AN: Sooooo... this is the final chapter.

Yeah, I know, I hadn't really expected it, either. It just turned out that way.

Kudos to Musicgal3 for guessing (or mindreading... whatever) what's going on with the poison and Frex.

The Wizard Of Wicked: that was the most awesome speech I've ever read. Thank you. *wipes away tear* And it's justified, too; because you actually were the 300th reviewer on this story! :)

Chapter 25. The end

"Hello, Father."

He looked up and let out a low growl from deep in his throat.

"Elphaba," he said sarcastically. "I see you're back on your feet. How wonderful."

She glared at him. "No thanks to you."

"Yes, thanks to me, actually," he corrected her. "If I hadn't given Nessa and that little blonde friend of hers the recipe they needed to make the antidote, you would be dead by now."

"If you hadn't given me the poison," Elphaba said sharply, "I wouldn't have needed that antidote in the first place."

Frex' gaze travelled towards Fiyero – who was standing next to the dark-haired witch with his arm around her waist and a fiery look in his blue eyes – and then on to his right, resting on Nessa for a moment before reaching Galinda and Gazilon, both of whom had crossed their arms and were trying to stare him down.

"So," he croaked. "Where is my antidote?"

Elphaba smirked. "Did you really think we were going to give it to you?"

"Fabala," Nessa chided her sister gently, and Elphaba sighed.

"I know," she grunted, recalling the speech her sister had given her a few hours before – right after she had woken up feeling good enough to rant furiously for half an hour about what she was going to do to Frex when she next laid eyes on him (and of course said rant had included a string of curses that had made Nessa and Galinda flush, Fiyero and Gazilon stare at her open-mouthed, and the doctor look away and clear his throat awkwardly). She mimicked her sister. "I shouldn't act this way, because it makes me sound vindictive and mean and that's not like me at all."

Galinda giggled. "You make it sound like it is something horrible that you're not like that," she teased, smiling widely. That smile had appeared on her face right after the doctor had told them Elphaba would be fine and it hadn't disappeared since.

Nessa turned to face Frex. "She's right, though," she said. "We're not going to give you the antidote…"

"What?!" Frex shouted, spluttering. "Nessa, you can't do this to me! Regardless of what I may or may not have done to your sister, you are my daughter! Haven't I always treated you well? I love you, Nessa – I thought you loved me, too!"

"Let me finish," said Nessa calmly.

Frex fell silent.

"We're not going to give you the antidote," Nessa said, "because you don't need it."

Frex frowned. "What –"

"We never poisoned you," Galinda said coldly. "We only told you we did."

"If you'd have paid attention," Gazilon added, "you would have noticed that the bottle of wine we supposedly poisoned with exinum root was actually still sealed shut. There was no way we could have put anything in there."

"What you drank was just wine," Nessa said softly. "Nothing more, nothing less."

Frex gaped at her.

"You… you tricked me?!" he stammered, clearly astonished, shocked and angry at the same time.

"We had to," Nessa defended herself. "You poisoned Fabala!"

"Never mind, Nessa," Elphaba said, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder and squeezing softly. "He wouldn't understand. He just… hates me. It's as simple as that."

Fiyero stiffened at those words and Nessa started shaking her head, which caused Elphaba to roll her eyes. "Stop being oversensitive about that, will you? It's just the way it is."

"That doesn't mean we have to like it," Fiyero argued, and Elphaba conceded.

"Come on," Galinda said, raising her chin and looking at her friends. "I don't think we have anything else to do here."

"Wait!" Frex cried. "What… what will happen now?"

"You will be sentenced to stay in prison for at least twenty years for attempted murder and for working with the Glikkun terrorists," Gazilon said calmly. "The lieutenant-governor is going to take over ruling Munchkinland until Nessa graduates from Shiz. After that, she's going to come back here to become Governor herself." He met Frex' gaze. "I turned in my parents," he said. "The last thing I heard is that they are going to be arrested and interrogated about the attacks. The news will go straight to the Wizard himself. They're hoping to have more of the terrorists arrested," he said. "I asked a Gale Force officer about it. You might get sentenced to a lifelong stay in prison for what you've done, Governor Thropp; you could even end up being sentenced to death… unless, of course, you're willing to talk."

Frex scowled, but didn't say anything.

"If you give the Gale Force some names of other people who were involved with the attacks," Gazilon continued, "you might get away with only twenty years in prison."

Frex hissed.

