On one cold night, I was sitting on the roof of a building that was in the plaza. I started picking at my beautiful midnight colored feathers. That's how I got my name, Midnight. If you haven't figured it out, I'm a crow. Not just any old crow, I'm a Crow. The difference between me and a crow is that I have a soul and can talk. Anyway, I sat there preening my feathers straight in the silence of the night. Suddenly, a figure in black raced across the street and towards an ally, the cape flying wildly behind the figure. You can hear the hurried and heavy footsteps of the figure in the silent night. The figure disappeared down a dark alley way. A few minutes later, the Royal guards came rushing by, passing the alley way the figure disappeared into. The guards shouting at each other, their swords waving around wildly, their horses’ gallops filled the streets. Soon the guards stopped their arguing and moved on. About an hour later, the figure emerged from the alley way and ventured out to the open. The clouds moved away from the moon, revealing that the figure was clearly a woman. She stood in the middle of the plaza, by the fountain. The woman looked down in the fountain and turns toward it. She pulled down the hood of her cape, letting her midnight color hair fall elegantly over her shoulders. She stared at her reflection for a minute or two until she heard a noise behind her.

           "Hello?", a voice said from the darkness.

           "Nor?" the woman asked and turned around, only to be greeted by a hug.

           "I was so worried about you, you know? Oh. I got something for you." The girl named Nor pulled out an object wrapped in a tan cloth.

           "What is it?” the woman asked, taking the object in her hands and starts to remove the cloth. The girl smiled.

           "It's a necklace and a new pair of black gloves."

           "Oh." The woman looked down at the warm black gloves and the black necklace with a dark green gem hanging from it. "It's wonderful. Thanks." she said and smiled at Nor.

           "You don't like it?" Nor looked down disappointed and the woman saw this and guilt filled her eyes.

           "No. I do. I really do."

           "You don't seem to like it."

           "Nor, I do." The woman smiled. "Can you put the necklace on for me?" The woman held out the necklace for the girl and turned around. The girl's face instantly lighted up.

           "Sure Auntie." Nor grabbed the necklace and put it around the woman's neck. It laid perfectly and brought out the woman's brown eyes. The dark green gem shined lightly in the pale moonlight. "Auntie?" the girl asked. The woman turned towards the girl.

           "Yes Nor?" the woman asked.

           "I-I saw Glinda today." The woman tensed up. "She misses you Auntie. She knows you're not dead. She knows that you faked your death just to get away from everything, thinking the world would be better without you. Auntie." the girl grabbed the woman's gloved hand. "Please. Just say you're sorry. She already forgave you. Just go and see her. Please." The woman looked away from the girl. Tears prickled at her eyes, wanting to fall in memory of her best friend.

           "OVER HERE MEN! LET'S CHECK THE PLAZA AGAIN!" the distant voice of a guard screamed. The woman blinked away her tears and pulled the hood of her cape again and stuffed the new pair of gloves in her pocket.

"Come on Nor." The woman grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her to another dark alley way. I watched in horror as the royal guards came bursting into the plaza, drawing their swords and jumping off their horses. I flapped my wings wildly at the noise and fluttered to my right, towards the girl and the woman. The guards walked around the plaza, most of them passed by them. The guards were about to leave until one guard saw something move in the alley way.

           "Wait." the guard said, "I saw something move."

           "Where?" asked a guard.

           "What could you have seen Trism?" another guard asked. "There's nothing here."

           "Yes there is. Something moved in that alley." The guard, named Trism glared at the alley way and moved towards it slowly. I looked back and forth wildly, between Nor and the woman and the guard, Trism. He crept closer and closer and the woman and Nor sank deeper into the alley. I couldn't stand it anymore. I spread my wings and flew into the alley way, towards the guard. I aimed for his face and flew towards him. When I got close to him I cawed loudly and flew around him. He backed away and swung his sword wildly, trying to hit me. I dodged as quickly as I can and cawed repeatedly. I then flew up and dived towards him. He stood there waiting, his sword in his hand. I closed my wings, making me dive faster; I got closer to him, and closer, and closer, until finally I was right above his head. I spread my wings to go up, but I was too late. He swung his sword and the tip of it cut my wing. I flew towards the ground, flapping my good wing helplessly, cawing wildly. I cashed on the ground and couldn't move from the impact. Everyone stood still in shock.

