One Short Day

A/N: Finally, it's done :) I really loved writing this – it came very easily to me, and simply loved the basic idea of it. It also brought back the memories of my time in London – and I have to say thanks for Crazyvampirefan for it, whose award one-shot this is for winning my third contest :) She gave me two ideas to work with: the first being about how Alberta first found out about Rose and Dimitri – we both decided to abort it, because I have already used this idea in one of my drabbles. The second was that Lissa drags Rose to a musical. I have to say I loved this idea from the very start :)

I chose Wicked as the musical they go to see mostly because it was the musical I saw on London, in English. Choosing this also enabled me to use my experiences in London.

The only problem I had with it was deciding how much I should concentrate on the actual story of Wicked? In the end, you got quite much of it, but I left some important plot elements out – for example the situation of the Animals and Nessarose. I dared to leave these out because we see everything through Rose's eyes, and she doesn't care about these small details :) And this way, I think, everybody will be able to enjoy this piece; it didn't get that detailed that it would have become boring, but even those who doesn't know the story of the musical will be able to understand it.

I think it will be enough of me :D Please read and enjoy the little one-shot :) And if you liked it – or hated it – I would be really grateful if you left a review. Thank you!

P.S.: You can find photos for this one-shot – for example of the stage of Wicked and other interesting things mentioned – on my Facebook page :) so it's worth to like!

Rating: K+
Disclaimer: [Insert funny text here that tells you I don't own neither Vampire Academy nor Wicked]
Word count: 6639

This situation so reminded me of the very first days after we had run away from the Academy. Then, just like now, we had hid in hotels, only for a few days, just Lissa and me in a double room. True thought, that then we hadn't had a Jacuzzi, a stocked mini bar and an LCD television in our room. And we hadn't had other six Guardians watch out for Lissa.

And of course, neither those hotels we had stayed in had been the Ritz.

A year after her coronation and two weeks after her successful freshman year exams, Lissa thought it was time to make some diplomatic visits to some of the bigger Moroi communities out of the USA. And, of course, I tagged along.

Our first stop was London, hence the Ritz – because why would the queen of all Moroi settle for anything less? We all thought that it would be the most convenient if I shared a room with Lissa – even without the bond I knew her the best, could be close to her without raising suspicions, and, after all, I was the only girl in her whole entourage.

I leaned in and spat the toothpaste foam from my mouth into the sink, wiped my face and looked into the eyes of my reflection. She gazed back at me with a little bit tired, but otherwise quite content eyes. Things were finally settling down the Moroi world, and I was a kind of around the world tour with my best friend, and even though none of our men were with us, and we knew we had a great chance not seeing see them until the end of this trip, and we had many obligations ahead of us, this journey still promised to be great.

With a huge yawn I stepped out of the bathroom. The city was already wide awake, but my internal clock was completely confused; we had just arrived the night before, and we didn't only have to adjust to the London time, but the daylight schedule as well. The only thought that comforted me was that at least we didn't have anything on our – really, Lissa's – agenda until evening. In plain words, we had a lazy day ahead of us.

I wasn't even surprised to find Lissa already wide awake, but still in her PJs, sitting on her bed, enchanted by something laying in front of her.

"'Morning!" I greeted her, flopping down beside her on the fluffy duvet. "What are you looking at?" I asked, peering down at the stuff in front of her.

"Oh, just this and that… plans for today, so to say." She shrugged, handing me a bunch of papers. I took them, taking a closer look. They were mostly brochures for attractions in the city, which she must have gotten from the reception.

"I had no idea that today's banquet is going to be held on the London Eye." I remarked, eyeing the brochure about the said Ferris wheel. Lissa giggled at my cross-eyed expression, then took the papers back from me.

"Of course it won't," she assured me. "I just thought that… well, we don't come here everyday, and London seems fantastic, so…" She was struggling to find the right words. "So I thought that we should make the most out of our time here. I mean, we have the whole day free! Let's go out, see some of the city. What do you say?" She looked at me, her eyes pleading.

I thought about it for a moment.

"Well, I don't see any problem with it. Give me a sec, I'll talk with Hans and see if we can get enough Guardians up for an outing…" Queen or not, her Guardians still needed their much deserved sleep.

