, right now!"

"What do I do?" she whispered, panicked, to Glinda.

There wasn't a chance to do anything. The guard on the other side of the door shouted, "We're coming in!" and the door was opened quickly. Ten or fifteen burly guards poured into the room, and ran towards Elphaba, nearly knocking her over. Glinda was shoved from her side as they all surrounded her. Many grabbed her arms as she struggled to get away from them, and Glinda watched from the side, her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with tears. Elphaba continued to struggle, but the guards had a grip on her, and they knew it. They shouted, whooping, excited about their capture, and Elphaba, throwing her shoulders to one side in a vain attempt to try to get away, caught sight of Glinda.

They held eye contact for a moment, and Elphaba stopped struggling. The guards continued to congratulate each other, acting like they weren't even there. Tears ran down Glinda's face, as if finally realizing how much Elphaba was hated in Oz. Elphaba caught her breath, and was suddenly very conscious of the guards holding her in place. She looked down, ashamed and unbelieving of her position in the world, and looked up to see Oveel and Lillany with the same expressions as Glinda, staring with wide eyes at her in the circle of guards. She held eye contact with them for a moment, also. Boq was there, not holding on to her. He turned to Glinda. "Did she hurt you? What was she doing here?" he asked professionally.

Everyone was silent, and looking at Glinda. Elphaba almost began to struggle again, but felt that would only set Glinda off on an emotional breakdown that wouldn't be able to be explained without the truth. Elphaba stayed still.

Glinda took her hand from her mouth and set it on her desk chair, as if for balance. She shook her head no towards the ground.

"What did she say? Do you know what she was doing? How long has she been here?" he asked her quietly.

Glinda looked at Elphaba again, holding eye contact. Elphaba tried to keep her gaze, but found she couldn't. She looked down.

It was silent again. Elphaba wondered if maybe Glinda was going to tell the truth – maybe all of Oz would finally know the truth and she would be resolved from any crimes she had once committed. Or was she going to lie again, like Elphaba had wanted her to do, like she should? Elphaba waited tensely, not sure of exactly what she wanted Glinda to say.

Glinda didn't say anything, but continued to stare at Elphaba, wanting a sign, not sure of what she was supposed to say. Elphaba continued to look at the ground, her arms held out stiffly by guards.

One of the guards holding Elphaba spoke up. "Perhaps this would be better discussed without her here…" he said, speaking about Elphaba.

Boq nodded. "Take her to the bottom floor of the palace, and lock her in one of the rooms. She shouldn't be able to get out of there, if she was able to get out of her jail cell. Put her friends guarding the door in a different one…" he trailed off, looking at the door where Oveel and Lillany were. "Where did they go!" he shouted.

Elphaba looked up, surprised. The two of them were gone. Elphaba drew in a shaky breath, glad for their safety.

The guards were quiet, and looking around, almost expecting to see them hiding in the room. "No," Glinda said. There was a hint of panic in her voice. "No, they couldn't be…involved with the Witch's plan. One is a servant, the other's a guard, they couldn't be involved with anything."

Boq looked at her. "Are you sure?"

"I don't want them to be charged with anything," Glinda said authoritatively, her voice still shaking. Elphaba looked at her once more, but didn't meet her eyes. Boq nodded. "All right. We won't spend time looking for them." He took a key from his belt and handed it to one of the men. "Lock her downstairs, use your judgment."

The guard holding the key led, and those not holding Elphaba followed. There was a brief discussion of who would follow and who would hold on to her, and then she felt only one set of hands on either of her arms. They shoved her quickly and got her moving out the door. She looked back at Glinda once, a quick look that lasted less than a second. Elphaba saw the tears in Glinda's eyes and her own eyes filled up, spilling over and making her hiss. The guards got frightened, not sure if she was casting a spell on them all or what, and they moved her quickly. She clenched her eyes shut, stumbling over her own feet and the feet of the guards, tripping down stairs and long hallways. After an eternity of walking and falling, they decided they had reached a destination. She had her eyes open by then, not dealing with the sting well. It took three guards to open the door and shove her inside. She fell in, staying on her feet. She felt that she had done this before, somehow.

