A/N: This fic was co-written by me and spiritypowers. Updates shall be once every week. No prior knowledge of the musical Wicked is necessary to read the fic, and having seen "The Wizard of Oz" will suffice as background.

Without further ado, here is No One Mourns the Wicked.

No One Mourns The Wicked

co-written by words-with-dragons and spiritypowers

Prologue: The Celebration

"Is it true you were her friend?"

The question caught Kai off guard for a moment, and he stared at the munchkin. Many had gathered around him, all of their round, cheerful faces looking at him. They had gathered to celebrate, celebrate her death, and felt boiling hatred bubble up inside of him for it. He wanted to take their happy, peaceful faces and shatter them, make them feel some fraction of the agonizing pain inside of him.

But he didn't. He was used to playing the part.

"Well," he began delicately. "It depends on what you mean by friend. I did know her. That is, our paths did cross. At school."

Chapter One: Dear Old Shiz

we shall revere our lessons learned, at dear old Shiz…

Jinora Thropp arrived at Shiz in the most unnoticeable of ways. Hunched shoulders, a long braid of brown hair, shuffling behind the handles of her sister's wheelchair. Other students passing by stared anyway, some whispering to one another, others trying and failing to look away. The pair, after all, was as bad at going unnoticed as bypassers were at not noticing; for the girl in the wheelchair, with long hair dark hair flowing down to her back, was tragically beautiful, while Jinora, in her plain black skirt was undeniably, tragically...green.

"You can stop staring," she snapped, dull colour rising to her green cheeks. She whipped her head, glaring at the students who quickly looked away. "What, is there something in my teeth?" she snarked. "Spinach, maybe?" She sighed. "Okay, let's get this over with: no, I'm not seasick, yes, I've always been green, no, I didn't eat grass as a child - "

"Jinora, please stop," Ikki muttered, staring at her shoes.

" - and here's my younger sister, Ikki, who as you can see is a perfectly normal color - "

"Jinora! Stop making a spectacle of us," Ikki snapped. "It's already embarrassing enough with you…" Jinora's eyes softened, and she shut her mouth.

"Fine," she said sourly, turning her attention away from the students and back to her sister. "I'm sorry."

"Girls," came their father's voice behind them, low and stern and weary with age, "please, try to get along. I allowed you both to come to this school as long as you both promised to get along without me." He was an elderly man, made more so with the visible weight hanging over his shoulders: running Munchinland was not easy, and the death of their mother shortly after Ikki's birth had taken its toll on their father, Tenzin.

"Sorry," both girls mumbled in unison, their eyes glancing downwards.

Tenzin smiled gently. "I didn't come with you to reprimand you two. I came to wish you both the best - and to leave you two a parting gift. For you, Ikki," he reached inside his bag and pulled out a box. "Look, darling." He gingerly opened the box in front of her.

Ikki gasped with delight, her gray eyes now sparkling as much as the gift inside, a pair of glittering silver slippers.

"Jeweled shoes!" she exclaimed. "Aren't they lovely?" she gushed, taking them out of the box and admiring them. "Thank you father." Tenzin looked fondly at his little girl.

"And Jinora, for you - "

"You don't have to," she interrupted, not quite meeting Tenzin's eyes. "I know, I clash with everything." Except black: black was the sole colour she knew that remotely worked with green; even her brown hair clashed with her odd skin colour.

He stared at her with a mix of love, pity, and perhaps a bit of shame, as he pulled a small box out of his bag and held it out in her direction. "It was your mother's. As befits the future governor of Munchkinland."

"We both know that's going to be Ikki," she muttered, but she took the box anyway, looking up bashfully at her father's face. "Still, thank you."

"Take care of your sister," he said, grey eyes pleading.

She bowed her head and stiffened. "Of course. You know that's the only reason I'm here."

Tenzin furrowed his eyebrows. "That's not what I - "

"It's okay," she said, forcing a small smile. "We'll write you. Promise."

Tenzin nodded stiffly, before leaving a quick kiss on Ikki's head and turning to leave. He wondered how much his daughters were going to change, being away from home for the first time. He wondered if it would be for the better, or for the worse. Only time would tell, he supposed, even if he knew he didn't have much time left. Good luck, he silently willed, mostly to Jinora. Maybe finally, someone would look beyond her skin.

"I kind of already miss Daddy," Ikki sighed wistfully, watching his back fade into the crowd of students. Her thought was cut short as a shrill voice pierced through the room.

"Welcome students," a woman announced. She was plump with a fat, round face and curly hair pinned up. She wore a headdress with little golden tassels dangling from either end. "I am Madame Hou-Ting, headmistress of Shiz University. Whatever you're here to study, I know I speak for my fellow faculty members when I say that we have the highest hopes for - "

A startled scream and the screech of braking chariot tires interrupted the headmistress's speech and all eyes shifted to both Jinora, looking very frazzled and somehow greener than before, who had narrowly missed being hit, and the man in the chariot, green eyes blinking rapidly as if having just been jolted from an afternoon nap.

The young man yawned, stretching out his arms and shaking out his loose brown hair. His skin was also a rich brown, and he smiled a lazy half-smile. "We're already here, coachman? Feels like I only just drifted off."

" - some of you," Madame Hou-Ting finished weakly. "You!" she screeched, marching towards the late arrival, who had wasted no time in chatting up a few young ladies. She shooed the girls away and glared down the boy, now standing quite tall in his gem-encrusted chariot.

"Problem, ma'am?" he asked.

