AU. Musical-verse. On one faithful night, the young, crown princess of Arendelle and the green daughter of the governor of Munckinland come across each other in the middle of a forest. Before Elsa's accident. One-shot.
"But father!"
"I don't want to hear it."
"I was only trying to help—"
"Help? Since when did any of your deeds ever helped anyone? All you've ever done is putting more and more shame onto this family, and already you are ruining Nessa's reputation of being Governor." spat Frexspar Thropp onto his eight-year-old green skinned daughter.
Elphaba looked over at her five-year-old sister who was in a wheelchair, but the younger girl didn't even spare a glance at her sister as she stared down at her hands with interest.
"Go to your room." snarled Frex.
Elphaba said nothing as she quietly went upstairs, book in hand with her head down as she slipped into a poor excuse of a 'room'. It was barely three metres in width. The walls were lined with piles and piles of books, from the floor to the ceiling, and a small box for a wardrobe sat ignored in the corner, along with a small nightstand with all but a lamp and hairbrush on it. The green-skinned girl blew out the lamp when she heard her father walking past her room door menacingly, the sounds of his footsteps as menacing as a jail warden.
She waited until the door to Frex's study slammed shut, and waited for another half hour before pulling a jumper over her head. She knew full well that her father never came out of his study until the following morning, as a bed was also in the room. Nessa was probably already asleep then, so she quietly opened the window, grabbed the novel she was currently reading before slipping outside. Elphaba grabbed hold of the over-grown vine that had buried itself into the cracks in the brick wall, before swinging herself down gracefully. The young girl glanced around; making sure no one was around, before quickly dashing towards a certain clearing in the forest that she had found a few weeks ago. But when she got there, someone had beaten her to it.
"Please papa! I've never been to Oz!" exclaimed the six-year-old crown princess of Arendelle.
"I'm not sure, Elsa. Munckinland is very far away from Arendelle. If this was the Vinkus, then I would let you, but—"
"It will only be for a couple of days and the trip only a few hours." said the Queen of Arendelle.
"What about Elsa's powers?" said the king.
"It'll be fine, papa. I know how to keep them under control." stated Elsa.
"It would be boring though, dear. I am only required there for a meeting with the governor of Munckinland." he said.
"No it won't!" exclaimed Elsa in a pleading voice.
"I promise I'll be good!"
The King looked uncertain, but the Queen's eyes softened at her eldest daughter's pleading look.
"It will be fine." she chided gently to her husband, who sighed, which told Elsa that he had caved.
"Thank you, papa!" she hugged her father tightly, in which he returned with a chuckle.
"But remember, Oz can be dangerous because of the aggressive Animals." He said, but she merely nodded before pulling back with a wide smile on her lips.
"I can't wait to meet Animals!" she said, not fully understanding the meaning of 'aggression'.
"Can I go too?" asked four-year-old Anna as she entered the room.
"No, I'm sorry dear. You are too young, maybe you can come when you are older." said the King.
Little Anna pouted, but yawned as she realised it was getting late.
"Come on, let's get you to bed." stated the Queen soothingly as she picked up her youngest daughter and carried her upstairs.
Elsa followed not long after, excited for the fact that she was going to finally go into Oz for the first time in the following day.
"I hope you enjoy your stay, your majesty."
And with that, the short but averaged sized Munchkin bellboy bowed deeply, maybe a little too deep to be polite, but the king of Arendelle decided to say nothing as the munchkin left the room, leaving the hotel door ajar.
"Well, make yourself at home for the night, dear." He said.
Elsa frowned.
"But, why can't I go outside?" she asked.
The king merely raised an eyebrow at his daughter. On their way into Oz, there had been an accident involving a frozen carriage axle, which had caused the carriage to veer out of control, and nearly into a tree on the side of the Yellow Brick Road. Needless to say, the royal duo from Arendelle had arrived an hour later than planned. There was another incident when the young princess had crossed gotten off the carriage, and as soon as her foot came to contact with the dirt road, it had frozen over.
This had led to an angry Munchkin lady storming out to the fields, then looking confused as ever when she saw the king and princess of Arendelle standing in the fields, with nearly half of her crops frozen over. She had then gone on muttering about how it had never snowed in Munchkin land, and although the winter season was around the corner, it had never been so cold that ice would appear on the roads. Elsa looked down at her shoes sheepishly.
"Sorry, papa. I didn't mean for that to happen. I just got excited." She said.
The king sighed.
"Yes, I know, dear. But I cannot risk you wondering around while I am at the meeting. Please, just stay inside until tonight, at least until I return. The view here is fine, perhaps you can enjoy the scenery from here," He reasoned. "Besides, winter is just around the corner."
"I'm not cold! I'm never cold!" stressed Elsa.