The three guards quickly closed and locked the door. She heard one assign two guards to stand guard, and then it was quiet.

The door was a heavy block of wood that she didn't see being able to open, let alone break the lock on, without assistance. There were no windows in the room, and it was completely dark – she couldn't see anything. She put her hands out and went to a wall, feeling around for anything in there. She felt nothing, only walls. After going down one wall to a corner, she determined that it was probably bigger than her jail cell – it was just as cold, though, and she definitely preferred the cell. She could see.

Elphaba slowly slid down to a sitting position in the middle of the floor, waiting – she didn't know what she was waiting for, but she knew it could be nothing good for her.

…

Glinda sat in her desk chair, and the guard stood in front of her. He had a kindly face, and she would probably have liked him if he hadn't just ordered Elphaba's captivity. She looked down, still not sure of what she was going to do. "All right, we'll start off with the first question: How long has she been here?"

Glinda took a moment to think of her answer, and decided the truth might be safe. "Only a few moments."

"Good. Do you know what she was doing here?"

Glinda thought. What was she going to say? She could lie, and say she didn't know. She could also tell the truth. If she told the truth, they could think one of three things: Elphaba had threatened her to tell her that, Glinda was in on it with Elphaba, or Glinda was telling the truth. Glinda sniffed.

"Do you know what she was doing here?" he repeated again.

Glinda threw her hands over her face, and whispered, "I don't know what she was doing here." She was horribly ashamed of herself, and couldn't believe she had just said that. She had chosen her own welfare over Elphie's.

The guard knelt down next to her. "I hate to say it, but she was probably here to kill you," he said softly.

Glinda's shoulders shook, and she couldn't believe she was going along with this lie.

"Did she say anything to you?" he asked her.

Glinda shook her head and took her hands away from her face, staring dully at the ground.

"I'm going to go check up on her," he told her. "You should go back to sleep. You've had a busy night."

Glinda shook her head and stood up. "I want to come with you," she told him. It was more of an order than it was a request.

He looked at her, and while realizing that she was his boss, still had to shake his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I want to come along."

"No," he said firmly. "Go back to sleep."

He exited out the door and shut it behind him. She breathed in sharply, and realized at that moment that no one had wondered why she wasn't still sick.

She pushed the thought out of her head; it wasn't important. Her head was filled with images of Elphaba being held onto by guards, a humiliation that no one should have to suffer. She bit her lip and ran to the door, deciding to follow.

She ran down stairs and hallways, her long skirt getting in her way. She knew where he was going, but there were many small rooms often used as security rooms in which to keep money lining the bottom floor. She didn't know which one Elphie would be in.

…

Lillany and Oveel ran out of the palace and to the woods. They hadn't seen where Fiyero and Damaran were staying in there, but they would have to find them. Lillany scampered up the hill towards where the trees started, and Oveel followed closely behind. She tore through bushes, and stopped when she reached the first tree. She turned around to Oveel. "Where would they be?" she whispered.

He looked around. "DAMARAN!" he shouted.

Immediately, she grabbed his arm and pulled him to the ground. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "We'll be caught!"

"No one will be able to hear us from up here – only those we want to be heard by," he replied softly.

She stood up, brushing herself off. Her heart was pounding, and she put a hand up suddenly. "Listen," she said urgently.

They thought they could hear people talking, and Oveel shouted Damaran's name again, though not as loudly as before.

"What?" they heard someone call out. Oveel grabbed Lillany's hand and they ran to where the voice was coming from. There was a clearing about a hundred yards away from the Emerald City and to the right, where Damaran and Fiyero were. Damaran smiled upon seeing them. "How did you find us?" he asked her incredulously.

