Wow! Hello, everyone! I know it's been a hot second (or… more like a scorching-fire second), since I've posted anything, but I'm back and I've been working on this story for a while, and it's finally time to post it. I hope you enjoy!

Fiyero Tigulaar huffed as he leaned against the bulletin board outside the history classroom. Bored, he played with his uniform tie, loosening it, as he waited for Galinda to get out of class. He would have gone, anything to spend more time with his girlfriend, but he really didn't want to listen to the old Goat harping on the past instead of just teaching them history. He had promised his parents he would really try at Shiz University, and he was trying. It wasn't his fault the professors didn't want to make learning interesting.

He picked at his nails, a bad habit Galinda was trying to get him to break. The bell was seemingly taking forever to ring. His stomach growled, reminding him that he forwent breakfast (something he rarely did), and that a sandwich at The Quilted Stone sounded heavenly.

After what seemed like forever, the bell rang and the door swung open. Fiyero watched as his classmates filed out of the room, chatting about the lesson and other things. His eyes immediately landed on his girlfriend, standing out with her blonde hair pinned back by her favorite rose clip.

"Hi, Fifi," Galinda smiled, standing on her toes to gently plant a kiss on her boyfriend's lips.

"Hi, Glin," he smiled. Oz, they were just so perfect together. Fiyero Tigulaar, Crown Prince of the Vinkus, and Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands, the most popular girl in their year. "How was class?"

"Ugh, dreadful," the blonde groaned as she slipped her arm through Fiyero's and they made their way to the café for lunch. "Dr. Dillamond lectured the whole time on how to improve our essays. I thought mine was perfectly fine, though he gave me a C-minus. And only one person got a good grade."

"Who?"

"My stupid, annoying roommate."

The Vinkun prince had heard rumors about his girlfriend's roommate, all of them centering around her verdant skin. The rumors ranged from her eating grass as a child, to extreme ones like her soul being so unclean that water can melt her. And all of the students believed those rumors and everything in between. And while they were spreading these rumors, they never used her real name. Instead, the opted for substitutes like 'artichoke', 'green bean', 'frog', and anything else that was green and considered gross. And Fiyero was almost positive her parents didn't name her 'Asparagus' when she was born.

Now, even though he had been at Shiz for two weeks, he had never actually seen her. He didn't go seeking her out, but he thought spotting a person with green skin wouldn't be very hard.

"She's impossible! She doesn't have any social skills, nor does she talk to anyone, and is always snapping at me for the littlest things. Once, I asked her if I may borrow one of her pens, and she looked at me as if I had murdered her entire family before ignoring me. Needless to say, I didn't get the pen, but that's beside the point. She's an enigma. She doesn't care about anyone or anything except her books."

"You're so good for enduring her."

"I wouldn't be enduring her if there were more private rooms available. I still don't know how they could have misplaced my housing information. But enough on that. We have a lunch date to get on with."

"We do," the prince grinned, giving her another kiss and holding the door for her when they reached the café.

Galinda spent the rest of her day with her boyfriend, and by the time she returned to her shared (unfortunately) room, her roommate was already in bed. The curtains were drawn, plunging the room into complete darkness, so the blonde had no choice but to turn on the lights.

"I was sleeping."

Galinda didn't respond. Her roommate seemed to make it a game out of ignoring her, so she planned on doing the same.

"It's rude to turn the lights on when someone is sleeping."

"You would know a lot about being rude, wouldn't you, artichoke?" Galinda sneered. "I need the lights on."

The green girl sat up, exposing the top half of her shapeless nightgown. "And I need them off."

"Well, that's just too bad. Anyways, what are you doing in bed so early? It's only nine-thirty. Don't you have homework and essays to finish?"

"Don't you have parties to go to and boys to flirt with?"

"At least people want to have me around. No one can stand the sight of you."

Whether the green girl was too tired to continue the argument or simply didn't have a response was unknown to the blonde as she laid back down with a huff and turned away from the light. She took her time getting ready for bed and only turned the light off when she was fully finished. Hopefully, a single room would become available the following semester.

"Miss Elphaba!"

The green girl stopped and turned, wondering who had addressed her by her actual name instead of one of the horrid nicknames the students of Shiz insisted on using. Other than the professors, she was convinced no one else knew, or cared about, her real name. "Hello, Madame Morrible."

"I've been searching for you. I must speak with you in my office," the Head Shiztress said before walking away, clearly expecting Elphaba to follow her.

Elphaba, of course, did. The Head rarely left her office, especially to seek out students, so this had to be extremely important.

"Have a seat, dearie."

Elphaba sat, her gaze floating down to her folded hands in her lap.

"Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you, Madame."

The old woman sat down and pulled a letter out of her desk drawer. "Your father wrote to me again."

Elphaba looked up and stiffened. "He did?"

"Yes. He's concerned because you haven't been responding to his letters. He understands that you are very focused on your studies, but penning him a quick letter reassuring him that you're still alive won't take very long. He's worried about you."

No, he's not, Elphaba thought.

She was about to retort that she knew her father didn't actually care about her, but thought the better of it. She didn't want to open that can of worms. He probably ran out of lies to tell when people asked about her. She couldn't stop replaying the last conversation they had, before she went off to Shiz, which seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Miss Elphaba, I'm not going to pry into the relationship you have with your father, whether it be good or bad, but please write back to him. This time, he threatened to come here just to make sure you're still here if he doesn't receive a response from you."

