AN: Believe me, I know I really shouldn't start yet another story, like I said, but this one popped into my head and now I can't get it out again, so... yeah.

This one is going to be a bit different. For starters, I'm going to take it slow with this one, really working it out slowly instead of rushing through it. It might therefore take a while for the story to really get going; just so you know in advance. Furthermore, less fluff and more suspense (although there'll be plenty of fluff left, don't worry).

So this first chapter is a bit short - it's sort of a prologue, introducing the characters' personalities and, especially, Elphaba's childhood. Elphaba's happy childhood, for a change (yes, can you believe it? I made Frex nice! :O) - up until the drama kicks in, that is. Somewhere in the near future. *cough*Chapter 2*cough*

So... enjoy, and please review! :)

Chapter 1. Beginning

Frex looked at the baby girl, feeling torn, surprised and a little shocked, but at the same time knowing that nothing could stop him from loving his daughter. 'Oh, Melena, darling… She's beautiful.'

'Really?' his wife gasped, trying to prop herself up against the pillows. The midwife gently eased her back down. 'Easy, Mrs. Thropp. You need to rest now.'

But Melena was focused entirely on her husband. 'Really, Frex?' she asked breathlessly. 'Do you mean it? Even though she's…'

'She's different,' agreed Frex softly, gazing down at the newborn in his arms. The expression on his face was one of wonder and a soft smile graced his lips. 'She's special.'

'She's green,' the midwife pointed out bluntly. Frex glared at her. 'She's beautiful,' he insisted, daring the woman to say otherwise. The midwife just shrugged and left the room, and Frex gently placed the baby girl into his wife's arms. 'Here you go, sweetheart. Isn't she perfect?'

'She is,' Melena agreed, smiling at her daughter in her arms. 'Hello there, sweetie,' she whispered as the baby enclosed her tiny fingers around one of Melena's. 'Your Daddy is right, you know. You're beautiful. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.'

'What shall we name her?' asked Frex, fingering one of his wife's dark brown curls. She thought about it for a moment, then smiled up at him. 'How about Elphaba?'

'Elphaba Melena Thropp.' He returned her smile. 'It's perfect.'

Melena was in the living room, sitting in one of the arm chairs, three-year-old Elphaba playing at her feet. She looked at her daughter with mixed feelings. She was so beautiful, so innocent… How could she ever endanger her?

She fingered the locket around her neck, cursing it. Oh, how she wished she could just turn her back on her duties and leave her little girl in peace! But she knew that wasn't possible. Sooner or later, Melena would die, just like any other mortal being; and Elphaba would have to bear the consequences.

She knew Elphaba would be able to handle it, though. She was strong. She'd make it.

'Mommy?' the little girl asked, rousing her from her thoughts. 'When will my baby sister come?'

Melena smiled at her daughter and pulled her onto her lap, taking Elphaba's hand and putting it onto her swollen stomach. 'She needs some more time to grow, sweetie. But she'll be here in another one and a half month or so.'

Elphaba wrinkled her nose. 'How long is that?'

'Look outside,' her mother told her, and the girl obliged. 'Do you see the green leaves on the trees? Can you see how they're turning a little bit brown and red?'

Elphaba nodded vigorously and Melena smiled. 'Well, if the leaves have all turned brown and red and they're starting to fall down from the trees, that's when your sister – or brother – will come.'

'I want a sister.'

Melena laughed at that. 'We'll see.'

The little girl looked at her mother's stomach thoughtfully for a moment. 'Can she hear me?'

Melena nodded. 'She can. Do you want to talk to her?'

Elphaba shook her head violently, suddenly shy, and Melena laughed again. 'You don't have to if you don't want to.'

Elphaba looked thoughtful again; then her face lit up as an idea came to her three-year-old mind. 'Do you think she'd like it if I sang for her?'

Eyes sprang to Melena's tears at her daughter's innocent proposal – oh, those cursed hormones - and she hugged the girl for a moment. 'I think she'd love that, Fabala. And I would, too.'

Elphaba started to sing and Melena watched her, a smile gracing her lips all the while. The girl had almost finished the lullaby she was singing when Frex stepped into the doorway, smiling broadly. 'Whose singing is so incredibly beautiful around here? I really want to kiss the owner of such a wonderful voice,' he declared. Elphaba blushed and giggled, then jumped off her mother's lap to run into her father's arms. 'I was singing to my baby sister,' she explained earnestly and Frex smiled at her and gave her the promised kiss. 'Well, my little angel, it was beautiful. The baby is going to be very lucky with a big sister like yourself.'

