After what seemed like an eternity Breena got a better grip on her emotions and told herself to calm down. Sobbing and crying all over Milynn wasn't doing anyone any good. It was giving her a headache and it wouldn't bring Milynn back. She was gone. It didn't seem possible, but the best friend she's ever had was dead.

The thought made her stomach turn. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. They were supposed to grow old together. Their kids were supposed to be best friends too and cause them to get gray hair from all the stupid things they did. Their last moments weren't supposed to be filled with anger and regret. They were never supposed to hate each other.

"No." Her voice was barely audible as she shook her head. She didn't hate her. Not in any way, shape or form. How could she?

But even as she tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew it was true. When Milynn admitted to knowing about Leto and what he was doing, a part of her hated her for not saying something. For not warning her. For putting Elphaba and everyone else in danger. For choosing Leto over her.

And Milynn must have hated her on some level to be able to do such a thing.

"No." She repeated the word as she pushed herself into a standing position, not realizing Betak was still on her back. She quickly grabbed the old woman's arm to keep her from falling.

"Breena?" Betak looked at her, tears glistening in her eyes as they streamed down her cheeks.

"I…" Breena looked at her. What was she supposed to say? "I…" She glanced at Elphaba and Glinda, her breath catching in her throat at the compassion on their faces. "I need some air."

"No." Betak gripped her hand. "I'm not going to let you run away from this."

"But…"

"I'm not going to have you turning into the same angry, antisocial mess you were after your mother died. You need to face this right here, right now so you can move on." Her voice quivered. "We both do."

"Betak."

"Don't argue with me. Losing Milynn is…" Betak looked down at her granddaughter. "I can't even begin to describe it. But I won't lose you too. Not to guilt or anything else. This isn't your fault. You tried to help her."

"Help her?" Breena echoed her words. "I should have done a hell of a lot more than that. I should have saved her!"

"She wouldn't let you."

"She shouldn't have had a say. I should have just done it and she would still be here. But did I? No! I was too busy throwing a temper tantrum!" She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Like I am now."

"Don't." Betak spoke when she stared to apologize. "You have a right to feel the way you feel. She hurt you, Breena. She hurt all of us."

"That doesn't mean she deserved to die."

"No, it doesn't. But do you remember what you told me once about healing people? They have to want help to be helped and she didn't want it."

"Don't say that."

"It's true. The whole time you were fighting the Gale Force, she kept insisting she was going to die."

"No." Breena shook her head defiantly. "She wouldn't have given up like that."

"She wasn't as strong as you thought she was, Breena. Ultimately it was her decision, not ours." Betak blinked back fresh tears. "She couldn't live with what she did. Especially to you."

"First you tell me none of this is my fault and then you turn around and say she gave up because she couldn't live with what she did to me?" Breena pulled her hand free. "What am I supposed to say to that?"

"I didn't mean it that way."

Breena shook her head. "I can't do this right now."

"Bree…" Elphaba started toward her only to cry out in pain as she left leg gave way beneath her.

"Elphie!" Glinda scrambled to help her stay upright.

"Elly?" Breena hurried over to help the blonde.

"I'm all right." Elphaba winced. "I just need to sit down for a minute."

"Then come on." Breena put one of Elphaba's arms around her shoulders while Glinda did the same with the other and turned toward the table, the color leaking from her cheeks when she saw Milynn again.

"Let's sit her down by the fire pit." Glinda caught her reaction and started leading her and Elphaba in the direction she had indicated. "Are you all right Elphie?"

"I think so." Elphaba gladly plopped down on one of the stumps. "I just landed wrong earlier."

"Let me have a look." Breena knelt next to her. "Where does it hurt?"

"Bree…"

"Elly…" She avoided her cousin's glance. "Just tell me where it hurts."

Elphaba sighed. There was so much she wanted to say but she and Breena were a lot alike. And she wouldn't want to be talking to anyone right now if it was her, so she dropped it. "Below my knee."

