AN: ((In this story, Fiyero is being played by Adam Lambert, and Elphaba is being played by the beautiful Idena Menzel. The song is a creative adaptation of Jolene by the White Stripes. Jack White is such a talented (and smexy) musician. As always, I don't own Wicked or the White Stripes (though I wish I did!). Read and review! ))
Galinda, a Wicked Tale
Elphaba's flaming black locks spilled down her long, lithe back as she collapsed against a tall oak tree, bordering a shadowed meadow sprinkled with pallid lilies. The moon hung high in the night sky, and the young maiden gazed toward it, the luminous light illuminating her wide, sapphire orbs, which glittered with the water of irrepressible pain. She had lost him. She had lost her one, true love. He had gone in the dead of the night, back to her.
Elphaba knew he would never return.
Soft green lips parted as her sweet, tragic voice shattered the silent stillness of the night.
"Galinda, Galinda, Galinda, Galinda
I'm begging of you, please don't take my man.
Galinda, Galinda, Galinda, Galinda,
Please don't take him just because you can."
It would be so easy for her, too. All Glinda had to do was call, and Fiyero would hasten to her beautiful, well-formed side. Long, slender fingers, like those of professional pianists, plucked the strings of her intricately etched wooden guitar, playing a haunting melody to compliment her dulcet voice. She didn't play often. Only when her pain compelled her to.
"Your beauty is beyond compare,
With flaming locks of golden hair,
To my brown eyes and skin of emerald green.
Your smile is like a breath of spring.
Your voice is soft like summer rain
and I cannot compete with you, Galinda."
Her voice broke as she sang, filled with the passion of one left behind, with one abandoned in the silent stillness of the quiet midnight. He had left her… for GALINDA! Crystalline tears trailed down her grassy cheeks, and her singing broke down into beautiful sobs as she tried to continue.
"He talks about you in his sleep,
There's nothing I can do to keep
From crying when he calls your name, Galinda"
It was true. In the heat of their passion, it had never been Elphie's name he'd called. It was Glinda's… always Glinda's. And yet, why had he not left before now? Why, if he had been so in love with Glinda all of this time without her knowledge? Why, had he not fled her lonely side before?
"And I can easily understand,
How you could easily take my man,
But you don't know what he means to me, Galinda"
No man would ever love her as she had thought Fiyero had. No man would ever cherish her, accept what most men would dub her dull, ugly, grass-colored skin, but he didn't agree! He thought she was beautiful, body and spirit. He valued her beautiful emerald-green skin, had loved her for it, had chosen her partially for it! It made her unique and special, he had told her so many times. Way more special than Galinda, and yet… he had still chosen the beautiful blonde. The conventionally beautiful blonde. The socially acceptable beautiful blonde. If only she could be beautiful and blonde like Galinda, Elphaba despaired, then perhaps Fiyero, handsome and accepting Fiyero, would have truly loved her. It occurred to the ethereal, emerald goddess in that moment that Fiyero must never have loved her! If he had, then he would have never chosen to leave her, least of all for Galinda! She was doomed, now, she realized. Doomed… to die alone, on the run, without anyone by her side to laugh with, to fight with, to love with, to get old with and have children. Elphaba had never before revealed to Fiyero that she had wanted children… his children… and they would have been beautiful. They would have been lovely, even with the minty-green pale colored skin that they would have inevitably inherited, since Elphaba had dark green skin and Fiyero's like the most delicate, pale snow. But this was not to be. Not unless she could convince Galinda to let her Fiyero, her dark prince, go.
Sweet, despairing notes rang out again in the clear morning light:
"Galinda, Galinda, Galinda, Galinda,
I'm begging of you, please don't take my man.
Galinda, Galinda, Galinda, Galinda,
Please don't take him just because you can."