Elphaba positively beamed at that and he kissed her forehead before setting her back down. 'Have you thought about names yet, pet?'

She giggled again. 'That rhymes. Yet – pet.'

Frex laughed. 'You're right.' Melena watched her husband and daughter interact with a smile on her face, as always. Elphaba really was a beautiful little girl, with her huge dark eyes, long ebony hair and delicate bone structure; it was such a shame that most people couldn't see beyond the green. But as long as she has us, Melena vowed, she will never be alone.

'I kind of like something with the word 'rose' in it,' Elphaba told her father solemnly. 'Because Mommy says that a baby's skin is as,' she cringed her forehead as she tried to think of the right words, 'delicate as the petals of a rose.'

Frex looked genuinely impressed and Melena knew exactly how he felt. Their daughter never failed to amaze them with her intelligence and her extremely accurate memory – she could sometimes recite conversations they'd had up until the tiniest details. Frex stroked his daughter's long black hair. 'Like what exactly, pet?' he asked her. She walked back to the chair her mother was sitting in and crawled onto Melena's lap again. 'Well, something like… Primrose. Or Rosebud. Or Nessarose…'

'That's actually a really beautiful name,' replied Melena softly, looking at Frex, and he smiled and nodded. 'Nessarose… That's a very good idea, pet. If the baby is a girl, we'll call her Nessarose, okay?'

Elphaba's smile lit up the room. 'Okay!'

Melena laughed and cuddled with her daughter. 'Oh, Fabala, I love you.'

'Love you too, Mommy.' Elphaba tilted her head a little and studied the locket around Melena's neck. 'Why are you always wearing that?'

Somehow, her daughter's observant eye stunned Melena every time. 'Because I like it, sweetie.'

'It's pretty,' Elphaba agreed, fumbling with it. 'I wish I could have something pretty like that.'

'Someday, you will,' replied Melena softly, but she sounded not nearly as happily as her daughter.

'Hey, pet.' Frex was smiling when he walked into her bedroom, holding a small bundle of blankets. 'Are you awake already?'

'I couldn't sleep anymore,' said Elphaba in a small, quivering voice. 'Someone was screaming and I was scared.'

Frex hugged her a bit awkwardly with one hand, trying not to crush the baby. 'I'm sorry, Fabala. Your mother was giving birth to your baby sister. Would you like to see her?'

Her fear forgotten, Elphaba nodded enthusiastically and Frex carefully placed the bundle of blankets in his daughter's arms. 'Fabala, meet Nessarose. Nessa, this is Elphaba, your big sister.'

Elphaba was beaming as she gingerly held her sister, rocking her a little bit back and forth. 'Hi there, Nessa. It's nice to have a baby sister. I hope you grow up soon, so that we can play together.' She looked back at Frex. 'Can I see Mommy now?'

'Of course,' said Frex, taking the baby back from her and gently guiding her towards the master bedroom. Melena's eyes were closed, but she opened them as soon as she heard them enter. She smiled at her eldest daughter. 'Hey, Fabala. I see you've met your baby sister already.'

Elphaba nodded. 'She's so small.'

'She'll grow,' Frex assured her, unable to wipe the happy smile off his face. 'The midwife said she's perfectly healthy.'

Elphaba hugged her mother. 'Can I call her Nessa? Or Nessie?'

'You can call her whatever you want,' said Melena, smiling, and Elphaba beamed at her. 'Can I go and tell Boq that I have a little sister?' she asked excitedly and both her parents laughed. 'Sure, go ahead,' Frex encouraged her, and she darted out of the room and out the front door, running all the way across town. 'Boq, Boq!' she yelled as she burst through the door. 'I have a baby sister!'

Boq looked up from the drawing he was making. 'Really?'

Boq's mother, Amaia, emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. 'What is it I'm hearing, Fabala? You have a baby sister?'

Elphaba nodded enthusiastically. 'She's super-tiny, but Daddy says she'll grow. He says she's perfectly healthy and her name is Nessarose. I can call her Nessie for short,' she announced proudly, and Amaia smiled at her. 'That's wonderful, Elphaba. Congratulotions.'

'Elphie, could I come to your house and see her?' asked Boq excitedly, but his mother stopped him. 'Not yet, honey. Elphaba's Mommy is probably very tired right now and she needs to rest. But we'll go and see little Nessa in the morning, okay?'