"All right." Breena took her cousin's leg in her hands and lifted it to get a better look, drawing another hiss of pain from Elphaba. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right."

Glinda took her love's hand as Breena continued to examine her leg. "Just squeeze if it hurts."

Elphaba grinned. "Thanks."

Breena finally looked at her cousin. "It's broken."

"Broken?" Glinda couldn't believe what she was hearing. "She's been walking around on a broken leg?"

"Thropps are infamous for having a high pain tolerance." Breena positioned her left hand just under Elphaba's knee, using the right to support her cousin's leg. "But it catches up with us eventually."

Elphaba closed her eyes, her skin several shades lighter than it had been a moment before. "You can say that again."

Glinda tightened her grip on the hand in her own. "Are you going to pass out?"

"Not if I can help it." Breena closed her eyes, chanting a word the others couldn't quite make out.

"Wow." Elphaba gasped.

"What?" Glinda looked at her worriedly.

"That's the strangest thing I've ever felt. It's like my whole body is tingling."

"That's because you had some bumps and bruises to go with your broken leg." Breena opened her eyes and let go of Elphaba. "There you go. Good as new." She looked at Glinda as she stood. "You're turn."

"Don't you need to take a break or something between people?" Glinda frowned.

"No." Breena inspected the cut on her forehead. "This isn't too bad." She gripped the blonde's shoulders. "Hold still. This will only take a second." She started to chant again.

"Oh." Glinda's eyes suddenly got big.

"I told you so." Elphaba smiled. "Feels weird, doesn't it?"

"You two are going to give me a complex." Breena let go of Glinda but just as quickly gripped her shoulder again when she started to sway.

"Hey!" Glinda gripped her arm. "Are you all right?"

"Bree?" Elphaba shot to her feet.

"I'm fine." She gave them both a half hearted grin. "Just got a little light headed there for a second."

"Sit down." Elphaba demanded.

"Elly, I'm all right, really. Besides, I'm not done yet. I need to help Lion."

"No you don't." The cat disagreed. "I don't think healing is going to help Fiyero much."

"Not him, you." Breena gave Glinda a little thank you pat before walking toward Lion.

"Breena." Elphaba reached for her.

"Let her go." Betak stopped her as she made her way to them. "She'll wear herself out here in a minute and won't have any choice but to stop."

"But…"

"Trust me." The older woman sighed. "She's impossible when she gets like this."

"Gets like what?" Lion looked at Breena nervously as she reached him. "And why are you coming over here? I'm fine."

"Ignore them." Breena gripped his arm. "And you've got a pretty nasty little gash here."

"I do?" He craned his neck to look. "Well I'll be damned, I do."

"Whoa." Breena steadied him as his eyes started to roll back in his head. "Easy there big fella, it's not that bad."

"Sorry." Lion blushed. "I'm not very good with the whole blood thing."

"Then why did you look?"

"Because you made it sound so interesting."

Breena shook her head. "Well don't look again. I can't heal you and hold you up at the same time." She put her hand over the gash. "See, no fuss no…" She collapsed against him, her voice dying in her throat.

"Bree!" Elphaba yelled as she ran to her cousin's side.

"I didn't do it." Lion held her up, panic stricken.

"No one did anything." Breena pushed herself away from him only to stumble again.

"Stop moving around." Elphaba caught her, putting one arm around her shoulders and gripping one of her cousin's arms with the other to help keep her steady.

"I'm fine."

"Yeah, you looked it a second ago when you did a face plant on Lion's chest." Elphaba's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Come sit down."

"But…"

"You can either sit down on your own or I can make you."

Breena frowned. "I'd like to see you try."

"There won't be any trying involved if you don't shut up and do as you're told."

"Elphie." Glinda chastised her.

"Leave her be." Betak came to Elphaba's defense as she joined them. "She knows how to handle her."

