Firstly, I am really sorry it's taken me this long to get this second chapter up. I've been really busy, and after posting the first chapter I wasn't quite sure where I was going to go with this story, so it took me a while to figure that out. I promise I won't keep you waiting this long in future.

Please review? It would be much appreciated.

I wish Glinda and Elphaba were mine, but alas, they are not.

Thanks to my amazing beta, Throppsicle. If you have time, and you haven't already, I highly suggest you go look up her story, Unadulterated Something. It's definitely a worthwhile read.

I'm surrounded by a thick fog. I frown in irritation; this will absolutely ruin my hair!

But before my mind can travel further down that route, I hear a voice through the mist.

It's Fiyero! I run toward the sound, but stop as I hear another voice from the opposite direction.

Elphie!

"Glinda!" both voices call, their voices reaching out to me.

But how can I choose? My best friend, or my boyfriend? I stand frozen, caught between the two. When I finally move, it is toward Fiyero's voice.

I run toward him through the fog, following his confident tone. But when I reach the source of the voice, I am not met with the brown skin and blue diamonds of a Winkie prince.

No, instead I am met with the sharp curves and green skin of my roommate. Elphaba, my worst enemy turned best friend. And in Fiyero's voice, she whispers to me.

"Hello, my sweet."

Waking with a start, I look around. Why am I here? Why am I not in my fluffy pink bed in our dorm, while Elphie gets ready for class or reads a book in the corner?

But then I remember. The Wizard, the monkeys, the broom, the rain... A weight settles on my chest with the realization.

My gaze wanders to my left, to my empty hand. Raising my eyes, I see her cloaked figure, topped with that ridiculous hat. A shiver runs down my spine as I remember my dream. She called me her sweet...just like she did on the broom. And on the roof, she kissed me...

What does any of this mean?

As I look more closely at my roommate, I notice she has her arms crossed, and her shoulders are hunched. She looks so small... How can she - how can I - how can we stand up to the Wizard and his entire army?

Getting up, I'm aware of a stiffness in my back. I grimace, then walk toward her. I reach my hand out and rest it on her shoulder, earning a momentary flinch.

"Glinda!" she exclaims, turning to face me. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were awake!

"...How are you?" she inquires anxiously after a pause. I muster up as much of a smile as I can.

"As well as one can be, under the circumstances."

Guilt flits across her face, and I know I've not been convincing enough. She turns back in the direction she was facing before. "It's still raining," she says. "I don't know how long it'll last, but I don't think we should just sit here waiting for it to stop... It could keep going for days, and we'll need food and a more secure place to stay. We aren't safe here."

Elphaba strides briskly over to the wall of our overhang, picking up her cloak from its place on the ground and throwing it on. She walks out, straight toward the rain, beyond the protection of our small shelter, but before she can step into the falling water, I grab her hand, pulling her back.

"Elphie, stop! You can't go out there! You'll burn yourself again!"

She pulls away, but I don't let go. "Glinda, we have no choice. We can't just sit here. And the cloak will keep the water off me for a while anyway. It's worth a few burns if I can find us some food, or a safer shelter."

I bite my lip. She's right, we have to do something, but she can't go out in the rain. Despite what she says, she could get seriously hurt! And knowing her, she'd keep going until she was too badly hurt to move.

"I'll go."

Her eyes widen. "No, Glinda, you don't have to-," she protests.

"Yes I do, Elphaba. You'll get burned if you go, and if anyone sees you, you're dead. I don't stand out like you do, and water doesn't hurt me."

She lowers her eyes, and I soften my tone.

"Please, Elphie. You can't go out there."

She nods, avoiding my eyes. I turn to go, and feel two hands reach around to the front of my neck, fastening the cloak around my shoulders. She gives my shoulder a squeeze, but I don't turn around.

I'm afraid if I do, she'll see the fear I'm trying so hard to hide.

"Be careful," she says, and, pulling my hood up, I walk quickly out into the rain. Not letting myself look back in case it breaks my feeble resolve, I keep walking until Elphie is out of sight.

