AN: Again, thank you all so much! I really loved your reviews!

- Wicked4Life: I'm so sorry, I completely forgot to answer your question! *blushes furiously* Please forgive me!

To answer both of them now:

1) The spells are a mixture of words from the spells that are used in the musical (Eleka Nahmen Nahmen Ah Tum Ah Tum Eleka Nahmen…) and words I just made up, and yes, I did throw in a Latin word every now and then, to make it sound interesting, but the spells don't really mean anything :P.

2) I honestly couldn't tell you. I love every single song from the musical; The Wizard And I is probably my favourite overall, but when I have to think Glinda/Elphaba songs, I'd probably be cliché and go with For Good. I do love What Is This Feeling too, though.

By the way, you'll find out about the plan in this chapter :).

- EvilLoveTriangle: Trust me, you will be upset again after you've read this chapter *smirk*.

- TazmaniaLizard: I read your review and you gave me an idea. You'll know after you're finished reading this chapter.

- Susana: Your wish is my command!

- ChaoticSymphonyofDarkness: Thank you so much! I really love that you love it so much :).

- James Birdsong: Thank you!

- Silvine Graycine: You're right... but if every character would always go for the easier, safer, more viable option, what fun would stories be? ^^

And no, I did not know there was a prince named Corrin in the Narnia books. To be completely honest, I really couldn't come up with good male Ozian names, so I used the name Corin from Vinkunwildflowerqueen's stories and added an extra r. All credit for the name goes to her. Thank you so much for tipping me off about her stories - I've been hooked ever since the first one of hers I read :).

So, enough with the impossibly long AN and on with the story!

Disclaimer: Na-ah.

'I can't believe she did this – again!' Fiyero fumed, pacing up and down the library with large, angry steps. Nuki, who was nestled in Anwen's lap, caught his gaze and raised an eyebrow at him. He grumbled in response. 'All right, let me rephrase that. I can't believe I fell for it – again.'

'Well,' his father said drily. 'It does sort of prove our point about you not having a brain.'

Everyone chuckled at that – except for Fiyero himself, of course, who merely glared at his mother and turned to pace to the other side of the room again.

'Fiyero,' said his mother quietly, and he directed his gaze at her. 'I haven't known her for too long, but I think I can safely say that she is quite the stubborn young woman…'

Fiyero snorted. 'You could say that!'

'…and that she would have found some way to leave without you, even if you had foreseen this,' she finished.

Nuki nodded. 'It's true, Fiyero. Maráni said the exact same thing last time.'

'I would have found some way to prevent it from happening,' Fiyero declared. 'I don't know – I could have hidden her broom, or something.' He realised how stupid that sounded the moment the words left his mouth and he grumbled again. 'All right, so perhaps I couldn't have prevented her from going.'

'She'll be fine, Fiyero,' his mother reassured him, resting her hand on his shoulder to stop his pacing. 'You'll just have to be patient.'

'Glinda?' Elphaba whispered, slipping quietly into the blonde's bedroom. 'Are you here?'

'Elphie?' her friend whispered back, surprised. She lit a candle and Elphaba saw her sitting on the edge of the bed in a pink nightgown. 'What are you doing here?'

Elphaba hugged her friend. 'Oh, Glinda, I'm so glad you're okay!' She looked at the blonde questioningly. 'Was it Morrible?'

Glinda nodded sourly. 'She almost had me. Thank Oz I had so many guards with me – and Corrin, of course,' she added with a mischievous smile, which caused Elphaba to raise an eyebrow. 'Oh?'

'I told you about him, didn't I, Elphie? That he has been helping me with everything?' the blonde asked. 'Especially right after… you know… what happened at the cornfield, Fiyero being dragged away and you disappearing… he has been of great support to me. I can't even imagine what I would have done had he not been there.'

Elphaba grinned at her friend. 'I hope pink is his favourite colour.'

Glinda glowered at her. 'See, this is exactly why I didn't want to tell you!' she whined. 'I knew you'd laugh at me!'

