AN: Twenty chapters! Yay! Not to mention 98 reviews - hurray as well! Virtual brownies and hugs for the one who gets me the 100th review!

I want to thank you, while you still kinda like me, for reviewing and/or following this story, and/or for adding it to your favourites. It really means a lot to me. Also, I'd like to apologise in advance for what I'm about to do. I know you're all going to hate me after this chapter, because this is the one where the drama really kicks in (like, really, lots and lots of drama), and therefore I want to warn you beforehand: if after this chapter, this story won't be updated anymore, it's because one of you will have killed me - either virtually, magically, or just for real :D.

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

'I swear,' Fiyero promised, and Glinda didn't doubt for a clock-tick that he was being serious, 'that as soon as I see her again, I'm going to hide that broom. And the crutch. And tie her down. And lock her up. Although somehow I doubt even that would stop her from sneaking off again.'

Glinda grimaced. 'Fiyero...'

'I know,' he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. 'I just… I hate this. I feel like she's shutting me out, just when I started to think she was letting me in.'

'She is,' Glinda hastened to reassure him. 'I know she is. But she's also very independent and protective, and she doesn't want anything to happen to you. I know you don't like that, but you know what she's like.'

Corrin, meanwhile, was feeling torn. He saw the genuine concern for Elphaba in both Fiyero and Glinda's eyes, and although he had promised Elphaba to let her go on with her plan without telling anyone about it, he wasn't happy at all with what she had done now. They both knew her plan could be very dangerous, and now she had left to execute it without even so much as saying goodbye to any of them. What if it went wrong? What if she would end up dead? Glinda would be devastated – especially when she would find out that he, Corrin, had known about it and had chosen not to tell her. He wasn't sure he could bear that.

On the other hand, he had made a promise to one of his fellow Resistance members in a professional setting. He shouldn't allow his personal feelings to get in the way.

But he couldn't help but look at Glinda and think of how she would hate him for not telling her something of this magnitude, especially if it would cost her the best friend she ever had. And Fiyero… Even Corrin could see that the Vinkun Prince truly loved Elphaba. How could she leave him without even so much as saying goodbye? Was she that confident that her plan would work out the way she had planned it to? Or did she do it because it was easier for her this way, less emotional? He knew Elphaba long enough to know that was something she would do.

He sighed. For the first time in a long time, Master Corrin Gold, the leader of the Resistance, did not have the faintest clue what to do.

'Corrin?' Glinda asked, eyeing him apprehensively with those beautiful azure eyes of hers. 'Are you all right?'

He smiled at her, took her hand and brushed her knuckles with his lips. 'I'm fine, my Lady Glinda.'

'Oh, I'm your Lady Glinda now, aren't I?' she teased him, blushing. His smile broadened. 'You would be if I had any say in it.'

Her eyes went wide and she squeaked. 'Oh, Corrin! That's so romantic!'

'Hello?' Fiyero said, one eyebrow raised, waving his hands in the air. 'Back to my problem, please?'

'Oh, does someone want attention?' Glinda giggled and he shot her a look. She held up her hands in surrender. 'All right, all right. But Fiyero… There's nothing you can do but wait for her to come back. Again,' she added, grimacing. 'I'm sorry.'

'It's not your fault.' He sighed, the expression on his face defeated. 'I just wish I knew what she's up to.'

'She's going after Morrible,' Glinda said quietly, and Fiyero whipped his head towards her. 'What did you say?'

'She told me before she left,' Glinda explained in a soft tone of voice. 'She found a way to kill Morrible. She's off to do it right now.'

'She told me she had a plan…' Fiyero said thoughtfully. 'But… Do you know what her plan is, Glin?'

The blonde shook her head. 'I have no idea. Didn't she tell you?' Worry clouded her blue eyes. 'Usually, it's not a good sign for her not to tell us what she's up to. It usually means that whatever it is, it's dangerous.'

Fiyero blanched at that and he sank into a chair. 'Oh, Oz… what is she doing?'

He sounded so defeated, so sad and worried, that Corrin could no longer help himself. 'She's at the Animal hideout,' he blurted out. 'In the Great Kells. The Wizard – Oscar – is helping her to cast the spell. If you take a horse and leave now, you might be able to get there just in time.'

