AN: I really wanted to end the chapter the moment I did... a final cliffy for you guys :). The part before that is an expansion on my drabble 'Pranks', so some of you might recognise it.

Only one more chapter after this... Thank you very much FiyerabaRules for the 400th (!) review on this story, I appreciate it so much! :D (And thank everyone for your faith in me when it comes to the Wicked Young Writers Award!)

I just saw Frozen... and it was every bit as amazing as I had expected it to be, if not more so. Expect a Wicked/Frozen crossover from me soon - the opportunity is just too good to pass up.

Chapter 36. Given the choice

"Artichoke."

Elphaba groaned. "Please, not this again."

"Lettuce leaf. And why in Oz are you wearing brown today? You look like a tree."

Galinda sighed. "You'd think he learnt his lesson after he nearly killed you last time," she muttered to Elphaba.

"Dropping someone into a pond is not the same as calling them names," Elphaba said. "He's sticking to the safe side now."

"Still, though," Galinda insisted. "After what happened last time, he should fall down on his knees and beg you to forgive him."

Elphaba, seeing the murderous look in Fiyero's eyes, reached out to hold him back. "Don't even think about it," she told him sternly. "Don't go after him again. He's not worth it and I don't want you ending up in a hospital once more, understood?"

"But he's calling you vegetable names!" Fiyero protested.

"So did you, not even a year ago," Elphaba reminded him. "And I didn't give Cohvu permission to kill you, did I?"

"We should teach him a lesson," Cohvu said, looking at Elphaba. "You still have your magic, right?"

"Hey, asparagus!" Avaric shouted from the other side of the garden, where he was situated in a tree, looking down at the friend group contemptuously. "I should have dropped you into that pond after all!"
"That's it," Elphaba decided. "He needs a lesson." She looked at Cohvu. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well…" He grinned. "You tricked Fiyero into believing you were trying to kill yourself once…"

Galinda's eyes lit up. "And you can touch fresh water now," she said. "If you use that breathing spell, you could stay under the water for a long time…"

"Bring in some more magic," Cohvu added, "or even just some green goo that you can hide under your dress, and there you go."

Elphaba's dark eyes were shining. "I know a spell."

Fiyero kissed her. "Go for it," he said, and she did. Fiyero, Galinda and Cohvu sneaked away, hiding behind some bushes to be able to see what was going on without Avaric being able to spot them.

Elphaba walked up to the pond, dramatically stopping just beside it. Avaric scowled at her. "What in Oz are you doing, tree?"

"I can't take this anymore," Elphaba said in a dark voice. "All my life, people have been bullying me and calling me names, and I'm done with it. I'm done with life."

Avaric's eyes widened. "Don't be stupid," he said, but she detected an edge of panic in his voice. "People calling you names is no reason to kill yourself!"

"How would you know?" she sneered at him. "You always do it to everyone, but you don't realise the consequences of your actions until it is too late." She glared at him. "Now you're going to have to live with it."

She spread her arms.

"Elphaba," he tried.

She jumped into the pond.

Avaric's eyes widened even further in shock and he scurried over to the pond, searching the water surface. "Elphaba?"

A green goo bubbled to the surface, sizzling for a moment before the bubbles burst and the goo mingled with the water.

The look on Avaric's face was absolutely priceless, and Fiyero, Galinda and Cohvu were silently rolling over with laughter, clamping their hands over their mouths to stifle the sound. Avaric, looking paler than any of the friends had ever seen him, fled away from the pond, looking completely shocked. Only then did the three come out from behind their bush.

Fiyero knelt down next to the pond. "Fae?"

She poked her head out of the water. "Is he gone? Did he buy it?"

"He most certainly did," Galinda giggled as Fiyero helped his fiancée out of the pond, and Elphaba grinned at the blonde.

"Good."

They quickly went inside to get Elphaba dry again, after which the green girl and Fiyero walked into the dining room for lunch. Galinda and Cohvu were already there, as well as Lori, Hamold, Avaric's parents and Avaric himself.

When Elphaba came in and threw an innocent smile in Avaric's direction, he paled to the point where his face was almost grey.

"What's the matter, Avaric?" Cohvu asked him with a broad grin on his face. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

The other three burst into a fit of snorting laughter.

"Elphaba," Frex said.

She nodded at him. "Father." It still sounded foreign on her lips, but it was what he was to her, after all.

He surprised everyone present, including himself and Elphaba, by wrapping his arms around her in a tentative hug. "I'm happy to see that you are alright," he told her. "How have you been?"