The green girl's eyes widened. 'You like him!'

'No I don't!' Glinda quickly protested, but it was too late. Elphaba, however, managed to keep her sarcastic comments to herself and smile at her friend. 'Don't even bother denying it. Don't worry, I'm not going to tease you. I'm happy for you, Glin, really. You deserve someone to love you.'

'Who said he loves me?' Glinda asked a bit unhappily. 'Well, Boq think he does, but…'

'Who would not love you?' Elphaba asked, and Glinda had to admit she had a point there. 'But I don't mean it like that... I mean, the people of Oz love me too, but how will I know if he loves me in that way?'

'Glinda.' Elphaba kneeled in front of her friend and took her hands in hers. 'You are the kindest, prettiest, most amazing person I've ever known. If that man doesn't love you, he doesn't deserve you.'

Glinda smiled at her, somewhat reassured. 'I can't be sure, though,' she said, sighing. 'He left again last night – but he promised he'd be back within a few days, and that he would stay longer this time.' Her face clearly lit up at that thought and Elphaba returned her smile. 'Good.' Then she became a bit more serious. 'I'd like to know some more about the attack, though.'

The blonde girl nodded. 'It happened when I was in the City, you know, telling people how wonderful everything is, as you once put it,' she said pointedly, and Elphaba flashed her a grin before growing serious again. 'And then suddenly this… this woman was hurling herself at me, and she had a knife… The guards immediately dragged her off of me, so that she couldn't hurt me, but I recognised her. It was Morrible and she looked ready to kill me on the spot, had she been able to.' Glinda shuddered at the memory and Elphaba wrapped her arms around her friend. 'I'm so sorry,' she said, he throat feeling thick with unshed tears. 'She only did it to get to me. If I'd known this…'

'Oh, Elphie, don't blame yourself!' Glinda said, hugging the green girl. 'Actually, I suspect she also wanted to get back at me – you know, for throwing her in prison. I believe she did not have the best of times down there,' she sniggered, but Elphaba didn't find it funny at all. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again, there was determination written all over her face. 'Glinda… I'm going to set a plan in motion, and I need you to promise me something.'

'Anything,' Glinda said immediately, and Elphaba smiled a bit sadly at that. 'All right. If anything should happen to me… I'm not saying it's going to, but the possibility is there and so I need you to promise this… will you make sure Fiyero is all right?'

The blonde looked at her, puzzled. 'What?'

Elphaba sighed. 'Okay, the blonde version – if I die, will you clear his name for me?'

Glinda frowned, offended. 'Hey, I may be blonde, I'm not stu- what do you mean, if you die?' Her voice went up until she sounded like she had in her Galinda days, squealing. 'And what do you mean, clear his name?'

'I mean,' Elphaba said patiently, 'that if something should happen to me, I don't want to drag him down with me. Right now, they think of him as a traitor, but if I'm gone, I want him to have a chance to be happy again, and for that, I need you to clear his name. Tell the people I put him under a love spell, or something like that. They'll believe it, and he won't be blamed for his actions later because everyone will think it was because of that spell.'

Glinda looked at her friend admiringly. 'How did you get so smart?'

'I'm not sure if it was the reading, the studying, or the thinking,' Elphaba replied drily, which made Glinda giggle before she grew serious again. 'Elphie… How big is the chance that… you know… something should happen to you?'

Elphaba looked out the window for a moment, a grim expression on her face. 'I'm not sure, Glinda. Not yet, anyway.'

'Oh, Elphie,' Glinda said in a choked voice, hugging her friend. Elphaba hugged her back, but pressed on. 'You promise?'

'Promise,' Glinda said, close to tears. Elphaba tried to reassure her before telling her that she really had to leave now. 'There are lots of things that need to be done,' she said. 'But we'll see each other again, I promise.' They hugged each other one more time before she left again, this time heading towards the Great Kells.

