Um… sorry?

Yeah, I know. Nearly two months. As a guest reviewer (ElvisRules41) pointed out, I took nearly two months in between chapters. My reason is that I fell behind in school because of the flu, and was struggling to finish all my work before the first quarter ended. Which it's over now, so I have time to do other stuff! I know I promised no more waits, but honestly, I have education as a main priority.

Still, I'll make it up to you guys eventually. I promise!

Enjoy!

"Well this is jus' perfect, don'cha think?"

His tone was appropriately bitter considering the circumstances. The Guardians all stared at the sleigh—crashed into the forest floor, some areas bent and crushed. North winced, "Perhaps it isn't so bad…?"

It was. It just hurt for any of them to admit it.

"What happened!?" Jack burst out after a moment, brow raised. "We were fine and then as soon as the Wind said we were in Oz we took a crash landing into the trees. What gives?"

"I haven't seen the sleigh give out since the fight with Pitch, when the kids stopped believing…"

"That might be answer, Tooth," North replied, placing his head in his hands, "Magic works on belief. No belief in Oz, no magic in Oz. Might be simple as that." Bunny groaned, "Either way, this situation is bloody awful. What do we do now?" The group was silent for a moment, before Jack finally reminded them of their original mission. "We split up and find Pitch," he said, "North, you can stay here and try to get the sleigh working if you want—the rest of us can each take a direction and search."

Tooth nodded, "It sound like our best plan right now."

"It sounds like our only plan righ' now," Bunny grumbled, shaking his head. "I'll take east. Jack, there were some mountains up north, I saw before we crashed. Since ya' can handle the cold, why don't ya' take the north?"

The frost child nodded. Sandy pointed towards the south, claiming that as his area. "I'll go west, then," Tooth said softly, "Since the sun is setting, we'll meet back here at sunrise and track our progress. Agreed?"

They all nodded, and as North turned to the damaged sleigh in front of him, the other four scattered out to search.

Sandy searched the south, which was almost entirely a marshland. People were curled up in their beds by now, children fast asleep already, and he found time to send each of them good dreams. If Pitch was around, he would try to break the fear as well. He didn't see nightmare sand swirling above anyone's head, or even the presence of the nightmare king, but he did hear a few children mumble of a witch in their panicked slumber, before he sent them off into pleasant dreams, filled with their favorite things.

Jack had no better luck than the sandman had. The mountains were barren, frozen wastelands, and he retreated quite quickly back to a place that some had uttered was named the Gillikin. The desert of red sand was the one place he couldn't bring himself to enter, no matter how much he told himself to look there. The Gillikins—for that's what he assumed they were called—were as well asleep by the time he returned, giving Jack perfect cover to fly around aimlessly. The land was overly warm, and Jack left sooner than he expected, heading towards the east to get an aerial view for the rabbit.

As far as the west, Tooth was surprised. It was a desert of sorts, with ancient castles scattered about. There was one in particular, where she saw monkey's in the sky hovering nearby, their wings extended as they soared. It seemed they were keeping watch of something, but Tooth didn't stay to find out what. The land out west was large, and she needed to search it all.

By the time Bunny was halfway through the east, Jack had caught up with him.

"What, Frost?" he grumbled, "Aren't ya' supposed to be checkin' the north?"

Jack shrugged, "I did. Nothing. The mountains were a bust, and I didn't find anything to even hint of his arrival in the Gillikin." Bunny furrowed his brow, "Gillikin?" The boy rubbed the back of his neck, "That's what I heard someone call it. The Gillikin country." The pooka nodded, and said nothing else, and Jack took to the skies, following just above Bunny's path. The search was boring, and pointless, as they found nothing. "There's got to be a place we're missing," Jack pouted, "is there any place we didn't look?"

"There's only four directions ta' look, Frost. "

He ignored the mocking tone in the older guardian's voice, thinking. "We checked the four directions, but I don't think we were in the center of Oz when we fell. Remember just before we crashed? The palace in the distance—the green one? That looked as centered as we could get. Let's check there?"

Bunny thought for a moment, "Well, we've got a while until sunrise. But you will be careful, and follow my lead, got it? We still don't know what Pitch plans to do—,"

"I know, I know," Jack groaned, "I'm still at risk…"

"And we don't plan on losin' ya', either, Frostbite."

Jack would have protested that he could take care of himself, but the slight smile on the pooka's face told him that perhaps there was sincerity behind the words. He grinned, "Got it, Kangaroo." The moment was then ruined, as Bunny slugged the boy in the shoulder—gently, but it still hurt a bit. Jack yelped, and pouted again, before following the rabbit towards the heart of Oz.

