Chapter Twenty-Five:

Just about everyone in Oz attended the large funeral procession for Elphaba and Glinda. There were no words of hatred or of cruelty spoken from anyone. Everyone was silent as the coffins lay on the ground. There was a sense of solemn silence and grief in the air, especially from Chuffrey, The Wizard, Faye, and Fiyero.

"I just can't believe they're dead," sobbed Faye as she cried into her handkerchief upon looking at the two coffins.

Fiyero said nothing, and he promised Larena that he would say nothing until the funerals were over. Only he and Larena knew the truth and they intended on keeping it that way until today was over.

As a chill wind blew across the land, Fiyero caught Larena's eye and she gave him a faint half-smile. Both of them were playing the grief card quite well, and they were using it to their advantage.

"I'm surprised that there hasn't been any uproars yet," mumbled Fiyero to Chuffrey.

The other man nodded, "Me too. But I guess the citizens of Oz realized that the real monster was Cherrystone and not Elphaba."

"Yeah, I guess so," replied Fiyero as his eyes gazed at the two coffins.

If he hadn't known that Glinda and Elphaba weren't really dead, Fiyero guessed that he would have been inconsolable. He would have been desperately in grief, and he was sort of glad that he didn't have to go through that.

Though as he watched everyone else shed tears for Elphaba and Glinda, he only wished that they could know too.

It will be more rewarding when they know later," thought Fiyero to himself as the preacher droned on and on about life and death and how precious it was.

After Faye had stopped crying, she linked her hand in Fiyero's.

"Are you alright?" she asked, looking at him with soft eyes.

He nodded, afraid that if he did anything else he would give the secret away.

"I'll be fine," he whispered after a moment and he avoided her eyes.

"You sure?"

Her question almost made Fiyero slip up. He bit his bottom lip fiercely and he nodded his head up and down slowly.

"Yeah, really Faye I'm sure."

She shook her head with her curls swaying in the breeze as the crowd soon faded.

"I still can't believe they're gone. It's just so horrible to know that the two kindest people in this world are dead…" Faye was quick to add, "And one of their own mother's killed them too. It's just horrid."

"Don't be too hard on her," murmured Fiyero as a group of citizens passed by them, "And if you're good, I'll let you in on a secret…"

He trailed off, giving her just enough information to keep her interested.

"What do you mean?" she turned and looked at him.

Fiyero pursed his lips but said nothing; which infuriated Faye to no end.

"Do you know something that I don't?" she accused.

Chuffrey and The Wizard had now caught on to their conversation and they moved towards Fiyero and Faye.

'What's going on?" asked The Wizard looking at Fiyero suspiciously.

"Nothing," shrugged the prince as the coffins were put into the ground and covered with dirt.

"Fiyero," said Chuffrey in a warning tone.

"Fiyero knows something and he won't tell anyone," cut in Faye with a glare towards the prince.

Suddenly and thankfully on Fiyero's part Larena intervened by coming over towards the group.

"Is everything alright?" Without waiting for an answer from anyone, she continued with, "Everyone is going to the city for the reception but I wanted to talk to you all beforehand. Could you meet me by the graves?" Her voice was soft, gentle and commanding all at once. It was the kind of voice that you could never say no to.

Everyone nodded at the same time, and the prying questions of before had vanished as quickly as they had come.

Footsteps echoed on the ground as everyone made their way towards the graves of Elphaba and Glinda.

Fiyero looked at the lonely headstones stuck into the ground with sadness in his heart even though he knew the truth. He couldn't imagine how he would feel if it all turned out to be a lie.

Looking around, Fiyero realized that it was just them in the graveyard, everyone else having gone by now.

Larena cleared her throat, drawing the attention of them all. She stood besides her husband holding his hand in one of hers.

"I have a confession to make," she started off with.

At that statement grumbles erupted from the small group but Larena silenced them with a glare.

"They're not dead," she declared after a moment.

"What?" was the sound that echoed for miles around the graveyard from Faye, the Wizard, Chuffrey, and Chistery.

