Elphaba exhaled through her nose, trying to keep calm. Nessarose had wanted to go to their town's market square, but Frex was unable to take her that day because he had a council meeting to attend. Because of that, the job of babysitting fell on Elphaba's shoulders.
"But father, Nessa, can't we just stay inside instead?" Elphaba pleaded. She really didn't want to be mocked for her green skin today.
"No!" Nessa and Frex both replied in unison.
"I'm tired of being cooped up in this dreadful little hut all the time!" Nessa complained with a pout.
"And I have a meeting I must attend! So Elphaba, do be a dear and look after your sister," Frex finished, annoyed.
"Because I don't do that already," Elphaba deadpanned.
"Elphaba," Frex gave a warning look to his eldest daughter.
"Yes, father," Elphaba ducked her head sullenly before reaching out to grab the handles on Nessa's wheelchair.
"Oh! Do hurry, Elphaba! It's such a lovely day out today!" Nessa clapped, spirits brightened drastically now that she had gotten her way again.
An hour later, the cheeriness came to an end. About halfway through the sisters' outing, Nessa began to wheel herself along and Elphaba let her, walking a few paces behind her with a small smile on her face. Despite her initial concerns, today really was a very lovely day and Elphaba couldn't help but smile. But at one point, Nessa wheeled herself into the street. A few seconds later, a speeding coach veered around a corner.
"NESSA! MOVE!" Elphaba saw the speeding coach first and, without a single thought, she launched herself into the street and gave Nessa's chair a good, hard push. Elphaba's kind act of saving her sister was repaid by a harsh blow from the coach. No good deed goes unpunished, Elphaba thought grimly, then the carriage struck her and she was knocked out at once.
When Elphaba woke up again, she was in a hospital, and both of her legs were bound in a tight cast. Once Elphaba fully came around, she realized that after being hit by the carriage, both of her legs had been broken, in multiple places no less! But all things considered, she was lucky that broken legs were all she came out with. And Nessa hadn't suffered any damage at all outside of the shock of seeing Elphaba being so injured.
"You're still alive, the rest of your body is mostly alright and you've suffered no brain damage," the doctor informed the hospitalized girl.
"But will my legs ever heal?" Elphaba asked worriedly.
"Yes," the doctor replied. "But I admit that it won't be a very swift recovery. Even after you get out of this hospital, you're going to be in a wheelchair for quite a long time," the doctor gave Elphaba an apologetic smile when Elphaba gave a soft cry of dismay, but there was nothing either of them could do. Elphaba was going to need a wheelchair, and that was that.
"But how will I be able to take care of Nessa and myself now?" she whimpered softly, though no one had an answer for her.
When Elphaba finally left the hospital, she left in a wheelchair, just like she was promised. Nessa hadn't been there when the issue of the wheelchair came up, so what Elphaba fretted most about was what Nessa would say when she saw Elphaba's wheelchair. Would Nessa tell her it was payback for not watching her more carefully? Would she cry, thinking that Elphaba was mocking her? Would she ignore it and still expect Elphaba to look after her? Or would Nessa even go so far as to be jealous and claim that Elphaba was stealing her "spotlight"? Well, as Elphaba would come to see, Nessa's reaction was the very last thing Elphaba could've ever guessed: acceptance and excitement.
"Oh! Now I can look after you!" Nessa cried in delight when Elphaba rolled through the doors. Elphaba had been a little bit more than surprised by this response, but she wasn't going to complain...
From that day onward, Nessa made good on her vow and began teaching Elphaba all the tips and tricks for living in a wheelchair. She taught her the ups and downs and the ins and outs. Nessa taught Elphaba how she needed to care for the wheelchair and how the wheelchair would care for her. And she gave every piece of knowledge to Elphaba with vim and vigor. Elphaba had never seen her so happy before. But what surprised Elphaba the most was how warm Nessa was being to her. Never had Nessa ever treated Elphaba so well before! But in time, Elphaba began to understand. This sudden shift in Nessa's mannerism to Elphaba was because, for once, Nessa was not the weak or dependent child. With Elphaba now being wheelchair-bound as well, she and Nessa were finally equals. For once, Nessa was able to take care of Elphaba instead of it always being the one-sided reverse. For once, Nessa got to be in charge, instead of being in someone's charge.
Elphaba felt strangely touched to realize that, all along, Nessa's distaste for her had not been personal, nor had it been any sort of envy or resentment, but rather, had been a feeling of insecurity on Nessa's part. And maybe some guilt too. What really had driven Nessa's past bitterness was her own feeling of inadequacy. She felt like she was not able to give back to Elphaba, and this made her feel weak and ashamed, but now that they were on equal "footing", that self-loathing and low esteem had vanished, and for once, Nessa felt proud and worthy to be Elphaba's sister. And Elphaba was finally realizing this. The feeling she felt in response was indescribable by words alone, but it was one she would never ever forget.
