AU: Currently listening to Willemijn Verkaik's very first Defying Gravity from her premiere at Broadway yesterday. Absolutely amazing. I so wish I could see her there - go and do it if you get the chance.

So another tiny-whiny bit of fluff... but not Elphiyero fluff ^^. Well, not only Elphiyero fluff, anyway. Plus some rather interesting developments on Morrible's part - that horrible hag.

Disclaimer: Still saving money to be able to buy the rights someday. Until then, not mine.

Glinda the Good was standing in front of her giant window, staring outside without really seeing anything. She was worried about Elphie. She had wanted to stay at the Animal hideout until her friend came back, so that she could see for herself that Elphie was all right, but Maráni had sent her away, knowing the blonde had many other things to do. The Wolf had promised to look after Elphie, and so had Fiyero, but she wanted to be there for her friend herself and she felt awful about not being able to do that.

She opened the big glass doors leading to the balcony and stepped outside. The City was glowing green – a sight that only reminded her of her friend even more. She sighed and just went to go back inside when a small Blackbird landed on the edge of the balcony, clearly out of breath. 'Are you Lady Glinda?'

The blonde girl looked at the Bird questioningly. 'Yes?'

'Maráni sent me,' the Blackbird told her, panting a little. 'She knew you much you would worry about Elphaba and she told me to tell you that she is all right – Elphaba, that is, not Maráni.'

A wave of relief washed over her. 'Elphie came back?'

The Bird nodded. 'She has returned safely. She and Fiyero left the hideout this morning to go and see his family.'

Glinda who, being his former fiancée, knew Fiyero's family, nodded, reassured. 'They're amazing people – I'm sure Fiyero and Elphie will be safe with them. Thank you for telling me.'

'You are very welcome.' The Blackbird wiggled its feathers. 'Well, then I guess I'll better get going again. Goodbye, Lady Glinda.' Then it flew off towards the City.

Glinda went inside again, feeling much better already. She changed into one of her more formal gowns and, feeling ready to face the rest of the day, she left for her study to meet Ozians in need of her help.

Hours passed as she gave advice and support and bubbly and reassuring smiles to everyone coming to see her until she felt like she would burst if she would hear one more 'Thank you, your Goodness'. A servant came in to announce her final guest and she suppressed a tortured moan. 'Lady Glinda? Master Tinman is here to see you – again,' he added a bit sarcastically. Glinda brightened a bit. 'Of course! Send him in.'

She knew why he had came to see her – again, as the servant had said. He had requested several audiences with her over the past few weeks, begging her over and over again to try and reverse the spell that had turned him to tin in the first place, and she hadn't been able to help him. She had been feeling awful about it. After his last audience with her, however, she had studied the Grimmerie in search of a spell that could help him, and after hours of searching, she had found one. She wasn't sure it would work, but she thought it was at least worth a try.

She smiled her bubbly smile when he came in. 'Master Tinman, hello! It's good to see you!'

He looked a bit taken aback. She couldn't blame him – she wasn't usually this jumpy when he came to see her, but she was very happy she'd found a way to help him. 'I have good news for you!'

She saw hope lighting up his tin face. 'You…'

'Yes!' She clapped her hands with delight. Then she opened a drawer and pulled out the Grimmerie, flipping through the pages. She barely gave him time to say anything, anything at all, before she started chanting. 'Ahma Eleka Dah Tay So Tay Raz Nahmen Tum Ay!'

A bright white flash lit up the room, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them again, she gasped. Her spell had worked, but that wasn't even why she was so shocked. The reason for that was that she knew the human being that was now standing in front of her.

'Boq?!' she squealed. He looked at his hand and arms in awe, clearly not believing his eyes. 'It worked! Glinda, it worked!' Before she knew it, he was enveloping her in a big hug. 'Thank you! Thank you so much!'

