A/N: Hello, everybody. I came with an announcement that this will probably be the last story I'm going to update before I head off on vacation on July 9th. I won't be back until August 3rd, which, to me, sounds like a very long time. Hopefully I will be able to work on more chapters while I'm away, who knows? Oh, I have something proud to say to my fellow Wicked fans, I saw the show on June 28th. Wahoo! Elphaba and Galinda were both played by Jessica Vosk and Ginna Claire Mason respectively and they were both amazing! My first Wicked experience was amazing!

James Birdsong: Thank you!

Fae'sFlower: One thing that I can definitely say is that Elphaba was not the one who messed up the press. The one responsible will be seen in this chapter, though. And what Elphaba is planning on has already taken place and is in the chapter below. And the connection between Wendy and Sarima will be explored in the future chapters, so don't worry.

The Ruined Dreams

Adette had found Wendy first, not Jo when she went off to search for the two. The Wendigo was wandering around the halls near their room, which Adette found odd since she would have thought Wendy had found Jo right now.

"Did you find him?" Wendy turned to her direction and nodded. "How is he? I mean, how's he dealing with all of this?" The Wendigo gave her a hand gesture that said "so-so".

Adette found herself relieved slightly, at least Jo wasn't acting like how he reacted to her trying to kiss him. "So, are you giving him some time to process this? Is that why you're waiting out here?" Another nod.

"Do you want me to walk you back to your room to wait for Jo?" The Wendigo happily accepted her request and that's how the two found themselves walking down the dark corridor. Well, it was dark for Adette but it was probably clearer for Wendy.

"What do you think about all of this Wendy?" at Wendy's confused look, Adette continued. "I mean, what do you think about Jo being from a different world? Like, do you mind the fact that he's not Ozian?"

Wendy shook her head as if to say, He's Jo. I love him no matter what.

"Me too, I know I fell in love with him before I even knew he was the from the other world. It's just that, when I think about the other world I get all excited. They have a whole different culture than us and there aren't a lot of books for me to research on. I would talk to the Wizard but I don't see him as often as I would like too. When Jo found out he was from the other world, my first thoughts were if I could ask Jo what the other world was like."

She found herself pausing once she realized how that sounded. "But then, I guess I still wouldn't know. Jo never really grow up in the other world, did he?"

Wendy grunted in agreement. No matter where you were born, you are who you believe you are based on how you were raised, was what Adette imagined her saying - she could imagine that being a hundred and fifty years old would at least make Wendy begin to speak like an old person with wisdom would speak.

"It's not like that matters, anyway," she continued with a shrug. "I love Jo and I don't care where he comes from. I just hope this won't affect him that much in the future."

Wendy nodded her head in agreement. Pretty soon, the two females found themselves right outside Wendy's door. Just as the Wendigo was about to open the door, she was stopped by Adette's voice.

"Wendy? If you see Jo again, can you tell him that I don't care if he came from another world?" The Wendigo gave her a smile the best she could with her lipless mouth and nodded.

Adette returned the smile. "Thanks, Wendy. And good night." She left Wendy alone after that.

Wendy really did like that girl; whenever she imagined Jo's partner for his future she always thought of the person loving Jo no matter his flaws and always seem him the person he really was. She found it so lucky for Jo to find his partner so early in life - it's just living proof that Jo's life was turning out for the better.

But as she opened the door, Wendy thought about what had happened in the dining room. While she was honestly bothered by the fact her son came from a different world like she had admitted to Adette, she still couldn't shake the idea of that sorry excuse for a mother going so far to throw Jo out of her life that she sent him to a different world. She could never really fathom the idea of being willing to throw away her own child. It was just absolutely horrible.

Before she could even think further on the matter, she stopped when she felt like she stepped into a piece of paper on the ground. Strange, she remembered Jo and Adette picking up all of the mess she left behind after her rampage. Maybe it fell and now of them noticed? Oh well, it wasn't like she hadn't picked stuff up for Jo before.

When she picked the piece of paper up she felt her finger brush against braille bumps. Braille? What's a piece of paper with braille writing doing on the floor? Wendy began to brush her fingers against the bumps before her eyes widen.

