AN: I mentioned this one-shot on Twitter a while ago, but I wasn't completely happy with it, so I didn't post it. I found it again a couple of days ago and I decided to change and post it after all, so here it is :).

Elphaba Tiggular had never made herself any illusions about death.

She didn't believe in reincarnation or ghosts. She didn't believe that she would see a pair of huge, golden gates that would allow her into Heaven - because she didn't believe that such a thing as Heaven existed; but also because she was convinced that if Heaven did exist, she would never go there. Nessa had probably been right about that, at least – if that kind of afterlife was real, Elphaba would most likely go straight to Hell.

Only she didn't believe in Hell, either.

Even after Fiyero's death, now six years ago, she didn't change her mind about that. Their children, though not raised in a religious way, firmly believed that there was some kind of afterlife, a place their father resided right now; and Elphaba hadn't had the heart to protest. She hoped they were right. That maybe, just maybe, his soul was somewhere, waiting for her to join him. She hoped, but she didn't believe.

Before he died, Fiyero had asked her – begged her, even – to hold on. For the children. If it had still been just the two of them, they both knew she wouldn't have thought twice about following him. She couldn't live without him. She didn't even want to try. The moment she had heard that he had been in an accident and realised, as she ran into his hospital room, that he wasn't going to make it, she had known that. She had always been ready to die either for or with him, and she had been willing to do that then… if it weren't for their children.

They had been so happy when she had fallen pregnant, not long after they had left Oz. Fiyero had always wanted children; and even though Elphaba hadn't had much confidence in herself as a mother, she wanted them, too. And it had been more than worth it. She would never forget the look on Fiyero's face when he had first held their daughter, that look of love and wonder and pure joy. She loved him so much. She loved her family so much, and it had been a dream come true that she had been able to have that with him.

And that was why she had listened to him. For her children; for her family. She had gritted her teeth, pushed away her pain and continued living her life. Because she loved them, and because she knew what it was like to grow up without two parents who loved you. She didn't want that for her own children. She had had to go on. For them.

It had been hard. Harder than she'd ever imagined. More often than not had she wanted to just curl up in a corner and die, because she felt completely lost and broken without him. She loved her children, she really did. She loved their life. But Fiyero meant everything to her, and now he wasn't there anymore.

But, she realised as she looked at her children now, it had been worth it. Because no matter how hard Fiyero's loss had hit her, she had gotten the chance to see her children grow up. For every moment of hopelessness and for every stab of pain, there had been a smile, a sweet gesture from her daughters or a hug from her son. The small things that made life worth living, despite everything. She looked at them and she couldn't help but smile at what they had become.

The oldest, twenty-three-year-old Eleonora Melena Tiggular – Nora for short – had been named after both Fiyero and Elphaba's mothers; and Elphaba was so incredibly proud of her. After Fiyero's death, Nora had been her siblings' rock – and, in particularly hard times, even Elphaba's. She resembled both her parents, both inside and out: she was sweet, optimistic and caring, with a passion for studying and a knack for sorcery, which she studied intently in an attempt to keep it under control. Right now, she was sitting beside Elphaba's bed, her blue eyes filled with tears and her alabaster skin even paler than usual, contrasting sharply with her raven black hair. "Mum?"

"It's okay," Elphaba said, squeezing her daughter's hand. "You'll be fine, sweetheart. You have Prazo…"

Nora shook her head. "It's not the same without you and Dad," she whispered, choking on a sob. "You were there for our wedding, but… I wanted you to be there when I would get pregnant, when I would give birth to my first child…"

Elphaba sighed sadly. "I'm sorry, Nora. I really am."

She was dying. After a particularly dry summer, all kinds of diseases had plagued Quox; and their family hadn't been spared. Nora's husband Prazo and her younger brother, Elphaba's only son, had both been infected, but they had pulled through. Elphaba, however, wasn't going to, and they all knew it.

Elphaba looked at her middle one, a boy. Bae Hamold Tiggular, named after Fiyero's favourite uncle, who had died when Fiyero was still a young boy; and after Fiyero's father, the King of the Vinkus. Sandy hair, blue eyes. A carbon copy of Fiyero, but mostly with Elphaba's personality; pessimistic, but also passionate about his family and anything else he believed in. He was now twenty-one years old and Elphaba knew he would be okay. He had a girlfriend he was about to marry, and he had his siblings. They would help him through all this.

The youngest, Rosey Glinda Tiggular, was, of course, named after Elphaba's sister and best friend. She was the perfect blend of her parents: her father's brownish-blonde hair, but with her mother's dark, chocolate brown eyes. Elphaba's nose, but Fiyero's mouth. Always happy and optimistic, but also thoughtful and eager to learn new things, and with a temper that could compete with Elphaba's own at times. Eighteen years old, and right now she was curled up in a ball right next to Elphaba, her face buried in the blankets as she cried silently.

