Disclaimer: I do not own Wicked. I really hope I didn't go overboard on the metaphor. So read and see if you get it! -LostOzian

He watched the newly whole cripple on the ground, never once letting his pistol point drop from Elphaba. What was Nessa trying to do? A few funny-sounding words. Was she trying to use sorcery? That was a laugh. Nessa, actually casting a spell.

"You're pronouncing the words all wrong!" Elphaba was working herself into a panic, desperately trying to pull Nessa off of the old book. The green Witch was afraid. What was there to be afraid of? Needless to say, the fear was infections, slowly creeping into his heart. It started to clutch, started to squeeze…

Boq stood at the gates of Emerald City, looking up at the tall stone wall with its heavy open doors. He was here. He was here to make his way, to amount to something great. He would be Boq the Great. Or something like that. He'd find out once he did something great.

"Boq!" someone shouted his name. Elphaba approached, looking as she had the first day of Shiz. Boq recoiled instinctively, though mostly in surprise.

"Why do you shy away?" she demanded, completely in control. "Do you think I'm different just because I look different?" Boq tried to come up with something to say, anything to make her see he didn't hold her skin against her.

"People are people, you know," she continued mercilessly. "You can never write someone off having only just met them. They might be different than you thought." Elphaba continued to stare at Boq.

"Make friends while you can," she said. "They may just save your life someday." And with that, she disappeared into the gates of the City, leaving Boq alone. As she walked, she seemed to change. Her blue jacket and skirt turned to a black dress, growing longer and sweeping the floor. Her book lengthened, turning into a long broom. Her hair fell out of its braid; the hat from the OzDust appeared on her head. She turned, the girl from Shiz almost completely unrecognizable in the determinedly predatory woman before him. Sparing him one last look, she vanished from sight.

"Why the serious face?" a new voice said. Fiyero folded his arms across Boq's shoulders, placing his head on top of Boq's in a demeaning way. "A serious face is worse than a sad face, in my book." Fiyero looked Boq over.

"Tsk, tsk," he said. "You're too uptight. You need to be free while you're young. Look around," Fiyero spread his arms wide, gesturing to all around him. "Enjoy it while there's still time. Don't grow old before you have to." He patted Boq's shoulder approvingly, before confusion spread over his face.

"Have you seen Elphaba?" he asked. Boq only pointed through the large gates. Fiyero turned, squinting though for some sign of her.

"Elphaba?" he called, and started running. As he ran, his casual suit started to shift and change. The shirt turned a brilliant emerald green, various silver and gold decorations appearing on the front. A sword and pistol materialized by his side, jostling along in his stride.

"Elphaba?" Boq heard his voice one last time, faint and distant, before Fiyero suddenly stood straight at attention, facing out the gates to Boq. He saluted professionally; completely unlike Boq's old classmate would, before he, too, disappeared into the City.

"The Emerald City," yet another voice said, his favorite voice in the whole world. He turned to see Glinda, still in her crisp white jacket and skirt she had worn for the first day of Shiz.

"Elphie and I went to see the Wizard… but we got more than we expected." Glinda –or, as Boq supposed, Galinda again –looked through the gates at where both Elphaba and Fiyero had disappeared. "That City can make everything, or destroy everything. My dreams came true because I went," she paused yet again, looking Boq in the eyes. "But I paid a terrible price." She started walking slowly, in no rush to reach the other side of the gates.

"Would you pay the price?" Galinda said, and she underwent the metamorphosis that had befallen her friends. The suit turned into a long ball gown, dripping with sparkling crystals. Her hair pinned itself up into an elegant bun, a snowflake tiara graced her head. Boq watched her, completely entranced, until he noticed that Glinda's expression became more and more pained with each step. Finally, she was in the City. He didn't know how he noticed it, but he saw Glinda shed a single tear.

She's breaking inside, Boq realized. That Oz-forsaken City was causing his old friends pain. He couldn't go there. He turned to go away, but found himself face-to-face with the new Nessa, complete with ruby slippers and dark, piercing eyes.

"You're changing, Boq," she said. "That much is for certain. But you can choose where you go once you've changed. You can stay with me, or you can take your chances out in that City." It was clear which option she wanted more. Boq stood there, glancing back at the gates. He couldn't stay with Nessa, he never wanted to be with her, and now he just wanted to be out of her sight forever.

"I will never lie to you, Boq," she said. Maybe she hoped that would be reason enough for him to stay. "Out there, there's a world of lies that have even reached us so far away in Munchkinland. But I will always tell you the truth. I love you."

"I…don't," Boq said brokenly, his voice scratchy and pained. Truth or not, Nessa was here and Glinda was there. He had to go. He turned, started running toward the City of Emeralds. Nessa shouted his name one last time, but Boq continued running. His strength was leaving, his entire body feeling heavier, stiffer. To his relief, he kept getting second winds, bursts of strength to keep him running. He had to reach it-

"Where am I?" his voice was slightly raspy, taking a little while to get used to talking again. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Nessa replied quickly. Oz, Nessa! Boq shifted a little, trying to stand as she continued explaining herself. Finally, Boq was free of the chair, but he heard a terrible squeaking. He noticed his body felt heavier, but he was still able to stand and move, so it didn't matter. Nessa screamed. Why would she scream?

"What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"It wasn't me!" Nessa kept screaming, pathetically trying to cower and reach for him at the same time. "It was her!" Boq raised a hand to push the chair away, but noticed the hand was made of tin. Tin. He flexed it once, hearing the joints scrape and groan.

You're changing, Boq. That much is for certain. That dream. It happened as he was changed into this tin monster. It was Elphaba and Nessa. Nessa would have killed him and Elphaba turned him to tin. She should have just let him die. It would have been better than this.

Boq ran, not sure where he was going. He couldn't go to the Emerald City like this. His hopes of being with Glinda were dashed. It wasn't until days later, as a little girl and scarecrow freed him from the rust, that he realized he could still go.

"D'ya think the Wizard could give me a heart?"