(AN: Here is something that could be a good end to this story, but whether or not it ends is all up to you. As I said before, if you want me to go the distance and finish this story, say so in the reviews.)
(I'm definitely thinking of at least one more chapter, since I haven't really explained Nessa's abhorrence of being alone [or maybe I have? More than just 'this is so good' or 'I liked the inference from the musical' would be nice, please.])
Martial Law
She was laying out upon the bed, sobbing quietly into the sheets. Just beneath those lay Frexspar Thropp, or what was left of him. She could not believe it, she was alone again. Forget all those toadies surrounding the bed, they never mattered. They just wanted something out of her father. But she was alone again, and Boq might be on his way out of Colwen Grounds as she was weeping.
No, she thought. I can't let him go! We deserve each other!
"Madam Nessarose," one of the governor's aides said, tapping her on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but, it seems to me, that you are now our governor."
It all came back to her. She, the Governor of Munchkinland? She was the 'Eminent Thropp', the next female of the Thropp line (her sister did not count, being a fugitive and everything). The people would have no complaint, even if she were not elected, as the position of governor had always been chosen.
She pushed herself off the body of her father, taking a seat back in her chair.
"It appears I am," she said, wiping her eyes dry. Now she had control, the power her father had...to do as she pleased and to make things right in her life.
Maybe that had been the answer all along, she thought. Power...
Outside, Boq was getting impatient. He had gone as far as his promise had obliged him to go: he had fulfilled his duty. He would even dare to say that he went above and beyond his call of duty by protecting her from the creature. There would be nothing binding him to stay with her now, he could leave, return to Shiz, find some news of Galinda, and resume his romance with her.
He looked at Nessa's suitcase, lying at his feet next to his own. They would surely find it, sooner or later. Looking here and there, making sure that he was not being watched, he picked up the suitcase and walked toward the exit of the mansion.
The town of Colwen Grounds was in chaos. Soldiers were running here and there, tall ones, wearing blue jackets: these were the Colwen Grounds police force, not the soldiers of the Wizard. They were moving the people, by force, it seemed, back into their homes. Some of the younger, bolder Munchkins were throwing rocks at the Governor's mansion.
"You there!" Boq said to a young Munchkin woman who was running past him. She skid to a halt and turned around. "What's happening?"
"Don't you know?" she returned. "The governor's issued a curfew! Get indoors, boy, before they find you!"
She took off, leaving Boq quite bewildered. What had happened? What had Nessarose told her father that made him want to cause a curfew, and so early in the day? Why did he have to get in the midst of this?
I don't have to take this, he thought. I fulfilled my promise to Nessarose, I should be free to leave. Taking his suitcase in both hands, he took off down the Yellow Brick Road, trying to find his way back to Shiz.
"You there! Halt!"
Two Munchkinlander constables ran up and seized Boq's arms, one on each side. Their captain approached him, scrutinizing him from beneath his graying eyebrows.
"And just where are you off to, Master Boq?" he asked.
"How do you know my name?" he whined.
"The governor has asked for you personally," he returned. He then looked at his subordinates. "Take him."
They dragged Boq back down the street to the one place he did not want to be, the one place that he would rather die than be in once again. The doors were thrown open and a scene of panicked chaos met Boq's eyes. People were running about, with guards shouting orders back and forth.
"What's going on?" Boq pleaded.
"The beginnings of a new order." the captain said. They did not slacken their pace as they dragged him back through the halls of the mansion. He was now in a dark room, tossed before what looked like a great throne. The guards backed out.
"Where am I?" he asked. "What's going to happen to me?"
The lights turned on, slowly but not overwhelmingly. He noticed an official-looking chair sitting on a dias. Upon that chair was the last person he had expected to see: it was not the Governor of Munchkinland, it was not the Wicked Witch, it was not even the Wizard...
It was Nessarose.
"Nessa?" he queried. "I...uh, is this some..." He sighed uneasily.
"As the new governor of Munchkinland," she announced, in a very formalistic tone. "I am enacting some new laws. The particulars of which you will no doubt discover later. Right now, I've called you before me personally."
"Uh, why...uh, I mean, Madam Governor?"
"I'm making you my servant." she said. "You will assist me in all things that I see fit."
"But, Madam Governor," he argued. "What about your promise?"
"Unfortunately," she said. "It seems that martial law has been issued throughout Munchkinland. You see, we need to know if the Witch is hiding in our land, and that is the only way to know for certain."
"You mean, I'm not free to leave Munchkinland?" Boq queried.
"For the time being," she said. "Please, Boq, try to understand: I'm Governor now and I need to look after my land. But we can still be friends, right?"
Boq suddenly felt an odd wave of revulsion towards Nessarose. How could she treat him like this? Issuing martial law to keep him from leaving was as good as breaking her promise to him. Even worse, now she had made him her servant.
Just then, two more servants appeared, wheeling in a high-backed wheel-chair that looked like a luxurious throne on wheels. The wood was covered with gold furnishings and the chair had large, red velvet cushions upon it.
"Madam," one of the Munchkin servants said. "Your chair is ready for you."
She nodded, dismissed the two servants, then turned to Boq.
"Your first duty as my servant, Boq," she said. "Is to carry me to my chair."
He could not refuse. He walked over to the throne, knelt down before her and said, with veiled disgust...
"As you wish, Madam." He then picked her up off the chair and carried her in his arms. She was glad to be back in his strong grasp, it made her feel safe. She noticed now that he was doing his best to look away from her.
He placed her in the chair, then stood erect, ready for new orders.
"Do you want anything else, Madam?" he asked in a tone of equal formality.
"Yes," Nessarose, the governor, said. "I want you to go to your new quarters here in the house. Your things have been brought up, and I will have my tailors make you a new uniform to wear."
So now I will be wearing a uniform, Boq thought, as if I were a soldier, pressed into service of this...insanity.
"Anything else, Madam?"
"Yes, Boq." she said, losing her formal, cold tone. "Please, call me 'Nessarose.' It would make me very happy if we still were on a first-name basis, just like old times, huh?"
"As you wish," Boq returned, halting, then said at last..."Madam."
He was gone before she could call him back.
Why was he so cold? She could detect that he'd rather be anywhere else than in her presence. Was it really because of the chair? That was something she just couldn't help. If Elphaba really were a witch, then perhaps...
No, she thought. She hated father, and brought this upon them. There could be no help from the green freak. Nessa was now faced with oblivion, the thought of being alone forever. She could not face it, for that would be death, to her, to live in loneliness, without a single friend, without love...void and empty. She was not meant for this.
Boq will come around, she thought. I'll make him come around. I have to!
"We deserve each other," was all Nessarose said into the dark solitude of the meeting hall. That was all the justification she needed, for everything she had done, and what she was about to do.
She could not stop with just martial law. Eventually that would have to subside. She was an unelected official, and she had to at least pretend to appeal to the peoples' desires. She would need to pass new laws, ones that kept Munchkins in their homeland, that restricted their movement, anything.
As long as it kept Boq with her, and her away from oblivion.
(AN: I think I've said it enough for you to get the point: review, tell me if you want to continue, and are Nessarose's fears well explained?)