Where else could I go? Elphaba wondered. "Yes, Madame."

"You promise you'll write him back?"

"I promise, Madame."

She regarded the young student. "Good. Thank you, Miss Elphaba. You may go."

Elphaba nodded and quickly left the office. She made a beeline for her room, and breathed a sigh of relief when she opened the door to find it empty. She didn't want to have to deal with her roommate at the moment. She couldn't believe her father had written to Madame Morrible again. She knew it would have been too easy for her father to pretend that she was dead. No matter how much they both wanted to pretend otherwise, she's the one who lived, and they both would have to live with that.

Elphaba sat at her desk and quickly penned the letter to her father. Once she was finished, she crumbled it up and shoved it into the back of her drawer.

She'd promised Morrible that she'd write him back. She never promised that she'd actually send the letter. She doubted he would go through with the threat and come, anyway. The Governor of Munchkinland wouldn't take time out of his busy schedule to care about the daughter he wished he never had.

Animals should be seen and not heard.

The bright red words stood out against the black chalkboard. The class all held their breath, no one daring to make a sound or move.

"Who is responsible for this?" Dr. Dillamond asked, his voice wavering slightly as he tore through the silence.

No one dared respond.

"I'm waiting for an answer."

Elphaba wanted to look away, but for some reason, couldn't bring herself to. Her eyes were glued to the board. Who could have done such a thing?

"Very well. That will be all for today."

He began to clean up, but paused when no one moved. "You heard me! Class dismissed!"

Everyone hurriedly scampered up and practically flew out of the classroom. Elphaba, of course, stayed behind.

"Animals should be seen and not heard?" she questioned.

Dr. Dillamond jumped slightly, surprised that someone had stayed. He glanced at her before quickly flipping the board around, showing his timeline of the last five hundred years instead. "Miss Elphaba, don't worry about me. Go join your friends."

"That's alright. I have no friends," she said with a dismissive shrug.

"Come now, Miss Elphaba. Surely you must have –"

"No one wishes to associate with me. It's the green. It's very off-putting."

The professor shot her a sympathetic glance before looking back at the board.

"You shouldn't let ignorant statements like that bother you," Elphaba said, even though it was no longer visible. "They're just meaningless words. Words can't hurt."

The Goat smiled kindly. "Oh, Miss Elphaba. If only they were just some meaningless words on a chalkboard."

"What do you mean?"

Dr. Dillamond beckoned Elphaba closer and dropped his voice to a whisper. "It's… the things one hears these days. Dreadful things. Times are changing, Miss Elphaba. Oz is changing. People are fearing things that are different than what is expected."

"I'm familiar with that," Elphaba said, her lips curling into a slight smile.

"This isn't a good change, my dear. There is danger in the loss of diversity. Something bad is happening in Oz. It's been bubbling beneath the surface and gaining power behind the scenes."

"What are you talking about, Dr. Dillamond?"

"I'm talking about the Animals, Miss Elphaba. You've noticed that I'm the sole Animal on the faculty, and there are no Animal students at Shiz. I told you that it used to be different. This change, this movement, is working to strip Animals of the little rights we have left. I know it's only a matter of time before it reaches me."

"No," Elphaba breathed. "They can't do anything to you. You're brilliant! You're one of the best professors here!"

"The rumors are –"

"You can't listen to and believe baseless rumors."

"Miss Elphaba, all rumors start with a sliver of truth."

"But that truth –"

"That truth can be a lot of things, yes. I must accept that fact. They can take away my job, they can do whatever they want to me, but as long as I keep my voice, they will never fully stop me. Miss Elphaba…"

Elphaba met the doctor's gaze.

"You must keep your voice. Promise me that you will."

Elphaba nodded. "I promise, Doctor."

"Fabala… I love you so much, Fabala. Never forget that. Mama loves you."

"Elphaba! Help me! Please!"

"Get out of my sight, you wretched curse! It's your fault she's dead! You killed her! You killed both of them!"

Elphaba shot up as her eyes flew open. Her breath came out in jagged spurts, before slowly returning to normal. She didn't hear the rustling of her roommate's sheets, so thankfully, she didn't wake her. She slowly laid back down and reached under her pillow. Her fingers wrapped around the familiar, small, green, glass bottle she always kept under her pillow since she was a little girl. She tried not to think of the voices she heard in her dream, but they didn't want to leave her alone. She couldn't stop thinking about the events that brought those voices to her remembrance. Slowly, she calmed herself. She was an expert on self-soothing, having done it her entire life. She didn't need anyone to comfort her. She was fine all by herself. She didn't need or want anyone else's help.

She took the bottle from under her pillow and held it against her heart. She wasn't going to cry. She hadn't cried in years. Crying hurt too much. Every time she felt like crying, she wouldn't. She had to stay strong. Besides, crying wouldn't change the past. Crying wouldn't bring the two people she cared about the most back. Crying wouldn't change the fact that it was her fault they were gone.

Sleep slowly started to cover her and she drifted off, but before it wrapped her in its comforting blanket, she gently slipped the green bottle back to its rightful place under her pillow.

There was no use in dreaming of a life that never was… nor ever could be.

One is done! Updates will be every other day. Reviews are super!