"I don't understand," stammered Faye nervously, "You didn't-" she gulped and looked down at the graves in horror, "You didn't bury them alive, did you Mrs. Upland?"

"Does this mean that Morrible isn't dead either?" shot Chuffrey, his face turning angry at the news.

Mrs. Upland's face turned quite cold as she hissed out, "No. I made sure that she was dead, Sir Chuffrey."

While that answered Chuffrey's question, Faye's still had been unanswered.

"But what about what I said?" she piped up again, "Did you bury them alive?"

Larena looked at the girl and gave her a faint ghost of a smile, "Not quite, dear."

She mumbled something under her breath and waved her hand daintily over the graves. The dirt and grass crumbled away to reveal the two coffins to them. After that the coffins rose up from their place in the earth and landed next to the hole.

The lids of the decorated boxes fell open and showed the two supposed 'undead' bodies.

They all slowly followed Larena to where the coffins were. Everyone, even Fiyero, seemed a bit hesitant to watch what was about to happen. He could only hope that it would even work.

"If they're not dead, then what did you do to them that was different from what you did to Morrible?" asked the Wizard cautiously to Larena.

The woman looked at him and smiled, "Galinda's not the only witch in the family. I used to brew potions back when I was younger and for Elphaba and Glinda I used a sleeping potion but one that made them appear dead. Their hearts appear to be frozen, their color drains but it's all an illusion. They're not really dead," explained the blonde woman.

"For Morrible," she continued, "I gave her a deadly poison that killed her as soon as it entered her body."

Everyone stared at the blonde after she said that.

"So why didn't I die when I drank it?" asked Fiyero as his eyes drifted to where Elphaba and Glinda lay motionless in their coffins.

"You didn't die because I took out the sleeping potion right before you drank it, and put in the deadly poison right when Morrible reached for the glass," said Larena with a slight smile.

Fiyero for once was quite speechless and impressed by what Larena did.

"So how do we wake them up?" asked Chuffrey, his face pained as he looked at the lifeless form of Glinda.

"Simple," the curves of Larena's mouth lifted up into a smile, "with a kiss."

Her eyebrow arched, "I do expect that both of you know which one you are kissing, just so we don't get mixed up here," she said as she looked to Fiyero and Chuffrey.

They both nodded. Chuffrey went over to Glinda's coffins and Fiyero to Elphaba's.

"So we just kiss them and they wake up?" asked Fiyero who was a bit doubtful.

He glanced at Elphaba's face and then back up at Larena," She's not going to turn into some flesh eating zombie though, right?" he said nervously. Though it seemed ridiculous to even ask, Fiyero couldn't help himself and his question was deadly serious.

"No," laughed Larena as Highmuster's arm gently made it way around her waist, pulling her closer to him, "I promise she will not be a zombie or a vampire or anything else for that matter. She will just be herself."

With that settled, Fiyero looked down at Elphaba's face with hope in his eyes.

"I love you," he whispered right before he pressed his lips against hers. Fiyero closed his eyes and waited. As the seconds passed the hope that had been radiating inside of him seemed to simmer down. He waited and waited.

Finally he felt a hand on his face and he opened his eyes to see Elphaba kissing him back with one hand on the prince's face.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Glinda was wrapped in Chuffrey's arms, the two of them kissing fiercely than they had beforehand.

Fiyero wanted to continue the kiss, but he pulled away for different reasons.

"Fiyero," whispered Elphaba as she ran a hand down the side of his face lovingly.

Fiyero cupped her chin with one hand just looked at her. Pride and happiness beamed in him.

"Elphaba…" She looked better than she had before. She looked radiant, glowing emerald, her eyes bright and alive, her hair shining in the sunlight, and her dress clung to her form.

Giggling distracted the prince for a moment and he turned to see Glinda being carried bridal-style out of her coffin by Chuffrey. Her voluminous dress splayed out around her when she stood on the ground and she looked back at him and Elphaba with those blue eyes that were even bluer than he had ever seen them.

