Disclaimer: I own nothing from Wicked.

Title: The Witches of Oz

Rating: T

Warnings: Alternate universe. Alternate ending. Thematic content.

Pairings: Elphaba/Fiyero.

Summary: What if Elphaba met Dorothy Gale before Glinda did?

Author's note 1: the summary is where the story starts and the story was intended to be a one shot but it grew, of its own accord, into the complex multi chaptered story that lies ahead.

Author's note 2: Chapter one begins with Dorothy getting caught in the cyclone (as per the 1939 movie) and at the end of As Long As You're Mine for the Wicked characters.

Random (ish) quote for this chapter:

Just for this moment as long as you're mine

Come be how you want to and see how bright we shine

Borrow the moonlight until it is through

And know I'll be here holding you

As Long As You're Mine – Wicked

Chapter One

Kansas:

In a land far from Oz, while Elphaba and Fiyero had been making their escape from the Emerald City, the wind began to pick up and a twister formed on the horizon. Dorothy Gale, a young girl who lived in the area, carried a small dog as she ran towards the farm she lived on. Dorothy ran through the house, with the wind whipping around her, and called for her Aunt and Uncle. They weren't in the house so she ran outside to the storm shelter and shouted their names. The wind was too strong, they obviously couldn't hear her, and so she ran back into the house.

"Oh Toto, what are we going to do?" She said, panicking as they ran through the house.

Aunt Em always told her to go to the storm shelter during a twister but she couldn't get in and the wind was picking up, rushing through the house and making the shutters bang and crash. Sobbing Dorothy ran to her bedroom simply because she couldn't think of anywhere else to go. As she ran towards the bed something flew through the window and smacked into the young woman's temple. Her vision blurred and she dropped to the bed, unconscious, as the twister approached the house and lifted it into the air.

The Great Gillikin forest:

Elphaba smiled and laughed as she and Fiyero leaned against each other.

"What?" said Fiyero, "What is it?"

"It's just…for the first time, I feel…" She finished with a whisper. "Wicked!"

They kissed and embraced each other again, Elphaba let go and Fiyero held her hand and leaned back a little.

"I just wish…"

"What?"

Elphaba sat down properly and Fiyero put his hand on her shoulder.

"I wish I could be beautiful…for you."

"Elphaba…"

"Don't tell me that I am, you don't have to lie to me."

"It's not lying. It's…"

Elphaba looked at the ground; Fiyero put his hand under her chin and turned her face towards him.

"It's looking at things another way. Someday, you and Glinda will make up and…"

"Shh! Listen... Do you hear that? "

There was a loud shrieking noise in the distance.

"It sounds like somebody's in pain!"

"It's just the wind."

The noise echoed through the air again. Elphaba put her hand over her heart, something was wrong...

"My sister is in danger!"

"What? How do you know?"

"I don't know, I just do..."

She gasped again, looking off into the distance.

"Elphaba, what's wrong, what is it?"

She stood up and pointed towards the sky.

"There! Don't you see it?"

"What do you mean? What do you see?"

"It doesn't make any sense... It's a house but it's... flying through the sky? I have to go to Nessa!"

She turned and ran back towards her things.

"I'll come with you!"

"No, you mustn't, it's too dangerous!"

"Listen to me, listen!"

Fiyero followed her and picked up her hat while she grabbed her broom and the bag containing the Grimmerie.

"My family has a castle in Kiamo Ko. Now, no one is ever there except for the sentries who watch over it. We've never lived there."

"Well, where do you live?"

"... In the other castle..."

"Oh."

"It's the perfect hiding place; tunnels, secret passageways. You'll be safe there."

"We will see each other again, won't we?"

Fiyero put his hands on her shoulders and shook her gently.

"Elphaba, we are going to be together always. You can see houses flying through the sky, can't you see that?"

He kissed her fiercely and she awkwardly half hugged him with her full hands while she kissed him back then she ran off through the forest, to find a clear place to take off on the broom. Along the way she managed to pull her cloak on and shove the hat onto her head.

