She should have cautioned herself, she should have told herself she was being reckless… but seeing her sister's dead body clouded any thought of going in peacefully. Some would say it was courageous to walk the halls of the Emerald City Palace without a care, others would tell her she was crazy, irresponsible, and looking for trouble.

She was definitely looking for trouble.

A soldier walked out of a room and his eyes widened at the sight of her, Elphaba bolted towards him and carelessly let her hand blast him with magic. Leaving his unconscious body where it fell.

Her eyes looked around wildly for the throne room. She had held herself back when Sanevan came to her and told her what was going on in Oz, she had found a way to calm herself when she found out that Boq was murdered. She kept herself together seeing the Animals she had shared a home with being slaughtered and dragged out of their house because she knew she couldn't fly off the handle just like that. She had to stay fully aware and carefully plan what they were doing. However, all that was lost when she saw her innocent sister laying dead in front of her eyes. As if she hadn't fully comprehended everything that had occurred until she witnessed Nessa's lifeless body.

Elphaba tasted blood in her mouth and realized that she was biting her tongue in anger. She loosened her bite and her eyes darted towards a large green door.

Her nostrils flared and she knew she had found his throne room. There were two gale force soldiers in front, talking to one another. It didn't take her long to cross the hall and surprise them. One of them raised his rifle, but with one angry burst of her magic he was thrown across the hall, his body hitting a wall. The other man stood horrified and dropped his rifle, placing his hands over his head in surrender. Elphaba placed her hand on his neck and he dropped down. She had no time for anyone but the wizard.

She unlocked the heavy door and pushed it open stepping inside without seeing if it was clear to do so.

The first thing she saw was the fire blazing from either side of the room, creating a smokey atmosphere. It wasn't a fire that spread as it was contained within two giant pots of unknown material. In the middle of the room was the emerald chair with an enormous brass head directly above it. There was a curtain pressed closely against the walls throughout the room.

"You must be Elphaba." The voice came from nowhere and she twisted in her spot to find the person behind the voice. She kept her hands to her side, biding her time until she could see him.

"Where are you?" She spoke loudly, her eyes rapidly scanning the room for some kind of sign he was there.

"Here and there, maybe no where." The Wizards voice echoed through the room.

"Come out." She simply said, still trying to search for him.

"Perhaps... it depends what you need me to come out for?" The Wizard's voice inquired, ringing off the wall without a source. Some sort of magical spell.

Her jaw went rigid. "To talk." She lied.

"Talk…Usually people ask for an appointment to talk to me?"

She bit the inside of her cheek. "I didn't have time to wait."

"As I can clearly see." If he could see her that meant he really was in the room and not hiding somewhere else.

"Are you coming out?" She wondered, tapping her foot impatiently.

"It all depends on what you are here to talk about?" He asked making her blood boil. With every question she asked he would respond with his own.

"Many things." She answered bluntly.

"And would any of these things end with me bleeding or hurt?" He asked curiously.

"No. " She lied again.

It went quiet for a moment. "Who is to say I come out of my hiding and you decide to attack me?"

"Attacking you won't give me answers." She replied somewhat honestly. It also wouldn't give her the satisfaction to let him die so easily.

"True, but then attacking my men outside my door didn't either. Are they dead?" He questioned and she shrugged, knowing he was watching her.

"Probably not. "

"I do hope you are sure. They are good men."

She grew tired of the meaningless banter, it wasn't going nowhere. "I'm waiting to see the wonderful wizard of Oz in the flesh."

"I'm still waiting to be sure I won't end up dying if I do. I really do enjoy living."

Her eyed narrowed,"Do you? I think I can safely say that so does everyone you and your people want to make pure. I think they want to live too, despite anything you deem wrong of them. "

"Well, no one said they didn't. I think they all deserve to live, happy and with everything they would ever want!"

"Then why remove their identities? Why change them?" She growled.

"It's hard to let go of ones past. Sometimes there is no way to find or enjoy the happiness that is given to you until you forget the hardships of your past."

She chuckled dryly. "Lovely philosophy. I doubt anyone enjoys forgetting the good that was in their lives."

"It only means they get a new start in life, a new chance at better memories."

She was grinding her teeth, feeling her hands burn with energy. "Why bother saying that they'll get a new chance at life if you kill them for thinking otherwise?"

"Kill them?" He said, pretending to sound startled. "Miss Elphaba we don't kill here. We change them with their permission and those that don't want it are won over by the certainty of their happiness in their new life."

"So what do you call what happened to my friend Boq Fennet? Or Errin, Olsen, Benny, and Tarin - his wife? The Animals that the gale force shot down without a care? Or even my sister Nessarose Thropp who was laying in that pool of water here in that palace? Where is their new life?" She spat, feeling her hands begin to shake. The curtain she thought was too near to the wall to be important opened and out stepped a old man, confused. He wasn't anything special just an old man, the same as any other. This is who she aspired to work with once.

