AN: It's good to see me, isn't it? No need to respond, that was rhetorical! It feels good to be posting again, though. I am rather busy at the moment - not just with uni, but with NaNoWriMo as well; but I missed this.

As said in the summary, this will be loosely based on the 1997 Titanic film, but I'm not going to follow the plot line completely. Just read it and you'll see :). I hope you like it!

1. Just a Lonely Girl

"Miss Elphaba?" a maid called, coming into the room and curtseying. "The Margrave is requesting your presence on deck."

Elphaba Thropp, soon to be Tenmeadows, glanced up from her book briefly. "I'm busy."

The maid looked uncomfortable. "I'm very sorry, Miss Elphaba," she said nervously, "but he was really quite insistent you join him on deck…"

Elphaba sighed and put her book away. She knew Avaric would be pissed if she didn't show up, and it wasn't fair to submit this maid to his temper just because she rather sat inside to finish her book than spent time with her fiancé.

She rose to her feet, ignoring the maid's look of obvious relief as she left the room and climbed the stairs, emerging on the top deck. Her father and younger sister were at the railing, she saw. Nessarose was excitedly pointing at something and Frexspar was standing beside her wheelchair, one hand on her shoulder, smiling at his youngest daughter's enthusiasm.

Avaric was standing beside them, talking to another man; but when he saw her, he broke off his conversation to beckon her.

"There you are," he said. "Mr Alarge, this is my fiancée, Miss Elphaba Thropp of Munchkinland. Darling, this is Mr Alarge – he is a renowned businessman from the Glikkus. I met him once at a conference about the stock market."

She curtseyed obediently. "How do you do," she said.

Mr Alarge smiled at her, but she could see the way his eyes swept over her, taking her in from her high-heeled shoes and the skirt of her designer dress up to her raven black hair, pinned back tightly. One of his eyebrows quirked slightly, probably because of her skin colour, but her obvious wealth kept him from saying anything about it.

"I am very well," he replied finally, taking her hand and kissing it, "thank you, Miss Elphaba."

Avaric put his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him a little too forcefully. "Why didn't you come outside, darling? The ship is about to depart – don't you want to watch all the people staying behind?"

"Of course," she said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Forgive me, Master Avaric – I was just caught up in a book."

"A book." He laughed and looked at Mr Alarge, who laughed as well, as if she had just said something hilarious. "Do you hear that, sir? She was caught up in a book. My dear Miss Elphaba," he said, taking her hands in his own, "don't you see that you are only fooling yourself by constantly burying yourself in your books? You should get out more and socialise, like I do. It will bring you much further in life."

"I doubt that," she said coldly, annoyed by the way he brushed off the thing she loved most as something unimportant. She pulled her hands from his grasp. "I do think Shiz University will be more interested in me if I am well-educated than if I am well-socialised."

"Shiz University?" Mr Alarge said, both eyebrows raised now. "You certainly are ambitious, Miss Elphaba. What subject are you aiming for?"

"A major in Politics," she said, "with a minor in History and possibly Sorcery."

"Sorcery?" Alarge's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline.

Avaric chuckled and buried his fingers in Elphaba's waist – hard. She gasped.

"My fiancée is just joking," he said to Alarge, smiling through gritted teeth. "If you would excuse us, please." He led Elphaba away from the man and to the railing, from where they could see the people staying behind here in Munchkinland. They were filling the harbour, waving at the passengers aboard the ship, most of whom were waving back – Nessarose among them.

"Elphaba," Avaric whispered harshly, giving her a firm shake. "Are you insane? I told you – you are not to mention your magic to anyone. Anyone. And I want you to stop this nonsense about Shiz University, too. We both know you will not be studying at any university at all. As soon as we arrive in Gillikin, you and I will be married and you will have other duties."

"What duties?"she hissed back at him. "I won't need to run the household – you have got plenty of staff members for that. What other duties are there for me?"

"Socialise," he said. "Go to tea parties. Sit and look pretty. Whatever you upper-class women do when men are not around."

"If you want a wife that just sits around and looks pretty," Elphaba said, glaring at him and crossing her arms, "you should have married a porcelain doll. Or a Gillikin girl," she added as an afterthought.

"Believe me," Avaric said with a scowl. "I'm starting to think about it. When your father promised me your hand, he only said you were from a good family. He never mentioned what a hassle you are."

"Then by all means, break off the engagement and find yourself another wife!" she snarled.