Boq nodded reluctantly. 'Okay.'

'Do you want to go into town with me?' the small girl asked Boq. 'Daddy says we can, if we stay together. Mommy needs to rest, so we can't play at my house.'

Boq looked at his mother questioningly, and she waved them away. 'Sure, go ahead. Have fun!' she called after them as they ran off in the direction of the small town they lived nearby.

In the beginning, there had been a lot of talk about the Thropp family. That had everything to do with the birth of their first daughter – a green girl. The first time Melena and Frex had taken little Elphaba to town in the pram, there had been an awful lot of stares, whispers, and pointed fingers. The villagers persisted in doing that until one day, a few weeks after that first trip into town, Melena had snapped. 'Yes, my daughter is green!' she had yelled at them. 'So what? She's healthy and she's beautiful, and we're happy with her and incredibly proud of her – so get over it!'

'But green is strange,' a teenage boy had dared to protest, and Melena's eyes had flashed dangerously. 'I also see no one else with red hair around here but you,' she pointed out. 'Does that mean I should stare and point at you, too?'

The boy had flushed as bright red as his hair and fled the square, and the other villagers had just shifted around uncomfortably. Boq's mother Amaia, who had also been a dear friend of Melena's for about five years then, further helped save the day; she went over to Melena and peered into the buggy. 'Melena, darling,' she had declared in a loud voice, 'green or not, this is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. Hi, honey,' she had cooed to Elphaba, who had smiled and gurgled in reply. After that, a few other women had hesitantly come closer to take a look at the baby; and once they got past the green, they all smiled and agreed the girl was, indeed, adorable. After that, a careful acceptance of the Governor's green daughter had spread. There were still whispers and stares sometimes, and several rumours about how the girl had ended up green circulated around the village, but at least they weren't repulsed by her anymore and most villagers just talked to the little girl whenever she came to town with her mother.

They had only really grown fond of her a few months before now, when Elphaba had first gone into town alone with Boq. The boy had caught the stares and whispers and had asked Elphaba in a stunned voice if it always was like that and if it didn't bother her. Her reply had been clear and a little too loud, so that everyone else could hear. 'Don't worry about them staring, Boq, I'm used to it. I don't mind. Don't you like to be stared at because you are different?'

Her sarcasm would have seemed unappealing to the villagers, had her words not been so true. The people within earshot had faltered, most of them slightly ashamed of themselves when they realised that that was exactly what they had been doing. They felt even more ashamed because they knew Elphaba from her frequent visits to town with her mother and they all knew her as a sweet and intelligent little girl. Somehow, that day had elicited a change in them, and when a few days later a carriage with tourists arrived, tourists who immediately started gaping at the tiny green girl when they saw her, the Munchkinlanders proved themselves on her side.

Elphaba had put her hands on her hips and raised her chin defiantly, glaring at the tourists, daring them to say something. When one of the tourists opened his mouth, Boq had chimed in, putting a hand on Elphaba's shoulder. 'No, she's not seasick, and she's never eaten a stem of grass in her life,' he declared firmly.

'I can fight my own battles, Boq,' she had protested, but then the baker had stepped forward. 'Would you stop staring at that little girl? It's rude.'

'But she's-' the tourist started. The grocer's wife, a woman well acquainted with both Melena and Amaia and one of the first villagers who had accepted Elphaba, stepped forward and put her hand on Elphaba's other shoulder, giving the tourists a stern look. 'She's beautiful,' she said, daring them with her eyes to contradict her. The tourists had faltered and gone away, and from that day on, Elphaba was accepted completely. With time, the villagers even actually grew fond of her, polite and charming as she was.

Now, as she ran into town with Boq, there were smiles and greetings directed at them from everywhere. 'Hey, Boq!' one of the men called out to him. 'Does your father need some more help with the harvest? Because if he does, just have him call for me and I'll find a few men to help him!'

'I think he would really appreciate the help, thank you,' Boq said politely, and the man smiled. The baker's wife smiled at Elphaba. 'And why are you beaming like that, little one? Something good happen?'

Elphaba nodded, grinning, and the woman laughed. 'Something to do with your mother? How is she?'

'She's fine,' Elphaba assured her, still grinning, eyes shining. 'I have a baby sister!'

'Oh, that's wonderful!' the baker's wife exclaimed, hugging the little girl. 'Congratulotions! You must be so excited!'

