Hello wonderful readers!

I know it's been a while since I last updated and I'm terribly sorry for this late chapter. It wasn't my intention to make you wait for so long but in all honesty I had a very busy summer. For a start I'm now a university student in one of the most modernized universities in my country studying International and European relations. I'm so excited and I already love everything about it. I also spent my summer visiting a few greek islands and I had a wonderful time with my friends at the beach. So I thank them for giving me such a wonderful summer to remember in the cold days of winter.

So, I'll try to update as often as I can since I have so many ideas for this story but sometimes it's difficult to put my thoughts in order and write something decent.

Anyway enough about me. Enjoy the chapter and tell me what you guys think!

Today I met him. I had never thought that I would ever fall in love but it happened. It's real and nothing can change it. Can people fall in love so quickly and as easily? I don't know if they can. But for some reason I can feel the love deep in my heart. The feeling is young and raw and my insecurities start resurfacing but I believe it's true.

The thing is that I'm bubbling and you don't even know the name of the reason why I'm bubbling. His name is Oscar! Oscar Diggs! And he is the most handsome man I've ever seen.

How I met him? That's a good question actually. I was with Dethna-my cousin- and Laretha/my best friend- on the market here in Frottica when I first saw him. He was a traveling merchant dressed in green and his kind smile immediately captured my eyes. He was tall, much taller than me, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes- the kindest eyes I've ever seen. I knew he wasn't from Froticca and he looked like he wasn't from Gillikin at all.

I looked at him from afar and soon our eyes locked. A sweet warmth grew in my chest and unconsciously my steps led me closer to him.

"What would a beautiful lady like you want from a simple merchant like me?" he asked me and gave me his brightest smile. I was unable to speak and thankfully I noticed that he was selling perfumes. Without speaking a word, I pointed to one small green bottle and he smiled even brighter.

"Excellent choice my lady!" he told me and wrapped the perfume in silver paper. I made to pay but he stopped me with his soft voice.

"No need to. It's a gift!" I thanked him but I was sure that my voice sounded more like a whisper.

I thought that I would never see him again. That I would never see Oscar again. I guess I was wrong since I met him again that same day, this time in the backyard of the chapel of Saint Aelphaba. I was hiding from my parents and their annoying arguments when he saw me and approached me. I learned his name and we spend the entire evening talking. I learned that he was from another faraway land and that he was working as a merchant because he loved traveling to new places.

Maybe Oscar is the one to lift me off the ground...

Elphaba had read a small part of her mother's diary until that point. She had read a few things about her mother's teens and her relationship with her parents- Elphaba's grandparents- along with her cousin Dethna and her best friend Larena. She had read many descriptions of Froticca and Gillikin and most of what she said matched the descriptions of Glinda's mother. Miraculously, Glinda's family was from Froticca and Elphaba felt another connection to her best friend, besides the fact that they were both migrants in the Vinkus all their lives.

What was obvious from the very beginning was that seventeen years old Melena- the Melena of the diary- had no idea of curses, birthmarks or magic. She was sweet, innocent and knew not what a terrible future awaited her. With tears in her eyes, Elphaba would read page by page what a beautiful, intelligent and strong girl her mother had been.

Page after page, she would read the story of how her parents, Melena DeRuelle and Oscar Diggs fell in love. Their love was as pure as the sky and her mind was filled with a strange happiness. Knowing that her parents had loved each other so purely and wholeheartedly was soothing and gave her comfort. For a time, her parents had been happy.

But soon, the pages that were filled with Melena's happiness, started occupying her misery. According to the diary, Elphaba's grandmother, Frederia, had told Melena the truth about their family on her eighteenth birthday.

We are a family that survives the struggles of thousand lifetimes. According to my mother, every seven generations, a woman from our family bares a birthmark so special that there is no second one. She asked me to undress and she showed me a birthmark that I myself bare. It is a tiny perfectly shaped rose in pink color. Every woman in our family is born with the tiny pink rose and that is a detail no one knows. But the special child, the one born every seven generations has a rose birthmark just like ours in the color of green.

