A/N: So a couple people have been asking about the length of this. Right now it's sitting at 70 chapters, with a weird epilogue thing that I'm not quite sure what to do with. *shrug* But anyway. Also on that note, thank you all so much for putting up with 70 chapters of me rambling on about two girls falling in love. :)

Spring made its way onto the Shiz campus, bringing with it new life, warmer weather, and—to both Glinda and Elphaba's disgust—lots and lots of rain.

Glinda bought an extra jar of the burn cream Elphaba used and kept it with her at all times, just in case. The green girl rolled her eyes and said she worried too much, but that changed when someone splashed through a puddle next to her on their way to class.

"What was that about worrying too much?" Glinda said as she sat Elphaba down in the classroom and helped peel off her completely soaked socks.

"Just shut up and give me the cream."

Glinda gave her a kiss first, but the green girl wasn't complaining.

Of course, the blonde faced her own troubles. If it was just rain, she was fine. But more often than not the rain was accompanied by thunder, lightning, and a memory that sent her shivering under the covers.

"I'm right here," Elphaba would whisper, pulling her closer and wrapping the blanket around both of them. "I won't let anything hurt you."

It was a stupid promise, but as long as she was talking about the storm, it was fine.

More than once, Elphaba was trapped in the library by the rain. At first, she didn't mind—there were far worse places to be stuck. She used the free time to skim through her and Boq's latest research.

One day she decided to go looking for a book she had checked out a couple weeks ago. It was one of the few texts the girls' library had on the brain, and there were a few passages she wanted to look up again. But when she got to the shelf where it was supposed to be, all she found was an empty space between two other books. It wasn't hard to figure out.

Morrible.

The library felt less welcoming after that.

Elphaba started losing sleep.

Not that she got very much to begin with, but this was different. This wasn't waking early or staying up late because she had things to do. This was all on her mind, which refused to shut up long enough to shut down.

Every night her thoughts seemed to spiral out into the dark room, running through and repeating her worries and fears, as if she didn't dwell on them enough during the day. She thought of Ayla and the other Animals who had lost their jobs. She thought of the Munchkins who were being forced to replace them. She thought of Peric, fighting with the Resistance in the Emerald City. She thought of Nessa, plunging headfirst into a world of politics that was quickly revealing itself to be more shadowed and twisted than any of them could ever imagine. And always, she thought of Morrible. Morrible leering at her across campus. Morrible crooning at Glinda in sorcery class. Morrible standing in the doorway, knife glinting at her side. In real life, Elphaba had turned away and fled. In her haunting, late night thoughts, she couldn't.

There was nothing to do in those darkened hours except let her mind run its course. After a while the green girl would give up and just lay there, content to feel Glinda breathing deeply beside her until exhaustion weighed her down enough to grant release.

Both girls knew it was a stupid idea, but neither of them had homework that night and, for once, it wasn't raining. Both circumstances were miraculous enough to justify a walk around campus after dinner.

Glinda's hand tightened around Elphaba's when they heard the first growl of thunder.

"It's still pretty distant," Elphaba assured her, though her face had started to tinge grey. "Let's just hurry back to—"

That's when it started pouring.

They were out by the lake, too far away to make it safely to the nearest building. Elphaba shouted a curse and threw her arm over her head while Glinda grabbed her and sprinted toward the nearest shelter—a little gazebo, one of several that dotted the lakeside. It was old and wooden and just big enough for both of them to huddle in the center and almost be out of the rain. Glinda dragged Elphaba into it and immediately spun around to face her.

"Are you okay? Are you burnt? I have my cream, we can—"

"I'm fine." Elphaba was shivering and her eyes darted around like a panicked animal. "But we're going to be stuck here for a while."

Lightning flashed behind her, splitting the darkness. Glinda whimpered.

"Shh, my sweet." Elphaba sat on the wood and pulled the blonde down next to her. "It's okay."

It was the opposite of okay, and they both knew it. Five minutes ago it had been warm and sunny, yet now they were caught in the middle of a downpour, complete with crackling lightning and chilling thunder. Almost like magic, Glinda wondered, but she refused to dwell on that.

Elphaba sucked in a breath, wincing as a gust of wind blew the rain toward them. Glinda huddled closer to her. "E-Elphaba?"

"It's alright," the green girl whispered shakily, pulling her cloak tighter. "It just stings a little."

Glinda shifted so that most of the rain hit her back. It sent a chill down her spine and, as the thunder growled even louder this time, she couldn't quite bite back her sob.

Elphaba took her hand, intertwining their fingers. "Talk to me."

"About what?"

"Anything. Distract me. Distract yourself."