"Listen," Elphaba whispered as she stroked her youngest daughter's long, sandy hair. "We… We always told you we don't have any family left, but… but that's not true. There are things you need to know…"

Nora let out a soft, mirthless laugh. "We already know, Mum," she said quietly. "The bedtime story you always used to tell us, about the Witch and the Scarecrow, that was really about you and Dad. We figured that out ages ago."

Elphaba was startled. "How –"

"Dad let it slip once," Bae said. "Or more than once, actually," he corrected himself with a small, lopsided grin. "One time he accidentally mentioned that the Witch in the story was green, and some other time we heard him mumbling stuff about itchy straw and how life is harder than one might think when you're a Scarecrow."

"He wasn't very subtle about those things," Nora agreed with a small smile.

Elphaba smiled, too. "Yes," she said softly. "Yes, the bedtime story is the truth about… about your father, and about me…" She closed her eyes for a moment, tired; then she opened them again.

"You could go to Oz," she whispered. "Don't tell anyone about your father and I, and don't mention your last name. You'll be safe then. The Wizard and Morrible are gone, and most people only vaguely remember the Wicked Witch of the West." She looked from Nora to Bae and then to Rosey. "Seek out your grandparents," she said. "King Hamold and Queen Eleonora of the Vinkus. And… and find Glinda."

"The blonde bubble woman from the story?" Bae guessed, and Elphaba smiled softly and nodded.

"My best friend," she whispered. "Glinda and your grandparents are the only people you can tell about your real identity, okay?"

They all nodded, and Elphaba tilted Rosey's head up so that she could look her daughter in the eye.

"You'll love Glinda," she said softly. "She adores the colour pink."

Rosey glanced down at her pink dress once, then burst into tears again, wrapping her arms around her mother and hugging her. "I don't want you to die!"

"You'll be okay," Elphaba whispered, holding Rosey close. "You have each other… You'll take care of one another for me, won't you?"

Nora nodded, tears still shining in her eyes, and Elphaba squeezed her hand again. "Good. And you'll have your grandparents," she reminded them. "And Glinda… and don't forget that your father and I will always be with you."

Nora shook her head. "Mum, I know you don't believe in any kind of afterlife," she said softly.

Elphaba shook her head. "I wasn't talking about an afterlife," she said. She placed her hand over Nora's heart. "I was talking about this. As long as you remember us, as long as you love us, we'll be with you."

Now Nora's tears spilled over as well, and she crawled on the bed with her siblings, all of them crying.

Saying goodbye to her children was, aside from saying goodbye to Fiyero all those years ago, the hardest thing Elphaba had ever done. Defying the Wizard, faking her own death - it all seemed like nothing compared to this. She knew her children would be alright, but she couldn't stand to see them like this.

She told them everything they needed to know. She told them she'd miss them and she loved them, and when Rosey asked in a trembling voice, "Mum, will you be with Dad again when you die?", Elphaba just smiled and said softly, "Who knows, sweetheart."

She hoped so. But she didn't believe.

And then she had slowly drifted away, too tired to stay for a moment longer. Content that the last thing she saw was her children's faces, she closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she was somewhere else.

She was in some kind of meadow. There was green grass all around her, and trees and a river. As she slowly sat up and took in her surroundings, she wondered whether this was some last hallucination her brain was conjuring up as it shut down. Or maybe she wasn't dead at all – maybe she was just asleep and dreaming.

She looked to her side, staring at her reflection in the pond she saw there. She bent forward, amazed. She didn't look sick anymore. Her hair was thick and silky again, instead of limply hanging down her face; and her skin was glowing a bright emerald green. Her eyes were sparkling and the creases that had started to show in her face after Fiyero's death were gone. She looked younger and more healthy than she could ever remember herself looking.

She blinked a few times, then pinched her own arm, but she stayed where she was. What in Oz was going on?

Maybe there's an afterlife after all.

She scoffed at herself. Yes, of course. And this was heaven, and within minutes she would see her mother and Nessa and Fiyero again and they'd all live happily ever after. Life wasn't a fairytale.
She sighed and rose to her feet, pushing a strand of raven hair out of her face and looking around her.

She froze, however, when she saw someone approaching her.

No. That wasn't possible.

But it was him. It had to be. The sandy hair, the sapphire blue eyes, his muscular build. The way he always rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. The dimples in his cheeks. Even the way his face lit up when he saw her, the way it was doing now.

"Fiyero," she whispered.

His smile widened. "Hi, Fae."

As if that was her cue, her eyes filled with tears and she sniffled, trying her hardest to keep her composure; but suddenly he was with her and his arms were wrapped around her, his scent engulfing her and his voice in her ear, and she broke down.

She clung to him as she sobbed into his chest, gripping his shirt with both hands and pressing herself as close to him as humanly possible. Between sobs, she managed to choke out, "Where have you been?!"

"Right here," he said softly. "Waiting for you."

That only made her cry harder.