But the king wouldn't hear it; in fact, he had already gone downstairs quickly and fetched the carriage driver who was a loyal servant to both the king and queen.
"Shell, please stay in the room and watch Elsa." He asked.
The servant, Shell, nodded dutifully. "Yes, your majesty."
Elsa glanced up at the large wall clock that hung on the wall for what seemed like the fifth time in the past hour. She had been in here for at least four hours, and the sun had set completely, yet her father was still out. The young princess then turned to Shell, who was still writing on the piece of paper which he had been focused on for the past hour.
"What are you writing, Shell?" asked Elsa curiously.
The middle-aged man looked up.
"A letter, young one." He said.
"To who?" she asked.
"Just a few friends of mine who live in Oz." he replied.
Elsa nodded, accepting the answer as she then flopped back onto the bed with a sigh of boredom. She longed to be at home, to be playing with Anna in the snow (or to be more precise, the ballroom). She now understood why her father had said this trip would be boring, and she also understood that not many people knew or appreciated her powers like Anna did. Tired, but quite full, as Shell had gone to fetch some dinner for the young princess earlier, Elsa crawled under the covers of her bed, deciding that sleep was the only thing she could do to pass the time.
When Elsa opened her eyes, the room was completely dark, spare the dim glow from the moonlight that came from the windows. She sat up, and noticed that the other bed in the room was occupied, and knew that her father was the inhabitant of the bed. She attempted to close her eyes and sleep yet again, but she could not, for she was no longer tired. After all, the sky was awake tonight.
A window on the side of a grand three-storey hotel in the countryside of Munchkin land opened without a sound, and out climbed the six-year-old crown princess of Arendelle. Elsa quietly slipped onto the wide window ledge, and gave a soft yelp as she realised the ground was much farther away than where she had thought it would be. The cold late-autumn air cut through her thin nightgown and dug into her skin, but it wasn't like the cold ever bothered her anyways. She hung her head as she thought as hard as a six-year-old could, and came up with a plan as she stretched her arms out.
Double checking that there was no one in sight, she felt a familiar energy surge through her veins as frost was released from her fingertips, and the trail had come together and formed a long slide to the ground below. She then put her foot down to see if it was steady, and smiled to see a glowing blue snow flake appear just under her foot, and under the layer of frost, ice was underneath. She then slid down the slide of her creation, and smiled proudly to herself when she could still hear her father's light snoring from two storeys up.
Elsa knew she would get into a lot of trouble if her father had found out, but she was sure he wouldn't find out. With Shell in the room with her the whole day, she could not go anywhere without being caught…until now. With Shell and her father both asleep, she would have no trouble into just having a quick roam around block. Elsa looked around down the hill that the hotel sat upon. She could see never-ending fields of crops that would look like a gold field in the day, yet in the night, it looked like nothing but a sea of black.
The small cottages built along the dirt roads of Munchkin land had no lights on, meaning that the whole town was asleep. She then noticed a forest nearby that she hadn't noticed before. It had tall trees with many branches, and as she approached it, she found no signs of danger. The trees loomed over her in a tall and mysterious fashion, yet she heard no animals or Animals nearby, and concluded that they must've been asleep too. However, she suddenly saw the tiniest speck of light, waving just in front of her nose. Elsa crossed her eyes and looked at the moving light, and realised that it must've been one of the bugs called the 'firefly' or something. She recalled her mother telling her about them during a bedtime story involving magical bugs.
"Hello, there!" she whispered softly as she attempted to catch the tiny bug, but it flew just out of her reach, and she followed it. More and more specks of light appeared before her when she realised that the trees around her were dotted with them, and smiled in delight when she saw that they had circled her in a sort of affectionate way(if bugs could be affectionate). Elsa then noticed that the bugs had moved deeper into the forest, and she frowned when she realised that there were fewer and fewer of them left.
"Hey! Where are you going?" she wondered, following the group of bugs.
She couldn't remember how long she had walked for, but she realised that she was very deep into the forest when she had stopped at a wide clearing.
A near perfect circle of trees surrounded the young princess as she stepped towards the middle of the clearing. A fallen tree trunk laid across the area and the bright light from the full moon casted a silver glow around the forest. The fireflies had rested on the trees nearby, making the clearing look like it was surrounded by dots of flashing lights. Elsa was awed by this, for she had never seen anything like this in Arendelle; she was never allowed to exit the castle without cause. The six-year-old then sat down on the tree trunk, and was observing the bright stars with interest when she heard a twig snap behind her.
"Who are you?" asked a voice from behind her.
Elsa quickly sprang to her feet, alarmed as she held up her hands.
"Don't hurt me!" she exclaimed with closed eyes, fearing that someone had found her. After all, not many young girls her age would be walking around the forest alone at night, but apparently, this was not the case.
"You're like me." said the voice.
