AN: Nessa as portrayed in this chapter is an amalgamation of the book Nessa and the musical Nessa, so basically she has arms. No infringement intended on Mr. Maguire's novel, all non profit fan amusement.

Continuing from the previous entry, this is a flashback to after Elphaba sent Glinda back to Shiz alone from the Emerald City and realizes her mistake.

"Glinda! You brazen little liar! There was no groveling, although you did slap me if I remember correctly."

A strange urgency like she had never felt before drove her relentlessly back toward Shiz. She switched carriages and stowed away on trains, all to appease this thing that was gnawing at her insides. It made her impatient and ruthless. When a transient challenged her right to sneak into his boxcar she grabbed him the collar and tossed him out through the open door like so much flotsam.

She ground her teeth against every agonizing minute that passed, every delay that stood in her path, until finally with suitcase in hand she was walking back through the leaf strewn main courtyard at Shiz.

The architecture around her, locked in its timelessness, did not care or even notice that she had been gone, or that her roommate had already arrived back at Crage hall without her.

That 'thing', that impatient beast was still eating at her, and she didn't notice much about Shiz either, such as the fact that Crope was staring at her with his mouth hanging open as she marched towards her destination.

Something closed around her shoulder and when she couldn't shake it off she turned to see Crope white faced with his hand on her shoulder.

"What is it!" she snapped. "I need to be somewhere you silly boy. Have you seen Glinda?"

"You better go see Morrible," he whispered quickly. "She's been asking after you."

"Oh bother Morrible!" She huffed, freeing herself from his grasp. "I've got other things to do than talk to that windbag parade float of a woman. Is Glinda back?'

"Yes. I still can't believe you drug her off to the Emerald City."

She waved him away and continued on her resolute path. There were a lot of things college boys like Crope couldn't believe, and she had no time to waste on them.

The walk to Crage hall seemed to take longer than usual, and even the stairs seemed steeper than before. Her legs ached and she felt she only had enough energy to get to her dorm room. As she stood before the familiar door she felt a sense of relief wash over her. The tightness in her shoulders fled and she almost slumped forward into the door as she grasped the brass doorknob and entered the room.

Glinda was there, she had known this before she had even entered the room by the tingling sensation she felt in the back of her skull. The blonde was lying in bed, her comforter pulled tight around her, and she seemed to be asleep.

Elphaba closed the door gently behind her so as to not make any noise and set her case on the bed. She was relieved Glinda looked none the worse for wear and thought a quick nap looked like a wonderful. Then she could be fresh and rested for when she spoke to Glinda and got everything sorted out. Now that she was back it almost felt like everything in the Emerald City had been a dream.

She sat down on the bed and Glinda's eyes flew open.

To say it startled her was an understatement. She leaped to her feet and sucked in a lungful of air.

Glinda jumped up from her bed and Elphie didn't know what the other girl was going to do. Her blue eyes seemed clouded, her movements hard to interpret until she slapped her hard across the face.

Her green cheek stung from the impact and she placed her palm against it in the hope of soothing it a bit. When she looked into Glinda's eyes she looked like she had come unhinged. She grabbed Elphaba's traveling case and with a primal scream hurled it across the room. It crashed into the door, popped open, and sprayed clothes everywhere.

She's gone crazy, Elphaba thought. Something in that blonde head had come off the rails. She was more than a little scared. Glinda was small but she had heard of people having great strength when they went crazy. She looked at her traveling case for confirmation of this and in its twisted form on the floor it looked like a loss.

"Glinda, listen…"

The blonde emitted something like growl and put her hand over Elphie's mouth, effectively silencing her.

"How?" she asked. "How could you do it to me? How Elphaba?" she asked, fighting back tears.

"I'm sorry Glinda, I truly am."

Glinda walked a few steps away, nervously adjusting her sleeping gown, then stopped and spun to look at Elphaba.

"Why? I loved you." She looked hopefully towards Elphaba, like she was looking at the ghost of a recently departed loved one. Her lips trembled so much she had to bite her bottom lip to get some semblance of stability.

"I hope you still do. If not, I'll do whatever it takes to make you love me again." Her steel was back, it laced up her spine, and she walked towards Glinda with determined steps.

"Oh Elphie!" She closed the distance between then and threw herself into her embrace.

Elphaba didn't expect Glinda to come hurtling towards her like that but did her best to catch her up in her arms in some semblance of an embrace. As she felt Glinda begin to cry she whispered 'I'm sorry' as many times as she could.

Glinda wove her fingers into Elphie's silky dark hair and tugged her down to meet her lips in a rough kiss, which was interrupted almost as soon as it started by the sound of a door banging open.

"Glinda!" Nessa called out, wheeling herself into the room through the adjoining door. "I heard a ruckus. Are you okay? She stopped wheeling her chair forward. The shock of seeing her sister and also of Glinda kissing said sister left her a little bit at a loss for words.

"What are you doing kissing my sister?" She finally asked. Glinda pulled away from Elphie and looked just as surprised as Nessa. Elphaba just appeared irritated.

"Nessa!" she snapped. "Go back to your room!"

"This all appears highly inappropriate!" Nessa sputtered in the self righteous way only she could.

Elphie jumped forward, grabbed her chair, spun it around, and pushed her back into her room as Nessa made as much physical protest as she could.

"Nessa, it's time you learned my business is my own. Stay in here, and don't you dare open that door again without knocking. In fact, just don't open it again, period."

"Well, you may not care about your virtue but I do! How would it look if….I mean really. And Glinda?"

"You don't know a thing, Nessa, and you're going to keep your nose out of it or mysterious things may begin to happen to this chair you love so much. It would be horrible if you couldn't get around due to some….mechanical failure."

"Elphaba! You wouldn't! That would be despicable." Her lower lip trembled and she appeared as if she may start crying.

"Then please just mind your own business."

"I don't have my own business!" she snapped. "If you haven't noticed."

Elphaba closed her eyes but felt the sting of the words hit their mark. She had no response to give so she swallowed down the pain and moved on.

"I have some things to sort out with Glinda."

"She's been in bed for three days; ever since she got back," Nessarose whispered. "She's barely moved, even when she was summoned to Morrible's office. I don't think she even went. When I heard that crash I assumed the worst, that she had…hurt herself. You broke her heart, crushed it right in her chest."

"I'm going to try to fix it, I promise."

"She must love you, Elphaba. I see no other explanation."

She knelt down by her chair so they could speak more intimately. "I'm going to try to make it up to her."

"I was angry at you for deserting me but more to see the heartache you had caused Glinda. I consider her a friend."

"A friend you don't want kissing your sister however." She took her hand gently in her own. "This thing with Glinda, I don't know where it will lead, but I've seen the damage done when I tried to turn away from it. I don't intend to do that again. Do I have your support on this?"

Nessa nodded mutely.

"Thank you sister." She kissed her gently on the cheek. "I'm sorry I threatened your chair." She stood up and headed back to her room.

"And remember to knock next time."