She isn't special just because her mark is green. She is also special because she has a gift that no other human has. She can predict the future. According to my mother, the women who were born with the gift were haunted by powerful men who wanted the power for themselves. Kings and dukes and governors who know of the power are capable to turn the earth up side down to find the girl who can bring them greatness just with an information of what is to come. My mother said that it is a curse and that it has only brought misery. What am I to think of this?

And where do I fit in all this madness? Apparently I'm the sixth woman in the generation circle of our family. This means that whatever child I have, shall be a girl with the special power of saying the future. It is madness! I won't believe it! It is complete madness!

Elphaba was at first shocked at her mother's disbelief over the curse. The curse that had killed her was according to Melena a fraud. It was soon though that Elphaba realized that Melena's naïveté didn't last for long.

There were a few pages of sweet obliviousness until Elphaba read the pages that sealed her mother's fate. The words sank in her and started blowing sounds of a long forgotten past in her troubled mind. Dim images appeared in her mind, blurry pictures that told a story and soon the days of her mother's suffering were playing in her mind like a movie.

Usually she would find a way to stop the visions. But this was a one in a lifetime chance. Selfishly she thought that it was her only chance to see her mother as she had been. And it was her only chance to see the face of the enemy.

Oblivious and sweet Melena had no idea what awaited her the moment she would arrive in her house that day. She was returning from a date with Oscar and she was absentmindedly whistling a song and was admiring the colorful flowers around her. Nothing could change her mood that day. Nothing at all... Except of three angry looking soldiers in dark green uniforms right outside of the door to her house.

She hesitated to approach the wooden door but the guards had already noticed her, so she couldn't hide. The guards had their eyes set on her and were watching her every move. Cold sweat started running down her neck as she took small steps till the door. Her brave amber eyes were also watching the guards and her almost regal composure gave her an air of confidence she didn't knew she possessed. With a final glance at the soldiers, she opened the door and entered the safety of her house.

But something wasn't right...

Something felt out of place and soon she found out what it was.

She found her parents in the sitting room with a guest she had never seen. The man was older than her for at least twenty years and he was by far the ugliest and bolder man she had ever seen. He was tall and broad shouldered with dark black hair and a black beard that hid his sharp features. He reminded her of a ruthless soldier with the dark glimmer she could see in his eyes. He looked like a predator waiting to destroy its prey. And Melena had a feeling that she was the prey. The truth that he was high born was quite obvious from the guards that accompanied him and his expensive clothing.

"Melena, you're finally home!" her mother exclaimed and only then did the girl noticed the worried looks on their faces. Her father's bald head was sweating and her mother's hands were trembling as she had them placed on her lap. A broken tea cup was on the floor right in front of where her mother sat and Melena instantly knew that something was wrong with this man. Something was terribly wrong and she was afraid to find out what it was. Maybe obliviousness was better than knowing the truth.

"Yes mother, I'm back. Who is our dear guest?" Beatrina DeRuelle paled visibly.

"Melena dear, let me introduce you to Frexspar Thropp, Governor of Munchkinland." The Governor kissed Melena's hand in a gentlemanly way and it was her turn to pale, this time from the disgust she felt in his mere touch.

"Enchanté beautiful lady Melena." he said. "It is a pleasure of finally meeting you"

I wish the sentiment was mutual, Melena wanted to scream but instead she settled for forced politeness. "The pleasure is all mine your Governorship." Then she turned to her parents. "May I go to my chamber now. I'm sure that the Governor has much more important things to discuss with you father."

She had already turned around to exit the room when her father's voice rang in her ears. "No!" Melena turned his way slowly, curiosity burning deep in her eyes. "You can't go upstairs. The governor is here for you." Her mother patted the place next to her for Melena to sit and the girl did so. Her hands were already sweating and her legs were shaking in worry.

"I don't understand father. What would the governor of Munchkinland wish to do with the daughter of a simple merchant from Gillikin?" Her parents were both silent for a while. The only sound in the room were their heartbeats and the constant nervous trembling of Melena's leg. Her trembling hands started playing with a tea cup from the table in front of her and the clinking of the porcelain was an added sound to the silence. Finally, it was the Governor who spoke first.

"Because sweet lady Melena, I'm here to ask for your hand in marriage."

