DISCLAIMER: in the first chapter...

A/N: I know it's short and that I took some time to update. Forgive. I promise I'll post the next chap in a couple of days. Thank you all who reviewed, one way or another. I fought my lack of time and lazyness to finish this story just for you. Enjoy!

NOT A WARNING AFTER ALL

Liir?

Everything faded away after that.

Elphaba didn't know how long she floated in nothingness. She didn't quite understand the feeling of no up and down, of no light or shadow, of no thought or word, but she felt it. Elphaba couldn't help but remember a similar state of being in the moments that preceded her waking into the past. This was different, though. There was no sense of time. Oddly, she felt…

Peaceful.

Like all the answers she had ever sought were hers for the taking.

The light didn't appear slowly, illuminating the dark. In a single moment, it simply was and Elphaba found herself surrounded by desert on all sides. There was nothing else but blue skies and sand as far as the eye could see. With surprise, Elphaba found that she could actually feel the heat rising up from the ground, could feel the thousands of grains under her bare feet.

It was realer than any vision she had ever had.

So lost in thought she was that Elphaba nearly jumped out of her skin when a small hand found hers. Quickly, she glanced down, meeting Liir's blue eyes. Eyes that held nothing but joy at seeing her. She squeezed his delicate hand and lowered herself to his height.

"Liir?"

Elphaba was sure that she had spoken, had felt her own lips forming the word and the air leaving her lungs, but she didn't hear his name being said. She tried again, same result. Her confusion made her hold on tighter to the boy, bringing his frail body to hers. He didn't protest, throwing his chubby arms around her neck.

The anti-social girl, who had preferred books to people, had never been fond of children. They demanded too much attention, were always getting into trouble and were, invariably, always dirty. However, kneeling in the sand and hugging her son for the first time, Elphaba felt like a mother usually feels on such a moment.

Content.

Elphaba pulled back, only enough to look at her sons blue eyes. Her voice may not work, but she was determined to understand this vision. Her brown gaze did all the talking she wanted to do and, normally, a child this young would have been unable to understand. Liir was no ordinary child, though and this wasn't a normal situation.

"It's okay, Mommy. You already have the answer already. You know what to do."

I do?

Liir's small hand reached up and smoothed the wrinkles on her brow.

"Everything is going to be alright, Mommy."

Alright?

How could Elphaba believe it when she had witnessed more than one vision where her precious son was caught in peril? Too many signs pointed another way. Morrible, the Grimmerie, all that blood she had seen. They couldn't have been anything but a warning…

Her dark haired boy shook his head vehemently.

"No, Mommy, not a warning. Some things can't be changed. Some things you have to do. Morrible has to be stopped, Mommy, and only you can do it. Forever."

But how?

"Everything is going to be alright, Mommy."

Elphaba saw the horizon fading into darkness, slowly closing in on her and Liir and, desperately, held her son closer to her own trembling body. Oh, what was she supposed to do! Liir didn't loose his calm and didn't return his mother's embrace. He only spoke, quietly, in her ear, before he plainly disappeared and Elphaba was left to hold nothing but thin air. His sweet, childish voice echoed around her before the horizon of nothingness reached her hunched figure.

"It's okay, Mommy. You already have the answer already. You know what to do."