Ultimate Queen of Cliffies: I am personally proud of myself for coming up with that threat.

ExoticPeachBlossom: But if you skin him alive, we won't have Fiyeraba (or Fiyeraba babies)!

Torchakaywrites: LOL! You thought I was 15? I started writing on FF when I was 14.

And I'm glad we liked Alecta. We won't see any more of her, though.


"Alright, class, I have your essays to give back. For the most part, I'm very pleased. We have been improving," Dr. Dillamond said as he gave Galinda her essay with a red 'B' at the top.

"Good job, Galinda," Elphaba whispered to her friend, smiling as Dr. Dillamond gave her back her 'A+' paper.

"Thanks, Elphie," the blonde blushed.

"Now, for your next assignment, you will work in pairs. You must research a one of these topics," the Goat professor said as he handed out a piece of paper.

Elphaba scanned the topics. They all seemed to have something to do with the Ozmas and how they ruled Oz before the Wizard came. This was so easy. Why were they working in pairs?

"You will be working in pairs because I expect a research packet, around fifteen to twenty pages long, with all of your findings on whichever topic you chose and a creative oral report to be prepared based on your findings. You could do a skit, a song, or even an interpretive dance, if you so chose," the old Goat said, chuckling at the last part. "This is a very tough assignment, so you will have three weeks to prepare." He grabbed the list of pairs off his desk and read off the names.

"Master Fiyero Tigulaar and Miss Elphaba Thropp."

Elphaba turned and looked at Fiyero, who was still sitting in the back, surrounded by swooning girls. When he looked up, he frowned at her before turning back to one of the nameless girls he was talking to.

"Miss Nessarose Thropp and Miss Galinda Upland."

Galinda forced a smile at the younger girl, which Nessa didn't even bother to try and reciprocate. The blonde sighed and turned back and whispered something to the green girl. Elphaba gave her sister a look before turning back to Galinda and whispering something back to her.

"If there are no questions, you are all dismissed," Dr. Dillamond said and everyone began to file out of the room.

"Fiyero," Elphaba started when she saw the prince walk past her to the door.

"We can meet in the library tomorrow afternoon after lunch," was all the prince said, not even bothering to look at her as he walked out.

Elphaba sighed before gathering her things and pushing her sister out the door to her next class. Nessa said nothing about working with Galinda, and Galinda remained oddly quiet. It was very clear that the two girls didn't want to work together.

The next afternoon, after lunch, Elphaba went to the library. She waited for an hour before Fiyero finally showed up, looking very much less than happy.

"Hi," Elphaba said as he plopped down in the seat across from her.

"Hi," he said shortly before burying himself in a book.

Elphaba knew that she wouldn't be able to speak to him about what Alecta had told her. He was probably still upset about that. "Have you found anything yet?" she asked after a while.

"No," Fiyero replied shortly.

By their third session, when Fiyero still hadn't found anything, Elphaba realized that he had never even been looking and called him out on it. "Fiyero, are you alright?"

"Yes."

"Then what are you being so –"

"I said I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Or you wouldn't be so unhappy."

"Just drop it, Elphaba," the prince sighed, a bit of a growl slipping into his voice.

"No, I will not drop it. Something is bothering you and I want to know what it is."

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because I still care about you, Fiyero."

The prince scoffed. "Sure, you do."

"Fiyero –"

"I've given you your space, just like you wanted me to. Why must you make it a point to continue playing with my emotions?"

"I'm not trying to play with your emotions, Fiyero. I just want to know what's bothering you so much."

"Nothing."

"Is this about Alecta?"

The prince stiffened. "No," he bristled.

Elphaba sighed. "Yero, just tell me what's going on. Why are you acting like this?"

"It's nothing!"

"Yes, it is! Yero, it's something!"

"Stop calling me that! If you don't want me to call you 'Fae', you can't call me 'Yero'."

"When did I tell you that?"

"In your letter!"

