With thanks to delgaserasca.
Five Times Elphaba Didn't Cry And One Time She Did
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i. mother
When Elphaba's mother died, Elphaba sat solemnly on the floor, legs
crossed. She absently flicked through a thick, battered book without
really reading it, occasionally glancing over to her father. Elphaba
never cried, not like her father. Her father wept for her mother,
for the life he had never managed to keep hold of. He wept for the
daughter he could never love and the crippled daughter he would
someday love unconditionally, but for now, resented. Frex wept for
his family as his wife passed.
Elphaba sat dry-eyed and silent, before slipping out of the doors into the cloudy afternoon.
ii. ignorance
Shiz had been difficult for Elphaba already, and she was barely a
month into her time. Rooming with Galinda hadn't helped at all,
she was sure, what with the constant squealing and all that pink,
but the hat was the final straw. As she walked into the party, jaw
set determinedly, hat on her head, Elphaba swallowed hard. She shut
her eyes against the stares, tuned out the ignorant whispers. She
removed her hat as she looked around, trying to ignore the pity
emanating from her fellow students. Defiantly, she replaced the hat
on her head and began to dance.
iii. not so wonderful after all
Elphaba had taken Glinda with her to the Emerald City. The pair had
become unlikely friends during their time as roommates at Shiz, and
when Elphaba was summoned by the Wizard and her friend was feeling
down, inviting her along was she least she could do. They were going
to meet the Wizard! As they arrived, Elphaba shrugged off a
sense of impending doom. It was when Madame Morrible walked in that
she should have realised. She smiled, she chanted, she looked on as
her mentor and the wonderful Wizard showed their true colours. She
ran, but she never cried.
iv. leaving
Elphaba had always known that she and Glinda would someday be torn
apart, but she had never expected it to be quite so painful, even
despite their recent disagreements. The overwhelming emotions of the
previous few weeks caught up with her just as Chistery handed her the
note. As she relinquished her precious Grimmerie, Elphaba prayed
silently to a higher power for forgiveness – for everyone. As she
bid her final farewell, she stepped behind a curtain and prepared to
be showered in oil. Chistery worked the smoke machine like a pro,
and within seconds, Elphaba had crawled through a trapdoor.
v. saying goodbye
Even after parting with her best friend just a year prior, Elphaba
had no idea how difficult final goodbyes could be. Yet, as she knelt
on the cold concrete, her lover's lifeless body in her arms,
soaking her with blood seeping from a gaping wound, her heart tore
itself from her chest and broke in two. Elphaba gasped at the
unfamiliar emotion. She knelt, silently, slowly rocking back and
forth for hours after darkness fell, his blood on her dress long dry
and darkened. Farewell, love; she whispers into the emptiness
of hidden cove they'd made their home. Farewell, love.
vi. a year ago today
The air was thick with humidity, the sky overcast, and the grass dry
beneath Elphaba's feet as she scurried quietly through the
makeshift graveyard. She pulled her shawl tighter around her head
and shoulders as thunder rumbled in the distance. She slipped
through a narrow gate and continued her journey; a path she had taken
many times over the previous months. She stopped opposite an opening
in a fence, a plot unmarked but for the ferns and hastily picked
weeds tied with twine.
She sunk to her knees and dropped another bouquet, two lonely tears finally falling from lifeless eyes.