A/N: This...it's...not...what I usually write, to say for simplicity. I wrote this...5 months ago? It was originally for a 31 somewhat-connected oneshot(s) story thing for Halloween. But that little plan didn't work out since I only got 3 written and only had a total of 6 ideas. So I took it, edited it up, and now it's a stand-alone oneshot, yay.
This feeds on my fear of clowns and mazes made of mirrors...so there you go. By the way, I think Elphaba is a little bit OOC (ha, understatement of the year) for most of this but...I have no explanation I just wanted to write something where she was scared, like, a lot and...well...you'll see. I'm going to stop rambling so you can read.
Elphaba, Fiyero, and Galinda were walking around the carnival, completely bored and unsure what to do. It was well past sunset and, despite Elphaba's protesting, they had stayed and decided to enjoy the fun of staying out all night, like a few people had decided to do that night too. The rides had been shut down and most of the games had been closed, only food and drink stalls still open. The Maze of Mirrors was still open and Fiyero dragged the two girls to it, excited to do something fun.
Standing in front of the door was an obviously tired man. He looked at the three teenagers and sighed. "Tickets please."
Fiyero reached into his pocket, letting go of Galinda's hand, and pulled out three tickets. He handed them to the man. "Here you go!" The man looked at the tickets and nodded, stepping to the side to allow them to enter the maze.
"Be careful not to break any of the mirrors," he mumbled. Galinda and Fiyero ignored him, dragging a reluctant Elphaba into the maze. The first thing they noticed was how the lights flickered and how very little light there was anyways.
"I think we should leave," Elphaba whispered, her fear evident in her voice. She pulled her arms closer to her body and glanced over her shoulder every few seconds as the three descended the stairs to enter the actual maze.
"Stop being a baby," Fiyero said.
"Fiyero, don't be mean to Elphie," Galinda ordered. Fiyero scoffed, making Elphaba jump and freeze, looking around like a frightened child. Galinda turned around and walked back up to Elphaba, gently wrapping an arm around the green girl. "Shush, it's alright. Don't be scared."
"I don't know why she's so scared," Fiyero muttered under his breath, glaring at Elphaba and Galinda with obvious jealousy. "Let's just get through this maze; it's not…too…aw crap…"
Fiyero stared at a mirror and reached out. His hand touched the glass, shattering the illusion of nothing being there. Galinda and Elphaba stood close behind him, Galinda looking around to see which way to go and Elphaba hiding her face in her hands.
What a baby, Fiyero thought to himself when he saw Elphaba's reaction to the maze. She acts all tough but when you get her somewhere dark, she's a baby.
"I think we should go this way," Galinda whispered to Fiyero. She pointed forward and Fiyero walked forward, just to show Galinda that there was a mirror where she was pointing, and passed through the mirror.
"Huh?" he muttered, looking around. Galinda and Elphaba closed the distance between them and Fiyero, both girls looking for the next way to go. A sudden cackle broke their concentration and made Elphaba shriek and hug Galinda tightly, burying her face in the blonde's shoulder. "Damn…that was…just…damn."
"Shush, calm down, Elphie," Galinda whispered as she gently ran her hand through Elphaba's raven hair in an attempt to calm the girl. "It was probably just some random sound effect to scare us."
"You hope," Fiyero muttered. Galinda glared at him. "Come on, this way."
He turned to the left and started walking, not even caring if Galinda and Elphaba were following. They could die for all he cared – it was just like Elphaba to turn something like a trip to the carnival into an attempt to win Galinda's affection. He was sick of fighting for her affection.
Galinda huffed once she realized that Fiyero had left the two of them alone. She stood there, trying her best to make Elphaba stop crying – or whatever the green girl was doing. Eventually, she managed to calm the girl enough that she lifted her head.
"Come on, we need to catch up with Fiyero, okay?" Galinda smiled when she saw Elphaba smile, no matter how small the smile was. The two girls walked the way Fiyero had walked off, Elphaba holding onto Galinda's hand tightly.
The lights flickered off and there was a loud, glass-shattering scream. Galinda reached out beside her and felt Elphaba, immediately becoming calmer when she realized the green girl hadn't run off. The scream cut off suddenly and the lights flickered a few times before coming back on and staying on.
Slowly, Galinda pulled Elphaba forward, trying her best not to run into any mirrors. In her attempt, she still managed to run into a mirror. "Oh Oz," she muttered. Elphaba jumped at the sound of Galinda's voice and the blond immediately regretted speaking. She needed to find Fiyero and find the exit before Elphaba broke down.
