Elphaba sighed in annoyance, fighting the frustration boiling in her. "Put the gun down," she said with more patience than she felt. "You don't want to hurt anyone."

Dorothy bit her lips, but she didn't comply. "I'm sorry. I have to kill you."

Elphaba's voice was caustic, dryly contradicting the seeming politeness of the words. "You'll forgive me if I disagree."

The little girl's eyes flicked toward the Wizard, being bound by Fiyero, and then back to the green woman glowering in front of her. Dorothy straightened her back, and Elphaba actually felt a fleeting stir of fear. Surely she wouldn't really…

The Wizard took this opportunity to wrench free of Fiyero's distracted grip, startling all involved. Open-mouthed, they watched him bolt out the door, vanishing in the empty corridor beyond. Why hadn't they had Glinda outside that door instead! With a grunt of frustration, Elphaba started in pursuit, but Dorothy called, "Stay where you are or I'll shoot!"

Elphaba froze, cocked an eyebrow, and turned to face her. "Or you'll what? I thought you just said you planned to murder me either way? Why should I stand still?" Dorothy seemed at a loss, and Elphaba made a disgusted face. "Fine, can he (she pointed to Fiyero) at least go detain the mass murderer you just helped escape?"

Dorothy nodded hesitantly, but Fiyero just stood there staring at them with wide, terrified eyes. Elphaba hissed at him, "Go!" but Fiyero just shook his head. Of course. He wouldn't leave if he thought she needed saving, no matter how stupid a decision that was. As if in shock, he kept staring from the gun to her with near-panic written all over his face. She rolled her eyes, surrendering herself to the task of calming Dorothy and chasing the Wizard later. This was turning out to be a very bad day.

Dorothy took a step forward, breaking the spell. "Put the gun down now," Elphaba said authoritatively. She really didn't want to get shot at the moment.

Dorothy had stopped crying, and with a more determined look, she was approaching with more calm than Elphaba had expected. This wasn't looking good actually. In fact, the little girl was looking less and less pathetic and more and more dangerous. Elphaba even took a step back before catching herself. She didn't want to fuel Fiyero's terror. Voice heavy with regret, Dorothy said, "I really am sorry. I don't have a choice."

"What are you talking about? Everyone has a choice." Glinda's speech about choices floating in her head, Elphaba marveled at how Fiyero had been right those years ago. They had all made so many choices to end up in this moment, so many decisions that could have changed everything. "You chose to go down that yellow brick road. You chose to come see the Wizard. You chose to pick up that gun, and if you choose to kill me, that's on your own conscience."

Dorothy looked scared for a moment, surprised that Elphaba already knew so much about her. After a second, her excuse came out in a thin voice, "But the Wizard…"

"He's a liar, and a fraud. He can't send you home anyway." The girl winced in response to her words, but they continued to flow unabated. "The Wizard is nothing more than a manipulative charlatan. His magic is just a bunch of cheap parlor tricks and fancy words. He's a bigot, a tyrant, and as far as I'm concerned, pure and total evil. Trust me. You don't want to do anything because the Wizard told you to."

She replied hesitantly, "But he said you were the wicked one."

Elphaba was losing patience. "Well, let's see. Which one of us is ordering you to murder someone?" the sarcasm dripping from her words. "I'd say that'd be a pretty good guess as to who is really the wicked one."

Dorothy didn't drop the gun, but it faltered.

Elphaba rolled her eyes, "Oh, for God's sake, you don't want to shoot anyone. Just give me the gun so we can get out of here." Apparently this was the wrong thing to do, as it struck Dorothy as aggressive. She drew back in a defensive pose that was very reminiscent of the beginning of their regrettably long conversation. Finally, Elphaba tried to think what her peace-keeping friend would do. "Look, give me the gun, and we'll help you get home."

Suspicious now after her misadventures alone and friendless in the Land of Oz, Dorothy questioned, "How do I know I can trust you if I can't trust the Wizard?"