Clink Clink Clink and the tea cup was now a thousand little pieces of glass on the marble floor.

"I can't and I won't marry him!" Melena's yelling had scared away even the birds of the area. Her pleas and tears, though, had done nothing to change her father's opinion. Her mother remained silent all through the argument even though she knew exactly why Melena shouldn't marry the Governor. But Marion DeRuelle had no idea. Melena's father knew not of the curse and the how it affected his wife, his daughter and his granddaughter. He saw the marriage to the powerful governor as an opportunity to become powerful and rich himself.

Melena and Beatrina knew. Beatrina had no idea how the governor had managed to uncover her secret and find out that Melena was the sixth woman and that their family was the one of the prophecies. He had found out somehow and Melena had finally realized the disturbing truth of her mother's revelation. The governor wanted to marry her to have and raise her child in his liking and manipulate her to use her as a tool.

"You shall marry him, whether you want it or not."

Her desperate tears did nothing to ease his heart. His decision was absolutely final. And the problem was that Melena could see the reason behind his declarations. Frex wouldn't give power and prestige to the DeRuelle family. Instead he was offering them protection. He had threatened the family straightforwardly, which had left mother and daughter powerless.

It only took a few hours for Melena to go and find Oscar in their meeting place, by the lake. She was distressed, hot tears were pouring from her eyes and her voice was hoarse and raspy. Fight after fight, argument after argument, she had lost every single battle against her father and the Governor. Her father's decision was final and no words from her or her mother could chômage his mind. Oscar was her only sanctuary and still, she was losing him as quickly as she had found him.

"Oscar!" she called him name the moment he appeared in her point of vision. The face of a handsome man turned around to look at her but the bright smile soon disappeared from his face.

"Melena-Mia, my love what is wrong?" he asked the moment he enveloped the young woman in a tight embrace. She was a sobbing mess and her arms fell limp on her sides. All the while he stroke her long hair and whispered soothing words in her ear. Still embraced, they sat on the grassy ground by the river and there, slowly and steadily, Melena calmed down.

"My love, my life, what is wrong?" he asked her once she stopped crying.

"Just hold me Oscar. Please! My heart is breaking!" They spend several moments in silence. In his arms she could find the comfort she wanted and she could feel the love she desired. It was overwhelming and perfect! And it was going to end soon...

The sun had already set when Melena spoke again and her words were like a spear into Oscar's heart.

"I'm getting married to the Governor of Munchickinland. He asked for my hand and my father accepted. I struggled for hours to change his mind but it was pointless. The Governor threatened to destroy my family and kill the ones I love if I refuse his proposal. He wants to marry me because I'm a descendant of a powerful generation of witches and seers. Every seven generations a child is born, a girl, with the power to tell the future. The child bares a birthmark in the shape of a green rose. This child will be my child and the Governor wants her for the great power she will possess. There is no escape!"

Oscar was silent for the rest of the night. He tried to think of what he had heard about the curse of the green rose and unfortunately for poor Melena, the legend was well known in Munchkinland and in Gillikin. Him, being a merchant, he knew of all the rumors that traveled through the realms and he had seen of desperate mothers and fathers searching for the rose on their daughter's bodies. He had also heard that most women that were involved with the curse had no happy endings. They were miserable and unfortunate, haunted by those who hoped to use them.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Melena fell asleep in his arms. And Oscar found his chance to swear...

"No matter what, no matter the pain and the cost, I shall protect you with my life. And your child will be my child and I shall protect our little daughter through all eternity. That I promise you!"

Elphaba had tears in her eyes the moment the vision of the past faded. She had seen her mother for the first time and only now she could notice the similarities. The same raven black hair, the same amber eyes, the same sweet smile... Her mother looked so much like her, though her face was rounder and there were dimples on her cheeks. Elphaba's features were sharper yet elegant at the same time.

Only now could Elphaba see her father in her. But was he her father? Oscar was his name and he was the man her mother had loved with all her heart. According to Nanny's stories, her father, Oscar, had found them when Nanny was running away and had sent them to the Vinkus for protection. Elphaba always wondered what had happened to him in the years that followed but somehow she knew that he was alive. And she also knew that they would see each other again.