"Fine," she said, not bothering to tell him about her dying and suddenly coming back to life again, and everything that had happened before that. He didn't need to know about any of that and it was now all in the past, anyway.

He smiled. "Good." Then he half-turned to beckon Nessarose. "Nessa, my precious girl," he said, moving to stand behind her chair and placing his hands on her shoulders. "Meet your half-sister, Elphaba."

Elphaba shifted a bit uncomfortably. Nessarose just stared up at her for a few moments, taking her in.

"My half-sister," she whispered eventually. She reached out to shake Elphaba's hand. "It's… nice to meet you," she said. "Officially."

Elphaba offered her a half-smile. "Yeah."

Frex cleared his throat. "So, um, why don't I go and talk to the King and Queen for a bit?" he suggested. "That way, the two of you can get to know one another… and there are things we should talk about, anyway," he said, casting a glance in Lori and Hamold's direction, who both nodded.

"Come on, then," said Elphaba, taking Nessa's chair and pushing it in the direction of the gardens. "I'll introduce you to my friends."

Nessa half-turned to look at her new sister. "Your friends?" she echoed curiously. "Who are they?"

Elphaba smiled. "Galinda Upland," she said. "Of the Upper Uplands."

"Is she nice?" Nessa asked. "Do you think we'll get along?"

Elphaba chuckled. "She's very nice," she said, "but whether you'll get along or not… that might depend on how you feel about the colour pink."

"I love pink!"

"Then you have nothing to worry about." Elphaba pushed the chair around a corner. "Then there's Cohvu Daline," she said, "Galinda's boyfriend, who lives nearby, and of course there's Prince Fiyero Tiggular."

"The King and Queen's only son," Nessa nodded. "I've heard about him. Is he as scandalacious as they say he is?"

A grin spread across Elphaba's face. "If you're hoping to spot him in his tight white pants, I must disappoint you," she said, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "He got rid of those."

Nessa wrinkled her nose.

"Don't worry," Elphaba assured the younger girl. "He was scandalacious once, yes, but he's not anymore. He's amazing. I believe you've met him – the first time I came to talk to you and your father, at the ball? After he fainted upon seeing me?" She grimaced slightly at the memory.

"Oh, yes!" Nessa exclaimed. "You're right – he seemed very nice." She looked up at Elphaba. "Are you two… together?" she asked, gesturing with her hands. "I mean… are you his girlfriend?"

"We're together," Elphaba said, "but I'm not his girlfriend."

Upon Nessa's questioning look, the former mermaid held one hand in front of her sister's face for Nessa to see. "I'm his fiancée, actually," she explained, unable to keep a broad grin from appearing on her face.

Nessarose sucked in her breath. "Oh!" she exclaimed softly, examining the silver ring with the small emerald that adorned Elphaba's ring finger. "It's so pretty!"

Elphaba smiled a dimpled smile. "I know."

After Fiyero had proposed to her, they had agreed to wait for a few more days to tell the others. What Elphaba hadn't known, was that he had used those few days to venture out into town to find her the perfect engagement ring; which he had presented to her at his official proposal, now three days ago, during dinner with the entire family. Elphaba had been able to do nothing but beam and nod, but the proposal had come as a complete surprise for the others – Cohvu had nearly fallen off his chair and Galinda's squeals had been loud enough to cause the entire Vinkun population ear drum damage.

Elphaba pushed the chair out into the gardens, where Cohvu, Galinda and Fiyero were already sitting, talking together. When they saw the two girls arrive, they looked up.

"Nessarose," Elphaba said, "meet my best friends, Cohvu and Galinda, and my fiancée, Fiyero. Cohvu, Glin, Yero, this is my half-sister, Nessarose."

"You can call me Nessa if you want to," the girl said a bit shyly.

Cohvu smiled and shook her hand, and Galinda immediately started gushing over the necklace Nessa was wearing. "Oh my Oz, that is so pretty!" she squealed. "Where did you get that?"

"It was my mother's," Nessa replied, and Galinda squealed again.

"It's the prettiest thing I've ever seen!"

Galinda and Cohvu immediately started talking to the younger girl – Galinda constantly gushing over Nessa's clothes and jewellery, while Cohvu was actually attempting to make her feel comfortable and get to know her a little better. Fiyero appeared next to Elphaba, slipping his arm around her waist. "How did it go?"

"Fine," she said, eyes trained on her half-sister, "for now, anyway. Frex is inside, talking to your parents."