Her smile lessened a little.

"Rose, I don't think you understood me perfectly," she told me, taking my hands, looking into my eyes. "I don't want anybody to come with us. Just you and me. Like in the old days."

Now, that was something I didn't like.

"No," I said. "Get it out of your pretty head. No way." I stood up and walked to the window, looking down at the busy street. "I'm not letting you wander all alone in an unknown city. No way. It's too dangerous."

Lissa wasn't really touched by my words, and only kept smiling at me sweetly from her seat on the bed.

"No-one was talking about going alone. I said I wanted to go out with you."

"That's even worse." She laughed out loud.

"Oh, come on, Rose! I few years ago you had no problem with going out to the world, just the two of us."

"A few years ago I was a fool, you were threatened and weren't queen."

"No, I was the last Dragomir. But it didn't bother us at all. And even a year ago, you was all for letting me tag along on your almost-suicide-mission," she referred to the time when I had dragged her and Eddie to Alaska and then to Las Vegas, where – well, let's not talk about what had happened there.

"That was really stupid and reckless of me," I said, surprising even myself. Gosh, had I really matured this much in the past one or two years?

"Well, right now I have some appetite for stupid and reckless." She said smiling, then stood up, walked up to me and hugged me. "Please, for old times' sake?" She let go of me and gestured to the London street below us. "And anyway, what could happen to us? It's broad daylight, the streets are full of life, and hardly anybody knows that we are here. We would totally blend in. Please, Rose? Just like when we were kids."

It was strange to hear it – I mean the 'just like when we were kids'-part. After all, we were only nineteen. Normal nineteen-year-olds went on walks in cities everyday. They enjoyed their life. Why couldn't we? Lissa's plan suddenly seemed very tempting. And anyway, what harm could a day in the city do?

"Alright," I said at last, "but if we get caught, it was all your idea. You know what? You compelled me, that's it. I refuse to take any responsibility."

Lissa laughed wholeheartedly.

"You have a deal, Hathaway."

This is how we ended up in Green Park only an hour later. Sneaking out wasn't difficult at all. I told Hans that Lissa was really tired because of the journey, wanted to spend the whole day in her room, and asked everyone not to disturb her – at all. Hans didn't have any problem with it – at least as long as I promised to stay by her side. Well, I told him, it was something that I could manage. Then we simply left the room, Lissa compelling the lone Guardian loitering near our door, so he wouldn't remember us leaving. Less than five minutes later we were already out in the unreasonably bright weather. I mean, you know the way people usually envision London? All foggy, rainy, cloudy and cool – well, forget that. It was a scorcher. All sun, no rain.

You know what they say: when in Rome, do as the Romans do. And that's what we did exactly. Just like seemingly every single person the London, we got some food and some much needed coffee from a corner shop called EAT! – and God, did they have good stuff! – and settled down on the turf in the shadow of a great tree in Green Park. We lay on our stomachs side by side, the map of London spread in front of us.

"We are here," poked Lissa the map near to an entrance of Green Park on its side closer to Piccadilly, "which means that we are pretty close to the Buckingham Palace." She slid her finger southward, where the map marked the Palace and a big, circular square. "It can't be more than five or ten minutes on foot."

I only nodded, since my mouth was full. When I finally swallowed, I added:

"Excellent, then you can pop in for a tea to dear old Lizzy." I joked and Lissa laughed. Okay, it really was only a joke, but I would have loved to see the Queen's face when Lissa introduced herself. I took another bite and reached for one of the brochures we brought with ourselves. "And where is this?" I asked, holding the piece of black and red paper up.

"The London Dudgeon?" She asked, somewhat frightened, taking the brochure from me. Okay, it might have seemed a little bit scary place – underground tunnels, displaying the bloodiest chapters of England's history – but for me it was the spice of it. I really wanted to see it. Lissa searched for the address on the brochure, then turned her gaze back at the map. "Well, it's pretty far from her" She seemed quite relieved by it. "We would have to take the tube to get there." She traced the tube line labeled with grey with her finger, finally stopping somewhere on the other side of the Thames. Really, it wasn't that great distance – about five minute on foot to the station, then four stops underground. We could have gotten there in twenty minutes, I was sure. But I knew that she didn't really want to go there – at least not without Christian, whom she used as a shield even when we were watching horror movies. So I did the only reasonable thing: I gave in.

