A/N: This chapter is just setting up the story, it will be more detailed as the story progresses. Also, I need help naming Glinda's parents, so if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to tell me. I'm horrible at coming up with names.
Elphaba sat on the street corner observing the malnourished children beg and fight for food. She wondered how the citizens of the Emerald City could sit back and pretend they didn't notice. However this didn't include the Thropp family.
The Thropp family was some of the few people who actively took a stand against the Wizard. They bravely fought and defied Wizardic laws and helped out the poor, starving and desolate citizens of the Emerald City. The Thropp family had a take from the rich and give to the poor philosophy on life.
Her father, Frexspar, had created the Resistance, a group of rebels-both human and Animal-whose purpose was to help as many people as they possibly could, while also gathering information about the Wizard and his future plans. Their main goal, however, was to kill the Wizard, and thus end his reign of terror.
The Resistance had spies at the Wizard's palace, most of them "worked" in the Wizard's servant staff, but a few spies were "working" with the Gale Force. This was a dangerous practice, but her father knew better than to send inexperienced people right into the Wizard's crushing hands. He made sure every spy in the Resistance was the best of the best.
Elphaba, with her intelligence and common sense, would make a great spy, but there was one thing that prevented it; her skin. It was as green as the Emerald City. Because of this, her father refused to let her go into the spying force (something she really wanted to do), however she wasn't sure if it was to protect her, protect the Resistance, or both.
However, her father made sure she did something to help out the Resistance. So, here she was, intently listening to the urchins of the Emerald City. This was another sign of her father's intelligence; adults, because they have lived longer, and thus have been brainwashed by the Wizard, will not speak out about his wrongdoings. Children, however, have minds that are actually more willful than adults, and so they speak freely of the Wizard's wrongdoings.
Elphaba continued to watch the children, and finally her she gave into her emotions, pulling out a large loaf of bread. The children stared at the bread, their mouths watering. Elphaba smiled gently.
"It's alright, come here. You can have this" she said kindly.
None of the children moved except for a young Gillikinese boy.
"Hey there, here you go. Now this is for everyone who wants some, so you'll have to share" she handed the boy the loaf of bread.
"Okay, I'll share. Thanks a lot" the boy grin broadly and ran off to join the other children.
Elphaba watched the children, but now she had a feeling of contentment in her heart. She always loved helping those who needed it. She found children easier to deal with than adults. Children didn't seem to care that she had green skin, the only thing they noticed was her kindness. She wished everyone could be like that.
There were two things Elphaba did to calm herself; one was reading and the other was singing. And since she didn't have a book anywhere near her, she opted for the second.
If anyone would just listen to Elphaba sing, they'd find she had a voice like an angel. No sound in Oz could match the beauty of her voice, and it could bring even the coldest hearted people to tears. But, like many people with amazing talents, Elphaba rarely let anybody see it.
She began to sing, and the children stopped chattering to listen. All of Oz seemed to have stopped speaking and was listening to Elphaba's heavenly voice. The birds had stopped singing, the dogs had stopped barking and even the wind had stopped blowing.
Glinda couldn't move, she could only listen in awe as she heard the heart pulling voice of the green woman. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever heard and there were tears streaming down her face, nothing in Oz had ever had this effect on her.
She'd been watching the verdant woman for quite a while, studying her. At first she was greatly disturbed by the skin color of the woman, but after seeing her give that loaf of bread to those children, she realized that appearance were truly deceiving.
This, believe it or not, was actually one of Glinda's favorite places to come. With her upper class clothes and jewelry and unmatched beauty, nobody would ever suspect her to be here, in the slums of the Emerald City.
That's why she came here; she could get away from the family she despised so greatly. She hated to admit it, but the Upland family was in close relations with the Wizard. How close? Her father was the Wizard's right hand man and the leader of the Gale Force. Her father had just as much power and control as the Wizard did over the citizens of Oz, and it was because of him that so many innocent people and Animals were killed on a regular basis.
Everyday of her life, she longed to kill the Wizard. But she couldn't. She was too weak to do something like that, and too fearful of what might happen to her. She couldn't stand this. She couldn't stand the fact that she was too afraid to fight for what she believed in.
She wished she could be like the green woman; kind and charitable, and not care about what might happen. The Wizard was ruthless, not only did he harm innocents he also harmed the people who helped them.
Glinda continued to listen to the beautiful song, while tears streamed down her face the entire time. And she was more than disappointed when the singing stopped.
"That was beautiful" she said, walking over and sitting by the green woman.
"What was beautiful?" Elphaba asked, as if she had no idea what was going on.
"You're voice, it's beautiful. And what you did, giving those kids that bread that was really sweet. And brave too" Glinda smiled at her.
"Because of the Wizard's laws, I know. I don't give a hell what the Wizard says, he's a liar and a coward. He should be forced to experience all this pain for himself" she said, anger and passion dripping from every word she spoke and then she realized she hadn't introduced herself. "Sorry, I'm Elphaba Thropp"
"It's alright, and allow me to introduce myself; I'm Glinda Upland" she smiled brightly, but that smile disappeared when she saw the look of pure rage on Elphaba's now dark green face.
"Get away from me! I know who the Uplands are, they work for the Wizard. I hate the Uplands! What were you doing here? Were you trying to find helpless victims to torture? Answer me!" she screamed, rage consuming her entire being.
"No, I swear I wasn't going to harm anybody. I hate my family as much as you do. I want the Wizard gone as much as you" Glinda had fresh tears streaming down her face.
She had no idea why she crying this time. Glinda barely knew Elphaba, but it hurt her deeply to hear the green woman scream in rage at her.
"Don't fucking lie to me, that's all you people do" she shoved Glinda out of her way and made her way out of the alley.
Glinda sank to the dirty street, not caring that her precious clothes were getting filthy. She had never felt like this in her life, and she sobbed softly.