AN. BecauseIKnowYou guessed who we're starting with! Hope you are all liking this.


Chapter 2

Elphaba opened her eyes, blinked and then spun around on the spot, taking everything in. The market square, the stalls, the yellow brick road.

With her heart in her throat, she turned to Klehr. "This is Munchkinland."

"Yes," Klehr nodded.

Elphaba shook her head, trembling. "This is Munchkinland," she repeated. "I- I can't be here. It's not safe."

Klehr stepped forward to take her hands gently. "Elphaba, this is a world in which you were never born," she reminded her. "There's no Wicked Witch of the West here. You're safe."

Elphaba huffed out a laugh, even as her pulse calmed somewhat at that reminder. "I'm green. I'm never safe."

Klehr smiled. "Are you?"

Elphaba frowned confusedly, not sure which part Klehr was questioning. And then she tracked Klehr's gaze down to her own hands and gasped sharply, noting the absence of green. She pulled her hands out of Klehr's grasp, raising one hand to her face to study it in awe. She'd been lying if she'd never wondered what her skin would be like if she hadn't been green, and for some reason she'd always envisioned herself to be quite pale as Nessa had been. Yet the skin seemed quite sun-kissed, and Elphaba wasn't quite sure why that surprised her.

She checked the rest of herself as best she could without having a mirror at hand, but skin aside, she seemed to still be her; the dark brown dress and shoes she wore now was the same dress she'd worn when she'd left the house in the early hours of the morning. Oddly, Elphaba found that comforting.

She looked around the square once more, her heart decidedly calmer now. For perhaps the first time in her entire life that she could remember, she was standing in the town square of Munchkin City without a single person giving her more than a passing glance. Munchkins bustled around doing their shopping; gathering in cafes and restaurants; walking in the sunshine with their families or friends. It had been years since Elphaba had been able to stand in the middle of a crowd in Oz without causing panic or alarm.

"Where- where are we?" she asked Klehr, her throat dry. "I mean, besides Munchkinland."

"This is a Munchkinland in which you were never born," Klehr reminded her.

"Okay, but I mean… present-day?" Elphaba pressed. "Or the past?"

She still wasn't sure what to expect.

"The present," Klehr confirmed.

Elphaba looked around again, trying to pay more attention to small details. Of course, the last time she'd been in Munchkinland in her world, she'd been confronting Glinda after she'd just given Nessa's shoes to that farm girl; and ended with her leaving Fiyero at the hands of the Gale Force. So, not exactly the best memories to compare the present scene to, but she didn't have many happy memories of Munchkinland to begin with. Nothing seemed vastly different, was the thing.

"So, if we're here," Elphaba said slowly, looking around. "And I was never born… does Nessa exist? Is she alive?"

Suffice to say, she'd never experienced any form of time travel before, so the logistics were rather unclear. Logically, if their parents had conceived at any other time than when they had Nessa; they'd have a child, but that child presumably couldn't be Nessarose. And without Elphaba have being born first, what were the odds of Nessa being Nessa?

"Nessarose does exist," Klehr thankfully confirmed before Elphaba gave herself a migraine trying to work out that math. "And she is alive."

Elphaba's heart leapt.

"Would you like to see her?"

Elphaba nodded. "Please."

The last words she'd ever said to Nessa still haunted her, and even now she still had nightmares of the sight of Nessa's crushed body beneath that farmhouse. Even now, her gaze kept going towards where the house had been in the square; as though the two men sitting at a table with two small children weren't there at all.

"Elphaba?"

Elphaba jerked her gaze back to Klehr, finding her a few feet away and looking back to her expectantly.

"Come along," she said simply, holding a hand out towards her.

Elphaba fell into step beside her, looking around at passing Munchkins for any familiar faces. All she received in turns was polite nods and a few faint smiles, and it was unnerving to say the least.

As they walked, Elphaba couldn't help but try and guess what she was about to see. If they were in present-day, and assuming Nessarose had been born at the same time as she had in Elphaba's world, she'd be twenty-two, a few months shy of twenty-three. Elphaba assumed she'd be done with university now; but beyond that, Elphaba was clueless as to what to expect. Had she still been raised with the goal of eventually being governor? Or had Nessa's passions followed her elsewhere? As a child, Nessa had once dreamed of doing something with art (because she'd found the idea that people got paid to colour or draw all day quite magical when she was three and a half), was she doing that perhaps?

But Klehr led her to a building that Elphaba knew quite well by sight, but had always tried to avoid going near if she could help it.

"The manse house?"

Klehr looked over at her. "You seem surprised."

"I am," Elphaba admitted. "Nessa- Nessa lives here?"