"Did you tell him about…" He made a vague gesture. "You know?"

Elphaba shook her head. "I'll tell him I'm not a mermaid anymore," she said, "but he doesn't need to know about the details. I mean… He lost his first wife, then he lost his second wife, and his daughter is crippled. I think he's been through enough. It wouldn't really help him to know that his long-lost daughter was almost lost again – for good this time."

She felt Fiyero cringe beside her, and she leant into him a little bit more, squeezing his hand. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She smiled at Nessa, who freed herself from Galinda and Cohvu to wheel herself towards her sister.

"Hello, Fiyero," she said politely, extending her hand towards him. "It's very nice to officially meet you. And may I congratulate you on your engagement?"

Instead of shaking her hand, Fiyero kissed it, grinning broadly at her. "Thanks, Nessa. It's nice to officially meet you, too."

"Elphie!" Galinda squealed, bouncing up and down. "Nessa is letting me give her a makeover tonight!"

Elphaba groaned. "Nessa," she said drily to her sister, "think about this very, very carefully. Know what you're getting yourself into."

Nessarose giggled. "Oh, you were right, Elphaba," she said. "Your friends are very nice. I've never really had many friends before… most of them only saw my chair, not me." A sad look flashed across her face for a moment, and Elphaba knelt down next to the wheelchair, taking Nessa's hands in her own.

"Nessa," she said. "I know how that feels. Believe me, I do. People always saw my skin instead of me, and it used to bother me. A lot."

Nessa nodded, and Elphaba squeezed her sister's hands. "But there are people out there who are better than that," she said. "People like Fiyero, Galinda and Cohvu, who see you for who you really are. You'll meet those people, too. You'll have them in your life, and they'll love you for you."

"There's this one boy I've been friends with for a long time," Nessa admitted softly. "His name is Boq… he's really nice. He takes me out sometimes to go and do something fun together – he doesn't care about my chair."

Elphaba smiled. "There you go," she said. She hesitated for a moment. "I… I don't know if you and Father were planning on returning here, but if you do… return, I mean… You should ask Boq to come along."

Nessa's face brightened. "Really?"

Elphaba laughed. "Of course," she said. "I'd love to meet him."

"Elphaba?" a new voice said. The raven-haired girl turned around to find her father standing there. He smiled at Nessa and nodded at Galinda, Cohvu and Fiyero. "Hello," he said. "I don't think we've been properly introduced."

More introductions followed, after which Frex looked back at Elphaba. "Would you mind coming inside for a moment?" he asked her. He looked at Nessa. "You too, my darling," he said to her. "There is something the King and Queen and I need to talk to you about."

Elphaba laced her fingers with Fiyero's. "Can Yero come?" she asked.

Frex hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "I think so," he said. "I don't know about your parents, Fiyero, but… well, I think this is something that concerns all of you."

They all moved inside and to the sitting room, where Lori and Hamold were waiting. They agreed that Fiyero could stay, but they kindly asked Galinda and Cohvu to wait outside.

"You're part of this family, too, of course," Lori assured them as she delicately guided them out of the room. "But this is something mostly between Elphaba and her family."

"Don't worry, we understand." Cohvu put his arm around Galinda's shoulders. "We'll be outside," he said, winking at his girlfriend, "having some quality time together."

Galinda squealed.

When everyone was settled down, Frex looked at his eldest daughter.

"Elphaba," he said. "I didn't know about you until recently, and I regret that. I want you to know that, despite the fact that you were not planned, you were certainly not unwanted. If only Melena had been able to stay and we could have raised you together…" He got a faraway look in his eyes for a moment, then shook his head. "My point is, Elphaba, that you were not, by any means, an accident, or something like that," he said. "I hope you know that."

"I do," she said softly. "I know that you and my mother loved each other very much."

Frex nodded. "We did." He looked at her. "Lori and Hamold have taken great care of you," he said. "I am immensely grateful for what they did to you. They raised you to be a fine young woman, and I am as grateful to them as I am proud of you."

Elphaba blushed a little, but she had a sinking feeling that she knew where this was going.

"Now that I did find you," he went on, "I want to start acting like your father. I want to provide for you, and help you, and be there for you like I've been there for Nessa her entire life."

Nessa smiled at him, then at Elphaba, her hazel eyes sparking. "I've always wanted a sister," she said longingly.

"So, Elphaba, I want to offer you a home," said Frex. "I want to ask you to come back to Munchkinland with Nessa and I, and to live with us."