Chapter Twenty-Four:

The Throne Room greeted Glinda as she walked into the Palace where the Wizard stood, waiting for her.

"Your Ozness," said Glinda politely as she quickly curtseyed to him. She stood back up and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"Glinda," he said.

She stared at him, her blue eyes looking at the aging skin on his face. He was nearly bald now but his eyes still sparkled with some emotion that Glinda could never figure out.

"It's good to see you," he said with a pleasant smile, "I heard you were the first one on the scene when the Witch died."

Glinda's heart ached as she answered, "Yes, I was."

"And you made sure she was dead before you left?" he asked as he smoothed out the wrinkles on his tweed jacket.

Glinda nodded, "Yes," she said hoarsely. She did not want to think about it. She was going to be sick again if he talked about it more.

The Wizard apparently noticed her expression change for he said, "Are you alright?"

Glinda didn't meet his eyes, but she did nod, her blonde curls bobbing up and down as she did so.

"I also heard that you sent the little girl, Dorothy, to come and see me for advice," by the tone of his voice Glinda could tell that he wasn't too happy that she had done that.

"Yes," she replied in a trembling voice. Her hands twitched as they were linked together in front of her. Her fingers twisted around each other in anticipation of what the elder man would say to her. "I did. But I can assure you that it was out of desperation, Your Ozness. The followers of Nessarose would have been in an uproar if the girl stayed in Munchkinland, and besides I thought you knew the place called Canzis where the girl hails from."

The lines on the Wizard's face creased in thought as emotions passed through his face.

"Did you say Kansas, Lady Glinda?" he asked, his brown eyes staring into her blue eyes.

She nodded, "Yes, it that how it pronounced?"

He nodded and he suddenly seemed very far away, distant almost.

"Your Ozness, are you alright?" asked Glinda after a while as she watched as the man stood still.

He moved a bit after that, and he stared at her.

"Yes, yes, I am quite alright. I just never thought-" he trailed off just as Glinda found herself interested in what he was saying.

But he changed the subject quickly, and the traces of what he had been feeling earlier fled his face.

"The other thing, my dear, that I wanted to discuss with you is something of the up-most importance."

Her stomach churned in nervousness. She didn't like the sound of that.

"Yes," she said hesitantly.

The Wizard looked at her briefly and then snapped his fingers. A white cat emerged from behind his 'Wizard of Oz' robot thing and trotted along until it was standing next to the old man.

"I believe that you are acquainted with my spy Cat," said the Wizard a bit darkly.

Glinda's eyes did not leave that white fur as she remembered where she had seen this Cat. It had been at the Corn Exchange with Elphaba, and then at the mauntery with Yackle.

"I-I don't understand," stammered out Glinda. She truly didn't. Why did the Wizard have a spy Cat?

"Your husband with the encouragement of Madame Morrible employed me after the incident at Shiz with the baby to spy on Elphaba. I was to report everything I saw back to Yackle and not the Wizard so you wouldn't be suspicious," said the Cat; which greatly startled the blonde.

Her mouth turned dry and she didn't know what to do. Fearful, her slender hands began to shake as fear and adrenaline coursed through her body.

"I-I-I," she couldn't even get sentences out.

The Wizard cut her off softly, "Now, Glinda. What the Cat has told me… has greatly disturbed me. He told me everything… about what happened at the Corn Exchange and what happened at the Mauntery." He seemed to take pity on her for his eyes grew gentle.

"Elphaba is a menace to society, Glinda. She is trying to destroy everything Oz holds dear. She is trying to destroy out way of life, yours and mine. We can't let her do that. And some of us," he said pointedly, "can't let our emotions and feelings get in the way of that."

"She's not, she's not a menace!" protested Glinda, her voice shaking so hard she could barely understand herself.

The Wizard looked down at the Cat and made sympathetic noises.

"My dear, I'm going to tell you what I am going to tell this Dorothy child when she gets here, and you better listen good and not interrupt me. I'm going to tell Dorothy to get rid of The Wicked Witch once and for all. I don't care how she does it, but Elphaba must be dead before the girl can return home."

Glinda felt her knees go weak as the blood drained for her face. Her body quivered as the news sunk in. She didn't even have time to squeak out anything before the Wizard continued.

"And I have gathered from my information from 'Malky' that the Witch is allergic to water. I might just have to add that in there when I'm talking to the girl. Now, Glinda dear, listen. You may go and see Elphaba, Yackle already prophesized that you would, but you will not breathe a word about her murder to her, do you understand? If you do there will be grave consequences in your future…" The Wizard for once in Glinda's life was threatening and everything that Elphaba had said that he was.

"She hasn't done anything to harm anyone!" cried out Glinda.

Malky shook his furry head, "Oh yes, she has. She killed Madame Morrible yesterday. Who's to say who she'll kill next?"

"Elphie is not a murderer!" shouted Glinda. The blonde soon found that an excess of water was filling up her eyes but she willed herself not to cry, not in front of these people.

"My dear child, please don't be upset and don't do anything rash. You have to accept the fact that Elphaba will be dead within a few days time and there is nothing you can do to stop it." The Wizard turned away from her and sent Malky back on his way.

Glinda's eyes were brimming with tears as sobs shuddered through her body. She'd wished that she had taken some painkillers before she had left, her heart was splitting and the pain was just unbearable.

"I. Will. Stop. You," exclaimed Glinda passionately, each word breaking in her voice.

"Now, Glinda we both know that I am way too powerful for you to do that. Besides, think of what you'd being giving up if you stopped me. Your husband, your money, your career, the people's adoration of you," he paused and glanced at her sideways, "Your own life," he concluded sinisterly.

"You'd kill me?" Glinda's voice grew higher at the end and disbelief was in the question.

The Wizard looked at her, "Yes, I would. What's one more powerful witch dead going to do for Oz? It will just strengthen my power."

"You are a disgusting man," uttered Glinda reproachfully as her gaze seared into his evenly.

"And you, my dear, are a poor excuse of a 'good' witch with your behavior towards that green freak," said the Wizard.

Silence stirred between them.

"I suggest you leave now, Lady Glinda and mark my words, Elphaba will be dead in no-time."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," said Glinda once she reached the doorway out of the room. She slammed the door behind her.

Wiping away her tears, she conjured up a bubble and headed to the one place she knew in her heart that Elphaba would be right now. And that was with her father at Colwen Grounds.

I know, I know I said that this chapter would be reuniting Glinda and Elphaba but this chapter had a mind of its own and took off on me! So I PROMISE the next chapter will be Elphaba and Glinda. On a side note, I've always depicted the Wizard as a manipulative man considering how he never told the citizens of Oz that he was not powerful and went along pretending he was, so his characterization in this did not seem OOC (especially if I'm going by bookverse) but anyways I hoped you still liked it.

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