Both Glinda and Fiyero gaped at him. 'She told you?'

Corrin quickly explained to them the extent of his relationship with Elphaba, and what she had told him she was about to do. 'I promised her not to say anything,' he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. 'But… this isn't right. You should at least have a chance to say goodbye, just in case…' His voice trailed away, but by then, Fiyero had already leapt to his feet and ran out of the room.

'You're taking a huge risk with this, you know,' Oscar said. 'Are you absolutely sure you want to carry through with this?'

She sighed impatiently and turned to face him. 'Yes, I'm sure. Would you stop whining already?' she demanded, and he looked at the green-skinned girl. The mere expression on her face told him he wouldn't be able to talk her out of this, and so he gave in. 'All right. Fine. Suit yourself. I'll do whatever you want me to do – I owe you that much, as you so kindly pointed out to me.'

She smirked and halted in front of a wooden door – the door that lead to Oscar's former prison cell. They entered the small room and Elphaba carefully shut the door behind her. 'No one will look for us here,' she told Oscar, walking over to the one bed that was in the room and sitting down on it. 'Ready?'

'Ready when you are,' he said, ignoring the odd feeling in his stomach, and she nodded and gave him the spell that was supposed to bring her back. She studied her own two spells once more – the one that would send her to the netherworld and the one that she would have to cast while there, the one that would break Morrible's immortality. Then she put down the pieces of parchment and lay down. 'All right, then. Here goes nothing,' she said, closing her eyes, and she started to chant. 'Nahmen Ay Muerte…'

She had barely spoken three words, however, when she was interrupted by someone banging down the door and dashing into the room, looking about ready to kill her. She gasped and bolted upright. 'Fiyero!'

'What in Oz' name do you think you're doing?' he demanded, bantering across the room and glaring at her furiously. 'I can't believe I had to hear from Corrin, of all people, that you were about to kill yourself!'

'It's not killing myself!' she protested. 'It's just…'

'I know, Elphaba!' he raged on. 'He told us! And thank goodness he did, because Oz knows you didn't!'

She flinched at his tone. 'Fiyero…'

'Don't you 'Fiyero' me!' he shouted. 'What if I had come too late? What if you had died, Fae?'

It was only then she realised that he was yelling at her not because he was actually mad at her, but because he had been scared to lose her. She was a bit taken aback by the hurt showing in his eyes when he said, very quietly suddenly, 'How could you do this to me, Fae?'

She got up from the bed and tentatively took a few steps towards him, gently resting her hand on his arm. 'Yero? I'm sorry,' she said softly, biting her lower lip. She had to admit, she hadn't really thought that part through – the part where she might die and hadn't even said goodbye to him. But the truth was, she was still adjusting to the fact that there were actually people now who cared for her, whose feelings she had to take into account when it came to these matters, and she easily seemed to forget to do just that.

'I guess I'm just…' She drew a deep breath. '…kind of used to making decisions on my own, without anyone really caring. And… I didn't want to worry you. And honestly, it was easier for me this way. That's selfish of me, I know, but I just… I'm not good at goodbyes. Or possible goodbyes.'

His face softened a bit and he sighed. 'I know,' he said, drawing her close and resting his chin on the top of her head. 'I thought so – that it would be something like that. But Fae, whether you like it or not, I'm with you now. You can't keep on making decisions and flying off on your own without even telling me – that's not how the whole relationship thing works, you know.'

She nodded weakly, just resting her head against his chest, before she asked, 'What exactly did Gold… I mean, Corrin… tell you?'

'Everything he knew,' Fiyero replied. 'And just so you know, Glinda is boiling with rage. She's absolutely furious with you. She can't believe you were willing confide in his magic,' he nodded to Oscar and quickly added for the older man's sake, 'No offense,' before looking back at Elphaba, 'which you're not even sure he actually has, instead of asking her to help you. Because she would have been willing to help you. She still is – after she slaps you and gives you a three hour lecture about this, that is. Her words, not mine.'

'She shouldn't be getting herself worked up,' Elphaba said quietly. 'It's not good for her healing process.'

He looked at her as if he was barely believing what she was saying. 'Really, Fae? That's really all you're worried about?'

