AN: All right, all right, you can put away your mobs and torches and pitchforks and Grimmeries. This is the chapter after which you'll all love me again - and I'd love for you to tell me that in a review :).

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Oscar looked down at his daughter wordlessly. He still couldn't believe she was really gone, and he couldn't help but wonder if he could have prevented it. If he hadn't argued so much about her initial plan, and had helped her execute that one right away… Would she still be alive? Could she have been right, about him having powers of his own? Or would she still have ended up dead, only a few days sooner?

He sighed and looked at the still form on the bier. What if he'd cast the resurrection spell now? Would that do any good? he suddenly wondered. He pulled out the piece of parchment with the spell written on it, and studied it for a moment. Of course it wouldn't do any good – it was meant to bring someone back within two minutes after the initial death, or…

'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.'

He could almost hear her say the words in his head, and he knew saying the spell now wouldn't do her any good, but he still felt like he had to do it. Because…

'Some things I cannot change, but 'til I try, I'll never know.'

Glinda had told him Elphaba had said that, right before she flew from the City and became known as the Wicked Witch of the West, and he had found it fascinating. He surprised himself by recalling the exact words – he hadn't realised until now how much attention he'd actually paid to her in the past, what she'd done, what she'd said. In hindsight, he was glad he had. Even though she had hated him and he had been trying to kill her for the most part of their relationship, at least he had memories of her.

He shook his head in an attempt to clear it from thought and whispered the words on the parchment out loud, against his better judgment. 'Anirre Nahmen, Ah Nam Akele, Tum Nah Akele Tum…'

Elphaba had no clue as to how much time exactly had passed since she had… well, died. She had said the spell that would – hopefully – break Morrible's immortality, and she didn't feel like there was anything else she could do. She was still in this strange netherworld, light and mist everywhere, and furthermore, there was just… emptiness.

She wasn't sure what she had expected. To be quite honest, she hadn't really expected there to be an afterlife at all. But now, since there clearly was one, she couldn't help but wonder if this was all. She had heard all kinds of stories about life after death – that people would be reborn into other creatures, for example, or that they would go to Heaven, where they would be rewarded for the good they'd done, or to Hell, where they would be punished for their bad actions. She had wondered before where she would go if the latter theory was the case. Oz knew she had had good intentions, but sometimes intentions weren't enough – she knew that better than anyone else. Nearly everything she had done in her life had somehow turned out the wrong way. Would that have sent her off to Hell? She wasn't sure she wanted to know – and she wouldn't know, obviously, since the place where she was right now didn't seem anything like Hell. Or Heaven, for that matter.

She had been looking around for some time, wandering through the fog, looking for other people. Her mother, maybe, or Nessa; it would have been wonderful to see them again. Unfortunately, there had been no sign of them, and she finally had given up, convinced that they were not here.

Then, she had started to think of a way to get out of here and back to Oz. Not alive, obviously, but she had also heard some stories about dead people haunting the living, or watching over the ones they loved, and the idea seemed appealing. She wanted to see Fiyero and Glinda so badly, wanted to make sure they were okay, or even just be there with them, even though they wouldn't know that she was there; but again, she had had no luck. She seemed to be trapped here, waiting for… What? Judgment? Reincarnation? Somehow she doubted that.

Suddenly, she thought she heard something, and she whirled around, scanning her environment quickly with her eyes, but there was no one there. She was still alone. Yet, she was convinced she had actually heard something… And just as that thought occurred to her, she heard it again.

It was a voice, barely a whisper, barely audible, but it was most definitely there. She only caught stray words, words in a foreign language, and at first she wasn't even sure she heard them right.

'Nahmen… Tum Nah… Anirre Nahmen…'

Slowly, her brain started connecting the dots and she gasped as she realised where she had heard – or rather, read – those words before.

The resurrection spell.

Could it be… Oscar? But… the spell didn't have any effect anymore after two minutes. Or did it? All of a sudden, she wasn't so sure anymore. There must be a reason I'm hearing the words now, right? If the spell didn't have any effect, would I still hear Oscar chanting it?

Without even really realising what she was doing, she started whispering the words along with him, unconsciously adding her own magic to Oscar's… thus making magic happen.

Corrin was tired. No, not tired; exhausted. And even that word didn't really cover how awfully worn out he was feeling.

Glinda was back in fulfilling her duties. She knew how much depended on her acting all bubbly and happy, and she didn't want to break her promise to Elphaba. However, the truth was, she was barely holding up. She seemed fine enough; she would give speeches and have meetings, and Boq would usually be at her side to help – he was becoming quite the politician himself, and this way, he could keep an eye on Glinda in the moments Corrin couldn't, for which the latter was extremely grateful. When she was out of the public eye, however, Glinda underwent a major transformation. Gone were the bubbly smile and the optimistic attitude; sometimes she would just collapse in a chair and sit there for the rest of the evening, staring in front of her without really seeing anything, and Corrin heard her cry herself to sleep every night.