I remember the day we connected-

This was... This was from Jo's manuscript. Why was it on the floor? Wait... She felt through the rest of the paper and found that it was only a small piece of the original side. Was it torn up? Who in their right mind would tear a page of Jo's manuscript? But what about the rest-?

Wendy immediately whipped her hands around on the ground, eyes widening in horror when she realized that there were more pieces of paper like the one she found; all of them were small paragraphs of the memories both she and Jo cherished. But, if they were all in pieces like this, then that would mean...

Jo's manuscript was ripped apart. Torn to little pieces until it was impossible to save them. Just like that, all of Jo's hard work for his dream was gone in an instant.

Who would-?

"Wendy?"

The Wendigo found herself freezing. Oh no... She turned around to face the doorway, where she saw a familiar figure turning his head back and forth as he stared at the room.

"W-What happened-?" His breath hitched and she knew he had realized what the mess in the room was. His dreams...

Wendy tried to reach out to him - to comfort him over all of this - but it seemed like Jo wanted none of that. Before she could react, Jo's figure had already run out of her sight, his sobs echoing down the hallway.

"Jo, no!"

"He is upset! Someone will pay for-"

"Not now! He needs us!"

With a shake of her head, Wendy flew after him. Her shrieks echoing through the halls in hopes to gain Jo's attention. But Jo didn't even look back once at all.

Adette was on her bed reading her favorite book when she heard it; Wendy screeching. It made her concern because the last time she saw the Wendigo she was calmly walking into her room. What had happened when the princess left her? Upon realizing that the screech came from outside, Adette looked over the window that showed her an amazing view of the courtyard that leads to the gates.

To her complete surprise, she saw a small figure looking very much like Jo run off into a snowstorm that was in the city - where did that Blizzard even come from, anyway? - before something else followed him. The figure was very tall and skinny and it didn't take Adette long for her to recognize it as Wendy.

But what were the two of them doing out there?

Grabbing her winter coat from her bed, Adette tore through her door and ran down the halls. It didn't take her that long to reach the courtyard where the gates are. However, she wasn't alone when she reached the gates; a few of the Gale Force guards, the Wizard, and Elphaba were there was well.

"What's going on? Where are Jo and Wendy going?" She demanded as she forced herself through the guards so she was a little more outside the gates.

"Gee, we don't know," it was the Wizard who spoke up first. "We heard Wendy shouting and thought something happened to them. We have no idea why the two of them ran off into this blizzard."

"Maybe the kids got tired of seeing that monster's face and decided to take a stroll," Elphaba spoke up with a careless shrug. "Not that I can blame him, I wouldn't want to be stuck in the same room with that face."

Adette's eyes turn towards the green girl and that was when she noticed her face; there was a small smirk on her face. It was faint, barely there, but Adette saw it. Thoughts of how she treated Jo during their first interactions and how she looked at him through the whole dinner instantly told her why Jo must have run out.

"What did you do to him?" She demanded, stepping closer to the Princess of Oz to look intimidating. Her words brought the attention of the Wizard and the guards, looking at her shock.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," even though she shrugged, Elphaba looked uncomfortable at all the eyes staring at her.

"What did you do to him?!" This time, Adette was louder. More demanding. But what really made Elphaba caved in was how her father said, "Elphaba..."

"Look, he deserved it! Alright?!" It was enough for Adette, but it still hardens her eyes.

"You witch!" She screamed before she turned and raced into the blizzard. "Jo? Jo!"

"Aren't you going to go after her or something?" Elphaba demanded the guards but the look on her father's face told her otherwise.

"Elphaba, I think we need to talk," this only made the princess sigh. When will things go her way?

Adette had realized that charging into a snowstorm might not have been her best idea but it wasn't like she had any other options; if Jo was really upset, then he would have run into the snowstorm without the thought of bringing a coat. Even with her own coat, she was already freezing and she couldn't imagine what it must be like for Jo. It wasn't like she didn't trust Wendy to find Jo but she was blind and if Jo were to stop moving then Wendy will most likely loose him. And she wasn't about to let Jo freeze to death.

Still, it was hard to see through this darn blizzard. Where did it even come from, anyway? There were hardly any clouds today, no sign of a huge blizzard like this coming anytime soon. If it had something to do with Jo's raging emotions because of whatever Elphaba did to him then it sure quite fit the mood because she could imagine how much turmoil Jo was probably in.