A burning sensation reached her thigh, at the exact spot were the green rose was. Her birthmark was burning her skin like iron and fire and she couldn't ignore the pain.

She had read enough for one day. And she had seen even more...

Munchkinland, Governor's Mansion, May 1588

It was the eighteenth birthday of Nessarose Thropp, daughter of the Governor of Munchkinland and his lady wife. She was the oldest child out of three and she was the most beloved and favored amongst her siblings.

There wasn't a person in the entire Munchkinland who didn't love the sweet and beautiful Nessarose. She wasn't a very tall girl- she was rather petite and thin- with perfectly shaped brown locks and warm chocolate eyes. Her complexion was peach-pink and her cheeks were rosy red. People praised her kind heart and her lady like behavior, her perfect sewing skills, her soothing dancing moves, her graceful and prideful steps.
All in all, Nessarose was considered the most beautiful young woman in all of Munchkinland and any man would be lucky to win her favor.

"Lady Nessarose, your father asked for your presence in his office!" a maid said from outside Nessarose's door and the girl answered that she would be downstairs in a couple of minutes. She fixed any imperfections in her attire and took a deep breath. She had to be perfect for her lord father. Earlier that evening she had attended the ball her father had organized to celebrate Nessarose's eighteenth birthday. Her light pink dress with the purple lace fitted her perfectly and made her look like a princess out of a fairytale.

Outside the door she found her maid waiting to take her to her father. She followed in silence and expected what was to happen once she would enter the office that had witnessed her tears more than once.

Her father was waiting for her while sitting on his comfortable chair behind his desk. His smile was kind and seemingly caring but Nessarose knew better. His dark, almost black, eyes betrayed his true feelings- rage, annoyance, impatience, evilness.

"My precious Nessarose, have a seat my darling child." he said and motioned for her to sit in the empty chair in front of his desk.

"Thank you father!" she said politely and with an elegant curtesy she sat on the leather bound chair.

"You know why I called you here tonight my dear." he stated and Nessarose sighed with a nod.

"I'm well aware my lord."

"Good! I hope you are well aware of the consequences of your failure my darling."

Nessarose held back the first hot tear that was about to escape her brown eyes. "I am!" She put on a brave façade, the same one she had put on for years and years under her mother's request. The two women knew that their lies would one day come to the surface but that day had come much sooner than expected and Nessarose was left alone to deal with the painful results of her mother's game. Dethna Thropp had abandoned her daughter when she needed her the most.

"Since you are now eighteen, your powers will be at full force. You are now ready to fulfill your destiny and become the witch that I know you are." Frexspar Thropp stood up and started pacing the floor with long steps. His wrinkled face was still in a king smile but for those who knew better, it wasn't really a smile. It was a smirk full of satisfaction for a victory he hadn't yet achieved. "My precious Nessarose, you are blessed with a gift. A gift to make your family proud, to make your old father powerful enough to make you a princess."

"I'll try not to fail you..." Two hands with thin fingers and sharp nails grasped her shoulders and stoped her mid-sentenced.

"I don't want you to try. You won't fail, whether you like it or not."

"Yes father!" she mumbled with a broken heart. Deep inside she knew the reason why her father favored her over her siblings. She knew it had nothing to do with her beauty or her kind heart. It was because of the power she could grant him. Her father was obsessed with gaining more and more power and in his grasp he held the most precious treasure; a girl that could predict the future and help him make all the right choices- choices that could help him overthrow even the Ozma Queen.

"Good girl. Now, go to have a rest and tomorrow your real work as my daughter begins." he said so sweetly and innocently that Nessarose almost believed he truly cared about her as a person. She silently stood up and he kissed her forehead. "Goodnight my precious Nessarose!"

"Goodnight father." She left the office with hurried steps, only to find her mother at the end of the hallway. Dethna Thropp was dressed in her nightgown with her few hair grey and loose from their usual braid. Her complexion was pale, as it had been for the past year, and her hands were trembling. The deathly decease that had fallen upon her a year ago was slowly eating away her life. She became weaker day by day and there was nothing the doctors could do to help her. Cancer they called her illness and there was no cure.

