A/N: Thanks so much to all those who reviewed! Your encouragement means a lot.

IMPORTANT: Elphaba and Galinda left Shiz before they properly met Fiyero or Boq, so they do not recognise them (as the scarecrow or the tin man). They have been transported to a few short weeks after Elphaba 'melted', and so Elphaba and Fiyero are on the run, and Glinda is Prime Minister...but not for long. All is not well in the Land of Oz!

Hope that clears the timelines up!

Compass Point

2.

"That wretched, sodding, prissy spoilt BRAT!"

Elphaba was furious. No, scratch that, she was beyond furious. She was livid. Here she was, thoroughly bruised all along her back, sitting in the middle of a neat brick road which was a sickeningly cheerful shade of yellow. And why? Because some stuck up, poncy, air-brained blonde had decided she wanted to act like a toddler.

Still grumbling creatively to herself, she leant her weight on her palms and sat up straighter, gazing a little dazedly around at the landscape. Wooden fencing lined the road, with a field of poppies to her left, and what was seemingly wheat plantations to her right. It would have been an entirely pleasant sort of place if everything didn't seem a little…false. The poppies were too perfect, too unspoiled, and the wheat was lined up in rigid, unnatural order. She wrinkled her nose and glanced up at the sky. It was overcast, grey clouds indicating the threat of rain.

Overall, it seemed rather sinister.

"Oh for the love of…"

A distant rumble of thunder personified her thoughts, and she glared coldly at the horizon, daring it to rain. Almost immediately, she felt the first light splatterings of water on her cheeks, and she slammed a clenched fist down on the yellow paving in frustration.

Where on Oz was she?

"Something tells me I'm not at Shiz anymore. Well, obviously. So where am I? Foreign land? But…it looks like Oz, just…"

She sighed and shivered as she spoke aloud to herself. It was a habit difficult to break. This place did resemble Oz uncannily, but it seemed somehow…different. Colder, more empty. Maybe it was just her perception of things, but the land seemed worn out, almost. Weary.

Suddenly, the noise of footsteps and the crunch of crushed foliage came from her immediate right, and she hastily scrambled to her feet as a voice penetrated the tense quiet of the lonely road:

"Fabala, shouldn't we be getting along now? We don't want the Emerald City Guard catching wind of our-"

Elphaba stared in blatant astonishment as the tall barricade of wheat parted neatly to reveal quite the oddest person she had ever seen. He was wearing torn, dull coloured coarse clothes rather like that of a farmer, and was awkwardly walking very unsteadily. With shock, she realised why. His entire body was made of straw; she could see it poking out of the numerous holes in his attire, and his hands, feet and face all seemed to be made of a skin-like material.

The walking, talking scarecrow glanced up and noticed Elphaba also, and his strange face contorted into an expression somewhere between alarm and confusion. For a moment, all either astounded party could do was stare. Finally, the scarecrow man spoke, uncertainly, edging carefully forwards.

"Fabala? Elphaba?"

Elphaba did not immediately answer. Instead she warily took a step back, self-consciously reaching to smooth down her skirt. She cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses on her nose, before clasping her hands in front of her and replying.

"I'm sorry, have we met?"

She managed, as politely as she could, trying not to stare rudely at the…well…straw man. She was desperately attempting to suppress the wave of panic which was threatening to overcome her. Her back ached, she was tired and she was hungry, and Lurline, she wanted to kill something. Namely, something blonde and pink.

The scarecrow man's eyes narrowed, and he looked her over, seemingly unperturbed by the fact she was green and more by the fact she was there at all. He glanced around them, up at the sky, and finally settled on stating bluntly:

"I'm sorry, my mistake. You're not Elphaba."

Elphaba snorted in affront, folding her arms neatly across her chest defensively. Whoever knew supposedly 'inanimate' objects could be so rude?

"And you're not human. I'd be most obliged if you would elaborate and how I came to be here, oh straw-filled one."

The scarecrow blinked in surprise at her sarcasm, and looked a little taken aback, but Elphaba didn't much care. The scarecrow opened his mouth, changed his mind, frowned, and finally managed to splutter out:

"Who are you? And why are you wearing Elphaba's clothes from Shiz!"

Elphaba latched onto the familiar word, eagerly taking a step forward. Perhaps she was as far out of the way as she had supposed. Perhaps she had simple moved to some corner of Oz, and she just had to find her way back to the city.

