AN: Thank you to TheAngelOfHope, TillItryIllneverknow, musicfan1207, wicked thru and thru, You are love, WalterUnaForever, Dreaming Wide Awake, discordchick, punkchick18, Curlycurlz, Lydia Monroe, HaChosenOne, ren-san, MissWickedWitch, Someonerandome and anyone else I haven't namend for your reviews. I am glad that you enjoyed my little story. There will be an epilogue, divided in four parts and then this fanfic will be finished.

Chapter 8

Talking to Dorothy hadn't gone well and Elphaba was still ranting when she left the room. "Oh, for Oz's sake, stop crying! I can't listen to it anymore! If you want to see your Aunt Em and your Uncle What's-his-name again then get my shoes off your feet!"

As she walked back up the stairs towards her room Elphaba saw Glinda standing there, in Kiamo Ko.

"You, go away."

"They're coming for you, Elphaba."

"Don't I know it," she replied simply.

In Elphaba's opinion Glinda was as dumb as ever. Shocked, Glinda looked at her friend. It couldn't be true, could it? She had to save her friend, her last friend. Everyone else was dead. Nessa, Boq, Fiyero, they were all gone. She couldn't loose Elphaba too. Elphaba couldn't be this stupid. She had to go and hide herself.

"Elphie, listen to me! Let the little girl and her dog go," Glinda began. "You have lost your mind. Elphie, listen to yourself! You can't keep the girl locked in this room. You have to let her go. Do it for me, please Elphie." Glinda tried to make her see reason as she followed her friend.

"I can do anything I want. I am the Wicked Witch of the West!" Elphaba cackled.

But she was a mother, too. Her little child was sleeping a few feet away, in a basket. If Glinda wouldn't stop talking in her shrill voice, she would wake her up.

Elphaba walked over to the basket. Gazing at the child she nearly had killed. Yes, back when she had learned that Fiyero was dead, she had tought about killing the child, but just only for a moment. She had given birth and tried to raise her as best as she could in the last three months.

"What's this? Oh, Elphie, not a baby, too! You have kidnapped another child!" Glinda had finally realized that Elphaba was gazing at a baby.

But before Elphaba could tell her the truth about Arwen's parentage a monkey flew into the castle, carrying a letter.

"What took you so long? Oh, nevermind. Give me the letter, now." Elphaba nearly ripped the letter out of the monkey's hand. As she read the letter, Glinda had a moment to really look at her best friend. Elphaba had changed. She remembered a shy, young woman, firm in her beliefs. Now Elphaba looked as if she had aged twenty or more years. Since Shiz, since Elphaba had defied the wizard she had seen her friends only two times. Once in the wizard's throneroom, the day Fiyero went with her. The second time had been a day later, the day Nessarose had been crushed by Dorothy's house.

That had been a year ago, today. If Glinda couldn't save her friend, Elphaba would have the same dying day as her sister.

"Elphie, what does the letter say? Is it about Fiyero? What has happend to him? Is he..." Glinda couldn't say the words.

But she anticipated the answer. He couldn't be alive anymore. Glinda had been there the day he had been dragged away by the Gale Force. It had been the day Nessa had been crushed by the flying house.

"We've seen his face for the last time." Elphaba answered her friend, not looking her in the eyes.
"Oh no! He can't be . . . No, no! Elphie, I can't loose you too."

Elphaba took a deep breath. The letter changed everything. But why couldn't she have received it a year ago, or maybe even a month. Now it was too late. She had to act, fast and now. Elphaba could already hear the witch-hunters. She anticipated that there wouldn't be enough time to send Chistery with Arwen to Fiyero's parents. She had to change her plans for her daughter.

"You're right. It's time I surrender." Elphaba stated more to herself then answering Glinda.

Elphaba carried a bucket filled with water, which had been sitting in the far corner into the middle of the room. Anyone who entered the room she was in right now would see the bucket. And everyone knew that water would melt her. Madame Morrible had told the Ozians that Elphaba's soul was unclean, that pure water was able to melt her, to kill her.

"Water will kill you! No!" Glinda protested.

But Elphaba wasn't listening to her friend. She had one last goodbye to say. The hardest goodbye ever.

She had to say goodbye to little Arwen.

The child of the wicked.

Elphaba picked Arwen up and brought the little girl's face up to her own.

"Arwen, I am sorry. You know that I love you. And that's something I thought I wouldn't be capable of. But as you grew inside me, I learned to love you as I learned to love your father. I am sure he would be proud of you. Now I have to say goodbye. I am sorry, little one, but I can't take you with me where I am going. There is one thing I have to tell you. Whatever you do I will always be proud of you, Arwen and don't forget that I love you, always."

After having said goodbye to her little girl she walked over to Glinda.

Little time was left. Elphaba had changed her mind and decided to leave her child with Glinda. Glinda should raise her, keep her safe and love Arwen as her own.

"Glinda, you have to hide. You can't be found here! You can't be seen with me."

"But Elphie-"

"No!" Elphaba shouted. "Glinda, please. One of us has to live. One of us has to make good. That has to be you. Please."

"No! Elphie, I'll tell them everything."

"They'll only turn against you," Elphaba replied sadly.

Elphaba looked at her friend. She had made one of the hardest decisions. The witch had to die and she had to leave Arwen behind.

"Glinda, please. Hide yourself. And hide my baby girl. Please, keep her save and raise her as your own."

"Your baby?"

"Our baby. Mine and Fiyero's. Her name is Arwen," Elphaba said as she handed Arwen over to Glinda.

Glinda took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. The baby, the one she had thought Elphaba had kidnapped too, was the child of her former fiancé and her best friend.

After today Arwen would be the only thing she would have left of Elphaba and Fiyero. She nodded. There wasn't anything left to say.

And then Elphaba embranced her friend. Clutching her. Holding her tight. Kissing her baby girl on the top of her head, for the last time.

"Now. Hide yourself. No one can ever know you were here."

And with that being her final words, Elphaba pushed Glinda into another room, locking the door behind her.

The life of the Wicked Witch would end, today. Elphaba had no other choice but to let the witch-hunters melt her and give her baby away.

She couldn't take her baby with her where she was going.