The predator for the first time. Not the prey. That's the joy Elphaba felt as she neared the palace. She could die with a sense of accomplishment. Not that she had a death wish, but she wasn't denying the possibility. It seemed a neutral situation. She didn't care much for either.

But the excitement! This would be the first thing she ever did right. Oh Oz, it was all planned out so carefully. She had her cohorts for distracting; her map memorized; her spells for unlocking and her dagger for...well she spared herself the details.

As the streets became more extravagant, Elphaba was forced to detour, taking sidestreets that couldn't compare to the mansions and boutiques that made up the main part of the Emerald City. It didn't matter; every step got her closer and closer to her goal. Then there was the matter of what she would do afterwards. Would she take Rose public? Make them two parts of a whole family? She couldn't picture herself doing that in any state of freedom. But she should stop. A clear head was required for the task at hand.

It wasn't long before she found herself at the iron gates that surrounded the Palace. Studying the map carefully, showed her that she needed to get underneath the main level to the Wizard's hidey-hole. She took a deep breath and located the back entrance she needed to get to. There were no guards. Her companions had done their jobs and done them well. It was now or never. Elphaba chose now.

"Can't you stay for just a bit more?" Glinda begged; holding Fiyero's arm in an iron grip.

Fiyero sighed. "High alert means high alert, Glinda." Not to mention the fact that he really wasn't in the mood for parading around the city. That required a certain amount of pep, which he couldn't dig deep enough to find at the moment.

Glinda sensed that something was off. "Or are you avoiding me?" She turned her back to him dramatically.

At the end of his rope, Fiyero rolled his eyes. Something he never did around Glinda. Unfortunately, she turned just in time to catch it.

"What has gotten into you lately?" she demanded. "You're obsessed with- I don't even know! You're just so angry!"

"I'm angry?" Fiyero scoffed. "Really, Glinda? I'm not allowed to have any other moods?" he snapped. "Happy, happy, happy. That's me! All of the time!" He stooped down to lace up his boots.

"I didn't say that!" Glinda replied heatedly. She placed two fingers under his chin and forced his head up so she could look at him. "Will you please look at me when I'm speaking to you?"

"Don't treat me like one of your subjects anymore Glinda. Then maybe I'll feel like I'm worthy enough to look you in the eye," Fiyero said coldly.

Glinda gritted her teeth to keep herself from arguing. Two wrongs never made a right. "I'm simply saying that maybe we need to talk things through. How is it that all of a sudden we're having these problems?"

"With all due respect-" his tone hadn't changed, "-I have more important things to attend to." He turned to go, but didn't go through the front door.

"Where are you going?" Glinda insisted.

"High alert," Fiyero answered harshly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I have to protect the Wizard." He turned into the long hallway that led the way he needed to go.

Glinda contemplated following, but decided whatever was frightening the Wizard was not to be involved in. She would talk to Fiyero later, she reassured herself.

Rose wasn't sure if she should go into the palace. It was green and grand, but intimidating as anything. How could she have lived in Oz all of her life and never seen this? It was practically right next door, but so much more splendid than any of the homes she had ever seen. The closest comparison she could make was Colwen Grounds, but that was nothing when she looked over the towers and monuments of the Grand Palace. Important people must live in there.

A deep breath. Blink a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. And off she goes. One step. Two step. Left. Right. Making the same careful steps that she had seen Elphaba make.

Coming to a narrow staircase, Rose found it eerie rather than inviting. Maybe she should ring a doorbell or something. But Elphaba had gone right in and she could too.

Somehow it all seemed very suspicious though. Why would Elphaba go through here when there were those large gates on the other side? Rose teetered on the first step. To go. Not to go. Eeenie meenie minie moe.

Out.

You.

Must.

G-

A hand covered Rose's mouth and another wrapped around her torso. Harsh voices shouted orders and Rose was picked up and handed off to towering men in green uniforms. She thrashed around and kicked with all of her might, but to no avail.

Everything went dark as her eyes were covered. She tried to scream, but suddenly everything went blurry and she started to feel very...very...sleepy.

According to the map, under the throneroom was a study and the Wizard spent most of his time there. Elphaba had made it as far as the parlor of the study and was sure she heard shuffling in the next room.

Everything had gone as planned and now it was time for her triumph. Unless...

Leave it to the human brain to think of the worst possible outcome.

What if the Wizard wasn't in there?

But he was. He had to be. There was no way he could know about this. Elphaba felt herself cower at the thought. Either way, since it was him in there, she had time to snoop. On the opposite wall was a map of Oz. It was finely detailed and had pins stuck at different points and landmarks. Most of them capitals. Elphaba looked at it closely, noting how beautiful Oz was. The layout of everything was so balanced, or at least it would be in a matter of minutes. No time like the present.

Elphaba moved forward and then stopped, forcing herself to take inventory of what she was about to do. She moved to the door and prepared herself to burst in, but she heard a voice that rooted her to the spot.

The deep, comforting voice that she missed dearly...that she remembered waking up to for a few sweet days...that she had done everything in her power to avoid.

She pressed her head to the door. If Fiyero was on the other side, what was she supposed to do? Would he let her do what she had to, or would she have to-

The thought wasn't finished because of a sudden movement behind her that sent a searing pain through her side. Shouts of triumph on someone else's part. Elphaba felt the blood empty from her system and then dropped as the world around her faded to black.

At first she thought she was dead.

It seemed like a good enough explanation for the darkness, but not broad enough. Most people seem to think that when you die you leave your body. Elphaba was vaguely aware of some kind of weight holding her down.

So her next idea was prison.