"You know of Shiz? Well then, perhaps you can help me out. You see, Doctor Dillamond, have you heard of him?"

She wasn't sure what possessed her, but she suddenly had the urge to explain her entire situation in disturbing detail. Maybe she just needed to vent some pent up frustration.

"Er…well…yes, I knew him, but…"

The scarecrow, meanwhile, was extremely unnerved by her sudden enthusiasm, and before Elphaba knew it, she was recounting her tale animatedly to this odd creature who she had barely met.

"Good. You see, Doctor Dillamond was teaching a lesson about pixie dust, and we passed some round, but this really annoying little blonde girl called Galinda – what kind of a name is that? Anyway, this girl, Galinda, who's my roommate by the way, Oz help me, tried to snatch the pixie dust from me and it split and then somehow it transported me to this Lurline forsaken place and I was wondering if you'd know how I could get back, if you would be so kind."

Elphaba drew in a deep breath, and sighed contentedly. Yes. That felt so much better. She was fine now, she was okay. She was coping well with the situation. As for the rambling…she had always had a rather unfortunate tendency to spout endless streams of words when faced with situations of extreme stress and/or aggravation. Another one of those unbreakable habits which endeared her so to the general population. Ha.

"Thanks for listening to that. I felt the need to get it off my chest. Now."

She rubbed her hands together, glad to finally be getting down to business.

"Where, precisely, am I?"

The scarecrow seemed to drag himself from his stunned stupor, and shook his head briefly, sending fragments of straw cascading about his head. Elphaba raised an eyebrow expectantly, not feeling at her most patient.

"You're in the land of Oz…a couple of leagues down the yellow brick road from the Emerald City. But tell me…you…you spoke of someone named Galinda. You…you don't mean…?"

Elphaba rolled her eyes as her thoughts turned once again to Galinda. If she had a penny every time she came up with a new word to describe that girl, she'd be Empress of Oz by now. The current favourite was 'infuriating', closely associated with 'prissy bauble' and 'hypocritical creampuff'. Very creative, if she said so herself.

"I sure as hell wish I didn't, but yes. Speaking of which…"

Elphaba trailed off, frowning. She had been transported here…why, she didn't know, but due to the fact that Galinda had played a mutual part in the chain of events which led to her arrival, it was likely that the pink wonder was here, also. Which meant that Elphaba had an obligation to find said pink wonder before getting the hell out of here. She sighed resignedly.

"Oh, I should probably go and find the frilly ponce, shouldn't I?"

Elphaba muttered to herself, attempting to quash the urge to leave the silly idiot right where she was so Elphaba could finally get a room to herself. Fortunately for Galinda, she was an honourable person, no matter what others may think of her, or rather, her skin colour. Nobody deserved to be left alone in a foreign place if it could be helped, even Galinda, although it was tempting.

"Listen, Mr-?"

The scarecrow shuffled his feet nervously, eyes flitting around, refusing to meet her gaze.

"Oh. I'm…uh…I'm known as the scarecrow, but my true name is…well…Fiyero."

He stared hard at her, as though waiting for something, to gauge her response, maybe? There was an odd gleam in his eyes that was slightly unnerving, and Elphaba nodded absently and smoothed her skirt once again.

"Well, Mr Fiyero. Tell me, have you seen another girl somewhere around here? Pretty short, a little plump, blonde wavy hair? She'd have been wearing a white dress, and a… a blue scarf."

The scarecrow's – no – Fiyero's eyes widened in shock, and for a moment, all he could do was gape at her. Elphaba felt suddenly suspicious. There was something entirely…not right…about the way Fiyero was acting. As though he had cause to be shocked by her presence, and by the mention of where she had come from. Well, she supposed it would be a bit much for anyone, randomly meeting a person claiming to have simply dropped in from out of nowhere, but still. She felt distinctly uneasy.

"No, I'm afraid I haven't. I'm sorry; I didn't catch your name…?"

Fiyero continued to give her that odd, gleaming look, and she bristled indignantly under such scrutiny.

"Oddly enough, my name is Elphaba. But I very much doubt I'm the one you seem to know. What is this, a parallel universe? And another thing. How come you're a scarecrow, yet you can walk and talk? Are you enchanted or something?"

A flash of something dark clouded her strange companion's eyes, and he cast his head down, seemingly to physically shy away from her. She felt a little guilty. She barely knew this…person…and yet already she was being incredibly rude, and, apparently, hurtful.