Klehr gestured towards the house, just as the front door opened and Nessarose stepped out. For a moment, Elphaba could only stare at her sister. Honestly, despite what Frex had ingrained in her since the moment Nessa had been born; Elphaba had forgotten until this moment that without her own birth, Nessa would be able to walk. Without Elphaba being born, there was no need for their mother to take the milkflowers, and therefore no reason why Nessa would be unable to walk.

And now, Elphaba was watching her sister walk. She was alive, she was standing and she looked so much like the Nessa that Elphaba remembered from before, that Elphaba just wanted to sob. Nessa's steps were sure, not the shaky steps she'd taken after Elphaba enchanted the silver slippers, stumbling around the room like a baby Deer not long since born. Of course they weren't, she'd been walking all her life now, hadn't she?

"Can I help you?"

Elphaba startled, jerking from her stunned stupor as she realised Nessarose had crossed the front garden to stand on the other side of the fence and was staring at her haughtily.

"Sorry," she said automatically. "We were just passing, and I… your garden is lovely."

It was a stab in the dark, trusting that Nessa's interests were the same in this world as in Elphaba's, but she didn't know what else to say. However, it seemed to work; as Nessa's shoulders relaxed slightly.

"Thank you," she said, and then paused. "I don't believe we've met. Are you new to town?"

"My granddaughter and I are just passing through," Klehr spoke up and Elphaba barely resisted raising an eyebrow at her.

Granddaughter? Well, sure. Why not? Even to Elphaba's eyes now Klehr seemed to appear older than she had first appeared on the bridge, so grandmother seemed a plausible connection.

"We were trying to track down some long-lost acquaintances of mine," Klehr continued smoothly. "I'm afraid at my age, it's easy to lose touch with people."

"Of course," Nessa replied, nodding sagely and smiling politely. "Well, why don't you come in and perhaps I can help? My husband and I know most people in town, as the minister."

She extended a hand to Elphaba. "I'm Mrs Leacey- Nessarose."

"Elphaba," she responded unthinkingly, taking the offered hand to shake. "Elphaba T-"

Here she stumbled, as it suddenly occurred to her that she couldn't use 'Thropp' here. Nessa could hardly fail to recognise her own- maiden- name. Elphaba also assumed it wasn't safe to use her mother's maiden name, and although her next instinct was to use Fiyero's name, she couldn't be certain that Nessa wouldn't recognise that either.

"Tatham," she choked out, pulling out the first surname that came to mind. "Elphaba Tatham, and my- grandmother, Klehr."

Nessarose's smiled turned genuine. "Elphaba," she repeated. "Like the saint?"

Elphaba managed a weak smile. "Yes."

Once they were seated in a parlour waiting for Nessarose to serve tea, Elphaba looked around greedily for any insight into her sister's life in this world. The house itself was nicer than Elphaba had ever known the manse to be in her own reality, which didn't really seem to help Klehr's case that Nessa was worse off without her. How could she be? She was walking, she was alive and even if she'd never achieved Frex's dream of becoming governor, she seemed happy. On the wall were a series of photographs in matching frames, and Elphaba couldn't resist getting up to have a closer look.

In the centre was what must be Nessa's wedding picture, and Elphaba examined it closely. She didn't recognise the man, Nessa's husband, whom she assumed was the minister. But then again, if time had passed much the same here; the last minister that Elphaba had known to live here had been fairly old when she and Nessa had left for Shiz. It wasn't an unrealistic theory that he had passed and someone else had taken his place. But he appeared to be quite a bit older than Nessa, Elphaba would place him in his early forties at least. Nessa looked to be quite young in the photo, which surprised Elphaba. Nor did she recognise the four small children who were also pictured and present in many of the images on the wall.

"My husband, Eren," Nessa explained when Elphaba asked. "And my step-children."

Elphaba wanted to be pleased about this- she knew how much Nessa loved children; and she was pretty sure that she was only one who had known Nessa's fears that she'd never have that, that it was one more thing her chair had taken from her. Elphaba had sympathised, but children had never been anything she'd wanted for herself, which had always frustrated Nessa. Yet something wasn't sitting well with her about this.

"How long have you been married, Mrs Leacey?" Klehr asked her, taking the offered teacup.

Nessarose smiled rather tightly at her. "Almost five years."

Elphaba's hands shook as she took a sip of her own teacup, her mind whirling. Five years. That would mean Nessa married… at eighteen? Not uncommon, particularly in Munchkinland, but not what Elphaba had ever expected of Nessarose. Had she still attended Shiz? Or any university?

"What is he like? Your husband?" she asked hoarsely.

