Oksy, so here's chapter 3! This is moving faster than I wanted it to, but that's alright. Thanks to my reviewers, again, I really LOVE it when you review; it makes me HAPPY. Haters are welcome too, they make me happy too, just in a cynical way. This switches around a lot, but I put break lines when they switch, though, so it's not as confusing : )

So I'd found a place to stay. I'm not really sure if I can say place but….it keeps me out of the rain and the cold. Ok, so it's under a porch of an abandoned house, so what? It's better than nothing.

I've slowly come to terms with Fiyero's death. It still tears me to pieces to think that he's really dead, but I've accepted it. I know longer pray that he'll come back to Oz, that he'll find me and that we'll live happily ever after. It's over.

That night, as I lay in the cold dirt under my porch, I heard some rustling at the little 'entrance', "Who's there?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone was here." A man..well, he was more like 17, so a boy, came into view, highlighted by the bright moonlight.

"It's alright. What's your name?"

"I'm Tasi." He smiled at me.

"I'm-"

"I know who you are."

"Oh…you do?"

"Yes, you're Elphaba."

"Yea. How'd you know?"

"I've seen you here before, I heard someone calling your name."

"Ah. How old are you?"

"Seventeen. So, how'd you end up in this hell-hole?"

"Tell me where your skeletons hiding, tell me all, and I'll tell you." I smiled.

"Fair enough. I was born here, lived here, went to school here, and until recently I worked over at the palace. I got fired, though. Probably for the better; The Wizard is a real bastard."

"Tell me about it."

"So, what about you?"

"I ran away from college about five years ago, and I've been here ever since. There's not much else to tell." Well, there was, but he didn't need to know.

"Do you mind if I stay here the night? It's blowing like there's no tomorrow outside."

"Yes, stay, I don't care." And I didn't. I rolled over and fell asleep.

"Ha! I told you there was a way!"

"Well, I've never…"

Sahlah and I had just arrived in the state of Aurie, in one night, just like I said we would, "Come on, I still want than newspaper."

Sahlah shook her head, "I don't believe it. How did you….?"

"I told you I would do it, and I did. That's just the way it is."

She hissed, mad at not being to outsmart me, but I just smiled.

"Come on, I'll find a newspaper for you, Fiyero."

An hour later, Sahlah handed me a copy of The Ozian Times, "Thanks. Took you long enough."

"Bite me, city boy, not everyone is as special as you."

"Holy shit!"

"What?"

"I'm on the front cover!"

"What!"

Sahlah snatched the newspaper out of my hands, "Hey!"

"'Arjiki Prince Fiyero Tiggular of the Vinkus has disappeared mysteriously from the Emerald City.' You're a PRINCE!"

I shrugged, "Yea."

"'The Wizard and his guards are searching desperately to retrieve the prince from enemy hands where he is believed to be held hostage.'"

"The WIZARD my ass! He was the one who tried to kill me! Dammit!"

"Hold on there, City Boy! There's more: 'Prince Fiyero is suspected to be hidden by a Ms. Elphaba Thropp. The Gale Force is on a quest to find the ruthless criminal.' Is that what you thought was wrong?"

"Dammit! I don't know! We have to go, now, we can't stop, not ever!" I knew that I had to get Elphaba, and quick. Not only was the Gale Force after her for a crime she didn't commit, but there was something up with her too, I just knew it!

There was something up with me, I just knew it. I was throwing up too much; I had tried to convince myself it was just something I ate..but I hadn't had anything in two days.

"Are you alright?" Tasi asked me after I had vomited for the second time that morning.

"I don't know. I've been sick for awhile now, maybe it was something I ate."

"Please. I'm homeless too, remember? I haven't eaten anything in at least twenty-four hours and you probably haven't either."

"You're right. I haven't had anything, I just don't know what else it could be." I was becoming a good liar. I knew what it could be, but I pushed that horrible thought to the back of my mind.

"You're lying."

Well, maybe I wasn't getting good.

"Fiyero! Please, you have got to slow down!"

"No. I can't slow down."

"Really Fiyero, we're making good time! If you want to get to Elphaba, you'll have to slow down or you'll wear yourself out."

"I don't care! Don't you get? Elphaba will die if I don't get to her! I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened!"

