Okay, if anybody is wondering, I'm using details from the books Wicked and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (hence the Deadly Desert mentioned in the previous chapter) but I'm also using the movie The Wizard of Oz and (obviously), the musical Wicked. Oh, and, obsessive-elphaba wrote about half of this. Guess where each begins!


Riding in a balloon, Glinda discovered, was apparently NOT the most comfortable way to travel. She sat in the corner of the balloon (the farthest the blonde could get from the Wizard was only a few feet), her straw basket still at her side. Occasionally she would glance into it and a small smile would grace her face, only to vanish just as quickly.

The Wizard watched the petite blonde and couldn't help but wonder what she was hiding and what the basket held. A few times he would prod Glinda with a question, only to receive a glare in response.

"Kansas," the Wizard announced as the balloon finally touched ground. Glinda, unsuspecting such a hard landing, jumped as the balloon hit the ground and bounced a little as it did. Her bubble landed so much more lightly.
Mentally noting this she stood up, legs still shaking from the balloon ride, and looked around. To Glinda, the place was pretty much a dump. In the Upper Uplands and Emerald City, the area was large, clean, and busy while Kansas small, dusty, and in the middle of nowhere. She frowned and continued eying the area. It could be worse she decided and lightly stepped out of the balloon, scooping up her basket in the process.

It was a complicated process, or so she thought it would be, to escape the Wizard on his home turf. To her surprise, it was much easier to run off. The Wizard had to do something involving bottles and pots and pans.

Glinda made her escape. Running, clutching her basket close to her chest, she followed the sand and dust road to almost trip over a small creature. It was none other than a puppy, with sparkling brown eyes and a brown shaggy coat. It appeared to have a broken leg, but he was still as playful as ever. Glinda was now stuck in a bad situation. Her basket was wailing from the fall.

"Hush!" The petite blonde shushed.

It had been so good! The dog barked at her. The blonde blinked, getting an idea. She picked up the little dog and plopped it into the basket. The crying was soon subsided with little giggles, and the barking was replaced with playful licking. Glinda smiled into the basket. Looking around, Glinda could barely make out a house in the distance. She hurried for fear the crying would start again.

The house was not so much a house as it was a barn. A couple of hogs and chickens (she was fairly sure they didn't speak) peck-pecked and snorted away. She could hear the basket giggle even louder.

"You like animals?" Glinda smiled, only receiving the small giggles and claps, "Elphie would like you."

She set the basket on the porch of the house and fumbled with the blanket to get a good look at the child, a beautiful girl with curly brown hair and glistening brown eyes.

"I've been hiding you for a while," Glinda whispered, "but here you can do what you like."

The little girl didn't seem to know what was happening. The blonde girl above her ducked down to kiss her forehead, smiled, then ran away. The little girl started to worry when she didn't hear the blonde coming back.

She cried. The little girl was wailing as usual. Glinda cringed and ran away faster. How could she do this to her child? Just so her love with her fiancé could remain perfect? Truly, there was a cost to having her dreams come true