"Chuffers, stop!" she squealed as Chuffrey had his lips on her neck and she squirmed, more embarrassed than anything else, "Not here," she hissed at him.

Chuffrey pulled his lips away and seemed content with having his arms engulfing the blonde woman's waist.

"What happened?" asked Elphaba suddenly, pulling Fiyero away from the 'Gluffrey' display of affection.

"You mean, you don't remember?" asked Fiyero, wondering if she now had amnesia. His brow creased in worry.

"The last thing I remember is drinking that wine that Larena gave to me… but that's it," said Elphaba wearily. She shot a glare Mrs. Upland's way and then looked down at the coffin she was in.

When she looked back up into Fiyero's face, fear and confusion were forming in hers.

"Fiyero," she said slowly, "Why am I in a coffin?"

Fiyero laughed, he hadn't meant to but it had escaped his lips before it could be stopped. He smiled down at Elphaba and kissed the bridge of her nose softly, "It doesn't matter anymore. You're safe and alive, both of you are."

"But what about Morrible and Cherrystone?" the green woman asked.

"Morrible took out Cherrystone's heart and crushed it, killing him instantly and then Larena conjured up a deadly poison that killed Morrible when she drank it. She gave you and Glinda a sleeping potion that made you look like you were dead when you really weren't," said the Wizard to his daughter.

Elphaba and Glinda looked to the older blonde in amazement and surprise.

"Momsie? You really did that for us?" the younger blonde questioned towards her mother, "But I thought-"

Larena's eyes shone with tears, "I told you once, Galinda and I will tell you again; I will always be there to protect you."

Glinda's heart melted a bit when her mother said that, and with tears in her eyes Glinda ran over like a little girl and hugged her mother and father.

"Thank you for saving us," whispered Glinda to her mother.

"Always," she said in reply as she let go of her daughter.

The wind blew across the graveyard and everyone realized that it was getting dark.

"Chistery," said Larena to the snow monkey, "Do you have the item that I told you to bring?"

The monkey nodded as he hobbled forward with The Grimmerie in his grasp. He gave it to Larena who gave it to Glinda.

"You must leave here, leave Oz forever. Now that both of you are considered dead you will have a chance of starting new in another place," said Larena a bit choked up.

Tears glistened in her eyes as Glinda took the book and held it against her chest.

"Momsie, I'm not going anywhere. We can stay right here and-"

It was Chuffrey who interrupted her.

"No, we can't," he said firmly and with a look towards Elphaba and Fiyero he said, "And neither can you two. We all must leave."

"But Chuffers…" protested Glinda but no words came to her mind. Her body felt all void of emotion as she took in the information that she had just received.

She turned back towards her mother, sadness suddenly filling her.

"Go now or I will send you away myself," managed Larena sternly. But underneath it was the undertones of sadness and hurt.

Glinda took a breath and with it she made the courage inside of her swell up. She nodded briskly, and gave her parents one last long hug each.

"I love you," she said to each of them and they responded with the same.

Meanwhile Fiyero helped Elphaba out of the coffin and onto the ground. She dusted off her dress, purposely not getting into the sentimental goodbyes.

After Glinda said goodbye to her parents, she noticed that Faye was crying as well.

"Oh Faye," said the blonde witch as she enveloped the girl into a fierce hug, "It will be alright. Can you promise me something?"

Faye nodded unable to do anything while her rapid waterfall of tears fell from her eyes.

"Will you take care of Oz for me, will you rule it well?"

At the realization that Glinda was asking Faye to rule Oz the girl began to cry harder. Tears welled up in Glinda's eyes as well and her throat felt constricted as she tried to get the last few words she had to say to the girl out without breaking down.

"Not by yourself of course, but you, Priscilla and Ella have proved yourselves far more than capable to do this. And besides I'm sure my parents will look after you." At this Glinda smiled as a single tear ran down her own cheek.

"So do you promise to do well for me, Faye?"