'No,' she said in that same low voice. 'Of course not. Look, Fiyero… I really didn't intend to hurt any of you. I swear. But Morrible… she almost got Glinda, and I just can't bear the thought of…'

'Of her actually getting Glinda,' Fiyero finished, as always knowing what was in her head, and she nodded. He sighed and shook his head. 'I understand, Fae, I really do. But do you understand my problem, too?'

She nodded. 'I do. And I really am sorry.'

'So will you please let this plan of yours slide, then?' he asked her. 'Try to find another way first?'

She reluctantly agreed. 'All right. If that's what you want.' She looked at Oscar, who merely gave her a faint smile. 'I'm really glad I don't have to do this anymore,' he told her sincerely, handing her back the piece of paper with the resurrection spell. 'Because honestly, I think your confidence in my possible magical powers was just a bit… well... I think you were being a bit too optimistic.'

She returned his smile half-heartedly. 'Yeah. Well… don't worry. It looks like you won't have to do it, after all.'

Fiyero had been right – Glinda was furious, and Elphaba waited patiently for over ten minutes for the blonde to finish her tirade. After that, she apologised, and although Glinda grumbled on about it for a while, she finally decided to forgive her friend. 'And now I'm going to have to shoo you away,' she concluded. 'My maids and servants are coming within the hour to dress me and help me get ready for my big speech this afternoon, and we don't want them seeing you, now do we?'

Elphaba immediately sat up. 'What do you mean, big speech?'

'The Ozians are worried about me,' Glinda explained, as if that much should be obvious. 'I have to show them that I'm all right – or, well, not dead, at least.'

'Did you forget what happened the last two times you gave a speech?' Elphaba demanded, and Glinda narrowed her eyes at her friend. 'No, I did not. That I why we doubled the guards.'

'That didn't help at all last time!' Elphaba sputtered, and Glinda rolled her eyes – something she rarely ever did. 'Elphie, please. I'll be fine. Now, could you please leave before they come in here and discoverate you?' the blonde begged. 'Please come back around dinnertime, all right? I'll make sure I'll be alone by then.'

Both Elphaba and Fiyero nodded reluctantly, but as soon as they were out of the palace and hiding in the woods once again, Elphaba spoke up. 'I don't like this at all.'

'Me neither,' Fiyero confessed, as Elphaba went on, 'Knowing Morrible, she's going to strike again this afternoon – and somehow I can't shake the feeling that this time, she's going to do anything in her power to make sure she succeeds. I can't just let Glinda die, Fiyero. We have to be there, too, so that we can help her if necessary.'

He didn't like the idea very much, mostly because staying in the City for an entire afternoon would be very dangerous for them and increase the chance of them being recognised, but he couldn't argue with her because he knew she was right. They couldn't let Glinda die.

That was why that afternoon, two figures dressed in dark cloaks mingled with the crowd in front of the palace, making their way through the people until they were right in front of the stage where Lady Glinda would appear in about ten minutes. Elphaba looked at Fiyero. 'Remember, as soon as you see anything suspicious…'

He nodded and squeezed her hand. 'We'll be fine, Fae. We'll all be fine.'

She nodded, too, and flashed him a faint smile before directing her attention at the stage again, where a man had now stepped up to announce Lady Glinda the Good.

The people started cheering when she appeared, dressed in a pale pink gown, and she smiled and waved at the people in return. She walked up to the front of the stage and started talking, addressing the people, but neither Fiyero nor Elphaba were listening. Elphaba frowned when she noticed a third figure in a dark cloak, standing not too far away from Fiyero and her. She was about to mention the person to Fiyero when suddenly, the figure turned a bit and she could see the face. She gasped softly when she recognised Morrible, who now looked her directly in the eye and gave her a malicious smile before several knives appeared in the air next to her, shimmering, pointed at Glinda, waiting to be released. Morrible flashed the green girl another evil grin and then she made a gesture… and the knives started flying towards Glinda.

'No!' Elphaba yelled and before she knew it, it was all happening so fast, she had bolted forward, onto the stage, and she pushed Glinda over. The blonde fell with a small shriek of surprise, Elphaba tumbling on top of her, and Glinda's eyes widened in shock when she saw the knives scattered around her and she looked at Elphaba. 'You saved my life!'