It was a girl's voice, Elsa noted as she slowly opened her eyes, to see a girl standing on the edge of the clearing. She looked a couple of years older, and at least a head taller than Elsa. She had a book clutched at her side and a thick, woollen jumper over her nightgown. But the most alarming thing of all was that the girl's skin was pure green. It took a moment for Elsa to realise that the trees within a 10 metre radius of her was frozen, and that the green girl was staring at Elsa with wide eyes. "Who are you?" asked the green girl, in a voice of awe and wariness.
"I'm, um, Elsa." She said. "Why are you green?" the words sprouted from Elsa's mouth before she thought about her question.
Elphaba looked at the blonde girl, Elsa, warily. The question had been asked many times by her fellow Munchkins, Oz, even Elphaba herself had asked herself that, but most others had asked it in a mean, judging manner. Meanwhile, the younger girl had asked it in a manner of pure curiosity.
"I'm Elphaba." She said finally.
Elsa's eyes lit up as she then went forth and put out her hand.
"Pleased to meet you, Elphaba!" she said.
Now Elphaba was really confused, most people would never associate themselves with the green girl, much less touch her. Not used to the gesture, Elphaba gingerly reached out and shook the six-year-old's hand.
"Are all people in Oz green?" asked Elsa.
Elphaba frowned in reply. "No. Are you from Oz?" she asked.
Elsa shook her head. "I'm from Arendelle. Papa is the King." She said.
Elphaba's eyes widened as she suddenly realised who she had encountered at midnight in the middle of the forest. This was the princess of Arendelle, the daughter of the King who her father had had a very important meeting with that very day.
There was a moment of silence that hung between them, before Elphaba, in a soft voice, "You have powers."
Elsa looked nervously at everything but the green girl, but the beauty of the forest was no longer there as her nerves and fear grew.
"W-what? N-no I don't." she said weakly, and Elphaba stared at her with a frown.
"You do too, I saw it with my own eyes."
"Papa says I shouldn't show them to anyone." said Elsa, sitting down onto the tree log glumly.
"But please don't tell him, please please please! I'll be in trouble then!" she pleaded, but Elphaba only smiled this time; a pure, genuine smile that she usually only gave to her sister.
"I promise I won't, because I would be in trouble too for meeting someone like me." she said, and the princess' eyes widened as she turned to look at Elphaba.
"You have powers too?" she asked excitedly, and the green girl bit her lip, a frown forming on her face.
"Well, not like you."
Elsa looked at the girl with wide eyes.
"Show me!" she exclaimed, but Elphaba shook her head.
"Sorry, Elsa. I can't. I don't know how."
But even as a six-year-old, Elsa knew Elphaba was not telling her everything.
"You're lying! You do too have powers!"
The green girl sat down on the log with no reply, choosing to stare at her feet instead.
"I can't because father says I should never let it show. It brings shame upon our family if I do." she said, and Elsa pouted.
"Never let it show? Why would your papa say that? That's a mean thing to say."
"It is." said Elphaba.
The two girls sat down on the forest floor and talked until the first speck of light was seen on the horizon and by then, Elsa was struggling not to fall asleep.
"I have to go now, before father finds out I'm gone." said Elphaba, not even blinking in fatigue.
Meanwhile, Elsa just let out a long yawn, before nodding sleepily and mumbled out a mumbled 'good-bye' and 'you should come to Arendelle sometime'.
Elphaba smiled to herself as she picked up her book and turned around, but she then felt arms around her waist.
"Come visit! You can meet my sister Anna!" said Elsa.
Elphaba stiffened at the mention of a sister, remembering her own, powerless to do much for herself due to the curse known as a wheelchair. The thought turned Elphaba's mood sour as she tentatively hugged Elsa back, unknown to the new physical affectionate gesture as she had never hugged anyone before.
In fact, Elphaba wasn't sure if she'd ever bee this close to another living being for this long in her life, as most would just edge away or refuse to touch her completely. With one last look at Elsa, who claimed that she knew the way back to her hotel, Elphaba turned and headed back to the Governor's Mansion, steeling herself once again for another day of mistreatment and being scolded for no reason.
Elsa sat in the carriage later that day, yawning and half-listening to her father's scolding for sneaking out at night to go into a dangerous forest. Her thoughts were on the girl she met the night before, who was just like her! She remembered the words the green girl said; Never let it show. She tried with all the brain-power of her six-year-old brain, but the princess didn't understand what it meant, nor could she come up with a plausible reason as to why hiding powers was necessary; Elsa used her powers to play with Anna every day!
It wasn't until a year later, when she learned the reason behind that phrase.
"Conceal don't feel, don't let it show."
A/N This was just a way to procrastinate while I stress about impending assessments thats due in the next few days lol, I really just had to get this idea out of my head. Sorry if it's bad cause I didn't really double edit it! Thanks for reading! :)