"I don't care who your parents are, this is ancient architecture and must be respected, young man! You can't just ride through into a building like - like - like you own the place! "

"Do I?" he wondered aloud.

As the headmistress took her time thoroughly scolding the new arrival, Ikki tugged on Jinora's sleeve. "His parents are the Uplands!" Ikki whispered. "They're one of the most important families in all of Oz - they've even had the Wizard over for dinner. He's like a prince! Even looks like one, too," she sighed.

"Yeah, he seems like a royal, all right," Jinora scoffed. "A royal pain. Did you not see him nearly run me over? Why, I have half a mind to - "

"Jinora. Please," Ikki said, "for the love of all that is good, please don't embarrass me again. Not in front of him."

"He's an embarrassment enough himself," she snapped back, leaving her sister's side once again to let her tongue loose once more. "Excuse me, Mr. - "

He looked at her, puzzled. "Kai."

She rolled her eyes. "Kai. Is running over fellow students a formality with you, or was I just lucky?" she snapped.

Kai smirked in response, which surprised Jinora. "Maybe," he replied smoothly, "the coachman saw green and thought it meant 'go'."

Jinora gaped. "Why, you little - "

"Excuse me, who are you?" Madame Hou-Ting interrupted, drawing a clipboard in front of her.

"Wha - Jinora. Jinora Thropp," she huffed impatiently. "Ikki's sister, Tenzin's other daughter."

The headmistress raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Well, Jinora, it doesn't look like we you assigned to any living quarters."

Jinora looked over at Ikki, who was still staring daggers at her. "What…?" She looked back to Madame Hou-Ting. "No, I thought I was assigned with my sister. I'm supposed to stay with my sister."

"Your father didn't mention you, and as such I've made arrangements for Ikki to stay with me," Madame Hou-Ting explained. "I'm sure we can make other arrangements for you somehow. Though all our living areas are completely filled..." She glanced over at Kai, who was half-asleep as he waited for his coachman to have all of his luggage placed in his own room. "Kai Upland, you happen to be the only student listed without a roommate."

"Yep," he replied, popping the 'p' lazily. "I ordered for a private suite."

"Well, this is unorthodox, but…" She turned to Jinora. "Say hello to your new roommate." This jolted Kai awake.

"But - but he's a boy," she stammered. And an arrogant prick.

"And she's green," Kai stared at Madame Hou-Ting. "Surely there must be another solution?"

"I'm sure you'll both be responsible enough to live together," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "and besides, all other living areas are completely filled. I'd hate stuff poor Jinora away into an already filled space."

"Please, if you'd just let me stay with my sister, I wouldn't cause any trouble at all, you'd hardly notice I was there - "

"That's the end of that," Madame Hou-Ting stated, walking over to Ikki and taking hold of her wheelchair handles. "Come along, dear, I'll help you move in - "

"STOP!" Jinora yelled. As if she'd commanded it, everyone in the room was suddenly rooted to the spot, as Ikki's wheelchair whirled around on its own and shot back to Jinora's hands with alarming speed. There was a stunned silence.

"You promised it'd be different," Ikki hissed angrily. A lump formed in Jinora's throat. As if she wasn't already enough of a freak and embarrassment with her greenness, her freaky powers had to be the icing on top of the cake.

"I'm sorry," she began. "I didn't mean - "

"You mean to tell me that you did that? On your own?" Madame Hou-Ting asked, her voice soft and eyes wide with awe.

"Something just comes over me sometimes," Jinora explained bashfully. "I'm so sorry, it won't happen again - "

"My dear, never apologize for talent!" Madame Hou-Ting exclaimed. "Have you ever considered a career in sorcery?"

"...Sorcery?" Jinora repeated faintly. Like the Wizard's sorcery? As in magic? She… had magic, talent?

"It's settled. I shall tutor you myself, and take no other students. Perhaps if you can learn to use and control your magic properly, you can even see the Wizard himself! He has been waiting for a talent like yours for a long time, you know. I predict he would even make you his magic grand vizier."

"Um, excuse me, Madame Hou-Ting," Kai piped up. "Um, funny story, but I was actually planning on studying sorcery as well. So it seems like you'll have two students." He gave the Headmistress a charming smile. Jinora rolled her eyes.

"No," Madame Hou-Ting, "just one." She beamed at Jinora. "Now, I'll help Ikki get settled in. Kai, Jinora, you should be able to find your room easily."

"But-" Kai protested, but Madame Hou-Ting simply wheeled Ikki out of the room and left. Kai frowned. "I didn't get my way," he murmured, dumbfounded.

"Oh no, what a nightmare," she sneered. Kai glowered at her, but smiled as a gaggle of girls approached him.

"Ladies, would any of you like to help me unload my belongings?" he asked. They giggled as a whole and followed him out of the rom as well, leaving Jinora alone.

She sighed. This was gonna be a long year. But, she couldn't help but think back to Madame Hou-Ting's words. Magical talent, her? The strange quirk tacked on to her long list of oddities was a talent, that could one day allow her to meet the Wizard, become his magic grand vizier? And once she was with the Wizard, everything would change. She'd be famous, adored even, by the citizens of Oz. No one would think she was weird. Her sister and father wouldn't be ashamed or embarrassed by her anymore. She'd be half of Oz's favourite team, and a blinding vision of her waving at hundreds of cheering fans, celebrating her, came hurtling into her mind. Why, if she could have that, she'd never want anything else in her life. Maybe the Wizard could even degreenify her.

And no one, not even that arrogant prince Kai, would stand in her way.