On her way there, she couldn't help but feel guilty about leaving Fiyero this way, but she had felt like she didn't have a choice. She didn't want him to come with her, and knowing him, he would never have let her leave on her own. She winced slightly at the thought of how angry he would be when he would wake up and not find her next to him, but this simply had to be done. This was bigger than him, bigger than both of them – she only hoped he would forgive her for doing it.

She landed near the secret entrance, knocked on the rock door, greeted Rro and kept going until she was in front of the big doors again. The same guard was there, glaring at her. 'Miss Rose to see Master Gold,' she announced, and instead of making a fuss like last time, he merely nodded and let her in. Gold seemed to have been expecting her, which didn't really surprise her – sometimes she thought the man could read minds.

'Elphaba,' he said, once they were alone. 'How are you?'

'I've been better,' she replied truthfully and he turned to look at her. 'What is on your mind?'

'I found a way to kill Morrible,' she said simply, and he looked stunned. 'You have?' It didn't surprise her in the least that he knew about Morrible being free and immortal – as the leader of the Resistance, it was his job to know those things. She quickly explained to him what she had found, and he frowned. 'This plan is not without danger, Elphaba. Are you sure there is no other way?'

She shook her head. 'I've been combing out every magic book I could get my hands on, including the Grimmerie, and this is the only solution that came up. I know it's dangerous, but it has to happen.'

'And obviously you're planning to do it yourself.' It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement. Gold knew Elphaba pretty well by now. They had spent much time together, both being important members of the Resistance, and she was like a younger sister to him. He hated to put her in danger, but he knew she was capable of making her own decisions and arguing with her would only make things worse.

'Of course,' Elphaba said, as if that was a ridiculous question. 'I couldn't very well put anyone else in danger because Morrible is trying to get to me, right?'

'Right,' he agreed reluctantly. She smiled at him. 'Don't worry. I'll be okay.'

He sighed and she took a closer look at him. When she had first met him, she had though him to be about forty years old, but she now knew he just looked older than he actually was; he couldn't be very much older than she was, around thirty at the most, but there were slight wrinkles around his eyes and he always looked a bit tired, as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. She knew the feeling – she suspected that was why they were such a great team; they both cared, they both wanted to help, and they would both put everything else aside, including their own safety, to save the ones they loved.

His eyes met hers and she couldn't help but note the weariness inside them. 'Just hang on,' she said to him, gently squeezing his hand in a reassuring gesture. 'Let me deal with Morrible. Once she is gone, our tasks will slowly become superfluous – Oz is doing well under the reign of Glinda the Good. Soon, she'll be able to manage without the Resistance assisting her – even though she never actually knew we were assisting her.'

Gold laughed softly. 'Sweet Oz, Elphaba, please be careful,' he said, enveloping her in a brief hug. She stepped back and locked eyes with him. 'One more thing,' she said solemnly, immediately catching his full attention with her grave look.

'Promise me,' she started, trying not to think of how much the success of her plan would depend on promises several people made, 'that… Let's put it this way: One of the possible outcomes of this situation is that I will be able to break Morrible's immortality spell, but that I won't be around to finish her off.' The spell she had found would break Morrible's immortality, but would not kill her – they'd still have to do that afterwards. 'Then please finish her off for me at the first chance you get.'

'Of course,' Gold immediately consented, and she gave him a tired smile. 'Thank you.'

'You shouldn't leave now,' he said, gesturing towards the door. 'It's already midmorning – they'll see you. You should stay here until dark.'

She hesitated, and he pressed on, 'Come on, I know there's more people you need to see to be able to execute that plan of yours, but I'm sure those people can wait a few hours. Besides, you've got some stressful days ahead of you – you should sleep a little while you still have the chance.'

She mulled over the idea for a moment more before finally nodding. 'All right.'

Gold smiled. 'I'll have someone show you a room.'

'Fabala!' Maráni exclaimed as soon as Elphaba entered the Animal hideout. Elphaba smiled broadly and went to hug the big Wolf. 'It's good to see you again, Maráni.'