Elphaba paused. "My… my letter?"

"The letter that you sent me over the break saying that you were breaking up with me and that you didn't want me to speak to you anymore."

"I… I wrote you a letter, but that's not what I said. I wrote you a letter and asked Nessa to mail it and…" Elphaba's eyes widened as she realized what had happened. She just felt so stupid for not realizing it before. "Nessa didn't send you the letter I wrote. She wrote the letter you received, pretending to be me and said that to you."

The prince froze. Now that he actually paused to think about it, it did make sense. Nessa had disliked him since she first saw him, and she really started hating him when he began spending time with Elphaba.

"That's… that's the only thing that makes sense," Elphaba said after a short pause.

"It… it is," Fiyero said softly.

"Fiyero, do you still have the letter?"

"Uh… no. I kinda… burned it… after I… ripped it up... into little pieces..."

"Do you remember what else it said?"

"You… I mean Nessa… said that you –she– was sorry that this didn't work out and that I deserved someone that wasn't going to be stuck going in and out of hospitals all the time. She also said that my feelings for you weren't true love and that I would have eventually grown out of it. She also mailed back the bracelet I had given you, making it seem like you were really ending our relationship."

Elphaba was beyond furious. She couldn't believe her own sister had done this to her. And lied to her like that. And mailed back her bracelet. The brunette was going to pay for this. "I… I have to go," she said as she gathered her things.

"Where are you going?" Fiyero asked louder than he meant to, completely forgetting that they were in the library and got shushed by the old, scary librarian.

"To talk to my sister," Elphaba said, flinging her bag over her shoulder and marching out of the library.

She walked out and back to Crage Hall, where she walked to Madame Morrible's compartment and knocked on the door. Morrible answered, looking as though she was about to go out.

"Hello, Madame," Elphaba said, forcing a smile. "Is my sister here?"

"Yes, Miss Elphaba. She's in her room," Morrible said, moving past Elphaba, leaving the two sisters alone.

"Thank you," Elphaba called over her shoulder before wiping the fake smile from her face and marching inside.

Nessa heard footsteps and looked up, seeing her very angry sister stalking over to her. "Fabala? Are you alright? What happened?"

"You, Nessa. You happened," Elphaba hissed.

Nessa blinked, clearly confused. "What… What are you talking about?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about! You didn't send Fiyero my letter, did you?"

"Of course I did. I told you I would do it after I went home from the hospital the day you woke up."

"But you didn't send him my letter. You wrote a fake letter and sent it to him, telling him that I was breaking up with him and I didn't want to speak to him anymore."

Nessa froze. "I… I…"

"And you mailed back my bracelet! I asked you where that was and you said that I might have misplaced it! You knew good-and-well what had happened to it! What you had done with it!"

Nessa looked completely flustered. She looked like she wanted to say something, but Elphaba wouldn't allow it.

"You pretended to be me and made it seem like I was breaking things off with Fiyero! I just feel stupid for not seeing it before now. You had no right!"

"It would have happened eventually!"

"Maybe it would, and maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't have. But if it did, at least it would have been a conscious, mutual decision for both Fiyero and me."

"He's not good for you, Fabala!" Nessa argued.

"You have no right to decide that for me! I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions!"

"I just… I didn't want to see you get hurt."

Elphaba laughed incredulously. "Really? You didn't want to see me get hurt, so instead, you hurt me in ways you will never know?"

"I… I didn't mean to. I… I didn't mean for you to find out."

"We would have found out eventually, Nessa! How long did you think you would get away with this?"

"I thought you had gotten over him."

"Don't you dare try to change the subject! You know perfectly well that this is all your fault! What did you do with the letter I wrote?"

Nessa looked down at her lap, but Elphaba grabbed her chin and forced her to look her in the eyes.

"What. Did. You. Do. To. My. Letter?"

Nessa's gaze slowly shifted to the fire burning in the parlor. Elphaba followed her gaze and gasped.

