A/N: Hello again Kayla! And James Birdsong! Good to see you back! I'm going to try and stick to updating once a week, possibly a Sunday.

Sadness and Secrets

"Nessa?"

The younger girl stopped and turned her chair around to face Fiyero. "Yes?"

"Do you have a minute to talk?"

She nodded, looking up at him. "Yes, of course. What is it?"

"It's about you. And Elphaba."

She scowled. "What did she do now?"

He bristled and forced himself to remain calm. "It's not about what she did, or didn't do." He told her.

"Then we have nothing to say to each other." She turned her chair and started to wheel away.

"What is your problem?"

She stopped again and turned. "Excuse me?! How dare you-"

"No. You listen to me." he looked at her and crossed the space between them again. He refused to shout across the corridor. "She's your sister and all she's ever done is put you above herself every time. She's still doing it, even now. But now she's also looking out for herself, and what? You don't like it?"

"Of course I'm happy that she's finally putting herself first and she's happy! But she doesn't have to leave me to do it!"

"Are you serious?! I'd sooner kill your father myself before I let him anywhere near her again! After what he did?!" He shook his head. "No, there's something else here, I'm not completely stupid. What's this really about, Nessa?"

"That's not what I-" she cut herself off and sighed heavily. "She's abandoning me."

He sighed, brushing his hand through his hair. "She's making her life better for herself. Is that really so wrong?" He knelt by the chair. "She'd never leave you, Nessa. Not completely."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child, Fiyero." She pushed forward.

"I'm not." He jumped up and walked with her. "She's still your sister, no matter where in Oz she goes, and you know that. She loves you too much to leave you behind."

"if she loves me then why is she leaving me?"

He groaned. "Because it's something she needs to do. Let her get it out of her system and she'll come back to you." He knew it wasn't the case. He knew that Elphaba would help the Animals for as long as she could.

"No, she won't. You and Glinda won't let her."

He laughed at that. "I'm sorry... Are you sure we're talking about the same woman? If I tried to tell Elphaba what to do or tried to control her she'd string me up like a scarecrow!"

Nessa scowled again.

"It's true! She'd bloody kill me! In fact, I wouldn't put it past that woman to actually turn me into a scarecrow and leave me in a field somewhere."

She sighed and nodded, accepting defeat. "Alright fine. What happened last week?"

Fiyero shrugged. "The fainting spell was brought on by her stressing herself out too much."

"Glinda said she wouldn't let you go until she came back to the dorm."

He nodded. Nessa had no idea that he'd actually spent the night with his distressed girlfriend in his room, calming her through the several night terrors she'd endured through the night. "I've never seen her so freaked out. But Glinda knew what to do." He told her. Despite the frequent nightmares, once Elphaba had got some sleep, she was fine by morning. He'd had to distract her and talk to her until she was calm enough to sleep again. She'd told him about the rediscovery of her missing bottle, and while he hadn't seen anyone around, he promised to keep a lookout, and he was so far keeping to his promise. Throughout the rest of the week, they had also been teaching Chistery to talk. So far all the Monkey had managed was an amalgamation of his name; 'Ero'. Although that could have been down to the number of times the creature had heard Elphaba call out for him that night.

Nessa nodded. "Fiyero, are you telling the truth?"

"About what?"

"You and Elphaba have never-?"

"Nope. Of course, that's not to say I don't want to." He suppressed a smirk at her glare. "But we both think it's too soon for that step. She seems content to wait and I'm not going to be the one to rush her. I'd wait forever for her. If anything was to happen it would be a mutual decision and completely on her terms."

"You're right, it is too soon."

He nodded again. "Was there anything else you wanted to know?"

"No."

"Good. Because even if there was, it should come from Elphaba herself. I really don't think she'd appreciate me gossiping about our relationship." He told her. "All I'll say is just ease off of her a bit. I know you've had her all to yourself all this time, but she is allowed a life of her own. What did you think would happen when you and Glinda set us up?"

Nessa looked ahead of her, avoiding looking at him.

"Did you think I'd get bored?" A furious blush was his answer. He sighed, he supposed he deserved that one. His intentions with previous girls had been less than honourable, and the papers exaggerated what he had done. "Alright, I deserve that. I guess in the past, maybe I would have done. But Elphaba is different, in every way possible. The first woman to not fall at my feet and be taken in by the charm and the title. The first person outside of my family to call me out on my foolishness. Where I didn't care a twig what people thought before, suddenly with her it mattered. Her opinions, her voice mattered. She's the first woman to push me, and every single one of my buttons and she drives me to absolute frustration. The first to love me with or without the infamy, the money, the title, the swagger and the charm. And I know that one day in the future I'm going to marry her."