If Nessa was happy, if she truly loved him and he loved her, then that was all Elphaba could ask for. But Nessa faltered briefly at Elphaba's question, before she straightened her shoulders and smiled at Elphaba, that kind of fake smile Elphaba remembered Glinda making at Shiz before they became friends- haughty, rather smug and a hint condescending.

"He's a man of the Unnamed God," Nessa said proudly, lifting her chin and Elphaba's heart sank, although she fought to keep her face carefully blank. "He's a righteous man, and a wonderful provider for his children. He's the most wonderful father."

Words Elphaba had heard a million times before; only in that life, Nessa was talking about Frex- usually trying to defend him to Elphaba when Elphaba was ranting about something he'd said or done to her.

"Who were the people you're trying to find?" Nessa asked Klehr, turning away from Elphaba pointedly, which left Elphaba reeling.

"Oh, she was a neighbour's daughter who I used to watch as a child- Melena Skarr," Klehr replied much more smoothly than Elphaba had managed any answer since first finding Nessa. "I understand she moved here to marry, but that's all I know."

Elphaba watched Nessa's face carefully, looking for the expression she knew all too well, the one that always preceded the phrase "I'm sorry, my mother passed some time ago." But instead of her face falling, Nessa's eyes widened slightly and her mouth twisted for a moment before she smoothed out her features once more.

"How very fortunate then," Nessa replied. "That's my mother."

She gestured to an end table beside Elphaba, who spun around. There, in a small silver frame, was a photo of five people. Nessa, Melena and Frex were clearly recognisable; although Melena was older here than in any photo Elphaba had ever seen of her. The other two people, Elphaba didn't know.

"Who- who are they?" she asked.

"My siblings," Nessa replied, a hint of warmth creeping into her tone for the first time since asking Elphaba if she had been named for Saint Aelphaba.

Elphaba's eyes whipped over to Nessa and then back to the photograph, her eyes searching out shared features between Nessa, their parents and their siblings. Oddly, there didn't seem to be many, which was probably why Elphaba hadn't guessed that on her first look. Nessa looked very much like Melena, as she had in Elphaba's world; Elphaba also shared the same dark eyes with Nessa and Melena- and she absent-mindedly wondered if Klehr had thought to change those too, or if Nessa wouldn't notice any resemblance. But one of their siblings- the boy- had hazel eyes and the girl seemed to have green eyes. Genetics wasn't one of Elphaba's strong points, and she couldn't recall ever seeing any photos of her grandparents or extended family; but something about this seemed not quite right.

"That's Shell and Marra," Nessa told Klehr. "Shell's eighteen, and Marra has just turned thirteen."

Shell's hair was as dark as Elphaba's- she'd never known Frex with hair so she'd always assumed it had come from Frex; but Marra had rather vivid red hair and Elphaba had so many questions.

"I can't believe you're Melena's daughter!" Klehr said to Nessa warmly. "As I said, I used to watch your mother as a child and I was quite good friends with your grandmother. What a lucky surprise to come across you! But I feel I should have known- you have your mother's beauty. Tell me about yourself, dear."

Nessa smiled at her, but it wasn't genuine. Elphaba could tell.

"Oh, I don't suppose I'm that interesting," she replied. "I take care of the children and the home, and I do my part among the congregation to serve the Unnamed God in His name."

Elphaba had to fight back a wince. Nessa had always taken faith more seriously than Elphaba, sure; but this… there was more to this than just being religious. This wasn't Nessa as Elphaba knew her.

A nearby door slammed, and Nessa smiled politely once more. "That would be the children. Please excuse me for a moment."

Elphaba nodded silently, but the moment she was gone, she turned to Klehr. "I don't understand."

Klehr took another sip of tea. "Understand what?"

"How Nessa could marry at eighteen!" Elphaba exclaimed incredulously. "She didn't go to university?"

"Perhaps she met this Eren and fell in love," Klehr suggested. "It happens."

Elphaba wrinkled her nose sceptically and Klehr chuckled. "People do all sorts of things for someone they love, Elphaba. Even things that may surprise others. What would your Nessa say to hear that you're engaged?"

It was a thought Elphaba had considered before, not that it took very much stretch of the imagination. Nessa would be quite baffled, she was sure.

When Nessa returned to the parlour, it was with her husband and Elphaba swiftly rose to her feet to meet him. She couldn't help the thought that this would be the only opportunity she had to meet her brother-in-law- in any universe.

"Dear, this is Klehr Tatham and her granddaughter Elphaba. They're passing through town in search of some old acquaintances," Nessa introduced them. "This is my husband, the Reverend Eren Leacey."

