Hi! I know some people have been long awaiting this chapter!

Dog Lover 645, the WWotE scene is also in this chappie; I tried my best to do it justice because I know you're a big Nessa fan. ;)

Enjoy!

Chapter 16

Faba

"Just a couple days ago, huh?" Faba asked nervously. "That's … very interesting, Lukas. I …"

"Cut the crap, Faba," Lukas snapped. "I'm going to ask you something very, very important, and you need to be completely honest with me. Where have you been going off to these three months?"

She spoke hollowly. "Doctor Kellu."

"Doctor Kellu. I see. Feel like telling me why you were seeing Doctor Kellu?" He gave her a glare that chilled her to the bone.

Still in the mode of obscuring the truth, Faba said, "I-It wasn't anything like … we weren't seeing each other in the sense that …"

"I know it wasn't that!" Lukas calmed. "Faba, are you pregnant?"

"Was," she said drily. "I thought you'd figured that part out by now."

Lukas stayed frighteningly calm. "So that spell was an abortion spell?"

"Yeah."

"I see."

Faba picked up her pile of crops and made her way towards the house. "Look, you really didn't need to know about it. We couldn't raise a child the way we are now!"

"You could've at least told me!" Lukas exclaimed as they entered the house. "You could've convinced me into this whole abortion thing, and we could've gone through it together. 'Cause that's what couples do: they go through things together. Sort of the point of being a couple."

"Yeah, well I'm not used to that," Faba said. "My whole life has been about going it alone. I didn't want you to mourn it."

"Faba, for Oz's sake!" Lukas threw up his paws. "I'm here so you don't have to go it alone! When did you know?"

She swallowed. "The morning I vomited."

Lukas nodded in recognition. "And you and Doctor Kellu had that private conversation. I should've known something was going on. But, I said to myself, 'No! Faba's as honest as the night is long! She's fighting the Wizard, of all people! She would surely tell me if something was up!' Looks like I made a serious mistake. You're no better than our lying leader." His voice was as cold as ice.

Faba tried not to cry. "L-Lukas, you don't mean that."

"Don't I? I trusted you, Elphaba." She flinched. He never used her full name, never! "And now you're crying like I'm the one who stabbed you in the back?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Fucking unbelievable. This is all so fucking unbelievable!" He slammed the table with his paw, and Faba grew a little bit frightened. She had never seen him this angry.

"Luk …" Faba started, trying to compose herself. She hated to cry. "It wasn't really your decision, in my opinion."

"It wasn't your decision either! It was OUR decision. As in, US, as a couple." What he said next was something he would regret for the rest of his days. "You know, you really are wicked."

That flipped a switch inside Faba. "You did NOT just say that! I'm getting my things." She stood up and retreated to the bedroom.

"Yes, go!" Lukas called after her. "I need someone I can actually trust! And you know what else, Wicked Bitch of the West?! I hope the Gale Force catches you! Don't expect any protection from me!"

It didn't take Faba long to pack some clothes and the Grimmerie into her satchel. She rushed past him, opened the door, and grabbed her broomstick. "Goodbye, Lukas," she said. "I'm really surprised at you. Maybe once you cool down, you'll be able to remember the good times we shared. But until then, Ozspeed." She mounted her broom, and kicked off the ground with a great force.

So Faba was alone. Again. She couldn't believe Lukas! This was so unlike him! He had always been a feminist, always respectful of a woman who wanted to take charge. The "wicked" remark had been the breaking point, though. How could he call her that?! She could take it from the rest of Oz, but she couldn't take it from him. But now Faba realized that she had an even bigger problem: she had nowhere to go. Glinda and Fiyero were in the Emerald City, a place of death for Faba. She now had no home. Home! Yes! That was it! Her father was the governor of Munchkinland; he would surely help her, with a little persuasion from Nessa.

It took her about five days to fly from their secluded hut in the western Vinkus (now just Lukas' secluded hut in the western Vinkus) to Colwin Grounds in Munchkinland. She arrived around lunchtime, so she was able to sneak down the chimney like Lurline and Preenela were supposed to do on Lurlinemus Eve, and enter Nessa's room without notice. She hid herself in her sister's wardrobe, and wedged herself in between Nessa's many articles of clothes.

Presently, she heard the door open and footsteps coming into the room, along with a familiar rolling of wheels. "Will there be anything else, Madam?" Boq. What was he doing here?

"I've asked you to call me Nessarose, remember?"

"Yes, Madam." Faba heard Boq leave the room.

"Boq!" Faba felt a pang of empathy for her sister. Boq was being just as cold as Lukas. But why?

"Well, it seems the beautiful just get more beautiful, while the green just get greener," Faba said from inside the closet. Nessa shrieked, and Faba regretted her theatrics. She stepped out of the wardrobe. "I'm sorry, did I scare you? I seem to have that effect on people."

"Elphaba!" Nessa snapped. "What the HELL are you doing here? Where have you been? You destroyed all of us when you didn't come back from the Emerald City!"

"I'm sorry," Faba said again. "I've been trying to help the Animals. I've been living with Lukas Valentinis. Do you remember him? We went to high school together. But, now we've … decided to go our separate ways, so … I never thought I'd say this, but … I need Father's help."

"That's impossible."

Faba knelt down next to Nessa's chair. "No, it isn't, not if you ask him …"

"Father's dead."

The news hit Faba so bluntly that all she could manage was, "What?"

"He's dead. I'm the governor now." Nessa scoffed coldly at her elder sister's shocked expression. "Well, what did you expect after what you'd done? He died of shame, embarrassed to death."