'Are you okay?' the green girl asked, intently staring into her friend's eyes, and Glinda nodded slowly. 'Yes… I think so.'

Suddenly, Elphaba's arms were seized and pulled behind her back, and someone from the crowd – Morrible, she suspected – screamed, 'She attacked our Glinda the Good!'

The guards turned her around and the people all gasped with shock when they recognised the Wicked Witch of the West. Everyone started whispering and it was clear that they all believed what Morrible had said – that Elphaba had attacked their Lady Glinda. She hadn't imagined them thinking otherwise, to be quite honest. The people still believed she was wicked, after all.

'Kill the Witch!' someone shouted from the crowd and everyone started yelling then. 'Kill the Witch! Kill the Witch!'

Someone leapt forward from the crowd and Elphaba didn't even have to look to know that it was Fiyero. She sighed. Why did he have to do that? She was absolutely certain he was going to let himself be caught as well – as soon as someone would recognise him as Prince Fiyero Tiggular, the traitor.

'No!' Fiyero shouted and he quickly climbed the stage. 'Let her go!'

New whispers from the crowd – 'That horrendible Winkie prince!' 'It's Glinda's former fiancée! Do you believe he ran off with the Witch?' 'He's a traitor!'

Sure enough, he barely got to his feet before some other guards seized him, too, and Elphaba closed her eyes for a moment. Some guards had helped Glinda up and she was now standing behind them, eyes wide, staring straight at Elphaba. 'No!' she started to protest. 'She didn't attack me, she only tried to…' One look from Elphaba, however, was enough to shut her up. The witch narrowed her eyes at the blonde. 'Do you remember a certain promise?' she hissed, and Glinda's eyes went even wider. Elphaba knew that Glinda realized what she meant. Promise me you won't try and clear my name. She looked at the blonde intently until Glinda finally gave in an gave her a small, reluctant nod.

The guards were obviously thinking that Elphaba was trying to threaten Glinda, because they formed a protective circle around the blonde. Elphaba felt someone else seizing her from behind and she knew in an instant that it was Morrible. 'Finally, I've got you,' the old woman hissed into her ear, and Elphaba flinched involuntarily. She closed her eyes and tried to collect her powers, before releasing them in a giant shockwave of magic. Everyone nearby, including Glinda and Fiyero and the guards, was knocked to the ground; everyone, except for Morrible.

'Invincible, remember?' she hissed again, and the green girl shivered. 'You can't win, witch. Not this time.'

The guards quickly regained their composure and took in their former positions, peering anxiously at the green witch. Morrible secured her grip on Elphaba's arms. 'You can't go anywhere this time, dearie.'

'Kill the Witch!' the people started shouting again and someone added, 'And the Winkie prince, too!'

That sent a rush of fear through Elphaba's body. 'No!' she said hotly. 'Don't hurt him! He has nothing to do with it – I'm the one you want!' A faint feeling of déjà-vu washed over her as she remembered herself saying those same words about Glinda, the day she had defied the Wizard and ran off. Only now, there was no chance at running off – at all. Her brain was working at top speed. She knew this was the time. There was no way she was escaping now, and she knew it. She just needed Fiyero to be safe.

'But he ran away with her!' someone yelled. 'He should be punished for his crimes!'

'I cast a love spell on him!' Elphaba blurted out, unable to think of anything else but saving Fiyero. She saw his eyes go wide and she looked at Glinda, who gave her a slight nod to acknowledge that the blonde knew what she had to do.

The green girl looked back at the people. 'I cast a love spell on him,' she repeated. 'I loved him, and he didn't love me back, and I couldn't accept that.'

'It's true,' Glinda said, eyes closed and arms stretched out towards Fiyero in a rather exaggerated attempt to convince the people that she was sensing something. 'I can feel the magic surrounding him… It's a love spell, that's for certain.'

The people started mumbling to one another – it was obvious that this explanation made sense to them. 'That explains why he left Glinda for her,' someone muttered, clearly audible to Elphaba. 'He would never have done that in full sanity.'

