A/N: This is a collaborative (obviously) story written by Kinky and Squishy. Wicked chapters (and thus, odd chapters [unless stated otherwise]) are written by me, Squishy. Final Fantasy IX chapters (and even chapters [unless stated otherwise]) are written by Kinky. Have fun reading this~
Elphaba struggled to keep the broom in the air and as even as possible, but the added weight of her kinda-girlfriend was making it increasingly difficult. It didn't help that she had really just begun to learn how to control the damn thing, but now there was an extra 100-something pound person on the simple wooden stick. Silently cursing the whole situation, Elphaba narrowly avoided a second nosedive into the ocean.
"I don't think we're in Oz anymore, Elphie," Glinda whispered, fear working it's way into her voice. Elphaba wanted nothing more than to land and hold her beautiful blond kinda-girlfriend, but she still couldn't find any land whatsoever. She silently screamed as she pulled the broom back up into the air, still narrowly avoiding a very painful landing in the water. "Elphie...can we land soon...?"
"I'm trying to find land, Glinda," Elphaba hissed through her hazy concentration and gritted teeth. She sounded harsher and angrier than she meant to, but at the moment, it didn't matter. Glinda was lucky she even got a response from the panicking green girl.
"There!" Glinda shouted louder than she meant to. Elphaba screamed in shock and her concentration broke. The broom began falling, but Elphaba managed to recover before it was too late. She glared at Glinda over her shoulder, who responded by sheepishly pointing towards a somewhat far-away island. Elphaba smiled and quickly started for that destination.
Less than ten minutes later, they were over land. Unfortunately, Elphaba couldn't stop the broom and land before they crashed into a tree and were knocked unconscious almost immediately.
The world came into focus slowly. First was the hot sand underneath her body, next was the gentle breeze blowing over her, finally, she could see the trees and the blue sky. The sun blinded her for a moment, the sudden light not agreeing with the long period of darkness that had come before.
Elphaba struggled to move her arms. Every little movement sent fire through her body and made her want to scream out in pure, raw agony, but she couldn't produce a sound. She noticed a blur of blue and pink standing a few feet away and attempted to focus on it, but it remained an unidentifiable blue - though she still had a very good idea as to what it was.
After a few minutes, she was able to move her upper body without much pain, so that's what she did. She made her hands into fists a few times, curling them tightly and then releasing the tension slowly, before using her arms to push herself up into a sitting position. The first sound she managed to hear and process was the familiar crying.
"Oh, Elphie," the crying voice managed to say. "My Elphie...I didn't mean for this to happen I - Elphie?!"
Elphaba was met with a sudden hug and a very loud wail. The tightness of Glinda's hug was slightly uncomfortable and even caused her a bit of pain, but she endured it, knowing that Glinda needed to make sure that this was real and not some sick dream. A few more minutes passed before Glinda scooted away.
"Can you talk? Please say something - are you okay? I love you - please tell me you're okay!"
"I..." Elphaba's voice was hoarse and soft, but it was still there, much to Glinda's joy. "I am fine, Glinda. A bit sore, I admit, but fine."
"Can you stand?" Glinda asked quickly.
"I...cannot move my lower body at all, actually...I don't even really...feel it...is it even still there?" Elphaba questioned. She knew it was still there, if it wasn't, she'd most likely have died from blood loss, but Glinda really needed the slight amount of humor and she really needed to feel like she was being useful.
Glinda smiled and sniffled slightly. "It's still there, Elphie. Your dress is ripped a bit though..." she moved down to Elphaba's legs and gently lifted the skirt of the dress to examine the green limbs. There were a few cuts, but none appeared to be too bad, so Glinda was a bit more concerned when Elphaba still insisted that she couldn't feel her lower body.
"Maybe I just landed wrong or maybe it's just numb from being in the same position for too long. Try moving them, Glinda. Manually," Elphaba suggested with a small smile. Glinda nodded and did so slowly, lifting one leg and moving it slightly. Elphaba inhaled sharply, the sudden pain quickly becoming too much for her. A few tears rolled down her cheeks, leaving streaks in the sand stuck to her cheeks, as she softly begged for Glinda to stop.
"Sorry!" Glinda exclaimed, quickly setting Elphaba's leg back down on the sand. "I didn't...it was...sorry..."
"It's fine."
Unable to stay still while her friend was obviously in so much pain, Glinda jumped up. "I'm going to go find the broom, it should be nearby. If I find anything like a knife or sticks, I'll bring them with me. I'll - "
"Just find the broom, Glinda. Don't worry about anything else - find the broom," Elphaba ordered, a slight edge in her voice. She wasn't angry at Glinda, she was more angry at herself for being such a baby and such a weakling. If she and Glinda were switched, she wouldn't be so calm and collected, and she knew that. She would have been screaming and trying to insist that she could fix it with her very unstable magical abilities.
And the fact that she had caused this crash and any injuries that Glinda had made her so angry. She was forcing Glinda to take care of her, ignoring anything that could be wrong with Glinda because of a few complications with her stupid legs - she cursed at herself as Glinda disappeared into the trees.
Elphaba scanned the area. She was lying near a few trees, where it was still sandy, but quite a ways away from where the water met the shore. There were a few vines hanging down from the trees, one or two hanging low enough for her to reach out and grab them. The trees seemed to go on forever, a small forest hidden from the sun by the leaves.
Against her better judgement, she reached out for one of the vines and tugged on it a few times, making sure that it was strong enough to handle her weight. She pulled herself up, squeezing her eyes shut and ignoring the stabbing and ripping feeling in her legs. Finally, she was standing up straight, with a lot of reliance on the vine.
"Elphie, I found the broom but it's - Elphie!" Glinda cried. Elphaba opened her eyes and stared at the scared blond. "Elphie...don't...don't hurt yourself..."
"I will not hurt myself," Elphaba replied, smiling slightly. Very slowly, she loosened her grip on her 'cane' and began to fall. Glinda rushed over to her and held her up, slinging the green arm over her shoulder and wrapping her free arm around Elphaba's waist.
"Elphie," she said, smiling slightly.
"Yes?"
"You almost hurt yourself."
Elphaba chuckled. "I guess I did...where, Glinda, where are we going to stay until I can walk?"
"I think you can walk just fine, you just need to relax," Glinda said. "Actually, you know what, you can't walk at all. You're not allowed to even try until I say so! It's a new rule! And, we'll be staying right around here, since we'll be protected from the rain pretty easily with little movement, and there's very little chance we'll get..." Glinda stopped when she noticed the grin forming on Elphaba's face. "What?"
"You're just so smart, it's surprising sometimes, my sweet," Elphaba said. "You act so air-headed and vain, but you're so smart and actually very good in scary situations. I just...I forget that sometimes when we're at Shiz, Glinda. Sometimes, I forget that you're so smart and...I'm sorry."
"It's fine," Glinda said with a smile. "One of us has to be calm, right? But you're so much smarter than me - and a lot braver, Elphie." She kissed Elphaba softly. "And that's why we're going to be fine until you're all better."
A few minutes of silence passed. Finally, Elphaba spoke. "Glinda...I have good news."
"And what's that, most beautiful girl in all of Oz and wherever we happen to be now?"
"I can feel my legs a bit now."
Glinda squealed with joy, making Elphaba smile.