As for Fiyero, he seemed to be coping even worse – if you could call it coping at all. He, too, had gone out in public now; Glinda had convinced him to play along with the love spell idea, insisting that it was what Elphaba would have wanted, and Fiyero had accepted that. Public announcements had been made; that Prince Fiyero Tiggular of the Vinkus was his old self again, the love spell lifted, and that he was recovering from it. Glinda had quickly countered every rumour of her and Fiyero getting back together, telling the Ozians that she had moved on and found love elsewhere – which the Ozians were all very excited about. Corrin was glad at that; he knew how horribly painful it had been to both Glinda and Fiyero to hear the people suggest those things about them.

Anyhow, Fiyero appeared in public once or twice, confirming to the people that he was fine now, but the rest of the time, he would spend inside, in Glinda's rooms. His parents, along with Rayenna, Anwen and Nuki, had come over as soon as they had received Corrin's letter, and he had seemed to brighten a bit at their presence, but it didn't last long. Sometimes he would cry, or throw a tantrum for no real reason, but mostly, he was apathetic, just like Glinda. It worried his family to no end, and they all tried to talk with him, but to no avail. No one really seemed to get through to him.

On the fifth day since Elphaba's death, his family took him home, back to the Vinkus, and Corrin, ashamed as he was to admit it, felt relieved. He didn't think he could stand looking at Fiyero much longer; seeing how the cheerful, loving, strong man he once was, could change so thoroughly in mere minutes. Sometimes Corrin thought he could see Fiyero die a little bit more inside with every passing day and it broke his heart every time he saw it.

He had been so busy helping everyone else that he hadn't even really grieved for Elphaba himself, and though he knew he would need to do that sooner or later, he felt like he simply didn't have the time. At the moment, he was determined to hunt down Morrible and keep his final promise to Elphaba – to finish the old hag off if the green girl wouldn't be around to do it herself. All he really wanted to do now was lie down and sleep for weeks, forget everything for just the tiniest moment, but he didn't. He couldn't. There was too much he still had to do. He had to take care of Glinda and help her take care of state business… and he had to track down and kill Morgana Morrible. He felt like he owed Elphaba that much; it was a promise he was desperate to keep.

And so he sighed once, forced his face into a warm smile and started welcoming the advisors and Ambassadors he was meeting with this afternoon, all the while wishing he was somewhere else – anywhere.

After what seemed like an eternity of chanting, Elphaba felt as if she was about to faint. Can you faint when you are technically already dead? she wondered for a moment, but quickly decided that wasn't really among her priorities right now. She felt… unreal. As if she wasn't really here anymore – as if she was fading away. One look at her own body confirmed that suspicion – she was transparent, and for the briefest moment, she panicked. Was this it? Was she moving on to her final afterlife? Suddenly, there were so many things she wanted to do before she was gone. She wanted to scream, or cry. She wanted to hug Glinda and reassure the blonde that everything was going to be okay. She wanted to say goodbye to Nuki and Maráni. She wanted to tell Oscar that she had forgiven him for everything he'd done to her in the past. She wanted to tell Fiyero's family how much she had appreciated their kindness, how much she loved the fact that they had taken her in as if she were part of their family. She wanted to kill Morrible – she had never killed anyone before in her life, and never really felt the urge to do such a thing, either, but Oz, she wanted to kill Morrible. But most of all, she wanted to be in Fiyero's arms again, to tell him how much she loved him, to hear him tell her she was beautiful… and this time, she swore to herself, I won't laugh at him, or roll my eyes at him, or anything like that. Hell, I'd go so far as to agree with him – as long as that would mean we could be together for just the briefest moment again.

All those thoughts whirled around in her head as she watched herself fade away, slowly, until she was entirely gone and there was nothing left of her but air.

Oscar must have fallen asleep, because when he opened his eyes, he was in an extremely awkward position, sitting in a chair with his head and arms resting on the bier with Elphaba's body on it. Slowly, carefully, he stretched his pained muscles. He was getting too old for this – his entire body was stiff. He got up and walked around for a moment until most of the stiffness eased off. Then he looked at his daughter's body on the bier… and his heart stopped for a moment.

Her face was still ashen and her eyes were still closed, but somehow she looked… different. Her skin was green again – pale green, but green, not gray as it had been before; and she just appeared more…

More alive.

At the same time, Elphaba felt like she was falling and then she crashed into something. A strange sensation followed, as if she was being jerked back to reality from a really vivid dream… and the next thing she knew, she bolted upright, gasping for breath.

It took her a few moments to realise what exactly had happened, but as soon as she recognised the caves from the Animal hideout, and saw Oscar, staring at her wide-eyed and looking as if he had just seen the dead wake up, she knew. Could she be… alive?