His grip on her tightened a fraction. "I know you never believed it, Fae," he murmured, resting his chin on top of her head. "But it's true. This is the afterlife, sweetheart. I'm here, you're here - we're together; and this time I'm not going to leave you ever again."

She pulled back and pressed her lips against his in a searing, desperate kiss. He kissed her back, tangling his fingers in her long, ebony hair; but when she started to pull at his buttons, he stopped her.

"Calm down," he said softly, stroking her hair and her back. "We have all the time in the world."

She looked up at him, her chocolate brown eyes wide and doe-like. "Really?"

He smiled and kissed her again, softly and sweetly this time, running his fingers through her silky hair before wrapping his arms around her waist to bring her closer. "Really." He kissed her forehead. "We can stay here for as long as we want, or we can decide to move on; but no matter what, we'll be together."

"Is that why there's no-one else here?" she whispered, tucking her head under his chin. "Because they all moved on?"

He nodded. "There are more people here, but we can only see them if we want to," he said. "We can do anything we want to. Most people move on right after their deaths, though."

"Why didn't you?" she asked him, trying to focus on the practical side of this rather than the emotional one, because she had a hard time dealing with all this. Here she was, in an afterlife she had always believed didn't exist, with the one man in the world she had thought she would never see again. She felt like crying, but she didn't want to cry – not again. She hated crying.

"Why I didn't move on?" He looked down at her. "Do you really need to ask? I would never go anywhere without you. I would have waited forever for you if I had to, Fae."

So far for not crying.

Fiyero held her as she buried her face in his chest and cried silently, pressing her cheek to the fabric of his shirt. She held her breath when she became aware of the soft thump-thump-thump sound of his heartbeat, and her eyes filled with tears all over again. It was a sound she had missed so much in the past six years.

"I love you," she whispered, pulling away to look into his eyes. "I love you so much, Yero my hero. I missed you. Oz, you have no idea how much I missed you…" She sniffled. "It was so hard… I knew I couldn't leave Nora, Bae and Rosey, but… but it hurt, Yero. It hurt so badly, and sometimes I was just about to end it because I felt so empty and so broken and so dead without you, and…"

He soothed her, trailing soft circles on her back and planting kisses all over her face, kissing away her tears. "I know, sweetheart," he whispered, tilting her head back until she met his gaze. "I know. I missed you, too. You have no idea how much. And I love you, Fae. More than you'll ever know." He kissed her lips again, wrapping his arms around her.

When she had calmed down a little, he took her hand and brought her over to the pond she had first seen her reflection in. He pointed down at it and Elphaba looked. She gasped softly when she saw images in the pond; her children, all three of them, sitting in the living room by the fireplace. Nora was curled up in her husband's lap, her hand firmly entwined with Rosey's, who was leaning into her brother's side. Bae himself had his one arm around his little sister and the other around his girlfriend. They all seemed sad, but at the same time they seemed to be at peace somehow.

"I watched you," Fiyero said quietly. "I always watched over you. Kept an eye on you and the kids. It killed me to have to watch you struggling like that, Fae… when I knew I was right here, waiting for you, but I still had to watch you suffer."

She buried her face in his shoulder, but she was coaxed back out when she heard her children's voices.

"I miss her," Rosey said softly, her voice trembling. Elphaba smiled despite her tears when she saw Bae squeezing his sister's side for a moment. She knew he cared for both his sisters deeply, no matter how tough he sometimes pretended to be.

"It's better this way," Nora said quietly from her place in Prazo's lap. "For her, anyway. She wasn't the same after Dad died. At least now they're together again."

Rosey looked up at the older girl. "Do you really think so?"

Nora smiled down at Rosey, reaching out to smooth her sister's sandy hair away from her face. "I don't think so," she said. "I know so. I know Mum didn't believe, but I do; and you should, too."

Elphaba's smile widened, though it was a bit sad. "She's her father's daughter," she said.

"Brave, intelligent and caring?" Fiyero shook his head. "She's yours, Fae. She resembles you a lot."

Elphaba heaved a shaky sigh. "I wish we could still be around them," she whispered. "See them grow up…"

He squeezed her closer. "Me, too, green girl." He nuzzled her hair. "But they'll be alright. They're strong and smart, and they have each other. They'll pull through." He kissed the top of her head. "Just like us."

Elphaba stared down into the pond, watching her children. It broke her heart to have to leave them; but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel relieved that she had Fiyero back. He had always been the one to know her better than she knew herself, the one that kept her going, the one that loved her unconditionally. She just hadn't been complete without him. And she knew that he was right about the children. They would be alright.

She leant against Fiyero and he drew her into his arms. They sat there together, gazing down into the pond at the other half of their family; torn in two, yet still complete.

No matter how far apart they were, they would always be connected.

"Promise you won't leave again?" she whispered, gaze still trained on the image of her children in the pond.

She felt him kissing her head. "I swear."

She closed her eyes, feeling lighter and happier than ever, despite everything.