"Alright, I see your point. And it wouldn't even be fun without seeing Sparky scream like a girl." I shrugged. "So, your Majesty, what do you propose, what shall we visit?"

Smiling shyly, she sat up, pulled a brochure form her handbag and handed it to me.

It was all green, with a drawing of two women on the front: one with a black hat and green skin – green skin? -, the other blonde and white-skinned. According to the huge capital letters below the drawing it was called Wicked, it was a world-wide hit musical, and it was supposed to be amazing. It vaguely sounded familiar.

"Well?" Lissa said when I didn't respond for a few moments. "What do you say?"

"Isn't it played in the US too?" I asked cautiously.

"Well, yes… in New York, and in LA as well, I think, but… but it's still London."

"Yes, it is London, and you want to spend our only free day here in a theatre." I shook my head.

"Well, you wanted to spend it underground!" She retorted, throwing her hands in the air. I almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. "Oh, come on, Rose. Come with me. And anyway, it's Wednesday, so they have a matinee performance today. It would be over much before sunset, and we would have tons of time to get back to the hotel and get ready for the banquet tonight. Please!" There she went again. Pleading and puppy dog eyes. How could anyone say no to her?

I sighed.

"Alright, I am in. Let's go and give it a try. But if it's rubbish, I am out of the theatre during the intermission, and you are coming with me. And you pay for my ticket, too." I said, still lying on the ground, supporting myself on my elbows. Upon hearing this, Lissa almost squealed with delight.

"Thank you!" She said, throwing her arms around me, her weight suddenly pressing me to the ground. I laughed with her – she had been right that morning. It was just like when we had been kids, when we hadn't had the weight of the world on our shoulders yet. "Gosh, I wish you could see into my mind right now. I have wanted to see it for at least a year."

"Then it wasn't an impromptu idea…" I commented, mostly to myself; she just nodded. "Now, let me see where we have to go…"

I turned over the green brochure, looking for the address of the theater and then looked for it on the map. I turned out that was near to Victoria Station, which happened to be not that far from where we were at the moment. We only had to get to the other side of the park, cross in front of the Buckingham Palace, then take an about ten minute long walk from there. It was easy.

"Okay, we can go, it's pretty near. We don't even need to take the tube, if you are so afraid of going underground," I teased her. "And we even have to go past the Buckingham Palace to get there," I pointed at the map, "so at least I'll able to harass the guards there." I shrugged. "Now, hurry up, your Majesty, otherwise we won't get any tickets." I said, and Lissa, as a proof or her bright mood, started eating with such a vehemence that resembled my usual appetite. After starving for days, that's it. And what can a girl do in a situation like this?

I dueled with her, to see which one of us can finish her meal faster.

Well, I couldn't.

I mean, harass the guards of the Buckingham Palace.

We got to the Palace about twenty minutes later, and I was a little bit sad to see that all the red-uniformed guards with their big furry hats were situated well behind the fence. There were a tremendous amount of tourists all around the square, snapping their cameras ferociously. Apart from them, I have to admit, it was a quite nice place. I bet Sydney would have loved it.

There was a huge fountain with statues rising from the middle of it, the center figure being, I assumed, Queen Victoria. Opposite the palace there was a lane, lined with flags on both sides. On the side of the square which was closer to the Thames we could even see the top of the London Eye.

But still, the guards were too far away for me to bother them.

"It's not fair!" I whined to Lissa. "I wanted to annoy them since I saw that episode of Mr. Bean." I crossed my arms in my disappointment. Lissa giggled, looking at me sideways.

"Mr. Bean, Rose?"

"Well, good humor is good humor, I don't know why you are so startled," I shrugged, making her giggle even more. Then she suddenly stopped, her eyes widening, a crazy grin threatening to break out on her face.

"Look, Rose, that's Santa Clause!" She pointed somewhere behind me.