'Boq?!' she repeated, not able to think of anything else to say. He merely shrugged. 'Yes, it's me. Don't worry about not recognising me – I didn't imagine you would. No one did.'

She felt dumbstruck. The Scarecrow had been Fiyero. The Tinman had been Boq. Where does that leave the Lion? A still alive Nessarose in disguise, or something? She felt really stupid for not recognising them, even though they didn't blame her.

'Boq,' she said a third time, and he looked at her. 'You know? I think this has been the first time you got my name right – and that three times in a row.'

She was blushing furiously, but she ignored his comment. 'What happened?'

His face darkened. 'The Wicked Witches happened,' he snarled. 'Elphaba and Nessarose Thropp. They did this to me!'

Glinda could not believe that her best friend would do such a thing to poor innocent Boq and she immediately decided the green girl must have had a good reason to do it. 'Listen, Boq… I don't know about Nessa, but Elphie would never do such a thing unless she had a really good reason to.' She saw the sceptic look on his face and emphasised, 'I knew her, Boq.' She had been going to say 'I know her', but she swallowed those words just in time. 'She was my best friend. She was a good person.' She didn't care if Elphie didn't want her to clear her name or not. Boq had been a friend back at Shiz and she wanted at least him to know the truth. She resolved that she was going to ask Elphaba about this the next time she saw her.

Boq smiled a bit sadly. 'I don't think you really did know her, Glinda. She was wicked, and so was her sister.'

Glinda shook her head. 'Never mind that,' she said, letting the subject slide for now. 'I mean… you're back to normal!'

His face immediately brightened again. 'I know!' He hugged her again, making her just a bit uncomfortable, but she let him – he had a good reason to be this happy, after all. 'Thank you so much!'

'Don't mention it,' she said, waving one hand in the air. 'I'm glad I could help.'

'No, really,' he insisted. 'I want to do something in return for you. Can I help you in any way? With your duties, perhaps? You are the ruler of Oz now, after all – I'd imagine you need all the help you can get.'

She slumped down in her chair. 'Well, yes, to be quite honest, you're right about that. It's just so tiring, meeting all these people, being responsible for everyone…' She rubbed her temples and sighed. 'And the smiling. Smiling and waving, all the time. Everything feels so fake and no one even seems to notice.'

He gently touched her hand. 'I noticed. That's why I asked in the first place.'

She smiled wearily. 'Thanks, Boq. I appreciate it.' Suddenly, she got an idea. 'If you really want to help… would you mind staying with me for now? I have this dinner in about an hour with this Ambassador, the most dreary man you'll ever meet in your entire life, and I could use some company – if only to keep me awake for the time being.'

He laughed and touched her hand again. 'Of course. I'll be there.'

'Thank you.' She got up and crossed the room to get to the door. 'I'm going to change for dinner. You just wait here – I'll be ready in a clock-tick.'

He smiled at her. 'I'll be waiting, Lady Glinda.'

'Please,' she called over her shoulder while breezing out of the room. 'Call me Glinda!'

'This looks like a decent place to spend the night,' Fiyero decided, looking around the clearing they were in. Elphaba nodded. 'As good a place as any. At least it's a bit shielded so that any potential passer-by's won't be able to see us.'

Fiyero spread a blanket on the floor and started unpacking some food from one of the bags. 'Are you hungry?'

'Not really,' she conceded, settling herself on the blanket next to him. He looked at her rather critically. 'Do you ever eat? I could count your ribs if I wanted to – you look like a walking skeleton, you're so skinny!'

'Why, thank you, love,' she replied drily, which made him smile. 'Don't worry. You are still the most beautiful walking skeleton I've ever seen.'

She rolled her eyes and poked his abdomen. 'Well, some of us should eat a little more, and some of us should eat a little less, right?' she teased him. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his body, of course – he had a slim and muscular figure any other man would be jealous of. Still, she couldn't resist teasing him a bit.

He stiffened in the middle of his movements. 'Am I getting fat?'