"Hello," Elphaba greeted him politely, eyeing him carefully to try to get a read on him.

His eyes swept over her in return, but while Elphaba just felt wary, Eren's gaze just made her stomach twist unpleasantly. She didn't want to take his offered hand, but she couldn't think of a polite reason to refuse so she settled for releasing her grip as soon as possible. However, Eren kept hold of her hand and Elphaba stiffened.

"You're engaged, Miss Elphaba?" he asked, and Elphaba finally withdrew her hand to pull it to her chest.

"Yes," she said, absent-mindedly twisting the band around her finger. She'd said she didn't need an engagement ring, but Fiyero had insisted. And although it wasn't as fancy as she deserved- he'd said- Fiyero had been so proud of himself for being able to afford it and Elphaba loved it for that reason.

"Oh how lovely," Nessarose said, sliding her hand around the crook of her husband's elbow to examine the ring for herself.

"The Unnamed God says that an engagement ring should symbolise the honour that a man has for his wife," Eren said, eyeing her ring almost disapprovingly.

Elphaba fought to keep her face blank at his particular phrasing, while swallowing a retort that the Unnamed God had clearly not tried to budget for an engagement ring when one had been made of straw for almost two years.

"What does your fiancé do?" Nessa asked Elphaba smoothly as they resumed their seats, Eren joining them now.

"He's a firefighter," Elphaba replied, unable to keep herself from smiling slightly.

Fiyero had sort of fallen into the job by accident once he was human again, thanks to Roparzh. The irony of the former scarecrow now being a firefighter had become somewhat of a joke for Fiyero and his friends at work- they'd even nicknamed him 'Kindling' among the firehouse. Elphaba rather struggled to find the humour in it, but right now she could appreciate it.

Nessarose arched an eyebrow slightly. "Oh, I see."

Elphaba lowered the teacup she had just raised to her lips without taking a sip. Nessa- her Nessa- had lectured to Elphaba many times in a past life about the importance of everyone's work- from the postman to the mayor- in bringing Munchkinland together and making it "the best place in Oz to live." The sister Elphaba knew- the sister she had raised- would never have greeted that news with the suppressed condescension Elphaba saw flickering across her face now. That was something Elphaba would have expected from Glinda in the early days of Shiz, or one of her posse. Probably Pfannee, most likely.

No. This may look like Nessarose, but Elphaba didn't know this girl at all.

"Did my wife help you find who you were looking for?" Eren asked Klehr.

"Oh, yes," Klehr replied far more warmly than Elphaba could have managed. "Of all the luck and fortune, it turns out my old neighbour is her mother!"

Eren's lips thinned and he glanced to Nessa, who had stiffened.

"Ah," was all he said.

Elphaba's heart fluttered apprehensively. "Your mother is well, I hope?" she asked Nessa, hoping she seemed as calm as she was hoping for.

"Oh, I presume so," Nessa replied politely. "I'm afraid we don't see much of my mother these days."

The clock in the parlour chimed four o'clock, attracting all their attention. Eren got to his feet and bowed his head towards Klehr and Elphaba.

"A pleasure, ladies. I hope you enjoy your stay in Munchkinland. Nessarose, I have an appointment- Mrs Dence needs some spiritual counselling."

Nessa, much to Elphaba's puzzlement, flinched ever so faintly before she recovered. "Of course, dear. Will you be home for dinner?"

"I don't expect so, no."

He bent and kissed the top of Nessa's head and then left the room, leaving Klehr to make some nonchalant comment about the painting over the mantle. Nessa had barely begun to answer her when Eren's rather annoyed voice echoed into the room.

"Nessarose, can you come deal with this?"

Nessa smiled at Elphaba and Klehr as she rose to her feet, smoothing down the skirt of her dress. "Excuse me, won't you?"

Elphaba glared at the parlour door Nessa had left slightly ajar upon leaving. "I hate him," she declared.

"Already?" Klehr said mildly. "My, that was quick."

"That's not Nessa," Elphaba hissed to her, gesturing towards the door.

"Of course it's not," Klehr replied, and Elphaba blinked at her in surprise. "She's not your Nessa, but how could she be? You don't exist, remember?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Elphaba demanded.

"And why are you so sure that Nessa's differences are the fault of Eren?" Klehr asked calmly, ignoring Elphaba's question.

"Who else would be at fault?" Elphaba asked. "I'm sure my father adores Nessa just as much in this life as he did in mine, and I'm sure my mother adores her just as much."

"Then why hasn't Nessa seen her lately enough to know if she's well?" Klehr countered.

Elphaba just stared at her. She didn't like these questions.