"C'mon! Fabala! Race me!" Nessa laughed one day, then she pushed forward in her wheelchair and was suddenly zooming through the halls of their tight little home. Elphaba pretended to be hurt and offended.
"You know I can't maneuver as well as you!" she shouted as she clumsily rolled after Nessa.
"Guess you're gonna have to learn, sis!" Nessa shouted back with another laugh. Elphaba echoed the sound and gave her wheels another push, racing after Nessa with a giant smile upon her face. Although she couldn't see it, Nessa was smiling just as gleefully.
But as time passed, Elphaba's legs began to heal, and there finally came a day when she no longer needed her chair. Elphaba returned the thing to the hospital with a savage sort of joy. Maybe her time in the chair hadn't been all bad, but she was infinitely glad to be rid of it.
"Thank Oz!" she shouted as she watched the chair being taken away from her forever. But her joy ended the moment she saw Nessa's face, peering in at her with sadness, envy, anger, hurt, bitterness and a rapidly-growing apathy. All of the joy had just been sapped from Elphaba's day, and only embarrassment and awkwardness remained. Nessa didn't say a word to her for the whole rest of the day and Elphaba couldn't think of anything to say either. By the next day, their relationship had returned to its old icy guardedness, and they never managed to return to those golden days again.
As the years passed, Elphaba never forgot how wonderful it felt to have working legs. Even when she had a broom to fly on, Elphaba loved the feeling of having something solid under her feet. Admittedly, she always felt guilty that Nessa would never know the joy of walking, but there was nothing she could do about it. Or was there?
One day, several years after Elphaba had gone missing from polite society, being dubbed as a wicked witch by that polite society, she managed to reunite with her little sister one last time.
"Please, help me! Hide me!" the green witch begged as she snuck into her little sister's home.
"Why should I?" the sister sneered back in disgust. "Why should I help you when you, in all the times you could have, never helped me? All those years and you had the power to fix me, but you never even thought about it, did you?" she demanded. She was still a tragically beautiful girl, but time had twisted her, and added a layer of genuine hatred and cruelty over her. Elphaba could only watch helplessly until an idea came to her...
A few seconds later, Nessa was walking. Well and truly, she was up on her own two feet.
"It worked!" Elphaba cried in triumph, looking up from her spell book to admire what she had done for Nessa. For the first time in a very long time, Nessa smiled. And for the first time in an even longer time, Nessa smiled at Elphaba. Soon, the two sisters were dancing around the house together in sheer delight, laughing and singing like fools. Their peace didn't last long, though, before another argument tore them apart. And little did either girl know that this argument would be their last.
The next time Elphaba "saw" Nessa was when she was looking at the house that had crushed her to death. A storm of emotions hit the green witch until it became too much to bear. Her legs failed her and she fell to her knees in grief and guilt. During her mourning, Elphaba was discovered by the Gale Force. Before they could capture her though, Elphaba fought them off and fled. During the mad dash, she ended up getting injured in both of her legs yet again. She didn't notice the wounds though, at least not until she'd escaped the Gale Force and run into the arms of one of her sympathizers. Realizing that she was safe, Elphaba allowed herself to black out and surrender to the darkness.
When Elphaba woke up, she was in the sympathizer's cottage.
"I can't help you forever," they said. "But I can help you until you are mostly healed."
"Mostly?" Elphaba echoed.
"We can't keep you too long or we'll be killed," the sympathizer said. "You can just use your broom to fly home, and you can use this if you're not using your broom," they added, gesturing to a palm sized ball sitting on the nightstand beside Elphaba's makeshift hospital bed. Before Elphaba could ask what it was, her sympathizer tapped the top of it three times and it popped out into a full-sized wheelchair. Elphaba recoiled in horror.
"I thank you for all your help, but I would rather die than use a wheelchair!" she said, and before her sympathizer could ask why, Elphaba summoned up her broom and flew out of the hut without another look back.
A week later, Elphaba was flying around her castle. Her legs were still too injured to use. She flew past a mirror in one of the halls of the castle and as she passed it, she had to do a double take. Just for a second, instead of seeing herself riding on a broom, she thought for certain that she had seen Nessa, sitting in a wheelchair. But by the time Elphaba made that double-take, the illusion had gone, and all Elphaba could see was herself. She looked away again without hesitation and carried on in her flight down the hall, flying on without another look back.
AN: Just some Thropp sister fluff because even though I know their relationship was pretty bad, I would like to see an AU where they actually got along, at least once, and at least a little. Besides, I think most of Nessa's hatred of Elphaba stems from personal insecurities and embarrassment. I have no doubt that if she and Elphaba had been equals, Nessa would've been far nicer to her big sister.