AN: Again, a filler...

TheWickedrae: Both? O:)

TheLilyReviwer: I don't have Tumblr, sorry :(. You should really create a Fanfiction account, though!

Elphaba'sGirl: No, nothing's up, I'm fine ;). I'm still a bit shaken because ofthe incident from last Wednesday (the one I described in my Happy Ending AN), but other than that, I'm fine. The many updates have several reasons.

1) I had some parts of chapters and oneshots sitting in My Documents, and after what happened Wednesday, I just really needed to get my mind off that, so I decided to work them all out and post them. Figured lots of updates wouldn't hurt, since it was also Wicked's 10th anniversary and stuff.

2) I felt kind of guilty. I feel like I haven't been updating much lately (before Wednesday, anyway) and when I did update, I felt like it was just... bad. The thing is, I have some beautiful scenes written out for this story, but I need stuff to put in the story before that, and I haven't been having much inspiration lately; so all I've been giving you is filler chapters, which, frankly, I'm too lazy to even edit properly, because I really don't like them myself. So I felt a little guilty and I figured lots of updates would kind of make up for it.

Furthermore, I am currently working on an original story. Because no matter how much I love writing fanfiction, my real dream is to actually publish a book. I hope this will be it.

Anyway, I hope next chapter will be better.

Chapter 28. Young and unafraid

The entire kingdom was buzzing with the news: the true Crown Princess of the kingdom had returned.

Quite frankly, it unnerved Fiyero to no end. 'Fae,' he said pleadingly. 'If they know, so does Morrible. You're practically handing yourself over to her!'

Galinda squeaked uncomfortably at that, but Elphaba was remarkably calm. 'Exactly,' was all she said.

Cohvu's eyes widened. 'I know that look in your eyes,' he muttered. 'It's not good.'

Elphaba grinned at him.

'Seriously, though,' Fiyero insisted. 'What are you planning?'

Elphaba shrugged innocently. 'Defeating her?'

Galinda shrieked. 'Elphie!'

Aurya was frowning. 'Now, Elphaba, don't you think you should –'

'No, I do not need to think about this,' the green girl cut her off. 'I did think about it. I made my decision. I have to defeat Morrible. I met those people, and they don't deserve what that old witch is doing to them. They're my people, Aurya. I am their rightful ruler, and it's time I start acting like one.'

Fiyero shifted a bit uneasily, not liking where this conversation was going. 'Fae…'

Galinda looked a little pale, her lower lip trembling. 'Elphie… are you saying that…' she began, her voice trailing away.

Elphaba shook her head violently. 'I'm not saying anything, Glin, other than that I want to defeat Morrible,' she said firmly. 'This is something I can and should do, and I will do it.'

Cohvu sighed. 'Well, I'm still in,' he said, earning himself a smile from his mermaid friend.

'Come on,' Elphaba said, extending her hand for Fiyero to take, then looking at the others. 'Let's go find that old hag.'

Their plan was… well, to be quite honest, it was not much of a plan. Aurya had taught Elphaba how to use bits and pieces of her magic. Now that the people knew about Elphaba's existence, she wanted to go to the palace and confront Morrible.

Her aunt – and her friends as well – had tried to convince her of the fact that this was a bad idea, but Elphaba insisted it needed to be done. She was dragging along a spell book, she had practised her magic, and she felt like she was ready.

And so not too long after leaving Aurya's home, the four friends found themselves in front of the underwater palace Morrible was currently occupying.

'It's soooo pretty,' Galinda swooned, looking up at the shimmering building in admiration. 'It should be a crime for an ugly old Sea Witch like Morrible to live in such a beautiful palace!'

Elphaba sniggered. 'You've never met Morrible,' she pointed out. 'How do you know she's ugly and old?'

'Well, is she?' Galinda asked pointedly. Elphaba scrunched up her nose.

'Yeah,' she admitted, and the blonde cast her a triumphant grin.

Cohvu leaned over towards Fiyero, muttering in his friend's ear, 'Does that column over there look like a penis to you?'

Fiyero almost choked on a mouthful of sea water. He followed Cohvu's gaze, located the column his friend was talking about, and immediately burst into an almost hysterical fit of snorting laughter, Cohvu soon joining him.