Nessa looked up while he spoke, and she saw the raw, true honesty there on his face, the fierce love he had for the woman he was talking about. In reality, she knew she wasn't losing her sister, and knew that Fiyero loved her just as much as she loved him. But she'd already been abandoned by her mother's death, it felt like Elphaba was abandoning her too, and to an extent, she was. She'd leave for the Emerald City after graduation, and if Fiyero was true to his word of marriage, she'd then leave for the Vinkus.

"I'm not trying to take your sister away, Nessa. I'd never do that, and neither would Glinda. So go and find her, make up with her. She's the only sister you have."

"Do not patronise me, Fiyero."

"I'm not trying to, I'm trying to get you to see your sister."

"If she wanted to speak to me then she should come, not send her boyfriend to do her dirty work."

He made an annoyed sound in his throat. "Are you Thropp women inherently stubborn?!"

"I wouldn't know. She took my mother away before I took my first breath!"

Instantly he backed off as though she'd physically threw him. "What?"

Her hands flew to her mouth with a look of shamed horror on her face. "I don't... I didn't mean that..."

"Nessa..." He looked at her warily, all anger and frustration leaving his body. "You don't believe that Elphaba was responsible...do you?" How many times had his Fae been blamed for something beyond her control? How many times had she heard it in her life?

"N-no! Of course not!" she shook her head. "I just remember conversations from years ago... Between Nanny and father and...- Oh, Fiyero I didn't mean it, I swear!"

He shook his head. "She was just a kid, you both were."

"I know..."

He sighed heavily and walked off, leaving Nessa calling after him. He headed to the library where he knew he'd find Elphaba. "What are you doing?" he asked in an amused tone when he found her on a set of steps, putting books away.

Flicking her long dark hair over her shoulder as she turned to face him, she grinned. "I took a part-time job in here."

He laughed. "If you keep joking about that I'll never believe you." He paused at her expression. "You're being serious this time?"

She nodded and laughed when he picked her up around the waist, spun her around and then set her back down. "How did it go with Nessa?"

He groaned and leaned on the bookshelf, picking a strand of black hair from her white cotton blouse before flicking it away. "I'd like to think your mother was just as stubborn to pass it on to the two of you."

"That bad, huh?" She smiled tenderly and brushed a hair through his messy hair before returning to her task. "You tried, it's okay."

"No, it's not."

She stepped down to the trolley once the last book was put away, he picked up the steps as she pushed the trolley of books to the next shelf. "Yero, I know how much family means to you, I've seen it in action for myself. But right now, Nessa's warped sense of family is not needed."

"What does that mean?"

"You still have anger in your eyes even though you're smiling at me. Did she finally break her silence on her view of the green murderer of our mother?"

Fiercely, he took hold of her by the elbows and pinned her against the shelf. "Don't talk about yourself like that."

She simply smiled. Gone was his anger, replaced by anguish and love. For all of his fierceness, his face still held love, his hold on her was gentle and his body screamed protection. She could never be frightened of him, not even in this moment. She lifted her arms out of his grip and gently placed her hands on his face. "Yero, I know. I know what she thinks, I know what he thinks. I've heard it enough times, and once upon a time, I believed it. Not now, never now." she silenced any forthcoming protests with a kiss.

"Fae..."

"Shh..." Her thumb softly caressed his lips. "Not right now. I know." she smiled and removed herself from between his body and the shelf, and gathered up a pile of books to start putting them away.

"I love you."

Another fond smile in his direction. "You too."

He grinned. "Oh, and before I caught up with her, I got our notes from the Law class we missed." He took the folded up pieces of paper from his pocket and put them on a pile of books.

"Thank you. I'll take a copy when we're done in here."

"We?"

"Mhm. Since you seem so intent on bothering me while I work, you can make yourself useful."

"I just remembered, Boq asked me to... help him with a thing."

She smirked. He was such a bad liar. "A thing?"

"Yep." He nodded.

"And what thing would that be?"

"Just a thing." He grinned and turned to leave the room.

"Fiyero!"

He stopped and looked back at her.

"Tell him to grow a pair and make a decision," she smirked and turned back to her pile of books.

He blinked, confused and left the library before she could talk him into helping her. He wandered outside into the courtyard, and it didn't take him long to find his friend. He walked over to the water fountain and dropped down beside the Munchkin. "If you're hiding, you're not doing a very good job at it."

"Miss Elphie blends in better than I do." Boq agreed.