"You didn't…" She looked back at her sister's hard gaze.

"I did what I had to do."

"How could you do this to me?"

"I was scared!"

"Scared of what, Nessarose?"

"I was scared of losing you! Your condition got worse after Fiyero arrived, especially since he invited you to that stupid party!"

"You went, too!" Elphaba argued.

"I got so scared when you blacked out then. And even more scared when you had that attack over the break. And the first thing you asked me when you woke up was if I mailed your stupid letter! You didn't even ask if I was alright!"

"You weren't the one in the hospital, Nessa!"

"But I'm one of the people that has to deal with it. Do you know what it's like seeing your older sister, the person you've looked up to your entire life, hanging onto life by a single, thin thread? Let me tell you, it's awful! It's horrific! It's terrifying! I. Was. Terrified! And Fiyero… he has done nothing to help you or your health."

"So you did all of this just because of my illness?"

"I didn't know what else to do. As soon as Fiyero got here, you've become careless about your health, leaving me to make sure you don't die because of it! All it takes is one bad attack, Fabala! One bad attack and you'll leave us, leave me, forever!"

"Why didn't you just talk to me?"

"I tried. I tried to tell you that Fiyero was a bad influence and would only put you in an early grave, but you wouldn't listen to me."

"If anyone is going to put me in an early grave, Nessa, it's you!"

"How could you say such a thing? I've been trying to keep you alive! I'm the one who cares about you, Fabala! I've cared about you first and I'll care about you last! I was jealous about how easily you let Fiyero in after barely knowing him. He almost killed you after not even knowing you for a whole day. And I know you met as children, but that was only for two days! And it was years ago! If you weren't green, he probably would have forgotten all about you!"

"So… you were jealous of Fiyero? That's why you did all of this? Jealousy?"

"I was doing it to protect you!"

"I don't need you to protect me, Nessa! In fact, I don't want you to! I'm the older sister!"

"An older sister who needs to learn about priorities and her own limitations!"

"And you need to learn how to mind your own business and stay out of my life!"

"And if you keep this up, you won't have a life! Do you want to die, Elphaba!? Do you want to be buried six feet under the earth before you see your twentieth birthday? Is that what you want?"

Before she could stop herself, Elphaba smacked her sister across the face for the second time in her life. Nessa made a noise and almost fell out of her chair. She looked up at her sister with hurt-filled eyes and bit her bottom lip. Elphaba glared at her sister for a cold moment, clenching her fist and trying to calm down. Nessa calmed and reached for her sister's hand, but Elphaba jerked away.

"I'm sorry," Nessa whispered. "I really am sorry."

"'Sorry' won't fix anything, Nessa," Elphaba hissed softly, tears forming in her eyes.

"I… I didn't mean for all of this to happen. I just wanted to spend more time with you, just like we used to."

"I don't want to spend time with you anymore," Elphaba said, the tears now making a slow, steady journey down her cheek. "This is all your fault! Not Fiyero's, yours!"

"I'm sorry."

"You lied to me! You lied to Fiyero! You made us think that we didn't want anything to do with each other anymore. Your fake, little apologies mean nothing to me."

"I did it because you mean everything to me," Nessa pleaded.

"I can't trust you anymore!"

"Fabala –"

"Don't call me that! You have no right to call me that anymore!"

"But I'm your sister!"

"You're a selfish, spoilt brat!" the green girl argued, her voice cracking slightly as her tears fell even faster. "You are dead to me! I hate you! I wish you weren't my sister!" she shouted before running out, slamming the door behind her.

Nessa sat there, stunned, before she began to cry. All she had wanted was to get her sister back. She wanted to make sure that she could keep her sister with her for as long as possible, no matter what the cost were to an outside, third-party member. She just forgot to see how much it would have affected the one person she was trying to protect.


*Cackles* MWAHAHAHA! #NiaHasNoChill is ALIVE and DOING WELL!