Here we are, everyone! The final chapter!

To say that Galinda had been horrified when she saw Fiyero had been an understatement. She heard someone fiddling with the lock and instantly got scared. She cast the invisibility on herself and held her breath. But when Fiyero finally managed to open the door and stumble inside, slamming it behind him, Galinda lifted the spell with a gasp.

"Fiyero," she whispered, hurrying over to him and, taking his arm, led him to the bed. "What happened to you?"

"The queen… found out… that I was helping you," Fiyero whispered back, grunting softly as he sat down.

Elphaba appeared next to Galinda. "She knows?"

"Apparently."

"Then we have to cast the spell as soon as possible," Elphaba said as Galinda muttered healing spells over Fiyero's wounds.

"There's just one problem," the blonde said, taking a slight breath as she finished the spells. "The book says that the spell has to be performed in the heart of the heart of Oz."

"What does that mean?" Fiyero asked.

"Well, the heart of Oz is the Emerald City, specifically the palace," Elphaba quipped. "And the heart of the Emerald City Palace is –"

"The throne room," Galinda finished. "I have to perform the spell to destroy the Grimmerie in the throne room."

The prince bit his lip. "Oh."

"How are we going to get in?"

"The queen always goes for a morning walk in the gardens every morning after breakfast," Fiyero admitted. "How long is the spell?"

"If I'm not distracted, I could complete it in fifteen minutes."

"That's a long time."

"It's a powerful spell."

"I don't know how long she walks, but I do think it's longer than fifteen minutes."

"Then we'll do it tomorrow morning," Elphaba said. "We can put up a protective barrier around the throne room. It won't be permanent, but it will be enough to stop any unwanted entrances."

Galinda nodded. "And Elphaba?"

"Yes?"

"You never told me what else would happen when the Grimmerie is destroyed."

"I did; the most powerful book in Oz will be destroyed and I'll be free."

"And then what?"

"Then what?"

"What will happen then?"

Elphaba thought for a moment. "I… don't know. I… never thought about it."

"It would throw all of Oz into chaos. Who would take over for the queen when she's overthrown?"

"Overthrow the queen?" Fiyero blinked.

"I just assumed that when the most powerful book is destroyed…"

Elphaba looked thoughtful for a moment. "Even if she's not overthrown, it would get rid of Morrible for good."

"How do you know?"

"I doubt I would leave and not Morrible."

"Oh. Right."

"We can worry about all that later. The most important thing right now is getting into the throne room to perform the spell."

That night, Galinda laid awake in her bed. She cast an illumination spell on the Grimmerie so she could read it without disturbing Fiyero. She studied the spell over and over again, her mind racing for the following day.

"Elphie?" she whispered softly.

The green ghost appeared on the bed next to her. "Yes?"

"I was rereading the spell and –"

"Don't think about it so much," Elphaba warned lightly. "You'll only make yourself more nervous."

"I know, but I realized something else."

"And what is that?"

"This spell to destroy the Grimmerie… it's very powerful."

"Yes. We both know that."

"But if you change a few words… the spell changes."

"To what?"

"A spell that could…" She gulped softly and looked up at the ghost. "Bring you back to life."

Elphaba froze, then disappeared. She reappeared a few clock-ticks later, biting her lip. "What?"

"If I change the words to the spell, I could bring you back to life."

Elphaba regarded her. "I feel a 'but' coming on."

"But you can only perform the spell once. And not a 'one chance per person' type of thing. More like a 'one strike and that's it' thing."

"I would be sixty-four years old."

"No, you wouldn't. It would simply give your ghost a new body, exactly like the one you have before. Since you didn't age all these years, you would still be nineteen."

Elphaba looked away. "I could come back… for real?"

"Yes. You could continue living your life."

"But Oz would still be under the queen's control."

"Yes, but you would be alive. You could finish your education and get married and have children and…"

"But Oz would still be under the queen's control," Elphaba repeated, glancing at the blonde.

Galinda sighed. "Yes."