Fiyero chuckled softly. "I'm apparently supposed to tell you to man up and make a decision. Any ideas what Fae means?"

Boq grimaced and shook his head, Elphaba had been talking about his recent predicament with Nessa. "I think we've had enough women talk right now, don't you?" he evaded the question.

He laughed at the pained look on Boq's face. "The wrath of a Thropp woman is scary enough, right?" he smirked. "Come on, it can't be that bad. My classes are done for the afternoon and yours?"

Boq nodded. "Yeah... Mine too... What's your point?"

"Well, let's grab Ollivander and the three of us go into town for a few drinks. Fae's gonna be in that library for hours, Glinda's indulging in her dramatics and Nessa will be sulking."

Boq nodded again, deciding not to ask why Nessa was mad now. "Fine. But we don't talk about Nessa. And you don't get all lovesick over Miss Elphie."

"So you two did fight." He smirked and nodded. "Fine, no girlfriend talk," he added and they both headed off in the direction of Ollivander's class just in time to see him leaving, they all then headed back to Briscoe Hall to drop off bags and papers, collected their money and headed out into Shiz Town.

"The Artichoke finally let you out, Tiggular?!"

Fiyero rolled his eyes at the smug smirk on Avaric's face. "What do you want, Avaric?"

"Why don't you ditch those two and join us? The night is still young and there are more drinks to be had and girls to dance with."

"I think I'll pass." He shot the other male a disgusted look. "I don't ditch friends and I don't need other girls."

"I don't see what's so special about the green bean. What, is she good in bed or something?"

Fiyero glared and clenched his fists at his sides. "Leave Elphaba out of this," he growled. "Avaric, if you go near her, I swear-"

Avaric laughed and shook his head. "Relax, Tiggular, I wouldn't go there even if she was the last woman to reproduce with. The offspring would be born green and I'd have to get rid of them."

Before his friends could stop him, Fiyero swung a punch at him, connecting his fist with his nose with a loud, satisfying crack. He shrugged off Ollivander's arm. "It's done," he told him and the three friends weaved through the crowd to the nearest pub, leaving Avaric bloodied and shouting insults and threats after them.

"He's not worth the trouble," Ollivander told him.

"I know, but I won't have him talking about Fae like that."

His friends nodded and they got their drinks.

"I wouldn't be sorry if you broke his nose." Boq shrugged, heading to a table.

Glinda had finished her drama class and had picked up her post from the mailroom. There was a letter from her parents, a package from her grandmother and a few letters for Elphaba. She made her way to the library, finding her green friend easily. "Elphie, these came for you."

Elphaba, still putting the books away, looked down at her friend and smiled. She stepped down to the ground and opened one of the letters.

My little one

I have good news, I've managed to locate your mother's sister in a small village in Quox, looking after her ailing young daughter. She's so thrillified to know you're alright and wishes to write to you. I haven't told her everything that's happened, but I've told her that you've recently run into some trouble, and she's told me that she owns a small cottage nearby that is used as a rented holiday home, but she is more than happy to give it to you. If you'd like me to, I can tell her where she can contact you and she can write to you herself.

Now, I hope you're alright, and you're not putting too much stress on yourself. You've become quite the mystery lately, young one, being spotted on the arm of your love. I've indulgently kept the picture from the article because I've never seen you look so happy.

Be safe, young Elphaba, and be happy. Try not to stress about things, I told you things will work out in the end. They always do. What did I tell you about doubting me?

Love, Morwenna

"What does it say, Elphie?"

"My mother's sister... My aunt, I guess... She's been found alive." Elphaba spoke quietly. "And if I want it, there's a small cottage in Quox near to where she lives."

"Oh, Elphie that's amazing!"

Elphaba laughed softly. "And apparently people in Munchkinland care about what happens in the Vinkus. It looks like one or two of the dates Fiyero took me on made it to the papers."

"I thought he was careful and made sure that didn't happen?"

She shrugged. "I thought so too, but I guess there were a few rogue journalists out there. Apparently, I look happy."

Glinda giggled. "You do. You light up like a Lurlinemas tree around him."

She gave her friend an impressed look at the jab and laughed. "Well, it helps that I'm green. Now I'm curious as to what these articles say." She sighed and opened another envelope while Glinda opened her package. After scanning the letter, Elphaba laughed again.

"What is it?"

"This letter from Tom... About ninety per cent of it is ranting that I never told him Fiyero is a Prince, and that he had to find out by reading it in the paper. A couple of lines about how Frex isn't happy about it - which is probably what that third letter is... And the rest is an update on the Animal situation. The post office lost the Owls and a school removed a Bison from its canteen staff... "

"Well, if it is," Glinda took the final envelope from her and ripped it open, read it quickly and then she promptly tore it in two. "You don't need his negativity in your life anymore, Elphie."