"Very funny, Liss, but you won't-" I turned around, and true, there was Santa Clause. Or at least some guy who thought himself to be Santa Clause – on vacation. I let out a maniac laugh.

The guy was old, at least sixty, with white hair and beard and a huge, round belly. He was wearing dark blue jeans with suspenders and a red shirt. He also had a great, red velvet sack in his hands.

"Well, even he needs a little vacation now and then. It must be really stressful staying on the North Pole the whole year," I said, feeling the need to say something witty. Lissa grabbed my hand.

"Come on, let's ask him if we could take a photo with him!" She suggested.

"What, and get on the naughty list?" I said jokingly. Lissa gave me a look somewhere between 'how silly you are' and 'like you aren't on the naughty list already'. "I am sure he is supposed to be in incognito here. Let's go, or we won't get any tickets for your show, Liss, I am serious." I linked arms with her, and led her towards the street we were supposed to take to get to the theatre.

We got there surprisingly fast. Someone must have loved Lissa up there, because as soon as we stepped out of the protective shadows of the trees in Green Park, the sun hid behind the clouds, and stayed there until we get to the Victoria Station. From there, it really was only a stone's throw to the Apollo Victoria Theatre, where Wicked was played.

Initially I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to find the theatre – after all, there were supposed to be several theatres in the area -, but my fears turned out to be unnecessary. We could have found the theatre even if we were blind: its whole front was covered in the same design of the two women from the brochure, all done in blinding green lights. I was pretty sure it could have been seen even from space.

We got our tickets with no difficulty, which I took as a bad sign. The show was supposed to be great, yet two hours before performance they had tickets, and not even bad ones – we got ours to the front of the middle section, almost in the middle of the row. They were also pricey; Lissa paid, and I saw her give three fifty pound notes to the cashier. She hardly got anything back.

After this, we still had almost two hours until the performance was supposed to start, so I advised Lissa that we should exploit that the drinking consent in England was eighteen, and sit in a pub for a while. To my surprise, she didn't oppose my idea, so we found a little charming pub, and ordered a beer (I decided the a sole beer wouldn't hurt anybody) and spent the next hour and half with babbling about everything and nothing, from clothes to the annoying habits of our boyfriends – like we hadn't talked it through like thousand times before. It was really refreshing to say at least; for that little time, I felt like I was just a regular teenage girl, enjoying a great day with her best friend.

Half an hour before the show was supposed to start, we walked back to the theatre with Lissa. My yaw almost dropped when we got there: where there was hardly anybody loitering around only an hour ago, was now completely packed with people. It seemed like it was going to be a full house after all.

Dodging the crowd efficiently, while keeping a close eye on Lissa, we got into the building quite fast. Then, there in the hall Lissa stopped me.

"Let's go there," she said, pointing at the other side of the hall, opposite of the ticket office, where Wicked-themed knick-knacks and other memorabilia were being sold. Before I could have resisted, she was already pulling me there.

They were offering a really wide variety of stuff – from jewelry (I didn't even dare to look at the price) to umbrellas, but I picked one item straight out. It was an about two feet tall monkey plushie, dressed in an adorable red and yellow stripped vest and a red coat. Also, it had wings.

"Why does that monkey has wings?" I asked Liss, totally bewildered. In response, she looked at me like I said the stupidest thing in the world.

"Haven't you read the Wonderful Wizard of Oz?" I shook my head.

"No, somehow I have left it out of my repertoire. You know me; I am not an avid reader, and I have never been." I held my hands in defense. All I knew about it that it was a children's book.

"Well, the winged monkeys are the helpers of the Wicked Witch of the West." She told me in her calm, grade teacher voice.

"Well, she doesn't sound like a nice old lady with a bunch of cats, at least judging by her name. I don't think I would like to meet her." I tried to joke, but Lissa buffed me in an instant.

"She's the protagonist of the show."

"I didn't say anything,' I said, trying to save what I still could.

Just then Lissa got to the salesclerk, and asked for a program and one of those monkey plushies.

"It's for Christian," she explained. "I just want to bring him some souvenir."