"Father, please," Nessa said softly. "Despite everything you've done, I still care about you." There were tears in her eyes. "I don't want you to die."

Frex immediately softened. "Nessa…"

"And I want those people to be punished for what they've done," she continued, sniffling slightly. A single tear spilled over, slowly trickling down the creamy white skin of her cheek. "For… for what happened to Boq…"

Elphaba knelt down next to her sister's chair and hugged her gently. Galinda squeezed Nessa's shoulder sympathetically.

Frex sighed and caved.

"You're right," he said, looking a bit sour, as if even admitting that was a huge step for him. "You're right, sweet Nessa, you're right. I am very sorry about Boq, darling."

Nessa sniffled again. "Thank you."

The fact that Boq's death was at least partly Frex' fault, and that Nessa still blamed him for that, was not spoken aloud; but it hung in the air between them. They could both feel it, and they both knew it would never be the same between them ever again.

Frex' shoulders slumped.

"I'll tell them," he said quietly. "I'll tell them everything I know." He looked up at his youngest daughter pleadingly. "Nessa… do you think you can ever forgive me for what I've done?"

Silence settled on the group and lasted a few moments before Nessa finally spoke.

"Maybe," she said, her voice only barely above a whisper. "One day."

Frex lowered his eyes and nodded, ducking his head in acknowledgement. Nessa turned away from him and started wheeling herself through the hallway, back to the door. Galinda and Gazilon exchanged a look before quickly hurrying after the wheelchair-bound girl, not sparing the imprisoned governor another glance.

Fiyero's fingers closed around Elphaba's wrist, gently tugging at it in an attempt to get her to move; but she stayed rooted to the spot, her eyes glued to Frex.

"Did you ever love me?" she asked him quietly. "Was there ever, in my entire life, even the briefest moment that you felt anything other than hatred for me?"

"Yes," Frex said, not looking up. "I only started hating you, really hating you, after Nessa was born and Melena…" He trailed off, not finishing that sentence.

Fiyero squeezed Elphaba's hand comfortingly, but she was calm and her eyes were dry. She did not need any comfort. She had known about all this for a long time already and she had accepted it; she just wanted to hear it from her father's own mouth for once in order to put it behind her completely.

"So I didn't hate you," Frex continued. "Not right away." He looked up, his dark blue eyes cold. "But I never loved you."

Fiyero made an indignant noise in his throat, but Elphaba did not pull a muscle.

"After all," Frex said, an evil glint in his eye as he looked at his eldest daughter. "How can you love a curse?"

She pursed her lips and nodded, having expected this answer. Beside her, Fiyero growled and clenched his fists, ready to hurl himself at Frex; but she shook her head, covering his fists with her hand. "No, don't."

"But –"

"Fiyero," she said gently. "This is nothing new."

He frowned, but didn't say anything else.

She squeezed his hand. "Come on," she said. "Let's get out of here."

They started walking towards the thick door that would lead them back outside, but they were stopped by Frex' voice calling out to them. "Elphaba?"

She stopped and turned, though she didn't look straight at him. "Yes?"

He sighed and gritted his teeth. "I'm sorry."

He wasn't sure how he had expected his daughter to react; but the way she did react surprised even him.

She laughed.

She just snorted a humourless laugh that sent shivers down his spine and chilled him to the bone.

"No," she said. "You're not." He was only saying this in the hopes that she would tell Nessa about it, which would maybe change the younger Thropp's opinion of her father just the tiniest bit. He wasn't really sorry and they both knew it.

Suddenly fed up with it all, Frex snapped, "You know what? You're right. I'm not." He clutched the bars of his cell and glared viciously at Elphaba. "The only thing I'm sorry about is that I got caught," he spat.

She slowly moved closer to him, bringing her face as close to his as she could whilst still staying out of his reach.

"You know what?" she said, her voice quiet and low – dangerously so. She knelt down, levelling her face with hers so that she could look him straight in the eye.

"I regret many things," she said. "But that is the one thing I am not, nor will I ever be, sorry for."

With that, she rose back to her feet, linked her arm with Fiyero's, and left the dungeons, leaving Frex to ponder on his actions and on everything he had done wrong in his life.

"They were arrested," Fiyero repeated after his mother.

Lori nodded.

