Chapter Two:

The forest was silent except for the footsteps of Glinda and the paw-steps of the Wolf.

"So how do you know Elphaba?" asked Glinda trying to make some conversation as she stepped over a large fallen tree. She tugged on her red hood to cover more of her head for it was starting to get very chilly in the night air.

"I work for her," answered the Wolf.

Glinda eyed him suspiciously, it wasn't everyday she came across an Animal who outright claimed to be on Elphaba's side.

"Why?" It was a stupid question but she felt compelled to ask it all the same.

"Because she needs protection, and I'm rather good at giving it," the Wolf chuckled to himself as they walked along the path, "You don't sound too convinced of my position, Lady Glinda..."

Glinda grew red in the face, she had gotten quite suspicious and presumptious over the years since Elphaba's death, a side effect of living in the cynical land of Oz.

"I'm not just not as trustworthy as I used to be, that's all," the blonde brushed off her gut feeling. She did not like the look of this. Here she was all alone in the woods, her servants had already fled, her horses scattered... It was just her and the Wolf in the deepest corner of the forest.

A breeze caused her to shiver and she had hardly noticed that the Wolf had stopped walking.

"You know she's never talked about you before, I only know that you and her were friends because of the rumors one hears around these parts. But she's never confirmed it," the Wolf walked over to a large tree and pressed up against the nearest branch, causing a bell like sound to erupt.

"Yes, well," Glinda looked down at her hands and stopped moving, "She and I didn't part on the best of terms... but we were friends once."

Just speaking of her brought back memories to Glinda's mind. A flash of Elphaba reading in their dorm room, of their trip to the Emerald City. It came back to Glinda in such a fashion that she could feel a lump forming in her throat. For a few weeks after Elphaba's death, she had tried to convince herself that maybe it wasn't true that maybe she could have one last chance to have Elphaba forgive her for all that she had done. But everyday she told herself the lies, the more despaired the blonde got. After a while She had to desperately make herself believe that Elphaba was dead just for her own sake, for her own sanity. But even still, the memory of her had never ceased to exist. She was a ghost that never seemed to fade away from Glinda's life.

"Stay here, she'll be out presently" warned the Wolf as he heard a snapping noise and walked away calmly to wherever Elphaba was hiding out.

Glinda took the moments of quiet to relish in her memory. After years of suppressing any conscious thoughts of Elphaba, it did her heart good to really dwell on her friend. She didn't think it strange that Elphaba had Animals protecting her, they did, after all, owe a lot to her for trying to save them. And her friend's isolated nature didn't bother her either. What bothered the blonde the most about this whole ordeal was that, not once, did Elphaba tell her that she was alive. Not a word.

In truth, it hurt the blonde that she hadn't been told a single word. She had thought of herself as one of Elphaba's most trusted friends.

It was then that a loud crack dissolved her trip down memory lane. The blonde looked up so fast that her hood fell off her head and revealed those luscious golden curls.

"Elphaba?" her sapphire eyes landed on a figure concealed in darkness and she took a brave step forward.

She couldn't see any better, her eyes squinted but she still could not make out whether it was a person or the Wolf in the distance.

"What do you want?" The voice was crisp, angry... and most definitely Elphaba's. Glinda recognized it immediately. Her heart leaped.

"I wanted to see for myself if the legends were true, about you living out here in the woods..." Her voice quivered but it was just because of the coldness of the air.

"You shouldn't have come here," Elphaba said sharply. She then made a move towards the blonde.

Thanks to the moonlight, Glinda could finally make out the figure and she saw that it was indeed Elphaba. Clothed in a black wolf's skin dress she looked like a wild creature, one much like the Wolf that had brought Glinda here.

"You don't have to hide anymore, Elphaba," The blonde felt tears forming in her eyes. Her life long repressed dream was true. Elphaba was alive. There was pain filling her heart but it was the good kind of pain.

"As long as there are people who fear me and who want me dead, then I do have to hide," snapped back Elphaba.

"It's been ten years," pointed out the blonde, "People have almost forgotten your existence, please come back Elphaba, I can make this all right again."

"You stupid blonde, "Elphaba said hoarsely, as if she was on the verge of tears, "You still believe that you can make the world right again with a simple smile and wave of your wand, but you can't! You can't fix what's happened to me, what you let happen to me."

"But I can try!" Glinda stepped towards Elphaba and touched her face softly, "I promise, I'll try."

Elphaba looked down at the snow covered ground in thought. She seemed to be contemplating Glinda's offer.

The blonde waited for an answer, all the while watching the snow fall gently from the sky to the ground... It was so peaceful... so quiet. She wondered briefly where the Wolf went to.