I looked at the monkey on the shelf again. Well, it was a kind of cute.

"Make it two," I told the seller. "Well, let's have the boys have something matching." I told Lissa, responding to her questioning gaze, to which she only smiled. She paid for our purchase, and we continued our journey to the heart of the theater.

After a guy checked our tickets and told us where to look for our seats, we entered another hall, which looked like it had a green paint-bomb thrown into it – everything, from the plush carpet to the walls, were green, with some gold gilding.

"Well, it seems to me that the interior designer didn't have much imagination," I told Lissa as we slowly made our way to the auditorium.

"It's not because of that, Rose," she almost scolded me. "It's just this way to emphasize the importance of the protagonist.

"The green girl?"

"The witch. Exactly."

"The one with cats."

"I am pretty sure she doesn't have any cats." Lissa laughed.

"You can never be sure about things like that when it comes to witches." I shrugged, which was rewarded with a brilliant smile from Lissa.

There wasn't much said between us after this. We found our seats pretty easily and settled down. We weren't that close to the stage, but were still able to see everything perfectly. There was no curtain; only a veil in front of the stage, with something like a map painted on it, and a big steel dragon-like creature above it.

I hugged my monkey close. I wouldn't have admitted to it anyone, but I was starting to get excited about this show. I peeked at my watch – it told me that, according to the schedule, we still had about two minutes until the start, so, to occupy my time, I started looking around.

In the end, the theater was packed – I doubted that there was one empty seat left. The audience was pretty mixed: you could find almost anybody from middle-aged couples to seemingly die-hard fans, who wore green, black and pink T-shirts, with captions like "Defying Gravity" and "Popular".

Then, just as I was about to ask Lissa when was the show going to finally start, the first notes of the opening started, and I suddenly found my eyes glued to the stage.

It was simply breathtaking. Okay, I said it out loud. It was amazing. The music, the characters, the costumes… everything. I think I was just as awestruck as Lissa was.

The play started with the citizens of Oz celebrating the witch's – who, Lissa enlightened me, was the green woman from the brochure - death. Then, after a short opening sequence, another witch – supposedly a good one - arrived, coming down from above in a strange metal contraption, which, Lissa told me, was supposed to be a bubble, and started to tell the citizens the life story of the dead witch. And so the story started.

When the protagonist finally arrived – and goodness, the actress was really painted all green -, and started singing her first solo… well, let's just say, that I forgot how to breath for a moment. Ten minutes into the performance, and I was already glad for Lissa convincing me to come here instead of the London Dudgeon.

Apart from this Green Girl – who, by the way, was called Elphaba – was another female lead, named Glinda, who hauntingly reminded me of Mia, at least the Mia before Spokane. She was tiny, with blond curls, annoying attitude and a big-big ego. I just hoped that she would change by the end of the play.

Then, half an hour later, the male lead appeared. Well, call me biased, but I wasn't really that impressed by him. I mean, he was a kind of handsome, I guess – well, he had to be, according to his role – but I wasn't into guys wearing tight, white pants. No, not at all. But then he started singing about how stupid studying was, and the whole student body of the university of where the play was taking place should spent its time with partying, and it made me smile. Think about this and add his very arrogant attitude and wittiness to it, and this guy suddenly was quite like Adrian. I turned my head towards Lissa, and saw that she did exactly the same. We looked into each other's eyes, and almost laughed out loud. We were thinking about the very same thing.

Time went on – the party happened, the blond girl got into the sorcery class which the Green Girl had already attended, the party-boy and the blond girl got together, the girls made friends… Then came a new teacher, with a lion cub in a cage. The Green Girl got mad and hell broke loose. She put a spell on almost everyone, but the Party-boy and they stole the cage with the cub inside.

I nudged Lissa with my elbow.

"I told you she has a cat!" I whispered to her, and she giggled.

Meanwhile, after they had rescued the lion, the Green Girl realized that she was in love with the guy – who, of course, happened to be her only friend's boyfriend. Just as she broke into a depressed – but otherwise really beautiful – song about her unrequited love for him, her insecurities about being green and that he would never choose her when he could have her friend, my phone started to vibrate in my pocket.