           "Trism, come on. Let's go." one of the guards from earlier said and mounted his horse. Trism nodded his head and mounted his own horse. I watched the guards leave the plaza and head back to the palace. I sighed. I then felt two hands pick me up gently. My heart started to race and I looked around wildly.

           "Shh. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." It was the woman holding me.

           "Auntie, she's hurt. Let's take her to my place." Nor said.

           "Okay." the woman wrapped part of her scarf around me, "Let's go." They started walking, but I felt weak and soon fell asleep.

           I woke up to smell of soup and warm air. I opened my eyes and noticed that I'm in a house, on someone's lap, wrapped in a blanket.

           "Oh, she's awake." I hear someone say. I look up and it's the woman from earlier. Guess I was out for a couple of days.

“Here, she must be hungry.” The girl from earlier said as she placed a bowl of soup in front of me. The soup looked really good and my throat felt dry all of a sudden. The woman picked up a spoon and spooned some of the soup out. She raised the spoon towards her mouth and blew on it until it was cool enough for me. She then offered it to me and I gladly opened up my beak. She poured the soup in my beak. I felt the soup warm my throat and stomach. This routine continued until I was full.

           “Wow! She was really hungry. She almost finished the bowl!” The girl said. I smirked at that. What was her name again? It’s on the tip of my beak. Oh! I remember now. Her name is Nor. I gave a signal to the lady that I wanted to be on the table. She took me out of her lap and put my on the table. I shook my body and some of my feathers fell off. I noticed that Nor and the woman each picked one up. They looked at them with awe and admiration.

           “They’re beautiful.” Nor breathed. I puffed out my chest and spread my wings a little. Hey! My wing is better. I smiled. These people are really nice.

           “Why, thank you.” I answered. The girl and woman looked at me with shock. Well, the girl did.

           “S-she talked! How can she talk?!” she looked at me. “HOW CAN YOU TALK?!” I winced at her loud voice.

           “I’m a Crow.” I said.

           “Of course, that makes perfect sense.” The woman mumbled and stood up suddenly. She walked towards a big book and started flipping the pages.

           “Auntie! How can she talk if she’s a crow!? Crows don’t TALK!” I rolled my eyes.

           “I said I was a Crow not a crow.”

           “Auntie! Answer me!” I sighed and looked over at the woman. She stopped flipping through the pages and was muttering something I couldn’t understand. The letters started floating off the page and started flying around us. Nor looked around nervously and moved out the way of the flying letters.

           “What is that?” I asked. I looked at Nor, “What type of book is that?”

           “It’s called the Grimmerie. It’s very powerful.”

           “I noticed.” I mumbled under my breath. The woman raised up her arm and the roof of the house flew off. I squawked and fluttered up a little. The woman’s mask that covered her face started breaking and white light seeped out of the cracks. Nor shield her eyes with her arm and I did the same with my wing. Suddenly there was a loud ‘CRACK!’ and a gust of wind came from her mask. The wind was so strong that I almost fell off the table. Nor ducked under the table, I think. Plates, silverware, and other household objects started flying around us. I had to duck to not get my head decapitated by a glass ball. A green light then surrounded the woman, or did it come out of her hands. I can't tell. It's too bright. All this light is hurting my eyes, so I closed them. After a few minutes the wind and the lights died down. The house was now dark, since the roof was gone, we only have the moon for our light, but it was covered by thick clouds. So the house was a mess, roofless, and we had no light. Great. The table was the only piece of furniture standing. Thank Oz! I flew up and did a loop the loop just for fun. As I landed on the table it...hopped?

           "Oww." I heard Nor whine, but I couldn't see her. I looked around, but she then crawled out from under the table while rubbing the back of her head. Oh yeah. She was under the table. I knew that.

