Chapter 22

Faba

Faba turned to see Lukas standing in the doorway. Her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Well, I guess Prince Fiyero gives his girls castles like other guys give girls jackets," Lukas said. "In case you haven't heard, in case you care, Aiistia and the others escaped from Southstairs. After a year and a half of truly grueling conditions."

Faba forced a smile. "I'm glad they got out."

"And Aiistia told me that she saw a damn funny thing last night." He gave her an accusatory look. "You, in the Gilikin Forest, shagging with Prince Fiyero."

"That was none of her business," Faba said coldly. "And neither is it yours."

"Just … why, Faba? Why him?"

She glared at him. "Maybe because he actually loved me for who I was. Or maybe because he respected my choices. I don't know. Love's interesting that way."

Lukas noticed her use of the past tense. "'Loved'? What happened?"
"Haven't you heard?" Faba laughed darkly. "He's dead. Tortured, put on a pole like a common scarecrow. For me."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know."

Faba scoffed. "You're not sorry. This never would've happened if you hadn't kicked me out of the house."

"I am sorry!" Lukas insisted. "It's just … you took something that was OUR decision, and made it your own!"

"It wasn't our decision!" Faba said, getting even more annoyed. "It was MY decision! I was going to have to give birth to the thing!"

"But … couldn't you at least think about the possibility that …?"

She sat down in a chair closer to Lukas. "You know me, Lukas. I think about every possibility! You know, somewhere we're married with three hybrid kids, and I'm pretty satisfied. Or maybe we never met. Maybe you never came up to me on our first day of high school and told those girls to stop harassing me."

"I still would have noticed you, Faba." He grinned at her.

Faba sighed angrily. "Like everyone else, you refer to my looks. And you make fun of them."

"I ADORE your looks and I acknowledge them, Faba!" Lukas protested. "What is up with you?"

"You know, what if I was normal?" she pondered thoughtfully. "It's not something I even wish for anymore, but what if this … green … shield that isolates me from the world … didn't exist? Maybe Father would've been proud of me …"

He leaned closer to her. "But you wouldn't have been you. And hey, I can play this game too. You know, what if I never loved you? What if I was only proud that my buddy Faba had stood up to the Wizard? Or what if you loved me enough to stay with me instead of going with that … prince?"

"You kicked me out," Faba reminded him.

"I know, and I'm really sorry about that. I'm sorry I called you … what I called you. You're not."

"Yes, I am."

"Faba …"

"Everyone believes it now, even Glinda, so it might as well be true. I'm wicked." She shrugged resignedly. "The Wicked Bitch of the West, as you said." Lukas made a sound of protest, but Faba ignored him and continued. "I also sometimes wonder what if I hadn't become a fugitive. Would that have been better for me?"

"We'll never know," Lukas pointed out. "Faba, did you really love this … Fiyero?"

She nodded. "More than I could ever think possible."

"What if you could go back and meet him again? Would you let him be with you, or would you spare yourself the grief? 'Cause you feel awful right now, don't you?"

"I do."

"Yeah, don't you wish you could go back and walk away? Let him have a long, happy life?"

"I don't know!" Faba stood up, agitated. "Lukas, I think you should go."

Lukas rose despite himself. "I don't want to leave you alone, Faba."

"Well, that sucks for you, because you have to." She led him to the door of her room. "Out. Now."

"We could still be friends, you know," Lukas said, turning around in the doorway.

"No, we can't," Faba said sadly. "Not in this universe."

"Oh. Well, my condolences about your sister." And then he left her life for the last time.

Somewhere there's a world where you and I could still be friends,

Not like we were,

Not yet.

We forgive but don't forget.

No happy ends,

But friends.

After she cried for about fifteen straight minutes about all the emotional shit that had happened to her in the past 24 hours, Faba decided to explore Kiamo Ko. It was truly a beautiful piece of architecture, if not a little dusty from disuse. Below her, she could hear chattering, and she knew that the monkeys had decided to live in the basement. She had no way of knowing why they had decided to stay with her, but she was grateful for the company.

And then Faba wandered into the Tigulaars' chapel. It was just as pretty as the rest of the castle, with pictures of Saint Aelphaba and Saint Glinda and a few other saints adorning the walls. "Hey, Yero, it's me," she said, hardly believing what she was saying. "Oz, I don't even know if you can hear me, but I've missed you. It was just a coincidence that Lukas had me consider a life without having known you, because in fact, on my broom today, I started thinking about what my life would have been like if I had never met you.

"What if I hadn't been in the courtyard the day you came to Shiz? Of course, as Glinda's roommate, I probably still would've met you. But what if I hadn't been Glinda's roommate? What if I had convinced Madam Morrible to let me stay with Nessa? She would still be alive, probably, and so would you …"

But she was talking to air about things that had never happened, and she felt silly. So she went back upstairs, and unpacked her crystal ball. It was time to find Dorothy Gale.