Damn.

I leaned in, hiding behind the seat in front of me, and fished the device out of my pocket; the caller ID said it was Dimitri. Well, I shouldn't have been surprised; of course he would have wanted to check on me – on us. I hit the red button. I knew that it would worry him – he was always worried when I didn't receive his calls -, but I just couldn't talk to him while in the theater. I promised myself to call him during the intermission. And I could only hope that he wouldn't be mad at me for letting Lissa come her.

I turned my gaze back on the stage; while I was preoccupied with my cell, the girl had finished her song, and had been informed by the headmistress that she had been invited to meet the wizard – which was a life-old dream of hers.

From here, things started to sped up: the two girls travelled to the city, met the Wizard, he asked the Green Girl to use her magic to have his monkey fly, she did, the monkey grew wings – suddenly our winged monkey plushies made sense -, it turned out that the Wizard had no magical abilities at all, and before I realized the actress painted green was already twenty feet in the air, singing from the top of her lungs about how she is finally breaking free and that from then she was going to fight the Wizard.

Then the act ended. Just like that.

I started looking for my jaw. To say I was astounded would be understatement.

I looked sideways at Lissa – she wore an amazed look similar to mine.

"Wow," she said, "I knew it was going to be good, but I have never thought that it would be this good." She concluded. I, very wittily, could only nod. There was nothing else I could have ad.

"Would you be okay by yourself for a few minutes?" I told her as other theatergoers started to get up and leave the auditorium; still, the most of them remained where they were. Lissa gave me a dirty look.

"Rose, I am a grown up woman, not a kid. Of course I can take care of myself for a few minutes." She said sarcastically, which I guess she had picked up from me.

"Yes, but…" I started, trying to get to the point that I was her Guardian, so it was my duty to protect her, and if Hans found out that I had left her alone, even if for a blink of an eye, he would take my head, but she stopped me before I could have said anything more.

"Rose, don't think that there are any Strigoi hiding under the stage. Go and take care of what you have to take care of. But be quick, that intermission will be over soon."

I nodded, convinced, and stood up exiting the auditorium. Back in the all green hall, I found an empty – green – bench, and after pulling out my cell, I called Dimitri. He picked it up after the first ring.

"Are you alright?" Were his first words.

"I am happy to hear you, too, Comrade. I miss you." I just couldn't keep a goofy smile from appearing on my face. Gosh, we had only parted like thirty-six hours ago, and I was already missing him like crazy.

I heard him let out a relieved sigh.

"I guess it means that everything's okay."

"Exactly."

"The why didn't you pick it up when I called?"

"Look, we're, um…" The traces of our old mentors-student relationship came back. Suddenly I was afraid what would he say about our little outing. "I'll tell you, but promise me first that you won't be mad at us."

"Rose…"

"Promise!" I was being immature, I know.

"Alright, I promise." I could almost see him rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, so we are in a theatre on the West End. I didn't pick up the phone, because we were in the middle of the first act. It's just the two of us, and before you ask, it was Lissa's idea, not mine." I said, then after some hesitation, I added. "I wanted to go to the London Dudgeon instead."

"Roza…" He switched to the Russian form of my name, and I could hear the silent laughter in his voice. He was not mad. I sighed in relief. "At least is it a good play?" He asked. He didn't elaborate on how I should protect Lissa, not to loose the sight of her and things like that; he knew I do it without being reminded of it.

"Gosh, I can't believe I am saying this, but it's amazing," I told him. "It's just… damn great. I'll tell you about more once I have more time." A sudden wave of missing him took over me. "Do you think you and Christian could make it to Rome to meet us there?" I asked him, my lower lip trembling, talking about the third stop of our little tour.

"I don't know, but I hope so. I'll talk to Christian about it. I don't think that he'll have any objections," he said. I could tell from his voice that he was missing me just as much I was missing him.

"I hope you'll be able to come," I said truthfully. "I gotta go now; I guess the intermission is almost over. I love you." I said, even kissing the microphone.

"I love you too." He responded, then we hung up. I sighed dreamily. Gosh, what had I done to deserve a man like him?