Oscar took a few tentative steps closer to her. 'Elphaba?'

She blinked at him. 'Yes.'

'Are you… alive?'

She looked down at her own body. Green skin, black dress, long black hair falling over her shoulder. 'It sure looks that way.'

'Are you sure it's really you?' he then asked, and she rolled her eyes at him without even thinking about it. 'No, I'm the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, can't you tell?' she said sarcastically, and his face broke into a large grin. 'It is you!' he exclaimed, and before she knew it, he was enveloping her in a big hug. She tensed, but after a moment, she relaxed slightly and returned his embrace a bit awkwardly. 'I missed you, too.'

He laughed and as he pulled back, Elphaba noted to her surprise there were actual tears in his eyes. 'Sweet Oz, you're alive!'

'I'm alive,' she confirmed, smiling. 'I have no idea how it is possible, but I am.'

Oscar held up a piece of parchment. 'Resurrection spell.'

She squinted at it, but then she remembered. 'I cast it with you,' she said softly. 'In the netherworld. Perhaps our combined magic was enough to…' She gestured towards herself. 'To bring me back.'

He smiled at her. 'Seems like you were right about me having powers after all.'

She returned his smile and carefully got to her feet. She was surprised at how stiff and awkward her own body was feeling. 'How long have I been… you know… dead?' she asked, stretching her limbs and getting used to the feeling of having a real body again.

Oscar thought about the question for a moment. 'Six days.'

She froze in her tracks and slowly turned towards him. 'What?'

'You've been dead for six days,' he told her solemnly. 'At first, they kept your body in the dungeons beneath the palace, but I went to talk to Corrin after two days and he gave me permission to secretly take you with me. We wanted to bury you here.'

She felt like she had been punched in the stomach. 'I've been dead for six days?' She couldn't really believe it – it had barely felt like a few hours had passed up there, in the netherworld. Oscar, however, seemed confident as he nodded. 'Six days.'

At that moment, a new voice sounded from behind the door. 'Oscar? Are you all right? I thought I heard you talking to –' That was the point where Maráni entered the room and laid eyes on Elphaba.

The green girl rushed towards the Wolf and wrapped her arms around Maráni's neck. 'Hi, Maráni.'

'Hi?' Maráni repeated, clearly not believing her eyes – or ears. 'What in Oz is going on?'

'I'm alive, Maráni,' Elphaba replied, smiling. 'Oscar brought me back from the dead.'

Maráni's eyes went even wider. 'He did what?'

'Well, technically, we did it together,' Oscar explained, putting an arm around Elphaba's shoulders. Normally, she would have shrugged him off –or worse- but this time, she let him.

Oscar quickly explained their theory of why Elphaba was alive again to Maráni, and the Wolf could only stare at the green girl. 'Sweet Oz, Fabala…' she breathed when he was done, and Elphaba couldn't fight a big grin. 'I know. I can't really believe it myself, either.'

That was true. It didn't really seem to get through to her yet. She was alive. She could barely believe it. Her heart jumped up at the thought of seeing Glinda and Fiyero again, and everyone else she cared about… but first things first.

'I have to take advantage of this,' she told Maráni and Oscar. 'Everyone still believes I'm dead and I'd like to keep it that way for now. Don't tell anyone. You hear me? Anyone at all.'

They both looked at her as if they couldn't believe their ears. 'But Fabala…' Maráni protested. 'They have to know. Not everyone, but… Surely you can't keep Fiyero and Glinda in the dark about this? They're devastated, little one – you have to tell them!'

Elphaba felt a pang of guilt at that, but she shook her head. 'Not yet. Listen to me. Morrible is my first priority right now. I have the element of surprise – big surprise, you could say – and I have to take advantage of that. It won't be long, with a bit of luck it'll only take me a few hours, and I'll go see Fiyero and Glinda right away. As soon as I'm done with Morrible.'

They couldn't really argue with that, and so they helped her. They fetched her a cloak and gloves to cover up her skin, and a few things the witch needed to perform a tracking spell; they watched silently as Elphaba chanted, and soon, she looked up, a glimmer in her eyes. 'I found her.'

She had said a quick goodbye to Oscar and Maráni before enchanting a random broom they had found in a closet and flying off towards the Emerald City, where Morrible was hiding. It was pitch dark outside, so no one saw her as she gracefully landed in a dark alley and set her broom against a wall. She placed her hat on her head, straightened her back and threw open the door of a small house with a wave of magic.

Morrible looked up from the magic books she had been studying, startled by the sudden crash, and her eyes widened as she took in the figure standing before her. At first, she was convinced that it must be a ghost, for no human being could look this… magnificent was the only word for it really, reluctant as she was to admit it.