She kept one hand out, reaching blindly for any mirrors, and kept the other hand behind her, holding onto Elphaba's hand tightly. Elphaba followed closely behind, glancing over her shoulder every once in a while.
"Fiyero?" Galinda called as gently as she could. "Fifi?"
Elphaba winced at the sound. The lights began flickering again. She whimpered and moved closer to Galinda, looking around for Fiyero.
"Where is he?" she asked softly.
The lights continued to flicker and Galinda had to admit, even she was getting a bit frightened. She bit her lip and stopped walking, averting her gaze to the floor for a few minutes. She finally looked back up at Elphaba and put on a fake smile.
"I'm not sure. We'll find him soon, don't worry," the blonde said reassuringly. Elphaba smiled for a split second before a loud laugh sent her flying at Galinda. The green girl hugged Galina tightly against her own body, fighting back her own tears.
Galinda fell to the floor and Elphaba landed on top of her. Around them, mirrors shattered and the lights flickered off. Galinda groaned softly and tried to move Elphaba off of her, but the green girl refused to budge and just whispered for Galinda to stay quiet and still.
They remained as still as they could until Galinda reached her arm out to feel around. She felt something wet beside her. Thinking that maybe someone spilled something – or maybe some kid...or Elphaba...had an accident from being scared – Galinda slowly ran her fingers through the liquid.
The lights came back on and Elphaba slowly pulled herself off of Galinda, narrowly avoiding a small pile of glass shards. Her face, which had been frozen with a look of complete terror earlier, had softened and she reached out a hand to help the blonde girl up. Galinda used her clean hand to accept Elphaba's help and, when she was balanced on her feet again, looked at the hand that she had touched the liquid with.
It was red.
Both girls froze, staring at Galinda's red fingers. Slowly, Elphaba looked to the left of where they had been lying. She squeaked and covered her mouth with her hand, falling to her knees and choking back a sob. Galinda hesitantly followed Elphaba's eyes, turning around to see Fiyero's corpse. She shrieked loudly at the sight of the man she'd called her friend cut open.
Galinda glanced back at Elphaba, who was now crying silent tears. The sight was too much to bear for the poor blonde – she really just wanted to leave now. She looked back at the corpse and frowned. What had caused this…? What could have possibly killed Fiyero and cut him open and pulled his insides –
A green hand on her shoulder snapped Galinda out of her thoughts. Elphaba slowly rose back to her feet and hugged Galinda tightly.
"Galinda," she whispered. "I want you to go ahead. Try to find the exit…please, Galinda."
"What about you? Something - no, someone killed Fiyero and I'm sure they won't spare you, Elphie," Galinda said. "You're coming with me. And, I must ask, what happened to you being scared?"
Elphaba shook her head. "I can't be scared anymore. We…we have to find our way out of this horrible maze, Galinda. You go ahead and try to find the exit. I'll try to figure out what happened…"
"Come with me," Galinda pleaded. "Please, Elphie. I can't - "
The lights flickered off again. Galinda felt Elphaba move away but assumed that Elphaba was simply stepping backwards to avoid knocking them both over once again.
There was a loud scream that was cut off suddenly. Galinda reached out for Elphaba and grabbed nothing. The lights came back on quickly and Galinda was met with a hideous clown holding Elphaba by her hair, blood running freely from a cut on her neck.
"Elphie!" Galinda screamed, covering her mouth with her hand. It took a moment for the blonde to register the clown holding the bloody knife. When she finally managed to see him, she stared at his face.
His lips were curved into a creepy smile and his rainbow hair was disheveled and he was going bald. His makeup looked old – except for the red on his mouth. It looked oddly fresh and –
"What have you done?!" Galinda screamed. "You killed my friends you…you…monster!"
The clown's only response was to smile wider and cock his head slightly to the side. He gently shook Elphaba's now limp body in his hand as if he were making sure the small blonde saw it. His smile got impossibly wider and he dropped the green girl. Galinda watched in pure horror as her best friend's corpse crumpled to the floor, her glasses falling off her face as she did so.
"They were barely sixteen!" Galinda cried, balling up her fists. "And you just - "
The lights flickered, making Galinda freeze. A sharp pain in her chest made her look down – the clown's knife was sticking out of her body. The clown smiled at Galinda, his soulless brown eyes revealing that he felt no remorse for anything he was doing. The knife was pulled out slowly and the blonde let out a muffled cry of pain. Before she could sink to the floor, the clown grabbed her curly hair and held her up.
With one final agonized scream, and one final flicker of the lights, the clown finished what he started.