'What's she like?' another man asked, and the villagers within hearing distance faltered, knowing what he meant. Elphaba frowned a little at the question, also recognising its meaning, but she sighed and decided to let it go. 'She's tiny and cute, she has Daddy's brown hair,' she declared proudly. She paused intentionally for the dramatic effect, then added with just the tiniest hint of sarcasm, 'and she's not green.'

'I'm sure she's beautiful, Elphaba,' the grocer's wife swiftly moved around the subject, kneeling down next to the two children and looking at the both of them. 'I bet your Mommy hopes that your little sister will be just as beautiful as you!'

Elphaba's smile at that could compete with the sun, it was so radiant. She hugged the woman, who laughed. 'And what's your baby sister's name?' she asked, and Elphaba's grin widened. 'Nessarose.'

'That's a beautiful name,' the baker's wife praised, and Elphaba beamed at her. 'I picked it.'

'Did you now?' she said, smiling. Boq decided right around that moment that he was bored and tugged at Elphaba's sleeve. 'Can we go play now?'

'Sure,' she agreed and they ran off together, leaving the villagers with smiles on their faces.

The next time she came into town, she was with her parents and her baby sister, pushing the buggy with the small girl in it. She could barely reach the handles and she could only just look over it to see where she was going, but she was beaming with pride, especially as everyone gathered around them to admire the latest addition to the Thropp family.

'Oh, isn't she adorable?' one of the women swooned, tickling Nessa. 'Hi there, little girl!'

'She looks just like you, Frex,' one of the men said, and Frex smiled. 'That seems fair, since Elphaba is all Melena.'

'She looks a little like Elphaba, too,' another woman observed as she stroked Nessa's cheek. Melena ran her fingers through Elphaba's hair. 'She does, doesn't she? She's just as beautiful a baby as you were, Fabala.'

'Only she isn't green,' said Elphaba solemnly, and Melena's smile faltered. 'Sweetie…'

'I'm just observing,' Elphaba explained in a serious tone of voice, and Frex smiled a bit sadly at her. 'No, pet, she's not green. But that doesn't mean she's prettier than you.'

Elphaba nodded. 'I know.'

Her parents shared a hesitant look for a moment, but then Elphaba's face lit up and she darted between the legs of the adults towards her friend. 'Boq! Look, we've brought Nessa!'

'Cool.' Boq approached the pram as the people made room for him. His eyes widened a little as he saw the baby. 'Whoa. She's grown since the last time I saw her.'

'Babies grow really fast,' his mother, who followed him, explained. She cooed at Nessa and smiled at Frex and Melena. 'She really is beautiful. You two are lucky with two amazing girls like these.'

'Yes, we are,' said Melena with a soft look in her eyes.

After that, Elphaba played the role of big sister perfectly. When Nessa fussed or cried, her sister would sing her a lullaby. When Nessa needed to go to sleep, Elphaba would read her a bedtime story – or make up one of her very own. Every time the little green girl went for a walk, she'd take her baby sister, pointing out birds and plants and flowers to her, even though Nessa of course couldn't understand any of the things she was saying. Frex and Melena trusted her completely with their youngest daughter; they knew how careful and protective Elphaba was about her sister – she cared for Nessarose deeply and it warmed their parents' hearts to see their daughters together like that.

As the girls grew up, not much changed. Elphaba was still the bigger sister, trying to teach Nessa all the things she learned from her books. Nessa was extremely fond of her sister, but Elphaba, in her eyes, wasn't really exciting; she was usually reading and spent much time at school and in the library, and though she loved to be outside as well, climbing trees or playing games, she usually didn't take Nessa to do so. In that respect, four-year-old Nessa thought, Elphaba was way too overprotective when it came to her.

The one that did take her for rougher games was Elphaba's friend Boq, whom she was intrigued by. Boq would take her to play outside with him and his friends, inventing games, sometimes gathering a bunch of other town children around them to play soccer or tag together. When he was six, he'd gotten two baby sisters, twins, much to his dismay. They were adorable little girls, but they were, as he reasoned, too young to do anything with; all they did was eat and sleep and poop. So he was very happy with Elphaba and Nessa and his other friends, often playing together.

And Elphaba? She thrived on everyone's love. She had a wonderful family, a mother and father that loved her, an adorable baby sister, a friend… and even the village people cared about her, to some extent. She had everything she could ever wish for – except for fair skin, maybe, but given all the wonderful people around her, even that didn't bother her much. She was content. She was loved. She was happy.

She was exactly where she needed to be.

If only that feeling could last forever.