"Does she know you're alive?"

I had really had enough of Sahlah, "I don't know. It's possible she thinks I'm dead."

"She can't blame you if she dies."

I whirl around and face her, "You don't when to keep your mouth shut, do you? I don't care if she didn't' blame me, I'd blame myself."

"You're selfish."

"You...you're..right."

"Look, let's go somewhere to stay the night, you're not helping anyone."

"No. We're day ahead, and I'd like to keep it that way. How long will it take to get across the Nonestic Ocean to Loland?"

"A few days, three, I'm guessing."

"Then how long until we get to the Shifting Sands?"

She snorted, "At least a month. That is, if we survive."

"You're pregnant, aren't you? I've seen my mother pregnant, you're acting like her."

I groaned and rolled flopped onto the dirt, "Dammit Fiyero!"

"Fiyero?"

"Yes, Fiyero, that's the father, if I truly am pregnant."

"You are." Tasi said bluntly.

"Thanks for being so sympathetic, it's not like I want this baby!"

"I'm sorry. Tell Fiyero that."

"Fiyero's dead."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"So am I..Oh Oz, what am I going to do! Fiyero, you bastard, why the hell did you do this to me?"

Tasi could only stare. I couldn't blame him. Great, Fiyero had gotten me pregnant, now what?

"You know that you don't have to sleep on the floor."

"Yes, I do."

"No you don't. There's room in this bed for two."

"Nice try, Sahlah, but I'm not falling for it."

I heard flop down on the bed. Now I really understand why she had left Plenia so happily.

"You know, we're probably not going to survive the crossing of Hiland."

"I don't care. I've got to at least try."

"You really love her, don't you?" She asked softly after a moment.

Did I? That had been a question I asked myself during our affair in the Emerald City. I didn't know, I didn't know what love felt like, I didn't know how you knew. But if I didn't love her, what was I doing in Aurie? Why was risking my life if I didn't truly love her? "Yes. I do love her. A lot." I finally said softly.

Days went by and I still didn't get up, it was too depressing. I didn't want this child growing inside me, and I was sure it wouldn't want me either. I had no idea what to expect with this pregnancy, seeing as I'd never been through it before, and I wasn't sure I could do it without someone..that someone being Fiyero.

I had Tasi; of course, he had become a good friend, not really seeing my green skin. He came to see me often, sometimes bringing me food, or sometimes, money.

"You know, Elphie, that you'll have to get up sometime."

"No. I'm not getting up ever."

"You are overly dramatic."

I could see he was smiling, though, "I don't care. I'm overly depressed, as well."

"I'm sorry Elphaba, really, I am."

"I know, but no amount of sorries will change what happened." I had told Tasi about Fiyero the day before, and he was generally sorry. But the word 'sorry' meant nothing to me now.

"Goodbye."

"Bye." I sat up. There was something very odd about Tasi, I just couldn't put my finger on it. Something in my heart told me to follow him, and so I did..oh, but had I known what was waiting for me, I would of run the other way and never looked back. But I didn't.

I sat up in the middle of the night, my body wet with sweat. Where I am? I asked myself that question a lot lately, basically because I wasn't in the same place any one night. But I wanted it to stay that way, it just meant I was getting all the closer to Elphaba, my love.

I felt disgustingly ill. Had Sahlah been right? Had I worked myself up too much to go on? No. I'd go on no matter how much pain I was in. And I was in a lot right now.

I went to the bathroom and splashed my face with cool water, coating my hair as I did so. I took a long drink of water, in a pathetic attempt to settle my stomach. It did nothing but make it worse. I vomited until I couldn't move.

When I was calm enough to move, twenty minutes later, I walked out of the bathroom. Sahlah was sleeping soundly in the bed. I knew what I had to do. I hadn't taken this Plenian girl by choice, and I sure as hell didn't want her with me. I would leave her here, she could leave Aurie by herself if she wanted some adventure, but she wouldn't come with me. I was no safer with her than I would be on my own. She had lied about knowing the Hiland, the Loland and the Shifting Sands. I knew that from the moment she told me all she knew about them.

I pulled a pair of clothes on weakly and grabbed the heavy bag which held all of the food. I needed it more than she did, "Goodbye, Sahlah, I'm sorry to leave you here, but you'll be better off."