Frankly, the mere fact that there was a column of the palace that resembled a certain part of the male body wasn't all that funny. It was probably partly the fact that their friend, a girl they'd known all their lives, was about to confront a dangerous witch and might very well not make it out alive; and partly the fact that this whole underwater-mermaid-princess thing still seemed utterly ridiculous to them; but no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't stop laughing.

Galinda and Elphaba now turned out to face them, eyeing them with raised eyebrows. 'And what, pray tell,' Elphaba said drily, 'is so funny, if you don't mind me asking?'

'There's a…' Cohvu hiccupped with laughter. 'There's a column…'

'It looks exactly like a you-know-what!' Fiyero roared, and Galinda looked confused. Elphaba turned around to inspect the palace, then sighed as her eyes fell upon the column in question. 'Seriously? How old are you, exactly?' she demanded, faintly amused.

Galinda now discovered the column as well and her face went beet red. 'For real?' she said in an even higher voice than usual. 'Coco, that isn't funny! That's… that's… atrociocifying!'

'Atrocious,' Elphaba muttered next to her.

'Disgustifying!'

'Disgusting.'

'Horrendible!' Galinda continued without so much as pausing to take a breath. 'That is not a laughing matter!'

'Horrible.'

'Shut up, Elphie!' Elphaba was sure her friend would have stomped her foot, had she been able to. 'What does it matter if my vocabulations aren't all that great?'

'Vocabulary. Single, not plural.'

Galinda gave a frustrated shriek, throwing her hands up in the air – water – and glaring at her friends. 'Fine,' she snapped. 'Whatever. I'll just shut up. I won't say another word. Okay?'

'Okay,' Elphaba agreed a little too cheerfully for Galinda's liking. The blonde huffed and crossed her arms.

Fiyero and Cohvu had recovered from their laughing fit and were now both looking at Elphaba a bit sheepishly. She shook her head. 'Never mind,' she sighed. 'Can we just go now?'

'You know what?' Galinda said suddenly. 'No. No, we can't just go now. Elphie, I've been trying to be a supportive friend – we all have – and I know you don't want to hear this, but someone has to say it. This is insane. You're out of your mind. You can't do this.' She made wild arm gestures. 'You can't just barge in, defeat Morrible, and barge back out again! It doesn't work like that! I don't even know what you were thinking – you're usually so rational and practical, and this is just… it's so very unlike you to do something this… this stupid!'

She was panting a little after that rant, and Elphaba, as well as the boys, just gawked at her for a few moments.

Finally, Cohvu opened his mouth. 'I didn't want to say it, either,' he said hesitantly. 'But… well… Glin is right, you know.'

'But…' Elphaba started protesting weakly. Fiyero lay his hand on her arm and she turned around to face him, eyes huge and, he could see now, filled with fear. 'Fae…'

Somehow, that did it. Something snapped inside of her and before she knew it, she was crying.

Fiyero immediately wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face in his shoulder. 'I… I just…' She sniffled, trying to regain her composure, but failing. 'I just have no idea what to do, and…' That was as far as she could get without bursting into tears again.

The others shared a look. They understood, of course; frankly, they had been waiting for Elphaba to break down ever since this whole circus had started. It was just too much for her.

'If I don't do this now, then what am I supposed to do?' Elphaba whispered after she'd calmed down a little. 'I just don't know… I'm the Crown Princess, I'm supposed to rule these people, and I… I have to do something, I just don't know what!'

'Ssh.' Fiyero held her close, rubbing her back. He planted a kiss on her forehead. 'You'll be fine, Fae,' he told her. 'We're all here to help you. But this, rushing into a confrontation with Morrible… this isn't the right thing to do, and I think you know that as well as I do.'

She nodded faintly. Galinda suddenly flung her arms around her friend in a hug. 'Oh, Elphie, why didn't you just tell us!' she wailed. 'Fifi is right – we would have helped you! Now I feel so awfulified because I didn't notice how horrendible you were really feeling!'

'Awful,' Cohvu corrected her, while at the same time Fiyero said absently, 'Horrible.'

They all looked at each other.

Then they burst out laughing.