"Good," Faba said quietly. "It's better."

Nessa gasped. "That's a wicked thing to say!" There was that word again, first used against her by her former teacher, then the people of Oz, then by her now former boyfriend, and now her own sister.

But for now, she chose to ignore it. "No, it's true. Because now it's just us. Together, we can …"

"Elphaba, shut up!" Shocked, Faba fell silent. "First off, I can't harbor a fugitive; I'm an unelected official! And why would I want to help you, of all people?! You fly around Oz doing … things with Lukas Valentinis, and trying to rescue Animals you've never even met, but it never even once has occurred to you to use your powers to rescue me. I depended on you, and you went and let me down. At least this hideous wheelchair stayed with me."

"Nessa, look. There isn't a spell for everything. The power is mysterious! It's not like conjuring up a pair of …" Suddenly, a thought occurred to Faba. "Wait." She knelt down and opened the Grimmerie. If there was a spell to end a pregnancy, then surely there was something … And then she found it.

Nessa panicked when Faba started chanting. "Stop! What are you doing?!" Nessa screamed, and Faba immediately stopped chanting. "My shoes! They feel like they're on fire! What have you done to my shoes?!"

"Nessa …" Faba said cautiously. "Why don't you try to stand?"

The younger sister looked at Faba like she was crazy. But then, she pushed off her chair carefully, and she was on her feet, albeit unsteadily. Nessa grinned with delight, and then promptly fell over. Faba started to move to assist her. "No, don't help me!" Reluctantly, Faba moved back as Nessa stood up once more. She walked towards her elder sister, each step becoming more sure.

Faba was ecstatic. "Oh, Nessa! Look at you! You're …" She was at a loss for words. Finally, her powers had caused something good to happen, no father getting angry, no lover rejecting her. Finally.

"Boq!" Nessa called happily. "Boq!" She hid behind the wardrobe to surprise him. But Faba's happiness immediately turned to panic.

"No! No one can know I'm here!" But it was too late. Boq rushed into the room.

"What is it, Madam Governor?" Boq asked. But then he caught sight of Faba. "You!"

Faba approached him cautiously like a wild animal. "Boq, it's just me, Elphaba."

"You're lying!" Boq exploded. "That's all you ever do! You and your sister! She's just as wicked as you are!"

Faba's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about my life! What's left of it, anyway. Ever since she took power, she's been stripping the Munchkins of our rights! I'm not allowed to leave Munchkinland, none of us are."

"That was just so you could be with me," Nessa said, emerging from her hiding place. "But, look! None of that matters anymore."

"Oh, Nessa!" Boq was overjoyed, but Faba feared it was for the wrong reasons. "This changes everything!"

"I know!"

"Yeah, so since you don't really need me anymore, I was wondering if I could leave here tonight."

Nessa grew worried. "Leave?"

"Well, there's this ball in the Emerald City for Glinda and Fiyero's engagement …" That was where Faba tuned out. So Glinda and Fiyero were engaged? Made sense. Two perfect people, starting their perfect life together. Of course. Faba was not that girl …

"You lost your heart?!" Nessa's exclamation jolted Faba back into the conversation.

"Nessa, let him go," Faba said desperately.

"We'll see about that!" Before Faba could stop her, Nessa snatched up the Grimmerie. "I'll make you lose your heart to ME! Ah tom, ta take …"

No. This was bad. "Nessa, stop. You're pronouncing the words all wrong. Nessa. Nessarose!" Nessa stopped, surprised at Faba's stern tone of voice.

The Thropp sisters looked at each other in shock for a few seconds before a groan from Boq snapped them out of it. "My heart! It's shrinking!"

Faba cursed. "Shit, Nessa. What have you done? He's going to die!"

"Oh, Faba!" Nessa exclaimed, almost in hysterics. "Can you reverse it?"

"No, I cannot reverse it! What do you think I am, a storybook witch? Spells are irreversible! I'm going to have to find another spell!" Boq had fallen into Nessa's empty wheelchair, so Faba could easily roll him to a fairly quiet spot in the room, behind Nessa's closet. She ignored Nessarose's sobbing as she did her work. She sighed. Boq would not like the effects of the spell that she had to use, but she had saved his life.

Nessa jumped up immediately when Faba approached her. "How is he?"

"He's … asleep."

"And his heart?"

Faba sighed. "He won't be needing a heart now." She suddenly came to a decision. "Look, I have to go."

"What? Where?"

"To the Emerald City. I have to set those Monkeys free."

Nessa scoffed in disbelief. "You're not going to the Emerald City for the Monkeys, Faba. You're going for Fiyero. That's why you left Lukas, isn't it? But it's too late. He's marrying Glinda." This was hardly the time to be discussing romance, in Faba's opinion!

"Nessa, I've done everything I could for you, and if that isn't enough, nothing ever will be." Without another word, Faba departed the mansion, drowning out the shrieks that erupted once Boq and Nessarose discovered Boq's new constitution: tin. Faba felt horrible, but he would've died otherwise.

As she flew west, she thought about Nessa's final remarks to her. Was she truly going to the EC to find Fiyero? That definitely wasn't why she and Lukas had broken up, for one thing! Plus, Faba had no plans to barge into the engagement party in a horribly cliché way; that would most likely result in her immediate arrest and death. Well, she would free the Monkeys, and if she ended up freeing Fiyero as well, more power to her.

There we are! Now, I might not post for a while because I'm traveling, but we'll see.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Elle Dottore