Glinda couldn't believe it. Elphaba had a brother? It made no sense—why wouldn't she have mentioned him. Perhaps she didn't like him? But Shell seemed nice, she reasoned, and he seemed to care for his sister. She was silent, and Shell grew worried by her reaction.

"Um, Lady Glinda…?"

"You're really her brother?" she asked, her tone stiff. Shell flinched, for a moment wondering if the blonde would rat him out to the Wizard, and get him thrown in the southstairs. Or maybe get him killed, like Nessarose was, just for being related.

He hesitated to respond, but it wasn't like he could take it back now. No, I was just joking to see your reaction? That wouldn't have worked in any scenario.

"I am. I'm older than her by five years, and love her more than anyone else in my family," he admitted, trying to read the expression on Glinda's face. Hadn't the good witch of Oz confessed to being the green girl's friend? Why did she seem so shocked?

"She never mentioned a brother," Glinda said, eyes narrowing in suspicion. The dark haired man felt a pain in his chest—she never, not once implied his existence? It felt like he had been slapped. "I don't know why she hasn't," he said, "but I'm true to my word. I am her older brother, eldest child of Melena of governor Thropp."

"Tell me," Glinda said, pursing her lips slightly, "why does Elphaba have that little green bottle?"

She was testing him, he knew. And he knew the answer. "It was her mother's," he said, then corrected himself, "our mother's. I had given it to Fabala at our mother's request, because it was the key to showing her true parentage, because after our mother died, the secret fell onto me."

"True parentage?"

Shell winced at Glinda's harsh laugh. "It was just a trinket of her mother's that she used as a memory. True parentage? You're kidding."

His heart stopped—hadn't Elphaba known of the affair? He sent her the letter thirteen years ago! Didn't she read it? He remembered how after he sent that letter, telling her she wasn't Frex's child, that she was the child of Melena's lover, a mysterious man named Joel, that she never sent another letter to him again. She never made any contact towards him whatsoever. Had she been furious with this? Had she thought he lied?

"You know what," Shell hissed, "nevermind. This was a bad idea to tell you. Goodnight, Lady Glinda. See you in the morning."

He stormed out, fighting back tears. Something had gone wrong. Horribly, miserably wrong. But what?

Elphaba had been picking apples from the tree near the outskirts of the forest when she it happened. She had flown off to the east near Munchkinland, where she knew the woods by heart—and gathered the food for the animal camp. She had at one point come back to deliver, but said she wasn't seen by anyone, and it was too late for anyone else to venture out. Aiyla allowed her to collect more supplies if she really wanted to, but she knew the old fox was worried.

Then she saw it. A Rabbit and a boy, with frost white hair and a shepherd's crook sneaking nearby. She hid in the shadows of the trees, watching in wonder as they drifted towards the Emerald City. Was the Animal insane? Sure, the boy would be alright, but the Rabbit would be snatched up and taken prisoner as soon as they saw him! Did he want to lose his powers of speech? Or perhaps he had already lost them. She didn't know.

She followed along, slinking through the darkness, until they reached the border. The sun was barely shining now, just starting the rise, but there were enough shadows to hide her. They seemed wary of her presence, but never really spotted her, so she just stayed and watched and waited. Gale Force soldiers approached, and she hissed. This wouldn't be good.

"Halt, Animal!"

Shock was written over their faces, and Elphaba wondered why they thought they wouldn't be seen. A fight was instigated shortly after—ice and snow and wooden curves flying, as well as bullets and bayonets from the other side. When the Rabbit shrank down suddenly, it registered that he had been hit, and the emerald witch was done just watching. Elphaba muttered under her breath, chanting softly, as the rifles heated up in the guards' hands. They cried out in pain, dropping the scalding weapons, as the boy and Animal went to run. The child managed to fly away in time with coaxing from the other male beside him, who was injured and having trouble moving. The soldiers approached, and the fight was over.

They captured the Animal, Elphaba watched, as he strained against the shot that had pierced through his shoulder. She should have been heading back to the camp, for she was gone long—much longer than she promised. But despite her efforts of good deeds failing, she wanted to make one last attempt—for at least the Animals appreciated what she tried to do.

So without another moment's hesitation, she followed them secretly to the Emerald City, planning how to free the guards' latest capture.

Once again, sorry for the late upload. And as far as the geography of Oz, I went off the map that I had at hand, and memory, so forgive me if I'm wrong. Also, I checked this chapter multiple times, but there may still be typos. I apologize for that as well!