And yet, she realized, she could not truly blame Fiyero's actions on Galinda. It was not the fair girl's fault that Fiyero must never have truly stopped loving her. Not really. It was Fiyero that had sinned. Fiyero that had abandoned her, just as he had at one time abandoned Galinda. And yet, he was the only one that she loved, and as much as she desperately desired for Glinda to find happiness after what she and Fiyero had done to beautiful blonde witch, she could not truly give up her loving prince. Fiyero…..
You could have your choice of men,
But I could never love again,
He's the only one for me, Jolene.
Galinda could have anyone she wanted. She had always been beautiful enough, Elphaba knew, to gain the attentions of any man. She had earned the love of a prince, after all, all those many years ago, and then now. Elphaba despaired. Who would ever choose to love one such as her? Who could love her tainted emerald skin? Who could gaze into her dark, emerald orbs and see not her imperfections? She had been told by Fiyero that they were beautiful, and yet with his departure, she found herself doubting his once kind praise. She found herself doubting that she was truly beautiful. Her body doubled over with a pent up sob, which escaped her into the morning air, sounding tragic against the music of the singing sparrows.
"I had to have this talk with you,
My happiness depends on you,
And whatever you decide to do, Glinda."
She resined herself to a life alone, as she watched the sun rise on what was to be the first in a long succession of lonely mornings. She had no way of telling what Glinda would do when Fiyero came to her, no way of knowing if his attentions would be accepted or not, and yet she felt that it was better to reconcile herself to the sad worst scenario, rather than to hope that Glinda would reject him and that he would return to her. He'd probably just leave her for a girl more fair, more beautiful, and this nearly killed her. She let herself fall against the dewy, morning lawn.
At this point, she lay on the ground, her curly dark tresses spilling across the soft grass that so blended with the muted tones of her silky skin. If only… if only he had killed her before he left. Then, maybe, she thought, she could have returned to the Goddess that had made her this way, instead of being left to suffer Fiyero's loss lying against the chilly November earth.
In a soft, mournful note, she sang the remaining lines of the song:
"Galinda, Glinda, Galinda, Galinda,"
A beautiful and masculine voice joined hers suddenly, their voices blending in the perfect harmony that only those who have loved each other can ever attain. It was her lover. It was…. Fiyero.
"I'm begging of you please don't take my man.
Galinda, Galinda, Galinda, Galinda,
Please don't take him even though you can."
Waves of crystal tears cascaded from her pale orbs, which glittered in the bright and colorful morning light which softly splayed about her face and tresses in the tones of the vibrant sunrise. For the last few words, she raised herself, aided by her dark prince, who looked unchanged from the night before, when she had curled herself into his strong, shapely, and chiseled form, clutching him tightly as he made her feel safe. His hair blew softly in the November wind, and a sad look dominated his beautifully sculpted chocolate gaze which watched her softly as she ran to him. He took her up in his arms, whispering apologies over and over lowly into his lady's ear as she sobbed into his chest, her face fitting snugly in the indentation.
"Fae, Fae, what ails you so? Why do you sing for me in the chilled morning air? I would never leave you for Galinda, and you never need worry that I should fly from your sweet embrace."
"I had thought you left me, Fiyero. Where hast you been?" She gazed up at him, watching his eyes for any trace of deceit, though in her heart of hearts she knew that he was truthful to her. Her prince had truly returned for her.
"Elphie! Beautiful Fae," he called, laughing sweetly to her, "I was simply fetching us both meal to share in the morning. I had wanted to surprise you, but then again, I could never surprise you. You've always been too quick for me."
This time, they joined each other in laughter, she throwing her frail arms about his form, he holding her all the more closely. "Oh, my dear," he sighed. "You do know that I love you, right?"
"I do now," she murmured lightly against his soft, rosy lips as their lips met in the tender, supple kiss of truest love.
"Never forget, dear Elphaba."
"Never shall I ever, Fiyero." They tangled themselves in each other, the morning bounty left forgotten against the pale flowers of the meadow as they lost themselves eternally in each other.
In perfect, beautiful unison, they each murmured to the other, "I love you!"
Lovers reunited under the pastel and bold tones of the morning sunrise had never before been so sweet.