Her eyes scanned the green girl's face. Elphaba was terrified and fighting hard not to show it. Glinda bit her lip.

"I hate storms."

"Me too."

The blonde squeezed her eyes shut. "But you hate them because rain hurts you. I hate them because…"

Elphaba ran her thumb over Glinda's knuckles. "You can tell me."

"You'll think it's stupid."

"You know that's not true."

Glinda took a shaky breath. "It was a long time ago. I don't know how old I was—three? four?—but somehow I remember it perfectly. I was out with my parents. We were in a carriage, driving home from some dinner party or something, but it was storming like crazy. We were fine until…until lightning struck a tree nearby. The horses panicked and bolted, and the carriage crashed and tipped off the side of the road. My parents were thrown out of the cab and landed safely, but I got stuck beneath it."

She stopped to take a deep breath, but it caught in her throat. Elphaba kept rubbing her knuckles, gazing steadily at her.

"I tried to climb out, but one of the horses was still attached to the reins. It was kicking and pulling, and eventually it broke free, but not before shifting the entire carriage and pinning me under it." Her heart pounded as the memories caught up with her. "It was pouring down rain, and I was completely soaked. All around me there was mud…I kept thinking the earth was going to swallow me… I couldn't move. I don't…don't really remember it hurting, but…I-I could hear my parents screaming for help. I c-couldn't see them, but, but, I could hear them. And I could s-see the lightning, right above my head. A-and the thunder…"

Elphaba's hand tightened around hers. "How long were you under there?"

Glinda shook her head. "I don't remember. It felt like hours." She sniffled and coughed, trying to fight down the scream that was building in her chest.

Elphaba reached around and pulled her into her lap. Glinda squirmed a little, trying to pull away. "Elphie, don't. I'm covered in water."

"So am I," the green girl said, wrapping her arms around the blonde.

"You'll burn."

"Hush. Let me protect you."

The sky roared and shook, and Glinda gave up, burying her face in Elphaba's shoulder. "I know it was years ago," she whispered. "But every time feels like that night. I can still feel the rain…the mud…"

Elphaba's grip tightened. "I've got you."

"I just want it to stop." Her voice broke and the tears finally started. Elphaba ran a hand through her hair, then tilted her face up so she could kiss them away.

"It'll stop," she whispered, cupping Glinda's cheek. "No storm lasts forever."

The blonde sniffed a little and rested her forehead against the crook of Elphaba's neck once more. "That was cheesy," she mumbled. Elphaba chuckled.

"Maybe," she said, combing through Glinda's hair. "But it's true."

Sometimes, when she was researching long after Boq had left for the night, Elphaba found her mind wandering.

It was all too easy for her thoughts to drift back to that night a few weeks ago, at that old, shabby inn with Dr. Dillamond. No amount of stressing and reliving could change things, but no amount of reasoning could stop her from returning to the event, either.

Once in a while, she wondered what would have happened if she'd refused to leave. It was pointless, of course. She already knew the answer: Morrible would have killed her just as easily, and that was the best case scenario. Other times, she thought about how different things would be if she and Dillamond could have escaped together. He would still be alive, still giving her advice, and they'd have a much better chance of getting the research out to the rest of Oz.

But most of the time, she sat there and let all of her guilt and regrets wash over her. She wasn't dumb enough to think this was entirely her fault, but she also knew that Morrible wouldn't have found Dillamond without her help. What tipped her off? Elphaba asked herself one night. Obviously the headmistress had been on to her for ages, but what was the final clue?

The answer wasn't hard to figure out. It was the journal Fiyero stole. It had to be. Maybe Morrible never knew Fiyero was in her office—maybe she didn't even know what had been taken—but she knew something had happened.

Would Dillamond still be alive if she hadn't told Boq she wanted Morrible's research? She couldn't bring herself to dwell on it long enough to come up with an answer. The thought made her queasy, and it was around this time that she would bury her face in her hands and consider quitting for the night.

Of course, thinking of Dr. Dillamond usually led to other thoughts. Like Rakuul and Ayla and all the other Animals who were continuing to suffer. Despite all of her struggles, Elphaba knew she'd only ever experienced a taste of the cruelty Oz had to offer. What was it like to have your rights taken away? To be not only unable, but not legally allowed to have a job, or a house, or any means of security? She thought of Peric, fighting in an invisible resistance group. She thought of Ayla, hiding in the darkened corners of society. Was that what it was coming down to for the Animals? A choice between fighting a war, or hiding from it?

How long would it be before she had to make that choice?