She grimaced, but didn't say anything. Luckily, no one in his right mind would doubt a statement of Lady Glinda's, and so they all accepted it as the truth. 'Fellow Ozians,' Glinda said, her voice shaking slightly, but Elphaba was sure no one would notice that. 'I shall take Prince Fiyero with me and he shall find residence in the palace, until I manage to break the love spell El… the Wicked Witch,' she corrected herself with a pained look, 'cast on him.'

Elphaba flashed the blonde a quick, reassuring smile, but Glinda's eyes were filled with sadness. She knew what this meant. Elphaba was giving up and there was nothing she could do about it.

'No!' Fiyero protested, wrestling against the guards holding him. 'I love her! Don't hurt her!'

'It's the love spell speaking,' Glinda proclaimed dramatically, and the Ozians nodded sympathetically. Morrible tied Elphaba's hands behind her back and three guards held her while the former Press Secretary walked up to stand right in front of Elphaba, looking her in the eye. 'Well, Wicked Witch? Do you surrender?'

Fiyero looked at Elphaba pleadingly, hurt showing in his eyes. He didn't believe any of this nonsense – he knew Elphaba, and she would never, ever cast a love spell on him… not to mention that Glinda didn't even have the ability to sense magic, so he knew this all to be a hoax. He wasn't stupid – well, not really stupid, anyway; he knew Elphaba and Glinda must have made some sort of agreement in order to protect him. He was worried, however, that she would not protect herself. She had held her head high before, and there had been a defiant look in her eyes, but now, she seemed defeated. She seemed to be giving up, and he couldn't bear the thought of that, because he knew what that meant.

She locked eyes with him for a moment, and he knew what message she was trying to convey in that one look. Her eyes were begging him to forgive her, before she said softly, 'Yes. I surrender.'

A ripple of excitement ran through the crowd, and Morrible couldn't suppress a smug smile spreading across her face. 'Well, well. It seems we finally got you, didn't we?' Then her eyes narrowed. 'But why?' she asked suspiciously. 'Why surrender now? After all this time…'

'I'm tired of running,' Elphaba said simply. Her eyes met Glinda's for the briefest moment. 'I'm… limited.'

Something flickered in the blonde's eyes when she recognised the words and she looked as if she was about to cry, but she managed to compose herself – there were too many witnesses who would get suspicious at Glinda the Good crying because the Wicked Witch was about to die.

Fiyero was still wrestling against the guards, screaming 'Let me go! Fae! Don't do this!' all the while, but no one was really paying attention to him – not now they knew – or thought – that he was under a spell. Elphaba was desperately trying to ignore his screams because she feared she would break down if she listened to them, and she didn't grant anyone that pleasure. She looked Morrible straight in the eye. She knew there was nothing that could save her anymore, but at least she knew Glinda and Fiyero to be safe. And Morrible… well, at least she'd get the chance to break the old hag's immortality spell now. All she had to do was hope that Corrin would finish her off, just like he had promised Elphaba he would do some time ago.

Morrible was twisting one of her precious knives in her hand, obviously impatient to plant it into Elphaba's body. 'Any last words?'

Elphaba hesitated for a moment; then she looked at Glinda. The blonde could just barely hold back her tears, and Fiyero looked as if he was about to burst into tears too, or faint, or throw up, or… perhaps even all of them at the same time. She wanted to tell them how much she loved them, and thousand many more things, but she knew she couldn't risk it – people would get suspicious. And besides… there was nothing she could say to them she hadn't said before.

She looked at Corrin, standing behind Glinda, and locked eyes with him for a moment. He nodded solemnly and she knew that he would keep his promises, that he would keep Glinda safe and destroy Morrible at the first chance he got, which reassured her somewhat.

She took a deep breath, looked back at Morrible and shook her head. 'Why don't you just get it over with?' she suggested, much braver than she felt, and Morrible's face clouded with rage. 'As you wish,' she snarled, and she lifted the knife high in the air with both hands. Elphaba closed her eyes.

'Witness the end of the Wicked Witch of the West!' Morrible yelled, and Glinda, Corrin and Fiyero watched in absolute horror as the older woman lowered the knife with a triumphant shriek and pierced Elphaba's heart with it.

...Goodbye, everyone. It was really nice knowing you.