---

At the same moment Elphaba saw the house flying through the sky Dorothy opened her eyes slowly and sat up; Toto jumped onto the bed next to her and whined.

"What's the matter?" She said, then looked up and gasped as she saw a woman in a rocking chair fly past followed by a cow and two men rowing a boat.

"We're in the middle of the twister!"

She climbed onto the bed and huddled into the corner.

"Oh what are we going to do?" she wondered, speaking to Toto.

There was an eerie moment of silence, a piercing shriek, and then the house landed with a loud thump.

"Oh my goodness, Toto. I wonder where we are."

She picked him up and walked to the front door, which was hanging open. She looked in both directions as she stepped out of the house, the sky was clear now, she could see a large house nearby in one direction and a road made of yellow bricks in the other. Toto jumped out of her arms and ran, barking, towards the corner of the house. Dorothy ran after him then stopped in shock as she saw a pair of feet sticking out from under the house.

"Oh no!"

She slid to the ground next to the house, unable to take her eyes away from the hideous sight.

"She's dead." She whispered to Toto, guessing from the sparkling silver shoes that the unfortunate victim was female.

Just when Dorothy thought the day couldn't get any worse a dark figure, on a broomstick, dropped out of the sky right in front of her. She looked just like a witch out of a fairytale to Dorothy, the tall pointed black hat, the black dress and cloak, the fact she was riding a broomstick and she was green!

Elphaba landed extremely ungracefully picked up the broom and walked towards the house. She barely registered the fact that there was someone there before she saw the shoes poking out from underneath the house.

"Nessa!"

She dropped the broom and ran to the house dropping to the ground next to her sister's feet barely a metre away from Dorothy.

"Oh Nessa."

This strange witch-woman was obviously close to the dead woman a fact that made Dorothy feel even more terrible. She decided that anyone who cried over a dead relative couldn't be all that bad, after all evil people weren't supposed to care about anything.

"I'm so sorry," said Dorothy quietly, placing her hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Who are you?" demanded Elphaba, startled by the young woman's expression of sympathy.

"I…I'm Dorothy Gale, from Kansas, Ma'am. This is, well it was...it was my house…well my aunt and uncle's more but…there was a twister you see and…Oh I didn't mean for this to happen!"

"No," said Elphaba slowly. "No of course you didn't. I expect the person who caused this specialised in weather magic."

"Magic?" said Dorothy in amazement. "I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore!"

"I've certainly never heard of a place called Kansas," agreed Elphaba absently. "Magic isn't that common here either."

"Who was she?" Dorothy asked curiously then thought better of it. "Oh that was so insensitive of me. I'm always getting myself into trouble like that!"

"Nessarose Thropp, the Governor of Munchkinland, and my sister. I was only here this morning. This is all my fault!"

"Well, err, you didn't drop the house on her did you, Miss Thropp?"

"Elphaba," she corrected the girl, suddenly overcome by the fact that this Dorothy girl had no idea who she was. "Miss Elphaba Thropp. No I didn't but it's my fault because the people who did this are trying to capture me."

"How awful for you. I don't mean to be rude, but maybe you should leave? I won't tell anyone that you were here if you don't want me too…I wish I knew how I was going to get home."

"I would help you if I could but I've never heard of Kansas." She hesitated for a moment. "If someone suggests you ask the Wizard for help you should. I hear he's travelled a lot. But be careful, Oz can be a dangerous place for people who aren't familiar with our ways."

"Thank you," said Dorothy. "Do you suppose there will be someone here soon?"

"Oh yes," said Elphaba. "We've never had a flying house before."

She turned her face back towards what was left of her sister.

Those shoes, of course, how ironic.

"Goodbye Nessa," she said tearfully. She wanted to take the shoes, the only thing that remained of her sister, but she couldn't bring herself to touch them. Dorothy, while not the most perceptive of girls at times, realised what Elphaba was thinking and very carefully pulled the shoes off and held them out to her.

