My First Gelphie. This is exciting! Don't read unless you have finished Out Of Oz! Has major spoilers. I do not own Out Of Oz, or anything from Gregory Maguire.
In her cell, Glinda woke up with a start. The lumbago was more punishing than the incarceration, but a sense of a spring had filtered all the way down the open canyon roof of Southstairs, and she had caught a whiff of freshness, of arrogant possibility. Her glasses had broken a year ago. She didn't need them anymore, not really. She knew who was turning the door handle of her cell.
She called her name sleepily, and added, "You wicked thing. You've taken your own sweet time, of course."
Out Of Oz, page 556
"Elphie," called out Glinda from her cell, "Come closer."
The green woman obliged, knowing that both of them were quickly growing blind with each passing year.
"You would take your time, now wouldn't you?" said Glinda a bit coldly.
Elphaba smiled, "What is a good ending without some sort of surprise, right Glinda?"
"You always were into those theatrics," said Glinda with a roll of her eyes, but she smiled.
"How long have you been in here?" asked Elphaba, crouching down to Glinda's face through the bars.
"I've lost track," sighed Glinda, "It all started about ten years ago or so, when I went under house arrest and that Commander- oh I'm sorry General Cherrystone came and ruined my house."
"Cherrystone?" repeated Elphaba remembering her time at Kiamo Ko where a Commander Cherrystone had stayed, against Elphaba's will to kick him out.
"Yes, did you know him?"
"Yes, he was the one that- well never mind. It's all in the past now."
Glinda reached out her hand to cover Elphaba's, "Everything's in the past now dearie."
Elphaba sighed, "You're right." And she helped Glinda out of her cell and up the stairs.
"Where exactly have you been all these years now? Hiding? A reincarnation of some sorts?" asked Glinda as they made their way up the stairs.
"Ha! Don't bother me with that reincarnation superstition now. I'm too old for it."
Glinda smiled at Elphaba with a twinkle in her eyes, "So am I."
"If you must know, I was hiding out with the Animals. Nanny had known that water really wouldn't hurt me; it was all just a cover up. So when that Dorothy brat threw water on me, I did some theatrics and a spell or two to make it convincing and I 'died'. Nanny then helped me escape and I had been popping back and forth there from time to time. Now, I must ask this. Did you really believe that I was dead?"
Glinda stopped on the stairs, and Elphaba wondered if it was the question that made her stop or the fact that she was older, or because of her huge dress that puffed out like some wedding gown.
"I guess I really didn't. It never really hit me that you of all people could actually be dead. It hit me more when I met your son some odd years ago, and then I took care of your granddaughter, but you already know this don't you?" said Glinda with a sly look to Elphaba.
Elphaba grinned a bit.
"You haven't changed a bit," remarked Glinda.
"And you have," said Elphaba looking at her.
Glinda stopped walking again and turned.
"Yes, well what did you expect me to do when you left me to fend for myself at Shiz? I didn't just stay the same, I couldn't! I was changed and even I couldn't stop it. But you, you've always been the same. You didn't have to change!"
"You still haven't forgiven me for that?"
Glinda scoffed, the snobbery in her returning in her prime, "Of course I did. But the hurt is still there, and it always will be."
"I left you for your own good. You had a life to pursue and I didn't."
"You promised me!" snapped Glinda, and Elphaba knew what she was talking about.
"Glinda, please. Not now. I thought by leaving you established that we couldn't," said Elphaba calmly.
The blonde huffed, and Elphaba was reminded of her when they were at Shiz. The vain, blonde girl that only had time for her looks and never paid Elphaba any attention until they became best friends, and then they became something more.
They came to the door, and Elphaba opened it. The bright sunshine came glaring into their eyes, and they shielded them with their hands.
"So is this it? Are you going to go puff again?" asked Glinda haughtily.
"Yes," said Elphaba, "But you can come if you want," she added looking at Glinda.
Glinda looked at her, the angry look on her face slowly disappearing, "Where?"
"Somewhere out of Oz, somewhere safe. I won't leave you again, my sweet," said Elphaba taking her hand.
"Alright," said Glinda smiling, "But what about Liir, and Rain? And Candle for that matter?"
Elphaba looked out into the horizon, "Our time has come and gone, they don't need us anymore. They have their own history to make."
And with that, the two best friends that had always had something more than just friendship left Oz for good with a quick spell and a puff of smoke.
THE END