"It's a very long story…Elphaba. Is that really your name? Because, if it is…I believe I may be able to help you."

Elphaba stiffened at that, unsure whether to be excited, relieved or suspicious. Fiyero the scarecrow (that sounded so weird) seemed sincere and harmless enough, but she couldn't help but wonder.

"How so?"

She asked, hesitantly. He smiled mysteriously, and turned away, clasping his hands behind his back in an entirely un-scarecrow like gesture, straightening his back as best he could. He possessed the poise of someone far more distinguished than a mere crop-protector.

"I know someone…someone who may have the answers to why and how you came to be here. If you would follow me, I could lead you to her."

Elphaba moved slowly to stand beside him, her eyes narrowed at his smug and slightly patronising expression. For a long minute, she considered his offer.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

Fiyero grinned widely, reaching up an awkward hand to adjust his skewed hat, which was a rather unimpressive patched and frayed thing.

"You don't. But there isn't much else you can do. Your friend-"

Elphaba felt a flush of hot anger at this misunderstanding.

"She's not my friend. We just…know each other. Vaguely."

Fiyero's eyes glittered knowingly, and she widened her eyes and lifted her hands in a universal gesture of 'what?'. He only shook his head, and chuckled under his breath.

"Your acquaintance, then. She could be absolutely anywhere in Oz right now, and that's a huge area in which to search. Plus, as you so observantly pointed out, I'm a scarecrow. Made of straw. Hardly a worthy adversary."

He said this a little bitterly, and Elphaba suddenly found herself both pitying this poor wretched creature and being intrigued by the sense of mystery which surrounded him. She had a feeling there was a very interesting story behind his odd predicament. Maybe this whole situation wasn't so bad after all. Maybe she should look at it more as an opportunity than an accident.

After all, fate tended to move in very mysterious ways, as they said. Perhaps the pixie dust had spilt for a reason; perhaps she and Galinda were supposed to come her. Which would mean that the accident wasn't entirely the blonde girl's fault, but still, Elphaba couldn't help but blame her. There was something about her roommate that struck a cord deep within her. She infuriated her, and she loathed the frilly creature with all her willpower…yet there was something else, too. Something deep and inexplicable.

Forcibly pulling herself from her musings, she raised herself up to her fullest height and stiffly extended her hand in a gesture of consent.

"Alright, then. Take me to this…person."

Fiyero the scarecrow grinned so widely it seemed to split his face in two, and he eagerly clasped her green hand in his own coarse, scratchy one, and they shook once before hastily releasing each other. Fiyero turned around to face a single way down the yellow brick road, and jerked his head, beckoning Elphaba to follow.

"Come on, we need to find her before nightfall, or we'll have to wait until tomorrow. And I've a feeling your eager to find your friend and get out of this place, no?"

Elphaba considered. Initially, yes, she would have given all the hair off her head to leave immediately. Now, though, not so much. And she certainly wasn't eager to find the frilly pink wonder that was Galinda, although she knew that was inevitable. After all, she couldn't leave without her, no matter how much of a brat the girl was. The prospect of this new place intrigued her, yet she couldn't shake a feeling of foreboding. There was weight in the pit of her stomach which silently warned her. Her hunches were never wrong.

Quite suddenly, she shivered, and hurried to catch up with the jovial pace of the scarecrow. Yes. She did want to leave this place, as soon as possible. Just not quite yet.

&&&&&&&

Not so far down the road in the direction Elphaba and Fiyero were heading, a dark figure cloaked all in black stood, rigidly still, staring down at the sprawled figure of Galinda of Munchkinland lying unconscious in the middle of the paving.

A cold wind caught the lip of the figure's dark hat, lifting it slightly, and the movement seemed to jar the figure from its shocked stupor. Hastily throwing a battered broomstick to the ground, the figure sank to its knees beside the sleeping girl, shaking all over and drawing its thick cloak closer about her with a pair of long-fingered hands. Lit by the light of the moon, its skin seemed to possess a pale greenish hue.

"Glinda?"

The quiet, hoarse exclamation belied utter disbelief, and echoed around the empty road as if affirming itself. The figure shook its head slowly from side to side, the smallest of hysterical smiles curling its emerald coloured lips.

"Sweet Oz…"

A/N: Ooh, intrigue! Who is this mysterious figure? (Well DUH) Sorry, I'm not too good at this subtle suspense malarkey.

Should I continue to continue? Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!