"Nessie..." A look from her daughter was enough to tell her everything she needed to know. They were all doomed and especially little Nessarose. Nessa's watery eyes were locked with hers for a few seconds before the young girl run down the hallway and as far away from her mother as she could.

Dethna knew it was her fault they had come to this and she was now paying the price; or rather, her child was paying the price of her sins.

Twenty years ago she had been a different person, a young woman full of jealousy without knowing the consequences of her actions. Now, as she walked down the hallways of the Governor's mansion, she could only think of her beautiful and kind hearted cousin.

Melena

As little girls and until they reached adulthood they were best friends, along with their neighbor Larena Starr. Melena and she did everything together and enjoyed each other's company. They had been like sisters. When Melena had fallen in love with that young man, Oscar Diggs, Dethna was the first one to know. She would help the two lovers meet and she would exchange their letters to each other. It seemed like nothing could change their relationship.

That was until Melena rejected the good fortune that fell upon her. When the Governor of Munchkinland had asked for Melena's hand in marriage, Dethna couldn't understand the reason why her cousin was so against that union. Dethna he been blinded by the Governor's riches and she believed that not even love was enough to stop her from having a comfortable life as a Governess. Melena was crying because she would lose her true love and Dethna was crying because she was losing the chance to become rich.

It was too late when she realized that things weren't exactly as they seemed. Out of the blue, and after a seemingly successful marriage with Melena, Frexspar Thropp made Dethna his mistress.

And then she found out...

All Frexspar Thropp cared about was the prophecy of the Rose. That prophecy had forced Melena into a loveless marriage and it had also forced her to run away once she got pregnant. In the meantime, Dethna had gotten pregnant too and it was the exact day that she learnt of Melena's death and the flee of her baby with a midwife, that she gave birth to Nessarose. It was a sick twist of fate that had granted her own daughter with a mark similar to the prophesied rose and that had given to Frexspar the idea that Nessa was the foretold child.

With her own twisted lies, Dethna had made him believe that false truth for years. And everything had been well until now...

Her walk through the hallways of the mansion came to an abrupt end when she reached the balcony of the west wing. Another figure was standing over the railing and was staring at the distance as if he expected to see something. He was a man and the only living person, beside herself, who knew the whole truth. With steady steps, as steady as her now fragile legs could manage, she approached him and looked in the same direction. She stared off into the distance...

"It should be her daughter, suffering just like my child."

The man barely flinched at her cold and venomous words.

"My poor Nessa is suffering the fate of your daughter. It should be her and not Nessa. It should be her child crying day and night because her father wants to use her. It should be her daughter being threatened to manage the impossible. It should be that vile woman in my place, dying the way I am..." She didn't have time to react as a strong hand was immediately wrapped around her neck and she was stuck to the wall behind them.

"Don't you dare utter another word and don't you dare to mention Melena or her daughter in my presence ever again. You brought this upon yourself Dethna. You brought misery upon Melena by sabotaging her. And you brought misery upon your child because of your jealousy. Nessarose, of course, she is innocent and doesn't deserve what is to become of her but don't you dare place Melena's daughter in her place. That child has suffered more than you and Nessa combined." He saw her eyes changing from hateful to shameful. She could feel nothing but complete shame for her actions and it was wrong to put the blame on Melena and her child. They were all victims in a game far greater than them.

He let go of her neck and she could breath normal again. She rested her head on the wall behind her and sighed deeply. "Oscar forgive me..."

"There is nothing to forgive!" He turned his back on her and looked at the distance once again.

"It was wrong, what I said. But try to understand...I'm a mother and I can't see my child suffering."

"And I'm a father Dethna. A father that never saw his child growing up because she is somehow special. And my child never knew a mother. For all she may know, she is an orphan."

Dethna looked at the man's back. He was cold. The warm hearted and kind person he had once been, had been replaced by someone cold and unemotional. Only the mention of Melena and their child could bring the emotion in his eyes.

"Oscar!" He didn't respond. He only stared at the distance. "Oscar please protect Nessarose. I know that deep down you care about her. She and your daughter would have been friends under different circumstances. Please Oscar, as a parent, grant a mother that one last request!"

He didn't respond. He didn't even react until he heard her light steps moving away from the balcony.

Please review and tell me what you think!