           "Auntie?" Nor asked. I forgot about the woman. I looked over at her and she was GLOWING!? Now, I know my eyes are playing tricks on me! There is no way that anyone can GLOW! The woman stood up and took off her gloves. I felt my eyes widen. HER HANDS WERE GLOWING TOO! This cannot, I repeat, cannot be possible!

           "Yes?" the woman ask. Nor just looked at her, surprised.

           "Y-you're-you're-you're g-glo-." I couldn't take it anymore.

           "FOR OZ'S SAKE! YOU'RE GLOWING!!" I screamed. The woman looked down at her hands.

           "Oh. I guess I am." She then found a quill pen, ink, and some scroll paper and started writing.

           "Auntie, what did you do?" Nor questioned nervously. The woman continued to write.

           "I'm going to leave for some time. I want you to spread word that I'm alive. Okay?" Nor nodded her head 'Yes.' nervously.

           "W-Where are you going?"

           "Don't worry about it. I'll be back. It's not like people are going to miss me." She finished writing whatever she was writing and found a scroll carrier for birds. Where is she going to find a bird this lat-. Oh. It's me. I thought  I left the scroll-carrying days in the past!

           "Auntie. I'm going to miss you." Nor said. The woman ignored her.

           "Midnight. Can you come here?" I hopped over towards her. She put the little "backpack" on me.

           "Can't you, like, get another Bird or something?" I asked, hoping to get out of it.

           "Where can we find another Bird at this late hour?" Nor questioned. Stupid Nor. She's not helping.

           "I can, um-er get some birds to, uh help?" I said, hoping that they fell for it.

           "That would be a good idea. More birds to help spread the word." The woman finish tying the bag and was writing another letter.

           "Um? What word?" I asked. The woman looked up at me with a serious face.

           "Elphaba lives."

           "E-elph-phba? You mean THE Elphaba? The "Wicked Witch of the West" Elphaba? B-but she died. Everyone knows that. She can't be alive."

           "She is." Nor answered in a whisper. I turned towards Nor who have been quiet.

           "How?" Nor glanced nervously at the woman then back at me, then back at the woma-. HEY! I never got her name.

           "Well? How is she alive?" I looked at the woman," And how do YOU know?" The woman finished writing the letter and put it in the bag. Then she started writing ANOTHER letter. How many is she going to write?

           "Because," she began, "I'm her." Ahh, it's because she's her.

           "That makes perfect sense." Of course. She can only know because she's her. She's the Wicked Witch of the West. She's Elphaba, the only green-skinned woman in all of Oz. The one who defied gravity. Yep, she's the one all right...

           "WAIT!!! YOU'RE ELPHABA! B-BUT YOUR SKIN! IT'S NOT GREEN! IT'S NORMAL! HOW!? TELL ME! HOW ARE YOU ALIVE AND NOT DEAD!?" I started pacing back and forth on the table. "THIS-THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!!" Just then, the clouds moved away from the moon and it shone it light in the dark room. A breeze came and blew the woman's black scarf off.  She found a cloth and wiped half of her face. Her skin color came off and onto the cloth. I felt my eyes widen with shock. In the pale moonlight, there stood the one and only Elphaba. Green skin and all.

           "Powder." The woman smiled at me and wiped the rest of her face. "Now. The first letter I gave to you. I need you to give it to my brother, Shell. He should still be in Munckinland with my father. The second letter goes to my friend, Galinda. Well, Lady Glinda now.  You understand so far?" I nodded my head, still in shock. "Good. Now. This letter that I'm writing right now goes to Chistery, my flying monkey. He lives with my son and my nanny in Kiamo Ko, in the Vinkus." By this time she finished writing the letter and put it in the bag. She smiled at me.

           "I grant you Oz-speed." Nor said quietly.

           "Thanks." Elphaba then picked up a broom that was hidden behind a curtain and got on it. She hovered in one spot and looked at me and Nor.

           "Be careful Midnight." Elphaba said.

           "I will." She then flew out of the roofless house, into the night. If someone sees her, they'll think it's their imagination, a cloud, or something. Nobody would think it's actually her. After all, no one mourns the Wicked.