a/n: the problem with my stories is that I never have the drive to finish them…but I'm willing to finish this one if I get happy reviews. Onto the real a/n…finally bringing Elphaba into the story[finally]. I was going to in the first chapter, like a switch between Elphaba's situation and Glinda's but I thought that would be too staggered and stupid to do. Sorry for the short, short chapter, y'all, but it's rather difficult to write as Elphaba in this stage of the story right now. So deal with the shortness and don't hate.

Chapter three: Prisoner

She's huddled on the concrete bed, huddled atop the flimsy mattress and wrapped in the ragged blanket, all in an attempt to keep warm. If she doesn't die from blood loss then she'll die from hypothermia. It's cold and damp in the cell, the whole dungeon really. Her clothing is ruined from the numerous beatings she's received, tattered and bloody. Her hands are chained to the wall, and with barely enough leeway to lie down. The cold metal rubs against her skin continuously, some of it already chafing. There's a gruesome gash over her right eye that's still seeping blood. It's from three days ago.

A loud, eerily obnoxious creak erupts from the blackness and Elphaba jerks her head to look up. It's the guards coming for their daily beat up routine. She grits her teeth, awaiting the worst of the damage. Instead, she hears the guard speak.

"We're taking you to the Wizard." He says, and that's all he says, as he undoes the chain, pulling it through the loop on the wall.

Elphaba's wrists are still bound and attached to the long chain, like a leash. The guard pulls her from the cell and begins leading her down the twisting maze. Two other guards take the rear, their muskets aimed at her back.

"Why does he want to see me?" Elphaba asks but is roughly hit in the back with the tip of a gun.

"No questions."

Elphaba complies for fear of being shot down. The only sound accompanying their long walk is the sound of their footsteps against the cobble stone corridor.

It takes what seems like forever to reach the main door. The first guard grabs the handle and pulls on it. A phosphorescent emerald beams in from above and Elphaba shuts her eyes, feeling the burning tears slide down her face.

She's led up the stairs, stumbling once or twice. She's squinting now, letting her eyes adjust to the light. She was in darkness for too long. Her eyes open when she hears her enemy's voice speak to her.

"Good to see you again, Elphaba. I hope you've been doing well." The Wizard says, either ignoring the wounds on the green woman or just making a mockery of them.

"Only if you count multiple bruises, broken bones and a large gash 'doing well', then yeah, I'm doing just fine." Elphaba says, her witticism showing as usual.

She opens her mouth to say more but the butt of a rifle raps against her head, temporarily knocking her out, and she falls forward. She can feel blood pool at the base of her neck.

"Silence, Witch. You have lost the right to speak." The guard who hit her says gruffly, still pointing the rifle at her fallen form.

From her blurred vision, Elphaba sees the Wizard rise from his chair. "Nobody gave you orders to harm her. You do what I say and only act on orders, not on free will. Remove those chains immediately and clean that gash. I want her looking her best when she meets me later."

"Y-yes, Your Ozness. Right away." The guard says, sending his troops to fetch the medical team.

The Wizard is still glaring at the remaining guard. "Well, what are you waiting for? Leave her with me."

The guard stutters in protest a few times before rushing out of the room. With the guard gone, the Wizard slumps down in his chair, places two fingers against his temple and sighs audibly. He looks at the broken form of Elphaba and feels a twinge of remorse.

"Elphaba…I know how you must feel about this whole…situation, but I assure you that it does get better. Trust me." The Wizard says from his throne, watching Elphaba raise herself up on weak arms.

"You have no idea what I feel. You have no idea what this has caused me…" Elphaba growls, her dark hair falling over one shoulder, as she glares at the Wizard.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Elphaba. But you're here for a vital reason. You see, I have this dream—?" The Wizard stops speaking and looks at Elphaba, who has risen from the floor now.

Her blood splatters onto the emerald tile, causing a horrendously ugly clash of red and green.

"We all have dreams, Wizard. Some of them come true, others are crushed mercilessly. But I'm sure you wouldn't know about any of this, would you now?" Elphaba asks with a near feral look in her russet brown, flecked with mica eyes, her mouth pulled back in a snarl.

The Wizard ignores this dangerous look and continues with his story, "a dream of Oz. I came here with the intent of perfecting this place…oh, how wrong was I? I have this idea of a Civil War. The United States had one, why can't Oz?"

