Holy…you guys are amazing. 69 hits, 6 reviews, and 4 alerts. That may not sound like a lot to some people, but that's a new personal record for me. Thank you for taking an interest in my work. Especially the people who left me reviews. Lady Tigelaar, musicfan1207, HaChosenOne, boston blue, Fae2135, and Eowyn-Faith. You guys are all in my heart now. I wasn't planning on updating this so soon, but what the heck? I'll try my best.

Remember now…I own nothing. Just a humble author, scribbling his ideas down to be judged by the world.

The first rays of sunlight filtered down through the cracked window, turned a sickly quadling-brown color by the weeks of obvious neglect. The whole cabin stunk with the essence of despair, an almost bittersweet fragrance that hung heavy in the dusty air, immediately enveloping whoever dared to brave its darkened depths.

Melena laid sprawled out in bed, staring with an unblinking passion at a particular knot in the wooden ceiling. She hadn't moved from this spot for…how long had it been? Time held no meaning for her anymore, and she wondered once again if it ever would.

She worked hard to force down a harsh laugh. It was so beautifully ironic, that time meant nothing to her anymore when it had been a servant of time, a mere clock, that had caused all this pain and suffering in the first place.

A shadow passed over her now haggard features, aging the young woman far beyond her few mortal years. The previous weeks events tumbled haphazardly through her minds eye, a shattered kaleidoscope of broken images and sounds. How she had suffered through the hours of mind numbing pain, only to pass out from exhaustion at the very end of it all. How those three wicked women had shoved the newly born cabbage at her unconscious body before taking what few valuables Melena had managed to bring with her from home and fled for whatever distant hilltop or cave bottom they could find. How Melena had been awoken hours later by some decrepit old crone, muttering under her breathe about a clock and a puppet and some sort of public trial…

Melena inhaled sharply. That was one image that played clearly over and over in her head, no matter how much she wished that particular vision would fade.

The old woman simply stood there, shuffling her feet uncomfortably and wringing her hands, gazing at anything in the small cabin but the strange green atrocity or Melena's harsh and unbelieving stare.

Melena gasped. Opened her mouth, then closed it again. The baby laying on the table next to her mimicked her every movement with a mechanical calculability, opening and closing that vicious little jaw while showing no pleasure in the act whatsoever.

Melena finally managed to find her voice, though it seemed broken and pathetic when released into the air. "W-what did you say?"

The old woman sighed again. "You heard me the first time, and you damn well know it. The drunken masses that make up this pathetic excuse for a village banded together last night against a common enemy, that is, your beloved Frexspar. Last I heard, he was being dragged off to the gallows."

Melena nodded once before completely collapsing into a shuddering heap upon the bed. Viewing this from her table top vantage point, Elphaba glared at the strange woman with a otherworldly and knowing growl that seemed to say, "Tormenting that woman is my purpose in this world. You have no right to come and take that away from me."

Seeing this as the perfect opportunity for escape, the old woman turned and fled from the silent gasps and screams of pain that were now emanating from the former ministers lodge, armed with the juicy new gossip that Frex had fathered a green demon child on the same night of his death.

Melena sighed to herself once more before tearing her gaze away from the knot in the ceiling and against the cries of her protesting body, dragged herself out of bed. She couldn't stay there all winter or else she would starve. Herself and the baby…

She gasped in a slight panic. She had forgotten about the baby! In a daze, Melena whirled around to face the basket where Elphaba had once laid. Empty.

Fighting down the scream that was quickly rising in her throat, Melena was about to rush out the door when a small tinkling sound reached her ears. Bending over to look under the table shot a stream of fire though out her body, but Melena ignored it and continued her journey to the floor.

There, sitting on the floor and rolling around a green glass bottle, sat the missing Elphaba. She watched with an intense focus and apparent fascination at the emerald bottle, and the various shadows it cast upon the dusty floor as it spun around in a shimmering storm of light and color.

Laughing in relief and delight, Melena scooped her wayward daughter into her arms before realizing with a jolt that she now felt a sort of odd affection towards her green daughter. Without realizing it, the death of her husband had caused an unbreakable bond to form between mother and daughter.

Elphaba stiffened at her touch at first, but upon realizing that Melena meant her no harm, greatly relaxed and started reaching again towards her emerald plaything.

Setting her child down on the bed, Melena realized in an instant that there was no way to protect her baby by herself out here, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by small minded munchkin mobs. Gazing with affection upon her green daughter, who had managed to grasp the bottle again and was now working furiously to tear off the paper inscription on the front, Melena pulled out an empty suitcase and began to haphazardly load up her meager possessions.

There was only one place in the world that could now offer the Thropp women any sort of protection. Melena had decided to head home. They were going back. Back to Colwen Grounds.

Well, there we go. It's a little bit shorter than the first chapter, but it really starts to establish Melena in a motherly role. Italics were a flashback, just in case anybody was confused. If anybody starts acting out of character, please let me know. Or let me know if I completely missed the point of Wicked. Heck, just feel free to talk to me at all. Please?

It was drawn to my attention last time that there aren't a lot of guys writing in this particular fandom. Is that true? Am I really that much of an oddity? Cause if so, then awesome! I'm facing unknown waters here. Onwards, my fellow readers and writers! Read from ya soon!