I didn't ponder on it, instead I walked back to the auditorium. Lissa sat where I left her, with two little circular boxes in her hands.

"I bought you some ice-cream. I knew you would like it," she said, handing me one of the boxes. She must have bought them from one of the vendors walking around in the auditorium, selling snacks and drinks.

"You are a goddess, Liss." I told her, taking off the lid and digging in. Hm… chocolate. She smiled, and held up her own box. I smiled back at her, and we playfully clinked our boxes together.

I wasn't even halfway through my ice-cream, when the second act started. There was no warning about it; no music telling you it was time to get back to your seat, no announcement, no curtains going up. No, the music just started suddenly, and the chorus appeared on the stage. Well, let's just say that some people missed the first few moments.

The story stared a few years after the end of the first act. Now, both the blond girl and the Party-boy were working for the Wizard - they were some kind of celebrities - and, on the top of that, engaged, while the Green Girl was a wanted criminal.

"What great friends…" I muttered to myself. When I was thought to be a criminal, my friends busted me out of prison. They? Blondie only enjoyed spotlight. Party-boy was a little bit disturbed – at least he had taken some steps to find the Green Girl.

But the story went on, and soon we – I mean the characters – were at Blondie and Party-boy's engagement party (side note: Party-boy was less than enthusiastic about it), while the Green Girl appeared, trying to save the winged monkeys – because there were more of them -, at first the Wizard tried to convince her to let go of her past grudges and team up with him, but then the others barged in and Party-boy, first pointing his gun at the Wizard, left with the Green Girl. By then, I was holding on to my armrest. No, I was not the least excited about it. No, I was not the least scared that their stories would end badly. Not at all.

Anyway, this scene made me think. It kind of reminded me of when Victor had tried to reason with me. He had said that what he had been about to do with Lissa had been only for her own good, and that he would have helped me as well. I had known right there that this all had been bullshit, but Green Girl really considered becoming the Wizard's right-hand-woman. Well, it turns out she wasn't that strong of a character after all. Or she was just that lonely after only-God-knows how many years on the run.

Things – again – started to speed up. One moment the new lovers were singing a beautiful, but rather suggestive song (I mean, honestly, 'I'll wake up my body'?), and in the next moment the Green Girl was in her castle, completely out of her right mind, using all her magic to save the guy, who had been captured. And yeah, her sister had gotten killed meanwhile, so, after all, her anger and madness was quite justified, I think.

Just then, her friend, Blondie, arrived. Okay, I detect a little flaw in the plot here. I mean, for years, they just couldn't get a hold on her, and now Blondie simply finds her. How… realistic.

She tried to reason with the Green Girl about letting her prisoner go (because she had one), and leave the castle as soon as she can, because the "witch hunters" were coming for her. But the Green Girl, instead of getting out of there and saving her skin like any sane person would do, only told her that Party-boy was dead (okay, she used some kind euphemism to say it, something along the lines "we have seen his face for the last time"), and that she was going to give herself up. She gave Blondie the magic book she had stolen from the Wizard all those years ago and asked her carry on her legacy. Then they sang, again – a duet about how they had changed each other and how glad they were to have had been friends. My eyes watered. Lissa, who had been dabbing her eyes with a Kleenex as well, handed me a handkerchief wordlessly. I made a mental note to make her swear on every living thing that she wouldn't tell anybody about me crying over a stupid play.

Then the Green Girl's captive – a young girl – came, threw a bucket of water on her, and she melted. Just like that. Melted. I mean, they pulled a white, curtain-like thing in front of the stage, and we saw only her silhouette, getting smaller and smaller, and then disappearing completely. I fought back a sob.

"This can't end this way!" I whispered to Lissa. I knew from the beginning that she was going to die and all, but I still wished that she could live somehow. "They just can't simply die, leaving Glinda alone!" I told Lissa, referring to the Green Girl and Party-boy.

"Wait till the end…" She whispered back.

And I waited. The scene changed back to the one the musical started with, where Glinda was telling the citizens about the Witch's death, only now, instead of her cheery self at the beginning, she was almost crying.