Elphaba smirked at this use of brains and bravery in the girl. Perhaps if she weren't in such an infuriatingly inconvenient position at the moment, Dorothy could actually be … likeable. Elphaba was about to shrug and reply that she couldn't when Fiyero spoke up unexpectedly, "Would you believe Glinda the Good?" She'd almost forgotten he was there. He seemed to just now be breaking free of the shock enough to realize that the girl probably wouldn't shoot his lover.

Dorothy's eyes widened exponentially at this, and Elphaba wondered anew what it was about her friend that inspired such blind admiration from those who barely knew her. The little girl almost stuttered in gratitude at the mention of the only person she had met in Oz that hadn't been strange or demanding. "You know Glinda the Good?"

Elphaba shrugged, and Fiyero continued with his kind charm that always worked on people with two X chromosomes. "Sure, she's right outside the door. We can go see her. But why don't you just lower the gun for now. After all, if we're friends with Glinda, we can't be too wicked, right? She's so good, it's actually part of her name."

With a pleading tone, Dorothy held onto her resolve by a thread, "You promise we're going to see Glinda?"

Elphaba had caught on to his brilliant idea. "Fiyero, why don't you go bring her here to meet us? That way you still have me hostage should you feel a little trigger happy." Fiyero's frowned at this, but she used her patented glare to finally make him do the sensible thing.

At Glinda's appearance, Dorothy dropped the gun at once. Weak now from the tenseness of the situation, she nearly collapsed into tears again. Glinda hugged the little girl, giving Fiyero an opportunity to subtly remove the gun from reach. "Oh, Dorothy, are you alright?"

Sniffling, she nodded. "They're really your friends?"

Glinda met Elphaba's eyes as she patted the little girl's back, and they traded a private smile. "Yes, really. She's actually the best friend I've ever had."

That settled it for Dorothy, and like it or not, Glinda had a new admirer to trail around her. Dorothy wasn't going to take chances traveling off on her own after all that. Fiyero and Elphaba told Glinda about the Wizard's escape, and they immediately left in search. Grateful to be free of decisions, Dorothy trailed along with them, matching their hurried pace. Elphaba decided she'd rather have a tagalong than a bullet, so they raced off to find their renegade tyrant.

"Where do you think he went?"

Elphaba sighed in response to Fiyero's question. "Could be anywhere I guess."

Glinda was leading them to the nearest exit from the building, assuming he would head that way. The palace, while full of hiding places, was still too easy to search as the Wizard would surely know. Besides, after that ridiculous waste of time earlier, Elphaba felt the need to run somewhere to release all that frustration.

They burst through the door and into the chaos beyond. Stopping short in surprise, her eyes ran over the scene in front of them. Apparently not only had Mercus not succeeded with Morrible yet, but he had drawn the attention of the guards. Now she caught sight of him in the midst of a crowd she assumed where his conspirators as they fled from their pursuers, trying to set up a frontline farther back. From the serious look on his face, Elphaba knew it couldn't be good.

Glinda gasped, obviously worried for her new crush's safety, and Fiyero's fretful look was starting to become permanent. Elphaba remembered Fiyero's words about focusing on their mission, no matter how much they wanted to help the others. She scanned the area, catching a glimpse of the Wizard disappearing just around the courtyard's edge. If they hurried, they could at least keep sight of him. "There!" she pointed, running off in pursuit and leaving the others to follow rather than stare at the potential disaster unfolding.

She cut toward Mercus, heedless of the danger so focused was she on catching the Wizard. Mercus and his troops were now leaning out from some cover they had found, holding position as he attempted to find a better way to push through. "Fiyero!" he called out. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Can't talk. Chasing Wizard."

"Hey, just a second. Is there a tunnel around here?" Fiyero slowed down to explain, and though Elphaba had intended to keep on task, he caught her arm. His over-protectiveness was getting obnoxious. With a sigh, Elphaba noticed Glinda with Dorothy clinging to her hand foolishly standing in the middle of the courtyard. She called to them just as she saw the glint of metal from one of the guard's pistols catching the sunlight. Throwing herself at them in the meantime, Elphaba called out for them to get down.

She reached them in enough to time to see their shocked faces as she felt a quick, sharp pain in her side. It was official – she hated guns now.