"Apparently Governor Thropp gave them some names," she said, "which lead to the imprisonment of a few of the terrorists, who gave them some more names… the Wizard has mingled in the affair now, and every Ozian leader has sent a representative to the Emerald City. Apparently the attack on Shiz and the arrest of your father, Elphaba, have really spurred things on. Of course this whole thing isn't solved yet… that's going to take much, much longer. Months – maybe years, even." She smiled a little watery. "But the first step has been taken; and with some of the main leaders of the movement imprisoned, I doubt they will cause much more damage. Apparently, most of the Glikkuns have retreated back to their home country."

"Huh," said Elphaba. "Good thing Frex poisoned me, then."

That earned her shocked and reprimanding looks from all sides.

She held up her hands. "I just mean that if he hadn't, no-one would have turned Frex in," she defended herself, "and then he would still be out there, and he wouldn't have given the Gale Force any names of Glikkun terrorists, and… never mind," she muttered upon seeing the looks on her friends' faces.

"So it's really over now?" Nessa asked quietly.

Lori smiled at her a bit sadly. "Not yet," she said. "But it will be soon."

She reached for both her children, and Cyara and Fiyero each took one of her hands. Fiyero wrapped his other arm around Elphaba's shoulders, who in turn laced her fingers with Nessa's. Galinda took both Nessa and Gazilon's hands in her own and Gazilon held out his hand to Cyara, connecting the entire circle. Maybe it was silly, but it made them all feel better – if only for a moment.

"So what's going to happen now?" Elphaba asked softly later that night, when the others had gone off to bed and it was just her and Fiyero. They were sitting in front of the fire together, cradling mugs with tea.

Fiyero shrugged. "I don't know," he said, leaning back against the couch. "Cyara is staying here with Mum for now, so that she won't be alone. I guess I'll be going back to university… another one, obviously, since Shiz isn't really there anymore…" He sighed. "I heard my mum already sent a letter out to a college in the Emerald City," he said. "A very prestigious one. I've been going there before, but I flunked out."

"Of course you did."

He grinned sheepishly. "Well, she says she assured them that I have changed and that I will be trying my best, so…" He reached out to take Elphaba's hand in his. "You can go there, too," he said. "Your father's money is yours now, isn't it?"

"It is," she confirmed. "But I'm not sure… it just doesn't really feel right to use it, you know?" She shrugged helplessly. "I guess… I feel like that money belongs to Nessa," she said. "Not to me."

Fiyero knew better than to argue with her – he had seen for himself now how her father treated her; and if she had been treated that way all her life, it certainly did explain a lot about the way she saw things.

He looped an arm around her waist and drew her closer, pressing his lips to the top of her head. "Then we'll pay," he said. "We're still royalty, you know." He trailed his fingers down her arm. "And you know I would do anything for you."

She blushed. "Yero…"

"Don't say you don't want to accept it," he cut her off sternly. He turned to face her. "Fae… you have no idea how scared I was when I thought you were going to die."

She thought of the direct aftermath of the attack on Shiz and suppressed a shiver. "I think I do."

He softened and nodded. "You do, don't you?" He placed his mug on a side table and wrapped both his arms around her, holding her close. "Please don't ever do that to me again."

"I'll try," she mumbled.

He laughed and kissed her. "I suppose that's good enough."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Then he said quietly, "I really think my dad would have loved you."

Elphaba looked at him, her face soft. "I think I would have liked him, too," she said.

He smiled sadly. "I wish he was here now," he said quietly. "I mean… I'm going to be king after I graduate, and that just feels so surreal, you know? I'm not supposed to be King of the Vinkus – my father is. What if I completely mess it up?"

She snuggled into his side and kissed his cheek. "You won't mess up," she said quietly. "You're much more mature and much smarter than you give yourself credit for, Fiyero. You're amazing. You can do this." She squeezed his hand. "I'll help you."

"You will?" He stared at her, amazed. Was she saying what he thought she was saying?

She blushed a little. "If you want me to. I mean –"

He cut her off with a kiss. "If I want you to," he muttered, shaking his head. "Of course I want you to." He kissed her again. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She laid her head against his shoulder, a faint smile on her face.

Fiyero held her close, thinking about everything that had happened and everything that was going to happen; and now, for the first time, he truly felt like everything was going to be okay.

I hope you liked the ending... and I hope I didn't forget to cover anything - so much has been going on in this story that sometimes I sort of lost track of it... or almost, anyway :3.

So... one down, two more to go - and this time I swear I won't start a new story until I've finished both Everything and Here we stand.

Until next time!

Maddy