His eyes narrowed. "You would like that, wouldn't you?" He shook his head. "I won't. Your father promised me you and I will marry you, Elphaba. You're the governor's daughter. You are wealthy and of a high social class. It's time you start acting like it."

"I'm trying," she said, heaving a sigh. "Oz, Avaric… I swear I'm trying. It just doesn't come as naturally to me as it does to all those other women. Maybe if you would let me go to Shiz –"

"Elphaba."

"I'm sure they also have classes where they teach women how to behave in a ladylike way. I could take those alongside my other classes –"

"Elphaba!"

She cut herself off and fell silent, not meeting his gaze.

"You," he said in a low voice, "are not going to Shiz – or to any other university, for that matter. Is that clear?"

She glanced at him and opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off.

"No," he said. "It is not proper for young ladies to learn about such topics as politics and history… not even to mention sorcery," he spat as if the word left a foul taste on his tongue. "All you have to worry about is how you present yourself to the world. How you look, what you wear, what you say, how you behave, whom you socialise with. That is your life from now on, Elphaba. You'd better get used to it."

He tried to kiss her on the lips, but she turned her face at the last moment, causing his lips to touch her cheek instead. He frowned, but did not mention it as he pulled away and looked down at the people coming to see them off.

There was a loud noise and the ship started moving, slowly at first, but speeding up soon. The people aboard, as well as the ones staying behind, cheered; and Nessarose clasped her hands together in delight.

"Oh, Elphaba, isn't this just magical?" she gushed as she turned to look at her older sister. "We're travelling all the way to Gillikin on the biggest ship ever built!"

Elphaba smiled at her. "It is pretty magical, indeed," she agreed, though mostly for Nessa's sake. She would rather have stayed at home in Munchkinland, to be completely honest… or better, even – gone off to a university to study. But her father had arranged for her to marry Avaric, claiming that he was a friendly man with many resources, not much older than Elphaba, and influential in Gillikin.

"It is a good match," Frexspar had declared when she had argued with him about it.

"Politically, yes," she had countered. "But have you ever even considered how I feel about all this? I don't want to marry Avaric Tenmeadows, Father! I don't even know him!"

"You will have plenty of time to get to know him during our journey," Frexspar had said calmly. "Weeks, even. Don't be ungrateful, Elphaba," he had chided her. "I could have made a much worse match for you."

That much was true, she knew. Despite her skin colour, several men had asked her father for her hand, knowing it would have political advantages for them to be married to the governor of Munchkinland's eldest daughter. Nevertheless, her father had put much care and effort into choosing the right husband for her, and Elphaba supposed he could have done worse.

But Avaric could be such a prick, and she didn't want to marry him at all – or anyone else, for that matter. She was only nineteen. She wanted to study and learn about the world and she wanted to marry for love, if it would ever come to that, not for politics.

But she had no choice, and so here she was.

Maybe she could convince Avaric to let her go to Shiz eventually… or possibly another university, one closer to the Tenmeadows estate. She could study and be the perfect upper-class wife at the same time, couldn't she? She'd try her hardest. Anything for a chance to learn about a subject, be educated… she wanted to try and make a difference in Oz. She wanted to leave a legacy, to do something great and good that would have people talking about her for years after she'd pass away. She didn't want to be remembered by a handful of people as Avaric Tenmeadows' lonely, green-skinned, perfectly groomed wife.

She looked to her side. He was talking to another rich and neatly dressed man and they were both laughing. Everyone here on the first-class level of the ship looked the same to her: the men in suits, with golden watches on golden chains in their chest pockets; and the women in pretty dresses with corsets laced so tightly they could hardly breathe, wearing high heels and with their hair perfectly styled and their make-up perfectly applied. They all looked bleak and empty.

She looked down at her own expensive dress, the accessories she was wearing, the make-up on her face, and the clasp in her hair… and she realised that to the people around her, she didn't look any different than the other women here – aside, obviously, from her emerald green skin.

But she was different. She was, and not just because of her skin. She wasn't like them. One of her old teachers, a Goat named Doctor Dillamond, had told her once that she had potential. He said she was intelligent and powerful, too; and that if she only got the opportunity to study and to learn how to control her magical powers, she could end up doing great things one day. She wanted that.

She was not just another wealthy, but empty woman. She was Elphaba Thropp. She was magical, powerful, and intelligent. She had fire, and she was not going to let anyone put that out without a fight. Not her father, not all these other fake men and women around her, and certainly not Avaric.

You know what would be just wonderful? To come home after my exam tonight and find reviews :D.