"Your sister?" He said sadly, "Animals? I ordered no such thing. Any person that doesn't agree is talked to, not killed." His worrisome face looking very convincing but she was not so easily fooled anymore.

"Then explain their deaths by your mens hands?"

The Wizard shook his head slowly."I have to be honest with you, I don't leave the palace at all to see what they do." He looked like a beaten dog, giving her a wistful look. It made her pause for a moment. He was lying, wasn't he?

"So you're saying you had no part in the order of their deaths?" She asked skeptically and he nodded.

"I didn't order any deaths, I only want them to have a life that they never knew they could have. Don't you want that?" He asked her optimistically, making Elphaba blink.

"Excuse me?"

"You're green and I don't say that with disgust." The Wizard held his hands up surrender before she tried anything. "I say it because you must have had children make fun of you your whole life, with a new life there would be no one that saw you differently. You wouldn't even need to change anything about your identity if you didn't want to. The only thing that we would change with your permission would be your skin color, and even then we wouldn't have to because no one would care after their change." His hands lowered when he noticed she wasn't going to attack. "We both want the world to be a better place. Not just you."

She shook her head violently, she would not fall for his nonsense."No, you and I are nothing alike and I'll be dead before you convince me to agree to your ploys." She raised her hand taking a sharp step forward.

"If that is what you wish, Miss Elphaba." The new voice entered the room and she froze.

Morrible entered with a smug look, Elphaba could have killed them both right there. It only took one lift of her hand to let everything go and end the lives of the two people who were to blame for everything; Boq's death; The Animals; Nessa….

"I do believe the choice you are making is the wrong one. You should side with the winners on this one Miss Thropp."

She scoffed, tiny drops of blood coming out from her mouth from biting her tongue too hard.."The winners of what? The only thing I know is that my sister is dead and so are other many innocents."

Morrible looked at the red that fell on the floor in disgust, as if it was the worst thing she had ever seen."You killed her yourself," Morrible had the audacity to say. "Your sister was alive when I last saw her. She reacted badly to the drug we injected her with but I was actually looking for a way to keep her alive outside of that special liquid. She would have enjoyed her new life with working legs….if you wouldn't have taken her out, of course." She gave Elphaba another wolfish grin.

Elphaba was shaking in anger. "You bitch."

Morrible cackled. "It was all your doing my dear."

The Wizard looked at Elphaba sorrowfully. "Miss Nessarose was such a sweet girl."

Morrible agreed with a nod, "She was your Ozness, It's a shame Miss Elphaba couldn't wait until we found a way to remove the drug from her system."

The Wizard blinked in surprise. "The drug? Madame you assured me that we wouldn't be using that?"

Morrible waved her hand in the air. "Plans change your Ozness, if we wanted to fulfill your dream of a better world we had to use it."

The Wizard gasped and placed a hand on his chest, "I believe I may need to step outside for a breath. '

Elphaba snapped her head to his direction lifting her hand that was already crackling with magic. "You are not going anywhere. Neither of you are." The Wizard hesitated and looked to her in distress.

"Miss Elphaba, don't make threats you can't carry out. You're weak. Otherwise you would have used your powers the moment you stepped in." Morrible teased and it only helped in angering Elphaba more.

"And if I wanted to kill you both at the same time?" She said glancing between the two of them in case either tried anything.

"You would have done it already. It's far too late now," She drawled lazily. "That's the price you pay for your hesitation."

"Maybe I was lying in wait for something."

"Or not, personally I find that with all the power and promise you once showed it's a pity to waste it this way, and now you and your friends suffer the consequences of your decisions." Morrible jeered, turning her head a little to the door from which she entered. Elphaba couldn't help herself when her eyes flickered towards the door as well, her jaw falling and heavy feeling settling in her chest watching Fiyero be pushed into the room, falling to the fall. Her lips drew back into a snarl, Fiyero's clothes were torn and her broom in splinters, his face showing signs of being beaten. The Wizard stared at him and made his way to the back of the room. She took a step forward and the only thing that stopped her was Avaric, who walked in holding a pistol to Galinda's head. Her limp body being held up by Avaric's other hand at her neck.

"Really now dear, you took your time and we can't have our plan ruined by children." Morrible clucked. Fiyero groaned and the man that pushed him down helped him stand. She recognized the man but decided that he wasn't where her focus should be.

"Bring me the prince." She ordered and the man nodded dragging Fiyero in front of her.

"Leave him alone." Elphaba growled accidentally setting off a few sparks at the man's direction.

He simply sidestepped them and Morrible raised her forehead high. "Have you developed feelings for the Tiggular's brainless son?"

Morrible's eyes widened when she didn't respond, "You have!" Morrible laughed a high pitched laugh, something that made her skin crawl.