"-I've made my expectations perfectly clear, Nessarose," came Eren's voice through the ajar door, cold and hard in a way that Elphaba had never heard anyone use to Nessa before.

"I know," Nessa's voice replied, and Elphaba was familiar with that tone. It was the one she'd used trying to play peacemaker between Elphaba and Frex. "I told her, dear. I explicitly told her that she was not to socialise with her, that she was unsuitable company."

"I will not have my children associate with those people," Eren retorted. "For Oz's sake, the family must already bear the sins of your mother!"

Elphaba's eyes widened. Her mother? What sins was he talking about?

"I know," Nessa said calmly. "I'll handle it, I promise."

"I want you to make it very clear to the Minnears that their children are not to be near mine. They will not be tainted by that association, do I make myself clear?"

Elphaba registered Nessa's agreement rather distantly, her mind swirling once more. She knew the Minnear family. At least, she thought she did- again, if the timelines worked out the same. Henn Minnear had been the baker in town for years, taking over from her parents. And the summer before Elphaba and Nessa had left for Shiz, she'd married her long-time best friend, Catrin. In her time, Nessa had been entranced by the romance of their love story; and whilst there had certainly been those Munchkins who disapproved of the match and made ultimately empty threats to boycott the bakery or such nonsense, Nessa had never been one of them. And if Henn and Catrin had children now, Elphaba couldn't fathom her sister being against such a thing.

"Are they talking about Henn and Catrin Minnear?" she asked Klehr, desperately hoping she was wrong.

Klehr tilted her head. "Yes. How did you know?"

Elphaba shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek as footsteps approached the parlour. She remained standing as Nessa returned, which seemed to surprise her sister.

"Thank you very much for the hospitality," Elphaba choked out. "But we should really be going. We've intruded enough on your time, and my grandmother has some medication she needs to take."

Nessarose barely blinked. "Of course. Well, I hope I was helpful."

"Absolutely, dear," Klehr reassured her warmly, rising to her feet. Elphaba didn't trust herself to speak, so she merely forced a smile and nodded.

She wasn't a hundred percent sure that they were out of earshot of the front gate of the manse before she'd whirled around to Klehr. "Explain."

Klehr regarded her blankly, like she had no idea what Elphaba meant, which just pissed off Elphaba more.

"What happened to her?"

"You weren't born," Klehr reminded her.

Elphaba frowned. "How does my non-existence relate to Nessa being a homophobic bitch?" she almost snarled. "Because the Nessa I knew would never be so awful to anyone gay, no matter how much she craps on about the Unnamed God. She knows better, I-"

Elphaba cut herself off sharply as Klehr smiled knowingly.

"You raised her?" she asked innocently.

Elphaba faltered, folding her arms tightly over her middle instead of answering and averting her gaze.

"You're right," Klehr offered. "You never treated anyone differently for anything they couldn't control. How could you, when you were treated so awfully because of something you couldn't control? And because of that, when Nessa leaned too much on the scriptures, you were there to challenge her and make her see a different perspective. Frex spoiled her, Elphaba. He would in any world. Having you there kept her from reaching a point where she couldn't return from. You saw what happened in your world, once you were no longer there at Nessa's side."

Tears pricked at the corner of Elphaba's eyes and she squeezed them shut tightly. "So, Nessa becoming the Wicked Witch of the East, staging a coup and stripping the Munchkins of their rights just to keep Boq at her side… that instinct was just innate in her? Is that what you're saying? Because if that's so, it doesn't feel like I did anything by being born except delaying the inevitable."

"I'm saying that you opened Nessa's eyes in a world where she wasn't always afforded that opportunity," Klehr corrected her. "And her choices are not your responsibility- for better or worse."

Elphaba ran a hand through her hair. "But how? How was she 'not afforded that opportunity'? Okay, so my father spoiled her. But our mother? How could she just let all this happen?"

"All this?"

"Nessa," Elphaba replied. "Having those views. Marrying so young to… Oz, does he even love her? Eren? Or did he just marry her to take care of his children? And what did he mean about my mother's sins?"

"Ah," Klehr nodded. "Well, why don't we go find your mother and you can see for yourself?"

Elphaba let out a slow breath. She had very few memories of her mother to go off, more just a few hazy images than anything else. She'd wondered many times what her mother was truly like, or how her life would be different if Melena had lived. But it was only now that Elphaba genuinely feared that she wasn't going to like the answer to her questions- now at the one chance she had to get answers.

AN. There was something about the idea of Fiyero becoming a firefighter after being turned human again that just amused me. What did we think of this version of Nessa? I'm sure many of you have questions- you'll get some answers next chapter!