After what seemed like forever, Adette finally came upon something that wasn't blinding white; a building. This meant she had somehow found her way into the Emerald City. The only thing that bothered her was how she noticed two sets of footprints that separate from between the wall. Without a doubt, Adette knew which footprints belong to who and her fears were just confirmed.

Wendy did managed to lose track of Jo.

"Seriously, Jo?" Adette mumbled, knowing full-well that the boy did it on purpose just so he could be alone. Knowing that Wendy can handle the cold, Adette immediately went down the path that had their footprints in a smaller size than the other one.

She didn't know how long it took her but she slowed down when she heard it; soft sobbing that echoed off the wind. From where she was standing, it sounded far off into the distance and the wind was just echoing it but being able to hear it now when she couldn't before gave Adette hope that she was close.

"Jo?" picking up a lantern that was left on a barrel, Adette made her way through the raging winds. "Jo, you want to come out?"

As Adette followed the sobs, she was vaguely aware of something else within the huge whiteout. She didn't know what it was but it sounded like footsteps crunching against the snow not so far away from her. A part of her was curious if somebody was out here with her and wondered why they would be out in a blizzard like this but she decided to drop it because she had more pressing matters to focus on.

Then a burst of flame came to her left only a few feet away.

"What in Oz's name?!" Adette was dumbfounded; was that a flamethrower? While she understood that this blizzard was probably one of the worst ones that the Emerald City has ever had, it didn't give the person the right to vent their frustration out on it by using a flamethrower!

Before she could think any more on that matter, Adette saw something curled up in the snow a couple of feet ahead of her. It didn't take her long to realize what it was when all the sobs practically came from it.

"Jo?"

A head whipped up at the sound of her voice. "H-Hello?"

"Jo!" Adette had never felt more relieved in her entire life but when she caught sight of Jo wearing only a light shirt and a pair of pants out in a blizzard like this her worry came back. "Oh my Oz, you must be freezing! Here, take my coat."

Jo didn't protest as Adette removed her coat and put it around him just so he could feel a bit warmer, in fact, it looked like he wasn't paying any attention to anything at all. He looked like a beaten puppy that was broken too many times. If Adette was looking closer she could have seen the frozen tear trails on his cheeks.

"I'm stupid!" he cried out as Adette helped him up to his feet just so she could properly keep the coat on him, his voice quivering. "Stupid...stupid...stupid..."

"Jo, you're not stupid!" Adette protested after she zipped the coat all the way up. "The only stupid person here is Elphaba, I don't know what she did but you can't let her bother you like this."

Jo looked like he was about to say something when a familiar growl came through the winds.

Adette felt relief course through her veins. "Thank Oz, Wendy, I thought you got lost in the storm for a-"

"Adette," Jo spoke up, his voice no longer trembling but serious with fear. "That's not Wendy."

It took a second for those words to sink in and once they did, another growl came into the wind. Now that she listened to it more closely, she realized that this growl was far more deeper than Wendy's shrilly shrieks, like a mix between a bear, a lion, and a human male's voice. Jo was right; that didn't sound like Wendy at all.

She whipped her head around to face the source of the growl, only to have her eyes meet a pair of blank, milky white eyes of a Wendigo.

Due to Wendy's towering height Adette had always thought Wendigos were somewhere around eight feet in height. While this Wendigo was defienetly taller than the two of them, it was no where near Wendy's eight feet height. Still, it didn't change the fact how menacing it looked; it was hunched over, showing the bones of its spine sticking out of its leathery skin. Like Wendy, the Wendigo was skinny with its own skin pulled tightly against its body to show off its bones. But while Wendy's face looked very close to its once humane features, this thing's face was way more bony than Wendy's, it didn't even have any skin for its nose. Its ears were normal shape, like a humans, but there wasn't anything human about it.

Adette took another look at the thing's eyes and found her blood run cold; although they were blank with blindness, they was this hidden malice in them, a cunning intelligence that has plans for them. But it wasn't human. There was no trace of humanity left in those eyes.

She slowly began to back up, taking Jo by the arm so he could follow her - she didn't see the point in not moving because that creature's eyes were already on them.