I try to focus. Food and shelter - that's what I'm looking for. But the further I walk, the more I find myself distracted. I feel the rain seeping through the cloak. I hear a rustling sound behind me, and I whirl toward the sound, barely stifling a scream. Who's there? But it's just a squirrel.

Shaking my head with a frown, I tell myself I'm just being silly. Elphie wouldn't let a few small noises bother her.

She'd just keep going right about her business...which I forgot. Right. Food. Shelter. Got it.

But I keep walking, and find nothing. A few animals (hopefully not Animals) run by, but I don't have anything to catch or kill one with. Not that I would have the slightest idea what to do with it even if I did manage that much.

It seems shelter is nowhere to be found either; this is becoming more and more evident as I grow colder and wetter with each passing moment.

But Elphie's counting on me to do this, so, wrapping my arms around myself and pulling the soaked cloak tighter about me, I keep looking.

Eventually, I stumble into a small clearing. Near the edge of the open space stands a tree, with enough leaves and branches to keep most of the rain from hitting the ground.

I rush under it, sitting and leaning my back against its trunk.

Sighing, I hold my head in my hands. What am I doing? I shouldn't be here.

I should be at Shiz, sleeping through another of those boring Algebrication lectures. I should be in town, shopping and gossiping with Pfannee and Shenshen and Milla. I should be going on a date with Fiyero, and he should be walking me back to my dorm and kissing me goodnight.

I should be with Elphie in our room, playing with her hair and listening to her talk about Animal rights, or some equally boring and complicated political matter that I care next to nothing about, just for the sake of hearing her speak.

But instead I'm here, cold, wet, and terrified out of my mind, all because of one decision I made for reasons I can't really explain myself.

It just sort of seemed to...happen. She kissed me, and I got this sort of warm feeling inside and for once, I said what I wanted to say, instead of what I knew I should say. I told her yes, I would go with her. And I was afraid, yes. But it wasn't until now that the gravity of the decision really hit home.

This isn't something I can undo. I defied the Wizard of Oz! The most powerful man in the country! I can't just go back and say sorry and make it all better this time. I can't go back to the comfortable, shallow, safe life I've always led until now.

This is reality now. It's not a game, there's no rematch, no do-over. If I screw up just once, I lose. And it's all over.

But I don't know what to do! The most dangerous thing I've ever done is run across the campus of Shiz in heels! And now I'm on the run from the law and I'm living in the woods and it's raining and Elphie's allergic to water and I can't even find food or shelter and I'm completely useless!

Elphie should never have asked me to come with her. It's not as if I could ever be of any help.

Giving up on the idea of ever finding anything, I rise to return to our meager shelter, resigned to telling Elphaba that I failed.

Walking out of the clearing, I head back in the direction I came from. But somewhere on the way back, I realize that I don't have a clue where I am. All these trees look the same to me! I can't see the overhang I left this morning, I don't see anything that gives me any hint as to where I am, where I'm supposed to be going.

With a nervous gulp, I keep walking, praying to Lurline, to the Unnamed God, to the Kumbric Witch herself that I'm walking the right way. I hear a twig snap behind me and look back frantically, but see nothing.

I speed up anyway, my walk turning into a run. I can feel my heart racing faster and faster as hysteria threatens to overtake me. Where am I? Where is the overhang? Where is my Elphie?

I feel like I'm being watched by every bird, every animal, every tree in the forest. All of them just waiting for a young, helpless, lost girl like me to walk in and become prey to some savage beast.

I start sprinting. I need to get out of here. I need to get to safety.

I run for what feels like hours, but I know must be mere minutes, never looking behind me for fear of what I might see. But eventually, Lurline be praised, our shelter comes into view, and in this moment it looks like the safest stronghold in all of Oz, with Elphie standing in its shadow.

Putting every bit of energy I have in me into the last distance between she and I, I run over faster than I've ever run in my life.

And I don't stop once I get under the overhang. I keep going, crashing into Elphie and throwing my arms around her. I am reduced to a blubbering idiot as I cling to her.

