I almost didn't post this because it's so much darker that what I normally write. My everlasting gratitude toward Pheonix and RU who read it and told me go ahead. Thank you both so much!
Disclaimer: Um...no. I don't own it.
drip...drip...drip...drip...
Elphaba rolled over across the forest ground, pulling her hat over her ears to keep out the noise.
drip...drip...drip...drip...
She cracked an eye open, squinting in the early morning to see what was making that insane noise. The ground was damp with dew, but that was certainly not the cause. No, this was too loud and unyielding to be from a tiny bit of water.
drip...drip...drip...drip...
"That's it!" she muttered. Elphaba sleepily stood, combing dirt and twigs from her hair. There was no source of water that she knew of nearby, no streams or ponds. Nothing that could be causing that blasted dripping sound.
drip...drip...drip...drip...
It was somewhere to her right, and she began to make her way to investigate. The sound must have been loud at its source for as many trees she ducked under and brush she trampled on, it remained in front. A constant, monotonous dripping.
drip...drip...drip...drip...
There was light ahead, some clearing in the trees where the rising sun had peaked through. The sound was louder now, sounding like large splashes of liquid hitting still larger pool underneath.
Elphaba approached the area with caution, casting a silent spell to check for nearby living souls. Nothing but a squirrel up one tree was in the area, fortunately. However, people had obviously been there before and recently.
A freshly put-out fire pit still filled with ashes lay nearby, along with a few left-behind tent pegs. Something like an old, green sheet lay forgotten across the space, hanging on a branch. Elphaba stooped down to pick up a trinket near her feet and discovered a golden Gale Force button.
She swallowed, worried that the army had been so close without her even noticing. Was there something wrong with her powers or had she grown careless in her victory of avoiding the Gale Force?
Well, might as well get supplies available to you. Elphaba walked around the campsite, picking up anything that seemed to be useful. She still registered the dripping, which was as loud as ever, but now ignored it.
That is, until she got to the tree with the cloth.
She stopping short, heart freezing and breath catching. The cloth was not an old blanket hanging from a branch, but rather a body from a pole. It was so beaten and broken that she could barely make out its features.
Sliding in streams down the body, leaking mostly from the head, a trickle of blood dripped and pooled underneath, being the cause for the loud drip.
Muttering a spell in a state a shock, Elphaba gently lifted the body from the pole with magic, undoing the binds and placing him on the ground.
Carefully, she brushed away the blood-matted hair from the boy's face. It only took her a second to realize who it was.
She let out a frightening wail and suppressed with great strength the urge to vomit. For laying in front of her was Fiyero Tiggular.
Something pulled on her mind, a chattering of some sort from far away. She barely noticed it at first, so consumed in grief was she. However, it quickly grew louder and filled her head, mixed with cries of broken English and screeches...
The Wicked Witch of the West bolted up in her bed.
Her sheet was twisted around her and sweat drenched her whole body. Chistry stood next to the bed, jumping up and down in a frenzy, trying to wake his beloved master from her nightmare.
She sat up, shaking despite the sweat from head to toe, then collapsed again onto the sheets. Chistry chattered nervously, wiping a cloth across her forehead.
It had been a dream...just a dream. One of the nightmares she had for so long suffered, terrifying and horrible.
Without warning, the Witch lept up, untangled herself from the twisted sheets, and hurried into the next room where her crystal ball lay. Murmuring a spell in her feverish frenzy, she quickly conjured the picture of a young girl and her three companions, each carrying a weapon and rapidly approaching Kiamo Ko. In the very far distance was a shape of a bubble steadily growing larger.
The Witch placed a shaky hand on the table for support, in the process knocking over a glass that fell to the floor, spilling milk everywhere.
drip...drip...drip...
Elphaba stared at the milk, remembering her dream, and Fiyero, and everything that happened to her, all the unjustness...
She turned angerly towards the crystal ball one more, eying the farm girl and Nessa's shoes. Her shoes...
No good deed goes unpunished.
Reviews are lovely. Maybe I'll write about rainbows and ponies from now on...