She made no move to protest Glinda's actions and she nodded. "I know. Things are looking up, Lin." She smiled. "I have family, both blood and not, and by the end of the year I could possibly have a new home, I also have this job."

"Exactly."

"So what did your grandmother send you this time? Another horrendible article of clothing you can palm off to me under the pretence of being nice?" she smirked.

"Oh, don't act like you don't love that hat!" Glinda stuck her chin in the air. "I did you a favour with that." She added with a smirk. "She sent me a pair of shoes, but... I'm not too sure on the colour... They look a bit like Nessa's." She pulled out a pair of teal, sparkly shoes, getting an uneasy feeling about them as she held them. "They feel odd."

"Odd how?" Elphaba raised an eyebrow, folding up her letters and pocketing them with her class notes.

"This is going to sound crazy, Elphie, but I think they're magical."

The green girl paused for a second before she cackled loudly. "How... Just how can a pair of shoes be magical?" she asked in a lower tone when the librarian called for quiet.

Glinda blushed and thrust them in her direction. "Hold them! Tell me there's no magic in those shoes! Oz, I ought to burn them!"

Elphaba took hold of the shoes and shook her head. There was absolutely no way... And yet... They seemed to hum and vibrate in her hands. "They feel like normal shoes to me." she dismissed it and put the shoes back in the box. "If you're that concerned, write back and ask her about them."

"I swear that woman is out to curse me."

"So ask her about them. There could be a simple explanation." No, she told herself. Objects were not cursed. They were not in this school.

Glinda nodded.

"What did your parents have to say?"

"They were just asking how we were settling in... And they've finished the arrangements for you to come home with me for Lurlinemas."

"Well... I'm almost done here, so why don't we finish up, then we can go back, write our letters and find the rest of the group and we can go out?"

"The boys are already in town, Milla said she saw them leave about twenty minutes ago."

"Oh. Looks like it's just us then." Elphaba grinned and finished putting away the last of the books, took her bag from the trolley then they both left the library.

"We could always join them?" Glinda suggested.

Elphaba shook her head. "No, I don't really feel like drinking." she declined as Glinda linked her arm and carried her things with her free arm. "There's a box in my closet I've been meaning to look in since we left Munchkinland, but I keep getting distracted."

Glinda smiled and nodded. "Alright, we can look through it while we have time now." They both headed back to their room.

Elphaba dropped her bag at the foot of the bed, took the papers from her pocket and put them on the table before she headed to her closet and took the box out. She sat on her bed with Glinda and opened it.

"It's full of old photographs." Glinda smiled, picking up a small pile of them and looking through them.

Elphaba's smile grew softer. "And little trinkets my mother must have collected... I thought they'd all been thrown away or destroyed..." she toyed with a charm bracelet that was almost bare.

"This must be your mother's family." Glinda held up one of the photographs.

Elphaba dropped the item in the box and looked up at it. "I think that's my grandparents," she told her. "They looked happy."

The blonde nodded. "They do, don't they. Oh! Look!" she put the picture down and picked up another. "This must be her and her sister."

Elphaba took it slowly, softly biting her lip, tracing a green finger delicately across the faces in the photo. "You know... Nessa's never looked at me like that." She said quietly. 'That's because Nessa doesn't care.' The spiteful little voice in her head sniped.

Glinda held her hand gently. "To be fair, Elphie... You're not an openly affectionate person." she lightly teased.

The green girl laughed a little. "That's true enough... Damn you and Fiyero for changing that." She bit, the smile on her face showing she was teasing, and Glinda giggled.

"Well, how do you expect to go on dates with him or marry him if you won't be seen with him or show him affection."

"Not this again!" Elphaba laughed again. "Glinda, I will not get married just because you want a new pretty dress," she smirked. "In any event, should Fiyero and I get to that point, I'd like to wait until after graduation."

"Alright, alright," the blonde pouted. "Of course you'll make it. That boy would follow you to the ends of Oz and forever. You both love each other so much. Oh, just think! If you married while still with the Wizard, you could unite Oz!" she giggled.

"Now that's a whole other headache I really don't want or need," Elphaba grumbled. "Besides, I'm pretty sure if that happened, from what I've read, Fiyero and I would have to abandon our positions at the Emerald City and return to the Vinkus."

"So you are thinking about it? Oz, you must be if you're reading about what your options would be!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes and said nothing.

"Oh, Elphie, he was so scared for you after your vision..." Glinda sighed softly.