"Thank you Dorothy. I don't think we'll meet again so let me tell you this: don't blame yourself for what happened to Nessa and please don't judge her by what the people here will tell you."

Before the girl had a chance to reply Elphaba disappeared, broom in hand, towards a clump of trees nearby. Dorothy sighed and sat down on the steps of the house, trying not to look at the legs sticking out from under the house.

Elphaba put the shoes into her bag, hiding it under some exposed tree roots, and then went back towards the house just in time to hear Glinda speaking to Dorothy.

"That's right, you just take that one road, the whole time. Oh, I hope they don't get lost. I'm so bad at giving directions."

As soon as she saw Glinda there she knew who must have suggested to the Wizard that they use Nessa to catch her. She watched Glinda pick up some flowers and lay them in front of the house.

"What a touching display of grief," said Elphaba sarcastically, as she walked towards the small blonde woman.

"I don't think we have anything further to say to one another," said Glinda coldly, walking away from Elphaba.

"All I have to remember her by is those shoes!" said Elphaba fiercely. It was obvious that Dorothy hadn't mentioned seeing her so she felt it safe to say that and have Glinda assume that she had taken them without being seen by the foreign girl then hidden until the girl was gone.

"So I would appreciate some time alone to say goodbye to my sister."

Glinda gestured to the house and walked away; Elphaba knelt down on the ground near the house and started crying again.

"Nessa, please, please forgive me... "

Angry as she was Glinda couldn't stand seeing her friend in so much pain so she tried to comfort her, only to have her hand pushed away.

"Elphie... you mustn't blame yourself. It's dreadful, it is, to have a house fall on you, but accidents will happen."

"You call this an accident?" shouted Elphaba, grabbing her broom and standing up. Glinda backed away and replied.

"Well, maybe not an accident..."

"Well, what do you call it?" snapped Elphaba.

"A regime change."

Elphaba glared at her and walked a bit further away as Glinda continued.

"Caused by a bizarre and unexpected twister of fate."

"Oh you think cyclones just appear..." She made a contemptuous gesture. "…out of the blue?"

Glinda started walking towards her.

"I don't know, I never..."

Elphaba walked past her so they ended up on opposite sides again.

"No, of course you never! You're too busy telling everyone how wonderful everything is!"

"I'm a public figure, now. People expect me to..."

"Lie!" snarled Elphaba.

"Be encouraging!" snapped Glinda in reply. "And what exactly have you been doing besides riding around on that filthy, old, thing?"

"Well, we can't all come and go by bubble." She took a few steps away from the silent Glinda and continued. "Whose invention was that, the Wizard's? Even if it wasn't I'm sure he'd still take credit for it."

She turned her back on Glinda and walked towards Dorothy's house again.

"Yes, well, a lot of us are taking things that don't belong to us." Elphaba turned around abruptly. "Aren't we?"

"Just wait a clock tick! I know it may be difficult for that blissful, blonde brain of yours to comprehend that someone like him could actually choose someone like me! But it's happened... it's real."

She stepped closer and rapped Glinda's wand with her broom.

"And you can wave that ridiculous wand all you want, but you can't change it!

He never belonged to you, he doesn't love you and he never did!"

She stepped even closer and pointed to herself.

"He loves me!"

Glinda slapped Elphaba across the face; she took a step back, put a hand to her cheek and laughed her cackling laugh.

"Feel better now?" She said stepping back towards Glinda.

"Yes…I do."

"Good," replied Elphaba returning the slap. "So do I!"

Glinda stumbled backwards with a gasp then held up her wand with two hands, Elphaba did the same with her broom and they circled each other until they were on opposite sides again then Glinda began twirling her wand while Elphaba held the broom in a defensive position and stared at her ridiculous display.

Glinda ran towards Elphaba and hit the broom with her wand. They both threw their weapons aside and started hitting at each other like a pair of teenagers fighting in a schoolyard. Glinda had just pulled Elphaba's hat off and started hitting her with it while the green woman tried to grab it back when they heard a loud booming voice.