Then she floated up in her "bubble" and the chorus went out, and I was ready the clap, when a guy dressed as a scarecrow ran onto the stage. He looked around, making sure that no-one was around, then got down on his knees, and knocked on the floor.

"It worked!" He said, and then a craftily hid trapdoor opened, and the Green Girl emerged from below.

My jaw dropped.

"I told you to wait till the end," Lissa whispered, leaning to me. Little cheater. She knew how the story was going to end.

It turned out the Party-boy wasn't quite dead, only had been transformed into the scarecrow by the Green Girl's spell, and she wasn't quite dead either, only had staged her death, because she had known that she had been defeated, and that she could only flee this way.

Then they kissed, turned their backs to the audience, and left the stage, as well as the land of Oz. But before their departure, a modified version of the two girls' duet was played again, they singing a few of their lines.

And then… it was over.

The whole audience erupted in cheers, standing up and clapping. I was amongst the first ones to stand up. I would have loved to be an actress just to live through these few moments of euphoria. I must have felt amazing to stand there, on the front part of the stage, and hear the crowd cheer for you.

It didn't last long though; every actor bowed once towards the audience then left the stage. Slowly, the people in the auditorium started to pick up their stuff and leave the place; we did the same with Lissa.

It took me until we left the building to find me voice.

"Wow…" I breathed. "Thanks for convincing me to see this, Liss. It was amazing."

She giggled.

"See? I told you so." She linked arms with me. "It was so much better than that London Dudgeon could have been, I am sure."

"Hey!" I told her, acting like I was offended, while trying to hide my smile. "We'll see that when we have been to both places. When can we come back here? And take the boys with us?" I looked at herm fluttering my eyelashes. "Because I can't wait to hear Sparky scream like a little girl when Jack the Ripper jumps out of the wall!"

She just laughed; I don't know if she laughed at me – with me – or simply at the picture of Christian being completely terrified by a serial killed who lived more than one hundred years ago. I laughed with her nonetheless.

"If it's up to me, as soon as possible. There are so many things in this city I want to see!"

"Just the words I wanted to say." I agreed, which caused us starting to giggle like school girls again.

And then we started our way back to our hotel, feeling wonderfully, humming one of the songs from the musical all the way.

I couldn't have imagined a better day spent with my best friend.

Trivia

-The places in this story are really there, exactly where I have written them. The only place I am not completely sure about is the Ritz; I remember seeing a posh hotel on Piccadilly, but I can't remember its name. But Google Maps tells me it's the Ritz :) But it really takes about ten minutes to get to the Buckingham Palace from the Piccadilly side of Green Park, and the Victoria Apollo Theatre is really that close to the palace.

-Victoria Apollo Theatre is the very theatre playing Wicked in London. The show has been being played there for the past five years.

-Londoners really have "picnics" in the parks when the weather is nice. When I was in London, the parks were filled with people during every lunch break.

-London Dudgeon is on the other side of the Thames; you can get there from Piccadilly by travelling on the Jubilee Line, going four stops.

-There is really a part in the London Dudgeon tour where an actor dressed like Jack the Ripper jumps out of the wall :P

-When I was in London, I really did see a man who looked totally like Santa Clause on vacation in front of the Buckingham Palace :D

-You really can't take photos with the guards at the Buckingham place; they are well behind the fence.

-The tickets Rose and Lissa got cost 62,5 pounds each.

-You can really buy winged monkey plushies in the Wicked gift shop – as well as jewelries, keychains, umbrellas and other stuff :)

-Actually, in the book by Gregory Maguire, on which the musical is based, Elphaba does have a cat, called Malky.

-Vendors really walk among the audience during the intermission in Victoria Apollo, selling ice-cream, chocolate, soda and water :)

-The songs remotely mentioned in this piece: opening song: No-one Mourns The Wicked; Elphaba's first solo: The Wizard and I; Elphaba singing about her unrequited love towards Fiyero (Party-boy): I Am Not That Girl; the last song in the first act: Defying Gravity; the Wizard trying to convince Elphaba to join him: Wonderful; the lovers' suggestive song: As Long As You're Mine; farewell duet of the two girls: For Good; the song Rose and Lissa are humming at the end: One Short Day.