Elphaba shook her head. "No. Keep the spell the way it is and destroy the Grimmerie."

"But, Elphie –"

"No, Glin. We've come too far. You've given up too much for it all to go to waste now."

"Will you at least consider it?"

"There's nothing to consider."

"But –"

Elphaba disappeared before the blonde could finish. Fiyero mumbled something in his sleep and snuggled deeper under his blanket. Galinda was left to listen to the quiet noises of the night, wanting tomorrow to come, but not wanting it to come too soon.

The next morning, Galinda woke up at the crack of dawn to a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of orange juice on the nightstand.

"Eat up," she heard Fiyero say and turned towards him. "You have a very big day today."

She pushed herself up with a yawn and nodded. "I do."

"You'll be fine, Glin," the prince said, moving over to the bed and sitting down on the edge. "From what I've heard, you've become a very powerful witch these past few years."

"Those are just rumors."

"But all rumors have a bit of truth to them."

"Not all rumors," Elphaba's disembodied voice said.

Nevertheless, Galinda finished eating and went to get washed and dressed. She came out, her damp hair in a high ponytail, and her very-mended, yet clean, old dress.

"You have the five items?" Elphaba asked as the blonde slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Yup."

"And the Grimmerie?"

"Mmhmm."

Elphaba looked at Fiyero and nodded. "We're ready."

Galinda cast the invisibility spell on herself and she and Elphaba followed the prince out. They were about to round the corner to the throne room when they stopped.

"How are we going to get past the two guards?" Fiyero whispered as softly as he could.

"I'll take care of them," Galinda whispered.

"You'll take care of them?" Fiyero repeated incredulously.

Galinda ignored him and muttered another spell under her breath and the two guards slumped to the floor.

"Did you just…"

"No, they're just asleep. But not for long. Come on," the blonde whispered, taking Fiyero's hand and pulling him forward.

Fiyero knew better than to question more, so he simply opened the large doors to the empty throne room. Thankfully, the room was empty and Galinda knelt down in the center of the room. She opened her bag and took out the five magical items and the Grimmerie. She opened the book to the spell and placed the objects in a star around it.

"Ready?" Elphaba asked.

Galinda nodded and began to chant.

"We have to make sure nothing distracts her or breaks her concentration," Elphaba instructed to Fiyero.

The prince nodded. He heard footsteps outside, but didn't think anything of it.

The spell started off great. The blonde seemed to make a song out of the soft, slow melody of the spell. To Fiyero, it was actually quite beautiful. He had no idea what she was saying, but it still sounded beautiful.

Galinda was a close to finishing the spell when the doors flew open and Fiyero whipped around, seeing the queen and Greyling, both looking murderous.

"Ozdamnit," he muttered.

"High treason!" the queen shouted, flicking her wrist and Fiyero and sending him crashing against the wall.

Elphaba had disappeared and was doing her best to shield Galinda, but knew there was only so much she could do. She looked over at Fiyero and saw his motionless body slumped against the floor.

"Guards! Seize her!" Greyling commanded, pointing a threatening finger at the blonde, who was still chanting the spell.

The guards who were knocked out suddenly came storming in, but before they got to Galinda, they were blown back by an invisible force.

"It seems our friend is still here," Greyling sneered.

The queen's eyes turned blue. "No matter," Morrible said. "We can deal with her later. First, we must stop the blonde witch."

Elphaba tried to hold them back, but Greyling and the queen (and Morrible) were much too powerful for her. "No!" she screamed as Galinda was knocked away before she finished saying the final word of the spell.

The ghost could only watch as the book lit up and glowed for a bit before returning to normal. It was over. The spell had failed and the Grimmerie could never be destroyed.

Galinda pushed herself up and glanced at her two attackers. Grunting, she began angrily hurling magic at both of them. Greyling was prepared, having seen how the blonde's emotions tied to her magic. She was, however, a bit caught off-guard at how she had improved, but didn't let that distract her.

"Give up, Miss Galinda," Greyling spat, trying not to show how tired she was.