"Halt in the name of the Wizard!"

A group of guards ran towards them and pulled the women apart.

"Stop. Let me go!" protested Elphaba.

"Let go. I almost had her!" said Glinda."

"Ha!"

The guards pulled Elphaba further away, three of them holding her then one of them spoke to Glinda.

"Sorry it took us so long to get here, Miss."

"What? What do you mean?" said Glinda.

"I nearly couldn't believe you would sink this low! To use my sister's own death as a trap to capture me?!"

"Silence, witch," snapped the guard.

"I never meant for that to happen!" protested Glinda.

Elphaba stared coldly at the woman she had once considered a friend then turned her attention to the guards. They were obviously under the impression that she needed her magic book, or, at the very least, the use of her hands to use magic against them, well they would soon find out differently.

"I said: Let. Me. GO!!"

The head guard watched in shock as his men were thrown meters away from the Witch. He raised his spear and ordered her not to move.

"You are in my way," she said in a very slow deliberate tone. "Move!"

She knocked him aside with a single word and a casual gesture while Glinda backed away in speechless shock, still holding the black hat in her hands.

"Elphaba," said Glinda, almost fearfully, as the woman stalked towards the broom that Glinda just happened to be standing next to.

"Don't talk to me."

Behind Elphaba the guards were standing up, trying to be unobtrusive, and picking up their spears.

"And you," she said, whirling back to face them. "Stay where you are or, by Oz, I'll throw you so far away they'll never find you!"

The guards froze hesitantly and looked to their leader for guidance. His orders were to capture the Witch - unfortunately she wasn't cooperating. The Wizard had assured him that she would be too upset to fight back but clearly he was…the guard shied away from the word 'wrong' and settled for 'mistaken'.

"Stand your ground, men. Lady Glinda, you should step away from her, you could be in danger."

There was silence as Glinda looked doubtfully from the guard to Elphaba, even a few minutes ago when they were doing their best to hurt each other she didn't believe that Elphaba would harm her but now she wasn't so sure. The silence was broken by what the guard would later describe as 'the wicked witch's bone chilling cackle'

Elphaba couldn't help herself, the way they were all watching her, it reminded her of her school days and made her feel like yelling 'boo' at the top of her lungs. Regretfully she put aside the notion and picked her broom without turning her back to any of them. She pointed the broom at the one who seemed to be in charge.

"You will take a message back to the Wizard from me. Tell him I warned him and he didn't listen; now he is going to see just what happens when I get angry."

"I will not carry your baseless threats back to the Wizard!"

"Oh you won't? Fine," she turned towards Glinda who flinched from the look in her eyes. "You tell him."

"Elphie…"

"If you don't do it then I'll just have to find some other way of doing it," she gestured to the Governor's house in the distance.

"I never liked that house-do you think a very large hole in the ground where it used to be will convince him that I'm very angry?"

She didn't mean it of course…that is to say she wasn't about to flatten the house while there were Munchkin servants inside, she absolutely hated the house and nearly every memory it evoked.

"If not…there's always the forest…those trees burn so easily."

"I'll tell him!" said Glinda tearfully; she was obviously convinced that Elphaba was that angry.

"How very good of you, Glinda, really you are so good."

The blatantly sarcastic reply was punctuated by a number of mocking hand gestures then Elphaba disappeared towards the same copse of trees she had appeared from and the guards gave chase. They made it to the other side of the trees just in time to see her disappearing into the sky and behind a thick bank of clouds so they couldn't even tell which way she was going.

"The Wizard is not going to like this," muttered one of them.

"We must get Lady Glinda back to the palace before the Witch carries out her threat. You, go and warn the Munchkins that she may seek revenge upon them."

"We must look out for the girl whose house it is too," said Glinda. She hadn't worried about Elphaba going after her but now…

"She could be in danger as well."

"We will find her and escort her to the Emerald City."