"It's too late," Elphaba already had her mind made up and the blonde's heart stung at those words.

"But, Elphie-" A green hand put up in protest stopped her plea and she went silent.

"You really shouldn't have come here, Glin... you must know about the legends... of people and their unfortunate accidents here in the forest" Elphaba continued to keep her hand up, but her fingers curled inward as if she was regretting something that was forthcoming.

Glinda's mind suddenly thought of what her drivers had said earlier to her... and dread filled her entire being.

"But that doesn't have to happen to me, Elphie! I'll just lie and say I was never in here," but the blonde knew it was useless.

Elphaba's eyes suddenly flashed and it was like a switch had been turned on in her. She seemed to transform on a dime into the creature, the witch that the citizens of Oz had made her out to be.

"Grendsky saw your drivers run off, other people know that you were here. I can't..." Elphaba closed her eyes bitterly, "I'm not about to go and ruin the reputation I have because of you." Her voice had turned sharp and that anger was back in her tone. Glinda shivered because of the iciness of Elphaba's voice. It wasn't like her... and Glinda reminded herself that this person, this wasn't her Elphie... this was the Wicked Witch of the West.

"The citizens of Oz will have a massive manhunt for you if you kill me... they'll be up in arms," Glinda tried her best to stay strong but the realization was closing in on her and she was finding it harder and harder to keep calm. She hated what she and the rest of Oz had done to Elphaba, hated how hardened they had made her... how wicked.

"They haven't stopped me before, what makes you think they'll be able to at last?" The Witch sneered and stepped back into the darkness.

"I'm not afraid of you... I never have been, Elphie," She hoped that the use of the endeared nickname might help her cause, but it seemed to only hurt.

Those dark eyes which were only a few minutes ago filled with tears were now filled with anger and rage.

"Everyone else is, though... thanks to you," Elphaba half laughed and gave a wicked smirk.

"It doesn't have to be like this... I'm sorry that you hate for me for what Oz did to you, but you have a chance to make it right and you're acting like it's not even being presented to you!" Glinda was desperate. She could hear the wolves, Elphaba's other spies, growling in the darkness closing in on her.

"It's too late for that."

The blonde felt tears well up in her eyes at that point. She could see that there was no point in fighting with her anymore. She was going to lose, and it was going to cost her.

"I hope you're happy then, with letting yourself be stuck in the mind frame that you still believe that everyone sees you as wicked, because I never saw you like that... and you know it."

Her throat was thick with unshed sadness and she blubbered a hasty goodbye to Elphaba, who seemed to be struggling with her own emotions as well.

But it was soon after that that Glinda heard the snarls and hissing of the wolves and she knew her fate was sealed.

For a brief moment, she scolded herself for not listening to her drivers... for being so hopelessly foolish to believe that Elphaba still remembered their friendship that she would spare her.

She looked up to see glowing gold eyes staring at her, even though she longed it to be those dark eyes she once looked at so often and so fondly.

She gulped. After all, they had warned her against going into the woods and the dangerous creatures it contained. She had been so stupidly foolish to think that she could not be harmed.

She hoped that for Elphaba's sake, if not her own, that she would finally come to terms with everything.

"Sorry Blondie," the Wolf's apology snapped her out of her reverie, "Boss' orders."

She nodded, submitting herself to the very real fact that she was going to die.

A breeze carrying a whirlwind of snowflakes blew against the sky and she could feel the stinging coldness of the snow against her skin.

She hadn't even heard the Wolf pounce her mind too occupied on the stinging coldness that was seeping into her heart. But by then, it was too late.

The red cape that she had been wearing was snatched up soon after the mess was done away with, and soon the rumors about the Witch inhabiting the woods disappeared... and new ones arose about a woman with a red cloak living in the woods.

But no one ever went into the woods after Glinda the Good's death... which all citizens thought was the last crime the Wicked Witch ever committed, and they praised this "Red Riding Hood" for supposedly eliminating their enemy.

She was a mysterious figure, this Red Riding Hood, for she traveled with packs of wolves and no one ever saw her face. Only the cloak, for if one did happen to glance upon her face they would have seen that it was green.

I AM A TERRIBLE, AWFUL PERSON TO KEEP YOU GUYS WAITING FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF THIS! I AM SO SORRY. I really did not mean for a year to go by without finishing this, so here you go. I know originally it was supposed to be a three-short but I just decided to finish it in two. Hope you all like it, and sorry it's a little weird. I know it's not my best work, and I'm not particularly fond of how I portrayed Elphaba in this but I felt like I needed to finish this for you guys.

Again, I am beyond sorry for not writing this for more than a year!

Don't kill me,

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