Still a good explanation for the darkness, but it didn't seem to configure into place well enough either. The darkness wasn't frightening and it wasn't depressing, but it was empty. There was nothing to see and nothing to learn. This wasn't the Oz that Elphaba loved and not where she wanted to stay.

As she composed herself and limited her thoughts she was able to collect them one by one and push them through the door of her mind where she kept them guarded by a wall, never to be seen again. The distance seemed to be levelling out and she could almost put together the pieces of the puzzle. How she got here, why she was doing what she was doing...but not the where. She couldn't know anything about the outcome of her failure and where it brought her. For that there was only one solution.

Open your eyes.

The first thing Elphaba noted was the softness underneath her. That told her that she wasn't in prison. The next prominent feature was the large window. The drapes were open and the clouds floated like spun sugar bringing Oz the first of many winter snowfalls.

The room had a high ceiling and a desk pushed to the side. There was all the usual furniture of a guest room: a dresser, a shelf, a nighttable. As plain as it was, Elphaba hadn't seen this kind of luxury in years.

Elphaba placed her hands flat against the quilts and attempted to push herself upward, but was thrown back by a burning pain in her side. Her attention was drawn to the bandages around her torso. Those definitely hadn't been there before. Someone had done all of this for her.

"Oh good you're up!" a cheerful voice called. The last voice she remembered hearing before her brutal blackout. "I was beginning to get lonely."

Elphaba had a lot to say, but it was all lost in the series of pathetic croaks that her voice had become. "Fiyero, I haven't seen you-"

"In seven years. Yeah, I was counting too," he said sarcastically.

Her breath caught, she had forgotten how quickly his tone changed. It was one of the characteristics she missed.

"I'm sure you're bursting with opinions right about now."

"Questions actually," Elphaba corrected. "Such as...where the hell did you take me?"

"This is my castle. Well, technically- and don't you start nagging me- it isn't my castle anymore. But the locals were nice enough to loan it out." Fiyero stayed in his spot leaning against the doorway. Elphaba wanted him to come wrap his arms around her, but knew how detrimental a move like that would be. They were trying to keep themselves on a leash, but the leash was choking them.

"This isn't Kiamo Ko."

Fiyero smiled. He didn't grin, he rarely did anymore. "So now you're an expert?"

"All I'm saying is that it wouldn't be very fair of you to lie to someone who's wounded," Elphaba stated matter-of-factly. Being around Fiyero seemed to take her back to the Shiz era. Or maybe it was the absence of the Rebellion. Or the absence of her daughter. Or all three.

Gesturing around proudly, Fiyero replied, "This is the other castle."

"I should have known," Elphaba muttered under her breath. How like him. "Every prince should have at least two castles, right?"

"Now, now. Watch your tone there, Miss. I did rescue you," Fiyero pointed out. "Which brings me back to the point I was going to make before I was so rudely interrupted. Hmm...what was it? Oh yes." His features hardened. "What the hell were you doing?"

"My job."

"Pardon my ignorance, but since when did jobs require being shot by the Wizard's guards?"

"Since jobs became threatened by over-confident dictators!"

Fiyero seemed to take something from her statement and answer his own question. "You were going to kill the Wizard? You can't do that!"

Even from her spot on the bed, Elphaba managed to thrash around and roll her eyes dramatically. "Don't tell me you're sympathetic to the Wizard."

"For your information," Fiyero started, standing up straighter, as if she was challenging him physically, "the Wizard loves me. He calls me his Sentimental Boy."

"I'm sure farmers name their cows before they send them to the slaughterhouse too," Elphaba countered.

"That's true!" Fiyero responded sarcastically, as if he had realized something for the first time. "I should have just left you there to die and let the Wizard steal your stupid book!" He smacked his forehead.

Elphaba tensed. "The Grimmerie! Fuck!"

"No need to swear. I picked the damn thing up for you."

"How did you get me here anyway?" Elphaba asked, relaxing instantly.

"You were lucky. The Wizard was distracted by something else and I stashed you in a carriage. No one will even know you're gone."

"But they'll know you're gone." Elphaba secretly hoped they didn't. She wanted to stay here and argue with him forever. She could see why she had been so determined to avoid him. Because now, even feeling as if she had been struck by lightning, she would rupture at his departure.

"Nah."

Elphaba glared at him.

He shrugged. "Okay, so I might have told Glinda a little lie." He mimed it with his fingers, pretending to joke around, but he still shifted uncomfortably. Understandably, so. Elphaba wasn't sure she was completely comfortable. On the other hand, it might be due to the fact that she couldn't trust herself around him.

"Are you just going to stand around?" she asked and patted the empty space beside her. Actions like that were why she couldn't trust herself. Hesitating for a moment, Fiyero moved away from the door. Elphaba watched him lie down beside her. His movements were regulated as if he thought every one through. He didn't flop around brainlessly anymore. "You grew up, Fiyero," she stated quietly.

"It was that or die, wasn't it?"

"I suppose it was." They had come to a draw and the silence was eating them whole. It wasn't supposed to be like this. They were supposed to be friends at the very least. Why was it that every time they were separated, they became strangers all over again? Either fate had a vengeance or it was entirely their own lack of dedication.

But dedication! That was one thing Elphaba could take pride in! She had been dedicated for seven years. Then again, maybe it was that dedication that imploded their relationship and hammered it further into a million irreparable pieces. Maybe it was just her. Maybe she would never have a happy lovelife.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, breaking the silence. Part of Elphaba hoped he had been experiencing similar thoughts. She didn't want to be alone when she didn't have to be. Not anymore.

"No. Just tired," Elphaba murmured. "Will you stay with me?"

Fiyero smiled again. "Are you worried I'm going to run off to fetch some guards and cart you off to Southstairs?"

"No, I'm just in desperate need of company." She wasn't lying in the slightest.