"Handle me?" Breena grumped.

"Yes." Elphaba nodded. "Sometimes you get too stubborn for your own good."

"Look who's talking."

Elphaba grinned. "I know. It's one of our more charming family traits." She sat her cousin on one of the stumps. "Now stay put or else."

"Whatever. Ow!" Breena flinched as Betak prodded the back of her head.

"Just as I thought." The older woman pursed her lips. "She has a nice sized knot. Must have happened when that guard hit her."

"Gee, do you think so?"

Betak ignored the girl's comment. "She'll be all right in a few minutes."

"See." Breena scowled at Elphaba.

"Until then you can sit right where you are." Elphaba knelt next to her, much as Breena had just a few minutes before. "I know you're hurting Bree, but you have to take care of yourself."

"Elly…"

"And Betak is right. None of this is your fault."

"Not my fault?" Breena chuckled. "Then whose fault is it? I'm the one who let Leto worm his way into the underbelly. I'm the one who told him all about you being alive. I'm the one who took him to the Emerald City where he had ample opportunities to tell that bastard Nevin everything he knew." She stood, avoiding Elphaba's restraining hands as she paced away from the pit. "I'm the one who didn't know her best friend well enough to see she was keeping a major secret."

"I didn't see it either and I'm her grandmother." Betak looked at Breena. "So that means it's my fault too."

Breena was quick to say, "No it's not. Your relationship with Milynn was completely different than mine."

Betak shrugged. "That doesn't mean I shouldn't have seen this coming."

"Well I'm to blame too." Elphaba joined in. "I'm the one who pissed off the Wizard. I'm the one who put everyone she loved in danger by being labeled wicked. I'm the one who brought you into this whole thing, Breena."

"And?" Breena countered. "You're my family, Elphaba. I wouldn't be anywhere else."

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?" Elphaba shook her head. "Damn it Bree, open your eyes. We all played a part in what happened. No one blames you for any of this!"

"Maybe you should!"

"No." Glinda decided to try to help. "We can't and we won't. Now all you need to realize is there's no reason to blame yourself either."

"The hell there isn't!" Breena fired back. "I'm supposed to be looking out for you." She looked at the three women staring at her. "And I let each of you down. I could have lost you all."

Elphaba's heart broke at the defeat in her cousin's voice. "Breena…"

"No." She backed away from her. "Mom always told me to take good care of the things I cared about in my life. She said she didn't and it cost her not only her sister, but her best friend. I don't want that to happen to me too."

"It won't." Elphaba spoke softly.

"It already did! Milynn is gone, Elly. She's gone!" Breena looked toward the table, tears sliding down her face. "And it's all my fault."

"No it's not." Elphaba pulled her cousin into a hug, tightening her grip when she tried to get away. "Milynn loved you, Bree. She wouldn't hold you responsible for any of this."

"I let her die."

"You gave her a chance to clear her conscience and gain your forgiveness." Betak corrected her.

"But I didn't." Breena tried to break free of Elphaba again. "I never told her I forgave her. She died thinking I hated her."

"No." Betak was quick to answer. "Her last breath passed her lips after you told her you still loved her."

"It did?"

Betak nodded. "I'm not sure how, but she held on until she heard you, Breena. And knowing you the way she did, she knew you forgave her."

"Do you really think so?"

"I know so."

"See." Elphaba whispered in her cousin's ear. "No blame but your own."

Breena threw her arms around Elphaba. "I love you."

"I love you too." She rubbed her back, her own tears falling.

"And that's why Leandra wanted them to be together." Betak spoke so only Glinda could hear her. "They're good for one another."

Glinda nodded as she watched them, not trusting her voice to answer. She wanted to tell them about her suspicions so badly but she couldn't. Not now. Everyone's emotions were raw and Breena didn't need to try to deal with anything else. The time would come, and when it did she would tell them what she believed.

She would tell them they were sisters.