'Please tell me Nuki is with you,' Maráni asked worriedly and Elphaba chuckled. 'She's back at Adurin Iir with Fiyero's family, being spoiled by his sisters.'

Maráni looked relieved. 'Good. I'm definitely going to have a word with her next time I see her – she had me worried sick when she just disappeared. As if one small note would be enough to put my mind at ease!'

'How is everyone?' asked Elphaba as she followed the Wolf to a room where they could sit and talk. Maráni nodded. 'Fine. Doctor Dillamond seems really happy to have picked up his medicine again, and… well, everyone else is fine, too. Will you stay long enough for the cubs to see you? They'll be thrillified.'

'Of course,' Elphaba agreed immediately, and Maráni smiled at her. 'Good. Your… Oscar is fine, too. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you.'

'As much as the mere idea opposes me, I think I might just be glad to see him, too,' Elphaba admitted. Maráni laughed. 'Oh my, Elphaba. Are you feeling all right?'

The green girl glared at her; then she sighed. 'Where is he? I need to talk to him.' She felt like a big rock was settling in her stomach. Of all the conversations with all the people she had had over the past few days, this was the one she dreaded the most. Master Gold was an exception in leaving her free to make her own decisions, even if he wasn't happy about them, and she knew he wasn't – he always referred to her as his 'little sister' and she knew he cared for her. She cared for him, too – he was like the brother she never had – but at least he understood why she had to do this. Glinda… well… she didn't know the whole story. She would have never let Elphaba carry through with it if she had, and neither would Fiyero.

She needed Oscar, however, to know the whole truth and work with her, so following the directions Maráni had given her, she found the former Wizard of Oz outside, enjoying the first rays of sun of the year.

'Oscar?' she said quietly and he opened his eyes, surprised, but he grinned widely as he saw her. 'Elphaba! To be quite honest, I didn't think you'd actually be coming back for me,' he confessed, and her eyes grew dark for a moment when she replied just a bit sharply, 'Some people do keep their promises, you know.'

He winced and she softened a bit. 'Never mind. Forget it. I need to talk to you about something.'

She sat herself on the ground next to him and told him everything what had happened with Morrible so far. He listened without interrupting her once. Then she told him of the spell she found in the Grimmerie, the one that would break Morrible's immortality, and he nodded. 'So what's the catch?'

She looked at him in surprise. 'What?'

He laughed softly. 'Oh, come on, Elphaba. I know you well enough now to know there must be a catch, or you wouldn't even be sitting here talking to me. What is it?'

She hesitated for a moment. 'See for yourself,' she said finally, pulling her copy of the spell from her pocket and handing it to him. He accepted the piece of parchment and read it thoroughly, frowning, before turning his gaze back to her. 'Does this mean what I think it means?'

She nodded patiently. 'I believe it does, yes.'

He looked at her pointedly and she sighed. 'I know. But I have to do it. I have to stop Morrible. You know her as well as I do, perhaps even better – you know what she's capable of. And now that she's immortal, as well…' Her voice trailed away, but she didn't finish her speech – she knew he got her point.

'Please explain this to me,' he said, gesturing towards the parchment. 'How exactly does this spell work?'

'Well,' she begun, 'as you read yourself, it has to be cast from the netherworld, otherwise it won't work.'

'The netherworld,' he repeated timidly. 'You mean you have to be dead to cast it.'

'Technically, yes,' she immediately agreed. 'That's what the first spell is for – it's meant to send someone off to the netherworld for two minutes, max. While there, the second spell has to be cast – the one that will strip Morrible of her immortality.'

'So you'll be dead for two minutes, during which you cast the spell, and then you'll wake up again?'

She hesitated for a moment. 'Well… yeah. That's the plan. And – I can't believe I'm saying this – I need you to help me with it.'

He looked surprised. 'How?'