Elphaba's snarl has vanished and now her mouth hangs open in shock. Her eyes wide with rage. "Internal warfare…that's your solution? And for what, the good of all Oz? Just how do you expect to go about that?" She asks, walking up to the Wizards throne.

"That's highly confidential, Miss Elphaba." A cold voice says from somewhere behind her.

Elphaba's blood runs cold as she hears the newcomer speak.

She turns slowly, fear evident in her russet eyes. She sees that Morrible is back from wherever she went. She steps from the throne and backs from Morrible's advancing form slowly.

"My dear, you harbor magical talents that are unpredictable. They cause destruction…do you know what that means?" Morrible says as she walks towards Elphaba, a predatory smile plastered on her thin lips.

"No, I'm afraid I don't know what it means. I don't think I want to know either. Sorry, but whatever you're planning I refuse to be a part of." Elphaba says stubbornly.

Morrible's blocking Elphaba's escape and her predatory grin screams victory. Elphaba's demeanor may have been strong but all of it's an act.

"Oh, you can refuse all you want, Miss Elphaba, but you're already a part of our plan," Morrible sneers as she looks into Elphaba's terror frozen eyes, "Guards! Take her back to her cell. Leave her there until she's ready to cooperate.

Morrible steps away from her former green student as five guards shackle her and drag her away.

XXXXXXX

Elphaba's shoved onto the floor, her face scraping against the concrete flooring. She lies there unmoving and in pain. She hears the guards snigger before a sharp pain enters her chest. She cries out as her ribs fracture beneath the heavy weight of the guards boot.

She hears the door creak shut and echo as it slams. She remains motionless, her breathing shallow and her face bleeding. She pulls herself towards the concrete cot and manages to pull herself up. She rolls onto the flimsy mattress with great difficulty, pain shooting through her body with each movement.

Her mind feels numb from exhaustion and she lies in silence for what feels like hours. Silent tears fall down her face before she slips into sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elphaba doesn't get up but she doesn't remain asleep either. She simply lies there in agony. Her mind is groggy with sleep and her breathing comes in shallow breaths. The gash above her eye is still covered in dried blood and is starting to scar. She's been hostage for a week now and freedom is a lost dream. She opens her eyes to a still dark cell even though there are slivers of light streaming in from cracks in the wall. She wonders what happened to Glinda and if she's okay. She worries about Nessarose and her wellbeing and it hurts her heart to think of what she's going through. She wonders what the school has been reduced to.

She wonders if anyone cares that she's gone. A person just doesn't disappear from the face of the earth. She wonders how long this hellish nightmare will last.

Fighting won't help her and she knows that. Her chance to fight has long since ended and now she's nothing but a ragged prisoner. A war prisoner; the first of millions.

Locked up in this cell, Elphaba doesn't know anything about the outside world. She doesn't know how far Morrible's plan has gone.

She doesn't know what's to come. She knows that Oz is about to take an unexpected turn for the worse.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morrible sends her guards out in search for target points. The last of the guards leave and Morrible smirks to herself at her handiwork.

"This is going wonderfully, is it not, Your Ozness." Morrible says as she turns to look at the Wizard.

"Don't you think that we're taking this a little too far?" The Wizard asks as he walks from his Mechanical Oz-Head.

"This was your plan in the beginning, I simply put into action." Morrible retorts, her attitude worsening with each second.

The Wizard remains silent and returns to his Oz-Head. Morrible looks at the Wizard with a predatory glint in her eyes before leaving the throne room.

She retreats to her study to continue mapping out towns and villages. She'll begin in Munchkinland due to its poor defense system. Then she'll move her fleet towards the Glikkus and then Quadling Country where she'll take control of the Ruby mines. There was nothing in the west was of any interest to her so she'd leave that alone. Then there was Shiz where her little mind-slaves where. She'd have to reenter that to take control of it.

It's a brilliant plan; all she needs is the right kind of military. She needs some kind of secret weapon. She had originally vied for Elphaba but the girls' stubbornness would only ruin the overtaking of Oz. She needs someone who has magical abilities. Glinda certainly has magical capabilities, Morrible thinks, but I wonder, does Nessarose have them too?

Morrible turns to her file of students that had tabs on them and looked towards Nessarose Thropp.

a/n: this chapter certifiably sucks. I'm sorry if the plot is becoming muddled but now with school starting and my intense fencing conditioning I don't think I'll be writing as often. I'll definitely still be writing though but I won't be posting as daily as I have been. R&R.