For disclaimer and other stuff, see part 1 and thank you for all the wonderful reviews.

Epilogue

Part 3 (Glinda) – 19 years later

Glinda knew that it was time to tell her the truth. Arwen should know the truth of her parentage. She should know that 19 years ago her friend had entrusted the care of Arwen to her. Glinda had made good on her promise and loved Arwen as her own but she had decided that she had to tell her.

And now, she stood outside Arwen's dormroom at Shiz, not knowing what or how to tell Arwen the story of Elphaba Thropp and Fiyero Tiggular.

Gathering up her courage Glinda the Good knocked at the door only to have it open from the inside.

"Aunt Glinda." Arwen was surprised to see her surrogated mother.

"Can I come in? We need to talk."

"Sure."

Glinda walked into the room and sat on the bed. Years ago she too had lived in a dorm here at Shiz. Years ago Elphaba had still been alive. If she had known what would happen, she would have tried harder to keep Elphaba from defying the wizard. Glinda sighed. Telling Arwen the truth wouldn't be easy.

"Arwen, we need to talk about your parents." Glinda told the girl.

Arwen looked at her expectantly. Glinda had always told her wonderful stories about her parents. Arwen grew up knowing a lot of stories about them.

"You have told me a lot about them." Arwen answered.

"Not their names and the truth. The whole truth. Arwen, I am going to tell you something I haven't told anyone. Promise me that you will listen to me, let me finish my story and then you can ask me anything you want to know."

"Sure."

"Promise me."

"I promise."

"You know just about everyone in Oz hated your mother at one in her life. You have already heard the horrible lies still spreading around. No one will ever believe the truth, but you have to. You have to believe me that your mother wasn't anything you have been told. She was my best friend. She was a wonderful person, maybe even the best I have ever met. And if someone should have a happily-ever-after in his or her life it would have been your mother." Glinda stopped, unsure how to tell her, that her mother is the Wicked Witch of the West. She couldn't very well blurt out that Arwen's parents were the Wicked Witch and a dead prince.

Anxious about finally finding out the whole truth about her parents, Arwen looked at her aunt beseechingly.

"You know that everyone does things in their life they later regret. I did a couple of things I still regret and have never apologize for. For instance I am responsible for the death of your aunt. But that is a story for another day.

"Nineteen years ago I started ruling OZ, but before me there was the Wizard. He left Oz the day the Wicked Witch was melted. Arwen, your mother, everyone thought she was Wicked. Your mother was called the Wicked Witch of the West." Now Glinda had done it, blurting out about Arwen's mother being the Wicked Witch without explaining.

To say Arwen was surprised or shocked was an understament. It wasn't everyday you found out that your mother was the enemy of Oz.

"And my father?"

"He was my fiancé, Fiyero Tiggular."

"The traitor," Arwen muttered.

Arwen had heard that he once had been the captain of the Gale-Force. But one night, when the Witch had been in the palace about to be captured, he had helped her escape.

"No! Listen Arwen, I should start at the beginning. But first you have to believe me that your parents were wonderful people. Your father died saving your mother. She had been lured into a trap and the Gale-Force had been hiding nearby, ready to capture her and drag her back to the palace. She would have been killed, either burned on a stack of melted. Your father came to her rescue. His love for your mother was something you can't really describe. He loved her deeply. Fiyero saved your mother and you. I believe she was already pregnant that day. Yes, he saved the two of you and gave his life. The Gale-Force didn't ask any questions, they believed him to be a traitor. He was beaten, badly and then nailed on a pole, placed in a cornfield, left to die," Glinda stopped.

Even though Fiyero had died twenty years ago his death still hurt Glinda. She misses both her friends.

"Were you there when he died?" Arwen asked.

Glinda shook her head. She had left together with the Gale-Force, unable to watch her former fiancé die. But she still remembered the last words she had heard him saying: 'Fae, I love you. We will see each other again. Death won't be able to keep us apart.'

Remembering his last words always brought tears to Glinda's eyes. She hoped her friends had been reunited. They both deserved a happily-ever-after, even if it could only happen in their afterlife.

"He was killed because he loved her?"

"Yes."

Arwen shook her head in disbelief. She believed her aunt. But how could something like this happen in Oz? Someone being killed because he loved another person deeply! And if they were capable to kill her father because he was in love with her mother, maybe she wasn't the Wicked Witch afterall. Maybe her mother's beliefs were different and they hated her because of them.

"What about my mother? She wasn't wicked?" Arwen wanted to know.

"Never. Madame Morrible, the Press Secretary of the Wizard, created lies about your mother. Sure, your mother was a witch. She had a special talent. We were together the first two times she performed a spell, the first time she gave the monkeys wings. You have heard about the flying monkeys. Chistery was one of them.", Glinda remembered the day in the throne-room. After that day she had seen her best friend Elphaba again, but only three times. The first time three years later, when Fiyero had left her.

"And the second time? Aunt Glinda, you made me promise not to interrupt you but you have to finish your story."

"I am sorry Arwen. You are right. And after all, you deserve to hear the whole story tonight. I want you to start your life after Shiz knowing who you really are. I can only tell you a bit more. I didn't see your mother after the day she had defied the Wizard, except for on three occasions, but I was with her the day she died. It had been the one year anniversary of your fathers death."

"They share the same dieing day?"

"Yes. Your parents died today, 20 and 19 years ago. We knew that your mother was hiding in Kiamo Ko. I went there by bubble with the intention to make her see reason. She had kidnapped Dorothy and her little dog Dodo-"

"Toto," Arwen interrupted her.

"Yes Toto. Nevertheless, your mother was slowly going mad. She knew that she would be killed, and even if she wasn't killed, she would always be an outcast. She had been right that no one would believe her wanting to only do good. Your mother had been worried what would happen to you after her death. I believe she intended to send you to your grandparents, your father's parents. But when she realized that it was too late, she asked me to hide with you. I promised your mother to keep you safe and love you as my own."

It took Arwen a while to fully comprehend Glinda's story. She had known that her aunt and her parents had been friends and had been at Shiz together, but now she knew the whole truth.

"I believe that she never wanted to harm anyone."

Glinda nodded. She hadn't anymore to say.

"I have something for you."

Glinda placed the box with the ruby slippers and the letter she had found tucked into Arwen's blanket 19 years ago on the bed.

"Your mother wanted you to have them.", Glinda told her before she left the room.