She chuckled, picked up a piece of dry meat and fed it to him. 'I bet you couldn't get fat if you wanted to.'

'Thank Oz,' he breathed, causing her to elbow him in the stomach. 'You vain creature.'

He smiled and offered her some bread, which she refused. 'As I said, I'm not hungry.'

'And as I said, you're starting to get way too thin.'

'I can't eat when I'm nervous.'

'Then are you always nervous?'

She glared at him. 'Don't you think I've had reason to, for the past few weeks?'

He immediately became serious again. 'You're right. I'm sorry. But I still think you should eat something.'

She let out an exaggerated sigh, picked up an apple and took a bite. 'There. Happy now?'

He grinned at her. 'Very.'

She laughed and they ate for a while in content silence. He went to gather some berries from the bushes surrounding the clearing and he dangled them above her face, causing her to have to tilt her head backwards to catch them in her mouth. He chuckled. 'We could pose for one of Glinda's favourite love stories like this.'

Elphaba giggled, swallowed the berries and planted a kiss on his lips. 'She used to read those to me back at Shiz, despite – or maybe even because of – the fact that I kept telling her I hated love stories.'

He nuzzled her cheek. 'Did you?'

'Not really,' she admitted quietly. 'I always pretended not to listen, burying my nose in one of my own books to make it look convincing, but I was listening. I secretly dreamed of living such a love story myself, but I never thought anyone could ever love me and so I simply accepted it as something that would happen to other girls, but not to me.' She fell silent for a while, before softly adding, 'Not in my wildest dreamings could I have imagined that it would, one day.'

He wrapped his arms around her and was about to say something when suddenly a voice behind them said, 'Oh! That's so sweet!'

Elphaba spun around, releasing her magic in a reflex before she even realised what she was doing. The small creature behind her gave a screech and jumped out of the way just in time – the stream of magic destroyed a tree instead. Elphaba drew in her breath with a sharp hiss when he recognised the Animal. 'Nuki!' she yelled. 'Do you have a death wish or something?!'

'I didn't think you'd kill anyone who merely surprised you!' the small Cat shrieked, her tail thick and every hair on her body upright with fear.

'I thought you were Morrible!' Elphaba shouted back. Her whole body was trembling now that the shock had worn off – she had nearly killed one of her best friends!

Fiyero rubbed her back in a soothing manner. 'Ssh, Fae, it's okay. You didn't hurt her.' He looked at the Cat a bit uncertain. 'She didn't, did she?'

'Just a heart attack is all,' Nuki replied grumbling, visibly trying to calm herself. 'I'm fine.' Now she looked a bit guilt-stricken. 'And I guess I maybe even deserved it for sneaking up on you like that.'

Fiyero quirked an eyebrow. 'Why did you sneak up on us like that?'

'Does Maráni know you're here?' Elphaba demanded. She was still very tense, but she forced herself to calm down. Fiyero was right – she didn't hurt Nuki and that was the most important thing right now.

'I left a note for her,' Nuki answered Elphaba's question first. 'I knew she would never let me go if I asked her to.'

'I wonder why that would be,' Elphaba said sarcastically. Nuki grinned at her before growing serious again. 'I just… well…' She shifted a bit uncomfortably before blurting out, 'I just really missed you since you left, and I didn't want to have to miss you again, so I came with you.'

Elphaba was silent for a moment; then she knelt down next to the Cat, picked her up and cradled her against her chest. 'I know, Nuki,' she whispered. 'I missed you too. And I'd love for you to come with me, but…'

'Fae.' She looked up at Fiyero, who had been watching them. 'You can't send her back. We've been travelling for days already – certainly you wouldn't want her to go on such a journey back all by herself?' He winked at Nuki, who gave him a grateful smile.

Elphaba sighed, knowing she couldn't argue with that. 'Fine, then. You can come with us. Just… please don't ever scare me like that ever again.'