"I know... He wouldn't be apart from me for more than two minutes... In fairness, I probably didn't let him move either." she shuddered. "I know I didn't sleep all that much. Every time I fell asleep I kept seeing it." she shook her head. "It felt so real."

Glinda touched her arm. "Hopefully it won't come to that."

Elphaba shook her head again. "I hope so too."

Both girls changed the subject and continued looking through the box of Melena's personal items.

A few hours later, Glinda was curling her hair and Elphaba was reading a book when a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in!" Glinda called as she pinned one last curl to her head, pausing when she saw Attricia, Nessa's maiden enter the room.

"Miss Nessa had requested Miss Elphaba's presence." The young woman smiled.

Elphaba looked over the top of her book. "What did I do now?"

"She didn't say."

"Well, I'm coming with you," Glinda told her, leaving no room for argument as Elphaba marked her book and stood up, and they left the dorm, heading for Nessa's room.

"Nessa?" Elphaba spotted her sister on her bed, and she sat down beside her.

The younger Thropp glared daggers at her sister. "I requested you, not Glinda."

"And whatever you have to say you can say it in front of her. I'll only tell her what you've said anyway." Elphaba rolled her eyes.

Nessa boiled over. "Why did you send Fiyero to talk to me?!"

"I didn't. He offered to, I just didn't discourage him from doing so."

Nessa's glare intensified. "He has no business meddling in family matters! He's not family!"

"Yet. Who knows what the future would bring?" Elphaba told her.

"He's still your friend, Nessa. He's still Elphie's boyfriend, and, Oz, that boy's made no secret of the fact he's going to propose to her one day." Glinda put in.

"And until he decides otherwise, that's how it's staying." Elphaba finished with another roll of her eyes. "Anything else?"

"Don't patronise me."

"Are you done acting like a child?" she raised an eyebrow.

Nessa scoffed.

"Nessa, Fiyero didn't mean any harm, he was trying to help," Elphaba told her. "I don't understand the issue or what I've done wrong."

"You're leaving me."

The green girl looked perplexed. "Well... Of course, I am. I can't be at the Wizard's side and help the Animals from Munchkinland."

"You clearly don't care about me!"

This time she glared. "You know that's not true."

"Leave me alone!"

"Not until we resolve this," Elphaba could feel a headache stabbing her temples. "I don't know what you expected from all of this,"

"I just want my sister back."

She gave a frustrated, muted scream. "I never left! I'm still here! I don't think you realise just how much Fiyero and Glinda saved my stubborn backside in the Emerald City! If it weren't for them I'd have probably gone against the Wizard alone and made even more of an embarrassment to the family." She looked at her sister. "The fact is, you don't miss me, you just miss the fact that I'm not jumping to your every need anymore, and you can't run to daddy the minute the green bean steps out of line. Nessa, I love you, you're my little sister, how could I not?"

"But you care more about the Animals than you do me, which is a ridiculous notion. You won't atone for your mistakes by helping creatures you've never met that shouldn't exist in the first place. The Unnamed God won't save your soul, even if you had one. You would help them but not me."

Elphaba reeled back slightly. "Now you wait just a clock-tick! Help you!? How?! In what possible way could I...-" she stopped. "Oh, of course..."

"What?" Glinda looked at her.

"Oh, Nessa..." Elphaba sighed, looking to Glinda. "She wants to be out of that chair... It's what she's always wanted, to be normal, to walk."

Nessa fell silent, still sulking.

"Nessa, you have to understand, magic doesn't work like that." she looked at her sister again. "Even if such a spell exists... there's no guarantee it would work... I'm not skilled or powerful enough... I don't know enough about my craft to be able to help you, or if it's even possible to."

"Get out."

"Very well." she nodded and stood up. "Whenever you're ready to stop sulking, I forgive you, and I'm sorry." she walked out with Glinda.

Glinda linked her arm with her friend's. "Do you really think she expects you to perform miracles and make her walk?"

"It's always a possibility with her. In any case, it's not like there is a spell out there to take away her disability. That Grimmerie is dangerous to us right now with our lack of knowledge, regardless of whether it could be of help or not."

Glinda nodded. "Come on. You can help me write my letter to my parents about those Oz awful shoes!"

Elphaba laughed and nodded. "Fine... I need to write my own letters too..."

The girls headed back to their room to write their letters, Glinda kept shooting reproachful looks at the box that contained her latest gift the whole time.

"Can't I just bury them somewhere?!"

Elphaba simply laughed and shook her head, taking the box and shoving it in her closet. "Better?"

"Yes." the blonde pouted.