"Not a bad looking boy, but an idiot, he tried to escape through my own room. Grommetik was quick to alert me. I thanked him for the documents he held before my guard here beat him down. I'm sure he could have held his own if it wasn't for the dimwitted blonde being unable to stand."

Elphaba's eyes went to Galinda and to Avaric who looked like he'd lost himself entirely. He wasn't there. Her friend wasn't there.

"Now really, hand over that bag you brought with you and maybe we'll let whatever new version we make of you be some loved girl, and whose to say that the new version of this brainless prince might not be taken by you?"

"If you think for a second that I would bring any of those documents with me, you are the most idiotic person in this room. I'd rather die than be that stupid. Those documents are currently in the hands of people who will make sure to end your career." She grinned brashly.

Morrible's disgusting little smile fell. "You stupid unappreciative fool." She spat. "The wizard and I offer you the opportunity of a lifetime and you throw away your life for nothing! Your poor attempt of a resistance ends in this room." Morrible's face looked enraged as she took a dagger from the guards belt. The blood in her face drained when Morrible lifted the knife to Fiyero's throat. Fiyero's hand rose rapidly to grab her hand but the other man stopped him. Holding his arms still as the blade touched his neck. He struggled trying to free his hand that was mere inches away from the blade.

"His parents wont be very happy with that you know." Elphaba said calmly, not letting herself feel a thing as she saw him struggle. If she lost control she could end up hurting Fiyero, Galinda, even herself.

Morrible bared her teeth at her. "His parents will be next."

The Wizard looked on at the two and Elphaba's heart pounded in her chest. "His parents have your plans with signatures in their hands at the moment. By the time you look for them an army will be looking for you. Give it up." She tried to reason.

"Then I make sure their only son is dead, along with the traitorous blonde." Morrible quickly turned to Avaric, "Shoot the blonde!" She shouted and Avaric acknowledged her order with a nod, his finger on the trigger. Elphaba could feel the blood rush to her ears seeing him start to press the trigger without another thought. There was a pause, for a split second before he depressed it, and she recognized the look of awareness in his face. His hand jerked up an instant later and she heard the shot resonate throughout the room. Watching as he fell, blood flowing from his own head as Morrible screamed in anger would be something Elphaba would never forget in her life, that much she knew.

Morrible screamed profanities and the man who held Fiyero let him go, horrified by the sight of Avaric's blood.

Morrible gripped her dagger tighter trying to cut at Fiyero's throat, but the moment the man had let go of him, Fiyero had raised his hand to protect his neck. The thought of losing him as well was the thing that let her finally let go of any hesitation she had.

"Fiyero!" She shouted in distress using Morrible's careless distraction to finally aim a blast of magic at her.

Morrible's face was one of someone who didn't expect to be defeated. Her mouth opened and her eyes rolled back, letting the bloody blade fall from her hands as she dropped to the floor.

Fiyero fisted his hand tightly and held it with his other, it bled profusely as he limped over to her.

Elphaba was breathing heavily feeling a line of sweat run down her face. Anger was the only thing she felt but Fiyero whispered a few words to her, "We're okay. It's done."

It was not done. It would never be done and it was not okay.

"I need you. Come back to me." It was those words that finally did it for her, she slowly turned to him feeling the tears burning in her eyes. Fiyero looked on with a pained expression and she surpassed every emotion that wasn't the affection she felt for Fiyero or concern over the way his hand bled on everything. She needed to take control and she needed to be there to help.

Elphaba rushed to the dagger that Morrible had dropped and cut off a piece of her dress taking the time to wrap it around Fiyero's blood filled hand not wanting, or needing, to look to where Avaric lay but knowing she needed to go and get Galinda off of him. Fiyero placed his good hand on her cheek, staining her with blood but she didn't care. He carefully leaned his head lower and gently kissed her before pulling away and nodding towards Galinda. Neither aware or both forgetting of the Wizards presence at the end of the room and of the man still standing frozen nearby.

"We need to get her out of here." He whispered. Elphaba sniffled and nodded brushing his hair off his bruised face before turning around and seeing the dark haired man stare at the blood that ran from the spot Avaric lay. He didn't make a move when she moved towards Galinda and she was glad of it because she would not hesitate to kill him. Elphaba focused on Galinda and the way her arms trembled as she pushed herself off the ground. Galinda's saw the blood she was now covered in and followed the trail to the source. She strained to push herself over and Elphaba hurried over feeling as if her legs were made of stone as she did. Galinda's hand shook as she placed it over Avaric's chest and her blues eyes opened a little before she closed them again, falling directly over him.

Elphaba sinked to the floor to remove her from him.

"GUARDS!" The wizards voice thundered through the castle startling her.

She jerked her head back seeing the bronze head come to life. The only thing she concentrated on was prying Galinda off of Avaric's body as Fiyero kneeled beside her. He looked at her in defeat and let his hand rest on her shoulder.

We are almost at the end. Only four more chapters to go!

Thanks for reading!