The blonde quickly glanced at Fiyero, who still wasn't moving, and her face hardened. "Never," she screamed as she continued hurling magic.

Elphaba watched from behind her. She was very impressed at how much magic Galinda was using without getting tired. Or at least… without appearing tired… yet.

The battle between the three seemed to go on forever, but in reality, it was only around fifteen minutes. After many magic holes in the walls, singed carpet edges, and ripped curtains, Galinda had enough.

"Enough!" she shouted, creating a rather large energy ball, larger than anyone had ever seen before.

"Galinda, be careful with that!" Elphaba shouted, but was ignored.

Both the queen's and Greyling's eyes widened, and before they could react, Galinda shot it at both of them and it exploded with a deafening sound.

Elphaba rushed over to the blonde. "Galinda?"

The blonde swayed and Elphaba made herself corporeal just in time to catch her and gently help her down to the floor.

Hours later, Galinda coughed and slowly opened her eyes. She was back in the bed in Fiyero's room. She slowly sat up, wondering if she had dreamt the entire thing.

"You didn't."

The blonde gasped and jumped, whipping her head around to see Elphaba.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that. Especially after the whole ordeal you just went through."

"What… what happened?"

"You won. The Grimmerie isn't destroyed, but you won. You defeated both Greyling and the queen."

"Morrible?"

"Is gone, too."

"How?"

"When a ghost is possessing a living person, and that person died, that ghost ceases to exist. That was in the ghost book you read back at Shiz," Elphaba said with a soft smile, secretly knowing that Galinda most likely wouldn't have remembered that.

"Fiyero…"

"Is fine. Well… not fine, per say. I just mean that he's alive."

Galinda looked at her to elaborate.

"He suffered a broken rib and a fractured ankle, but other than that, he's fine."

"He's fine," Galinda repeated humorlessly with an eye roll.

"He'll live."

"Elphaba, be more sympathetic."

"This is as sympathetic as I get." Her attempts to lighten the mood were lost and she quickly realized that. "You did it, Glin. You won."

"But… if I did… why are you still here?"

"I wanted to wait until you woke up. I was actually worried that I would miss the window, but I still have some time left."

The blonde struggled to sit up, but Elphaba pushed her back down.

"First, I want to thank you. When we first met, I knew how crazy I must have sounded to you."

"It's not every day you strike up a conversation with a ghost," Galinda chuckled.

Elphaba smiled. "Second, I want you do know how proud I am of you. You were so brave and willing to risk everything."

"What happened to the Grimmerie?" Galinda suddenly blurted. "Since I didn't get to permanently destroy it."

"I've hidden it somewhere where it will never be found again."

"Where?"

Elphaba smirked. "Just trust me on this one."

Galinda gave her a look, but conceded. "Okay."

"And finally, I want to tell you something. Apparently, Devana and Greyling were not well liked at all. You, however, are. Your name is in the process of being cleared and I heard through the grapevine that they want to make you the new ruler of Oz."

"Me?!" Galinda gasped.

"But don't quote me on that. This is all happening really fast, in my opinion."

Suddenly, Elphaba was enveloped in a soft, white light, and both girls knew exactly what was happening.

"I have to leave now," Elphaba said, almost sadly.

Galinda finally managed to push herself up and gave the green girl a hug. This time, she didn't feel the coldness she had associated with touching the green ghost, but rather, warmth. "I'll miss you. You've changed me for the better… for… good."

"I'll miss haunting you," Elphaba chuckled, then sobered. "I'm happy to have known you, Glin."

The girls pulled apart and Galinda waved with a final, "Goodbye, Elphie," as the ghost disappeared from her sight for the final time.

A month later, Galinda sat at her desk as she read through the final draft of her speech to Oz.

"Fellow Ozians… friends, we have been through a very trying time. And there will be other things that try us. But we must not let them get the better of us. And I, with your help, would like to help lead you through these times, both good and bad. I would like to try to be… Glinda the Good."

The End.

Thank you all for following me on this crazy journey! My next story, "Play the Game" will be up tomorrow!