Her thoughts were trying to piece together on what was going on; there was a another Wendigo. Here, in the Emerald City. Why? While she understood that this blizzard was the perfect weather for it, the Emerald City was too crowded. Why was it here?

Before she could think anymore on that, the Wendigo let out a roar, forcing the two to pick up the pace as they ran into the blizzard. The only source of light they had in this white darkness was the lantern Adette picked up a while ago and it didn't do much, but it did help them avoid bumping into buildings and barrels when they were being chased by a hungry, cannibalistic monster.

That was until Jo tripped on a high level of snow on the ground.

"Jo!" immediately turning around, Adette hurried right back over to the sobbing boy. After she helped him up, they continued their pace in this deadly game of tag. She didn't even realized she left the lantern on the ground when she went to help Jo up until it was too late. They were in now in complete white darkness.

Without the guide of the light they had no idea where they were going, leaving them blind like a sheep without its master. The only thing they did was to get as far away from the growls behind them as they could. Which proved to be more difficult than they thought because the growls seemed like they were coming from everywhere in any direction they run to. Adette remembered reading something about a Wendigo being able to mimic the voices of their victim, but do they really have the ability to throw their voices into different directions?

Why was she even trying to figure out a Wendigo's abilities when the thing was going to eat them?!

Adette shook her head and kept on running, often taking glances behind her so she was sure that Jo didn't run off from her. Where was Wendy when they really needed her?!

Then the worst thing happened; they reached a dead end in an alley.

"No!" Adette turned around in hopes that they could try to run into a different direction but felt her blood stop when the Wendigo that's been chasing them was blocking their only way out. They were officially trapped.

"Get back!" Adette tried to scare the Wendigo off by making loud noises, hoping that the animal instincts were in control and it would fled due to the loud noises in its sensitive ears. "I said get back!"

However, luck wasn't on her side as the Wendigo kept coming closer to them, forcing the two of them to back into the wall, holding onto each other's hands tightly in fear. They had nowhere to go and this Wendigo wasn't Wendy, which means it won't even give them mercy.

"Wendy!" Jo's voice made Adette jumped since they were in deathly silence before she realized what he was doing. "Wendy, help us!"

"Wendy, there's another Wendigo!" Adette joined in, hoping the winds will be able to reach Wendy's sensitive ears in time before this Wendigo decides to kill them.

To their horror, it looked like Wendy won't be saving them because the Wendigo was already leaping at them. The two of them screamed and curled up against each other, believing this to be the end.

Then something happened; an inhuman scream joined in with their own, sending complete shivers down their. However, those shivers were erased instantly when they felt the heat of flames hit their skin. Wait, why were there flames in the middle of a blizzard?

Daring herself to open her eyes, Adette popped one eye opened and a gasp escaped her throat.

A few inches in front of her was the Wendigo's body, only it was burnt to a crisp. The monster's grey skin was now a hideous black but Adette knew that this wasn't actually the skin - since fire burns off the layer of skin that's the Wendigo's protective armor, underneath it would just be a thin layer of muscle and tissue. There was a bit of flames still on the Wendigo's body but one thing was pretty clear to her; the Wendigo was dead.

Sobbing from Jo made her turned her attention back to the raven-haired boy, who was trembling, believing that the Wendigo was still alive and slowly torturing them by not killing them now. "It's okay, Jo," she says softly, stroking through his soft mane. "We're okay... It's dead..."

"For now, anyway," a raspy voice spoke up, making Adette hold Jo tighter and turn to look over the Wendigo's corpse. "It'll be back, though," the voice continues. "So I wouldn't stand around here and wait for it."

Out from the white fog was a tall, old man. His once black hair had faded to a dark grey, which was slick back to avoid getting caught in his face - although, the beanie on his head might be more help than just brushing it back. He wore tons of thick clothing, probably for the weather like this one. Around his neck was a bandanna and on top of his beanie were a pair of goggles.

Then Adette took notice of the large tank on his back, wondering what it was. It was then she noticed the projector in his hands that what he was carrying was a flamethrower.

He was the one who saved them and killed the Wendigo.

"Now," his dark eyes turn towards her, the scar on his cheek made him look almost intimidating. "Why in Oz's name were you two thinking of running off into a blizzard like this?"

Well, that happened.