'Keep my body safe while I'm working on it – I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm actually dead. And… well… I need you to be there in case something goes wrong. So you can tell Maráni, and Glinda… and Fiyero.' She looked a bit embarrassed. 'Most of all, though… there's this… slight… thing that could go wrong.'

Now, he gave her a rather sarcastic look much like the ones she usually gave him. 'What, Elphaba?'

She sighed. 'After I cast the spell that – kills me, to put it bluntly, I can't come back on my own. I can stay in the netherworld for two minutes exactly before my body and soul end up permanently detached – in other words, before I actually die. Someone in this world must cast a spell to bring me back before those two minutes end.'

He gaped at her. 'You want me to cast the spell to bring you back to life?'

She shrugged lightly, as if it wasn't such a big deal – which, of course, it was. 'Unless you want me to die, yes.' It crossed her mind that he might actually want that to happen, but she dismissed the thought quickly. She knew now that he truly did feel guilty about everything that had happened – he didn't want her dead anymore, those times had passed now.

'But… I don't have any powers!' he protested.

She grimaced. 'Yeah… that's the catch, I guess. I'm placing my bets on the possibility that you do, in fact, have powers – I figured mine didn't just drop from the sky. There had to be some genetics involved. I think you have some kind of powers, even though they haven't manifested themselves, and therefore, you will be able to bring me back. It doesn't matter how much powers you actually possess – as long as you possess any powers at all, the spell will work.'

'And if it turns out you 'placed your bets' wrong and I really don't have powers?' he demanded, obviously not liking where she was going with this.

She smiled faintly. 'Then you can go and tell Oz the Wicked Witch is finally dead for real.'

She could tell he didn't like that – in fact, he got angry with her. 'Elphaba, why are you even willing to take this bet? If you're so determined to carry this through, why don't ask, say, Glinda, to bring you back? You know she has magical powers – you're needlessly putting yourself at risk here!'

Elphaba shook her head violently. 'It's not needless! For one, Glinda would never agree to do this. But more importantly, if she does, there are still risks involved. If something goes wrong, she'll be devastated. She would blame herself. I can't put that kind of burden on her shoulders, Oscar. And I don't know anyone else who has magical abilities – besides Morrible herself, who obviously is not going to be very helpful with this. Right now, you're my safest bet.'

'"Safest" doesn't necessarily mean "safe",' he pointed out, and she nodded. 'I know. Not at all, actually, in this case. But as I said, I need to do it.'

'Does anyone even know about this?'

She hesitated. 'The leader of the Resistance does. I didn't tell Maráni, or Glinda, or Fiyero, obviously – they would never let me carry through with this, let alone help me.'

'And what makes you think I would?' he demanded. She looked at him pointedly. 'Because you owe me,' she said simply. 'Big time.'

He didn't protest at that – he knew she was right. He did owe her; in fact, nothing he could ever do would make up for what he had done to her in the past. And so he knew that, even if he didn't like the idea – at all – he had to help her. Because she was right: he owed her. Big time.

'Fine,' he consented finally. 'I wish I could stop you from doing this, but since I clearly can't, I'll help you.'

'Thank you,' she said simply, and he looked at her. 'When?'

'Not yet.' She smiled and got up, brushing the dirt from the skirt of her dress. 'I'm staying here for a couple more days, and I promised Fiyero I would come back… I'll let you know.'

He nodded and she knew he was watching her as she disappeared into the network of caves that was the Animal hideout.

As soon as she got inside, however, Maráni came running towards her. 'Fabala…' She obviously had to tell her something, but the Wolf didn't seem to be able to find the words. 'What is it, Maráni?' Elphaba urged her and Maráni looked at her sympathetically. 'Little one… A few Monkeys just got back from the Emerald City. There's been another assault on Glinda.'

Elphaba paled visibly. 'Is she all right?'

Maráni shook her head. 'I'm so sorry, Fabala,' she said gently. 'She's been critically injured. They're not sure if she's going to make it.'

I'd love some more murderious reviews! :D