Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or Wicked.

A/N: Yes, yes, I know I haven't updated in over a year. If I do update from here, it'll probably be erratic at best, so I apologize ahead of time. Thank you to those who reviewed, favorited, and followed.

EDIT: Chapter 2 has been rewritten. Definitely better.

CHAPTER 3

Moonlight flooded the small rose garden as a cloaked figure waited one one of the benches. It almost seemed as if the shadows themselves wrapped around the inconspicuous character, making them seem almost like a dark deity. The head snapped up as the rosebushes rustled, the hood slipping a little to reveal an elegant, pale green chin. A tall man pushed through, smiling as Elphaba lowered her hood. Wearing a green cloak and traveling clothes, Fiyero Tiggular sat down next to his beloved and held her close.

"I thought you weren't coming home until next week," she said breathlessly, shivering slightly because of the cold night air.

"They were able to spare a few men, so I volunteered to come back and see you," he smiled, leaning in for a kiss.

Elphaba happily reciprocated before coming up for air. "If she finds you here..." she trailed off, her silver eyes filled with worry.

"She won't," he smiled again, his brown eyes watching her tenderly. "Forget about her. Have I ever told you how beautiful you look in the starlight?"

Conversation became irrelevant for a time after that.

But while the young lovers became reacquainted with each other, foul things brewed in the dungeons beneath them. Elphaba's mother, Melena, was a sweet, caring queen of the Western Territories. But by night, away from prying eyes, she was sly and cunning, able to subtly manipulate events in the kingdom to the royals' advantage. And now, as she gazed into her crystal ball, watching her daughter and Fiyero...consort, her pretty face was twisted into a scowl. If Elphaba, princess of the land, married Fiyero, a minor noble, it would upset the delicate balance of power in the kingdom, for she knew that Cerulia, Fiyero's absolute bitch of an aunt, would most likely attempt to blatantly overthrow her, which was completely unacceptable.

She circled the crystal ball on its stand, attempting to formulate a plan to keep them apart. Her first scheme-encouraging a draft for the Noland Wars, then hinting to Fiyero to volunteer as a right of passage, of sorts-had failed. She made a sidenote to have the general who had let him go have an unfortunate accident befall him. Suddenly, Melena smiled. She did love how plans struck one expectedly, and now, she knew exactly how to break them. Turning, her dress swirling around her, she strode off, her wide smile promising an ill fate for Elphaba and Fiyero's relationship.

As her mother schemed, Nessarose, the widely-sought younger daughter of King Frexspar and Queen Melena, lay awake in her bed, unable to sleep. Absentmindedly playing with a lock of her dark hair, a trait that she, her sister, and her mother shared. Frexspar's lighter, chestnut hair had not shown itself in either of his daughters, but his silvery eyes had been passed down to Elphaba, while Nessarose's emerald green eyes mirrored her mothers'. Sighing as she realized she probably wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon, Nessa rose from her bed, searching for a book to read. Though she wasn't a complete bookworm like her older sister, she still had a healthy respect for the written word.

Now seventeen, Nessa was beginning to come into full bloom, her natural grace and poise apparent to all who saw her. Many a suitor had come asking for her, but she had loved none of them. The one she did love...well, she frowned slightly, he only had eyes for Glinda, princess of Gillikin. She unconsciously mimicked her mother's scowl, only a few floors away. She liked Glinda a lot, but she loved Boq much more, and Nessa silently made a vow to herself that she would do absolutely anything necessary to win his heart.

And watching all of them from the Emerald Palace, a redheaded woman with a wicked smile watched them all as her dark plan began to unfold, slowly twisting a web of magic that would destroy them all. An evil cackle rose from the city as a thunderstorm unleashed its fury over the Emerald City, and soon over all of Oz.

The stage was set.