Nuki shivered involuntarily at the mere thought of what could have happened. 'Oh, trust me. I won't.'

'Where have you been all this time, anyway?'

'In one of your bags,' the Cat replied proudly. 'The one with most of the food and water in it – most of which is gone, by the way. Sorry about that, but hey, I had to eat, right?'

Elphaba shook her head in disbelief and Fiyero made a face. 'I should say you've been hanging around Elphaba for too long. She's starting to rub off on you.'

'I just raised her to be extremely smart and creative,' Elphaba defended herself, laughing. 'Nothing wrong with that. I would be proud of you, Nuki, if it weren't for your extreme disobedience.'

The small Cat beamed and Fiyero rolled his eyes. 'Shall we go to sleep now?' he suggested, being tired himself and imagining Elphaba to be, too. She smiled at him and nodded. 'It's getting dark, anyway. If we go to sleep now, we can rise early tomorrow morning to take off again.'

They settled for the night, lying next to each other on the blanket on the floor with another blanket covering them. Nuki made herself comfortable at Elphaba's feet, closing her orange eyes and drifting off to sleep within clock-ticks. Elphaba curled up on her side and closed her eyes, too. It had been a tiring day and she was hovering on the edge of sleep when Fiyero suddenly whispered, 'Elphaba?'

Eyes still closed, she murmured, 'Hmm?'

It was silent for a while and she almost drifted off to sleep again when she heard him ask uncertainly, 'Are you sure I'm not getting fat?'

'You see?' Morrible hissed, pointing at the prince, the Cat and the green girl, sitting on a blanket in a clearing in the woods. 'Didn't I tell you?'

The village people started muttering incredulously to one another, but they knew their eyes weren't deceiving them. Right in front of them was the Wicked Witch of the West and she was very much alive.

'We should kill her,' one of the men snarled, pricking his pitchfork in the air. 'We should kill her right here and now!'

The murmuring of the people grew louder, but Morrible got them silent again with one glance. Although she didn't show it, she was very pleased with her progress. The people had been sceptic at first, of course – they all recognised their former Press Secretary and they all knew about her betrayal and her fall from grace – but they couldn't deny what they were seeing. With that, she suddenly had them following her around again like a herd of sheep.

'No,' she said, her voice low, but dangerous. 'Not now. We should wait. Wait until we can get her alone. As soon as that Winkie prince leaves her side…'

'Should we kill him, too?' another man asked. Morrible thought about that for a clock-tick before dismissing it with a hand gesture. 'Do whatever pleases you. I don't care what happens to him.'

'So we just hang around here until the boy leaves so we can kill the Witch?' a woman asked. Morrible shook her head. 'Only the men will be here waiting with me for our chance to attack,' she said. 'You, my ladies, have more important matters to attend to.' She fixed her gaze upon the women, her eyes piercing. 'Venture out into every village near this place and tell them about this. Make sure they tell everyone else about this. Spread the word through all of Oz – tell everyone the Wicked Witch is still alive!'

'Have we got everything?' asked Elphaba, flinging a bag over her shoulder and leaning on her crutch. Fiyero, without saying anything, gently pulled the bag off her shoulder again and flung it over his own. She let out an irritable sigh, but didn't protest – she knew he liked to be a gentleman to her, especially now that she had been hurt, and so she let him.

He flashed her a smile. 'I guess so.' Nuki jumped on his shoulder and said cheerfully, 'I'm ready!'

They left the clearing, wandering into the still dark forest again. The sun hadn't even risen yet, but they had all been up early – even Fiyero, much to everyone's surprise – and so they had decided they might as well leave. They'd still have to cover quite a distance before they'd reach Adurin Iir, the castle Fiyero's parents were currently living in.

