The fight was over. Elphaba's screech echoed in Glinda's ears.
"Elphie?" Glinda called from her hiding place. She slowly rose from her crouch, fearing what she would find in the aftermath of the fight. Her eyes scanned the castle floor. The air was tense and deathly silent.
Elphaba's hat! "Oh, Elphie," Glinda whispered breathlessly as she hurried to the spot where the ugly black hat lay, abandoned, on the cold stone ground.
She felt hot tears swim behind her eyes as she clutched it to her.
Be strong, Glinda… She stood up slowly and choked back her sobs. Chistery crept up to her, clutching something in his paws. The book! Glinda's heart tugged painfully as she took the old brown volume from the flying monkey.
Oh, Elphie… you know I can't read this.
Glinda. Now it's up to you… for both of us.
"For both of us," Glinda repeated, gazing at the tattered leather of the ancient book.
Chistery gazed up at her, misery in his big brown eyes. Glinda's heart pounded. "I… I'm sorry," Glinda whispered to him, so quietly that no one else could hear. He bowed his lead and slunk away.
Glinda discovered something else on the floor—a corked flask of green liquid, which swirled and emanated an ominous green glow… that she recognized from somewhere…
"No!" she whispered. She knew who this belonged to…
...
"Have another drink, my dark-eyed beauty. I've got one more night left here in town..."
"So she was yours," Glinda said icily. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz clamped his hands over his face, shock making him wordless...
...
"Madam, how do you suppose you'd fare in custody?" Glinda asked.
"What--"
"Prison!!!" Glinda sang impatiently. "My guess is not well," she said as the guards seized Morrible.
Glinda then spoke in Morrible's trilling voice, mimicking something that the weather witch had said to her so many years ago... "I hope you prove me wrong! I doubt you will..." There is some Galinda left in me, after all...
...
GOOD NEWS!
SHE'S DEAD…
"The Witch of the West is dead." Her heart torn, Glinda called up her magical bubble. Chistery watched as she climbed in, holding the book to her chest. The flying monkeys backed away, making room.
How could I have let this happen?
Glinda took a deep breath. "Who can say if I've been changed for the better, but—"
"Because I knew you…"
Elphaba? Glinda's heart stirred hopefully. Was that Elphaba's voice? No, she scolded herself. Don't wish, don't start… wishing only wounds the heart…
"Because I knew you!" Glinda cried, so close to tears that she feared that the celebratory citizens of Oz would notice as she descended into their midst. "I have been changed…"
NO ONE MOURNS THE WICKED!
WICKED!
WIICKEEEED!
.
Blackout
.
Glinda's dream…
"I just wish…" Elphaba murmured to Fiyero. "I wish that Glinda could know that we're alive…"
"No!" Fiyero protested. "No one must ever know! It is the only way that we will be safe…"
Glinda woke up crying.
"I won't tell," she promised them, staring into darkness, picturing their flight from Oz. "I promise…"
.
.
.
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R&R pleassse!