Fiyero, however, recognized the panicked looks on both of their faces. He stood up from where he had been sleeping. "What? What's wrong?" he asked, his breath coming shorter.

"It's Elphaba," Oveel said, out of breath from running. Fiyero crossed very close to him.

"What? What about her?" Fiyero looked them both in the eyes, growing more frantic with each passing second.

"They caught her," Lillany said. "She was in Glinda's room, and she was doing a spell, and they caught her, and they're bringing her down to the bottom floor…" she was babbling and she knew it.

Fiyero's heart beat wildly. "We have to go," he said. "We have to…where is she? What's on the bottom floor?"

"A lot of rooms," Lillany gasped out. "They keep important things in there, they're near impossible to break into. They're probably keeping her in there as a type of jail cell, they're really safe." Lillany and Oveel had slipped away silently after hearing the guard's orders to put Elphaba down there. When the guards had first come up, Oveel tried to pound on the door to warn Elphaba that someone was coming, but the guards shoved them out of the way in their urgency to get to Elphaba.

Damaran watched this exchange in silence, and then got two hunting spears they had brought with them. "Let's go," he said, determinedly. "We can't just stay here waiting for something to happen."

Fiyero grabbed a spear from Damaran and, without another word, strode ahead of them to go to the palace.

"Wait!" Lillany shouted after him.

Fiyero didn't stop, but turned back to look at her for a moment. "We have to go now, we can't wait another second. They could have already…" he trailed off, but kept pushing his way through bushes, and past trees.

Damaran followed Fiyero closely, and Oveel and Lillany ran to catch up. Lillany ran ahead of Fiyero, and walked in front of him. "You don't know where you're going," she informed him. "I do. I'll lead."

The four of them raced down to the palace, and when they got there, Lillany led them around the back. "Be quiet," she said, hushed. "It'll be horrible for all of us if we're caught."

They all nodded, and she went to a part of the wall and pushed it in. It was a door – something none of them were expecting. They hadn't realized that the palace had any secret entrances. She went in without a second glance, and they all followed – Fiyero after Lillany, then Damaran, and then Oveel. Lillany waited for all of them to get in, and then shut the door behind them. It was grey cement, and obviously wasn't meant for the public, as it wasn't the beautiful architecture that the rest of the palace possessed. Carrying her nightgown so as not to trip on it, she started down a long hallway, where she reached a real door. She stopped when she got there and pressed her ear to it, listening for something on the other end.

When she didn't hear it, she nodded, and turned to face them. "This is the bottom floor. This door leads to one of the rooms – there are many of them. We'll go out this door and that'll lead us into a hallway – we'll need to listen carefully. We might hear her."

Fiyero went to the front and gently guided Lillany out of the way. "I'll go first," he told her.

She nodded, grateful to be out of the position of leader. He opened the heavy door with a grunt, and they all went into the room. The only light was from the hallway they had used to get in there, and the room was small. Oveel tried to close the door behind them, but Lillany stopped him. "We might need this door later," she told him. Fiyero went to the other door, that led out of the room and to the hallway Lillany promised. The door was extremely heavy, and he had to get Oveel to help him open it. They managed to, though, and the four spilled out into the hallway. There were two directions they could go, and Fiyero turned to Lillany.

She shrugged, knowing what he was asking. "I don't come down here often. She could be in any of these rooms – I expect there will be someone guarding her."

Fiyero bit his lip, trying to be calm, but finding it hard with Elphaba's life in danger. "We need to find her as quickly as possible – we need to split up. Give a shout if you find her…somehow, we'll just have to overtake the guards. Damaran, go with Oveel down that way, and Lillany, you'll come with me down the other way. If you hear us shout, come running, we'll do the same."

They all nodded, and split up. Lillany followed Fiyero closely, not sure if she was entirely willing to trust him yet. In her head, she concocted a story about how they had kidnapped her…but in her heart, she wanted to help Elphaba.