'How many castles do you have?' Elphaba had asked him, lifting her eyebrows, as he had told her about it. He had had to think about that question, much to his embarrassment – it made him feel all the more like a spoiled rich boy. 'Uhm… There's Kiamo Ko, and Adurin Iir… then we have the summer castle I can't ever remember the name of… there's the castle my grandparents are living in right now – although I do believe they'll be visiting my parents at Adurin Iir this time of the year… About five, I guess? Could be six, though – I'm not sure.'

She had stared at him for a moment before bursting out in laughter, and she had been teasing him with it ever since. It did sound quite obnoxious, he had to acknowledge – but the castles had been in his family for years and he usually didn't even think about the fact that maybe other people didn't own six castles.

They walked in silence most of the way, him and Elphaba, although Nuki spent quite a bit of the road chattering about one thing or another, clearly excited to be going on this adventure with them. It was nearly noon when they stopped for a quick lunch.

'Now you're hungry, right?' he asked suspiciously, eyeing Elphaba up and down. 'I mean, we've been walking all morning and you didn't have a decent breakfast, either. You have to be hungry. Please tell me you're hungry.'

She chuckled – she knew he would keep worrying about her being too thin and she found it quite amusing. She wasn't even lying when she told him, 'Yes, I'm hungry. Starving, even.'

He looked relieved. 'Good! You can go ahead and unpack some of the food – I'm going to fetch a few of those berries I saw not far away from here. I'll be back in a few minutes.'

'Don't rush.' She fed Nuki some dried meat and stuck a slice of bread in her own mouth before opening any of the other packs. Nuki crawled into one of the bags, making herself comfortable and closing her eyes. 'If you're looking for me, I'm taking a nap.'

She smiled and ate a few grapes as she waited for Fiyero to come back. Suddenly, she heard a rustling sound behind her and she spun, immediately on guard, but she had never in a million lifetimes expected to see what she was seeing right now.

It was Morrible. She wasn't wearing her usual make-up or elaborate gowns, but it was unmistakeably her. Her cold, snake-like eyes were blazing and she was not alone – behind her was a fairly large group of men with pitchforks, torches and sticks, looking rather murderously at her. Morrible smiled – a cold, meaningful smile that sent shivers down Elphaba's spine. 'Why, my dear gentlemen,' she said, addressing the men standing behind her but keeping her gaze fixed on the green girl in front of her, 'it seems like we finally caught our Wicked Witch. And this time,' her gaze intensified and Elphaba suppressed another shiver, 'she will not escape. This time…' She let her voice trail away on purpose, a rather dramatic effect to emphasise her next words – completely unnecessary, but effective nonetheless. 'This time she will die,' Morrible finished in a threateningly low voice, almost a whisper.

Elphaba whirled around and released her magic in the direction of the former Press Secretary, knocking down the witch hunters around her, but the woman herself didn't even blink. 'Is that all you can do?'

The green girl snarled and released another wave of magic, equally useless. What was happening? She knew Morrible was still stronger than her, but her magic was strong, too – she should at least be able to knock the woman down, especially since Morrible didn't do anything at all to defend herself. She reached into one of the bags, clutching her fingers around a knife. In one swift movement, she pulled it out and threw it at Morrible. It hit the older woman in the chest, but strangely, she didn't seem affected by it at all.

The woman examined the knife with feigned interest. 'Oh, my. Isn't that interesting?' She pulled it out and Elphaba watched in horror as the wound healed immediately, not leaving so much as a scratch. What had happened since she last saw Morrible?

She knew she couldn't go anywhere – not without Fiyero, anyway, and she had no idea where he was. She was trapped. She spun around, noticing the men to be slowly surrounding her, blocking her every way out of this hopeless situation. Morrible was watching her with a wicked smile. 'You don't have your man or your broom, dearie. There's no way you can get away now.'

Elphaba felt hopeless. What could she do? Finally, she just opened her mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs, 'Fiyero!'

...Yes. I know. Now that I have gotten the taste for cliffhangers, I can't seem to stop. Heheh. Please boo! ^^