"Let me go."

"Why? You've been nothing but trouble since the day you were born, my dear Elphaba, and now I've got you right where I want you. You walked right into my trap."

I snorted, "Please. A trap would require some form of brains. You have none."

The Wizard banged his fist against the bars of my prison, "Silence!"

"NO! You killed Yero, I know you did it. You can't pull the wool over my eyes; I'm smarter than that."

"Yes, that may be true, but no one will ever believe you; It's in the newspapers that you took Fiyero hostage and you're in here. And here you'll stay."

"You're a bastard."

"And you're a wench." He slapped me through the metal bars.

I backed up, "Fine. What do you want?"

"I want you dead. That's what I want."

"Okay, then kill me, dumbass. I obviously don't want to be alive so just lynch me and get it over with!"

"No. I think I'll let you suffer for a few days. I'll let you think about your miserable life, and your inferiority."

"Inferiority is nothing but a state of mind; and no matter what you think about me, you will always, ALWAYS, be more inferior than I, because you believe in such a concept." That got to him, I could tell.

I flopped myself into a corner of the dirty cell, waiting for the tears to come. They didn't. Tasi had tricked me, that's what had been so odd about him. I should of seen the foreshadowing when he told me that he used to work for the Wizard, but really, can't I trust people for once in my life?

I sat in that corner for who knows how long, when I was 'awakened' by a loud banging on my cell, "Here, bitch, hope you like it." The guard cackled.

I replied with a high-pitched mocking cackle much like the guard's own, "Mmm, gruel." I took the spoon and filled it with the 'delicious' lumpy substance and flung it at the guard when he walked back by.

"Dammit!" The guard ran, and I laughed at him.

"You best ought not do that. You'll get it even worse if you do."

I knew that voice, but I couldn't see who belonged to, it hadn't come from inside from my cell and it was too dark to see anyone else, "Who is that?"

"What, you don't recognize my voice, Elphaba?"

"I do. I just don't know your face."

"I know yours, you little vegetable."

Now I knew who it was, "Great. Of all people I see in jail, one of them has to be Avaric." I said, even though I was grateful for a familiar face, even it was his.

"So, did you have fun with Fiyero?"

"Go to Hell. I see prison life hasn't changed you much."

"I really liked that disappearing stunt you pulled on Shiz five years ago."

"So did I. Be cool, drop out of school." I said dryly.

Avaric chuckled a little at that, "I see it hasn't changed you either."

"Bite me. I'm not going to be here long anyway."

"Please, you can't escape-"

"No, I'm not going to try that. You think you know me Avaric, well, you don't; I'm going to wait, and Death Row will come to me soon enough."

"How can you sit there and say that? You're not the Elphaba I remember back at Shiz. You used to fight for your rights, now you're just…not you."

"You're right, I'm not. My life has no purpose. You want to know the truth, Avaric buddy? Fine, I got Fiyero murdered, I'm homeless and I'm pregnant. Is that enough truth for you?"

Avaric said nothing for a minute, but then he never had a chance because a guard came and took him away. Avaric's cell is still empty. I cried. Yes, I cried, and for the death of Avaric.

I was able to cross the Nonestic Ocean in a matter of days. But when I reached the shore of Hiland, there was Sahlah, "You think you can just leave me in a hotel room without food or money?"

"Yes. And I did. Obviously you did alright without any of that."

She snorted, "Only because I stole a boat and took a shortcut. So why did you leave me?"

"You know why. I've got somewhere to be."

"Please, and you think you can get there sooner without me?"

"Frankly, yes."

I began to walk off, but Sahlah grabbed my arm, "Well you can't. Got that? You can't!"

"You are crazy, Sahlah, go back to Plenia."

"I'm not crazy. I'm pissed."

"They look the same from where I'm standing."

"You're standing at the wrong angle."

"No, I don't think I am."

"Why did you leave me?"

"Excuse me? I don't know you, you shouldn't be cross-examining me. Now go!"

"No! You told me I could come with you, and I'm coming with you!"

"Fine. But keep yourself under control, will you?"

"Of course." she smiled.

This girl was really beginning to scare me.