Elphaba refused to let herself despair. She could still see Ayla in that alleyway, tired and ragged, willingly accepting her defeat. Sometimes she wondered if Dillamond was actually the lucky one in all of this. He had died still believing in a better Oz for the Animals.

She didn't want to give up on his dream. Not yet. She continued to pour herself into research, working with Boq and, more and more often, Fiyero. The Vinkan turned out to be quite the little thief, slipping effortlessly in and out of the library or science labs or teachers' offices. Just like when Boq had first joined her, Elphaba tried and failed to push Fiyero away. But he refused to stop helping, and they all knew that, however worried the green girl was, she was also secretly grateful.

It became common for the three of them to spend long hours in the library, skimming through books and journals and old records of scholars who might be willing to take up their research. It was painful, desperate, often hopeless work—before, they had at least been making visible progress. Now it just seemed like they were digging themselves into a hole. Never once did the boys even think about complaining, but all three of them knew they were struggling.

Boq and Fiyero would almost always leave the library before it closed, but Elphaba had become a master at sneaking around campus after hours long before she had Dillamond's research. She would stay and finish whatever she had been working on, or—on nights like this one—she would simply sit and let her mind walk through all her restless thoughts.

But eventually even she would get tired, and she would slowly, silently, pack up her things and creep to the back window on the first floor that the librarians always forgot to lock. It led out to a cluster of bushes and a lamp post that was never lit, and it was all too easy for Elphaba to slip out and make her way, unseen, through campus. She had done it a thousand times before, and she could do it a thousand times again.

Or so she thought.

Elphaba froze as she approached the window, a chill running up her spine. Something was wrong. The bushes outside were far too still, and a dim light shone from the lamp post, barely visible through the window.

The green girl clutched the strap of her bag and backed away. No one knew about that window—not even the librarians who had worked here for decades. And yet…

She crept back through the library. There was another way out, through the dank halls of the cellar. Much like the boys' library, the bottom floor of this building was all but abandoned. It was as good an escape route as any, but Elphaba hated it because of the moisture that seeped from the ground into the walls and made the air sting. Still, it was better than getting caught by whoever was waiting outside her usual exit.

Whoever. Elphaba snorted. She knew perfectly well who was waiting by that window. In fact, her fears were confirmed as she climbed out of the in-ground cellar doors. She had just put the latch back in place when she heard the soft rustling of a dress. It was too close for her to make an escape, so she just pulled her hood up and retreated into a darkened corner of the building.

Elphaba held her breath as the headmistress came into view. For a moment, she was back in that inn, watching as the door opened, revealing a stiff dress, powdered skin and hair, the glint of a knife…

She bit her lip and shrank further into the shadows. Morrible slowed her path, glancing over at the doors Elphaba had just climbed through. The headmistress paused, then turned and took a few steps closer.

Elphaba could do nothing but stand there and hold her breath, her mind reeling. She thought of Glinda, tossing and turning in bed without the green girl there to hold her. She thought of Boq and Fiyero, who were smart enough not to push their luck with the headmistress. She thought of Dillamond, glaring at her as he told her to run. Now, it seemed, he had only put off the inevitable.

Morrible came to a halt, still staring at the entrance to the library. She was only a few feet away. Just one little turn of her head, and she would be looking right at the green girl.

Instead, she bent over and twisted the handle of one of the doors. Her hand pulled back before she even opened it and she wiped her fingers on her dress. "Too wet," the headmistress murmured. "She wouldn't dare."

Shaking her head, she turned around and continued her path around the library. For the first time in her life, Elphaba was grateful for the Madame Head's arrogance.

She didn't let herself breathe until she was back inside Crage Hall, all but sprinting up to her room. She slipped through the door and collapsed against it, her chest heaving. She couldn't believe her luck. She had fully expected to be lying motionless on the ground with a knife jutting out of her chest by now.

Of course, she didn't say any of this. Glinda was freaked out enough by the green girl rushing into the room at half past midnight and immediately falling to the floor. There was no need to tell her what had just happened.

It was a long time before Elphaba allowed herself to relax, even in the safety of their dorm room. She stayed shivering and tense next to Glinda for hours. The blonde had tried to get her to talk, but eventually gave up and settled for hugging her close and drifting off to sleep.

Elphaba closed her eyes and focused on the tiny arm wrapped around her waist, the blonde head resting on her chest. Tomorrow, she would tell Boq and Fiyero what had happened. If Morrible was taking to prowling the campus looking for her, then they were going to have to do things more carefully from now on.

In her last few moments before exhaustion finally overcame her, Elphaba made a silent vow never to get caught in the library again—though whether she was making it to herself, Dr. Dillamond, or her roommate snuggled up next to her, she didn't quite know.