Fiyero was silent, and they walked quietly. They turned the corner, and he started as he saw the two guards down the way guarding a door. He stopped suddenly and put a hand out for Lillany, so she would go no further. They backed up behind the corner again, and were confident that they weren't seen.

Lillany looked terrified, Fiyero noted, and he thought that she wouldn't be much help. He changed his instructions. "Go find Damaran and Oveel, quickly," he told her. "I'm going to see if I can…overtake them by myself. I'll need their help, though."

Her eyes were wide, and she nodded. After holding his gaze for a second more, she ran back down the hall where Damaran and Oveel had gone.

…

Elphaba breathed in shakily, hearing the guards saying nothing on the other side of the door. It was silent everywhere, and she rubbed her forehead with her hands. She closed her eyes, not liking the fact that when she closed her eyes she saw just as much as she did when she had them open.

She could faintly hear that the guards on the other side were talking. By the high pitch in their voices, she thought they were nervous. She heard a yell.

"Fiyero?" she whispered to herself, disbelieving. She didn't know, but it sounded like him. She heard thumps and crashes, what sounded like people fighting. She stood up and raced to the door, putting her ear to it to try to hear what was going on. She heard more people than just Fiyero, now, people fighting. She heard one final thump, and a silence. She then heard Lillany say, "Oh…I didn't mean to hit him that hard, is he okay?"

Elphaba couldn't stop herself, and she began to pound on the door. "Fiyero!" she shouted desperately.

"Yes, I'm here!" it was muffled and faint, even though he was shouting right on the other side. "Elphaba, are you okay?"

"Yes! You have to unlock the door, one of the guards probably has a key!" she shouted into the door.

She couldn't hear anything for a couple of moments, and then she heard clicking in the lock. Once it clicked, she immediately felt around for the handle, and tried to push it open. As suspected, she couldn't. "I can't get it open!" she shouted, frustrated.

"We'll start pulling, and you push, on the count of three, all right?" she heard him shout. "One, two…"

Elphaba pushed as hard as she could, and this time it opened, with Fiyero and Oveel pulling on the other side. Once the door was open wide enough, she slipped out of the dark room and fell straight into Fiyero's arms. He held her closely for a moment, and she closed her eyes, breathing hard. She straightened, and looked at the guards on the ground. She looked away quickly, not wanting to look at them.

"They're both alive," Lillany said. "I think they're unconscious."

Elphaba shuddered, and nodded. She took a look at the four of them, grateful they had come but fearing for their safety. "We have to go," Elphaba instructed. "They're coming back soon…"

She trailed off as she saw Boq watching the whole thing, with Glinda behind him. Fiyero followed her gaze, as did the other three, and they started to shrink back behind Elphaba and Fiyero, as if they could protect them from Boq.

Boq was silent for a moment, and then raised his hand above his head, snapping his fingers. At his call, another fifteen or so guards came behind him for reinforcements. The two groups faced off for only a second, and then Damaran, Fiyero, Oveel, Lillany, and Elphaba all started to run back to where they (minus Elphaba) had come in to the palace.

"Five of you, follow them!"

…

I AM SO SORRY!

I AM SO, SO SORRY!

It has been so long! I am so so so so so sorry! Nearly every day I would think about this, and how I was putting it off, until finally I was using Word doing a project for school, and just…started to write. I have one more chapter in me, I didn't want to overload you with too much in one chapter. I know this chapter isn't very good, but I think it's more important that I just get done. I think I know where I'm going, but I am SO SORRY! I'd respond to all of your reviews, but it's three in the morning, and I'm drained. I'm not sure how long it'll take me to update, but I'll work on it as much as I can so that you have a conclusive ending. Again, this chapter is not realistic, overly dramatic and cheesy, and probably one of my worst ones. Again, keep in mind, it's three in the morning. I'M SO SORRY! And now I'm done, off to sleep. SO SORRY!