Faye took one look at Glinda and began to cry in her embrace. Glinda hugged her back and whispered comforting words to the girl.

"You're going to be great, I just know it," said Glinda to Faye as she let go of the crying girl and moved on to Chistery.

"Thank you," she murmured as she stroked his fur, "I couldn't have done this without you."

The monkey bowed its head in acknowledgement but said nothing to her. Glinda knew that he meant goodbye.

Straightening herself up, Glinda moved towards the Wizard.

"Can I trust you now or are you still a pathetic excuse for a wizard?" she asked coldly.

"You can trust me," said the Wizard earnestly. He looked her right in the eyes and Glinda felt honesty about his words and his actions. He had, after all, helped saved them in one-way or another.

Glinda gulped, thinking of what to do.

"I'll allow you to stay here, as a consultant to Faye and her friends as rulers but nothing more than that. Do you understand me? I don't offer second chances to often, Oscar so you better not mess up!"

He nodded, "I promise this time I will try to help. Really I will."

After glaring at him for quite some time, Glinda came to the conclusion that maybe he really could be trusted. He wasn't such a bad guy, more like a good man such in a very uncompromising situation.

"Alright then," said Glinda in a firm voice.

She turned back to where Elphaba, Fiyero and Chuffrey were when she realized that there was nothing more she could say or could think of to say.

"What about you Elphie? Aren't you going to say goodbye?" pressed Glinda as she returned to Chuffrey's side and realized that the green woman hadn't moved.

"I don't do goodbyes," she said sharply. When she said this, Glinda's face dropped in deep disapproval and Elphaba felt compelled to defend herself.

"But," her brown eyes looked to the people who remaining behind. Larena and Highmuster, Faye, The Wizard, and Chistery all looked at her waiting, "Thank you all… for everything."

A pause stayed prolonged in the air for a while.

"You're welcome, Elphaba," said Larena finally with a smile.

Feelings of sadness began to form in Elphaba as she looked at Larena and was suddenly reminded of her own mother. But she quickly shot down those feelings by taking a deep breath.

She gave them all a final nod and began to look in the Grimmerie for the spell that they had used to get them to the Other World.

She finally found it, and when she did she gathered the people who were leaving around her.

"Off to the Other World with other adventures ahead of us," said Elphaba to Glinda with a smile.

But Glinda didn't smile back.

"Promise?" she whispered shyly. She didn't voice her true reasons why she asked such a question but Elphaba knew in an instant what she wanted.

"We'll do it together, I promise," Elphaba said softly.

Glinda's somber face broke into a smile at last.

'Let's just try not to get killed this time, shall we?" she laughed.

Elphaba smirked, "I'll try," she said.

With that, Elphaba linked her hand with Fiyero's and then extended her other hand towards Glinda. Before she grabbed Elphaba's hand, Glinda reached for Chuffrey's.

"We're never being separated ever again," she murmured as she kissed his lips.

Chuffrey smiled as he returned the kiss, "Never," he whispered as he grabbed her hand gently.

Now with Chuffrey's hand in hers, Glinda looked towards her best friend's hand. A thousand feelings swirled inside of her, but the overwhelming one was one of utter happiness. A smile radiated across her face as she took Elphaba's hand and the green witch conjured up a portal to take them to the Other World.

"Together?" asked Elphaba, as they were about to jump.

Glinda looked back to where Faye and her parents were standing with smiles on their faces. She was going to miss them surely but she knew that she would be happy with Chuffrey, Elphaba and Fiyero in the Other World.

With her eyes back on her best friend, Glinda nodded.

"Together," she said firmly.

They jumped, and left behind the world they once knew to end up in someplace better, someplace where there were no more lies or secrets. No more hiding, no more lying to anyone. Nobody had to hide his or her true feelings behind closed doors anymore. They were off to a land where they could start fresh, start a new life.

Someplace where they were all together…. Somewhere over the rainbow and out of Oz.

THE END

AHHHH! I FINISHED! YAYYYYYYY!

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