"Oh, Elphie!" I cry, burying my face in the taller girl's chest. "I'm so sorry, I went out in the rain and I couldn't find food or shelter and I stopped and I was cold and wet and tired so I gave up and went back but I got lost and I didn't know where you were and I was so scared and I'm sorry Elphie please forgive me!" I say this all in one big rush, which combined with the fact that it's muffled by Elphie's chest probably makes it completely unintelligible.

When I pause to breathe after my outburst, I notice that the green girl hasn't said a word. However, her entire body has tensed in my arms.

Oh, Lurline! I'm soaking wet!

I release her immediately, stepping back from her and tearing up again as I see angry red marks forming on her hands and arms. "Oh my god, Elphie, I'm so sorry, I forgot-"

She shushes me, walking toward me. "It's okay, Glinda. It was a mistake, you didn't mean to burn me. And anyway, you let go soon enough that the burns will probably be gone in a couple of hours. No lasting damage."

I sniffle, not entirely believing her, but knowing that she's saying this to make me feel better.

"But you, on the other hand," she continues, "must have been soaked for hours now! You could get seriously sick like that. We need to get you out of those clothes and get you dried off and warmed up."

I flush. I've just burned her, and she's still worrying about me! "I'm fine," I say stubbornly.

"Glinda, you're shivering. You're obviously freezing! Don't try to tell me you're fine."

I give her a stubborn glare for a few moments more before relenting.

"You worry too much about me," I mutter.

"You give me a lot to worry about."

Then we grow silent. I remember what she's asked me to do and heat rushes to my face. I see Elphie's eyes widen, turning her head with a cough as the blood rushes to her own cheeks, and I know the implications have reached her as well.

Face flushed a darker green, she turns her back to me in order to give me what privacy she can, given the situation. Trying to ignore the nerves causing my pulse to race, I let the cloak fall from my shoulders and slip my soaked yellow dress off my body, shivering as the cold air hits my bare skin. My gaze flicks back to Elphie, still looking stiffly away, studying the rain.

I lay my dress out flat on the ground and then, crossing my arms in front of my chest, I speak quietly. "Elphie?"

She starts to turn toward me, but stops herself, clenching her jaw. "Yes, Glinda?"

"I'm cold."

She freezes. Is that fear that just crossed her face? Now guilt? And was that...? No. It couldn't be.

Now the darkened look that I saw flash through her eyes is gone, replaced by a carefully blank expression. She beckons for me to join her by the rocky wall of our shelter. I walk over, and we sit down together. She wraps me, in naught but my bra and underwear, in gentle arms.

I look up at her, but her eyes are anywhere but on me. I let my own eyes wander over her face, tracing her strong cheekbones up to her sharp amber eyes.

She really is beautiful. Not in the traditional sense, but there's a certain grace, a certain dignity in the sharpness of her features. There's a feral quality to her that at once frightens and draws one in.

And then my eyes drift down to her lips, and I quickly look away, suddenly nervous. That kiss...

It only lasted a few moments, but that terrifying, exhilarating feeling is still there, echoing in the back of my mind. I want so badly to know what this feeling is, but there's a wordless, thoughtless fear that keeps me from the truth.

But aside from what the kiss has done to me...what's more important is what it meant to Elphie. What did it mean to her? My eyes creep back up to her face and I open my mouth to ask, but something stops me. Is it the tightness in her jaw, the constant shifting of her eyes? Or is it again this feeling of apprehension suffocating me?

I shove the thoughts aside, and thread my fingers through hers, leaning my head against her shoulder. I try to ignore the way she tenses up, and the slight shivering of her hand. I'm sure it's just the cold.

My mind's slowing down. I'm falling asleep, and I gladly welcome the inviting darkness. It feels like it's been days since I last slept, so I let the warmth of her arms keep me safe, push the questions aside, and let myself drift off.

The last things I know before slipping into oblivion are the sigh she gives, shakier than I've ever heard her, and the feeling of her lips pressed softly to my head.