They were on their way back to Aurya when it happened.

It happened so quickly they barely had time to react. They were swimming and talking, Fiyero still with his arm around Elphaba's waist protectively, Galinda chattering away about everything and nothing; and the next moment, something that looked like an arrow came flying their way.

Galinda was the first to notice it, and only the fact that she shrieked, 'Look out!' saved Elphaba from a death sentence. Her head whipped around, her eyes widened, and she flung herself out of the way, pulling Fiyero with her. The arrow hit a wall of one of the nearby buildings, and they all stared at it for a moment.

'Everyone okay?' Cohvu asked hoarsely.

Galinda nodded a bit shakily, and Elphaba's voice was trembling as well as she said, 'Yeah. Yero?'

'Fine.' He looked around. 'What in Oz was that?' he demanded in a slightly higher voice than usual.

'Looks like an arrow,' Cohvu said drily. The Vinkun prince glared at him.

'Yes, Cohvu. I have eyes, too.'

'There.' Elphaba had lowered her voice to a whisper. She pointed. 'Around that corner. I saw something moving there.'

They all looked at the corner. Nothing happened for a while, and Elphaba slowly swam up. 'Stay back,' she ordered her friends, then swam over to the roof of the building, peering over the edge. Her eyes narrowed when she located the merman below her, who was carrying a bow. It didn't look like a regular bow to her, but then again, she wasn't surprised at that – she figured that the merpeople had their own kinds of weapons.

She gritted her teeth and opened her magic book, quietly flipping through it. When she found a useful spell, she chanted softly under her breath. Suddenly, a cage appeared around the merman.

He let out a cry of surprise and Elphaba focused again, this time on the magic Aurya had taught her how to use. A flash of it shot out of her fingers and hit the bow, flinging it away from the man. Only then did she swim down to take a closer look at him.

The man let out a mirthless laugh when he saw her. 'So the princess knows how to use her powers, too. Yet another tiny detail that old fish failed to mention,' he grunted. 'I swear, I'm never going to do a job for her ever again.'

Galinda, Fiyero and Cohvu approached them as well now, looking slightly apprehensive, but curious. 'Did you do that?' Fiyero asked in awe, and Elphaba shrugged modestly. 'I had a spell book.'

Cohvu narrowed his eyes at the merman. 'Who are you?'

The man bowed – for as much as that was possible whilst trapped in a cage. 'My name does not matter,' he said. 'But I'm an assassin. Morrible sent me to murder the Crown Princess.'

Fiyero made a choked sound. Elphaba squeezed his hand reassuringly.

'Of course she didn't mention that you had friends with you,' the assassin said sarcastically, 'or that you already found out about your magic powers, or that you would have a spell book with you. As usual. Just because she's the Queen now, she thinks she can do anything –'

'What are we going to do with him?' Cohvu interrupted, looking at Elphaba.

The green girl held up her hands. 'How should I know?'

'Deliver him at the police station?' Galinda suggested.

Cohvu shook his head. 'I don't think it works like that, Glin. This man works for Morrible, and she's the Queen. She controls everything. He'll be free again in no time.'

'I think I know something.' Elphaba started flipping through the pages of the magic book again, searching for a particular spell. When she found it, she started chanting, and her friends watched in awe as the assassin transformed into a fish before their very eyes.

'What did you do?!' the fish demanded.

Galinda giggled. 'You can change people into fish with that book? That is so cool!'

Elphaba shut the book. 'At least this way he can't hurt anyone anymore,' she said simply, and Cohvu looked at her admiringly. 'That's actually pretty clever.'

The assassin was now small enough to fit through the bars of the cage Elphaba had put him in, and he quickly swam out. 'You can't do this!'

'Yes, I can,' said Elphaba.

'I'm just doing what Morrible told me to!' the fish wailed. 'Come on, Your Highness – I won't try and kill you again. Promise. Just change me back!'

'Ask Morrible.'

'She'll never do that! I failed at my job – it's more likely that she'll murder me than that she'll change me back!'

'Then I guess you're stuck like this.' Elphaba turned her back on him. 'Come on, guys,' she said, suddenly feeling tired. 'Let's go.'