Elphaba Thropp looked different than she had before and yet she looked the same. Her emerald skin was glowing, the colour accentuated by the long, black dress she was wearing and by her characteristic black hat. A curtain of long, black hair was flowing over her shoulders as she stood tall, and her dark eyes, looking almost black in the dim candlelight, were flaring as if fire was burning inside them.

It was only when the green girl came closer that Morrible realised she wasn't dead at all, and her eyes bulged. 'You!' she screeched. 'You are dead!'

Elphaba looked at her with a faint smirk, but her eyes were cold. 'Well,' she said in a dangerously low tone of voice, 'it seems like I'm even harder to kill than any of us thought, huh?'

Morrible watched in awe as pure magic started to spark around the witch, whirling around her in circles and flaring brighter with every passing clock-tick. Morrible screamed.

'You can't hurt me! I am immortal! You can never kill me!'

Elphaba looked at the grazed skin of the older woman's hands meaningfully, before directing her dark gaze back at Morrible's eyes. 'Oh, I believe I can, Madam,' she said, and before Morrible could do anything, anything at all, the green girl released the blazing magic around her, putting every emotion she felt into it and Morrible screamed again as the magic reached her and consumed her. It all happened in a few moments' time, and when Elphaba caught her breath again and looked at the place where Morrible had been, she found that there was nothing left of the woman but ashes.

She took a deep breath, feeling a bit light-headed. She had just killed someone. She wasn't sure how she was feeling about that; she had never killed anyone before in her life. But Morrible… She knew this had to happen eventually, and she wasn't sorry. The hag had deserved it.

She turned around and left the building, never to look back again.

When she was out in the streets again, she hesitated for a moment. On the one hand, she really wanted Fiyero to be the first to know – well, after Oscar, Maráni and a dead Morrible – that she was alive; but on the other hand, he was all the way back in the Vinkus, and it seemed stupid to not tell Glinda first now that she was in the Emerald City anyway. And so she took her broom and flew towards the palace, landing swiftly on Glinda's balcony. She left the broom there and carefully opened the unlocked doors that led to Glinda's bedroom.

The blonde was asleep and clearly having a nightmare; she was tossing and turning, moaning softly every now and then, until she finally bolted upright in her bed, screaming, 'No! Elphaba!'

Elphaba's heart ached as she looked at her now wide awake friend, but she decided that surprising Glinda with her presence in the middle of the night wouldn't be the greatest idea, so she hid in the shadows as Glinda got up and wrapped a robe around her trembling body. She walked towards her closet and pulled something out, something she took with her when she went back to the bed and sat herself down on the edge. Elphaba was startled when she recognised the object in Glinda's hands as the small green glass bottle she had given her – the one that had been her mother's.

Glinda clutched the bottle to her chest. 'Oh, Elphie…' she whispered softly, and suddenly, Elphaba couldn't take it anymore. Softly, she said, 'Glinda?'

Glinda's head snapped up and she looked frantically around the room. 'Who's there?'

'It's me,' whispered Elphaba, although Glinda apparently didn't recognise her voice. 'I'll come out, just don't… Don't scream or anything, all right?'

Glinda suddenly felt very weak. The last time she had gotten a request not to scream, was a few months ago… when Fiyero had come to tell her that he and Elphie were still alive.

The blonde took a deep breath and nodded. 'All right. I won't scream. Please come out.'

Elphaba hesitated for a moment; then she left the shadows and approached her friend. Glinda's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. 'E-Elphie?' she managed to choke out.

Elphaba smiled wryly. 'The one and only.'

For a moment, she was convinced her friend was going to faint again, but then the blonde flung herself at Elphaba, clinging to her tightly, crying. 'Elphie! You're alive!'

Elphaba only held her friend close, stroking her blonde curls. 'Ssh, it's okay, Glin. I'm here. I'm fine,' she tried to reassure Glinda, who only cried harder at that.

Suddenly, the door flung open and Corrin hurried into the room, a worried look on his face. 'Glinda? Are you all right? I thought I heard you cry– Elphaba?!' he interrupted himself incredulously, and Elphaba smiled at him. 'Hi, Corrin.'

He stared at her in baffled silence. Glinda finally managed to compose herself a little and she wiped the tears from her cheeks, before looking up at her friend's face again and bursting into tears once more. 'It's really you! But… but how?' she sniffed, wiping her face with a handkerchief. 'How are you still alive? I saw you die, Elphie – I saw Morrible kill you and…' Fresh tears choked her throat to the point where she couldn't speak anymore, and Elphaba gave her friend another hug. 'Don't worry about Morrible anymore, Glin,' she said softly. 'She's gone.'

Corrin looked at her questioningly. 'Did you…'

Elphaba merely nodded and he nodded, too, and walked up to Glinda, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. 'Why don't we sit down for a moment,' he suggested, looking at the green girl. 'And you can tell us what happened.'

Come on, you didn't really think I would kill Elphaba, did you? I could never do that!